Archive for the ‘School Advisory’ Category
What’s It All About, Alpha?
March 21st, 2012
The United States Supreme Court decided not to hear a case today. Alpha Delta Chi (ADX) v Reed. But that’s not really news considering that they decide not to hear about 99% of the cases brought to them. What is news though is that the issue in the case of whether religious groups can chose leaders who share their religious beliefs remains hotly contested on the national level.
If you keep up with the news, you know that universities across the country are singling out religious groups and claiming that it is “discriminatory” for them to choose leaders that share the same religious beliefs. Like in this case where a Christian sorority and fraternity wanted to be lead by Christians. I know, you are probably thinking—you are kidding me, right? Isn’t it just common sense that every church, synagogue and other religious group has the right to be lead by pastors, rabbis, etc. of the same religious persuasion? I mean, wouldn’t we all be shocked if we went to church on Sunday only to find an avowed atheist in the pulpit? Therein lies the rub. This is law, not logic.
What’s even more disturbing, and indicative of the hostility that many public universities display toward religion, is that there is no requirement in the law that they prohibit religious groups from choosing like-minded leaders, only that they may—under certain circumstances—prohibit them. And those circumstances are being fudged. What do I mean by that? Last year the Supreme Court held in CLS v. Martinez, based on a stipulation that all groups were required to accept anyone, that no group could then “discriminate” against anyone. Sound fair? Not if you dig a bit deeper.
By way of example, let’s examine that issue in this case, ADX. The university is claiming that they toolike Martinezhave a so-called “all-comers” policy. But they exempt all fraternities and sororities from the prohibition on gender discrimination, thus not requiring them to accept all-comers, and that is half of all clubs. And this doesn’t even take into consideration that in real life student groups choose whomever they want, thereby excluding whomever they don’t want. So it is really a “some-comers,” or more accurately, an “anyone-we-want-comers” policy. And last time I checked, religious speech and exercise are protected not once, but twice in the First Amendment. One would think that would weigh heavily in the discussion.
So the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear this case just ensures that the battle continues. Universities will continue claiming that they have legal cover to discriminate against religious groups, and religious groups will continue to fight to remain, well, religious. And it is more important than ever for religious groups to continue fighting for this God-given right to be religious. As the battle rages on, it becomes more and more likely that the Supreme Court will have to weigh in on the issue at some point.
ADF will continue the fight for the rights of private student organizations to define their membership and select their leaders without interference or retaliation by state university officials. Please contact ADF if you are encountering similar problems at your state university.
Tags: Alpha
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Three Simi agencies to discuss heroin problem
March 4th, 2012
Increased heroin use by Simi Valley’s young people will be discussed at a meeting Thursday night of the City Council and the school and recreation districts’ boards.
The three agencies will meet at 6 p.m. at Sinaloa Middle School, 601 Royal Ave. The public may attend.
Though the three agencies and the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce have formed a heroin prevention task force in response to public outcry, Thursday’s summit will not be a task force meeting. The task force will meet at a later date, not yet announced.
Police say four people in their 20s and two in their 40s died of heroin overdoses in Simi Valley last year. At least two children of Simi Valley residents, both in their 20s, have suffered heroin-related deaths this year in other cities.
Tags: Heroin, Heroin Problem
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LAUSD’s Deasy wants teacher misconduct allegations to stay in file longer
February 25th, 2012
Los Angeles Unified Superintendent John Deasy said Wednesday that he wants to negotiate an immediate change in the teachers union contract that limits how long misconduct allegations can remain in a personnel file.
Deasy said an obscure clause in the district’s contract with United Teachers Los Angeles is complicating efforts to identify teachers who were accused or suspected of misconduct in years past.
A report in the Los Angeles Times says the contract requires unproven misconduct allegations and reprimands that did not result in discipline to be removed from active personnel files after four years. Those reports are then put into a so-called “expired file.”
Deasy recently ordered principals to review the expired files as part of a widening investigation into suspected cases of sexual abuse by LAUSD teachers and staff, touched off by the arrest of Torrance resident Mark Berndt, a former teacher at Miramonte Elementary School.
“Due to recent cases involving allegations of serious sexual misconduct committed by a few teachers against students, I recently ordered an investigation into the district’s reporting system,” Deasy said in a statement. “As a result, we uncovered a practice – inserted at the insistence of the teachers’ union two decades ago – requiring after four years the removal from personnel files any alleged misconduct that does not lead to discipline.
“In the interests of affording greater protections to our students, I have instructed the Los Angeles Unified School District’s negotiating team to enter into discussions immediately with the teachers union to change or eliminate this practice.”
A spokeswoman for the state Teacher Credentialing Commission said LAUSD had submitted 65 cases for review since Feb. 22. She could not say whether the cases were new or had previously been submitted for possible action.
UTLA President Warren Fletcher, who has been an teacher for nearly 30 years, issued a statement saying he is willing to talk about the issue.
“UTLA is always open to discussions at the negotiating table and, as teachers, we always are open to discuss ways to assure children are safe,” Fletcher said.
The Times said there had been complaints about the conduct of Berndt years before he was charged with committing lewd conduct with 23 children but they were not in his personnel file.
Copyright 2012 Daily Breeze. All rights reserved.
Tags: Misconduct, Misconduct Allegations
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DREAMing of Success in Educational Endeavors
February 19th, 2012
The results are, as quoted in the article, “astonishing.” Third-grade students whose teachers received a week-long summer training on integrating the arts into their teaching and weekly in-class coaching from arts professionals had an 87-point average increase on a standardized reading test (which is scored from 150 to 600). Students whose teachers received no arts training had just a 25-point average increase. While we know that standardized test scores are not always an accurate indicator of whether students are learning, this model is definitely one to consider as we look for ways to raise the reading levels of all students.
Three things stuck out to me as key lessons we can transfer from the DREAM experience to other educational endeavors:
1) A rich curriculum, including the arts, is important. We at the Learning First Alliance have long recognized the benefits of including the arts as part of a rich curriculum in our public schools, and we have lamented the narrowing of the curriculum in some places due to the testing requirements of No Child Left Behind, as well as the cutting of arts programs as education budgets get tight. Here is further evidence that they are an important component of a child’s education. Advocates argue that students who are doing the arts are engaged and more likely to retain what they learn. As Laurie Stowell, a professor of literacy education at California State University San Marcos (CSUSM), pointed out in speaking of this program, “[w]hen [students are] doing theater arts, they’re having to make meaning of the story. They’re doing it. They’re not just looking at words on a page.”
2) High-quality professional learning is important. In studying this program, researchers randomly divided teachers and students into three groups – a control group in which teachers received no arts training, a treatment group in which teachers attended a week-long summer institute on incorporating the arts into their teaching, and another treatment group in which teachers attended a week-long summer institute AND received weekly in-class coaching from an arts professional. The article did not specifically address the quality of the professional development that these teachers received. However, the results of the three levels of treatment offered (25-point test score gain for the control group, 42-point gain for the group whose teachers attended a week-long training, and 87-point gain for students whose teachers received both the week-long training and the weekly support) clearly indicate the importance of professional learning in general and ongoing, job-embedded professional learning in particular.
3) Collaboration is important. The DREAM program is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, led by California State University San Marcos and the San Diego County Office of Education, and operating in ten different school districts in the County. The program would not be able to succeed if only one of these stakeholders were acting in isolation – it takes the collective strength of all these entities to ensure results for students.
Of course, none of these are new lessons. We’ve known all three for some time. But the fact that they continue to reveal themselves in nearly any educational endeavor that shows success (be it a pre-kindergarten program, community school, service-learning program, one-to-one technology initiative or, as here, an arts integration program) indicates that perhaps as we plan for new programs aimed at raising student achievement, we should take care to incorporate them deliberately.
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In the News: Preschooler Forced to Eat Chicken Nuggets in School
February 10th, 2012
The student’s lunch consisted of:
turkey and cheese sandwich
banana
apple juice potato chips
Moreover, the student was sent home with a letter and a bill charging the parents for the chicken nuggets. The letter stated that parents who did not pack a healthy lunch would force the school to supplement and parents would be charged. What? You mean the schools are not taking the time to inspect children’s lunches? Yes. Yes, they are. That is your tax dollars at work. Since your tax dollars were not enough to pay the state workers who inspect the lunches, they need to find ways to say a banana is unhealthy so they can nickel and dime parents to supplement with healthier options. Healthier options such as chicken nuggets.
As you can obviously tell this news is appalling to me. I am tired of the school systems playing parent. This is the first step in a school system claiming they know better than the parent and will take action. Sure, it is only chicken nuggets today, but if we continue to hand over our rights neatly tied in a bow, it will not end here.
Tags: Chicken Nuggets, Nuggets
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