Tag Archives: education

Indianapolis’s NBC News affiliate reports: Sprunica Elementary School in Brown County allegedly sent a letter home to parents allowing students to opt out of Black history lessons. A photo of the letter was shared on social media, where the response has gone viral. The last line of the letter shown in the picture reads, “If you would like to opt …

Reuters reports: The letter came to the home of Brenda Sheridan, a Loudoun County, Virginia school board member, addressed to one of her adult children. It threatened to kill them both unless she left the board. “It is too bad that your mother is an ugly communist whore,” said the hand-scrawled note, which the family read just after Christmas. “If …

The Washington Post reports: D.C. police said they arrested a 16-year-old and charged him with calling in bomb threats at several high schools in the District on Wednesday, forcing the evacuations of hundreds of students and staff from buildings across the city. Dustin Sternbeck, a police spokesman, said the youth is from Southeast Washington and is being charged with making …

Knoxville’s ABC News affiliate reports: Dollywood’s parent company is picking up the education tab for all of its employees, beginning this year. Herschend Enterprises is the operating partner of Dollywood and the nation’s largest privately-owned themed attractions corporation. This week the company announced it will cover 100% of employees’ tuition, fees and books for employees who wish to further their …

The Washington Post reports: A school board outside Denver voted to fire the district’s superintendent Friday night in a controversial move that came amid accusations that the newly elected conservative majority had violated state open-meeting laws. The Douglas County, Colo., school board voted 4 to 3 in a special meeting Friday night to fire Corey Wise without cause, dismissing the …

St. Louis Public Radio reports: Two local organizations are partnering to distribute free copies of controversial books in response to the recent increase in attempts to remove titles from school libraries. In Purpose Educational Services and the St. Louis bookstore EyeSeeMe will deliver free copies of “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morisson to Missourians who request it. The organizations raised …

The Austin American-Statesman reports: Stephen Balch, a former professor who also has opposed the 2015 Supreme Court ruling overturning state bans on same-sex marriage, is a content adviser for the revision of the standards that will guide social studies courses from kindergarten through 12th grade. The Texas Freedom Network, a liberal group promoting religious freedom and education, is calling on …

CNBC reports: A Tennessee school board has voted to remove the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus” from an eighth-grade language arts curriculum due to concerns about profanity and an image of female nudity in its depiction of Polish Jews who survived the Holocaust. The Jan. 10 vote by the McMinn County School Board, which only began attracting attention Wednesday, comes …

Media Matters has the transcript: TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Well, a new bill just passed the state Senate in Mississippi that would ban public schools from teaching racism, in other words, from teaching that any one race is superior to or inferior to any other. Now, you would think the other 49 states would have similar laws on the book because, …

The Washington Post reports: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday invoked the biblical call to “love your neighbor” as school systems around the state struggled with strong reactions to his ban on local mask mandates, but the Republican also fanned the flames of partisan division in the face of court challenges and protests. In the interview, Youngkin also touted a …

ABC News reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it would take up a pair of cases that could decide the future of affirmative action in college admissions. The justices will hear appeals from a conservative student group that has been challenging the use of race as a factor in undergraduate admissions at Harvard University, the nation’s oldest private …

The Washington Post reports: Seven school boards — including one overseeing the largest and most prominent district in the state — are suing to stop Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s (R) mask-optional order on the day it is supposed to take effect, arguing that the order violates the Virginia Constitution. The school boards, led by Fairfax County Public Schools, whose 180,000 students …

The Houston Chronicle reports: Gov. Greg Abbott has announced plans to amend the Texas Constitution with a Parent Bill of Rights if he is re-elected. The proposal follows Abbott’s introduction of a Taxpayer Bill of Rights this week. Abbott, who is running for reelection, has made it a point to target inappropriate content in schools. In November, he directed the …

CBS News reports: A Virginia mother was charged Friday night after she said at a school board meeting that she would “bring every single gun loaded and ready” to fight mask requirements for her children. Amelia King later emailed the board to apologize for her choice of words, saying she was not referring to “actual firearms.” The Luray Police Department …

Washington DC’s ABC News affiliate reports: Page County Public Schools in Luray, Virginia will increase police presence at schools Monday after a mother made a perceived threat during a school board meeting Thursday night. Amelia King was upset about the school mask mandate and said her children would not be wearing masks on Monday and she would “bring every single …

Reuters reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal by a Christian former high school football coach who was suspended from his job at a high school in Washington state for refusing to halt his practice of praying at mid-field after games – a case that could expand the religious rights of employees of public institutions. …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Sixteen major U.S. universities, including Yale University, Georgetown University and Northwestern University, are being sued for alleged antitrust violations because of the way they work together to determine financial-aid awards for students. According to a lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court late Sunday by law firms representing five former students who attended some of the …

The Indianapolis Star reports: During a committee hearing Wednesday about Senate Bill 167, a wide-ranging bill inspired by the national discourse over critical race theory, history teacher Matt Bockenfeld raised concerns about what the bill would require of teachers. “For example, it’s the second semester of U.S. history, so we’re learning about the rise of fascism and the rise of …

The Chicago Sun-Times reports: Chicago Public Schools classes are canceled Wednesday as the Chicago Teachers Union voted to refuse in-person work, defying district plans because of post-holidays COVID-19 concerns. The cancellation came despite a last-minute proposal from city leaders that introduced improved testing and safety measures but wasn’t enough to avoid upending in-person schooling for about 290,000 students at non-charter …

The Hill reports: A federal judge on Wednesday rejected a lawsuit from two Nevada parents seeking to challenge the state’s public school mask mandate, saying in her ruling that parents did not have the constitutional right to dictate school policies. In their lawsuit filed in August, two Nevada parents claimed that the mask mandate, as well as their exclusion from …