school boards

Bridgeport school superintendent Paul Vallas wowed some in the education community when he passed a sweeping five-year plan to fix Connecticut's worst school district after being on the job for only three months.

Republican Geraldine "Tincy" Miller is trying to reclaim a position she held on the Texas State Board of Education for 26 years after being ousted in the primary two years ago.

The Jefferson County (Ala.) Board of Education voted this morning to repeal its ban on male students wearing earrings, according to a statement released by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

These folks have been running for places on the 15-member Texas State Board of Education, which sets parameters for what public schoolchildren are supposed to learn, highly influencing the content of textbooks purchased all over the state and beyond.

While well-known officials such as U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan may get a lot of national press, smaller, sometimes overlooked groups also have a huge impact on American education.

Lawyers for the state Department of Education began their defense in a federal special-education lawsuit brought by the Chester Upland (Penn.) School District, saying that no law had been violated and that the district had done too little to solve its own problems.

The cursing, the squabbling and the anger in Miller County (Ga.) might not end, but the school board as it is currently composed there will.

What was supposed to be a routine Birmingham Board of Education meeting today turned into yet another chaotic meeting after the board voted to switch attorneys and former state Superintendent Ed Richardson -- who is leading a state team investigating city schools -- stood up and said the vote goes against state orders that the board vote only on items approved by the state.