EduClips: School Districts Beef Up Security After Parkland; Teacher Shortages Persist in CA — and More Must-Reads From America’s 15 Biggest School Districts

EduClips is a roundup of the day’s top education headlines from America’s largest school districts, where more than 4 million students across eight states attend class every day. Read previous EduClips installments here. Get the day’s top school and policy news delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for the TopSheet Education Newsletter.

Top Story

SCHOOL SHOOTING — When classes were dismissed Tuesday at East Brunswick High School, students could be seen yelling and laughing as they exited the building, just as they would on any other day. Except that it wasn’t a typical day. Outside the school building, the lights of three police vehicles flashed continuously. Students who normally did not wear their IDs on a lanyard were required to because of tightened security. And everywhere, students said, people were talking about the school board’s decision last week to place armed police officers inside the schools.

Tuesday was the first day that a new policy adding armed police officers to the security forces at East Brunswick schools took effect. The measure, approved by the school district on Thursday night, thrust this central New Jersey town into the spotlight as one of the first districts to take concrete action on security in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, shooting. (Read at The New York Times)

National News

MORE ON FLORIDA SCHOOL SHOOTING:

Kentucky Moves to Add Guns to Schools After School Shooting (Read at NPR)

‘I Worry Every Day’: Lockdown Drills Prompt Fear, Self-Reflection After School Shooting (Read at EdWeek)

Florida Teachers’ Pension Fund Invested in Maker of School Massacre Gun (Read at Bloomberg)

Miami-Dade Schools want $30 million to protect against mass shootings (Read at the Miami Herald)

Here’s What Happened the Last Time Congress Considered School Shootings (Read at Politics K-12)

CLIMATE CHANGE — Some States Are Trying to Downplay the Teaching of Climate Change. Teachers See ‘Educational Malpractice.’ (Read at PBS Newshour)

UNIONS — After Janus, Another Key Lawsuit Targeting Unions: How California’s Yohn Case Targets Opt-Out Rules (Read at The74Million.org)

D.C. SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR — D.C. Public Schools leader to resign after skirting school assignment rules (Read at The Washington Post)

District and State News

CALIFORNIA —Teacher shortages persist in California and getting worse in many communities (Read at EdSource)

ILLINOIS — In Chicago’s Rough and Tumble Politics, Schools Chief Rises Above the Fray (Read at EdWeek)

NEVADA — AP exam figures give Nevada rare chance for education celebration (Read at the Las Vegas Review-Journal)

TEXAS —State Proposes New Guidelines For Convicted Teachers (Read at KTSA)

CALIFORNIA — Suspension rates for black male students in California higher for foster youth, rural students (Read at EdSource)

NEW YORK — Opinion: Will anyone notice if Carmen is replaced by an empty chair? (Read at the New York Post)

ILLINOIS — Illinois private scholarship program applications to reopen (Read at Pantagraph)

Think Pieces

SHOOTING — I’m a Florida teacher in the era of school shootings. This is the terrifying reality of my classroom during a lockdown drill. (Read at Chalkbeat)

CHARTERS — Return on Investment: Study Shows Big-City Charters Use Education Dollars More Effectively — and Provide Better Future Earnings for Students — Than District Schools (Read at The74Million.org)

NEW YORK CITY SCHOOLS — New York’s Separate and Unequal Schools (Read at The Nation)

SHOOTING — I’m a teenager. And I’m fed up with adults’ excuses for weak gun laws. (Read at Vox)

Quote of the Day

“There’s an old adage that you’re not a leader if you don’t have any followers. Well, she ascribes to the notion that you aren’t a leader if you aren’t developing other leaders.” —Patrick McGill, the current principal at George Westinghouse Prep, on new Chicago Schools CEO Janice K. Jackson. (Read at EdWeek)

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