SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Texas and the valedictorian of a San Antonio-area school have gone to court to allow prayer at Saturday’s graduation ceremony despite an agnostic couple’s opposition.
Attorney General Greg Abbott on Thursday filed a brief with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to lift a federal judge’s ban against prayer at the Medina Valley High School ceremony.
The judge Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order against public prayer sought by Christa and Danny Schultz, whose son is graduating.
The family is backed by Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Valedictorian Angela Hildenbrand joined the fight Thursday, saying her free speech rights would be violated if she’s not allowed to thank God during her graduation speech.
A motion has been filed on her behalf by the Liberty Institute.
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Tupelo, Ms – Change won’t occur quite so quickly in Tupelo’s schools this year.
Interim Superintendent David Meadows has chosen to delay or rethink several initiatives planned under previous superintendent Randy Shaver.
The district recently announced it will delay its participation in a pilot program that would have allowed students to enroll in rigorous courses and possibly graduate as sophomores or earn extensive college credit. That news followed a decision to push back Tupelo High School’s transition to a block schedule until fall 2012.
Deputy Superintendent Diana Ezell tells the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal that administrators are re-evaluating the models used last year for teacher observations and evaluations to make them more effective.
Ezell says the district is studying ways to restructure its alternative school.
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Information from: Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, http://nems360.com/
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. Al
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Connecticut officials are preparing to release test results showing how the state’s sophomores are performing in math, reading, writing and science.
Results of the 2011 Connecticut Academic Performance Test, or CAPT, are set for release Tuesday.
The CAPT exam is given each spring to sophomores in Connecticut’s public schools and technical high schools. A small number of juniors also take the test, usually if they need to improve their scores to meet their district’s graduation requirements.
Districts use the results to track the progress of individual students and to assess whether the schools are meeting performance goals, including compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Results of a separate assessment, the Connecticut Mastery Test, are due later this week. It’s given to students in third through eighth grades.
The New York Times last Sunday published an opinions piece by Stanford Law Professor Ralph Richard Banks that essentially argues that American society has not achieved marriage equality by allowing same sex couples to marry. He argues that polygamy and incestuous marriage between adults should be legalized in order to evolve to full marriage equality:
Historically, both polygamy and incest have been more widely practiced, and accepted, than the Supreme Court, and most Americans, seem to believe. Over time, our moral assessments of these practices will shift, just as they have with interracial marriage and same sex marriage. We will begin to take seriously questions that now seem beyond the pale: Should a state be permitted to imprison two cousins because they have sex or attempt to marry? S
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The College Board Advocacy & Policy Center has released a new policy brief, Trends in Community College Education: Enrollment, Prices, Student Aid, and Debt Levels, authored by Sandy Baum, independent policy analyst to the College Board; Kathleen Little, senior adviser, student aid policy at the College Board; and Kathleen Payea, policy analyst at the College Board.
Download Trends in Community College Education: Enrollment, Prices, Student Aid, and Debt Levels. Requires Adobe Reader .
Community colleges serve as the access point to higher education for many students. With lower published prices, less stringent admission requirements and geographical proximity to more students than most institutions in other sectors, community colleges provide opportunities for education and training that would otherwise be unavailable to many.
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