May 14, 2013
Local News
The News Journal
Indian River School District to put guards in all schools
The Indian River School District will hire enough security officers to patrol every school in the district as a “proactive safety measure,” and is considering arming all of them. The district’s school board voted to add the officers at its May 8 meeting. “We feel as if the way things are in this country today, we want to provide the safest environment we possibly can,” School Board President Charles Bireley said. Superintendent Susan Bunting said it may not be possible to arm security officers who are not working police officers. “Our information that we’ve been able to research so far says they cannot be armed,” she said. “For now, we are saying that they will not have firearms.”
National News
National Review
Two Moms vs. Common Core
Indiana has become the first state to retreat from the Common Core standards, as Governor Mike Pence has just signed a bill suspending their implementation. A great deal has been written and spoken about Common Core, but it is worth rehearsing the outlines again. Common Core is a set of math and English standards developed largely with Gates Foundation money and pushed by the Obama administration and the National Governors Association. The standards define what every schoolchild should learn each year, from first grade through twelfth, and the package includes teacher evaluations tied to federally funded tests designed to ensure that schools teach to Common Core.
Education Week
Top jobs opening up in nation’s school districts
Districts across the country, including some of the nation’s largest, are facing a spate of superintendent vacancies. Schools chiefs or interim superintendents will be leaving this year or next in at least 17 well-known districts, including Baltimore; Boston; Clark County, Nev.; Indianapolis; and Wake County, N.C.
TFA finds climate ripe to train more pre-K teachers
Seven years after Teach for America (TFA) expanded its training program to include preschool teachers, the organization has produced 800 instructors in 22 high-poverty sites around the country. The organization’s leaders see the current climate as ripe for further expansion. With President Barack Obama’s interest in early childhood education, TFA aims to be an increasing part of the mix.
The New York Times
Schools Chief blasts mayoral candidates over remarks at education forum
Dennis M. Walcott, the New York City schools chancellor, lashed out at the Democratic candidates for mayor on Monday, saying that he did not believe any of them had a compelling vision to lead city schools and that they had been pandering to gain the support of the teachers’ union. In unusually caustic terms, Mr. Walcott said he was “appalled” by the remarks of five Democrats at a forum on Saturday, in which the candidates denounced Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s focus on test scores, charter schools and the closing of low-performing schools.
Denver Post
Financial issues dominate Colorado Legislature’s education agenda
Colorado lawmakers enacted groundbreaking education measures this session. The Colorado ASSET bill will allow students who arrived in the country illegally to pay the much less expensive in-state tuition rate. The Future School Finance Act would overhaul pre-K-12 funding, but voters must approve $1 billion dollars in revenue for the formula to take effect. Lawmakers also passed bills on sex education, school breakfasts, and teacher evaluation oversight.
Related Topics: Common Core, Teach For America, Teacher Evaluation