David Koch's donations already threaten to undermine the integrity of Boston's flagship PBS station, WGBH—and now another Boston-based educational institution is feeling the effects of accepting the Kochs’ dirty money: Suffolk University. The Beacon Hill Institute, the research wing of Suffolk's economics department, recently attempted to conduct research with the professed goal of attacking the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The institute skirted the university’s protocols and instead sought approval for the proposal from the Searle Freedom Trust, which funds ultra-conservative groups like the Heartland Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). It’s no coincidence that the Koch brothers are donors to Suffolk and major players in the Searle Freedom Trust’s partner organizations. The institute’s “research” proposal reeks of the Kochs’ anti-climate agenda. Sign the petition to demand that Suffolk University rejects all funding from the Koch brothers.

As a parent of three children attending SFA Charter School, we only want the best for their education and futures. We need new leadership to take the school in the right direction and to fulfill the promises made to our children and their families when this school opened in August of 2013. We want the Chairman of the Board and the Board Members to know that we are supportive of their recent decision to remove the previous administration. We are all in favor of new leadership. We support SFA Charter. Won't you join our petition today?

Dr. Marc Epstein is veteran of the New York City system who is extremely concerned with the direction we are heading. Epstein has been published in City Journal, The Post, The Daily News and various influential blogs. His writings have demonstrated an intellect and caring that could only benefit a system that is currently in disarray. His knowledge of both national and local education issues is obvious.

THIS PETITION WILL BE PRESENTED TO EVERY NEW YORK REPRESENTATIVE AND EVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT IN NEW YORK WHO HAS NOT TAKEN STEPS TO PROTECT OUR CHILDREN’S PRIVACY. We, the undersigned concerned citizens, have taken the step of writing this open appeal for action to all of our elected representatives (federal – state – municipal) because our children are our future, they are not a commodity to be used and sold to corporations and private investors. When public education accepts private funding, there is a price tag and that price tag is called influence. The impending collection of personally identifiable student information by school districts, its storage on corporate Internet accessible data cloud servers, particularly its transfer by the state education department to inBloom, Inc. and its various corporate partners without parental/student knowledge, permission or review, violates the letter and intent of The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA). The Electronic Privacy Information Center brought an action against the Department of Education. U.S. Representative John Kline, Chairman of the House Committee on Education, rebuked the action and requested that Education Secretary Arne Duncan not proceed with the revisions but instead work with the Congress to remove impediments to effective education through legislation. The Department of Education failed to do so. On October 23, 2013, U.S. Senator Edward Markey wrote Education Secretary Duncan seeking explanations for the purpose and potential implications of the revisions. The critical questions posed in the civil action and congressional queries remain unanswered. The Department of Education guidance regarding State Longitudinal Data Systems contains the suggestion that states collect sensitive personal information including: (QUOTE) “political affiliations or beliefs of the student or parent; mental and psychological problems of the student or the student’s family, sex behavior or attitudes; illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating, and demeaning behaviour; critical appraisals of other individuals with whom respondents have close family relationships; legally recognized privileged or analogous relationships, such as those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers; religious practices, affiliations, or beliefs of the student or the student’s parent; or income.” The U.S. Department of Education and inBloom insist that the individual states and school districts determine what data is collected and to whom it is provided. The State DOE and the school district have yet to provide a comprehensive list of data points collected or of the entities that it will be provided to. The NY State DOE is unable to specify what information will be made available to for-profit corporations for data mining, marketing and advertising purposes. The Sachem Central School District engaged college prep website service NAVIANCE by Hobsons, owned by DMGT, and AMPLIFY (formerly Wireless Generation), a Wi-Fi enabled tablet provider, owned by Rupert Murdoch (News Corp). So, who is NAVIANCE? The following excerpts from DMGT’s 2013 corporate brochure are instructive: (QUOTED from their website) Data, especially big data, is becoming far more valuable. Businesses are hungry for contextualized information Applications connect with social networking services as a matter of course And it’s a two-way street. More and more businesses want to provide valuable services to customers to win their loyalty and mine their data NAVIANCE encourages school districts to link social media services to the family page to drive student activity through their service. AMPLIFY’s tablets are pre-loaded with Google applications and entertainment applications. Google’s data mining is renowned. Its revelation in August that users have no expectation of confidentiality of information when using their services is sobering. DMGT’s Chief Executive acknowledged the need to develop hybrid clouds to assuage the sensitive data security concerns of the insurance industry to secure their business and Jeff Bezos of Amazon is building a private Cloud for the CIA. So how can their systems be secure enough for our children’s most personal and sensitive data? The recently disclosed Sachem Central School District data system breaches resulted in the compromise of personally identifiable student information and illuminated the nature of the risk. Childhood is the age of exploration. Indiscretion and mischief are functions of exploration. The effort to digitize and record every youthful activity and communication in perpetuity and share it with third parties is pernicious. Imagine if every one of your youthful indiscretions had been recorded and potentially made available to recruiters, admissions personnel and prospective employers. Might your life have turned out differently? Corporations refer to data as the new oil. Apart from the venality of offering up children to corporate data miners, the unprecedented aggregation of such sensitive personally identifiable information exposes children to exploitation by untold number of bad actors into whose hands the data might fall (pedophiles, extortionists, rival peers, etc.). Childhood is also a period of considerable fragility. The incidence of cyber-bullying and resultant suicides is troubling. Responsible policy anticipates and mitigates such risks. Every other state that contracted with inBloom has honored the concerns of parents, acknowledged the gravity of privacy concerns and cancelled their engagement. New York is the only state that is moving forward in spite of the concerns of its citizens and the surfeit of unanswered questions. More than 120 New York School Districts have opted out of Race to the Top yet Sachem Central School District remains enrolled, expanded the NAVIANCE “college prep” service from high schools to the middle schools and intends to issue News Corp owned Google loaded Wi-F...

The students at BISD feel the roads are unsafe for travel and school should be cancelled for our safety and the safety of others. We strongly feel this matter should not be overlooked and hope this situation is reconsidered.

Parents are hardwired to do everything we can to support and protect our kids. For me, that means helping to turn the tide on climate change. Unless we change course, climate change will create an increasingly chaotic world for my daughter and all of our children. Up until now, students in Wyoming haven’t been taught much about climate change, despite the major impact it will have on their lives. That could change with the adoption of Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), a new set of science standards that include climate science, developed by the National Academy of Sciences along with 26 states. The Wyoming State Board of Education is considering adoption of NGSS right now. But, the Board recently postponed a vote to adopt the standards after an outcry from a small group of people opposed to teaching kids facts about climate change. Now, those same opponents have written a letter to Governor Mead, asking him to weigh in against the NGSS on grounds that the new standards don't represent "Wyoming values." They are working to rally people to attend the State Board of Education meeting this Friday, Jan. 24, in Cheyenne to stop the new science standards. Keeping our kids in the dark about the reality of climate change and denying them access to high quality science education would be an unacceptable disservice to their future. Ignorance is not a "Wyoming value." At a time when climate impacts like less snowpack, water shortages, severe heat, a longer and more intense fire season, and massive beetle bark infestation have already affected Wyoming, it’s more important than ever for Wyoming students to gain a strong understanding of the causes and impacts of climate change. This will give them the foundation to identify the solutions we need. Let’s send the State Board of Education a strong message that we want our kids to have access to the best possible science education to help them address the challenges and opportunities they will face throughout their lives — including climate change. If we act today, our children and grandchildren will thank us tomorrow! Thank you for taking action. Sincerely, Doug Hilborn, Wyoming Father

Over my six years as a student in GISD, I've noticed the lack of student influence and involvement in the decisions made about their educations. I urge you to allow these students to be apart of the decision-making process for the district.

Our teachers are our children's role models, they are in a place of power to teach, to encourage, to mold our children. Bullying is not at all tolerated from our children and shouldn't be tolerated from teachers. This guy got a slap on the wrist, more needs to be done. The school tried to sweep that matter under the rug. Not on my watch!

We have been held up for 3 years in establishing this school, and we would like to open it now! Funding has been diverted from Staten Island for charter schools, and authorization comes directly from SUNY, and the Board of Regents.

I attend New Paltz, and have found that most of my friends, who needed to seek help in coping with some of their issues did not utilize the eight sessions at the Campus Health Center allotted them. Many of those who need the most help, do not seek it in part because the stigma of seeing a "shrink" carries such a negative connotation. The mental health of our campus should not be overlooked, especially at such a progressive university; and implementing a mandatory session per semester for all students will both help to combat the stigma and improve the mental health of all our students.

With one out of three children overweight or obese school lunches have a heavy impact on children's health especially in the public school system where this is how many children receive their meals for the day. These lunches must have a much healthier balance of fruits, veggies, grains and meats to teach children healthy dietary habits that will lead to a healthier lifestyle! There are many benefits to changing these meals such as bringing in fresh local and seasonally grown fruits and veggies will lower the amount of sugars and sodium that are packed into canned foods used by cafeterias and will also stimulate the local economy. Also, eating healthier meals will have an impact of student performance in school and will help them stay focused and energized.

We believe that the solution to violence is compassion and connection, which can be taught through the Nonviolent Communication system of Marshall B. Rosenberg, which teaches us to explore the needs we have that are not being met and lead to conflict. We believe that through mandatory classes that teach us to have empathy for each other through understanding our needs and others' needs behind the issues of conflict, nonviolent solutions that satisfy our joint needs can be discovered. Violence affects us all in our society, and education is a major key to ending it.