Schools will soon have to put in writing if they 'lunch shame'

With policies to handle unpaid meals all over the map, the USDA, which administers the federal school meal program, will soon require that all school districts have a policy on what to do when kids can't pay—a growing problem. By July 1, those policies must be in writing and communicated to staff, parents and the community. Read more>>

Kentucky Department of Education officials updated state board members about more than 40 other new laws that will affect elementary and secondary students and classrooms, in addition to a new school rating and accountability system launching later this year. Read more>>

The State Department of Education said there is no evidence school districts going to a four-day week are actually saving money. Tulsa Public Schools won't consider it, but 90 smaller districts have four-day weeks now, and the state said 40 more are considering it this fall. Read more>>

Brian Nadel

Schools thrive on free and open exchanges of information, but as soon as a principal reviews attendance records or examines student grades held on a district server, that openness must end. Read more>>

One in six students attending Washington public schools were chronically absent in 2015-16. While the data show regular attendance is an issue in all groups of students, chronic absenteeism rates are particularly high for children who live in poverty, are homeless or identify as American Indian or Alaskan Native. Read more>>

The Rochester City School District is aiming to reduce its special education classification rate, saying many of those students could receive intervention services in a less onerous way. Providing those supports more broadly, without requiring special education classification, would be less money- and energy-intensive. It would also help other students who aren't classified but could still use the extra help. Read more>>

Three out of four elementary schools in Ohio failed to have every incoming kindergartner documented as either vaccinated or exempt from vaccination by the state deadline this school year. In addition, only 62 percent of more than 2,000 schools met the state standard for incoming kindergartners to be vaccinated. Read more>>

A new study reveals an unexpected approach to help schools reduce chronic student absenteeism: making sure kids ride the school bus. It found that 12 percent of the children who took the school bus were chronically absent, two percent lower than kindergarteners who didn’t take the bus. Read more>>

Schools are a public good that extreme market proliferation would eventually destroy. Markets always have winners and losers. In the private sector, the role of competition is often positive. But what happens to a community when its public schools are defunded or closed because they could not “compete” in a marketized environment? Read more>>

An Indiana bill supporting student journalists met an unfortunate end. That’s when the education the students received from supporting this experience turned from a positive lesson about the power of ordinary citizens to influence change to a lesson that it’s possible to work hard and with integrity and still be outmaneuvered by those in power who don’t mind cutting ethical corners. Read more>>

Set for release in August 2017, Capstone's newest database module, PebbleGo Next: Social Studies, will introduce social studies content targeted to grades 3-5 curriculum and will join the previously launched databases PebbleGo Next: Science and PebbleGo Next: States and American Indian Studies. Read more>>

Discovery Education has partnered with the Jackson Charitable Foundation, which provides educational programming to increase the financial knowledge of Americans, to offer K6 classrooms nationwide a financial literacy program. Cha-Ching Money Smart Kids! includes no-cost classroom and family activities, educator guides and animated videos. Read more>>

WriteReader announced the addition of Sesame Streetcharacters to its collaborative literacy platform, which seeks to improve children’s reading and writing skills through storytelling. Children can now incorporate characters such as Elmo, Cookie Monster and Big Bird, as they create their own multimedia books and publish them to WriteReader’s online library. Read more>>

Laura Chesson, assistant superintendent for Arlington Public Schools, will be leaving the district to take a job as superintendent of the Groton-Dunstable Regional School system. Serving the towns of Groton and Dunstable, the Massachusetts district has an enrollment of 2,600 students across five schools. Read more>>

Mark Ristau, who took over as principal of Medford Elementary in 2004, will be the Medford district’s new superintendent. He will take over from Superintendent Rich Dahman, who will become Winona’s superintendent. Read more>>

The Franklin City School Board voted to appoint Tamara Sterling as the division’s new superintendent. She comes from Accomack County, where she served as director of secondary instruction for Accomack County Schools since 2014. Read more>>