Education category, Page 89
Schools turn to apps, other tech to guard against shootings
LOS ANGELES — Schools trying to protect kids from mass shootings are turning to gunshot detection systems, cellphone apps and artificial intelligence — a high-tech approach designed to reduce the number of victims. Technology that speeds up law enforcement’s response and quickly alerts teachers and students to danger is a...
Penn State fencing assistant fired over groping allegation
STATE COLLEGE — A woman says she told Penn State University’s head fencing coach that one of his assistants had groped her on a plane, but the coach failed to report her accusation to the school as required. Jennifer Oldham, a North Carolina fencing coach, tells The Philadelphia Inquirer that...
Allegheny, Westmoreland schools get grants for breakfast initiative
Several Westmoreland and Allegheny county schools were awarded grants recently as part of Gov. Tom Wolf’s School Breakfast Initiative. The initiative, which is providing more than 150 schools with grants up to $5,000 this year, is aimed at giving students a healthy breakfast. About $592,000 in grants were given to...
Officials approve phased retirement for state university professors
State officials and faculty members at Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities have approved a voluntary phased-retirement program. The agreement, ratified by the oversight board of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, comes as the faculty union and the State System gear up for contract talks and state officials continue work...
Ohio teen loses 115 pounds while walking to school every day
An Ohio student will graduate 115 pounds lighter than when he started high school. Michael Watson, 18, of Canton decided two years ago to do something about his weight. He was 6 foot, 4 inches tall and tipped the scale at 335 pounds, reports CNN. “My self-confidence was zero,” Watson...
Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics will host open house
The Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics will host an open house May 18 for those with an interest in flight-related careers. Representatives from Endeavor Air will be at the school’s main campus, at the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin, to talk with prospective students. PIA President Suzanne Markle said the...
Roman numerals, anyone? Poll suggests bias against Arabic numerals
Who knows exactly what a new poll says about mathematics in America, but the reactions to a recent poll on the topic are a little alarming. When CivicScience, a Pittsburgh-based market research firm, polled more than 3,200 Americans on the issue of mathematics instruction last week, 56% of the respondents...
‘Run, Hide, Fight’ mindset making way into U.S. schools
BALTIMORE — The actions of students who died tackling gunmen at two U.S. campuses a week apart have been hailed as heroic. At a growing number of schools across the country, they also reflect guidance to students, at least in some situations, to do what they can to disrupt shootings....
Saint Vincent College plans tours for prospective students
Saint Vincent College will hold Get Acquainted Days for prospective students and their families on June 15, July 20 and Aug. 17. Each day features a series of short talks on academics, admission procedures, financial aid and college life at Saint Vincent. The program includes a tour of the campus...
Educators weigh options to give students ‘fighting chance’ in shooting situations
BALTIMORE — The actions of students who died tackling gunmen at two U.S. campuses a week apart have been hailed as heroic. At a growing number of schools around the country, they also reflect guidance to students, at least in some situations, to do what they can to disrupt shootings....
Swarthmore College to no longer allow frats, sororities
SWARTHMORE — Fraternities and sororities will no longer be allowed at Swarthmore College following outrage over years-old documents allegedly written by one fraternity there that contains derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. School President Valerie Smith made the announcement Friday in a letter...
WCCC honors grad who directed police response at Parkland school shooting
It was Valentine’s Day, and Clyde Parry was sitting in his police chief’s office in Coral Springs, Fla. An officer breathlessly announced he’d heard an active shooter was at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Suddenly, phone lines blew up at the department as desperate calls went out for help. Within...
Congress weighs bankruptcy relief for student loan debt
More than 40 years after Congress began tightening restrictions against discharging student loan debt in bankruptcy, federal lawmakers Thursday introduced a bill to provide bankruptcy relief for struggling borrowers. The Student Borrower Bankruptcy Relief Act of 2019 would remove the 2005 section of the bankruptcy code that made all private...
Pennsylvania’s board of education backs changes to school start, dropout ages
Pennsylvania’s State Board of Education is giving its support to proposals by Gov. Tom Wolf to require students start schooling by age 6 and continue until they’re at least 18. The board voted unanimously Wednesday for the Democratic governor’s proposals that he unveiled in February. The Republican-controlled Legislature still must...
Point Park University launches $20K mission to ease losses in small-town journalism
Point Park University’s Center for Media Innovation in Pittsburgh is launching a $20,000 fellowship designed to tackle the growing dearth of investigative journalism in communities that no longer host a daily newspaper, officials announced Wednesday. A three-year grant from the Allegheny Foundation underwrote the creation of the Annual Doris O’Donnell...
Franklin Regional board may change grading scale, broaden range
Franklin Regional school director Paul Scheinert hoped students were benefiting from having a more rigorous grading system where “A” grades (the district uses a plus/minus system as well) range from 92 to 100%, “B” grades range from 82 to 91% and so on. But seeking to give students a more-level...
IUP professor named as a Fulbright scholar, headed to Honduras
An Indiana University of Pennsylvania professor has been named a Fulbright scholar and will spend the upcoming academic year seeking out new species of amphibians and reptiles and supporting conservation efforts in Honduras. Josiah Townsend, an associate professor at IUP, was chosen as a 2019-20 Fulbright U.S. Scholar grant recipient....
Hempfield students to participate in Remake Learning Days
Some Hempfield students are taking a step back from the curriculum for a day as they prepare to present projects they have been working on as part of the Remake Learning Days Across America. The day, which focuses on science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, allows students to pick...
Franklin Regional senior’s tough decision? Choosing between elite collegesVideo
No one likes to make a difficult decision. But it helps when that decision is which of four of the most prestigious academic institutions in the United States to attend for college. As he considered his post-secondary education, Franklin Regional senior Bhav Jain had to choose among acceptance letters from...
Don’t spare the blood: Apollo-Ridge looks to realism for mock DUI crashVideo
A mock car crash that included a drunken driver, a dead passenger and other injured parties was the lesson of the day Wednesday at Apollo-Ridge High School. Although mock accident scenes are nothing new, the high school decided to add flair or, rather, blood and make-up for students to look...
$464K in grants to help Western Pa. schools boost security efforts
Four Western Pennsylvaina school entities — a school district, an intermediate unit and two technical schools — have received a total of $464,709 in state grants to enhance their safety efforts. State Rep. Joseph Petrarca, D-Vandergrift, said the grants were announced by the state’s School Safety and Security Committee, which...
Pennsylvania teacher salaries rank 10th in the nation
Pennsylvania teachers average the 10th-highest salaries in the nation, according to a National Education Association annual pay analysis. While Pennsylvania teachers ranked below colleagues in New York, New Jersey and Maryland, they were well above teachers in West Virginia (who ranked next to last) and the bordering states of Ohio...
Swarthmore College fraternities disband amid protests
SWARTHMORE, Pa. — The only two fraternities at Swarthmore College have opted to disband amid outrage over years-old documents containing derogatory comments about women and the LGBTQ community and jokes about sexual assault. Delta Upsilon and Phi Psi announced their decisions in separate Facebook posts Tuesday night. “We cannot in...
Lawmakers debate future of loan relief for public workers
In 2007, the U.S. government made a promise to public service workers: Make 10 years of payments on their federal student loans and any remaining debt would be erased. But officials have largely failed to deliver. And that’s left lawmakers questioning whether to end the program or try to fix...
Slippery Rock responds to Dr. Phil’s comments on admissions scandal
Slippery Rock University officials are responding after Dr. Phil McGraw named the institution during an interview with People about the college admissions scandal. Sixteen parents, including actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, allegedly committed fraud to get their kids into top universities. In an interview Thursday, McGraw said, “They’re not...
