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Broward makes it easier for students to ‘text’ tips

Florida’s Broward County Schools are keeping up with the high-tech times by offering students a new way to make anonymous tips when something dangerous happens on campus, reports the Sun-Sentinel of South Florida: text messaging. When Superintendent James Notter responded to Dillard High School immediately after a student was fatally shot in a crowded hallway on Nov 12, he realized that students nowadays communicate through text messages, said Joe Melita, executive director of the district’s special investigative unit. The school district has a 24-hour hotline that students, staff, and parents can call to alert district security staff of potential threats. Now, they can also send text messages. Anonymous text tips go to Melita’s BlackBerry, as well as the cell phone of three additional security personnel, he said. "I’ve always operated under the notions that kids know more than we do," Melita said. "This give kids the opportunity to share what they know with us."

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