@kelly_kamm , greetings! I just checked in my own course and in student view (Course Home --> Student View button on right) I can only see the release date for my announcements, so when the announcement was released to students. Have you tried checking this to see what your students are seeing? If they are seeing a last semester date, then you could try setting a new release date for this semester (in the past) and see if that makes a difference.
Hope this helps! Kona
