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Safety Law News for 8/1/12

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  • A kindergarten teacher ordered twenty-four students to line up and hit a six-year-old boy, who was also one of her students. She said he was a bully and needed to learn a lesson, but she is now on paid administrative leave.
  • After a third grade boy was accused of stealing $20, a female assistant principal strip searched him. The money was not in the boy’s clothing, and now, his mother says that educators went too far.
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Safety Law News for 7/30/12

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  •  Performance-enhancing Adderall is now a routine drug for students across the nation, according to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. One student calls it the drug for “good kids,” as many high school students turn to Adderall under the pressure of qualifying for Ivy League schools.
  •  When educators smelled alcohol and saw “some unusual behavior,” during a graduation rehearsal, the school and police administered Breathalyzers to every one of the 74 graduating seniors. The community is split over whether educators made the right decision: some parents are grateful, others are considering a lawsuit.
  •  Michigan’s State Board of Education is asking schools to reconsider zero tolerance policies that go beyond the law’s minimum requirements. Sheriff Michael Bouchard, previously a state senator, says he appreciates the desire to seek alternative punishments—and that, at the same time, “the first and primary duty is to have a safe school environment.”
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Safety Law News for 7/27/12

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  • A 15-year-old boy may need reconstructive plastic surgery after being attacked at school. His father says that educators knew of other fights in which this student had to defend himself. The principal says that educators would have acted if the victim had “reported any problems with the aggressor.”
  • Educators recognize that the internet has changed student-on-teacher bullying, as they discuss what they can do and where they are limited.
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Safety Law News for 7/24/12

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  • After two student suicides, Florida educators say that they stop bullying in its earliest stages, while families suggest that the schools are actually rife with peer-on-peer harassment.
  • A 17-year-old student says in a formal letter that the day before canine drug searches occur, teachers warn students that the searches are coming. The school may be drug free “on paper,” he says, but the real drug availability is “unbelievable.”
  • Tattoos and body piercings may soon be the norm in a Nebraska school district, where the school board is preparing to vote on tattoos and piercings that do not pose “a distraction to the educational process.” It may also permit personal computers, iPads, and cell phones at school, if students use them for instructional purposes.
  • School uniforms will not be required in a Massachusetts school, so educators will instead enforce a stricter dress code. Clothing loans—and clothing for sale in the bookstore—will help violators return to class quickly.
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Safety Law News for 7/20/12

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  • Still illegal: marijuana incidents hold about steady in Indiana, but SROs and judges say that families are more accepting of the drug—and that marijuana abuse is increasingly an intergenerational affair.
  • Early introduction: middle school students chose a name for Jaxx the German Shepherd puppy—and, once he is trained, their new canine friend will become part of the law enforcement team at their Connecticut school.