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READERS SUPPORT PROTESTS

The Chicago Sun Times ran a front-page article on Feb. 18 about a statewide student protest of a new pilot graduation test. An accompanying reader poll asked, "Do you agree with the protesting students?" Results were given the following Monday: 70% said yes and only 30% said no.

MEDIA PRIORITIES

On the 25th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, the 5th Grade Weekly Reader devoted its cover story to "The Dogs of War" - a memorial honoring dogs that served the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.

FLAKE JOINS EDISON

The Rev. Floyd Flake, a former congressmen who is a leading African-American supporter of conservative causes and a vocal proponent of vouchers, has been hired by the for-profit Edison Schools, Inc.

Flake, a minister in Queens, last year gave a warm introduction to George W. Bush at a meeting at the conservative advocacy group, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. At the meeting, according to the New York Times, Flake referred to Bush as "my homeboy."

Flake retired from Congress in 1997 and last March was appointed to an Edison advisory board. Flake is also a director of the Children's Scholarship Fund, a privately funded voucher program started by financier Ted Forstmann.

DON'T LET STUDENTS GET INVOLVED!

School officials in Montgomery County, situated outside Washington, D.C., apparently think that censorship is the best way to quell student activism.

Shortly before the massive protests this April in Washington against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, officials from the district's Department of School Safety and Security alerted all schools "to be observant for any material referring to the upcoming International Monetary Fund rallies," according to a memo distributed at Whitman High School.

"Unfortunately, materials have been posted on walls at Whitman as of yesterday," the memo said. "Our security has removed the posters and I ask that you be watchful for posters also. Take down any that you see and turn them into security or to my mailbox."

The memo ended with the note: "If you see any students putting these posters up, please let me know who is distributing them. Thanks for your help."

EDISON TEACHERS THREATEN TO QUIT

Some 85% of the teachers at an Edison school in San Francisco are threatening to quit due to working conditions.

Some 27 of the 32 teachers at the school signed a letter to the Board of Education complaining about the company's "lack of willingness to negotiate" over work-load requirements, and said they may not return to teach at the school next fall.

Kathy Fleming, a phy-ed teacher, said teachers are expected to work about 12 hours a day, to show up one Saturday a month, and to work a longer school year.

"Nobody can live like this year to year," said Fleming.

The school's principal, who had been a strong supporter of Edison, has resigned. She would not return phone calls to the San Francisco Chronicle to explain why she left.

MYSTERY VOUCHER SCHOOL

A Florida school with no students and an address at a bayfront high-rise residential building in Miami-Dade County has been given the go-ahead to accept voucher students.

The school, the Philosophical and Spiritual University, is listed on the state's official voucher-school Web site. A report in the Florida Sun-Sentinel in late April said that the phone number given for the school belongs to a member of the family of Marc Benarroch, listed as the school's director.

Last fall, Florida became the first state to institute a statewide program under which public dollars can go to private schools, including religious schools. The program has been struck down by the courts, but that decision is under appeal.

$322 BILLION NEEDED TO BUILD SCHOOLS

The estimated cost of fixing and modernizing public schools throughout the country is $322 billion, according to a study from the National Education Association(NEA).

In New York City, for instance, 1,100 schools were built before 1949.

Summer 2000