Over the years, the Virginia schools (like many school systems across the nation) have been losing their public school students to home schooling. Henry County, for example, has seen an increase in home-schooled students from eight to 99 over the past 11 years.
In April 1999, the nation watched in horror the news reports on Colorado’s Columbine High School shootings, where 12 students and one teacher were fatally shot and 24 others were wounded by two teens who then killed themselves. Afterwards, the Virginia schools saw a steady increase of applications from parents who wished to home school their children.
Though the number of children who are home schooled has continued to increase within the Virginia schools, the reasons have changed. Though school violence and security remains to be a primary concern of Virginia schools’ parents, they now have a variety of other reasons, including:
• Too much emphasis on the standardized testing now required within the Virginia schools, fearing their children are being taught only to pass tests rather than a focus on actual learning that is retained and useful later in life; home-schooled children are not required to take the Standards of Learning (SOL) tests;
• The ability of Virginia schools’ children to adjust to the middle and high school environments; many parents home school their children during the middle school years and place them back into the Virginia schools for high school;
• Virginia schools’ parents’ perception of negative influences within the traditional school environment; this is especially true for families with strong religious beliefs; and
• Some Virginia schools’ parents simply want to keep their children at home for a longer period, placing them back within the Virginia schools for high school.
Religious Exemption. If a parent applies for release of their child from the Virginia schools for religious reasons, they are exempt from enrolling their child in any other form of education through age 18. They may wish to do so and can, but they are not required to do so by the Virginia schools. If they do enroll the child elsewhere or home schooling, they also are not required to keep the Virginia schools apprised of the child’s progress.
Other Exceptions. In order for parents to home school their children, other than under the religious exemption, they must meet one of four requirements developed by the Virginia schools:
• Requirement 1 — Effective July 1, 2006, the parent, who will be teaching the child, must have a high school diploma and provide to the Virginia schools a description of the curriculum he/she plans to use for the child. The child does not have to meet Virginia schools’ graduation requirements and receives no diploma; however, progress must be shown to the Virginia schools at the end of each year.
• Requirement 2 — The parent, who will be teaching the child, must have a current teacher certification and provide to the Virginia schools a description of the curriculum he/she plans to use for the child. The child does not have to meet Virginia schools’ graduation requirements and receives no diploma; however, here too progress must be shown to the Virginia schools at the end of each year.
• Requirement 3 — Parent enrolls child into a Virginia schools’ recognized correspondence home school. There are approximately 19 such schools across the nation. A list may be obtained from the Virginia schools. Correspondence schools are private businesses that operate as schools, charging for their services. They usually cost $800 to $1,200 annually per student, though some charge as much as $4,000 a year. The more you pay, the more services you get, including report cards, transcripts and diplomas. Though coursework is administered by the parent, he/she has no educational level requirement. The child meets the graduation requirements of the correspondence school; however, progress must be shown to the Virginia schools at the end of each year.
• Requirement 4 — No educational level must be met by the parent teaching the child. They must provide to the Virginia schools a description of the curriculum he/she plans to use for the child, which must include the Virginia schools’ SOL in language arts and mathematics. The child does not have to meet Virginia schools’ graduation requirements and receives no diploma; however, progress must be shown to the Virginia schools at the end of each year.
Description of the curriculum in requirements one, two and four above includes a list of the subjects that will be taught and the textbooks that will be used for language arts and mathematics.
In all four requirements above, the child’s academic progress must be proved to the Virginia schools either with SOL test scores (the child would have to submit to testing by the Virginia schools and score above the 23rd percentile) or through a provided a portfolio of the child’s work.
Testing All Texas Schools Athletes for Steroids? It Could Happen Soon
Professional athletes have been in the news a lot over the past few years, either being accused or admitting to taking performance-enhancing drugs. Major league baseball has taken several hits with accusations being brought against some of their top players, such as home-run king Mark McGwire, who took the fifth amendment to not incriminate himself during Congressional questioning on the subject. Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees, and Olympic sprinter Marion Jones are a few others, who have been accused of taking performance-enhancing drugs. More than 20 athletes were thrown out of the 2004 Olympic Games for “doping violations”, and at least two gold medal winners forfeited their wins and medals for using such drugs.
The abuse of steroids is most common among professional athletes and bodybuilders, who feel the pressure to win against daunting competition. The abuse of steroids has become so prevalent that President George W. Bush called upon professional athletes, team owners, and coaches to stop all players from taking the performance-enhancing drugs. Though the effects of long-term use of steroids is enough to cause concern with often permanent and dangerous physical and emotional effects, it has been shown that teen athletes now are using steroids at an alarming rate — to the point that it has the attention of Congress and the President of the United States.
Parents, too, are gravely concerned — and for good reason. A federally funded annual survey of teens’ drug use by the University of Michigan, called Monitoring the Future, showed that in 2002 three percent of high school seniors had reportedly taken steroids at least once. Other sources report that as many as five percent of teens between the ages of 12 and 17 have taken it. That is 1.1 million of our children across the nation.
Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst wants all Texas schools’ athletes to be the cleanest athletes in the nation and is proposing that all Texas schools’ athletes be randomly tested for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
Texas schools has a sports program with more than 700,000 participating students — more than any other state. Dewhurst’s proposal would cost about $2 million annually, which would be provided to the Texas schools through state funding specifically for the random drug testing program.
Reactions to Dewhurst’s proposal have been mixed within the Texas Schools. A few local school district officials do not believe such testing is necessary. Mike Owens, head football coach of Texas schools’ Robert E. Lee, located in East Texas, stated that the “cost would not be worth the outcome”, believing that the Texas schools have more of a problem with street drugs, such as cocaine and marijuana. If the Texas schools tested for those, he would be all for it; but he does not believe performance-enhancing drugs are that big of a problem within the Texas schools’ athletic programs. He backed up his beliefs by stating that Texas schools’ coaches see their athletes daily and would notice a change in physique and would see the mood swings associated with such drug abuse. He further suggested the money would be better spent on education about the misuse of such drugs.
Some Texas schools already do random drug testing with their athletes. Lindale, Chapel Hill and Whitehouse are three such Texas schools districts, though Chapel Hill does not test for steroids. Not only do they believe the random testing keeps the athletes clean, but they also hope that it gives the students a reason to say no.
Texas schools’ student athletes had the most surprising reaction to Dewhurst’s proposal. Many said they would not mind being tested. They know that such drugs makes for an uneven playing field and would like to keep their Texas schools’ athletic programs clean. There always is the temptation to use performance-enhancing drugs to gain strength and bulk in order to get the advantage over your competition. It has become especially tempting, knowing that so many professional athletes has used them.
Number of Charter Schools Increasing Over Traditional Tampa Schools
In 1996, then governor Jeb Bush co-founded the first charter school within the state of Florida, when most educators across the nation thought of charter schools as nothing more than a fad. Now, there are more than 350 charter schools within the state of Florida; there are 38 across the Tampa Bay area with several in the Tampa Schools area — private and public. The movement has mushroomed across Florida with charter school enrollment expected to top 100,000 students this year.
Yet, if you ask the average adult on the street, most have no idea what a charter school is. Though many charter schools are private businesses that operate under the guidelines of the state school board, many were traditional schools converted to public charter schools and still under the direction and control of the school districts, such as the Tampa schools.
Charter schools are given more flexibility from many of the regulations that apply to the traditional Tampa schools in exchange for greater accountability. Charter schools can be as different as day and night in their mission, vision for their students, approaches to curriculum and teaching methods, and administrative structures, as well as their overall philosophy.
Each charter within the Tampa schools area must prove that their students are continuously improving academically from year to year. If they fail (indicated by student test scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT)), they are closed.
Any individual or business that wishes to create a charter school can. Successful new approaches to education by some charter schools are copied by others. The primary philosophy of these schools, however, is that one curriculum and one way of doing things is not correct for every student.
The success of the charter schools within the Tampa schools’ area has forced the Tampa schools’ leadership and educators to re-evaluate their traditional schools, giving students and parents more educational choices from which to choose.
Clearly no longer just a fad, the Tampa schools lose many students (and the funding that goes with each student) to charter schools each year, and the numbers are on the increase. The Tampa schools now have 12 public charter schools converted from their traditional schools. Ten are lower grade levels and two are secondary. A few have middle school grades included.
Charter schools within the Tampa schools’ area, as well as across the nation, continue to produce mixed results. Since their inception in Florida, 78 have closed, and nearly 30 percent were in the red financially a few years ago. Charters traditionally average 11 percent less funding per student, and their students generally score slightly lower on the FCAT, though they are improving.
Most charters within the Tampa schools’ area have a greater proportion of minority students than the traditional schools. Many are located within the inner city communities, where all schools face their biggest challenges.
