-
Chicago Teachers Union approves deal to reopen high schools Monday
CHICAGO — The Chicago Teachers Union has voted to approve a plan to reopen high schools starting Monday, the union said Sunday. The union tweeted Sunday that “The CTU Rules & Elections Committee has certified the ballot results of the high school addendum to our reopening agreement with CPS. Members voted 83% in favor of ratification. “The addendum is now a ratified agreement between our union and the district.” The vote to reopen public high schools to students for the first time since they were closed last year due to the pandemic was expected, after union President Jesse Sharkey said the de...
Chicago Tribune
-
Transfer portal a new way of roster building for Missouri, men's college basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri doesn't lead the nation in men's basketball players who entered the transfer portal, but the Tigers made news early in the process by losing some of their high profile talent. Three days after the Tigers' season ended in with a first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament, Xavier Pinson, the team's second-leading scorer, announced he was leaving. He has committed to LSU. By the end of the week, another starter, Mark Smith, said he was leaving and wound up at Kansas State. In all, Mizzou lost six transfers, have gained three and are on the prowl for more. Two scholarships...
The Kansas City Star
-
Atlanta school named after Confederate general will be renamed for Hank Aaron
ATLANTA — The late Hall of Fame baseball star Hank Aaron will soon have an Atlanta high school named after him. The Atlanta Board of Education on Monday voted unanimously to change the name of Forrest Hill Academy, an alternative high school in southwest Atlanta. When students return to the school in August, the new name will be Hank Aaron New Beginnings Academy. Aaron, an Atlanta Braves baseball player who broke Babe Ruth's home run record, died in January at the age of 86. The academy's name came under review because it references Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate general who was active ...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
-
Chicago high school staff will refuse in-person work starting Wednesday without movement toward a reopening agreement, teachers union announces
CHICAGO – The Chicago Teachers Union says high school staff members in Chicago Public Schools will refuse in-person work starting Wednesday without “adequate movement” toward a satisfactory reopening plan for high schools. CPS has identified April 19 as the “target” to reopen high schools — the last group that has yet to have the option of in-person classes since the pandemic shut schools in March 2020. But a week ahead of that, the union cited what it called the district’s “chronic failure to provide reasonable accommodations to educators” in explaining its latest work action. “Critical stick...
Chicago Tribune
-
Kansas bill banning transgender students from girls' sports heads to governor's desk
TOPEKA , Kan. — Legislation banning transgender people from K-12 girls' and college women's sports is headed to Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly's desk. After the Republican-backed bill stalled out in the Kansas House last month, lawmakers revived it in the final days of the legislative session, using procedural maneuvers to push it to passage in less than 36 hours. In heated and emotional debates on back-to-back days, the Senate approved the measure on a 26 to 11 vote Friday afternoon, and the House approved it 76 to 43 just before midnight Thursday. Neither chamber reached a veto proof majority, maki...
The Kansas City Star
-
Ibram X. Kendi on the Atlanta spa shootings, the spread of racism and 'How to Be an Antiracist'
Many of us approach topics like race and racism with apprehension, discomfort and sometimes anger. For Ibram X. Kendi, founder and director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research, researching, writing and talking about these difficult topics are all in a day's work. Author of bestsellers like "Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America," winner of the National Book Award, and "How to Be an Antiracist," Kendi has made it his work to uncover and learn about some of the worst actions and ideas in U.S. history. In doing so, he has learned that ra...
The Seattle Times
-
States' pandemic-era budget surpluses could pay for infrastructure
Smith’s Bridge, spanning 447 feet across Smith Bayou, connects residents in the small city of Ferrysburg, Michigan. But the two-lane structure is in such shoddy condition it was closed for months in 2019 to car traffic. It would cost millions to replace. Now there may be help coming from the state. Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proposed allocating hundreds of millions of dollars to replace or repair it and more than 119 other local bridges in serious or critical condition, using one-time money coming from a state surplus. She and leaders in other states who have wound up with u...
Stateline.org
-
Father and son find nearly all grocery produce is uncontaminated by COVID-19
PHILADELPHIA – In the early days of the pandemic, Vishal Shah painstakingly disinfected all of his family’s produce from the grocery store with a disinfectant before bringing it into their West Chester house to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. His 13-year-old son, Anand, noticed the practice one afternoon and began questioning Shah, the interim vice provost and associate dean of the College of Sciences and Mathematics at West Chester University. “I was curious to see if the virus was on the fruits and vegetables to begin with,” said Anand, a student at Charles F. Patton Middle School i...
The Philadelphia Inquirer
-
Lawmakers in Georgia considering a new process for banning books in schools
ATLANTA — Georgia school librarians are alarmed by legislation that seeks to remove them from decisions about which books students can — or cannot — read at school. Currently, the state board of education requires that every local board of education establish a school district media committee to review parent objections to books, videos and other materials, but Senate Bill 226 would impose a statewide template with others in charge and clear deadlines and transparency at the end. Typically, school librarians who have graduate degrees in their field are involved in such decisions, but the legis...
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
-
Paul Sullivan: Loyola and Porter Moser are soaking it all in as their Sweet 16 matchup against Oregon State nears. ‘Man, we’re enjoying the moment.’
The Loyola Ramblers were preparing for what would be a disappointing 8-14 season in fall 1971 when a student movement began on the Lake Shore campus calling for the dismissal of the dean of students. “Sink the Tink” buttons were handed out during an outdoor concert on Oct. 6, 1971, by a group of student leaders calling themselves the “Wayne F. Tinkle Retirement Corporation.” According to the Loyola 1972 yearbook, the “Sink the Tink” movement was “seen as important if only for the fact that a Vice-President of the University was personally attacked and asked to retire by the students.” The list...
Chicago Tribune
- More