Jackie Valley
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Writer and editor. Midwest expat. Always looking for a good story to tell: valley.jacquelyn@gmail.com
Articles by Jackie Valley
Tech companies enlist colleges to help them train data center workers
The artificial intelligence race has been a boon for construction workers, employing many thousands nationwide as sprawling data centers rise from the dirt. Eventually, the construction sounds will give way to a steady whir or whine emitted from giant, nondescript buildings filled with racks, servers, cables and cooling systems. Then what? That’s the question vexing economists and county planners alike.
Tech companies enlist colleges to help them train data center workers
The artificial intelligence race has been a boon for construction workers, employing many thousands nationwide as sprawling data centers rise from the dirt. Eventually, the construction sounds will give way to a steady whir or whine emitted from giant, nondescript buildings filled with racks, servers, cables and cooling systems. Then what? That’s the question vexing economists and county planners alike.
Tech Companies Enlist Colleges to Help Them Train Data Center Workers
This story was originally published by The Hechinger Report. The artificial intelligence race has been a boon for construction workers, employing many thousands nationwide as sprawling data centers rise from the dirt. Eventually, the construction sounds will give way to a steady whir or whine emitted from giant, nondescript buildings filled with racks, servers, cables and cooling systems. Then what? That’s the question vexing economists and county planners alike.
Purrs in paradise: Lanai Cat Sanctuary rescues felines and protects vulnerable birds
The greetings begin as the guests arrive. Soft mews. Exuberant meows. Lyrical purrs. But these aren’t totally selfless acts of hospitality. The cats know their incoming visitors are treat purveyors. Humans who enter their enclosures at Lanai Cat Sanctuary come armed with staff-approved goody bags bound to attract affection. Four-legged friends saunter up to guests, begging for delicious morsels and maybe some head rubs.
Purrs in paradise: Lanai Cat Sanctuary rescues felines and protects vulnerable birds
1 hour ago PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The six people killed in a fiery plane crash in Maine were flying to scope out the next travel destination for high-net-worth clients when their small jet flipped on the runway during takeoff. They included an acclaimed chef, a sommelier and an event planner working for Tara …
In Hawaii, climbing Diamond Head is the height of delight
As dawn turns to sunrise, hikers arrive at Diamond Head State Monument. There’s a toddler sporting tiny Nike shoes, an older couple gently holding a railing, and even two dogs nestled in carriers worn by their owners. They’re all here to traverse the 0.8-mile trail leading to the summit of what many consider Hawaii’s most recognizable landmark. Diamond Head is a volcanic tuff cone formed some 300,000 years ago during an eruption. Inside lies a crater that stretches more than half a mile wide.
Most schools are wary of AI. This one is embracing it.
Andy Omer Gokce’s unconventional idea for a new school wasn’t met with immediate enthusiasm. The former Silicon Valley resident saw technology surging forward in profound ways, even before generative artificial-intelligence models burst into the marketplace. Could the longtime educator build a learning environment, he wondered, where students honed AI and data-science skills? A friend who worked as a software engineer turned data scientist for a large retailer scoffed at the notion.
Regaining a sense of place: People and culture come first after Lahaina wildfire
The historic district of Lahaina remains mostly cordoned off to visitors two years after the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century. Fencing, signs, and orange blockades keep curious passersby at bay. Next month, some activity will return when two piers are expected to reopen at the harbor. County officials say 18 vessels will resume tours and whale watches, bringing some business and jobs back to the area.
America’s kids need help reading. How about helping their teachers?
For decades, Mississippi students struggled to read, and the state ranked low on education quality. Not anymore. Strong student test scores – dubbed the “Mississippi Miracle” – have catapulted the Southern state into the national spotlight. But the state superintendent at the helm during those literacy reforms has repeatedly pushed back against that buzzy term.
Public schools have an absenteeism problem. Esports and architecture are helping.
To get U.S. students back in class, educators have tried everything. They’ve visited homes, improved bus routes, increased mentoring, and even dangled cash rewards. Enter the Nintendo Switch. Eports classes are an example of another tactic schools are deploying in a bid to reduce chronic absenteeism. They’re offering unique courses or programs that engage students.
Public schools have an absenteeism problem. Esports and architecture are helping.
To get U.S. students back in class, educators have tried everything. They’ve visited homes, improved bus routes, increased mentoring, and even dangled cash rewards. Enter the Nintendo Switch. Eports classes are an example of another tactic schools are deploying in a bid to reduce chronic absenteeism. They’re offering unique courses or programs that engage students.
They want to be ‘Altadena strong.’ Finances are making it tough.
Every stuffed animal has a place in 9-year-old Cecily Wallinger’s new bedroom. There are the ones she carried with her when her family evacuated before a wildfire tore through their neighborhood of Altadena, on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Others have been donated since. Foxes outnumber the plush cats and dogs and unicorns, and all are arranged in a neat semicircle. Some have hiding spaces, too.
Marionettes are the stars, but you gotta hand it to these LA puppeteers
It’s the greatest show on Earth – with a few strings attached. Inside the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, circus music blares and a horse gallops across the stage. Then a giraffe peeks its head from behind the curtain. Next come the camels. “Clap along, sing along if you know the songs,” lead puppeteer Ginger Duncan encourages the audience as the rollicking show kicks off one Sunday morning. Why We Wrote This It can be hard to dazzle tech-savvy children growing up in the age of animation.
Marionettes are the stars, but you gotta hand it to these LA puppeteers
It’s the greatest show on Earth – with a few strings attached. Inside the Bob Baker Marionette Theater, circus music blares and a horse gallops across the stage. Then a giraffe peeks its head from behind the curtain. Next come the camels. “Clap along, sing along if you know the songs,” lead puppeteer Ginger Duncan encourages the audience as the rollicking show kicks off one Sunday morning.
‘We can’t not pay attention.’ Student scores hit new lows on nation’s report card.
A new batch of student test scores indicate a slump in college and career readiness, as well as a decline in science knowledge. Both of those could have profound implications for the country’s economic future.
No job, no degree? No problem. Las Vegas has answers for ‘disconnected youth.’
Several miles from the glitzy Las Vegas Strip, tucked in a nondescript plaza, a restaurant is bursting with positive vibes. The dining room features cheerful yellow paint, a greenery wall, floral-inspired artwork, and a sign that says, “Have a beautiful day.” It’s an intentional atmosphere for this eatery called The Blooming Bistro. The restaurant, in fact, is mission-driven.
Minnesota shooting highlights risks to religious schools, amid push for more security
Ahead of the new academic year, staff at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis chose a scriptural theme from the Book of Jeremiah. “For I know full well the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for your misfortune, plans that will offer you a future filled with hope.” The final word in that verse – hope – is what educators wanted to emphasize during the school’s 102nd year nurturing the hearts and minds of its young learners.
No free lunch? School districts work to feed students as meal debt soars.
When the Little Rock School District noticed student meal debt ballooning over a year and a half, it put out a call for community help in May. At more than $200,000, it was an amount never before seen by the district. Donations started pouring in, including an $11.89 check from a great-grandmother who wished she could give more, says Stephanie Walker Hynes, the Arkansas district’s director of child nutrition.
Back to school gears up: Will immigrant children be there?
Amid stepped-up immigration enforcement activity nationwide, how many children will actually head back to school this year? That’s the question weighing on school district leaders across the United States who are deploying resources and launching messaging campaigns to ease concerns among immigrant families and encourage daily student attendance.
‘Standing with the vulnerable’: Why communities are rallying around immigrant neighbors
Newborn twins sleep peacefully on a recent weekday as their mother initiates paperwork that could change the course of their lives. Soon, the baby boys will have passports. If their Haitian mother faces deportation, they will be ready to leave their birth country – the United States. It’s the type of emergency preparation happening in this small Ohio city, where Haitian immigrants are living in uncertainty.
‘Standing with the vulnerable’: Why communities are rallying around immigrant neighbors
Newborn twins sleep peacefully on a recent weekday as their mother initiates paperwork that could change the course of their lives. Soon, the baby boys will have passports. If their Haitian mother faces deportation, they will be ready to leave their birth country – the United States. It’s the type of emergency preparation happening in this small Ohio city, where Haitian immigrants are living in uncertainty.
In Las Vegas, this women’s group builds community through social strolls
The temperature registers a toasty 102 degrees Fahrenheit as I step out of my car to meet a group of strangers. It is just after 7 p.m. on a weekday in Las Vegas. At a sprawling suburban park, women wearing athletic shoes and attire are gathering at the front entrance. Some know each other. Many clutch water bottles. For the newbies like myself, hats and T-shirts adorned with the “Girls Walk Vegas” logo confirm we are in the right location.
Citing religious liberty, justices allow book opt-outs in public schools
In a major ruling on Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with parents in a case involving religious freedom and public education. The justices held that a group of Maryland parents can opt their children out of curriculum they say violates their religious beliefs while their lawsuit against the school district continues. The ruling broke 6-3 along the court’s ideological lines.
LA County’s Altadena rebuilds after fires, but homeowners can’t move back
Daniel Quiroz spent a recent Saturday morning mowing the yard of his uninhabitable house. The short-cropped blades of grass resemble artificial turf. A neatly trimmed tree stands sentinel in the front yard. And a blue baby swing hangs from a sturdy branch. It looks lived in, even if that’s not the case. “It’s kind of like, ‘Hey, there’s a family that lives here. Don’t mess with this house,’” Mr. Quiroz says. Why We Wrote This A story focused on Wildfire turned vibrant Altadena to rubble.
Student data is key to learning. The best way to collect it is less clear.
Now How To Plan For The End Of SAVE And What To Expect The introduction of the Saving On a Valuable Education (SAVE) income-driven repayment plan was a major help for consumers with federal student debt.
Student data is key to learning. The best way to collect it is less clear.
Fifteen years ago, only one state publicly tracked the number of students missing enough school to be considered chronically absent. Now, 49 states publish data online about chronic absenteeism, which is generally defined as missing 10% or more of the academic year. Data has been key to tackling an attendance problem that ballooned during the pandemic to nearly a third of students.
A pivotal grade at a pivotal time: What is it like being an eighth grader today?
Inside a small staff room at Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois, Lyla Czerniawski and three friends are making a video for incoming sixth graders about middle school life. As they bat around suggestions, one student interrupts with a question that is arguably the elephant in the room. “Wait – did we all like middle school?” she asks. Why We Wrote This Today’s eighth graders are shaped by pandemic learning and issues with student engagement that followed.
A pivotal grade at a pivotal time: What is it like being an eighth grader today?
| Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... Inside a small staff room at Percy Julian Middle School in Oak Park, Illinois, Lyla Czerniawski and three friends are making a video for incoming sixth graders about middle school life. As they bat around suggestions, one student interrupts with a question that is arguably the elephant in the room. “Wait – did we all like middle school?” she asks.
A deadlocked Supreme Court rejects religious charter schools - for now
A deadlocked Supreme Court sidestepped a decision about whether to allow the United States’ first public religious charter school, preserving the church-state wall for now. The divided court tied 4-4 Thursday in a consolidated pair of cases – Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, and St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond – that could have eroded a key tenet of the First Amendment while also profoundly changing America’s public schooling system.
With a stop sign and a prayer, this Chicago crossing guard marks 50 years
Eugenia Phillips’ warning pierces the crisp morning air at the corner of West 103rd and South Morgan streets in this South Side neighborhood. “Watch this car! Watch this car!” she shouts, arms pointing and waving. Ms. Phillips had seen what others had not: children farther down South Morgan Street who were about to haphazardly cross the road and into the path of an oncoming vehicle. The dark-colored SUV slammed its brakes. The two girls jumped back toward the curb.
In Palm Springs, California, midcentury modernism is always having a moment
In this hub of midcentury modernism, certain architectural elements of the 20th century’s middle decades reign supreme. Expansive windows. Open floor plans. And, yes, those oh-so-clean lines. But twice a year, a different kind of line appears outside these desert dwellings: a queue of architecture experts and enthusiasts coming from far and wide to tour historic, tastefully decorated homes during the Modernism Week celebration. This February was the festival’s 20th anniversary.
Supreme Court case would allow religious charter schools. Why charters object.
The U.S. Supreme Court has taken several swings at the invisible wall separating church and state in public education. Two education cases being heard this month have the potential to either remove a few more bricks, or perhaps pull it down. The legal maneuvers underpinning the lawsuits give the courts an opportunity to profoundly change America’s public schooling system. And, in a twist, opponents of one case include people who favor both religious schooling and public charter schools.
For School Safety, Digital Surveillance Needs Human Touch
Now, student-run Hope Squads uplift peers with homemade cards and assemblies. Volunteer fathers patrol hallways through Dads on Duty. A team of counselors, social workers and probation officers gathers to discuss and support struggling students. Thanks to a new cellphone ban, students are talking to each other more. The positive results of these combined efforts have been measurable. “We’ve helped change … lives,” said Brianna Vasquez, a Rigby High senior and Hope Squad member.
Schools relying on digital surveillance find security still takes a human touch
Four years ago, a sixth grader in Rigby, Idaho, shot and injured two peers and a custodian at a middle school. The tragedy prompted school officials to reimagine what threat prevention looks like in the district. Now, student-run Hope Squads uplift peers with homemade cards and assemblies. Volunteer fathers patrol hallways through Dads on Duty. A team of counselors, social workers and probation officers gathers to discuss and support struggling students.
Schools relying on digital surveillance find security still takes a human touch
RIGBY, Idaho — Four years ago, a sixth grader in Rigby, Idaho, shot and injured two peers and a custodian at a middle school. The tragedy prompted school officials to reimagine what threat prevention looks like in the district. Now, student-run Hope Squads uplift peers with homemade cards and assemblies. Volunteer fathers patrol hallways through Dads on Duty. A team of counselors, social workers and probation officers gathers to discuss and support struggling students.
Schools relying on digital surveillance find security still takes a human touch
By CARLY FLANDRO of Idaho Education News and JACKIE VALLEY of the Christian Science Monitor Four years ago, a sixth grader in Rigby, Idaho, shot and injured two peers and a custodian at a middle school. The tragedy prompted school officials to reimagine what threat prevention looks like in the district. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Schools relying on digital surveillance find security still takes a human touch
By CARLY FLANDRO of Idaho Education News and JACKIE VALLEY of the Christian Science Monitor Four years ago, a sixth grader in Rigby, Idaho, shot and injured two peers and a custodian at a middle school. The tragedy prompted school officials to reimagine what threat prevention looks like in the district. Now, student-run Hope Squads uplift peers with homemade cards and assemblies. Volunteer fathers patrol hallways through Dads on Duty.
Schools relying on digital surveillance find security still takes a human touch
Four years ago, a sixth grader in Rigby, Idaho, shot and injured two peers and a custodian at a middle school. The tragedy prompted school officials to reimagine what threat prevention looks like in the district. Now, student-run Hope Squads uplift peers with homemade cards and assemblies. Volunteer fathers patrol hallways through Dads on Duty. A team of counselors, social workers and probation officers gathers to discuss and support struggling students.
Schools relying on digital surveillance find security still takes a human touch
Four years ago, a sixth grader in Rigby, Idaho, shot and injured two peers and a custodian at a middle school. The tragedy prompted school officials to reimagine what threat prevention looks like in the district. Now, student-run Hope Squads uplift peers with homemade cards and assemblies. Volunteer fathers patrol hallways through Dads on Duty. A team of counselors, social workers and probation officers gathers to discuss and support struggling students.
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