Some Good News

• In Illinois, Governor Pritzker has taken a bold stance and banned book bans. In signing the Library Freedom Act into law, public libraries must “reject outside attempts at banning books for reasons that are partisan or doctrinal” (nytimes.com). This law comes after a number of states’ governors are signing book bans. In response, Governor Pritzker said, “While certain hypocritical governors are banning books written by L.G.B.T.Q. authors, but then claiming censorship when the media fact-checks them, we are showing the nation what it really looks like to stand up for liberty” (nytimes.com). Libraries that do not comply could lose state funding.

• CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education) is radically reshaping education for young women. It starts with a model that gives young women a comprehensive support system, including financial and material support, as well as holistic coaching — right in their school communities. CAMFED is also enabling the transition into work opportunities, through mentorship and a robust alumni network, which today has over 250,000 member (goodgoodgood.co).

• Rebecka Peterson is the Teacher of the Year in Tulsa Oklahoma. She has instituted a classroom ritual of naming one good thing that happened each day. Peterson brightens every day with a love for her students with her One Good Thing blog, where she writes daily about something good that happened in her class at Union High School, and encourages her students to do the same in their hand-written journals. “Since Rebecka was named the Oklahoma Teacher of the Year, she has traveled all over the state to report on more stories of hope, creativity, and joy in classrooms,” said Oklahoma Education Association President Katherine Bishop. Peterson was also recognized by First Lady Jill Biden who praised Peterson for sharing the “beautiful and positive experiences” that come with teaching (edweek.org).

• Louisiana public schools have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, with the percentage of students earning scores of 3 and above on AP exams. These scores make high school students eligible for college credit. “Results for the 2021-22 school year look almost identical to 2018-19, the last full school year before the pandemic, with nearly 21,000 teenagers taking more than 30,000 AP exams in each year. The percentage of students passing, though, has increased from about 35% to nearly 39% (theadvocate.com). The latest numbers, released earlier this month by the Louisiana Department of Education, are also a notable turnaround from the falloff that occurred in 2020. (theadvocate.com).

• In San Francisco in 2010, school officials opened bank accounts for all incoming kindergarteners with a deposit of $50. These were interest-bearing accounts. While this wasn’t a lot of money, it was initiated to provide something many low-income students lacked – motivation and the belief that someday they could go to college with what money was saved in these accounts. San Francisco was the first city to establish a college fund for its public school students. The program was later rolled out to include every enrolled child in the district. Currently there are 52,000 accounts opened , with the city acting as custodian. On average, the graduating class of 2023 has a balance of $1,4222 – 28x higher than the original amount (sfchronicle.com). “Under then-Mayor Gavin Newsom, the program, called K2C, or Kindergarten to College, was backed by research that said children with a college fund are more likely to pursue higher education, are more likely to get better grades in high school, and to perform overall better throughout their education” (sfchronicle.com). The money won’t typically cover college costs and it’s not addressing the crisis of college affordability, but it is helping families prepare more for all that (sfchronicle.com).

I don’t know about you, but I needed to find some good in the world this week, and researching these brought me joy. One final note, there were many more than I could write about. Good things are happening, but they get buried by the bad – because bad sells. Find the good.

These are my reflections for today.

June 16, 2023 

If you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing and following my blog via email. 

Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

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“You poor bastards”

So began the commencement speech given by actor and comedian Patton Oswalt at William & Mary. He went on to say, “Democracy’s crumbling, truth is up for grabs, the planet’s trying to kill us, and loneliness is driving everyone insane. …If you just shut yourself off from the world, life is way easier. It’s also way less colorful, way less complicated, way less nourishing, and way less memorable” (theguardian.com).

At Hunter College, Lin-Manuel Miranda said, “What do you have to do? What do you want to do? Tomorrow is not promised. Make plans anyway.” He encouraged the graduates, ” You are opening doors. Shout, ‘Here we are!’ You’re filling up days on a diamond. Keep choosing life and keep choosing connection. It will feel like you’re running out of time. But in all likelihood, you’ve got plenty of time” (theguardian.com).

At her alma mater, Tennessee State University, Oprah Winfrey had some encouraging words for the graduates. “There will never be anything in your life as fulfilling as making a difference in somebody else’s. Everybody here wants to see you take your integrity, your curiosity, your creativity, your guts, and this newfound education of yours and use it to make a difference. Everybody always thinks you got to go do something big and grand. I’ll tell you where you start. You start by being good to at least one other person, every single day. Just start there. That’s how you begin to change the world “ (businessinsider.com).

Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock said to Bard College graduates, “I know as you sit here – perhaps 21, 22, 23 years old – you say, well, what should I do? What is it that the world needs? My answer, in the words of [the author] Howard Thurman: “Ask not what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. In other words, I challenge you to find your passion. I challenge you to find that thing in the world that feels like such a deep moral contradiction that you cannot be silent. You have to express yourself; you have to stand up and try to make the world better. Find anything that you would do for free except that you have to pay the rent or the mortgage. And chase after it with all of your might” (theguardian.com).

Tom Hanks put out the challenge to graduates at Harvard University. Hanks said, “The American way is exampled in both plain sight and in subtle attitude. It’s in moments of routine exchange and in broad expectations. It’s in places of historic weight and import and in the small spaces in which we all stand. The American way could be exampled when you respect the law and the rights of all. Because if you don’t, who will? When your food is brought to you, will you thank the server? Because if you don’t, who will? Would you pick up the litter that has missed the recycling bin? Because if you don’t, who will? When you vote your conscience and make sure your neighbor has the opportunity to do the same with theirs, because if you don’t, who will? When you make good on your victories and learn from your losses because both are the results of proud and noble efforts, if you don’t, who will?” (entertainmentweekly.com).

Astronaut Mae Jemison told graduates of the University of Delaware to, “Look up at the sky, the clouds, beyond the sun, the moon, the stars, when you need to recharge your spirit. Let the gravity of Earth give you a warm hug. Look up and remember what inspires you, what you were doing this for and why you cared in the first place” (theguardian.com).

Writer and journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones gave these words to the graduates of Spelman College, “You’re a part of an institution that understands Black excellence should never be disqualified by white institutions. And so I hope that Spelman has imbued into you that it is possible to succeed in those spaces where people don’t think we belong without compromising your values and your sense of self. That success doesn’t mean you have to look or talk or think a certain way. I stand here with this bright red hair, big hoop earrings and Jordans on, telling you that however you present yourself in the world has nothing to do with your intellect, your ambition and your worth. Success will not be worth it if you have to sell yourself out to get it. So hold on to who you are” (theguardian.com).

Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress for her leading role in Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, told the graduates of Harvard Law School, “Internally, knowing your limits keeps you humble, motivated, and focused on a goal to point your finger toward” She went on to say, “For every winner, there doesn’t have to be a loser. In fact, most success stories are less about competition and more about collaboration“ (businessinsider.com).

Speaking to graduates is a daunting task. You have ten minutes or less to get their attention, keep their attention and say something meaningful and poignant – that they’ll remember. Oswalt’s opening line does just that. How many graduates will remember more of his speech because he led with “You poor bastards”.

Some day, I aspire to give a commencement speech. I’ve been drafting it in my head for years, and so far I think it’s really good. Just putting it out there…

These are my reflections for today.

June 9, 2023 

If you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing and following my blog via email. 

Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

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Good for you, Illinois

“Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval…” (H.B. 2789).

This is language taken from a new law, H.B. 2789, that will withhold state funds from institutions that ban books. Governor JB Pritzker (D) is expected to sign the bill in the coming days. Speaking on the bill, the governor said, “Banning books is a devastating attempt to erase our history and the authentic stories of many. Students across this state deserve to see themselves reflected in the pages of stories that teach and entertain. I’m proud to support House Bill 2789 and ensure that Illinois’ libraries remain sources of knowledge, creativity, and fact (ilsos.gov/news).

Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias drafted the first-in-the-nation legislation supporting public and school libraries and librarians. Giannoulias said librarians not only deserve our gratitude, but also must have a safe environment in which to work. Giannoulias said in a statement, “This scourge of censorship has a chilling effect on our democracy. These efforts have nothing to do with books. Instead, they are about ideas that certain individuals disagree with and believe no one should think, or be allowed to think” (ilsos.gov/news).

The bill passed the state Senate 39-19, and the House 66-39.

One supporter of the bill, State senator Laura Murphy, said, “Our nation’s libraries have been under attack for too long—they are bastions of knowledge and proliferate the spread of ideas” (thehill.com).

One opponent of the bill, State senator Jason Plummer, said “it’s offensive to the principles of good government to threaten to take away public funds from the very people whose taxes pay for these grants just because certain politicians may not agree with their beliefs” (thehill.com).

Mr. Plummer, is it not offensive to threaten to take away public resources from the very people whose taxes pay for the grants? Why does a small group of people get to decide what can and cannot be read – as you said just because certain politicans may not agree with their beliefs?

The language of the bill is written in strong support of the promotion of public education.

“Because the state has a financial responsibility in promoting public education and because the public library is a vital agency serving all levels of the educational process, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the state to encourage the improvement of free public libraries and to encourage cooperation among all types of libraries in promotion the sharing if library resources… It is further declared to be the policy of the State to encourage and protect the freedom of libraries and library systems to acquire materials without external limitation and to be protected against attempts to ban, remove, or otherwise restrict access to books or other materials” (ilsos.gov/news).

Book bans have increased over the past few years, more in the last year, thanks to governors in Florida, Texas, Missouri, Utah, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and South Carolina. PEN America has compiled data on the subject matter of banned books in the U.S. (lithub.com).

Book bans target marginalized communities. The American Library Association reported 681 attempts in 2021 to ban more than 1,600 library titles, primarily books written by or about people of color or LGBTQ individuals (nwitimes.com).

The efforts of Illinois governor, secretary of state, state senators and legislators should be acknowledged and applauded. The strength and beauty of a democracy is, in part, our ability to choose what we read/don’t read. The efforts of rogue groups (Moms for Liberty, Proud Boys e.g.) who oppose this freedom perhaps don’t understand this freedom. As many have said – if you don’t like the content of certain books, don’t read them, but don’t represent others who are not in agreement with your soapbox position that schools are promoting certain agendas, advocating for or against lifestyle choices, grooming kids, and whitewashing our history.

Deliberate ignorance is a culturally-induced phenomenon.

These are my reflections for today.

May 19, 2023 

Traveling a bit over the next few weeks. Be back soon.

If you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing and following my blog via email. 

Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

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Redlining and Segregation

Last week I wrote about redlining, which was basically government-funded racist programs that were designed to increase the homeownership levels, but in reality was a state-sponsored system of segregation. The Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) offered mortgages to white families, which kept Black families in the cities without the benefit of financial security. As a result of these HOLC programs, white middle-class and lower-middle class families were included in suburban communities, while Black families were pushed into urban housing projects.

Redlining had a significant impact on neighborhoods surrounding major cities in the U.S. One example of this impact can be seen in the quality of education children received. The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University released a working paper exploring the impact of historical redlining policies on educational outcomes, including school district funding, school diversity, and student performance. “The findings demonstrate that districts and schools currently located in formerly redlined neighborhoods have significantly less per-pupil revenues, larger shares of Black and non-white student bodies, less diverse student populations, and lower average test scores compared with those located in neighborhoods that were not redlined” (scholar.harvard.edu).

Aaronson et. al.(2020) wrote of the implications of HOLC’s redlining practices. “We hypothesize that the lack of access to credit in certain neighborhoods deemed risky at the time, could have led to substantial financial disinvestment and the resorting of families, resulting in significant place-based differences in the life-course consequences of children growing up generations later (sciencedirect.com).

“These findings suggest that education policymakers need to consider the historical implications of redlining and past neighborhood inequality on neighborhoods today when designing modern interventions focused on improving life outcomes of students of color” (nlihc.org).

In looking further at the implications of past decisions on current day educational funding, Aaronson et. al. (2020) concluded, It is therefore a reminder that to understand the landscape of urban inequality that exists today, we must look to the past and examine the unfolding consequences of social policies implemented many decades ago (sciencedirect.com).

Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act provides financial assistance to schools with high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet state academic standards. Federal funds are currently allocated through formulas that are based primarily on census poverty estimates and the cost of education in each state (www2.ed.gov).

School districts rely heavily on local property tax revenue, which means where one lives determines how well one’s neighborhood’s schools are funded. In short, the typical Black or Hispanic student’s district receives less local property tax revenue than does the typical white student’s district (shankerinstitute.org).

Racial segregation did not occur due to random convergences of events and factors. Many of the same practices were widely employed throughout the U.S. for over 100 years. “The legacy of these efforts for K-12 funding today are clear, and portraying racial/ethnic disparities in funding adequacy and outcomes merely as a side effect of income and wealth segregation requires one to ignore this history. Economic segregation, while interdependent with racial/ethnic segregation today, has its roots in generations of institutional policies and practices to keep people separate based solely on their race or ethnicity” (shankerinstitute.org).

In 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson passed The Fair Housing Act to fight the practice of redlining.Fifty-five years later, the inequities still exist in funding between middle and high income districts as compared to low income districts, and the government, having created this problem in the first place, should take a stand to balance the inequities caused by these discriminatory HOLC programs.

These are my reflections for today.

May 5, 2023 

If you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing and following my blog via email. 

Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

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Safe spaces in Florida???

Teaching materials in Florida are soon going to look like a redacted statement from a government classified document.

The State Board of Education on Wednesday voted to ban Florida middle school and high school teachers from intentionally teaching students about sexual orientation or gender identity, unless the lessons are part of a reproductive health course or are “expressly required” by the state’s academic standards (miamiherald.com).

While the law will have an impact on some LGBTQ policies in some districts, supporters of the restrictions say the law is aimed at classroom instruction, not conversations about those topics when they naturally come up.

Except…

Pasco County (FL) schools banned “safe space” stickers that show support for LGBTQ students. These stickers often serve as an indication for everyone who enters a space that all identities are welcome and supported. A parent raised the issue, saying, “What exactly is a safe space? Shouldn’t the entire school be a safe space?” (applenews.com). Parents believe with this new rule, such conversations will take place at home.

Joe Saunders, senior political director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida, said, “Let’s put it plainly: This is part of the governor’s assault on freedom,” adding the policy will “further stigmatize and isolate a population of young people who need our support now more than ever” (miamiherald.com). Teachers not in compliance with this new law will likely be terminated.

Yes, all schools should be safe spaces. But they’re not. And, all kids who may be struggling with their sexual orientation are not willing to talk with their parents for fear they will be thrown out of the house. That’s one of the reasons safe spaces were created. Without safe spaces for kids, they may have no one to talk to which leads to greater consequences.

Why do schools need safe spaces? Fifty percent of LGBTQ teens (ages 13–17) seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. And 18 percent actually made a suicide attempt. That’s more than twice the rate of suicide attempts among all US teens, which is 9 percent (newportacademy.com).

LGBTQ youth are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society (thetrevorproject).

• Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24 (Hedegaard, Curtin, & Warner, 2018) — and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are at significantly increased risk.
• LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020).
• The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth (13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. — and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds. (thetrevorproject).

If a safe space could save ONE life, isn’t it worth it? Not in Florida, where another new law was passed in April eliminating the requirement that an individual obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm in Florida.

Florida values the right to life, but once you’re born, the state will control who you are or can be, what you can and cannot learn about history, what books you cannot read, and what teachers can and cannot say and teach.

After a nineteen-year old murdered 17 people and injured 17 others at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018, a new law raised the age to buy rifles, shot guns and other guns from licensed dealers to 21. But Florida legislators recently introduced HB 1543 which would lower the age back to 18.

Pay no attention to the actual statistics on suicide rates, but value the sanctity of life so much to make it harder for women to make decisions about their own bodies, but easier to buy guns.

In the Bible, The Pharisees paid a great deal of attention to outward ordinances and actions that would make them appear righteous, but they were not as concerned with actually being righteous in their hearts. For this Jesus referred to them as hypocrites.

These are my reflections for today.

April  21, 2023 

If you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing and following my blog via email. 

Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

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Redlining

This will be a two-part blog. This week I write about redlining, and next week I will write about how redlining impacted public education.

Recently I wrote about Critical Race Theory; what it is, and what it isn’t. One of the main premises of CRT is that racism is embedded in our systems: education, finance, healthcare e.g. As I said last week, it’s a graduate level theory first introduced in law schools, and rarely taught to young children.

Deniers of CRT believe it doesn’t exist, or it makes White people feel badly about themselves, and want to adjust our history. In truth, redlining is just one example of how systematic racist policies have impacted Black Americans.

The origins of redlining can be seen as part of the New Deal during the 1930s when government-insured mortgages were offered to homeowners as a way to avoid the high incidence of foreclosures after the depression. The government agency, Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), created color-coded maps ranking the loan worthiness of neighborhoods in more than 200 cities and towns across the country (nytimes.com).

1938 map of northern Manhattan shows how the community was redlined

Each section of the map was given a grade. Neighborhoods were systematically graded based on criteria related to the age and condition of housing, transportation access, closeness to parks, the economic class and employment status of residents, and race. Neighborhoods were color-coded on maps: green for the “Best,” blue for “Still Desirable,” yellow for “Definitely Declining,” and red for “Hazardous” (ncrc.org). One black family was enough to render a hazardous grade from the banks.

On the surface, these programs were designed to increase the homeownership levels, but in reality these programs were a state-sponsored system of segregation. As a result, white middle-class and lower-middle class families were included in suburban communities, while Black families were pushed into urban housing projects.

https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/#loc=4/41.179/-104.766

The above interactive map was created by researchers at the University of Richmond. Launched in 2016, Mapping Inequality  makes these HOLC maps accessible and easily explorable. Each map can be displayed over the contemporary streetscape, and each neighborhood is clickable to read its area description (dsl.richmond.edu).

While the maps are powerful alone, it’s the underlying area descriptions that provide a far clearer, and sometimes painful, window into the segregationist policies of mid-century America (dsl.richmond.edu).

These discriminatory housing practices continued until 1968 when President Lyndon B. Johnson passed The Fair Housing Act to fight the practice of redlining. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, “The Fair Housing Act makes it unlawful to discriminate in the terms, conditions, or privileges of sale of a dwelling because of race or national origin” (hud.gov).

It wasn’t just prejudice, it was policy. Stephen Menendian, assistant director of the Othering & Belonging Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, said, “Housing really is at the core of every expression of racial inequality in America” (fivethirtyeight.com).

It’s been over 50 years since the use of redlining was banned, but the impact is still felt in cities where redlined neighborhoods are some of the most starkly segregated in the country. In fact, most of the neighborhoods (74%) that the HOLC graded as high-risk or “Hazardous” eight decades ago are low-to-moderate income (LMI) today. Additionally, most of the HOLC graded “Hazardous” areas (nearly 64%) are minority neighborhoods now (ncrc.org).

Next week I will talk about the obvious impact redlining had on public education.

These are my reflections for today.

April  28, 2023 

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Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

@reflectionsined

Critical Race Theory explained…again

Critical Race Theory, a framework that racism is embedded into our legal, financial, and educational systems, as well as housing , employment, and healthcare, was introduced by Derrick Bell in law schools in the late 1970s. Bell, a lawyer, professor (Harvard, NYU) and civil rights activist, worked for the U.S. Justice Department and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund where he supervised over 300 school desegregation cases in Mississippi.

Dorothy Brown, author of “Critical Race Theory: Cases, Materials and Problems,” a legal textbook, said the framework draws on the lived experiences and perspectives of people from impacted communities. It combines storytelling and narrative frameworks to paint a real picture of the issue being discussed (newsone.com). CRT does not mandate or support the oppression of white people. It is almost never taught in grade schools.

Many conservatives have been waging war on a wide-ranging set of claims that they wrongly ascribe to CRT, while barely mentioning the body of scholarship behind it or even Bell’s name (newsone.com). Last year 1,530 school districts in 49 states (not Delaware) had school board candidates who took a stance on critical race theory (CRT). Candidates won nearly 28% of those seats. At least 14 states have enacted legislation to limit the teaching of “divisive concepts or CRT (axios.com).

Predominantly white parent groups around the country have an overinflated and exaggerated panic that their children might feel badly if critical race theory is allowed in school. National organizations have created handouts and brochures that claim concepts like diversity and inclusion and social-emotional learning were a part of critical race theory being taught in schools.  

There is an extensive academic field of literature on CRT’s insights into the contradictions of anti-discrimination law and the complexities of legal advocacy for social justice (newyorker.com). David Hinojosa, director of the Lawyers Committee’s  Educational Opportunities Project said, “Broadly banning diversity and inclusion practices would invalidate anti-discrimination laws, violate foundational constitutional principles, and lead to inconsistent application of education curricula that centers a white, heteronormative perspective. Our diversely rich communities deserve inclusive education free from unjust political restrictions” (newsone.com).

Critical race theory doesn’t teach children they are oppressors. It isn’t even directly taught to children. CRT is a framework for analyzing ongoing systems of oppression. Whitewashed versions of history leave out experiences that directly impact the current condition of many communities. 

Researchers at the UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies Program have created a database to track the attempts by local and state government to outlaw the teaching of CRT. Taifha Natalee Alexander, director and supervisor of the database, said they were prompted to create the database after Donald Trump issued an executive order outlawing federal agencies’ and contractors’ teaching what the administration called “divisive concepts” (newsone.com).

The database identifies measure to ban CRT, and each measure is reviewed to provide the identity of the institution being targeted – K-12 schools, colleges and universities, and government agencies (newsone.com). The report shows several trends;

• 40% of anti-CRT measures mimic language in Trump’s executive order
• anti-CRT measures have been introduced in 49 states
• 90% of all measures, and 94% of all enacted measures, target K-12 education
• of the measures targeting K-12 education, 73% regulate classroom teaching and 75% regulate curricular materials
• of the measures introduced by state legislatures, 1 out of 3 include enforcement provisions that would withhold funding from school districts as a consequence for violations (newsone.com).

Researchers found trends among red states versus blue states. “In blue states, anti-CRT measures are more likely to occur at the local level, including through school boards, while in red states, the efforts are more likely to be at the state level. Wyoming is the only red state that has not enacted a statewide anti-CRT measure” (time.com). The introduction to these anti-CRT measures has been consistent . In 2021, 280 anti-CRT measures were introduced, and in 2022, 283 were introduced. These measures affect almost half of the public school children (22 million) in the U.S. Again worth noting that this is a theory that originated in law school and is rarely taught below a graduate level (time.com).

I would expect many more state and local measures as we enter the 2024 presidential race. The importance of understanding what CRT is and is not- is essential to our progress as a nation.

These are my reflections for today.

April  14, 2023

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Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

@reflectionsined

Teachable moment, not censorship

In my almost 40 years in education, never have I ever seen off-the rail parents impact curricula as I have in the last six months. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had plenty of off-the rail parents, but none of them ever said a word about what I was teaching. It seems unrealistic that one parent can make a fuss about something being taught, and it is pulled and questioned. I would not want one parent deciding for me what my kids can and cannot learn.

Florida.

At North Shore Elementary School in St. Petersburg, a mom raised concern that her child’s school was showing the Disney movie about Ruby Bridges, a movie shown during Black History Month for years. The movie, as many say, is historically accurate and tells the story of 6-year old Ruby who, surrounded by Federal Marshals, entered her elementary school as the first Black student, thus desegregating the public schools in New Orleans.

The mom in Florida said that the use of racial slurs and scenes of white people threatening Ruby as she entered the school might result in students learning that white people hate Black people (news.yahoo.com). Right, because there’s no historical evidence of that being true.

Ric Davis, president of Concerned Organization for Quality Education for Black Students said, “Many from historically marginalized communities are asking whether this so-called integrated education system in Pinellas county can even serve the diverse community fairly and equitably” (news.yahoo.com).

Lawmakers in Florida say they don’t want books, movies, or lessons about race to create student discomfort, and speaking from the other side of their mouth, said they want facts presented honestly. What about the non-white children? At North Shore Elementary School, the enrollment is 57% white, 24% Black, 12% Black. Why, again, do white parents get to decide what history is taught?

My co-authors and I wrote a book, William Frantz Public School; A story of race, resistance, resiliency, and recovery in New Orleans, that tells the story of the school that Bridges entered on November 14, 1960. You may have seen photos showing Bridges surrounded by four Marshals. But in a single focus, the photos do not show, as the movie did (in part), the vitriolic white mothers – some with their children- who stood across the street protesting Bridges’ enrollment. There were angry mobs of protestors who yelled angry, awful epithets at Bridges, and smiled for the cameras. One mother made a casket and put a doll in it with a rope around the neck. Bridges was afraid to eat lunch every day because a parent had threatened to poison her. That’s the truth. But it was very much tempered in the movie.

I use our book in a class I teach college students, and as students write weekly journals in response to the readings, so often students will say they are angry they have never been taught the full story of Ruby Bridges until college.

Here are some of their comments:

• “I, as a young biracial woman, was never educated to the fullest in my K-12 history classes. It could have maybe been the fact that all of my educators growing up were young white males and females straight out of student teaching who had no idea the first thing about racial disparities, or poverty, or segregation, and had never been discriminated against in their entire privileged life.”
• “In general, I never knew how much this impacted Ruby Bridges because my education kept everything censored, and I wonder whose benefit that was for, mine or the United States history?”
• “As I read William Frantz Public School (WFPS), I kept learning new information. Information I believe is critical, but the thing is, I never knew this information. If this information is vital, why did I never learn it? Why did my history curriculum never show the full story?”
• “I remained ignorant to the fact because no one taught me how bad it is, but I stayed ignorant because I did not do my own research.”
• This knowledge has me struck like lightning. And the sting will forever be a reminder of the privilege of my race. I am grateful for this book I am proud to have taken this class.

To put this into perspective, when asked about their reaction to reading our book, 40.7% of students felt blindsided as they were reading about things such as Ruby Bridges, Desegregation vs Integration, (and Hurricane Katrina) for the FIRST TIME and 59.3 % of students had heard about the events mentioned in WFPS, but were NOT fully aware of the significance these events played and the impact they had on history. Many claimed that they merely “scratched the surface” when they were taught about these events.

Further, less than 15% of the students were aware of the “white-history” of education, that is – their awareness of the knowledge of how the history of education has been written and taught in favor of the white race.

About 20% of students identified that after reading William Frantz Public School, they feel compelled to do more research and become more educated about the true history of public education, urban education, and racism. As one student said, “Not as a requirement  But as a personal necessity.[The story of William Frantz]”. Another student said, “I think that by becoming more informed through this class I feel propelled to defend public education and help inform others.”

Bridges was the first Black student to integrate the public schools in New Orleans. This was six years after the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision acknowledging that segregation was unconstitutional. There is a great lesson in the movie, with historically accurate events. But parents are afraid their children might get the wrong message. What’s that message? These events happened. Teach them, talk about them, use them as lessons in empathy so we don’t repeat history. These are teachable moments.

These are my reflections for today.

April  7, 2023

If you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing and following my blog via email. 

Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

@reflectionsined

All in a DeSantis day’s work

Florida.

Bans on books, protests, entertainment shows, voting rights, healthcare choices; controlling what’s taught, when it’s taught, how it’s taught, supporting hate, racism, homophobia.

First a story from a charter school in Tallahassee: A school leader from a charter school in Tallahassee was forced from her job after parents complained about a Renaissance art lesson to 6th grade students that included the iconic statue of David. One parent even called the lesson pornographic (NYPost.com). The lessons, part of the required curriculum include Creation of Adam and Birth of Venus.

Hope Carrasquilla resigned after being told to step down or face termination. Several parents complained they were not notified about the controversial lesson in advance, with one saying she “felt her child should not be viewing those pieces” (NYPost.com).

Michelangelo’s statue of David represents youthful beauty, as well as the city of Florence, and is considered on of his masterpieces as well as one of the Renaissance’s greatest sculptures (Newsweek.com). But now in Florida, a 522 year old statue of a naked human, created by one of the greatest sculptors of all time is now pornographic. What is the message to children to learn that human nakedness is pornographic?

The mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, tweeted an invitation for the principal to visit so he can personally honor her. Parents confusing art with pornography is “ridiculous”, Nardella said (abc13.com). This response highlights how U.S. culture wars are perceived in Europe. The front of last Sunday’s daily publication Corriere della Serra featured the statue with a picture of Uncle Sam covering the genitals.

So much for teaching the classics.

Next, another story from Tallahassee, but this time from the state house. The Florida Senate voted 26-12 along party lines to approve HB-1 which will open a state voucher program that currently provides scholarships to more than 252,000 children with disabilities or from low-income families to ALL 2.9 million school-age children in Florida. Some estimates show the cost to the state ranging from $2.2 billion to $4 billion in the first year. That money will be diverted from the public schools. This means wealthy parents can pay for their child’s tuition with state funding (NBCMiami.com).

Keep in mind, private/parochial schools don’t have to hire licensed teachers or be accountable for annual standardized testing. Parents who send their children to parochial schools can also use state funding for religious education, if they choose. What’s interesting is that the private schools don’t have to follow the same rigid state requirements – so there could be a lesson on the statue of David in the private schools, but not in the public schools. Oh, the irony. Parents can also take the money and home-school their child, but the bill would require home-schooled students to be categorized as participating in a “personalized education program,” which would come with requirements such as the students having to take nationally norm-referenced tests or statewide assessments. The language doesn’t say pass the test, just take it.

Under the bill, students would be eligible to receive vouchers if they are “a resident of this state” and “eligible to enroll in kindergarten through grade 12” in a public school.

(NBCMiami.com)

Supporters of the bill say this will drive up competition among schools, provide parents with options and ultimately raise the quality of education (NBCMiami.com). I sure would like to see the research to support this claim. Unlicensed teachers teaching in schools with no academic accountability. What could go wrong? More importantly, education should never be a competition. Parents always had a choice – private or parochial schools, but now Florida taxpayers will pay for it.

In another giant step to destroying public education in Florida, the governor signed the bill. Of course he did.

So much for the separation of church and state.

Then there’s the League of Women Voters who wanted to hold a rally on the steps of the Old Capital in Tallahassee, but the group was told that in order to hold a rally, they needed to be sponsored by a sympathetic state agency (ProPublica.org). This new DeSantis rule took effect in March. Requests for the use of space must be “consistent with the Agency’s official purposes” which will ensure that demonstrations are “conducted in a manner that protects public health and safety and ensures that state employees and officials can fulfill their responsibilities (ProPublica.org). I hear those League of Women Voters rallies can get pret-ty rowdy.

So much for freedom speech, and freedom of assembly.

No word yet from DeSantis on the announcement by Disney to host the 2023 and 2024 Workplace Summit at the Orlando resort in September. The conference is supported by Out & Equal, a California-based LGBTQ workplace equality organization (OrlandoSentinel.com).

Out & Equal says its summit “is the largest LGBTQ+ conference in the world, bringing executives, employee resource group leaders, human resource professionals and experts in diversity, equity and inclusion together to promote equality.” (miamiherald.com).

The event is expected to bring 5,000 people to discuss gay and transgender inclusivity and equality in the workplace. Sponsors and attendees include Bank of America, Apple, McDonald’s, Uber, Amazon, Hilton, Boeing, Cracker Barrel, and John Deere. Government sponsors include the State Department and the CIA.

Here’s a little history lesson. In 1933, the Nazis tried to control communication through censorship. This included control of newspapers, magazines, books, art, theater music, movies, radio. Textbooks were removed from classrooms and libraries. In 1933, 20,000 books written by Jewish or anti-Nazi authors were taken from libraries, universities, and shops, and were burned. Unacceptable authors included Einstein, Jack London, HG Wells, and Upton Sinclair. If authors wanted to produce new works, they had to get their work approved by the Reich Chamber of Culture.

These book burnings were considered a symbol of the revolution. Joseph Goebbels, Propaganda Minister said, “Any book which acts subversively on our future will be destroyed……………the soul of the German people can express itself again. These flames not only illuminate the end of an old era, they also light up a new” (historylearningsite.co.uk).

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all wanna change the world
You tell me that it’s evolution
Well, you know
We all wanna change the world

But when you talk about destruction
Don’t you know that you can count me out (Beatles 1968)

These are my reflections for today.

March 31, 2023

If you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing and following my blog via email. 

Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

@reflectionsined

“Food fraud”

Over 34 million Americans are hungry every day and that includes 1 in 6 children. One in four food-insecure kids come from a household that doesn’t qualify for support (j5FAKduHDUu0hkC-FtPsog.pdf). Nearly half of all public school students in America rely on free or reduced-price school meals to meet their daily nutritional needs (nces.ed.gov).

(www.feedingamerica.org)

A Republican state senator in Minnesota voted against a bill to provide free breakfast and lunch for students, in part because he’d never encountered anyone in the state who was hungry. In his words, Senator Steve Drazkowski said, “I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that says they don’t have access to enough food to eat” (nbcnews.com). Yet, more than 8% of the children (up from 7% last year) in the county he represents live in poverty (huffpost.com).

Here are a few quotes from Drazkowski’s speech on his opposition to the bill:

• He called the free lunch program “pure socialism”, adding that “This is about the government dictating to kids what they’re going to eat and how much they’re going to eat.” (newsweek.com).
• He argued that “hunger is a relative term”, and said he was hungry after having eaten only a cereal bar for breakfast earlier in the day (newsweek.com).
• He said, funds should go to improve overall education, “That’s what our schools are for” (yahoonews.com).
• He asked,”How can kids be malnourished and record obesity at the same time?” (twitter.com).

Perhaps Sen. Drazkowski should go home and meet his constituents – not just the campaign donors. A free meal program doesn’t dictate WHAT they’re going to eat, rather it dictates IF they’re going to eat at all. There’s a big difference. Choice is not an option for 8% of his constituency.

Clearly, evidence supports that children do better in school if they’re not hungry. They are healthier, more alert and attentive in class with a full belly. Many school districts have leftovers by the door for kids to take something home with them and on Fridays, it may be the only food they have until they return to school on Monday.

The bill passed by a bipartisan vote of 38-26 and is expected to be signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz. This will make Minnesota the thirds state (CA and CO) to provide free meals to children. Curious to know whether the argument was the same for the other 25 senators who voted against the bill. Maybe it was, but they had the sense not to speak up.

“The bill will guarantee free breakfast and lunch to all students in Minnesota schools, regardless of their household income and requirements set by the federal government. Under the bill, the state would bear the cost difference of every student who doesn’t qualify for free or reduced-priced meals under the federal program “(newsweek.com).

Drazkowski received (as one could expect) quite a bit of negative press , and in a carpe diem moment, put out a campaign ad calling the bill “food fraud”, and asked for campaign donations (twitter.com). He says “liberal media can’t handle the truth about our free food programs” (twitter.com). What truth is that, I wonder? That there are starving children in his state that he chooses not to see? That 1 in 8 children in his own district are hungry? That feeding children helps them learn? What kind of a jackwagon calls hungry children frauds? If he’s never seen hungry kids, then they don’t exist, so this bill is not necessary.

The message here is, instead of giving your money to starving children, give it to his campaign.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1636753302514704385/photo/1

Just because you choose not to see hungry children, Senator, doesn’t mean they don’t exist. But go ahead and seize the moment to get more campaign donations, because nothing says I care more than stepping over the hungry kids committing food fraud to grab the cash. How do you even live with yourself?

These are my reflections for today.

March 24, 2023

If you like what you’re reading, please consider sharing and following my blog via email. 

Recent publication: William Frantz Public School:  A Story of Race, Resistance, Resiliency, and Recovery in New Orleans Connie Schaffer, Meg White, and Martha Graham Viator. Peter Lang Publishing. Available on amazon.com

@reflectionsined