Education

We’re staunch supporters of separation of church and state, and will go to the mat if we thought our rights were being infringed upon. So when boneheaded teachers and school administrators at a high school in Madison, Wisconsin enacted policies that clearly demonstrate they have no idea what the Establishment Clause really means, they don’t do anyone any favors and just provide more fodder for the other side. See, geniuses, it refers to the government endorsing a particular religion, it doesn’t mean that religious beliefs of the students need to be suppressed or banned. Sheesh, we thought that should be pretty obvious to people with college educations.

According to the lawsuit [filed by the student’s parents], the student’s art teacher asked his class in February to draw landscapes. The student, a [Tomah High School] senior identified in the lawsuit by the initials A.P., added a cross and the words “John 3:16 A sign of love” in his drawing.

His teacher, Julie Millin, asked him to remove the reference to the Bible, saying students were making remarks about it. He refused, and she gave him a zero on the project.

Millin showed the student a policy for the class that prohibited any violence, blood, sexual connotations or religious beliefs in artwork. The lawsuit claims Millin told the boy he had signed away his constitutional rights when he signed the policy at the beginning of the semester.

The boy tore the policy up in front of Millin, who kicked him out of class. Later that day, assistant principal Cale Jackson told the boy his religious expression infringed on other students’ rights.

Seems like there was a bit of bad behavior on a Friday night off campus, a teacher caught wind of it, and instead of contacting the kids’ parents school officials decided to issue their own punishment. And Travis McGaha of the Seymour Herald — who seems to have a bit of a Libertarian bent — is none too happy about it:

One of the parents contacted an attorney who agreed that the school had violated due process rights by not informing the parent about the appellate process or her rights to have the action reviewed by a higher commission within the school system.

The mother, upon hearing this explanation, was shocked to find that the school could possibly administer stigmatizing punishments so easily for off-campus offenses with the only actionable response being expensive litigation.

Far from a school administration executing punishment in place of a parent who is hours away (by horseback or foot, I might add) to maintain good order, the school executed the over-reactive punishment even though the parent was less than 2 minutes away by automobile.

Even though the children apologized up front and were not disruptive towards the class, the teacher, the school nor the school system, their honesty and good order was met not only with verbal reprimand but by bullish interrogation by the resource officer as well as threats of further citation.

When a bus load of children on an Alabama bus fell into a dangerous situation, teacher Amy King became their guardian angel as she took over the wheel of a large bus when the bus driver passed out. Although some children were taken to area hospitals for their injuries, nobody was injured as badly as the teacher who probably saved many children’s lives as a result of her quick reflexes and thinking skills.

Hurray for Amy King!

SPRINGVILLE, Ala. — The driver of a bus carrying 44 children on a field trip passed out at the wheel, and a teacher’s quick actions kept the vehicle from careening into oncoming traffic, students said.

Math teacher Amy King grabbed the steering wheel and tried to straighten the swerving coach, witnesses told The Birmingham News.

The crash Friday sent 20 people to the hospital, including the driver and King.

King was thrown through the windshield and airlifted to UAB Hospital, where she was listed in serious condition, officials said.

Well this is a new one — while we’ve covered stories before about teachers being attacked, it’s usually by one of their students, not another teacher:

Eighth grade teachers Tawana Horton, 30, and Cambrella Pinckney, 28, bumped into each other during a hallway class change Friday afternoon at St. Andrews Middle School and began fighting, according to a report by the Richland County sheriff’s department.

The two teachers told an officer that they had an ongoing personal dispute, the report said.

The teachers were charged with disturbing schools and have been placed on administrative leave, deputies said.

“This occurred with students on the scene and they witnessed what happened,” Richland School District 1 spokeswoman Karen York. “Teachers are looked at as role models. That doesn’t set a good example.”

Oh, really? You think teachers punching each other in the school hall sends a bad message to the kids? We’re guessing the two might soon find themselves “ex-eighth grade teachers”.

A boy at the Meadowbrook Middle School in Orlando, Florida hid behind a bookcase in his classroom, urinated into his teacher’s lunch box, closed it, and gave it back to her. School officials think that perhaps the boy took the teacher’s joke to its literal conclusion. We don’t think that teacher will be too quick with the jesting going forward. We also think she might be in the market for a new lunch box.

The teacher, Jameeka Chambers, was put on paid leave Tuesday while district administrators continue investigating what happened in her classroom last week.

Based on statements from other students in the class, school officials think that when the boy asked to go the restroom on Thursday, Chambers told him to hold it or use her lunchbox. The boy then took the lunchbox, hid behind a bookcase, urinated in it and returned it to the teacher, said Frank Kruppenbacher, attorney for the Orange County School Board.

“I think we clearly know she didn’t tell him, ‘Go pee in this box,’ in the sense of going to go do that,” Kruppenbacher said. “That’s beyond our comprehension.”

Maysam Amanishourbariki, an Iranian-American teenager, is threatening to sue his Highland Park, Illinois high school over claims that his Italian language teacher told Amanishourbariki that he fit the “stereotype of a terrorist”.

“Everyone started to laugh,” Amanishourbariki told the Waukegan News-Sun. “I just sat there. I was confused. I didn’t know what to do. I was angry and upset.”

Amanishourbariki, who goes by “Amani,” will graduate this June from Highland Park High School. He has three older brothers who attended the same school.

The teacher, who apologized to Amani, urged him to pull down his hoodie and take off his hat that he wore to school after a new haircut.

“Right after she said it, one of the students — a freshman — got up and gave her a high five,” Amani told the Waukegan News-Sun. “I was like, ‘Is this kid serious?’ They treated it like a joke, but it’s not a joke.”

A high school student is being hailed for her quick reflexes as she pulled the brake of an out of control school bus loaded with elementary children. She brought the bus to safety when the bus driver fell and hit her head.

…but here’s the rub, she wasn’t supposed to be on the bus to begin with and was on her way home, feeling “ill” (but more likely playing hooky) so her school is giving her detention!

Boo!!!!

Amanda Rouse wasn’t supposed to be on the bus with 40 elementary school students. But it was a good thing she was, because the high school student managed to stop the vehicle after the driver fell out of her seat.

But even though the 15-year-old Marina High School student averted a possible tragedy, she is being disciplined by school authorities for being on the bus in the first place.

Rouse was sitting behind the driver’s seat and pulled the emergency brake when driver Christine L. Graves fell out of her seat and down the stairs as she made the turn in Seaside about 8 a.m. Wednesday.

After hearing countless times that the parents don’t respect their kids’ teachers enough, Dr. Bill Maxwell, the new Wales, UK chief inspector of schools, tells the teachers that they shouldn’t take “respect for granted and must ensure good communication with families.” What a novel idea!

[Dr. Maxwell] warned that Wales was in danger of losing its tradition of respecting and valuing education unless more was done to engage parents and carers.

“Good schools are taking notice but some need to try harder,” Dr Maxwell said.

“Society is changing. There’s no question that the automatic respect once accorded to school teachers, for good or ill, is not automatic now. Schools have to proactively seek and earn respect.

“Schools should be very conscious of their reputation and image in the local community.

“Successful schools try to break down the barriers between the harder-to-get parents and the school. Many of these parents, possibly, had very negative experiences of school and may even have had the same teachers.”

Well this is certainly an interesting way to take on teacher unions, who some critics say put too many barriers in place to fire incompetent instructors:

The Center for Union Facts, a Washington-based nonprofit, will launch a campaign Tuesday spending $1 million on ads and a billboard in New York’s Times Square. It also says it’s starting a Web site with data documenting how far unions go to protect bad teachers.

It’s also inviting nominations for a contest to determine the nation’s worst unionized teachers. The “winners” will be offered $10,000 each if they permanently resign or retire from any career in education — if they sign a release agreeing to have their name and the reasons for their selection published by the group.

Rick Berman — the center’s executive director and a former labor lawyer who has represented auto and steel workers — declined to offer specifics on his group’s supporters. He said that the organization has spent about $6 million since its founding in February 2006 and that it opposes union corruption and intimidation, not unions in general, he said.

Rules are rules kid. At least, that’s the prevailing attitude of a Pennsylvania high school who ordered a freshman to put his “patriotic” t-shirt inside-out.

But, was detention an over-reaction?

Here’s a description of the tee:

On the front pocket, in addition to the picture of the military sidearm, were the words: “Volunteer Homeland Security.” On the back, superimposed over another image of the weapon, the words “Special issue — Resident — Lifetime License — United States Terrorist Hunting Permit — Permit No. 91101 Gun Owner — No Bag Limit.”

They are, said Miller, 14, patriotic sentiments in a time of war. He feels pretty strongly about these things.

So do officials at the Penn Manor School District, who wanted him to turn his shirt inside out. When Miller refused, he got two days of detention.

His parents, Donald and Tina Miller of Holtwood, got angry and called a lawyer.

And now a lawsuit has been filed in federal court, accusing Penn Manor of violating Miller’s First Amendment rights.

I have to admit, California is the LAST place Minor Topics would expect to lawfully restrict the rights of homeschooling parents. California does a lot of crazy-ass things, but to punish many of their own — it’s just weird.

A state appellate court ruling that says parents must have a teaching credential to home school their children has rocked home schoolers throughout the Golden State, and many expect the decision to be appealed to the California Supreme Court.

The controversial unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel in Los Angeles was triggered by a dependency court proceeding.

You know, it would be easy to make fun of Uganda’s nutty beliefs, if we didn’t have our own number of kooks in our own country (a previously very viable presidential candidate that thinks the Earth is only 6,000 years old comes to mind). Not to mention sometimes we wonder if our own kids are possessed by demons as well, especially after they have eaten a couple cupcakes…

The New Vision said that authorities at Sir Tito Winyi Primary School in the western district Hoima described the “hysterical” students as suffering from a demonic attack.

“The situation is bad. About 100 pupils are totally mad. They are chasing everybody including teachers and fellow pupils, throwing stones, banging doors and windows,” the paper quoted headmaster Vincent Kitende as saying.

Kitende said that a similar incident took place at the school late last year, affecting more than 200 students that time, according to the paper.

A school bus carrying 32 kindergarten students and 9 adults was headed to Charleston for a field trip collided with an SUV in Dorchester County, South Carolina. Again, not helping with our school bus phobia, guys!

A highway patrol spokesman says a Chevy Blazer traveling westbound on Highway 78 crossed the center line, sideswiped a car and then hit the bus head on.

Dorchester County Sheriff’s Sergeant Mike Miller told The Post and Courier that the driver of the county-owned SUV was airlifted to the Medical University of South Carolina and was in serious condition.

Miller said the county vehicle crossed the center line on US Highway 78 shortly after 9am and hit the bus.

There were 32 kindergarten students from Harleyville-Ridgeville Elementary and nine adults on the bus.

The children were all taken to Summerville Medical Center with bumps and bruises.

A 4-year-old girl in The Village, Oklahoma (real creative with the name, there, townsfolk) was taken to the hospital after teachers thought she was acting intoxicated and smelled alcohol on her. Once the child is released from the hospital she will be put into custody of the Department of Human Services. No word on charges for the girl’s parents. How a preschooler could even stand the taste to imbibe enough to get drunk, we’ll never know — perhaps this is one of those “ingested sanitizer” cases we’ve heard about?

Authorities are investigating the apparent intoxication of a 4-year-old girl at an Oklahoma City elementary school on Wednesday, police said.

Oklahoma City television station KOCO reported that the child was carried out of Andrew Johnson Elementary School by a paramedic, according to an officer with The Village Police Department.

“We don’t believe it happened on school ground. We believe it happened before she got to school today,” said Deputy Chief Steve Jagosh.

Melodie Conrad, a teacher at the Eagle Rock Elementary School & Magnet Center in Los Angeles, California, believes people should have a respect for all living things — all the way to down to any creepy, crawly critters that may invade her classroom. Conrad routinely appoints one of her students as an “insect monitor” whose job is to scoop up any wayward bugs and safely deposit them outside. She also maintains a “no squashing” policy in her class. Let’s hope none of her future student’s parents work for Orkin.

“I absolutely just feel like we live in a society where violence is prevalent, and I’ve seen that over the years I’ve been teaching. I just wanted to be careful that they’re exposed to just the opposite in this room,” said Conrad, a 21-year teaching veteran.

“I’m not trying to turn them into bug activists. But I hear these kids say how cool it is when they shot this person in a video game or how cool these bloody movies are, and I’m concerned. That made me think.”

To get her students to start thinking about the same issues, she asks them why some want to kill bugs. And it’s instilled a sense of respect for life among her students.

Rebecca Tokofsky, 9, said she used to call her dad to get rid of a “scary-looking spider.” Now, she is eager for her turn to become bug monitor.