A Look Back at the Virginia Tech Tragedy

It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since the shootings at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, On April 16,2007 a lone gunman entered the campus killed 32 people and injured 17 others before committing suicide. It was one of the deadliest mass shootings by a single gunman in US history. That event coupled with a retrospective of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut as well as the tragedy at Columbine High School should give educators pause about dealing with campus security. Providing for student safety has become an important priority turning some school entranceways into airport like security zones. In a number of school districts, administrators have hired school resource officers, armed police or deputies, to patrol the buildings as well as the surrounding campuses. Last night I attended a community town hall to discuss security at religious institutions. This is all an unfortunate sign of the times. But to echo the words of the county sheriff and chief of police, we need to be proactive rather than reactive. At the risk of being redundant, “If you see something, say something.”

As many school districts are approaching the end of the academic year, it is important, even critical, to provide a comprehensive assessment of campus security procedures and make plans for the net school year.

c. 2017 J. Margolis

A Look at H.R. 610

In 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Part of that legislation provided for services for children with special needs and spelling out nutrition requirements for lunches for low- income students.  On January 23,2017 three members of the US House of Representatives introduced the “Choices in Education Act,” known as H.R.610. One of the primary tenants of this legislation is to repeal ESEA. In reviewing the bill, it has been n0ted that it does not address The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), which pertains to students with special needs.

The proposed bill also contains provisions for a voucher system that apparently does not address the issues of students with disabilities. It behooves members of the education community to keep an eye on this legislation as it makes its way through congress. For those of you who wish to take an activist approach, the three sponsors of the bill are Congressman Steven King (R- Iowa) 202-225,4426, Congressman Andy Harris (R- Maryland), 202-225-5311 and Congressman Trent Franks (R- Arizona), 202-225-4576.

c. 2017 J. Margolis

The Freedom Writers Revisited

I recently had the opportunity to meet Erin Gruwell, teacher, author, motivator of high school students and founder of the FreedomWriters Foundation. Her enthusiasm for teaching and her students is effusive. Her dedication to her students and her career in part led to the demise of her marriage and the jealous resentment of her colleagues at Wilson High School in Long Beach, California. Meeting Erin motivated me to read her second book, “Teach with Your Heart, (Broadway Books c. 2007)”which chronicles her voyage with her students through four years of high school English making the course work come alive and become meaningful. She was able to motivate her student to be thoughtful and productive writers and thinkers. Through her efforts and some good luck, Ms. Gruwell was able to take her students on field trips to Washington, DC, New York City, and, after graduation, to Auschwitz in Poland.

I would recommend that all future teachers (and current ones as well), read both of Erin’s books, The Freedom Writers Diaries and Teach With a Heart. While some of us in the profession may object to her methods, you cannot dispute the results. No one said that working with disadvantaged and disaffected students would be easy, but those are the students we need to reach. It is a challenge of the greatest magnitude.

Those of you who will be interviewing future employees for your schools, try to look for some of Erin’s qualities in your applicants. For those of you on your job search, try to develop some of those qualities and strategies that will make you a desirable candidate and a successful teacher.

Ps.- Try to get a hold of the film Freedom Writers with Hilary Swank portraying Erin Gruwell. For more information about the work of the foundation go to the site

Freedomwritersfoundation.org.

c.2017 J. Margolis

The Fight for Immigrant Children’s Rights in School

With all of the current media attention to the issue of immigration in the US, one area seems to get overlooked- that is educating the immigrant children that show up in our public schools. How is their enrollment to be handled? Most don’t have transcripts from their school in other countries- some may never have been to school. Many students appear on the front steps of schools with no health records and no record of immunizations.  What about placement? How does the enrolling school know what grade to place a student in? And of course, the overarching issue is what to do about the language barrier since these stu8denst don’t speak English.

For those educators watching this issue, some are keeping an eye on a case currently being played out in Collier County, Florida. This week a federal judge stopped the school district’s attempt to end a lawsuit on behalf of English Language Learners(ELL) who were denied an education in the public schools. The district superintendent denied enrollment to six students stating that since they could not possibly graduate from high school on time, they should be sent to a special non-credit program to learn English. The Southern Poverty Law Center in Atlanta, has filed the suit on behalf of the students. According to the Center,” Federal and state law mandate that schools offer children in their jurisdiction, regardless of immigration status, access to free public education.” This case, now almost a year old, does not address the issue of whether or not the students are undocumented nor does it deal with the issue that their parents, or even students themselves may be deported.

It should be noted that Collier County is one of only two counties in Florida that has agreed to cooperate with ICE regarding the detention of undocumented immigrants.

 If you are having similar issues in your state, please post a comment and share the information.

c.2017 J. Margolis

Teaching About Fake News

In the current political climate, the term “ fake news” has entered into the lexicon of everyday usage. An obvious and critical question for teachers today is “ how do we teach our students the difference between “real news” and “ fake news.”  With the Internet and social media, it is all to easy to manufacture a story, complete with photo-shopped pictures and send it around the world in minutes. If you are of a certain age and remember the television show “Dragnet,” Sergeant Joe Friday, the main character would always say “ just the facts, ma’am.” Today there is a lot more to it. A recent article in the journal of the New Jersey Education Association- The Review- lists several suggestions for getting students to search for accurate information.

1)   Who authored the story? What publication carried the story? You always want to determine the legitimacy of the web site and/ or sponsor.

2)   What are the sources of the story? It is like checking the authenticity of a bibliography.

3)   Is this a true story or propaganda? In the wonderful film “ Paperclips” which relays the story of teaching eighth graders in rural Tennessee about the Holocaust, the teacher remarks’” propaganda has nothing to do with the truth.” Students need to learn that everything they read is not necessarily true.

4)   Students need to learn to ask the right questions. Just as teachers learned in their methods classes, asking the right questions will generate thoughtful discussion and lead to the correct answers.

Now, more than ever, we must teach our students to discriminate between what is true and real and what is not.

c.2017 J. Margolis