School Cancers Rise Near Cell Phone Tower

Five years ago, Sprint erected an 85-foot cell phone tower in the middle of California's Vista Del Monte Elementary school. At the time, Sprint studied the tower's structural safety and an initial power reading, but since then teachers and students have become increasingly concerned about the tower's electromagnetic effect on health.'

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High School Student Suspended, Assaulted for Handing Out Anti-Vaccine Flyers

Now Parents Face Criminal Checks Just to Enter Their Children's School

Parents have been banned from setting foot in their children's classrooms without first having a Criminal Records Bureau check.

Stern new signs at a college in Cambridge warn that mothers and fathers cannot enter the premises if they have not been fully vetted.
As a result they face paying £86 each - £36 for an enhanced CRB check plus a fee of up to £50 to process the application.

It is the latest CRB controversy following bans on unchecked parents walking children to a carol concert and supervising at a play park.

Councillors yesterday called the signs at Manor Community College 'extreme', warning they could alienate parents.
The notices read: 'We do not allow anybody who is not fully CRB checked to enter the college premises or to work unsupervised.

This includes volunteers, visitors and contractors.'

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Teachers Given Powers to Search Pupils for Drugs

Teachers have gained new powers to search pupils for drugs, alcohol and stolen goods, it has been revealed.
They will gain the legal right to frisk pupils and search school bags without consent in a fresh crackdown on bad behaviour.
The move extends the existing right of teachers to look for weapons and is enshrined in new legislation.'

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Global Warming Propaganda Infiltrates Schools

Scientists see no temperature increase (on average) in the oceans or on the surface of the Earth over the last decade. That hasn’t stopped an activist group from infiltrating high schools with the panicky message that we are on the verge of a “planetary emergency” due to global warming.

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Parents of Unruly Children Face £1,000 Fines

They may be hauled before the courts and served with "parenting orders" - forcing them to take action to keep unruly sons and daughters in line.

It is likely to include attending parenting courses, counselling sessions, ensuring children are at home at night and keeping them clear of bad influences.

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Government Readies Schools As Mass Vaccination Clinics

The government is telling schools across the country to prepare to be used as clinics for mass vaccination programs set to be instituted later this year, according to an Associated Press report.
Schoolchildren are being targeted as the first recipients of a swine flu vaccine currently being developed, despite the fact that swine flu has proven far less lethal than originally feared, killing just 160 people worldwide, a figure dwarfed by the number of people who die annually from the regular flu virus

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Primary School Children Given Gay Assembly with Elton John Song

Children as young as four were among the pupils told about same sex relationships as part of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia.

During the talk children at Bromstone Primary in Broadstairs, Kent, were played music by Elton John and told he was homosexual.

A string of parents have since complained their children were left "confused" and "worried" by the assembly.

Gemma Martin, 28, whose daughter Chloe, seven, and Danny, four, are both pupils, went on: "It's meant a number of girls are worried about being friends with each other.

"Little girls often cuddle each other if one of them is crying or has fallen over, and now they are afraid to do that in case the others think they are gay.

"I think kids as young as four don't need to know about that and it should be left to their parents to tell them when they think they're ready."

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New Uses For Electro-Shock Torture

A police officer assigned to prowl the halls of Pennsylvania's Penn Hills High School came across a student using his cell phone, a violation of school rules except in an emergency.

The officer was ignored when he told the student to turn off the phone. So he ordered the student to the principal's office. According to Police Chief Howard Burton, "The student resisted, pushed the officer. The officer, defending himself, took out his stun gun and did a drive stun."

A "drive stun" consists of placing the Taser directly to the subject's body, temporarily immobilizing him. The student fell to the floor, where, after he continued "resisting" -- one has to admire his tenacity -- he was handcuffed.

All of this was less disruptive than the student's cell phone use, one supposes.

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Record One in Five Pupils Has Special Educational Needs

A record one in five children is classified as having special educational needs at school, official figures revealed yesterday.

The numbers have nearly doubled over the past 20 years to 1.65million as pupils are increasingly labelled as having behavioural or speech difficulties.

The trend has triggered warnings that a growing culture of entertaining children with TVs and computer games and a lack of boundaries at home or family troubles are increasingly manifesting themselves in class as disruptive behaviour.

However, sceptics said the increase was fuelled by a growing tendency to label anti-social traits as medical conditions to excuse poor behaviour or academic underachievement.

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Conneticut School Bans Physical Contact

A Connecticut middle school principal has laid down the law: You put your hands on someone -- anyone -- in any way, you're going to pay.A violent incident that put one student in the hospital has officials at the Milford school implementing a "no touching" policy, according to a letter written by the school's principal.

Students and parents are outraged. They said the new policy means no high-fives and hugs, as well as horseplay of any kind. The consequences could be dire, Williams warned in the letter.

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Schools Put 'Big Brother' CCTV Cameras in Classrooms to Monitor Teachers' Performance

Schools are installing CCTV cameras and microphones in classrooms to spy on teachers.

The surveillance technology is being used to check that pupils are being taught well and to expose poor teachers. But the approach has provoked fury among teaching unions, who say the tactics smack of Big Brother.

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School Receptionist Faces Sack After Five-year-old Daughter is Told Off For Talking About God

A school receptionist faces the sack after seeking the support of Christian friends when her five-year-old daughter was scolded for talking about God in class.
Jennie Cain's daughter Jasmine was ticked off by a teacher for discussing Heaven and Hell with a fellow pupil and came home in tears.
After comforting her distraught daughter, Mrs Cain, who works at the school, sent a private email to ten close Christian friends asking them to offer prayers for the families and the school.
But a copy fell into the hands of Gary Read, headmaster at Landscore Primary School, in Crediton, Devon.
Now Mrs Cain, 38, is being investigated for professional misconduct for allegedly making claims against the school and staff members. She may be disciplined and even faces dismissal.

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Teacher Criticises 'Can't Touch' Culture After Being Throttled by Pupil as Colleagues Looked On

A teacher who won £250,000 compensation after a pupil tried to strangle him has criticised a 'can't touch' culture in schools after other staff initially refused to intervene.

Colin Adams, 50, was attacked by a 12- year- old boy, who knocked him to the floor before punching and kicking him, and grabbing his neck. But despite other teachers yelling at the boy to stop, no one stepped in to help.

Mr Adams's ordeal ended only after another teacher eventually came to his aid by forcing the boy's thumbs back to release his hold. Later, the unnamed teacher admitted to Mr Adams that he was afraid the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, would accuse him of assault.

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Nursery Chain To Launch Fingerprint Scanners To Check Parents Before They Are Allowed To Collect Their Children

A chain of nurseries is to require parents to use fingerprint scanners before collecting their children, it emerged yesterday.
Fifty nurseries run by kidsunlimited, a national group catering for children aged three months to five years, will phase in the technology over the next few months.
Six, including those in Cambridgeshire, Wilmslow in Cheshire and Notting Hill, West London, already operate the system. At least 100 other private or voluntary nurseries are already thought to be using scanners.
Lee Pearson, kidsunlimited chief executive, said: 'We aim to remain at the forefront of innovative childcare and to challenge traditional views of the sector.'
Manufacturer Honeycomb Solutions claims fingerprint security systems will be 'commonplace' in private schools and nurseries within five years.

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The 'How To Be Happy' Classes Coming To A School Near You

Children are to have happiness lessons to prevent them becoming depressed.
More than 20 schools are already teaching the classes, which are supposed to help banish negative thoughts.
And psychologists will meet ministers this week with a view to launching the scheme nationwide.

The Penn Resiliency Programme is the brainchild of Professor Martin Seligman, a U.S. expert in positive psychology.
In the lessons, 11-year-olds are taught how to cope with difficult situations and emotions and to develop positive attitudes, assertiveness, aspirations and a better approach to decision making.
They are encouraged not to think or react like Chicken Little, the hen in the fable who wrongly feared the sky was falling in.
It is hoped that the classes will equip youngsters better to cope with the challenges of adulthood.

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