Education

A new law in Missouri will make it illegal for teachers and students in that state to have private relationships on social media sites like Facebook. The idea is to discourage sexual contact, though the social networking language is buried within:  "Teachers also cannot have a non-work-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student." Should teachers and stu

Remember Natalie Munroe, the Pennsylvania teacher suspended for blogging about her lazy, disengaged, whiny students? She's been cleared to go back to work in the fall. Her suspension touched off a polarizing debate. Should teachers be able to express their thoughts about students in a personal blog?

18-year-old Kymberly Wimberly has the highest grade point average in her class, but she claims she's being denied the opportunity to be its sole valedictorian - because she's black. In her lawsuit against the McGehee School District in Arkansas, its principal, and superintendent, Kymberly says she was forced to share the valedictorian title with a white student, whose GPA is lower.

Governor Snyder's daughter attends a private school - Greenhills School, in Ann Arbor.  The annual tuition? $20,000.  However, that's apparently not enough.  The school has posted a video on YouTube appealing for funds. Ironic, don't you think, when you consider the fact that Governor Snyder just signed legislation which will cut per-pupil funding for Michigan public school students by $370, bring

Students and staff may have to participate in drug testing if a policy gets passed at Powers Catholic High School. According to WNEM, the principal mentioned the possibility of  a policy to board members, but nothing has been finalized.

With another school district dealing with budget problems, comes some good news for eight teachers who were called back after being put on the layoff list in Davison. Employee concessions in health care costs helped make this happen, according to The Flint Journal.

It's the end of the school year, which means time for high school senior pranks. This time, students at a school in San Antonio injured a teacher after attempting a prank. The flash mob started out with students chanting and yelling in the hallways, but then it got out of control and three kids were arrested for the incident. Check out the video to see how it goes wrong.

Some good news and bad news for the Flint School district. The good news is - 13 staff members have been called back after being put on the layoff list. The bad news is that the school board hasn't finalized their budget and there could be more changes, according to ABC-12.

Montrose School District was in the news last week for adding more layoffs and planning to get rid of the bus system in order to salvage their budget. Now, PETA has made them an offer, where they would place ads in the school to stop dissection of animals and in return they would pay the district money that could help with their budget problem.

Flushing School District has been recognized as a national reference site for a new literacy program that will be used starting next year, known as the Fast ForWord program. The Flint Journal reports that the school district has been using the program for the past five years.

First layoffs and now the elimination of buses could be happening in the Monstrose School District. ABC-12 reports that the district already planned to layoff 28 teachers last month, but now they're laying off another 17 and may need to cut busing to save the district money.

The letter to the editor below, published by the Gratiot County Herald, makes some extremely good points - especially when comparing the $30,000 to $40,000 spent annually on each of Michigan's prisoners, to the amount spent each year on school students. Take a look at the letter, from Ithaca Public Schools Superintendent Nathan Bootz, after the break.  Bravo, Mr. Bootz, Bravo!