Education

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.

A freshman expelled from Bolingbrook High School in suburban Chicago is suing the school, claiming that they falsely made gang affiliation accusations against him, and that the expulsion was racially motivated:

Roger Coronado Jr., 15, of Bolingbrook filed a complaint Saturday in U. S. District Court, listing Valley View Public School District 365U and an unidentified Bolingbrook police officer among the defendants.

Coronado said he was eating his lunch in the cafeteria Feb. 4 when a group of Mexican-American youths sat alongside him at a mostly empty table.

Shortly after, the Hispanic youths sitting beside him got into a verbal argument with a group of black students. Coronado said he stood up to move out of the way, thinking there would be a physical fight between the two groups.

The boy said he heard nothing more about the incident until Feb. 7, when he was sitting in his first-period class. That’s when he was told to report to a small police office inside the school. A Bolingbrook police officer told Coronado that he would have to pay a $50 fine.

“I said, ‘For what?’ He said, ‘Don’t act stupid.’ He said I flashed gang signs,” Coronado said.

The school refuses to provide details because Coronado is a minor, but do say that the case was handled fairly.

An Arizona Jr. High School bans hugs lasting longer than 2 seconds to try to squelch increasing public displays of affection, but the students aren’t going to take this with their arms folded…

The “no-hugging” rule had previously been in the student handbook. After many students began expressing concern about public hugging and kissing in the hallways, the school began reinforcing the guideline by punishing huggers, which led to Friday’s protest.

Prior to the demonstration, the district said the principal and students brokered an agreement to clarify the “no-hugging” rule. According to the guidelines, small hugs, less than two seconds, are permitted but longer ones and kissing are not.

“We can only hug two seconds? That’s ridiculous,” Branham said. “It’s barely even a hug.”

More Teachers Gone Wild™! Melissa Moss, an English teacher at Barat Academy (we totally read that as Borat Academy, which would be an interesting school) in Dardenne Prairie — a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri — has been charged with taking topless photos of herself and emailing them to a 15-year-old boy in her class. The boys parents found the naughty pics and reported the teacher to the school and the police. And we’re sure the boy didn’t share the photos with *any* of his friends….

We talked with the Robert and Kelly Pfeiffer- their son was in Moss’ class.

They say they thought she was a great teacher and they’re stunned by the charges.

“It is very disturbing and you know it’s kind of a sign of the times the way we live with a lot of internet access and Face book and things like that. As a parent you have to be on constant vigil to make sure, you have to know what your kids are getting into,” said Robert Pfeiffer.

His wife, Kelly, added, “I was kind of shocked because I worked with her a lot as far as one on one talking to her you know about his grades and keeping up with them and I thought she was a really nice teacher. So when this came about, it really shocked me.”

Barat Academy is a private, independent catholic high school that opened last September.

Diana Mijares, a Houston mom, got suspicious when her normally mild-mannered 4-year-old, Megan, was suspended four times from preschool for bad behavior. So she did what any normal parent would do, and she bugged her daughter’s backpack. What she heard didn’t go over so well:

Megan Mijares’ digital tape recorded mostly mundane moments at Memorial Elementary School’s prekindergarten class, but then it captured the teacher yelling at the group of 4- and 5-year-olds. All of it happened without Megan’s or her teacher’s knowledge.

“You’re just a bad kid,” the teacher says on the six-hour tape. “You’re mean to me, so I get to be mean to you.”

The teacher, who was not identified, continues to harshly scold the children.

“You are all just stupid kids. I swear to God,” the teacher says. “You are just all stupid kids.”

Mijares said at that point the teacher was responding to a boy who was moving slowly.

Maybe we should start giving teachers hazard pay. The latest story of a student allegedly run amok comes from Milford, Connecticut, where one classroom had a hot-head teacher — and no, we don’t mean he had a bad temper:

Milford officials have expelled a Jonathan Law High School student accused of lighting her science teacher’s hair on fire during class.

Police say the girl was arrested after she ignited the ponytail of George Lardas with a lighter.

A police spokesman says Lardas did not require medical attention, but his hair was singed.

We would recommend Mr. Lardas cut off his ponytail to avoid such further incidents, as well as a visit from the fashion police.

Oh, for crying out loud, with all the problems occurring in our nation’s public school system, should administrators really be making a priority how a mom cuts her kid’s hair? Really, who gives a shit?

A kindergarten student with a freshly spiked Mohawk has been suspended from school.

Michelle Barile, the mother of 6-year-old Bryan Ruda, said nothing in the Parma Community School handbook prohibits the haircut, characterized by closely shaved sides with a strip of prominent hair on top. The school said the hair was a distraction for other students.

“I understand they have a dress code. I understand he has a uniform. But this is total discrimination,” she said. “They can’t tell me how I can cut his hair.”

An administrator at the suburban Cleveland charter school first warned Barile last fall that the haircut wasn’t acceptable. The school later sent another warning to her reiterating the ban.

Mohawks violate the school’s policy on being properly groomed, school Principal Linda Geyer said. Also, the school district’s dress code allows school officials to forbid anything that interferes with the conduct of education.

Do any of you feel that a child with a mohawk in your kid’s class would be a “distraction” to their education?