Education category, Page 44

La Roche University will fully reopen for in-person instruction in the fall, leaders announced Monday. The semester will start Aug. 23. The university will follow a regular schedule — unlike last fall, when many campuses adjusted breaks and course scheduling in attempts to avoid major covid-19 surges around the holidays...

One year after a global pandemic shuttered campuses across the country, colleges and universities in Western Pennsylvania are weighing the return of an annual rite of spring — commencement ceremonies. The University of Pittsburgh, the region’s largest school, has announced it will stagger smaller in-person ceremonies at its Oakland campus...

Matt Jones breathed a sigh of relief Friday as he met with Jeannette High School Principal Joe Baker to chart the latest stage in a phased-in return to five-day-a-week in-person classes. Like fellow school administrators across the region, the superintendent of Jeannette schools has spent countless hours on the phone,...

More than half of the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ teachers and staff will be at least partially vaccinated by the end of this weekend, following a series of clinics that started this week, district officials said. “This is the end of a pretty fantastic week,” Superintendent Anthony Hamlet said Friday. Rodney...

Pennsylvania officials on Friday reported that more than 6,500 teachers and school staff have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine this week, through the state’s initiative to inoculate educators. Twenty out of 28 intermediate units are now fully operational as vaccine clinics, with the rest of the units set to...

An investigation is underway after two swastika images were found inside a bathroom stall in Jefferson Middle School in the Mt. Lebanon School District. Principal Sarah Shaw sent a letter to families Tuesday alerting them to the second drawing. The first drawing had been found March 2, and an investigation...

The University of Pittsburgh will loosen restrictions at three campuses starting Thursday, including the Pittsburgh campus, citing lower coronavirus infection counts and easing public health guidance. Pitt announced the change in an update from the Covid-19 Medical Response Office on Friday. The Pittsburgh, Bradford and Titusville campuses will move from...

Greensburg native Melody Carranza found herself frustrated after opting for a career in the medical field. “Once I realized that wasn’t for me, I started looking at other options,” Carranza said. Similarly, Raelee Nicholson of Charleroi was “in the process of following a traditional four-year path with offers to multiple...

A mid-April presentation to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors is the next step in a proposed consolidation of California, Clarion and Edinboro universities as an integrated institution. If the plan receives affirmation from the board, “it will kick off a 60-day public comment period, and...

Following Gov. Tom Wolf’s announcement this week that teachers would be moved first in line to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Pittsburgh schools are poised to begin inoculating teachers next week. “The vaccinations of our teachers and school staff will add an additional layer of mitigation strategies we already...

Most teachers across Pennsylvania could be vaccinated and ready to return to classrooms by the end of March, state officials said Wednesday as they announced that educators and school staff will receive priority for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Gov. Tom Wolf said giving educators the first shot at the...

The Pennsylvania Departments of Human Services and Education asked for federal approval Tuesday to issue more than $1 billion in benefits to families with children in remote school during the covid-19 pandemic. The families would have otherwise had access to free and reduced priced meals during the 2020-21 school year....

Several area teachers have been recognized by the Pennsylvania State Modern Language Association as Global Educators. The recognition is given to advisers who support the PSMLA Global Scholars program in their schools to lead Global Scholars graduates in two consecutive years with the PSMLA Global Educator Certificate. This year, 17...

Discussions are in progress in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly to possibly move teachers to phase 1A of the state’s vaccine rollout. State Rep. Tim O’Neal, R-Washington, sent an email Sunday alerting House GOP members of the possibility, according to WPXI. He explained that the National Guard would be involved in the...

Point Park University’s faculty union spoke up in opposition of the school’s move to eliminate 17 full-time, non-tenured faculty members this week. Point Park officials announced the contracts of 17 full-time, non-tenured faculty members would not be renewed at the end of this academic year, citing financial difficulties related to...

Gennaro Piraino Jr. said his distaste for state standardized tests has only grown in the past year, despite their absence. “Given the pandemic, what we know our students need to know and be able to do has become even more evident,” said Piraino, superintendent of Franklin Regional School District. “And...

NEW YORK — New York City’s Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza announced Friday he will step down, citing the coronavirus pandemic’s personal toll on his family. He will be replaced by Bronx Executive Superintendent Meisha Ross Porter, who will become the first Black woman to lead the nation’s largest public school...

Mental health. Racial injustice. Student grief and loss. Economic hardships. Self-care in a pandemic. Cultural discrepancies. Misrepresentation in media. These were topics explored by Western Pa. high schoolers on Thursday. A virtual Student Summit organized by students at Woodland Hills High School included peers from Aliquippa, Mt. Lebanon, Hampton, Gateway,...

Penn State is planning to return to a “full on-campus learning environment” by the fall with expanded in-person classes, in another notable step toward normalcy. The university announced Wednesday that it will phase in its return by transitioning to more in-person classes over the summer, using event spaces and outdoor...

Point Park University will not renew the contracts of 17 non-tenured faculty members, the university announced this week. A university spokesman did not answer questions about what specific academic departments would be affected in the Downtown institution, which serves around 4,000 students. The change was allowed through a collective bargaining...

Pittsburgh Public Schools are planning a phased return of students to the classroom beginning April 6, with the first spots reserved for the youngest learners and those who are struggling with online learning. The district late Monday announced student-support categories ahead of in-person instruction. The categories are based on students’...