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Just days before New York City schools were supposed to start, families faced another curveball Thursday as officials delayed opening for in-person classes—for the second time. While many educators were relieved to get more time to prepare, parents rushed to rearrange child care and work schedules. Principals held emergency meetings to update families, with emotions already running high as a result of the new coronavirus pandemic. (Brody and Honan, 9/17)

North Carolina elementary schools will soon be allowed to return to daily, in-person classes, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper announced on Thursday. The decision on whether to return to full in-person instruction will be left up to individual districts. Those choosing to go forward with the Plan A reopening option starting on Oct. 5 won’t be limited in the number of students who can be inside a classroom. They would, however, be required to screen kids for coronavirus symptoms, make sure they wear face coverings and offer remote options for parents concerned about their kids bringing the virus back home. (Anderson, 9/17)

There have been 4,519 documented cases of COVID-19 in Texas public schools since the start of the 2020-21 school year, according to new state data released by the Texas Education Agency and the Department of State Health Services. Thursday’s announcement, which only included a statewide aggregate, is the first attempt to track novel coronavirus cases in Texas schools. A district-level breakdown will be available next week, TEA spokesperson Jake Kobersky said. The new dashboard is available on the DSHS website. (Smith, 9/17)

One of South Dakota’s largest school high schools has called off classes for Friday and postponed activities because of an increase in COVID-19 cases. Pierre High School Superintendent Kelly Glodt said Thursday there were an estimated 15 cases of the coronavirus among students and 150 students have been asked to quarantine for 14 days. (9/17)

When the coronavirus pandemic first hit, the Education Department stressed that all public schools that would be providing virtual or online education during the pandemic must continue to serve their students with disabilities. But a survey released at the end of May by the advocacy group ParentsTogether, found that 40 percent of kids in special education hadn’t received any support at all, and only 20 percent received all the services they were entitled to. Over a third were doing little to no remote learning, compared with 17 percent of their general education peers. (Levine, 9/16)

School districts across the country are navigating how to reopen safely amid the deadly coronavirus pandemic, and the results of a new study could make those decisions more difficult. Between 42% and 51% of all school employees in the US met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's criteria for either having an increased risk or potentially increased risk for Covid-19 infection, researchers with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality found. (Erdman, 9/18)

Just two weeks after students started returning to Ball State University last month, the surrounding county had become Indiana’s coronavirus epicenter. Out of nearly 600 students tested for the virus, more than half have been positive. Dozens of infections have been blamed on off-campus parties, prompting university officials to admonish students. (Smith, Hwang and Binkley, 9/17)

The University of Virginia says it’s increasing testing of students after it identified a cluster of coronavirus cases in a residence hall. The Daily Progress reports that the school in Charlottesville reported five cases on Wednesday that were identified through wastewater and individual testing programs. (9/17)

The University of California’s top health executive has told UC officials to prepare to continue online learning and limited access to campus beyond the fall as the COVID-19 pandemic will probably cause at least another year of disruption to university operations.“ This is not something that will go away quickly,” Dr. Carrie L. Byington, who heads UC Health, told regents during their two-day online meeting this week. The university’s $13-billion health enterprise includes 19 health professional schools and six health systems, five of them academic medical centers. (Teresa Watana, 9/17)

After seeing 84 students test positive for the coronavirus in just two days, Providence College has issued a stay-at-home order to all students and is moving to full remote learning until at least Sept. 26, College President Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard said Thursday. In a message to students and faculty, Sicard said a “large concentration” of the positive cases involve students who live off campus. Providence College is located in the residential Elmhurst neighborhood. (9/17)