ICYMI: Cheap Chocolate Edition (2/16)
Is there any holiday more special that Cheap Chocolate Day, celebrated on February 15 and all days thereafter until stock is sold out? Right up there with Half Price Candy Day on November 1. Celebrate it with someone you love.
I had no intention of this weekly digest being a chronicle of medical adventures, but this week I managed to twist my slightly cranky knee into an ER visit, from which I returned with some lovely parting gifts of a brace, crutches, and some drugs (well, not gifts exactly). So it has been a slow week for my work here, and I promise even more typos than usual.
As I always do when I encounter the medical system, I try to imagine how awful it must be to try to navigate it without decent insurance or a good support network, and the sheer hardworking decency of the people on the ground. I have met grumpy doctors and disconnected bureaucrats in my years, but never once a bad nurse. It's hard to understand how such a great nation can be so bad at providing health care, except that it's not, especially at this moment when our tendency to wield self-sufficiency as its ugly flip side, the side that says I shouldn't have to worry about taking care of anyone else.
At any rate, here's the reading list for the week.
Rachel Cohen at Vox confirms what you were already thinking-- if this all seems familiar, it's because DOGE is using the old anti-teacher playbook.
I'm not sure I trust DOGE's numbers...
I have not always agreed with Chad Aldeman, but he has the wonky credentials to really break down what smells funny about the DOGE attack on the research wing of the Department of Education.
Virtual school officials used money for students on political donations instead, prosecutors say
And that's only the half of it. Big time grift and fraud from an Indiana cyber charter. Reported by Amelia Pak-Harvey.
Linda McMahon Wrestles With Tough Question Of Whether Black History Is Even Legal Now
Doctor Zoom at Wonkette looks at the many ways McMahon tried to avoid openly acknowledging the meaning of Trump's anti-DEI decrees.
The Pedagogy of Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl Halftime Show
The only thing that needs to be read about that show. Easier to absorb now that all the whining is over. Jose Luis Vilson is on the case.
Gregory Sampson with more information about the many ways Florida districts are planning to fail their students.
Charter schools failed Indy. Public education is a service, not a market.
In the Indy Star, advocate and parent Anderson York explains, again, why free market chartering does not actually help.
A state lawmaker wants to stop new cyber charters from entering Pennsylvania. Here's why.
In Pennsylvania, we need more cyber charters like we need another famous groundhog, and once again, a lawmaker is trying to do something about it. Bethany Rodgers has the story for GoErie.
Despite Breakdowns in Two States, ESA Provider Student First Seeks to Expand
Students First has done a lousy job of managing voucher money in two states already, so clearly it should expand operations. Linda Jacobson has the story in The74.
Unsustainable Voucher Costs Threaten Passage of Ohio’s New Public School Funding Formula
Jan Resseger continues to follow political shenanigans in Ohio, where privateers insist that there just isn't money for public schools, but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty for vouchers. Kind of like when your kids say they're too full to finish supper, but have plenty of room for ice cream.
They trained on diversity under Trump. Now he’s punishing them for it.
Laura Meckler covers the story of the Ed Department folks who did what they were told, and are now being told that was a fireable offense.
Who is in Favor of Authoritarianism? Are Schools Authoritarian?
Nancy Flanagan on the blessings of liberty and being the land of the free and home of the brave.
What is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion?
Steve Nuzum has a clear and simple explanation of what this mess is about.
What Does the U.S. Department of Education Do? Enforcing Laws to Protect Students
Nancy Bailey with a good explainer of what the department actually does when it comes to protecting the rights of students.
What the Assault on Public Education Means for Kids with Disabilities
Jessica Winter at The New Yorker takes a really good look at what is at stake for students with special needs.
The Way You Do Anything, Is The Way You Do Everything
Nobody is providing better ongoing coverage of a district's reaction to a school shooting than TC Weber, and while his district may not be yours, you will recognize much of what goes on (right down to the adults really wishing that the student board representatives would shut up and sit down).
Billionaire Purchased Research Hawks Virtual Tutoring
Privateers so badly want computer tutoring to be a thing because it would be so cheap and let them shut schools for the poors and put a lot of teachers out of work. Thomas Ultican describes yet another attempt to try to make it all happen.
Valentine’s Day Reflection: Love, Justice, and the Urgency of Equity in Education
Julian Vasquez Heilig connects the dots between education, activism, and love.
At Forbes.com, I wrote one of those rare posts that has blown up, covering the 17-state attempt to end some protections for students with special needs (and lie about it).
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A week before I had scheduled surgery to correct a bunion on my left foot, I slipped on a half-dollar sized patch of ice and broke my right wrist. Because I was unable then to use crutches, my doc ordered a knee scooter. Highly recommend!