By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY
For the nation's K-12 schools, 2009 may well go down as the year when everything changed but little happened.
A new president promised a fresh start but angered many in even his own party by polishing his predecessor's apple.
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Schools nationwide closed in fear of a pandemic that has proven mild. And even as recession-related budget cuts forced thousands of teacher layoffs, a modest federal grant with a catchy name consumed educators' attention nationwide.
Swine flu fears
After the federal Centers for Disease Control and Preventiontold schools last spring to be vigilant in the face of swine flu, or H1N1, more than 700 schools closed in April and May alone. Federal officials later said schools should close only if "high numbers" of students are absent with flu-like symptoms. At the pandemic's height in mid-October, 949 schools closed in one week, the U.S. Department of Education said.
No Child Left Behind
Obama administration officials promised a new, "forward-thinking" approach to education. Public opinion had slipped for No Child Left Behind, President Bush's signature education reform law, which requires schools to test most children in
