The Notebook

"That any child in American comes to school too hungry to  learn is a travesty," stated Randi Weingarten, American Federation of  Teachers President today.

He has some dismal news. Teachers are reporting that there is an increase in hungry kids, despite government and private nutrition programs. More than 60 percent of  teachers responding to  Share Our Strength, said  most or many of the students at their schools rely on school meals for their primary source of nutrition.  But that still doesn't get the job done.

Teachers report spending   up to $38 a month on snacks to help out their students. Cafeteria workers have had to hand out extra food, and classified staff keep snack drawers in the school office to try and alleviate the problem.

Seth Stark, a 5thgrade student at Colorado Springs Christian Elementary School, was named a weekly winner on artsonia.com . He'll receive a $50 gift certificate and his teacher will get $100 worth of art materials  for the classroom from Blick Art Materials. Web site visitors voted chose  Stark's work.  To find his art rocket art go to the site and click on Colorado and  Seth 1726.

The Web site is really cool, showing thousands of  pieces of  artwork from all over. Wow! Talk about creativity. Eric Meidel, site founder, says , 'We encourage everyone to celebrate the creativity that ALL students put into their artwork, not simply judge work by merit"

We agree. These days when art takes the bottom rung in many schools, we need more of such recognition and inspiration for students.

The abortion protest issue has hit the classroom and is generating a lot of discussion. What do you think? 

A Mount  Laurel, New Jersey high school student is suing  her school because she says she was forbidden from participating in a day of silent protest against abortion. The federal lawsuit filed in U.S District Court in Camden, says the decision violated her  relgious freedom and free speech rights.

The girl, says the Bridgeton High School  principal at  her school  refused  to allow her to join in a pro life protest day, a worldwide effort by Stand True Ministry in Ohio, according to an AP story. She is seeking the right to protest.

The lawsuit says she planned to reamin silent on Oct. 20 excpet when called on in class. She waned to wear an armband with the word "life," and hand out anti-abortion pamphlets.

The school superintendent H. Victor Gilson said he denied the request for two reasons: the armband violated school dress code, and studnets can'tt distribute pamphlets  without prior approval.

A report just released by the federal Government Accounting Office found that  administrators at high poverty schools -- those with more than 75 percent eligible for free and reduced  lunches -- more often used  multiple strategies to help students meet academic standards,and provided more increased professional development for teachers.

The report, by the RAND Corp, also noted that standards-based accountability systems can influence practices in both positive and negative ways.  It noted that assessments can be powerful tools for improving learning and evaluating student achievement, but can also narrow the curriculum to only material that is tested. For more information: http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d1018high.pdf

If you are looking for a fun but helpful Web site to  give you ideas of where to send your kid to college, check out insidecollege.com.

It has all kinds of  fun  lists:  campuses where movies were filmed, happy colleges, slacker colleges,  drool schools for Einsteins, colleges for the clothes horse, colleges for B students,  etc. 

While some of this is light-hearted, the site does offer some really good information on choosing schools based on individual lifestyles. And students can apply monthly to win a  $2,000 college scholarship given monthly.

 The lists were created based on expert opinions, and school statistics, states, Alloy Education, which created the site .  A companion book called "The College Finder", written by  Steven  Antonoff, a former college dean,  is also available.

For those of you who gripe that school recess is not what it used to be,  check out the trendy new way to work out. It's just what  your old  PE  teacher  would have ordered.

One Web site  is oldschoolpe.com, shows the class offerings of  old fashioned play at rec cetners  in New Hampshire. Another, urbanrecess.com, located in Oregon, offers women all those games you played as a kid - kickball, tug of war, duck duck goose, tag and relays.  They are also offering franchises for those who want to start their own urban gym.

But while these are for adults, they may give you some ideas for interacting with your kids and getting exercise at the same time. You just might want to start having recess with your kids on  weekends.

And while you are at it, you  might want to check out just what your children do during recess at school. You might even lobby for more PE, which is almost an afterthought in some schools, but which is found to help kids to better learn reading and writing and math.

The board of  Falcon School District 49 has decided not to tackle  the issue of school boundary changes tonight and will wait   until after the new board members are  in place, district spokeswoman Stephanie Meredith said today.

The five-member board will have three new members --Christopher Wright, Danielle Lindorf and Tammy Harold. They can't  take their seats until after the November election is certified  by the El Paso County clerk on Nov. 20

Some community members had criticized the old board , saying they didn't want a  lame duck board  to make the important decision in their last few days. 

Now the new members will  have  to  grapple with the issue which has caused all kinds of  upset  among parents and others.

The Colorado Springs campus of Pima Medical Institute has a new director. Eric Oster will oversee all campus operations, from orientation of students to graduation.

Oster said he plans to expand enrollment to residents from Castle Rock to Pueblo. He has nearly 25 years of experience in executive positions, including five years in education management. He most recently was executive vice presidetn of Fluid Research Corp. in southern California. Oster also served in the Marine Corps.

Pima operates 11 campuses, including two in Colorado. The other is in Denver. Go to www.pmi.edu for more information.

Ingrid Daniel, a special education teacher in Falcon School District 49, got a chance to make music with Yo-Yo Ma, the famous cellist.

She and other members of the Pike Peak Ringers,  a community  hand bell group, were in Boston early this month to record a song that will be on his "Songs of Joy and Peace "album to be available on i-Tunes in December.

The choir's director Kevin McChesney, had written anaccompaniment to 'Dona Nobis Pacem' which they practiced and entered in a Yo-Yo Ma contest, which they won.

Daniel, who has been playing hand bells for 29 years, teaches  in D-49's  SOAR program at Woodmen Hills and Odyssey elementary schools.