http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/publicschools/ en-us Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:14:55 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140488/posts Across South Hampton Roads, thousands more families have signed up for subsid ized school lunches for their children. "It'd be safe to say that has somethi ng to do with the economy," said Jay Ratliff, director of food services for the Virginia Beach school system, which is serving 2,000 more free or reduced-price lunches each weekday than it served last year. In the five cities, the percentage of students getting free or subsidized lunches - generally for 40 cents or less - has risen for two years, with the largest increases this fall. The need extends beyond the school doors. Virginian-Pilot http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140488/posts#comment Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:14:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140182/posts A Fayetteville teacher whose classroom encounter with a young John McCain supporter created a stir on YouTube has confirmed that she was given a disciplinary letter. But Diatha Harris said an internal investigation of her conduct cleared the veteran educator of violating state law or Cumberland County Board of Education policy. Harris, 53, was videotaped in the spring by a Swedish film crew, leading a classroom discussion about the 2008 presidential election with fifth-graders at Mary McArthur Elementary School. During the discussion, Harris called the Iraq war “senseless” and told her pupils that U.S. troops could stay in Iraq for... fayobserver.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140182/posts#comment Sun, 30 Nov 2008 00:36:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140005/posts Why deny Malia and Sasha such gifts as unionized teachers and courses like Transgender Studies? Pajamas Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2140005/posts#comment Sat, 29 Nov 2008 16:21:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139674/posts Why deny Malia and Sasha such gifts as unionized teachers and courses like Transgender Studies? I taught students the same age as Malia and Sasha for a few years in urban Los Angeles. My school was 100% racial minority: 75% Hispanic, 25% African-American. While Sidwell’s exhaustive website notes that the school’s missions include “prizing diversity” and “environmental stewardship,” our motto was simply, “Be respectful, responsible and safe.” I made sure my students abided by that credo. Since it would be a shame for Sasha and Malia to miss out on all the “benefits” of public schooling, here are some recommendations... Pajamas Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139674/posts#comment Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:18:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2138389/posts Protesters descended Tuesday on Condit Elementary School in Claremont, tersely arguing over the construction-paper pilgrim and Native American costumes worn by kindergartners at a decades-old Thanksgiving tradition. Police were called to the school when tensions rose. Officers also were monitoring Claremont Unified Supt. David Cash's home after he received hate mail and told police that he feared for his safety. "It's been wild," said one woman who worked at the school. She declined to give her name because she wasn't authorized to speak on behalf of the school. Cash and Condit Principal Tim Northrop did not return phone calls or... LA TImes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2138389/posts#comment Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:06:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137889/posts Political Correctness Claims Another Victim: 40-Year-Old Kindergarten Thanksgiving Celebration Killed by Political Correctness Gone Wild "Racist" children celebrate Thanksgiving by "dehumanizing" American Indians In yet another case of political correctness run amok, a forty year history of kindergarteners dressed as pilgrims and native Americans celebrating Thanksgiving at school has been quashed in Claremont, California, due to four people who complained the celebration used "racist stereotypes" which were "dehumanizing". According to the Los Angeles Times, parents of kindergarteners are "furious" over the Claremont School Board's decision to ban the kiddies wearing costumes after one mom, Michelle Raheja, an English professor at... DBKP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137889/posts#comment Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:33:48 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137780/posts A Petaluma high school teacher was arrested Saturday morning after allegedly setting up an illicit date with a person he believed was a 15-year-old girl, police and prosecutors said. Scott Eugene Dietlin, 34, a teacher at Casa Grande High School, was arrested in San Mateo on Saturday after allegedly showing up for a date with "Jackie," a teenage persona created on MySpace by two teen boys, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. The 15-year-old San Mateo County boys posted the online profile as a joke, Wagstaffe said. When Dietlin allegedly contacted "Jackie" in April, the boys... Bay City News Service http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137780/posts#comment Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:18:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137785/posts A Millbrae high school teacher who was arrested after installing a video camera in the ceiling of a girls' restroom at the school was sentenced this morning to two years in state prison, San Mateo County Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. David Lista, 36, will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and was ordered to pay $6,700 in restitution to the San Mateo Union High School District, Wagstaffe said. Lista, a Belmont resident who taught English and leadership at Mills High School, pleaded no contest on Aug. 28 to felony... CBS5 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137785/posts#comment Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:26:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137752/posts CLAREMONT - Audience members at the school board meeting argued among themselves about whether elementary school students should dress in costume for a Thanksgiving feast. "The Thanksgiving story has been disproved as a myth," parent Diana Linden told the Claremont Unified school board on Thursday night. The board meeting - held for the first time in new district offices at 170 W. San Jose Ave. - was packed with opinionated people on both sides of the issue. The audience cheered loudest for speakers in favor of having the feast in costume. One parent told the school board not to be... The Inland Empire Daily Bulletin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137752/posts#comment Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:20:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137430/posts Can Barack Obama bring change to American education? The answer is: Yes he can. The question, however, is whether he actually will. Our president-elect has the potential to be an extraordinary leader, and that's why I've supported him since the beginning of his campaign. But on public education, he and the Democrats are faced with a dilemma that has boxed in the party for decades. Democrats are fervent supporters of public education, and the party genuinely wants to help disadvantaged kids stuck in bad schools. But it resists bold action. It is immobilized. Impotent. The explanation lies in its longstanding... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2137430/posts#comment Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:21:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2137365/posts A few months ago, Barack Obama told a gathering of the American Federation of Teachers that he opposes private school choice programs, adding: “We need to focus on fixing and improving our public schools; not throwing our hands up and walking away from them.” It’s not clear whether or not the president-elect will be able to fix our public schools, and I don’t know if he’s thrown up his hands, but he and his two daughters have just walked away from the public schools. Again. When they move from Chicago to D.C., Malia and Sasha Obama will be moving from... Cato@Liberty http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2137365/posts#comment Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:09:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2137341/posts Can Barack Obama bring change to American education? The answer is: Yes he can. The question, however, is whether he actually will...Democrats are fervent supporters of public education, and the party genuinely wants to help disadvantaged kids stuck in bad schools. But it resists bold action....The explanation lies in its longstanding alliance with the teachers' unions...The Democrats benefit enormously from all this firepower, and they know what they need to do to keep it. They need to stay inside the box. And they have done just that. Democrats favor educational "change" -- as long as it doesn't affect anyone's job,... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2137341/posts#comment Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:47:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136803/posts The proposal for a homosexual school in Chicago has been withdrawn, but a pro-family advocate believes it will be submitted again next year. Social Justice Solidarity High School was supposed to be a safe haven for homosexual youth and would have featured homosexual-friendly curriculum, but the school ran into opposition from both sides. Pro-family advocates opposed the use of taxpayer money to fund the school, while some homosexual groups opposed the school because they claimed it amounted to segregation. (See earlier story) Laurie Higgins, director of school advocacy at the Illinois Family Institute, says proponents of the school had watered... OneNewsNow http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136803/posts#comment Sun, 23 Nov 2008 04:41:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136609/posts An elementary school cafeteria worker and playground monitor, who had an extensive career in the adult entertainment industry, is becoming a New Jersey school district's legal nightmare. Some parents in Vineland, N.J., as well as the board of education president, want Louisa C. Tuck fired, but district officials were advised by their lawyers and those from the New Jersey School Board Association they have no legal grounds to terminate the 32-year-old from her $5,772-a-year part-time job as an aide in the lunchroom and playground, The Daily Journal reported. "We have no real legal stance or legal right to do anything... Fox News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136609/posts#comment Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:04:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2135450/posts The most telling appointment Barack Obama has made since becoming President-elect has nothing to do with his Cabinet or senior advisors. It was the family appointment last week with Georgetown Day School, a private grammar school in Washington D.C. to which the Obamas are apparently considering sending their two daughters. I applaud Obama's commitment to the education of his daughters, choosing to send them to the best schools. It is just too bad that Obama opposes extending that choice to families whose children are relegated by geography and by income to schools he knows and everyone knows will fail them.... Urquhart Media, LLC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2135450/posts#comment Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:27:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2134304/posts CHICAGO - Planners of Pride Campus never shied away from touting their proposed high school as a haven for gay youth seeking refuge from sometimes hostile traditional classrooms. But under mounting pressure from ministers and gay activists alike, the name has changed and the focus broadened to create a school that would be one of the nation’s largest to serve any students victimized by bullying and harassment. If approved by the country’s third-largest school district Wednesday, the Social Justice Solidarity High School would join several smaller U.S. campuses aimed at serving students who have been tormented for everything from their... WHEC-TV / The Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2134304/posts#comment Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:18:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2134050/posts Will Barack Obama, a man of the people, entrust his daughters' education to the Washington, D.C., public school system? This is doubtful. And no one should criticize him if he didn't. Washington, D.C., and Chicago are teeming with parents who long to send their children to private or parochial schools. The difference between the Obamas and these other families is that the Obamas have money and power. Another difference is that Obama would deny these other families the same type of educational options his family has. For Obama opposes school choice. He says it weakens public education. He says this... Manchester Union Leader http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2134050/posts#comment Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:18:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2133757/posts America’s Schools Need Upgrade by: Irene Warren, November 17, 2008 Veteran educator Tony Wagner presents a cogent argument in his new book entitled, The Global Achievement Gap, in which he argues that American schools, both public and private have missed the mark when it comes to teaching our children the survival skills needed in order to obtain gainful employment. Wagner, who is also the co-director of the Change Leadership Group at the Harvard Graduate School of Education makes no bones about it: change the way we teach our children, or the “net generation,” as he calls them, will be playing... Campus Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2133757/posts#comment Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:43:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132894/posts No one's sure when daily recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance fell by the wayside at Woodbury Elementary School. But efforts to restore them have erupted into a bitter dispute in this tiny (pop. 810) Vermont town, with school officials blocking the exercise from classrooms amid concerns that it holds nonparticipating children up to scorn. Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132894/posts#comment Sun, 16 Nov 2008 03:32:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132696/posts Now that Barack Obama has won the Presidential election, he has some personal choices to make when he moves his family to Washington DC. One of the most important choices they will face is where to send their daughters to be educated. However, the liberal hawks have already swarmed in: Bobb and Lord have ludicrously urged Obama to send his daughters into the “trenches” of D.C.’s public school system. They write that “no private option offers President-elect Obama a personal reality check on the No Child Left Behind mandates he campaigned to reform. Public school parents see test-prep squeezing out... PolicyInAction.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2132696/posts#comment Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:12:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131422/posts As the media keeps gushing on about how America has finally adopted tolerance as the great virtue, and that we're all united now, let's consider the Brave Catherine Vogt Experiment. Catherine Vogt, 14, is an Illinois 8th grader, the daughter of a liberal mom and a conservative dad. She wanted to conduct an experiment in political tolerance and diversity of opinion at her school in the liberal suburb of Oak Park. She noticed that fellow students at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for president. His campaign kept preaching "inclusion," and she decided to see how included she... The Chicago Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131422/posts#comment Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:32:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131405/posts We can’t meaningfully address poverty or grow the economy as long as urban schools are failing. Mr. Obama talks boldly about starting new high-tech green industries, but where will the workers come from unless students reliably learn science and math? The United States is the only country in the industrialized world where children are less likely to graduate from high school than their parents were, according to a new study by the Education Trust, an advocacy group based in Washington. The most effective anti-poverty program we could devise for the long run would have less to do with income redistribution... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2131405/posts#comment Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:56:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2130748/posts Barack and Michelle Obama are poised to commit a classic act of limousine-liberal hypocrisy -- in this case, turning their backs on tens of thousands of inner-city kids in Washington, D.C. Public schools, it seems, are good enough for poor and middle-class families, but not for rich families like the Obamas. In July, when he addressed the NAACP's annual convention, Sen. Barack Obama expressed his devotion to American public schools, vowing he would not "walk away from them" by supporting school-choice programs like Sen. John McCain did. "What he's offering amounts to little more than the same tired rhetoric about... Human Events http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2130748/posts#comment Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:00:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2130498/posts JERICHO, N.Y. — For school officials here, the numbers did not add up. Even as enrollment swelled to 3,200, from 2,600 a decade ago, attendance at Parent-Teacher Association meetings shriveled by half. Even as more students got accepted to Ivy League schools, turnout for the guidance department’s information nights was so anemic that counselors cajoled students to come — and bring along their parents. Then teachers and administrators noticed something else: Jericho High School’s 90-member orchestra had become 70 percent Asian-American (the student body over all is about 30 percent Asian-American), but it still played for a mostly white audience... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2130498/posts#comment Wed, 12 Nov 2008 02:40:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128447/posts A Sheridan High School teacher, 27-year-old Melissa Snow, was suspended from her job and free on bail after her arrest Wednesday by Denver police on a charge of having sex with a male student. She posted $50,000 bond on charges of sexual assault by a person in a position of trust and sexual assault with a pattern of behavior. The latter charge resulted from suspicion "that this happened more than once," said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson, who would not elaborate on the details. The tip that led to the arrest was provided by a school employee, but Sheridan police... The Denver Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128447/posts#comment Sat, 8 Nov 2008 04:21:41 GMT