Moscow Education (Idaho)

“The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.”

—Margaret Thatcher

From Christina Hoff Sommers in The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Over the years, the feminist fictions have made their way into public policy. They travel from the women's-studies textbooks to women's advocacy groups and then into news stories. Soon after, they are cited by concerned political leaders. President Obama recently issued an executive order establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls. As he explained, "The purpose of this council is to ensure that American women and girls are treated fairly in all matters of public policy." He and Congress are also poised to use the celebrated Title IX gender-equity law to counter discrimination not only in college athletics but also in college math and science programs, where, it is alleged, women face a "chilly climate."

The president and members of Congress can cite decades of women's-studies scholarship that presents women as the have-nots of our society. Never mind that this is largely no longer true. Nearly every fact that could be marshaled to justify the formation of the White House Council on Women and Girls or the new focus of Title IX application was shaped by scholarly merchants of hype like Professors Lemon and Seager.

From the New York Times:

In the Potomac watershed near Washington, male smallmouth bass have rapidly transformed into “intersex fish” that display female characteristics. This was discovered only in 2003, but the latest survey found that more than 80 percent of the male smallmouth bass in the Potomac are producing eggs.

Now scientists are connecting the dots with evidence of increasing abnormalities among humans, particularly large increases in numbers of genital deformities among newborn boys. For example, up to 7 percent of boys are now born with undescended testicles, although this often self-corrects over time. And up to 1 percent of boys in the United States are now born with hypospadias, in which the urethra exits the penis improperly, such as at the base rather than the tip.

Apprehension is growing among many scientists that the cause of all this may be a class of chemicals called endocrine disruptors. They are very widely used in agriculture, industry and consumer products. Some also enter the water supply when estrogens in human urine - compounded when a woman is on the pill - pass through sewage systems and then through water treatment plants.

These endocrine disruptors have complex effects on the human body, particularly during fetal development of males.

“A lot of these compounds act as weak estrogen, so that’s why developing males - whether smallmouth bass or humans - tend to be more sensitive,” said Robert Lawrence, a professor of environmental health sciences at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “It’s scary, very scary.”

According to McClatchy News Service, a majority of college graduates 25 and under are working in jobs that don’t require a college degree.  

”I’ve never seen it this low and we’ve been analyzing this stuff for over 20 years,” said center director Andrew Sum.

And it’s going to get worse.

Employers expect to hire 22 percent fewer graduating seniors for entry-level positions this year than in 2008, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Many of the “kids” that I’ve talked to who work at rental car agencies have college degrees.

Now that’s a fine way to pay off $50,000 worth of student loans to get that poly sci degree…

The funds envisioned for open courses — $50 million a year — may be small in comparison to the other ideas being discussed. But in proposing that the federal government pay for (and own) courses that would be free for all, as well as setting up a system to assess learning in those courses, and creating a “National Skills College” to coordinate these efforts, the plan could be significant far beyond its dollars.

You think it could have significant ramifications?

HT: Dave M.

According to Ed Week: Researchers Spot Exotic New School Species in California

• 84,348: The number of California high school students enrolled in independent study.
• This represents 4% of the 2 million California high schoolers.
• Most attend 231 independent-study high schools scattered around the state.

If UI has made such a bad financial decision, why doesn’t the union pay to keep the Parma station open. Think of all the money that the union could make off of this immensely profitable venture that the UI wants to can…

From a Letter to the Editor in the Daily News:

The University of Idaho has announced it is closing of one the most successful agricultural experiment stations in the state.

Over a 20-year period, research on nematodes at the Parma station has saved farmers $8.1 million per year. Experimental plots there have led to a lucrative export market for table grapes and white peaches.

During a meeting with Parma faculty and staff June 16, John Hammel, dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, was hammered about the closure decision and his mismanagement of the station.

Ron Mann, founder of the Idaho Table Grape Association and former adviser to President Reagan, asked Hammel why the growers were not consulted.

Apple grower Jon Trail is so upset about the UI decision that he has revoked his agreement to provide scholarships for ag students from southwest Idaho. In a phone conversation, Trail told me the endowment was in the seven figures.

The Parma faculty will be transferred to the experiment station in Caldwell but the 16 staff employees will lose their jobs. The cost of building new offices for the faculty will far outweigh the $177,000 a year the UI now pays the Parma employees.

Professor Hafez says that he is glad that he still has a job, but at Caldwell, as he told a Moscow reporter, "I can't do my job." Both Hafez and Fallali need the Parma labs and technical staff to do their work.

Furthermore, there is no land at the Caldwell station for experimental plots and the 200 acres at Parma will not be maintained.

A faculty union attorney will soon prepare a restraining order to prevent the station's closure, but we hope that we can reverse this decision by lobbying the UI administration.

Nick Gier, president, IFT Higher Education Council

No surprises here at all.

From the Detroit Free Press:

A payroll audit this month at Detroit Public Schools turned up 257 names that will be subject to an investigation into illegal ghost employees, officials said Tuesday.

All of the district's estimated 13,880 workers had to pick up paychecks or direct-deposit slips in person by June 12 as a first step in determining if anyone who is not on the payroll is collecting pay.

There were 37 unclaimed paychecks and 220 unclaimed direct-deposit slips totaling about $208,000, said Odell Bailey, DPS's auditor general. He added that the recipients are not on approved leave.

Robert Bobb, DPS's state-appointed emergency financial manager, also said an audit has begun to determine if employees have unapproved health care dependents that are running up costs.

DPS is to hold a public meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at Frederick Douglass Academy, 2001 W. Warren, to reveal next year's draft budget.

HT: Chris W.

This is totally ridiculous.

They made this play in Washington State a few years ago: “think about how many people will come out to bars now that no one is smoking in them.” Never happened.

Why can’t government officials just leave citizens alone to do what they want in peace. If you want a non-smoking bar: God bless you. If you want a smoking bar: God bless you. No one is forcing you to go to either one. Have the liberty to choose.

As reported in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

Sandpiper Bar and Grill owner Paul Tousley is cautious about smoking in his bar, but said he'll halt the practice if that's what the Moscow City Council decides.

"We try to make everybody comfortable that comes in here, whether they smoke or not," Tousley said.

Moscow is considering implementing a smoking ban in bars within city limits, and a proposed ordinance was considered by the city's Administrative Committee on Monday. The committee recommended slight changes to the proposal, which will then be forwarded to the City Council.

Idaho allows smoking in bars, but permits municipalities to pass more restrictive laws.

Tousley said he and his wife are non-smokers but they respect the right of smokers to light up in their bar.

"If we didn't want smoke in here, we'd make it non-smoking," Tousley said. "But in this business, we don't want to offend anybody."

Tousley said he will go out of his way to make his outdoor patio as comfortable as possible for smokers who would be required to step out to smoke if the council approves the ban.

He said he knows bar owners in Washington who saw a drop in business when the state banned smoking in all public places in 2005, but business eventually picked up again.

"It's kind of a two-way street," Tousley said.

Roger Johnson, who owns Rico's Tavern in Pullman, said he has not seen the non-smokers who claimed they would frequent his business when Washington banned smoking in bars.

"We don't have any late-night (clientele) anymore," Johnson said.

He said patrons tend to come in earlier since the ban went into effect.

"I'm amazed at all the people who said they would go out if only there was no smoke," he said. "I've yet to see that happen."

Johnson said whether the business comes earlier or later, it is "going to be a wash." He indicated the amount of student traffic has remained about the same since the Washington ban went into effect.

Vicki Jahns, one of the owners of Mix in Moscow, said the non-smoking bar has seen a steady stream of business since it opened in October.

The decision to make Mix a non-smoking establishment was "a natural choice," Jahns said.

"We knew there was a niche for that," Jahns said. "It was something we just felt would be a welcome spot here in Moscow."

Jahns said there have not been any significant complaints about the bar's smoke-free atmosphere.

"We do have customers that are smokers," Jahns said. "People can feel free to step outside and smoke."

As a business owner, Jahns said the choice to allow smoking in a bar should be a personal one.

Part of the discussion during Monday's Administrative Committee meeting was whether it is within the city's purview to regulate smoking in private clubs as well as public bars.

Eagles Trustees Chairman Gary Cole said the lodge would have to discuss possible restrictions to its lounge during a formal meeting, but he can see an advantage to private club patrons being allowed to smoke if the practice was banned in public venues.

"It's like telling all the bars in town they can't sell beer anymore but the private clubs can," Cole said.

He anticipates an increase in the number of membership applications the Eagles receives if private clubs were made exempt under the proposed smoking ban.

"There are still a lot of people that like to smoke and a lot of people don't smoke unless they drink," Cole said. "If they can find a place to smoke, that's an advantage to private clubs" if the ban is approved.

OK, read the article the follows. I’ll translate at the bottom of this post.

As reported in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

The district received a state appropriation for next year shrunken by nearly half a million dollars. Included in that general fund appropriation is money from the state lottery that, until this year, went toward capital improvement projects.

"So we can pay teachers and use it for programs, we just can't keep the building standing," said trustee Paul Weingartner. For newer districts the funding change wouldn't be so dramatic, but it could pose a problem for a district like Moscow with older school buildings, he said.

Business manager Deb Adair said the district could technically still use that funding for capital improvements, but the overall appropriation is so reduced that scenario is unlikely.

"We could if we could afford it," she said, adding that she and other officials hope the lottery dollars will be redesignated for plant facilities projects in future years.

The change in lottery funding is coupled with a new Idaho law that consolidates election days, a change district officials and trustees say will create difficulties in passing levies and bonds.

Bond elections are notoriously difficult to pass because they require a two-thirds "super-majority." Bonds typically fund facilities projects like last summer's Genesee School expansion, and often are run several times before they pass.

That won't be possible under the new law.

In the past, MSD (and other school districts) have been as wise as serpents. They planned their bond levies at elections which would have the smallest voter turnouts; and then they would ensure that their own people were there.

By forcing the bond-levies to be voted on during the regular elections (when a lot of the elderly, those on fixed income, and other voters that wouldn’t show up for a “special” election), their influence wanes. And now they need to really have a reason for passing a levy, not just timing it for when their opponents won’t be at the polls.

As reported in the Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

• WHAT HAPPENED: The Moscow School Board approved a $22.7 million budget for the district for the 2009-10 fiscal year.
• WHAT IT MEANS: The district will start the year strong, despite cuts in state funding. Federal stimulus dollars and a solid fund balance remaining after the current year mean next year's budget is actually slightly higher than the past year's.
• WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: The district will continue to look for ways to fund facilities improvements, as a change to the funding formula moved lottery revenues that usually contribute to capital projects to beef up the general fund.
• WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: The funding change, combined with a new Idaho law consolidating election dates could make it difficult for school districts to secure funding for building improvements.

That’s convenient, since MSD will have fewer kids to educate next year.

Fewer kids; more money; time for another bond levy.

What a deal.

But that’s what you get when the unions mandate tenure for all teachers after 4 years.

Can someone please tell me why school teachers need tenure? Is it all that controversial research that they are doing?

From Fox News:

Hundreds of New York City public school teachers accused of offenses ranging from insubordination to sexual misconduct are being paid their full salaries to sit around all day playing Scrabble, surfing the Internet or just staring at the wall, if that's what they want to do.

Because their union contract makes it extremely difficult to fire them, the teachers have been banished by the school system to its "rubber rooms" — off-campus office space where they wait months, even years, for their disciplinary hearings.

The 700 or so teachers can practice yoga, work on their novels, paint portraits of their colleagues — pretty much anything but school work. They have summer vacation just like their classroom colleagues and enjoy weekends and holidays through the school year.

"You just basically sit there for eight hours," said Orlando Ramos, who spent seven months in a rubber room, officially known as a temporary reassignment center, in 2004-05. "I saw several near-fights. `This is my seat.' `I've been sitting here for six months.' That sort of thing."

Ramos was an assistant principal in East Harlem when he was accused of lying at a hearing on whether to suspend a student. Ramos denied the allegation but quit before his case was resolved and took a job in California.

Here's how you fire an incompetent teacher in NY.

This was the exhibit that Stossel used in his ABC 20/20 report on Friday.

Similar grievance procedures are in force everywhere.

http://cgood.org/i/burden/question-6.pdf

No more valedictorians to be named because it promotes competition among
students: http://www.yahoo.com/s/1090320

Note: wait for the commercial…

Terry Moe and John Chubb argue in their book Liberating Learning that cyberschools, online classes, and virtual tutoring will force change in public education.

James K. Glassman writes in a Wall Street Journal review:

Teachers unions, of course, are appalled. They know that “the new computer-based approaches to learning simply require far fewer teachers per student — perhaps half as many, and possibly fewer than that,” Messrs. Moe and Chubb write. Online charter schools employ two or three teachers per 100 students; the average public school employs 6.8 per 100. Technology also disperses teachers geographically (making them elusive for union organizers); lets in private-sector players who aren’t members of the guild; and enables outsourcing to foreign countries. For unions, technology is poison. 

And makes indoctrination much more difficult. It’s hard to indoctrinate and keep people from reading broadly when they are following the hyperlinks of research and study.

We may be getting dumber, but we sure feel good in our ignorance!

Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan. 

This is from his site: Carpe Diem

Between 1998 and 2008, the percentage of college-bound high school seniors with a GPA equal to letter grades of A+, A or A- increased from 38% to 42%, while the average SAT scores for that group decreased by 15 points from 565 to 550 for the Reading section, and by 19 points from 578 to 569 for the Math section (data here from The College Board, Table 17). 

 

This is easy to fix: no technology is allowed to be used on tests — no calculators, no cell phones, nothing. Teachers write exams that are challenging and test the math/science concepts without needing to have calculators.

My freshman college physics professor refused to allow us to use calculators on tests. All of his tests were written to test understanding of concepts with simple math numbers. He said anyone can push buttons on a calculator. It takes a real science student to understand the concepts to get the right answers.

From C|NET:

The results of a survey showing that 35 percent of middle school and high school students with cell phones have used them to cheat at school is indeed alarming. And perhaps more alarming is the finding that nearly a quarter of the students don't even think it's cheating.

Cheating is cheating regardless of whether you use technology or old-fashioned paper notes. I'm appalled that kids may be using technology to cheat in school, but I'm just as appalled at how schools are cheating kids when it comes to technology.

But in addition to admonishing kids about why it's wrong to cheat, perhaps it's also time to rethink what it means to evaluate students in the age of the Internet and omnipresent mobile devices.

The survey, which was conducted by Benenson Strategy Group for Common Sense Media, found that "41 percent (of seventh- to 12th-graders) say that storing notes on a cell phone to access during tests is cheating and a serious offense, while 23 percent don't think it's cheating at all." Similarly, 45 percent say "texting friends about answers during a test" is cheating, while 20 percent do not consider it cheating. More than a third (36 percent) said that downloading a paper from the Internet to turn in was not a serious cheating offense and nearly one-fifth didn't consider it to be cheating at all. Just more than half the kids admitted to using the Internet for some form of cheating,

HT: Randy S.

Bottom line — as you have heard here many times before — there is zero correlation between teacher salary spending and reading/math scores.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Schwarzenegger has shocked nearly everyone in Sacramento by embracing some seismic policy changes to fix the California budget for the long term. These reforms include a flat-rate income tax, a spending limitation measure with teeth, and deep cuts in wasteful spending. Yesterday he declared that he won't sign another tax increase and he will no longer allow the state to issue new short-term debt to punt its budget problems down the road. He even told the liberal Democrats who run the legislature that if they're not ready to make cuts, get ready for a long hot summer that may end in "a shutdown of all the funding -- a grind to the halt" in government.

Mr. Schwarzenegger has called for cutbacks even in education, Medicaid, prisons and pensions, heretofore the sacred cows of state politics. And why not? That's where three-quarters of the money goes and the dollars are buying far too little in results. The state has the highest teacher salaries in the nation, but the second lowest math and reading test scores, according to U.S. Department of Education data. The state spends $49,000 per prison inmate, or 50% more per criminal than the average state. 

And what does the Governator want to do to fix this? Raise taxes. Brilliant.

How about this: How about restoring services to the 2000 level including inflation.

Californians weren’t suffering from the lack of services in 2000, were they?

New PhD graduates can’t find any jobs in the US. So some are heading to American University in Iraq-Sulaimani, which has received 400 applications this year alone.

One PhD heading over to Qatar is happy that she doesn’t have to wear a veil.

From the Wall Street Journal:

The scramble for faculty jobs is prompting graduate students and newly minted Ph.D.s to look overseas.

While hiring freezes and budgets cuts pervade U.S. higher education, universities in Asia and the Middle East are hungry for candidates, often amid a dearth of native applicants. Although most advertise their faculty openings all over the world, the schools see U.S. doctorates as prestigious and useful in recruiting students as they build their reputations.

Last year, Frederick "Fritz" Monsma, who earned his doctorate in philosophy from Boston College in 2003, applied for one position in humanities after another -- only to learn that U.S. universities were canceling their searches. He eventually got an offer from American University in Iraq-Sulaimani, a private school in the country's Kurdistan region that opened in 2007. "I stopped looking elsewhere," says. Mr. Monsma. "I knew it was going to be an adventure, both in life and pedagogy."

The Iraqi university says it received between 400 and 500 applications, mostly from the U.S., this year alone, more than double the 150-200 it had last year.

Cuts in government funding and shrinking endowments are taking a toll on many U.S. universities. To cope, some have frozen hiring and increased teaching loads, prompting teaching candidates to look overseas for work.

Even in good times, many new Ph.D.s, especially in the humanities and social sciences, struggle to land a promising university position right out of school. Ph.D. recipients often cobble together fellowships, temporary positions or postdoctoral programs; the lucky land a job that might lead to tenure, which guarantees employment and academic freedom.

"The supply-demand ratio is a bit out of whack" in the academic job market in general," says Jack Schuster, a professor emeritus at Claremont Graduate University in California and an expert on the academic labor market. In this kind of economy, he adds, "things are very, very tough."

…

Jocelyn Mitchell Sage, a Ph.D. candidate in comparative politics at Georgetown University, hopes that the experience teaching and researching overseas will balance out any professional drawbacks. This year, she accepted a post as a teaching assistant at Georgetown's sister campus in Qatar next year. Ms. Mitchell, who moved to Qatar with her husband, said that while she had to adjust to the different culture, she felt comfortable living in a Muslim country, noting that foreign women aren't required to wear a veil in Qatar.

This gives a whole new meaning to the slogan “failure is not an option.”

It’s time for all administrators to read In Praise of the F-Word.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

“We have to give fake grades,” said a teacher at Mastbaum High in Kensington. “The pressure is very real.”

A teacher at University City High described getting pressure from the school’s administrators to pass a student who had 89 absences over a half-year.
…
Schools are now judged on many criteria, including the number of students who pass.
…
Teachers also blasted a district policy that requires them to give every student at least a 50 even if he or she didn’t attend class or do the work. At some schools, teachers said, the minimum grade is 60. Passing is 65.

From the Idaho Statesman:

No surprise here. The University of Idaho has put Marie Bulgin on paid administrative leave while investigating comments made by the controversial head of the U of I's Caine Veterinary Teaching Center.

Bulgin - a past president of the Idaho Wool Growers Association - has said that there is no evidence that wild bighorn sheep can contract disease from domestic sheep. This is a controversial claim in wildlife circles. Bulgin has made that assertion in federal court and in legislative hearings, even though the Caine center has had evidence to the contrary since 1994.

Bulgin has said she was unaware of the unpublished study suggesting a disease link.

"(Bulgin) will not be involved in research projects on sheep and sheep-related diseases, nor publish or otherwise disseminate research materials regarding sheep or sheep-related diseases pending the outcome of the university's investigation," the university said in a statement issued Wednesday.

I'm not sure the U of I had much of a choice - but the damage may be done. This mess is already hurting the Caine center.

The Cody, Wyo.-based Wild Sheep Foundation is rethinking whether it wants to fund Caine center research. "We would be better using our interest and funding to go somewhere else where they are going to truly do science and not pull this mess that Bulgin has done," foundation director Neil Thagard told the Lewiston Tribune.

University research relies on the ability to find funding partners. Donors simply aren't going to want to put their money into research labs that have a bias, real or perceived.

Beyond the what-did-she-know-and-when-did-she-know-it Bulgin investigation, it's a good time for the U of I and incoming president Duane Nellis to take a good look at the wisdom of having a research lab director who has such close ties to industry. 

Recall that Larry Summers was booted from Harvard for saying the following:

"It does appear that on many, many different human attributes- height, weight, propensity for criminality, overall IQ, mathematical ability, scientific ability - there is relatively clear evidence that whatever the difference in means - which can be debated - there is a difference in the standard deviation, and variability of a male and a female population."

He broke the cardinal rule in academia: gender differences are only skin deep — remove the sex organs and everyone is the same.

But two economists from the London School of Economics and Helsinki School of Economics have Analyzed standardized test scores in reading and mathematics from the OECD’s "Program for International Student Assessment" (PISA), a survey of 15-year olds in 41 industrialized countries.

See their Global Sex Differences in Test Score Variability (summary here).

This is what the authors found:

Our analysis of international test score data shows a higher variance in boys' than girls' results on mathematics and reading tests in most OECD countries. Higher variability among boys is a salient feature of reading and mathematics test performance across the world. In almost all comparisons, the age 15 boy-girl variance difference in test scores is present. This difference in variance is higher in countries that have higher levels of test score performance.

Sex differences in means are easier to characterize: It is evident from the PISA data that boys do better in mathematics, and girls do better in reading. This has a compositional effect on the variance differences as well. The higher boy-girl variance ratio in mathematics comes about because of an increased prevalence of boys in the upper part of the distribution, but the higher variance in reading is due to a greater preponderance of boys in the bottom part of the test score distribution. Because literacy and numeracy skills have been shown to be important determinants of later success in life (for instance, in terms of earning higher wages or getting better jobs), these differing variances have important economic and social implications.

We therefore confirm that 15-year-old boys do show more variability than girls in educational performance, with specifics that differ according to whether mathematics or reading are being studied and tested. These results imply that gender differences in the variance of test scores are an international phenomenon and that they emerge in different institutional settings.

Looks like gender differences exist, just as people have known for millenia.

 Via Carpe Diem

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools has published their “Charter Dashboard.”

There are some interesting findings:

• More than 1.4 million students now attend over 4,600 public charter schools in 40 states and the District of Columbia
• The student population has grown 11% and the number of schools has grown 8% since one year ago (2007-2008)
• 62% of public charter school students are non-white and 48% qualify for free and reduced price lunch (compared with 47% non-white and 45% free and reduced price lunch in all non-charter schools)
• While 56% of students attend charter schools in large cities, a growing percentage of students are enrolled in charter schools in rural areas (14% compared with 11% five years ago)
• Nearly 30% of students attend charter schools with non-traditional grade configurations, such as Kindergarten through 12th grade (compared with less than 7% of non-charter school students)
• Nationally, the average public charter school has been open 6.2 years
• As of the 2008-2009 academic year, 23% of charter schools have been open at least 10 years. Four years ago, only 7% of charter schools had been open more than 10 years

It is not politically insignificant that the BSU President is being paid more than the UI President.

The following article ran in the Lewiston Tribune.

Boise State University President Bob Kustra has quickly caught up salary-wise with his Moscow counterpart.

With 6-1 approval of the State Board of Education on Thursday, Kustra's base, state-funded salary of $299,410 will be supplemented with $37,000 from the BSU foundation. His total salary of $336,410 just edges University of Idaho President-designate Duane Nellis' $335,000 salary, which is supplemented with $37,000 in UI Foundation dollars. 

The following letter to the editor appeared in today’s Moscow-Pullman Daily News:

I agree with the editorial (Daily News, June 15) that our state needs to move forward on math and science standards and assessment. However, a major point has been lost in the emotion and politics involved in education.

As we have focused recently on the implementation of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, most people remain unaware that improved standards have already been implemented and are in wide use across the state.

The new learning standards in literacy, math and science were initiated by HB 1209 back in the early 1990s, and many professional organizations and science educators developed new standards and embarked on a decade of broad teacher and administrator training in them.

So why have SAT/ACT scores continued to fall?

Why have employers seen weaker and weaker graduates from the government school?

Why were graduates from the 50’s so much more academically strong than graduates from the 90’s and 00’s?

Because the literacy standards were (rightfully) introduced first, many districts spent a lot of time on those, in some cases to the detriment of math and science. But many districts have "done it all" and improved in all areas.

Nevertheless, even if the WASL changes again or is delayed, the actual teaching and learning for improved math and science skills is ongoing, and students in Washington are improving on a number of measures.

Let's stop confusing the test with the standards. Talk to your children's teachers and administrators. If your district is not doing as well as you think it should, go to Office of the Superintendant of Public Instruction and find the districts that are and learn from them.

Find out about the excellent curricula and educational materials and teachers that are out there in many districts.

The math and science standards can be found on the OSPI Web site, and I'd be happy to answer any questions myself.

John P. McNamara, Pullman 

Good thing we have politicians around to take care of our dressing needs.

From WKMG Orlando:

A Florida city has written common sense into its employee dress code: Wear underwear to work.

The Brooksville city council recently approved a revised dress code as part of its effort to update existing policies.

The revision instructs employees to observe "strict personal hygiene," including the use of deodorant. It lists "the observable lack of undergarments and exposed undergarments" as "unacceptable attire."

It also prohibits clothing with foul language or messages promoting drug use, "sexually provocative" garments, halter tops and piercings anywhere except the ears.

Repeat offenders can be fired.

The city council approved the dress code 4-1. Mayor Joe Bernadini opposed the revision, saying the underwear edict "takes away freedom of choice."

HT: Bill J.

Feel free to add your voice to over 70,000 others concerning the direction our country is headed.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/8/an-open-letter-to-our-nations-leadership

Christians should call for Ascension Day, or Maundy Thursday, or Good Friday off.

From the Stanten Island Advance:

It's not easy having to choose between religion and education. Some would even say it's not fair.

But for those people whose religious holidays aren't recognized by the public school system, that's the choice they have to make.

Yesterday, the City Council's Education Committee advocated to eliminate that dilemma -- at least for Muslim families. The committee passed a resolution that would call upon the city Department of Education to incorporate two major Muslim holidays into the school calendar. The committee has also been pushing for the introduction of a state law that would require schools to close on those two days.

The 10-1 vote, with Councilman Oliver Koppell (D-Bronx) voting no, came with concerns from some council members that giving children two more days off would negatively impact their education. Some said they were voting in favor with the hope that the school calendar would be extended so students wouldn't lose out on classroom time.

The two holidays are Eid ul-Fitr, a day of giving thanks, and Eid ul-Adha, a day of remembrance.

"This is about being inclusive," said Education Committee Chairman Robert Jackson. "This is about the city of New York being flexible to understand that the diversity of our city is complimented when we can include all holidays into the school calendar.”

HT: Dave G.

This is what happens when bureaucrats are in control of education. The least of their concerns is real education.

From the U.K. Daily Mail:

Pupils made to wear goggles to handle Blu Tack as health and safety reaches 'ridiculous' new heights

Children are being made to wear goggles before handling Blu Tack and are forbidden to run in the playground as a health and safety culture sweeps through schools.

A survey of nearly 600 teachers revealed the most restrictive rules being imposed in an attempt to avoid injuries and lawsuits.

Pupils at one school are forced to put on goggles before using Blu Tack to prevent them rubbing the common adhesive into their eyes.

In another, teachers are given a five-page briefing note on the dangers of Pritt Stick before they may use it with their charges.

Generations of youngsters who made things out of empty egg boxes will be dismayed to learn that some schools have banned them for fear of salmonella poisoning.

And many teachers reported bans on footballs, snowball fights, conker games and running in the playground.

Nearly half of teachers and classroom assistants polled by Teachers TV believe health and safety regulations are holding children back at school.

The findings emerged days after the Local Government Association urged parents and schools to shake off the 'cotton wool' culture.

It vowed that town halls would not 'bow to the compensation culture' and would build new adventure-playgrounds.

Judith Hackitt, chairman of the Health and Safety Executive, said the examples cited were 'frankly ridiculous'.

HT: Dave G.