Thursday, January 28, 2021

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Thursday, January 28, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE

THE TOP BANANA
TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES

Analysis | Republicans assign QAnon supporter to House education committee — and top Democrats blast the move https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/01/27/qanon-supporter-put-on-house-education-committee/?tid=ss_tw

Philadelphia plans hybrid school reopening next month - Chalkbeat Philadelphia - https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/2021/1/27/22252506/philadelphia-plans-hybrid-school-reopening-next-month on chalkbeat

Why Didn’t Delaware Get Pandemic EBT Nutrition Benefits For This School Year? | Exceptional Delaware - https://wp.me/p4JboV-5LX via @ExcptlDelaware

Democrats’ plan to fight child poverty: Monthly cash for kids https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/27/democrats-child-tax-credit-463301

'She is going to confront her lies': Parkland parent rips Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2021/01/27/parkland-parent-to-rep-greene-she-is-going-to-confront-her-lies-1360541

L.A.-area elementary schools could reach threshold for reopening in two to three weeks, Ferrer says http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/lanowblog/~3/plEJ94PuBi4/los-angeles-area-schools-could-reach-threshold-for-reopening-in-2-to-3-weeks-ferrer-says

NYC education panel blocks gifted testing contract in stunning rebuke to mayor https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-pep-gifted-testing-contract-vote-20210128-d2izups4yfbfzfgo7aqxwv2izy-story.html#ed=rss_www.nydailynews.com/arcio/rss/category/new-york/education/

NYC’s public school enrollment drops by 43,000 -- 4% decline steepest among younger students https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/education/ny-enrollment-drop-pandemic-20210127-2y4h5rw5y5fxhfercdwpdbdxja-story.html#ed=rss_www.nydailynews.com/arcio/rss/category/new-york/education/

Schools Can Be Safe, the C.D.C. Says https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/27/us/schools-can-be-safe-the-cdc-says.html

OPINION: Creating a more equitable high school experience means hands-on, hard work and a long-term commitment https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-creating-a-more-equitable-high-school-experience-means-hands-on-hard-work-and-a-long-term-commitment/

In Memorium for those we have lost to COVID-19 - SF PUBLIC SCHOOL MOM - https://wp.me/p4ndvh-2wB by @alimcollins

Chicago Public Schools suspends in-person learning as possible teachers strike looms https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/01/27/chicago-teachers-reopening/?tid=ss_tw

AFT Reacts To Governor’s Plan To Re-Open Schools - https://ladailypost.com/aft-reacts-to-governors-plan-to-re-open-schools/

D.C. Public Schools are set to reopen Monday. What about charter schools? https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/district-charter-schools-reopening/2021/01/27/e4cab1ae-6043-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html?tid=ss_tw

Northern Virginia schools begin vaccinating staff, plan tentative return to classrooms https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/northern-virginia-school-reopening-vaccinations/2021/01/27/3f872c72-60c0-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html?tid=ss_tw

Texas plans to test for lead in schools’ drinking water for the first time | The Texas Tribune - https://www.texastribune.org/2021/01/28/texas-lead-drinking-water-schools/ by @erinmdouglas23 on @TexasTribune

Florida Teachers Face Setback In Fight For Safe Schools https://popularresistance.org/florida-teachers-face-setback-in-fight-for-safe-schools/

Gauger-Cobbs In Christina School District Completely Closed Due To Covid https://exceptionaldelaware.wordpress.com/2021/01/28/gauger-cobbs-in-christina-school-district-completely-closed-due-to-covid/

NC public schools losing students during COVID-19 pandemic | Charlotte Observer - https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/education/article248744740.html#new_tab on theobserver

CPS calls off in-person classes again Thursday as only 14% of teachers report to schools; Board of Ed president says another strike ‘would be devastating’ - Chicago Tribune - https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-covid-19-cps-possible-teacher-strike-20210128-6qvjgrfye5frvkzy2a5ufizkou-story.html#new_tab via @chicagotribune

Philly plans to reopen some schools in February - WHYY - https://whyy.org/?p=495618

COVID-19 May Energize Push for School Choice in States. Where That Leads Is Unclear - https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/covid-19-may-energize-push-for-school-choice-in-states-where-that-leads-is-unclear/2021/01#new_tab by @andrewujifusa on @educationweek

Union to teachers: Montclair schools taking us to court over refusal to return - https://www.montclairlocal.news/?p=43234 via @montclairlocal

Enrollment in NYC schools is down 4% amid the pandemic - Chalkbeat New York - https://ny.chalkbeat.org/2021/1/27/22252172/nyc-school-enrollment-decline#new_tab on chalkbeat

Few dyslexic students benefiting from an online tool that’s costing Texas millions - https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2021/01/28/few-dyslexic-students-benefiting-from-an-online-tool-thats-costing-texas-millions/#new_tab via @dallasnews

NC school board members clash over how to teach history and whether the US is racist https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article248777855.html

California public schools suffer record enrollment drop | CalMatters - https://calmatters.org/?p=163772 via @CalMatters

NY special ed administrator faked letters to parents, changed docs - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2021/01/28/rochester-ny-admin-changed-special-ed-documents-faked-letters-parents/4273916001/#new_tab via @usatoday

Texas schools need to show efforts in finding missing students to secure millions in funding, some lawmakers say - https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2021/01/27/texas-schools-need-to-show-efforts-in-finding-missing-students-to-secure-millions-in-funding-some-lawmakers-say/#new_tab via @dallasnews

Iowa: Act NOW to Save Your Public Schools! | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-tli via @dianeravitch

Shocker: NYC Education Board Rejects Mayor’s Plan to Test 4-Year-Olds for Gifted Program | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-tkV via @dianeravitch

Big Education Ape: Iowa: Act NOW to Save Your Public Schools! | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/iowa-act-now-to-save-your-public.html

Big Education Ape: Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, Connecticut Hedge Funds, and Human Capital – Wrench in the Gears - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/secretary-of-education-dr-miguel.html

Big Education Ape: We Need a Democratic Approach to Reimagining Schools—Asking People, Not Billionaires and Ideologues, What They Want | Ed Politics - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/we-need-democratic-approach-to.html

Big Education Ape: Biden's first big Covid test: Keeping parents of school kids from losing it - POLITICO - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/bidens-first-big-covid-test-keeping.html

Big Education Ape: The Whole Truth About Kids, School, and COVID-19 - The Atlantic - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-whole-truth-about-kids-school-and.html

Big Education Ape: Teacher Tom: The Radical Idea of Treating Children Like People - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/teacher-tom-radical-idea-of-treating.html

Big Education Ape: Farewell to the SAT! We Hope. | Diane Ravitch's blog - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/farewell-to-sat-we-hope-diane-ravitchs.html

Big Education Ape: Reopening a Can of Worms – Have You Heard - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/reopening-can-of-worms-have-you-heard.html

Big Education Ape: THE BURDEN OF PROOF – Dad Gone Wild - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-burden-of-proof-dad-gone-wild.html

Big Education Ape: CURMUDGUCATION: New Horizons in Workplace Surveillance - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/curmudgucation-new-horizons-in.html

Big Education Ape: New Rankings Place UK Education Dean Among Top Education Policy Influencers | UKNow - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/new-rankings-place-uk-education-dean.html

Big Education Ape: A VERY BUSY DAY Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/a-very-busy-day-larry-ferlazzos_28.html

Big Education Ape: CHECK IT OUT: DIANE ON A ROLL TODAY - Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all #REDFORED #tbats #COVID-19 #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #VACCINATETEACHERS - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/01/check-it-out-diane-on-roll-today-diane_28.html

State Senator Dave Lawson Wants Smyrna Superintendent Patrik Williams To Resign | Exceptional Delaware

by Mike Simpson / 4h

State Senator Dave Lawson Wants Smyrna Superintendent Patrik Williams To Resign State Senator Dave Lawson is calling for Smyrna Superintendent Patrik Williams to resign. Lawson reached out to the Smyrna Education Association, the Smyrna School District Board of Education, and Delaware Secretary of Education Dr. Susan Bunting asking for their help in getting Williams to resign. He will reportedly

YESTERDAY

THE TOP BANANA: TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Wednesday, January 27, 2021 #REDFORED #tbats #REOPENSCHOOLSSAFELY #COVIDVACCINE

by Mike Simpson / 21h

Big Education Ape THE TOP BANANA TODAY'S EDUCATION HEADLINES Nine COVID-19 outbreaks in 100-plus Philly private schools since the fall, health department says https://philadelphia.chalkbeat.org/

Big Education Ape

Iowa: Act NOW to Save Your Public Schools! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Iowa: Act NOW to Save Your Public Schools!

Governor Kim Reynolds has proposed legislation to take money away from IOWA public schools and divert it to privately managed schools, vouchers for religious schools, charter schools, and home schooling. She is following in the footsteps of Betsy DeVos, who spent four years trying to eradicate public schools.

If you live in Iowa, contact your legislator and Governor Reynolds! Speak up for your public schools! Resist the privatization of public funds!

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds proposed SSB 1065, (now known as SF 159) which is being fast-tracked through the state Senate. The vote may be today. This “school choice” bill would:

Provide up to $5,200 per student in “state scholarships” for parents to use for private school tuition or homeschooling expenses.
Greatly expand charter schools in the state by allowing applicants to start a charter school by going straight to the state board, bypassing the school district. No longer would districts be the only decider for charter schools.

If you love your public schools, you need to drop what you are doing and get to work!

1. Call your state senators NOW and ask them to support public schools by OPPOSING Senate File 159, SSB 1065. Or say, “I oppose the school choice voucher/charter bill.” You can find your Senator and their phone number by going here. Click on their name for their phone number.

2. Click here and send an email in opposition to SSB 1065/SF 159 NOW.

3. Share this link with friends and family who live in the state.

https://actionnetwork.org/letters/save-iowa-public-schools-oppose/

Don’t wait. Act now.

Carol Burris Executive Director Network for Public Education

Iowa: Act NOW to Save Your Public Schools! | Diane Ravitch's blog

Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, Connecticut Hedge Funds, and Human Capital – Wrench in the Gears

Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, Connecticut Hedge Funds, and Human Capital

Tonight my friend Zakiya Sankara-Jabar of Real Talk With ZSJ invited me to discuss the appointment Dr. Miguel Cardona, former Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning in the Meriden, CT School District, to the position of the US Secretary of Education. We covered a lot of ground including: how pay for success finance was layered into the Every Student Succeeds Act, considerations around community schools, tele-health and data privacy, interoperable data systems, the transition to competency-based education and learning ecosystems, adoption of Open Education Resources, virtual reality, behavior and skills badges tied to lifelong debt, social-emotional learning, and the ethical implications of social impact investing in early childhood education. It was a packed three hours.

For other recent podcasts and interviews visit my Youtube channel here. A playlist of interviews can be accessed here, including two previous interviews Zakiya and I did together here and here.

CONTINUE READING: Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona, Connecticut Hedge Funds, and Human Capital – Wrench in the Gears

We Need a Democratic Approach to Reimagining Schools—Asking People, Not Billionaires and Ideologues, What They Want | Ed Politics

WE NEED A DEMOCRATIC APPROACH TO REIMAGINING SCHOOLS—ASKING PEOPLE, NOT BILLIONAIRES AND IDEOLOGUES, WHAT THEY WANT

As soon as Anna Grant’s busy workday at Forest View Elementary School in Durham, North Carolina, ended, she would head toward the next school where she was needed. “I would get off work and immediately drive to meetings, press events, whatever we had organized [for the school],” she recalls. Her second school of concern was Lakewood Elementary, where Grant now works. In 2017, Lakewood was a flashpoint of grassroots protest due to a threat by the state to take over the school.

“Roughly 200 protesters, parents and neighborhood residents” rallied at Lakewood Elementary to keep the school out of the state’s new Innovative School District (ISD), reported NC Policy Watch, a media project of the North Carolina Justice Center. The ISD was created by the state legislature to take over low-performing schools and transfer governance from the local school board to charter school management companies. Lakewood, along with Glenn Elementary in Durham and three other schools in the state, was on the shortlist of schools at risk of being transferred into the ISD.

“It’s a takeover,” NC Policy Watch quoted Bryan Proffitt, then-president of the Durham Association of Educators. “I don’t intend to allow a terrible legislative idea to ruin our neighborhood school,” Durham school board member Matt Sears told a reporter for the Herald-Sun.

Grant now calls the protests “a community effort” that united teachers with parents, community activists, and the Durham school board in an effort to stave off a transfer of school governance from the community to a private organization. The activists formed the group Defend Durham Schools to share research and talking points on state takeovers and started a Facebook page to recruit more community support.

“Our zoned school was Lakewood,” recalls Durham parent and current school board member Jovonia Lewis, “and when the CONTINUE READING: We Need a Democratic Approach to Reimagining Schools—Asking People, Not Billionaires and Ideologues, What They Want | Ed Politics

Biden's first big Covid test: Keeping parents of school kids from losing it - POLITICO

Biden's first big Covid test: Keeping parents of school kids from losing it

A battle is brewing between teachers’ unions and Republicans. And so far, the White House is siding with the former.

President Joe Biden’s vow to reopen most schools during his first 100 days is crashing into demands of one of his party’s most powerful constituencies: teachers’ unions. And the friction is creating an early test for the Democratic Party’s commitment to following the advice of scientists when it comes to the coronavirus pandemic.

Tensions began bubbling up this week as Chicago teachers and city officials clashed over a plan to reopen. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot insists that classrooms are safe, but teachers in the city are pushing for an expansion in vaccinations first. Now, a version of that fight is playing out nationally, as the White House tries to navigate between a growing body of science indicating that long-held fears of reopening schools may be overblown with demands from teachers for more funding and health supplies before returning to the classroom.

Teachers’ unions, which played a crucial role in Biden’s electoral victory last fall, say they share the goal of reopening schools for in-person learning, but that this can only be done if schools have the resources to safely proceed. White House officials, too, said Biden’s 100-day goal depends on Congress following through with more funding for schools to pay for improved ventilation, reduced class sizes and other Covid mitigation strategies.

But the stalemates in Chicago and recent findings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — which wrote that in-person learning leads to little spread of the coronavirus so long as schools closely follow safety measures — are creating an immediate flash point for the president, along with potential political vulnerabilities.

“This is one of several issues that is going to have some starts and stops—and [it’s] a big challenge for [the White House],” conceded Steve Barr, a longtime Democratic political activist and operative and the founder of a charter school organization in Los Angeles. Barr said he agrees with the White House push for a big financial package, but stressed that the new administration needs to CONTINUE READING: Biden's first big Covid test: Keeping parents of school kids from losing it - POLITICO

The Whole Truth About Kids, School, and COVID-19 - The Atlantic

The Whole Truth About Kids, School, and COVID-19

Federal health officials at the CDC this week called for children to return to American classrooms as soon as possible. In an essay in the Journal of the American Medical Association, they wrote that the “preponderance of available evidence” from the fall semester had reassured the agency that with adequate masking, distancing, and ventilation, the benefits of opening schools outweigh the risks of keeping kids at home for months.

The CDC’s judgment comes at a particularly fraught moment in the debate about kids, schools, and COVID-19. Parents are exhausted. Student suicides are surging. Teachers’ unions are facing national opprobrium for their reluctance to return to in-person instruction. And schools are already making noise about staying closed until 2022.

Into this maelstrom, the CDC seems to be shouting: Enough! To which, I would add: What took you so long?

Research from around the world has, since the beginning of the pandemic, indicated that people under 18, and especially younger kids, are less susceptible to infection, less likely to experience severe symptoms, and far less likely to be hospitalized or die. But the million-dollar question for school openings was always about transmission. The reasonable fear was that schools might open and let a bunch of bright-eyed, asymptomatic, virus-shedding kids roam the hallways and unleash a pathogenic terror that would infect teachers and their families.

“Back in August and September, we did not have a lot of data” to make a recommendation on schools, Margaret Honein, a member of the CDC’s COVID-19 team, told The New York Times. Okay, but September was 100 days, 15 weeks, and several dozen remote-learning school days ago! Meanwhile, anybody paying attention has long figured out that children are probably less likely to transmit the disease to teachers and peers. This is no longer a statistical secret lurking in the appendix of one esoteric paper. It has been the repeatedly replicated conclusion of a waterfall of research, from around the world, over the past six months.

In May 2020, a small Irish study of young students and education workers with COVID-19 interviewed more than 1,000 contacts and found “no case of onward transmission” to any children or adults. In June 2020, a Singapore study of three COVID-19 clusters found that “children are not the primary drivers” of outbreaks and that “the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission among children in schools, especially preschools, is likely to be low.”

By September, many U.S. scientists were going on record to say that transmission in schools seemed considerably rarer than in surrounding communities. “Everyone had a fear there would be explosive outbreaks of transmission in the schools,” Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told The Washington Post. “We have to say that, to date, we have not seen those in the younger kids, and that is a really important observation.” Throughout the fall, the evidence accumulated. “Schools do not, in fact, appear to be major spreaders of COVID-19,” Emily Oster, an economist at Brown University, wrote last October in The Atlantic, summarizing the conclusions of her national dashboard of school cases. CONTINUE READING: The Whole Truth About Kids, School, and COVID-19 - The Atlantic

Teacher Tom: The Radical Idea of Treating Children Like People

The Radical Idea of Treating Children Like People

I sometimes forget how radical our ideas are about young children. I forget that not everyone trusts children even if most people say they do. I forget that most adults are convinced that children must be guided, coerced, tricked or otherwise manipulated to do "right" things, even as they genuinely profess a belief in their innate goodness. I forget that out there, outside our bubble, grown-ups might proudly say they want "kids to be kids," yet their behavior demonstrates that they can't imagine them thriving absent a background of near constant correction, "good jobs," and unsolicited advice. Most people think that we agree with one another about children, but once we get talking, they start to realize that what we're saying is radical.

It's the radical idea that children are fully formed people, due the rights and respect due to all the other people. When we CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: The Radical Idea of Treating Children Like People

Farewell to the SAT! We Hope. | Diane Ravitch's blog

Farewell to the SAT! We Hope.

The SAT is in trouble. Its business model is threatened by the more than 1,000 colleges and universities that no longer require it for admission. Many more higher education institutions dropped the SAT due to the pandemic. The SAT is big business. It collects more than $1 billion each year in revenue. Its CEO, David Coleman, was architect of the Common Core standards, with a background at McKinsey. His salary is about $1 million a year. He achieved notoriety when he promoted the Common Core and came out against personal essays; he told an audience of educators in New York State that when you grow up, no one “gives a sh—“ about how you feel. They want facts. His Common Core curriculum insisted on the study of more non-fiction, which drove down the teaching of literature.

Some relevant history: The SAT was created in the 1920s as a replacement for the traditional College Boards, exams that were written and graded by high school teachers and college professors. The leaders of the CONTINUE READING: Farewell to the SAT! We Hope. | Diane Ravitch's blog

Reopening a Can of Worms – Have You Heard

Reopening a Can of Worms

Have You Heard wades into the pitched debate about reopening schools. We hear from an epidemiologist, then tour the land to talk to parents and teachers who are trying to navigate an impossibly complex situation.

Have You Heard · #105 Reopening a Can of Worms

The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon or donate on PayPal. And Jennifer and Jack’s book, A Wolf at the Schoolhouse Door, is out and available wherever you buy books!

Reopening a Can of Worms – Have You Heard

THE BURDEN OF PROOF – Dad Gone Wild

THE BURDEN OF PROOF

“Whoever is careless with the truth in small matters cannot be trusted with important matters”
― Albert Einstein

Two days ago the Tennessean ran an article reporting that MNPS had received a letter from the Commissioner of Education accusing them of fiscal malfeasance regarding their management of federal funds delivered through the CARES Act. In the commissioner’s words,

“I cannot underscore enough the seriousness of the current financial management of federal funds and compliance issues in MNPS,” Schwinn wrote Monday. “It is imperative that these issues be resolved quickly, accurately, and comprehensively, so as to provide students with the resources that they need and to move the district to a space of compliance with federal and state law.”

Yikes, dems are some strong words. Department spokesman Victoria Robinson followed up with strong words of her own,

“The issues addressed in the letter represent systemic financial and programmatic concerns documented by multiple oversight agencies at both state and federal levels over multiple years,

Governor Lee’s spokesman Laine Arnold piled on,

“When student achievement, teacher compensation and all manner of CONTINUE READING: THE BURDEN OF PROOF – Dad Gone Wild

CURMUDGUCATION: New Horizons in Workplace Surveillance

New Horizons in Workplace Surveillance

Work-from-home has triggered an explosion in Surveil-from-the-office features and products. There has certainly been a boom in programs specifically for surveillance of employees who are at home. These are creepy, with a reported 81% of the top programs logging keystrokes-- so that the boss can see exactly what you've been typing.

But there's something even more insidious about regular old productivity software being tweaked so that it can do the surveilling as well.

As you might expect, Microsoft has been all over this trend, with fun things like a "productivity score" built into Microsoft 365. And they have friends, like Shield, a product that promises, proudly and without any hint of irony or shame,

We are proud to announce the launch of our integration with Microsoft Teams. The Shield platform is one of the first compliance platforms to provide full surveillance as well as record and search of Microsoft Teams interactions, providing the ability to extract, review and analyze specific conversations to assist with any investigation process.

A Reddit thread from six months ago asked "Could my boss be using teams for surveillance?" and the answer is, "of course." This month a ZDNet article looked at some of the "features" available now for CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: New Horizons in Workplace Surveillance

New Rankings Place UK Education Dean Among Top Education Policy Influencers | UKNow

New Rankings Place UK Education Dean Among Top Education Policy Influencers

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 28, 2021) — An annual ranking of the U.S. scholars most influential in shaping education practice and policy once again includes University of Kentucky College of Education Dean Julian Vasquez Heilig.

Vasquez Heilig has consistently been ranked among the top public influencers in the Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings. The 2021 edition was released by American Enterprise Institute Director of Education Policy Studies and Education Week blogger Frederick M. Hess.

With a focus on making academic research useful and relevant to policy makers and the communities they serve, Vasquez Heilig works to move ideas from academic journals into the national conversation. He uses popular platforms such as podcasts, news media interviews, blogs and social media to reach audiences beyond academia and spark useful discussions.

Hess created the rankings to encourage academics to use their voices to inform discussions on education policy and practice.

“As I see it, the extraordinary policy scholar excels in five areas: disciplinary scholarship, policy analysis and popular writing, convening and shepherding collaborations, providing CONTINUE READING: New Rankings Place UK Education Dean Among Top Education Policy Influencers | UKNow

State Senator Dave Lawson Wants Smyrna Superintendent Patrik Williams To Resign + Pandemic EBT Nutrition Benefits | Exceptional Delaware

State Senator Dave Lawson Wants Smyrna Superintendent Patrik Williams To Resign | Exceptional Delaware

State Senator Dave Lawson Wants Smyrna Superintendent Patrik Williams To Resign

State Senator Dave Lawson is calling for Smyrna Superintendent Patrik Williams to resign. Lawson reached out to the Smyrna Education Association, the Smyrna School District Board of Education, and Delaware Secretary of Education Dr. Susan Bunting asking for their help in getting Williams to resign. He will reportedly be speaking to the Delaware State Education Association to make the same request to them.

The heart of the issue appears to be a combination of things. Last summer Williams found himself in a mess due to Tweets he put out calling for retaliation against Trump supporters. Earlier last fall he apologized during a board meeting for his comments. In addition, some in the Smyrna community are upset about curriculum material the district began using this school year. They are saying the parent company of the textbooks is run or supported by Black Lives Matter.

I will provide more details on this as they come in what will CONTINUE READING: State Senator Dave Lawson Wants Smyrna Superintendent Patrik Williams To Resign | Exceptional Delaware

Why Didn’t Delaware Get Pandemic EBT Nutrition Benefits For This School Year? | Exceptional Delaware - https://wp.me/p4JboV-5LX via @ExcptlDelaware

Latest News and Comment from Education

Thursday, January 28, 2021