As someone who cares both about the wilderness and all warm-blooded creatures large and small, I would urge the state and federal Departments of Education to stop being so soft in their enforcement of some very important assurances that public schools (including charter schools) are supposed to be providing -- especially in inner city schools.

An alert reader who had just completed a charter school's federal Title grant applications emailed last week to say there could be bigtime problems with two sections in particular:

1.) Complying with the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. (16 U.S.C. 1721 et seq.) related to protecting components or potential components of the national wild and scenic river system. (Emphasis added.) This concerned reader wondered whether the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn qualified? Does the storm sewer next door to the school qualify as a potential component?

2.) Complying with the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act of 1996 (P.L. 89-544, as amended, 7 U.S.C. 2131 et seq.) pertaining to the care, handling, and treatment of warm blooded animals held for research, teaching, or other activities supported by this award of assistance.

If only warm-blooded students had such protections!

The applications, by the time they are all done, require the harvesting of several trees that might look awfully nice next to some wild and scenic rivers.