Stories and essays, particularly related to education in the United States, that caught my attention this week. A 🕛 symbol indicates a metered paywall.
Near Los Angeles, a high school teacher was sucked through the doorway of her classroom by wind associated with a small tornado. (She’s fine.)
In Los Angeles itself, workers in America’s second largest school district (with more than 400,000 students) held a three-day walkout.
On Capitol Hill, Republicans in the House of Representatives issued subpoenas to Stanford University, the University of Washington, and Clemson University, as part of their investigation into the theory that Republicans are too quiet on social media.
To get some of its lessons on the civil rights movement approved for use in Florida elementary schools, a curriculum publisher deleted the civil-rights-movement part.
A co-sponsor of Florida’s so-called Don’t Say Gay law faces up to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges related to fraudulently obtaining pandemic relief funds.
Also in Florida, the directors of a so-called classical charter school fired caused the resignation of the principal after sixth graders in an art history class were exposed to unexpected pornography, i.e., a picture of Michelangelo’s David. The school board chair insisted it was more complicated than that, but also said it’s a Florida thing and you probably wouldn’t understand.
At the University of Houston, two students have died by suicide at the same 🕛 campus building in the space of one month. A third student died at the same building in 2017.
Meanwhile, the University of Houston apparently deleted its English department’s anti-racism statement after a tenured professor denounced 🕛 it by claiming that Black people are intellectually inferior to whites and Asians.
In the same city, a Liberty University employee who also heads the American Association of Christian Counselors was sued by Houston Christian University for failure to deliver on a multimillion-dollar contract to develop its mental health programs.
Six hundred miles away, the president of West Texas A&M University ordered the cancelation of a drag show, claiming it would be misogynistic.
In Denver, a high school student reportedly shot two administrators in front of the school, then died near his own vehicle.
America’s current teacher shortages are complicated (not to say contradictory). NPR took a look at the complexity, reporting on a teacher job fair in Mississippi.
Blue Book Diaries 