Archive for the ‘School Safety News’ Category
Tennage boy set on fire by 5 classmates
Jeremy Jarvis, left, and his brother Denver are among five teenagers charged in the attack.
Mom of teen set on fire: ‘This violence has to stop’
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The mother of a South Florida teenager who authorities say was set on fire by five classmates made an emotional plea this morning.
“This violence has to stop,” Valerie Brewer said on NBC’s “Today” show this morning. “Kids in schools are stabbing each other. What they did to my son, we have to stop this. Our children are our future.”
Michael Brewer was attacked at a Deerfield Beach apartment complex Monday afternoon. Authorities say five teenagers called him a snitch, then poured rubbing alcohol on the 15-year-old and set him on fire.
Brewer’s troubles started when 15-year-old Matthew Bent gave him a video game and expected him to pay $40 for it, Broward County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jim Leljedal. Brewer never paid for the game, so Bent tried to steal a $500 custom bike that belonged to Brewer’s father, Leljedal said.
Brewer called authorities over the weekend and Bent was arrested, then released Monday. Valerie Brewer said her son was terrified to go to his middle school Monday.
“I called the school resource office, and we set up an appointment for the next morning to talk to her about getting a plan to keep him safe, and it was too late,” Brewer said, her voice choking.
Michael Brewer told deputies that while he was sitting by the apartment’s swimming pool, he was splashed with rubbing alcohol and set ablaze.
click here to view full article
Crimes among teens are becoming more violent. This bizarre incident could have been prevented. It is a shame that the life of a teenager was jeopardized due to an insignificant issue among classmates that could have easily been resolved.
Michael Brewer’s mother made an emotional plea to stop violence among teens. It is crucial to provide children and teens with the necessary tools to successfully resolve problems of bullying and violence. Brewer did the right thing by reporting the incidents that lead to the attacks.
Many students fear peer retaliation and consequently refuse to report things they know.SchoolTipline is working hard to engage students in their program. It is important to create a safe environment in schools in order to prevent violent incidents such as this one.
16-year old honor student beaten to death
| Rev. Jackson: teen violence a ’state of emergency’
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| CHICAGO (WBBM) - Rev. Jesse Jackson says there’s a “state of emergency” in Chicago over the issue of students trying to travel safely across neighborhood lines to the schools they attend.
He highlighted that this morning by taking a yellow school bus from the Altgeld Gardens housing development to Fenger High School, the school 16-year old honor student Derrion Albert attended before being beaten to death recently on his way home. Rev. Jackson says students from Altgeld Gardens should not have to travel 4 1/2 miles away to Fenger High School when Carver Military Academy is a five minute walk from their homes. Carver is one of the city’s selective enrollment schools like Whitney Young, Payton, and North Side Prep. Rev. Jackson says that, if students must be bussed, they should be bussed “up” to Payton or Nequa Valley (in Naperville), “not over”. The Operation PUSH leader suggests, in the meantime, that parents from Altgeld Gardens be hired to safely ensure student safety to and from school. Click here to view full article
SchoolTipline sends its condolences to the family of Derrion Albert. It is a shame that the life of Derrion had to end like this. It is important to ensure the safety of children, not only during school hours, but after school. SchoolTipline applauds Rev. Jackson for making a difference in the lives of children in Chicago. Safety should be the number one priority and SchoolTipline is making a difference by creating a safe, two-way communication where students can anonymously report bullying, drug abuse and violence in schools.
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Football Star Becomes a Hero
Kaleb Eulls, star football player and hero
This story from WTHR.com:
“More than 20 students are safe today thanks to the quick work of a star football player. Kaleb Eulls saved the day when police say a 14-year-old pulled out a loaded gun on the bus.
Grainy video from the school bus camera shows the terrifying moments. The girl yells as she swings the gun. The other students are terrified screams.
It happened Monday morning in Yazoo County, Mississippi. The bus was filled with students of all ages. Police say one of them, a 14-year-old girl who was tired of being picked on, pulled out a .38 caliber gun.
In the midst of the panic, another student, star quarterback and defensive end Kaleb Eulls, did what he does best.
“He tackled her and saved no telling how many lives as a result,” said the sheriff.
The senior may be well known in the area on the football field, but today he is better known as a hero.”
(For entire article click here.)
SchoolTipline applauds the bravery of Kaleb Eulls. The action that Eulls took saved the lives of those on the bus.
The girl who carried the weapon is now in jail and may be tried as an adult. This incident cannot be taken lightly. Bullying is a serious issue and had it not taken place in this girl’s life this event may have been avoided. It is important that there is an open culture of communication between faculty and students so that cases like this can be prevent.
CA youth attacks school
Teacher, Kennet Santana, who restrained the youth attacking Hillsdale High School.
“The 17-year-old held in the pipe bomb attack on a San Mateo high school was a “techno-wizard” who told his family he was building model rockets as he assembled his explosive devices from material he bought over the Internet, authorities said Tuesday.
Angry with teachers who had given him bad grades at Hillsdale High School, where he dropped out more than a year ago, and smarting over how other students there had treated him, the youth began planning the attack months ago, said law enforcement sources briefed on the interrogation of the boy.
On Monday, he walked onto the campus with 10 pipe bombs strapped to his vest and toting a chain saw in a violin case and a “martial arts-style” sword with a 2-foot blade, authorities said. He set off two bombs before faculty members wrestled him to the ground. No one was injured.
“It was a cold-blooded plan of execution,” San Mateo Police Chief Susan Manheimer said at a news conference Tuesday. The teenager’s goal, she said, was to cause “mass casualties.”
“He was interested in hurting and maiming many people,” Manheimer said, to make up for “perceived wrongs.”
The chain saw, according to one source, was intended to “differentiate his attack” from other acts of school violence over the years.”
(For complete article click here.)
SchoolTipline is relieved that no one was injured in the attack on Hillsdale High School. SchoolTipline also applauds Kennet Santana, the teacher who restrained the student, for his heroic act.
It is sad to see that today’s youth are capable of these acts of violence. Faculty, students and parents need to be aware of what is going on at the school to help increase safety. It is SchoolTipline’s hope that students will report any plans like these to administrators to prevent tragedy.
Back-to-School Safety Tips
With the new school year fast approaching everyone is preparing. Parents and students are buying school supplies. While teachers and administrators are finishing up lesson plans a schedules. They are many things that have to be done to be prepared for back to school. There are also several things that should be considered to increase safety for the new school year. The following tips come from Universal Protection Service.
- Walking to and from school: map out the route your child will take and know who lives along it. While you don’t have to know every house owner, it is important you research for any possible sexual predators that may live in the area. Also advise your children to stay on the preselected path and avoid any parks, alleys, fields, etc., where there aren’t a lot of people around. Find out beforehand if there will be crossing guards at the intersections, and arrange for neighborhood children to walk together. Ensure your child knows their address and phone number.
- Riding a bike or scooter: make sure they know and obey the traffic laws and wear proper safety equipment. Bike helmets, sturdy shoes and a backpack that isn’t overloaded will all help make the trip easier and safer for your little one.
- If you plan on driving your child to school, make sure you see them enter the school yard or building before you leave.
- If your child will be taking the bus, instruct them to arrive at the stop early, stay out of the street while waiting and always keep themselves visible to the bus driver.
- Dealing with bullies: teach your child to stand tall, remain calm and walk away from difficult confrontations; if you suspect your child is being bullied, visit the school immediately and explain the situation to the principal.
- Playground safety: check out the equipment your child will be playing on and report any potential hazards. Remove the drawstrings from around the neck of clothing; any drawstrings at the waist or bottom of a garment should be trimmed to no more than three inches long.
- “Latchkey” kids need strict rules in place while they’re home alone: set a check-in time for them to call and let you know they made it home, and make sure they understand to keep the doors locked once they’re inside. Additionally, you and your children should make plans beforehand for what they need to do in emergency situations, such as fires, accidents, earthquakes, etc.
(For the rest of the article click here.)
In regards to bullying, SchoolTipline encourages students and parents to contact school administrators before the problem becomes too large.
SchoolTipline encourages families to be sure they are prepared for the new school year in every way possible. The tips above will help to increase safety for students and help the new school year begin smoothly.
Anti-bullying Programs
This story from Kansas City infozine.com:
“Evidence demonstrating the long-term effects of bullying combined with high-profile incidents of school violence have led to greater support for anti-bullying initiatives. More than three-quarters of elementary and middle schools participated in anti-bullying programs in 2006, according to the National School Boards Association.
Anti-bullying efforts have focused primarily on prevention through character education programs. Rona C. Kaufman said she began infusing character education into Hannah Penn Middle School in York, Pa., soon after becoming principal in 2003.
The in-school suspension room was converted into a character education room, in which a teacher and students work together to improve attitudes. This often focuses on discussing and analyzing neighborhood problems. All students received lessons in ethical decision making and proper manners.
A curriculum focused on social and emotional development also boosts students’ academic success, Poland said.
Many speakers emphasized the need to put students at the forefront of any anti-bullying campaign. Students generally know who the bullies are and where the bullying occurs, Poland said.
Jacquelyn Andrews, 16, a junior at the Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, N.J., developed a 180-hour anti-bullying program for grades three to eight that includes activities such as drawing and writing picture books about how to form alliances against bullies. Andrews is the daughter of Rep. Robert E. Andrews, D-N.J.
And Cassady Tetsworth, 17, a senior at Northwest Guilford High School in Greensboro, N.C., and is a youth advisory board member for Students Against Violence Everywhere, said her chapter role-plays bullying situations so students know how to respond when somebody else is being bullied.
Kaufman’s efforts at character education have had a dramatic impact. Discipline referrals at Hannah Penn fell nearly two-thirds during the 2007-2008 school year, vandalism had virtually disappeared and there were fewer reports of bullying.”
(Click here for complete story.)
SchoolTipline applauds these students and schools for taking the initiative and creating anti-bullying programs.
SchoolTipline agrees that it is the involvement of students that will make an anti-bullying program successful. With the new school year approaching there needs to be an increased effort going toward these programs to help increase school safety for the new school year.
Cyber-bullying discussed at school safety meeting
Cyber-bullying discussed at school safety meeting
Philly.com
Organizers of a cyber-bullying conference in Gloucester County yesterday set the tone by showing the movie Sticks and Stones.
In it, the popular Lindsay and loner Brandon share a high school English class. Though they rarely speak to each other, they exchange text messages in class and instant messages late at night.
But when Lindsay’s boyfriend gets into her computer, he sends a humiliating picture of Brandon to the entire school. One night he even messages Brandon from Lindsay’s screen name, pretending to be her. When Brandon confesses his love, she tells him to “just disappear.”
He does. The movie ends with Brandon hanging himself from a bridge.
After the viewing, the more than 300 law enforcement officials and educators on hand talked about ways to combat the misuse of technology among students.
“The crimes that are committed by technology are not going to go away,” said Sgt. Steve LaPorta of the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office’s cyber-crimes unit. He said Internet safety concerns have grown from child predators and cyber stalking to sexting and online harassment.
The setting for the film and discussion was the third annual School Safety and Security Conference, organized by the Prosecutor’s Office and hosted by six other county prosecutors, including those from Camden and Burlington.
In the 10 years since the Columbine shootings, the development of new technologies - e-mail, texting, instant messaging - “has really presented a challenge to all of us,” said Gloucester County School Superintendent Mark Stanwood.
(click here to view full article)
Ciberbullying is is a serious issue that should not be overlooked. Teens are taking advantage of technology to continue bullying after school. This type of depersonalized bullying can be more harmful than verbal abuse to a victim. When a teen is in front of a screen, it is easier to say things that are more hurtful than spoken words. In cyberspace there is no limit, you can be whoever you want to be.
SchoolTipline provides students with the necessary tools to report any type of bullying. It is important to empower students who are willing to help stop bullies at their schools.
Importance of bullying education
This article from www.news.com.au:
“AS 14-year-old Chanelle Rae is laid to rest in Highton today, another teenager has reflected on the frightening fact she could have met the same fate.
Year Nine student Sarah (not her real name) tried to kill herself about one month ago.
Like Chanelle, who took her own life last week, Sarah was the victim of school bullying - in person and on the internet.
She attempted suicide following an extended campaign of bullying at the hands of schoolmates and someone who hacked into her Facebook and MSN Messenger accounts and, pretending to be her, posted nasty messages to others.
“I lost so many friends through that,” Sarah told AAP.
“When I heard about this story (Chanelle’s suicide) it really scared me,” Sarah said.
“It was like thinking that I could have been that girl.”
Sarah hopes by telling her story she can help other young people like her, who are being bullied and don’t know how to cope.
“I think the thing I have really learnt to understand now is that with every bad thing comes a good thing,” she said.”
(For complete story click here.)
SchoolTipline sends its condolences to the family of Chanelle Rae at this difficult time.
SchoolTipline hopes students realize there are options when they are victims of bullying. Talking with parents and teachers helps prevent bullying and provide a peaceful solution to the problem. Education about what to do when faced with a bully is important to help prevent tragedies like this one.
Bully Boot Camp a Good Idea?
The following article comes from couriermail.com.au.
BULLY “boot camps” should be introduced to crack down on rising levels of violence in Queensland schools, says a Gold Coast litigation lawyer.
Bruce Simmonds said the Bligh Government should consider setting up reform schools or boot camps to deal with the worst bullies, or risk even higher compensation claims.
The Gold Coast compensation lawyer said it was time for “drastic measures” because schools were fighting a losing battle. There was too much focus on trying to change the attitudes of bullies and not enough focus on their victims.
“What the state needs to do is bring forward the spectre of reform schools or boot camps, and enact tougher legislation which forcibly removes violent children from school and places them in a reform school environment,” Mr Simmonds said.
“This way their victims can study at school in peace, which is their right.
“The bullies have a wake-up call and the knowledge their conduct will not be tolerated.”
His call follows new figures showing state school litigation payouts for student injuries, many of them caused by violence or bullying, have tripled.
State school suspensions and expulsions have also increased by more than 20 per cent over the past two years. Last year more than 58,000 students were disciplined.
“The schools know its happening and they are fighting a losing battle to control or stop it,” Mr Simmonds said.
Opposition education spokesman Bruce Flegg said boot camps had “some merit” but military-style reform schools were not the answer.
To read full article, click here.
SchoolTipline recognizes the need to engage students in the battle against bullying. It is important to have bullies turned over to school officials and counselors, who can evaluate each unique situation and discipline accordingly. SchoolTipline can be utilized by each school to fit its specific needs, whether it’s main focus is to end bullying or school crimes or both. This method is likely to be much more effective than a bullying boot camp. Unless, of course, that method is what the parents and school administrators see fit.
Congress Taking New Anti-Bullying Laws Seriously
By Lauren Barack — School Library Journal, 7/20/2009
Students, educators, and a parent whose son committed suicide after a year of bullying recentyl testified before Congress urging the federal government to intervene.
“I think it’s important to have zero tolerance against bullying,” says Cassady Tetsworth, a 12th-grader and vice chair of the National Youth Advisory Board for the nonprofit Students Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE), testifying before House Subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities. “A federal law would make it more concrete, and not just something our school system wants us to do.”
Representative Linda Sánchez (D-Lakewood), who is passionate about this issue, agrees. She has sponsored the Safe Kids Agenda, several bills wending their way through Capitol Hill, including the State School Improvement Act—a bill that will require schools to launch antiharassment programs, and report any bullying.
“It’s important not to watch bullying happen and just be a bystander,” says Tetsworth. “If you say, ‘Hey that’s not cool,’ it sounds better coming from a peer. It’s the power of positive peer influence.”
But while that kind of group pressure works well in person, it does little when a student is faced with an anonymous bully online—whether that bully is a peer, or even an adult. An infamous case involves Lori Drew, a Missouri mother acquitted this month for her alleged role in the cyber-bullying of her daughter’s friend 13-year-old Megan Meier, who eventually committed suicide in 2006.
That incident led Sanchez’s to propose another bill named for the teen, the Megan Meier Cyber-bullying Prevention Act, which would set a prison term of two-years for anyone using electronic means to bully.
“In older days, school yard bullies harassed kids for their lunch money, but children could still come home and feel safe,” says Sánchez. “With cyberbullying it can come 24 hours a day, seven days a week and off school grounds.”
To read full article, click here.
When students and school administrators are proactive in the fight against bullying, their voices are heard. Similar to on school grounds, when peers stand up to bullies, bullying behaviors become less rampant. However, now it’s equally important to combat bullying off campus.
Lawmakers need to be made aware of the seriousness of cyber-bullying and the effects it has on students everywhere.
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