The aid didn't go out

 You might remember back in late October during the government shutdown, Worcester with GREAT fanfare announced that there was a local effort to help families struggling with hunger as SNAP benefits were also shut down. Among the things listed:

...4,000 food gift cards — each worth $100 — will go to individuals and families who stand to lose SNAP benefits on Nov. 1....$150,000 will go to the Worcester Public Schools so students and their families have access to nutritious food

Now, I know I wasn't alone in observing that there are 24,000 students in the Worcester Public Schools and 72% of them count as low income, so that was not going nearly far enough. At least, I am sure we all thought, it was something.  

So I had to re-read these paragraphs from the T&G last week twice to be sure I understood this correctly: 

A recent example of the slow pace of bureaucracy is how 4,000 food gift cards were distributed to Worcester families who temporality lost federal food aid benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program during the recent government shutdown. 

Donations received by the United Way of Central Massachusetts paid for the cards, each with a $100 value, and Morales said 800 have been given to families of students in the Worcester Public Schools. More cards are available, but families must fill out an application and that takes time.

Morales also noted 1,300 of the 4,000 food cards were disbursed by the Worcester Community Action Council before Thanksgiving. 

So...just over half the cards went out BY A MONTH LATER?

And families of kids in WPS had to FILL OUT AN APPLICATION to get the cards?

Every day, the Worcester Public Schools feed any child who attends. No one fills out anything, because--and this is quite explicitly why the federal program works as it does!--WE KNOW THAT IS A BARRIER to food.

What on EARTH? 

We at least temporarily have an Office of Civil Rights back

 Well, well, well, what do you know? If you lay off hundreds of people who deal with civil rights complaints in the U.S. Department of Education, what do you end up with?

...a growth in its massive backlog of those complaints. 

Thus on Friday, U.S. Ed called back hundreds of those employees, though not without the trademark unprofessional snark that is a current hallmark of the agency: 

In the email to employees, the department said “it is important to refocus OCR’s work and utilize all OCR staff to prioritize OCR’s existing complaint caseload.” 

“In order for OCR to pursue its mission with all available resources, all those individuals currently being compensated by the Department need to meet their employee performance expectations and contribute to the enforcement of existing civil rights complaints,” the email notes.

Remember, Secretary McMahon has repeatedly said that the mandates Congress has for the Department can and are being carried out, but as USA Today notes: 

Education Secretary Linda McMahon's decision to tap into her own laid-off workforce provides further evidence her agency is struggling more than she has publicly indicated to meet its legally mandated responsibilities.

Since cutting the department in half earlier this year, many families waiting on resolutions to their civil rights complaints have been stuck in limbo. Colleges have also reported significant issues with the federal financial aid system.

 I should note that the first report I saw of this was in FedScoop.

A note on transportation from Washington State

 Really interesting thing I learned from this article covering Spokane, Washington buying a new fleet of school buses: 

The state also now requires school districts to prove they are getting a better deal by contracting with an outside provider rather than having their own fleets.

I want to do some poking around and find out more about the law and what caused that to be the case. 

 

Some folks just need something to be angry about

 But they're fighting like dogs in the town across the river
Over a brand-new crosswalk that won't matter come winter
Lord, sometimes folks just need something to be angry about
What're you angry about?

"Pain is Cold Water," Noah Kahan

As Mass DOT held a public hearing on proposed changes to upper Pleasant Street (Route 122) here in Worcester Wednesday night, the Washington Post covering why it is that Vision Zero--the novel idea that no pedestrians should die due to drivers--hasn't been successful in the United States was timely. (That's a gift link to the Post.)

As illustrated by some of the public testimony at the Worcester meeting, the big reason that such moves fail in the U.S., per the review by the Post?

 Motorists are hostile to measures that slow traffic and favor pedestrians.

 As a result, then: 

Local leaders give token or tepid support. Spending on pedestrian-friendly improvements is not prioritized. The U.S. government, meanwhile, never backed up its pledge with federal action or significant funds.

Motorists in the U.S. want to go really fast in their big cars, and our system revolves around that.

Pedestrians, though, are all of us at one time or another. Even those who drive everywhere occasionally have to exit a vehicle to get somewhere.

And one group that doesn't drive at all? Children. 

Children walk, and ride bikes, and wait for school buses. And children, thus, bear a disproportionate burden of systems that advantage cars over those who don't drive. 

Children, also, don't vote or donate to lobbying groups.  

If we actually want to prioritize kids, we need to prioritize the safety of those outside of our big steel cages that go really fast. 

This post in part brought to you, also, by thoughts I had whilst shoveling sidewalks Wednesday, a day Worcester had school after the Tuesday storm. While the roads are plowed by the city, the sidewalks—how thousands of children in Worcester get to school—are not, and sidewalks also do not have to be cleared until 24 hours after snow stops. That means Worcester’s children made their way to school Wednesday morning on uncleared sidewalks. 

Budgets are moral documents; what we fund is what we value. We don’t value pedestrians, including our schoolchildren, enough to ensure their winter safety. 

AI isn't panning out

 From an article in Futurism, Microsoft's (to give the latest example) sales pitch isn't panning out:

Regardless, the dustup suggests that enterprise customers are far from convinced that large AI agents are ready to autonomously complete complex multistep tasks. It’s yet another indication that companies are struggling to convert the enormous hype surrounding generative AI into actual revenue, a concerning trend considering the billions of dollars AI companies are burning through right now with no end — or return on investment — in sight.

This is, of course, because it continues to absolutely not live up to the hype: 

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found earlier this year that even the best-performing AI agent, which was Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro at the time, failed to complete real-world office tasks 70 percent of the time

What I find incredibly alarming is how many people who are in positions of power and authority refuse to look critical at all on this matter. We're continuing to see it pushed across the education sphere, including (particularly of concern to me) in matters of school finance. 

Consider what a 70% failure rate looks like for school budgeting. 

Office of the Inspector General on FY23 in Brockton

 I am just seeing this, but for those who read or follow such things: the Office of the Inspector General has issued a report on Brockton in FY23. You can find it here.
Coverage in MassLive, Boston Globe, and The Enterprise

Two ways the news isn't good today

 Happy Monday back from Thanksgiving! 
Two pieces of not great news today:

• We are just failing all over the place on vaccinations, and that has consequences. Last week, the United Nations warned that 30 million children around the world have missed measles vaccinations, and "...outbreaks continue to rise sharply." To wit:
  

  In 2024, 59 countries experienced large or disruptive outbreaks – almost three times as many as in 2021 – and a quarter of them had previously eliminated measles.

  At the same time, here in the U.S., whooping cough numbers are outpacing those of last year. A third baby in Kentucky died last week. 
  
  

• I will admit the phrasing here made me laugh, but it turns out an "old fashioned web search" is better for learning than using large language models (generative AI). This is from research published in October through the National Academy of Sciences. 
  And at the same time, the argument schools have been hearing on why students need to be 'taught' AI seems to not be panning out: AI use in businesses has flatlined.
  

  Three years into the generative-AI wave, demand for the technology looks surprisingly flimsy.

  That one's from The Economist, by the way, the "we're looking to see if there is money to be made" coverage, so perhaps we can take that to the bank?