This is terrible. Also @the74.bsky.social has really been killing it lately. www.the74million.org/article/ice-...

Everyone should read the entire thread.

Yes. Posting is fine and all, and I get a lot of information from folks on here so thanks to all who share. But emailing or calling your reps so that their your voice is counted by their offices really can make a difference. It doesn't matter if they read it. They see when the volume is up.

Yes - and like everything the media focuses on in higher ed, I find the opposite problem teaching in a less- privileged setting. My students often don't want to ask for their accommodations because they don't want me to think they are making excuses, or looking for an "easy way out."

Yes - as I learned in K-12 teaching decades ago, most accommodations can benefit everyone and are just good teaching.

My husband received the nicest letter from a former student this week. The person is now an adult and wanted to let him know how much his actions as a middle school principal affected their life trajectory. If you've ever thought about sending a message like this, do it! Celebrate goodness.

BREAKING: Tremane Wood, who was moments away from being executed for a killing his brother admitted to committing, received a last minute clemency grant from Gov. Kevin Stitt www.huffpost.com/entry/treman...

Dear Democratic Party: I currently teach first-semester college students, almost all of whom will be *business* majors. We focus on policy, not politicians, in class, but Mamdani's message has infiltrated everything. Young people are paying attention and they are energized. That's the lesson.

Beautiful day to vote in NYC! Bummed I didn't get the Brooklyn sticker, but I'm a sucker for same-day, run-into-your-neighbors-and-school-personnel-you-remember-from-years-ago voting.

I'm at a mayoral debate watch party @marxe.baruch.cuny.edu and man are we laughing a lot!

I'm sorry to admit that it's somewhat gratifying to read this from folks at highly exclusive institutions.

We were inundated with mailers attacking our city council rep. I did not love how she handled a housing/development issue in my neighborhood and would have been open to voting for a challenger. But the mailers I received were so deeply offensive I could not support that effort.

I agree. And also I do think New Yorkers like myself calling and emailing helps. Statewide Dems need NYC votes. I’m not voting for anyone who fear mongers like this.

I cannot overstate the amount of hateful, ugly campaign material that has arrived in my mail daily for the past few weeks. My city council rep was targeted by terrible forces and I’m so glad to see that she prevailed. Things are looking up for mayor too.

Again, as this article notes, Biden never actually reinstated the Obama-era guidelines that Trump is supposedly undoing here.

I mean this definitely makes getting rid of the DOE seem like a good idea...

Just subscribed to my first substack.

Gentle reminder, naked preference for loyal mediocre white dudes is NOT “affirmative action for white people” Affirmative Action rewards those who excel under harsh conditions. The shit Trump is doing rewards Twitter trolls who lick his boots.

Has congress passed a law superseding or eliminating the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961? Has the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional? Then why are journalists reporting that Trump and Musk are "shutting down" USAID. They are not authorized to do so.

Any university that voluntarily shutters a DEI program, office or personnel “Because of Trumps Executive Order” is making a PR decision. Not a legal one. Trumps EO does not change anti discrimination law. If anything, the EO is unlawful. Universities should treat it that way.

I honestly don't know how those of you who are staying up to the moment on all of this stuff do it. I appreciate you, and rely on you when I pop in here once or twice a day, which is all I can handle. I want to be more active but right now I just can't.

I was led to believe by R.E.M. that I would feel a lot better about this.

I want to spell out the basic reason it’s so dangerous for Elon to have control of the U.S. payments system. It may seem like a technical matter, but the dynamics are simple. 1/x

To review, a very short and over simplified thread. 1. The US does not have a national education system. Public schools exist because of state constitutions, local school policy changes because of state and district action.

@dominiquejl.bsky.social I’m listening to you sounding super smart on the radio right now. Great job! And hooray to @wnyc.org for giving this exhibition at the Center for Brooklyn History so much air time. Can’t wait to check it out.

This is it. Trump doesn't have the authority to do most of what he lays out in his order, but it won't matter if schools and teachers think they can't teach social history, or acknowledge the humanity of all types of people. Or if states and local school boards follow suit.

With all the yuckiness, taking my time to carefully read this pre-pub by @kallienebenjamin.bsky.social was a high point of my week. Highly recommend. It will re-periodize the way most of us think about urban development and racial zoning. And it centers schools. uncpress.org/book/9781469...

I’m not usually a “this is a terrible headline” type person, but this was on the front page of my newspaper this morning. What the what? www.nytimes.com/2025/01/09/a...

Going to bed not long after I posted this was definitely the right call. Tbc, I was of course rooting for my hometown team, but anyone following football who doesn't at least partly want to see the Lions finally make it to a Superbowl is missing a piece of their sports-fan heart.

Globes were so awkward I agreed to change the channel to my first NFL watch of the season, but this Vikes-Lions game has given me a headache. I forgot how stressful it is to watch a football game when you care even a bit about the outcome.

For the record I think this has been the most depressing syllabus planning I've ever experienced. Way worse than 2016. I always try to plant at least a seed of hope each week, but that's been tough to pull off this time.

I've been working on my school reform syllabus and for the first time in my decades of teaching it, the course will not have a stand-alone unit on "school choice." Choice has become so widespread, it's not really a reform anymore, and it's discussed in many of the foundational readings.

One man’s liberty is another man’s school closure. West Virginia’s voucher program sent 10,000 students to private school last year. One school community lost $1 million. Now the state is closing 24 schools. www.the74million.org/article/west...

For 15 years I have hard core competed with Christmas by making Hanukkah as fun as possible for my kids and their friends. And it worked! Currently hosting a pre-Hanukkah party at their request. Our apartment is full of teens of all backgrounds eating latkes and playing dreidel.

Could he win the Republican primary, though? I don't get the sense they care for him much either.

"“Everything that is spelled out — that we now have permission to do — is just general good practice,” said the school leader." Just a reminder that much of what affects children's day-to-day school experiences is locally-determined. www.nydailynews.com/2024/12/05/n...

A year ago AI could not adequately answer my essay prompts. Now it does a pretty nice job, although it writes the same essay every time. Has anyone on here used an AI-generated response to the prompt as a starting point for undergraduate students? And if so what do you then ask them to do?

This is scarily accurate.

I’ve waited days now for someone else to bring this up, but I haven’t seen anything posted about the new hallmark movie where a house is being prepped for a “needy” family, headed by the town’s (possibly retired) school principal.

Know an outstanding scholar whose work attends to the Lives of Teachers? Nominate them for the Michael Huberman Award for Outstanding Lives of Teachers' Scholarship - an AREA-sanctioned SIG honor for which nominations are sought by December 13, 2024. Please repost! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

It’s time to acknowledge that there are no “hacks” for seeding a pomegranate. There are your preferred methods, ways to keep it a bit cleaner, etc. But at the end of the day it’s a long messy process that you just have to embrace.

Yup.

Call for Papers ISCHE 46 in Lille, 8–11 July 2025: History of Knowledge in the History of Education

All the coverage I see about the federal DOE seems to assume that how it exists and functions now is set in stone. But it's not all or nothing. The federal government can fund schools without a DOE; it can regulate schools without a DOE; it can enforce students' civil rights without a DOE.

One of my teens is being driven around this evening by a newly-licensed friend and I am ON EDGE. Parents in the suburbs must have nerves of steel.

The Education Writers Association is officially on Bluesky. Spread the word!

When businesses talk about ending government “overreach” they’re usually talking about screwing their customers over

Well, maybe not Bruno, who hates the rain, doesn’t understand drought, and spent our entire morning walk trying to go home.

Hello, rain! NYC is so happy to meet you again.