TOP NEWS MLive Gov. Rick Snyder unveiled a broad set of strategies designed to improve school safety, including strengthening security systems and training to help staff identify and support students with emotional and behavioral needs. The proposal calls for $24 million in funding for school security upgrades. Read more>> Sponsored Sponsored by Istation From computer-adaptive diagnostic and screening programs to ongoing progress monitoring, see how formative assessments boost student achievement with the insights schools need to grow. Check out Istation's Formative Assessment: A Way to Mold Instruction to learn more. Read more>> The Texas Tribune A Texas Education Agency plan requires school districts to find and serve the large number of students who may have been left out of special education for years. School administrators say they're at a loss for how to pay for that with no requisite increase in state funding. Read more>> CBS News/Associated Press A day after Vermont's governor signed a package of gun control measures, one of the new laws was used to keep a school shooting plot suspect from possessing dangerous weapon. The new bills raise the age to buy firearms, ban high-capacity magazines and make it easier to take guns from people who pose a threat. Read more>> Times Daily There are 39 fewer positions in the Alabama State Department of Education as part of a reorganization, and a number of employees have taken pay cuts. The department also moved to rescind a previous resolution that allowed the state superintendent to hire employees without the board’s approval. Read more>> AL.com Interim state Superintendent Ed Richardson says Montgomery Public Schools will have to outsource about 400 support positions and eliminate about 200 teacher positions to stabilize its finances. He is overseeing a state intervention of the school system. Read more>> WLS The union says the city's schools are filthy and they want 500 new janitors added to the Chicago Public Schools' employee roster. Last week, union members even suited up in hazmat gear and offered to clean the schools themselves. Read more>> From DA Magazine Steven Blackburn On July 1, Cheryl Logan begins her tenure as superintendent of Omaha Public Schools, Nebraska’s largest school district. Read more>> OPINION The Washington Post A new Government Accountability Office report showing the role that racial bias plays in school discipline could not have come at a more critical time. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is mulling whether to roll back Obama-era policies aimed at curbing racial disparities in discipline. The stark findings of this report should make her decision easy. Contact us>> The New York Times Despite the best efforts of many, the gap between the numbers of rich and poor college graduates continues to grow. It’s true that access programs take some academically talented children from poor and working-poor families to selective colleges, but that pipeline remains frustratingly narrow. Read more>> The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Atlanta Public Schools is considering eliminating 15 percent of its library media specialists positions for the upcoming school year. Library media specialists are educators with the largest classroom in the school and if you think that all a school librarian does is shelve books, you are sadly mistaken. Read more>> INDUSTRY NEWS Standard For Success Standard for Success, a company providing online, fully customizable teacher and employee evaluation software, has acquired STAGES Software. With the acquisition, Standard For Success will now serve nearly 2,000 schools, located in 20 states and provinces throughout the United States and Canada. Read more>> ADTRAN, Inc. As part of ADTRAN, Inc.'s Mosaic Subscriber Experience Suite, the new ADTRAN SDX 810-RG and 810-AP cloud-managed whole home mesh Wi-Fi solutions provide ubiquitous coverage, automated Wi-Fi performance enhancements and improved security. Read more>> PowerSchool Group LLC PowerSchool’s addition of PeopleAdmin’s talent management solutions will provide a single, unified platform that combines district operations, classroom solutions, parent engagement, and teacher recruitment and development. Read more>> ✭ Visit the District Administration's PR Portal ✭ PEOPLE WATCH Spectrum News Marvin Connelly Jr. has been named to be superintendent of schools for North Carolina's fifth largest school system. He succeeds Frank Till, whose contract was bought out by Cumberland County's board of education last July. Read more>> MTN News via KTVQ Ross Kasun, who has worked as the superintendent of the Freehold Township School District in New Jersey since 2011, will take the helm of the Montana district after Superintendent Terry Bouck retires. Read more>> NBC 7 San Diego The San Ysidro School District has been plagued with trouble at the top in recent years, but the board is hoping to change that trend with its newly named superintendent. Gina Potter, currently the deputy superintendent with the Lemon Grove School District, will be the ninth person to take on top position in the last five years. Read more>> | 