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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2000

Statement

Statement of Bob Chase, NEA President
May 9, 2000

Good Morning. As president of the 2.5 million-member National Education Association, I'm here today -- National Teacher Day -- because the nation's teachers and other education employees are sending a message to Congress: gun violence must end. It's time to stand up for the safety of America's children.

Today the National Education Association is running this full-page ad in The Washington Post. Signed by more than a thousand NEA members -- from every state in the nation -- it reads, "It's Time to Get Real About Protecting Our Kids. No More Delays on Common-Sense Gun Laws." More than 1600 NEA members took the time to personally sign on to this ad, despite the rush of wrapping up the school year. Because space would not allow us to include every person who wanted to be a part of this powerful message, we are listing all of the names on our website at www.nea.org.

America's teachers and other education employees are committed to challenging kids to reach new heights. Every day, we look for ways to get them to open their minds, instilling the joy of reading or giving them the tools to solve an algebra problem. We're dedicated to helping them grow up to be productive, healthy citizens.

But increasingly in the last few years, we've had to be dedicated to more -- we've found ourselves learning about crisis communications, grief counseling, and emotional first aid to prevent post-traumatic stress disorders. We've taken the lead on video programming to help communities work to prevent violence at school. And we've done this because we do not believe that we can simply shrug our shoulders and say, "school violence is a societal problem, not a school problem," and walk away.

Today we are not walking away. Too many of our members have watched children and colleagues senselessly gunned down. Too many of our members have had to comfort grief-stricken parents and children. Too many young lives have been lost. Twelve children will die today from gun fire. Another twelve tomorrow. And the day after and the day after. We cannot allow this to go on.

Today, on behalf of the entire NEA education family -- teachers, secretaries, bus drivers, teachers aides, school security personnel, cafeteria workers, and custodians -- we are calling on Congress to stand up for our students and for all children. No more delays. No more excuses. The time has come for every lawmaker to put kids and their safety first.

Schools must be safe havens for learning, for growing. Children need to concentrate on learning, not worrying about protecting themselves from guns.

Congress must act immediately to:

• Require locks or other safety devices on all guns
• Ban the sale of semiautomatic assault rifles
• Stop the sale and importation of high-capacity ammunition clips
• Require mandatory background checks
• Prohibit handgun possession by those under 21
• Establish tip lines for students to alert adults about potential violence

Today, a letter will be sent to every member of Congress signed by the country's leading education groups, also calling for this common sense legislation.

The NEA is doing its part to keep schools safe by doing what education employees do best: teaching and learning. We have collected the very best, absolutely proven safe school practices in the nation and we are training our members to use these techniques. We realize that teachers need to know not just how to teach reading, writing and arithmetic, but also how to spot early warning signs of troubled youth, how to promote tolerance of differences among students, and how to connect communities to schools. I encourage all of you to view the short clip of our video series that is in your press kit. It is called the NEA Safe Schools Now Network. Schools all over the country are receiving this program free, via satellite.

But, for all our work, we know that it alone can not solve the problems of a society that is awash in guns. As long as children can get access to these weapons, tragedies will occur. Nothing NEA can do alone can stop that.

Nothing we can do alone can stop a bullet. That's why we're calling on Congress to get real about protecting our kids. Act now. None of us should have to go to another child's funeral.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support personnel, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.