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Greeks started story telling it was estimated from 50,000 to 2 million years ago.

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Elections in Times of Crisis | UNUM Short | PBS LearningMedia

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In 1928, Herbert Hoover was easily elected President. Less than a year later, the Great Depression rocked the nation. When the presidential election of 1932 arrived FDR would defeat Hoover by a substantial margin, and the American political landscape shifted significantly.

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These types of things need to be stopped one way or another, but if they don't want to get arrested, they need to stop doing stuff that they could and would get arrested for.

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University of Hartford student arrested for allegedly posting threats on social media

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An 18-year-old University of Hartford student was arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot up campus dorms.

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Storytelling originated with visual stories, such as cave drawings, and then moved to oral traditions. Stories let us share information in a way that creates an emotional connection.

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Although the U.S. Constitution mentions electing the President and members of Congress, the text, which was adopted in 1787, does not specify who may cast those votes. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Constitution was amended to expand voting rights.
The 15th Amendment (1870) gave men of all races the ability to vote. The 19th Amendment (1920) made it illegal for states to deny citizens the right to vote on the grounds of sex. By outlawing a poll tax, the 24th Amendment (1964) aimed to remove obstacles to voting. And the Voting Rights Act of 1965 guaranteed the right to vote for all adult citizens, regardless of race or gender, by creating federal laws that carried out the amendments.

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The U.S. Constitution refers to the election of members of Congress and of the President, but the document adopted in 1787 does not define who may cast those votes. Amendments to the Constitution extended the right to vote in the 19th and 20th centuries. The 15th Amendment (1870) extended voting rig…

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HAMDEN, Conn. (WTNH) - An 18-year-old student was arrested after a handgun and high-capacity magazine were found at the Hamden Collaborative Learning Center.

Officers responded to the school for a reported fight at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and spoke with staff, who said there had been a physical altercation between 18-year-old Khalil-Davis Yancey and a 16-year-old student who sustained minor injuries.

Hamden police began conducting an investigation that resulted in the arrest of Davis-Yancey. He was charged with disorderly conduct in the third degree.

At 11:30 a.m., police were called back to the Hamden Collaborative Learning Center at the request of school security, who said they received information there was a handgun inside the school.
Student brought knife to Granby middle school: District
An officer then located a handgun inside a classroom closet.

During the investigation, police determined Davis-Yancey placed the gun in the closet. Police then seized a 9mm handgun and a large capacity magazine as evidence.

According to police, Davis-Yancey was located shortly after the discovery and additionally charged with carrying a pistol without a permit, negligent storage of a firearm, reckless endangerment in the first degree, possession of a weapon on school grounds, and illegal possession of a large capacity magazine.

Hamden police said Davis-Yancey is being held on a $150,000 bond.

There is no threat to students or staff at this time, according to police.

The Hamden Police Department said they would continue to partner with the Superintendent of Hamden Public Schools, Gary Highsmith, to ensure that students and staff are cared for and safe.

The Hamden Police Department will increase its presence at the Hamden Collaborative Learning Center and have school resource officers visit daily to meet with students and staff.

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Student arrested after gun, high-capacity magazine found in CT school

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HAMDEN, Conn. (WTNH) - An 18-year-old student was arrested after a handgun and high-capacity magazine were found at the Hamden Collaborative Learning Center. Officers responded to the school for a reported fight at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and spoke with staff, who said there had been a physical altercation between 18-year-old Khalil-Davis Yancey and a 16-year-old student who sustained minor injuries.

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Since 6 or more students were in a fight in Crosby High School which is connected to our school they got arrested because they are the legal age to get charged.

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Location:
VOTING, ABSENTEE;
Scope:
Connecticut laws/regulations; Court Cases; Background;

September 7, 2012

2012-R-0379

HISTORY OF ABSENTEE VOTING IN THE STATE CONSTITUTION

By: Terrance Adams, Legislative Analyst II

This report describes the history of absentee voting provisions in the state constitution. It also describes legislation on this issue that predated its inclusion in the constitution.

SUMMARY

Absentee voting provisions were first added to the constitution in 1864 (Article XIII of the Amendments to the 1818 Constitution) to allow Civil War soldiers to vote by absentee ballot. The General Assembly first attempted to accomplish this objective through legislation in 1862, but the Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional ( Opinion of the Judges of the Supreme Court, 30 Conn. 591, 1862 WL 941 (Conn.)), thus necessitating a constitutional amendment. The amendment was effective only for the duration of the war.

After the war, absentee voting was not addressed in the constitution until 1932, through Article XXXIX of the Amendments to the 1818 Constitution. (In 1918 the legislature passed a temporary absentee voting law for World War I soldiers.) The 1932 amendment allowed the General Assembly to enact legislation establishing absentee voting privileges for individuals who could not appear at the polls because of absence from their city or town, sickness, or physical disability. In 1964, the privilege was extended to include individuals whose religion forbids secular activity on the day of an election (Article XII of the Amendments to the 1955 Constitution). These provisions are now codified in Article VI, Section Seven of the current constitution. Legislation authorizing the use of absentee ballots is codified at CGS § 9-135 .

It appears that Connecticut adopted the 1932 amendment in response to absentee voting ' s growing national popularity around that time period; speakers at a 1929 public hearing expressed concern that Connecticut was one of the few states without it. Additionally, a 1929 opinion by the attorney general indicated that absentee voting could be established only by a constitutional amendment, and not through legislation. The 1964 amendment was prompted by the practice in many municipalities at that time of holding elections on the first Monday in October, which frequently conflicted with the Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

CURRENT PROVISIONS

The constitution sets the qualifications of electors and the time, place, and manner for voting. Article VI, Section Seven authorizes the General Assembly to allow electors to vote by absentee ballot only if they are unable to appear at the polling place on the day of election due to (1) absence from their city or town of residence, (2) sickness or physical disability, or (3) the tenets of their religion, which forbid secular activity.

The General Assembly exercised its authority by enacting legislation (codified at CGS § 9-135 ) that permits any qualified elector to vote by absentee ballot if:

1. he is absent from his city or town of residence during all hours of voting;

2. he is ill or physically disabled;

3. the tenets of his religion forbid secular activity on the day of the primary, election, or referendum;

4. he is in active service with the armed forces of the United States; or

5. he is an election or referendum official outside of his voting district and his duties will keep him away during all hours of voting.

In 2012, the General Assembly passed a resolution that proposes a constitutional amendment to (1) remove restrictions on voting by absentee ballot and (2) permit a person to vote without appearing at a polling place on Election Day. Because the resolution did not pass by a three-fourths vote in each chamber, it will be referred to the 2013 legislative session, where it must pass each chamber by a majority vote in order to appear on the 2014 general election ballot. If a majority of those voting in the general election approves the amendment, it will become part of the state constitution.

CIVIL WAR ERA
1862 Legislation and Court Case
In 1862, the General Assembly passed "An Act in addition to an Act entitled an Act relating to Electors and Elections," which allowed people to vote if they were absent from the state because of U.S. military service. A separate act required the governor to seek the state supreme court ' s opinion as to the absentee voting act ' s constitutionality.

In December of 1862, the court held unanimously that the act was unconstitutional with respect to the election of the governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary, comptroller, and legislators. The court first noted that if the constitution (1) clearly and sufficiently prescribes the time, place, and manner of holding elections and (2) does not, expressly or by implication, delegate or leave anything to the legislature, then the legislature cannot alter them.

It then held that the constitution did just that, writing that its framers and the people who adopted it intended:

to place every thing pertaining to the election of state officers and members of the General Assembly beyond the reach of subsequent legislatures... it was one of the leading objects of the convention and the people, to direct explicitly and exclusively, and in every essential detail, when, where, and how the elective franchise should be exercised...these provisions must control the General Assembly in all exigencies, until changed by the supreme will of the people, expressed in a new or amended constitution" (emphasis in original).

Constitutional Amendment

The court held that the act ' s provisions violated the constitution ' s restrictions on the place and manner of holding elections. This meant that granting absentee voting rights could be accomplished only by amending the constitution. In response, such an amendment was adopted in 1864 (Article XIII of the Amendments to the 1818 Constitution) to allow Civil War soldiers to vote by absentee ballot. It was effective only through the end of the war, and thus impacted only the 1864 election.

WORLD WAR ONE

After 1864, absentee voting was not addressed again until 1918, when the legislature granted absentee voting rights to soldiers serving in World War I (An Act Concerning Voting by Electors Absent from the State in the Military or Naval Service of the United States). It passed the act, which applied only for the duration of the war, in a special session convened in March 1918 specifically for that purpose. The legislature enacted the law despite the 1863 court case, but a 1929 opinion by the attorney general noted that no court challenges to the 1918 act were ever raised, and it appears that the legislature was unaware of that case when it passed the act. Similarly, public hearing testimony did not have any references to possible constitutional issues.

1932 AMENDMENT

Absentee voting for people other than soldiers was not authorized until 1932, when Article XXXIX of the Amendments to the 1818 Constitution allowed the legislature to enact absentee voting legislation for individuals who could not appear at the polls because of absence from their city or town, sickness, or physical disability. The 1933 General Assembly followed by passing legislation permitting absentee voting by such individuals.

It appears that Connecticut amended its constitution in response to the growing national popularity of absentee voting around that time period. Speakers at a 1929 public hearing expressed concern that Connecticut was one of the few states not to have absentee voting and that this absence harmed some electors ' ability to vote. The transcripts also indicate that absentee voting had been proposed in Connecticut throughout the 1920s, but was not enacted for one reason or another. A 1931 Hartford Courant article stated that commercial travelers in particular sought the change.

Unlike in 1918, the legislature was aware of the constitutional issues concerning absentee voting, and in 1929 it considered both a constitutional amendment and a legislative change. It appears that it chose the constitutional amendment after a 1929 opinion from the attorney general indicated that a legislative change would likely be ruled unconstitutional. Referencing the 1863 court case, the attorney general wrote that his office "should not advocate the passage of any law, the constitutionality of which depends upon the Supreme Court overruling a clear decision of its own upon the matter in question." He also wrote that the 1918 act could not be used as the basis for an argument that legislation would be constitutional.

Adoption

At the time of the absentee voting amendment, the constitution required amendments to originate in the House. If an amendment passed by a majority of the House, it was continued to the next General Assembly, where it had to be approved by a two-thirds majority in each chamber. The final step was for each municipality to hold a town meeting to vote on the amendment. If the majority of the electors present at such meetings voted to approve the amendment, it became part of the constitution.

The absentee voting amendment process began when the House passed HR 26 in 1929. In 1931, the House and Senate passed HJR 159, followed by voter approval in 1932.

1964 AMENDMENT

A 1964 constitutional amendment extended absentee voting privileges to individuals whose religion forbids secular activity on the day of an election (Article XII of the Amendments to the 1955 Constitution). The 1965 General Assembly followed by making a conforming change to the absentee voting statute.

The impetus for the amendment appears to be the practice at the time of numerous municipalities (130 according to the Legislative Council, a bipartisan fact-finding body) holding their elections on the first Monday in October, which frequently conflicted with the Jewish holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, during which secular activity (including voting) is prohibited.

The Legislative Council first studied the issue in 1957 at the request of several legislators and other interested people. It identified three possible solutions: (1) delaying municipal elections by two days in the event of a religious holiday, (2) amending the constitution to extend absentee voting privileges to include such situations, and (3) requiring municipal elections to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

The council recommended delayed elections as the best solution, but the legislature rejected this proposal apparently because of implementation challenges. For instance, the proposed legislation would have allowed a delayed election upon a petition by five ordained clergymen of a particular religion, but precisely defining "clergyman" proved difficult.

In 1959, the council re-studied the issue and recommended a constitutional amendment as the solution, noting that Maine, Vermont, and several western states had authorized absentee voting for this purpose. With respect to uniform election dates, it stated that such a policy was very desirable, but reported that several municipal officials were reluctant to change their traditional election dates. (However, the legislature later made such a change, in 1967, by requiring municipal elections to be held in either November or May.)

The 1964 amendment followed the same adoption process as the 1932 amendment. It began when the House passed HR 32 in 1961. In 1963, the House and Senate passed HJR 60, followed by voter approval in 1964.

TEXT OF CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Article XIII.
Every elector of this state who shall be in the military service of the United States, either as a drafted person or volunteer, during the present rebellion, shall, when absent from this state because of such service, have the same right to vote in any election of state officers, representatives in congress, and electors of president and vice president of the United States, as he would have if present, at the time appointed for such election, in the town in which he resided at the time of his enlistment into such service. This provision shall in no case extend to persons in the regular army of the United States, and shall cease and become inoperative and void upon the termination of the present war. [The General Assembly shall prescribe by law in what manner and at what time, the votes of electors absent from this State in the military service of the United States, shall be received, counted, returned and canvassed.]

Art. 13. Adopted August, 1864.

Article XXXIX.

The general assembly shall have power to provide by law for voting by qualified voters of the state who are absent from the city or town of which they are inhabitants at the time of an election or because of sickness or physical disability are unable to appear at the polling places on the day of election, in the choice of any officer to be elected or upon any question to be voted on at such election.

Art. 39. Adopted 1932.

Article XII.

SECTION 1. The general assembly may provide by law for voting in the choice of any officer to be elected or upon any question to be voted on at an election by qualified voters of the state who are unable to appear at the polling place on the day of election because of absence from the city or town of which they are inhabitants or because of sickness or physical disability or because the tenets of their religion forbid secular activity.

SEC. 2. Section 6 of Article Sixth of the constitution is repealed.

Art. 12. Adopted November 24, 1964.

TA:ro

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HISTORY OF ABSENTEE VOTING IN THE STATE CONSTITUTION

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Location: VOTING, ABSENTEE; Scope: Connecticut laws/regulations; Court Cases; Background; September 7, 2012 2012-R-0379 HISTORY OF ABSENTEE VOTING IN THE STATE CONSTITUTION By: Terrance Adams, Legislative Analyst II This report describes the history of absentee voting provisions in the state constitution. It also describes legislation on this issue that predated its inclusion in the constitution.

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O’Brien, Edward J. (Edward Joseph), 1890-1941

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The Best Short Stories of 1918, and the Yearbook of the American Short Story

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Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by volunteers.

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Natural events were explained through storytelling, and bards created a pantheon of gods and myths by recounting tales of creation. Oral stories were passed down from one generation to the next, and storytellers were revered as entertainers, healers, instructors, spiritual leaders, and custodians of cultural secrets.

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This is a timeline of voting rights in the United States.

1789: The Constitution of the United States grants the states the power to set voting requirements. Generally, states limited this right to property-owning or tax-paying white males (about 6% of the population).

1790: The Naturalization Act of 1790 allows free white persons born outside of the United States to become citizens. However, due to the Constitution granting the states the power to set voting requirements, this Act (and its successor Naturalization Act of 1795) did not automatically grant the right to vote.

1792-1838: Free black males lose the right to vote in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey.

1792-1856: Abolition of property qualifications for white men, from 1792 (Kentucky) to 1856 (North Carolina) during the periods of Jeffersonian and Jacksonian democracy.

In the 1820 election, there were 108,359 ballots cast. Most older states with property restrictions dropped them by the mid-1820s, except for Rhode Island, Virginia and North Carolina. No new states had property qualifications although three had adopted tax-paying qualifications - Ohio, Louisiana, and Mississippi, of which only in Louisiana were these significant and long lasting.

The 1828 presidential election was the first in which non-property-holding white males could vote in the vast majority of states. By the end of the 1820s, attitudes and state laws had shifted in favor of universal white male suffrage.

Voter turnout soared during the 1830s, reaching about 80% of adult white male population in the 1840 presidential election. 2,412,694 ballots were cast, an increase that far outstripped natural population growth, making poor voters a huge part of the electorate. The process was peaceful and widely supported, except in the state of Rhode Island where the Dorr Rebellion of the 1840s demonstrated that the demand for equal suffrage was broad and strong, although the subsequent reform included a significant property requirement for anyone resident but born outside of the United States.

The last state to abolish property qualification was North Carolina in 1856 resulting in a close approximation to universal white male suffrage. However, tax-paying qualifications remained in five states in 1860 - Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware and North Carolina. They survived in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island until the 20th century. In addition, many poor whites were later disenfranchised.

1868: Citizenship is guaranteed to all male persons born or naturalized in the United States by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, setting the stage for future expansions to voting rights.

1870: The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prevents states from denying the right to vote on grounds of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".

1887: Citizenship is granted to Native Americans who are willing to disassociate themselves from their tribe by the Dawes Act, making those males technically eligible to vote.

1913: Direct election of Senators, established by the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, gave voters rather than state legislatures the right to elect senators.

1920: Women are guaranteed the right to vote by the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In practice, the same restrictions that hindered the ability of non-white men to vote now also applied to non-white women.

1924: All Native Americans are granted citizenship and the right to vote through the Indian Citizenship Act, regardless of tribal affiliation. By this point, approximately two thirds of Native Americans were already citizens. Notwithstanding, some western states continued to bar Native Americans from voting until 1948.

1943: Chinese immigrants given the right to citizenship and the right to vote by the Magnuson Act.

1948: Arizona and New Mexico became the last states to extend full voting rights to Native Americans, which had been opposed by some western states in contravention of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924.

1961: Residents of Washington, D.C. are granted the right to vote in U.S. Presidential Elections by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1962-1964: A historic turning point arrived after the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren made a series of landmark decisions which helped establish the nationwide "one man, one vote" electoral system in the United States.

1964: Poll Tax payment prohibited from being used as a condition for voting in federal elections by the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

1965: Protection of voter registration and voting for racial minorities, later applied to language minorities, is established by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This has also been applied to correcting discriminatory election systems and districting.

1966: Tax payment and wealth requirements for voting in state elections are prohibited by the Supreme Court in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections.

1971: Adults aged 18 through 21 are granted the right to vote by the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. This was enacted in response to Vietnam War protests, which argued that soldiers who were old enough to fight for their country should be granted the right to vote.

1972: Requirement that a person reside in a jurisdiction for an extended period is prohibited by the Supreme Court in Dunn v. Blumstein, 405 U.S. 330 (1972).

1973: Washington, D.C. local elections, such as Mayor and Councilmen, restored after a 100-year gap in Georgetown, and a 190-year gap in the wider city, ending Congress's policy of local election disfranchisement started in 1801 in this former portion of Maryland-see: D.C. Home rule.

1986: United States Military and Uniformed Services, Merchant Marine, other citizens overseas, living on bases in the United States, abroad, or aboard ship are granted the right to vote by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.

1996-2008: Twenty-eight US states changed their laws on felon voting rights, mostly to restore rights or to simplify the process of restoration.

2006: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was extended for the fourth time by President George W. Bush, being the second extension of 25 years.

2008: State laws on felony disenfranchisement have since continued to shift, both curtailing and restoring voter rights, sometimes over short periods of time within the same US state.

2013: Supreme Court ruled in the 5-4 Shelby County v. Holder decision that Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional. Section 4(b) stated that if states or local governments wants to change their voting laws, they must appeal to the Attorney General.

1. ^ "Expansion of Rights and Liberties - The Right of Suffrage". Online Exhibit: The Charters of Freedom. National Archives. Archived from the original on July 6, 2016.

2. ^ Stanley L. Engerman, University of Rochester and NBER; Kenneth L. Sokoloff, University of California, Los Angeles and NBER (February 2005). "The Evolution of Suffrage Institutions in the New World" (PDF): 16, 35. By 1840, only three states retained a property qualification, North Carolina (for some state-wide offices only), Rhode Island, and Virginia. In 1856 North Carolina was the last state to end the practice. Tax-paying qualifications were also gone in all but a few states by the Civil War, but they survived into the 20th century in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

3. William G. Shade, "The Second Party System". in Paul Kleppner, et al. ^ Evolution of American Electoral Systems (1983) pp 77-111

4. ^ "AP Tests: AP Test Prep: The Expansion of Suffrage". CliffsNotes. 10 January 2010. Archived from the original on 10 January 2010.

5. ^ The American Indian Vote: Celebrating 80 Years of U.S. Citizenship, Democratic Policy Committee, October 7, 2004, archived from the original on 2007-09-27

6. ^ Peterson, Helen L. (1957). "American Indian Political Participation". The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. 311: 116-126. doi:10.1177/000271625731100113. S2CID 144617127.

7. ^ Congressional Research Service. "The Right to Travel". CRS Annotated Constitution. Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School.

8. ^ Registration and Voting by Absent Uniformed Services Voters and Overseas Voters in Elections for Federal Office, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Voting Section, archived from the original on 2001-04-20

9. ^ "Felon Voting Rights". National Conference of State Legislatures. January 4, 2016.

10. ^ Schwartz, John. "A Guide to the Supreme Court Decision on the Voting Rights Act".

Women's suffrage in the United States

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Timeline of voting rights in the United States

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This is a timeline of voting rights in the United States. 1789: The Constitution of the United States grants the states the power to set voting requirements. Generally, states limited this right to property-owning or tax-paying white males (about 6% of the population).

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This girl was arrested and got out and is now trying and doing better for her life.

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Sha'Nia Cooper was trying to get to her locker when the 13-year-old seventh-grader heard other girls talking about her in the hallway of her Waterbury middle school.

The next thing she knew, fists were flying. A teacher intervened and got hit. Cooper left the school that day in handcuffs.

Three years have passed. Things have not been the same.

"It was my downfall, basically," Cooper said from her living room couch where she spends much of the day, home-schooled. "Once that one thing happened, it was basically like I let off a bomb."

In the 2018-19 school year, the last full year of school before the COVID-19 pandemic, school-based arrests statewide were reported to be down 44 percent compared with a decade ago. Fewer "bombs" are going off, but there remained a huge difference between school districts when it comes to who is arrested and for what.

For some, the impact weighs heavily.

Disproportionately affected

Each year, the state Department of Education collects arrest data - sanctions levied and the reason for the arrests - from school districts, recording publicly any school system where the count is five or more in a single year.

Upon request, the state released 10 years worth of such data to Hearst Connecticut Media, beginning with the 2009-10 school year and ending with the 2018-19 year.

Although on the decline, arrests disproportionately affect children of color, said Martha Stone, executive director of the Center for Children's Advocacy in Hartford, which has been tracking data on school-based arrests data for the past three to four years as it relates to entry into the juvenile justice system.

"A lot of it is shining a light on the data," Stone said. "Then brainstorming on how to get numbers down, particularly as it relates to race, ethnicity and gender."

In 2018-19, the state reported 1,444 students were arrested. Of those, 386 were Black and 548 were Hispanic, combined making up about 65 percent off all student arrests.

State officials acknowledge the racial and ethnic disparities and a Connecticut School Discipline Collaborative was formed two years ago to work to reduce both the number and the disproportionate use of exclusionary discipline practices - including arrests.

In all that year, there were 1,560 arrests recorded in public schools around the state, state records show. That means some students were arrested more than once.

The year before the arrest count was 1,797, a significant decrease from the 2,789 recorded a decade ago.

Fights remained the number one reason listed for school-based arrests in 2018-19, followed by drugs, confrontations and threatening. Weapons accounted for 71 arrests; breaking school rules led to 84 arrests. A smaller number of students were arrested for theft, sex-related behavior and property damage.

The majority of students arrested were male.

Waterbury, Bridgeport show data problems

Each year over the past decade, Waterbury, which last year had a student population of 18,847, had the largest number of arrests - consistently triple the number of any other school district. Last year, 18 percent of the arrests made statewide - 287 - were in Waterbury.

State officials are at a loss to explain why. When asked last fall, Commissioner of Education Miguel Cardona said it was something the state was watching.

"Overall the state is working with districts more closely to see what districts are doing and how we can support them," said Cardona at a state Board of Education meeting in February. "Sometimes the best way we can help a Waterbury is have them talk to a district with similar demographics and similar history who use different strategies."

Earlier this month, Sarah Eagan, the state's child advocate, issued a report that found police were called to Waterbury pre-K through eighth-grade schools 198 times between September 2018 and March 2019. Eighteen percent of the time, an arrest resulted. The median age of the child arrested was 12.

"Concerned, overwhelmed and under-resourced school administrators may rely on police to respond to children's crises," according to the report. "Unfortunately, use of law enforcement as a behavioral health first response system is problematic."

The OCA report also found an inconsistency in arrest data provided by school districts and police departments.

"Police should have no role in maintaining school climate or school discipline," the report concluded.

Jaclyn Davis, climate and attendance coordinator for the schools in Waterbury, told Hearst Connecticut last fall it also seems that not all cities "code" - or define - arrests in the same way.

Still, she said, Waterbury recognizes there is work to be done, but is making strides to try and bring its numbers down.

Elsewhere last year, the numbers varied. In southwestern Connecticut there were 92 in Danbury, 41 in Ansonia, 36 in Stamford, 35 in New Haven, 33 in Stratford, 28 in Norwalk and 16 in Greenwich. Bridgeport had 12, a number that Bridgeport Police Lt. Paul Grech, in the last school year, questioned.

Grech, who has overseen school resource officers in the city school district for nine years, insisted the arrests were higher than the number reported to the state. The discrepancy could not be fully explained by state or local officials.

State officials say it could be the definition for "school-based arrest" kept by the police department is broader than what is counted and recorded by the district.

State law defines a school-based arrest as an arrest of a student for conduct on school property or a school-sponsored event.

"It is possible that Bridgeport may have had other arrests of school-age students but perhaps those are not school-based as defined in state law," Peter Yazbak, a state Department of Education spokesman, said.

Grech said some of his arrest count could end up being deferred - or not ultimately counted - if the case is handled by the Juvenile Review board. Arrest counts kept by Grech, starting in 2011, shows arrests are going down, but were in the low 50s as of the 2017-18 school year.

Schools Superintendent Michael Testani said the district's data management department collects arrest data from schools and provides it to the state. He, too, could not explain the discrepancy between state and local police department numbers.

He said a concerted effort is made to support rather than arrest students.

Services such as restorative practice came about, Testani said, because when the district was arresting a lot of kids, nothing was changing.

Bridgeport's tally would be higher, Grech maintains, if Bridgeport didn't change how it handles student misconduct. Before the shutdown, many more students were being referred to a juvenile review board - often before arrests are made. There is also an increase in the use of restorative justice practices, where an effort is made to improve the culture and climate in schools plus repair the harm caused by misbehavior before it is labeled a crime.

"We don't want to make arrests," Grech said, calling them a last resort.

Lasting effect

At a Waterbury school board meeting in December 2017, Cooper spoke about her arrest.

"Can you imagine being 13 years old telling your parents that you're in jail?" she asked the board.

Her mom, Erika Cooper, said when she picked up her daughter from the police station that day she was hysterical.

Cooper went through a five-week program that stripped the arrest from her record. She earned a certificate and went back to school, but with a reputation she couldn't shake.

"It was like, 'When Cooper is in the hall there is going to be trouble,'" she recalled.

Her grades slipped and she claims she was placed in less challenging classes.

Her mom said her attitude was different, too. "She was like 'I am going to protect myself at any means,'" Erika Cooper said.

She said she understands her daughter had to face consequences but said the arrest, on top of a 10-day suspension, made matters worse. Waterbury, she said, should have a program to help students who commit non-serious offenses. Instead of suspension, she said, students should be compelled to attend school more often, such as on a Saturday.

Iliana Pujols, director of Community Connections at the Connecticut Juvenile Justice Alliance, knows firsthand the effect an arrest can have on young people.

The 22-year-old was arrested more than once as a New Haven Public Schools student.

Her freshman and sophomore years, it was for getting into fights. She got probation the first year and recalls no one ever asking for her side of the story.

The sophomore year arrest eventually changed things for the better. Pujols was put in Passages, a program for students who had been in the juvenile justice system.

"Reflecting on it now, it was probably the best thing that happened in my life," she said.

The program, she said, focused on purposefulness, integrity, resiliency and courage. The director to this day is like a mom to Pujols.

Pujols said it shouldn't have taken an arrest to get her into the kind of program she needed.

"Passages would have worked without the arrests," she said. "The fact that they have to get arrested (to get in) was the problem."

Two years after she graduated, Passages was closed. She is not sure why.

In her job, Pujols, who now lives in Bridgeport, hires and trains justice advisers who work with student offenders. Her long-term goal is to open an alternative high school like the one that helped her. She also wants to see restorative justice and juvenile review boards used on a much larger scale.

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A decade of data: CT school arrests are dropping, but racial disparities remain

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Sha'Nia Cooper was trying to get to her locker when the 13-year-old seventh-grader heard other girls talking about her in the hallway of her Waterbury middle school. The next thing she knew, fists were flying. A teacher intervened and got hit. Cooper left the school that day in handcuffs.

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They are fighting for their right to vote.

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Back then black people and all women couldn't vote because of laws. Now everyone over 18 can vote without a problem, but if they aren't citizens in the country they'll be able to vote.

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If teacher, parents, students, and anyone in the community can stop doing crimes and try to stop others from doing them too.

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Storytelling is important to society and benefits the storytellers, a new study found. Here's why it's so significant

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Connecticut elementary teacher arrested after using chokeholds on students, police say

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Stefanie Sanabria was working at an elementary school when Norwalk Public Schools officials say she performed a martial arts move on three students.

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Since the beginning of 2021, lawmakers have passed at least 42 restrictive voting laws in 21 states. Among those laws, 33 contain at least one restrictive provision that is in effect for the midterms in 20 states.

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The Art of Storytelling: The Mechanics of a Great Story

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At least seven states have enacted 12 election interference laws, of which 11 are in place for the midterms

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Connecticut police arrested, charged and released two parents Thursday, nearly a year after they allegedly allowed minors to drink alcohol at a house party that led to the fatal May 2022 stabbing of 17-year-old James McGrath.

The Shelton Police Department (SPD) announced the arrest of Paul Leifer, 59, and Susana Leifer, 51, with permitting minors to possess alcohol. Susana Leifer was also charged with second-degree reckless endangerment after McGrath was fatally stabbed following a party at their house last year.

"Several high school students attended this party where alcohol was present. During the investigation it was revealed that Susanna had interactions with some of the attendees," SPD said in a Thursday press release. "During the party a fight ensued."

After the fight at the Leifers' house on Lazy Brook Road, the suspects - who witnesses described as students from St. Joseph High School in Trumbull - arrived at another party on Laurel Glen Drive in Shelton, where the victims were also present, according to a police report Fox News Digital obtained at the time.
CONNECTICUT HIGH SCHOOL STABBING: RAUL VALLE POSTS $2M BOND IN DEATH OF JAMES MCGRATH: REPORT
Another fight ensued at the Laurel Glen Drive house, where McGrath was stabbed to death.
CONNECTICUT HIGH SCHOOL LACROSSE PLAYER JAMES MCGRATH LAID TO REST AFTER TRUMBULL FUNERAL MASS
The Leifers were released on a promise to appear in court on April 3, according to police.

Raul Eliah Valle of Milford, who was 16 at the time of the stabbing, has been charged with one count of murder and two counts of first-degree assault for allegedly stabbing McGrath and others during the May 14 fight. Valle attended St. Joseph High School in Trumbull near Fairfield College Preparatory School, where McGrath was a junior.

Police responded to "several 911 calls regarding a fight" that occurred just before midnight on May 14, 2022, outside the Laurel Glen Drive house party in Shelton and found multiple victims on the front lawn. The owner of the residence where the party took place was home at the time of the incident, according to the warrant.
CONNECTICUT HIGH SCHOOL LACROSSE PLAYER MURDER: EXPERTS SAY LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR PARTY HOST PARENTS
"Multiple witnesses reported that three to four people who were not invited to the party arrived and exited a dark-colored Honda SUV," the report says. "Witnesses further stated that when the parties exited the vehicle a physical altercation with multiple male participants took place on the front lawn."

At one point, there were about 25 people engaged in the fight on the front lawn of the residence, witnesses told police. At least three juvenile suspects are mentioned in the report, including Vallle, who is accused of bearing a knife.

At least four victims, including McGrath, were stabbed.
CONNECTICUT HIGH SCHOOL LACROSSE PLAYER MURDER: EXPERTS SAY LEGAL CONSEQUENCES POSSIBLE FOR PARTY HOST PARENTS
"[T]here was one stab wound to the left side of the chest" the warrant states. "The stab wound went through the rib and heart."

A doctor from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Connecticut told police that there were approximately 1.8 liters of blood in McGrath's lungs.

The three other victims sustained injuries during the fight. One officer described seeing "numerous pools of blood" and various personal belongings on the front lawn following the altercation.

The warrant further states that several of the stabbing victims got into an altercation with the suspects at another party on Lazy Brook Road in Shelton earlier that night. The suspects, who witnesses described as St. Joe's students, later arrived at the party on Laurel Glen. Shelton High School students were also present at the party on Lazy Brook Road, another witness told police.

A representative from St. Joseph's told Fox News Digital last year that Valle was in good academic standing and had not been in any fights at school before the May 14 incident.

Valle was released on $2 million bond just days after his arrest in May 2022.

An for McGrath describes the 17-year-old as the "sunshine" of his parents' life and his sister's "best friend and confidant."

"Jim as a wonderfully happy person with a big heart who was a loving friend to many," the obituary states. "He loved his school, Fairfield Prep, and he excelled as an athlete in every sport he chose. He played football and lacrosse for Fairfield Prep and as a youth for Shelton and Connecticut Wolves as well. He understood the meaning of being part of a team."
Fox News' Marta Dhanis and Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.

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Connecticut parents arrested in prep school student's death at 2022 house party stabbing

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Connecticut police arrested, charged and released Paul and Susana Leifer Thursday, nearly one year after high school student James McGrath was stabbed to death outside a party in 2022.