A motion to eliminate Grand Rapids Public Schools teacher jobs in the middle of the school year failed Monday night.

Here’s how the board voted:

Kenneth Hoskins – YES
Amy McGlynn – YES
Tony Baker – NO
Harry Campbell – NO
Jane Gietzen – NO
Lisa Hinkel – YES
Catherine Mueller – YES
David Allen, Arnie Smithalexander – ABSENT

GRPS also announced a new United Way program to help parents at one elementary school with their English and other literacy skills.

The relatively new superintendent of the public school system in the nation’s capital has made a radical offer to teachers: give up tenure and I’ll double your pay.

Her basic premise? Tenure protects bad teachers by making it more difficult for districts to fire them.

Washington Superintendent Michelle Rhee’s plan isn’t brand new. It has been featured in Newsweek. I caught a report on it yesterday on ABC World News Sunday and this morning, Rhee’s ideas were featured in the Grand Rapids Press, which just published a series on tenure issues in West Michigan. (more…)

Michigan State University’s medical school will reserve some spots in its incoming classes for the top graduates from Grand Valley State University. (more…)

GVSU President Tom Haas says he fears a “culture of disinvestment” in higher education in Michigan. His remarks come as the second day of the West Michigan Regional Policy Conference is underway.

Universities are the place where the economy of tomorrow will be born. So why, Haas wondered, has state higher ed funding been cut by 10 percent in real dollars (i.e.: adjusted for inflation) over the last 10 years? (more…)

Sitting in the Ford Fieldhouse right now getting ready for the McCain-Palin town hall — and an email from the state Dept. of Ed. caught my attention. (more…)

Students at Forest Hills Eastern High School are organizing a voter registration drive with help from teachers and Ada Township leaders, according to a statement from the district. (more…)

If you see a school-aged student out of school on this fall’s state student “count day,” GRPS has two phone numbers you can call.

It’s just one step West Michigan’s largest school district is taking to make sure as many students are in their seats as possible when the state takes its twice annual student count. (more…)

The start of the 2008-09 regular school year brings with it the start of new school programs and some new school bulidings.

At GRPS, the new Dickinson Elementary building is open alongside significantly renovated Burton and Kent Hills buildings. And the district’s old Vandenberg Elementary building, at Lafayette Avenue and Wealthy Street SE, now houses the Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy (GRUPA). The middle and high school — accepting sixth- and seventh-graders this year — is modeled after a college prep program in Detroit that administrators say has been very successful.

The Grand Rapids area’s first charter high school opened its doors Tuesday as well. Administrators at Grand River Preparatory Academy, on 52nd Street just east of Division Avenue in Kentwood, say they plan to build the school around technology.

I’ll be at the school board meeting tonight. More here after that.

Tony