The Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools Advisory Committee Releases Report to Secretary of Education
Report calls for new label for persistently dangerous schools and better cooperation among federal agencies that collect data from schools
| FOR RELEASE: June 12, 2007 | Contact: Jo Ann Webb or Elaine Quesinberry (202) 401-1576 |
After almost a year of meetings and testimony from parents, researchers and state and local education leaders, the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools Advisory Committee—appointed by Secretary Margaret Spellings in June 2006—presented her with its 50-page report: "Enhancing Achievement and Proficiency through Safe and Drug-Free Schools."
"I want to thank the committee for its hard work, Secretary Spellings said. "Thanks to their efforts we now have a tremendous amount of information to help guide our work and ensure our students have the safe school environments they need to learn and thrive."
The 19-member committee, chaired by David Long, California's secretary of education and Riverside County superintendent of schools, made numerous recommendations to the Secretary. When the committee was formed a year ago, it was tasked with focusing on three major areas in the Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools: the State Grants Program, the unsafe school choice option that includes identifying persistently dangerous schools, and data collection and reporting on school violence and drug incidents under No Child Left Behind. In addition, the Secretary later asked the committee to look at the coordination of safe and drug-free resources between public and nonpublic schools, the effects of trauma on students as a result of school violence and the varying and unique challenges that rural and urban schools face.
To read the report in its entirety, log onto the U.S. Department of Education's Website at: www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/sdfscac/comment.html. The report is also available in alternate formats such as Braille, large print and audiotape. To obtain a copy in an alternate format, call (202) 260-9895 or (202) 205-8113.
