School Survival

PHILADELPHIA – A suburban Philadelphia school district accused of spying on students at home via school-issued computers told parents it only activated the webcams to find missing laptops. The schools' technology and security departments would activate the webcam when any of the 2,300 student laptops were reported lost or stolen, Lower Merion School District Superintendent […]

Two Iowa GOP State Representatives, Jason Schultz, and Matt Windschitl, this week, co-sponsored legislation which seeks to remove LGBT students from the 2007 Iowa Safe Schools Law that protects students from harassment and bullying in Iowa’s schools and the measure has been referred to the Iowa House Education Committee for consideration. Iowa’s Safe Schools Law […]

By Cory Doctorow According to the filings in Blake J Robbins v Lower Merion School District (PA) et al, the laptops issued to high-school students in the well-heeled Philly suburb have webcams that can be covertly activated by the schools' administrators, who have used this facility to spy on students and even their families. The […]

A 12-year-old Queens girl was hauled out of school in handcuffs for an artless offense - doodling her name on her desk in erasable marker, the Daily News has learned. Alexa Gonzalez was scribbling a few words on her desk Monday while waiting for her Spanish teacher to pass out homework at Junior High School […]

by Alex Koroknay-Palicz It has been 50 years since four young men sat in at a lunch counter in Greensboro to oppose segregation. But segregation still remains. The International Civil Rights Center and Museum opens this month at that site in Greensboro heralding the courageous work against segregation, but that museum needs to understand its […]

A federal appeals court today upheld frequent paddlings of a high school basketball player in Memphis by his coaches over missed practices, tardiness, poor grades, and even, allegedly, for missed shots during basketball games. Noting that Tennessee law permits corporal punishment by teachers "for good cause in order to maintain discipline and order within the […]

School officials can search students' cars on school property if they suspect the students of illegal activity, the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled yesterday in a decision that further broadens administrators' investigatory rights. Expanding the standard of "reasonable suspicion" to students' vehicles, the court said that "represents the best way to vindicate each student's right […]

An irate Staten Island mom blasted a grade school principal Wednesday for treating her son like a pint-sized Plaxico Burress after he brought a 2-inch-long toy gun to school. "This principal is a bully and a coward, and needs to be held accountable," said Laura Timoney, 44, after her teary fourth-grader was nearly suspended for […]

A ninth-grader was shot to death by another student during a class change Friday at a north Alabama middle school, authorities said. Todd Brown, 14, was shot about 1:45 p.m. and taken by ambulance from Discovery Middle School to Huntsville Hospital, where he died, said hospital spokeswoman Kristen Bishop. She wouldn't release any other details. […]

Written by Brandon I will never forget that day in June when I heard Judge Banales say, “You are hereby sentenced to 60 years in the Texas Department of Corrections”. My legs felt like spaghetti, my hands went cold. I had no moisture in my mouth. I was numb all over. I wanted to throw […]