Education

The Citrus County Chronicle reports: Crystal River Middle School social studies teacher Dayanna Volitich has been removed from the classroom as part of a Citrus County School District investigation following the revelation that she espoused racist views in a podcast and on social media under the alias Tiana Dalichov. Volitich has issued a statement: “None of the statements released about …

The Detroit News reports: This month marks the first full year that Michigan native Betsy DeVos has held her job as U.S. education secretary. Her opponents still can’t believe that she has the role. Just last week, leaders of the top teachers unions attempted to drop off 80,000 “report cards” for DeVos, in a publicity stunt. No surprise — she …

Bustle reports: On Tuesday, Democratic Mississippi Rep. Credell Calhoun introduced a bill that would impose strict religious requirements on teachers in the state’s public schools. Among other proposed rules, House Bill 1100 would mandate that Mississippi educators read the Ten Commandments every day in the first hour of class. In addition to reciting the Ten Commandments at the top of …

The Associated Press reports: The Trump administration is further delaying Obama-era protections for students defrauded by for-profit colleges, saying it needs more time to write new regulations. Tuesday’s announcement renewed criticism by Democrats and advocacy groups that the administration favors the interests of for-profit universities over students. The Education Department posted a notice in the Federal Register saying it wants …

The Washington Post reports: The Education Department has rescinded 72 policy documents that outline the rights of students with disabilities as part of the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate regulations it deems superfluous. The Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services wrote in a newsletter Friday that it had “a total of 72 guidance documents that have been rescinded due …

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reports: A predominately black public school in Mississippi named after Jefferson Davis will have its Confederate tied namesake stripped next year and replaced with the title of another president whose character students, parents and teachers have said is more fitting— Barack Obama. Davis Magnet IB PTA President Janelle Jefferson announced at the Jackson Public Schools Board of …

From the Facebook page of Nicholas County Democrats: On Tuesday morning, September 5th, 2017, an openly gay student from Clay County High School in Clay, West Virginia, boarded the school bus of part-time driver, Robert Belt, and sat down beside another student. Allegedly, Robert Belt, also a full-time Clay County Sheriff Deputy, dressed in full uniform, announced over the bus …

The Denver Post reports: Hundreds of people gathered at the Colorado statehouse Wednesday morning in protest of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her Denver speech Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Legislative Exchange Council. “This needs to make a statement,” said Suzanne Ethredge, president of the Pueblo Education Association, a teachers union. Ethredge drove up from Pueblo with …

The Chicago Tribune reports: The president of the country’s largest labor union, Lily Eskelsen García of the National Education Association, told delegates at her organization’s annual gathering that they would not work with the Trump administration because the president and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos could not be trusted to do what is in the best interests of children. Eskelsen García …

Yesterday the Sesame Street team tweeted out the above image to their nearly two million followers, many of whom responded with utter joy. As you may know, last month Trump budget director Mick Mulvaney cited Big Bird in defense of his proposal to cut the entire budget for the Corporation For Public Broadcasting. And of course, he had it all …

Oklahoma City’s CBS affiliate reports: A school district at the center of one of America’s most conservative states plans to join a gay pride celebration this weekend. According to OKCPride.org, the annual festival represents the unity between the LGBTQ community and its supporters. For the first time, Oklahoma City Public Schools will be involved in the festival. OKCPS plans to …

Time Magazine reports: When Rhode Island’s teacher of the year posted a photo of his April meeting with President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania at the White House Oval Office Thursday, it quickly went viral. The striking picture shows Nikos Giannopoulos holding a lacy fan and wearing a rainbow pin among other meaningful accessories. Giannopoulos says he picked strategic …

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports: Donna Kikkert, 59, who is pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, said she wanted to study the classics. When the professor of her Advanced Creative Writing Poetry course selected works other than those of Robert Frost, Edgar Allan Poe and others of interest to Kikkert, she said she asked faculty to reconsider …

Mic.com reports: Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) slammed Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos Tuesday when she “refused to affirm” that her department would protect students from discrimination in her testimony before the Senate. “I think that’s very important for the public to know that today, the secretary of education, before this committee, refused to affirm that she would put forward a …

Vox reports: A single student’s case has turned into a massive legal decision for all transgender Americans. On Tuesday, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Kenosha Unified School District in Wisconsin violated the rights of a trans student, Ash Whitaker [photo, with his mother], when it refused to let him use the boys’ bathroom. According to the …

Raw Story reports: President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appeared on Wednesday before a House appropriations subcommittee to testify on behalf on Trump’s new budget proposal, which makes drastic cuts to public education funding and diverts “critical resources” to for-profit and religious charter schools. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) asked DeVos if she would consider sending her own children …

The Indianapolis Star reports: When Mike Pence took the stage at Notre Dame’s commencement on Saturday, more than 100 students quietly got up from their seats and left. There were a few cheers. Some boos. This was not a surprise, but rather a staged protest some students had been planning for weeks. When Notre Dame announced that the vice president …

The Associated Press reports: First lady Melania Trump announced Monday that her son, Barron, will attend a private Episcopal school in Maryland, beginning this fall. The announcement answered one of the lingering questions surrounding the first family’s unusual living arrangement. Mrs. Trump and 11-year-old Barron have been living at Trump Tower in New York since Donald Trump took office in …

The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports: A San Luis Obispo High School teacher has resigned in the face of widespread outrage over a letter he wrote to the school student newspaper that cited a Biblical passage saying those who commit homosexual acts “deserve to die.” Special education teacher Michael Stack did not show up to work Thursday but sent the …

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was loudly booed by the students at Florida’s historically black Bethune-Cookman College today as she attempted to deliver the commencement address. The Washington Post reports: Many students and alumni had objected to having DeVos as speaker in part because they said the outreach by President Trump and the education secretary to historically black colleges is an …