At the November 11 Board of Education (BOE) meeting, Superintendent Crystal Edwards addressed two recent articles that appeared in the Lawrenceville Patch.
One article about a questionable assessment stated the survey was given to 8th graders in our schools when, in fact, the situation occurred within another Lawrence Township Public Schools (LTPS) that is in Cumberland County, NJ. Additionally the school named in the article is not one of our schools. We were not consulted by the Patch to verify the information reported. We contacted the publication and asked them to post a retraction.
The second article was about violence in schools. Dr. Edwards related "incident," as defined by the NJ Department of Education, figures from 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 and the drop within LTPS between the two years from 139 to 101. She shared information about substance abuse and the current, most problematic category: prescription drugs. She also reported over half (53) of the 101 incidents from last year were Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying (HIB) cases.
Taking the opportunity to build awareness for students and adults, including the community at large, Dr. Edwards shared information about insidious current smartphone apps, some of which permit sending messages anonymously. Apps frequently are at the heart of HIB cases that commonly occur after school or on the weekends in addition to during the school day. Apps present a challenge and since some come out of Canada and fall under laws different than those in the U.S., the police frequently are unable to track IP addresses.
Dr. Edwards encouraged parents to be informed about and vigilant in monitoring their child's phone.
Two Current Threats to Children - are you in the know?
