Andover, MN, United States (AHN) – Two national civil rights groups are planning on suing the Anoka-Hennepin school district if school officials don’t properly address anti-gay harassment. The Southern Poverty Law Center and National Center for Lesbian Rights say they have proof that students in the district have faced harassment for being gay or perceived as gay and that harassment violates federal law.

Lawyers for the two civil rights groups which sued the district earlier this year in a separate case sent a letter Tuesday to Anoka-Hennepin superintendent Dennis Carlson warning of possible legal action.

According to the letter the two groups have had the district, the largest in the state under investigation for some time and found that students who are or perceived to be gay or lesbian are in jeopardy and in a hostile environment when they’re at school. They were originally contacted by students and alumni who sought help.

Sam Wolfe an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights group said Anoka-Hennepin is breaking federal law by allowing such a culture to exist.

“On a daily basis they’re going into the schools and into the hallways — other kids are calling them names, such as ‘faggot’ and other names about either their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” Wolfe said in an MPR report. “And it’s a continual thing.”

The letter goes on to list examples of harassment of at least three unnamed current or former students. It remains unknown how many other clients could be represented by the groups if a settlement can’t be reached.

Wolfe said his group will sue Anoka-Hennepin unless district officials compensate his clients and repeals a district policy that requires staff to be neutral in dealing with sexual orientation. The so called “neutrality policy” allows sexual orientation to be discussed but stipulates teachers to remain neutral.

“The policy ties the hands of these teachers,” Wolfe said. “Some of these kids are being relentlessly harassed.”

District spokeswoman Mary Olson said school district leaders believe their policy is legal.

In a Star Tribune report she said people have different view points on whether “homosexuality is appropriate.” She added, “I don’t think by eliminating the neutrality policy we’re going to eliminate bullying.

The board stance is they don’t see a connection between the two. However civil rights proponents hope with the threat of a lawsuit they will reevaluate their position and repeal the policy.

View full post on Education Stories

Shelton, CT, United States (AHN) – A Connecticut honors student who was banned from his high school prom after a creative proposal backfired has had the ban reversed.

The incident sparked hundreds of thousands of people to post support notes on Facebook and the matter garnered more than 10,000 tweets on Twitter. The incident also sparked a national debate as it made headlines around the world.

As of this morning, the Facebook page for “Let James Tate Go To Prom” was “liked” by more than 195,000 people, and another page selling Tate-for-prom-king-type T-shirts is growing.

Finally, officials at Shelton High backed down from their hard-line stance against James Tate.

After nearly a week of international pressure, on Saturday Beth Smith, the headmaster of the public high school, gave in to what she called “international notoriety” and reversed the school’s decision, allowing Tate to take his date, Sonali Rodrigues, to the prom.

Tate a senior, was banned from the prom by school administrators after he posted cardboard letters on the side of the school that read, “Sonali Rodrigues Will You Go To Prom With Me? HMU [Hit Me Up] – Tate.”

His school considered the move a safety risk and trespassing. The school has a policy that anyone suspended after April 1 isn’t allowed to attend special events.

View full post on Education Stories

Canal Winchester, OH, United States (AHN) – Two Ohio boys were kicked off the school bus for passing gas and being a disruption.

The incident happened on Thursday and according to one of the boys’ father caused riders to laugh, heckle and of course roll their windows down.

James Nichols in a report with the Columbus Dispatch said they boys were considered repeat offenders because a driver had warned them after a similar indiscretion weeks ago.

However this time officials at Canal Winchester Middle School intervened and deemed it was an obscene gesture that violated the student code of conduct. They were banned for a day from riding.

Nichols on the other hand calls the whole thing “laughable” the kids would be subject to disciplinary action for something natural and unintentional. His wife who was recently hospitalized with gastro-intestinal issues was offended by the whole thing.

View full post on Education Stories

San Francisco, CA, United States (AHN) – A British beautician has sparked the ire of parents on both sides of the Atlantic after revealing she injects Botox into her 8-year-old daughter’s face every three months. The reason– so the child can be a “star.”

In a report in the Sun of London she said, “I wish that I’d had the same advantages when I was younger.”

“I know one day she will be a model, actress, or singer, and having these treatments will ensure she stays looking baby-faced for longer,” added Campbell, who now resides in San Francisco.

Campbell admitted she purchases Botox and Restalyne over the Internet and first tests them on herself before injecting them into her daughter.

Kerry also gives her daughter regular full-body waxes. “She also has her virgin wax monthly, which gets rid of her fluffy leg hair and makes sure she won’t develop pubic hair in the future,” said Kerry. “It will save her a fortune in waxing when she’s older.”

Despite experts warning that Botox is only considered safe for adults there currently aren’t any laws stating that it is illegal to inject it into children.

Britney Campbell who frequently competes in beauty pageants said that she no longer “cries that much” during the injections. She also hopes to get a “boob and nose job soon, so that I can be a star.”

View full post on Health Stories

Athens, GA, United States (AHN) – Researchers at the University of Georgia and Yale University have discovered a compound that could treat blisters known as shingles better than anything currently available.

Shingles is a condition that affects up to 30 percent of Americans, mostly elderly, and for which no specific treatment exists.

The varicella-zoster virus or VZV virus from childhood chickenpox hides in the nerves, emerging most frequently in adults over the age of 60 as a blistering rash on one side of the body. The outbreak can cause nerve pain that can persist for months or years after the shingles attack is gone, also increases with age.

The new effective anti-shingles agent called L-BHDA may change that according to researchers.

“We need new options for medications with increased potency and specificity that can treat VZV, including strains that may be resistant to existing drugs,” said medicinal chemist Chung (David) Chu, Distinguished Research Professor of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences at UGA, one of the inventors of L-BHDA.

A research collaboration between Chu and co-inventor Yung-Chi (Tommy) Cheng, from the Henry Bronson Professor of Pharmacology at Yale, have yielded an extensive portfolio of antiviral compounds that target such diseases as HIV, shingles, hepatitis and cancers.

“L-BHDA has the potential to be more effective than existing agents,” said Chu.

A vaccine to prevent shingles has been available to older adults since 2006, however according to a recent study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, only a small percentage of older people receive the shot, principally because of cost, lack of insurance reimbursement and shortage of supply.

View full post on Health Stories

Berkeley, CA, United States (AHN) – A new study suggests prenatal exposure to pesticides may be linked to low IQ scores in children.

Specifically researchers at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health focused their research on the organophosphate pesticides – widely used on food crops.

They found that every tenfold increase in measures of organophosphates, a class of pesticides that are well-known neurotoxicants, detected during a mother’s pregnancy corresponded to a 5.5 point drop in overall IQ scores in 7-year-olds.

“These associations are substantial, especially when viewing this at a population-wide level,” said study principal investigator Brenda Eskenazi, UC Berkeley professor of epidemiology and of maternal and child health.

Eskanazi went on to say, “That difference could mean, on average, more kids being shifted into the lower end of the spectrum of learning, and more kids needing special services in school.”

While markers of prenatal OP pesticide exposure were significantly correlated with childhood IQ, exposure to pesticides after birth was not. This suggests that exposure during fetal brain development was more critical than childhood exposure.

The UC Berkeley study is among others on the topic that can be read in the latest journal of Environmental Health Perspectives.

View full post on Education Stories

Toronto, Canada (AHN) – According to a recent study elevated levels of a protein that helps regulate the body’s blood pressure may also predict a major cardiovascular event in high-risk patients.

By assessing the protein, known as plasma renin activity (PRA), in the blood stream may give doctors another tool to assess a patient’s risk and help prevent a heart attack or stroke.

“Conventional factors like genetics and environment do not always provide a complete patient story and an understanding of cardiovascular risk,” says Dr. Subodh Verma, senior author, researcher and cardiovascular surgeon at St. Michael’s Hospital.

Verma goes on to say, “The plasma renin activity blood marker allows us to identify people at a higher risk and that gives us the opportunity to introduce therapies that would work to lower a patient’s PRA levels.”

If further testing proves conclusive analysis levels of the protein would be another tool in a doctor’s arsenal to evaluate a patient’s risk for heart attack or stroke, thereby providing preventative measures.

View full post on Health Stories

Lakewood, CO, United States (AHN) – Police in Colorado pepper sprayed an 8-year-old second grade boy who was having a temper tantrum.

Reportedly Aidan Elliot, 8, became enraged while at his Lakewood, Colorado elementary school on Feb. 22 and began threatening students and was spitting and throwing chairs.

However police were called to the Glennon Heights Elementary classroom when he broke a piece of wood trim off the wall and held the sharp piece of wood threateningly while brandishing it like a knife.

Teachers at the school barricaded themselves in a room away from the unruly student.

“I wanted to make something sharp if they came out because I was so mad at them,” Aidan Elliot said in a police report. “I was going to try to whack them with it.”

The report goes on to say Aidan, “was holding what looked like a sharpened one foot stick and he screamed, ‘Get away from me you f—ers.’”

Then the report goes on to say that Lakewood Police officers ordered the child “drop the stick,” and when he refused authorities sprayed him with pepper spray twice until he dropped the piece of wood.

He was then handcuffed and later treated on the scene for “a red, irritated face.”

Mandy Elliott, Aidan’s mother believes the police have handled the situation differently. Two other times police were called to the school about her son who has some issues and both times officers were able to talk to her son and calm him down.

“I do want them to get training like other local police departments in our area have for a crisis situation with children,” Mandy said Wednesday on NBC’s Today show. “I don’t think it’s right for an eight-year-old to get pepper sprayed.”

Aidan while on the program told Meredith Vieira that he doesn’t think he would have hurt his teachers and doesn’t know why he acts out. “I don’t know,” Aidan said. “That’s just the way my body goes. I can’t really control it for some reason.”

Lakewood Police spokesman Steve Davis defended the officers’ decision to use pepper spray on the boy, calling it the safest option considering the circumstances.

View full post on Education Stories

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – According to a recent study, three in 10 Americans aged 21 and older consume alcohol at least once a week.

The study also found that 5 percent drink daily whereas 10 percent drink numerous times a week.

Beer, domestic wine and vodka appear to be the alcoholic beverages of choice

Other findings include one in five Americans 21 or older (20 percent) say they drink alcohol at least once a month and 15 percent drink it several times a year.

Another 22 percent report they never touch liquid libations.

Males were also found to be more frequent drinkers than women. Almost two in five men (38 percent) say they drink at least once a week compared to 21 percent of women.

View full post on Health Stories

Bergen, Germany (AHN) – 71% of teachers feel that a secure internet “parent portal,” where parents could see details about their child’s schooling, would improve school-to-parent communication.

In the survey conducted by itslearning on teachers in France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the U.S., 75% of the 5,805 teachers surveyed said parental involvement is important to student’s education. However 44% said they didn’t have the time or means to communicate with parents as much as they would like.

“Teachers agree that involving parents is critical, but they aren’t able to communicate with parents effectively,” says Morten Fahlvik, Research Manager at itslearning.

Teachers currently communicate with parents with 46% of them using email reach their students’ parents at least once a month; 37% use texts/SMSs and 24% still send letters.

School Boards and technology companies are currently experimenting with different online tools to make the teacher parent communication relationship more seamless.

View full post on Education Stories