Category: School

Should high school start later? Wake County schools wants your thoughts on new start times

CARY, NC — The Wake County Public School System is taking another step exploring later high school start times and end times and earlier elementary school start times and end times.

The district will host town halls and focus groups later this fall and will soon send out a survey soliciting feedback. No changes would be made until the 2024-25 school year, at the earliest.

The switch is grounded in research on natural sleep rhythms and potential academic implications. But the likely wide-reaching impact has kept the school system from moving quickly toward making a change.

“We know that in 2014, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that school set bell schedules no earlier than 8:30 am to improve the physical, mental health, safety and academic achievement of older students,” said Wake County Public Schools Chief Academic Advancement Officer Dr. Edward McFarland.

A change could affect parents’ schedules, students’ after-school

Read more Continue reading

Facing a forfeit, two unlikely participants stepped up so their high school could play

Over the last several years, it seems like there has been an increase in the amount of high school games that are getting canceled due to everything from teams not getting their helmets back from reconditioning at the beginning of this fall, to a lack of available players .

This weekend, Wewoka HS (OK) was facing a week four game against Mounds HS (OK) that they were going to have to forfeit being down eight players for a variety of reasons, they shared on social media.

To keep that from happening, two unlikely participants stepped forward.

Senior ladies Natalie Davis and Callie Ramsey stepped way out of their comfort zones to put on shoulder pads and a helmet to make sure Wewoka would have a game.

Davis stepped in and punted and kicked, corralling a bad snap to boot a 42 yard punt on her first attempt, while Ramsey played

Read more Continue reading

Pennsylvania school district accused of banning Girls Who Code book series | Pennsylvania

A school district in Pennsylvania temporarily banned the Girls Who Code book series for young readers, according to an index of banned books compiled by the free expression non-profit, Pen America.

The books are four of more than 1,500 unique book titles that have been banned by various schools across the country after conservative pushes to censor books. According to a report released by Pen America in April, 138 school districts across 32 states have banned books from their classrooms and school libraries, sometimes temporarily, even if only for a day, sometimes on an ongoing basis.

A recent update to Pen America’s banned book index included the Central York school district in Pennsylvania as banning the books The Friendship Code, Team BFF: Race to the Finish!, Lights, Music, Code! and Spotlight on Coding Club! They were among a suggested new list of more diverse teaching resources that ended up being

Read more Continue reading