Recent Articles

08/15/08 - The New Role

Justin Bathon
August 15, 2008 20:00

So, I am still getting comfortable with my new faculty role, thus time is short lately. So an abbreviated version of the snippets this week. But, Mark Walsh said it was a quiet week (read that post for some of the action this week), so I am going to go with that and not feel too bad about it. ...

Thoughts on the California Home Schooling Decision

Justin Bathon
August 12, 2008 19:02

Mark Walsh and Mitchell Rubinstein have already posted that the California Appellate Court has reversed itself on the homeschooling decision that has received so much attention this past year.Here is the opinion. There were 16 amicus briefs, including, as my friend Scott Bauries pointed out to me,...

Paddling Protection Nonsense in Indiana

Justin Bathon
August 12, 2008 17:27

Once in a while a proposal comes along that really riles me up. Today is one of those days. The current Governor of Indiana is proposing (although through campaign speak) a teacher discipline clarification act or something like that. Nadine Block, the Executive Director of the Center for...

Friday Snippets - 8/08/08: The Eights are Wild.

Justin Bathon
August 09, 2008 04:12

An anti-bullying bill that includes protections for homosexual and transgender students and teachers is in the New York Senate. West Virginia teachers file suit claiming they were mislead into investing their retirement dollars into bad annuities. Little tip for teachers ... ALWAYS stick with...

Cyberbullying Regulation and Free Speech

Justin Bathon
August 06, 2008 01:51

Here is an article out today on an off-campus student conversation about Prom and a "spoiled" girl in their school. The conversation was taped and a student posted it to YouTube. The school administrators, concerned over cyberbullying, suspended the student who uploaded the video for two days, but...

Friday Snippets - 8/01/08 - Water on Mars

Justin Bathon
August 01, 2008 21:49

Congress has passed a Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Here is Sen. Mike Enzi on some of the details. The President is expected to sign it.  A Texas judge changes his mind and orders a new language program for 140,000 language minority students. Voucher advocates funding Georgia...

Graduation Rate Suit in Florida Dismissed

Justin Bathon
August 01, 2008 18:23

The lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Florida against the Palm Beach County School Board for unconstitutionally low graduation rates has been dismissed at the Circuit Court level. I had earlier posted on the creativity of this suit (and its unlikely chances at success). Since the Florida Constitution...

Teaching Kids to Think

Justin Bathon
July 31, 2008 03:45

So, I have been cruising all over the southern Midwest the last couple days and while on my adventures I picked up an audio copy of Fareed Zakaria's book, The Post-American World. Fabulous read (or listen in my case). Packed with information (and cites - it was almost scholarly!) on China, India,...

Update on Autism Remarks

Justin Bathon
July 27, 2008 14:57

Charles Fox has an update on the autism rant that outraged me last week. Apparently there has been quite a lot of backlash from the remarks and calls for the radio host to be fired. Radio stations and advertisers have dropped him already. I absolutely 100% think the guy should be fired. This is no...

Friday Snippets: 07/25/08 - The Candidates and Special Education

Justin Bathon
July 25, 2008 16:38

The transition has begun to the new site. I worked on building it some this week and it is starting to take shape quite nicely. I hope to have it up an running by about the middle of next month - the tentative logo is below. Also, I have new contact information, including a new e-mail, which you...