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Is it Crippling Education? This article poses this question because to some educators are now focused on abiding by political standards and its causing significant gaps in education to different "groups" of people. The article also assumes the idea that we have now come to a point in life where we will choose doctors based on their race, religion, and sexual orientation. That is something that needs to be addressed in childhood so that our future leaders do not grow up with this thinking. 

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Is it Crippling Education? This article poses this question because to some educators are now focused on abiding by political standards and its causing significant gaps in education to different "groups" of people. The article also assumes the idea that we have now come to a point in life where we will choose doctors based on their race, religion, and sexual orientation. That is something that needs to be addressed in childhood so that our future leaders do not grow up with this thinking. 

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Researchers extraordinaire Jay Greene and James Paul have released a series of three carefully crafted studies on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that detail many aspects of the harmful scheme. In a nutshell, the authors find DEI to be " counterproductive and politically radical."

The part of the study that examines DEI's effects on elementary schools is particularly damning. It looks at school districts with at least 15,000 students, of which there are 554, and finds that schools with Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) "actually have larger gaps in achievement between black and white students, Hispanic and white students, and non-poor and poor students than districts without CDOs. And those gaps are growing wider over time. This pattern holds true even after controlling for a host of other observable characteristics of those districts."

The authors explain that the gaps occur because CDOs "are more focused on promoting a political agenda than they are on finding effective educational interventions." And that political agenda includes advancing policies that typically exacerbate achievement gaps, such as eliminating gifted programs and advanced math classes "while selecting English and Social Studies content for its political orthodoxy rather than educational quality."

Why would such a bad idea be such an easy sell? Because when you dress up the words, they can sound good, at least to true believers. But in reality, it's a nightmare for all concerned, except of course for the "progressive" elites who financially benefit from the racket.

One part of the study deals with the anti-Semitic nature of DEI. Interestingly, Greene and Paul compiled Twitter feeds of 741 DEI officials at 65 universities and find " 605 tweets that bash Israel and just 28 that praise the Jewish state." They add that 62% of the tweets that reference China were favorable.

When it comes to educational malfeasance, California, as usual, does its best to be the national leader. In fact, there are potholes galore on Equity Road in the Golden State. For starters State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Indoctrinator-in-Chief Tony Thurmond hired Daniel Lee as the state's first "superintendent of equity." But shortly thereafter, Politico revealed that Lee, a psychologist, life coach and self-help author, is also a Pennsylvanian, and was given a job that was never publicly posted by the California state Education Department. Apparently being buddies with Phony Tony was enough to land Lee the $180,000 a year job. When asked if others were interviewed for the job besides Lee, Thurmond replied, "I can't recall." If nothing else, Thurmond is living proof that cronyism is alive and well in California.

Then there was the open letter signed by 1,500 (and counting) mathematicians and scientists who have expressed great alarm at the looming "equitable" California Mathematics Framework (CMF) which will become reality sometime this year. According to the concerned scholars, the working version of the framework, among other things, aims to "reduce achievement gaps by limiting the availability of advanced mathematical courses to middle schoolers and beginning high schoolers." The idea, you see, is to dumb down curricula so it becomes more equitable. Excellence, and striving for it, have become so very passé. The academics add, "...initiatives like the CMF propose drastic changes based on scant and inconclusive evidence. Subjecting the children of our largest state to such an experiment is the height of irresponsibility."

Also from the Golden State, the formerly world-renowned University of California announced in November that it won't require any admissions tests for undergraduate applicants. This comes just a little more than a year after it stopped requiring SAT and ACT scores. The reasoning is that the exams "discriminate against low-income students of color and people with disabilities."

Left unsaid is that eliminating all tests actually guarantees unfairness, as college admissions officials get to decide which group they favor, and this of course is discriminatory. On that note, referring to Harvard's "holistic" (read "subjective") approach to admissions, Glenn Reynolds points out it will make the Ivy League school's already extensive discrimination against Asians easier, and harder to prove. Reynolds adds, "The Ivy League did the same thing in the first half of the last century, when it was afraid it would be overrun by Jews. It started emphasizing 'well-roundedness,' 'leadership,' athletics and things that Jewish immigrants would find harder to satisfy. Now it's doing it again." California seems to be following Harvard's M.O.

The Wall Street Journal's Jason Riley notes that one of the major drawbacks of affirmative-action policies is, that in the name of helping some blacks, "they taint the accomplishments of all blacks. No one with any self-respect wants to be perceived as a token, whether in the workplace or on a college campus."

In the real world, as diversity becomes king and quality is relegated to the ash heap, I would love to pose the following questions to any diversicrat:

The next time you are trying to find a surgeon, will you pick the one who was licensed because she was the right minority, or the one who earned her position the old-fashioned way? Now substitute auto mechanic and electrician for surgeon. How do you respond? And, do you want your favorite basketball team to be comprised of players of various ethnicities and genders, or the one that had the best damned players money could buy?

I can't wait for your response.

* * *
Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher, is the president of the non-profit California Teachers Empowerment Network - a non-partisan, non-political group dedicated to providing teachers and the general public with reliable and balanced information about professional affiliations and positions on educational issues. The views presented here are strictly his own.

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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Is Crippling Education

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The damaging "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" racket needs to be extinguished. Researchers extraordinaire Jay Greene and James Paul have released a series of three carefully crafted studies on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion that detail many aspects of the harmful scheme. In a nutshell, the authors find DEI to be "counterproductive and politically radical."

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Racial diversity in education news? Two steps forward, one step back.

Six years in, The Grade's annual update reveals improvements and challenges among the 11 news organizations and education teams that participated.

The Grade's annual education news diversity update asks education new outlets, teams, and organizations to share information about racial diversity among its full-time, permanent editorial staff.

This year's results show some key signs of progress:

The four-person USA Today education team is 100% Asian American or Latino/a (including a new section editor who will be named next month).

Education teams at the LA Times, Southern California Public Radio, and the Seattle Times continue to report high percentages when it comes to racial diversity among the journalists they employ.

Chalkbeat continues to demonstrate its commitment to newsroom diversity even as its number of journalists grows substantially.

Two major national news outlets (the Wall Street Journal and USA Today) shared their racial diversity statistics.

A total of 11 news outlets or education teams have provided information to The Grade.

However, major challenges remain:

Many outlets continue not to participate for various reasons. They include the New York Times, Washington Post, NPR, WNYC, Philadelphia Inquirer, The 74, and EdSource.

No additional outlets or education teams joined the group of those who participate this year. And, in a shift, the Education Writers Association (EWA) declined to participate this year.

"EWA is deeply committed to diversity and inclusion," EWA head Caroline Hendrie wrote in an email. "However, we don't think we should be included in this particular survey... We are not a newsroom, as you know. We're a nonprofit journalism membership organization. There is not a line between 'editorial staff members' and others."

AL.com education editor Ruth Serven Smith also declined to participate:

"We have BIPOC people on our team but decline to participate," she wrote, adding, "We are always working to improve our representation of Alabamians and coverage that serves all communities in Alabama. Readers interested in our work might be interested in this 2021 update."

Here are this year's racial diversity statistics, from high to low:

USA Today:
4 of 4 (100%) members of the education team identify as Asian American or Latino/a
Last year: 40%

LA Times:
3 of the 4 (75%) identify as Persons of Color
Last year: 71%

Southern California Public Radio:
4 out of 7 (roughly 57%) identify as Black, Latinx, Asian American, Native American, or something other than white
Last year: 63%

Seattle Times:
3 of 5 (60%) identify as BIPOC or persons of color
Last year: 60%

Dallas Morning News:
2 of 4 (50%) are journalists of color
Last year: 50%

Chalkbeat:
25 of 55 (45%) identify as Asian, Black, Hispanic/Latino, or biracial
Last year: 43%

Hechinger Report:
7 of 17 (40%) identify as Black/African American or Asian/Pacific Islander or Hispanic/Latino
Last year: 32%

WBEZ Chicago:
2 of 5 (40%) are BIPOC
Last year: 40%

Education Week:
13 of 36 (36%) identify as identify as people of color.
Last year: 31%

Boston Globe:
2 of 6 (33%) are Latino or Black
Last year: 29%

Wall Street Journal:
1 of 5 (20%) identify as African American
Last year: 40%

Please send any corrections or additions to thegrade2015@gmail.com.

Follow @thegrade_ for daily education news, events, and newsroom comings and goings. Follow @alexanderrusso for thought-provoking commentary on education journalism all day, every day.

NOTES

There are many other significant measures of diversity, including gender, age, economic background, etc.

This information is self-reported and uses the diversity language supplied to us by the news organizations and teams that respond.

Twenty percent of education journalists who participated in the 2021 survey from the Education Writers Association (EWA) identified as Hispanic/Latina(o), Black/African-American, or Asian.

The small size of most education teams and outlets means that the percentages can change substantially with the arrival or departure of a person or two - or changes in the number of team members over all - as in the cases of the Dallas Morning News, LA Times, and Wall Street Journal.

Progress in diversifying newsrooms can also be hidden by changes in the overall number of journalists. For example, Chalkbeat's 45% doesn't look much different than last year, but it reports 11 more journalists on the payroll this year, and six more journalists of color. (Now with 55 journalists, Chalkbeat has the largest education team among those who participate.)

Previous updates

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Racial diversity in education news? Two steps forward, one step back.

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Racial diversity in education news? Two steps forward, one step back. Six years in, The Grade's annual update reveals improvements and challenges among the 11 news organizations and education teams that participated. The Grade's annual education news diversity update asks education new outlets, teams, and organizations to share information about racial diversity among its full-time, permanent editorial staff.

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UW and the community | UW Notebook

Botanical gardens historically are exclusive spaces, but the University of Washington is working to change that.

Many gardens originated as private spaces for predominantly white and wealthy individuals, said UW Botanic Gardens director Christina Owen. The collections were often curated through a process of stealing and renaming before the gardens were gifted as land to cities and universities.

"There's a history of colonialism in many botanic gardens," said Owen. "That is the bedrock on which we're standing. Plants and collections that exist throughout the world were collected in ways that did not honor the people and did not honor the plants themselves. They're driven by the colonial age. That's a history that all gardens must grapple with."

That's the challenge for the UW Botanic Gardens, which includes both the Washington Park Arboretum and the Center for Urban Horticulture. When Owen was hired in July 2021, UWBG already had an Equity and Justice Committee and was organizing an ongoing speaker series, New Directions in Public Gardens, which explores how public gardens can evolve to meet the needs of local communities.

Owen is shifting the focus from bottom-up initiatives to work that is supported with and through leadership.

"Part of what we're looking at is having regular updates with our leadership team," Owen said, "and having the leadership team get more engaged in equity and social justice work and developing better onboarding. One of my big long-term goals is to see an increase in the diversity of staff. I think that starts with us and making sure that our culture is supportive for candidates of color and for employees of color."

That is a major barrier for public gardens, according to a national needs assessment recently published by the IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) Center for Public Gardens, an initiative housed at Denver Botanic Gardens that helps public gardens become more accessible spaces. The upcoming report found that lack of institutional diversification could be addressed through adjustments to hiring processes and procedures.

"The other piece is the need for training and professional development," said Mae Lin Plummer, director of the IDEA Center and a speaker in UWBG's New Directions series. "The way to support intuitional diversification is through training. The other part is organizational culture and leadership - the awareness that there needs to be an internal culture shift as a key step.

"There's a lot of fear, a lack of buy-in or resistance to change. You can do all the training and all the changes you want, but it's basically superficial unless there's a culture change."
A new direction
The New Directions speaker series started in May, with past guests addressing topics like engaging with local Indigenous populations, youth leadership development, job training programs and opportunities for public land to support urban food systems and engage with BIPOC communities.

New Directions in Public Gardens is a free speaker series held over Zoom. RSVP to hear the final speaker, Sean M. Watts, on Sept. 20 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Recordings of past speakers are also available. The New Directions in Public Gardens Town Hall: Breaking New Ground will be held in-person at Washington Park Arboretum on Sept. 21. Register to attend the free event.

Sean M. Watts, principal of SM Watts Consulting and co-founder of Community Land Conservancy, will give the final talk on Sept. 20. Watts' lecture will explore how public gardens can support the work to drive environmental and land use policy and help white-led organizations act on diversity, equity and inclusion.

"I think we're learning a lot about the priorities of the communities that we want to connect with," said Jessica Farmer adult education supervisor for UWBG. "I'm realizing that if we're going to build relationships, we need to be addressing the priorities of those communities."

Plummer suggested ending the speaker series with a town hall, which is now scheduled for Sept. 21. The half-day, co-creative workshop will help create an action plan to address community challenges.

"We invite people from within the region," said Plummer, who plans to use the town hall as a prototype, "and we start by saying, 'What were some of the big things that really resonated from the lecture series? What do we want to change? Can we set some actions?'"

UWBG's outreach will continue on October with the Urban Forest Symposium. This year's event will focus on bridging the gap between tribal practices and local government. The Coast Salish people have been included in the planning.

"We're going to be looking at Indigenous people's access to and role in the management of the local urban forests," Farmer said. "We're looking at an identity shift for our organization, but we need to hear from others in the community and not have it be an insular conversation."
Growing gardens
UWBG has collections from around the world. In the Pacific Connections Garden alone, visitors can view plants from Cascadia, Australia, China, Chile and New Zealand.

"It's important to be intentional and thoughtful about these plants and places, how they're collected and grown and the meaning to the people that are from there," Owen said.

The history of how corrected were curated has factored into the explicit and implicit exclusion from botanical gardens, said Farmer. UWBG is working to undo a perception of exclusivity by hosting programs like the speaker series and holding a summer camp that offers scholarships and is otherwise filled through a lottery system.

UWBG also launched Conversations with Staff. Each meeting is centered around a single topic - examples include the colonial past of botanical gardens, segregation in Seattle and problematic plant names - and Equity and Justice Committee members distribute resources and materials for staff to view before attending the discussion.

"It's really helped establish some common goals and common identity around this work," Farmer said. "Previously, some on our staff felt like diversity, equity and inclusion work was the role of our education and outreach team but didn't see how it fit into their work with facilities or horticulture. It's really helped the gardeners see how much of an ambassador they are to the public when they're out on the grounds."
For more information, contact Owen at crowen@uw.edu or Farmer at jsfarmer@uw.edu.
Tag(s): Center for Urban Horticulture * Christina Owen * Jessica Farmer * UW Botanic Gardens * Washington Park Arboretum

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New direction for UW Botanic Gardens focuses on diversity, equity and inclusion

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UW and the community | UW Notebook Botanical gardens historically are exclusive spaces, but the University of Washington is working to change that. Many gardens originated as private spaces for predominantly white and wealthy individuals, said UW Botanic Gardens director Christina Owen.

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In a state public hearing dominated by supporters of Hillsdale-affiliated American Classical Academy Rutherford, opponents of the charter school say they were shut out of a chance to speak.

By the time Elizabeth Vollbrecht tried to sign up to voice her views at Wednesday's event run by the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission, the deadline was gone, leading to what she called a "one-sided" hearing.

"There was no fairness, no equity or diversity in understanding the whole community's opinions on the charter school. You only heard one side. They jammed it through," said Vollbrecht, a parent of three students in Rutherford County Schools. "They opened it up to sign up and jammed all their spots through."

Fifteen people signed up for the allotted number of speaker openings, but three of those didn't show up, and when Vollbrecht and another woman asked to speak, they were refused, she said.

The Public Charter School Commission conducted its hearing Wednesday after American Classical Education appealed the Rutherford County School Board decision to turn down a charter application for American Classical Academy of Rutherford. It is an affiliate of Hillsdale College, whose president drew fire this year when he was recorded saying teachers come from the "dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges in America."

There was no fairness, no equity or diversity in understanding the whole community's opinions on the charter school. You only heard one side. They jammed it through.
- Diana Vollbrecht, Rutherford County parent speaking of Hillsdale supporters
Gov. Bill Lee, at the same reception in Franklin, said he hoped Hillsdale would start 100 charter schools in Tennessee. Despite being repeatedly questioned by reporters, Lee refused to rebuke the statements of Larry Arnn, saying only that he supports Tennessee's teachers.

Arnn's views and Lee's refusal to publicly reject them drew a firestorm of criticism statewide this summer. One lawmaker said the Legislature would stop Hillsdale-affiliated schools from being approved, though it's unclear what authority the General Assembly has over the Public Charter School Commission.

That body, which is appointed by Gov. Lee, will have the final say on whether the charter is granted for American Classical Academy of Rutherford after the local board turned it down in a 6-1 vote. A district committee recommended it be rejected, mainly for failing to meet state standards.

Similar hearings are scheduled Thursday in Jackson and Friday in Clarksville for two other Hillsdale-affiliated charter applicants.

In Murfreesboro, most speakers were parents who told the Public Charter School Commission staff they want school "choice" for their children.

Priscilla Sanders told the state panel she has witnessed how "off-track" schools have gotten and wants a return to "fundamentals" a classical education can bring.

"Choice is an important aspect of freedom in our society," Sanders said.

Classical education is defined as a traditional liberal arts education that includes study of the natural sciences, Western literature and fine arts.

Even though the school board turned down the charter application, new board Chairman Tammy Sharp told the panel she supports approval of the application. She was the only vote in favor of it earlier this year but believes under the newly-constituted board, elected in August, it would be approved.

"We've got a great system, and everyone wants to move here," Sharp said. But she pointed out the school district is hampered by overwhelming growth with more than 2,000 new students this year and a $500 million long-term building program.

American Classical Academy of Rutherford would have only about 300 students, yet Sharp said the district needs to have a "partnership" with American Classical and two other charter schools.

Those two aren't expected to be ready to open next year, she said. American Classical still doesn't have a site for a school building, according to testimony.

Michelle Garcia, a Rutherford County resident and volunteer board member for American Classical Education, sent out a statement after the hearing saying people shouldn't be "distracted by false media narratives and political opportunists who want to silence local families." She pointed out parents want a "different educational option" and asked the commission to consider the request without bias.

Garcia also criticized what she called "planned coordination" between the media, political candidates and out-of-county residents for a protest outside the school district office before the hearing was held.

"Many parents want that (classical education) option for their kids," Garcia said in her statement. "And the media has chosen not to report on the many local families who want a different public education option for their children. That is a sad state of affairs."

State Sen. Shane Reeves, a Murfreesboro Republican who attended the event, said afterward having charter schools in the county could be "good for parent choice." If they don't work, the school district could try something different, he said.

Reeves shied away, though, from saying he believes the Public Charter School Commission should overturn the school board's decision, even as he agreed with Sharp's contention that the new board might have a different vote.

"I support options for our parents. That's not an indictment on public schools," Reeves said.

Pressed on whether he supports a charter for American Classical Academy Rutherford, Reeves would only say he supports charter schools in Rutherford. He declined to speak about Arnn's statements.

Caitlyn Bullard, choice school coordinator for Rutherford County Schools, made the district's argument against approval of the charter, saying it made "blatant disingenuous use" of Rutherford County Schools data to present its case for opening a charter.

Bullard also questioned the charter applicant's English language arts curriculum, a lack of research by students, shortage of special education opportunities, outdated materials, poor growth in other states where it operates schools, lack of a school site and "insufficient" ability to open a K-12 school.

The district's review committee came up with the recommendation to reject American Classical's charter application before Arnn made his comments, she said. Yet she acknowledged the board does not "operate in a vacuum" and the comments were "problematic" for the school district.

Bullard also said American Classical was "disingenuous" in saying it could save county taxpayers $30 million by opening a charter school. She noted it would not address growth in Smyrna, La Vergne, Blackman and Rockvale areas.

Questions were raised in the hearing, as well, about the American Classical board of directors, whose membership changed dramatically from out-of-state people at the start to a board with mostly Tennessee representatives, including former state Sen. Dolores Gresham.

American Classical attempted to separate itself from Hillsdale, yet even new members have connections to the college, according to Bullard.

American Classical officials defended their curriculum as "rigorous" and one that would challenge students.

But when asked by commission representatives about the change in its governing body, American Classical representative Rich Haglund declined to explain the shift. He only said different legal entities are involved and that the charter sponsor's governing body has not changed.

Haglund further claimed it would be a "waste of time to be talking about it today."

State Rep. Gloria Johnson, a Knoxville Democrat who attended the meeting, continued her opposition to the charter organization afterward.

Johnson said the American Classical representatives seemed to think they were "very superior and entitled" yet had no evidence to back up their claims, Johnson said.

American Classical said its students nationally read at a higher level than those in Rutherford County and also have better graduation rates. But none of their schools nationwide have demonstrated that ability, Johnson said.

Johnson, a retired special education teacher, noted the charter applicant doesn't emphasize research, which contradicts state standards, nor does it have a good plan for special education.

Said Johnson, "We have a local board of education saying, no, this is not something we want. Then you have a governor with a handpicked board of unelected folks who support his ideology, giving a state contract, if they do this, to his buddy, Larry Arrn."

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Sparks fly over Hillsdale-affiliated charter school appeal in Rutherford - Tennessee Lookout

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In a state public hearing dominated by supporters of Hillsdale-affiliated American Classical Academy Rutherford, opponents of the charter school say they were shut out of a chance to speak. By the time Elizabeth Vollbrecht tried to sign up to voice her views at Wednesday's event run by the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission, the deadline was gone, leading to what she called a "one-sided" hearing.

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This article details the pros and cons of diversity in the classroom. Teacher biasness, diverse learning styles, cultural identity issues, and even cultural acceptance plays a huge part in implementing diversity into the classroom.  

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This article details the pros and cons of diversity in the classroom. Teacher biasness, diverse learning styles, cultural identity issues, and even cultural acceptance plays a huge part in implementing diversity into the classroom.  

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Victoria Gorski has been a freelance copywriter since 2005, producing articles for small businesses, newspapers and magazines, as well as creating marketing material. She also publishes material for literacy communities and regional newspapers, such as the "MEN" and "Bolton News." Gorski is pursuing a Master of Arts in creative writing and a postgraduate certificate in education.

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Positive & Negative Aspects of Diversity in the Classroom | Synonym

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Schools cannot discriminate against students on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, religion or culture. Classrooms are therefore more diverse, which has often been perceived as benefiting all students. However, classroom diversity can also raise several challenging issues within the classroom and create cultural ...

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Panel Discussion: Educators and Students Talk Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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This article details personal reasonings as to why a lot of teachers are leaving the profession. What I loved was the fact that a lot of the comments were made from people of color, and they even explained why they wanted to work with other poc's students. It's because we need different teachers in our communities. 

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This article details personal reasonings as to why a lot of teachers are leaving the profession. What I loved was the fact that a lot of the comments were made from people of color, and they even explained why they wanted to work with other poc's students. It's because we need different teachers in our communities. 

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Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Sign up to receive the latest in education news straight to your inbox.
As the last wave of U.S. students head back to school this month, some veteran teachers won't be there. They hit a breaking point last year, and walked away.

"The kids are wonderful and I could have possibly stayed for another year with greater support," said Evan Gillum, who taught for three years in Chicago. "I may have changed my mind with some more resources."

The tension and responsibility that educators like Gillum faced during the pandemic - combined with long-standing issues plaguing the profession, plus the coarsening of debates about classroom control, teacher pay and respect - have caused many to make the tough choice to leave the classroom.

Recently, Chalkbeat asked teachers who quit why they left. The 80 teachers we talked to said respect, support, better pay, and more flexibility are just a few of the things that might have kept them working in education. The insights shared in this package are diverse, touching on many polarizing issues facing schools today - teacher burnout, school funding, teacher training, equitable education, cultural representation within curriculum.

Even though some schools have lost teachers and are struggling to staff up, the blaring headlines proclaiming a new teacher shortage don't yet have data to back them up. What's more evident is the fact that high-poverty schools have long had trouble recruiting and retaining teachers. Also true is that the number of new educators has dwindled as fewer people enroll in teacher-prep programs.

With all of these issues top of mind, this package gives voice to educators who gave what they could, and in many cases wished things were different.

Do you have a story to tell about why you left the classroom? Or why you decided to stay? We're listening at community@chalkbeat.org.

What are some of the reasons you chose to leave teaching?

"I have a master's degree and live paycheck to paycheck still. This year, I have subbed during my plan time at least twice a week, and my school district is backed up so I still have not been paid for many of those days. Politics about CRT (critical race theory) and posting lessons. I have been struggling so much with my mental health that it has become the final straw."

"Since the recession in 2008, the support of public education in Michigan has been on a sharp decline. Class sizes increase, pay and benefits have decreased, support for teachers and administrators has drastically decreased. Privatized busing, custodial, and substitute programs have really taken a toll because the sense of community has dwindled as a result. Finally, students are not getting the full support and resources they need for the mental and physical challenges they are facing."

"COVID had many devastating impacts, but this time offered the education field an opportunity for needed changes and to reevaluate things such as state assessments, teacher workload, and flexibility that could have helped maintain and attract teachers. But this did not occur."

"Administration and colleagues have actively exhibited transphobic and homophobic rhetoric, including removal of queer literature for kids, outing trans students, dead-naming and refusal to use affirmed pronouns. School staff asking transgender students 'if they are sure,' and insisting that the parents have a right to know their child's preferred pronouns (despite this being against district policy). When students use homophobic or racist language have no consequences unless specific affirming educators intervene. No administrative support. Limited district support, with the exception of specific staff who are overworked. I'm burned out and tired of fighting. I plan to return to school to study couples and family therapy."
As told to Colleen Connolly
"Mostly, I left the classroom because I felt an urgency to help students make up one or more years of growth overall, but I was not supported in that mission. The school I taught at was more concerned with students' social emotional learning, which is critical work right now. That said, I strongly believe that I am not qualified for that. I don't have the skills to successfully teach SEL to children, and I wasn't trained in the SEL curriculum at all. I have had over a decade of teaching experience and professional learning around reading, early literacy, and math, but not nearly enough to act as a social worker or counselor for children."

"I went into teaching because I love the work. I love working with children. I'm a Black Latino with an immigrant mother who came to this country to give her son a better life. Teaching was a field I went into out of humility, to give back to my community. I went in with my heart, but then after a while I just realized that it's not all that it's cooked up to be. You really don't have as much power as you're told that you do. There are people above me that are making the rules for a population that they're vastly out of touch with.

"I prefer to work at Title I schools with predominantly Black and brown students who come from families of low socioeconomic status because they don't have Black male teachers. I want these kids to succeed because they don't see people that look like me telling them, "you can do it."

"I worked at a charter school for seven years, and after those seven years, I decided to work at a public school for another year. But the schools that need the most funds and the most resources don't get it. I worked in a district that stretches from Harlem all the way down to the Upper West Side. Compared to classrooms on the Upper West Side, the difference is astounding. The buildings are nicer, the staff is nicer, the books are nicer. It's a level of racism that you wouldn't really expect, but it's there and it's only a few miles away.

"When you grow up, you realize Santa Claus isn't real. Life is hard. I realized that teaching didn't make me happy. Despite those kids getting a great teacher like myself, they're still going to struggle. Inequities are going to be there in education. I can't be working in a field where I can't make a difference or that no longer makes me happy. In education, you give so much of yourself to other people, but you don't really give yourself what you need."

What, if anything, would have changed your decision?

"I don't think anything could've convinced me to stay."

"Student loan forgiveness for the entire loan after working 10 years. If they're not going to treat teachers like professionals and not pay them their worth, then make the degree an associate degree so new teachers don't drown in debt from student loans."

"Respect and support from administration and colleagues. The kids are wonderful and I could have possibly stayed for another year with greater support. I may have changed my mind with some more resources, such as changes to requirements for financial reimbursement. The ability to not have to work for hours at home would also be nice."

"Remote learning or hybrid, better pay, better leadership structure."
As told to Colleen Connolly
"1) Better treatment of teachers as collaborators and professional educators by school administrators; and 2) a feasible plan for addressing pandemic-related student behavior that negatively impacts teaching and learning."

"I've been at Columbine for 25 years. My husband and I have taught the exact same subject - earth science - for over 20 years together, in different classrooms, but literally next door to each other. We were very much a team. During the pandemic, he was a remote-only teacher and I was in the building, and it just dawned on me that that was something I was not willing to do, teach without him. We both retired in May. Our son graduated from the high school we taught at as well, so all three of us just kind of left at the same time.

"After the Columbine shooting, quitting momentarily crossed our minds, but I wasn't ready. I knew this was my calling and I couldn't see myself doing anything else. And the kids I had in my classroom, I wanted to be there for them, to be their support system however they needed in those coming years.

"After the shooting, we became a very tight-knit community at Columbine. You knew everybody in the building that was on staff and they were your friends. Then as the years went by, we've changed the staff, as every school does over the years. A lot of those people left. They retired or moved to different positions. When the pandemic happened, you were completely alone and not talking to anybody else. It was just one more traumatic thing that made me think I don't really want to do this anymore.

"Then there was the constant battle that teachers like myself face with society. In the first part of the pandemic, it was "teachers are so great. We love them." Then within a couple of months it's like, 'teachers suck' again. It's a constant battle trying to prove ourselves to society so that we can get the things we need in our classrooms.

"One of my goals this year is to advocate at the state Capitol more, especially in the spring when they're in session, and go to testify for and against education bills. Hopefully I'll have one-on-one conversations with some of the legislators in Colorado and just let them know what we actually need in our classrooms."

Sylvia Jarrus for Chalkbeat

Why did you choose to pursue teaching originally?

"I am the product of the NYC Public School System, K-12. I had amazing teachers, and wanted to follow in their footsteps. Also, I like breaking down concepts so that students can understand them. It's an amazing feeling to help a student learn."

"I believe that public education is the foundation of a just, democratic society and that there is no greater impact than that of a teacher. I love spending my days with young people; they continue to surprise you as they grow into awesome people. I wanted to support them through the many trials of middle and high school. I wanted to tackle issues of equity and social justice at personal and systemic levels by creating supportive learning environments and advocating for educators. I wanted to break down commonplace anxieties around math by making it fun and fostering growth mindsets. I believe that problem solving skills are essential for success in one's personal and professional endeavors and that our world would be a better place if more people employed logic and quantitative reasoning to make well-informed decisions."

Carl Glenn Payne II for Chalkbeat

What do you think is the biggest challenge facing teachers today?

"The amount of labor involved, physically, mentally, spiritually, is very intense. The amount of juggling required to get through a day is truly exhausting. This was the first time that I went on a spring break and didn't feel completely spent. We need to slow down. Teachers need to have more time to create curriculum that is thoughtful, liberatory, and meaningful for students."

"It is what I call 'The second job.' Teaching is really two jobs. There is the job of delivering instruction. That happens during the day. The rest of teaching (planning, grading, figuring out mountains of data) happens outside of delivering instruction. You leave the school building to go home to more work."
Claire Holsinger As told to Colleen Connolly
Evans, Colorado
Teacher for two years, took a leave of absence for the 2022-23 school year
"Low pay. I have never worked so hard at a job, and made such little pay. Financial stress can feel like a lot of pressure. If I could go to sleep not worried about how I'm going to cover my monthly bills, I'd probably be a better, more-involved teacher."

"During the pandemic, I was pursuing my master's, and my thesis was on Latinx student inclusion in secondary school settings. I used my school to gather data, and I had done focus groups and interviews with students and staff and surveyed everyone in our school.

"The themes that emerged were that Latinx and Asian American students didn't feel like they were included in our school culture. So I wrote an advisory curriculum for students where we talked through topics related to DEI. The school administration had also become more keen to cover those topics, given the murder of George Floyd and everything that happened afterward.

"All of this happened while we were virtual, and when we went back to being in person, the administration said we can't fit that into our schedules anymore, which was unfortunate and really sad. We were going to add electives specifically focused on different identity groups. We had a Latinx film course we offered and different kinds of celebratory things. All of those got scrapped when we went back in person. It just wasn't a priority. The schedule didn't match.

"I was also a special education teacher, and during COVID, while we were virtual, my class sizes got a lot bigger. I had nearly 30 students, but it was manageable when we were virtual. When we transitioned back to being in the classroom, my numbers stayed the same. I was the only adult in the room, and it was really challenging with behavior management. Teachers were leaving, and the administration was clearly stressed because they were trying to fill spots and find substitutes. A lot of us, especially in special education, were left to run things on our own.

"The entire energy of the school really changed and it made it so that a lot of teachers felt like all the things that made school really enjoyable were cut, and all the things that made school kind of overwhelming were left in."

What else would you like us to know?

"I taught at a rural K-12 school that lost many experienced teachers at the end of last year, across every grade and department. They were also in need of an assistant principal, and although I hold an administrative license, I was too burnt out to apply. I chose to leave K-12 education instead. My school has since filled all teaching and administrative vacancies but is still struggling to find support staff."

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Respect, pay, support: Why these former teachers quit and what could have helped

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Some teachers aren't returning to the classroom this year. They told Chalkbeat about why they quit the education profession, and what could have helped them stay.

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This week during closed-session meetings, the Evanston/Skokie District 65 school board is reviewing and discussing applications for the opening on the board left by the departure of former Vice President Marquise Weatherspoon.

Weatherspoon resigned on Aug. 8, effective immediately, and President Sergio Hernandez previously announced the board's intention to appoint a replacement at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Sept. 19. The RoundTable reported the namesof the 13 Evanston residents who applied for the job last week.

The RoundTable obtained the applications through a Freedom of Information Act request filed with the district. In them, most applicants highlighted an interest in advancing District 65's work in equity, inclusion and antiracism, and many of the candidates also wrote about their focus on school safety and clear communication between school leaders and families.

What follows are the highlights of the responses from every community member who applied.
Erin Booker
Booker is the preschool director at the Lincoln Park Cooperative Nursery School, and she has an extensive background in early childhood and elementary education. She highlighted teacher recruitment and retention as a high priority during the so-called "great resignation," when so many school districts across the country have struggled to maintain their workforce. Booker also described the role of the board as providing "guidance, support, and sometimes an alternative perspective" to the superintendent.

"I want to know why there is so much teacher and administration attrition," she wrote in her application. "Once the board has an understanding of the issue(s), I would want the board to create policies and procedures to address and reduce this."
Chanelle Brown
Brown is a visual merchandising manager for Target and a volunteer with nonprofit Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI), where she works with low-income mothers of color providing mentorship and learning experiences. When thinking about her potential role on the local school board, she wrote about her direct experiences, as a single mother, with the challenges of raising a young child during the pandemic.

Additionally, Brown said she would prioritize representation for low-income families and increased mental health resources for students as they continue to grapple with social and emotional challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Equity must remain a focus of the school if we hope to continue to make change, not just having Black and Brown parents participate in school-board discussions, but having their lived experiences inform and impact decisions being made," Brown wrote.
Joan Chiao
Chiao is an assistant professor of psychology at Northwestern, and she is active in the local and national PTA boards and with the district's PTA Equity Project. When explaining her interest in serving on the school board, Chiao wrote about how the board plays a vital role in building community across all parties involved in Evanston public education, including parents, students, teachers, administrators and staff.

She also argued that each board member has an obligation to listen to all perspectives in the community and represent their constituents. Chiao wrote that her primary goals would be "to develop educational and community leadership, to build strong school-community partnerships and to broaden the community perspectives of diversity, equity and inclusion."
Robert Easter
Easter is the managing director of the Central Piedmont Investment Group, and he also works with a number of local nonprofits and initiatives, including the Mayor's Employer Advisory Council, the Evanston Community Foundation, Lending for Evanston and Northwestern Development (LEND) and Foundation 65. Previously, he was a school board member in Bibb County, Georgia.

In his application, Easter mentioned safety, life skills, fiscal responsibility and equity as the most important issues for the district to address in the coming months and years.

"Each student brings different skills, challenges, backgrounds, perspectives, behaviors, and needs to school every day," he wrote. "Board members and district leaders need to support and ensure that school administrators meet these unique combinations and provide a positive, safe, and welcoming environment in all schools and district facilities."
Jo Ann Flores-Deter
Flores-Deter has two kids in District 65 schools and is a longtime youth engagement worker with nonprofits like Communities in Schools of Chicagoand Children's Home and Aid. She is also currently the assistant site manager for a music education program as part of the Ravinia Festival.

Among other priorities that she outlined in her application, Flores-Deter identified her main goals as addressing racism in the school district, improving culture and climate for the middle-school grades, especially, and expanding dual-language programs and services for families who don't speak English.

"Everyone needs a fair and equitable education," she wrote. "I would like to be the voice for those who may not have one or those who need help due to language to have one."
Tammytha Johnson
Johnson is a senior broker for AON in Chicago, and she has served on the board of directors for both Foundation 65 and Evanston Scholars. She was also the PTA co-president at Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies for three years.

In her application, Johnson wrote that she views the board as the voice of the community and a liaison between district leaders and families. She also highlighted her goals as closing the racial opportunity gap, advocating for equity and inclusion and improving communication with Evanston parents and caregivers.

"No one should be guessing or trying to figure out what District 65 is doing," Johnson wrote. "There should be an ongoing Q&A format, where questions are answered via email or by phone in a timely manner."
Jenna Morgan
Morgan is an executive assistant at a law firm in Chicago, and she has been involved with the Lincoln Elementary School PTA and the White Antiracism Group of Evanston. In her application for the board vacancy, Morgan said she wants to play an active role in defending the district's equity and inclusion work against right-wing attacks on history and identity curriculum, for example.

Additionally, Morgan said she would back Superintendent Devon Horton's strategic plan and priorities if selected for the job.

"The district and community need to repair the harm that was done by the events that took place at the end of the 2022-23 school year," Morgan wrote. "The conditions that resulted in the episode of white rage at the April 2022 Board meeting and noose-hanging remain and must be addressed in the coming year. We need to ensure that Black students, families, staff and faculty not only feel safe, but are able to thrive in our schools."
Sharon Riley Morris
Morris is an early childhood educator who works for Right At School, an organization that provides before- and after-school child care for District 65 families. In her application, she expressed a desire to serve on the board because it "is the foundation of our students' education and safety," and she also argued in favor of placing more multicultural centers in school buildings and possibly instituting school uniforms.

"I am in a position to be a voice for the students and the board because I am young enough to know what motivates students but also old enough to help provide foundation and vision to their motivation," Morris wrote.
Tracy Olasimbo
Olasimbo is the family engagement coordinator for the Evanston Public Library and an equity consultant for organizations like YWCA Evanston and the Anti-Defamation League. She attended District 65 schools herself and is the parent of a current District 65 student.

In her application, she said she wants to help improve performance for Black and Brown special-education students in the district and to "address the blatant and subconscious racism that our students and families have to deal with on a constant basis."

"I will be operating from an antiracist and equity lens when engaging the community and with decision-making," Olasimbo wrote. "As a board member, we should make sure we are publicly supporting each other and the superintendent while also holding each other accountable."
Christine Percheski
Percheski is an associate professor of sociology at Northwestern University, and her research primarily focuses on economic and health inequities and public policy related to those topics. She wrote in her application that she would bring her experience in statistics and data analysis to the board in hopes of improving community feedback for the district.

Percheski named her goals as a board member as "addressing systemic racism in our schools, narrowing educational gaps by race/ethnicity and social class, ensuring that all children and families are safe and feel respected in D65 schools, retaining and supporting experienced teachers and staff, and adjusting to changes in enrollment patterns (including stopping enrollment flight from D65)."

Notably, she was also the only applicant who said she would likely not run for the school board in April 2023, when the vacant seat is up for reelection.
Omar G. Salem
Salem is the professional issues director for the Illinois Federation of Teachers and a former teacher and coach at Niles North High School in Skokie. He is also a representative on the City of Evanston's Equity and Empowerment Commission, and he has a daughter in kindergarten in District 65.

Among other things, Salem wrote about the importance of affirming each student's identities and interests to help them feel safe and comfortable in their learning environment, and he said his values align closely with the current board and superintendent.

"Evanston is a community that people from all over the country (and world) move to for many reasons," he wrote. "The same should be true of educators. We need to make sure that the educators in District 65 have working conditions, benefits and salaries that are second-to-none so that we always attract the best."
Henry Wilkins
Wilkins is a finance manager for Reynolds Consumer Products in Lake Forest, and he founded the Stem School Evanston nonprofit organization. He also serves on the board for nonprofit Youth and Opportunity United.

In his application, Wilkins championed Horton's work on equity and inclusion as superintendent thus far, particularly the board's approval of a Fifth Ward neighborhood school that is currently scheduled to break ground in 2023 and open in the fall of 2025. He also highlighted his experience in financial management as an asset for fiscal stewardship, and he advocated for improved communication between the district and Evanston's Black community.

"Oftentimes, it is said that you will know the priorities based on where the money is spent," Wilkins wrote. "Dr. Horton has delivered stellar results when it comes to tackling longstanding inequities such as the lack of a Fifth Ward school for over 50 years when it was presumed it could not be done due to budget constraints."
Mya Wilkins
Wilkins is the executive director of market research at JPMorgan Chase. In District 65, she has worked as a PTA Equity Project representative, and she helped create an affinity group for Black parents at Walker Elementary School called Black Students Achieve.

In terms of her interest representing the community on the school board, Wilkins said she wants to use Evanston's diversity to the district's advantage to show "how a school system can get all students to meet standards even when there is a diverse student body." Additionally, Wilkins identified hiring qualified and experienced educators and providing them with the necessary training and resources to succeed as a top priority.

"It is almost impossible to come to the best solutions without fully understanding all of the perspectives of stakeholders," she wrote. "While the well-being of students is paramount and should be at the center of all plans and decisions, listening to all stakeholders and community members will help the district come to the best decisions."

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District 65 hopefuls prioritize race, safety issues - Evanston RoundTable

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This week during closed-session meetings, the Evanston/Skokie District 65 school board is reviewing and discussing applications for the opening on the board left by the departure of former Vice President Marquise Weatherspoon. Weatherspoon resigned on Aug. 8, effective immediately, and President Sergio Hernandez previously announced the board's intention to appoint a replacement at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, Sept.

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This is an important article to read while discussing equity and diversity because without giving the students, the parents, the community a voice of expression there's no way that we could all treat everyone equally within the classroom. 

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This is an important article to read while discussing equity and diversity because without giving the students, the parents, the community a voice of expression there's no way that we could all treat everyone equally within the classroom. 

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I believe that all educators need to take a training course in this, as much as we can all scream that we support each community, unless you are a part of that community you have no idea how to fully support those individuals especially in a school setting. 

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I believe that all educators need to take a training course in this, as much as we can all scream that we support each community, unless you are a part of that community you have no idea how to fully support those individuals especially in a school setting. 

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Austin Independent School District course says gender is 'innermost concept of self as male, female, neither or both'

Getty Images

Patrick Hauf * August 20, 2022 4:58 am

A Texas school district encouraged K-12 teachers to take paid time off, at taxpayer expense, to take a course on "how to create supportive learning environments for LGBTQIA+" students as young as five years old.

The Austin Independent School District's course material, obtained through a public information request, defined gender identity as the "innermost concept of self as male, female, neither or both," calling it "one's authentic identity." The course also provided an example of a girl who questions her gender identity and asked how teachers should properly respond.

"A 14-year-old youth, who recently asked to be called Ronnie not Veronica, discloses to you a desire to go by 'they' pronouns," one PowerPoint slide read. "Ronnie wants to cut their hair short but isn't sure how their parents will react, making them feel anxious. Ronnie is also stressed because while they have been dating Julie and 'came out as a lesbian' in 7th grade, they have started to have feelings for Ted, who identifies as male, and this is confusing for them."

The Austin public school district did not respond to a request for comment on the substance of the training course.

The district pushed the teacher training amid a series of fights nationwide over whether students should be taught about gender identity and transgenderism. The Free Beacon reported last year that these debates over sex education at the local level are fueled by liberal advocacy groups that push public schools to promote gender ideology to elementary students. One district spiked a sex education plan in Nebraska after parents discovered it was secretly advised by a Planned Parenthood activist, the Free Beacon reported.

The Austin public school district sparked controversy in June when it defied orders from Texas attorney general Ken Paxton (R.), who labeled its pride parade as "human sexuality instruction," which requires parents to approve their children's participation. The district rejected Paxton's claim and followed through with the parade without parental approval.

The "Be a Beacon" gender course is run by Out Youth, which in a February Facebook post claimed that so-called gender-affirming care for transgender children "saves lives." The training course cited resources from two prominent LGBT groups that also support children receiving puberty blockers and hormone treatment. The presentation cited a book titled, The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals.

"Are you, or parts of you, both? How do you know?" the course asked teachers. "If your anatomy changed overnight to the opposite sex, would it change who you feel yourself to be?"

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Texas School District Pushes Teachers To Take 'LGBTQIA+' Training on Taxpayers' Dime - Washington Free Beacon

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Austin Independent School District course says gender is 'innermost concept of self as male, female, neither or both' Patrick Hauf * August 20, 2022 4:58 am A Texas school district encouraged K-12 teachers to take paid time off, at taxpayer expense, to take a course on "how to create supportive learning environments for LGBTQIA+" students as young as five years old.

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Equity and Diversity does not just stop at race...Equity and Diversity means that all religions are respected and talked about, all sexual orientations, and all genders are expressed throughout the classrooms. 

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Equity and Diversity does not just stop at race...Equity and Diversity means that all religions are respected and talked about, all sexual orientations, and all genders are expressed throughout the classrooms. 

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PITTSBORO - In a fiery school board meeting, eight community members spoke out after they claimed a student at Bonlee School was bullied for her faith.

More than 70 people came to the meeting at Chatham Grove Elementary School Monday night, after reports surfaced online last week of a student being "bullied" by a teacher because of her love for the Bible.

Ryne Smith claims his daughter was participating in an assignment where the students were asked to list their favorite things. Smith said his daughter listed art, basketball and the Bible. Smith claims the teacher of the class, Wes Lail, took exception to her comments and explained to her "what atheism is and why God is not real."

Smith spoke about the incident on a podcast called Carolina Conservatives, which is hosted by two pastors describing themselves as "preachers with a punch" offering "real news for conservatives." Smith goes on to claim the incident caused him to take his daughter out of Bonlee School and the Chatham County School district. He says his daughter is now enrolled at Faith Christian Academy.

At the packed school board meeting, Smith claimed the entire school board was unfit for office and should step down for failing to do their jobs.

"I do not see how this board has the audacity to sit and let teachers bully and indoctrinate our kids," Smith said during the public comment period Monday. "All y'all are good for is telling people what they want to hear by sweeping it under the rug. There's too much going on in schools that we don't know about. Do us all a favor, stop wasting our tax dollars and just step down so we can advocate for our children and their rights."

Smith finished his comments to loud applause from those in attendance, saying the board of education is "destroying" Chatham County Schools. He'd previously stated on the podcast that the incident was emblematic of the problems in North Carolina public schools.

Smith also claimed on the Carolina Conservatives podcast that he reached out to the school district, including Chatham County Schools assistant superintendent about the incident before removing his daughter.

Members of the Chatham County Board of Education are not allowed to respond during the public comment period, but a spokesperson for Chatham County Schools said Smith called the Bonlee School principal after the incident. Multiple school officials, including the assistant superintendent, reached out to Smith via phone, but CCS officials said they were not able to get the family to sit down to discuss in person.

"The matter was investigated and addressed according to policy," CCS Public Information Officer Nancy Wykle told the News + Record. "We remain committed to working with the family if they wish to do so. To date, they have chosen not to work with or meet with school staff to address the matter after removing the child from school."

One of the hosts of the Carolina Conservatives podcast, Pastor Allen Mashburn, also spoke at the meeting and echoed many of Smith's concerns. Washburn serves as the pastor of Asbury Baptist Church in Seagrove in Randolph County.

"Not only did something happen that harmed the child, but it was a violation of her rights," Mashburn said. "You need to address that, all of us must address that. The rich thing is the school just finished diversity and sensitivity training last week, that's rich."

One speaker, Dawn Porter, a Bynum resident, spoke up in support of the board's diversity and equity training efforts.

"While I don't speak for all parents, I do speak for a lot this kind of training is not only supported but expected," Porter said. "We live in a time where there's a lot of tensions that continue in the U.S. But I'm confident everyone here is trying to give all of our kids a basic education, but there are unconscious biases."

Porter asked for such sessions to continue to help close the achievement gaps in the county and help address systemic equity issues in the county.

Mashburn was one of several speakers who came from outside the county to express concern. Others included Pastor John Amanchukwu from Raleigh, who describes himself as "a rising voice exposing the racist ideologies of abortion and Critical Race Theory." He is also former executive director of the Upper Room Christian Academy in Raleigh and a contributor to Turning Point USA. He was the loudest speaker of the evening and echoed many of the concerns of other speakers.

"Tonight I am filled with righteous indignation," Amanchukwu said. "Hearing that a young girl was demonized for her faith is a tragedy for our republic. The truth is there is an attack on Christianity in this culture."

The Black pastor claimed if the student was of a different faith then the incident wouldn't have happened. He then claimed public school systems and Chatham County Schools teach Critical Race Theory, transgenderism and grooming policies, which he called "tragic ideologies."

Other public speakers included two Republican candidates for Chatham County offices - Tim Moore, who is running for school board in Dist. 5, and Marcus Globuschutz, who is running for sheriff.

The board didn't take action on the issue.

Dist. 1 board member Melissa Hlavac announced her resignation from the school board during the meeting, citing a need to devote more time to personal and professional endeavors.

Her resignation on Monday was effective immediately.

"I feel honored and privileged to have served on the Chatham County Schools Board of Education for nearly eight years," Hlavac said. "We've worked hard, navigated challenging decisions, and treated each other with respect, all while not betraying our deepest values. I'm proud of our board for its collective accomplishments on behalf of CCS as well as its steadfast support for our students, teachers, staff and administrators."

Pursuant to school board policy 2115 and North Carolina General Statute 115C-37(f), the board will begin the process of replacing Hlavac soon. Information on the process will be communicated in the near future. The person selected to serve will be on the board until 2024, and then the seat will be up for election. Those with questions about the board appointment process should contact Kristin Guthrie, clerk to the board of education, at kguthrie@chatham.k12.nc.us.

* The board heard several presentations regarding the status of the county's schools following a release of data from the N.C. Dept. of Public Instruction. Testing data showed the county had grown in the 2021-22 school year, with 89.5% of school achieving or exceeding growth. The largest growth was seen by Virginia Cross Elementary, which grew by more than 20 points from the previous year. VCE, however, was diagnosed with a low-performance rating by NCDPI because of its low proficiency numbers.

Dr. Amanda Moran, assistant superintendent for academic services and instructional support, said this was a problem with the accountability model itself, rather than the school. School Performance Grades are calculated using a formula from NCDPI that uses 80% academic proficiency and 20% growth.

"When you look at VCE on a scatter plot of all the school in North Carolina, they're an outlier," Moran said. "They have higher growth than any other school in the state with comparable populations. Yet because their performance grade is calculated using only 20% growth, and their proficiency scores are lower, that causes them to have a lower grade. I would put the teachers at VCE against any in the state, but unfortunately, the grade rubric doesn't celebrate that extreme growth."

Moran said the district will continue to celebrate growth as they gather more data from the recently released testing results.

* Three of the five schools in the district classified as "low-performing" are now eligible for N.C. Restart program, which aims to create equity by allowing flexibility in state requirements and encouraging school leaders to rethink curriculum and planning.

The three schools - Chatham Middle, Virginia Cross Elementary and Siler City Elementary - are granted calendar flexibility. The board heard a presentation about possibly converting these three schools into year-round schools. The district is taking preliminary steps to research the feasibility of converting to a year-round system for the schools in the western portion of the county.

The next Chatham County Schools Board of Education meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 10, at the Chatham Grove Elementary School media center. For more information visit www.chatham.k12.nc.us.

Reporter Ben Rappaport can be reached at brappaport@chathamnr.com or on Twitter @b_rappaport.

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Parents lash out at school board after claims of religious discrimination circulate

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PITTSBORO - In a fiery school board meeting, eight community members spoke out after they claimed a student at Bonlee School was bullied for her faith. More than 70 people came to the meeting at Chatham Grove Elementary School Monday night, after reports surfaced online last week of a student being "bullied" by a teacher because of her love for the Bible.

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Equity and Diversity in Teacher Preparation: Learning from Research and Practice, Part 1

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Black Tennessee Voices event shines spotlight on local stories

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“Black Tennessee Voices LIVE,” is a new storytelling show spotlighting the unique, personal, and powerful stories of Black Tennesseans.

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Has diversity inside of the classroom become so nonexistent that an African American woman felt the need to enroll her students inside of segregated classroom...the answer to that is yes, according to some people. Especially in Alabama it has become so one-sided in the classrooms and our issue is that we need to fix it. 

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Has diversity inside of the classroom become so nonexistent that an African American woman felt the need to enroll her students inside of segregated classroom...the answer to that is yes, according to some people. Especially in Alabama it has become so one-sided in the classrooms and our issue is that we need to fix it. 

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Why I enrolled my children in an Alabama ‘segregation academy’

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The Montgomery Academy has the level of academic rigor and diversity in curriculum we want for our children.

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Why does diversity matter inside of the classroom? Because the students will eventually and probably already are going out into the REAL world where diversity is unavoidable. Educators of color has been proven to have a positive impact on students and their lives. 

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Why does diversity matter inside of the classroom? Because the students will eventually and probably already are going out into the REAL world where diversity is unavoidable. Educators of color has been proven to have a positive impact on students and their lives. 

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ABC10 is taking a look at two things: diversity in the classroom and the lack of teachers in very specific areas.

SACRAMENTO, Calif - Over the past few weeks, ABC10 has taken a look at different aspects of the teaching industry in Northern California. From looking at the issue of the teacher shortage as a whole, to what is being done to recruit new teachers.

Now, ABC10 To The Point team is taking a look at two things: diversity in the classroom and the lack of teachers in very specific areas.

Across the country, there are more than 280,000 fewer teachers now than at the start of the pandemic, that's according to the National Education Association. Looking here in our state, the California School Boards Association believes the state needs roughly 100,000 teachers.

"63% of our teachers are white, (and) only 23% of our students are white," said Diana Lambert, the senior education reporter at EdSource - an independent non-profit organization that focuses on education in California. "(At the) same time, 50% of our students are Latino and 20% of our teachers are Latina, so there's definitely an imbalance there."

Lambert says the state is looking for ways to diversify the educator workforce.

"Tony Thurman has got together a task force, they're trying to find a way to recruit more specifically, black male teachers," she said. "But truthfully, I don't know any other ways. He said that's one of his main priorities for the year, but I think it's early on, they're just habitasse for so far."

Why does diversity in the classroom matter?

Research shows teachers of color have a positive impact on students.

The Learning Policy Institute, an independent research non-profit, found that when taught by teachers of color, students of color have higher test scores, are more likely to graduate high school, and more likely to succeed in college.

California School Boards Association's Chief Information Officer Troy Flint explains.

"There's a lot of research that shows particularly at the earlier levels, that when students have a teacher that they identify with, that looks like them, that that can produce more engagement with school and better academic results," he said. "There's a real desire to get a wider variety of people into the teaching profession, particularly in some of these low-income schools that we talked about, where people were students have a certain experience, and not all teachers may be able to relate to that. Of course, you don't have to be from a certain environment, you don't have to be from the streets, you don't have to be from a rural area, to be effective in those in those settings. But certainly, it is helpful if you do have a background and some cultural knowledge. And that can translate to success in the classroom if you have the other skills in place."

What's preventing more recruitment and retention of teachers of color?

Inadequate teacher preparation, poor working conditions, low salaries, and a lack of ongoing support for new teachers are part of the issue.

"Right now, about a third of the people who are entering the profession in California have what are called substandard credentials, doesn't mean that they won't be good teachers, but it just means they haven't completed all the certifications that would normally be required to enter the classroom," Flint said. "But because beggars can't be choosers, districts aren't in a position where they can be picky. Most districts aren't, can't hold out for those who have the full credential. They have to hire people who are still completing that work and that has equity issues because typically, it's the more affluent districts that can offer the higher salaries that kind of get their pick of the litter when it comes to getting those teachers. You tend to have more turnover at the low-income schools, which are generally but not always considered more demanding a little tougher environment. Because of that, you're getting those constant (turns) and that has really damaging effects on academic achievement for low-income kids, primarily black and brown kids who are in the school, also are rural students, where you don't have access to the same candidate pool. Those are the students are rural students are low-income students generally, and particularly African American and Latino students who are suffering because of the teacher shortage and the high rate of turnover in the profession. There's about an 8% attrition rate annually. If you multiply that over a span of years over, say, the 13 or 14 years that a kid is in a TK to 12 school environment, you see how many teachers are cycling through. That instability is a real impediment to academic achievement, especially for the kids who need the most support."

Are we seeing a difference between rural areas versus cities?

"The rural areas are definitely the hardest hit," Lambert said. "You know, for example, Konocti Unified up in Lake County has about 50% of his teachers working on an emergency credential who aren't fully prepared to teach the courses they're teaching. Last year, they started the short 12 teachers, even with those 50% of the teachers, underprepared. That's because when the rural areas are hard to your pool of teachers, people are qualified to be teachers is small. It's hard to recruit people to that place. What they have done, though, and that's really interesting thing, I think, is that they've turned to Montana. They go to Montana, and they go to teacher fairs in Montana, trying to attract teachers from that state here. The reason being this, Montana has that there aren't very many jobs for teachers in Montana, and they figured that like county similar, its role that has a lot of outdoor activities, so they try to attract those teachers, they are in a good portion of their teachers are from Montana."

It's important to note that California is able to attract teachers from other states partly based on pay.

The starting salary for a teacher in California, according to the National Education Association, is just over $49,000 (49,933). The top salary is nearly $100,000 ($99,912).

In Montana, those numbers start at $32,000 (32,495) and increase to nearly $66,000 (65,785).

A look at other teacher deficiencies: Bilingual teachers

"Half of all districts in California are reporting a shortage of bilingual teachers," said Flint. "This is really concerning given our demographics. We have more English learner students than any other state in the country, a huge percentage of English learner students of the nation as a whole. So if we are not adequately prepared to support these students who often need a greater degree of assistance, a greater degree of proficiency as they're learning a new language and trying to acquire knowledge across a variety of subjects in a language that's maybe not completely familiar to them. And then that is really going to impede the ability of our English learner students to succeed and is going to hurt the ability of the system overall, to produce well-qualified graduates, people who are capable of providing for their families, who can go out into various professions, who can engage civically and politically. I think that's something that's very important to recognize that lack of bilingual teachers is not just something that hurts English learners, students, it has an impact on communities widely. (In) California as a whole, this is a huge percentage of our student population, people that will be the adults, the decision makers of tomorrow, and these are potentially future leaders were losing potential that's being compromised because we are not able to provide them the support they need and deserve."

A look at other teacher deficiencies: Special education teachers

"(We are) being really diligent about trying to recruit people from all aspects of life, all parts of society, so that we are accessing the widest pool of candidates possible, and getting the most talented and committed teachers to serve our students," said Flint. "I think that's especially important for students in underserved areas, whether it's rural areas, whether it's our low-income students, whether it's students with disabilities or English learner students. It's a true equity issue, it's also an issue for our health as a society, for our ability to field engage adults who can participate in civic society, and in terms of our ability to remain prosperous, and hopefully, more equitable society in the future."

A look at other teacher deficiencies: Substitute teachers

"The substitute teacher shortage is the most dire shortage in schools right now," said Lambert. "Teachers, sometimes they have to merge classrooms fixes aren't enough teachers or substitute teachers, or put kids in gymnasiums, two and three classes in a gymnasium in some districts, not all, because they don't have enough substitute teachers. Substitutes sort of dropped off the map during COVID because there was no school for a year and a half, they had to find other jobs, right? Then they were paid that well, and they were afraid of COVID. It really reduced the ranks of substitute teachers and in response, some districts as much as doubled the substitute rate for a while due to temporary hikes. We'll see what next year brings, but this last year or year has been really hard on districts who can't find substitutes, especially have to add during COVID outbreaks, you know, you're covering teachers, substitutes don't want to come in, it's been really dramatic."

ABC10: Watch, Download, Read

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A look at diversity in the classroom and the lack of teachers in very specific areas | To The Point

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ABC10 is taking a look at two things: diversity in the classroom and the lack of teachers in very specific areas. SACRAMENTO, Calif - Over the past few weeks, ABC10 has taken a look at different aspects of the teaching industry in Northern California.

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EP 90: Addressing the Leadership Gap for Women of Color in Higher Education with Gloria Blackwell

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Even though this Ted Talk doesn't pertain to "education" in the way most of my articles do I felt this was an important listen. Inside of the classroom and inside of the educational system in general it is important for people of color to have a voice and that voice needs to be heard if we are going to provide equalness and fairness inside of the career field. 

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Even though this Ted Talk doesn't pertain to "education" in the way most of my articles do I felt this was an important listen. Inside of the classroom and inside of the educational system in general it is important for people of color to have a voice and that voice needs to be heard if we are going to provide equalness and fairness inside of the career field. 

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Get comfortable with being uncomfortable | Luvvie Ajayi Jones | TED

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Is white Privilege a thing? This is a conversation that must be had if we ever fully plan on implementing equity and diversity inside of our classrooms. These are the tough conversations that we have to have in order to treat all of our students with fair and equalness. 

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Is white Privilege a thing? This is a conversation that must be had if we ever fully plan on implementing equity and diversity inside of our classrooms. These are the tough conversations that we have to have in order to treat all of our students with fair and equalness. 

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The self-described "woke" chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer in the Department of Defense's education branch has a history of calling out white people on social media, according to a report.

The tweets by Kelisa Wing, an Army veteran and the current DEI chief at the DoD's Education Activity, were first reported by Fox News. When the outlet contacted her for comment, her Twitter account was made private and she declined to respond.

"I'm exhausted with these white folx in these [professional development] sessions," Wing, who oversees curriculum at DoDEA, tweeted in June 2020, according to Fox.

"[T]his lady actually had the CAUdacity to say that black people can be racist too ... I had to stop the session and give Karen the BUSINESS ... [W]e are not the majority, we don't have power," the diversity chief continued.

"Caudacity" is a portmanteau referencing audacity expressed by white people.

Kelisa Wing, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer in the Department of Defense's education branch, has put white people on blast in a series of tweets.

DODEA

"[B]eing antiracist means being active against racism ... you will NEVER arrive ... stop centering this on whiteness," Wing said.

In another post, Wing responded to another user who criticized an article she had written that claimed "racism is ingrained in the very fabric of our country," and called on teachers to dismantle "racial oppression," Fox reported.

"Bye Karen," Wing wrote, dismissively.

She's additionally called former President Donald Trump the "whole boy version of a Karen" and his former secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, "the queen of Karens."

The DoDEA and DoD did not immediately respond to Fox's requests for comment regarding Wing's tweets.

Wing has additionally co-authored several children's books concerning race. In 2021, she wrote along with Leigh Ann Dickerson, as part of the Racial Justice in America Series, " What Is White Privilege?"

Wing co-authored the children's book "What Is White Privilege?," published in 2001.

Cherry Lake Publishing

The book says that "White privilege hurts a lot of people. If you are White you might feel bad about hurting others or you might feel afraid to lose this privilege."

"Overcoming White privilege is a job that must start with the White community," the book says.

The book was one of many removed for review by a Florida school district, a nonprofit group that monitors banned books reported, according to Fox.

"Honored to be involved with work that causes good trouble," Wing said on Twitter in response to the report.

In another book Wing co-authored, titled " What Is Anti-Racism?," she reportedly makes unfounded claims including that "the modern idea of 'race' was introduced by the National Party in Germany," despite a long history of conceptions of race and racism predating Nazi Germany, according to Fox.

Former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was labeled "the queen of Karens."

CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

She co-authored another book called "What Does It Mean to Defund the Police?" as part of the children's series.

When she was promoted to chief in 2021, the DoD said Wing "has been involved with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts for students and schools over many years, authoring several books on the topic," according to a release obtained by the outlet.

In a video posted to DoDEA's YouTube channel, Wing said her responsibilities at DoDEA include "a holistic view of the agency in terms of recruitment and retention, development and promotion, teaching and learning, and then as well as climate."

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'Woke' Department of Defense equity chief Kelisa Wing has history of anti-white Twitter posts: report

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The self-described "woke" chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer in the Department of Defense's education branch has a history of calling out white people on social media, according to a report. The tweets by Kelisa Wing, an Army veteran and the current DEI chief at the DoD's Education Activity, were first reported by Fox News.

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A schoolboard discussion has caused a division in the conversation surrounding equity and diversity inside of the schools. Two opposing sides discussing the pros and cons on implementing diversity and equity inside of the classroom. 

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A schoolboard discussion has caused a division in the conversation surrounding equity and diversity inside of the schools. Two opposing sides discussing the pros and cons on implementing diversity and equity inside of the classroom. 

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NEW ULM - The meeting room at the New Ulm Public Library was packed Wednesday night for the League of Women Voters (LWV) District 88 School Board candidate forum.

Seven candidates are seeking three seats in November. The candidates are Steve Gag, Melissa Sunderman and Amanda Groebner, Jo-el Flitter, Michael Thom, Nicholas Thiel and Gigi (Germaine) Rysdahl.

The election has drawn more interest than any previous School Board election in recent memory. Equity, inclusion and diversity were the top issues, dividing the candidates with the incumbents, with Gag, Sunderman and Groebner in support of these philosophies as a strategic plan for the district, and the challengers all opposed them to varying degrees.

Of the seven candidates, only six were able to attend. Rysdahl was absent, attending an event before her son's wedding.

The candidates were asked how they would further the district's strategic action plan to advance equity, inclusion and diversity in the school.

Gag, Groebner and Sunderman supported efforts to advance this policy. Sunderman explained the board had gone through training on these topics and engaged in conversation with community members on what is needed. The next phase would bring this information to educators and staff.

"It is important to take everyone's consideration and view into perspective when we are discussing this," he said.

Gag said it was about making things better for everyone.

"We just want every student to succeed to the best of their ability," he said.

Gag believed the training the board took on equity, inclusion and diversity gave the members a better perspective to understand the issue.

Groebner said these issues cover all socio-economic dynamics that students come from and learning about them helps create a better learning environment.

She cited the curb-cut approach. Curb-cuts and ramps were invented to help disabled people, but the cuts have benefited other people. Groebner said equity, inclusion and diversity are not taking away anything from others, but creating a better environment.

The challenger candidates were less in favor of equity, inclusion and diversity.

Thom was against equality, inclusion and diversity. He said opposing this strategic action was at the heart of why he was running for the board. Thom did not want these issues to be the focus of the board if elected and would encourage the board to scrap it as an action plan. He wanted to emphasize excellence and appreciation.

"We don't want divisiveness in our school, and this is a breeding ground," Thom said.

Flitter stated she believed in treating everyone equally but felt equity was tilting the playing field, giving others more advantages over others. She believed it was well-intended but thought it was breeding resentment, and divisiveness. She wanted to calm the waters and find a better way to make all children treated the same.

Thiel split the difference. He agreed that everyone's point of view was valid, but was against focusing on minority views at the expense of the majority. He was willing to support training for counselors and staff, but said, "I don't feel that pushing the small problem of some onto a greater majority of people."

Equity, inclusion and diversity were brought up again when the candidates were asked about the greatest issue facing the school.

Thom again cited equity, inclusion and diversity as the biggest issues. He compared equity, inclusion and diversity to Soviet Union practices. He stopped short of calling board members communists by saying they were not consciously leading the district in this direction and likely had good intentions.

Later, on a question about supporting teachers, Thom said the greatest source of stress among teachers was being forced to train equity, inclusion and diversity as it violates their conscience. He believed this approach was driving away teachers.

Thiel also spoke against equity, inclusion and diversity as top issues. He said these issues along with critical race theory were taking a front burner in the schools.

"It is almost like the majority who don't feel that way are being forced to walk a mile in their shoes when they don't feel that way," he said. "I don't think it is a big problem in this community as some make it out to be."

Thiel took a different approach to support teachers. He believed they needed more financial support. Thiel believed teachers should not have to buy supplies for the classroom out of their own pocket, especially since they already have low salaries.

Flitter believed the schools needed to learn basic skills. She was concerned with a drop in MCA proficiency scores.

"We need to get back to the basics," she said, so students can function out in the world after they graduate.

Sunderman believed mental health, and social and emotional behavior of students were the greatest issues in the school. She wanted to make sure the students get the help they needed.

"Mental health is so important these days," she said. "We need to continue to take strides."

Gag believed student engagement was important coming out of the COVID pandemic. He said it is a major concern in the community. He believed that is why so many were interested in the school board now.

"If we can get students re-engaged, behaviors will improve at schools," he said.

Another stark divide between the incumbents and challengers was the question of whether they supported the school referendum on the ballot this November. The district is seeking to renew an expiring operating levy through a vote. The levy currently provides $1.8 million annually but expires in 2023 if voters do not approve it.

All three incumbents stated "yes" that they would support the referendum.

All three challengers did not commit to supporting or not supporting. Each said: "it depends".

The forum proceeded in an orderly fashion until the final question regarding busing. The candidates were asked if they would consider expanding bus service within the two-mile students of the schools.

Thom went off topic, trying to about the petition on gender identity he presented to the school board months ago. The forum moderator Carolyn Dobler cut him off, saying he was violating the rules of the forum. Thom had the option of bringing this issue up in his closing statement but chose not to.

The other five candidates were willing to consider busing but acknowledged it might not be financially feasible. Gag said busing was cut 12 years ago. Those within two miles of school must find alternative rides. However, Gag said if a school or bus company is called for a ride, a student can get one.

"It hasn't been as bad as expected," Gag said.

During closing statements, Flitter urged everyone to help take back the wheel and bring back Eagle Pride to the district.

Gag asked for votes because he was the best candidate, asking voters to consider the great things that have happened in the district in the last 12 years.

Groebner said she is passionate about education and excited about the future of the district and proud of what was accomplished in the last four years.

Sunderman said she is proud of how the board works together and worked to ensure no one child is more important than another. Staff and administration were valued and were important to keep the district strong.

Thiel said he was the best candidate because he listens and was not a "yes-man." He believed the board needs free-individual thinkers who listen to those who voted them into office.

Thom compared the school district to a garden. If voters see the district as all roses, they won't vote for him.

"If you see it as a place where weeds are growing up that needs to be attended to and removed and addressed-then that's why I am running," he said.

The forum will be rebroadcast on New Ulm Cable Access Television as well as KNUJ.

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divisive on diversity: school board forum reveals two sides of cultural dividenew ulm

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divisive on diversity: school board forum reveals two sides of cultural divide

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Divisive on diversity: School Board forum reveals two sides of cultural divide

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NEW ULM - The meeting room at the New Ulm Public Library was packed Wednesday night for the League of Women Voters (LWV) District 88 School Board candidate forum. Seven candidates are seeking three seats in November. The candidates are Steve Gag, Melissa Sunderman and Amanda Groebner, Jo-el Flitter, Michael Thom, Nicholas Thiel and Gigi [...]