TOP NEWS Democrat & Chronicle New York spent $22,366 per pupil at its public schools in 2016—90 percent above the national average, the U.S. Census Bureau said. The average spending nationwide increased by 3.2 percent to $11,762 during the 2016 fiscal year. Read more>> Sponsored Sponsored by Transfinder With Viewfinder from Transfinder, district staff can get answers to questions without needing to call transportation. This can streamline communication within the district, ensuring the right people have access to information. Read more>> Forbes Since 2000, public school districts have lost an average of 20 percent of librarians and media specialists. During this same time period, student enrollment nationwide increased by 7 percent. The shortage in public school librarian employment has hit districts serving minorities the hardest. Read more>> Idaho Statesman A new lawsuit targeting Idaho's public school districts and charter schools would build on past successful litigation, claiming that charging student fees is unconstitutional and violates students' rights to an education. Read more>> The Baltimore Sun The Baltimore school district established new guidelines for closing schools in hot weather, months after complaints about freezing classrooms sparked widespread outrage. The warm weather policy establishes dismissal protocol for the more than 70 city schools. Read more>> The Detroit News Nikolai Vitti arrived in the city one year ago to lead the reform of one of the nation’s most troubled urban school districts. He has instituted substantial changes across the city, including boosting teacher pay, gutting outdated K8 curriculum in reading and math, and restoring art or music to all schools this fall. But systemic problems, such as 200 teacher vacancies and schools with deplorable building conditions, persist. Read more>> The Modesto Bee Modesto City Schools will hire a nationally recognized expert on race and discipline to address claims that school district practices have placed a disproportionate number of African American, Latino and English-learner students in alternative programs, which have fewer educational opportunities. Read more>> From DA Magazine Shawna De La Rosa From kindergarten to senior year, from basic problem-solving to career prep, 3D printers have become instructional backbones coast to coast. Read more>> OPINION The Conversation When students have healthy peer relationships, teachers they trust, and school policies that they perceive as fair, they are more likely to feel safe in the school and less likely to misbehave. Building a sense of community among students and adults in schools may reduce the risk of school violence. Read more>> Penn Live Having health insurance means that children in low income families are likely to do better in school, have more stable housing, and are less likely to go hungry, because their parents can spend less money on accessing doctors and more on other basic needs. Read more>> USA Today One thing the press can do is to stop turning these killers into stars. You can’t get the idea of shooting out of people’s heads, but you can stop hammering it into them, and stop making it look like a positive. Among other things, that means resisting the temptation to go full-saturation-coverage in search of ratings and clicks. Read more>> INDUSTRY NEWS Couragion The new Couragion Challenges computer science curriculum includes coding and robotics as well as data science, design thinking, agile methods, quality assurance, the impacts of computing, and other essential skills such as problem-solving, creativity and critical thinking. Read more>> FrontRow FrontRow has introduced an update to its Juno all-in-one classroom audio system that improves sound quality and the simplicity of the user interface. In addition to the sound-quality boost, the Juno ITR-02 has a new LCD interface. Read more>> ✭ Visit the District Administration's PR Portal ✭ PEOPLE WATCH Ocala Star Banner The Duval County School Board picked Diana Greene to lead that county’s school system, Florida’s seventh largest district. She has been superintendent of the 49,000-student Manatee County Schools since 2015. Read more>> The Eagle Tribune Cynthia Paris, currently assistant superintendent of schools in Newton, was picked to lead Lawrence by the board running the schools for the state. The state took control of the schools in January 2012 after decades of decline. Read more>> Rivertowns Patch Ryan Schoenfeld was named by the New York district's board of education to take over in July from retiring Superintendent Lauren Allan. Schoenfeld is currently the assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and technology in the Amherst CSD. Read more>> Mount Pleasant Daily Voice In January, the New York district's current Superintendent Susan Guiney announced that she will be retiring at the end of the academic year. Kurtis Kotes, who worked his way up from social studies teacher to superintendent in Goshen, has been chosen to replace her. Read more>> | 