Scholarships Grants

Applications for Perry County high school graduate scholarships are available at Western Egyptian Outreach office and will be accepted until June 30 at the Du Quoin outreach office.

View full post on All Stories

Trenton, NJ, United States (AHN) – Trenton Public Schools officials are working to continue bus service for students after transportation workers started a sick-out late in the week.

As state budget wrangling continues, the district is moving ahead with plans to privatize its school bus service, contending it could save about $2 million.

About half (15) of the district’s 29 transportation workers reportedly called in sick Thursday, though the number was reduced to about a third (9) Friday according to a school official. The 29 are a part of 196 school employees who recently learned they would lose their jobs to reduce the district’s school budget.

A report in the Trentonian stated 300 to 400 students missed school due to the school bus situation.

“So each of the (seven) drivers had to make three different runs, but that only covers 21 schools. There are 36 schools. Some students have to go to special schools as far out as Neptune. It’s a terrible mess. Kids are calling on the phones, left to stay at home, no way to get to school. Their parents have to take a bus to work, so they drop their child off, counting on a school bus to take them to school. Often they’re not picked up,” a source told the paper.

A school official admitted as much in a letter posted on the district’s website and sent home with students.

“We are experiencing a job action among our bus drivers,” interim superintendent Raymond Broach wrote. “This is causing delays in the pickup and delivery of our students and in some cases, (we’re) not picking up at all.”

With the drivers losing their jobs anyway, they will likely not be punished for their actions and the district will call upon drivers from other companies it has deals with — Rick Bus Co. and Delaware Valley Bus Line — to cover the gap in service, according to a report on nj.com.

Trenton Public Schools may get $12 million in additional school funding due to a recent action by the state legislature, but will still seek an outside vendor for its school bus service.

View full post on Education Stories

Andover, MN, United States (AHN) – Two national civil rights groups are planning on suing the Anoka-Hennepin school district if school officials don’t properly address anti-gay harassment. The Southern Poverty Law Center and National Center for Lesbian Rights say they have proof that students in the district have faced harassment for being gay or perceived as gay and that harassment violates federal law.

Lawyers for the two civil rights groups which sued the district earlier this year in a separate case sent a letter Tuesday to Anoka-Hennepin superintendent Dennis Carlson warning of possible legal action.

According to the letter the two groups have had the district, the largest in the state under investigation for some time and found that students who are or perceived to be gay or lesbian are in jeopardy and in a hostile environment when they’re at school. They were originally contacted by students and alumni who sought help.

Sam Wolfe an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights group said Anoka-Hennepin is breaking federal law by allowing such a culture to exist.

“On a daily basis they’re going into the schools and into the hallways — other kids are calling them names, such as ‘faggot’ and other names about either their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” Wolfe said in an MPR report. “And it’s a continual thing.”

The letter goes on to list examples of harassment of at least three unnamed current or former students. It remains unknown how many other clients could be represented by the groups if a settlement can’t be reached.

Wolfe said his group will sue Anoka-Hennepin unless district officials compensate his clients and repeals a district policy that requires staff to be neutral in dealing with sexual orientation. The so called “neutrality policy” allows sexual orientation to be discussed but stipulates teachers to remain neutral.

“The policy ties the hands of these teachers,” Wolfe said. “Some of these kids are being relentlessly harassed.”

District spokeswoman Mary Olson said school district leaders believe their policy is legal.

In a Star Tribune report she said people have different view points on whether “homosexuality is appropriate.” She added, “I don’t think by eliminating the neutrality policy we’re going to eliminate bullying.

The board stance is they don’t see a connection between the two. However civil rights proponents hope with the threat of a lawsuit they will reevaluate their position and repeal the policy.

View full post on Education Stories

Honolulu, HI, United States (AHN) – A shooting at a Hawaii middle school on Monday ended with one student injured.

According to KITV, a 14-year-old was showing a gun to his friends at Highlands Intermediate School when one student brushed the weapon away with his hand, causing the gun to go off.

The bullet went through a student’s jacket, ricocheted off a wall and grazed another student’s hand and leg. Only one student was injured, and the teen who brought the weapon was taken into police custody.

The gun, a .45 caliber Glock semi-automatic pistol, was registered to a man who had lost it in December but did not report it stolen or missing until Monday, KHON reported.

Classes at Highlands Intermediate School, located in Pearl City, continued as normal after the accident, prompting concerns from some parents about how school officials handled the emergency.

View full post on Education Stories

Shelton, CT, United States (AHN) – A Connecticut honors student who was banned from his high school prom after a creative proposal backfired has had the ban reversed.

The incident sparked hundreds of thousands of people to post support notes on Facebook and the matter garnered more than 10,000 tweets on Twitter. The incident also sparked a national debate as it made headlines around the world.

As of this morning, the Facebook page for “Let James Tate Go To Prom” was “liked” by more than 195,000 people, and another page selling Tate-for-prom-king-type T-shirts is growing.

Finally, officials at Shelton High backed down from their hard-line stance against James Tate.

After nearly a week of international pressure, on Saturday Beth Smith, the headmaster of the public high school, gave in to what she called “international notoriety” and reversed the school’s decision, allowing Tate to take his date, Sonali Rodrigues, to the prom.

Tate a senior, was banned from the prom by school administrators after he posted cardboard letters on the side of the school that read, “Sonali Rodrigues Will You Go To Prom With Me? HMU [Hit Me Up] – Tate.”

His school considered the move a safety risk and trespassing. The school has a policy that anyone suspended after April 1 isn’t allowed to attend special events.

View full post on Education Stories

Canal Winchester, OH, United States (AHN) – Two Ohio boys were kicked off the school bus for passing gas and being a disruption.

The incident happened on Thursday and according to one of the boys’ father caused riders to laugh, heckle and of course roll their windows down.

James Nichols in a report with the Columbus Dispatch said they boys were considered repeat offenders because a driver had warned them after a similar indiscretion weeks ago.

However this time officials at Canal Winchester Middle School intervened and deemed it was an obscene gesture that violated the student code of conduct. They were banned for a day from riding.

Nichols on the other hand calls the whole thing “laughable” the kids would be subject to disciplinary action for something natural and unintentional. His wife who was recently hospitalized with gastro-intestinal issues was offended by the whole thing.

View full post on Education Stories

Shelton, CT, United States (AHN) – A high schooler’s prom date request has led him to be suspended and, even though the girl said yes, he’s not allowed at prom.

James Tate was suspended from Shelton High School for hanging 12-inch cardboard letters on the outside façade of the school asking classmate Sonali Rodrigues to be his prom date.

The message read, “Sonali Rodrigues, Will you go to prom with me? HMU [Hit Me Up] Tate.”

His school considered the move a safety risk and trespassing.

The school has a policy that anyone suspended after April 1 isn’t allowed to attend special events.

Tate said he took every precaution when he posted the message early Friday, sometime between 1 and 3 a.m.

“I had one friend hold the ladder while the other put double-sided tape on the letters,” he told the Connecticut Post. Tate also said he wore a helmet.

As for the claim that he trespassed on school grounds, he said he didn’t enter the school at all. While the front gates to the school were locked, Tate said he and his friends were able to get onto the grounds on a footpath.

Despite breaking the school’s rule, he’s garnered tremendous support. Even the mayor and the Connecticut governor say the case should get a second look.

However, the principal isn’t budging. Dr. Beth Smith is unrelenting in her decision. That has garnered Smith a lot of criticism for her decision to ban James from the dance. More than 130,000 followers voiced their displeasure on a Facebook page called “Let James Tate Go To the Prom.”

View full post on Education Stories

Koriyama, Fukushima, Japan (AHN) – School authorities in Fukushima started removing the topsoil from playgrounds on Wednesday. The soil was exposed to radiation leaks from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor plant.

School authorities decided to remove the surface soil because tests showed that radiation levels exceeded 3.8 microsieverts per hour at the elementary and junior high schools and 3 microsieverts at the nurseries. The Education and Science Ministry set limits at 3.8 microsieverts.

Soil will be removed at 15 elementary and junior high schools, and 13 nursery schools in the prefecture.

The removed soil will be sent to local landfills.

On Wednesday, Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the port of Minamisanriku, where more than 1,350 residents are missing or dead. This is the imperial couple’s first visit to the region, although they have been to other earthquake-affected areas in the south.

The town has about 20,000 residents. Over 3,800 houses in Minamisanriku were destroyed by the magnitude 9 tremor. About 200 residents still live in a local gymnasium.

The royal couple will visit the Iwate and Fukushima Prefectures next week.

View full post on Education Stories

Houston, TX, United States (AHN) – Three students were injured after an accidental shooting at a Texas elementary school. Tuesday.

According to authorities, a 6-year-old boy brought a loaded firearm to Betsy Ross Elementary in northeast Houston. During lunch, the gun accidentally discharged a single bullet, striking the student in the leg and harming a 5-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy.

Local television station FOX26 said the students were not critically injured, but were taken from school on stretchers.

The school was temporarily placed on lockdown during the situation.

Approximately 471 students attend Betsy Ross Elementary. Two-thirds of students are African American, while Hispanic students account for a third. In the 2009-10 school year, 96 percent of students qualified for free lunch, while 49 percent were classified as “at risk.”

View full post on Education Stories

Durham, NH, United States (AHN) – About 500 students walked out of Oyster River High School Thursday morning in protest of the school board’s decision not to hire a new principal.

Principal Laura Rogers, who has been at the school for five years, said she would not be returning next school year.

The school board received more than 40 applications for a new principal.

Justin Campbell, an administrator in Milford, was finally nominated by the superintendent, despite his nomination not being fully supported by the board.

A large crowd showed up to a school board meeting Wednesday night to support Campbell.

None of the students were disciplined for the walkout on Thursday, which lasted approximately 45 minutes. They walked to the School Administrative Unit building, a block away from the high school.

According to board members, the students were courteous.

Although no formal reason was given for the board’s split decision, members speculate it was due to budget issues.

The hiring process will begin again in the search for a new principal.

View full post on Education Stories