Education

It might not be Pamplona, but the annual "Running of the Ducks" at Ken-O-Sha Park Elementary School in Grand Rapids is its own time-honored tradition. 

This Friday, students and teachers gathered in the hallways to watch as a mother duck marched her ducklings to water for the first time.

The mother duck nests in the school's courtyard every year. When spring comes, she leads her babies through the school and into the woods a few hundred yards away.  

Interim Michigan State University president John Engler has appointed two long-time MSU professors, Bonnie Knutson and Michael Kaplowitz, as the school's new faculty athletic representatives. 

Their appointments come as MSU finds itself under fire for its handling of the sexual abuse scandal involving former MSU sports doctor Larry Nassar.

In January, the University of Michigan’s Central Student Government (CSG) released their anticipated “Campus Affordability Guide.” The guide was meant to help lower income students save money.

Some of the advice included canceling cleaning or laundry services, selling your car for some extra cash, and buying fewer snacks.

In a letter to its principal this week, the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan asked Utica Academy for International Studies to lift its prohibition against political signs at student demonstrations.

UAIS principal Shaun Greene-Beebe announced the ban to the school community leading up to the March 14 National Student Walkout that took place in response to the Parkland, Florida school shootings. 

Governor Rick Snyder released a plan Monday to improve school safety following the Parkland, Florida shootings.

The plan calls for boosting security at hundreds of schools, and expanding an anti-bullying tip line. A task force would also come up with more ways to improve school safety between now and the end of the year, when Governor Snyder steps down.

Snyder says these are things he believes could result in a consensus in Lansing.

The proposal also includes more active-shooter training for law enforcement, but does not include any plans directly related to guns.

A summer jobs program is providing kids in Detroit with more than just a paycheck.

That's according to researchers at the University of Michigan. They found the "Grow Detroit's Young Talent" program also boosts participants' academic performance.

The program gives Detroit youth a variety of summer employment opportunities including child care, counseling younger peers, volunteering with seniors, and clerical work.

The union representing non-tenure track faculty at the University of Michigan has postponed a two-day strike that was supposed to start Monday.

The Lecturers Employee Organization (LEO) and U of M officials spent the weekend in contract talks. The talks are scheduled to continue this week.

Eastern Michigan University's controversial plan to cut four sports teams to save money will actually end up costing money, according to EMU accounting professor Howard Bunsis.

Eastern says dropping wrestling, softball, tennis and men's swimming will save nearly $2.4 million a year, and the cuts are necessary because of budget constraints.

But Bunsis says EMU crunched the numbers wrong.  He says for one thing, EMU didn't include the loss of tuition revenue from athletes who will no longer attend the university.  

Members of the Lecturers' Employee Organization (LEO) at the University of Michigan are prepared to strike on the Ann Arbor, Dearborn and Flint campuses unless major progress is made at the bargaining table by this Sunday.

LEO's Union Council will make the final decision on strike action after reviewing the progress of negotiation on Sunday.

The strike would be limited to Monday and Tuesday next week. 

A major firearms case will be debated in front of the Michigan Supreme Court next week. But advocates on both sides say it’s about more than whether someone can carry a firearm on school grounds.

Ann Arbor and Clio school districts in Michigan got sued for banning guns on school grounds.

State law generally prevents local gun rules – and the court will decide whether that applies here- which could have a broader impact.

The University of Michigan will be changing the names of the C.C. Little Science Building and Winchell House of West Quadrangle after a vote by the Board of Regents, following a recommendation from President Mark Schlissel.

According to The University Record, two separate formal requests to review the names were presented to Schlissel; a student for Winchell and four U of M faculty members and a student for Little.

Eastern Michigan University defended its budget cut decisions in a detailed statement issued late Thursday afternoon.

The statement responded point by point to the seven demands presented by student protesters to Eastern Michigan University President James Smith in the hallway outside his office earlier this week.

1700 lecturers are threatening a two-day work stoppage next month at the University of Michigan’s three campuses. The Lecturers’ Employee Organization represents non-tenure track faculty at the University of Michigan. The union is seeking a significant pay raise.

“This is happening because so far the administration has offered incredibly insulting counters to our eminently fair demands,” says Shelley Manis, a lecturer at the University’s Sweetland Writing Center and Ann Arbor campus co-chair of the Lecturers’ Employee Organization.   

About 100 students rallied in the rain Tuesday afternoon, marched up to the second floor of Welch Hall, and confronted the president of Eastern Michigan University.

A state grant is helping Michigan State University expand its sexual assault program.

The program provides free and confidential individual counseling and support groups to MSU students.

Attorney General Bill Schuette is being asked to decide whether a state-sponsored tax-exempt college savings plan can also be used for private K-12 school expenses. The new federal tax law allows it. But the Michigan Constitution says the state cannot provide direct or indirect financial support for private or religious schools.

Gov. Rick Snyder has asked for an official opinion on whether holders of Michigan Education Savings Program accounts can use them for private school tuition.

Softball, wrestling, men's swimming and diving, and women's tennis are the four varsity sports at Eastern Michigan University that have been scheduled for the chopping block at the end of the 2018 spring season. 

According to EMU officials, the move is part of the university's efforts to address serious budget challenges that are in part attributable to declining student credit hour enrollments and steep declines in state appropriations.