Each week, AAE brings its members a round-up of what’s happening in education. From big, eye-catching headlines to the stories most papers overlook, we find the news our members really want to see. This week: Cyberattacks, the latest in Little Rock, child arrests, and more!

Cyberattacks Continue to Worry Education Officials: This week, yet another school district had their systems compromised by a cyberattack. This time it was Northshore School District in Washington State. The past few months have seen a rash of similar attacks on school districts across the country. Schools are often the target of such attacks because of their various complex computer systems that hold personal and financial information. These systems are seldom adequately secured against attack. The attacks of the past summer has resulted in public discussion about how best to confront the threat. This includes a bipartisan push in Congress to provide schools with money to help secure their computer systems.

Local Control for Little Rock Schools: The Arkansas Board of Education has approved a plan to reconstitute the Little Rock School District. The plan would return the district from state control to local control with extra supports and accountability for the district’s most struggling schools. In its meeting on October 10, 2019, the Board will vote whether or not to end collective bargaining, causing it to earn the anger of the local teachers union. A school board will be elected in 2020 to provide local control for the schools. However, complete local control does not extend to schools that are earning a failing grade, which would have different leadership for academic decision-making. Additionally, if the district doesn’t meet certain criteria, the district could return to state control. Opponents of the plan say that the vote was announced without enough lead time and that the dual systems of control will create a segregated system, where poor and minority residents do not have control over their schools.

Six and Eight Year Old Arrested at School: A school resource officer at a school in Orlando, Florida responded to a classroom incident involving a six-year-old girl by arresting her. The same officer also arrested an eight year-old student despite the departments policy of not arresting students under the age of 12 without approval. More schools have hired school resource officers in recent years as concerns about overall school safety have risen, however many have also been critical of having police officers in schools. There are worries that police officers could escalate situations more than they need to be, as what happened in this case, and that minority students might be unfairly targeted. The officer was subsequently fired for his actions.

Happening Elsewhere:

Senators introduce school safety bill in wake of mass shootings

Sidewalk School Aims To Give Migrant Kids A Sense Of Stability

Poor Schools Keep Getting Crushed in Football. Is It Time to Level the Playing Field?

An analysis of achievement gaps in every school in America shows that poverty is the biggest hurdle

‘I was misled’: Public school teacher tells Congress about student debt nightmare

Trump administration rule could end free school lunches for about 500,000 children

‘Why Are You Doing This to Me?’ Outraged Kids Start School Early While Teens Sleep

The Latest Threat To School Sports: A Bus Driver Shortage

Bill Seeks To Get Personal Finance Into Pennsylvania Schools

South Carolina Department of Education to fund 205 new school resource officers

A School Put an Autistic Boy’s Desk in a Bathroom, Setting Off a Debate on Stigmas

Alabama accidentally releases 2018 high school graduation rates

Top Arizona Republicans lend support to U.S. Supreme Court case on tax credits for private schools

Many Arizona school districts looking for substitute teachers to fill gap

1 in 5 California high schoolers who responded to a state survey say they have considered suicide, analysis shows

Kentucky to launch 5-star school accountability system

Massachusetts schools see modest rise in MCAS scores

NC bill requires public school students to undergo mental health screenings

Smartphone ‘panic button’ app offered to every Oklahoma school district to help keep students safe

Mental health issues top the list of tips logged on Pennsylvania’s anonymous school safety app

Electric school buses are coming to Virginia

A 13-year-old dies after his classmates punched him at school

What’s going on where you are?

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