ICYMI: Opening Weekend Edition (4/28)

We've opened our community theater production of Jesus Christ, Superstar, and it is going wonderfully, with some excellent audiences and great performances, while my shoulders are holding out through the prolonged arm flapping every evening. It just feels great to help create a performance and put it out into the world, live and in person. Hope you have something equally delightful in your corner of the world. 

Let's see what there is to read this week.

Teachers Aren’t ‘Silicon Valley’s Lackeys’

This Jack Bouchard piece is well worth using up one of your free EdWeek views. He makes some point that go beyond just the question of what place AI has in education. 

When a child, frustrated at the opacity of a Toni Morrison novel, wants to know when she will ever use this, I reply, “You might never! And that’s OK, because you’re a human being and you have more important things to be than just useful.”

Ex-athletic director accused of framing principal with AI arrested at airport with gun

Speaking of special uses of AI, here's a bizarre story from Baltimore.

Florida Republicans eye control of more county school boards in November election

More of the same old same old anticipated in Florida this year.

University of Memphis plans to launch new K-12 district this fall

Laura Testino reports for Chalkbeat on a new sort of school district about to hit Tennessee.

Recommendations for Books You Should Not Read Because You Do Not Care

Maurice Cunningham has some reading suggestions for those interested in the world of dark money and its influence.

No Matter What You Call Them, Private School Vouchers Are Bad for New Jersey

School finance expert and music teacher Marl Weber lays out the explanation of why the new proposal for New Jersey school vouchers would be a bad idea.

DeSantis said public schools were religious when US began. Is he right?

Short answer: no. But the Tampa Bay Times reporter Jeffrey Solochek talked to a lot of smart people about DeSantis's version of US education history to get a longer answer.

A Brief History of Automatons That Were Actually People

Brian Contreras at Scientific American looks at fauxtomation, the process by which companies use actual humans to fake AI.

The Return of the Tradteacher

You're on line, so you've probably heard about tradwives. Nancy Flanagan talks about the affection for tradteachers.

A trans teacher asked students about pronouns. Then the education commissioner found out.

Sarah Gibson at New Hampshire Public Radio has the story of that time the state education commissioner decided to go after one trans teacher.

How Book Bans, Threats to Honest Teaching of History, and “Don’t Say Gay” Bills Harm Our Children and Undermine Education for Citizenship

Jan Resseger looks at some of the damage done by culture panic in this country.

Plans to put libraries in most Michigan schools get support from educators and parents

What a whacky idea! Hannah Dellinger reports for Chalkbeat.

Louisiana: Lunch Breaks in Question for Teen Workers

News about this bill was in last week's list, but this week the indispensable Mercedes Schneider has more information about who's pushing the bill. Prepare to be unsurprised.

Over at Forbes.com I wrote about the practice of pep rallies for the Big Standardized Test. 

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