Ideology and Politics

My experiences with the selected information:

Green school – I visited a green school in South Carolina. The money that the school saves on energy the district gives directly back to them to spend how they would like. I work in a very old building. The one thing that the district did for us was in install light sensors. After 10-15 minutes of no movement in the room the light will automatically shut off. I would love to see a comparison of electric bills before and after. I would think that it paid for itself quickly.

Value added – What an idea, and Tennessee was the first to implement in the 90’s. My Principal is big at looking at data and he looks at value added. He sets goals for all students to be brought up. He is the only person I have worked for that pays a lot of attention to the middle students. He wants to bring them up to advanced.

Katrina families – We had one student from Katrina and she was only with us for one school year. Her mother would have had no choice in the school that she attended she stayed with a family member in our school zone that could take her in. I would like to see statistics on families misplaced by Katrina. How many would be in a situation to choose a school.

Child Farmworkers – Stolen childhoods! Laws passed in 1938! Only 55% finish high school! I do not teach in an area of agriculture but I have many Hispanic students that can not go to college because of their illegal status. Many of them drop out to work with their families in landscaping or construction. The laws should be changed. Things are different today than they were in 1938.