ICYMI: Ice Festival Edition (2/4)

Every year my small town has an ice festival, with carvings and a chili cook off and assorted other goodies. It's not he biggest festival you've ever seen, but it's fun and the Board of Directors enjoys the ice slide. This year the temperature is comfy and the sun is out, so it's a good time all around. 

Meanwhile, we've got some reading from this week. I haven't mentioned this in a long time, but I'm always on the lookout for folks writing about education, and if you have recommendations I would love to hear them. Even if you're thinking "Surely he reads this writer," holler anyway, because you just never know. It's a wide field and always changing. Just drop me a note in the comments.

Okay, here we go.

‘No Accountability’: Vouchers Wreak Havoc on States

Tim Walker, still writing for NEA after all these years! A good roundup of some of the voucher problems out there.

Educators wrestle with new limits on teaching Black history

It's Black History Month. Can you get away with teaching about Black history? Russell Contreras and Sommer Brugal look at the issue for Axios.

Pressed by Moms for Liberty, Florida school district adds clothing to illustrations in classic children's books

Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria at Popular Information looking at more panic over five year olds who might never have seen a penis before and then would ask about it!

Private Schools, Public Money: School Leaders Are Pushing Parents to Exploit Voucher Programs

Alec McGillis at ProPublica looks at how private schools are making sure they cash in on their new government subsidies. 

Exeter charter school closing amid investigation into alleged fraud and embezzlement

From New Hampshire, one more example of amateur hour fraudsters breaking into the charter school market. From Sarah Gibson at NHPR

HB109 and “State-Sponsored Pilfering” of Florida’s Public Schools

In Florida, one more way to rip off the taxpayers--give away their real estate by converting public schools to charters. Sue Kingery Woltanski has the story of this newest Florida pilferage.

The Damage Done

I have a hard time fitting podcasts into my week, but this latest edition of Have You Heard, in which Jennifer Berkshire and Jack Schneider talk to Nora De La Cour about the fallout of test-centered reforms is well worth a  listen.

Activated

From The Bitter Southerner, a Tom Lee profile of a former homemaker and roller derby star who now makes good trouble on the school board. Dot Heffron is a heck of fighter, and the in depth look at her and the Virginia district where she's doing her thing is quite a read.

Moms for Liberty faces new challenges and growing pushback over its conservative education agenda

Even CNN has noticed that the Moms are struggling a bit. Here's a whole delightful article about it highlighting the work of STOP Moms for Liberty.

The Research-Practice Divide is Real. Here's How To Overcome It.

One more insightful piece about the divide, this one by Erik Ofgang.

Back To The Mines!

Kelly Weill, substacking at MomLeft, runs down the busting of child labor protections, and also notes that this movement has repercussions for adult workers as well. Don't worry about being replaced by a bot when you can be replaced by a cheaper teenager.

‘Teachers leaving faster than they can be replaced,’ reports Alaska Dept. of Labor

Is Alaska doing any better than the lower 48? No. No, they are not.

The Uber Rich Are Funding “National School Choice Week” to Attack Public Schools

Truthout looks back at National School Choice Week and the rich folks who fund it. You know about the DeVos family. Meet the Gleasons. 

School vouchers are a bad idea, and Pennsylvania should learn from other states’ cautionary tales.

Susan Spicka puts it all together in an op-ed that explains why Pennsylvania's governor should back away from the whole voucher thing. 

Policy Dialogue: The Meaning and Purpose of Public Education

A conversation between Carol Burris and Johann Neem. It's thoughtful, low on heat and high on light. Really worth a read.

Scenes from an Unopened Binder

Jose Luis Vilson imagines his future in a school where AI writes the lesson plans and teachers are supposed to implement them with fidelity.

Book Bans in the Real World

Steve Nuzum filed some FOIA requests to see what exactly is going on in the drive to ban books. The details are not encouraging.

Sharing the Peas

TC Weber continues to bring both a hard-eyed look at the shenanigans among Tennessee's education bureaucrats and the view of school choice from the perspective of a parent.

I assure you, an AI didn’t write a terrible “George Carlin” routine

You may have caught the headline that some AI created a George Carlin routine, and it wasn't good. That wasn't the whole story, and tech writer Cory Doctorow uses that story to remind us that one of the problems with AI is that it's an awful lot of smoke and mirrors and lies.

At Forbes.com, I looked at Iowa's discussion about making students sing the anthem and share schools with an unqualified chaplain. 

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