***SPPS IN THE NEWS:
Some Schools Surprised by Obama Speech Controversy
Com Park Senior High School
9/4/2009
WCCO.com
http://wcco.com/video/?id=66430@wcco.dayport.com

Twin Cities charter schools feel funding pinch
With larger amounts of money deferred by the state, cash flow issues are seeping into day-to-day operations at charter schools.
9/7/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/57616077.html?elr=KArks:DCiUMcyaL_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

***OTHER DISTRICTS IN THE NEWS:
Live viewing of Obama speech to students banned at Becker School District
As you've heard, Pres. Obama is offering a speech to students of the nation's school on Tuesday, backed by curricular materials from the Department of Education, and Obama dislikers are complaining loudly that they don't want the schools to show it.
9/3/2009
MinnPost.com
http://www.minnpost.com/ericblack/2009/09/03/11327/live_viewing_of_obama_speech_to_students_banned_at_becker_school_district

East metro schools must decide how to handle Obama's speech
Local school districts are encountering an issue they've never faced before: whether to allow students to watch a presidential speech.
9/4/2009
Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/education/ci_13266120.html

Obama's back-to-school speech to students hits a nerve
DALLAS — President Barack Obama's back-to-school address next week was supposed to be a feel-good story for an administration battered over its health care agenda. Now Republican critics are calling it an effort to foist a political agenda on children, creating yet another confrontation with the White House.
9/4/2009
Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/ci_13265840.html

Pawlenty: Obama's school speech 'uninvited'
Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Friday questioned President Barack Obama's back-to-school speech slated for Tuesday, saying it's "uninvited."
9/4/2009
Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/politics/ci_13274721.html

Surge in Homeless Pupils Strains Schools
Charity is one child in a national surge of homeless schoolchildren that is driven by relentless unemployment and foreclosures. The rise, to more than one million students without stable housing by last spring, has tested budget-battered school districts as they try to carry out their responsibilities — and the federal mandate — to salvage education for children whose lives are filled with insecurity and turmoil.
9/5/2009
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/06/education/06homeless.html?ref=education

Dakota County / Tough times make tough bargaining for teachers
School districts getting less in state aid, property taxes
9/5/2009
Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/education/ci_13272629.html

New Irondale High School principal wants to help students better connect
he new leader at Irondale High School will take his cue from the woman he replaces.
9/6/2009
Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/education/ci_13284285.html

Fewer Fliers Sent Home as Schools Put More on Web
he back-to-school packets sent to all 7,800 students here in this hamlet on Long Island’s North Shore grew thicker each year with dozens of pages of notices, fliers and forms — adding up to more than $12,000 in postage alone last year.
9/7/2009
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/education/08mail.html?ref=education

Pearson Offers Competing Test in English as Second Language
Pearson, the British publishing company, has developed a test for English as a second language, seeking to compete with two nonprofit groups that currently dominate that fast-growing market.
9/7/2009
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/business/global/08pearson.html?ref=education

ELL Graduation Rates Often a Mystery
Across the country, high school graduation rates are bemoaned with regularity. But many states and districts aren’t even tracking the rate for the fastest-growing population of students, or if they are, they aren’t telling the public how many English-language learners are leaving school with a diploma.
9/8/2009
Edweek.org
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/09/04/03ellgrads.h29.html?tkn=[XUF3e4%2Fwe299eQipy4sRC9duwttQ40%2B8YYs

Panel Urges Engineering Be Added to Curriculum
Engineering studies, or lessons on how products are designed and built, have the potential to bolster student engagement and understanding in math and science, despite the topic’s relatively modest and undefined presence in the nation’s schools.
9/8/2009
Edweek.org
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/09/08/03engineering.h29.html?tkn=ZVYFPWOeTyyI4EPf9Y38tXg6vDqNTCgkoHpA

Schools Aided by Stimulus Money Still Facing Cuts
Children are returning to classrooms across the nation during one of the most tumultuous periods in American education, in which many thousands of teachers and other school workers — no one yet knows how many — were laid off in dozens of states because of plummeting state and local revenue. Many were hired back, thanks in part to $100 billion in federal stimulus money.
9/8/2009
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/education/08school.html?_r=1&ref=education

Farmington Unveils New 'Green' H.S. Building
Farmington High School kicked off the 2009-2010 school year with a brand new, environmentally-friendly school building.
9/8/2009
WCCO.com
http://wcco.com/education/farmington.green.school.2.1169842.html

***MISC. NEWS:
Anoka-Hennepin teacher disputes harassment report
An attorney for an Anoka-Hennepin teacher who was disciplined for harassing a student she thought was gay said she "does not in any way acknowledge harassing anybody."
9/3/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/57095542.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Minn. schools move to address protests over Obama's speech
St. Paul, Minn. — A presidential speech next week to the nation's students is causing Minnesota districts to scramble to figure out how - or whether - to show it.
9/4/2009
Minnesota Public Radio
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/09/03/obama-schools-speech/

Minnesota schools scramble to deal with Obama's address to kids
President Obama wants a friendly little chat with kids all over the nation Tuesday to encourage them to work hard in school, but some parents don't like the idea.
9/4/2009
MinnPost.com
http://www.minnpost.com/stories/2009/09/03/11322/minnesota_schools_scramble_to_deal_with_obamas_address_to_kids

Minnesota's schools should help often-overlooked gifted students shine
In recent years, the education debate has become increasingly politicized. Whether we're talking about No Child Left Behind, vouchers, charter schools or Q-Comp, the future of Minnesota's educational system relies now more than ever on decisions made largely along party lines.
9/4/2009
MinnPost.com
http://www.minnpost.com/community_voices/2009/09/04/11269/minnesotas_schools_should_help_often-overlooked_gifted_students_shine

National Democrats pan Pawlenty's 'dis' of Obama speech
9/4/2009
MinnPost.com
http://www.minnpost.com/politicalagenda/2009/09/04/11343/national_democrats_pan_pawlentys_dis_of_obama_speech

Obama address to kids prompts political dustup
The leader of the state’s largest teachers’ union is urging teachers and the public to contact their school superintendents and ask them to show President Obama's back-to-school address to students Tuesday.
9/4/2009
MinnPost.com
http://www.minnpost.com/politicalagenda/2009/09/03/11319/obama_address_to_kids_prompts_political_dustup

No fair: Flu sends 4-H'ers home early
The performers in the Minnesota State Fair's annual 4-H musical knew something was awry earlier this week, when they were told to skip the tradition of greeting audience members with a handshake after the show.
9/4/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/56924807.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Parents, schools wary of Obama back-to-school speech
Local and national politics are getting in the way of President Obama's plans to address students across the nation on the importance of education.
9/4/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/politics/57109857.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Pawlenty supports parents wary of Obama school speech
It's not wrong for a president to speak on education, the governor said, but he questions the content and Obama's motive.
9/4/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/57249992.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Editorial: What is Obama flap teaching our kids?
Lessons are rooted in extreme partisanship, lack of respect for office.
9/5/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/editorials/57388027.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:UthPacyPE7iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

Readers write for Saturday, Sept. 5
9/5/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/letters/57388427.html?elr=KArksc8P:Pc:UHDaaDyiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr

School boards agonize over going to voters
The school district will ask voters this fall to renew an existing operating levy for another eight years. The levy collects $545 per pupil and currently generates about $4.3 million a year.
9/5/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/south/57575887.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUr

Teen shot to death near Minneapolis Back to School Bash
Two groups outside the Minneapolis nightclub clashed before the Inver Grove Heights boy was killed, police say.
9/5/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/east/57432632.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU

Minnesota schools plan harder year
Students will face more challenging classes as U.S. education tries to catch up to worldwide peers and meet the demands of businesses and colleges.
9/6/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/east/57572062.html?elr=KArks:DCiUocOaL_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

Authorities Stress Bus Safety As School Starts
Minnesota public safety officials are reminding motorists to be mindful of school buses and pedestrians as kids are heading back to school.
9/7/2009
WCCO.com
http://wcco.com/education/bus.safety.school.2.1168039.html

A closing school discovers a piece of its history
Golden Valley, Minn. — It's a bittersweet occasion as Sandburg Middle School in Golden Valley marks its 50th anniversary -- because the school is also closing.
9/8/2009
Minnesota Public Radio
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/09/06/sandburg/

Hybrid school buses are rolling, but not in Minnesota
A federal program to develop plug-in hybrid diesel school buses is being tried out in a number of states, but Minnesota parents will have to watch and wait until next year.
9/8/2009
MinnPost.com
http://www.minnpost.com/markneuzil/2009/09/08/11344/hybrid_school_buses_are_rolling_but_not_in_minnesota

Schools prepared as ground zero in battle against two flu's this season
Public health officials are readying for an increase in H1N1 infections as more than 800,000 Minnesota youth return to school — mostly today — and start swapping snacks, trading pencils and sharing germs.
9/8/2009
Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/education/ci_13288234.html

Obama's controversial message? Work hard, stay in school
A transcript of today's address shows Obama plans to follow the lead of previous presidents.
9/8/2009
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/politics/57663352.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUycaEacyUs

Obama’s speech to students not a concern among local districts
President Barack Obama’s scheduled talk to students Tuesday, Sept. 8, has caused a fury of reactions from parents, schools and politicians.
9/8/2009
The Bemidji Pioneer
http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100011440/

St. Paul Police Opens School Patrol Display
Officials say that 88 years ago, St. Paul started the first school patrol program in the country. The St. Paul Police Historical Society is opening a new exhibit Tuesday dedicated to youngsters who have served as school safety patrols.
9/8/2009
WCCO.com
http://wcco.com/education/police.school.patrol.2.1169592.html

Prepared Remarks of President Barack Obama Back to School Event
9/8/2009
whitehouse.gov
http://www.whitehouse.gov/MediaResources/PreparedSchoolRemarks/