Concerned Parents of Brandywine Heights

"District Township aims to be declared only conservation zone in the county
The township would restrict development under a joint proposal with Rockland and Longswamp townships and Topton. A hearing on the plan is set for September. "

"The municipalities are planning a public hearing Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. at a location to be announced." More :

Web savvy can improve college chances - "Savvy students who build Web sites to highlight their academic and extracurricular accomplishments might have a better shot getting into the college of their choice — and paying for it.
That's what some college admissions experts and some students who have done it say. "

MORE

The Virtues of Being Virtual: " Education in this country is often seen as unresponsive to changes in society and dismissive of innovative ideas, but let's not forget that some of these innovative ideas have become fundamental to the education of our children.

Around the turn of the last century, compulsory public education itself was only a small movement, a novel idea that hadn't been proved and was sometimes viewed as minatory. It didn't take long, however, for the public school to be central to our way of life as the modern economy created a market demand for educated workers. In fact, a high-quality public education system soon became a key contributor to U.S. economic growth" More

Teachers call for webcams in class

Cameras linked to the internet should be installed in every classroom so parents can see whether their children are misbehaving in school.
Teachers who unveiled the plan today said they believed it could be the key to improving discipline, and involving parents in their children's education.
But critics say images downloaded from the cameras could be accessed by paedophiles. " More

Maybe we should have the board agenda posted on a regular basis before we go to webcams. A better more secure ideal would be to have cams that could be recorded on a TiVo type device. Hard copies made when needed. Insteading of sending home notes from the teacher the misbehaving tykes could bring home a video. Would put an end to "my little angel wouldn't do that".

Attention Recent Graduates Enjoy Foreign Languages, Exotic Locations , Looking For Long Term Career Stability -

The Seattle Times: After 55 years of toil, Sanskrit dictionary not even close

PUNE, India — For three generations, they have compiled and argued, agonized and transcribed — toiling in monastic tedium to turn an intricate, 44-letter language into six volumes, so far, of word after long-forgotten word.
They have delved into the grammatical roots of "antahpravesakama" and debated the pun hidden in "anangada." They've done a brain-numbingly complete dissection of "anekakrta."

Now, 55 years after a group of scholars began composing the authoritative dictionary of Sanskrit, the long-dead language of India's ancient glory, they are almost done — with the first letter. More

July Committee of The Whole - Not a whole lot to report teachers are happy, neighbors of the new school are happy, still no budget from the state but we are good till December. There was a little matter of the lighting at the new school. They are now experimenting on how best to light the facility. Seems to be a small problem in that there are two circuits one for lights outside the building and one for lights in the parking lot. There is a "Facility Management Console" but it appears to only be able to cut either circuit all on or all off no fine tuning. Board members Mawbry and Sacks did try to get into detail about the lighting, especially when faced with a $13,000 electric bill. Mr. Gilly cut off questioning by saying that the lights were not the problem and it was a secret security matter. Hope the CIA is sending us a check for providing them with a top secret training facility. Bet some of Tom Ridge's Homeland Security boys will be at the next meeting to stifle questioning. We did have one visitor a new board member from Oley wanting to observe how other boards operated. She left laughing feeling really good about Oley.

Extra study boosts test scores in Kutztown
"Social studies classes are suspended at Greenwich-Lenhartsville Elementary School so students can focus on math and reading. The results are startling.
By Merav Bushlin
Reading Eagle
A decision to temporarily halt social studies lessons so third- and fifth-grade students could prepare for state-assessment tests has paid off for the Kutztown School District.
The percentage of Greenwich-Lenhartsville Elementary School students proficient in reading jumped to 77.3 percent this spring, far exceeding the state minimum of 45 percent, administrators said" More

What the article doesn't mention is why not teaching social studies for a month is such a good thing. If it makes the administration look competent then a little ignorance on the kids part must be a reasonable price to pay. World War II is overrated anyway. They can always watch the history channel. If only a few students are having problems guess it would be to much trouble setting up a separate remedial program best to let everyone suffer.

"Summer growth
Program extends learning season for gifted
By Adam Wilson
Reading Eagle
Mention summer school and most people think of students who need extra help to make it to the next grade.
But summertime classrooms in Berks County, and around the country, are no longer purely for struggling students."

....

Lupkowski-Shoplik still has trouble convincing some school districts of the program's value.

“Every year we do a very big testing program, and we send information to every single school in the entire state,” she said. “Unfortunately, a good number of schools ignore the information.

“On the other hand, some schools really embrace it and encourage their students to participate and really embrace it as something valuable for their education.” More

Wonder what school district they could be talking about? But we do have a lot of new bricks.

Committee Of The Whole tomorrow night at 7:00 PM. This is a meeting of the entire board where issues to be voting on the following Monday are discussed. If you have any issues or questions for the board this would be the best time to attend.

"Oley school board approves Homestead Act referendum
:
By Yvonne M. Wenger
Reading Eagle
The Oley Valley School Board approved a Homestead Act referendum question Wednesday that will be placed on the Nov. 4 ballot. The vote was 7-2.
The question will give voters a chance to reform the district's property-tax structure.
The Homestead Act, also known as Act 50, would shift some of the school-tax burden away from residential property owners by raising the earned-income tax.
If adopted, it also will require voter approval for property-tax increases above 2.5 percent, or the rate of inflation."

Imagine that a school board that is willing to place tax increases in the hands of the voters. The Oley school district will be the first in Berks County lets hope they are not the last.

More Then Just Music: "It's happening right under parents' noses, yet few know that their teens and young children are being targeted in a new battle-tactic of the pornography industry. Peer-to-peer file-sharing programs represent a widely popular new trend among today's youth. "

"In the 1990s, Napster was forced to shut down to protect copyrighted music, and recently the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) announced plans to sue users trading music files. However, the new "peer-to-peer," or P2P, networks — such as Kazaa, Morpheus, and Grokster — pose a new and far greater problem than the illegal trade of music. These P2P networks allow children to easily download videos and images of free pornography and illegal child pornography, and also create a new arena for pedophiles."

" Children can stumble across pornographic images much more easily than imagined. The GAO used the popular child search terms — "Britney," a pop singer; "Olsen twins," teenage actresses; and "Pokemon," a popular cartoon character. Over half the results contained pornographic images. " MORE

A key point to remember that it is a felony to have child porn on your computer. If you child or young adult accidently downloads a file it is automatically placed in a public folder. This folder can be seen and copied by any of the over four million subscribers, including Big Brother making you a porn distributor.

Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/17/2003 | State to appeal ban on flag pledge law: "State to appeal ban on flag pledge law
The attorney general will challenge a judge's ruling on the mandate for student recitation."

USATODAY.com - Teachers unions move too quickly to dismiss reforms:

"States that have long led the way in the move to hold schools accountable for student progress now are seeing payoffs. This month, Minnesota school officials reported increases in test scores. The same phenomenon is occurring in North Carolina.

Both states are making gains by reducing the gaps between middle-class and low-income students, blacks and whites, and native English speakers and those with limited English skills. Propelling the progress were strict state mandates forcing schools to pay attention to lower-performing students. The same method lies at the heart of the two-year-old federal law, the No Child Left Behind Act, which kicks in seriously this fall.

But to hear the national teachers unions talk, little good can come from the law. This month, National Education Association President Reg Weaver vowed to sue the federal government for setting mandates without funding them. And American Federation of Teachers President Sandra Feldman complained that the requirements are too strict, though she pledged to comply with them." MORE

Education Bills: Follow the bouncing bills. Link sent in by a reader

" Here's a site with all the latest legislation going forward (?) in Harisburg that has to do with education:

Pennsylvania School Reform Network

Comments

The Six Lesson Schoolteacher: "CALL ME MR. GATTO, PLEASE. Twenty-six years ago, having nothing better to
do, I tried my hand at schoolteaching. My license certifies me as an
instructor of English language and literature, but that isn't what I do at
all. What I teach is school, and I win awards doing it.

Teaching means many different things, but such lessons are common to
schoolteaching from Harlem to Hollywood. You pay for these lessons in more
ways than you can imagine, so you might as well know what they are:" MORE:

Education:Elementary Writers Learn To Love Their WebLogsAnne Davis remembers how she reacted the first time she saw a weblog being used in the classroom. "I thought, 'This is all about possibilities,'" she recalls. "It's about listening, talking, collaborating, having a dialog. And it can work for any subject." MORE

Educate people without religion and you make them but clever devils. - The Duke Of Wellington

Reform-minded rebels of a new kind inside the National Education Association make themselves visible at this month's annual convention. That's about it. The harsh treatment they endured at the hands of a majority shows how difficult a task they face"

"As a patriotic person and a person of faith," he told the NEA assembly on July 5, "I believe this body should take pride to acknowledge that we are one nation under God." And, after all, added Mr. O'Neal, the U.S. Senate voted unanimously in March to keep the language.

But this is not the United States Senate. This is the annual convocation of the biggest public-school teachers union, whose representatives constantly must be shhh'd by their president, former Illinois school teacher Reg Weaver, like a principal quieting rowdy students. This is the world's "largest democratic deliberative body," out-girthing even the Southern Baptist Convention's yearly meeting. MORE

ATTENTION School Board Candidates: Maybe it is time to reconsider: "CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Audience members attending a school board meeting were credited with thwarting an attack by a maintenance worker who doused two people with gasoline and shot another with an assault-style rifle. " MORE

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: "BEAVER, PA- Members of the Blackhawk High School recycling club had civic duty in mind last fall when they pulled hundreds of filthy tires from a creek at the Buttermilk Falls natural area in Homewood as part of a community cleanup effort.

Now, a Beaver County employees union is demanding to be paid for the work.

Fifteen members of Service Employees International Union 585/688 have filed a grievance against the county, which owns Buttermilk Falls, saying the cleanup would have been part of their work duties and should have been offered to them before it was farmed out to volunteers. "

For homeschoolers a blog site with additional links: Linda's Homeschool Weblog Is home-school one word or two or is it hyphenated? Seen it written every way and this web site doesn't have a firm style guide. Besides consistently is the hobgoblins of small minds.

Phonetic Support by Linda Schrock Taylor A teacher explaining not only that her phonetic method works best but how it works

" When I introduce a new group of students to my reading class, I explain that there are two main ways to teach reading – with sight words or with phonics. I tell them that I will present them with some information, and let them decide which method they wish me to use.

I explain that with the sight word approach (Dick & Jane, whole language, balanced instruction, balanced reading, re-packaged whole language, re-named whole language,…) the student only needs to memorize about 250,000 words, for instant sight recognition, in order to be a very good reader. " MORE

Princeton University president Tilghman on teaching science: "New York Times science section has a conversation with Shirley Tilghman, a distinguished molecular geneticist and since 2001 president of Princeton University.

Q. How would you change the way science is taught at universities?

A. I think we do not teach the introductory courses appropriately. Right now, we just teach all the basic facts of chemistry, physics, biology or mathematics. Then, we teach a few basic principles. By the third year, we finally tell the students what is interesting about all of this. I think we should break the pyramid. We should begin with the most exciting ideas in chemistry, physics, biology and how you go about studying it. What are the things you need to know? We should only teach what students need to know in order to understand what those are.

Q. Would you teach science by changing science education into a 'great ideas of science' course?

A. Absolutely. I'd like to see us teaching more than a canon, a collection of facts, but why this is exciting, why is the exploration of nature one of the most wonderful ways to spend one's life. "

For students admitted to Princeton it would seem that it is a little late to be teaching them why they should be excited about learning science. Too often students are expected to learn all sorts of dull facts before they learn why they should know this stuff. The majority of students take science and math courses because they are required to graduate or to be accepted into college. Does anyone every explain to would be carpenters that basic knowledge of the old Pythagorean theorem is often needed to lay out a square foundation? Maybe instead of the General science course that was recently flipped with Earth Sciences we need a "Great Ideals In Science" course first. This would be more beneficial then the proposed warm and fuzzy environmental science course.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WEB SITE: This month is the second anniversary of this site committed to improving education for the Brandywine Heights School District. Thanks to everyone that has made this site a success. The past week alone we had over 347 hits per day and over 250 unique readers. Not too shabby for a special interest site in a small community.

Anyone can be active and passionate about a cause for a short period of time but it takes special people to stay with it through the ups and downs over the long haul. Most of us became involved when the administration sought to reduce the number of students involved in the Gifted Program instead of trying to further enhance the program. This led to questioning on all the aspects of how the school district was administrated. From a Superintendent who arrogantly ignores the wishes of the citizens to a board that that only knew how to vote Yes to anything he proposed. Under their leadership this district was turned into an affordable place to live to the most heavily taxed district in the county. Even with these exorbitant taxes there is still another tax increase scheduled for next year and two aging elementary schools that don't meet current building codes.

Now we have two board members and people that regularly attend board meetings asking uncomfortable questions and challenging the actions of the administration. With your continued help there will be a majority on the board committed to improving education for every student. Concerned Citizens has endorsed three candidates Lowry, Stehman and Yocco because we know they are involved and will work to improve the conditions in our schools and for the taxpayers of the district.

Required pledge to flag is barred: "A state law, challenged by a midstate school, that requires students to begin each day by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance was struck down yesterday.
U.S. Eastern District Senior Judge Robert F. Kelly ruled the private Circle School of Lower Swatara Twp. was correct in its assertions that the law that orders students in private and public schools to recite the pledge or sing the national anthem each day is unconstitutional"

PA Politics: If you wish to keep up with all the politics in Pennsylvania here is the site for you PoliticsPA.com. Just be warned this is not a site people with high blood pressure should be reading. It has been linked to the increased numbers of HSE (heads spontaneously exploding) cases across the state.

Graph from the Department of Education.

"Chart shows that since 1965, when Congress passed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), through 2003, the federal government has spent more than $242 billion to help educate disadvantaged children. Yet, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the average reading score for 9-year-olds across the nation in 1975 is not significantly different from the 1999 score. During those years, the annual appropriation for ESEA increased six-fold -- from $2.3 billion in 1975 to $13.8 billion in 1999 -- while the average reading score for 9-year-olds was 210 in 1975 and 212 in 1999. ESEA appropriations for 1966-1974 and for 2000-03 are provided in the chart, but average reading scores for 9-year-olds are not shown because they are not available for all of those years. The president's 2004 budget request of $22.5 billion for ESEA is shown."

Whoever posted this graph doesn't appear too bright. If they want to demonstrate why more federal money is needed, why would they post a graph showing all the money previously spent as being a complete failure when it comes improvements in reading. Using the information from this graph, if the feds increases spending on education we will all soon be illiterate. At least it is good news for Jerry Springer's possible senate campaign.

COLUMN: Vin Suprynowicz

In the Review-Journal's June 23 editorial, "The kids can't read," after summarizing Nevada's dismal, worst-in-the-nation eighth-grade reading scores, we stated: "Whatever Nevada's public school systems are doing in an attempt to teach our children to read is not working. Teaching kids to read English is a skill that was perfected by folks without college degrees, centuries ago. Hiring scores of folks with advanced degrees to glom up the system with trendy new methods of 'pedagogy' has not only been no help, it has been demonstrably counterproductive."

As if in answer to our prayers, comes now a letter from one Aaron Severson, admitting and exposing the kind of claptrap to which our schools have fallen prey, and to which we alluded -- the notion that you can't teach children to read merely by having them memorize their alphabet song and then instructing them in the sound each letter makes, at which point it's time to start asking, "Now, can you think of any words that start with that 'd' sound?"

No, no, no. The kind of folks who taught Tom Jefferson and James Fenimore Cooper had no idea what they were doing; they were mere rural bumpkins. Without benefit of Ph.D.s in "education" how could they possibly have inculcated literacy in their young charges? MORE

Happy Bastille Day - "We always have been, we are, and I hope that we always shall be detested in France." Duke Of Wellington.

Fontics Don't Do Nothing For Me - " ieSpell is a free Internet Explorer browser extension that spell checks text input boxes on a webpage. It should come in particularly handy for users who do a lot of web-based text entry (e.g. web mails, forums, blogs, diaries). Even if your web application already includes spell checking functionality, you might still want to install this utility because it is definitely much faster than a server-side solution. Plus you get to store and use your personal word list across all your applications, instead of maintaining separate ones on each application. "

It does good on this web site when entering discussion topics. Sorry can't find no ieGrammer Checker yet.. Download

Who Says Girls Can't Do Math -
The quadratic equation has befuddled high school students for decades.

An intimidating problem fraught with square roots and X-variables, the methods for its solution involve countless steps that are difficult to remember, tedious to implement, and often leave students empty-handed. The quadratic equation is also something of a threshold; students who don’t master it generally find themselves near the terminus of their math education.

For those students, 16-year-old Elizabeth Seagle, unlikely math pioneer, might be a godsend. MORE

The Lizzie Method

BrandywineParents.com was recently told to shut down as a waste of bandwidth from a not so loyal reader Topics. if you really want to see what is dull and annoying on the web:

Dullest Blog On The Web

Sort of Funny The First Time

A very strange one

The Overall Winner Probably shouldn't say how annoying it really is because it only makes people want to go there. The site is a good one to send to people that insist on forwarding junk email to you every day. Be forewarned the only way to get out is to give the computer the old three finger salute.

The Governor wants to increase gambling in the state to help relieve the property tax burden. It just seems wrong and not just a little ironic to finance education with what amounts to a tax on people that are really, really bad at math.

There is the argument that PA money is going to other states that have made gambling more accessible. Isn't this the "Everyone else is doing it" argument that kids have always used, where the only proper parental response is "If all the kids were jumping off a cliff..." ?

Regardless of how the schools are funded the power of school boards to raise taxes must be brought under control. One way is voter referendums when the increase is over a certain amount.

Two Proverbs For The Day

A pig ate his fill of acorns under an oak tree and then started to root around the tree. A crow remarked, "You should not do this. If you lay bare the roots, the tree will wither and die." "Let it die," said the pig, "Who cares so long as there are acorns?"

A characteristic of the normal child is he doesn't act that way very often.

Also in the Reading Eagle - Brandywine Business Manager Steven E. Fischer was surprised to hear the district had the highest rate. Fischer said the increase in Brandywine was largely due to funding for the new $30.8 million high school.

“While taxpayers don't like the tax hike, they have accepted it,” he said. “Very few people came out during the budget process this year.”

If he was surprised by this please don't inform him about Santa Claus. Resigned to it would be a better choice of words then accepted. Very few people came out because there was nothing anyone could do. The money has been spent the budget process was just a formality to provide a means to pay the piper.

Have A Happy and Safe Fourth

We Win - As previously reported here the Brandywine School District is now the offical winner of the highest property tax rates in Berks County. Front page article in this week's Patroit along with an article on vandalism at the Topton Park. Nothing like good P.R. to bring in businesses to improve the tax base. One good thing with the current high base rate future increases to pay for the operating cost will not look so bad on a percentage basis. The park is not a school district concern but with seniors needing a project or community service to graduate could be an opportunity to combine mutual interest to everyone's benefit.

Thursday, July 31, 2003

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

Tuesday, July 29, 2003

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Thursday, July 24, 2003

Tuesday, July 22, 2003

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Friday, July 18, 2003

Thursday, July 17, 2003

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Saturday, July 12, 2003

Thursday, July 10, 2003

Sunday, July 06, 2003

Friday, July 04, 2003

Thursday, July 03, 2003