Pa.’s teachers, schools struggle amid ongoing COVID-19 crisis
Updated on Jan 27, 2021;
Published on Jan 27, 2021
Reopening meant major changes to scheduling, sanitation and even the physical layout of Middletown schools.
“WAS IT COVID?”
One veteran teacher of the Middletown Area School District explains her thought process: “I just spoke to so-and-so in the hall. Do I have it now?”
Fear spreads virulently as students and staff vanish without explanation from Pennsylvania’s K-12 schools this bleak midwinter.
One year into the pandemic, teachers and support staff say they feel set adrift without a lifeline.
They have little recourse when schools fail to follow safety guidelines because school boards and administrators, themselves struggling under budget deficits and staff shortages, have no incentive to admit fault.
Pennridge School Board is scheduled to vote on the resolution at the board s Jan. 26 meeting. This is not a resolution that s advocating one way or another for charter schools in terms of their existence and whether families choose that, Superintendent David Bolton said at the Jan. 11 meeting of the board s Finance Committee.Â
- Advertisement - This is all about making sure that what we re paying is fair, committee Chair Megan Banis-Clemens said. The purpose of this resolution is to ask for a more fair funding formula for charter school education, and especially cyber charter education, Bolton said in a telephone interview.
U.S. Supreme Court to decide if Pa. school district can punish cheerleader over profane SnapChat post
Updated Jan 15, 2021;
Posted Jan 15, 2021
The Snapchat app is displayed on the home screen of an iPhone.(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Getty Images
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A civil rights battle over the profane SnapChat posts of a disgruntled Pennsylvania high school cheerleader has gone all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In agreeing to hear an appeal by Mahoney Area School District, the justices will take up the issue of whether school officials have the right to discipline students for off-campus, after-school comments or if such speech is completely protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
Mahanoy Area School District is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case of whether a junior varsity cheerleader's SnapChat comments give the district the right to discipline students for off-campus, after-school comments.
Indiana, PA WCCS AM1160 & 101.1FM
Jan 11, 2021 9:06 PM
At the Indiana School Board meeting Monday night, Board President Walter Schroth used his board president message to address rumors on social media about the possible closure of a district elementary school.
In his message, Schroth addressed the rumors directly, saying that the board has gone above and beyond to remain transparent about all its processes, and make sure that the public’s voice is heard.
In other business, the board approved an expansion of a cooperative agreement with IUP for speech-language pathology services. IUP currently provides those services for literacy programs at Ben Franklin. That program will now be offered at East Pike.