ASWSU President Elect Taylor Hennessey and Vice President Elect Kevin Massimino disregarded the voice of the Multicultural Community when chosing the Director of Multicultural Affairs position for 2013-2014. Although we were included in the interview process, and many wrote letters of recommendations our voice was silenced with the executive position being offered to a person that we, the Multicultural Community, feel is least fit for a representation of who we are, and our purpose at large.

Our K-12 public school system continues to be negatively impacted by funding shortfalls. This has led to unacceptable loss of programs/staff that are critical to the educational needs of our children.Those programs and staff that remain are unable to be as succesful in their efforts due to increased class size, resource unavailability, variety etc..This must end. We must place our K-12 public school systems, at the very least, on the same funding priority, as we do our other critical national infrastructure needs.

Roberto Clemente educates the highest at-risk high school student population in our school district. This school is repeatedly targeted for closure - which, essentially, is budget-balancing on the backs of the students most in need. My son, Addison, as well as many other young people (and their families) are in serious jeopardy of losing the one program that has proven to help. This school has a waiting list of students being referred from the comprehensive high schools. We should be looking for ways to better support this population of students - NOT deplete it.

Panama Central School received state funds for building projects in 2002 and 2005. Due to oversight on the parts of both the state and the school district, one last report on these projects was not submitted. The state was aware of the omission, but failed to notify the District for several years. Governor Cuomo and Speaker Silver have decided to levy a $4.9 million fine on this small, economically challenged school district. Panama is not the only school district to have been sledgehammered over paperwork issues. This can happen to any school district or other recipient of state funds. The law needs to be changed to require timely notification so that errors can be promptly addressed and not allowed to run on for years and incur unmanageable punitive fines. In the case of school districts, the ones who suffer are the students and the taxpayers, who are on the receiving end of the financial consequences.

This petition is related to NYS fining our small, poorer socioeconomically speaking school district to the tune of 4.9 million dollars because of a past clerical error related to funding that was applied for & used for our school district maintenance needs & improvements. All applied for funds were used appropriately, but because some simple paperwork was missed or not filed at right time, the children & taxpayers will now suffer at the hands of our government in NYS. We the tax payers & other school district taxpayers are outraged & see no way this will help, but rather will hurt our students & families here & will not further education. Please reverse & waive these fines that we feel will cripple our struggling community & also prevent such punitive actions in the future towards other innocent students, families, & tax payers. Taxpayers & students who never had knowledge of or control over such events leading to this punishment. We wish to prevent future punishments of the same nature from happening as well.

My 16 yr old daughter is being bullied and sexually harrassed at JACKSON HIGH SCHOOL in Jackson, Michigan. Because my daughter did not know the name of the student, and even though the boy was witnessed by a security guard as he cat called and put his arm around her shoulder, the principal has not made any attempt to find out what the security guard saw, nor was an attempt made to identify the name of this boy.. now today, a day after my daughter's Case Manager, and myself had an emergency confrence with the 10th grade principal, Mr. Hillard, Councelor McMillian, and modt of her teachers, nothing had been done to confront the boy, much less dicipline him for bullying and sexual harrassment, which both actions violate Section 504 of the AMA,and students with dicibilities Act, as well as anti-bullying legislation signed into law by Governor Snyder in 2011. My daughter has been diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, and Severe Depression. She has idiations of commiting suicide, more now then ever before. When I attended the meeting, i was not their to discuss her academic performance so much as how the bullying is out of control, and spilling onto the street when she walks home, the counselor and principal kept pushing blame on my child for her poor academic performance rather then address the issue at hand, -my child being bullied. Today, my daughter was placed.in the very SAME ROOM AS THE BULLY. It was not until my child identified the bully as the unnamed fellow that started sexually harrassing her two weeks ago on her way home from school, did the principal act, by removing her from the class, and spending the rest of the day in the 10th grade office. If the principal had acted faster, by following up with the security guard about what he saw in the hallway, my daughter would never been placed in the wrong room. To date, nothing has been done to dicipline this boy, while my daughter has to live in fear what could happen next..to her, or someone else. Bullies must be confronted, diciplined with stiff penalty(s), and educated on the effects of bullying, and NOT BE ALLOWED TO GET OFF SCOT FREE!!

I love the economically disavantaged children that I serve as an educator. I am faced with the need to leave teaching in order to pay off my student loans. These children and the job I do is important for their futures and the future of our society as a whole. I had no money to educate myself and see no possibility to pay my loans off in my lifetime. I know my individual freedoms are affected and it would affect a great many other lives, if I have to leave teaching in the pursuit of money.

Port Charlotte High School is in violation of the Title IX Three Prong Test. Male-Female varsity sports are not substantially proportionate to the student enrollment. The equality for females in varsity sports has been violated, and with the advancement of Port Charlotte Girls LaCrosse to becomeing a varsity sport it will prevent any futher violations. Protect the federal funding of Port Charlotte High by advancing equality for their female varsity sports.

Once again the folks on Capitol Hill are proposing an increase in student loan interest rates from 3.4% to 6.8%.

Help public school children & adolescents learn the fundamentals and strategies of golf through the financial accessibility of disc golf.

The safety of students should be USF's top priority. The current policy at USF concerning students in need of medical care due to drug or alcohol overdose is not acceptable. Students should not be afraid to call for medical help if there is an emergency, but instead should be granted medical amnesty to help preserve the lives of students. Please help ensure the safety of fellow students by signing this petition. To learn more about the Good Samaritan Policy please visit these websites: http://ssdp.org/ http://www.medicalamnesty.org/

Governor Corbett forced the closing of dozens of Philadelphia schools by slashing over $1 billion from education funding. Now Governor Corbett says privatization through charter schools is the only answer to the education problem that he created. As more and more public money goes to charter schools, tax payers deserve to know if their education dollars are being well-spent. Unfortunately, charter schools do not have the same level of accountability and transparency that public schools have. Schools should be in the business of teaching our kids, not making corporate profits. It’s time to level the playing field and hold charter schools accountable. Philadelphia cannot afford another avoidable education crisis courtesy of the Corbett administration.