October 19, 1988

So when a mysterious stranger started taking photographs at the Estill County High School in Irvine, Ky., last month, imaginations began to run wild. And school administrators soon found themselves working overtime to placate the fears of teachers, students, and parents.

The Alliance for Education says that public schools in the state are "in crisis," and that the legislature must increase school funding. The alliance is made up of organizations representing school administrators, classroom teachers and teachers' unions, and elementary and secondary principals.

At a public hearing in Atlanta this month, several advocates harshly criticized the board's recommendation that local boards be allowed to develop their own policies regarding the enrollment of the homeless.

Believes the federal government has a role in helping state governments and school districts. Has said the government should devote its resources to supporting innovation and targeting those "in particular need." Has vowed not to slash federal education funds.

U.S. District Judge John H. Moore 2nd, in Jacksonville, issued a temporary restraining order on Oct. 6 blocking the law, six days after it went into effect.

Last month, a 16-year-old high-school student from Northfield was charged with the murder of 13-year-old Lori Ewald. Officials at Nordonia High School said they were shocked to learn from news reports on the case that the student had a past record of kidnapping, rape, and assault. They had not, they said, been informed of his record through official channels.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, 4.6 percent of the unmarried men between 18 and 29 questioned said they had more than 10 sexual partners during the past year. When this percentage is applied to the total population, as many as 700,000 young men may have been that highly sexually active, the report states.

Mr. Jobs unveiled his latest brainchild--the Next Computer System--before a crowd of 3,000 onlookers in San Francisco. It consists of a black cube connected to a screen capable of producing black-and-white images of photographic quality.

The report, titled "Meeting the Economic Challenge of the 1990s: Workforce Literacy in the South," was prepared for the Congressional Sunbelt Caucus, a bipartisan group of members from 16 Southern states.

The pilot center, staffed by the Nashville school system, will offer homework assistance and counseling to students and a range of parent-education and literacy activities for adults. It represents several features contained in the 15-point plan unveiled Sept. 30 by Governor McWherter and Charles Smith, the state education commissioner.

In May, a state hearing officer found that the Derry School District had acted "appro6priately" by relying on the advice of the child's physician and making Ritalin use part of the individualized education program of 10-year-old Casey Jesson. (See Education Week, June 1, 1988.)

The cartoon advertisement, which depicts a boy and a girl turning into "couch potatoes," warns children to "be choosy in what you watch'' and to "watch out for overeating."

Under the auspices of the American Telephone & Telegraph Company, students in the 5th and 7th grades at an elementary and a middle school have been given computer work-stations equipped with full-color computer monitors, 70 megabyte hard-disk drives, printers, modems, and the unlimited free use of dedicated telephone lines.