Free Republic

White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested Friday that it is OK for kids to eat their lunches outside in cold temperatures in an effort to maintain safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Asked whether the White House wanted school children to "get back to a more normal school experience," Psaki insisted schools are having children practice social distancing measures, mask up, and eat their snacks and lunch in frigid outdoor temperatures in an effort to "keep their kids safe and keep students safe."... Psaki said she believes the "vast majority of parents appreciate" such measures...

America helped to pioneer the idea of public education. But a growing number of teachers and parents are wondering if the pandemic has finally broken America’s system of public education, as a growing number of school districts close schools for days or weeks, sometimes without the option of going remote. The NYT published a deep dive on the issues afflicting public schools across the US, issues that also impact the workforce since parents who can’t bring kids to school are often stuck scrambling for child care. One example of how schools are rolling back services as the struggle with budget...

Schools in Maryland can drop masks mandates if they reach a certain vaccination rate if state lawmakers approve a regulation that the state’s school board voted for on Tuesday. The Maryland State Board of Education voted 12–1 to approve a regulation that extends the requirement for children and staff members in schools to don masks. But the regulation (pdf) also says superintendents can lift the requirements for schools if 80 percent of the students and staff are fully vaccinated against the virus that causes COVID-19, or local school boards can rescind it if the county in which a school is...

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on one of the most divisive issues facing the state at the moment – the state-imposed mandate that children must wear face masks while in school to protect against COVID-19. Yet the nearly hour-long session in Philadelphia wasn’t really about the virus or controlling its spread or whether wearing those masks is an effective response to the pandemic. Instead, the arguments centered on whether the state’s Acting Secretary of Health, Alison Beam, had the legal authority to issue the mask mandate. As Justice Debra Todd observed, the high court was being tasked with conducting...

Maribel Duarte says her 13-year-old son, a student at the Barack Obama Global Prep Academy in South LA, brought home a vaccine card after having accepted the COVID-19 vaccine at school. She says he said yes when someone offered it in exchange for pizza.

Every year, the state controller publishes thousands of public employees’ salaries, from nearly every city, county and special district, on its transparency-focused “Government Compensation in California” website. Here’s what you won’t find: about two-thirds of the Golden State’s school systems. Unlike other public agencies in the state, California’s schools can choose whether to participate because of a loophole in state law. Most do not even reply to the controller’s requests. This year, of the 1,915 requests sent to education employers, only 447 provided the appropriate information. Another 128 responded, but with either incomplete or unacceptable records, according to the state...

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — The Douglas County School Board is set to vote on Tuesday to overturn the district's mask policy for students in schools. Currently, masks are required at schools because of a mandate put in place by the previous school board before the election in November. Now with four new board members decidedly focused on parental choice, the mask mandate will likely be replaced. "The Board recommends, regardless of vaccination status, personal and parent choice with respect to whether or not children should wear face coverings while at school," the resolution reads. It goes on to say that...

KINGSPORT, Tenn. - Matthew Hawn checked his phone to see if the wait was finally over. It had been five months since he was fired for teaching about White privilege at a high school in rural Tennessee. Two months since he had fought to regain his job at an emotional three-day hearing, becoming a symbol of the acrimonious debate over the way race, racism and history should be taught in America's schools. A lifelong resident of Kingsport, Hawn was well aware his liberal views made him an outlier in his overwhelmingly White, mostly conservative community. But that had never mattered...

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is requiring all schools in the district to adopt new signage in an effort to make restrooms gender-neutral. The initiative, which CPS is referring to as a "big step forward for gender equity," requires the schools to display language outside of restrooms informing students, whether they are male or female, that they may use the restroom that aligns with their gender identity. "We’re requiring all schools to adopt new signage to make our restrooms more inclusive," CPS wrote in a tweet announcing the change. "This is a big step forward for gender equity for our students...

After repeated brawls between students at Hiram Johnson High School in Sacramento, teacher Connie Steinman made a decision. She wants to transfer to teach independent study. The American sign language teacher said she no longer feels safe at the campus where she has taught for 21 years. Her decision comes after the latest violent incident on campus where a number of students began fighting on Nov. 18, prompting a lockdown that some teachers say was not properly communicated and placed students and staff at risk. Like other Hiram Johnson teachers, Steinman has seen constant fights on campus. With staff shortages...

In early October, Gov. Gavin Newsom triumphantly announced that California would become the first state in the nation to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for children attending school, once the Food and Drug Administration fully approves the shot for the 5-11 and 12-16 age groups. Two months later, no states have followed Newsom's lead — not even states that have been similarly aggressive in implementing COVID-19 restrictions, such as Washington, New York, Oregon and Hawaii. Why is that? Dr. Elena Conis, a historian of medicine and public health at UC Berkeley, believes that California's breakneck pace can be attributed to momentum...

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) on Friday apologized for the state’s role in crimes against Native American children who attended boarding school. Sisolak met with Native American leaders on Friday amid a federal investigation into the government’s role in the potential deaths of children at the state's Stewart Indian School, which operated from 1890 to 1980, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.

<p>SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) - Scottsdale police have determined an ousted school board president with an electronic dossier on parents he clashed with will not be charged with a crime.</p><p>Police spokesman Sgt. Kevin Quon said in a statement Thursday that investigators did not find anything in the Google Drive on Jann-Michael Greenburg’s computer that rose to the level of criminal conduct.</p>

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Tuesday reinstated the Gov. Tom Wolf administration mandate requiring students, teachers and staff to wear face masks. The action is temporary, with the court scheduled to hear arguments on the matter on Dec. 8 and decides its fate. The court noted it has taken no position; one justice disagreed with reinstating the mandate. Acting state Secretary of Health Alison Beam, at the direction of the governor, had imposed the state-wide mandate at the start of the school year after most school districts failed to adopt policies mandating masks at the start of the school...

PORTLAND, Ore. — A new charter school focused on the BIPOC community is coming to the east side of Portland. The Reynolds School District recently approved the charter for Holla, a nonprofit mentorship program already at work in the district. Executive director and founder Eric Knox says the curriculum will prioritize minority voices. “This school is open for any kid -- racially, culturally, whatever -- that wants to be a part of this. But we want to come from a Black, brown and indigenous perspective because that perspective, to be honest with you, isn't heard,” he said. He says it's...

When Mauri Friestleben learned that Minneapolis was rolling out a new school integration plan — and that the school she led, a predominantly Black, low-income high school, would soon include white students from some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in town — she looked around and proudly considered all that her school had to offer. The hallways at North Community High are a tapestry of blue and white, the school colors, and the mascot, a polar bear, seems to roar around every corner. The curriculum had been updated to expand access to advanced placement courses: U.S. history, physics, art and design....

This is the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina, Mark Robinson. ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. It is EXACTLY this level of virility and manfully stepping to the front that is completely lacking in the post-Christian west. This man CLEARLY is not afraid. The Holy Catholic Church could be brought out of eclipse and the Bergoglian Antipapacy ENDED within a matter of HOURS with ONE BISHOP who would move to the front and speak the truth like this.

Starting next year, the Illinois State Board of Education will rank districts based on how equitable they are, meaning how well they set up students with different circumstances to get the same outcomes.

CLARKSVILLE, TN – Over 50 students were suspended from West Creek High School on Friday after a video showing the students raising their hands or phones simulating a weapon went viral on TikTok. The video, posted Thursday evening, gained almost 500,000 likes on the social media app before it was made private by the video’s creator – a sophomore at West Creek High.

The school called every single family that was affected, vowing to be “totally transparent,” according to the Charles City Press. However, parents who have spoken to The Iowa Standard said there was no mention of the fact students were not allowed to leave the room when they asked during the reading. The Charles City Press reports there will be a special board meeting Monday afternoon to discuss the matter. The district told The Charles City Press two teachers are on leave and being investigated. One parent downloaded the story and listened to it. “It’s pretty intense,” the parent said. “The...