School Discipline Changes Urged In Federal Complaint Against Dallas Truancy System

School Discipline Changes Urged In Federal Complaint Against Dallas Truancy System:

School Discipline Changes Urged In Federal Complaint Against Dallas Truancy System

by Joy Resmovits

Ashley Brown, a Dallas high school sophomore, missed four days of school after her grandmother died. Shortly after that, a teacher taking roll missed the short-statured student and accidentally marked Brown absent. Then Brown missed school because she was suspended for an altercation. She missed another day when she was suspended for being late to class, because she was in the restroom.

The next thing she knew, the county truancy court summoned her. She owed mounting fines. "I was very worried because my family cannot pay those types of tickets," Brown, 16, said in an interview. "I'm on the honor roll. I'm academically prepared. For them to penalize me because of these mistakes -- wow."

Brown is one of 36,000 Dallas students who have faced truancy cases in the last year. In 2012, Texas adult courts prosecuted 113,000 truancy cases, more than twice the number pursued in the other 49 states combined.

That statistic, and the penalties children and parents face because of Dallas County's Truancy Court, is why 

UPDATE: Can a boy wear eyeshadow and lipstick to middle school? | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

Can a boy wear eyeshadow and lipstick to middle school? | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Get Schooled: Can a boy wear eyeshadow and lipstick to middle school?

 By Maureen Downey

Rules related to adolescent dress and appearance can be a minefield for middle and high schools. While the main focus used to be hemlines and necklines, schools today face much more complicated questions on what constitutes a distraction and what constitutes legitimate self-expression.

Can boys wear skirts? Can girls have multiple piercings?

In this case, the question is whether a boy can show up for school in makeup.

Christ Martin, 14, wore face makeup on the last day of middle school in St. Petersburg, Fla. His mother believes it is within her son's rights to wear makeup. The school reportedly disagreed.

As reported by the Tampa Bay Times :

After years of struggling to feel comfortable in his own skin, Chris Martin — who chooses not to label his sexual orientation — decided to wear black eyeliner, eyeshadow and lipstick on the 14-year-old's last day in the eighth grade. But as soon as he got to Meadowlawn Middle School on Wednesday, administrators told Martin he was violating the dress code. They wanted him to change his shirt and wipe off the makeup. The two 

Get Schooled: Should schools offer free breakfast for every student?

Does it make economic sense to provide all students – even those from wealthy homes -- free breakfasts at school to combat hunger and ensure kids start the day off right?
A new national movement encourages districts to offer every student a free and nutritious breakfast. Charlotte-Mecklenburg just became the ...

Has Technology Killed Cursive Handwriting? | toteachornototeach

Has Technology Killed Cursive Handwriting? | toteachornototeach:

Has Technology Killed Cursive Handwriting?

by aristotlethewise

Has Technology Killed Cursive Handwriting?

by Vignesh Ramachandran

Think back to the last time you wrote in cursive — you know, that fancy penmanship you may have learned way back in grade school, complete with elegant loops, curls and flourishes.
These days, with our fingers tapping on QWERTY keyboards, Evernote taking the place of sticky notes and tablets replacing paper notebooks, a question arises: Has the rise of technology led to the fall of cursive handwriting?
In the United States, somewhere around the third grade, cursive handwriting instruction has long been a sort of milestone, or right of passage. But in recent years, the nation’s Common Core State Standards — which at least 45 states and the District of Columbia, have voluntarily adopted — took out the requirement for cursive instruction in K through 12 schools. It has stirred quite the debate, since it’s up to each individual state to decide whether cursive is important enough to teach its own students. In recent months, North Carolina legislators 

Sign This Declaration For A Positive New Direction For American Education

Sign This Declaration For A Positive New Direction For American Education:

Sign This Declaration For A Positive New Direction For American Education

by Jeff Bryant

The growing revolution against top-down education mandates based on high-stakes testing and standardization has been building over the months into a widespreadEducation Spring.

Every revolution needs a declaration calling for a positive, new way forward.

This week, the Education Opportunity Network, the Institute for America’s Future and the Opportunity to Learn campaign released such a declaration.

Please sign the Education Declaration and share it to show your commitment to an education our children deserve.

In this video, I explain what’s behind the declaration and what we hope to accomplish.

An Education Declaration to Rebuild America is necessary because current policies are blatantly harmful to school children, families, and their communities.

More and more people are realizing this every day.

In Seattle, Chicago, Texas, Philadelphia, Newark and New York – teachers, parents, school children, and public school advocates are speaking out in spontaneous and organized protest of education mandates.

These flashpoints of resistance are driven by common grievances.  Teachers, students, and parents believe their schools are being deprived of the resources that are necessary to give students a quality education. They see that even the resources that are provided are very unfairly and inequitably spread. And they object to increasingly being disempowered and not having a voice in how their schools are governed.

The Education Declaration to Rebuild America addresses those grievances by calling for significant new investments – particularly in early childhood education, personal learning plans for K-12 students, and supports to address the out-of-school factors that influence learning.

The declaration appeals for new funding and resources to be more fairly and equitably 

UPDATE: James Meredith asks 21 tough questions about school reform

James Meredith asks 21 tough questions about school reform:

How to curb cheating in schools

by Valerie Strauss

In one minute and 44 seconds, Eric Anderman, professor of educational psychology at The Ohio State University, explains in this video why too much focus on testing increases the likelihood that students will cheat. The answer: Focus on learning and … Continue reading →

James Meredith asks 21 tough questions about school reform

By Valerie Strauss, Published: June 12, 2013 at 6:00 amE-mail the writer

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I am delighted to publish the following original piece by civil rights icon James Meredith, whooffers 21 questions every American should ask of their politicians, educators and school reformers.

In August 1963, Meredith graduated from the University of Mississippi as its first black graduate after engineering an epic civil rights victory involving the Supreme Court, the president of the United States, the state government of Mississippi, and 30,000 U.S. combat troops. In 1966, he was shot while leading the March Against Fear, which helped open the gates of voter registration to thousands of black citizens in the South. Two years later, he earned a law degree from Columbia University. Last month, he was awarded the Medal for Educational Impact from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, the school’s highest honor.

Meredith’s latest book is “A Mission from God: A Memoir and a Challenge for America,” written with William Doyle, who wrote this piece with him.

By James Meredith with William Doyle
In my recent book “A Mission from God,” 

A big unexplored idea in school reform

by Valerie Strauss

What’s worth learning and how best to teach it? This is the core of the following post by Marion Brady, a classroom teacher for years who has written history and world culture textbooks (Prentice-Hall),  professional books, numerous  nationally distributed columns … Continue reading →

NYC Educator: Bill Gates Colonel Sanders Makes Nice to Teachers Chickens

NYC Educator: Bill Gates Colonel Sanders Makes Nice to Teachers Chickens:

Bill Gates Colonel Sanders Makes Nice to Teachers Chickens

by NYC Educator

Colonel Harlan Sanders came back from the dead this morning to announce a major change in policy. Apparently, for some time, his chickens had been unhappy about their living conditions, and he felt that this was having a negative effect on the quality of the image of his brand.

"When you buy Kentucky Fried Chicken, you need to know it's a quality product," said the Colonel, after having inspected one of his packing facilities. "It's important we reach out to everyone  and get their view."

We attempted to get the viewpoint of said chickens. A spokesperson for the American Federation of Chickens stated, "It's always important to have a seat at the table, particularly when it's you who's going to end up on the table. We will negotiate for a solutions-based agreement with the Colonel, who will be keynote at our AFC convention. As stakeholders, we are always open to reasonable negotiations that benefit our members."

The Colonel was delighted to speak at the convention. "As everyone knows, this is a partnership. I'm a little confused by the AFC's 

UPDATE: The in box + A word to readers. | Fred Klonsky

A word to readers. | Fred Klonsky:

Michael the magician.

by Fred Klonsky

House Speaker Mike Madigan just put on a magic show.
He waved his wand and turned SB2404 into SB1.
Reports Rich Miller at Capitalfax:

House Speaker Michael Madigan gutted Senate President John Cullerton’s pension reform bill today and replaced the language with an amendment which appears to 

Ten minute drawing. I wasn’t going to just follow orders.

by Fred Klonsky

Click on image to enlarge.

Latest adventures in Bizarro World.

by Fred Klonsky

On Friday I turn 65 years old.
I have my Medicare card. My IEA Retired membership card. My reduced fare CTA pass should arrive any day now.
Since I have been working with my trainer, Mike, my internal balance is vastly improved.
But it is the outside world that feels out of kilter.
As I have pointed out, Illinois politics has been and remains a Bizarro World.
It is where the Republicans vote against diminishing public pensions, but where the leaders of the Democratic Party-controlled state government and the union leadership argue over how.

The in box. Karen Lewis on the Five-Year plan.

by Fred Klonsky

Karen Lewis:

“Our schools communities do not lack inspiration, they lack revenue. It doesn’t matter what new initiatives CPS concocts from year to year if it has no way to appropriately fund them (i.e., the longer school day). Chicago has to break its addiction to tax breaks and find ways to generate revenue for our schools. This so-called five-year plan is once again done in the silo of CPS without any stakeholders at the table. It is still widely driven by testing and a complete lack of democracy.
“It is amazing that CPS’s first impulse, no matter who heads it, is towards an autocratic, top-down approach that people who actually work with kids are expected to implement 

A word to readers.

by Fred Klonsky

Counting page views and site visits only matters to me as a measure of whether this blog is providing a service, is interesting to read and look at, is entertaining and motivates action. We are pleased that many teachers and activists want to comment, share information and have told us that they enjoy reading Tony at the Red Line Tap.You seem to appreciate that I am including my art, personal essays and photographs.
At the beginning of April we hit the million site visits mark.
We have had 150,000 more site visits since then.
In May, during the debate over Illinois pension reform, we had 75,000 site visits, averaging 2,300 a day, seven days a week.
Along with the Illinois Retired Teachers Association, a few other bloggers and activists we were alone in voicing 

Diane in the Evening 6-11-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all:

Edward Snowden: Traitor or Hero? The Larger Issues

by dianerav

Edward Snowden, as everyone knows by now, is the 29-year-old man who leaked secrets about our government’s surveillance of phone calls and emails. I don’t know if he is a traitor or hero or something else, but I do think that his revelations raise concerns for all of us.
As we realize by now, government and private-sector activities are dedicated to the amassing of Big Data that includes everything we do. Government is doing this, its defenders say, to protect us against terrorism. Business is mining Big Data to sell things to us. The more they know about us, the better they can develop and market their products to us.
All of this becomes relevant to educators and parents because efforts are underway to assemble a national 

Extremist North Carolina House Approves $50 Million for Vouchers

by dianerav

Despite last minute efforts to derail vouchers, the North Carolina House appropriations committee approved a budget with $50 million for vouchers. The money would be taken away from the state’s underfunded public schools. North Carolina presently ranks 48th in the nation in supporting its public schools. Some Republican legislators from rural districts pointed out that there are no private schools in their districts, but their concerns were dismissed.
As usual, the vouchers are euphemistically called “opportunity scholarships.”

LISTEN TO DIANE RAVITCH 6-11-13 Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

mike simpson at Big Education Ape - 11 hours ago

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all: [image: Click on picture to Listen to Diane Ravitch] Notes from a Teacher in Syracuse by dianerav A teacher sent this commentary about what’s happening in her city of Syracuse, New York. She writes: “As part of the teacher evaluation in Syracuse, our lovely union negotiated a student survey which would count as 6% of our evaluation. It’s called the Tripod survey, but I don’t know what that means. I’ve attached the directions we were given, which includes the questions for grades K-2. They have 40 questions, and when... more »

Families sue to stop Sac school closures | News - KCRA Home

Families sue to stop Sac school closures | News - KCRA Home:

By David Bienick

Families sue to stop Sac school closures

Lawsuit accuses district of discrimination

UPDATED 6:49 PM PDT Jun 11, 2013

Students board a buses at Washington Elementary School in Sacramento, one of seven schools slated for closure this fall.

David Bienick/KCRA

VIEW LARGE

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —Parents, students and community activists rallied on the steps of the federal courthouse in Sacramento on Monday after filing lawsuit to try to stop the closure of seven Sacramento elementary schools.

• LAWSUIT RALLY

  

  Students and parents rally on the federal courthouse steps.

  David Bienick/KCRA

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The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a dozen students, their parents and two parent teacher organizations, claims the Sacramento City Unified School District violated the children's rights and discriminated against them when it ordered the closures in February.

"The district betrayed our trust by targeting schools that they had no justification for closing down," said Seng Vang, an organizer with the group Hmong Innovating Politics.

The schools are Washington, Maple, Collis P. Huntington, Fruit Ridge, Joseph Bonnheim, Mark Hopkins and Clayton B. Wire.

"The selection of these seven schools for closure was motivated by an intent to discriminate against the minority populations which dominate these schools and has and will have, unless enjoined, a disastrous discriminatory effect on the poor, disadvantage population which is served by these schools slated for closure," read the lawsuit.

The lawsuit names as defendants the district, Superintendent Jonathan Raymond and the four school board members who voted in favor of the closures.

Read more:http://www.kcra.com/news/families-sue-to-stop-sac-school-closures/-/11797728/20529288/-/3q128s/-/index.html#ixzz2VxqtROUS

Seattle Schools Community Forum: New Central Region Executive Director Announced

Seattle Schools Community Forum: New Central Region Executive Director Announced:

New Central Region Executive Director Announced

by Melissa Westbrook

From SPS:

Today I’m pleased to announce that Sarah Pritchett, principal of McClure Middle School, has been appointed as the new Executive Director of Schools for the Central Region.

Ms. Pritchett will support the principals and schools in the central region of the city with responsibilities that include coaching principals, coordinating professional development for principals and teachers, strengthening our systems for monitoring and using student data, and conducting frequent learning walks in the schools – all in service of ensuring a world-class, 21^st century education for every child in every classroom in the region.

She has been principal at McClure Middle School since 2007, during which time McClure has twice been named a Washington State School of Distinction. Previously, she served as assistant principal at Rose Hill Junior High in Redmond, Washington, as house administrator at Seattle’s Mercer Middle School and as middle school re-

Mayor Announces more School Zone Speed Cameras

by Melissa Westbrook

From Seattle.gov:

Today Mayor Mike McGinn announced five new locations for future school zone speed cameras at locations across Seattle. The existing school zone cameras have led to a combined 16 percent reduction in citations for speeding across the four schools.

“The public has been clear that we need to do more to protect children as they travel to and from school,” said Mayor Mike McGinn. “The data shows that the existing cameras are helping improve safety near schools by reducing travel speed and cameras should be installed at additional schools.”

“Increasing safety in our school zone and beyond continues to be a high priority for me and for our school 

Bruce Lesley: Immigration Reform: Building Fences With Shadows or Bridges of Hope and Dreams?

Bruce Lesley: Immigration Reform: Building Fences With Shadows or Bridges of Hope and Dreams?:

Immigration Reform: Building Fences With Shadows or Bridges of Hope and Dreams?

Posted: 06/11/2013 5:00 pm

Bruce Lesley

President, First Focus & First Focus Campaign for Children

The Southwest is a place of great opportunity, enchantment, and grandeur, and yet, also a place of poverty and inequality in the United States. Through its children, it is also a place that will play an expanding and critically important role in either the successes or failures of our nation. In fact, the border region (defined here as the seven states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado) accounts for:

• Nearly 30 percent of America's children;
• More than 90 percent of the last decade's (2000-2010) increase in our nation's child population;
• More than half of America's Hispanic child population; 
• Nearly one-third of American Indian and Alaskan Native children in the United States; and,
• More than 40 percent of America's Asian child population.

We can make the right investments now to take advantage of the region's greatest resource, our nation's children, or we can fail them and our future. It is our choice to make and now is the time.

Unfortunately, we presently are doing quite poorly by these kids. Using data over 16 

Bruce Lesley: Immigration Reform: Building Fences With Shadows or Bridges of Hope and Dreams?:

Medgar Evers Assassination 50th Anniversary: 10 Facts

Medgar Evers Assassination 50th Anniversary: 10 Facts:

Medgar Evers' Life and Legacy: 10 Facts The civil rights icon was murdered 50 years ago, but reminders of his contributions are everywhere. By: The Root Staff | Posted: June 11, 2013 at 2:40 PM

 

Getty Images

(The Root) -- On June 12, 1963, Byron De La Beckwith, a member of the White Citizens' Council, shot 37-year-old NAACP Field Secretary Medgar Evers in the back outside of his Jackson, Miss., home, killing him -- and making a legend out of a man who was already a courageous soldier in the fight for civil rights.

In life he was a hero, bravely investigating cases of violence against blacks in his home state, but in the years after his death, he has become a cultural icon. In celebration of Evers, here are 10 facts about his life and legacy.

• 1.

  
  Medgar Evers circa 1960 (Michael Ochs Archive)
  Evers was named the first NAACP field secretary for Mississippi in 1954. From 1956 to 1959, statewide membership, thanks to his organizing efforts, grew from 8,000 to 15,000.

• 2.

  
  James Meredith walking to class accompanied by U.S. marshals in 1962 (Library of Congress)
  Part of his work involved helping James Meredith get into the University of Mississippi in 1962 by putting the NAACP's legal team -- led by Thurgood Marshall -- on the case.

• 3.

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: HOW CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS FARE IN PROPOSED FUNDING DEAL

4LAKids - some of the news that doesn't fit: HOW CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS FARE IN PROPOSED FUNDING DEAL:

HOW CALIFORNIA SCHOOL DISTRICTS FARE IN PROPOSED FUNDING DEAL

DAN SMITH IN SACRAMENTO BEE CAPITOL ALERT - THE LATEST ON CALIFORNIA POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT |HTTP://BIT.LY/12KEP3S

June 10, 2013  -  Here is a list of how specific California school districts would fare under a school funding compromise circulating in the Capitol.

LAUSD: a lot of noise for a per pupil gain of $364 next year.

All Districts