51�Թ�������

When it comes to the education of our country’s children, there are many choices today. Whether a child has high academic potential, special needs, or an eye on a career track, schools across the country are ready to answer the call. Take a look at three categories of schools that strive to serve a select segment of our student population today.

Blue Ribbon Schools

In 1982, the Blue Ribbon School program was established by Terry Bell, the Education Secretary at the time. The purpose of the program was to raise the public school system to a new level by recognizing schools across the country that achieved high levels of performance and improvement. Now dubbed the National Blue Ribbon School Program, the system continues to draw attention to outstanding elementary, middle, and high schools in both the public and private sectors.

In order to be eligible for Blue Ribbon status, the website states that schools must demonstrate one of the following:

• Outstanding academic performance, through standardized assessment test scores in math and reading
• Outstanding improvement in academic performance, again exemplified by state assessments in math and reading

Exemplary improving schools must also demonstrate a student population where at least 40 percent comes from disadvantaged backgrounds. Both public and private schools must follow similar performance criteria, but the nomination process is slightly different between the two. Public schools are nominated by a number of offices, including the Chief State School Officer,

The hurricane that ripped through the Northeast October 22 through November 2, 2012, left a trail of destruction that impacted every aspect of the lives of the residents there, including the children. Many students and teachers were left without a school to return to since the storm-ravaged school buildings to the point where they were not considered inhabitable. In addition to the challenges of the storm clean-up, schools that were currently being used as shelters had to find a way to allow students and strangers to live together harmoniously, at least for a short period of time. How did schools recover from unprecedented Hurricane Sandy? Very slowly, in some areas.

This video describes how Storm Sandy evolved.

Challenges Schools Faced

To understand the many challenges facing schools that were in the path of Hurricane Sandy, the went inside the thought process of one of New Jersey’s superintendents. Dr. James A. Crisfield, the superintendent of Milburn Township 51�Թ�������, explained to the publication that many factors had to be considered before children could be allowed back into schools, including:

• Electricity - Many schools were still without power and they could not reopen until electricity was back on.
• Gasoline – Gasoline shortages across the region made it difficult to get sufficient emergency personnel and school buses running. In addition, faculty and administration were unable to make it to school due to fuel shortages.
• Damage

Presidential election season is in full swing, and the yard signs, bumper stickers, and campaign buttons prove it. Paraphernalia is one way Americans show their support for their favorite candidate, but as one high school student in Philadelphia found out, public support of a candidate doesn’t always go as planned. This student got more than she bargained for when she wore a pink Romney-Ryan t-shirt to school. She was publically humiliated and harassed for her choice – not by fellow students, but by her own teacher.

The Samantha Pawlucy Story

Samantha Pawlucy is a sophomore at Charles Carroll High School in the Philadelphia area. Pawlucy decided to wear her Romney-Ryan t-shirt to class on “dress-down” day when the shirt fit within the parameters of the school dress code. It was a daring thing to do in a community with one Republican for every six Democrats. However, Pawlucy had no idea just how traumatic the response to her attire would be.

Pawlucy’s geometry teacher, Lynette Gaymon, called attention to Pawlucy’s shirt during class. According to a report in the , Gaymon told Pawlucy to remove the shirt. When Pawlucy refused, Gaymon compared the wearing of that shirt to Gaymon coming to school sporting a Ku Klux Klan t-shirt. She explained that Charles Carroll High School was a “democratic” school, and then told Pawlucy to leave her classroom.

In this video, an attorney comes down hard on the teacher who was accused of bullying Samantha.

The U.S. Department of Education recently released its 2012 National Blue Ribbon Schools awards, which include 219 public and 50 private schools across the country. The National Blue Ribbon Schools program has been a mainstay of the education system in the U.S. for the past three decades, providing parents, students, and members of the community with information about the top-rated schools in the country. The awards are primarily intended to serve as an example and inspiration for the entire education system in the U.S.

Announcement of Awards Eagerly Anticipated

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan recently announced the recipients of the awards from Arlington Traditional Elementary School, one of the 2012 Blue Ribbon Schools, according to a report in the . The program recognizes public and private primary and secondary schools that have demonstrated outstanding student achievement or improvement over the past academic year.

“Our nation has no greater responsibility than helping all children realize their full potential,” Secretary Duncan was reported by the Examiner as stating at the award presentation. “Schools honored with the National Blue Ribbon Schools award are committed to accelerating student achievement and preparing students for success in college and careers. Their work reflects the conviction that every child has promise and that education is the surest pathway to a strong, secure future.”

In this video, Superintendent Dr. Pat Murphy talks with Principal Holly Hawthorne of Arlington Traditional School about the school's 2012 Blue Ribbon School selection by the U.S. Department

A new report issued by the New York Civil Liberties Union indicates that the NYPD is making an average of around four arrests each day in New York City public schools. In addition, the police wrote around seven summons daily for students with less serious infractions. The report has been met with widespread concern, particularly in light of the fact that the large majority of students arrested were students of color. Is the NYPD exercising too much power in the public schools of the city, or are the police merely doing the job they were hired to do? The answer to that question appears to depend on who is asked.

Hundreds of Arrests on Record

The NYCLU recently released its report after conducting an analysis of police activity in the city’s public schools. The agency took advantage of a new city law to compile their report, which requires documentation and disclosure of school safety information, according to a report at . The report found that during the 2011-2012 school year, the police made a total of 882 arrests of students while the students were at school, with an additional 1,666 summonses issued.

Around 95 percent of the students arrested were black or Hispanic, despite the fact that students of color only make up around 71 percent of the total student population in the city. Of the minority students arrested, 63 percent were black students. Around 48 percent of the summonses issued were to students