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   | Last Updated August 26, 2008 03:49 PM

ARIZONA CALIFORNIA NEVADA BULLYING/CYBERBULLYING
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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News Briefs from the First Amendment Center

News Briefs from the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center

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