The actions of three Los Angeles teachers at the Wadsworth Avenue Elementary school who gave children photographs of O.J. Simpson, Dennis Rodman and RuPaul to hold during a parade honoring black history month as a prank earned a suspension for the educators, a rebuke from Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a public apology from school principal Lorraine Abner to the parents of schoolchildren.

The national response from pundits, readers and viewers of the story saying the children should have carried photographs of other figures in black history like Muhammad Ali, Nelson Mandela, and Oprah Winfrey indicate this problem isn’t limited only to Wadsworth Avenue Elementary school.

A photograph of Nelson Mandela in a black history parade is an improvement over RuPaul. But, if teachers must go outside the U.S. for African heroes, Major General Abram Petrovich Gannibal of the Russian Army would have been a better pick. The Ethiopian native was taken from Istanbul and raised in the court of Peter the Great of Russia. He became a major figure in Czarist Russia, was friends with Voltaire and the grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, who became the founding father of Russian literature. The point being the difference between modern role models and historical figures is a vast one.

One person was killed and two others were injured in a shooting that occurred early Tuesday on the Ohio State University Campus. According to OSU police chief Paul Denton, all three people shot were employees of the university, and none of them were students.

The shooting occurred around 3:30am at the OSU maintenance building, which is east of the stadium and north of the McCracken power plant. OSU police learned of the shooting this morning after receiving a 911 call.

The two people who were injured in the shooting were taken to the OSU Medical Center. One was in critical condition, and the other in stable condition. Police have in custody an individual described as a suspect in the shooting. While the suspect's name has not been released, OSU did indicate around 9:00am today that the suspect is an OSU employee.

The names of those who had been shot were also not released as police notify family.

An ongoing investigation this morning led to the closure of Tuttle Park Drive south of Woody Hayes Drive. OSU classes and work schedules are continuing as scheduled, but the university did notify students of the incident through its emergency notification system.

On Tuesday, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District's CEO Eugene Sanders unveiled a "transformation plan" that would result in the closure of 18 schools in the district.

Most of the schools to be closed are on the city's East Side, and perhaps the most prominent of those closures of East High and South High. In addition to closing schools, another 21 schools will be re-purposed. The district may replace principals and teachers, dramatically redesign the curriculum, or convert the building to house charter schools.

Currently the district has 110 schools. That means that Sanders is shaking things up at almost of third of the schools in the district.

Wit declining budgets and reduction in facilities, it is almost certain that layoffs will occur. However, Sanders declined to say how many of the district's 8.000 employees could lose their jobs.

One of the main motivations to enact this plan is to is to raise the district's academic standing. Some schools have beyond dismal graduation rates, but at others there is just a small proportion that do not graduate

The school board still needs to consider and vote on the plan.

Growth

CSA Design Lab

Garrett Morgan

The Daily Beast had some harsh news for the citizens of Kent, Ohio. In a nutshell, they called the population "stupid". The popular website released their Top 25 "Smartest and Dumbest College Towns" and Kent placed 24th with a D. Chapel Hill, home of the University North Carolina, topped the poll.

Here is their criteria they used to determine the results:

* Bachelor’s degrees per capita for the over-25 population: this measured the relative education of permanent residents.
* Graduate degrees per capita for the over-25 population: similar to above, but more stratified.
* Median SAT score for the town’s student population.
* Voter turnout in the 2008 election: political engagement, whether left or right, has repeatedly correlated with higher intelligence; our one criteria that measures behavior, rather than achievement.

1. Chapel Hill, North Carolina(Grade: A)
2. Ann Arbor, Michigan(Grade: A)
3. Boulder, Colorado(Grade: A)
4. Cambridge, Massachusetts(Grade: A)
5. Berkeley, California(Grade: A)
6. Madison, Wisconsin(Grade: B)
7. East Lansing, Michigan(Grade: B)
8. State College, Pennsylvania(Grade: B)
9. Ames, Iowa(Grade: B)
10. Amherst, Massachusetts(Grade: B)
11. Ithaca, New York(Grade: B)

An Ohio school was asked by the American Civil Liberties Union to put an end to punishing a student refusing to stand and receive the Pledge of Allegiance. Roxanne Westover, 17, says that she is an atheist and considers the pledge to be more religious than patriotic.

Because Westover refused to participate in the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, she says she was sent to the principal's office at Hubbard High School several times.

On Tuesday, the ACLU wrote to school district officials arguing that students have right not to say the pledge as a matter of free speech.

Superintendent Richard Buchenic says that he told the ACLU that the matter has been "dealt with."

Carrie Davis, ACLU of Ohio staff counsel, says that Hubbard High School intends to follow a district policy that states students are not required to recite the pledge.

The economy is down and money is tight for a lot of families, and Cleveland State University understands the hardships that students are facing. In light of this, CSU has announced a new $3,000 scholarship available to incoming freshman that's renewable up to $12,000 over four years.

The new scholarship, called the Freshman Scholars Program is awarded to new full-time freshmen entering beginning in Fall 2010 with a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA and an ACT score of 23 or a combined SAT score of 1060. The last day to apply for the Freshman Scholars Program is February 1, 2010, and incoming freshman can apply online at www.engagecsu.com.

The $3,000 scholarship is renewable by maintaining a 3.0 cumulative GPA for full-time students. CSU tuition is about $8,000 per year, and this scholarship can reduce annual tuition by 36%.

Ohio State University President Dr. E. Gordon Gee picked up a nice honor from Time Magazine today who named him the best college president in the nation and ran a lengthy piece on him. The entire piece can be read by clicking to Time Magazine's Website.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland was quick to congratulate Gee releasing a press release that read:

“I am so proud that Dr. Gee received this significant distinction for his incredible leadership and the national prominence he brings to the university and our state,” Strickland said. “Dr. Gee understands that for Ohio to succeed we must have the most educated, innovative workforce in the country, and that institutions of higher education and the business community partnering together are an important part of our plan to create jobs and lasting economic growth.”

Case Western Reserve University announced today that their Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing will receive $3.7 Million in federal stimulus money. CWRU said on their website:

The Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing (FPB) at Case Western Reserve University was recently awarded $3.7 million in six stimulus grants from various federal offices to fund innovative research and academic programs.

Funded projects include establishing a new center of excellence on end-of-life science; expanding the Self-Management Advancement through Research and Translation (SMART) Center with a program to involve more disabled persons in the subject side of research activities; developing new electronic tools to reduce health disparities; testing the effects of early therapeutic mobility among hospital patients; combating the nursing faculty shortage through a forgivable loan program for graduate students; and providing opportunities to disadvantaged students.

"The stimulus awards represent that the hard work of our dynamic faculty and staff is unique, relevant, and, most of all, needed," says May L. Wykle, the Marvin E. and Ruth Durr Denekas Professor and Dean of the nursing school.

A Connecticut college has warned students interning for the womanizing David Letterman to keep their distance from the funnyman. A representative from Quinnipiac University told the celebrity gossip site TMZ.com:

"due to recent circumstances we will have a discussion with those in charge of placing our interns at the David Letterman show in the future."

The school added, "We will diligently oversee this internship program to ensure that our interns are out of harm's way."

Letterman recently revealed on air that he had been the target of a blackmail plot after he was accused by CBS News producer Joe Halderman of carrying on a sexual relationship with his former girlfriend, Stephanie Birkitt, a former assistant to Dave on the "Late Show".

Letterman admitted to having a relationship with Birkitt, 34. She began on the show as an intern and was promoted to his personal assistant. She also appeared in several on-air bits along with other female staffers.

President Barack Obama says that kids today spend too little time in the classroom, something he would like to change. Obama adds that this puts American children at a disadvantage with other students from around the globe, and supports longer school days and school years.

Obama has two school-age daughters of his own - one in third grade and another in sixth grade. He said that he knows that longer school days and school years are "not wildly popular ideas. Not with Malia and Sasha, not in my family, and probably not in yours. But the challenges of a new century demand more time in the classroom." Obama also proposes opening schools on the weekend so kids have a safe place to go.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan also supports more time in the classroom. He notes that the current school calendar is based "upon the agrarian economy" and that these days, there aren't too many kids "working the fields".