Category Archives: US education

Trump administration to roll back school lunch rules and allow more pizza

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Proposal to ease Michelle Obama guidelines would let schools cut the amount of vegetables required

The Trump administration took further steps on Friday towards rolling back healthier standards for school lunches in America championed by Michelle Obama, proposing rules to allow more pizza, meat and potatoes over fresh vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

The new proposals would allow schools more flexibility, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a statement, adding: “Because they know their children best.”

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2019: the year in US protests – in pictures

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Tens of thousands of teachers walked off the job in Los Angeles, American women gathered for their third annual march in Washington, Iowans protested abortion bans, Texans declared Donald Trump ‘not welcome’ in El Paso and students in New York City rallied around Greta Thunberg in calling for action on climate change

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Virginia teacher sues after being fired for refusing to call trans student ‘he’

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Peter Vlaming lost his job after claiming his religion prohibited him from using male pronouns for a student who transitioned

A Virginia high school teacher who was fired for refusing to use a transgender student’s new pronouns has filed a lawsuit.

The Washington Post reported that Peter Vlaming filed suit on Monday against West Point Public Schools, a system outside Richmond.

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MIT scientist resigns over emails discussing academic linked to Epstein

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The computer scientist Richard Stallman has resigned from MIT and the Free Software Foundation (FSF), which he founded and led, after leaked emails appeared to show him downplaying another academic’s alleged participation in the purported sex trafficking of minors by Jeffrey Epstein.

Related: How MIT was complicit in allowing Jeffrey Epstein to launder his reputation | John Naughton

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Felicity Huffman sentenced to 14 days in prison for college bribery scandal

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Actor pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy and fraud after admitting to paying $15,000 to boost daughter’s SAT scores

The actor Felicity Huffman was sentenced on Friday to 14 days in prison for paying $15,000 to rig her daughter’s SAT scores in the college admissions scandal that ensnared dozens of wealthy and well-connected parents.

Related: The US college admissions scam toolkit: bribes, fake profiles and playing 'stupid’

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‘I was shocked’: mother of boy whose scalp was coloured by school speaks out

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‘It would not have happened to a white kid,’ Angela Washington said after staff used a marker pen on Juelz Trice’s banned haircut

Juelz Trice came home from school earlier this year with permanent marker ink scribbled on his scalp, but it was not a prank played by one of his fellow seventh-graders. It was a punishment enacted by some of the staff.

The boy’s parents filed a federal civil rights lawsuit this week and have told the Guardian they believe the act, a hapless attempt to hide a “fade” haircut with a design that violated the school district’s dress code, was rooted in racism and left him humiliated.

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Extra-mural studies: why students should not look away from uncomfortable art

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The case of George Washington high school in San Francisco is mirrored by the covering of harsh images in Harlem. But such images must be seen

Even urging a “truer history”, Paloma Flores, a member of California’s Pitt River tribe, questions the validity of showing an image of a murdered Native American. She’s disturbed by the message of a mural at George Washington high school in San Francisco, where she works, that has been in place for 84 years.

Related: A school's mural removal: should kids be shielded from brutal US history?

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My family will pay off your loans, billionaire tells graduating students – video

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Robert Smith, a billionaire investor, surprises students at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, by using his speech at a commencement ceremony to pledge to wipe the debts of the 2019 class. 'This is my class – 2019 – and my family is making a grant to eliminate their student loans. I know my class will make sure they pay this forward,' he said

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Billionaire pledges to pay student debt for 2019 class at historic black US college

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Robert Smith makes pledge to eliminate students’ debt estimated at $40m at Morehouse, Martin Luther King’s alma mater

Delivering the commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta, the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr, the billionaire technology investor and philanthropist Robert F Smith made a surprise announcement: his family would wipe out the student debt of the entire class of 2019.

Related: $1.5tn in debt: student loan crisis shatters a generation's American dream

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Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin in court to face admissions scam charges

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Pair among others charged in scheme in which, authorities say, parents paid consultant to fake children’s college test scores

Actors Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman are expected in court on Wednesday to face charges that they participated in a wide-ranging college admissions cheating scam that rocked the US.

The actors, along with Loughlin’s fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli and dozens of others, were charged last month in a scheme in which authorities say parents paid an admissions consultant to bribe college coaches and rig test scores to get their children into elite universities.

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What happens after rich kids bribe their way into college? I teach them | Anonymous

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A professor at an elite US school says an influx of unskilled and entitled students is monopolizing faculty time: ‘They will eat you alive’

  • If you have an experience or story tip on this topic to share with the Guardian, contact college.admissions.tips@theguardian.com

If you think corruption in elite US college admissions is bad, what happens once those students are in the classroom is even worse.

I know, because I teach at an elite American university – one of the oldest and best-known, which rejects about 90% of applicants each year for the small number of places it can offer to undergraduates.

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US college admissions scandal: how did the scheme work and who was charged?

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Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among 50 charged in scheme to get children into universities via bribery and cheating

There are 50 people charged in the case, including actors Felicity Huffman, known for her role on the TV show Desperate Housewives and the feature film Transamerica, and Lori Loughlin, a cast member on the TV series Full House. Defendants in the case include parents and college athletics coaches.

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Felicity Huffman among dozens charged over admissions fraud at top US schools

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Scheme helped wealthy Americans buy their children’s way into elite universities including Yale, Georgetown and Stanford

US federal prosecutors have charged the Hollywood actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, along with almost 50 other people, over a $25m scheme to help wealthy Americans buy their children’s way into elite universities including Yale, Georgetown, Stanford and the University of Southern California.

Huffman appeared in court in Los Angeles on Tuesday afternoon, where a magistrate judge said she could be released on a $250,000 bond. The judge ordered the Desperate Housewives star to restrict her travel to the continental United States. Huffman’s husband, the actor William H Macy, attended his wife’s initial court appearance. He has not been charged and authorities have not said why.

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Oakland teachers reach tentative deal to end week-long strike

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The city’s 3,000 teachers walked off the job to demand higher pay, smaller classes and more school resources

Striking teachers in Oakland, California, reached a contract agreement Friday with district officials to end a week-long walkout.

The Oakland Education Association, which represents the city’s 3,000 teachers, said that union leaders reached a four-year agreement that calls for teachers to receive an 11% salary increase and one-time 3% bonus. The deal also requires the district to reduce class sizes and hire more student support staff, including special education teachers and counselors, the union said in a statement.

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Junior high school students caught forming swastika with their bodies

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California youths traded racist and violent messages in county called ‘hotbed for white supremacists’

A group of California junior high students were caught forming a swastika with their bodies on school grounds and exchanging racist and violent messages on a group chat, administrators said.

The scandal at Matilija junior high school, which culminated in an emotional meeting with parents and school officials Monday night, has sparked intense debate in a region that has experienced a sharp increase in reported antisemitic incidents.

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