EDUCATION RELATED SEED MONEY DRYING UP
(August 8, 2001) Eduventures.com reported: “Venture investments in education businesses have declined steadily since a peak of just over $1 billion for the first quarter of 2000.” [more...]

CHANGING STATE RITALIN LAWS
(August 8, 2001) Connecticut and Minnesota just enacted laws that “are thought to be the nation’s first laws to clarify that parents, not school districts, will have the final say on whether their children take drugs to control behavior.” This ”gives parents the right to decide against giving their children stimulants such as Ritalin, without fear of losing custody of the children under the states’ educational-neglect laws.” [more...]

850,000 HOMESCHOOLERS
(August 8, 2001) The federal National Center for Education Statistics estimates in 1999 there were 850,000 children being primarily taught at home, about 1.7 percent of the school-age population. Some home-school advocates believe the numbers are low since many home-schooling parents would not answer that kind of survey on philosophical grounds, and others might show as something different depending on local laws and requirements. [more...]

SCHOOL VIOLENCE CYCLE
(August 10, 2001) A recent report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded, “School- related killings occur most often just after students return from long summer or winter breaks.”

TEACHERS SWITCHING FROM PRIVATE TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
(August 12, 2001) The Houston Chronicle reports from throughout the nation, as public schools change to meet criticisms and demand; their higher pay and benefits are attracting teachers from private schools, threatening the viability of private schools.

ALTERNATIVE PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOLS INCREASE ATTRACTIVENESS
(August 12, 2001) The Houston Chronicle reports that more teens are turning to alternative high schools because of their flexibility, changing the image of alternative schools being only for “bad kids.”

TEXAS STATE FUNDED WILDERNESS PROGRAM LOSING FUNDING
(August 13, 2001) The Houston Chronicle, reports the Bob Lanier Therapeutic Wilderness Program for Boys and the Elizabeth G. Lanier Therapeutic Wilderness Program for Girls, founded in 1972 for troubled youth, have lost their state funding and probably will be closing their doors this summer.

UP TO 18 MAY HAVE DIED OF OVERDOSES IN HOUSTON
(August 14, 2001) The New York Times article by Jim Yardley quotes Dr. H. Westley Clark, Director of the Federal Center for Substance Abuse: “the increasing use of heroin, particularly when mixed with cocaine, has been linked to rising overdoses across the country.” A recent study in San Francisco describes the cocktail of cocaine and heroin, known as a “speedball” as a contributing factor in nonfatal overdoses. It was cited as the probable cause of a rash of deaths without precedent in the Houston area, where as many as 18 people, including a 16-year-old girl, have died in one week from suspected overdoses. Dr Clark said that the purity of street heroin sold nationally has risen dramatically as competition between dealers has intensified.

PRESIDENT EMPHASIZES TEACHING VALUES TO CHILDREN
(August 14, 2001) The New York Times, reported President Bush, when speaking in Denver, Colorado, emphasized his goal to push hard for the importance of teaching values to children and creating “communities of character.”

SCHOOLS' BACKING OF BEHAVIOR DRUGS COMES UNDER FIRE
(August 19, 2001) The New York Times article by Kate Zernike and Melody Petersen reports: “Some of Ritalin’s competitors are breaking with 30-year-old international marketing restrictions to advertise directly to parents, selling the idea that drugs may be the answer to their children’s problems in school.” They cite recent legislation in Minnesota and Connecticut’s new law prohibiting school staff members from discussing drug treatments with parents, limiting such advise to doctors’ recommendations. Similar bills introduced in Arizona, New Jersey, New York, Utah and Wisconsin are described as a reaction to excessive reliance on Ritalin and several competing drugs, which are “driving parents away from traditional forms of discipline,” creating a “growing, illegal traffic in what are potent and dangerous speed-like stimulants.”

AEROSMITH DITCHED DRUGS TO SUCCEED
(August 21, 2001) According to online entertainment news, Infobeat, “the legendary rocker AEROSMITH …never would have made a comeback if they hadn’t kicked their devastating drug habits. The band’s popularity has taken a turn for the better…sealed by an induction into the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME earlier this year.” Bandmember JOE PERRY, 51, explains, “we got sober, basically, because we burned every bridge we had…and…I know how hard it was for me to get clean. I didn’t know anybody that I could relate to that had gotten clean. Most of the people that I looked up to were dead. By having it known that I’ve done it and the band’s done it, it might give somebody else a little incentive to try it.”

CHARTER SCHOOL STUDY SHOWS INNOVATION
(August 22, 2001) Chester E. Finn, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, Washington D.C. released a study on Charter Schools by economists Michael Podgursky, at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and Dale Ballou, at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Entitled Personnel Policy in Charter Schools, it concluded, “When public school personnel decisions are untangled from red tape — but the schools are held accountable for results — the outcome is innovative policies and practices that differ in key respects from those of conventional public schools....” The full report can be downloaded from Edexcellence.net.

THINK MTV HAS GONE TO POT? HERE'S WHY NOT
(August 23, 2001) Online entertainment news service, Infobeat, reports the music video for the hit song “Because I Got High”, recently banned from MTV, finally was approved for the music channel because most direct references to smoking were edited out. The song, by Afroman, appears on “The Good Times,” from Universal Records and on the soundtrack to the new Kevin Smith movie, “Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back.” “I messed up my entire life because I got high/ I lost my kids and wife because I got high/now I’m sleeping on the sidewalk/and I know why - ‘cause I got high,” are some of the song’s lyrics. The chart-climbing tune has been circulating for months and has gotten heavy air-play on radio stations around the U.S.

PACIFIC COAST ACADEMY CONTROVERSY
(August 2001) The Pacific Coast Academy, Western Samoa, has been in the national news this last month. A summary of articles, including a series of front page stories on the Samoa Observer, can be found on StrugglingTeens.com's News page. Swirling around the school are allegations of abuse, denials, charges, countercharges, the removal of some students by the American Consulate, the return of some students to the school, some parents defending the school, while others have removed their child and threatened lawsuits. As near as we can tell, the list of participants in the school includes Steve Cartisano, identified as the school’s marketing agent in the US. In some stories, Cartisano was one of the school owners, who has been surrounded by controversy in several schools where he has been involved, starting with the Wilderness Challenger in the early nineties. Also listed is: Lonnie Fuller, Director of the School, who has had some association with Cartisano at least since the New Hope Academy started falling apart two years ago and Steve Wofford, camp director. Dave Parker was identified as the owner of the property leased by Pacific Coast Academy and occasional agent for the school. He is also the Director of the Youth Rehabilitation Administration Agency of Western Samoa, which claims to have licensed Pacific Coast Academy as a “licensed residential treatment center in good standing....” Others involved include Junior Moeai and Sam Schwenke, Directors who had left the school, Academy Attorney, Maiava Visekota Peteru, and David Weston, who is identified as a consultant. Moana Thunken, is the clinical director, and Dan Wakefield is the owner of New Hope, who originally signed the lease with Dave Parker. Woodbury Reports will welcome statements by people with personal knowledge of this school or situation for inclusion on our web site, either for or against.

STUDY FINDS KIDS WHO ARE SPANKED GROW UP EMOTIONALLY OK
(August 28, 2001) In a USA Today story written by Marilyn Elias, psychologist Diana Maumrind of California-Berkeley, a “seminal figure in the psychology of parenting,” spoke at the American Psychological Association meeting in San Francisco. “American parents have been misled by “politically correct” experts who warn that spanking kids ruins their mental health…Occasional or even frequent swats don’t cause maladjustment. The only youngsters harmed psychologically are those whose parents hit them often and hard – frequently with blunt instruments.” “The problem is,” according to Mark Wolraich, spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, which opposes corporal punishment of children, “it’s very hard for parents to stop at this mild level she’s talking about. Often they’re very angry, and it’s done impulsively.” Maumrind’s “now-classic studies …showed that “authoritative” parenting – setting clear limits but explaining their rationale to children – produced the functioning adults.” University of New Hampshire sociologist Murray Straus says studies show “the more spanking, the worse of the child is…we also know there’s a link between corporal punishment and hitting dating partners later. Parents should use strategies that work better than spanking.”