October 9, 1985

Education Week, Vol. 05, Issue 06
Education New York Schools Get 1-Year Stay In Felton Case
A federal district judge in Brooklyn has given the New York City Board of Education until the 1986-87 school year to comply with the U.S. Supreme Court decision barring Chapter 1 compensatory-education teachers from private-school classrooms.
James Hertling, October 9, 1985
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3 min read
Education Health Column
Under the spell of the nation's "cult of thinness," an increasing number of teen-agers are resorting to self-starvation and induced vomiting to stay slim, according to a report by a group of California nutritionists.

But such methods of staying trim pose a greater threat to teen-agers' physical and emotional health than a severe weight problem, the Ad Hoc Interdisciplinary Committee on Children and Weight warns in its report.

October 9, 1985
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2 min read
Education E.D. Recognizes Outstanding School Principals
The principals of 55 elementary and middle schools were formally recognized in Washington late last month as outstanding educators by U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett and Samuel G. Sava, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

The principals were selected from each state, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Overseas Schools; three were chosen from private schools. Those honored include:

October 9, 1985
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3 min read
Education Teachers Column
A proposal to postpone by one year the implementation of the tough new standards for colleges of education adopted this past summer by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education may be considered this week at a meeting of the council in Washington.

M. Stephen Lilly, dean of the college of education at Washington State University, last week drafted the proposal and sent it to members of the ncate executive committee for their consideration.

October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Budget Bill Approved
Ten adult-basic-skills programs nationwide have been selected by the Education Department as the first recipients of its "Secretary's Awards for Outstanding Adult Basic Education Programs," initiated this year.
October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education More Federalist Capers
The law professor who argued in favor of Alabama's moment-of-silence law before the U.S. Supreme Court last year has gone to court in Louisiana to force public high schools in the state to offer courses on a subject near and dear to the heart of Secretary of Education William J. Bennett--the Federalist Papers.

John S. Baker Jr., professor of constitutional law at Louisiana State University, contends in his suit that high schools in the state are ignoring a 1948 law mandating that they teach courses on the 85 political essays, which were written nearly 200 years ago by three of the nation's founding fathers--Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison.

October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Tennessee School's Drug-Test Policy Challenged by Civil-Liberties Group
School officials at a state-run school for abandoned and neglected children in Tennessee last month began requiring random urine testing to see if students are using marijuana, a move that violates the students' constitutional rights, American Civil Liberties Union lawyers said last week.
Cindy Currence, October 9, 1985
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3 min read
Education Plan Would Place More Emphasis on International Issues
New York--Education should give students a global perspective of human events, and educators should share successful teaching and learning practices with colleagues in other countries, according to recommendations being drafted for consideration by state chiefs at their meeting next month.
Lynn Olson, October 9, 1985
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2 min read
Education National News Roundup
Beginning in 1988, students will have to write an essay as part of the test for a high-school equivalency diploma, according to the commission that administers the examination.

The American Council on Education's commission on educational credit and credentials approved the change last month, calling the addition a response to "concerns throughout education about students' communication skills." The writing-skills portion of the General Educational Development (ged) test currently includes 80 multiple-choice questions on grammar, spelling, logic, and organization.

October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Justice's Health Could Shift Court's Balance
The health of Associate Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. could be the deciding factor in the resolution of several crucial church-state cases now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, legal observers here say.
Tom Mirga, October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education People News
Janice Herbranson, who gained celebrity status two years ago as the lowest-paid teacher in the country, may be off to teach in Alaska next year if her one-room North Dakota schoolhouse closes down for lack of students.

Two of her three students at the Salund School in McLeod are expected to graduate from 6th grade next spring, and school officials in the town, population 60, are unlikely to keep the school open, she said.

October 9, 1985
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5 min read
Education E.B. White: A Writer Who Delighted, Instructed
E.B. White, who delighted generations of children with his tale of a miraculous spider named Charlotte and helped generations of students understand the principles of clear English prose, died last week at his North Brooklin, Me., home at the age of 86.

Children first introduced to Mr. White as the author of Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970) later encountered him as the White of the team that produced perhaps the pre-eminent text on prose writing, Strunk and White's The Elements of Style.

October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Settlement in Seattle
Public-school teachers ended a three-week strike in Seattle last week, but school officials are warning that the cost of the settlement could force cuts in some programs during the next school year.

The $8.4-million one-year contract--approved by the city's teachers in a voice vote on Sept. 28--reduced the 43,500-student district's budget reserve by 60 percent, a spokesman for the district said last week.

October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education New Vocational Goals Proposed for South
The legislative council of the Southern Regional Education Board has recommended that high-school vocational programs in member states place more emphasis on basic academic skills and less on preparing students for specific jobs.
Lynn Olson, October 9, 1985
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7 min read
Education Aid Cut Threatens Alabama Schools
Facing a possible shortfall in state revenues for education, Superintendent of Education Wayne Teague of Alabama has warned school districts to budget conservatively and prepare for a prorated cut in state aid.

Mr. Teague and Gov. George Wallace, a Democrat, also recently announced that they would support legislation to create a state lottery, which could increase funds for education. Alvin Holmes, a Democratic state representative from Montgomery, has introduced legislation that would establish a lottery and earmark at least one-fourth of the proceeds for education.

October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Los Angeles Board Votes To Divest Itself of South African Holdings
Seeking to divest itself of investments in firms with "direct connections" to South Africa, the Los Angeles Board of Education has asked the county treasurer to remove district funds from a countywide investment pool.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, which earned $63 million in interest in 1984-85, joins at least 2 other districts, 8 states, 30 cities, and 50 colleges and universities that have adopted policies opposing apartheid, South Africa's system of racial separation. (See Education Week, Aug. 28, 1985.)

October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Chiefs Weighing Use of NAEP for Pupil Comparisons
New York--The nation's chief state school officers, who a year ago set themselves the task of developing a way to compare student achievement on a state-by-state basis, will consider a proposal at their meeting next month to use test questions from the National Assessment of Educational Progress for that purpose.
Lynn Olson, October 9, 1985
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5 min read
English Learners District Officials Criticize Bennett's Call For Flexible Bilingual-Education Policy
School officials in cities with many non-English-speaking children reacted negatively last week to U.S. Secretary of Education William J. Bennett's call for more diversity in bilingual education.
James Hertling & Susan Hooper, October 9, 1985
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8 min read
Education Districts News Roundup
Two former school officials in Morris County, N.J., have been sentenced to prison terms for operating an investment scheme that preyed upon dozens of neighbors, friends, and professional associates, according to Daniel Gibbons, assistant U.S. attorney for the district of New Jersey.

A federal judge on Sept. 23 sentenced John Cotsakos, former assistant principal of Parsippany Hills High School, to two years in prison. Joseph Immitt, former assistant director of adult education for the Parsippany-Troy Hills school district, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. Both were convicted on fraud charges.

October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Federal News Roundup
The Senate, by voice vote, has passed a bill that would end the ban on the teaching of secular humanism in programs funded by federal magnet-school money.

This measure was included in the reauthorization bill for the National Science Foundation. The bill, HR 1210, includes amendments that refine and extend for three years the magnet-school program and the initiative to upgrade mathematics and science instruction. It also includes technical amendments for the vocational-education and special-education programs.

October 9, 1985
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2 min read
Education Bennett Launches Major New Study Of Early Grades
Secretary of Education William J. Bennett, proclaiming 1985-86 the "Year of the Elementary School," last week announced the appointment of a 21-member study group to assess the current state of primary education.
James Hertling, October 9, 1985
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4 min read
English Learners Bilingual-Ed. Law's Main Provisions
Following is a summary, based on information from the National Clearinghouse on Bilingual Education, of the main provisions of the federal bilingual-education law. Amended by the Congress last year and signed into law by President Reagan on Oct. 19, 1984, the law will expire Sept. 30, 1988.

October 9, 1985
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2 min read
Education States News Roundup
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld a Texas compulsory-attendance law that requires the prosecution of parents who do not send their children to state-approved schools.

The court ruled unanimously last month that two sets of parents from Angleton, Tex., who educated their children at home using a Bible-based curriculum provided by Liberty Academy, a correspondence school in Illinois, had violated state law and could be prosecuted.

October 9, 1985
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11 min read
Education Panel Approves Silent-Prayer Amendment
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a proposed constitutional amendment last week that would give students the right to pray silently in groups or individually in public schools.
October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Budget Bill Approved
The House of Representatives, by a vote of 322 to 107, approved last week a $17.5-billion budget for the Education Department in fiscal 1986, which began Oct. 1.
October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Lunch Rule Proposed
The Agriculture Department has proposed regulations that would require states to double-check students' eligibility for free and reduced-price school meals after they have been verified by local districts.
October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education High Court Facing Church-State Issues
The emotionally charged debate over the relationship between church and state in the public schools will continue to dominate the U.S. Supreme Court's agenda as the Justices open their 1985-86 session this week.
Tom Mirga, October 9, 1985
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5 min read
Education Committee Grills N.E.H. Nominee
Senate confirmation of Edward A. Curran as chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities was cast in some doubt last week, as members of the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee grilled the nominee intensively on his political and educational views.
October 9, 1985
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1 min read
Education Reagan Signs 45-Day Cigarette-Tax Extension
President Reagan signed into law last week a 45-day extension of the 16-cents-a-pack federal tax on cigarettes, preventing 17 states from capturing part of the tax to support education and other state services.
J.R. Sirkin, October 9, 1985
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1 min read
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