Blog

More school districts across the nation are adopting, trying out, or at least considering the adoption of four-day school weeks, including districts in Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Texas. The day that is normally taken off is Friday.

Although the cost savings of four-day weeks is pretty small (according to the National Conference of State Legislatures [NCSL], average savings range from .04% to 2.5%, with the maximum cost savings of 5.43%), anecdotal evidence indicates student attendance improves. Additionally, parents and teachers can more easily schedule doctor’s appointments and other commitments on Fridays rather than on school days.

Proponents also say that four-day school weeks help districts recruit and retain teachers, which is a significant consideration with the nation’s current labor and teacher shortage. That’s the reason why many school districts in Texas have adopted the shortened week, reports KXAN. Nearly 60 school districts across the state have made the switch, and another seven offer a hybrid schedule, with four-day weeks for part of the year.

Crosby ISD has just approved the move to four-day instructional weeks starting next year, reports WIFR. In that district’s case, classes won’t be held on Fridays, and teachers and staff will work one Friday per month for staff development. About 20 or 25 minutes per day will be added to school days to make up for the Friday’s that are off.

The move to four-day weeks is most popular in rural areas, where districts can save on utilities and cut the miles put on their school buses. About 90% of districts that have adopted the four-day week are in rural areas. The total number of districts adopting the four-day schedule has increased more than 30%, from 650 in 2020 to 850 now, reports EdSource.org.

The trend, however, is not taking hold in California, which requires schools to hold classes five days a week or else have their funding reduced. The legislature has given some exemptions to a few districts in remote areas of the state. That being said, some of the districts that adopted the four-day week switched back to the five-day-week schedule, while others never switched to the four-day-week strategy.

North College Hill City Schools District, which is a small district outside of Cincinnati, will be the first in Ohio to adopt a four-day school week.

In March, the board of education voted unanimously to adopt the shortened week, reports USA TODAY. The move is being made to prevent teacher burnout and support teachers. The shortened school weeks will start on August 15. Students will attend in-person classes Tuesday through Friday and have self-directed schoolwork on Mondays. Teachers will be on campus on Mondays to plan the rest of the week’s instruction, receive training, and review data.
Recruiting and Retaining Campus Security Officers During the ‘Great Resignation’
Related: Recruiting and Retaining Campus Security Officers During the ‘Great Resignation’

Opponents of the four-day school week say that longer school days are harder for students, especially younger ones. Students who struggle with food insecurity might also not have access to sufficient meals on the day off, and access to after-school activities could be affected on the days when school is not in session. Additionally, families that can’t find affordable childcare could struggle with the shortened school week.

According to the NCSL, the effects of four-day school weeks on academic performance aren’t well known.

“…One study of students in Colorado showed a statistically significant improvement in math scores among students on a four-day schedule, while a similar study found no significant differences in student performance,” says the conference.

A report done by Oregon State University “showed a temporary decline in academic performance among students who switched to a four-day schedule, particularly among minority, low-income, and special needs students. Four years after the transition, student performance in four-day schools was not significantly different from that of five-day schools.”

The impact on juvenile crime, however, appears to be significant. One study in Colorado found that switching all students in a county from a five-day week to a four-day week increases juvenile arrests for property crimes, in particular larceny, by about 73%. Interestingly, larceny and property crimes increased on all days of the week and weren’t driven by crime shifting from one day to another, such as Wednesday to Friday.

Read more here. 

Arrests for prostitution-related offenses have dropped dramatically in New York City in recent years as the movement to decriminalize the sex trade has gained a foothold in local politics. But a coalition of women’s rights and anti-trafficking groups said on Tuesday that the shift away from criminalization had gone too far.

At a Manhattan press conference hosted by the National Organization for Women’s New York City chapter, advocates said they were glad those who sell sex are no longer being arrested for prostitution as frequently — but they urged Mayor Eric Adams, the NYPD and local district attorneys to go after their clients, or “Johns,” more aggressively.

Read more here. 

An investigation has led to the largest fentanyl seizure in Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office history, according to the agency. While processing the evidence, roughly 58,000 fentanyl pills and 16 pounds of fentanyl powder were seized.

Two milligrams of fentanyl, equal to a few grains of table salt, is considered a lethal dose.

That record-breaking seizure didn’t occur at the southern border, such as south Texas or southern California, but in Oregon, says Derek Maltz, a former Drug Enforcement Agency official.

“What this [seizure in Oregon] helps show us is that the crisis is impacting all of America,” Maltz tells American Family News, because fentanyl can now be found “in every state throughout this country.”

Read more here. 

Please sign up here. 

Queenie, a 4-year-old English Labrador retriever, is on the front lines in the fight against online child sexual exploitation.

Um, a dog?

We know law enforcement uses specially trained dogs to perform many vital tasks: searching for someone who’s missing; comforting traumatized victims; detecting illicit drugs, cadavers, explosives, and accelerants. But for online child sexual exploitation?

To understand how Queenie helps, you need to understand the crime. Millions of images and videos of children being sexually abused, even raped, have flooded the internet. Those who produce or collect and trade these horrific images, known as child sexual abuse material (CSAM), often store them on electronic devices – and then hide them.

When law enforcement officers obtain a warrant to search a suspect’s home, they’re increasingly using dogs like Queenie, after they conduct an initial search, to look for devices they may have missed. Known as K-9 electronic detection dogs, they’ve been taught to detect the vapor that emits from electronic storage devices, which is odorless to humans.

“The bad guys have gotten really good at hiding these devices,” said Shelley Kowalczyk, who is Queenie’s handler. “Humans are looking past items hidden in plain sight. We have to be more methodical with our search.”
queenie and her handler, Shelly.

Kowalczyk, who works for Veterans Lab Services (VSL) in Linthicum, Maryland, recently brought Queenie to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) for a demonstration. Before Queenie was introduced to our staff, Kowalczyk hid electronic devices around our headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, including inside a Coke can with a false bottom, a wall outlet, a cell phone, and a tiny toy car.

“Let’s go to work – seek!” Kowalczyk instructs Queenie, and off she goes. Very quickly, Queenie detects something and immediately sits in front of it as she’s been trained to do. “Show me!” says Kowalczyk. Queenie then touches her nose to the toy car. Kowalczyk reveals the thumb drive that’s concealed inside. After a treat, Queenie gets back to work, finding every device Kowalczyk has hidden.

Watch Queenie searching; Video: Samantha Banavong

In addition to thumb or flash drives, these electronic devices containing CSAM can be hidden cameras, Micro-SD cards, air tags, cell phones, SIM cards, and hard drives. Electronic detection K-9s have found them in all kinds of places – buried in a container of coins in a junk drawer, in smoke detectors, behind walls or in ceilings, under beds. During a search, investigators turn off any circulating air so the scent isn’t thrown off.
queenie searching for csam

Queenie searches NCMEC headquarters for electronic devices; Photo: Claire Edkins

Certified electronic detection K-9s, used around the world, find additional devices about 75 percent of the time, Kowalcyzk says. In this country, they’re primarily being used by Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task forces, which are comprised of local, state, and federal law enforcement officers. Of the 61 ICACs in the U.S., with at least one in each state, 41 have access to these specially trained K-9s and the demand for them is growing, she said.

At NCMEC, we operate the CyberTipline, the designated place in the U.S. for the public and electronic service providers to report suspected online child sexual exploitation. Last year alone, we received 32 million reports, nearly all pertaining to CSAM. Our analysts triage them by urgency, then send them to the appropriate ICAC or law enforcement agency for potential investigation in this country and around the world.

At NCMEC, we refer to child sexual abuse images as CSAM, not child pornography, for which children are too young to consent, unlike adult pornography. These images are virtual crime scene photos produced by offenders, not snapshots of babies in a bathtub, and show children as young as infants as they’re being sexually abused. Some of the abuse is live-streamed. Those who produce and distribute these horrific images typically photograph or record children they’re related to or who they know in some way.

Dr. Seth Cowand, director of Digital Forensics at VLS where Queenie and canine colleagues Cleo and Layla are based, said child victims are also found in homes being searched. For that reason, their electronic detection dogs are cross-trained to be comfort dogs and switch hats when they’re needed to comfort victims or family members who become upset during a search.

Owen Pena, an ICAC special agent in New Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office, says his electronic detection dog, Special Agent Joey, a 6-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, has been invaluable when he conducts searches. In one case, agents searched a suspect’s bedroom and came up empty, so Joey was brought in. The dog kept hitting on the bed, Pena said, so he yanked out the built-in drawers and found a laptop concealed underneath them.

“It was full of CSAM,” said Pena, also the ICAC commander for his state. The evidence Joey found that day led to a conviction, said Pena, who believes every ICAC should have access to an electronic detection dog, which can dramatically reduce the time it takes to conduct a thorough search. “If there’s not one in each state, I think they’re fooling themselves not to have one.” Check out Joey’s Instagram page here.
items that can hold csam: water bottle, soda can, charger, plug

CSAM can be hidden in all sorts of items; Photo: Claire Edkins

Joey was trained at Jordan Detection K9, which is based in Indianapolis and is the largest training facility in the country. Owner Todd Jordan, who recently re-certified Queenie for the third time, made national headlines when his first dog trained in electronic detection, Bear, found key evidence in Subway pitchman Jared Fogle’s home. Bear later located evidence in the U.S. Gymnastics Coach Marvin Sharp’s residence and in his gymnasium.

Jordan, a firefighter who originally trained accelerant dogs, started his company in 2014. He’s trained 109 dogs currently being used out in the field to detect electronic devices during searches, with 12 others standing by for his next class. It costs about $15,000 to train both the dog and the handler, he said.

Read more here. 

The Mexican Cartels are causing Americans to suffer at record levels as they run the largest human trafficking and drug smuggling operation in the history of the country taking total advantage of the open border polices!
ALL AMERICANS SHOULD PAY WAY MORE ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS… pic.twitter.com/USTWxdurTJ

— Derek Maltz Sr (@derekmaltz_sr) August 5, 2023

China’s internet regulator is planning strict new controls to limit children’s mobile device screen time.

Under new draft rules from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), children under eight years old will be limited to 40 minutes a day device time; eight to 16 year-olds will be allowed one hour; and 16 to 18 year-olds two hours. No access will be allowed between 10pm and 6am.

The new regulations don’t affect telecom operators directly. It will be up to the app creators, platforms and handset brands to enable and enforce the creation of a children’s zone on the device that can be managed by parents.

It’s not an entirely new concept. Since 2020, China has banned under-18s from playing video games during the week and limited them to three hours on the weekend.

China’s big tech stocks fell in the wake of the news in New York trading Wednesday. They continued their declines in Hong Kong on Thursday, with Alibaba down 2%, JD.com 2.4% and Tencent Holdings 0.35%.

It’s no surprise that the world’s most aggressive Internet censors would start issuing instructions about what children should do online. But as is customary, while the draft makes many stipulations, it is extremely vague, leaving the hardware and content providers to do the heavy lifting.

Read more here.

Our colleagues at Love My School have prepared the following for all of us to easily understand what rights we have as parents.

DISTRICT SCHOOLS

In a district school, parents have the right to:

Participate in their child’s school, cooperate with their child’s teacher, and complete a parent-teacher satisfaction survey. (ARS 15-102)
Learn about the course of study for their children and review learning materials, including the source of any supplemental educational materials. (ARS 15-102)
Review learning materials and activities in advance. A parent who objects to any learning material or activity on the basis that the material or activity is harmful (because of sexual content, violent content, or profane or vulgar language) may request to withdraw that student from the activity or from the class or program in which the material is used and request an alternative assignment. (ARS 15-113)
Upon written request, parent may access instructional materials currently used by or being considered for use by the school district. The district must make available at least one copy of the instructional material to be reviewed. Parents may take printed textbooks, printed supplemented books and printed subject matter materials from the district premises for no more than 48 hours. All other materials, including films, may only be reviewed on district premises. (ARS 15-730)
Opt out of any learning material or activity that the parent finds harmful to the student. This includes material that questions beliefs or practices related to sex, morality, or religion. (ARS 15-102)
Opt in to sex education curriculum if one is provided by the school district. Without written parental permission, children cannot participate in sex education. (ARS 15-102)
Be notified in advance if content discussing sexuality is taught in other classes, such as history or literature, and the right to opt a child out of that instruction. (ARS 15-102)
Be informed about the nature and purpose of extracurricular student clubs and activities. (ARS 15-102)
Opt in to any video, audio, or electronic materials that are inappropriate for the age of the student. This means the school cannot show a rated-R movie to students under 18 years old without signed, written permission from the child’s parent. (ARS 15-113(D))
Refuse to provide information for the Student Accountability Information System that does not relate to the provision of educational services to the student. (ARS 15-1042(D)).
Be informed about parental rights and responsibilities under Arizona law, including: (ARS 15-102)

The right to opt in to a sex education curriculum if one is provided by the school district.
Open enrollment rights pursuant to section ARS 15-816.01.
The right to opt out of assignments pursuant to ARS 15-102.
The right to opt out of immunizations pursuant to ARS 15-873.
The promotion requirements prescribed in ARS 15-701.
The minimum course of study and competency requirements for graduation from high school prescribed in ARS 15-701.01.
The right to opt out of instruction on the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) pursuant to ARS 15-716.
The right to review test results pursuant to ARS 15-743.
The right to participate in gifted programs pursuant to ARS 15-779.01.
The right to access instructional materials pursuant to ARS 15-730.
The right to receive a school report card pursuant to ARS 15-746.
The attendance requirements prescribed in ARS 15-802, 15-803 and 15-821.
The right to public review of courses of study and textbooks pursuant to ARS 15-721 and 15-722.
The right to be excused from school attendance for religious purposes pursuant to ARS 15-806.
Policies related to parental involvement pursuant to ARS 15-102.
The right to seek membership on school councils pursuant to ARS 15-351.
Information about the student accountability information system as prescribed in ARS 15-1041.
The right to access the failing schools tutoring fund pursuant to ARS 15-241.

Written Request for Information: Parents may submit a written request for information related to the rights outlined in ARS 15-102 to the school principal or the superintendent. The principal or superintendent shall respond within ten days. If the request for information is denied or the parent does not receive a response within 15 days, the parent may submit a written request to the school district governing board. The board shall formally consider the request at the board’s next public meeting. (ARS 15-102(D))

CHARTER SCHOOLS

In charter schools, parents have the right to:

Review learning materials and activities in advance. A parent who objects to any learning material or activity on the basis that the material or activity is harmful (because of sexual content, violent content, or profane or vulgar language) may request to withdraw that student from the activity or from the class or program in which the material is used and request an alternative assignment. However, a charter school may require parents to waive the right to object as a condition for enrollment if the school provides a complete list of books and materials to be used each year before the student enrolls. (ARS 15-113).
Opt in to any video, audio, or electronic materials that are inappropriate for the age of the student. This means the school cannot show a rated-R movie to students under 18 years old without signed, written permission from the child’s parent. (ARS 15-113)
Refuse to provide information for the Student Accountability Information System that does not relate to the provision of educational services to the student. (ARS 15-1042(D)).

This is a brief summary of a complex area of law and is not meant as specific legal advice. Consult an attorney if you have questions about your specific situation.***
FacebookTweetEmail

Florida officials said Wednesday that nearly 40% of the people arrested in one part of the state in a recent operation cracking down on child sex exploitation were in the U.S. illegally — amid continued concerns from Republicans about criminals and sex offenders coming in across the southern border.

Officials said that seven out of 19 people arrested in Bay County, Florida, were in the country illegally. Five have no record showing lawful entry into the U.S. One man was admitted on a B-2 visitors visa that expired in 2021, and another was admitted on a J-1 student visa that also expired in 2021.

Of those arrested in Bay County, 14 were arrested for traveling to engage in sexual activity with a minor. Five were arrested for possession of child pornography.

Read more here. 

The FBI found 200 sex trafficking victims and more than 125 suspects during a two-week child exploitation operation in July, federal officials said Tuesday.

During “Operation Cross County,” the FBI located 59 victims of child sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation and 59 missing children.

The FBI teamed with state and local agencies to identify or arrest 126 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking and 68 suspected traffickers.

“Sex traffickers exploit and endanger some of the most vulnerable members of our society and cause their victims unimaginable harm,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement. “This operation, which located 59 actively missing children, builds on the tremendous work the FBI has undertaken over many years to rescue minor victims and arrest those responsible for these unspeakable crimes.

The FBI-led initiative in partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) “focused on identifying and locating victims of sex trafficking and investigating and arresting individuals and criminal enterprises involved in both child sex and human trafficking,” federal officials said.

Read more here.