Tag: School

  • Texas Families Begin Applying for Private School Vouchers – The 74

    Texas Families Begin Applying for Private School Vouchers – The 74


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    Texas families can begin applying for private school vouchers Wednesday, the most significant step yet in a state program set to launch next school year.

    Texans have until March 17 to apply for the program, which allows families to receive taxpayer dollars to send children to private school or educate them at home.

    If the number of applicants exceeds the $1 billion lawmakers set aside for the program, the state will prioritize students based on family income and whether they have a disability — though neither guarantee access.

    The program, overseen by the comptroller, Texas’ chief financial officer, will launch at the beginning of the 2026-27 school year.

    As of Wednesday night, more than 35,000 families submitted applications, according to the comptroller’s office.

    The state can spend no more than $1 billion on the program during the current two-year budget cycle, which ends Aug. 31, 2027. It is unclear how much the program’s costs could rise — lawmakers will make that determination in future legislative sessions — but state budget experts predict the tab could escalate to roughly $4.8 billion by 2030.

    Here’s what to know about the applications.

    Most Texas families with school-age children can apply.

    That includes students already attending private school or in home schooling. Families with children in a public school must plan to unenroll them if they want to participate. Parents must also submit proof of their child’s U.S. citizenship or evidence the child lawfully resides in the country.

    If public demand for the program exceeds available funding, the state will prioritize the following applicants:

    • Students with disabilities in families with an annual income at or below 500% of the federal poverty level, which includes a four-person household earning less than roughly $165,000 a year.
    • Families at or below 200% of the poverty level, which includes any four-person household earning less than roughly $66,000.
    • Families between 200% and 500% of the poverty level.
    • Families at or above 500% of the poverty level; these families can receive up to $200 million of the program’s total budget.

    The priority system does not guarantee access to the program, as students must still find a private school to accept them. No state or federal laws require private schools to make learning accommodations for students with disabilities.

    In other states with large-scale voucher programs, participation has skewed toward more affluent and white families with children already in private school.

    Families must have several documents prepared.

    That includes Social Security numbers for the parent and child; an IRS Form 1040 for 2024 or 2025; and a Texas identification card or utility bill, lease agreement, mortgage statement or voter registration certificate if the state cannot verify a Texas ID number.

    Families can also prove their child’s U.S. citizenship or lawful resident status by submitting documents like birth certificates or certificates of naturalization or citizenship.

    For private pre-K eligibility, children must be at least 3 years old and meet at least one of the state criteria for public pre-K. That criteria includes being eligible to participate in the free or reduced-price lunch program, being unable to speak or understand English, or being in foster care. Families with children in foster care must submit proof, such as a court order, adoption documents or a placement order.

    Some families could receive up to $30,000 each year.

    Most participating families with children in private schools will receive about $10,500 annually. Home-schoolers can receive up to $2,000 per year. Children with disabilities can receive up to $30,000 — an amount based on what it would cost to educate that child in a public school.

    To apply for the voucher program, families can submit a Social Security determination letter or a physician’s note as proof their child has a disability.

    But to qualify for the higher tier of funding, families must submit an Individualized Education Program, a legal document specifying that a child needs special education services. If families do not have that documentation, they can request it from their local public school. Public schools must complete those requests within 45 days of a parent consenting to the evaluation.

    Families will receive the money through education savings accounts. Managed by the finance and technology company Odyssey, the digital accounts will let families pay tuition and make education-related expenses, like private tutoring, transportation and school meals.

    Students must also find private schools to accept them.

    During the application process, families must signal their intent to enroll their child in a private school.

    But they do not have to officially have their children enrolled until June 1, nearly three months after the application period closes. If parents cannot find a school by the initial deadline, the state will give them until July 15. Private schools will then confirm enrollment between June 15 and July 31.

    Private schools, on a rolling basis, can apply to join the program if they have operated a campus for at least two years and received accreditation. They must also administer a nationally recognized exam of their choosing in grades 3-12. The schools are not required to administer the same standardized tests issued to public school kids each year — currently the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR.

    More than 1,600 private schools have opted in thus far, with most located in the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth areas.

    Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released a January opinion stating his belief that the comptroller can block certain schools from participating in the program if they’re “illegally tied to terrorists or foreign adversaries.”

    The opinion came after Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock requested guidance from Paxton, saying schools associated with the accreditation company Cognia had hosted events organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group that Gov. Greg Abbott recently designated a terrorist organization.

    CAIR has sued Abbott over the label, calling it defamatory and false. The U.S. State Department has not designated the organization a terrorist group.

    As first reported by the Houston Chronicle, hundreds of Cognia schools have been shut out of the program, including those that primarily serve Muslim students, Christian students and children with disabilities. The comptroller’s office has said it is now inviting groups of Cognia schools that it considers in compliance with the law to participate.

    Families will start receiving notifications in April.

    Those notifications will let parents know they will receive funding — contingent upon enrolling their children in a private school by either the June 1 or July 15 deadline.

    The first portion of state funding will become available in families’ education savings accounts between July 1 and mid-August.

    This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.


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  • Mis-identifying “504-only” students

    Mis-identifying “504-only” students

    Key points:

    Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, which prohibits discrimination against students and other individuals with disabilities, is far less visible than the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in school districts.  Largely neglected in comparison to the IDEA, it poses growing problems and hidden costs on the general education side of the ledger.  In comparison to students with IEPs under the IDEA, students eligible under only the overlapping coverage of Section 504 are the responsibility of general education.

    The problems and costs start with mis-identification under Section 504’s definition of disability, which is broader than that under the IDEA.  Not limited to specified classifications, such as specific learning disability, or the need for special education, the requirements for Section 504 eligibility are (1) any physical or mental impairment that limits (2) a major life activity (3) substantially.  The students identified under Section 504 rather than the narrow eligibility definition of the IDEA are referred to as “504-only,” and they typically receive accommodations and services under a 504 plan as compared to an IEP.

    “504-only” rates

    The national rate of students with 504 plans has almost quadrupled in the past 15 years.  More specifically, in school year 2009–10, which was one year after Congress expanded the interpretive standards for determining eligibility under Section 504, the national percentage, according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Education, was 1.1 percent.  This percentage steadily increased, well beyond the effects of the Congressional amendments.  In 2021–22, which was the most recently released data from the Department, the national percentage was 3.9 percent.

    This growth is attributable in part to the increase in the identified incidence of not only ADHD, dyslexia, and anxiety but also various physical health issues, such as diabetes and food allergies.  However, another major reason is the loose identification practices for “504-only” students.

    Revealing not only resulting over- but also under-identification, for the most recent year of 2021–22, the rates varied at the state level from New Hampshire and Texas at almost double the national percentage to New Mexico and Mississippi at less than half that national rate.  California’s rate for that year was only 2.1 percent, but its variance was wide.  Its districts ranged from 0 percent to 13.9 percent, and schools ranged from 0 percent to 24.2 percent.  Districts and schools at the low end are particularly vulnerable to individual child find claim.  And one can only imagine what it’s like to be a general education teacher at a school for those at the high end in terms of paperwork, meetings, implementation, and resulting litigation.  Thus, both over- and under-identification warrant administrative attention.

    Mis-identification costs and consequences

    For over-identification, the hidden costs include not only providing related services, such as counseling and transportation, but also the time of teachers and administrators for meetings, forms, and potential complaint investigations, impartial hearings, and court proceedings.  Additionally, at a time of teacher shortage, high percentages of students with 504 plans contributes to current recruitment and attrition problems. Yet, unlike the IDEA, Section 504 provides no extra funding from either federal or state governments.  Thus, Section 504 implementation is part of the school district’s general education budget.  Moreover, along with under-identification, over-identification is a matter of social as well as legal justice, because it allocates limited school resources to students who do not really qualify and, thus, are false positives.  This hurts both the true positives (i.e., accurately identified) and the false negatives (i.e., should be identified).  The under-identified students pose a hidden cost of exposure to child find violations, which include attorneys’ fees and remedial orders.

    Quick tips for district consideration

    • Make sure that your administration annually collects and examines accurate information as to the percentage of students with 504 plans for the district as a whole and for the elementary, middle, and high school levels.  For percentages that are notably high or low in relation to extrapolated current national and state rates, extend the data collection and review to the identified impairments, major life activities, and the basis for the “substantial” connection between the impairment and major life activities
    • Under the leadership of a designated central administrator, make sure that each school has a carefully selected, officially designated, sufficiently trained, and solidly backed Section 504 coordinator  In general, the principal or an assistant principal is the presumptively correct choice; yet, principals too often delegate this key role to a relatively inexperienced school counselor or other staff member who lacks appropriate expertise and authority for proper 504-only identification.    
    • Make sure that the administration has uniform, effective, and legally defensible policies and practices that include:
      • Child find procedures parallel to those under the IDEA but keyed to the broader, three-part definition of disability under Section 504, which does not require educational impact or the need for special education.
      • Eligibility decision is by a team that meets the legal criteria of being reasonably knowledgeable about the child, evaluation data, and appropriate services/accommodations.
      • Regular training for the team, which includes legal updates on the identification procedures and criteria but also the longitudinal § 504-only rates for the district, school, and grade.
    • Invest general education resources on multi-tiered strategies and supports, differentiated instruction, and responsive accommodations for students that do not clearly qualify for either IEPs or 504 plans.  The more that districts meet student needs with such practices on a reliable and reasonable basis, the less that problems of over- and under-identification tend to arise.
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  • Some things aren’t games, school is one of those things.

    Some things aren’t games, school is one of those things.

    Several weeks ago, thrown off by a change in routine brought about by the holiday period, I forgot to play Wordle, ending a 200+ day streak of success.

    I was bummed out, maybe worse than bummed out. I was angry at myself for failing to keep on top of things, severing my streak after I’d set the personal goal of hitting a full year of consecutive correct Wordles.

    The next day, encouraged by the app to start a new streak, I successfully completed the Wordle, sighed at the thought of the mountain I had to climb to get back to where I’d been, and started wondering why I’d invested that much emotional energy in a game.

    The day after that, when I opened the app I had a sudden, powerful urge to not play Wordle, an urge I listened to, an urge which has over the last few weeks become my new habit of not doing something that I had been doing every day for literally years.

    (I can’t identify the precise date I started my daily practice, but in January 2022 I wrote a post for one of my personal newsletters praising the level of challenge of Wordle as good pedagogy.)

    I have not missed playing Wordle at all. Neither have I missed Spelling Bee and Connections, two other New York Times games that I engaged with daily. I’d already been souring on Spelling Bee as I’d experienced an occasionally distressing time suck on trying to get to “Genius” on every single puzzle, as though that mattered. I’d been enjoying Connections for a few months as I learned the nuances of how the game worked, but that experience was also increasingly rote.

    This experience was fresh in my mind when I picked up Utah University philosophy professor C. Thi Nguyen’s fascinating new book, The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game. Nguyen’s project is to use the lens of games and scores to illuminate human motivation and action as it relates to achievement, happiness and the very ways we move through the world.

    In many ways, this is not a book for me. Nguyen writes from the perspective of a high achieving, driven, ambitious personality who found validation in good grades, publishing in highly ranked academic journals, and other clear, external markers of success, such as the difficulty rating of a particular route in his chosen activity of mountain climbing.

    But also, as someone fascinated by games, a fascination which has included producing significant scholarship on the subject, Nguyen recognized when his choices would edge away from the pleasure games can provide and instead become strictures where we’ve ceded our agency and enjoyment to a structure that no longer advances our interests.

    Unlike Nguyen I have been—often to my own detriment—nearly impossible to motivate by external metrics or outside validation. I could only invest myself in things I found genuinely involving, and no amount of gamifying something like housework, homework or career advancement was going to work. I have literally no ambition beyond figuring out how to do things that are interesting to me.

    I have near zero grit.

    I also thought I was largely immune to the behaviorist nudges of datafication and self-surveillance. Years back I ended my three-month relationship with a Fitbit when I woke up one morning thinking I felt pretty good, but then saw the sleep tracker declare many minutes of restlessness during the night, and instantly feeling exhausted.

    I don’t live a metric-free lifestyle, but I thought it was all well under my control. I allow the Peloton app to know my exercise activities that are part of the platform, but I also do many other things that are not tracked or trackable. I do my best to check in with and trust my feelings and my mood to help me figure out what’s going to help me live a happy life.

    So, I was a little surprised and chagrined to read The Score and see that I’d fallen into several of the pitfalls Nguyen outlines. None of us is as self-aware as we might wish, including Nguyen, who uses his own life experiences as illuminating and entertaining examples of the concepts he discusses.

    One of the strengths of the book is that as Nguyen presents these concepts, after doing so, the observations sound almost commonsensical, but of course if they were so common sense, we wouldn’t fall into these pits.

    My Wordle situation was a clear case of substituting external, structural values for the thing that drew many of us to Wordle in the first place, the novelty and fun of the challenge. Four years of Wordle is more than enough time to map all of the game’s nuances, and indeed, over time I’d started giving myself challenges like deliberately picking lousy first guesses in order to keep myself interested.

    When that was largely exhausted, all I had left was that streak, and when I let that slip away, I realized I had nothing.

    To be a game, there must be an objective that signals completion and, in a good game, that objective connects to the experience we’re trying to foster. As Nguyen observes there are many games that appear competitive with clear objectives (e.g., Twister), but where winning is not the actual object for the vast majority of players. Objectives often require metrics, the mechanism for scoring and ultimately the games themselves and how we play them can come to be defined by those metrics.

    And when nongames become something like games, well, bad things can result.

    Regular readers are probably waiting to tie these observations to what’s happening these days with the intersection of AI and academia, but I think most of what we can tease out really is common sense.

    The mass generation of AI-automated research slop should be a scandal because it is the kind of thing which could topple the entire pillar of the enterprise, and yet the detectable levels of distress are relatively low. Ben Williamson of the University of Edinburgh found dozens of citations of a paper he did not write, but which was apparently hallucinated in some other list of sources.

    These “zombie citations” are proliferating across every single discipline which, in Williamson’s words, “compromises” every single publication that cites one, given that those articles are citing something that does not exist. This is not a situation that academic scholarship and research can survive if we’re meant to attach any meaning to this research.

    Obviously, the game of academic publication which values volume of productivity is driving this behavior. This was always a dumb game, including back in 2018 when I expressed my extreme animus for a proposal from a couple of big-time profs at MIT for a “Moneyball for Professors” that would use analytics to predict who would deserve tenure based on their publishing record. The productivity “rate” is the proxy for quality scholarship and good scholars. That metric had limited meaning then and it’s likely now negatively correlated with good scholarship as it may be an indicator of an AI slop merchant.

    Similarly, the “game” of school that we’ve constructed for students, a transactional system where scores (grades) matter more than experiences (learning) was a problem before AI, now it has been significantly destabilized.

    But as The Score shows, we humans have the capacity to change the metrics of the game so they’re meaningful, or opt out of the game if it isn’t fun or productive, or recognize that the thing we thought could be a game is not actually a game.

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  • School Specialty Expands Learning Beyond the Screen with New Outdoor Furniture Line

    School Specialty Expands Learning Beyond the Screen with New Outdoor Furniture Line

    Greenville, Wis. – February 3, 2026 – As educators look for meaningful ways to balance digital learning with hands-on experiences,  School Specialty®, a leading provider of learning environments and supplies for preK-12 education, today announced the official launch of its new Childcraft Out2Grow Outdoor Furniture line. Designed to extend learning beyond the traditional classroom, the innovative collection offers a durable, sustainable and economical way for schools to create engaging, learning environments rooted in exploration, movement and real-world discovery.

    As outdoor learning continues to gain traction in early childhood education, Childcraft is answering the call for equipment that supports gross motor development, social-emotional skills and hands-on STEM exploration. The new line features a variety of versatile pieces, including sand and water tables, a planter, play kitchen and collaborative benches, that enable schools to create specialized outdoor zones for science, dramatic play and group projects.

    Built for the Elements, Designed for the Child

    Unlike traditional wood or metal alternatives, the Childcraft outdoor line is manufactured from High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE). This premium material is 100% recyclable and engineered to withstand sun, rain, snow and daily wear and tear without rotting, cracking or fading. The products feature rust-resistant hardware, splinter-free rounded corners and a limited lifetime warranty.

    Empowering Educators and Students Alike

    The line provides a comprehensive solution for modern early childhood needs:

    • Expanded Classrooms: Offers teachers the flexibility to move learning centers outdoors, encouraging nature-based discovery and hands-on observation.
    • Collaborative Hubs: Creates structured spaces for group activities and social skill development, essential for PreK–2 cooperative learning.
    • Multi-Use Versatility: Accommodates everything from STEM projects to snack time with stain-resistant surfaces that allow for quick, easy transitions.
    • Holistic Wellness: Promotes physical activity and eye health while reducing stress and screen time, helping children build focus and self-regulation.

    “The Childcraft Out2Grow furniture line was born from a growing number of requests from our customers seeking new ways to enhance outdoor learning spaces for young children,” said Jennifer Fernandez, Early Childhood Education Strategist at School Specialty. “Knowing the many benefits of outdoor learning—academic, health, social and emotional—I’m thrilled that School Specialty can help early childhood programs create engaging environments where PreK–2 students can truly reap those benefits.”

    Whether used in traditional school districts, childcare centers or children’s clubs and museums, these products connect students to nature while supporting well-being and educational outcomes.

    The Childcraft Out2Grow Outdoor Furniture line is available for order immediately. For more information on the full collection, visit http://www.schoolspecialty.com/out2grow.

    About School Specialty, LLC

    With a 60-year legacy, School Specialty is a leading provider of comprehensive learning environment solutions for the preK-12 education marketplace in the U.S. and Canada. This includes essential classroom supplies, furniture and design services, educational technology, sensory spaces featuring Snoezelen, science curriculum, learning resources, professional development, and more. School Specialty believes every student can flourish in an environment where they are engaged and inspired to learn and grow. In support of this vision to transform more than classrooms, the company applies its unmatched team of education strategists and designs, manufactures, and distributes a broad assortment of name-brand and proprietary products. For more information, go to SchoolSpecialty.com.

    eSchool News Staff
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  • School closures rarely save much money and often lead to test score declines

    School closures rarely save much money and often lead to test score declines

    by Mara Casey Tieken, The Hechinger Report
    February 2, 2026

    As a researcher who studies school closings and counsels local districts facing closure decisions, I know the pressures are multiple.

    Many districts are facing dropping enrollments. In some places, like Boston, rising housing costs are fueling the decline; in other, more rural, areas, dropping birthrates and a graying population are causing it.

    Lots of students who left public schools for private ones during the pandemic still have not returned, with new voucher programs fueling the exodus. As districts lose students, they also lose state funding. This, coupled with rising costs and uncertain state and federal support, has meant that many districts, including dozens in New York and Maine, have failed to pass school budgets.

    That’s why school closures may seem logical. Close schools, “right-size” districts, save money. Problem solved.

    But, oftentimes, the problem isn’t solved. Because closures usually don’t reduce staff and often incur new transportation or renovation costs, they rarely save much money. They can also lead to declines in test scores in the short term and diminished college completion and employment outcomes in the long term.

    Related: A lot goes on in classrooms from kindergarten to high school. Keep up with our freeweekly newsletter on K-12 education.

    Closures can lead to other problems as well. Absenteeism and behavioral issues may increase. In rural areas, students can spend upward of four hours a day on the bus, often on treacherous routes. Closures can mean job loss and shuttered businesses for local communities. The burden of closure is also unequal, disproportionately impacting Black students and low-income students.

    Unfortunately, school closures might be one of the few remaining issues with bipartisan support, with closures now being considered or enacted all over the country.

    Many are in red states. The West Virginia Board of Education, for example, just voted to close schools in six counties. When Mississippi’s legislature reconvenes this month, it will take up the issue of district consolidation, which typically leads to closures. Several thousand miles away, school boards have been closing schools across Alaska.

    But the closures are under way in blue and purple cities and states, too. New Jersey, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are considering district consolidation laws that could lead to school closures. The St. Louis Public School Board is proposing closing more than half of its 68 schools; Atlanta is closing 16. Even reliably blue New England is jumping on the closure bandwagon: Despite widespread protests, the Boston School Committee just voted to close three schools; Hartford may also debate closures in the coming months; New Hampshire is considering its own district consolidation legislation; and Democratic lawmakers in Vermont have sided with the state’s Republican governor to embrace his consolidation efforts while the tiny state grapples with its declining population.

    Ultimately, these closures are exactly what President Donald Trump is looking for. He has said little about them, but he doesn’t have to. He’s underwriting them.

    Trump’s desire to dismantle public education is clear. He has ravaged the U.S. Department of Education, moving many of its core functions to other federal departments and firing over a thousand staff. He has reduced federal oversight of public schools and used the Office for Civil Rights to drop protections for public school students. He has withheld federal funds for teacher professional development and services for English language learners. And he has created the first federal private school voucher program, at an estimated cost of up to $51 billion each year. From every front, his administration is launching a major assault on public education.

    At the same time, state and local officials are shuttering public schools: December was filled with news of closures. In fact, perhaps unwittingly, these officials — including those in blue states — may be doing just as much to undo public education as Trump is.

    We need to stop the rampant closing of schools.

    There are more reliable strategies for saving money, such as adopting service-sharing agreements that allow multiple districts to collaboratively manage and deliver key services, like transportation. Multi-grade classrooms and virtual options can relieve staffing pressures, and dual-enrollment programs can help small schools support robust curriculums. Meanwhile, states’ funding formulas are often outdated; examining those for possible cuts and expansions could also offer support to struggling districts.

    Related: Schools are closing across rural America. Here’s how a battle over small districts is playing out in one state

    In the rare cases when closures are necessary, there are better ways to close. We can use accurate data to guide planning, involve local communities in closure decisions and repurpose school buildings as community centers or preschools. We can close more judiciously, keeping schools in low-income and Black communities — the places that states most often neglect.

    We also need policies that address the root causes of closure: not only privatization and federal defunding, but also gentrification, economic restructuring and growing inequality.

    Right now, many Democrats and education advocates are just holding their breath, hoping that a new administration in a few years will quickly reverse Trump’s devastating education policies.

    But they might wake up on the next Inauguration Day and find that, even with a new administration ready to revive public education, there are few public schools left to resuscitate.

    Mara Casey Tieken is a professor of education at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. She is the author of “Educated Out: How Rural Students Navigate Elite Colleges—And What It Costs Them” and “Why Rural Schools Matter.”

    Contact the opinion editor at [email protected].

    This story about school closures was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s weekly newsletter.

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  • How This School Chef Is Building Healthy Habits One Vegetable at a Time – The 74

    How This School Chef Is Building Healthy Habits One Vegetable at a Time – The 74


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    The students at Circle City Prep aren’t big fans of squash – no matter which type their school chef makes. But they do like brussels sprouts.

    Tracey Couillard, lead chef at the school, leans on her days working in Indianapolis restaurants to come up with ways to cook with vegetables and fruits that might be new to the students.

    It’s all about “making sure we are intentional about what we are offering, and not just throwing spaghetti at a wall to make it stick,” said Couillard, who started her job a year ago.

    The school’s kitchen is a Next Course Cafeteria through A Longer Table, a nonprofit formerly known as the Patachou Foundation which aims to make sure all students have access to good food. The organization partners with schools to have cafeterias that serve fresh and scratch-made foods. At Circle City Prep, Couillard leads a kitchen team of six other people to prepare scratch-made food for breakfast and lunch for more than 430 students that include fresh vegetables and fruits as well as daily salads.

    What students are eating is also getting attention at the statehouse where house lawmakers advanced a bill to ban foods with certain food dyes and additives from public schools that participate in a “federally funded or assisted meal program.” The bill also requires schools to post a menu and ingredients online.

    At Circle City Prep, Couillard said the fresh foods help students build healthy habits both inside and outside of school. And it’s led her to build relationships with students too.

    “Sometimes kids will be in a sad spot and ask if I can have lunch with them, so then I sit with them and let them talk and let them share their feelings because there are a lot of big feelings between kindergarten and eighth grade,” she said.

    Chalkbeat talked to Couillard about her daily routine, what makes her cafeteria special, and the biggest thing she’s learned on the job.

    This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

    What led you to become the lead chef at Circle City Prep?

    I was in the Army National Guard for 20 years, and after I retired from the guard, I started working in restaurants around Indianapolis and did that for about 12 years.

    This opportunity popped up at a time when I needed a change, and I honestly didn’t know if it was going to be for me. Working in restaurants with adults is very different than working in a school kitchen with kids from kindergarten to eighth grade as your primary customers

    But the kids are the best part. I’ve got kids that come into my office when they are having a bad day, and they build Legos while I’m working on something. I’ve got a couple of kids who come in after school and do extra practice on their reading.

    I get a lot of joy and feel like I’m actually doing something helpful and making a positive difference in kids’ days.

    Tell me about the meals you make at the school.

    It’s mostly all from scratch and we do a lot of our own sauces. We’re very mindful of sodium, fat, and sugar to make sure we are serving good healthy foods for the kids to eat. Students have fresh vegetables and fruit. Every day they have a different salad option.

    I started a program at the beginning of the school year to introduce them to new fresh fruits and new fresh vegetables, just trying to broaden their horizons.

    At first, they were apprehensive because it’s something new but now, the kids get really excited about it, they are really invested in it.

    How has the food made an impact on students?

    They eat more vegetables now when they are coming through lunch, and that’s just good fuel for their bodies and their minds. They’re more willing to try something new too. It’s shocking to me how many kids I see with salads compared to last year because it’s just different exposure.

    When they ask their people at home to cook something we had at school and it doesn’t taste the same, they’ll ask if I can share a recipe with their parents on how we do it so it tastes like it does here, which is really cool.

    What does a typical day look like for you?

    My day starts between 6:30 and 7 a.m. I check out the breakfast stations and make sure they are set, and oftentimes I’ll be walking the halls while the kids are coming in, touching base with them and making sure they are getting their breakfast.

    I sit in on late breakfast. There are kids that come in late almost every day so they are already a little behind the curve. I sit down with them, make sure they have a good breakfast and their mind is set to jump in and go to class. I’m trying to be a positive touchpoint for them when they are starting their day.

    In between breakfast and lunch, we are prepping. And at lunch, I’m helping kids move through the line, making sure that they have all the items they need on their tray to have a good meal.

    What do you want people to know about what it’s like to have a cafeteria that emphasizes fresh foods?

    They have to look at the kids as they are an investment. We are able to run a fully staffed kitchen and feed breakfast and lunch to more than 430 kids a day, and we are operating a scratch-based kitchen in the black.

    You can run a successful school kitchen without using all of the processed foods, it takes practice, and it takes a certain amount of skill that maybe you wouldn’t expect from a school cafeteria.

    But it’s an investment in the future. You are building healthy food habits and eating habits and trying to develop healthy relationships for kids with food. I’m teaching kids that good food can taste good.

    What do you want to do next?

    I would love to have a hydroponic garden in the cafeteria space. I would love to have a little green space where we can grow veggies and fruits and things like that. Because we serve salads every day, so how cool would it be to have lettuce growing in our cafeteria? The kids could see this is what is actually nourishing our bodies and this is how it grows to develop more of that connection of where does the food come from and how does it get to our plate.

    What have you learned doing this job?

    You don’t understand how much of an impact you can have on somebody else’s day. And you don’t always see that impact with adults, but it’s really easy to see that with kids. You can see their whole day shift with just a “Hey, how are ya? You good?”

    You give them two minutes and those little time investments make a difference. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned because it’s not hard to make somebody smile and share a little joy.

    Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.


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  • Why in-building coverage is a lifeline for school safety

    Why in-building coverage is a lifeline for school safety

    Key points:

    During a school emergency, every minute that passes is crucial, but in those moments, a reliable connection can mean the difference between confusion and coordinated response. Yet, across the country, there is an unseen danger confronting school staff, students, and emergency personnel. This is inadequate communication connectivity within school buildings.

    For years, schools have implemented fortified doors, cameras, and lockdown exercises. This is because communication is the unseen link that connects each safety measure. However, communication can weaken once someone enters a structure composed of concrete, steel, and reinforced glass. This is unacceptable during a time when almost every call to 9-1-1 is generated by a cell phone.

    The changing face of emergency response

    More than 75 percent of emergency calls now come from wireless phones, according to the Federal Communications Commission. When something goes wrong in a classroom or gym, the first instinct isn’t to reach for a landline–it’s to pull out a smartphone.

    But what happens when that signal can’t get out?

    This problem becomes even more pressing as the nation moves toward Next-Generation 9-1-1 (NG911), a major upgrade that allows dispatchers to receive text messages, images, and even live video. These new capabilities give first responders eyes and ears inside the building before they arrive–but only if the network works indoors.

    At the same time, new laws are raising the bar. Alyssa’s Law, named after Alyssa Alhadeff, a student killed in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, requires schools in several states to install silent panic alarms directly linked to law enforcement. Similar legislation is spreading nationwide. These systems rely on strong, reliable indoor wireless coverage–the very thing many older buildings lack.

    When walls become barriers

    School buildings weren’t designed for today’s communications reality. Thick concrete walls, metal framing, energy-efficient glass, and sprawling multi-story layouts often block or weaken wireless signals. During an active-shooter event or a tornado warning, students may shelter in basements, cafeterias, or interior hallways–places where signal strength is weakest.

    After several high-profile incidents, post-incident reports have revealed the same pattern: first responders losing radio contact as they entered, dispatchers unable to locate or communicate with callers, and delays caused by poor in-building connectivity. These breakdowns aren’t just technical–they’re human. They affect how quickly students are found, how fast responders can coordinate, and how well lives can be protected.

    Technology that saves seconds–and lives

    Fortunately, there are solutions available, and they are becoming more accessible.

    The Emergency Responder Radio Coverage Systems (ERRCS) can also be referred to as Distributed Antennas Systems (DAS) within a public safety setting. The technology is responsible for extending radio communication coverage within building infrastructures. ERRCS are required within schools due to measures put into place within fire regulations.

    For communication and safety needs, cellular DAS, also known as small cells, are required to expand cellular coverage on a campus. These enable students, faculty, and staff to make calls, send texts, and exchange vital multimedia messages to 9-1-1 dispatchers, which is crucial during the NG911 era.

    Despite such technologies, smaller schools on more limited budgets can still leverage signal boosters and repeaters to fill coverage gaps within gyms, cafeterias, and other similar areas. At the same time, newer managed Wi-Fi solutions that offer E911 functionality can serve as a backup safety net that can transmit multimedia messages over secure Internet communications when cellular connectivity is no longer available.

    Best practices for schools

    Start with a coverage assessment. A comparison of where signals are dropping, not only for public safety communications but generally across each of the main cellular providers, will provide school administration with information on where to make improvements.

    Schools should then coordinate with the fire departments, the office of emergency management, and wireless service providers prior to implementing any system. This will ensure that they comply with local regulations and interoperability with first responders.

    Finally, maintenance and functionality are just as important as final installation. Communication systems should receive periodic tests, preferably during safety drills to verify that they work well under stress.

    Bridging the funding gap

    Improving in-building communications infrastructure can sound costly, but several funding pathways exist. Some states offer school-safety grants or federal assistance programs that cover technology investments tied to life safety. Districts can also explore partnerships with local governments or leverage E-rate-style funding for eligible network upgrades.

    Beyond compliance or funding, though, this is an equity issue. Every student, teacher, and responder deserves the same chance to communicate in a crisis–whether in a small-town elementary school or a large urban high school.

    A call to action

    A school is more than its classrooms and hallways, it is also a community of individuals each relying on others during times of fear and uncertainty. Perhaps one of the most straightforward ways to make this community more resilient is to provide a strong indoor building communication environment, both for public safety communications and cellular devices.

    The time has come to make connectivity a vital safety component rather than a luxury, because silence is simply not an option when seconds are at stake.

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  • No Snow Day? Mamdani Says NYC School Will Be In-Person Or Remote on Monday – The 74

    No Snow Day? Mamdani Says NYC School Will Be In-Person Or Remote on Monday – The 74


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    Sorry kids, New York City students will still not have a traditional snow day, no matter how many inches fall.

    School will be in session on Monday, whether in-person or remote, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Friday as he provided an update on the preparations for a potentially massive winter storm heading to the area over the weekend.

    The mayor said he will make the final decision by noon on Sunday whether classes will pivot to remote learning. The city is also canceling Sunday’s Public School Athletic League activities as well as any other Sunday school events.

    “I have to apologize to the students that we’re hoping for a different answer for a traditional snow day,” Mamdani said during a press briefing on the storm, acknowledging that the city has no flexibility in its calendar to cancel instructional days.

    New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said the city was committed to swiftly sharing information about schools.

    “We know that families need timely, clear information to plan their schedules,” Samuels said.

    He also said that schools will be flexible in their approach to remote learning.

    “No one is asking kids to be on a device for six hours and 20 minutes,” Samuels said. “Some learning will be synchronous. Some will be asynchronous. You can still have your hot chocolate, you can still go out and enjoy the snow.”

    Education Department officials are encouraging students and staff to log in to remote learning platforms over the weekend to make sure they can connect and to avoid technical glitches Monday morning, according to a letter to principals obtained by Chalkbeat. School leaders were also encouraged to stagger school start times for each grade level by 15-minute increments “to ensure a smooth login experience,” the email states.

    The National Weather Service is predicting up to 14 inches in the metropolitan region, and the city is gearing up. Schools across the five boroughs are reaching out to their students to ensure they have devices and understand how to log on in the event of a remote school day.

    This is the first major logistical test for the mayor and his new chancellor. A big chunk of the city’s nearly 900,000 students — all high school students and those attending 6-12 schools — already had the day off for a teacher professional development day. But the day might be complicated for many parents of young children: They might be frustrated with remote learning and prefer that their kids play outside, or they might be scrambling for child care, especially if they must work in-person.

    Many families also depend on schools to provide their children breakfast and lunch.

    Schools last closed in-person classes because of snow two years ago, and it did not go well: A technical meltdown prevented many students and teachers from logging on, despite efforts to practice in advance. The Education Department subsequently conducted another drill, but it was optional, and many students seemed to have opted out.

    “We are preparing for the possibility of remote such that we do not repeat those mistakes of the past,” Mamdani said.

    Samuels recalled the 2024 remote snow day as a “day that will live in infamy” and said, “We’ve stress tested the system, both in person with students logging in and as well. We’ve had simulations so we are prepared now.”

    The most recent test, Samuels said, was in December.

    “We’ve increased the capacity to make sure that we can house as many students as possible on that day,” Samuels added. “So we now have the capacity of having a million students logging at the same time within 60 seconds.”

    The mayor and chancellor offered conflicting messages this week about whether closing school altogether, with no remote learning, could be an option. Samuels said on Wednesday that remote learning would be required if school buildings are shuttered, though Mamdani indicated on Thursday that he was mulling a traditional snow day.

    Changes to the school calendar make cancelling school difficult, if not impossible.

    The city stopped having traditional snow days in 2020, deciding that schools could instead offer remote learning to help meet the mandated 180 instructional days as more holidays have been added to the calendar.

    The state allows certain professional development days to count toward that number, and because of that, New York City students are only in class 176 days this year.

    Mamdani emphasized the steps the city is taking to prepare for the storm.

    More than 2,000 sanitation workers are going to start 12-hour shifts starting Saturday evening as the city issues a hazardous travel advisory for Sunday and Monday. He urged people to take the storm seriously and stay home.

    The city’s subway and bus system is expected to be operational, said Janno Lieber, CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

    Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.


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  • Ex-Uvalde School Cop Acquitted in Mass Shooting Response Case – The 74

    Ex-Uvalde School Cop Acquitted in Mass Shooting Response Case – The 74

    School (in)Security is our biweekly briefing on the latest school safety news, vetted by Mark Keierleber. Subscribe here.

    It took 77 minutes and 370 law enforcement officers to stop the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school shooter after he killed 19 children and two teachers in 2022. 

    Among the first officers to respond to what would become one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history was former campus cop Adrian Gonzalez. On Wednesday, after an emotional three-week trial, a jury found Gonzalez not guilty of failing to save lives during the shooting. Prosecutors had alleged the 52-year-old endangered children’s lives and abandoned his training when he failed to stop the 18-year-old gunman before entering Robb Elementary School and opening fire.

    Getty Images

    Big picture: It’s the second time ever that a school-based officer has faced criminal charges for their failure to protect and serve as shots rang out inside a school. It’s also the second time the officer has walked free. 

    In 2023, former school-based police officer Scot Peterson was acquitted of similar charges after he took cover outside a Parkland, Florida, high school as a gunman killed 17 people in a 2018 mass shooting.

    Both cases raise the same question: Once a gunman enters a school and starts shooting indiscriminately at innocent people, what level of responsibility do armed police officers have to stop them?

    Three for three? Gonzalez’s acquittal doesn’t mark the end of the criminal fallout from what the Justice Department determined were “cascading” police failures in Uvalde. Pete Arredondo, the school district’s former police chief, will stand trial on 10 child endangerment charges. A trial date for that case hasn’t yet been set.

    In the news

    Updates to Trump’s immigration crackdown: 

    • As thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents descend on Minnesota, school communities have been pushed into chaos and fear, my Twin Cities-based colleague Beth Hawkins reports. | The 74
    • The Columbia Heights school district announced that federal agents have detained four of its students over the last two weeks — including a 5-year-old boy who was used as “bait” as officers pursued his family members. The Department of Homeland Security said the elementary schooler had been “abandoned” by his father during a traffic stop. | MPR News, X
    • The former Des Moines, Iowa, superintendent, who was arrested by federal immigration agents in September, has pleaded guilty to felony charges connected to lying about his citizenship status on school district employment forms and for possessing a gun while in the country illegally. | The New York Times
    • Maine parents have stopped sending their kids to school as the state becomes the next immigration enforcement battleground. | Maine Morning Star
    • Immigrant-rights advocates have called for a Texas judge to recuse herself from a case involving an unaccompanied minor, alleging she demonstrated cruelty and bias including grilling immigrant children about whether they had “abandoned” their families in their birth countries. | El Paso Matters
    • Worms and mold in the food: As the Trump administration restores the practice of family detentions, children in ICE custody are being exposed to unsanitary conditions and limited access to clean drinking water. | PBS
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    As Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta prepares for a trial over allegations it failed to protect children from sexual exploitation, the company has asked a judge to exclude from court proceedings references to research into social media’s effects on youth mental health.| WIRED

    Employees of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency inappropriately handled sensitive Social Security data, the Justice Department acknowledged in a court filing. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, which sued to halt DOGE’s access to such confidential information, said the revelation “confirms our worst fears” that the quasi-agency’s data practices jeopardized “American’s personal and financial security.” | CNN

    Poor reception: Turns out, kids aren’t so hip to the idea of school cell phone bans. Fifty-one percent of teens said students should be allowed to use their devices during class. A resounding 73% oppose cell phone bans throughout the entire school day. | Pew Research Center

    School districts across Michigan have rejected new school safety and mental health money from the state over objections to a new requirement that they waive legal privilege and submit to state investigations after mass school shootings. Some school leaders have argued the requirement creates legal uncertainties that outweigh the financial support. | Chalkbeat

    As the Prince George’s County, Maryland, school district faces a “crisis budget” and braces for $150 million in cuts, officials plan to spend $6 million on artificial intelligence-enabled security technology, including weapons detection systems and license plate readers. | WUSA

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  • Natural disasters will happen. What to do before — and after — one strikes your school.

    Natural disasters will happen. What to do before — and after — one strikes your school.

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    At a time when natural disasters are growing in frequency and causing major disruptions to school communities nationwide, NWEA released a playbook this month to help schools prepare and recover from severe weather events.

    NWEA, a K-12 assessment and research organization, developed the guidance from analyzing previous district responses to extreme weather disrupting school operations. NWEA outlined its recommendations in three stages — preparation before a disaster occurs, immediate response in the weeks following a disaster, and ongoing recovery strategies that equally focus on academic recovery and student mental health supports. 

    Key lessons that NWEA learned include:

    • To fare better after a disaster, schools need to develop a recovery plan before weather-related damages occur. School leaders should understand the most likely climate hazards their communities could face. They can start by looking at resources from The Brookings Institution that gauge this for schools based on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index. 
    • To act as a local resource center during disaster recovery, schools should build relationships with community organizations ahead of time. This will help schools not only address academic needs but also provide supports for student housing, mental health and other services.
    • To help students recover from a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, it’s critical that schools reestablish school norms and daily rituals as soon as possible. This helps create a sense of normalcy for students, which can help with their emotional well-being and academic recovery.
    • Before schools can successfully address academic recovery, they must first prioritize the unmet needs of their school communities and address student trauma and teacher well-being.

    In a separate NWEA report released in August, the organization found that the increasing number of severe weather events is having negative financial, academic and emotional impacts on students and educators. The report cited the federal government’s National Centers for Environmental Information, which reported that 2024 saw 27 individual weather and climate disasters driving at least $1 billion in damages. That’s closely behind the record high of 28 events from the previous year. 

    Recent natural disasters — such as the southern California wildfires in January 2025 and Hurricane Helene’s severe impact on North Carolina in September 2024 — destroyed some school buildings, causing prolonged closures in those communities. 

    Some schools damaged by Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina were still closed a year later, according to reporting by EducationNC. 

    California’s Palisades, hit particularly hard by last year’s wildfires, saw similar cases of extended school closures.

    Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho announced earlier this month that the district will invest $604 million to rebuild two elementary schools and a charter high school that were damaged in the wildfires. ABC 7 reported that the Palisades Charter High School is expected to reopen soon, while the elementary schools should be rebuilt by the fall of 2028. 

    Hurricane Helene and the California wildfires also demonstrated how schools can partner with community resources in times of immediate recovery. 

    Buildings in North Carolina’s Asheville City Schools, which remained fairly undamaged by Hurricane Helene, were used as donation dropoff sites as well as a point for distributing meals and water. In the state’s Buncombe County Schools, the district’s nutrition teams provided food to people who were temporarily housed in school buildings and local shelters. 

    Shortly after the California wildfires in 2025, a number of community organizations, including state and local teacher unions, rallied to provide mental health resources for students and staff in addition to other emergency resources. 

    Some schools are also navigating concerns with getting displaced students to return once a building reopens after a natural disaster, as seen at Palisades Charter High School. That challenge could also further exacerbate ongoing concerns districts face nationwide with dipping student enrollment driven by the continued decline in birthrates and more competition from private school choice policies.

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