Teaching, Leading, and Social Justice

What would it mean if President-elect Trump dismantled the US Department of Education?

Kevin Welner, The Conversation

In her role as former chief executive of World Wrestling Entertainment, Linda McMahon oversaw an enterprise that popularized the “takedown” for millions of wrestling fans. But as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of education, the Trump loyalist may be tasked with taking down the very department Trump has asked her to lead. If Trump does dismantle the Department of Education as he has promised to do, he will have succeeded at something that President Ronald Reagan vowed to do in 1980. Just like Trump, Reagan campaigned on abolishing the department, which at the time was only a year old. Since then, the Republican Party platform has repeatedly called for eliminating the Education Department, which oversees a range of programs and initiatives. These include special funding for schools in low-income communities – known as Title I – and safeguarding the rights of students with disabilities.

Unions score a major win in Wisconsin with a court ruling restoring collective bargaining rights

Scott Bauer, AP News

Wisconsin public worker and teachers unions scored a major legal victory Monday with a ruling that restores collective bargaining rights they lost under a 2011 state law that sparked weeks of protests and made the state the center of the national battle over union rights. That law, known as Act 10, effectively ended the ability of most public employees to bargain for wage increases and other issues, and forced them to pay more for health insurance and retirement benefits. Under the ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored to what was in place prior to 2011. They would be treated the same as the police, firefighter and other public safety unions that were exempted under the law.

In Defense of Teachers and Public Education

Gwen Moore, The Nation

Teaching is a calling that runs in my family. My mother and my aunt were public school teachers, as are two of my siblings and my daughter. I am a proud product of public schools, and, for me, education served as a great equalizer. I often call myself a “sociological miracle,” and the truth is, a high-quality public education and resources like the federal TRIO Programs helped me defy the odds to succeed in college and beyond. I have sought to pay it forward by investing in the programs that invested in me, serving as cochair of the congressional TRIO Caucus and championing initiatives to improve our education system.

Language, Culture, and Power

California Bill Would Protect Schools, Child Care Centers From Immigration Raids.  

Daisy Nguyen, KQED News 

Amid fear of mass deportations under the incoming Trump administration, a state lawmaker wants to make all California schools and child care centers safe havens for immigrant children by passing legislation that would limit immigration officers’ access to school grounds. The bill, introduced Monday by Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, would prohibit school or child care center employees from letting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers enter their sites without a valid ID, statement of purpose, court order and approval from the school district’s superintendent or director of the child care center. If an ICE officer meets all those requirements, they can only enter facilities where children aren’t present. 

Hispanic senators press Biden to protect immigrants before leaving White House

Rafael Bernal, The Hill

The Senate’s three current Hispanic Democrats are calling on President Biden to extend and strengthen humanitarian protections for certain groups of immigrants whose legal status could be stripped by the incoming Trump administration. In a letter on Wednesday, Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.), Alex Padilla (Calif.) and Ben Ray Luján (N.M.) called on Biden to strengthen the Temporary Protected Status program and to quickly process renewal applications for programs including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. “We write today to urge you to act decisively during the remainder of your term of office to complete important work that will protect long-term immigrant communities and ensure that families are not returned to countries where they would face immense danger,” wrote the senators.

Most Americans say undocumented immigrants should be able to stay legally under certain conditions

Jens Manuel Krogstad and Sahana Mukherjee, Pew Research

Americans hold complex views on what should happen to undocumented immigrants. As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to ramp up mass deportations, about three-quarters of U.S. adults say they are at least somewhat concerned about the number of immigrants entering the country illegally, and a majority support enforcing mass deportation. At the same time, most (64%) also say undocumented immigrants should have a way to stay in the country legally if certain requirements are met, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in August.

Whole Children and Strong Communities

May It Please the Court: Trans Health Saved My Life

Chase Strangio, New York Times

On Wednesday I will present oral argument before the Supreme Court in United States v. Skrmetti, a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender adolescents. I, along with my colleagues at the American Civil Liberties Union and other co-counsel, represent three transgender adolescents, their parents and a Tennessee doctor who is barred from treating her transgender patients under the age of 18 with the hormone therapy she is permitted to prescribe for purposes other than to treat gender dysphoria. In Tennessee, doctors can prescribe puberty-blocking medication and hormone therapy for many medical reasons. Under the Tennessee law that is now being challenged before the Supreme Court, they are barred from doing so to allow an adolescent to identify, live or appear in a way inconsistent with the person’s sex assigned at birth.

Rethinking Classrooms Through Nonviolence Pedagogy

Brenda Álvarez, NEA Today

In Heart at the Center: An Educator’s Guide to Sustaining Love, Hope, and Community Through Nonviolence Pedagogy, high school English teacher Mike Tinoco of California explores how classrooms can be reimaged as spaces of love, healing, and resistance to violence. Drawing on nonviolence traditions, he offers practical approaches in creating environments grounded in justice, community, and self-care. NEA Today caught up with Tinoco to talk about how educators can rethink classroom management, embrace conflict as growth, and integrate love into the curriculum.

Amnesty says Israel committing acts of genocide in Gaza. Here’s what to know.

Louisa Loveluck and Missy Ryan, Washington Post

Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday that Israel is committing acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The declaration by one of the world’s most prominent rights organizations is likely to intensify a debate that has raged for months over how to characterize Israel’s military campaign against Hamas, which has killed tens of thousands of people and left much of Gaza in ruins.

Access, Assessment, Advancement

The dark future of American child care

Jackie Mader, The Hechinger Report

Zachary David Typer was 6 months old when he suffocated after being put down for a nap by his child care provider in Topeka, Kansas. Left on an adult bed, Zachary rolled over and became trapped between the mattress and the footboard. His provider, who had taken a muscle relaxer and was resting on a couch in another room, found him about an hour later. Seven-month-old Aniyah Boone died of a brain injury and lacerated liver at her child care program in eastern Kansas. Aniyah was left unattended by her caregiver, and when an 8-year-old who was also in care that day tried to take the crying infant out of her crib, the child tripped and dropped Aniyah. When the provider discovered the injuries from the fall, she never tried to perform CPR or call 911.

Black California students want more support. A new law names colleges that serve them best

Lylah Schmedel-Permanna and Jasmin Shirazian, Cal Matters

Seeing is believing — at least, that is how Jae’Shaun Phillips feels about attending Sacramento State, the California State University with the largest Black student body, with over 2,000 students. He is in the inaugural class of the Black Honors College, a new initiative created to support future Black scholars and leaders. Now, Sacramento State is leading similar charges statewide. For one, the university is hosting the Cal State system’s new Office for the Advancement of Black Student Success, which oversees efforts to better serve Black students throughout the Cal State system. Secondly, on a wider scope, this office will soon manage a special designation for California colleges and universities that demonstrate a strong dedication to their Black students.

Making sense of the moment: A Black student perspective on the attack on DEI

Princess-J’Maria Mboup, Michigan Daily

With one of the largest diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the country, the University of Michigan has become a central target of the anti-DEI crusade. Facing heightened media coverage and increased scrutiny, the University’s DEI program is in a uniquely vulnerable position. In states like Texas and Alabama, DEI offices, programs, curriculums and initiatives that focus on or are dedicated to race, gender and sexuality have been systematically dismantled. And in the wake of the presidential election results, with the U.S. Congress reaching a Republican majority, the precarity of DEI programs has only increased. As a campus community, it is time that we seriously consider what this well-funded and coordinated attack on DEI may mean for the future of our University and, more broadly, the future of social and racial progress. Most importantly, though, it is time we seriously consider what we can and must do in this moment.

Inequality, Poverty, Segregation

Ethnic studies boosts critical thinking, equity awareness in high school students

Fernanda Pires, Michigan News

High school students enrolled in ethnic studies develop the ability to think analytically about the causes of social inequalities, a University of Michigan study suggests. The study found that students enrolled in ethnic studies experience significant growth in critical reflection, a core component of critical consciousness, which enables people to recognize and challenge systemic inequities. Growth in critical reflection has been linked to academic success, civic engagement, improved well-being and support for equity-promoting policies.

Vast inequality looms for special education if Trump eliminates US Dept of Ed, Ohio parents 

Nick and Lauren Tuell, Ohio Capital Journal

We all want to raise our children in a nation that values their education and provides for every child’s unique needs. Programs like Individualized Education Plans (IEP) and 504 plans are vital in achieving these goals by supporting students with special needs and enabling them to thrive. An IEP is a written plan that outlines the educational needs of a child with a disability in public school. Ensuring that every child can receive specialized instruction and support services to succeed. The U.S. Department of Education provides federal funding and oversight to these programs to ensure every child has the federal right to an education regardless of which school or district they attend. Our son Jackson is 5 years old, autistic non-verbal and struggles in most academic and social environments. But don’t let that fool you, Jackson shows a desire to learn, play with his peers, and tries again after failure.

Is inequality a natural phenomenon? Thomas Piketty argues it isn’t – and proposes a way forward

Christopher Pollard, The Conversation

Thomas Piketty’s Nature, Culture, and Inequality is a little book that addresses an issue of great significance: is the social inequality we observe every day natural? Drawing on historical economic data from around the world, Piketty describes a tendency since the late 18th century toward greater political and socioeconomic equality. This was particularly apparent in Western countries from around 1914 to around 1980. There has since been a pronounced slowing of that trend. Piketty points out that inequality manifests in different ways in different societies; it also manifests in different ways in the same societies over history. Inequality, he says, has “followed markedly different trajectories – political, socioeconomic, cultural, civilizational, and religious”.

Democracy and the Public Interest

The “Existential Threat” Facing Ohio’s Public School System

Zurie Pope, The Nation

William Phillis started teaching in 1958. “I’ve always liked the idea of schooling. I’ve always liked the idea of the public school system,” said Phillis. Only five years before, the people of Ohio passed a constitutional amendment to create a Board of Education, and schooling in the state was changing rapidly. “The state started making progress in terms of curriculum and programs for kids,” he said. “At that point in time, there was no vocation, there were no charter schools, there were no vouchers.”

Wall Street Took Over a Vital Sign Language Service—And Started Union Busting

Sarah Lazare, In These Times

“Do no harm” is the guiding principle of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters’ professional code of conduct. But when Joe Klug, 28, worked as a Video Relay Service (VRS) interpreter for a Twin Cities metro area office of Purple Communications, he says this principle was routinely violated. The VRS field, which allows Deaf and Hard of Hearing people to make phone calls by video interfacing with interpreters, is difficult and fast-paced work. While some calls are social, others can be serious: medical emergencies, job interviews, jargon-heavy discussions with lawyers or sensitive conversations with doctors. Amid heavy staff turnover at Purple Communications, new interpreters struggled to keep up the pace and wait times soared, according to Klug.

A Direct Democracy Strategy for the Left

Ben Case, Jacobin

The two-party system is not working for American voters, who have little option but to participate in a repetitive electoral ritual of throwing out the party in charge in hopes that the other one can deliver something better. Meanwhile, class dealignment — the result of the Democrats bear-hugging failed neoliberal policies that appeal primarily to well-paid professionals while the Republicans woo working-class people with pseudo-populism and chauvinistic identity politics — strands the Left on the sidelines, making progressive change extraordinarily difficult. Something’s got to give.

Other News of Note

Rita Omokha | The PEN Ten Interview

Christian Omoruyi, PEN America

With verve and assiduity, Rita Omokha’s debut book, Resist: How a Century of Young Black Activists Shaped America (St. Martin’s Press, 2024) chronicles the inspiring stories of young Black activists in the United States who have been at the vanguard of social justice in the last century. From the early days of civil rights icon Ella Baker to the nationwide protests following George Floyd’s murder, Omokha’s trenchant account illustrates how, from generation to generation, young Black activists have been front and center in the quest to make the American experiment more inclusive and just.  In conversation with PEN America’s Government Affairs Liaison, Christian Omoruyi, for this week’s PEN Ten, Omokha discusses the impetus for writing Resist, provides insights into dimensions of young Black activism across decades, and reflects on the book’s impact on her Black identity.