Search Results for: blog school overcrowding

Three Families in an Undesirable School District

Faced with an undesirable school district and a tight budget? Here is how three different families adapted. Some years ago, we shared a town and school district with the in-laws. We both had young children and were facing the prospect of placing them in a not-so-great school district. While the town was lovely, the fact was that the school district was one of the worst in the state, due to some poor management, overcrowding, and a strange bussing policy that retained the option of pulling our elementary students to distant schools in areas with high crime rates. In addition to … Continue reading →

Controversy Over Possible Closure of Accelerated School

A magnet school in California that serves students who are gifted may be closing. This is controversial for many reasons. Those for the closure point to overcrowding, and feel the school is “elite”. Those against the closure point to the limited opportunity for gifted students in the other schools within the district. Teach Elementary is a magnet school that is run by the San Luis Coastal Unified School District. It has been around for about thirty years. The school is for academically accelerated students who are in the 4th through 6th grades. In addition to offering accelerated courses, Teach Elementary … Continue reading →

The Danger of MegaSchools

There is a dangerous trend recently toward megaschools, schools that contain a large number of students at one school, anywhere from 500 to 2,000 students in one building. My own school district is considering doing this with our elementary school, and it scares me to no end. Megaschools can be convenient for school districts for a few reasons. A flux of incoming students can lead to overcrowding, and creating a new megaschool would address the problem, leaving room for further expansion. It is also usually more coast effective to create and maintain one megaschool than it is to renovate and … Continue reading →

School Overcrowding

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Schools face many different problems in today’s world. They must deal with new types of behavior troubles. They must address children with various emotional issues and unique family situations. In addition to these personal problems, teachers and schools must also deal with physical issues such as overcrowding. When the number of students is excessive, the schools have no choice but to create new classrooms. The states typically mandate a maximum number of students that can be in each classroom. Schools may not go over this number. However, schools may find themselves in a crunch when there are no more rooms … Continue reading →

Sacramento Plans a Move Back to Traditional Calendar

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Many school systems have different ways of carrying out the daily activities of their education system. One such difference lies in the aspect of scheduling and calendar. While many years ago there was basically only one type of school calendar used, today there are several different ones in action. The most common we call the traditional school calendar. In the traditional school calendar, students attend school from August to May and receive a couple of months off for summer break along with a break during the spring and at Christmas. Some feel that the break during the summer is too … Continue reading →

Education Week in Review: May 3 – May 9

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Reading has carried a big focus in this week’s articles. I have tried to address some issues that reading instruction can bring with it. I hope that these articles have been helpful to parents and teachers alike. Monday May 5 Early Reading Terms and Definitions Many parents are not up to date with the current terminology that teachers and researchers use in education today. This article is an attempt to clarify some of those words. More Early Reading Terms and Definitions This article continues the discussion of reading terms and definitions that some parents may struggle with. Tuesday, May 6 … Continue reading →

Classroom Design

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The appearance of a classroom is the first impression that parents and students receive. The physical classroom appearance sets the mood and the tone of the learning environment. One concern of many new teachers is setting up their classrooms. Designing or arranging your classroom effectively and efficiently is very important. However, it can also be a tiresome and tedious task. Due to overcrowding of students and limited space, setting up a workable area can be difficult. The layout and appearance of the classroom should reflect the teaching style and personality of the teacher. What is workable for one teacher is … Continue reading →

Concerns of Public Education: Z = Zoning

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I have enjoyed addressing the various concerns of public education. However, I am also excited to move on to more issues and topics. This will be my last article on the A to Z concerns of public education. Today, I am ready to address the letter Z. In this blog, I will discuss the letter Z for zoning. Zoning is the assignment of students to specific schools based on location. In some areas students have no option but to attend the school that they are zoned for attending. In other locations students have the freedom to attend other schools but … Continue reading →

Zoning

My district does not enforce zoning. We have students from every end of the county at almost every school. Students are attending their “non-zone” school for many different reasons. Some parents feel that they are taking their child to a better school, others attend a school closer to the parents’ work, and some parents send their child to a school with a more preferred sports program. This has never seemed to cause a problem until recently. One of our schools had trouble with overcrowding. The local school board considered enforcing zoning to help with the problem. However, it was decided … Continue reading →

Eminent Domain in Riviera Beach Florida

Recently I wrote an article about laws being enacted by the Florida Legislature to curb eminent domain abuse. The new law restricts a government entity’s ability to force the sale of private property to a private developer in order to gentrify the area or attract larger property tax revenues. The question of eminent domain in Riviera Beach, Florida, is becoming an interesting one. The city is proceeding quickly with a contract for a 2.4 billion dollar redevelopment project, displacing some 5,000 homeowners. Governor Bush has indicated that he intends to sign the bill into law once he receives it. The … Continue reading →