eSchool News » Policy

Tips for understanding copyright rules

Laura Devaney — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 11:46:12 +0000

U.S. copyright law includes five exclusive rights, but educators can use copyrighted works under the fair use practice.

With headlines about tough copyright rulings fresh in their minds, educators across the nation might hesitate when it comes to using copyrighted material in their lessons or sharing copyrighted works with students.

But according to the American Library Association (ALA), educators should not worry about using such material to boost student knowledge if it falls under the scope of fair use.

The original and intended purpose of copyright law is to promote learning and the dissemination of knowledge, said Carrie Russell, director of the library association’s Program on Public Access to Information. “The copyright law was just as important to them as the post office,” she said, adding that the founding fathers wanted to ensure that the new democracy was well-functioning and that people had access to valuable information.

U.S. copyright law includes five exclusive rights: reproduction, distribution, derivative works, public performance, and public display. Creators of copyrighted works have a limited monopoly on those works, meaning they are the only ones able to profit from or sell their works, for a particular period of time under certain conditions. Currently, the “time limit” on copyright is defined as a lifetime plus 70 years.

One important part of copyright law is idea versus expression, Russell said. A person can’t obtain protection of an idea unless that idea is expressed in an original way.

(Next page: How to determine fair use)

Calif. teachers fund moves to divest from firearms

staff and wire services reports — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 14:49:46 +0000

The nation’s largest teacher pension fund took the first step Wednesday toward divesting from companies that make guns and high-capacity ammunition magazines that are illegal in California, the Associated Press reports. State Treasurer Bill Lockyer made a motion to begin the divestment process after pension fund officials determined that the fund invests in the owner of a company that manufactured one of the weapons used in the Connecticut school shooting. The California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s investment committee unanimously approved the motion.

“CalSTRS’ action targets ammunition clips that turn ordinary guns into killing machines, assault weapons and other firearms that pose extreme dangers to public health and safety,” Lockyer said.

The pension fund has investments in private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management LP, which owns the manufacturer of an assault weapon used at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. The pension fund also owns shares of Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., two publicly traded gun-makers…

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Watch: Karen Lewis says ‘Off with their heads,’ stirs right-wing ire

staff and wire services reports — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 14:55:04 +0000

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis is no stranger to her outspokenness landing her in the headlines — but many conservatives are particularly miffed by a comment she made during a labor event last month, the Huffington Post reports. In the clip, recorded Dec. 2 during her keynote address of the Illinois Labor History Society’s Union Hall of Honor dinner and posted on YouTube Monday, Lewis noted that an earlier generation of labor leaders resolved their differences with the rich with a very straightforward mantra: “Off with their heads.”

“Do not think for a minute that the wealthy are ever going to allow you to legislate their riches away from them,” Lewis told the audience at the event. “However, we are in a moment where the wealth disparity in this country is very reminiscent of the robber baron ages. The labor leaders of that time, though, were ready to kill. They were. They were just — off with their heads. They were seriously talking about that.”

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Judge: School can move girl in ID-tracking case

staff and wire services reports — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 13:28:49 +0000

“Today’s court ruling affirms [the district's] position that we did make reasonable accommodation to the student,” the district said.

A Texas school district can transfer a student who is citing religious reasons for her refusal to wear a so-called “smart ID” card that is part of an electronic tracking system, a federal judge ruled on Jan. 8.

The parents of 15-year-old Andrea Hernandez had requested a preliminary injunction that would have prevented the school district from transferring their daughter from her San Antonio high school while the lawsuit on whether she should be forced to wear the ID tracking badge went through federal court.

Last fall, the Northside Independent School District began experimenting with a “locator” chip in student ID badges on two campuses, allowing administrators to track the whereabouts of 4,200 students with GPS-like precision.

Administrators say the chips make students safer and will help boost attendance records that are used to calculate badly needed state funding. They say the technology could bring in an additional $1.7 million in funding.

(Next page: What the ruling said)

City scrubs failing teachers’ records if they leave district

staff and wire services reports — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:19:13 +0000

Failing New York City teachers can have their poor ratings scrubbed from the record if they strike a deal with the city to quit or retire, according to a New York Post report. Teachers deemed “unsatisfactory” for two consecutive years in the city face termination hearings, but can avoid all that — and have the “unsatisfactory” grades changed to “satisfactory” on their permanent records — if they voluntarily leave the system. Critics say the method is “a lie” and unethical, according to The Post, as those teachers seeking employment in other school districts would be applying for teaching positions under false pretenses. But an officer who takes part in “rubber room” hearings, which deal with teachers being paid to out disciplinary hearings in reassignment centers, praised the system…

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StudentsFirst gives 12 states failing grades on school policies

staff and wire services reports — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 14:24:50 +0000

In just a few short years, state legislatures and education agencies across the country have sought to transform American public education by passing a series of laws and policies overhauling teacher tenure, introducing the use of standardized test scores in performance evaluations and expanding charter schools, the New York Times reports. Such policies are among those pushed by StudentsFirst, the advocacy group led by Michelle A. Rhee, the former schools chancellor in Washington. Ms. Rhee has generated debate in education circles for aggressive pursuit of her agenda and the financing of political candidates who support it. In a report issued Monday, StudentsFirst ranks states based on how closely they follow the group’s platform, looking at policies related not only to tenure and evaluations but also to pensions and the governance of school districts. The group uses the classic academic grading system, awarding states A to F ratings…

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Bill to help foster youths with school records

staff and wire services reports — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 14:06:59 +0000

Federal lawmakers have passed a bill that will give social workers better access to school records in an effort to improve dismal education outcomes for foster children, the Associated Press reports. Social workers had been required to get a court order to access a foster child’s school records. But advocates say red tape has made it extremely difficult because foster youths change schools frequently as they move between different homes. Some students end up taking the same classes over because credits are lost or don’t transfer. Rep. Karen Bass, a Democrat from California, sponsored the bill. The measure passed the House on Tuesday…

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Chicago sued for alleged discrimination against black teachers

staff and wire services reports — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:56:13 +0000

The Chicago Teachers Union has sued the nation’s third largest school district, saying Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s campaign to reform or close underperforming public schools discriminates against African-American teachers and staff, Reuters reports. The federal lawsuit filed on Wednesday and announced on Thursday is the latest battle with the city since teachers staged a week-long strike in September. It alleges that more than half of the tenured teachers fired in the most recent round of school closings and turnarounds were African American. But blacks make up less than 30 percent of the tenured teaching staff in the district and 35 percent of the tenured teacher population in the failing schools, the lawsuit claims. The suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois seeks an immediate moratorium on any additional school closings in the city. The school district declined to comment on the lawsuit while it is pending, but said, “We have an obligation to expand high quality school options to all families and children in every neighborhood and turnarounds is just one tool that allows us to provide those options.”

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Lawmakers approve deal to avoid ‘fiscal cliff’

staff and wire services reports — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 12:38:41 +0000

Federal education budgets will remain intact—for at least the next two months.

Federal funding for programs such as Title I, Head Start, students with disabilities, and higher-education research will remain intact—for now—after Congress approved an 11^th-hour deal to avoid tumbling off the “fiscal cliff.”

The extraordinary New Year’s Day approval of a compromise bill hands President Barack Obama most of the tax boosts on the rich that he campaigned on. It also prevents House Republicans from facing blame for blocking tax cuts for most American households, though most GOP lawmakers parted ways with Speaker John Boehner and opposed the measure.

Passage also lays the groundwork for future battles between the two sides over federal spending and the national debt, as it puts off mandatory across-the-board cuts to domestic programs for a period of only two months.

Capping a holiday season political spectacle that featured enough high and low notes for a Broadway musical, the GOP-run House voted final approval for the measure by 257-167 late on Jan. 1. That came after the Democratic-led Senate used a wee-hours 89-8 roll call to assent to the bill, belying the partisan brinkmanship that colored much of the path to the final deal.

“A central promise of my campaign for president was to change the tax code that was too skewed towards the wealthy at the expense of working middle-class Americans,” Obama said at the White House before flying to Hawaii to resume his holiday break. “Tonight we’ve done that.”

(Next page: Details of the agreement)

Heroic actions bring change in tone on teachers

staff and wire services reports — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:40:55 +0000

The gratitude for teachers is a respite from recent years in which politicians and the public have viewed them as anything but heroes.

Hung on a building in the Connecticut town where 20 children and six adults were killed at an elementary school is a spray-painted sign with four words: “Hug a teacher today.”

It’s a testament to the teachers who sprang into action when a gunman broke into Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire. They hid students in closets and bathrooms, and even threw themselves in the line of fire. Some paid with their lives.

Their sacrifice was selfless and heroic, and most teachers say they would do exactly the same if they ever came face to face with a gunman in the classroom. At schools last week, many teachers got extra thanks from parents and students who were reminded in the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., massacre of just how much they give.

“I really hope a lot of parents see teachers in a little bit of a different light about all that we do,” said Hal Krantz, a teacher at Coral Springs Middle School, about 20 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

That gratitude for teachers is a respite from recent years in which politicians and the public have viewed them as anything but heroes. Instead, teachers have been the focus of increased scrutiny, criticized for what is perceived as having generous and unwarranted benefits and job security.

(Next page: The public’s conflicted view of teachers—and where it has come from)