V-Day Censored At A Local High School

From the Daily Sundial:

Vagina, a six-letter word that has caused an uproar at Cleveland High School. The school's administration has deemed the word "obscene." This is an accreditation year for the school, which is why such a commotion is not surprising.

A special Vagina Day edition of the school's newspaper Le Sabre was distributed on Feb. 14. The newspapers were dispensed during first period, with one headline reading, "Have a Happy Vagina Day!" Administration officials intercepted the stack of papers from being delivered to the rest of the school.

Immediately following, Principal Robert Marks spoke with Editor in Chief Richard Edmond to discuss why he was pulling the paper. He claimed Edmond's own political agenda was a factor in why the paper in itself was so "obscene."

Edmond said that Marks told him the paper was "a piece of shit" that should be handed out on Hollywood Boulevard."

Edmond said the staff understands that they are producing a newspaper for a high school audience, but they are also aware that an anatomical diagram of the vagina is something each high school student has seen in their Los Angeles Unified School District mandated Health class.

An announcement was made during second period instructing teachers to not pass out the paper, as remaining papers were to be collected by the deans and vice principals. However, supportive teachers passed out the papers willingly, seeing no problem with the articles.

During third and fourth period, newspapers were still in circulation despite the efforts made by teachers and the administration.

The faculty was divided in their initial reaction to the issue. Some teachers were reported to have been ripping up the issue in front of their classes, even taking issues already in the possession of students to do so.

A number of students were passing out stacks of papers during lunch as administrators were ripping papers out of the hands of interested students as they were reading them.

Journalism advisor Coleen Bondy, who didn't want to be quoted, was instructed by Marks to not distribute any remaining issues she had in her classroom during fifth period.

Neil Bush's Firm Under Federal Scrutiny

The AP reports:

The Education Department's inspector general says he will review whether federal money is inappropriately being spent on programs by a company founded by Neil Bush, the president's brother.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a Washington-based watchdog group, called for the inquiry and released a letter this week from the department's inspector general, John Higgins Jr.

In it, Higgins said he would ask an assistant to examine the group's complaint.

The group contends school districts inappropriately are using federal dollars for Ignite! Learning Inc. programs. It says there is no proof the company's products are effective and claims the schools are using the products due to political considerations.

The company's president, Ken Leonard, said in a statement that Ignite! has not received any correspondence from the inspector general's office.

"Ignite! Learning has no knowledge of any customer that has procured our curriculum solutions through means which are other than completely ethical and in compliance with the typical guidelines of their various funding sources," Leonard said.

Ignite! sells a product it refers to as a Curriculum on Wheels, which comes with software to teach math, social studies and science and costs about $3,800 each, not including subscription costs.

Neil Bush is the chairman of the company, based in Austin, Texas.

Students Call Protest Punishment Too Harsh

The NY Times reports:

A school superintendent’s decision to suspend, and perhaps expel, about two dozen students who took part in a protest against the Iraq war at a suburban high school drew criticism Tuesday from the students and their parents, who demanded that their children be allowed to return to classes.

In a statement issued after the protest on Thursday at Morton West High School in Berwyn, a working-class suburb just west of Chicago, the district superintendent, Ben Nowakowski, said the school’s reaction had to do only with the interruption of the school day, not with the students expressing themselves.

The administration “did not say that the students could not protest,” Dr. Nowakowski’s statement said. “Rather, we asked that the students simply move their protest to an area of the school that would not disrupt the ability of the other 3,400-plus students at Morton West to proceed with their normal school day.”

Dr. Nowakowski did not return repeated calls seeking comment Tuesday.

But several students said the protesters, whose numbers had dwindled to about 25, obeyed the administration’s request to move from a high-traffic area in the cafeteria to a less-crowded hall near the principal’s office. There, they intertwined arms, sang along to an acoustic guitar and talked about how the war was affecting the world, said Matt Heffernan, a junior who took part.

“We agreed to move to another side of the building,” Matt said. “We also made a deal that if we moved there, there would be no disciplinary action taken upon us.”

Matt said the group had been told that the most severe punishment would be a Saturday detention for cutting class that day.

Police officers were on the scene, and Berwyn’s police chief, William Kushner, said no arrests were made. “It was all very peaceful and orderly,” he said.

But at the end of the school day, Matt said, Dr. Nowakowski gave the remaining protesters disciplinary notices stating that they had engaged in mob action, that they were suspended for 10 days and that they faced expulsion.

“I was shocked,” said Matt, 16. “We had the sit-in. So I had mixed feelings of confidence — of a job well done — and fright, because my whole educational future is at risk.”

School officials also sent a letter to the parents of all the school’s students calling the protest “gross disobedience” and reminding parents that any disruption to the educational process could lead to expulsion.

On Tuesday, a group of parents went to the school to demand that their children be allowed return to classes. At most, the parents said, the protesters’ behavior amounted to loitering, which should be punishable by detention or a meeting with a guidance counselor.

The parents have also asked that the district provide the students with some way to express themselves about issues like the war.

“Who’s the next group to go off to war?” said Adam Szwarek, whose 16-year-old son, Adam, faces expulsion. “These kids. The kids do a peaceful sit-in and they’re threatened with expulsion, yet the military’s running around the school trying to recruit.”

Parents also complained that deans, teachers and coaches singled out certain athletes and honor students and persuaded them to drop out of the protest.

Rita Maniotis, president of the school’s parent-teacher organization, said the school called her husband to say that their daughter, Barbara, a junior, was participating in the protest and that he should come to get her. He did so, and she was suspended for five days. But other parents were not called and not able to intervene, Ms. Maniotis said. “There’s no rhyme or reason to the punishment doled out,” she said.

The executive director of the A.C.L.U. of Illinois, Colleen K. Connell, said she could not comment on the case because her organization was investigating to determine whether it will take it up. In general, public school students have constitutional rights, she said, but they can be limited in a school setting.

Poor Kids Are Majority At Public Schools in South

The Dallas Morning News reports:

For the first time in more than 40 years, the majority of children in public schools in the South are poor, according to a report being released today.

Twenty years ago, Mississippi was the only state in the country with such a high percentage of poor public school students. Now, a majority of public school students are considered low-income in 14 states, including 11 in the South, the report by the Southern Education Foundation said.

"Low-income students as a group begin school least ready," said Steve Suitts, a program coordinator with the Atlanta-based foundation. "They are the students most likely to drop out of school."

The report found that 56 percent of Texas public school students were low-income in 2006, based on their eligibility for free or reduced school lunches. That's up from 49 percent in 2000.

The report gives only state averages; the poverty levels in individual districts vary greatly.

In 2006, about 83 percent of students in the Dallas Independent School District were poor. The figure was 69 percent in Irving, 48 percent in Mesquite, 50 percent in Richardson and 21 percent in Plano, according to the Texas Education Agency.

Texas Ranks 2nd in Teachers Sanctioned for Sexual Misconduct

The Associated Press reports:

From Aug. 4 to Aug. 17, an assistant band director was arrested, a former substitute teacher was convicted and an ex-middle school teacher was sentenced.

The three men — one in suburban Fort Worth, one in suburban Dallas and one in Austin — each faced charges of sex crimes against students.

It was a typical two weeks in Texas.

A review by The Associated Press shows Texas is No. 2 in the nation in the number of teachers sanctioned for sexual misconduct. Texas Education Agency records indicate at least 200 teachers have active sanctions on their certifications for sexual misconduct that occurred between 2001 and 2005. At least 50 more certified teachers faced sex crime allegations, but had their sanctions lifted or have decisions pending.

More than 1,300 certified teachers in Texas received sanctions from 2001-05 because of allegations that ranged from the mundane to the macabre. They included mail fraud and violating open records, as well as kidnapping and attempted murder, according to TEA records.

"And that's just what we hear about," said Peggy Bittick, a Houston attorney whose client says she was sexually assaulted in school. "There are so many kids who never report what happens to them."

The Texas figures were gathered as part of a seven-month investigation in which AP reporters sought records on teacher discipline in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Across the country, sexual misconduct allegations led states to take action against the licenses of 2,570 educators from 2001 through 2005. That figure includes licenses that were revoked, denied and surrendered.

Young people were victims in at least 69 percent of the cases, and the large majority of those were students.

Nine out of 10 of those abusive educators were male. And at least 446 of the cases the AP found involved educators who had multiple victims.

There are about 3 million public school teachers in the United States.

The Texas figures seem typical of what's happening nationally. While the overall percentage remains low, sexual misconduct cases happen on a regular basis — despite legal statutes and extensive training covering ethical behavior.

"It just keeps showing up," Bittick said. "We need more and more education and more and more scrutiny. We have to have everyone be accountable."

Most states, including Texas, have legal statutes that deal with teachers who cross the line. In 2003, Texas lawmakers added a new crime to the penal code: improper relationship between an educator and student, a second-degree felony.

And almost all college education programs cover proper, ethical behavior "explicitly," said Mike Sacken, an education professor at Texas Christian University who refers to transgressions as "border crossings."

Education has helped. While they don't dismiss the problem as trivial, most experts say teachers probably are misbehaving today about as often as they did in years past.

"If you just watch Lifetime, you think this happens in every high school in America every 15 minutes," Sacken said. "The huge majority of teachers and students never experience this."

Still, such "border crossings" can have devastating consequences. Bittick, the Houston attorney, said her client was 14 at the time of her alleged assault. Her client had been a troublemaker, Bittick said, but her behavior deteriorated afterward and she ended up in Texas' youth prison system.

The trouble she experienced are "all linked to this happening," Bittick said. The teacher's aide in question was acquitted in court. Bittick's client has since filed a lawsuit, which is pending.

Such cases eventually land on the desk of Chris Jones, a senior counsel in the Office of Investigations at the TEA. His office deals with two types of cases most often, he said: ethics complaints and sexual misconduct.

"When I went to high school, the same type of misconduct went on but nobody cared," Jones said. "I think there is a lot more awareness and a lot more reporting. People are more aware, more likely to get caught and more likely to be reported."

Computers and telephones have been crucial to Jones' work as lead investigator. Electronic records — such as text messages, e-mails or phone records — are often the best evidence in sexual misconduct cases.

"Quite frankly, a lot of these cases are consensual and the student will protect the educator," Jones said. "I have prosecuted several cases where the student has denied the relationship, but we have love letters, cell phone records, computer chats, and will prosecute on that basis."

Anecdotal evidence suggests the most likely perpetrators are young teachers or those who are highly involved in sports or student groups.

Earlier this year, a suburban McKinney substitute teacher testified that he showed students pornographic pictures, took topless photos of a 15-year-old female student and romantically pursued an underaged girl. The teacher, who was convicted of indecency with a child, said it didn't occur to him that his actions were inappropriate. He said he only considered his reputation as a "cool teacher."

It is often coaches, drama teachers and club advisers, Sacken said, who face sexually charged allegations.

"You're driving in cars to places," Sacken said. "You're seeing them at school at 7 at night when nobody's there. You have to be more disciplined in making sure students know where boundaries are."

Jones, who sends his children to public schools and praises the "vast majority" of teachers as ethical, said the state must come down hard on those who are not.

"It's a tough job," he said. "I deal with some allegations that, frankly, are disturbing. As a parent, I hate to think this type of thing occurs."