Category: Education

Activist Arrested at University of Tennessee Anti-Israel Protest Sues Knox County Sheriff over Lack of Hijab in Mugshot

Tom Pappert
Vanderbilt University #FreePalestine Camp

An activist who was arrested for her alleged participation in an anti-Israel encampment at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville (UTK) in May is now suing Knox County, Knox County Sheriff Tom Spangler, as well as Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KNSO) Sergeant Jonathan Burgess.

The lawsuit filed by Layla Soliz explains that she is Muslim and wears a hijab, but after her May 2024 arrest, “Knox County Sheriff’s Office employees demanded that Mrs. Soliz remove her hijab and be photographed without it for her booking photo,” then published it online.

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Scholars Refuse to Provide Details on $30 Million Effort to ‘Braid’ Indigenous Knowledge into Science

The College Fix
Professors Sonya Atalay and John Woodruff

Two top scholars leading a $30 million federally funded effort to “braid” indigenous knowledge into science are ignoring requests for comment to explain exactly what that looks like in practice.

The University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMass Amherst) last year was awarded a five year, $30 million grant — the largest grant in the school’s history — from the National Science Foundation to establish a new international science and technology center at which researchers would work to address issues related to climate change, biodiversity, and changing food systems.

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Moms for Liberty Defeats School District That Birthed It, Speaking Rules Deemed Unconstitutional

Just the News
Classroom

The Florida school district that birthed Moms for Liberty as a repudiation of its COVID-19 mandates on their children is parenting the conservative group all wrong, so to speak, according to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Its Tuesday ruling smacked down Brevard Public Schools and four current and former school board members for unconstitutional restrictions on public comments at their meetings in a lawsuit by Moms for Liberty’s founding Brevard County chapter and its members, putting public schools on notice across the court’s jurisdiction of the Sunshine State, Alabama and Georgia.

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School Choice Helps Close Performance Gap for Low-Income Students, Study Finds

Daily Caller News Foundation
Teacher and student

Cities with robust charter school programs have drastically lowered the performance gap between low-income students and their peers, a study published in October found.

The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) found that student performance rose in every city with a majority of low-income students when 33% or more are enrolled in charter schools, according to the report. Non-white students make up a large percentage of those benefiting from school choice policies.

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Migrants Are Overwhelming School Districts in Pennsylvania, Saddling Taxpayers with Hefty Price Tag

Daily Caller News Foundation
Students

A massive influx in non-English speaking students in Pennsylvania is overwhelming school districts across the state, and the logistical strain on administrators could be leaving other students behind.

The number of English Language Learners (ELL) in school districts in Pennsylvania has surged nearly 40% since 2021, forcing public schools to shell out more cash to try and meet the needs of these students, according to documents obtained via records requests and open-source information reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. The surge for many schools began in the 2021-2022 academic school year, coinciding with the onset of the Biden-Harris administration and the subsequent border crisis.

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ESL Teacher Sounds Alarm over Number of Foreign Students as Taxpayers Spend Nearly $600 Million Educating Children of Illegal Immigrants

Tom Pappert
Illegal Immigrant Children

A teacher who educates students receiving English as a Second Language (ESL) lessons in Middle Tennessee told Fox 17 Nashville on Wednesday that the number of students who do not speak English is straining the state’s resources.

The outlet reported an anonymous teacher reported 1,000 ESL students in one district, with 120 in kindergarten alone, and that many of the foreign-born students are years behind their American counterparts. 

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68 Protesters Charged over Arizona Anti-Israel Encampment at Arizona State University After Judge Previously Dropped Case

Tom Pappert
ASU Palestine Protest

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) on Wednesday announced new charges against 68 individuals who allegedly participated in the April anti-Israel encampment at Arizona State University (ASU) after the case was previously dropped due to a lack of specific charges.

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell on Wednesday announced new misdemeanor trespassing charges for 68 people accused of defying police orders to leave an anti-Israel encampment at ASU’s Tempe campus in April.

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Supreme Court Declines to Take Case Alleging Weaponization of DOJ Against Parents Who Spoke Out Against Schools

Daily Caller News Foundation
children reading time

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected to take on a case that accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of targeting parents who voiced concerns over school curricula, mask mandates and vaccine requirements.

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2021 after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland issued a directive to investigate “threats of violence against school administrators, board members, teachers, and staff.” The case was petitioned to the Supreme Court in July with several parents alleging Garland’s investigation created a “chilling effect on their right to freedom of speech and reputational harm” after they were labeled threats for speaking out against school boards.

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Columbus Schools Will Resume Busing for Some Ohio Students

The Center Square
Kids getting on school bus

Ohio’s largest school district will resume busing more than 100 charter and private school students next week as a lawsuit continues over its transportation changes.

Columbus City Schools sent a letter to those parents who rejected payment instead of busing and requested mediation, saying new routes will be added and transportation will resume while the mediation process is ongoing.

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CDC: Record Number of Kindergartners Had Vaccine Exemptions in 2023-24 School Year

Just the News
COVID Vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday revealed that the 2023-2024 academic school year held the record for the most kindergartners declining at least one vaccination.

The CDC said a total of 3.3% of kindergartners nationwide, equaling 127,000 kindergartners, were granted exemptions on at least one vaccine, which beats the previous record of 3% in the 2022-2023 school year.

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Commentary: Classical v. Unclassical Curricula

American Greatness
Teacher and Student

Chad Aldeman, a Virginia-based researcher who focuses on education-related issues, recently detailed the educational experience of his daughter, who completed sixth grade in June. He writes that her teachers didn’t use textbooks, assign homework, or expect kids to study at home for tests, didn’t teach kids to sound out words, and didn’t drill times tables. He also mentions that there were no spelling tests, students didn’t practice handwriting of any kind, cursive or otherwise, and didn’t learn the 50 states and their capitals, let alone world geography.

Aldeman is very concerned by this shift, arguing that her educational experience has “reduced instructional time devoted to science and social studies and emphasized isolated skills such as critical thinking or reading comprehension over teaching students a coherent body of knowledge and facts.”

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Former Virginia Teacher Receives $575,000 Settlement After Being Fired over Refusing to Use Transgender Pronouns

Tom Pappert
Peter Vlaming

A former teacher in Virginia received $575,000 in a settlement to end his lawsuit after he was fired by West Point High School in 2018 for refusing to use the preferred gender of a student who identified as transgender, the conservative legal organization behind the lawsuit announced on Tuesday.

The Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF) announced on Tuesday it reached a settlement with the West Point School Board after the firing of Peter Vlaming, who taught French at West Point High School prior to his firing in 2018.

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Minnesota Teacher Fired over Vax Mandate Warns: Gov. Tim Walz Is a ‘Petty Tyrant’ and ‘Not a Man of Reason’

Alpha News
Russ Stewart, Gov, Tim Walz

A college instructor who taught for nearly 30 years was fired due to the strict COVID protocols in Minnesota — just weeks before they were rescinded.

Russ Stewart was an instructor at Lake Superior College in Duluth where he taught ethics, logic and philosophy. The school is part of the Minnesota State System of Colleges and Universities and, as such, Stewart was a state employee.

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Arizona State University Scholars Ruben Espinosa and Curtis Austin Condemn ‘White Ownership’ of English Playwright and Poet William Shakespeare

The College Fix
Ruben Espinosa, Curtis Austin

Two faculty members condemned “white ownership” of William Shakespeare and the state’s manipulation of black history during an “Appropriation Series” at Arizona State University last week.

The scholars are pushing for changes in curriculum and leadership that reflect more “diverse” voices. During the panel, they spoke to eleven ASU students in the audience and other faculty members via Zoom.

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New Research Shows Students from Schools That Closed During COVID Are Not Returning

The Center Square
Empty Classroom

New research shows that school enrollment has declined in over 5,000 public schools in the U.S., suggesting families are rejecting traditional schools because of the pandemic.

The Fordham Institute’s new study, conducted by researcher Sofoklis Goulas from the Brookings Institution, released Wednesday, found that families were over twice as likely to leave low-performing public schools.

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Threat Against Arizona High School Came from ‘Outside of this Country,’ Law Enforcement Confirms

Tom Pappert
Chaparral High School SUSD

Scottsdale Police Chief Jeff Walther confirmed on Thursday the threat that required Chaparral High School to lock down on Wednesday came from outside the country during an appearance on KTAR News 92.3 FM.

Walther told The Mike Broomhead Show host Mike Broomhead the threat “was from outside the country,” but called police in Scottsdale claiming he had taken hostages in a high school bathroom in Arizona after making a “series of 911 calls.”

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Commentary: Contaminating Children’s Minds and Ruining Their Future

American Greatness
Students Learning

In parts one and two of this series, we’ve examined how Democrats and their poisoned ideology have declared war on America’s children. If anyone has any doubt as to the intention of the Progressive left to poison the minds of children and ruin their future, look no further than America’s teachers’ unions, especially Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers.

Historically working in tandem with the Democrat Party, teachers’ unions are intense advocates for curriculum that does not include basic knowledge to get ahead in life. Rather than actual education, its agenda includes social justice propaganda, racial division, climate change dogma, and promotion of sexual deviancy.

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Investment Giants Leveraged Texas Universities’ Endowment Funds to Back Anti-Oil Agenda, Report Finds

Daily Caller News Foundation
UT Austin

Several asset managers leveraged two major Texas university systems’ endowment funds to advance anti-fossil fuel shareholder proposals in 2022 and 2023, according to a report from the conservative watchdog group American Accountability Foundation (AAF).

BlackRock-owned Aperio Group, Cantillon, former Vice President Al Gore-chaired Generation Investment Management, GQG Partners and JP Morgan Asset Management collectively manage approximately $4 billion for The University of Texas/Texas A&M Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) as of July, which handles the university systems’ endowments.

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Tennessee Proposal Could Send Children Who Threaten Schools to Juvenile Detention Centers, Fine Parents

Tom Pappert
Kid Being Bullied

Tennessee Professional Educators CEO JC Bowman told The Tennessee Star on Thursday he is crafting legislation to present to lawmakers that would give police the authority to immediately detain minors accused of threatening schools, giving officials a 72-hour window to determine whether their threats were credible while sending the bill to the parents of the accused.

The effort, which Bowman told The Star has already received attention from multiple lawmakers, comes amid a series of threats to Tennessee schools that have resulted in closures and law enforcement action across the state, including this week in Nashville.

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Covenant School Announces Plan for New Campus Years After Attack

Tom Pappert
Covenant School Gym

The Covenant School and Covenant Presbyterian Church announced in a joint statement Thursday that they will begin a capital campaign to move the school to a new campus years after the March 27, 2023, attack on the Nashville school.

A new web page for the capital campaign suggested the decision was prompted by the continued growth of the Covenant School. This growth prompted school and church officials to determine that students would return to the church campus for “a three-year rent-free lease agreement with continued financial support from the church.”

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University Health System Organizing Voter-Registration Drives in Heavily Democratic Area of Philadelphia

Admin
Voter Registration

Temple Health is using tax-exempt university resources to operate a get-out-the-vote effort in a predominantly Democratic area.

The university health system, affiliated with Temple University in Philadelphia, is operating a voter-registration drive and get-out-the-vote effort in North Philadelphia, which is predominantly liberal and votes overwhelmingly Democratic, according to internal documents obtained by Do No Harm and shared with The Daily Signal. Do No Harm is a Glen Allen, Va.-based nonprofit medical policy advocacy group focused on depoliticizing the health care system.

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Commentary: The Coming Election’s Effect on Education

American Greatness
Student

At the recent Donald Trump-Kamala Harris debate, the subject of education was nonexistent. Despite its hot button nature, the moderators did not broach the subject, and some parents are angry.

Michele Exner, a senior advisor at Parents Defending Education, commented that despite student literacy having “hit a crisis point,” those who were already struggling before the COVID-19 pandemic are being failed now. Yet, the moderators did not ask one single question about education. “They completely ignored one of the top issues parents are worried about.”

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Proposed Tennessee Board of Education Rules to Limit Public Comment Faces Public Opposition from Sen. Brent Taylor

Tom Pappert
Brent Taylor

New rules proposed by the Tennessee State Board of Education to the General Assembly last Thursday met strong public opposition from Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis), who on Tuesday vowed to vote against a change that would limit public comment to 10 individuals per topic and require parents to provide 48-hours notice of their intention to speak.

The rules were proposed during a Thursday meeting of the joint Government Operations Committee in the General Assembly. Among other new restrictions, they would limit comment to 10 members of the public per issue and require parents to fill out a form 48 hours in advance in order to speak.

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Arizona School Choice Lawsuit Alleges Spending Restrictions Are Unlawful

The Center Square
Classroom

The Goldwater Institute is suing Attorney General Kris Mayes over what they believe are overly-stringent restrictions on universal Empowerment Scholarship Account program purchases.

The complaint alleges that there were “legal threats” made by Mayes to Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne asking that purchases by parents made outside of “pre-established curricula” should not be approved.

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Democrats Want ‘Climate Literacy’ in Schools as Actual Literacy Slips

Daily Caller News Foundation
Classroom students

The Democratic Party is pushing to increase “literacy” on climate change-related material in America’s schools while students are performing poorly with respect to actual literacy.

The party’s education platform mentions the importance of “climate literacy” for American K-12 students several times, emphasizing the purported need for students to be able to understand and interpret information relating to climate change. Meanwhile, the average reading score for both fourth and eighth grade students in 2022 had fallen by three points relative to 2019, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

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Florida Prepaid College Tuition Program Providing Refunds to Parents

The Center Square
College Students

Florida’s prepaid college tuition plan is generating enough revenue to provide refunds to parents in part because of strong earnings on the plan’s investments and low tuition statewide.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said this week part of those savings is how the state has held down tuition and other costs at the state’s colleges and universities. The plan factors in future tuition costs and when those costs don’t reach predictions, families can receive a refund.

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Six Books Removed from Tennessee Schools Contained Graphic Sex Scenes, Depictions of Slavery

Tom Pappert
School Board Meeting

Six books were successfully removed from schools in Rutherford County, Tennessee on Friday after school board members voted Thursday to place literature with graphic adult themes on a “mature reading list” that would prevent students from accessing the materials.

Multiple members of the public spoke ahead of the meeting, including a father named James Faulkner, who read from one of the books he argued includes “clear and obvious sections of pornographic scenes” that are unsuitable for minors.

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Multiple Memphis Schools Locked Down After Threatening Messages with Reported Foreign Origin

Tom Pappert
Marie Feagins

Multiple in Memphis and Shelby County locked down their campuses on Wednesday after authorities confirmed threatening messages were posted online. Authorities have stated there was no immediate threat to any schools in the area, and reportedly that the messages were believed to have been created using chat bots and originated outside the United States.

Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins revealed a press conference, where she spoke on Wednesday alongside with Memphis Police Chief CJ Davis and Sheriff Floyd Bonner Jr., that threats were first received by Southwind High School via a phone call, and later through social media.

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Group That Pushed SCOTUS to End Affirmative Action ‘Gravely Concerned’ Elite Colleges Aren’t Complying with Ruling

Daily Caller News Foundation
Supreme Court

The Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) sent letters Tuesday to Yale, Princeton and Duke questioning the universities’ compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action and threatening litigation.

The letters said SFFA is “gravely concerned that these schools are not complying” with the June 2023 landmark Supreme Court case, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, in which the Court ruled race-based admission practices to be unconstitutional. Suspicions were raised by many over the admissions policies of the elite universities after the student demographics for the class of 2028 revealed little change compared to the previous year when the schools followed affirmative action policies.

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Tennessee Lawmaker Will Push for Third College Entrance Exam Option

The Center Square

Tennessee students could have a third option for a college entrance exam along with the ACT and SAT if legislation that Rep. William Slater, R-Gallatin, is proposing passes in January’s session.

Slater plans to again propose a bill allowing the Classic Learning Test as an option for students at public colleges and universities along with qualifying for the state’s Hope Scholarship program.

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Michigan Republicans Reveal Plan to Boost School Resources, Student Learning

The Center Square
Students in Class Learning

Following a Michigan Department of Education report showing drops in reading and math proficiency in some grades, Michigan House Republicans have unveiled a multi-step plan to boost student achievement and teacher support.

The plan would provide extra funding for school safety and mental health resources, waive state fees for teachers and modernize the standard curriculum, State Reps. Jaime Greene, R-Richmond, and Nancy DeBoer, R-Holland, announced Monday.

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Superintendent over Apalachee High School Last Worked in Neighboring School System That Opposed School Resource Officers

Tom Pappert
Dallas Leduff

Barrow County School System Superintendent Dr. Dallas LeDuff was previously the Associate Superintendent of the Oconee County School System, which last year rebuffed calls from parents to station School Resource Officers (SROs) at its schools.

LeDuff was working for the Oconee County School System during the April 2023 push for it to adopt SROs at it schools, which Oconee County Observations reported occurred during an Oconee County Board of Education meeting.

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Ohio State University’s New Intellectual Diversity Center Director Will Teach Students to ‘Engage with Fellow Citizens in a Civil Way’

The College Fix
Professor Lee Strang

A new civics center at Ohio State University will help students learn how to “engage with fellow citizens in a civil way,” according to the director.

Former University of Toledo Professor Lee Strang is now at Ohio State University to lead the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society. It is one of five new “intellectual diversity” centers at public Ohio universities that are in the works.

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New England Christian Schools Ask Appeals Courts for Justice Against State Discrimination

Just the News
Bangor Christian Schools

Christian schools in New England are fighting for their right to participate in state-run programs without compromising their beliefs, including that sex trumps gender identity, sexuality is reserved for heterosexual marriage and Christianity is the only path to salvation.

Public interest law firms announced appeals of lower court decisions in favor of Maine and Vermont in the 1st and 2nd U.S. Circuit courts of appeal on behalf of Crosspoint Church, which runs Bangor Christian School, and Mid Vermont Christian School and a family whose children attend there.

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Tennessee Schools Can Now Purchase Panic Buttons Similar to Those Credited for Rapid Response at Apalachee High School

Tom Pappert
Teacher with Centegix badge

The Tennessee General Assembly last year provoked a change within the Tennessee Department of Education that allows school districts in the Volunteer State to purchase identification badges for teachers which contain buttons to request rapid response from school administrators, a nearby School Resource Officer (SRO), or request an immediate law enforcement response.

Such a system, created by the company Centegix, was in place at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia last Wednesday, when police say 14-year-old Colt Gray committed an attack that claimed the lives of four and injured nine more before he was quickly confronted by armed SROs.

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University of Virginia Ranks First for Free Speech

The Center Square
UVA Students

The University of Virginia tops the 2025 free speech ranking on college campuses, a first for the school founded by Thomas Jefferson.

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression surveyed over 250 colleges and universities in its rankings. The foundation survey, administered by College Pulse, surveyed nearly 60,000 undergraduates enrolled full-time in four-year degree programs.

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Elite Universities Ranked Lowest for Free Speech, Report Finds

Daily Caller News Foundation
NYU Students

Some of the most prominent elite universities in the nation have been ranked lowest for freedom of speech, according to a report released Thursday.

Harvard, Columbia, New York University (NYU), the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and Barnard College make up the bottom five in a free speech ranking of 251 universities, according to a report by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and College Pulse. The report cited several incidents of “suppression of free expression” at the schools, including disruption of events and sanctions on students and staff for expressing their views as the reasoning behind the schools’ low rankings.

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