Free Republic

New Jersey taxpayers will have to shell out more than $36 million in coming years to cover school administrator retirement payments as more than 30 school administrators are due six-figure retirement packages, according to a new state analysis. The state initiated the study, and new rules on retirement packages, after it was reported that retired Keansburg Superintendent Barbara Trzeszkowski was due $740,876 in unused sick time and other buybacks. That led to lawmakers to place caps on new contracts. The state Attorney General's Office is trying to get a judge to nullify the payment to Trzeszkowski. Meanwhile, the new numbers...

The state’s largest teacher’s union says teachers who have sex with their 18-year-old students should not necessarily face felony charges. The Washington Education Association filed a “friend of the court” briefing in the state Court of Appeals case of former Hoquiam High School choir teacher Matthew Hirschfelder, accused of having sexual relations with one of his 18-year-old students. “Eighteen- year olds aren’t kids,” union spokesman Rich Wood said. “They are minors. … And should consenting adults be subject to criminal charges? That’s the question behind this case and this law.” Hirschfelder has been charged with first-degree sexual misconduct with a...

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released their annual school report cards this week, and the results show that two taxpayer-financed Islamic charter schools operated by officials of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have failed miserably yet again. But protected by powerful political connections, including Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, and apparently indifferent to their exploitation of the Somali children that comprise the vast majority of their students, the Islamic extremists running the operation appear to have no fear of losing their cash cows. In fact, Ohio educrats have renewed one school’s contract after five...

<p>Autumn Leathers, a Maryland teacher, was arrested Wednesday for an alleged sexual relationship with a student.</p> <p>Leathers, 24, taught English at Mountain Ridge High School in Frostburg, MD, but has been placed on leave and faces termination proceedings. Leathers faces numerous charges, including child abuse, child sexual abuse, and sex offenses.</p>

On June 30, the board of education and the town council in Enfield, Conn., convened to hear the results of a citizen cost-cutting committee. Among its other recommendations, the 17 residents recommended replacing some public school teachers with low-cost college interns, restricting the use of school vehicles, and increasing employee contributions to benefit plans. These may seem modest steps toward fiscal responsibility -- but they are emblematic of a significant change in this very blue state: growing disenchantment with the price of government, especially of public education. [Cross Country] Corbis Over the past two and a half decades, the student...

Barack Obama says he believes in universal preschool and if he's elected president he'll pump "billions of dollars into early childhood education." Universal preschool is now second only to universal health care on the liberal policy wish list.... ..."Advocates and supporters of universal preschool often use existing research for purely political purposes," says James Heckman, a University of Chicago Noble laureate in economics whose work Mr. Obama and preschool activists routinely cite. "But the solid evidence for the effectiveness of early interventions is limited to those conducted on disadvantaged populations."... ...If anything, preschool may do lasting damage to many children....

Imagine for a moment you’re the principal of a Massachusetts high school - say, in Milton or Cohasset - and you get a call from PETA. “We understand,” the caller from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says, “that you’re having a Career Day for the kids and that KFC will be there taking job applications and, well, we just don’t think that’s right. So we want to set up a PETA table telling the kids that meat is murder, that chickens are people too and that working at KFC is morally unacceptable.” What would you do? If you’re...

Islam is using the ideological approach to acculturate its belief system into main stream America. Of course, like most ideologies, Islam is using America’s public schools as its springboard for indoctrinating America’s children. By introducing Islam to students in their mandated curriculums, the next generation of Americans could possibly be pro-Islam in their belief system. However, since Islam is a religion and a political ideology, why is the United States government permitting this indoctrination to occur in America’s public schools? Even though some people promote the idea of the separation of church and state in America, the concept is not...

When classes start Aug. 25 in the tiny Harrold school district, there will be one distinct difference from years prior: Some of the teachers may have guns. To deter and protect against school shootings, trustees have altered district policy to allow employees to carry concealed weapons if they have a state permit and permission from the administration. The 110-student district lies 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth on the eastern end of Wilbarger County, near the Oklahoma border. More than a dozen state legislatures have considered making it legal to carry guns on college campuses, but experts and officials contacted...

A tiny Texas school district may be the first in the nation to pass a law specifically allowing teachers and staff to pack heat when classes begin later this month. Trustees at the Harrold Independent School District approved a district policy change last October so employees can carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings, provided the gun-toting teachers follow certain requirements. Superintendent David Thweatt told FOXNews.com the policy was initiated because of safety concerns. "We have had employees assaulted before by people in the last several years," Thweatt said. "I think that safety is big concern. We...

A federal judge has ruled the University of California can deny course credit to Christian high school graduates who have been taught with textbooks that reject evolution and declare the Bible infallible, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.U.S. District Judge James Otero of Los Angeles ruled Friday that the school's review committees did not discriminate against Christians because of religious viewpoints when it denied credit to those taught with certain religious textbooks, but instead made a legitimate claim that the texts failed to teach critical thinking and omitted important science and history topics. Charles Robinson, the university's vice president for legal...

Canadian teacher, Christopher Paul Neil, 33, is escorted by Thai prison officers after listening to his sentence at the Criminal Court in Bangkok. Neil, arrested in Thailand after an unprecedented Interpol manhunt, was sentenced to three years and three months in prison for kidnapping and sexually abusing an underage boy. (AFP/Pornchai Kittiwongsakul) BANGKOK (AFP) - A Canadian teacher arrested in Thailand after an unprecedented manhunt was jailed for more than three years Friday for sexually abusing an underage boy. Christopher Paul Neil, 33, was seized last October following a campaign by the international police agency Interpol, which had reconstructed a...

Teen Screen Lawsuit Advances: Federal Court Affirms Family’s Right to Sue School for Subjecting Teen to Mental Health Test Without Parental Consent SOUTH BEND, Ind.—A federal court has given the green light to a civil rights lawsuit filed by Rutherford Institute attorneys in defense of a 15-year-old Indiana student who was subjected by school officials to a controversial mental health examination without the knowledge or consent of her parents. In ruling that the lawsuit filed on behalf of Chelsea Rhoades and her parents, Teresa and Michael, may proceed to trial, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana...

The Uniontown Area School Board, as well as concerned citizens and parents, had an opportunity Wednesday to learn about Tasers that will be proposed in the school district and share their opinions on the subject. Even before Don Homer, the director of security for the school district, could show the proposed Tasers to be used and explain how they operate, those attending a special meeting voiced opposition. One resident, Mary Hackney, a teacher at Laurel Highlands School District for 35 years, said she had to break up many fights in her years but no incident required a Taser. "This is...

"I was duped," said Bart G. Anderson, superintendent of the Education Service Center of Franklin County. On July 29, 2008, Franklin County Education Service Center superintendent, Bart G. Anderson -- andersonb@fcesc.org -- was named as a buyer of a bogus doctorate degree in a Spokane Spokesman-Review article. Since then, Mr. Anderson has told the press that in 2002 he paid a $200 partial-payment to "St. Regis University" to apply for admission to its doctorate degree program. The Columbus Dispatch reported that he said "he was surprised when a bogus doctorate arrived instead of admission to an academic program." Whole story...

Campaigning at town halls across America, I am often asked about my plans to reform our public schools. And the answer begins with two points on which most everyone agrees: Every public school child deserves a first-rate education. And too many of our schools are producing second-rate results. Beyond that, the education debate divides quickly into two camps. Some say all that's needed is more taxpayer money, along with more prekindergarten and after-school programs. Others believe that the basic structure of the education system is flawed, and that fundamental reform is needed. You can put me squarely on the side...

OKEECHOBEE - In a move the American Civil Liberties Union is calling "groundbreaking," a federal judge has ruled in favor of students who claimed the school board discriminated against them by opposing their gay tolerance club.

The profound failure of inner-city public schools to teach children may be the nation's greatest scandal. The differences between the two Presidential candidates on this could hardly be more stark. John McCain is calling for alternatives to the system; Barack Obama wants the kids to stay within that system. We think the facts support Senator McCain. "Parents ask only for schools that are safe, teachers who are competent and diplomas that open doors of opportunity," said Mr. McCain in remarks recently to the NAACP. "When a public system fails, repeatedly, to meet these minimal objectives, parents ask only for a...

A pamphlet set to be distributed by the California secretary of state warns voters that if they do not pass Proposition 8 in November to constitutionally define marriage between one man and one woman, thay will face an unexpected consequence: children as young as kindergarten will be subject to mandatory teaching on the virtues of homosexual marriage. Opponents of Proposition 8 are calling the education argument a smokescreen, a scare tactic and a fabrication. Supporters, however, are saying it addresses a reality Californians will face if voters don't stand up and insist on a constitutional, traditional definition of marriage. Randy...

....The original No Child Left Behind law recognized the importance of teacher quality but did not properly emphasize teacher performance in the classroom. The reforms in the District and elsewhere offer a lesson for national policymakers: To best serve our nation's children, Congress needs to fix No Child Left Behind rather than abandon it. Lawmakers can do this by identifying, promoting and rewarding successful teachers; by better targeting professional development; and by strengthening provisions that hold teachers accountable for the performance of their students. Congress should encourage states to develop programs that attract the best and brightest teachers to the...

The long-serving president of New York City's powerful teachers' union was tapped last week to lead the 1.4 million-member American Federation of Teachers - a post from which she'll have ample opportunity to push her education agenda on the national level. "Imagine schools that are open all day and offer after-school and evening recreational activities and homework assistance," she said. "And suppose the schools included child care and dental, medical and counseling clinics." A one-stop nanny state, in other words - owned and operated by Randi Weingarten & Co. Weingarten's push for all-purpose schools is hardly surprising, of course. What...

State school pupils are set to be taught Islamic traditions and values in compulsory citizenship lessons. The move - part of a package of initiatives announced by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears yesterday - is designed to curb extremism. Education campaigners warned however against giving Islam a privileged position over other faiths. Other plans announced by Miss Blears also drew criticism - including a state-funded panel of Islamic scholars and theologians to provide community leadership. Prominent Muslims said this scheme was naive because Government endorsement would erode the credibility of those taking part, especially among the young and disaffected. Another measure...

The head examiner of a British school-examination board, Peter Buckroyd, whose examinations are taken by 780,000 children, recently explained to teachers why a pupil who answered the question, “Describe the room you’re in,” with...

Arguments were heard today in a federal district court case to determine whether a state university system can dictate that private Christian schools in the state teach their college prep courses from exclusively secular, Bible- and God-free textbooks. As WND reported earlier, the University of California system adopted a policy last year that basic science, history, and literature textbooks by major Christian book publishers wouldn't qualify for core admissions requirements because of the inclusion of Christian perspectives. Robert Tyler, who is representing Calvary Chapel Christian School and five students in the case against the University of California, told WND that...

Deploying a long-promised tool to track high school dropouts, the state released numbers today showing that 1 in 4 California students quit school in the 2006-07 school year, including 1 in 3 in Los Angeles. The rates are considerably higher than previously acknowledged but lower than some independent estimates. The figures are based on a new statewide tracking system that relies on identification numbers that were issued to all California public school students beginning in fall 2006. The ID numbers allow the state Department of Education to track students who leave one school and enroll in another, even if it...

A couple of years ago, a student in a Peace Studies course at Ball State, taught by jazz saxophonist George Wolfe, claimed that Professor Wolfe used his class to promote a political agenda, using the classroom to argue against all forms of violence except revolutionary violence, assigning a one-sided text which argued among other things that the word “terrorist” was another term for “guerrilla” and could be applied to the American founders, and offering extra credits and better grades to students who supported his viewpoints

National service mandated by the state is what Europe had for centuries. It was called serfdom. For example, in France, citizens were required to perform public service building and repairing roads and other public projects for hundreds and thousands of hours a year. Serfdom wasn't eliminated in France until the French revolution, one of the "liberty" parts of that revolution. It was largely the American revolution which inspired this escape from serfdom. Indeed, the American revolution was all about escaping from the European model of servitude, with the American's insisting that even very moderate taxation without representation was a form...

Two schoolboys were given detention after refusing to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during a religious education lesson. Parents were outraged that the two boys from year seven (11 to 12-year-olds) were punished for not wanting to take part in the practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped. They said forcing their children to take part in the exercise at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent - which included wearing Muslim headgear - was a breach of their human rights. One parent, Sharon Luinen, said: "This isn't right, it's taking things too far. "I understand that they have to learn...

High school students in the Wahhabi-led school learn that "the Jews conspired against Islam" and Sunni Muslims should shun all Shia Muslims. They also are taught that killing an apostate or an adulterer is acceptable under Islamic law. And polytheists (defined elsewhere as Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and even Shia and Sufi Muslims) likewise can be subject to death for their transgressions. It is troubling enough to consider such lessons being ingrained in the minds of teenagers in Riyadh and throughout the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But the same textbooks are in use in Alexandria, Va., at the Islamic Saudi...

It was supposed to be a party with balloons and a birthday cake but the eight-year-old Swedish boy had not reckoned on his country’s obsession with equality and inclusiveness. Two of his classmates were left off the invitation list – and that, deemed his school – was forbidden and a violation of their rights in the strictest “nanny state” in Europe. The case has been sent to the Swedish parliament and has sparked a national debate about individual liberty. Does a child have the right to invite anyone he wants to a party, even if he risks hurting the feelings...

A brief has been filed in a federal appeals court asking the justices to overturn a judge who ordered a school district specifically to ban the Bible in its policy regarding the distribution of literature to students. WND reported just a week ago when a federal judge declared unconstitutional a Florida law that was used to prevent Gideons from handing out Bibles to students on public property near schools.Now comes another dispute, this one in Missouri and pursued by Liberty Counsel in its request to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. It wants the court to...

A few months ago domestic violence defense expert John McLaughlin of Borders, McLaughlin & Associates sent me a story about teacher Gregory Abbott, whose wife apparently conspired with her boyfriend to frame him as part of a custody dispute. She and her boyfriend planted a shotgun and some marijuana in his car while he was at school teaching, and made numerous fake police reports. Abbott was arrested but, thankfully, the police figured out the ploy and, to their credit, publicly proclaimed the Abbott's innocence. My original blog post is here.McLaughlin recently sent me an update to the case. So...

An estimated 10 percent of middle and high school students in the Delaware Valley School District are infected with a sexually transmitted disease. About two dozen teenage girls in the district have tested positive for pregnancy. And officials say there's one confirmed case of a student with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stepped in to track down students at risk for HIV, since the infected student is reported to have had multiple sex partners in the district, officials say. School officials released the alarming figures in a letter sent home...

When a 15-year-old at Gloucester HS in Massachusetts learned she was pregnant a few months ago, there were no tears. Shown her positive pregnancy test, the girl said simply, "Sweet!" And she rushed off to tell her classmates - 17 of whom are also pregnant, none of them older than 16. The baby boom is the result of what the school principal described last week as a "pregnancy pact." "Some girls seemed more upset when they weren't pregnant than when they were," principal Joseph Sullivan said. "We found out one of the fathers is a 24-year-old homeless guy."

The youth and his lawyer Edward Paltzik say the charges are trumped up. In fact, Paltzik insists that teacher Sharon Cantante, like Gilda Radner's Lisa Loopner on the old "Saturday Night Live" skit, didn't mind getting a few noogies from the boys. "She had this very bizarre tendency to invite students to give her noogies," Paltzik claimed. "This teacher has a history of encouraging noogie behavior." The teen is taking his case to the state Appellate Division. The Mirenberg camp showed a photo of the eighth-grade teacher smiling broadly while absorbing a male student's noogie. The 39-year-old divorcee seems completely...

Saying their son was "silenced" by his teacher for talking about hunting in the classroom, the parents of a fourth-grade student at North Bennington Graded School took their son out of school and have taken their case to the local school board. Jared Harrington's mother, Wendy Bordwell, and his father, Martin Harrington, removed their son from school with 10 days left in the school year and home-schooled the 10-year-old boy. "We are aggressively pursuing Jared's right to free speech," Bordwell said. The couple addressed the local school board Monday night to air their grievance. Bordwell said in a telephone interview...

An Oregon City fourth grader missed her last day of school Friday because she shared a lip cream with two classmates. Madison McFadden attends Redland elementary. She said she didn’t know she was breaking school rules. Madison says it all began the day before school got out when students were cleaning out their desks. Related Content More education news More Oregon news She found a medicated, over the counter, lip cream called “abreva” in her desk. It’s a cold sore medication and can numb up an area. A classmate asked her what it was and wanted Madison to share. She...

The Muslim American Society is a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood, out of which the genocidal terrorist group Hamas emerged. The Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society has been the source of local controversies involving the purported observance of Sharia in public facilities such as taxis based at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society also houses a Minnesota charter school in the Twin Cities suburb Inver Grover Heights. The school is Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy -- named for the Muslim general who conquered medieval Spain. As a charter school, Minnesota taxpayers...

Teachers shouldn't be prevented from discussing alternative views of evolution, global warming and other controversial topics in their science classes, according to a bill backed by some local lawmakers. But some evolution advocates say identical bills submitted in the state Senate and House are "Trojan horse legislation" intended to open the door to allow schools to teach intelligent design -- a belief that life is the result of a creator -- under the guise of academic freedom. Gregory Forbes, a Grand Rapids Community College science professor, said there is nothing in the bills that demand teaching intelligent design with or...

PORTLAND, Ore. - The exclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance from a southwest Portland elementary school's ceremony has proved upsetting for a local mom. Departing fifth-graders at Capitol Hill Elementary usually open their promotion ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance - but not this year. "I was sad," said parent Briana Reese. "The flag was sitting up there, you know. Two of the kids went up and they said 'Everybody rise,' and we rose, and I thought for just a second 'Oh yeah, we're going to put our hands on our hearts and we're going to salute the flag' -...

REDDING, Calif. — A high school principal in Redding, Calif., says there will be no student newspaper next year after its front page featured a photo of a burning American flag. Shasta High School Principal Milan Woollard says the latest issue of the student-run Volcano newspaper was embarrassing and that the paper is finished.

Another New Jersey school principal -- the third educator in a month -- has been indicted on car arson charges in Essex County as prosecutors crack down on suspected insurance fraud. The charges against Amanda Wright-Stafford, principal of the Lincoln Avenue Elementary School in Orange, come as cases of auto insurance fraud are growing nationally, according to experts who blame the souring economy. Wright-Stafford, 51, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted on charges she faked the theft of her 2000 Honda Passport, which was found burning in East Orange in 2006. An indictment handed up in Superior...

River Dell Regional High School was one of three schools statewide to get a grant for its random drug testing program, federal officials said today. The school was awarded $43,100 for the upcoming school year as part of a $5.8 million grant program from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Schools in Hillsborough and Brick also received grants. “It’s another tool to reinforce positive decisions,” said Stephen Schatz, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “It’s really geared toward treatment.” River Dell Superintendent Patrick Fletcher said the money will fund better testing that...

Robert Gilmartin was able to cash out $70,000 in sick days when he retired as schools chief in West Milford in 2005. Now, as the interim superintendent of schools for Passaic County, Gilmartin has to make sure others don't get such sweet deals. All of the 21 county superintendents will have to make sure that any new administrative contracts in local school districts cap sick-time cash-outs at $15,000 — the maximum under a new state law. But taxpayers are still on the hook for big cash-outs afforded by current contracts, including more than $150,000 each for the two top administrators...

A female teacher accused of having a year-long sexual relationship with one of her underage male students surrendered to Margate police on Friday morning. Margate Police say that Christine Jouini, 38, who teaches the 11th and 12th grade at The Center Academy, a private school in Coral Springs, was charged with three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor. Margate Police spokesman Detective Chip Kolenda said the illicit affair was exposed after the former student, who has since graduated and has turned 18, recently confessed the activity to another teacher at the school. The former student said that between...

WESTLAKE, Ohio — A Cleveland-area principal says he is embarrassed his students got proof of their "educaiton" on their high school diploma.Westlake High School officials misspelled "education" on the diplomas distributed this weekend. It's been the subject of mockery on local radio.

The response of California's teachers' union to pro-family attempts to protect home schooling in that state has outraged one attorney who is working on the case. Numerous organizations on both sides of the issue have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the appeal of a California court's ruling that parents have no right to home school their children. But one reaction in particular caught the attention of pro-family attorney Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. "The California Teachers Association ... decided to file an amicus brief arguing before the court that parents should have no right over the education of...

Tonight, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education will discuss a proposal to change its grading policy. The proposal states that 61 percent is the lowest numeric grade a student could receive if he or she gets an "F" letter grade. Currently, a zero is the lowest numerical grade a student can receive. Fractions of points greater than 0.5 will be rounded up to the next whole number, the proposal says, and homework cannot count more than 20 percent of the quarterly grade. "The district's [proposed] grading guidelines prohibit teachers from using grading practices that are punitive in nature...

Three high school seniors have been barred from Bloomington Kennedy High School's graduation ceremony tonight at Target Center because of what the school district is calling a prank involving Confederate flags. Rick Kaufman, a spokesman for the Bloomington School District, said three male students brought the flags onto school property Tuesday morning. He said they were suspended after "carrying and waving" the flags in the parking lot as parents and students arrived at the school. Bloomington Kennedy senior Kellie Rezac is a friend of the three boys and helped organize a protest outside the school earlier today. Rezac said the...

A 12-year-old 6th-grader in Hutchinson, Minn., committed to an unusually brave mission for the month of April: he intended to wear T-shirts with a pro-life message to his middle school every day for a month. His courage, however, was met with resistance. According to the boy's attorney, his principal and teachers told him "not to wear the T-shirts, publicly singled him out for ridicule in front of his classmates, removed him from class, sent him to the principal's office, forced him to turn his pro-life T-shirt inside out, and threatened him with suspension if he did not stop wearing the...