Kansas Education Commissioner Randy Watson urged districts to cancel breaks or extend the school year to make up for snow days. He is also proposing half-day summer school for young students who are struggling in reading and math.
School districts across Kansas will receive a 20-page report containing guidance on cell phones that recommends daytime cell phone bans, mental health awareness and bolstered parental oversight.
Two students are enrolled this year at the Healy Public Schools district in western Kansas, a decrease from 20 students the previous year.
Developers of the state’s new student literacy initiative are pushing ahead with plans to create university centers of excellence and a special credential tied to retraining teachers in a quest to have 90% of third- to eighth-grade students read at or above grade level.
Maya Hodison/Lawrence Times
A draft cell phone policy would prohibit Lawrence school district students from using their phones during school hours, but some exceptions are included and discipline is not a focus of the policy.
Kansas school districts showed caution in allowing transfers through a new open enrollment option that lets students attend school outside their home district, data presented Wednesday to the Kansas State Board of Education showed.
Far-right Republicans were poised to win two of five seats up for election on the Kansas State Board of Education, shifting the board’s power to a conservative bloc.
An advisory group created by the Kansas State Board of Education is recommending that schools ban cellphones for students at every grade level.
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
Four candidates for the Kansas State Board of Education discussed the board’s relationship with the Legislature, student mental health, vouchers, school safety and more at a forum Sunday at the Lawrence Public Library.
The race for five seats on the Kansas State Board of Education could dramatically shift the board’s political makeup, which could reshape academic standards or the way schools approach social-emotional learning.
