•Chicago Schools Opens Its First Virtual Elementary School
The Illinois State Board of Education has approved the state’s first virtual public elementary school, the Chicago Virtual Charter School. The Board acted against State Superintendent Randy Dunn’s recommendation to disapprove the Chicago schools application, as well as against the opposition of the powerful Chicago Teachers Union, by voting a five-to-four approval.
Though virtual schools already exist in the United States, they usually are high schools. Several states, however, prohibit...
•Baltimore Schools Lose In Court — Ruling Favored Charter Schools
In 2005, City Neighbors and Patterson Park Public, two charter schools in Baltimore, appealed the Baltimore schools’ per student funding formula to the state board. The board ruled in their favor, and the Baltimore schools appealed the board’s decision in the Court of Special Appeals, Maryland’s second highest court. Early this month, the court ruled in favor of the charter schools, requiring Maryland school systems to spend as much money per student at charter schools as they spend at their...
•Charter Schools In Boston Are Urged To Join Boston Schools System
In an unprecedented move in April, the Boston schools launched an initiative to convert all the charter schools within the city over to their school system as pilot schools. The move was in response to the millions of funding dollars lost each year for the children who attend the charter schools. Converting the schools to pilot schools, under the jurisdiction of the Boston schools, would reclaim future dollars, as well as expand the Boston schools’ portfolio of experimental schools.
The...
•Candidate Ford Proposes New School Site For Chicago Schools
The old Brach’s plant is located at 401 N. Cicero, just north of Lake Street, in a community that has seen many of its Chicago schools closed and others placed on academic probation. The 30-plus-acre property has been vacant for three years.
LaShawn Ford is the owner of Ford Desired Real Estate and candidate for state representative of the 8th district. The democrat has an ambitious plan to use the Brach property for a new school.
In June of 2006, Ford convinced Chicago schools’ officials to...
•The Los Angeles Schools Bond Measure — Is It Needed?
On November 8th, the voters of who live in the Los Angeles schools district will be faced with their fourth proposition, called Measure Y. The $3.985 bond measure, which will be paid by property taxes, is for more planned expansion within the Los Angeles schools, allowing them to add another 25 elementary schools to the current list of 160 schools that are scheduled to be constructed by year 2012. Some of the money also is slated for other needs, such as new school buses, repairs and charter...
•Tutoring Needs Are Met In The Chicago Schools
One of the biggest problems across our nation is large classrooms and too many students falling behind in their education. There are too few teachers for individualized instruction, and generally those parents of children who fall behind cannot afford private tutoring. They personally cannot tutor their own children, in most cases, because they either lack sufficient education themselves or are too busy — sometimes working two and three jobs to support their family.
In the fall of 2005, the...
•Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation Invests $21 Million In Chicago Schools
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made an investment of $21 million in Chicago Schools to strengthen the students’ preparation for college. The gift funds the Chicago High School Redesign Initiative, which will provide for major improvements in high school curriculum and instruction to ensure the students are prepared to succeed in college and career.
Under this initiative, the coursework structure and teaching methods of 50 high schools will be transformed. The goal is to give all...
•Los Angeles Schools Strongly Opposed To Takeover By Mayor Villaraigosa
There is currently legislation AB 1381 in the state legislature that, if passed, will give the okay to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to take over a subset of the Los Angeles schools. Recently, the mayor’s school reform team announced its latest round of changes to the bill in order to sidestep some possible problems to it passing.
Last month, according to the Los Angeles Times’ August 8, 2006 article, Los Angeles Chief Legislative Analyst Gerry F. Miller made certain speculations about the bill....
•California Schools’ Audit Shows Excessive Spending And Overpayments To Chain Of Charter Schools
Superintendent of Instruction for the California schools, Jack O’Connell, initiated an audit more than a year ago into the fiscal concerns of the Options for Youth and Opportunities for Learning (OYO) schools. The OYO is a chain of independent study charter schools within the California schools system, which are privately run but funded by the state.
The OYO California schools serve students who have dropped out of the traditional high schools. They currently have about 15,000 students in 40...
•Three Houston Schools In Trouble… Public Upset Over Possible Closings
Three Houston schools have been persistently rated as unsatisfactory by state guidelines for three or more years. As with most school closing warnings across the nation, the parents, community, and elected officials with a political stake in the area are up in arms over the possibility.
Though parents want their children to attend schools within their own neighborhood, I believe the community must look at the cost of keeping these three schools open — the students are failing, unable to meet...
|
