Archive for the 'School News' Category

Kindergartner Voted Out of Class

Published by Robert Pondiscio on May 27, 2008 in School News and Teaching. 6 Comments

A Port St. Lucie, Florida parent is threatening to sue after her son’s kindergarten teacher led his classmates to “vote him out of class.”

After each classmate was allowed to say what they didn’t like about Barton’s 5-year-old son, Alex, his Morningside Elementary teacher Wendy Portillo said they were going to take a vote, Melissa Barton. By a 14 to 2 margin, the students voted Alex — who is in the process of being diagnosed with autism — out of the class.

Barton filed a complaint with the school resource officer, who investigated the matter, according to Port St. Lucie Department spokeswoman Michelle Steele, who said the teacher confirmed the incident took place. The state attorney’s office concluded the matter did not meet the criteria for emotional child abuse, so no criminal charges will be filed, Steele said. The district is investigating, not surprisingly.

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Scientology School?

Published by Robert Pondiscio on May 20, 2008 in Education Theory and School News. 0 Comments

Nary a word about it in the domestic press, but overseas papers and gossip sites are thick with stories about Will Smith–yes, that Will Smith–who is reportedly bankrolling a new California Pre-K to 6 school, The New Village Academy of Calabasas.

The legitimacy of the reports can’t be verified, but a lot of care went into creating the school’s web site, which says its opening is set for Fall 2008.  Check out the glossary of ten “educational theories” the school purports to use: a Chinese menu of models including constructivism, Piaget, Montessori, Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences, inquiry instruction, et al.  Then there’s something called “study technology,” which the school’s web site describes thusly:

An educational model developed by L.R. Hubbard, study technology focuses on three principles. First is the use of “mass” (manipulatives and hands-on experiences) to foster understanding – children need to see and feel what they are learning about. Second is the attention to the “gradient,” which ensures sure students master one level before moving on to the next. Third is the “misunderstood word,” in which students master word definitions and are taught not to read past words they don’t know the meanings of in order to understand completely what they are reading and learning. NVA uses study technology as an umbrella methodology woven through the subjects.

L.R Hubbard?  Yes, that L.R. Hubbard.

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Immigration Raid Causes School Chaos

Published by Robert Pondiscio on May 15, 2008 in School News. 2 Comments

It’s described as the largest immigration raid in U.S. history Monday at a meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa–nearly 400 people arrested.  EdWeek’s Mary Ann Zehr files a strong piece on the raid’s impact on the local school. 

“All of the Latinos [from the school district] were impacted,” said David Strudthoff, the superintendent of the 600-student Postville Community School District. “About 220 students in the Postville school system are from immigrant families, he said, and many children were separated from parents or siblings employed at the plant.

“Mr. Strudthoff is also pondering the fact that more than a month ago, his district was served with a subpoena from the Iowa Division of Labor Services to provide detailed personal information about Postville students and some school employees,” EdWeek reports.

Zehr notes undocumented students have the right to a free public education, and school employees aren’t permitted to ask students about their immigration status.

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Crime and Punishment

Published by Robert Pondiscio on May 7, 2008 in School News. 0 Comments

James Born spends his weekdays teaching English at Pennsylvania’s Harbor Creek junior high school. He spends his nights at the Erie County Community Corrections Center. No, he’s not teaching inmates to read. He’s doing time — 30 days to six months with work-release privileges.

The Erie Times-News quotes Harbor Creek schools Superintendent Rick Lansberry who says the situation is “not something the district is happy about” but was advised legally to allow Born to keep working in the classroom after he violated his estranged wife’s order of protection
“He is here today doing an effective job teaching,” Lansberry said of Born. “At this point, our primary concern is performance.” The paper reports Born “is the same teacher who was accused of sexually assaulting two female students in his 11th-grade English class during separate incidents in January 1999 and March 1999. A jury found him not guilty of all charges — two counts of indecent assault, two counts of corruption of a minor and one count of luring a child into a motor vehicle — in May 2001.”

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School for Bounty Hunters

Published by Robert Pondiscio on May 1, 2008 in School News. 2 Comments

A suburban Ohio school district has begun offering $100 for tips on children who aren’t supposed to be attending the schools because they live outside the district.

The crackdown was prompted by bus drivers in the Copley-Fairlawn district outside of Akron, who saw students getting off in front of vacant buildings or parents in cars dropping off students at the bus stop. Since September, 45 illegal students have left and six others stayed and paid the annual nonresident tuition of $7,614, according to the Associated Press. At least four $100 bounties have been paid out.

An Big Brotheresque notice on each of the district school’s websites doesn’t mention the $100 payment, but makes the point impossible to miss: “If you know of children attending the Copley-Fairlawn City Schools that are not living within our school district, please call the Board of Education Office at 330-664-4800 and report their names, addresses, and the information you have that would indicate that they do not live within our district. Information supplied will be kept confidential.”

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Obama Ate My Homework

Published by Robert Pondiscio on April 23, 2008 in School News. 0 Comments

A pair of Scranton, PA high school students have been suspended, and one of the pair claims he was forced to resign as class president, for leaving the campus to see Barack Obama at a campaign stop near their school. They took pictures with the candidate and even had Obama sign excuse notes for their teachers, to no avail.

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Unchartered Waters

Published by Robert Pondiscio on April 16, 2008 in Assessment and Testing, Parents and School News. 0 Comments

“Supporters of a breakaway charter school in the high-achieving Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District have dropped the effort, at least for now,” the Los Angeles Times reports. The charter was supposedly proposed “as an alternative to the standardized-testing culture of district schools.”

Something about this story doesn’t quite sound right. First of all, charter schools are subject to testing too. It’s also baffling that the parents felt the only way they could make a statement about testing was to start their own charter. Testing is seldom the problem. The mischief is in the test prep and endlessly sweating children to perform. It strains my credulity to think that the principal of a “high-achieving” school wouldn’t feel accountable to parental pressure to back off if that was the problem. Push comes to shove, the parents could make an even more effective statement with a testing boycott.

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Hands On Learning

Published by Robert Pondiscio on April 15, 2008 in School News. 0 Comments

An elementary school in England has won praise for an innovative program aimed at curbing bad behaviour in the classroom. “The Mab Lane Primary School in Liverpool has recently introduced 20-minute massage sessions for its pupils,” the Daily Mail reports.

Pupils at the Mab Lane Primary in Liverpool take part in the 20-minute massage sessions twice a week and these are now going to be stepped up ahead of exam preparations.

“Headteacher June Todd is now urging parents to make use of its special chillout room, called the Quiet Place, which has a supply of aromatic oils and music is piped in to relax users,” the Daily Mail reports.

Quite a contrast with what’s happening here in the colonies…

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Lunch Line Economics

Published by Robert Pondiscio on April 14, 2008 in School News. 0 Comments

The Washington Post“Sharp rises in the cost of milk, grain and fresh fruits and vegetables are hitting cafeterias across the country, forcing cash-strapped schools to raise prices or pinch pennies by serving more economical dishes,” the Washington Post reports. “Some school officials on a mission to help fight childhood obesity say it’s becoming harder to fill students’ plates with healthy, low-fat foods.”

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Get Me Rewrite!

Published by Robert Pondiscio on April 9, 2008 in School News. 0 Comments

Milwaukee Journal-SentinelColumnist Eugene Kane is upset by the performance of Wisconsin’s black 8th graders on the recently released NAEP Writing results. He’s just as upset with how his paper, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel played the story.

“State black 8th-graders rank worst in nation in writing,” the headline read.

“There’s always plenty of blame to go around when things get this dismal,” Kane writes. “I’m talking teachers, principals, politicians, business leaders, and of course, the parents of all those low-achieving students. But don’t worry about blaming the kids. They already got theirs in that screaming headline.”

“Any story about failing black kids always includes the usual comments from adults embarrassed by the situation who insist things can get better. The problem is too many people are already way too familiar with the below-par performance of black students in Milwaukee to believe anybody cares,” he concludes.

Kane’s kicker delivers a kick in the teeth:

“To be fair, the headline should probably be more inclusive next time, naming Wisconsin as the home of “the worst teachers and parents of black eighth-grade students in the nation. Doesn’t feel too good, does it?”

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