Thursday, March 7, 2013
A Brookline Public Speaking teacher presents a new challenge in the discourse surrounding guns.
Elon Fischer, a public speaking teacher at Brookline High School, wants to have an open discussion on a tough topic: Guns. Instead of having his senior students write essays on a variety of literary topics, requiring them to demonstrate analytical and argumentative writing and independent research skills for their senior papers, Fischer has his students write about contemporary issues. Fischer also writes his own version of a senior paper. This year, for Public Speaking, Fischer is writing about how communities like Brookline can talk about guns in a productive and meaningful way. “After the Newtown tragedy, I was struck by how limited the voluminous public discussions of guns, gun violence, and gun safety was in the halls of government …
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation that would require teachers, workers at child care centers and school bus drivers to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks.
Should school and child care employees fingerprinted before starting employment in order to check their criminal backgrounds? The Associated Press recently reported Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is considering signing legislation that would require teachers, workers at child care centers and school bus drivers to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks. On Friday, the state education office announced in a press release that Patrick signed the bill on Thursday, authorizing the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and school districts to conduct fingerprint-supported national criminal history background checks on all teachers, school employees and early education providers in Massachusetts. "Prior to this law, school …
Thursday, January 10, 2013
A University of Cincinnati student recently won a restraining order against her parents after they tracked her every move.
Heading off to college is a chance for not only students to grow, but for their parents to adapt to life changes as well. But in some cases, the parents may not have such an easy time letting go. So has been the case with one college student that made national news recently. A 21-year-old music student at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music recently convinced a judge to grant her a restraining order against her parents, according to The Huffington Post. The student, Aubrey Ireland, reportedly told the court that even though she had made the dean's list, her parents would still drive 600 miles from Kansas to Ohio, making unannounced visits to her school, accusing her of drug use, promiscuity and mental illness…
The fingerprint background checks would also apply to everyone seeking to adopt children or become foster parents.
The Associated Press is reporting Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick is considering signing legislation that would require teachers, workers at child care centers, school bus drivers and others to submit fingerprints for criminal background checks. The fingerprint background checks would also apply to everyone seeking to adopt children or become foster parents, as the legislation is written. Fingerprints would be submitted to the Massachusetts State Police for a state criminal history check and forwarded to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for a national criminal history check, reported the Associated Press. What do you think? Tell us in the comments.
Friday, December 21, 2012
A week after the Newtown, CT massacre, schools have reviewed their safety procedures. Now, should parents follow up with more coaching?
A week after the deadly elementary school attack in Newtown, CT that has rocked the the nation, some parents say their kids remain oblivious to the attack—and the danger. Most teens and children are wrapped up in their own worlds. One mom of a middle-schooler told me instead of being worried about how the Newtown deaths would affect her daughter, she is more concerned the girl is not aware enough of what took place. And there is only so much the schools can do. So this mom will spin out a scenario of danger and ask the daughter to think through how she might best respond. If you are a parent, are you doing the same kind of 'coaching' with your kids? Should parents be following up and expanding on the schools' safety procedures and …
Thursday, December 20, 2012
One school system says no.
Webster students were told to change out of their T-shirts that paid tribute to the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre last week, according to Fox 25. One of the students, a first-grade boy, was wearing a shirt that read "Rest in peace, the victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School. And in the front is all the kids' names," his parent Tiffany Elliot told FOX 25. Elliot told Fox 25 she talked to her son about the shooting and thought the best way to handle it was to have him show his support for the victims. But the school, said Elliot, disagreed, saying it wasn't their place to discuss the tragedy with students. Instead, Superintendent Dr. Barbara Malkas told Fox 25, "... I don't feel it is the school's right to take that privilege of …
Saturday, December 15, 2012
An expert shares advice for parents who are trying to explain the Newtown school shooting to their kids.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting tragedy, parents are wondering what to tell their children about what happened and how to help them process what they may be hearing from friends, on television and via social media. Lauren Hutchinson, LMFT is a child and family therapist and parenting consultant with a practice in Bellevue, WA. She says step one for parents is to “turn off the TV”. “We don’t want to have the TV playing in the background all the time. It isn’t helpful and the news is traumatizing for kids to watch.” For kids age seven and younger Hutchinson says, “you want to shield them from the media coverage completely and parents should not initiate a conversation about the event because kids this age cannot make sense of…
Monday, December 3, 2012
Massachusetts is one of five states to add 300 hours of class time every year for certain schools. Will it help?
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Monday, December 3, 2012
Will more time in school translate into greater student achievement? Federal and state officials are announcing today that Massachusetts, along with Connecticut, New York, Tennessee and Colorado, are participating in a pilot program to find out. Csmonitor.com reports that the program will add at least 300 hours of learning time in some schools starting next fall. Fall River and Lawrence are the two Massachusetts towns included in the pilot project. Boston.com reports that this new program adds to an effort launched six years ago in Massachusetts to lengthen the school day in several school districts. The pilot program reportedly will last three years and include almost 20,000 students in 40 schools with an eye to bringing in more …
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Creative Mobile Technologies is allowing students from the Boston college to use their student ID cards to pay for taxi rides.
Students at Emerson College have become some of the first in Boston to be able to pay for cab rides with their student IDs. And if the current trends towards allowing students to use their IDs off-campus continue, they won't be the last. Creative Mobile Technologies, which provides the credit card machine terminals inside of two-thirds of all cabs in Boston, arranged with Emerson College and Suffolk University to accept student ID cards last month. Students all over Boston regularly use their student IDs as debit or credit cards to buy food from pizza joints or other goods and services like textbooks and even clothing. Parents or guardians at most colleges can fill up the ID cards in advance like a debit card, or get stuck with the bill …
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
95 teams from around the Commonwealth and New Hampshire to compete in WGBH show hosted by Billy Costa.
High schools--and high schoolers--from around the commonwealth will come together for Super Sunday, the qualifying round for High School Quiz Show on WGBH. Brookline High School happens to be one of them. In the previous season Brookline faced 2011 champions Hamilton-Wenham, after defeating Seekonk. Hamilton-Wenham went on, ultimately, to bring the championship home for a second year running. The show this year will lead to a Bay State versus Granite State showdown, as 95 teams from Mass. and New Hampshire will combat each other for the High School title under the eye of host Billy Costa. Below is a press release from WGBH: WGBH’s Emmy Award-winning High School Quiz Show gears up for “Super Sunday” qualifying event 95 MA public high …
MoonBeamWatcher
1:50 pm on Thursday, March 7, 2013
BRAVO! My neighbors sleep safe at night because of the possibility THEY might have a 12 gauge under bed or pistol under their pillows. To think that the geniuses in DC want to create a safer workplace for criminals is in keeping with their very low approval score! Riddle me this: a 30 second spot during the super bowl sold for 3 MILLION Dollar$ to influence adults purchasing practices. While OUR … more ›