CURMUDGUCATION: Wells Fargo and Making Your Numbers

CURMUDGUCATION: Wells Fargo and Making Your Numbers:

Wells Fargo and Making Your Numbers

As you've probably heard by now, Wells Fargo got caught building its financial strength by a technique known variously as lying, fraud, or just making shit up. Low level employees created a bunch of fake accounts linked to actual humans who had no idea their financial matters were becoming messier by the minute. At the end of the day, 5,300 low-level employees were fired, and nobody who was responsible for those employees suffered the slightest penalty.

So what does this have to do with education?

Well, first, it's one more occasion to invite those who insist that teachers should have to face accountability measures "just like they do in the real world"-- well, those folks can just shut up. The accountability faced by executives like CEO John Stumpf was exactly zero. As Elizabeth Warren, in her highest dudgeon, dragged out of him, the entire sorry episode didn't cost him a penny and didn't cost a single high-level executive their job. This is the same "real world" accountability faced by the guys who messed up Enron and tanked the world economy in 2008-- absolutely none at all.

But mostly it's a pretty stark example of what can happen when an organization becomes focused on making its numbers.

Considerable pressure was put on front line employees to make their numbers, and employees who tried to call attention to how the business was being warped by its perverse incentives were soundly spanked and, in some cases, ruined.  

When you install shortcut proxies for actual success, and you create very high stakes around those numbers, you completely change the nature and purpose of the institution. Wells Fargo didn't just cheat and defraud customers as a matter of policy; they transformed the very nature of the company from a business built on providing customer service  to a business built on making numbers. Customers were no longer people to be served, but resources to be tricked and defrauded into providing the company what it needed keep its stock rising and its executives fat and happy.

This is Campbell's law in action-- when you use a too-simple number as a measure of a complicated network of relationships and goals in an organization, you completely twist and ultimate warp the very nature of the things you are trying to measure. When you create do-or-die goals that are CURMUDGUCATION: Wells Fargo and Making Your Numbers:

We are in “Deep” Doo Doo: Latest Buzz Word of Caution | BustED Pencils

We are in “Deep” Doo Doo: Latest Buzz Word of Caution | BustED Pencils:

We are in “Deep” Doo Doo: Latest Buzz Word of Caution

(By Morna McDermott)

Here it is: DEEP LEARNING

It’s something we can all start following/investigating.

It’s a word… like GRIT, PERSONALIZED LEARNING, CHOICE, and 21st c LEARNING…words that are code for corporate colonization… meet “deep learning.”

About Deeper Learning

In a purely technical (near indecipherable) way, it can be defined: As a set of Machine Learning algorithms which have one or more hidden layers in Neural Networks. Now Deep Learning systems are used for almost any tasks other Machine Learning algorithms are used for. These can be Classification, Dimensionality Reduction, Object Recognition , Clustering etc. Its generally used on high dimensional data like text, images and sound. (Though there are other problems it has been used to solve).

But it also means this:

A 2012 report by the National Research Council concluded that deeper learning competencies—the ability to apply knowledge to new situations—are associated with better life and work outcomes.

Deep learning is also about emotional recognition software. AND also:

“Deep learning is the fastest-growing field in artificial intelligence, helping computers make sense of infinite amounts of data in the form of images, sound, and text. Using multiple levels of neural networks, computers now have the capacity to see, learn, and react to complex situations as well or better than humans. This is leading to a profoundly different way of thinking about your data, your technology, and the products and services you We are in “Deep” Doo Doo: Latest Buzz Word of Caution | BustED Pencils:

BRIDGEGATE TRIAL: The stunning lies told to keep New Jersey stupid–and who told them |

BRIDGEGATE TRIAL: The stunning lies told to keep New Jersey stupid–and who told them |:

BRIDGEGATE TRIAL: The stunning lies told to keep New Jersey stupid–and who told them

Port Authority director Patrick Foye

Today was the day of lies at the Bridgegate trial.

Lies told—maybe—out of fear or to cover other lies. Lies told and lies condoned by public officials who apparently viewed their responsibility to tell the truth as optional, not required. Mark Sokolich, the mayor of Fort Lee,  admitted he lied when he wrote a statement that Gov. Chris Christie hadn’t shaken him down for an endorsement. Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, admitted he “didn’t mind” that two underlings put out a false statement claiming access to the George Washington Bridge was shut down because of a traffic study.

The lies were stunners—because, together with Christie’s brazenly confident denials of responsibility– they sustained the political fable that carried Christie, not only through his landslide election victory over Barbara Buono in 2013, but also into his campaign for the presidency of the United States.

The lies created pictures in the minds of people throughout New Jersey and the nation that simply were not true—and it’s frightening to see how easily that can be done.

Christie—or, at least Christie’s people—did, in fact, try to force Sokolich, a Democrat, into endorsing him by holding the residents of Fort Lee hostage in a dangerous game of political chicken. In two days of testimony, Sokolich had said how he came to realize the lane closures were designed to punish him politically. But, weeks later, after the election,  Sokolich insisted—first in a letter to a newspaper editor—that politics had nothing to do with what happened. It’s “simply not true,” he wrote in response to an article in The Star-Ledger in November, 2013.

“I lied,” Sokolich admitted on cross-examination by Michael Critchley, lawyer for Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff. She’s on trial with Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority. Charged with closing down access lanes to the bridge to punish Sokolich.

“Are you proud of lying to the public?” taunted Critchley.

“I am not proud of it,” said Sokolich.

Moments later, when federal prosecutor Vikas Khanna took up the job of trying to find and reassemble the shattered pieces of Sokolich’s credibility, the Fort Lee mayor tried to explain he was “petrified” of what Christie and others might do to him and his town if he didn’t play along with the Big Lie that the lane closures were part of a traffic study.

“I wanted it to go away,” Sokolich said.

After he admitted he lied but before he answered Khanna’s questions, however, I got the chance to talk to Sokolich, alone in an elevator.  I was surprised by the BRIDGEGATE TRIAL: The stunning lies told to keep New Jersey stupid–and who told them |:

MA Question 2 Gains Another $1.5 Million, Mostly from NY | deutsch29

MA Question 2 Gains Another $1.5 Million, Mostly from NY | deutsch29:

MA Question 2 Gains Another $1.5 Million, Mostly from NY

Massachusetts has four ballot questions up for vote on November 8th: Expand gaming (Q1); raise charter school cap (Q2); prevent cruelty to farm animals (Q3), and regulate and tax marijuana (Q4).

In support of Q1, the Horse Racing Jobs and Education Committee has raised $431,370 as of the September 20th filing. No committee has raised any money in opposition.

Q3 (preventing cruelty to farm animals) also has only supporters, Citizens for Farm Animal Protection, which has raised $1.7 million.

And Q4, on the legalization and regulation of marijuana, has supporters, Yes on 4, who have raised $2.9 million, as well as three opposing ballot committees (Safe Cannabis Massachusetts, Smart Approaches to Marijuana Action, and the Campaign for a Safe and Healthy Massachusetts), which have raised a combined total of $451,017, as of September 20th.

But it is Q2, on the expanding of charter schools, which has been the real money draw. As of the September 09, 2016, filing, four committees in support of Q2 had raised a combined $11 million (taking into account that two of these committees shuffled $1 million to the two other committees), and one committee in opposition had raised $6.8 million.

On September 20,2016, one committee in support of Q2, Great Schools MA, has added another $1,029,193— with most of it– $1 million– coming from the largest funder by far of Massachusetts’ ballot measure for charter expansion: New York-based lobbying nonprofit, Families for Excellent Schools Advocacy.

What this means is that as of September 20, 2016, the New York-based lobbying nonprofit has spent $6,750,000 to expand charters in Massachusetts.

Also, as of September 20, 2016, the total amount of unique, non-overlapping money spent in support of Q2 is $12.1 million. New York-based Families for Excellent Schools Advocacy has provided 56 percent of that total.

The September 20th reporting also includes an additional $413,192 in support to the sole committee opposing Q2, Save Our Public Schools. Of that amount, $406,324 comes from Boston-based AFT Massachusetts. None of the $413,192 comes from an out-of-state individual or organization.

The grand total spent on Q2 as of September 20th is $19.3 million– over 5.5 timesMA Question 2 Gains Another $1.5 Million, Mostly from NY | deutsch29: 

Fear of a Black Educator, Part 2 | The Jose Vilson

Fear of a Black Educator, Part 2 | The Jose Vilson:

Fear of a Black Educator, Part 2

[Here’s part 1 of this series.]

You’ve now watched the umpteenth version of a person receiving unwarranted capital punishment for their pigmentation. These videos autoplay on your TV screen and your social media timelines. You’re inundated with rage in the form of speeches and blogs. You’ve read up on the latest resource offered by Teaching for Change, Teaching Tolerance, and Facing History, even as America refuses to do any of these three. You’re faced with the perilous task of negotiating the mandates of your districts with your mandates as a human being whose life experiences resonate with the victim in the videos you’ve watched repeatedly.

It’s midway through the year, but you feel like every shooting is another beginning for you.

You work at a private school. Teachers are already leaning on your door, hoping to get a reaction from you because they can sympathize, but not empathize. You’re done explaining and brush them off with “I got work to do. I suggest you do the same.” The kids are looking at you as the pledge of allegiance goes off in the announcements. You put your hand on your heart. You have too many eyeballs big and small on you. Some are genuinely curious, but the adults standing right outside hope you don’t become the outrageous runaway you have every right to be.

No, wait. You work at a charter school. You’re constantly asked to follow company line. Your school’s founder hasn’t said a word about the outrage out there, but has just the right amount of messianic presence in and out of their schools to demand compliance from everyone involved. You get into teacher meetings and suggest the faculty address these issues with open ears. Instead, you’re told to come up with a plan by yourself because every school is mandated to stay in lock step according to the pre-designed curricula. Your school has some faculty of color, but, by any measure, still falls in lockstep with what the plethora of visitors have invested in.

No, wait. You’re at a public school with majority students of color. Your scores aren’t high enough according to a bunch of papers you tossed out weeks ago. You’ve done everything you can to straddle the line between compliance and defiance. Your bulletin boards have the proper assignments and rubrics to deflect critique, and your heroes from yesteryear look at you through posters you’ve printed. You’re evaluated by a framework that only abstractly addresses cultural competence, and your students are already programmed to respond to loud stimuli as a means of attention.

You’ve only taught half your students by lunchtime. You shed a few tears. You shake Fear of a Black Educator, Part 2 | The Jose Vilson:

Coalition calls for end of police presence in schools | Center for Public Integrity

Coalition calls for end of police presence in schools | Center for Public Integrity:

Coalition calls for end of police presence in schools

Dignity in Schools latest to say cops doing more harm than good

A coalition of family and civil-rights groups launched a national campaign Wednesday to “end the regular presence” of police, armed security and truancy officers posted inside schools.

The Dignity in Schools coalition took its “Counselors Not Cops” campaign to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, and held briefings at the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives.  

The harsh disciplinary actions of police assigned to schools, detailed in a series of Center for Public Integrity reports, have become increasingly controversial in recent years, creating worries that criminalization of minor indiscretions has created a counter-productive “school-to-prison pipeline.”

“We decided to take this position as a campaign for full removal of police in schools (because of) the day-to-day experiences of criminalization that have become routine in many schools across the country, and the high-profile incidents that have brought more attention to this issue,” said Dignity in Schools national coordinator Natalie Chap.”

Federal officials have expressed concerns as well, but have stopped short of calling for removal of cops entirely. This month, the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice released a set of “tools” for school districts to “responsibly incorporate” officers into the learning environment.

In 2014, the departments released a volume of recommended discipline practices to help schools move away from suspensions that were robbing large numbers of kids of class time. Officials have urged schools to limit the use of school police because of the negative impact on students who are handcuffed and sent into courts for common adolescent—or even prepubescent—behaviors that might better be handled by teachers, counselors and parents.   

“I am concerned about the potential for violations of students’ civil rights and unnecessary and harmful introduction of children and young adults into a school-to-prison pipeline,” U.S. Department of Education Secretary John B. King also wrote in a letter this month to school districts about the issue. 

Since 2012, investigations by the Center for Public Integrity have shown that arrests, ticketing and rough physical contact fall most heavily on student with disabilities and students of color. National data from 2011-2012 pointed to Virginia’s rates for police-student contact as the highest in the country; local police data showed that thousands of black children, many in middle school, were arrested for disorderly conduct in disproportionate numbers. An autistic 11-year-old sixth grader, for example, was charged with disorderly conduct for kicking a trash can and felony assault for trying to wiggle free from an officer.

In California, juvenile court judges have objected to Los Angeles school police Coalition calls for end of police presence in schools | Center for Public Integrity:

Why the school funding judgment in Connecticut could jeopardize education for America’s 6.5 million children with disabilities - The Hechinger Report

Why the school funding judgment in Connecticut could jeopardize education for America’s 6.5 million children with disabilities - The Hechinger Report:

Why the school funding judgment in Connecticut could jeopardize education for America’s 6.5 million children with disabilities

Parent of a special needs student identifies a hidden landmine

A Couple of years ago I got a call from an occupational therapist who introduced herself as a member of my son Corey’s special education team. Would I mind, she asked, if she took herself off of the roster of people providing him services?

I hadn’t realized Corey had an occupational therapist. But sure enough, when I looked at his Individualized Education Program, the legal document that outlines how his disabilities would be accommodated, there was an entry calling for 15 minutes of support a year. This was a placeholder, the therapist said, a bit of red tape.

So I said sure. Why make more work for the already overburdened?

Fast forward to last spring, when Corey’s new special education case manager called from his new school. She was anxious to get the occupational therapy he clearly needed underway; could I provide the original evaluation she was certain had been done?

A call to the record-keepers at Minneapolis Public Schools revealed that Corey had in fact been deemed in need of OT when his primary disability, Asperger’s Syndrome, was diagnosed four years before. Corey is now 14 years old and in ninth grade. The more I learned about the long list of skills Corey could be taught for managing his sensory challenges, the more my heart broke.

Corey is the original renaissance student, curious about everything and likely to read — and write, and draw — voraciously about whatever’s captured his imagination. But school, with its buzzing florescent lights, scratchy pencils and punishing passing times, wore him to a frazzled nub by lunchtime. I now know we could have addressed it, and didn’t.

I’m telling this story now because buried in a widely applauded court order issued by a Connecticut judge earlier this month is a landmine that’s potentially disastrous not only for that state’s 70,000 students with disabilities, but for all of the 6.5 million American schoolchildren who live with disabilities, including Corey.

Related: Students on the autism spectrum are often as smart as their peers — so why do so few go to college?

Much of the decision was a clarion call for more equitable schools. In declaring Connecticut’s school funding system unconstitutional, Hartford Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher pronounced universally glowing teacher evaluations “uselessly perfect” and called the state’s poor school rating system “little more than cotton candy in a rainstorm.” But then, wittingly or not, the judge blew a dog whistle. In the name of fiscal rationality, he wrote, schools should not be required to always “make expensive, extensive, and ultimately pro-forma efforts” to educate children with the most profound disabilities. A few pages later he dropped the other shoe: The cost of special education threatens to swamp school finances in general.

“The cost of special education is staggering,” the judge wrote, citing two urban superintendents who testified to being forced to raid their general funds to pay unreimbursed costs. “In many places over Why the school funding judgment in Connecticut could jeopardize education for America’s 6.5 million children with disabilities - The Hechinger Report:

The US is failing to invest enough in early childhood education, one of the most critical periods in children's development says the OECD — Quartz

The US is failing to invest enough in early childhood education, one of the most critical periods in children's development says the OECD — Quartz:

The US is failing to invest enough in one of the most critical periods in children’s education

 Considerable research shows that well-designed early childhood programs can help children, particularly those who are disadvantaged, build social, emotional and academic skills that can help them as students and in life.

The US seems to have missed that memo.

In 2014, it had one of the lowest enrollment rates for children in early childhood and pre-primary programs among the world’s richest 35 countries. Only three do worse than the US at offering programs for kids aged three and four: Turkey, Switzerland and Greece. In the US only 42% of three-year olds and 68% of four-year olds were enrolled; among countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation the average is is 71% and 86%, respectively.

“We value our children less than other nations do,” Arne Duncan, the former U.S. secretary of education told the Hechinger report, which recently published a five-part series on public preschools. “I don’t have an easier or softer or kinder way to say that.”

Why it matters

The first few years of a child’s life are critical for building their adult success. “Serve and return,” the process by which adults engage with babies by making eye contact, smiling, talking and teaching them provide the basis for building communication and healthy relationships. Reading to kids, singing to them and having conversations builds literacy and language. Play helps kids socialize, develop motor skills and learn to be part of a group; dressing up and making up silly games engages kids’ impressive imaginations. Even learning to put on a coat–through methods like “flip, flop, over the top” teach kids independence and agency.

Home is the first, and most important place to help kids learn and grow. But most parents work, making affordable childcare solutions critical, especially for poorer families where stress levels can be high and access to early childhood programs (pdf) to help mitigate the dangerous effects of that stress is notoriously low.

It’s possible

Britain figured this out in 2004, when parliament reviewed the research on the benefits of early childhood programs. When UK researcherspresented data that tracked 3,000 children from the mid-1990s through 2008, “only one conclusion could be drawn” the Hechinger report wrote: “The government should pay for preschool for all three-year-olds.”

The government now pays for any child in England who has turned three by Sept. 1 to have 15 hours a week of free child-care or preschool for 38 weeks a year, or 570 hours total. Children start school at age four, in what the UK calls reception, which is like pre-kindergarten. In other words, all four-year-olds have state-funded schooling. In 2014, 84% of three-year-olds were enrolled in an early childhood program and 99% of four-year olds were in reception.

Having subsidized childcare has significant ripple effects, including The US is failing to invest enough in early childhood education, one of the most critical periods in children's development says the OECD — Quartz:

Randi Weingarten on Clinton, Trump, and Winning Over 'Skeptical' Teachers - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Randi Weingarten on Clinton, Trump, and Winning Over 'Skeptical' Teachers - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

Randi Weingarten on Clinton, Trump, and Winning Over 'Skeptical' Teachers

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers. is very enthusiastic about the prospect of a President Hillary Clinton. And the vast majority of her members are also behind the Democratic nominee, she said, even though some are wary that Clinton may be too much like President Barack Obama when it comes to K-12. 

"Our members are no different than other Americans in terms of having a skepticism about politics these days," said Weingarten, whose union endorsed Clinton in the Democratic primary, even though some of its members wanted more consideration for her opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Obama pushed policies early in his tenure that were really unpopular with a lot of teachers, including teacher evaluation tied to test scores and dramatic school turnarounds, Weingarten said over drinks with reporters Wednesday night.

Weingarten, who is one of Clinton's top education advisers, gave Obama credit for figuring out, albeit "six or seven years" into his presidency, that he had contributed to "the testing fixation" and for helping to right the ship by signing the Every Student Succeeds Act, which allows states to dial back the role of tests in accountability.

But Obama's early initiatives have meant Clinton has had some work to do with teachers.

"People are skeptical because the policies [he enacted] through Race to the Top actually worked as they were intended and they made schools into testing factories," Weingarten said. "People are skeptical because they want to know that it's going to be different."

Clinton is good at making her case when she speaks to members in person, Weingarten said.  

"When you hear her actually talk about education—K-12, because she's talked about pre-K and college more—but when you hear her actually talk about K-12 and you engage with her on that, people who don't know her, like I've known her for twenty-five years, see how much she knows and how real she is and how she has a very different sense of what to do on public education than the president did," Weingarten said. "But you have to earn that and frankly, what we're seeing in terms of our members is that when you talk to them, they get it and they are overwhelmingly supporting her and it's [really] a matter of getting them out to vote."

AFT in Action 

And she said that teachers are willing to lend Clinton's campaign effort a hand.

"Our volunteer numbers are better today than in 2012," she said. "There were thousands of volunteers even in the primary" and more excitement as the general election draws closer. (AFT couldn't immediately produce numbers comparing this year's volunteer stats to the 2008 and 2012 campaigns. We'll update this post when we get more information.)

AFT has also joined with a bunch of other unions, including the National Education Association, to create For Our Future, a political action committee, Weingarten said. More on the organization here.

"Dangerous" Donald Trump

Weingarten really, really doesn't want to see real estate mogul Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, elected in November. She called him "dangerous." And she really hates his key K-12 proposal, whichcalls for taking $20 billion in federal K-12 money from some unspecified pot and allowing states to use it to create vouchers.

"It is cynical. It is vapid," she said. "It is basically saying, I don't really want to have public education."

And she's hearing from teachers about a "Trump effect." The GOP nominee's tough immigration talk, has some Latino kids worried they or their parents might be deported, she said. See more about her thoughts about Trump and the election here. 

No on Keeping King  

Also, Weingarten clearly doesn't think Potential President Clinton should keep U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. at the helm of the department if she wins in November.

"I think she needs a new education secretary who is someone who is in sync with, assuming she gets elected, the things that she has been talking about, which is making sure that public education works for all kids," Weingarten said. "Public education has to have credibility for working for people, for working for kids." 

Weingarten would not say who she thought should be Clinton's education secretary. But she made it very clear she not interested in the job herself, and said any rumors to the contrary are "ridiculous." Randi Weingarten on Clinton, Trump, and Winning Over 'Skeptical' Teachers - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

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Don't miss another Politics K-12 post. Sign up here to get news alerts in your email inbox.

Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12.Randi Weingarten on Clinton, Trump, and Winning Over 'Skeptical' Teachers - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

 John King on the Teacher Shortage, Homeschooling and ESSA - Politics K-12 - Education Week - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2016/09/john_king_teacher_shortage_CTE_ESSA.html on @educationweek

College Board redesigned SAT in way that may hurt neediest students

College Board redesigned SAT in way that may hurt neediest students:

Despite warnings, College Board redesigned SAT in way that may hurt neediest students
Part Six: Internal documents show the makers of the new SAT knew the test was overloaded with wordy math problems – a hurdle that could reinforce race and income disparities. The College Board went ahead with the exam anyway.

NEW YORK – In the days after the redesigned SAT college entrance exam was given for the first time in March, some test-takers headed to the popular website reddit to share a frustration.

They had trouble getting through the exam’s new mathematics sections. “I didn’t have nearly enough time to finish,” wrote a commenter who goes by MathM. “Other people I asked had similar impressions.”

The math itself wasn’t the problem, said Vicki Wood, who develops courses for PowerScore, a South Carolina-based test preparation company. The issue was the wordy setups that precede many of the questions.

“The math section is text heavy,” said Wood, a tutor who took the SAT in May. “And I ran out of time.”

The College Board, the maker of the exam, had reason to expect just such an outcome for many test-takers.

When it decided to redesign the SAT, the New York-based not-for-profit sought to build an exam with what it describes as more “real world” applications than past incarnations of the test. Students wouldn’t simply need to be good at algebra, for instance. The new SAT would require them to “solve problems in rich and varied contexts.”

But in evaluating that approach, the College Board’s own research turned up problems that troubled even the exam makers.

About half the test-takers were unable to finish the math sections on a prototype exam given in 2014, internal documents reviewed by Reuters show. The problem was especially pronounced among students that the College Board classified as low scorers on the old SAT.

A difference in completion rates between low scorers and high scorers is to be expected, but the gap on the math sections was much larger than the disparities in the reading and writing sections. The study Reuters reviewed didn’t address the demographics of that performance gap, but poor, black and Latino students have tended to score lower on the SAT than wealthy, white and Asian students.

In light of the results, officials concluded that the math sections should have far fewer long questions, documents show. But the College Board never made that adjustment and instead launched the new SAT with a large proportion of wordy questions, a Reuters analysis of new versions of the test shows.

The redesigned SAT is described in the College Board’s own test specifications as an “appropriate and fair assessment” to promote “equity and opportunity.” But some education and testing specialists say the text-heavy new math sections may be creating greater challenges for kids who perform well in math but poorly in reading, reinforcing race and income disparities.

Among those especially disadvantaged by the number of  long word problems, they say, are recent immigrants and American citizens who aren’t native English speakers; international students; and test-takers whose dyslexia or other learning disabilities have gone undiagnosed.

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What happens when you 'lunch shame' a child? | ABC10.com

What happens when you 'lunch shame' a child? | ABC10.com:

What happens when you 'lunch shame' a child?

Skipping a nutritional lunch can lead to more than just negative effects in the classroom.

A hungry child between the age of 6 and 12 is more likely to receive special education services, repeat a grade in school or receive mental health counseling, than a child who is not hungry, according to the American Psychological Association.

The APA explains children may also feel isolated, ashamed or embarrassed by their lack of food.

School districts across the nation work to combat hunger with meal policies and by working with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide discounted and free lunch to students who qualify. 

School districts can rack up substantial unpaid student-meal debt and need to find a way to balance a gap. A national survey of more than 1,000 school nutrition directors working in public school districts found nearly 71 percent of districts reported unpaid meal debt at the end of the 2012-13 school year, according to The Atlantic. School lunch debt ranged from $2 million to $4.7 million.

Many schools struggle to afford healthy foods to students, according to the American Federation of Teachers. This makes it especially hard to provide food for students who have unpaid meal balances. Many districts opt to provide an alternative or 'emergency lunch' that is less nutritious than a full hot lunch to students with lunch debt. However, some school district meal policies can be controversial. 

Many schools use the 'cheese sandwich' meal as an alternative meal, where a child receives a cold cheese and bread sandwich instead of a hot meal. This practice receives backlash from parents and educators, claiming it's not a satisfying meal and can make a child feel ashamed for being singled out.

A Pennsylvania cafeteria worker recently made headlines for quitting her job after being forced to take a hot lunch away from a first grader with an unpaid balance. The woman posted on her Facebook page, that she'd never forget “the look on his face” or the tears that “welled up” in his eyes.

The incident doesn't stand alone. In 2014, an elementary school in Salt Lake City seized and threw away the meals of 40 students over unpaid balances creating a national firestorm of criticism. In 2013, a 12-year-old Texas boy's lunch was tossed over a 30 cent debt.

So just how does the experience of 'lunch shame' affect a child?

"That would be of a great concern to me," said Ann Moylan, a professor of Family and Consumer Sciences at Sacramento State University. "What we're saying to that child is 'you don't belong here'"

When you have anything with a stigma attached to it, children are affected, explained Moylan.

One of the most painful human experiences is the feeling of being ostracized, shamed or not included, according to Moylan.

If a child feels singled out for having unpaid meal debt, or for receiving an alternative lunch, it could have major long-term effects and goes 'to the core', Moylan said.

Some children don't have the support of parents at home, which means just getting to school is a task. If a student feels ashamed in school, they may choose to not come to class, which can lead to truancy problems, according to Moylan.

Lunch shaming can make a child feel insecure and affect how safe they feel in school.

"Feeling safe is so critical to learning," Moylan said. "I see this policy as attacking a child's feeling of safety."

Kristin Lagattuta, a professor of psychology at UCDavis, said a child also may not fully understand what is happening to them, depending on their age.

"A child may feel they're unfairly blamed for something out of their control," Lagattuta said.

Children are not the ones putting money in the account, so it's not their fault, according to Lagatutta.

The combination of being hungry, having your food taken away and feeling ashamed can make a situation even more stressful.

"Psychologically, if they're hungry and have the food in their hand and it's taken away, it makes it far worse," said Lagattuta.

Many local school districts work to avoid causing this type of damage to students.

Davis Joint Unified School District makes sure students are lined up to receive their lunch in a way that is sensitive to potentially causing them emotional harm. 

Instead of a cheese sandwich alternative lunch, DJUSD offers a salad, fruit and veggies and milk as an emergency lunch, according to the school district's Director of Student Nutrition Services, Dominic Machi.

All students line up and receive their option of salad, fruit and veggies and milk before being What happens when you 'lunch shame' a child? | ABC10.com:

PieMan arrested after hitting Sacramento mayor in face with pie at charity event | Fox News

Man arrested after hitting Sacramento mayor in face with pie at charity event | Fox News:

Man arrested after hitting Sacramento mayor in face with pie at charity event

A man was arrested Wednesday night after shoving a pie in the face of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson at a charity dinner.

Sean Thompson, 32, was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a public official, which is a felony, the Sacramento Police Department said. An official said Johnson, a former NBA star, didn’t take the act lightly.

The mayor had given a speech at the Seeds of HOPE dinner at Sacramento Charter High School before the man came up, pulled the pie from a bag, grabbed Johnson and shoved it into his face, the mayor’s Chief of Staff Crystal Staff said. She said the mayor defended himself against the man, but wouldn’t elaborate.

According to the East Bay Express, Johnson tackled Thompson and “repeatedly” punched him in the face landing “five to 10” blows. A witness told the East Bay Express that the protester was hit multiple times.

The mayor tweeted that he's "doing fine" and added, "Thank you to Sac PD for being there."

Strait emphasized that it was a genuinely serious and scary situation and there was nothing funny about it, especially because no one including the mayor could tell immediately that it was a pie the man was holding.

"The mayor was assaulted. I was standing right there and I'm still pretty shaken up," Strait said, speaking some three hours after it happened.

Thompson was treated for a minor injury before he was booked into jail. Both police and Strait said Thompson was previously unknown to the mayor and his staff.

After he cleaned up, Johnson spoke again to the audience to calm nerves at the event, which was held in the school's garden and featured many of the city's top restaurateurs.

Johnson, who had a long career as an NBA All-Star with the Phoenix Suns and a brief stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers before becoming mayor, has about two months left as mayor after deciding not to seek a third term.

The 50-year-old is married to Michelle Rhee, a former chancellor of Washington, D.C., schools, who was at the event Wednesday night.

Johnson's signature achievement in office was getting a $500 million arena built for the city's NBA team the Sacramento Kings.

His final two years in office were marked by the re-emergence of a decades-old claim of sexual abuse from a woman who was a teenager at the time, when Johnson played for the Suns. The Phoenix Police Department investigated but did not file charges.

Johnson has both denied the allegations and denied that they had anything to do with his decision to leave office.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.Man arrested after hitting Sacramento mayor in face with pie at charity event | Fox News: