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Schools in one of the largest school districts in the country recently celebrated the fruit of their labor - with cash that can be used to further improvements at high achieving schools. The Hawaii State Department of Education distributed $1 million in one-time grant funding to deserving schools that have showed marked improvement and academic progress. The grants were offered under the new Strive HI awards, with money from a “Race to the Top” federal grant received in 2010.

According to a at the Hawaii State Department of Education website, 32 schools received one-time grants of varying amounts. Schools were chosen for the awards based on academic progress over two consecutive years, allowing the hardest working schools to receive additional funding to continue their improvement efforts. Award amounts ranged $12,500 to $100,000 for the highest performing schools throughout the islands.

“We are proud to be able to financially recognize the hard work of the teachers, students and staff of these schools,” Kathryn Matayoshi, superintendent of Hawaii schools, stated in the news release. “The Strive Hi awards reflect that the department is not only focused on intervention in current priority schools, but also encourages other schools across the islands to keep striving high.”

And the Winners Are…

lists the recipients of the $100,000 grants, which include:

• Hilo Intermediate School
• King Intermediate School
• Moanalua Middle School
• Halau Ku Mana Public Charter School (Oahu)

All of these

Parents send their children to school daily with the full expectation of learning literature, mathematics, science, and history – subjects that will help them advance their life goals and ambitions. However, in districts nationwide, children learn subjects their parents disagree with. When such a controversial curriculum is taught in public schools today, it typically raises concerns among students, parents, and teachers. Check out these three subjects that have come under significant scrutiny – and even wrath – in some schools today.

Does Bible Teaching Violate Separation of Church and State?

The teaching of the Bible as literature has ruffled the feathers of educators, parents, and lawmakers in school districts around the country. Texas is currently grappling with the debate over introducing the Bible into schools as a new study from Southern Methodist University explores the constitutionality of such teaching. The study, authored by Dr. Mark A. Chancey, targets a class at Eastland High School in Eastland, Texas.

According to the , Dr. Chancey has used this new study to examine a class taught by Gay Hart at Eastland. Based upon Dr. Chancey’s assessment, the Eastlan class would not pass constitutional muster. Hart’s class explores the Bible and other religious teachings, including Judaism and Muslimism. However, the Bible is the primary focus of the class. Hart sent Dr. Chancey some of her teaching material to participate in the study. However, Hart stated that Dr. Chancey never visited her class before making his assessments.

Now that the sequester has officially gone into effect, many are wondering how spending cuts will impact the public school system across the country. While federal funding cuts would not take effect for any schools until the new school year begins in the fall, concerns are now in educators', parents', students', and community members' minds. In fact, some districts are already taking steps to make appropriate adjustments in case federal funding does not come as planned.

What is the Sequester?

The sequester is a series of budget cuts that were enacted by the Budget Control Act and signed by President Obama in August 2011. The budget cuts were designed to incentivize Congress to find a solution to the country’s debt crisis. They were never meant to go into effect, but a stalemate in Congress has led to the implementation of the dreaded sequester.

According to the Huffington Post, the sequester impacts most current government spending. The U.S. military and national security operations will see about $550 billion of the $1.2 trillion in cuts. The rest will be cut from domestic programs, including unemployment benefits, health care – and education. Due to how the sequester was set up, some areas of federal funding, such as Medicare, social security, and money spent on wars, will see no impact.

The sequester took effect on March 1 at 11:59 p.m. Congress could still minimize the impact of the new law by coming to an agreement on a different approach to balancing the

Denver 51����s Buck Trend, Plug School-to-Prison Pipeline

At a time when many public schools across the country are working to add a police presence to the school environment, Denver 51����s is seeking to do the opposite. As one of the largest school districts in the country, in a state that has seen more than its share of violence, this system is bucking the trend in an effort to plug the school-to-prison pipeline. With the help of a local activist group, the school district is changing its policies on school discipline and the involvement of the criminal justice system within the school system.

New Policy, New Discipline Procedures

reports that Denver 51����s recently signed an agreement with the local police department to change the way discipline is handled within the schools in the 84,000-student district. At a time when many school districts across the country are adding police in response to the recent Newtown tragedy, DPS is stepping back its police influence in its schools. The agreement states that school resource officers (Denver police officers working in the schools) must make a distinction between crimes committed in schools and incidents that can be handled by traditional means of school discipline.

In addition to this new policy, school resource officers must undergo annual training to help them stay up to date on these issues. School administrators will also be required to participate in the training, to ensure everyone involved in