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• Get Your Stock Tips from These Kids

  You might still be content to track the market with CNBC and the Wall Street Journal, but I've got a lead on investing in Wisconsin. A classroom of mini traders in Neenah, Wis. to be exact. Read More... Posted May 29 2009, 11:27 AM by JeanneSager with | with no comments Filed under: education, schools, economy, Jeanne Sager, stock market, economic crisis, stocks

• Lower-Income Kids Moving More Because of Recession

  Although I live in Detroit, cradle of the auto industry, and thus have anxiety attacks on a daily basis about what will happen if GM goes out of business, we’ve been pretty insulated from the worst of the recession so far. It’s more because my husband works in academia and I am a freelance writer so it’s not like we had any money to begin with, but I definitely feel lucky that we aren’t facing foreclosure or significant loss of income (knock wood) like so many of our neighbors. One of the many things that breaks my heart about this recession is the effect on kids. It’s not their fault, they didn’t make any of the irresponsible decisions that helped bring the economy down, and yet they are facing the loss of their homes, significantly reduced standards of living and worse. Teachers and school counselors are seeing an increase in mobility among lower income families due to the recession, and this was a group that already moved around a lot as their fortunes rose and fell. Read More... Posted May 28 2009, 01:31 PM by Amy Kuras with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: schools, economy, recession, poor, foreclosure rates, low-income children, tough times for kids, families coping with recession

• Who Really Cares if They Have Perfect Attendance?

  A perfect game only takes nine innings (seven in high school). But perfect attendance takes two thousand three hundred forty days. That's one hundred eighty school days times thirteen years of school. Of this year's crop of seniors, guess how many have that kind of record? Read More... Posted May 27 2009, 02:27 PM by JeanneSager with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: health, education, school, schools, Jeanne Sager, attendance, swine flu, perfect attendance, absent, school attendance

• Black Prom, White Prom for Georgia Kids

  Hooray for progress! Er, well, maybe not.  Because 55 years after Topeka vs. Board of Education called for the desegregation of public schools, there are still kids in spots around the South who attend segregated proms. White kids have their prom one night. Black kids have theirs another. Read More... Posted May 26 2009, 01:30 PM by JeanneSager with | with 16 comment(s) Filed under: education, schools, discrimination, prejudice, prom, footloose, south, Jeanne Sager, segregation, Morgan Freeman

• Sixth Grader's Project on Harvey Milk Banned by School

  Natalie Jones just wanted to get a good grade on her sixth grade project. She didn't know writing about Harvey Milk, a person she said stood up for all people regardless of their backgrounds, was going to make schools officials pull out their "sex education" policies.  Maybe because she's in sixth grade, and she wasn't writing about sex? Read More... Posted May 25 2009, 12:01 PM by JeanneSager with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: education, homosexuality, schools, homosexual, sex education, discrimination, milk, Jeanne Sager, Harvey Milk, gay rights, gays

• Parents Blame Obama for Field Trip Snafu

  When in doubt, blame the president. Hey, it works for folks on swine flu, the economy and apparently for parents from Stafford County, Va. The parents of kindergartners slated for a tour of the White House who were turned away after arriving more than an hour late for their visit are blasting President Barack Obama for not being a man of the people. Read More... Posted May 23 2009, 02:01 PM by JeanneSager with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: education, schools, barack obama, field trip, obama, Jeanne Sager, D.C., president obama

• Schools Say No Pain in the Butt Parents

  The minute your kid starts some social function - be it library group or school - there's one set of parents you can identify by the wide berth between them and every other parent in the pick-up line. You know the parents I'm talking about. They complain. About EVERYTHING. Nothing is their kid's fault. And there's no more loaded a question than "how are you?" But the next time your school administrators whine that they need more parent volunteers, you might want to ask them: do you weed out the whiny parents? Read More... Posted May 22 2009, 10:01 AM by JeanneSager with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, education, school, behavior, teachers, schools, Jeanne Sager, administration

• Is Kindle Coming to a School Near You?

  The Amazon Kindle has made the jump to academia, signing deals with several textbook publishers to make their materials available via the electronic device.  It's limited to college at the moment, but when you look at how quickly Kindle has spread (from its introduction in 2007 to its move into institutions of learning in 2009), I can't imagine it will be long before the paper bag covered textbooks are a thing of the past. Pretty soon, our kids could be book-free. Read More... Posted May 05 2009, 04:30 PM by JeanneSager with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: education, books, reading, schools, Jeanne Sager, Kindle 2, textbooks, Kindle

• Hey Kid, You'll Soap Your Eye Out

  So much for good, clean fun. Officials at an Idaho middle school claim they had to remove soap from the boys bathrooms because of vandalism. Apparently, it's better for the boys to enact germ warfare by not washing their hands than it is to have a little soap wars in the bathroom. Read More... Posted May 04 2009, 04:00 PM by JeanneSager with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: health, education, schools, hygiene, Jeanne Sager, handwashing, swine flu, soap and water

• Best Places to Raise Your Kid in America

  Business Week just published their second annual Best Places To Raise Your Kid 2009. This year, they went state-by-state. Towns were judged primarily on school performance and safety, but other criteria like affordability and crime rates were also weighed.  So, without further adieu, the top towns to raise your little ones. Do you already live in one them? Should your hometown have made the list? Tell us why! --Andrea Zimmerman Read More... Posted Apr 29 2009, 04:22 PM by editors with | with 19 comment(s) Filed under: kids, safety, schools, america, cities, states, towns

• Sidwell Parents Say Obamas are Cheapskates

  First it was the British press all abub about Michelle Obama's gifts to the prime minister's children. Now fellow parents are claiming the president and first lady cheaped out on the gifts they donated for the auction at the school daughters Sasha and Malia attend.  Really? This is what we're worried about in light of the disastrous global economy, a swine flu pandemic that's taking lives and should I even point upward to that ever-widening hole in the ozone layer? Read More... Posted Apr 28 2009, 05:02 PM by JeanneSager with | with 15 comment(s) Filed under: education, school, schools, barack obama, michelle obama, malia obama, Sasha Obama, Jeanne Sager, obamas, sasha and malia, school auctions

• Parents Blackmail Their Kids' School

  So Ray Abril Jr. High School won't win any awards for creativity. Is the name really so bad that parents have to blackmail their school to get it changed? A majority of parents in the Colton Joint Unified School District voted for the school board to name its new high school "Grand Terrace," but when the school board picked the name of a former school trustee (Abril) instead, they decided they'd boycott a state-mandated test to show their displeasure. Read More... Posted Apr 23 2009, 01:30 PM by JeanneSager with | with no comments Filed under: education, no child left behind, schools, standardized tests, Jeanne Sager, testing

• High School Coach Fired for Appearing in Playboy

  Angry parents managed to make their school fire a cheerleading coach who had posed naked for Playboy. But for all the outrage from parents over this woman who was supposed to be acting as a "role model" to their kids, is anyone surprised the real reason Carlie Christine got canned was because she refused to overlook a few school rules? Read More... Posted Apr 20 2009, 03:03 PM by JeanneSager with | with 10 comment(s) Filed under: education, girls, schools, coaching, role models, Jeanne Sager, cheerleading, example to kids

• Tennessee Public School Computers Block LGBT Websites

  Whoopsie! It turns out that the computers of the Tennessee public school system are inexplicably biased against gay rights. How the heck did that happen? School administrators are completely baffled by the embarrassing snafu, but say that it must be the fault of their filtering service, Education Networks of America. Read More... Posted Apr 17 2009, 11:30 AM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with no comments Filed under: children, internet, teachers, homophobia, schools, gay, tennessee, students, LGBT, computer

• Kids' Art Adorns The Corner Suite

  The art in your average corporate office ranges from bland to, well, kinda scary. Rarely do you see something in an office and think “wow, that’s cool.” But if that office contributed to a Philly nonprofit that trades kids’ art for corporate donations for art supplies, you’d be pretty impressed. Fresh Artists works like this: students give permission to have their art reproduced for he program and it goes into a digital gallery. Donors to the program can choose a piece or several as a thank-you gift. The art then hangs in the headquarters of some of the city’s biggest companies. Donations are returned to school art programs in the form of Read More... Posted Apr 15 2009, 10:01 AM by Amy Kuras with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: Philadelphia, schools, art, art supplies, great ideas, children’s artwork, corporate donations, Philanthrophy, school art programs, Fresh Artists

• When Your Kid's Report Card Says They're Fat

  The "B" on your kid's report card could soon stand for Body Mass Index.  The Massachusetts Public Health Council has OK'd a proposal that will have schools measuring students' weight and height and sending report cards home to parents that warn them when their kids are overweight. Read More... Posted Apr 13 2009, 02:01 PM by JeanneSager with | with 9 comment(s) Filed under: education, fat, childhood obesity, schools, overweight, weight loss, Jeanne Sager, report card, body mass index

• Charter Schools go Online

  Thinking about homeschooling but not sure you have the chops? What if you could school your kids at home, but leave the actual education up to a "real" teacher? Charter schools are making the jump to online, where a curriculum is laid out, tests given and students have the advantage of doing it all from home. And, because it's a charter school, the bulk of the costs to parents - from the price of a (loaner) computer to their art supplies - are taxpayer funded. Read More... Posted Apr 12 2009, 11:24 AM by JeanneSager with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: education, computers, homeschooling, schools, online, charter schools, homeschool, Jeanne Sager, kids online

• Forget Thank You, Teach Your Kids Netiquette

  Your kids finally have down when to say "please" and "thank you?" Looks like it's time for the next round of manners training: how to be polite on the 'net.  South Korea has launched a program in its schools dedicated to teaching little kids to be nice on the 'net. It sounds like they need it. Read More... Posted Apr 09 2009, 04:33 PM by JeanneSager with | with no comments Filed under: education, computers, internet, schools, South Korea, manners, cyberbullying, Jeanne Sager, kids online, kids on the computer, netiquette, please and thank you

• Is Pay to Play At Public Schools Fair?

  There's a storm a brewin' in one Pennsylvania school where administrators have suggested parents pay for their kids to take part in extra-curricular activities. With the economy oh so sunny, I can't help but wonder if this isn't a national trend. Are more public schools going to call for a pay to play system?  You're darn tootin'. Read More... Posted Apr 09 2009, 02:29 PM by JeanneSager with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: education, money, schools, economy, Jeanne Sager, free education, extra-curriculars, pay to play

• School Expels Teen for Birth Control Pill

  A teenager who popped her birth control pill during her lunch period at a Virginia school is spending her spring break fighting the district not to be expelled.  The problem? Not the fact that she was using birth control (because thank heavens for that), but that she did so during school hours. . . specifically, that she took a pill without supervision of the school nurse. Read More... Posted Apr 08 2009, 03:32 PM by JeanneSager with | with 9 comment(s) Filed under: education, medicine, teens, birth control, schools, teen pregnancy, medication, drug abuse, Jeanne Sager, prescription drugs

• Worksheets Die a Green Death, Kids Celebrate

  Oh what I wouldn't have given to skip worksheets in grade school. The totally useless (in a kid's mind anyway) busy work handed out by bored teachers to get us to sit down and shut up.  I guess I was just born a few decades too early. Sigh.  Teachers are saying bye bye to the worksheet in an effort to both cut costs and cut their carbon footprint, and today's kids are loving it. Read More... Posted Mar 31 2009, 10:34 AM by JeanneSager with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: education, computers, internet, technology, schools, online, homework, green, Jeanne Sager, twitter, plugged in, worksheets

• School Says No Touching - Ever

  Want to make a bunch of middle school kids with their hormones a ragin' really crazy? Tell them they can't touch other. No high five. No bumping fists. No noogies. And definitely no holding hands - nope, not even locking pinky fingers.  Administrators at a middle school in Connecticut have put out a strict no touching policy in an attempt to cut down on "horseplay" among the students. Read More... Posted Mar 30 2009, 12:01 PM by JeanneSager with | with 10 comment(s) Filed under: education, teenagers, middle school, schools, hormones, Jeanne Sager

• Brit Kids Learn to Twitter in School

  I racked my brain for a way to write about this in one hundred forty characters or less. Sorry, can't do it. But in deference to the subject matter, I'll be brief. Twitter and Wikipedia have been added to the curriculum at schools in Britain.  Oh, you want more? Read More... Posted Mar 27 2009, 10:25 AM by JeanneSager with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: education, technology, teachers, schools, social networking, social media, Jeanne Sager, twitter, wikipedia, kids on computers

• Kids Sing Religious Song, Parents Sue

  There are songs that mention religion, and there are songs that are religious. When a song is named "In God We Still Trust," and features the words "Bible," frequent references to "Him," and the word "believe," wouldn't you think that falls into the latter category? Apparently, it doesn't matter. At least not to a Florida public school where a third grade teacher was training her students to sing the song by country group Diamond Rio for their end-of-year program. Read More... Posted Mar 26 2009, 09:35 AM by JeanneSager with | with 19 comment(s) Filed under: education, music, religion, christianity, schools, judaism, songs, Jeanne Sager, singing, religious, diamond rio, religious songs

• How to Say No To the Kid Selling You Something

  Let's face it, no matter how bad the economy gets, there's always going to be a kid knocking on your door with something useless to sell.  For Scouts, for church, for school, for the poor starving children in Ethiopia (so they can finally get a break from Mom harping on about cleaning their plates).  And, if you're anything like me, you buy it all. Because you  . . . just . . . can't . . . say . . . no. But there's a set of columnists over at Slate who say you can say no to charitable giving without feeling like a total tool (OK, I added that), and they're willing to tell you how. Read More... Posted Mar 24 2009, 05:06 PM by JeanneSager with | with no comments Filed under: donations, money, schools, charity, fundraising, economy, recession, Jeanne Sager, cookies sales, scouts