US Schools - Bush speaks at summit on school safety
NAME: US SCHOOLS 20061010I
TAPE: EF06/0939
IN_TIME: 11:26:26:18
DURATION: 00:03:04:18
SOURCES: Various/File
DATELINE: Various, 10 Oct 2006/File
RESTRICTIONS: See Script
SHOTLIST
AP Television
Evanston, Illinois - 10 October 2006
1. Exterior wide of school
2. Students in school corridor
3. Director of School Safety, Frank Kaminski, walking out of office
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Gus Anderson, Evanston Student:
"It's nice to know that someone who is charge of security actually knows what to do when something bad happens."
5. Various of Kaminski walking around high school, security and students
6. Close up of poster showing school security codes
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Frank Kaminski, Evanston Township High School Director of School Safety:
"These are just not codes that are put up on the bulletin board. We review this constantly with staff and we certainly live and breathe throughout this building the code system."
8. Various views security cameras, two-way radios
9. Students in corridor
ABC - No Access NAmerica/Internet
Chevy Chase, Maryland - 10 October 2006
10. US President George W Bush walks into room, audience applauds
11. SOUNDBITE (English) George W Bush, US President:
"In many ways I am sorry we are having this meeting. In other ways I know how important it is that we are having this meeting. The violence that has been occurring in our schools is incredibly sad and it troubles a lot of folks and it troubled me."
AP Television
Joplin, Missouri - 9 October 2006
12. Police in front of school
13. People in front of school, after shots fired
14. Various of school with police tape and school sign
ABC
Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania - 2 October 2006
15. Aerial of school where students were shot
16. Aerial of families and students waiting outside school
ABC
Chevy Chase, Maryland - 10 October 2006
17. SOUNDBITE (English) George W Bush, US President:
"Our parents I know want to be able to send their child or children to schools that are safe places and the violence we have seen, this is upsetting to a lot of people."
18. Columbine survivor Craig Scott speaking to Bush UPSOUND: (English) "There were 10 classmates that were killed around me. I lost two friends underneath a table and then later that same day I learned that my sister Rachel Joy Scott was the first one that was killed.
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Craig Scott, Columbine survivor:
"I have learned a lot about my generation and I have learned a lot since I lost my friends and my sister and the main thing I've have learned is that kindness and compassion can be the biggest antidotes to anger and hatred and I believe the biggest antidotes to violence. (Off Camera) Please take my words to heart today. They were bought at a high price."
20. Pull back view as Bush and audience applaud
STORYLINE:
After a series of deadly school shootings across the United States, US President George W Bush challenged America on Tuesday to turn its remorse into aggressive action to keep children safe.
At a conference on school safety in Chevy Chase, Maryland, he said in many ways he was sorry that the meeting was being held at all.
"In other ways I know how important it is that we are having this meeting. The violence that has been occurring in our schools is incredibly sad and it troubles a lot of folks and it troubles me," he said.
Sitting with panellists before a school safety banner, he said parents wanted to be able to send their children to schools that were safe.
Craig Scott told the wrenching story of Columbine High School in 1999, site of the nation's worst school massacre.
He recalled hiding under a table in the school library when student gunmen went on a rampage, killing 13 people - one of them his sister Rachel.
He now speaks to schools on her behalf, encouraging students to choose compassion over violence.
"I have learned a lot about my generation and I have learned a lot since I lost my friends and my sister and the main thing that I have learned is that kindness and compassion can be the biggest antidotes to anger and hatred and I believe the biggest antidotes to violence," he said.
Through tears, he delivered his message to Bush.
"Please take my words to heart today. They were bought at a high price," Scott said.
Security is now a major concern for schools all across the United States.
In Chicago, Evanston Township High School, with more than 3-thousand students, has turned to a former police chief, Frank Kaminski, to oversee their own security.
The school has a safety department of close to 40 people on staff, in addition to local police officers patrolling the halls.
The teachers and students rely on a colour coded system to monitor their safety when something goes wrong - red indicating a dangerous situation when people are required to lock doors and go to places of safety.
The school has also added more security cameras and all staff now carry two-way radios that can connect directly to the local police station.
Kaminski would also like a uniformed safety code posted throughout all American schools.
Bush called experts together for his safety meeting after recent shootings at schools in Wisconsin, Colorado, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
In panel discussions led by members of his Cabinet, speakers said the best response is basic: get parents, school leaders, students and police to work together.
Safety specialists at the gathering said that more than metal detectors or security cameras, the key to halting school violence is communication.
School safety experts have said for years that changing school culture is the best way to halt violence, although it's hard to do.