Daily Kos: DK Education

DeVos’ new policies for investigations will allow campus assaulters to cross-examine survivors

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday November 15, 2018 · 1:50 PM PST

2018/11/15 · 13:50

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks with local middle school students prior to a discussion with US First Lady Melania Trump about their day-to-day lives in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, DC, April 9, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) — Just shut your mouth and be quiet, little girl. I was born into money!

At the beginning of September, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court’s decision in the case of Doe v. Baum, et al. , in which a University of Michigan student accused of rape said his rights had been violated by the school because it did not allow him to cross-examine his accuser. The ruling, written by U.S. Circuit Judge Amul Thapar, stated:

Today, we reiterate that holding once again: if a public university has to choose between competing narratives to resolve a case, the university must give the accused student or his agent an opportunity to cross-examine the accuser and adverse witnesses in the presence of a neutral fact-finder.

The ramifications of this ruling are now about to be felt across the country, as the Washington Post reports that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos plans on releasing a “sweeping overhaul of how colleges and universities must handle allegations of sexual assault and harassment.” The Post says that, piggy-backing on the ruling, DeVos plans on expanding the rights of the accused, using some pretty terrible practices to do so.

Some White House officials urged going further to include a mandatory cross-examination provision, two people familiar with internal discussions said. They said others in the administration argued that mandatory questioning was ill-advised, potentially traumatic for victims and not required in court hearings. [Emphasis added.]

Elon Musk makes good on pledge with $480,000 to Flint schools for clean drinking water for kids

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday October 09, 2018 · 10:33 AM PDT

2018/10/09 · 10:33

SpaceX, Tesla and The Boring Company founder Elon Musk attends the 2018 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition, in Hawthorne, California on July 22, 2018. - Students from colleges and universities from the US and around the world are taking part in testing their pods on a 1.25 kilometer-long (0.75-mile) tubular test track at the SpaceX headquarters. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo credit should read ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

For all of the bad and strange press that Tesla founder and billionaire Elon Musk has gotten over the past few weeks, he has come through on his promise to help the Flint, Michigan, school system clean up its drinking-water system.

Thank you @elonmusk and @MuskFoundation for investing in the health/future well-being FCS Students! Your generous donation will help us replace ALL water fountains w/NEW WATER STATIONS & WATER FILTRATION at ALL SCHOOLS! Looking forward to our burgeoning partnership! More to come!
Ã¢ÂÂ Flint Schools (@FlintSchools) October 4, 2018

According to Business Insider, Flint Community Schools (FCS) is referring to a $480,350 donation from the Musk Foundation that they received last week. The money is fulfilling the promise Musk tweeted in July.

Texas school superintendent 'regrets' posting that 'you can't count on a black quarterback'

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday September 19, 2018 · 10:56 AM PDT

2018/09/19 · 10:56

The superintendent of schools in Onalaska, Texas, Lynn Redden, is apologizing after feeling the backlash from an old-timey racist comment he posted on the Facebook page of the Houston Chronicle. The comment referred to Sunday’s NFL game between the Houston Texans and the Tennessee Titans, and in particular to the Texans’ star quarterback, Deshaun Watson. Redden blamed the Texans’ loss on Watson’s mismanagement of the game clock:

“That may have been the most inept quarterback decision I’ve seen in the NFL,” Redden wrote in his Facebook comment. “When you need precision decision making you can’t count on a black quarterback.”

According to the Washington Post, Redden deleted his comment, but not before Houston-area resident Matthew Ericksen had screen-grabbed it.

Ericksen added that while he didn’t have children in the Onalaska district, he was concerned about what he saw as an overtly racist remark made by someone in Redden’s position. A 2016-17 Texas Academic Performance Report listed nine students out of a total of 1,026 in the district, or 0.9 percent, as African American.

Louisiana teacher unemployed after posting racist rant in response to Kaepernick's Nike ad

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday September 12, 2018 · 9:18 AM PDT

2018/09/12 · 09:18

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - SEPTEMBER 05: A billboard featuring former San Francisco 49ers quaterback Colin Kaepernick is displayed on the roof of the Nike Store on September 5, 2018 in San Francisco, California. Nike launched an ad campaign to commemorate the 30th anniversary of its iconic "Just Do It' motto that features controversial former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and a message that says "Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything." (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The responses to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful protest of racial injustice in our country have been charged. The protest has effectively highlighted the racial divisions and ideologies of white supremacy in our country far beyond anything Kaepernick might have imagined when he decided to kneel during the performing of the national anthem. Recently, athletic-wear giant Nike signed Kaepernick to a multi-million-dollar contract and ad campaign that highlight his battle and sacrifices in the fight to make his voice—and millions of others’ voices—heard. The negative reactions to the Nike news has run the gamut from random idiots cutting and burning Nike gear they had already purchased to idiotic elected officials trying to ban Nike apparel in their districts. Nowhere has former San Francisco 49er Kaepernick driven racists madder than in Louisiana.

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Louisiana has seen a mayor try to ban Nike from parks and rec, and some Pelican State police refused to volunteer for security detail for a local high school football team when the team decided to kneel in solidarity with Kaepernick’s message. More recently, a Louisiana math teacher at Slidell High School, Valerie Scogin, was let go after comments she wrote on the Facebook page of a graduate of the high school went bad-viral. Scogin pulled the posts down and apologized, but the damage had already been done, and her apology was not particularly contrite.

According to the Times-Picayune, Scogin had this to say:

"They don't have to live in that country. They could go back. But it was their own people selling them into slavery to begin with and tearing (treating) them even worse in those countries of origin.

"Want not to be stereotyped, tell people of that color to quit acting like animals and perpetuating the stereotype. Many are average people; the few ruin it."

Georgia charter school asks parents if it can begin 'paddling' elementary school kids

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday September 11, 2018 · 12:53 PM PDT

2018/09/11 · 12:53

You cannot find a single worthwhile study concluding that using “paddling” as a means of discipline for children—or anyone, for that matter—is a productive and positive practice. Still, more than a third of the states in our country allow this very type of “discipline” in schools. CBS Georgia affiliate WRDW reports that the Georgia School for Innovation and the Classics (GSIC), a charter school in Hephzibah, near August, Georgia, has been sending out consent forms to parents. Consent to what? To paddling their children in kindergarten and 1st through 9th grades.

You see, according to Jody Boulineau, the school’s superintendent, "there was a time where corporal punishment was kind of the norm in school and you didn't have the problems that you have.” Jody Boulineau sounds like quite the peach!

"It's just one more tool that we have in our disciplinary toolbox that we can use,” Superintendent Boulineau said.

[...]

The form spells it out: a student will be taken into an office behind closed doors. The student will place their hands on their knees or piece of furniture and will be struck on the buttocks with a paddle. [Emphasis in the original.]

According to Boulineau, there’s no requirement to sign the consent form, but the school will begin paddling kids on a “three-strikes” bases, giving two warnings followed by the punishment. If a parent opts out of allowing their kids to be physically abused by somebody at the school, they are opting in, strangely, to a more severe punishment.

Parents who opt out of the paddling must agree to up to five days of suspension as punishment for their children. GSIC is the only school in the August area that will start paddling students who are misbehaving this year.

“Up to five days of suspension?” That’s a lot of days that can be wiped away with a little paddling. It’s almost like Superintendent Boulineau is not simply shitty at being an educator and disciplinarian, but is also really hankering to smack some small children around. Like a bully.

The paddle will be 24 inches in length, six inches in width and 3/4 inches in thickness, the form specifies. Parents will be notified if their child is to be paddled by an administrator, according to the form, which CBS News has not independently verified.

Class dismissed! Organized Oklahoma teachers send anti-education Republicans packing

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday August 29, 2018 · 10:30 AM PDT

2018/08/29 · 10:30

Oklahoma teachers, like their counterparts elsewhere in the nation, are being abused by their state. Underpaid and undervalued, teachers across the country have hit the streets in protest. With elections on the line, many Republicans bent to the will of the people, but many more still found that their hearts were two sizes two small and voted against bills in their respective states. In Oklahoma, 19 House Republicans voted against a tax hike. Since then, teachers and advocates have organized. In June, Oklahoma Republicans who voted against the tax that would have funded pay raises for teachers got a taste of what was to come.

Of the 10 “no” voters in the House who were running for re-election, two were defeated outright on Tuesday night — Reps. Chuck Strohm of Jenks and Scott McEachin of Tulsa. Seven others ended up in an Aug. 28 primary runoff against fellow Republicans.

Four other Republican incumbents also were defeated on Tuesday, including one who lost to a seventh-grade English teacher from Elgin.

New Jersey man's insanely racist Facebook rants lead him to remove himself from school board race

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Monday August 20, 2018 · 10:52 AM PDT

2018/08/20 · 10:52

Rick Jankowski was running for the school board of Monroe Township in Gloucester County, New Jersey. Reported to be a union carpenter, Jankowski’s dreams of bringing his special brand of no nonsense politics to the school board has come to a whimpering halt. The New Jersey Globe reports that Jankowski has “withdrawn” his candidacy, due to revelations that he’s something of a crazy racist. The outlet had originally reported on a series of terribly racist and inflammatory posts and “rants” by Jankowski on his Facebook page between the years 2013 and 2016.

“So now I watch videos of the ‘protesters’ throwing trash cans and any other items at any white person they see…….time to start firing bullets into these fucking monkeys and send them to their graves,” Monroe school board candidate Rick Jankowski wrote on April 27, 2015.

[...]

“I’m sorry but I can’t stay quiet any longer…..you goddamn animals in Missouri make me sick! Another black criminal gets killed after assaulting a white cop and you pieces of shit want justice? You are not Americans, you are animals who disgust me. You wonder why there is racism in this country? Get a fucking job and contribute you useless wastes of life instead of constantly committing crims and protesting when you get what you deserve, [sic]” Jankowski wrote on Aug. 18, 2014.

Jankowski’s Facebook campaign page is down, but screengrabs exist of the numerous rants Jankowsi made over the years, covering everything from NFL players tweeting about the injustice of George Zimmerman getting off scot-free after killing Treyvon Martin, to President Obama being the reason for “racism.” It’s some high-level dumb. After the report came out that Jankowski was a raving lunatic racist, it took about a week before Jankowski felt the pressure to end his bid to corrupt the minds of New Jersey children.

“I’m sorry. There isn’t much more than I can say except for that. I would like to extend my heartfelt apologies to those that I have offended and to those who have supported me in my endeavors,” Jankowski said in a posting announcing his withdrawal from the race. “Regarding the remarks that were recently published, I want you to know that I wrote those remarks in anger from what I have seen transpire through our country over the years. I acknowledge this is not an excuse for my actions. I know many will say I am apologizing because those remarks surfaced and I assure you this is not the case. I could have deleted the posts or made my page private, but I didn’t because that’s not who I am.”

We know you wrote those things in “anger.” That’s the measure of you, man. When you get angry you say mean and hate-filled things. Your thinking is so colored by your bigotries that when stressful things are taking place, and when push comes to shove, you spew vitriolic, ignorant, unconstructive blatherings, blaming others for the problems you don’t want to face up to.

Omarosa claims Betsy DeVos said black students who booed her ‘don’t have the capacity to understand’

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday August 14, 2018 · 1:49 PM PDT

2018/08/14 · 13:49

Omarosa Manigault Newman keeps making news as various sections of her version of events from inside the Trump White House filter out into the public sphere. Omarosa continues to do what she’s always done best: promote herself as she burns down anything that looks like a bridge around her. This time it’s her new memoir about her time in the White House, Unhinged. All of the stories are believable and ludicrous and Omarosa’s “versions” of these stories are equally ridiculous. Did Trump float the idea of swearing on The Art of the Deal instead of the Bible for his inauguration? Is Trump insensitive to people not white and wealthy? It’s hard to know whether Omarosa’s stories are 90 percent true or 92 percent true. What is known is that Trump is freaking out, calling Omarosa a “dog,” while trying to silence her through the courts.

The newest story to come out details DeVos’s response to getting the cold shoulder in May of 2017, as she was roundly booed and students turned their backs on her during the ill-advised commencement speech she gave at Bethune-Cookman University. Speaking at one of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) was as tone deaf as anything else this administration’s done and, according to Omarosa, DeVos was as daft (and condescendingly racist) as you might imagine. She reportedly told Omarosa that she had done “great!” and that the students protesting didn’t “get it. They don’t have the capacity to understand what we’re trying to accomplish.”

Omarosa claims that she confronted DeVos about this which may or may not have happened; and subsequently Omarosa bemoaned DeVos’s ignorance of the nature of HBCUs, to the Donald himself.

When Manigault-Newman returned to the White House and complained about DeVos to Trump, she claims the president shook his head in disgust and implied he’d fire her soon: “She is Ditzy Devos, what do you expect? In a very short period of time, I will get rid of her. Believe me, believe me.”

It’s easy to believe that someone as dumb as Betsy DeVos—and make no mistake, she is not a bright person—would shield her privilege and stupidity by projecting onto people of color the same paternalistic condescension of racism that slaveholders used to argue against abolition. The response to DeVos from students of all ages, backgrounds, and institutions has been resoundingly negative. Her response has been the same as the rest of the Trump White House, playing a victim while crying white tears and suppressing dissent.

New York private school under fire for policy of separating students into homerooms by race

Kelly Macias

Daily Kos Staff

Monday July 02, 2018 · 12:58 PM PDT

2018/07/02 · 12:58

Teacher speaks in front of the class room before middle-school aged children at their desks. — Private schools are faced with many dilemmas in terms of how best to support students of color.

Since America continues to struggle with acknowledging and understanding the pervasive nature of racism and white supremacy, it’s often a good thing when institutions do their part to begin to address racial divisions and disparities. This is especially true for private schools—which are often predominantly white spaces that can be unwelcoming to students of color.

But sometimes even the best efforts can end up as mistakes, and that seems to be the case for the well-known and elite Little Red School House in New York City, which came under fire recently for a new policy that separated middle-school white students and students of color into homerooms by their race. Parents learned about what was happening in late June and were outraged by it. Subsequently, the school has decided to end the practice.

According to school director Phil Kassen, dividing the students by race was meant as an attempt “to better support our students of color.” According to NBC New York 4, Kassen said the following in a letter to parents:

“[The policy] came about after much conversation with the faculty and was prompted by a conversation with a number of recent graduates, reflecting on their experience at LREI and suggesting that we create greater opportunities for connection and support.”

Kassen also noted that the groupings were not meant to take rights or opportunities away from students and that the school will continue to look for ways to support all students while also creating opportunities for dialogue that allow all voices to be heard.

Doing work to further diversity, equity, and inclusion is no easy task. There is always tension as people and organizations move from theory to practice. In our society, almost everyone short of self-identified white supremacists will say that they support diversity and equal treatment for all. But the reality is that white supremacy is a potent drug and when power structures are changed and shifted to center the marginalized (in this case people of color), the very people who claim to support a fairer world are actually really uncomfortable with change.

GOP finally parts ways with man who said God is a white supremacist and MLK 'an agent of Satan'

Walter Einenkel

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday June 28, 2018 · 3:28 PM PDT

2018/06/28 · 15:28

Screen_Shot_2017-08-24_at_11.28.25_AM.png

A North Carolina Republican is under fire because of his connection to a website that has all kinds of bananas crazy hate-filled things to say about everybody not white and not a certain kind of Christian. Russell Walker was the Republican candidate for the state assembly in House District 48. I say “was,” because over the past 24 hours, the North Carolina Republican Party has cut ties with him. Why have they done this, you might ask? It has come to light that Mr. Walker has ties to a website that proposes all kinds of amazing theories about the world. Here are some of those ideas, according to the Wisconsin Salem Journal.

“God made the races and he is the greatest racist ever.”

“What is wrong with being a white supremacist?”

“The Jews are not Semitic they are Satanic as they all descend from Satan.”

There are history lessons that only our current president could love.

Another post on the website refers to Martin Luther King Jr. by a racial slur. "MLK wanted to destroy the Caucasian race through mixing and integration. He was an agent of Satan.”

A Hoke County newspaper—that Walker has terrorized and written into frequently—includes a front page article showing him with one of his racist signs, picketing out front of the paper’s offices. According to the News & Observer, Walker claims to be a chemical engineer, have an A rating from the NRA, traveled everywhere and is something of an anti-vaxxer. Oh, he also won the Republican primary already, and was endorsed by the North Carolina Republican Party.

"The North Carolina Republican House Caucus and our members will not support Mr. Walker’s campaign given his comments and actions, said Rep. John Szoka, N.C. House Republican Caucus, conference chairman in a statement Wednesday. "While Mr. Walker won the Republican primary, his rhetoric and actions have no place in the Republican Party, and he should strongly consider withdrawing his candidacy."

Here’s something very important to understand about this. Yes, the Republican Party just withdrew their support of Mr. Russell; but they had supported him. This is a man that made headlines for trying to sue to have the Confederate Flag put back into South Carolina courtrooms, and then spoke in front of the courthouse where he called, in front of cameras and reporters, Martin Luther King Jr. a racial expletive. That was almost a year ago.

Listen, I get it. When your political party is almost entirely made up of white supremacist christian hypocritical assholes, it’s hard to find the more savvy ones to run for office.

Lessons learned: Six Republican incumbents ousted by teachers running for office in Oklahoma

Jen Hayden

Daily Kos Staff

Wednesday June 27, 2018 · 9:56 AM PDT

2018/06/27 · 09:56

Teachers from across the state of North Carolina march and protest outside the State Capitol building in Raleigh, on May, 16 2018. - Tens of thousands of educators, school workers and parents of students marched from the NC Association of Educators building to the State Capitol building to protest wages and per-pupil spending, among other issues. North Carolina ranks 39th in teacher pay. Though wages have increased slightly, many educators still believe not enough is being done by the Republican controlled state legislature in reguards to education funding. (Photo by Logan Cyrus / AFP) (Photo credit should read LOGAN CYRUS/AFP/Getty Images)

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Teachers are showing us the way in Oklahoma! Already some of the lowest paid in the nation, Oklahoma teachers hadn’t had a raise in nine years before they went on a nine-day strike in April. Many of these teachers are forced to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet. The very conservative Oklahoma legislature was forced to take action and teachers and their aides statewide got a much-needed raise. Nevertheless, with crumbling buildings and 20-year-old textbooks, Oklahoma’s teachers are far from done in their quest to bring basic education and teacher salaries up to reasonable standards. Nearly 100 of those educators decided to run in 2018 primaries as both Democrats and Republicans and it had a huge impact, especially in the districts with legislators who voted against even the tiniest of raises for teachers. They were the biggest targets for educators—and it paid off.

From the Associated Press:

"Our voices were heard tonight," said Sherrie Conley, an assistant principal at an Oklahoma City elementary school who ended up in a Republican runoff with incumbent Rep. Bobby Cleveland.

Of the 10 "no" voters in the House who were running for re-election, two were defeated outright on Tuesday night — Reps. Chuck Strohm of Jenks and Scott McEachin of Tulsa. Seven others ended up in an Aug. 28 primary runoff against fellow Republicans.

Four other Republican incumbents also were defeated on Tuesday, including one who lost to a seventh-grade English teacher from Elgin.

That means 13 pro-education teachers could become new Oklahoma state representatives in one year alone! Will teachers nationwide take this lesson from Oklahoma? It’s hard to ask any more of these public servants, but this is how we collectively take back our conservative-dominated state legislatures to put pro-education candidates at the top. Providing excellent public education shouldn’t be a partisan issue: it is in all of our best interest to see future generations succeed.

Thanks for running, Oklahoma teachers! We are proud of you all!

Teachers continue to make themselves heard in Colorado governor's race

Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Monday June 25, 2018 · 1:05 PM PDT

2018/06/25 · 13:05

WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 12: Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO) joins veterans, servicemembers and aspiring recruits to call on Congress and President Barack Obama to move forward with immigration reform at the U.S. Capitol November 12, 2014 in Washington, DC. The news conference participants called on Obama to 'go bold and go big' and to use his executive authority to reform immigratoin if Congress could not get the job done. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) — Jared Polis

The teachers’ uprising that swept through red and purple states this spring isn’t over, even if teachers are no longer crowding state capitol buildings. Education issues continue to be fought out in state and local elections, and that isn’t always just a Republican vs. Democrat issue. That was true in Kentucky, where a Republican state House member lost his primary to a Republican teacher. And it’s playing out in the Democratic primary for governor in Colorado, where two of the candidates have been open to school privatization and a third is getting teachers union support:

[Former state treasurer and Denver Chief Financial Officer Cary] Kennedy remains an underdog in limited public polling, but won a majority of the vote at the state party’s assembly in April. Strategists say the spending from the teachers unions and EMILY’s List is keeping her within striking distance of [Rep. Jared] Polis, who has used his fortune to spend more than $11 million on his campaign. The winner will likely face state Treasurer Walker Stapleton, a Bush family cousin who is the front-runner in the GOP primary, in November to determine who will succeed Hickenlooper.

Polis is a charter school founder who in the past expressed openness to vouchers, though he now says he is firmly anti-voucher. State Sen. Mike Johnston, also in the gubernatorial primary, is fully on board with corporate education policy. In recent years, too many Democratic politicians have taken these positions, but between the Betsy DeVos Education Department and the teacher uprisings, the tide has shifted against privatization and testing-driven education, presenting a challenge for politicians like Polis.

Colorado schools are badly underfunded, spending thousands less per pupil than the national average and with teacher pay ranking 31st among the states, even though the state’s median income is high. When Colorado teachers walked out to protest in April, Kennedy was the only gubernatorial candidate to show up to support them.

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