West Virginia schools offer modified junk food to students

In an effort to entice students to eat food that is good for them, or at least better for them than what they had been eating, West Virginia officials are offering such modified junk foods as "protein-packed donuts, low sodium hot dogs on wheat buns, low-fat pancakes and baked French fries." according to an ABC News article:

"They have to be able to still enjoy their favorite foods, but let's let them enjoy them at a lower risk to their health," said Kennan chef Harold Kuhn.

But critics say the faux junk food can steer children in the wrong direction.

"I'm worried that they go away from those meals with the message that wherever they eat those foods they might be perfectly healthy," said pediatrician Dr. Stephen Daniels.

The schools insist they educate students about what they're eating.

Texas may require mandatory steroid testing for all student athletes

The state of Texas has passed a bill that would require all high school student-athletes to undergo mandatory steroid testing. Once the governor signs the bill, and according to an Associated Press article, he has not expressed any opposition to it, it will become law:

Don Hooton of the Taylor Hooton Foundation – established to fight steroid abuse – is among those who testified before Texas state lawmakers in support of the legislation.

Hooton's foundation bears the name of the 17-year-old high school athlete son he lost in 2003 to a suicide believed caused by abuse of anabolic steroids.

In an interview with CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan, Hooton says testing is the only deterrent that will work.

"They're not doing it to get high," says Hooton. "I am convinced that this intelligent group of kids, if they think there's a reasonable chance of getting caught, won't make the decision to use the steroids in the first place."

Steroid testing has been a major component of Republican Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst's campaign to protect children. Athletes who test positive, or refuse to be tested, could be suspended from play. Athletes in all sports, from football to wrestling to tennis, could be tested.

"I made steroid testing of high school athletes a priority this session because I believe it will deter young people from putting that poison in their bodies and save lives all across Texas," Dewhurst said.

The House of Representatives voted 140-4 to send the bill to Perry.

More graduations being webcast

A new fad, the live streaming of graduation ceremonies, is becoming more and more popular, according to an article in the Houston Chronicle:

Gradcasts," as some techies call them, allow viewers to watch live streaming video of the ceremonies without the nightmares of parking, uncomfortable stadium seats and long restroom lines. The Web-based technology is catching on among some school districts who say it costs next to nothing to offer the extra service to students' families. Some districts have even started webcasting sporting events and pre-kindergarten graduations. School plays and open houses aren't far behind.

"We haven't even tapped into the possibilities of the Internet yet," said Mimi Morrison, director of technology for the Huffman school district, which will stream its graduation ceremonies online for the first time this weekend. "This video on demand is definitely the wave of the future. It's here, and it's exciting."

Concentration on core classes has not prepared students for college

A study sponsored by those who publish the ACT says students need more than just the core classes in order to be able to succeed at the college level.
According to an article in today's Washington Post:

Using research on the college success of students who took the ACT college entrance test, and comparing their test scores to their high school records, ACT researchers found that many core courses were not carefully constructed or monitored and that students often received good grades in the core courses even if they didn't learn much.

The study also suggests that students need to take upper-level classes in the core subjects.

Neosho school district adopts stronger dress code

Today's Joplin Globe features an article about the revised, much stricter, dress code adopted last week by the Neosho R-5 Board of Education:

Clothing and other accessories that will be prohibited under the new dress code include:

- Torn, cut or tattered clothing.

- Clothes that advertise or display alcohol, drugs, tobacco, nudity or double-meaning slogans.

- Trench coats or long jackets.

- Unnatural hair coloring, such as fuchsia, green or blue.

The revised dress code also mandates that all shirts, tops and dresses have sleeves, defined as passing the shoulder, and that all shorts, pants, dresses and skirts be no shorter than three inches above the knee. Skirts and dresses with slits higher than three inches above the knee are not allowed.

Check out the comments at the bottom of the story, including this one:

Of course the school board based this on evidence that these changes will somehow reduce some undesirable behavior other than old people not liking unnatural hair color. I hope the 50 something teachers who color their hair to an UNNATURAL color (if it's grey, that's nature baby!) will be held to the same standard. And for the male teachers... the toupee has to go too! They should model appropriate behaviors for the kids. Here come the socialists!

How do you feel?

Teachers stage gun attack on sixth graders

In the category of "What in the heck were they thinking?" CNN reports teachers at a Tennessee school staged a fake gun attack on sixth graders without even telling them it was fake:

The mock attack Thursday night was intended as a learning experience and lasted five minutes during the weeklong trip to a state park, said Scales Elementary School Assistant Principal Don Bartch, who led the trip.

"We got together and discussed what we would have done in a real situation," he said.

But parents of the sixth-grade students were outraged. "The children were in that room in the dark, begging for their lives, because they thought there was someone with a gun after them," said Brandy Cole, whose son went on the trip.

Some parents said they were upset by the staff's poor judgment in light of the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech that left 33 students and professors dead, including the gunman.

During the last night of the trip, staff members convinced the 69 students that there was a gunman on the loose. They were told to lie on the floor or hide underneath tables and stay quiet. A teacher, disguised in a hooded sweat shirt, even pulled on a locked door.

After the lights went out, about 20 kids started to cry, 11-year-old Shay Naylor said.

"I was like, 'Oh My God,' " she said. "At first I thought I was going to die. We flipped out."

Principal Catherine Stephens declined to say whether the staff members involved would face disciplinary action, but said the situation "involved poor judgment."

Poor judgment? That's putting it mildly.

Teen alcoholic tells her story

Today's Columbia Tribune features the story of a 19-year-old alcoholic, and it is an unsettling one, to say the least:

By the time she went outside to smoke that early November morning in 2001, Katie had already downed about five or six shots of mixed liquor.
"I fell on my face, and that’s the last thing I remember. They said after that, I kept drinking and that I drank a half a bottle of vodka. My friend and I drank the bottle of vodka between us."

The 15-year-old Columbia junior high student was 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 105 pounds. Her blood alcohol limit soared to 0.2 percent - two-and-a-half times the legal limit.

She’d been drinking every weekend for more than a year. Had it not been for a trip to the emergency room, the night would have been just like any other Friday night for Katie and her friends.

Katie's problem started early, according to the story:

Katie’s substance abuse problem started at 13, when a friend pressured her to smoke marijuana. Aching from her parents’ divorce, the promise of a good time outweighed the fear of drugs that Katie's elementary school D.A.R.E. class had instilled in her.

"At first I didn't really feel anything. Then I tried again," she recalled. "And one time, it hit me. There was no real reality. It was a completely different world where I didn’t have to worry about anything."

Then an eighth-grader at Oakland Junior High School, Katie continued to get high on weekends and added alcohol to the mix shortly thereafter.

Thomas Jefferson High School students receive laptops

Students at Thomas Jefferson High School have received laptops they can use at school and home as the independent school continues to improve its technological offerings.
But is this a good thing for education?

A New York Times article indicates there is no evidence that laptops improve grades or education and in fact, are used more often for music, games, and downloading porn:

Matoaca High School just outside Richmond, Va., began eliminating its five-year-old laptop program last fall after concluding that students had failed to show any academic gains compared with those in schools without laptops. Continuing the program would have cost an additional $1.5 million for the first year alone, and a survey of district teachers and parents found that one-fifth of Matoaca students rarely or never used their laptops for learning. “You have to put your money where you think it’s going to give you the best achievement results,” said Tim Bullis, a district spokesman.

May 19 signing scheduled for Devil's Messenger

A second signing for South Middle School eighth grade communication arts teacher Randy Turner's novel, Devil's Messenger, will be held 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday, May 19, at Hastings Books, Music and Video in Joplin.

Free Jolly Ranchers will be given out, and drawings will be held for Natural Disaster CDS, copies of Devil's Messenger and copies of Mr. Turner's first book, Small Town News.

For more information, e-mail Mr. Turner at rturner229@hotmail.com.