END PUBLIC SCHOOLING?
(October 1998) Marshall Fritz, Director of the Alliance for the Separation of School & State, Fresno, California, www.sepschool.org/Other/nr19981030.html, released a poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, International, Princeton, N.J. that showed 27% of Americans “support repealing compulsory school attendance and ending tax support for schooling.” The percentage jumped to 57% when they “were assured that there would be enough private scholarships available so that all poor and disadvantaged students had the chance to go to better schools than today.”

PARENTING STYLE AFFECTS PRESCHOOLERS’ AGGRESSION
(September 2000) A longitudinal study conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health and reported in the September issue of Developmental Psychology, suggests that empathy helps prevent aggressive preschoolers from continuing along an aggressive trajectory. The study further finds that an authoritarian maternal parenting style seems to play an important role in extinguishing a child’s primitive empathy. http://www.apa.org/journals/dev/900ab.html.

WINNIE-THE-POOH DIAGNOSED
(December 2000) The Canadian Medical Association, http://www.cma.ca/cmaj/vol-163/issue-12/1557.htm, published a tongue-in-cheek analysis of the Hundred Acre Wood, made famous by the Winnie-the-Pooh series, “a forest where neurodevelopmental and psychosocial problems go unrecognized and untreated.” Pooh himself is seen as possibly having ADHD, OCD, Tourette’s syndrome and perhaps a type of “Shaken Bear Syndrome,” possibly causing his cognitive struggles. Christopher Robin, though not with diagnoses, does have issues such as absence of parental supervision, the questionable practice of spending his time talking to animals, and possible future gender identity issues, as suggested by the naming of Winnie-the-Pooh.

LAWSUIT AGAINST SWAT TEAMS
(January 16, 2001) The Latimes.com, http://www.latimes.com, reported an attorney was set to file a lawsuit in federal court that could have the outcome of ending the role of paramilitary units in drug cases. The case stems from a September 13th incident in Modesto where an 11 year-old boy was killed by an apparently accidental shotgun blast to his back while sprawled on the floor. The action occurred when a special weapons and tactics SWAT team was serving a drug warrant on the boy’s father. No drugs or weapons were found in the home, and the father has denied guilt in the drug charges.

SCHOOL VIOLENCE EXAGGERATED?
(February 7, 2001) Richard Rothstein, writing in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/07/national/07LESS.html, describes the concern about school violence that sometimes is described as a “Plague.” He says: “the plague is more myth than reality…schools are among the safest places for children to be. Of the 2,000 killings of children a year, only about 10 occur in or near schools.”

STUDENT CODE OF SILENCE BREAKING?
(February 10, 2001) The New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/10/national/10RAMP.html, reported that while in the past students felt reluctant to report fellow students’ activities to adults, the memory of the Columbine shootings has resulted in students reporting scary behavior. This has resulted in arrests that “police say averted three potential school massacres.”

NO EXCUSES SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY
(February 12, 2001) A New Zealand publication, http://www.theschooldaily.com/articleView.asp?
articlePK=5412, reports what they see as a growing international movement based on “the growing sophistication of parents who want their children to be educated in high performing schools.” Calling it the No Excuses Philosophy, the article points to its start in America’s Black community. It features “extended days; enrichment programmes; extended years; catch-up programmes; after school homework programmes; weekend programmes; frequent contacts between home and school, with social promotion effectively eliminated.”

NO MORE SCHOOL BOARDS?
(February 13, 2001) Author Jay Mathews, in his Washington Post Column, points out that in many areas of the country, the city, state and counties are taking over the function of public school boards, which he sees as an improvement. http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/education/A64082-2001Feb13.html.

FOUNDATION PULLS OUT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
(February 14, 2001) The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, which has been contributing toward systemic school reform for three decades, “will phase out its work in public schools.” Foundation officials said one of the reasons for this decision was, “the profoundly difficult task of forging lasting improvement in a system resistant to change.” The foundation “will focus their $20 million in annual grants solely on youth development.” http://edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=22clark.h20.

DARE CHANGES STRATEGY
(February 15, 2001) DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), is a program used in 75% of school districts in the USA and in 54 other countries to discourage drug use among school children. Responding to the growing body of research that their lecture approach is ineffective, they are developing a new strategy, aimed at older students. It will “rely more on having them question their assumptions about drug use than on listening to lectures on the subject.” http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/15/national/15DARE.html.

SCHOOL HARASSMENT RULES REVERSED
(February 15, 2001) The Boston Globe, http: //www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/046/nation/School
_harassment_rules_re versed-.shtml, reported a federal appeals court ruled that a Pennsylvania school district’s anti-harassment policy was “overly broad.” This was explained as a “decision that could affect public schools throughout the country.” The decision was that the “policy violates the free-speech right of Christian students to speak out against homosexuality.”

NEW ZEALAND SCHOOL MODEL
(February 15, 2001) The WorldNet Daily reported a policy paper by Maurice P. McTigue, former New Zealand ambassador to Canada, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?
ARTICLE_ID=21725, explaining how New Zealand’s shift in their education system from a centralized to a decentralized system increased the percentage of money going into the classroom and increased parent participation in their children’s education. The article pointed out “The New Zealand model has striking similarities to a plan proposed by President George W. Bush within weeks of his inauguration Jan. 20.”

DOUBLE STANDARD?
(February 16, 2001) The National Coalition of Girls’ Schools reported tremendous progress in the last five years for all-girl education: “16 states have offered single-sex classes to girls, and 32 new all-girl schools were founded in cities coast-to-coast.” Woodbury Reports considers this a very positive development in the education of our young people. However during the same time period, The Virginia Military Institute (VMI), described as the last public all-male military school, was forced by the US Supreme Court to go coeducational. Most recently, according to the Washington Post, VMI is now “planning how to accommodate its first pregnant cadet.” http://www.washingtonpost.com.

STABBINGS MOTIVATE CALL FOR TOUGHER SAFETY RULES
(February 17, 2001) The Boston Herald reported that two stabbings in two Boston schools resulted in the teacher’s union calling for tougher safety rules. The union President said “This kid should have been out of the Shaw school a long time ago. The school department tolerates these kids. This was an incident waiting to happen.” http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_regional/btu02172001.htm.

PARENTS CAN’T SUE
(February 17, 2001) According to the courierpress.com, Evansville, Indiana, the State Court of Appeals ruled the parents of a slain student cannot sue the school when it did not prevent the assault off school grounds. Their ruling was based on the principle of sovereign immunity: “the notion that the government cannot be sued by the citizenry because that is tantamount to the people suing themselves.” http://www.courierpress.com.

BRITISH STUDY SHOWS HIGHER AUTISM RATE
(February 18, 2001) The Electronic Telegraph, http://www.telegraph.co.uk, reports a study of children in Cambridgeshire that indicates one in 175 children has autism, a considerably higher rate than was previously estimated.

STATE YOUTH PENITENTIARIES BOOST SUICIDE-WATCH EFFORTS
(March 2, 2001) The Contra Costa Times, http://www.contracostatimes.com, reports more teen-age suicides at California Youth Authority jails has led to the tightening of suicide watch guidelines and a call for further investigation. Sen. John Burton, D-San Francisco said he may press for the Legislature to make inquiries as a result of the Feb. 22 hanging of an at-risk 16-year old and two other attempted suicides at CYA the previous week. One those who attempted suicide, a 17-year-old, awoke from a coma Wednesday. The Feb. 22 suicide came four months after a state task force recommended that CYA staff should not rely solely on video cameras to monitor suicidal juveniles.