September 14, 2005
Education Week, Vol. 25, Issue 03
School Climate & Safety
School Official Rides Out Storm
The Harrison County school district headquarters was about the only place that had electricity in coastal Mississippi during Hurricane Katrina and for more than a week afterward.
Federal
Subject-Matter Groups Want More From Teachers Than NCLB Seeks
As states strive to meet looming federal demands to find “highly qualified” teachers, some of the nation’s largest professional groups for teachers are staking out their own positions on how that term should be defined.
School Climate & Safety
Educators Wonder If They’ll Go Back to New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina has upended the lives of many educators from southeast Louisiana, including two principals from New Orleans who stopped by the East Baton Rouge district office last week to apply for jobs.
School Climate & Safety
Districts Eye Existing Emergency Plans
As school districts nationwide were putting out the welcome mat last week for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, some districts along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico were taking a closer look at their own plans in the event of a hurricane.
Education
People in the News
Jana Fleming
Jana Fleming has joined the Joyce Foundation as a consultant on grantmaking in early-childhood education.
Education
People in the News
John Werner
John Werner is the new executive director of Citizen Schools Boston, the founding site of the Citizen Schools network of after-school programs.
Education
People in the News
Mary E. Dilworth
Mary E. Dilworth is the new vice president for higher education initiatives and research at the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
Education
People in the News
Patricia A. Harvey
Patricia A. Harvey plans to join America’s Choice this week as a senior fellow for state initiatives.
Education
A National Roundup
Research Lab Renamed
The Appalachian Educational Laboratory, one of 10 regional laboratories financed by the U.S. Department of Education to provide research and technical help to educators, is changing its name to Edvantia.
Education
A National Roundup
Retention of Chicago Students Dips to Lowest Level in 8 Years
The number of students being retained in the Chicago public schools has reached its lowest level since the district ended “social promotion” eight years ago.
Education
A National Roundup
Ohio College Revokes Credit in Alleged Recertification Scheme
The board of trustees of Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, is revoking credit issued to 657 students enrolled in two allegedly bogus distance-learning programs for teachers in South Florida.
Student Well-Being & Movement
Schools Address Health Concerns of Evacuated Students
In the first two days of the school year in Dallas, Rosemary Allen has witnessed a gamut of emotions among children displaced by Hurricane Katrina: older students crying as they board the bus to school; some who are reluctant to talk in class; and others who seem happier keeping to themselves.
Law & Courts
A National Roundup
N.M. District Board Is Found in Violation of Open-Meetings Law
The school board of the Central Consolidated district in Shiprock, N.M., has violated the state’s open-meetings law, New Mexico’s attorney general has determined.
Education
A National Roundup
Agreement Will Allow Schools to Be Built on Historic L.A. Site
The Los Angeles Unified School District has reached an agreement that will allow it to begin immediate construction of schools on the site of the historic Ambassador Hotel.
School Choice & Charters
Private-Sector Students Hit by Disaster Finding Opportunities in New Schools
Educators in private schools reached out last week to offer seats in schools to students uprooted by Hurricane Katrina. They tended to give top priority to helping students from schools that looked most like their own.
Education
A National Roundup
Florida Students Charged With Altering Grades
Three students at Bay High School in Panama City, Fla., have been arrested for allegedly gaining access to the school’s computer system and altering records.
Education
A National Roundup
Texas Moves to Dissolve Wilmer-Hutchins District
The Wilmer-Hutchins, Texas, school district will be annexed to the Dallas district next year, the state commissioner of education announced last week.
School & District Management
A National Roundup
Anne Arundel County, Md., Schools Chief Resigns
Eric J. Smith, who has led the Anne Arundel County, Md., schools for three years, said last week he would leave the district superintendency on Nov. 23.
School & District Management
A National Roundup
Citing ‘Incompatibility,’ S.F. Superintendent to Step Down in June
The superintendent of the San Francisco public schools announced last week that she will step down at the end of the school year.
School Climate & Safety
Officials Scramble to Salvage Storm-Damaged School Data
School districts swamped by Hurricane Katrina struggled to get their employee and district data and information systems back up to speed last week in the wake of the catastrophe.
School & District Management
University of Chicago Steps Up Work on City Schools
The University of Chicago, criticized a few years ago for closing its venerable education department, has lured a prominent education scholar to join its faculty this fall to head a new interdisciplinary committee focused on improving urban schools.
Recruitment & Retention
N.Y.C. Pressed on Staffing Neediest Schools
New York City’s senior member of Congress and the president of Teachers College last week called on the city to provide financial incentives to lure educators to work in its neediest schools.
Federal
Secretary to Weigh NCLB Waivers for Crisis on a Case-by-Case Basis
Besides scrambling to find teachers, textbooks, and classroom space for the estimated 300,000-plus students displaced by Hurricane Katrina, schools taking in the evacuees are waiting to see whether they’ll have to bring them up to the proficient level on state tests in order to make adequate yearly progress under federal law.
School & District Management
‘Normal’ a Long Way Off for Schools in Louisiana
Louisiana was struggling last week to pick up the educational pieces after its pounding by Hurricane Katrina.
School & District Management
Requests Seek Financial Aid, Policy Waivers
State leaders have just begun counting the billions of dollars it will take for schools to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
Federal
A Washington Roundup
Most Schools Selling Snacks, Report by GAO Says
Nearly all U.S. public schools sold “competitive” foods—snacks and other foods that aren’t part of federal school meals programs—to students in the 2003-04 school year, the Government Accountability Office says in a report released last week.
Education Funding
Bush, Spellings Stress Help for Hurricane-Affected Schools
Sitting before U.S. senators, Diane Roussel, the superintendent of the battered Jefferson Parish, La., school district, began to cry last week.
Law & Courts
Rehnquist Had Lasting Influence on School Cases
In a tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court that spanned more than three decades, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist exerted his influence in a host of education cases, helping frame the court’s opinions on such issues as school desegregation, government aid to private schools, and the place of religion in public education.
Federal
A Washington Roundup
English-Learner Office Gets New Director
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings last week named Kathleen Leos as an assistant deputy secretary of the Department of Education and the director of the office of English-language acquisition, or OELA.