GOVERNOR, HHS SECRETARY DISCUSS ISSUES RAISED BY VIRGINIA TECH TRAGEDY
Gov. Joe Manchin and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt met today as part of a review of the broader questions raised by the Virginia Tech tragedy. They met with state and local leaders, educators, mental health experts and law enforcement officials to discuss what can be learned from this tragedy during a meeting at Northern Community College in Wheeling.
President Bush has asked Secretary Leavitt and other cabinet officials to travel across America and hold meetings to discuss the issues raised by the Virginia Tech tragedy. Once this process has been completed, Secretary Leavitt will work with Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to summarize the issues raised and report to the President within 30 days.
Manchin said a tragedy of the scale at Virginia Tech requires an examination of policies and procedures from a number of perspectives, including mental health services, education and law enforcement. "Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with those directly affected by last week's violence," he said. "What happened is devastating and we must quickly begin to explore ways to prevent it from happening again."
"The pain of this tragedy is felt throughout this nation and our hearts and prayers go out to the victims' families, friends and the entire Virginia Tech community," HHS Secretary Leavitt said. "While our review will not answer all the questions or solve all the problems, we hope to frame up a series of issues as part of a thoughtful, national dialogue and determine where the federal government can play a role in helping states and communities avoid such tragedies in the future."
Manchin and Leavitt were joined by representatives of West Virginia higher education, public schools, mental health agencies and law enforcement for the forum.
Secretaries Leavitt and Spellings and Attorney General Gonzales will travel separately to convene meetings in states starting April 26. Over the next few weeks, one of the officials is expected to travel to states such as Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Tennessee, Texas and California. In many of these states, similar tragedies have occurred and the lessons learned from those events will provide valuable input for this review. Administration officials will also meet with members of Virginia Governor Kaine's commission which is conducting an in-depth investigation of this tragedy from the state's perspective.