Education category, Page 38
Pittsburgh area school directors say career, technical education centers lack funds to meet modern needs
With 16 career and technical education programs offered in the Pittsburgh Public School District comes the weight of providing quality education in the face of rising expenses. For Angela Mike, executive director of CTE for Pittsburgh Public Schools since 2010, challenges arise when pursuing the results students need to meet...
Late schoolteacher with affinity for W&J College gives record $50 million gift
Anica Donnan Rawnsley taught school as a young adult, and while she never attended Washington & Jefferson College, she developed an affinity for the place early on through family members who enrolled there and graduated. Now, months after her passing, she has made gift of approximately $50 million to W&J...
11-year-old student accused in shooting threat at Wendover Middle School
An 11-year-old Wendover Middle School student is accused of posting threats on social media to bring in a bomb and “shoot up” the Hempfield Area school Wednesday, state police said. The boy, who was not identified, is accused of making terroristic threats. Police say he texted fellow students on the...
ACT test scores for U.S. students drop to new 30-year low
High school students’ scores on the ACT college admissions test have dropped to their lowest in more than three decades, showing a lack of student preparedness for college-level coursework, according to the nonprofit organization that administers the test. Scores have been falling for six consecutive years, but the trend accelerated...
Hempfield chooses owner’s rep to navigate stalled high school project
Hempfield Area School District hired McKinley Architecture and Engineering this week to work as an owner’s representative in the preconstruction phase of the district’s high school renovation project, which has been on pause since bids came back millions of dollars over budget. The firm, which has locations in Pittsburgh and...
Pennsylvania universities are still waiting for state subsidies. It won’t make them more affordable
HARRISBURG — Four of Pennsylvania’s universities are plugging budget gaps while they await hundreds of millions of dollars in aid that has been snarled in a partisan dispute among lawmakers in a state that has one of the nation’s most abysmal records for funding higher education. Education advocates argue that...
Biden’s 2nd try at student loan cancellation moves forward with debate over the plan’s details
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s second attempt at student loan cancellation began moving forward Tuesday with a round of hearings to negotiate the details of a new plan. In a process known as negotiated rulemaking, 14 people chosen by the Biden administration are meeting for the first of three hearings...
Hempfield Area parents question school’s response to gun incident
Several Hempfield Area residents and student leaders shared their concerns at Monday’s school board meeting about the district’s response to an incident last week involving guns at the high school. Resident Lindsay Stevens expressed frustration that much of the discussion about school security has been behind the scenes in executive...
As PennWest struggles, 1st-year enrollment up again at other Pa. state-owned universities
In revealing fall 2023 enrollment data Monday, leaders of Pennsylvania’s state-owned universities asserted that they potentially had turned a corner in reversing 13 years of student declines. But there’s a problem with that scenario – PennWest University. Data shows a continuing steep drop at PennWest, established last year by merging...
Just shy 4 years ago, another graduate worker union drive has begun at the University of Pittsburgh
Last time, they came close — as in 39 votes shy in an election to secure union representation. Now, four years later, more than 2,000 graduate student workers at the University of Pittsburgh, including teaching and research assistants, are vying anew to join the United Steelworkers. A card-signing campaign initiated...
Schools’ pandemic spending boosted tech companies. Did it help U.S. students?
WASHINGTON — As soon as the federal pandemic relief started arriving at America’s schools, so did the relentless calls. Tech companies by the dozens wanted a chance to prove their software was what schools needed. Best of all, they often added, it wouldn’t take a dime from district budgets: Schools...
Toddlers with developmental delays are missing out on help they need. It can hurt them long term
CHICAGO — Alexander watches Paw Patrol with fervor, bowls his baby brother over with hugs and does everything with gusto. What the 3-year-old West Chicago toddler can’t do yet is speak more than a few words. His balance is wobbly and he isn’t able to let his preschool teachers know...
Seton Hill students target Greensburg’s empty storefronts as part of regional initiative
If Greensburg eventually finds a way to fill vacant storefronts in downtown, the city may have three Seton Hill students to thank. Jake Starek, 20, of Harrison City is one of the trio at Seton Hill University participating in an initiative designed to study the potential for a health care...
New Kensington’s Digital Foundry gets $200K infusion to boost manufacturing industry skills
A representative of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration kicked off the state’s Manufacturing Week on Friday with a visit to downtown New Kensington. Gwen Ross, director of workforce development initiatives with the state Department of Community and Economic Development, was at the Digital Foundry at New Kensington for what she said...
The Kiski School will welcome girls after 136 years of all-boys boarding school education
For the first time in its 136-year history, The Kiski School — an all-boys private boarding school in Saltsburg — will welcome girls in fall 2024. Head of School Christopher Brueningsen said the decision was an emotional one, but he believes it is the right one when looking toward growth...
Penn State suspends fraternity over alleged hazing incident
A Penn State University fraternity has been suspended for four years following an investigation into an alleged hazing incident. The sanction imposed on the Delta Theta chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity runs through fall 2027. Details of the incident were not released by the university. The fraternity chapter was...
Hempfield Area School District committees to discuss high school renovation finances
Members of Hempfield Area School District’s buildings and grounds and finance committees will discuss the financial situation of the stalled high school renovation project tonight. The meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the administration building, 4347 Route 136. It will feature presentations from the district’s business manager, bond counsel...
Pitt names Marnie Oakley as new dental school dean
The University of Pittsburgh on Tuesday named Marnie Oakley as its new dean of the School of Dental Medicine. Oakley is a doctor of dental medicine, educator and administrator who has held positions at Pitt for almost three decades, most recently as the dental school’s interim dean. A national search...
Three juveniles charged, security heightened after gun-passing incident at Hempfield high school
Hempfield Area High School students on Tuesday were met by a robust police presence and handheld metal detectors — a response to guns being found at school a day earlier, and three 15-year-old students have been charged in connection with the incident. Lines stretched across the gym and around the...
Pa. court says state-owned universities violated pact by cutting faculty without discussion beforehand
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court has issued a split opinion in a case with implications for faculty cuts imposed at 10 state-owned universities since 2021 and any future professor layoffs. In an opinion that partly affirmed an arbitrator’s earlier decision, the court said Friday that the State System of Higher Education failed...
Police: 3 Hempfield high school students caught passing handguns, prompting lockdown
Three 15-year-old male students passed two loaded handguns — a .38-caliber and a .22-caliber — on a Hempfield Area High School bus and at the school Monday, state police said. Students who witnessed the exchanges contacted school administrators, who alerted state police about 11:40 a.m. The school was put in...
Federal student loan payments are starting again. Here’s what you need to know
NEW YORK — Federal student loan borrowers will need to start making payments again this month after a three-year-plus pause due to the pandemic. You should expect a bill that lays out how much you have to pay each month at least 21 days before your due date. It’s likely...
Pitt trustees OK $100 million in campus renovations
University of Pittsburgh trustees on Friday elected a new chairman, received their first full report from Chancellor Joan Gabel on university progress and approved $100 million in campus building renovation projects. Board members meeting in the William Pitt Union in Oakland also encountered protests. They ranged from a boisterous but...
Penn Township, Greensburg natives will receive awards from Pitt-Greensburg
Scott Szypulski and Myron Jones II will receive awards from the Pitt-Greensburg Alumni Association on Saturday. Their reaction? “It’s full-circle.” Szypulski, of Oakland, grew up in Penn Township and graduated from Pitt-Greensburg in 2014. Jones, of Washington, Pa., spent his high school years in Greensburg and attended Westminster College for...
Want to translate a German letter or document? Bethel Park Historical Society can help
Information contained in German hand-written letters and documents will be explored at “Unlock Your History: Germans to America,” an event that is part of the Bethel Park Historical Society’s Lecture Series. Held in collaboration with the Senator Heinz History Center in the Strip District, the event is on German American...
