As the much talked about documentary “Bully” hits theaters nationwide today (without a rating), PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center, which supports the movie, offers educators, students, families and others tools to address bullying in schools.
Those who visit PACER.org/bullying can download free resources to help change the culture of bullying. Resources include bullying prevention classroom tool kits, activities and video for K-12 students; tool kits for organization community events around bullying prevention; tips for how parents can talk with their children about the subject and work with schools and more.
There’s also PACER’s TeensAgainstBullying.org and KidsAgainstBullying.org websites, designed for teens and elementary-aged children. Lastly, bullyfreeworld-bully.nationbuilder.com raises awareness about how bullying affects children with special needs and offers resources and a toolkit as well.
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Charter school students in Chicago misbehave just like students elsewhere, but part of their reprimanding have included paying disciplinary fines. As reported in a March 26 Huffington Post article, for more than three years the charter schools have collected nearly $390,000 in fines from low-income students for minor infractions such as chewing gum or not making eye contact with teachers.
This issue made initial headlines in February, causing an uproar among parents and students, and prompting legislators to consider a bill that would prohibit schools from this practice. Additionally, a report by the Voices of Youth in Chicago Education and Parents United for Responsible Education found the fines discriminate against students and raises the cost of public education.
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Going viral online this week is video footage taken from inside an empty Henryville, Ind., school bus that was tossed around during the recent tornadoes that swept through the area. Just minutes before the twister struck the bus, school bus driver Angela Perry had been driving 11 students home after the local schools dismissed all students early due to the threat of severe weather. Luckily she had just enough time to safely evacuate everyone.
An article by one of the local television news stations reports the details and features the video. Storm sirens began to wail at 3:15 p.m. when Perry was taking the students home. She was three miles away from the school when she had to decide whether to continue driving or to return to the school. She returned to the school in time and rushed the children out of the bus. Then you see the empty 36,000-pound bus be lifted across the parking lot, slam into a car and then fly across the road, crashing into a diner.
It may seem like we told you the whole story here, but the video shows some incredible footage and other details to the incident. It’s a definite must-see.
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The American Public Transportation Association applauded President Obama for signed into effect a 90-day extension of the current federal surface transportation law after the House passed it by a vote of 266 to 158 on Thursday. The law expired back in October 2010, but the economy and political wrangling have kept the Congress from passing full reauthorization, resulting in about a dozen extensions since then to keep federally-funded state highway programs alive.
Obama’s signing beat a Saturday deadline to get an extension in the books. The next deadline is June 30.
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School buses in Bowie County Schools in Texas are being outfitted with exterior advertisements touting a local Chicken Express franchise in an effort to combat state budget cuts that are dipping into student transportation coffers. The district could see revenue in the ballpark of $40,000 to $50,000 a month. The article states that Texas law governs the three positions on the outside of the bus where the ads can be erected and that the ads must be “age-appropriate.”
