University of Virginia now requires students to disclose arrests, convictions

MoonHowler

UVA is lowering the hammer on students who may have an evil twin.  When students return August 21 for the fall session, they will be required to disclose any arrests or convictions.  Failure to report an arrest or conviction will result in an honor code violation.  Honor code violations are good for a trip home–permanently. 

This crackdown is a result of the death of lacrosse star Yeardley Love who was murdered by her ex-boyfriend, George Huguely who was a fellow lacrosse player.  UVA hopes to flag those with violent tendency.  The dean’s office will be interviewing those who report an arrest or conviction or any crime committed other than a routine traffic violation. 

According to the Washington Post:

University President Teresa A. Sullivan discussed the new rule at a news conference marking the end of her first week on the job. University leaders hope screening students for criminal encounters will flag those who might commit violent acts.

Students return to Charlottesville the weekend of Aug. 21. When they log onto the campus computer system for the first time, each will be prompted to report any arrest, other than minor traffic infractions, since enrolling.

UVA is getting serious about domestic violence and it’s about time all colleges follow suit.  Domestic violence was a problem 40 years ago at UVA.  Hopefully students will police themselves and take any and all expressions of violence seriously and report cases to the campus police.  Young people are all too willing to dismiss acts of violence and blame them on drinking, stress, and ‘personal problems.’  These young adults need to understand that these types of behavior are harbingers of worse to come.  The message must be sent that domestic violence, even that which can be classified as verbal assault, is dangerous and will not be tolerated in a civilized society.

Is violence that prevalent on campus?  What else can be done to ensure students report it so we don’t have another Yeardly Love on our hands?  How much does substance abuse contribute to the violence problem?  How does the Love killing really differ from the beheading at Tech or from the Tech Massacre?

Curriculum, Texas Style

MoonHowler

Quoted from Huffingtonpost.com:

Education Secretary Arne Duncan said school officials “should keep politics out” of curriculum debates.

“We do a disservice to children when we shield them from the truth, just because some people think it is painful or doesn’t fit with their particular views,” Duncan said in a statement. “Parents should be very wary of politicians designing curriculum.”

Most of us agree with Secretary Duncan. And this statement works both ways, whether it is from the Democrats, the Republicans, or whatever else is deemed politically correct at the time. Social Studies seems to get the brunt of being tossed around political alley and this time, Texas has really re-invented history.

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Bringing Back Corporal Punishment in Texas Schools

MoonHowler

 

Actually, Texas has never done away with corporal punishment.  A town outside of Fort Hood, Texas has brought back that weapon of choice, the paddle. 

It sounds like parents were the driving force behind bringing the paddle back to Temple.  Those interviewed said that discipline has never been better.  To date, only 1 student has been paddled but word must have gotten around. 

According to USA Today:

There are times when maybe a good crack might not be a bad idea,” said Robert Pippin, a custom-home builder whose son graduated from Temple schools.

Parents didn’t want the rod spared at school because many paddle their kids at home and they wanted consistent discipline, said John Hancock, an assistant superintendent with more than 40 years as an educator.

“We’re rural central Texas. We’re very well educated, but still there are those core values. Churches are full on Sundays,” Hancock said. “This is a tool we’d like in the toolbox for responding to discipline issues.”

At least one student seems to see its value as a deterrent. “A lot of kids have tempers,” said Abby Jones, a junior at Temple High School. “Those kids that would be paddled would think of it as a threat . . . and maybe would be better.”

The Post cites the most recent figures available showing that about 225,000 students nationwide were at the receiving end of corporal punishment in 2006. About 25% were Texans.

Besides Texas, corporal punishment is still legal in 19 states, mostly in the South. It’s use is waning (Ohio stopped last year) and Congress may consider a federal ban.

How many parents have said ‘nobody touches my child?’  I would suggest that kids knowing it could happen is a huge deterrent.  Knowing that the parents have high expectations for behavior is a big deterrent for disrespectful behavior.  Why is congress trying to get in the act?  Maybe some of them need a good paddling.   

Seriously, should schools have paddling?  Should it be limited to a principal or other designated disciplinarian?  Should Congress outlaw paddling?   

Additional sources

Just a warning, don’t go searching for corporal punishment pictures.  I ran in to some very ‘interesting’ websites.  Sisterspanksalot.com, redass.org were all out there.  I forgot about that.  Geeez!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

VA Tech Drinkers will be narc’ed out to Mommy and Daddy

MoonHowler

All of us know of a student who went away to school only to get into serious trouble with alcohol.  Some of them don’t come home, at least not in a way that is desirable.  Some kids get away from home for the first time and end up dead in alcohol related accidents on the road.  Other kids simply die of alcohol poisoning.  Still others die from aspiration in their sleep when they are simply too drunk to react involuntarily.  Some kids are fortunate enough to just have to spend the evening toilet hugging with a killer hang over the next day.

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Arlington School Cancels Taliban Debate

MoonHowler

 

 

After a rash of parent complaints, a principal at Swanson Middle School in Arlington cancelled a debate assignment where students were asked to take the Taliban point of view during a mock UN Security Council session.   Principal Chrystal Forrester and 2 other teachers, presumably the ones who made the assignment,  have said the assignment was “clearly a bad choice for a debate topic.”

An email was sent out to the parents of the Swanson 8th graders with the following message, according to the Washington Post:

Recognizing the pain that has touched many of our families and neighbors due to the terrorist attacks on the United States and acknowledging the sensitive nature of the conflict in Afghanistan involving many of our dedicated members of the U.S. armed forces, we have eliminated this topic as part of the U.N. unit of study effective immediately,”

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Gunman Arrested on NOVA-Woodbridge Campus

MoonHowler

Shots were fired on the NOVA-Woodbridge campus this afternoon.  The shooter is in custody and law enforcement is doing safety sweeps.  Insidenova.com reports:

Police confirmed that shots were fired Tuesday afternoon at the Woodbridge campus of the Northern Virginia Community College.

Police said that a student armed with a high-powered rifle entered the main administration building at about 2:40 p.m.

Police responded to the call and treated it as an “active shooter” situation and the college implemented its emergency lockdown procedures, police said.

Police have one man in custody and said there are no injuries reported at this time.

More information will be released and we will update on the thread.  According to witnesses, gunshots were heard and teachers told students to run.  Thank goodness no one was injured.

UPDATE (5 PM):  From insidenova.com:

 Prince William County police spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Chinn says a student pointed a gun at a teacher in class Tuesday at the Woodbridge campus of Northern Virginia Community College. Chinn says the teacher ‘hit the floor’ when she saw the gun. The student has been arrested.

 

More VA Tech ….aka Does It Ever End?

MoonHowler

Parents of a student who commited suicide 2 years ago have filed a $43 million dollar lawsuit against Va Tech because the school allegedly did not take the proper steps after learning that Daniel Kim was suicidal.  According to insidenova.com:

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — A $43 million lawsuit accuses Virginia Tech of negligence in its response to a warning that a student was suicidal.

According to the lawsuit, Daniel Kim committed suicide on Dec. 9, 2007, about a month after the university closed its review.

Kim’s parents, Elizabeth and William Kim of Reston, filed the lawsuit last week in Fairfax County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit claims the university didn’t contact Kim, his parents, roommates or professors after a friend sent an e-mail to the school’s health center saying the 21-year-old senior was suicidal.

The lawsuit says the school relied on a Blacksburg police officer’s assessment that Kim seemed OK.

We don’t send our children to college to die.  Does a college have responsibility for these young adults?  I understand that on a large campus, there are several ‘jumpers’ each year.  Some kids get away from home and die at parties from alcohol poisoning.  Others are despondent and commit suicide.  There are traffic accidents.  Some are killed by others.  Some are accidentally killed.  Some disappear. 

Where does the college have a responsibility and where is it a learning institution that cannot assume responsibility for everyone’s personal problems?  I don’t know the answer but Tech sure does seem to be under the gun.  If one believes the media, it sounds like the gang who couldn’t shoot straight.  It just sounds like the ball is being dropped way too often.

PWC, MP Schools Receive Grant Money

MoonHowler

Prince William County Schools and Manassas Park Schools will receive 1.7 million dollars from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which will buy classroom time for an additional 216 head start children for 2 years.

The grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will pay for 14 new Head Start teachers in the county and two teachers in Manassas Park, said Kathy Channell, the administrative coordinator for Head Start and the Virginia Preschool Initiative

This money will be used at Manassas Park, Westgate, Potomac View, Bel Air, Sinclair and Yorkshire elementary schools. It will also buy a bus for transportation. Students will be selected according to eligibility.

In order for a child to be eligible, she/he must turn 4 by Sept. 30, live in one of the districts listed, and live below the federal income guidelines of $22,050 for a family of four.

Additional information at Manassas News and Messenger.

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T.C. Williams, City of Manassas Have High Drop Out Rates

MoonHowler

High school drop out rates have been growing by leaps and bounds, to the point of being called a national epidemic. Exactly what is the cost of dropping out of high school? According to the video captured from the Washington Post, dropping out is a million dollar mistake.

In an era when having a diploma is a bare minimum; many of our young people are selling themselves real short very early in the game. As budgets are finalized, it seems prudent that these stark, staggering statistics should be in the back of everyone’s mind.

Earlier in the week I put up a thread about Hispanic high drop out rates, much to the chagrin of at least one ‘regular’ here. I was accused of quoting some pro-Hispanic groups. Truthfully, I was gathering my information from the VA Dept. of Education. I would say that is a fairly ethnically neutral agency. It’s their job to disaggregate data.

So without apology, here is part 2 of the drop out phenomena. What I didn’t know earlier in the week is that City of Manassas has an even higher drop out rate than Prince William County. Critics will be happy to know that this video does not break down data by ethnicity. It speaks about all kids.

Pardon the mini-mercial.

Surely with statistics like these, right here in our own backyard, we should be rethinking the ‘business as usual’ for high school students. Will everyone go to college? Should everyone go to college? What is being done educationally for those who probably have no intentions of going to college, at least not right after high school? What kinds of job training can a high school student get? Should it be the job of public schools to prepare students for jobs out of high school? If not, where will the student aquire those skills?

Hispanics Face Highest High School Drop Out Rates in NoVA

MoonHowler

Many anti-immigration spokes-people (self-appointed and otherwise) insist that our education system is a draw for illegal immigrants and that our free k-12 immigration system serves as a magnet. New statistics might make them want to rethink that rhetoric.

According to the DC Examiner, 1 out of 4 Hispanic students drops out high school before graduation. New methods of tracking students have allowed jurisdictions to refine their drop out rates. While Arlington, Alexandria and Prince William have the worst Hispanic drop-out rates, Fairfax doesn’t lag too far behind.

Northern Virginia dropout rates for the class of 2008:

Alexandria — 11 percent
Arlington County — 9 percent
Fairfax County — 6 percent
Falls Church — 0 percent
Loudoun County — 3 percent
Prince William County — 10 percent

Source: Virginia Department of Education
NOTE: The above table shows dropout rates for ALL students.

The data track for the first time the path of students who entered high school in 2004 as they progressed through graduation. The previous measure divided total dropouts by total students in grades nine through 12, resulting in lower and less accurate percentages. Maryland districts are about two years away from similar data, and the District of Columbia will have the data in four years.
“This is a milestone in our reporting,” said Virginia Superintendent Patricia Wright, adding that it holds schools accountable for every student.

But it revealed some ugly truths about local districts.

In Alexandria and Arlington and Prince William counties, almost 25 percent of Hispanic students dropped out of school and did not enroll elsewhere between 2004 and 2008. Fairfax County fared little better with a rate of 22 percent.

“That’s way too many students to not be finishing in a society that requires, at a minimum, that individuals have a high school diploma,” said Kathy Wills, director of planning and evaluation for Arlington County Public Schools.

While the data will not ever clearly define which of these students are here legally and which are not, because schools collect no information on status, it only stands to reason that part of these student dropping out are probably out of status because their parents are out of status.

What are possible causes of this phenomena? Is it different that other waves of immigrant groups? How does this dropout rate affect our discussions of future ‘Dream Acts?’ Is there a demographic that disaggregates the data even further, such as by gender or country of origin and would it even matter?