Pennsylvania court limits reach of school discipline

Schools can't punish students for swearing when they're off campus—that's the message of a federal court to a Pennsylvania high school. The student was dropped from her school's junior varsity cheerleading squad for using a profanity in a social media post that she sent to her friends on a weekend. Read more>>

As anger and intolerance dominated the national public discourse over the past year, Arundel High School launched a one-semester required course for all ninth-graders that focuses on building community and fostering citizenship. Read more>>

Like many other school systems and municipalities severing ties with Columbus, San Francisco USD, Massachusetts' Cambridge Public Schools and New York's New Paltz CSD are now solely honoring Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday in October instead of Columbus Day. Read more>>

In the wake of recent gun safety scares at two local high schools, security and law enforcement officials told the Charleston County School Board that permanent metal detectors would be an expensive and imperfect remedy. Read more>>

The number of Latinos dropping out of high school nationwide is lower than ever before at 10 percent in 2016, according to a new study. The dropout rate in Austin ISD is even lower at 1.3 percent. But the number hasn’t always been this low; it's about a third of what it was five years ago. Read more>>

Thirty-eight school districts violated either one or both of two "accountabilities" established by the state Legislature to ensure schools are using the appropriate amount of funds generated by a half-percent sales tax increase to bolster teacher salaries. Read more>>

School officials in more than 200 southeastern Texas districts were struggling early last month to recover from Hurricane Harvey. Read more>>

The school system is facing a $33 million deficit for next school year, another blow for a district that has grappled with back-to-back multimillion-dollar shortfalls, including inflationary salary expenses and benefit costs. Read more>>

It was a notable change when a poll revealed a large majority of Californians lean toward the broad idea of the state providing cash or tax credits to help low-income children attend private schools. What’s not clear is how vouchers would open the doors to top-quality private schools or address public schools’ deficiencies. Read more>>

The manner in which teachers handle discussing sensitive and potentially traumatic topics in class varies, of course, depending upon the age of their students. But one thing is certain: Teachers can’t protect their students from traumatic news. If students need to talk or ask questions, schools should be a safe place for that to happen. Read more>>

The Oklahoma State Department of Education has awarded Measured Progress a potential six-year contract for its Oklahoma School Testing Program. The contract covers yearly assessments based on Oklahoma Academic Standards for grades 3 through 8 in English language arts and mathematics, and for science in grades 5 and 8. Read more>>

Schoology announced a partnership agreement and new integration with Aeries Student Information System to serve California school districts. Users will be able to save time and resources with automatic exchange of course information, records, materials and grades between systems. Read more>>

21st Century Charter Cyber Schools is partnering with Project Lead The Way to bring sixth, seventh and eighth graders the PLTW Gateway program, which features technology classes on an array of topics. Read more>>

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Stephen Hefner, who has served as superintendent since 2011, will be retiring from the South Carolina district. Prior to his tenure as Lexington-Richland School District Five superintendent, he served as superintendent of Richland School District Two from 1994-2010. Read more>>

Chino Valley USD deputy superintendent Norm Enfield has been chosen to replace Superintendent Wayne Joseph when he retires after 22 years with the California district. Enfield started working in 2007 as Chino Valley USD's director of human resources. Read more>>

James T. Roberts, an educator in Hampton Roads for 49 years, will be retiring as Chesapeake Public Schools' superintendent after eight years. He is the Virginia school division’s fifth superintendent. Read more>>