Florida Districts Target Nontenured Teachers For Layoffs.
The St. Petersburg Times (4/9, Matus) reports, “Given historic cuts to education funding in Florida, teachers everywhere are anxious. But those without tenure have bigger targets on their backs because when it comes to layoffs, union contracts force districts to put a premium on seniority.” Throughout the state, districts are “are culling nontenured teachers — most of them young and new to teaching.” In Hernando County last week, “district officials told 115 nontenured teachers…that their annual contracts will not be renewed for next year.” Hernando superintendent Wayne Alexander admitted that “some up-and-coming stars” would “have to be let go,” adding “You’re really hamstrung by the contractual agreements. That’s not just in Florida. That’s across the country.” Teacher tenure protections have come “under fire nationally from both liberal and conservative education reformers,” who say that such protections make it difficult for districts “to fire bad teachers. But with school budgets fraying, critics also point to the role that tenure plays in pushing out young teachers.”

In the Classroom
Educators Should Make Lessons Relevant To Boys, Therapist Says.
USA Today (4/9, Jayson) reports that according to Michael Gurian, a family therapist and author of The Purpose of Boys, “many boys “don’t understand what their social roles should be,” because they lack proper role models and mentors. In an interview with USA Today, Gurian explained that schools sometimes fail boys because “most teachers are not trained in how boys and girls learn differently.” As a result, some “boys check out.” Gurian suggests that educators can bring boys “back to education by making [lessons] relevant to them and” by focusing more on “service learning and vocational education.” Regarding single-sex education, Gurian says that while does not promote it, he does admit that it can work well “in the inner city where [many] boys are being raised without dads.” Creating “healthy boy environments” in those areas can help boys “learn better” and may encourage them to stay in school “and get better grades.”

Elementary Teacher Says Students Should Take Responsibility For Own Education.
In the Las Vegas Sun’s (4/9, Estes) Teacher’s View column, elementary school teacher Cathy Estes writes, “Whose responsibility is education? Some days it seems that our students view responsibility as a burden, some horrendous task that they are forced to take on.” And many times, “responsibility for just about everything is projected by our students onto someone else.” According to Estes, “students need to take more responsibility for their own education.” But, she adds, “student responsibility doesn’t just happen. Teachers and parents must expect it, model it and nurture it.” Estes argues that “the best way to teach responsibility is to demonstrate it.” Children need to learn that “being responsible doesn’t mean that you don’t make mistakes. It means you accept the consequences for them.” While Estes does acknowledge that “teachers also have a great deal of responsibility for education,” she points out that schools “are not solely responsible for the outcomes of their students.”

Few Georgia Schools Offer Bible Classes Due To Costs, Perceived Lack Of Interest.
The Marietta (GA) Daily Journal (4/9, Turner) reports that “in the two years since Georgia became the first state to pass a law allowing Bible classes in public schools, many districts have shied from offering the controversial courses for fear of lawsuits and a lack of interest among students.” Mark Winters, principal of South Effingham High School near Savannah, said that last year, 62 students took the “Literature and History of the New Testament” class at the school, “but this year fewer than 20 students signed up for the course.” Throughout the state, only “37 high schools in 28…districts offered the voluntary classes,” according to state education department data, and with the current state budget crisis, some superintendents are saying that “even if they wanted to have the classes, they simply don’t have the teachers to spare after losing millions in state funding.”

Elementary Students Study Simple Machines To Prepare For State Exams.
Massachusetts’ Daily News Tribune (4/8, Gilbride) reported that Techsploration, “a visiting education program” presented hands-on science lessons to fifth-graders at Northeast Elementary School this week. The purpose of the activities was to help students “understand simple machines, a subject [they] will tackle during the upcoming state MCAS exam.” Techsploration founder Tom Wahle used “cars built from Lego toy pieces and scrap metal and powered by small electrical wires” to guide “students through a series of activities to help increase their understanding of math and science.” In one experiment, the students tested “how different sizes of gears affected the cars’ performances through various challenges.”

Most Baltimore High School Seniors Have Met Assessment Standards For Graduation.
The Baltimore Sun (4/9, Neufeld) reports, “More than 80 percent of Baltimore high school seniors have met the High School Assessment requirements for graduation after the completion of nearly 5,000 projects — 1,942 of them submitted and graded in March.” Meanwhile, “802 of 4,170 seniors in the city are still trying to qualify” for graduation, either by passing “state tests in English, algebra, government and biology” or by submitting a final project. And even “among 390 seniors with disabilities, the number meeting requirements [has] increased from 36 in September to 161.” Administrators say “the only students who will not graduate are those who have failed classes or fallen short on other criteria, such as completion of service learning.” Still, “next school year, staff members will again need to make a huge push to get the current juniors to graduation,” because so far “only a third of Baltimore’s juniors…have met” High School Assessment requirements.

Kindergartners At Florida School Celebrate Colonial America.
The St. Petersburg Times (4/9, Ritchie) reports that during a social studies unit on Colonial America, kindergartners at Challenger K8 School “Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. They wrote stories and made candles.” This week, the students celebrated the era. They dressed up and “ate food prepared by parents who got recipes from a Colonial foods cookbook” such as “fruit salad, peanut soup, creamy chicken on biscuits, blueberry muffins, shrub (a sweet, fruity dessert drink) and maple sugar candy.” They also played games that children may have played during Colonial times — “checkers, dominoes, marbles, jacks, ninepin, hopscotch and cards.” The kindergartners “learned about cross-stitching” as well.

Law & Policy
Attorney Says Utah Law Prohibits Districts From Performing Employee Spot Checks.
The Salt Lake Tribune (4/9, Stewart) reports, “A legislative probe that found known criminals working in Utah schools has education officials scrambling to identify the schools — or even better — locate the 17 employees who surfaced with ‘concerning’ criminal convictions.” Due to privacy protection laws, the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Criminal Identification will not release the names or work locations of those employees. Carol Lear, “an attorney at the State Office of Education who reviews teachers referred for licensing violations,” said the “same restrictions prohibit school districts from doing their own spot checks.” Districts screen applicants and can “require current employees to undergo further screening, say every three years, but not without forewarning as spelled out in policy.”

Florida Lawmaker Proposes Civics Course, Test For Middle Schoolers.
Florida’s First Coast News (4/9) reports, “effort to promote more understanding of government has [Florida] State Representative Charles McBurney (R) pushing to require a civics course in middle school, plus a standardized test.” The purpose of McBurney’s push is “to promote understanding of the basics at an early age. ‘It is essential to maintain democracy,’” he said. The legislation McBurney is sponsoring would “phase in a standardized test in middle school, and in four years require students to get a passing score on an assessment test to receive course credit.”

Safety & Security
Michigan School Safety Records Said To Have Numerous Errors.
The Detroit News (4/8, Wilkinson, Mrozowski) reported that Michigan’s school safety records are rife with errors. “Yet none have been corrected, leaving potentially frightening and erroneous information in plain sight on the state’s education Web site.” In fact, “a Detroit News analysis of Michigan’s safety statistics from the last three years shows the data is so fraught with problems that it might offer no guidance at all.” For instance, “nine explosions at Patterson Elementary in Lenawee County last year that should have been recorded as ‘expulsions,’ a schools spokesman said.” There is also evidence “that underreporting happens: Last year, 820 schools, out of more than 3,500, reported they had no disciplinary referrals — the equivalent of getting sent to the principal’s office for punishment.” Tom Howell of the “Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information, which collects and reports the data on its Web site,” said that the center notifies district officials of obvious errors, but that it is up to the district to correct the errors.

Possible Release Of Asbestos Leads To Evacuation Of Colorado Elementary School.
The Denver Post (4/9, Miller) reports, “Nearly 500 students and staff members at Boulder’s Southern Hills Elementary were evacuated just before noon” on Wednesday “because of a construction ‘incident’ that might have released asbestos into the school.” Boulder Valley School District spokesman Briggs Gamblin said that “construction workers notified school and district officials at 8:30 a.m. about the incident… and Boulder Valley sent material from the work site to a lab in Denver for contamination tests.” The tests came back positive for asbestos. “As a ‘cautionary measure,’ all of the Southern Hills students and staff were evacuated to neighboring Fairview High School.” And “calls were sent out to Southern Hills parents, alerting them of the situation and letting them know” where to pick up their children.

Facilities

Iowa’s Infrastructure Stimulus Program Draws Submissions From Districts Statewide.
The Des Moines Register (4/9, Walker) reports, “Iowa education officials want to construct at least 42 buildings, renovate existing buildings, and upgrade security and technology with money they hope to get from Gov. Chet Culver’s (D) $750 million infrastructure stimulus program.” Proposals for projects have been submitted by “city, county, and education officials across the state…under Culver’s I-JOBS plan, which would use borrowed money to spur public projects and create jobs.” Prior to January, school district officials were encouraged to “to submit ‘shovel ready’ projects that could be launched quickly once the money becomes available.” According to the Des Moines Register, “Most of the submissions…are for new buildings or renovations and additions. Planned improvements include geothermal heating and cooling systems, new windows and other energy-efficiency efforts.”

Also in the News
New Jersey Public Schools, Rutgers University Announce Research Collaboration.
New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (4/9, Chambers) reports that the Newark, NJ, school district and researchers at Rutgers University in Newark on Wednesday “announced an ambitious research collaboration,” the Newark Schools Research Collaborative. The partnership adds to “a growing trend of universities helping public schools use technology to better track student performance.” Currently, “test scores in some” Newark “schools are abysmal but” but the district “has no way of knowing whether that is tied to teacher performance, parental neglect, or economic factors.” The partnership’s “first endeavor will be to build a data base ‘warehouse’ that will assist a broad range of research.” In addition, researchers “want to examine the higher-education performance of Newark students who” do not pass “the high school proficiency test” and use the Special Review Assessment to meet graduation requirements. In addition, there will be “a unique relationship between” the collaborative “and the district’s growing number of charter schools.”

Students Tutored Via Experience Corps Found To Make Substantial Gains.
The Christian Science Monitor (4/9, Lampman) reports on Experience Corps, “a program that engages adults 55 and over in tutoring children who lag far behind in reading. … Founded in 1995, Experience Corps has grown to serve more than 20,000 children in 23 US cities.” According the Monitor, “A two-year study released today by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis finds that students with Experience Corps tutors make 60 percent more progress in critical reading skills, including comprehension, than similar children not in the program. Perhaps even more remarkably, the results are the same regardless of gender, ethnicity, grade level, classroom behavior, or English proficiency.”

Elementary Students From The Bronx To Tour Dachau.
The New York Times (4/10, A17, Hu) reports that this year at P.S. 86 in the Bronx, NY, “many of the fifth-grade students have been reading books about the Holocaust.” With these lessons, P.S. 86 teachers aimed “to expose students to a world far from their Spanish-speaking neighborhoods. … About 95 percent of the school’s 1,700 students are Hispanic or black,” and “more than three-quarters of them…qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.” According to fifth-grade teacher Leah Kang, “the appeal of Germany was that it was so foreign to most P.S. 86 students. … At the beginning of the year, she said, almost no one could find Germany on a map.” At the end of April, a “group of 32 students, chaperoned by 14 teachers and administrators,” will travel to Germany to tour various landmarks, including “Mozart’s birthplace in Salzburg” and Dachau, a former concentration camp. “Each family will pay $300 for the trip, and the school will subsidize the rest.”

In the Classroom
Utah Teacher Creates Computer Game Connecting Math, Anthropology.
The Salt Lake Tribune (4/10, Schencker) reports on the Math game, Empire, created by Scott Laidlaw, a math teacher at Utah’s Realms of Inquiry school. The game presents students with “hundreds of complex decisions in running their own virtual societies.” It teaches “basic and advanced math” as well as “the rise and fall of ancient civilizations.” In the game, students start their empires around 5,000 B.C. — near the dawn of civilization — with populations of 100 people each. The goal is to build their empires’ strength and population as much as possible. Laidlaw said that the game is “a way to teach math…that keeps students interested by showing them real world applications. As with Singapore math, Laidlaw encourages students to focus on solving problems using mental strategies rather than paper and pencil.” So far, “the game, which [Laidlaw] spent five years developing, has captured his class’ attention.”

Seattle Public School Officials May Convert High School Into STEM Magnet.
The Seattle Times (4/10) reports that “Cleveland High may become a magnet school for students throughout Seattle who would like to study science, math, technology and engineering.” On Wednesday, Seattle Public School officials proposed that Cleveland High “become an ‘option’ school under a new assignment plan that is under development. That means students would apply to attend, rather than be assigned because they live nearby.” The officials said that they hoped the plan “would boost interest in Cleveland, which now is far from full.”

Massachusetts District Considers Multi-Age Elementary School Classrooms.
Massachusetts’ Cape Ann Beacon (4/10, Friday) reports, “At its Wednesday, March 25 meeting, the Gloucester School Committee voted unanimously in favor of considering multi-age classrooms at elementary schools, should parents, teachers and principals support the idea.” If approved, “the classrooms, which mix children of varying ages, could open in some schools as early as the next school year.” According to “school officials and committee members,” their support of multi-age classrooms was not motivated by a desire to “trim the budget.” Instead, the decision “followed months of study by an eight-member focus group composed of school and elected officials, teachers, and a parent.”

On the Job
Reports Draw Conflicting Conclusions About Teacher Pay.
The Orange County (CA) Register (4/10, Martindale) reports that “as communities across Orange County and the nation debate whether teachers should take a pay cut this year to soften the blow of school funding shortfalls, the question that inevitably arises is whether they are overpaid or underpaid for what they do.” Many teachers “point out [that] they make less money than they would doing comparable jobs,” but “detractors argue the profession requires only 10 months of work a year and offers lucrative benefit and retirement packages.” The Orange County Register notes “a 2005 report by economists at the University of Missouri at Columbia,” which concluded that teachers’ salaries “‘compare favorably to those in many other professions,’ based on weekly earnings.” But a report released last year by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., “found that K-12 public school teachers earned on average 15 percent less per week than comparable workers in 2006.” And “after adjusting for their non-wage benefits, they still faced a 12 percent disadvantage, according to the report.”

Maryland To Match Teachers, Student Performance Using Statewide Data System.
WBAL-TV Baltimore (4/9) reported, “Maryland public schoolteachers will soon get a new identification number that is designed to improve teacher quality and permit school systems to match teachers to students by classroom and subject.” The initiative could begin “as early as this fall.” Identification numbers will “be put into a statewide data system that will allow the state to do a better job of tracking teachers.” According to state schools Superintendent Dr. Nancy Grasmick, “data gathered by way of the ID numbers will help the state help teachers do a better job in the classroom.”

Pasco County, Florida, Board Member Favors Sick Leave For Teacher With Cancer.
The St. Petersburg Times (4/10, Tillman) reports, “Pasco County School Board member Cathi Martin said Thursday she wants the board to reverse a decision denying sick leave to a Bayonet Point Middle School teacher with inoperable cancer.” Connie Duffy, a Bayonet Point Middle School teacher “with late-stage endometrial cancer…has used up her sick days for the year.” She “was recently denied additional time off from the teachers’ ‘sick leave bank,’ a pool of days that employees contribute for their colleagues to use.” Duffy “has reapplied to the sick leave bank,” and is currently “spending her spring break at an Illinois cancer treatment center.” Martin “said she had read a Times story last week about” Duffy, which prompted her to speak up. The Times notes that “Martin has missed [many] board meetings because of” several health- and family-related issues. However, she plans to attend the board’s next meeting on April 21, “and wants the School Board to discuss overriding the committee’s decision.”

Opinion: Lawmakers Should Help Teachers Raise Students.
In an opinion piece for Texas’ News-Journal (4/10), Paul Walker, a high school English teacher, writes that teachers often complain of baby-sitting, but “that’s what most of the public wants of us — baby-sitting.” Many “parents want their kids out of their hair and someone else dealing with them; said more correctly — someone to raise their kids.” As a result, “the only positive instruction many kids get in morals, work ethics, making wise choices and a plethora of other things formerly taught in the home must now be taught in school, or they won’t be taught.” And every school year, “teachers receive a roster of their students with codes attached to indicate what special circumstances might be at work in the students’ lives,” and must determine how to cater to each student. Meanwhile, lawmakers continue “to give public schools new assignments.” Walker concludes, “If you want teachers to raise your children, send reinforcements.”

Law & Policy
Massachusetts’ Public Schools To Conduct Student Weight Screenings.
The Boston Herald (4/9, Fargen) reported, “Every Bay state student will be weighed and measured by school nurses under new regulations approved [Wednesday], and the results will be sent to their parents as public health officials wage a war against obesity.” The new regulations come as Gov. Deval Patrick (D) “pushes to trim the waistlines of Bay state kids and promote healthy lifestyles. More than one-third of all Massachusetts middle school and high schools students are overweight, according to DPH statistics.”

The Boston Globe (4/9) added that beginning in the fall “public schools across the state will begin measuring and weighing first-, fourth-, seventh- and 10th-graders.” Afterward, “parents will receive a report telling them how their children fared on the body mass index, a standard measurement used to analyze if someone weighs too much or too little.” The Globe notes that similar programs in Arkansas and New York City schools “have been calculating the body mass index of students for several years.”

Expert Questions Reliability Of Massachusetts’ Student Weight Screening Law. The Boston Globe (4/9) reported that Rebecca Manley, founder of the Multiservice Eating Disorders Association in Newton, MA, has “questioned the reliability of” the “weight screening program that won state approval Wednesday and is set to begin in Massachusetts public schools this fall.” Mandating that schools report students’ body mass index (BMI) will “force parents to walk the fine line between encouraging healthy eating and promoting unhealthy weight loss strategies,” Manley said. State authorities, meanwhile, stress that parents will be able to opt-out of the program if they do not want their children to be evaluated.

A spokeswoman for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health said that “parents who want the information will get the screening results along with information on how to interpret the number, steps for improving it, and community resources,” Massachusetts’ Daily News Transcript (4/9, Reardon) added. “Experts say these educational materials — which Manley said the state hasn’t developed yet — are crucial to whether this program combats childhood obesity or leads to other issues.”

Houston Chronicle Urges Texas To Use Stimulus For Classroom Management Training.
The Houston Chronicle (4/10) editorializes, “Texas school districts will soon have a one-time opportunity to put $2.2 million in federal stimulus dollars to work to benefit at-risk and special education students — the same demographic that overpopulates the school discipline system, dropout statistics, and juvenile justice referrals.” The Chronicle says, “Texas schools should use part of this money to train teachers statewide in evidence-based classroom management strategies that work.” According to research, “schools that succeed in changing the overall climate of the classroom — to enable teachers to teach and students to learn — are also schools where disciplinary referrals are low, classrooms are safe and the greatest gains in student achievement occur.” The Chronicle concludes, “By making effective use of stimulus funds, Texas can boost student achievement while restoring a more positive, supportive climate in our schools.”

Safety & Security
Los Angeles Police Program Trains Parents As School Crossing Guards.
The New York Times (4/10, A12, Steinhauer) reports that “among the many worries of Los Angeles parents who pack their children off to school each day, traffic dangers have been looming larger in recent years.” According to the Times, “Traffic patterns around schools in Los Angeles have become clogged and often dangerous because of a large growth in student enrollment and an increase in the number of parents who” drive their children to and from school. Adding to the problem “is that schools lack enough crosswalks, so students cross in the middle of the block.” The Los Angeles city attorney’s school safety prosecutors studied the matter and found “that traffic was a pressing problem at nearly all of the nine most troubled schools.” In response, “the office, using Los Angeles Police Department officers, came up with a training program and bought traffic safety equipment — bright vests, traffic cones — to try to ‘professionalize’ parents and other volunteers.”

NEA in the News

Teachers’ Union Leader Urges School Officials To Fund Full Salary Schedule.
The Columbia (MO) Daily Tribune (4/9, Braden) reported, “Columbia Public Schools administration yesterday recommended keeping a proposed average salary increase of 2.55 percent for the district’s support staff, a $423,505 expense.” The same increase was not proposed “for the district’s professional staff, including teachers.” The Board of Education finance committee instead “proposed giving a one percent increase to professional staff, amounting to $938,389 for the next budget year, and following salary schedule guidelines that reward staff for continuing their education, a $700,000 expense.” Superintendent Jim Ritter said that “The one percent increase would be paid as a one-time stipend.” Board member Ines Segert, at the recommendation of Columbia Missouri National Education Association President Laurie Spate-Smith, said that the board should “fully operate the salary schedule, a $2.8 million expense.” The committee has decided to postpone “any decision or recommendation until the school district knows more about its financial future.” The Columbia Daily Tribune’s (4/10) Homeroom blog also covered the story

Educators Concerned About State, County Redistribution Of Federal Aid For Schools.
On the front of its Metro section, the Washington Post (4/13, B1, Glod) reports, “Educators across the country are counting on a federal stimulus windfall to prevent teacher layoffs and improve schools. But while Washington is giving, some state and local governments are taking away.” For instance, in Loudoun County, VA, supervisors cut “$7.3 million from the schools budget” in anticipation of receiving “$11.8 million in federal funds.” In addition, they “made clear that if more federal recovery money flows to schools, schools might be asked to give back an equal amount of county dollars.” According to the Post, “the budget shifts in Loudoun offer a case study of a phenomenon that worries educators nationwide.” While “the stimulus law and regulations have strings to protect against big drops in education funding,” they “allow the most cash-strapped states to seek some flexibility.” Amy Wilkins, vice president of the Education Trust in DC, said that “the worst thing that could happen is ‘the federal government does its biggest investment into education ever and it does nothing for schools.’”

In the Classroom
Virginia District Moving Toward Web-Based Testing At All Schools.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch (4/13, Lizama) reports that “the Chesterfield County [VA] school system” is continuing “its implementation of Web-based testing at the elementary school level.” Of the 38 elementary schools in the district, 29 “will administer at least one subject test online” this year, compared to five elementary schools last year. “All high and middle school SOL testing will be conducted online.” The Times-Dispatch notes that Chesterfield County is “ahead of the state…in moving from pencil-and-paper testing to online assessments.” Still, “Virginia is leading the way in online testing,” according to the Times. “The Department of Education estimates that 1.7 million online tests will be administered this spring,” compared to “1.4 million last spring.” Currently all state standardized “tests are available online, except the English writing tests.”

Experts Say Minnesota Science Tests Effectively Measure Higher-Order Thinking.
Minneapolis Star Tribune (4/13, Johns) reports that “this week, hundreds of thousands of students across Minnesota will sit down at desks, sharpened No. 2 pencil in hand, for a generations-old ritual: taking standardized tests.” Although “the tests… have looked mostly the same since” 1938, “new generations of tests are being developed” because policymakers are considering “the future of the No Child Left Behind law.” According to some experts, “the new tests will be much more effective at measuring…higher-order thinking skills, the processes used by students to find their answers, and whether students are truly ready for college.” Among the new tests is the Minnesota science test, “delivered via computer to students in fifth grade, eighth grade and high school,” which is “designed to emulate the lab or the science classroom,” according to Dirk Mattson of the Minnesota Department of Education. The science tests were “given for the first time last year.”

High School In Texas Ties Academics, Career Options.
The Houston Chronicle (4/13, Radcliffe) reports that at Carl Wunsche Senior High School, students “can specialize in more than 40 different careers, including law, business, teaching, technology, medicine and science.” They also “get hands-on experience” in those fields as part of the curriculum. In addition, the school’s campus contains “a bank, a coffee shop, and a research-and-development center.” Wunsche teachers say that “by tying academics to career options, students are more invested and understand the relevance of what they’re learning.” Some “educators tout the model as making much more sense than traditional high schools, where athletics…and other extracurricular activities consume so much time and attention.” And, according to “research released in 2008…students who attend career academies, such as Wunsche, have more earning power,” making “about $2,000 more a year than students who graduate from traditional high schools.”

Alabama District To Issue Pocket-Sized Diplomas In Effort To Curb Dropout Rate.
The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (4/12, Nettles) reported that “Montgomery Public Schools is trying the concept” of awarding miniature “diplomas to graduating seniors” this May. The purpose is to give “the school system’s estimated 1,500 graduating seniors an edge in the job market.” According to the Montgomery Advertiser, “the credit card-sized replicas of student diplomas,” called “Mini D,” is “the latest effort by the school district to help decrease the dropout rate in Montgomery Public Schools.” A spokeswoman for Montgomery Public Schools said that soon, the district “will send out letters to business associations requesting that their members ask high school graduates who apply for employment after May to show their Mini D as proof they have graduated high school.” In addition, “vendors…will have the op­tion of offering discounts or other incentives to students as a reward for graduating when they show their Mini D.”

Rotary Clubs To Donate Dictionaries For Every Third Grader In Maryland District.
The Baltimore Sun (4/12, Williams) reported, “A new partnership between seven Rotary Clubs in Howard County and the school system will give every third-grader in the county a new dictionary.” The Rotary Clubs have, in the past, “donated dictionaries to many of the county’s third-graders,” but under the partnership, they will “purchase and distribute copies of A Student’s Dictionary & Gazetteer” to all “3,500 third-graders in the county.” Club members will also “meet with the students and show them how to use the dictionaries and some of the features, which include mathematical equations, descriptions of planets, a copy of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and presidential biographies.”

Maya Angelou Academies Use Multi-Faceted Approach To Eliminate Educational Deficiencies.
The Washington Post (4/13, W18, Houppert) reports that “the teachers at Oak Hill Academy” in DC “approach their jobs with the faith that even the most hardened juvenile delinquents can achieve — and the knowledge that many still won’t.” The academy, which opened last year, is one of three charter schools, “called the Maya Angelou schools,” aimed at attacking “educational deficiencies from all angles.” Maya Angelou students “attend small classes taught by specially trained staff. The high school day stretches from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with three meals provided.” And students whose “home lives prove too chaotic for study…are offered supervised housing in the neighborhood.” According to David Domenici, co-founder of the academies, “93 percent of Maya Angelou graduates were accepted into two- or four-year colleges” last year.

Alaska Engineering Academy Incorporates On Hands-On Learning, Group Study.
The Anchorage (AK) Daily News (4/11, Holland) reported that hands-on learning “characterizes much of the new Dimond Engineering Academy’s course work — and it is attracting attention as an alternative way to engage kids, especially teenage boys.” Dimond Academy “grew out of an already strong science program at” Dimond High School in South Anchorage, “and the popularity of its after-school robotics club that calls itself ‘Nerds of the North.’” The academy’s “curriculum follows Project Lead The Way, a national program…aimed at training more engineers.” In class, “students work in groups” and “discover key concepts on their own.” The Anchorage Daily News pointed out that “In its first year, the [academy] has attracted mostly kids who were already college-bound, and some who were already thinking about careers in engineering, administrators say. There are a few, though, who hadn’t considered college until the academy.”

Some Teachers At Junior High In Arizona Exchange Extra Credit For Reams Of Paper.
The Yuma (AZ) Sun (4/13, Roller) reports, “Coping with the burden of reduced state aid, one Yuma school has found it has less money for copier paper for classroom use.” Gila Vista Junior High School principal Rusty Tyndall first “became aware of the situation” last November. He “alerted all Gila Vista employees to be more cautious about their use of copier paper.” Then, “in February, Gila Vista implemented individual copier codes for all staff to better monitor paper supplies.” To cope with their limited supply of paper, some teachers are seeking “support among family, friends, and community.” And some “teachers, as a team project for students who can receive extra credit, have requested they bring in a ream of paper to assist with a difficult situation Tyndall said.”

On the Job
Database Gives Teachers Easy Access To Student Information.
The Bloomington (IL) Pantagraph (4/13, Coulter) reports that “the Twin City school districts have launched databases to collect student information to help teachers do their jobs better, and the state is about to follow suit.” The Illinois Data project has been rolled out at two schools in the Bloomington 87 and “Normal-based Unit 5 school districts.” The two “schools will be initial sites where the bugs can be worked out.” The goal is that “by August all teachers at all schools in both districts will be able to access detailed information about all of their students, including test scores, allergies, and what kinds of help a student has been receiving.”

Alternate Route Teacher Certification Increasingly Popular In New Jersey.
New Jersey’s Star-Ledger (4/12, Rundquist) reported that “about a third of new teachers entering New Jersey classrooms now come through alternate route certification, or 2,295 of 7,169 hired last year, according to the state Department of Education.” According to the Star-Ledger, as the economy worsens, more people are considering “teaching as a replacement career.” Educators say that “the most in-demand areas for alternate route teachers are math, science, and foreign language,” as employment in other areas of teaching “may be harder to find.” Teaching positions in elementary schools, for instance, are more competitive. To increase their chances of being hired, experts advise that those seeking an alternate route into teaching “be open to jobs in different geographic areas or in urban schools, teach in-demand specialties, and prepare by getting experience working with children.”

Schools In North Carolina District Fill Only 95 Percent Of Staff, Teaching Slots.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (4/10, Hui) reported that “hundreds of Wake County school employees will either be transferring to other schools or be told they won’t have a job as part of the school district’s austerity budget for the next school year.” The district has mandated that school administrators “fill only 95 percent of their staff and teaching slots.” The district has already notified “the 1,496 employees whose contracts expire June 30 that they won’t automatically be rehired. This group includes teachers who work part-time, came back from retirement, were hired after the school year started or were hired before their teaching licenses were issued.”

Many Pennsylvania Teaching Program Graduates Must Find Jobs In Other States.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (4/12, Smith) reported that “Pennsylvania has become ‘a supply state’ to school districts across the nation in desperate need of teachers.” Many graduates of college and university teaching programs “every year must leave the state to find their first job. In fact, fewer than half of the state’s 15,000 new teachers will find in-state jobs,” the Tribune-Review pointed out. The current “process of landing a teaching job” in Pennsylvania “can be ‘very frustrating,’ said Butch Santicola, spokesman for the Pennsylvania State Education Association.” Some say that the process is “too political because elected school boards make the final hiring decisions.” In the future, however, “teaching positions in Pennsylvania are expected to open up as more baby boomers retire.”

Law & Policy
Texas Lawmaker Seeks To Bar Districts From Restricting Grades.
The Dallas Morning News (4/13, Stutz) reports that “the growing number of Texas school districts prohibiting teachers from giving students less than a 50 or 60 — or in some cases less than a 70 — on their report cards Are getting an F from” one state lawmaker. State Sen. Jane Nelson (R) said that such policies “encourage students to game the system, knowing they don’t have to do much to pass.” Nelson is sponsoring a bill that “would bar school districts from forcing teachers to assign a minimum grade to failing students regardless of their class work and test scores.” It would also “require that districts adopt a grading policy calling on teachers to issue grades that reflect student mastery of subjects they take.”

Special Needs
Jobs Becoming More Scarce For Special Needs Students In Occupational Diploma Programs.
FOX News (4/12) reported that “many schools that place special education students in paid jobs leading to so-called ‘occupational diplomas’ are finding their work cut out for them: soaring joblessness means” that employers who “for years provided jobs to students with disabilities are increasingly hard-pressed to help in a sour economy.” As a result, in many Mississippi “school districts where jobs are scarce,” school administrators “are providing the jobs themselves — putting the students in cafeteria posts and in-house child care work.” The state’s “occupational diploma requires” 580 hours of employment, but “students also have the option of taking a two-year vocational training program starting in 11th grade and taking a test at the end to bypass the hourly work requirement.” Meanwhile, “some schools have suggested waiving some of the required work hours until the economy improves.”

Also in the News
Philanthropist Calls On Los Angeles District To Better Manage Arts Program.
The Los Angeles Times (4/11, Blume) reported that “Los Angeles philanthropist Eli Broad will help pay for a New York-based arts program that benefits poor and minority students — and he said Friday that he and other donors would provide similar funding here if the Los Angeles school district can better manage its own arts programs, especially the new downtown arts high school.” New York’s Julliard school will receive $425,000 from the Broad Foundation, which will “allow dozens of public school students to receive up to four years of free musical training.” According to Broad, similar “funding will be crucial for the new” arts high school in Los Angeles because “it will cost more to run than other public high schools.” So far, Broad estimates, “he has contributed about $1.5 million to support the” new school “at various phases. He also put up $5 million in grant funds that could eventually benefit the school.”

NEA in the News
Opinion: Schools Should Be Center Of Community.
In an opinion piece for the Lansing (MI) State Journal (4/12), Brad Harmon wrote that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “is a believer in the community schools concept.” Duncan has said, “The more our schools become community centers, the more they become centers of community and family life.” Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, agreed, saying, “We need an improved strategy for public schools, one…that treats schools as centers of the community — open to everyone, all day, every day, evenings and weekends.” Harmon suggests that in Lansing, “instead of closing existing neighborhood elementary schools,” the city should “invest in them through a community schools program.” He proposes that “children and teachers would use the neighborhood school facility during the day, and it would become a center for community and family-based activities in the evenings and on weekends.” And “area nonprofits… could co-locate some services in neighborhood schools, keeping them open 12 or more hours each day.”

Michigan Seeks To Develop New Teacher Licensing System.
The Detroit Free Press (4/14, Higgins) reports that “the Michigan Department of Education has begun discussions with key groups to come up with a blueprint for a new system for licensing teachers.” The effort “stems from a broad package of goals state Superintendent Mike Flanagan announced more than a year ago to improve the quality of the teaching force.” State officials want to “shift away from emphasizing teachers’ years of experience and course work to maintain their licenses” and instead focus on teacher “effectiveness in the classroom.” According to a spokesperson for the “state education department…discussions are just beginning with ‘a variety of stakeholders’ who would be affected by however the state decides to measure performance.” They are examining efforts in other states, such as New Mexico, which has “teacher licensing to effectiveness” through standards portfolios.

Michigan To Include Teacher Mentoring Programs Race To The Top Bid. The Detroit Free Press (4/14, Higgins) reports, “Every new teacher in Michigan is required to have a mentor for three years. But even though the Michigan Department of Education provides clear guidance on how mentors can best help rookie teachers, nothing requires districts to follow those guidelines.” The Department, however, is seeking to change that as part of the state’s plan “to apply for Race to the Top grants from the U.S. Department of Education,” which “will be given to a handful of states that promote innovation and have world-class standards.” Still in the works, the plan “involves boosting mentoring programs for new teachers.

In the Classroom
“Spirituality For Kids” Class Draws Criticism From Parents.
The Los Angeles Times (4/14, Mehta) reports on “‘Spirituality for Kids,’ a class offered in several Los Angeles public elementary schools during the day or after school” that was “created by a leader of the Los Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre International.” The program has been “promoted as a nondenominational effort to teach children to make wise choices.” But some “parents…say it is illegally bringing religion into public schools under the guise of ethics training.” In the program, “children are taught that their actions cause reactions, and to allow their inner ‘light’ to shine by overcoming an internal ‘opponent’ who urges them to make bad decisions.” The Times points out that “public school students cannot legally be subject to proselytizing, although religious groups are allowed to sponsor school programming as long as it does not favor one faith.” Still, “programs linked to groups outside the mainstream often come under scrutiny.”

Fifth-Grade Teacher Encourages Technology Use, Group Learning.
New Hampshire’s Union Leader (4/13, Pietz) reported that “if you can write a short story using all the elements of a fairy tale, name the physical adaptations human beings have undergone to survive as a species,” and “do multiplication without a calculator…you might be able to cut it in Julie Hall’s fifth-grade class at Ernest P. Barka Elementary School.” At Barka, “technology plays a large part in student learning. Students conduct research for their projects on a computer inside the classroom.” And “the school has a cart of laptops for projects such as writing letters to the president.” Hall’s “class assignments ask students to use their skills in more than one subject area,” and “group learning is used on a regular basis so students are prepared for their future work environments.” In addition, “fifth-graders are given the opportunity to take on a leadership role at certain points during the day.”

Florida Elementary School Focuses On Cultivating Literacy.
Florida Today (4/14, Downs) reports, “Andersen Elementary was named after famous fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen and because of the school’s namesake, Andersen’s leaders have made literacy one of their highest priorities.” Educators have in place various initiatives aimed at cultivating a school of young readers. For instance, “every classroom has a small library. And each year the school has a series of events to spark an interest in reading such as ‘Books Alive! where teachers act out their favorite books.” Furthermore, “the school…uses the lessons of” Anderson’s life to teach character. “Andersen was a homely child and often felt alienated from his peers.” Teachers explain to students that peers sometimes make fun of differences in others. “But we address those differences here and celebrate them,” said Principal Denise Johnson.

On the Job
Los Angeles Unified Rescinds Layoffs For Nearly 2,000 Teachers.
The Los Angeles Times (4/14, Blume) reports, “Los Angeles school officials plan to rescind layoff notices to nearly 2,000 teachers, but thousands of less-experienced instructors and other employees still could lose their jobs in the nation’s second-largest school system.” Superintendent Ramon C. Cortines said that the decision was based “on the newest and best information available, that he would have hoped-for access to additional dollars from the federal stimulus package as well as increased flexibility in using the money.” The plan “affects permanent elementary teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District.” Meanwhile, about 3,500 non-tenured teachers “have received notice that they could be laid off.” Today, “the school board is scheduled to vote today on measures to slash $596.1 million,” a move that “would…result in fewer counselors, custodians, library aides, administrators and clerks.” The Los Angeles Times’ (4/13) LA Now blog also covered the story.

Florida District’s Sick Bank Rules Leave Some Ill Teachers Without Time Off.
The St. Petersburg Times (4/14, Solocheck) reports that “the case of ailing Bayonet Point Middle School teacher Connie Duffy has outraged many and prompted Pasco School Board members to look for ways they can help.” Duffy “is in the late stages of inoperable cancer,” but was rejected in her request for “additional sick days from the” district’s sick leave bank. “She is expected to bring additional information from her doctor to the committee when it meets again April 21.” Meanwhile, the United School Employees of Pasco is offering “help to workers seeking to navigate through the system.” Current rules allow “family members who are both employed by the district to transfer sick time to one another. But there’s no vehicle for friends to do the same.” But “without a change to state law or the district contract…the only real recourse is through the sick leave bank committee.”

Law & Policy
Some Illinois Districts Include Texting Guidelines In General Conduct Policies.
The Springfield (IL) News Sun (4/14, Bowman) reports, “When it comes to communications between school staff and students, Miami Valley schools haven’t seen a lot of problems with texting — so many have no policy specifically addressing it.” But Tom Dunn, Troy superintendent, said that school administrators should “focus on the message involved, not the medium,” because “focusing policies to regulate a particular medium can leave administrators behind the technology curve.” In the Huber Heights district, “any need for discipline regarding texting would be covered under the cell phone or electronic devices policy,” which was “developed by a committee” in the 2007-2008 school year. Meanwhile, Springboro Schools Superintendent David Baker said that while he has not heard any complaints about inappropriate emails, he is “more concerned about sexting, students sending sexually explicit photos to one another.” Policies regarding sexting can be found under the district’s “general policies on conduct.”

Safety & Security
Author Exposes Myths About Columbine High School Shootings.
USA Today (4/14, Toppo) reports that “a decade after” Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold “made Columbine a synonym for rage, new information — including…diaries, e-mails, appointment books, videotape, police affidavits and interviews with witnesses, friends and survivors — indicate that much of what the public has been told about the shootings is wrong.” Psychologist Peter Langman, author of Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters, said, “These are not ordinary kids who were bullied into retaliation. … These are kids with serious psychological problems.” After columbine, the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Education Department “soon began studying school shooters. In 2002, researchers presented their first findings: School shooters, they said, followed no set profile, but most were depressed and felt persecuted.” They also found that “school shooters usually tell other kids about their plans.”

Researchers Discover Ways Schools Can Minimize Violence. In a separate story, USA Today (4/14, Elias) reports that “experts agree there’s no certain way to prevent another Columbine,” but “researchers are discovering how schools can minimize violence.” West Virginia University counseling psychologist Jeff Daniels “has studied schools that foiled rampage killings” and found that such schools tended to “a lot of informal, respectful contact between staff and students.” In addition, “the schools assured students they could turn to an adult if danger surfaced, without being a traitor,” and “staff took rumors seriously.” Princeton sociologist Katherine Newman, “who co-authored Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings,” pointed out that even though “school shooters almost always tell classmates of their plans,” it is hard “to get teenagers to ‘tell,’ since creating a social culture apart from adults is so important to adolescent development.” As such, Newman suggests that schools “provide ‘confidential avenues for reporting what they hear.’”

Facilities
Partnership Would Convert High School Auditorium Into Performing Arts Center.
The Los Angeles Times (4/14, Ho) reports, “For decades, Fairfax High School’s auditorium has played host to student theater and concert productions.” But now, “the city of West Hollywood is exploring a possible partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District that would allow the theater to be used as a performing arts center.” Andrew Campbell, cultural affairs administrator for West Hollywood, said that “the city would help fund lighting, sound and acoustic renovations for the 1,400-seat auditorium. In return, the facility would host nonprofit arts organizations” — such as The Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles and the Hollywood Master Chorale — “that now perform outside the area because of a lack of large-scale venues.” The goal would not be to earn revenue for the schools, but rather “to make campuses centers for the community, said Ana Lasso, program director.”

Also in the News
Study Links Facebook Use To Academic Performance.
USA Today (4/14, Marklein) reports that “a study of 219 students at Ohio State University being presented at a conference this week” strongly “suggests a link between” Facebook “and academic performance.” According to the study conducted by Ohio State doctoral student Aryn Karpinski and Ohio Dominican University graduate student Adam Duberstein, “Students who said they used Facebook reported grade-point averages between 3.0 and 3.5; those who don’t use it said they average 3.5 to 4.0.” Furthermore, “Facebook users said they studied one to five hours a week, vs. non-users’ 11 hours or more.” Karpinski clarified, “‘It cannot be stated (that) Facebook use causes a student to study less’ or get lower grades…’I'm just saying that they’re related somehow, and we need to look into it further,’” she added.

In an interview with Time Magazine (4/14, Hamilton) on Monday, Karpinski said that she was not “surprised by her findings, but notes that the study does not suggest Facebook directly causes lower grades, merely that there’s some relationship between the two factors. ‘Maybe [Facebook users] are just prone to distraction. Maybe they are just procrastinators,’” she added. But Time points out that “Karpinski and Duberstein’s study isn’t the first to associate Facebook with diminished mental abilities. In February, Oxford University neuroscientist Susan Greenfield cautioned Britain’s House of Lords that social networks like Facebook and Bebo were ‘infantilizing the brain into the state of small children,’ by shortening attention span and providing constant instant gratification.”

Nevertheless, Karpinski acknowledged that “there are a host of other variables that could be influencing the relationship, such as visits to different websites, like YouTube,” Canada’s Toronto Star (4/13, LaRose) added. Karpinski and Duberstein’s survey included questions about “what other kinds of academic and non-academic websites” students use, “and Karpinski is hoping to analyze those responses in the future.”

America Must Provide Equal Access To High-Quality Education, Columnists Write.
In a column for the Washington Post (4/14) former DC mayor Anthony A. Williams and Kevin P. Chavous, “a former Democratic member of the D.C. Council,” write, “Ensuring that every American child receives equal access to high-quality education” is the nation’s latest “civil rights struggle.” Statistics imply that “the educational offerings we provide for our children, particularly children of color, do them a disservice.” For instance, “the reading skills gap between white 17-year-olds and 17-year-olds of color is greater today than it was in 1990.” And America’s “educational outputs for all children continue to slide in comparison with other industrialized nations.” The columnists stress: “We must find ways to educate every child now, by any means necessary.”

Debate Over JROTC in San Francisco Schools Said To Be “Far From Over.”
Fox News (4/14, Miller) reported, “The fight to keep Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs in San Francisco’s high schools is far from over,” and “who ultimately wins the battle could determine the future of the program in many cities throughout the U.S. despite a last-minute push by veterans groups across the country.” The debate in San Francisco “began two years ago, when [the] school board voted to phase out JROTC programs by the end of the 2007-08 school year, citing recruitment concerns and the military’s policy toward gays.” Although the program “was extended for another year,” the board voted last June “to stop granting gym credits to JROTC students and to offer JROTC as an elective course only.” Critics of JROTC programs “say educating students should remain a role for civilians, and not for retired members of the armed forces.” Meanwhile, the Pentagon defends the programs, calling JROTC “an important academic and citizenship program for high school students.”

School Board Opposes State Bill Mandating JROTC In San Francisco High Schools. On Tuesday, “the San Francisco school board voted 6-1…to oppose a state legislative measure that would require the district to continue offering the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps at its high schools,” the San Francisco Chronicle (4/15, B3, Tucker) reports. “four of the seven school board members support the JROTC program, but nonetheless voted against the state bill, saying that they believe it should be up to locally elected officials to decide the issue and that the Legislature should stay out of it.” Assembly Bill 223 was introduced by Assemblywoman Fiona Ma “after voters in November approved…an advisory measure urging retention of the JROTC program.” If approved by “two-thirds of both legislative houses” and the Governor, AB 223 “would require San Francisco – and only San Francisco – to offer the JROTC program as an elective subject.”

In the Classroom
Arizona District Implements Response To Intervention Program.
The Payson (AZ) Roundup (4/15, Jacobson) reports, “Billed as an exciting embarking into a new era of Payson education reform, the Payson Unified School District Board Monday night took the first steps in” implementing the Response to Intervention program, which “involves collecting data, analyzing it, and developing protocols so that students falling behind catch up before the problems turn severe.” Next year, “three intervention specialists will begin working at all three elementary schools…and one coordinator will work at the district level.” The specialists “will work to develop protocols — specific ways of responding to problems.” Meanwhile, “continued development of the professional learning community is expected to help. Through the community teachers meet with one another to discuss curriculum and what has worked for their students.”

Elementary Teacher Turns Classroom Into Science Lab.
Kentucky’s State Journal (4/14, Wasson) reported that “Mary Welch, a fourth-grade teacher at Peaks Mill Elementary” takes care of “two turtles, a tarantula named ‘Rosie,’ a black widow spider, a tree frog and two guinea pigs in a classroom-turned-science lab at” Peaks Mill. Welch dreamed of having the lab for a long time, “but she really started planning for it when the Early Learning Village opened last year. The move left nine empty classrooms at her school, freeing up space to start the lab.” Welch’s lab does not include “any chemicals — besides baking soda and vinegar for making volcanoes — or advanced equipment.” It does, however, offer students plenty of hands-on activities. “Since the lab opened last fall, students have performed experiments, measured liquids, and visited learning stations set up by their teachers.”

On the Job
Los Angeles School Officials To Lay Off More Than 5,000 Employees.
The Los Angeles Times (4/15, Blume) reports that “Los Angeles school district officials moved forward Tuesday with plans to lay off more than 5,000 teachers, counselors, custodians, clerks and other employees, but the battle over funding will rage on for weeks.” Following over “four hours of pleading and debate,” the Los Angeles Board of Education voted 4-3 to close “most of a $596.1-million deficit for next year” through employee layoffs. Untenured teachers are expected to be hit the hardest. Meanwhile, class sizes may increase “from 20 to 24 students in the early grades. Sixth-grade classes would rise to 35 students,” and “the average high school class would be larger still.” Another likely outcome of the decision is that some principals will “be replaced by administrators with more seniority.”

“The final number of layoffs remains to be determined because the exact amount of state and federal funds coming to the district remains unclear,” USA Today /AP (4/15) adds.

Irving, Texas, Public Schools Considering Five Percent Pay Increase For Teachers.
The Dallas Morning News (4/15, Unmuth) reports, “Getting a big raise may seem like wishful thinking in this down economy. But the Irving [TX] school district is considering giving teachers a five percent boost for the 2009-10 school year.” District officials hope that the “big increase, not yet approved by [Irving's] board of trustees, will be an advantage in recruiting for next year.” The increase would mean that “a beginning teacher with a bachelor’s degree could make as much as $48,500 next year.” A first-year “bilingual teacher could earn $52,500,” and “the maximum a teacher would earn with a master’s degree would become $70,045.” The Dallas Morning News points out that “Teacher pay is a competitive game in North Texas, with school districts maneuvering to attract the cream of the crop.” But in many other districts, such as Dallas, “budget woes could hold down salary increases for teachers.”

More Than 4,000 Arizona Teachers Face Layoffs.
The Arizona Daily Star /AP (4/14) reported, “The number of Arizona teachers and other school personnel being told they may not have a job next school year because of the state’s budget crisis now exceeds 4,000, according to a preliminary tally of districts’ notifications to workers” released on Tuesday “by the Arizona Education Association.” The figure is “based on reports from only 42 of the 220 districts statewide.” Officials in some districts “were expected to consider possible personnel cuts during Tuesday night meetings.” Under state law, Arizona districts must notify teachers by Wednesday if “they might not be provided new contracts.”

Law & Policy
Stimulus Provisions Hint At Obama Administration’s Education Goals.
The New York Times (4/15, A12, Dillon) reports, “President Obama and his team have alternated praise for the goals of President George W. Bush’s No Child Left Behind law with criticism of its weaknesses.” Meanwhile, clues “from the fine print of the economic stimulus law that Mr. Obama signed in February” suggest that “the Obama administration will use a Congressional rewriting of the federal law later this year to toughen requirements on topics like teacher quality and academic standards.” Included in the stimulus law are “four ‘assurances’ that governors must sign to receive billions in emergency education aid.” For instance, “governors must pledge to improve the quality of standardized tests and raise standards.” They also must “promise to enforce a requirement of the education law that” the “most effective teachers will be assigned equitably to all students.” But “teachers unions…are voicing muted concern over a couple of provisions in the stimulus.”

Supreme Court To Hear School Strip Search Case Next Week.
Education Week (4/14, Robelen) reported, “The U.S. Supreme Court next week will hear a case on the strip-search of a 13-year-old girl at a public school, wading into the legal balancing act between protecting students’ privacy rights and allowing school officials to take steps to ensure a safe campus environment.” Education Week (subscription only) explains, “At issue in Safford Unified School District v. Redding (Case No. 08-479) is the [strip] search of 8th grader Savana Redding by school personnel at an Arizona middle school” in 2003. The search was performed “amid suspicion that the honors student possessed prescription-strength ibuprofen tablets, a violation of the school’s anti-drug policy.” Last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, in San Francisco, ruled “that school officials violated Ms. Redding’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure.” Meanwhile, “lawyers for the district insist…that the search was justified.”

Oregon Court Of Appeals To Hear School Concealed Weapons Case.
USA Today /AP (4/15) reports, “A Medford School District policy banning teachers from bringing a concealed handgun to school is before the Oregon Court of Appeals.” High School Teacher Shirley Katz, “who has a concealed weapons permit,” last week went before an appeals court, arguing against “a Jackson County ruling that the district can ban guns on campus because it is district policy, not a law.” Meanwhile, “lawyers for the Medford School District argue that school safety policy is not covered by the state law, which was intended to regulate guns among the general public.”

District Adds Cyber Bullying Policy To Code Of Conduct.
Pennsylvania’s Patriot-News (4/15, Palleschi) reports that the Mechanicsburg Area School District on Tuesday “broadened its policy on bullying to include cyber bullying, which it broadly defines as ‘intentional electronic, written, verbal or physical act or series of acts directed at another student or students.’” The policy, however, “does not specify specific technologies included in cyber bullying.” The school board will review the policy every three years.

Special Needs
Marietta, Georgia Schools Must Create Plan To Improve Disabled Students’ Math Scores.
The Marietta (GA) Daily Journal (4/15, Mollett) reports, “Marietta City Schools must come up with an action plan to bring its disabled student’s math scores up to par with state standards,” and present it to the Georgia Department of Education by April 27, according to district officials. “Once approved, the state board of education will give the school system $20,000 to help implement the plan.” Dr. Donna Ryan, assistant superintendent for special services and assessment, told the board at a meeting Tuesday night that “the school system has already been working to increase math scores among its disabled students,” but “the definition of having a disability has changed, making it more difficult on school systems to meet the compliance.” Going forward, “the school system will focus on two broad categories in the action plan: individualized education plans and least restrictive environment documentation, Ryan said.”

School Finance

Tennessee District’s Proposed Budget Restores Some Teaching Jobs.
The Knoxville (TN) News Sentinel (4/15, Lakin) reports, “Knox County Schools Superintendent Jim McIntyre’s first budget brought fewer painful cuts than expected Tuesday but still drew some questions and complaints.” The $375.25 million budget proposal takes into account money expected “from the federal economic stimulus,” which would “restore more than 30 teaching jobs slated for the chopping block. The updated budget still calls for eliminating some jobs, from teaching to custodial positions, and reducing hours for others.” But “some board members questioned whether the job cuts in some fields would lead to an unreasonable workload for those left, particularly secretaries and guidance counselors.” According to McIntyre, “the current budget won’t eliminate any secretary jobs at the elementary school level. He said he’s tried to spread the remaining cuts as evenly as possible.”

Also in the News
Canadian Expert Calls Study On Poverty’s Affect On Brain Function “Dangerous.”
Canada’s Toronto Star (4/14, Monsebraaten) reported, “An American study suggesting growing up poor causes changes in the brain that impair learning is ‘dangerous’ and neglects society’s role in a child’s success in school and later in life, says a Toronto expert on poverty and education.” Jeff Kugler, executive director of the Centre for Urban Schooling at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, said that the study suggests that “there may be a possible biological cause for intergenerational poverty,” which he called “just plain scary.” According to the study, “published late last month by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences…the stress of growing up in poverty makes it difficult for children to learn and become successful adults.” But, Kugler said, “We need to figure out how to better support kids who are living in poverty so that the circumstances within which they live do not determine their futures.”

Editor’s Note
In yesterday’s Opening Bell, we ran the headline “Some Illinois Districts Include Texting Guidelines In General Conduct Policies.” The school districts were located in Ohio. We regret the error.

About Half Of Indiana’s Public Schools Meet AYP.
The AP (4/16, Martin) reports, “About half of Indiana’s schools failed to meet yearly federal benchmarks required under the No Child Left Behind law, sending some slipping further toward changes that could include replacing school leaders or reorganizing.” According to education officials, “some of the drop can be explained by increased standards needed to hit the benchmarks.”

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal (4/15, Wall), 54 percent of K-12 schools in Indiana met AYP “a year ago — when the standards for success were lower.” In order “to achieve ‘adequate yearly progress’ this year, schools had to have 72 percent or more of their students pass the math and language portions of ISTEP, the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress.” However, “for the past three years, schools had to have only 65 percent or more of their students pass both sections.”

“If a school fails to make the targets in any group in which they have at least 30 students, the entire school fails to make adequate yearly progress,” the Indianapolis Star (4/16, Duke) adds. “Westside school districts fell in line with other Marion County school districts by failing to meet adequate yearly progress requirements released today by the state, with one exception: Speedway Schools.” Only two Speedway schools — one elementary school and the high school — failed “to meet the requirements.”

In the Classroom
Elementary Students Build Water Garden For Outdoor Classroom.
The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (4/15, Edwards) reported that Dozier Elementary School “is the first school in the Montgomery County [AL] public school system to build a pond through the Ponds for Kids program, in partnership with the Alabama Outdoor Classroom program and its partners.” This week, “parents, pupils, college students and community supporters got together to build a water garden that will be used as an outdoor classroom.” It “features a waterfall, a small stream and an approxi­mately 180-square-foot pond stocked with fish and plants.” Teachers will use the site “to provide hands-on learning opportunities about aquatic ecosystems and wildlife.” They “have attended Alabama Wildlife Federation workshops to learn more about the ecosystem of the pond.”

Garden Aims To Build Relations Between Community, School. Ohio’s Granville Sentinel (4/15, Miller) reported that a community garden “planned near Granville Elementary School will provide a science learning opportunity for its students and also will be focus for community interaction, said Granville Middle School teacher Craig McDonald, who is coordinating the project.” The garden also “fits into a plan to upgrade the quality of meals served at the four Granville schools by preparing food onsite and introducing locally grown foods.” In addition, McDonald expects for the garden to engage residents of the community through “positive activity,” thereby forging “ties between them and the schools.”

Peer To Peer Counseling Aimed At Reducing High School Dropout Rate.
Mississippi’s Desoto Times Tribune (4/16, Long) reports, “Mississippi’s drop-out rate is nearly 16 percent, with at least 10,000 students dropping out of school each year at a cost of $458 million in lost revenue, added public assistance and incarceration costs.” The Hernando Youth Advisory Council was created to help curb the dropout rate at Hernando High School. The council is made up of about 25 Hernando High School students who volunteer their “time to mentor and counsel with fellow students about the importance of staying in school.” The meetings take place “between 3 and 4 p.m. three days a week.” Ninth-grade volunteer Will Brown said that the program has the potential to be very effective because “teens [often] find it easier to talk with their peers about problems rather than teachers.”

On the Job
Teacher Layoffs In Los Angeles Said To Hit Low-Income Schools Hardest.
The Los Angeles Times (4/16, Blume) reports that the pending teacher layoffs in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) would hit “schools under the stewardship of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa” (D) especially hard. “Seven of the 10 campuses…could lose their first-year principals, more than three-fourths of assistant principals and more than 20 percent of teachers.” The mayor’s schools “have long suffered from high turnover, and some developed reputations as dumping grounds for problem employees.” But because low-income campuses will “receive substantial federal stimulus dollars aimed at schools serving low-income families,” it is possible “that the number of…teachers won’t shrink.” Still, “theses schools won’t be able to keep scores of teachers and administrators who want most to be there.” Marshall Tuck, chief executive of the nonprofit organization that manages the mayor’s schools, said that “for the sake of students, the district must avoid all teacher layoffs.” He also “suggests creating “co-principals” at low-performing schools. They would join rather than replace quality principals until jobs opened elsewhere.”

Critics Say School Closings Would Erase Progress Made By Black, Low-Income Students.
The Orlando Sentinel (4/16, Hobbs) reports, “Orange County’s School Board faces a rising tide of outrage from teachers, parents, and advocates for the poor who say plans to close six elementary schools will wipe out progress they have made bringing schools in black, low-income areas up to par.” The district’s “budget-cutting plan includes closing” several schools, moving “more than 7,000 children and” rezoning “most of the county’s middle schools.” Critics say that “the plan is unfair…because most of the campuses that would be closed are in impoverished black neighborhoods in Orlando’s core.” At a “public hearing at district headquarters Wednesday night in Orlando,” those who oppose the plan suggested that it “be suspended until it can be analyzed for racial balance.”

Baltimore County Teachers May See 3.5 Percent Cost-Of-Living Increase.
The Baltimore Sun (4/16, Gencer) reports, “Baltimore County teachers may see the pay raises they have sought for more than a year if the County Council approves the 3.5 percent cost-of-living increase in County Executive James T. Smith Jr.’s budget proposal.” The proposed “salary increase…would go into effect in January,” and would represent “a milestone of sorts in a controversy that began when Smith’s budget for this fiscal year did not provide pay raises for county employees,” due to budget constraints. “While the teachers union appreciates getting something this year,” the union president says that “a more permanent solution still is needed to get teachers to remain in the county.” Cheryl Bost pointed out that even though “more instructors are likely to stay put during the economic downturn…that’s just a temporary fix.” Meanwhile, Smith’s $2.5 billion proposal “also includes a 2.38 percent increase for school administrators,” and “a two percent raise for all other school employees.”

Teachers Union Calls On School Board To “Dismiss” Superintendent.
The St. Petersburg Times (4/16, Marshall) reports that “in a resolution released Wednesday,” the Hernando County “teachers union called on the School Board to dismiss its leader,” superintendent Wayne Alexander, “after less than two years on the job.” The resolution “said morale was at its ‘lowest level in decades due to unnecessary reductions in staffing, and blatant favoritism” in deciding which teachers should lose their jobs because of a projected budget shortfall.’” In addition, “the union called on the board to reverse recent job cuts pending a review by an independent committee.” Meanwhile, according to Alexander, “the latest round of job cuts” were based on teacher performance, and was “driven by the need to cut at least $16 million from the district’s $159 million operating budget.” He also “said he would ‘most definitely’ be willing to negotiate with the union if that were its preference.”

District Officials Permit Teacher With Allergies To Wear Respiratory Mask To School.
The Chicago Tribune (4/16) reports that “a Joliet [IL] elementary school teacher who was barred from wearing a disposable respiratory mask on campus said she will return to the classroom Thursday after reaching an agreement with school district officials.” Patricia McReynolds “suffers from severe allergies,” and “has been on leave from A.O. Marshall Elementary School since February, when she filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after school officials” said that she could not wear the mask “on school grounds.” Joliet Public School District 86 have “backed off their stance and will now allow her to wear the mask on campus.”

Law & Policy
Duncan Seeks “New Generation” Of Teachers To Transform Education.
Bloomberg (4/16, Staley, Peterson) reports, “Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to spend a record $5 billion to transform U.S. schools by rewarding states for innovation, providing merit pay to teachers and creating a national scorecard to identify failing schools.” According to Duncan, with over 1 million teachers retiring in the “next couple of years,” the US has “an opportunity to attract and retain a new generation of educators.” Furthermore, he “plans to enlist President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to help recruit teachers, and then reward the newcomers for working in struggling schools and districts.” Duncan said, “If we can bring in this next generation of extraordinary talent, we can transform education, and our ability to do that over the next couple of years will shape education in this country for the next 25 or 30 years.”

Massachusetts Seen As Embracing Innovation In Education.
In an op-ed for the Boston Globe (4/16), Paul Reville, Massachusetts’ secretary of education, writes, “In a recent sharp and focused speech on education reform, President Obama highlighted Massachusetts for our long and unwavering support for rigorous curriculum and high standards for students.” The President called “for innovation” in education. According to Reville, “Massachusetts has already fully embraced the path to innovation,” as the “governor has proposed lifting the cap on charters…specifically in low-performing districts.” Furthermore, the state is also “working to build on our nation-leading Expanded Learning Time program, which adds hours for learning to access enrichment programming, physical education, and arts instruction.” Reville concludes that Gov. Deval Patrick (D) “has set forth a bold vision for public education in the state.” To succeed, lawmakers, educators, and the community “must break old patterns, embrace the need for change, and work more collaboratively to mount new strategies.”

Safety & Security
Survey Shows Hazing Is Prevalent In High School.
The AP (4/16, Sharp) reports that “authors of an ambitious survey of hazing in colleges and universities have turned their attention to high schools and discovered that many freshmen arrive on campus with experience — with 47 percent reporting getting hazed in high school.” Elizabeth Allan and Mary Madden of the University of Maine’s College of Education and Human Development found that high school hazing “pervaded groups from sports teams to the yearbook staff and performing arts,” and “included activities from silly stunts to drinking games, with eight percent of the students drinking to the point of getting sick or passing out.” Allen and Madden pointed out that high school “hazing is taking a back seat as high school administrators focus on bullying.” They plan to present their findings on “Thursday during the American Educational Research Association’s annual meeting in San Diego.”

Also in the News

District-Run Schools In Philadelphia Post Larger Ten-Year Gains, Study Shows.
Education Week (4/16) reports, “A new study of the Philadelphia schools has found that students in district-run schools posted larger test-score gains than those attending city schools run by private managers.” Researcher Vaughan Byrnes, of the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, “tracked the progress of test scores in reading and math in a group of 88 schools serving middle-grades students for 10 years” for the study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Education.” Byrnes “went back to 1996 to examine the performance of schools both before and after the diverse provider model was implemented in 2002.” He found that “while the test scores of students in the schools run by outside groups, including both nonprofit and for-profit entities, also improved, the scores did not do so at the rate of those in schools operated by the district.”

Some Columbine Victims Struggle To Cope With Tragedy 10 Years Later.
USA Today (4/16, Leinwand) reports, “Monday marks the 10-year anniversary of the April 20, 1999, shooting rampage” of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold at Columbine High School in Colorado. Harris and Klebold “shattered a community and shocked a nation when they killed 12 students and one teacher and injured 23 other classmates. A decade later, the Columbine community strives for normalcy.” USA Today adds that many “victims have channeled their anger into causes, including gun control and school violence prevention.”

NEA in the News
Supreme Court Takes Up School Strip-Searching Case.
USA Today (4/16, Biskupic) reports, “Drug searches, along with drug tests for students in athletics and other extracurricular activities, have become common in schools across the nation.” However, the search of then-eighth-grader Savana Redding “at Safford [AZ] Middle School on Oct. 8, 2003, ignited a legal dispute that has landed before the U.S. Supreme Court.” On Tuesday, “the nine justices will hear Safford officials’ appeal of a lower court decision that said the administrators violated Savana’s constitutional rights and should be held financially responsible.” And “if the Supreme Court upholds the search, it will give administrators broad discretion on drug searches across the board.” USA Today notes that “the National Education Association, the National Association of School Psychologists, the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, and the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children” all side “with April Redding in a court filing.”

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