Education Headlines
Monday, October 15, 2012
Proposition to create school district left off some ballots
A proposition on the Nov. 6 ballot that would create a new Bonsall Unified School District was mistakenly left off the ballots of voters in two areas it would affect.Oxford Prep's Orange County branch suspected of inflating test scores
The Orange County branch of a well-respected Chino charter school is being investigated by school officials there, who suspect the school's sky-high test scores may have been inflated.How to best gauge teacher performance?
Research has shown that a teacher can make or break a child’s education. Yet assessments of educators locally and statewide do little to call out any problems.Fundraisers help keep Galt district libraries open
Gabriela Duenas reached into her pocket last April at a school board meeting and pulled out $40. The Galt seventh-grader had just heard that all six school libraries were to be closed because of a lack of funds. She wanted to help. The heartfelt action of a 12-year-old started a community swell of support that will result in the reopening of all six Galt Joint Union Elementary School District libraries on Wednesday.Boy in school flap over cystic fibrosis
By all accounts, Colman Chadam is a healthy, active 11-year-old boy who fit right in at Palo Alto's Jordan Middle School as a new kid in town. Except now, school officials believe his genetic makeup means he is a health risk to some of its other students and ordered that he be moved to another district middle school 3 miles away.Adelanto parents can open charter campus, judge rules
Mojave Desert parents struggling to transform their failing school won a key legal victory Friday when a judge ruled they must be allowed to open an independent charter campus next fall.California schools told to destroy peanut butter possibly tied to salmonella
California schools have been asked to destroy all peanut butter that is being recalled by its manufacturer, Sunland Inc., over concerns that it may contain Salmonella contamination.Rosenblatt: Contrary to common wisdom, nothing is ‘away’ from the classroom
Readers of my posts know that I often challenge the conventional wisdom within public education circles – a public sector “mythbuster” if you will – whether it be the myth of furlough days or the hollow critique of “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Another of my favorite examples is the all too often stated “truism” that if a school district needs to make budget cuts (as we all have had to do recently), it’s best to make cuts “away” from the classroom.Frey: Student discipline laws, though weakened, still will have an impact
Advocates for changing punitive school discipline policies that are disproportionately affecting African American and Latino students can claim at least a partial victory at the end of this year’s legislative session, with five bills signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown last month that raise awareness and pave the way for alternative approaches to out-of-school suspensions and expulsions.School official targeted special education program to cut costs
A San Francisco Unified School District administrator urged teachers to re-evaluate whether to offer summer school to special education students as a way to cut costs, a move that special education teachers and attorneys say violates federal regulations.Skelton: Education cuts at stake in tax battle
If Gov. Jerry Brown's Proposition 30 passes — and receives more votes than wealthy attorney Molly Munger's Prop. 38 — K-12 schools and community colleges will be spared $5.4 billion in budget cuts. Plus, the two university systems won't be dinged $250 million each. If, however, voters reject Prop. 30 on Nov. 6, those education cuts automatically will be triggered by the current state budget that was enacted in June by the governor and Legislature.
Friday, October 12, 2012