District Administration articles from May 2009

District Administration archives from May 2009

New role.(PEOPLE WATCH)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Margaret Spellings has joined a new advisory board for the Broad Center for the Management of School Systems, which will oversee the organization's efforts to train and support leaders in urban districts.

Chief math teacher.(PEOPLE WATCH)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Kichoon Yang, provost and professor at Northwest Missouri State University, has been named executive director of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. He will begin his new position on July 1.

Young leader.(PEOPLE WATCH)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Meria Carstarphen, superintendent of the St. Paul (Minn.) School District, in July will become head of the Austin Independent School District, the third-largest district in Texas. Carstarphen is 39 years old.

Supt. indicted.(PEOPLE WATCH)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Todd Helms, the former superintendent of the Clyde-Green Springs Exempted Village Schools in Ohio, has been indicted by a Sandusky County grand jury on 19 criminal counts related to the theft of almost $300,000 from...

Supporting moms.(PEOPLE WATCH)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Melinda George, senior director of PBS Teacher-Line and National Education Partnerships, has been appointed to the advisory board of the Morn Congress on Education and Learning, a new initiative developed by...

Two veteran superintendents speak out on DPS.(BRIEFINGS: News Update)
May 1, 2009... PAUL VALLAS, superintendent, Louisiana Recovery School District I think Detroit has to kick back and they have to say, "What do we want the local schools to look like? We need to become a system of schools as opposed to a school system--a...

Va. school to add energy efficiency center.(BRIEFINGS: Facilities & Construction)
May 1, 2009... THE LEONARD A. GEREAU CENTER for Applied Technology and Career Exploration in Franklin County (Va.) Public Schools is already a unique place to get a high school education. But plans are underway for the school to add a new building that...

EPA tests for toxics at schools.(BRIEFINGS: Facilities & Construction)
May 1, 2009... THE EPA ANNOUNCED ON MARCH 31 THAT IT WILL TEST THE AIR for toxic contaminants outside of 62 schools in 22 states. Monitors will focus on those that are known to cause cancer, and those that can cause neurological and respiratory problems. The...

The new IDEA money for special education in the federal recovery act: schools are advised not to build it into budgets just yet.(SUPERVISOR'S OPINION)
May 1, 2009... AS THE ECONOMY DESCENDED into free fall in early 2009, education officials braced for the impact on school programs. In California, most school districts receive most of their funding from state coffers in Sacramento, not from local property...

Parental engagement pays off: it can boost test scores and attendance.(COMMUNITY RELATIONS)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WE KNOW THAT PARENTAL involvement in elementary schools pays off in improved achievement of students and quality of their schools. But whether school-parent partnerships are initiated by administrators at the...

A call for collaboration: today's technology is making it easier and more important than ever to teach students how to work together.(TECHNOLOGY AND LEARNING)(Cover story)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] IN THE DIGITAL WORLD WE LIVE IN, BEING A "VIEWER" is passe. Web 2.0 tools--social networks, wikis, blogs, voicestream, YouTube, Google Docs--allow users to be participants. Instead of creating isolated users, such...

Controlling health care costs: increasingly higher premiums in K12 districts are being offset in innovative ways.(HUMAN RESOURCES)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WITH PUBLIC DISTRICTS under more pressure than usual in today's recessed economy to boost revenue and reduce expenses, health benefits have become a prime target in union contracts. As in most companies in...

The start of a tech revolution: district management is moving into the "cloud.".(TECHNOLOGY)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WE ARE AT THE START OF A REVOLUTION IN THE USE OF COMPUTERS, one that analysts predict will rival the development of the PC in its significance. Companies such as Google, HP, Amazon, Sun Microsystems, Sony, IBM and...

A superintendent's high expectations: the leader of the Aldine Independent School District talks frankly about challenges and what she is most proud of.(SUPERINTENDENT PROFILE)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] WHEN SUPERINTENDENT Wanda Bamberg of the Aldine (Texas) Independent School District walked on stage last fall in New York City to accept her district's award in the Broad Prize for Urban Education, she was not...

West Aurora (Ill.) School District 129: www.sd129.org.(How Well Does This Web Site Work? LEARN WHAT OUR WEB ANALYST SAYS IS RIGHT AND WRONG WITH THIS DISTRICT SITE)
May 1, 2009... WEST AURORA SCHOOL DIStrict 129 in Illinois has more than 12,500 students and includes 12 elementary schools, four middle schools, one high school, one child development center and one special education facility. Design This site is...

Progressing toward Math proficiency.(Problem Solution: SUCCESS STORIES FROM DISTRICTS ACROSS THE NATION)
May 1, 2009... PROBLEM In the 2004-2005 school year, Madison Elementary School in Sandusky, Ohio, was placed on "Academic Watch" by the Ohio Department of Education. The school had met only 2 out of 10 academic indicators, and student performance in math...

VirusBarrier X5 v.10.5.7 Mac Virus Protection: Intego.(New Products: THE LATEST IN HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, BOOKS & MATERIALS, FACILITIES, AND THE INTERNET)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] INTEGO VirusBarrier X5 v.10.5.7 Mac Virus Protection Software, $69.95 Intego's VirusBarrier X5 is a simple, fast and nonintrusive anti-virus solution for Macintosh computers. It offers thorough...

Summer School Kits, Supplements: Curriculum Associates.(New Products: THE LATEST IN HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, BOOKS & MATERIALS, FACILITIES, AND THE INTERNET)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CURRICULUM ASSOCIATES Summer School Kits, Supplements Books & Materials, $389, Spanish kits $219 Curriculum Associates' Summer School Kits are supplemental curriculum materials designed to aid struggling...

Read&Write 9 GOLD for Windows Assistive Literacy and Writing Program: Texthelp Systems.(New Products: THE LATEST IN HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, BOOKS & MATERIALS, FACILITIES, AND THE INTERNET)
May 1, 2009... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] TEXTHELP SYSTEMS Read&Write 9 GOLD for Windows Assistive Literacy and Writing Program Software, Starting at $645 Read&Write 9 GOLD is the latest edition of this assistive software program from Texthelp...

Pedagogy is king: refocusing the conversation.(TECH DISRUPTIONS)
May 1, 2009... 1:1--ONE COMPUTER TO ONE child--is too limiting a concept, because 1:1 is just about the boxes; 1:1 is just about technology. 1:1 says nothing about pedagogy--about what a student is supposed to do with that computing device he or she has. Not...