President Barack Obama announced plans Tuesday to improve the nation’s schools. Among his proposals are longer school days and merit pay for good teachers. He stressed that the success of the American economy depends on the strength of the schools, and challenged ideas from both Democrats and Republicans on school reform. Full story.

As it batters Jamaica, Haiti’s death toll from the storm passes 50.
Tropical Storm Gustav batters the Caribbean. Tropical Storm Gustav slammed the island nation of Jamaica Thursday and ripped through its Caribbean cousin, Haiti, claiming more than 50 lives in its wake, reports CNN. The storm, whose intensity in Jamaica came just short of hurricane strength, was 15 miles away from Kingston (although residents report suffering little physical damage from the storm). Before it hit, Jamaican authorities evacuated residents in low-lying areas, said a spokesman for the military. But Gustav was a full-fledged hurricane when it hit Haiti Tuesday. Haitian officials announced Thursday that the country’s death toll rose from 14 people to 51.  Six children are among the dead, according to the government, and 6,500 residents are living in shelters. The storm lost its strength over Jamaica, but it could pick up strength and become a hurricane by today, according to the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters say the storm could dump 2 to 4 inches over Cuba and 6 to 12 inches over Jamaica. The Hurricane Center’s projection models illustrate the storm could hit Louisiana by Sunday afternoon, almost three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. The National Guard is sending 3,000 members there to get ready for the storm.

Co-ed schools banned in part of Nigeria. A Nigerian state has decided to get rid of co-ed schools, citing teen pregnancy and low-academic achievement as reasons, reports the BBC. The ban, which would affect all junior and senior schools, was passed last week by lawmakers in the country’s Bauchi State. Private schools are not affected. Teens have a hard time controlling sexual urges, said Aminu Tukur a Bauchi lawmaker in favor of the ban. Bauchi is governed by the Islamic Sharia law (under the frame of this system, courts recently ruled a Nigerian man with 86 wives had to choose only four and repent, or face death). Christians, a minority in the state, are against the ban, saying teens are able to meet up at other places too, not just schools. No word yet on when the co-ed schools will have to turn single sex. Students will head back to school next week

He calls the public school system a throwback to Jim Crow days.

Because Chicago Public Schools have done far too little to distance themselves from the separate-and-unequal school system of the Jim Crow Era, parents should keep their children away from classrooms when school convenes on Sept. 2, says the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has joined the growing boycott. “Whether it be funding and whether it be graduation rates, we are still separated and unequal,” Sharpton said, speaking to the congregation at the New Landmark Missionary Baptist Church on Sunday morning. “Well maybe if it wasn’t unfair, they [ministers] wouldn’t be talking about a boycott.” Illinois Gov. Todd Blagojevich says he’s working with lawmakers to bring about educational equity, The Chicago Sun Times reports. “I have called the legislators back into special session on Tuesday to focus specifically on school funding,” he told Channel 2 News. “But I think it’s wrong to encourage kids to miss school.”