Washington Heights is full of young kids. Parents in District 6 (the most crowded district in New York City) compete for a handful of available spots in local public pre-Ks. Mother Cabrini High School is closing at the end of this school year. We urge the City to acquire this soon-to-be empty school building and convert it into pre-K and kindergarten to serve our under-served neighborhood.

Public education in New York State and across this land is being subjected to a movement that demands the acceptance of an arbitrary set of common core standards and the use of one-size-fit-all standardized tests. In spite of claims to the contrary, these standards and tests do not address the higher level cognitive processes of synthesizing and critically/creatively evaluating required for problem solving in today’s world. (Bloom et.al.) The products created by these higher level intellectual processes are unique to every individual; therefore, they are not measurable with a standardized test. Using the legislative process, decision makers responsible for this movement have deliberately prevented effective alternative assessment and evaluation strategies from being demonstrated in our public schools. There are examples of tested alternatives available that accurately measure higher level thinking such as The Constructive Assessment, Recordkeeping and Evaluation System (CARES) prepared and field tested by Robert L. Arnold, SUNY Professor Emeritus of Education. The common core and an arbitrary version of standards must be challenged to enable our citizens to make intelligent judgments about the most effective strategies available for their schools, before any further damage by current versions of standardization is done to the lives of our young citizens. Alternative assessment and evaluation strategies must be allowed to demonstrate their superiority over the existing strategies of testing, testing and more testing. For further elaboration, access on-line: AdirondackDailyEnterprise.com, January 7, 2014, “Guest Commentary” by Robert L. Arnold, SUNY Professor Emeritus of Education.

The Goodrich school board no longer deserves our support after they failed to represent the community which elected them into office.

My Daughter Haley attends Horizon Elementary, I called to let them know I would be sending some all natural supplements to school with her to take during her lunch hour. With these supplement we have been able to get her off her ADHD medication. I was told that Herbal supplementation was not allow in the school per their policy. I could send her in with Phyc meds and no one would bat an eye but an activated B complex and OPC3 which comes from grape seed extract and pine bark not allowed? This is not right! This a nation wide problem lets make a change and stop this starting right here in our home town!

Years ago when my husband and I went to a financial advisor, he recommended we consolidate our student loans. Now we are going through a divorce. My soon to be ex has stopped paying all of his bills, including his portion of the student loan. I cannot afford to cover his portion, so his lack of payment is destroying my credit. A quick internet search lead me to many similar stories. These loans are no longer allowed due to exactly these kind of issues. However the law also prevents the separation of these loans. I would happily pay back my portion, even at a higher interest rate. Student loans should be allowed to be returned to separate loans so one spouse cannot ruin the credit of the other even years after a divorce.

Did you know that the United States has one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world with 52.1 births per 1000 women ages 15-19 according to the report sent out by UNICEF, “A League Table of Teenage Births in Rich Nations.”. This is a staggering rate compared with the rate in Canada, 20.2 births per 1000, and in France, 9.3 births per 1000. The inevitable truth is that teenagers are going to have sex, so why not do everything we can to ensure they are having safe sex? The report by UNICEF in 2001 demonstrates how the relationship between teenage birth rates and overall birth rates varies considerably from country to country, suggesting that national differences in teenage birth rates are in large part caused by factors that affect teenagers on an individual level. Many factors affect teen pregnancy rates. Some examples include the geographic location of teens and their financial background, but the factor most predictive of teen pregnancy is the level of received sexual education. Despite this known fact, only 22 states in the US mandate that secondary schools must offer sexual education, and only 19 of these states require that this education be medically factual and technically accurate according to Steve Siebold of the Huffington Post. The states with the highest teen pregnancy rates lack robust sexual education in secondary schools according to a study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute. New Mexico, which does not require medically accurate sexual education in their schools, has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the US at 93 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19. Arizona, Texas, and Arkansas also do not require sexual education to be taught and have some of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the country other than New Mexico. In comparison, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Minnesota have between 33-42 births per 1,000 women ages 15-19. All three of these states require medically accurate and mandated sexual education to be taught in secondary schools. While the federal government has mandated “abstinence-only-until-marriage education,” under Section 510(b), individual states have varying policies that dictate whether or not sexual education is taught in schools. As teenagers living in a modern world, we want to encourage the states that do not require any form of sexual education in their schools to consider changing their laws. The world’s future population will be substantially larger if this problem is not addressed. Please join us in asking these state legislatures to mandate comprehensive and medically accurate sexual education classes as a required component of secondary school curriculum.

Indiana children deserve the best in education. We believe Indiana State Senator, Scott Schneider is endangering the success of our children by not preparing them for college and career. "Pausing" the progress of the past three years is a critical mistake when instead our children need for him to continue supporting the existing Indiana Common Core State Standards.

State Rep. Maria A. “Toni” Berrios has introduced legislation to use the surplus funds in Chicago's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to help finance our underfunded Chicago Public Schools. We want to show the overwhelming support this legislation has in our community.

In my experience, the personal connection between teacher and student is a powerful means of motivation and learning. LAUSD has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to meet the needs of low-income students of color by recruiting and training culturally and linguistically skilled teachers who will make their careers in our classrooms. Let’s attack disparity and the achievement gap right now!

Our children should not be used as pawns in this game of teacher evaluations based on test scores. The " incentive pay" seems more like a bribe to get teachers to accept and embrace the Common Core and high stakes testing. Too many government officials are not taking into account the effect, this pressure box of teaching to the test, is having on the children.

To keep all current Embassy Creek Students in Embassy.

If sixth grade is added to the elementary schools, the schools would be right back into the same situation we just corrected -- Ocean Bay Middle overcrowding issues would be solved, but it would be at the expense of three elementary schools which will be over capacity again. We need a better solution. Please sign, COMMENT and share if you agree.