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President Tackles School Safety

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Times Staff Writer

In the wake of three deadly school shootings in recent weeks, President Bush convened a conference on school safety Tuesday in which Cabinet members, educators, police and students discussed ways to recognize and prevent violence.

Conspicuously absent in the all-day session was any mention of the role of firearms in the shootings, a politically volatile issue sure to inflame partisan passions in a midterm election year.

“In many ways, I’m sorry we’re having this meeting. In other ways, I know how important it is that we’re having this meeting,” Bush said. “The violence that has been occurring in our schools is incredibly sad.”

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Bush, joined on a panel by Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, called on parents and communities to take responsibility for ensuring school safety, saying that there are limits to what the government can do.

Indeed, the federal government plays a limited role in school safety, as education is mainly under local and state jurisdiction.

The panel discussions focused on human interaction and the psychology of violence.

Some participants argued that schools needed to do a better job of determining which students might bring weapons on campus. Psychologists pointed out that students who have suicidal tendencies often have thoughts of homicide too. And many panelists focused on the importance of building character in students, which they said had been degraded by media influences such as music and video games.

Harsher measures such as installing metal detectors in schools were viewed with skepticism. Gonzales said metal detectors may not be appropriate, noting that not all school shootings occur inside the buildings.

The conference at the 4-H Youth Conference Center in Chevy Chase, Md., took place four weeks before a midterm election that could cost the Republicans control of Congress and allowed Bush to focus on the seemingly politically safe issue of child safety in schools.

But critics used the occasion to attack the administration’s policies on gun control and funding for school safety programs.

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“I’m disappointed that today’s White House conference on school violence did not focus on the too-easy access to guns in our society,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

“Two years ago, President Bush abandoned his campaign pledge to reauthorize the federal assault weapons ban,” Helmke said. “Yesterday, a 13-year-old Missouri boy brought an AK-47 clone to school and fired it before being apprehended. The Bush administration’s inaction two years ago has led to even deadlier weapons being available in our communities.”

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee weighed in with a shot at White House budget priorities: “Funding for the Cops in Schools program has been slashed on numerous occasions under the watch of Bush and his GOP Congress.”

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore responded with an e-mailed statement: “President Bush believes we should target criminals who break our laws -- not law-abiding citizens who follow the law.

“At the same time, he has made school safety a priority.... President Bush has proposed a more targeted and accountability-based approach, which we believe would be more effective in making schools safer.”

mima.mohammed@latimes.com

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