Education category, Page 87
Quaker Valley embraces new technology
Students sitting in social studies classes at Quaker Valley middle and high schools can take a virtual tour of the Golden Gate bridge from inside their classroom. In math class, students can answer a problem right on their iPad screen — showing the work they’ve done — and their teacher...
Highlands choir teacher’s passion fueled by seeing his students shine
Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series that features Alle-Kiski Valley residents and the notable things they do. Michael Zeiler kept his end-of-the-school-year tradition a secret for nearly a decade. After his students had left, as Zeiler packed up his classroom for the summer, he’d take a seat...
Felicity Huffman gets 14 days in prison, $30K fine for college admissions scam
BOSTON — “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman was sentenced Friday to 14 days in prison for paying $15,000 to rig her daughter’s SAT scores in the college admissions scandal that ensnared dozens of wealthy and well-connected parents. Huffman, 56, became the first of 34 parents to be sentenced in the...
Penn State board approves pay hike for university president
The president of Penn State is getting a 2.5% salary increase and trustees are making it retroactive to the beginning of July. The Board of Trustees on Friday voted unanimously to boost Eric Barron’s base pay to $855,000 a year. He’s been Penn State’s top administrator since 2014. The Centre...
Highlands superintendent schedules ‘Coffee Talks’ at schools
Highlands Superintendent Monique Mawhinney will be holding a series of “Coffee Talks” this year to improve communication between parents and school district administration. It will be an opportunity for parents with children in the district’s schools to discuss any issues or concerns related to their building or to share news...
Pitt Greensburg to gather data for national health research project
A big data research project that experts say may change the face of medicine in the next decade is headed to Westmoreland County. The National Institutes of Health project dubbed “All of Us” seeks to collect health data from one million Americans over the next five years. It is coming...
Gateway creates esports club for students
The Gateway school board created an esports club for the district’s high school students. Gateway proposed establishing the club, which will be headed by a staff member to be paid a $750 stipend by the Emerald Foundation each semester to manage the program. The Emerald Foundation is a Lancaster-based nonprofit...
Gov. Wolf announces new fees for Pennsylvania charter schools
Gov. Tom Wolf on Wednesday announced that the state Department of Education will enact new fees directed at charter schools. The “fee-for-service model” will charge charter schools to resolve payment disputes with local school districts. It is part of a sweeping charter school reform plan that Wolf announced earlier this...
Pirates Charities donation to South Fayette school increases physical fitness
The excitement could be felt around the Watson Institute’s Education Center South in South Fayette. Not only was a new school year beginning but, thanks to Pirates Charities, the school had new adaptive equipment to help promote physical fitness among students. “It’s like kids in a candy store,” said program...
‘Conservative’ string attached to $50 million college gift
FAIRFAX, Va. — A $50 million gift made earlier this year to Virginia’s largest public university was given specifically to “promote the conservative principles of governance,” newly released documents show, raising concerns from critics that it compromises academic freedom at the school. George Mason University announced the gift earlier this...
West Jefferson Hills School District appoints 2 new principals
Two newly appointed principals in the West Jefferson Hills School District have one thing in common, leaders say: They love kids. School board members on Aug. 27 officially hired longtime Pleasant Hills Middle School educator Adam Zunic as the principal of Gill Hall Elementary, at a salary of $100,000. Zunic,...
Video: Take a look inside the new Thomas Jefferson High School
West Jefferson Hills School District officials welcomed students, parents and community members for the first public viewing of the new 300,000 square-foot Thomas Jefferson High School during an open house on Aug. 18. The school features a natatorium with an eight-lane competitive pool, a 1,400-seat gymnasium, an auxiliary gym with...
Former Pitt dean Jere Gallagher remembered as ‘beautiful inside and out’
Jere Gallagher devoted her life to caring for others, whether it was her family, her friends or her many students. As an associate dean at University of Pittsburgh’s School of Education, she spearheaded multiple initiatives to improve the lives of children and future teachers while also making sure those closest...
Heinz Field, Rivers donate smart boards to Pittsburgh Manchester PreK-8Video
Students at Manchester PreK-8 in Pittsburgh started the school year on Monday even smarter. Heinz Field, the Steelers and Rivers Casino Pittsburgh donated eight smart boards to the Pittsburgh public school. The large electronic screens, linked to a computer and operated by touch or with a special pen, cost $5,000...
Report finds Pennsylvania entry-level teachers fare well
That first day of school may have been rough, but chances are new teachers are doing comparatively better in Pennsylvania than just about anywhere else in the nation. A study by business.org that looked at average teacher starting salaries across the nation and then calculated the pay gap between that...
Schools look to novel strategies to fill substitute teacher needs
Low pay, an economy approaching full employment and dramatic decreases in enrollment in teacher education programs at colleges have produced something few ever thought they’d see in Pennsylvania: a teacher shortage, specifically a shortage of substitute teachers. Mark DiRocco, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators, said the...
Students welcomed to Penn Trafford school with inspirational sayingsVideo
Students at Penn Trafford’s Sunrise Elementary School were greeted with inspirational sayings written in bright colors for their first day of school Thursday. Taking about three weeks to complete over the summer, parents and Principal Karin Coiner worked to paint the stalls of four hallway bathrooms in the Sunrise Drive...
Photos: Final touches put on Kerr Elementary
Palumbo Construction is making the final upgrades to the new Kerr Elementary School on Kittanning Pike in O’Hara. Students will be welcomed Aug. 22 for the start of the school year at Fox Chapel Area School District. The $21 million building includes all new designs with a SMALLab learning space...
Chartiers Valley welcomes back students
Excitement was in the air Tuesday as the Chartiers Valley School District welcomed back students for the new school year. Children at the primary school were hugged and high-fived by teachers, staff members and school police officers who offered words of encouragement as they exited their buses or were dropped...
Parents, teachers from shuttered Evangel Heights still waiting for reimbursements
The closing of Evangel Heights Christian Academy in Buffalo Township has parents and teachers wondering when — or whether — they will get back money owed to them by the school. Most of the academy’s staff of about 15 still are awaiting paychecks, and staff and parents alike have complained...
Carlynton searching for new superintendent
The search for the next superintendent for the Carlynton School District is in full swing. The position was posted on the district’s website earlier this month, with applications being accepted until the end of August. The school board last month approved Diane Kirk, director of the Tri State Area School...
‘Short Edition’ dispenses words of wisdom at Carnegie Mellon UniversityVideo
This vending machine dispenses food for thought. “Short Edition” is based on the concept of pressing a button and, instead of drinks or snacks coming out, the user receives a story or a poem. It prints quickly. The paper is biodegradable. It’s available 24 hours a day. There is no...
Kentucky finds 1,000 teachers violated law during ‘sickouts’
FRANKFORT, Ky. — An election-year investigation into teacher rallies at Kentucky’s Capitol found more than 1,000 educators violated state law by participating in protests that shut down some schools, Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration said Friday. No penalties will be assessed, Kentucky’s labor secretary said, but he warned “the grace extended...
Gov. Wolf calls for sweeping reforms for charter schools in Pennsylvania
Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday vowed to level the playing field between Pennsylvania’s traditional public schools and charter and cyber charter schools. He said the latter lack accountability and transparency and are draining millions of dollars from struggling school districts. Calling the state’s 22-year-old public charter school law flawed and...
Mt. Pleasant teachers issue strike notice
Mt. Pleasant Area School District teachers who have been working without a contract for the last year issued a strike notice this week after failing to reach an agreement during their 15th negotiating session. The Mt. Pleasant Area Education Association, which represents 143 teachers, counselors, nurses and school psychologists, said...
