Overheard

“Believe it or not, three months in the XFL reminded me how hard it is to be a student.”
—Mike Panasuk, a speech and debate teacher at Lebanon High School in Boone County, Indiana, on his short-lived career as a kicker in the Extreme Football League. Co-owned by the World Wrestling Federation and NBC television, the XFL folded last spring, and Panasuk has returned to the classroom.

“We have created an environment where there’s almost a conspiracy of silence when it comes to sexuality. It’s talked about in the wrong places in the wrong ways.”
—Surgeon General David Satcher, on the impetus behind his new report urging schools to offer sex education that promotes abstinence while also making contraception available to students.

“I want this community to understand, maybe, the nature of their superintendent a little bit. It’s about teaching and learning and a quality school system. For me, it’s certainly never been about money.”
—Durham School Superintendent Ann Denlinger, who donated her $8,100 bonus to the winner and three finalists of her district’s Teacher of the Year competition this summer.

“I would say that it is not a good thing that we ask students to forge their parents’ signatures, but if these students had done what they should have done for this form three months ago, we would not be in the position where we need to look for shortcuts.”
—David Smith, principal of West Springfield High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, after students complained this spring that school officials told them to forge their parents’ signatures on a form that helps determine how much federal money the district receives.

Web Only