The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) began issuing newly redesigned Permanent Resident Cards (“Green Cards”) in May of 2010. The new card has several new security features such as embedded biometric data; a laser engraved signature and fingerprint; a hologram; and radio frequency identification. In addition, the new card is actually green. The card’s new security features are designed to help prevent counterfeiting and will allow for quicker, more accurate authentication.
Current Green Cards are still valid and can be used to establish both identity and employment eligibility when completing the Employment Eligibility Verification form (Form I-9). The older version of the card will gradually be replaced by the new card when permanent residents renew or update their cards.
Texas was awarded a three-year, $18.2 million federal grant to continue the state’s effort to design and implement the Texas Student Data System, the next generation in longitudinal data systems.
The state and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation have already committed significant resources to modernize the state’s education data system and allow all interested parties to track student progress from early childhood through graduation and into their careers.
Texas is one of 20 states to receive a Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems grant funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. New York was awarded the largest grant, $19.7 million, and Texas received the second-largest grant.
Gilcrease Middle School in Tulsa, Okla., was in desperate need of a fundamental change in the school’s culture. Some first-year, Teach For America teachers are getting some of the credit for turning things around.
Eighteen months ago school district administrators staged an intervention at the school because of excessive student discipline problems. “I’m surprised a lot of kids made it to this year, because they were terrible. And I was a handful before, too,” said student Jamesia Morris, 14.
Last fall, the school’s principal left and twelve of its teachers were replaced by Teach For America teachers. That’s when student attitudes really began to change. “With all of the old teachers, if you didn’t like me, I really didn’t care,” Morris said. “When all of the Teach For America teachers came, they made us feel like they really cared.”
“Kids who have extraordinary needs need extraordinary folks. This is a group of people who are deeply interested in doing whatever it takes, and that’s really important,” said Kevin Burr, Tulsa’s area superintendent for middle and high schools. “They are so eager to learn about this craft, and they’re unwilling to fail at it. The way kids act…is dramatically different. It’s a huge step in the right direction.”
Teach For America had 80 teachers in 23 Tulsa schools in the 2009–10 school year.
—“Program helps change school,” by Andrea Eger, Tulsa World, June 3, 2010.
One of the least publicized provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) passed in March allows “reasonable break times” for nursing mothers to allow them to express breast milk. In July, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a fact sheet 
to help employers understand their obligations under this provision.
The provision, which went into effect with the bill’s passage, specifies that employers provide a place other than a bathroom that is shielded from view and free from intrusions to be used by an employee to express breast milk. The fact sheet clarifies the following issues:
In future guidance, the DOL is expected to address the provision’s undefined terms, including “reasonable” break time and “appropriate” space.
McAllen is home to a new district office for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The McAllen District Office, formerly an area office of the San Antonio District, will oversee agency enforcement throughout the state. It will also connect employees, employers, and community organizations with resources and assistance to ensure compliance with wage and hour laws.
“I am very excited about this office opening,” said Cynthia Watson, regional administrator for the Wage and Hour Division in the Southwest. “The department now will be able to provide better customer service to the people of South Texas and a one-stop shop for employers seeking compliance assistance concerning the federal labor laws we enforce.”
For more information about wage and hour laws, visit the DOL’s Web site . You can reach the McAllen office by calling 956-682-4631.
Don’t expect to receive any more fact-specific opinion letters interpreting employment laws from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.
In their place, the DOL will send ‘administrator interpretations,’ the purpose of which will be to “provide meaningful and comprehensive guidance and compliance assistance to the broadest number of employers and employees,” wrote DOL. “Guidance in this form will be useful in clarifying the law as it relates to an entire industry, a category of employees, or to all employees.”
Like opinion letters, the new administrator interpretations may be an important defense in a lawsuit brought by employees alleging FLSA violations. The interpretations appear to qualify as an administrative interpretation under 29 U.S.C. 259, meaning that employers that follow them have a “good-faith” defense against lawsuits brought by employees.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched an initiative to make community health data widely available to the public.
By the end of the year, HHS will provide online access to a health indicators warehouse of HHS data on national, state, regional, and county health performance. Data will include such indicators as rates of smoking, obesity, diabetes, access to healthy food, and utilization of health care. The data will be provided at no cost and can be integrated into other Web sites and applications.
The warehouse will also include best practices to improve performance for specific indicators.
Here’s some information that you may want to pass on to educators in your district: Teachers, teacher aides, librarians, school nurses, and counselors employed by public schools are eligible for low-cost mortgage loans through the Texas State Affordable Housing Corporation.
The agency will provide up to $10 million in mortgage loans at an interest rate of 5 percent for educators who meet program qualification guidelines . Three percent of the loan amount is provided as a grant to help the educator afford down payment and closing costs.
