Education category, Page 68

It’s a challenge to stay optimistic, but Lauren Michaels, 18, is doing her best. The Kiski Area High School senior was disappointed when she learned schools would not reopen this academic school year. She doesn’t mind finishing her courses online, but the prospect of missing out on certain year-end rites...

University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Patrick Gallagher is broaching the possibility that Pitt, one of the region’s biggest universities and a major factor in the local economy, may not be able to reopen for business as usual this fall. Like schools across the nation, Pitt was forced to close its campuses...

The Franklin Regional School District will implement a pass/fail grading system for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year, but school board members had a lengthy discussion about its merits and shortcomings. “I would rather our teachers focus on creating assignments and lessons to engage students instead of focusing on...

A Robert Morris University student club is hosting a virtual gaming marathon this weekend to raise money for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Nearly 100 students and faculty will tune into the platforms Discord and Twitch to participate in the 48-hour marathon, playing a variety of games independently and...

University of Pittsburgh junior Kathryn Fleisher has been awarded a 2020 Harry S. Truman Scholarship, one of 62 students in the country to win the prestigious award and the 13th in Pitt’s history. The Truman Scholarship is awarded to students who excel in their commitment to public service. Following the...

Faced with orders to keep schools closed for the remainder of the year, Hampton School District officials have come up with a plan to celebrate graduating seniors. Seniors and their families will receive a letter this week from high school principal Marguerite Imbarlina outlining the variety of activities planned. “I...

Less than a month into a shutdown that forced colleges and universities across the country to transition to online classes, covid-19 is exposing new fractures in higher education. When students were forced to leave campus months before the end of the spring semester, residential campuses had to come up with...

Ironic and goofy humor fills this Facebook page. There’s a picture of a tombstone that reads “Here lies my motivation to do online college classes.” There are GIFs and memes repurposing lines from “Parks and Recreation” and “SpongeBob SquarePants.” Each post is a lighthearted joke, and each one has received...

Now that the covid-19 crisis has forced Pennsylvania schools to turn to online instruction for the remainder of the academic year, Carnegie Science Center is offering to help educators. The resources being offered include educational activities, videos and lesson plans on Carnegie Science Center’s new Online Educator Resources page. The...

Gov. Tom Wolf on Thursday announced that all schools will stay closed for the rest of the academic year. “We must continue our efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus during this national crisis,” Wolf said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision, but closing schools until...

The leader of a Princeton day school has been appointed the new head of Shady Side Academy Senior School. Trixie Sabundayo is scheduled to take the helm of the Fox Chapel-based campus on July 1, saying she is overjoyed to have found an institution that values the minds and hearts...

Pittsburgh’s technology sector is pulling together to provide computers for more than 7,000 city schoolchildren who need them for virtual learning during the coronavirus pandemic. The Pittsburgh Technology Council organized a teleconference and group chat on Tuesday where Gerardo Interiano, who heads government relations for Pittsburgh-based self-driving vehicle company Aurora,...

Woodland Hills High School handed out laptops to students in need Friday as it gears up for online classes. Many of the laptops were paid through by donations. from people and companies in and around the community Principal Philip Woods said earlier this week that he was seeking to buy...

School districts in the North Hills are taking various steps to implement the governor’s decision to close all schools indefinitely to help reduce the spread of coronavirus. All the districts have posted detailed information on their websites about how the closures are being handled. In addition to implementing distance learning...

My son, like many children in Pennsylvania, is a student with special needs — specifically, developmental disorders requiring him to receive individual tutoring. Like the experiences of many others who have found that the public cyber school option works best for their child, my son would easily get distracted by...

Operations at Winchester Thurston’s Allison Park campus will merge this fall with the school’s sister facility in Pittsburgh’s Shadyside neighborhood. The board of directors voted to unite the two campuses to provide a more integrated learning experience for its 715 students, according to Scott D. Fech, head of school. “A...

Two Laurel Highlands School District employees tested positive for covid-19, according to a letter posted on the district website by Superintendent Jesse Wallace. Neither employee has been inside a school district building in the last couple of weeks, he said. Both employees are assigned to Hutchinson Elementary School. The employees...

Match Day is an occasion University of Pittsburgh medical students eagerly await each spring. It’s a national event during which the majority of medical students across the country receive their residency assignments. The aspiring doctors usually gather together to simultaneously open letters that announce their residency training location — a...

Editor’s note: Adapting is a regular series spotlighting the ways the global coronavirus pandemic is changing the everyday lives of people in Western Pennsylvania. On Monday, students in many areas across Pennsylvania had their “second first day of school,” in the form of school districts’ online learning plan going into...

A high school principal has set out to buy 700 laptops, which could cost around $171,500, for his students so they can begin mandatory online instruction in April. Since launching a fundraising effort March 27, the Woodland Hills School District has received around $30,000 in donations from the community, according...

Greater Latrobe School District has changed its student meal distribution schedule and grading process as the statewide coronavirus-driven closure of schools continues indefinitely. The district consolidated distribution of Grab-and-Go meals for students from every weekday to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays while schools remain closed. Multiple meals will be provided from...

Connectivity is a top priority for students, as many school districts began official distance learning on Monday. Amid the transition, one learning management system, Schoology, experienced server issues, kicking students out of online classrooms and producing load errors. “We are aware some users are experiencing degraded service when accessing Schoology....

Borrowers in default on federal student loans are getting a 60-day reprieve on collections and wage garnishments. U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos on Wednesday announced that the move that will affect about 830,000 borrowers nationwide will last “at least 60 days from March 13, 2020,” as the U.S. battles...

Many school districts are conducting or have plans to begin distance learning for students while schools are closed. Below is information released by districts about when distance learning will begin and when, eventually, students might return to classrooms. This list will be updated and school districts added as information becomes...