January 19, 2005
Education Week, Vol. 24, Issue 19
Federal
Final Education Appropriations for Fiscal 2005
Federal budget appropriations for selected programs in the Department of Education and other agencies.
Student Well-Being
Weighing Choices
A new private school aims to help overweight boys and girls make better decisions about how much to eat and how often to exercise.
Education
Correction
Correction
The On Assignment story in the print edition of the Jan. 12, 2005, issue ("Uniform Effects?") of Education Week gave an incorrect first name and a misspelled last name for a researcher who has studied the effects of school-uniform policies on students. She is Kerry Rockquemore.
Education
A National Roundup
No Show
The 2,500-student Buena Regional School District in New Jersey has canceled plans to allow the Fox TV reality show “The Simple Life” to film at a middle school. Parents argued that Paris Hilton, the star of the show who was to work as a substitute teacher and cafeteria worker, was a poor role model.—A.B.
Recruitment & Retention
A National Roundup
Phila. District Cleans House To Improve Teacher Hiring
The Philadelphia school district is overhauling its human-resources department in an effort to improve hiring practices and address complaints that inefficiency has hurt teacher recruitment.
Education
A National Roundup
Stepping Down
Duncan N.P. Pritchett Jr., the superintendent of the Indianapolis public schools, announced Jan. 12 that he will retire at the end of the school year after seven years at the helm of the of the 40,000-student district.
Education
A National Roundup
Strike Looms
The leaders of the St. Louis teachers’ union, American Federation of Teachers Local 420, have set a strike date of Jan. 19. The school board is standing by its last and best offer to the union.
Education
A National Roundup
Obituary: Test Developer Dies
R. Bruce McGill, an educator who led the development of assessments that are widely used by private schools, died on Jan. 1 of heart failure.
Education
A National Roundup
Five Cities Receive Grants To Tackle Dropout Problem
Three national foundations have launched a $2 million initiative in five cities to support local efforts to keep young people from dropping out of high school.
Education
A National Roundup
Nation’s Oldest School Supplier To Close Retail Stores in 17 States
The J.L. Hammett Co., the nation’s oldest school-supply company, is closing its 60 retail stores after 142 years in business.
Education
A National Roundup
N.Y. Comptroller’s Report Blasts School Audit Firm
An accounting firm that audited the Roslyn, N.Y., school district performed “appallingly inadequate” work that didn’t meet professional standards and failed to uncover the apparent theft of millions of dollars in district funds, according to a report released this month.
Recruitment & Retention
A National Roundup
Los Angeles District Honored for Human-Resources Overhaul
The Los Angeles Unified School District has won a national award for its management of human resources, an operation often derided as woefully inefficient in many urban districts.
Education
A National Roundup
Baltimore Schools Step Up Scrutiny After Hall Monitor Charged in Fire
Baltimore school leaders promised tighter screening of new employees after a hall monitor with a criminal record was charged with starting a small fire at a district high school that has been plagued by a rash of fires.
School & District Management
Universities Team Up With Urban Districts to Run Local Schools
For most universities, running a public school is as foreign an enterprise as operating a gas station. Yet it’s happening in a growing number of cities.
Education
Delivering the Message
The Department of Education and Ketchum Inc. agreed last year to subcontract part of a program to promote the No Child Left Behind Act to Armstrong Williams and his public relations and production company, the Graham Williams Group.
Education
The Secretaries and Their Backgrounds
Margaret Spellings would bring a variety of experiences to the post of U.S. secretary of education, but being an educator isn’t one of them. Likewise, a background on the front lines of education hasn’t been a prerequisite for all of her predecessors. Here are background highlights of the seven who have served.
School & District Management
Spellings' Resume Brings New Twist to Secretary Post
Margaret Spellings, now the president’s chief domestic-policy aide, appears headed for easy confirmation in the Senate, possibly as soon as this week, when President Bush begins his second term.
Assessment
Texas Takes Aim at Tainted Testing Program
Responding to a potential cheating scandal uncovered by a recent newspaper investigation, Texas officials last week announced a sweeping review of test security and plans for a new monitoring scheme for the state accountability system.
School & District Management
Schwarzenegger Budget Sparks Controversy
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s fiscal 2006 budget plan for California may be balanced, but it is drawing the ire of education groups that say it reneges on a promise made last year to restore school aid to levels called for in the state constitution.
Federal
Department’s PR Activities Scrutinized
A series of unsavory revelations about the U.S. Department of Education’s efforts to sway the public in favor of its major school improvement measure could stain the law’s reputation and cast doubt on future information from the agency, say many observers, including supporters of the law.
Federal
Bush Promotes Plan for High School Tests
President Bush last week renewed his pledge to expand educational accountability in U.S. high schools, promising to seek as much as $1.5 billion in his next budget for improvement in those grades.
Federal
HHS Shifts Oversight of Sexual-Abstinence Grants
Two federal education grant programs promoting sexual abstinence have been shifted to an agency now led by a strong supporter of abstinence education, a move that is raising concerns in some quarters.
Student Well-Being
Teacher’s Arrest Imperils Charter School
A school board in California is considering revoking the quasi-independent status of a charter school that employed a teacher who is charged with having sex with two 13-year-old students.
Federal
Mississippi Marchers Pressure Lawmakers on K-12 Aid
Approximately 1,200 people at a pro-education rally in Jackson, Mississipi, presented state lawmakers and the governor with more than 137,000 signatures on Jan. 11, asking them to spend more on education this year.
Education
Report Roundup
Vehicle Safety
One out of every five 16 to 20-year-olds reported having driven while under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs, a recent survey by the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found.
Education
State of the States
New Jersey
State of the States: Education highlights from latest governor's address before the legislature.
Education
State of the States
Mississippi
State of the States: Education highlights from latest governor's address before the legislature.
Education
People in the News
Judy S. Seltz
Judy S. Seltz recently became the deputy executive director of constituent partnerships for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
