Westchester Now

South Orangetown secondary school students may not be getting enough sleep and that may be affecting their ability to focus in the classrooms in the morning, according to a study by the school district released in December.

The district began studying changing start times to see if it could save money by consolidating school bus runs, Superintendent Ken Mitchell said in an email. However,...

A handful of Hudson Valley school districts are among about two dozen statewide that have yet to submit teacher evaluation plans to the state for approval.

School districts have until Jan. 17 to get state Education Department approval for the plans to receive state aid increases for the 2012-13 school year. Gov. Andrew Cuomo underlined last week that there will be no leniency for districts...

In the latest annal of the East Ramapo citizens' lawsuit, Advocates for Justice is asking Judge Cathy Seibel to toss the school board's pricey attorney, David Butler, off the case.

Almost 200 residents of the school district filed the suit in August, accusing board members of "numerous schemes to siphon off public money to support private religious institutions."

Butler charges...

Students at St. Peter's School in Haverstraw are taking a page from the Mariah Carey holiday songbook as they try to save their school.

St. Peter's is among 12 Catholic elementary schools in the Hudson Valley at risk of closing in 2013, according to a list released by the Archdiocese of New York in November. The schools were targeted by regional committees, based on enrollment and financial...

The feds? The state? Local property taxpayers?

The Board of Regents mulled Monday who should pay for schools to prepare students who take computer-based standardized tests in the 2014-15 school year.

"I've raised it repeatedly with [U.S. Education] Secretary [Arne] Duncan. This is a place where [the U.S. Department of Education] could be helpful," State Education Commissioner...

The Newburgh school district will get a $2.5 million grant to increase college graduation rates among high-risk students.

The state Education Department announced Friday that Temple Hill Academy, a school serving kindergarten through eighth grade, will recieve the money from the state's federal Race to to the Top grant.

The Newburgh school district has one of the area's lowest graduation...

Jiayi Peng has been drilled by doctors of physics and molecular biology. The Horace Greeley High School senior has presented her research to her teachers and her parents so many times that she can tell when their eyes are glazing over a little. 

Her science research teacher, Trudy Gessler, is firm in her belief that Peng, of Chappaqua, has what it takes to win the $100,000 grand...

The Middletown School District beat out 75 other New York applicants to make the short list in the federal Race to the Top district grant competition.

Nationwide, 372 school districts applied for the grant and 61 finalists were announced Monday by the federal Education Department. In New York, only Middletown and New York City were selected as finalists.

"We've been doing a lot...

A class of fifth-graders at a Dobbs Ferry elementary school will be the youngest choir invited to sing in the Bernard Kaplan Memorial Holiday Concert in Manhattan on Friday.

The Springhurst Elementary School students will perform five original songs written by their music teacher, George Sweitlicki. The lyrics to the program, titled "We Are All America," were written by Dobbs Ferry...

Racing to stack plastic cups in pyramids -- while blindfolded or on scooters -- students from the Hudson Valley helped break a world record in sport stacking Tuesday.

Across New York, 76 elementary, middle and high schools took part in breaking the record for "Most People Sport Stacking at Multiple Locations in One Day." More than 2,600 schools and organizations representing some...