The United States Supreme Court took the easy way out recently by refusing to grant certiorari in three cyber-bullying cases. Two of the cases, J.S. v. Blue Mountain and Layshock v. Hermitage were appeals from the 3rd Circuit while Kowalksi v. Berkeley County was an appeal from our own 4th Circuit. Both J.S. and Layshock …
January 2012 archive
Jan 31
H B 947: Home School Students Participation in High School Athletics
HB 947 would allow home school students the opportunity to play high school athletics at their local high school even though they are not enrolled in the public school. Many are calling this the “Tim Tebow Bill” because of the success of the former Heisman Trophy winner and current Denver Bronco quarterback who was home …
Jan 31
Feeling Pressures as a Leader ?
Building principals and assistant principals have been described as having one of the most difficult and least envious jobs in education. Mel Riddle, in a blog posted in the NASSP Febuary issue of NewsLeader commented “When I used to tell people that I was a high school principal, they would look at me as if …
Jan 30
Athletics and Home Schoolers Again!
The home school contingent of parents and supporters are again making their demand for their children to participate in public school athletic activties. This request is not a new one as it has been on the list of proposed legislation in previous years/sessions. For the current session, the process began on September 6, 2011 when …
Jan 30
General Assembly Report – January 30
Home school advocates had the upper hand in a “friendly” House Education subcommittee on Thursday, when they packed a small room in the General Assembly building at 7 AM to speak in favor of Delegate Bell’s House Bill 947 that would not allow school divisions to participate in a league that does not allow home …
Jan 30
HB 576 – More Information for Principals
HB 576 which proposes changes in teacher evaluation timelines continues to receive much notice across the commonwealth. Principals have expressed many concerns with this bill. Five major ones are summarized below: 1. There is only ONE year for teacher evaluations, and this on top of a whole new evaluation procedure for teachers and principals. You …
Jan 27
General Assembly January 25
School administrators would like another year to deal with the issue of mandating epipens in schools to address emergency situations due primarily to the recent student death in Chesterfield. In a meeting with health department and education department personnel, private practitioners and liaisons for health concerns and education (including VASSP and VASS), it was the …
Jan 26
Teacher Tenure/Continuing Contracts
The long held belief that teachers can have permanent positions through tenure has begun to fade with new accountabilites. In a recent article in the Richmond Times Dispatch, http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/jan/25/tdnat01-states-weaken-teacher-tenure-rights-ar-1637129/ , the reality of accountability that is tied into funding and jobs has brought a new paradigm to educators. The shift now for educators’ job security is being driven by the reality of …
Jan 25
General Assembly Report – January 24
Early morning meetings are often interesting and almost never dull. The SOQ Subcommittee that met on Tuesday at 7:30 was no exception. The majority of the meeting concerned the Governor’s diploma bill HB 1061, and it was well attended by education and administration representatives, including the State Superintendent and the Secretary of Education. The explanation …