Free Republic

CRANSTON, Rhode Island (Reuters) - A Rhode Island school board voted on Thursday to comply with a federal court order to remove a prayer banner that has been displayed in a public high school for nearly a half century, saying the cash-strapped district cannot face a costly appeal.

CONCORD, Calif. — Instead of beating the bell between classes at Mount Diablo High, senior Charles Campos often finds himself waiting frantically for a chance to use a rare unlocked restroom on the sprawling campus. Relief has been hard to come by since beleaguered Principal Kate McClatchy closed all but one boys and girls' bathroom to the 1,400 students last year. Although McClatchy unlocked a second set of restrooms this week, the dearth of commodes may violate the state's education code. She refused to say why she did it, but district trustee Gary Eberhart said he's been told it's because...

... LBJ high school teacher and coach is charged with delivering a dangerous drug to a student after a parent accused her of giving the morning after pill to the student. Tracy Steinberg, 32, resigned after the allegation surfaced on January 26.... When the student became ill after taking the pills, she told her mother about the situation and the mother contacted AISD police, who began an investigation.

A video created by two Olympia WA High School journalism students intended as a comedy sketch turned into a bigger lesson in the failure of the public school system than they bargained for. In the vein of Jay Leno’s “Jay Walking” sketch series they asked fellow students basic questions about history, geography and current events.

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Bond was set at $23 million Wednesday for a Los Angeles elementary school teacher who allegedly took bondage photos of more than two dozen students in his classroom -- $1 million for each of the 23 counts he faces of lewd acts on a child. The 400 photographs collected by investigators include some showing suspected semen-filled spoons at the children's mouths, a sheriff's investigator said. Mark Berndt, 61, appeared briefly before a Los Angeles judge for his initial court appearance Wednesday morning, represented by a court-appointed public defender. His next court appearance was set for February...

Now we know that computers don't help children learn and that drugs don't help them concentrate, because the establishment mandarins who sold us the computers and drugs have conceded failure. In the January 29 New York Times, [1] a prominent professor of child development shows that attention-deficit-disorder drugs only harm the three million children who take them. One out of 10 American children have been diagnosed with so-called Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and most of them have been medicated. [2] Some months ago, the Times reported that test scores lagged in school districts that invested massively in digital education. [3] It...

LOGAN W.Va. -- It is an instinct for parents to want to protect their children. But some parents in Logan County say their complaints about bullying against their children have gone unanswered. The parent of a student at Logan High School and the parent of another student at Man High School both contacted 13 News about their concerns. However they asked to remain anonymous so that their children would not be made more of a target. "Thursday at school my child's life was threatened," said the parent of a student at Logan High School. She said her son has been...

WASHINGTON, D.C, January 26, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Homeschoolers in the U.S. have marshaled against Obama’s proposal in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday that every state should require that “all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.” The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) has called the proposal ‘shocking’ and has urged its members to fight back with a clear message: “leave education decisions to parents.” The HSLDA is a nonprofit advocacy organization that defends and advances what they say is the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children. “There...

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendant, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker,...

The story is shocking enough, even without bringing race into it: on the way to school in Ocala, FA, a thirteen-year-old girl was beaten unconscious and reportedly went into a seizure after being attacked on the school bus by a group of fellow students. The girl reportedly was riding the bus for the first time. Someone threw a shoe at her, and she threw it back, hitting a student. That's when the beating began. At least seven students surrounded the girl, punched her, held her head to the floor by her hair, and kicked her. The bus driver pulled the...

By the time they leave elementary school, children should be able to “define sexual orientation,” and by the eighth grade be able to “define emergency contraception and its use,” according to a report containing controversial new recommendations for sex education in U.S. public schools. “Ideally, comprehensive sexuality education should start in kindergarten and continue through 12th grade,” says the “National Sexuality Education Standards” report, drawn up by a range of advocates, academics and public education officials. The Future of Sex Education (FoSE), an initiative started by sex education advocates, developed the standards “to create a strategic plan for sexuality education...

A New York City school employee has lost her job over accusations she faked her daughter's death so she could take a vacation to Costa Rica. The Daily News says a school official became suspicious of the forged death certificate. A special investigator's report says it had different fonts that were misaligned.

Third graders in in Gwinnett County, Ga., were given math homework Wednesday that asked questions about slavery and beatings. Christopher Braxton told ABC News affiliate WSB-TV in Atlanta that he couldn't believe the assignment his 8-year-old son brought home from of Beaver Ridge Elementary school in Norcross. "It kind of blew me away," Braxton said. "Do you see what I see? Do you really see what I see? He's not answering this question." The question read, "Each tree had 56 oranges. If eight slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?" Another math problem read, "If Frederick...

St. Louis Today reported: When is the line crossed between better health and surveillance? In early 2012, wristwatch-like devices called Polar active monitors will be used by older students in PE classes at all 18 Parkway elementary schools. District officials say the devices should help improve the students’ fitness and academic achievement. Later this school year, the district plans to collect data about activity levels and even sleep patterns for a week at a time. It will have the students wear the devices round the clock. Some parents and legal experts are raising privacy concerns about at least that aspect...

Police shot and killed an armed eighth-grader who "engaged" officers in the main hallway of his middle school on Wednesday, the South Texas school district said.

Would it bother you to know that the federal Centers for Disease Control had been shown your daughter’s health records to see how she responded to an STD/teen-pregnancy-prevention program? How about if the federal Department of Education and Department of Labor scrutinized your son’s academic performance to see if he should be “encouraged” to leave high school early to learn a trade? Would you think the government was intruding on your territory as a parent? Under regulations the Obama Department of Education released this month, these scenarios could become reality. The department has taken a giant step toward creating a...

They were told to expect a kiss from a 'special someone'. But the joke was on teenagers at Rosemount High School when the mystery lip locks they suspected came from their classmates... were actually from their parents. Now that footage of the cringe-worthy pep rally prank has gone viral, John Wollersheim says as the school principal he owes an apology to everyone who was offended by the incestual display.

Here's a sample of what your kids are learning at school. They're graduating with stockholm syndrome.

It's one thing to claim that nameless, faceless government bureaucrats are overpaid. It's quite another to argue, as Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation and I recently have, that public school teachers are overpaid by more than 50 percent. This is real money, costing state and local governments over $100 billion annually. Our study generated significant, sometimes hysterical, pushback. But our conclusions still stand, and deliver important lessons regarding education financing and reform. The claim that teachers are underpaid rests on a single isolated fact: that on average, public school teachers receive salaries about 19 percent less than private sector...

So my student gets the report card today and quite frankly expects her high 90 gpa to continue. All of the grades I've seen have been high. She wanted to keep her average, each quarter, above a 90 to receive a special award at the end of the year for never having a quarterly average below 90 in the past 4 years. It's a big deal to the kids, I know it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but it's important to them. Two years ago, I found grading errors (averaging and such) and had to complain...

The Albuquerque Public Schools superintendent is speaking out after a seven-year-old autistic boy was handcuffed at school. Maria Quesada spoke with KOB Eyewitness News 4 Monday night and said she was outraged to find her son cuffed at school. Photos showed marks left on his wrists. According to APS police documents, the boy was out of control and unplugging cords from outlets, throwing chairs and kicking a teacher and a police officer at Mary Ann Binford Elementary School. Quesada said she does not think the 4-foot tall, 50-pound boy deserved to be handcuffed. Superintendent Winston Brooks spoke Wednesday afternoon, weighing...

BATESBURG-LEESVILLE, SC (WIS) - Lexington County School District Three is investigating after a first-grader complained about having to rub her teacher's feet. A district spokesperson said the district has launched a full investigation, appropriate action has been taken and the situation has been rectified. But that's not nearly enough for some parents. "She admitted to the children rubbing her feet," said Brenda Norris. "Just the thought of it... They immediately sent her home, but she's back there today." Norris is far from satisfied after her six-year-old granddaughter in first grade came home from Batesburg-Leesville Primary School last Wednesday to say...

Education Secretary Arne Duncan thinks public-school teachers are “desperately underpaid” and has called for doubling teacher salaries. In a new paper co-authored with Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation, I look into whether teachers really are desperately underpaid, or underpaid at all. Jason and I find that the conventional wisdom is far off the truth. At first glance, public-school teachers definitely look underpaid. According to Census data, teachers receive salaries around 20 percent lower than similarly educated private-sector workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says teachers’ benefits are about the same as benefits in the private sector. But both the...

Like the video title says, I don't neccesarily agree but these people are only for indoctrination. VIEWER DISCRECTION ADVISED! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2KMfyNAXlI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

About half of Illinois public high school students flunked state exams in reading, math and science this year, the worst performance in the history of the 11th-grade Prairie State Achievement Examination, statewide test results show. The record-low results, scheduled to be released Thursday, come after Illinois closed loopholes that kept academically weak juniors from taking the exams, a practice revealed in a 2009 Tribune analysis. Some local school officials attributed their declines in part to the larger testing pool that included less-prepared students. At the same time, grade schools posted the highest passing rate in a decade this year —...

On a mission to narrow the academic achievement gap between minorities and whites, the Obama Administration has ordered the nation’s second-largest public school district to cut back on disciplining black students and develop a special curriculum for those who don’t speak English. The orders come on the heels of a 19-month federal “civil rights investigation” that concludes the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has long failed to provide an equal education to the hundreds of thousands of minorities enrolled in its 730 campuses. How exactly? It’s anybody’s guess since the most transparent administration in history refuses to disclose details...

Massachusetts Principal Takes Aim at Fall Holidays, Says They're Insensitive Published October 15, 2011 | FoxNews.com An elementary school principal in Massachusetts has banned fall holidays, saying they’re insensitive, MyFoxBoston reported Friday. Somerville principal: Fall holidays are insensitive: MyFoxBOSTON.com Anne Foley, the principal at Kennedy School in Somerville, Mass., sent an email to teachers warning them about celebrating Thanksgiving, the Boston Herald reported. "When we were young we might have been able to claim ignorance of the atrocities that Christopher Columbus committed against the indigenous peoples," Kennedy School Principal Anne Foley wrote. "We can no longer do so. For many...

A sparse crowd of about 200 heard a panel of Democrat state legislators from Delaware County, Oct. 13, at the Upper Darby Center For Performing Arts describe how public schools in Pennsylvania are doomed unless they get back in charge. The event was sponsored by PA PASS, a public education advocacy group. The initials stand for Parent Advocates for Public Education To Achieve Student Success. On the panel were Sen. Daylin Leach (D-17), Rep. Greg Vitali (D-166), Rep. Margo L. Davidson (D-164), Rep. Maria P. Donatucci (D-185), and Rep. Ronald G. Waters (D-191) along with Michael Stoll, who is communications...

This is the shocking video of two high school girls viciously beating a 14-year-old classmate. In the video, Jillian Salgado can be seen battling to defend herself as she is pummelled and thrown around the Chicago school classroom by her attackers. At one point the teacher can be seen trying to break up the fight - but she was was unable to help and had to rely on security guards to end it

The right kind of homeschooling can give students an edge over their peers at public school, according to a new study in the Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science. Researchers studied 74 kids ages 5-10 who were living in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 37 at home and 37 at local public schools. While the public school kids tested at or above grade level, the students from a structured homeschool tested well above par. Structured homeschooling involves textbooks, trained teachers and formal assessment. It is also the most expensive option. The study also included 12 kids from unstructured home schools, who...

A New York Times column about teachers (link below) appeared in my local paper yesterday, and maybe in yours. Here is the money quote: "But how do we expect to entice the best and brightest to become teachers when we keep tearing the profession down? We take the people who so desperately want to make a difference that they enter a field where they know that they’ll be overworked and underpaid, and we scapegoat them as the cause of a societywide failure." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/opinion/blow-an-ode-to-teachers.html?_r=1 I've seen this spin a lot. (Leonard Pitt wrote the same thing a month or two ago.)...

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina -- Officials in South Carolina are moving a school bus stop that was near a strip club after parents complained. WPDE-TV reports that children had to wait in the parking lot of a strip club in Atlantic Beach to catch the school bus. Misty Umphries, a mother who waits at the stop with her children, says she had to explain to her 4-year-old the meaning of "topless." Horry County transportation director Jim Wright previously said the stop was the central point of four blocks it needed to accommodate. Wright was concerned that moving the stop to...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Oldham County school officials said a Louisville father sent his son to Oldham County schools while he and his son lived in Jefferson County. Charles Lauron, 51, is listed as living at a home in Lyndon. According to a criminal summons, Lauron claimed his son lived at a house in Goshen while he attended school in Oldham County for the past eight years. Lauron faces a criminal charge of theft by deception, which carries up to 10 years in jail if he’s convicted, and a bill for more than $20,000. The case is the first of its...

Since California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 48 into law on July 14, the curriculum for California public schools must include “the role and contributions of…lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans” in California and American history. Already, those on the left are preparing to defend the law in courts, while those on the right are driving petitions to overturn the law by a ballot initiative. Why go to all that trouble? Because the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has jurisdiction over California and a handful of other states, has already made clear that there can be no opt-outs of...

On July 25, 2011, the Miami-Dade grand jury released several sweeping recommendations in a detailed report on the Nubia Barahona case. The murder of 10-year-old Nubia, apparently at the hands of her adoptive parents earlier this year in Florida, was a heinous crime for which the perpetrators should be severely punished...While it is right to conduct a thorough review in the aftermath of tragic events in an effort to prevent similar tragedies, it is also important not to overreact. Unfortunately, the grand jury report overreacts in its recommendations to amend Florida’s homeschool laws because of Nubia’s adoptive parents’ claim that...

The Waterford School District had a problem with one teacher’s “anger management” issues and had concerns about the instructor possibly losing control to the point where there would be a concern about the safety of students, a school official said. What was the solution? The teacher accepted a $100,000 settlement to resign in 2009, according to school documents. Tom Wiseman, assistant superintendent of business and human resources, says this is the only time in the last 20 years that the school has had to reach a settlement with a “non-performing” teacher. Wiseman said the district undergoes methodical reviews in the...

Want to wind up making at least six figures as a public school teacher? Send your resume to Highland Park or Deerfield High School, both in Township High School District 113. The district — which has no teachers union — boasted the highest average teacher pay in the state last school year, at $104,737. More than half of all District 113 full-time teachers — 55 percent to be exact — pulled down at least $100,000 in total compensation, including benefits and extra pay for extracurricular activities. “I would love it if we weren’t number one,” said District 113 School Board...

This sort of thing should send a chill down the spine of anyone who understands what it means for a country to be free or for a school to be public. It never ceases to amaze. Sharia is putting down roots all over the West, in ever more explicit and obvious ways. And bien pensant folks on the Left continue to insist, fiercely and self-righteously, that nothing of the kind is going on — even though it’s happening right under their noses. One of the lastest breathtaking examples: a public middle school in Toronto where Friday prayers are part of...

Earlier this month, the National Education Association held its annual convention in Chicago. This event—often livened up by the NEA’s passionate denouncements of merit pay, homeschooling, and Republicans—ripped a page from the headlines (well, old headlines) by bringing onstage six members of the “Wisconsin 14″ and awarding the group en masse its 2011 Friend of Education Award. The 14, you may recall, found fame in flight, hunkering down in an Illinois Super 8 motel to deny Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker a quorum for his bill that would limit collective bargaining for public service unions. “Not since the Kardashian sisters,” wrote...

California lawmakers on Tuesday sent the governor a bill that would make the state the first requiring public schools to include the contributions of gays and lesbians in social studies curriculum. The bill, passed on a party-line vote, adds lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as well as people with disabilities to the list of groups that schools must include in the lessons. It also would prohibit material that reflects adversely on gays. Democratic Assemblyman Tom Ammiano of San Francisco says SB48 is crucial because of the bullying that happens to gay students. Republicans called it a well-intentioned but ill-conceived...

NORTH POINT, FL (WFLX) - Florida police are investigating a high school principal who hypnotized three students who later died. Dr. George Kenney admitted to hypnotizing a 16-year-old boy who committed suicide one day after a private session. Kenney hypnotized two other students who died tragically; one took her own life and another died in a car crash. Kenney claims the students were happy to be hypnotized. Many were taking part in competitive sports, and, he said, the hypnosis helped them focus.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's watchdog arm plans to look closely at whether the food-service-management companies running many school cafeterias are passing along all the discounts and rebates they receive from their suppliers to the districts that hire them. The audit will begin in August, said Alison Decker, a lawyer in the USDA's office of inspector general. It was triggered in part by a settlement between the New York state attorney general and Sodexo, one of several large companies in the business of running school cafeterias. Last July, Sodexo, a French company with its U.S. headquarters in Gaithersburg, Md., agreed...

Via RCP, when was the last time we had some Chris Christie porn to enjoy? A quick scan of the HA archives reveals nothing since … January? Can it really be that long? I wonder what he’s been doing with himself since then, apart from suffering through the daily deluge of media questions about whether he’s running for president. Ah, right — he was helping to get a “breakthrough� budget passed that’s going to force public employees to contribute more to their pensions and health-care plans, which of course is what makes him the new Hitler. In fact, rest assured,...

A high school chemistry teacher in California was arrested twice this week for helping students huff chloroform and keeping explosives in her lab, cops say. Japhia Smith Huhndorf, 34, was arrested Wednesday after cops found a stash of the highly volatile compound nitroglycerin in her lab, sparking a schoolwide evacuation. Two days earlier, Huhndorf had been arrested and charged with child endangerment for allegedly helping three male teens sniff chloroform off a rag, which causes a woozy high, cops say. During interviews with the teens and the teacher after the earlier arrest, cops learned that there could be explosives in...

Previous research has found evidence of academic benefits to longer school years. This paper investigates one of the many potential costs of increased school year length, documenting a dramatic decrease in youth suicide in months when school is not in session. A detailed analysis does not find that other potential explanations such as economic conditions, weather or seasonal a¤ective disorder patterns can explain the decrease. This evidence suggests that youth may face increased stress and decreased mental health when school is in session....

In Honor of Teacher Appreciation Week I have worked in education for much of my life. I have met with thousands of teachers in great schools and struggling schools, in big cities and small towns, and I have a deep and genuine appreciation for the work you do. I know that most teachers did not enter the profession for the money. You became teachers to make a difference in the lives of children, and for the hard work you do each day, you deserve to be respected, valued, and supported. I consider teaching an honorable and important profession, and it...

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: The New Richmond public school system is getting ready to offer free stuff to homeschoolers—to parents who surrender their freedom. Many New Richmond-area homeschoolers received a letter asking for their input about the school system starting an online academy. Here are three important facts you should consider. 1. The letter implies that your child can be homeschooled and be a full-time student in the public school’s online program all at the same time. This is misleading. When children sign up for a full-time public school at home program, they truly become public school students. These...

A dozen male athletes at Shorewood High School put their best heels forward last week, vying for the chance to become Miss Shorewood. The tongue-in-cheek pageant helped raise funds for the Student Council Sister School project.

The educrats strike again, and make themselves look ridiculous again, according to a 16 year old student identified only as Jessica, who volunteered to do a project at a local elementary school, supplying plastic eggs filled with jellybeans. From MyNorthwest.com: "I went to the teacher to get her approval and she wanted to ask the administration to see if it was okay," Jessica explained. "She said that I could do it as long as I called this treat 'spring spheres.' I couldn't call them Easter eggs.

The Khan Academy has its roots in a series of educational YouTube videos that founder Sal Khan began making several years ago to tutor his cousin. The videos struck a chord among those who came across them, Sinha said. As the videos became increasingly popular, the organization got a big break last fall, when it received a total of about $3.5 million in grants from Google and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The nonprofit Advertisement now has a Mountain View office and a half-dozen staff members. It's still attracting attention -- NBC Nightly News recently featured the program and...