Student representation is a concept the Buncombe County Board of Education does not seem to be able to grasp. Since February, I have written letters, delivered speeches and have called politicians at both the local and state levels of government about adding a nonvoting student adviser onto the local Board of Education. The student adviser…
NYRA’s Treasurer Katrina Moncure has a fundraising idea that is sure to work. She made a big grid that spells out “NYRA” in a multitude of 50 by 10 pixel spaces. Each space is only $25, and it will make up a small part of the large NYRA picture. Moncure wants everyone to spread the…
NYRAthon is over, so no more point in donating. Right? WRONG! It’s always a good time to donate to NYRA. Look at all the great stuff we do and could do if we had more money. Don’t think you shouldn’t care anymore just because NYRAthon is over, and it doesn’t seem like your donations would…
There is a new bill pending in Congress that would cut government funding to any school or library that permits people under the age of 18 to access social networking websites such as Myspace. In addition, many schools are starting to punish students for pictures on their Myspace accounts. On May 22, reporters from ABC’s…
Adam King, of Asheville, North Carolina, spoke to the Buncombe County Board of Education about adding a student advisor for the third time on Thursday, June 1, 2006. Joel Burgess, of the Asheville Citizen-Times, was there covering this story and other stories taking place that night. After King had to sit through a two-hour meeting,…
The assault on MySpace is gaining traction. ABC News just covered the new policy at Libertyville High School in Illinois that would penalize students for content they’ve posted on their MySpace page. At the same time a bill in Congress called the Deleting Online Predators Act is increasingly getting attention. Those of us who care…
Adam B. Kushner has a great piece in the Washington Examiner about Sen. John McCain’s commencement address at Columbia last week that was “cloaked in a terrifically condescending homily about the arrogance of youth.” NEW YORK – Last week, as they sat in the pouring rain, John McCain insulted Columbia’s graduating class. He also delivered…
Somewhat related to the last post about the War on MySpace, now this is a case of schools using information posted on student’s websites and MySpace pages to punish them. The Chicago Tribune did a story on it, and asked for our comments. Excerpts: A north suburban school district could become one of the first…
Students’ rights are quickly becoming an issue of significant import in New York City. It is in the papers and on television, and NYRA members have overheard youth rights issues being discussed in the office of a very influential New York City Councilman. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has recently been enforcing a ban on cell phones…
NYRA members, drawn largely from the Orange County and Berkeley chapters, attended the California Democratic Party’s annual convention from April 28-30. NYRA hoped that the California Democratic Party would embrace NYRA’s voting age position as part of its platform. Many party leaders were supportive, however the platform committee was directly hostile to lowering the voting…
