Worth a read this week

 Things I have been reading: 

• This story from The 74 on how Boulder, Colorado parents worked with their district to change (very much in process) how students with autism are worked with in the district.:
  

  Modern practitioners defend the intervention, saying ABA no longer subjects children to physical punishment. Yet documentation of its harms is mounting, as researchers — including autistic adults who underwent ABA as youngsters — gather evidence that the therapy has caused widespread PTSD. Autistic children may no longer be subjected to electric shocks or slaps to the face — and the word “aversive” may sound kinder than “punishment” — but they are routinely denied food, toys and comfort items, as well as adult attention, a strategy practitioners industrywide call “planned ignoring.” ABA providers still frequently restrain children or confine them in isolation — practices recognized as so dangerous and traumatic as to be illegal in most circumstances in Colorado schools.

   I learned from this that the person who created ABA, Ole Ivar Lovaas, also created conversion therapy, which is of course banned many places. 
  
  

• The Boston Globe looks at parents who are organizing for more recess in schools. From this I learned that there is a national "Say Yes to Recess" group. 
  I will say, though, that I'm a little tired of the Globe doing this "in a bill pending before the state legislature" coverage when the Legislature is done with formal sessions. 
  
  

• In the state ballot questions campaigns here in Massachusetts, it's Smith and Wesson bankrolling the "no" vote on question 9 (which would repeal some gun control measures), with the largest funding for "yes," which keeps the legal language, seeing its biggest funding from the teachers' union. You can find that reporting here.
  
  

  

  not hard, eh? Vote yes on 9.

  
  
• Connecticut, which is among the states that allows no religious exemption to school vaccine requirements, just had that requirement upheld in the courts.

Tech backlash is big

For the past two weeks, nearly every day brings at least one, if not more, article about the tech backlash in schools. An attempt at a roundup: 

• If you did not see the graduates of the University of Central Florida's College of Communications and Arts boo their graduation speaker's lauding of AI as the future, please watch (that link is for when it happens, but stay to watch their faces).
  If by chance you're going to be in front of graduates this spring, learn from her (negative) example).
  
  
• NBC News shared an extensive piece on the backlash specifically about iReady, the math and reading assessment program that's now being sued for stealing student data. The reach is huge: 
  

  Nearly one-third of students from kindergarten to 12th grade nationwide use i-Ready, including in nine of the 10 largest school districts.

  And the impact on student learning is not nearly as clear as one might like. I really recommend reading, especially if you're in a district that uses it.
  

• A New York City specific parallel to the excellent piece I linked to last month by Jessica Winter in the New Yorker, New York Intelligencer's "Help! My Kindergarten Is All In on AI. “Are they taking over? Yeah, they’re taking over.”" which speaks not only to the depersonalization of apps teaching kids to read and practice math, but notes the "vast amount of data" that STMath*, for example, is collecting from every child. Never forget what it is actually about for the companies: 
  

   “These companies are literally mandated by their corporate charters to maximize profits in any way possible,” said Bridget Kessler, a mom of elementary-school-age children in Flatlands who also serves on her local community-education council. “So how can I trust that they have the best interests of my kids in mind?”

  Earlier in the piece, by the way, is something I have found particularly insidious: the use of so-called "fellowships" to infiltrate school administrations: 
  

  Three years ago, Google partnered with the AI-focused investment firm Global Silicon Valley Ventures to “advance technology” in education — through programs like Amira, which GSV Ventures has a stake in. Top education administrators have joined the Google GSV Education Innovation Fellowship, including superintendent of Manhattan high schools Gary Beidleman and chief academic officer Miatheresa Pate, who is responsible for the city’s AI guidelines. In a policy document from the fellowship, Beidleman advises educators on how to get parents and teachers to accept AI: Find “early adopters and key messengers” to convert skeptics and achieve a “cultural shift” from within. 

  Such programs are not approved by school committees, despite being a commitment of time, and often no one checks if they align with the goals, policies, and values of the district.
  
  
• Government Technology reports that three-quarters of those surveyed by PA Unplugged think students are spending too much time on screens in schools. The article looks at some specific responses in Pennsylvania. 

• Speaking of making money off of all of this, 404 Media reported that the OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft are all supporting the federal Literacy in Future Technologies Artificial Intelligence, or LIFT AI Act. They aren't doing that out of the best interest of students.

• In terms specifically on AI, I thought this piece in Vanity Fair in which AI is appearing in TV shows and it is always a bad guy was really telling:
  

  The Hacks team also explores the real-life messaging that the tech community has been using—that “AI is coming whether you like it or not,” a catchphrase that is heard around Hollywood on a near-daily basis. Ava (Hannah Einbinder) pushes back on that idea, criticizing this “forced inevitability.” “People like you are always saying that it’s happening whether you like it or not, but you are the ones making it happen,” she says. “You could easily stop it if people could say that they don’t want it—but you don’t give people a choice.”

  Statsky says that aggressiveness from the tech community about AI’s inevitability is a red flag for her as a writer. “Sometimes, when something is being forced so hard, you can smell behind it that it’s not organic and it’s not natural,” she says. “If this was really the dream technology that they were pushing, well, then why are you needing to force it down our throats?”

• The family of one of the victims of last year's shooting at Florida State University is suing OpenAI, which the shooter used in planning the attack. 

“OpenAI knew this would happen. It’s happened before and it was only a matter of time before it happened again,” Joshi said in a Monday statement. “But they chose to put their profits over our safety and it killed my husband. They need to be responsible before another family has to go through this.” 

Attorneys for Joshi also reiterated that “ChatGPT inflamed and encouraged Ikner’s delusions; endorsed his view that he was a sane and rational individual; helped convince him that violent acts can be required to bring about change,” adding that the software provided what he viewed as encouragement to “carry out a massacre, down to the detail of what time would be best to encounter the most traffic on campus.”

• And don't miss John Oliver:
  

Remembering Fletcher Merkel and Harper Moyski

Minnesota Public Radio did a nice piece on each of the two children who died in the Annunciation School shooting in Minneapolis. You will find their piece on Fletcher Merkel, who was eight, here, and on Harper Moyski, who was ten, here.

May we work for the world they deserved. 

National School Walkout Friday, September 5

 Students Demand Action is calling a national school walkout over gun violence in schools for Friday, September 5 at noon local time. This is specifically in response to the Annunciation school shooting in Minneapolis.

There is a prep call for student planners tomorrow (see the second link).

And for any administrators or teachers considering how to respond, I will remind you for the words for then Acting Commissioner Jeff Wulfson regarding this in 2018: 

We have spoken of civic involvement:
"this is it: this is as real as it gets. If this is not a teachable moment, I don't know what is."

And in no other country

Minneapolis Mayor Frey at a press conference yesterday

Inevitable day after headline: 

from today's Minnesota Star Tribune

 Today's New York Times op-ed:

...it bears repeating: The prevalence of this problem is not normal, no other country has to deal with it to this extent, and we are not powerless to act.

Round up for the end of the week

 Some things to read or consider this week:

• Some Aquinnah Wampanoag elders gathered last week to talk about the closing in 1968 of Gay Head School, which served Aquinnah Wampanoag children in Martha's Vineyard.
  
  
• The Boston Globe ran an "epic fail" headline on an article that only followed the experience of two students; no systemwide data on transportation on the first day of school was yet available. This is how the educating reporting earns our cynicism.
  
  
• Useful paper out this week on public comment and public policy found four things: 
  

  First, commenters at public meetings are unrepresentative of the public along racial, gender, age, and homeownership lines; second, distance to the proposed development predicts commenting behavior, but only among those in opposition; third, commission votes are correlated with commenters’ preferences; finally, the alignment of White commenters (vs. other racial groups) and neighborhood group representatives and the general public (vs. other interest groups) better predict project approvals.

• In light of the shootings in Georgia, note that in Oswego County, NY, in response to threats by a 10 year old boy, law enforcement visited the home to remove guns if there were any (there were not), because NY has a law that "allows law enforcement to search a home and remove guns if someone is thought to have access to weapons and be a danger to themselves or others.”
  
  

• And because this always brings up discussion of mental health, a reminder that mental health is more of a predictor of victim than assailant.

• May J.D. Vance's characterization of school shootings as "a fact of life" be the real life "crime, boy, I don't know" *

________________________________________

*and if you snark about The West Wing references, you are free to read elsewhere.

Some things to read this last week of May

I tend to share most of my "here read this" stuff on Twitter* but for those who might find another location more congenial:

• While I am very much not in the habit of recommending retirement system pieces this Wall Street Journal (gift link!) on the Plymouth County Retirement System, which is outperforming systems many times their size, was interesting, and it's a public pension system, so, related.
  
  
• A federal judge struck down New Hampshire's version of a "divisive concepts" law. " The judge went so far as to call some elements of law 'fatally flawed.'"
  
  
• Google itself has found that most image-based misinformation online is now AI-based, and the way they conducted the research suggests the problem is even worse than they have found.
  
  
• Significant piece in Houston Landing that Texas districts were suspending homeless students, contrary to state law, and no one was doing anything about it.
  
  
• Over the weekend, the New York Times ran a searchable map on gun violence, which you may find useful (gift link).

___________________________________________________

*it's Twitter. It will always be Twitter. Surrender already, dude.

Things to read from this week

 Related reminder that if daily education news is of interest, part of my job for MASC is putting together a daily education news collection; it's called The Daily Ed and goes out via email. Today's is here, and there's a link to sign up at the bottom.

• Content warning for what happens when an AR-15 is used on human bodies: the Washington Post has put together a piece called "Terror on Repeat: A rare look at the devastation caused by AR-15 shootings". They talk about why here. 
  
  
• The year that many kids were learning from home resulted in fewer suspensions and fewer arrests, per the latest release from the Office of Civil Rights, flagging what U.S. Education Secretary Cardona says is "a reminder that we have a lot of work to do." Chalkbeat has that story here.
  
  
• The pandemic also caused Massachusetts (among others) to put into place emergency licensure for teachers. WBUR looks at a study from BU on what that has looked like in the classroom. The short version is similar impact on classroom learning as other new teachers, and greater diversity in the profession.
  
  
• History of Education Quarterly has a special edition on the SCOTUS ruling of San Antonio v. Rodriguez; that was the school funding lawsuit which essentially found that it was not a violation of the 14th amendment not to redistribution school funding across school district bounds (that's not necessarily a great summary). Professor Jack Schneider, who co-edited, did an epic twitter thread which gives read-only links to the pieces! I plan to read them all! School funding and finance aficionados, rejoice!
  
  
• There's a good look in the New Republic on how the Christian Right may have miscalculated in their push on religious charter schools.
  
  
• And as Tennessee considers turning down all federal funding, so they don't have to abide by the federal requirements that go along with it, this is my periodic reminder from me that grants are not free money; they're a contract.

Nine years on

 It's nine years on from the terrible shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary, and we still, as I reflected two years ago, have not dealt with that main problem that plagues us. By "us" here, I mean the United States.

I was thinking today, though, not of Friday, December 14, 2012, but of Monday, December 17, 2012, when I and so many other parents hugged our kids a little tighter and then put them back onto school buses or walked them to the door and let them go. 

We place a lot of trust in schools in this country. 

We also place a lot on schools in this country.

We don't place common sense limits on weaponry, yet schools are to keep children physically safe.

We don't provide adequate access and support for mental health, yet schools are to provide for such care.

We don't ensure families have enough to feed themselves, yet schools are to be sure students are fed.

We don't provide the facilities funding needed, yet schools are to have buildings that can safely fit and provide for their ever-changing school population.

We make no massive investment in technology equity, yet schools are to have their students online and technologically apt. 

We don't wish to make changes to overcome the outcomes of systemic racism, yet schools are to ensure their students overcome the consequences of that. 

The list could go on forever. 

And the pandemic has of course just brought this into sharper relief: school buildings must be open to feed children and provide childcare and heal students' mental health crises and provide technology access and overcome the achievement/access/opportunity gap...

Schools have never been able to do it all, 'though not for lacking of trying. We need, though, a societal recognition of our civilization's responsibility for all of our children. 

Not just the ones that look like us or live in our town or speak our language. All our children. 

And Worcester takes the lede

...in this Boston Globe editorial, and you're going to wish that we didn't:

A history teacher at Worcester’s Claremont Academy was so traumatized by an active-shooter training exercise for educators that she left the classroom sobbing. The “training” involved a hooded man pointing a gun at teachers’ heads and saying “bang” as he fake-shot them one by one.
“How is this something that is going to help us?” the history teacher asked a Worcester Telegram columnist two years ago when recounting her experience, which was part of the district’s implementation of ALICE, a program designed to train teachers to respond to an active shooter in the school building.

As far as I know, this never came up at Worcester School Committee.

In any case, the editorial opining against such drills is excellent:

So what works for preventing mass school shootings? The short answer is that we don’t have enough independent scientific research to know. But to the extent that drills are valuable to train school staff, teachers, and students, they should be approached with extreme skepticism and care, and without traumatizing students. At a minimum, if schools continue to use them, more study of their effectiveness is needed, which could lead to state guidelines. And, if every other response to school shootings fails, perhaps the nation could finally confront the root cause: the easy availability of deadly weapons that has forced schools into asking the question of how to respond to mass shooters in the first place.

Back to school essentials from Sandy Hook Promise

This has come up time and again when parents talk about back to school.


Video is after the page break because (as Sandy Hook Promise notes): **Please note that this PSA contains graphic content related to school shootings that may be upsetting to some viewers. If you feel that this subject matter may be too difficult for you, you may choose not to watch this video.**

"you understand you might have to shoot a student?"

This piece from the Washington Post following a small Ohio school district's decision to allow their teachers to carry guns in school is heartbreaking, and horrifying.
Also read one teacher's letter to his students on school shootings.

2018 MASC Delegate Assembly

You can find the resolutions being considered here. 
Resolution 1: Arming of Educators
Resolution 2: Small and Rural Districts
Resolution 3: Elimination of the Federal Department of Education
Resolution 4: Regional School Transportation
Resolution 5: Reporting and Accountability Standards
Resolution 6: Reproductive Health
Resolution 7: Gender-Identity Inclusive Athletic Participation
Resolution 8: Sports Wagering
Resolution 9: Access to Information for Parents of Special Education Student

Reading roundup

a few things I've read of interest...

• I appreciate the Hechinger Report's discussion of this Philadelphia schools work on project-based learning, and the discussion of how that works with more traditional assessment methods 
• this description of the world we've created for our children with our refusal to take action on gun control is nauseating but accurate 
• watch this New Jersey case arguing that assigning students to schools based on the town that they live in leads to school assignments that violate Brown. That is, after all, how Massachusetts designates schools, as well. 
• do read Jose Vilson on what it means to be patriotic in schools
• this is from a few weeks ago, but it turns out that stat on big city superintendents lasting an average of three years isn't really accurate
• lots of talk on the new report on Boston Public Schools; do note Commonwealth's write up as well. Relatedly, note what NYC's incoming Chancellor says about limited admission programs
• it may be that Kansas still hasn't fixed their school funding issue 
• There's a really interesting conversation going on in Great Barrington about naming one of their schools after W.E.B. DuBois, who was born there. 

too big of a risk

It's worth noting around the guns on campus debate:

School safety and insurance experts agree that adding a firearm to a classroom only increases the risk of gun violence — whether intentional or otherwise.

As a result, insurance companies asked about such policies will either charge more for insurance or pull it entirely

Resolution passed by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education opposing the arming of teachers

As Commissioner Wulfson said in his opening memo on this issue,“Traditionally, the Board has declined to take positions on public policy decisions that are not directly within its purview.But this may be one of those rare moments where even a symbolic vote is important.Massachusetts leads the nation in so many aspects of elementary and secondary education, and I would be proud to have us play a leadership role on this important issue.” 

with a h/t to Mary Ann Stewart for sharing

MOVED: WHEREAS the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education was deeply troubled by the February 14, 2018 shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 14 students and three adults, and equally troubled by previous school shootings, including the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado that killed 12 students and one adult, and the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that killed 20 students and six adults; and

WHEREAS there is no evidence-based research showing that arming teachers would reduce casualties in mass shootings; and

WHEREAS allowing guns in schools by other than law enforcement would increase the risk of accidental shootings of students and other bystanders; and

WHEREAS teachers are first and foremost educators and therefore should be employed solely on the basis of their educational skills and credentials, not their skills as a security officer;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education believes arming educators will make schools less safe, and the Board opposes any move to do so.

March Board of Ed: School safety

You can (sigh) download the Word doc backup here, which includes, "Issues of school safety are of course intertwined with school climate genearlly, including mental health support for students, social-emotional earning, student engagement, and community-based services." There is a slightly crazy amount of press here. 

Sagan: a lot of press interest in this topic; will take a break after this topic so press may speak to Secretary
asked Commissioner to come back at this meeting about what we know in Massachusetts

Wulfson: Board did ask for briefing on issue of school safety
various state statutes that apply; resources from DESE and other departments
"topic is approached from two very different dimensions"
building security and response to incidents in buildings
"equally important is the social and emotional health of our students"
"intervene with students who may be troubled and may be prone to perpetrating these horrific acts"

 there are a boatload of people who are at the table to speak who I have no hope of catching names from 

The Department has been working with schools in a variety of ways since late 80's
multi-hazard planning law in 2000
each district required to review annually and update their plan
beginning of each school year, students are to be instructed in their plan

Julie Hackett, superintendent in Taunton
put many emergency plans in place, double school guidance counselors
built a number of positions for school safety
recently, student made a number of comments to a school resource officer about threats
was handled well, was no weaponry, were able to assure safety of students very quickly
"then the conversation changed to the walkout"
met with students; "wanted students to express themselves"
they wanted to go outside; students outside at a designated time announced to the whole world
some superintendents had emergency personnel on site
others kept it lower key
"students acted very respectfully, and it was not an issue at all"
"how complicated all these facets of school safety can be"
for MASS, there are two key issues for us:
one is on mental health
another is on infrastructure
mental health is very often a resource issue
making sure that students who are struggling know that they belong
proverb shared with her: "the child who is not embraced by the village burns it down to feel the heat"
"have the need and the mandate, but we don't always have the funding"
we are individually figuring out what each school needs to keep it safe
lengthy discussion at recent school building committee about window glass
"no real repository of information to help guide us"
issue is training as well: have some information "about research-based practices"

Dudley police chief Steven J. Wojnar currently Mass Chiefs of Police Association president
"want to involve ourselves as much as we can in those schools" as in any other part of the community
"have been a big proponent of school resource officer"
comments "anyone who thinks that the police are going to show up and everyone is going to get arrested has missed the boat"
but not the research, which supports that conclusion
Every community is going to allow for a certain level of risk
"that's their district's ability to choose that"
police review building to seek some low cost solutions; glad to work with anyone along the way

from MSBA: have consulted with the school building committee on design of new building on safety
designers themselves have security consultants on the design

emergency plans are not incident based; they're response-based
"there are a lot of little things every day"
Sagan: can we be assured that the plans that are supposed to be there
Wulfson: as is always the case with plans,"we can check the boxes that they have been written" but can't be there for the conversations that should be happening

Sagan asks if there is MSBA funding for safety
beyond windows, doors, boilers...no

Trimarchi: Parkland students have amassed a platform to talk not only about school safety but about outside of school safety as well
importance of schools in communities at large
what about supporting those students in those communities?
Hackett: crossing guards at intersections
community facilitators
youth crisis intervention teams
"ready made model of response for situations that we don't know how to handle or can't predict"
Wojnar: hopes that will get this generation involved as that age group hasn't voted and hasn't gotten involved
"like that program where someone goes and sits with someone at lunch"
and also social media
Trimarchi: role of school resource officers
Wojnar: need the right person; "most are parents"
for people who are apprehensive about program "have to have more conversations"
Hackett: have a much different role: "can't act like a police officer on the street"
but what of those who don't have different expectations?
Wulfson: are school resource officers trained?
Wojnar: training is out there, but it isn't required
Hackett notes that superintendent and chief of police evaluate the SRO

Stewart: how does it look each year?
Hackett: best use of time for us is the drills that we practice
emergency responders sit with leadership; what they're going to look for during the drill
meaningful information that we're looking at; "creates a system for us to look at that"

West: particularly interested in school resource officers
"what we actually require as a matter of statute"
can petition not to do so if they think that's not a good strategy for their district
he's missing that it's also "subject to appropriation" part of the law
The requirement doesn't exist, because funding has never been appropriated
Sagan: how funded?
Hackett: part of net school spending; indirect cost
Wulfson: good and bad, as it limits funding for other things
Sagan: it is a tradeoff; it's not separately funded? to general agreement

McKenna: what can we do to support you, so you aren't all individually trying to figure this out?
"how can we be a resource to ease the burden on you individually?"
Hackett: that's what I was trying to convey when I talked about a repository of information
net school spending is a plus for us, because every dollar is a challenge

Doherty: "I think people are doing the best job they can" with the resources they have
drills "that will minimize the casualities not prevent them"
"one thing that the Board can do is advocate for more funding for our schools, whether that is fully funding the foundation budget or passing the millionaires' tax"
"those students go well beyond talking about what is happening in schools; they're talking about what is happening in our society as a whole"
protect students not only in school "but when they go home, or when they're in their neighborhoods"
"what the students were asking for last Saturday is not just...other kinds of protections in schools; they're asking that assault weapons be banned; they're asking for full background checks; they're asking that no one should buy a weapon til they're 21"
thinks that the Board should support full platform of students

Craven: how much training and logistics is necessary for arming teachers?
Wojnar: a good hundred hours of basic training each year
"great majority" of members "we're not comfortable with untrained individuals" being in schools

Morton: are you in the process of creating standards for school resource officers? (asks the chief)
Wojnar: "I'd say that's a constant ongoing thing"
meet four and five times a year with the DA's office
"to collaborate with the principals and the superintendents"
share what is happening in our schools
none of that is training

Sagan: homework assignment of pulling together a repository of information
"we are not a legislative body...we are not an editorial body, but we felt that this issue rose above the level of concern"

Doherty makes motion to adopt resolution on guns in school
"believes that arming educators will make schools less safe and opposes any move to do so"

Moriarty: a couple of concerns with document as intended
"I don't want to see resolutions happening on a regular basis"
asks for amendment on third item to ensure that SROs are welcome in schools
"by other than law enforcement" is motion to add around guns being carried in school
McKenna: propose to strike final "whereas" which is "would compromise safe and supportive environment that is essential for learning"

Peyser is now reading a statement
"make sure that we don't get distracted by the proposal [to arm teachers] that has been brought forward"

McKenna: asked Parkland students "how did you get to be who you are?" and every single one of them said "because of my teachers"

MOTION CARRIES UNANIMOUSLY
full text is here

Students speak up; do we listen?

I wasn't able to be part of the #MarchforOurLives today, as I had class. But I'm noticing something in the (adult) posting about the events across the country.

Young people's voices are being respected and magnified.

Listen, for example, to Naomi Wadler, age 11, speak of the too-often ignored gun deaths of black girls and women:


Or Ryan Deitsch on how we need to arm teachers and students:

"We need to arm our teachers with pencils, pens, paper, and the money they need." -@Ryan_Deitsch #MarchForOurLives pic.twitter.com/EzRr0c578g

— March For Our Lives (@AMarch4OurLives) March 24, 2018

Or read the eloquent students quoted more locally here in Worcester:

"I'm here to protest the gun violence because I think it is ridiculous that students are afraid of going to school, afraid that something is going to happen to them and just have meltdowns, breakdowns over just being afraid to walk out the door and go to school," Reese Lane said, adding it was important for him to attend a local rally.
 "Boston is a big place, but just one big place won't do it, we need multiple people to come together to end gun violence for good," he said.

It is amazing that millions of adults across the country gathered today to listen to children and young adults speak clearly and strongly against gun violence and for gun control.

How often do we listen?
Did you note, in the above MassLive article, its framing? The reporter went to an adult midway through and closed with the adult in the article. And that is part of what makes today unusual; we let the students lead. We let them open, we let them close, we didn't feel the need to put training wheels or bumpers or guidance around these protests.

Why was this only today?
Do we think that Naomi lacks this sort of insight around disparitiees in discipline policies? She is eleven, but that has been plenty of time for her to have a keen eye on inequities and racism. I imagine she would have some things to say about policies around discipline in a host of areas.

Do we think that Ryan lacks this sort of insight around budgets in general? Allocation of resources sounds like something he may have some thoughts about.

Do we think that Reece lacks this sort of insight around how is school functions and what school climate is like? It sounds as though he has given that some thought.

How often do we ask students big questions about the major place they spend their time? How often do we ask them how policies that are about THEM actually impact them? Do we ask if they work or not? What the consequences are? How often do we ask any students about budgeting? Do we ask what it's like to have a class of thirty in algebra? To not have books? To be told the class you'd been planning for years to sign up for is gone? Or the program or team you'd spent years practicing for won't be funded next year?

And how often, when they do tell us, do we take them seriously? When they tell us they don't get enough sleep, when they tell us mobile devices are a learning tool, when they tell us that, yes, their walkout is about guns, do we listen?
Or do we pat them on the head and tell them the grown-ups will make the decisions for them?

There are a lot of adults today who listened to children and young adults today and cheered.
There are a lot of adults tonight and this weekend who will share and magnify those voices on social media.

Was that just a good feeling on a sunny Saturday?
Or will you do the same when they have something to tell you about how the place they spend most of their time runs?

#ENOUGH

In solidarity today with the National Student Walkout. Hashtags on social media are #Enough #NeverAgain #StudentWalkout

Open question

As I watched the students walk out of high schools across the country today, this kept going through my head: