Tag Archives: education

The Los Angeles Times reports: Los Angeles campuses will not reopen for classes on Aug. 18, and the nation’s second-largest school system will continue with online learning until further notice, because of the worsening coronavirus surge, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday. The difficult decision became unavoidable in recent weeks, Beutner said, as coronavirus cases have skyrocketed in Los Angeles County, …

CNN reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Sunday refused to say whether schools should follow guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on reopening, saying those guidelines are meant to be “flexible.” “The CDC guidelines are just that, meant to be flexible and meant to be applied as appropriate for the situation,” DeVos told CNN’s Dana Bash. …

The Independent reports: Donald Trump escalated his feud with school systems and colleges that started over whether they should reopen this fall amid the coronavirus pandemic, threatening their tax-exempt status. The president accused “too many” colleges and school systems of “radical left indoctrination” of students, verbiage ripped from his 2020 re-election campaign. According to the Association of American Universities, a …

NBC News reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will release additional guidance next week on how to reopen schools safely, Vice President Mike Pence said Wednesday during a White House coronavirus task force briefing at the Department of Education. The guidance, however, is only a recommendation and will not replace state and local decision-making, Pence said. Recommendations on …

The Daily Beast reports: On a call with the nation’s governors Tuesday, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos chastised local officials for doing “next to nothing” to provide academic services to students and demanded they reopen schools in the fall regardless of the state of the COVID pandemic. The issue, DeVos stressed at one point, was merely a matter of calculated …

CBS New York reports: New York City students will return to school in the fall with a “blended learning” model, the mayor announced Wednesday. Mayor Bill de Blasio said most students will attend in-person classes two or three days a week, depending on the week. Families who aren’t comfortable sending their children back to school may continue remote learning. They …

Politico reports: The White House is hammering a message of reopening schools even as coronavirus cases spike throughout the country, insisting it’s OK to move ahead and that decisions last spring to close doors came from states rather than health experts at the CDC. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, wrote an op-ed for USA Today advocating liability …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran [photo] issued an emergency order Monday, requiring all schools to open in the fall and laying out the requirements districts must meet to offer any sort of non-traditional remote instruction in addition to their in-person option. “All school boards and charter school governing boards must open brick and mortar schools in …

USA Today reports: The Supreme Court delivered a major victory Tuesday to parents seeking state aid for their children’s religious school education. The court’s conservative majority ruled that states offering scholarships to students in private schools cannot exclude religious schools from such programs. The decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts, who has joined the liberal justices in three …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas students will be returning to public schools in person this fall, Gov. Greg Abbott told state lawmakers Thursday morning. The state’s top education officials confirmed the plans in a statement to The Texas Tribune. “It will be safe for Texas public school students, teachers, and staff to return to school campuses for in-person instruction this …

Hemant Mehta reports at The Friendly Atheist: The Tennessee legislature passed a bill yesterday, House Bill 2542/Senate Bill 2473, that would force public schools to allow kids to miss class for up to one hour each day in order to attend church. (They would also allow school buses to transport those kids, as long as the churches paid for it.) …

Agence France-Presse reports: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he will not allow students to go back to school until a coronavirus vaccine is available, even as some countries resume in-person classes. Children were due to return to school at the end of August after classes for more than 25 million primary and secondary students were shut down in March as …

ABC News reports: Lori Loughlin and her husband, Mossimo Giannulli, have agreed to a plea deal in connection with their involvement in the so-called “Varsity Blues” college admissions scandal. The “Full House” actress will serve two months in prison, pay a $150,000 fine and have two years of supervised release with 100 hours of community service, while her husband, a …

Deadline reports: Barack Obama has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the White House more than three years ago, but today the former President will deliver not one but two virtual commencement addresses for this season of coronavirus pandemic. Starting with Show Me Your Walk, HBCU Edition at 2 PM ET the ex-POTUS steps up as the marquee name …

Yahoo News reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’ revised federal guidelines on how sexual assault allegations should be handled on college and K-12 campuses is the target of a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, claiming the changes would “inflict significant harm” on victims and “dramatically undermine” their civil rights. The suit, filed on behalf of four advocacy groups for sexual assault survivors, …

CNN reports: President Donald Trump voiced frustration Wednesday at the nation’s top infectious disease specialist after he warned a day earlier against reopening schools and businesses too quickly. “I was surprised by his answer, actually,” Trump said when asked about Dr. Anthony Fauci’s warnings during televised congressional testimony that reopening states too quickly could have dire consequences. “It’s just — …

ABC News reports: The California State University (CSU) system said it plans to cancel all in-person classes for the fall and to continue instruction online, due to the coronavirus pandemic. CSU Chancellor Timothy White [photo] made the announcement Tuesday, which will affect all 23 of its universities. “This virtual planning approach for the next academic year is necessary because of …

The New York Times reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Wednesday issued final rules for how public and private schools and colleges must address allegations of sexual misconduct, locking in protections for accused students and faculty but tempering earlier proposals that critics said would harm victims of assault and harassment. The rules preserve Ms. DeVos’s broad goals in overhauling Title …

Deadline reports: Former President Barack Obama will deliver a commencement message for America’s high school seniors in a televised multimedia primetime special Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020. ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC will simultaneously air the special on May 16, at 8 pm ET/PT/7 pm CT, along with more than 20 other broadcast and digital …

CBS News reports: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Friday that all K-12 schools and colleges in the state will stay closed for the rest of the school year. Cuomo called it the “best course of action to keep students, educators and staff safe” and said schools will continue to provide distance learning. “We must protect our children. Every parent …