SRO/SRD info on unsupervised students

We’ve heard that students are hanging out without adult supervision at local Publix stores after school. This is specifically occurring at the Lake Miriam Publix, the Southgate Publix, and the Lake Wales Publix.

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!

Lake Gibson High Students Arrested for Armed Robbery

Five Lake Gibson High School students were arrested in St. Augustine for charges to include armed robbery. The teenagers arrested are Christopher Dewey, Anthony Fernandez, Umbuju Grant, Quinshon Odom, and Remi Watson. It is also believed they had stolen property in their vehicle from other cars.

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.

14 year old Polk student charged with violent crimes

The Lakeland Police Department arrested a 14 year old Polk County student for several violent crimes. The student is alleged to have stabbed an older man during a burglary as many as 30 times. See the Ledger for updates and the entire story.

The Ledger and “Broken Silence”…Addressing Child Victimization

The Lakeland Ledger, our local paper, did a good two part series on child sexual abuse. It includes in-depth stories and videos. I would recommend you review the series, especially if you work with children in any way.

Student Privacy Issues

Student privacy issues have become an often occurring topic in the news. A recent opinion article addressed why students who were expelled from a school did not have their names published in the local paper. The author cites the FERPA law as protecting certain student information from public release.

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?

Reminders…

Polk County School students will be out of school on Friday, October 23, 2009! This day is a Teacher Workday. Students will return the following Monday.

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.

SRO Stabbed, Shoots Student in SC School…Student Dies

This is the current story at this time. Other stories here, here, here (has video).

Associated Press
Originally published 01:59 p.m., October 16, 2009
Updated 01:59 p.m., October 16, 2009

MYRTLE BEACH, SC — A student died Friday after stabbing a police officer at a South Carolina high school just as school was starting, authorities said.

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.

Important School Dates to Remember

Here are some important Polk County School Board dates from this year’s calendar:

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)

Free Training Resources for SROs/SRDs!

We all know budgets are tight and it’s hard to leave your school for training. Here are some free, online training courses that are related to your jobs:

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.

Is A Zero Tolerance Policy Always Best

A first grade student is facing 45 days in reform school for bringing his Cub Scout dinner tool (pocket knife with spoon, fork, and bottle opener) to school to use as an eating utensil.

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?