schools

Massachusetts public health and education officials are not recommending mask mandates, broad-sweeping testing, contact tracing, or test-to-stay testing in schools this coming fall. Officials are urging school district to instead focus their COVID-19 mitigation strategies on vulnerable and symptomatic people this coming school year. The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Public Health issued the…

As some 50 million kids return to the classroom, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is updating COVID-19 guidance for the first time since May. The CDC is no longer recommending quarantine, even after exposure to someone infected with COVID-19. That means gone are screenings at K-12 schools, though students with symptoms should still take COVID tests. There are…

Cases of adolescent anxiety have at least doubled since the pandemic, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. And “mental health problems were already at an emergency level before the pandemic even happened,” psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober says. Bober joins LX News and shares advice for kids facing stress and anxiety ahead of this school year.

The Gardner Public Schools district in Massachusetts will push back the first day of the year due to supply chain problems that have slowed the construction of the new elementary school. Superintendent Mark Pellegrino announced in a letter Monday that the team was delayed from completing the elevator because pieces were missing from a shipment of electrical parts. There are…

A coalition of sex education reform advocates gathered at the State House to promote a bill they say would update and enrich the current curriculum guidelines.  Jaclyn Friedman, cochair of the Healthy Youth Act Coalition said they are “Based in fact, in science, teaches things like consent. Is affirming to all our LGBTQ students.” It’s been decades since any...

A 15-fold increase in annual state aid toward rural Massachusetts school districts headlines a legislative panel’s recommendations after more than a year of work, and one top senator said he plans to push for at least some funding in the end-of-term flurry over the next few weeks. Lawmakers, K-12 school leaders and academic experts voted unanimously Tuesday to send...

At the 11th hour, the city of Boston and Boston Public Schools reached an agreement with Massachusetts education officials on a plan to improve longstanding issues in the district and avoid officially being labeled underperforming. In a report released last month, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) said Boston Public Schools is struggling to operate on a…

Conservative Supreme Court justices have “chipped away” at separation of church and state, though the right-leaning wing of the court is divided on whether the concept is still viable, says Willamette University professor Steven Green.

As the public awaits a coming decision that could overturn Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court released a batch of other decisions. They ruled in favor of religious freedom in a Maine case on school choice, and tweaked a criminal sentencing rule on attempted robbery cases. Constitutional attorney Andrew M. Lieb joins LX News to discuss.

Congressional child nutrition waivers that allowed for free meals in school and other food assistance measures are expiring June 30.

A fifth grader at a Springfield, Mass., school was displeased with the state of tacos at his school, so he brought his concerns to state Rep. Orlando Ramos, who got the district to do something about it.

More than 100 former students and staff at the school have been diagnosed with cancer over the last 30 years, and local parents say the information they’re getting on the investigation is woefully insufficient.

A Facebook post saying security would throw out students’ food had garnered hundreds of comments before it was abruptly deleted Tuesday morning.

Since the pandemic started, experts have warned of a mental health crisis facing American children.

Police and school officials in Wilmington, Massachusetts, are investigating what officials described as a “disturbing physical altercation” in a boys’ bathroom at the high school Thursday as a potential crime. In a letter sent home to families, school officials said they were investigating who was involved in the incident itself and also who took a recording of it, which was…

Now that the Parental Rights in Education bill (also referred to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill) is law in Florida, LGBTQ groups plan to fight it in the courts. Critics have said the law is worded so broadly that it could have a chilling effect on teachers and cause them to dismiss LGBTQ subjects entirely. We hear from Michael...

Schools across the Commonwealth have seen their COVID counts steadily rising over the past three weeks.

It’s the news no parent wants to hear right now: COVID-19 case numbers have begun to rise somewhat significantly over the past few weeks in schools across Massachusetts. Over the past week, Brookline schools have seen a total of 74 COVID cases, a significant rise from the previous week, when there were only 12 positive cases reported. “It is surprising…

Two girls were attacked as they walked out of Morton Middle School in Fall River, Massachusetts last week. Cell phone video of the incident reveals other students clearly knew it was coming, recorded the incident and could even be heard laughing. “I was very upset,” said Kerren Cook, whose daughter was one of the students whacked by classmates. “I have…

Lawmakers in Rhode Island are considering asking voters to amend the state constitution to try to improve public schools. The state Senate passed legislation this week sponsored by Democratic Sen. Roger Picard to place a question on the next statewide ballot asking voters to amend the state constitution to guarantee “an equitable, adequate and meaningful education to each child.” It…