Education News category, Page 58
Penn State to use $1.5M grant on workforce programs in New Kensington
Penn State will use a $1.5 million federal grant to create workforce education and retaining programs targeting Southwestern Pennsylvania, the university announced Wednesday. The university’s New Kensington campus, located in Upper Burrell, and its Digital Foundry, under construction in downtown New Kensington, will lead the project. It will be known...
Woodland Hills students to be part of historic public library card giveaway
Woodland Hills High School and its students will be making history Friday in a very positive way. The Woodland Hills School District has partnered with the three public libraries that serve the students for the “Library Cards for All” initiative. The libraries — the Braddock Carnegie Library, the C.C. Mellor...
University of Pittsburgh issues non-sexist language guidelines – including term ‘yinz’
What’s in a name? Enough to lead people to be unintentionally dismissive and disrespectful of someone by misgendering them, according to the University of Pittsburgh. But now, Pitt has published a gender-inclusive language guide that includes a set of “non-sexist language guidelines and resources” to help students and faculty avoid...
Schools debate: Gifted and talented, or racist and elitist?
NEW YORK — Communities across the United States are reconsidering their approach to gifted and talented programs in schools as vocal parents blame such elite programs for worsening racial segregation and inequities in the country’s education system. A plan announced by New York City’s mayor to phase out elementary school...
Grounds crew: Goats cleared ravine at Sewickley Academy, became teaching tool
Earlier in October, as students at Sewickley Academy walked into school, the youngsters noticed images of goats on their lockers. They were puzzled until they looked out the window. The meaning behind the pictures came into full view. Eight live goats were grazing in the ravine behind the early childhood...
Operation Safe Stop puts spotlight on stopping for school buses
The only misbehavior on the road Wednesday morning during a state police ride-along on a Greater Latrobe school bus was from a deer and three raccoons. No motorists broke the law while Trooper Brandon Boyd was on board, but many of the youngsters catching a ride to school were thrilled...
Penn State expands employee vaccine mandate to 6 branch campuses
Penn State is extending a covid-19 vaccination mandate to all faculty and staff at University Park to six of its regional campuses. The mandate is an effort to comply with President Joe Biden’s executive order requiring federal contractors to vaccinate employees. Penn State has a number of contracts and research...
Pitt faculty members vote to join United Steelworkers
Faculty members across the University of Pittsburgh celebrated the end of a five-year organizing drive Tuesday with the announcement that they had won a vote to become members of the United Steelworkers union. Officials said preliminary vote results indicated 71% of the eligible faculty members who cast ballots in the...
Mandatory masking in schools: A nuisance, but no big deal for most students
Parents have been at the forefront of urging school administrators to take a stand against the state’s September mandate requiring mask-wearing in K-12 schools. Meanwhile, objections from students have been rare. And school administrators responsible for enforcing mask-wearing have reported little to no issues from students. After the state Department...
Pa. state universities enrollment drops to lowest point since 1986
Enrollment declined 5.4% across Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities this fall, slipping to 88,651 — a low not seen in 35 years. Officials were anticipating a slight decline in enrollment, but nothing prepared them for the totals the universities reported after three weeks of classes. Enrollment has not been this low...
CCAC to offer free introductory course for court reporting
If you’re looking for a new career path, it’s hard to top an education program with a 100% placement rate. Those earning certification of a two-year associate’s degree in the Community College of Allegheny County’s court reporting program also earn an average starting salary of around $40,000, according to CCAC...
Arizona can’t use covid money for anti-mask grants, feds say
The Biden administration on Tuesday ordered Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey to stop using the state’s federal pandemic funding on a pair of new education grants that can only be directed to schools without mask mandates. In a letter to Ducey, the Treasury Department said the grant programs are “not a...
Slippery Rock president will get tattoo if more students get covid vaccineVideo
William Behre, president of Slippery Rock University, is issuing a call to arms — at least for himself — to encourage more students to get the covid-19 vaccine. Behre vowed to receive a permanent Slippery Rock University-themed tattoo on his upper arm during an on-campus event if the student vaccination...
Penn State professors will protest university’s covid policies in a unique way this week
More than 50 Penn State professors — mostly from University Park — will protest several university-related covid policies this week by holding a “Teach-Out(side),” where classes will be moved to the safer outdoors and away from their usual locations. The protest, organized by the faculty-based group Coalition for a Just...
Pa. officials calling thousands in effort to address bus driver shortage
Pennsylvania officials are searching statewide for school bus drivers as the driver shortage plaguing the nation continues to hit close to home. PennDOT is reaching out to about 375,000 people across the state who have commercial driver’s licenses to highlight the need for bus drivers and the process for obtaining...
Bill would give parents front-row seat to what students are being taught in Pa. schools
Parents of public school students would be able to access the contents of a school curriculum, textbook titles and lesson plans with a few clicks on a computer keyboard under legislation that is advancing in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Andrew Lewis, R-Dauphin County, would...
Point Park threatens discipline against students who misgender others
Point Park University has issued a policy that threatens disciplinary action for students who misgender other students. In an email dated Sept. 13, university officials warned that misgendering students could result in a violation of the Policy on Discrimination and Harassment for gender-based discrimination. According to the email, “action could...
Duquesne University extends contract for President Ken Gormley
Ken Gormley will continue for an additional five years as president at Duquesne University, school officials announced Saturday. Duquesne’s board of directors recently voted to extend Gormley’s contract through the 2026-27 academic year. Board chair John C. McGinley made the announcement in video remarks at the school’s annual President’s Dinner....
Carnegie Mellon University robotics team earns 4th place in search-and-rescue competition
Carnegie Mellon University’s team of students, faculty, staff and robots placed fourth in a major competition testing how well their robots could navigate an underground course simulating a search-and-rescue mission. Called Team Explorer, the university’s team traveled this week to the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) challenge in Louisville,...
Covid-19 creates dire U.S. shortage of teachers, school staff
SAN FRANCISCO — One desperate California school district is sending flyers home in students’ lunchboxes, telling parents it’s “now hiring.” Elsewhere, principals are filling in as crossing guards, teachers are being offered signing bonuses and schools are moving back to online learning. Now that schools have welcomed students back to...
Steelers’ JuJu Smith-Schuster learns to sign during school for deaf visitVideo
Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster learned something at The Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf in Edgewood on Tuesday. Students in one of the classrooms showed him how to sign the words “defense,” “special teams” and, of course, “offense.” During his surprise visit to the school, he interacted with elementary,...
Pittsburgh schools superintendent Hamlet’s resignation is official with $400K payout
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board on Tuesday formally accepted Superintendent Anthony Hamlet’s resignation, effective Oct. 1. The board approved measures to accept the resignation and Hamlet’s severance package of nearly $400,000 which includes one year’s salary plus the value of his benefits. Hamlet tendered his resignation Sept. 8 after the...
TikTok challenge has students destroying Pa. school bathrooms
Because of a TikTok challenge, school bathrooms are being destroyed at an alarming rate nationwide, and Pennsylvania has not been spared. Boyertown Area School District Superintendent Marybeth Torchia told her school board in Berks County on Monday that is exactly what is happening there — vandalism is on the rise...
Team of Carnegie Mellon students, robots to compete in search-and-rescue missionVideo
Carnegie Mellon University is sending a team of about a dozen robots to a competition testing their navigation of an unknown underground course, meant to simulate search-and-rescue scenarios. The university’s 20-person team of faculty, students and staff — along with their league of robots — will compete in a Defense...
Gov. Wolf, teachers say kids are cool with masks: ‘It feels like an adult problem’Video
PHILADELPHIA — Wearing masks all day isn’t a big deal for Brooke Vaught’s 375 students. They compliment each other on their cool choices — bright colors, Batman, funky designs — they put them on, and get down to the business of learning. “We haven’t had any issues,” said Vaught, principal...
