Youth Service Day Brings New Challenges to District Mandates

By Jessica Portner

Fifty public school students scoured the banks of the Anacostia River in Washington one morning last week, filling plastic bags with trash and debris while learning about the fragile ecology of the nation's third-most-polluted river.

The massive cleanup was one of hundreds of events across the country celebrating National Youth Service Day, in which nearly one million students volunteered to work in such places as nursing homes, homeless shelters, and public parks to showcase youth involvement in community service.

But not every student was extolling the virtues of service--at least not if such work is required as part...