February 5, 2016
Delaware
Coastal Point
Bomb threat called into Clayton Elementary, nothing found
A Frankford elementary school this week joined the long list of schools being harassed by bomb threats. John M. Clayton Elementary School received two phone calls on Tuesday, Feb. 2, around 9:47 a.m. According to Delaware State Police, a male suspect stated that there was a bomb outside the school. The school went into low-level lockdown while the property was searched by school administrators, with DSP and K-9 units. That bomb threat came about ten minutes after a similar call to Shields Elementary School in Lewes.
School district trades additional staff positions for cash
Having exceeded a certain number of students enrolled, the Indian River School District is eligible for State funding to hire additional staff, but district officials have instead chosen to use the money for other expenses. Choosing not to fill two administrative positions, the IRSD school board will instead request $121,578 from the State. That can pay for any other expense, such as textbooks, gym supplies or sewer bills, but not salaries. The empty positions are a second assistant superintendent ($67,499) and a fifth supervisor position ($54,079).
Two seats on IRSD board up for election on May 10
Candidates may now file to run in the 2016 school board elections. The Indian River School District has two positions up for election on Tuesday, May 10. There is a four-year term in District 2 (north Millsboro and southern Georgetown). There is a two-year term in District 3 (south Millsboro and northern Dagsboro). Terms begin on July 1. The seats are currently held by Gerald “Jerry” Peden (District 2) and Heather Statler (District 3), respectively. Both were appointed to fill vacancies in 2015.
Delaware State News
Black Panthers co-founder Seale at DSU
Delaware State University students had a chance to be in the presence of a living part of American history Thursday afternoon. Robert George “Bobby” Seale, was the co-founder of the Black Panther Party along with Huey P. Newton. About 70 students were all ears, as Mr. Seale spoke about the origins of the Black Panther Party. “This is a teachable moment at Delaware State University,” said Dr. Steven Marshall, dean of DSU’s, college of arts, humanities and social sciences.
Sussex County Post
Sussex Academy holding ninth-grade lottery Feb. 17
Sussex Academy, a public charter/tuition free school, will conduct a ninth-grade lottery on Feb. 17, starting at 2 p.m. in the school conference room. In 2012 the school received approval for a major charter modification and added a high school to the already existing middle school. In 2013 the first ninth grade class was enrolled. A grade was added each year and the final 12th grade class will be added in fall 2016. “We were not anticipating a ninth grade lottery until after our first class graduated in 2017,” said Patricia Oliphant, Director of Curriculum and Instruction.
The Newark Post
Two local schools earn Title 1 ‘distinguished’ honor
Newark Charter School and Thurgood Marshall Elementary School are among the 57 schools nationwide that have been recognized as 2015 National Title I Distinguished Schools. The National Title I Distinguished Schools Program, which is run by the National Title I Association, recognizes Title I schools for outstanding academic achievement and significant improvements in two categories. Newark Charter was recognized for “closing the achievement gap between student groups” and Marshall was recognized for “exceptional student performance for two consecutive years.”
National
Education Week
Technology in education: An overview
Technology is everywhere in education: Public schools in the United States now provide at least one computer for every five students. They spend more than $3 billion per year on digital content. Led by the federal government, the country is in the midst of a massive effort to make affordable high-speed Internet and free online teaching resources available to even the most rural and remote schools. And in 2015-16, for the first time, more state standardized tests for the elementary and middle grades will be administered via technology than by paper and pencil. To keep up with what’s changing (and what isn’t), observers must know where to look.
Inside HigherEd
Geography matters
If only tuition were lower, and high school students were armed with better data. That’s the idea that has guided the policy discussion about college access and affordability: to make better enrollment decisions, the story goes, students need money and information. But that narrative misses an important point about how students make decisions: for many students, where they go to college depends largely on where they live, according to a study commissioned by the American Council on Education. The majority of incoming freshmen attending public four-year colleges and universities enroll within 50 miles of their home, the study found. And the farther students live from any particular college, the less likely they are to enroll.
Los Angeles Times
Parents of L.A.’s 20th Street Elementary school file petition for charter status
Parents at an elementary school south of downtown Los Angeles have launched an effort to divorce their campus from L.A. Unified and create a charter school they believe will better serve their children’s needs. The petition drive, announced Wednesday, was carried out with the help of locally based Parent Revolution, which has taken a lead role in organizing dissatisfied parents using a state law that makes it easier for parents to exert control at low-performing campuses. Parents at 20th Street Elementary had been prepared to submit a petition nearly a year ago but backed down when the district pledged to address their concerns. Organizers now say the district failed to keep its commitments.
NPR
Making science teaching more than ‘a backup plan’
“Squat! Squat! Squat! Higher! Faster!” In the basement of the Duane Physics and Astrophysics building at the University of Colorado Boulder, a science demonstration is going on, but it looks more like a vaudeville act. One by one, students balance precariously on a rotating platform. Then they are handed what looks like a spinning bicycle wheel, holding it by two handles that stick out from either side of what would be the hub of the wheel. When you flip the wheel over, like a pizza, your body starts rotating in the opposite direction. The principle at work is called angular momentum, explains Katie Dudley: “You can move or stop yourself by changing what you do to the wheel.”
Policy Analysis for California Education
Policies on sexual orientation and gender identity pay off for schools
Blog post by Stephen Russell, University of Texas at Austin
It is now well-known that LGBTQ students often have a hard time in school, including feeling unsafe and being bullied, and those experiences are strongly linked to academic, mental health, and other problems for LGBTQ youth. For over a decade now, schools have been trying strategies to create safer schools for LGBTQ and all students. It’s been more than 15 years since AB537, the Student Safety and Violence Prevention Act, was passed, making California one of the first states to have a comprehensive non-discrimination law to provide protection based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity (SOGI) in schooling.