The Plain Dealer
12/20/2007
Scott Stephens
Plain Dealer Reporter
There’s an old joke that the only thing Rip Van Winkle would recognize after years of slumber is the American high school.
On Wednesday, the local philanthropic community decided to give old Rip a wake-up call.
The Cleveland Foundation and the George Gund Foundation have pledged $1.65 million to the Cleveland school […]

 12/20/2007
By Simone Sebastian and Encarnacion Pyle
The Columbus Dispatch
Columbus Superintendent Gene Harris’ plan to eliminate middle schools is “revolutionary,” according to the school-board president. But some district residents call it “a slap in the face.”
Yesterday, parents and officials weighed the pros and cons of the proposal Harris unveiled Tuesday night.
In the Linden area, which would […]

 Washington Times
12/19/07
By Tommy Thompson/Roy Barnes
Yesterday, across the United States, more than 7,000 students dropped out of school. And the same number will drop out tomorrow, and the next day.
This statistic is staggering, to be sure, but it’s not the only worrisome one. Every day we see evidence we are also letting down far too many […]

 The Columbus Dispatch
12/19/2007
By Simone Sebastian and Dean Narciso
Superintendent Gene Harris wants to eliminate middle schools in the Columbus school district and house seventh- and eighth-graders in high schools instead, she announced at yesterday’s school board meeting.
Under the plan, students would attend elementary schools from preschool through sixth grade.
Schools in the Linden neighborhood would be the […]

 The New York Times
December 19, 2007
By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN
When Shawn Carson taught last year at a middle school named the South Bronx Academy for Applied Media, he entered his room on many days to find a message from his students on the blackboard. In graphic and vulgar language, as he recalled in a recent interview, […]