My Civil Advocate

According to a North Carolina Department of Insurance study, over 3.5 million child injuries occur on school grounds or during school-related activities each year in the United States. Sometimes an accident is just that - an accident. Other times an injury may be caused by an intentional act, or the negligence of the school or one of its employees. Bullying is an example of an intentional act. In some instances the school may be held responsible if it knew the bullying may tak place but did not respond appropriately to prevent it. Teacher abuse of a student may leave a school district vulnerable to liability for failing to conduct thorough background checks, offer proper training, or implement acceptable oversight. Schools are obligated to provide shelter, food, transportation, and a safe environment for its students. Generally speaking, if a school fails to follow accepted standards of care in providing these services, and it causes harm to a child, then the school is negligent. ...

According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers on average need 8-10 hours of sleep each night in order to fire on all cylinders the next day. Trouble is, 87 percent of them fall short. Many of them also experience what the medical community calls "phase delay"; they have more trouble falling asleep earlier in the night than in their pre-high school days, possibly due to hormonal changes, which means they want to sleep longer in the morning. There's one big problem: Many schools start classes at roughly 7:30 a.m. If you give a kid one hour to get ready, that's a 6:30 a.m. wake up. GO back 8-10 hours and you arrive at a bedtime of 8:30-10:30. For many teens, that ain't happenin'.  Some school districts have opted to move starting times one hour later. The results have been encouraging: lower rates of absenteeism and tardiness, improved academic performance, increased levels of safety (e.g., driving to school), and a diminished incidence of health issu...