School Survival

CHESTERTOWN, Md. -- Two Kent County students who were strip searched in a 2004 school raid have won $285,000 in damages and written apologies from the school system and sheriff's office.The settlement announced Monday ends the lawsuit over a drug search at Kent County High School in Worton, where drug-sniffing dogs were used and more […]

Young teens convicted of sex crimes behind the closed doors of juvenile court will now end up on the state's public registry of sex offenders.A state law that went into effect July 1 will list teens as young as 14 on the same Web site as adults who are convicted pedophiles and sexual predators. The […]

A Lewis S. Mills High School student who was barred from running for class office after she called administrators a derogatory term on an Internet blog is accusing top school officials of violating her free speech rights.Avery Doninger, a senior at the school in Burlington this fall, was removed as class secretary in the controversy […]

Writing "I love Alex" on a school gymnasium wall brought a 12-year-old the same punishment as if she had made terrorist threats.The Katy Independent School District rated the message, written with a baby blue marker by sixth-grader Shelby Sendelbach, as a Level 4 infraction - the same as for threats, drug possession and assault.Only murder, […]

The curfew policy going into effect at Valley View Mall has some teens up in arms. The mall's managers announced everyone under 18 will need adult supervision when they visit the mall on weekend nights after 6:00.----At 6:30 Friday evening, 17-year-old Byron Hart strode into Valley View Mall to collect his paycheck.He came face to […]

Over the GW takes us inside "tough love" teen programs which pose as rehabilitation clinics, but offer their patients steady physical abuse and humiliation.Until now, there has never been a feature film that takes us inside "tough love" teen programs like those headed by Romney financiers Mel Sembler and Robert Lichfield. The New York Times […]

Surveillance cameras in schools are meant to keep children safe and in-line, but a kiss, a camera and a controversy have Gig Harbor High School in Washington in an uproar.A security camera captured two girls kissing, but it's what happened next that sparked a surveillance debate. With Warren County schools having surveillance cameras not only […]

Time to ban teens from driving?Most teenagers cannot wait to get behind the wheel of a car and who can blame them? Driving is convenient, grown-up and, once you've got the hang of it, good fun too.The trouble is most young motorists, with obvious exceptions like Lewis Hamilton, are simply not very good at it.Car […]

Topic: Any youth rights issue you choose to write about.Deadline: August 15th, 2007Prize: $500 (if and only if your entry is selected for 1st place).Essays may be in the form of a well-researched paper, a well-reasoned persuasive argument, or an account of a personal experience. Choose one of the following topics to write about:At Home: […]

STAUNTON - The long, low white building with the purple shutters sits blank-faced and vacant on Village Green Road.The gravel parking lot is partially overgrown with weeds - a sign of years of limited use. A "for sale or lease" sign hangs on a side wall facing Va. 254.Soon, however, the old state office building […]