Keep Your Kids Safe With These Backpack Tips

Malden chiropractor Dr. Mary P. Medwar, P.C. offers these eight tips for the safe use of backpacks this school year.

YOUR TURN: Drugs & Alcohol at MHS

New national study indicates that drug and alcohol use during the school day is a bigger problem than previously thought. Do you think it's a problem at the local level? Discuss with other Maldonians below.

According to a new study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, roughly 17 percent of American high school students engage in smoking, drinking or doing drugs during the school day. The study also said that approximately 86 percent of students indicated that they knew of classmates who abuse drugs or alcohol during the school day. This was the 17th such study conducted by the NCASA. The group interviewed more than 1,000 students ages 12-17, according to an article appearing on Huffington Post. Perhaps more disturbing aspects to the survey included roughly 50 percent of the students indicating there was a place on their campus where students regularly went to do drugs or drink alcohol. And about 44 percent said they knew …

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Five Mass. School Bus Laws You Might Not Have Known

School's almost back in session, but were you aware of these state laws on school buses?

  Most Malden students know the "Rules of the Bus," but here are a few Massachusetts' state laws about school buses you might not have known. #1. Everyone knows to stop when a school bus is loading and unloading passengers, but what you may not know is that if you don’t stop, you could get a ticket of up to $250. That fine can go up to $2,000 and a suspended license of up to a year for subsequent offenses (MGL 90-14) #2. Oh, speaking of stopping behind a stopped bus, even fire trucks, police cars and ambulances with their sirens on have to stop until the passengers have been loaded or unloaded. (MGL 89-7B) #3.  Tell your kids to sit down, because bus drivers can be fined up to $500 if they drive the bus when the kids aren’t sitting down, …

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YOUR TURN: Memorable First School Days?

Take a trip down memory lane and post a comment below.

Area students are gearing up to head back to school. So we thought it would be fun to ask what your memorable first school days were? First day of high school? First day of seventh grade? What made first school days memorable then? The smell of the air becoming crisp? Your new school clothes? Seeing all your friends and other kids you haven't seen? Meeting your new teachers and comparing class schedules with friends? And of course, we'd love to read some funny anecdotes you'd like to share. Tell us your stories in the comments below.

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Ramp Up for Back-to-School with Bedtime Math

With the new school year upon us, help get your kids’ brains working again with this fun, free daily email newsletter.

Students of Malden Public Schools go back to school on Aug. 28 (K-8) and Aug. 29 (Malden High School), which means it’s time for an abundance of expensive school supplies, backpacks full of complicated text books and dreaded questions about math homework. With back-to-school stresses piling up, Laura Overdeck wants to let children and parents in on a little secret: math can be fun. Really.  Overdeck is on a mission to change the way Americans think about math — especially given that math anxiety has been tracked in kids as young as age 5. This is what inspired her to create Bedtime Math, a nonprofit that sends out a daily email with a math problem tailored to “wee ones,” little and big kids.  Overdeck is a Westfield native who now lives in…

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PHOTOS: Girl Scouts Destroy Flags

The two groups teamed up for a valuable history lesson.

Malden Girls Scouts Troop 71139 assisted The American Legion, Post 69 of Malden and Mr Kevin Jarvis of the Veterans Affairs office of Malden in a flag retirement ceremony Saturday afternoon.  The scouts collected the flags before Memorial Day, when many troops across the city voluteered to remove weather tattered Flags and replace them with new flags. The girls also learned about famous patriots buried in Malden cemeteries, including James Upham, who penned the "Pledge of Allegiance."  

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david mokal

8:01 pm on Wednesday, August 22, 2012

HEIDI when I seen the flag burning and it was just as bad as "GirlScouts Go Wild"   more ›

Five Ways to Use Patch This School Year

Tips principals, educators, PTA members, parents and students need to know.

The school year is nearly underway for Malden Public Schools, and Malden Patch will be there to cover all the big news. But we can’t do it without your help. To make sure you get the most out of Patch this school year, we invite you to get active in the news-gathering process. There are five things you can do to make sure your school and its students get all the coverage they deserve from Patch: You can also always become a blogger and share your school's news directly with Patch readers on a regular basis.  To find out more about using Patch this school year, just email malden@patch.com. 

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What Should Every High School Freshman Know?

We all remember that nervous day - what do you wish someone told you before you started your first day of high school?

First things first: it will be hard, sometimes fun and (most likely) pretty weird, all at once. But when all is said and done, you'll probably be happy you did it.  We asked readers on Facebook and Twitter to share their best advice for Malden's class of 2017. Some of the best answers are below, but if you have any to add, let the blossoming future leaders of Malden bask in your aged wisdom by writing some thoughtful words in our comment section below.  @eddiefisher: Start thinking about and preparing yourself for college the moment you walk in there. @emDOANstuh: Enjoy all four years and make as many friends as you can.  Brenda Hughes-Zullo: Get to know everyone, don't just stay in a so-called "clique" Our class of 1994 were very close …

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