Moonhowlings

School officials in Prince William County were blindsided on Monday with a letter from the ACLU threatening a lawsuit over Internet filters on gay and lesbian sites.  According to the Gainesville Times:

The letter, signed by Rebecca Glenberg and Joshua Block of the ACLU of Virginia, states that the school system is blocking gay support group sites in violation of students’ First Amendment rights.

The issue is filtering software that blocks access to, among other sites, the Gay Student Alliance Network, Day of Silence and It Gets Better.

“The Prince William County Public Schools do not have a legitimate pedagogical basis for censoring students’ access to these websites, which provide support and resources for LGBT students and gay-straight alliances,” states the letter.

PWC Spokesman Ken Blackstone had the following to say on the subject, in the same article:

“The ACLU is making some claims and we’re reviewing them to see if they’re accurate and to see how we can respond to that,” he said. “They bring up important points.”

Blackstone said the school system is required by federal law to use Internet filtering software to keep students and staffers from looking at inappropriate content at school.

The school software, Blue Coat Filtering, filters 32 different categories.  It doesn’t distinguish between appropriate and inappropriate.  Generally, if students or staff believe something is being filtered that is acceptable for use, there is a process by which the site can be reviewed and unlocked.  Mr. Blackstone said that no such request, to his knowledge, has been submitted for  review  of the sites for student appropriateness. 

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Anything to get re-elected

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.

But I digress….

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I guess the BOCS showed Dr. Walts. Apparently many of them think he is getting too big for his britches.

From the Washington Post:

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors postponed accepting and budgeting federal stimulus funds for school jobs Tuesday, halting Superintendent Steven L. Walts’s effort to hire 180 more teachers by next month.

“We always respect and honor the decisions of our governing bodies,” Walts said in an e-mail. “While our preference is to have the new teachers in place for this year in order to positively affect our students’ learning as soon as possible, we will postpone our plans. . . . For the thousands of students who will not have the additional teachers this year, I am extremely disappointed.”

Class size will continue to be a problem as long as the budget is tight. The BOCS, however, hit a double. They got to show Walts who is boss, or in their case, who ultimately holds the purse strings. In addition, they all got to show that they wanted to ‘cut spending,’ even though counties run by smarter leaders will get the money.

Class sizes and the organization of special ed classes will continue to keep PWC Schools from being a world class school system. Walts was hired to create the best learning environment for the children of Prince William County. It seems that he walked on other people’s turf while attempting to do what he was hired to do.

The children of PWC will be in overcrowded classes while Walts gets taught a lesson and the BOCS can crow to their constituents that they voted down spending.  And whoever gets the money that would have gone to PWC Schools is laughing all the way to the bank while they use our stimulus money to pay salaries, benefits (including VRS) for additional teachers. 

Prince Billy Bob strikes again. 

Full Story from the Washington Post

Talk to anyone and they will be telling you that kids in PWC will be going to school until the 4th of July.  People are questioning why there is no school on Monday.  Don’t these kids have to make up the missed time?  No. Not yet.

There were 2 built in days.  Those are gone.  There have been a total of 10 days used.  3 in December, 2 for the 6 inch snow and 5 for last week.  I count ten used.  PWC kids can miss 7 more days before the doom and gloom of July 4th according to the PWCS website:

Explanation of “Snow Days” in PWCS 

State law mandates 180 days of school but allows for school divisions to make up missed teaching days by providing students with instructional hours equivalent to the missed days to meet the minimum 990 teaching-hour requirement. In PWCS, we have additional days built into the calendar (two this year at the middle and high school level, and one at the elementary school level) but we also provide more than the minimum time of required instruction with a six-hour school day. This provides adequate time to meet the state minimum number of teaching hours if school is closed for an extended number of days. This allows for up to 15 additional days for all students after the use of the “built-in” days

It seems hard to believe but that’s the nuts and bolts of it. The kids of Prince William have dodged the bullet.

[UPDATE: Ms. Lucas has clarified some of the questions posed in the post. See her comments below.]

On December 3, 2009, PWCS announced the resignation of Neabsco District School Board member Julie Lucas, effective December 31. Ms. Lucas was a dedicated board member who appeared to have the best interest of all PW kids on the front burner. She was accessible and was highly regarded by parents, staff, and administration.

Ms. Lucas cited care of her father as the reason for her departure and she did indicate she would be leaving Virginia to help her family. If she is leaving Virginia, how can she serve on the Governor-Elect’s Education Workgroup? Are we the public missing something here?

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 From the Supervisor of Community Relations Office, Prince William County Schools:

On December 16, the Prince William County School Board approved the framework for a “Teacher Incentive Performance Award” (TIPA). This would provide a potential monetary stipend for all school-based, certificated employees included in site-based budgets at schools that meet specific eligibility requirements that will be developed later. The TIPA would be implemented beginning with the 2010-11 school year, subject to the availability of funding.

Work will now begin in developing criteria that meet the requirements set forth in the soon-to-be-released “Teacher Incentive Fund” grant program, a component of the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Receiving such a grant would be essential for Prince William County Public Schools to successfully implement this initiative.

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