Tuesday Tidbits - Nov. 27, 2007

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are a few "leftovers" to share with you in today's Tuesday Tidbits:

• NAESP is partnering with the White House Commission on Remembrance to host an official countdown to Memorial Day 2008. The event, Old Glory's Journey of Remembrance, will take place over the course of 23 Mondays between Dec. 7 of this year and Memorial Day 2008. The official Web site is still under construction (www.remember.gov), but here's the gist of the celebration:
  

On Dec. 7, a flag will fly on board the USS Arizona. On Monday, Dec. 17, that same flag will fly at a ceremony in Dutch Harbor, AK. The flag will then travel throughout the country, stopping at battlefields, memorials, and national cemeteries. At each of these stops, a ceremony will be held at 10 a.m. on a Monday morning.

The Commission is looking for 10 to 20 local school children, between third grade and sixth grade, who can attend the ceremony and help sing the National Anthem and a song, How Proud Are We, written especially for The Commission.

• Each year, AWSP tracks the movement of principals and assistant principals between positions in Washington state. In 2007, there were 670 principal and AP job changes in our state. Most of the changes (254) took place at the elementary level; there were 212 high school position changes and 162 at the middle level. About half (319) were advertised on the AWSP Web site. Need a point of reference? Last year, there were 605 changes (255 elementary, 131 middle and 195 high school). And in 2000, there were only 499 total job changes (205 elementary, 123 middle and 152 high school).
  
  
• The Washington State Supreme Court has held that surveillance video of students in public schools or in public school transit vehicles is public information. The case stems from a fight between two elementary school students in the Kelso School District. The students got into a tussle on a school bus which had security cameras on board. One of the parents of the students involved in the fight requested a copy of the tape, but was denied access by the district, which said it was part of the students' records. Said Justice Susan Owens in writing the majority opinion:
  

  Here, the surveillance camera serves as a means of maintaining security and safety on the school buses. The videotape from the surveillance camera differs significantly from the type of record the schools maintain in students' personal files.