Icy News

Holy shmoly ! We're at least three days behind. All this absence of power is tough on us techno-junkies.

So, this blog post is brought to you by Husky Generators, the finest in temporary power since... somewhere around 7 last night.

School districts want make-up days waived: Hit with nine missed days of school from this week's ice storm and last fall's high winds, Jefferson County Public Schools Superintendent Sheldon Berman is asking Gov. Steve Beshear for a waiver... (Courier-Journal)

Legislators ponder how to teach math: One of the smallest measures moving through the Kentucky General Assembly could have the biggest effects for the state's young people. (Herald-Leader)

Budget shortfall rises to $459M: State budget officials yesterday issued a revised estimate of the budget shortfall for the year that is slightly higher than the $456 million officials predicted last fall. (C-J)

Higher education leader walks tightrope with lawmakers: As Robert L. King, the new president of the state Council on Postsecondary Education, made his first rounds through the Capitol last week, the crush of his sometimes conflicting job duties became clear. King is charged with advocating for public university funding at a time when the legislature and governor are faced with cutting the budget because of the tumultuous economy. He also must work with lawmakers who have become skeptical of the universities in light of rising tuition rates and the prospect of another round of increases next academic year. (H-L)

U of L gets state's largest individual gift: The University of Louisville will receive $20 million to explore renewable energy.The gift from U of L graduate Henry Conn and his wife, Rebecca, will be used to support what will be called the Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and Environmental Stewardship.Theirs is the largest individual gift to a public university in the state, officials said. (H-L)

Colleges try to minimize remedial work: Faced with a mounting number of students who need costly remedial courses, one state university is trying to get its prospective students better prepared in math and reading before they even apply to a college. (H-L)

Bill aims to lower cost of college texts: A key lawmaker is drafting legislation aimed at lowering college students' textbook bills, which would be the first step in a series of recommendations to make a Kentucky college education more affordable. Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, the newly named House Education Committee chairman, is writing a bill that would require textbook dealers at public universities to break up bundled products, such as textbooks that come with CDs, so that students could buy only what they need. (H-L)

Teachers rally against education budget cuts: Thousands gather at Pershing Square in downtown L.A., speaking out against Schwarzenegger and the L.A. Unified superintendent. Thousands of teachers and other union members rallied Thursday at Pershing Square in downtown Los Angeles to oppose state and local cuts to education that are widely expected to result in larger classes for students as well as layoffs and more expensive healthcare. (Los Angeles Times)

Duncan Announces ED Assistant Secretaries: Secretary Duncan praised President Obama's intent to nominate Carmel Martin as Assistant Secretary for Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development and Peter Cunningham as Assistant Secretary for Communications and Outreach. (United States Department of Education)

Case shows difficulty of firing incompetent teachers: Pinellas district officials say John Hopkins Middle School teacher Curtis Brown didn't prepare adequate lesson plans. Didn't teach the assigned subject matter. Didn't use the required teaching software. And didn't improve despite repeated attempts by administrators to help him. (St. Petersburg Times)

Survey shows most students tried alcohol, drugs: Three out of four high school juniors have tried alcohol and drugs - legal or otherwise - even though their teachers told them not to, according to the California attorney general's latest survey of student drug and alcohol use. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Seattle shutters schools: Amid angry parents, hecklers and much increased security, Seattle School Board members Thursday evening approved a slate of school closures and program relocations that will dramatically reshape the district next fall. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Pittsburg schools set two-hour 'Super Bowl' delay Monday: Regardless of which team prevails in the Super Bowl, students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools might consider themselves winners. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Students soar in poor Atlanta neighborhood: The seventh-grade students are playing a round-robin trivia game, excitedly naming the countries on a blank map showing on their classroom's overhead projector. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Parents Cut Out of Charter School Governance. Panel says, Parent involvement goes too far: Parents should be involved in their children's educations, but the state shouldn't require charter schools to include elected parents on their boards, a legislative committee decided Friday. (Salt Lake Tribune)

Harvard study - For teens MySpace might be safer than you think: Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook may put youngsters' private lives in a fishbowl, but there's no concrete evidence that the increased visibility makes them more prone to sexual predators, according to a recent study. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Classmates using Facebook to check on Ky. storm: Alison Drowota gets updates on old friends back in western Kentucky on the social networking Web site Facebook.com. But she never thought the popular site would be handy in a family crisis. Her hometown of Paducah, Ky., has been devastated by an ice storm that left more than a half million people in the state without power and Drowota's parents without a working phone. Drowota, 37, and a handful of her former high school classmates from around the country are giving and getting updates through Facebook, which has about 150 million active users. (Rockford Register)

Cheerleading is a contact sport, Wis. court rules: High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. (H-L)

Teaching Kids With Autism The Art Of Conversation: Math and numbers are easy for 10-year-old Alex Lee. But chitchat can leave him stumped. Now, a new program for children with mild autism at Baltimore's Kennedy Krieger Institute is giving his social skills a boost. (National Public Radio)

Children aged FIVE expelled for sex offences, girls molested by classmates - School bullying takes shocking twist: A group of boys force a 15-year-old girl to perform a sex act in an empty classroom. And this case is just one example of a shocking new trend in sexual bullying among children. (London Daily Mail)