The Washington Teachers Union is claiming some of the credit for the closing of District of Columbia schools today, according to a local news blog.

A record-breaking winter storm this weekend has shuttered school systems throughout the Washington, D.C., area today. But the decision on DCPS schools--which, under chancellorship of Michelle Rhee, has been very conservative in dolling out snow days--was quite drawn-out. Initially, yesterday afternoon, the district boldly announced that its schools would in fact be open on a 2-hour delay, puzzling many parents who looked around and saw limited transportation options. A few hours later, however, after even the federal government declared its offices would be closed, the district's officials gave in and announced that, well, schools wouldn't be open, after all.

Why the sudden change? In an e-mail to members, WTU president George Parker suggests that they had a lot to do with it: "Your calls to the office of the Mayor and Chancellor expressing your disagreement and outrage has [sic] resulted in success!"

Possibly. And certainly there were many very good reasons to close the city's schools today. But it makes you wonder: Do teachers really want to be sending the message that closing schools is a "success" to be celebrated?

(Full disclosure: The author of this post is a (snowbound) DCPS parent.)

—:Anthony Rebora

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High school freshmen in Lincoln County, Miss., are taking a break from their regularly scheduled curriculum this week, as they began a three-day life-skills workshop on Jan. 20 designed to demonstrate the correlation between grades and their future earnings, according to The Daily Leader.

The trip to "Reality Town," sponsored by the Junior Auxiliary and Mississippi Scholars, will give the district's 500 freshmen a crash course in real-life decision-making.

Each student was given virtual money based on his or her first semester GPA; the students will visit eight local vendors to "buy" anything from cars to insurance. The program also anticipates unforeseen emergencies, such as medical bills or vehicle repair.

"The more we can do to give kids real life skills, the better we can be," said Brookhaven School District Superintendent Lea Barrett. "We want our kids to graduate as informed consumers and informed citizens. The state of the economy has pointed out that most Americans need a little lesson in economics, so this is a good way to start."

The Junior Auxiliary projects an average 25-year-old single adult in Mississippi to earn $25,000 annually if he or she earned As and Bs in school, $17,000 annually for a C average, and a mere $12,000 annually for high school dropouts.

"It gives them that aspect of having a little money in their pocket and then the reality of trying to pay bills and see what they have left over at the end of the month. Most of them have never had that experience," said Brookhaven High School Principal Dr. Jay Smith.

The Junior Auxiliary hopes this will become an annual event.

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While the world watches horrific images of earthquake victims roll in from Haiti, a number of American students have taken relief matters into their own hands.

The Palm Beach School District in South Florida has partnered up with Missionary Flights International, Red Cross and United Way to organize a collection of food and personal items for the earthquake victims.

And four elementary schools in Windham County, Vermont, were hit particularly hard with the news of the devastation in Haiti, as they had teamed up with Haitian schools (before the earthquake) as part of a "conservation training project," where American students would send gardening tools and seeds to Haitians.

Meanwhile, some American colleges and universities are continuing to search for missing students and faculty members who were in Haiti at the time of the earthquake.

Florida-based Lynn University has come in contact with most of its 12 students that were in Haiti for a week-long service-learning trip, but as of this morning, they still hadn't touched base with the two faculty members on the trip and one of the students.

The University of Florida also continues to search for two of their journalism graduate students who were in Haiti making a documentary. According to the university, the last they knew, the students were at an orphanage outside of Port-au-Prince.

Sophie Perez, country director for Care International, was an eye-witness to the devastation that the earthquake caused. As Haiti attempts to pull itself from the rubble, Perez finds herself concerned with the future of Haitian children, according to the U.K.-based Guardian.

"We're particularly worried about the children, because so many schools seem to have collapsed," Perez said. "In Haiti children go to school in the afternoon. Children were still in school when the earthquake hit, so there are many children trapped."

Update: The New York Times ran a great feature today called "Five Ways to Teach About Haiti Right Now." If you're looking to add some Haitian earthquake awareness to your classroom, check it out.

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When 11 teachers in the D.C. area won certification from the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards last month, they did so without financial or administrative support from the city. That's because while D.C. public schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee considers certification a valuable form of professional development, she believes the funds for certified teachers could be better used elsewhere, according to the Washington Post.

Under Superintendent Clifford Janey, Rhee's predecessor, the D.C. school system helped board candidates with their applications for certification, providing both technical and financial support. (Teachers who apply for certification must pay a $2,500 application fee, which the city helped defray.) After a teacher won certification, he or she would receive a $4,000 stipend from the city.

But Rhee wants to reallocate the city's $600,000 annual investment for certification, as fewer than one percent of D.C.'s teaching force are NCBT-recognized.

"It didn't seem like the best investment," Rhee said. "It seemed to us that there was a more foundational level of professional development we needed to do with our staff." (The teachers still receive the $4,000 stipend if they become certified.)

Meanwhile, in nearby Montgomery County public schools in Maryland, the 528 board-certified teachers receive an additional $2,000 annually after winning certification; Fairfax County's 300-plus certified teachers also earn raises from both the local government and the state.

Rhee's position on certification has struck a nerve with some teachers. The National School Boards Association fired back on their blog after reading the recent Washington Post article, ending with a poignant question.

"With as much rhetoric coming out of Washington and state capitols about high teacher quality, the program is something we'd expect to hear about regarding increased funding, not the opposite. The fact is, these dedicated teachers are often leaders in and outside the classroom. If teacher-leaders stop being recognized (other than a polite thank you from administrators and parents), will they continue to lead?"

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