One Michigan charter school, Eagle's Nest Academy in Flint, is now requiring clear backpacks in the hopes that the move will help curb school violence. However, parents won't have to spend their own money for the new backpacks as the school will provide the new clear ones to all students.

Sarasota school board members are considering a district-wide ban on any cellphone use during school, regardless of age or grade. In a previous proposed idea, elementary school students would have no access to their phones, while middle and high school students would have restricted access.

Lafayette Parish School Superintendent Donald Aguillard is retiring. He was appointed superintendent in May 2015. Aguillard had previously served as superintendent of St. Mary Parish Schools.

To deter hackers, the IT team at Campbell County Public Schools in Virginia has deleted email addresses listed on the district website's staff directory. Now, teachers and administrators communicate with parents through the student information system, the parent portal and direct emails.

By the end of January, the state will publish the initial list of hundreds of low-performing California schools that must receive intensive help under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The State Board of Education has now approved how districts with any of those schools must verify what they're doing to turn those schools around.

Bills filed in both the House of Delegates and Senate would prohibit students from being found guilty of disorderly conduct for actions in school or on a school bus. Disorderly conduct is a misdemeanor in Virginia with a potential punishment of up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500.

About 33,000 kindergartners and first-graders in New York City will have access to free eyeglasses this year through an expanded partnership with the eyewear firm Warby Parker, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced. More than 140,000 kids will get free eye exams from the city's Department of Health.

Texas Tech's College of Education recently received grant funding from the Texas Education Agency that will be used to expand efforts to increase the quality and diversity of teachers in rural school districts. The $484,000 grant will also enable the university to expand its partnership from five to 11 school districts.