New laws boggling to school leaders

[Guest guest]

The schools should ban soda drinks. In NZ, like Australia kids are getting

fatter and fatter. There is an epidemic here in NZ. The govt is going to do

something about it. In US the kids get 20% calories from soda. Chinese kids are

getting fatter. All that caffeine too, and then they pump them full of Ritalin

for hyperactivity. I can't believe how many more foods contain monosodium

glutamate (MSG 621) It causes brain damage when eaten, immediately. It's in

everything noodles, soup, canned food, cornchips, potato chips, muesli bars. It

causes cancer. Sugar causes mutations in the skin cells. I wish people would

read labels and refuse to buy these things. My friend gave me some choc

digestive biscuits and there were 12 different colours added! But supposedly

natural and healthy looking. What is the worst is fake chocolate flavour and

colour in everything. They don't even use real cocoa much now. Fake cocoa smell

even. But even Cadbury's baking cocoa has fake flavour! I'm a vegan and am

trying to eat well. I buy this expensive non diary marg and it says vege oils

on the side. With a sunflower pic on the lid. I rang them to see what oil they

use and they said canola AND sunflower. I'll bet it's mostly canola which is

toxic, but can you ever buy anything without canola? If it's not canola it's

estrogen laden soya, which has 10 times as much estrogen as other foods. But

the bread nowdays is full of additives. I can't eat it as it gives me breathing

difficulties with all the gunk added. I eat pita bread. It's definately getting

worse. Though things taste much nicer, and have better texture, they make you

sicker. Nicky

 

Quoting KD Weber <wvadreamin:

 

> http://www.nwanews.com/leader/story_news.php?storyid=2851

> New laws boggling to school leaders

>

> Richard Dean Prudenti

>

> Staff Writer n richardp

>

>

>

>

> A new law in Arkansas will have Siloam Springs School District adding

> body fat content information to student report cards next year.

>

> This is one of many bills passed by the 2003 State Legislature, which

> Ken Ramey, superintendent, said are ridiculous.

>

> Ramey, along with CFO Quintin Trammell and school board members Paulita

> Brooker, Louis Thomas and Lynn Thomas, joined hundreds of other Arkansas

> school leaders at the Little Rock Convention Center Wednesday to examine

> 12 critical education acts affecting school personnel and students.

>

> While not among the crucial matters of discussion, the " obesity act, "

> 1220, which requires all Arkansas school districts to include a child's

> body mass index on his or her report card, highlights concerns about the

> relevance of recent legislative law passages.

>

> A conference handout said the act is meant to coordinate statewide

> efforts to combat childhood obesity and related illness.

>

> " What they are saying is that our kids are not active enough, " Ramey

> said. " This is disconcerting. Parents I've talked to don't appreciate

> (the act), understand it and are offended by it. "

>

> " Certainly we as a school should teach health and nutrition, but

> measuring body fat - we don't feel comfortable doing that. We will

> comply with the law, but taking the time to measure body fat and putting

> it on report card will not be that productive, " Ramey said.

>

> Brooker said this act essentially opens school districts to lawsuits.

>

> " We are treading on an area of privacy and confidentiality that is not

> our business - the students' body fat is none of the schools' business, "

> Brooker said.

>

> The larger picture is what concerns Brooker the most.

>

> " Schools are having to take on more and more parenting responsibilities

> of children at a younger and younger ages. You can't legislate parenting

> nor can you legislate obesity away, " she said.

>

> As part of the obesity act, access to food and beverage vending machines

> will be prohibited next year at all elementary schools in the state.

>

> This only affects Southside Elementary School, which allows students to

> buy snack food at select times of the day.

>

> Southside West Elementary School principal Dan Siemens said students are

> allowed to use the machines only if parents give them permission and

> money.

>

> " Parents know the snack machines are here, " Siemens said. I guess (the

> Legislature) doesn't think parents can decide for their children what

> they can and can not eat. We think the kids deserve a snack. "

>

> As with the other 100 education bills passed, the district has no choice

> but to comply.

>

> " Our Legislature has lost all common sense. In light of education reform

> in this sate, those 101 bills are mind-boggling. They have nothing to do

> with the real issue of improving the state of education. "

>

> Brooker urges residents to let their Legislative representatives know

> their displeasure before it's too late.

>

> " Once the bills are passed, it's law. You can't say, 'Oh, I'm not going

> to do that,' " she said.

>

> " One of my greatest fears is that when these silly, silly things are

> being implemented that our constituents will think (the district) has

> gone off the deep end. The board, our administrators and our teachers

> are just as upset as they are, but we have no choice, " Brooker said.

>

> The Legislature was in special session this week considering another 200

> or so education bills, and may continue in a fall special session.

>

> Siloam Springs may already be in compliance with some of the new laws,

> and will therefore not see a financial impact from each new act. For

> example, Act 1768 requires districts to credit all in-state teaching

> experience. Trammell said Siloam Springs already considers the total

> previous teaching experience when determining a teacher's salary and

> benefits.

>

> " We don't need to do anything different, so this (new act) won't cost us

> anything, " Trammell said.

>

> However, the district must form policies and procedures for compliance

> with other new laws - a task Trammell and Ramey said will take time and

> an undetermined amount money.

>

> Ramey said, " (Legislature is) going so fast passing all these new laws,

> we need to look at them, understand them and figure out a plan for

> implementing them. It will be a challenge. "

>

> Adjusting the local school budget to pay for these procedures will also

> be a challenge, he said.

>

> For example, Act 1398 requires teachers be paid separately for

> non-instructional duties beyond one hour a week. This includes

> supervising students before and after school, during breakfast and lunch

> times and recess.

>

> Other unfunded mandates are acts 756 and 1752: The former allows each

> pre-kindergarten-sixth grade teacher to spend up to $500 a year on

> classroom supplies; the latter act provides employees working 20 or more

> hours a week with two paid 15-minute breaks a day.

>

> " There is not a lot of discretionary funds in our budget, and every time

> the Legislature meets and passes laws that do not attach money to it,

> this affects our budget and reduces our flexibility (to do things like)

> improve curriculum or update equipment, " Ramey said.

>

> This is especially frustrating considering a recent $20.9 million cut in

> the state's public school fund budget, he said.

>

> John Kunkel, associate director of finance for the Arkansas Department

> of Education, Monday informed all school superintendents and finance

> personnel in the state that the allotted $4,784 per student in the state

> for last year retroactively dropped to $4,675. Considering the local

> school system has 3,000 children, this amounts to $330,000 less funding

> for Siloam Springs.

>

> Another frustration is the Public School Choice Act 1272, which allows

> any child to join any district provided they meet certain criteria set

> by an individual school system.

>

> " This (demonstrates) a shift in thinking. In Arkansas, it used to be

> that local districts were responsible for educating children. Now it's

> the state's responsibility, " Ramey said.

>

> Ramey said that according to the November State Supreme Court ruling on

> the Lake View vs. Arkansas, it is now the state's responsibility to

> guarantee each child has substantially equal curriculum, facilities and

> equipment.

>

> " So it has made it easier for one child to go to a school in a district

> they don't live in, " Ramey said.

>

> Based on his notes from the Little Rock convention, Ramey said, " The

> criteria for acceptance (of a non-resident) must be on the capacity of a

> program, class, grade level or school building. "

>

> Supposedly, the bill's intent is not to force districts to hire new

> teachers. However, Ramey said this is a possibility.

>

> Districts must abide by state-determined student-teacher classroom

> ratios. They are also required by law to accept all resident patrons

> into the school system. The number of students determines how many

> teachers a school hires. If outside residents join the Siloam Springs

> School District when classrooms are filled to capacity, the school

> system is still obligated to hire another teacher.

>

> The act does allow districts to cut-off enrollment based on

> pre-determined percentages. For example, a district could stop accepting

> outside students if classrooms are at, say, 90 percent capacity by Aug.

> 1 - the date by which districts must accept outside applicants. This

> would allow room for future move-ins and transfers to the district.

>