Education category, Page 71
Pittsburgh Public Schools extends remote work 5 weeks for teachers, 2 days for students
Teachers at Pittsburgh Public Schools will work remotely an additional five weeks, the district and the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers announced Friday night in a joint statement. The school board voted in late July to maintain remote learning for the first nine weeks of the school year, but teachers were...
Sex ed mandate sparks bitter Washington state ballot fight
SEATTLE — Democrats in the Washington state Legislature thought they had passed a routine sex education requirement for public schools earlier this year. But a coalition of Republicans and religious conservatives launched a swift, historic backlash that’s led to a bitter partisan fight and an effort to overturn the measure...
Here is covid-19 data from Western Pa. colleges
Western Pennsylvania is home to several colleges and universities, attracting students from around the state and country. During the coronavirus pandemic, many are tracking the number of positive covid-19 cases as they emerge on campus. University of Pittsburgh Enrollment: Approximately 35,000 students Number of new cases: There were 26 new...
Schools find ways to cope with substitute teacher shortage in age of coronavirus
Local schools are bracing for what could be a year filled with teacher vacancies as covid-19 potentially amplifies a yearslong substitute teacher shortage. Districts scrambling to find day-to-day substitutes during a typical school year now might have to work twice as hard to retain those positions as fears of returning...
Officials: Covid cases at Pitt are going down, for now
Cases of covid-19 at the University of Pittsburgh appear to be leveling out as students start returning to in-person class, but university officials say it’s too soon to loosen restrictions. While the university has one of the highest total case counts of any institution in the area, the last two...
Mother petitions Deer Lakes to go to in-school instruction 5 days a week
A mother whose three children go to school in Deer Lakes School District has started a petition asking district officials to reinstate in-person instruction five days a week. Traci Stotler, who mounted a petition drive on Change.org, said it’s not physically, mentally or emotionally healthy for young, developing children to...
Woodland Hills pushes back in-person classes another month
The Woodland Hills School District has pushed back the start of in-person classes for another month, district officials said this week. Superintendent James P. Harris wrote in a letter to parents on Tuesday the in-person return hinges on data from Johns Hopkins University. Students can return to school once data...
Pittsburgh school district will review, publicize school police arrest data
Pittsburgh Public Schools is taking new measures to analyze and address school police data. The district this week approved a proposal by Superintendent Anthony Hamlet to conduct an external investigation into data pertaining to school arrests, citations and out-of-school suspensions. The data will be sorted into characteristics like gender, race...
Pennsylvania colleges take a hit in undergraduate enrollment
A new national survey of fall college enrollment trends by the National Student Clearinghouse found the impact of covid-19 and a shrinking pool of new high school graduates has left its mark on Pennsylvania colleges. The survey based on preliminary numbers from about 22% of the nation’s colleges and universities,...
Pittsburgh schools will join districts suing JUUL, other e-cigarrette makers
Pittsburgh Public Schools will soon join the ranks of districts suing JUUL, the e-cigarettes manufacturer. The school board voted to retain legal counsel at a meeting Wednesday. “I think that this is a wise decision to join in and file and participate,” said board member Terry Kennedy. “It costs us...
Pitt dean says U.S. is in a great racial crisis
If Larry E. Davis had been able to give the lecture he gave Tuesday evening back when it was originally scheduled last spring, it might not have had the same effect. His lecture “Will Race Always Matter?” was sponsored by the Dick Thornburgh Forum for Law and Public Policy at...
U.S. officials meet at CMU to discuss artificial intelligence
As part of his two-day visit to the Pittsburgh region this week, U.S. Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette participated in a discussion at Carnegie Mellon University, along with U.S. Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios. The “fireside chat,” moderated by CMU’s Vice President of Research Michael McQuade and livestreamed via Brouillette’s...
Frances Wolf urges USDA and Congress to extend child food services
Pennsylvania’s First Lady Frances Wolf joined 17 other first spouses and partners to urge federal leaders to continue child nutrition programs for the rest of the school school year. In letters to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to congressional leadership sent Friday, Wolf and her counterparts asked the entities...
Fall enrollment increases at Slippery Rock and Cal U
Early enrollment numbers from two local public universities suggest the global pandemic is yielding a silver lining where graduate school enrollment is concerned. Officials at California and Slippery Rock universities said total enrollment at both schools is up slightly this fall, thanks to a bump in those opting to pursue...
Carnegie Mellon publishes report on sustainability progress
Carnegie Mellon University marked a milestone this week in its efforts toward sustainability, equity and social justice. The university released a new report Wednesday that assesses actions taken to advance Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 objectives adopted by the United Nations. The SDGs, or “global goals,” aim...
Attorney: Duquesne’s ‘knee-jerk’ move to oust professor for using racial slur threatens academic freedom
Duquesne University risks setting a dangerous precedent and violating its own rules regarding academic freedom by trying to oust a professor for using a racial slur during a lecture about race, the suspended professor’s attorney said Wednesday. “It’s a knee-jerk reaction,” Warner Mariani, attorney for the embattled professor, Gary Shank,...
Pa. Health Secretary Levine urges college students to protect themselves from covid
Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine called on college students to follow the coronavirus safety guidelines recommended by their institutions and by health care professionals. The bulk of Levine’s message Monday was directed at people between the ages of 19 to 24, many of whom are college students, where...
Teacher departures leave schools scrambling for substitutes
INDIANAPOLIS — With many teachers opting out of returning to the classroom because of the coronavirus, schools around the U.S. are scrambling to find replacements and in some places lowering certification requirements to help get substitutes in the door. Several states have seen surges in educators filing for retirement or...
West Mifflin recalling student computers for ‘urgent security updates’
The West Mifflin Area School District is recalling student devices for “urgent security updates,” according to a post on the district’s website. The recall will begin Monday and will run through the week. Members of the technology department will work to resolve issues reported by students during the first week...
Duquesne professor placed on leave for using racial slur during lesson
Duquesne University placed an education professor on paid leave Friday after backlash erupted in response to his use of a racial slur during a virtual class on Thursday. The class was captured in videos and posted to social media. Effective Friday afternoon, “that faculty member in the video is on...
No move to remote learning, as Penn State adds 272 covid cases since last update
A week after Penn State President Eric Barron said he would consider moving the university to remote learning, he announced Friday that such a move was not yet necessary. The announcement came on the heels of Friday’s updated COVID-19 dashboard, which showed 272 new cases of the coronavirus at University...
CMU’s Heinz College announces layoffs
Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy will lay off a number of staff members, school officials said this week. The affected staff were notified Tuesday morning. In an email to Heinz College faculty and staff, Dean Ramayya Krishnan said the financial impact of the covid-19...
W&J College sends 26 students home for violating covid-19 guidelines
Washington & Jefferson College has sent more than two dozen students home for violating covid-19 guidelines since the fall semester began, the institution said Wednesday. The semester began Aug. 24. In the past two weeks, 26 students have been asked to return home to continue their studies remotely, according to...
Apollo-Ridge teacher wins state award for teaching real-world applications of geography
A Vandergrift woman who teaches at Apollo-Ridge High School won a state award for teaching how knowledge of geography could be applied to real jobs. Jessica Johns, a social studies teacher, received the 2020 Pennsylvania Geographical Society John J. Katana K-12 Distinguished Teaching Award. “I am very humbled and very...
Pittsburgh principal drops rap video encouraging students during pandemic
The principal of Pittsburgh Miller Pre-K is encouraging students to excel during remote learning — with song. In a video posted Tuesday morning, the school district tweeted a video of Margaret Starkes, “the Rapping Principal,” dropping a few bars of reassurance for students on their first day of school. All...
