This week's safe schools snippets

NBC film explores issue of bullying, ways to respond

WASHINGTON – Kit Johansen has been working on anti-bullying initiatives in the Diocese of Palm Beach, Fla., since 2006 to raise schools’ and parishes’ awareness about the problem and to let children know they are not powerless in the face of bullying. Read more in the Catholic Review.

Police, fire, SWAT at Front Range schools for drill

DENVER — Police cars, fire trucks and other emergency personnel will be at two high schools in the metro area on Wednesday for training exercises.

At Fairview High School in Boulder, the Boulder Police Department, the Boulder Fire Department, Pridemark Paramedic Service, the FBI, Boulder Valley School District officials and students and administrators from Fairview and Boulder high schools will be conducting a bomb training exercise. Watch the 7NEWS report.

Arrest notifications inform parents, raise questions

DENVER – Parents should keep an eye out for new notifications from your child’s school telling you when school employees get in trouble with the law. This is the first week under the new State Department of Education requirement. Watch the 9NEWS report.

LGBT in school: ‘I lost a lot of my friends’

“Mama thinks you’re gay,” Tempest Cartwright’s younger sister told her as they walked to Wendy’s one day.

“That’s … ’cause I am,” Tempest, who was 15 at that time, told her. And with that admission, relief and joy flooded over Tempest. She’d spent much of her life hiding how she felt about girls; she’d made sure to have a boyfriend whenever she could, but secretly would inevitably have a crush on his mother. Check out the CNN report.

Age verification not stopping kids from joining social networking sites

LOS ANGELES – You can access the Internet from just about anywhere. But to help keep the pre-teen set safe, most popular social networks have a minimum age requirement. But many parents are letting their kids log on anyway. Watch this ABC News report.

New social media monitoring tool created to protect children

PredictivEdge today announced the Proactive Parenting Network’s (PPN) partnership with i-SAFE to become the e-Safety expert, providing valuable e-Safety information and resources for parents through their newly launched website,www.proactiveparentingnetwork.com.

The Proactive Parenting Network is a solution that empowers parents to provide a safe online environment for their children in an ever-changing digital world.  PPN delivers a comprehensive, proactive solution with premier online safety tools and educational resources.

In addition to educational resources from i-SAFE, PPN offers inSight, a unique, proprietary social media monitoring and alerting tool that utilizes patent-pending Natural Language Processing technology and behavioral modeling to analyze online conversations, extract insight, and help solve a problem.  It accurately identifies the problem, alerts parents, and provides appropriate educational resources, such as i-SAFE content, to help solve the problem.

According to i-SAFE, more than 83 percent of parents believe their children are sharing personal or identifying information on social networking sites.

Hick to sign new law aimed at improving school crisis response

HIGHLANDS RANCH – Gov. John Hickenlooper will sign a new bill on Friday that ensures schools will have quick and reliable communication with first responders. Senate Bill 11-173, “Interoperable Communications in Schools,” is the first in the nation to envision statewide interoperability that includes all schools. Read more from the PR Newswire.

Taiwan mulls school cellphone ban amid cancer scare

TAIPEI — Taiwan will consider banning mobile phones from schools following a recent health warning that users may face an increased risk of cancer, officials said Wednesday.

The education ministry is planning to host a meeting with experts and school representatives to discuss the issue after several lawmakers called for a ban, an official told AFP, adding that the timing of discussions had not been set. Read more at AFP.

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