Stowers can't do a thing. He doesn't scare me. Notice he never ran those equations he was talking about in Angela's thread. He's one of the few reefers than has the know how and still doesn't, yet he expects us to do them. I believe he's scared to be proven wrong.
Yeah, breaking issues. Mainly chipping, but cracking as well. It's just a preventative measure that hopefully is never necessary. Just to be honest, kids will be kids. I think that says enough. 1" glass would likely be sufficient for cracking, but it could still chip. The largest St Jude tank is 2" thick acrylic iirc. You should see their mag float. Not that I'm recommending that extreme, just mentioning it. I think you know how much I hate acrylic.
They employ a screening process for the safety of the children. I never went through it, so I can't say exactly what all is entailed. I don't know if background checks are involved, but I think it's mostly from a health standpoint. I think they just require a blood test to check for communicable diseases and an introductory talk. It's the same process required for all employees that work at the facility, iirc. I doubt Vanderbilt would require such a thing as it's a much more public and open facility.