ICYMI: Food Bank Edition (10/26)

Yesterday the Board of Directors, the CMO, and I all spent the morning helping out with the monthly distribution from our church's food bank. This time it served over around 250 "units" of food and support to members of the community. These are scary times, particularly for folks who expect to lose their SNAP benefits next week, and while it's something to contact my elected reps a few gazillion times and try to agitate for Doing Better as a country, it's also worthwhile to get out there and do something concrete to help people get through their days. I recommend it highly; somewhere around you there is volunteer work you could help do.

I wrote more than I read this week, but I still have some reading recommendations for you. Here we go.

This ‘public Christian school’ opened quietly in Colorado. Now there could be a legal fight.

Well, we knew this issue would be up again. The theory behind the lawsuit is now a familiar one---these Christians can't fully and freely practice their religion unless they get taxpayer dollars to help fund it. Ann Schimke and Erica Melzer report for Chalkbeat.

Trump Gutted the Institute of Education Sciences. Its Renewal Is in Doubt.

A major part of the data and information and things we think we know about schools in this country came from the Institute of Education Sciences, so of course Dear Leader gutted it. Ryan Quinn at Inside Higher Ed gets into the messy rubble and prospects for the future.

AI "agents," man

Ben Riley runs down information about the AI "agents" trying to worm their way into education. Also, a nifty assortment of links.

US student handcuffed after AI system apparently mistook bag of chips for gun

Everything going just perfectly in the surveillance state.

Where Did the Money Go?

Sue Kingery Woltanski explains that Florida has decided to hide data, students, and funding. One more amazing look at education the way only Florida can do it.

Book Bans and Bullshit

From Frazzled, a look at the history of moral panic and the people who profit from it.

Remembering Why There’s a Special Education Law

Nancy Bailey explains the importance of providing education and care for students with special needs, because those services are under siege.

AI-generated lesson plans fall short on inspiring students and promoting critical thinking

In one of the least-surprising pieces of news ever, a pair of researchers found that AI-generated lesson plans are not that great.

Now Is the Time of Monsters

Audrey Watters takes a look at the wave of AI slop in education. It is not good.

When School Content Decisions Become Unconstitutional

Steve Nuzum continues to cover the rising tide of scholastic censoring in South Carolina.

What the History of Supermarkets Teaches Us About AI in Schools

Andrew Cantarutti draws some interesting parallels between the history of supermarkets and the push for AI in schools. Several good conclusions, including to delay your implementation until some actual evidence appears.

Ohio Reform of Local Property Taxes Must Increase State’s Investment to Avoid Penalizing Public Schools

Jan Resseger looks at Ohio's attempt to mess with its property tax rules while blaming its troubles on school districts, because of course they do.

Grift, Grit, and the Great Voucher Grab

TC Weber and a pot pourri of all the Tenessee education shenanigans.

Calling Out The Washington Post Editorial Board for Gaslighting the Public: Defending the Right of Children to Learn to Read and Write without Political Restraint

Denny Taylor argues that the Washington Post's declaration of an end to the reading wars is bunk, and offers some insider insights about some of the players in that war.

The Reckoning: Sora 2 and the Year We Said Enough

Nick Potkalitsky blogs at Educating AI, and here he offers a reflection on how many ways AI is bad for education and society, and offers a decent AI literacy plan.

The Right-Wing Myth of American Heritage

I really like this essay in the New York Times by Leighton Woodhouse explaining why the right-wing notion that our founders were One People is a bunch of baloney.

Escaping the Trap of Efficiency: The Counterintuitive Antidote to the Time-Anxiety That Haunts and Hampers Our Search for Meaning

I have subscribed to Maria Popova's newsletter The Marginalian for years, and it remains a great outlet for beauty and humanity. See also "Thank You, Everything: An Illustrated Love Letter to the World"

How To Join ICE

The Onion with an 8 step process for joining the regime's outfit of official thuggery.

This week, over at Forbes.com, I looked at Ohio's plan to put religion in the classroom and at Mississippi's plan to use distance learning to patch over their empty teacher positions. 

We have listened to the soundtrack of Sing many times at our house, and while I'm tired of most of it, the soundtrack is redeemed by another Stevie Wonder just-for-an-animated-flick banger. Plus Ariana Grande, pre-Glinda. 

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