Sean Cavanagh covers state education policy – elections, news, and assorted trends and tidbits – for Education Week. He previously worked as a reporter for newspapers in Tennessee and Florida.
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Election 2010: Check Here for Edu-Updates on Governors, Superintendents' Races
As devoted EdWeek readers know, this election has potentially big implications for school policy at the state level. We'll be here at State EdWatch throughout the evening on Nov. 2, tracking the results of some of the key governors' and state superintendents' races as they roll in. Check back that night for updates, and go to edweek.org for our coverage of the winners and losers.
Expect results from the east coast to arrive first, though a lot will depend on how tight the races are. Most of the polls in Florida, for instance, close at 7 p.m. east coast time, though the state's two gubernatorial candidates, Alex Sink and Rick Scott, appear to be in a dead heat, so we may have to wait a bit to crown the victor.
The Georgia governor's race, which pits Democrat Roy Barnes against Republican Nathan Deal is another to track. Moving west, Iowa incumbent Chet Culver, who has touted his expansion of preschool, is locked in a tough contest against former Gov. Terry Branstad, who sees his opponent's program as too costly and bureucratic.
If you're keen on edu-flavored congressional races, tune in to my colleague Alyson Klein's blog on Politics K-12.
And for a nationwide overview of results as they come in, check out Edweek.org's50-state map, which will provide updates on governors and superintendents' contests, as well as ballot initiatives.
On September 22, Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi committed suicide. His roommate, Dharun Ravi, and his friend Molly Wei, secretly videotaped him during a sexual encounter with another man, and then broadcast the videos over the Internet.
The media has finally woken up to the specter of gay teenage suicide and bullying. In the past month, my inbox has been flooded with stories and faces of young gay men who killed themselves due to bullying and homophobia. The mainstream attention that this issue is getting is greatly welcomed. At the same time, I wonder if there's a certain type of inappropriate value judgment given to some stories over others.