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Fat Shaming鈥檚 Devastating Toll on Students

There鈥檚 an innate tension between school safety and students鈥 civil rights. 社区黑料鈥檚 Mark Keierleber keeps you up to date on the news you need to know

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While fat-shaming may be among the last forms of discrimination, a new story in The Hechinger Report highlights the children who endure weight stigma at school 鈥 and its on their well-being and academic performance. 

鈥淒o you want a cupcake?鈥 one fifth grader recalled being asked by one of her classmates who routinely called her 鈥渇atty.鈥 Teachers routinely fail to confront students who fat-shame their classmates 鈥 and play their own role in anti-obesity bias.  

The 15 million U.S. children who are considered obese are more likely than other kids to have poor academic performance 鈥 a reality dubbed the obesity achievement gap. Now, new research suggests bias among teachers could be part of the problem. 

鈥淭eachers often perceive children with obesity as emotional, unmotivated, less competent and noncompliant,鈥 journalist Kavitha Cardoza wrote. 鈥淭hat can lead to teachers giving these students fewer opportunities to participate in class, less positive feedback and lower grades.鈥

Schools nationwide have policies that prohibit bullying on the basis of race, gender and religion. Few mention body weight. 

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In the news

Can鈥檛 stop reading about the election. Won鈥檛 stop reading about the election: Survivors of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which resulted in the deaths of 20 children and six adults, are now old enough to vote. Six explain how the shooting continues to influence their lives 鈥 and their picks for president. |

  • These are the states where youth voters have the most potential to affect the presidential election results. |
  • Donald Trump has vowed to carry out mass deportations if elected. It could separate millions of families 鈥 and leave schools to pick up the pieces. |
  • Inside school shooting survivor David Hogg鈥檚 multimillion-dollar bid to elect young progressives. | 社区黑料

About two-thirds of teachers use tools designed to catch students who use artificial intelligence to cheat on homework, but an investigation into the leading services found error rates 鈥渃an quickly add up鈥 and can carry 鈥渄evastating consequences for students who are falsely flagged.鈥 |

  • Lawsuit alert: Parents are suing their son鈥檚 Massachusetts high school in federal court, arguing he was wrongly penalized for using AI to research and write a history paper. At the time of the incident, the district lacked a policy on the acceptable uses of AI. | 社区黑料

School security vendor faces new scrutiny: Evolv, a publicly traded security company that sells 鈥渨eapons detection鈥 metal detectors to schools, warned shareholders last week not to rely on its most recent financial statements as an independent investigation dissects its sales practices. |

  • For more than a year, industry insiders have scrutinized the claims Evolv makes in its sales pitches 鈥 and its detectors鈥 high rate of false alarms. Last year, the Federal Trade Commission opened an inquiry into the company鈥檚 marketing practices following allegations Evolv overstates the capabilities of its technology. | 社区黑料
  • A year after Virginia鈥檚 Prince William County Public Schools entered into a $10.7 million deal to install Evolv scanners, educators reported a decline in weapons confiscations. School safety officials found zero firearms, three knives, two box cutters and a 鈥減neumatic鈥 paintball or airsoft gun. The results, one school board member said, present 鈥渁 pretty good ROI [return on investment] on these Evolv scanners.鈥 |

What teachers need to know about the rise of AI-generated deepfakes 鈥 including computer-generated and nonconsensual nude images that students have created to harass their peers. |

The spy and the school board: Atlanta鈥檚 Cobb County school district hired a private security company purportedly led by anonymous former U.S. intelligence agents to analyze students鈥 social media accounts and identify potential online threats. The public learned about the unnamed company that is being paid an undisclosed amount during a school board meeting presentation by a man 鈥渙nly identified as Rob.鈥 |

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Dec. 4 in a case that challenges Tennessee鈥檚 ban on gender-affirming care for minors, which could have implications for transgender youth nationally. |

Day in the life: A Minnesota-based journalist walked the halls with a school resource officer. Here鈥檚 what he learned about school-based policing. |


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