SCHOOLS - Rethinking Sex Ed

"Some schools are rethinking sex ed with lessons on consent" PBS NewsHour 7/10/2018

IMHO:  What is needed is teaching boys that girls are NOT for putting 'notches on their gun,' and teaching girls that popularity should NOT being a 'notch on a boy's gun.'

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  The changing culture around sexual harassment and the #MeToo movement has some states and school districts rethinking their sex ed curriculum to include healthy relationships, preventing violence and ensuring consent.  Special correspondent Lisa Stark of Education Week visits a Washington, D.C., school that is committed to comprehensive sexuality education.

BALTIMORE - Failing Schools & Corrupt Cops

"Freezing classrooms spark heated debate over Baltimore’s school infrastructure" PBS NewsHour 2/13/2018

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SUMMARY:  Baltimore City Public Schools faced outrage from parents after images emerged of students wearing coats in a freezing classroom.  More than a third of schools reported a lack of heat this winter during a cold snap, and that’s just one of the many problems plaguing the school system’s crumbling infrastructure, underscoring a larger debate about long-term funding and investment.  John Yang reports.

"How corrupt Baltimore cops used the badge to steal" PBS NewsHour 2/13/2018

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Two Baltimore city police officers were convicted in federal court on Monday on charges including racketeering and robbery, as part of a brazen corruption scandal.  Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force were tasked with getting illegal guns off the street, but used their authority to target people for theft.  John Yang talks to Jayne Miller of WBAL-TV about the debate on how the city police force needs to change.

PUERTO RICO - The Student Exodus

"Puerto Rico’s education system hangs in the balance amid Hurricane Maria exodus" PBS NewsHour 2/6/2018

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SUMMARY:  More than 50,000 students are expected to leave Puerto Rico for the mainland to continue their education.  With hundreds of schools expected to close, the mass exodus has major consequences for the education system, and some see the storm as pretext to replace the public system with charter schools and introduce private investment.  Special correspondent Monica Villamizar reports.

LAB WORK - After School Club, Rhode Island

"After-school STEM programs inspire kids to keep learning" PBS NewsHour 11/14/2017

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SUMMARY:  At an after-school STEM Club in Rhode Island, students are working on an engineering challenge -- because they want to be.  The low-stakes, fun environment offers time for exploration when resources or hands-on activities may be in short supply during school hours, and can help sustain interest as classes get harder.  Special correspondent Lisa Stark of Education Week reports.

EDUCATION - Making the Grade

"School district tries making its police ‘more guardian than warrior'" PBS NewsHour 1/24/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  Since the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, there's been an increased police presence at schools.  But that presence has also sparked concerns.  According to a recent analysis, black students are more likely to be arrested on campus than their white counterparts.  Special correspondent Kavitha Cardoza of Education Week reports on how the Saint Paul public schools are changing their approach.

KAVITHA CARDOZA, Special correspondent:  Minnesota — it's known for the Vikings, Lake Wobegon, and being nice.

But, in the past year, a series of violent interactions within the St. Paul school system has taken center stage, school fights, teacher assaults, and one incident where a visiting student was arrested for trespassing, all caught on cell phones and, of course, widely shared on social media.

Teachers threatened to strike, the superintendent was fired, and more than 100 students walked out in protest.

Makkah Abdur Salaam is a senior.

MAKKAH ABDUR SALAAM, Student:  The truth is, I don't feel safe around police.  Like, it's point blank, period.

KAVITHA CARDOZA:  Students like Saffiyah Al'Aziz Muhammed say rocky police-civilian relations have filtered down to schools all over the country.

SAFFIYAH AL'AZIZ MOHAMMED, Student:  Us seeing all this police brutality in the media, and then going to school, and then your interactions with school police aren't good, it's kind of, like, traumatizing a little bit.

KAVITHA CARDOZA:  Nationwide, there were nearly 70,000 arrests during the 2013 school year.  And, in most states, black students are far more likely to be arrested, according to an analysis of federal data by the Education Week Research Center.

One reason might be that they are far more likely to be in schools with police officers.

Laura Olson is trying to change the relationship between students and police officers in St. Paul schools.

LAURA OLSON, Saint Paul Public Schools:  If students don't feel safe when they come to school, they're not going to be in a position to learn.

KAVITHA CARDOZA:  One of the first things she did?  Change the uniforms.

Some students expressed that they felt uncomfortable, kind of that paramilitary look.  So, over the summer, instead of the hard military-style blue and metal badge, they moved to a more soft blue polo shirt with stitched-on badge.

Officers, known as School Resource Officers, are still armed and carry Tasers, but Olson hopes this softer look makes them more approachable.

Another change?  Clarify when SRO's should step in and when should they step aside.

PHILADELPHIA - Crippled Schools

My question, how much is your child's education worth to you?  My answer, whatever it takes.

"Philadelphia schools crippled by budget crisis" PBS NewsHour 10/3/2014

Excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF (NewsHour):  It’s a tough time to be a student, a teacher or a parent in the Philadelphia public schools.  The nation’s eighth largest school system is experiencing a severe budget crisis.

Special correspondent for education John Tulenko of Learning Matters looks at the impact hitting the classroom and what’s being done about it.

JOHN TULENKO, Learning Matters:  Last month, about 1,000 ninth graders marched to the football field at Northeast High School for a very different kind of kickoff ceremony.

WOMAN:  We are doing a mock graduation.  It’s an opportunity for our incoming ninth grade class to make a commitment.  We want to put the urge in them that they promise they are going to be right back here in June 2018.

JOHN TULENKO:  But hanging over this ceremony and the odds students will graduate is a school budget crisis that’s been called the worst in the country.  Northeast has 3,000 students and two principals, Sharon McColskey and Linda Carroll.

SHARON MCCOLSKEY, Northeast High:  In past years, operating budgets were probably 10 times what ours is right now, if not more.

Just the thought of opening the schools with what we have in the bank, real or in our budget, was really scary.

LINDA CARROLL, Northeast High:  You know, we’re hoping that money will be coming, but I don’t know.  We don’t have enough to even carry us through the end of this month, actually.

JOHN TULENKO:  Since 2011, when the cutting began, Northeast High School’s budget for extracurricular activities has dropped to zero, its budget for books zero, and for supplies to $14,000.  That’s roughly $5 per student to last the entire year.

What is that supposed to pay for?

SHARON MCCOLSKEY:  Everything that makes the school run, books, supplies, toner, ink, paper.

LINDA CARROLL:  Lab equipment, textbooks.

SHARON MCCOLSKEY:  Technology.

EDUCATION - Traditional Public Schools Under Same Roof With Charter Schools

"In Houston, traditional public school shares ideas and a roof with charter schools" PBS NewsHour 7/22/2014

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SUMMARY:  Charter schools have often been seen as a threat to traditional schools, diverting resources and students to these publicly funded but privately run institutions.  In Houston, Texas, the superintendent of one school district has invited competing charter schools to set up shop alongside a regular middle school.  Special correspondent John Merrow reports on their evolving partnership.