California Governor Gavin Newsom announced on Friday that students must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to go to school in person. NPR reports that public school and private school students in grades 7-12, or ages 12-17, are expected to be vaccinated starting July 1, 2022, to attend classes. Religious and personal beliefs along with medical conditions
As I was browsing my Facebook feed, a particular post caught my eye. It was a post by another mother in a Facebook group that I’m a part of. She was lamenting the fact that she needed to explore new education options for her three children, ages seven through fourteen. As I glanced through her
America’s freedom of religion has attracted many faiths to grow in the US, leading to massive diversity throughout the country. And for most families across the U.S. who have children enrolled in public school, the matter of religious education quickly becomes complicated. “The First Amendment reads in part: Congress shall make no law respecting an
As much as school board controversies have been in the news lately, only 5-10% of voters typically show up to school board elections. What's more, as many as 4 out of 10 school board elections are won by unopposed candidates! Why the lack of enthusiasm from both voters and candidates? The truth is, American
Have you ever told your child “Go play outside” or “Read a book” when they tell you they’re bored? Chances are, sometimes—maybe even every time—those suggestions are met with less-than-enthusiastic agreement. It turns out that your kids would rather play video games or be entertained by some other form of digital media. And how do
Tennessee high school football player Elijah Burgess knew he had to lead his team in prayer on the field after the game on Friday night. It didn’t matter that his school, Upperman High School, just banned teachers and coaches from initiating prayer with students. "They told us to not pray, so I had to do
By Willie Deutsch -- COVID resulted in significant academic upheaval for students. The end of the 2019-2020 school year was utter chaos as schools had to change how they operated overnight. However, the 2020-2021 school year was one the state and school divisions had months to plan for. But instead of a plan, many
So you want to write a letter to the editor, but don’t know where to begin? Let me help! Maybe you're concerned about topics discussed at a local school board meeting. Or maybe you want your community to know you’re on board with the plans to expand facilities at your child's school. Whether or not
40% of parents in Lynchburg, Virginia, have chosen to walk away from free, public education, according to Lynchburg City’s Councilman Jeff S. Helgeson. “How bad does the product or the service have to be...for 40% to say, ‘keep it?’ ” Why are so many parents opting their children out of public education? One central reason
States are remodeling standardized testing as part of graduation requirements. Could this mean that standardized tests are on their way out of education? One of those states is Oregon, which back in June passed a bill that suspended its Essential Skills graduation requirements for high school students for 2022, 2023, and 2024. For Oregon, the
