UPDATE: Education In The News May 19

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Every day I’m posting a sample of what I’m reading in the news. Highlights today: Kalani High School stabbing impacts the educational quality of students’ last few days of school, Hawaii education board looks at closing Haleiwa Elementary School and D.C. proposes raising teacher salaries by 21.6 percent.

  • School violence comes close to home. Yesterday, a stabbing at Kalani High School occurred over a girl, according to Hawaii News Now. In response, classes have been halted, students allowed to go home and school counselors placed on alert — showing how much school violence really can impact student achievement.

  • As part of its school consolidation project, the Hawaii State Board of Education may close Haleiwa Elementary School and transfer its 180 students about a mile away to Waialua Elementary, Loren Moreno of the Honolulu Advertiser reported today.

  • Washington, D.C. is proposing to raise its public school teacher salaries by nearly 22 percent, The Washington Post reported today. The raise will bring the average teacher salary to around $81,000, up from around $67,000 — with an option for privately funded performance bonuses of $20,000 to $30,000. Charter schools worry the new salaries will lure away their best teachers. Interesting timing, given budget shortfalls nationwide.

  • Like Hawaii’s statewide school district, San Francisco still hasn’t figured out how it will deal with major budget cuts in the next school year, The New York Times reported.

  • A question of priorities? Even during a budget crisis, Milwaukee public schools decided to hang onto their 17 painters — each with a salary around $98,000 a year. Next stop Furlough Fridays, Milwaukee style?

  • A California high school had to cancel a three-day “staycation” for its senior class this week due to district concerns over safety, according to a report from the LA Times today. Some criticized the proposed “stay-at-home field trip” because the school still planned to collect daily attendance money from taxpayers for the students who were going to be home on those days.

Share your thoughts about these and other education issues in our ongoing Civil Beat conversation.

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