Gov. DeSantis Should Veto Florida’s Tragically Flawed So-Called ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ | by Bruce Lesley | Voices4Kids | Apr, 2021 | Medium

Gov. DeSantis Should Veto Florida’s Tragically Flawed So-Called ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ | by Bruce Lesley | Voices4Kids | Apr, 2021 | Medium

Gov. DeSantis Should Veto Florida’s Tragically Flawed So-Called ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’

Thanks to the South Florida Sun Sentinel editorial for highlighting significant concerns with a so-called “Parents’ Bill of Rights” (HB 241) that passed the Florida Senate this week and is now on the way to Gov. Ron DeSantis for either his signature or veto.

The Governor should veto this legislation because of its numerous problems and flaws. Instead, the Governor should form a special advisory committee that actually includes children and youth in the discussion about their health, education, and well-being. Kids, after all, might just have something to say about their own lives and future.

At the outset, let’s be clear that nobody disputes that parents and families are fundamental to the upbringing, education, and well-being of children. The U.S. Supreme Court has stated that parents have fundamental rights and responsibilities. For instance, in Troxel vs. Granville (2000), the Supreme Court concluded “the interest of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children” to be “perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court.”

There is no doubt that the role of parents in the protection and well-being CONTINUE READING: Gov. DeSantis Should Veto Florida’s Tragically Flawed So-Called ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights’ | by Bruce Lesley | Voices4Kids | Apr, 2021 | Medium

Education Matters: The Southern Poverty Law Center says DCPS is on the wrong side of what is right

Education Matters: The Southern Poverty Law Center says DCPS is on the wrong side of what is right

The Southern Poverty Law Center says DCPS is on the wrong side of what is right

The Southern Poverty Law Center is a premier social justice organization that has fought against white supremacists, anti-semites, Islamaphobes, and all manner of malcontents on the wrong side of decency. Well, friends, you can now add Duval County Public Schools to that list. 

They have even represented Florida's public schools in their fight for fair funding, a lawsuit I testified in. It is manifestly disappointing that DCPS is on the opposite side of them. Disappointing but sadly not unexpected.  

From the Southern Poverty Law Center:

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the private employment law firm Scott • Wagner and Associates filed suit in federal court today on behalf of a Florida high school teacher who was removed from her classroom and reassigned to administrative duties in retaliation for displaying a Black Lives Matter (BLM) flag over the objection of school administrators.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, claims that officials at Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) violated her First Amendment rights and other constitutional and statutory protections because of her advocacy on behalf of Black students.

Amy Donofrio is a white teacher at Robert E. Lee High School in Jacksonville, a school where about 70% of CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: The Southern Poverty Law Center says DCPS is on the wrong side of what is right

Private schools could end up with no public money if they press too hard

Private schools could end up with no public money if they press too hard

Could public money finance private-school discrimination, religion and fake history?

If states can't control what's taught with taxpayer money, the upshot could be ending charter schools and public funds for private tuition altogether.

With bills pending in more than 20 state legislatures to expand private school voucher programs, this spring could usher in the biggest transfer in funds from public schools to private schools in our nation’s history. But something more is at stake with this new round of voucher legislation: When the public pays for private schooling, will the public get to decide how taxpayer dollars are used in private settings, or will the public be forced to abandon norms as simple and fundamental as nondiscrimination?

The problem started last year when the Supreme Court held in Espinoza v. Montana that states cannot adopt blanket policies to exclude religious schools from voucher programs. The court left open the possibility that states could still place limits on what private schools do with the money. States might still prohibit them from using public money to teach religion or discriminate based on religion, race, sex, gender, sexual orientation and other protected classes.

But choice advocates argue these minimal requirements are unconstitutional, too. 

Satisfied slaves, divine intervention

This distinction is lost on a lot of states, which make no attempt to stop private schools from using public dollars to teach religion, discriminate or deliver curriculum that flies in the face of historical and scientific facts. Students in North Carolina, Florida and Indiana have tried to use their vouchers at religious schools only to be turned away because they didn't fit the CONTINUE READING: Private schools could end up with no public money if they press too hard

Success Academy Charter Chain Ordered to Pay $2.4 Million to SPED Families | Diane Ravitch's blog

Success Academy Charter Chain Ordered to Pay $2.4 Million to SPED Families | Diane Ravitch's blog

Success Academy Charter Chain Ordered to Pay $2.4 Million to SPED Families

Success Academy charter network was directed by a federal district court judge to pay $2.4 million to families whose children with disabilities were pushed out.

Charter school network Success Academy, which touts its commitment to children “from all backgrounds,” has been ordered to pay over $2.4 million on a Judgment in a case brought by families of five young Black students with learning and other disabilities who sued after the children were pushed out of a Success Academy school in Brooklyn. Success Academy’s efforts to oust the children even included the creation of a “Got to Go” list, as reported by the New York Times in October 2015, which singled out the students they wanted to push out, including the five child plaintiffs.

The lawsuit, brought by New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, Advocates for Justice, and Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, concluded on March 10, 2021 with Senior United States District Judge Frederic Block’s ruling, which included a precedent-setting determination that federal CONTINUE READING: Success Academy Charter Chain Ordered to Pay $2.4 Million to SPED Families | Diane Ravitch's blog

KATY MURPHY - California families sue state over distance learning inequities - POLITICO

California families sue state over distance learning inequities

California families sue state over distance learning inequities

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Seven families took California to court Monday, accusing the state of failing to ensure "basic educational equality" during a prolonged period of remote learning brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The plaintiffs say the state isn't providing the equipment, training and support that low-income families desperately need and that it has left it up to districts and teachers to navigate the challenges on their own, providing scant guidance or oversight. Meanwhile, they say, families have been forced to pay for basic school supplies or make do without a computer for each child or reliable internet access.

“Because of the State’s inadequate response, parents and grandparents have had to become tutors, counselors, childminders, and computer technicians, and they have had to find a way to pay for what are now basic school supplies — laptop/tablets, paper, printing, and internet access,” the lawsuit says, adding that the state has "offered families no training, support, or opportunity to provide input into plans for remote learning, the eventual return to in-person instruction, or the delivery of compensatory education.”

The Alameda Superior Court filing comes as most public schools in the state have yet to return to classrooms nearly nine months after closing campuses when the pandemic struck. The challenges of distance learning are exacerbating the existing inequalities in the public education system, the suit said, causing many to miss lessons and fall behind their classmates whose families have the means to overcome such barriers. In particular, the suit says, Black and Latino students CONTINUE READING: California families sue state over distance learning inequities

What we should be fighting for—Letter from a Lowell (and Mission) High School parent - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM

What we should be fighting for—Letter from a Lowell (and Mission) High School parent - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM

What we should be fighting for—Letter from a Lowell (and Mission) High School parent

As you may have heard, the SFUSD Board of Education is considering a change to Lowell’s regular enrollment policy due to COVID and a lack of grades and test scores. We are doing this with the understanding that it’s much easier for all concerned to allow students to apply using the regular enrollment process for one year rather than try to figure out an alternate method of conducting an already questionable enrollment system during a pandemic, staff is recommending this policy shift as a temporary solution which will allow students grace as we all navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and crisis distance learning.

I think my colleagues on the Board would likely agree, we would much rather focus our meeting time discussing reopening schools and improving distance learning, and supporting families during a pandemic. That said, it is enrollment season, so the issue must be addressed.

If you’ve been following me on FaceBook (or Twitter) you will note that most of my posts have not been focused on the actual enrollment policy. Rather, they’ve been focused on the tone of discussion and underlying assumptions around this topic. (I’ve reposted a call to action here.)

Recently, an SFUSD parent educator reached out to share some thoughts on the controversy. With his permission, I am sharing his thoughts below.

What we should be fighting for.

by Matt McDonnell, SFUSD parent and educator

“I have two children attending public high schools in San Francisco: one is at Mission (where I have been part of the faculty for over two decades), the other is at Lowell.

I have long found two things about Lowell to be problematic. The first is that admissions decisions are made in a way that consistently produces CONTINUE READING: What we should be fighting for—Letter from a Lowell (and Mission) High School parent - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM

Indiana: ACB Served on the Board of a School That Discriminated Against Gays | Diane Ravitch's blog

Indiana: ACB Served on the Board of a School That Discriminated Against Gays | Diane Ravitch's blog

Indiana: ACB Served on the Board of a School That Discriminated Against Gays

Steve Hinnefeld, a regular commentator on education in Indiana, regrets that Amy Coney Barrett was not asked about vouchers during her hearings.

He notes that she served on the board of a Catholic school in Indiana that received state voucher funds and that openly discriminated against same-sex families.

Barrett served from 2015-17 on the board of Trinity School at Greenlawn, a South Bend Catholic school, the New York Times reported. Trinity had a policy during Barrett’s time on the board that effectively prohibited same-sex couples from enrolling their children in the school, according to the Times.

That would seem to cast doubt on Barrett’s claim in her confirmation hearing that she had “never discriminated on the basis of sexual preference” and would not do so. It also raises policy questions about whether publicly funded institutions should practice discrimination. READ MORE: Indiana: ACB Served on the Board of a School That Discriminated Against Gays | Diane Ravitch's blog

A parent-led effort to close the digital divide for Spanish speaking families

A parent-led effort to close the digital divide for Spanish speaking families

A parent-led effort to close the digital divide

For many Spanish-speaking families, getting technology for remote learning has been tough, so a Nevada parent launched her own initiative to help

When the Clark County School District in Las Vegas announced it would be staying entirely remote this year, mother and education advocate Valeria Gurr was immediately concerned about how the decision would affect low-income and Spanish-speaking families, especially those with students who are English language learners. She worried that the district might fail to provide enough support, as it did in the disastrous transition to remote learning last spring, when one third of the district’s 314,848 students never got online because they didn’t have the technology, according to reporting from the Las Vegas Sun.

For English language learners, who make up more than 5 million students in public schools across the country, the transition to remote learning has been particularly hard.

The district has been trying to avoid a repeat of the March transition, offering low-income students thousands of devices it was able to purchase with the help of federal dollars. But, despite handing out about 10,000 devices a day in the weeks leading up to the schools’ remote reopening, the district had still failed to reach some 19,000 students who were waiting for a device as of August 24, when classes began, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Gurr, a Latina who still views herself as an English language learner, speaks to low-income families regularly in her role as the Nevada state director for the nonprofit Nevada School Choice Coalition, a project of the American Federation for Children. Although her 3-year-old son hasn’t yet entered the public schools, she’s heard from many parents how challenging the transition to virtual learning was last spring. Many had trouble coping, even though they had resources to draw on, she said. “Imagine what it is for Hispanic families that don’t speak English and … don’t have the technology.”

Curious to know how many families in her community were still struggling, Gurr turned to a social media group she had started for Spanish-speaking parents for an answer. The group, “CCSD Padres y Madres,” has grown from 200 parents to a little over 1,200 parents in just a few weeks. Gurr asked group members if they had a laptop. The response CONTINUE READING: A parent-led effort to close the digital divide for Spanish speaking families

ACLU warns 500 Texas school districts to revise discriminatory dress codes | The Texas Tribune

ACLU warns 500 Texas school districts to revise discriminatory dress codes | The Texas Tribune

ACLU warns 500 Texas school districts to revise discriminatory dress codes

The letter comes two weeks after a federal judge blocked the Barbers Hill Independent School District from keeping a dress code policy that advocates have called racist.

The Texas arm of the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter Wednesday to nearly 500 school districts across the state asking them to revise dress code policies that it says are “unconstitutional and discriminatory.”

The letter calls policies like requiring different hair lengths for male and female students “outdated” and “harmful” and claims such rules could leave districts open to lawsuits.

The action from the civil rights organization comes two weeks after a federal judge blocked a Houston-area school from enforcing a dress code policy that states male students, but not female students, must keep their hair ear-length or shorter. This same policy sparked national debate when it was used to punish two Texas students earlier this year for wearing their natural hair in dreadlocks.

“While school districts throughout the country have removed policies that were based on antiquated sex stereotypes, many school districts in Texas still have policies that treat students differently on the basis of their gender,” Brian Klosterboer, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said in a written statement.

“School districts need to conform to federal law and fix outdated policies that cause serious harm to students in Texas,” Klosterboer added.

In January, Kaden Bradford and De’Andre Arnold, two Black students in Barbers Hill ISD, were told that if they refused to cut their hair, Arnold wouldn’t be allowed to walk the stage at his May graduation ceremony and Bradford, his cousin, would be placed on indefinite in-school suspension.

Both students transferred out of the district earlier this year. Bradford can return to his former high school for his junior year without the threat of suspension.

The ACLU’s letter to the districts includes a copy of Arnold’s court case and dress code guidance from the Texas Association of School Boards. If districts want to restrict hairstyles and hats, the association suggests they be mindful of how their CONTINUE READING: ACLU warns 500 Texas school districts to revise discriminatory dress codes | The Texas Tribune

‘Broken Windows’ Approach To Teaching Is Breaking Our Schools - PopularResistance.Org

‘Broken Windows’ Approach To Teaching Is Breaking Our Schools - PopularResistance.Org

‘BROKEN WINDOWS’ APPROACH TO TEACHING IS BREAKING OUR SCHOOLS

Students Of Color Are Harmed The Most.

Students of color received instrumental interactions geared at conditioning them to become obedient at all times, to navigate white supremacy without challenging it.

In the fight for racial justice, teachers have a heavy job, for schools are both microcosms of, and preparation for, society. Because teachers serve as significant adult figures in children’s lives, their interactions with students can shape students’ sense of self and the world around them, as well as their engagement in school, personal efficacy, and academic achievement. Complex and difficult racial dynamics impact these relationships, and as calls for justice grow, it’s time to recognize this.

Systemic racism is sometimes blatant in our schools. For example, it is hard to deny that segregation persists, and that schools serving students of color receive less funding than mostly white schools. In my home state of Arizona, for example, schools serving mostly white students receive an average of $7,600 more per pupil than schools serving students of color, a discrepancy that increases to nearly $11,000 when controlling for neighborhood income. Research also repeatedly reveals that Black students in particular are more likely to be subjected to disciplinary action, much of which removes them from classrooms and schools. Sometimes this even leads students directly into interactions with law enforcement, hence the moniker school-to-prison pipeline. But there is a subtler form of racism at play in many classrooms, one CONTINUE READING: ‘Broken Windows’ Approach To Teaching Is Breaking Our Schools - PopularResistance.Org

The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods

The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods

The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods

The case of residential property

Homeownership lies at the heart of the American Dream, representing success, opportunity, and wealth. However, for many of its citizens, America deferred that dream. For much of the 20th century, the devaluing of black lives led to segregation and racist federal housing policy through redlining that shut out chances for black people to purchase homes and build wealth, making it more difficult to start and invest in businesses and afford college tuition. Still, homeownership remains a beacon of hope for all people to gain access to the middle class. Though homeownership rates vary considerably between whites and people of color, it’s typically the largest asset among all people who hold it.

If we can detect how much racism depletes wealth from black homeowners, we can begin to address bigotry principally by giving black homeowners and policymakers a target price for redress. Laws have changed, but the value of assets—buildings, schools, leadership, and land itself—are inextricably linked to the perceptions of black people. And those negative perceptions persist.

Through the prism of the real estate market and homeownership in black neighborhoods, this report attempts to address the question: What is the cost of racial bias? This report seeks to understand how much money majority-black communities are losing in the housing market stemming from racial bias, finding that owner-occupied homes in black neighborhoods are undervalued by $48,000 per home on average, amounting to $156 billion in cumulative losses.

In analyzing the devaluation of black homeownership, this report finds:

Majority-black neighborhoods hold $609 billion in owner-occupied housing assets and are home to approximately 10,000 public schools and over 3 million businesses. We find that in the average U.S. metropolitan area, homes in neighborhoods where the share of the population is 50 percent black are valued at roughly half the price as homes in neighborhoods with no black residents.

According to our analysis, differences in home and neighborhood quality do not fully explain the devaluation of homes in black neighborhoods. Homes of similar quality in neighborhoods with similar amenities are worth 23 percent less ($48,000 per home on average, amounting to $156 billion in cumulative losses) in majority black neighborhoods, compared to those with very few or no black residents.

In U.S. metropolitan areas, 10 percent of neighborhoods are majority black, and they are home to 41 percent of the black population living in metropolitan areas and 37 percent of the U.S. black population. Though most residents are black (14.4 million non-Hispanic blacks) by definition, approximately 5 million non-black Americans live in majority black neighborhoods.

Metropolitan areas with greater devaluation of black neighborhoods are more segregated and produce less upward mobility for the black children who grow up in those communities. This analysis finds a positive and statistically significant correlation between the devaluation of homes in black neighborhoods and upward mobility of black children in metropolitan areas with majority black neighborhoods.

CONTINUE READING: The devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods

Virtual suspensions. Mask rules. More trauma. Why some worry a student discipline crisis is on the horizon - Chalkbeat

Virtual suspensions. Mask rules. More trauma. Why some worry a student discipline crisis is on the horizon - Chalkbeat

Virtual suspensions. Mask rules. More trauma. Why some worry a student discipline crisis is on the horizon

As America’s students head back into their virtual or real-life classrooms, new rules await.

In Jacksonville, Florida, students who don’t wear a mask repeatedly could be removed from school and made to learn online. In some Texas districts, intentionally coughing on someone can be classified as assault. In Memphis, minor misbehaviors could land students in an online “supervised study.”

It’s amounting to a flood of changes to school rules and discipline codes at a time of heightened stress for students, parents, and teachers.

Those rules reflect schools’ attempts to make learning during a pandemic safe and possible. But the increased attention to student misbehavior has advocates and many parents very worried that students who were disproportionately removed from classrooms before the pandemic — namely Black and Native students, and students with disabilities — will bear the brunt of these new consequences, undermining schools’ promises to provide students from hard-hit communities with extra social and emotional support.

“We have seen and felt the impact of having a Black child with learning differences and how that’s been treated disciplinarily. So I’ve got a lot of concerns,” said Cassandra Kaczocha, a parent of a son headed into eighth grade in Chicago, where schools are set to start virtually and monitor student engagement over a six-hour school day. “He can’t sit there and look at the screen the whole time and give the appropriate cues to CONTINUE READING: Virtual suspensions. Mask rules. More trauma. Why some worry a student discipline crisis is on the horizon - Chalkbeat

Texas school district's dreadlocks ban "discriminatory," court rules | The Texas Tribune

Texas school district's dreadlocks ban "discriminatory," court rules | The Texas Tribune

Texas school district's dreadlocks ban discriminatory, federal court rules
The decision comes a month after the Barbers Hill Independent School District board of trustees voted to keep the dress code policy, which advocates have deemed racist.

A federal judge has prevented a Houston-area school district from enforcing a dress code policy that states that male students must keep their hair ear-length or shorter. Earlier this year, that policy spurred national attention and outrage after it was used to punish two students who wore their hair in dreadlocks.

The decision from the U.S. District Court in Houston overturns the grooming policy from the Barbers Hill ISD. Earlier this summer, despite criticism from advocates who described the restriction as racist, the Barbers Hill board of trustees voted to keep the policy.

Administrators informed Kaden Bradford and De’Andre Arnold, two Black students at Barbers Hill High School, in January that they had to cut their hair or face consequences. Arnold was told he would not get to walk on the stage at his school's graduation ceremony in May, while Bradford would be indefinitely enrolled in in-school suspension. Both students refused to comply and filed lawsuits against the school district that argued the policy was discriminatorily construed and enforced.

Both students and their families are represented by the NAACP’s Legal and Defense and Educational Fund.

"Locs are communicative, they express pride in one's Black racial heritage, family heritage," attorney Michaele Turnage Young said. "It's 2020, this is a basic recognition ... but to have a federal court recognize that, it's a huge step in the right direction.”

This court decision grants Bradford "temporary relief" while lawsuits against the school continue, Turnage Young said. Both Arnold and Bradford transferred out of the district to another high school earlier this year. Bradford will now be able to return to his former high school for junior year without the threat of suspension. Arnold was unable to graduate from Barbers Hill.

The case has also gained the attention of Texas lawmakers. In February, members of the Texas Legislative Black Caucus announced their intent to bring their version of the CROWN Act — a California bill that aims to ban hair discrimination in public CONTINUE READING: Texas school district's dreadlocks ban "discriminatory," court rules | The Texas Tribune

Trump Brags About Racist Housing and Education Policies and Urges Americans to “Enjoy!” | janresseger

Trump Brags About Racist Housing and Education Policies and Urges Americans to “Enjoy!” | janresseger

Trump Brags About Racist Housing and Education Policies and Urges Americans to “Enjoy!”

In desperation, as polls predict he is likely to lose in the November election, President Donald Trump has not only threatened to defund the post office for the purpose of ensuring that a lot of votes won’t be counted, but he has also, shockingly, been appealing to racism.  He tweeted:

“I am happy to inform all of the people living their Suburban Lifestyle Dream that you will no longer be bothered or financially hurt by having low income housing built in your neighborhood… Your housing prices will go up based on the market, and crime will go down.  I have rescinded the Obama-Biden AFFH Rule. Enjoy!”

Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson explains the meaning of Trump’s tweet and refreshes our memories about the AFFH Rule: “Trump tweeted what may be the most nakedly racist appeal to White voters that I’ve seen since the days of segregationist state leaders such as Alabama’s George Wallace and Georgia’s Lester Maddox… Many people probably don’t know what the ‘Obama-Biden AFFH Rule’ is, but its roots are in the 1968 Fair Housing Act, specifically its Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing provision. That section of the law required federal agencies that deal with housing and banking to pursue their missions in a way that would actively desegregate housing.  In 2015, the Obama administration spelled out how communities should measure their progress, or lack thereof, in eliminating housing bias, and tied federal funding for housing and urban development to those measurements. Trump’s tweet is a promise not to actively enforce that provision. And it’s a message to White people that they can go ahead and do whatever they feel is necessary to keep Black people and Latinos from moving into their neighborhoods.”

Of course, Trump does not explicitly name race in his abhorrent tweet and he doesn’t mention segregation in the public schools.  In this one tweet, however, the President is explicitly CONTINUE READING: Trump Brags About Racist Housing and Education Policies and Urges Americans to “Enjoy!” | janresseger

NYC Public School Parents: $1.1 million court settlement by Success Academy charters for violating children's rights

NYC Public School Parents: $1.1 million court settlement by Success Academy charters for violating children's rights

$1.1 million court settlement by Success Academy charters for violating children's rights

Gary Rubinstein broke the story on his blog today that Success Academy had agreed to pay $1.1M and reasonable attorneys’ fees to five families, whose children had their rights repeatedly violated and were pushed out of the Success Academy Fort Greene charter school, the home of the infamous “Got to go” list.  Success agreed to settle the case, Lawton vs. Success, after nearly five years of delays before the case even came to trial, rather than deliver the evidence to the plaintiffs that the court ordered.  Here are more details and court filings.

Here is the August 2018 decision by the US District Court Judge, Fredrick Block, who refused Success’ request to dismiss the case, and instead described the horrific treatment that these five children with disabilities were subjected to starting at the age of four and five, including repeatedly being removed from class early, dismissed, suspended and denied their mandated services. 

Here is the February 2020 acceptance by the families of Success’ Offer of Judgement of $1.1 million plus reasonable attorney fees; which the charter chain chose to provide before going to trial, rather than release the full documentation ordered by the Court, which would further detail the abusive treatment of these children.

To this day, Success has refused to pay the attorneys’ reasonable fees, so here is the most recent court filing by the families’ attorneys from Advocates for Justice, NY Lawyers CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: $1.1 million court settlement by Success Academy charters for violating children's rights