Recent Headlines About Student Safety
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Brattleboro holds town meeting on racism
Vermont Public Radio reports that about 200 Brattleboro residents including teachers, police officers, community leaders and many members of the biracial community "turned out for a community forum on racism in Brattleboro, where the discovery of a racist group and the arrest of a teenager on hate crime charges has shaken people up." The event was designed to "gauge community sentiment on how the recent incidents had affected people, and what should be done about racism in the community." Attendees said "they were relieved to see the large turnout of support. But others said talking to like-minded people would not solve the problem."
VCF Staff
Students Fight Racism with Technology
The Rutland Herald reports that high schools students in Brattleboro are "using technology to keep a recent racist incident from igniting further problems." Last week the students "launched a text-messaging campaign to keep fellow students informed, and prevent misinformation and rumor from boiling over into violence." According to Curtiss Reed Jr., the executive director of ALANA, a local civil rights organization, and chairman of the Vermont State Advisory Committee on Civil Rights, "The kids are telling each other 'avoid, ignore, resist, [and] don't respond."
The campaign comes in response to recent racist incidents in Brattleboro, "which included the formation of an informal student club, whose very name includes a threat of violence and a racial epithet. Last week, a 17-year-old Guilford student was placed on house arrest after he was charged with two hate crimes, including aggravated stalking with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct, as well as two other alleged crimes." In addition, the Vernon Police are "investigating several racist signs left in town.
Safety Officials discuss student safety on VT's college campuses
Vermont Public Radio spoke with Rich Long, director of campus public safety with Champlain College, and Gary Margolis, the University of Vermont's (UVM) Chief of Police, about student safety on Vermont's college campuses. Margolis commented that crime statistics from the U.S. Department of Education show that individuals are safer on college campuses than in cities or towns. Long noted that UVM, Champlain College, and Norwich University, recently teamed up to provide an inter-campus alert system. The alert system can send phone messages, pager messages, text messages, and email to students within a few seconds of a catastrophic incident. Notably, Margolis recently co-authored a report "on how safe America's college campuses are. The study is in response to the shootings at Virginia Tech more than a year ago."
Legislators consider cell-phone ban for some teenage drivers
The Rutland Herald reports that the state legislature is considering a highway safety bill that would ban cell phone use among 16- and 17-year-old drivers. "Though Vermont lacks state data linking cell-phone use to accident rates, highway safety experts around the state agree that the phone conversations can become a deadly distraction on the road." Senate President Pro Tem Peter Shumlin has said he would support the legislation if "representatives accept a Senate provision that would make it easier for teenage drivers to ferry their siblings around. Presently, teenagers have to wait three months after receiving their driver's license before they can be accompanied in the car by their minor siblings. Shumlin said he wants to change the 'graduated licensing' rule, reducing that timeframe to 30 days." Maxine Grad, a Moretown Democrat, disagrees. Indeed, Grad is "unwilling to undo a nearly decade-old graduated licensing program that has, according to state statistics, reduced crash rates for 16-year-olds by 90 percent."
VCF Staff
Cell Phone Bill Will Note Become Law This Year
The Times Argus reports that the Legislature adjourned late Saturday afternoon without a cell phone law that "would have banned cell phone use by teenage drivers." Earlier this year, the bill had "nearly unanimous support" but Senate opposition to the plan "necessitated significant concessions" and "negotiations stalled." Rep. Maxine Grad, a Moretown Democrat said she'll return to the Statehouse next year prepared for another battle over the teen cell phone ban.
Students speak out against bullying
The Burlington Free Press reports that a small group of students gathered in Burlington's City Hall Park on Wednesday to "protest bullying and harassment of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students." The gathering was followed by a "statewide Day of Silence designed to bring attention to the problem." Notably, the most recent Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that "34 percent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students surveyed in Vermont public schools had been bullied in the past 30 days." According to Christopher Neff, executive director of Outright Vermont, "That figure is twice the rate of overall bullying."
Summit on Internet Safety Focuses on Sex Crimes
The Times Argus reports that at a summit on internet safety in Montpelier on Monday, "law enforcement officials said that Vermont teenagers are increasingly vulnerable to a criminal element that veils itself behind the anonymity of the virtual world." According to the police, "internet-aided sex crimes have risen dramatically in recent years." For example in 1998, "Vermont police investigated one case involving an online predator" while last year, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force "examined the computers of about 200 suspects charged with a sex offense."
Steve DeBrota, a nationally recognized expert on online predatory techniques, said that "ensuring healthy Internet behavior means becoming involved in children's online lives." De Brota added, "If you want to protect minors, you first have to understand them and how they interact with others in this world. A lot of safety messages have been based on banning access. I don't think that's possible anymore. Now I think we need to empower good choices."
Notably, "Vermont is investing more law-enforcement resources to clamp down on internet predators. A $250,000 federal grant from the Department of Justice will fund three part-time investigators. Much of their time will be spent posing as potential victims, snaring would-be predators who try to arrange illicit meetings with their underage targets."