Schools

With three of the league's football-playing schools set to close in June, Catholic League athletic directors on Thursday approved a proposal by football coaches to divide the league into two divisions. As it previously did, the five-team Red Division (Class AAAA) will include Archbishop Ryan, Father Judge, La Salle, Roman Catholic, and St. Joseph's Prep. The six-team Blue Division, a mix of Class AAA and AA schools, will consist of Archbishop Carroll (Class AA), Archbishop Wood (AAA)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Hispanic students have started vanishing from Alabama public schools after a court ruling that upheld the state's tough new law on illegal immigration. Education officials say scores of immigrant families have withdrawn their children from classes or kept them home this week, afraid that sending the children to school would draw attention from authorities. There are no precise statewide numbers. But several districts with large immigrant enrollments reported a sudden exodus of children of Hispanic parents, some of whom told officials they would leave the state to avoid trouble with the law, which requires schools to check students' immigration status.

Deion Barnes said it was all about the "comfortability factor. " And that played in favor of Penn State, not Georgia. In an announcement Thursday morning in his school's auditorium, the hard-charging defensive end from Northeast High committed to play for the Nittany Lions. Georgia was the runner-up for his services. "I wasn't an outcast when I went down to Georgia, but I felt like I was around 'my guys' when I went to Penn State," said Barnes, a 6-foot-5, 222-pound senior. "That was a big thing for me. " Barnes, celebrating his 18th birthday, said he had "been battling all week, going back and forth" between Penn State and Georgia, which he visited last weekend.

Deion Barnes said it was all about the "comfortability factor. " And that played in favor of Penn State, not Georgia. In an announcement Thursday morning in his school's auditorium, the hard-charging defensive end from Northeast High committed to play for the Nittany Lions. Georgia was the runner-up for his services. "I wasn't an outcast when I went down to Georgia, but I felt like I was around 'my guys' when I went to Penn State," said Barnes, a 6-foot-5, 222-pound senior. "That was a big thing for me. " Barnes, celebrating his 18th birthday, said he had "been battling all week, going back and forth" between Penn State and Georgia, which he visited last weekend.

WOMELSDORF, Pa. - Infectious-disease investigators began this week the nitty-gritty phase of tracking back a flu outbreak among fourth graders: Who plays kickball with you? Who was coughing? During, say, arts and crafts, did you touch a piece of paper? Pass it? Lick it? A classroom seating chart already showed a cluster of sick kids. But members of the investigative team, most sent here to Berks County from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, needed more definitive evidence.

Mayor Nutter, himself a product of a parochial education, was on hand today to greet youngsters at a Catholic school in North Philadelphia as the 2010-11 academic year began for the 72,000 students attending schools operated by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It also was the first day of school for Catholic schools in South Jersey. Nutter, a graduate of Transfiguration of Our Lord Catholic Elementary School in West Philadelphia and St. Joseph's Prep, greeted students at Incarnation of Our Lord Elementary School, 425 W. Lindley Ave., in Olney.

Students, parents, teachers and administrators are pleading their cases before the School Reform Commission as the committee holds its final hearings on the proposed closing of nine schools. Advocates for the schools were given an hour to speak before the commission at the day-long session that is scheduled to continue today through 7 p.m. The Philadelphia School District has recommended the closings and a grade realignment at 17 other schools to cope with declining enrollment, aging facilities and a dire financial situation.

The New Jersey Department of Education released a new performance report Wednesday that contains more data and analysis than the former school report card. But it has officials from some districts concerned about how they are being compared with other public schools statewide. In addition to the staple data such as demographics, graduation rates, and standardized test scores, the new reports for the 2011-12 school year now compare peer groups, note chronic absenteeism, and track postgraduation education.

Two more city parochial schools, faced with declining enrollments and increasing costs, will close their doors at the end of the school year this June, officials of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said this morning. The two schools are Most Precious Blood of Our Lord, at 28th Street and Sedgley Avenue in Strawberry Mansion, and Our Lady of Holy Souls, at 19th and Tioga streets in North Philadelphia. The schools will be losing their teaching nuns and cannot afford to pay the higher salaries of lay teachers, said Marie Kelly, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese.

Mark the date, friends and families of the Abington schools A teacher and staff talent show to benefit the Abington Educational Foundation will be held Friday, April 5, at 7 p.m. at Abington Senior High School Funds raised by the event will help provide for student programs and activities and expand the curriculum and arts and cultural programs at the Abington schools. Tickets are available in all district schools and at the door of the event. The cost is $10 per ticket or four tickets for $35. The high school is located at 900 Highland Ave., Abington.