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“The program, in sum, not only builds physical fitness, but good Americans.” That’s how Look magazine summarized the physical education program of La Sierra High School in January 1962 [PDF]. If you’re wondering how a gym class got a major spread in a national publication—as well as an endorsement from President John F. Kennedy—take a look at this.

**SNIP** At the same time, the fourth generation law enforcement officer with 23 years experience carries a badge and a gun. "My mindset is first and foremost the safety of these children," he said. Dare County is one of just four districts among North Carolina's 115 to have a resource officer in every school, said Michael Anderson, community development and training manager for the N.C. Center for Safer Schools, part of the state's Department of Public Instruction. Expense, district size and lack of resources often prevent placing officers in elementary schools, he said.

Middle school students were assigned to write letters to congress promoting gun control Hampton, GA – A 7th Grade social studies teacher tasked with teaching his students about Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, recently gave his students an assignment to write a letter to Congress supporting gun control. Blue Lives Matter obtained a copy of the assignment. The assignment “topic” was listed as “You are trying to persuade lawmakers to have stricter gun laws to help prevent another school shooting from taking place.” “For this assignment, you are writing a letter to the lawmakers of the United States. The...

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GORHAM — A social studies teacher remains on paid administrative leave but will not face criminal charges in connection with a classroom skit at Gorham Middle-High School in which he gave a knife to a student. The announcement by Gorham Police Chief P.J. Cyr on Wednesday was criticized by Robert Balon, the father of the 17-year old GMHS junior. Balon said his son had unwittingly and reluctantly participated in the March 14 skit, the aim of which was to educate students about the Fourth Amendment. “Chief Cyr is not fulfilling his duty and is failing the kids in the schools,”...

The Trump administration plans this summer to scrap a controversial Obama-era discipline rule forced on schools to close racial gaps in suspensions and arrests but that critics say pressures educators to turn a blind eye to escalating bad behavior. The federal directive, issued jointly in 2014 by the US departments of Education and Justice, warned public school districts receiving federal funding — including New York City — that they could face investigation and funding cuts if they fail to reduce statistical “disparities” in discipline by race. On average, the administration noted, black students are suspended at three times the rate...

There have been numerous reports of students being bullied, pushed to participate in anti-Second Amendment protests they did not believe in, and of being punished for speaking out.  The Second Amendment Foundation today announced a project to help students who have been harassed, intimidated or bullied for resisting peer pressure to join the wave of protests against guns and the right to keep and bear arms. "A student's First Amendment rights should not be violated because they support the Second Amendment," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "There have been several reports over the past...

Jihad scammers rightfully tossed out of court. You remember “Clockmed,” aka Ahmed Mohamed. Mohamed took apart an LCD digital clock and stuck it in a box. What he put together resembled a homemade bomb. Even though he admitted it looked “suspicious,” Ahmed brought it to school. When teachers and school administration officials became concerned for the safety of the students, they walked into Clockmed’s trap. Ahmed played the Islamofauxbia victim to the hilt. Lauded by President Obama, the Pope, 97 world leaders, the UN, hailed by NYC Mayor Bill deBlasio, who declared “Ahmed Day,” he became an enemedia icon and...

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Last week they protested gun violence. This week, Rocklin High School students are using social media to organize a pro-life walkout using the hashtag #life. “To honor all the lives of aborted babies pretty much. All the millions of aborted babies every year,” said organizer Brandon Gillespie. He says his history teacher inspired the idea. As thousands of students across the country walked out of class demanding strict gun laws, in honor of the Parkland shooting victims, Benzel was placed on paid administrative leave when she asked students to consider whether there’s a double standard in the...

The Trump administration is being accused of racism for targeting an Obama-era directive compelling schools to ease up on discipline for minority students — even though the policy has made life more difficult for kids, including minorities, stuck in increasingly unruly classrooms. Ask Virginia Walden Ford, who runs a church-based after-school snack program in Little Rock. She was recently surprised when a young, fearful black girl turned up before the end of the school day and admitted she had skipped class. Why? She had been involved in a fight the day before with another girl, but the school had refused...

Julianne Benzel, a teacher at Rocklin High School, asked students if school administrators would permit an anti-abortion protest, gets placed on administrative leave as a consequence A California high school teacher has been placed on leave after she wondered if her school would permit an organized walkout to protest abortion. According to CBS Sacramento, Rocklin High School’s Julianne Benzel said all she did was have a conversation with her class last Thursday and Friday about the “politics of protest” — a lesson ahead of yesterday’s school walkouts. However, this seems to have angered some students and their parents. Benzel said...

Disarming willing and qualified teachers and other school staff is stupid. There has been a lot of talk about “arming teachers” recently, but that's really never been the issue. The real issue is about disarming teachers who would like to be carrying. Like any other controversial subject, any discussion of school safety must begin with some agreement on basic facts and mutual understanding of terms and definitions.We can't come to a consensus on solutions if we can't agree on what the words we are saying actually mean. When gun owners and politicians talk about “arming teachers,” we are not...

In 2014, the Obama administration promulgated a “guidance” to America’s public schools that threatened federal investigations and litigation against schools where black students are disciplined (e.g., by suspension) more often, on a pro rata basis, than white students, on the ground that such numerical discrepancy is evidence of discrimination. Many schools responded by adopting discipline quotas, which meant in practice that after a certain number of students of a particular race had been suspended, teachers and administrators were helpless to enforce any kind of discipline in classrooms. The Obama administration is gone, thankfully, but its “guidance” has not been revoked....

At Everest College in Everett, nearly 30 percent of borrowers who started repaying student loans in 2014 defaulted on those loans by the end of 2016, according to the latest disclosure from the U.S. Department of Education. The data includes students at schools receiving federal student aid who entered repayment on selected federal loans in 2014 and defaulted before the end of the second fiscal year. In Colorado, 82 institutions reported 100,449 students entered repayment on student loans. And 11,204 – or 11.2 percent – defaulted on those loans.

This week, various schools across the country sponsored "walkouts" in memory of the 17 students and faculty members killed in the Feb 14th massacre carried out by Nikolas Cruz at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In other schools students took it upon themselves to walkout without permission. New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) warned school administrators not to punish students who engaged in unsanctioned walkouts, asserting that "it would be wrong. Threatening to discipline students for participating in the peaceful demonstrations is not only inappropriate, it is unconstitutional. Demonstrations against gun violence are protected by the First...

Hundreds of posters with the national motto "In God We Trust" will soon be on display in some Arkansas public schools. Despite the objections of atheist and First Amendment groups, a new state law, Act 911, requires schools to display posters with the motto, along with the U.S. and Arkansas state flags, if they are donated. The law says the posters may be displayed in each public elementary and secondary school classroom, library or any public building in Arkansas that’s maintained using state money. State Rep. Jim Dotson (R), who sponsored the bill that became Act 911, appeared at the...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Student organizer John Papanier said drills at Susan Wagner High School are not out of the ordinary. "They are always soft lockdowns and we're always told it's a drill," he said. But there was something about administrators' response on Wednesday that indicated this was something more serious. "This time, we were told it was a hard lockdown -- not a drill," he said. "That's when I knew it was real."

"We call on all the adults in Congress elected to represent us, to pass legislation that will protect and save children from gun violence."

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. — The old minivan appeared near the school on a Tuesday morning, its Illinois plates the only thing out of place in the blue-collar suburbs of central Long Island. But as backpack-toting teenagers passed by on their way to Brentwood High, the van’s doors suddenly swung open. Out sprang members of the violent street gang MS-13, armed with baseball bats. They attacked three 16-year-old students they suspected of being rivals before driving off. When police spotted the van in the same neighborhood the following afternoon and surrounded it at gunpoint, the MS-13 members were in the midst of...

Broward County sheriff Scott Israel rebuffed criticism of the decision to order his deputies to “form a perimeter” rather than enter Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in order to confront Nikolas Cruz as he shot 17 students and teachers to death. “It’s a simple calculation of risk vs. reward,” Israel argued. “Anyone I might’ve sent in ran the risk of being shot before he could take any useful action to neutralize the threat. Each of my deputies is a highly trained and valuable asset to the community. The loss of any one of these men would be a significant loss...