As a woman, a mother, a wife and an educator, gender equity is an issue that is very close to my heart and frankly, an idea whose time has come.

I remember when I first started teaching sometime in the late 1800s when one of the moms of one of my 4th graders came to the class to apologize. She had always been The Room Mother for her kids, but this year she was working outside the home, and she was apologizing...

Last week the Corporate Model School Reformers issued a manifesto. Like most manifestos, it’s simple and slick … and wrong.

I got used to pulling out my wallet for my school kids. The same shopping trip for the shot glasses, my own little boy asked if he could have something-or-another. I remember telling him, “Sweetie, we can’t afford that.”

The Net is about connecting. It’s about reaching. It’s an electronic whisper in an ear that wants to know. And then wants to know more. And then wants to reach out to others. It’s about making a whisper a shout and giving form to the shout so it becomes a mighty chorus working in harmony to do something to help.

There is a universal measure. When faced with a problem, do what’s right for children. If you do what’s right for children, it’s the right solution.

I said to the kids, “You’re building the perfect teacher. Give me a word that describes this person.”

I knew what was coming. I knew from the pre-show questions the producer asked me off camera how “balanced” the Friends would be. Q. Wouldn’t you say that the key to reform is to fire bad teachers, which is now impossible? A. Well, I’m so glad you asked the question because a lot of people out there don’t understand that all teachers have is a fair way for a good teacher to defend herself if she is treated unfairly and that process is develo... Q. Excuse me, but wouldn’t you say that it’s impossible to reform schools because unions protect bad teachers from being fired? A. Again, there’s a lot...