Item: Flaxman Law Group
Rating: 5
Author: Clara Barman

Teaching Your Child to Avoid School Bus Accidents

Published on: October 22, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

School bus accidents in Homestead and Florida are thankfully not very common. School bus drivers are trained to transport children safely and passenger car drivers are taught to slow down and stop when children are entering or disembarking a bus. While car accident collisions are far more common, however, this does not mean that school buses are completely safe. Unfortunately, some negligent drivers illegally drive around school buses that are stopped, putting children at risk.

If your child uses school buses in Homestead or any Florida community, you will want to teach your child a few safety tips to ensure that they can avoid a pedestrian collision, even if drivers are negligent:

1) Teach your child to look both ways when getting off a bus.

While children may simply rush into moving traffic, expecting it to be stopped, there may be drivers who ignore the rules. Teach your child to look for traffic before proceeding. This is a good skill that will help them when they walk to school, too.

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Campus Safety Tips

Published on: October 15, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Campuses in Miami and other Florida cities have security teams and safety policies to keep students safe. The aim of colleges is to provide a good education to students, but these organizations are also expected by law to take reasonable steps to keep students safe from harm.

Unfortunately, as a number of recent events at the University of Florida and other campuses has shown, campuses can attract violence and crime. To stay safe at school, college students will want to follow these tips:

1) Keep doors and windows locked.

In many cases, violence such as assault on Miami and Florida campuses can occur because campuses are open spaces. At most schools, virtually anyone can wander onto a campus. Some students choose to keep their doors or windows open all night, and this can make accessing the dorms even easier. Getting a sturdy lock for the door and keeping doors closed and locked can help control who enters the dorms.

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Hazing: A Very Preventable Cause of Injury and Death on Campuses

Published on: October 10, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Hazing is often seen as an inevitable part of rushing a fraternity or sorority. Unfortunately, hazing and other fraternity-related events have been causing fatalities and serious injuries, pushing colleges to rethink their societies. Miami and Florida campuses are supposed to keep their students safe, and the presence of hazing and other Rush Week activities raises the question of how safe campuses really are.

Bloomberg reports that more than 60 people have suffered fatal injuries in fraternity events at college campuses since 2005. In many cases, these deaths involve hazing and alcohol use, which means that many of these tragedies could have been prevented. In addition to these fatalities, there have been a significant number of sexual assaults on Miami campuses, some of them linked to fraternity events.

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Bullying and Child Injury in Homestead and Florida: What to Do if Your Child is Affected

Published on: September 26, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

In many cases, families don’t know what to do about bullying. Parents can also have a hard time stopping bullying because:

Children who are bullied may be too embarrassed to come forward or may try to hide evidence of bullying
Bullies may deny their actions
Bullying may happen online, where it leaves few clues
Schools and school boards may do little to stop a bully once the bullying is revealed
The bullying may happen in situations or areas where there is little adult monitoring, making it harder to stop

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Avoiding Back-to-School Child Injuries

Published on: August 13, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

While schools work hard to provide a safe environment for students, accidents and injuries do happen at schools. Child injury in Hollywood and other Florida communities can especially be a risk during the first few weeks of the new year. There is a new routine for students to get used to, and in some cases a new school means new challenges. Sometimes, children are so focused on getting back to class that they may be less cautious. There are a few things that parents can do, however, to keep their children safe at this time of year:

1) Consider traffic and pedestrian accidents.

Traffic crashes in Hollywood and other Florida communities are among the leading causes of child injury. Whether you are driving your children to school or your children are walking to school, come up with a way to keep them safe. If your child walks or bikes to school, that may mean having your child head to school with an older sibling or friends. If you drive your child to school, staying safer may mean carpooling or leaving a little earlier to avoid distracted and unsafe driving.

2) Take a look at your child’s schedule and after-school activities.

Injuries can happen at school, so take a look at what your child does at school to find ways to reduce the dangers. If your child takes part in after-school sports, for example, does your child have the right helmet and other safety gear to prevent sports injury at their Hollywood school? Is the coach qualified to train and supervise students? If your child has a science class, does he or she have safety goggles and any other required safety equipment?

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Is Inadequate Security A Concern at Your Child’s School?

Published on: August 7, 2014 | By Flaxman Law Group

Whether your child attends college or goes to a high school or grammar school, of course you expect your child school to be provided with a good level of safety as well as an education. However, child injuries in Homestead and other communities often occur at school. As you start preparing for back-to-school, ask yourself these questions to see how your child’s school measures when it comes to safety:

1) Is there good control of entrances, with gatekeepers in place?

One problem with inadequate security in Homestead and other Florida schools often stems from the fact that just anyone can stroll into a campus or into school buildings. At high schools and schools teaching younger children, especially, it is important that when a stranger enters the campus or school, they do so near an office where gatekeepers such as administrative assistants can evaluate the reason for a visit. Obviously, it is more difficult to control who enters a college campus, but there should still be security and entrances in place to offer some security.

2) Does the school have a policy for dealing with campus dangers?

The school should have a written policy for dealing with school violence, fires, and other disasters.

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