This week's safe schools snippets

Safe Routes to School trainings planned

Parents, school staff and other community members are invited to attend any one of three Safe Routes to School trainings the week of April 18th.  If you haven’t already attended one of these session, you will find the the information to be enlightening. The session will provide information to assist you, and your school/community wellness leaders, in optimizing student safety and community health – all while traveling to and from school.  Lunch is provided and walking shoes, encouraged.

Colorado Safe Routes to School and the Safe Routes to School National Partnership is pleased to sponsor three presentations of the Safe Routes to School National Course in the Denver Metro Area:

*   April 19 – Valley View Elementary School, 660 W. 70th Ave., Denver

*   April 21 – Adams City Middle School, 4451 E. 72nd Ave., Commerce City

*   April 21 – Welby Montessori School, 200 E. 78th Ave. Denver

This free course provides participants with the knowledge and skills to develop sound Safe Routes to School programs based on community needs and conditions, best practices and responsible use of resources. The day concludes with participants developing an action plan for their own community.

Attend with a friend. Community leaders, school officials, health and transportation professionals, law enforcement officers, parents, neighbors and others interested in helping children walk and bicycle to school are encouraged to participate.

To register, contact Marissa Robinson, Colorado Safe Routes to School, 303-757-9088.

10-year-old boy takes BB gun to school

LAFAYETTE – Police may charge a 10-year-old boy after he brought a BB gun on school grounds on Thursday evening. Boulder Valley School District spokesman Briggs Gamblin says the boy brought the gun to the playground at Alicia Sanchez Elementary School and pointed it at other students. Watch this 9News report.

Principal: Woman tried to lure boy into car at Boulder school

A woman tried to lure a third-grader into her car outside Douglass Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon, according to an e-mail sent to parents. The student reported that around 5 p.m., he was walking back to the school after soccer practice when a woman called him by the wrong name and said, “Get into my car. There’s a tornado warning,” Douglass Principal Jon Wolfer said in the e-mail. Read more in the Daily Camera.

Police use pepper spray on second grader

LAKEWOOD – When most kids throw a temper tantrum, they get time out. In 8-year-old Aidan’s case, he got pepper sprayed. A Lakewood Police report details the second grader’s violent temper tantrum in a classroom at Glennon Heights Elementary on Feb. 22. Watch this 9News report on a story that has created buzz across the country. Or, check out the follow-up story with the grandfather’s take on what happened.

Boulder High School celebrating ‘No Place for Hate’ designation

Boulder High junior Tyler Graham helped organize the creation of a unity wall at her school. The mural, a collection of student handprints, also includes a “resolution of respect” that was signed by most of the school’s students. Read more in the Daily Camera.

Girls basketball coach accused of having sex with student

LAKEWOOD, Colo. — The varsity girls basketball coach at Alameda High School has been arrested for allegedly having a sexual relationship with an underage female student.

Watch this KWGN-TV report.

Police arrest school worker suspected of having child porn

THORNTON – Thornton police have arrested a 19-year-old Adams County school employee for investigation of sexual exploitation of a child. Read this AP story.

Lafayette elementary schools boost safe routes to school

Solar school zone lights and solar pedestrian crosswalks will be installed at three BVSD elementary schools in Lafayette, thanks to a 2011 grant from the Colorado Transportation Commission.

The Lafayette project was put on the “A” list, which means it is among the top priority projects and that work will begin as soon as authorization to proceed is given on August 2011. Ryan Principal Tobey Bassoff credits Sanchez parent Jenny Conlon for initiating the grant proposal that resulted in this award.

“The best thing to come out of this is that our children will have safe options to get to school and it will encourage more children to walk or bike to school,” said Conlon, senior clerk in the Lafayette Public Works Department.

Administered by the Colorado Department of Transportation, the Colorado Safe Routes to School Program uses a comprehensive approach to make school routes safe for children when walking and bicycling to school. SRTS programs can improve safety, not just for children, but for the entire community.

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