Local School Topics

Do not close any high schools in Chicago – that was the recommendation from a commission appointed by Chicago Public Schools Chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett. Although many of the high schools in the city are underutilized at this time, the commission determined that closing any of them could pose a serious danger to students. Byrd-Bennett will now consider the recommendations made by the commission as she ponders what to do about underutilized schools and the district’s massive budget deficit.

The Commission on School Utilization

The Commission on School Utilization was formed by Byrd-Bennett to determine which schools should be consolidated and which should be closed. The district, currently facing a $1 billion budget deficit, has determined that something must be done about under-enrolled schools to close the deficit. Although the commission recently released early recommendations, the final report by the commission will not be out until March. Chicago Public Schools plans to release a preliminary list of schools slated for closure prior to that time, according to a report at Chicago Now.

Byrd-Bennett handpicked the members of the commission, including commission chairman Frank Clark. Clark is a retired CEO from ComEd and a mayoral appointee to the McCormick Place Board. Clark told the Chicago Sun-Times that the commission will not be providing a list of school closure recommendations, although that is what Byrd-Bennett originally wanted from the commission. Instead, early inklings from the report suggest the commission will be much more focused on schools that

Fairfax County, along with other school districts across the country, is considering a scheduling change that would allow high school students to head to class a bit later in the morning. While studies seem to support the idea of pushing back high school start times, the issue is a complex one that involves carpools, bus schedules, and after-school activities. Would a major rearrangement of high school schedules be worth the effort?

School Board Member Pushes for Later Start Times in Fairfax

The Washington Times reports that the driving force behind later start times in Fairfax County is school board member Sandy Evans. Evans co-founded Start Later for Excellence in Education Proposal (SLEEP) in 2004, and she has been advocating for a new schedule in her county since that time.

“It is beneficial to their physical health, their mental health, and their academic health,” Evans told the Washington Times. “This [early schedule] just can’t be good for teenagers,” Evans added.

Evans is not alone in her concern over sleep deprivation in teens today. Nearby Montgomery County has also formed a work group to study the impact of later start times in high school performance. The study was in response to a petition signed by more than 10,000 parents who want to see the county move the start time at high schools from 7:25 to at least 8:15. However, the county does not appear as quick to institute that type of change, since a new

As Los Angeles students headed back to school after Christmas break, a new sight greeted them – the presence of additional police officers in schools throughout the city. In response to the Sandy Hook tragedy in Connecticut, the Los Angeles Unified School District has beefed up patrols and police presence to ensure the safety of the students and faculty inside Los Angeles classrooms. While the decision has been a welcome addition by many, some are voicing concern about the presence of additional armed security inside school buildings.

This video looks at some of the security measures commonly found in public schools.

The New Plan

NBC Los Angeles reports that the police are adding patrols to around 700 elementary and middle schools in the Los Angeles school district. In addition, Los Angeles police officers have been instructed to “adopt” a school, which means the officer will make regular beat checks to that school throughout his or her shift. The hope is that this new procedure will give schools throughout Los Angeles a larger police presence that will discourage those who might be thinking about committing violent acts against a school and the students inside.

“We won’t be there all the time, but nobody will know when we will be there,” Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck told CBS Local. “I don’t want anyone to think they can walk into

Student truancy is a problem for many school districts across the country, impacting student performance and even the amount of funding schools receive. Some schools in Texas think they have found a way to address the problem directly, by requiring students to wear special badges that allow school administrators to monitor their whereabouts. While school officials call the new tracking cards a boon to student safety and attendance, some parents and students have voiced concern over whether schools are going too far in violating student privacy.

Monitoring Programs Introduced in San Antonio, Austin

The Huffington Post reports that the Northside Independent School District in San Antonio has distributed the special ID cards to all of its students as part of a pilot program dubbed the “Student Locator Project.” The identification cards contain a microchip that allows teachers and staff to track students while they are on school property. Currently, the project is underway at two Northside schools: Jay High School and Jones Middle School. The program impacts around 4,200 students between the two schools.

The new tags use radio frequency identification technology (RFID) for the tracking mechanism. In a notice sent out to parents, district officials stated the RFID tags would be used to make schools safer, identify the location of students, and increase school revenue. The cards are to be used as general student identification cards as well. ID cards must be presented for various functions on school campuses, such

The District of Columbia is a popular place for charter schools, with these institutions taking in about 41 percent of the city’s public school students. However, that percentage appears to be a tenuous one, as reports of high numbers of expulsions have recently begun to surface. With expulsion rates significantly higher than the rest of D.C. public schools, some educators in the city have begun to question the motives behind the actions. And while charter schools are disputing some of the data, no one seems to know for sure exactly how many students are kicked out of the city’s charter schools once they enroll.

Numbers are In, Concerns are Raised

The Washington Post recently conducted an in-depth piece on how expulsion rates at D.C. charter schools compared with the rates of other public schools across the city. The report was based on data released by the D.C. Public Charter School Board, which showed charter students were expelled at rates as high as eight percent in some charter schools. Charter schools expelled approximately 72 students for every 10,000 in the schools. At the same time, other public schools in the city expelled one student for every 10,000.

Not all of the charter schools in D.C. expelled students, leaving those that did with even higher percentages. Another Washington Post article reported that Friendship Collegiate Academy-Woodson, a charter high school, expelled eight percent of its student body during the 2010-2011 school year. In addition,