Oregon law requires schools to come up with cyberbullying policies

Cyberbullying, the act of verbally abusing someone over the internet, continues to be a problem for the young people in our society and the Oregon legislature has done something about it, according to an article in the June 15 Portland Oregonian:

It starts with a MySpace comment. Maybe it's about a weekend indiscretion or a stolen boyfriend.

Then, like the flu, the cyberbullying spreads. Everybody has read it, and a student is in tears.

Cyberbullying -- when a nasty text message or online bulletin replaces a punch to the gut -- is a growing problem, said Kevin Blackwell, a social worker stationed at Hillsboro High School.

"I think I hear about some type of cyberbullying everyday," Blackwell said. "These kids are devastated; it's at such a wide scale."

Blackwell isn't the only one taking notice of this wired take on an old problem. The Oregon Legislature gave final approval Thursday to a bill that would require school districts to come up with a game plan for combating digital ruffians.

House Majority Leader Dave Hunt, a Gladstone Democrat, was the driving force behind the measure. Reports from constituents and, he said, some practical experience with his own children convinced him that a statewide call for policy was necessary.

"It's just becoming very apparent how different technology is in school," Hunt said. "We've got to make sure there are clear policies."

House Bill 2637 is an addition to Oregon bullying legislation passed in 2001. Specifically, the bill -- now on its way to the governor's desk -- defines cyberbullying as "the use of any electronic communication device to harass, intimidate or bully." Washington recently passed similar legislation.

One problem with the bill is going to be what school officials can do with cyberactivity that takes place away from school:

Identifying the problem is only half the battle. Though schools can punish students for things done and said at school -- if it has caused a significant disruption -- their authority off campus and on the Internet isn't so clear.

"You try to find at what point do we become involved?" Johnson said. "We have to be very careful of that."

This bill treads on the side of "better safe than sorry," by requiring schools to come up with ways to address cyberbullying that happens on campus, near campus, on school buses or at school-related activities. It doesn't bar schools from coming up with stricter policies, said Hunt, the Gladstone Democrat, it simply "establishes a base."

Another crackdown on cruising is on the horizon in Joplin

It appears the Joplin City Council is preparing for yet another crackdown on cruising Main, the most recent of several over the years.
Today's Joplin Globe features young people's reaction to the proposal:

By Mike Dwyer

Loud music, loads of people, fancy cars, and flurries of activity.

It’s cruise night on Joplin's Main Street, and it's easy to see why young people are drawn to it.

But all the elements that draw hoards of teenagers and young adults to Main Street have caused headaches for some in an increasingly residential downtown and prompted the City Council to revisit the issue of cruising.

The council discussed a variety of options for limiting what some have deemed an American pastime at an informal session June 3, but some cruising Main Street on a recent Saturday night said that placing further restrictions will limit recreational options for young people in a town they say doesn't have many.

Stefan Hokill, 17, of Carthage, said that if he weren't out with the crowd on Main Street on a Friday or Saturday night, he would "probably be going to parties and getting into a lot of trouble."

Instead, he said, he's out meeting people from Carl Junction, Webb City, Joplin — forming relationships that wouldn't have been fostered under any other circumstances.

"This is where we make friends," he said. "Carthage, Webb City — the rivalry — normally we hate each other."

Hokill said he usually stays out until about midnight and then goes home. Some downtown residents have expressed concerns that cruising-related activities often extend well into the early morning hours.

Cruising is defined by the city as a vehicle driving two times in the same direction past a control point during a two-hour period. Some say concerns raised are not from the cruising itself but rather the problems that are considered cruising-related — illegal drug activity, excessive noise, loitering and other peace disturbances.

According to city statistics, the Joplin Police Department received more than 900 calls in reference to cruising-related activities in 2005 and nearly 1,600 in 2006.

John Maxwell, 16, of Webb City, and Autumn Dorris, 18, of Carl Junction, said that fighting is a fairly common sight on a cruise night.

"A lot of drama starts on Main," Dorris said.

Maxwell said he probably sees one fight every weekend.

The council reached a consensus that an increased police presence on Main Street would be desirable, but these cruisers said that the Joplin Police Department, which accrues $20,000 a year in cruising-related overtime expense, has an overwhelming presence on Main Street.


"I think you see cops on every corner, pretty much," Dorris said.

Another idea endorsed by the council, though it took no action June 3, was to ban parking on Main Street during cruising hours. Councilman Phil Stinnett was a proponent of the idea, saying that it would eliminate many associated problems.

Cruisers balk at the idea. Cory Burton, 17, of Carthage, said with the price of gas at nearly $3 a gallon, he wondered who could afford a cruise night if parking were prohibited.

"The only place we can park is on the street," he said. "You've got to be able to park. Really, you’re here to congregate with people."

An ordinance prohibiting cruising was between 18th and 28th streets was passed in 1992. An idea discussed by the council was extending that ban to include the downtown area and limit the activity to the eight blocks between 10th and 18th streets where there are no residential units.

"That limits our places to hang out," Hokill said in his opposition to extending the ban.

Maxwell said cruisers driving north on Main Street through downtown typically turn around and head back north at First Street or Second Street.

The Police Department is in the process of gathering more statistics on cruising and related activities to present to the City Council in a few weeks. The council is expected to take some sort of action at that time.

Amber Lasley, 17, or Carl Junction, said she would understand if some limitations were imposed but a win-win situation must be worked so downtown residents and cruisers can coexist.

"Reasonable restrictions would be fine, but you can't ban cruising altogether," she said. "If there's no fighting, no vandalism, then I think it's fine. You’re wanting to meet new people."

The dangers of drunk driving

Today's Washington Post features a powerful article about the dangers of drunk driving:

Students at West Potomac High School in Fairfax County have heard, repeatedly, about the dangers of alcohol. After their graduation ceremony Thursday afternoon, the school sponsored an alcohol-free, all-night party. But in the end, young drivers take the keys, and their fates, into their own hands.

And so the defining image of the 2007 graduation season will be a white convertible Volkswagen Cabriolet, upside down, its roof gone, and four young lives gone with it. Two 18-year-old West Potomac graduates and two George Mason University students were killed late Thursday when their car suddenly veered into the path of a tractor-trailer on a ramp from the Capital Beltway. A fifth teenager, a 17-year-old West Potomac student, was hospitalized after being cut out of the wreckage.

The four kids had just received their diplomas, had their entire lives ahead of him and with one foolish lapse of judgment, it was all over. More information about the crash is featured in another Washington Post story, also published today:

"She said, 'Grandpa, I'm going to sleep out tonight at a girlfriend's house.' . . . I said, 'Okay, Renee, have a good time.' " Her grandfather fell asleep in his chair, his habit when Renee was out late. Four hours later, police knocked on his door to tell him she had been killed in a car accident. Lydia M. Petkoff, 18, the friend she was going to spend the night with, had also died in the crash.

Learning Shakespeare through hip-hop

Alan Sitomer, a teacher in a rough area of Los Angeles, has a new approach to teaching the works of classic authors like Shakespeare,Emily Dickinson, or Rudyard Kipling.
Sitomer relates the works of these authors to works by hip hop artists, according to an article in School Library Journal:

Ask the teens in Sitomer's class if they’ve heard of Ludacris, Tupac, or Nas and you’ll get a resounding yes. Ask the same kids if they know the works of Dickinson, Kipling, or Keats, and you'll get the same answer. In fact, these teens are experts at analyzing the poetry of hip-hop and the world’s greatest writers—and they can identify the symbolism, imagery, and irony in both.

What's so special about that? These at-risk students attend a severely overcrowded, low-performing school in East Los Angeles that’s surrounded by what Sitomer describes as "gangs, guns, and drugs." Prostitutes work the streets just a half mile away from the school, and many kids can’t take the most direct route home because it would put them in danger. "We have students every year who are victims of gang beatings, stabbings, and shootings," Sitomer says.

Life at school is rough, too. There's a campus probation officer who tracks students wearing electronic ankle bracelets and a canine crew regularly sniffs students for drugs and gunpowder. Many of the students are in foster care or come from troubled homes, so it's not surprising that more than 45 percent drop out.

The article offers examples of Sitomer's teaching including this one:

Dressed in a pair of Sketchers, jeans, and a lavender button-down shirt, the 40-year-old Sitomer walks around his classroom, telling a bunch of 10th-graders about one of his favorite writers. "You gotta realize that Shakespeare was a really cool dude," says Sitomer, who's so laid back that he’s a pretty cool dude himself. "I mean, he put rhymes down on paper about the same stuff that Biggie, Tupac, and Ice Cube laid down some of their best tracks about."

Sitomer goes on to explain that Hamlet deals with the abuse of power, greed, and feelings of desperate isolation, exactly the same things Tupac sang about in his famous song "Me Against the World."

"See, that's why we study literature," Sitomer continues, adding that inside the works of great writers we find universal themes of humanity. The whole point? That great literature isn't just about the past, it's very much a part of our lives today.

"Is there anyone in this room who hasn't felt all alone?" he asks, knowing very well that most, if not all, of his students can relate. "And have you ever wondered if it's 'you against the world'? Have you ever thought about whether it's worth it to go on or, as the Great Bard put it, 'To be or not to be?'"

Students shake their heads in acknowledgement and Sitomer knows he has a captive audience that really gets what he's talking about. "When the bell rings and students are still talking about your lesson on their way out from class, that’s when you know you’ve hit it out of the park," he says with pride.

British parents want webcams in classrooms

How would you like for your parents to be able to see everything you do in the classroom?

Parents in Great Britain would like to have that option through the installation of webcams in classrooms, according to a survey. Surprisingly, it appears many of the parents don't want the system to observe student or teacher behavior, but to be able to watch the lessons and help their children with homework.

Libraries prepare for Harry Potter rush

You may only think of bookstores having to be prepared for the onslaught of readers waiting to get their hands on the final installment of author J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, but libraries are also getting ready, according to an article in today's Chicago Sun-Times.

Chicago public libraries have ordered 1,000 copies of the book, according to the article:

But don't count on being able to reserve a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in advance -- the city library system isn't allowing it.

"We believe that the first-come first-served system is the fairest way to go," said spokeswoman Maggie Killackey Jurgensen.

When the sixth book in the series came out, I decided to see how interested Joplin readers were. The Harry Potter party at Books-A-Million had the entire parking lot filled up, including spots that were not normally used for parking. I squeezed into what I believe was the final spot. It was refreshing to see young people so interested in reading.

Survey: Teens think schools are not safe

A nationwide survey indicates teens do not think schools are safe:

Students complained that metal detectors give the perception of safety without the actual protection. Reese, a recent graduate, said "a more concrete" system needs to replace Von Steuben High School's requirement that only every seventh student walk through detectors.

But the worst grade given, a "C-," reflected teens' perception of adults' ability to run the government.

Von Steuben graduate Lorell Pitts, 18, said most teens feel powerless because they can't vote, but still have to live with the decisions of those who can. He believes adults should show teens how to organize and speak out on issues.

"[Adults] need to recognize that they play a vital role in our lives," Pitts said.

Emmett Till play in National History Day finals

The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 is considered by some to be the event that sparked the Civil Rights Movement. Each year during the third quarter, students in my eighth grade communication arts classes do a research project on some aspect of the Civil Rights movement. Invariably, Emmett Till's murder is the topic chosen by many students.

Five Baytown, Texas students have written a play about Emmett Till that has enabled them to reach the finals of the annual National History Day competition:

The students said they identified with Till, a 14-year-old from Chicago who was visiting Mississippi when he was killed. His mother insisted on an open casket, and grisly photos of Till's face intensified the civil rights movement.

All in advanced classes, the students consulted books, the Internet and newspapers. They interviewed two of Till's cousins by phone.

The group decided to convey Till's story through two older women sitting on a veranda and reminiscing about the summer of 1955. The gray-haired ladies are played by Olivia Richard and Imani Lee, both 13.

DeMontrey Mitchell plays both Mose Wright, the uncle Emmett Till came south to visit, and the mortician who discusses the boy's body with his mother, Mamie Till. The experience has encouraged him, the 14-year-old said, "by knowing that I have done something good."

"What I do is actually show the bond that Mamie and Emmett Till had," said Khrystopher King, 12, who plays Emmett. He said the project "gave me an idea of how bad racism was back then and more about my black history."

Candice Archangel, 13, portrays Mrs. Till, "the love she had for Emmett" and her courage in insisting on an open casket at his funeral.

"She wanted the world to see what they did to her son," Candice said.

A tale of two justice systems

Antonio French, a St. Louis blogger, in a post today noted the difference between the way rich white socialite Paris Hilton was treated by our justice system, and the treatment received by Lavonda Kimble of St. Louis, who was young, black, poor, and because of the way she was treated by the judicial system, dead.

Mr. French wrote:

One woman — young, white and wealthy — is sentenced to serve 45 days in jail for probation violation. After serving only three days of her sentence, she complains about a tummy ache and is set free to serve the remainder of her sentence in her mansion.

Another woman — young, black and poor — is arrested for a traffic warrant and even after her boyfriend posts bond, she remains in jail. When she has an asthma attack in her cell, she receives substandard medical care and dies that night.

PARIS HILTON



Oh come on, you knew it was going to happen didn't you? You knew there was no way that poor li'l rich girl Paris Hilton was going to have to serve out her time in the slammer.
Barely five days after she arrived at the Los Angeles County jail, she's back in her By Sue Hutchison
Mercury News
San Jose Mercury News
Article Launched:06/07/2007 10:42:20 AM PDT Barbie Dream House for the remaining 40 days of her sentence, sporting an electronic monitoring bracelet (Gucci?). Reports are that she had some sort of medical condition which prompted her early release. At this point, it's anyone's guess what it is. Dandruff? An unattractive rash from the chafing of her prison-issue jumpsuit?

We know she didn't contract anything from her cell-mate because she didn't have one. The Associated Press reports that her jail accommodations were in the "special needs" division which is separate from the other un-pedicured miscreants. (Can you even imagine Paris' "special needs" in jail? Just the shampoos alone boggle the mind.)

Home-confinement chez Hilton is pretty plush punishment for violating probation, as Paris did when she was caught twice early this year boppin' around in her Bentley despite having had her license suspended for alcohol-fueled reckless driving. As her clubbin' buddy Britney would say, "Oops! I did it again!"

Considering all the other injustices and crises in the world such as, oh, the continued mayhem in Iraq, global warming and the alarming failure of so many of our public schools, it seems awfully frivolous to give a rat's posterior about the trials of an airhead celebutante. Why waste the energy?

Maybe it's because the Hilton-irritant seems like something that should be very manageable. She's a blond mosquito who so needs to be swatted. How many times have you seen that ridiculous commercial of her making love to a cheeseburger and thought, "Can't we at least throw this bimbo in jail?'`

Of course, there are legions of Paris' fans who think she's being treated unfairly. These are the same people she insulted on her Web site by posting a get-out-of-jail-free petition that claims her lasting gift to humanity is bringing glamour and excitement into their otherwise `mundane lives.'

I don't get it. My first reaction when I saw that petition was, "You know what would brighten up my mundane life? Send Paris to Gitmo!"

Yet, apparently, she got a gazillion signatures on that thing.

So, in a world turned upside down by celebrity obsession - and Paris is a celebrity mainly for being a beautiful, rich do-nothing - it makes twisted sense that she would get off with mansion-arrest.

There was one moment during this fiasco when our gal Paris had a chance to actually learn something and impart it to her fans. She showed promise when she was interviewed on the red carpet at the MTV awards, just before her incarceration, and said she was ready to be strong, do the right thing and serve her time like a good little inmate.

Now she's probably getting her electronic bracelet fitted with diamond studs while she has a margarita out on the sun deck.

Who knows, maybe she'll end up having Scooter Libby over for a pre-jail spa day, if he goes to jail at all. Paris can give him tips on how to avoid that sort of inconvenience.


LAVONDA KIMBLE

Barriers, blunders blamed in death
By Heather Ratcliffe
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Thursday, Jun. 07 2007

ST. LOUIS — A delay in letting paramedics into the city jail and "substandard"
emergency care by staff there may have doomed an inmate who suffered an asthma
attack, according to a blistering report by the fire department.

One of the paramedics who treated LaVonda Kimble early April 11 wrote of
commonly encountering delays and apathy on calls to the St. Louis Justice
Center, at 200 South Tucker Boulevard.

And autopsy findings obtained Wednesday showed no trace of the drug that jail
nurses said they repeatedly administered to ease Kimble's breathing.

The reports were obtained with a court order by John Wallach, a lawyer
representing Kimble's family in considering a wrongful death lawsuit. He shared
them Wednesday with the Post-Dispatch.

"People don't generally die of an asthma attack when they go to the hospital,"
Wallach said. "I fully believe our evidence will show if she was treated
properly, she would have been fine."

Sam Simon, the city director of public safety, pledged to learn more about what
happened, and about the medical care provided under contract for more than $5
million a year by Correctional Medical Services. The Creve Coeur-based private
company has come under heavy criticism in Missouri and elsewhere for years.

Kimble, 30, the single mother of a 12-year-old child, wasn't supposed to be in
jail in the first place.

Her boyfriend had posted bond for her about 6:30 p.m. on April 10 in Bel-Nor,
which had a traffic warrant against her. That was about four hours after her
arrest by St. Louis police. But a release order went to the wrong jail, a
mistake that wasn't corrected until she was already dying.

Kimble fell ill about 10:20 p.m. According to jail records, she received three
separate treatments of Albuterol, a medication to ease breathing, before she
collapsed at 1:25 a.m.

Firefighters from nearby Engine Co. 2 arrived at 1:40 a.m. and began CPR. Medic
5 was five minutes behind, but spent seven or eight minutes thereafter waiting
to get in, according to a report by fire department paramedic Chastity Girolami.

The delay was "detrimental to the patient's outcome," Girolami wrote.

She said firefighters told her they had arrived to find nurses trying to
perform CPR by compressing Kimble's stomach instead of her chest.

Girolami noted that when medics asked a nurse if she had used an automatic
defibrillator to try to restore Kimble's heartbeat, "She just looked at us and
asked what we were talking about."

The jail care was "substandard at best," Girolami wrote in her report.

She also wrote that a corrections officer distracted paramedics with questions
about their ID numbers while they struggled to save Kimble's life; the medics
twice asked jailers to back off.

"She kept persisting and finally my partner informed the staff that this
patient was in cardiac arrest and basically dying, and they would have to
wait," Girolami wrote. "The staff was surprised at this. They didn't know the
patient was in cardiac arrest."

Kimble was rushed to St. Louis University Hospital, where she died at 2:44 a.m.

"This experience at the Justice Center was by far my worst," Girolami wrote.

She complained, "Every time I've been to the Justice Center, it takes 10 to 15
minutes to even get to the patient. There is never anyone to guide us and never
any sense of urgency."

Her report was one of a variety of documents Kimble's family has gathered in
preparation of a wrongful-death lawsuit.

The autopsy report shows that corrections officials asked for and got a special
toxicology test for Albuterol, and that none was detected.

Wallach said the medical examiner plans to send samples to an outside
laboratory for further testing.

"If, in fact, she was not given Albuterol, then the official records are
false," the lawyer said, "If that's the case, LaVonda's civil rights were
blatantly violated and it led to her death."

An internal investigation concluded, "There was no evidence that the Division
of Corrections violated any policies or procedures."

But Simon, the public safety director, said Wednesday there will be an
investigation to reconcile reports from the fire department, corrections
department and medical examiner.

"We need to conclude our investigation and determine what happened," Simon
said. "What I know is these are just allegations at this point."

Ken Fields, spokesman for Correctional Medical Services, said he could not
comment on a specific patient.

However, he insisted that the jail's medical staff is trained to properly
administer life support techniques, including CPR and use of automated external
defibrillators.

"Our services and equipment are in keeping with the standards of care in the
community," Fields said. "All nurses at CMS are licensed by the appropriate
entity and are qualified to provide the care they are asked to provide."

More thoughts on the Galesburg, Ill. diploma controversy

A few days ago, a Room 210 Discussion post concerned the decision by Galesburg, Ill. High School officials to deprive several students of their diplomas because their friends and families made noise during the graduation ceremony.
Today, syndicated columnist Steve Chapman offers some provocative thinking on the situation:

If you go to a football game, a rock concert or a fraternity kegger, you will not be surprised to find people screaming, laughing, bumping chests, ringing cowbells, baying at the moon and generally shedding their inhibitions. If you attend a wedding ceremony, a funeral or a confirmation, however, you may expect those around you to comport themselves in a polite and restrained manner.

School commencement exercises used to fall into the latter category, but they have been moving -- make that descending -- toward the former. The question being addressed in Galesburg, Ill., is whether to surrender to that slide or try to reverse it. And I'm happy to report that school officials there not only favor reversal but have actually managed to bring it about.

Iraq vet forges relationship with Baghdad teen

Today's Washington Post features an inspiring story about a teacher who fought in Iraq and the relationship he has forged with an Iraqi teen:

(Felix)Herrera has served tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. His English for Speakers of Other Languages class, which a reporter observed over several months, has many teenagers who have arrived in Arlington County from homelands torn by civil strife or war.

In the class, they learn not only English, science and math but also deeper lessons about how to forge an identity and a future in an uncertain world. Ameer came to the United States after war blasted his life apart, and he found an unlikely mentor: a teacher who shared his story in more ways than one.

Herrera, 35, who started working at Wakefield last fall, does not hide his military service. The staff sergeant keeps his hair shorn to a tight fuzz. His classroom wall displays pictures of soldiers in camouflage, including himself, some holding semiautomatics.

His military background fascinates many students. But some seem troubled, too.

"Some of them make fun of me," he says. "Others want to know how come I made it back." Most common is: "Did you kill anybody?"

And sometimes: "Was it you who bombed my neighborhood?"

Illinois graduates denied diploma because family members celebrated

Talk about strict.
Five students at an Illinois high school did not receive their diplomas because their family and friends cheered when they walked across the stage, according to an Associated Press article:

"It was like one of the worst days of my life," said Caisha Gayles, who had a 3.4 grade-point average and officially graduated, but does not have the keepsake diploma to hang on her wall. "You walk across the stage and then you can't get your diploma because of other people cheering for you. It was devastating, actually."

School officials in Galesburg, a working-class town of 34,000 that is still reeling from the 2004 shutdown of a 1,600-employee refrigerator factory, said the get-tough policy followed a 2005 commencement where hoots, hollers and even air horns drowned out much of the ceremony and nearly touched off fights in the audience when the unruly were asked to quiet down.

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.

Campuses seeking better, quicker notification system

In the wake of this week's massacre at Virginia Tech, authorities are examining better ways to let students know when something has happened on campus:

"When you're in the middle of something, two hours is not very long. But when you're looking in, it does seem like a long time," says Mitchell Celaya, the assistant chief of campus police at the University of California, Berkeley.

At UC Berkeley, Celaya says an extreme emergency would warrant, among other things, a siren on an outdoor public address system, followed by an announcement with instructions.

Teens limiting personal information online

An article in the April 18 issue of USA Today, teens are limiting the information they reveal about themselves online:

Dashiell Feiler, a 16-year-old high school junior, said he keeps his profiles open, but uses at most his first name and last initial. He said people who find him tend to be friends anyway, but he left off his full name as a precaution.

"I just thought I didn't want anybody to figure out where I live," he said.

According to Pew, 45% of online teens do not have profiles at all, a figure that contradicts widespread perceptions that the nation's youths are continually on MySpace. Lenhart said younger teens, in particular, tend to stay away, some because they fail to meet a site's minimum age requirements.

Post-prom parties designed to promote safety

The latest fad is post-prom parties, a parent-generated concept to prevent tragedies from occurring to students left on their own after the annual proms.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch columnist Mandy St. Amand examines the trend:

Marketing experts get rich coming up with catch-phrases and slogans to get across a message. Culp, of the state police, said kids don't need a catchy slogan to understand that they shouldn't drink, and they certainly shouldn't drink and drive. As Culp put it: "They just need an adult to say, 'I love you and want you alive to live longer than me.'"

We can do that, can't we?

Judge violates student's right to post opinions on MySpace

A higher court has ruled that a judge was out of line when he placed a teenager on probation for writing obscene postings about the principal on MySpace:

The three-judge panel on Monday ordered the Putnam Circuit Court to set aside its penalty against the girl, referred to only as A.B. in court records.

"While we have little regard for A.B.'s use of vulgar epithets, we conclude that her overall message constitutes political speech," Judge Patricia Riley wrote in the 10-page opinion.

In February 2006, Greencastle Middle School Principal Shawn Gobert discovered a Web page on MySpace purportedly created by him. A.B., who did not create the page, made derogatory postings on it concerning the school's policy on body piercings.

The state filed a delinquency petition in March alleging that A.B.'s acts would have been harassment, identity deception and identity theft if committed by an adult. The juvenile court dropped most of the charges but in June found A.B. to be a delinquent child and placed her on nine months of probation. The judge ruled the comments were obscene.

Are year-round schools the answer?

"Do year-round schools enhance student learning, or are they a costly, hectic, and largely ineffective cure for the nation's educational ills?"
That's how an article in the latest edition of Education World begins. A reporter for the magazine talked with superintendents, teachers, principals, and others to get their views.
Check out the article, then post your own feelings about the subject.

Landmark free speech case set for Supreme Court

Students in my communication arts classes at South Middle School have discussed the famous Tinker vs. Board of Education case in which the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that students do not leave their free speech rights at the schoolhouse door.

That concept will be revisited by the high court (no pun intended) this summer when it hears the case of an Alaska student who was punished after displaying a pro-drug message at a school event, which was held off of the school campus:

Bong Hits for Jesus

That is the slogan that a defiant high school student named Joseph Frederick fashioned with a 14-foot piece of paper and a $3 roll of duct tape. His goal was partly to get on TV as the Olympic torch passed through his town of Juneau, Alaska, and mostly to get under the skin of his disciplinarian principal, Deborah Morse, with whom he had a running feud.

It worked, at least the irritating-the-principal part. Morse crossed Glacier Avenue to Frederick's position across from the school and confiscated the banner. She later suspended him for 10 days. Frederick, a high school rebel who at the time was fond of quoting Thoreau and Voltaire, said Morse tacked on the last five days when he paraphrased Thomas Jefferson's admonition that "speech limited is speech lost."

The American Civil Liberties Union is backing Frederick, while former Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr is among those backing the school district.

No grand jury indictment in Emmett Till case

Each year during third quarter, the students in my eighth grade communication arts classes do a major research project on some aspect of the civil rights movement. Some of them elect to research the Emmett Till case, in which a 14-year-old African American was brutally murdered after whistling at a white woman.

The two men who committed the murder were found not guilty at their trial, but admitted they did it a year later in an interview with Look magazine. For the past half-century, many have believed that the woman Till whistled at, Carolyn Bryant, pointed him out to the killers and was responsible for the death.

During the past three years, it has appeared Ms. Bryant might finally be brought to justice, but a decision issued Tuesday by a grand jury in Mississippi indicates that may never happen:

"This was our last hope — and it was dashed today," said Simeon Wright, 64, Till's cousin, who was with him at the grocery store and heard him whistle at Donham (Ms. Bryant remarried.). "The Emmett Till case started with one person, and that person is still alive. She played a role in identifying Emmett, she participated in his kidnapping, and now she is getting away with murder."

Some members of Emmett Till's family would prefer not to send Ms. Bryant to prison, but simply get her to tell the truth once and for all:

With the trail in the Till case as cold as ever, some of his family members say they would prefer truth more than payback. Marvel Parker, 60, of Summit, Ill., is the wife of Wheeler Parker, a cousin of Till's who was with him at the Mississippi store. He is now hospitalized after a stroke. His wife said they would prefer to see Carolyn Bryant Donham receive immunity in exchange for telling her story. "Mrs. Bryant is still alive, and her husband admitted that he did it," Marvel Parker said. "We don't want her to go to jail…. But you don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to know that she knows something."

Devil's Messenger on sale at Hastings in Joplin

As of approximately 5 p.m. today, my second novel Devil's Messenger is on sale at Hastings in Joplin. Five copies were put on the shelves at that time and more will arrive later as the time grows closer for the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, April 21, signing.

The book is on sale at three locations in Joplin- Hastings, the Changing Hands Book Shop and Always Buying Books. It is also available at Pat's Books in Carthage, and at the Lamar Democrat office in Lamar. More sites will be added in the near future, and more signings will be scheduled in late spring and during the summer.

The book also can be purchased directly from me. Send me an e-mail at rturner229@hotmail.com for more information. It is available from several internet outlets, including Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, BooksAMillion.com, and the publisher I-Universe.

The novel is a combination horror story/murder mystery about a teenage girl who communicates with her murdered father through Instant Messenger.

Congressman pushes to award Anne Frank honorary U. S. citizenship

Students throughout the world are aware of the story of Anne Frank, whose diary of her experiences hiding from the Nazis during the Holocaust has been a worldwide best seller for half a century.
A United States Congressman is attempting to make Miss Frank the seventh honorary citizen in the history of the United States, according to an article in today's New York Times.
Rep. Steve Israel notes that Otto Frank, Miss Frank's father, was trying desperately to get his family to the United States:

"The best way we can honor Anne Frank in death is to give her what her father sought for her in life," the congressman said. Seventeen House members from both parties have signed on as co-sponsors. It would make Anne Frank only the seventh person to be granted honorary citizenship in the history of the country. The others are Winston S. Churchill; the Marquis de Lafayette; Mother Teresa; the Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who worked to save Jews in World War II; William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania; and his wife Hannah Callowhill Penn.

Politicians looking at longer school days

American students may be in for longer school days sometime in the near future.
An Associated Press article indicates that some schools are considering 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. schedules or going more days during the year to catch up with other nations.

The article includes information that Congress, as it works on renewing the No Child Left Behind law, is seriously considering extending the school day and adding more days to help increase test scores.

School lockers are not big enough

With all of the backpacks, larger-than-life textbooks, and the other necessities of teen living, lockers are no longer big enough to serve today's students.
That issue is addressed in an article in today's Washington Post:

Lockers aren't getting smaller. Lockers are one of the few things that haven't changed much in the daily rounds of students. But bulky textbooks have spawned bulky backpacks, some of which, in turn, have taken the next evolutionary step and grown wheels.

Principal buys crack cocaine at school

How do these people get into education?

Associated Press reports a middle school principal in Tampa, Florida, bought crack cocaine from an undercover officer at the school while it was in session:

"It's a very disturbing case," Tampa Police Information Officer Laura McElroy said. "The officer expressed concern about doing the deal when school was in progress and [Giancola] said he could guarantee no students would be around and that was where he felt safe and secure." Additional officers posed as parents in the school lobby while the deal took place. McElroy said they made sure no students were nearby. Giancola, who lives in St. Petersburg, was charged with possession of cocaine and soliciting to purchase cocaine on school property, a felony that carries a minimum sentence of three years in prison, McElroy said.

Missouri MAP tests replaced by high-stakes senior final

Plagued for years by the problem of high school students who do not try on the MAP tests because their grades are not affected by them, the State Board of Education voted this week to head in a different direction.
The board authorized bids for high-stakes exit tests for seniors in algebra, English and biology for 2009:

While the details are to be worked out later, education staff proposed that students' performance on the new exams should count for at least 10 percent of their final grades, with districts able to give the tests more weight.

Judge dismisses MySpace lawsuit

A federal court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the family of a girl who was sexually assaulted by someone she met through MySpace:

In dismissing the suit, Judge Sparks said that as an "interactive service," MySpace was protected from materials posted on its site by the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of 1996. Sparks explained that the CDA is aimed at allowing Internet and other interactive services to continue to develop.

"To ensure that Web site operators and other interactive computer services would not be crippled by lawsuits arising out of third party communications, the Act provides interactive computer services with immunity," Sparks' ruling said.

Iowa bill tackles bullying problem

An anti-bullying law, with specific protection for gay students, has been adopted by the Iowa Legislature, according to an article in the Des Moines Register:

"A lot of people say it's just so gay kids get all these special rights, but it's not," said Tyler Mooers, 18, who revealed his sexual orientation in his sophomore year and was bullied enough that he sometimes wanted to skip school. "It's about protecting everybody."

Rep. Jodi Tymeson, a Republican from Winterset, doubted the legislation's effectiveness.

"It won't stop one kid from being bullied," she said.

Several Republicans unsuccessfully tried to strike the list of specific categories, arguing schools should simply protect "all students" without distinction.

"Why are the four-eyed, band-playing, choir-singing, too small to play high school athletics, why are those traits not worthy enough to make this list?" said Rep. Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City. "How does adding 'any' or 'all' diminish what you want to accomplish

?"

Some experts favor elimination of middle schools

With so many middle schools receiving failing marks, many experts are suggesting eliminating middle schools completely.
Some favor high schools for grades 6-12, while others favor extending the elementary school years from K-8.
The issue is explored in an article in today's New York Times.

The undermining of teachers

You need look no further than the reader response to the Joplin Globe internet story on Rep. B. J. Marsh's proposed legislation which would allow schools to waive making up five snow days to realize just how much success has been realized by those who have made it their mission to undermine public schools and public schoolteachers.
The comments are full of people belittling the work teachers do. You have those who claim teachers work one year, and then repeat their lesson plans year after year until they retire.
You have others who talk about how little work teachers do. After all, they have three months off in the summer, they don't work weekends, they get two weeks off for Christmas and a week for spring break, and they don't have to go to work when there's snow or ice on the roads.
At one time, teachers were among the most respected people in the community, and to some extent, that is still the case, but as the comments on the Globe website prove, years of undermining public schools and public schoolteachers are finally taking their toll.
So let's take a look at the truth about teachers:

Yes, there are a few who use the same lesson plans year after year, but those are the exception, not the rule. Most teachers look for ways to improve their lesson plans, trying new techniques, adding technology, or using the latest educational research to improve their results. During those three-month summer vacations, many teachers are attending seminars or taking classes aimed at improving themselves and therefore the quality of the instruction they offer to their students.

One thing the politicians' constant sniping at the "failures" of public schools (most of the schools are not failing, but you would never know that from listening to the rhetoric being offered by voucher supporters) has done is to give the impression that teachers are slackers who are living off the public trough. While there are teachers who fall short, the push for "qualified teachers" fails to take into account other factors that are playing much greater roles in the scores of students who are not making the grade, including:

-Students who come from broken homes, homes in which they are exposed to drug and alcohol abuse, and homes where the children are victims of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse.

-Students who come from homes where there are no books, only the ever-constant presence of television and the Internet.

-Politicians who demand that the schools handle all of society's ills, whether they be sex education, information on alcohol and drugs, personal finance information (which has become necessary thanks to politicians' coddling of those in the banking, credit card, and payday loan industries). Every time a politician adds something to the school's schedule, it takes away from the three R's that they say should be our focus.

-Fears that students, teachers, and administrators have each time they hear of another school shooting incident

-Students who simply do not care whether they learn

I am so tired of the argument that teachers knew how much money they were going to get paid so they have no business complaining about it. It is true to some extent; we do know we are not going to become wealthy from teaching, but at the same time, do we ever accept that type of talk when it comes to other public servants, such as police officers and firemen? Obviously, those are high risk, stressful occupations, but nearly every study of stressful occupations puts teaching right at or near the top. Teachers who care about the success of their students (and I have only met a handful who do not fit into that category) agonize over the ones who are failing, the ones who are having problems at home or at school, even the ones who seem to resist everything we try and have no interest whatsoever in school.

Most teachers are not 7:30 to 3 people who take off for home the second the last bell rings. Many teachers work with children after school, sponsor activities (some of which they are reimbursed for, but many of which they are not) and work on lesson plans and grading long after they have taught their final classes for the day. We do have 48-minute planning periods, but much of that time is devoted to dealing with parents and grading papers. I know of very few teachers who do not do a great deal of work at home. It's part of the job. For the most part, we don't go around talking about it, but with the constant belittling that seems to be the norm these days, somebody has to tell the story.

Most teachers are in the business because they truly love to work with children and help pave the road for their students' later success. As long as politicians and sensation-seeking media (i.e. John Stossel) take a handful of public school failures and make them appear to be commonplace instead of describing them accurately as the aberrations they truly are, we will continue to see the kind of anti-teacher sentiment that was expressed this week in the Joplin Globe.
As long as self-serving politicians are willing to take those rare failures and use them as an excuse to open the door for vouchers and tuition tax credits, we are in danger of putting a torch to American public schools, the most successful experiment in the history of education.
When that happens, you can forget about No Child Left Behind. The children left behind will number in the millions.

MySpace sued by families of abused girls

Associated Press reports the families of four teenage girls who were raped by adults they met on MySpace are suing the company:

"In our view, MySpace waited entirely too long to attempt to institute meaningful security measures that effectively increase the safety of their underage users," said Jason A. Itkin, an Arnold & Itkin lawyer. The families are seeking monetary damages “in the millions of dollars,” Itkin said. "Hopefully these lawsuits can spur MySpace into action and prevent this from happening to another child somewhere," he said.

While I am all for anything that would keep children from becoming the victims of sexual predators online, shouldn't these parents have had a better idea of what their daughters were doing? And most teenagers are smart enough not to arrange personal meetings with people they talk to online?

Lindsay Lohan checks into rehab

Just because you're not old enough to legally drink does not mean you are not old enough to have a drinking problem.
Actress Lindsay Lohan, who has practically grown up onscreen, checked herself into rehab this week, but things are looking up. She says she has not had a drink in more than seven days:

Lohan told People magazine then that she had been going to (Alcoholics Anonymous) meetings for a year.
"I haven't had a drink in seven days. Or anything," she said to People. "I'm not even legal to, so why would I? I don't drink when I go to clubs. I drink with my friends at home, but there's no need to. I feel better not drinking. It's more fun. I have Red Bull."

MySpace to offer parental notification

Parents who are concerned about what their children are doing on MySpace will soon have a way of at least partially finding out.
MySpace plans to offer a parental notification option, according to an article in today's eSchool News:

The software, named "Zephyr," will enable parents to find out the identification information such as name, age, and location that their children use on the site. The software will not allow parents to read eMail or their children's profile pages. In addition, the system will alert the children that their information was being shared.

Curfews effect on crime questioned

Many communities have curfews in place to keep teens off the streets and out of trouble, but do they succeed in accomplishing that goal?
An article in today's Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian questions the tactic:

Many teenagers chafe under the restrictions of the curfew. Some enjoying Monday's holiday at West Park Mall said they don't like the laws.

"I think it should be extended," said Mike Sturgeon, 13, a student at Central Junior High School.

Brittney Choate, 13, also of Central Junior High, agreed. "Yeah, we spend so much time at school and on the weekends we really don't get much more time," she said. "At school they're always telling us to do work, so we should be able to spend our free time how we want to."

Teens mostly rejected the idea that curfew laws decrease crime.

"If they're going to do it, they're going to find time to do it, whether there's a curfew or not," said Macayla Hopple, 13.

New book questions value of homework

A newly-published book, The Homework Myth: Why Children Get Too Much of a Bad Thing by Alfie Kohn questions the value and even the existence of homework:

Kohn notes that current research shows homework provides no benefits to younger children, may not even help older children, and in contrast to popular belief, does not reinforce what students learn in school. Rather than automatically assign homework, Kohn argues, teachers only should give homework when it is truly necessary, and when assignments can be crafted to meet different students’ needs. Spending less time on homework, according to Kohn, gives children more time to learn outside of school.

Rosdy middle schoolers cause problems at library

Rowdy middle school students are creating problems at a New Jersey library, according to an article in today's New York Times:

Every afternoon at Maplewood Middle School’s final bell, dozens of students pour across Baker Street to the public library. Some study quietly. Others, library officials say, fight, urinate on the bathroom floor, scrawl graffiti on the walls, talk back to librarians or refuse to leave when asked. One recently threatened to burn down the branch library. Librarians call the police, sometimes twice a day.

More teenagers using online diaries

The blogging revolution continues for teens, according to an article in today's Washington Post.

Of course, it is hard to know how many of these diary entries represent truth as the writers see it, fantasy or something in between. Regardless, young diarists say the journals connect them to a broader community, help them navigate the complexities of friendship and romance and allow them to vent.

Editorial: Schools should teach MySpace, not ban it

Earlier this year, the House voted 410 to 15 to ban MySpace and other social networking and blogging sites from schools and libraries. The issue is awaiting a vote in the Senate.
An editorial in today's Boston Globe suggests that schools should be allowed to teach how to use this important technology instead of taking this head-in-the-sand approach.

School a danger zone in Iraq

While I would never belittle the problems faced by students in the United States, a Los Angeles Times article makes it clear that Iraqi students have far more to worry about including kidnappings and murder:

But today, across the country, campuses are being shuttered, students and teachers driven from their classrooms and parents left to worry that a generation of traumatized children will go without education. Teachers tell of students kidnapped on their way to school, mortar rounds landing on or near campuses and educators shot in front of children.

Study examiines internet addiction

A new study examines internet addiction among teens, according to an article in today's New York Daily News:

"It's like a giant slot machine," says clinical psychologist David Greenfield, director of the Center for Internet Behavior and author of "Virtual Addiction" (New Harbinger, 1999). "You have stimulating and potent information and content, and then you have it offered in a way that has no boundaries, no beginning and no end." He says that's also the reason people check their E-mail so often: "There's an unpredictability, and you never know what you're going to get, how good it's going to be and when you're going to get it."

The problem with students who pass classes, but fail standardized tests

In today's "the test is everything" society, students who work diligently to make good grades, but do not necessarily do as well on standardized tests are being left behind.
An article in today's Washington Post examines this growing problem:

Supporters of the federal law (No Child Left Behind) say standardized exams are the best way to raise academic standards and the only way to hold schools accountable for results. Critics complain that time spent on test preparation saps classroom creativity and that test scores are just one indicator among many of student achievement.

Exhibit pays tribute to marching bands

A new exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum pays tribute to marching bands. The article in today's Washington Post includes this quote:

"Kids busy with bands don't have time to get into trouble if they are sincere and dedicated to the program," says Gwendolyn Hankerson, who taught at H.D. Woodson High School, one of the programs that still exist in the city. "Our kids met five days a week at 8 o'clock; and four days a week, we had 3:15 practice. They had 15 minutes to finish school and get to practice. We had summer practices and performances on weekends. For some kids, we were their life. They wouldn't even want to go home after practice. They would always be in the school."

Devil's Messenger website created

The official publication of my second novel, Devil's Messenger, is only a few days away. It's an exciting time for me, especially since this book does not include any preaching on the state of the present-day news media (for the time being, I will limit that to this blog).
A link to the book's website, which I have spent the last several hours working on, is being added to the links bar on the right hand side of this page. The website features a plot summary. a larger version of the book's cover, an about the author page, links to the IUniverse Devil's Messenger page, and to the novel's first chapter. More links will be added, as the novel becomes unavailable at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and other websites. It can be pre-ordered now from IUniverse.

Devil's Messenger is about as far from Small Town News as you can get. This is not another novel about the media, but a combination horror story and murder mystery. This is the description of the novel from its back cover (which also features a photo of me, an entirely different sort of horror story):

On one hot August night, 15-year-old Cassandra Harper's life is shattered. First, she becomes a victim of date rape, then the body of her beloved father, Richard Harper, is found slumped over the computer he gave Cassandra for her 15th birthday. From that point on, Cassandra withdraws from the world, reserving her communications to her anonymously-written blog…and to instant messenger conversations with her dead father. Devil's Messenger, a combination horror story and murder mystery, is the story of how Cassandra battles from the brink of despair to reclaim her life, and her evil father who attempts to continue his reign of terror from beyond the grave. Adding to the mix is Richard Harper's murderer, who is manipulating Cassandra's family and everyone else in the small community of Westport seeking the hidden fortune that Harper left behind. Devil's Messenger is a roller-coaster ride of terror from beginning to end.

Joplin man sues MySpace

Details are sketchy, but a Joplin man is suing MySpace.com, claiming the company's decision to delete two of his profiles amounts to depriving him of his freedom of speech.
In his lawsuit, filed today in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, Brian Mora, 35, says he had profiles deleted on Oct. 5 and Nov. 1 "because an administrator for the respondent simply disliked something displayed on the petitioner's profile, citing a fraudulent reason and calling it 'a violation of terms of service.' "
The petition says MySpace has "abusively attacked the petitioner for displaying and exercising protected freedom of speech and freedom of expression" and won't talk with him about the problem in person.
Mora's lawsuit does not give specific details of what was on the deleted profiles but he asks the court to stop MySpace from interfering with his:

-Support of specific political candidates
-Support of specific causes and organizations
-Support of specific individuals and their professional and humanitarian efforts.
Mora is representing himself.

Article examines bullying problem

Some of the major problems facing teachers and school administrators concerning bullying are spelled out in an article posted on the Joplin Daily website.
Daily reporter Michelle Pippin interviewed the mother of the Memorial Middle School shooter, who paints a portrait of a pattern of a bullying that led to the incident:

"He came home once limping; he had been kicked by an older kid in the halls," she recalled. "He came home once with a huge welt on his head from someone slamming his locker door on his head when they passed him in the hall. His hand was injured once too. He did suffer from bullying. He would come home crying, begging us not to send him back to school."

The article make some strong points about bullying. It's there and it is not easy to deal with. School officials make every effort to deal with it, but principals and teachers are outnumbered and bullies are usually good at knowing how to hide their activities and which students are never going to say a word about them.

Of course, I note that the parents who talked to the Daily article never actually talked to school administrators about the problem, which would seem to have been the natural, logical step.

I am not native enough to think that things are perfect at South Middle School. Bullying incidents do take place, but we do our best to catch them and stop them as quickly as possible. Still, we do miss a few. We work to cut down on the number of problems by having teachers in the hallways between class periods and by having them all over the place before and after school. While it is impossible to catch everything that happens, we do manage to stop a number of potential problems before they begin just by our presence.

It just amazes me that with the amount of education students receive about the negative effects of bullying, and the publicity that the recent wave of school shootings generated, that we still see bullying. What in the world is it going to take to get through to these kids that their behaviors could have deadly consequences?

Survey paints bad view of today's teens

More than 80 percent of teens admit lying to their parents about something, and more than 60 percent admit to having cheated on tests, according to an article in today's Washington Post. Those who have taken my communication arts classes at South Middle School will recall the time I told the story of my speech at the Lamar Middle School Academic Assembly in the late 1980s.
I praised the seventh and eighth graders who were being awarded for making top grades for the entire school year, and noted that they did things the right way- they didn't cheat to receive their honors.
Then I told the story of someone who did. When I was a freshman at East Newton High School, I was not doing well at physical science to put it mildly and a major test was coming up.
Though I tried to study, I could not understand the material, so finally I decided to try something different, something I had never tried up to that point. The physical science class was seventh hour and I had a study hall in the cafeteria sixth hour. After spending a few minutes making a futile effort to understand my notes and the material from the textbook, I devised a plan. I began writing a few notes on the bottom of my shoe.
It occurred to me that when I walked to my next class, the notes might be erased, so I tested it by asking the teacher if I could get a drink. I walked in a normal fashion down the hallway and when I looked the notes were still there. Phase one was successful. Since I only had a couple of lines written, I figured I should see if the notes could be removed by rubbing vigorously against the floor just in case the teacher were to catch on. I tried it and the notes were gone.
When I returned to the cafeteria where the study hall was held, I furiously scribbled notes on the bottom of both shoes. Since the teacher had indicated we would have to be able to draw a diagram of a steam engine, I turned to the page in the book with such a diagram, pulled up my pants leg and drew it on my leg. I was ready for the test.
The bell rang and I bopped down to the science classroom, confident I was going to ace the test. Of course, that was not the way things worked out. Not one thing that I had on the bottom of my shoes was on the test and instead of drawing a diagram of a steam engine, Mr. Keith had us draw a picture of a turbine engine.
I flunked miserably.
After I related that story to the Lamar Middle School students, I noted that it proved once and for all that cheaters do not prosper. I felt pretty good about that speech, especially when an eighth grader approached me while I was covering a track meet at the high school later that week.
"Mr. Turner," he said, "Your speech meant a lot to me."
Beaming, I replied, "Thank you, that's always nice to hear."
"We had a test today and I put the answers on the bottom of my shoes and I didn't miss a one."

To combat crime, San Francisco will enforce teen curfew

Naming a growing crime problem as the cause, San Francisco police will start enforcing teen curfew laws.

Arguments against homework growing

Homework has been a part of American schools for as long as they have existed, but arguments against it are growing, according to a Washington Post article.

Athletes now taunting each other on-line

It's another one of those problems schools did not have just a few years ago.
Massachusetts school officials are concerned because athletes from rival schools are trash talking each other on-line.

List of school supplies continues to grow

There was a time when all parents had to buy to prepare for the school year was clothes, pencils and paper.
The list now includes everything from glue sticks to disposable cameras, according to an article in today's Washington Post.

White school bus driver suspended for putting black students at the back of the bus

Each year in third quarter in communication arts in Room 210 we research the American civil rights movement, including such important developments as the Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Freedom Riders.
One event many have researched is the Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and started by Rosa Parks' refusal to move to the back of a bus.
Apparently, the kind of racism that required Mrs. Parks to give up her seat at the front of a bus to an able-bodied white male still exists. Associated Press reports a white school bus driver ordered nine African American students to move to the back of the bus:

One of her children, Jarvonica Williams, 16, said the bus driver allowed many white students to have seats all to themselves while some blacks were forced to stand or sit in others' laps.

Iva Richmond, whose 14- and 15-year-old children were on the bus, said Thursday that they previously had a black bus driver, but their bus assignment changed this year. When school started this month, the white driver told them she had assigned them seats, with the black children at the back of the bus.

(Photo information: Janice Williams, left, was one of the mothers who complained to school leaders about the bus driver. Photo by Associated Press)

New driving restrictions for teens become law in Missouri

More restrictions for teen drivers go into effect Monday, Aug. 28:

Starting today, for the first six months a teen has an intermediate license they may carry no more than one passenger younger than 19 who is not a member of their immediate family. After the first six months, the maximum number allowed increases to three.

Website allows students to rate teachers

Teachers are not going to be happy about this, but a website, ratemyteachers.com, allows students to rate their teachers.
According to an article in today's Houston Chronicle, many students are finding out about their new teachers by going online.

Hoodies banned in Boston schools

Saying that they hide the faces of those who wear them, Boston-area schools have banned hoodies.

Students return to school with more gadgets than ever

Laptops, calculators, you name it, students are carrying it back to school as the 2006-2007 school year begins. For more, check out the New York Times article below:

Back to School, With Cellphone and Laptop
By JEFFREY SELINGO
It used to be that getting ready for another school year meant buying a few new No. 2 pencils, spiral notebooks and a lunchbox. Not anymore. Young children and teenagers, as well as college students, are going to school with more electronic gadgets than ever.

“Tech-based products are so much less expensive that the price point now allows kids to nag their parents to buy a particular product or buy one themselves,” said Peter Grunwald, president of Grunwald Associates, a consulting firm in Bethesda, Md., focusing on school technology.

As a result, the back-to-school season is one of the busiest for electronic retailers like Circuit City or Best Buy, rivaling only Christmas. “Purchases are more necessity-based at this time of year,” said Stephanie Gooch, product process manager for Best Buy. At Christmas, purchases “tend to be more gaming, entertainment-based,” she said.

Another change is that the newest tech devices are not aimed at just older students anymore. While laptops are still most useful for those going off to college, Mr. Grunwald says that as prices drop on a wide variety of products once meant for an older crowd, younger students start using them as well. “Kids are aging up,” he said.

Elementary/Middle School

Preteenagers are increasingly asking for cellphones of their own. While cellphones give parents a sense of security and help them keep track of their children’s busy lives, adults often resist buying them, concerned that younger children will use them as their older siblings do: to talk to friends, send text messages and play games.

The LG Migo VX1000 from Verizon Wireless ($49.99 with a two-year contract) addresses most of those worries. It is a child-friendly, simple phone: no text messaging, no games and no camera. It is also very small and light, well suited for child-size hands. The Migo has only four numbered buttons, which can dial four preprogrammed phone numbers. Those numbers cannot be changed without a password. To place a call, the child simply presses one of the numbered keys and the talk button. In the middle of the phone pad is a large key for emergency calls.

One Migo feature attractive to parents is the Chaperone service offered by Verizon Wireless ($9.99 a month extra). Using the phone’s Global Positioning System receiver, parents can keep track of their children through a Web site or on their own Verizon phones. For an additional $10 charge, the Chaperone service comes with a feature called Child Zone, which notifies parents when a child arrives in or leaves the vicinity of a specified location, like school or a playground.

Catherine Poling, the assistant principal at Kemptown Elementary School, near Frederick, Md., suggests that students also get a flash drive for portable storage of their computer files. “With the volume of files that students work on, including video and images, it would be helpful if they all had a mass storage device to transport files between home and school,” Ms. Poling said. One inexpensive option is the 512-megabyte Lexar JumpDrive FireFly ($29.99).

High School

The Hewlett-Packard 39gs graphing calculator, which is to go on sale this fall ($79.99), is likely to appeal to image-conscious teenagers with its sleek silver-and-gray design. The calculator offers an infrared option to share data with other H.P. devices, a U.S.B. port to download files to a computer, and a double screen that allows users to see two sets of information at the same time.

Teenagers were among the early adopters of cellphone cameras. Now they have the option of using a better camera — cellphone not included — to take photos and share them quickly with their friends: the Nikon CoolPix P1 ($549.95 suggested retail price, but much lower prices can be found online). It has Wi-Fi capability, allowing users to transmit high-quality photos through a wireless network. That means users need to be within range of a wireless hot spot, which is not as easy — at least not yet — as snapping a photo on a cellphone and sending it to a friend. It also takes some time to set up the wireless connection, because the device is not able to join a network automatically, as laptops can.

Of course, photos can still be shared the old-fashioned way — through prints. An all-out price war among retailers and online companies on photo printing has meant that fewer people have favored doing it themselves at home in recent years. But high school students typically like to fiddle with the look of their photos before printing them.

The Hewlett-Packard Photosmart 3310 All-in-One Printer ($349.99 after rebate) not only allows users to manipulate images, but also lets them play digital video clips on the printer’s image display, freeze a favorite scene and print it. Like many other H.P. printers, the model contains six separate ink cartridges, which saves replacing a single color cartridge regularly.

College

“You can’t go to college without a computer, and anymore that means a laptop,” said Ms. Gooch, the Best Buy manager.

Among the popular options this year are laptops that flip around to turn into tablet PC’s, like the Gateway CX210X convertible notebook ($1,299). The stylus that comes with the laptop can be used like a pen. For those unfamiliar with tablet PC’s it can take a little time to become comfortable with the smooth display, however, and the screen is sometimes difficult to see under certain lighting conditions. But the laptop could prove to be a big timesaver for students putting together study guides. For example, students could download a professor’s lecture notes to the laptop, write their own notes in the margins using the tablet PC, then print out a set to study.

For the Apple crowd, all MacBook models (starting at $1,099) feature not only a 13-inch wide-screen display, but also a built-in iSight camera for video chats over the Internet. By simply starting the iChat software and clicking on an icon to turn on iSight, homesick college freshmen can see and talk with relatives and friends anywhere who either have the same software or AOL Instant Messenger. The best part for cash-starved college students is that iSight is free with a broadband Internet connection.

Mr. Grunwald, the education consultant, also suggests that college students going off to a new campus — and a new city — might find a portable Global Positioning System device useful. Several manufacturers make the devices for mounting on the dashboard of a car, but add-ons to hand-helds are the best bet for college students, Mr. Grunwald says, since many students may already have the devices.

Earthcomber offers free, downloadable maps and directories on the Internet at www.earthcomber.com. For users with a G.P.S. unit, Earthcomber provides maps and other information. Those without a G.P.S. must tell the hand-held device where they are located. The Web site provides access to a range of information based on location: about movie showtimes, bars, teller machines, Wi-Fi hot spots, restaurants, live music and more. Free maps are also available for every city and county in the United States.

With cellphones nearly everywhere on college campuses, several mobile providers have services that provide most of the features of a navigation system. Cingular, for instance, offers access to Mapquest for data-enabled phones (normal data charges apply).

While some high school students are accustomed to having their own rooms at home, as freshmen in college they often have roommates in tight quarters. To save on space with all the electronics that students bring with them these days, Ms. Gooch at Best Buy recommends the Insignia combination TV/computer monitor ($320). The 15-inch television is handy for small spaces because it also has a built-in PC input that lets users connect a computer.

Back-to-school spending on the increase

Back to school spending continues to increase, according to an article from the National Retail Federation. It's not like the old days, however. Nowadays, lists don't just include clothing, but everything from graphic calculators to chalk.

CDC study shows fewer students are having sex

A study released Thursday by the Center of Disease Control shows fewer American high school students are having sex.

Study says teens who listen to raunchy music have sex sooner

Teens whose I-Pods feature songs with raunchy lyrics start having sex sooner, according to a newly-released study.