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Actor Sir Ian McKellen has revealed he is to tour Britain's schools preaching about gay tolerance. The openly gay star, who is best known to youngsters as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings blockbusters, wants to encourage other homosexual men to go back to their former schools and lecture pupils on homophobia. Revealing his campaign in gay magazine Attitude, Sir Ian said: 'I’ve been busy at quite a few schools recently. I went to a wonderful co-ed faith school in Harpenden. 'They were Christians and absolutely determined that their pupils did not discriminate. They invited me to come and...

WICHITA, KN -- A lawsuit boiling in Wichita, Kansas over an English-only policy could have major ramifications for a Catholic school. Saint Anne's Catholic school, its principal, the church and the diocese are being sued for implementing an English only policy at school. When some students refused to sign a pledge to honor the policy they were expelled and their parents filed suit. Three families are suing alleging that the policy discriminates against those who speak other languages and lawyers for the families say it's racial discrimination and therefore violates their civil rights. The school says the policy was a...

BATON ROUGE -- The state Legislature on Friday wrapped up its second special session during the 2-month-old administration of Gov. Bobby Jindal by completing a full sweep of the governor's proposed package of business tax cuts and $1.1 billion in surplus spending priorities. Jindal and his legislative allies won all the initiatives they set out to accomplish during the six-day session, including a controversial bill to grant a partial tax deduction for private school tuition. Flanked by many members of his supporting team of lawmakers at an evening news conference, the governor framed the results as a positive statement on...

Old Milwaukee Light by: Jeremy Hempel, February 04, 2008 A new report has come out comparing Milwaukee public highschool students and students enrolled in the Milwaukee Parent’s Choice Program. The Milwaukee Parent’s Choice Program or MPCP is a system of private schools available to low-income families (<$35,000) living in Milwaukee. About one in four high school students who live in the region are in the MPCP program boasting over 18,000 students. There are a total of 122 private schools that parents can choose from for their children to attend. Jay Greene, PhD, has conducted a study on the class of...

Baptist Backlash by: Malcolm A. Kline, October 30, 2007 Like cashiered anchorman Howard Beale in the cinematic classic Network, an increasing number of Southern Baptists are mad as Hades about the content of public education and not going to take it anymore. “There are 43,000 Southern Baptist churches across this country,” Ed Gamble, the executive director of the Southern Baptist Association of Christian Schools, says. “There are 42,300 that don’t have a school.” “What if they did?”

COLONIE -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer revealed today his next budget will feature a return to his pitch to give $1,000-per-student income tax deductions for parents who send their children to religious and private schools. The governor's commitment came in a speech to the New York State Coalition of Independent & Religious Schools. His plan drew applause from the 200 representatives at a conference here. Spitzer said the budget he unveils in January will be "difficult" to plan because of a looming $4 billion deficit. But he promised to propose the $1,000 income tax deduction, and said the state will come...

I've been discussing the ineptitude of our Public School system versus the Private School sector with a colleague of mine, and he seems to think that only Government (Public) schools do it better. All I get is, "what about the low-wage earners; what about the special-needs kids; why should only the affluent get to go to Private Schools (the typical Liberal response). Does anyone know where I can get info regarding the (1) cost of Private vs. Public, and; (2) the academic comparison between the two (i.e., dropouts rates, grades, etc.). Thanks for your input, Scott

Leaders of La Brew Troopers Military University School, a military-style private school at 4055 N. 34th St., have been ordered by the state Department of Public Instruction to stop serving some students smaller lunches as a punishment for misconduct. In a letter dated May 21, Helen Pesche, child nutrition program consultant for DPI, said the state will withhold any further payments for lunch and breakfast programs for low-income students until that practice and others related to the food program at the school are halted or corrected. The letter, addressed to Shan Owens, who leads the school, says that inspections at...

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Those who have experiences...Any idea how to start a new private school where character and integrity counts and be taught?

The Arizona State Legislature adjourned Wednesday, June 21 on matters surrounding the state budget, after numerous negotiating sessions between Democratic Governor Janet Napolitano and leaders of the nominally Republican Legislature. Among the agreements made during the 164-day session was a $5-million budget for new school voucher programs that enable disabled and foster-care children to attend private schools with tax money. Napolitano conceded to the Republicans’ voucher agenda in order to win their accord on some of her other educational priorities, including the all-day kindergarten bill. In this bill Napolitano insisted that all-day kindergarten be extended throughout the state, which would...

SAN FRANCISCO -- The California Supreme Court today allowed two Riverside County girls to sue a Christian high school that expelled them because the principal believed they were lesbians. The court unanimously denied review of an appeal by the California Lutheran High School Association, which argued that a religious school has the right to exclude gays and lesbians, regardless of California's anti-discrimination law. Today's action did not resolve that issue but allowed the suit to proceed toward a possible trial. The girls, both juniors at the school in the town of Wildomar, were expelled in September. According to their lawsuit,...

Former Toyota President Shoichiro Toyoda has founded Kaiyo Academy, a $175-million school that he modeled after Britain's Eton Academy -- a school that boasts 19 British Prime Ministers among her alumni and the second-in-line to the throne, Prince William. In Japan there is dissatisfaction with the 'dumbing-down' of its curriculum. Four years ago, the government cut 30% of the workload off the elementary and junior high school curriculum. Toyota's Kaiyo academy is attractive for many reasons. 1. It is backed by Toyota. 2. It is focusing on developing kids who can do more than just pass exams. 3. It is...

$10 million spent annually by district for classroom subs... Driven by parental concerns about teacher absenteeism, the Chicago Public Schools for the first time will start scrutinizing schools with high numbers of teachers taking sick days. On any given school day in Chicago, an average of 1,500 teachers, about 6 percent of the teaching staff, call in sick or take a personal day, according to a Tribune analysis of teacher payroll records. The absentee rate is highest on Fridays, when an average of 1,800 teachers don't show... For each of the last six school years, Chicago teachers missed an average...

The New York City teachers union has decided not to stage a demonstration at ABC's offices on Feb. 14 to protest John Stossel's recent 20/20 feature criticizing the public education system, Stossel said in an email to viewers of the show on Thursday. "They are apparently planning something else," he wrote. "Stay tuned." Earlier in the week, Stossel said that he had been scheduled to receive an award from the union's Social Studies Conference "for the oustanding work which you have done for social causes." However, he said, after the broadcast the union wrote a letter withdrawing the invitation and...

With public schools spending more than $100,000 per student on K-12 education, you'd think they could teach students how to read and write. South Carolina is one of many states to have trouble with this. It spends $9,000 per student per year, and its state school superintendent told me South Carolina has been "ranked as having some of the highest standards of learning in the entire country." So let's ask the infamous question, "Is our children learning?" Dorian Cain told me he wants to learn to read. He's 18 years old and in 12th grade, but when I asked him...

(Bridgeport-AP, Oct. 15, 2005 11:20 AM) _ A teacher at Kolbe-Cathedral High School in Bridgeport has been fired for refusing to display an American flag in his classroom. Stephen Kobasa says he's never seen a new diocese policy on the flag in writing. He says displaying the flag violates a deeply held religious conviction that flags are about separation, assertions of superiority and aggression. Kobasa says he offered a compromise in which he agreed to display the flag at the start of the school day so students could say the Pledge of Allegiance if they wanted. Then he would remove...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) _ Catholic churches statewide are planning to blitz Albany like never before with up to 1.5 million postcards calling for a tax credit to offset religious- and private-school tuition. The effort would also provide tax credits for families with children in public schools and for all public- and private-school teachers to offset classroom expenses. Supporters emphasize this isn't a voucher program, in which some states have allowed families to apply government per-pupil funding toward nonpublic school tuition. The proposals would provide a tax credit of up to $3,000 a year for a family with two or more...

A case is set to begin in Birmingham federal court next month for a woman who is suing a Christian school that fired her after administrators learned she was unmarried and pregnant. Tesana Lewis filed suit against Covenant Classical School of Trace Crossings, saying she was unfairly fired. The school contends her unwed pregnancy went against the values and religious principles taught there. Lewis' suit says she was hired at the school on December 6, 2003, where she was to help teach 12- to 20-month- olds. She was fired four days later. Lawyers for the private religious school in Hoover...

(Farmington-AP, Sept. 17, 2005 6:20 PM) _ A special program in Hartford is allowing public school students to attend elite private schools. The idea is to give the students the tools they need to go to college. Officials say only 82 of 790 Hartford students who graduated from high school two years ago went on to college full-time. Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez says it's unacceptable that 70 or 80 percent of students aren't going to college. This is the first year of the multimillion-dollar program to send public students to private schools where officials hope they'll have access to networks...

Sarah Mahnke-Baum, Arthur Register and Julian Brastow became friends at their neighborhood preschool in San Francisco's Cole Valley. But as they march off to elementary school this week, they'll find themselves heading in very different directions. Sarah, the daughter of a public school teacher, will attend kindergarten at a prestigious all-girls private school tucked between Sea Cliff and the Presidio with an annual tuition of $19,000. Arthur, whose family isn't Catholic, will attend second grade at a Catholic school in the Richmond District for $4,500 a year. And Julian will be a first-grader at the free public school just around...

PC types unhappy with Harvard President Larry Summers' candor about women in science may not like any better his thoughtful analysis of a swept-under-the-rug problem with the nation's public schools. That is unfortunate, because Summers is on to something in his concern that public educators, in rightly focusing on helping lower-achieving kids, are dumbing down the curriculum for top courses. In the process, they may be pushing many of the best and the brightest into private schools. Summers did not suggest that such was happening on a widespread scale. Yet the exodus from public schools by many high-achievers whose parents...

Area coalition seeks to cap number of charter schools Residents asked to use postcards to lobby lawmakers By Margo Rutledge Kissell Dayton Daily News DAYTON | About 35,000 Miami Valley residents will receive postcards this week trying to persuade them to urge lawmakers to keep the cap on the number of privately operated charter schools in Ohio. The Coalition for Public Education's direct-mail campaign will target people living in the legislative districts of state Rep. Dixie Allen, D-Dayton, and state Sen. Steve Austria, R-Beavercreek. The postcards and 60-second radio ads also seek to have residents demand more accountability of charter...

More than 70 percent of Bexar County Hispanic voters surveyed in a recent poll favor a pilot school choice program that would allow students to transfer to private schools using taxpayer-funded vouchers. Voucher supporters say the poll results are a battle cry from frustrated parents to legislators that they want more options when it comes to their children's education. Voucher opponents say the survey, conducted by a pro-voucher group partially funded by the U.S. Education Department, contained vague and misleading questions and doesn't reflect the true opinions of Bexar County parents. The poll targeted about 1,000 Hispanics in Bexar, Dallas,...

Academy forced him to leave after learning of Web site he created Three weeks ago an 18-year-old honor student at Trinity Christian Academy was cruising toward graduation. He had already been accepted to a prestigious university, and the final months of high school seemed a mere formality. He was a varsity athlete and a winner of service and citizenship awards at the fundamentalist private school in Addison. He was active in the school theater, was a yearbook editor and helped younger students with Bible study. Trinity Christian was his second family, the student said, and by every indication he was...

SCHOOL BARS TEEN OVER RACIAL HAIR ROW - Jun 21 2004 By Tom Parry A TEENAGER was sent home from school for wearing her hair in braids, even though other pupils are allowed the style for cultural reasons. Jade Fitzjohn, 14, had the trendy plaits done while on holiday in Spain. But back at school, she was told to take them out or be barred. Jade refused so staff excluded her from lessons, saying she could not return until she was braid-free. When she pointed out that two black girls had an identical style, she was told they were allowed...

A popular teacher at a Brooklyn parochial school is in hot water after a sixth-grader stumbled onto his gay personal home page - then got punished in front of classmates. Denton Black was pulled out of his classroom at the St. Mark's Day School in Crown Heights last week after 11-year-old David Brown E-mailed the teacher about a homework assignment and was exposed to the racy Web page. ...The day after David's mother complained to school administrators last week, the boy was forced to stand in front of his class for more than an hour, Greenwood said.

New Forms of School Choice: The Real McKaysSchool Choice Forces Emboldened by Recent String of Judicial and Legislative Victories By Robert Holland Printer Friendly   Email a Friend The fastest-growing voucher program in the land is the McKay Scholarship, which three years ago emerged in the choice-friendly climate of Florida. As of July 2003, more than 9,200 Florida special-education students were using McKays to attend private schools equipped to accommodate them. (Special education is education lingo for  individualized instruction developed  to meet the needs of each student judged to have a disability.) McKays predate the June 2002 Zelman decision. But the...

What if this levy fails?If this operating levy is not approved by the voters on November 4th, the district will make reductions each year until a levy is passed.The reductions for the 2004-2005 school year are as follows: Cut one full-time High School English teacher. Cut one full-time High School Social Studies teacher.Cut one full-time teacher at West Elementary.Cut full-time Middle School Spanish teacher.Cut one full-time classroom teacher at Park Elementary.Cut half-time Tiger Pause teacher at Park Elementary.Cut two half-time reading teachers.Cut one administrator.Cut one custodian.Cut special education instructional supplies, field trips, summer curriculum writing, and professional development.Cut media generalist...

Sentence handed down to school worker who had sex with student By The Associated Press (4/25/03 - HOUSTON) — A 27-year-old female supervisor at a suburban church school was sentenced Friday to 30 days in jail and fined $500 for having sex with a teen student. Lisa Zuniga, who became pregnant as a result and gave birth to a girl in February, had pleaded guilty to an aggravated sexual assault of a child charge in January. Zuniga worked at the Victory Academy, which is a church and a private school in the Houston suburb of Pasadena. The student, who...

Members of Congress will soon have the opportunity to approve legislation that will grant low-income families in the District of Columbia the chance to choose where their children attend school. If every Member of Congress who uses private schools votes to give disadvantaged D.C. families the same access, the legislation will pass. In the past three years, every piece of parental choice legislation would have passed if those who exercised choice in their own families had voted with supporters of school choice. Earlier this year, The Heritage Foundation conducted a survey of Members of Congress on school choice. Of those...

<p>When children at Marva Collins School misbehave, punishment does not consist of writing sentences on the chalkboard. Instead they find themselves receiving Shakespeare: "Today I will not be what I was" from "Henry IV."</p> <p>When students at the school in Milwaukee receive a test score, they are expected to cite "A Midsummer's Night Dream," exclaiming, "Bless me. I am translated."</p>

<p>EUGENE, Ore. -- A lesbian couple alleges that O'Hara Catholic School refused admission to their 4-year-old daughter because of their sexual orientation.</p> <p>The couple has complained to the Eugene Human Rights Commission and the Oregon Child Care Division.</p> <p>One of the women, Lee Inkmann, said O'Hara Principal Dianne Bert told her in mid-August that having a family with two mothers at the school would confuse other children, and that gay unions are in conflict with Vatican teachings.</p>

To Parents with Children in Public SchoolDate: Saturday, August 30 @ 07:12:31 Topic Letters to Editor "I will stand and fight until the end, because I owe it to my country." Dear Editor: This is for all the parents and their children who attend public school. I have gone to public school all my life, until last September when I began private school. The differences are incredible! I will attempt to inform your readers as to what children in the government’s schools are doing every day. Reading, writing, and arithmetic were the three basics every school used to go...

By ROBYN MOORMEISTERSentinel staff writer This high school teacher doesn’t think the U.S. government is playing with a full deck. So she’s printed up her own decks in an effort to prove it. Available locally, the ‘‘Operation: Hidden Agenda" playing cards are Kathy Eder’s answer to the U.S. military’s distribution of its most wanted list card collection — the Bush administration’s unique and portable list of 55 wanted former Iraqi government officials. Eder’s cards are a little different than George W.’s. There are pictures of U.S. government officials, like the four of spades featuring Central Command Commander in Chief Tommy...

Naked City Covering The Bases Some shockingly savvy private-school girls on the sexual politics of hooking up, getting and giving pleasure, and parents who are too hip. By Amy Sohn Nell and Cara are 14-year-old freshmen at a private Manhattan high school, and as I sit down for coffee with them, I am chagrined to find we are wearing exactly the same brands. “Is your watch Red Monkey?” asks Cara, who has a goofy smile and silky brown hair, grabbing my wrist. “So’s mine!” She raises her arm next to mine like we’re Wonder Twins. I notice that Cara’s best...

My daughter began private elementary school this year. Our decision to pay for something not everyone can afford immediately raised painful questions of social and economic class. [snip] Private education doesn't square so well with my liberal, communitarian ideals. But with the state of our public school, I wouldn't dream of educating our daughter any other way.

TIZAPAN, Mexico -- It's been three years since the Ochoa family last ate at a restaurant -- a Chinese buffet at that. A decade ago they made enough money to take a trip to Michigan. They even splurged on a few nights at a five-star hotel. But in the past year, all they could afford was a vacation in the Mexican state of Michoacan -- during the off-season. None of that matters to the Ochoas, who even joke sometimes about their financial woes. What constantly nags Raul and Patricia Ochoa -- Raul tries unsuccessfully to muffle his indignation, and Patricia...

<p>Kamehameha Schools alumni lashed out last night at estate trustees following their decision to offer a non-Hawaiian student admission to the Maui campus, accusing the officials of betraying the promise of Bernice Pauahi Bishop's will.</p> <p>At a three-hour meeting on the Kapalama campus, trustees repeatedly were met by cries of "shame," "resign," and "reconsider." With bright yellow signs, alumni turned the Maui decision — in which trustees said not enough qualified Native Hawaiians applied for spots — back onto the trust administrators: "Trustees resign. You're not qualified."</p>

Thanks, Gov. Bush. ------------------------------------------------ -----Original Message----- From: Jeb Bush To: [summer] Date: Monday, July 08, 2002 2:45 PM Subject: RE: quick question Opportunity scholarship students must take the FCAT grades 3-10. The information on the test goes only to the parent and is not published. Private schools are not graded. The majority of students in private school are using the McKay scholarship. They don't have to take the test. The corporate tax credit students don't have to take the test either. Jeb Bush ------------------------------------------------------ -----Original Message----- From: [summer] Sent: Monday, July 08, 2002 2:18 PM To: Jeb Bush Subject: quick...

<p>DALLAS - Christian Pannek was threatened by his classmates in East Dallas. The 18-year-old's car was vandalized, and his parents' home was egged. He tried to commit suicide twice because of the harassment. He wears nail polish, says that he's gay, and that he wants to be an actor or a lawyer, or maybe both. But he could not cope at his public school any longer.</p>

<p>A private Christian school in Sacramento has expelled a kindergarten girl with only three weeks left in the school year after discovering that her mother makes her living as a nude dancer.</p> <p>Christina Silvas, a 24-year-old single mom who said she had taken up stripping after her 5-year-old daughter's father stopped paying his share of tuition, was told this week by officials at Capital Christian School that her job violates the school's Christian philosophy of living.</p>

Friday, May 17, 2002 Stripper mom: I'm following the BibleMother says high-paying job gives her time to teach daughter values Posted: May 17, 20021:00 a.m. Eastern © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com The mother of a 5-year-old California girl facing expulsion from the Christian school she attends acknowledges her job as a stripper is not one to be proud of, but says her work allows her time to follow the Bible by being a "hands-on" parent. As WorldNetDaily reported yesterday, the mother, Christina Silvas, was called into a conference at Capital Christian School in Sacramento after school officials became aware that she works as a...

NOTE FOR EDUCATIONAL AND DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY. Cyber school to return $225G to 15 districts By MICHAEL LESTER Press Enterprise Writer An Internet-based school did not spend all the money it received the last two years from 15 area school districts. So, the SusQ-Cyber Charter School is returning a combined $225,000 to those districts. "If we don't need it, we don't believe in spending it just because we have it," explained Jim Street, the charter school's superintendent. This year, 114 students in grades nine through 12 are being educated through the 4-year-old cyber school based in Milton. The students take...