Tag Archives: education

The Grand Forks Herald reports: Gov. Doug Burgum signed legislation Friday, April 16, authorizing North Dakota public schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms. The bill cleared the House and Senate by wide margins earlier this session after lawmakers included provisions to gird against possible lawsuits, including one portion requiring that displays of the Judeo-Christian text appear alongside other …

“I think we’ve learned from Zoom, teachers hate teaching, and they hate their students and they hate the students’ parents. I guess everybody complains about their customers, everybody complains about their clients, but it seems like that’s what we learned — at least in California, it seems that it’s always California that the people are the most pissed off at …

Oklahoma City’s ABC News affiliate reports: It was lunchtime at Prairie Vale Elementary School when cafeteria manager Yanet Vilamontes Lopez and her team were preparing chicken nuggets for the young students. An immigrant from Cuba, Lopez moved to Oklahoma from Houston a few years ago with her family for better job opportunities. It was a dream that was fulfilled Monday. …

Axios reports: Nearly 90% of college students say they probably or absolutely will get vaccinated, according to a Beat The Virus poll exclusive to Axios. Why it matters: College students have contributed to the nationwide spread of the virus, and their vaccination is necessary in bringing the pandemic under control before variants spread any further. More than 120,000 cases of …

Nashville’s ABC News affiliate reports: Tennessee’s Republican-dominant Senate on Monday advanced legislation that would require school districts to alert parents of any instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, as well as allow them to opt their students out of such instruction. According to the bill, school districts would have 30 days to alert parents or guardians of upcoming instruction …

The Hill reports: The Department of Justice (DOJ) has told federal agencies that gay and transgender students are protected from discrimination under civil rights laws, reversing Trump administration guidance that limited the impact of a landmark Supreme Court decision last year extending employment discrimination protections to LGBT workers. In an memo to federal agencies, Pamela Karlan, the head of the …

Charleston’s CBS News affiliate reports: South Carolina lawmakers are considering a bill that would require “instruction in United States foundational history” for all public middle and high school students in a way that is consistent with former President Donald Trump’s 1776 Commission Report, and it already has approval from the state’s top education leader. The Restore America’s Foundation Act, S.534, …

The Associated Press reports: A proposal in North Dakota to shield schools and teachers from lawsuits arising from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms is unconstitutional and would spur costly and unwinnable legal fights, attorneys and education officials told state lawmakers Wednesday. Despite the cautionary advice, the House Judiciary Committee gave the legislation an 11-3 “do-pass” recommendation, hoping that a …

Knoxville’s NBC News affiliate reports: A bill in the Tennessee legislature would prohibit the state from approving textbooks and instructional materials that contain LGBTQ+ content. The bill, H.B. 0800, was introduced by Representative Bruce Griffey [photo] and will be considered by the Education Instruction Subcommittee on March 30. It says that public schools should focus on teaching subjects like reading, …

Via press release from Rutgers University: Rutgers University will require the COVID-19 vaccine for students who are enrolled for the 2021 fall semester. Assurances from the federal government that vaccines will be available for all Americans by the end of May and assessments by public health experts prompted university leaders to adjust the vaccine requirements for the fall semester. “We …

The Associated Press reports: Thousands of students defrauded by for-profit schools will have their federal loans fully erased, the Biden administration announced Thursday, reversing a Trump administration policy that had given them only partial relief. The change could lead to $1 billion in loans being canceled for 72,000 borrowers, all of whom attended for-profit schools, the Education Department said. “Borrowers …

The New Jersey Advance reports: A former New Jersey teacher who alleged her bosses conspired to blame her for editing a Donald Trump T-shirt out of the school yearbook will receive a $325,000 settlement from the district. Susan Parsons, who has since retired from the Wall Township School District, sued the school system in 2019 saying she was scapegoated and …

Florida Politics reports: Rep. Sam Garrison wants to put the salary of school board members on the ballot in the next General Election, turning the elected positions from paid to volunteer. On Friday at the the House Secondary Education & Career Development Subcommittee meeting, members voted along party lines to move forward with a proposed constitutional amendment (HJR 1461) that …

NBC New York reports: Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday that New York City’s public high schools will reopen for in-person instruction on Monday, March 22, while high-risk sports return citywide in mid-April — the latest signs of sustained progress as the vaccine rollout kicks into an ever-higher gear. Core COVID precautions like masks and social distancing apply to both …

USA Today reports: The Senate confirmed Miguel Cardona as President Joe Biden’s education secretary Monday. Cardona, confirmed in a 64-33 vote, will oversee an Education Department that employs thousands and has an annual budget of more than $60 billion. He would also oversee the agency’s $1.5 trillion student loan portfolio. He takes the helm of American schooling at a fraught …

The Detroit Free Press reports: A Ferris State University professor has been fired after posting racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic comments on Twitter. Physical sciences professor Thomas Brennan announced the firing on Twitter Saturday His posts included the N-word regarding Neil deGrasse Tyson, a homophobic slur, COVID-19 denial, and comments about a “Jewish mafia” and COVID-19 being a “(J)ewish revolution,” according …

Crooks & Liars reports: Dagen McDowell suddenly cares about kids getting school lunches, and she was there to bash the teachers’ union for that, because Fox News really loves to blame teachers’ unions for everything. Who does she think has been taking care of those needy students during this pandemic, anyway? TEACHERS have made sure those kids get lunch. You …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Federal health and education officials urged the nation’s elementary and secondary schools on Friday to reopen safely as soon as possible, saying they can operate by strictly adhering to safety precautions to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission in classrooms and in their communities. In new guidelines for schools, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control …

The Bismarck Tribune reports: Schools would be permitted to post the Ten Commandments under a bill that sailed through the North Dakota Senate on Wednesday but also encountered questions of constitutionality. Senate Bill 2308 was approved 34-13. Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, brought the bill, which would allow schools to post the Ten Commandments, permit students to recite the Pledge of …

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 …