4.9 million students attended private school in the United States in 2015.
FRIDAY FACT #1
In the United States for the year 2015, 50.1 million children attended a public elementary or secondary school.
Senior Citizens Bankrupt Over Wasteful School Spending
Senior citizens that bought their house 40 years ago for around $18,000 are now paying property taxes on the value of the land around $1,000,000 due to rich people moving into the neighborhood and putting up new mansions. These new neighbors tend to have kids and vote to increase the property tax for school projects.
School Administrators Get Rich As Working Families Struggle
As school administrators continue to get outlandish salaries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, they also continue to beg the taxpayers for more tax money. They never cut out waste and balance their own budgets. In fact most communities have seen a 40 – 70% increase in property taxes in the past ten years. To make matters worse, most families have not seen their income increase by that same amount. People on fixed incomes see their standard of living go down with every school money grab.
Tomorrow we will take a look at how much property taxes to pay for schools have gone up over the last 10 years.
Non-Residents Force Towns To Pay Extra?
The town of Brookline, MA is about to ask residents to vote for an additional $7,655,000 beyond their current school budget. This is $450 extra property tax per homeowner beyond the thousands per year they are currently paying. The schools claim that this money is needed due to 1,200 new students that have entered the system from 2004 to 2014.
What they are not telling you is that a large amount of these new students are non-resident students. These non-residents causing local citizens to pay for their expenses.
Tomorrow we will look at another giant rip off the town is about to ask voters to approve.
Non-Residents Force Towns To Pay Extra?
The town of Brookline, MA is about to ask residents to vote for an additional $7,655,000 beyond their current school budget. This is $450 extra property tax per homeowner beyond the thousands per year they are currently paying. The schools claim that this money is needed due to 1,200 new students that have entered the system from 2004 to 2014.
What they are not telling you is that a large amount of these new students are non-resident students. These non-residents causing local citizens to pay for their expenses.
Tomorrow we will look at another giant rip off the town is about to ask voters to approve.
Michigan State Board of Education Policy: Student Options for Animal Dissection
Michigan State Board of Education Policy: Student Options for Animal Dissection Coursework
The Michigan State Board of Education recognizes that a growing number of students have moral, ethical, religious, or other objections to animal dissection and that modern nonanimal teaching methods (e.g., interactive computer software) are available. The State Board of Education also recognizes that these alternative teaching lessons may be more effective and less expensive. Consistent with the recommendations of leading science education organizations, to accommodate these students and create an inclusive learning environment, any K-12 student who objects to dissecting animals or animal parts should be permitted to opt out of dissection activities without fear of reprisal.
School districts should establish a written policy stating that options are available for students who object to dissection activities, and that upon written request, the school will permit a student who objects to dissection activities to demonstrate competency through an alternative method.
Teachers shall provide these students with an alternate project (i.e., completing modules on interactive computer software) that does not involve participating in or observing dissection and through which they can learn and be assessed on the material required by the course. The alternate project should be selected by the teacher and entail a comparable amount of work to the dissection activity.
No student shall be punished or discriminated against based up on his or her decision to opt out of animal dissection activities.
A student who is reluctant to voice his or her concerns about animal use in a particular course, or who thinks these concerns have not received proper attention, may seek assistance from their principal.
School Shootings & Building Design
Schools have been preparing for shootings like the one yesterday in Troutdale, Oregon. Due to the tragic Newtown, CT school shootings, some local cities and towns are keeping security in mind as they design new school buildings. For example, Newton, MA’s new Angier Elementary School building was supposed to have their kindergarten classrooms on the ground floor so these smaller kids could have easier access. After the Sandy Hook shootings, the City of Newton decided to move all classrooms at the Angier Elementary School to the second and third floors.
Controversial Student Athlete Standards – Natick MA
Some schools around the country have been raising the sports eligibility standards. For example the Natick Public Schools in Natick, MA have raised the academic standards for its athletes. They decided to send a message to student athletes that academics come first. If a student doesn’t pass all of their classes, they lose eligibility. As a result of the increased academic demands, 43 students out of more than 500 were deemed ineligible due to failing a class or receiving an incomplete. Previously Natick averaged 6 to 9 academically ineligible students per term. The intended result is to put the emphasis on having their education be their first priority.
Students who are removed from teams have to meet with coaches, guidance counselor, and parents to come up with an improvement plan. These students are then ineligible for the remainder of the term as well as the following term.
What do you think of these new rules?
ALICE (Alert-Lockdown-Inform-Counter-Evacuate)
ALICE (Alert-Lockdown-Inform-Counter-Evacuate) calls for alerting the police and implementing a lockdown in response to an armed attacker. This in itself is standard procedure in all schools. ALICE takes it a step further by training students and teachers to consider other options such as evacuating or fighting off the attacker. Teachers and students are trained in ways to stop the gunman as a last resort, if there are no other options.
What do you think about your kids being trained to fight off a gunman in school?