NEWSSCHOOL BOARDS

Right now, schools across the country are facing budget shortfalls caused by the foreclosure crisis.  As kids and families lose their homes and move away, schools lose their students and the funding goes with them.

Is the foreclosure crisis having an impact on your school district?  It’s easy to do something about it by asking your school district to take its money out of Wall Street banks that led to the foreclosure crisis and into a community bank that invests in the local community.

1. Call your School District accounting office to ask them what bank they use and who has the power to change banks.

Google search for “School District, your City/County/Town Name and Accounting” to find the phone number. If there isn't a number for accounting specifically, just call the general number and ask for the accounting office or in some cases the treasurer. When you call, be nice.  Accountants don’t usually hear from the public.

What to say when you call:
Hi, this might seem like a strange question, but I am wondering what bank the school district uses?
If they ask, tell them why you’re calling: I just read about a school district that might move its money to a community bank, and I wondered if my school district uses a community bank.
Thank them for that information, then ask them: If the school district wanted to change banks, who would make that decision?

2. Start a petition at Change.org

Chose your target. It should be the individual or group who can make this decision, as identified in your call. Or, when in doubt, target the school board. Most school boards are responsible for the financial health of a school district, so they should be able to make recommendations on the district's banking.

Tell the decisionmaker what you’re asking them to do (for example: "Move Ridgewood School District’s accounts to a community bank.")

Briefly explain why this issue is important to you -- did your school close after the foreclosure crisis, or have you seen the negative impact that the foreclosure crisis has had on your schools?  Include that information. (For example: "Big banks like Wells Fargo are responsible for the foreclosure crisis that has hurt our schools. My child's school closed because so many kids moved away after their homes were foreclosed. The school district should move its accounts to a responsible community bank.")

3. Build your campaign.  Email the petition to your friends, classmates, neighbors, and family to spread the word, and post it on your Facebook page. And, contact katie@change.org to let her know that you've started your petition and want help promoting it to the larger Change.org community.

4. Connect with local groups. You might also connect with organizations working on this issue.  Look for groups like the organization that started the first one of these campaigns, Minnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change and New Bottom Line, which is supporting individuals all over the country who want to change banks.

2000 was a big year for civil rights in South Carolina. In 2000, the state became the last state to make Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a holiday - 17 years after it was first passed.

2000 was also the year that the Confederate flag was removed from S.C.'s statehouse dome.

But today, more than ten years later, two civil rights groups in Rock Hill, S.C. are fighting to make sure MLK Day remains a holiday. Even though it's a national day of remembrance, Rock Hill's school district plans to use it merely as a snow day make-up.

The Rock Hill NAACP, as well as a faith-based group called THUG (True Healing Under God) are calling on the superintendent to change course and respect Dr. King's memory.

"We are very disappointed that the Rock Hill schools will use the Official Holiday of slain civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a makeup day," NAACP chapter president Melvin Poole wrote Rock Hill Schools Superintendent Lynn Moody in a letter.

"This time is set aside to honor a man who devoted his life to the service of mankind and should not be disturbed," he said. "(We) kindly request that you reconsider."

You won't find these heroes on the red carpet. They haven't hired publicists, held national press conferences or thrown posh fundraisers. But before we usher in 2011, here are some 2010 education heroes that you may not have heard of. They spent hours of their time organizing, calling, researching, working and fighting for children and schools.

The Chicago Moms of Whittier Elementary School. A group of working, Latina moms on Chicago's South Side had been trying for seven years to convince Chicago Public Schools to build a library for their children at Whittier Elementary. They were getting nowhere -- and to add insult to injury, the small field house they'd been using as an informal community center was slated to be knocked down by the school system and replaced with an empty field. What did they do? They staged a six-week sit-in at the field house, backed by a smart strategy to target local officials, get national media coverage and negotiate for more input in the long-term. What happened? They got the school.

Students at UCLA fighting to bring back the Islamic Studies program. College students at the University of California Los Angeles took to the streets, the hallways and the Internet to spread the word about the school's Islamic Studies program, which has been under an admissions freeze since 2008. Correctly arguing that the closure of this program isn't just a campus issue - it's a national issue - students held protests, created a website and lobbied administrators to bring the program back. More than 5,000 Change.org members have signed their petition as well. The latest? UCLA's leaders are "optimistic" about the program's return, they told us earlier this month.

Seattle school board members unanimously agreed: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World would stay on their district's reading lists, despite protests from a parent that the book was culturally insensitive.

Lisa Sense-Wilson wanted the book banned because she said the book's depiction of "savages" upset her daughter and gave her classmates negative imagery about Native Americans.

"They left having an image of Indian people as being criminals," said Sense-Wilson. "That we're to be feared. That we're scary. That we hold these ceremonies that are animalistic and brutal and violent."

Huxley's Brave New World revolves around a futuristic "utopia" where a few of the characters take a vacation to a "savage reservation," to see people who resemble a Native American tribe that still does "beastly" things - mainly, read books and have families. Sense-Wilson said the students in her daughter's class weren't able to grasp the fact that the "savages" in Huxley's book are actually portrayed as heroes in a way - strange outcasts from a "perfect" society that has many disturbing problems.

Seattle school board members voted 7-0 to retain Brave New World, agreeing with Sense-Wilson that portraying Native Americans as savages is wrong, but that the problem was the way it was taught - not the book itself.

"I don't believe that censorship is the right answer," said Steve Sundquist, vice president of the school board. "If a teacher wants to teach this text, clearly I want it done in a culturally sensitive and appropriate way."

Threatening to bring a gun to school is never okay. But when it comes as a reaction to cruel anti-gay taunts, schools shouldn't punish the bullies' target and let the bullies get off scot-free.

In Fayette County, Georgia, a 16-year-old Whitewater High School student was arrested and charged for making terrorist threats on the school bus after being bullied and harassed by fellow students on the way home from school. The student, a sophomore, endured repeated taunts and homophobic comments from other students, authorities said. He's accused of lashing back at bullies on the bus by saying he was going to "shoot up the school Columbine style."

School officials say they first became aware of the incident when students brought it to their attention Tuesday evening. They suspended him for 10 days, but that wasn't all: they also notified juvenile authorities, who have charged him with two counts of making a terrorist threat. After authorities investigated the student in question at home, they found no weapons or evidence of such a threat. He has since been released to his parents, and is waiting to hear from the Fayette County Public School Board if he will be re-admitted.

What hasn't happened at Whitewater High? Any public statement critical of anti-gay bullying, or any move made to discipline the classmates who targeted this boy with cruel anti-gay taunts. While the student who retaliated against anti-gay bullying is banned from school, the bullies can freely attend.

Edward Burroughs, an 18-year-old college freshman who battled ageist stereotypes as he ran for School Board, is running a victory lap today.

The 2010 high school grad beat his opponent, a retired teacher and principal who slammed him as a "child," for a spot on the Prince George's County, Maryland School Board. Despite the fact that Burroughs had an exhaustive list of qualifications and experience, he had to fight to be judged on what he brought to the race instead of his birthdate. As Change.org guest writer Dave Moss wrote earlier this week, Burroughs was "old enough to have his legs blown off in Iraq, but not old enough to avoid patronization and condescension as he campaigns to improve the schools he recently graduated from."

It's easy to point to federal education reform, big-time philanthropic donations and innovative programs as the most important things affecting schools today. All of these are valid and important, but the truth is, local school board officials often hold the biggest sway over K-12 education. They can hire, or fire, the superintendent; they can make sweeping decisions about curriculum; and they approve how funds are allocated to different departments and programs.

[This is a guest post from Dave Moss, the Director of Development and Operations for the National Youth Rights Association. --Eds]

Steven Morris, candidate for School Board in the 8th district of Prince George’s County, has a tough contest tomorrow.

His opponent, Edward Burroughs, has studied education policy at Bowie State and was twice elected to serve as a representative to the PG County School Board where he advocated for smaller class sizes, increased student perspective, better programs and more parent involvement.

On the board, he served on the Education Policy Review Committee, the Disability Issues Advisory Board, the Secondary Schools Reform Committee and the Suspension and Expulsion Reduction Taskforce. He’s worked as education liaison for State Senator C. Anthony Muse. In that role, Burroughs worked to pass a bill which would add a financial literacy course in all of Maryland’s high schools. He also worked on a net taxable income (NTI) Bill which would cause Prince George’s County Public Schools to gain $15 million in FY 2011. He has volunteered at over half a dozen schools in Prince George’s and has twelve years of experience as a student in the schools he looks to serve.

He's also 18 years old.

Today, we're announcing the School Bullying Hall of Shame (And Fame). It's a look at how the adults in charge are dealing -- or not dealing, as the case may be -- with the fact that bullying can kill. This fall, we've seen in tragic detail what can happen when children and young adults are systematically and repeatedly taunted, harassed and humiliated by their peers. Although lawmakers, school boards and teachers don't have the power to prevent all bullying, they can set the tone for what's acceptable. In the fight for tolerance, here are some real Zeroes:

Arkansas School Board Member Clint McCance, who waxed poetic on Facebook last week about his hatred for gay students. Nance slammed LGBT students, writing that they are sinners and that "I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other AIDs and die." He went on to say, "If you get easily offended by being called a fag then don't tell anyone you are a fag. Keep that shit to yourself." He announced Thursday night that he was quitting his job, adding that he might run for office again. Um, sorry, dude. The damage has been done.

And then there's Martha Schaerr, running for a school board seat in Montgomery County, Maryland, who's part of a group called Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum. This group sued the school district in 2005 and 2007, saying the sex-ed curriculum didn't include enough talk about religions that say homosexuality is a sin. Even though she claims to have no designs on changing the sex-ed curriculum this time around, gay advocates and support groups aren't so sure.

And for our third entry, let's give some attention to the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota, where, while school board members have been taking steps towards a strong anti-bullying policy, they're just not there yet. Fifteen-year-old Justin Aaberg killed himself in July after suffering constant anti-gay bullying. But despite national attention to the district's "neutrality" policy, which prevents teachers and staff from talking to students about sexual orientation. Justin's mother continues to go on record saying this policy needs to be changed in order to create safe spaces for LGBT students.       

Are you discouraged, dear reader? Don't be. Here's some encouraging news of school and government leaders who are taking a stand against bullying. They're upping anti-bullying education, making public statements to affirm LGBT kids and enforcing discipline against bullies. Drum roll, please:

Dr. Edward P Fiszer, the principal at a charter school in the L.A. Unified School District, allegedly stole and misused as much as $2.7 million, auditors have revealed. The L.A. Times reports that the Superintendent of L.A. schools is moving to shut down the school, but the school board is resisting.

In a twist that only modern education reform would permit, minimal gains on test scores may save the school. The school board chair explained that they were the victim of fraud and that the children should not suffer further. True, the school should remain open (while its charter is reconsidered), but L.A. schools need to take a long hard look at all of their charter schools and consider whether its a model that can continue to work without much tighter regulation and oversight.

Stephanie Farland, who studies charter school policy for the California School Boards Association,  told Southern California Public Radio "A lot of these little charter schools just don’t have sophisticated boards and they don’t have the proper training, quite frankly, in how to govern a school."

So let's heed her advise and rather than see this case as a single bad-apple, let's see it as a symbol of what happens when you allow schools to operate with minimal oversight and regulations, paying attention to small changes in test-scores rather than the overall effectiveness of those running the school.

But if you want other bad apples then we've got a barrel of them: This isn't the first time that a charter school on the West Coast has had money troubles, and it's unlikely to be the last. A husband and wife team who ran Ivy Academia in the West San Fernando Valley embezzled $200,000 and were charged with 38 crimes in June.

There continues to be a shortage in many school districts yet teachers are not being rehired. This is in spite of the edict that the $10 billion that the federal government just doled out to schools should be used to retain or hire employees. It’s also in spite of the fact that many children now find themselves in classes with double or triple the number of classmates they are used to.

School systems say they are using the allotted money in order to preempt budget losses next year so that next year’s cuts are not so drastic. This is important; there is no question about that. It is tragic that school officials have to choose when they will make their cuts instead of if. Wouldn’t it be nice if school boards could be optimistic about the coming year? Instead of knowing for certain that they will have less money than they need to operate, they could consider that they might have enough. What an idea.

The onus lies on the shoulders of politicians. They have to cut funds, this is true. But it always seems that so much of those funds come from education. Perhaps this is because people speak out more loudly about human rights and the environment. Education advocates seem to be a quieter bunch and their protests are not heard in the capitols. This needs to change.