Tusk Strategies, founded by Bradley Tusk, works with a variety of corporate and advocacy clients.  One example of the latter is StudentsFirst, an education advocacy group.  In recent news, the group appointed former Des Moines School Board member Patty Link as its Iowa state director.  Link said that this new position indicated an enhanced Iowa presence from the national group.

StudentsFirst seeks increased accountability from educators.  It believes in teachers being evaluated based on student performance as opposed to “rigid education bureaucracies.”  Along with Bradley Tusk and Tusk Strategies the organization has been succeeding in implementing education reform nationwide, along these lines.  Former chancellor of the Washington DC school district, Michelle Rhee, in acknowledgement of the difficulties in implementing such changes (given the criticism against their approach towards reform), entitled her book “Radical.”

With Link now on board, it is hoped that StudentsFirst’s efforts in the Iowa region will address the concerns of parents and base its work on the results.  Link said, “I think the biggest thing is just reaching out to all of the interested parties on education reform and getting a temperature on where people are and trying to continue to implement education reform.”

In the face of tragedies like those that occurred recently at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, many schools around the country are scrambling to improve their safety policies. Some schools simply talk about changes, while others are actually taking action. There are many resources available for schools and community groups that want to improve upon their security measures, and one of these was just produced by Frank Storch, a Security Consultant and Coordinator for CERT in Baltimore.

An expert in the field of security for over 35 years, Frank Storch has specifically focused his attention on Jewish school throughout North American and has recently completed an essential guide called Keep Your School Safe. This new guide provides schools with a thorough review of their existing security measures and with a comprehensive way to evaluate new measures they should undertake.

As Frank Storch of Baltimore explains at the beginning of his guide, “Based on over 35 years of hands-on safety and security consulting experience, and my role as Coordinator of the Northern Park Heights CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), I believe that every school can benefit from re-evaluating and updating its safety and security measures. This is due to the constantly changing nature of outside threats, the increasing availability of new equipment and methods, and the need for staff and students to be up to date on their safety and security training.

In this light, I present this “Keep Your School Safe” guide. The purpose of this guide is to help your school ask the right questions, the answers to which will help you create a safety and security program customized to your own particular needs. After completing an assessment of your security needs and outlining a plan to address them (including the anticipated budget), consider applying for a Homeland Security grant, as well as to private foundations, charitable organizations, non-profit and for-profit companies, and local sponsors for funding.”

The New York Public Library hosted the kickoff event of Read Across America Day this past weekend. Hundreds of school children gathered to celebrate Dr. Seuss’s birthday alongside celebrities like Uma Thurman and Jake T. Austin.

The two actors read Dr. Seuss classics, and explained the numerous benefits of reading.

“As a mother of three, with one now a teenager, I’ve seen the benefits of reading to and with my children throughout the span of childhood,” Uma Thurman said. “Reading has helped develop my children and my family. Spending that time together means so much.”

Jake T. Austin added:

“Reading enables us to explore our imaginations. As an actor, I get to be different characters and experience different worlds. I want children to be able to do the same through a good book.”

NEA President Dennis Van Roekel continued:

“This Read Across America Day we want students to sink their teeth into a good book…. I really like the reaction I get when I say the word ‘read!’”

According to the Shapell Manuscript Foundation, Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States, serves as a poster boy for the importance of reading. With only a high school education, he prepared for his role as U.S. president by reading copious amounts of material about other world leaders.

Really, it’s a fascinating question for those who are intrigued by history – and even for those who aren’t that interested. If the official inauguration day (January 20^th)  for the new President of the United States of America falls on a Sunday, what does the country do? And if the inauguration ceremony takes place on the 21^st, then who is actually president for those gap hours?

This is a question that many have sought to answer through the years, and that President Barack Obama will address today. One Senator from Missouri, David Rice Atchison, actually managed to be president for one day, and this historic document is part of Shapell Manuscript Foundation’s “Between the Lines” program.

The crisis of the Inauguration date has actually been visited a total of seven times. The first time it occurred was for the swearing in of President James Monroe (the swearing in date was, at that time, on March 4, 1821). Monroe decided, on the advice of the justices of the Supreme Court, to postpone his second-term swearing-in by one day. There was no crisis and the country survived having “no president” for a day.

The second time that this occurred was on March 4, 1849. Rather than break his Sabbath, President-Elect Zachary Taylor put off the oath-taking for one day. David Rice Atchison, a Senator from Missouri, then joked that he was actually the president, as the Presidential Succession Act of 1792 said that without a president or vice-president, the office would go to the President pro tempore of the Senate. Ironically, however, Atchison didn’t actually take the oath that day but went home to sleep.  He ended up taking his oath of office only a few minutes before Taylor took his, so technically no one was in charge that day.

As he wrote in the letter that the Shapell Manuscript Foundation has in its collection,

I never for a moment acted as President of the US, although I was President of the Senate, at the expiration  of Mr. Polk’s term and inauguration of Genl Taylor [nor] yet for one moment did I ever consider that I was the legal President of the US, Genl Taylor was the legal Pres, & Millard Fillmore Vice President, either of whom had the legal right, to the Presidency although 31 hours elapsed between the egress of Mr. Polk and the taking of the oath by Genl Taylor.

For those keeping tabs on the presidency today, President Obama will be sworn in today in a private ceremony and will then be sworn in with a more public ceremony tomorrow, on Monday, January 21.

Dallas’s southern half is desperate for some development. In fact, Mayor Mike Rawlings has dedicated the majority of his time in office, which began in June of last year, to improving the region south of the river.

As a means to achieve this goal, he established GrowSouth, a plan that involves raising funds, stimulating change, and guiding neighborhoods and schools into better and healthier routines. He explained that he hoped to raise one million dollars for the program.

Several companies have made contributions to his cause. In September, investment advisor Highland Capital Management in Dallas, founded by James Dondero, donated $50,000 to the GrowSouth Community Fund. Upon announcing the contribution, Mayor Rawlings said the gift would support a social services coordinator at Zumwalt Middle School. The coordinator’s responsibilities included basic things, such as ensuring children came to school in clean clothes.

Rawlings said:

“The social service coordinator is going to help go into the homes of these kids and make sure they are ready for school when they get there.”

Highland Capital wasn’t the only company to contribute. Comerica Bank also donated $50,000, and Rawlings challenged others to do the same.

In an article in the New York Post, State Senator Eric Adams (D-Queens), a former NYPD police officer, wrote poignantly about student dress codes. As Victory Education Partners pointed out, the article attempts to lobby Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott to adopt a resolution banning sagging pants in the classroom.

As Sen. Adams wrote,

“School is more than ABCs and 123s. It’s the beginning of developing how to interact in a social setting. When you walk through the halls of our schools, you see children showing their behind, the cracks of their behind, their underwear, young girls showing their G-strings. And the institution that’s supposed to be responsible for developing well-rounded young people is not stopping it.”

He expected that people would challenge him and say “What’s the big deal?” He goes on in the article to explain, “It is symbolic of the erosion of basic, normal decency. People shouldn’t be displaying their pubic hairs. That is not normal, acceptable behavior in young people that we are grooming to be in a professional environment. You can’t dress the same on the corner as you can in corporate America — you’ll be unemployed.”

He pointed out that the role of the schools, whether they are public schools, Victory Education Partners, or other organizations, is to teach right from wrong. Even if the kids go around the corner and ignore the rules, they will still have been told and taught what they are.

As he wrote, “Young people have always established themselves in an anti-establishment way — I don’t care if it’s wearing long hair, wearing bell bottoms, wearing miniskirts. But there was always an adult that said, “Cut your hair, make that skirt longer.” There was always a way to correct it, and that’s the role of our schools.”

In powerful language he explained that,

“This is the broken window of social behavior — when you ignore people walking the streets showing their ass.”

What do you think?