In loving memory: Lynne Woolwine

The children of Cassidy School in Fayette County lost a great kindergarten teacher this week. I lost a friend and colleague.

Lynne Woolwine, 58, wife of George M. Woolwine, died Wed, April 11, 2007 at Hospice Care Center. Lynne was born in Circleville, OH, the daughter of Rosemary Boggs Hughes and the late McClure Hayden Hughes.

Lynne was a graduate of Virginia Intermont College. She received her BA and then completed post-graduate work in elementary education at the University of Kentucky. She was a member of Kappa Delta Sorority and Second Presbyterian Church.

She served as a kindergarten teacher at Athens and Cassidy Elementary Schools.

My deepest sympathies go out to her husband George and her children Katie McAllister and Grant Woolwine.
~
The following homily was delivered by The Rev Stephen Palmer on 15 April 2007.

ORDER OF THE PUBLIC WORSHIP OF GOD
WITNESS TO THE RESURRECTION OF MARY LYNNE HUGHES WOOLWINE

If a single picture is worth a thousand words, a single sentence about the strong, caring, sacrificial, patient, loving life of Mary Lynne Hughes Woolwine, is worth more than a thousand joyous pictures of the generous gifts God gave to Lynnie to share for the common good.

This is the sentence: Like her mother before her, Lynne Woolwine was a wonderfully, loving kindergarten teacher for more than 30 years, the majority of them at Athens and Cassidy Elementary schools in Fayette County.

Think of the photo opportunities!

With the high speed camera in your mind clicking away in rapid action, picture the dozens of holy moments in each school day when the good and kind teacher -- teaches, touches, comforts, encourages, blesses, holds and molds fragile uncertain lives into happy, confident, and adjusted children in her classroom.

Then multiply those moments by a whole school year, including off-duty times when teacher and student, or teacher and parents, or teacher and grandparents, meet unexpectedly at the grocery, a restaurant, a church, or in the neighborhood to chat about "her" children; and then multiply that number of events again by 30 years. It adds up to a wholly, holy, satisfying life of service for individuals and community. What a treasure Lynne Woolwine was, and is, and will be in the lives she has touched deeply and personally.

In the midst of our sadness today, there also is deep, overwhelming joy in celebrating a life of love and hugs, sticky fingers, and moments remembered, cherished, honored, but not recorded anywhere except in the memory of God. We only have glimpses of her goodness, her service, her sacrifice, her generous love. But that is sufficient for the day.

In the 23rd Psalm, God is pictured as a shepherd leading sheep - not as a kindergarten teacher coordinating the activities small excited children all talking at once. Yet both scenes speak volumes about comfort, care, trust, and getting all your needs met in a timely manner. To be sure kindergarten teachers are not God, despite what some children and their parents mutter in moments of intense emotion, but kindergarten teachers are often clear windows through which God’s light and love shines through with warmth and kindness to an unfriendly world.

Kindergarten teachers teach children and the adult world valuable lessons worth practicing, as a mountain of books affirms. Kindergarten teachers are not brainy theologians, considering the character of God; they are in the words of James: "Doers of the word." They love. They just do it!

If God is love, and God is; if Jesus on Maundy Thursday gave us a new commandment to his disciples, and he did; then kindergarten teachers should be honored and appreciated for their efforts to transform the world for God and for good not only through their students, but by all who see their good works. As all of us know, but need to practice daily, Jesus’ new commandment. We are "to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34b-35).

Born on April 14, 1948 in Circleville, Ohio, which is a few miles south of Columbus in Southern Ohio, Lynne would have celebrated her 59th birthday yesterday. She was an only child of parents blessed with thousands of children. Many happy memories came from her hometown life in Circleville, especially her own fond memories of childhood and kindergarten, where her own kindergarten teacher was her own mother, Rosemary Boggs Hughes. And one of Lynne’s kindergarten classmates and long-time friend in Circleville has grown up to be a fine woman and elder in this church, Linda Gorton (who has served our community as a member of the school board.).

The big event in Circleville, then and now, is the 4 day event beginning on the third Wednesday through Saturday of October, known as the Circleville Pumpkin Show, billed as the world’s biggest free show, which features 25-30 amusement rides, 40 floats, 50 bands, 300 food booths, 3,000 pumpkin pies including the world’s largest at 14 feet across -- and 100,000 pumpkin donuts. Naturally, there is a Miss Pumpkin and a Little Miss Pumpkin contest. And last October, the Circleville Pumpkin Show celebrated its 100th Anniversary. Lynne loved the Pumpkin Show, in her own youth and when her own children were young enough to be awed by this huge event of hometown goodness.

As she grew into womanhood she developed the personality of a gentle saint, organized and disciplined but didn’t take her self too seriously, and she clearly, specifically, directly and honestly disciplined others firmly and lovingly when necessary.

She created a sense of cozy-ness for herself and others, especially her family and the friends of her children. Her family celebrated her ability to be a great teacher -- a calm, positive and patient person in adversity or stress, motherly without being overbearing, and who wasn’t overly serious about the small stuff. Her outgoing, easy demeanor was a gift to her children and her children’s friends, who affectionately called her "Mama Woolwine." She was a kid magnet and often shared cookies and hugs from kids who were not her students at school or church.

She was a people person, with a wonderful sense of fun and humor.Even before she and George married, he learned to take her spunky or feisty side seriously. Wisely she had taken a woman’s self-defense class early in life. So when they were dating and she was showing him some of the moves: George wasn’t giving her the proper respect she wanted for her accomplishments, and then somewhere out of the blue, she flipped him over and he was lying flat on his back and looking up at her. Don’t think he made that mistake again. Sometimes Lynne relaxed by doing needlepoint and knitting, going though periods of making sweaters, ties, belts. And for more than 20 years the multi-generational family vacation spot was Destin, Florida where the main event was the crystal clear water on the Emerald Coast and the sugar white sands. This was the place for recreation and re-creation of the Spirit.

Her two not-so-secret weapons in dealing with kids, her family and the friends of her children was that she gave them what they wanted and needed most: love and boundaries. Everyone soon learned that while she loved generously, she drew some lines in the sand at potty humor, clutter, unnecessary messiness and what she specifically labeled "inappropriate behavior." Her mantra was "you can't define it ahead of time, but you know it when you see it." Like Paul in First Corinthians 13, she knew the value of love - not a sentimental, undisciplined love that says anything goes - but a structured love with backbone that is kind, patient, and rejoices in truth.

She lived a life of love to a very high degree. She wasn’t perfect, but then none of us are. Her children suggested a strong image for her in recent years (when they were becoming young adults) would be that of a mother hen, sitting on the nest, helping the eggs to hatch but not getting up fast enough to let them fly away when they thought they were ready to move. That is often the perspective of young adults.They may be right, at least, exactly right at this moment in their lives. Someday, maybe they will learn that the love we all cherish most comes from those loved ones who hold us too close and who get in our way because they love us so much. Kind of like the way God does sometimes -- holds us too close when we think we are ready to move on, or do everything on our own timetable.

All of us have two basic needs in life: to love and be loved. Thanks be to God that Lynne’s life helped us to see and feel that clearly and deeply. That she died quietly and peacefully in the presence of her husband George and her son Grant with a smile on her face after 3 years of pain and suffering with cancer was a wonderful miracle. That we can remember and rejoice with her, with broad smiles on our faces and in our hearts, is another miracle of grace -- that her suffering has ended, while our joy and gratitude for her life of showing us how to love -- will continue forever.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Service conducted at 2:00 p.m. April 15, 2007
Second Presbyterian Church
Lexington, KentuckyBurial in Lexington CemeteryService conducted by:The Rev. Stephen Palmer - The Rev. Darla Blatnik
Pastors at Second Presbyterian Church

School News from around Kentucky

• Cincinnati Enquirer praises and cautions about multi-state Algebra II standards.
• Erlanger-Elsmere looks toward phased rebuilding of Lloyd Memorial HS.
• District looks to improve traffic at North Calloway Elementary school.
• Nichols Elementary gets KEA's first extreme makeover.
• Asst Coach at Boyd County indicted for alleged sex with a student during detention.
• New Hardin County Superintendent identified but not revealed.
• July trial date set for former school finance officer in Johnson County.
• "Spring Camp" for Hardin County elementary students.
• Photography promotes creativity in Covington middle school.
• Clinton County considers declaring school property surplus; needed for Albany by-pass.
• Boyle County teacher suspended for showing R-rated Borat in class.

Skills Gap on State, Federal Tests Grows, Study Finds

Far greater shares of students are proficient on state reading and mathematics tests than on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and those gaps have grown to unprecedented levels since the No Child Left Behind Act became law in 2002, concludes a new study.

The study by Policy Analysis for California Education, a nonprofit research group based at the University of California, Berkeley, was released during the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association. The researchers compiled state and federal testing results for the period 1992 to 2006 from 12 states: including Kentucky.

In all but two states the disparity between the share of students proficient on state reading tests and on NAEP, a congressionally mandated program that tests a representative sample of students in every state, grew or remained the same from 2002 to 2006. A similar widening occurred between state and federal gauges of math performance in eight of 12 states.

Those findings call into question whether the state-reported gains are real or illusory, according to the researchers.

This from Lynn Olsen at Education Week.

Driving seminar makes Bishop Brossart students ill

School officials said five ill students might have been affected by graphic photographs of car accidents featured during the presentation, given by the Alexandria Police Department. Such programs are routinely offered at area high schools to help teach teenagers the risks of driving recklessly.

This from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

"The Rocket" has a new pitch

Roger Clemens and several Texas business leaders appear with schoolchildren in new, statewide TV spots designed to increase support for public education.

From the Houston Chronicle.

Job Opportunities in the sunny south

New Orleans is looking for a few good Principals

A non-profit group retained to recruit 40 new principals for New Orleans Public Schools is using an unusual lure: A year-long, intensive training residency before candidates even take over schools — plus bonuses that could add up to nearly $40,000 if President Bush approves them.
Under pending legislation, principals in high-performing New Orleans schools could earn up to $14,500 a year in bonuses. They'd also qualify for up to $2,500 in relocation costs, monthly $500 housing subsidies and student loan forgiveness of up to $7,000 a year.

Veteran principals who agree to lead a school and mentor younger principals could earn as much as $27,000 in bonuses.

This from USA Today.

"Priceless" letter to the Courier-Journal

A newly hired science teacher: $40,000 a year.

A newly hired school superintendent: $260,000 a year.

A newly hired university basketball coach: $2,300,000 a year.

Go Big Blue: priceless!

By Avital Schurr
LaGrange, Ky.

Squires Elementary students help fight pediatric cancer

On Wednesday, students from Squires Elementary joined more than 1,500 students nationwide to kick off a national community service event to help fight pediatric cancer. The students connected to each other by using high tech videoconference and networking technology.

The event is in support of the Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF), a national organization that grew out of the Philadelphia front yard lemonade stand started by Alexandra “Alex” Scott, a pediatric cancer patient. In 2000, at the age of four, Alex opened her first lemonade stand with high hopes of raising money for pediatric cancer causes. Every year thereafter, Alex held an annual lemonade stand in her Pennsylvania front yard and inspired others to donate money to the cause. While sadly Alex lost her battle with cancer in 2004, her work has motivated students around the country to continue her charitable legacy.

More than 19 schools are involved in the event from across the country and are lead by Penn Wynne Elementary School in Lower Merion, PA where Alex attended school.

Students will work for two weeks in their communities to raise money using their own lemonade stands and will report their fundraising totals on a daily basis via a special website. Throughout the two weeks, students involved will collaborate with each other through an online blog, a virtual pen pal program, special video collage projects, song and poem contests and a lemonade stand poster contest.

The two-week event will culminate in a final multi-site videoconference on April 26, 2007 with special guest speaker Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA) who will join via videoconference from Washington D.C.

Source: FCPS press release.

Fayette County announces Job Fair for prospective teachers

FAYETTE CO.
CAREER FAIR

MAY 19TH (SATURDAY)
9:00am—12:00pm

Meet and Greet
The Principals from FCPS...looking
for new hires
Bring several copies of your
updated resume

TATES CREEK HIGH SCHOOL
1111 Centre Parkway
Lexington, Kentucky

Language Gap Impedes Parent-Teacher Chats

Federal law requires school districts to provide interpreters for parent-teacher conferences. But demand far outstrips the state and federal funds provided. How are schools adapting?

Audio from National Public Radio.

Research Group Backs Alternatives to Quantitative methodology

At a time when federal education officials are holding up scientific experiments as a gold standard for studies in the field, a report by the nation’s largest education research group suggests there are also other methods that are nearly as good for answering questions about what works in schools.

The report, produced by a committee of scholars of the Washington-based American Educational Research Association, was released April 11 at the group’s 88th annual meeting here. It highlights ways in which researchers can use large-scale data sets, such as those maintained by the U.S. Department of Education, for analyzing cause-and-effect questions in education.

This from Debra Viadero of Education Week.

Canceled by Principal, Student Play Heads to Off Broadway

Students at a Connecticut high school whose principal canceled a play they were preparing on the Iraq war are now planning to perform the work in June in New York, at the Public Theater, a venerable Off Broadway institution, and at the Culture Project, which is known for staging politically provocative work.

The play is a series of monologues mainly from soldiers titled “Voices in Conflict.”

This story by Alison Leigh Cowan is from the New York Times.

School News from around Kentucky

• First reading on expanded drug policy at Corbin HS.
• Boyle County and Danville Independent support toughter drinking ordinance.
• Frankfort Independent HS committee considers requiring upperclasspersons to eat in new cafeteria.
• Shelby County: portables now, new building later.
• Campbell County teacher returns after suspension; pays for his own anger therapy.
• Oldham County boosts security. Machine scans ID, checks sex offender registry.
• 81.4 is short-term district target in Nicholas County.
• Kentucky Schools Commissioner search follows the "Barnhart plan:" Finalists remain secret.
• Architect's report supports new gym for Owensboro HS.
• School security cameras nab computer thieves in Washington County.
• Former Jefferson County bookkeeper indicted; $34,000 in forged checks and cash.
• Lawrence County moves graduation for track finals.
• Staff Sergeant visits his kindergarten penpals at Argillite Elementary.
• Courier-Journal opines Bullitt County principal overreACTed by preventing Biblical book report.
• KDE mandates Graves County consolidation.
• Gubernatorial candidates talk up education; few specifics.

Most GOP Education Activists Still Sizing Up Field

Presidential candidates offer few specifics so far on K-12 policy proposals.

From Alyson Klein of Education Week.

Republican education policy advisers and advocates are divided over where Congress and the next presidential administration should take federal K-12 policy: Some applaud the 5-year-old No Child Left Behind Act for holding states accountable for student achievement, while others are put off by the major expansion of the federal role in education.

So far, it’s unclear how that debate will play out in the race for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination. Republican experts on education issues are largely uncommitted at this early stage. Some state policymakers have begun advising one of the candidates, but most are waiting to see the ideas the current candidates put forth or who else gets into the race.

The next president could oversee reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind law, President Bush’s signature initiative in education, as many observers predict the measure won’t be renewed on schedule this year or before the 2008 election.

Fresh criticism for Reading First: Contractor Involved in Study

Education Week reports:

Reading First, the $1 billion-a-year federal reading program, is under new criticism: The government contractor that set up the program for the U.S. Department of Education is also part of the team hired to evaluate it.

RMC Research Corp. was the contractor hired to provide technical assistance to federal and state officials on the implementation of the program starting in 2002, under three contracts worth about $40 million. Recently, the Education Department’s inspector general reported that RMC failed to keep the program free of conflicts of interest. ("‘Reading First’ Contractor Neglected Bias Rules," March 14, 2007.)

Final Rules Offer Greater Testing Flexibility for Special Education

The US Department of Education released final regulations last week to guide the creation of tests for students in special education who are capable of learning grade-level content, but not as quickly as their peers. With such tests, some schools and districts that previously had not made adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act might do so.

This By Christina A. Samuels of Education Week.

In Kentucky, Lawmakers Complete Quiet Session

This quick recap from Education Week:

Amanda Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Association of School Administrators, wrote in an e-mail last week that “nine bills relating to public schools passed and very few of those will even be noticed by educators after the laws become effective.”

Indiana Teacher Faces Dismissal Over Editorial

Free-speech groups supporting her case.

National and state free-speech groups are rallying to support a northeastern Indiana high school journalism teacher who faces firing for a dispute that began when a student newspaper published an editorial advocating tolerance of homosexuals.

This from Education Week.

Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana join states in shared math test

The Zanesville Times Recorder in a story by Nancy Zuckerbrod (AP Education Writer)reports:

"Nine states have come together for the first time to develop a common high school math test, a move described by some as a step toward national educational standards."

The group of states includes Kentucky, Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.

Mike Cohen, president of Achieve Inc., a Washington-based nonprofit (created by the nation's governors) that is helping design the standards told the Associated Press that the states are considering making scores on the test available to college placement offices to help determine the level of coursework freshmen are prepared to take. “This is a state-led effort to create consistent standards and assessments. It would not have happened if the federal government had tried to make that happen,” Cohen said, adding that he expects additional states to join the nine.

Since NCLB allowed states to determine their own definition of "proficient" many more students are able to achieve proficiency on the state tests than on national math and reading tests. This has prompted many to conclude that some states are setting their standards too low. Some in Congress are advocating provisions that would encourage states to voluntarily adopt common standards.

Bruce Fuller, a professor of education and public policy at the University of California at Berkeley told the AP that the law penalizes schools that don’t make adequate progress, so they are tinkering with "proficiency" to avoid penalties and meet their 2014 goals. “As this mischief is exposed out in the states, it’s going to further support this push for national standards,” he said.

While the math test is still in development, Achieve Inc. is moving ahead to other subjects.

Former Fayette County Superintendent, now Arkansas Commissioner of Education Ken James is on board. “These youngsters aren’t going to stay in our respective states for the most part,” James said. “They’re going to need portable skills, and we should be able to agree on what those portable skills are going to be.”

With states bailing out on high standards at present, it's difficult to predict how many will ultimately sign on. The percentage of participating states will have to be near 100% for the effort to be meaningful and that may put pressure on federal officials to soften penalties against states that presently fail to meet high standards, as an incentive to join. At present 29 states have agreed in principle to "prepar[e] all students for college and work."

Since the Constitution makes education a province of the states, increased federal control over the most important aspects of schooling may well give rise to new legal challenges.

And more from the Courier-Journal.

Is KDE serious about helping underperforming schools?

The Bluegrass Policy Blog reports on the Kentucky Board of Education's approach to assisting underperforming schools. If their reporting is accurate...it is troublesome. Just ignore for the moment their attempt to make it an argument for school choice.

The highlights:

A key item on the Kentucky Board of Education’s (KBE) agenda in April was an update on the plans to improve three seriously underperforming schools: Iroquois and Shawnee Middle Schools in Jefferson County and the Holmes Junior/Senior High school in the Covington Independent School District. It was a chance to establish precedents that would make a real difference for kids in some of Kentucky’s very poorest performing schools, but the board dropped the ball.

In February 2007 the KBE voted to remove authority for school governance from the School Based Decision Making Councils (usually referred to as “site base councils”) at these troubled schools.

While this was the very first board meeting following the unprecedented transfer of site base power, initial briefings from the superintendents on plans to improve these schools received only trivial attention. Each superintendent was allowed a deplorably insignificant amount of time – a mere 10 minutes each -- to outline how they planned to turn the three grossly under-performing schools around.

...actual plans got absolutely no review and comment from the Kentucky department of Education’s staff prior to or during the board’s meeting.

Overall, the KBE’s handling of improvement plans for some of Kentucky’s very weakest schools was a “Novice” performance, at best. It exposes attitude problems on the part of several parties and implies a general lack of interest with the board. This seriously mismanaged portion of the meeting establishes a terrible precedent for future cooperation between the board and the districts and may have already poisoned the well beyond recovery.

Gubernatorial Primary 2007: Candidate Forums start tonight on KET

REPUBLICANS
Forum I: Monday, April 9 at 8:00/7:00 pm CTR Wednesday, April 11 at 2:00/1:00 am CT
Forum II: Monday, May 7 at 8:00/7:00 pm CTR Wednesday, May 9 at 2:00/1:00 am CT
Candidates on ballot:• Ernie Fletcher (inc.)• Billy Harper• Anne Northup

DEMOCRATS
Forum I: Monday, April 16 at 8:00/7:00 pm CTR Wednesday, April 18 at 2:00/1:00 am CT
Forum II: Monday, May 14 at 8:00/7:00 pm CTR Wednesday, May 16 at 2:00/1:00 am CT
Candidates on ballot:• Steven L. Beshear• Gatewood Galbraith• Stephen L. Henry• Otis “Bullman” Hensley• William Bruce Lunsford• Jonathan Miller• Jody Richards

Happy Easter

Photo by Messenger Online

More states abstain from federal sex-ed funds

In an emerging revolt against abstinence-only sex education, states are turning down millions of dollars in federal grants, unwilling to accept White House dictates that the money be used for classes focused almost exclusively on teaching chastity.

This from the Los Angeles Times.

National 'Education Standards' Are Not the Answer

A growing bipartisan chorus is singing the praises of national education standards. Former officials of the Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations have joined the choir, as have both of the major teachers' unions.

But Cato Institute's Andrew Coulson disagrees in the Washington Post.

School news from around Kentucky

• Laurel County School Board sues Curry Investments for use of 20' X 40' plot of land.
• Kentucky State Police look into alleged bonuses to Johnson County employees.
• A 15-year-old Shelby County High School student was charged with fourth-degree assault last month after allegedly beating up a 14-year-old who was getting off the school bus.
• Bullitt County gives residents personal, practical information about Internet safety.
• Garth Elementary School, one of the oldest buildings in Scott County, gets needed security up-grade to protect the staff and students.
• Future freshmen at Hopkinsville High School will spend half or most of their school day in 45-minute class periods.
• Indian Hills Elementary School students get a history lesson in the historic one-room Beverly schoolhouse located in South Christian County.
• An assistant football coach at Boyd County High School turned himself in to authorities Thursday morning after he was accused of having sex with a student.
• Weather experts confirmed Tuesday's Harlan County storm was a tornado, making it the first confirmed tornado in Harlan County's history: roof damage at James A. Cawood High School and the school district's nearby maintenance building.
• Members of the Lincoln County High School Site-Based Decision Making Council have been unable to find what they consider to be a qualified applicant for the school’s vacant principal position: may lower expectations.
• Director of special education for Mason County Schools, Greta Stanfield received national award.

Mark Hebert: Commish Search is Secret

Mark Hebert (WHAS11.com) in his On The Mark Blog reports:

The Kentucky State School Board has decided to hire a new state school commissioner, apparently without any input from the public.

At its Thursday meeting, the board met in executive session, narrowing its commissioner search down to three individuals. Board chairman Keith Travis referred my questions to search committee chair Bonnie Lash Freeman who refused to release the names of the three finalists for the state's top education job. Freeman initially told me the board only plans to release the name of one finalist, the person the school board plans to hire.

Freeman later said the board had not etched that plan in stone and might release the names of the three finalists AFTER the board interviews them in a few weeks.

A search firm hired by the board helped them narrow the field from 115 to six that were initially interviewed by the board's search committee. The next round of interviews for the three finalists will be before the full board, requiring a public notification of the meeting. It may be tough to keep the candidates secret at that meeting.

Before the hiring of the previous three state school commissioners, Thomas Boysen, Wilmer Cody and Gene Wilhoit, the state school board released the names of the finalists so the public and interested groups could weigh in and have a say in the selection process. Freeman says the board is only required, by state law, to release the name of its single finalist. She says the board is aware that this is the first time a commissioner may be chosen entirely behind closed doors. But she says the board hasn't discussed the possibility of backlash from taxpayers. She refused to say whether any of the three finalists had asked that their names be kept secret. The job is expected to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000/yr.

A spokesman for the Kentucky School Boards Association says K.S.B.A. always recommends that local school boards release the names of 2,3, or 4 finalists so people can meet them and give feedback on the possible choices. Brad Hughes says lots of people will want to weigh on the selection of one of the most important policy makers in Kentucky.

A spokesman for the Kentucky Education Association, Charles Main, says K.E.A. "would like more transparency" in picking the new commish. But he says teachers trust the judgement of state school board members and assume they want what's best for Kentucky children. A spokesperson for Governor Fletcher did not return a phone message asking for comment on the school board's tactics.

The new commissioner will replace Wilhoit who retired then took a new job with an education think tank.

Pranksters glue high school doors shut

About 100 locks and exterior gates at a Carlsbad campus are

plugged with a super-strength adhesive.

Forget being glued to their seats: Students at a San Diego County high school couldn't even get through their classroom doors Friday. With only a day to go before spring break, vandals plugged the locks on all the exterior gates and doors on campus with super-strength adhesive.

Federal judge says gay-tolerant club can meet at school

A club that aims to promote tolerance of homosexuals can meet at Okeechobee High School [Florida], at least for as long as it takes to settle a lawsuit over the club, a judge has ruled.

In an order issued Friday, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said the school must grant the same privileges to the Gay-Straight Alliance of Okeechobee High School that it grants other clubs, as mandated by the federal Equal Access Act.

Exhale

The University of Kentucky has hired a new basketball coach. Kentucky is still in its 48th-in-almost- everything, thank-goodness-for-Mississippi-and-West Virginia status. But the Wildcats have a new hoops coach. All is right with the world.

Snark from the Courier-Journal.

NCLB reauthorization: It's going to be a brawl

The New York Times reports:

When President Bush and Democratic leaders put together the bipartisan coalition behind the federal No Child Left Behind Act, they managed to sidestep, override or flat out ignore decades of sentiment that education is fundamentally a prerogative of state and local government.

Now, as the president and the same Democrats push to renew the landmark law, which has reshaped the face of American education with its mandates for annual testing, discontent with it in many states is threatening to undermine the effort in both parties.

Reacting to such disputes in state after state, dozens of Republicans in Congress are sponsoring legislation that would water down the law by allowing states to opt out of its testing requirements yet still receive federal money.

On the other side of the political spectrum, 10 Democratic senators signed a letter last month saying that based on feedback from constituents, they consider the law’s testing mandates to be “unsustainable” and want an overhaul.

It’s going to be a brawl,” said Jack Jennings, a Democrat who as president of the Center on Education Policy has studied how the law has been set up in the 50 states. “The law is drawing opposition from the right because they are opposed to federal interference and from the left because of too much testing.”

Principal Sues Youths Over MySpace Fakes

A [Pennsylvania] school principal sued four former students who he claims posted parody MySpace.com profiles saying he smoked pot, kept beer at school and liked having sex with students.

In the lawsuit, Eric W. Trosch alleged that the three profiles created in December 2005 on the social networking Web site damaged his reputation, humiliated him and hurt his earning capacity.

The profiles "went far and beyond what you would see on a bathroom wall in a school," said Trosch's attorney, John E. Quinn.

Trosch was co-principal of Hickory High School at the time the profiles were created and is now principal of Hermitage Middle School, in the same western Pennsylvania school district.

According to the suit, which seeks unspecified punitive damages, a profile by defendant Justin Layshock said Trosch smoked marijuana and kept a keg of beer behind his desk. Trosch alleges that another profile created by Thomas Cooper said his favorite movie was pornographic, and a third created by brothers Brendan and Christopher Gebhart said Trosch liked having sex with students and brutalizing women.

Layshock was suspended and sent to an alternative program after Trosch learned of the profile. In an effort to return to regular classes he sued, claiming the profile was protected by the First Amendment, but a judge last year declined to order the school to transfer him back.

Layshock's father, Donald, said he could not comment on Trosch's lawsuit because of the pending federal suit. Attorneys for Cooper and the Gebharts also declined to comment to The Herald of Sharon, Pa.

Quinn said it remains unknown who created a fourth Myspace profile that he described as "the most graphic and lurid of them all."

This from Breitbart.com.

Teacher fired over school paper article wants public hearing

A high school teacher facing firing over the content of a student newspaper article has been granted a public hearing by the school board.

Woodlan Junior-Senior High School teacher Amy Sorrell was put on paid leave after an opinion column questioning intolerance toward homosexuals ran in The Tomahawk, the newspaper at the northeastern Indiana school.

Sorrell was notified last week that the school board will consider canceling her contract on May first for insubordination and other reasons.

The district has claimed that the article implied that the district was intolerant and that the content was inappropriate for younger students.

The hearing will likely be held before May first.

This from Wave TV 3.

Health Insurance, preschool for all 4 year olds, says Lunsford campaign

Health insurance for all Kentuckians and preschool for all 4-year-olds are part of the platform Bruce Lunsford released yesterday in his campaign for governor.

"This is a good start to what we believe is the road to recovery and economic vitality for the state of Kentucky," Lunsford, a Democrat, said in a telephone press conference about the platform, which includes 25 proposals on health care, education, economic development, energy and ethics.

This from the Courier-Journal.

Are we raising a nation of little egomaniacs?

Debate erupts over whether kids get too much praise or not enough
Story By Victoria Clayton: Photo by Tim Garcha / Corbis Stock
From MSNBC.com


Stephen Scheck never liked the way some parents lavish praise on their kids in public, so he didn't do it with his two children, now freshmen in high school and college.

“My wife and I pretty early on started to notice this whole thing happening at Brownies, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H meetings or wherever that many parents seemed very invested in their children always being the star, always having a great time, always feeling successful,” says Scheck, a college dean in Monmouth, Ore.

Yet he wanted the children to have high self-esteem, so the youngsters got their share of ego boosts at home. They also were steered toward sports such as swimming where they had a chance to not only compete with other kids but also achieve “personal bests.” Both children were urged to play musical instruments, which gave them a sense of accomplishment. He wanted them to feel good and successful, and he certainly told them they were capable and special.

But even though Scheck wasn't screaming from the stands, his parenting style might still come under fire from some psychologists who believe we're raising a nation of "special" egomaniacs. This notion was fueled recently by Jean Twenge, a San Diego State University psychologist, and colleagues who released the results of a study that concluded college kids today are 30 percent more narcissistic than they were in 1982.

Governors Enter Fray Over NCLB

The National Governors Association, which largely took a pass on the debate over the No Child Left Behind Act as it was being crafted six years ago, released recommendations this week for its renewal that aim to preserve the federal role in holding states accountable for student learning, while seeking greater flexibility in several key areas.

Under the recommendations, which were also endorsed by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Association of State Boards of Education, states would get greater leeway in how they intervene in schools not meeting annual achievement targets, define highly qualified teachers, and measure the progress of English-language learners.

This from Education Week.

Can't make it to Memorial Colliseum today?

Live Stream Of Billy Gillispie Pep Rally, Press Conference

Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images

LEX18.com will have a live internet stream of today's pep rally and press conference to introduce Billy Gillispie as the new Kentucky basketball coach. The coverage will begin at noon.

~

And this from ESPN.

Ky. education board approves athletics transfer restrictions

Student athletes who transfer from a public to a private school -- or vice versa -- when entering high school would be ineligible for a year but could still practice with their teams, under a rule the state Board of Education approved Thursday.

The rule, which needs final approval from a legislative panel, was a softer version of a previous proposal that would have blocked transfer students in those situations from completely participating in their sport at the high school level for a year.

This from WAVE 3 TV.

Schools Credited With Helping Some Pupils Limit Weight

Schools may play a helpful role in keeping children at a healthy weight during kindergarten and 1st grade, scholars say.

Researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus and Indiana University in Bloomington have found that children tend to gain weight during the summer between kindergarten and 1st grade.
The researchers examined information collected on 5,380 pupils in kindergarten and 1st grade as part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten cohort. That information was gathered in the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 school years by the National Center on Education Statistics, an agency within the Education Department.

According to the report, released in the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health, the body-mass index of children was typically larger and more variable in the summer between kindergarten and 1st grade than it was during the school year.

“It’s basically a big picture of whether schools are part of the problem or part of the solution. In this case, they appear to be part of the solution,” said Paul T. von Hippel, a research statistician at Ohio State and a co-author of the study.

This from Education Week.

Federal Study Finds No Edge for Students Using Technology-Based Reading and Math Products

A major federal study of reading and mathematics software has found no difference in academic achievement between students who used the technology in their classrooms and youngsters who used other methods.

The $10 million study of 15 educational software products is the most extensive federal study yet to follow methods that the U.S. Department of Education considers scientifically rigorous.

This from Education Week.

What Jib Jab calls the news

The boys at Jib Jab are at it again. This time they focus on fragmentation of the American news media, our "choose your own cable news slant" market...and what passes for news. The entertaining video (2:11) is just what you'd expect from the guys who brought us the hit video This Land (2:30) during the 2004 presidential campaign.

The optimistic rhetoric of reform: Why principals believe and teachers...not so much.

The only thing surprising about the findings is that the researchers were surprised by the findings.

In Kentucky, principals are the most important, and most vulnerable, folks in school reform. In recent years principals who do not conform to the optimistic rhetoric of reform find themselves quickly marginalized, and if their "numbers" are not good enough, they are (soon) no longer principals.

Since KERA, principals no longer have tenure as administrators. They retain tenure as teachers only. That means that if a superintendent is willing to demote a principal (rather than moving for dismissal) it can be done with the snap of a finger. That gets the principals' attention very effectively. Any comment that might undermine the superintendent's confidence in the principal's commitment is...well...just not smart. We're talking kool-aid here.

Teachers can certainly be pressured too. But they do not share the principal's job insecurity. For them, the pressure comes from the principal.

This was an intentional, and perhaps necessary part of the law. Lacking adequate resources and facing a need for approximately 30% more productivity from the schools, what else can a good superintendent do but motivate? And motivation can take many forms. Praise the conformers. Punish the nonconformers. Monitor progress. The message gets out very effectively. When it comes to school reform, the vast majority of principals are "in the choir."

This from Education Week:

Poll Finds Gaps in Outlooks of Teachers, Principals

Teachers are less likely than administrators to say their students can excel academically, according to a survey released last week showing that educators have strikingly different perspectives on students and school life.

The study of 4,700 teachers and 267 principals and assistant principals in 12 school districts was conducted by the Council of Urban Boards of Education, part of the Alexandria, Va.-based National School Boards Association, in an effort to gauge school climate. It was intended to complement a survey of students last year. ("Reactions to School Climate Vary by Students’ Races," April 5, 2006.)

Nearly all the administrators agreed that “students at this school are capable of high achievement on standardized exams,” but only three-quarters of the teachers concurred. Far more teachers than administrators said that students were not motivated to learn.

Findings Called Surprise

Eighty-five percent of administrators disagreed with the statement that most students at their schools would not be successful at community college or a university; only 58 percent of teachers disagreed.

Those gaps surprised Brian K. Perkins, the principal researcher on the study and the chairman of the council’s steering committee.

“This wasn’t anticipated, but it is certainly real,” he said. “Now the question is, what do teachers know to give them a perspective administrators don’t have, and how can that be shared?”

New Coach announcement at UK

I just received the following email from the University of Kentucky at 8:55 am.

Help us roll out the "Big Blue" carpet and welcome our new men's basketball
coach!

Come to Memorial Coliseum, today, Friday, April 6 at 12:15
p.m., introductory pep rally, open to the public. We hope to see you
there.

GO CATS!

Fletcher: special session may not include pensions

Gov. Ernie Fletcher said this morning that he still wants to call a special session for some spending items and other priorities but may not put the bailout of state pension systems on the agenda.“We’re assessing which things we would put on a special session,” Fletcher said in a breakfast speech to a business group called the Lexington Forum. “I’m not ruling out calling one even before the primary at this point.”

...On Wednesday Fletcher appointed members of a task force to study the unfunded liabilities of retirement systems for state and local government workers and teachers and make recommendations by Dec. 1.

This from the Courier-Journal.

Repair bill looms over universities

Report: $12.7 billion needed over 15 years

Kentucky's public universities likely will have to spend billions to repair and upgrade their aging facilities, according to a study by the state's Council on Postsecondary Education.

The study estimates the cost could reach $12.7 billion or more over the next 15 years and is necessary in part because universities are trying to double the number of Kentuckians with bachelor's degrees and provide modern classrooms that incorporate technology and more hands-on, group learning.

Measured against comparable benchmark institutions across the country, Kentucky's public campuses were described as fair to poor.

This from the Courier-Journal.

Five more state universities to raise tuition

9 INCREASES RANGE FROM 5.5% TO 9.9%

The state Council on Postsecondary Education yesterday approved higher rates for tuition and mandatory fees at five more of Kentucky's public universities for the 2007-2008 academic year.

This from the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Teacher Accused Of Watching Students Fight

Mother of Girl wants to know Why Teacher didn't intervene.

Classroom fight caught on teens cell phone.

A Central Florida substitute middle school teacher is being accused of watching two students fight in a classroom and not doing anything to break it up.

The fight, between two 7th-grade girls in a classroom full of students at Robinson Middle School in Orlando, was captured on another student's cell phone.

Video and story from Local6.com.

Federal funds spent on 'Unbridled Spirit' marketing campaign

Audit finds state agencies, including Ky Dept of Education, gave $75,000

Future federal funding at risk?

State agencies spent thousands of dollars in federal funds, some from the Department of Homeland Security, on Kentucky's "Unbridled Spirit" marketing campaign, according to an audit released yesterday.

Seven government agencies, ranging from the Education Cabinet to the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, combined to spend more than $75,000 in federal grant money toward the campaign, the audit said.

Money came from different grants that the federal government intended to fund things such as a summer food service program for children and a state domestic preparedness equipment support program, the report said.

"Payments made by these agencies using federal dollars were not appropriately accounted for," the report said.

The conclusion came as part of a wide-ranging annual audit by the state auditor's office for the federal government on the state's spending practices. Auditors had more than 69 "reportable findings" outlined in the report.

This from the Lexington Herald-Leader.

School News from around Kentucky

• Only 37 percent of Kentucky schools are on track to reach academic proficiency by 2014.
• Covington updates state board on progress after council removal.
• Report has good news for Frankfort and Franklin County schools.
• General's Academy helps Mount Washington middle kids think and study.
• Widespread tutoring in Oldham after dropping the D grade.
• Is the Laurel Board OK with asphalt plant between two elementary schools?
• Nickle helps build Owen County middle school without tax hike.
• Local donations secured for new press box...now they just need a superintendent.
• Scott County band plays Carnegie Hall.
• Athletic territorities for private schools discussed.
• "unjustifiable conduct" claimed in suit over Henderson County players death.
• Acreage donated for Kenton County school.
• Campbell County high school evacuated after electrical sparks from kiln.

Deadbeats' faces slapped on pizza boxes

Customers at some suburban pizza parlors are getting something extra with their pepperoni and mushrooms — wanted posters for parents accused of failing to pay child support.

The idea came to Cynthia Brown, executive director of the Butler County Child Enforcement Agency, while she was ordering pizza.

"It suddenly dawned on me that most people running from the law don't eat out, they order pizza," said Brown, whose county is north of Cincinnati.

This from USAToday.

More wizardry from the Jackass Generation

Four teenagers were charged with burglary after video clips of them breaking into a home appeared on the video sharing site MySpace, sheriff's officials said.

Kayla Rose, 19, of Belfry; Nick Newsome, 19, of Crum, W.Va.; Ashley Butcher of Belfry and Jessica May of Belfry, were also charged with criminal mischief.

Pike County Sheriff's Deputy Bill McCoy said the four broke into an unoccupied home, took several items and busted a door. Video clips of the four inside the house were posted on MySpace, leading to their arrests, McCoy said.

It's the second time in recent weeks that an eastern Kentucky teenager was arrested after appearing online.

This from WaveTV3.

Bill would add school Bible courses

A key state lawmaker wants to acquaint Texas high school students with the Bible.

After all, reasons House Appropriations Committee Chairman Warren Chisum, how can students study Shakespeare's writings, with their 1,300 references to Scripture, without a basic understanding of the Bible?

All public school districts would be required to offer an elective course in the history and literature of the Old and New Testaments under legislation that Chisum pitched Tuesday night to the House Public Education Committee.

This from the Houston Chronicle.

Many CATS scores still lagging

ONLY 51% OF SCHOOLS ARE MEETING GOALS

This from the Herald-Leader.

More than a decade after Kentucky education reforms took effect, about half of Kentucky schools still do not meet state testing goals, a report released yesterday shows.
Only 51 percent of schools are meeting goals, according to the Kentucky Department of Education, which will meet in June to discuss ways to focus resources to push schools and districts to proficient scores by 2014 in the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System, or CATS.

Students statewide will be tested April 23-27.

The report, released at a KDE meeting yesterday, shows that all 1,108 Kentucky schools must reach a score of 100 out of 140 on the state tests. The report states that only 37 percent of schools are currently moving toward that mark.

"Fundamentally what the numbers say is that (only) the elementary schools are reaching the results that are desired," said Joe Brothers, state board of education member. "Unless we make a culture change on how we're going about this, I don't think we'll meet the 2014 goal."

The report also found that:
• 37 percent of schools, or 408, are making progress towards the 2014 goal;
• Eight percent, or 91 schools, are progressing toward the goal, but have a lower academic index from their previous two-year score;
• Four percent, or 41 schools, need resources from the state to meet goals after repeatedly missing target scores.

In the 2005-2006 testing period, Fayette County had a combined score of 79.9 and was classified as a progressing school. However, the district did not meet its goal of reducing the number of students who scored in the novice, or lowest-scoring, category.

And this from the Courier-Journal.

Florida student who mooned teacher sues

A high school senior acknowledges he went too far when he mooned a teacher. But he thinks the decision of school officials to send him to a new school for the rest of the year was too harsh, so his family is suing.

Tyler Tillung, 18, mooned a teacher "suddenly and without thinking about the consequences" in February, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday. The teacher had declined to let him into a Feb. 21 school lip sync show that was full. He was suspended for six days and reassigned to a new school.
But the teen wants to graduate with his Palm Harbor University High class in six weeks and complete his final season on the varsity baseball team, the lawsuit said.

This from the Boston Globe.

Ed. Dept. Releases Final Rules on Tests for Special Education Students

This from Education Week: by Christina A. Samuels

The U.S. Department of Education today released final regulations to guide the creation of tests for students in special education who are capable of learning grade-level content, but not as quickly as their peers.

Currently, the only options available for such students are to take the general assessments that are given to all students, which may be too difficult, or tests intended for students with significant cognitive impairments, which are too easy. The new tests will allow a more accurate assessment of what these students know and how best to teach them, Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond J. Simon said during an afternoon press conference.

The tests may also allow some schools to make adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act when they had not before. Up to 2 percent of students’ proficient and advanced scores on these particular tests, which the department calls “alternate assessments based on modified achievement standards,” may be counted when measuring AYP. Two percent of all students is equivalent to about 20 percent of students with disabilities.

The Education Department also allows up to 1 percent of all students in a state—equivalent to 10 percent of students with disabilities—to take a different type of alternate assessment and be counted as proficient for purposes of AYP. Those tests, which are the ones used with students with significant cognitive impairments, are less complex and comprehensive.

This testing flexibility was first announced in April 2005, with draft regulations released in December 2005. In the meantime, states were allowed to use a mathematical model to adjust their scores as if the policy were already in place. That flexibility will be allowed for the 2006-07 school year, but after that, if states want to continue using the model, they have to enter into a partnership with the Education Department to develop the “2 percent” tests, Mr. Simon said.
“We believe a state that has not done anything so far, should be able to do what we ask them to do over the next two school years,” Mr. Simon said. “Only those who participate with us in a meaningful way” can use the mathematical model, he said.

Content Important
The final regulations, like the draft version, also make it clear that out-of-level assessments would not be allowed to serve as appropriate tests for students in special education. So, a 6th grader who reads at a 3rd-grade level would not be allowed to take a test intended for younger students.

“The reason we’re taking that position here is we’re really trying to emphasize the importance of students getting access to grade-level content,” said Kerri L. Briggs, the acting assistant secretary for planning, evaluation, and policy for the Education Department.

However, the tests can still be easier than the tests given to the general student population, while reflecting grade-level content. Examples of changes in the tests include offering three choices on a multiple-choice test, instead of four; using math manipulatives to illustrate test answers; or allowing students to receive test questions in spoken word or pictures, in addition to print.

Some states already have begun offering such assessments to their students, Mr. Simon said. Though those tests haven’t gone through the department’s peer-review process, he said they can be used as a starting point for other states as they consider their own tests.

The response to the new regulations during a teleconference held today with state school chiefs was positive, Mr. Simon said. He said the state school leaders who have created tests told their colleagues that the tests “have given us information that we’ve needed” to improve education for students with disabilities, Mr. Simon said.

The department plans to launch an effort to assist states as they create the tests, including $21.1 million in grant funds for technical assistance, a meeting with the states scheduled for July, and monthly teleconferences.

Huge change for girls sports

This from the Detroit News:

High Court decision means thousands of Michigan high school athletes

will juggle schedules.

Decades of discrimination against girl athletes in Michigan high schools came to an end Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court closed the final door on a state association that had fought to maintain the status quo.

A pair of Grand Rapids moms, Diane Madsen and Jay Roberts-Eveland, who began questioning a decade ago why their daughters were treated differently from boy athletes, wound up changing the face of Michigan high school sports forever.

Beginning in September, seasons will switch for nearly 56,000 girls and 16,000 boys -- along with thousands of officials and coaches and hundreds of school districts.

"I feel as though the weight of the world has been lifted off my shoulders," Madsen said of the ruling. "This shows me that there are people of goodwill out there, who recognize discrimination when they see it, and want to change it.

"(The suit) really was about far more than just playing seasons. It was about basic fairness and equity and giving girls the same opportunities that boys have always had in this state."
The seasons that will be affected include girls basketball and volleyball, and boys and girls tennis and golf.

Principals starting to receive long-needed help

Get used to the idea of principals having a sidekick to deal with the nuts-and-bolts side of their job.

The concept of a school administrative manager, which began with a handful of Jefferson County schools in 2003, pushed out into the state this school year and is poised to expand even further next year. The pilot program is being funded in part by the Wallace Foundation, which has a focus on developing education leadership.

"We’ve had a lot of calls and interest," said Debbie Daniels, who oversees the school administrative manager – SAM for short – program at the Kentucky Department of Education. "I think it’s an answer to a struggle that principals and school districts have had for a long time, in that principals don’t have time to do what they need to do instructionally."

Graves County school leaders are sold. The district’s Wingo Elementary added a SAM this year, one of six schools added to the list of pilot sites.

The others include three elementary schools in Fayette County, two in LaRue County and one in Pike County. Daniels said 10-12 more schools will be added next school year, including, for the first time, some middle and high schools. The Jefferson County district will place administrative managers in an additional 20 schools.

At Wingo, school administrative manager Rita Pirtle handles bus unloading, the principal’s schedule, student discipline, after-school event scheduling, playground facilities and school safety. She also oversees custodial and food services functions, budget and finance, and coordinates maintenance and repairs.

"I can’t see how a principal could be expected to do what I’m doing now and be able to have time to get into the classrooms, work with students, work with teachers," Pirtle said.

This from the Kentucky School Boards Association.

HS Students have debate questions for Democratic Gubernatorial Candidates

High school students are getting involved in a big way in the Democratic gubernatorial debate next week at Campbell County High School.

Five of the questions the seven candidates will answer at the 6 p.m. April 12 event are to be submitted by high school students.

And, high school student journalists and photographers are being invited to cover the debate.
"We want to get young people interested in candidates and elected officials as early as possible," said debate chairman Paul L. Whalen of Fort Thomas, an attorney and a member of the executive committee of the Campbell County Democratic Party.

This from the Kentucky Post.

Mom wants principal fired after he confesses "blatant ignorance" of racial discrimination

The mother of a Lakota student said she wants the white Independence Elementary principal fired after he acknowledged that her African-American son suffered discrimination from white classmates, and that his own racial attitude led to a too-lenient punishment.

In the March 30 letter obtained Monday by The Enquirer, Principal Greg Finke apologized to Toshimi Scott and took "full responsibility" for the punishment.

Finke, in his letter, stated that he was "embarrassed" after reflecting "on my personal beliefs and attitudes toward race and race relations" and his "blatant ignorance" regarding racial discrimination.

This from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Kentucky alternative schools scrutinized

Kentucky’s alternative education programs are getting a comprehensive look following a "snapshot" last year that revealed a host of serious problems.

That on-site sampling of 40 alternative programs in 37 Kentucky school districts turned up programs with shortcomings ranging from not having a six-hour instructional day to students having inadequate instructional materials. In some cases, those problems amounted to violations of state education laws and regulations.

Keith Travis, chairman of the state board of education, which ordered the initial review, said he was disappointed in the findings. "The general gist of it was they weren’t getting the full instructional value, which is unfortunate because many times those are the students who (most) need the full instructional value," he said.

The review was conducted for the board last year by the Kentucky Center for School Safety.

This from the Kentucky School Boards Association.

Mom allegedly pimped 7-year-old daughter

A woman's five children were in protective custody after she was charged with offering to let an undercover investigator have sex with her 7-year-old daughter.

The 33-year-old woman, from the Detroit suburb of Taylor, was arrested Friday night after bringing the girl to a hotel in Romulus, near Detroit Metropolitan Airport, where she had agreed to meet the investigator, the Wayne County Sheriff's Department said.

The woman was prepared to offer her daughter "for pornographic photos and anything else that was available if the price was right," Sheriff Warren Evans said. "She had indicated very clearly that that child would do whatever it was that the person who was going to meet the child wanted to do, and that she would see that the child complied.

"It's a very, very disgusting case."

This from USA Today.

Students lose grants for failing to maintain GPAs

Nearly 40 percent of first-year students in Kentucky's largest state- financed college scholarship program have failed to qualify to keep the grant for a second year. A 2.5 grade-point average is required, which is halfway between a "B" and a "C."

This statistic about the Kentucky Education Excellence Scholarship, which goes to 63,500 students mostly on the basis of strong high school grades, was a key finding in a new report on the state's high school class of 2004 during its first two years of college.

This from WAVE TV3.

Schools push novel fundraiser

The district wants to put the billboard on a small plot of land it owns between I-471 and Newport High School. Per an agreement with Norton Outdoor Advertising, the district would receive a 15-year deal valued at nearly $1 million: $600,000 plus 500 daily eight-second advertising spots.

Fronm the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Seven students, driver sent to hospital after 3-bus crash

An accident involving three school buses Monday afternoon sent seven Campbell County Middle School students and one driver to the hospital.

The accident occurred about 2:30 p.m. in front of the Campbell County Schools bus garage on U.S. 27.

The three buses were driving south in line on U.S. 27 from the middle school to pick up students at Campbell County High School when heavy traffic forced them stop in front of the garage.

The first two buses stopped, but the third did not stop in time, according to Juli Hale, spokeswoman for the district.

Hale said the third bus rear-ended the second bus, pushing that bus into the first bus.

This from the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Are they ready for college?

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports:

A report designed to help Kentucky public and private high schools determine their strengths and weaknesses in preparing students for post-secondary education was released Monday.

The "Kentucky High School Feedback Report: Class of 2004," shows various data for each school, including: ACT scores and grade-point averages; percentage of students with developmental needs; number of Advanced Placement tests taken; graduation rates; and college grades.

The data are based only on those students who graduated in spring 2004, took the ACT and matriculated to an in-state postsecondary institution...

"It does not capture every single kid, but it does give a good sample," said Lisa Gross, spokeswoman for the department of education.

For example, according to the report, Beechwood High School had a cumulative GPA of 3.01, an in-state college-going rate of 49.4 percent and 24.4 percent of its students had developmental needs in one or more subjects. That information could help Beechwood determine where it needs to strengthen its curriculum.

But Beechwood Superintendent Fred Bassett pointed out that 84.4 percent of the 2004 class went to college - including those who went to out-of-state schools. And because many went to reputable schools such as Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame and Xavier University, Beechwood's cumulative GPA likely would be higher and its percentage of students with developmental needs would likely be lower if those out-of-state students were included.

TO CHECK YOUR SCHOOL
The "Kentucky High School Feedback Report: Class of 2004" data for all public and private high schools is available online (www.cpe.ky.gov/news/reports/highschoolfeedback).

Judge: District can't ban student speech

A school district violated a fourth-grader's constitutional rights to free speech and equal protection by refusing to allow her to distribute "personal statement" fliers carrying a religious message, a federal judge has ruled.

The Liverpool Central School District in upstate New York based its restrictions on "fear or apprehension of disturbance, which is not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression," Chief U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue wrote in a 46-page decision Friday.

This from the Boston Globe.

Older parents may be risk factor for autism

USA Today reports:

The longer men and women wait before having children, the more likely they may have a child with autism, a study of almost 133,000 children reported Monday.

"We found that both the mother's age and father's age affects the risk of having a child with autism," says lead author Lisa Croen, an epidemiologist at Kaiser Permanente's Division of Research in Oakland. Study findings are reported in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, which dedicates its April issue to autism spectrum disorders.

The Prichard Committee Town Forums, 1984.

Kentucky's second successful effort to generate broad public support for better schools came from the Prichard Committee. Since that time the Prichard Committee has trained numerous citizens across the state for leadership in the schools through the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership. But if there is an emerging ground swell of local activism for adequate schools, it is not readily apparent.

This from Each Child, Every Child: The Story of the Council for Better Education, Equity and Adequacy in Kentucky's Schools.

On October 15, 1984, two weeks after the official announcement that Bert Combs would be representing the Council for Better Education, The Prichard Committee launched its first Town Forum. The Kentucky Educational Television network broadcast the forum statewide with introductions by Governor Martha Layne Collins, former Governor Bert Combs, Robert Sexton from the Prichard Committee and State Superintendent, Alice McDonald. After the broadcast introductions at KET, “Governor Collins drove to the forum in Lexington and wound up on the covers of all the newspapers because they took a great picture of her (with Sexton’s 7-year old son).”[1] The strategy worked like a charm. According to Sexton,

I think that what it did, as a political activity, was very successful. We were able to say that about 20,000 people came out. They were located in, I think it was 145 different locations. They represented all of the school districts in the state.

The way the Press carried it was that it was this massive outpouring for better schools. The Press really played along with this. The Press from the beginning said this is a very important part of this movement. Governor Collins immediately began to plan her next move. …She put together a statewide tour, got all of the former governors and other political people and celebrities and they had a helicopter and bus tour to 10 or 15 county seats to talk up the need to improve Kentucky education. So she really took charge. She started really getting energized and came forward with a reform program in 1985.[2]

After the Prichard Committee’s Town Forum, Governor Collins indicated that a special session of the General Assembly would be called for 1985. There was general agreement among members of the Council for Better Education that any suit should wait, thus giving the legislature an opportunity to fund the power equalization program to a more appropriate level.

Action to initiate the suit was temporarily suspended. The Council issued a memorandum to members of the General Assembly, stating that the contemplated test of the Kentucky system of school finance in the state court was being done without malice and that the action was intended to help define the state role in providing an efficient system of schools. But the message was clear: that the Council urged serious consideration be given to its concerns if such a suit was to be avoided.[3]
~
Of course, the special session proved less successful than was hoped. Within 5 years, the court would declare the entire system of schools to be unconstitutional. But a grassroots network of concerned citizens had been formed and would ultimately contribute to the political will to improve the schools.
~
[1] Robert Sexton, Interview with Catherine Fosl. Tape Recording. 10 October 2000. Oral History Collection, University of Kentucky.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Council for Better Education, memorandum to The Kentucky General Assembly, 19 June 1984.

Kentucky's Whirlwind Campaign, 1907. Is history repeating itself?

On February 13th, Franklin County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate issued an order granting summary judgment to the legislative defendants in the school funding case, Young v. Williams. With that order the push for adequate funding of Kentucky's public schools was derailed. Getting the train back on track will require more educators to express (again) the courage of their convictions. But ultimate success will require even more support. It will require broad public outcry.

This has happened twice before in Kentucky's history. At the turn of the last century, public support for school reform flared...and within a decade, died out.

More recently, The Prichard Committee's 1984 Town Forum on KET helped launch the current reform effort. Now again, 17 years after enactment of the Kentucky Education Reform Act - has the flame died yet again?

This from Each Child, Every Child: The Story of the Council for Better Education, Equity and Adequacy in Kentucky's Schools.

John Grant Crabbe was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1907. He brought to office an active imagination and boundless energy. In that year well over half of the school aged children were not enrolled in school. Only 311,192 or approximately 42% of the students enrolled were said to have maintained a satisfactory average daily attendance. In the first decade of the twentieth century, illiteracy in Kentucky was the highest in the southern states. Crabbe declared that the Kentucky school system was still beset with the deficiencies of the previous century.[1]

To underscore his observations and generate grassroots support for better schools, Superintendent Crabbe stumped statewide in what he called The Whirlwind Campaign. He called upon the Kentucky Confederation of Women’s Clubs, the Kentucky Commission for Improvement of Education and the teachers’ associations to visit every community in the state. The Press was a willing supporter of the movement.[2] “The campaign was a continuous cyclone bombardment against illiteracy and ignorance, for a period of nine days... Twenty nine speakers...[delivered] nearly three hundred public set addresses...The entire state was covered and every county was visited...”[3]

The campaign had the desired effect of publicizing and popularizing the need for improved schools. Crabbe called for an educational commission to make a thorough investigation of the school system. The commission was to make a report to the General Assembly including such suggestions, recommendations, revisions, corrections, and amendments, as its members deemed necessary.[4]

The General Assembly responded by passing the Sullivan Bill, more commonly known as the County School District law. The new law called for the establishment of a high school in every county, changed the name of Kentucky State College to Kentucky State University, increased collegiate appropriations, provided funds to normal schools to enhance teacher preparation, established a State Education Commission and charged it with the responsibility to make a report on the schools, instituted compulsory attendance for children in cities of the fourth class and larger, and passed a child labor law.[5]

The educational commission began a thorough study of the education laws of Kentucky and those of other states. The school laws already in force were rewritten, rearranged, codified and became the new school code. After consultation and deliberation with educational leaders, a code was outlined that covered the whole common school system of the state. This code was submitted to the General Assembly of 1910 as the report of the commission.[6]

The principal recommendations in the report were: (a) the ex-officio, three- member State Board of Education should be supplanted by a seven-member State Board of Education, consisting of the state Superintendent of Public Instruction and six experienced educators; (b) the powers and duties of the State Board of Education and the Superintendent of Public Instruction should be extended; (c) the examination of applicants for certificates and the grading of papers should be under the direction of the State Board of Education; (d) provisions should be made for the certification of high school teachers on the basis of training and for the issuance of certificates in special fields; (e) the powers and duties of the county Superintendent should be increased; and (f) institute instructors should be licensed.

Historian James Klotter, summarized Kentucky’s efforts in the early 1900s. “In 1900, Kentucky stood fourth in the South in per capita income devoted to education, and had the only compulsory education law in the South. The 1908 legislature required every county to establish a high school, strengthened attendance rules, and poured more money into the newly created teacher training colleges at Bowling Green (now Western Kentucky University) and Richmond (now Eastern Kentucky University). Legislators and education advocates launched a statewide campaign in support of education, and bright days seemed to lie ahead. But it was a false light that soon dimmed. Funding did not continue at an adequate level, and as Kentucky ambled toward education reform, other states ran ahead. By 1920, Kentucky's ranking had fallen from fourth to eleventh. The cost of this lack of progress was incalculable because it drove many of the best and brightest students and teachers out of the state.”

[1] Thomas D. Clark, in James C. Klotter, ed. Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass State (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 286.
[2] Thomas D. Clark, A History of Kentucky (Ashland, Kentucky: The Jesse Stuart Foundation, 1988), 367.
[3] Barksdale Hamlett, History of Education in Kentucky (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1914), 200.
[4] Sessions Act 1908, Chapter 65, 171.
[5] Barksdale Hamlett, History of Education in Kentucky (Frankfort: Kentucky Department of Education, 1914), 205.
[6] Moses Edward Ligon, A History of Public Education in Kentucky (Bulletin of the Bureau of School Services, XIV no. 4, 1942.)

Kindergarten backers purchase radio time

The issue is - how to generate broad support for adequate resources to meet high standards for all students? This is a good approach.

The Billings Gazette (Montana) reports:

A coalition of labor and education groups is taking its campaign for all-day kindergarten to the state's airwaves.

A radio ad touting the benefits of the voluntary statewide program began airing Monday and will continue "until we get full-day kindergarten funded," said Sanna Porte of the Stand Up For Education Coalition. "If we have to (run the ad) until the end of the session, then that's what we'll do," she said Wednesday.

The 60-second ad, airing statewide, features Helena parent Christy Hughes and comes as House Republicans stripped all-day kindergarten from the governor's school funding bill earlier this week.

Parents and Teachers say Workforce not Ready for the Future

More than half of parents and teachers believe that schools are not adequately preparing students for today's jobs, concludes a survey by Project Tomorrow.

The Irvine, Calif.-based nonprofit education organization also found that engaging in real-world problem-solving, talking to professionals, and visiting places where science is used were the top ways students wanted to learn about science. The study surveyed 270,000 students, parents, and teachers nationwide.

From Education Week.

Girls who soar

Photo by Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

Esther and Colby are two of the amazing girls at Newton North High School here in this affluent suburb just outside Boston. “Amazing girls” translation: Girls by the dozen who are high achieving, ambitious and confident (if not immune to the usual adolescent insecurities and meltdowns). Girls who do everything: Varsity sports. Student government. Theater. Community service. Girls who have grown up learning they can do anything a boy can do, which is anything they want to do.

But being an amazing girl often doesn’t feel like enough these days when you’re competing with all the other amazing girls around the country who are applying to the same elite colleges that you have been encouraged to aspire to practically all your life...

[To these girls] the first message: Bring home A’s. Do everything. Get into a top college — which doesn’t have to be in the Ivy League, or one of the other elites like Williams, Tufts or Bowdoin, but should be a “name” school.

The second message: Be yourself. Have fun. Don’t work too hard.

This from the New York Times.

Vouchers and Charterization Not Off The Table... Yet

This Week in Education's Alexander Russo on NCLB reauthorization news:

Nobody who knows anything seems to think that voucher and charterization proposals like the ones in the Administration's NCLB 2 proposals stand a chance in Congress, but I continue not to be convinced. Specialized voucher proposals (for a geographic area, or a particular kind of student) are particularly hard to argue against, especially once you've already voted for them (as many in Congress have for Katrina and DC), and are in fact spreading at the state level (Vouchers Eyed for Students With Disabilities EdWeek).

It's nothing that a few good voucher abuse and ineffectiveness stories wouldn't erase. My current favorite is the one from Ohio about private school parents enrolling their kids in public schools for the last couple of days of the year in order to qualify for Ohio's voucher program.

Pompoms, Pyramids and Peril

The New York Times reports:

Emergency room visits for cheerleading injuries nationwide have more than doubled since the early 1990s, and the rate of life-threatening injuries has startled researchers. Of 104 catastrophic injuries sustained by female high school and college athletes from 1982 to 2005 — head and spinal trauma that occasionally led to death — more than half resulted from cheerleading, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. All sports combined did not surpass cheerleading.

New acrobatic maneuvers have turned cheerleaders into daredevils. And while the sport has retained its sense of glamour, at dozens of competitions around the country, knee braces and ice bags affixed to ankles and wrists have become accouterments as common as mascara.

With more than 4 million participants cheering at everything from local youth football games to the limelight of the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament, female cheerleaders now commonly do tricks atop pyramids or are tossed 20 feet in the air to perform twists and flips. If all goes well, the airborne cheerleader, known as the flier, is caught by other cheerleaders. But not always.

McLean Students Sue Anti-Cheating Service

Plaintiffs Say Company's Database of Term Papers,

Essays Violates Copyright Laws

Two [Fairfax, Virginia] High School students have launched a court challenge against a California company hired by their school to catch cheaters, claiming the anti-plagiarism service violates copyright laws.

The lawsuit, filed this week in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, seeks $900,000 in damages from the for-profit service known as Turnitin. The service seeks to root out cheaters by comparing student term papers and essays against a database of more than 22 million student papers as well as online sources and electronic archives of journals. In the process, the student papers are added to the database.

This from the Washington Post.

Kindergartner Being Groomed For Line-Leader Position

Belle Meade Day School kindergarten teacher Mrs. Allen, 33, says she has known since the first day of class that student Gregory Hutter, 6, was "line-leader material."

"He wasn't the tallest, but he conducted himself as if he were over four feet," Mrs. Allen said of Hutter, who she believes "has what it takes" to lead the class to key locations throughout the school such as the cafeteria, bathroom, water fountain, and to the playground. "Once he's got his feet under him a bit more, the sky's the limit on where he can take this class."

Mrs. Allen realized that Hutter could maintain his composure in high-pressure situations several months ago when, after recess, he took a quick sip of water at the drinking fountain. "He just had this innate sense that there were people waiting behind him who were also thirsty, and that the class was going to be late for music," she said. "You can't teach that."

: )

Every once in a while it's good to check out the education news from the folks over at The Onion.

Girl in prison for shove gets released early

Teen is first of possible hundreds to be freed from a scandal-ridden juvenile justice system

Shaquanda Cotton, the black teenager in the small east Texas town of Paris whose prison sentence of up to 7 years for shoving a teacher's aide sparked nationwide controversy, was released Saturday.

Her release, ordered by a special conservator appointed to overhaul the state's scandal-ridden juvenile prison system, was the first of what could be hundreds as a panel of civil rights leaders begins reviewing the sentences of every youth incarcerated by the Texas Youth Commission to weed out those being held arbitrarily.

"We have no confidence in the system that was in place," said Jim Hurley, spokesman for the conservator, Jay Kimbrough. "And this case is an example of what we expect to happen if something wrong has been done to youths being held inside that system."

This from the Chicago Tribune.