School nurses in short supply

School nurses in short supply Cincinnati.com The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ohio has one nurse for every 2,377 students; Kentucky has one per 1,877, according to a 2007 survey by the National Association of School Nurses. Nationally, each school nurse cares for 1,151 students on average.

Most districts surveyed in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky have more nurses than the statewide average, but they still are far short of government standards.

Schools should have one nurse for every 750 students, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nurses will be able to handle a mass immunization effort, if it is mandated, said Kathy Inderbitzin, an executive board member for the Ohio Association of School Nurses. But there's still a critical shortage, she said.

"We're all kind of on pins and needles yet about the flu, to find out how it's going to affect the kids," Inderbitzin said.

Schools hire a wide range of medical workers to handle school health needs, from registered nurses with advanced degrees to nurse's aides. In both Ohio and Kentucky, nurses must complete a licensure program through the state education department to officially use the "school nurse" title.

In new accelerator schools, a diploma after two years

In new accelerator schools, a diploma after two years -- baltimoresun.com

Program designed for kids who fell behind, lowering drop-out risk

Baltimore Community School Principal Brian Jones said the school will concentrate on teaching students skills they need to graduate. So in English, the students will focus on learning to write coherent sentences and paragraphs as much as on the plot of the book they are reading. And in math, teachers will make sure students have basic arithmetic skills before moving to algebra.

Students choose to go to the school and went through a lengthy interview process this summer, Jones said, and he did reject a number of applicants. He wanted to be assured that the students really wanted to graduate from high school and that they are willing to abide by a few strict rules.

Students must wear uniforms and cannot take cell phones to school even if they are riding an hour across town on the bus, and Jones checks every student at the door in the morning to make sure they are carrying a three-ring binder. The binder is supposed to be evidence they are serious about doing their homework, keeping their papers together and taking notes. The halls of the school are spotless, the classes are small (no more than 22 students) and there is none of the chattering common in a large city public high school.

"So far, I really like the teachers. They are very hands-on, and they work with you. They offer e-mail addresses and coach classes," said Parris.

Learning Shouldn't Be Dictated by the School Calendar - washingtonpost.com

Learning Shouldn't Be Dictated by the School Calendar - washingtonpost.com

The academic calendar inspires similarly bad habits in schools. Parents and teachers conspire each spring to clean up weaknesses in the records of some children so they can be promoted to the next grade. Some urban high school teachers have told me of panic attacks every April, when only half of the senior class appears qualified to graduate. Extra-credit projects materialize. Grade book calculations are readjusted. Magically, the graduating class grows to about the same size as last year's.

Educators have been trying for more than a century to make lessons more like what students will find in real life. Philosopher John Dewey started a movement with a concept he called experiential education. His disciples have tried to introduce projects -- putting out a class newspaper has been a favorite -- so students learn by doing. You can find examples of this in many schools, but the old just-get-through- the-year mentality still reigns. It is difficult to cover all that I wanted to learn as a student, and I wanted my children to learn, in a nontraditional, project-driven format. Deborah Meier, Dennis Littky and other free-thinking educators have made headway with impoverished urban teenagers, but they are exceptions.

California School District Closes All 28 Libraries - 8/31/2009 - School Library Journal

California School District Closes All 28 Libraries - 8/31/2009 - School Library Journal:

"Pink slips were mailed in mid-July, and the library closures came three weeks after the start of the school year because the district was required to give its employees 45-days notice of their termination.

This blow to the library program comes six years after the district reassigned middle and high school librarians and halted subscription databases due to a lack of funds.
The district, located 20 miles east of Sacramento, recently invested $100,000 in Follett’s Destiny Textbook Manager program to help librarians automate textbook circulation, but the future of the program is now in doubt.

Linda Rodriguez, a library tech at Folsom High School for the last 18 years, was surprised that the district chose to reinstate freshmen athletics instead of saving the libraries. 'What a nightmare,' she told the local Sacramento Bee. “There is no accountability, and things are going to be cannibalized.'"

5,700 school district contracts in dispute | Education | Wichita Eagle

5,700 school district contracts in dispute Education Wichita Eagle:

"The negotiated base salaries for the 2008-09 school year ranged from $37,998 for a starting salary and bachelor's degree, to $47,603 for midlevel experience and master's degree, to $59,677 for the highest experience level and doctoral degree.

At issue is whether teachers should work fewer professional development hours to offset the loss of additional pay for experience, said Larry Landwehr, president of the United Teachers of Wichita.

'We discussed all the pros and cons, and we saw professional concerns not acted upon,' he said.
In the school board's view, it could have monetary impact, Fuller said. If weekly training time is moved into official school hours, the school district would have to pay more substitutes or other adults to supervise the students, she said"

A parent’s right to choose : thenewdominion.com

A parent’s right to choose : thenewdominion.com:

"“And any way you slice this, the funding for any voucher program ends up in the coffers of primarily private religious schools,” said Barry Lynn, the executive director of the Washington, D.C.,-based Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. “The idea that this is constitutional is that because the parents get the funds, they become kind of a stopgap, and that therefore the money somehow doesn’t benefit religion. But of course since the money goes in the form of a voucher to the parent, the parent essentially cashes in the voucher and the money ends up primarily in religious schools.”

Lynn was alluding there to a controversial 5-4 United States Supreme Court decision in a 2002 case in Ohio that provided a constitutional foot in the door for a voucher program there. The Court was divided along clear ideological lines in the decision, and it isn’t hard to figure that a change in the makeup of the Court in the future could lead to a reversal should another similar case arise down the road."

Parents make the difference in education more than teachers do.

Parents make the difference in education more than teachers do.:


"At the end of the day, the question becomes one of parenting. Are the parents ensuring all homework is complete? Do the parents check their children's grades on-line to impose a reward/consequence system at home? Do the parents make sure schoolwork gets done before soccer practice? Do the parents contact the teachers with concerns? Did the parents raise their children to honor their position and the position of the teachers so that their children do not question directives such as, 'Do your homework?' The answer is good parenting and keeping parents accountable for their children's academic progress"

Nonreligious Private Schools Spend More Per Student Than Others, Study Shows - washingtonpost.com

Nonreligious Private Schools Spend More Per Student Than Others, Study Shows - washingtonpost.com:

"The secular private schools analyzed in the study spent $20,100 on each student in the 2007-08 school year vs. $10,100 in public schools. Nonparochial Catholic schools tended to spend roughly the same as public schools. (Parochial schools were not included in the study because their tax data are not publicly available and because their finances are so tied to those of the Catholic Church.) Members of two of the largest associations of Christian schools spent $7,100 -- several thousand dollars less per student than their public peers.

Per-student spending in the Washington region's public schools ranged from $10,400 to $19,300 that year, according to a Washington Area Boards of Education report, although public schools account for their spending differently from private schools, and numbers are difficult to compare directly."

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » SF Labor Council Backs UNITE HERE Local 2, Rejects SEIU’s Threats

BeyondChron: San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » SF Labor Council Backs UNITE HERE Local 2, Rejects SEIU’s Threats:

"As the epicenter of labor’s internal wars shifts to San Francisco, SEIU now finds itself in deep trouble with the powerful San Francisco Labor Council. Labor officials were angered by SEIU’s threat to withdraw its Council funding, and did not respond well to what Teachers Union President Dennis Kelly described as “the two faced-ness of (Dave) Regan’s presentation and by the threats and bullying.”"

STRIKE UPDATE: Teachers rally at ShoWare and strike continues - Covington Reporter

STRIKE UPDATE: Teachers rally at ShoWare and strike continues - Covington Reporter:

"Kent Education Association President Lisa Brackin-Johnson said after the rally, “The teachers are staying resolute to what they believe and what is good for the students.”
Dale Folkerts, spokesman for the union, said at about 11 a.m. Sunday if an agreement was not reached by noon, there would not be time to get the information out to parents and teachers for school to start Monday.

“We are saddened the district has not taken these issues seriously enough to bring a compromise,” Folkerts said by phone Sunday. “The issues are the classes are too crowded and too many administrative meetings. It robs the teachers’ time with the students.”

Pay has also been an issue, but according to Folkerts it did not spark the strike.

Folkerts said he believes if the other two issues had been dealt with the union and district could have come to an agreement over wages."

LA's charter school giveaway | SocialistWorker.org

LA's charter school giveaway SocialistWorker.org:

"Though the union as a whole did not commit fully to the kind of alliances with parents that we should have in the first round of this fight, the potential to organize around the issue of equal access to excellent education is very strong.

If we attempt to include parents and students in the fight for access for all to quality public schools, we could stop the mayor and his charter school allies from privatizing our schools, and fight to shape those schools according to the visions of parents, teachers and students. We now have to counter their agenda with ours, school by school."

SCHOOL MATTERS: California STAR Results Show Achievement Gap Persists - NAM

SCHOOL MATTERS: California STAR Results Show Achievement Gap Persists - NAM:

"What is clear is the racial and socioeconomic achievement gap hasn’t shrunk substantially.

'The gap is getting bigger and bigger,' said Linda Murray, acting executive director of Ed Trust West and former superintendent of San Jose Unified School District from 1993-2004. 'Poor students and students of color attend schools where teachers are less experienced, classrooms are under-resourced, and academic expectations are lower. These students are taught less, so they under-perform.'

The proportion of white 8th graders who achieved proficiency was 32 percentage points higher than Latino and African American 8th graders, according to a 2009 STAR program report released by Education-Trust West.

With some 1.6 billion proposed budget cuts to California education, high-level academic achievement is only going to become more of a challenge for low-income and minority students who attend under-funded schools.

'The devastation of funding cuts is very real,' said Murray. 'Class sizes are going up, resources are dwindling, teacher quality will suffer; there are kinds of ramifications of the cuts which will hurt kids attending under-resourced schools the most.'"

Parent University: Involving parents in a child's education | NECN

Parent University: Involving parents in a child's education NECN:

"Parent University: Involving parents in a child's education

Play video

(NECN: Michelle Brown, Boston, Mass.) - As a parent and former New York City school teacher, Saralyn Rice knows the importance of a parent's involvement in their child's education.
An enhanced form of communication and involvement is a sentiment shared by Boston school officials. When the new school year gets underway on September 10th, they will be reaching out not just to students, but to their parents, as well.

It is all part of a new program called Parent University.

The first of three all-day learning sessions begin in October at UMass Boston, followed by two more sessions in January and May. The program is free to all Boston public school families.
Boston public schools had a similar program to Parent University in the late 1990's called Parent Leadership Academy. That program fell victim to budget cuts."

California’s Response for Federal Stimulus Funding - California Progress Report

California’s Response for Federal Stimulus Funding - California Progress Report:

"This hearing and The Race to the Top is about understanding Education as a civil rights issue. When the Governor announced the Special Session last week, one of those who stood with him was Alice Huffman, the president of the state NAACP. This is the same NAACP that celebrates its 100th year anniversary this year, and which, half a century ago filed Brown v. Board of Education demanding that America stop school segregation because separate is not equal.

Today, decades after the Brown decision, we still have a form of segregation in our public school system. Nearly 80 percent of students in our lowest performing schools are African American or Latino. Poor students and students of color are four times more likely to have under-prepared teachers. We have an achievement gap for African Americans, Latinos, and English learners that has been both persistent and pernicious – confirmed again with new test scores released just last week.

Over the years, many of us in this Senate and in this room have advanced innovative legislation to find new ways to reform and transform public education. Impressive efforts have happened at the local level—oftentimes in spite of Sacramento or Washington. – use of student data to improve instruction and reward teachers in Long Beach and Fresno; an alternative compensation program in San Francisco that resulted from collaboration with the teachers union; a focus on better, not just more, high-quality charter schools throughout the state; a parents’ revolution that is captivating Los Angeles."

Legislators eye grants for schools - San Bernardino County Sun

Legislators eye grants for schools - San Bernardino County Sun:

"While the state could benefit from the federal dollars given its current fiscal crisis, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools Gary Thomas said he believes the teachers association should be involved in the conversation pertaining to data.

'If you're going to move in that direction, you're going to have to sit with the California Teachers Association and have thoughtful conversations and discussion about it,' he said.
'It's going to involve their members and the future of the teaching professions, so I think they're going to need to have a voice in that. And as I understand it, the teachers associations have been involved in those conversations.'"

As schools tighten belts, costs of supplies are passed to parents and teachers - Sacramento Living - Sacramento Food and Wine, Home, Health | Sacramento Bee

As schools tighten belts, costs of supplies are passed to parents and teachers - Sacramento Living - Sacramento Food and Wine, Home, Health Sacramento Bee:

"It takes a lot of supplies to run the average public school classroom, and one might assume that school's budget to cover the costs. But in an era of cost-cutting and economizing, the ex pense is increasingly shouldered by parents and teachers, rather than just taxpayers. Teachers spend an average of $500 of their own money each year on school materials, according to a National Education Association survey, while the typical student-supplies list now includes everything from hand sanitizer to safety pins, sandwich bags to batteries."

Northwest Voices | Education: merit pay, teachers' strikes, raises and alternative schools | Seattle Times Newspaper

Northwest Voices Education: merit pay, teachers' strikes, raises and alternative schools Seattle Times Newspaper:

"In the so-called failing schools, a teacher using all effort and resources may move a student only one bump on a progress chart. This hardly measurable step represents the best and deserves recognition.

In these poor achieving schools:

Income issues dominate family life, and one parent, grandparent or foster family are all too often the home life of many students. Parent involvement is minimal and adults at home are frequently victims of school failure while serious language and cultural issues run deep.

Class sizes can't be reduced but school aids are. Volunteers are few and far between. Discipline is complicated and daily disruptions rob children of learning."

Joel Klein vs. New York City teachers : The New Yorker

Joel Klein vs. New York City teachers : The New Yorker

The United Federation of Teachers, the U.F.T., was founded in 1960. Before that, teachers endured meagre salaries, tyrannical principals, witch hunts for Communists, and gender discrimination against a mostly female workforce (at one point, there was a rule requiring any woman who got pregnant to take a two-year unpaid leave). Drawing its members from a number of smaller and ineffective teachers’ groups, the U.F.T. coalesced into a tough trade union that used strikes and political organizing to fight back. By the time Bloomberg took office, forty-two years later, many education reformers believed that the U.F.T. and its political allies had gained so much clout that it had become impossible for the city’s Board of Education, which already shared a lot of power with local boards, to maintain effective school oversight. In 2002, with the city’s public schools clearly failing, the State Legislature granted control of a new Department of Education to the new mayor, who had become a billionaire by building an immense media company, Bloomberg L.P., that is renowned for firing employees at will and not giving contracts even to senior executives.

Education News & Comment

Education News & Comment:

"New SCUSD WEB SITE!"

Wash. latest state to be sued for school dollars

Wash. latest state to be sued for school dollars Seattle Times Newspaper

The timing wasn't planned, but that doesn't make it any less auspicious.

Right in the middle of a recession that has created the worst atmosphere for school budgeting in decades, a coalition of Washington school districts, parents, teachers and community groups is going to court Monday to demand that the state start paying the full cost of education.

Attorneys for both sides say the economy will have little or no influence on the outcome of the non-jury trail, scheduled to begin on the first day of the school year for many district and to continue for six weeks of testimony in King County Superior Court before Judge John Erlick.

School districts have been struggling economically for decades, so while the recession makes things worse it doesn't make them different, said Mike Blair, chair of the group calling itself Network for Excellence in Washington Schools.

School funding adequacy has been the subject of lawsuits around the country during the past decade. The Columbia University-based National Access Network, which advocates for school funding fairness and maintains a database of current litigation, reports that 45 of the 50 states have been sued over their methods of paying for public schools.

State and federal dollars pay most, but not all the cost to educate Washington's students. The rest of the money comes from local tax levies, donations and PTA fundraisers. Meanwhile, the Washington Constitution makes education the state's highest priority.