Archive for June, 2009
Construction moves forward in Pleasant Valley
Posted by Sheena Dooley in Uncategorized on June 25th, 2009
Construction is underway at the site of Pleasant Valley School District’s fifth elementary school. After delays caused by wet weather, district officials turned the site over to construction workers this week.
The school is expected to open August 2010.
News on financial aid
Posted by Sheena Dooley in Uncategorized on June 19th, 2009
Good news is on the way for college students who get federal financial aid.
As of July 1, students will see lower loan rates and a new repayment option that caps monthly payments at 15 percent of the borrower’s earnings once they graduate.
In addition, more money is available for students whose family incomes fall below $50,000. The threshold qualifies them for federal Pell Grants. The maximum students can receive under the program will increase $600 to total $5,350.
Loan rates for subsidized Stafford loans will drop from 6 percent to 5.6 percent. The loans typically go to students whose family income is under $80,000.
AYP game
Posted by Sheena Dooley in Uncategorized on June 10th, 2009
Under No Child Left Behind, each state sets achievement targets for its schools. When a school meets those targets, it’s called making Adequate Yearly Progress – or AYP – in education speak.
Some states intentially set a low bar for students to reach, so it would inflate the number of passing schools. Here’s a fun game to see how different states’ targets compare.
The value of a $125,000-a-year teacher
Posted by Sheena Dooley in Uncategorized on June 9th, 2009
So this experiment caught my eye today as I was reading through education headlines.
A 32-year-old Yale graduate is opening a new charter school on the East Coast called the Equity Project. And it isn’t just any charter school, according to an article in the New York Times.
Among those who will teach at the school when it opens next year? An accomplished violist, two graduates with Ivy League degrees and Kobe Bryant’s former personal trainer. They, and other teachers, will earn $125,000 a year. Plus, they could also potentially receive a $25,000 bonus.
The school is premised on the idea that excellent teachers are the critical ingredient for success.
Davenport considers cell phone tower at North
Posted by Sheena Dooley in Uncategorized on June 9th, 2009
North High School could soon be getting a new addition: a cell phone tower.
Davenport school board members postponed a vote during their Monday night meeting to approve a contract with US Cellular, because district administrators had not yet shown it to them.
The contract would allow the company to build an 80- to 85-foot cell phone tower at North High School by the school’s tennis courts. The addition would generate money, which the district and North High School would split.
Several years ago the school board shot down a similar proposal to add a tower at West High School. If it approves the one at North, the school would become the district’s first to have a cell phone tower on its property.
Board members will most likely take the issue up again at their June 22 meeting.
UPDATE: Former Bettendorf superintendent not selected for Minnesota job
Posted by Sheena Dooley in Bettendorf Community School District on June 2nd, 2009
Bettendorf’s former superintendent Marty Lucas will not be the new leader for BOLD Public Schools, a small school district in southern Minnesota.
School board members recently selected Tom Farrell as their next superintendent and will meet tonight to discuss offering him a contract, according to the district’s website. Farrell is currently a principal at a kindergarten through eighth-grade school in Windom, Minn.
Lucas left the Bettendorf School District last summer after reaching a separation agreement with the school board, which was in the process of firing him. Their action came after Lucas was arrested February 2008 for his second drunken driving charge in less than a decade. He later pleaded guilty to the charges.