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Isn’t it obvious that seat belts are needed in school buses? Yet, there are no state or federal regulations mandating them. And the West Virginia Department of Education doesn’t require them on newly purchased buses. What’s up? The issue is more complex than it seems. Here’s my take.
The loss or serious injury of any child is too great of a cost. That’s a given. I’m familiar with it. My adult stepdaughter was killed in a one-car rollover accident while not wearing a seat belt. Had she...
By Sonya Ashby
It’s that time of year again — election season, also known as teacher-bashing season. Have you noticed that in the last few years every time an election is pending teachers are once again painted as villains and leeches of the public coffers? This cycle has happened with such predictability that one wonders what the powers that be are trying to divert the public attention from. (cough PEIA cough)
So, what have teachers done now? We have committed the unpardonable...
By Jeff Jenkins, WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The president of a West Virginia teachers union is defending educators who use days off that they’ve earned.
“Teachers get sick too,” West Virginia Education Association President Dale Lee said during a Monday appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Lee said those teachers have responsibilities at home like other residents.
“Many of them have aging parents they are caring for. They (WV teachers) are 70...
By Ryan Quinn, Charleston Gazette-Mail
The National Transportation Safety Board recommends that new school buses have seat belts. It notes that, without them, rollover crashes can kill kids.
The American Academy of Pediatrics also backs bus seat belts.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration head Mark Rosekind said in 2015 that, “I want us to concentrate on this simple, basic statement: School buses should have seat belts. Period.”
Rosekind left the NHTSA...
By Brad McElhinny, WV MetroNews
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — More than half of West Virginia teachers missed more than 10 days of school last year, according to research by the state Department of Education.
Across the state, 52.75 percent of teachers missed more than 10 days, according to the research.
The prior year’s number was 52.46.
The year before that it was 51.44.
And in 2016 it was 50.83.
“The impact is that kids need to be in their...