Does this sound threatening to you?

by David SafierTUSD board member Mark Stegeman gave me a letter Tom Horne sent out in early May of this year. The gist is, every school district has to comply with the ELL Structured English Immersion model implemented in 2008. Horne's tone is harsh, to say the least. NO EXEMPTIONS FROM FULL COMPLIANCE WITH SEI … Read more

The Roots of Music

by David SafierThis is one of those labor-of-love stories. A New Orleans drummer has started a music program, The Roots of Music, for local kids. They pay nothing and get instruments, instruction, participation in the band and academic tutoring. He says he has 100 students enrolled and 400 on a waiting list. Music has a … Read more

Let the Education Games begin!

by David SafierI've become increasingly convinced we're on the cusp of the most significant educational change we've seen in decades, maybe since the 1920s when child labor laws and compulsory education laws combined to create an explosion in high school attendance and gave birth to the modern high school. For good or ill, K-12 education … Read more

Hmmm . . .

by David SafierIn a North Florida school district, a number of students came to school wearing shirts that read, "Islam is of the Devil." They were sent home. School district staff attorney Tom Wittmer says the shirts might have offended or distracted others and violated the district's dress code. Why did they wear the shirts? … Read more

More charter trouble in Philadelphia

by David SafierIt started with a bit too much money going from Philadelphia's Agora Cyber Charter School to its management company, which is now facing federal prosecution. Now it looks like the net is spreading wider. Federal agents yesterday seized financial records from a North Philadelphia school, another move in a widening federal probe of … Read more