Judge rules against Florida school on football game prayer

A federal judge has sided with the Florida High School Athletic Association in a dispute about whether a Christian school should have been allowed to offer a prayer over a stadium loudspeaker before a football championship game. The ruling said that the association had not violated free-speech and other constitutional rights by not allowing a prayer. Read more>>

A new Tennessee Bureau of Investigation study shows the number of crimes reported that happened in schools fell 8.8 percent from 2014 to 2016. Simple assault was the most common offense, and incidents commonly happened between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. and during September. Read more>>

Gov. Chris Christie's 100-day challenge to reform New Jersey's school funding ends, but the governor isn't ready to concede that he won't soon strike a deal with the Democrats who control the state Legislature. Read more>>

DA Special Report: TechXcellence

DA’s exciting K12 education recognition program honors schools that creatively use technology in the classroom to contribute meaningfully to student success in Math and Makerspaces. Read the report here. Read more>>

It is a story that has been told time and time again; as of Thursday, Illinois has gone 708 days without a working budget. And the superintendent of one school district, East Moline Elementary School District, admits that if a budget isn't passed in the state of Illinois, the school district may not be able to open its doors. Read more>>

Days after New York City released its much-anticipated school diversity plan, Mayor Bill de Blasio was forced to defend its rollout, scope and goals. He stressed that the focus needs to be on the diversity of the kids right now in the city's schools. And that desegregating and integration are part of larger issues related to housing patterns and economic realities created over decades. Read more>>

Clifton school board members remain united in opposition to the state education department's mandate that the district allocate $2 million toward a controversial charter school group that is currently being investigated for fraud. A resolution challenges legislators to open an investigation to determine how the department awarded students and funding to charter schools. Read more>>

The question isn’t going to be whether recess is beneficial for students. That one’s already been answered. The real questions are, how much recess is best, and how best can it be implemented? Can those questions be answered with a one-year pilot program in four schools in the state? Read more>>

Exposing a child to embarrassment in a school cafeteria because their family owes a few dollars smacks of an “abusive” tactic. It’s good to know that going forward, Utah schools will cease this practice that has caused children to suffer the unenviable choice between hunger and humiliation. Read more>>

Detroit's charter schools educate as many children as its traditional public school district, with nearly identical results. And the promised innovation hasn't moved the needle enough for the charter school sector. Detroit's schools don't need innovation; they need money for the best teachers and wraparound services necessary to educate a student population with high poverty rates. Read more>>

Kiko’s Thinking Time is now accessible on iOS and Android platforms and desktop browsers. Several enhancements have also been made, including 15 new games focused on executive functions such as memory, inhibition, focus, cognitive flexibility, reasoning and spatial skills. Read more>>

Keenan has launched a School Safety Center website with comprehensive, free resources to help schools address child abuse and bullying, campus safety and security, and Title IX anti-discrimination compliance. The site offers a range of best practices, tools and training courses covering abuse prevention, bullying prevention, Title IX compliance and campus safety. Read more>>

Brightspace for K-12 is an upgrade to D2L's blended learning solution, extending the classroom by offering a new activity feed, lessons, parent engagement experiences, complete mobility, and third-party integrations with platforms like Google Drive, YouTube and Office 365. Read more>>

After more than eight months without a full-time superintendent, the Illinois district's board approved the contract of Richard Craven. He spent 23 years within the Rochelle School District 212, 10 of which were as superintendent. Read more>>

The Lincoln County school board has named a replacement for superintendent Sherry Hoyle, who is set to retire. Lory Morrow, the current superintendent of Davidson County Schools, was approved to head up the North Carolina district. Read more>>

Bath schools did not have to look very far to find its next superintendent to succeed departing Superintendent Dale Lewellen. Richard Dackin, currently Bath's assistant middle school principal and athletic director, has been employed the Ohio district since 1997. Read more>>

A new superintendent has been named for the Yorktown Central School District. The board of education selected Ronald Hattar to take over from retiring Superintendent Ralph Napolitano. Hattar has been the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the Eastchester School District since 2011. Read more>>