John Thompson, historian and retired teacher in Oklahoma, makes an urgent appeal to save the life of his former student Julius Jones. He writes: I just watched the rebroadcast of ABC’s “20 20” documentary, “The Last Defense,” about my former student, Julius Jones, who is on Death Row even though he’s probably innocent. It was an abridged version that left time to update the case’s developments ov
Teachers in New York City are fearful about returning to classrooms without adequate protection for their health. Some educators and union leaders say fear and mistrust over the partial reopening plan is pervasive… “There’s a lot of fear and anxiety out there,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. “A lot of school staff passed away. And they’re like we’re not going back unless the rules are follow
Several groups of Never Trumpers have created a media campaign that has gotten under Trump’s skin. He responds to them on Twitter, enlarging their audience. They don’t have loads of money, but they understand very well his egotism, narcissism, and vanity, and they hit their target time and again. One recent ad from The Lincoln Project is a “Breaking News” headline in which the White House Press S
Stephen Dyer crunched the numbers and discovered that charter schools in Ohio received more than five times as much federal coronavirus relief money as public schools. Some received more than entire districts. He wrote: Included in the $2.3 trillion CARES Act passed in March to cope with the COVID-19 crisis was something called the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER.
Jan Resseger reviews the Catch-22 situation in which schools are trapped: Trump demands that they open in a few weeks or he will cut their federal funding. The CDC says that a safe opening requires hyper-vigilance about health, safety, social distancing, small classes, cleaning, masks, etc. But Trump and Congress have refused to pay for reopening. Bottom line: schools can’t reopen unless it is sa
Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes of the Lawfare blog wrote in The Atlantic about federal police in Portland . Their presence cannot be justified, they wrote. Thousands of protesters turned out last night in Portland, peaceably rejecting the presence of armed federal agents in their city. The men in camouflage apparently cone from the Border Patrol and ICE. The authors say they are not trained i
David Dayen explains why Florida’s teachers are suing to block Governor DeSantis’ order to reopen all public schools for full in-person instruction. The short version: 1) Florida is in the midst of a surge in the pandemic. 2) Neither the state nor the federal government has put up the money to provide even minimal safety for students and adults. First Response Last Friday the governor of Missouri
Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters, wrote an open letter about the steps required before schools can begin to reopen. She wrote: Last week, Governor Cuomo, the State Department of Health, and the NY State Education Department all came out with detailed guidance on what measures schools should take to reopen in the fall to ensure health and safety as well as provide instructi
A group called Americans for Tax Fairness has tracked the remarkable increase in the wealth of billionaires during the rise of the pandemic. Shouldn’t billionaires pay higher taxes to help the children of their state? What profiteth a man to gain additional billions if the society he lives in is overrun with starving, unfed, uneducated children? WASHINGTON—New York has 118 billionaires who collec
A group called Americans for Tax Fairness reported that the state’s billionaires saw a dramatic increase in their wealth during the pandemic. Shouldn’t billionaires pay higher taxes to help the children of their state? What profiteth a man to gain additional billions if the society he lives in is overrun with starving, unfed, uneducated children? California’s 154 Billionaires Saw Net Worth Jump $
As we have seen in recent weeks, Trump and Betsy DeVos want public schools to reopen for full-time, in-person instruction. Yesterday, in an interview with Chris Wallace of FOX News, Trump reiterated that he will stop federal funding of any schools that don’t comply. He said that children don’t get the virus and they don’t die from the virus. He said nothing about the vulnerability of educators. W
Mamie Krupczak Allegretti teaches French. She described how her teaching will change when school reopens during the pandemic. The lesson I draw from her note is that the most pressing issue facing our nation is not opening the schools but getting the disease under control so it is safe to return to school. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I am actually going to teach if we go back to school in
Public Education Partners is the leading volunteer advocacy group for public schools in Ohio. They issued this statement last night. We are public education experts. Public Education Partners (PEP) is a statewide, grassroots public education advocacy group whose mission is to preserve, protect, and strengthen Ohio’s public schools. Public Education Partners is an integral part of education policy
The most horrifying statement of the week: In a radio interview, Governor Mike Parson stressed the importance of getting schools open regardless of the risks: “These kids have got to get back to school,” Parson told Cox. “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going
What’s happening in Portland should frighten us all. Trump sent in military force to rout peaceful demonstrators over the objections of the mayor and the governor. The men in uniforms used tear gas and carried weapons to disperse crowds. The uniforms bore no identification. They arrested people
