Tuesday
May182010

Cyber-bullying talk tonight at Rutland Town School

Over the next two days, technology safety professionals from Prevent Child Abuse Vermont will lecture to students and parents about the dangers of bullying online and how social networking can have dangerous effects for some students. Police and cyber-bullying experts statewide say the threat for harm is real, as reports of students committing suicide after hours or months of online harassment have begun to surface in the media in the past six months.

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Monday
May102010

Hallway patrol: BUHS Safety Officer Greenwood stays on the move 

As of early April, School Safety Officer Laurie Greenwood rides a silent machine through the halls of Brattleboro Union High School. The Segway allows her to travel 10 to 12 miles every day to do her job: monitoring the hallways; making sure the students aren't lingering or wandering when they shouldn't be; staffing the cafeteria during lunch time; checking gender-appropriate locker rooms and bathrooms for graffiti or vandalism and performing basic safety duties throughout the building -- checking doors to make sure they lock the way they should and making sure fire exits are clear.

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Monday
Apr052010

Senate seeks plastic additive ban

Senate lawmakers took a bold step Friday toward banning the use of a potentially dangerous chemical in many plastic containers, including baby formula packages, sippy cups and water bottles. The proposed new law – which still needs to be approved by the Vermont House – is modeled after a recent law passed in Connecticut. Several states prohibit the use of BPA in some plastic items, such as baby bottles, but Vermont's proposal would go much farther than those laws. "Vermont could become the second state in the country to aggressively ban the use of BPA," said Charity Carbine, the environmental health advocate for the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. "This is a victory for Vermont. In the fight between kids and chemicals, kids won today."

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Monday
Mar082010

Make your school pedestrian friendly

Fewer and fewer children who live close to school regularly walk or ride a bike to classes. And this is largely due to safety concerns: speeding traffic, distracted drivers and inadequate sidewalks or other pedestrian infrastructure. The Safe Routes to School program is a national program that looks to reverse this trend. The goal of the SRTS program is to enable and encourage children to safely walk and bike to school. Not only does it work to educate children and give them the skills to get to school safely, but it also works to address infrastructure needs that may prevent children from walking and biking. In the process, programs are working to reduce traffic congestion and improve health and the environment, making communities more livable for everyone.

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Thursday
Feb112010

$1 cigarette tax increase would raise $6.7 million for Vermont and cut youth smoking

Raising Vermont's cigarette tax by $1 per pack would bring in $6.7 million in new annual revenue to help close the state's budget shortfall, while also reducing smoking and saving lives, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations. "This report shows that raising tobacco taxes is truly a win-win-win for Vermont. It is a budget win that will help protect vital programs like health care and education, a health win that will prevent kids from smoking and save lives, and a political win with the voters," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

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Monday
Nov242008

Nine Vermont college presidents want drinking debate

Vermont Public Radio reports that "ten leading Vermont college educators are among scores of their colleagues from across the country calling for a debate about the merits of the minimum drinking age of 21." Educators who have signed onto the Amethyst Initiative, which wasdeveloped by former Middlebury College President John McCardell, maintain thatthe 21-year-old minimum drinking age is not working because more young people are drinking irresponsibly. College of St. Joseph President Frank Migloriecommentedthat "once people reach 18 years of age they are given full citizenship, except the right to drink alcohol." Since July 2008, 134 college presidents from around the country have signed the initiative."

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Wednesday
Nov192008

Sailing Club cited in hazing inquiry at UVM

Vermont Public Radio reports that "police at the University of Vermont say they've cited four people over an apparent hazing incident involving the college's sailing club." In addition, "the club was suspended two weeks ago amid allegations that underage members were required to consume alcohol." The sailing club will not be able to compete in the Atlantic Coast Championships, being held this weekend in Geneva, N.Y., because of the suspension.

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Friday
Oct312008

Winooski School program to prevent bullying

The Burlington Free Press reports that the the Winooski School District has implemented the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program to "to change the norms around bullying behavior and to restructure the school setting so bullying is less likely to occur." The program is being used at the elementary, middle and high school levels.

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Thursday
Oct092008

Police help keep kids alert about traffic safety

The Bennington Banner reports that the Bennington Police Department (BPD) is partnering with the North Bennington Graded School to provide students and parents with pedestrian and bicycle safety information through the Safe Routes to School Program. Notably, "the school does not provide school buses, students must either be dropped off at school, or make their own way — on foot or bike," and according to BPD Lt. Paul Doucette, "Some of the sidewalks in North Bennington are in need of serious work." In turn, the BDP has "stepped up the motor vehicle enforcement in the village in an attempt to ensure the safety of students" and has spent time at the school reviewing safety with students.

Link to article

Monday
Sep222008

Officials say despite efforts, hazing persists at Norwich

Vermont Public Radio reports that Norwich University officials announced last week that "allegations had surfaced that an upper-class student had hit a freshman with a broom handle, and that such an act crosses the line into hazing." Officials noted that their "tough response to [the] incident is in keeping with a policy of zero tolerance toward the practice." The University also "acknowledge[d] that in the school's military component - its Corps of Cadets - there can be a thin line between military-style discipline and what some might consider to be hazing."

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Monday
Jul142008

Bennett case sparks debate over how to reduce sexual violence

Vermont Public Radio reports that last week's kidnapping and murder of Brooke Bennett, a 12 year old Braintree girl, has "sparked a debate among Vermont's political leaders about ways to reduce the incidence of sexual violence in the state." Governor Jim Douglas has suggested "a civil commitment law that allows the state to keep a convicted sex offender in prison beyond their sentence if the individual hasn't successfully completed a treatment program. Douglas also wants lawmakers to pass Jessica's law - a bill that would impose a 25 year mandatory minimum sentence for people convicted of sexually assaulting a child" and said "he doesn't oppose restoring the death penalty in Vermont to deal with crimes like the Brooke Bennett case." Gaye Symington, House Speaker and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, has said "she supports a comprehensive review of Vermont's sex offender laws."

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Monday
Jul072008

Arlington creates Internet safety class

The Bennington Banner reports that the Arlington Memorial High School and Middle School is creating a mandatory Internet safety course for all sixth-graders in response to "ever-growing concerns about online predators, inappropriate material being posted on social pages, Internet financial scams and cyber-bullying." Students in the course will meet daily for nine weeks, and the class will cover topics such as social networking on sites like Facebook and MySpace; the dangers of harassment and cyber-bullying; preventing and avoiding sexual solicitation; e-commerce; and intellectual integrity, when it comes to doing research for a paper or downloading music. Principal Kerry Csizmesia explained that he plans to "tie [the course] in with the school's technology competency, which requires all students to master nine areas of technical skills before graduating. He said the School Board, superintendent, teachers and parents have been supportive of the idea from the start."

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Friday
Jun272008

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."

Link to article
Wednesday
May142008

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."

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Link to report

Friday
May022008

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."

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