By Christian Dashiell, Midwest Voices panelist 2008
I wonder how long it took the fertility god Osiris to get used to the reality that his fruitfulness was a matter of community discourse. I assume he came to be at peace with the situation, as his prowess wound up being cause for worship.
The people at Harvesters, Kansas City’s food bank, have an appropriate reminder at this time of year:
“Hunger doesn’t take a summer vacation.”
In the summer, low-income children are more likely to be without meals. During the school year, more than 100,000 children in 13 counties are enrolled in free or reduced-price school meals.
By Laura Scott, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
When children’s advocates approached Rep. Ryan Silvey early in Missouri’s legislative session, they had found the right lawmaker to make a difference for kids. Silvey, a Kansas City Republican, was part of the majority party that controls the legislative process. And, he was willing to help.
One of the exciting things about the 50 “Teach for America” recruits coming to the Kansas City School District this year is that they come so highly qualified.
The new teachers, all recent college graduates, were selected from a national applicant pool of 25,000.
By Laura Scott, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
It’s a sad reflection of poverty that many low-income children go without meals, at least part of the month. Yet, the number of overweight children has risen dramatically since 1980.
Denise Tiller, Midwest Voices 2008
I was disturbed to read a report in the Star that half of kindergarten children in Kansas are not prepared for school. Readiness includes being able to follow instructions, recognize some letters, colors, and understand counting. They also need to know what a book is.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has a well-reasoned plan to help at-risk Kansas children get a good start in school — and life.
She proposes a block-grant system to get low-income children into Head Start and Early Head Start and other early education programs.
Denise Tiller, Midwest Voices 2008
This morning's Today Show had an amazing clip. Missouri is one of a very few states that allow children to cage fight: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23842058#23842058
A new study published recently about the sexual habits of teenagers should serve as a wake-up call for adults who cling to unrealistic notions about chastity among young people.
“We have historically seen lots and lots of STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) among teens in Kansas City,” said Daryl Lynch, a doctor with the Teen Clinic at Children’s Mercy Hospital. “It’s a very sexually active, sexually promiscuous crowd that doesn’t practice safe sex.”
Should educators be subject to obscenity prosecutions? Add your comments here.
I have to confess our youngest is turning 16 this month and we're going to get her learner's permit over spring break. We didn't realize until recently that we were part of a national trend.
Actually, it's her second permit. She's the only one of five sisters who bothered to read the drivers manual at 14 and take the test. However, at 14, she just wasn't ready to be behind the wheel. Driving is too important, I'm not going to force anyone to do.
I hope she's ready this time. We'd like her to be able to drive to school.
So why is there a national trend toward driving later? Is it a result of helicopter parenting? Or is it just that teaching a kid to drive is so hard? I've done my share of that and have the silver hair to prove it.
A three judge panel in a California Second District appeals court ruled parent run homeschooling unconstitutional if the parent does not have teaching credentials. Thousands of families in California home school their children, and they could be prosecuted if this ruling stands. Parents all over California are protesting this ruling and it's gotten the attention of many groups including the Home School Legal Defense Association and Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has spoken out against this ruling.
Though homeschooling has grown in popularity over the last 10 years, parents who choose to educate their children outside public or private schools must prepared to defend their choice at any time. None of the home school advocate groups expected this ruling to come at this time. Watch as large numbers of people rally together to get this ruling over turned.
I've had good response to last week's column calling for people with some civic and community clout to begin keeping tabs on the Kansas City School Board, so they'll be in position to recommend a change in the board structure.
Civic leaders, childrens' advocates, district employees, parents, civil rights leaders and at least three members of the current board all think change is needed.
The question is: Who is going to lead? Mayor Funkhouser keeps talking about an "education summit," but nothing is on the drawing board. Business types bemoan the district's image and academic deficiencies, but they don't seem to want to wade into the combat arena. Church and civil rights leaders say they want change, but aren't sure what it should be.
My heart goes out to the family of Dakota DeRemus. And for the friends of the boy accused of taunting and beating him to death, here's a news flash--"good" kids don't do things like that. Nor do "good" kids watch it happen, record it on cell phones, and then run like cowards without calling 911 to leave the boy to die alone.
Good kids may make mistakes, but bullying isn't an accident, it's a series of deliberate acts intended to cause emotional and/or physical pain. There's nothing "good" or funny about it.
When our youngest was in kindergarten, she and her little friends were terrorized on the school bus by a fourth grade boy. The school's response was mediation where my five year old had to confront a tormentor twice her age. She was a wreck and it made matters worse. A few days later, she pleaded with me, in tears, to let her stay home from school. I was spitting nails. Instead of suspending the boy or kicking him off the bus, they hired a guard to ride shotgun to protect the smaller children.
The Star has published reports on the grades of Kansas and Missouri schools. How does your school district rate? Did the school pass standards in reading and math? What exactly does passing standards mean? I was talking with a teacher friend of mine, and she really put some perspective on the testing for me. She noted that in her recent experience, schools spend a lot of time on test preparation. It's not just learning facts, but specifically learning the facts that will be on the test. What's wrong with teaching to the test? Well, first off, there is a lot of information in life children need to know that is not on standardized tests. I even have my children signed up for a virtual charter school, and I am being encouraged to spend some time on a test taking program specifically designed to train my children for the state assesment tests. The plain fact is that if the children do not perform well on the standardized tests, the money for the charter will dry up and the school will no longer be funded. I believe the spirit of the "no child left behind" legislation and standardized tests was to improve the schools. I think some school administrations are doing what is natural for people...the least amount of work to get to the money, especially those who struggle anyway. Instead of providing a rich and rounded education, the focus has now been on passing the tests. The focus is all wrong. If students are given a good curriculum and teachers are encouraging real learning, the students will do well on standardized tests. I wonder, if your student scored at the exemplary level, and if your school has done the same, was it because the students studied for one standardized test or was it due to an education of the highest standards? I fear that my friend who teaches in a local public school district is not the only teacher to notice the "teach to the test" structure. What good is it for our kids to gain a great score on one test but to loose out on a solid education?
Child poverty is rising in Johnson County. Some people may find that hard to believe, as Johnson County includes some of the Kansas City area's wealthiest residents and the county is known for its middle-class suburbs.
Yet, more than one in seven Johnson County students last year received free or reduced-price meals in schools, an indication of poverty. Overall, about one in 16 children in the county lives in poverty.
Those startling 2006 statistics come from a United Community Services report. It shows that the number of poor children increased by 92 percent in the previous six years.
Why are so few people reading daily to their children? A national survey, "Reading Across the Nation" delivered some unfortunate news in its finding that just under half of parents read every day to their children up to age 5.
In some states, the percentage was much lower.
The report comes at a time of increased emphasis by children's experts on reading to your kids.
Reading helps with early brain development and vocabulary, and is linked to better school performance.
Further, it stimulates parent-child bonding. Nothing is more satisfying to have a child snuggled in close, sharing the book in front of the two of you. Even after a child has learned to read, the pleasure of those moments together should continue.
Congress is finally taking an interest in what goes into school lunches. Efforts are under way to ban fatty and sugary foods from being served in school lunch cafeterias.
That's good. Research published in The New England Journal of Medicine confirms that childhood obesity can result in serious health problems later in life.
Many people forget that the Farm Bill has a section on nutrition that includes food stamps and school lunch programs. Taxpayers subsidize the school lunch program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture buys excess crops that are turned into food for the school lunch program.
The Star's editorial page receives far more submissions than it has the space to reproduce in the printed paper. Here is one, from a nationally-recognized local writer. He's addressing an important topic-youth suicide.
_Mary Sanchez
Drugs, statistics not enough
to save mentally ill children
© David Chartrand, 2007
The latest medical statistics confirm that suicide is on the rise among American children and teenagers.
Whether someone is to blame for this, the statisticians do no agree.
Some blame the government. In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration warned that children on antidepressants may experience side effects, including a sudden urge to commit suicide.
A new General Accounting Office report singles out Thayer Learning Center in Kidder, Mo., as one of 10 "boot camps" where teenagers died under suspicious circumstances.
The report doesn't use names, but the teenager it referred to was Roberto Reyes, who died at the boarding school in 2004, probably from complications from a spider bite.
Roberto spent days sick and in pain, but no one took him to a doctor. In fact, the GAO report says, staffers tied a 20-pound sandbag around his neck when he was too weak to exercise.
You can read more details about Thayer and other boot camps in a U.S.A. Today story.
