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Education Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on July 06, 2017 15 Comments
Attorney generals in eighteen states and Washington, D.C., filed a lawsuit against Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos over the delay of implementing regulations sculpted to protect any federal student loan borrowers defrauded by for-profit colleges. The attorney generals state that DeVos has illegaly delayed these regulations, which should have gone into affect on July 1. From Politico:
The rules, known as “borrower defense to repayment,” sought to make it easier for defrauded student loan borrowers to seek debt forgiveness. They also prohibit colleges from requiring students to resolve complaints against their school through arbitration rather than in court.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on July 03, 2017 5 Comments
With economic and diplomatic ties at all-time high, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a 3-day visit to Israel starting tomorrow, making it the first ever visit by an Indian premier to the Jewish State. The historic visit comes as both countries mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of full diplomatic relations. India-Israel "relations are upbeat holding huge potential," said Dr. Anju Kumar, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Indian Embassy in Israel. "India and Israel are complementary economies. India, given its huge population has lot of demand for technology in order to increase agricultural productivity, water efficiency and recycling, post-harvest treatment, digitisation and making its cities smart. Israel has many such innovative technologies which can be adapted to Indian requirements."

Posted by Mike LaChance on June 18, 2017 18 Comments
If you're wondering why President Trump's Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos needs millions of dollars in security, this is one of the reasons. DeVos is trying to make improvements in her department but is being predictably cast as someone who doesn't care about civil rights. Erica L. Green writes at the New York Times:
Education Dept. Says It Will Scale Back Civil Rights Investigations The Department of Education is scaling back investigations into civil rights violations at the nation’s public schools and universities, easing off mandates imposed by the Obama administration that the new leadership says have bogged down the agency.

Posted by Mary Chastain on June 16, 2017 16 Comments
For the past two decades, school districts around the nation became obsessed with testing due to horrendous federal government standards. As a result, recess was abandoned by many school districts with disastrous results. But now schools have realized the importance of recess and physical activity for kids, especially younger ones. Schools who have reintroduced recess have found a huge improvement in children's behavior and overall well-being.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 20, 2017 27 Comments
A federal court has thrown out a lawsuit against Irving, TX, and the local school district brought on by Ahmed "Clock Boy" Mohamed and his family after authorities arrested him in September 2015. From Fox News:
The lawsuit alleged that the city of Irving and Irving school district discriminated against Ahmed Mohamed at Irving MacArthur High School in September of 2015. Mohamed, a Muslim teenager who was 14 years old at the time, brought a homemade clock to school to show his engineering teacher. But an alarm on the clock went off in his English class and the teacher confiscated it. He was sent to the principal’s office.

Posted by Mary Chastain on May 01, 2017 5 Comments
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced his department wants to make a few changes to the school lunch programs that former First Lady Michelle Obama pushed through. The Wall Street Journal reported:
Schools, which receive federal funding for meal programs, won’t have to meet certain guidelines for whole grain, sodium and milk. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the decision comes after years of feedback from schools and food-service experts, who have faced challenges meeting meal regulations; and from students, some of whom have complained that the meals aren’t appetizing.

Posted by Miriam Elman on April 24, 2017 26 Comments
On February 15 two 17-year-old central NY high school students—Jordan April and Archer Shurtliff—raised objections to a homework assignment in which they were required to either oppose or defend the extermination of Jews. Their teacher, Oswego County High School teacher Michael DeNobile, asked them to
write an internal memorandum within the highest ranking offices of the Nazi party in regards to your support or opposition to the Final Solution of the Jewish Question.”
Presumably the goal was to teach the students critical thinking, thereby promoting one of the Common Core’s desired skills.

Posted by Mike LaChance on March 30, 2017 27 Comments
The country has changed. When I was growing up in the 1970's in Massachusetts, everyone in my neighborhood played with toy guns sometimes. If one of those wasn't available, a stick was the next best thing. Thanks to relatively new "zero tolerance policies" children can't even think of doing such things. A little girl in North Carolina just learned that lesson. The Blaze reports:
School suspends 5-year-old girl for ‘turning a stick into a gun’ Officials at a North Carolina school suspended a kindergarten student for playing with a “stick gun” on the playground.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 06, 2017 24 Comments
Some schools across the country will close on March 8,  the same day as the Day Without a Woman March, due to concerns they'll be short-staffed. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools in North Carolina will close. Durham Public Schools may close but have not reached a final decision. Chapel Hill-Carrboro Superintendent Jim Causby has decided to make March 8 a teacher workday and students will not have to make up the day:
“The expected absences would make it difficult to teach students on March 8 and to provide essential services including transportation and food service,” the school system said in an emailed statement Thursday.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 10, 2017 34 Comments
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos could not enter Jefferson Academy in Washington, D.C., on Friday due to angry protesters. From Mediaite:
“GO BACK!” one of the men can be clearly heard saying. “SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!” the small vociferous crowd continued.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 17, 2017 4 Comments
Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump's pick for education secretary, has her confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions at 5PM ET. The Democrats picked her as one of the eight nominees they want to grill the most. DeVos has remained an advocate for school choice and used money to help establish charter schools in Detroit, MI. Of course, the Democrats have concerns over her massive donations to Republicans, including some that sit on the panel, and the Republican National Committee. We'll be liveblogging beneath.

Posted by Mike LaChance on December 12, 2016 37 Comments
It's difficult to think of anything less controversial than Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts crew but the classic Christmas special mentions Christianity explicitly which is a problem for some people. A staffer at a middle school in Texas decided to use imagery from the special as decorations but was told the decorations had to come down. Todd Starnes of FOX News reported:
School censors "Charlie Brown Christmas" poster One of the most poignant scenes in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is when Linus stands on a stage and recites a passage from the Holy Bible describing the Christmas story.

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 02, 2016 17 Comments
The Accomack County Public Schools in Virginia has suspended the classics To Kill A Mockingbird and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn over racial slurs after a parent filed a complaint:
"I keep hearing, 'This is a classic, This is a classic,' ... I understand this is a literature classic. But at some point, I feel that children will not -- or do not -- truly get the classic part -- the literature part, which I'm not disputing," she said at a Nov. 15 school board meeting. "This is great literature. But there (are so many) racial slurs in there and offensive wording that you can't get past that."

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on November 24, 2016 4 Comments
Something to give—surprised—thanks for this morning: an MSNBC anchor staunchly defending school choice and Donald Trump's pick for Secretary of Education . . . while ably and aggressively arguing the issues with the head of America's biggest teachers' union! Stephanie Ruhle is the MSNBC anchor in question, and she took on Randi Weingarten, head of the AFT teachers' union. The topic at hand was Donald Trump's naming of school-choice advocate Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education. Weingarten, acknowledging that the union is "so opposed" to DeVos, repeatedly accused Trump's pick of wanting to take a "sledgehammer" to public schools in an effort to "destabilize"them.
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