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The Girard School District Board of Education voted unanimously to remove a district dress code policy that stipulates boys’ hair cannot “touch the collar of a crew neck t-shirt … or extend below the earlobes.” The ACLU warned the policy violated religious freedom, after an 8-year-old member of the Wyandotte Nation was forced to cut his hair.
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Students and community activists continue to protest Shawnee Mission East's response to a racist attack on a Black student. Several students attended Monday's school board meeting with duct tape over their mouths, bearing messages like “We don’t feel safe” and “Protect us.”
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A white male student at Shawnee Mission East High School was charged with aggravated battery after calling a Black female student the N-word and attacking her. A number of students walked out of class over the school's handling of the incident, and another protest is planned for Thursday.
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A new report found Missouri’s rural teachers are paid better only than those in Arkansas. Missouri also has one of the lowest rates of state tax revenue, meaning the burden for funding schools falls heavily on local taxpayers.
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Kansas City Public Schools’ SEIU Local 1 union claims the district has delayed pay hikes and left other contract promises unfulfilled. Workers expressed frustration at a board meeting in mid-November, emphasizing issues like understaffing and inadequate training.
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The total lunch debt students have accumulated in Kansas climbed to more than $23 million last year. Many school districts have policies that single out kids when they can’t afford to pay, and a new report shows that can hurt families, even if those policies aren’t strictly enforced.
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The 8-year-old boy, a member of the Wyandotte Nation, started growing his hair out after attending the Nation's annual gathering. School officials at a Gerard elementary warned his family that his hair needed to be cut to comply with the dress code, which the ACLU says violates his religious freedom.
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In response to mass school shootings like the one in Uvalde, Texas, Kansas City Public Schools administrators began talking about adding armed officers to elementary schools. But many parents opposed the idea, citing research showing that officers would only increase expulsions and criminal referrals.
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Missouri’s state board of education decided to provide schools with optional guidelines on social-emotional learning to help them cope with worsening student behavior. Commissioners are concerned about potential political pushback to the learning standards, which have been criticized by conservatives.
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The report follows the end of the free federal school meals program, which paid for breakfast and lunch for students at all income levels from March 2020 through June 2022. Since the program ended, families in Kansas have experienced a six-fold increase in school meal debt.
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A legislative committee on education offered a glimpse at what Kansas lawmakers could propose during the 2024 session. The Legislature hinted at changing the formula for funding special education and pushing more school choice measures.
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Poor classroom behavior is pushing some teachers out of the profession. The Missouri Department Elementary and Secondary Education wants to implement learning standards including self-awareness, respect and empathy.