If It's Good for the Goose....

Per the Spokesman-Review, Governor Gregoire is considering having state employees switch over to a 4-day workweek. That doesn't include teachers, but it's interesting to think about all the same.

How would teaching be impacted if your district switched to 4 longer days a week?

Some Things Shouldn't End Up in the Newspaper

The state Supreme Court made a major ruling on Thursday regarding teachers who are accused of sexual misconduct. From the Seattle Times:

The state Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday that pitted the fear of stigmatizing an innocent teacher against the threat of allowing sexual predators in the schools to escape detection.

The scenario before the court was this: A teacher is accused of sexually abusing a student. The school decides the allegation is unsubstantiated. Under state law, should the teacher's name be disclosed?

By a 6-3 vote, the court fell on the side of accused teachers. The names of teachers must be disclosed only in cases where sexual misconduct has been found or some form of discipline has taken place, the court ruled. In unsubstantiated cases, the details of any investigation may be disclosed — but with the teacher's name redacted, or blacked out.

A big part of this goes back to the big Coaches Who Prey series that the Times did several years ago. Now they're looking for other predators, but I think they threw their nets way too wide, and the Court made a good decision.

There are already mandatory reporting laws in place; any school official who reasonably suspects abuse must report to the authorities. What the media was asking here was basically for carte blanche access to any allegation, ever--the 7th grade girl who makes up a story and promptly takes it back, the high school student who goes for street cred by manufacturing a liason between himself and the female math teacher, the crazy parent who has accused every teacher their daughter had of some sort of perversion or another.

Imagine a world where all those allegations were put into a nice spreadsheet and published as a table in your local paper. If your name is on that list guilt or innocence don't matter--you're already smeared by association. That's no way to keep teachers in the classroom, it's no way to attract people to the classroom, and it's no way to conduct an investigation.

The papers, of course, are apoplectic. The Times tries to make it sound like a union issue and notes that you have a chance to vote for the judges who wrote on either side of the decision, while Steven Smith of the Spokesman-Review calls it "a stunning ruling" and furthers the anti-union theme. Then there's the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, and commentary from Education Week here.

Doing everything to protect kids doesn't mean exposing their teachers to all the slings and arrows of the newspapers. I like the court's ruling--what do you think?

Spokane Spokesman-Review: Education News Central

Not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE good articles on education from the Sunday Spokesman!

(Note: Because the Spokesman refuses to make their content free to non-subscribers, which makes them the only major daily in Washington to do so, I've tried where possible to link to the stories through other news outlets.)

Settlement Clears Way for EV Religious Meetings: East Valley High School caused a big ruckus this winter when the principal told a group of Christian students that they couldn’t hold a meeting at the school during school time. The kids sued for $1, arguing that it wasn’t money they were after but a restoration of their constitutional rights.

It’s an interesting case that touches on some of the big issues in school law.

Northwest Educators Discuss Dropout Rates: The UofW held a one-day conference on Friday to bring together educators from all over the northwest to talk about the dropout crisis; the take-home quote from the article:

A panel of educators told the educators that after years of talking about how students need to be properly prepared for school, it’s time for schools to start preparing for students.

I would challenge this. Too much of the “culturally responsive” teaching I’ve seen runs more along the lines of “You don’t have to learn this because of your culture!”, and that does no good for anyone.

Something New, Something Old: Students at Kamiakin High School in Kennewick are getting to participate in an archaeological dig with professors from Central Washington University. That’s fun experiential learning, right there.

Official Party Pooper Riles Seattle U. Students: Seattle University students who post messages about parties on Facebook are getting a knock on the door from school administrators, literally—they’re showing up at their apartments and telling them not to have the parties. The named administrator is Father Glen Butterworth, a Jesuit who lives on the campus. His “I get it! No, I don’t!” quote:

Butterworth said his intent is not necessarily to shut down parties: “I understand. I want to shake a leg, as well,” he said. “I am just hoping they will be responsible.”

Butterworth next intends to go after sock-hopping and milkshake-sharing epidemics. More from the campus newspaper here.

Most Young People Don’t Meet Standards for Military Service: This is the title of a commentary from the wonderfully named General "I Am" William S. Wallace of the US Army Training and Doctrine Command. Some stats he offers:

Many young Americans are willing to serve, but too little is made of the declining number of people who are qualified to serve. This is the real story and it’s a shocking one. Only 28 percent of the 17- to 24-year-old population qualifies to wear a military uniform. The other 72 percent fail to met minimum standards on education, character, and health. The problem gets worse. Of those eligible to serve, a significant part chooses not to for a variety of reasons.

Some day a candidate will come along who makes the financial and physical health of Americans a top priority. Until then, not much will change.

Good work, Spokesman. Just wish people could actually get the news off your website.