Judges side with N.C. education chief and legislature

State Superintendent Mark Johnson should have more control over public education operations as allowed under a new law, a three-judge panel ruled. The judges ruled against the State Board of Education in its lawsuit trying to hold on to powers that give it control of high-level hiring and spending at the state Department of Public Instruction. Read more>>

Gov. Chris Christie signed a bill that expands concussion precautions for high school students. With the new bill, high school students who suffer a concussion during intramural sports will be protected by the state's student-athlete head injury safety program bill. Read more>>

The suicide rate among 10- to 14-year-olds doubled between 2007 and 2014, for the first time surpassing the death rate in that age group from car crashes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2014 alone, 425 middle schoolers nationwide took their own lives. Read more>>

The Maryland Department of Transportation Motor Vehicle Administration introduced a process that allows inspectors to complete school bus inspections electronically. A handheld tablet replaces a manual paper-based inspection process and lets inspectors use mobile devices to inspect and report results electronically. Read more>>

The Sacramento area will soon have one of the largest fleets of electric school buses in the country, but switching from diesel isn't a no-brainer for school districts. Only 16 of the district’s 135 school buses will be electric this year. But they’ll replace some of the dirtiest buses in the fleet. And that’s a big change. Read more>>

The city district has launched an initiative, which includes training, curriculum, partnerships and services to better address the needs of students with incarcerated parents. Social workers, nurses and counselors will receive specific training and resources, and a more in-depth staff training will be available, often delivered by youth themselves. Read more>>

Superintendent Cynthia Lane learned the cello a few years ago, but not to fulfill some lifelong dream of soloing with the local symphony. The leader of Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools now performs alongside fourth- and fifth-graders in their annual spring strings concert. Read more>>

It’s easy to repeat stereotypes. It can be tempting to point fingers at colleagues who resist change. And it’s common to assume a life story about students coming from specific backgrounds. One important role of a teacher is to fight against those single stories because while they are sometimes true, those narratives rarely provide the whole picture. Read more>>

School districts—hard up for cash—are turning to an unlikely source of revenue: cell towers. The multistory metal giants are cropping up on school grounds across the country. As education budgets dwindle, districts are forming partnerships with telecom companies to allow use of their land in exchange for some of the profits. Read more>>

For years, students have been stacking their high school transcripts with as many advanced courses and A’s as possible in an effort to get into the best colleges. But under a radical redesign of the document— being led by dozens of private schools nationwide—the practice of listing courses and grades could come to an end. Read more>>

A newly launched application called Participate Chats gives teachers a powerful, mobile way to use Twitter to find relevant education chats and connect with educators around the world. Read more>>

Through a partnership with Siteimprove, the recently expanded SchoolMessenger Accessibility Resource Center is a web-based collection of materials and tools designed to help school districts improve their understanding of the issues around web accessibility, and to help them improve the accessibility of their schools’ websites. Read more>>

Orderlunches has rebranded as Boonli to better reflect the company’s full suite of capabilities. Through Boonli's cloud-based platform, schools offer parents a way to order meals, buy spirit wear, sign up for school activities, pay for before or after care, and even submit tuition payments. Read more>>

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