Direct Education Scheduler
Carol Dement Weeks’ passion for kids a way of life
It wasn’t in the cards for Carol Dement Weeks to quit working with children when she retired after 17 years of teaching at Zebulon Middle School in 2009.
Over the years, she’s done a lot to keep kids atop her list of priorities.
“I just have a passion and love for children, and a real conviction that if children can get a good, secure start and education that it provides them with the foundation and opportunity to have a better life as they grow up,” Weeks said. “I always had that as a child growing up. I just want to give back to other people in the community by giving back to children – even adults – in any way I can and anywhere that I’m needed.”
English Learners Key to a Multi-lingual STEM Workforce
Future U.S. competitiveness will depend on how well we prepare our students and provide them the proper skills to be college and career-ready, especially when it comes to careers in the STEM fields. In the K-12 education setting, this means providing ALL students, including English Learners (ELs), access to a high-quality STEM education. Unfortunately, recent data indicate that ELs often do not have the same access to quality STEM instruction as their non-EL peers. To highlight effective practices and resources for promoting EL achievement in the STEM subjects, EDs Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA) recently hosted a one-day forum entitled, “High-Quality STEM Education for English Learners”.
Held in Washington, DC on July 11, the forum was attended by more than 65 participants who listened to presentations from individuals representing research, practice, professional organizations, and business in the STEM fields. Notable speakers included Congressman Rúben Hinojosa (D-TX) and Michelle Shearer, the 2011 National Teacher of the Year.
One big take-away from this forum is that perceptions about English Learners need to change. Rather than seeing English Learners in terms of their academic underachievement, we need to see them as an untapped resource for developing a multi-lingual STEM workforce that has the potential to keep the U.S. competiti
In New Orleans, Abramson Charter School Whistle-Blower Has Been Fired From State Job
Folwell Dunbar, a state education official who warned of problems at Abramson Science and Technology Charter School more than a year ago, confirmed Thursday that he was fired this week along with his boss at the department, Jacob Landry.
The two were let go amid a new state investigation at Abramson prompted by fresh revelations about what Dunbar and other experts found during an audit of the school carried out in April and May of 2010. State records show Dunbar let his colleagues know last year that someone associated with the school tried to offer him money during the audit, an incident that brings to light the connections that Abramson apparently shares with Turkish-run businesses and charter schools in other states. He concluding that Abramson was at the very least “terribly mismanaged” and recommended that the state board of education take away its charter.
The school has denied the bribery allegation and says it has addressed shortcomings the audit found in its special education services.
Dunbar’s account of the audit surfaced in a records request made recently by The Times-Picayune. Full Post…
Legal experts: Lawsuit forces Anoka-Hennepin to prove it responds to bullying
St. Paul, Minn. The Anoka-Hennepin School District claims it has already investigated harassment allegations brought by five students and concluded school officials in each case responded appropriately.
Now they must prove it in court, said attorneys who have advised or represented school districts in similar cases across the country.
“The keys of the defense of that lawsuit are to be able to show that they’ve taken some action to stop the bullying, to prevent it from continuing,” said Dana Fattore Crumley, a Chicago-based education law attorney. “If the situation is continuing, you have to find a way to separate the kids, and it has to be in a way where the person who’s the victim is not further victimized.”
The five current and former students on Thursday sued the Anoka-Hennepin School District, Minnesota’s largest, for allegedly failing to adequately respond to harassment for their actual or perceived sexual orientation. In the lawsuit filed by two national civil rights groups, the teens claim they were verbally abused, urinated on, stabbed with pencils and pushed against lockers.