I empathize with those having to deal with peanut allegies, it sounds like a horrible way to live a life. They, however need to treat it as almost a handicap situation-you can't subject a whole school to deal with a few kids' "disorder". My son has pet dander allergies that trigger asthma attacks. I would not ask that you keep your childs clothes and personal items free of dander so that he can go to school.
Food allergies are life threatening and can kill. This is not "just an allergy", this is a diagnosed medical condition that there is no cure. It can kill in minutes.
Valuing and helping these children is crucial to there success. Schools need to develop protocols to remove the allergen from the environment so these children can focus on learning.
This is an excellent and fascinating study. Anne Bryant is right to argue that the study presents good news. It challenges common depictions of urban schools as dangerous places coping with disaffected students, and disengaged parents. It suggests instead that urban parents are likely to become willing partners in public school improvement.
Nice story ... and funny too. Kudos to Colbert.
We like to both educate and entertain. Glad you enjoyed it.
How exciting. Any word on the performance of the products submitted above? I look forward to hearing, and reading, more.
Christine
This Michigan tale is heartening, especially after a recent study of Philadelphia schools demonstrating that schools can effectively fight childhood obesity by banning sodas and candy from vending machines, encouraging physical education, and educating parents, teachers and children about healthy eating. Just ask Richard Simmons.
It's great to hear that the teachers have pulled together to make healthy changes in the school. With school system budgets being so low it's sad that many have had to turn to contracts with vending machine companies to subsidize programs in the schools. That need has created many of the problems and prevents some districts nationally from making needed change until those contracts expire. Thanks for sharing this information.
What a great conversation. They clearly verbalize what it means to serve a school community on a school board. Kudos NSBA for making something like this available.
I agree that community is key, but how do schools and districts drive community? We are learning that good communication of events and programs is important to increasing community connections. An easy, central school calendar is a helpful tool for this, giving parents the ability to keep closer track of all their kids involvements, as well as board and PTA meetings etc.
NEW SCHOOL SAFETY REPORT PAINTS GRIM PICTURE OF SAFETY IN AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
A new report entitled “The State of School Safety in American Schools” speaks of sexual assault, violent cliques and violent parents as commonplace in suburban, urban and rural schools nationwide.
The report was developed by the SERAPH Research team of SERAPH.net a group composed of educators and crime researchers. The team used interviews with 1,520 educators, 925 law enforcement officials and numerous scientific studies to create a detailed assessment of problems facing American schools.
“In 2000,” states research team leader Dale Yeager, “The United States Human Rights Projects' - National Campaign to Fight for Children asked SERAPH to create a detailed report on school safety for select members of the U.S. Congress. Because of the misconceptions about school safety by the public and many legislators we felt that releasing this year’s report to the public would assist in educating people about the problem.”
The report is available online at http://www.seraph.net/documents/SchoolSafetyInAmerica.pdf
The report covers many areas not traditional discussed in school safety research such as: Young Children and Aggression, Educational Philosophies and Student Aggression, Health Issues and School Safety, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Piercing and Tattoos, Girl Aggression, Sexism and School Safety, Youth on Youth Sex Aggression
“The issue of school safety affects everyone in society. Juvenile crime, domestic violence, poverty are all tied to school safety issues. The report will provide factual information to the public so that they can understand the complexity of the problem and provide information to legislators so that they can assist schools in preventing and managing school safety issues.”
Oh good grief. Well, I guess you can never start too early to tell kids they're smart or they should just stop trying. What if they ALL wanted to keep being curious and learning??? Can't have that.
I, too, have a rather dim view of public education. Although I'm not sure where the problem originates, I have seen too many high school students that can't spell or write complete sentences. I have sat with a State Senator (in CT) who told me 70% of Community College freshmen spend most of their first year reviewing subjects they should have gotten in High School. What's up with that? There's definitely issues with high school education...
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