Last week, the Lee County School Board in Florida set a precedent by being one of the first school districts in the nation to opt out of all state-required testing for its students. In a 3-2 vote, the board decided to reject state-mandated testing for the over 90,000 students in their school district. According to Reuters, the board stated that they were acting on behalf "of … [Read more...]
Middle School Teacher Faces Criminal Charges for Giving Student Lap Dance
Felicia Smith, a 42-year-old Texas middle school teacher, faces a felony charge for giving a student in her classroom a lap dance in class for his birthday on February 26th. The lap dance, lasting almost four minutes, was a full contact experience that took place in front of the other students in the classroom. At the end of the lap dance she hugs the student and tells him, … [Read more...]
Florida Teacher Fired After Encouraging an Attack on a Student
A teacher in St. Lucie County, Florida was recently fired for encouraging 6 eighth grade students to beat up seventh grader, Radravious Williams. The incident was caught on tape and you can see the teacher pointing Williams out to the students. The students who beat up Radravious were once his friends but the teacher reportedly wanted them to teach him a lesson. Radravious … [Read more...]
Atlanta Students and Teachers Brave the Snowstorm Overnight
Earlier this week, a snowstorm hit the southeast region of the U.S. harder than many had initially expected; Atlanta, GA, in particular, was hit pretty hard. As the storm moved in, traffic worsened and some students were forced to spend the night at school. Georgia's East Rivers Elementary School principal, Matt Rogers, made sure it was a night his students would never … [Read more...]
Ohio Teacher Suspended for Making Racially Insensitive Comment to Black Student
A White school teacher from Fairfield Freshman School in Ohio has recently been suspended for allegedly telling a Black student in his class, “we do not need another Black president,” after the student said he was interested in being president one day. Gil Voigt, a science teacher, was suspended earlier this week by the Fairfield Board of Education and has been given ten … [Read more...]
Should Teachers Be Sued For Allowing Teens To Hug?
Last week a controversial bill was passed in Tennessee that would allow teachers and others to be sued by parents for allowing students to hug and participate in other 'gateway sexual activity' at schools. From Time: The controversial measure is intended to curb teen pregnancy and is an offshoot of the state's growing abstinence-based sex education program. At the … [Read more...]
NJ Dad Exposes Teachers After Placing A Recording Device On His Autistic Son
From CNN: A New Jersey man has launched a website to publicize what he calls "a culture of bullying" by teachers in his son's Cherry Hill classroom after sending the boy -- who has been diagnosed with autism -- to school with a covert recording device. Stuart Chaifetz said he placed the recorder in the pocket of his 10-year-old son, Akian, in an attempt to find out why … [Read more...]
Should You Ever Question Your Child’s Teacher?
Ron Clark, the distinguished "Teacher of the Year," featured on Oprah, and the subject of his very own made-for-TV movie, "The Ron Clark Story," has some words for parents about how to make sure your kids succeed. In a column on CNN.com, he argues that parents handicap teachers when they undermine their authority: At times when I tell parents that their child has been a … [Read more...]