Education Law

School Board News Today headlines

If your vocabulary doesn?t yet include ?sexting,? add it now. The act of sexting?sending promiscuous or pornographic material via cellphone or portable devices?is beginning to have a real impact on schools. This week, the parents of an 18-year-old girl who committed suicide after her classmates passed around her nude pictures and harassed her filed a lawsuit against school officials, saying they did not follow their own policies to prevent the harassment. Unfortunately, it?s not the only incident related to sexting where schools have been involved. And a survey by the Associated Press and MTV, meanwhile, finds that nearly a quarter of teens admit to sending or receiving such images–and in some states may face felony charges if caught.

In other news this week:

• The Obama administration will spend at least $3.5 billion under the school turnaround program, expanding a No Child Left Behind Act program created by his predecessor. President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan want to see the lowest 1 percent of schools shut down or reconstituted and showing progress within five years, the Associated Press reports.
• A new report finds an alarming achievement gap in the success rates of minorities and disadvantaged students in both four-year colleges and community colleges. Meanwhile, another story in the Washington Post tells about high school honors students who forgo prestigious universities for two years to save money at their local community colleges.
• USA Today investigates how a major shipment of tainted beef made its way into school cafeterias earlier this year, and why school officials were not notified of the dangers. The newspaper also looks at a company that says it can provide healthy, all-natural meals for students at a cost of less than $3 each.

Read these stories and more in School Board News Today. Miss a day? Check out the weekly report.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on December 04, 2009 (boomark / email).