Heather Williams knew as a kid that she wanted to be a piano teacher. She earned her music degree with a piano emphasis from Brigham Young University and spent decades honing her craft. Today she not only runs her own academy near Sacramento, offering private lessons with a special certification...
Armed Utah Teachers Don't Want to Be a 'Sitting Duck'
SPANISH FORK, Utah — Nancy Miramontes had 30 seconds to find the gunman. The Utah school psychologist weaved through a maze of dusty halls before spotting him in the corner of a classroom, holding a gun to a student's head. She took a deep breath and fired three shots, the...
Schools Turn to Technology to Reduce Toll During Shootings
LOS ANGELES — Efforts to combat school shootings are starting to shift from preventing the violence to reducing the number of victims through technology that speeds up law enforcement's response and quickly alerts teachers and students to danger. School districts are using products like gunshot detection systems that identify where...
Charter-Mageddon: Lawmakers Advance a Raft of Union-Backed Charter School Curbs
As charter school advocates rallied en masse and California’s teachers’ unions flexed their political muscle, a cluster of bills that would dramatically curb the growth of charters in the state cleared the Assembly Education Committee on Wednesday. The votes were the first in what figures to be a lengthy, high-stakes...
Is It Time to Ban Student Cellphones in Classrooms?
When teachers get together, sooner or later, the conversation turns to the cellphone nightmare. So, I decided to talk to teachers, students and the office of a state lawmaker who wants to fix the problem. Click on the video above to learn what I found out. Cellphones in Class Create...
‘Common Sense Regulations’ or ‘an Extended Middle Finger’? How Far Will California Go on Charter Schools?
With new fast-tracked transparency rules for charter schools in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom has fulfilled a January pledge to bring “long overdue” accountability measures to this growing sector of public schools. But the open meeting and disclosure law Newsom signed — after Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed similar bills twice in prior years...
5 Teachers Sue California Union Over Forced Dues Collection
SAN FRANCISCO — Five California educators on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the state's top teachers union from collecting dues through mandatory paycheck deductions, the latest in a series of similar legal challenges filed across the country. The lawsuit challenging the California Teachers Association's mandatory collection of dues...
Round 2 of Teacher Strikes Looks Beyond Pay and Funding
Teachers in Oakland, California, hit the picket lines just as West Virginia teachers went back to class in a kind of coast-to-coast tag-team display of the national teacher unrest that in many places has moved beyond pay to politics, tackling issues like charter schools and vouchers. Call it round two...
Oakland Teachers Go on Strike, Demand Big Pay Raises
OAKLAND — Teachers in Oakland, California, went on strike Thursday in the country's latest walkout by educators over classroom conditions and pay. The city's 3,000 teachers want a 12 percent retroactive raise covering 2017 to 2020 to compensate for what they say are the among the lowest salaries for public...
Incoming Teachers Treated Like Rock Stars by Fresno Unified
Ever since Taylor King can remember, she wanted to be a teacher. "I grew up with a lot of really influential teachers and it has been a lifelong dream of mine to be a teacher," says King, who is a student teacher at Ewing Elementary School. On Tuesday morning, King and...