schools | The Georgia Star News

Commentary: Vaccine Mandates and Bribery Are Headed for K-12 Schools

August 25, 2021August 24, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, more than 680 U.S. public and private colleges require students to get a coronavirus vaccine. This is a non-negotiable mandate for students to maintain enrollment status.

The vaccination edicts come even as the coronavirus has an extremely low mortality rate among college-aged students — CDC data attributes only 2.8 percent of coronavirus deaths to those under age 45. Regardless of this reality, those favoring mandated vaccines argue that schools already require students to provide proof of other vaccinations.

Science on Mask Usage Indicates Scant Benefit

August 18, 2021August 17, 2021 Bradley Vasoli

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recommended that all schools require mask-wearing indoors by teachers and students, vaccinated or unvaccinated against COVID-19.

And many school districts are adopting that requirement, to the dismay of many parents.

Columbia Medical School Will Teach Students How to ‘Disrupt Racism’ and Confront Microaggressions

August 2, 2021August 1, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health entrance

Columbia University has developed new programming to help black and Hispanic medical students “disrupt racism” and confront microaggressions they could face.

A medical school professor, who is also the diversity director, said that the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota has made the situation worse at the New York institution.

Professor Jean Alves-Bradford said in a news release that “it’s been very difficult for students in general, but especially for students underrepresented in medicine.”

Clemson School Administrators Used COVID Caps and Fake RSVPs to Suppress Turnout at Conservative Event

July 13, 2021July 12, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

Assortment of conservative buttons with a "Get Involved" Turning Point USA fillout

During the height of the pandemic, two college administrators from Clemson University used phony ticket reservations to suppress attendance at a conservative student event and bragged about it on Facebook.

The conservative group Turning Point USA’s local chapter hosted speakers Tomi Lahren, Brandon Tatum, and Graham Allen for an event on the South Carolina campus in April 2020.

The event was limited in capacity because of COVID-19, and people had to reserve tickets from a smaller pool in advance.

Utah House Passes Bill to Ban Critical Race Theory in Public Schools

July 13, 2021July 12, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

Students in class, listening to the teacher at the front of the room

Utah is one of many states in America considering banning critical race theory in public schools.

Republican State Representative Steve Christiansen sponsored a bill that takes direct aim at critical race theory concepts being taught in public education. The bill passed the Utah House and is awaiting the signature of the Speaker to move onto the state Senate.

That bill, HR901, calls on the Utah Board of Education for a re-evaluation of guidelines to weed out critical race theory in publicly funded classrooms.

Poll: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Teaching Critical Race Theory in Schools

June 9, 2021June 8, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

A new poll shows that the majority of American voters are deeply opposed to having critical race theory (CRT) principles being taught in schools.

The survey, conducted by Competitive Edge Research for Parents Defending Education, also shows that people overwhelmingly prefer Capitalism to Socialism (61.8% to 31.4%), frown upon “cancel culture,” (62.7% to 10.6%) and believe the United States is headed “on the wrong track” (60.7% to 32.8%).

Additionally, more respondents had a negative opinion of Black Lives Matter, than had a positive opinion (48.1% to 44.4%).

Kemp Signs School-Choice Expansion Bills in Georgia

May 9, 2021May 8, 2021 The Center Square

Gov. Brian Kemp signed a trio of bills Thursday to expand education options in Georgia.

Senate Bill 47 expands the state’s Special Needs Scholarship program to students with 504 Plans. The program offers scholarships for students with individualized education plans to attend a private school or a public school of their choice.

“COVID-19 has certainly highlighted the challenges that families face and finding the right education for their child, especially those with special needs,” Kemp said Thursday during a bill signing ceremony at the state Capitol. “This bill will give more parents greater options to ensure their child has every opportunity to achieve their dreams.”

LA Teachers Union Agrees to Reopen Second Largest School District

March 11, 2021March 10, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

United Teachers Los Angeles and Los Angeles city officials have come to a tentative agreement, creating a path for the nation’s second-largest school district to reopen.

Students in the Los Angeles Unified School District would return to in-person classes in mid-April under the tentative agreement struck Tuesday evening, according to city and union officials, The New York Times reported. The Los Angeles school board and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) members still need to ratify the agreement.

Commentary: Our Descent into Collective Madness?

February 19, 2021February 18, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

These are crazy times. A pandemic led to national quarantine, to self-induced recession, to riot, arson, and looting, to a contested election, and to a riot at the Capitol.

In response, are we focusing solely on upping the daily vaccination rate?

Fauci Says Not All Teachers Need to Be Vaccinated to Open Schools

February 17, 2021February 16, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday said not all teachers need to be vaccinated in order for schools to reopen, The New York Post reports.

“It’s not [the case] that you can’t open a school unless all the teachers are vaccinated. That would be optimal, if you could do that,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC’s anchor George Stephanopoulos on “This Week”.

Open Schools for In-Person Learning, Says Decisive Majority in New Poll

February 2, 2021February 1, 2021 Georgia Star News Staff

By a decisive margin, voters want their local schools open for in-person learning, according to a new Just the News Daily Poll with Scott Rasmussen.

Data: Schools Aren’t COVID-19 Super-Spreaders

October 15, 2020October 14, 2020 Georgia Star News Staff

Some new evidence is showing Elementary and high schools do not appear to be super spreaders of COVID-19, according to new data.

The New York Post reports, Brown University economics Professor Emily Oster and data scientists at the technology company Qualtrics collected data on COVID-19 in schools. The data collected on almost 200,000 kids in 47 states from the last two weeks of September revealed an infection rate of 0.13 percent among students and 0.24 percent among staff.

As European Schools Stay Open Amid Rising Cases, Many U.S. Schools Remain Shuttered

October 5, 2020October 4, 2020 Georgia Star News Staff

Leaders in Western Europe remain committed to continuing in-person instruction for young students — in some cases relaxing restrictions like face mask requirements and social distancing rules — even as caseloads throughout the region continue to explode.

It’s a sharp contrast from many school districts in the United States, including some of the largest and most populous, where governmental authorities and teachers’ unions continue to insist that children be barred from face-to-face instruction, that any in-person learning be accompanied by strict distancing and face covering rules, and that even modest upticks in coronavirus cases should necessitate a complete shutdown of face-to-face learning.

Tag: schools