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2000 SESSION

004414948
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 46
Offered January 17, 2000
Requesting the Department of Education to study the feasibility and appropriateness of installing two-way telecommunication systems in public school classrooms.
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Patrons-- Tata, Ingram, Purkey, Reid, Stump and Tate; Senators: Barry, Edwards, Hawkins, Norment, Puckett, Reynolds and Watkins
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Referred to Committee on Rules
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WHEREAS, as media headlines report numerous episodes of school violence nationwide, measures addressing school safety and student discipline have received renewed scrutiny across the country; and

WHEREAS, ensuring safety and a school environment conducive to learning has been a continuing concern to the Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, evidencing the Commonwealth's commitment to school safety are a number of existing statutory initiatives, such as school crime lines, safety audits, school resource officers, and required emergency management plans; and

WHEREAS, integral to many effective school safety initiatives is the availability of two-way communications for individual classrooms; and

WHEREAS, in its 1992 report, Violence in Schools, the Education Summit recommended that school division planning for construction and renovation "include appropriate telecommunication systems" to improve school security; and

WHEREAS, Standard 6 of the Standards of Quality requires the development of a statewide six-year improvement plan by the Board of Education, divisionwide six-year improvement plans, and biennial plans by individual schools, and such plans might appropriately address infrastructural and telecommunications needs; and

WHEREAS, installation of a comprehensive system of two-way telecommunications in Virginia's public school classrooms requires careful consideration of a number of infrastructure, financial, and policy issues; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the Department of Education be requested to study the feasibility and appropriateness of installing two-way telecommunication systems in public school classrooms. In conducting its study, the Department shall, among other things, (i) examine classroom telecommunication systems in other states; (ii) determine the availability of similar systems in the Commonwealth's public schools; (iii) review current infrastructure and fiscal needs regarding such systems in Virginia's public schools; (iv) consider ways in which the installation of such systems might be appropriately incorporated within school, division, and statewide planning; and (v) develop a plan for the implementation of any recommended actions regarding the statewide installation of such systems in the Commonwealth's public school classrooms.

All agencies of the Commonwealth shall provide assistance to the Department for this study, upon request.

The Department shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 2001 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents.