A school official, however, maintained that no change in policy or practice would have prevented the death.

“This is a tragic accident for which no paper could have avoided this accident,” said Sunil Mattu, the chief operating officer of Third Academy, a private school for children with special needs, which also operates its own fleet of buses.

The inquiry also heard from Miranda Findell, whose son rode the bus while attending Third Academy. She said she phoned the school about a week before the crash to talk about whether the personal problems, money woes and depression that Ms. Rogers shared with her could be affecting her ability to drive.

“She was feeling frazzled and didn’t know what to do,” Ms. Findell said.

She said she spoke with school officials, including the psychologist Ms. Rogers was seeing, and asked specifically about mental-health issues or anti-depressants. She was told Ms. Rogers had been on stress leave, but had returned to work.

An automated call didn’t go out to parents this morning advising the school system’s one-hour delay because of road ice.

Instead, the system hoped parents would rely on media reports and a posting on the school system’s Web site.

But a few parents called to say they would have appreciated a call, even at 5 a.m.

But when a two-hour delay occurred from weather last winter the opposite happened. Parents received a call through the school system’s Global Connect phone system starting at 5 a.m. and school spokesman Louis Svehla said a “ton of calls” came in complaining “Why’d you wake me up?” He said those parents stated they expected there would be a delay and that they could have just checked media reports.

Mr. Svehla said the Global Connect system can access 200 phone lines at a time and to reach the roughly 32,000 homes of students, more than 20,000 phone numbers must be dialed – a process that can take an hour and a half to complete.

He said the school system’s response isn’t an “exact science” because the area doesn’t get enough bad winter weather to test things, adding “We’re going to keep working on it.”

But he said that when in doubt, he’ll likely continue the delayed start approach out of concern for northern areas of the county that could have a greater chance for icy conditions.

“We just weren’t sure about the lake area with the buses,” he said of his Thursday night decision to delay classes, later adding “We didn’t need it, but people were given enough time to make arrangements this morning.”

The complaints, filed with the state Labor Relations Commission last week, claim the school administration failed to bargain with the union on recent initiatives in the elementary and high schools.

One complaint concerns the introduction of new report cards for students in elementary schools. The other involves scheduling changes in the high schools. Both initiatives took effect in September.

Michael Riordan, president of the Education Association of Plymouth and Carver, said the initiatives constitute changes in working conditions that should have been included in contract negotiations.

Members of the union packed Monday’s School Committee meeting to voice their frustration with the board’s new directives.
Several teachers complained that the new report cards take considerably more time to complete and unfairly force some teachers to complete the clerical duties of others. The time wasted on the new cards is time taken from teaching, they said.

Riordan told the School Committee the union is not necessarily questioning the validity of either change. Rather, the union wants to assert its legal rights to participate in decisions that affect union members.

School officials said they were blindsided by the complaints and suggested the union is posturing to impact ongoing contract negotiations. Teachers, secretaries and paraprofessionals have been working since July under terms of an expired contract.

The two sides are slated to resume contract negotiations later this month.

Riordan said union members understand the economic realities of the times and are simply frustrated by the School Committee’s lack of respect for their professional abilities.

For Sunday’s Post-Dispatch story, go HERE. And, in case you haven’t seen it, here, again, is the unedited e-mail sent from Imagine CEO Dennis Bakke to his top executives and schools principals.
What are we learning about the selection and care of board members for our schools? Most Board members become very involved in the life of the school. Often, even before the school begins operation, the Board members have taken “ownership” of the school. Many honestly believe it is their school and that the school will not go well without them steering the school toward “excellence”. They believe they are the “governing” Board even if that adjective to describe the board has never been used by an Imagine School person. Many become involved in the daily life of the school, volunteering and “helping” teachers and and other staff to get things done. Even those who are not parents, take “ownership” of the school as if they started it. Initially, they are grateful to Imagine (especially Eileen and me) for helping them start the (their) school.
Why does it matter? Don’t we want local boards to be grateful and helpful and take ownership of the school? “Yes” and “No”. I do not mind them being grateful to us for starting the school (our school,not theirs), but the gratitude and the humility that goes with it, needs to extend to the operation of the school. In all three cases of the new schools I visited this past month, I started my talks by responding to the flowery introduction thanking Eileen and me for helping to start the XYZ school, with a thank you to the Board and others for helping Imagine start ITS school. Most people probably missed the serious point I was making. Besides, it was probably too late in most cases to correct the misconception that we had given to Board members and other volunteers about the nature of governance of the school Imagine had created.
Most problems we have with Boards were not, however, caused by our developers or regional directors or executive vice presidents choosing the wrong board members. In many cases, I think we didn’t make clear their role as a board member before we selected them. Sometimes we let a self-proclaimed Board chair select the Board (Please do not do that). By “we” I start with my own lack of understanding and poor teaching on this subject. I am learning most of these things right along with the rest of you. Whether or not a person has been on a board or not (with the exception of someone who has experience on the board of a major corporation), most people believe that Boards are “governance” boards. In other words, they are “in charge” of the school.
I suggest that Imagine boards and board members have two significant roles. The first is to “affirm” (vote FOR if legally required) significant items like our selection of the Principal and the budget (if you “need” to give them veto power over our proposed principal, then that would be okay although I don’t think in most cases it is essential that they be given that power (check the State law).
The second and most important role of board members is to advise us on all matters of employment, policies, school climate, shared values, growth, building, academics and financial.I believe that most of the problems we have with boards are caused not from taking decision making away from them, but not involving them in the advice process. Remember, the advice process shares your thinking with others and brings them into your circle.

If the teacher can’t help, or you are not satisfied with their response, you can talk to the headteacher. You should be able to arrange a meeting or a telephone conversation with the headteacher through the school office. If this isn’t practical, you may wish to make a written complaint.

Complaining to the governing body

If your complaint is not resolved, the next stage is to approach the governing body of the school. All state-funded schools are required to have a procedure to deal with any complaints relating to the school, or to any facilities or services that the school provides for the local community.

If you want to complain to the governing body, ask the school for a copy of its complaints procedure. All complaints to the governing body must be in writing.

Complaining to your local authority

Complaining to the Secretary of State
Finally, if you believe that your school’s governing body or your local authority is acting ‘unreasonably’ you can complain in writing to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. Complaints to the Secretary of State are handled by the government’s Department for Children, Schools and Families.

This should be a last resort, and you should highlight in your letter the steps you have already taken to resolve the problem. You should be aware that the Department for Children, Schools and Families will not usually be able to investigate your complaint if your child no longer goes to the school where the incident took place.

While details are scant, U.S. Department of Education spokesman Jim Bradshaw said Friday there were two separate complaints — one filed in March of this year and the other in April.

On March 27, an unidentified person filed a complaint alleging the district did not have any grievance procedures for civil rights violations, nor not did it have a designated employee to handle them. Bradshaw said that complaint was resolved on Sept. 22.

The second complaint, filed on April 27, alleged the Franklin School District did not comply “with respect to the provision of a free appropriate public education to a student with a disability as required by Section 504 and Title II.” Bradshaw said this complaint was resolved Sept. 23.

Bradshaw did not say whether the two complaints were filed by the same person, what school the aggrieved attends, nor the nature of the disability or disabilities.

Without saying how the complaints were resolved, Bradshaw said, “the resolution agreement requires the district to ensure it will provide the complainant with procedural safeguards regarding identification, evaluation and placement of the student.”

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 is a federal law that protects qualified individuals from discrimination based on their disabilities and applies to employers and organizations — including school districts — that receive federal money. Title II is the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
According to the minutes of the April 2009 meeting of the Franklin School Board, the district reviewed Policy KEB which was a proposed update to the written Section 504 procedures, but it was sent back to the policy committee for some revision. Policy KEB was adopted unanimously on July 20.

A civil rights update was included as part of the school board’s agenda for its last meeting at the request of member Kathleen Russo.

Superintendent Jo Ellen Divoll deferred to Assistant Superintendent Amy Cammack who told the board the issue was close to being resolved.

The university released a report Monday from the American Bar Association, the accreditation agency for law schools, that concluded the central administration provides sufficient funds to the law school.

The funding of the law school became controversial in June when the school’s dean, Glen Weissenberger, complained to the ABA that the university had breached a 2004 agreement that guaranteed the college of law 75 percent of the “net tuition” in any given year. His memo also charged that the administration had provided inaccurate information about the revenue-sharing agreement to the ABA’s accreditation committee.
On June 18, two days after Weissenberger sent the letter to the ABA, the university fired him. The administration appointed Illinois Appellate Judge Warren Wolfson as interim dean.

Weissenberger’s dismissal sparked a revolt among students and faculty that has yet to die down. Two weeks ago, 16 professors filed a complaint with the ABA, charging that the administration had violated ABA standards when it hired Wolfson without faculty consultation.Weissenberger, who remains on the faculty, did not return a phone call seeking comment. The ABA has a policy of not commenting on individual accreditation issues.

The ABA’s standard on finances broadly states that the resources of a law school shall be adequate to sustain a “sound program.” The accreditation committee found that the law school is in compliance with its standard and that Weissenberger’s letter had not raised any additional issues, according to its report dated July 23.

But the ABA said DePaul has not met its strategic-planning guidelines that require schools to regularly establish ways to improve. DePaul, which had self-reported the issue, has until Sept. 1, 2010, to correct the problem.

The lesson – which was part of a class on the life cycle and how babies are cared for – was designed to demonstrate how natural it is for a mother to nurse her child.

But staff at Hume Central Secondary College in Broadmeadows proved that breastfeeding is still a touchy topic when it cancelled the demonstration.
Principal Glenn Proctor said he had to be “sensitive” to all the nationalities at the school and he felt parental consent was necessary before children could watch a woman breastfeed her baby.

Sarah Simmonds, a volunteer from the Australian Breastfeeding Association’s community education program, had been invited to the school earlier this month with her four-month-old son Billy.

When she and another volunteer arrived staff told them they could demonstrate how to bath the baby but asked her not to breastfeed. “They told me that they hadn’t asked the parents specifically do they mind their children seeing a child breastfed, so because we haven’t asked explicitly we won’t let you do it,” Ms Simmonds said.

“Our message was it’s natural and you can do it anywhere – except here. It was such a mixed message for the kids. We were trying to convey that this is something that every mum should be able to do and every child should have the opportunity to be breastfed and that we shouldn’t have to think about where we are and whether it’s appropriate.”
Social networking site Facebook provoked an international furore last year when it removed pictures of mothers nursing their babies from women’s profiles because they could be deemed “obscene” or “pornographic.”
Karen Ingram, spokeswoman for the Breastfeeding Association, said the association’s education programs had been delivered to up to 100 Australian schools a year for the past 30 years.

“The purpose is to provide awareness of breastfeeding as a normal part of life and nutrition and nurturing a baby,” Ms Ingram said.

In an 18-page complaint, Honigman cited a variety of issues including fire code violations, an improperly preserved cadaver, curriculum problems and insufficient lounge space, which he said he previously brought to the school’s attention. He also alleges that some professors violate LCME policy by refusing to let students challenge or view exams they have taken and that many classes release grades much later than the LCME’s recommendation.

One particular allegation stems from when Honigman said he and three other students were given an improperly preserved cadaver to practice on in gross anatomy. Honigman said the cadaver, a corpse used for dissection, had all the signs of being improperly preserved, including “mold, decaying feet, blood and abnormal color and odor” as early as the second week of class.

“I was afraid to work with it,” Honigman said. “But even after our professor and the curator agreed that it was improperly preserved, the University said it was too expensive to change the body and that we should continue working on the upper body, which had not decayed as badly.”

In the complaint, Honigman wrote he is considering legal action against the school. He also wrote that he has “supporting documentation, including course materials, electronic communications, personal logs and a tape recording” to corroborate his complaint