Around the Nation: Teachers in Illinois Strike, BB Gun Puts Maryland School on Lockdown and Tea Drink Lands California Student in Hot Water

Teachers in Illinois Go on Strike — Highland Park Patch

A teachers union in suburban Chicago's North Shore area has declared a strike, closing schools Tuesday. A bargaining session Monday afternoon for the teachers of District 112 failed to result in an agreement, causing the strike.

The union represents District 112's roughly 450 teachers, all of whom have been working without a contract since August.

Read more on Highland Park Patch.

BB Gun Puts High School on Lockdown — Owings Mill-Reisterstown Patch

A Maryland high school was put on lockdown Tuesday morning when a student brought a BB gun to school.

"A student who brought an Airsoft BB gun to school is now in police custody," Baltimore County police spokeswoman Elise Armacost said. "No threats were made, and no one was hurt."

Owings Mills High School was still on lockdown a half hour after the call because officials were reviewing video surveillance to make sure no one else involved, Doarnberger said.

Owings Mill-Reisterstown Patch has more on this story.

Tea Drink in Lunchbox Lands Student in Hot Water — Newport Beach-Corona del Mar Patch

A Newport Beach mom alleges her 11-year-old son signed a five-day suspension form after school officials found his lunchbox contained a glass bottle of kombucha tea, a fermented drink containing 0.05 percent alcohol, tea sugar, bacteria and yeast.

On her blog FreshandFreeinOC, Leslie G. saidEnsign Intermediate School officials treated her boy "as a criminal. ... My son, an honor student ...apparently [was] labeled an alcoholic that day."

However, the Newport-Mesa Unified School District insists no disciplinary action was taken against the seventh-grader.

More on this story on Newport Beach-Corona del Mar Patch.

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