"Last year we would see maybe as many as 10 students on one side (of the hallway), 10 on the other and then, going in opposite directions, would sort of have a hug line going on and you could see where that would be a problem," said Victoria Sharts, principal of Oak Park's Percy Julian Middle School.
So this year Sharts decided to draw the line on hug lines by banning all hugging among students within the building.
Sharts said, "Hugging is really more appropriate for airports or for family reunions than passing and seeing each other every few minutes in the halls."
When teachers started enforcing the new policy last month all hallways and classrooms in the 860-student school became hug-free zones.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Hugging banned at Illinois school
Claiming it clogs up the hallways, an Oak Park, Ill. high school has banned hugging:
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Green interviewed on 50th anniversary of Little Rock integration
This year marks the 50-year anniversary of the integration of Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., one of the civil rights events students in my communication arts classes at South Middle School study each year.
Today's Washington Post features a profile and interview of Ernest Green, the first African American student to graduate from Central High School:
Today's Washington Post features a profile and interview of Ernest Green, the first African American student to graduate from Central High School:
He spends his days negotiating multimillion-dollar deals as managing director of public finance for Wall Street stalwart Lehman Brothers with clients including the City of New York and the State of Connecticut. He has a big house in Northwest Washington, "a beautiful wife, three wonderful kids" and a lot of gratitude for the circumstances that catapulted him from segregated Little Rock into U.S. history as one of nine students to integrate Central High School 50 years ago today.
"It has been a tremendous boost for me," said Green, who turned 66 on Saturday. "It provided me with opportunities I never would have otherwise had. I had a tremendous window into the last half of 20th century."
Green returned to his home town this weekend for events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of Central High. Five decades ago, Green and eight other students were escorted into the school by the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division under orders from President Dwight Eisenhower after Gov. Orval Faubus used the state's National Guard to block the integration effort.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
New tardies policy creates problems for Jefferson City students
Students at Jefferson City High School are not happy with a new program designed to cut down on tardies:
After talking with area and state school officials, school administrators decided to go with a program known as “Start on Time.”
Offered by the group Safe and Civil Schools of Eugene, Ore. - which produces programs to help improve student behavior - “Start on Time” seeks to increase hallway safety and classroom climate, increase student and teacher interaction and decrease class interruptions.
High School Assistant Principal DeLinda Fitch, who worked on implementing the program for Jefferson City High School, said it looked like the program could reduce tardies by more than the 75 percent they initially predicted.
When the bell rings, the classroom doors are locked and teachers start teaching immediately.
Teachers who are in the hallway are known as the “Positive Sweep Team.” They gather the students left in the hallway after the bell rings, then take those students to a central location where administrators work with the students and give them either a warning or detention.
Then, a sweep team member escorts the student back to classroom to let the teacher know where he or she has been.
Luther said district officials believe that the high school tardy policy was put in place to maximize time in the classroom and to make the school a safer, more secure environment.
Students face prison terms for cheating
Nine New Hampshire students may go to prison for cheating on exams. The story was featured in this morning's Boston Globe:
School cheating scandal divides N.H. town
Criminal charges too harsh, some say
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff | September 19, 2007
HANOVER, N.H. - Academics is serious business in this well-to-do town, where life revolves around Dartmouth College. Ivy League credentials rank alongside Subaru wagons and restored farmhouses as status symbols, and high school students are expected to excel and land acceptances to prestigious universities.
So, as final exams loomed and pressure built last June at Hanover High School, some students hatched a scheme for acing the tests: One evening after school was out, a group of students entered the school building, authorities say. While some stood sentry in hallways, others entered a classroom and used stolen keys to break into a teacher's filing cabinet and steal exams for advanced math honors, advanced math, Algebra II, and calculus. Five days later, another group stole chemistry finals. In total, some 50 students are suspected of participating in the thefts, either helping to plan them or receiving answers from stolen exams.
Rather than issuing suspensions or grade demotions, school officials notified police. And after a seven-week investigation, the police prosecutor handling the case brought criminal charges against nine students. Last week, the prosecutor notified the nine students' parents that if they chose to take the cases to trial, he could raise misdemeanor charges to felonies, which carry possible prison terms of 3 1/2 to seven years.
Parents of the accused are furious and frantically trying to reduce charges to violations that carry no criminal penalties, penalties they say could harm their children's chances of attending college or securing employment. The scandal has divided the community, with some residents laying blame squarely on the nine accused students - dubbed "the Notorious Nine" - while others have questioned whether the intense competitiveness of 750-student Hanover High forced students into positions of having to cheat.
Some have also questioned the motives of police, suggesting they are using the incident to show that children of privilege - the parents of the accused include a physician, a business school professor, a hospital president, and a columnist at a local newspaper - are not above the law.
Christopher O'Connor, the prosecutor, said in a telephone interview that he is treating the students as he would anyone who had committed a crime of similar magnitude. Although 17-year-olds are treated as adults in criminal cases in New Hampshire, he said he had opted to charge them with Class B misdemeanors, which carry maximum penalties of $1,200 fines, rather than Class A, which carry possible prison terms.
"What I look at from my office . . . is whether someone should be held accountable for their actions and whether charges are consistent with the charges of other kids their ages," O'Connor said.
Nancy Gray, the Grafton County attorney who would handle the cases if O'Connor chooses to upgrade them to felonies, said the crimes the students allegedly committed are serious and deserve serious consequences.
"The parents need to be reasonable," she said. "This is technically a Class B felony offense. How can you reduce that to a violation-level offense - which is for something like spitting on the sidewalk? Although you don't want to hammer them, you want them to know this is serious."
But parents of the accused students say the charges are a draconian punishment for 17- and 18-year-olds.
"They are charged with watching their friends commit stupidity," said John Arbogast, whose son is charged with serving as a lookout.
"What's frightening as a parent is that a 17-year-old makes one little mistake and he's going to have a potential prison sentence," said Jim Kenyon, a columnist for The Valley News, whose son is also accused of acting as lookout and now attends private school.
Particularly troubling, parents interviewed said, is that the school turned the matter over to police; they said the incident should have been handled internally, where punishment would never have resulted in a criminal record.
"This always should have been a school matter," said Debbie Hadley, a nurse whose two sons have been charged.
School officials said that they are planning to conduct an investigation of the cheating allegations but that the alleged breaking and entering and theft portion belonged in the hands of police.
"We have never called the police for a cheating incident. But there is never a time when we would not call the police when someone breaks into our building," said Wayne Gersen, superintendent of School Administrative Unit #70, which oversees Hanover High School.
Gersen said that before the cheating scandal revelations, school officials had discovered two screens cut and teachers had reported keys missing for the science and math resource centers. The day before the alleged theft of the chemistry exam, a guidance counselor had witnessed three male students climb through a school window. The boys had told the counselor they were trying to retrieve notebooks to study.
"Hanover High students are very diligent and study very hard for exams. So it seemed a plausible explanation," Gersen said.
The school's investigation of the cheating has been delayed by the nine students' attorneys, who have advised their clients not to speak to the school until the criminal charges are settled. The school last week sent a letter to parents of the students promising that anything they say about the alleged cheating and theft would not be relayed to the police.
Gersen said that once the school concludes its investigation, students found to be involved will face school sanctions, which could include three-day suspensions for taking part in the theft and a zero grade on any exam where stolen information was used.
In addition, he said, school guidance counselors will make note of the cheating findings on the students' college applications.
Parents interviewed declined to allow their sons to speak publicly, citing the criminal cases.
In Hanover, efforts to stem cheating are underway. A committee of high school students, teachers, school board officials, and community members, with input from an ethicist, is discussing a reformulation of the cheating policy for Hanover High. A local church held a forum last Sunday to discuss the moral implications of the scandal, while the school principal last week called a meeting for the senior class to discuss the impact on the school.
Among Hanover High students, opinions about the scandal remain mixed.
"I think they should be given another chance because they made a mistake," said Tariku Foster, a sophomore who is friends with some of the accused students.
But others said the issue is clear cut.
"They're cheating. They're breaking into the school. They deserve what they got," said Hannah Stone, a freshman.
School cheating scandal divides N.H. town
Criminal charges too harsh, some say
By Sarah Schweitzer, Globe Staff | September 19, 2007
HANOVER, N.H. - Academics is serious business in this well-to-do town, where life revolves around Dartmouth College. Ivy League credentials rank alongside Subaru wagons and restored farmhouses as status symbols, and high school students are expected to excel and land acceptances to prestigious universities.
So, as final exams loomed and pressure built last June at Hanover High School, some students hatched a scheme for acing the tests: One evening after school was out, a group of students entered the school building, authorities say. While some stood sentry in hallways, others entered a classroom and used stolen keys to break into a teacher's filing cabinet and steal exams for advanced math honors, advanced math, Algebra II, and calculus. Five days later, another group stole chemistry finals. In total, some 50 students are suspected of participating in the thefts, either helping to plan them or receiving answers from stolen exams.
Rather than issuing suspensions or grade demotions, school officials notified police. And after a seven-week investigation, the police prosecutor handling the case brought criminal charges against nine students. Last week, the prosecutor notified the nine students' parents that if they chose to take the cases to trial, he could raise misdemeanor charges to felonies, which carry possible prison terms of 3 1/2 to seven years.
Parents of the accused are furious and frantically trying to reduce charges to violations that carry no criminal penalties, penalties they say could harm their children's chances of attending college or securing employment. The scandal has divided the community, with some residents laying blame squarely on the nine accused students - dubbed "the Notorious Nine" - while others have questioned whether the intense competitiveness of 750-student Hanover High forced students into positions of having to cheat.
Some have also questioned the motives of police, suggesting they are using the incident to show that children of privilege - the parents of the accused include a physician, a business school professor, a hospital president, and a columnist at a local newspaper - are not above the law.
Christopher O'Connor, the prosecutor, said in a telephone interview that he is treating the students as he would anyone who had committed a crime of similar magnitude. Although 17-year-olds are treated as adults in criminal cases in New Hampshire, he said he had opted to charge them with Class B misdemeanors, which carry maximum penalties of $1,200 fines, rather than Class A, which carry possible prison terms.
"What I look at from my office . . . is whether someone should be held accountable for their actions and whether charges are consistent with the charges of other kids their ages," O'Connor said.
Nancy Gray, the Grafton County attorney who would handle the cases if O'Connor chooses to upgrade them to felonies, said the crimes the students allegedly committed are serious and deserve serious consequences.
"The parents need to be reasonable," she said. "This is technically a Class B felony offense. How can you reduce that to a violation-level offense - which is for something like spitting on the sidewalk? Although you don't want to hammer them, you want them to know this is serious."
But parents of the accused students say the charges are a draconian punishment for 17- and 18-year-olds.
"They are charged with watching their friends commit stupidity," said John Arbogast, whose son is charged with serving as a lookout.
"What's frightening as a parent is that a 17-year-old makes one little mistake and he's going to have a potential prison sentence," said Jim Kenyon, a columnist for The Valley News, whose son is also accused of acting as lookout and now attends private school.
Particularly troubling, parents interviewed said, is that the school turned the matter over to police; they said the incident should have been handled internally, where punishment would never have resulted in a criminal record.
"This always should have been a school matter," said Debbie Hadley, a nurse whose two sons have been charged.
School officials said that they are planning to conduct an investigation of the cheating allegations but that the alleged breaking and entering and theft portion belonged in the hands of police.
"We have never called the police for a cheating incident. But there is never a time when we would not call the police when someone breaks into our building," said Wayne Gersen, superintendent of School Administrative Unit #70, which oversees Hanover High School.
Gersen said that before the cheating scandal revelations, school officials had discovered two screens cut and teachers had reported keys missing for the science and math resource centers. The day before the alleged theft of the chemistry exam, a guidance counselor had witnessed three male students climb through a school window. The boys had told the counselor they were trying to retrieve notebooks to study.
"Hanover High students are very diligent and study very hard for exams. So it seemed a plausible explanation," Gersen said.
The school's investigation of the cheating has been delayed by the nine students' attorneys, who have advised their clients not to speak to the school until the criminal charges are settled. The school last week sent a letter to parents of the students promising that anything they say about the alleged cheating and theft would not be relayed to the police.
Gersen said that once the school concludes its investigation, students found to be involved will face school sanctions, which could include three-day suspensions for taking part in the theft and a zero grade on any exam where stolen information was used.
In addition, he said, school guidance counselors will make note of the cheating findings on the students' college applications.
Parents interviewed declined to allow their sons to speak publicly, citing the criminal cases.
In Hanover, efforts to stem cheating are underway. A committee of high school students, teachers, school board officials, and community members, with input from an ethicist, is discussing a reformulation of the cheating policy for Hanover High. A local church held a forum last Sunday to discuss the moral implications of the scandal, while the school principal last week called a meeting for the senior class to discuss the impact on the school.
Among Hanover High students, opinions about the scandal remain mixed.
"I think they should be given another chance because they made a mistake," said Tariku Foster, a sophomore who is friends with some of the accused students.
But others said the issue is clear cut.
"They're cheating. They're breaking into the school. They deserve what they got," said Hannah Stone, a freshman.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Only 20 percent of New York schools have newspapers
Is the school newspaper vanishing?
A survey of New York high schools indicates only about 20 percent have newspapers, though some are now starting to publish online news:
A survey of New York high schools indicates only about 20 percent have newspapers, though some are now starting to publish online news:
Of existing papers, critics are quick to point out that some are skimpy newsletters or quarterlies, too often little more than publicity pages for the school. "If you look at the papers you'll see that many have little to them. They don't write about anything going on in the school. They don’t seem to give people a way to be serious school citizens," says Leslie Seifert, an editor at Newsday who began a high school newspaper at Middle College High School in Queens in 1994. The Middle College High School News was entirely uncensored and covered controversial topics like drug addiction and violence at school.
Even at top-tier schools, papers like the one Seifert produced are often impossible. While these schools have been recognized for superior writing and production, censorship remains a problem. In 2005, the editors-in-chief of the Science Survey at Bronx Science wrote an anonymous article condemning the censorship of their paper by the school principal and distributed the article off school grounds. "Don't let the administration's obsession with conserving our school's 'impressive' reputation dampen your creative spirit," they wrote.
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