Schoolhouse Missives

National education topics

School’s just around the corner

Good-bye, summer — hello, school! The 2010-11 academic school year kicks off this week for most area schools. Get ready to see school buses, kids with backpacks, and lots more activity around school zones starting this Tuesday. I’m putting together a report on Monday on safety tips for driving, walking and riding by schools and [...]

Are free meals good or bad for kids?

I’ve gotten a couple of calls and e-mails from readers about the poor quality of food being served in our public schools. One reader was particularly shocked to learn that children in our elementary schools are given the choice to eat pizza 10 times a week. (For breakfast and lunch. Yes, there is a breakfast [...]

Interesting study on bilingual education

Education Week has an interesting article this week on the effectiveness of English immersion versus bilingual education. The study finds that whatever the model, children whose native language is not English (in this case, who speak primarily Spanish at home) learned just as well in both models. In Walla Walla, this could give some confidence [...]

The winners and losers

The first round of the federal “Race to the Top” competition ended this week with just two states cashing in. Delaware and Tennessee were the two states chosen out of several candidates to receive federal money to drastically improve schools. Delaware will receive about $100 million, and Tennessee about $500 million, USA Today reports. Among [...]

A timely update

A new policy is in place for Walla Walla public schools that helps make sure teens are learning what they should about sex. The school board last night approved policy 2125, which puts the district in compliance with the Healthy Youth Act, a state law that says districts shouldn’t be teaching abstinence exclusively during sexual [...]

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