The Trim Beneath the Fascia
A recent wind-storm took off the metal fascia covering the original, 1949 trim work on our Skokie home.
Letters from an American
One of my favorite, regular reads:
Jan 15
You hear sometimes, now that we know the sordid details of the lives of some of our leading figures, that America has no heroes left.
When I was writing a book about the Wounded Knee Massacre, where heroism was pretty thin on the ground, I gave that a lot of thought. And I came to believe that heroism is neither being perfect, nor doing something spectacular. In fact, it’s just the opposite: it’s regular, flawed human beings choosing to put others before themselves, even at great cost, even if no one will ever know, even as they realize the walls might be closing in around them.
It means sitting down the night before D-Day and writing a letter praising the troops and taking all the blame for the next day’s failure upon yourself, in case things went wrong, as General Dwight D. Eisenhower did.
It means writing in your diary that you “still believe that people are really good at heart,” even while you are hiding in an attic from the men who are soon going to kill you, as Anne Frank did.
It means signing your name to the bottom of the Declaration of Independence in bold print, even though you know you are signing your own death warrant should the British capture you, as John Hancock did.
It means defending your people’s right to practice a religion you don’t share, even though you know you are becoming a dangerously visible target, as Sitting Bull did.
Sometimes it just means sitting down, even when you are told to stand up, as Rosa Parks did.
None of those people woke up one morning and said to themselves that they were about to do something heroic. It’s just that, when they had to, they did what was right.
On April 3, 1968, the night before the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by a white supremacist, he gave a speech in support of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Since 1966, King had tried to broaden the Civil Rights Movement for racial equality into a larger movement for economic justice. He joined the sanitation workers in Memphis, who were on strike after years of bad pay and such dangerous conditions that two men had been crushed to death in garbage compactors.
After his friend Ralph Abernathy introduced him to the crowd, King had something to say about heroes: “As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about.”
Dr. King told the audience that, if God had let him choose any era in which to live, he would have chosen the one in which he had landed. “Now, that’s a strange statement to make,” King went on, “because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land; confusion all around…. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars.” Dr. King said that he felt blessed to live in an era when people had finally woken up and were working together for freedom and economic justice.
He knew he was in danger as he worked for a racially and economically just America. “I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter…because I’ve been to the mountaintop…. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life…. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!”
People are wrong to say that we have no heroes left.
Just as they have always been, they are all around us, choosing to do the right thing, no matter what.
Wishing you all a day of peace for Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2024.
[Image of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C., by Buddy Poland.]
Notes:
Dr. King’s final speech:
Biden renews call for assault weapons ban
President Biden issued the following statement Thursday morning (10/26/23) on the deadly mass shooting in Lewiston:
Once again, our nation is in mourning after yet another senseless and tragic mass shooting. Today, Jill and I are praying for the Americans who’ve lost their lives, for those still in critical care, and for the families, survivors, and community members enduring shock and grief.
I also urge area residents to heed the warnings and guidance of local officials. Numerous Federal law enforcement personnel are on the scene and actively working with state and local partners. As I told Maine Governor Janet Mills, Senators Collins and King, and Congressman Golden last night, I have directed my administration to provide everything that is needed to support the people of Maine. We will continue to be there every step of the way.
For countless Americans who have survived gun violence and been traumatized by it, a shooting such as this reopens deep and painful wounds. Far too many Americans have now had a family member killed or injured as a result of gun violence. That is not normal, and we cannot accept it.
While we have made progress on gun safety through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the two dozen executive actions I’ve taken, and the establishment of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, it’s simply not enough.
Today, in the wake of yet another tragedy, I urge Republican lawmakers in Congress to fulfill their duty to protect the American people. Work with us to pass a bill banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, to enact universal background checks, to require safe storage of guns, and end immunity from liability for gun manufacturers. This is the very least we owe every American who will now bear the scars — physical and mental — of this latest attack.
How Kindness Matters & Can Help You
Self-criticism is often seen as a virtue. But psychologist Kristin Neff says there’s a better path to self-improvement — self-compassion. She says people who practice self-compassion are more conscientious and more likely to take responsibility for their mistakes.
I-pad, not I-panacea
The following entry was written in the Fall of 2013; I neglected to publish it then. Now, 10 years on, I thought I would publish it.
I have been playing with my Ipad with all the joy Lt. Shann Childson musters in the face of a shackled wookie. He's the Imperial officer who confronts Han, Luke and Chewbacca as they enter a Death Star prison command center. "Where are you taking this...thing?" he drolls. As I launch-and-close, launch-and-close applications, I can't help but feel my books leering. Actual books made of actual paper, penned and read--damaged in fact--by none other than yours truly. The books' disdain is palpable.
In full disclosure: I prefer the technology of eras by-gone. I am a fountain pen man, at first an Esterbrook fan, more recently a proud owner of my grandfather's Parker big-red. I prefer Watermann's washable-blue to any cartridged ink, and I would trade a toner cartridge for typewriter ribbon on any given Tuesday. Any wrist bearing a bracelet made of removed typewriter keys is a hand worth cleaving off. So I was born skeptical of the new. But I'm not entirely a luddite, either. I know there's a time for a new pen tip, a software update, a better and improved stapler.
Does reading on an Ipad make sense? The positive: It allows you to zoom in on text, pictures, graphics. You can conduct word searches easily, can launch integrated definitions, related contextual materials. Font changes can help the visually challenged. Some ebooks come with audio in multi-variable speed, in various languages to boot. It simulates movement--graphic organizers, video, line drawings. And of course the Ipad provides many supportive studying technologies--email, internet, video, and all the apps humanity can muster.
The downside: You cannot write on pages easily. Annotation supports memory and a deeper reading of texts; the Ipad was made for superficial skimming. Physically, the Ipad's an unweildly script, isn't as durable or consumable as paper. The Ipad robs the reader of spacial and tactile memory when reading. While expensive and heavier, it's also less environmentally friendly than books. When the power is out, and the battery is dead, learning stops. For readers, it's more physically and mentally demanding. The direct reflective light strains the eyes, isn't well suited for long reading periods; the reflected light of the printed page is softer and easier on our eyes. Because it's a multi-tasking device, it likewise distracts in multiple ways. And then video. It has the distraction of videos and all the apps humanity can muster.
I am of course biased. I do believe that the Ipad will not easily replace books in an English classroom setting, because it can't replicate what books do and do well. Wherever students have their own copy of the text--the poem, the play, the novel or story--the Ipad can't replicate a literary experience. At New Trier's English Department, our students have been technologically one-to-one for over a century. Even today, the Ipad doesn't advantage English students as it might, for example, in a Math, Science, or Geography course. Certainly, the Ipad and it's bosom buddy ebook should replace some traditional texts. (Speilvogel's 4-level World History textbook--I'm looking in your direction!)
While I am glad for students with access to an interactive work-management device, that's all the Ipad is. A tool. Like any tool, it does what it does well. What it doesn't do, it doesn't do. And so for the time being, the Ipad will not replace my books. And for your sake, I hope it doesn't replace all of yours too.
“Who can see the barely perceptible line between the man who can not read at all and the man who does not read at all? The literate who can, but does not, read, and the illiterate who neither does nor can?”
A Season for Building
Staring into the Lake Michigan void.
Author’s note: I wrote this entry 8/2022, but the video is from 8/2023. I am nothing, if not consistent.
Each August, I look back at my summer month of vacation (this is a point of contention between private and public sector workers; the former contends that teachers get three months off, while teachers insist that teachers get 8 weeks at maximum—and if you work summer school at New Trier, as few as two weeks off before school resumes) with trepidation.
Have I wasted my summer? Did I accomplish my goal(s)? Were the (private and public workers agree) precious, golden days spent fruitfully or foolishly?
This summer, I can measure my days in building. I re-built a few birdhouses. I built new stairs for our back porch. I built and maintained a community garden at Madison School. I even built up the stores of canned tomatoes in our basement.
I also managed some relationship building with family. In Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, OH, three days of roller coasters and park food began to relive the constant ache of pandemic quarrentine.
Of course, it wasn’t enough. Even though my reading lists were (mostly) for pleasure. Even though I selfishly stared into the Lake Michigan void from South Beach shoreline in Evanston.
But it was a start.
The (Lost) Art of Making a Mix Tape
Also from the NYT, “How to Make a Playlist” in a digital world.
The 2022 Morning Summer playlist on Spotify, also from the NYT
5 Facts About Guns in America
by Judd Legum
Founder and author of Popular Information, an independent newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism. You can reach him at judd@popular.info.
On Tuesday, an 18-year-old crashed his truck, exchanged fire with police officers, entered an elementary school, and murdered 19 children and two teachers with a semi-automatic rifle. The dead are not statistics.
The incident in Uvalde, Texas took place days after another 18-year-old killed 10 people with a similar weapon in Buffalo, New York. In the first 145 days of 2022, there have been 213 mass shootings, defined as an incident where four or more people are shot or killed.
"Evil will always walk among us," Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (R) said of the massacre. That is true. But only in the United States does evil have virtually unfettered access to military-style rifles. These weapons are not designed for sport or self-defense; they are designed to kill many people very quickly.
The Uvalde shooting demonstrates how the law can limit access to guns. The shooter bought a semi-automatic rifle on his 18th birthday, when it became legal for him to do so. If the age limit for purchasing a rifle in Texas was 21, yesterday's massacre may not have occurred.
The country could change the catastrophic status quo without infringing on the Second Amendment. Indeed, many such reforms are immensely popular. But a few dozen Republican Senators continue to stand in the way. In the meantime, the death toll mounts.
Here are the key facts about guns in America, pulled from Popular Information's previous reporting on mass shootings.
There are more guns than people in the United States
According to a 2018 Small Arms Survey, the latest data, there are more civilian-owned firearms in the United States than people, with more than 120 guns for every 100 Americans.
The number of guns sold has increased dramatically in recent years. A record 39,695,315 guns were sold to civilians in 2020. By comparison, there were 15 million guns sold in 2011 and 9 million in 1999. 18.9 million guns were sold in 2021, the second-most annual gun sales on record.
Remarkably, this spike has occurred as the number of people interested in owning guns has declined. In 1977, more than 50% of all households in the United States owned a gun. By 2018, just 34% of American households reported having a gun in the home. Gun manufacturers have made up for this decline by selling a larger number of more deadly firearms to a smaller number of people.
More guns = more mass shootings
A 2018 study of 171 countries from 1966 to 2012 found “firearm ownership rates appeared to be a statistically significant predictor of the distribution of public mass shooters worldwide. Many of the nations in this study that ranked highest in firearm ownership rates also ranked highly in public mass shooters per capita.”
The author of the study, University of Alabama professor Adam Lankford, concluded that the "United States and other nations with high firearm ownership rates may be particularly susceptible to future public mass shootings, even if they are relatively peaceful or mentally healthy according to other national indicators.”
In other words, the United States has a lot of mass shootings because it has a lot of guns. According to the research, reducing the prevalence of guns might reduce the number of mass shootings in the future.
Policies to reduce the number of guns are very popular
A 2018 poll by Guns Down America, a gun-control advocacy group, found that 67% of Americans support stricter gun laws. More striking is that overwhelming majorities, including a majority of Republicans, support positions that are often described as out of the mainstream. This includes support for requiring a license to purchase a handgun (89%), a limit on monthly gun purchases (80%), and a voluntary government gun buyback program (79%). These are all provisions that, taken together, could reduce the number of guns in circulation.
The poll found that advocating for fewer guns in America is a popular political message.
There is also strong support for background checks (94%), and a ban on semi-automatic weapons (78%).
The federal government has safety standards for toy guns, but not real guns
Nearly every product — from toasters to lawnmowers to teddy bears — must comply with standards set by the government to ensure the item is safe for public use. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regulates household goods and recreational products. The Food and Drug Administration regulates food and prescription drugs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulates motor vehicles. But there is one category of products that is not regulated for consumer safety by any government agency: guns and ammunition.
The Second Amendment has been in place since 1788, but the consumer protection exemption for guns came much later, in 1972. A law passed that year explicitly forbids the CPSC from evaluating the safety of guns. As a result, there "is not a single federally mandated safety standard or child-proofing requirement for firearms made in the United States."
The exemption means that the CPSC can regulate toy guns but not actual guns. The agency can mandate a recall of a doll, due to safety concerns, but not a semi-automatic rifle.
The gun industry received special legal protections in 2005
"Most people don’t realize, the only industry in America, billion-dollar industry, that can’t be sued, exempt from being sued, are gun manufacturers," Biden said in April 2001.
That is not precisely true. But Biden is referring to the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), signed into law in 2005, which does provide sweeping legal immunity to the gun industry. The PLCAA prevents gun manufacturers from civil liability resulting from "the criminal or lawful misuse" of firearms or ammunition.
But there are a few exceptions to the law, including an "action for death, physical injuries or property damage resulting directly from a defect in design or manufacture of the product, when used as intended or in a reasonably foreseeable manner." You can sue a gun manufacturer civilly if the gun malfunctions. But, in nearly every circumstance, you can't sue if the gun functions properly and kills people.
Prior to the PLCAA's passage, in 2000, New York City and 30 other localities sued gun manufacturers, alleging the "industry’s selling practices create a public nuisance by allowing guns to be sold in an illegitimate secondary market where they fall into the hands of criminals."
Had the lawsuit been successful, the gun industry would have to be much more careful about how firearms are marketed and sold. It could have curtailed firearms that are "designed and marketed primarily for killing people, with military-inspired features and advertising."
But the PLCAA was passed to end New York City's lawsuit and others like it. The lawsuits were thrown out of court. While civil litigation has prompted significant reform in the tobacco and pharmaceutical industry, the gun industry is able to continue with business as usual as the body count mounts.
Independent accountability journalism.
Getting back the time that Covid-19 stole
Surprisingly, newspapers continue to exist. Big words make brain work better!
An unstoppable flood
‘We are dismantling the trophies of the ugly old world of sanctified inequality and erecting monuments to heroes of justice and liberation.’ Photograph: Steve Helber/AP
Published in The Guardian, Opinion: Society on Mon 20 Dec 2021 06.16 EST
While their fear and dismay is often regarded as rooted in delusion, rightwingers are correct that the world is metamorphosing into something new and, to them, abhorrent. They’re likewise correct that what version of history we tell matters. The history we tell today lays the groundwork for the future we make. The outrage over the 1619 Project and the new laws trying to censor public school teachers from telling the full story of American history are a doomed attempt to hold back facts and perspectives that are already widespread.
In 2018, halfway through the Trump presidency, Michelle Alexander wrote a powerful essay arguing that we are not the resistance. We, she declared, are the mighty river they are trying to dam. I see it flowing, and I see the tributaries that pour into it and swell its power, and I see that once firmly grounded statues and assumptions have become flotsam in its current. Similar shifts are happening far beyond the United States, but it is this turbulent nation of so much creation and destruction I know best and will speak of here.
When a regime falls, the new one sweeps away its monuments and erects its own. This is happening as the taking down of Confederate, Columbus and other statues commemorating oppressors across the country, the renaming of streets and buildings and other public places, the appearance of myriad statues and murals of Harriet Tubman and other liberators, the opening of the Legacy Museum documenting slavery and mass incarceration and housing a lynching memorial.
There was no great moment of overthrow, but nevertheless we are dismantling the trophies of the ugly old world of sanctified inequality and erecting monuments to heroes of justice and liberation, from the Olympic track medalists of 1968 making their Black power gesture at San Jose State University to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Maryland. All those angry white men with the tiki torches chanting, in Charlottesville in 2017, “You will not replace us” as they sought to defend a statue of Gen Robert E Lee were wrong in their values and actions but perhaps not in their assessment.
White people are not being replaced, but in many ways a white supremacist history and society is. The statue of the general was removed earlier this year and will be melted down to be made into a new work of art under the direction of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. They call the project “swords into plowshares”, a phrase suggesting that this marks the end of a war – perhaps the civil war in which the north never fully claimed its victory, the south never accepted its defeat.
What’s happening goes far beyond public monuments. The statues mark the rejection of old versions of who we are and what we value, but those versions and values matter most as they play out in everyday private and public life. We are only a few decades removed from a civilization in which corporal punishment of children by parents and teachers was an unquestioned norm; in which domestic violence and marital rape were seen as a husband’s prerogative and a wife surrendered financial and other agency; in which many forms of inequality and exclusion had hardly even been questioned, let alone amended; in which few questioned the rightness of a small minority – for white Christian men have always been a minority in the United States – holding almost all the power, politically, socially, economically, culturally; in which segregation and exclusion were pervasive and legal; in which Native Americans had been largely written out of history; in which environmental regulation and protection and awareness barely existed.
You have to remember how different the past was to recognize how much has changed. Frameworks such as indigenous land acknowledgments that were unheard of and maybe almost inconceivable a few decades ago are routine at public events. Land acknowledgments are not land return, but they fortify the case for it.
The Civil Rights Act passed in 1964; in 1965, with Griswold v Connecticut, the supreme court overruled state laws criminalizing birth control and laid the groundwork for Roe v Wade six years later; only in 2015, Obergefell v Hodges established marriage equality for same-sex couples (while equality of rights between different-sex couples had also gradually been established as marriage became a less authoritarian institution). The right is trying to push the water back behind the dam. With deregulation and social service and tax cuts, they have succeeded in reestablishing an economy of extreme inequality, but not a society fully committed to that inequality.
They have succeeded in passing laws at the state level against voting rights and reproductive rights, but they have not succeeded in pushing the majority’s imaginations back to 1960 or 1920 or whenever their version of when America was great stalled out. They can win the battles, but I do not believe they will, in the end, win the war.
While the right has become far more extreme and has its tens of millions of true believers, it is morphing into a minority sect. This has prompted their desperate scramble to overturn free and fair elections and other democratic processes. White Christians, who were 80% of the population in 1976, are now 44%. Mixed-race and non-white people are rapidly becoming the majority. On issues such as climate, people of color are far more progressive; if we can make it through the huge backlash of the present moment, the possibilities are dazzling.
These are relatively concrete changes. Others are subtler and more recent, but no less important. Even in the last decade there has been an epochal shift in our expectations of how we should treat each other, and the casual cruelty and disdain targeting women, queer people, Bipoc, the disabled and those with divergent bodies that pervaded entertainment and daily life are now viewed as repugnant – and are met with consequences in some contexts.
A regular experience of this era (for those of us who were around for the last one) is to revisit a song, a film, a book and find that we have now become people who can see better the insults and exclusions that were so seamlessly woven into it. Some of the old art has not weathered well and will fall out of circulation, as some old culture always does; some will be interpreted in new ways; some neglected treasures will move from margin to center. We – a metamorphosing “we” – are sifting through an old and building a new canon.
Even more profound than this is a shift in worldview from the autonomous individual of hypercapitalism and social darwinism to a recognition of both the natural and social worlds as orchestras of interdependence, of survival as an essentially collaborative and cooperative business. Disciplines from neuropsychology to economics have shifted their sense of who we are, what works, and what matters. Climate change is first of all a crisis, but it’s also a reminder that the world is a collection of interlocking systems. The just-deceased bell hooks talked about a “love ethic” that included “a global vision wherein we see our lives and our fate as intimately connected to those of everyone else on the planet”.
Birth can be violent and dangerous, and sometimes one or the other of the two involved die. There is no guarantee about what is to come, and the shadow of climate chaos hangs over it all. We do not have time to build a better society before we address that crisis, but it is clear that the response to that crisis is building such a society. So much has already changed. The river Alexander described has swept away so much, has carried so many onward.
It has come far; it still has dams to overtop and so much farther to go.
Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her most recent books are Recollections of My Nonexistence and Orwell’s Roses
Truth to power.
An excellent letter from a veteran Kansas City high-school teacher about education and the teacher shortage in America.
Johnson County teacher’s message to parents: You can be angry, but we also can leave
BY SARAH RITTER
Published online, Kansas City Star, Dec. 17, 2021
Dianne O’Bryan has had enough. She has seen too many talented teachers leave the profession she’s dedicated the past 27 years to. It’s a growing problem this third pandemic school year, she said, as educators navigate threats from angry parents and the tense political climate that has seeped into schools. O’Bryan decided it was her time to speak up, on behalf of veteran teachers like herself, and those who have just entered the industry in what she calls an increasingly toxic environment.
At the school board meeting, she warned the community that there is a crisis in schools, and it is not whether critical race theory is taught in class, what books are on library shelves, or even COVID-19. Instead, she said, it is the “teacher shortage that is getting worse.” “Ask a principal how many qualified candidates apply for teaching positions. It’s shockingly low,” O’Bryan told the board. “For those of us in classrooms every day, it’s no surprise that our co-workers are thinking about and some actually planning for their exits at the end of this year.” “For those angry, highly critical, accusatory parents in our district, please know that you’re a major contributing factor to teachers leaving,” O’Bryan said. “You have a choice to be angry, but we also have a choice to leave.” Her words immediately resonated, with educators across the country commenting that they were experiencing the same stressors and negativity surrounding schools. And now O’Bryan is on a mission, she said, to change the conversation and encourage a return to civility and respect for educators.
She gave a passionate speech at this week’s Blue Valley school board meeting, and soon the video was seen by thousands on social media across the country. Why did she do it? “I’m genuinely worried about losing great teachers, losing great district staff,” O’Bryan, a Blue Valley High School teacher, told The Star. “Teachers, counselors are burdened with so much more than they ever have been. Inside the entire system, there’s so much work that needs to be done for kids right now. And then to have communities coming at schools with such negativity, I’m worried we’re going to be losing some wonderful people.”
“I felt like I needed to say something because I want to stay,” she told The Star. “But I don’t want my last five years of teaching for me to continue to be really negative. One of my former students started her first year teaching. And she said she saw the video and thanked me for speaking up for teachers. And I was thinking to myself, this is who we have to fight for. We have to speak up so these great, young teachers will stick with it.” She emphasized, in an interview, that she wants to see more parent engagement in schools.
But it should be done with respect. “I feel very strongly about parents advocating for our children. I believe in that. I just think we need to think about how we go about doing it,” she said. “This is not school that I recognize. I don’t want this to be the normal.”
A recent Missouri State Teachers Association survey showed that 51% of teachers in the state consider leaving the profession often or very often. And 62% said this year is more stressful than last year. In Kansas, teacher vacancies almost doubled this school year, according to a recent report, from 771 in the fall of 2020 to 1,253 this fall.
Throughout the pandemic, several Kansas City area school districts have reported a rise in resignations and retirements. Debates over COVID-19 protocols pitted some parents against teachers, as several educators have voiced concerns about safety in their classrooms and unfair workloads.
This year, educators have been met with new challenges. Many schools have reported a rise in student threats of violence and behavioral issues. Teachers have been on the front lines enforcing mask mandates that many parents continue to protest. And they have been giving up their planning periods and personal time to fill in for their peers as schools continue to struggle with staffing and substitute shortages. Principals and district administrators have been driving school buses and serving food in cafeteria lines due to an overall shortage of school employees.
And teachers have been caught in the middle of ongoing battles as a vocal minority of parents protest critical race theory, diversity initiatives and LGBTQ library books they deem inappropriate for students. Those were all hot topics ahead of the November school board elections in Johnson County, where three newcomers won seats on the Blue Valley board, including two who campaigned against mask mandates.
“Administrators spend hours a day dealing with angry parents instead of connecting with the kids in their schools,” O’Bryan told the school board. “Teachers fear the chances of getting that email, where angry parents target them without getting the full story. We also know that you’ll post about us on social media, sometimes even including the names of staff members.”
“The negativity surrounding schools is toxic.”
O’Bryan made her comments at the meeting to a crowd of parents, many of whom were there protesting the district’s mask mandate for younger students. Many have argued that masks should be a family’s personal choice, not a requirement.
The meeting turned tense when a Blue Valley student stood up to talk, asking that the school board reinstate its mask mandate in high schools. The student said that mask decisions were shrouded by a “very vocal minority of anti-science bigots.”
A man in the crowd immediately interrupted the student, yelling over him to say that he couldn’t use the platform for “personal attacks.” It took about a minute of parents arguing before the board could convince them to let the student give his comments.
During O’Bryan’s plea to the board, she said, “As a community and as a country, we must change how we go about disagreeing with things happening in our schools.” “You may not realize that this current climate is a major reason teachers want to leave, but it is,” she said.
At the meeting, school board member Stacy Obringer-Varhall also gave a passionate speech as she steps down from the board after nine years. She pleaded with parents to sit down and talk with their children about the added stressors they are facing.
“I would also urge you all not to believe all of the misinformation that is so easily available these days,” she said. “Masks are not a political decision, they are one of public safety. We are not teaching critical race theory in our schools. We are, however, working hard to make sure that our students feel safe, welcome, understood and valued. For some, this focus on diversity, equity and inclusion may be uncomfortable. But it is necessary.”
She said that outside political influences during the November election were unusual and concerning, and that the community needs to pay attention. “I do not recall a political party in the past getting involved to the level that we just saw. It is not a good look for Blue Valley,” she said.
In Blue Valley and other Johnson County districts this fall, some candidates received the endorsement of the 1776 Project PAC, a national political action committee that claims to be “committed to abolishing critical race theory,” even though the advanced academic concept is not taught in Kansas K-12 schools.
The Blue Valley races also brought a large amount of campaign spending often unheard of for local school board races, which typically are sleepy affairs. Jim McMullen, a conservative candidate who narrowly won a seat on the board, spent more than $50,000. His opponent Lindsay Weiss spent nearly $12,000, which also was high compared to campaign spending in previous school board elections.
At this week’s board meeting, incoming member Kaety Bowers, who ran alongside McMullen as a conservative opposing mask mandates and critical race theory, made her own call for unity in the community. “We can’t afford to have two sides any longer,” Bowers said. “Our community prides itself on being inclusive, but what everyone seems to be experiencing is anything but. We are losing teachers to burnout. We’re losing students to other schools. We’re losing students to suicide. We’re losing staff faster than we can replace them at times.”
She also spoke at the Kansas state board of education’s meeting this week, asking the board to consider a more lenient policy for temporarily hiring substitute teachers due to staffing concerns. Mischel Miller, director of teacher licensure and accreditation at the Kansas Department of Education, said the agency is working on adjusting standards for substitute teachers to help relieve schools. The current minimum requirement is 60 semester hours of college credit for an emergency substitute license.
Miller said some Kansas districts already have hired substitutes who don’t meet that requirement. “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Miller told the state board. O’Bryan warned that in the next four months, teachers will be making decisions about whether to return to classrooms next year.
“Now’s the time for change. Something has to change,” she said. “Your child’s education depends on great teachers. And the clock is ticking.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 5:00 AM.
Read more at: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/education/article256634161.html#storylink=cpy
Mistakes were made.
As the head of the IRS turns to this classic "past exonerative," we look at the history of an oft-used phrase. It came up in the Nixon era, again during the Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, and now in the Obama years. It goes back much further, though.
All Good Things
The end of Summer 2021 is upon us. For me, this summer has been one of rest. I’ve been gardening in my backyard, at the community garden in Madison School, tending to my pumpkins and tomatoes, fighting off squash bugs and weeds. I’ve been going to Lake Michigan and sitting at water’s edge, reading, swimming, staring into the void. I’ve been reading some lovely books, including The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins and other, more mindless mysteries. I’ve watched every single White Sox game, some in person, scoring those games. I’ve re-started riding my bicycle, and went on a wonderful ride with my son John at the Morraine Hills State Park. I’ve remounted our tv antenna, taken down by a winter storm last spring. I’ve even made some new friends in Castlebar, Ireland, via regular zoom meetings.
So, once more unto the breach!