20 Years Ago ... FEB. 23, 1983
An Arizona appeals court rules that a district was justified in firing a teacher who had wed one of his students. After officials of the Chandler Unified School District demanded that the teacher end the relationship, the 17-year-old transferred to another district and married the 40-year-old teacher, who had initially denied that he was involved with the girl.
- The Gobles, Mich., district refuses to pay state withholding taxes for its 89 employees until it receives overdue state aid. Citing a cash-flow crisis, Gov. James J. Blanchard had frozen school payments, including the $142,000 owed the 1,000-student Gobles district.
- New York City principals lose some of their disciplinary powers to community school superintendents. Most suspensions will be imposed by the subdistrict superintendents, though principals will be able to suspend students in emergency situations, under the new policy adopted in response to a federal court order.
- U.S. Department of Education officials urge Congress to revamp the Chapter 1 compensatory education program. Chapter 1 “cannot hope to enable students in high-poverty schools to meet the national [education] goals within any reasonable period if the program continues to do what it has been doing,” warns a department report two years in the making.
- The Texas state school board gives high school girls the go-ahead to play football. The 9-3 vote makes the Lone Star State one of the last to allow girls to compete on the gridiron.
- Meanwhile, the Texas legislature approves a constitutional amendment that would allow the state to take money from wealthy districts and distribute it among poorer ones. The amendment requires voter approval.
