School Safety Issues

School Safety

Baseball Coach — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:36:10 GMT

We are focusing so much time, money and attention on the problems abroad when we should really consider funding school safety programs right here in the United States. I agree with the war effort against terrorists and experts say that if we don't take the fight to them... then they will likely strike in our heartland at the churches and schools. But - how about taking this a step further and spend a little federal funding to begin a mandatory school security project in our public systems. For a fraction of what we are spending in Iraq and Afghanistan, our legislature could create a state mandated school security or police force for all public schools, (some are already in place). Hire retired military or law enforcement personnel to keep our children safe and allow the teachers a safe environment in which to work! I'm tired of hearing about the school violence and nothing is really done about it! "No child left behind" was a good initiative with good intent but how about "no child left scared in school." I would like to know what others think about this? I think the opposition may say that everything comes down to the almighty dollar, but we don't think twice about sinking BILLIONS to help other countries achieve a safe environment. How about our kids?

School Starting and Summer Heat

LeeAnne — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:55:20 GMT

Well, TPS goes back to school Monday, August 11. I am wondering how many inside days we will have because of the summer heat. Remember the good ol' days when we started after Labor Day? Because school is starting, several pools are losing their lifeguards. This means they are closing before Labor Day. No place for the kids to go and cool off.

What do you think: Should school start this early? Should we be able to send kids outside in the heat for recess? If they were at home, would they be outside? What about school sports which are practicing out in this heat? What was it like for you as a kid?

Will Rogers High School and Correctional.....

patriot1947 — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:21:53 GMT

Folks, I live in the neighborhood of Will Rogers High, and I don't know if any of you do, or have kids going there, but you all probably know by now, I am the consumate Mom and almost always on the side of the kids, right? Well, every once in awhile, I go over to the dark side, and a few days ago was a good example of one of those times. Apparently the kids at Rogers decided things were too peaceful, and tried to lively up themselves by starting a food fight in the cafeteria, it quickly escalated to a all out freaking riot and free for all, so TPD were called in to stop it, but of course what they really wanted the cops to do was kiss them all and tuck them back into their little nappies, because about 4 or 5 cops showed up, and found they couldn't control a few hundred raging teenagers, and did the only thing they could do being as outnumbered as they were, they gave the little bas***ds a face full of pepper spray. The riot then stopped with no serious injuries, other than burning eyes. Then of course as is the case in Tulsa, parents began screaming and accusing the police of "torturing" their "sweet, innocent" babies. Now, this is why our kids are basically worthless little bags of meat who will never be able to build or maintain a livable society when we oldies turn to dust. I have worked security, and laughed anytime any company offered me a job as security for a school, it is a no win situation, you are damned if you do your job, and might be sued in addition to losing your employment, if you don't do your job, they yell because of that, and you get sued for not stopping some kid from being hurt, and still lose your job, one day soon, TPD will get smart and refuse to respond to calls from schools, they are bound to figure out you are damned if you do and damned if you don't also. I think what needs to be done, is all parents who have a kid in a school must donate on day per week to serving as School Seccurity, if you don't want to serve, take your kid to another school, that way, the parents will not have to worry about their kids being mistreated, and TPD won't have to listen to these inept, ineffective, pathetic failures as parents crying about their little angels being mistreated any more. What do you all think, should parents be forced to serve as School Security to insure fair and humane treatment of their children in lieu of teaching them to respect each other and authority figures at home? Might open some parents eyes too. Don't cha think?

TPS 'Secret Police' force

Unwashed Mass — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:37:07 GMT

Rather than have regular police over schools, TPS needs people who will do a better job of keeping things hush-hush.

From the Tulsa Whirled:

Tulsa Public Schools has its own police chief now. Why? Superintendent Michael Zolkoski has publicly said he needs his own cops to maintain school order without public scrutiny.

''We have too many fights in school. I would never tell the media this, but we have a lot, a lot of fights. We've got to stop this,'' he said in 2007. Then in an apparent reference to the media, he added that he wants the district to have its own police radio frequency, ''so everybody in town doesn't race over to Edison (Preparatory School) every time a trash can is on fire.''

http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/article.aspx?subjectID=265&articleID=20080419_7_G6_spanc26268

I wonder what accountability a police force has that operates in secret?

Is this a Free Speech issue or not?

jd4fox23 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 21:25:24 GMT

Lawyer: Internet shouldn't inspire schools to regulate off-campus speech

updated 12:26 p.m. PT, Wed., March. 5, 2008

NEW YORK - A teen who used vulgar slang in an Internet blog to complain about school administrators shouldn't have been punished by the school, her lawyer told a federal appeals court.

But a lawyer for the Burlington, Conn., school told the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday that administrators should be allowed to act if such comments are made on the Web.

Avery Doninger, 17, claims officials at Lewis S. Mills High School violated her free speech rights when they barred her from serving on the student council because of what she wrote from her home computer.

In her Internet journal, Doninger said officials were canceling the school's annual Jamfest, which is similar to a battle of the bands contest. The event, which she helped coordinate, was rescheduled.

According to the lawsuit, she wrote: "`Jamfest' is canceled due to douchebags in central office," and also referred to an administrator who was "pissed off."

After discovering the blog entry, school officials refused to allow Doninger to run for re-election as class secretary. Doninger won anyway with write-in votes, but was not allowed to serve.

A lower federal court had supported the school. U.S. District Judge Mark Kravitz, denying Doninger's request for an injunction, said he believed she could be punished for writing in a blog because the blog addressed school issues and was likely to be read by other students.

Her lawyer, Jon L. Schoenhorn, told the appeals court Tuesday that what students write on the Internet should not give schools more cause to regulate off-campus speech.

"It's just a bigger soapbox," he said.

But Thomas R. Gerarde, an attorney for school officials, argued that the Internet has completely changed the way students communicate.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23486561/

School Pranks

jd4fox23 — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:08:08 GMT

50 Chickens Found Loose in Philly School

Monday, February 11, 2008

(02-11) 20:10 PST PHILADELPHIA (AP) --

Monday mornings are hard enough. Imagine finding 50 chickens running loose in your high school. Workers arriving about 5:30 a.m. to open Northeast High School in Philadelphia found dozens of hens and roosters wandering around the hallways. The birds were apparently brought to the school sometime over the weekend, said school district spokesman Fernando Gallard.

"We don't know where the chickens came from or who they belong to," Gallard said. "I'm pretty sure there is a very upset poultry farmer somewhere who wants them back."

The floors were covered with droppings and chicken feed. Most of the school's 3,600 students were sent home for the day because the school required extensive cleanup, he said.

A farmer was called to round up the birds and bring them to Fox Chase Farm, the district's agricultural school, Gallard said.

Police are checking surveillance tapes to see if they can determine the perpetrator of the fowl prank. The culprit will have to pay a hefty fine, said Gallard.

"It's not going to be chicken scratch," he said.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/02/11/national/a133912S75.DTL

What would you do?

Tega — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 13:03:54 GMT

Ok, this might be long but I'd like some opinions.

My daughter goes to school wearing her hoodie as usual. This is her coat. It's a warm hoodie and she chose this because the lockers are so small she can't wear a bulky coat, it won't fit in the locker. I assume the teachers expect her to take it off before she gets in the building. That's ignorant when it's in the 30's outside. She walks to her locker, takes it off and puts it away. HOWEVER... before she get to her locker at least two teachers come up to her and try to yank it off of her. One grabbed it by the hood and snapped her head backwards. Would this be acceptable to you? I'm pretty peeved off about it. It has happened more than three times in the last month.

Second issue: Daughter comes home telling me about how her choir teacher stood there and told them a load of personal information. Went on about her boyfriend and some disease she had. Totally uncool. What are your thoughts on that? They aren't there for a little Opra time. Another teacher talking about American Idol decided to announce to the class that Noreaga (sp) was "****** as a three dollar bill!" Yeah, ok he is but I don't think it is appropriate to say that to a group of 8th graders.

Third issue: Went to a conference with daughters teachers. In the conference... while going over grades, one teacher pipes up and says "Oh on this one I didn't feel like grading papers that day so I gave everyone an A." Excuse me, but WTF?! This was said right in front of my daughter and left me feeling like hey if she isn't going to try why should the students? What a bad example!

Issue 4: Principal comes up to my daughter and decides to harrass her about her hair. She has a pretty hip hairstyle. BUT her bangs hang down in her eyes. Yeah it bugs the crap out of me too but it's her personal style. She's a good kid, no discipline issues, doesn't smoke, drink, party. She gets mouthy sometimes like a teen does, but people I am telling you this... If all I have to worry about with this kid is that she hung her bangs in her eyes as a teenager then I am one lucky mother. Principal comes up to her and tells her how he hates her hair and that she needed to change it because "Someday you will have to show your child your yearbook!" What a load.

SO, my forum friends....

I wonder what you all think of this. I am going to the school today to adress these issues. What would you say?

Hispanic students

patriot1947 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:21:45 GMT

In Edmond High School one Hispanic girl says Hispanic students are being yelled at and harrassed. Apparently these students don't read the news or watch tv, it isn't just Hispanic students who are being treated that way, it is all kids in all schools. The way I see it, as long as no one beats the pulp out of one of them and posts it on youtube, they are just the norm, it is a jungle out there for all kids. I have no doubt some redneck has yelled some racial slur to the Hispanic students, after 9/11 my own daughter had ignorant rednecks yelling "go back to Iraq, and Terriorist" to her, she is of Native American,(Creek , Cherokee) and Scottish descent, just dark hair, tawny skin and looks exotic, almost got a cramp in my middle finger from all the waving back at these idiots, now a lot of inbred hicks yell nice things like "Beaner" and "Wet Back" at her, too stupid to realize she is way too tall to be a Mexican girl, but on the bright side, the Hispanics can't tell the difference either, REALLY GOOD service in all the Mexican restaurants, but I have always been treated fine by the Mexican population anyway, for the most part they are pretty polite even though I am a pasty white redhead. Just interesting article.............'snore'.......

East Central Teacher an embarrassment

patriot1947 — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:11:05 GMT

I just saw the clip of the teacher from East Central, I was embarrassed for him. He had gotten a speeding ticket the day before, didn't slow down, got a second, and then acted like a spoiled child. Then to top it off, ran a stop sign when he was leaving the scene. Is it any wonder we have pedestrians, children and bicyclist being runned over and killed in Tulsa every day? I want to be on some forum when someone insists that cops are harder on blacks who break the law than whites, this was NOT the case here, this man was given a lot more consideration than most white men or white women would have gotten, he should have been arrested for blatant disobedience when he ran that stop sign, he was just daring them to do something, and TPD backed down as usual. He was probably related to one of the City Councilors(Roscoe)?

Glenpool Schools obstructing justice?

Unwashed Mass — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 20:14:03 GMT

The school bus surveilance videotape of the beating of a Glenpool boy is still a hot button there,
http://newsok.com/article/3224842
as is the school districts attempts to keep it (and the beating) quiet.

OK, so surveilance cameras dont prevent crime. That much we know, so their only real use is providing the documentation necessary to facilitate an investigation.
So when the school wont turn over the tape to investigators, exactly what was the point in spending the money to install them in the first place?
Were the cameras just a parent pacifier?

13 year Old who was beaten by group

patriot1947 — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:17:56 GMT

I expect you are all up to speed on the 13 year old in Florida who was beaten within an inch of her life since it has been in the news for two days now. What do you think should be done about the kids who did this? Do you think My Space should limit what can be shown in order to prevent this kind of stuff? Do you think the parents should be held responsible for the actions of their kids? Have you talked to your kids about this little girl and what happened? If so, what part did you talk about most: the web site, the way they lured her to the home, or bullies? I would be interested in any thoughts on this story.

Macing Students at Mclain HS

Unwashed Mass — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 03:54:03 GMT

This story was broadcast April 10 but I cant locate it.
Campus security lost control of a girl fight and pepper-sprayed a bunch of students, one of which developed respiratory problems requiring medical attention.
Anyone here have a kid there?

Problems in school

the people — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 02:55:54 GMT

I dont think are schools are safe. I wish Fox23 news should do a research on how safe, clean, and proper are the schools in Tulsa, OK.

Felons driving school buses

jd4fox23 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:07:41 GMT

We've had some interesting comments on this story below. Here are a few excerpts from the comments section of this story. What do you think?

Disbelief - 2/5/2008

FOX 23, your investigative reporting has little to be admired in this city and you will lose viewership. According to the Tulsa World, two of the school bus drivers that resigned had shoplifting convictions. The Tulsa Public School policy stated that background checks are performed on employees dating back twelve years. These two bus drivers were convicted in the early 1990’s. They paid there debt to society! ...... {More}

soccermom2 - 2/5/2008

I don't care how long it's been. I don't want a convicted felon driving my child any where, they can get a job somewhere else. I hear McDonalds and Wal-Mart are hiring!

Felons driving school buses

Reported by: Emily Sinovic
Email: esinovic@fox23.com
Last Update: 2/04 10:29 pm

Print Story | Email Story

(TULSA, Okla.) February 4 - Do you know who is driving your child to school every morning? It might be a convicted felon.

A 3-month FOX23 Solving Problems investigation uncovered some unsettling information about who is driving kids to school.

Tulsa Public Schools officials issued a press release today to all media outlets except for FOX23. They refused to give it to us and it is wrong.

In it, TPS claims it led the investigation into checking bus driver background checks. But the fact is, TPS had no idea felons were driving school buses until FOX23 showed them the list of criminals we discovered on the payroll.

Tulsa Public Schools officials claim the district "strives to hire the most experienced and qualified drivers". You be the judge.

Are there Predators in your kids School?

jd4fox23 — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 17:54:23 GMT

If a predator got in your kids school, would your kid be safe?