School suspensions slammed [thecorknews.ie]
- Published: 04 February 2011
The decision of two Cork schools to suspend a number of students for participating in last week's student protests has been vocally opposed by Socialist Party councillor Mick Barry.
It is understood that Ashton suspended 10 students and St Colman's Community College Midleton suspended nine students in the wake of the protests against education cuts and registration fee increases last Wednesday, organised by School Students Against the Cuts.The students marched through Cork city centre to the City Hall where
they met with Lord Mayor Michael O'Connell to discuss their opposition to the Government's decision to increase third level registration fees.Cllr Barry said, "Protests of this kind are commonplace in Europe where school students are seen to have rights and to be able to exercise them to advance their interests. School Students Against the Cuts are right to take a stand against registration fee increases and these two schools should not suspend students for trying to defend their rights and interests."
Full Story: www.thecorknews.ie
New school funded by local entrepreneur [educationmatters.ie]
- Published: 04 February 2011
Former teacher and e-learning multimillionaire Pat McDonagh gave €7m towards a new building for Rolestown National School, Swords, Co Dublin.
Tom Kelleher, principal of Rolestown NS, explained that they were "in dire need of a building and he [Pat McDonagh] simply said, 'If you organise it, I'll pay for it'".
The existing school was "falling apart", with serious heating and lighting issues and a lack of space, Mr Kelleher said.
Pat McDonagh is one of the founders of the Riverdeep educational technology firm and is currently chairman of the Third Force e-learning company.
He owned the site on which the school was built, and the deal - which saw him give €7m and the Department give €4m - involved a series of land swaps and agreements involving Mr McDonagh, the Catholic Church, Fingal County Council and the Department of Education.
Full Story: www.educationmatters.ie
Concentration-camp survivor gives students real-life history lesson [Independent.ie]
- Published: 04 February 2011
A SURVIVOR of the Holocaust is bringing living history into Irish classrooms.
At the age of nine, Tomi Reichental was incarcerated in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany.
Miraculously, he survived one of the worst atrocities in history.
For years, Irish teenagers depended on the harrowing memoir, 'The Diary of Anne Frank', for an account of the horrors of the Holocaust.
Now, 65 years later, Tomi (75) vividly recalls the story, firsthand, for transition-year and Leaving Certificate students.
Although six million Jews died during the systematic persecution and murder carried out by the Nazis, Tomi, his mother Judith and brother Miki were among the survivors.
Tomi later qualified as an engineer, and subsequently took up an invitation to work at a zip factory being set up in Dublin.
In 1961, he married Evanna Blackman and they had three sons, and now, several grandchildren.
A widower, Tomi lives in Rathgar, Dublin, and has a new partner, Joyce.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Irish start up tackles global issue of cyber-bullying on mobiles [dcu.ie]
- Published: 03 February 2011
Associate Mobile’s First Product Helps Parents to Supervise Young Children’s Mobiles
An Irish company has developed a parental supervision platform for mobiles called mobile minder. For just €4.99 a month Mobileminder gives parents peace of mind when it comes to their children and their mobile phones. It allows a parent to supervise remotely, their children's mobile activities including calls and texts to ensure they are not being bullied.
More and more parents are purchasing phones for their children however there are potential dangers for children with mobiles and with the growing number of cases of cyber bullying, grooming and sexting how do parents really know that their children are safe on their mobiles. In a recent poll of it's kind the children’s charity, NCH (UK) found that one in five 11 to 19 year olds had been bullied, harassed or threatened via SMS Text.
“As the prices of smartphones continue to fall and their popularity increase, they are becoming a must have for kids and teens,” said Don Corbett, CEO of Associate Mobile. “Many parents are installing parental control software on their desktop computers and there are many Internet solutions for supervising personal computer usage but the new reality is that children are now walking around with mini computers in their pockets. We decided to develop mobileminder to give parents a similar set of tools, that are already available for desktops, to supervise their children’s mobiles activities.” The Parental Controls Dashboard is an easy-to-use, web-based software, which provides parents with insight into their children’s mobile activities and location to help ensure their safety. Mobileminder’s Parental Control Dashboard enables parents to view the people contacting their child, utilize remote location services, and monitor messages sent to and from their child’s phone. It even goes further by providing a system that will notify parents to texts with specific words. This covers any signs of cyber bullying, sexting or unusual behaviour. Mobileminder’s location system allows parents to know where their children are at any time. So in addition to being alerted to any signs of bullying, parents no longer have to rely on a call or text to know if their child has arrived at their destination safely.
Full Story: www.dcu.ie
Caretaker held over head teacher murder [examiner.ie]
- Published: 03 February 2011
Principal Sam LaCara, 50, died in the late-morning shooting in an office at Louisiana Schnell Elementary School in Placerville, yesterday, police chief George Nielson said. No children were hurt, but one pupil may have witnessed the incident, he said.
Caretaker John Luebbers, 44, was arrested at his home about an hour after police launched a manhunt for the gunman.
Police are trying to determine a motive for the shooting and Chief Nielson said they were investigating the possibility that Luebbers, who did not have a criminal record, had lost his job.
Mr LaCara, who died at Marshall Medical Centre, was described by Bob Wells, executive director of the Association of California School Administrators, as a dedicated leader.
Lt Chuck King of California Highway Patrol said Mr LaCara’s wife was driving to the hospital after hearing about the shooting, when she was stopped by police for speeding. Officers gave her an escort to the hospital.
Full Story: www.examiner.ie
