Tag Archives: education

Politico reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos urged career employees at the Education Department on Tuesday to “be the resistance” when the Biden administration comes into power next month. During a department-wide virtual meeting to discuss the shift to the new administration, DeVos acknowledged that most of the agency’s thousands of career employees “will be here through the coming transition and …

The New York Daily News reports: In what could prove to be the most controversial statement of his tenure, Mayor de Blasio declared Tuesday that snow days for New York City school kids are a thing of the past. Students taking in-person classes can blame that cold, cold new reality on remote learning, which has become necessary and almost universal …

The Associated Press reports: The Supreme Court declined Monday to take up an appeal from parents in Oregon who want to prevent transgender students from using locker rooms and bathrooms of the gender with which they identify, rather than their sex assigned at birth. The case came from a school district near Salem, Oregon’s capital city. The federal appeals court …

The Associated Press reports: In a veiled swing at President-elect Joe Biden’s education plans, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday blasted the push for free college as a “socialist takeover of higher education” that could damage the nation’s economy. Speaking at an online conference hosted by the Education Department’s Federal Student Aid office, DeVos did not mention Biden by name. …

The New York Daily News reports: Kids, grab your backpacks. Again. New York City schools are set to reopen in stages starting Dec. 7, Mayor de Blasio said Sunday. The announcement came as coronavirus is expected to keep surging in the city. De Blasio said he was ditching his previous approach to schools, under which they could only be open …

Gothamist reports: As parents wait to hear from the city and state over when public schools will reopen amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a mea culpa at a news conference on Wednesday, admitting he should have crafted a reopening redux plan before shutting down the entire school system last week. De Blasio said he …

The New York Times reports: New York City’s entire public school system will shutter on Thursday, Chancellor Richard A. Carranza wrote in an email to school principals, in a worrisome signal that a second wave of the coronavirus has arrived. Schools have been open for in-person instruction for just under eight weeks. The shutdown — which was prompted by the …

The New York Daily News reports: City schools will remain open Monday, Mayor de Blasio said, pointing to the latest COVID infection rate. The latest seven-day average of COVID tests coming back positive was 2.57%, according to Hizzoner, who previously set 3% as the level that would trigger school closure. “Thankfully, schools will remain open on Monday,” he tweeted Sunday, …

AM New York reports: New York City parents should prepare for school closures due to a citywide spike in COVID-19 cases as early as Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday. For weeks, the number of new cases of the virus has been steadily increasing across the five boroughs pushing the city’s overall positivity rate closer to the de …

Politico reports: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos pledged Wednesday to use the “bully pulpit” to pressure states to reopen schools for in-person learning amid the pandemic. DeVos said on a Zoom event that she and President Donald Trump have been “very consistent” about the need to reopen schools for in-person learning “in every possible situation.” DeVos used the pandemic as reason …

The Washington Post reports: A party near Florida State University’s campus drew more than 1,000 people before it was broken up by police, authorities said Monday. The party was one of several large gatherings that prompted calls to the Tallahassee Police Department over the weekend, the department said in a statement. About 700 cars were reportedly surrounding an off-campus apartment …

The New York Daily News reports: A Long Island student has been suspended for a year after repeatedly defying his school’s remote learning schedule, insisting that classes should always be held in person — even during a pandemic. Maverick Stow, a senior at William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach, will not be allowed on school grounds for any “school-sponsored …

The New York Daily News reports: The scheduled start of in-person learning at city schools has been pushed back, from Sept. 10 to Sept. 21, Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday. Sept. 10-15 “will be devoted to preparation” by school staff, he said at a press conference. Sept. 16-18 will provide a “transitional period” for the school year in which online …

Jacksonville’s NBC News affiliate reports: After the first full week of classes in Duval County, school officials say they are still counting how many teachers and students test positive for the novel coronavirus. But, the district said, it can’t share those numbers. The Duval County Health Department told Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) officials Tuesday they needed to get permission …

Yahoo News reports: On Friday, Lori Loughlin was sentenced to two months in prison after pleading guilty earlier this year to federal charges connected to the college admissions cheating scandal. U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton accepted Loughlin’s plea agreement. The 56-year-old “Full House” star will have to pay a $150,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service. She will …

Public Integrity reports: White House Coronavirus Task Force leader Dr. Deborah Birx, on a private call with state and local leaders Wednesday, recommended that universities test students returning for fall classes as well as set up “surge” testing. “Each university not only has to do entrance testing,” she said, according to a recording of the call obtained by the Center …

The Mississippi Free Press reports: Even as public schools across Mississippi reported hundreds of new COVID-19 cases among students and teachers, dozens more schools opened up today. In Hinds County, Gov. Tate Reeves arrived for his press conference today and immediately launched into a discussion of the latest news. After the governor was done with his initial remarks, around 10 …

The Texas Tribune reports: The number of Texans being tested for the coronavirus has fallen sharply in recent weeks, a trend that has worried public health experts as officials consider sending children back to school while thousands more Texans are infected each day. In the week ending Aug. 8, an average 36,255 coronavirus tests were administered in Texas each day …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday ruled out ordering public school systems to impose mask mandates for returning students and teachers, echoing his preference that local education officials decide whether to require face coverings to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Kemp, speaking at the opening of a testing site at Hartsfield-Jackson airport, said he was confident …

The Washington Post reports: More than 97,000 U.S. children tested positive for the coronavirus in the last two weeks of July, more than a quarter of the total number of children diagnosed nationwide since March, according to data from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association. The report cited data from 49 states, New York City, Washington, …