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Weekly News Round-Up for September 22nd
posted by: Melissa | September 22, 2017, 05:32 PM   

Each week, NWPE brings its members a round-up of what’s happening in education. From big, eye-catching headlines to the stories most papers overlook, we find the news our members really want to see. This week, teachers’ unions are striking, a heroic teacher saves her students, and a new study about teacher absenteeism.


Union Strike Updates: The teachers’ union in Burlington, VT reached an agreement with the school board and resumed classes on Wednesday. The union in Abington, PA also brought their strike to an end, even though no agreement had been reached. Meanwhile, teachers’ union members in Methacton, PA took to the streets over a contract that did not raise wages enough to cover increasing health insurance premiums, despite a proposed increase of 17%. The strike ended on Wednesday and classes are resuming today, after a planned day off on Thursday. Finally, teachers’ union members in Dallas, TX are planning to start their strike today after they could not agree with the school board on how best to distribute pay increases.


Illinois Teacher Saves Lives: Students at Mattoon High School in Mattoon, IL are banding together after a student opened fire in the school’s cafeteria this past Wednesday. The shooting left one student injured and could have been much worse had it not been for the swift action of P.E. teacher Angela McQueen. The teacher, who had recently been trained in responding to active shooters, grabbed the student’s arm and subdued him, saving lives.


Teachers in Traditional Schools More Likely to Be Absent: A new report from Fordham finds that when you compare teacher absences in traditional schools and charter schools, the teachers in traditional schools are more likely to be chronically absent. The research found that the gap between traditional and charter schools was larger in states with collective bargaining and lower in states without it. The national teachers’ unions criticized the report and said that it was charters who needed better leave policies.


Evers Gives State of Education Address: Wisconsin school chief, Tony Evers, gave his annual “state of education” address this week. In the address, he urged the state to find solutions to the issues facing school funding. The speech was given at the same time as Wisconsin Governor, Scott Walker, signed the state’s new budget, which included a $636 million increase for K-12 education funding.


California 5 Y.O. Suspended for Making Terrorist Threats: In August, a young student at Great Valley Academy, in Modesto, CA was suspended for making a “terroristic threat,” and now the parents are fighting to have that charge removed from his record. Apparently, the boy had said there was a bomb in his backpack. The parents claim that the student was only joking and the administration responded inappropriately.


Also Happening:

Clark County teachers union, state union sue one another

Educators from 12 states take 3-day firearms course

#DCPublicSchools: John Oliver starts Emmy hashtag, because he can

Up to 350 IPS high school teachers have to reapply for jobs as district reorganizes

Aspen School District looks to buy, build housing for teachers, staff

San Francisco School District, teachers union face off in ongoing contract bargaining

Some Nebraska schools face substitute teacher shortage

Rural Idaho schools are hiring more unlicensed teachers

Panel pitches possible fixes to Utah’s teacher shortage

Early childhood teachers in Colorado face low pay, high turnover

Paid maternity leave for teachers? California is considering it


What’s going on where you are?

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