Florida Mom Pays to Have Armed Guard at Kid's School

(Newser) – A Florida mom has taken her child's at-school security into her own hands ... by way of her pocketbook. The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that Laura Lauria has offered to foot the cost of having an armed deputy stationed at her kid's elementary school, and she's already paid for the first two months upfront, at a cost of $32 per hour. As the paper explains, Flagler County's middle and high schools have full-time deputies, but the elementary school is tended to by deputies who grab an extra shift on top of their normal duties.

In other school-security news, you can now arm your kids with bullet-proof backpacks, clothing, and ... white boards. The Maryland armor company behind the mine-resistant technology that protects our military convoys abroad says it has created a handheld version of the board that is capable of stopping a bullet. The 3.75-pound board measures 18-by-20 inches, a size that can adequately protect the head and torso, it says. Handles on the back allow for it to be held like a shield, reports the Daily Times.