Dad gets a "D" on his 12-year-old daughter's homework

Joe knew just what to do when his daughter, who was studying Roman history, came home with an assignment to build a catapult.

He ordered a catapult kit from the Internet and put it together himself.

The task, he was sure, was not in his 12-year-old daughter's skill set, and he wanted to give her a hand. Apparently, it wasn't in his skill set either. His effort earned a D.

What most annoyed Joe about the "silly" project was that other catapults – clearly built by parents with more expensive kits – got higher grades.

"It was obvious parents made them all," he said.

The episode underscores a growing tension over how much parental involvement in daily homework and projects is appropriate and who is to blame when parents cross the line.

This from the Dallas Morning News.

Sex Lady's lesson: Save yourself

Districts take her up on offer to teach course on abstinence for free

Photo by VERNON BRYANT / Dallas Morning News

Jennifer Waters calls herself the Sex Lady. She likes to play matchmaker with Miss Tape and unwitting teen boys.

She slaps a piece of clear tape across Julian's arm. He winces.

"It's gonna hurt when I take it off," the lanky boy protests.

"But it's fine now, isn't it?" Ms. Waters whips back.

The puzzled looks on 18 eighth-graders at Carrollton's Arbor Creek Middle School brighten. The Sex Lady has made her point: Bad relationships hurt.

Ms. Waters, who was born to an unwed teen mother, teaches abstinence courses for free to schools and church groups across the country. The Allen, Lewisville and Princeton school districts have all brought her in, spurning larger and more costly programs.

Texas law requires sex education courses be abstinence-based. Some Lewisville middle schools had been contracting with Dallas-based nonprofit Aim for Success, which claims to be the nation's largest abstinence educator.

But not all schools could afford a price tag that averaged $2,000 per session. And those presentations generally were given to entire grade levels. Ms. Waters speaks to smaller groups – one class or sometimes two combined classes at a time.

This from the Dallas Morning News.

Educators split on bilingual classes

English immersion or both languages at once?

This from the Dallas Morning News.

IRVING - In a school district with the region's highest percentage of children with limited English skills, a rift has emerged over the best way to educate them.

Last fall, Irving school board president Randy Stipes proposed a pilot program in English immersion. But his idea – pitched at a board meeting – was quickly shot down. Superintendent Jack Singley told him it was against the law. The state requires bilingual education.

That seemed to be the end of it. Then word of the exchange reached state Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving. She filed a bill this legislative session that would give school districts the option to offer English immersion or ESL programs for students learning the language.