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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Bryan Lentz
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Lentz announces new school safety legislation for Pennsylvania
Would create a statewide hotline designed
to protect students and anonymity of callers
SWARTHMORE, Aug. 27 – The
new school year will include the 10th anniversary of the Columbine massacre
that devastated Littleton, Colorado, on April 20, 1999, and while Pennsylvania
has been spared such a large-scale school tragedy, state Rep. Bryan R. Lentz, D-Delaware,
is urging fellow lawmakers to support his legislation that would increase
protections for school children throughout the Commonwealth.
"Under the legislation I am proposing, the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s
Office for Safe Schools would have the power and duty to develop telephone
hotlines that ensure the anonymity of callers," Lentz said. "These
hotlines would be used by any member of the community – but especially students
– to report dangerous situations involving schools to the appropriate
authorities."
Lentz said it is not uncommon for students to know about potential violent events before they occur, but they often do not share the information because they are afraid. An anonymous hotline removes that threat. Similar programs exist in other states such as Alabama, Colorado, and Michigan.
"We’ve learned much about what works and what doesn’t in protecting our youth since Columbine," Lentz said. "My proposed hotline initiative is patterned after Colorado’s Safe2Tell campaign. Students or other individuals who have information about a crime that has happened, or think something bad could potentially happen, could use the number. This includes, but is not limited to, gang activity, guns or other weapons, drugs or alcohol, fights, suicide threats, bullying, or sex crimes."
Lentz explained that upon making initial contact with the Colorado hotline, a staff member assigns the caller a code number used to track the tip information. All tips are immediately investigated by appropriate school and/or law enforcement officials.
According to a July 2004 report conducted by the U. S. Secret Service and U.S. Department of Education, the following information was discovered:
- in 81 percent of school attacks, at least one person had information that the attacker was thinking about or planning the incident;
- there is no accurate or useful profile of students who engaged in targeted school violence;
- many attackers felt bullied, persecuted, or injured by others prior to the attack; and
- most attackers had no history of prior violent or criminal behavior.