Public School Policies

E-books, some say, are the words of the future. The Kindle, the iPad, and other electronic reading devices are signaling the end of the print era.

Colleges and universities across the country have begun experimenting with using e-textbooks, rather than printed textbooks, to deliver course content. Now, the K-12 public school system is getting on the e-text bandwagon too, as several state legislatures make moves to support the use of electronic textbooks in their state’s public schools.

This video from Fox News reports on ebooks versus physical textbooks.

States Move to Adopt Digital Textbooks

Texas

In Texas, for example, the legislature adopted a bill in 2009 that provided funds for school districts and charter schools to purchase the technology necessary for e-textbooks. This bill also gave school districts and charter schools the necessary flexibility to adopt e-textbooks instead of traditional textbooks.

The bill also allowed school districts to be reimbursed by the state for 50% of the savings they incurred from the switch from regular textbooks to e-texts. As Texas Senator Jeff Wentworth reports in a guest column for the website My San Antonio, school districts may use the reimbursement they receive from the state to purchase educational technology, such as computers, if they choose.

Indiana

Twelve schools in the Indianapolis Public School System will soon be foregoing traditional textbooks as well. As the educational technology publication The

Could your child’s public school be playing “big brother” to its students? For some students, their schools just may be spying on them – even in the comfort and privacy of their own homes.

In February, a Pennsylvania Court faced a case where a public school was accused of spying on students via the webcams attached to school-issued laptops.

According to the initial complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the Lower Merion School District used remotely activated webcams on school-issued laptops to spy on students’ home activities. As CNN reports, the lawsuit claims that Blake J. Robbins, a student at Harriton Senior High School, became aware of the spying in November 2009, when an assistant principal told Robbins that he had been caught via the webcam engaging in “improper behavior” in his home.

This video reports the story referred to above.

It is yet unknown what the boy was doing in his bedroom or whether he received disciplinary action from the school. Nevertheless, the case is receiving widespread national attention and prompted nationwide concerns from students and parents.

The School District’s Response

Webcams Used Only for Locating Missing Laptops

The school district has issued a letter to parents admitting that spyware was installed on the laptops that the schools issued to students but maintaining that the feature “was only used for the

Despite our modern approach to education, physical discipline is still being used in public school classrooms in America. Parents nationwide are expressing concern over the use of seclusion and restraint in public school classrooms. A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, released in May 2009, revealed that between 1990 and 2009, there had been “hundreds of allegations” of abuse involving restraint or seclusion, according to USA Today. In Texas and California alone, a combined 33,095 students were secluded or restrained in the school year leading up to the report’s issuance.

Restraint Practices

The restraint practices described in the May 2009 report could sometimes verge on what could be called child abuse. Restraint practices are commonly used to deal with students who have behavioral or emotional problems.

In one New York school, a 9-year-old with learning disabilities was confined to a “small, dirty room” 75 times over the course of six months as a consequence of his “whistling, slouching, and hand-waving,” reports the USA Today. Meanwhile, in Texas, a 14-year-old boy who would not stay seated in his special-education classroom died when his teacher restrained him by lying on top of him.

This video looks at the issue of restraint and seclusion.

Lack of Regulation

According to concerned parents, there is a lack of federal and state regulations addressing seclusion and restraint practices in public schools. In May 2009, USA

Detroit Public Schools Community District students once posted some of the lowest math scores in the history of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. In 2026, the district is no longer governed by the same emergency management structure described in the original article, but test scores, graduation rates, and academic recovery remain central concerns for parents, educators, and policymakers.

To further complicate the issue, Detroit Public Schools historically fought an internal battle with Emergency Finance Manager Robert Bobb. Detroit public school teachers, administrators, parents, and school board members were upset about Bobb’s directive, outlining that all students in the district take an additional standardized test that year.

The issue of whether students should have to take that test, on top of the STARS, MEAP, PSAT, SAT, and ACT tests that they already took, was part of a larger battle for control of academic decisions between the Detroit school board and Bobb. Today, Michigan’s testing system has changed. The MEAP has been replaced by the Michigan Department of Education M-STEP, and Michigan students also participate in other state assessments, including PSAT, SAT, and MI-Access testing.

Parents who want a broader context about the district can also read Public School Review’s Detroit Schools: An Overview.

Why Did Detroit Schoolchildren Need a New Standardized Test?

Steve Wasko, DPS Executive Director of Public Relations, said that the standardized test Bobb ordered, the Quarterly Benchmark Assessment, or QBA, would be used to

Amidst historical snowfall, school districts across America are struggling to decide how to make up the classroom time that has been lost to snowstorms.

Although many school districts have a built-in number of “inclement weather make-up days,” the unexpectedly brutal snowstorms of the past few weeks have exceeded the pre-allocated snow days. Additionally, many school administrators are worried that a large number of missed days is needed to adequately prepare students for spring’s impending standardized tests. In the coming weeks, school boards and school districts in various states will be meeting to consider how best to address this problem.

This video reports on how New York City schools will handle snow days during the 2022-23 school year.

Proposed Solutions to Snow Days

The options that school districts have thus far proposed to make up the missed days include:

Adding Days to the End of the Year

Various school districts are planning to make up the missed days by extending the last day of school in June past its planned date. In an online poll of Des Moines, Iowa residents addressing the question of how to make up the unusually high number of snow days experienced this year, the fourth most popular option (out of six choices) was adding days to the end of the school year.

Lengthening the School Day

Alexandria, Virginia’s superintendent has issued a letter to parents, recommending adding “significant