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Whitewater - Freshmen at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater have always spent their first few days on campus learning college survival - how to join the karate club, cheer like a Warhawk and find English 101. But this year’s orientation added a grim new lesson: how to take out a campus shooter with a book or a backpack. The school is one of about 500 around the country that have purchased “Shots Fired on Campus,” a new video training program with tactics for surviving a mass-casualty shooting. It’s the latest strategy for college officials who are preparing for the worst in...

WASHINGTON - Hard times and higher fuel prices will follow kids back to school this fall. Children will walk farther to the bus stop, pay more for lunch, study from old textbooks and wear last year's clothes. Field trips? Forget about it. This year, it could cost nearly twice as much to fuel the yellow buses that rumble to school each morning. If you think it's expensive to fill up a sport utility vehicle, try topping off a tank that is two or even three times as big. At the same time, costs for air conditioning and heating, cafeteria food...

For many young'uns around the country this is a momentous day. Sadly, for many of them, it is also a tragic one. Today millions of parents who should know better are going to take the most precious things in their lives, their children, and turn them over to the government to be educated. These parents all know that our government education system in this country is beyond horrible --- but for some reason they operate under the impression that the very school that, by chance, their child is going to attend is the one and only exception. Their child's school...

          Back to School! By Naval Support Activity Chapel Staff A child came home from his first day of school. His mother asked, “What did you learn today?” He said, “Not enough. I have to go back tomorrow.” Going back to school is always difficult for both teachers and students. It also means more traffic with school buses back on the road, probably the only ones delighted about schools reopening are the parents. Going back to school can be a milestone. Kindergarten, sixth grade, high school and college are all significant marks of progress and...

Students are pouring out of Tucson high schools after TUSD had to dismiss some classes because more than 1,400 teachers called in sick... Altogether, TUSD has sent home students at six high schools. The other schools are Catalina High, Rincon High, University High and Palo Verde High. Classes at all the campuses were let out around 11:15, district spokeswoman Chyrl Hill Lander said. Approximately 1,440 teachers called in sick today, she said. The district employees approximately 3,700 classroom and resource teachers. The normal absentee rate on Fridays is approximately 500 teachers. TUSD officials had planned to staff all classes for...

CHICAGO, September 7, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - With the school year getting underway, the law firm of Mauck & Baker has prepared a list of opportunities and rights to inform parents how to help reinforce the values taught in their homes in the public schools. The news has reported irresponsible behavior by public school educators such as the Montana school district which required fifth and sixth grade students to participate in a psychological study where they were shown drawings of male and female genitalia and asked to circle the ones which most closely resembled their own genitalia. In Illinois, children were...

Exclusive: Back-to-School Bomb Threats: At Least 13 U.S. Universities Targeted Email Share September 04, 2007 1:33 PMRichard Esposito Reports: At least 13 U.S. universities, including Princeton, MIT and Carnegie Mellon, have been targeted for anonymous e-mail bomb threats as students return to classes, federal and local law enforcement authorities tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.One of the schools, Clemson University, in Clemson, S.C., was targeted again today and an evacuation was ordered, ABC News has learned."We have had three in the last 10 days," Clemson University spokeswoman Robin Denny said of the bomb threats. She said the university has been...

OTTAWA — Another children's product made in China has been added to the growing list of recalls over concerns about lead, making it the fourth such recall in less than one month.Health Canada has recalled Favor Set children's pencils because the coating contains high amounts of lead, just two days after another children's product was recalled due to similar concerns.Amscan Canada is voluntarily recalling 140,000 units of all 16 models of the pencils.The company and Health Canada advise that Favor Set pencils purchased since January should immediately be taken away from children.There is no risk of lead exposure from holding...

Hundreds of thousands of students had their first day of school on Monday. Some of them had to learn to carry guns and be prepared to shoot -- polar bears. Students on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard aren't allowed to leave their village without a shotgun and ammunition. That's because hungry polar bears can be behind every swing on the island.

Many Stabbings Force British Families To Take Action (CBS) LONDON -- Pencils, notebooks and … stab-proof vests? It doesn't sound like your usual back to school list, but some British families are shelling out hundreds of dollars for the protective uniforms, all due to a danger that has parents concerned. The mean streets of Britain can be deadly. Surveillance cameras captured one attack that left a young man in the stabbed to death. Teenage killings here have skyrocketed. As kids go back to school, petrified parents are taking an extraordinary step, outfitting their children with stab-proof school uniforms, lined with...

Last Updated: Tuesday, 14 August 2007, 16:28 GMT 17:28 UK School uniforms made slash-proof Lining a blazer and jumper with Kevlar costs £130 Parents concerned about knife crime are getting "slash-proof" school uniforms for their children. A company is offering to modify blazers and jumpers by lining them with knife-resistant Kevlar. Bladerunner in Romford, east London, said it has been contacted by the parents of five local pupils about the £130 adaptation. But the government said stabbings in schools were very rare and accused the firm of scaremongering for profits. Jim Knight, Department for Children, Schools and Families minister, said:...

It’s back-to-school time so load up with those pencils, notebooks, rulers and, of course, a bullet-deflecting backpack, if you buy the pitch of the security accessory’s Danvers inventors. Dads Mike Pelonzi, 43, and Joe Curran, 42, dreamed up the bullet-proof backpack, which also blunts knife attacks, to protect their own children after witnessing the Columbine massacre in 1999. “It was after seeing what happened in Columbine that we started thinking about this. I’m a parent and so is Joe and we wanted a way of keeping kids safe at school and this is what we came up with,” said Pelonzi,...

BOSTON -- It's time for parents to make the annual trek to get back-to-school items, which usually includes jeans, jerseys and a few notebooks. Boston television station WCVB reported Thursday that a couple of Boston men want parents to consider something else -- a bulletproof backpack. "They have them with them on the floor, on their laps, on the bus. They always have a backpack," said Joe Curran, of My Child's Pack. It started with the Columbine shooting in 1999. Curran and Mike Pelonzi said that they watched and worried for their own children. They had the idea to hide...

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.... For some of us, the new school season is starting and sending our kids back to school is the best time of year.  Hey kids! It's school time again!  You're probably feeling excited to get back to the rigid structure, discipline, and math problems that you missed out on while you were trapped outside in the sun all summer.  If you're going back to the same school you are very lucky! Because everyone will remember you and your reputation as the school ______. Fill in the blank with any 1 of the following:...

The New First Grade: Too Much Too Soon? Kids as young as 6 are tested, and tested again, to ensure they're making sufficient progress. Then there's homework, more workbooks and tutoring.

It's been a long summer. The workload has increased as the hairline decreased. There is a change in the weather this week that seems to mark the start of autumn. Time to push aside the paperwork, the reports, the bills, and the everyday world of life. Time to start something nutty... Friday Silliness Begins Now Silly Songs: I Love My Lips

Ceremony violated separation of church and state, ACLU says About 180 members of four local churches surrounded a public middle school yesterday to bless the building and those who use it, despite objections from the American Civil Liberties Union about the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. Led by a minister from Epworth United Methodist Church, members of Epworth, Karl Road Christian Church, Karl Road Baptist Church and Ascension Lutheran Church joined hands and circled halfway around Woodward Park Middle School at 5151 Karl Rd. In unison, they asked the "great divine one, creator of us all" to bless...

Sunday August 27, 2006 By RON VAMPLE Associated Press Writer DETROIT (AP) -- Teachers overwhelmingly rejected a two-year contract proposal by the city public school district on Sunday and decided to strike. The Detroit Federation of Teachers, which represents 9,500 employees, said teachers plan to demonstrate at their schools Monday, the day they were scheduled to report to work to prepare for the beginning of the school year. Classes are scheduled to start Sept. 5. Negotiations were expected to resume Monday. ``If I have to hold all the hearings personally and do nothing else for the next two months, I...

Hammond Students Were Wearing Inappropriate Clothes (AP) HAMMOND, IN -- Classrooms were a little less crowded at Morton High School on the first day of classes: One hundred and twenty-eight students were sent home for wearing the wrong clothes. Fed up with inappropriate outfits, the principal suspended the students for one day Wednesday, minutes after doors opened at the school. Those suspended represent more than 10 percent of the 1,200 total students. The offending attire -- including baggy pants, low-cut shirts, tank tops and graphic T-shirts -- are banned from classrooms. Students were also cited for cell phone use. "This...

Back to SchoolWell, it's that time of year. We're finally throwing away Fourth of July leftovers in our refrigerators; the stores are starting to put out Christmas decorations; and school is starting. (Okay, the stores don't have Christmas decorations up yet, but complaining about how early holiday decorating starts is everyone's pet peeve.) For lack of a better seasonal topic, this week's singles' thread topic will be back-to-school. We want to talk about your school experiences in general and back-to-school experiences in particular. We'd like people to share any memories that they have of going back to school. Please feel...