Free Republic

SALCAJA, Guatemala -- Working and going to school have become optional in this highland Guatemalan town, thanks to a flood of U.S. dollars sent home by migrants living in the United States. The family-run mills that produce brightly colored, hand-woven traditional fabrics have fallen quiet as their potential work force -- mostly young men -- hang out at the town's pool halls or video game salons, living off remittances and waiting to make their own journeys north. "Kids have easy money, and the only thing they know how to do is spend it on video games," complained Salcaja Mayor Miguel...

They may not get into the city’s best public schools, but they’re gonna die trying. Parents are so desperate to get their children into coveted public middle and high schools that they are sending them in sick — even with dangerous flu symptoms — because absences count when it comes to admissions, an advocacy group said Monday. While city education officials publicly tell parents to keep their kids home, they allow many of the schools to set their own admissions policies — which can put much more weight on attendance than actual school performance, according to Community Education Council 2...

Stephen Knolls School suffered the ignominy of failure under federal law in 2006 and 2007 for low test scores. This year, the Kensington school finally made the grade in reading and math -- only to be sanctioned for poor attendance. The challenge in this case is not truancy. Stephen Knolls serves medically fragile children with severe physical and cognitive disabilities, such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida and Rett syndrome. SNIP Nine Stephen Knolls students missed 50 or more days of school last school year, some to complications from surgery, others from prolonged respiratory illness or the pain of muscle contractures....

SCOTTS VALLEY - Parents whose kids take a day off from school will be asked to open their wallets. That will be $36.13, please. Desperate to hold on to every penny of state funding, Scotts Valley Unified School District leaders are asking parents to make a donation to the district for the amount it loses every time a student is absent for a reason other than illness. They say such absences cost the district $223,500 last school year. ``When parents keep their kids out of school, it's difficult for the child,'' Superintendent Susan Silver said. ``But it's also a cost...