Saturday, February 04, 2012
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The birds have found the feeder. We moved it and a suet holder closer to the house this winter since the trees that used to shelter them were cut down over the summer. I was afraid that their proximity to the house might frighten the birds, but it has not been a problem. In fact, it has made it easier to watch the birds as they feed.  
I received the following email that I would like to share with the greater public community.  The announcement of Matt's Safe School Law brings to fruition the work of many child and student advocates who would like to bring an end to bullying as documented in my blog from March 2, 2011 and told in a summary that I provided in the Fall 2008 issue of Colleagues magazine (pp. 8-9).  
In the spring of 2005, when my youngest son A.J. took our state's high-stakes standardized test, the MEAP, (now the MME) he had an ax to grind. Unfortunately, no one really knew how angry he was until after he took the exam. I received a call from the principal requesting a meeting.  
The end? Well, not exactly. Scratch that - not at all. I thought I was going to be writing about the amazing time I had in Atlanta, Georgia the at the NYLC National Service-Learning Conference. I mean, how pumped up can a person in my line or work feel surrounded by thousands of others who are as excited or even more crazy about service-learning? But there was something in the air the whole time we were celebrating.  
http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/guest-post-robert-lane-greene-on-language-sticklers/ When reading this post, I was struck with Greene's idea that more Americans are writing today (versus a century ago) because technology is providing new venues for us to write. He writes,  
Below is a link to an op-ed piece by Diane Ravitch, a well known educational historian and former assistant secretary of education under President Ronald Reagan, the misperception of whose legacy has made him a darling of the right (see here).  
Recently the College of Education Inclusion Committee hosted an event centered on the movie Bullied.  This movie, available for free to educators here, was produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center.  
I was recently part of a discussion of educators from all walks of life – new, novice, elementary, secondary, higher education – and the topic turned to nursery rhymes and someone mentioned that with today’s “results driven” requirements and assessment-based measurements, nursery rhymes were rarely, if ever, taught in schools anymore.  
The recent case of Fox v. Traverse City Area Public Schools (2010 WL 1948203) serves as a good reminder that the speech of public school employees is not always “protected speech” as most of us have come to understand that term in the context of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  
geiselr
Jun 10
2010

Public School Employees and the Limits of “Free Speech”

Posted by: Rick Geisel

Tagged in: School Law

The recent case of Fox v. Traverse City Area Public Schools (2010 WL 1948203) serves as a good reminder that the speech of public school employees is not always “protected speech” as most of us have come to understand that term in the context of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

geiselr
Apr 10
2009

What Can We Learn from a “Drunken Pirate”?

Posted by: Rick Geisel

Tagged in: technology , School Law

[Editor's Note: MySpace is a social networking site whose former popularity has been eclipsed by other services, such as Facebook and Twitter. While referencing MySpace may date the following post, the underlying concepts are nonetheless highly applicable to current issues. - 2011]

To read press accounts, one would think that Stacey Snyder was dismissed from her teacher preparation program at Millersville University solely because she posted a picture of herself on her myspace site with the caption “drunken pirate” posted underneath. However, like most press accounts, there’s more to the story…much more.

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