Free Republic

As long as the kids are away, teachers can play, a panel of judges said Thursday, ruling that educators shouldn’t be fired for having sex with one another — even in their classrooms. The Manhattan appellate judges said foreign-language teachers Alini Brito, 34, and Cindy Mauro, 38, were treated too harshly when they were dismissed for engaging in a topless classroom tryst inside Brooklyn’s James Madison HS in 2009.

Erica Connor's eyes widen as she reads the four-page letter purportedly outlining a plot by Muslim fundamentalists to take over state education. ... Erica has added her own concerns about the Islamisation of state schools in Britain to those of dozens of teachers, classroom assistants and school staff to whom we have talked following widespread reports of the letter in the media. The document — entitled Operation Trojan Horse — originates in Birmingham and was leaked anonymously to a Sunday newspaper. It purports to outline a strategy of identifying schools in Muslim neighbourhoods, ridding them of non-Muslim heads and parachuting...

**SNIP** Late last week, it came to light a class of seventh-grade female students at Stephen Decatur Middle School had been required to make clay models of male genitalia as part of the Family Life and Human Development program taught in county schools to students in grades 5-11. While most agree the course, which teaches students about their changing bodies and making good decisions, is an important one for the students, few agreed making clay models of the male reproductive organs was an appropriate component of the program. **SNIP** Luzier said the girls in the class made life-size male genitalia...

A fortnight ago, my column focused on how Philadelphia's schoolteachers have joined public-school teachers in cities such as Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Columbus, New York and Washington in changing student scores on academic achievement tests. Teachers have held grade fixing parties, sometimes wearing rubber gloves to hide fingerprints. In some cases, poorly performing students were excused from taking exams to prevent them from dragging down averages. As a result of investigations, a number of schoolteachers and administrators have been suspended, fired or indicted by states attorneys general. Most of these cheating scandals have occurred in predominantly black schools across the...

These kids should learn write from wrong. Earlier this month, The Post exposed a scheme at Manhattan’s Murry Bergtraum HS for Business Careers in which failing students could get full credit without attending class, but instead watch video lessons and take tests online. One social-studies teacher had a roster of 475 students in all grades and subjects. Red-faced administrators encouraged a student letter-writing campaign to attack The Post and defend its “blended learning” program. Eighteen kids e-mailed to argue that their alma mater got a bad rap. Almost every letter was filled with spelling, grammar and punctuation errors.

APALACHIN, N.Y. — The State University of New York's Broome Community College ... Warren had served as chairman of the community college's Criminal Justice and Homeland Security program. He also was a former police officer and New York state-certified criminal investigator.

7 elementary school staff hire lawyers Fallsburg police investigating the reported discovery of heroin and drug paraphernalia in a faculty bathroom at Benjamin Cosor Elementary School say the refusal by a group of teachers to cooperate is hampering their probe. No one has been charged, but six teachers and an aide were identified as having used the men's room before a school staff member reportedly found a heroin baggie on Feb. 11. Just before the winter break in December, heroin and needles were reportedly found in the same bathroom. Each of the seven faculty members initially agreed to give urine...

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A group of community leaders expressed their support today, for a teacher evaluation system within the Pittsburgh Schools. The evaluation system is being funded by a $40 million grant by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But the money is in jeopardy because of opposition by the teachers union. Gathering in the cold, community leaders and parents called on the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers to adopt high standards of evaluation — saying lower standards hurt teachers, parents. “And most especially, lowering the bar isn’t good for our children who deserve the highest quality education we can provide...

St. Paul public school teachers will decide this month whether to go on strike for the first time in more than six decades. After almost nine months of negotiations that have yet to yield a contract, union leadership Monday called for a strike authorization vote. The St. Paul Public Schools district has balked at St. Paul Federation of Teachers proposals to cap class sizes and set staffing levels for counselors and other support professionals in a two-year contract. The two sides have also not agreed on a compensation package. The union's 3,200 members will weigh in on a possible walkout...

There were naked photographs in the bathtub, sexual text messages and furtive kisses exchanged during a Lincoln High School assembly. Those are among the accusations leveled against Meredith Powell, a 24-year-old math teacher who pleaded not guilty Friday to two counts of third-degree child rape and one count of communication with a minor for immoral purposes for alleged inappropriate conduct with three students.

Alert parents are becoming aware that sexual abuse of students by teachers is not just an occasional problem rather something that is happening in every state in America. However some administrators choose to ignore sexual misconduct and even when it is discovered perpetrators often go unpunished.

Philadelphia's public school system has joined several other big-city school systems, such as those in Atlanta, Detroit and Washington, D.C., in widespread teacher-led cheating on standardized academic achievement tests. So far, the city has fired three school principals, and The Wall Street Journal reports, "Nearly 140 teachers and administrators in Philadelphia public schools have been implicated in one of the nation's largest cheating scandals." (1/23/14) (http://tinyurl.com/q5makm3). Investigators found that teachers got together after tests to erase the students' incorrect answers and replace them with correct answers. In some cases, they went as far as to give or show students answers...

COLUMBUS — School districts that designate teachers and other personnel to carry hidden firearms must undergo pretraining and a psychological assessment after the fact if they use the weapon under a bill that passed the House with bipartisan support Wednesday. But opponents objected to provisions to take the issue off the collective bargaining table and questioned the wisdom of arming teachers in classrooms. “[House Bill 8] does not arm employees,” the bill’s chief sponsor, Kristina Roegner (R., Hudson), said. “Current law allows that to happen.” The bill would add off-duty law officers to those exempted from a ban on carrying...

With California facing a massive teacher pension shortfall, Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez, D-Los Angeles, unveiled an effort Wednesday he hopes would fully fund the system. An influx of revenue has allowed California to emerge from years of yawning deficits and protracted budget fights, and the pressure is mounting for the state to do something about an avalanche of liabilities that runs into the hundreds of billions.

We shall continue with our Common Core standardized exam, provided by the testing consortium Smarter Balanced. Recall that this is an eleventh-grade English Language Arts examination. Much Ado About Much Ado About Nothing It was the first day back at school after the holiday break. Our drama teacher, Mrs. Kent, handed out our next assignment: an in-depth study of a scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays. I was so excited to see that I had been assigned a scene from Much Ado About Nothing. Finally, here was my long-awaited opportunity to act out a comedy scene from Shakespeare! My joy...

Let’s put the Common Core to the test. Specifically, let’s look at a pilot standardized examination created by Smarter Balanced, one of the two testing consortia formed to create exams aligned to the Common Core, the educational regimen that prevails in forty-five states in the nation. We shall leave aside the questions of why everyone has been so quiet about what these tests will look like and whether states outsourcing testing to unaccountable agencies that will in turn dictate the curricula of the schools constitutes a gross violation of the principle of local control. For now we shall simply try...

Fairfax County Public Schools has discovered the administration mistakenly hired seven employees who were convicted felons, including a high school teacher who was once part of an international drug ring. School officials uncovered the mistake during a comprehensive search of hiring records that began in 2012 after a Madison High School special education teacher inquired if her previous conviction for helping to smuggle heroin into the United States would stall her promotion. That teacher, Deilia Butler, had joined Fairfax schools in 2006. She had admitted truthfully that she was a convicted felon on her paper application. So did the other...

Link only - Ohio House excuses schools, teachers for gun accidents

Y’know, when I was a wee lad growing up in West Texas, public schools weren’t all that bad. We started our day off with the pledge of allegiance, said prayers during football games, actually studied our nation’s founding docs, sang patriotic songs, and we celebrated the true meaning of both Christmas and Easter. In addition to that pro-American bliss, nearly everyone and their dog graduated. It’s true. Dogs were actually graduating from school back then. I know. Weird, eh? Indeed, out of our large graduating class there was only one drop out and that was my childhood buddy who left...

There’s outrage in Michigan after the union, Michigan Education Association, began fighting to win a $10,000 severance payment for a convicted child rapist. Neal Erickson, 39, was convicted of criminal sexual conduct with a minor. He was sentenced up to 30 years in prison. Erickson was the 12-year-old boy’s teacher, and molested him for three years.