Education Week - November 30, 2016 - 4

NEWS IN BRIEF
Lead Levels in Water High
In 60 Cleveland Schools

Bac Totrong/Daily News via AP

Tests conducted this past summer
show high lead levels in the water at
60 Cleveland schools.
The district announced this
month that it will begin replacing
582 drinking fountains, faucets, and
other water fixtures that showed
lead levels higher than federal limits. That includes removing and replacing 79 drinking fountains and
40 faucets in common areas such as
kitchens and teachers' lounges.
District officials say that children
haven't been exposed to the water
this school year because water stations were placed in the buildings
while testing was ongoing. The district decided to test the water for
lead after the water crisis in Flint,
Mich.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS

Texas State Board Rejects
Ethnic-Studies Textbook
The Texas board of education has
unanimously rejected a MexicanAmerican-studies textbook that experts say is rife with factual errors
and anti-Hispanic bias.
Two years ago, the Republican-controlled board refused to create a full
Mexican-American-studies course for
the state. Instead, it asked publishers to submit proposed ethnic-studies
textbooks that high schools could use
to create their own courses. The only
Mexican-American studies book submitted, Mexican American Heritage,
was the one rejected. Academics and
activists highlighted dozens of inaccuracies and stereotypes in the book,
including that Mexican immigrants
were "lazy."
Cynthia Dunbar, a former conservative board member whose company published the book, threatened
that legal action could follow.
-AP

IN HARMONY
WITH NATURE
The Barren County High
School band performs
inside Mammoth Cave
National Park's
Rafinesque Hall in
Kentucky last week. The
performance marked the
first time a full concert
band played in the cave.
The 75-member high
school band hails from the
south-central part of the
state near Mammoth Cave.

man and racist text messages distribduted by students at another school.
Police Superintendent Eddie
Johnson met with the group of public school students, the principal
of a Roman Catholic school where
students distributed the texts, and
leaders in the Mount Greenwood
community on the city's South Side.
Marist, the Catholic high school,
canceled classes Nov. 11 after the
group that calls itself Black Lives
Matter Youth scheduled a demonstration. One of its organizers said
the students' protest was postponed
because the school district contacted
their parents to warn them about
potential threats.
-AP

Chicago Police Chief to Meet
Monthly With Protesters

St. Louis Area to Phase Out
Desegregation Program

Chicago's police chief has agreed to
hold monthly meetings with a group
of black high school students who had
planned a demonstration protesting
an officer's fatal shooting of a black

The St. Louis region's desegregation program, one of the longestrunning and largest in the country,
will begin winding down under a
plan approved by a governing board.

Five Students Are Dead
In Tennessee Bus Crash
The Associated Press
Chattanooga, Tenn.

A school bus driver who authorities say was
speeding along a narrow, winding road when
he wrapped his vehicle around a tree last
week was arrested and charged with vehicular homicide in the deaths of five children.
Twelve remained hospitalized last week,
six in intensive care, said Hamilton County
Interim Superintendent Kirk Kelly.
Three of the children killed were in 4th
grade, one was in 1st grade, and another in
kindergarten, Kelly said.

The Nov. 21 wreck plunged the city of
Chattanooga into mourning, with parents
stricken by the news and people lining up
to donate blood.
Police said Johnthony Walker, 24, was
driving well over the 30 mph limit when
he lost control of the bus. He was jailed on
$107,500 bail for a court appearance Nov.
29 on charges that also included reckless
driving and reckless endangerment.
Thirty-five Woodmore Elementary School
students from kindergarten through 5th
grade were aboard when the bus flipped
onto its side and hit a tree. No other vehicle
was involved.
Emergency crews needed almost two
hours to get all the youngsters off the bus.
Bloodied children lay on stretchers, while
others walked away dazed with their par-

4 | EDUCATION WEEK | November 30, 2016 | www.edweek.org

The program that allows black students who live in the city to attend
schools in the suburbs was granted a
five-year extension by the Voluntary
Interdistrict Choice Corp., this month,
but enrollment will be scaled back
following the 2018-19 school year. No
new students will be admitted after
2023-24. About 4,600 students currently participate, down from a peak
of more than 14,000 16 years ago.
Since its inception as the result of
a federal desegregation lawsuit in
1983, the program has allowed more
than 70,000 black students to travel
by bus and attend predominantly
white schools in the suburbs. White
students from the county may also
attend magnet schools in the city.
Court supervision of the St. Louis
program ended in 1999.
-AP

Absenteeism Rates High
For Chicago Teachers
One in 4 Chicago public school
teachers miss more than 10 days of

ents. More than 20 injured students were
taken to the hospital, police said.
The National Transportation Safety
Board sent a team to investigate, and police obtained a warrant to remove black-box
data on the vehicle's movements.
The driver was employed by an outside
bus contractor, Durham School Services.
Walker appeared to have no criminal record
in Tennessee, authorities said.
Durham CEO David A. Duke wrote on
Twitter that the company was "devastated"
by the accident and working with police and
school officials to investigate.
The company has had 346 crashes over
two years, including three resulting in
deaths and 142 with injuries, federal figures show. During that period, it had 53 incidents involving unsafe driving violations.

school a year, according to a Chicago
Sun-Times analysis of 2013-14 data
from the Illinois board of education.
The numbers include teachers
taking maternity leave and other
short-term disability leaves, as well
as regular sick days.
The report says teacher absenteeism is worse in the district's poorest
schools. Union leaders say that's not
surprising because the district has
created conditions that take a toll
on teachers, and the poorest schools
shoulder the majority of budget
cuts.
-AP

Entire School Board Asked
To Resign in Va. District
The entire seven-member school
board of a 1,300-student Virginia
district has resigned.
The resignations came this month
after the City Council in Franklin,
Va., asked board members to submit their resignations over "incompetence in the performance of their

TRANSITIONS
Mary Ronan, the
superintendent
of the Cincinnati
public schools,
will retire at the
end of the 201617 school year.
She started
her career as a teacher in
Cincinnati in 1976. Ronan was
recognized in Education Week's
2013 class of Leaders To Learn
From.
Her nine years at the helm
far exceeds the tenure of other
urban leaders, who stay on the
job an average of 3.2 years.

http://www.edweek.org

Education Week - November 30, 2016

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