The novel coronavirus outbreak means that school district leaders are faced with making tough calls about whether to keep schools open. District superintendents closed schools on Monday in Bothell, Renton, Kingston, Covington and Mukilteo. The Lake Washington School District, which encompasses the Kirkland hospital where the state’s coronavirus deaths have occurred, has not closed schools, in spite of an online petition that’s received thousands of signatures.

More than 50 countries now have confirmed cases of the coronavirus known as COVID-19, and that’s presenting challenges for colleges and universities in Washington that have students studying abroad.

For Aaron Walsh, the forced resignations of two gay teachers from Kennedy Catholic High School earlier this month were particularly painful. He graduated from the school in 2005 and realized during college that he was gay. But reconciling his sexual orientation with his religious beliefs as a Catholic took three years of struggle.

The Archdiocese of Seattle continues to face protests after two popular teachers at Kennedy Catholic High School in Burien resigned under pressure. Their departure in the middle of the school year came after they told school administrators that they are engaged to same-sex partners.

Amid a school year marked by controversy over the Seattle district’s plans for its advanced learning programs, officials have announced another change that’s drawing criticism and frustration from parents. District officials recently sent an email to parents saying Seattle Public Schools will no longer offer separate honors classes, sometimes known as Spectrum classes, in middle school.

The Evergreen State College is known for its forest-enclosed campus, liberal arts education and freelance areas of study. However, it’s also cultivating a new reputation: that of a hub for LGBTQ individuals. While the school has seen a large drop in enrollment since 2009, it also has seen a tremendous growth in the number of LGBTQ students: more than half of the student body identifies as LGBTQ or questioning.

Five bands from the Seattle region will take part in the prestigious Essentially Ellington competition in New York in May. Washington has more finalists than any other state. Eighteen bands were selected out of 106 entries. Four of the bands chosen have a track record of going: Garfield and Roosevelt high schools in Seattle, Mountlake Terrace High School and Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie. For the fifth band, the Seattle JazzED Ellington Ensemble, it’s an especially sweet honor because this

University students who are blind can face difficulties getting Braille versions of specialized textbooks. Sometimes, universities pay someone to prepare a textbook, but that’s expensive and can take months. Now, mathematicians across the country have collaborated to automate that process . One of them is Rob Beezer, a mathematics professor at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma.

UPDATE, Feb. 12: Adds preliminary results for some school districts, including Tacoma, Bellevue and Burlington-Edison and comments from the state superintendent. School districts around the Puget Sound region are taking stock of initial voting results for bond measures and levies. According to the state superintendent's office, almost 90 percent of local capital and operating levies are passing.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has documented a rise in incidents at schools involving racial slurs and discrimination against students of color in the past few years. But students are increasingly speaking out. This week, educators and students across the country and in Washington state are taking part in the Black Lives Matter at School week of action, which grew out of a movement that began in Seattle in 2016. Students from the Highline and Renton school districts shared their stories and