Schools are protected by international law

 Among the first places we heard were bombed in Iran over the weekend was the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, which is in southern Iran, where as of yesterday, the death toll had risen to 165 dead, 96 injured.

The strike on school appears to be the worst mass casualty event of the US-Israeli-led bombing campaign on Iran so far.

The United Nations education agency, UNESCO, on Saturday released a statement: 

UNESCO is deeply alarmed by the impact of the ongoing military escalation in the Middle East on educational institutions, students, and education personnel. 

Initial reports indicate that an attack on a girls' primary school in Minab, southern Iran, has resulted in the deaths of over 100 individuals, including numerous students. The killing of pupils in a place dedicated to learning constitutes a grave violation of the protection afforded to schools under international humanitarian law. 

Attacks against educational institutions endanger students and teachers and undermine the right to education. In accordance with its mandate and with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2601 (2021), UNESCO recalls the obligations of all parties to protect schools, students and education personnel.

In response to those who commented that the girls' school was next to a military barracks, one should note that currently there are 161 schools on military bases in the United States. 

Eisenhower

 Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.  

It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.  

The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.  

It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.  

It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. 

It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.  

We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.  

We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.  

This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking.  

This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. 

Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.  

These plain and cruel truths define the peril and point the hope that comes with this spring of 1953. 

This is one of those times in the affairs of nations when the gravest choices must be made, if there is to be a turning toward a just and lasting peace.  

It is a moment that calls upon the governments of the world to speak their intentions with simplicity and with honesty.  

It calls upon them to answer the question that stirs the hearts of all sane men: is there no other way the world may live? 

From "The Chance for Peace" 
Address Delivered Before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16th, 1953 

for any who might be interested: the three F-15 bombers shot down by "friendly fire" by Kuwait over the weekend--which did not result in U.S. deaths--cost about $90M each.

Things to read this week

•  EdSurge has the thing I keep pointing out on early ed: everyone wants to talk about universal pre-K--which is great!--but we don't even have universal free public kindergarten across the country.
  ...including in Massachusetts, where education is not required until age 6. 
  
  
• The 74 did a good look at Google's new AI "partnership" for teachers, 'though I would also urge you to read Benjamin Riley's full rant (I think that's fair, and I don't mean it disparagingly at all!) . Google, of course, has said that they're looking to create a "network of future users" by getting into schools. If you get the teachers, you get the students.
  
  
• Speaking of technology looking out only for themselves, the school shooting last month in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia has Canadian leadership demanding answers from OpenAI, where the shooter had a history of descriptions of violence, which, among other things, the company did not bring to the attention of the police when interviewed following the shooting. While the company is how "vowing safety changes," Canada says they don't go far enough.
  It is a wildly unregulated industry. 
  
  
  
• And speaking of school violence, we in the U.S. are going to know less now, because the Trump administration "gutted the Department of Education office responsible for collecting and analyzing most school-related data," including data on kids bringing guns to school. 

Three takeaways from this week's Board of Ed meeting

 Three things that stuck with me from this meeting: 

1. Both the Commissioner and CFO Bell gave a "yikes*" when it comes to federal grants during the budget update. While the federal entitlement grants were level funded by Congress, they're reallocated by state and then by district each year by demographic information. The state and districts may see less money this year.
   
   
2. Depending on what language the conference committee on the literacy bills comes out with**, the Department may end up in the awkward position of enforcing something that doesn't exist. In the literacy discussion, they were careful to note that their standard for "high-quality instructional materials" isn't "evidence-based" because "very few materials on the market have evidence of efficacy." This is, of course, more evidence (hmph) that the Legislature shouldn't be involved in this, but should be leaving this to the level of authorities who are doing the actual reading on this.
   
   
3. Speaking of not doing the reading, it was alarming to hear, in response to a question posed during the interpretation and translation regulation discussion, that the only guidance or recommendation coming from the Department on the use of AI in translation was that translations be checked by a person. So we're okay with teachers and others just dumping, say, an IEP into a chatbot where it then becomes part of the universe on which everything draws?
   FERPA, people.***
   Let's please do more reading about how this stuff works before turning our core responsibilities over in such ways.

__________________________

*not actually; my interpretation 
**assuming it comes out at all? Is it possible this terrible idea will just die there?
***when it comes out for public comment--it hasn't yet--this would be a very good comment to offer

This is not really related to the above but I thought it was funny.
source

On teaching the humanities

 From Iowa: 

Are we richer if we don’t know who Plato was, or fail to read the poems of the Roman poet Virgil? While we may still listen to Beethoven, can we understand the meaning of the music? Who will chronicle our time like Steinbeck, Hemingway, and Irving enlightened us about theirs? Where is Betsy Ross to sew our flag?

It really is time for the academic community, the humanities side, to sharpen their pencils, freshen their paint brushes, and tighten the strings on their violin. They can even ask their tech colleges to come out of Plato’s cave and join the fray.

And in the Yondr v actual students contest

 ...the students are going to win every time [gift link]

I thought this, from student journalist Joel Nam, was quite relevant (and not only on this): 

Let’s not pretend this outcome wasn’t inevitable. Any policy that hinges on student integrity, mass compliance and daily administrative policing is doomed from the start.

That full piece can be found here.  

Board of Ed for February: budget!

 "real challenge" per Martinez at federal level on funding, related to enrollment decline and other things
pay attention when things like this are said

Bill Bell on the Governor's budget

SOA implemented in full as of FY27

concern of how chapter 70 is working; increasing number of districts receiving minimum aid
Department, Commissioner, Executive Office, A&F "aren't tone deaf to the issue"
commitment to see through implementation of Student Opportunity Act; what leaders want to do after that "remains to be seen"

circuit breaker growing by $100M into next budget year

haven't received word on what the education funding levels would be for federal grants in entitlement grants
baseline is funded nationally, but allocations remain to be seen

Legislators have begun their process of budget hearings: education and local aid is March 23 in Lawrence

Hills asks if they have the resources needed to implement the goals
Martinez, in essence, says it is a start

Smidy: the capacity is very limited in the field
even with allocations and grants, a lot of schools are not going to be in a position to move forward with these initiatives if they don't have the resources to move forward

Craven: need a sense about what costs are being piled onto districts
Martinez: not only the need, but also where districts are in 
"when we use the word 'advocacy' we're using it too loosely"
nah, that's still advocacy; you just want specific advocacy
"how do we become strategic about our resources..."
this is what people say when they aren't going to give you more funding to do more things
report on local contribution coming in June 

Bell: another attempt to meet the needs of local districts and communities that exist within a capped revenue environment 

And adjourned