Gifted Education Funding

As a teacher of the gifted I am an advocate for this special group of young people. One area that concerns me is the funding that is available for such programs. I am interested to learn about gifted programs in your district and funding for such programs. I find myself working with this wonderful group of students but with very limited funds. I'm curious to learn how this compares to funding for special education students or other students in other programs. I believe that our best and brightest students are being left behind when resources are divided. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)1973, Section 504 states that a Free Appropriate Public Education must be provided for all students with disabilities at no cost to the parents. I am in agreement with this act and believe it benefits our students with disabilities. However it does concern me to see hundreds and thousands of dollars spent per child each year for these students when I only receive single digit dollars for the gifted students. I believe gifted students should also receive a free and appropriate education. Please don't feel that I am against students with disabilities and want to remove any of their benefits-I do not. I simply believe the students that have the most to offer our cities, states, and country - our future leaders - are being shortchanged. What are your thoughts?

True Schools of Choice

Today's schools are being held accountable for the quality of students for which they produce. Everyone wants their children to attend a high performing school. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) gives parents the option to move their children if the school they are zoned for does not make Annual Yearly Progress. This is called the School of Choice option and it puts pressure on low performing schools to improve or risk loosing students to other schools. Many districts are allowing principals greater perimeters in order to make their schools successful. New programs are being introduced, curriculum changes are being sought, and pressure is being applied to classroom teachers to keep students on track and improve their scores on high stakes tests. The question that I would like for you to consider is whether districts should forget zoning lines and implement open enrollment in their schools. If a school were to reach their maximum attendance number they might implement a lottery system to fill their openings. Once a child entered the school they could remain there until graduation or time to move to another school. If a student is enrolled at a particular school their siblings would be allowed to enroll at the school when when the appropriate time arrived. All other openings would then be filled by lottery. Some believe such a system would create more competition between district schools and pressure each school to effectively manage their resources much like businesses compete for business. What are your thoughts on this issue?

Administrators and Student Discipline

Discipline is one area that challenges most teachers and administrators. Strong discipline is important as schools try to maintain a safe and secure environment for learning. It is difficult for students to learn in an environment in which they do not feel safe. It is the schools’ responsibility to provide such an environment. The challenge that most administrators face is the ability to maintain a learning environment while at the same time not removing students from the environment unnecessarily. In other words there are teachers that abuse the system just as do students. I have witnessed teachers that have no classroom management skills and depend on office referrals of students to gain control of their class. This is not normally the purpose of In School Suspensions (ISS) or Out of School Suspensions (OSS).

Do you notice any differences in the manner for which student discipline is handled in your school as the school year progresses? Do your administrators "tighten the reins" or "loosen the reins"? Also, do you notice a difference in the way discipline is administered to a student with affluent parents and a student whose parents are not affluent?

Student Privacy

The student privacy issue has raised many eyebrows lately. Many school districts have held training sessions to discuss confidentiality of student records and such. Yet many schools continue to send out a daily report to all staff members of students who have been assigned: Out of School Suspension, In School Suspension, Restricted use of buses, Alternative schools, and so forth. Do you consider this a privacy issue? Should only teachers that teach these students receive this information? Would this require to much manpower to determine which teachers should receive such information? Please respond with your thoughts on this important issue.

Athletics

Today more than ever teachers and school administrators are concerned with accountability. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has increased expectations of classroom performance. Each year the bar is raised a little higher and the stress level of most schools' staff members increase significantly. However at the same time many schools continue to place a very high level of importance on extracurricular athletic activities. Many schools pride themselves in fielding excellent competitive athletic teams. This school pride does however seem to come at a high price. Often athletes are called from classes one or two hours before the end of the school day to travel many miles to participate in athletic events. It is not uncommon for students to arrive back at school after 11:00 P.M. in our district. This may happen two or three times per week as is the case for some baseball, track, and soccer teams that play a lengthy schedule. These athletes are missing many hours of instructional time which is difficult to make up. What is your school's policy regarding student athletes leaving school early for school related athletic events? What are your thoughts concerning this issue? Do the athletes at your school often have to travel several hours for an event?

Out-of-State field trips

There has been a lot of talk lately in the district offices of public schools in Georgia about student safety and liability during out-of-state field trips. The issue of sovereign immunity continues to raise it's ugly head and place the responsibility of student safety on the shoulders of school officials who approve such trips. This issue is hotter than ever after the unfortunate accident by a private coach transporting a college baseball team to Florida a few weeks ago. Most of you saw the terrible image of that bus laying on its side after falling thirty feet from an overpass after the driver mistakenly exited the interstate in Atlanta. Many public school administrators are asking themselves, what if that had been my students? What are your thoughts regarding out-of-state field trips? Do the laws involving sovereign immunity need to be changed? Should a parent signing a field trip permission form release the school district and administrators from personal liability when negligence is not involved?

Flowers for Algernon/Charley

Please list five differences that you noticed between the story "Flowers for Algernon" and the movie Charley.

Characterization/Flowers for Algernon

Students - Type in the definition for characterization. Then give one example of characterization from the story and explain how it describes the character.