I wish this were a joke but it is not.
The manufacturer of body armor for children has reported high sales to parents and schools concerned about school shootings.
“The alarming rate of school shootings across the country appears to have added an unsettling new item to parents’ list of “back to school” items: bulletproof armor for their children. Among such items, the Bodyguard Blanket, a portable, bulletproof covering for children, has seen its sales exceed its manufacturer’s expectations in less than two weeks on the market….As reported first in the Oklahoman, the blanket was conceived to protect children during natural disasters. The blanket is made “with the same bullet resistant materials that shield our soldiers in battle,” according to one advertisement. In the event of a tornado — or shooting — children can wrap themselves in the blanket in a duck-and-cover position to shield from bullets, debris or other projectiles.”
At $1,000 each, the Bodyguard Blanket is not likely to fly off the shelves. But its very existence indicates a bizarre acceptance of the intolerable and the unthinkable. A saner society would enact laws to restrict access to weapons.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Only in America!
Bulletproof Armor for Children!! This, as some Missouri school districts so insanely “have started training teachers to carry concealed weapons in classrooms.”
“For a $17,500 fee, districts that opt in to the 40-hour program receive training for two staffers from current law enforcement officers through the Shield Solutions training school. Teachers are required to spend five hours in a classroom and 35 hours on the range with the required firearm, a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol. Ten districts have undergone the training thus far, with three more having signed contracts and even more in negotiations.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/23/missouri-teachers-concealed-weapons_n_5522708.html
It’s been legal to conceal carry in schools for several years now in Utah. I personally know at least one teacher who is packing. I’m sure there are many others. So far, no problems, but I DO worry what might happen with teachers being armed. By law, parents cannot ask if their children’s teachers are armed.
My kid brought her instrument case to study hall before catching the bus. The person in charge demanded she open the case for inspection, took out the expensive instrument, and tossed it on the table, saying it could be a weapon. Our area schools look more like a super max every day. My other child was supposed to work at one of the elementary schools for a high school project. They refused to buzz her in even with a camera system. She stood outside till I intervened. My family has been stopped and questioned by police several times walking near or on school grounds. And my training this past year involved an ex-FBI expert lecture us on the psychology of mass shooters with counter attack training. And look what happened to the professor at Arizona State University. We’ve let ourselves become a police state.
What is equally tragic is we are making our kids paranoid and afraid. Good touch bad touch, body armor, cameras, guards, interrogations at the gate, inspections of bags and purses, big fences and codes. A few generations ago people didn’t even lock their doors and kids played in the streets till 10 at night with no worries. What will this crazy overkill do to the kids? Gun laws, mental health workers at every school, better socializing skills taught to kids, anti bullying classes, and I believe meditation would help them too. We are taking the whole wrong approach.
The Obama Administration must be celebrating today. High fives all around in DC!
No more icky, middle class union members cluttering up the privatization push!
What will DC outsource and privatize next, do you think? The court system? Police?
All aboard the money making train! Gibbs got on early, but I’m sure they’ll be a rush to contract out everything that isn’t tied down.
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/scotus-rules-public-unions-can-t-force-fees
“What will DC outsource and privatize next, do you think? The court system?”
Already have. What, you thought Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia were public employees?
The irony is rich.
The government employees at the top of the heap can’t sell out those at the bottom fast enough. We have anti-government, life-long government employees but only in the manager and professional class.
We need an Agency Management Organization for federal and state agencies. Why not? Why should the people at the top be the only ones who get workplace protections.
If they’re going to outsource the front-line workers, I insist they outsource themselves too.
Chiara: “The government employees at the top of the heap can’t sell out those at the bottom fast enough.”
So much said in so few words.
Thank you for your comments.
😎
Krazy TA,
Chiara: “The government employees at the top of the heap can’t sell out those at the bottom fast enough.”
Much like our school admins. The more you earn due to years of service, the more likely you are to find yourself in an undesirable position or none at all.
How quickly do you think they’ll privatize all public services? Do you think they’ll let us hang onto the facilities, the tangible assets, we paid for and built?
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/business/supreme-court-ruling-on-public-workers-and-union-fees.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=HpSum&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&gwh=040B624C257366CA61F6775AD9D97697&gwt=pay&assetType=nyt_now
Vote Green in the 2016 Presidential election and maybe we can find out.
Democrats are embarrassed of their association with union members. They’ll stand with them for a photo op in any June of any election year, but other than they they’d prefer to be associated with “highly skilled experts”.
Who wants to talk with some “status quo” assistant principal in Iowa when they can go to a conference with America’s Most Innovative People?
I was thinking about judicial appointees.
I can’t find anything about the anti-labor decision on the Labor Department website.
Are they contractually barred from mentioning labor issues? I know they don’t enforce any labor law, but surely they can still mention it.
Is this a sign of what’s coming.
KrazyTA
June 30, 2014 at 12:25 pm
“Get big government out of schools!”.
Says Arne Duncan. Who has been drawing a three figure government paycheck for the last decade.
When’s the last time Alito visited the private sector, other than eating at a restaurant?
I went to see Scalia give a speech once. All he talked about was his job working as a lawyer for Toledo Scale 100 years ago. Obviously he misses the rough ‘n tumble of the marketplace. Is someone stopping him from actually working in it?
I think they should follow their dreams and enter the private sector.
Arne Duncan says, “Get big government out of schools”, and with Common Core standards and the Machiavellian testing regime that rivals Mao’s Cultural Revolution, he’s doing the exact opposite and delivering the public school to big corporations run by a handful of billionaire oligarchs who don’t answer to the electorate or parents.
Before NCLB, Race to the Top and the Common Core crap, big government wasn’t involved all that much in the public schools other than special education and free lunch programs.
The public schools were broken up into fifty state education departments that set ed code for almost 14,000 democratically elected school boards to manage individual school districts that reflected their local communities and local culture—all answerable to a majority of adult, citizen voters, and any citizen, even children, who wanted to go to court for any reason if they felt their rights had been trampled.
And a HUGE majority of parents across the country—more than 70 percent—think strongly that their local schools were doing a fine job teaching their children. (according to annual Gallup surveys).
Now, we have private sector charter schools trampling the rights of children, parents and teachers all over the place and stealing money from tax payers through fraud without any transparency or oversight—fraud and incompetence is rampant while teachers are paid less with fewer benefits and no job protection.
They’re celebrating in DC this morning!
“@smarick SCOTUS decision on public sector unions could be bad news for NEA/AFT. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/court-public-union-cant-make-nonmembers-pay-fees/2014/06/30/3e38e170-0060-11e4-b203-f4b4c664cccf_story.html … …”// ..aaaand the gloating begins..
I think we should pay more three figure salaries to think tankers, don’t you?
Those lazy home health care workers were getting MIGHTY coddled!
I think the manufacturers of the Bodyguard Blanket need to attach an iPad to each one. That way, kids can show grit by continuing to take their PAARC tests during tornadoes and mass shootings. They can also sell regionalized versions – the blanket can inflate to become a life raft in a hurricane – excellent for New Orleans and Florida.
TAGO!
The way Duncan’s been going he (and every other employee of the DOE) might want to invest in one of those blankets for himself.
Careful, Dienne! Diana’s minders are watching!
oops! “Diane’s”
Classic example or reactive vs proactive. What’s nextt?
This is so depressing.
Bodyguard blanket? Maybe Manufacturers might come up with high-tech robo suits in the future. Transformers in school!? We’re getting away from sanity.