• In Missouri, officials in the Portageville School District are once again teaching students the drug abuse resistance education program known as DARE. The program is being brought back because officials believe “it builds a bridge between the police and the community. The information that we teach [students] at DARE they go and share it with their parents.”
• In Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Senate approved HB 2336, which would give districts the right to adopt policies that would allow school workers to carry guns.
• In Alabama, officials in Mobile County are responding to concerns that new school discipline policies are not working. The claim has been made that teachers are quitting their jobs because of unruly students.
• In Georgia, Fulton County School District officials find themselves on the defensive as parents complain about fights and other disruptions in the schools. The problems are attributable to the school discipline policies, which parents say are resulting in, “the same kids fighting all the time…the students get suspended, come back to school and fight again.”