If you hand out iPads to a bunch of adult employees and tell them the devices can only be used for work purposes, some of them will abide by those guidelines. Do the same thing with a school full of kids and most of them will be Tweeting and on Facebook in a matter of seconds. And yet the nation’s second-largest school district is shocked that several hundred students have taken advantage of a simple work-around that turns a boring school tablet into a fun tablet computer. [More]
schools
L.A. School District Shocked That Kids Would Figure Out How To Use iPads For Purposes Of Fun
By 9.25.13
Smackdown On Snacktime: Gov’t Sets Rules On Junk Food Sold In Schools
By 6.27.13
In high school, you were lucky if your study hall period was held in the cafeteria. Because that meant access to the vending machines full of junk food. There was nothing we liked more than a good sugar buzz going into Mr. B’s geometry class, let me tell you. Those days will be no more for schools starting in the 2014-2015 school year, however, as the government’s new “Smart Snacks in Schools” program kicks in. [More]
Microsoft To Offer Ad-Free Version Of Bing For Schools
By 6.24.13
While both Google and Microsoft’s Bing search engines have “safe search” options intended to let younger school children research reports on things like “backyard drilling” without getting results that might require a lot of awkward explanations from their parents, neither had offered an ad-free version. But in the fall, Microsoft will launch “Bing for Schools,” which promises not to invade our schools’ libraries with advertising. [More]
Man Collects $200,000 In Box Tops To Raise Money For Schools, But Did He Cheat?
By 2.19.13
Where do you draw the line between being industrious and being a cheat? That’s the question the folks at Scott are working through after a Brooklyn man, attempting to get the most out of a school fundraising promotion, submitted around $200,000 worth of box tops to the company. [More]
Amazon Makes A Push To Get Kindles Into A Very Lucrative Market — Schools
By 10.17.12
Let’s see… where is a place with a captive audience that will always involve reading books, paper or otherwise, that will also need to keep updating its tools as the years go by? Oh yes, schools. They’re quite an attractive market for the makers of tablet and e-readers, and now Amazon is making a big push to make sure Kindles are the technology of choice in schools. [More]
Detroit Sneaker Store Offers Free Nikes To Kids Who Show Up For School
By 8.14.12
October 3 is Student Count Day in Detroit. A headcount will be made of all the kids in school that day, and that figure will be used to determine state and federal funding. It will also earn free sneakers for every student who decides to show up. [More]
11-Year-Old Destroys $36,000 Worth Of MacBooks By Peeing On Them
By 5.3.12
If smoking near your computer turns it into a biohazard, what does urinating on it do? According to local police, a Pennsylvania elementary school found out when an 11-year-old student emptied his bladder on a cart full of MacBooks. This hilarious prank destroyed more than $36,000 worth of computers. [More]
School Orders Students To Delete Facebook Accounts Or Face Expulsion
By 3.29.12
Last week, every 11th grade student at a Jewish school for girls in Brooklyn was told to delete their Facebook accounts or risk a $100 fine, or even the possibility of expulsion. [More]
Dallas Bar-Owners Unhappy About New School Ruining Their Neighborhood
By 1.31.12
Usually when you see reports about a flashy new charter school going into a neighborhood of bars and nightclubs, it’s about how local families are thrilled about the area taking a turn for the better. But bar-owners in Dallas’ Deep Ellum area are hoping to 86 the school’s plans of bringing education to the block. [More]
Schools Slap Ads On Buses To Make Ends Meet
By 8.1.11
When you’re a cash-starved school district, just about any idea to pull in some extra scratch can sound appealing. One concept that’s catching on is turning school buses into moving billboards for paying clients. [More]
Federal Courts: Schools Can Punish Students For Off-Campus, Online Speech
By 6.15.11
In a pair of rulings by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week, judges sided with students who contended in separate cases that they were unfairly punished for publishing fake MySpace profiles of their principals. But the victories may be construed as defeats for student free speech, because judges’ opinions held that students can be punished for speech made off-campus and online if it is deemed to “materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school.” Neither of the cases ruled on earlier this week met that standard. [More]
California School Wants To Know If Your Child Was Born Vaginally
By 6.6.11
There are many questions a school should ask parents of new students during the enrollment process — age, previous schools, proof of identity and residency, vaginal delivery or C-section — wait… what was that last one again? [More]
NYC 8-Year-Old Sells Gun At School For $3
By 5.2.11
In a disturbing sign of how easy it is for kids to get their hands on firearms, an 8-year-old Queens kid was caught selling a loaded 9mm handgun to another student at school for $3. [More]
Police Pepper Spray Unruly 8 Year Old At School
By 4.7.11
Someday kids in Lakewood, Colo. will become crotchety old men who complain about how kids have it easy, saying “Why, in my day, police used to come and pepper spray second graders if they got out of line.” [More]
Parents Want To Push Kid With Peanut Allergy Out Of School
By 3.25.11
Objecting to what they deem to be cumbersome accommodations for a student with a severe peanut allergy, parents at a Florida public school are urging administrators to remove the girl from the classroom and have her home-schooled. [More]
Strip Club Owner Donates Pimp Roll To School
By 1.31.11
Facing budget cuts and student-siphoning charter schools, it’s tough to blame a school district for accepting donations from anyone who’s offering. But even in this desperate climate for public education, a Florida elementary school turned heads by accepting $20,000 in donations over the last two years from a strip club owner. [More]
Mom Jailed For Falsifying Address To Send Kids To Better School District
By 1.27.11
An Ohio mom has been convicted and sent to jail for lying about her address so she could send her daughters to a better neighboring school district. School officials said she was cheating the system by having her daughters receive an education she hadn’t paid the taxes for. “Those dollars need to stay home with our students,” said school officials. To snare her, the school hired a private investigator, who videotaped her driving the children into the district. [More]
Alabama Schools Paddle Kids With No Way For Parents To Opt-Out
By 11.11.10
Here’s an type of opt-out list we don’t often write about: Corporal punishment in schools is legal in lots of states, but if you assumed parents could always opt-out, you’d be mistaken. According to a report from WHNT in Alabama, one student was beaten until he was bruised because he failed a science test. [More]
