Pandering To Fears Of School Violence

There's a school violence expert on the PBS NewsHour right now pointing out that school violence is, despite all current appearances, actually on the decline -- and that if we created a category for violent incidents in restaurants, then we'd probably think we had a "restaurant violence" problem.

Apparently unconcerned about the growing problem of restaurant violence (but very concerned about the upcoming elections), the Bush administration announced that will host a conference next week to discuss the recent string of school violence across the country (White House plans conference on school violence Houston Chronicle).

UPDATE: This San Diego Tribune article points out that the White House has repeatedly tried to eliminate school safety funding from the federal budget. Oops. Hope no one brings that up at the conference. It's hard to pander out of both sides of your mouth.

UPDATE 2: The Education Wonks take it all more seriously, as maybe they should.