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  • France takes pride in its secularism. However has a hard time grow in this method to faith, school, combination

    France takes pride in its secularism. However has a hard time grow in this method to faith, school, combination

    MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Brought into the global spotlight by the restriction on hijabs for French professional athletes at the upcoming Paris Olympics, France’s special method to “laïcité” — loosely equated as “secularism” — has actually been significantly stirring debate throughout the nation.

    The battle cuts to the core of how France approaches not just the location of religious beliefs in public life, however likewise the combination of its primarily immigrant-origin Muslim population, Western Europe’s biggest.

    Maybe the most objected to ground is public schools, where noticeable indications of faith are disallowed under policies looking for to foster nationwide unity. That consists of the headscarves some Muslim females wish to use for piety and modesty, even as others combat them as a sign of injustice.

    “It has actually ended up being a benefit to be enabled to practice our religious beliefs,” stated Majda Ould Ibbat, who was thinking about leaving Marseille, France’s second-largest city, up until she found a personal Muslim school, Ibn Khaldoun, where her kids might both easily live their faith and grow academically.

    “We desired them to have an excellent education, and with our concepts and our worths,” included Ould Ibbat, who just began using a headscarf just recently, while her teenager child, Minane, hasn’t felt all set to.

    For Minane, when it comes to numerous French Muslim youth, browsing French culture and her spiritual identity is getting harder. The 19-year-old nursing trainee has actually heard individuals state even on the streets of multicultural Marseille that there’s no location for Muslims.

    “I ask myself if Islam is accepted in France,” she stated.

    Minane likewise deals with the cumulative injury that has actually scarred much of France in the after-effects of Islamist attacks, which have actually targeted schools and are seen by numerous as proof that laïcité (noticable lah-eee-see-tay) requires to be strictly imposed to avoid radicalization.

    Minane clearly keeps in mind observing a minute of silence at Ibn Khaldoun in honor of Samuel Paty, a public school instructor beheaded by a radicalized Islamist in 2020. A memorial to Paty as a protector of France’s worths awaits the entryway of the Education Ministry in Paris.

    For its authorities and many teachers, secularism is important. They state it motivates a sense of coming from an unified French identity and avoids those who are less or not consistently watchful from feeling pressured.

    For numerous French Muslims, nevertheless, laïcité is putting in specifically that type of inequitable pressure on currently disadvantaged minorities.

    Amidst the stress, there’s broad contract that polarization is increasing, as crackdowns and difficulties install.

    “Laws on laïcité safeguard and permit coexistence — which is less and less simple,” stated Isabelle Tretola, principal of the general public main school throughout from Ibn Khaldoun.

    She deals with difficulties to secularism daily — like kids in choir class who put their hands on their ears “due to the fact that their households informed them singing range tunes isn’t excellent.”

    “You can’t require them to sing, however instructors inform them they can’t cover their ears out of regard for the trainer and schoolmates,” Tretola stated. “In school, you pertain to find out the worths of the republic.”

    Secularism is an essential worth in France’s constitution. The state clearly charges public schools with instilling those worths in kids, while enabling independent schools to provide spiritual guideline as long as they likewise teach the basic curriculum that the federal government develops.

    Federal government authorities argue the restriction versus showcasing a specific faith is required to prevent hazards to democracy. The federal government has actually made combating extreme Islam a top priority, and secularism is viewed as a bulwark versus the feared development of spiritual impact on every day life, down to beachwear.

    “In a public school, the school for everybody, one acts like everybody else, and need to not make a screen,” stated Alain Seksig, secretary general of the Education Ministry’s council on secularism.

    For numerous instructors and principals, having stringent federal government guidelines is assisting face increasing difficulties.

    Some 40% of instructors report self-censoring on topics from advancement to sexual health after the attacks on Paty and another instructor, Dominique Bernard, killed last fall by a believed Islamic extremist, stated Didier Georges of SNPDEN-UNSA, a union representing majority of France’s principals.

    Like him, Laurent Le Drezen, a principal and a leader of another education employees union, SGEN-CFDT, sees a dubious impact of social networks in the development of Muslim trainees challenging secularism at school.

    His class experience in Marseille’s Quartiers Nord — typically shabby suburban areas with jobs real estate primarily households of North African origin — likewise taught him the value of revealing trainees that schools aren’t following them for being Muslim.

    At Marseille’s Cedres Mosque, beside the jobs, Salah Bariki stated youth are having problem with precisely that sense of rejection from France.

    “What do they desire us to do, take a look at the Eiffel Tower rather of Capital?” Bariki quipped. 9 of 10 girls in the area are now veiled, “for identity more than religious beliefs,” he included.

    To prevent a vicious circle, more — not less — conversation of religious beliefs need to be taking place in schools, argued Haïm Bendao, rabbi at a conservative synagogue in a neighboring area.

    “To develop peace, it’s an everyday effort. It’s insane essential to speak in schools,” stated Bendao, who has actually gone to both Ibn Khaldoun and the Catholic school throughout from it, Saint-Joseph, which likewise registers numerous Muslim trainees.

    A number of households at Ibn Khaldoun stated they selected it due to the fact that it can support both identities rather of intensifying all-too-public doubts over whether being Muslim works with being French.

    “When I hear the argument over compatibility, that’s when I switch off the television. Worry has actually attacked the world,” stated Nancy Chihane, president of the moms and dads’ association at Ibn Khaldoun.

    At a current spring recess where ladies with hijabs, others with their hair streaming in the wind, and young boys all mingled, one headscarf-wearing high-schooler stated moving to Ibn Khaldoun implied both liberty and neighborhood.

    “Here all of us comprehend each other, we’re not marginalized,” stated Asmaa Abdelah, 17.

    Nouali Yacine, her history and location instructor, was born in Algeria — which was under French colonial guideline up until it won self-reliance in 1962 after a violent battle — and raised in France given that he was 7 months old.

    “We are within the citizenry. We don’t present that concern, however they present it to us,” Yacine states.

    The school’s founding director, Mohsen Ngazou, is similarly determined about appreciating spiritual and education commitments.

    He remembers when “making a scene” when he saw a trainee using an abaya over pajamas — the trainee code forbids the latter along with shorts and exposing neck lines.

    “I informed her she wasn’t all set for class,” Ngazou stated. “The abaya doesn’t make a female spiritual. The essential thing is to feel excellent about who you are.”

    ___

    Associated Press religious beliefs protection gets assistance through the AP’s partnership with The Discussion United States, with financing from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is entirely accountable for this material.

  • Virginia school board votes to restore names of Confederate leaders to schools

    Virginia school board votes to restore names of Confederate leaders to schools

    The school board in Shenandoah County, Virginia, early Friday approved a proposal that will restore the names of Confederate military leaders to two public schools.

    The measure, which passed 5-1, reverses a previous board’s decision in 2020 to change the names of schools that had been linked to Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby, three men who led the pro-slavery Southern states during the Civil War.

    Mountain View High School will go back to the name Stonewall Jackson High School. Honey Run Elementary School will go back to the name Ashby-Lee Elementary School.

    The board stripped their names after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, fueling a national racial reckoning. The calls for racial justice and equity inspired some communities to remove Confederate symbolism and statues of Confederate generals.

    But in Shenandoah County, the conservative group Coalition for Better Schools petitioned school officials to reinstate the names of Jackson, Lee and Ashby. “We believe that revisiting this decision is essential to honor our community’s heritage and respect the wishes of the majority,” the coalition wrote in an April 3 letter to the board, according to a copy posted online.

    The board considered a similar motion in 2022, but it failed because of a tie vote.

    The board moved to change the names in a 5-1 vote, according to minutes from a meeting held July 9, 2020. The minutes say that the goal of the resolution was “condemning racism and affirming the division’s commitment to an inclusive school environment for all.”

    Current board members said the 2020 board’s decision was made hastily and without appropriate community input. About 80 people spoke Thursday before the board’s vote, most of them against restoring the old names.

    In the last decade, Confederate iconography has provoked intense sociopolitical divides across the nation.

     Jackson's statue is placed on a truck as officers stand guard (Ryan M. Kelly / AFP via Getty Images file)

    Jackson’s statue is placed on a truck as officers stand guard (Ryan M. Kelly / AFP via Getty Images file)

    The anti-Black mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in June 2015 set off fierce debates about public displays of the Confederate flag and commemorations of the Confederacy. South Carolina officials voted to remove the Confederate flag from state Capitol grounds that year.

    Two years later, hundreds of neo-Nazis and white nationalists descended on Charlottesville, Virginia, for the deadly “Unite the Right” rally. They stormed the college town in part to protest the planned removal of a statue of Lee from the city’s Market Street Park, formerly known as Lee Park.

    In the wake of Floyd’s murder and massive protests against racism, the legacy of the Confederacy once again became a focal point in the national conversation. At least 160 public Confederate symbols were taken down or moved from public places in 2020, according to a tally from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

    “These racist symbols only serve to uphold revisionist history and the belief that white supremacy remains morally acceptable,” SPLC chief of staff Lecia Brooks said in a statement at the time. “This is why we believe that all symbols of white supremacy should be removed from public spaces.”

    The vote in Shenandoah County comes as conservative groups across the U.S. increasingly push back against efforts to reckon with race in America in educational settings, including efforts to limit classroom discussion of racial identity, ban library books dealing with racial themes, and derail diversity plans.

    This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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  • What to know about the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools special election

    What to know about the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools special election

    Kansas City, Kansans will decide Tuesday whether to issue $420 million in bonds meant to build five new public schools and fund other capital projects proposed by the district.

    Approval of the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools bond would come with a projected property tax increase for district residents.

    When discussing the bond at public meetings, Superintendent Anna Stubblefield has pointed to the promise of predecessors to improve facilities across KCKPS after a 2016 bond funded the district’s newest schools, including Gloria Willis Middle School.

    There are equity concerns within the district, officials say, between students who attend old buildings versus new ones. One of highlights listed by the district is the elimination of mobile classrooms being held in small trailers outside main buildings as a means to address overcrowding.

    How voter turnout will fare in an off-season special election remains to be seen — though it’s sure to be lower than the last major KCKPS facilities bond, a no-tax-increase proposal voters overwhelmingly approved amid the presidential election in November 2016.

    Meanwhile, many Kansas City, Kansans, have taken opposing stances on whether to support the latest measure.

    Proponents say the bond is an opportunity to invest in aging infrastructure and create a better learning environment that will foster academic success. Another potential bonus supporters cite is the potential to attract new residents with improved schools, thereby widening the tax base.

    Critics argue the property tax increase will be shouldered by many community members who simply cannot afford to pay. And they question whether school buildings are the right answer in the face of other challenges, such as student achievement gaps compared with state standards.

    Here’s a more detailed look at what’s on the ballot Tuesday:

    What’s in the plan?

    Under the district’s proposal, six elementary schools — Silver City, Noble Prentis, Eugene Ware, Lindbergh, Emerson and New Stanley — would be combined into three. Each of those projects is estimated to cost $35 million.

    Central and Argentine middle schools would also be rebuilt at a cost of about $61.8 million each. Single-story additions would be made at M.E. Pearson and Whittier elementary schools, at $2.6 million apiece, replacing mobile classrooms there.

    Gymnasium additions for F.L. Schlagle and J.C. Harmon high schools are estimated to cost $6.3 million each.

    Broader upgrades across the district — officials say every school would be touched in some way — amount to $66.7 million. Those include improvements for middle and high school auditoriums, interior and exterior athletics and special education.

    The bond would also cover $44.5 million of deferred maintenance costs, including concrete repairs, playgrounds and fencing.

    Other proposed facilities are a $15 million district aquatic center, a $20 million expansion of early childhood capacity and up to $20 million to build a new main public library.

    What’s the proposed tax increase?

    Should the bond pass, the Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools district expects property taxes to increase by 8.5 mills. That assumes a reduction in the mill levy for the Kansas City, Kansas Public Library, which receives tax dollars levied by the school district.

    Taxes will increase at a lower rate for residential homeowners versus commercial property owners.

    For the owner of a home valued at $150,000, the district estimates the yearly tax bill will go up by $146.63. A commercial business owner valued at the same rate would pay $318.75 more annually.

    Repayment would occur over the course of 30 years and include an average interest rate of 5.3%. State tax dollars would cover approximately 31% of the cost.

    How can I vote?

    Early voting in the contest opened in April through early in-person voting and the submission of mail-in ballots.

    For those wishing to cast an early vote in person, the deadline to do so is 12 p.m. Monday. Those in-person early votes can only be made at the Wyandotte County Election Office, 850 State Ave., Kansas City, Kansas.

    Mail-in ballots can be mailed or handed in at the election office. The deadline to hand them in is 7 p.m. Tuesday. Those returned by mail must be postmarked by 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

    In-person Election Day voting begins at 7 a.m. Tuesday. Polls close at 7 p.m.

    Registered voters can use the Kansas Secretary of State’s VoterView tool to look up polling sites in KCK.

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  • Lawmakers to Ohio Students: Screen Time’s Over, Kids

    Lawmakers to Ohio Students: Screen Time’s Over, Kids

    This article was originally published in Ohio Capital Journal.

    Ohio senators have passed a bill to limit cell phone use in schools, but it allows local districts to decide on the best practices for their students.

    “Being a parent in the age of smartphones is — my mom would say is harder than she had it,” Natalie Hastings, mom-of-two, said.

    Hastings believes boundaries with technology are important, but there are struggles when it comes to school.


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    “There was some bullying in the restrooms and people were taking videos,” she said. “There is now a policy in place at the building level where kids can bring their phones to school and power them off, put them in their backpacks.”

    Starting in the fall of 2023, a new policy at Akron Public Schools requires all secondary students to keep their cell phones in magnetically locking “Yondr” bags. Students are allowed to use their phones in the lunchroom and between classes but must silence and stow them away.

    Schools around the state have started cracking down on phone usage, and state lawmakers are joining in.

    “I thought the idea of eliminating use of smartphones during the school day is a great idea,” Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.

    Huffman and his members just passed House Bill 250, legislation that added a provision to require each public school district to create a cell phone policy, emphasizing that phone use should be as limited as possible during the school day.

    The legislation would also require the Department of Education and Workforce to adopt a model policy on student phone use that public schools could utilize. These policies come at a request of Gov. Mike DeWine, who said in his State of the State Address that phones are “detrimental to our kids’ mental health and they need to be removed from the classroom.”

    Hastings is mainly supportive of the Senate’s bill.

    “I would advocate that every building principal is the one who can make the best decision for their specific kids,” Hastings said.

    She is worried about a competing version of policy — H.B. 485, which would ban personal devices like cell phones, computers, headphones and smartwatches unless a teacher specifically allows it, there is an emergency, it is needed for healthcare or if a student has a learning disability and it is part of their accommodations.

    The bill would require public schools to create an internet safety policy. The legislation also mandates grades 6-12 to have courses on the negative side of social media.

    But it isn’t clear if House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) is on board with the Senate.

    There were some questions in our caucus on what the details were on the cell phone language and we had several members who wanted to read those languages,” Stephens said.

    State Rep. Tom Young (R-Washington Township), the sponsor of H.B. 485, wasn’t thrilled with the Senate’s actions.

    “They have every right to do that, of course, however, we will have hearings on my bill because it’s important that we get feedback from the districts and those interested parties so that we can have best practices and that’s really important.” Young said. “Citizens should have a right to speak about a piece of legislation — period — especially one that’s important. If we’re going to do this then we’re going to do it right.”

    Hastings said Ohio should start small before major mandates.

    “It’s a level of distraction that we are still figuring out in real time,” she said.

    The Senate’s version goes back to the House for a concurrence vote.

    This article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland.

    Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor David Dewitt for questions: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and Twitter.



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  • 4 Things Districts Should Do Right Now — Before the Fiscal Cliff

    4 Things Districts Should Do Right Now — Before the Fiscal Cliff

    Schools are about a year out from a budgetary cliff. The combination of declining student enrollment and the expiration of federal relief funds will make the spring 2025 budget season particularly painful in many districts across the country.

    So what can leaders do now to batten down the hatches while this perfect storm is still on the horizon? Here are four concrete actions:

    Review layoff provisions

    Labor is by far the biggest line item in school district budgets. The one-time infusion of ESSER money allowed districts to artificially inflate their staffing levels, so schools may need to lay off a lot of workers in the coming years.


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    How many? Imagine if staffing counts fell back to the same levels they were in the last year before the pandemic, in 2018-19. If that scenario plays out, districts will need to lay off 384,000 full-time staff, or an equivalent number of part-time staff. Since schools tend to lay off part-timers first, this figure may be undercounting the total jobs at risk.

    To put these numbers in perspective, layoffs of this magnitude would be worse than the Great Recession that hit schools in 2009-10. At that time, public schools shed the equivalent of 110,000 full-time teaching jobs and 364,000 full- and part-time positions overall.

    Related

    Another Year of School Staffing Gains in 9,500 Districts as Fiscal Cliff Looms

    There are a lot of uncertainties in these projections. Still, layoffs anywhere near this size would be destabilizing for many schools and districts, especially in the low-income communities that received the largest infusions of ESSER money. Besides the affected workers, layoffs hurt student achievement and tend to set back staff diversity efforts.

    Now is the time to avoid, or at least minimize, these problems. According to a 2023 analysis from the National Council on Teacher Quality, about one-third of districts largely or solely rely on last-in-first-out layoff policies and another third use them in combination with other factors. Those approaches are blind to a teacher’s classroom abilities and ignore factors like whether the educator works in hard-to-staff schools or subjects.

    Instead, district leaders should review their policies now to shield the lowest-performing schools and hardest-to-staff roles from the biggest cuts. Could they set a policy protecting, say, the lowest-performing 25% of schools and any teaching position that had less than three applicants? These may not be the right cut-offs for every district, but simple numerical rules like this would help minimize the worst impacts of layoffs.

    Close underenrolled schools and help students and staff transition

    The 74’s Linda Jacobson worked with researchers from the Brookings Institution and found 4,428 schools across the country that had suffered student enrollment declines of 20% or more. Thanks to declining birth rates, more schools are projected to be on this list in the coming years.

    Like layoffs, closures of underenrolled schools can be harmful to students and staff. But districts that delay painful decisions eventually have to make bigger, even more disruptive changes. Students would be better off if districts were honest about their budget problems and took steps, like matching displaced young people with dedicated counselors or giving them priority access to the best schools, in order to make those transitions easier. If districts wait to close underenrolled schools until they’re under true financial duress, it will be harder to put any of those types of transitional supports in place.

    Compete for all the kids in your area

    It turned some heads last fall when news came out that New York City was proposing to spend $21 million on an ad campaign to boost enrollment. It’s not crazy for a district to advertise its offerings, but it needs to be realistic about costs and benefits. For example, one crude way to look at it is to calculate the break-even costs. With New York City spending $30,000 per pupil, it would take about 700 newly enrolled students to cover its advertising budget.

    Related

    Analysis: State Laws Leave Schools Unprepared for a Post-COVID ‘Fiscal Cliff’

    This isn’t just about competing with public charter schools, private schools or homeschooling. In many states with open enrollment policies, districts have a financial interest in persuading as many local families as possible to enroll their children in their schools.

    Evaluate everything

    It’s probably too late for districts to use their ESSER funds to put all the necessary processes and data collections in place for formal, rigorous program evaluations, but it would still be smart to use any remaining money to invest in data analyses. If the district expanded or created a summer or tutoring program, did the participating students make gains? How did students, parents or staff experience the program? Even simple data comparisons would be helpful for pointing out what went well and what didn’t and making the case for continued investment.

    As NWEA’s Lindsay Dworkin noted recently, “It has always been important to understand which programs or interventions are working, for which students and at what cost.” Those types of questions are now more important than ever.

    When Congress created the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief program, everyone knew the one-time money would eventually run out. Districts only have a few months left to start preparing for the financial storm that’s coming.

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  • FHSAA considers esports as an official sport for high schools

    FHSAA considers esports as an official sport for high schools

    The Florida High School Athletic Association could potentially sanction competitive video gaming, or esports, as an official sport amid growing interest from member schools.

    The FHSAA Board of Directors held a discussion about esports during a meeting in Gainesville Monday, with talks focusing on the share of Florida schools that would be interested in offering programs if the games are sanctioned as an official sport.

    The organization distributed a survey and received responses from 425 schools, which accounted for 58 percent of its combination and senior high schools.

    “Two questions were about current participation and interest, while several other questions were asked to guide future research and decision making, if necessary,” a document included in the board’s agenda said.

    Read: Magic fall to Cavaliers 96-86 in Game 2

    Overall, 26.4 percent of schools that responded reported sponsoring an esports team or club. Of that overall number, 24.9 percent of public schools have teams or clubs, while 25.2 percent of private schools and 39.1 percent of charter schools said they have such programs.

    The FHSAA requires at least 20 percent of schools in at least two of its four “sections” or regions of the state offering a sport in order for it to be eligible for sanctioning.

    Interest in offering esports is high among the member schools that did not report having programs.

    Read: UCF starts work on $60M Hagle Football Gateway project

    More than half — 54.6 percent — of the schools surveyed said they would be interested in offering esports to students if the FHSAA sanctioned the games. Nearly 50 percent of public schools surveyed indicated interest, while more than 56 percent of private schools and 82 percent of charter schools expressed interest.

    Of the state’s four FHSAA regional sections, schools in Section 4 encompassing South Florida expressed the highest level of interest at 69 percent.

    FHSAA board member Trevor Berryhill, who also is the athletic director for Oviedo private school The Master’s Academy, was among the members who voiced support for sanctioning esports.

    Read: Orlando City Council approves the Magic’s entertainment complex

    “Last year we had a student get a scholarship to Florida State (University) in esports. He also is a part of their NIL (name, image and likeness) collective,” Berryhill said, referring to student-athletes at the collegiate level being able to earn money from business agreements such as endorsement deals.

    “So it’s just another opportunity for kids to be involved in something,” Berryhill added.

    The FSU Esports program is a student-run organization, according to its website, that “provides a foundation for our school’s many competitive gaming teams.”

    Esports programs also are increasingly being recognized by sanctioning bodies across the country.

    Read: UCF transfer QB KJ Jefferson arrested in Arkansas

    There are 21 states that are members of the National Federation of State High School Associations that have sanctioned esports in their schools, according to FHSAA documents. Southeastern states that have signed off on the programs include Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.

    Gulf County Schools Superintendent David Norton also backed the idea of sanctioning esports, calling the proposal a “win-win” for the FHSAA and saying he hopes the board will “move forward on this sooner than later.”

    “This would be a way for us to reach us and bring some more student athletes in,” Norton, who also serves on the board, said during Monday’s meeting.

    FHSAA officials did not indicate during Monday’s discussion when a potential decision could be finalized on sanctioning esports, but said the organization is in the early stages of the process. The next step would be requesting official petitions from member schools that would announce their intent to add esports programs.

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  • Five things to know about Broward County Public Schools’ new superintendent

    Five things to know about Broward County Public Schools’ new superintendent

    Unexpected news stunned the Broward County Public Schools community on Tuesday: Superintendent Peter Licata stepped down, citing health reasons, and Howard Hepburn replaced him.

    Who is Hepburn, and why did the Broward School Board pick him to lead the sixth largest school district in the country, with about 260,000 students?

    We’ve got five quick facts to help you catch up.

    1. He likes ‘complex’ environments

    In a press conference after the Broward School Board voted 8-1 to name Hepburn the new superintendent, Hepburn said he’s a native of Belle Glade. That’s a city in the western side of Palm Beach County that has historically experienced social challenges and as of 2022 had a population of about 16,700, according to the U.S. Census.

    “You guys can look that up and see all of the challenges and complexities of such a small community in probably one of the richest counties in the state,” he said. “We have great teachers, great principals, great mentors. It took a village to really help kids like myself in that community grow up and prosper to change our trajectories. And that’s what I’m here for. I love complex environments, and I want to do the same for the kids that we’re serving here in Broward County.”

    In 1985, when Hepburn, 45, would have been in elementary school the Miami Herald reported Belle Glade registered the nation’s highest rate of AIDS.

    According to a 2012 New York Times article titled “Muck City. The Way Out” about how joining the National Football League served as a way for young men to escape the area, the unemployment rate in Belle Glade hovered at about 16% then.

    READ MORE: After 10 months, Broward Schools superintendent to retire. Board replaces him immediately

    Also according to the times article, the Palm Beach County sheriff’s office estimated that half of the young men in Belle Glade between the ages of 18 and 25 had felony convictions in 2010.

    Asked why he wanted the superintendent’s job, Hepburn chuckled and said: “I love complex and challenging environments.”

    “I feel like my contributions are best suited for that — to really impact student lives and to really impact their communities so they can move to greatness. I feel like my skillsets and my knowledge really contribute to that,” he added.

    2. He recently joined Broward County Public Schools

    Hepburn has more than 20 years of experience in education, according to a school district press release.

    He served as a middle and high school principal in Orange County Public Schools from 2011 to 2016, according to his LinkedIn page. He then moved to the Palm Beach County school district as an instructional superintendent from 2016 to 2023.

    He joined Broward County Public Schools as the deputy superintendent for teaching and learning on Aug. 1, roughly a month after Licata started his superintendency.

    3. He wants to maintain the school district’s current priorities

    Asked Tuesday about his priorities for Broward Public Schools, Hepburn said he and Licata have always aligned in terms of vision and mission, and that none of the school district’s priorities will change now that he’s at the helm.

    He will still work toward improving academics and “redefining” schools, the term used to close or repurpose schools because of student under-enrollment.

    “I am so elated to continue to focus to move our school district to an A,” Hepburn said, referring to the state-issued grade for performance. The state has rated Broward Public Schools with a “B” for about nine years and has yearned to improve since.

    WEIGH IN: Have you or your child recently left a South Florida public school? Tell us why

    4. He sees Licata as a ‘friend’

    Licata and Hepburn appeared to have a close relationship on Tuesday, hugging after the board’s vote and praising each other.

    At the press conference, Licata described Hepburn as “smart,” “charismatic” and “very focused on kids.” He said that because Hepburn is with him during most of his days, “this is the easiest way to transition.”

    In turn, Hepburn described Licata as “a boss, a mentor and a friend,” and wished him the best.

    5. He’s Florida-educated

    Hepburn got a bachelor’s degree in science education and a master’s degree in educational leadership from the University of Central Florida. He also holds a doctorate in educational leadership from Florida Southern College, according to the Broward school district.

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  • State board restores full accreditation for KCK Public Schools

    State board restores full accreditation for KCK Public Schools

    The Kansas Board of Education has granted full accreditation to Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools, restoring the designation based on the district’s latest plan to meet state academic benchmarks.

    Last year the state put the district on conditional accreditation. It meant the district remained in good standing, but state officials were unconvinced of evidence in student performance growth.

    Reasons listed at the time included “substantially” lower-than-average scores on assessment tests, including in English and science. Also cited was the district’s graduation rate, which had trended up to 73% but dipped to 69% in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

    According to its process, the state reviewed within one year the status of KCKPS and all other districts placed on conditional accreditation.

    In February, the Accreditation Review Council, an arm of the Kansas Department of Education, determined KCKPS should be brought back in line with full accreditation because the district’s plan met state standards.

    State board members approved the recommendation Tuesday, roughly seven months after it gave KCKPSconditional accreditation. The school district had been fully accredited before then.

    Nearly 23,000 students are enrolled at KCKPS. It is the largest district in Wyandotte County and among the biggest in the Kansas City metro.

    The school district’s accreditation status has been a talking point among critics of an upcoming special election May 7. On the ballot is whether a $420 million bond will be issued to pay for additions to and entire rebuilds of several schools, as well as a new aquatic center and library.

    Superintendent Anna Stubblefield said Friday the district is moving forward with the restored designation.

    “We are continuing to make progress in all of those areas that we need to make progress in, and our data continues to trend in the right direction,” she said.

    The Star’s Sarah Ritter contributed to this report.

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  • Is Ryan Walters the ‘Music Man’ of Oklahoma? He has failed on every level to be a leader

    Is Ryan Walters the ‘Music Man’ of Oklahoma? He has failed on every level to be a leader

    “Trouble, oh we got trouble, right here in River City!

    “With a capital ‘T’ that rhymes with ‘P’ and that stands for POOL!”

    The central figure in “The Music Man” is Harold Hill, a con man who convinces the naive townsfolk of River City that playing billiards is influencing their young boys into a life of immorality. Once he creates fervor in the community, he pitches the con of starting a band to divert the youths from a life of sin. Upon arranging for the purchase of expensive band uniforms and instruments, he plans to skip town.

    Substitute porn for pool, and it looks like state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters is selling a con to Oklahomans. Walters claims our schools are filled with groomers, and libraries full of pornographic books being proffered to our kids by the woke boogeyman. Walters’ sales pitch is a solution in search of a problem, which has little to do with getting our schools off rock-bottom status. Even worse, his rhetoric has harmed children, teachers, public schools and our state. Inappropriate books in Oklahoma school libraries is not even a top 10 problem for our bottom 10 schools.

    More: Ryan Walters’ response to Nex Benedict’s death only causes more pain for Oklahoma’s LGTBQ+ families | Editorial

    What’s Walters selling? It’s pretty simple. He’s selling himself to right-wing extremists and unknowing voters in Oklahoma to gain further power on a national stage. His list of priorities are all about speaking engagements, television appearances and riling Oklahomans to promote his brand of politics. The recent news of the Oklahoma State Department of Education spending tax dollars for a consulting firm to garner national TV spots for Walters points to a much different set of priorities than Oklahomans should desire. Putting aside a laundry list of harmful things he’s done, Oklahomans deserve to know what is being done to make our schools a better place for students to learn and grow and a place where teachers feel appreciated.

    In spite of having approval ratings lower than Joe Biden among Oklahomans, Walters appears to be emboldened by the 17% of our state who think he’s doing a good job. Based on his performance and approval ratings, Walters deserves to be removed from office, and seems quite vulnerable to much more serious legal problems. This list of questionable behavior and antics is getting longer by the week. Meanwhile, the state Education Department is in shambles, with almost every key staff member having resigned since Walters took over, little more than one year ago.

    While Walters seems to see pornography everywhere he looks, there is no leadership to be found in his administration. Our school superintendents have made it clear he is not in communication with them, and is completely out of touch with what’s happening in our schools. In the absence of leadership, our public schools will soon perish. Walters has become the main attraction in this circus, when we should be focusing on how to get our schools back to top 20 status, as was the case just 12 years ago.

    More: Legislators, remove Ryan Walters. End his toxic crusade against Oklahoma teachers

    It’s time for our Republican legislators to realize Ryan Walters is their problem. This affects all of us and will leave a mark on our state for many years to come. Common-sense conservatives need to speak up. Walters has failed on every level to be a leader. There is no strategic plan to help Oklahoma schools prosper, and his rhetoric is making Oklahoma look like a rather backward and unwelcoming place to live. Walters and the ultra-right extremist agenda of his and other legislators will take our state to a place we don’t want to go. Oklahoma will be excluded from many future opportunities, by virtue of having the worst schools, being the worst state for women and by being one of the least inclusive states on the map. Walters, and others like him, will be responsible for these looming problems.

    This performance will not end well for Oklahoma. Our leaders need to act, and have good reason to do so. The only viable option is a change of leadership at the state Education Department. For Ryan Walters, the music must stop.

    Drew Williamson
    Drew Williamson

    Drew Williamson, a private wealth adviser, is a lifelong Oklahoman and graduate of Noble Public Schools and Oklahoma City University. He is an advocate for public schools, as a substitute teacher and a former trustee for Teachers Retirement Systems of Oklahoma.

    This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Ryan Walters a problem; Oklahoma education leadership change needed

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  • Amid book bans, DEI cuts and ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws, 7 states will mandate LGBTQ-inclusive curricula

    Amid book bans, DEI cuts and ‘Don’t Say Gay’ laws, 7 states will mandate LGBTQ-inclusive curricula

    Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, signed a law last week that includes a mandate for the state’s public schools to teach LGBTQ history, as red and blue states continue to diverge on whether schools should expose kids to gay and transgender identities.

    The new law, Senate Bill 5462, mandates that the state’s school districts adopt curricula that is as “culturally and experientially diverse as possible,” including the histories of LGBTQ people, people of color and people with disabilities. Schools will be required to institute the inclusive curricula by the 2025-26 school year.

    “The governor was happy to sign legislation that aims to ensure students of all races and identities feel safe and welcome at school,” Mike Faulk, a spokesperson for Inslee, said in an email Monday.

    Faulk also referred NBC News to research published in the journal Sex Education that suggests LGBTQ-inclusive curricula can reduce rates of bullying and make children feel safer in school.

    Kristie Bennett is a high school teacher in Sammamish, Washington, who is bisexual and leads her school’s gender-sexuality alliance organization. In an interview last week with NBC affiliate KGW of Portland, Oregon, Bennett echoed Faulk’s sentiment.

    “I’ve seen firsthand how important an inclusive curriculum can be and how life-changing it can be to help a student see themselves in the curriculum instead of some old dead white guys from the 1700s,” Bennett said.

    Washington is the seventh state to enact legislation mandating that public schools incorporate LGBTQ-inclusive curricula in some capacity, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank. The other six are: California, New Jersey, Colorado, Oregon, Nevada and Illinois, states that have been won by Democrats in the last four presidential elections.

    The law also comes as conservative lawmakers introduce record numbers of anti-LGBTQ measures, including legislation to regulate how LGBTQ issues are taught in public schools.

    Over the last several years, Republican officials have sought to limit how sexual orientation and gender identity are taught in school through measures critics have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay” laws; bans on books with queer storylines or characters; and disbandments of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public universities.

    Seven states — all but one of them led by Republicans — have laws in place that restrict the instruction of sexual orientation or gender identity in some public schools, according to MAP.

    Gabriele Magni, an assistant professor of political science at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and director of the school’s LGBTQ+ Politics Research Initiative, called the enactment of the measures to mandate LGBTQ history be taught at public schools a “reaction” to anti-LGBTQ measures introduced in red states.

    “It’s similar to the analogy we’ve seen with abortion. On the one hand, you’ve seen states banning abortion or making it much more unrealistic,” Magni said. “And then, on the other hand, you’ve seen states like California or New York ramping up their protections and also offering a more welcoming environment for people who may come from out of state.”

    LGBTQ advocates in Washington similarly suggested that their state’s new law was necessary to counter the idea from conservatives that queer identities are inappropriate for children.

    “It’s considered too controversial to mention to kids that Thoreau was gay or Walt Whitman was gay,” Ken Shulman, the executive director of Seattle-based LGBTQ advocacy group Lambert House, told KGW. “Alan Turing — who invented the first computer, helped serve the Enigma code and win World War II — was gay.”

    This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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