The residents of Sandy Hook deserve privacy. Their fear and grief should be private and the news media does not demonstrate decency or respect in these situations. You can simply report "The children and teachers of Sandy Hook returned to school today. Our hearts are with them." If you need drama you can have panels of experts or adults who have faced this situation explain what they must be going through. If you show pictures or news footage or interviews of kids on their first day/week back we will boycott your show and network. Decency needs to return to mainstream media.

High School should be reformed so that it helps students find what they are truly interested in. Currently, schools focus too much on preparing their students to take standardized tests. High school becomes an unrelenting routine of studying subjects in which you have no interest and dealing with peers with whom you have little in common, all the while experiencing the stresses of puberty. To relieve these tensions, I propose that students be allowed to set the pace at which they complete the high school curriculum, perhaps extending it over a fifth year. Students should be able to explore a range of subjects, pursue extracurricular activities, take some free time, and discover their true interests and passions. Also, they should be able to go to school just to attend classes without being stuck there for the entire school day.

We would like to have a security person at each school entrance for the duration of the school day with a metal detecting wand or device to ensure no one with concealed weapons can gain entry to the main office of any school in the district.

Allowing qualified CWP holders to carry a gun on school grounds.

Gauraunteed Child Safety in EVERY classroom.

Dear Mr. President, In the recent years, the Arts have been eliminated from schools, as Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, and better test scores seem to be the primary focus. While parents are forced to work extra jobs, or have taken pay cuts; the elimination of these programs from schools due to budget cuts, have encouraged the children will grow up with limited creativity, innovation, and problem solving skills. The arts promote, develop,encourage, and provide a safe, exploring experience for children to practice skills that are vital to the rest of their education. Skills like science and math will be effected because of their difficulty in solving complex problems, as they will struggle with the ability to creatively think out the answers. The effect of the arts (i.e., dance, theater, music, art) on children cannot be denied or ignored. Without these programs both during school and after school, the child is subjected to limited activities, primarily video games (mostly promoting violence), and watching TV, (primarily action and violent shows.) Hours of this type of violence educates our children to become accustom and accept violence. There is too much violence being caused by teens and young adults. Children and teens need to become more involved in programs that demonstrate positive support and supervision, and encourage the children to think creatively. This should help them to pursue a life and develop into an adult who is bright, educated, innovative, and cultured.

I am a teacher and I know full well the complete lack of security present in most and particularly elementary schools bec the few guards present im schools are there to break up fights not to protect the children. Most schools are easily entered and only guarded by nonunion untrained personnel on a temp basis. Aren't out children our most valuable possesions? We collect them all together with no protection everyday not counting us teachers who have been faced with ppl who come off the streets at all times of the day. This ks nothing new. I have never been in a properly secured school. Shouldnt the govnt be spending as much money protecting ut schools as they spend checking out luggage at an airport?

Keeping guns out of our schools and keeping our children safe.

We need to stop this school shootings. I feel that mental illness in teens and young adolescents goes untreated. Parents, family members and friends of mentally ill or suffering children need to be educated on their behaviors and what to look for.

in the wake of recent mass shootings in our public schools i am not asking for gun control because guns do not kill, the people who use them do, but for security measures to be heightened our Public schools on a state level(armed guards) or on federal level (homeland security efforts)

Let your state representatives know that you support whole child education in our schools to prevent tragedies such as Sandy Hook Elementary. Give us the choice in deciding to raise our children as a village instead of preventing us from doing so with unyielding and unfair tax caps on education while more and more unfunded mandates rain down upon schools.

As we all grieve and mourn the loss from today's tragedy that took place in Newton, CT, I can't help but think of why the public places we must utilize to make a living and for our children to recieve an education are not required to have a certain level or system for their protection. We not only need The White House or Congress to pay attention to gun laws, but to implement a system or demand public places such as schools AND daycare centers to put something in place where people aren't able to have access to these places that shouldn't have it. Places such as banks and The White House ensures they have no trespassers; should this not be the same for our children whom rely on us to protect them. Please sign this petition requesting Congress to assist with this problem of inadequate protection in our schools and daycare facilities.