Judge thinks Harry Potter is "Extremely Complex" - That Worry Anyone Else?

In a copyright case that really has very little to do with education (the defendant was a former school librarian that is wanting to make a book about Harry Potter that J.K. Rowling wants to block) I found this interesting ...

District Judge Robert Patterson Jr said that he had read the first half of the
first Harry Potter novel to his grandchildren, but found the “magical world
hard to follow, filled with strange names and words that would be gibberish
in any other context.

“I found it extremely complex,” he said, suggesting that a reference guide
might be useful.

Continue Reading ...

Interesting statement from a guy that spends his time reading intellectual property and other statutes & regulations.

Friday Snippets: 4/18/08 - There is Just Something about Coaches and Religion

Your Friday Snippets for Another Week.

Here we go again with Ken Starr. This time he has agreed to take the long running (as in going on 2 decades)
Flores v. Arizona case to the Supreme Court. The case, for those not
familiar, concerns the State of Arizona's implementation of their
English Language Learner program. The plaintiffs contend that Arizona
does ot provide enough funding to properly implement the ELL program so
that minority language students have an equal shot, as defined under
the Equal EducationalOpportunity Act of 1974. Here is a more complete summary of the case. Here is the latest opinion, the denial of an en banc hearing. Here is the earlier opinion of the 9th Circuit ruling against the State of Arizona. Also, funding for ELL was approved this week, but more court documents have been filed
to compel compliance with the ruling. -- With Ken Starr behind it,
perhaps we will see this case be granted cert. also by the Supreme
Court. Stay tuned on this one.



Some in Arizona (apparently it is Arizona's week this week) also don't want any anti-Democratic or non-Western teaching in its schools.



Illinois' State Senate says no trans-fats in school lunches.



At least schools are more important that ballparks (even if that ballpark is Wrigley Field).



Indiana's corporal punishment law was helpful to a teacher who gripped (slapped) a girl's face.



Louisiana is trying to get around evolution (Missouri too) (who isn't these days?) (btw, BoardBuzz has the complete works of Darwin ).



South Dakota's school funding lawsuit will start in September.



Iowa's sales tax plan for schools is losing momentum.



Florida, who is really struggling financially, looks to have a 2 year waiting period before the class size reductions take place.



The Ohio bill that is attempting to permit college students to carry guns is stalling (thankfully - looks like all of these bills across the country are failing).



Kansas has a new cyber-bullying law.



Bullying in an anti-bullying meeting in Missouri?



Some pretty striking expulsion numbers in Las Vegas.



Teachers are striking at some Catholic Schools in NY.




And around the blogosphere:

Probably the big story this week was the ruling out of the 3rd Circuit in Borden v. Sch. Dist. of the Township of East Brunswick
which found that a football coach cannot join his team in prayer for
meals or during pregame prayer. The court found participating in these
prayer activities would be endorsing religion. Mark Walsh at Education Week has more as does Molly McDonough at the ABA Journal.
 
But, that was not out only coach to make news this week. The Kentucky School News and Commentary blog comments on a story
from around Columbus, OH where a teacher/coach refuses to remove a copy
of the Bible from his classroom. The event has triggered local interest
and a 100 person rally for the teacher was held yesterday. The teacher is claiming freedom of speech protection in displaying the Bible (good luck with that) - Richard Day says
"His persistent effort over time to impose his strongly held views
promoting a specific religion smells like ...establishment."

Martha Neil, who has been doing an excellent job following the NY School Attorney's scandal, posts this week
that the probe has moved beyond just school attorneys to all
professional involved in government work. This is bad news for NY
accountants, architects and others, but sort of good news for school
lawyers as they will not be the only ones catching heat and it may help
school lawyers save a little face after this embarrassment.

But, the school attorney scandal was not the only way schools can be taken advantage of, as Mark Walsh finds in an odd mail fraud case.

Jim Gerl has a good week continuing his series on Procedural Safeguards in Special Education with IEE's the topic this week, but also gives us a little personal info about the conferences he attends and the Big Wigs he gets to hangs around with. In all seriousness, nice work Jim in promoting the rural special education agenda.



Mike Tully At The Schoolhouse Gate has word of another bullying lawsuit.



Mitchell Rubinstein has the declining relevance of law reviews ... and law reviews are also moving online, somewhat (finally).
    
Pamela Parker at Texas Teacher Law has an interesting post on how hard to fight when the system turns against you.



Board Buzz has bullying in the lunchrooms, and not how you would expect.



Volume 7 of the Integration Report is up.



Politico has McCain's Arizona Education roots ... and why they are dangerous.

Fordham is now blogging. They also are making videos
(calling their weekly spot the Fordham Factor), which are generally
good and informative, but could use a much better intro. Seriously,
fellas, that intro needs some major, major, professional help. But, I
really appreciate the creativity.

And you may have noticed the upgrades to the blog this week. This blog is now using SnapShots so that readers can preview pages (if you don't like it you can tell Snapshots to cut it out). Also, on the sidebar I have my favorite videos. I just have a few in there now, but I will continue updating that with cool new videos. Finally, I have also added my bookshelf
to the sidebar you can keep track of what I am reading/recommending
(try the physics books, if you get it on tape, it is a great way to
travel across the country).



Finally, a Special Request this week concerning Gifted Education. Marty Nemko,
a contributing editor at U.S. News among other things, called me up
this week and wanted a little information on education law and
plaintiff's lawyers for educational litigants. He is particularly
interested in the way gifted students are treated (or mis-treated in
his opinion) in the United States. Here is a blog post he wrote on his thoughts on gifted education.
I gave him a couple names but really did not have exactly what he was
looking for so I thought I would put it out to all of you. If you have
any ideas for a potential law firm that would be interested in this or
have any other thoughts on gifted education, feel free to leave a comment at his blog or get in touch with him.  This might be a good way for a young, up and coming student's rights firm to make a name for itself.





And for your Friday Fun: A Little Bathroom Humor
(for those of you that know me really, really well, you know I have an extreme aversion to public restrooms). Sorry if it is a little crude ... but it
is funny as heck. Men's Room (below) and Ladies Room

Google Document Link: Friday Snippets: 4/18/08 - There is Just Something about Coaches and Religion

Putting the Brakes on Drivers Ed.

Not that long ago my cousin, who was 17, had not went to the driver's facility to get his license even though he had passed driver's ed. and everything else that was necessary to get the license. He just didn't want it - he didn't need it he would say. My whole extended family was sort of shocked by this development, but we wrote it off as just a quirk.

Well, according to today's SF Gate, it might be a trend. In California only 14% of 16 year olds have driver's licenses:

In San Francisco, the school board's two student delegates initiated the effort to drop the graduation requirement.

"We believe driver's education should be more of an option," said
Nestor Reyes, a sophomore at June Jordan School for Equity, adding that
students are carrying full loads to fulfill college entrance
requirements. "Most of them haven't taken driver's education because of
time."

Like the Lowell students, teens nowadays appear to be in no hurry to get behind the wheel of a car.

There is also little interest in offering driver's ed. as a course:

In 1990, the state pulled the
funding that paid for the driver's training, and almost overnight, the
behind-the-wheel instruction was eliminated.

At the time, 250,000 students in 950 high schools got driver's
training. Last year, only 440 students in seven high schools - mostly
in rural areas - got the training.

The state still requires classroom-based driver's education, but
that law is largely ignored, with only 1 in 4 California high schools
offering the course.

My cousin eventually broke down and got his license when he was 18 and had a girlfriend, but even today he doesn't drive very much. This is a really interesting development if it is happening nationwide. The price of gas and all the additional driving restrictions may not be affecting the generation that is addicted to cars, but it might be affecting the new generations that are not yet addicted. Guess things are just not like they used to be:

Rest of the Episode (2) ... (3)

What's That on the Lawn? Eww ... Gross.

Here is a little story that caught my attention ... human waste purposefully spread on and around an elementary school play area by the EPA. No, I am not kidding.

KMOX original story (click audio)
KMOX follow up finding that local residents knew of the plan.
Saint Louis Post Dispatch Story

The city of East Saint Louis has a few problems, perhaps you are aware of that (Kozol's Savage Inequalities). Well, growing up near the area, there is a long history to East Saint Louis which I won't get into here other than to mention that at one time East Saint Louis was a thriving industrial city. One of the industries that was in town were lead smelters and paint manufacturers. Anyway, given the low environmental standards, remnants of that era remain. Here is Kozol on the lead problem:

SI Kozol St. Louis, Illinois via kwout

Anyway, to decrease the lead contamination in the area, the EPA came up with a plan to combine human and industrial waste to mix into the soil in an effort to bind the lead particles to inert materials that are not harmful when kids and adults ingest the soil as they play and live on this contaminated ground. That was the plan, although people in the area were not aware of the human source of the new "soil." Some researchers think there has not been enough research done on the use of human waste in such applications and that the human waste itself might not be safe.

The problems run deep in East Saint Louis, literally. It is a good lesson in knowing your school environment and the possible environmental hazards your kids might be facing. We need to keep tabs on who is doing what around the school where our children play, because as this story shows, you can't trust others not to do something stupid like this.

Students Attacking Teachers - Teachers Running to the Media

Here is an odd story out of Baltimore. A teacher was attacked by a student in the classroom. It was a fairly brutal fight and students stood around and did nothing to intervene. One student, though, did pull out the old cellphone camera and recorded it on video, which later made its way to Youtube. After the fight, the teacher went to the principal who may or may not have blamed the teacher for the fight. Also, apparently, there was some delay in disciplining the student responsible. The teacher has since left the classroom and has said she is scared to return.

Anyway, once the video is found, the teacher's union recommended that this teacher go public with the story and make the media rounds, which she did extensively (see below). She is apparently on a crusade to make schools safer for teachers from students. And because of the media firestorm, there are also calls to get rid of the principal and more.

Just a very odd story. Perhaps not so odd that it happened, but that the union turned this into a publicity stunt. I am not really sure what the purpose of such a media onslaught is in terms of changes to actual working conditions. I guess you can elicit some value in terms of embarrassing the district publicly, but I am not sure how embarrassing the administration and calling for the principal to be fired is going to improve the working conditions in Baltimore's schools. If anything this would seem to damage the working relationship between the teachers, the union and the administration. Perhaps other have thoughts.

Here is the MSNBC Interview that also gives an interview.

Here is Nancy Grace's 4 part story with doctors, 3 lawyers, union reps ... wow: Part I, Part II, Part III (below), Part IV (below). "We want justice, this is wrong."

Here is a CNN Interview as well.

Odd Story. Probably haven't heard the last of this yet either.

Friday Snippets: 4/11/08 - Cuomo's School Lawyer Net Starting to Catch Fish

Here are the snippets for another week:

At AERA, Kevin Brady, said that his review of the education psychology literature found the highest rates of bullying in middle school girls. I believe it. 2 stories this week: 14 year old is beaten up by 2 older girls & Teenage girls gang up on another student.


The NY School Attorney Scandal has cast a pretty wide net ... and they are getting quite a few fish. Perhaps 90 lawyers in 180 districts (so far) were improperly receiving state pension benefits and other compensation.



The homeschooling protests have moved outside California. "Hundreds" of homeschoolers protested a registration bill outside the Michigan State Capital.


The end has come for decentralized testing in Nebraska. Sad - I always sort of liked Nebraska's policy on this.



A new adequacy lawsuit starts in Iowa.

This Idaho politician being fined for speeding in a school zone is so ironic its funny.

Illinois Democrat's plan to double income taxes on those making over 250,000 failed. But, in Calif. Gov. Schwarzenegger may be leaning toward a tax increase.



The Evolution Debate continues in Florida.



Athletic Equity for Disabled Students passes in Maryland.



Guns and Kids don't mix, period, in one N.C. school -- so no more shooting team. (Gotta say that is probably a good idea).



Remember that big anti-teacher union billboard in NYC, yeah, that doesn't seem to be working.



If you can pay for it, this is a nice Green idea in Ohio.


Forced parental volunteering in schools?


Also, Lee Hochberg for PBS had a nice segment on the deadend that students of immigrants face at the end of high school.   



And, The Civil Rights Project has a new book out.




Around the Ed. Law Blogosphere:

Jim Gerl offers a compelling point about the connection between special education students and high divorce rates among parents. A sad reality.

Mark Walsh has a good blogging week. He has J. Scalia telling high school students they need to be Constitutional Law scholars. While J. O'Connor stuck to the script in addressing the NSBA, which disappointed both Mark and I. Also a Hartford, CT deseg case settlement, but a possible AA challenge in Texas and Oklahoma. Finally, Boyd County, KY winning a challenge to its anti-harassment (for sexual orientation) policy (that poor district has been through a lot).

Mitchell Rubinstein links to this NY Times article that finds many Muslim students being homeschooled. This follows up on a post I made earlier this week about a Muslim oriented Charter School in Minnesota being tarred and feathered. Little update on that post by the way, the school was also chided for not flying an American flag ... also on the front page of Drudge.    



And for your Friday Fun:

This week we are going to go with a music recommendation to spice things up a bit. You HAVE to check out Old Crow Medicine Show. They are sort of an old timey,
progressive bluegrass, rock oriented, folk band - which probably
doesn't do them justice. They are sort of unique but part of a growing
genre of music that sort of combines lots of styles, but still manages
to sound uniquely American. They are just super talented and sort of do
their own thing. Got to love that. This is their song called I Hear Them All:



More Music (this is all uploaded videos, so forgive the inferior audio quality)

Wagon Wheel (probably their most popular song)
Down Home Girl
Minglewood Blues Live (Austin City Limits)
Gospel Plow (from their Woodsongs music hour at the Kentucky Theater in Lexington ... I can't wait to get there).

Google Document Link: Friday Snippets 4/11/08

SES and Choice Participation Still Lagging

SES and Choice were abuzz in the education blogosphere this week. Here are the relevant numbers and here is the DOE report
that started it all. Quick summary: It's not good. 17% participation in
SES and 1% participation in choice. That does represent a small rise in
SES participation but little to no increase in choice.

Being somewhat
well read on this issue (here is my choice and SES policy brief), I tend to agree with eduwonkette
that yes, district communication is contributing to the problem, but at
some point we have to ask the question whether it is the policy itself
that is no good, not the implementation. I know it is often preferable
to blame the implementers rather than admit the policy itself was
flawed, but after 5 years of implementation we are still not seeing
much improvement, especially on the choice front. I hope that by the
time reauthorization finally does roll around, folks in Washington give
long, hard consideration to the possibility that choice and SES
themselves are the problem, not the school's use of them. Because the
last thing we need is more sanctions for not properly implementing the
first round of sanctions. There is a pretty standard rule in teaching
that if a couple students miss a question, they probably didn't study.
But, if 1/2 the class or more misses a question, it is probably a bad
question. That lesson seems to apply here.

Education Law just a Niche?

Some evidence to the contrary today. NSBA Legal Clips just crossed the 10,000 subscriber barrier. Congrats all. You are doing a great job and I highly recommend it. It is one of the few educational law related technology items that has managed to transcend the field and is used by old and young, lawyers and administrators, professors and practitioners alike.

If you had just one education question for a candidate, what would it be?

That was the question posed to me this morning by a colleague of mine that is planning to go to a Barack Obama rally tomorrow. The question she is planning on asking (if given the opportunity) is:

"The Supreme Court decision about school segregation last year limited
a school's ability to promote a diverse student body.  Without being
able to racially diversify our schools, how do you propose we overcome
structural racism in this country?"

Anyway, it got me thinking about the question I would ask. Here is what I came up with:

For Obama: (video)

Given the movement toward national standards witnessed under the Clinton Administration and the recent openness to the idea by some governors, and given your position as a former Constitutional Law professor, what do you feel the Federal Government's role is in education should be given that it is not mentioned whatsoever in the Constitution?

For McCain: (video)

Given you limited statements on education during this campaign cycle and in the past, would you eliminate, as President Reagan, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, former Secretaries Bill Bennett and Lamar Alexander among others have suggested, the Federal Department of Education? And if not, what do you view its role as?

Obviously both of the questions are federalism based. For one, I think the redefinition of federalism in education has been a defining characteristic of educational reform in the past few decades and this era will be remembered as the era when education became a national (and perhaps global) enterprise. But, more importantly, the role of the federal government in education is something the President actually has some control over. The President, even if he or she wanted to, cannot cure most of what ails education. However, the President can control the federal bureaucracy ... in fact, that is pretty much their primary job.

The federalism question is particularly interesting to me because of Sen. Obama's status as a former Constitutional Law Professor at the generally conservative University of Chicago. He is no doubt intimately aware of the fact that the Constitution does not mention education ... at all. Looking at the history of the Constitution, this does not seem to be a mere oversight but rather an intentional omission on the part of the Framers to keep a decentralized system of education in place, which they viewed as superior. I am not the Constitutional Law Scholar that Sen. Obama is, but in my view the Constitution is pretty clear that education should be left to the States. You can see this not just in Conservative Republican rhetoric, but also from Democrats when they do things such as proposing a Constitutional Amendment on Education. A few months ago Checker Finn was giving a speech on education that included support for national standards. I asked Checker at that time whether the Constitution should pose a barrier at all to nationalizing perhaps the most central element of education, the curriculum (as determined by the national standards). Checker said the Federal Government can do whatever it wants in education and that the Constitution poses no barrier whatsoever, as it has not for some four decades now.

There is real confusion right now about what the federal government should be doing related to education issues. Consider that NCLB was passed with wide bi-partisan majorities and almost universal approval by policy folks in 2001. Now, less than a decade later, all three Presidential candidates are backtracking as fast as possible from it and there is pretty wide agreement among educators that it has hurt schools. If the federal government can't get it right even when everybody agrees, what evidence is there to lead us to believe that they can get it right in the future?

Anyway, that would be my question. What would be yours?

Muslim Fears & Public Schools

Funny how our disposition toward the separation of church and state is so dependent on the "church" in question. Today's big story in education law, running as a Drudge top story (the first time I have seen Drudge run an education story at the top that didn't involve shootings), is this article in the Star-Tribune about "Minnesota's Muslim Public School." The school in question is a charter school that does appear to perhaps be tied too closely to the Muslim faith. While the "evidence" relied on for this article is almost totally hearsay (it is a pretty poorly conducted "investigation" written into an article that presents it as fact), I am willing to buy the basic idea that this school may be tied too closely to the Muslim religion. In fact, the ACLU is going to have a look at it.

Of course ... Christian Charter Schools ... well, I don't even need to say it do I? Anyone else think we are just a tad hypocritical about our devotion to the Doctrine of the Separation of Church and State in this country? It is a doctrine that comes from the Constitution itself and is designed to be used broadly, not selectively. If everyone is so worried about the separation of church and state in public schools, I would like to see the author of the article, Matt Drudge and everyone else pursue violations stemming from the Christian religion with as much vigor as this story seems to be pursued.

Devolving Education and Developing Countries

As many of you probably know Zimbabwe has been in the news lately for their recent disputed elections. Today we learn it has the possibility to get violent. You may also know that Zimbabwe was one of the most literate countries in Africa at over 90% literacy rates and by all accounts it had a sparkling education system. Anyway, this is all background for a story in today's LA Times about how Zimbabwe's education system is being dismantled as one by one inflation is forcing teachers out of the education system.

The first to go was the English teacher. Six months later, the commerce
teacher followed. The next year, 2005, the trickle turned into an
exodus. By 2007, the departures from Mufakose 3 High School were like
bricks in a collapsing building: math, science, accounting and many
other teachers, all leaving their careers behind to work as cleaners,
shop assistants, laborers in other countries.

Zimbabwe's education system, once the best in Africa, is being demolished teacher by teacher.

Some of the teachers at Mufakose 3, outside the capital, Harare, called
in sick and were never seen at the school again. Others didn't bother
to call and just disappeared.

"You'd come to school and someone's not there and next thing you
hear, he's gone," said Knox Sonopai, 43, a history teacher at Mufakose
3.

In 2007, 25,000 teachers fled the country, according to the Progressive
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe. In the first two months of this year, 8,000
more disappeared. A staggering 150,000 teaching vacancies can't be
filled. The Education Ministry sends out high school graduates with no
degree or experience to do the job.

...

At Mufakose 3, schoolboy Bernard Tinashe stared straight ahead with
dreamy eyes as he painted a 10-year-old's vision of someone in a white
coat curing the dying and the sick. He recited his hopes and dreams in
a singsong classroom voice, as if learned by rote.

"I-want-to-be-a-doctor-because-I-want-to-give-people-medicine-when-they're-sick.
Sometimes-they-don't-get-medicine-because-in-this-country-there's-no-medicine.
To-learn-is-the-best-thing-in-Zimbabwe-so-that-you-can-be-educated-so-that-you-can-
learn-something-that-you-can-do."



When there aren't enough teachers or there's a strike (a frequent
occurrence these days), children are sent home or spend the day outside
playing.



"School's boring," Bernard said, "because there are no teachers and we
don't learn anything. You just sit and read books but the teachers are
not there. Sometimes we are just sitting on the ground or sitting
waiting for our parents to come and get us and then we'll go home."



He said some of the children were mischievously delighted when classes
were canceled, but not him: "It makes me feel unhappy. I'll never get
to be educated. I'll never get to be a doctor. I'm not learning."

Continue Reading...

The education systems in these developing democracies are often forgotten amidst the stories on bloodshed and political power struggles, but we should remember that while these political games play out in the present, it is the future that is lost. 

Kudos to the LA Times for pay attention and running the story.

Also today, NPR interviews Lisa Jackson who as a documentary which begins tonight on HBO (10 est) on the extensive rape and harassment of women in the Conflict in the Congo. Here is the trailer:

Mathew's Education Blog List

Those new to the blogosphere can often be overwhelmed by the immensity of it. It is huge. Like, really huge. Technorati is currently tracking 112.8 million blogs. It is the same with education. There are a lot of education blogs. I have been blogging for three or four years now and I have probably only seen like a 1/10 of the education blogosphere.

Anyway, what is quickly becoming one of the gold standards for education blogs lists is Jay Mathews annual list at the Washington Post. Jay is one of, if not the, top reporter in education so his seal of approval is no small thing. I looked over his list and I agree with him that most of the blogs on his list are the most influential in education. I especially liked Jay's inclusion of Teaching in the 408, which is probably my favorite teacher blog. I think Jay's list is a little heavy in education policy blogs (which frequently present much of the same material) and as he continues to compile it I expect he will start to see more of the educational blogs that are actually written by educators, but for now it is a good place to start for those new to the educational blogosphere.

The Redding Strip Search Case Continues to Get Attention

If you have read the blog for a while, you know I took a personal interest in the Redding v. Stafford case a long time ago when Savannah Redding posted a comment to the blog to thank me for my interpretation of the case, in which I sided with the student that a strip search for Ibuprofen was unreasonable. (See my first post and a later post). Well, this case has been gaining national momentum of late, and rightfully so. Here is the latest clip from MSNBC which interviews Savannah and has a little analysis (although the analysis is pretty weak - MSNBC, next time you need some analysis, call me, I can point you in the right direction - Jackie Stefkovich at Penn State, for instance, would have been much better).

Friday Snippets: 4/4/08 - It's Always Something with Illinois

Here is another week's worth:

Arizona hits a snag on opting out of NCLB, but their efforts are not over yet.

The California homeschooling decision is still generating backlash and New Hampshire homeschoolers are also upset over a bill that require them to submit curriculum plans before they withdraw their children.

Nebraska governor signs changes to school funding formula into law, which prompts some school districts to drop their funding lawsuit against the state. Also, Nebraska school bus seatbelt bill failed.

Illinois is a mess again (I could do snippets just on Illinois stories each week). Here is this weeks top 10. 1) Gov. did end run through school to give money to a church. 2) Failed. 3) And doesn't want to talk about it.  4) Tony Resko (of Obama fame) implicates the Gov. in a Teacher's Pension System fraud. Also, 5) the legislature looks to remove some of Gov. power over education 6) and also sides with media against the high school athletic association over pictures of athletes. 7) the mayor of Chicago threatens the legislature with property tax hikes. as 8) the state board of education cuts another 25 million from the budget. 9) the Juvenile justice system can't find enough teachers.
10) Meanwhile the Washington Post reports that violence is out of
control in Chicago, with 20 students in CPS already dead this year as a
result of youth violence. 7 in March alone.

Louisiana is looking to do more and deeper background checks on teachers. (Minnesota wants to background check all coaches). Louisiana Superintendents are also upset about Legislators trying to force discipline rules on them.

The Michigan High School Athletic Association has been found discriminatory against girls.

Negotiations continue over Kentucky's anti-bullying bill.

There might be support for Vouchers in Maryland.


And in the Ed. Law Blogosphere this Week:

Scott McLeod (of Dangerously Irrelevant fame) passes along word of a ruling in Wisconsin which released the email files
of 5 teachers (including personal e-mails - student identifying
information removed) into the public domain. (Use proprietary email
systems for personal stuff folks, I like g-mail). 
Scott also passes along word of a new education news site that seems to
focus on bad behavior in schools, whether from teachers or students. Detentionslip.org. 

Jim Gerl continues his series on IDEA Procedural Safeguards.

Mark Walsh has the the Supremes declining cert.
to a case where a student text messaged a friend with an icon shooting
bullets at a head and the words "Kill Mr. VanderMolen," his teacher. But he also has a lot on the Supreme's accepting cert. in a teacher's union dues collection case.

Mitchell Rubenstein has more Garcetti fallout. This time a teacher complained that unqualified people were hired for positions within a school. Ruling = Not protected.

The latest Integration Report is out and has more about SES based diversity plans.

Jon Becker finds a school district blocking Google Docs (wow).

Jim Ryan, the law and education guy at the University of Virginia Law School, posts a Fixing NCLB article at Slate. And the Ed. Blogosphere busts his chops: Quick and the Ed; D-Ed Reckoning; Tim Stahmer
(For my part, I disagree with his first sentence. Education can't be
"fixed" with 1 law or tinkering with NCLB. That is the kind of surface
level thinking that produces laws like NCLB in the first place. But,
Jim is doing good work in education law otherwise, so I am going to give him a pass and chalk it up to Slate's request for a surface level article).

Kevin Carey (Quick and the Ed) also makes a good case that Law Schools should not complain about the U.S. News Rankings (see the ABA Journal article).
Law schools do, after all, rank their students (what horrid memories,
but I will never forget my law school ranking ... I was ranked ____ -
are you crazy, I am not sharing).

Michele McNeil finds the AFT running radio ads for Sen. Clinton that don't even mention education. This is the kind of spending that makes unions a hard sell to new teachers. Michele also has a great post on Sen. McCain's education.


And for your Friday Fun: Improv Everywhere - Mobile Desktop

Also watch (1) Frozen Grand Central and (2) Food Court Musical (probably the funniest)

Google Document Link: Friday Snippets 4/4/08

Nice Religion Test Case

Mark Walsh at the School Law Blog has tipped us off to a really nice test case for church/state issues. A school in the Dallas area has painted "In God We Trust" on the wall of a public school gymnasium. Picture. News report (video). The Texas Education Code permits the display of the national motto:

Sec. 1.004. DISPLAY OF NATIONAL MOTTO. A public elementary
or secondary school or an institution of higher education as
defined by Section 61.003 may display the United States national
motto, "In God We Trust," in each classroom, auditorium, and
cafeteria.

This could make a really nice test case for church/state issues if the parties decide to bring the lawsuit (don't be surprised to see the ACLU or someone else get involved in this). The "In God We Trust" language has been challenged unsuccessfully in the past concerning its usage on money, but those lawsuits did not involve the motto being painted in large letters in a public school. The audaciousness of this example will make it harder for judges to fall back on the "it doesn't really do any harm" position. They would probably be forced into a position of claiming that the national motto is not religious, it is historical, which very well may win the day (although the motto is not as historical as you might think). But, it would be an interesting test case to be sure. My feeling is that we might be hearing a lot more about this case in the future.

The Grades Just Disappeared!

When I was a kid, I always used to pray for this to happen. I was sort of a B & C type student, with the occasional A or D thrown in there to mix it up. One byproduct, though, of my apathy toward grades was that I would frequently be scolded when report cards came home. Well, there are kids in Evansville, IN right now just like me that have had their prayers answered. Evansville's grading system had a glitch and the grades were lost, meaning no report cards and no scolding for apathetic little boys like me. Good for them.

But, regular readers of my blog know that I am pretty tech heavy. I like technology and it really makes my world easier and more fun. But, some things I am always going to do on paper. One of those things is keeping a gradebook in hard copy. I have seen way too many blue screens of death to put something as important as my student's grades only in the computer. And, I recommend you do the same. Going to totally paperless systems is a bit too far for me. I wouldn't keep only an electronic record of an important contract such as the deed to my house, so I don't only keep electronic records of my students work either. On important things, just keep the paper copy for a  little while, then when everything passes without incident, you can recycle the paper and feel good about yourself then.

April Fools Jokes No Fun For Schools

Since Australia is a few hours ahead of us, they have already had time for an April fools joke to go wrong. A student in a suburb of Melbourne called in a bomb threat as an April fools joke, and even though the administration suspected as much, they still had to evacuate the school, call the police and do the whole thing. The administrator says he does not plan to expel the student, however, as he understands it was just a joke gone wrong.

When I was teaching, April Fools was a day I sort of dreaded. You were on your toes all day because you really didn't know what to expect from them. Luckily, I never had an April Fools joke go horribly wrong. Usually I gullibly fell for some sob story or the other and was embarrassed to the delightment of the kids.

Any administrators or school personnel want to share their best/worst April fools day experience at their school?

Photo Source

Some More Teachers on Tape

Not long ago Scott McLeod put up a provocative post at Dangerously Irrelevant that had a series of YouTube Clips where students took videos of teachers in their classrooms and later posted them to YouTube for the world to see (each of the videos below have thousands of hits). Well, my ed. law course talked about teacher speech inside the classroom tonight, so I wanted to provide the link to Scott's blog and provide a few more. You should check out the 7 Scott has on his blog first, but also here are a few more from different situations doing different things:

Sometimes Teachers Flip Out:

Sometimes Teachers say Bad Things:

Even when teachers know they are on camera sometimes they don't know how to behave:

And Sometimes even good teachers do things they would rather not see on the Internet:

The moral of the story is that in today's world, you just don't know when you are on camera so you shouldn't do things you don't want to see on the Internet later.

Turnitin Copyright Lawsuit Dismissed (Wrongly)

The copyright lawsuit against Turnitin.com has been dismissed. Andy Carving at Learning.Now has a nice analysis. I have a couple problems with this ruling. First, the judge relied heavily on the clickwrap agreement (the "I Agree" checkmark box we all check when using a service) (for the number of times the judge relied on this word "clickwrap" see the visualization of this case below). Those agreements should be given the weight we all attach to them, which is basically zip. On top of that, the students are forced to click it, so there really is no offer and acceptance here so I am not sure considering that a valid contract between parties holds a lot of weight for me. So, I am not real fond of the heavy reliance on that.

But, more importantly, Turnitin.com (more specifically their owner iParadigms) is making money off the use of the student's intellectual property. I don't really know how else to view this. When students submit their papers to Turnitin, the paper is archived to build the database (100,000 papers a day according to the case). The database of papers is what makes Turnitin function. It is the collective body of student work that is essential to the operations of Turnitin. Without the database of student work (the student's intellectual property), Turnitin would not exist and certainly would not be making as much money as they are. They are essentially making money off the work of others.  This is the very reason copyright law exists, no?

The judge in the case let Turnitin off the hook on "fair use" claims. Now, I don't want to get into an extended lecture on how the fair use exception works, but this is not the typical way the "fair use" doctrine is used. Let me just give you the factors Federal law says should be used for determining where fair use is applicable (17 U.S.C. 107):

• The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.
• The nature of the copyrighted work.
• The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
• The effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

Now consider the use. Commercial in nature, full-text of student original work. It seems to me that only the 4th factor could be argued to the benefit of Turnitin, but in graduate school where students are encouraged to publish their papers in journals, the article's existence at Turnitin could even get in the way of the student's future use of the work for their own profit. Basically, I just don't see it. At all. At its core this is a commercial entity making profit on the work of others, which is what copyright law is designed to protect against. The court focused on the "transformative" use of the student work by Turnitin saying that "iParadigms, through Turnitin, uses the papers for an entirely different purpose, namely, to prevent plagiarism and protect the students' written works from plagiarism." Umm, did you forget about the purpose of making money? Do you think Turnitin is doing this out of the goodness of their hearts because they want to rid the world of plagiarism? I don't think so.

Also, I want to point out that the judge used the student speech line of cases to assert that student's rights are not coextensive with the rights of adults.

Schools have a right to decide how to monitor and address plagiarism in their schools and may employ companies like iParadigms to help do so. As the Supreme Court has recognized in the constitutional context, "the rights of students in public school are not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings" and the "rights of students must be applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment." Morse v. Frederick,127 S.Ct. 2618, 2622 (2007) (internal quotations omitted).

So, what are you saying? Student's have fewer defenses against unreasonable contracts being imposed on them? Student's have fewer rights to protect their work against commercial copyright violators? What the heck does that mean because it certainly has some important implications. One implication I drew from this opinion is that students should be assumed to have fewer rights in contract and copyright law. Of course, I would argue that students/children should have MORE protection in contract and copyright law as they are less able to protect themselves.

Overall, I feel this judge was blinded by plagiarism concerns to actual copyright law, as I feel many in our legal and education system are these days. I can't tell you how many times the judge mentioned plagiarism in the opinion (see visualization, actually for the real number). I don't want to defend plagiarists, and I certainly call it out when I see it in my classes, but the treatment of plagiarism these days reminds me a little of fear-mongering. Plagiarism is not something new and it is not something that is going to steal our children in the middle of the night ... it is just a fancy word for cheating at higher than acceptable levels. Students cheat, adults cheat, politicians cheat, the media cheats, even Shakespeare cheated a little. It happens and we as teachers should discourage it. But, just because we have given cheating a new name, "plagiarism," doesn't mean it should be used to rewrite copyright law in the United States or take away any more student rights, especially concerning their rights in their own protected work.

Finally, I will leave you with this: Let's just say that instead of archiving and using student work to make a profit, Turnitin.com used Fortune 500 business plans in the same way. Just to check for plagiarism and turn a profit while doing so. Would that case come out the same way? And, just how much plagiarism do you think it would detect?

Case Visualization:

Rolling out the Welcome Mat

The buzz at AERA was over this large, large (seven-story) billboard a block north of Times Square. (The owner's blog post and more pictures here.)

If you can't read it, here is the description:

"Vote for the
Worst
unionized
Teachers
(who can't be fired).
[the apple has a bite out of it and a worm coming out of the middle]
Vote at:
 Teachersunionexposed.com"

Here is a link to the AP story and the union response.

Now, I am not a particularly big fan of continuing to promote this kind of expenditure, especially when you don't know who is REALLY behind the millions that paid for all this, but I do think it is signifigant for a couple of reasons. First, the cost of it. Significant dollars are beginning to amass against teacher's unions, which this billboard in Times Square proves (and if not, check out their full page ads in the NY Times, their commercials, and their interview on Fox News - yes, I see you smiling - had to be Fox didn't it). Second, though, it was clearly posted because AERA was in town. Nothing was mentioned of the sort in the blog post, but if I were going to pick a spot that guaranteed everyone that attended AERA would see it, it would have been that spot because it sat in the middle of all the AERA hotels. So, clearly, someone was trying to make a statement to educational scholars as well as making a statement about how much they can spend. That is both flattering (I don't know the last time I was directly lobbied), but also concerning. Certainly, there is no rule that says you can't lobby the Ivory Tower, but such a direct and forceful effort as this shows a new kind of determination to influence scholars. The lobbyist group behind this certainly knew what it was doing and maximized the effect of this expenditure. The anti-teacher's union effort is clearly becoming more sophisticated if they can hire experienced Washington lobbyists to pull of this kind of stunt.

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Special thanks to two lovely, super-talented researchers that I am looking forward to working with on projects in the future. Karen Jackson for pointing it out to us and Maggie Barber for taking the photo (I am sort of jealous of her i-Phone). We'll see what our little investigative team can come up with next year in San Diego.