Education category, Page 35
Pa. education bill requires basic financial literacy for high school students
Balancing a checkbook. The basics of taking out a business loan. The impact of a home mortgage. For the average high school student, these don’t sound like exciting concepts. And in adulthood, they don’t get much more exciting. But they are essential. And state legislators want all high school students...
Penn State names chancellor for its Greater Allegheny campus
A chemist who has focused on endeavors such as student success and improved health care access in McKeesport has been chosen as Penn State Greater Allegheny’s new chancellor, the university announced Thursday. Along with her other qualifications, Megan Nagel already has been doing the job in an interim capacity since...
PennWest interim president approved for return to West Chester University
R. Lorraine “Laurie” Bernotsky will leave the interim presidency of PennWest University in June to become the 16th president of West Chester University in suburban Philadelphia. The State System of Higher Education in Harrisburg approved Bernotsky’s selection Wednesday morning at a special meeting conducted via Zoom. The vote was unanimous....
Pitt top officials to receive 4% raises
Seven senior leaders at the University of Pittsburgh will see pay increases of 4% next year, bringing their base salaries to between $271,000 and nearly $1.1 million. The new pay levels were endorsed Tuesday morning by the Pitt Board of Trustees’ Compensation Committee and then approved by the full Board...
Many kids are still skipping kindergarten. Since the pandemic, some parents don’t see the point
CONCORD, Calif. — Aylah Levy had some catching up to do this fall when she started first grade. After spending her kindergarten year at an alternative program that met exclusively outdoors, Aylah, 6, had to adjust to being inside a classroom. She knew only a handful of numbers and was...
Weighing in on social, political issues has become a minefield for college presidents
University presidents increasingly opine on the thorniest social and political issues even if they unfold beyond their campuses — from immigration policy to gender identity to war. On one level, their diverse campuses seem to demand it. A message carefully crafted with help from campus speechwriters and delivered online can...
Carnegie Mellon graduate alleges ‘cruel campaign of antisemitic abuse’
A Jewish woman and graduate of Carnegie Mellon University is suing the school in federal court, alleging she faced “a cruel campaign of antisemitic abuse” by campus faculty and administration. Yael Canaan, 23, a New Jersey resident of Israeli ancestry, filed her complaint in U.S. District Court for Western Pennsylvania...
Pa. lawmakers free up funding for community colleges, public libraries
Lawmakers in Harrisburg agreed Wednesday night to release almost $262 million for the state’s 15 community colleges that had been held up for almost six months, plus $70 million for public libraries. The breakthrough on the last scheduled day for legislators to meet this calendar year also means K-12 school...
Sensory classroom at Frick Environmental Center to create therapeutic space
Galivant through the forest, activate your desire for wonder, get in touch with nature and your transcendental side, run your hands through the leaves of the garden — this is exactly what the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy wants visitors to do when the sensory classroom at Frick Environmental Center in Squirrel...
Greater Latrobe halts multimillion-dollar revitalization plan
Greater Latrobe School Board did an about-face Tuesday and halted its multimillion-dollar revitalization plan that was set to raise taxes significantly through 2039 — thanks to a majority vote by directors who won successful write-in campaigns last month. The motion at Tuesday’s board meeting rescinded two resolutions passed during previous...
Harvard board keeps president as leader of Ivy League school following antisemitism backlash
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard President Claudine Gay will remain leader of the prestigious Ivy League school following her comments last week at a congressional hearing on antisemitism, the university’s highest governing body announced Tuesday. “Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our...
Backlash to House testimony shines spotlight on new generation of Ivy League presidents
WASHINGTON — The university presidents called before a congressional hearing on antisemitism last week had more in common than strife on their campuses: The leaders of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard and MIT were all women who were relatively new in their positions. In that sense, they represented the changing...
Pitt launches grad program to make data science more accessible
Understanding how to work with data is a skill that once seemed important only for those with careers tied at the hip to a computer. Not any more. Artists, accountants, health care workers and just about anyone else in an increasingly digitized world can benefit from being able to assemble,...
Teachers have been outed for moonlighting in adult content. Do they have legal recourse?
At a small rural Missouri high school, two English teachers shared a secret: Both were posting adult content on OnlyFans, the subscription-based website known for sexually explicit content. The site and others like it provide an opportunity for those willing to dabble in pornography to earn extra money — sometimes...
Harvard president apologizes for remarks on antisemitism as pressure mounts on Penn’s president
WASHINGTON — Harvard University’s president apologized as pressure mounted for the University of Pennsylvania’s president to resign over their testimony at a congressional hearing on antisemitism that critics from the White House on down say failed to show that they would stand up to antisemitism on campus. In an interview...
Hempfield Area makes it easier to search students with security policy update
Hempfield Area School District students and their belongings can be searched at the discretion of the superintendent under a revised policy the school board approved this week. The changes allow the district to search students and their belongings with metal or weapons detectors regardless of whether there has been a...
Any Hempfield Area tax hike capped at 6.5% next year
The Hempfield Area School District board approved a resolution that limits any tax increase to support the 2024-2025 budget to the 6.5% ceiling set by the state. Any increase above that index would have required approval from voters in the district or the state in a process governed by a...
Late Homer City astronaut and IUP graduate receives space mission name
Dr. Patricia Hilliard Robertson, a 1985 graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, devoted her life not only to medicine but to the advancement of human spaceflight. She never made it into space herself, dying months shy of a mission. On Wednesday, the space industry became the latest to honor the...
Vote to name PennWest interim president to lead West Chester University could happen this month
PennWest University interim President Lorraine “Laurie” Bernotsky is one vote away from being named the next president of West Chester University in suburban Philadelphia, effective in July. The State System of Higher Education board of governors is expected to call a special meeting this month to select the 16th president...
Texas high school sends Black student back to in-school suspension over his locs hairstyle
A Texas high school sent a Black student back to in-school suspension Tuesday for refusing to change his hairstyle, renewing a monthslong standoff over a dress code policy the teen’s family calls discriminatory. The student, Darryl George, was suspended for 13 days because his hair is out of compliance when...
Greensburg Salem hires retiring principal as interim athletic director
David Zilli was hired as Greensburg Salem School District’s interim athletic director and transitional administrator, a position that will run from Jan. 1 until March 8. Zilli is set to retire as the district’s high school principal on Dec. 31, which was going to be the end of his 35-year...
California faculty at largest U.S. university system launch strike for better pay
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Faculty at California State University, the largest public university system in the U.S., will hold a series of one-day strikes starting Monday across four campuses to demand higher pay and more parental leave for thousands of professors, librarians, coaches and other workers. The strikes at California State...
Faculty union files labor complaint against Pitt, alleging it is stalling contract talks
Still without a contract two years after forming, the union representing 3,000 faculty members at the University of Pittsburgh has filed an unfair labor practice complaint, accusing Pitt of prolonging the contract talks. The United Steelworkers asserts in a filing before the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board that Pitt is engaging...
Snowstorm slams Erie region, shuts down PennWest Edinboro
Sure, El Niño may be poised to deliver Greater Pittsburgh another warmer-than-usual winter with less precipitation. Up north, the lake effect still rules. An intense snowstorm Tuesday off Lake Erie that is forecast to dump up to 20 inches in Erie County and surrounding areas prompted PennWest University’s Edinboro campus...
Pa. community colleges still waiting for state funding using loans, reserves to get by
Pennsylvania lawmakers who managed to pass a long-overdue appropriation for state-related universities before Thanksgiving left Harrisburg without doing the same for the state’s 15 community colleges. The appropriations for the 2024 fiscal year were due July 1 and are five months late. Some community college leaders say they have begun...
