SCHOOLS

Hundreds of teachers from across the state rallied near the state capitol on Monday as the possibility of the state taking over its largest school district looms.

What seems like an outbreak of local skirmishes is part of a decades-long push to privatize the education system.

Top Republican legislators in Kansas are focusing on helping conservative parents remove their children from public schools over what’s taught about gender and sexuality.

Schools nationwide are banning OpenAI's ChatGPT. Here's what experts say about the future of artificial intelligence in education.

IN THIS EPISODE:

Advocates say discontent with public schools’ pandemic rules and teachings on race and gender identity have helped raise support for school choice to an all-time high.

A woman and her teenage son and a 14-year-old girl are also among the victims of the petrol station blast.

A 4-year-old boy was able to walk away from Rosa Parks Elementary School in Fresno Tuesday afternoon and into a neighborhood across the street without anyone realizing it.

We'll answer questions about school safety.

Today there are at least 14,000 officers in American schools.

Our Solutionaries team tracks down solutions to one of the scariest, most terrifying problems plaguing parents—school safety.

iEducate was the tutoring program in HISD schools for the 2021-2022 school year and the district credits it for helping correct learning loss suffered during the pandemic.

Experts say the protracted school closures have worsened the country's education crisis.

The Texas Education Agency has just released the newest accountability ratings, which show how schools performed academically across the state last year.

Several Katy Independent School District campuses were damaged during the severe storms that blew through the Houston area Wednesday night.

Travis McMichael, the white man who fatally shot Ahmaud Arbery after chasing the 25-year-old Black man in a Georgia neighborhood, has been sentenced to life in prison for committing a federal hate crime. McMichael had already been sentenced to life without parole earlier this year for the 2020 murder.

Local pro BMX rider Omari Cato found his way to the classroom as an elementary school teacher at Harmony School of Endeavor.

With the start of school looming next month, now is a great chance to give back to children in need of school supplies.

Maine attorney general says both Christian schools that prevailed in Supreme Court case have discriminatory policies, preventing their participation in the tuition program.

Welcome to a VYPE Original Production - VYPE Spring Tour. In this miniseries we take a look at a few schools in Texas as they getting ready for the Fall during their allotted Spring Practice time.

The Supreme Court has ruled that religious schools can’t be excluded from a Maine program that offers tuition aid for private education.

Welcome to a VYPE Original Production - VYPE Spring Tour. In this miniseries we take a look at a few schools in Texas as they getting ready for the Fall during their allotted Spring Practice time.

For more than a decade, Texas has allowed teachers and other school employees to carry weapons on campus.

Welcome to a VYPE Original Production - VYPE Spring Tour. In this miniseries we take a look at a few schools in Texas as they getting ready for the Fall during their allotted Spring Practice time.

Grad Week

On Tuesday, Houston-area McDonald’s restaurants will provide free breakfast to students taking the STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness) test and teachers.

Bashing public schools reveals a chilling indifference by the basher. Meanwhile, the charter school movement continued to grow. The drain on public schools is not addressed in the editorial, only the popularity of the charter school movement, an increase “13% nationally since the pandemic.”What happened? Public schools have been like Oliver Twist holding out his empty bowl for literally years. Public schools were not fully funded when I went to school and for the most part, still are not.

Part of the M20 is turned into a lorry park as motorists face tailbacks around Dover.

Hundreds of Liverpool parents could appeal after their children failed to get into their chosen schools.

The Houston Independent School District Foundation hosted its annual State of the Schools address Friday morning to focus on the road ahead for the district with the new superintendent at the helm, according to a release.

Enrollment in Catholic schools in the United States rose 3.8% from the previous academic year, rebounding from a sharp drop caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Chicago Public Schools officials unveiled the new signs at the school formerly named for racist scientist Louis Agassiz.

As COVID-19 cases decrease nationwide, the debate over masks in schools is returning to center stage.

Schools in Nepal are demanding the government open up physical classes that were shut down for weeks as the number of COVID-19 cases began to decline

For the second day in a row, several historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S. received bomb threats and were forced to cancel classes or tell students to shelter in place. CBS News chief Justice and Homeland Security correspondent Jeff Pegues reports from Washington. Then A. Zachary Faison, Jr., the president and CEO of Edward Waters University, one of the schools that received a threat, joins CBS News' Jericka Duncan and Tanya Rivero to discuss the situation.

Burkina Faso is the latest country to experience a coup in a region where democracy had seemed entrenched.

Dr. Melissa Duarte, who is now serving her second year as superintendent of Texas City ISD, was named 2021 Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce.

Thirty teenagers were stabbed to death in London last year. What can be done to save lives in 2022?

Are schools allowed to test your children for COVID-19 without your permission? KPRC 2 has the answer.

The reopening caused traffic congestion in some areas of the capital, Kampala, and students can be seen carrying their mattresses in the streets, a back-to-boarding school phenomenon not witnessed here for nearly two years. Uganda’s schools have been fully or partially shut for more than 83 weeks, the world's longest disruption, according to figures from the U.N. cultural agency.

Government admits uncertainty over whether face coverings will truly cut Covid spread.

School is back in session and COVID-19 is having major impacts on school districts in our area. Katy ISD reportedly has the largest number of staff COVID cases.

Pupils across the UK are heading back to class amid fears of staff shortages and remote learning.

The move aims to address concerns about schools remaining open for face-to-face learning this coming term.

Pediatric COVID-19 admissions have been on the rise recently in New York City, health officials say.

Chicago's top doctor said in-school transmission remains in line with community rates.

The handwriting on the wall came during a nearly two hour argument involving a challenge brought by two Maine families to the state's unusual way of providing public education.

“How do you understand the situation you are in if you don’t understand where it began?” asks Alice M. Greenwald, president of the National September 11 Memorial Museum.

Politically motivated attacks on classroom instruction can be blunted by inviting families to participate more in curriculum decisions.

Children at Risk, along with other school officials across the Houston area, said Mount Carmel Academy is the No. 1 high school in the Houston area.

The Chancellor pledged to return schools funding to 2010 levels with an extra £4.7bn investment.

Massachusetts National Guard members are helping kids get to school.

Massachusetts National Guard members are helping kids get to school.

Head teachers have warned of fake consent letters for Covid vaccines being circulated in schools.

Logistics have slowed the rollout of COVID-19 SHIELD Illinois testing in schools

Schools in Colorado have been forced to change menus due to a lack of food items.

Districts are worried the Delta variant will spread easily in schools.

Houston’s Rice University has been ranked 7th best overall in colleges across the U.S.

A nation more divided than ever? Experts weigh in on what we can do

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that reopened schools struggling with large-scale Covid outbreaks generally aren't following federal guidelines.

On this "Face the Nation" broadcast, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley join Major Garrett.

Since the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, KPRC 2 has tracked the active COVID-19 cases being reported by Houston-area school districts.

Case numbers are 30 times higher than at the same point last year - where might we be heading next?

The Comal ISD board of trustees Aug. 16 unanimously called for a November election for a $527.7 million bond with funding dedicated to campus improvements, athletics, technology and instructional programs.

With the rise in COVID-19 cases and the Delta variant, many parents of school-aged children, especially those who are too young to be vaccinated, are pleading for a virtual learning option.

The health secretary warns that the pandemic "is not over" ahead of Monday's significant milestone.

Houston is working to get more families vaccinated before school starts.

School starts in a few days and COVID-19 cases are continuing to rise. KPRC 2 spoke to parents about students about the possibility of having to wear masks at school.

Several schools will remove one school resource officer but keep one — a new option this year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released updated guidance Friday on in-person learning this fall.

Montana is one of only four states without a medical school, and two groups with different financial models hope to remedy that. One plans a for-profit school, but critics say students may suffer.

Schools are helping students stay connected. But officials say more work needs to be done.

Public schools cannot require students, teachers, parents and other staff members or visitors to wear masks after June 4, Gov. Greg Abbott declared in an executive order issued May 18. (Courtesy Adobe Stock)Public schools cannot require students, teachers, parents, and other staff members or visitors to wear masks after June 4, Gov. Greg Abbott declared in an executive order issued May 18. "Texans, not government, should decide their best health practices, which is why masks will not be mandated by public school districts or government entities.

Readers respond to our April 2021 cover story and more.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority tells schools they must investigate malpractice and penalise candidates.

More than 200 volunteers — clad in can’t-miss-us fluorescent yellow T-shirts and cloth masks — gathered Saturday morning in Englewood.

The US Department of Agriculture has announced that it will “allow school meal programs and childcare institutions across the country to return to serving healthy meals in fall 2021 as part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to reopen schools safely.”

CTU is prepared to escalate its action to win concessions over high school reopening, the union's president said.

Similarly sized schools with more than 67% opting in would default to the two-day model. Schools with more than 1,000 students and fewer than 67% opting in could use the two- or four- day model, depending on space limitations. If more than 67% of students at large schools opted in, they could use the two-day model if space permitted but would have to use the one-day model if space was limited.

“We’ve got to get our schools reopened,” Vallas said. “We’ve got to allow parents the option of continuing to have their children learn remote. But there’s no reason with what we pay on schools in this country ... schools have been closed for close to 12 months. How are we spending our money?”

Los Angeles schools and teacher's union reach tentative deal to start reopening in April The deal between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the teacher's union was announced as the district was facing growing pressure from parents to reopen soon. Carter Evans spoke to an LAUSD mom who filed a class-action lawsuit against the district and the teacher's union claiming students were losing 17 to 19.5 hours of instruction time every week.

HOUSTON – When it comes to masks and children in school, the Texas Education Agency said the mask policy will be left up to each district’s school board. We ask that other school districts do the same. “It isn’t what we wanted (for) the Texas Education Agency to come out with. Molina is the president of the Texas State Teachers Association. After a year of online learning, the state has ordered all vaccine providers to immediately include teachers and school employees.

In the Rose Garden of the U.N. campus in Manhattan, the "Pandemic Classroom" exhibit was unveiled on Tuesday evening to highlight what U.N. children's education agency UNICEF calls the "COVID-19 education crisis." "With every day that goes by, these children will fall further behind and the most vulnerable will pay the heaviest price." School desks are setup as part of a UNICEF 'Pandemic Classroom,' each seat representing one million children living in countries where schools have been entirely closed for almost a year, outside the UN Headquarters in New York on March 2, 2021. "We are increasingly seeing some very worrying evidence of the implication of protection-related concerns of schools being closed. The U.N.'s education and cultural agency, UNESCO, which contributed to the UNICEF report, says 888 million children worldwide continue to face disruptions to their education because of full and partial school closures.

(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The majority of California's 6.1 million public school students could be back in the classroom by April under new legislation announced Monday by Gov. Most students in the nation's most populous state have been learning from home for the past year during the pandemic. Instead, the state would set aside $2 billion to pay districts that get select groups of students into classrooms by the end of the month. Crucially, the legislation does not require districts to have an agreement with teachers' unions on a plan for in-person instruction. Districts that fail to have children back in classrooms before May 15 won’t get any money.

HOUSTON – The impact of the Texas winter storm forced several school districts to remain closed at this time. The Houston Independent School District is included on the list. Millions of Texans are still recovering from last week’s winter storm. On Sunday, HISD held a massive food and water distribution site with the Houston Food Bank at NRG Stadium and served around 5,000 families. They will also be assisting our families in distributing food boxes in partnership with the Houston Food Bank.

KATY, Texas – Katy Independent School District Board of trustees met Monday evening to discuss a 2021 bond package. Katy ISD Board President Ashley Vann said the district is expected to exceed 100,000 students by 2030, and it needs many improvements to accommodate. Monday at the 5:30 p.m. virtual board meeting, Katy ISD trustees were presented with the Community Bond Advisory Committee’s recommended 2021 bond package. ”Katy ISD district grows about 2,500 students a year,” Vann said. The Katy ISD tax rate will not increase.

Applications are being accepted for the Supplemental Special Education Services grant for Texas students with significant and complex disabilities.

GALVESTON – With students across the Houston area now back in school for in-person learning, school districts across our area are exploring options in an effort to keep everyone safe and healthy. Galveston Independent School District has partnered with Houston-based Integrated Viral Protection with plans to install more than 100 biodefense indoor air protection units throughout its 12 campuses and other facilities. We’re very much looking forward to that,” said Keilli Moulton, Galveston ISD Superintendent. The system outputs cool, clean air that is virus-free, according to the company. We know what they’re in school they learn more, they learn better.

Educators and child advocates are particularly worried about the learning loss they’re experiencing during this pandemic. The Texas Family Leadership Council and representatives from local, state and national nonprofits joined the Texas Federation of Teachers to highlight the pandemic learning loss that Texas children are facing. When educators and child advocates talk about pandemic learning loss, they are most worried about students in the earliest grades: Pre-K, Kindergarten, First, Second and Third. The concerns around pandemic learning loss go beyond academic achievement. At the onset of the pandemic, Mental Health America of Greater Houston started offering free self-mental health screening tests.

Thats how students enrolled in the landmark, Sanctuaries of Learning program began their first day of school in the Third Ward Tuesday. As part of the program by the United Methodist Church, 14 different Houston-area churches have been converted into virtual learning centers so about 800 Houston Independent School District students will have a place to learn virtually while their parents go back to work. Created specifically to help working parents by providing laptop computers, a powerful WiFi signal and even meals, the program completely free for the students in attendance. Thats when she found out about Sanctuaries of Learning through her sons elementary school. HISD elementary school students are eligible for this program and to register, call your school office and ask for the Turn-Around Specialist.

This same policy sparked national debate when it was used to punish two Texas students earlier this year for wearing their natural hair in dreadlocks. “While school districts throughout the country have removed policies that were based on antiquated sex stereotypes, many school districts in Texas still have policies that treat students differently on the basis of their gender,” Brian Klosterboer, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said in a written statement. “School districts need to conform to federal law and fix outdated policies that cause serious harm to students in Texas,” Klosterboer added. Bradford can return to his former high school for his junior year without the threat of suspension. The ACLU’s letter to the districts includes a copy of Arnold’s court case and dress code guidance from the Texas Association of School Boards.

CYPRESS, Texas – A virtual town hall organized by community members of the Cy-Fair Independent School District Monday night aims to get parents, educators and mental health experts and doctors all on the same page. Classes for students Cy-Fair ISD will begin Sept. 8 but before that, the community-organized town hall is a way to discuss concerns across the board. They’re just not,” said Tana Lam, a parent with kids in Cy-Fair ISD. She will be part of the community-organized town hall panel along with educators, a state lawmaker, a pediatrician and a psychologist. The hosts of the town hall say they extended invitations to representatives of Cy-Fair ISD, including board trustees and the superintendent but hadn’t heard back.

HOUSTON – Multiple Houston-area school districts will be closed Friday due to the ongoing brownouts in the aftermath of Hurricane Laura. RELATED: Some Houston-area residents to experience periodic power outages due to Hurricane LauraEntergy announced the outages to its Texas customers Thursday after its transmission system suffered extensive damage from Hurricane Laura. These are the closures so far:

MADRID – Masks will be mandatory for all students in Spain, ages 6 or older, when returning to schools in September because of increased coronavirus cases, the government announced Thursday. Previously, masks were only required for students above age 12 by some Spanish regions. Students will receive a daily body temperature check, must wash hands at least five times per day and classrooms will need frequent ventilation, the government said. That allows localized quarantines if there’s a positive test, rather than closing entire schools. Parents and teachers have expressed concern, with new waves of outbreaks since the country emerged from a strict lockdown.

Help for those in needTexas State Rep. Dan Huberty wants schools to open their doors to special education students now. In Fort Bend Independent School District , students returned to both in-person and virtual learning began on August 17. Becoming your student’s best advocateJones-Taylor admits the return to school is going look different for many special education students. It is TEA’s responsibility to monitor the implementation of special education services across the state. If school districts fail to meet the needs of students receiving special education services, TEA will require that district to take corrective action.

HOUSTON – The Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in a fierce battle between the district and the teachers union over returning to campus for training ahead of the start of the school year. On Friday, a Harris County District Judge granted the Cy-Fair American Federation of Teachers (Cy-Fair AFT) a temporary restraining order, which prevented teachers from being forced to physically be in a school building before Sept. 7. However, per the Supreme Court’s ruling Sunday, teachers must report to work. We will consider our options in the coming days.”Cowart said the teachers union is still concerned and worries about how schools will enforce a mask policy. “Friday was supposed to mark the return to campus for Cy-Fair teachers and staff who were preparing to start the new school year and welcome back kids, until a trial court unlawfully ordered the campus shut down at the request of a teachers’ union.

Meanwhile, the largest district in the state that’s currently offering face-to-face instruction has now quarantined more than 1,150 students because of possible coronavirus exposure. According to numbers released Wednesday, around 70 students and staff members in the Cherokee County district have tested positive for COVID-19. Washington stateSeattle schools to start with remote teachingThe Seattle school board has voted unanimously to begin the academic year with remote teaching only. The Seattle Times reported the state’s largest school district approved the plan Wednesday. The remote learning plan passed with a wide-ranging amendment from school board members that directs the superintendent to explore creating outdoor classes.

HOUSTON – The new CDC guidelines on returning to school put a lot of importance on kids social distancing. That includes canceling any activities when distancing isn’t possible and configuring groups of students that always work together. Buses and hallwaysAt KIPP Charter Schools, they say with the exception of siblings, kids won't sit next to each other on the bus. Sneeze guardsDesks are six feet apart in Aldine, with two students diagonally across from each other and sneeze guards to shield them. CafeteriasIn school cafeterias, seats may be marked off to demonstrate social distancing.

Take the new foot pump sanitizing station built by teacher Ashley Martin’s husband. Cody made me a foot pump hand sanitizing station for my classroom! It’s self-standing,” Martin said. “So, the kids aren’t touching on something while they’re waiting to get hand sanitizer. It’s a self-standing system.”The sanitizing station is just one example of how educators are finding ways to adapt in the face of the current pandemic.

A sign alongside a playground at Hanna Woods Elementary School in the Parkway School District in suburban St. Louis indicates that the playground is closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, Saturday, July 18, 2020. Parkway has formulated a flexible plan to reopen schools when the fall semester begins Aug. 24. Just how bad the virus is at the time will determine if schools open completely, if they mix online and in-person classes, or if they are forced to go strictly virtual. (AP Photo/Jim Salter)