Joanne Jacobs
A rifle for Christmas: Are parents responsible for their kids' crimes?
He'd left his alcoholic, drug-addicted wife, taking custody of his teenage son. His son was bullied in middle school, then accused of...
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Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 7
- 2 min
Worried parents may push back on 'phone-free schools'
The phone-free schools movement is spreading: South Carolina just became the latest state to restrict cellphones in school. Students will...
Joanne Jacobs
- Aug 12
- 2 min
Bullying, violence are up: 1 in 10 teens are afraid to go to school, says CDC
Teens aren't quite as sad or suicidal as they were in 2021, reports the CDC, but violence, bullying and school avoidance are up.
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 27
- 1 min
Let's stop terrifying children
New York state will ban "active shooter drills" with actors playing shooters and victims, reports Shayla Colon in the New York Times. ...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 15
- 2 min
Teachers' unions are soft on student behavior: Is this what teachers want?
Teachers' unions want "all the things," said National Education President Becky Pringle at the annual convention. Why isn't one of those...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jun 24
- 2 min
'Teachers don't want combat pay,' they want an end to combat
Raising teacher pay won't raise student achievement or keep teachers from quitting if working conditions are bad.
Joanne Jacobs
- Jan 24
- 3 min
Teachers are fed up with student misbehavior, classroom chaos
The "new normal" of student behavior -- a toxic mix of disrespect, disruption, violence and apathy -- is driving teachers to despair,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Dec 7, 2023
- 2 min
Portland will consider race, gender to 'support' disruptive students
Portland (OR) schools will design "support plans" for disruptive students that consider trauma, race, gender identity/presentation and...
Joanne Jacobs
- Nov 18, 2023
- 3 min
Unsafe: Schools in high-crime communities try to cope with violence
It's all on video: A mob of teenagers punches and kicks a 17-year-old boy in an alley near his Las Vegas high school. Jonathan Lewis,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Oct 11, 2023
- 2 min
Both sides: Schools try to create a 'safe space' to 'process' attack on Israel
I feel for teachers who feel obliged to discuss Hamas' terror attack on Israel with their students. How do you talk about terrorists...
Joanne Jacobs
- Sep 1, 2023
- 3 min
Sympathy for the disruptor
A student walks into class 10 minutes late and yells, "What's up, bitches?" What's a teacher to do? To cope with a rising tide of student...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 23, 2023
- 2 min
CA schools chief ejected from board meeting on parents' rights
Parents should be told if their child is involved in violence at school, expresses suicidal thoughts or identifies as transgender, a...
Joanne Jacobs
- Jul 18, 2023
- 2 min
Denver principal fired after criticizing safety policies
In March, a Denver high school student shot and injured two deans who were searching him for weapons. The student, who had a prior...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 18, 2023
- 2 min
School of bullies
Sometimes students misbehave -- not because their needs haven't been met or their teachers aren't sufficiently sensitive to their culture...
Joanne Jacobs
- May 18, 2023
- 2 min
My students are 'broken kids I cannot fix'
Teachers on Reddit are sharing horror stories of their students' emotional, social and academic melt downs, screen addictions and apathy....
Joanne Jacobs
- May 3, 2023
- 2 min
Guns, gays, suicide, smoking ... The show may not go on after all
Can a high school put on Oklahoma without guns? The Theatre Guild at an Ann Arbor (MI) high school revised the classical musical days...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 30, 2023
- 2 min
Surrendering Concord's Minutemen
Concord High School in Northern California is under pressure to give up its "Minutemen" mascot, reports Stephanie Magallon for NBC Bay...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 2, 2023
- 2 min
'Restorative' backlash: Legislators propose tougher school discipline
Legislators are "moving to make it easier to kick disruptive students out of school" in response to "a pandemic-era surge in school gun...
Joanne Jacobs
- Apr 1, 2023
- 1 min
After 2 shootings, Denver brings police back to high schools
Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero will return armed police officers to the district's high schools for the rest of the school year,...
Joanne Jacobs
- Mar 22, 2023
- 2 min
Conservative teachers are quiet
Teachers who are on the political right "speak in whispers behind closed doors," says Daniel Buck in an interview with Rick Hess....
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