It is asked that the NLO’s make an effort to patrol the plazas between 1500-1630 hours as they are able, thus making their presence known to the children.  The SRO’s should, as they are able, and specifically after dismissal procedures check their surrounding school areas such as these plazas to ensure that we do not have potential safety issues needing to be addressed.

Thanks for your help!

Three of the students are football players at Lake Gibson High School. One will be named player of the year by the Ledger. You can read the Ledger article here the Tampa Tribune article here, ABC Action News here, BayNews 9 here, Jacksonville News here, and the St. Augustine News here.

Our own Polk County School Board offers means for parents to protect their children’s information from being released against their wishes.  They offer a Directory Information Opt-Out form to keep from disclosing a child’s educational records and directory information to anyone not allowed by law (including military recruiters and other schools) without direct consent. They also offer a Student Image and Technology Opt-Out form to prevent a child’s image or information  from being photographed or video taped by the school. The school form states they information could be blocked from release in a yearbook, website, displayed school work, or in any other manner.  It also allows for a parent to refuse to  allow their child access to the PCSB computer systems.

With the influx of identity thefts, past privacy breaches,  and fraud, who could blame a parent for being too cautious these days?

Other random 10/23/2009 trivia: it is the 296th day of the year and falls during the 43rd week of the year; it is National Mole Day (no kidding), and the birthdays of Weird Al Yankovic, Johnny Carson, and Michael Crichton; for all you science geeks, the sun rises at 7:34 a.m. and sets at 6:52 p.m., giving you 11 hours and 18 minutes of daylight.

You’re welcome.

Several media outlets said the officer shot the student. Police and school officials declined to comment on whether shots were fired.

The 16-year-old boy asked to speak with the officer at Carolina Forest High School in Conway, then pulled a knife after the two went into an office, Horry County schools spokeswoman Teal Britton said.

The student and the officer fought briefly and both were taken to Conway Medical Center.

The student died about three hours later at the hospital, while the officer was treated in the emergency room and was in good condition, hospital spokeswoman Julie Rajotte said.

No students saw the altercation, and school went on as scheduled, Britton said. But a number of parents went ahead and pulled their children out for the day.

Student Amber Lukowski told WBTW-TV that the fight happened not far from her classroom.

“We all thought there was a gunman on campus. We kept hearing stuff outside and we thought there was someone in our hall,” she told the TV station. “One of the girls in my class was terrified and had to go hide under the teacher’s desk.”

The school has seen violence before. In June 2006, 18-year-old student Natalia Holmes was fatally stabbed 15 times by her estranged boyfriend in the parking lot. Edwin Brown pleaded guilty to murder and is serving a life sentence.

The school, about 10 miles northwest of Myrtle Beach, has about 2,000 students, according to its Web site.

10/23/2009 – Teacher work day; students are off

11/10/2009 – Report cards go out (expect tears and sadness from some)

11/23-27/2009 – Thanksgiving holidays (no school)

Baker Act Training, Human Trafficking, Anti-Terrorism Intelligence Awareness, Ethical Issues & Decisions In Law Enforcement, FEMA Independent Studies (lots of courses available for free!)

That should keep you busy for a while.

According to the story…

A Swiss Army-type combination of fork, spoon, bottle opener and knife, the tool has been Zachary’s favorite ever since he got it to take on Cub Scout camping expeditions. “He eats dinner with it, breakfast and everything else, so it never occurred to him that this would have been something wrong to do,” the 6-year-old’s mother, Debbie Christie, told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Tuesday from Newark, Del.

It looks like the school board may change it’s policy to give administrators and teachers the “freedom to use their commonsense when it’s obvious that a child presents no danger”. The child has already been suspended from school for 5 days and is now home schooled for the time being. There is a website asking the public to support his plight. UPDATE: His 45 day suspension was waived and the policy was quickly changed.

Question for the readers: Which is best? Mandatory punishment or Administrative discretion?