Strollerderby : education

Gay Boy Crowned Prom Queen

JeanneSager — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:08:00 GMT

He's a boy, and he's gay, but Sergio Garcia isn't ashamed to tell people he's a queen. Prom queen that is.

Describing himself as "flamboyant," openly gay Garcia was crowned the queen of his Los Angeles high school's prom this week after deciding he could better identify with being a queen than a king, and campaigning hard for the part.

After reading about the racially segregated proms still allowed in some parts of the south this week, I needed this story. Because Garcia's principal says this is a great example of how successful the school is at driving home the message of diversity. At a school that's offered LGBT programming since for the past twenty-five years, it's apparently working.

The vote wasn't unanimous, but speaking in front of his classmates to campaign for the part, Garcia told them, "I'm not your typical prom queen candidate. There's more to me than meets the eye." Kids who spoke to a local TV station said they were swayed by his words, and they cast their vote for him.

Now we can only hope the same kids start voting in California elections soon - and find a way to send proposition 8 back to pasture.

Image: Twirlit

Get Your Stock Tips from These Kids

JeanneSager — Fri, 29 May 2009 15:27:00 GMT

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.

A group of fifth graders from Neenah more than doubled their money investing in fifteen different stocks, with a target on the big banks. It was all hypothetical money (and their parents are kicking themselves now, I'd bet), but it won them a state-wide economics contest.

The kids started with $100,000 (again, fake bills), and turned it into $203,000 within a period of ten weeks. Their prize is a trip to the New York Stock Exchange.

I remember doing a stock project back in high school (they start 'em so young these days, don't they?), but with picks that were based completely on my favorite things (at the time, The Gap and Tootsie Rolls), I didn't fare too well. But letting kids pick their own stocks was the name of this game - their teacher says he tells his charges he's there to act like a broker, to give advice, but not to make the decisions for them.

But no matter how much research these fifth graders did, do you really think they know any more than the folks on Wall Street? Or is this just a good reminder that the stock market really is a crap shoot?

Who Really Cares if They Have Perfect Attendance?

JeanneSager — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:27:00 GMT

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? Not a whole heckuva lot.

But for all the kudos due Stefanie Zaner of Maryland for her thirteen years of showing up at school (hey, it earned her a feature in the Washington Post), there are plenty of reasons not to stress yourself out about your kid's not-so-perfect attendance.

As Zaner's teachers attest, she was an extraordinarily healthy kid. She wasn't the kid walking in the door with a high fever and a vomit bag to make it through the day. That's luck (and a hearty immune system). According to the CDC, the average kid gets anywhere from six to twelve illnesses a year (from the common cold to a major bout with a bug). Nearly twenty-two million school days are lost to the common cold alone.

And you know how you stop the spread of all those icky disease? By keeping your sick kid HOME. Hence all those school closures in the face of swine flu, folks.

It's also worth nothing that Zaner called the last two years of her life the most stressful, period. And it wasn't just being a kid looking at getting into college. She said the idea of being "perfect" weighed heavily on her. Credit goes to this incredible kid for not crumbling under the pressure, but if she hadn't grabbed this particular brass ring, would anyone really have thought any less of her? Colleges? Her parents? Her first boss?

If this is something your kid wants to do, and is up to doing, fine. But don't make it your goal Mom and Dad.

Image: Toombs

PBS Launching Dinosaur Train for Science Kids

JeanneSager — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:01:00 GMT

For parents who have fallen in love with Sid the Science Kid (who hasn't?), good news! PBS is going prehistoric this fall with a new show aimed at expanding their offerings for our little scientists.

Dinosaur Train will let our kids hop onboard with Buddy, a young T-Rex adopted by a family of Pterandons

I haven't seen the show yet, but I'm A. loving that there's a show out there for all those dinosaur fans - and we all know there are many and B. digging the fact that there's an adopted kid on TV for adopted kids to relate to . . . even if it is a kid with two giant feet and two teeny hands!

Produced by The Jim Henson Company, the show will feature two eleven-minute segments daily with live-action interestitials featuring paleontologist Scott Sampson (you've seen him on Discovery Channel's Dinosaur Planet) dishing out dino nuggets (with no extra calories). The train alluded to in the name will take Buddy and his family and friends on adventures through time, chugga-chugga-ing to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods.

Can't wait? Set your Tivo for Sept. 7.

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Black Prom, White Prom for Georgia Kids

JeanneSager — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:30:00 GMT

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.

It's a story that's getting national attention thanks to actor Morgan Freeman's decision to fund an integrated prom in Mississippi, where he grew up, for one school - helping to desegregate the schools once and for all. The story is the focus of a documentary set to air on HBO in July.

But even while Freeman's alma mater, Charleston High School, has made the jump, there are still plenty of schools left that haven't. Like the Georgia high school profiled in the New York Times late last week. In a place where white kids still throw up their hands and excuse their behavior with, "It’s just a tradition.”

To that, I say, we all know how much teenagers love bucking tradition, don't we? Seriously, hasn't one of these kids watched Footloose? Corny story of a group of teens who brought back the school dance despite the TRADITION of no dancing and no carousing put forth by the town's religious elders? It's a classic of sorts. Almost a tradition.

At least it's as much a tradition as teens bucking their elders by standing up for change. That's what they call progress. And unless kids can get on board, we're screwed.

Image: NY Times

School Makes Teen Reveal Pregnancy

JeanneSager — Mon, 25 May 2009 18:01:00 GMT

How far should a school go to get help for a pregnant teen?

A mom in Texas says her daughter's school crossed a line when they forced the girl to reveal her pregnancy to staff, then sent her for medical testing and counseling.

Considering it's a Christian school, it's not surprising the First Choice Pregnancy Center, where they sent the teen, just so happens to be one of those abstinence-only, pro-life organizations. But then the Trinity Christian School allegedly expelled the girl in May of 2008, two weeks shy of the end of school.

The girls mom is suing the school, church and specific staffers at the school. But it sounds like her biggest problems are with the center, which the lawsuit says, "The pregnancy center interviewed, counseled and tested Jane Doe without the consent or knowledge of her mother and disseminated her private medical information to [school Bible teacher Shannan] Morgan and [school counselor Brad] Watson without consent or authorization."

So there was a violation of HIPAA here on behalf of the center. Her health info should not have been given to school staff based on federal guidelines regarding the privacy of health information. Period.

It's inappropriate too that the school ordered any form of medical testing, and that the girl was forced to reveal her pregnancy. Again, that's private health information. Her pregnancy was not swine flu. It was not going to affect public health. It's where the school clearly crossed a line. As they did by kicking out a student for her pregnancy.

But is the counseling part out of line? Even counseling at a place where they make it their mission "to give women and teens in crisis pregnancies and opportunity to examine their lives, think through their options, and gain vital information regarding positive alternatives to pregnancy termination"?

Remember, this isn't a public school. As a religious private school, the separation of church and state is null and void. So while parents with kids in public school could (should) throw up their arms for having their kid brought to a faith-based counseling service, that doesn't necessarily apply here. And counseling of some form is often put into place by school districts, some of which have a psychologist on staff for kids to consult. And that can be at the suggestion of a teacher or simply a student's own request. If a student or teacher dies, a trauma team full of counselors is called upon, and parents are not asked if that's OK.

I'd imagine counseling for a pregnant teen is appropriate. Even in a public school setting - although there I'd again call for something non-faith based, with no particular focus on whether or not she'll keep the baby.

What do you think, parents?

Image: supernannyrules.com (not the girl described)

Sixth Grader's Project on Harvey Milk Banned by School

JeanneSager — Mon, 25 May 2009 16:01:00 GMT

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?

The California sixth grader was yanked into the principal's office the day before her Power Point present was slated to be given in class, and complimented by the administrator for doing high school quality work. A backhanded compliment, apparently, because the principal then informed Natalie she was probably not going to be making the presentation the following day.

"She explained to me because he was a gay, that not maybe all the parents might agree with their kid watching that," Jones said in an interview with CNN.

OK, better to pretend the gays just don't exist then? Because, as Natalie's mother, Bonnie, pointed out - this was a project on a man's life. It wasn't about gay sex. Natalie picked the state's first openly gay politician to profile after watching the Sean Penn Academy Award-winning movie (named Milk, by the way, if you've been hiding under a rock and haven't heard about it). She said it's because "he stood for all minorities, no matter what you were." See, nothing about sex, folks.

And that's where Mt. Woodson Elementary School really got this one wrong. Because they picked on a kid talking about a homosexual person not only as though that were something bad but as if that's all he was. Yes, Harvey Milk was openly gay and did a lot for gay rights. But he was also a politician in California. A pretty famous one. And this is a California student writing about an influential figure for a report for a California school.

So they're not only teaching kids that they discriminate against homosexuals and encouraging discrimination, but they're teaching them how to pigeonhole people based upon one part of their life.

The ACLU is demanding an apology from the school district, by the way, and has threatened to file a lawsuit.

Image: Amazon

Parents Blame Obama for Field Trip Snafu

JeanneSager — Sat, 23 May 2009 18:01:00 GMT

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.

The parents of kids from Conway Elementary School told NBC that their kids arrived ten minutes late for a tour of the White House that cost parents $20 per child. But staff at the president's home say the buses pulled in a full hour late, and they'd held the gates for them that long - fifteen minutes longer than they usually allow for late guests.

With an impending visit by members of the Pittsburgh Steelers that day (a visit during which White House staff and the football players put together care packages for the Wounded Warriors program for injured service members, by the way), the White House couldn't accomodate the tour.

The White House staff were the folks who would have had to lead the tour. The same staff who had to prepare for another scheduled visit that day, and in a place that runs like a well-oiled machine (in part because of security issues not faced by many other places on this planet), that's their JOB. But apparently they were supposed to ignore that and just let the kids in.

Said parent chaperone Paty Stine: "Here we have President Obama and his administration saying, 'Here we are for the common, middle class people,' and here he is not letting 150 5- and 6-year-olds into the White House because he’s throwing a lunch for a bunch of grown millionaires."

Because this was the president himself out there telling kids "you can't come in, nanny, nanny, boo boo!" The president who conspired to have Beltway traffic keep the kids from arriving at their destination at the appointed hour. Not to mention the president who could think of nothing better to do that day then rearrange his leader of the free world schedule just because someone didn't plan a cushion into a trip in (infamously nightmarish) D.C. traffic.

Got that? It's the president's fault.

Oh, and that president, by the way? Released a statement saying he and wife Michelle would like to see the trip rescheduled because they feel badly that the children were disappointed. But the kids, er, parents have apparently taken their marbles and run home. They told NBC the end of the school year is fast approaching, and they can't see how they can reschedule.

If your kids' bus arrived at a museum an hour late, would you blame the museum director for not letting them in? What if they showed up at a water park an hour late? A theater? How about blaming the school here folks.

Image: NBC (that Steelers visit)

via Gawker

Schools Say No Pain in the Butt Parents

JeanneSager — Fri, 22 May 2009 14:01:00 GMT

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?

A Maryland school district is in hot water with parents after a board of education member let slip that principals "might not pick PIAs" (yes, that would be pains in the tuchas) to stand on committees and other school organizations. According to the Washington Post, the board was discussing School Improvement Teams, when an argument broke out over wether they're open to everyone or just up to the principal's discretion.

Members of the public charged the district with being secretive about who is on the committees and doesn't advertise for members.

As a parent who has steered clear of the contrary parents as much as possible, there's that knee-jerk reaction to the story that prompts me to say: "well, you wants a pain in the ass on your committee?"

But let's face it, parents who complain have a say too. At least, they should. Because their kids are as affected by the governance of a school as anyone else. You may not like them, but they're still a critical part of the school community.

Dig deeper, and you might find the whiny parents bring an extra facet to school governance that you and I won't bring. Because the contrary view might not be popular. It may not even be right. But it's evocative. And when it comes down to choosing someone to represent my views, I'd like to know there was someone who isn't afraid to speak their mind up there on a board or focus group. Who wants a mouse who will "yes" the school administration to death? Because they aren't going to change a thing.

So listen up administrators. I don't not want to sit next to them at the class play, but the pain in the ass parents are still parents. Which means you answer to them too.

Image: Gifts.com

Children with Special Needs Abused by School "Discipline"

Shannon LC Cate — Wed, 20 May 2009 16:35:00 GMT

A recent investigation of the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has shown that school children--most often children with special needs--are being subjected to extreme "discipline" techniques that have hurt and even caused the deaths of some. According to NPR:

"In some cases...children have died or been injured when they have been tied, taped, handcuffed or pinned down by adults or locked in secluded rooms, often to be left for hours at a time."

While there is plenty of criticism of the techniques in the first place--some parent groups and disability advocacy groups are calling for an altogether ban of them--others believe there are times when restraint or seclusion are necessary to keep children from harming themselves and others.

But teachers are rarely adequately trained in the proper use of the techniques and 70% of parents cited in the report say they were never informed about the possibility that their children would be restrained, let alone asked for permission to do so. Rather, the GAO found that only five states even have laws requiring that the use of restraint or seclusion be reported at all. Many parents only learned of the techniques when their children were injured or died after their use.

Meanwhile, methods for maintaining a positive classroom environment without the need for restraint are being taught to some teachers and finding great success where applied. "Positive Behavior Support"--or good old-fashioned attention to a child's needs--works to prevent problems before they arise by learning more about the cause of disruptive behavior.

Barb Trader of the grassroots advocacy group, TASH, explains:

"If a student gets hungry at quarter to 12 and they don't have verbal expression, and you don't know what's going on and then they act out because they're hungry, if you feed them at 11:30, then you've removed the cause for the behavior and the behavior doesn't exist. And we know that works because there's been lots and lots of research."

I'm sure plenty of parents out there are mouthing a collective "duh," right?

Teachers need more training in these methods, but more, I personally think they need more support in the form of lower student/teacher classroom ratios. As simple as Positive Behavior Support is, it also requires careful attention to individual children's needs and the group dynamics arising from those needs. Added to the task of instruction in school subjects--especially in a room with kids who have varying special needs and levels of ability--even a simple method is a tall order when teachers are over burdened with too many students.

Our children all deserve better. And children with special needs or disabilities deserve extra care and support for their learning, not less. It's an ugly thing to lock a child in a room rather than finding out what that child needs and providing it. And it's not something any child should have to witness happening to another. Here's yet another area in which we need real reform in the school system and we need it yesterday.

Nature/Nurture: 50/50?

Shannon LC Cate — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:59:00 GMT

I often tell my friends who are interested in adoption, that to be an adoptive parent you have to have to be a believer in nurture. It's also important for adoptive parents to realize that nurture isn't everything to a person, and that children's genetic heritages will always be a part their make up, but it's also important not to get overly fearful of the genes of strangers.

But these days, "genes" seem to have taken on mythic proportions in popular culture. People seem to think everything about a person is coded somewhere in the DNA. But that's not really how genetics work, as anyone with actual knowledge of the subject will tell you. Some aspects of our identity are more hard-wired than others. Some genes may indicate a tendency towards an effect, but remain inactive until triggered by outside factors.

Until recently, "intelligence" was thought to be largely a genetic matter. Twin studies (research on genetically identical people raised in different environments) for example, indicated that siblings raised apart had very close IQ scores. But new research by Richard E. Nisbitt, author of Intelligence and How to Get It: Why Schools and Cultures Count, has shown that in fact, environment makes for at least 50% of intelligence as measured by IQ testing.

According to Nisbitt: "If you were to average the contribution of genetics to IQ over different social classes, you would probably find 50 percent to be the maximum contribution of genetics."

And although Nesbitt finds that "Raising someone in an upper-middle-class environment versus a lower-class environment is worth 12 to 18 points of IQ," it is not the money that gains those points but the tendency of middle-class parents to read to, speak to and "encourage" their children more than other parents. And while expensive does not equate to high quality in education, Nisbitt finds that small class size, low teacher/student ratios, experienced, skilled teachers and up-to-date instructional technology lead to better results for children from any family background. Those things are of course, more likely to be found in more expensive schools.

The upshot of Nesbitt's research is that public schools need to improve in the areas that have proven to make a true difference. Rather than writing off the children of the poor and working classes or, even more insidiously, using genetic "inferiority" as an excuse to ignore their needs, public policy should focus on improving the environmental factors that matter just as much as genes.

Nesbitt explains the twin studies by explaining that even when raised in different adoptive homes, twins adopted at birth at the time of the studies were likely to go to fairly similar families, in terms of social class and access to quality education. Those similarities were enough to give children with identical genetic packages similar outcomes on IQ tests.

IQ tests are, of course, questionable to begin with. They have long been understood by many to be slanted towards people with greater "cultural capital" like basic economic class, social status and education access in the first place. Such a bias, is of course, another reason children from higher socio-economic classes will score better on the tests, leaving another big question hanging in the air.

As an adoptive mother of two bright children from two very underprivileged biological family backgrounds, I find Nesbitt's work intriguing. I only hope that such research will lead to better opportunities for all children and a society in which something as drastic as adoption isn't necessary for poor children to access a decent education.

Is Kindle Coming to a School Near You?

JeanneSager — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:30:00 GMT

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.

At least books-as-we-once-knew-them free.

Don't believe me? I remember the kids in my classes in elementary and high school whose only exposure to books were the texts they hauled in their backpacks (or, just as likely, left in their lockers).

Frankly, I'm a self-described Internet addict, and yet, I always return to books at the end of the day, to physical paper volumes. I can get my news on the 'net, do my work on the 'net, even listen to my music and watch my tv on a computer. But I need a real live book to slip off and escape into the written word. Maybe I'm just an old fuddy duddy.

I can see the advantages - portability for one (no more aching backs from those overpacked bookbags), the ease of updating a school's resources as information changes (instead of making do, as we did, with textbooks marked with our parents' names at the front, read out to us by our parents' old football coaches) for another. Whether a cost savings could be realized, I don't know (do you weigh the damage to one book by a student against the damage to a machine carrying many books?).

And not having to craft one more paper bag bookcover? Priceless.

Still, I may cry the day my daughter comes home with all her homework shoved away in her pocket. And the Kindle 2 - or some other player that "reads" the books aloud to them? Uh uh, no way, no how. She may be living in "the future" we dreamed about when we were kids, but she's still got to do the work herself.

Image: Amazon

Hey Kid, You'll Soap Your Eye Out

JeanneSager — Mon, 04 May 2009 20:00:00 GMT

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.

Parents have been protesting the removal, pointing to its incredibly poor timing in light of the swine flu pandemic and health officials EVERYWHERE reminding people to wash their hands to reduce the spread of the disease (not to mention a fair number of other contagious diseases).

The state's education department notes that all school lavatories are required to have soap provided for the kids. Sounds like a pretty common sense requirement to me (see above). So why would a school yank the soap?

I remember some of the bathroom pranks pulled in my school days (by classmates, natch!). Milk poured down the heating vents. Smoking in the stalls. TPing pretty much everything. The school responded with measures that kept us on our toes, including a lock on the door so only a staff member could let a kid in (and they'd do a thorough once-over before you left to make sure you hadn't gotten up to any mischief while you were supposed to be doing your business). Even in an understaffed, underfunded school like mine, they made it work.

But they didn't take the soap. Because soap is point zero when it comes to preventing disease - especially with kids, who are not exactly the most hygenic creatures on earth. Why else would we spend hours teaching them to sing the alphabet song while they scrub a dub dub as toddlers?

So why, oh why, would anyone ever imagine taking soap away from kids is a good idea?

Image:1stInHandwashing

Sidwell Parents Say Obamas are Cheapskates

JeanneSager — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:02:00 GMT

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?

The Obamas reportedly donated a Rolling Stone with a picture of President Barack Obama on the cover, autographed by the president. They also gave a copy of Vogue Magazine with the first lady on the cover, autographed by Michelle Obama. Have you priced a presidential autograph lately? An Obama-signed baseball recently went for $1,500, but hold on to it and who knows - a recent estimate put his signature on a picture at about $6,000. Anything signed by JFK is estimated to bring at least $2,500 at auction. These were hardly dollar store trinkets.

But according to MSNBC, the parents were hoping for something more personal - then President Bill Clinton gave a golf outing with himself while Chelsea Clinton once offered up her own baby-sitting services. Cool experiences? Most definitely, although I will say an Obama autograph can be sold down the line - you can't make any money back on having someone babysit your kids.

And while I understand Sidwell Friends is an exclusive school, as I understand it the cachet of having a president's child attend is a big draw for the school in and of itself. So the Obamas send their kids there AND pay money to send their kids there, and they have to give their own time too? You know, the time OTHER than that used for running a country at war with a crumbling economy?

School auctions are not big in my very rural area, so I'm not familiar with protocol. Do parents really feel that everyone has to give something of equal value? Isn't the point of paying tuition to a school sort of enough anyway?

Image:

Let Them Chew Gum: It Makes Them Smarter!

JeanneSager — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:04:00 GMT

It's about time I track down my old high school teachers (maybe they're on Facebook) and get them this new information. A study has found kids who chew gum score higher on math tests because "Teachers observed that those who chewed gum seemed to require fewer breaks, sustain attention longer and remain quieter."

Take that Mrs. Peake - who used to hand out detentions to gum chewers in her classroom.

The study out of the Baylor College of Medicine is small - not just in the sample size but in how much of a difference in scores between chewers and non-chewers (the latter had scores that were lower by three percent), but the crux of the findings make a lot of sense.

Much in the way that smokers say they use cigarettes for stress reduction (not advocating for smoking, just saying), a lot of former smokers say chewing gum helped bridge the gap as they weaned themselves off the smokes. Part of that? The rhythmic chewing helped reduced stress. And kids with less stress perform better on tests.

Baylor's scientists say the chewing may also enhance blood flow to the brain, although how that's linked to academic performance (if at all) has not been determined.

So next time your kid gets written up for chewing gum in class, how about sending this blog post in to his teacher as an excuse?

Image: SundayObserver

Parents Blackmail Their Kids' School

JeanneSager — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:30:00 GMT

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.

Is that really necessary?

The boycott is expected to earn the school district penalties from the state, which requires the Star tests be administered to at least eighty-five percent of the school population in accordance with the No Child Left Untested, er, Behind, act.

Parents say they're trying to send the school district a message - one parent's direct quote in the Contra Costa Times: "If you won't listen to our opinion about the name of the high school, then you don't get the benefit of our test scores."

Because this is going to make or break your kids' future? I'm all for protesting standardized testing. A number of studies have proven the tests may actually hamper learning, encouraging teachers and students to rely on rote memorization. They're also particularly bad for minority students. These parents, however, aren't complaining about the tests themselves. They're just using them to show they have more power than the board. Said one mom, "If you change the name, if you listen to us, then we will let our children take the test."

Um, that's called blackmail where I come from.

This is the name of a school building. A name that, despite the vote, doesn't HAVE TO be put up for vote in most places. Our local district merged in 1999, and I didn't have a say in what they named the new district. Trust me, I sleep just fine at night. I'd probably sleep better knowing my kid wouldn't be entering the building in a year and a half ready to face standardized tests, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Granted, I don't know much about Ray Abril Jr. He might be a bit of a jerk (although many comments on this news story would note to the contrary). But he's also not Stalin or Hitler. And it's JUST A NAME.

Anyone else think the kids and parents are reversed here?

Image: SB Sun (Colton Unified School)

Bag of Feces Sent Home in Kid's Backpack

JeanneSager — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:05:00 GMT

As Madeline pointed out yesterday, the word "panties," is shudder-tastic. I've found three worse words - at least used in succession, and when referring to the contents of a little kid's backpack.

Bag of feces.

Yup, a kindergartner came home from school this week with a big ol' bag of dung in his backpack.

Inside, his dad says, was a note from the teacher that read "This little turd was on the floor in my room."

What??? This child is five and apparently had an accident in the classroom. I repeat, this child is five. Accidents happen (come on parents, sing the Elmo's Potty Time song). For a teacher to make an issue of it to begin with shows she does not belong in a kindergarten classroom (or, perhaps, any classroom). Kids need to realize there's no shame in accidents and taught that they can always ask the teacher to use the bathroom. If this was a habit, the teacher might even be wise to talk to the school psychologist about the incidents, as elementary age kids whose potty training regresses are often displaying signs of stress, illness or even abuse.

Bagging it up and sending it home is particularly heinous because, let's face it, this is POOP we're talking about. Human waste. Excrement. Should I continue? The school says they're "looking into it," but I'd say they need to look at flushing this teacher out of their system.

What do you say, Babble readers?

Image: PoopReport

High School Coach Fired for Appearing in Playboy

JeanneSager — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 19:03:00 GMT

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?

According to a California TV station, Christine was fine until a few girls didn't make her squad because of unexcused absences from school. That's when the girls' cranky parents made copies of her centerfold (which is quite nekkid - our big brother publication Nerve has the pictures if you want to see - but you'll have to search for them yourself on Google, they're definitely NSFW) and dropped them on the principal's desk.

Apparently, they wouldn't have cared who was coaching their daughters until they found out no one was coaching them.

Now that word is out, of course, that Christine was Playboy's "cyber girl of the week" and posed totally topless in the centerspread of the magazine. And parents are mad that she was ever allowed around their kids.

I'm on the fence about this one - perhaps more so because of the duplicity of the parents. It's a pity they couldn't be righteously indignant BEFORE they wanted Christine to bend school rules for their kids.

While I would hope that a cheerleading coach, who is supposed to be someone teen girls look up to, would have a little more respect for herself than to do this, I will say she was doing something completely legal (she wasn't on a street corner, folks), and she did it on her own time. She wasn't holding a modeling shoot in the middle of practice. And last I checked, cheerleading coaches don't exactly make a lot of money.

What do you think parents? Should Christine get the ouster or should these parents learn to grow up?

Image: Nerve

(Also of note: Brett points out, over at his site Daddytips.com, that Ms. Christine's online modeling profile says "no nudes." Riiiight.)

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

JeanneSager — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 18:01:00 GMT

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.

It's actually just the latest in a string of states that measure kids' BMI (eighteen in total do so), and a growing number that are sending the results home to the parents. Dubbed Mass in Motion, the Massachusetts program is aimed at lowering rates of childhood obesity - and parents will have the chance to opt out if they want to.

I am already prepared for the response of some parents - BMI isn't not an accurate representation of whether or not someone is overweight. And they're right. But the breakdown can be helpful, especially for parents who see the pediatrician only once a year with their kids, when it's time for the well visit. Sudden spikes or drops in weight can be signs of illness in kids, signs of depression or drug abuse too. Catch the warning signs early, and you might prevent your kids from future harm.

Parents would also do well to know a little more about their child's health. Studies have shown that parents often fail to recognize that their kids are overweight - be it because they have problems with weight themselves, are in denial or simply don't notice a change because they see their kids every day (where a grandparent who sees them monthly might notice a big difference in that time span).

How would you feel if you got this kind of report? Would it bother you to have the school stepping in?

Image: Go Healthy Go Fit

Charter Schools go Online

JeanneSager — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 15:24:00 GMT

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.

It's a movement that could expand homeschooling opportunities to parents who have always been uncomfortable with the idea of the burden of their child's education resting entirely on their shoulders but who are equally uncomfortable with the public school system in their area. That's why charter schools are usually created anyway - chartered by parents who want an alternative to the traditional school system that will be open to all kids, kids whose parents often can't afford private school tuition. Taxpayer funded, they're meant to extend choice in education to more families.

But while homeschooling parents have been making use of the internet practically since it began, if they signed on to a particular program, parents have often paid out of pocket. By granting the charter school label to an online school, taxpayer funds come into play.

And parents who've signed their kids up say they're loving it. In a recent Chicago Tribune piece, Michelle Koss, mom of a child with learning disabilities, said this has enabled her daughter to take her time mastering different subjects. Where she was lost in a traditional school setting, Sarah Koss is gaining momentum by working online at home.

As a mom who is pro-homeschool but knows it just wouldn't work for our family, the idea intrigues me most because it would take some of the onus off of me as teacher. I don't have faith in myself to be her educator, but with this kind of help, I could see it working. And knowing my taxes were going to fund it, instead of paying into a school system she would never use, would be a bonus. Too bad it's not available in my hometown.

Is this option available in your area? Would you take them up on it?

Image: Media.Canada

Forget Thank You, Teach Your Kids Netiquette

JeanneSager — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 20:33:00 GMT

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.

Not that South Koreans are particularly obnoxious! But according to research, South Korean kids are among the youngest internet surfers in the world. A group called the National Internet Development Agency of Korea, determined that by December 2007, Korea's "internet penetration rate" of people above age six was more than seventy-six percent. The international average is closer to twenty-two percent for kids six and up.

The nation's heads of education have taken a serious look at cyberbullying and its devastating affects on kids (including notable young TV stars who killed themselves after receiving threats online and a teenage girl who hung herself after her appearance on TV about her challenges with weight drew significant amounts of online snark). Here in America, cyberbullying is said to affect at least forty-two percent of our kids who use the internet. Fifty-eight percent of our kids have admitted to having had mean or hurtful things said to them while online. The same number said they didn't bother to tell their parents when it happened.

It seems smart to start the kids young on being respectful and using good manners despite the anonymity of the 'net. But is this something they really need to teach in schools? Check out this video of the little South Korean kids singing netiquette songs:

They're guardian angels to their internet friends, but what about their in-your-face friends?

Via Lemondrop

Is Pay to Play At Public Schools Fair?

JeanneSager — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:29:00 GMT

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'. In fact, many do. And in states like Minnesota and Arizona, it's written right into state law that they CAN. Ditto Pennyslvania, where a 2002 law stipulated it's OK for schools to charge fees for activities that are not "essential to core education."

But parents at the Dallastown Area School District in Southern Pennsylvania say this will put an undue burden on them - especially for families with more than one child. They point out that the economy is making parents pinch the same pennies as the school district; and they need free activities for their children now more than ever.

There's long been an argument that fees for extra-curricular activites in a public school system do more harm than good. The lower income families struggle to pay the fees while kids from more affluent families are treated to more opportunities. It perpetuates the separation between the classes. It's a valid argument. Except, when I look at my property tax bill (schools are funded via property taxes in New York State), I am more liable to celebrate if I knew my daughter learned to read and write then I am if I know she just got a free t-shirt for playing free soccer.

The crux of the argument lies in the notion of a free education as guaranteed by our Constitution. But is football education? What about yearbook? Or art club? In Dallastown, the school spends $1.3 million a year on extra-curricular activities for their kids. This in a state where ninety-five percent of school districts were found in 2007 to be spending well below what was recommended per student on academics.

Sports and other extra-curriculars are good for kids. They're social activities, for one, educating children on the nuances of a working with others, often adding discipline and rounding out their core education. But think of how many parents can't send their kids to extra-curriculars because they won't make it home in time to pick them up from practice, and you'll see how limited the offerings already are to the general population. That was me - I didn't play one single school-associated sport during my twelve years of public school. The school wasn't expected to step up and help my parents arrange for me to get home from practice. Nor did they supplement my parents' payments for me to play AYSO soccer in elementary school. It was expected to keep me in line from 7:30 to 3:55 and produce a college-ready senior.

I'd prefer to think that every kid - rich or poor - got a good start on reading, writing and arithmetic before I start worrying about whether little Johnny gets to stay after school for extras. Once we have that down, then I'll think about.

So what do you think, parents? Is it fair to force parents to pay for extra-curriculars, even in this economy?

Image: Wikimedia

School Expels Teen for Birth Control Pill

JeanneSager — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:32:00 GMT

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? That she did so during school hours. . . specifically, that she took a pill without supervision of the school nurse.

Her mother says she's aware the girl violated school rules, but she's questioning just how far a school should go with its punishment. Two weeks suspension and recommended expulsion for taking a legally prescribed drug? Does that sound fair?

It's a problem for plenty of parents in America - not birth control per se - but medicine. Kids take a lot of it - just this week, a study showed the precipitous rise in the number of kids who require medication to control their blood pressure and diabetes. And those are just two diseases. What about asthma, allergies, ADHD? Not to mention your standard headache or menstral cramps which could use an over-the-counter fix. All legal drugs, and not always feasible to take at home. Some medicines require several dosages in a day, for example, spaced out over time. Others require kids take them at the same time of day, every day. And a headache doesn't come on to suit the school schedule.

Meanwhile, schools are steadily trying to fight the tide of youthful prescription drug abusers in the America - a number that's up fivefold in the twelve-to-seventeen bracket in the past decade and a half. They call for students to take all medicines to the nurse's office, where the school health official is charged with handing out the prescription drugs to the students at the appropriate time in the appropriate dose.

It's what the girl in Fairfax should have done, what even her mom admits she should have done. Unfortunately, it doesn't work for every kid. In part because some school districts refuse to condone over-the-counter medications because they do not come with a doctor's note that can be kept in the nurse's office. And in part because kids need medicines at different times during the day; times when the nurse's office isn't always open. Some schools have cut back on the availability of nursing staff too, sharing one nurse for several buildings - so kids end up handing their medicines over to office staff, who parents argue are often even less informed about the proper use of the medication than the kids themselves, who have been taking the drugs for years.

And school districts have gone overboard. The Washington Post article that shares the Fairfax family's story cites a since-overturned law from Maryland that required a doctor's note for kids to put on sunscreen. Really? Because we'd rather the kids all end up with skin cancer over a legal substance that's available over the counter in any Wal-Mart in the country, for sale to anyone of any age?

With birth control too there's the worry that being so strict on teens dulls the efficacy of the fight against teen pregnancy. Wouldn't we rather our teens were taking the pill than skipping it? And despite the school's claims that this wasn't about what kind of drug but the fact that it was a drug, period, I can't help but wondering if they would have threatened explusion over, I don't know, aspirin? I'm not defending the girl in Virginia for her actions - birth control pills are to be taken at the same time every day, but there's no reason she couldn't have been on a schedule of taking them in the morning before school or at night.

She was wrong and deserved to be punished, but isn't expulsion for a LEGAL drug a little much? Do you feel the schools have gone too far in reaching into our medicine cabinets?

Image: AC

When Mom's a Sex Offender

JeanneSager — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Alex Dinkel just wants his mom to watch him graduate from high school. Unfortunately for him, Jeni Lee Dinkel will be arrested if she steps on the high school campus.

She had sex with one of her son's fifteen-year-old classmates in 2007 and is now a registered sex offender.

The boy Jeni Lee had sex with is no longer at the school, but officials are still saying nixing requests for her to attend Alex's graduation. If it sounds cut and dried, it isn't. Although Jeni Lee was convicted and thus is definitely a sex offender, her son is not your typical high school senior.

Alex was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma in 2007 (the same year his mother was convicted). He fought the cancer and is in remission, but he's since suffered a heart attack (as a teenager) and now goes everywhere with a defibrillator to keep his heart pumping. When he went into cardiac arrest, it was his parents who brought him back via CPR.

Along with dad Tom, a former NFL player, Alex held a press conference to speak out against the school. He says it's not fair to deny him every kid's dream that their parents will watch them graduate. What's more, he says his Catholic high school is not acting in accordance with church teachings which preach turning the other cheek and forgiveness.

Although I think his mom's a creep, I tend to agree with him. A school staff person can easily keep an eye on Jeni Lee during the two or three hours of a graduation ceremony, and she can be escorted off campus immediately after the ceremony ends (or even just after her son receives his diploma). There never has to be a moment when she is alone with a child. As for whether she's looking "the wrong way" at the kids in the room, let's be realistic - there are sex offenders in grocery stores who might get their jollies by looking at our kids. It's the risk we take by letting our kids out of the bubble.

Do you think the school should give in for just one day? Is this about the parent or the student?

Image: KentuckyEnquirer

Worksheets Die a Green Death, Kids Celebrate

JeanneSager — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:34:00 GMT

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.

They write their papers on a computer, read books on the computer, even do their homework on scanned PDFs available via the Internet. The teachers are finding themselves spending less time at the copy machine (or less time sending their assistants to the copy machine) and more time for classroom instruction or preparation for instruction. And the kids, they say, are more engaged. Used to cell phones, Wiis and constant electronic connections, being plugged in inside the classroom has meant better student engagement.

And, of course, there's that cost issue - even in better economic times, schools across the country could always used more money. Now, the financial issues are dire in some districts - where teachers have sold ad space on testpapers, administrators have called for kids to bring their own toilet paper and all classroom appliances have been yanked.

With kids learning about Twitter and Wikipedia in England and these efforts, are you worried our kids will never be able to unplug? Or are you just happy to see a greener planet that costs you less green?

Image/Source: Boston Herald