There are few topics as divisive among administrators, parents and communities as the prospect of firearms in the classroom. As more states consider allowing staff to be armed, we present two perspectives. Laura Carno is the founder and executive director of FasterColorado.com, an organization that provides firearms training to school staff who are authorized as […]
Disruptive Classroom Technologies: A Framework for Innovation in Education Sage Publications Ltd. Schools continuously fund technology for classrooms but not always with a clear plan. This book lays out a framework for the T3 system, which categorizes technology as "translational" to help educators perform tasks more efficiently, "transformational" as a way of reinventing old tasks […]
Operations at Oxford School District in Mississippi came to a halt on February 7, 2016, when a ransomware attack shut down the district’s computer network. Hackers infected 80 computers with malware, and then demanded $9,000 in bitcoin to remove it. The district did not pay the ransom, instead opting to wipe clean its servers and […]
Los Angeles USD and the New York City Department of Education both received electronic bomb threats on December 15, 2015. LAUSD called off school. New York students remained in class. Which district made the right call? The lack of a clear answer to the question speaks to exactly why district administrators find threat assessment and […]
School districts in Los Angeles and other sanctuary cities are bracing for an impact from President Trump's executive order to withhold federal support from sanctuary cities. LAUSD stands to lose some or even all of its $700 million in federal funding, about 9 percent of its annual budget, says Steve Zimmer, LA's school board president. […]
In the wake of a divisive presidential election, hundreds of students from about a dozen high schools in Oakland, California, cut class last November to voice their discontent with President-elect Donald Trump. Rather than demand students return to school, faculty at Oakland USD supported the peaceful demonstration, where students could express their feelings, says David […]
On the first Friday of every school year, the new kindergartners of Utah's Canyons School District look ahead to the future—far ahead. To mark Kindergarten College-Ready Day, the children make construction-paper mortar boards and march in mock graduation ceremonies, applauded by high school and college athletes and cheerleaders. Teachers come to school wearing T-shirts and […]
Try to stay calm. Don't start cursing. Keep your hands off the cops. But know that you have rights—like remaining silent, dissenting to a search and taking note of witnesses. Such knowledge can prevent police interactions from escalating out of control when teenagers get pulled over for a motor vehicle stop or otherwise encounter law […]
An Ohio student's overdose in 2015 proved to be the final straw for Belpre School District Superintendent Tony Dunn. The communities surrounding the district had seen a high rate of opiate abuse over the past decade. As use trickled into schools, district leadership concluded that drug testing was necessary. Belpre High School enacted a mandatory […]
School districts across the country face persistent financial challenges. Even as they try to allocate more resources for the classroom, state and local financial struggles limit available funds and increase the pressure on districts to get more done with less. Still, at a time when financial responsibility should be paramount, misconduct remains far too common. […]
