Free Talk Live - Published news - Education

Parents Fight To Regain Custody of Homeschooled Son (Sweden)

davidfordhere — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 23:23:37 +0000

Annie and Christer Johannson haven't seen their son, Domenic, in nearly four years. He was just seven when he was taken away from them at gunpoint in June 2009. The family was on an airplane about to leave Sweden for their new home in India, where Annie's family is from.

Kindergartner Suspended for Haircut

snowdog2012 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 23:14:03 +0000

Ethan's grandmother, Joyce Wells, thinks the suspension was too harsh a penalty to pay for a hairstyle.

Administrators at Reid Primary and Middle School in Springfield, Ohio, deemed the haircut disruptive, and ordered him home...

Wikileaks to Release 1.7 Million U.S. Intelligence Documents

snowdog2012 — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 02:18:57 +0000

The website has collated a variety of records including cables, intelligence reports and congressional correspondence and is releasing them in a searchable form on Monday.

Assange has carried out much of the work from his refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London and told the Press Association that the records highlighted the "vast range and scope" of US influence around the world.

Windham (NH) School District Bans Dodgeball

pmfalcon — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 19:54:07 +0000

Dodgeball has been banned in Windham schools, due to concerns about violence and bullying, with the School Board voting 4-1 to remove dodgeball and nine other “human target” activities from the district’s curriculum. “We spend a lot of time making sure our kids are violence free. Here we have games where we use children as targets. That seems to be counter to what we are trying to accomplish with our anti-bullying campaign.”

Cupcakes topped with army men figures confiscated at school

pmfalcon — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 17:18:17 +0000

Last week, Casey Fountain’s third grade son had a birthday party at school. His wife whipped up 30 cupcakes for the boy’s classmates. She topped the treats with plastic army guys. “And shortly after my wife delivered the cupcakes to the school she got a phone call from his teacher that said that the army men had to be removed, because they had guns.” Fountain says the principal called him personally and told him that dressing the cupcakes with soldiers was insensitive considering recent gun related tragedies, referring to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut.

Utah girl removed from classes over dyed hair color

Sammy316 — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 19:06:40 +0000

A southern Utah student has been removed from classes after administrators found her dyed hair color too distracting.
Rylee MacKay, a 15-year-old student at Hurricane Middle School in Hurricane, said she was sent to the office Wednesday after an administrator said her hair looked purple and pink in the sunlight.
Under Washington County School District policy, hair "should be within the spectrum of color that grows naturally," and administrators can decide whether a color is too distracting.

Colordo boy suspended for pretending to save the wold from evil.

sanchopanza — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:21:30 +0000

A 7-year-old Colorado boy has been suspended for pretending to throw an imaginary grenade, even though the child claims he was just trying to save the world from evil.

Want To Tell The State To Stick It? Homeschool Your Kids

iamodd999 — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 09:32:45 +0000

This notion that the children belong to the state, that their education must be provided for by the state … is inimical at every step to liberty.” – J. Gresham Machen
The swelling legions of homeschoolers poke a subtle rebuke at America’s ever expanding nanny state.

Kindergartner Labeled "Terrorist Threat" By School Officials

snowdog2012 — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 12:39:39 +0000

Attorney Robin Ficker says Mount Carmel Area School District officials labeled the girl a "terrorist threat" for the bubble gun remark, made Jan. 10 as both girls waited for a school bus.

Two 6 Year Olds Suspended for Finger Guns at Recess

snowdog2012 — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 01:14:48 +0000

Two 6-year-olds were suspended from White Marsh Elementary School in Talbot County on Monday for using their fingers as imaginary guns while playing a game of cops and robbers on the playground at recess.

ACLU Attacks Educational Freedom in the “Live Free or Die” State

phonon — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:09:02 +0000

Earlier today, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit against New Hampshire’s School Choice Scholarship Act of 2012, which offers tax credits worth 85% of corporate donations to registered, non-profit scholarship organizations that fund low- and middle-income students attending non-public or home schools. The ACLU argues that since parents can use the scholarships at religious schools, the law violates two provisions of New Hampshire’s constitution: the historically anti-Catholic “Blaine Amendment” and the “compelled support” clause.

Girl Forced To Urinate In Cup On School Bus

Jking8767 — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 11:25:31 +0000

CHICAGO (CBS) – A Wilmington couple is suing a southwest suburban school district because their 10-year-old daughter was humiliated on a field trip last January when teachers allegedly refused to stop for a bathroom break and forced her to urinate in a cup on a moving school bus.

Cop fired for inappropriate contact with student

phonon — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 18:27:30 +0000

A University of Kentucky police officer has been fired for inappropriate contact with a student after entering the student's dorm room. University policy allows a police officer to enter a room if he believes there is suspicious or illegal activity; however, the firing was based on inappropriate contact and had nothing to do with the officer's entry into the dorm room.

How tablets are doubling as teachers in Ethiopia

Jking8767 — Tue, 25 Dec 2012 12:01:36 +0000

The kids in this volcano-rim village wear filthy, ragged clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud. They don't go to school. Yet they all can chant the English alphabet, and some can spell words. The key to their success: 20 tablet computers dropped off in their Ethiopian village in February by a group called One Laptop Per Child.