Education   

 

Teen held after shooting on Philadelphia school bus

Police are investigating whether the shooting of a 17-year-old Philadelphia student on a school bus early yesterday was in retaliation for an incident of bullying.

 

Despite economy, Penn's endowment stays even

While some peer institutions are announcing layoffs to cope with large endowment losses, the University of Pennsylvania has fared better - and yesterday's report to the Board of Trustees reflected that optimism.

 

Ground breaking to begin on Penn Project

The University of Pennsylvania will begin construction today of its epic 24-acre Penn Park, the centerpiece of its 30-year master plan involving land it acquired from the U.S. Postal Service in 2004.

 

Northeast High uniform policy protested

A small group of parents and students protested outside Northeast High School yesterday on the first day of a new uniform policy.

 

Some Phila.-area school board challengers elected

In school board elections Tuesday in the Pennsylvania suburbs, some candidates critical of recent board stances on issues ranging from school renovations to superintendent salaries and district budgets won seats.

 

Breaking down new barriers

The picture of a neighborhood school as the cozy and familiar home to generations of kids next door is often a mirage for immigrant parents such as Leonila Piñon.

 

Universities say table-games lag may impact tuition

Pennsylvania State, Temple, and two other state-related universities said yesterday that the delay in approving table-games legislation in Harrisburg could affect tuition rates, starting in January.

 

Schools brace for strike fallout

The Philadelphia School District, which was closed yesterday for staff training, is bracing for "a dramatic effect on attendance" as the SEPTA strike enters its second day.

 

More schools opening door to technology

High school for the Malfi sisters of Burlington Township is the difference between e-mail and a shopping cart. Megan Malfi, a junior at Holy Cross High School in Delran, has her own tablet PC supplied by the school. She e-mails her electronic homework to her teachers' virtual drop-box.

 

Penn's Gutmann still among highest-paid presidents

The University of Pennsylvania's Amy Gutmann again was among the highest-compensated private college presidents in the country, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education's annual salary survey, released today.

 

A rise in mental-health help on campus

Colleges respond as more students seek help for problems small or serious.

Mental-health counselors at La Salle University were feeling overwhelmed, their appointment books packed with students in need of help, seemingly more so than ever.

 

Camden seeks magnets-plan input

The board ponders moving 3 specialized schools to Camden High when its renovation is finished.

Will Camden go for a "super" high school? In a couple of weeks, city residents will get a chance to sound off on a proposal to bring the district's magnet high schools under a new, shared roof on the future Camden High School campus.

 

Pa. charter school overhaul legislation proposed

Aiming to end abuses recently uncovered in Philadelphia-area charter schools, a bipartisan legislative committee yesterday unveiled a sweeping overhaul of the state's 12-year-old charter law.

 

Ghost legends thrive at Philadelphia-area colleges

About 2:30 a.m., public-safety officer Roy Surma was on patrol alone in the basement of Grey Towers, the rambling 1890s English-style castle that houses administrative offices and student rooms at Arcadia University in Glenside.

 

School says goodbye to beloved teacher

As excited as she was to be starting her senior year, a vapor trail of gloom trailed Shintel Savage through the halls on her first day back at school in September.

 

Ackerman announces more changes in key schools staff

More changes are afoot in Philadelphia School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman's administration. Chief academic officer Maria Pitre-Martin, who has been in Philadelphia for just a year, is leaving, Ackerman announced yesterday.

 

Mt. Holly student dies of swine flu

State lab results have confirmed that a 17-year-old Mount Holly high school student who died on Saturday had H1N1 swine flu, a New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services official said late yesterday.

 

Bucks NAACP protests image given 8th graders

The Bucks County NAACP called for disciplinary action and teacher sensitivity training in the Central Bucks School District yesterday after an eighth-grade math class at Lenape Middle School got a homework assignment with an image of a black man that the group called "insulting" and "disparaging."

 

U. Delaware planning big expansion

The University of Delaware is planning the largest campus expansion in its history - largely for research - with its intended purchase of an adjacent 272-acre site formerly occupied by Chrysler Corp., which declared bankruptcy earlier this year.

 

Video: Getting into college

Getting into college video

 

Essays from several of the high school seniors that The Inquirer is following through the admissions process.

 

Lots of new principals in city schools

Out of 270 Philadelphia district schools, 37 will get new principals. Retirement and resignation are causes.

A change in CEO isn't the only new thing sweeping the leadership ranks in the Philadelphia School District. Thirty-seven of the district's 270 schools will get new principals this year, district officials said. Eleven are high schools, several of them high-profile. District officials said the turnover was larger than the usual 30 or so changes a year, although not as many as in 2003, when 52 schools got new principals.

 

City teens head to summer school

Earlier this month, they marched up a long Convention Center aisle to cheers, applause and snapping flashes. They are the Class of 2007 of Philadelphia Futures, the nonprofit organization that picks at-risk teenagers from city high schools and prepares them - from ninth grade - to earn college diplomas. There are mentors, tutors, and financial and emotional support.

 

Candidates vying to be teachers' pet

Eight presidential candidates came to Phila. to court the National Education Association. They said largely what teachers wanted to hear.

Fifteen minutes before Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was scheduled to speak yesterday, teachers in the audience were crawling across the floor, trying to get closer to the lectern for a better camera angle.

 

14 Pa. schools, faculties close to agreement

Both sides said talks late last night removed the threat of a strike today.

The 14 Pennsylvania-owned universities and their faculty appear to be close to a tentative agreement on a four-year contract. Neither union officials nor state officials late last night would confirm details from the 12-hour bargaining session yesterday, but both said classes for about 25,000 summer school students, including those at West Chester and Cheyney, would convene today.