Education

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John Tyler Elementary School Principal Jennifer Frentress and the feet of student Ty-Tiana Corbin arriving for the first day of school. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

John Tyler Elementary School Principal Jennifer Frentress (right) puts her arm around student Monica Jackson, 10, (left) as students and their parents arrive for the first day of school. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Keith Erickson plays with his five year-old daughter Emily as students arrive for the first day of school at John Tyler Elementary School. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Ivory Darell directs school buses on the first day of school in Washington, DC. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times) **FILE**

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A crossing guard directs school buses on the first day of school year. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Ivory Darell, of Suitland, Md., directs school buses from the lot as they make their way to pick up kids on the first day of school in Washington, DC. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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John Tyler Elementary School Principal Jennifer Frentress (center) chats with students Tatyanna Liggins, 9, (left) and Ty-Tiana Corbin, 9, (right) during the arrival of students and their parents for the first day of school at John Tyler Elementary School in Washington, DC, Monday, August 22, 2011. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Principal Jennifer Frentress welcomes Monica Jackson, 10, and other students on the first day of the school year at John Tyler Elementary in Southeast. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Marilyn Wiggins and her daughter Arnaye, 6, get directions to Arnaye's classroom on the first day of school at John Tyler Elementary School in Southeast. (Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times)

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Keith Erickson plays with his 5-year-old daughter, Emily, as students andn parents arrive Monday morning.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS "It got down to monetary reasons more than anything else," said Larry Johnke, superintendent of the Irene-Wakonda School District in South Dakota, on going to a four-day school week. The savings will preserve a vocational education program.

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FILE - This March 13, 2011, file photo shows NCAA President Mark Emmert speaking at a news conference at the men's Final Four, in Houston. Emmert wants to make big changes, and he's asking schools to help. Emmert is to spend Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 9-10, 2011, meeting with more than five dozen university presidents and school administrators about the future of the NCAA.(AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

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In this photo photo Friday, Aug. 12, 2011, former Ohio State quarterback works out at Hempfield Area High School near Jeannette, Pa. The NFL announced Thursday, Aug. 18, 2011, that Pryor is eligible for its supplemental draft, but he won't be allowed to practice for the team that selects him until Week 6. (AP Photo/Post-Gazette, Barry Reeger)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS Jared Cano, 17, faces charges in connection with a plot to to blow up his former high school on the first day of class next week. According to police, a confidential informant helped prevent "a potentially catastrophic event."

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Freedom High School in Tampa, Fla. is scheduled to open Tuesday. The suspect in a plot to bomb the school was expelled in April 2010 and would have been red-flagged if he tried to come back on campus, the principal said.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS Students carry donated school supplies to a classroom on the first day of school at a temporary high school in a converted big-box store in Joplin, Mo. School opened nearly three months after a deadly tornado destroyed six schools and damaged four others while devastating one-third of the city.