For all you pervs looking for a loophole, this new law includes teachers, substitutes, bus drivers, counselors, and coaches — basically anyone in a position of authority.

And if you’re thinking 18 is legal, think again, Chester. Teachers who have sex with 18-year-old students could pay a $500 fine and do 30 days in jail on a misdemeanor charge.

From The Charlotte Observer:

A bus fire that briefly closed Interstate 85 this morning in Gastonia also destroyed the musical instruments of members of an S.C. middle school orchestra.

There were no injuries among the 23 children, who are students at Mauldin Middle School in Simpsonville, S.C., according to police and emergency officials. The children and their five chaperones were on their way to Carowinds amusement park to perform today. They were in one of at least six buses headed to the park.

Shortly before 8 a.m., a motorist passing the bus signaled to the driver that something was wrong. The driver pulled over and got everybody out and moved away from the bus. A fire appeared to have started around a rear tire and quickly engulfed the back of the bus.

The students’ instruments were destroyed in the fire. We’ll let you know if there is a way to donate to the school to help replace them.

WSPA says it was Boling’s mother that called the campus to warn them. If it’s true that Boling was living out of his car (and thus on the outs with his mother) it sounds more like a spiteful false report than a thwarted school massacre.

But of course that’s if Boling is being truthful about living in his car. He might not be, or he may have been put out of his family home for good reason. However if I lived in my car there would be a few guns in it, and I’d expect that as long as they stayed locked up in the trunk I would be breaking no laws as it is legal to transport firearms in one’s vehicle and keep them in your residence in South Carolina.

We don’t have all the facts on this, partly because managing editors of news operations like WYFF are busier slapping C&D letters on bloggers than ensuring reporters follow up on stories that don’t pass the smell test. This seems like either way it’s a story worth more than a few paragraphs on a website, but I guess WYFF.com managing editor Carla Field has bigger fish to fry then making sure a person really did attempt to kill a bunch of people before announcing the supposed incident, sans context, on the guy’s 24th birthday. Just throwing it out there, if you were an angry weirdo who wanted to get back at someone you knew had a gun or two in their trunk, when would the best time to do it be?

Maybe on his birthday, which he’s not spending with his dear old mother? Doesn’t this story seem odd to anyone?

But I’ll leave it to the audience until more information comes to light. I’m thinking this seems fishy, but we’ll see when he’s arraigned.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Six Upstate high school students face expulsion and criminal charges for contaminating another student’s drink it happened at Blue Ridge High School in Greer.

According to the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office the students put something non-drug related, and non-life threatening in a fellow 15-year-old students drink when she temporarily left the class.

Deputies said the drink is being tested for urine and saliva.

The Greenville County School District said school administrators were made aware of the incident around noon yesterday.

Their investigation resulted in six students being referred to law enforcement and suspended pending an expulsion hearing.

And these little bastards deserve it. WYFF has a more graphic report:

A source close to the investigation said that it happened during a second period biology class at the high school Thursday morning while a substitute was filling in for the teacher.

The source said a 15-year-old student left class to take a test. While she was gone, a soft drink was taken out of her bookbag and spit, urine and pubic hairs were pit in the drink, according to the source.

The Greenville County Sheriff’s office has confirmed they are investigating the alleged incident, and that the details the source has given us are accurate. A spokesman said that the school resource officer at the high school was notified about the incident around 2 p.m. Thursday. The spokesman said if the allegations are true, the six students could face a felony charge of malicious tampering.

The sheriff’s office did not comment further on the details of the alleged incident but News 4’s source on this investigation said that the girl drank from the bottle when she returned to class.

They basically poisoned her for kicks. I hope that while the police are doing their investigation the parents are taking appropriate steps to deal with them. And by appropriate steps I mean beating them.

We are a diverse and goal oriented group of students and faculty dedicated to education, character development and raising social consciousness. Our vision is to provide an alternative school setting where a diverse student population has an opportunity to successfully integrate back into the home school environment, GED/adult education, or into the workforce. Spartanburg County Alternative School is where

S tudents

C an

A chieve

S uccess

Uh-huh. If I’m reading this correctly, they’re preparing this “diverse” population for a life of living at home, getting a GED and maybe picking up 2nd shift at Walgreens. Shoot for the stars.

How does this goal oriented, diverse stable of do-gooders work to help their diverse, socially conscious stable of needy students achieve their lofty goal of perpetual impoverishment? With this simple yet surprisingly convoluted “philosophy” that sounds suspiciously like someone wrote it while reading bumper stickers in the Whole Foods parking lot:

It is our fundamental belief that all students are of value, and they need guidance to find and develop the positive qualities they possess. We understand that many will have histories of failure in the traditional educational setting. Therefore, it is our goal to strive to find creative approaches which will enable them to experience academic success that will continue with them throughout their lives. We are dedicated to offering a non-judgmental environment that will provide structured learning that is not rigid.

How’s that non-judgmental environment working out anyway?

According to a release from Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office representative Tony Ivey, deputies were called to the school on Lincoln School Road at 1:35 p.m. The call was in reference to an unruly student in the school’s gym, Ivey said.

When officers arrived, they witnessed a faculty member trying to escort Marcel Allen Kline, 17, to another part of the school, the release said.

The officer said he heard Kline shout a racial slur at the faculty member then kick a door, shattering the glass, according to the incident report. The officer said Kline then repeatedly kicked the teacher, the report said.

Kline was taken into custody and charged with one count each of assault and battery on a school employee by a student, disturbing school and malicious injury to real property.

He was booked into the Spartanburg County Detention Center where he is being held on a $2,500 bond.

I’m shocked, shocked, that teenagers would be so disrespectful to a bunch of mincing hippies who spent their time telling him to lower his expectations and not accept “rigid” and “judgmental” actions and attitudes from others. Why, it’s almost as if troubled teens need more structure and discipline rather than less.

But hey, I’m not the expert here. I’ll let the results of  Spartanburg County Alternative School speak for themselves.

The faculty page lists three different teachers for something called “character education.” Is it safe to assume Kline wasn’t doing well in those classes?

A 12-year-old student in the sixth grade at Berea Middle School was charged Thursday with disturbing the school after deputies say she compiled a “people to kill” list.  The list contained the names of eight students, and was left on the floor outside the assistant principal’s office.

A sixth-grader was questioned and charged with disturbing school, however, officials said there was no indication the girl intended to carry out the plan. According to a press release from the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office, the girl was not in possession of any type of weapon, and she told the deputy the note was just a prank.

Parents of the students on the list were notified by school officials.

Pamela Campbell says her husband got a call from the principal saying their grandson was on the list. She is her grandson’s guardian.

“That’s just not normal,” she said of the note. “You just don’t write stuff like that down.”

The girl was released into her parents custody.  Her case will be heard in family court and she has been suspended from school with a possible expulsion pending.

Let’s hope this is a wake-up call for her family.  This is a textbook cry for help.  Whether or not she had a weapon is moot.  Pranks involving “people to kill” lists are dangerous territory, and a clear sign that it’s time to get this kid the help she’s obviously reaching out for.

I worked in after school programs for a while before becoming a full time Web content developer and there was nothing that we watched for more than perverts. I worked in YMCAs and we had strict rules in place to prevent even the hint of impropriety, including not letting adults be alone with children or groups of children, not allowing children to be alone with even multiple adults etc. We did this because it was well known that perverts showed up to get access children. I once had to hire a summer camp staff and there were several people who showed up that I wouldn’t hire because they set off alarm bells. They were too interested in kids (when I started working with children I just wanted a job that left me time to do my graduate course work and told the person interviewing me just that – I was hired on the spot) or had reservations about being fingerprinted. When you’re entrusted with other people’s children you cannot be too careful.

So reports that YouthBASE director Bobby Caples was just pinched molesting two children he was asked to care for (hopefully by family members and not by YouthBASE clients) makes me think either Caples is the most patient pervert ever or the YouthBASE staff is not as aware of who they work with as they should be:

GREENVILLE, SC- Greenville Police investigators have arrested the director of a youth program and charged him with committing lewd acts on minors.

Police arrested Robert Francis Caples, 29, of 14 Atwood St., Apt. 1, in Greenville, and charged him with two counts of committing a lewd act upon children under the age of 16, criminal sexual misconduct of a minor under age 11 and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. According to a prepared statement from the Police Department, Caples may have sexually assaulted two children from June 2009-September 2009 while they traveled and resided with him.

The report states that at some point, the children went on a trip with Caples to Texas and when they returned, they told their grandmother that while they stayed with Caples at his home and on the trip, they slept in the same bed and bathed with Caples and did not want to do so. In a warrant obtained by the Greenville Police Department, Caples is also accused of inappropriately touching the children in private places.

The report says that Caples was asked to care for them by their mother.

The article goes on to point out that YouthBASE was a program for troubled children, who are a particularly vulnerable population. Many “troubled” youth have already experienced sexual abuse or exploitation and without proper support and therapy begin to internalize a sexualized identity and victim mentality that leads them into other abusive relationships. They come to expect and accept abuse and thus sexual predators seek out children like this.

So who was providing the therapy and guidance for the program? YouthBASE only lists one shrink on its website. Here’s Bobby Caples’ bio from the YouthBASE web page:

Bobby Caples, Ed.S., NCSP
Executive & Program Director

Bobby has 10 years of experience in after-school and community-based education programs. He has worked with several Boys & Girls Club organizations, the YMCA, The United Way of Greenville County, several Parks and Recreation Departments, faith-based organizations, schools, and other community-based organizations as a volunteer, employee, researcher, founder, director, and consultant. He has conducted research into the implementation of evidence-based behavioral strategies in community-based after-school programs. He holds a B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in African-American studies from the University of Virginia, as well as an M.A. and Ed.S. (Educational Specialist Degree) in School Psychology from the University of South Florida with interests in community-based education, reading intervention, and behavioral intervention. He is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and is currently working on his dissertation for his Ph.D. in School Psychology. Bobby serves as the Executive & Program Director of YouthBASE, providing organizational leadership as well as program management, training, and consultation.

I’ll reiterate that YouthBASE lists no other therapists on their staff, thus kids needing counseling would be going to a man who is charged with molesting two children. As an aside, sociology degrees are like basket weaving degrees, throw in a “concentration” in African-American studies and what you have is someone who took the easy way through college. Not saying that is a sign of being a pervert, but it should make you question his ability to “implement evidence based behavioral strategies” whatever that means. What you have is a person who is not really interested in psychology finding an easy way to get a psychology credential. That’s a warning bell to me.

When you put your children into youth programs you must look at safety first. It is in vogue to look for places that are “creative” and “compassionate,” but the reality is you’re giving adults you don’t know access to children. Don’t be afraid to ask to observe the program before enrolling. Look to see if they have procedures in place to ensure children are not left alone with any one adult. You don’t know who you can trust, so you must be able to trust the program.

YouthBase hasn’t released a statement yet, and as of now Caples is being held on $40,000 bond.

The incident began in the Half Mile Lake area shortly before 11 a.m. Deputies were searching in the State Park and Altamont roads area, Smith said.

“Just as a precaution we notified the schools because it looked like the K-9s were tracking in direction of where those schools are located,” he said.

Modified lockdown means people are still allowed to come and go but the doors are locked and access is closely controlled, Smith said.

An arrest was made shortly before 11:45 a.m. in a wooded area at Cone St. and State Park Road, according to News Channel 7.  The suspect, who had been hit by a vehicle as he fled, was taken to Greenville Hospital System for treatment.

School lockdowns are a frequent occurrence in the Greenville area, costing the school districts time and money, and causing significant anxiety for parents, children, and school employees.  Perhaps it’s time to amend the law to allow courts to hold criminals accountable for all the trouble they cause when evading authorities.

Police received the call at about 1 p.m. and have been searching the wooded area behind the school building, Morton said.

“We had a teacher call and we talked to one neighbor behind the school who said they heard a loud boom and it sounded like a shotgun,” Morton said. “We’re just checking to make sure that nobody’s outside shooting. We haven’t found anything.”

Chief Morton said all children were accounted for.  He suspected someone in the woods was shooting at a squirrel.

It was not immediately clear how the police chief arrived at that conclusion.  Why does he believe the shooter was targeting a squirrel and not a fox, a rabbit, or a cheating husband?  Inquiring minds want to know, but the Greenville News isn’t filling in the blanks.

The lockdown was lifted at about 2 p.m.

The lockdown stems from an issue involving a parent who has children at both schools, GreenvilleOnline.com reports. No further information is available at this time.

Greenville Dragnet will bring you updates throughout the afternoon.

Update, 3:00 p.m.:

The school lockdown was ordered in response to threats a parent made to a Department of Social Services employee following a custody hearing in family court Friday morning, WYFF4 reports. The hearing resulted in a court decision to remove the children from their parent’s custody, and in light of the threats,  Social Services followed protocol in requesting the assistance of  law enforcement in taking the children into state custody.

The lockdown was lifted shortly after 1:30 p.m. and students were released as usual from both schools this afternoon.

Parents will be receive an announcement about the situation through the School Messenger phone notification system, according to Fox Carolina.