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Monday, September 6, 2010

Research team: Too much texting leads to problems

Research team: Too much texting leads to problems

Research team: Too much texting leads to problems

Elissa Dickey Aberdeen American News | Posted: Saturday, September 4, 2010 6:30 pm | (0) Comments

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ABERDEEN -- Megan Jordre's cell phone inbox can hold about 100 text messages, and she empties it about three times a day.

"I text a lot," said Jordre, laughing.

Jordre, a junior at Aberdeen Central High School, doesn't often stay up late at night texting. But she knows some kids who do.

That worries Byron Utter and Terry Stulken. Stulken said the nationwide issue can lead to problems, including lack of sleep.

Stulken, K-12 principal for Colman-Egan, and Utter, a former Langford and Mobridge educator, make up the Midwest Center for School Safety. The duo, who have about 65 years' worth of educational experience

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“The places most likely to harbor aliens” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

“The places most likely to harbor aliens” | Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
“The places most likely to harbor aliens” The places most likely to harbor aliens is a short, useful slideshow from The Mother Nature Network. I’m adding it to The Best Sites For Learning About Possible Life On Other Planets.
Students Can Write Book & Movie Recommendations At “Hello Hype” Students can write short (500 characters or less) reviews of books, movies, TV shows, or music at Hello Hype. I’m adding it to The Best Places Where Students Can Write For An “Authentic Audience.”
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What Controls Immigration? It’s The Economy, Stupid | California Progress Report

What Controls Immigration? It’s The Economy, Stupid | California Progress Report

What Controls Immigration? It’s The Economy, Stupid

by christine

By Peter Schrag

It’s hardly news that, like Arizona, many states and scores of cities have been looking for ways to drive illegal immigrants out – ordering cops to detain people who can’t show documents verifying their right to be here, passing measures to fine landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and employers who hire them. And there are the Republicans who want to fiddle with the Constitution to deny children born to illegal aliens birthright citizenship.

So obviously Americans must be panicking because illegal immigration has been spiking, right?

Wrong. A new report from the Pew Hispanic Center, like a similar Census report earlier this year, indicates a dramatic decline not only in the number of people entering the country illegally between 2007 and 2009 -- for Mexicans, it’s down by 70 percent from three years ago -- but in the number of illegal aliens living here, down from roughly 12 million in 2007 to 11.1 million today.

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Mayor of Sacramento Orders New SUV for $50,000; Justified or Wasteful? - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com

Mayor of Sacramento Orders New SUV for $50,000; Justified or Wasteful? - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com
Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has a shiny new ride. The Sacramento Mayor had the Sacramento Police Department buy him a new SUV that cost $51,250 according to an invoice reported by News KCRA 3. It has
raised an important question about whether a purchase of this nature is justified, or if this is a waste of city funds. The report states that Sacramento was going to be using the money that was spent on the mayor's new SUV to replace two other police vehicles. Those vehicles were a Ford Expedition and a forklift that is used at the police department's property division. Hopefully they didn't really need that new forklift, because it sounds like there won't be any money left for it.

Johnson has justified his purchase by stating that no additional taxpayer money was used in the purchase of this new SUV, and that it is an effort to help make the city more green in the near future. Oh did we mention that the new SUV comes with a satellite television dish on the roof and a very nice onboard television system? The mayor's office also made sure to point out that no taxpayer money was used to add that television system. It seems that a once in-touch mayor has started to
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PostPartisan - A trail that Rhee shouldn't have hit

PostPartisan - A trail that Rhee shouldn't have hit

A trail that Rhee shouldn't have hit

I suppose D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee assumed that a Mayor Vincent Gray would not keep her on the job if he wins the D.C. Democratic primary on Sept. 14.

Or maybe Rhee concluded that she wouldn’t want to work for Gray if he did win. At any rate, on Saturday Rhee decided to jump into the middle of the primary and hit the campaign trail on the side of the man who gave her the job, Mayor Adrian Fenty.

She is a polarizing figure in the District of Columbia, but I’m a fan of Michelle Rhee. Her courage and focus on education reform have shaken up the school system for the better. But I wish she had given her decision to get into the mix of partisan politics a bit more thought.

With Rhee’s move to campaign in the D.C. Democratic primary, I fear that Washington will be her first and last stop as a schools chief, at least in urban America. No other big-city school district is going to touch her. A school administrator who openly engages

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Robert J. Samuelson - School reform's meager results

Robert J. Samuelson - School reform's meager results

School reform's meager results

Monday, September 6, 2010

As 56 million children return to the nation's 133,000 elementary and secondary schools, the promise of "reform" is again in the air. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has announced $4 billion in "Race to the Top" grants to states whose proposals demonstrate, according to Duncan, "a bold commitment to education reform" and "creativity and innovation [that are] breathtaking." What they really show is that few subjects inspire more intellectual dishonesty and political puffery than "school reform."

Since the 1960s, waves of "reform

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Christie, Schundler conflict is latest in politicization of N.J. education department | NJ.com

Christie, Schundler conflict is latest in politicization of N.J. education department | NJ.com

Christie, Schundler conflict is latest in politicization of N.J. education department

Published: Monday, September 06, 2010, 7:25 AM Updated: Monday, September 06, 2010, 7:37 AM
Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist
bret-schundler-education-fired.JPGCarmine Galasso/The RecordBret Schundler sits in his Jersey City home and talks with reporters about his recent firing by N.J. Gov. Chris Christie, in this Aug. 28 file photo.

TRENTON — Bad enough the brouhaha over the "clerical error" masked the mediocrity of New Jersey’s Race to the Top application. Now, the Punch and Judy Show starring the governor and the ex-education commissioner also hides a more serious problem:

How do you run a statewide school bureaucracy responsible for spending billions of dollars a year if, every few years, it has new leadership and a new philosophy?

"The state education department may not be able to perform basic regulatory functions expected of a state agency," says David Sciarra, director of the Education Law Center. "No one stays there long enough — and it doesn’t have the staff."

Richard DeLisi, dean of the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, warns the department has lost its "institutional memory" because of frequent changes.

Controversy didn’t start with Gov. Chris Christie and Bret Schundler. In the last half-century, more

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Texas' financial aid for college students could dwindle even more | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Texas' financial aid for college students could dwindle even more | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Texas' financial aid for college students could dwindle even more

11:35 PM CDT on Sunday, September 5, 2010

By ERIN MULVANEY / The Dallas Morning News
emulvaney@dallasnews.com

AUSTIN – University of Texas junior Mariano Pintor said when he was growing up in Dallas, most of his friends thought "only rich kids go to college."

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But Pintor, the son of a Dallas city maintenance worker, had plans: He wants to start some sort of business that will help people and make his parents proud. Thanks in part to an endangered state financial aid program, he's working on both.

"No one even told me that I could go to college," said Pintor, 20. He recalled walking through the campus after scoring his first "A" on an

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EducationNews.org - School 'reforms'

EducationNews.org - School 'reforms'
School 'reforms' 9.6.10 - Robert J. Samuelson | Efforts to improve America's education system have been disappointing for two reasons.
Things you should know about Labor Day 96.10 - Since most of you have the day off on Labor Day, take a few minutes to read this and learn a little about the holiday. Then tell your kids.
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Bills would add CSU doctorates - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Bills would add CSU doctorates - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee
Isao Fujimoto was too busy helping people to complete his Ph.D. until age 76
1M6FUJIMOTO.JPG
By Stephen Magagnini - Published: 12:00 am

It took Isao Fujimoto 50 years to complete his Ph.D. in developmental sociology, but in that half century he changed the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Bills would add CSU doctorates
By Laurel Rosenhall - Published: 12:00 am
Two bills heading to the governor's desk raise a fundamental question about how California educates health care workers who are not physicians: How many of them need doctoral degrees?
    Kids load up on musical skill in truck
    By Queenie Wong - Updated: 1:33 pm
    7M5MUSIC.JPG
    Flip Kirby, founder of Musical Instruments 'N Kids' Hands, hopes to revive an interest in what he calls a lost art form as more artists turn to computer-generated instruments.
    Classes offer inside look at Sheriff's Department
    Published: Sunday, September 5 2010 - 12:00 am
    The Placer County Sheriff's Department is taking reservations for its Community Awareness Academy, which offers an inside look at the law enforcement agency.


    Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/education/#ixzz0ykzIVfpG
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    Brooklyn school throws children's books, computer printers in the trash

    Brooklyn school throws children's books, computer printers in the trash

    Brooklyn school throws children's books, computer printers in the trash

    BY ERIN DURKIN
    DAILY NEWS WRITER

    Monday, September 6th 2010, 4:00 AM

    Public School261 in Boerum Hill threw away a pile of children's books with the garbage.
    Egan-Chin/News
    Public School261 in Boerum Hill threw away a pile of children's books with the garbage.

    RELATED NEWS

    One Brooklyn elementary school got ready for the first day of class by tossing bags of children's books in the trash.

    About 200 titles - most in good condition - were lumped with a huge heap of garbage on the sidewalk behind Public School261 in Boerum Hill.

    "I am appalled," said Teresa Melendez, a mom of first- and fifth-graders at the school and a PTA member. She said the school library



    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/education/2010/09/06/2010-09-06_bklyn_school_chucks_200_books_in_garbage.html?r=ny_local/education#ixzz0ykyuZPoV
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    The Answer Sheet - Things you should know about Labor Day

    The Answer Sheet - Things you should know about Labor Day

    Things you should know about Labor Day

    Labor Day is the perfect day to explain to kids complaining about going back to school just how much worse things could be for them. In fact, they once were: Kids were forced into back-breaking jobs day and night in mines, textiles, glass factories, canneries and other places where children don't belong. Labor activists eventually ended child labor -- and won better working conditions for adult workers, including the eight-hour work day. Today, though, few schools teach in depth about the labor movement and I doubt many kids know what the holiday is intended to honor. To help you use this holiday as a learning experience for your children -- which is exactly what I knew you were planning to do today -- here are some facts and figures and history kindly assembled by the U.S. Census Bureau and other government agencies. It’s your government at work. Celebrated--On the first
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