DA Staff

How WA schools will assess employee religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine mandate

OSPI urges schools to presume an employee’s request for a religious exemption is based on a sincerely held belief.

Hostile school board meetings have members calling it quits

In his letter of resignation from Wisconsin’s Oconomowoc Area School Board, Rick Grothaus said its work had become “toxic and impossible to do.”

Sports rivalry between TN schools leaves student severely injured, others arrested

According to investigators, the teens yelled and fired airsoft weapons at each other.

Chicago PD agrees to pull cops from schools that voted to remove them

Police had initially resisted moves to remove one cop from each of two dozen schools that had chosen to have only one in their buildings.

Knox County Schools parents planning a ‘sick out’

"I don't want to advocate for a certain procedure or policy, specifically, but rather that we will commit to doing what public health experts in our country are telling us we should be doing to keep our children safe," a Knox County Schools parent said.

How coaches for teachers could improve reading instruction, close early academic gaps

Three quarters of non-readers gained foundational reading skill after just 10 weeks when their teachers got coaching on reading instruction.

Elementary aide in KY school dies from COVID-19, 3 staff in hospital

Due to the virus, the Lee County Schools District in Beattyville has been closed on and off since the school year began Aug. 10 and is moving to virtual learning – non-traditional instruction – next week.

An Oklahoma school board votes unanimously to suspend superintendent, principal

This is continued fallout from the arrest of Ronald Akins. The former girls’ basketball coach is accused of sexually preying on students for years.

Mississippi has quarantined 15% of all K-12 students for COVID cases or exposures

That figure, based on new data from the Mississippi State Department of Health, includes 65,525 students who have been ordered to isolate in the weeks since classes began.

School leaders detail ‘horrific’ fights in safely reopening schools amid Delta surge

Protesters have burned masks outside a school board meeting. Others have videotaped students going into schools wearing masks.

Teachers protest bills targeting critical race theory, race education

Thousands of teachers signed a pledge opposing restrictions on race education.

Tallahassee ER doctor ousted from hospital after promoting $50 mask opt-out letters

As a stricter mask mandate requiring a medical excuse took hold Sunday in Florida's capital county, Dr. Brian Warden posted a notice on a statewide anti-mask site inviting Leon County parents to contact him if they need a medical exemption letter.

Texas dad strips at school board meeting to support COVID-19 mask mandates

James Akers stripped down to a bathing suit before telling the Dripping Springs Independent School District, “We follow certain rules for a very good reason.”

The science of catching up

Daily tutoring for those who are most behind rises to the top in research evaluations.

A vaccine for children is not likely to be approved until the end of year

"I've got to be honest, I don't see the approval for kids – 5 to 11 – coming much before the end of 2021," said Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health.