March 17, 1999

After months of hard work, leaders of the National Association of Secondary School Principals say they have raised the group out of its financial and management crisis of a year ago and, by putting a respected leader at the helm, launched anew.

Amid the snow-soaked boots that line the hallway of Mapleton Elementary School, a student sits in a stream of warm sunlight to read a favorite book. In a classroom around the corner, pairs of 5th graders carefully select books to share with kindergartners--their reading partners. Down the hall, a 2nd grader peruses the shelves in the library--searching, in vain, the librarian says, for a book the youngster has not yet read.

Schools have slightly more leeway to discipline disruptive students with disabilities under long-awaited regulations for the nation's main special education law, released by the Department of Education last Friday.

NSF Pulls Milwaukee Grants
For Low Math, Science Gains

Texans have what has been described as a religious fervor for high school football. And Friday-night games at many high schools in the state start with a prayer over the public-address system. But a federal appeals court has ruled that student-led prayers at those games violate the U.S. Constitution.

Conference on Black Youths
Focuses on Urban Schools

Vermont Court Upholds Act 60 Provision

The Vermont Supreme Court has upheld one of the most controversial aspects of the state's school finance law, the "sharing pool."

The board that oversees the "nation's report card" is contemplating whether to stop collecting data that show trends going back 30 years.

Justice Dept. Closes Mascot Investigation

The Department of Justice has ended its investigation of a North Carolina district after the school board there agreed to replace one of its two American Indian mascots.

The U.S. Supreme Court last week refused to hear the appeal of Cecilia "Cissy" Lacks, the Missouri teacher fired for allowing her students to use profanity in their creative-writing assignments.

The number of students with disabilities is climbing steadily, and the number of qualified special education teachers is not keeping pace, the Department of Education says in its 1998 report on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.