ReportWire

Tag: School discipline

  • Cornell frat parties on hold; druggings, assault reported

    Cornell frat parties on hold; druggings, assault reported

    [ad_1]

    ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University has announced the temporary suspension of fraternity parties after a student reported being sexually assaulted Sunday and four others were reportedly drugged at off-campus housing in recent weeks, university leaders said this week.

    All of the incidents occurred at residences affiliated with registered fraternities, according to a statement to students Monday by President Martha Pollack and Vice President Ryan Lombardi.

    Police investigations are ongoing.

    The suspension of fraternity parties and other social events at the Ivy League university follows an emergency meeting Sunday between the Interfraternity Council, which governs recognized fraternities, and staff, the statement said. IFC student leaders made the decision voluntarily.

    “Fraternity leaders will take this time to implement stronger health and safety plans,” the university statement said. “No IFC-affiliated social events will resume until student leaders and Cornell staff are confident activities can take place responsibly and safely.”

    The IFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

    A Cornell University Police alert Friday warned of at least four incidents since Sept. 24 in which students reported they had become incapacitated while attending parties off campus, despite having consumed little or no alcohol. The individuals believed they were exposed to Rohypnol, the alert said. Commonly called “roofies,” the illegal sedative is known as a date-rape drug.

    On Sunday, university police said a student reported being sexually assaulted at an event between 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. that morning.

    “Like you, we are outraged and saddened by the Cornell University Police Department (CUPD) crime alerts issued this weekend,” Pollack and Lombardi said.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Groups say they’ll sue Georgia over ‘divisive concepts’ ban

    Groups say they’ll sue Georgia over ‘divisive concepts’ ban

    [ad_1]

    ATLANTA — Education and civil rights groups said Friday that they will sue to overturn Georgia’s law banning the teaching of certain racial concepts, claiming it violates First Amendment rights to free expression and 14th Amendment rights to equal protection.

    The Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Education Association and the Georgia Association of Educators sent a notice to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr notifying Carr of their intent to sue in federal court.

    Kara Richardson, a spokesperson for Carr, said the office had received the letter but declined comment, as did a spokesperson for state schools Superintendent Richard Woods. Both Carr and Woods are up for reelection on Tuesday.

    Gov. Brian Kemp earlier this year signed House Bill 1084 into law. The measure, based on a now-repealed executive order from President Donald Trump, attracted opposition from teacher groups and liberal groups. But Republicans said it was absolutely necessary to ban critical race theory, a term stretched from its original meaning as an examination of how societal structures perpetuate white dominance to a broader indictment of diversity initiatives and teaching about race.

    Banned “divisive concepts” include claims that the U.S. is “fundamentally or systematically racist,” that any people are “inherently racist or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously,” and that no one “should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of his or her race.” Bills using identical language have been proposed in dozens of states — backed by the Center for Renewing America, a think tank led by former Trump administration officials.

    School districts must respond to complaints, and people who don’t like the outcome can appeal to the state Board of Education. If the board finds the school district in the wrong, it could suspend some or all of its waivers from state regulation.

    Suits have been filed challenging similar laws in states including Florida, Ohio, Oklahoma and New Hampshire.

    Opponents of the law argue that it’s classroom censorship, saying it limits the ability of educators to teach accurate history and the ability of students to receive an accurate education. The opponents said Friday that it violates a First Amendment right for students to receive information and ideas and also violates First and 14th Amendment prohibitions on punishing people for speech.

    “As a classroom teacher I am confused and concerned about how this law will impact not only my classroom, but my career,” history teacher Jeff Corkill said in a statement. “Like many educators in Georgia, I can’t figure out what I can or can’t teach under the law, and my school district’s administrators don’t seem to understand the law’s prohibitions either.”

    Other Georgia laws pushed through this year in a flurry of conservative election-year activity included allowing the state athletic association to ban transgender girls from playing high school sports, codifying parental rights, forcing school systems to respond to parental challenges of books and increasing tax credits for private school scholarships.

    “Efforts to expand our multicultural democracy through public education are being met with frantic efforts in Georgia to censor educators, ban books, and desperate measures to suppress teaching the truth about slavery and systemic racism,” Georgia Association of Educators General Counsel Mike McGonigle said in a statement.

    ———

    Follow Jeff Amy on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jeffamy.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Student hospitalized after falling from second story railing in school’s lobby

    Student hospitalized after falling from second story railing in school’s lobby

    [ad_1]

    Student hospitalized after second story fall

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Uvalde schools suspend entire police force after outrage

    Uvalde schools suspend entire police force after outrage

    [ad_1]

    AUSTIN, Texas — Uvalde’s school district on Friday pulled its embattled campus police force off the job following a wave of new outrage over the hiring of a former state trooper who was part of the hesitant law enforcement response during the May shooting at Robb Elementary School.

    School leaders also put two members of the district police department on administrative leave, one of whom chose to retire instead, according to a statement released by the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District.

    The extraordinary move by Uvalde school leaders to suspend campus police operations — one month into a new school year in the South Texas community — underscored the sustained pressure that families of some of the 19 children and two teachers killed in the May 24 attack have kept on the district.

    Brett Cross, whose 10-year-old son Uziyah Garcia was among the victims, had been protesting outside the Uvalde school administration building for the past two weeks, demanding accountability over officers allowing a gunman with an AR-15-style rifle to remain in a fourth-grade classroom for more than 70 minutes.

    “We did it!” Cross tweeted.

    The Uvalde school district had five campus police officers on the scene of the shooting, according to a damning report from Texas lawmakers that laid out multiple breakdowns in the response. A total of 400 officers responded, including school district police, the city’s police, county sheriff’s deputies, state police and U.S. Border Patrol agents, among others.

    The district said it would ask the Texas Department of Public Safety, which had already assigned dozens of troopers to the district for the school year, for additional help. Spokespersons for the agency did not immediately return messages seeking comment Friday.

    “We are confident that staff and student safety will not be compromised during this transition,” the district said in a statement.

    The statement did not specify how long campus police operations would remain suspended. School police officers will be assigned to other roles in the district, the statement said.

    The move comes a day after revelations that the district not only hired a former DPS trooper who was one of the officers who rushed to the scene of Robb Elementary, but that she was among at least seven troopers later placed under internal investigation for her actions.

    Officer Crimson Elizondo was fired Thursday, one day after CNN first reported her hiring. She has not responded to voicemails and messages left by The Associated Press.

    The fallout Friday is the first in Uvalde’s school police force since the district fired former police Chief Pete Arredondo in August. He remains the only officer to have been fired from his job following one of the deadliest classroom attacks in U.S. history.

    Steve McCraw, the head of the state’s Department of Public Safety, has called the law enforcement response to the shooting an “abject failure.” McCraw has also come under pressure as the leader of a department had more than 90 troopers on the scene but still has the support of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

    On Thursday, after Elizondo was fired, Abbott called it a “poor decision” for the school to hire the former trooper and that it was up to the district to “own up to it.”

    ———

    For more AP coverage of the Uvalde school shooting: https://apnews.com/hub/uvalde-school-shooting

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • Uvalde schools suspend campus police operations after outrage over hiring of former Texas trooper who was at May attack

    Uvalde schools suspend campus police operations after outrage over hiring of former Texas trooper who was at May attack

    [ad_1]

    Uvalde schools suspend campus police operations after outrage over hiring of former Texas trooper who was at May attack

    [ad_2]

    Source link