Press Pass TV examines the importance of individuals knowing their rights from an early age and what it means for our society when they don't.Press Pass TV examines the importance of individuals knowing their rights from an... more
The adorable K-6th grade Navajo children during the second week of school at the Navajo Lutheran Mission in Rock Point, Arizona.
Narrated and videotaped by Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, executive director of the Navajo Lutheran Mission
Featuring K-6 students, teachers and staff.
1-928-659-4201 (Office)
1-928-659-4202 (School)
Navajo Lutheran Mission School:
NELM School Principal Felisita Jones
Kindergarten teacher Sharon Woody
1st grade teacher Lark Pettit
2nd grade teacher Jolene Wilson
3rd and 4th grade teacher Pauline Wagon
5th and 6th grade teacher Eileen Holiday
Tara Chee, NELM Community Services Coordinator and Navajo Language and Culture Instructor
2009 Board of Directors
Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission
Ron Augustson, Chair
Janice Lee Jim
Roger Johnsen
Jerry Thomas
Bill Heincke
Richard Wixom
David Ulibarri
Jeannie M. Harvey
Christel Badey
Clarence Begay
Sue Vogel-Herrera
Alice Natale
Carol Buckley, owner of Arizona Flutes and Native Arts in Camp Verde, AZ (high desert in Verde Valley) and a non-native flute musician specializing in American Indian music.
She has Michigan roots - lived in Davison and taught school in LakeVille Public Schools in Otisville, where she was a Speech and Language Pathologist.
In 1994 Buckley decided to refocus her life, escape from the cold weather, and move to the beautiful Verde Valley in Arizona’s high desert.
She is a poet and writer who plays Native American style flute music and has great respect for the Navajo and other Native American tribes and their respective cultures/heritage.
Carol also teaches classes on how to play the Native flute.
Songs used from Carol Buckley's “Rhythm Keepers” and “Raindrops on Roses” CDs
Navajo Lutheran Mission Second Week of School & Photo Montage:
Carol Buckley's “Raindrops on Roses” CD
Track 4 “Living Life”
Track 6 “Dancing Moccasins”
Cal Farley's Girlstown, U.S.A.
Situated on 1,425 acres of land eight miles south of Whiteface, Texas, (west of Lubbock) http://www.calfarley.org/girlstown/pages/default.aspxThe adorable K-6th grade Navajo children during the second week of school at the... more
The two most important news of these days are those that have received less space on italian televisions and newspapers. It's not strange, is not accidental. In many cases it's censorship pure and simple, in others it's the sheer inability on the part of journalists to see the big picture.The two most important news of recent days are the manifestations of workers and students and the verdicts on the trials of 2001 G8 summit in Genoa.The two most important news of these days are those that have received less space on... more
Jonathon Escobar is the kind of kids who stands out from the crowd, especially when he wears his pink wig. Escobar prefers to wear wigs, makeup, and feminine-style clothing, a style choice that’s gotten him in trouble at school.
For his first day of school at North Cobb High School in Georgia, Escobar chose a pink wig, skinny jeans, and flats. Everything went smoothly until lunchtime when a fight broke out. Someone said something mean about Escobar and another student came to his defense.
That’s when the assistant principal told Escobar that he needed to either dress more “manly” or be schooled at home. “You can’t wear clothing that causes a disruption,” Cobb Country school spokesman told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Escobar left his formal high school not because the school had a problem with his fashion choices, but because his parents did. He now lives with his older sister and was careful to ask school administrators before he started if he could wear heals and wigs to school. They said yes.
“I don’t consider myself a cross-dresser,” says Escobar. “This is just who I am….They should’ve told the students to back off. They should have never given me the option of homeschooling or changing who I am.”
Escobar left North Cobb after just three days, but since then over 900 students have rallied to his defense, even creating a Facebook group called Support Jonathan. And despite the school’s warning, Escobar won’t be taking off his wig anytime soon.
“If I can’t express myself, I won’t go to school,” he said. “I want to get the message out there that because this is who I am, I can’t get an education.”
Seems like this situation would have been better handled by administrators with a heavy dose of eye-rolling and a little patience. Sure, teens get distracted by the kid who stands-out, but given time the excitement usually wears off.
What do you think: Should Escobar be able to wear what he wants, or do you defend the administration’s right to tell him to dress like a man?Jonathon Escobar is the kind of kids who stands out from the crowd, especially when he... more
Question do schools still have four walls and little desks? Ohh and a teacher?
The problem is the teachers today are to busy trying to keep order then teaching. Teachers today are more like jail guards then educators.
Parents take responsibility for your children, instead of expecting everyone else to raise your child. Get your fat ass off the couch and take interest in them.Question do schools still have four walls and little desks? Ohh and a teacher?
The... more
Bet you won't see any 'teabaggers' or even Obama supporters out protesting this back door draft by using our public school system. Arne Duncan has to be the worst appointment of this administration next to Tom Vilsack at the USDA, and I suppose that is why we don't hear anything about the education system in this country from them.
Excerpt:
Secretary of Education Arne Duncan invited the Pentagon into Chicago's schools. Will he promote military schools nationwide?
When Arne Duncan stepped down as the head of the Chicago Public Schools to become the secretary of education in January, the school district he left behind had little to brag about. While Duncan served as its chief executive officer, CPS received mostly average or below average rankings in "The Nation's Report Card," a Department of Education assessment of the country's largest urban school districts. Its high school graduation rates lingered at around 50 percent, well short of the national average of 70 percent. And since 2004, CPS has failed as a district to meet No Child Left Behind's "adequate yearly progress" standards. In one area, however, Chicago's schools stood out: In large part to Duncan's efforts, they were—and remain—the most militarized in America.
Nearly 10,500 of Chicago's 203,000 sixth- through twelfth-graders participate in some kind of military program on campus, from joining the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps to enrolling in Pentagon-sponsored JROTC academies. As the district's CEO (and previously as deputy chief of staff to his predecessor, Paul Vallas), Duncan oversaw the controversial move to bring full-fledged military academies to the Windy City. The district's first, the Chicago Military Academy at Bronzeville, opened in 1999, and three more followed during Duncan's tenure. Today, Chicago has six military high schools run by a branch of the armed services. Six smaller military academies share buildings with existing high schools. Nearly three dozen JROTC programs exist in regular high schools, where students attend a daily JROTC class and wear uniforms to school one day a week. And at the middle school level, there is a JROTC program for sixth, seventh- and eighth-graders.
Chicago may have the nation's biggest JROTC program, but it is no longer an anomaly. Due to increases in federal funding for JROTC programs, the military's presence in public schools is greater than ever before. More than a dozen academies partly funded by the Department of Defense have sprouted up from Philadelphia to Oakland, and the National Defense Authorization Act of 2009 passed last year will increase the number of JROTC units nationwide from 3,400 to 3,700 by 2020, at a cost of $170 million. (Peacework magazine obtained a list of schools that have requested JROTC programs.) The Marines are in discussions to open new JROTC academies in Atlanta, Las Vegas, and New Orleans, helping to expand a program that critics contend has blurred the line between education and recruitment.
Now that Duncan is the nation's top education official, anti-recruitment activists worry that he will use his position to promote the expansion of JROTC and military academies as solutions for cash-strapped or underperforming school districts. "We see he has been promoting military academies," says Darlene Gramigna, program director for the American Friends Service Committee's Truth in Recruitment Program. "Around the country, that's what going on—Arne Duncan believes in these military academies."
end of excerptBet you won't see any 'teabaggers' or even Obama supporters out protesting this back... more
I guess controversy can even hit my small home town of Sedalia, pop. 25,000. Parents are upset with the idea of evolution. My former civics teacher (now the assistant superintendent) decided to pull the shirts because of complaints from both parents and people at the Missouri State Fair. Pollitt said that the school district is required by law to remain neutral when comes to religion. There are parents on both sides arguing the issues at hand within the article.
What do you think?I guess controversy can even hit my small home town of Sedalia, pop. 25,000. Parents... more
Interesting that a teacher:student ratio actually includes the counsilors, admins, librarians, etc. In other words, 1:6 teacher student ratio could still mean you are in classes of 30+
Never let school get in the way of your education!Interesting that a teacher:student ratio actually includes the counsilors, admins,... more
This video discusses using religion, particularly school prayer, as a mechanism for alienating children who are different.This video discusses using religion, particularly school prayer, as a mechanism for... more
"Amazing story about homophobe fundamentalists and the brilliant and collective response of staff, students, and teachers at Walt Whitman High School to a protest against their identification with the great gay poet!" -JD"Amazing story about homophobe fundamentalists and the brilliant and collective... more
I really hope this does not pass... it's common sense that larger class size means less individual attention and less learning. Too many students pass through to grade 5 unable to read, meanwhile teachers can't pay their rent... all in our age of the No Child Left A Dime Act. Do these legislators really think we can improve society by robbing our children of quality education?
From the article>>
Students will pay more to attend college, public-school teachers face the prospect of larger classes and the poor will have a harder time getting health care under nearly $4 billion in proposed budget cuts outlined by state lawmakers on Thursday.
The full budget has not been released, but the Legislature released a two-page sheet listing some of the cuts in a compromise budget backed by Democratic leaders in the House and Senate.
Lawmakers propose cutting nearly $800 million from public-school funding, with the bulk of the cut — $600 million — coming from the class-size reduction initiative, I-728. Another $255 million in savings is expected to come from reducing enrollment by 40,000 people in the state Basic Health Plan, which provides subsidized insurance for low-income workers. The reductions would be achieved through attrition.
The Legislature is proposing to help offset cuts to colleges and universities by allowing tuition increases of up to 14 percent a year for two years at four-year institutions and 7 percent a year for two years at two-year colleges. The net cut to higher education after the tuition increases would be around $325 million.
No state parks would be closed, as had been anticipated earlier, thanks to a new "opt-out" fee on vehicle-license renewals. The $5 fee would be tacked on to annual vehicle-license registrations, but people who didn't want it pay it could check a box opting out.
Lawmakers said they were confident they had the votes to pass the budget. "I'm feeling very sure we have 50 votes to pass this budget" in the House, said Rep. Kelli Linville, D-Bellingham, chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee.
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said she had the votes in the Senate as well.
The budget is expected to be voted on in the House first and then in the Senate. Lawmakers appear optimistic they'll finish by Sunday, the last scheduled day of the session.
Leaders in both the House and Senate on Thursday said they had no plans to send voters a proposal to increase the sales tax to buy back cuts in services. An income tax proposal touted in the Senate earlier also is dead.
This budget has been the most challenging in decades. The shortfall between now and 2011 is about $9 billion. Lawmakers are able to bridge more than half that with about $3 billion in federal stimulus money and other federal bailouts, cash set aside in the state's rainy-day fund and through budget cuts already adopted.
Counting the federal money, majority Democrats in the House and Senate are proposing a budget of roughly $35 billion for the 2009-2011 fiscal years. That amount includes $830 million in reserves, which the state can tap if the economy continues to deteriorate.
Senate Republican Leader Mike Hewitt said Democrats are relying too much on one-time funding, the federal bailout money, for example, to balance the budget. That could leave the state with another budget gap in two years, he said.
"What they've done is not permanent," Hewitt said. "We're definitely afraid we'll be back here in two years."
Sen. Rodney Tom, D-Medina, vice chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said Democrats made a lot of tough cuts in the budget, but "we went about it in a very judicious way."
Gov. Chris Gregoire said budget was something she could live with. "I can't see some big overriding issue that would lead me to veto the budget," she said.
...I really hope this does not pass... it's common sense that larger class size means... more
More than 7,500 Detroit children may have to change schools in the fall as a result of 23 proposed school closures and one relocation, according to a proposal released Thursday.
In addition, Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools, said 600 teachers will get layoff letters as DPS wrangles with a $305-million deficit.
The mass closing would be the third this decade for DPS, which has shuttered 70 buildings as enrollment plummeted from 173,848 a decade ago to about 95,000 today. Another 30 of the district's roughly 200 schools could close in 2010.More than 7,500 Detroit children may have to change schools in the fall as a result of... more
FORWARD OPERATING BASE BERNSTEIN, TUZ, Iraq – The Banyas School in Zaggurbanya Village has no running water, zero playground equipment and a serious lack of chalk.
But that’s all about to change.
Both Armies are working together...FORWARD OPERATING BASE BERNSTEIN, TUZ, Iraq – The Banyas School in Zaggurbanya... more
"Concerned about possible cuts in a tough budget year, the stars (Linda Ronstadt, Wynton Marsalis, and Josh Groban) told their stories in hopes of convincing politicians of the importance of maintaining funding for the arts, which they say is instrumental in helping youths succeed.
Involvement in the arts has been shown to improve overall performance in school. High school students who take four years of art and music scored 85 points higher on their SAT exams last year than their peers who did not, according to data from the College Board.
"Increasingly, people's experience with music is passive," Ronstadt said. "We need to teach our children to sing their own songs and play their own instruments, not just listen to their iPods."
"Including the arts in academics was so profound in getting me to focus on the other elements of my education," Groban, a former student at Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, said in between handshakes and photographs.
One of the greatest dangers the U.S. faces is producing a generation lost on the meaning of music, Marsalis said. To demonstrate the role Americans must all play in educating youth, he told a story about jamming with older jazz players.
One of them commented on how loudly Marsalis' group of twentysomethings played. "So we started thinking, 'Why are we playing so loud?' " he said, seeming to still be pondering the question. "Why are we playing so loud?" No one had ever taught them any differently.""Concerned about possible cuts in a tough budget year, the stars (Linda Ronstadt,... more
"In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayer in public schools. Prayer and bible readings had been standard fare since the beginning of this country’s public education system in the 1800s. In subsequent cases throughout the years, the courts continued to do the right thing and limit the involvement of government in promoting prayer and bible readings in the schools.
Now, the Supreme Court has refused to hear the appeal of an East Brunswick, New Jersey coach, Marcus Borden, who was restricted from joining his students in prayer before a school game.
Barry W. Lynn, director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told AP that Borden actually used to lead prayers with the student athletes in the locker room. He did the same at the team’s Friday dinners. After several parents complained, he was told to stop praying. So, instead, the coach began to bow his head and kneel on one knee while the players were praying.
Which may seem innocent, but it’s not. Philadelphia Appeals Court Judge D. Michael Fisher spelled it out: “A reasonable observer would conclude that he (the coach) is continuing to endorse religion when he bows his head during the pre-meal grace and takes a knee with his team in the locker room while they pray.”
“The bottom line,” said Lynn, “is people in positions of authority, like a coach, have to be extremely careful about trying to promote their ideas, or implying that if you don't pray, you may not play.”
John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, a group that supports the “freedom” of people to exercise their religious beliefs everywhere, even in public and in the classroom, disagrees. “We've become so politically correct in terms of how we deal with religion that it's being pretty severely limited in schools right now, and individuals suffer,” Whitehead said.
***
IS it a matter of "politically correct"-ness or separation of church and state? Would people feel differently if the coach was praying to, let's say, Allah?"In 1962, the U.S. Supreme Court banned prayer in public schools. Prayer and bible... more
"The Italian designer and billionaire Giorgio Armani celebrated Fashion Week on Tuesday with the announcement of a $1 million donation to promote arts programs in New York City public schools.
The money will be used to create the Armani Arts Institute, an umbrella program that will fund arts initiatives in schools serving some of the city’s most disadvantaged populations.
The donation will go to the 'Fund for Public Schools,' a nonprofit corporation that collects private money to support the school system. It has raised more than $240 million since 2003.
Caroline Kennedy, vice chairwoman of the fund, attended the news conference and called Mr. Armani “an example to all of us that even in difficult times we must continue to look at the future for hope and inspiration and let our children know that we are determined to help them build a better world.”"The Italian designer and billionaire Giorgio Armani celebrated Fashion Week on... more
Interesting local article about teacher merit pay. (Condensed to Fit, sorry) We all have to pay taxes and teachers’ contracts and salaries affect us a lot, directly and indirectly. It highlights merit pay as a good way to pay teacher. It gives why and keeps an unbiased view -Favorite part was about Meadowcliff which instituted merit pay; the grades on the non-school created Standford achievement test rose by nearly 20% - practically two letter grades. Comments on Barack Obama, Governor Arnold S. and Michelle Rhee, the DC public school chancellor were interesting. As a student, I witness how teachers can not teach well, but still get paid and tenure prevents the school from firing the teacher for them not doing their job.
Performance pay, common – just about every job is based on performance pay – except teaching, is were workers are paid based on how well they perform. Currently, even if a teacher was “Teacher of the Year” and another does not know the subject she teaches, they will be paid the same.
Why are there objections?
Michelle Rhee offered a plan where teachers could be paid up to $130,000 - over double what they are currently paid. The teachers only had to give up tenure and accept merit pay; however, the teacher unions ignored the offer. If teachers are paid based on their teaching, teachers would have less power and there would not be as much need for the unions. Acceptable and adequate performance pay can be difficult to find, but it is possible. Even poor schools have found ways to have performance pay and are now becoming great schools with excellent teachers. At Meadowcliff (AR), student scores on the Stanford increased by an average 17% after starting a form of performance pay.
Proponents argue that paying teachers according to performance would be consistent with precepts from the private sector and would lead to better educational outcomes.
To make a plan with long term potential, make the plan include everyone. Performance pay must be based off both input (teacher) and output (student). It needs to be fair and simple and to include administrators, teachers, and the community.
Students’ feedback and grades must influence performance pay because students spend the most time with the teacher and are the only ones who know how the teacher acts on a daily basis. However, even though students spend all that time with the teacher, parents need to have an influence too. Parents are the best option when making a decision if the teacher is challenging their son. In addition, bosses and administrators need to know if the teacher is doing their job. And other workers in that field should influence the teacher’s performance pay. It allows others who know the subject to check if the teacher is actually teaching the correct information. Finally, for subjects with this option, standardized test results should affect the teacher’s performance pay. This prevents complications by allowing a third party that does not belong to the school or community to influence pay. Ideally, it should be a national or international test because it will push the school and teacher to perform better and be above the line of proficiency.
Raising teacher pay without reform will not give better teachers. It gives higher pay for good and bad teachers alike. Students deserve better teachers. Parents deserve better teachers that teach their children. We deserve better teachers for our tax money. We all pay for teacher’s salary through our taxes. We deserve performance pay for our teachers.
What do you think of teacher merit pay?
Do you think teachers should have tenure and why?
There is a saying that it is better for a child to be in a bad school with a good teacher, than a good school with a bad teacher. Do you agree?
What do you think is the strongest cause/affect of student's grades in high school? -Interesting local article about teacher merit pay. (Condensed to Fit, sorry) We all... more
The answer to economic recovery is, simply, more freedom. We need more freedom, lots of it, if we are to hope to make a recovery from the current economic situation anytime soon. It is at the height of arrogance for the President-elect and the members of Congress to presume that they know best how to allocate and invest resources to bring about a robust economy.The answer to economic recovery is, simply, more freedom. We need more freedom, lots... more
A budget cut caused this teacher to resort to dire measures, but you know what? It was necessary! I spent a year teaching public high school in florida, and part of the reason I left is the fact that teachers are supposed to either spend all their spare time fundraising, or pay for the necessary supplies out of their own pockets. Unpaid overtime is expected, and you're never really finished with the mountain of work on your plate, so it really is a slap in the face to take away something as obviously necessary as a teachers' paper budget. What a shame.
If I'd thought of this idea while I was teaching, I totally would have done it as a fundraiser.
Read the article...A budget cut caused this teacher to resort to dire measures, but you know what? It was... more
My 11-year-old stars in this pod about his charter school, which we all love. Step inside this amazing environment of only 100 kids to see and understand how a charter school works, and how Three Rivers has done such a fantastic job in just eight short years.My 11-year-old stars in this pod about his charter school, which we all love. Step... more
![School Prayer Is Not For Everyone [video]](http://i2.crtcdn.net/images/current/placeholders/no_asset/no_image_60x45.gif)
