‘Be Alert’ to Keep Schools Safe, Panelists Say

Following shootings, federal officials host exchange of ideas.

Chevy Chase, Md.

Educators, law-enforcement officers, crisis counselors, and students—some from communities that have experienced deadly school shootings—shared their hard-earned lessons and ideas about how to prevent further incidents at a school safety summit last week called by President Bush.

The six-hour meeting at the National 4-H Conference Center here, just outside Washington, featured panels on school violence prevention, preparedness, and recovery. Panelists touched on a wide range of topics, such as the importance of giving young people or teachers a way to report that a student seemed troubled and the need for school officials to improve communications with law-enforcement authorities.

The event’s sponsors, the U.S. departments of Education and Justice, apparently had not selected a panelist to talk specifically about how to keep guns out of the hands of...