Online school reports keep parents informed
by Karina Bland - Aug. 25, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
On Fridays, Diana Dombrowski of Cave Creek signs on to her
computer to read reports on how her kids did at school that
week.
She checks e-mails from her children's teachers and uses an
online program to track her kids' daily progress. The
continually updated reports include grades, attendance and
missed assignments.
The mom of three can skip the traditional after-school queries:
Did you turn in your report? How did you do on your math test?
She already knows the answers. And her kids know she knows, so
there's no point in keeping anything from her.
A growing number of school districts, such as Cave Creek
Unified, which Dombrowski's kids attend, offer parents the
chance to monitor their children's progress via computer.
Dombrowski knows whether son Shane turned in his history report
and what daughter Brooke received in math. Such programs allow
parents to be like Santa Claus, because programs make it easy to
track nice and naughty behaviors.
With names like IgPro (InteGrade Pro) in Cave Creek, Intouch
Online in the Peoria Unified School District and PowerSchool in
the Paradise Valley Unified School District, online grading
software is used by thousands of schools across the country,
with parents monitoring their kids' progress from kindergarten
through 12th grade.
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School-unification foes plan series of forums
by Betty Reid - Aug. 25, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Preserving Phoenix School Districts, organized to fight
redistricting, plans to schedule forums on school unification.
Political-action-committee members say they want to continue the
public debate so residents are informed before the Nov. 4 vote.
PPSD was formed after the School District Redistricting
Commission canceled forums that were scheduled statewide. That
group formulated the redistricting plan.
"If the commission can't talk to the public, we can," said Paul
Lowes, chairman of PPSD. Forums have not been scheduled.
The ballot measure proposes to unify 76 Arizona high-school and
elementary-school districts into 27 statewide. In Maricopa
County, voters will decide whether 34 districts should be
unified into six K-12 districts.
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SAT scores nationally unchanged from 2007
By Gale Holland, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
8:39 AM PDT, August 26, 2008
A record number of students took the college admissions test, of
which 40% were minorities. In California, 5% more students than
last year took the SAT.
A record number of students in the high school graduating class
of 2008 took the SAT college admissions exam nationwide, scoring
on average exactly the same as their counterparts the year
before, officials said today.
Average scores for the 1,518,859 students who took all three
sections of the test, including the essay, did not budge even a
point, said officials with the College Board, the nonprofit that
owns and administers the key college admissions test.
About 40% of those who sat for the exam were minorities, up from
33% a decade ago, but the gap between average scores for black
and Mexican American students and for white and Asian American
students persisted. (The College Board reports average scores by
ethnicity as described by the test-taker.) Overall, white
students outscored Mexican American test-takers on the reading
section, 510 to 446; black students recorded an average of 438.
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Shrimp to delay school's opening
Endangered species at Vista Del Mar site
By Chris Moran
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
August 24, 2008
OTAY MESA – The discovery of endangered fairy shrimp on a vacant
lot in Otay Mesa will delay the opening of a school for at least
a year, San Ysidro School District officials say.
Before Vista Del Mar Elementary School is built on a 19-acre
vacant lot in the community of Ocean View Hills, San Ysidro
school officials must either redesign the school to avoid damage
to vernal pools where the shrimp live or buy land elsewhere to
conserve the tiny crustaceans' habitat.
Construction on Vista Del Mar had been scheduled to begin last
month so it could open next summer. But coming up with a fairy
shrimp protection plan that passes federal muster is expected to
take 18 months, said Karl Christensen, the San Ysidro district's
assistant superintendent of business services.
Tom Silva, the district's coordinator of construction, said the
currently dry pools look like tracks left by all-terrain
vehicles or motorcycles, not natural indentations.
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Students at Nevada Virtual Academy 'Log On' Back to
School; Online School Expands to Serve Grades K Through 9
LAS VEGAS,Aug. 25/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ Today
marks the first day of school for students across the state
enrolled in the Nevada Virtual Academy (NVVA). As students and
teachers "log on" to a new school year, more students will
benefit as the school recently received approval by the Nevada
State Board of Education to serve students in grades K - 3 and
grade 9. Prior to the approved expansion, the school was open to
students in grades 4-8. The tuition-free online public school
uses the curriculum, technology and professional academic
services provided by K12 Inc., the nation's leading provider of
K-12 curriculum and online school programs.
Although school starts today, families can still enroll their
children for the 2008-2009 year. Students are encouraged to
apply by September 12. Families interested in receiving more
information on NVVA, including upcoming free events and
enrollment information, can visit .
NVVA is chartered by the State Board of Education and led by the
NVVA Board of Directors, an independent group of Nevada parents
and community leaders who oversee and govern the school.
NVVA Board member Rick Gordon resides in Henderson, Nevada, and
his children have experience using the K12(R) curriculum and
NVVA.
"We're excited about the upcoming school year and pleased that
we can expand our school for students in more grades," said Rick
Gordon. "Students in grades four through eight have already
demonstrated the promise of learning in a virtual setting.
Providing the opportunity to begin online learning at an earlier
point -- and continuing that learning through grade 9 --
enhances the benefits and experience of the individualized
instructional approach and exceptional curriculum of our
school."
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Day one for Northern Nevada home schools - not
Posted: Aug 25, 2008 01:10 PM MST
John Barrette- Sunbelt Digital Media
Home school folks got folksy at a "not back to public school
brunch" in Reno's Rancho San Rafael Regional Park Monday, a
contrast with the opening of traditional track public school
classes.
There was some learning going on as well, however, to pair with
the social interacting of parents and children from Northern
Nevada Home Schools, Inc., a non-profit made up of various
sub-groups involved with the movement.
"We try to do some fun stuff," said Patti Poston of the Virginia
City Highlands. But fun combined with science is the message the
home school parent from Storey County, who is trained in
geology, tried to convey. "Science is lacking in the country.
It's sad."
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As School Year Begins, Cyber-Bullying Presents a Complex
Legal Landscape
Newswise — As students across the country prepare to return to
school, school districts face an often complicated and confusing
legal landscape on how to deal with cyber-bullies in their
schools, according to a researcher from the University of New
Hampshire.
Todd DeMitchell, professor of education, studies school
liability, adequate supervision, and responses to preventing
bullying and cyber-bullying from school administrators and state
legislatures. In addition to his research in this area,
DeMitchell has two decades of experience in K-12 as a teacher,
principal and superintendent.
According to DeMitchell, if a student is bullied at school or on
the bus, the school can take action because the student is under
the control of the school. “However, if the bullying occurs
outside of school, the situation is more complicated since the
evolution of face-to-face bullying to cyber-bullying tests the
limits of whether a public school can institute discipline for
acts — primarily speech — that occur away from school via the
Internet,” DeMitchell says.
Cyber-bullying conducted at school allows school authorities to
more easily impose discipline. The use of school equipment to
cyber-bully also makes a stronger legal argument for action by
the school. And if the student emails offensive speech to school
or downloads it at school and then distributes it, the school is
in an advantageous position regarding disciplining the student.
However, speech created at home — such as the creation of the
website — affords greater legal protection for the
cyber-bullies.
“Unfortunately, the courts have not spoken with one voice on the
issue of cyber speech or cyber-bullying,” DeMitchell says.
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Plight of Marin 'bullying' victim inspires book
Beth Ashley
Article Launched: 08/23/2008 10:38:17 PM PDT
An impulse to help a Marin girl who had been bullied by her
classmates has transformed the lives of two Mill Valley sisters
and led to a paperback book being sold nationwide.
Two years ago, sisters Emily, 18, and Sarah
Buder, 15, read a newspaper story about the plight of Olivia
Gardner, a then 13-year-old Novato girl who had been ridiculed
by her classmates and subjected to an "Olivia Haters" Web site
that drove her to change schools three times and eventually to
drop out of school altogether.
The bullying was touched off when Olivia had an epileptic
seizure at her school.
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