Results tagged “schools”

In that *super controversial* address to school children that had conservatives nationwide saying he would turn our kids into an army of health-care-reform-endorsing zombies, President Barack Obama today advised kids to "be careful what you post on Facebook" because it could come back and haunt you someday. Sound advice. He also made the *super controversial* statement, "Every single one of you has something to offer," and said that of anyone dead or alive who he could have dinner with, he'd choose Ghandi. No word yet on the number of glazed-over, socialist automatons later seen wandering the nation's school yards.

CBS5 reports that despite the California Department of Education's strict laws that sex education programs be medically accurate and objective, abstinence-only group Free to Be has been teaching their scientifically-inaccurate curriculum in Sonoma County Schools for the past seventeen years, up until this past May.

Twenty-four Isabelle Jackson Elementary School students in Elk Grove, near Sacramento, went home on the last day of school last Friday with a DVD that was supposed to contain a year in review of the class. The DVD turned out to be full of inappropriate images involving the teacher, about six seconds of which at least two students watched. The teacher has since contacted all of the students' parents warning them of the DVD and asking them to throw it away. It is unknown whether the teacher still has a job.

Parents of students in the Alameda School District are split down the middle regarding the district's decision to proceed with a new set of classes aimed at curbing anti-gay bullying. Starting next year, students in kindergarten through fifth grade will take one 45 minute class per year based on the GroundSpark curriculum. Fifth graders will read And Tango Makes Three, the true story of a pair of male penguins at the Central Park Zoo who successfully hatched an egg and raised a chick.

Natalie Jones, a sixth-grader in Ramona, California, created a Powerpoint presentation about Harvey Milk's life and activism, for which she received a near-perfect score. The day before the presentation, Jones' principal said that although her project was as good as a high school student's, because of the "sensitive material," she might be unable to show it.

Muni Diaries just came out with this appalling account via the Noe Valley Voice about Noe Valley resident R. La Rose's encounter with an abusive teen on the J Church on the morning of April 1st.

After a weary battle to permanently remove Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) from San Francisco schools, the school board voted 4-3 Tuesday night to reinstate the program. If you recall, the army training service was supposed to be phased out in less than a month at all SF public schools. Many argued that the 90-year-old military recruiting program shouldn't be allowed in public schools. "The kind of leadership it teaches is classic military leadership ... It's intended for war, not for civilian life," said Michael Wong, who graduated from Galileo High as a first Lt. in the JROTC. Getting rid of JROTC would have made San Francisco the country's only school district to ban the program based on political bias.

After one confirmed case of swine flu and thee other possible cases, two Bay Area schools have closed. First, San Jose's Branham High School will be shut down for a week after a student tested positive. The school will reopen May 6. Then, in Pittsburg, Highlands Elementary School was closed down after three fourth-graders have "probable cases" of the rapidly spreading flu. Thirteen other students "either called in sick or were sent home Tuesday with flu-like symptoms" as well. In related news, the first confirmed death in the U.S. from swine flu was reported, a 23-month-old in Houston, Texas

Rancho Cotati High School and Cross & Crown Lutheran School for kindergarteners and preschoolers in Rohnert Park were shutdown today after a gun scare sent parents, school officials, and teachers into a frenzy. (Students, of course, think it's awesome, because anything that gets you out of school is rad.) According to reports, "A Sonoma County emergency dispatcher received a call at 9:19 a.m. reporting an armed student inside the school at 5450 Snyder Lane." So far no gun or disgruntled student has been found. A school employee at an apartment complex across the street said "some parents had gathered at the edge of the campus and were awaiting an update on the situation."

While you were a young whippersnapper and only having to deal with fire and earthquake drills, the youth of today have to practice massacre drills--Columbine-style massacre drills, that is. We blame Grand Theft Auto.

535 San Francisco Unified School District teachers will receive layoff notices this morning due to state cuts in education funding. Today's pink slip handouts stem from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget '09, which will see San Francisco schools losing around $40 million. According to CBS 5, Mayor Newsom is doing what he can, even if it's a Band-Aid solution to a longterm problem.

Photo of the newly topped out hotel highrise at 888 Howard

A manhunt is underway right now at Contra Costa College, searching for a man who shot a Contra Costa College student police cadet three times at close range a little before 1 p.m. today. "The victim was in critical condition when he was taken to John Muir Medical Center...[and] has since been stabilized and has gone into surgery," according to CBS 5.

Today, a little before noon, a suicide attempt occurred at Hastings Law School. We received the information via our Contribute section (which, by all means, do) and from Introducing Ashley. (Aw) She reports that a "female student had attempted to jump from the 21st floor. Luckily, her friends and local police were able to talk her back inside."

Someone told us a story of a famous pianist who believed in bringing culture to the people, and went to a factory in Italy to give a lecture in front of a piano. He started to talk about Schoenberg, and after a few minutes, a voice rose from the audience: "Shut up, and play!" Ok, he said, and sat down at the piano, playing the Schoenberg piece. The voice rose again: "Rather, talk!"

San Rafael-based Edutopia Magazine, which is brought to us by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, looks to the future in its latest issue, identifying 10 ideas or trends that its experts believe can improve K-12 education. We found them thought provoking, and hope you agree.

Servers aren't cheap, so we'd like to take a moment to thank the advertisers on SFist this week:

With unseasonable weather descending upon much of North America, schools getting ready to reconvene, and sports seasons getting exciting, it's a busy time of year for us here in the Ist-A-Verse. Luckily, even with all the things we have to do, we still managed to get together to let you know what we've all been up to.

-- Sixth Street did not explode. [Chron]

Hey, everyone loves a list, right? Especially those ranking institutions of higher learning. The yearly U.S. News & World Report list is out -- any wagers on how local schools did? And, really, how much would it affect your choices? We remember mulling the 1991 list saying "can't get in there, can't get in there, nope, not there either . . ." But it's still fun to see how stuff measures up, we suppose. Unshockingly, Stanford University was high on the list, reaching No. 4 this year, undoubtedly driving the next generation of Azia Kims.

Photo of Jesse Jackson's address in the Western Addition.

--Spot (at least) four problems with this picture! [zippy_monster on Flickr, from the SFist Flickr stream.]

While San Francisco is known globally for a certain worldview, those of us who actually live here know that when it comes down to particulars, we don't often agree. We can't agree on Blue Angels. We can't agree on a Muni solution. Heck, we can't even agree on what to do about Ed Jew (oh no!). But you know a banner we can all unite under? The One City One Book: San Francisco Reads program. Imagine, hordes of people reading a sort of narrative story on paper! No electricity required (save, perhaps, for reading lights).

Any news involving Pixar makes our heart go pitter-pat, but this one's strictly for the rich folks: the studio's holding a benefit screening of Ratatouille on Friday, June 8th at 6:00pm, with tickets priced at, gasp, $250. Wine and hores-dee-ovrus are provided, as wealthy types won't show up otherwise. For $1,000, you'll get an additional recognition; for $5,000 you can get a tour of the studio. Proceeds go to Emeryville schools, bless 'em.

Pacific Gas and Electric has awarded 22 area schools a combined $108,500 for "for innovative solar science projects." Basically, PG&E, with these so-called "Bright Idea" grants, is to encourage young minds to think about alternative energy sources early on, in the hopes that a few of them will go on to pursue careers in the field. A total of $250,000 will ultimately be issued for the year; schools can apply for grants through Sept. 30.

Droll NPR commentator (who was previously fired for cursing) Sandra Tsing Loh brings her one-woman show, "Mother On Fire," to the Women's Building tonight! For a 9 night run!

? We heard it was good! No, we haven't gotten around to reading it yet! Are you done with it?") Well, if so, you and us are going to have to arm-wrestle over the selections at SwapSF's big book swap event this Saturday!

Looks like there's a budding trend for private companies to supply healthier school lunches in schools throughout the greater Bay Area. Some of these companies, as seen in the article in the SJ Merc, have plans to expand their school programs and even reach into homes.

Our beloved Muni Driver may have stopped writing for us, but that doesn't mean we can't get another part of Muni to take their chances posting for us. So without further ado, we'd like to start our new feature, Ask a Muni Security Guy. And standard rules apply-- we're really lucky to have this feature and our Muni Security Guy is not a writer, so be nice in the comment section.