Will Your Child Need to Volunteer to Graduate?

In light of the recent recession, many schools are being forced to cope with serious budget cuts and impending financial setbacks. As a result, some schools with more grave financial needs may be forced to either close down or shift a majority of their student population to alternative surrounding schools.

Adding to budgetary issues, many public schools are beginning to reassign students to ensure that everyone receives equal educational opportunities, regardless of one’s socioeconomic status. Ultimately, all parents are beginning to wonder: Will public schools soon reassign my child?

The New Wave of School Re-Assignments

School Budgets

In areas that have been severely impacted by local job loss and recession struggles, schools may be forced to cope with such setbacks by closing various campuses and / or removing teacher positions.

For example, Detroit’s automobile industry layoffs have severely hindered the local economy, and the region currently holds the nation’s highest unemployment rate. As a result, these former tax-paying residents are no longer receiving their standard income. Ultimately, without taxable steady incomes, schools lose funding, as a large portion of public school funds are provided by income and property taxes from local residents.

Adding to the burdens of local lay-offs, many unemployed workers may relocate to a new area to seek work. Not only does this reduce tax dollars contributed to school funding, but the number of students in each district falls as well. With a decrease in the student population, schools

Standardized testing has become a widely adopted approach to measure student progress and performance – and based upon some of President Obama’s proposals, more tests may be on the horizon for your child. In fact, the federal initiative No Child Left Behind even made standardized testing mandatory for all public schools.

While standardized testing may be one way to effectively measure student learning, many educators argue that students spend far too much time in school simply learning how to take tests. As a result, students and teachers lose out on more valuable lessons and complex instructional activities. Ultimately, leaders are looking ahead to see whether or not students will be forced to endure even more hours of rigorous testing.

Former School Testing Policies

Former President George W. Bush initially created his No Child Left Behind (NCLB) act in order to ensure that all public schools were effectively educating its students. As a result of NCLB, every public school was required to give their students specific subject area tests.

If students failed these tests, their school was put on an action plan and potentially lost some of its funding. On the other hand, if students passed these tests, their school was often financially rewarded with increased funding. While on the surface level, it appears as though NCLB would help reward successful schools, many experts argue that it has only severely punished kids who are in schools with lower budgets, less supplies, and larger class sizes.

With the startling rise in obesity among young children, many schools are striving to combat issues of weight and poor health by enforcing new dietary restrictions. For example, some schools are creating workout and wellness plans that help students lose weight through fun activities. Similarly, some schools are prohibiting their cafeterias from selling certain types of foods to prevent poor eating habits.

Ultimately, while all can agree that children are best served when they are at their optimal health and physical size, many individuals assert that the schools’ new focus on weight can lead to an array of mental and personal issues in young kids.

The Obesity Issue

According to reports, approximately 1 in 3 kids is considered to be overweight or obese. As the percentage of overweight children continues to rise at a startling rate, leaders are striving to seek out solutions to this serious crisis. According to Kids Health, children today are spending less time playing outdoors and engaging in physical activities due to the new appeals of technology, video games, and television. Subsequently, children are becoming lethargic, lazy, and large. Adding to the change in children’s activities, Kids Health further asserts that busy parents no longer have the time to prepare healthy and balanced meals: “From fast food to electronics, quick and easy is the reality for many people in the new millennium.”

This video suggests that school lunches and too much TV time play a role in childhood

Depending on your child’s school and state policies, your son or daughter may not be able to attend their first day of class until they’re fully vaccinated. In an attempt to reduce common illnesses and eliminate potentially fatal or harmful diseases, medical leaders have created mandates that command all kids to be vaccinated. According to many experts, students who are not vaccinated are susceptible to an array of prospective health issues.

While these regulations were created to help protect all children, many parents argue that the vaccines pose too many unknown risks. Ultimately, a new debate has emerged: are these mandatory vaccines helping or hurting our children?

Why Vaccinate?

According to CNN News, by the time a child is 2 years old, he or she has most likely been injected with over 20 vaccines to prevent various health problems. Aligning with this early treatment method, most public schools demand that all children are vaccinated for common child-related sicknesses, including vaccines to prevent illnesses such as:

• Mumps
• Measles
• Chickenpox
• Flu
• Meningitis
• Tetanus

In addition to a wide spectrum of other potential preventative vaccines, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) asserts that immunization regulations must be enforced to protect all children in society. Ultimately, with the support of vaccinations, medical leaders, along with CDCP, believe that optimal immunization against illnesses is the best way to prevent a widespread breakout of common contagious diseases. Since children are forced into a small classroom area with countless physical interactions in a given