In Case You Missed It – Sep 3, 2018

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TEACHER SHORTAGE CLOSE TO HOME

57 vacancies: FWCS hit by national teacher shortage

From The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Fort Wayne Community Schools is entering its fourth week of the academic year but is still short an essential school supply: teachers.

As of last week, it had 57 teacher vacancies, including 11 elementary positions posted the second week of class due to increasing enrollment at some schools, spokeswoman Krista Stockman said. The district has about 1,800 teachers.

It's not alone in starting the year short-staffed. Schools nationwide are feeling the effects of a teacher shortage.

“We still have districts that have positions that are open. We're well aware of that,” Jennifer McCormick, state superintendent of public education, said last month at the annual meeting of the Indiana Coalition for Public Education.

LEAD IN THE DRINKING WATER

NACS, SACS find drinking fixtures with lead levels that exceed EPA limit

From Fort Wayne NBC

Northwest Allen County Schools says 21 of it 516 drinking and cooking water fountains in the district exceed the EPA limit on lead, while Southwest Allen County Schools reports 77 fixtures that needed to be repaired or replaced for the same reason.

NACS sent home a letter to parents on Aug. 29 detailing its findings.

The district said it voluntarily took part in a state program that tests the schools' drinking water for lead.

FWCS CURRICULUM CHANGES

FWCS tries to allay angst on curriculum

From The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Smith, whose children attend Snider High School and Blackhawk Middle School, has heard frustrations from various people. Students, he said, feel like their teachers are reading scripts.

FWCS spokeswoman Krista Stockman likened the script claim to how other programs are run, such as Project Lead the Way, New Tech and Advanced Placement. Each uses specific language, content and order, she said, much like the new curriculum.

Robinson understands why teachers – who are still adjusting – might read from provided information: they want to get it right. Reed agreed, adding that the situation reminds her of her first year as a teacher, when she relied on a teacher's manual.

There's still room for teacher creativity, administrators said.

NATIONAL POLITICS IMPACTS STUDENTS

Student arrested for snatching classmate's MAGA hat, slapping teacher, police say

From The Chicago Tribune

The profanities flew in the classroom, and so did the hat.

Something about President Donald Trump's slogan incensed a California high school student on Monday. She yelled at a classmate in English class who was wearing a hat emblazoned with "Make America Great Again" and threw it to the ground, authorities said.

The teacher banished her from the class at Union Mine High School in El Dorado.

But she returned and snatched the hat a second time, and she slapped the teacher's arm away when he tried to keep her from the other student, authorities said.

NEW LAW CONTRIBUTES TO UNION BUSTING MOVE BY MUNCIE SCHOOL BOARD

Muncie School Board ends collective bargaining with teachers

From The Muncie Star Press

During a question-and-answer session with the media at the end of this week's Muncie Community School Board meeting, board President Jim Williams was asked whether the district would start collective bargaining with teachers in September.

"No," he answered.

Why not?

"The Legislature has given, specifically in House Enrolled Act 1315, that we would have to specifically opt in, and frankly, everything is on the table, and right now this board is not in a position to opt in," Williams said.

Have you discussed this with the Muncie Teachers Association?

"No."

ISTEP - PROBLEMS, AGAIN

Grading problems delay release of 2018 ISTEP results

From Chalkbeat

Technical problems with the grading of this year’s ISTEP exams will delay the release of test scores, Indiana Department of Education officials announced Thursday.

Pearson, the testing company that has administered ISTEP since 2016, reported issues involving the grading of a graphing question on the 10th-grade math test and another problem with matching student data between tests in grades 3-8 and 10.

Education department spokesman Adam Baker said only a small percentage of students were expected to be impacted by the problems, and the state was working with Pearson to fix the data.

US DEPARTMENT OF ED PUTS HOWARD U ON LIST

Big trouble for Howard University: DeVos’s Education Department puts it on list it doesn’t want to be on

From The Answer Sheet

Howard University is regarded as the most prestigious historically black institution of higher education in the country. But the operations of the school in the nation’s capital have long been troubled in areas such a s budget, financial aid, student housing, security, building maintenance and transparency. Now Howard is facing a huge new problem: The U.S. Education Department has placed Howard on a list that it really doesn’t want to be on.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s staff informed the school in an Aug. 13 letter that it had been moved to what is called HCM2, or “heightened cash monitoring,” status regarding federal financial aid funds. That means the school will no longer get millions of dollars in financial aid in advance to award to students but, instead, will have to give it to students and then seek reimbursement from the federal government.

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