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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

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Willful defiance suspensions vary widely among San Diego County districts





Education Headlines

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Wasco voters consider merging school districts

Voters in Wasco on Tuesday will decide whether to merge the Wasco Union Elementary School District and the Wasco Union High School District.

Museum education gets innovation recognition

Each year, nearly 50,000 students, parents and teachers take field trips to the USS Midway Museum to study math, physical sciences, social studies and other subjects in a one-of-a-kind learning laboratory. The success of the program has prompted the Classroom of the Future Foundation to recognize museum president and CEO Mac McLaughlin with its visionary and outstanding leadership award last month.

San Leandro teacher's nude photo mishap in classroom leads to child pornography, burglary charges

A San Leandro High School teacher is facing criminal charges after authorities found child pornography on a school computer. The investigation began after the teacher mistakenly showed students a nude photograph of himself, authorities said Monday.

San Diego school trustees to vote on adding meat-free meals to cafeterias

The San Diego Unified School District Board of Education is scheduled tomorrow to consider whether to implement meat-free menus at school cafeterias on Mondays, beginning this fall.

Adams: President Obama calls on teachers to help identify mental health disorders in students

President Barack Obama on Monday asked teachers to help identify and seek help for children who are suffering from mental health disorders, saying that it was time to bring “mental illness out of the shadows.”

LA tests ways to grade teachers

The hope is that schools will improve student achievement by better identifying which teachers are excelling, which are struggling and which need to be removed from the classroom altogether. The outcome in Los Angeles will have repercussions throughout the state, as pressure mounts to improve the state’s lagging achievement and qualify for federal funding.

Schools use restorative justice to reduce suspensions

After the 1999 shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado left 15 dead, many schools in the nation adopted “zero tolerance.” The term usually refers to automatic suspension or expulsion for students bringing drugs or participating in violence at school but critics contend the policy has grown to include lesser infractions. Who is subject to such discipline also has come under fire.

Willful defiance suspensions vary widely among San Diego County districts

Students can be suspended in California for 24 types of offenses. They include causing physical harm, bullying and theft. But 48 percent of the state’s suspensions during the 2011-12 school year were willful defiance or disruption. But districts vary widely in how often they used the category.

Freedburg: Reform of California’s school finance system likely

Less than a year after convincing voters to approve a multi-billion dollar tax increase for the state’s schools, Gov. Jerry Brown is on the verge of accomplishing a task that few California governors have dared to take on, let alone accomplish: reforming a school finance system that researchers and education advocates have for years labelled as inequitable, irrational and excessively complex.

More money for schools means less for San Mateo County, memo warns

Unlike most counties, San Mateo annually stashes tens of millions of dollars from property taxes collected on behalf of local schools and community colleges. But that could change this coming fiscal year because Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal calls for more of those taxes to go for education, according to a memo County Manager John Maltbie wrote for today's board of supervisors meeting.
Monday, June 3, 2013

Palm Springs Unified School District must borrow to build, but risks maxing out

The Palm Springs Unified School District will pursue a bond of up to $107 million to finish construction projects at local campuses, but the school board must still decide to prioritize savings or flexibility.

Advocates fear Gov. Jerry Brown's school funding plan could hurt small programs

Advocates warn that the California School Age Families Education program, or CalSAFE, and others like it could become casualties of Gov. Jerry Brown's push to streamline California's school funding machinery.

Charters are jackpot for district

The 37,000-student Stockton Unified, for instance, received about $5,200 per student this year, according to the San Joaquin County Office of Education. New Jerusalem's 16 kindergarten students? A bit more than $550,000. Each.