Education News category, Page 81
Why shutting down schools to prevent coronavirus spread could actually make it worse
SEATTLE — The University of Washington announced Friday it was moving all instruction online for the next two weeks, keeping more than 50,000 students out of classrooms as the death toll from COVID-19 continued to rise. At least 16 public elementary and secondary schools in the state have also closed,...
Highlands to buy metal detectors, cameras, fencing with state safety grant
Highlands School District will enhance and improve its security and safety measures using a nearly half-million-dollar state grant, a district spokeswoman said. The district received about $484,000 from the School Safety and Security Committee within the state Commission on Crime and Delinquency. Highlands was one of 524 school entities that...
‘Stay home,’ Cal U tells students who become ill during spring break
Stay at home. That’s the advice California University of Pennsylvania is giving students who become ill during spring break next week . “If you experience flu-like symptoms during or after spring break, please do NOT return to Cal U until you have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use...
West Jefferson Hills School District relaunching Foundation for Education
A teacher at Jefferson Hills Intermediate School plans to purchase a chicken coop that will help enhance science lessons and become a business venture for students. At Thomas Jefferson High School, a teacher plans to open a greenhouse on the balcony outside her classroom that will assist her biology students...
Norwin officials identify Connellsville man as musical volunteer with criminal record
A Connellsville man who volunteered with Norwin Middle School’s musical at one time had proper clearances, but later pleaded guilty to crimes that would prevent him from lawfully working with children, according to Norwin School District officials. Solicitor Russell Lucas confirmed the volunteer was Brad Geyer, 37, who pleaded guilty...
Coronavirus readiness addressed at Hampton school board meeting
While Allegheny County Health Department indicates that the presence of coronavirus locally remains low, a brief discussion on the disease was held at the recent Hampton Township School District school board meeting. Dr. Michael Loughead, superintendent for Hampton school district, addressed any possible concerns there may be regarding the coronavirus...
North Allegheny moving forward with schedule changes at middle school despite questions about cost
The North Allegheny School Board has approved changes in the middle school schedule next year designed to boost mathematics and improve the learning environment, according to school officials. Facing a three-week deadline before students must begin scheduling classes, the board voted 6-3 to move forward with the schedule changes even...
Grammar — a ‘dating deal breaker’ — celebrates its own day; Oxford comma still debated
Wednesday is National Grammar Day, a time to celebrate good writing, strong syntax and proper punctuation. Grammar nerds likely cringed at that last sentence. It all depends on your feelings about the Oxford comma — which comes before the last item in a list, such as after “trains” in the...
Edinboro University launches honors college
Edinboro University of Pennsylvania will bump up its quest for the best and brightest next fall with the official launch of an honors college. The university, one of the 14 schools in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, previously offered an honors program for high-achieving students. A university spokesman...
Carnegie Mellon tops list of U.S. universities pulling in foreign cash
What a difference a generation and a billion dollars or so can make. Four decades ago, when economist Robert Strauss landed at Carnegie Mellon University, the Pittsburgh school Andrew Carnegie launched as a training center for the children of mill workers in 1900 was a small, well-regarded private research university....
Western Pa. school districts collaborate with PPG, FedEx Ground, Siemens
About 100 educators and business leaders gathered Thursday to celebrate successful partnerships and share what they’ve learned. The program connecting them all, the Educators and Corporations Program (ECP) will soon be introduced statewide. “Every partnership is different, but they all have one common thread,” said Sam Shaneyfelt, a consultant for...
Students end sit-in outside University of Oklahoma offices
NORMAN, Okla. — Dozens of students at the University of Oklahoma have ended a sit-in outside the university’s administrative offices following two instances in which professors used racial slurs in their classrooms. The three-day sit-in organized by the Black Emergency Response Team, known as BERT, ended Friday with the student...
University of Pittsburgh tells students in 3 countries to return home, stay away from others
The University of Pittsburgh has notified 41 of its students studying in Italy, South Korea, and Japan that “they should return to their home communities in the United States and practice social distancing for 14 days after they arrive.” Pitt already had canceled or changed the venue for all spring...
Late doctor, advocates for veterans, disabled to receive Greensburg Salem alumni honors
Editor’s note: Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Greensburg Salem Distinguished Alumni banquet has been tentatively rescheduled for June 18, 2020. A Vietnam veteran who assists today’s wounded warriors, a consultant for nonprofits who advocates for people with physical challenges and a late Greensburg pediatrician who cared for young patients...
Students stage sit-in outside University of Oklahoma offices
NORMAN, Okla. — Dozens of University of Oklahoma students staged a sit-in that continued Friday outside OU’s administrative offices following two instances of professors using racial slurs in the classroom. However, OU Interim President Joseph Harroz Jr. has rejected the demands of the school’s Black Emergency Response Team, known as...
Gateway, other education admins call for public charter school funding reform
The Gateway Board of School Directors has joined a chorus of education administrators across the state calling for public charter school funding reform. The board unanimously approved a resolution Feb. 18 that called on legislators to reform the “flawed” and “unfair” formulas used to determine how charter schools are funded....
Franklin Regional plans lecture series on hot-button school issues
Franklin Regional officials are reaching out to parents and the community to engage them about hot-button issues facing today’s students: bullying, drugs and pitfalls of social media use. The Franklin Regional Parent and Community Lecture Series kicks off March 11 with an overview of the district’s bullying prevention strategy. It...
Penn Hills School District receives sizable School Safety and Security grant
Around 10% of state grants aimed at curbing violence in schools will go to entities in Allegheny County, according to the School Safety and Security Committee. The committee, established under the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency in 2018, announced Wednesday that $53.7 million is to be allocated to schools...
Monongahela native, Purdue president wants civics test as graduation requirement
Let’s hope they paid attention in high school civics. If students at Purdue University didn’t master civics back then, they might find themselves in a bit of a bind. Inside Higher Ed, a publication that follows higher education, is reporting Purdue President Mitch Daniels wants to make a passing grade...
North Hills gets good grades from parents on work-at-home snow days
The North Hills School District’s first use of a state program that lets kids work at home when school is cancelled because of weather or for other reasons was a success, according to a survey of district parents. The state Department of Education gave the district permission in November to...
Penn State says it has settled all claims with the family of Joe Paterno
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Following eight years of rocky relations in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, Pennsylvania State University has made peace with the family of Joe Paterno. The head of Penn State’s board of trustees announced Friday that the school had resolved all outstanding...
Gateway senior receives full 4-year scholarship to Saint Vincent College
A Gateway High School student received a four-year, full-ride academic scholarship to Saint Vincent College after being chosen as the winner of a competitive written exam with the school. Tadeusz Horomanski was one of 155 high school students who participated in the Wimmer Scholarship Exam in November. The students who...
Derry Area elementary gets 2nd annual nod for top student achievement, growth
Derry Area School District’s Grandview Elementary School, for the second year in a row, scored top points with the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Division of Federal Programs. Officials recently named Grandview among 94 Distinguished Title I schools in Pennsylvania for 2019, an honor the school also received in 2018. According...
Experts wonder if proposed scholarship requirements are realistic for recent grads
Gov. Tom Wolf has said his proposed Nellie Bly Scholarship could rescue schools in the State System and build the state’s workforce, but some experts doubt it is realistic — or even fair to students. For students to be eligible for a slice of the proposed $204 million scholarship fund...
Tom Wolf’s scholarship proposal targets low- and middle-income students at Pa. state schools
It’s a far cry from “free college for all” — or even “tuition-free public college” — but Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed Nellie Bly Scholarship echoes facets of those proposals. The idea for the new scholarship is included in Wolf’s state budget proposal. He said it would help low- and middle-income...
