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Answered by students at Buffalo High School
Charleston Gazette
; Compiled by Lindsey Lomax What do you like or dislike about your school?
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Education: What about our future?; Money belongs in public schools Milwaukee may seem destined to gain innovative schools, but it is not because innovation is hard to come by. The real issue in education, as I see it, was not addressed by a Jan. 19 editorial at all ("Measure of charter schools should be whether they work"). For-profit educators are taking money from public schools. The Journal Sentinel can barely edge up to this issue, let alone accept it. I would address attention to an article featured in a recent Shepherd Express issue titled "Shining Light on the Edison Project." I find it reprehensible that our children are being used as pawns in political gambits that have nothing to do with their education and everything to do with a buck. What I would suggest to the Journal Sentinel is that the buck stop here. Ultimately, our children will be the ones who will pay the price for this insanity. Deborah Graf Wauwatosa; Positive efforts in negative light What reason can the Journal Sentinel offer to derail every initiative that attempts to improve Milwaukee's education system? I have tracked stories published by the paper during the past year, and every initiative that has been raised that might assist in improving the quality of our schools has been reported in a negative light. For example, after years of teachers and the public at large mandating that students have basic skills instead of simply being pushed through the system, the state finally implemented mandated basic skills or "high stakes" testing. However, the Journal Sentinel has attempted to scare the public with front-page headlines implying that it actually hurts students. Not only is this an erroneous assertion, it also undermines the progress that we might see on this initiative. The same could be said of the recent charter school initiatives. I cannot recall one positive story about charter schools in our hometown paper. Having personally worked in the charter school area, I can tell you that there are many teachers, parents and students who are absolutely enthralled with their charter schools and the positive results that these schools are having on students who might otherwise have had no opportunity to succeed. Why the Journal Sentinel would paint such initiatives as failures without concentrating on their actual successes is perplexing and inexplicable. The same could be said of school choice how absurd that some parents might actually have some freedom in choosing to what school they send their children. Can the Journal Sentinel really be so unwilling to see the efforts teachers, parents, school boards and school administrators are trying to make? Matthew A. Koch Milwaukee; What are students learning today? So those who wrote the new high school graduation test think that reading a laundry label constitutes mastery over English! When I retired from teaching English, my students were reading "Macbeth" and "Hamlet," great American and British novels, short stories and poetry. The writers of the test have revealed their own ignorance. Why not give students a quotation from great literature to interpret something more inspiring than a T-shirt label? Mary E. Schutz Milwaukee; Let officials take their test With regard to the state standards in education, I think Gov. Tommy Thompson, Lt. Gov. Scott McCallum, state schools superintendent John Benson and the rest of the members of the Council on Model Academic Standards should serve as role models for all of the public school students by taking the rigorous test they created ("Sample questions imply rigorous graduation test," Jan. 14). However, there would have to be some stipulations. They couldn't transfer to a private school in an attempt to side-step the 14-hour exam. Nor could they legislate more public funds for vouchers if they should fail one of the four sections. They couldn't threaten to close the school system if they failed on their second attempt and, most certainly, they could not, if they continued to stumble, increase local taxes to build poorly performing institutions, such as ne
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
; School to Work provides options Education is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. If what we learn cannot be applied in order to produce a return on society's investment, then we are doomed as a state, doomed as a society and doomed as a country. It appears that there is an aversion to
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Cyber School: Two-year UJA-Federation project links Israeli and American students.
The New York Jewish Week
; Cyber School: Two-year UJA-Federation project links Israeli and American students. With a picture of their Israeli partners tacked to the wall above their heads, a dozen honors students at the Ezra Academy in Forest Hills, Queens, took turns at the keyboard Monday sending them their first e-mail
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Real school solutions needed right now Kids could suggest ways to make school interesting; Schemes, bully tactics won't work for schools Regarding government involvement in MPS, the administration and the Legislature under the leadership of the governor have consistently used the threat of punishment as a prime motivator. Experience has shown it doesn't work. Successful educators have shown what does work. It is well known that the desire to learn is a part of human nature. Small class size makes it possible for teachers to tap into this natural curiosity. Teachers who are treated with respect can give their best to their students. Students who feel safe and secure can do their best. These elements are well recognized as the backbone of successful school programs whether in the inner city or in suburbia. The track record of the governor's schemes has not shown similar success. One of the biggest boondoggles in education in Wisconsin was Learnfare. It was one of the most disruptive influences in Milwaukee Public Schools. Teachers found that students who came to school under threat of loss of benefits to their families were uncooperative and unresponsive. It heightened family discord and lack of respect for parents by the students. The educational arena in Milwaukee does not need any more boondoggles. Bully tactics don't work. We cannot build a democratic society on a foundation of fear and intimidation. Rose Daitsman Retired educator Milwaukee; Children affected by such negative press I'd like to make a suggestion. Instead of being part of the problem, why not be a part of the solution? I refer to the school-bashing the Journal Sentinel so gleefully takes part in against the Milwaukee Public Schools. From the articles that have been showcased in the Journal Sentinel, one would think that nothing gives editors more pleasure than to pit the governor against the parents, children and entire staffs of the school system. The greatest tragedy, I feel, is that while this should be an adult issue, a problem that genuinely concerned adults and educators are trying to confront and solve, it has become an issue with the children and they don't even know it. How's that? By all the negative press these past months, children are getting the message that their schools are worthless, that their teachers don't care, and that their parents are helpless. These subliminal messages are affecting the children's behavior and learning. Why should they even try or care if nobody else does and if the situation is so hopeless? Please, if you really care, support the many exciting and innovative events that are occurring daily in the schools. Send the message that all is not lost. At least try to give hope to the children. Support the efforts of those who do care and who will strive to improve and never give up. Anne Schaefer Cudahy; Politics crippling students in Milwaukee I am the mother of two children currently attending an MPS elementary school and have another child who is to start in the fall of 1999. I am becoming increasingly irritated and frustrated with the politics and stalling going on at both the state government and School Board level. This is not a Republican or Democratic issue; these children are neither. The School Board is divided by lines of regions; these children need unity, not division. In my opinion, both are severely crippling this district's children. These children are not statistics; they are individuals with hearts and minds just aching to be filled and they deserve to be respected as such. I do agree that the statistics tell a sad truth, yet it is not a truth that happened overnight. It can't be fixed overnight, either, but, more important, it won't get fixed at all or even begin to move forward until the powers-that-be institute positive forward change. The time for bickering has long since passed. Every moment that goes by without change discourages one more child, one more parent and one more teacher. None of us can afford that. If the alarm bell hasn't waked them up yet, it's time parents crank up the volu
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
; The May 10 Journal Sentinel contained a pair of letters commenting on school system problems and suggesting that correcting problems in students' homes would improve their performance in school. This is good advice and needs to be followed. But how? Hundreds of letters and articles have been
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Neighborhood Music School expands as its family of students grows
New Haven Register
; NEW HAVEN -- Gretchen Lehman of Woodbridge has a wonderful story she loves to tell about her music teacher, Grace Feldman, of the Neighborhood Music School. Lehman, a viola da gamba and recorder player, is an adult who started her first lessons with Feldman back when she was 5 years old. Her whole
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South Country School District names dean of students of Bellport High School
Long Island Business News
; The South Country School District named Doretha Brown-Simpson dean of students of Bellport High School. She had been with the Business, Computer Applications and Entrepreneurship Magnet High School in Cambria Heights.
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Former students of black high school invited to reunion: ; Opening in 1925 brought opportunities for African-Americans
Charleston Daily Mail
; Katherine Atwater remembers going to Booker T. Washington High School, a black high school, when there were only five employees and four classrooms in the whole building. "The English teacher taught English and French," the 95-year-old recalled. "The math teacher taught math and history. It was
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Scholars plan to make a difference 10 win $1,000 awards in essay contest on community impact; Area students win scholarships The following students are 1996 McDonald's African-American Achievers scholarship recipients: Tracey Carter, Glendale, Nicolet High School; Kristie Hayes, Milwaukee, Dominican High School; Terrell Johnson, Milwaukee, Vincent High School; Jennifer Silvia, Kenosha, St. Joseph High School; Jennifer Washington, Mequon, Homestead High School; Steven Darnell, West Allis, West Allis Central; Angel Hill, Milwaukee, Alexander Hamilton High School; Gwendolyn Jones, Milwaukee, Bay View High School; Elaine Turner, Milwaukee, North Division High School; and Latresa Williams, Milwaukee, Whitefish Bay High School. The following students are 1996 McDonald's Hispanic-American Commitment to Educational Resources scholarship recipients: Juan Baez, Milwaukee, North Division High School; Marcos DeLaCruz, Milwaukee, Pulaski High School; Katie Grellinger, Milwaukee, Pius XI High School; Mavel Morales, Milwaukee, Alexander Hamilton High School; Daniel Rodriguez, Milwaukee, North Division High School; Nadia Barreto, Milwaukee, West Allis Central High School; Miguel Gamez, Milwaukee, South Division High School; Jineen McLemore-Torres, Waukesha, Waukesha South High School; Christian Navarro, Milwaukee, Messmer High School; and Mary Vasquez, Wauwatosa, Wauwatosa East High School.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
; "My mother is my role model not some big athlete I don't know anything about, someone who has dropped out of school . . . It's my mother who I look up to. She always tells me to do my best, no matter what." So spoke Latresa Williams, 16, from Milwaukee's north side, a junior at Whitefish Bay High
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Students from Summerhill school at Downing Street
The Independent - London
; Students from Summerhill school in Suffolk rallying around their local member, John Gummer (Con at Downing Street before petitioning the Prime Minister over the school's threatened closure Neville Elder
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Michaloski shows off his Lady Amhearst pheasant to the students of the Bickleton School District at an assembly Thursday at the high school.
Yakima Herald-Republic
; Photo by Ross Courtney
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