DA Staff

San Francisco Bay area school board members bash pandemic-weary parents (subscription)

Thinking they were in a private forum where they could safely vent, a group of San Francisco Bay area school board members unleashed months of pent-up frustration with parents, dismissing them as marijuana users desperate for free babysitting almost a year into the pandemic.

Here’s how NYC will admit students to ‘gifted’ programs for 2021

Students will be evaluated by their pre-K teacher or sign up for an interview. Students will then be referred for admission and enter a random lottery for one of the 2,500 seats.

Biden administration to invest $1.6 billion to expand testing in schools, genomic sequencing

The Department of Health and Human Services in partnership with the Department of Defense will use the money to expand testing opportunities for K-8 schools and underserved congregate settings, such as homeless shelters, according to the Biden administration.

Fauci: ‘Non-workable’ to vaccinate teachers before schools open

Anthony Fauci said that vaccinating all teachers against Covid-19 before reopening schools is "non-workable," wading into an issue that has taken center stage for the Biden administration amid the ongoing pandemic.

Los Angeles Schools cut school police force, divert funds to Black student achievement plan

The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted to cut 133 positions from the L.A. School Police Department.

Biden optimistic on reopening of elementary schools

President Joe Biden predicted that most elementary schools will be open five days a week by the end of his first 100 days in office, but said it will be tougher for high schools to reopen at the same rate because of the risk of infection.

Minnesota schools fast-track plans for permanent online learning options

"This is a silver lining of COVID; now many families are going to have those options."

CDC defends school guidelines as advocates say they make it too hard to reopen

If all schools adhered to the CDC guidelines, many that are fully now open would close for in-person learning or need to return to a hybrid system.

Florida schools will have more time for standardized testing

Results will be reported by June 30 or July 31.

Keeping schools open without masks or quarantines doubled Swedish teachers’ COVID-19 risk

“It’s just great to see such a carefully done study,” says Anita Cicero, an expert in pandemic response policy at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

How much will it take to reopen, catch up kids, and save public schooling long term?

Billions of stimulus dollars are flowing to public schools, but experts say it may not be enough without big changes to how states allocate funds.

San Francisco sues schools, cites high number of suicidal students

The city of San Francisco says that suicide rates of children have hit record highs in a lawsuit aimed at pushing the city's school district to reopen classrooms.

Biden trims ambitions on school reopening pledge (subscription)

As the White House struggles to flesh out President Biden’s promise to reopen schools within 100 days, aides have found themselves steadily lowering expectations.

Biden wants to reopen schools. California could hold him back

Although dates have been set in New York City and Chicago to send children back to schools, there are no such agreements in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, dragging out the process nearly a year after students began learning remotely.

Catholic schools in US hit by unprecedented enrollment drop

Enrollment in Roman Catholic schools in the United States dropped 6.4% from the previous academic year amid the pandemic and economic stresses – the largest single-year decline in at least five decades.