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Michelle Snow

“I’m amazed and honored that she chose me,” said John Alemany, Michelle Snow’s 12th grade Spanish teacher.“She's a star basketball player. I would have thought for sure she’d pick one of her coaches.” “Sports came easy to me,” explains Michelle. “Spanish was a challenge, and Mr. Alemany didn’t give up on me. “He has this amazing positive energy. And he genuinely cares. You can’t imagine what a difference that makes.” Behind every famous person is
a fabulous teacher

Education News: June 3, 2005

Following are some of the top headlines from the world of education for the week ending June 3, 2005.

Study on Special Education Finds Low Graduation Rate in New York City
(Source: The New York Times, 6/3/05)
A new study by Advocates for Children has shown that only 12.8% of New York City’s special education students earn regular high school diplomas, compared with 31% nationally. The study also found correlations surrounding race and sex in special education graduation rates. In New York, special education students of white or Asian descent were twice as likely to graduate as black or Hispanic students. And girls in special education programs were more likely than boys to finish school.

Teachers Pack Madison Square Garden to Demand a City Contract
(Source: The New York Times, 6/3/05)
On June 3, almost 20,000 teachers gathered at Madison Square Garden in New York City to demand a new contract and protest Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s handling of schools. The teachers have been two years without a contract, and many are angry that the Bloomberg administration wants serious concessions from the union without offering a generous pay raise. The United Federation of Teachers organized the gathering.

New Teachers Take Alternative Routes
(Source: The Washington Times, 6/3/05)
Almost a third of newly certified teachers who are finishing their first year of teaching became licensed through alternate routes rather than education colleges. Alternative means of gaining licensure are becoming increasingly popular, in part because the growing teacher shortage calls for more teachers than education colleges alone can produce. Usually, participants in alternative certification programs are paid to teach full time with the supervision of certified mentor teachers.

2 Head Start Officials Forced Out Over Allegation of Overpayments
(Source: The New York Times, 6/2/05)
Two longtime officials of the federally funded Head Start program run by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York were fired for embezzling over $800,000 from the program over the course of the last three years. Nora Feury had worked for the program for 40 years, and Ruth Ramos had worked there at least 25. A federal auditor discovered the overpayments.

Discord Over ‘No Child’ Lawsuit
(Source: The Hartford Courant, 6/2/05)
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has pledged to proceed with plans to sue the federal government over the No Child Left Behind law despite the State Board of Education’s refusal to back the lawsuit. The lawsuit concerns the $8 million over 2 years that Connecticut will have to pay to implement new federally mandated tests—tests that many education officials in the state feel are unnecessary to begin with.

U.S. Student Population at Highest Level
(Source: The New York Times, 6/2/05)
The Census Bureau has announced that more kids are attending U.S. schools, both public and private, than ever before. The number of kids who attended school in 2003 was 49.6 million, a number that surpasses the previous high mark of 48.7 million, set in 1970.