Education category, Page 81
Highlands community groups offering additional lunch sites for students
Organizations in Highlands School District communities are working together to offer lunches for students in more locations. The school district previously announced it would be providing to-go lunches from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays, beginning Wednesday, at the high school in Harrison, elementary school in Tarentum and in Sheldon...
District leaders lament ‘very poor planning’ in Gov. Wolf’s decision to close schools
It had taken all day, but finally, the New Kensington-Arnold School District had a plan. Schools would be closed to students Monday, just Monday, so teachers and administrators could prepare for a potential transition to online learning — a growing possibility as the number of confirmed coronavirus infections in the...
Wilkinsburg closing 2 schools because of potential coronavirus exposure
Wilkinsburg School District announced Thursday it is closing Kelly Primary School and Turner Intermediate School on Friday and Monday due to a potential exposure to covid-19. Wilkinsburg Superintendent Linda J. Iverson said the district became aware that a staff member was in contact with a staff member at Colfax K-8...
Belle Vernon teachers strike averted; tentative pact reached in 11th-hour deal
Classes for about 2,500 Belle Vernon Area students continued as scheduled Friday after the teachers’ union and school board reached what they hope is a deal on a new contract, a union representative said. Details of the tentative agreement were not available. The contract still must be approved by the...
Penn State moves to online-only classes over coronavirus concerns
Penn State, along with several other Pennsylvania universities, will cancel in-person classes and move to online instruction over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus that causes covid-19. Officials announced Wednesday that Penn State will start remote learning for all classes at every campus location beginning March 16 through April...
Greensburg Salem teams sweep pasta bridge competition at Saint VincentVideo
Greensburg Salem School District swept the top three spots in Monday’s 14th annual Pasta Bridge Engineering Competition at Saint Vincent College. Juniors Adam Nichols, 16, and Kevin Burkhardt, 17, both of Salem Township, took first-place honors when their model bridge, crafted from various types of pasta and glue, stood up...
2019 H.S. performance score rankings for Allegheny, Westmoreland, Alle-Kiski Valley
The goal of most high schools is to have students graduate with skills that prepare them for success in life. One indication the school is making good on that intention is its building-level performance score — which is used to evaluate teachers and principals under Pennsylvania’s Educator Effectiveness System (Act...
Norwin’s Sheridan Terrace grabs top building score among Westmoreland elementaries
Teachers at Sheridan Terrace Elementary in the Norwin School District provided customized reading instruction for students and reached out to their families to reinforce educational goals. Those strategies paid off, as Sheridan led all elementary schools in Westmoreland County in 2019, based on state-calculated building-level scores. Sheridan achieved 93 out...
Penn-Trafford middle schools claim county lead in building performance results
Trafford Middle School used a flexible grouping approach to teach students last year, helping it to the top overall state performance score — 85.3 — among middle and junior high schools in Westmoreland County. Penn Middle School, also in Penn-Trafford School District, came in second with a score of 81.1...
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....
