New research is starting to reveal that our disconnect with nature—primarily soil—is opening doors to a new epidemics such as the increasing number of children with peanut allergies, asthma, and type 1 diabetes. According to statistics, children living in developed countries are at less risk of childhood deaths than those living in undeveloped nations, but are at increased risks for autoimmune diseases like those mentioned above, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowl disease. It’s as though we’ve traded one set of medical concerns for another. And, ironically, to treat these relatively new conditions, physicians are reverting to traditional methods.

Since the tobacco companies were exposed for adding addicting chemicals to tobacco cigarettes in 1998, there has been an urgency to educate young adults about the health risks. There was a 2010 health goal of reducing high school smoking to 16%, which was reported as failed on July 1, 2010. Federal officials are calling for a resurgence of antismoking advertising to counter the tobacco industries $12 billion marketing campaign.

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov (amazon.com $16.34) This is the product of a decade of research going into classrooms and videotaping teacher practice. Don't expect high-sounding theory or clever philosophy. Lemov states that his litmus test is whether students sit up and pay attention to a teacher, and then do well academically (are prepared well for college). Great teachers, he says, do these things.

As many of you take off a week here or there from the office shuffle to spend time with family, sun, and, most important, yourself, you're probably not thinking about the listservs and forums you've joined to stay current with private-independent school news. Here are a few rules of electronic conversation platforms that may prevent you from being blacklisted by moderators or disliked by fellow members.

What does summertime mean? For many of us, it means it's time to break out the backyard grill, throw a new tablecloth on the picnic table, and gather some friends for a weekend BBQ. You don't have to sacrifice your healthy habits, however, to have a successful BBQ gathering. Take these healthy condiment alternatives into consideration before setting the table.

From time to time we hear rumors about schools moving to longer days as a way of expanding their learning programs. It has certainly been thrown into conversations that revolve around four-day school weeks. Now, however, it seems that public schools in the Chicago area could be taking action on the idea.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, about 2.6 million tons of e-waste ended up in landfills in 2007. That's 86.4% of the total discarded electronics! If Americans alone recycled their old cell phones (more than 100 million are no longer in use), the amount of energy saved would be enough to power approximately 194,000 U.S. households for one year.

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov (Amazon.com $16.34) This is the product of a decade of research going into classrooms and videotaping teacher practice. Don't expect high-sounding theory or clever philosophy. Lemov states that his litmus test is whether students sit up and pay attention to a teacher, and then do well academically (are prepared well for college). Great teachers, he says, do these things.

Is your faculty evaluation system based on showing up in the classroom for observation? Is it something your faculty dreads? And does it truly give you a picture of how each teacher impacts the students—and the school? Summer is a great time to really examine just HOW you make sure your faculty members are delivering your mission and contributing to your school culture.

Just about everything we do in developing each HR e-letter is directed toward helping you understand how HR issues apply in schools. At the same time, we recognize that fresh ideas from other fields are often helpful in spurring creative thinking—and what better time to let the mind wander and be creative than summer? To that end, we wanted to highlight a few HR blogs that cover a range of HR topics that might be of interest—with interesting twists and perspectives to keep things fresh: