Many years ago, in Prince William County, there was a gang on either the BOCS or the appointed school board who were not-so-affectionately named the 4 horsemen. They were seen as enemies of the school system. It seems that the 4 horsemen have been reincarnated, after several decades, on our board of supervisors. I am trying to remember . Why they were named that? Was it a nice way of speaking of the educational Apocalypse on the horizon or was it short for horse body parts? Perhaps those readers who have been around PWC for a while will remember.
With the BOCS sniffing around for money, it might be important to consider the letter Robley Jones, legislative Laison for VEA (Virginia Education Association) sent out this morning regarding the Education Jobs Fund:
(and it did say Dear Moon-howler:)
The manner in which the health of the state budget is presented can be most confusing. Trumpets ring as we declare a surplus; but the fact is that for the first time in 50 years, General Fund revenues have declined for two years in a row. The surplus just means that revenues exceeded projections, and a loss was projected.
You will also hear glowing words about the additional $18 million in funding for our schools from sales tax revenues. Sounds good, but sales tax revenues supplant required state and local spending. This $18 million does not add an additional penny for our schools.
But, enough ranting — I have two important things to call your attention to.
An employee at a Norfolk, Virginia elementary school is on administrative leave for handing out fetal dolls on the campus. The principal of Oak Wood Elementary has also been placed on administrative leave. It is unclear what the principal’s role in this matter was. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch:
The investigation began after The Virginian-Pilot inquired this week about reports that the dolls had been distributed to students at Oakwood.
School board member Kirk Houston Sr. called the fetus dolls a “pro-life” tool. He said distributing them to students was inappropriate and unacceptable.
The Virginian-Pilot reports that the dolls, which were distributed to students at Oakwood Elementary School in Norfolk over weeks or months, are not authorized instructional materials.
The dolls, in pink and brown and about 4 inches long, came with a “pro-life” message and information on fetal growth, the paper reports.
School officials have begun an investigation. The employee who distributed the dolls has not been identified
.
What would possess a person to do something this foolish? Talk about a captive audience and also an audience that is a little young to have anti abortion rhetoric pushed on them. Fetus dolls just should not be part of a public school setting.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said school officials “should keep politics out” of curriculum debates.
“We do a disservice to children when we shield them from the truth, just because some people think it is painful or doesn’t fit with their particular views,” Duncan said in a statement. “Parents should be very wary of politicians designing curriculum.”
Most of us agree with Secretary Duncan. And this statement works both ways, whether it is from the Democrats, the Republicans, or whatever else is deemed politically correct at the time. Social Studies seems to get the brunt of being tossed around political alley and this time, Texas has really re-invented history. Read more…
Last night all but one of the PWC School Board members voted to approve a plan to bring pay-for-performance to the county via a federal grant entitled Teacher Incentive Fund. 31 schools are eligible. The objective is to attract and retain good teachers to under-performing schools. Otherwise known as merit pay, teachers, teachers’ organizations, and teachers’ unions nation wide have been opposed to bringing in this time of evaluation process.
Pay-for-performance requires superior evaluators and has been known to cut down on sharing and collegiality in places where it has been attempted. Research is scarce showing that students learn more or better when their teachers are evaluated under a merit pay system.
If awarded, the federal grant money would go to teachers and administrators at eligible schools that score well on a county-created 100-point scoring system. That system is made up of student performance, student behavior, instructional leadership, climate and instructional delivery performance.
Under these five categories are several subcategories. For example, student performance has seven subcategories which add up to 25 points on the 100-point scale.
There are 31 eligible schools in the county. Eligibility is determined by the percentage of economically disadvantaged student population at those particular schools.
The money would likely be handed out in a tiered system in which principals, Standards of Learning teachers, special education teachers and English for speakers of other languages teachers would receive the largest share. Depending on how much money the division receives, the awards would likely range from $2,000 to $10,000 per teacher or administrator, said Pedersen.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Those who work in ineligible schools will be out of luck and won’t get this opportunity. Of course, those are the teachers and principals who are dealing with less needy students. I wonder how many teachers will be willing to share with someone down the hall if they are being evaluated via pay-for-performance.
As long as there NCLB continues, the playing field will never be level. NCLB assumes that all kids at the same grade level can learn the same amount of material in the same amount of time. Starting off with a false premise leads to false conclusions.
It really doesn’t get much dumber. I know teachers are encouraged to be creative, but common sense needs to prevail. This dude is lucky if he just gets fired. He should expect the feds at his door:
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A Jefferson County geometry teacher was placed on paid administrative leave Tuesday after being accused of using a hypothetical assassination plot on President Barack Obama as a way to teach geometric angles.
School Superintendent Phil Hammonds said Corner High School teacher Gregory Harrison could face possible termination.
Hammonds earlier said the teacher remained at work and there were no plans to fire him. But in announcing that the teacher was being placed on leave, the superintendent said his office had been flooded with calls from people around the nation, mainly upset that further action hadn’t been taken against the teacher.
Roy Sexton, special agent in charge of Birmingham’s Secret Service office, said his agency spoke with the teacher after being told about his comment, but no charges were filed and the investigation was closed.
“We did not find a credible threat,” Sexton said.
Hammonds said he will talk to teachers and students before recommending to the school board what action, if any, might be appropriate. It was not immediately known how long the teacher may be on leave.
Hammonds said the school system in Alabama’s most populous county was embarrassed by what Harrison said.
“There is nothing that can be said to rationalize what he said. We take this very seriously. There is no place in our society for a person to make these comments,” Hammonds said.
Attempts to reach Harrison for comment were not immediately successful. Calls to Hammonds were referred to the school system’s attorney, Burgin Kent, who did not immediately return a call for comment.
Joseph Brown, a senior in the geometry class, told The Birmingham News that the teacher “was talking about angles and said, ‘If you’re in this building, you would need to take this angle to shoot the president.’
This lesson was so stupid on so many levels. In the first place, most schools have anti gun and weapons rules. Shooting anyone should not be played up in a school setting. The next level of stupidity is ever making anything that could be constued as a threat at an elected official, in particular the President of the United States.
In an unrelated story, we have another example of classroom no-nos.
Read about the teacher who brought in Michael Moore’s Sicko to be analyzed as the exam. When a student objected, the teacher called her a ‘tea-bagger.’
UVA President John Casteen III delivered a chilling, emotional speech to those gathered at the candlelight vigil for slain lacrosse player Yeardly Love. His message should be repeated over and over in middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities, churches, libraries–just about anywhere there are women.
Casteen told the mourners that we are all responsible for getting people help who are entangled and trapped in toxic, violent relationships. We can not longer just tell our friends, relatives and acquaintances to ditch a toxic relationship. We have to step forward and perhaps make some of those unpopular calls. Doing so might just save someone’s life–someone like Yeardly Love’s life.
The fraternity of silence and the culture of hiding abuse can no longer be tolerated.
There are profound ironies in our gathering here tonight for this purpose. This is the spring time. It’s the time of year for renewal, for new beginnings. And yet we have come here to grieve the ending of a young life, of Yeardley Love’s life, one full of promise and high prospects—and one not unlike yours.
I want to talk tonight about Yeardley Love, and I want to talk about you, and about this community—about us. Some of what I have to say is very hard. Bear with me, and listen.
All the brouhaha stems from Wednesday, when four teens wore red, white and blue garb on Cinco de Mayo, a day when many Latino students wore red, white and green to honor the defeat of the French military in Mexico in 1862.
Reached by cell phone today, one of the boys, Matthew Dariano, 16, said he was not at school today fearing there might be violence on campus. Instead, he and his mother were at a hotel doing satellite interviews with Fox News. He insisted that despite reports that he and his friends said unkind words to Latino students, “We didn’t say anything at all. We just wore our shirts.”
The assistant principal had asked the boys to turn their shirts inside out or go home, saying the clothing was “incendiary” on the Mexican holiday, and that he feared for the safety of the students. The boys thought that was “disrespectful” and two went home; their mothers called the media.
The boys are Dariano; Dominic Maciel, 15; and Daniel Galli and Austin Carvalho, both 16. Two of the boys are of Mexican heritage and two are not.
Dariano said he and his friends have not received any disciplinary actions for their behavior, but they have not received any type of apology either.
Wesley Smith, superintendent for the Morgan Hill Unified School District, said in a statement Thursday that the incident was “extremely unfortunate” and the boys should not have been disciplined for wearing “patriotic” clothing.
Free speech experts agreed with the district, saying political speech is protected even on a school campus as long as there is no basis that it will cause violence or physical harm.
About 100 Latino students walked out of class Thursday and marched to Morgan Hill City Hall to protest the boys’ action.
When does it just become the better part of valor to wear a neutral shirt?
The NY Daily News reports the same story with a little stronger flavor added:
A handful of California students got an unexpected lesson at their high school this week: Don’t wear your stars and stripes on Cinco de Mayo.
Five Morgan Hill, California students were asked to take off their American flag bandannas and turn their T-shirts inside out after students complained, according to NBC news in San Francisco.
Many members of Live Oak High School’s large Mexican-American student population that felt it was offensive for the students to wear the American flag on a day that’s supposed to celebrate Mexican heritage.
When the boys refused to take off their flag t-shirts and bandannas, they were ordered to go to the principal’s office.
“They said we could wear it on any other day,” Live Oak student Daniel Galli said, “but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it’s supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today.”
The alleged concern was that the T-shirts would lead to fights on campus.
“They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we would get suspended,” said Dominic Maciel.
The chastised teens’ parents were furious.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous,” Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel’s mom, said. “All they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They’re expressing their individuality.”
Morgan Hill Unified School District released a statement saying it does not agree with how Live Oak High School administrators handled this incident and that the boys would not be suspended.
Funny how 2 different reports seem to give a totally different version of an incident. I still want to know why kids are being allowed to wear bandanas. Gang attire alert.
This area is a suburb of Silicon Valley. It is not a barrio. It sounds to me like kids are being kids and schools are being schools. And some folks on both ’sides’ know exactly which buttons to push. And the entire nation is at war over it.
Good for the kids who wore neutral white. It looks like maturity set in. No one wants their school to be an armed camp.
UPDATE: according to a video on Foxnews.com, the students say they were not suspended over the shirts. They chose to go home rather than change their shirts.
George Huguely, 22, has been charged with murder in the death of Yeardley Love, 22. Both were fourth-year U.Va. students from Maryland and lacrosse players. Huguely is from Chevy Chase and Love was from Cockeysville. Both students were to graduate in a few weeks.
Love, 22, was found dead in her apartment yesterday morning. Hours later, 22-year-old George Huguely was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. Roommates summoned police thinking that she was comatose from alcohol poisoning. First responders found that Ms. Love’s condition was far more serious and that she had suffered physical trauma. While not elaborating, police ruled out weapons. Neighors heard nothing.
Police say the two had been in a relationship but investigators plan to interview fellow players. Huguely’s lawyer says that “he is confident the death of a women’s lacrosse player from the same school, Yeardley Love, was not intended.” What a horribly tragic accident. One of these young people will probably spend time in prison and the other, who has been described by those who know her as an angel, is gone. Dead. Never to play lacrosse again, never to graduate, never to go to that first day of a new job. Her life has been snuffed out, for whatever reason.
Ms. Love is the 7th UVA student to die this academic year. We don’t send out children to college to die.
The University issued the following:
U.Va. President John T. Casteen III said in a statement that he hopes Love is remembered for her talents and her potential and not for the way she died.
“However little we may not know now about Yeardley Love’s death, we do know that she did not have or deserve to die — that she deserved the bright future she earned growing up, studying here and developing her talents as a lacrosse player,” Casteen said.
“She deserves to be remembered for her human goodness, her capacity for future greatness, and not for the terrible way in which her young life has ended.”
Casteen said he knows of no explanation for what happened to Love.
“This death moves us to deep anguish for the loss of a student of uncommon talent and promise, and we express the university’s and our own sympathy for Yeardley’s family, teammates and friends,” he said.
Bullying is a serious problem in the United States. It has always been around on playgrounds, at schools, and in the neighborhood. However, with the widespread use of the Internet, bullying has become more pervasive and yes, virulent. Verbal taunts and physical threats became a way of life for one young immigrant girl.
15-year-old Phoebe Prince was the victim of extreme bullying from her peers. Phoebe, who recently moved South Hadley, MA from Ireland, was bullied by classmates until she hanged herself in January. The bullying was described as relentless and happened in the halls, at school, in the library, in class, via cell phone messages and on the Internet. Nine teenagers have been indicted for the death of this young girl.
According to the New York Times:
The prosecutor brought charges Monday against nine teenagers, saying their taunting and physical threats were beyond the pale and led the freshman, Phoebe Prince, to hang herself from a stairwell in January.
The charges were an unusually sharp legal response to the problem of adolescent bullying, which is increasingly conducted in cyberspace as well as in the schoolyard and has drawn growing concern from parents, educators and lawmakers
Of course the tormentors bear the main responsibility for the girl’s death. But are others culpable? How about the parents of those kids? How about the school? How about her friends? Was anyone aware that this was going on? Didn’t some teacher notice that a child was being tortured? How do parents help their children when they are being bullied? This tragedy seems so avoidable.
A follow up on the original story about Constance McMillan’s desire to go to her own prom with her girl friend has lead to a less than conclusive end:
ABERDEEN, Miss. — A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Itawamba County, Miss., school board violated the rights of a lesbian student by canceling the prom when the student challenged a ban on same-sex dates, but the judge stopped short of ordering the district to reinstate the April 2 prom.U.S. District Court Judge Glen Davidson said he denied the injunction request because a private prom parents are planning will serve the same purpose as the school prom and because “requiring defendants to step back into a sponsorship role at this late date would only confuse and confound the community on the issue.”
Did Constance win/lose or did she lose/win? The school violated her rights. However the judge isn’t going to make things right. The school will not be forced to have a prom. The private prom folks will not be forced to admit Constance. Constance must go to the gay and lesbian prom instead of to her school prom. Does this sound like forced segregation to you?
The federal judge sounds like the chicken you-know- what judge to me. I thought the entire point of these kinds of court rulings was to either say yes her rights were violated and fix things or no her rights were not violated, go home and get over it. I guess there is a lot of laughter and snickering in the Itawamba County school district today. I guess they showed “them thar dykes a thing or 3 now didn’t they?” What a shame that this young woman’s civil rights weren’t upheld.
Maybe Constance McMillan has the last laugh after all. She appeared on the” Ellen” and was awareded $30,000 in scholarship money by the talk show host who said she was so proud of her. DeGeneres said:
“I admire you so much. “When I was your age I never would have had the strength to do what you are doing.”
Meanwhile, her ACLU lawyer is preparing round 2 of her legal battle.
And speaking of NCLB on steroids, the President announced his intentions to overhaul NCLB and our education system. From the White House:
The President discusses his blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind, the latest step from his Administration to encourage change and success in America’s schools at the local level.
Another “feels good/looks good on paper” unfunded mandate on the horizon, it sounds like. As titillating as Texas Hold ‘em on Texas objectives is, this situation is far more serious. This appears to be another huge, omnibus education plan where one size fits all.
When the politicians and the ivory tower gang admits that not every child learns at the same rate, the same depth, the same material, and for the same reasons all kids will be better off. This concept is not rocket science. Cookie cutter expectations must stop. A kid with a reading disability is expected to learn the same material that a gifted child learns, in the same amount of time. What’s wrong with this picture?
Some highlights of new social studies standards adopted by the Texas State Board of Education:
Adds references to “laws of nature and nature’s God” to a section in U.S. history that requires students to explain major political ideas.
Replaces “democratic” in references to the form of U.S. government with “constitutional republic.”
In addition to learning the Bill of Rights, the board specifies a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class.
Requires economics students to “analyze the decline of the U.S. dollar including abandonment of the gold standard.”
Ensures that students learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association.”
In teaching about the civil rights movement, students must learn about the violent philosophy of the Black Panthers in addition to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent approach.
Specifies that Germans and Italians were interned in the United States as well as the Japanese during World War II, to counter the idea that the internment of Japanese was motivated by racism.
Requires that the history of McCarthyism include “how the later release of the Venona papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration in U.S. government.” The Venona papers were transcripts of some 3,000 communications between the Soviet Union and its agents in the United States.
In sociology, requires the teaching of “the importance of personal responsibility for life choices” in a section on teen suicide, dating violence, sexuality, drug use and eating disorders.
Associated Press and New York Times
In addition students also will use A.D. and B. C. instead of C.E. and B.C.E. According to MSNBC:
In addition to learning the Bill of Rights, the board specified a reference to the Second Amendment right to bear arms in a section about citizenship in a U.S. government class.
Conservatives also included a plank to ensure that students learn about “the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract With America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority and the National Rifle Association,” …
Why are objectives being decided by politicians? How about professionals in the various fields of study being the leaders with a good sprinkling of teachers, psychologists (to remind everyone of age appropriateness) and parents revising the curriculum. What you learn should not be political. Objectives should be neutral and not based on who won the last election. If there is a bright side, because of technology advances in the printing industry, states can tailor some of their own curriculum and Texas will not have as much influence as it has had in the past.
The Hispanic community felt very under-represented according to the New York Times:
Battles over what to put in science and history books have taken place for years in the 20 states where state boards must adopt textbooks, most notably in California and Texas. But rarely in recent history has a group of conservative board members left such a mark on a social studies curriculum.
Efforts by Hispanic board members to include more Latino figures as role models for the state’s large Hispanic population were consistently defeated, prompting one member, Mary Helen Berlanga, to storm out of a meeting late Thursday night, saying, “They can just pretend this is a white America and Hispanics don’t exist.”
“They are going overboard, they are not experts, they are not historians,” she said. “They are rewriting history, not only of Texas but of the United States and the world.”
The curriculum standards will now be published in a state register, opening them up for 30 days of public comment. A final vote will be taken in May, but given the Republican dominance of the board, it is unlikely that many changes will be made.
One thing not made clear in the last post about Texas textbooks is that the meetings held last week were about curriculum changes. The textbook companies will all try to accommodate these changes. In the past, California offset the more conservative Texas. That has not happened because of California’s financial woes.
What objectives are just unacceptable? Which show political bias? Which are welcome changes?
(The scroll box is easier to read if you increase the size of the page to 125% found bottom right hand corner of the page)
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CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org
OXFORD, MS – The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit today against a Mississippi High School that has canceled prom rather than let a lesbian high school student attend the prom with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo to the event. In papers filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, the ACLU asks the court to reinstate the prom for all students at the school and charges Itawamba County School District officials are violating Constance McMillen’s First Amendment right to freedom of expression.
“All I wanted was the same chance to enjoy my prom night like any other student. But my school would rather hurt all the students than treat everyone fairly,” said McMillen, an 18-year-old senior at Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi. “This isn’t just about me and my rights anymore – now I’m fighting for the right of all the students at my school to have our prom.”
How about let’s just alter this scene just a little bit. How about if the girl didn’t say she was a lesbian and 2 girls just showed up at the door to go to prom, like unromantic friends. Would they be denied admission? What is wrong with schools?
There was a suggestion made that a private group should sponsor a private prom for ”people like this.’ Now just what is that supposed to mean? I read in the paper that Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Church did sponsor a special prom for gay and lesbian students last spring. Good for them. That church is a real standard bearer for helping those who are under-represented. I hope they will do that every year, despite the fact that local bloggers (many who claim to be good Christians) had a field day and made extremely disparaging remarks about the church and the kids. It’s easy to point fingers. Its harder to step up to the plate and provide for those amongst us who might not have an advocate.
Most of the time I think the ACLU is a pain in the ass. I think we are supposed to think that. However, this is one time I am glad they are out there, defending those who might not otherwise have a line of defense. Schools need realize that gay and lesbian students are not all closeted like they were a generation ago, not should they be.
If the school wants to ensure that people’s sensibilities are not offended, it needs to address the behavior of everyone coming to the dance. It needs to set standards of conduct and stick to its guns. It should demand the same lines of decency from the heterosexual students as it is obviously going to do with the homosexual students. They can all do their dirty dancing after the prom.
The Texas Textbook Wars have begun and it is truly a clash of cultural warriors vs. mainstream America. So why does anyone care what textbooks Texas purchases? Texas is the 2nd largest purchaser of textbooks in the nation. California is the first. However, California’s financial woes are so bad that they have postponed purchasing textbooks for the time being.
So whats the big fight over? Texas has been known as clearing house for textbooks for several decades. What goes in, what goes, who gets mentioned and who is shunned is often determined ‘deep in the heart of Texas.’ Because California is not buying new textbooks, all the textbook publishers are kowtowing to Texas. According to Myfox in Phoenix:
What happens in Texas – is likely to impact your child’s textbooks, no matter where you live. That’s because the Lone Star state is one of the top textbook buyers in the world, so publishers write to Texas curriculum standards and the books are sold nationwide.
This week, the Texas State Board of Education will be hammering out social studies curriculum and stirring up plenty of controversy.
“The cultural war, has regrettably not ended. And of the biggest, most important fronts now are curriculum battles in Texas and indeed around the country because the next generation of young people need to understand good science, good history, comprehensive sex education.” said Barry Lynn, a church-state separation advocate.
But as 15 elected board members prepare to make those decisions in Texas this week, conservatives say there are organized, liberal groups in these textbook fights who want to sanitize our country’s history.
“Our founders acknowledge the reliance upon divine providence, that we’re endowed by our Creator with these inalienable rights, and this idea that now you remove that as if it does not exist it really goes to the depths of what these groups trying to get at, and that is to expunge any reference to America’s religious heritage.” said Jay Sekulow from the American Center for Law and Justice
Math seems to be fairly protected from politics. However, science and social studies texts are rife with contention. The biggest issue in science has to do with origin of the earth ideas and evolution/Darwinism. Many fundamentalist Christians oppose teaching about anything that is Darwin and words like ’secular humanist’ are used to describe those who believe the earth is more than 6,000 years old.
Social Studies is also a huge area of controversy because of the foundations of this nation. There is also great dispute over who our national heroes really are and what their role is in history. Terms like revisionist history are thrown about as well as terms like afro-centrism and euro-centrism. Patrick Henry sometimes gives way to Benjamin Banneker. George Patton and Douglas MacArthur might not be included. Colin Powell might be the potential replacement. Conservatives hold dear to their heroes and insist that those who have been revered throughout history stay at the forefront for children to read about and to be standard bearers.
Religion and religious topics continue to be argued as some parents and politicians fight to retain holidays like Christmas and Easter as units of study while others want all reference to Halloween stomped out.
One parent, Vivian Scretchen says “One day my son came home with an assignment for– it was around– it was around Christmas.”
But other parents believe religious discussions aren’t suited to secular classrooms.
“What I’m saying is that public schools don’t need to place this in their curriculum. Because it is– it’s potentially offensive to some. And it– it isn’t what a public school should be teaching.” said Jane Miller, a parent.
The Texas Board has already had showdowns over whether to get rid of mentions of Christmas, the Liberty Bell and Neil Armstrong. Some of the debate continues, but the backlash was so bad when the public got wind of the Christmas issue that the Board quickly voted to save it.
How sad that even textbooks have become political and part of the culture wars. What can parents do to make sure their voice is heard? What impact does this battle front have on language arts? What if your school districts ends up with a very conservative set of text books because nothing else is available? What can schools do? How about the other direction? Are there remedies? Will climate change be as contentious as Darwinism?
How sad for all concerned. Given: One of the poorest communities in Rhode Island and the rigors of No Child Left Behind (which is what is behind all this educational crisis.) Depending on who you talk to, there are lots of fingers being pointed. Faulty statistics are being bandied about. Administration is drawing its line in the sand. Teachers have refused to take on extra burdens without compensation. The teachers’ union doesn’t seem to be supporting the teachers. Somewhere out there, there is the truth. I expect it is in the middle.
The one missing part of the puzzle seems to be what the students are doing. What is the community doing? How fast can attitudes in poor, immigrant communities be turned around? Should teachers of students in low achieving communities be compared to teachers in wealthier areas?
Who will be willing to go in and replace all those teachers? The nation will need a million new teachers by 2014. Where will they all come from? When will communities, parents and students start to assume responsibility for their own learning? You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink. After all, its all about accountability.
The Rhode Island teachers will have the last laugh, in all probability. The data-driven replacement crowd will come in all full of themselves and will soon find out that perhaps the job isn’t so easy. The newcomers will probably not do much better, they will burn out and move on. And one day very soon, there will be no one to teach the children. Younger people simply will not want to put up with the insult and there are lots of easier ways to earn $75,000. (that amount was NOT starting pay, btw)
Duke (#4) is a big rival of UMD (#22). I have heard about the Duke Flukes from Mr. Howler for years. In fact, all sorts of hollering, yelling and cussing was going on in my house for the big game Wednesday night. When the Terps won 79-72, there was great joy here at Howler Acres. I feel certain most of you heard it from your houses.
In College Park, however, the big win celebration ended up in unruly revelling and rioting that might result in some expulsions from the University of Maryland. The AP picked up the story and some very embarrassing pictures. Most universities don’t take kindly to being made to look like a thug school. PG County police in riot gear and on horses tried to control a disorderly mob after the UMD win.
What a shame that joy has to be expressed by burning trash cans, cars and other things. Mob mentality is unacceptable. Most of the rioters are students although townies and some high school kids were in the mix, hoping to find a good party.
COLLEGE PARK, Md.—Police say they arrested 28 people when a rowdy celebration got out of hand after No. 22 Maryland beat No. 4 Duke in college basketball.
Police say those arrested face charges ranging from civil disturbance to destruction of property. Campus police say smaller groups there set a tree and trash cans ablaze.
Police say 23 of those arrested were students. One officer and four of those arrested had minor injuries.
Prince George’s County police Cpl. Larry Johnson says about 1,500 people poured onto a main road near Maryland’s campus after the Terrapins won 79-72 Wednesday night.
TV footage showed officers on horseback dispersing the crowd and police in riot gear patting down young men. Johnson says some threw snowballs and ice at police.
PG police arrested 28 and video tapes will be reviewed to identify other violators. Those found to be rioting face suspension or possibly expulsion from college. Alcohol was considered a major fact in this out of control behavior. Those who were present at the riots were interviewed on TV tonight. Naturally they were doing nothing and had to whine about ‘police brutality.’ Yawn.
The smart thing to do when mob mentality is ruling is to walk, very quickly, away in the other direction. A few hundred students have embarrassed their university, the alumni, and fellow students who cheered their team on and didn’t turn into cavemen over a much deserved win. Those rioting should be expelled.
Political asylum in the United states is usually granted when a person feels he or she may be persecuted or have a well-founded fear of imminent persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. We think of political asylum being granted to avoid torture, imprisonment, physical harm. We do not, as Americans, think of giving political asylum to avoid going to private or public school.
A Tennessee judge has granted asylum to a German couple and their children so the couple may home school their children. German is one of the few European countries that enforces compulsory attendance in a recognized school. According to Yahoo News:
The Romeikes are not your typical asylum seekers. They did not come to the U.S. to flee war or despotism in their native land. No, these music teachers left Germany because they didn’t like what their children were learning in public school – and because homeschooling is illegal there.
”It’s our fundamental rightto decide how we want to teach our children,” says Uwe Romeike, an Evangelical Christian and a concert pianist who sold his treasured Steinway to help pay for the move.
Romeike decided to uproot his family in 2008 after he and his wife had accrued about $10,000 in fines for homeschooling their three oldest children and police had turned up at their doorstep and escorted them to school. “My kids were crying, but nobody seemed to care,” Romeike says of the incident
Good news! I just received the following from Delegate Jackson Miller:
Today, Governor Bob McDonnell announced that he will undo the freeze to the Local Composite Index that former Governor Tim Kaine proposed before he left office. Prince William County, Manassas City, and Manassas Park City Schools would have suffered greatly had he not made this bold move in support of our schools throughout the Commonwealth. I applaud Governor McDonnell for his leadership and thank him on behalf of our community.
Below is the press release from the Governor’s office:
Governor McDonnell to Undo Proposed Freeze of Local Composite Index
-Introduced Budget Froze LCI for First Time –
Governor Identifies Savings to Allow for Annual Update to Index
RICHMOND - Governor Bob McDonnell announced today that he will support updating the Local Composite Index (LCI), the formula which determines state and local education funding responsibility, in the upcoming budget. The move will mean another proposed change to the introduced budget, which froze the LCI at its current level. The LCI has historically always been adjusted every two years to account for changing local economic conditions. The proposal to freeze the Index was unprecedented, and would have cost certain localities in Northern Virginia $128.3 million in state education funding.
Speaking about his decision, Governor McDonnell stated, “For nearly forty years, the Local Composite Index has been an impartial means by which to determine state and local responsibility for education funding in Virginia. The application of this Index has always been done in an objective manner, using the most recent fiscal data to most fairly apportion state resources. For many school districts, particularly in Northern Virginia, the biennial update of the Index has meant far less funding from the state than that received by school districts in localities experiencing lesser rates of economic growth. Accordingly, I will not support the proposed freeze in the budget introduced by the previous Administration. The Local Composite Index must be applied to all localities, at all times, in the same objective and fair manner by which it has always been utilized.”
McDonnell continued, “The decision to continue to update the Local Composite Index is one that I reached after extensive meetings with my finance staff, legislators, and local government officials. I thank all these individuals for their input and thoughts during the process. Ensuring that we have a fair formula that is implemented without regard to temporary or political considerations is the best means by which to appropriate education funding in the Commonwealth. Every time the Index is readjusted some school systems gain funding, while others receive less. This has occurred for nearly forty years, and local officials understand the routine and objective biennial implementation of the Index.”
In announcing his decision to undo the proposed freeze of the Index, McDonnell also identified specific budget savings to account for the additional state spending required. The update will cost the state $29 million in FY 2011. To cover this increased funding, McDonnell will recommend to the General Assembly the transfer of $13 million from Literary Fund balances; $8 million through the use of available balances in the Health Insurance Fund to reduce state health insurance premiums; $5.2 million will be found in Real ID savings and an available $3 million will be captured in additional Non-General Fund balances. Budget recommendations will continue to be made and communicated to the legislature in the coming days.
A big thank you to Jackson Miller for the notification. He knew some of us here were clamoring for Governor McDonnell to remove the freeze. Also a big thank you to Poor Richard for raising the level of concern here on this blog.
Apparently Anne Frank is not welcome in Culpeper County Schools. In fact, this version of Anne Frank, ”The Diary of a Young Girl: the Definitive Edition,” has been banned from being taught in the classroom, based on the complaint of one parent. Culpeper County Public Schools, like most school systems, has a process by which books with complaints are screened and evaluated. The process was not followed in this case.
“The Diary of a Young Girl: the Definitive Edition,” which was published on the 50th anniversary of Frank’s death in a concentration camp, will not be used in the future, said James Allen, director of instruction for the 7,600-student system. The school system did not follow its own policy for handling complaints about instructional materials, Allen said.
The diary documents the daily life of a Jewish girl in Amsterdam during World War II. Frank started writing on her 13th birthday, shortly before her family went into hiding in an annex of an office building. The version of the diary in question includes passages previously excluded from the widely read original edition, first published in Dutch in 1947. That book was arranged by her father, the only survivor in her immediate family. Some of the extra passages detail her emerging sexual desires; others include unflattering descriptions of her mother and other people living together.
Allen said that the more recent version will remain in the school library and that the earlier version will be used in classes. The 1955 play based on Frank’s experiences also has been a part of the eighth-grade curriculum for many years. The diary’s “universal theme, that there is good in everyone, resonates with these kids,” Allen said.
The Washington Post was able to outline the complaint process that normally takes place:
Culpeper’s policy on “public complaints about learning resources” calls for complaints to be submitted in writing and for a review committee to research the materials and deliberate, Allen said. In this case, the policy was not followed. Allen said the parent registered the complaint orally, no review committee was created and a decision was made quickly by at least one school administrator. He said he is uncertain about the details because he was out of town.
“The person came in, and the decision was made that day . . . and that’s fine. We would like to have had it in writing. It just did not happen,” Allen said.
Why would an administrator not follow county policy and make such a determination for the entire county? Why doesn’t the director of instruction immediately override the wimpy principals and put the book through the normal complaint process? The Diary of Anne Frank has been read by more people than any book other than the bible. according to some sources. It has been translated into many multiple languages. Very few complaints have been lodged against it.
In most cases, parents who are uncomfortable with teaching materials are allowed to remove their child from being taught the material in question or alternate materials are selected. Why would one parent be allowed to make learning decisions for everyone else’s child in the county. Culpeper County needs to re-evaluate this decision and follow its own rules.
Bullying is a serious problem in the United States. It has always been around on playgrounds, at schools, and in the neighborhood. However, with the widespread use of the Internet, bullying has become more pervasive and yes, virulent. Verbal taunts and physical threats became a way of life for one young immigrant girl. 
Duke (#4) is a big rival of UMD (#22). I have heard about the Duke Flukes from Mr. Howler for years. In fact, all sorts of hollering, yelling and cussing was going on in my house for the big game Wednesday night. When the Terps won 79-72, there was great joy here at Howler Acres. I feel certain most of you heard it from your houses. 
