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School Board News Bulletin
April 1995

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Although 74 Illinois school districts have been taken off the state's financial watch list, ten districts now have been certified as being "in financial difficulty," a much more serious matter.

The financial watch list primarily reflects the ratio of district operating funds at year's end to the sum of the yearly revenue in those same operating funds.

Thus, even districts taken off the watch list can harbour hidden funding problems. "A number of districts have converted short-term debt to long- term debt to escape the watch list," according to State Superintendent of Education Joseph Spagnolo.

Spagnolo wants the state to redesign the method used to warn schools of impending financial difficulties.

Unlike watch list status--which represent a mere warning of impending problems--financial certification is a formal recognition of immediate financial problems. Certification status requires district's to adhere to financial guidance from the State Board of Education and to develop a multi-year financial plan.

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Districts join hands with feds on mathematics & science goal

Ten Illinois districts recently joined hands with federal education department leaders in an effort to define and meet the fifth national education goal. The goal requires that American students become Number 1 in the world in math and science by the year 2000.

U.S. Education Secretary Richard Riley hopes the pact may "serve as a model of the kind of working relationship that should exist between the U.S. Department of Education and local communities."

Those who signed the agreement said they are confident their students stack up well against international competition. They remain perplexed, however, about what benchmarks various nations may use.

Jean McGrew, Superintendent of District 225, Glenview, explained that American school leaders are troubled by the lack of information the government has provided on tests used to make international comparisons. "We don't know what was measured. We don't know what the performance deficits are...nor do we know what the apparent strengths are," said McGrew. McGrew and nine other superintendents urged the federal education agency to make more information available.

Secretary Riley responded by committing his department to work on the problem with the Illinois districts "every step of the way." Parties to the agreement will collaborate to define the math/science goal and to achieve it.

Superintendents involved in the partnership, besides Jean McGrew, are John Cahill of Lincolnwood District 74; Lloyd DesCarpentrie, Wheeling C.C. District 21; Daniel Johnson, Glenview C.C. District 34; Paul Kimmelman, West Northfield District 31, Northbrook; James J. Kucienski, Northbrook District 28; David Peterson, Northern Suburban Special Education District- SEJA 804, Highland Park; and Pamela Witt, Skokie-Fairview District 72.

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Speak to all local voters--not just parents--with your school's message

Schools that want stepped-up public support and greater funding must reach out to all voters, especially senior citizens and non-parents. That was the advice community relations experts gave at a recent California meeting on School Public Relations.

Most voters today are not directly involved in local schools. Remember:

• Fewer than one-third of U.S. residents have kids in school. Among regular voters, that number is still lower--only 25 percent have school -age kids.

• Those in poverty, the disenfranchised, and non-white people--groups that often have encountered inadequately funded schools--have never been mobilized as a major voting bloc. Voters today are largely white and middle-income.

• Administrators often fail to communicate clearly and effectively with those who have the most credibility with voters on school matters-- students and non-certificated school employees.

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School Board News accepts job ads

As you might have noticed, School Board News is publishing small advertisements announcing job openings. To keep things simple, the ads must fit into a box 2 columns wide by 2 inches deep. The only information that would fit in that space usually is the job title, name of school district, enrollment, address, brief statement of requirements, and submission deadline. The cost for placing each ad with the national publication is $75. There are no discounts for multiple insertions.

To place an ad, contact: NSBA Advertising Department, 1680 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314; phone: 703/838-6755; fax: 703/683-7590.

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Doctors want condoms available to teenagers at school sites

Pointing to the nation's public health crisis, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently urged all communities to make condoms available at school sites.

The physicians adopted that position because the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate of any developed nation. What is more, the number of teens stricken with HIV infection is now doubling every 14 months. Although abstinence should be encouraged, teens should be able to obtain condoms at school sites, the group said.

"There is no evidence in Europe, Canada or even in our communities that making condoms available alters the number of teens having sex, or the number of sexual partners. But it definitely increases the number practicing responsible sex," said Dr. Roberta Beach of the AAP.

More than 1 million teenagers become pregnant each year, the AAP said. More than half of all high school students and 40 percent of ninth graders surveyed in 1992 reported they have had sexual intercourse.

One-third of the 20 million cases of sexually transmitted disease (STD) reported each year occur in school-aged people. As many as one-quarter of all adolescents contract an STD before graduating from high school.

Meanwhile, AIDS has become the seventh leading cause of death among 15- to 24-year-olds. Beach stressed that communities that decide to make condoms more available should design their distribution system in collaboration with parents, students, school officials and health care professionals.

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Plan for early education

School boards hoping to improve early education programs in their communities must have an outreach program that emphasizes cooperation and coordination, early childhood experts advise.

As a first step, boards should launch an assessment of community needs and resources, says Linda Kunesh. Kunesh is director of early childhood and family education at the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory in Oak Brook.

Besides identifying childcare services that could be brought into a community effort, the assessment should examine preschool curricula and instruction. Coordination can improve early childhood education efforts in those areas. "You need to find out what is out there," Kunesh says. "You need to try to determine the quality of programs and what parents really want. You need to look for areas of joint decision making among all service providers, and look at staff development."

School boards might organize a coordinating committee like the Success by Six and Beyond Program in Des Moines, Iowa. There, school officials have joined community members, including preschool providers, to coordinate areas services and determine future child-care needs.

Boards must tread carefully if they hope to attract day-care and home-care providers to aid in this effort. So says Barbara Willer, spokesperson for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

"Schools tend to be the 2,000-pound elephant in collaborative efforts," she says. "People want the schools' assistance, but there's a perception that the schools will dictate everything. It's a power issue that must be dealt with."

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Cite low classroom computer count

Quality Education Data, Inc., (QED) reports that among all states only California has a greater need than Illinois for increasing the number of computers available to students in the classroom. As reported in USA Today (April 4, 1995), QED found it would cost $55 million to bring Illinois school districts up to the national average of classroom technology availability. "Using the national average of 12 students per computer, need was determined by identifying districts with a 24-to-1 ratio or higher," said a sidebar to the newspaper report.

QED, "a Denver-based education research firm," is lobbying Congress in a "last-ditch effort to save $40 million in funding in the Technology in Education Act." The funding program is now under the federal budget ax.

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List tips for running an effective meeting

The American Society of Association Executives recently offered this list of tips for ensuring effective meetings:

1. Begin on time.
   
2. Announce all business to be conducted.
   
3. Recognize those who are entitled to talk; discourage breaking in.
   
4. Restate the issues to be voted on and explain their consequences.
   
5. Put all issues to a fair vote; don't assume how board members feel.
   
6. Announce the results of actions taken and explain the follow-through to be taken (and by whom).
   
7. Help expedite business. Don't let discussions drift or go on too long.
   
8. Stay with the agenda. Seek the full board's agreement to change the agenda once it has been announced.
   
9. Close the meeting on time.
   

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Poverty presents growing risks

One-third of all American children will fall into poverty, drop out of school, or become a victim of abuse or neglect before they grow up. So says a liberal child advocacy organization.

The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) released a report recently showing that child poverty has reached its highest level since 1964. Nearly one in four children today is living in poverty, the CDF reported--approximately 16 million kids.

"These shameful numbers have small, individual faces and feelings and suffering," said Marian Wright Edelman, president of CDF.

In releasing the report, Edelman condemned House welfare reform legislation in Washington, saying it removes federally guaranteed child protections. The legislation ends the federal government's promise to provide cash support to children who are poor, disabled, abused, neglected or abandoned.

Today nearly 16 million children are poor, almost 3 million are abused and neglected, and 400,000 will drop out of school. At such a time, "Congress should be strengthening rather than permanently shredding federal child protections and recklessly slashing child investments," Edelman said.

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Connecticut combats truancy

A growing number of Connecticut high schools are combating truancy by deducting course credits for students with a certain number of unexcused absences. A good reason for an absence, such as a documented illness, will allow a student to appeal to get the credit reinstated.

Rockville High School Principal Chuck Landroche says the policy sends students with 13 absences before an appeals committee. The committee can deny credit if the student had two or more unexcused absences.

Some educators think denying credits is too harsh. Catherine Oleksiw, an education consultant with the Connecticut Department of Education, suggests instead that schools have students serve an in-school suspension to make up missed work.

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Baltimore's mayor asks EAI for results

Tough new performance standards need to be added to Baltimore's contract with Education Alternatives Inc. (EAI), according to Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke. The private firm manages nine public schools in Baltimore, and has faced growing criticism that it is allegedly failing to produce measurable academic advances.

"Based on EAI's own information about academic performance, I think there's a need to change this contract significantly," Mayor Schmoke said, according to Education Week (March 29, 1995, page 3). The mayor reportedly is considering a move to terminate the EAI contract unless a third-party study now underway shows noteworthy academic gains in the nine schools managed by EAI.

Mayor Schmoke admitted the nine EAI schools have garnered substantial improvements in student mathematics test scores. He also noted they are performing slightly better than other district schools in terms of reading and attendance.

Yet the mayor maintained the city could not "continue pouring the money we are pouring into this without having substantial improvement," Education Week reported.

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National health & education group wants health centers in K-6 schools

The National Health & Education Consortium (NHEC) has released a report advocating the creation of elementary-level health centers, entitled Starting young: School-based health centers at the elementary level. Experts say the report is a primary resource for thinking about the "what, why, and how" of elementary-level health initiatives.

The report, produced in partnership with the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), says clinics in elementary schools can serve families as well as students. The report focuses also on helping educators understand how children's health status influences their education and how school health centers can help teachers with their primary goal: educating children.

"With all efforts involving children, we must begin early; this is true with health care and education efforts," notes Sam Sava, NAESP President. The report says elementary school clinics can reinforce benefits of early health programs, and reach children before they develop unhealthy habits such as smoking and drinking.

Starting young is available for $10, plus $2 for shipping/handling, from NHEC by calling 202/822-8405 or by sending a check to NHEC, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 310, Washington, DC 20036.

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Playground equipment is recalled

Potentially dangerous "animal" swings should be removed in order to protect children on playgrounds across the nation, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). The swings, installed from 1951 to 1991, were involved in the 1985 death of a 2-year-old in California and the 1994 death of a 6-year-old in Pennsylvania. The children were struck in the head by the swings as they walked near.

About 10,000 of the 30-pound to 80-pound swings were installed nationwide. They are made of cast aluminum or molded plastic and are painted to look like animals and other figures.

The following manufacturers offer incentive plans to schools and other facilities to replace the swings: BCI Burke, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (800) 356-2070; Blue Valley Industries, Mexico, Pennsylvania (717) 436-8266; Game Time, Fort Payne, Alabama (800) 377-2561; Miracle Recreation Equipment Co., Monett, Missouri (800) 523-4202; PCA, St. Louis (800) 727-8180; Playworld Systems, New Berlin, Pennsylvania (800) 233-8404; and Quality Industries, Hillsdale, Michigan (800) 766-9458.

For additional information, contact CPSC, 800/638-2772.

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Illinois begins distributing its share of Goals 2000 funds

About $2.3 million in grants supported by the new federal funding Illinois received under the Goals 2000: Educate America Act were announced in March. The seed money will be used to further school improvement efforts in local school districts.

The funds will enable schools to enhance academic standards for students through curriculum improvement, teacher training, and better instructional techniques.

The Clinton administration's $400 million Goals 2000 program aims to help states improve their schools. More than 44 state have applied for Goals 2000 funds.

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Improvements needed in special education law

School safety and unreasonable attorney fees are major issues NSBA will focus on as Congress begins to rewrite the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

Overall, IDEA "is a law that has worked well," NSBA Legislative Counsel William Bruno told participants at the NSBA Federal Relations Network (FRN) Conference earlier this month. "Many [handicapped persons] whom we didn't think 20 years ago were capable of performing well in society now are holding down jobs," Bruno says.

But, he continues, "balance and common sense need to be restored." There is a strong need for "cost containment and cost efficiencies," and judges and federal bureaucrats have "given spins to the law that weren't intended by Congress."

Late this spring the Clinton Administration is expected to send to Capitol Hill its recommendations for reauthorizing IDEA. Congress expects to begin hearings soon, but might not complete work on a revised bill until next year.

One of NSBA's strongest requests this year is that discipline measures for disabled students be brought much closer in line with that for other students. A recent law which allows schools to remove dangerous disabled students from classrooms for 45 days, should be re-enacted and extended to 90 days, NSBA says. Further, NSBA wants the law expanded to cover other actions besides bringing a gun to school, such as assaulting teachers or threatening classmates with a knife. Schools also should be protected from liability when they are not allowed to remove dangerous disabled students from the classroom, NSBA says.

When a disabled student's misconduct is unrelated to a disability, he should be treated the same as non-disabled students and should be subject to expulsion if necessary.

NSBA is demanding that the federal government "stop fooling around and move toward" its commitment to pay 40 percent of the costs of educating disabled students, Bruno says. In the 20 years since the law was enacted the federal contribution has never reached half the level of funding promised by Congress.

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Senators introduce school voucher plans for nation

Two senators have resuscitated a national school voucher proposal, hoping the Republican majority in Congress will provide a boost to states considering giving public tax money for private education.

With more than 10 states, including Illinois, now considering such school voucher programs, the new Republican majority in Congress may be sympathetic to a federal pilot program, according to Sen. Dan Coats (R- Ind.), who introduced the bill in March along with Sen. Joe Lieberman (D- Conn.).

Teachers unions and civil liberties groups pledged to fight the experimental program, which failed last year in the U.S. Senate on a 52-41 vote. "It is simply unconstitutional," said Steve Green of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The proposal would provide $30 million in federal money to set up 10 to 20 demonstration projects that would allow a small group of poor parents to send their children to private schools, including religious schools if they chose. Only low-income children would be eligible, generally those in a family of four with an income of $27,380 or less, although districts could choose to give vouchers only to even poorer children.

The pilot programs would be avaluated after three years. School districts hoping to participate would band together with area private schools to apply to the Education Department.

Coats and Lieberman said the experiment would not promote religion or destroy the nation's public schools, as critics fear. Instead, they claimed, it would force public schools to compete for students, and give youngsters trapped in bad schools greater opportunity.

"Senator Lieberman's children and my children have choices that many low- income, inner-city children do not have," Coats said.

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Feds investigate alleged discrimination against girls

A school district's Black Male Achievement Initiative near Washington, DC is being investigated by federal education authorities following a complaint that it discriminates against girls. Prince George's County, Maryland officials on March 23 denied the 5-year-old initiative is restrictive by race or sex.

The program is designed to help all students succeed, with an emphasis on African American males, they said. The initiative is credited with reducing suspensions of black male students--from 7,233 in the 1992-93 school year to 5,424 last year. Donna Beck complained after finding out her daughter, who attends James Madison Middle School in Upper Marlboro, was not eligible to participate.

In a letter to the education department in May 1994, Beck, who has three daughters and a son, complained there was no equivalent club for her daughter to join at the school. A program for female students was created there this year.

School Superintendent Edward Felegy said the $3.4 million allocated under the Black Male Achievement category in this year's school budget provides money to pay for the multicultural curriculum, teacher recruitment and a male-intensive program designed to increase the number of graduates who attend and stay in college.

School Board member Suzanne Plogman also complained about the situation. "I think there is still a need for the Black Male Achievement program," she said. "It's just a recognition that we need to give our young women the same kind of support."

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Free bus route software now available from IASB

A computer program for school bus routes, created by federal scientist Murray Spitzer, publicized on page 2 of the January Newsbulletin, is now available free from IASB. The Association decided to help Spitzer distribute his IBM-type (DOS) software program after Spitzer was swamped with more requests from Illinois districts than he could reasonably handle.

IASB will honor one request per Illinois school district. A printout of the software user's manual--generously provided by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE)--may also be distributed with each copy of the software. To order, contact IASB Publications in Springfield at 217/528- 9679, ext. 108.

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NSBA offers legislative Fax-on-demand documents

Want to stay informed and up-to-date on the National School Boards Association's top Congressional issues? Now you can with a new NSBA Legislative Hotline and Fax-on-demand library. The phone number is 800/609-NSBA. Access this fax-back service to obtain background information and talking points on key issues. You can choose from a library of information and have NSBA files automatically "faxed back" to you.

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Feds set up data resource center

The National Center for Education Statistics at the U.S. Education Department has established a National Data Resource Center. The center will provide statistical information free of charge to education researchers, local and state school leaders, or anyone who requests it.

Researchers and others may ask the center to perform specific tabulations, analyses of data, or limited programming.

The center has data on such things as student characteristics, demographics, enrollment, academic progress, financing, school staffing, and dropout rates.

Contact: Jerry Malitz, Elementary and Secondary Education Statistics Division, National Center for Education Statistics, 555 New Jersey Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20208; 202/219-1364.

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New program at NAEIR is geared for gifts to smaller schools

A new nationwide program has been launched to make donated supplies available to smaller schools and nonprofits. Called "Members Choice," is sponsored by the nonprofit National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources (NAEIR). NAEIR is a nonprofit based in Galesburg that collects donations of new overstock inventory from U.S. companies then redistributes it to nonprofits and schools across the country.

In the new program participating schools and nonprofit groups pay $295 in annual dues, plus an administrative fee and UPS charges on prepackaged gift assortments. The products themselves are free. Every other month, participants receive a mini-catalog featuring at least five different gift assortments, covering such categories as office supplies, holiday decorations, clothing, maintenance items, children's items, computer software, and arts and crafts. Participants select the assortments they can use, paying an administrative fee ranging from $15 to $75 each. Values on the assortments run from $100 to $600. All first-year participants in the program are protected by a moneyback guarantee. For free information on the new "Member's Choice" program, phone NAEIR toll-free at 800/562-0955 or fax a request to 309/343-0862.

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Learn about successful distance education

A new guide for educators attempts a new solution to the increasing demands for program access when faced with reduced financial and human resources.

The solution is distance education. When instruction is delivered at a distance, however, students have few, if any, opportunities to interact with teachers outside of class. Instead, they must rely on technology to bridge the gap, writes Barry Willis, editor of Distance Education: Strategies and Tools.

If a distance education program is to succeed, educators must:

• Learn about their distant students with little first-hand experience or face-to-face contact.

• Adapt teaching styles and course content to the needs of multiple, often diverse, audiences.

• Work to understand delivery technology, while remaining focused on their teaching role.

• Function effectively as a skilled facilitator as well as content provider.

Copies of Distance Education: Strategies and Tools are available for $39.95 (prepaid) from Educational Technology Publications, 700 Palisade Ave., Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632.

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NSBA publishes best practices on preparing kids for the workplace

A new publication from NSBA describes how school districts are responding to the major challenges related to preparing students for tomorrow's shifting workplace needs.

Learning by Doing: How School Districts are Preparing Students for the New American Workplace is the title of this new publication. Its primary information source is a survey of districts nationwide belonging to NSBA's National Affiliate Program. The results have been carefully organized to provide local boards with ready access to information on this topic.

In three key sections, this work reviews survey findings and outlines the steps needed to ensure that students are equipped to excel.

Copies are $18 ($14.40 for National Affiliate members) plus $5 shipping and handling, and may be ordered from NSBA Distribution Center, P.O. Box 161, Annapolis Jct., MD 20701, 800/706-6722.

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Get Internet guide

More teachers every day are discovering the educational potential of the Internet, according to the Educational Research Service (ERS). The most common classroom uses of computer online services are encyclopedias, news retrieval services, weather information, educational databases, pen pal exchanges, and scientific databases.

Students in Minnesota, for example, used the Internet to invite schools from other locations to send information on signs of spring (first robin, first thunderstorm, and the like) to track spring's northward march. A seventh-grader in Washington, DC, writes about how her E-mail messages to friends in Australia, Slovenia, and Argentina have helped her understand the similarities of people across the globe.

The ERS has published The Internet Manual for School Users, which lists Internet sites of special interest to students. Copies are $16 ($8 for ERS members) each, plus shipping and handling charges of $3.50 or 10 percent of the total on large orders, from ERS, 703/243-2100.

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Order school media center disaster plan handbook

The Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) has developed and published the School Library Media Center Disaster Response Plan Handbook. This 64-page guide is designed to help school library media specialists know what to do (and not do) before, during, and after a disaster such as fire, water, earthquake, tornado, or bomb threat. Modeled on plans already in place in Illinois, the handbook explores potential hazards, and actions before and after disasters.

Copies can be purchased from ISLMA at the following rate (including shipping and handling to a single address): 1-9 copies at $15 each; 10-50 copies at $13.50 each; 50 and over at $12.75 each. Checks should be made payable to ISLMA and sent to ISLMA, P.O. Box 598, Canton, IL 61520.

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Graduation rate for black students on rise

More black young people are finishing high school than in the past, while graduation rates are holding steady among whites and Hispanics, the Census Bureau recently reported.

About 75 percent of black students completed high school in 1993, the bureau said. That was up from 67 percent two decades earlier. During the same period, graduation rates remained unchanged for whites, at 83 percent, and Hispanics at 61 percent.

"Although the difference in the high school completion rates is narrowing between African-Americans and whites, and college enrollments are improving for both groups, the gap in college enrollment has not decreased," said census statistician Rosalind Bruno.

In fact, the gap seems to have grown.

In 1993 about 42 percent of white high school graduates were enrolled in college, compared to 33 percent of blacks. Twenty years earlier the difference was only 6 percent: that is, 30 percent of whites and 24 percent of blacks.

Between 1973 and 1993, the percentage of Hispanics--who can be of any race- -enrolled in college rose from 29 percent to 36 percent.

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Restructuring linked to learning

A nationwide study of more than 11,000 high school students at 820 schools has found "clear links between school restructuring and improved student learning," researchers have found.

Their report, available at no charge from a university publishing center, studied 30 reform practices that were included in the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS). Study results were summarized in the March 1995 ERS Bulletin. The report noted that "the gap between the achievement gains of students of high and low socio-economic status was smallest in the restructured schools."

Single copies of High School Restructuring and Student Achievement (16 pages, Issues in Restructuring Schools No. 7, Fall 1994) are available free from the Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1025 W. Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706; phone 608/263- 7575.

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Experience means more to employers than does education, survey finds

American businesses don't think American schools and colleges are doing a good enough job preparing young people for the workplace. This is the finding of a nationwide survey conducted by the Census Bureau for the U.S. Education Department.

The survey found that in hiring workers, employers tend to disregard grades and school evaluations, and instead rely more on the job applicant's work experience, attitude and behavior.

"What's really scary is that you have the education folks and the employment folks--the supply side and the demand side--and they don't understand each other's language," said Nevzer Stacy of the federal Education Department.

"Employers have given up on the schools, and by giving up, they've lost their ability to influence them." Wth more than 3,000 employers surveyed, respondents said 20 percent of their employees are not fully proficient in their jobs. Only one-fifth of employers said more than 95 percent of their employees are fully proficient.

The survey discounts the prediction that jobs were to become more drone- like, with lower levels of skill needed. Instead 57 percent of employers said the skill requirements of their workplaces had increased over the past three years. Only 5 percent said requirements decreased.

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Parent's lack of education is linked to retardation; finding prompts new program

The children of uneducated mothers are more prone to mild retardation than other children, according to researchers. Mothers who have not completed high school have four times as great a chance to have mildly retarded children than mothers with more formal education.

That finding was arrived at independently by two separate studies-- performed by the University of Miami and by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)--released in March.

In response to those findings, the federal government will undertake a national pilot project to test the impact and feasibility of operating a "Head Start" program for babies and toddlers up to age 3.

Known as Project BEGIN, it will start in 1997, offering day-care to about 2,500 healthy infants in 10 cities. The program will serve children deemed at risk of mental retardation, and will also track the progress of a control group not being offered the Head Start-type services.

"I believe this nation can make a difference in the lives of children by helping to facilitate their early health and learning environments," said Dr. David Satcher, executive director of the CDC.

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Survey: Kids are confused about health, don't eat vegetables

Despite the American obsession with slenderness, many U.S. kids don't know which foods to eat to keep themselves, strong, lean and healthy. More than half of schoolchildren think apple juice has more fat than whole milk, according to Scholastic, Inc., which published the findings of a recent survey by the American Health Foundation, a private New York-based organization. (Apple juice contains no fat.)

More than 3,000 children in grades two through six completed the survey, which found that:

• One-quarter of children surveyed do not eat fresh fruits or vegetables every day.
  
• Fifteen percent said cheese was a good source of fiber. (It's not.)
  
• Only 16 percent knew that fiber reduced the risk of cancer.
  
• Thirty-six percent said watermelon (which has no fat) contains more fat than cheese. Source: The Associated Press
  

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Students increase use of condoms, data indicates

American high school students have remained rather constant in terms of their sexual activity over the past few years, but sexually active students increasingly have used condoms, according to a new federal study.

The proportion of students who say they used condoms the last time they had intercourse rose from 46.2 percent in 1991 to 52.8 percent in 1993, said the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.). Sexually active young women are being more outspoken in demanding that their partners wear condoms, according to Dr. Lloyd Kolbe, director of adolescent and school health at the C.D.C. Referendum results

The February 28 consolidated primary election offered few school finance issues, matching the number of proposals on the ballot in February 1991, with three. Just as in 1991, all three proposed tax rate increases were defeated.

Voters rejected suggested tax rate increases in: Bloom High School District 206, in Cook and Will Counties; Flossmoor Elementary District 161, in Cook County; and Morton High School District 201, in Cook County. Only Flossmoor District 161's tax referendum came close, falling roughly 220 votes short.

The consolidated primary, held only in odd numbered years, typically is not used for many public policy questions because it is not available to most school boards. The April consolidated elections are another matter. They usually attract scores of school board referendums. Watch for the results of those elections in May.

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Barb Wheeler is elected NSBA Secretary/Treasurer

IASB Past President Barb Wheeler was elected NSBA Secretary/Treasurer Monday, April 3, during the annual meeting of NSBA. She was running from the floor, against long odds, it seems, because few non-slated candidates are ever elected to NSBA leadership posts.

Barb, who is already a member of NSBA's Board of Directors, was elected on the second ballot. Thanks to all who helped with her grassroots campaign-- including the lobbying help provided by Illinois delegates, board members and staff attending the conference.

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Cole Award entries invited

Does your local newspaper do a great job of covering local school board issues? Then you may want to give the beat reporter some positive reinforcement by encouraging her or him to enter articles in the 1994 Robert M. Cole Award Competition.

The annual awards, sponsored by IASB and named in honor of the Association's first executive director, are part of the Illinois Press Association's newspaper contest. Entries will be judged in July, with presentations made in the fall. The deadline for entry is June 17. For more information contact the Illinois Press Association, 701 South Grand Avenue West, Springfield, IL 62704.

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Finds low-bid law does not apply to WCSIT and ISDA coverage renewal

Some have asked whether school districts' renewal of their workers' compensation and property/casualty coverages are subject to the low-bid requirements of the School Code. According to Dean Conlin, partner in the law firm of Lord, Bissell & Brook, the general counsel for the Workers' Compensation Self-Insurance Trust (WCSIT) and the Illinois School District Agency (ISDA), the answer is no.

Attorney Conlin's advice on the subject was quoted in an April 3 letter to IASB from Kimberly A.S. Kobos, vice president of operations for Hinz Professional Insurance Program Managers, Chicago. Kobos said "members of the WCSIT and ISDA are not subject to the bidding requirements of the Illinois School Code contained in section 10-20.21 with respect to such renewals.

This section requires school districts to award all contracts for goods and services in excess of $10,000 to the lowest responsible bidder, subject to several exceptions including `contracts for goods or services procured from another governmental agency.'"

Kobos said Conlin believes that WCSIT and ISDA qualify as governmental agencies. "Therefore, even assuming that the school districts would be subject to section 10-20.21 if they were renewing coverage in a commercial insurer, they are not subject to these bidding requirements when renewing coverage with the WCSIT and ISDA," Kobos added.

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National coalition for sex equity announces 16th training conference

"Building bridges to equity," is the theme for the 16th annual equity in education training conference scheduled July 16-19, in Boise, Idaho. The four-day conference will feature keynote speakers on current issues, over forty concurrent sessions on a wide array of topics, and time for networking with leading gender equity experts.

Registration, which includes most meals, is $230. Conference registration packets are now available. For more information or registration materials, contact Barbara Eisenbarth, 208/334-2186 or Connie Thorngren, 208/385-1531.

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NSBA offers technology briefing

An intensive three-day seminar on the latest technology tools available to today's educators, called "Technology & schools: A briefing for decision makers" has been scheduled by NSBA for May 10-12 in Indianapolis. The briefing is designed to give school leaders the basic information they need in order to make good technology decisions. It is sponsored by NSBA's Institute for the Transfer of Technology to Education.

Those who attend will take home a comprehensive notebook full of resource materials, and practical examples of other school districts' technology plans. The registration fee of $300 covers a lunch on May 11 and refreshment breaks.

For information or to register, call 800/950-6722.

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