Extra Credit Reading: Monday, October 16, 2006

The movement to ban junk food in public schools has gone international.

For the first time since federal troops escorted nine black students to Central High School some 49 years ago, the school board in Little Rock, Arkansas has an African-American majority.

A firestorm of controversy has erupted over the Washington D.C. school system's decision to adopt Everyday Math.

Oh, dear... with some 31 players having been suspended for fighting intead of playing, it looks as though FootBrawl is catching-on down in the Sunsine State. (I wonder how many of these pampered jocks young men recieved a comment on their elementary school report card such as, "has difficulty playing with others...")

The Wanker of the Day Award goes to... just-resigned Minnesota school principal Wade Pilloud, who may be arrested and charged for shooting two kittens while on school property and with students within hearing of the gunshots:

INDUS, Minn. (AP) - A school principal has resigned and could face felony firearm charges after he shot and killed two orphaned kittens on school property last month.

Wade Pilloud, who resigned as principal of the K-12 Indus school, 40 miles west of International Falls, said he shot the kittens to spare them from starving to death after their mother was killed in an animal trap.

Pilloud said the shooting, which occurred on school grounds, endangered no one.

"I have bred cats, and I currently own two myself," he wrote Friday in an e-mail to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. "I am not a cat hater. I did not want the animals to suffer."

The incident happened Sept. 21, and several students still on the grounds for after-school activities heard the shots.

"There were parents who felt, apparently some rather strongly, that there were concerns about the safety of their children," said Joseph Flynn, an attorney for the South Koochiching/Rainy River School District. "The district's position is that safety was not compromised."

John Mastin, acting sheriff in Koochiching County, said Pilloud could be charged with felony possession of a firearm on school property and reckless discharge of a firearm, a misdemeanor.

County Attorney Jennifer Hasbargen said Friday that the case was under review.

Mastin said the shooting put no one in danger but said Pilloud used "poor discretion and poor timing," especially amid the growing fear of gun violence in schools.

Indeed.

Here's some news from the Iraq Civil War, where even school girls and female student-teachers are now innocent casualties. With many staff and students now afraid to attend classes and teachers going unpaid for months, the Iraqi school system is in a state of near collapse.

In a note from the home front, if you're a married American, you're now in the minority.

Sadly, it seems as though violence in some of New York City's schools is becoming a permanent fact of life. While going to and from school, good kids are now being attacked by vicious packs of young miscreants in training troubled youths in need of a taste of their own medicine serious help.

OMG! Katie Couric's got a Blog! (Whenever we hear Katie's name, our PerkyMeter goes insane.) ---------------------------------See our latest EduPosts here and yesterday's Extra Credit Reading there.