school districts

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>

Parents Appalled by Homework Mentioning Rape, Sperm
Parents Outraged Over
'Absolutely Appalling'
Homework Question
in case you missed it
Jan 19, 2020 6:47 AM CST

Parents Outraged Over 'Absolutely Appalling' Homework Question

Assignment focusing on DNA mentioned rape and sperm samples

(Newser) - A Texas school district says it has taken "corrective action" after a question about rape appeared on a ninth-grade homework assignment. About 90 biology students at Klein Collins High School near Houston received the assignment focusing on DNA, which included what the Klein Independent School District calls an "...

Principal Refused to Say Holocaust Was Real. Now, a Big Move

Florida school district's board votes 5-2 to terminate William Latson's employment

(Newser) - The former Florida school principal who told a parent that the Holocaust was a matter of belief is out of a job, at least for now. The board for the Palm Beach County School District voted 5-2 Wednesday to end William Latson's employment. He'd been principal of Boca...

Warren Decries 'Cruel' Policy on School Lunch Debt

NJ student worries it will affect his college prospects

(Newser) - A New Jersey school district with $16,500 in student lunch debt would like to point out that all of its 11,350 students are "provided the lunch of their choice, regardless of whether they have money for it or not." That's not quite what critics are...

School District's Way to Push Back on 'Peer Pressure': Drug Tests

Kids as young as 12 will be drug-tested in Bushland, Texas

(Newser) - A Texas school district says students as young as 12 will need to submit to random drug testing to participate in band, chess, and other extracurriculars. Bushland Independent School District Superintendent Chris Wigington says the board's decision to drug-test students in grades seven through 12 when classes begin next...

School District Has Drastic Plan to Quash Vaping 'Epidemic'

Nebraska's Fairbury Public Schools hopes urine tests for nicotine serve as deterrent

(Newser) - Random drug tests ordered by Nebraska's Fairbury Public Schools will be looking for one drug in particular: nicotine. In an effort to curb teen vaping, students in grades seven through 12 who hope to take part in extracurriculars including marching band must submit to random nicotine testing following a...

18K Students Told Not to Show Up on Mondays

4-day week in effect for Colorado school district

(Newser) - Some 18,000 students in Colorado may be the envy of all others this school year: Though they're already back to class, the students of 27J, the 16th-largest school district in the state, have to show up just four days a week, Tuesday to Friday from 8:30am to...

Students Pose With Pumpkins Carved With Swastika, 'KKK'

Viral photo blasted by Pa. school district as 'reprehensible'

(Newser) - An eastern Pennsylvania school district is dealing with a second race-related incident in just over a week, investigating a Facebook photo showing current and former students posing with pumpkins carved with racist symbols. The pumpkins included one with a swastika, and another with the letters KKK. The photo shows four...

School Employee Loses Job After Going Viral on Twitter

She gently teased a student about his spelling

(Newser) - A Maryland public school district has fired one of its employees a week after one of her tweets for the district went viral. On Jan. 5, in response to a tweet from a student directed at the Frederick County Public Schools Twitter account asking for schools to close "tammarow,...

School District Gets Snarky on Twitter Over Snow

Georgia kids who tweeted for a snow day got more than they bargained for

(Newser) - Kids in Georgia hoping the year's first winter snow would land them a Friday off took to Twitter on Thursday to plead their case, and they found themselves an able sparring partner in the form of the unnamed handler of @CherokeeSchools . That's the Twitter account for the Cherokee...

Supreme Court Sides With 'I (Heart) Boobies!'

Pennsylvania teens win the right to wear breast-cancer bracelets

(Newser) - The Supreme Court sided today with two Pennsylvania teenagers who like wearing their feelings about breast cancer on their wrists, the AP reports. Kayla Martinez and Brianna Hawk got in trouble in 2010 for wearing "I (heart) Boobies!" bracelets at their schools' Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Easton Area...

Teacher Sues District Over Her Fear of ... Children

Experts say she suffers from rare pedophobia

(Newser) - A former teacher near Cincinnati is suing her school district for allegedly discriminating against her illness: a fear of young children. Maria Waltherr-Willard, 61, claims the school transferred her from a high school to junior high school despite her diagnosed pedophobia. Experts who filed documents in the case say Waltherr-Willard...

States, Cities Gutted Spending in 2011

Medicaid, state jobs, infrastructure hit

(Newser) - The final three months of 2011 saw states, cities, and school districts making their biggest spending cuts in a decade, USA Today reports. Spending dropped 1.6% from the same period the year before, plummeting by $26 billion. The result: States are seeing their smallest shortfalls in years, and in...

Parents Should Send Kids to 'Wrong School'

WSJ writer agast at schools that follow children home

(Newser) - Sending your child to a better school outside your district is a worthy act of civil disobedience—especially if you're a disenfranchised minority parent, argues Michael Flaherty in the Wall Street Journal . Exasperated parents "whose children are zoned into failing public schools" have even started a mini-crime wave...

Ga. Superintendent Covered Up Rampant Cheating

Report says administrators hid evidence, punished whistleblowers

(Newser) - For years, Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall has been considered one of the best in the country—thanks in part to students’ lofty test scores. But that was all a lie, according to a state investigation released today, which finds that Hall’s administration covered up rampant, systematic cheating, and even...

In Memphis, Fight Over School Merger Turns Ugly

Forceful opposition has led to accusations of racism

(Newser) - In Tennessee, an attempt to merge two school systems has turned into a full-blown fight, studded with accusations of racism. The struggling Memphis City Schools system, comprised of 85% black students, wants to force a merger with the more successful suburban school district in surrounding Shelby County, which is only...

Cash-Strapped School Districts Go to 4-Day Week

Parents, workers miffed, but effect on student learning is unclear

(Newser) - As school districts across the nation find themselves battling massive budget shortfalls, some are turning to the relatively rare but controversial practice of shortening the school week. Four-day weeks usually don’t affect teacher pay or the amount of classroom time for students, as the days are simply lengthened. But...

Texas School Isolates Boy, 4, Over Long Hair

Taylor Pugh has been confined to library with aide since Nov.

(Newser) - A 4-year-old Texas boy is being taught in isolation from the rest of his classmates—and faces an even harsher punishment—for not cutting his hair to conform to the school district’s grooming code. Taylor Pugh now works one-on-one with a teacher’s aide during the school day at...

Miami Schools Plan 'Sexting' Curriculum

Effort to combat practice includes warnings on safety, law

(Newser) - The Miami-Dade school district is going all out in its attempt to stomp out “sexting,” the Miami Herald reports. The superintendent says he wants to work with law enforcement to develop the nation's top sexting program, including a special curriculum to educate students of all ages about the...

School Censors Tween's Report on Harvey Milk

(Newser) - The ACLU is threatening to sue a California school district that restricted access to a 12-year-old’s report on gay-rights activist Harvey Milk, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. When the school learned of the subject, it delayed the presentation and sent letters to parents requiring permission slips for their children...

Colo. District to Ditch Grade Levels

Students in Adams 50 will progress based on knowledge, not age

(Newser) - Faced with a 58% graduation rate and falling test scores, officials in Colorado’s Adams 50 school district are doing away with traditional grade levels as part of a massive educational transformation, the Christian Science Monitor reports. When the program is fully phased in, students will no longer be separated...

Stories 21 - 40 | << Prev   Next >>