Free Republic

The 60 percent of parents who believe teacher pay increases should be tied to student performance also get no recognition. The PTA marches in lockstep with the school employee unions, particularly the National Education Association, which opposes performance incentives. Many parents are shocked to discover that the PTA president is an NEA member and the PTA received rent-reduced office space from the NEA for 15 years. Instead of addressing issues that help poor kids trapped in failing schools, the PTA sentences them to failing schools by opposing vouchers and supporting barriers to effective charter schools. The Ohio PTA is party...

Can America's schools teach history? The question ought to be ridiculous -- of course they can. What do we pay them for? History is as essential as reading and writing to a republic of free citizens. America's schools have always taught America's history. Unfortunately, there's a lot of evidence that our schools are doing a poor job of it. Results of the 2001 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed that 57 percent of high school seniors scored below the "basic" level of history achievement. And "basic" isn't impressive. The test-makers believe that students should achieve the "proficient" level, but only...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Following up on plans outlined in President Bush's annual address to the American people, a Pennsylvania lawmaker formally introduced a new program Wednesday encouraging public schools to test students for drug use. The $23 million testing plan, targeted at grades 8-12, would not be mandatory, but parents who do not want their children to participate would have to opt out. It is sure to draw critics who argue the pilot program will invade student privacy. But Rep. John Peterson, R-Pa., said efforts to get youngsters off drugs far outweigh any concerns over their privacy. ''This is about...

Most voters don't normally associate Parent Teacher Associations with partisan politics. Unfortunately, the Fairfax County Council of PTAs has been taken over by a group that puts their political agenda ahead of all other educational considerations. ... Given the FCCPTA's decision to engage in political mudslinging, the ball now rests with the IRS, and an investigation of the group's tax-exempt status is now overdue. However, the FCCPTA may also be facing another, more ominous threat. Because of their political activities and high fee structure, a number of their subordinate PTAs are openly talking about leaving the FCCPTA umbrella and joining...

Please goto http://www.protectfairfaxschools.org/guide/school_summary.htm online and view the school board candidate ratings. Rita S. Thompson, Stephen M. Hunt and E.J. Hurley are Republicans and got rated BOTTOM OF THE CLASS. Ilryong Moon, Janet S. Oleszek and Lynn G. Terhar are Democrats and got rated TOP OF THE CLASS. The Democrats on the school board were the ones who hired the Superintendent Dr. Domenech. Our local school PTA newsletter contained a full-page free advertisement of this website telling parents to check it out to find out who is pro-school and deserves the vote. What I need urgently is FREEpers to go visit...

<p>"It's done," Southeast Polk District Superintendent Thomas Downs said Thursday morning.</p> <p>After receiving complaints from parents in his district, around Iowa and across the country, Downs canceled a new policy that prohibited students at Willowbrook Elementary School in Altoona from talking during lunch.</p>

<p>Lunch period at Willowbrook Elementary School in Altoona was quiet enough Wednesday to hear the crunching of potato chips and the slurping of juice through tiny straws. In the background, classical music played.</p> <p>The Southeast Polk school district is trying something new this year: silent lunch.</p>

BERGEN NY-- Police have accused a PTA president of giving marijuana and wine to his 14-year-old daughter and her underage friends. James Howard, 42, was charged Thursday with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child and four counts of unlawfully dealing with a child. The longtime president of the Byron-Bergen Central School PTA gave his daughter and two others a small amount of marijuana as he drove them around April 11, said Sheriff’s Investigator William Ferrando. A fourth girl in the car refused to smoke it, he said. After they returned to his home, Howard gave all four...

<p>Fairfax County parents, upset about a school district plan to administer a sex survey to high school sophomores and seniors, are asking the county's Board of Supervisors, which is paying for the study, to quash the questionnaire.</p> <p>"The schools are getting out of control," said Karen Budd, an Oakton mother of two. Her younger child attends a public middle school and her elder child attends a private Catholic high school. "They are assuming parents' responsibilities, and parents are letting them," she said.</p>

<p>A former PTA president was convicted Wednesday of providing alcohol, hiring a stripper and allowing drugs at a birthday party in April for her 16-year-old son and his friends. All the boys are Capital High School students.</p> <p>Joan Boysen, 47, of Olympia admitted in court that she had organized the party at her family's summer cabin in Hoodsport.</p>

Groups call for tax hike on top earners To help preserve human service programs in next year's state budget, a broad coalition called upon lawmakers Monday to embrace legislation that would increase state income taxes collected from the most wealthy Californians. In a Capitol press conference with more than 100 in attendance including union representatives and advocates for the poor participants stood behind a controversial proposal by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton of San Francisco that would temporarily increase personal income taxes on the top 2 percent of California wage earners. Aimed at partially bridging the state's $23.6...