I am a victim of child molestation. My brother was a victim, as well. As a result of being molested, my brother made decisions that have led to his recent murder. We must protect our children at all costs! Child molestation MUST be prevented!

In response to community input, Delmont and Mayfair were reconfigured by the EBRPSS for the 2013-2014 school year. The community’s response could not have been better. When doors opened in August, both schools were at capacity and reports from parents have been overwhelmingly positive. In spite of this auspicious start, public comments by Superintendent John White indicate the state is poised to take over these schools. Such a takeover would: >> be in direct contradiction to the spirit of the law governing reconstitution; >> not improve educational outcomes for the children of these schools or for the children of EBRPSS in general; >> be a subversion of local control and the will of the people; and >> be an unfair seizure of assets paid for by local taxpayers. >> A state takeover of these schools is in direct contradiction to the spirit of the law governing reconstitution.<< Under current law, when a school is deemed failing by the state’s controversial accountability system, a local school system has four years to turn the “failing” school around. If local officials decide to reconstitute the school—reconfigure its program in an attempt to better address the students’ and community’s needs—the school is typically issued a new site code and it is given four more years to determine if the new reconfigured program is successful. Currently, the Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) provides no explicit criteria for reconstitution plans. According to Barry Landry of the LDOE, this is intentional. As he explains, “there is no rubric spelled out in policy for the reconstitution plan. This allows schools and districts – those closest to the students – the flexibility to make decisions to create a plan they feel is best to present to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.” The reconstitution plans submitted by the EBR School Board—those closest to the students, were designed with the needs of students and the community in mind. Mayfair Middle was turned into Mayfair Laboratory School. Its new program is modeled after the highly successful and well-regarded LSU Laboratory School. In response to parent and community input during neighborhood meetings, Delmont was turned into a PreK-Kindergarten Center. Though EBRPSS reconfigured the schools in response to its community’s needs, Supt. White refuses to issue new site codes for Mayfair and Delmont and has reiterated that these schools are eligible for takeover. His decision to deny the EBRPSS new site codes appears to be arbitrary and capricious. St. Landry Parish’s reconstitution plan for one of its schools was approved during the same time period. >> A state takeover will not improve the educational outcomes at these schools or for the children of EBRPSS in general.<< When the state takes over a school in Baton Rouge, BESE gives the school to the Recovery School District of Louisiana (RSD-LA) to manage. The RSD-LA’s stated purpose is to identify a quality charter operator to run the school. Unfortunately, there is no factual evidence to suggest those students will be better served by the RSD-LA or the charter operators it brings in. In fact, there is some compelling evidence that the education offered these students will be worse. After the RSD-LA took control of seven schools in north Baton Rouge in 2008-09 and created the Baton Rouge Achievement Zone, the school performance scores of a majority of those schools dropped. In recent years, it has been difficult to find information on these school’s performance scores. That’s because the schools have continually performed so badly, they have not been given a score but repeatedly reconstituted. Another measure of a school’s performance is parent and student satisfaction. Here, too, the evidence reflects badly on the quality of the education offered in the RSD’s Baton Rouge Achievement Zone. Parents and students have continued to abandon the RSD direct run and charter schools. The RSD currently controls seven school buildings that accommodate approximately 6000 seats. It now serves fewer than 2000 students. More than 4000 of the students have chosen to attend schools still run by EBRPSS. Baton Rouge parents do not see the RSD as a viable option for their children. The failure of the RSD to attract students has serious consequences for the EBRPSS and the children who attend its schools. Because EBRPSS has lost 6,000 desks in seven school buildings as a result of these state takeovers but has retained over 4,000 of the students who used to sit in them, its schools are overcrowded and its finances are strained. EBRPSS must spend money on temporary buildings and other infrastructure needs in order to serve these additional students while desks sit empty in the RSD. The result is that it is even more challenging for our local schools to serve their students at a time when they are being held to even higher accountability standards putting even more schools at risk of state takeover. In short, our schools are being set up to fail in order to increase the number of schools the state can seize from local control. >> A state takeover is a subversion of local control and the will of the people.<< All of the schools in the Baton Rouge Achievement Zone are charter schools. Charter schools in the Zone are not subject to the control of a local school board. This means that when parents have exhausted avenues among the charter’s administration and board, there is not a locally elected official to whom they can go to address their needs. A recent poll conducted on behalf of Louisiana Public Broadcasting for a show on charter schools by Louisiana Public Square indicates that while Louisiana residents approve of charter schools, nearly 70% of them want charter schools to be controlled by a local school board. Parents from both Delmont Pre-K–Kindergarten Center and Mayfair Lab School have pleaded with BESE representatives to allow their programs to continue, but there has yet to be an assurance...

Trying to reduce BCCS student homework load.

Jamestown School District has been given the opportunity to co-op with Greenville School District for 2 additional sports. This means that our students will continue to co-op with Greenville for Track and Softball and will also have the opportunity to play football and baseball cooperatively with Greenville.

I believe the President of Howard University was forced out of office. I believe the Board of Trustee should be transparent and refuse to accept the President's alleged resignation. President Ribeau should be reinstated as President of Howard University.

Chicago is a city that is turning more violent each day. Adults need to use common sense so as not to needlessly endanger children. Having two different high schools located so close to each other will put students into a situation that could explode for any reason. This whole situation could be defused by moving the site of the charter school by a few city blocks.

Texas students deserve better than to have their education undermined by the insertion of religious creationism in biology textbooks to undermine the teaching of evolution. Because it's such a large market, Texas's standard could also impact textbooks sold to schools nationally.

My petition is about the restricting piece of legislation known commonly as the "Six Drop Rule", where college students can only withdraw from six college courses throughout their entire college career. I have been personally affected by this piece of legislation, and have been severely stressed out due to this legislation. It is very limiting, and debilitating to our (College students) GPAs. I would like to replace the "Six Drop Rule" with a less stressful law. The replacement law is still in development; however, some of the items in the law are listed in the following sentence. In the replacing law, I would like to enact certain limitations, such as: students are allowed unlimited number of drops, however students are allowed only one drop a semester (depending on the number of credit hours), allowed only one drop the entire summer, and no matter what date you drop; You WILL NOT receive your money back.

While some colleges have been in the news lately for cutting funding for financial aid programs or being in cahoots with banks and profiting off of students, these five colleges have raised their hands in support of students and making college affordable: Union College, Roger Williams University, Portland State University, Washington State University, and Ohio State University. By supporting efforts to make college more affordable for students, these colleges and universities acknowledge that costs have grown unsustainably. No two institutions are identical, and not every solution will look the same. But every institution of higher education needs to do something to ease the burden of student debt — and these institutions are committed to doing just that.

Many Edinboro University students, alumni, faculty and staff, community members, and others are opposed to Dr. Wollman's new 2013-2018 Strategic Plan and would like their voices heard. We are united in our opposition to Edinboro's plans to potentially eliminate more than 40 FTE faculty positions and the elimination of baccalaureate programs in German, Music, Music Education, Philosophy, and World Languages and Cultures. While we realize that Edinboro University is currently facing a budget deficit we do not believe that academics or faculty are areas that should be stifled, as a result.

1). The new guidelines allow students to use cell phone at the high schools during lunch and between classes, a significant change in policy from previous years. With complete disregard for a due process, the portion of the guidelines describing this drastic change was amended to the publication just days before school started without any attempt to make a public announcement or solicit feedback. 2). The new guidelines were approved as a result of a pilot program that ran in three Howard County high schools last year. The Board failed to demonstrate clear and convincing evidence that this pilot program provided any benefit to students’ learning and educational outcomes. 3). Another pilot program is in place right now to further expand the use of these devices in the classroom. Personal communication devices can be a powerful educational tool. However, without a thoughtful approach, allowing the devices in classrooms will run the risk of becoming a distraction to the students, actually disrupting education. 4). Not all students have a smart phone or any cell phone or other device at all. A haphazard attempt to promote digital citizenship will accomplish little in achieving educational excellence if it cannot be evenly applied to all students. It will only deepen the digital divide and possibly increase the achievement gap in our schools. 5). Many high school students spend considerable time outside of school using their electronic devices. It is critical that they have time during the school day when they’re “unplugged”.

To bring back the "Fat Man" as the mascot for Washington Township School.