NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL VIOLENCE PREVENTION TO BE HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC OCTOBER 27-29

           WASHINGTON – Special initiatives to prevent or reduce the incidence of school violence will be the focus of a national conference to be held at the Wyndham Washington DC Hotel on October 27-29, 2004.

            The Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence, a not for profit, non-partisan center established by Congress in 1997, will bring together educators, doctors,  psychologists, parents, researchers, public officials and students to discuss what works to prevent violence in our schools. The group will examine the latest research on topics such as bullying, school bus safety, alternative education, No Child Left Behind legislative mandates and gangs. 

            “School violence is a problem that impacts us all, and the timing and need for this conference couldn’t be more critical,” said Dr. Beverly Glenn, executive director of the Hamilton Fish Institute on School and Community Violence. “In fact, statistics released in July by the Centers for Disease Control show that increasing numbers of students are simply skipping school to avoid the violence in their hallways, lunchrooms, locker rooms and classrooms.

            “Our main objective is to share information on innovative programs and new data that could be helpful to school administrators, teachers and parents in creating persistently safe schools,” added Glenn.  “Persistently safe schools have a student enrollment of 500 students or less, rigorous academic programs for all children, a few well known and fairly administered rules of behavior, and students who are intellectually and emotionally connected to the adults who run the building.”

            The conference, appropriately entitled “Persistently Safe Schools,” is comprised of two parts.  A pre-conference on Wednesday, October 27, features the following special interest sessions:

• How Trauma Effects Learning and Impulse Control,
• Youth and Resiliency,
• Conflict Resolution and Conflict Resolution Education,
• Forum on the State of Research to Make Schools Safer, and
• Gangs and Violence in Our Schools

The main conference, Thursday and Friday, October 28 and 29, will address topics including:

• Alternative education
• Building collaborations to reduce violence in schools
• Bullying
• Gender-related issues
• Positive discipline strategies
• Issues that impact immigrant and language minority students
• School-based mental health
• School bus safety                               

Keynote speakers include:

• Deborah Prothrow-Stith, M.D., professor of public health practice and associate dean for faculty development Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health
• William Modzeleski, PhD associate deputy under secretary of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools
• Robert Barr, Ph.D., of Boise State University and one of the founders of alternative education research

In addition, at a luncheon on Friday, State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey, of Prince George’s County (MD) will be presented with the first Hamilton Fish Institute Violence Prevention Award in recognition of his extraordinary service to children, youth and communities.

The public is invited to the three-day conference, which will be held at the Wyndham Washington DC Hotel, 1400 M Street NW in Washington, DC.  The cost is $450 for open attendance to all conference events or $50 per special interest session.  Teachers and administrators are eligible to receive a $100 discount off of registration.  Registration will open at 11 a.m. on Wednesday in the hotel’s Vista Ballroom Foyer and at 7:30 a.m. on Thursday and Friday.

The Institute is funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, United States Department of Justice, to rigorously research, develop and test violence prevention strategies for schools and their communities. HFI is administered by the Institute for Education Policy Studies in The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Education and Human Development.

For press credentialing, contact Allison Seale at (818) 314-3661. For more information regarding the conference and registration, call Lori McGee at the Hamilton Fish Institute’s main number, (202) 496-2200.  Both online registration and a downloadable conference brochure are available at the Hamilton Fish Institute Web site at: http://www.hamfish.org/conference.

- HFI -