It’s a hot, sunny day. Your progeny is going on a fieldtrip to a literal field, where she will likely find little shade. Can you throw a bottle of sunscreen in her backpack with strict instructions to slather it on? That depends on where you live. [More]
schools
Study: Students “Easily Duped” By Fake News, Sponsored Content
By 11.22.16
You might assume that a child raised on online content may be better positioned to tell when news and information is coming from legitimate sources and when that source is a fake or an ad. However, the results of a new study appear to indicate that this always-connected generation is no better equipped to sort fact from fiction online. [More]
New York Launches Antitrust Investigation Into EpiPen Schools Program
By 9.6.16
Amid calls for drugmaker Mylan to drop the price of emergency allergy treatment EpiPen, the attorney general for the state of New York has launched an antitrust investigation into a program that helps to put EpiPens in schools, potentially to the detriment of competition. At the same time, U.S. lawmakers are pushing regulators for a federal antitrust probe on the program. [More]
Would You Learn To Code At Your Local 7-Eleven?
By 8.29.16
For better or worse, I’ve spent an awful lot of hours inside of various 7-Eleven stores, but I’ve never learned much outside of how to get the right mix of beverages from the Big Gulp dispenser and how to tell if a hot dog has been on the rollers for too long. Yet elsewhere in the world, people are heading to 7-Eleven to hone their coding skills. [More]
AT&T: FCC Has “No Legal Or Factual Basis” To Issue Us Fine For Overcharging Schools
By 8.29.16
Back in July, the FCC accused AT&T of badly overcharging some Florida schools for their telecom service. AT&T fired back that the FCC’s claims were meritless and that it looked forward to fighting. AT&T is in this at least as good as its word, and has filed its reply. [More]
FCC Wants AT&T To Pay $170,000 For Overcharging Florida Schools
By 7.28.16
Commercial-grade phone service is expensive, so there’s a program that helps schools afford it. There are rules about what phone companies, like AT&T, can and can’t charge the schools that apply through that program. And the FCC now says that not only did AT&T not follow those rules, but also it charged two school districts the highest rates in the entire state to keep their phone lines connected. [More]
Your Kids’ Lesson Plans Are Being Brought To You By Pfizer, WD-40, & Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2
By 6.2.16
It’s one thing for a huge drug company, manufacturer, trade group, or media conglomerate to use their considerable coffers to fund educational programs, but what about when the ultimate goal of those programs is to just advertise products, movies, and TV shows to kids and their parents under the guise of education? [More]
Family Finds Free Lizard Inside Bundle Of Salad Greens, Brings It To Live At School
By 1.26.16 — Updated: 12.30.16
The tale of Green Fruit Loop the anole lizard is an epic one, as tales about lizards go. GFL began life somewhere in the southern half of the country, apparently as a wild lizard. She made the amazing journey from being a wild lizard hanging out in a field to living in a reptile habitat in an elementary school science lab. [More]
AirBNB Apologizes For Passive-Aggressive Ads Making City Budget Suggestions
By 10.22.15
In the last 24 hours or so, AirBNB has learned a few important lessons about passive-aggressive advertising and about how much people love public schools and libraries. Shortly before voters in San Francisco decide whether to severely restrict residents’ ability to rent out their property on a short-term basis, the company put out an ad campaign to remind the city of how much tax revenue those stays generate. The backlash was swift and angry. [More]
White House Unveils New “College Score Card” To Help Students Select Schools
By 9.12.15
With student loan debt now well past the $1.2 trillion mark — due in no small part to students that paid top-shelf tuition prices but ended up with bottom-shelf educations and job prospects — there’s a need to provide American students and their families with all the relevant information they need when it comes to picking the right school for their goals and their wallets. [More]
CFPB Launches Effort To Bring Financial Education To Schools
By 4.8.15
While it’s never too late to become financially literate, it certainly helps if you start early. That’s why the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is launching a national effort to improve financial education in schools.
How McDonald’s Markets To Kids Through Moms & Teachers
By 3.20.15
McDonald’s has long been a target of critics of toy-filled Happy Meals who believe that these menu offerings are used to entice kids to eat fast food. The same goes with people who call for the retirement of Ronald McDonald (though one could argue that having a terrifying perma-grin clown as the face of your company isn’t exactly kid-friendly). But McDonald’s kid-targeted marketing doesn’t rely on Happy Meals; it extends into their schools and maybe even to their homes. [More]
Michigan Lawmakers Want To Bring Back School Bake Sales
By 3.2.15
In an attempt to bring back that event many remember as a particularly sugary, joyous time at school, Michigan lawmakers have introduced legislation that would lift the current ban on bake sales, saying school groups are in need of such fundraisers to keep going. [More]
Ronald McDonald Won’t Sell Burgers At Your Kids’ School, But He’ll Talk About Bike Safety
By 7.29.14
Is it possible to separate a world-famous brand mascot from the products that mascot has spent decades shilling for? Can you look at Joe Camel and not associate him with Camel cigarettes, or stare deep into the terrifying unblinking eyes of second-tier human-baseball Mr. Met and not immediately think of the NY Mets? McDonald’s apparently thinks so, telling consumer advocates that Ronald McDonald isn’t pushing Big Macs and McNuggets on kids when he visits schools to talk about bike safety and other non-greasy topics. [More]
Elementary School Decides To Stop Giving Kids A Dose Of Mountain Dew Before A Big Test
By 4.24.14
If I learned anything from spying on my brothers playing Dungeons & Dragons in the basement with their friends, it’s that Mountain Dew is often the preferred fuel of choice for staying awake and making sharp decisions. That being said, a Florida elementary school was getting a heck of a lot of criticism for giving kids a dose of the stuff before taking high-pressure tests. [More]
Supreme Court Won’t Hear “I Heart Boobies” Bracelet Case
By 3.10.14
Back in 2011, we told you about a U.S. District Court ruling that determined the wearing of “I Heart Boobies” breast cancer awareness bracelets by middle school students was protected under the First Amendment. An appeals panel later sided with the lower court, but the school district recently attempted to take its case before the U.S. Supreme Court. Today, the Supremes shot down that petition. [More]
When Schools Take Snow Days, Who Gets Hurt? Milk Companies
By 2.13.14
There are effects of snow days that are obvious, like parents scrambling for childcare and the need to make up days later in the year. One effect that isn’t so obvious is the effect that schools shutting down might have on dairy companies. Yes, those little milk cartons add up. [More]
L.A. Schools Now Taking Back iPads From Students Who Dare To Use Them For Purposes Of Fun
By 10.2.13
We mentioned last week that the Los Angeles Unified School District somehow thought it could hand out hobbled iPads to thousands of students without any of these kids figuring out a way to use the device as something other than a really expensive, incredibly fragile textbook. But now that it’s realizing that the temptation to use iPads the way they are intended (and marketed) can be too great for some students, the school district is taking them back. [More]
