Education: October 2007 Archives

BY MIKE CETERA

No one could blame parents of Oswego School District students if they're a bit jittery these days.

But it's important to note, incidents of school violence are exceedingly rare, and the Oswego administration has appeared to handle the two apparently unrelated incidents in an appropriate manner.

BY MIKE CETERA

An analysis of school data by Johns Hopkins University researchers has found 55 schools in Illinois -- including East Aurora High School -- are eligible for a "dropout factory" label. The unflattering term means the senior class in each of these schools is made up of less than 60 percent of the kids who entered as freshmen, according to the Associated Press. East Aurora's retention rate during the study period was 44 percent, meaning two-thirds of students who start freshman year at East aren't around by senior year.

Go here to see a list of all the Illinois schools that qualify for the study's dropout factory label.

BY MIKE CETERA

If you asked most of us two months ago about MRSA, odds are you'd get blank looks. But doctors have long known about this potentially deadly infection, which has been a problem inside hospitals for decades.

Now, however, the so-called "super bug" is popping up in area schools, seemingly on a weekly basis. Just last week, Holy Angels School in Aurora and the West Aurora School District reported cases of the infection.

But is MRSA something to be worried about, or is it the next West Nile, a disease contacted by few but turned into a legendary killer through media reports?

BY MIKE CETERA

The West Aurora School District seems intent on adding dozens of surveillance cameras to watch over the staff and students of West Aurora High School. Administrators say it's all in the name of safety and security. The problem, of course, is there's not much evidence to suggest cameras provide either.

"Research shows that a feeling of personal safety in school is essential for a child to learn," district spokesman Mike Chapin said.

"It is up to us to provide a sense of security to students and staff," said West High Principal Dan Bridges.

A feeling of personal safety. A sense of security. The research, or lack thereof, makes it terribly unclear if cameras provide anything more than a feeling, if schools are actually more safe and secure with cameras in place. What is clear is cameras do provide whichever company installs and maintains the cameras large sums of taxpayer money. They also explode the notion that employees and students have a right to privacy.

BY MIKE CETERA

I wonder just how many times our local lawmakers have voted lockstep on an issue, let alone one that should be controversial, but for some reason isn't.

Yet all but one (Joe Dunn) local lawmaker voted to override Gov. Rod Blagojevich's veto of a state mandate that school children begin their day with a moment of silence, a tantamount approval of prayer in school that skirts that pesky separation of church and state clause. I'm pretty sure kids know what the "moment" is really designated for. How come more adults don't seem to get that? The bill became law immediately after the House voted Thursday.