Updates and Information Provided by NEA
Students Celebrate National Engineers Week.
The Anderson (SC) Independent-Mail (2/17, Jackson) reports, “Some Clemson Elementary School students filled the Hendrix Student Center at Clemson University on Tuesday to celebrate National Engineers Week. Mary Beth Kurz, professor of industrial engineering at Clemson University, said a total of more than 150 first- and second-graders from the school participated in learning exercises from stargazing to understanding artificial knee and hip replacement technology.” Kurz said, “Our goal is to encourage students to like math and science. If they begin to understand the importance of math, then they will be ready to study engineering in the future.”
News 8 Austin (2/16) reported on “Discover Engineering Week” in the Austin area, which will give students “a hands-on and updated view of the engineering industry,” and will include visits from industry professionals who “will talk about the importance of engineers in society and provide interactive features for students and teachers.” Another News 8 Austin (2/16, Iglehart) story reported, “IBM is one of the companies participating in” the initiative. Yesterday, “IBM trained volunteers for the program and taught various activities to get students acquainted with the life of an engineer. … Each activity gives students an idea of how important engineering is to their community and the impact it can have on their daily lives.”
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In the Classroom
US Customs and Border Protection Donates Seized Vehicles To Four Arizona High Schools.
The Yuma (AZ) Sun (2/17, Gilbert) reports that the US Customs and Border Protection’s donation of “eight vehicles to vocational automobile programs at four Yuma-area schools” will give high school students in automotive classes “the opportunity to hone their auto mechanic skills.” Each of the four schools will receive two of the vehicles. The “five sedans and three minivans…had been seized during the commission of crimes over the past six months,” the Yuma Sun adds.
North Carolina Education Officials Come Up With New US History Curriculum Options.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (2/17, Bonner) reports that North Carolina “education officials yielded to critics of a proposal that would have limited the required high school US history course to events of the last 132 years.” On Tuesday, the state Department of Public Instruction’s chief academic officer, Rebecca Garland, “told legislators” that “the agency used…feedback from 7,000 emails on the proposed social studies curriculum to come up with two new options.” Garland added that the options “will be ready in April.”
More Special-Needs Utah Students Learning In Regular Classrooms.
The Salt Lake Tribune (2/16, Stewart) reported, “Today, 52 percent of Utah’s special-needs learners spend most of the school day in regular classrooms, up from 42 percent in 2004. … Technology has driven advances in learning aids and textbook publishers are now producing adaptive instructional materials.” Also, Christine Timothy, severe disabilities specialist at the Utah State Office of Education, “said mounting evidence shows mainstreamed students fare better as adults in terms of employability, wages and independence.”
Students Design Machines To Measure Licks Needed To Reach Center Of Tootsie Roll Pop.
The Ipswich (MA) Chronicle (2/17, Dooley) reports, “Engineering Tech II students at Ipswich High School have undertaken a sweet challenge: They’ve designed machines to measure how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop.” The students’ designs included “donated motors with worm gear drives intended to power automobile seats, scraps of wood, calculators, a laptop computer, gears, axles, and Lego parts.” Teacher Bill Gallant, who found the project in “Technology Teacher” magazine, said, “The project takes students through all the stages of the engineering design process. They have to think like an engineer.” He added, “The Tootsie Roll pop assignment follows the trebuchet catapult project students worked on previously to throw an egg into a frying pan.”
On the Job
Illinois State University Student Group Provides Urban School Instruction Training.
The Chicago Tribune (2/17, Cvetan) reports that Urban Needs in Teacher Education (UNITE), a “student-led organization at Illinois State University,” aims to “change the way education is taught for urban schools, thereby having a greater impact on issues such as high dropout rates. … The group’s most recent effort was Project 43, a 43-hour marathon event for about 40 budding educators focused on how make their instruction relevant to students, excite the desire to learn and help them go on to college.” According to the Tribune, “The weekend featured workshops and seminars on professional development, social justice and school improvement; meetings with Chicago Public Schools teachers; and speakers who addressed issues related to the dropout problem.”
Law & Policy
National School Nutrition Reform Efforts Show Promise.
Education Week (2/16, McNeil, Quillen) reported, in a story outlining the various nutrition efforts planned for schools, that “while states and school districts have tried to promote healthier foods and distribute them to more students, the possibility of national nutrition reform may be starting to show some real teeth.” The current “push to reauthorize the 64-year-old federal school meals program” coincides with “a new anti-obesity campaign headed by the first lady” and proposed changes from the Obama administration “that stretch across both the US Departments of Education and Agriculture.” The Department of Agriculture’s plan focuses on “improving nutrition standards” critics say have remained about the same since 1946. Mrs. Obama’s campaign, “Let’s Move,” aims to “encourage more physical activity for children, healthier foods, and more accurate food labeling,” Education Week adds.
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Special Needs
Criticism Grows Against State, District Home-Language Survey To Identify ELLs.
Education Week (2/16, Zehr) reported, “A growing chorus of people are saying that some school districts are overzealous in categorizing students as English-language learners” and that “information requested on” a home-language survey filled out by parents “can be misleading or misused.” Education Week also points out that in “districts across the country, once a student is designated as an ELL, the label is not readily lifted.” State officials in Arizona, meanwhile, “have changed the home-language survey there to ask only one question rather than three,” in an effort to “cut down on the overidentification of students as ELLs.” However, the move has prompted a complaint — currently being investigated by the US Department of Education’s office of civil rights — that the simplified “home-language form” promotes discrimination “against children who may be dominant in English, but still need extra help to gain proficiency in it.”
Safety & Security
Maryland Districts Taking Precautions As Schools Reopen Today.
The Baltimore Sun (2/17, Fuller) reports that officials in Maryland school systems reopening on “Wednesday after the recent snow storms that blanketed the area with more than 3 feet of snow” are taking precautions to promote safety. For instance, “Anne Arundel County police are deploying a helicopter to assist an increased police presence on major streets during school arrival and dismissal times Wednesday.” Meanwhile, Baltimore County “school officials are calling for students to wear bright clothing for greater visibility.” In many areas “sidewalks still covered with ice and huge piles of snow.” And some school systems plan to start schools “two hours late for the rest of the week.”
School Finance
Florida District May Charge Parents Full Price For Lost Or Damaged Textbooks.
Denise-Marie Balona wrote in a “Sentinel School Zone” blog for the Orlando Sentinel (2/16) that Lake County, FL “school officials are considering charging families the full price of lost or damaged materials, regardless of their age or condition. Right now, principals charge students a replacement cost based on the number of years the item has been in use.” According to Balona, Lake officials “say they can’t afford to keep shouldering the bulk of the financial burden — $90,000 a year, on average.”
Florida District’s Penny Sales Tax Helps Pay For Most Promised School Projects.
The St. Petersburg Times (2/17, Solochek) reports, “The Pasco County School District’s income from the Penny for Pasco sales tax, approved in 2004,” reached its highest “single-month revenue” of $1.48 million in December 2005. In 2006, tax money peaked “at $14.44 million.” But “since then, the annual revenue has declined,” and in October of last year the district received its “single lowest” collection of $717, 626 from Penny for Pasco. Mike Williams, the districts construction manager told the School Board on Tuesday, “The positive point is, we’re still collecting money.” On the other hand, “there’s little money available for any additional construction and maintenance projects.” The Times notes, however that “the majority of the new schools and additions promised with the Penny for Pasco are either complete or in the works.”
Louisiana Governor Proposes “No-Growth” In State Aid To Public Schools.
Louisiana’s Advocate (2/16, A6, Sentell) reported, “Basic state aid to Louisiana public schools would be virtually frozen for the second consecutive year under the budget Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) unveiled last week.” The budget would provide “$3.3 billion in basic aid to public schools, which aside from money for new students is the same as what schools got last year.” Still, state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) Chairwoman Penny Dastugue pointed out that “a no-growth budget is better than reductions in state aid.” The BESE will make decisions about the proposal on March 11.
Also in the News
Indiana Foundation In Talks To Preserve Historic Grade School.
The AP (2/16) reported, “The Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana says it wants to talk with officials in Lowell about saving an old grade school. The Board of Zoning Appeals could vote Feb. 23 on whether to condemn the Old Lowell Grade School.” According to the AP, “Historic Landmarks’ Central Region Director Mark Dollase says options include a program in which the building could be stabilized and then resold.”
Army General Takes “Second Act” As CEO Of DC Public Schools.
The Washington Post (2/15, Turque) reported on Army Brigadier General Anthony J. Tata, who once served in Afghanistan and is now CEO for DC public schools. In the “newly created post,” Tata overseas “purchasing, food service, technology and other support areas.” The Post explains that while serving in “Afghanistan’s Kunar Province in April 2006…a Taliban rocket slammed into a primary school in Asadabad, killing seven children and wounding 34.” That event and “others like it by the Taliban” inspired Tata’s pursuit of a career in the education sector. Said Tata, “It struck me at the time that if the enemy of my enemy is education, then perhaps that’s a second act for me.” According to the Post, since joining the DC public school system, he has “helped win certification for 77 D.C. public schools to serve free lunch to all children” and revamped the district’s warehouse system.
NEA in the News
Alabama Teacher Accuses Principal Of Harassment.
The Decatur (AL) Daily (2/17, Hughes) reports that the Morgan County, AL school board was asked to intervene after Dawn Davis, “a Danville Middle School teacher who was forced to remove her nose stud, accused her principal of ‘systematic and ongoing harassment.’ Alabama Education Association representative Gloria Johnson said the request to remove the nose stud was just an example of the harassment of Davis by Principal Gary Walker during a 12-year period.” Johnson “accused Walker of being inconsistent in his decisions because, she said, he let some students wear” clear studs, yet the board ultimately “denied Davis’ grievance.”
School System Offering Camp To Expose Students To Nontraditional Careers.
The Newton (GA) Citizen (2/23, Floyd) reports on the Girls in Engineering Camp that Rockdale County Public Schools offered its middle schoolers. Jill Oldham, the camp’s organizer, said the idea was “to expose students to nontraditional careers.” Interest from students was higher than expected, Oldham added. For four days over winter break, “instructor Casey Martin introduced a specific engineering career field to the class, and then a guest speaker talked to the students and answered questions from them; three of the days included a female working in the engineering field or from a engineering organization. Afterward, Martin told them about education requirements in that field, and then the girls completed a project related to the field.” Oldham noted that “RCPS later will try to offer camps or special programs for other nontraditional careers, like boys in health care.”
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In the Classroom
As Student Interest “Ebbs And Flows,” Budget Cuts Seen To Threaten Sewing Classes.
The Evansville (IN) Courier & Press (2/23, Bartels, Owen-Phelps) reports on the decline of sewing classes in Tri-State schools. “While interest in sewing ebbs and flows among the young, budget cuts and increasing academic standards discourage some school systems from offering sewing classes.” At time same time, “television shows such as ‘Project Runway,’ ‘What Not to Wear’ and home improvement programs have piqued the interest of some young people.” The article notes the experiences of students who have participated in programs that include sewing, and the benefits they gleaned from developing those skills. And while some schools have been reducing and eliminating programs, “at North High School in Evansville, sewing is part of a fashion and textiles class,” and the two sessions offered each semester are routinely full. Teacher Alyson McIntyre-Reiger said “she recruits on the middle school level.”
School’s Natural Resources Pathway Adds Course In Environmental Services And Wildlife.
In the seventh of a series of article produced for National Career and Technical Education Month at Winfield High School, the Winfield (KS) Daily Courier (2/23, Hogan) reports on “the Natural Resources pathway in Ag Education,” which “provides students with a unique opportunity to study science and how it applies to their world as well as explore related careers and compete in FFA.” In addition to classes such as horticulture and animal science, the department is now offering a course in environmental services and wildlife. For the “first semester, students studied land conservation and wildlife management and visited with several representatives from colleges and [CTE] schools about job opportunities related to this class.” They also “learned about heavy equipment operation” through a simulator at North Central Tech. College, among other things. Students are currently preparing to compete based on what they have learned.
Study Shows “No Cussing” Clubs Helped Reduce Violence, Profanity In Schools.
KSTU-TV Salt Lake City (2/23) reported on its Website that McKay Hatch, founder of the “No Cussing Club,” spoke to students at Bennion Elementary School in West Jordan on Monday. Hatch “taught students about the power of their words and how to combat bullying and cyber bullying.” KSTU added that “a two year study in Louisiana shows that violence and profanity decreased 64 percent after their school implemented the No Cussing Club chapter in their district.”
Evolution Of Student Assessment Tools Analyzed.
Stanley N. Rabinowitz, director of the Assessment and Standards Development Services Program at WestEd, wrote in an op-ed for Education Week (2/22), “An unprecedented confluence of factors — economic, political, and educational — is causing many states to rethink their student-assessment programs,” however, “careful thought and expert guidance will be needed if they are to avoid the problems of the past and take advantage of promising new developments” like the current NCLB renewal push. According to Rabinowitz, “Our assessment and accountability systems should reflect what we value most for our students, schools, and society, and what we think it means to be a well-prepared student, worker, and citizen. Once these are clear, we should be willing to fight and to pay for their reflection in our system for measuring academic progress.”
On the Job
More Maryland Districts To Become Majority-Minority.
The Baltimore Sun (2/22, Carson) reported that by the start of classes in the fall of 2011 in Maryland, “white students in Howard County are expected to be a minority, joining those in Baltimore County. The two school systems are riding a demographic wave” that is “sparking intensive efforts to shape children from all backgrounds into eager, high-achieving students.” According to experts, school enrollments are a reflection of the growth in diversity that is happening nationwide. Mark Goldstein, “an economist and state planner,” said, “Statewide, the population is clearly becoming more minority. … That is increasingly true as we go through the decade.”
More Georgia Districts Planning Switch To Four-Day Weeks.
The AP (2/22) reported, “With budget cuts looming, more Georgia school systems are considering switching to four-day school weeks. Peach County took the step last fall when officials decided to hold classes Tuesdays through Fridays.” District officials saw the four-day week as “a way to fill a nearly $800,000 budget shortfall.” So far, “Peach County officials have estimated they saved $313,000 in transportation and utilities costs by making the schedule change.”
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Law & Policy
Some Education Stakeholders Want More Federal Recognition, Funding For Magnet Schools.
Education Week (2/22, Zehr) reported that when compared to the attention given to charter schools, “some educators and researchers” say that “magnet schools have been given short shrift by the Obama administration.” Magnet schools, which “typically have a particular academic focus,” increase the “racial or economic diversity” of a school and “deserve more federal funding and support than they are receiving,” some argue. U.S. Department of Education spokesman Justin Hamilton said that “the administration thinks magnet schools play an important role.” He also clarified, “Arne Duncan has consistently said he’s not for all charter schools, just good charter schools.”
DC Schools Chief Submits Teacher Abuse, Misconduct Report To City Council Chairman.
Bill Turque wrote in a “D.C. School Insider” blog for the Washington Post (2/22) that D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee “has fired ten DCPS teachers for administering corporal punishment and two for sexual misconduct since July 2007, according to a report she has submitted to D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray. Another 28 served suspensions ranging from two to ten days for some form of corporal punishment, defined by District law as the use or attempted use of physical force against a student, ‘either intentionally or with reckless disregard for the student’s safety, as a punishment or discipline.’” According to Turque, the report “was requested by Gray after the uproar Rhee triggered by telling ‘Fast Company’ magazine that an unspecified number of the 266 D.C. public school teachers who were laid off in October had physically or sexually abused students.”
Sex Education Bill Dies In Utah Senate.
The Salt Lake Tribune (2/23, Schencker) reports that “after months of negotiations,” state Senate bill 54 “died with barely a whisper Monday morning after lawmakers chose not to talk about it.” The bill would have changed “language in state law to clarify that Utah teachers are allowed to talk about contraception.” It “also would have directed the State Office of Education to develop materials on contraception for teachers to use and would have made those materials available for parents to review.” The Tribune notes that “state law already allows schools to teach students about contraceptives, but it prohibits ‘advocacy or encouragement’ of their use.”
School Finance
Arts Classes Jeopardized By Michigan Education Cuts.
The Detroit News (2/23, Hodges) reports, “Only 40 percent” of Detroit Public Schools “have an art teacher, down from 80 percent 10 years ago.” And though “Detroit’s public schools have been in crisis mode for far more than a decade,” schools in Detroit’s suburbs “may not be far behind,” as late last year, “all public schools suffered a $165 per pupil cut in state aid — some suburbs lost even more — leaving even wealthy-by-comparison systems contemplating cuts to programs once regarded as indispensable.”
Chicago-Area Districts Blame Recession, State Financial Crisis For “Deep Cuts.”
The Chicago Tribune (2/23, Black) reports that “Chicago-area school districts already struggling with multimillion-dollar budget deficits are warning of mass teacher layoffs and deep program cuts for the coming school year — an impending crisis they blame on the recession and the state’s chronic financial woes.” State Board of Education spokeswoman Mary Fergus called Illinois’ current financial crisis “unprecedented.” Even with $3 billion “in federal stimulus funding provided over the last two years,” the state has not “paid the current school year’s education bills in months,” the Tribune notes. Consequently, many school districts in the state have had to “cut band programs, increase class sizes, reduce field trips and use fewer substitute teachers.” Michael Jacoby, executive director of the” Illinois ASBO pointed out, “Cutting supplies or taking a copy machine out of a school — they are low-hanging fruit but really won’t balance the budget. People are the thing you need to remove to balance the budget.”
Also in the News
“Keep Fit Club” Helps Overweight Texas Youth Get In Shape.
The Houston Chronicle (2/22, George) reported on the Keep Fit Club, “a free program offered to overweight and obese 10- to 18-year-olds in the Texas Children’s Health Plan, which provides medical care for 250,000 area children on Medicaid or CHIP. Keep Fit Club families are taught how to make healthier choices during Saturday exercise and nutrition sessions.” According to the Chronicle, the “program is among several in the Houston area helping youngsters beat childhood obesity through exercise and healthy eating — key goals” of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “‘Let’s Move’ initiative announced this month.”
Amid Spying Lawsuit, Pennsylvania District Asked Not To Delete Evidence From Computers.
The AP (2/23) reported, “A student who accuses his suburban Philadelphia school district in a lawsuit of spying on students via their school-issued webcams will ask district officials not to remove any potential evidence from student computers, his lawyer said Monday. Lawyers for the Lower Merion School District are due in federal court on the issue Monday afternoon, on an emergency petition from student Blake Robbins of Penn Valley.” According to the AP, “Lower Merion officials confirmed last week they had activated the webcams to try to find 42 missing laptops, without the knowledge or permission of students and their families.”
Teachers To Appeal Mass Firings At Rhode Island High School.
The AP (2/26, Henry) reports, “The entire staff of teachers fired in a radical attempt to improve one of the worst performing high schools in Rhode Island will appeal their dismissals to school authorities, the head of the teachers union said Thursday. The board of trustees overseeing the school system in Central Falls, one of the poorest communities in the state, voted Tuesday to fire 88 high school teachers and other support staff by the end of the year.” According to the AP, Jane Sessums, president of the Central Falls Teachers’ Union, says she “still hopes negotiations will resume, although her union has not made any requests to school officials to continue talks.”
The Christian Science Monitor (2/26, Khadaroo) reports, “To the dismay of many local and national union members, all the teachers, the principal, and other staff of Central Falls [RI] High School were fired by the board of trustees this week,” as “part of a dramatic turnaround plan proposed by the superintendent and approved by the state education commissioner.” According to the Monitor, “Secretary of Education Arne Duncan applauded the Rhode Island decision this week. But Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers president, shot back with a statement that ‘firing all of the teachers is a failed approach and will not result in the kinds of changes necessary to improve instruction and learning.’”
In the Classroom
Saturday Science Academy Uses Hands-On Approach To Motivate Students.
The San Gabriel Valley (CA) Tribune (2/25, Irwin) reported that Kwis Elementary School is “trying an experimental Saturday science academy,” and “is using a hands-on approach to science to motivate students.” The academy takes place “one Saturday a month from 9 to 11 a.m.” Instructors “use ‘guided discovery’ to pique the students’ interest.” For example, “the first class gave the students a ‘mystery powder’ to figure out. The kids used microscopes to study the crystalline structure of the mysterious substance.” The Kwis academy is made possible through a federal grant.
Report Analyzes “Best Practices” Among Middle Grades.
Education Week (2/25, Zehr) reported, “Using students’ test scores as one part of evaluations for teachers, principals, and superintendents is associated with better academic performance at schools serving the middle grades, a report released this week has found. Linking students’ test scores with evaluations was one of the ‘best practices’ that high-performing schools serving students in grades 6 to 8 have in common,” the EdSource report found. According to Education Week, “Researchers analyzed the relationship between students’ spring 2009 scores on California’s tests in mathematics and English/language arts and answers to surveys by 303 principals, 3,752 English and math teachers, and 157 superintendents in the state.”
After-School Enrichment Program Introduces Elementary Schoolers To Hobby, Career Skills.
The Jackson (MI) Citizen Patriot (2/26, Wilson) reports on the Challenge U program at Bean Elementary School, and “after-school enrichment program, which has been offered at Bean for almost two decades” and “gives students a chance to learn about a variety of activities” that could be applied to hobbies or careers. The 16 classes offered this year encompass “soccer, wrestling, cake decorating, knitting, sewing, jewelry making and photography,” as well as courses on animals and electronics. ‘”I hope they gain an understanding of engineering and that there are careers in Jackson County related to electrical engineering,’ said Albert Rossner, a digital electronics instructor for Project Lead the Way at the Jackson Area Career Center, who was teaching students how to build a circuit.”
Grant To Help Colorado District Beef Up STEM Programs, Serve As National Model.
The Colorado Springs Gazette (2/26, McGraw) reports, “Falcon School District 49 has received a $100,000 federal grant to beef up its fledgling science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) program” by funding teacher training. It will also be used to “provide programs and buy equipment such as laptops and interactive videos.” A district official said “that over five years Falcon will create a program that will serve as a state and national model. In this effort, the district will partner with the Center for STEM Education at University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and the Museum of Science and the National Center for Technological Literacy, both in Boston. The district also will consult with industry professionals from around the state.”
On the Job
Orange County, California, Schools Chief Calls For Elimination Of Teacher Tenure.
The Orange County Register (2/26, Leal) reports that Orange County, CA schools Superintendent William Habermehl “proposed eliminating teacher tenure, boosting local control of education funding and reducing federal and state regulations Thursday during his annual State of Education speech.” Habermehl “admitted many of his proposed reforms would face tough challenges from lawmakers, unions and other groups. But the several consecutive years of massive budget cuts have severely damaged the ability of schools to provide an education necessary for students to succeed in the 21st century, he said.”
Law & Policy
Parents Push For Ban On Solitary Confinement In Georgia Schools.
The AP (2/26, Turner) reports that the parents of a 13-year-old student who “hanged himself while in” a seclusion room at school “are pushing state education officials to pass a policy banning the use of solitary confinement in Georgia schools, which they say led directly to their son’s death in 2004.” A “federal report released this week” by the Department of Education says that “19 states, including Georgia, do not regulate” seclusion of students in schools. However, it also shows “that many of the states that have no policy are in the process of developing regulations, and a handful of the states that have policies are reviewing them to ensure they are sufficient.” The AP notes that the report “stems from Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s query to state school chiefs last year on policies for confinement and restraint of misbehaving students.”
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New York City Education Panel Approves Ban On Bake Sales.
The New York Times (2/26, A24, Medina) reports that the New York City Department of Education’s Panel for Education Policy unanimously approved a new policy that “bans most bake sales but allows students to sell premade items including Pop-Tarts and Doritos.” The Times notes that the vote was made after 11:30 pm Wednesday night, and “by then, just one mother…was waiting to speak out against the new policy.”
Los Angeles District Facing Class Action Lawsuit Over School Layoffs.
The Los Angeles Times (2/25, Song) reported that a class-action lawsuit was “filed Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court on behalf of students at three of the city’s worst-performing middle schools. The suit claims those students were denied their legal rights to an education and aims to prevent the Los Angeles Unified School District from laying off more teachers there.” The “student body at the three schools is almost exclusively minority, and campuses in more affluent areas were not hit as hard by teacher layoffs.”
School Changes Policy On Sending Students To Office After Child Walks Off Campus.
The Dallas Morning News (2/26, Mueller) reports that Casa View Elementary School in Dallas “has changed its policy regarding sending students to the principal’s office after a 7-year-old walked off campus.” The student “was missing for about two hours Wednesday after being sent to the office” for “playing in the boys’ bathroom.” Instead of going to the office, the boy walked off campus and “hid behind a nearby house.” The student told a local television station “that he skipped out because he” thought the principal would suspend him. Though school employees did follow “procedures according to Dallas ISD policy, which requires students to be paired up when going to the office,” the school will now require that teachers call “the office to let the principal’s staff know when students are on the way.”
Special Needs
Ontario District Using Online Technology To Support Autistic Students.
T.H.E. Journal (2/25, McCrea) reported that knowing autistic students “need special attention in the learning environment and that the instructors who teach those students require additional support,” Joel Godecki, autism spectrum disorders project director for the 8,000-student Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board in Northwestern Ontario, “looked around for a technology tool that could serve both purposes.” Godecki “decided to try a suite of products developed by AutismPro. ‘I was intrigued by the fact that the system was based on the Web and that it would be easy to implement at different schools,’ said Godecki, whose district is currently using AutismPro’s workshops, resources, and professional and resource management products.”
School Finance
Chicago Public Schools Faces Up To $1 Billion In Debt Next Year.
The Chicago Tribune (2/26, Ahmed) reports, “Chicago Public Schools is facing a deficit of up to $1 billion next year that can be reduced only through a combination of pension reform, union concessions and job cuts, schools chief Ron Huberman said Thursday.” He added that “without all three measures in conjunction…teacher layoffs, increased class sizes and cuts to important programs are distinct possibilities.” The Tribune notes that the “2011 budget forecast takes into account a skyrocketing pension obligation next year and contractual raises for teachers that together increase costs by about $450 million over this year.”
More Funds Could Be Cut From Hawaii Schools’ Budget.
The AP (2/26) reports that the Hawaii Board of Education “has found an additional $37.7 million it could cut from the budget of Hawaii’s public school system. State Sens. Norman Sakamoto [D] and Donna Mercado Kim [D] had asked the Department of Education to prioritize a list of cuts amounting to about $78 million,” about five percent “of the system’s general fund budget.” The AP added, “Island public schools have already absorbed $269 million in cuts over this year and next,” which “have resulted in teacher furloughs that have cost students more than three weeks of class time.”
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Utah Assembly Votes Against Equal Distribution Of Funds Between Split Districts.
The Salt Lake Tribune (2/25, Schencker, Drake) reported that on Wednesday night, Utah’s House Education Committee “shot down HB292, a bill that would have brought property tax revenues per student in” the Canyons and Jordan school districts “back to equal levels by redistributing money,” and would “have applied to splitting districts in the future.” As a result, “Canyons will not be required to send $15 million in property tax revenue to Jordan.” Before the vote, “administrators from both districts presented financial arguments.” Burke Jolley, Jordan deputy superintendent for business services, said that “Jordan now collects only $1,136 in property revenue per student compared with $2,087 collected by Canyons.” But, according to Canyons’ business administrator Keith Bradford, when “taking into account other factors, such as the property tax money Canyons already sends to Jordan under a county-wide equalization law passed two years ago,” the Jordan school district “now collects $1,467 per student and Canyons gets $1,899.”
Also in the News
Television Station Owner Launches Ad Campaign Advocating Diversity In Schools.
North Carolina’s News & Observer (2/26, Goldsmith, Hui) reports, “Capitol Broadcasting Corp., owner of WRAL, is airing an editorial ad campaign on the television station proclaiming that ‘diversity matters.’” The ads “come as a new majority on the county school board has proposed getting rid of Wake’s current diversity policy of trying to balance the numbers of students at each school based on families’ economic backgrounds.” Capital Broadcasting Corp. CEO Jim Goodmon “said today that the spots are not meant as direct endorsement of the current policy, but as an editorial statement in favor of the principle of diversity.”
Duncan To Announce Ramped-Up Civil Rights Enforcement.
The Washington Post (3/8, Anderson) reports, “Education Secretary Arne Duncan plans to announce Monday that his agency is ramping up enforcement of civil rights laws in schools and colleges, a move that seeks to draw a contrast with the policies of his Republican predecessors. In a speech drafted for an appearance” at Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL, “where civil rights marchers were beaten by state and local police in March 1965,” Duncan “said the department’s Office for Civil Rights expects to issue a series of guidance letters to educators to address ‘issues of fairness and equity.’” Duncan “said the department will also announce in coming weeks and months several enforcement actions to ensure that students have equal access to a college-prep curriculum, advanced courses, and classes in math and science.”
The AP (3/7, Armario) reported that ED “plans to intensify its civil rights enforcement efforts in schools around the country, including a deeper look at issues ranging from programs for immigrant students learning English to equal access to a college preparatory courses. … ‘For us, this is very much about working to meet the president’s goal, that by 2020 we will regain our status in the world as the number one producer of college graduates,’ Russlynn Ali, assistant secretary for civil rights in the Education Department, said.”
The Wall Street Journal (3/8, King) also reports on the story, quoting Ali saying, “We are back in business … Across all of the statutes under our jurisdiction, we will vigorously enforce civil-rights laws.”
Duncan To Participate In Selma Event As Planned. The AP (3/6) reported, “Alabama’s Legislative Black Caucus on Saturday called on U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan to cancel a planned appearance at Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery. State Rep. Alvin Holmes said the school and its principal publicly opposed the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Selma-Montgomery march in 1965.” The AP added that Duncan “is scheduled to meet with teachers and students at the school and march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate the 45th anniversary of ‘Bloody Sunday,’ the violent clash between civil rights protesters and state troopers in Selma.”
The AP (3/7) reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “will meet with students as planned at Montgomery’s Robert E. Lee High School, despite a state legislator’s call to cancel the appearance. … Officials in Duncan’s office said the school is now majority black and the current principal was 2 years old at the time of the march.”
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In the Classroom
New Math Curriculum Credited For Improvement of DC Students.
The Washington Post (3/8, Turque) reports that educators say a new emphasis on “deeper conceptual understanding” of Math concepts as opposed to rote memorization in D.C. school is “paying off,” as “December results for the National Assessment of Educational Progress…showed that the District was the only one of 11 urban school systems tested that made significant gains in math in 2007 and 2009.” The “shift is a legacy of Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee’s predecessor, Superintendent Clifford B. Janey, who imported more rigorous math and reading standards to the District from Massachusetts in 2005, along with the DC-CAS, an annual standardized test that resembles the NAEP. That year, he also introduced Everyday Mathematics, a K-6 curriculum developed in the 1990s by the University of Chicago.”
All-Male All African-American Urban Prep Academy Sends Entire Class To College.
The Chicago Tribune (3/5, Eldeib) reported that Urban Prep Academy for Young Men, Chicago’s “only public all-male, all-African-American high school,” has “fulfilled its mission: 100 percent of its first senior class had been accepted to four-year colleges. Mayor Richard Daley and city schools chief Ron Huberman surprised students at the all-school assembly Friday morning with congratulations, and school leaders announced that as a reward, prom would be free.” According to the Tribune, “The achievement might not merit a visit from top brass if it happened at one of the city’s elite, selective enrollment high schools,” but Urban Prep, “a charter school that enrolls all comers in one of Chicago’s most beleaguered neighborhoods, faced much more difficult odds.”
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On the Job
New Report Highlights Challenges Faced By High School Guidance Counselors.
Valerie Strauss wrote in an “Answer Sheet” blog for the Washington Post (3/6) wrote that high school counselors “are overworked,” many are not “well trained” and many students “think their counselors don’t really know them.” According to Strauss, these were among “key conclusions of the study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation…and conducted by the nonpartisan, nonprofit research group Public Agenda. … The report, entitled ‘Can I Get A Little Advice Here: How an Overstretched High School Guidance System Is Undermining Students’ College Aspirations,’ is the second in a Public Agenda series on college completion.”
Law & Policy
US To Step Up Collections Of Delinquent Federal Loans From Social Security Checks.
The Wall Street Journal (3/8, Schultz) reports that the federal government will start “offsetting,” or taking a portion of Social Security or disability benefits of individuals who owe on debts to the Department of Education or other federal departments. The Journal notes that before 2008, the U.S. government could not offset debt more than 10 years old, but a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill lifted that restriction.
More Districts Moving To Four-Day Weeks.
The Wall Street Journal (3/7, Herring) reported that an increasing number of school districts around the U.S. are shifting to four-day weeks amid major budget shortfalls, but critics say education quality will suffer if instruction days are reduced. The Journal noted that more than 100 districts in about 17 states are currently using a four-day week, according to Education Commission of the States data. An ED spokeswoman is quoted saying in an e-mail that “generally, we are concerned about financial constraints leading to a reduction in learning time.”
The Macon Telegraph (3/8) reports Ray Markwalter of the Baldwin County Board of Education “plans to move forward with a proposal for a four-day school week for the district.” He first heard the idea “during the Georgia School Boards Association conference in December after listening to Peach County Superintendent Susan Clark present her school system’s results.” He said that “the drop in disciplinary incidents, as well as fewer teacher absences, were among the appealing aspects of adopting a four-day school week.”
Special Needs
Florida Accommodates Special Needs Students On Testing.
The Miami Herald (3/8, McGrory) reports, “When students sit down this week to be tested on their knowledge of math, reading and science, not all will be putting pen to paper.” That’s because accommodations for students with disabilities mean that “some may be dictating” while “others may use switches, or computers that play back text in a spoken voice.” And “beyond the accommodations outlined by the state, individual school districts can petition the state Department of Education for other adjustments, said Bambi Lockman, the state director of Exceptional Education and Student Services.” Also, “administrators try to assure that special-needs students take the tests with teachers they know. They also have counselors and school psychologists on hand to help students who are frustrated.”
Facilities
Kansas City, Missouri, May Close Nearly Half Of Schools To Reduce Deficit.
The AP (3/8) reports, “Kansas City was held up as a national example of bold thinking when it tried to integrate its schools by making them better than the suburban districts where many kids were moving.” But “now it’s on the brink of bankruptcy and considering another bold move: closing nearly half its schools to stay afloat.” Superintendent John Covington has proposed “closing 29 out of 61 schools to eliminate a projected $50 million budget shortfall.”
School Finance
Louisiana Districts Use Stimulus Funds To Keep Programs Operating.
The Shreveport (LA) Times (3/8, Johnson) reports, “Title I and special education programs and technology upgrades are set to receive the bulk of millions of federal stimulus dollars rolling into northwest Louisiana school districts through the end of next academic year.” The state “will receive more than $377 million in stimulus money this academic year.” Janis Parker, Title I director for Caddo public schools, said that “She is using a portion of her department’s $18.4 million allotment to continue a Reading First Grant.” The funding is reportedly allowing many school districts to keep programs operating that they otherwise might have had to close down.
Des Moines To Cut 60 Percent Of Art, Music And Phys Ed.
The Des Moines Register (3/6, Reynaud) reports, “Des Moines elementary school students would spend less time singing, drawing and running next school year under a proposal that already is drawing criticism from parents.” That’s because “on Friday, district officials unveiled $33 million in spending cuts including eliminating 60 percent of the district’s elementary art, music and physical education jobs.” Superintendent Nancy Sebring “expressed frustration” but explained that “the district also has a commitment to making sure students pass core subjects and meet federal requirements.”
Texas District Superintendent Proposes Merger Of Districts To Get More State Aid.
The San Antonio Express-News (3/8, MacCormack) reports, “School officials in Hunt and Ingram are exploring the feasibility of consolidating their two small districts in western Kerr County as a way to boost state funding.” Ingram Superintendent J. T. Stroder “has concluded that Texas school finance laws disadvantage smaller districts.” In response, “Hunt School Board President Sandra Schmitt said she’s open-minded but noted previous talks on consolidating the neighboring districts didn’t get far.” Meanwhile, “Hunt Superintendent David Kelm said he’s awaiting input from the Texas Education Agency on Stroder’s unusual proposal.”
Houston To Cut Back On Cafeteria Expenses.
The Houston Chronicle (3/8, Mellon) reports, “More than 425 cafeteria workers in the Houston school district will have their wages slashed this month, dozens of other positions will be cut and students likely will pay more for lunch next year to cover a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall. The Houston Independent School District also is expected to take the rare step this year of spending $10.5 million from savings – about 3 percent of the account – to meet cafeteria expenses.” Superintendent Terry Grier “said part of the deficit could have been avoided with better management.” Grier said that “payroll expenses should have been cut sooner, and the district should not have been serving what he dubbed ‘platinum’ meals with pricey fresh fruit daily.”
Also in the News
Analysis Documents College “Grade Inflation” Over Decades.
USA Today /Inside Higher Ed (3/6, Epstein) reported, “Grades awarded to U.S. undergraduates have risen substantially in the last few decades, and grade inflation has become particularly pronounced at selective and private colleges, a new analysis of data on grading practices has found. In ‘Grading in American Colleges and Universities,’ published Thursday in Teachers College Record, Stuart Rojstaczer, a former Duke University professor of geology, and Christopher Healy, an associate professor of computer science at Furman University, illustrate that grade point averages have risen nationally throughout most of the last five decades.” Also, the study “indicates that the mean G.P.A. at an institution is ‘highly dependent’ upon the quality of its students and whether it is public or private.”
Los Angeles Principal Apologizes For Choice Of Black Role Models.
The AP (3/5, Jablon) reported, ‘The principal of a South Los Angeles elementary school has apologized after some children carried photos of O.J. Simpson, RuPaul and Dennis Rodman in a parade celebrating Black History Month. ‘Unfortunately, questionable decisions were made in the selection of noteworthy African-American role models,’ Lorraine Abner wrote Thursday in a letter sent to parents of students at Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School.” According to the AP, “During a Feb. 26 parade in the school playground honoring Black History Month, some youngsters carried photos of Simpson, RuPaul and Rodman while others displayed more conventional role models such as President Barack Obama and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.” Alexandra Zavis also covered this story in a “L.A. Now” blog for the Los Angeles Times (3/5).
The Los Angeles Times (3/6) editorialized, “As usual when things go awry in the Los Angeles Unified School District, the fiasco” concerning the choice of Black role models “was a conflation of silly, smaller mishaps and oversights. … None of this serves as an excuse for what looks like a remarkable dearth of common sense or sensitivity among the teachers involved, along with a disregard for parents and the larger community, and scorn for the curriculum they’re supposed to be imparting.”
NEA in the News
Teachers Unions Outraged By Obama’s Support For Mass Layoff.
The New York Times (3/7, Greenhouse, Dillon, 1.09M) reports, “A Rhode Island school board’s decision to fire the entire faculty of a poorly performing school, and President Obama’s endorsement of the action, has stirred a storm of reaction nationwide, with teachers condemning it as an insult and conservatives hailing it as a watershed moment of school accountability.” According to the Times, “Officials at the two unions, the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers, were so angry in the hours after Mr. Obama first endorsed the firings that an irreconcilable break with the administration seemed possible,” but “neither the president nor Education Secretary Arne Duncan backed off his support for tough action, including dismissing teachers en masse, to improve learning conditions in chronically failing schools.” NEA president Dennis Van Roekel is quoted as saying that Obama’s “position ‘set us back in how we work together. … I think the worst thing that can happen would be for President Obama to be seen as antiteacher.’”
Duncan Calls For Renewed Civil Rights Enforcement.
The AP (3/8, Johnson) reported that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “said Monday the federal government will become more vigilant to make sure students have equal access and opportunity to everything ranging from college prep classes to science and engineering programs. ‘We are going to reinvigorate civil rights enforcement,’ Duncan said on a historic Selma bridge to commemorate the 45th anniversary of a bloody confrontation between voting rights demonstrators and state troopers.” Duncan “spoke to a crowd about 400 people on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in observance of ‘Bloody Sunday,’ the day in 1965 when several hundred civil rights protesters were beaten by state troopers as they crossed the span over the Alabama River, bound for Montgomery.”
The Christian Science Monitor (3/9, Paulson) reports that Duncan “signaled Monday the Obama administration’s intention to step up enforcement of civil rights laws that apply to schools and colleges, many of which are often ignored.” According to the Monitor, “In remarks delivered in Selma, Ala, timed to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the marches in which civil rights protesters were brutally attacked by police, Secretary Duncan said, ‘The truth is that, in the last decade, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has not been as vigilant as it should have been in combating gender and racial discrimination and protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities. But that is about to change…. We are going to reinvigorate civil rights enforcement.’”
The Selma (AL) Times-Journal (3/9, Fenton) reports, “Secretary of Education Arne Duncan stood in the middle of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the first leg of the Selma-to-Montgomery March of 1965 for voting rights, and announced the Obama administration’s strengthened commitment to ensure fair opportunities and practices for all students as about 500 students, principals and elected officials listened.” ED’s OCR “will send guidance letters on issues of fairness and equality to schools and colleges, work to have equal access to educational opportunities such as college-preparatory curricula or advanced courses for all students and to ensure discipline in schools is not based on a child’s skin color.” ED “will take a look at 38 school systems this year to see how they measure up.”
The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser (3/9, Ricks) reports, “Despite the controversy that proceeded his visit, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s visit to Montgomery was relatively low-key. After state Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, threatened to picket the secretary’s visit to Robert E. Lee High School, Duncan added an extra stop in Montgomery.” Duncan “participated in a panel discussion with students, a faculty member and parent at Lee High School before heading to Selma where he was to give a major speech about his plans to reinvigorate [ED]‘s Office of Civil Rights.”
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In the Classroom
Class Shows Young Women They Can Be Successful In Traditionally Male Fields.
The York County (ME) Journal-Tribune (3/9, Mendros) reports on the “Independent Woman” class at Biddeford High School, which is now in its second year. “One of the initial subjects the students learned about was electricity,” and more recently, students have been “learning how to work with wood and how to use an electric sander, a table saw and other woodworking tools and equipment.” A lamp-building project is used to pull together their skills in electricity and woodworking. “The girls will also be learning how to work with metal. They will drill into metal sheets to form a design and then the sheets will be formed into lamp shades.” Technical Education teacher Michelle Lane “also plans to teach them about basic automotive maintenance.” Lane “said she wants to show her students that they can be just as successful as their male classmates in traditionally male jobs.”
Mentor Program Introduces Students To Careers In Architecture, Engineering And Construction.
Maryland’s Daily Times (3/9) reports, “Local high school students are discovering careers in architecture, construction and engineering thanks to” the ACE Mentor Program of America, “a new mentoring program that connects them with area professionals in these fields.” Through the program, “11 volunteers from four Salisbury-based companies, and two national contractors involved with construction at Salisbury University, are teaching students about their industry through mock development projects.” Students learn about topics such as “architecture, civil engineering, electrical engineering, structural engineering, construction and cost planning,” and then discuss how these skills are applied.
Publishers Focusing On Technology Supplements To Textbooks.
Inside Higher Ed (3/9, Kolowich) reports on the increased use of software provided by publishers such as Pearson that offers automatic grading and feedback on student understanding, tools which some professors argue has improved their efficiency and their ability to address issues that students are having difficulty with. Now, major publishers “say that as instructors begin to realize the capabilities of e-learning tools, it is not enough to pitch professors — particularly those in the natural sciences — a traditional textbook or even an e-textbook.” William Reiders of Cengage’s Global New Media division said, “It is a fact that we are aggressively trying to add curricular solutions to what traditionally would have been our print textbooks – that’s really driven by what the professors want.” The article goes on to address issues stemming from the “added costs” that come along with the additional tools and content, and how these impact students.
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On the Job
FEA Denounces Merit Pay Plan.
The Orlando Sentinel (3/9, Postal) reports, “Florida’s largest teachers union lashed out Monday at a proposal to overhaul teacher pay-plans, saying it would force experienced teachers out of the classroom and lead to even more standardized tests for the state’s students.” The Florida Education Association also said the measure “would wrench control of schools away from local school boards.” FEA President Andy Ford “said the plan ‘lashes out at the teachers who have made Florida schools a model for the nation.’”
The AP (3/9, Kaczor) reports, “The sponsor calls it a ‘hammer.’ The head of Florida’s statewide teachers union says it’s more like a ‘nuclear weapon.’” The bill would penalize “school districts that fail to adopt merit pay plans by cutting part of their state funding,” and “also would reduce teacher job protection and make it easier for school officials to fire teachers.” Ford “argued state law already allows school districts to suspend or fire ineffective teachers, even those that have completed probationary periods of three or four years.”
The Naples Daily News (3/9, Albers) reports, “In Collier County, the Superintendent is calling it a disaster.” Collier County School District Superintendent Dennis Thompson also, “called the bill a nightmare.” Thompson said, “You will not improve education by paying your best teachers more … You improve education by getting rid of ineffective teachers.”
The Fort Myers News-Press (3/9, Breitenstein) reports, “A teacher-quality bill up for discussion this week by Florida lawmakers has unions in an uproar, strapping on their pads for what’s certain to be a knock-down, drag-out battle.” Under the proposed bill, “at least half of a teacher’s performance evaluation must be based on how well his or her students do on standardized tests.”
Wichita Examines Layoff Procedures.
The Wichita (KS) Eagle (3/9, Yount) reports, “Wichita school board members Monday night reviewed the processes for laying off teachers, administrators and staff as they braced for an estimated $25 million budget shortfall next school year.” Afterwards, “the board approved an updated version of layoff procedures for administrators, including allowing them to continue in the early retirement program if they come back to the district within two years.” So far, “the district has cut about $25 million from its $620 million budget since January 2009. School leaders said an additional shortfall would cut directly into positions and salaries, which make up about 80 percent of the budget.”
East Carolina University Partners With School District To Improve Teacher Quality.
The Greenville Daily Reflector (3/9, Drake) reports, “East Carolina University, Pitt County Schools and other local educational entities have formed a partnership to improve teacher quality through an $8.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education. The ECU College of Education, the ECU College of Arts and Sciences, Pitt County Schools and Greene County Schools have joined together for the Teacher Quality Partnership Grant.” The grant “will be distributed over five years.”
Providence, RI Proposing School Changes That Include Teacher Participation.
The Providence (RI) Journal (3/9, Borg) reports that Providence “is poised to embark on an unorthodox method of transforming four of its lowest-performing schools, asking the teachers union, long an adversary of management, to help in an overhaul. Monday night, Supt. Tom Brady presented his plans to the School Board before sending a letter of intent to state Education Commissioner Deborah A. Gist, who has 10 days to approve or deny them.” The “wide-ranging reforms are the result of an order from Gist who, in January, identified the six lowest-performing schools in the state and ordered them to shape up or else.”
Law & Policy
ED Releases I3 Rules, Applications.
Education Daily (3/9, Brodie) reports that ED “released on Monday its long-awaited application for the $650-million Investing in Innovation Fund,…part of the $5 billion overall school reform investment included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.” According to Education Daily, “ED grants will hone in on four areas the Obama administration has targeted in its school reform agenda: supporting effective teachers and principals; improving the use of data to accelerate student achievement; implementing standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and careers; and turning around persistently low-performing schools.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan “said the i3 rules outline ED’s definitions of what constitutes strong and moderate evidence” of successful education innovation “as well as a reasonable hypothesis, and use these definitions as a basis for awarding the money.”
Education Week (3/9, McNeil) reports that ED “today unveiled the final rules for its $650 million Investing in Innovation , or i3, grant program, standing fast in the face of criticism that its proposed guidelines demanded too much from applicants in the way of private-sector match and evidence to back up their proposals.”
Safety & Security
Police Kill Man Outside New York City School.
The New York Times (3/9, Henry) reports, “A 22-year-old man was fatally shot by the police outside a Brooklyn elementary school on Monday afternoon after he pointed a fake gun at an officer, the authorities said. The man, identified by a law enforcement official as George D’Amato Jr. of Brooklyn, showed up behind Public School 194, at 3117 Avenue W in the Gerritsen Beach neighborhood, about 3:10 p.m., and someone called 911 to report a man with a gun.” According to the Times, “School had been let out about half an hour earlier, and no children were in danger, the police said.”
WPost Says DC Teacher Pact Must Have Stronger Safeguards Against Sexual Misconduct.
The Washington Post (3/9) editorializes that D.C. law “considers it a crime when doctors betray a trust and have sex with patients,” yet, “for reasons that no one can really explain, this common-sense protection doesn’t apply to teachers and students.” The Post adds that it is “important to stress,” as D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee “did in a recent letter to teachers, that the vast majority of those who work with children are hard-working professionals with a dedication to doing what’s best for their students. That makes it no less important, though, that a new contract with teachers — and an agreement is said to be near — contain reforms to deal with this serious issue.”
School Finance
Colorado District Implementing Four-Day Week.
The AP (3/8) reported, “A four-day school week is coming for students in Pueblo County School District 70 next school year, as the district tries to cut its budget by $5.8 million. … The district’s finance officer, Ryan Elarton, has estimated that the change could save between $883,000 and $1.1 million in cuts in utilities expenses, transportation costs and salaries for some workers.”
Also in the News
Officials Investigate Grade-Changing Scheme At Maryland High School.
The Washington Post (3/9, Johnson) reports, “A grade-changing scheme at Winston Churchill High School in Potomac [MD] involved the gradebooks of 35 teachers and was primarily isolated to the junior class, school officials told several hundred parents at a public meeting Monday night. Police and school officials have been investigating the security breach in which at least eight students stole teachers’ computer passwords using USB key loggers, which can be purchased inexpensively online.” The Post adds that Churchill “routinely ranks high among elite schools in the region and nation.”
Ravitch Outlines Why She Changed Mind About Longstanding School Reform Advocacy.
In an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal (3/9), education historian and former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch outlines the reasons she has reversed her longstanding support for charter schools and the strict school accountability measures contained within NCLB. Ravitch cites wide variances in charter school quality and criticizes the charter school model for siphoning the highest-performing students from regular public schools. Ravitch is also critical of the strict school accountability standards backed by the Obama administration, calling them excessively punitive and outlining complaints from colleges that many incoming students lack basic knowledge.
NEA in the News
NEA Honors Minnesota Teacher With Human Rights Award.
Coon Rapids (MN) (3/9, Lestrud) reports, “An Eagan teacher who helps students from other countries transition to a new culture is the first in Minnesota to receive a human rights award from the National Education Association. Magaly Miralles, an English language learners teacher at Red Pine Elementary, has been awarded the George I. Sanchez Award for her work with Hispanic children.”