For Immediate Release: January 17, 2013

Contact: Nathan Diament, 202-513-6494

Today, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America – the nation’s largest Orthodox Jewish umbrella organization — commended the President’s plan for new measures to reduce gun violence and increase school safety in the United States, in the wake of the tragic events last month in Newtown, CT.

Among the proposals in the new initiative to make schools safer, the federal government would help cover the cost of 1,000 new “School Resource Officers.”  The program will provide federal funding to local police departments to hire the new personnel. Police departments will then partner with local schools to place the new officers with the students who need them most.

The Orthodox Union has been informed by The White House that the funding proposal may be used to place the new officers in Jewish and other nonpublic schools to provide security, counseling, and safety education.

Nathan Diament, the Union’s executive director for public policy, commended President Obama’s proposal stating:

The Orthodox Union supports common sense measures to reduce gun violence – including banning certain sophisticated attack weapons.  The Orthodox Union also strongly stands for the principle that safety and security measures for schools must protect all schools and all children from harm — whether they attend public, private or parochial schools.  We commend President Obama for proposing a plan that contains this fundamental principle of fairness.  We will work with the Administration and Congress – as well as Governors and state legislatures — to ensure this principle applies to any school safety efforts.

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