My son, who turned 3 this April, is enrolled in preschool. I asked his teacher: how much time does he spend outside? 45 minutes was the answer. Shocking? No wonder American kids have vitamin D deficiency. So I asked if he could play outside more. The teacher said that he could, but then he would be missing out on other activities, including tracing letters and numbers, and by the time he turns 4, when he goes to the next class, he needs to know letters and numbers. I was shocked even more. I insisted that I want him to play more outside, and she agreed, saying if the parent asks, then it is ok. Why, despite all the scientific proof, that early academics hurt, the government keeps pushing first grade curriculum to kindergarten and to the preschools? Isn't it time to actually incorporate research into school policies, instead of making policies that hurt our children? Researcher and educator Mercedes Schneider, author of A Chronicle of Echoes: Who’s Who in the Implosion of American Education, has documented the lightning- quick writing of the CCSS (Common Core State Standards) and has found no evidence that they are based on research. She writes: If they [the writers of the CCSS] were interested in research they would have started with kindergarten and piloted the standards for a few years and then made adjustments based on their research — and built slowly from there. There is absolutely no evidence that developmental stages were considered. That is a major problem across the standards and especially for the youngest grades. Anyone who has a cursory knowledge of development knows that it is not linear and that children do not all develop at the same rate — there is a span. Now, as the Common Core standards take hold across the country, literacy has taken over even more space in kindergarten classrooms, crowding out many high- quality learning experiences young children need. In a survey by Defending the Early Years (DEY) of about 200 early childhood teachers (preschool to grade three) across 38 states, 85% of the public school teachers reported that they are required to teach activities that are not developmentally appropriate for their students.9 A New York public school kindergarten teacher with more than 15 years of experience reported: Kindergarten students are being forced to write words, sentences, and paragraphs before having a grasp of oral language...We are assessing them WEEKLY on how many sight words, letter sounds, and letter names they can identify. And we’re assessing the “neediest students’” reading every other day. While the timetable for children’s cognitive development has not changed significantly, society’s expectations of what children should achieve in kindergarten have. A recent two-year study by the Gesell Institute in New Haven found that “children are still reaching important developmental milestones in much the same timeframe as they did when Dr. Arnold Gesell first published his data in 1925. Gesell used 19 measures to ascertain a child’s development. Among them were asking children to look at and draw a circle, cross, square, triangle, divided rectangle, and more complex forms. A clear pattern emerged. He found an age span for each task, but also a clear pattern of when most children could accomplish the task. By age three most children could replicate the circle, but most could not copy the cross or square until age 4.5. They could draw the triangle by 5.5 but could not copy the diamond until after age 6. The Institute’s recent study, given between 2008 and 2010 to about 1300 children across the country, found almost identical results. The Harvard Education Letter described the findings under the heading: “Kids Haven’t Changed; Kindergarten Has.” A number of long-term studies point to greater gains for students in play-based programs as compared to their peers in academically-oriented preschools and kindergartens in which early reading instruction is generally a key component. A number of long-term studies point to greater gains for students in play-based programs as compared to their peers in academically-oriented preschools and kindergartens in which early reading instruction is generally a key component. Findings from HighScope’s Preschool Curriculum Comparison Study, for example, suggest long-term harm, especially in the social-emotional realm, from overly directive preschool instruction. In this study, begun in the late 1960s, 68 children from low-income homes were randomly assigned to one of three preschool classes. Two were play-based and experiential. The third was a scripted, direct-instruction approach. Interestingly, there were very similar short-term gains among the children in all three programs at the end of year one. But the children were followed until age 23. By that time, there were significant differences in social behavior. School records indicate that 47 percent of the children assigned to the direct instruction classroom needed special education for social difficulties versus only 6 percent from the play-oriented preschool classrooms. And by age 23, police records showed a higher rate of arrests for felony offenses among those who were previously in the instructional program (34 percent) compared to those in the play-based programs (9 percent). Rebecca Marcon found negative effects of overly- directed preschool instruction on later school performance in a study of three different curricula, described as either “academically oriented” or “child- initiated.”18 By third grade, her group of 343 students — 96% African American with 75% of the children qualifying for subsidized school lunch — displayed few differences in academic achievement programs. After six years of school, however, students who had been in the groups that were “more academically directed earned significantly lower grades compared to children who had attended child-initiated preschool classes. Children’s later school success appears to have been enhanced by more active...

I am currently a sophomore in East Hampton High School, and in my second year playing varsity baseball for the school we have been demoralized on and off the field. We play teams that completely out-do us in every aspect of the game, but the worst part is that we must travel at least an hour and 15 minutes each way for every away game. It affects our grades, our sleep, our morale, and it just makes life harder. Clearly we are in the wrong league for our skill set and geographical placement. We need to be moved to a league closer to East Hampton where we can be more competitive. Please forward this message to everyone who might support our team.

Under the proposed requirements, a child who has an excellent overall GPA and has met all course requirements to graduate runs the risk of not receiving a diploma simply because s/he does not do well on a single standardized test. The undersigned parents urge the Haddonfield BOE to issue a resolution that opposes the proposed graduation requirements in favor of one that offers multiple pathways to a diploma and recognizes the need to validate the efficacy of the PARCC over a multi-year period before considering its use as an exit exam. For more on BOE resolutions related to the proposed requirements, go here: http://bit.ly/1WPnMwB

Rosemary Larkin is in her fourth year as principal of New Hingham Regional Elementary. I believe that her poor performance is having significant negative impacts on the quality of education our children are receiving, and the environment in which they are being educated. Her failed leadership not only has direct negative consequences to our children, but also impacts the communities in which we live.

I have personally witnessed the gradual erosion of funding for inner-city schools due to slick marketing campaigns from nearby "public" charter schools. These schools often participate in the practice known as "creaming." Charter schools routinely remove low-performing students, English language learners, and students with disabilities who might make their data appear less than marketable. The public schools are then left to educate these students once they are removed from local charter schools. The marketing campaigns have resulted in a loss of student population in public schools, and thus a loss of funds necessary to operate needed programs. This system, already declared unconstitutional in Washington state, has resulted in a two-tier system effectively reintroducing educational segregation. Separate but equal funding is inherently unequal. Outlaw these predatory charters. "Public" charter schools are the For-Profit Schools of K-12 education. Don't line the pockets of investors with my tax dollars!

My son, who is autistic, attended Mountain Valley Elementary School, not because this was his home campus, but because CISD made the choice that all children requiring special needs attend this school. In the nearly 3 years he attended, he regressed in all aspects of his disorder as well as his education due to a lack of placement. They have decided it is appropriate to place autistic children in a behavior unit with staff who are not trained on their disorder. Autistic children do not have behavior issues, they have sensory triggers due to their disability! We need to take care of all of the children in the community, and there should be a program to support Autism in our county, and give our children their best chance at succeeding at everything they encounter in life!

We, the parents of BPS students, are deeply disturbed by the remarks made by Paul Grogan, the President of the Boston Foundation, in the Boston Globe on April the 3rd. “..if there’s some pain and suffering to existing institutions because they haven’t been able to be effective, there’s going to have to be consequences to that, just as there is in the private sector,” Paul Grogan, Boston Globe, April 2, 2016. The Boston Foundation has an oversized influence on policy in the Boston area due to its financial resources. We don’t believe the Boston Foundation should be creating policy by promising financial relief to our chronically underfunded schools. It is our wish that the Foundation have some understanding and empathy on the effect that the policies they promote have on our children. It is our children who have been entrusted to the Boston Public Schools, and therefore, they experience the pain and suffering Mr. Grogan so casually writes off. Fifty-seven thousand children attend Boston Public Schools, and we do not believe that our children’s education should be dismissed so easily. Boston Public Schools is the oldest public school system in the country. Academically, BPS is very strong. The 4th and 8th graders in BPS exceeded the national average for all public schools on the National Assessment and Educational Progress (NAEP). BPS is the only urban school to do so. Our graduation rates are the highest they have ever been and we are making strides to close the achievement gap in Boston. But more than test scores or prizes, BPS is where our children have found a place to learn, grow, create and discover. It is where our children sounded out their first words when learning to read, observed caterpillars change into butterflies, plunked keys on the piano, learned to share, and think. Boston Public Schools takes in all children regardless of income, ability, race, social, economic or immigration status and forms them into bright, curious scholars. So it is highly discouraging that the philanthropic community would give so little regard to the school system where our children go to school every day. We believe that philanthropy that has no concern for the effects its actions have on its intended beneficiaries is a destructive philanthropy and worse than no help at all. We are asking Mr. Grogan to develop as a compassionate learner and grow in empathy and humility.

I am a military spouse and mother of a child who is affected by Sensory Processing Disorder. As a family we struggle with everyday life tasks and we struggle to have her medical expenses covered because her primary care manager does not recognize sensory processing disorder. We struggle to have the school recognize that she is not just a bad child and that there is a real problem since it is difficult to get this placed in her medical record. This has been researched since the 1950's and 1960's and should no longer remain in the dark. Too many children, teens, and adults deal with this daily struggle of overloaded senses. Our federal law, Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEA 04), defines a specific learning disability as “a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations.” While SPD may affect the child’s auditory, visual, and motor skills and his/her ability to process and sequence information, it is not, at present, specifically identified as an eligible, qualifying disability. Thus, it does not necessarily make a child eligible for special education and related services, such as occupational, physical, or speech/language therapy. Help me spread the message and get health coverage for this disorder.

The voters of Arizona have already approved, by initiative, the funding of the Arizona schools by billions of dollars more than the State Government has provided. The Arizona Supreme Court has already found, by a 5-0 ruling, that the State must correct this under-funding. Prop 123 reverses the voter initiative that approved this funding of the schools and sells off 3.5 billions of dollars of State Trust lands. This will permanently cost the schools $100 million in revenue every single year in the future at a time when the State government has hundreds of millions in surpluses that they plan to give away in tax breaks to their wealthy donors.

The Strafford School Board should focus on finding a common ground with our teachers. Once an agreement has been reached, the townspeople will have an opportunity to vote for or against the agreement, but in the interest of continuing to bargain in good faith, the negotiation process should remain confidential.

Governor Bevin just ordered immediate cuts to postsecondary education in Kentucky by 4.5 percent, and he wants to increase the cuts to 9 percent during the next budget. Budget negotiations between the Kentucky House and Senate have broken down over the issue of funding universities and state pension programs. Bevin's cuts would come at the expense of students. Let's tell the Governor and General Assembly that we can't afford to sell out Kentucky's future!

The community wants to open a charter school in Huntington Beach.