Articles in the School Security category

Preventing tragedy by listening to kids

Twice in the last week, authorities say they prevented mass shootings in schools. The first is in Riverton, Kan., where five teenage boys fully intended to go on a shooting spree at their high school but were stopped after one of them discussed the plot on a Web site, law enforcement and school officials said.

The latest is in a small town near Anchorage, Alaska, where six seventh-graders suspected of plotting a deadly attack on a school were arrested this weekend. Nine other seventh-graders also were suspended in possible connection with the elaborate scheme to kill faculty and classmates using guns and knives at the school, where about 500 sixth- through eighth-graders have four weeks until summer vacation, AP reports. The name of the school (really) is North Pole Middle School, and is about 14 miles southeast of Fairbanks. The group wanted to seek revenge for being picked on, the town’s police chief said.

What led to these nick-of-time arrrests?

In Kansas, authorities were alerted to threats on the Web site myspace.com. That quickly led to the identification of the five suspects and the recovery of an undisclosed number of weapons at the home of one of the suspects. In Alaska, a student told a parent about threats overheard at school last Monday, the day before the shootings were to occur. USA Today has updated info here.

So something is working. Some kids are talking to parents, and some authorities are slowly waking up to the reality of how much of kids’ lives are now lived on the Internet. There likely are other examples of prevented tragedies like this across the country that have not made the news. Listening to kids is more important than ever.

admin|April 24th, 2006|Categories: Boardbuzz, School Boards, School Security|

Kids who march

Increasingly, students across the country are deciding that their immediate participation is required in the hot political issue of the moment. And that participation requires and empowers them to walk out of class, to the nearest march or demonstration, they believe, sometimes with faculty leading the way. Schools seem powerless or afraid to do anything about it. The liability concerns here alone would seem to make this an important issue for school boards to confront in a serious way.

For instance: Johnny walks out of class to march in today’s demonstration. On his way, he is struck by a car. In fact, that particular scenario was precisely in the minds of some school officials in California this week. Legal Clips summmarizes the L.A. Times: “City of Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton notes that about 500 students walked out onto the busy Harbor Freeway as part of the protest. ‘That’s not free speech, that’s insanity,’ says the chief.”

The discussion around these issues too often seems stuck in confusion mode. Or denial mode. Principals and school district leaders often seem paralyzed. What should school policy look like in this area? And who has the courage to enforce it? Students walked out of class in Northern Virginia every day this week objecting to a U.S. House of Representatives bill on immigration reform. More are planned for today. An example of the confusion, from today’s Washington Post here:

“Some Fairfax students said they had heard students with unexcused absences could face suspension or, for organizers, expulsion. Fairfax schools spokesman Paul Regnier said it was too early to know what the punishments would be.”

Students in Iowa, Tucson, and Houston marched as well. One school district in Texas is promising discipline for students who walked out of school this week to march.

Legal Clips links to this letter (pdf) to parents from Long Beach Unified School District from this week. It is an intriguing read, to say the least. What do you think?

UPDATE: A student at a demonstration today in Northern Virginia was stabbed, the Washington Post reports.

admin|March 31st, 2006|Categories: Boardbuzz, School Boards, School Law, School Security|

Access to national crime data common sense

The House recently passed a bill, Children’s Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act, that would give the nation’s 15,000 school districts access to the national criminal database maintained by the FBI when conducting background checks of job candidates.

This article in Ed Week noted that currently school officials in 21 states do not have access to the national data and primarily rely on state data. NSBA senior attorney Naomi Gittins pointed out that the House bill makes sense because teachers and staff move across state lines, and when districts are restricted “to only using their state crime databases, they may be missing a lot of information.”

Now, let’s hope the Senate acts quickly on the bill.

admin|March 23rd, 2006|Categories: Boardbuzz, School Security|

Pushing back against video game bullies

A school board member in Miami-Dade County, Florida, is taking on the video gamers by fighting back against a new game that glorifies bullying in schools. Designed by Rockstar, the same company that brought consumers the hugely popular Grand Theft Auto game, Bully features a thuggish teenager in prep-school clothes terrorizing other students. Video images shown on this morning’s Today show included the bully kicking another student in the back, fistfighting, firing a slingshot, and holding a student’s head over a toilet. The Miami Herald reports:

“This game is built entirely around bullies and is staged in a school — it’s the antithesis of everything we’re trying to promote,” said School Board member Frank BolaÃ?±os, who introduced a resolution urging Rockstar not to release Bully, asking local merchants not to sell it and asking parents not to buy it.

A board committee unanimously approved his resolution Thursday, and the full board is expected to vote Wednesday. If it’s approved, Miami-Dade’s would be the first major school system in the country to take sides against Bully, according to Jack Thompson, a Coral Gables attorney.

Is it time school boards take on this issue?

admin|March 14th, 2006|Categories: Boardbuzz, School Security|

Drinking at school events: A sobering tale

Keeping alcohol out of school events continues to be a big challenge for many schools. Powerful article here from Michigan about a judge who happens to be one tough opponent for students who get caught drinking at the prom. The story is about what happens when several of those students fail to take the judge seriously. Big mistake. Coverage in the Detroit Free Press includes reader comments. They offer a fascinating look at the culture of underage drinking today, with its many defenders. Worthy reading.

admin|January 27th, 2006|Categories: Boardbuzz, School Security|

Cheerleader health takes a tumble

Research indicates cheerleading injuries more than doubled from 1990 through 2002, while participation grew just 18 percent over the same period, reports a study published Tuesday in the offical journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. AP here. The study estimates 208,800 young people ages 5 to 18 were treated at U.S. hospitals for cheerleading-related injures during the 13-year period. Most of the injuries were suffered by 12- to 17-year-olds; nearly 40 percent were leg, ankle, and foot injuries.

The study recommends that coaches get professional safety training and that high schools and cheerleading associations adopt uniform safety procedures and also develop a national database for injuries. That is something the Memphis-based American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Advisors has been advocating for several years, AP reports.

admin|January 4th, 2006|Categories: Boardbuzz, School Security, Wellness|
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