Education category, Page 85
Shaler Area School Board to vote on therapy dog policy
Some Shaler Area High School students are eagerly awaiting a new staff member’s arrival. If the school board passes its therapy dogs in schools policy Nov. 20, a labradoodle named Pepper would partner with school social worker LeeAnn Guido with the goals of reducing students’ stress, improving physical and emotional...
Activists call on Pittsburgh Public Schools to extend suspension ban up to 5th grade
Pittsburgh Public Schools should extend the district’s suspension ban for nonviolent offenses to apply to students in third through fifth grades, a group of education advocates said Monday night. “We understand that suspensions don’t work, they don’t change the behavior, and kids are actually missing critical learning time by not...
Westinghouse High staffer hurt while intervening in fight between students
A Westinghouse High School staff member was hurt Monday while intervening in a fight between two students, according to a Pittsburgh Public Schools spokeswoman. The staffer, who wasn’t identified, was conscious and alert while transported to a hospital from the school, in Pittsburgh’s Homewood neighborhood, spokeswoman Merecedes Williams said. The...
Riverview schools to open Tuesday after threat deemed not credible
Riverview School District planned to resume classes Tuesday after determining a threat that led to a districtwide closure Monday was not credible. Superintendent Margaret DiNinno said in a prepared statement that the threat, received Sunday afternoon, was a “non-direct, weapon-related threat to the high school.” DiNinno had said Sunday night...
Kiski Area, Burrell school districts collectively awarded $83,500 for school security
The Kiski Area School District and the Burrell School District collectively were awarded $83,500 in state Department of Education Safe School Target Grants. The districts are among others throughout the state receiving a total of $7.2 million in competitive 2019-2020 Safe Schools grants. The money, awarded through the education department’s...
North Hills waiting for OK to let kids do classwork at home on snow days
Snow days could go the way of the fountain pen and dodge ball if the state OKs a request by the North Hills School District to replace them with Flexible Instruction Days that allow students to do classwork at home. The board of education approved a request earlier this month...
North Allegheny redistricting will send hundreds to different schools
North Allegheny School District on Wednesday night approved a redistricting plan that will send hundreds of students to different buildings next year. The move was spurred by soaring growth and classroom overcrowding, officials said on the district website. About 495 students will be affected. The district this year has just...
Shaler Area Elementary Career Day conducted by high school, Beattie students
Shaler Area Elementary School hosted a Career Day for fifth-grade students with hands-on lessons led by students from Shaler Area High School, as well as several other local high schools, who are dual-enrolled in A.W. Beattie Career Center programs. The students had the opportunity to learn about a variety of...
Multi-purpose turf field planned for new Thomas Jefferson High School
West Jefferson Hills School District leaders are looking to add a multipurpose turf field behind the new Thomas Jefferson High School that would serve as a space for soccer and band practices, as well as physical education classes. The proposal would turn what now is a muddy grass area into...
Seton Hill dedicates Daniel J. Wukich School of NursingVideo
When the Sisters of Charity founded Seton Hill College in 1918, they placed an emphasis on the sciences being taught to female students. And while the Sisters did have a nursing education program at the former Pittsburgh Hospital, Seton Hill University never offered a formal nursing degree program. That changed...
Allegheny County schools offered chance to produce a Disney musical
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has been awarded a grant to bring the Disney Musicals in Schools program to Allegheny County. The program, developed by Disney Theatrical Group to create theater programs in elementary schools with limited resources to do so, will be spearheaded by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s arts education...
Parenting expert Dr. G offers Latrobe audience advice on raising kids in age of technologyVideo
Dr. Deborah Gilboa admits some of the parenting advice she offers elicits raised eyebrows — especially her warning against routinely tracking children with a phone app. Popularly known as Dr. G on her website and on daytime talk shows, the Squirrel Hill family physician, mother of four sons and parenting...
Seton Hill awarded $2.16 million federal grant to expand STEM-related fields
Seton Hill University says a $2.16 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education will increase its undergraduate research capabilities, build a research fund to support students and increase competitiveness in its science programs and graduate schools. The competitive grant will expand the university’s ability to prepare graduates for careers...
New Chartiers Valley AD brings experience from Pittsburgh Public
Michael Gavlik plans to go all in at Chartiers Valley as he starts his role as the district’s new athletic director. “I’m very excited about this opportunity,” said Gavlik, 43, who has worked as the director of athletics for Pittsburgh Public Schools since 2005. He will start in Chartiers Valley...
Saint Vincent Homecoming alumni honorees include Westmoreland pair
Two residents of Westmoreland County are among 11 Saint Vincent College alumni who will be honored Friday during the Unity college’s Homecoming and Fall Family Weekend. Jason Winters, who resides in Hempfield and serves as that township’s manager, will receive Saint Vincent’s Recent Alumnus Achievement Award during a 7 p.m....
Department of Education to take input on career tech education
The Pennsylvania Department of Education will take public input on its plans for career and technical education through 2024, at a series of hearings in Harrisburg, Hempfield and West Grove this month. Department representatives will be on hand to take testimony from 1 to 4 p.m. on Oct. 17 in...
Hampton’s Central Elementary students participate in ‘Who Wants to be an Engineer?’
Central Elementary was visited by the Carnegie Science Center on Sept. 27 with the traveling program called “Who Wants to be an Engineer?” The 45-minute hands-on session included student participation in several “adventure” stations focused on engineering and iteration, digital design and fabrication, forces and interaction and materials science....
Former college towns left to adapt to business loss
POULTNEY, Vt. — As colleges and universities come alive this fall, some campuses sit closed and empty after succumbing to a recent wave of fewer students and financial challenges. Now communities that long hosted those historic institutions and relied on them for an economic boost — and their very identity...
Riverview shows off STEAM curriculum to Gov. Wolf
Gov. Tom Wolf visited Riverview Junior-Senior High School in Oakmont on Friday to learn about the district’s efforts to prepare students for jobs in fields of STEAM — that’s science, technology, engineering, arts and math — and to tout his own plan for growing the workforce in those fields, PAsmart....
Norwin elementary school given Blue Ribbon AwardVideo
A Norwin elementary school was given the National Blue Ribbon Award for academic excellence, becoming the first school in the district to win the award. Students at Sunset Valley in kindergarten through fourth grade erupted into cheers Friday morning as Principal Jason Cendroski announced the achievement, which was given to...
Plum’s Holiday Park Elementary students explore entrepreneurship through school business
Chloe Lewis has big plans to launch her own business and be successful enough to contribute to local charities. The Holiday Park Elementary sixth-grader has a head start to her goals through the school’s student-based business. “I did it last year because I thought it would be fun,” said Chloe,...
Student council at North Allegheny, League of Woman Voters hosting school board candidate night
The student council at North Allegheny Senior High School is joining with the League of Women Voters of Greater Pittsburgh to host a forum for the district’s school board candidates. “An Evening with the Candidates” is scheduled for 7 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 2 at the high school. The...
Pittsburgh Public Schools investigating ‘inappropriate’ first-grade homework
Pittsburgh Public Schools officials on Thursday denounced part of a reading homework assignment distributed to first-graders that centered on children running away from a police officer, saying it was not an acceptable part of district curriculum. “Tom will run. He will run from the cop,” the assignment says. “Tom will...
Pine-Richland on heightened security after bullet found
Pine-Richland High School operated on Thursday under heightened security measures following the discovery of a nine-millimeter bullet in the cafeteria on Wednesday. “Our detectives are still currently working the case,” said Northern Regional Police Department captain John Sicilia on Thursday afternoon. He confirmed that increased police presence on campus will...
Penn Hills Class of 1969 tours new high schoolVideo
A wide-eyed Lynn Staymates spun around, searching for direction at a hallway intersection inside Penn Hills High School. She asked if the nearest stairwell was where she started the tour about an hour beforehand. The tour guide, a senior student council treasurer, replied, pointing: “No. We started on that side.”...
