Franklin Schargel’s Blog

From a New York Times Report, 5/26, 2017

CLIO, Mich. “” When Kenneth Herman visits his daughter’s school, the handgun holstered to his right hip is visible to anyone. And that has caused him problems. School officials have denied Mr. Herman access to school buildings, asked him to wait in the principal’s office and called the Sheriff’s Department on him. So, Mr. Herman sued Clio Area Schools for the right to carry his weapon openly on school grounds, and in August he won the case. The district has appealed.

The two sides are divided over legislation introduced by Republicans in the State Senate that would allow people with the proper permits to carry concealed weapons at schools, but would ban open carry there. The measure could come up for a vote before the end of the year.

Michigan law on weapons in schools is complex, and to some extent unsettled. Like many states, Michigan bans concealed guns at schools, sports arenas and other places. But the judge in the Clio case found that residents can take handguns into those spaces provided they carry them openly and have concealed pistol licenses. Guns, openly carried can be brought into libraries in the state.

The legislation would apply to schools covering kindergarten through 12th grade, and seeks to extend concealed-carry rights to colleges, bars, day care centers and other areas where such guns are currently restricted. The legality of guns on public college campuses remains murky: The University of Michigan bans weapons on its property, but that policy has been challenged in court.

Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, who has said individual school districts should have the option of banning guns altogether.

I would have thought that the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School would have taught the country about the “˜right” of carrying guns in schools. Obviously, I was wrong. I guess that the next violent school incident in school would teach the country another lesson. It is interesting that today’s New York Times had reports of two students bringing guns to school.

The Save The Children Foundation has just issued a report entitled  “The End of Childhood Index” which describes the problems facing children around the world. In the list gathered by the Foundation, the United States ranks 36th out of the 176 nations covered in the report.  The report points out that where you are born will affect a person’s longevity. And the kind of life live will affect the nation for 15 years.

The ten states which are most threatened are Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Nevada.

https://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6537739/k.767B/Google_Search_Results.htm?q=End+of+Childhood+Report#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=End%20of%20Childhood%20Report&gsc.page=1

 

• When Donald Trump ran for president he promised to change ““not improve, education. He has kept his promise. He and his Education Secretary are proposing to do exactly that. Their budget calls for deep cuts to public education while making substantial funding for “school choice programs”. In the White House’s spending proposal, hundreds of millions of the dollars would go toward charter-school and voucher initiatives, while another $1 billion in grants would encourage states to adopt school-choice policies,” While Trump and Betsy DeVos chose private schools for their kids, with small class sizes, they want to eliminate the federal funding that helps America’s public schools lower class sizes.
• Trump says there is nothing more important than being a teacher, but he eliminates the loan forgiveness program that helps students pursue teaching careers, eliminates funding for teacher preparation and educator support, and guts most other programs that alleviate student debt or make college more affordable.
• Trump says vocational education is the way of the future yet slashes career and technical education funding.
• DeVos promised not to hurt children with special needs, but the budget cuts one-quarter of the Medicaid funding that now pays for essential school-based services like physical therapists, feeding tubes and other medical equipment, and health screenings.
• President Trump says that vocational education is the way to improve employment but is cutting Career and Technical Education Funding by $168 million.
• Secretary DeVos has proposed cutting funding for Special Education via Medicaid that pays for school-based services like physical therapists, feeding tubes and mental health screenings.
• Proposed cuts to Title 1 funding including $550 million in direct Title 1 funds.
• Cuts $9.2 billion in the US Department of Education funding or 13.6 percent of the spending level Congress approved last month.
• After-school programs are cut by $1.2 billion that currently serves 16. million students.
• $2.1 billion dollars are cut for teacher training and class size reduction.
• A program that provides $15 million for child-care for low-income parents in college would be cut.
• And the list continues”¦.

Figures supplied by Emma Brown, Valerie Strauss and Denielle Douglas-Gabriel in the Washington Post, May 22, 2017

Petition your local Senators, and Representatives to stop this insanity.  Contact friends and family to do the same.  The jobs you save may be your own.  The lives you save will be your students.

 

According to the Daily Mail.com (United Kingdom) (September 17,2015) an eight-year old girl uploaded sexually explicit video of herself on to the Internet according to police. A 12-year-old boy also sent naked snapshots of himself to a 13-year-old-girl. And a 15-year-old girl sent explicit messages to an 18-year-old man.

 Many children see sexting as harmless fun, but it is illegal and can leave young people vulnerable to blackmail or attract the attention of sex offenders. Children can send sexual images of themselves in an instant. They often don’t really think about the consequences.

They send these pictures to a girlfriend or boyfriend but these images can quickly end up being shared widely in school and online. Depending on the country, sending naked pictures of children below the age of consent (generally 18) are subject to imprisonment.

We need to try to avoid criminalizing children wherever possible and aim to educate them (and their parents) in order in order to protect them from harm.

 

 

 

Each day in the United States, more than 9 people are killed and over 1,000 are injured in crashes that are reported to involve a distracted driver. (1) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that  in 2015 “Teens were the largest age group reported as distracted at the time of fatal crashes.” According to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, distraction was a factor in 58 percent of 1,700 videos of teen drivers taken from in-vehicle event recorders. Distracted driving includes activities such as using a cell phone, texting, and eating while driving. Using in-vehicle technologies like navigation systems or stereos, can also be a source of distraction. Engaging in any of these activities while driving poses a crash risk, endangering the driver, passengers, pedestrians, and bicyclists, as well as other drivers.

From The Child Safety Network

Enjoy your Summer Break. Catch up on all the “stuff” you’ve put aside. Books, movies, and relaxing. Catch up on the family’s doings.

ENJOY.

I will still be writing and doing workshops in Georgia and Florida. Check engagements on this website. If you are in either place, stop by and say hello.

Franklin

From 2008 to 2015, the percentage of children ages 5 to 17 hospitalized for suicidal thoughts or actions more than doubled, according to data presented  at the 2017 Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco. The study looked at data on suicidal or self-harm diagnoses from 32 children’s hospitals across the United States.

Researchers found 118,363 instances from 2008 to 2015. Accounting for 59,631 (50.4 percent) of the incidents were 15- to 17-year-olds. Twelve- to 14-year-olds accounted for 43,682 (36.9 percent) of them, while 5- to 11-year-olds accounted for 15,050 (12.7 percent).

Over time, the percentage of young patients hospitalized for suicidal thoughts, rather than other ailments, more than doubled. In 2008, 0.67 percent of patients were admitted with suicidal thoughts or self-harming behavior. By 2015, that percentage had increased to 1.79 percent.

The research also revealed a sharp increase in these incidents coinciding with the beginning and ending of the school year “” with a respite during the summer.

The report cited a number of factors that could lead to suicidal thoughts such as bullying and abuse, said it is unclear what, exactly, is responsible for the rise. Atlanta-based psychologist Avital Cohen opined that it may have to do with greater stress placed on children today alongside the rise in social media and, with it, cyberbullying.

The research did not look at completed suicides, which was the second leading cause of death for people between the ages of 10 and 24 in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. According to the CDC, the rate of suicide deaths among children between the ages of 10 and 14 has doubled since 2007.

The presentation comes as discussions of self-harming behavior among teenagers are on the rise due to Netflix’s original series “13 Reasons Why” based on the bestselling YA novel by Jay Asher. The show is centered around the fictional suicide of 17-year-old Hannah Baker, who left behind several cassette tapes (13 sides altogether) laying blame for her death on various actions or inactions by different students. The series culminates in a graphic scene showing Baker slitting her wrists and bleeding to death, which has angered many anti-suicide advocates. Headlines, such as Rolling Stone’s “Does ’13 Reasons Why’ Glamorize Teen Suicide?“ appeared across the Internet. As The Washington Post’s Bethonie Butler reported, “Experts advise against sensational headlines or describing a suicide in graphic detail, which studies have shown can lead to suicide contagion, or “˜copycat’ suicides.” Nonetheless, Netflix renewed the show for a 13-episode second season, set to air in 2018.

According to the Associated Press, 58 percent of children between the ages of 6-17 say they read for fun.

The ages 12-14 had the biggest drop, from 61 percent to 50 percent, while ages 15-17 improved from 50 to 54 percent.

Forty percent of families say they begin reading to children when they were three months old or younger.

“Harry Potter” is a favorite  and “Junie B. Jones” and the “Diary of Wimpy Kid” are favorites as well.

With this information in mind, consider suggesting to students and parents that they read over the summer. Ask the children in your classes to suggest additional books that they enjoy.