June 2009 Archives

According to officials with the Long Beach Unified School District, school board member Michael Shane Ellis told district officials on Tuesday that he expects to attend the next board meeting on Tuesday,  July 7.  Ellis has missed a string of recent board meetings. He has not returned repeated phone calls and emails from the Press-Telegram in the past week.

Prior to his contacting district officials on Tuesday, LBUSD officials had said they had been unable to reach Ellis in the last eight weeks.

Long Beach school board member Michael Shane Ellis has missed five of the last six board meetings, and 20 percent of them since he took office in July of 2006. He has not returned phone or email messages left by the district and the Press-Telegram in recent weeks. Have you sen Michael Shane Ellis or do you have any knowledge about his whereabouts? If so, I'd like to hear from you. Email me at kevin.butler@presstelegram.com

In a study I suspect is bound to be controversial, researchers have identified what they say is aninheritable "warrior gene" that can result in aggressive behaviors in boys, according to this MSNBC story. The latest study also links the gene not only to gang membership, but also the level of violence boys have within the gang. Take a look at the story, which describes a study in which networked computers tested aggressive tendencies in one simulation: "78 test subjects were asked to cause physical pain to an opponent they believed had taken money from them by administering varying amounts of hot sauce."

In Sonoma County, a controversy is brewing over an organization called Free to Be, which has teens making presentations advocating sexual abstinence, according to this Press-Democrat article. The ACLU is challenging the legality of school districts who allow the presentations, arguing they conflict with education code. An excerpt:

Among the players in the unfolding debate are the ACLU of Northern California, the California Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Free to Be, a Sonoma County group that has been promoting abstinence until marriage for 17 years.

Caught in the middle are schools and districts that have hosted Free to Be speakers, including teens, to talk to students about the benefits of abstaining from sex until they are married.

"The law specifically requires that all elements of sex education be balanced and accurate," said Phyllida Burlingame, sex education policy director for the ACLU of Northern California, which has worked for months to keep Free to Be from giving presentations in public schools.

"Students (need to) receive a consistent message that is based on science, that includes accurate, effective information," she said.

According to an insider at Clemson University, yes. The US News and World Report college ratings, influential with prospective students, have been both decried and touted by many college administrators, depending of course on their own rankings. An excerpt from an Associated Press story:

• Among the steps reportedly alleged by Catherine Watt, who until 2006 headed Clemson's institutional research office: Clemson manipulated class sizes, artificially boosted faculty salary data and gave rival schools low grades in the rankings' peer reputation survey, which counts for 25 percent of the score.
• Watt said Thursday that reports on her remarks had missed the point of her presentation to a conference and that she regretted any suggestion of illegal activity. Meanwhile, the university denied several of the allegations, but acknowledged it aims to improve in the influential rankings. Clemson jumped from No. 38 among public universities in 2001 to No. 22 in 2008 -- an unusually quick ascent considering the rankings typically change little from year to year.

A study has shown that despite hard times, parents are still saving for college, according to this report in the Boston Globe. An excerpt:

Sallie Mae worked on the survey with the Gallup organization, and another survey finding was that 92 percent of parents expect their children to pursue higher education, and 48 percent plan to pay for most or all of the cost.

USA Today has an interesting article about the lack of oversight in study abroad college programs of dangers overseas. It features a female student who was sexually assaulted and stabbed in Jamaica while on a study abroad program. 

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