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Louisiana lawmakers: Creationism trumps the Constitution

Thu, 30 May 2013 16:24:00 +0000

The Louisiana House Education Committee voted to keep a 1981 creationism law on the books despite a Supreme Court ruling that found it to be unconstitutional.

Until it was struck down in 1987, the state's "Balanced Treatment for Creation-Science and Evolution-Science Act" gave equal weight to the Christian creation story and evolutionary science, mandating that teachers "provide insight into both theories in view of the textbooks and other instructional materials available for use in his classroom."

“There’s no good reason to keep an unconstitutional law on the books,” Josh Rosenau, programs and policy director at the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), told Eric Dolan at Raw Story. “But since a law which has been struck down is dead letter, the choice to remove it is symbolic, too.”

But the intent behind the legislature's decision to keep the law intact isn't all that symbolic, as NCSE goes on to note in a release on the vote:

Memorial Day should also honor fallen police, firefighters and teachers

Mon, 27 May 2013 11:45:00 +0000

I am the grandson of a veteran, and so among other things, Memorial Day brings up early childhood memories of my dad's dad telling me about his public service in the military. While he gave me kid-friendly versions of his recollections, I was just old enough to vaguely understand his allusions to the injuries, casualties, lost friends and the trauma he likely experienced while serving overseas in World War II. Those allusions to the downsides of war - downsides that are too often glossed over in our sanitized recollections of World War II - gradually informed the way I came to see Memorial Day as a sacred moment to honor those who lost their lives in service to America.

In recent years, though, I have found our national celebration of Memorial Day lacking because while I am indeed the grandson of a soldier, I am also the son, son-in-law, nephew and friend of many other kinds of public servants. Through their civilian work, I have come to understand public service as something much more than only military service. Trouble is, while there may be a few lower profile days meant to honor their service, these public servants are not included as part of the high-profile Memorial Day - even though they should be.

Mass protests hit Chicago over school closures

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:52:00 +0000

On Wednesday Chicago will see a mass rally, led by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), to protest the planned shuttering of 54 elementary and middle schools before the next school year. Critics of the closures have pointed out that the vast majority of schools targeted (50 are on the West and South Sides of Chicago) provide for black and Latino children. While only around 40 percent of children in Chicago are black are Latino, 90 percent of children whose schools will be shuttered are black or Latino.

“The only thing that’s like it is Hurricane Katrina,” said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey of the potential devastation, “except this is being done on purpose.” The closures will affect 30,000 students and around 1,000 teachers. Labor Notes' Samantha Winslow explained that "the union opposes what leaders call a 'manufactured crisis': a series of intentional policy decisions to underfund public schools while boosting charter schools. Once public school enrollment drops, the board can close public schools and justify charters." Winslow reported on the mass rally planned for Wednesday afternoon:

New York school assigns racist word-problems to fourth-graders

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 16:36:00 +0000

Today in advice we didn't think would ever require repeating: Teachers, it is never a good idea to use dead slaves as units of measurement in your math problems.

On Thursday, NY1 revealed the story of a New York public school that has been doling out some incredibly unorthodox homework. When a fourth-grade teacher asked student teacher Aziza Harding to make copies of the worksheets, Harding was stunned to see that it was a "Slavery Word Problems Homework" assignment. The word problems included the questions, "In a slave ship, there can be 3,799 slaves. One day, the slaves took over the ship. 1,897 are dead. How many slaves are alive?" and, "One slave got whipped five times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month (31 days)? Another slave got whipped nine times a day. How many times did he get whipped in a month? How many times did the two slaves get whipped together in one month?"

NYPD handcuff, interrogate 7-year-old over $5

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 17:25:00 +0000

Bronx police arrested a 7-year-old boy, put him in handcuffs and held him in custody for 10 hours after a playground fight over $5, according to a $250 million claim brought by the child's family against the city and the NYPD. Officers allegedly arrived at the Bronx public school on Dec. 4 in the morning and handcuffed and held Wilson Reyes in a room there for four hours before taking him to the station house for another six hours of interrogation and verbal abuse, the suit alleges.

The New York Post reports that Reyes' mother found him at the police precinct, "panicked" and "seated in a shabby chair with his left wrist cuffed to the wall."

The incident apparently began when Reyes' was falsely accused by another child of stealing $5, provoking a scuffle. Children 7 to 17 years old can be tried as juveniles and Reyes originally faced a robbery charge before another child admitted to taking the money and charges against the 7-year-old were dropped. But Reyes' family is seeking damages.

Storm evacuees ejected “with little warning” from Staten Island school

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:50:00 +0000

According to the New York Post, confusion abounds across New York as schools reopen in Hurricane Sandy's wake. Forty-three schools have been temporarily relocated, but attendance has been below 50 percent at these locations as parents and students struggle to find transport to the alternate locations. (Over a dozen relocated schools won’t offer transportation because there aren’t yet enough yellow buses to go around.)

Meanwhile, in one Staten Island high school, the Post reported, 130 evacuees who had been staying in the school were moved out "with little warning" Wednesday as students turned up, expecting to resume class as normal. "Students at a Staten Island high school were warehoused in the auditorium with no instruction yesterday because Hurricane Sandy evacuees were occupying their classrooms — until the refugees were booted," the Post noted.

New York's public schools were closed for a week (longer in some cases) after Sandy barreled into the Northeast:

“Brooklyn Castle”: An inner-city school where chess legends are made

Wed, 17 Oct 2012 15:30:00 +0000

If you want reassurance that not everything about American public education is hopelessly broken — and if you want to see what may well be the most optimistic, inspiring and downright thrilling movie released all year – then absolutely do not miss Katie Dellamaggiore’s documentary “Brooklyn Castle.” Chess buffs and New York City residents may already know about the legendary chess team at Intermediate School 318 in the South Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., a group of inner-city kids from diverse but mostly poor backgrounds who have dominated the junior-high chess scene over the past decade or so the way the Yankees dominated the American League in the 20th century. But it honestly makes no difference if you don't even know the rules of chess and have never visited New York; this is a story about human potential and the lingering possibilities of the American dream.

Teaching ate me alive

Sat, 15 Sep 2012 19:00:00 +0000

It wasn’t one single incident that made me quit teaching in a public middle school. It was the steady, moldy accumulation of dehumanizing, lifeless, squalid misadventures of which I was a part. Like that time with “Carlos,” to pick an incident more or less at random.

I can’t even remember what it was that happened between Carlos and me. Anger, impatience, frustration, stupidity — and that was just me. Probably just another student who categorically refused to do as he was perfectly reasonably asked — open a book, pick up a pencil, hand in homework — or a teacher’s ineffectual attempts to come up with any good reason at all to learn the Pythagorean Theorem, or some such timeless knowledge. OK! Let’s say you have a ladder leaning against a wall. Suffice to say, our “conversation” ended without closure. But, evidently I said something that upset Carlos.

The next day I saw my friend the Dean of Students. He told me that he ran into Carlos’ father and a couple of his uncles; they were looking for my classroom. They had baseball bats. I am not the coach of the baseball team. There is no baseball team. In fact, there are no teams at all.

Romney disappointed by Chicago teachers

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 20:40:00 +0000

CHICAGO (AP) — Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney says Chicago teachers are turning their backs on thousands of students and President Barack Obama is siding with the striking teachers.

Romney, in a statement released Monday hours before he was set to land in Chicago for fundraisers, says he is disappointed by the Chicago teachers' decision to walk out of negotiations. Romney says he sides with parents and students over unionized teachers.

Thousands of teachers walked off the job in Chicago's first schools strike in 25 years. The walkout by 26,000 teachers and support staff in the nation's third-largest school district affects almost 400,000 students.

Romney has been critical of public employee unions, including teachers. Romney says union interests run counter to students' education.

Thousands join teacher’s strike in Chicago

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:01:00 +0000

CHICAGO (AP) — Thousands of teachers walked off the job Monday in Chicago's first schools strike in 25 years, after union leaders announced that months-long negotiations had failed to resolve a contract dispute with school district officials by a midnight deadline.

The walkout in the nation's third-largest school district posed a tricky challenge for the city and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who said he would push to end the strike quickly as officials figure out how to keep nearly 400,000 children safe and occupied.

"This is not a strike I wanted," Emanuel said Sunday night, not long after the union announced the action. "It was a strike of choice ... it's unnecessary, it's avoidable and it's wrong."

Some 26,000 teachers and support staff were expected to join the picket. Among teachers protesting Monday morning outside Benjamin Banneker Elementary School on Chicago's South Side, eighth-grade teacher Michael Williams said he wanted a quick contract resolution.

"We hoped that it wouldn't happen. We all want to get back to teaching," Williams said, adding that wages and classroom conditions need to be improved.

Contract negotiations between Chicago Public School officials and union leaders that stretched through the weekend were expected to resume Monday.