My son was shot once in the back and twice in the face by a pellet gun without the teacher being aware of the incident. He was shot by two students who regularly bully him. Schools should implement a bully free policy so that victims and bullies will know that harming other students is not tolerated.

We attend Spokane Community College, which is about to lose the labyrinth and possible other tools on campus. The student body's health and well being should be priority, and this decision should be stopped.

While grieving the death of her mother, 19-year teaching veteran Carla Hale was called into her principal's office at Bishop Watterson High School in Columbus, Ohio, and told she was being terminated for violating Diocesan Policy 45116.1, the code barring teachers from violating "moral laws." When pushed for specifics, administrators told Carla an anonymous parent had complained after seeing Carla's long-time partner, Julie, mentioned in her mother's obituary. Carla Hale was a much loved and well-respected teacher at Bishop Watterson. Please sign the petition to the Diocese of Columbus asking them to comply with a Columbus ordinance prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and immediately reinstate her as a teacher.

Principal George Aulenbacher, After the recent media attention surrounding Katelyn Campbell's outspoken protest against Pam Stenzel's event at George Washington High School, I wanted to congratulate you and your institution for producing such an accomplished student. Surely you must feel privileged to know that you have presided over the education and awakening of such an student as accomplished as Campbell. She has demonstrated every tenet of the American civil ideal. She is courageous, socially aware, and thinks critically. She stands up for what she believes, and engages in the time-honored tradition of civil disobedience to affect necessary change. She holds her ground even in the face of hostile authority because she knows, and now you know, that her position is based on evidence and righteousness rather than rhetoric or politics. As you know, West Virginia ranks as the ninth highest state in pregnancies in the United States. Abstinence-only education is a fad that has lasted for more than a decade, and it honestly hasn't helped very much. Pretty consistently, states across the country with policies of abstinence-only education have higher instances of unwanted pregnancies and STI transmission. Furthermore, Steubenville High School also has an abstinence-only sex education policy. Clearly, abstinence-only education may not be the most effective method of controlling the negative side effects of teen sexuality. Campbell has been able to look at this data, draw a conclusion that something needs to change, and has made a suggestion for that change. Such rationality in the face of hysterical rhetoric along the lines of "every instance of sexual contact will lead to a sexually transmitted infection" (which you absolutely must admit you know to be untrue, if you've ever had a child or been in a serious relationship) is admirable. The education of high school students is a very serious undertaking and so many negative influences can interfere with accomplishing this goal. Numbered among these are poverty, child abuse, bullying, learning disabilities--and it's so difficult to get right down to the process of raising young adults to be knowledgeable, successful, independent, socially aware, critically thinking Americans with all of these distractions. Adding unwanted pregnancies and STIs to the mix clearly exacerbates this difficulty. You, Campbell, and I can probably all agree on this. And this is why you should be proud of Campbell, and proud of yourself for being part of the administration that has led to her graduation and acceptance into a prestigious college. She recognizes that these are problems, and also recognizes that misinformation and fear-mongering like that provided by Stenzel are not the best method to bringing teens into successful adulthood with knowledge, independence, awareness, and critical thinking skills. Not only does she recognize this, but she also has the courage to try to do something about it and the ability to articulate the change that needs to be made clearly and concisely. As Steve Prefontaine said, "To give anything less than the best is to sacrifice the gift." Campbell has refused to sacrifice her gift, and is giving her best. Can you say, objectively, that you are doing the same? You might be, because Campbell is one of your successes. You make more Campbells, and you're building a better America for all of us. If you build more Pam Stenzels, Principal Aulenbacher, then you are sacrificing your gift. Yours, Jacob Lewis

Poor leadership is a cancer to any organization, especially a school. It can manifest itself in many ways, including: low morale; poor communication; unprofessionalism; mismanagement of resources; lack of motivation and inspiration; and feelings of betrayal, mistrust, and disregard among the constituents being served and retaliation among those who ask questions or demand accountability. Children learn very early on how to navigate a system to their advantage and we can not afford another 7 years of "hoping" things get better. If our children continue to be exposed to inadequate leadership with meager expectations, they have a greater chance of becoming inadequate students who give meager effort. The time is now.

Countless scores of people have sought higher education and have come away with nothing more than a bill of sale after attending a for-profit instituition. Their financial futures are mortgaged and they are enslaved to a debt that they will never be able to repay, their credits won't transfer to other institutions, but it wouldn't matter because for-profit colleges have enslaved them with massive debts which exclude them from further assistance to better their futures. The for-profit college industry needs to be held accountable, and all of those affected should be freed to pursue their dreams without the specter of a debt that can't ever be repaid hanging over their heads until the day that they die.

Our school, Westowne Elementary in Catonsville, reaches unsafe and unhealthy temperatures when the weather is hot and humid. The school lacks ceiling fans and windows that open wide enough for air ventilation. The county school system must implement immediate upgrade of climate control measures to protect the health, safety and learning capabilities of our children.

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.