At the Boston School Committee meeting on September 17th, Interim Superintendent McDonough recommended that all students in grades 3-8 and in grade 11 take the PARCC this year in order to better prepare for the potential transition from MCAS to PARCC. Tenth graders will still be required to take and pass the MCAS as a graduation requirement. As teachers, students, family members, and administrators within Boston Public Schools, we do not support this recommendation. We refuse to subject ourselves to yet another high-stakes standardized assessment that negatively impacts our curricular and instructional choices. We have serious concerns about the increase of testing in all of our schools. To be clear, we do not necessarily believe that the MCAS is a better assessment than PARCC. As Lisa Guisbond, the executive director of Citizens for Public Schools, has stated, “With PARCC versus MCAS, districts have been given a false choice. They have to pick which of two flawed punitive systems will do the least harm to their efforts to engage and educate their students.” We, the undersigned, believe that using test scores to evaluate teaching and learning is unjust and inequitable. Rather than pouring time, energy, and money into a new testing program, we demand that the district and the state reevaluate the ways in which it measures school and student achievement. Boston students deserve better. For more information, check out the resources compiled here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vjg5BPfUWjBnttfbv-vqfbaNnT307BJaoDQoIaDjglA/edit?usp=sharing

Our government officials should be looking for ways to include every citizen in the voting process and not working to eliminate voters by making it harder for them to get to the polls by adding restrictions on early voting. When they demonstrate this kind of behavior they need to held criminally liable.

My children were taken from my home for domestic violence and drug use August 3rd 2013 and even tho I have completed my case service plan successfully I was told by the department and casa and the cps appointed therapist that I will have my parental rights striped from me on my final court date which is on October 10th 2014 in the llano county court house at 9:00am.

Do you like owning over 1/3 of America's real estate? The public lands of Montana - our national forests and rangelands - are owned by the People of the United States of America for the benefit of present and future generations. No other nation on earth has bestowed such a vast estate upon its citizens. America's public lands represent one of the world's greatest legacies to the citizens of any nation. Please sign the petition. Send it to friends. Meet with your local legislators and ask them to sign the petition to protect public ownership of public lands. Please act now!

In the interest of public safety of pedistrian and motorists alike, and to avoid any unnecessary injury or harm from negligence wilful or otherwise.

The American Federation of Teachers New Mexico and the Albuquerque Teachers Federation are taking back New Mexico on the first day of early voting, 10.18.14. We are taking back New Mexico from Governor Susana Martinez because she is: -Working to eliminate payroll deductions for public employees. Susana stated “The state collects them (dues) for the unions, and then we cut a check to the unions who then use that money against reform.” This is a union busting technique used by politicians such as Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. - Underfunding our public schools and increasing class sizes. - Diverting money to special schemes and projects. - Demoralizing students and teachers with high stakes testing and blame and shame reforms.

It is not uncommon daily for one to witness forty plus vehicles accelerating to speeds three times the legal posted speed limit of 25MPH in this area. The small residential street is used as a pipe line between the other two major streets feeding Murrieta Valley High School. Children walk down this two lane street every afternoon in large groups laughing and conversing with a false sense of security. This petition has been created in hopes the City of Murrieta will take pride in its ability to protect these children by creating "safe zones" within residential streets just a few hundred feet of their schools.

City Councilman Laster has received ONLY 2 requests for de-annexation, TWO, not 109, only 2. Laster has forwarded 2 requests to the City Planning office which would handle de-annexation & there is some very preliminary discussion. De-annexation is a city decision & the process, if decided, would be for the annexed property owners to vote, stay annexed or be de-annexed. Yes, I know we didn't vote to be annexed but that's the process.

Gloucester's proposed new Harbor Plan would allow for hotels, restaurants, shops and galleries to proliferate and would reduce the area of the industrial working waterfront by over 50%. The City's proposal would violate state regulations and decades of practice in the state's designated ports. Please sign and share by October 9, 2014. Thank you.

A new SurveyUSA poll in South Dakota shows Democrats have a strong chance to win a U.S. Senate seat that they’ve long since given up on—but only if centrist independent candidate Larry Pressler drops out. This seat is currently held by Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson, who’s retiring. A Democratic loss here is a gain for the GOP—putting them one step closer to taking a majority in the Senate. Pressler is a former Republican senator who left office 20 years ago. Since then, he’s moved pretty far to the left of the Republican Party—he endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012—and he’s splitting the vote with Democratic candidate Rick Weiland. Just look at the poll numbers: SurveyUSA SD-Sen poll (with Pressler): - Republican Mike Rounds 39 - Democrat Rick Weiland 28 - Independent Larry Pressler 25 SurveyUSA SD-Sen poll (without Pressler): - Republican Mike Rounds 44 - Democrat Rick Weiland 42 Weiland is running a real campaign and has $450,000 in the bank, compared to $750,000 for Rounds. Pressler has a tenth of Weiland’s funds and is relying almost entirely on earned media and residual recognition from his previous time in the Senate. Simply put: This is a sure-fire GOP win if Pressler stays in, and a toss-up if he drops out. Sign the petition to independent Larry Pressler: Drop out and support Democrat Rick Weiland.

Some of our lawmakers are trying to force fracking on us without our approval. It is time for us to stop them before fracking ruins Colorado.

As an Arkansas voter, I want my vote to show our state candidates why they must support comprehensive immigration reform, the DREAM Act, improved education for all children, and driver’s licenses for all Arkansas residents. With my vote, I want to see these reforms become real this year because we, as a state, can't wait and stand by while local families and communities continue to suffer. Arkansas has proudly doubled the immigrant and New American vote since 2010, and I plan to help our state do it again in 2014, both through my vote and that of all of the voters I will register and take with me to the polls this November 4th.