the new SCOTUS term opens today

 ...which is pretty depressing. A few things to read: 

• Chris Geidner over at Law Dork, who observes that it hasn't really been a summer that is SCOTUS-free, given the shadow docket land we live in
  
  
  
• Elie Mystal, writing in The Nation, who gives us five of the worst cases before the court. Observe how many of them directly impact our students and their futures.
  
  
  
• And K-12 Dive looks specifically at K-12 education impacts of the cases before the court

"Those who think of freedom in this country as one long, broad path leading ever 

onward and upward are dead damned wrong."

Molly Ivins

A early April reading round-up

please enjoy this Boston daffodil

Despite the ongoing temper tantrums of a particular billionaire, I do continue to share things I think worth reading over on my Twitter feed (which is also on the bottom left if you read this on a full screen), but here's a bit of a recent round-up of things I found worth reading:

• You might remember that among the disasters of the previous presidential administration was an update on Title IX guidance regarding sexual misconduct. We have been waiting (and waiting and waiting) for the Biden administration to issue an final update on the rules; this week saw another round of pleas to get that done soon.
  
  
• What the U.S. Department of Ed actually released this week in terms of trans kids and sports got a round of confusing headlines, at least initially. I (as always) recommend Chalkbeat and K-12 Dive on this. The press release from USEd is here; the notice of proposed rulemaking is here.
  
  
• This New Yorker piece on Hillsdale College--which, yes, is influencing K-12 education--is a worthwhile read.
  

  when DeSantis and other Republican politicians try to articulate what they’re for—what exactly they want education to look like—one name comes up repeatedly: Hillsdale College.

• Excellent, in depth, round up of the various efforts to loosen child labor laws across the country from the Iowa Capital Dispatch. As Jack Schneider and Jennifer Berkshire outlined in The Nation last month, this is directly related to public education.
  
  
• If you didn't read the ProPublica piece on Justice Thomas, please do.
  
  
• A good reminder from Wellesley that important decisions are made at New England town meetings this time of year, and you should attend them if you are a voter who doesn't, for example, want millions of dollars randomly cut from your school budget.
  
  
• There have been some efforts related to the bookbanning/diversity and equity blowback in Massachusetts, but so far, the school committee elections are supporting those against bans and in favor of supporting all kids. You might also listen to this piece from WGBH on this push.
  

This decision matters

 In the matter of Foote et al v. Ludlow School Committee et al:

while parents have the option to send their children to public schools, they do not have constitutional rights to dictate how those schools educate children

Covered here in MassLive, which further notes:

 “Since July 1, 2012, Massachusetts law has provided that ‘no person shall be excluded from or discriminated against . . . in obtaining the advantages, privileges and courses of study of [a] public school on account of . . . gender identity,’” his ruling quoted.

Reading round-up

Some things I've read recently of interest:

• it shouldn't be news but it never hurts to reiterate that PTA fundraising exacerbates inequities. The move towards at least making outside funding transparent would be a first good step (can't we run these all through school committees as donations? shouldn't we, anyway?). 
• there's been lots of pushback (thankfully) on the rewarding "grit" notion (which was somewhat being misinterpreted, anyway), and this Boston Globe piece puts that together well. 
• morning reminder (via tweet) post-Santa Clarita that what we're teaching students in schools is not only harmful, it also is of limited utility. 
• if the Supreme Court decides to end DACA, we're going to lose a lot of teachers. 
• I'm not sure that our having gender neutral restrooms available in the new Worcester high schools should even be news, but the pushback to those criticizing it in the comment section on Facebook is heartwarming. Also, this Time article is a solid read.
• and perhaps it isn't surprising that Worcester Public Schools Transporation Director John Hennessey can make sense of the spaghetti that is the routing system; it seems he was practically born in a bus yard! Nice one from School Bus Fleet, which is the national school transportation magazine, on Mr. Hennessey's recent recognition as 2019 Administrator of the Year. And yes, it does talk about bringing WPS transportation fully in-house. 

Vote Yes on 3

I would hope, dear readers, that this is not a discussion that you and I need to have. I would hope that you understand that everyone deserves equal protection--yes, protection--under the law, and that means that no, others don't have the right to discriminate against people.
I would hope that you would understand that the fearmongering around bathroom usage is not only nauseating, but completely wrong. And I say that, incidently, not only as a woman but as the mother of three daughters; don't you dare use my children as an excuse for your bigotry. 

I would hope that you would understand the damage we are doing to some of our absolutely most vulnerable people every time we raise these non-issues. I would hope that you would want to do better, not worse, on how we treat vulnerable young people.
I would hope that you would want to stop that.
Vote yes on 3 if you are in Massachusetts. I also always suggest supporting the Trevor Project. 

Trump administration rolls back protection for transgender students

Rejecting their responsibility on what even our Secretary of Education appears to have realized is a civil rights issue, tonight the Trump administration rolled back federal protections for transgender students. You can read the full letter here. They also informed the Supreme Court that they would not be defending that guidance in court next month.
A few things to note:
This does not change Title IX or federal civil rights protections. It changes the federal interpretation of applying those protections.
It does not change Massachusetts General Law or regulation; for specific guidance on schools, DESE resources are here.

Finally, a few statistics that demonstrate why this matters;
33% of transgender youth have attempted suicide.
55% of transgender youth report being physically attacked.
74% of transgender youth reported being sexually harassed at school.
90% of transgender youth reported feeling unsafe at school because of their gender expression.
78% reported having been verbally harassed.
48% reported having been victims of assault, including assault with a weapon, sexual assault or rape.

These are our kids. They are in our schools. They need our protection.

And if by chance you are a transgender young person reading this: you're ours. You deserve better. Lots and lots of us care about you. And if you need support:

You don't have to have it all figured out, now or later 🌱 We're here for you 24/7 at: 866.488.7386 💚 [ art by @EmmNotEmmaRoy ] #lgbtq+ pic.twitter.com/2htSoeffVg

— The Trevor Project (@TrevorProject) February 5, 2017