Scores on End-of-Course tests would improve if these tests were administered before the Christmas break. 2-3 weeks without instruction results in lower scores. Our schools are graded on these grades. We are now ranked 40th in the country. That's not acceptable.

The superintendent's short-sighted decisions regarding destroying a special education schools location and giving it to richer gifted students show his utter lack of respect for the students, parents, and community as a whole. We ask that all stand against this inequitable decision and support the unsupported students that can’t speak for themselves.

Dear Bridgeport City Council Members: We, the parents, administration, teachers, staff, and supporters of Classical Studies Magnet Academy (CSMA), are asking for you to put the issue of the City of Bridgeport supporting the Board of Education & Bridgeport Public School District acquiring a new building for CSMA to be joined in one physical location on your agenda. We specifically request that you vote “YES” to the Board of Education applying for a grant to comprehensively assess the renovation needs of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport administrative building at 238 Jewett Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06606 and “YES” to the investing $1.2 million for the purchase of 238 Jewett Avenue for CSMA. CSMA is a PK-8 magnet school that is currently split between two buildings: Main Building, 240 Linwood Avenue, housing grades 3-8 & Annex Building, 659 Beechwood Avenue, housing grades PK-2. The Main Building is owned by the Board of Education, and the Annex is leased from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport. The school’s academic theme is project-based education that incorporates Socratic Seminar. Quoted from Principal Helen Giles’ School Message, “[The educational approach promotes] active learning wherein students are the knowledge seekers. They have opportunities to engage in rich discourse regarding topics they are learning about. [CSMA] provides an education based on high expectations for all children, striving to provide a world-class education while cultivating and nurturing world-class citizens.” Our ultimate goal is to support and raise the academic achievement of our children, and this in part requires a suitable physical learning environment. It was approved for CSMA to expand into two buildings in 2013 when it received approval by the Board of Education to increase its student body from grades K-6 to PK-8. The division of students and staff between two buildings, separated by .5 miles and 4 streets, was originally intended to be a temporary situation. However, approaching 5 years later, the City has not outlined any concrete steps to unify the school into one building. CSMA needs to be one building, together as one unified school. It is currently the only school in Bridgeport suffering from the challenges of a physically separated administration, educational team, and student body. Parents are strained by having to drop off and pick up siblings in multiple locations and sometimes having to choose between attending events for one child over another since school assemblies must to held on different days between the two buildings. In addition to being in one building, CSMA needs to be in a newer, more updated facility. The Main building at 240 Linwood Avenue, the former Maplewood School, is the oldest building presently in operation by the Bridgeport Public Schools. The age of the building contributes to the poor temperature regulation and ventilation, insufficient space for certain classes and activities. The Annex building at 659 Beechwood Avenue also has structural challenges, with ceiling leaks, cracked wall tiles, and poorly sealed windows. The building cannot accommodate a proper library, and there is no real gymnasium. 238 Jewett Avenue is the only realistic and reasonable option for the relocation and unification of CSMA: 238 Jewett Avenue has adequate space for the entire current student population, with room to expand. This administrative building was formerly Notre Dame High School and St. Catherine School for Girls, therefore the property is already zoned for a school. The building is large enough to satisfactorily accommodate space for academic, social/emotional, and health/wellness support services, as well as for enrichment classes such as library, physical education, music, and art. It will also provide space for parent meetings and engagements. The grounds surrounding the building are spacious enough to build playgrounds and to use for other recreational activities. CSMA is a project-based magnet school that holds multiple exhibits, and assemblies each month. Adequate space is necessary for students to endeavor into their educational exploration and to set up their projects/presentations for fellow students, parents, and invited guests. Renovations in the 238 Jewett Avenue building will allow for needed technology updates that the current 659 Beechwood Avenue & 240 Linwood Avenue buildings cannot support. This need also holds true for general assemblies school-wide events, where crowding easily becomes a complication. The location of the building is sufficiently distanced from other local schools, and it will not disrupt the local school zone distribution. As a magnet school that receives students from all over the city and has the specific theme of being project-based, parents must consciously select for their children to attend and commit be actively engaged in ensuring their children keep up with the rigors of the curriculum. Relocating CSMA to an area that is too close to other local schools or transferring the school to an already-occupied school building that would displace students from their current zoned school will have potentially negative lasting effects on the community. Students may then need to be bussed to the next closest school or conversation may arise to change CSMA from a fully lottery-based magnet school to a partially zoned-magnet composite school. The latter would not be fair to parents or students to attend a school with a special zone-based because some local parents may not wish their children to attend, or may not be able to keep up with the academic demands. As a magnet school receiving students from the entire city, the majority of students are bussed. There is sufficient space on the grounds of the 238 Jewett Avenue property for the school buses to load and unload students off of the public street. Presently traffic becomes obstructed at both locations as 5 school buses wait in line. There is also pa...

We believe the proposed curriculum changes will not be beneficial to all academic levels.

VIRGINIA SCHOLARSHIP PLAN 1. The purpose of this program is to break the generational cycle of poverty. 2. Unspent TANF funds will finance a four-year pilot test to educate eligible TANF students at the Richard Bland College or at select Virginia Community Colleges. Two hundred students from families eligible to receive TANF assistance will be awarded scholarships for tuition, fees, and books. The average award is estimated at $4,000 per year for two years. 3. By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs will require postsecondary education and training beyond high school, with 35 percent requiring a bachelor's degree and 30 percent requiring some college or an associate's degree. 4. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that education or vocational training beyond high school can yield substantial earnings gains. Over their lifetimes, young adults with higher education or vocational credentials will pay more taxes and need less government assistance to meet their basic needs. 5. In states like Florida and Arkansas, successful scholarship programs funded by TANF federal grant funds have educated thousands of impoverished students and liberated them from a life of poverty. 6. Take Stock In Children currently operates in every Florida county. Its mere existence breaks the cycle of poverty for low-income, academically qualified students by providing opportunities for a post-secondary education. The program currently serves 23,000 children throughout 67 Florida counties. 7. In three other states, Massachusetts, Wyoming, and Montana, TANF Funds have been put to use funding scholarships for students who were children of eligible TANF recipients. The effect of these students successfully completing higher education or workforce credentials in their community colleges is to release them from the cycle of poverty and change them from dependents to tax paying citizens in the new economy. 8. The proposed program, to be funded entirely with unused federal TANF funds, can break the cycle of poverty. It can provide higher education for hundreds of academically qualified students. And it will create taxpayers out of previously likely lifetime dependents on public assistance and financial support. The program will provide college financial aid to qualified students who do not have access to other means of financial aid to pursue higher education.

We represent parents who are advocating for the educational rights of their children and other children, especially going against school push-out of our children of color as well as banning parents of color who are outspoken! The phone number to Judge Feinerman office is (312) 435-5627

We all have an interest in what happens in our schools and with our children. We want them to experience role models who can and do conduct themselves in a fair, respectful manner. We want them to see that whether or not adults like each other, and whether or not we agree on how things should be done, we all agree to operate by certain non-partisan standards. Cultivating an environment of respect where the spirit of fairness is honored is critical if we expect our children to do the same. As parents, as teachers, as community leaders and members, and especially as people who care about the messages that we impart to our children through our own behavior, I urge you to join me in asking them to stand against the mayor's decision. We need to make it clear to the Board of Education members that they can and should reject this appointment. As residents of CT, we should all be concerned about a gubernatorial candidate who feels it is okay to overstep his vested authority and rewrite policy about how positions are appointed. HISTORY: When the city of Danbury went through the vote just two months ago, voters decisively elected 4 Democrats to the Board of Education. While the remainder of the ballot went largely Republican as it has for some time, the voters made it clear they wanted change on the Board of Education. It was unfortunate that one of the Democrats elected ultimately declined the seat due to a personal conflict, leaving a vacancy. Vacancies are appointed by the members of the Board, on the recommendation by the party which holds the seat. The Board held several votes and could not reach a decision, ending in a stalemate every time. It was never addressed as to why the Democrat-nominated candidate was rejected - he was a young, energetic individual with children in the school system. The Republican-nominated candidate during these BOE votes was someone who ran in the election and garnered the next-to-last number of votes. After several of these votes, the mayor quietly inserted himself into the situation without legal precedent and opted to appoint an individual from the opposing party, not only seating someone who didn't win during the election, but also shifting the balance of the board back to a Republican majority. With this appointment, the spirit of fairness is being challenged. Just two months after the voters of Danbury went to the polls and elected a Democrat, they have been told that their voice does not count. The arguments being made to justify this appointment are not legally viable, but the financial burden of taking it to court is too much, and it will likely go unchallenged. It is time to use the most powerful weapon at our disposal: our voices! Please join us in signing on to this petition so that we may spread awareness of this abuse of power by Mayor Mark Boughton.

When EHS converts number grades to a GPA, it uses a system that is different than all other local high schools. For example, if a student has a 90 average at CVU, they have a GPA of 3.67. However, if a student has a 90 average at EHS, they have a GPA of 3.1. A student who has an 83 average at CVU has a 3.0 GPA, but at EHS that student has a 2.1. This is unfair and hurts Essex students when they apply to college, try to get jobs, or apply for scholarships. Our hard work deserves to be recognized.

The Students of Evergreen deserve our support. They deserve a chance to have academic success. They deserve a school that has permanent teachers not substitutes. They deserve real academic strategies to help them succeed. The students of Evergreen Elementary deserve a fighting chance, and they deserve to have their school kept open. WE NEED 10,000 SIGNATURES. Please help us save Evergreen.

We believe that Fresno State owes its students, its employees, and its community a strong stand for academic freedom, for freedom of speech, for quality education, and against right-wing violence. We, therefore, demand that Fresno State renew the contract of Dr. Lars Maischak and allow him to teach in the classroom in his field of History. BACKGROUND In April of 2017, right-wing media outlets accused Dr. Maischak of advocating for, or planning to commit, acts of murder and assassination. In this matter, Dr. Maischak was thoroughly investigated by the Secret Service and exonerated of any wrongdoing. The intent of Dr. Maischak's widely-reported statements, scandalized by right-wing propagandists, was to warn of the future consequences of the actions and ideas of the present administration and its supporters. His position was based on his scholarly understanding of History, stemming from his experience as a native of Germany and a student of the history of both Germany and America. Scholars and an interested public may disagree that Trumpism stands in the tradition of European Fascism; although many vocal supporters of Mr. Trump proudly embrace that very tradition. In a free society, and in the academy, a disagreeable view is not a crime, nor cause for punitive measures by an employer, nor a justification for public vilification and threats of violence. It is, rather, an invitation to explore the evidence underlying such a view, to debate its merits, and to engage in public discourse. In making his statements, Dr. Maischak's exercised his constitutionally protected right of free speech and followed his conscience as a scholar. The death threats against Dr. Maischak and other members of the campus community come from a segment of the population now routinely deployed to terrorize dissenters. Dozens of scholars, artists, actors, activists, and journalists have been targeted with the same playbook in 2017. For Fresno State to give in to the threat of violence is to capitulate to this orchestrated campaign of intimidation. Timidity in the face of threats emboldens those who seek to silence critical voices, and thus exposes others to similar attacks. Fresno State has removed Dr. Maischak from classroom teaching duties, ordered him to design online classes, and teach these classes in the Spring of 2018, while his present, three-year contract is in effect. Past actions and statements of Fresno State suggest their intent to deny a renewal of Dr. Maischak's contract at the time of its expiration. We believe that the University has erred in its past actions towards Dr. Maischak and that it would commit a moral, political, and academic mistake by not renewing his contract. To hear Dr. Maischak lay out his argument, listen to his interview with Chauncey DeVega: http://www.chaunceydevega.com/2017/10/a-conversation-with-lars-maischak-about.html

We are students in Ms. Bicknell's 7th Period APUSH class which will have its midterm THIS Friday, the 12th. We believe that in order to perform as well as we know we could, we need more than one class between the test and now to study. Considering that we are coming off of a break and there is no purpose period this week to have a full review session, we would like the test to be moved. We understand that this will mean the Midterm will happen on a History testing "blackout" day, and we are ok with that.

Our group strongly believes that everyone should be granted the same learning opportunities despite their social/economic status. The Local Control Funding Formula as it is today does not regulate the spending of the additional money given to school districts enough. By doing so the money that should be used to give learning opportunities to high needs students, are used for other things. By signing this petition you could help us bring the issue to the House and the Senate of the State of California and create a more equitable school funding system.