
Giving Children a Voice Can Lead to Better Outcomes for All
Michaela Bruckmayer - RAND | Developing the New European Strategy on the Rights of the Child The European Union recently held the 13th annual Forum on the Rights of the ...

Fearful of Covid Lawsuits, Jittery School Officials Buy New — and Frequently Costly — Insurance Policies
The 74 Million | Most school districts have general liability insurance, which does not cover communicable diseases like COVID. Individual states offer some immunity defenses that could shield them from ...

Schools abandon classes, states retreat as virus surges
PBS News Hour | School systems in Detroit, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and suburban Minneapolis are giving up on in-person classes, and some governors are reimposing restrictions on bars and restaurants or ...
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States calling for cancellation of state exams
Multiple states are beginning to ask the federal government to waive annual testing requirements ...

Alabama Education Association: ‘Education employees are dying,’ seeks vaccinations
Kim Chandler, AP News | The Alabama Education Association is urging the state to give teachers COVID-19 vaccinations following the deaths of at least 39 public school employees from the contagious illness. The group, which ...

Minnesota Gov. Walz unveils education plan centered on pandemic and equity
Mohamed Ibrahim, AP News | The plan, named the Due North Education Plan, attempts to address the pandemic’s toll on school systems statewide by expanding academic programs and mental health services starting in the summer ...

Teachers need COVID vaccine to reopen L.A. schools
Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times via KTLA | Reopening Los Angeles campuses for students in kindergarten through 12th grade will require the vaccination of teachers and other staff, says L.A. schools Supt. Austin Beutner. The ...

Your kid might not return to a classroom this year. Are teachers unions to blame?
Erin Richards, USA TODAY | Almost three out of four urban districts are still offering only online instruction, according to a new report from the Center on Reinventing Education at the University of Washington. And ...

If Chicago teachers walk out, it would be ‘illegal strike,’ district warns
Cassie Walker Burke, Chalkbeat Chicago | Jan 21, 11:15am CST In a letter to teachers, Chicago Public Schools warned that refusing to report to school buildings next week would constitute an “illegal strike” and insisted ...
California tightens rules for reopening schools as high COVID-19 rates hold districts back
Paloma Equivel, Los Angeles Times | Under the new guidance, K-6 schools in counties with a seven-day average of 25 or fewer cases per 100,000 residents would be eligible to begin reopening, down from the ...
Students honored by “Museum of the Courageous” for fighting to change their history books
Nikki Battiste, CBS News | In 2015, a class of fifth-grade students marched into California's state Capitol to testify and rewrite their history books. Now, as we honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., ...

All KY educators who signed up for COVID-19 vaccines to receive first dose earlier than expected
WLKY | Beshear said during his update Thursday that officials believe the state will have all of its K-12 personnel who agreed to receive the shots vaccinated by the end of the first week of ...

‘Disturbing reports’ about Seattle schools spark civil-rights probe by U.S. Department of Education
Hannah Furfaro, Dahlia Bazzaz, Seattle Times | The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating Seattle Public Schools after “disturbing reports” about how the district handled special education during the coronavirus pandemic ...

Complaints prompt federal investigation into special education in Indiana during pandemic
Stephanie Wang, Chalkbeat Indiana | Jan 14, 8:49pm EST Federal investigators are examining whether Indiana has failed to provide appropriate special education services through remote learning during the pandemic. The U.S. Department of Education’s Office ...

L.A. students must get COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available for them, Beutner says
Howard Blume, Los Angeles Times | Once COVID-19 vaccines are available to children, Los Angeles students will have to be immunized before they can return to campus, Supt. Austin Beutner said Monday. Beutner however, did ...

Teachers React To New Climate Change Education Framework
Rebecca Thiele, IPB News | The Indiana Department of Education released an online resource in partnership with Purdue University to help teachers teach climate change in schools. The framework has material on climate change for ...

Michigan teachers unions support Gov. Whitmer’s push for in-person option, but have concerns
Doug Tribou, Michigan Public Radio | The state of Michigan wants students to have a chance to come back to their classrooms in less than two months. The state's largest teachers union supports the plan, ...

Chicago schools stick to a partial reopening Monday
Associated Press | Some in-person instruction at Chicago public schools will resume Monday for the first time in months, the city’s mayor and school chief reaffirmed Friday, warning teachers that their absence will have consequences ...

Kentucky – JCPS Reveals More Details About Teacher Vaccinations, Reopening Plans
Jees Clark, WFPL | Gov. Andy Beshear has said he would like to begin Phase 1b vaccinations, which includes K-12 employees in late January or early February. Read "JCPS Reveals More Details About Teacher Vaccinations, ...

Chicago push to reopen city schools becomes more contentious
Sophia Tareen, Associated Press | Only half of Chicago Public Schools teachers expected in schools ahead of preschool students’ anticipated return next week showed up, district officials said Tuesday in an increasingly contentious battle over ...

After rebuke, South Carolina gov changes COVID money plan
Jeffrey Collins, Associated Press | Gov. Henry McMaster announced Tuesday how he will spend about $20 million of the $48 million set aside for him to spend at his own discretion. The governor has a ...

Some Chicago teachers expected in schools stay home
Associated Press | Some Chicago Public Schools teachers expected to report to the classroom ahead of preschool students’ anticipated return next week stayed home Monday over coronavirus concerns. The nation’s third-largest district plans to bring ...

Arizona Governor rejects call for online learning
Associated Press | Arizona’s Gov. Doug Ducey has rejected the state’s top education official’s call for Ducey to order public schools to use only online instruction for the next two weeks unless they have waivers ...

Mississippi Lt. Governor: Teacher pay a priority in 2021
AP News | The state has had some of the lowest teacher salaries in the nation for generations. According to the most recent figures available from the Southern Regional Education Board, the average teacher salary ...

Tennessee Governor Lee calls special session to focus on education, learning loss
Nataliee Allison, Nashville Tennessean | Lee is asking lawmakers to take up five issues: learning, funding, accountability, literacy and teacher pay on Jan. 19th. More details will be released by the Department of Education. “Even ...

Internet Restored After Nashville Bombing Downs Access In Dozens Of Ky. School Districts
Jess Clark, WFPL | Kentucky school districts have had their internet access restored after a Christmas Day bombing in Nashville knocked out networks across the region. The explosion damaged an AT&T building causing widespread service ...

Private schools win decision over tax dollars for safety in Michigan
AP News | The Michigan Supreme Court on Monday upheld a law that gives public money to private schools to comply with health and safety orders. The court’s decision was 3-3, which means an opinion ...

Colorado’s emphasis on phonics in reading could hurt English language learners, advocates say
Yesenia Robles, Chalkbeat | A group of Colorado educators and advocates are raising concerns that the state’s new directives on reading instruction might harm one group of students who can’t afford to be left behind: ...

Judges Are Locking Up Children for Noncriminal Offenses Like Repeatedly Disobeying Their Parents and Skipping School
Jodi S. Cohen and Duaa Eldeib, ProPublica | This story was originally published by ProPublica. In Michigan, judges have sent children to locked detention centers for refusing to take medication or failing to attend online ...

More Than 70 West Point Cadets Accused Of Cheating In Academic Scandal
Vanessa Romo and Tom Bowman, NPR | Instructors at the Army's premier training ground for officers revealed the academic scandal on Monday, saying it's the worst they've seen since the 1970s. So far, 59 cadets ...

Supreme Court denies religious school challenge to Kentucky’s expiring COVID-19 restrictions
Richard Wolf, USA Today | The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Kentucky can force parochial as well as public schools to close temporarily because of the coronavirus pandemic, but only because those restrictions are set ...

State reports Michigan K-12 student enrollment dropped by 53K amid COVID-19
Virginia Gordan, Michigan Radio | State Superintendent Michael Rice announced the 3.7% decline Wednesday. In a written statement, Rice estimated that about three quarters of the decline is due, in roughly equal shares, to fewer ...
New KY Coalition Aims to Promote Trauma-Informed Education in Schools
Nadia Ramlagan, Public News Service | The Kentucky Coalition for Healthy Children, formed by more than two dozen organizations during the pandemic, wants to promote policies and programs that recognize how adverse childhood events affect ...

Indiana’s Teacher Compensation Commission Unveils Report, Recommendations To Raise Pay
Jeanie Lindsay, IPB News | The commission’s report says a competitive average teacher salary for Indiana lands at about $60,000 a year. That’s nearly $9,000 more than the current average and would take an investment ...

Gov. Beshear offers new COVID-19 guidance for in-person instruction at schools in red zones
WLWT | The green-yellow-orange-red scale will remain in place for schools to follow, but more leeway will be given to red zone schools if they follow aggressive mitigation measures. Read "Gov. Beshear offers new COVID-19 ...

Schools Will Close in Germany as Cases Surge
Amelia Nierenberg and Adam Pasick, The New York Times | On Wednesday, German schools will close along with nonessential stores and services as part of a strict lockdown that will be in effect through Christmas ...

Tampa Bay Charter Schools are Growing During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Marlene Sokol, Tampa Bay Times and FRONTLINE | Already on the rise in Florida, charter schools are seeing an enrollment boost this year, one more way the pandemic has left a mark on public education ...

With the Virus Surging, Arizona Teachers Protest by Calling In Sick
Dan Levin, New York Times | The protest in the Chandler Unified School District, a sprawling string of suburbs east of Phoenix with 46,000 students, was planned in opposition of the district’s recently announced plan ...