Joanne Jacobs
States limit ‘active shooter’ drills
“Active shooter drills” terrify students, but do they make them any safer? Photo: Education Week When schools do fire drills, they don’t...
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Joanne Jacobs
May 25, 20222 min read
The making of a mass murderer
The shooter in the Uvalde, Texas school massacre was “a lonely 18-year-old who was bullied over a childhood speech impediment, suffered...
Joanne Jacobs
May 13, 20221 min read
She watched kids play — security was called
Lenore Skenazy was walking by an elementary school in Queens, when she saw kids playing hopscotch, just as she used to do, and paused to...
Joanne Jacobs
Sep 4, 20181 min read
Back to school — nervously
Notebooks, pencils, ruler, bulletproof backpack panel . . . Sales are up for “ballistic protection” for schoolchildren, reports Kevin...
Joanne Jacobs
Jul 22, 20182 min read
Look lively: Big Brother is watching
A Chinese high school installed cameras that monitor students’ facial expressions, reports Don Lee in the Los Angeles Times. Artificial...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 14, 20182 min read
We’re scaring the kids — not helping them
When a parent toured her 5-year-old daughter’s future kindergarten near Boston, she noticed a poem on the board set to the lyrics of ...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 13, 20182 min read
‘Teachers feel threatened but aren’t backed up’
Gang graffiti on a fence in suburban Long Island, where police blame MS-13 for 30 murders in the last two years. Photo: Sarah...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 5, 20181 min read
Tackling ‘culture’ — but not tools — of violence
The Trump administration’s school safety commission will examine the “culture of violence,” but not the role of guns, Education Secretary...
Joanne Jacobs
Jun 3, 20182 min read
Safety fears encourage homeschooling
School safety fears are pushing parents to consider homeschooling, writes Valerie Richardson in the Washington Times. After a gunman...
Joanne Jacobs
May 14, 20181 min read
Kicked out for a keychain
An Ed Navigator advisor helped the mother appeal, then persuaded the superintendent to reduce the student’s time in an alternative...
Joanne Jacobs
Apr 19, 20183 min read
Broken PROMISE
Today, the anniversary of the Columbine massacre, students are being urged to walk out of school to protest school shootings, register...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 29, 20182 min read
Safety last?
When he brought a knife to San Diego’s Lincoln High School, the student’s special education team decided he wasn’t responsible because it...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 18, 20182 min read
Already safe at school
School shootings aren’t an epidemic, writes Martin Kaste on NPR. “Schools are safer today than they had been in previous decades,” says...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 11, 20181 min read
We’re scaring the kids
School shootings are extraordinarily rare, writes David Ropelik, author of How Risky Is It, Really? Why Our Fears Don’t Always Match the...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 10, 20182 min read
Youth football takes more hits
California, Illinois and New York legislators are considering banning children from playing tackle football because of the risks of brain...
Joanne Jacobs
Mar 6, 20182 min read
Hugs and guns to keep kids safe
Pamela Revels “dispenses hugs and smiles” at schools around Auburn, Alabama, reports the New York Times in a story about school resource...
Joanne Jacobs
Jan 21, 20182 min read
Reforming school discipline: Too fast?
Is school discipline reform moving too fast? asks Wayne D’Orio in The Atlantic. In the Highline district south of Seattle, suspensions...
Joanne Jacobs
Nov 14, 20172 min read
How parents choose schools
One daughter goes to a small, fast-paced STEM-focused school with few arts, language, sports or extracurricular options, Fordham’s Jeff...
Joanne Jacobs
Aug 19, 20172 min read
Teaching the eclipse — safely
When I was in elementary school in Illinois in the early ’60s, there was a total eclipse. I remember being terrified of going blind. I...
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