Education category, Page 10
Hempfield Area reduces expenses, balances $114.3 million school budget
The Hempfield Area school board passed a balanced budget Monday night, almost exactly two months after it was tasked with closing a $5.1 million deficit. The gap was presented at the beginning of the board’s budget discussions in April. The board in May cut the deficit to $172,000, approving a...
Judge halts another Trump administration effort to block foreign students from attending Harvard
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday blocked another effort by the Trump administration to keep international students from attending Harvard University, saying officials’ “misplaced efforts to control a reputable academic institution” threatened freedom of speech. The order from U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs in Boston preserves the ability of...
Greensburg Central Catholic adjusts staffing amid declining enrollment, rising costs
Greensburg Central Catholic Junior-Senior High School will undergo staffing changes heading into 2025-26 as the school faces declining enrollment. The private, parochial school’s enrollment spiked following the covid pandemic — jumping from 345 in the 2020-21 school year to 373 in 2021-22. The student population remained relatively consistent across the...
Nazareth Prep in Emsworth hosts ground breaking for athletics and arts facility
Nazareth Prep doesn’t have any home basketball or volleyball games, nor can it hold school functions such as graduation. That will soon change. The private Catholic school in Emsworth announced an $8.5 million expansion that includes a state-of-the-art facility for athletics and the arts, which will be able to accommodate...
Freeport Area School Board OKs $55 million high school renovation, tax hike
After years of planning and debate, the Freeport Area School Board moved ahead Wednesday with a $55 million high school renovation project — and approved a tax increase to help fund it. Both measures passed 5-4. The school directors who voted for both were Christine Davies, Michael Huth, Gregory Selinger,...
Penn-Trafford approves 3-mill tax hike, dips into savings to cover remaining deficit
Penn-Trafford tax bills will raise $84 annually on average following the school board’s decision Monday to implement a 3-mill tax hike. The board approved a $70 million budget with about $69.9 million in revenue Monday night. District tax rates will be 93.75 mills for Westmoreland County residents and 14.39 mills...
School for the Blind superintendent retires from education after more than 4 decades
A little free library sits outside Heidi Ondek’s home, and the symbolism of that little wooden box on a stand doesn’t go unnoticed by people who know Ondek, a Sewickley woman who has devoted her life to education. “My children gave me that little library as a Christmas gift,” said...
$172K deficit remains in Hempfield Area budget ahead of final vote
Hempfield Area still needs to figure out how to close a $172,000 gap in its 2025-26 budget ahead of the school board’s next voting meeting June 23, where a final budget will be adopted. The board held the final public hearing on its $114.5 million budget June 2. On May...
Carnegie Mellon alumni, former faculty win big at Tony Awards
Carnegie Mellon University alumni and faculty had a strong presence at this year’s Tony Awards, which recognized excellence in Broadway theatre for the 78th year in a row. Throughout the night, two CMU alumnae received a Tony. Natalie Venetia Belcon received one for her role in “Buena Vista Social Club”...
Harvard gets backing of other universities, including Pitt, in Trump funding fight
A group of 18 leading U.S. research universities, including Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology and Johns Hopkins, asked a federal judge for permission to file legal arguments in support of Harvard University in its high-stakes showdown with the Trump administration over more than $2 billion in...
Trump asks Supreme Court to allow Education Department purge
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to let him resume dismantling the Department of Education, seeking to lift a lower court order that requires the reinstatement of as many as 1,400 workers. The emergency request Friday challenges a federal district judge’s conclusion that Trump’s effort to...
Fox Chapel Area High School students take on real Supreme Court cases
A popular elective social studies course at Fox Chapel Area High School allows students an opportunity to serve as attorneys and Supreme Court justices. Seniors in AP U.S. Government & Politics can select two out of 20 undecided real cases and play a fictional part in the nation’s judicial system....
Judge puts temporary hold on Trump’s latest ban on Harvard’s foreign students
WASHINGTON — A federal judge has temporarily blocked a proclamation by President Donald Trump that banned foreign students from entering the U.S. to attend Harvard University. Trump’s proclamation was the latest attempt by his Republican administration to prevent the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college from enrolling a quarter of its...
Harvard files legal challenge over Trump’s ban on U.S. entry for incoming foreign students
Harvard University is challenging President Donald Trump’s move to block foreign students from coming to the United States to attend the Ivy League school, calling it illegal retaliation for Harvard’s rejection of White House demands. In an amended complaint filed Thursday, Harvard called the president’s action an end-run around a...
Point Park names provost, senior vice president of academic affairs
Point Park University has promoted Shari Payne to provost and senior vice president of academic affairs after she served in the role on an interim basis. She has been serving in the interim role since January, after joining Point Park in 2023 as dean of the new School of Continuing...
Burrell’s Stewart Elementary celebrates its last day: ‘It’s bittersweet’
Mindy Larko may or may not have cried on her way to work Wednesday. It would mark her last day teaching at Lower Burrell’s Stewart Elementary in Room 14, a room where she, herself, was a student during the 1982-83 school year. “A lot of memories come back when you’re...
2 new faces expected to join Hempfield Area School Board
Two new faces are expected to join the Hempfield Area School Board next year, and two incumbents will return for another term, according to primary election write-in results posted Tuesday. Newcomers Lindsay Stevens and Daniel Graft and incumbents Scott E. Learn and Jerry Radebaugh won both the Republican and Democratic...
Podcast: Inside the Penn State closure decision
Penn State’s Board of Trustees voted to close seven of the twelve branch campuses that were up for consideration in a virtual meeting on May 22. Those campuses, to close after the spring 2027 semester, are New Kensington, Fayette, DuBois, Mont Alto, Shenango, Wilkes-Barre and York. According to Penn State’s...
Educators debate Pa. House proposal to set flat cyber charter tuition rate
New Kensington-Arnold Superintendent Chris Sefcheck is encouraged to see the state House education committee move on legislation to set a flat tuition rate for cyber charter schools. The district spent $3.3 million this past school year on tuition for 167 students who live in the area to attend one of...
Hempfield Area finance committee wrestles with $172K deficit ahead of budget vote
Hempfield Area will still need to cover a $172,000 gap before passing a final budget for the 2025-2026 school year later this month. The school board held its final public hearing on its $114.5 million budget Monday evening. It approved May 19 a proposed final budget with a 4.35-mill tax...
Penn State students at closing campuses juggle staying the course or jumping ship
Penn State New Kensington fit the bill for 19-year-old Angelina Da Vila. “Originally, I wanted to go to Penn State,” she said. “I wanted to be in the city, but not go to such a big school. I still wanted that small-school atmosphere, and New Kensington sounded like one of...
Chancellor outlines vision as Penn State New Kensington, Fayette wind down operations
The regional chancellor for Penn State’s New Kensington, Fayette and Greater Allegheny campuses plans a smooth transition focused on students, faculty and staff as two of those campuses wind down operations in two years. “Through the 2026-27 academic year, we remain fully committed to supporting our students, faculty, staff and...
CMU, Pitt students speak out as Chinese student visas are threatened
Mia Cody fears that the diverse student environment she has grown to love in her two years at Carnegie Mellon University is under threat. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that the Trump administration will aggressively revoke the visas of some Chinese students studying at colleges and universities throughout...
Special Tony for educators goes to NYC high school teacher who urges students to ‘step out the box’
NEW YORK — The special Tony Award that honors educators is going to a New York public high school teacher who shows how theater skills can apply to a career in the arts — and also far away from it. “My platform is career focused,” says Gary Edwin Robinson. “So,...
Federal judge extends order blocking Trump administration ban on foreign students at Harvard
BOSTON — A federal judge on Thursday extended an order blocking the Trump administration’s attempt to bar Harvard University from enrolling foreign students. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs extended the block she imposed last week with a temporary restraining order, which allows the Ivy League school to continue enrolling international...
