VIRTUAL SCHOOLS GROWING
(August 17, 2007) eSchool News Online reports that between 500,000 and one million secondary students are enrolled in online courses. Many of these students were struggling in traditional classrooms but are doing much better academics in taking online courses.

HINTON GOES TO TRIAL/ TEEN TESTIFIES
(August 28, 2007) A weeklong trial is scheduled to begin Monday for the Royal Gorge Academy co-founder who faces allegations that he assaulted several teenagers who once attended the private boarding school. Randall Hinton, 32, is set to defend himself against seven counts of third-degree assault and two counts of false imprisonment. All charges Hinton faces are misdemeanors that carry potential jail time, if convicted. Testimony was provided Monday by a former Royal Gorge Academy student who described details of the alleged physical abuse he received on the part of the boarding school's co-director, Randall Hinton.

HIGH MARKS FOR INDIANA BOOT CAMP
(August 28, 2007) Auditors gave high marks in an independent analysis of Camp Summit, an Indiana Boot Camp, for positive attitudes, cleanliness and following policies and procedures. More...

A CRITICISM OF TEENSCREEN
(September 2007) Michael F. Shaughnessy, a senior columnist for EdNews.org interviewed writer, parent and researcher Doyle Mills about TeenScreen, a frequently used system to screen adolescents for tendencies toward suicide and serious acting out. The major criticism is it has no scientific validity, mostly creates paying clients for the Mental Health Industry, and violates parental informed consent laws.

HINTON VERDICT
(September 1, 2007) Canon City, CO. After a six-hour deliberation, a six-person jury found Randall Hinton - the project manager and co-founder of the Royal Gorge Academy boarding school - guilty of one count each of third-degree assault and false imprisonment. However, jurors felt there was enough reasonable doubt to find the defendant not guilty of four other counts of third-degree assault and one count of false imprisonment as the weeklong trial ended late Friday evening.

TEEN GIRLS SUICIDE RATE SPIKES
(September 7, 2007) In a report from the national Centers for Disease Control and prevention, a report showed that female teen suicide rates increased dramatically from 2003 to 2004. The report also indicated that in 2004 there were 4,599 suicides among young people. More...

TEENS ESCAPE FROM ACADEMY
(September 20, 2007) Four children, two boys and two girls are missing from the Gulf Coast Academy in Lucedale. Harold Dabel, the school administrator claimed the escape was planned, although boys and girls are kept segregated. Gulf Coast Academy is the most recent name for the teen boarding school. The Rev. Herman Fountain originally founded the school as the Bethel Children's Home in 1988. Student riots, runaways and charges of child abuse have plagued the school, which was closed in 1990, and reopened as the Bethel Boys Home. Later the name was changed to Eagle Point Christian Academy.

TEENS UNPREPARED FOR WORKFORCE
(September 20, 2007) The America's Promise Alliance (the Alliance) released "Under-Equipped and Unprepared: America's Emerging Workforce and the Soft Skills Gap," which finds that America's young people do not have the "soft skills," such as teamwork, conflict resolution, communication and leadership, that are necessary for success in the workforce.

UK VOTERS AGAINST PRIVATE EDUCATION
(September 24, 2007) The Independent Online news reported a poll concluding that "Only 29 percent of people believe parents should have the right to send their children to fee-paying schools." The main reason cited was an aversion to privilege in education.

PUBLIC PAY FOR PRIVATE TUITION
(October 1, 2007) An article in the Boston Globe Online regarding a case before the US Supreme Court regarding public payment for private tuition, reported "special education students placed in private schools at public expense has risen steadily, from about 2,012 pupils in 1996 to 71,082 in 2005, according to the US Department of Education."

ONLINE CHARTERS EXPANDING IN NEVADA
(October 1, 2007) The Las Vegas Sun discussed the rapid expansion of online charter schools in Nevada including the entry of national companies to meet the apparent demand from parents frustrated by the quality of public education and concerned about overcrowded classrooms, bullies and bored children in remedial classes.

EIA CONCERNED ABOUT NCLB
(October 5, 2007) Steve Pines, Executive Director of the Education Industry Association (EIA), Rockville MD, 800-252-3280, expressed concern about a move regarding the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind national education legislation to limit the role of for-profits in contracting with public education systems. "We simply ask Congress to allow for profit and non-profit organizations to compete on equal footing for school solutions and allow state and local procurement officials the flexibility to choose the partners that best meets their needs."

KIDS UNDER AGE 14 BINGE DRINKING
(October 10, 2007) The Telegraph in the UK announced that one in seven of people taken to the hospital in the UK for drinking too much were under 14 years of age.

DIGITAL 'SMART MOB' COMING OF AGE
(October 19, 2007) The "Jena Six" protests in Louisiana are the latest and biggest example of how technology-spawned activism is sweeping the country's young people. Without obvious leaders and based on text-messaging, blogs, etc., knowledge and rumors are sweeping schools throughout the country allowing group activism to flourish at almost an instant's notice. More...