On April 27, a 16-year-old boy allegedly fired two shots inside North Thurston High School in Lacey, Washington. He probably never expected what happened next: He was tackled by teacher Brady Olson.Olson put his life on the line to save his students. When everyone ran away from the shooter, Olson ran toward the shooter to stop him.The popular civics teacher is being hailed as a hero. But in a statement released to the press, he said, “As always, students come first, and today was no different.”This happens over and over again. We see and hear stories of teacher heroics on a nearly regular basis. But whether they are standing between attackers and students, listening to students’ heartbreaking stories, or finding lunch money for a kid who has none, teacher heroics are more common than we realize.To be sure, like any other profession, education has its share of incompetence. There are some teachers and administrators who should not be in the profession. No one disputes that. But the ones who share Olson’s belief that ‘students come first’ are the keepers, the ones who often don’t get enough credit for all the good they do. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that Mr. Olson probably has performed some heroics before, on many other levels, like almost every other teacher I know.They all deserve our thanks, not just during this Teacher Appreciation Week, but all year long.After the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, I wrote a piece for CNN titled “Above all, teachers are in it for the kids.” It seems appropriate to revisit that article this week. It summarizes my views on teacher heroics, but I think I’m not the only person who feels this way. Read it and let me know your thoughts.In the meantime, teachers, thank you for all you do. You are heroes, everyday.
by Harvey Rice O ne college professor found his students so hopeless that he flunked them all and quit the course. In an email to his management class at Texas A&M Galveston, professor Irwin Horwitz came down hard.”I am frankly and completely disgusted. You all lack the honor and maturity to live up to the standards that Texas A&M holds, and the competence and/or desire to do the quality work necessary to pass the course just on a grade level,” he wrote, according to Inside Higher Ed. “I will no longer be teaching the course, and [you] all are being awarded a failing grade.”RELATED: Meanest things said about Houston college teachersIn the message, Horwitz said students had cheated, told him to “chill out,” called him a “[expletive] moron” and spread false rumors about him online. He told KPRC news he even felt unsafe in the classroom at times, and had never thought so low of a class in his 20 years as a college professor.Read the rest of the story on Chron.com.
by Danielle Douglas-Gabriel
Federal authorities are investigating Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and a $20.5 million contract the district awarded on a no-bid basis to a training academy that formerly employed her, sources said.The CPS inspector general’s office began an investigation into the contract with north suburban-based SUPES Academy and Byrd-Bennett’s relationship to the company in 2013, a source said. The U.S. attorney’s office then started its own probe, and a grand jury has been reviewing evidence for at least a year, the source said.CPS officials have discussed the possibility of appointing an interim CEO depending on the outcome of the investigation, a source said. Byrd-Bennett, who was appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in October 2012, attended a regularly scheduled meeting at CPS headquarters Wednesday and remains in her post.Read the rest of the story at the Chicago Tribune
MAYA KOSOFF
By Madeline Will
by Lyndsey Layton
Dr. Berger: Audrey you are known for your transparent and honest approach to education in general. If I am a school/district leader what should I glean from the continued and overwhelming investment being poured into edtech and how should I frame my school’s needs in relation to the costs of these ventures and innovation?
By Kristin Decarr