Six on Schools: What research really says about closing schools — and why it’s a bad idea for kids; Betsy DeVos attended Supr
philip panaritis
"In 2013, members of the Chicago Board of Education approved the closing of 47 elementary schools. Despite weeks of protests by teachers, parents and community members, 12,000 students saw their schools closed and thousands more students at receiving schools were negatively impacted in the largest mass closing of neighborhood schools in U.S. history.
At the time, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel explained the decision as a money-saving measure and promised that residents like Ms. Irene would have a say in turning the former schools into facilities that would benefit the surrounding neighborhoods.
Today, two-thirds of those buildings remain vacant and there are no standards for community involvement in determining their reuse.
As Chicago Public School board members — who will vote on new school closures — listen to the stories of families like the Robinsons, I hope that they take time to understand that these stories align with the vast amount of research that documents the damage school closings do to children and to communities. As a scholar at the National Education Policy Center, I can confirm that Robinson’s story is one I and other researchers have heard over and over."
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The Education Department published a note in the Federal Register on Tuesday that says it wants to delay for two years the rule that was intended to be implemented starting in the 2018-2019 school year.
The department did not respond to a query about why it was doing this, but the notice says that it is doing it to make sure that the rule’s “effectiveness” can be ensured. The Hill newspaper had reported recently that states, districts, superintendents and others had raised concerns about the rule. Administrators have expressed concern about the cost of implementation, while advocates for students with disabilities have said it is an important step to protect minority children.
This is one of a number of Obama-era regulations and rules that DeVos has rolled back or delayed, and it is possible that DeVos could decide to eliminate it altogether."
‘I Live Paycheck to Paycheck’: A West Virginia Teacher Explains Why She’s on Strike
What are the origins of the strike?
They told us that essentially if you weren’t a single person, if you had a family plan, your health insurance was going to rise substantially. As a West Virginia teacher — and I’ve been teaching 10 years — I only clear right under $1,300 every two weeks, and they’re wanting to take $300 more away for me. But they tell me it’s O.K., because we’re going to give you a 1 percent pay raise. That equals out to 88 cents every two days.
Go365 was thrown out. Of course they decided to give a freeze [on insurance rates], and I think people thought that might be enough. But we understand that this is an election year. They can freeze it right now, but what happens after the election? The feeling is, we have to get this fixed, and we have to get it fixed now.
Jan Resseger: What Linda Darling-Hammond Wrote about the Kerner Commission Report Today [attached]
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