Teacher of the Year shares his streetwise view
In his 20 years as a New York City cop, some of it serving within the gang unit, Anthony Mullen crossed the paths of area youth many times. And what he saw worried him so much he decided to pursue a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Geoffrey Canada: Saving Harlem’s children
Geoffrey Canada expects all the children who attend the Harlem Children’s Zone schools to go to a four-year college. Not a trade school, not the military–even though there is nothing wrong with those...
View ArticleForming good relations between boards and unions
What would happen if school board members and union leaders met regularlynot in formal meetings to deal with grievances or contract talksbut at the local coffee shop just to chat? You get a school...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Savoie reflects on term as NSBA president
C.H. “Sonny” Savoie, in his final speech as NSBA’s president, looked back on a “very busy” past 12 months and proclaimed that his “three C’s” theme of culture, climate, and collaboration has been...
View Article‘Noses in, fingers out’ helps boards prevent fraud
Charles Trainor asks a lot of questions. He’s an internal auditor and fraud examiner, so asking questions — polite but probing questions — is a big part of his job. Trainor says that board members...
View ArticleThe Supreme Court and public schools
A Christian group barred from receiving university funds because of its exclusion of gays and nonbelievers has a point when it says that admitting them would controvert its basic beliefs, NSBA General...
View ArticleRaising funds in difficult times
Though some financial analysts have claimed the recession is officially over, tough economic times are just starting, especially for school districts that depend on property values and state budgets,...
View ArticleWomen and the superintendency
With women comprising 75 percent of the teaching force, you’d assume that at least half of the country’s superintendents would also be female. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, with statistics...
View ArticleTeaching the Bible as literature
How can high school students understand the subtleties of great literature, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Moby Dick, The Canterbury Tales, or the plays of Shakespeare, if they cannot recognize or put...
View ArticleGrading Race to the Top
Grading the Race to the Top entries like Olympic gymnastics or figure skating would make more sense than using the arbitrary 500-point, 30-index system that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Districts receive Magna Awards today
School board and district best practices were honored today at the School Leaders Luncheon as 18 Magna Award winners received accolades for their innovative solutions to the challenges faced in public...
View ArticleUndocumented students
There is not a lot of case law on undocumented students, NSBA Attorney Lisa Soronen said today at an afternoon session. The exception–and it is a big one–is the 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe,...
View ArticlePulitzer Prize finalist: Living in two cultures
Luis Alberto Urrea’s father was Mexicanbut he had blond hair and blue eyes. His mother was from New York. The reddish-haired, pale-skinned, blue-eyed writer readily admits he looks much more Irish...
View ArticleEd tech plan
By 2020, President Obama wants to close the achievement gap and raise the proportion of college graduates in the country from the current 39 percent to 60 percent of the population. “So we want to get...
View ArticleRickman takes the reins of NSBA
At one of Earl C. Rickman III’s first meetings as a school board member in Mt. Clemens, Mich., the board considered a plan to close the elementary school he and his seven siblings had attended. Rickman...
View ArticlePutnam City Schools wins arts in education award
The School Board of Putnam City Schools in Oklahoma City, Okla., is the winner of the 2010 Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network and National School Boards Association Awards. The district...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exhibit Hall winners
For the first time, NSBA gave “Best in Show” awards to the exhibitors deemed to have the best booths at the Exhibit Hall. The 2010 winner in the “Island Category” is First Student, Inc., a...
View ArticleRickman sets the tone for his year as president
Only minutes into his term as NSBA’s new president, Earl C. Rickman III set the tone for the next year with a dynamic call to arms for school board members attending the final General Session of the...
View ArticleApple Computer founder: Retain great teachers
You should listen to someone who builds his own computerout of hundreds of transistors attached to a sheet of woodin sixth grade. You should really listen if he builds it in the 1960s, when computers...
View Article
