The sixth annual Summit on Substance Abuse, Mental Health, and School Safety and Violence is a three-day event sponsored by the Georgia Council on Substance Abuse.
The keynote speaker Monday was Kevin Jennings, the Assistant Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. Jennings says Georgia, like a lot of states, is struggling with the issue of bullying and violence in schools. According to Jennings, "We have to first make sure kids feel safe in school and that they're able to focus on learning while they're there. Once we do that then we can worry about the reading, writing and arithmetic. But if we don't first teach respect, we're never going to get to the other three R's."
Betty McBride is among those in attendance at the summit. She is the Director of Guidance Services and the Safe and Drug Free Schools Program for the Muscogee County School District. McBride agrees with Jennings about the prevalence of bullying in schools. McBride told News Three, "We want to make sure that the parents know that we are preparing our educators to deal with it, to address it, and to investigate it." McBride says the school system is planning a special training session on March 14th and 15th for school administrators and counselors to address bullying.
The summit at Callaway Gardens runs through Wednesday at noon.
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