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Athens is one of at least 16 school districts, from California to New Jersey, that have been victimized in a rash of ransomware attacks since the end of July. Some have been forced to push back school reopening dates. Others that already started school have had to cancel classes for a day or more. (Bergal, 9/22)

There is no federal effort to monitor coronavirus cases in schools, and reporting by school districts is uneven. One independent effort has counted more than 21,000 cases this school year. While some districts regularly disclose their active cases, others have cited privacy concerns to withhold information, a move that has frustrated parents, educators and public health experts trying to assess the risk of exposure in schools and the potential impact on the larger community. Eleven states do not publish information on school cases, leaving many of the nation’s students and parents in the dark. (Avila, Cai, Harvey, Love, Lutz, Matthews and Taylor, 9/21)

State officials are stepping up pressure on school districts to resume in-person schooling as soon as possible this fall, even as they have signaled deference to local control. Local authorities say the latest escalation poses a threat to months of detailed planning, and could force risky changes even after the school year has begun. (Larkin, 9/21)

New York City public schools reopened on Monday for up to 90,000 children — a small fraction of the city's 1.1 million public school students but the first time any in-person classes have been held since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in March. Pre-kindergarten students and those with advanced special needs were the only students to return to school buildings. ... The city’s online learning platforms also experienced glitches on the first day of classes, with the Department of Education’s log-in page crashing at around 9 a.m., said Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza. He said it was fixed in about 10 minutes. (Durkin, Toure and Mahoney, 9/21)

After a spring and summer when most opportunities to take college admissions tests were lost to the pandemic, many students were counting on taking the ACT on Saturday, one of the first big standardized testing dates of the fall. But once again, disaster intervened. More than 500 ACT testing centers across the country were closed because of the coronavirus, the wildfires on the West Coast, or both. Students hoping to take the test at one center in Reno, Nev., learned it was closed only after arriving to find a sign taped to a nearby car: “Canceled due to poor air quality.” (9/21)