Sen. Cam Ward On Bill to Thwart Inappropriate Teacher-Student Contact
Recent reports have referred to Alabama as “ground zero” for incidents of teacher-student sex. Whether that’s accurate or not, most agree there’s a serious problem. State senator Cam Ward of Alabaster has sponsored SB-274, a bill to mandate an hour of training for educators on appropriate teacher-student interaction in the age of social media. A house version and Ward’s senate version could come up for a vote this legislative session. Ward says despite initial pushback, he’s hopeful the measures will pass. The interview is above, with a few key excerpts below.
“It’s a problem we’ve seen popping up more and more across the state. I felt like [the training] was something that would be good … because in this day of social media, it’s changed so much, the interaction between students and teachers … And not just sex incidents, but even just social interaction with students.”
“Have we really gotten to this point? Yeah. Times have changed.”
“[The training] is not an additional burden. It’s not an additional cost. It’s something a lot of teachers are doing anyway. Just to have an awareness of proper etiquette on the internet is good in my opinion.”
“Everyone’s really focused on the sexual relationship [side of this], but there’s a lot of other interaction thats probably not appropriate, and somebody may not even realize it’s not appropriate.”
“The fact is we’re here, so you’ve got to deal with it.”
WBHM will be reporting more on these issues in weeks and months to come.
The ‘Oscar’ of food prizes goes to a Brazilian who harnessed the power of bacteria
This year's $500,000 World Food Prize, for advances in agriculture and nutrition, goes to Mariangela Hungria, who boosted Brazil's farming revolution, turning the country into a soybean superpower.
FDA moves to ban fluoride supplements for kids, removing a key tool for dentists
The agency is taking steps to remove prescription fluoride treatments that children swallow.
So far at Cannes: De Niro gets a Palme d’or, Trump gets criticized, nudity gets banned
The updated dress code prohibits nudity on the Red Carpet and in other areas of the festival. The new rules surprised one jury member, who had to make a last-minute outfit change.
As few as 3 radar controllers monitored Newark’s airspace Monday night, FAA says
At times Monday evening, as few as three air traffic controllers per hour were lined up to monitor via radar the planes flying into and out of the airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Privacy advocates urge states not to comply with USDA requests for food stamp data
One payment processor has so far signaled to states that it intends to turn over data about millions of Americans to the federal government even as privacy groups warn that the request is illegal.
Two former Shen Yun dancers allege forced child labor, brutal conditions in lawsuit
Two former dancers allege that they lived under a culture of fear and routinely performed despite injuries. Shen Yun has vehemently denied the claims.
