Pinellas schedules bullying prevention workshops

Parents, if you're concerned about bullying - and how can you not be after reading stories like this and this - then check out one of these upcoming workshops. The Pinellas school district is holding four of them in the next month or so, with the first one Wednesday at the Title I Family Resource Center, 2499 25th St. S in St. Petersburg.

Bully broke Pinellas student's leg, mom alleges in lawsuit

A Pinellas County woman is suing the School Board for negligence after staffers at Sawgrass Lake Elementary allegedly failed to protect her son from a well-known bully. According to the complaint, Jennifer Giroux says the other student "aggressively tackled" her son after recess on Oct. 6, 2006, leading to a broken femur. She's seeking more than $15,000 in damages.

The suit, filed Sept. 28 in Pinellas Circuit Court, says the other student was "particularly known to both students and faculty as overly aggressive" during recess and lunch. It also says Giroux's son told the school about the other kid's "animosity and aggression toward him," including on the day of the incident.

The suit is the third filed against Pinellas in a little more than a month that involve similar claims.

Community group: Pinellas teachers need more training with discipline programs

Faith and Action for Strength Together, the faith-based community group that makes Pinellas officials make promises in front of packed crowds, wants a new pledge from the school district: Better training for teachers in schools that are using discipline programs that FAST believes can result in fewer suspensions.

The programs - Foundations, CHAMPS and FLPBS - are being used in at least 37 Pinellas schools. But a district analysis concluded they would be more effective with more consistent training for teachers. In many cases, FLPBS and Foundations were not suported by school wide training, the analysis says. As for CHAMPS, training was optional and "the major difficult appears to that mandated CHAMPS training could be faced with resistance from teachers who do not buy-in to the intervention."

"How is a school expected to implement a program if teachers are not trained in it," FAST member and Shiloh Baptist Church deacon Lawrence Poindexter said in a press release. "It only makes sense that if a school is using a program all teachers should be trained. It should be a no-brainer."

National survey: 40 percent of teachers are 'disheartened'

There's a lot of bummed-out teachers in America -- burned out by too much testing, too many unruly kids and too much accountability pressure, according to the results of a nationwide survey released today.

The poll by Public Agenda, based on a nationally representative sample of 890 teachers, shows that 40 percent of teachers are disheartened. Asked about drawbacks to their jobs, 58 percent said there is too much testing, and 50 percent said there are too many kids with discipline problems. Asked what is the most difficult thing about teaching, 32 percent said unreasonable pressure to raise student achievement.

The survey also asked teachers about a host of other issues, with nuanced and sometimes surprising results:

* 75 percent said good teachers can lead all students to learn, even those from poor families or who have uninvolved parents, compared to 24 percent who said it's too hard for even good teachers to overcome those barriers.

Miss by a minute, miss a day at Palm Beach school

If you think Pasco County's high school tardy tables are onerous, what do you have to say about the new rule at Pahokee Middle/Senior in Palm Beach County?

Beginning last week, Pahokee's principal began suspending students for a day if they arrived late to class, the Palm Beach Post reports.

As in Pasco, Pahokee's goal is to "ensure that all students are arriving to class on time and to increase the instructional time in each class." (The principal also wants to make an A, natch.)

But parents at Pahokee wonder how this new policy achieves that goal. After all, one told the Post, it seems to give kids who don't want to be in school an easy way out.

"If you tell me my kid has to stay after school for a whole month, I understand. If you tell him he has to go to school on Saturday, I understand that," Emilio Perez said. "But if you suspend him, you're contradicting what you're trying to do."

You think?

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Shorecrest suspends students after party bus incident

In the wake of the party bus incident, the private Shorecrest Preparatory School in St. Petersburg has suspended some students, according to this letter to parents that went out today from headmaster Mike Murphy.

He wrote: Violators have been suspended, have lost privileges, have lost the right to play in their athletic contests this week and will participate in an educational program designed for them.

We don't know how many students were suspended, or for how long. The Gradebook asked and got this e-mailed response from Murphy: "If you ever want to discuss the positive contributions of the students and teachers at Shorecrest give me a call. I have moved on to more productive topics."

The St. Petersburg Times reported today that Durant High in Plant City suspended four students for 10 days for being involved in a separate party bus incident Saturday night.

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Drunk students on party buses make a lot of headlines

The high school kids at Shorecrest Prep in St. Petersburg and Durant High in Plant City are hardly the first to hop on a party bus and stumble into both trouble and a newspaper story. This morning’s St. Petersburg Times piece is just the latest in a string of them from around the country.

Here’s one from New Jersey … and Texas … and Connecticut …

In case you missed the Times story, here's the money quote:

Michael Holcombe told the St. Petersburg Times Monday that his daughter, who is a senior, got sick at the Durant dance, though he declined to say if she was the student taken to the hospital.

Still, he said that contrary to rumors at school, "she's not in a coma yet. But she might be when I'm done kicking her a--."

Making progress to stop punishing disabled kids

Rich La Belle, executive director of the Family Network on Disabilities of Florida, is feeling good about the progress being made in his group's effort to ban the restraint and seclusion of Florida schoolchildren with special needs.

He recently noted in his blog that a special task force of Gov. Charlie Crist's has endorsed the network's call for an immediate moratorium on corporal punishment of children with disabilities. It also signaled its support for HB 81, filed by Rep. Dorothy Hukill to allow physical restraint only when a life is at risk -- not for a teacher's convenience.

La Belle writes:

"There is a cost to preserving the status quo – to not doing anything. Parents whose children have been subjected to this treatment are suing and winning against school districts. There is a price that is being paid. Don’t think that doing nothing and letting this kind of behavior continue is the cheapest way to go. Spend the money wisely – not on lawyers and paying judgments – but on effective training of personnel so that our kids can achieve the best educational outcomes possible. Isn’t this what we all want in the first place?"

He urges supporters to keep writing to Gov. Charlie Crist and Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith. They also can join the group's cause on Facebook.

The national movement is growing. The question is whether groups like this one can get action in Florida, too.

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Sick? No big deal for Lee schools

While Pinellas schools labor over how to deal with student absences in wake of the flu scare, Lee schools seem to have no such concerns.

Officials there urge families to keep sick kids home, but the Fort Myers News-Press reports that the district has no plans to give kids any leeway if they do miss school. That despite what appears to be an increase in the number of reported swine flu cases.

"The district does not create its procedures and policies in anticipation of something that could or could not happen, or something that no one has a clear picture of how it may or may not affect our operations," district spokesman Joe Donzelli told the News-Press.

Got that? If so, answer us this. Does Lee have it right with its approach? Or is Pinellas on the right track with its way of dealing with things? Just curious.

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Pinellas expanding girls mentoring program

An intervention program aimed at boosting the confidence and grades of at-risk girls is expanding this fall throughout Pinellas County schools.

The Girlfriends program seeks to unite and standardize a hodge-podge of programs now operating in 25 to 30 schools, like this one at Campbell Park Elementary. It will use private funding and mentors to tackle everything from punctuality to appropriate clothing.

"We'd like to help eliminate some of the bad choices girls are making in our schools," Teresa Anderson, the principal at Azalea Middle and the Girlfriends co-chair, told School Board members during a presentation this morning.

This "offers proactive support before a girl gets into trouble" and complements the Doorways Scholarship program, said Bob McIntyre, CEO of Ditek Corp. and past chairman of the Pinellas Education Foundation.

To pledge or not to pledge?

The new school year brings another raft of challenges to the notion that all public school students must stand and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

This month, Orange County decided to require students to bring a note from home to opt out. Back in the spring, Marion grappled with the issue, too.

Fox News reports that it's not just a Florida matter. The subject has come up in New Mexico, where the ACLU is fighting to have schools tell students they have the right to abstain from the pledge if they wish.

On the other side, folks argue that the pledge is an important part of our national culture, not to be ignored.

The courts already have said that kids don't have to participate as a matter of their First Amendment rights. How far do you think schools need to go to ensure that students know these rights?

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Poll: Restraint and seclusion of students

Should Florida ban teachers from using restraint and seclusion to control students?
Yes, it's not appropriate
No, sometimes teachers need that level of control

(Photo from Families Against Restraint and Seclusion)

Florida lawmaker aims to end restraint and seclusion in schools

Less than a month ago, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged states to revise their laws and rules relating to the restraint and seclusion of students.

Florida education commissioner Eric J. Smith assured that his department was working on this issue as a procedural matter. State Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, wants to get a little more tough than that.

Hukill has filed HB 81 in order to make crystal clear that manual physical restraint would be used only when a child's life is at risk — not for the convenience of the adults in the room or as a substitute for real behavior planning.

Here's a piece from the legislative intent section of the bill:

"The Legislature finds that the majority of problem behaviors that are currently used to justify seclusion or restraint could be prevented with early identification and intensive early intervention. The need for seclusion or restraint is, in part, a result of insufficient investment in prevention efforts."

Maybe this time out a majority of lawmakers will agree.

New Gibbs High: zip ties, pepper spray

Teachers at F-rated Gibbs High told new principal Kevin Gordon that student behavior was problem No. 1. Now he and his staff are laying down the law.

At student assemblies this morning, they went over the new rules. No gum. No ball caps. No "hoochie-fied" short shorts. If your cell phone is on, it will be confiscated. If your pants are sagging, they will be pulled up with a zip tie. And if you're fighting, you will be pepper sprayed. Read more here.

You can't say that at school

Even the strictest of student dress codes can't stop kids from wearing what they want on the first day of school. 

The best that Talbot Elementary in Alachua could do Monday to the kid who wore a T-shirt with the message "Islam is of the devil" was send the child to the office — essentially quarantining the offensive message — until parents arrived with a new shirt.

The parents decided instead to take the child home, the Gainesville Sun reports.

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Florida schools get a little more tolerant

We've heard all the stories of a miniature toy G.I. Joe gun or a stray Tylenol caplet getting a Florida school student tossed out, no matter how harmless and unintentional the infraction. How often did we hear, the rules are the rules.

Well, the new rules call for a little more flexibility. Zero tolerance at schools now allows for educators to make some calls at their own discretion of whether the teen with a plastic knife on the floor of his pickup in the parking lot really meant to harm someone, or if it really just fell there during a weekend picnic.

School and justice officials say they don't plan to let kids get all wild and free. But, as one Department of Juvenile Justice director told the St. Augustine Record, "Once you introduce a kid to the juvenile justice system, the likelihood that he or she returns to the system greatly increases."

The goal is to save the big guns for the real guns, keeping the small stuff in-house as long as possible. School officials asked for this, and Florida lawmakers delivered. Only time will tell whether the new order will work.

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Suspensions up 26 percent in Pinellas last year

Out of school suspensions rose sharply in Pinellas last year, from 17,400 to 21,849, an uptick of 25.6 percent, according to discipline reports recently posted on the district’s Web site. The number of individual students being suspended also took a big leap, from 9,488 to 10,542.

Take it with a grain of salt. Discipline numbers can vary wildly from year to year, depending on policy changes, leadership changes and shifting responses/approaches to the same issues. School Board member Janet Clark touched on that point at last week’s board meeting.

“I want the board to insist on consistency of behavior for our students," Clark said. "I think we have so many schools that allow things that other schools don’t. Across the board we have to have a standard that says, ‘This is not acceptable in my classroom.’ “

For what it’s worth, here are some schools (by no means all) that had especially high suspension rates:

Lakewood Elementary: 22.2 percent.
James Sanderlin Elementary: 23 percent.
Azalea Middle: 34.5 percent.
Tyrone Middle: 33.3 percent.
Gibbs High: 22.6 percent.
Pinellas Park High: 19.9 percent.

Ron Matus and Donna Winchester, Times staff writers

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Facebook group gets Pensacola teen booted from her school

Ask most middle schoolers, and they'll probably tell you they hate school.

In this day of social networking, they'll probably tell you on MySpace, or Facebook, or Twitter.

But that doesn't have to mean that their school will like it. Pensacola eighth-grader Marie Couto found that out the hard way.

Duncan to states: Deal with restraint and seclusion issue

Late last week, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan wrote to state chief education officers, urging them to "develop or review and, if appropriate, revise" their state policies relating to the restraint and seclusion of children in school.

Congress has held hearings on this matter lately, with horror stories emerging that "deeply troubled" Duncan.

"I encourage you to have your revised policies and guidance in place prior to the start of the 2009-2010 school year to help ensure that no child is subjected to the abusive or potentially deadly use of seclusion or restraint in a school," he wrote.

In the spring, Florida lawmakers rejected bills (SB 2480/ HB 1449) that would have tackled this thorny issue. But Florida Education Commissioner Eric J. Smith tells the Gradebook via e-mail that the state has taken steps to deal with it.

"We have reviewed the letter from Secretary Duncan and are pleased with his comments and direction on this important issue. Florida's Department of Education has been actively engaged in this topic since March 2008, listening carefully to the citizens of Florida and considering all facets of this subject. We have, as Secretary Duncan suggested, issued guidance on the use of physical restraint in special education programs and many of Florida's public schools already use the recommended approach of Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS). 

We also continue to receive excellent feedback and clarity from the public through our rule development process. All students and staff in Florida's public schools should be confident that their classroom environment is safe, and we will continue to work diligently toward the purpose of clearly defining the acceptable methods that will continue to keep our schools safe for all students and school personnel."

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More Pinellas students being expelled for brass knuckles

It’s not exactly an epidemic, but nine Pinellas students were expelled for possession of brass knuckles last year, up from three the year before and zero the year before that. The uptick has been enough for Pinellas School Board members to raise concerns twice this year, including at the board meeting last week.

Some students “think they’re jewelry now,” said board member Janet Clark. (Which is true. Look here.)

It’s not clear how many Pinellas cases involved brass knuckles as probable weapons versus brass knuckles as obvious bling. But the board directed its staff to prepare materials for kids and parents that would let them know that either way, brass knuckles will, under state law, get students booted from school.

Ron Matus, State Education Reporter

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Moving away from rigid zero tolerance

Civil rights groups like Florida’s new, more tolerant zero tolerance law, but they want to make sure school districts fully comply. To that end, the Advancement Project, a national civil rights group, and the Florida State Conference NAACP issued recommendations to districts today, including what should and shouldn’t be defined as a “petty acts.”

“The Florida Legislature has recognized that schools have become over-reliant on the police and rigid ‘zero tolerance’ policies for handling school discipline matters,” Jim Freeman, who directs the Ending the Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Project for the Advancement Project, said in a written statement. “Expelling students or referring them to law enforcement for minor, school-based offenses is not an effective way to create safer, more productive learning environments.”

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Two Panhandle schools hope to mandate spirit

Contending that a tight dress code creates a better learning environment, two Walton County schools — Freeport Middle and Freeport High — have decided to require all students to wear "spirit" shirts and jackets featuring their Bulldog logo.

School leaders suggest that by wearing the shirts, which cost $6 to $17 depending on style, the students will have increased school spirit.

“I’m excited about the new school year with our campus full of school pride as students wear school spirit shirts,” high school principal Shirley Foster said in news release," according to the Northwest Florida Daily News.

Poll: Zero tolerance in schools

A new Florida law gives schools more flexibility in imposing its zero tolerance rules. Was this the right move?
Yes. A toy plastic gun should not get a kid suspended.
No. Zero tolerance doesn't mean some tolerance.

Florida's zero-tolerance policy gets a little more tolerant

Recognizing that a plastic water gun is a far cry from a real weapon, Florida lawmakers this spring approved changes to the state's zero-tolerance law to give school officials more flexibility in imposing it.

Today, Gov. Crist signed the bill into law, calling it an improvement in the state's efforts to keep children out of the juvenile justice system and in the education system. The focus will turn to expelling students who pose a real and serious threat to school safety.

“This legislation maintains Florida’s strict school safety policies while reducing the unintended consequences that have led to the wrongful placement of students in the juvenile justice system,” Crist said in a news release. “Florida’s children are one of our most important resources for securing Florida’s future, and we must ensure they have a safe, fair and first-class education.”

The bill also limits school's use of corporal punishment.

Do cameras have a place in school? Duval tries to set limits

Kids in high school use their cell phones too much. They text. They call. They take pictures and video. All while they should be learning.

That's some of the reasoning behind the Duval school district's plan to ban the use of cameras -- both in phones and just the regular kind -- unless they get permission first. It's about creating a distraction and violating peoples' privacy, according to the Florida Times-Union.

Some students agree that it's a good idea. “I think that would be a good idea because some kids overdo it in school,” one junior told the paper.

But what about the kids who capture inappropriate, possibly even illegal, behavior of their classmates or teachers? Would they face punishment for using their cameras against policy, rather than get praise for helping to identify wrongdoing?

And how about those students who use their cameras and post items away from school? Some suggest the proposed policy tries to control that too, a power well beyond its grasp.

Maybe this is a cell phone problem and not a camera problem. Control the use of phones -- already banned in Duval and many other districts -- and the picture issue goes away. Right?

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Okaloosa schools ban corporal punishment

There's going to be a lot more sparing the rod in in the Panhandle when classes resume next fall, as the Okaloosa School Board has decided to do away with corporal punishment -- effective immediately

"Corporal punishment certainly was a tool, but it was a mechanism or technique that wasn't absolutely necessary in view of the fact that we have a lot of different alternatives," superintendent Alex Tibbetts, who advocated the ban, told the Northwest Florida Daily News.

Already, a third of the county's schools had done away with paddling. In the rest of them, the number of times a student felt the sting had declined from nearly 500 in 2000 to less than 200 a year ago.

Florida still allows other districts to paddle kids, and many -- particularly in the Panhandle -- still do. But this past session, lawmakers took steps to limit the impact. In its revised zero-tolerance discipline law, it required districts that use corporal punishment to hold a public hearing every three years. Otherwise, its paddling policy is considered officially expired.

Everybody rise. It's time for the Pledge in Marion schools

After months of back and forth, the Marion School Board has decided it will require all students to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance after all.

Anyone who objects needs a note from home, the Ocala Star-Banner reports.

The board initially considered removing the requirement to stand based on years of court cases that indicated such a mandate violated student rights. But faced with angry military veterans, superintendent Jim Yancey backed away from that initial proposal.

He wavered from time to time since then. But in the end, the superintendent and board decided to stick with the standing. Yancey told the Star-Banner that very few kids don't do it, and those who do are usually just looking for some attention.

With senior pranks, what's the right response?

In today's news, we found three examples of senior pranks that got kids in trouble. Kids do these often stupid things, leaving their school leaders in the uncomfortable position of deciding how to punish the offenders just days before they'll never see them again.

Maybe telling the students they can't walk at graduation is the easiest answer, one that will make them think twice before they pull such a stunt again. Or is it?

Consider these cases.

Federal report: Schools hurting disabled students

The practice of restraining and secluding students with disabilities continues to get scrutinized – and now at the highest levels. Last week, the House Committee on Education & Labor held hearings on the topic, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan promised increased oversight and the General Accounting Office issued this troubling report.

The GAO found hundreds of cases of reported abuse over the past two decades, but could not determine how widespread they were because there is no Web site, government agency or other entity that tracks them. Among the cases it highlighted: One from Miami-Dade, in which a volunteer teacher’s aide was charged in 2003 with binding and gagging at least five 6- and 7-year-olds with tape.

“The aide lashed their arms to their laps, tied their ankles together, strapped their bodies to their desks, fastened their heads to the blackboard and sealed their mouths shut,” the report says. “We could find no evidence to indicate that the school trained or conducted a background check on the aide, who was at the time a felon on probation for armed burglary, cocaine possession and grand theft.”

The GAO found no federal regulations related to seclusion and restraint and wide variation in state laws. Nineteen states, including Florida, have no regulations, it said. The federal report comes on the heels of this one from the National Disability Rights Network, which drew national attention in January and lists other Florida cases.

Poll: Strip searches at school

Should schools be allowed to strip-search students when looking for drugs and weapons?
Yes. Safety first.
No. That's too intrusive.

A case for school uniforms

For the first time, the Indian River district is mandating uniforms at the middle school level.

Some parents are not too thrilled.

"You have kids who are maturing and here we are drawing back on their choices," parent Mikey Marini told the Vero Beach Press-Journal.

"I send my kids to school for an education," added Becky Polge. "I wonder how much instructional time (enforcement) is going to take up."

Not surprisingly, the folks in charge love uniforms. They talk about how they help with discipline, improve attitudes and even can lead to better academic performance (a dubious claim at best).

But then comes this gem of a perspective:

"You don't come to school for self-expression," Oslo Middle principal Deborah Long told the Press-Journal. "Let the students stand out with academics, not what they're wearing."

Convinced?

Community group wants better response to violence in Pinellas schools

School disciplinetops the agenda for a faith-based group that’s expected to bring 2,500 people to a meeting in Largo on Monday night. The Faith and Action for Strength Together group, better known as FAST, wants the Pinellas County School District to implement different discipline programs into schools with heavy violence and suspension rates. 

In a news release, it specifically names Largo and Gibbs high schools. 

“We have all these kids fighting for one reason or another, mostly for plain stupid reasons,” Marissa Knighton, 17, a senior at Largo High who’ll be speaking on behalf of FAST, told the Gradebook. 

The organization wants the district to push schools to adopt one of two different discipline programs that it says have been successful elsewhere: one called CHAMPS/Foundations, the other called Positive Behavioral Systems. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks, 12685 Ulmerton Road. 

Ron Matus, state education reporter

Poll: Should schools spank?

Okaloosa schools are considering an end to corporal punishment. Should Florida schools be allowed to spank students?
Yes, spare the rod ...
No, only parents have that right

Please stand for the Pledge .. but if you don't, that's OK too

Marion superintendent Jim Yancey is backing away from his plan to require students to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance just days after he announced his intention to add it to the student code of conduct.

The Ocala Star-Banner reports:

"No matter how they word the 2009-10 student code of conduct, School District officials say they will always ask, not require, students to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and national anthem."

Constitutional lawyers, it seems, have advised the district that it could be sued if it forces the issue. Courts have ruled that schools cannot mandate standing for the Pledge.

The Marion School Board is set to make its final decision in late May.

Stand when you say the Pledge

Marion schools stopped requiring student to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance or the National Anthem after a federal court forbade it.

Now, facing the ire of military veterans in the community, superintendent Jim Yancey has proposed putting the mandate back into the code of student conduct.

Yancey made his announcement after veterans packed the board room to protest rules that would have given students a choice in the matter, the Ocala Star-Banner reports. World War II vet James Phillips told the board that anyone who wouldn't stand for the Pledge should "get the hell out of Marion County."

The board won't decide this matter until late May. Any wagers on how quickly the ACLU steps in?

Lawsuit filed over student backpack search

Sumter County school officials violated the constitutional rights of an eighth-grader when they tried to search her backpack after a classmate claimed to be carrying a bomb on a school bus, says a lawsuit just filed by the ACLU in federal court.

Jessica Sorensen, a student at Sumter Middle School northeast of Tampa, was suspended for two days last fall after refusing to be searched. According to the ACLU, authorities attempted to search every student’s backpack after the classmate’s claim, even though they determined the classmate did not have a bomb and had no reason to suspect Jessica had anything illegal or dangerous.

“The retaliatory and disciplinary acts taken by Defendants against Ms. Sorensen violated Ms. Sorensen’s freedom from unreasonable searches guaranteed by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments,” says the suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. “The unjustifiable two day suspension cast a pall on Ms. Sorensen’s otherwise excellent academic record.”

Jessica’s mom appealed the suspension but was denied, the suit says. The suit asks the court to order that Jessica’s suspension be redacted or expunged.

What's up with the taping of students to chairs?

Maybe it's time for Tampa Bay area schools to take a closer look at their tape requests.

Today's news reports include not one but two incidents of families complaining that their children's teacher used tape to restrain them.

Bertha Sosi has sued the Hillsborough school district, saying her daughter was traumatized when her Mintz Elementary kindergarten teacher used packing tape to secure her to a chair. The School Board's lawyer has confirmed that tape was used, but it was only a single 12-inch strip across the girl's lap, so "the tape was not truly a restraint."

In Manatee, the Sheriff's Office is investigating an elementary teacher who is accused of duct taping an unruly student to a chair and then displaying the boy to his classmates, the Bradenton Herald reports.

Both districts' accounts say the teachers were trying to get the children to sit still, when other efforts failed. Certainly not always the easiest job, as any parent will acknowledge. But with tape? As if it's not hard enough for good teachers to keep the public's respect.

Those farts don't amuse this bus driver

And we thought we'd never get to use this image again. But it seems kids will be kids.

Lakeland eighth-grader Jonathan Locke Jr. got a three-day bus suspension after his bus driver wrote him up for farting too much.

"Jonathan passes gas on the bus to make the other children laugh and it is so stink [sic] that you can't breathe after he does it," the bus driver wrote on a misbehavior form, as the Lakeland Ledger reports.

Passing gas isn't itself a crime in the Polk code of conduct. But causing a disturbance on the bus is.

Young Jonathan, who already attends a last-chance school after being expelled for fighting, has proclaimed his innocence. He blamed "a kid who sits in front of me."

His dad, meanwhile, has to leave work to pick him up from school.

Plenty of reasons for out-of-school suspensions in Pinellas schools

Last weekend, the St. Petersburg Times reported on discipline issues in Pinellas schools. As our investigation continues, we thought our Gradebook readers might be interested in some statistics about out-of-school suspensions at the district’s elementary, middle and high schools.

Keep in mind that the information we’re reporting here is for the total number of out-of-school suspensions, which is different from the number of individual students who received one or more suspensions.

Pinellas board members worry that white teachers are being intimidated by black students

Pinellas School Board members attending Day 2 of their annual retreat heard an impassioned message this morning from board member Mary Brown, who announced during a discussion on discipline that she wanted to talk about "the elephant in the room" when it comes to student misbehavior.

As the district has moved back toward a system of neighborhood schools, Brown said, she once again is being approached by teachers in south Pinellas schools who say they feel intimidated by black students, particularly black males.

"We have had black students tell white teachers, 'We don't want you here because this is a black school,' " Brown said. "We have to deal with this right up front so students won’t feel they’re in control. We have to help teachers understand they have to take control of their classrooms and not be intimidated by any child."

Sit. Speak. Good student.

Most Florida schools don't paddle kids anymore, and that is (at least to many people) a good step forward. Instead, they focus on rewarding students who act well.

It's called "positive behavior support," and it's all about reinforcing accepted actions while ignoring the negative ones.

The Bradenton Herald described how it works in a fairly upbeat story, in which educators praised the method:

MANATEE — With a small bundle of gray tokens in hand, Williams Elementary teacher Michele Danowski was ready to start a counting lesson with her first-grade class. "Who can tell me what day of the week this is?" she asked. A couple of hands shot in the air.

As students answered her questions, Danowski walked around the group, randomly handing out the slips to students. ... Those slips are important currency at Williams Elementary. They can be traded in for a lollipop, a shiny toy or lunch with the principal.

It was this sentence, though, that caught my attention most: "The premise is simple and not unlike training your pets — reinforcing good behavior through rewards or incentives." Not sure that students should be treated like pets. You?

(Image from dogtreatcookbooks.com)

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Flagrant fragrance gets gassy student bounced

Maybe the 13-year-old student at Martin County's Spectrum Junior/Senior High thought he was being funny by repeatedly and purposely passing gas during computer class.

His teacher, D.C. Carden, didn't bust a gut over the boy's breaking wind - not to mention his continuous turning off classroom computers - so he gave the boy a referral and sent him packing to the school resource officer for a little talk.

SRO Warren Pettaway asked the (perhaps) obvious question: Did the boy deliberately cut the cheese (and the computer lines)?  "He subsequently informed me it was factual, and I informed him as a result of his behavior he was being charged with Disruption of a School Function," Pettaway wrote in his report.

That's right. The boy was arrested for farting. He was released to his mom. No word on what he did in the car on the way home.

(Thanks to the Stuart News for the story tip.)

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They did say 'no cell phones'

Here's one for Tampa Bay area school leaders and parents to ponder as they forge ahead with tough cell phone rules.

Over on the east coast, Brevard's Thomas Jefferson Middle had a similar stance: Students are not supposed to use their phones during school hours.

Then came a gas leak that forced the school to evacuate for hours. A handful of kids called their parents to let them know. And they got suspended, as Florida Today reports.

To spank or not to spank

Should Florida ban corporal punishment in schools?
Yes, adults shouldn't hit kids.
No, spare the rod, spoil the child.

Tale from the front line

In case you missed it, check out this must-read account of one teacher's experience working in an unnamed Hillsborough high school:

It's sixth period, my first day teaching high school, and my regular Junior English class refuses to settle down. I give them a brief talk, amid the jostling and visiting (and the walking, and the love taps, and the food trading, and the vaulting over desks) about respect. I will respect them, I say, and they will respect me ... For about 30 seconds, they like the idea of my respecting them, and then they're up again.

Melanie Hubbard has a doctorate in English and has taught at the college level. This spring, she tried out the public school setting, where everyone knows there is a shortage of qualified instructors. Her experience, described in a first-person story for the St. Petersburg Times over the weekend, sounds alarms on many levels.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on this story and whether it rings true to what you know about the public high school setting.

(Photo: Melanie Hubbard)

Candy-flavored meth and marijuana gumballs

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum has joined forces with the Florida Association of School Resource Officers to warn parents and educators about an "alarming trend" of flavored drugs circulating around the country, luring younger children.

According to the press release:

Methamphetamine with added flavors was first noticed on the West Coast, but is rapidly making its way across the country. Flavors can include strawberry, chocolate, cola and others. The flavoring reduces the bitter taste of the drug and does not affect the potency of the drug. Children may mistake the drug for candy pop rocks.

"This a grave problem and shows to what lengths drug dealers will go," Robert Tricquet, president of the Florida Association of School Resource Officers, said in the release. "This is a direct attempt to reach out and attract a younger age group luring them into the drug culture. We must be ever vigilant with our children to protect them from these predators."

To read more, click here.

Wednesday is...pull up your britches day?!?

His legislation went nowhere this past spring, but Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, is trying again.

The Senate's Pre K-12 committee tomorrow will consider his proposed bill that would force kids to pull up droopy, underwear-revealing britches or face penalties.

“This bill aids in the creation of a professional environment, eliminating one of the many distractions found in public schools,” Siplin said. “It puts the focus where it should be: on the blackboard, not the backside.”   

He proposes that students caught exposing their underwear be warned the first time, face a 3 day in-school suspension on the second offense, face 10 days of in-school suspension on the third offense, and be suspended out of school if caught for a fourth time.

Identical legislation is being sponsored in the House by Representative Ed Bullard (D-Miami).

What to do with cell phones

There has been of late much discussion about the myriad ways students can use their cell phones and other electronic devices to cheat on exams. Witness these recent stories in the Sun-Sentinel and the Stuart News.

But just because teens can cheat with them doesn't mean they will. So maybe it's not the best idea to act as if bad behavior is a foregone conclusion.

That's the position the Sun-Sentinel editorial board took this week. The paper editorializes that the technology has some valid uses - calling home after a team practice, long after the buses have left campus, for one.

School districts should consider that before banning cell phones outright. The better approach, the Sun-Sentinel suggests, is to punish the kids that cheat, and not the ones who don't. Sounds logical to us. How about to you?

Too harsh?

About two dozen students in a suburban Chicago high school decided to protest the Iraq war. They did it in the cafeteria and a hallway. And they got suspended, with the threat of expulsion.

The district superintendent said in a statement that he was not punishing the teens for their views, but rather for their interruption of the school day, the New York Times reports. Several of the protesters said they followed the administration's instructions.

Parents now are complaining that the punishment was too harsh. At worst, they said, the students were loitering, not being involved in mob action, as the district contended.

The ACLU is looking into the matter. The executive director of the Illinois chapter told the Times that public school students generally have constitutional rights, but public schools have some ability to limit those.

Hillsborough school board suspends three

TAMPA -- Hillsborough County School Board members on Tuesday suspended without pay three of its employees, including two teachers arrested on charges stemming from sexual involvement with teenagers and a custodian accused of murder.

"They're off our campuses or classroom, as the case may be. They're not being paid," said Hillsborough schools spokesman Steve Hegarty. "That's appropriate, that's where we should be. "

From left to right in pictures above:

• Christy Ayala, a secretary at Dickenson Elementary accused of three counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a 15-year-old boy. Three times between February and September, Hillsborough sheriff's detectives say,  Ayala and the boy met at his home, where she fondled, kissed and hugged the boy and asked him to touch her in inappropriate places.

• Stanley Telfare, a Blake High School custodian arrested on murder charges in the death of school secretary Elalia Walker, who died a week after being hospitalized with severe brain injuries. On Oct. 11, a witness told Temple Terrace police he saw a man hit a woman then throw her into a van within the Orange River Estates subdivision. Police never found the van, but later that evening, Telfare brought a severely-injured Walker to her home. Her family asked what happened. Telfare told them Walker jumped from a van as they were driving, police said. Originally charged with felony battery and kidnapping, charges against Telfare were upgraded to first-degree murder after Walker's death.

• Christina Butler, the Middleton High School special education teacher recently arrested on charges of having sex with a 16-year-old student. A bizarre traffic stop in late October involving a group of teenagers ultimately led to the arrest of Butler. She later admitted to having sex with a 16-year-old boy up to a dozen times. Fifteen-year-old Shatavia Kendricks said she tried repeatedly to report the inappropriate relationship to school officials, but the school suspended her for 'spreading rumors.'  In response, Kendricks' family is suing  the school board.

-- Casey Cora, Times staff writer

Booking photos courtesy of Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office