School Safety Month at Lombardi Law Firm and the InjuryBoard

During the month of September the InjuryBoard will focus on discussing school safety. Megan Roth from our office and in the Des Moines, Iowa market, will take the lead on blawg posts. Megan is a journalist living currently in New York. She writes well and will be covering quite a few subjects having to do with school safety including some of the following areas:

Peanuts in treats, bus rider safety, crossing guard rules, street crossing safety, science project safety and explosions, walking home, dress codes, food safety, bullying, backpack weight, cell phone use, iPod use, recognizing serious Columbine-type threats, locker privacy, gym excuses from the doctor, school nurse, staying after school, recognizing mental health issues, RX taken in school, playground equipment safety, playground equip maint, after school sports and school trips, show and tell, animals and pets to school, cheating on tests, drinking HOH, roller blading to school, cigarettes on school grounds, drugs and alcohol on school grounds, looking for your first job and getting bit by your Facebook drunken photos, etc.

Megan has done a great job of creating school safety posts and queuing them up on our Des Moines, Iowa market.  I'll be adding my own posts but have a busy law schedule during the month of September, so my involvement will be less than normal.  Because of my being in charge of hiring I'll have some commentary on what students face when employer's discovery their online admissions and photographs. For a look at what can bite you in the behind take a look at what happened to the President of Iowa Central when photographs surfaced.  Needless to say, if Bob Paxton could take back that one moment he'd not be looking for a new job. Cell phones' being what they are and camera's getting smaller and smaller, you just never whose "friendly behavior" is not really your friend.  And then again one person sends what seems like a harmless photo to one person who forwards it on to another and to another until finally it lands in disapproving hands.  Remember the images of Larry Eustachy showing him during the early hours of January 23, 2003 with beer? "In several photos he's embracing and kissing women on the cheek or being kissed on the cheek." Or so said the Des Moines Register.  Armed with 12 photographs the Register published a few and Larry was out as the ISU men's basketball coach.  Here is what the ISU Athletic Director was reported to have said about the effect:

"ISU Athletic Director Bruce Van De Velde's Statement

"We expect all of our coaches to be good representatives of Iowa State University and to be good role models for our student-athletes. Obviously, we are disappointed with coach Eustachy's behavior that was reported in The Des Moines Register. This situation will be dealt with in an appropriate manner. Coach Eustachy knows that he made some very poor decisions and used bad judgment. He sincerely regrets his actions and the harm they have caused his university. We have made sure he understands his accountability and obligations as Iowa State's men's basketball coach, now and in the future.""

We can agree or disagree but ultimately the morals governing our employability may be a lot higher than our own. One moment on one occasion can make us unwanted for a particular job on any occasion.  My focus will be more on some of these issues.  So while Megan focus on the lower grades and women I'll focus on commentary including college life.  You may wonder what this has to do with personal injury, well it does. In any personal injury case a claim for wage loss or reduced earning capacity can lead right back to explaining why you lost this job or worse yet can derail a current claim for wage benefits.  We'll extend this discussion to the Lombardi Law Firm website, so check out The Verdict, as well.  The Verdict format allows us to categorize our posts by subject.

We regularly read and comment about those IB blawgs from Lansing, Michigan, Austin, Texas and Chicago, Illinois.  Mittleman, Glass, Schuelke and Avgerinos write thoughtful and insightful commentary. We don't always agree with what they say, but like us they comment about what we write in a way bringing different perspective to the discussion.

Be smart, be careful and always be thinking.  It's a dangerous world out there.

We haven't yet decided on October's focus, but if you have something you'd like us to discuss drop us an email. 

Welcome to the InjuryBoard and school safety.