The charge of the Committee on Strategies for Excellence was to examine the current status of elementary and secondary education in Iowa, and to investigate ways in which school districts could be educationally more productive. The report brings together recommendations from various state and national reports, reviews the literature, and makes…

Changes to legislation dealing with elections for school boards in Alberta have created a situation where it is conceivable that the membership on separate school boards that were established by Catholic or Protestant minorities could be made up partly or totally of electors who are neither Catholic nor Protestant. (JHZ)

This book proposes a new form of school governance based on contracting and family choice. Under the proposed plan, all public schools would operate under contracts that define each school's mission, its guarantee of public funding, and its grounds for accountability. The contracts would have two parties--the local school board and the individual…

State takeovers, revolutions in school governance, and attacks on school boards are uncommon but not irrelevant. Summarizes comments from school board watchers about how boards must be reassessed if they are to meet challenges such as school system size, school choice, and board member qualifications. (MLF)

In this article, the author features the lawsuit, which Americans United filed jointly with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania asserting that the Dover School Board has violated the constitutional separation of church and state. He traces that the controversy stems from Tammy J. Kitzmiller's and other concerned parents' strong…

This report presents findings of state-wide use of pesticides in New York public schools along with a description of the survey, information about the potential dangers of these chemicals, and the steps schools and communities can take to minimize pesticide use. Findings show that 87 percent of New York's schools use pesticides that contain…

The authors of this article discuss wellness policies in relation to nutrition education. The article describes some of the most interesting national initiatives for engaging students in nutrition education and encouraging healthy eating. For example, programs such as the Vermont FEED program and the Burlington School Food Project involve students…

Local school boards bear the responsibility for goal-setting, policy-making, hiring, firing, construction, curriculum, and budget allocations. Competent boards need to become and remain informed about emerging, continuing, and future issues. School boards are turning to annual inservice programs to improve their decision-making skills. A sample…

Even though public school districts are structured with the expectation of responsive governance, most school boards are not particularly responsive to their constituents. School boards from politically contentious districts tend to be more responsive, but they have even less success challenging the dominance of the superintendent than do less…

School boards, often prodded by recently-enacted State accountability laws, have been involving themselves, their staffs, their patrons, and their students in a quest for consensus about educational goals of local school systems. A board that does not give priority to these matters runs the risk of having directions determined at other levels.…

In this discussion of desegregation, a political-legal guide for the ultimate integration of public schools has been constructed. The documents are most useful where segregation rests on a "de jure" foundation, enforced by the government. The guide consists of a series of carefully programmed legal maneuvers, exchanges of reports, recommendations,…

The 1996 session of the North Carolina General Assembly enacted legislation, The School-Based Management and Accountability Program (the ABCs plan), an educational reform initiative designed to improve student performance. The accountability model for the public schools in kindergarten through eighth grade is designed to provide focus on the basic…

A democracy must tolerate many points of view without becoming divided. Therefore, public educators and the communities they serve are challenged to help students understand political and religious issues without proselytizing. This handbook provides guidelines for beginning the journey toward common ground, for moving from a climate of antagonism…

NOTING THE NEED TO DEVELOP CITYWIDE PLANS FOR DEALING WITH THE COMPLEX PROBLEMS OF HOUSING, EMPLOYMENT, WELFARE, AND OTHER CITY SERVICES, AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH EDUCATIONAL EFFORTS, THE NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF EDUCATION STATES ITS DISAGREEMENT WITH THE REPORT OF THE MAYOR'S PANEL ON SCHOOL DECENTRALIZATION, THE SO-CALLED BUNDY REPORT. THE…

The Capital Area School Development Association Conference was held in July 1998. These proceedings include the following presentations: "Recent Decisions of the State and Federal Courts, the Commissioner of Education and PERB"; "Civil Service Law for School Districts"; "Mental Disabilities Under the ADA"; "The Role of the Board of Education in…