Kansas schools

In one of the costliest cases of its kind, the Wichita school district was ordered to pay a family nearly $250,000, plus ongoing private school expenses, for denying a child special education services.

Educators tout social-emotional learning as a way to make children into better students and more empathetic people. Critics see it as a way to push social justice issues.

Library workers in K-12 schools are bound by federal laws that those in public libraries might not be. Because school library histories are part of a student’s educational record, parents can see them.

A group in charge of evaluating Kansas graduation requirements says classroom time is a poor yardstick for measuring learning. It's arguing for ways to let local school districts sub in real-world experiences and other metrics more calibrated to the 21st century.

Two years into the COVID pandemic, students aren’t returning to public school in droves. So Kansas districts are starting budget talks with pared-down enrollment numbers and tightened belts.

Conservatives say the plan would give families stuck in failing school districts a chance at a life-changing escape. But school administrators fear a flood of students they’re not prepared for and who come with needs they can’t afford to accommodate.

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie was challenged by the grandparent of a Derby ninth-grader. A district committee decided to no longer allow teachers to use the novel in lessons and to remove it from the library at Derby North Middle School.

Wichita-area school board member Andy Watkins said he raised concerns about the video because he thinks terminology used in it “has a direct tie to critical race theory,” and he was concerned about “making this terminology … the norm.”

District officials say the book is being reviewed by a school-level committee that includes a principal, librarian, teachers and parents. The Salina school board is expected to hear from people on both sides during its meeting Tuesday.

A new temporary substitute license does away with a previous requirement that subs have at least 60 hours of college coursework.