Seattle Schools Community Forum

I missed it but there it was reported by the Times yesterday that there was an 18-year old girl at Chief Sealth High School who reportedly had a gun on campus.  Police arrested her off-campus at a nearby shopping center. The police did not find a gun but the Times says "they arrested her for investigation of a firearms violation."  (I asked SPD and they said the arrest was made because of credible information about the gun issue and her "status" at CSIHS.) SPS had briefly put both Denny and Sealth on a shelter-in-place.  Apparently a group of students - not related to the incident - ran from police when confronted.

The American Academy of Pediatrics  says it is hard to measure screen time because of the number of ways kids can be looking at one (beyond the tv). They also point out that, especially during the school year, kids could be reading a book (on a Kindle) or doing homework (on a computer). They recommend 2 hours a day for kids 3-18 for "entertainment screen time." You define "entertainment." The average 8-10 year old spends almost 8 hours a day on screen time with older kids spending up to 11 hours a day. About 75 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds own cell phones, and nearly all teenagers use text messaging. - See more at: https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/managing-media-we-need-a-plan.aspx#sthash.iJk8MHo5.dpuf The question the AAP asks is - what is screen time displacing? Physical activity? Actual interaction with family and friends? Two things that seem to stand out are 1) parents, heal thyself and 2) just say no.

 Update: here's a link to ACLU Washington's page on youth issues. This ruling may be a subject you might want to talk to your kids - especially teens - about at some point. In a 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court today ruled that police must have a warrant to search the cellphones of people they arrest.  From the NY Times: The old rules, Chief Justice Roberts said, cannot be applied to “modern cellphones, which are now such a pervasive and insistent part of daily life that the proverbial visitor from Mars might conclude they were an important feature of human anatomy.” The courts have long allowed warrantless searches in connection with arrests, saying they are justified by the need to protect police officers and to prevent the destruction of evidence. From Chief Justice Roberts ruling:

A couple of good parenting ideas have come across my desk. One is an article from Parent Map on how to get your children to do their homework .  This mom made a "homework hour" for the entire family.  (I assume she got out her bills, etc. to work on while they did schoolwork.) Any thoughts/tips from you about how you handle homework?  Do you feel like your child is getting too much/too little/not effective homework or is it just right? The other story is from a mom's blog - Janel Burley Hofmann about an iPhone contract with her 13-year old son.   It is an 18-point contract full of some good stuff.    What I like is that she is blunt - about how he might use it and consequences to doing some of those things, how she expects him to use it, outcomes if it is lost or damaged, school use, etc.  I do disagree a little with her saying she "owns" it if she gave it as a gift.  (However, if she and her husband are paying for the service - as I...

This story appeared in this morning's PI. The Oak Harbor School Board has rewritten their policy on cell phones to include allowing administrators to search the phones in order to protect the district against possible criminal charges around sexting. It's interesting because there are no real laws against sexting per se but there are laws around sending, receiving or storing photos of minors in a state of nudity on a cell phone (it's a felony). From the article: The first reading of the new policy, which was unanimously approved at Monday’s board meeting, states, “By bringing a cell phone and other electronic devices to school or school sponsored events, the student and parents consent to the search of the device when school officials have a reasonable suspicion that such a search will reveal a violation of school rules.” Assistant Superintendent Lance Gibbon presented the policy to the board. He pointed out that school officials already have the right to search...