« Wisconsin governor signs bill to add oversight to Milwaukee vouchers |
Main
| Paige on NCLB: "If it is not funded, it is not required." »
March 18, 2004
Is it spring break yet?
Today BoardBuzz looks at a couple lighter moments in education news recently. Just for fun.
Gatorgate: Florida school board has tough decision ahead
It's a school bus ride home that students, parents and the Pasco County (Fla.) school district will never forget. As the St. Petersburg Times reports, middle and high school students on their school bus ride home spotted a 4-foot long alligator crossing the road. No big surprise, this being Florida. A few students asked the bus driver to stop so they could capture the alligator. Naturally, she refused ... at first. Then, she reportedly changed her mind, stopped the bus and opened the doors, allowing four boys to chase down the gator, which had entered a mud hole off the road.
The boys got the gator to bite down on a stick and then wrapped its jaw in electrical tape (yes, we also wondered why students happened to have electrical tape with them). They then hauled the captured gator back onto the school bus. The driver continued the route, eventually unloading the boys (with gator in tow) at their home, where one of the boys' fathers soon arrived to find an alligator in the bed of his pickup. Not amused, the father released the gator into a nearby river.
Not surprisingly, word of Gator-gate soon spread, and adults, including the district's superintendent, were none too pleased with what they heard. "If the facts I'm hearing are true, then at the least she used some of the worst judgment someone could use in endangering kids," John Long said of the bus driver. The district has placed the 41-year-old driver on paid leave and reportedly is awaiting results of a state investigation into the incident.
Now, every story has two sides. The bus driver's attorney gave the St. Petersburg Times a slightly different version, though the major point is agreed upon: There was an alligator riding on a school bus. The lawyer says the bus driver told the boys they could not bring the gator onto the bus but that they refused to leave it behind and refused to get back on board without it. Since she didn't want to leave the boys in a field with a live alligator, she acquiesced and let them back on board.
Ultimately, the Pasco County school board will soon be involved. School officials plan to recommend that the board suspend the driver without pay and ultimately may push for her termination. To this point, the driver has a clean driving record and has received satisfactory employee evaluations from the district.
BoardBuzz is by no means making light of the incident, and everyone should be grateful that the boys were not injured in any way. Aside from the obvious safety concerns involved, the incident also illustrates how school boards sometimes find themselves facing sometimes bizarre situations. What about your board? What is the most preposterous incident in which your board ever had to render a decision, and what advice might you have for this board? Tell us all about it.
New fashion trend: Pajama-wearing teachers
NSBA's School Board News reports on a trend flying fast around the country: teachers, schools, and school districts coming up with gimmicks to inspire students on standardized test days. The Orange County, Fla., school system wants to avoid 'kids throwing up and freaking out' on test days, says district spokesperson Jackie Johnson. So for the past two years, the 166,000-student district has produced motivational videos to help students deal with the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). This year, Cleveland Browns football player Kenard Lang, an Orange County graduate, appears in the videos. "Kenard tells kids that preparing for the FCAT is a lot like preparing for a football game," Johnson says. "You need to read your playbook, listen to your coaches, eat a good meal, and know that you're going to do well." Here is our favorite: "The day before the TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills), Linda McAbee, a third-grade teacher at Bradley Elementary in El Paso, has 'pajama day' to reduce anxiety before the tests," reports Carol Chmelynski. "Students and teachers come to school in their pajamas and lie on the library floor with pillows and blankets and read books. Later, they have contests on sample test questions with prizes and popcorn."
Shocked: SI swimsuit issue earns student 3-days suspension
Legal Clips, the weekly email newsletter from NSBA's Council of School Attorneys, points to an event that caused some consternation at a middle school in Ohio, where a sixth-grader was suspended for bringing to school the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue. The principal ordered the 12-year-old boy to spend two days at an alternative school where students from several area districts are sent when they get into trouble.
However, when the student's mother refused to accept that punishment, the principal increased it to a three-day, out of school suspension. "It's not like it was Hustler, Playboy, or Penthouse," she says. "The punishment doesn't fit the crime." Said Belpre School District Superintendent Tim Swarr, who claims he had never seen SI's swimsuit edition before: "I was shocked. It doesn't belong in public schools."
Posted March 18, 2004 12:00 AM
BoardBuzz Feed
