“It’s like a knife cutting out the soul of education.”
—Joan Davidson, president of the New York City Art Teachers Association/UFT, on the cuts in middle school arts electives made to accommodate the city’s new standardized curriculum.
“Last year, everyone was asked to recognize the county’s financial concerns and do without a raise. Why, then, was money found for those who already are the...least likely to feel the pain?”
—Carol Shaner, executive director of the Baltimore County principals’ union, reacting to the recent news that county superintendent Joe Hairston quietly gave raises of at least $11,000 to each of his three deputies this past year.
“The hair-grooming rule leveled by Boonville [High School] against Kolby Hurt is an asinine, stupid rule. This court can only address and rule on constitutional violations. It cannot overrule or correct stupidity.”
—Judge Scott Wright of the U.S. District Court of Western Missouri, expressing contempt for a Boonville High School policy banning male basketball players from wearing long hair. Wright ruled that school officials acted within their rights when they benched cornrowed player Kolby Hurt this past season.
“These are the kids we’ve got to get ‘outta’ ‘here’ if they are low on the FCAT!”
—Part of a note mentioning Florida standardized test scores from Susan Renick-Blount, principal of Parkview Elementary School in Opa Locka. The note was attached to a memo asking teachers to supply names of out-of-area students who were frequently late, absent, and inattentive and who did not complete class work.
