To do over your break: public comment now open on proposed federal prohibition on gender affirming care for young people.

PUBLIC COMMENT IS NOW OPEN on prohibiting gender affirming care for young people. Comments are open until February 17, 2026.

The grossly expressed summary: 

This proposed rule would require that a State Medicaid plan must provide that the Medicaid agency will not make payment under the plan for sex-rejecting procedures for children under 18 and prohibit the use of Federal Medicaid dollars to fund sex-rejecting procedures for individuals under the age of 18. In addition, it would require that a separate State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plan must provide that the CHIP agency will not make payment under the plan for sex-rejecting procedures for children under 19 and prohibit the use of Federal CHIP dollars to fund sex-rejecting procedures for individuals under the age of 19.

("sex-rejecting" is what they've come up with? Really?)

Flood 'em with comments!

Executive orders on education

 This afternoon, Donald Trump signed an executive order: 

...to prohibit federal funds from going to K-12 public schools that teach critical race theory (CRT) or gender issues.  

Politico had "it's coming" coverage earlier today which you can find here.  

This is of course the same sort of "we piled a lot of words on top of each other" thing we saw earlier this week with the Office of Management and Budget funding freeze. 

I would say the questions this opens are two:

1. How are they going to enforce it?
   Public education in the United States (as, amusingly, Trump himself as noted) largely the province of the state and then local districts. The federal government doesn't have that much power, or, relatively speaking, that much money with which to get schools to do much of anything. Also, most of that money--think of the title grants or IDEA--is tied directly to federal legislation that requires particular things IN THE LAW to be done or happen for the money to be distributed. He can't just make up new rules for the money.
   
   The one concern I have, which I think I have flagged here before, is the possible weaponization of the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. OCR has investigatory powers, and yesterday, they opened an investigation into the Denver Public Schools over a gender-neutral bathroom that that was put in due to student request.* If they're starting that, we could see what essentially is ongoing harassment of those who are protecting student rights. 
2. How much are states/districts/schools going to obey in advance?
   As I said the week of the election, the empowerment of people who do want to discriminate against others is one of the larger dangers to schools under Trump. The people in power are coming after those historically disempowered, and now you can, too!
   Education also tends to be a very compliance based system--and not only for students!--and state agencies, districts, and schools are going to have to resist the tendency to just go along with what the person seemingly in charge says. 

Of course, this also doesn’t look like closing the Department of Education, either, does it. 

And yes, for sure, expect lawsuits on this one, too. 

________________________
*I suspect the story is here: "at least one East High parent had raised concerns at a Denver school board meeting."
Hmmhm.

Countering the Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools

Dr. Monique Morris, co-founder of the National Black Women's Justice Institute, speaking on and around her book Pushout

"research to practice gap" that we are in the midst of
"our practice is not yet consistent with our language"
"anti-oppression work in real time"
gaps floating underneath the radar
"no one really wanted to invest in this population that was being criminalized"
"challenge ourselves to think differently about the option that are or are not there for our girls"
re: school to prison pipeline: narrative largely constructive by experiences of boys and men
consider instead the various ways in which populations are coming into contact with criminal justice system
narratives emerging in ethnic media; girls who were arrested or threatened with suspensions or told to leave or use of excessive force
"this was about more than an isolated incident"
still this narrative that this is a crisis only among men and boys, but actually racial disparity is greater among girls
examine what is happening among girls just as had been examining what happens among boys
"is not only happening in one place; the disparity is all over the place"
disparity around arrests of both black and Latina girls
"school to confinement pathways"
more than just if someone is arrested on campus
"education is a critical protective factor against contact with the criminal legal system"
far less likely to be poor, to be abused, to be in contact with criminal legal system
"prevailing consciousness" how behaviors are interpreted and how black girls are engaged as learners and as humans"

schools not recognizing the reasons behind not being there; not recognizing or helping trauma
black girls not having their trauma read as trauma
schools' response is not to engage the girls as in trauma and support them
majority of girls and women engaged with criminal legal system have sexual assault experiences
schools can either contribute to the trauma or stand against it
"it's about the prevailing consciousness"

historical trauma
"have to make mistakes in order to learn" but can't make one mistake due to how it would reflect on her
coping mechanism to act out in response to bullying and lowered expectations around capacity to learn
"truth-telling is one of those tricky things in school"
spend February celebrating black history of speaking up, March of women doing likewise
"when girls do it in real time, we punish them"
"for many of our girls, they're willing to be punished if they can stand in the truth"
schools need to have space for students to do so without punishment
kids being out of school makes them vulnerable to being engaged in the underground systems that make it more likely for them to be in contact with criminal legal system

dress codes and the policing of black girls' bodies
"age compression" : younger black girls being perceived as being more adultlike
"our reading of those bodies"
"prioritization of policing girls' bodies"
"for a certain population, they're allowed to be children; for a certain population, they are not"
"there are other ways of dealing with a six year old's tantrum than calling the police"

perspective: you were either going to fight or you were going to be harmed
power conflated with fear; "hurt people hurt people"
oppression thrives in isolation

Stopping School Pushout has recommendations for policy makers, as does The School Girls Deserve
and there is not training for resource officers around working with black girls

restorative approaches as one, but don't isolate to a single modality
but "are supposed to be voluntary, not mandatory"
circle may not be the place it needs to start; cultural competency in restorative practices
repair relationship with oneself before restoring relationships with others
"that harm might start centuries ago"
Advanced Childhood Experiences informed decision-making tools: not just that you have a high score that matters; what you do with that
to build out a much more robust system of discipline rather than exclusionary systems
increased counseling/ multi-systemic care
amendments to protocols with school resource officers
have to engage in root cause mitigation
"you cannot implement safety; safety is co-constructed"
empathic discipline: responsive to conditions to a child's life, not just the behaviors of the child at that time
not "why did you do this?" but "what's going on with you? are you okay?"
building relationships; leading with love not leading with fear
"we have expectations that we should be fearful"

how we're engaging with young people; what are our expectations of them
prioritizing respect for each other
"get to know how to pronounce someone's name before you regulate how they dress"

trauma-informed and healing-responsive interventions to create safe spaces for all children to learn
impacts on brain and body and capacity to learn

leadership opportunities for girls are critical to the learning landscape
engagement in sports, in club activities

law enforcement officers are not in schools to discipline students; they are there to enforce the law
it is not against the law to talk back, to arrive at school out of dress code,
schools need to stop leaving it to them to intervene in schools that are under schools' jursidiction
also, using grandmothers as hall monitors (no police, just grandmothers)

align our actions with our intentions

Q on the legacy of colonialism
historical trauma is collective unresolved grief; giving space to be reflective
cultural practices that emerged out of survival, and trying to move past that

"not feeling safety inhibits learning...not just physically safe"
until people feel safe in their learning space, they can't learn
"healing to teach"

Train thoughts on the education commissoner interviews

I tweeted this out on my ride home yesterday, but I was asked to put it in a more shareable format. h/t to Dan Callahan who caught the proof that I was on the train. As always, my thoughts, nothing further, upon reflection of nearly six hours of interviews. 

The crowd ebbed and flowed over the day: it was a good size for Schwinn, the room was full for Infante-Green, smaller for Riley. Riley, of course, is something of a known quantity for Massachusetts at the state level, so that wasn't entirely surprising.

I went into yesterday expecting to be wowed by Schwinn; I assumed she had to be a great interview, because I didn't understand how else she would have made it to the finalists' list. She wasn't. She wasn't awful--she had a response for every question and gave examples when asked--but I assumed, with the state level positions she's held in more than one state, she would have studied Massachusetts. She hadn't. Her answers in many cases made it clear that she didn't know what we've been doing. I also expected, given her background and public comments, to be more in disagreement with what she had to say. I wasn't; more than once, I went back and re-read something, thinking, "Yeah, okay." So much of what she said was management jargon, though, that it was difficult to find much to hang onto. If I never hear "performance management" again, it will be too soon. The Board did push a bit on the special education issue(s) in Texas; some clearly were satisfied with her answer, others clearly were not. In sum, I thought I would at least get the attraction and I really didn't. Notes on that interview are here.

I'm not giving away the game to say there's some smart money on Infante-Green; there has already been at least one #teaminfantegreen tweet. She has the most compelling story, both personally and professionally. It would also, bluntly, look pretty good for our Republican (but, no, really, not that kind, he says) governor to oversee the appointment of the first woman and first Latino Commissioner. Yesterday, Infante-Green no sooner sat down then she made the Board and crowd laugh. The energy in the room changed entirely (this is why I don't sit in the front, by the way). I don't know if the Board even realized they were doing it, but they engaged with her in an entirely different way than they had with Schwinn. They asked follow-up questions that were relevant to her answers. Clearly, Infante-Green's home turf is English learners and special education; I and others have wondered if she's siloed there. I was a bit reassured on that count today. I did, though, intentionally flag her speaking of the empowerment zone and bringing "Third Way Ed" back from the dead, both of which are very odd from someone who at one point said "data data data." There is none or very little. Also, some of her responses on poverty were not okay; poverty does impact the classroom, and it's silly and dangerous to deny that. Should it lower our expectations? No. But we as adults should expect a whole lot more of ourselves when kids are poor; I didn't hear enough of that from her. And I'm overemphasizing both of these points because she's the strongest candidate. I like that she wants to keep her kids in dual language programs (me, too). And I think she walked out of there in the strongest position. Notes on that interview are here.

As I've said before, Riley is a known face to the Board; he's in every few months to update them on Lawrence. They know him, they know his views, and thus the exchange with Secretary Peyser on the "test scores beat all" philosophy (of Peyser's) wasn't a surprise, at least to me. Riley doesn't believe that's the most important or only thing in education; lucky for us, neither does most of the Board. Riley's been consistent throughout his career on that (you can find it in print as far back as his time at Edwards Middle), and let me say that I honor that consistency. Riley also acknowledged his privilege as a white male, which makes for quite a break with subjects that might in other times have been undiscussed; it noted the elephant in the room. His answer on poverty was much more balanced (and note that Lawrence has expanded all sorts of outside services to kids), I found. I have never thought that this was "Riley's to lose," as I've heard many people (who spend less time in Board of Ed meetings) say; there also will definitely be timing and visuals and politics as part of this appointment. Notes on that interview are here.


You can still comment on the selection to the Board til noon today. They vote on their choice at 12:30 on Monday in Malden.
And yes, I will be at that, too! 

Making School Work for African-American Girls: National Women's Law Center at NSBA Conference

National Women's Law Center presenting today
a lot of work on implementing Title IX, women and economic issues, health, equity
reporting out on report from last year: Unlocking Opportunity
girls of color faring worse than national average girls on almost every measure of academic achievement

Friday linkages

An ICYMI list for the weekend: 

• John Monfredo, Jack Foley and I (among others) were at a presentation this morning by the Building on What Works Coalition, a joint project of Mass Inc, Mass Business Alliance for Education, Mass 20/20 and some others. They're calling for a three year $75M competitive grant program open to districts with 50% high need students or above for early childhood ed, extended day, and innovative programs. I don't want to speak for others, but my sense that they were met with some polite skepticism here in Worcester. I know that Mr. Foley spoke for my concerns as well when he spoke of the importance of a focus on the Foundation Budget Review Commission and the core funding of education in the state.
• Important detail from the Brookings report on the gender gap in reading (as flagged by Libby Nelson at Vox) that the much-praised Finnish PISA test results, which lead the world, rely entirely on girls for their superior performance. As per usual with Brookings, I have my doubts about some of their other points. Nonetheless, good catch.
• If like me you have a soft spot for a literary spoof, you'll enjoy Scot Lehigh's take on Boston 2024 via Poe.
• Novelist Richard Russo is helping to raise funds for his hometown library, which he credits for much. 
• Looking ahead to the presidential election, here's Hillary Rodham Clinton's relationship with various education perspectives. 
• Education Next has a "Defense of Snow Days," with some research showing that days off don't hurt student performance (yes, on standardized tests) but student absence due to snow on days there is school DOES. 
• And Jarrett J. Krosoczka shares a bit of excitement on reading

I Am More Than A Distraction

A good post on what we say in dress codes, in how they're enforced, and in how girls are speaking up about them.

The rules applied across the country, however, go well beyond short shorts. For example, a school in North Dakota recently banned skinny jeans, leggings and yoga pants. What these examples tend to have in common is the targeting of girls — and not just of bare skin but of the female silhouette itself.

The trend has created a new front in the dress code wars. Refusing to be shamed, girls are instead raising their voices. They are demanding to be treated with fairness — as more than the sum of their body parts and more than a classroom distraction to boys. Students at Tottenville High School in Staten Island, New York, and Bingham High School in South Jordan, Utah, have recently walked out of classes, protesting strict and unfair dress code enforcement.

And this is in Governance subcommittee in Worcester, so more to come! 

Policy handbook is being considered on Thursday

Among the items on Thursday's agenda is the Worcester Public Schools Student handbook, which is the policy manual for students. The proposed changes can be found in the Governance and Employees Issues agenda from last week. I'd look at those changes along with the edited handbook. 

First of all, if you have any thoughts on what is or isn't in the policy handbook, now is the time to let us know. We do a review of this once a year in the spring for the following year, so if you have a thought on what should be in or out, please get in touch.

Beyond that, there are some specific changes that might be of interest:

• First of all, the entire opening piece on page 3 regarding majority and minority students is proposed, by the administration, to be deleted. That would mean that the Worcester Public Schools would no longer have a desegration/deisolation policy. I see from the minutes of the subcommittee meeting that my colleague Brian O'Connell has raised concerns about this, which I share. If you do, too, I'd suggest getting in touch with us and/or being there on Thursday. 
• Second, the school transfer for both magnet and out of district students could now be rescinded "whenever the Quadrant Manager determines that the district school would more likely better support student outcomes than the magnet/out of district school." (that's in the proposed changes). That was not previously the policy.
• It is proposed, in line with DESE policy, that "gender identity" be added to the nondiscrimination statements throughout.
• There are some changes in the languages around testing (I'm planning to propose some changes from the floor on this as well).
• It is proposed that we delete the entire section on excessive tardies and demerits leading to suspensions. 
• We're adding a section on head injuries, per state law.
• We're changing the course graduation requirements to bring us into line with MassCore (four years of math and two of the same foreign language are the changes).
• There's also a change in the calculation of class rank.

Again, this will be decided on THURSDAY. Please get in touch with concerns or thoughts!

Curriculum Development Standing Committee report

Mr. Monfredo: Stats on graduation rates and college admission rates comparing men and women...men significantly less likely to do both. Report is being forwarded to Dr. Boone, and some question as to what this should mean for the FY10 budget.
A series of requests coming out of this report: mentoring, small learning communities, professional development, parent liaisons..
"Worcester, The City That Reads" starting up next month (the book this year is The Adventure of Tom Sawyer); suggested that the WPS participate

• Senior project program
• Community service program

(both of the above suggested as additional requirements for graduation from high school)