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The growing number of home foreclosures around the country is having an impact on classrooms, with more teachers working with unstable student enrollments, according to a CNN.com report.

At Fairview Elementary School in Modesto, Calif., an area badly hit by the economic downturn, 50 students have left and 50 new ones have started in the last couple months, according to Principal Heather Sharp. California 4th grade teacher Suzell Tougas, meanwhile, says she's down 10 kids from the start of this year and expects to lose more. "It's like a ghost town,” she says of her classroom.

Educators stress that moving during the school year, especially when tied to family problems, can be difficult for students both academically and emotionally, and typically requires an adjustment period.

"The biggest issue is that when [children have to move] when there are stressors going on, we know it puts these kids at a greater risk of being behind in their academics," Pat Popp, a past president of the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth, told CNN.

Students who move multiple times are more likely to have academic problems than other students, according to a May 2008 report by the nonprofit group First Focus. That report estimated that nearly two million children would be affected by foreclosures over the next two years, according to CNN.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At Keller’s Trinity Meadows Intermediate School in Texas, cellphones aren’t confiscated—they are dispersed. According to The Dallas Morning News, 53 5th graders are using Verizon smartphones instead of laptops in their classrooms as part of a push to equip every child with a computer. While phone calls and text messages are disabled on the devices, students can use them to access the internet, take pictures and videos, sketch drawings, and beam information to one another.

"Laptops are oh so '90s – they're your parents' generation," said Elliot Soloway, the University of Michigan professor who created the software the students are using. "While every kid does need a computer, the computer that will happen on will be cellphones."

Critics contend that the phones are a sales pitch from companies looking to make money off of schools. "We are still in a period right now where, to a large measure, cellphones are an impediment and not a support for learning," said Len Avecilla, a Keller parent volunteer.

Matt Cook, the Keller teacher who solicited donations for the phones, is still troubleshooting issues such as broken screens and monitoring for students playing games, but remains confident that smartphones are helpful teaching tools. "To me, this is the new paper and pencil," he said.

The students are pleased with the phones as well. "They're pretty cool because we can store all our information on it," said Kayla Lopez, 10. "I'm not used to this technology stuff," said classmate Jeffrey Fontes. "My parents don't let me go on the Internet very often. But here it's safe because it's filtered."

Posted by Liana Heitin at 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

School superintendents in the Washington, D.C. region’s largest districts take as much as 12 weeks of paid leave a year for “vacation, personal matters and professional travel to such destinations as Florida, Europe and Asia,” according to the Washington Post. The paid leave is in addition to salary and benefit packages ranging from $341,530 to $489,763.

Loudoun County, Va. Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III took a total of 60 days of paid leave between July 2007 and June 2008. Of those days, 49 were spent on several speaking engagements and tours in the U.S., Rome, Madrid, and Beijing in “pursuit of reinvigoration and professional growth.” Hatrick said he regularly works 13 hour days and on weekends.

The trips logged by the superintendents cost their school systems, on average, $5,636 for the year.

The superintendents’ leave tends to draw criticism from parents who question travel as a priority. “Travel to places like Florida, in the dead of winter, somebody should think twice," said Lyda Astrove, a Montgomery County, Md. parent. "I think that we've got enough issues right here at home." Critics also assert that superintendents have a responsibility to be in the office because of their high salaries.

School chiefs say, however, that travel is an important part of the job helping them keep abreast of current trends. Fairfax County, Va. Superintendent Jack D. Dale defended himself in an e-mail to the Post, "When you are superintendent of the 12th-largest school system in the country, you are expected to take a national leadership role in education."

Posted by Josh Cohen at 5:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

In 2007, an Oregon law was enacted preventing the sale of high-calorie snacks on school campuses, according to The Oregonian. Intending to curb the growing problem of child obesity, schools did away with vending machines that sold Cokes and candy. However, as an additional consequence of the law, teachers have also lost access to junk-food vending machines. And they’re not happy about it.

On Friday, a group of teachers appealed to the House Education Committee to ask that the vending machines be returned to employee-only areas. "We are adults," said 4th grade teacher Dorothy Powers from Hillsboro. "We have rights." Laurie Wimmer Whelan, a lobbyist for the Oregon Education Association, agreed that teachers should be able to satisfy their snack cravings. "Whether a teacher wants to buy a bag of peanuts or a cookie shouldn't be a legislative issue," she stated.

Those in favor of upholding the law say that teachers have an obligation to set a positive example for students. Nancy Becker, head of the Oregon Nutrition Policy Alliance, pleaded with legislators to uphold the pervasive food restrictions for other health-related reasons. "Sixty-six percent of Oregonian adults are overweight or obese," she said. "Does this committee really want to pass a law that makes it easier for people to have access to junk?"

The committee voted 7-2 in favor of sending the measure on for a full House vote.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

In an effort to engage his high school sophomores, a veteran sex education teacher in Portland, Ore., put underwear over his pants and a condom on his head during a lesson, reports The Oregonian. Little did he know, one of his students was filming him and he’d soon become a YouTube sensation.

Norman Scott of Grant High School had intended to use humor to warn students about the dangers of STIs. However, district officials didn’t find the lesson funny at all. "What you saw in that video in no way, shape or form represents Portland Public Schools' approved curriculum," said district spokesman Matt Shelby. "Sex education can be a tough subject . . . but that was well beyond anything I've ever seen."

In defending his teaching, Scott explained that he was portraying a fictional character named "Elmer Beaumont," who represents the consequences of reckless sexual behavior. Scott called the lesson "very effective" and said he may try it again next year. The junior who shot the video with her camera phone was amused by his presentation. "Instead of a boring film or lecture, I think it was pretty interesting," Esther Kim said. "It was kind of awkward, but funny."

Other students saw the lesson differently. In the online comments on the Oregonian article, one self-described former student of Scott’s wrote, "It's a mockery of sex ed and if any of you are parents, you should be outraged that this is being taught to your children rather than real sex ed. Teen pregnancy, STIs, and AIDS are all very real. And if students get this joke rather than the real thing, THEY ARE AT RISK."

The principal of Grant High has received no complaints about the video and Scott is not facing sanctions.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Parents may regret repeating the adage "practice makes perfect" to their children when they find out the latest tool to enter music teachers' classrooms around the country. Sixty music teachers are working with game manufacturer Nintendo and the National Music Education Association to bring the game “Wii Music” into classrooms, according to MSNBC.

Unlike popular music-oriented video games like “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band,” “Wii Music” doesn’t make players perform existing songs. Rather, players experiment with 60 instruments to improvise and compose their own music—a feature that appeals to S.C. music teacher Helen Krofchick.

“Children spend a lot of their classroom time following specific directions—what to read, what to do—and very little time actually expressing themselves in the arts,” Krofchick says. “Some can be shy to come forward and actually sort of jump in and try something. But if anything is presented to a child in the form of a game, it’s going to be much more student-friendly.”

Posted by Jeff Lambert at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Katherine Evans was fed up with her high school English teacher. "To those select students who have had the displeasure of having Ms. Sarah Phelps, or simply knowing her and her insane antics: Here is the place to express your feelings of hatred," she wrote on her Facebook page, according to the New York Times. Two months later, the honors student received a three-day suspension for cyberbullying.

Now a freshman at the University of Florida, Evans is suing the principal of Pembroke Pines Charter High School for infringing on her freedom of speech. She is requesting compensation for her legal fees and removal of the blemish from her record.

Many who oversee school disciplinary policy, such as Pamela Brown who handles expulsions for the Broward County School District, believe the punishment was fair. "We don’t want teachers to work in fear, looking over their shoulders when they walk to their cars after school," Brown stated.

However, Howard Simon of the American Civil Liberties Union sees the case differently. "If Katie Evans said what she said over burgers with her friends at the mall, there is no question it would be protected by free speech." The legal complaint was filed in December and the principal has yet to respond.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

A retired Cleveland math teacher who recently died at age 93, and whose annual salary never exceeded $40,000, has left over $2 million to her college alma mater, reports The Plain Dealer.

A frugal spender who was never married and had no heirs, Laura Bickimer accumulated some of the money from her inheritance and saved the rest by living modestly. When answering an alumni survey for Baldwin-Wallace College, the beneficiary of Bickimer’s fortune, she once stated that she preferred to wash her clothes in an old-fashioned wringer. "I have discovered that one's life can be quite simple and unspectacular, yet full and worthwhile!" she wrote.

"This was a lady who had the money and chose not to spend it," said Thomas Konkoly, director of development for gift planning at B-W.

Even Bickimer didn’t realize how much money she had until meeting with college fund-raisers a few years ago, remembers Konkoly. "My goodness, I'm a millionaire," she marveled, upon seeing her net worth.

Bickimer retired from teaching in 1972, having worked at three different schools in Cleveland. When asked about her retirement in a B-W questionnaire, she wrote, "I try each day to do some act of kindness or have some thoughtful communication that will bring happiness or perhaps enlightenment or solace to someone." The college plans to dedicate a math classroom to Bickimer and create a $50,000 scholarship in her name.

Posted by Liana Heitin at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A suburban Cleveland school district might cut their sports programs to deal with a budget deficit, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Fall and winter sports in the Richmond Heights School District could join a laundry list of programs that have already been sent to the chopping block, including marching band, newspaper, and Advanced Placement classes.

Facing a deficit of $238,000 and reeling from six ballot defeats for funding, the school board proposed cutting sports programs rather than pursuing another levy initiative this May.

“We're hearing about all sorts of tough choices. Times are tough," said Scott Ebright, spokesman for the Ohio School Boards Association. He said eliminating sports is a last resort, with some districts instituting pay-to-play charges of as much as $500 per student to keep their programs alive. "Sports do a lot of great things for kids, but, by law, schools do not have to provide them."

But Richmond Heights School Board President Charles Tyler told the newspaper a pay-to-play system isn’t realistic for the district, because it would result in athletically inclined students bearing up to $240,000 in transportation, league membership, and coaching fees.

"Unless we have resources, we are not left with many choices," Tyler said. "We have to deal with reality."

Posted by Jeff Lambert at 2:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

While many states have scaled back on school funding due to the recession, Florida’s education system has been hit harder than most, according to a recent story on NPR’s All Things Considered. NPR’s Jacki Lyden spoke with several Floridian educators to find out what next year’s possible $100 million education budget cuts could mean for the schools. Everyone expressed concern.

"In my 32 years of being a public educator, I’ve never experienced anything like this," Orange County Florida schools superintendent Ronald Blocker admits. Orange County has already reduced its teaching force by hundreds, but going forward Blocker anticipates the closing of smaller schools, the possibility of a four-day school week, and the elimination of more teaching positions. "When we were $70 million short, we had to eliminate over 560 teaching positions, so this year . . . we may be eliminating at the very least a comparable number of positions."

Orange County parent and PTA president Stacey Rodrigues fears that her daughters will miss out on quality instruction if the budget cuts lead to fewer teacher professional development hours. "You have teachers that . . . aren’t able to get the most updated training. We want them to have the materials to not only educate our children but to engage them."

Teachers themselves are also nervous about losing resources. Richard Ellenburg, Florida’s 2008 Teacher of the Year, currently engages students with rocket launchings, classroom pets, and an award-winning garden, but knows the funds for such projects will not last. "The ten percent cut in my particular school would definitely cut my science lab," he says.

Blocker is worried about how the impact of the current budget situation, which he describes as "dire," will trickle down to the students. "You ultimately have to ask yourself the question: Are you here to educate or are you here to warehouse?"

Posted by Liana Heitin at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)