This is a review of a case considered by the New Jersey Commissioner of Education regarding charges brought by the Puerto Rican Congress and Council of Puerto Rican Organizations against the Trenton, Mercer County, Board of Education. The Commissioner of Education evaluated the Trenton Board's performance in adhering to State laws in the following…

Enrollment decline places new pressures on school administrators and school boards, but Ontario's Commission on Declining Enrollments found no call for a complete reorganization of either the provincial governance system or the structure of the delivery system at the administrative level. This document describes those aspects of Ontario's school…

Periods of executive change provide an ideal time for the development of planning efforts for public school systems and for self-examination of the system's strengths, weaknesses, and long-range needs. In the anonymous school system under study, the new superintendent's application of general systems theory to school district management entailed a…

A national survey revealed that 13 states have created legislation to assist financially distressed schools. Focusing on two states, Indiana and Pennsylvania, the report outlines different methods they have developed to deal with financially distressed schools. In Pennsylvania a distressed school district is taken over by the state, whereas in…

The issue of school closure has demanded the attention of most school districts serving large urban populations. Factors such as court mandates for desegregation, urban flight, diminishing financial resources, souring operational costs, and declining enrollments have added a mixture of unprecedented circumstances to the issue. The Cleveland School…

Analyzes the creation, structure, and function of the Cleveland Office on School Monitoring and Community Relations. Offers an assessment which includes suggestions about how other court-ordered monitoring bodies might be organized. (KH)

Describes efforts to implement standards-based reform in the Houston School District using both a top-down and a bottom-up approach, where local schools were allowed considerable autonomy in achieving reform, but given direction, training, and resources by the district. (PKP)

This report, which contains information and observations gathered over a three-week period by participants in a 1981 seminar on discipline, outlines the discipline problems and policies of the Seattle Public Schools. Based on parental, staff, and student concerns that a small percentage of students are engaging in unacceptable behavior, the report…

This report presents the results of a survey of Seattle, Washington teachers and administrators on desegregation planning and implementation. In the first section an assessment of district sponsored human relations courses and other staff development activities by participating teachers and administrators is provided. The second and third sections…

Appropriations requests made by state coordinating boards or individual systems for 1988-89 and the political outlook for higher-education-related legislation are outlined for each of the 50 states. (MSE)

The increasing rate of absenteeism among Canadian and U.S. public school students is discussed noting the widespread effects of low attendance. Eight questions are provided as a starting point for reassessment of school board attendance policy. Ontario attendance legislation and current enforcement practices are briefly explained. (SB)

This document presents an executive summary concerned with drug use in the schools. The introduction outlines the dimensions of the problem and the prevalence of drug use among adolescents. A section entitled "What Works" reports on the state-of-the-art drug prevention program which involves the social influence/resistance skills technique. Four…

The purpose of this report is to present a brief, understandable overview of the New York City Board of Education budget for 1978-79. Toward this end, the expense budget has been organized into eight major functional areas: direct instructional programs, indirect instructional programs, ancillary pupil support programs, school buildings, city and…

The California Legislature approved a bill to reform the state's community-college system by transferring most of the Legislature's power over the colleges to the state board that coordinates their governance. The bill also makes major changes in the colleges financing, the courses they offer, and the tenure process. (MLW)

West Virginia officials and Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr. have been unable to reach agreement on how to accommodate a mandated late-in-the-year budget cut, with some officials questioning the move's legality and the governor rejecting the regents' proposed early closing for state colleges and universities. (MSE)