Reduce Waste While Raising Funds

Here’s a simple way to raise some funds for your school/organization and be eco-friendly at the same time. Read more

Win 10,000 Box Tops For Your Kid’s School

Parent’s here’s a chance to be a hero for your school. You’re probably familiar with Box Tops for Education. Read more

Article: Germany foils school massacre

German police say they have thwarted a plot by two students to carry out a massacre at their school.

One suspect, aged 17, committed suicide after being questioned about the plot and his alleged accomplice, 18, is under arrest, police said.

The school’s head teacher alerted police on Friday after classmates saw the two boys studying a website with images of the Columbine massacre.

Read full article at BBC.

High School Tragedy in Finland

TUUSULA, Finland

An 18-year-old student opened fire at his high school in this placid town in southern Finland on Wednesday, killing eight people before shooting himself in a rampage that stunned a nation where gun crime is rare.

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Police were analyzing YouTube postings that appeared to anticipate the massacre, including clips in which a young man calls for revolution and apparently prepares for the attack by test firing a semiautomatic handgun.

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Police chief Matti Tohkanen said the gunman belonged to a gun club and got a license for the pistol on Oct. 19. He did not have a previous criminal record, Tohkanen said. “He was from an ordinary family,” he said.

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Students at the school said the killer often wore the same clothes to school: a brown leather jacket, black trousers and a checkered shirt. He almost always carried a brief case.

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“He withdrew into his shell. I had noticed a change in him just recently, and I thought that perhaps he was a bit depressed, or something, but I couldn’t imagine that in reality he would do anything like this,” Hulkkonen told Finnish TV broadcaster MTV3.

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Gun ownership is fairly common in Finland by European standards, but deadly shootings are rare. Finnish media reported that in 1989 a 14-year-old boy shot and killed two students, apparently for teasing him.

Experts warned the Finland shooting could inspire copycat attacks in other parts of the world.

By Marius Turula, Associated Press

Related Links:
Full article at USAToday.com

Get School Lockdown Alerts By Email or Cell Phone

Get School Lockdown Alerts By Email or Cell Phone

Last week was crazy here in New Jersey. Just two weeks into the new school year here were several school bomb threats and other shenanigans causing dozens of school closings and disrupting lives.

Check out this new service that I heard about on The Advertising Show podcast… it’s called LockdownAlert.com.

Lockdown Alert works with almost any pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, high school, special education or vocational public school in the United States.

The next time there is an unplanned event at your child’s school, you will receive a text message alert or email directing you to a web page with full details and instructions.

You can sign up to receive these free school lockdown alerts by text message to your mobile phone or via email. They cover all grade levels, from Pre-K thru College/Universities.

I thought this makes sense to register. I’m a bit leary to give out my cell phone number to receive text messages. Instead, I registered with one of my secondary email addresses and used Gmail’s inbox filters to forward emails from that domain to my work email and my wife’s email address.

Related Links:
Help Locate a Missing Child – Register For Free Wireless Amber Alerts

P.S. Please share any tips or related Web sites and services. Thanks!

Easy Ways To Support Your School

I really don’t like making money donations to our parent teacher organization. But there are a number of ways to actively and passively contribute in such a way to benefit your child’s school.

• Volunteer – It’s a great way to meet other parents and get the inside dirt on what’s going on in your kid’s school.
• BoxTops4Education.com – Clip box tops to help redeem for merchandise for the school.
• LabelsForEducation.com – Campbell’s Labels for Education. We’ve been clipping soup labels for years and sending them into the school. It gets annoying, but it has become a habit now.
• Upromise.com – Members can earn money towards college education OR earning rewards for a K-12 school.
• The $40,000 Library Makeover Contest – Expires May 31, 2007
• The RIF $15,000 Library Makeover Contest – Expires May 31, 2007

Do you have any other suggestions? Please share with us. Thanks!