Small, rural schools leader says students don't benefit from consolidation

Rural Teacher Shortage Leads Schools to Grow Own
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 By Alan Scher Zagier, Associated Press (AP) - Chronic teacher shortages and overall lower salaries are prompting a growing number of rural School systems to seek familiar faces to teach their Students. The Ozarks Teacher Corps in southwest Missouri is one such program. Soon-to-be college graduates from Missouri State and Drury universities receive $4,000 annual Scholarships in exchange for a three-year commitment to work in rural School Districts. The new teachers...

Weekly Diaspora: Schools a Minefield for Undocumented Students After DREAM defeat
Its no secret that Anti-Immigrant Activists have a penchant for targeting youth, the most vulnerable of the undocumented set. But the Senate defeat of the popular DREAM Act confirmed the obvious. The war on immigrants is being waged not only along our borders, but within our classrooms as well. But depriving undocumented Students with a pathway to Citizenship clearly wasnt enough. From coast to coast, Anti-Immigrant forces are trying to block undocumented Students from attending...

Creepy Stalkerish Michigan Assistant Attorney General Finally Takes Leave Of Absence...From Harassing Gay College Students
Hooray! The radical GAY Nazi Student cabal wins again! Deviant Homosexuals across the nation have earned the right to openly serve as College Student body presidents without constant harassment by some creepy, nutjob Assistant Attorney General who has an unhealthy, not-in-the-least-bit suspicious obsession with an 18-year-old University of Michigan freshman all for having the sheer audacity to actually feel comfortable in his own terrible, gay skin. But alas, it appears Michigan Assistant...

GR Press Cites Mackinac Center Study on Public School District Consolidation
A School District consolidation study done by Andrew Coulson, Mackinac Center adjunct fellow, was cited Thursday in The Grand Rapids Press . A recent study on the topic from Michigan State University has come under fire for questions of both Plagiarism and methodology .

Detroit Public Schools may have smaller decrease in students
On Wednesday, the date all Michigan schools counted Students in order to determine funding, DPS counted 77,669 Students including 3,144 preschoolers, according to preliminary figures. But about 5,000 Students were not in class that day, DPS estimates showed. If most of those Students show up within the next 30 days with an excuse, district enrollment could hit 82,000, or nearly 80,000 not including preschool. That would mean DPS would log the smallest decrease in Students since at least 2003....

Excerpt: 'The Death and Life of the Great American School System'
A distinguished historian of public Schools in the United States, Diane Ravitch isn't easy to categorize politically. She was assistant secretary of education in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. Bill Clinton appointed her to the National Assessment Governing Board, which supervises national testing. And in The Language Police, Ravitch lambasted educational administrators on the left and right for sacrificing truth, literary quality and disciplinary content in the textbooks...

Philanthropists move to rescue ICEF Public Schools
A group of the city's leading philanthropists, including Billionaire Eli Broad and former mayor Richard Riordan , rallied Monday to save ICEF Public Schools, one of the nation's largest and most successful Charter School companies, which was teetering on financial insolvency. ICEF, which operates 15 Schools in Low-income minority neighborhoods of Los Angeles, was virtually out of cash, unlikely to meet its Oct. 1 Payroll. The nonprofit faced a $2-million Deficit in the current Budget Year as...

Bush Institute hopes to improve training of school principals
The first major initiative of the new George W. Bush Institute will be to create a training program that will provide more qualified principals to the nation's public Schools, officials announced Wednesday. The institute, which will be based at Southern Methodist University, is launching the Alliance to Reform Education Leadership with a pilot program that includes School Districts in Fort Worth, Dallas, Plano, Denver, St. Louis and Indianapolis. The goal of the program is to train half of the...

Censorship Dispute: Texas School District Bans Author
Each winter, Humble Independent School District, located in a suburb northwest of Houston, hosts a literary festival. The all-day celebration of Books, which alternates yearly between a Children's literature and a teen lit event, has quickly grown into one of the nation's leading festivals. Last January's "Peace, Love & Books" gala at Creekwood Middle School featured nationally acclaimed authors and illustrators and drew hundreds of Children and families, despite the damp weather. But this...

Schwarzenegger Makes Free Drinking Water The Law In Calif. Schools
AP California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger OKed a bill that requires School Districts to offer Students free water. We imagine even Michelle Obama would be proud of Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the midst of a nationwide Childhood Obesity epidemic, the California just signed a law requiring free water be made available where food is served in Schools. "With this Legislation, we are turning our goals into action that will help create a healthy foundation for Californias future,"...

Metro Detroit school districts have mixed results on count day
Elsewhere in metro Detroit, other Districts suffering enrollment and funding declines anxiously counted Students and checked their Budgets. Every Student walking in the door on count day means an average of $7,300 lost for a School District. DPS reported 79,758 Students including preschool as of Monday. The District has lost nearly 100,000 Students since 1999 and is facing a $363-million Deficit. Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager for DPS, said unofficial counts show DPS met its...

Calif. law mandates safe water in public schools
Sacramento, CALIF. — The bulk of the state's public Schools will have to provide Students with free and safe drinking water under a new state law. The bill, signed Thursday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, is intended to promote healthy eating habits. Sponsored by Sen. Mark Leno, a Democrat from San Francisco, the law requires that water be available in public Schools' food service areas by next July. Many School Districts don't offer water with meals, despite a recent statewide focus on...

Author 50 Cent Coming to a School Reading List Near You?
Despite the warning on its back cover that it is violent and introspective, a book titled From Pieces to Weight: Once Upon a Time in Southside Queens was on the recommended reading list this past summer for Students of the Rochester, New York, School District. What makes the decision questionable is not just the books content, which includes depictions of gun fights and abundant Profanity of the vilest sort, but its authornone other than convicted felon turned ...

Dist. 211 adopts budget, avoids cuts
The Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board made a few adjustments on Thursday before unanimously adopting a $252.9 million Budget for 2010-11. The Budget is down 4.6 percent from last year, or $12.3 million. District 211 officials project spending $251.1 million for 2010-11, which is down 1.8 percent, or $4.6 million, from last year. The board approved two transfers between funds that differed from the tentative Budget presented in August. The board moved $2 million from its working...

Audit: 49 school districts show signs of financial weakness
Forty-nine of the state's 178 School Districts showed signs of financial weakness in a new state audit released this week. An audit last year found 43 Districts with signs of financial weakness. In the current audit, School Districts overall reported that Property Tax Revenues were down, as was funding from the state. Some also said they were undertaking building projects in the midst of the Recession, causing strain on their finances. And of those School Districts with "warning indicators"...

Arrest of man who accosted teen girl in Reno
Reno, NEV. — A 35-year-old California man has been arrested in Reno in the attempted abduction of a teenage girl but Police don't know if it's tied to any other recent incidents. Washoe County School Police arrested Jesus Garay of Tracy Friday morning after the Student at Washoe High School said she'd been accosted near the School about 8:20 a.m. School District spokeswoman Nancy Leuenhagen says Police are questioning Garay about a half-dozen other suspicious incidents near other area...

Mass. school district sells ads on permission slips, notes home to parents
A Massachusetts School District is now selling advertising on the back of permission slips and other notes that kids at the town's eight Elementary Schools take home to parents, The Salem News reports. The ads, which will fill 10 business-card size spots on the back of each note, cost $300 each per School and could raise as much as $24,000, the Peabody School committee believes. Each School sends home about 10,000 notes every year. In its pitch to local businesses, the District calls it "an...

Calls for Longer School Year Faces Budget Reality
Tuesday, September 28, 2010 By Karen Matthews, Associated Press President Barack Obama shakes hands with Students after delivering his second annual back-to-school Speech at Julia R. Masterman School in Philadelphia on Sept. 14, 2010. (AP File Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) New York (AP) - President Barack Obama's call for a longer School day and year for America's kids echoes a similar call he made a year ago to little effect, illustrating just how deeply entrenched the traditional School...

Advocates Debate Using Advertising in Schools to Raise Funds in Budget Crisis
School lockers used to be just places for Students to store their books and personal belongings. But more and more, those dingy, banged-up rows of metal lockers — along with entire walls and other School property — are being turned into massive billboards, revenue generators designed to help School Districts close their Budget gaps. The ads range from local business pitches on School buses to lunch tables adorned with images of Welch's Grape Jelly to wraparound ads that sprawl a...

Jones tapped as Clark County schools superintendent
Colorado Education Commissioner Dwight Jones was the 6-1 pick of the Clark County School Board Wednesday to become the next leader of the nation's fifth-largest School District. Jones, 48, was chosen over Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, who offered experience in managing large, urban Public School systems.

American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota
Litigation In March 2003, the ACLU settled a Lawsuit against the Wagner Community School District over an election system which allegedly diluted Native American voting strength in Elections for the School Board. Under that agreement, the School District agreed to use an alternative system that resulted in greater Native American representation. In August of 2005, Elaine Quick Bear Quiver

Detroit teachers pull kids in
Elsewhere in metro Detroit, Districts that are experiencing enrollment and funding declines counted Students anxiously and checked their budgets. Every child walking in the door on count day means an average of $7,300 for a School District. On Monday, Detroit Schools reported 79,758 Students, including preschool. The District has lost nearly 100,000 Students since 1999 and is dealing with a $363-million Deficit. Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager, said unofficial counts show the...

10 students hospitalized with heat-related illnesses during cross-country race at LA college
Los Angeles — A fire spokesman says 10 Students participating in a cross-country race at a Los Angeles college have been taken to Hospitals after suffering from heat-related illnesses. Fire spokesman Erik Scott says 12 Young People, mostly Student athletes, were evaluated Thursday. Battalion Chief Gerry Malais tells KNBC-TV two Students were reported in critical condition. Ambulances were called to Pierce College in Woodland Hills just before 4 p.m. KNBC reports about 800 athletes were...

Michigan lawmakers finishing state budget without tax hikes
But the joke may be on the new Governor and dozens of new legislators who take office Jan. 1. As they work on the next State Budget, theyll have about $1.6 Billion less, mostly because federal bucks disappear. Among the final actions were approval of a onetime, $316-million federal boost for public Schools, a Retirement incentive for State Employees and a $10-million State gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts. The extra aid to Schools restores to all School Districts a minimum of $154 per...

Virginia high school graduation rate increases
Friday, October 1, 2010 More than 85 percent of Virginia High School seniors received diplomas on time in 2010 - marking a two point increase in the state's overall graduation rate, as well as a three point improvement among black and Hispanic Students. State education officials said the numbers, which were released Thursday, represented a step toward closing the longstanding Achievement Gap between white and minority Students. That trend was particularly pronounced among School Districts in...