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These days, choice is a word that’s frequently heard in discussions of public education. If parents don’t like the local traditional public school, they can investigate charter schools, private schools, or neighboring public school districts with open-enrollment options. However, all this choice has resulted in hard times for some of the nation’s public schools, which are facing dwindling student populations and subsequently dwindling funds.

In an attempt to fight the tide of dwindling student populations and to prevent more students from leaving, some public schools are putting their efforts into marketing campaigns designed to sell prospective students and their families on the virtues of their neighborhood public schools. Below, we look at this surprising trend.

Why Do ��������s Need Marketing Campaigns?

Charter Schools

Although school districts can attribute some of their declining enrollment numbers to inter-district transfers or students choosing to attend private schools, the reality is that the explosive growth of charter schools is the main cause of public schools�� enrollment woes.

According to , there are currently more than 3,500 charter schools in the U.S., and more than one million public school students attend a charter school rather than a traditional public school.

Charter schools are very popular with politicians from both sides of the political spectrum, and many state legislatures are pushing to lift caps on the number of charter schools that are allowed. The result is that more and more students are enrolling in charters rather than

The question of whether public school teachers in the K-12 system should be protected by the system of tenure is a highly controversial one. It is also an extremely important question at the present moment. A changing world economy and increased focus on our nation’s education system are bringing teacher tenure into the spotlight, and some say it is a tradition that may be outdated.

The Good: Why Some Argue that Tenure is Important

Protects teachers from being fired for personal or political reasons

As a 2008 magazine article on teacher tenure notes, one of the most significant results of teacher tenure is that it makes firing teachers “a difficult and costly process.�� A tenured teacher cannot be fired on the whim of a school administrator; charges will need to be filed, evaluations submitted, and hearings held. Many teachers believe that the job security tenure provides is important because it prevents teachers from being fired for reasons of favoritism or local or district politics.

Gives teachers the freedom to experiment or support controversial causes

Many say that tenure is important for teachers to delve into potentially untraditional topics. A high school social studies teacher, Alan Singer wrote recently for the about how he helped students form clubs which “testified in public hearings against budget cuts in education and in favor of condom availability in schools.�� Without the protection that tenure offered, Singer argues, he would not have felt

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 , 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 �������� System will soon be foregoing traditional textbooks as well. As the educational technology publication

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 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 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 . 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