Unsuccessful cheerleader candidate sues school

A Victoria, Texas, teenager who failed to make the junior varsity high school cheerleading squad is suing the school:

Incoming freshman Wycoda Fischer was cut after tryouts were held for six positions on the squad. Seven girls tried out. The family contends that because an exception was made for the varsity cheer squad, nine girls were allowed on instead of the eight called for in the high school's cheerleader constitution, that an exception should also be made for allowing Wycoda on the squad. The high school principal and cheerleading sponsor approved the expanded JV squad, but superintendent Deborah Kneese ordered tryouts.

The Fischers, Billy and Wysenda, took their grievance to the school board on Monday, but the board upheld the superintendent's decision with a 5-1-1 vote.

According to testimony during the grievance hearing, the varsity was expanded to nine members because the sponsor made a mistake and told eight of the cheer candidates they had made the squad and there would be no tryouts, because it was believed the ninth candidate had withdrawn. She had not, and was allowed on the squad.

Kneese told the school board, "There was an error with regard to the varsity cheerleading tryouts. The decision was made to allow nine cheerleaders on the squad despite the provision in the constitution. The district was not going to penalize the student for its own error. No such mistake was made during the JV

tryouts. The mistake concerning the varsity squad has no bearing on the JV squad."

The threat to students' liberty

New York schools are coming under fire for violations of students' Constitutional rights as they increase security, according to a column by writer Nat Hentoff:

One of the many stories in the report concerns Wadleigh, a Manhattan public high school, where "every student, in order to enter the building [as at other schools], was required to walk through the metal detectors [and be searched]."

Over an eight-month period last year, police confiscated more than 17,000 items at numerous schools, but only a tiny number could be considered weapons, and none were firearms. The vast majority "were cell phones, iPods, food, school supplies." A young girl with a pacemaker at Wadleigh said that she needed her cell phone in case of a medical emergency, but the phone was seized nonetheless.

Survey: Bullying occurs more often offline

A Pew survey indicates that while one-third of teenagers indicate they have been bullied online, more than double that total say more bullying and harassment take place offline.

L. A. Times column takes issue with Supreme Court ruling

The backlash from Monday's U. S. Supreme Court ruling against the student who held the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" sign continues in a column in today's Los Angeles Times:

For the last decade, I've taught a history course with that title at New York University. My students and I examine the different purposes that Americans have assigned to public schools, including:

A. to teach the great humanistic traditions of the West;

B. to develop the individual interests of the child;

C. to promote social justice;

D. to prepare efficient workers.

Over the last four centuries, Americans have struggled to balance these goals — and many others — in their schools. To Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, however, there's only one right answer:

E. to instill discipline and obedience

That's what Thomas wrote this week in his strange concurring opinion in Morse vs. Frederick, better known as the "BONG HiTS 4 JESUS" case. A banner with those words was unfurled by senior Joseph Frederick outside his Alaska high school, and he was suspended.

Ruling 5 to 4 in favor of the principal who censored the banner, the court decided that the school's interest in discouraging drug use outweighed the student's free-speech rights. But Thomas went further, insisting that the student had no right to free speech in the first place and that the history of American education proves it.

He's wrong. Simply put, the accurate history in Thomas' opinion is not relevant. And the relevant history that he recounts is not accurate.

Let's start with what he got right. As he correctly asserts, America's first schools primarily promoted discipline. "Early public schools were not places for freewheeling debates or exploration of competing ideas," Thomas wrote. The mostly male teaching force in the early 1800s brooked little or no dissent, often whipping children who challenged adult authority.

True enough. But so what? Here's the part that Thomas leaves out. From the very birth of the common school system in the 1830s, the strict discipline that he celebrates came under fire from a host of different Americans. The most prominent champion of common schools, Horace Mann, warned teachers against excessive force and the suppression of students' natural inclinations.

That's one reason Mann and his generation backed the hiring of female teachers, who were seen as more kind, tolerant and nurturing. (The other reason was that schools could pay them less.) By 1900, roughly three-quarters of American teachers were women.

The early 20th century would bring another burst of change to American schools, centered on the question of democracy. To reformers like John Dewey, schools based on strict discipline — and its pedagogical companion, rote memorization — could never give citizens the skills they needed to govern themselves. Instead of fostering mindless obedience, then, schools needed to teach children how to make up their own minds — that is, how to reason, deliberate and rule on complex political questions.

To be sure, plenty of Americans still wanted teachers to bring the kids to heel. And it's fair to ask whether schools today promote the kind of inquiry that Dewey envisioned.

The point is not that Dewey was "right" or that everyone agreed with him. Rather, history teaches us that Americans have always disagreed on the proper goal for schools.

Post editorial: Supreme Court was wrong in bong hits decision

A decision handed down by the U. S. Supreme Court Monday limiting freedom of speech for students was wrong, according to an editorial in today's Washington Post:

Issues of drug use and drug policy are matters of serious contention. High school students must be able to debate them frankly -- and that might even involve students taking the position that bong hits are not that bad.

School apologizes for removing gay kiss from yearbook

Under the category of how times are changing, officials at a Newark, N. J. school have apologized to a high school student for removing a picture of him kissing another male student:

Andre Jackson, the student, said he was disappointed that the superintendent had not delivered the apology face-to-face and in public. Because of that, he said he didn't accept it as sincere.

"I would accept an apology -- a public apology," said Jackson, 18.

The school not only apologized, but said it would pay for providing copies of the yearbook with the photo to any student who asked for one.

Maryland students use candid Facebook photos to fill out yearbook

Some students at a high school in Bethesda, Md., thought their privacy had been invaded by the yearbook staff when it used photos from their Facebook sites to fill up the yearbook:

In addition to the usual images of blurry hallway traffic, lockers and teens slumped at desks, this year's Walter Johnson Windup included scenes of student life clearly not intended for the yearbook: impromptu snapshots at house parties and random weekend gatherings; portraits taken at arm's length on cellphones; and at least one image of students at what looks like a tailgate party, drinking from telltale red plastic cups.

One student, venting in the school newspaper, said seeing her Facebook pictures in the yearbook was "kind of stalker-y."

More information on Supreme Court student speech decision

School administrators are pleased with the decision handed down by the U. S. Supreme Court Monday limiting students' First Amendment rights, but the decision did not go as far as some of the administrators and the Bush Administration would have liked, according to an article in today's Washington Post:

Still, the court did not accept the broadest claims of Juneau school officials and some of their supporters, including the Bush administration, who had urged the justices to empower schools to restrict messages contrary to their "educational mission."

Two members of the majority, Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Anthony M. Kennedy, made it clear that they gave Roberts the fourth and fifth votes he needed on the understanding that yesterday's ruling applied only to advocacy of illegal drug use.

In a concurring opinion joined by Kennedy, Alito wrote that yesterday's ruling "provides no support for any restriction of speech that can plausibly be interpreted as commenting on any political or social issue," including student opposition to the drug laws themselves.

U. S. Supreme Court limits students' free speech

Students in my eighth grade communication arts class last year discussed the U. S. Supreme Court involving an Alaskan student who carried a sign that said, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as the Olympic Torch was making its way through Juneau.

Today, the Court ruled that the student, Joseph Frederick, did not have his First Amendment rights violated when he was suspended from school for the incident. This is the Supreme Court decision:

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
MORSE et al. v. FREDERICK

certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the ninth circuit

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

No. 06–278. Argued March 19, 2007—Decided June 25, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

At a school-sanctioned and school-supervised event, petitioner Morse, the high school principal, saw students unfurl a banner stating “BONG HiTS 4 JESUS,” which she regarded as promoting illegal drug use. Consistent with established school policy prohibiting such messages at school events, Morse directed the students to take down the banner. When one of the students who had brought the banner to the event—respondent Frederick—refused, Morse confiscated the banner and later suspended him. The school superintendent upheld the suspension, explaining, inter alia, that Frederick was disciplined because his banner appeared to advocate illegal drug use in violation of school policy. Petitioner school board also upheld the suspension. Frederick filed suit under 42 U. S. C. §1983, alleging that the school board and Morse had violated his First Amendment rights. The District Court granted petitioners summary judgment, ruling that they were entitled to qualified immunity and that they had not infringed Frederick’s speech rights. The Ninth Circuit reversed. Accepting that Frederick acted during a school-authorized activity and that the banner expressed a positive sentiment about marijuana use, the court nonetheless found a First Amendment violation because the school punished Frederick without demonstrating that his speech threatened substantial disruption. It also concluded that Morse was not entitled to qualified immunity because Frederick’s right to display the banner was so clearly established that a reasonable principal in Morse’s position would have understood that her actions were unconstitutional.

Held: Because schools may take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can reasonably be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use, the school officials in this case did not violate the First Amendment by confiscating the pro-drug banner and suspending Frederick. Pp. 5–15.

(a) Frederick’s argument that this is not a school speech case is rejected. The event in question occurred during normal school hours and was sanctioned by Morse as an approved social event at which the district’s student-conduct rules expressly applied. Teachers and administrators were among the students and were charged with supervising them. Frederick stood among other students across the street from the school and directed his banner toward the school, making it plainly visible to most students. Under these circumstances, Frederick cannot claim he was not at school. Pp. 5–6.

(b) The Court agrees with Morse that those who viewed the banner would interpret it as advocating or promoting illegal drug use, in violation of school policy. At least two interpretations of the banner’s words—that they constitute an imperative encouraging viewers to smoke marijuana or, alternatively, that they celebrate drug use—demonstrate that the sign promoted such use. This pro-drug interpretation gains further plausibility from the paucity of alternative meanings the banner might bear. Pp. 6–8.

(c) A principal may, consistent with the First Amendment , restrict student speech at a school event, when that speech is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use. In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist., 393 U. S. 503 , the Court declared, in holding that a policy prohibiting high school students from wearing antiwar armbands violated the First Amendment , id., at 504, that student expression may not be suppressed unless school officials reasonably conclude that it will “materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school,” id., at 513. The Court in Bethel School Dist. No. 403 v. Fraser, 478 U. S. 675 , however, upheld the suspension of a student who delivered a high school assembly speech employing “an elaborate, graphic, and explicit sexual metaphor,” id., at 678. Analyzing the case under Tinker, the lower courts had found no disruption, and therefore no basis for discipline. 478 U. S., at 679–680. This Court reversed, holding that the school was “within its permissible authority in imposing sanctions … in response to [the student’s] offensively lewd and indecent speech.” Id., at 685. Two basic principles may be distilled from Fraser. First, it demonstrates that “the constitutional rights of students in public school are not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings.” Id., at 682. Had Fraser delivered the same speech in a public forum outside the school context, he would have been protected. See, id., at 682–683. In school, however, his First Amendment rights were circumscribed “in light of the special characteristics of the school environment.” Tinker, supra, at 506. Second, Fraser established that Tinker’s mode of analysis is not absolute, since the Fraser Court did not conduct the “substantial disruption” analysis. Subsequently, the Court has held in the Fourth Amendment context that “while children assuredly do not ‘shed their constitutional rights … at the schoolhouse gate,’ … the nature of those rights is what is appropriate for children in school,” Vernonia School Dist. 47J v. Acton, 515 U. S. 646 , and has recognized that deterring drug use by schoolchildren is an “important—indeed, perhaps compelling” interest, id., at 661. Drug abuse by the Nation’s youth is a serious problem. For example, Congress has declared that part of a school’s job is educating students about the dangers of drug abuse, see, e.g., the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1994, and petitioners and many other schools have adopted policies aimed at implementing this message. Student speech celebrating illegal drug use at a school event, in the presence of school administrators and teachers, poses a particular challenge for school officials working to protect those entrusted to their care. The “special characteristics of the school environment,” Tinker, 393 U. S., at 506, and the governmental interest in stopping student drug abuse allow schools to restrict student expression that they reasonably regard as promoting such abuse. Id., at 508, 509, distinguished. Pp. 8–15.

439 F. 3d 1114, reversed and remanded.

Roberts, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito, JJ., joined. Thomas, J., filed a concurring opinion. Alito, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which Kennedy, J., joined. Breyer, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment in part and dissenting in part. Stevens, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Souter and Ginsburg, JJ., joined.

More states testing high school athletes for steroids

More states are testing high school athletes for steroids, according to an article on Stateline.org:

A year after New Jersey became the first state to mandate random steroid testing for high school athletes, Texas and Florida are on the verge of launching their own testing programs, and Illinois may not be far behind.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Friday (June 15) signed into law the nation's most ambitious attempt to keep illegal performance-enhancing drugs out of high school sports. Florida's legislation still awaits the signature of Gov. Charlie Crist (R).


The Illinois High School Association also has plans to move ahead with a testing program as soon as next year, with or without the General Assembly’s help.

The programs will cost the states a considerable amount of money:

Texas’ program, which Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (R) steered through the Legislature, will be the nation’s most expansive. Between 20,000 and 25,000 students in all sports in the coming school year — or about 3 percent of the state’s nation-high total of 742,341 high school athletes — will have their urine tested for steroids, according to Charles Breithaupt, athletics director for the University Interscholastic League, which will put the program into practice. The Texas Legislature has allotted $3 million a year for testing. Officials in neighboring Louisiana have shown interest in emulating the program.

Florida’s one-year pilot program would be much smaller, calling for testing of 1 percent of the state’s almost 59,000 high school athletes in football, baseball and weightlifting. The Legislature has allotted $100,000 for testing.

And as early results indicate, the cost may not be worth it:

In its testing program’s first year, New Jersey reported that every test for the fall 2006 sports season came back negative for steroids. The results from winter and spring sports have not yet been released. But the executive committee for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, the organization in charge of the testing, has voted unanimously to renew the program for another year.

Emmett Till act passes House

The Emmett Till Act, named after the African American teenager whose brutal murder in 1955 helped spark the Civil Rights Movement, passed the House by a 422 to 2 margin.
The act calls for looking into cold cases of murdered African Americans. One of the sponsors of the bill was Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Columbia.
The Emmett Till story is one that has been written about dozens of times during the third quarter research project in Mr. Randy Turner's communication arts classes at Joplin South Middle School.

Columbia schools considering uniforms

In her Class Notes Blog for the Columbia Tribune, Janese Heavin writes about the possibility of uniforms for Columbia public school students:

School board vice president Darin Preis knows the idea might not go anywhere, but he still wants to throw it out there -- school uniforms.

Preis plans to talk about the possibility of requiring uniforms during tomorrow's board retreat.

Research about uniforms at schools show mixed results. I've read testimonials from schools saying uniforms cut down on fights and distractions. Other studies, including one from a University of Missouri-Columbia professor, say uniforms don't really do anything.

Preis said he's aware of the concern that uniforms take away students' freedom of expression.

"But right now my desire for freedom of expression is butting heads with my desire for kids to be successful," he told me.

New York schools to pay students for good grades, attendance

How would you like to receive money just for showing up at school and making good grades?
That's what will happen to New York City students beginning this fall, according to an article in today's New York Times:

Under his plan, fourth-grade students will receive up to $25 for a perfect score on each of 10 standardized tests throughout the year. Seventh-grade students will be able to earn twice as much — $50 per test, for a total of up to $500. Fourth graders will receive $5 just for taking the test, and seventh graders will get $10.

Officials expect up to 40 schools to participate this fall, with a total of 9,000 students, in the pilot phase of the program, which will be monitored by Professor Fryer. After two years, they said, they will evaluate it for possible expansion.

Principals in the system's empowerment initiative — who have more autonomy to run their schools — can choose to join the program.

Similar, smaller programs for cash incentives to raise schoolchildren’s performance have been put in place elsewhere in the country. In Chelsea, Mass., for instance, students can receive $25 for perfect attendance. And in Dallas, some schools hand over $2 for every book a child reads.

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.