Maurice Cunningham: Phony Parent Groups Lead Attacks on Critical Race TheoryMaurice Cunningham is a political scientist with a deep interest in how Dark Money influences education policy. His motto is: “Dark Money never sleeps.” He is a master at following the money. He customarily blogs at a website called MassPoliticsProfs , but was kind enough to send me this post first. He writes here about the groups pushing the attacks on critical race theory: The Corporate Critica
Traverse City: The Success of Common Sense and DecencyNancy Ackerman Will, a teacher in Traverse City, Michigan, updated my post today about the angry protestors at a recent board meeting, who accused school leaders of allowing critical race theory to “seep in” to the schools. She posted this good-news comment: I am an elementary music teacher for Traverse City Area Public Schools. I appreciate your article, but you should know that three days ago t
Chicago: Teachers Union Celebrates Law Creating an Elected School BoardThe public schools of Chicago have had an appointed school board for more than 150 years. In 1995, the law was changed to give the Mayor full control of the schools. He named the members of the school board, and they followed his wishes. Mayoral control of the schools, I have come to believe, is a terrible idea. Theoretically, the Mayor is accountable, but in reality, he or she never is. There ar
Traverse City, Michigan, Divided Over Racism and Critical Race TheoryThe national frenzy over “critical race theory” (CRT) has been generated by a small number of conservatives in search of a hot-button issue that would outrage their base. They found that issue in CRT, which has caused conservative white parents to claim that their children are being indoctrinated by discussions of racism in school. Numerous Republican-led states have passed laws that ban teaching
Bob Moses: A Tribute to a Brilliant Civil Rights Activist and Educator, and His Message to UsBob Moses died on July 25 at the age of 86. He was noted for his intellect and courage . He was a leader of SNCC (the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), leading a voter registration drive in Mississippi at a time when violence against Black civil rights activists were at risk of being murdered, and no jury would convict their killers. In 1964, he led the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Pa
Commack Public Schools Riven by Rage about CRTThe Commack Public School District is located on Long Island in New York. The district has about 79% white students, 9% Asian, 9% Hispanic, 1% African American, and a small number of multiracial students. The Commack public schools have strong academic outcomes. 95% of their graduates go to college. Recently the district and its school board have been under attack by parents who insist that their
North Carolina: Anti-CRT Forces Target Teacher of the Year for Teaching About RacismIsabela Dias writes in Mother Jones about attacks on a Black social studies teacher who has been labeled a teacher of critical race theory. In the first week of classes in August, Rodney D. Pierce, a social studies teacher at Red Oak Middle School in Battleboro, North Carolina, set the stage for his 8th graders by sharing a quote from James Baldwin: “American history is longer, larger, more vario
Today: The Anniversary of the 14th Amendment to the ConstitutionJames Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association, tweeted that today is the anniversary of the certification of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. https://twitter.com/JimGrossmanAHA/status/1420396715723603972 On this date in 1868 Secretary if State William Seward officially certified the ratification of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Every American should
Today: The Anniversary of the 14th Amendment to the ConstitutionJames Grossman, executive director of the American Historical Association, tweeted that today is the anniversary of the certification of the ratification of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees equal rights to all citizens. The Amendment was written to protect the rights of those Americans who had been enslaved. “On this date in 1868 Secretary of State William Seward officiall
Boston: The Minority Report on Admission to Exam SchoolsI previously posted the decision by the Boston School Committee to change the requirements for admission to its elite examination schools. What I didn’t know was that there was a minority report from the school committee’s Task Force that was voted down. Since then, I learned that there was a minority report by two Task Force members who offered a different approach (actually there were two minor
Congratulations, Jeff Bezos! Now, Pay Your Taxes!Jeremy Mohler of the nonpartisan “In the Public Interest,” the leading voice against privatization of the public sector, notes that billionaire Jeff Bezos m ade into space sixty years after the public-funded NASA. He writes: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said the quiet part loud on Tuesday after flying to space in his own rocket: “I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer becaus
Paul Waldman: Trump Supporters Will Not Believe the Capitol Police or Their Own EyesPaul Waldman is on the staff of the Washington Post. In this excerpt of his column , he says that Trump zealots will refuse to believe what the police officers said about the events of January 6. Nor will Trump devotees in the Congress be moved. The police officers saved their lives on that day, but they won’t heed what they testified. The Republican members of Congress were there as rioters plun
The January 6 Hearings Began Today, with Harrowing Testimony by 4 Police OfficersThe hearings about the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol opened with testimony by four police officers who were beaten and brutalized by the pro-Trump mob, trying to stop the certification of the election of President Biden. This story appeared in USA Today. The officers’ accounts provided a dramatic opening for the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, when Trump’s
How to End the PandemicEveryone knows how to end the pandemic: mandate vaccinations for everyone over the age of 2. When vaccines are available for children under 2, vaccinate them too. Almost everyone is vaccinated against other infectious diseases, like smallpox, mumps, and measles. Many schools will not admit new students who are unvaccinated. Why make an exception for the deadly coronavirus? But for purely politica
Peter Greene: Children Should Not Go to School in a BubblePeter Greene has written a powerful case against the argument of the school choice lobby, who insist that children should choose a school that affirms their parents’ values. The choice lobby says that it causes conflict when students go to school with others who don’t share their worldview and challenge their beliefs. Greene refutes this assertion: The argument here, pushed daily on Twitter by Ca
How Charter Schools Select Their StudentsWagma Mommandi and Kevin Welner write in The Progressive about the ways that charter schools select and remove students. These practices are not permitted in real public schools. Some make it difficult to apply, like the charter in Philadelphia that required parents to travel to a private golf club in the suburbs to seek admission. Or the charter school that sent recruitment letters, but not to t
Bruce Baker: How to Make Charter Schools More Accountable and TransparentBruce Baker is a school finance expert at Rutgers. For years, he has been concerned about the lack of transparency and accountability in the charter industry. In this post, he foresees the possibility or likelihood that recent Supreme Court decisions pave the way for charter schools to become religious schools and he suggests a model that would protect the charter concept from being corrupted. ht
An Honest Man, and Other Heroic Republicans Who Rejected the Big LieEd McBroom is a dairy farmer in Michigan. He is also a Republican state senator who chairs the Oversight Committee of the legislature. It was his job to determine whether the election of 2020 was marked by fraud, as Trump said on many occasions. McBroom led hearings and investigated the claims. After eight months of searching, McBroom said he was unable to find evidence of fraud. His committee’s
Fred Klonsky: When Emancipation Came to D.C., Slave Owners Received ReparationsFred Klonsky writes that when slaves were emancipated in Washington, D.C. in 1862, the slave owners received payment for the loss of their property, but those who had been enslaved received nothing. Not everyone thought paying reparations to slaveowners was a good idea. “If compensation is to be given at all,” the abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison said at the National Anti-Slavery Convention in
House Democrats Want to Bar Federal Funding of For-Profit Charter Schools, and Charter Lobby Goes WildThe federal government has handed out billions of dollars to start new charter schools. The federal Charter Schools Program program started small, in 1994, with less than $10 million. At that time, based on hope, not evidence, charter schools, it was believed, would be more innovative, more accountable, and better than district public schools. Twenty-six years later, we know more, and we know tha
