Prom Crash Friday

Every year, our district hosts an activity for high school Juniors and Seniors, plus invited guests from another area school, on the Friday before the Junior Prom.

The intent is to graphically reinforce the idea that drinking and driving lead to bad decision-making with potentially tragic consequences.

Two years ago, we lost recent graduates to a horrific crash. Responders at the scene were local residents; a young volunteer had to pronounce one or both young men dead just a year or two after going to school with them each day.

As the police officer in charge of the presentation reminded students, rural roads, inexperienced drivers, excessive speed, and alcohol or drugs are a deadly combination.

There will still be those young people who make bad choices. But if the Prom Crash demonstration and follow-up discussion save even one life, they will be well worth the time invested.

Getting the Lead Out?

Last year, the U.S. Senate passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), in response to consumer panic over Chinese toys with lead paint. Harsh penalties for non-compliance are set to take effect on February 10, 2009, when it becomes unlawful to ship goods for sale that have not been tested.

Testing requirements extend far beyond children's toys, however.

As Walter Olson notes on Forbes.com,

"The law covers all products intended primarily for children under 12. That includes clothing, fabric and textile goods of all kinds: hats, shoes, diapers, hair bands, sports pennants, Scouting patches, local school-logo gear and so on.

And paper goods: books, flash cards, board games, baseball cards, kits for home schoolers, party supplies and the like. And sporting equipment, outdoor gear, bikes, backpacks and telescopes. And furnishings for kids' rooms."

Libraries, schools, and booksellers are pressing for an exemption for books. Emily Sheketoff, associate executive director of the American Library Association, says she believes libraries have two choices under the CPSIA:

“Either they take all the children’s books off the shelves,” she says, “or they ban children from the library.”

Etsy sellers are also concerned. My daughter-in-law, who sells handmade jewelry on the popular crafters' site, forwarded me several relevant links and has decided to handle the issue in this manner:

"I will just end up putting in my listings that they aren't to be sold/given to children under 12 because it certainly isn't worth it to me to get thousands of dollars worth of testing on each item that I make."

There could be repercussions in the antique trade and second-hand shops. Even garage sales might technically be in violation of the law.

Congress is to be commended for seeking to protect the nation's children. However, now that the immediate crisis is over, it's time to examine the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act more closely and decide exactly how far we need to go to provide a reasonable measure of protection.

Update: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) today released an announcement to the Federal Register staying implementation of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) until February 10, 2010.

The ALA cautions, "Libraries now have a little room to breathe, but this announcement is not an end to this problem. Since we know children’s books are safe, libraries are still asking to be exempt from regulation under this law."

Beyond the Wall

"The Children’s Internet Protection Act (CIPA) is a federal law enacted by Congress to address concerns about access to offensive content over the Internet on school and library computers." -FCC CIPA Consumer Factsheet


Parents, educators, the government: all wish to ensure that the world is made as safe as possible for our children.

Computers with internet access have become commonplace in schools and homes. With this increase in opportunity for connectivity has come a parallel increase in concern about the perceived dangers of cyberspace for minors. Legislation requiring the blocking of sites deemed inappropriate through the filtering of school district networks was intended to provide protection for students and peace of mind for their parents.

Unfortunately, this approach hasn't worked well for a number of reasons:

• no filter can catch every objectionable site, therefore relying on filters generates a false sense of security
• filters block many valuable resources. For example, a science class researching viruses would find any sites mentioning "sexually transmitted diseases" inaccessible, including sites maintained by the Federal government
• it is possible to get around filters by using proxy sites. Many students have become adept at circumventing the safeguards put in place to protect them
• while teachers may request that certain sites be unblocked for classroom use, the process can be frustrating and discourage technology use

But the biggest argument against depending on filters as the primary means of protection is that many students spend time outside of school on computers, unsupervised or inadequately supervised. Without instruction in safe use and good digital citizenship, children and teens leave themselves open to danger, though perhaps not the dangers that many adults fear.

According to the Crimes Against Children Research Center Fact Sheet

A growing number of people are promoting Internet safety education in an effort to help keep youngsters safe from Internet sex offenders. But some of the information in their lectures, pamphlets, videos, and web sites does not reflect what researchers have learned about the important features of these crimes.

There is a widely quoted statistic (from the 2005 University of New Hampshire Youth Internet Safety study) that 1 in 7 youth are threatened by "online predators." In fact,

• These solicitations did not necessarily come from "online predators". They were all unwanted online requests to youth to talk about sex, answer personal questions about sex or do something sexual. But many could have been from other youth. In most cases, youth did not actually know the ages of solicitors. When they believed they knew, they said about half were other youth.
• These solicitations were not necessarily devious or intended to lure. Most were limited to brief online comments or questions in chatrooms or instant messages. Many were simply rude, vulgar comments...
• Most recipients did not view the solicitations as serious or threatening. Two-thirds were not frightened or upset by what happened.
• Almost all youth handled unwanted solicitations easily and effectively. Most reacted by blocking or ignoring solicitors, leaving sites, or telling solicitors to stop.

A more immediate danger, one which is estimated to affect as many as 43% of our students, is cyber bullying. Unlike face-to-face bullying, the online version can take place 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Harassers, emboldened by electronic anonymity, can choose to prolong and extend their activities, drawing in others and leaving the chosen target with no safe haven.

The United States Congress has recently acted to bring CIPA into line with current research regarding student online safety:

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) are extremely pleased that on September 30 [2008] Congress passed, as part of S. 1492, an update to the Children's Internet Protection Act which requires schools participating in the E-Rate program to educate students regarding appropriate behavior on social networking and chat room sites and about cyberbullying. ISTE and CoSN have advocated for this approach for many years and we are pleased that Congress has now ratified our position. Education, not mandatory blocking and filtering, is the best way to protect and prepare America's students.

"Education, not mandatory blocking and filtering, is the best way to protect and prepare America's students."

We need to teach our children how to recognize danger, make good choices, and behave responsibly online. Beyond the wall lies the future.







"Beyond the wall" by Guiseppe Bognanni

School Safety

Today was our second day of staff meetings and workshops before school opens to students tomorrow morning. We spent our time preparing for events which we hope will never occur.

Michael Dorn, of Safe Havens International, gave an informative, sometimes impassioned and emotional, presentation on school safety. Staff members from two local school districts learned about monitoring students, creating a climate of respect, dealing with irate people, and other key safety practices. We were given concrete examples of how to assess warning signs to determine whether a situation was still in early stages or posed an imminent danger. Consistent behavior codes, firm but reasonable consequences, building security and visitor sign-in procedures were also reviewed.
The culminating session, entitled "Weakfish - Bullying Through the Eyes of a Child", left us horrified, shocked into silence. Bullying is something which does occur, every day, in every school. By creating a school environment not conducive to bullying, by assessing, supervising and intervening, teachers, administrators, and other staff members can "dramatically impact bullied children".

School should be a safe place. A child who is afraid cannot learn.

"Gun-Free" by Shilashon