Our team is always seeking the latest news in the field of education. As advocates for a high-quality education for ALL students, we know we have to stay up-to-date on everything that’s going on in the education spheres of our nation…from the White House to the local public school district, from new legislation to the small acts of bravery and kindness made by a single teacher, from the milestones and celebrations to the hazardous injustices affecting many of our nation’s students.

Here are the stories that we are focused on.

Big Stories that Drove the Week

‘This Is Not Going To Be Easy’: El Paso Students Start School In Shooting’s Aftermath via NPR

Manuel Castruita says on Monday some school administrators will hold a moment of silence, “acknowledging the tragedy that took place.” But he notes it’s a delicate balance: You want to be open about what happened, without retraumatizing students. He says the district will rely heavily on the social/emotional learning tools it has been implementing over the past several years.

History-making school board member Everton Blair reflects on race, age, goals for next school year via Atlanta 11 Alive

In December 2018, Everton Blair was sworn in as the first person of color on the school board. Blair said being the only person of color on a board of older white colleagues “has been really pleasant. I am who I am. I’m unapologetic about the need for diverse space and diverse voice,” he said.

Baltimore schools are so hot, teachers are collecting fans via Baltimore Sun

As a teacher, Diamonte Brown said she was upfront with her students about why it was so hot in her classroom. “We have a lack of resources for our district,” she told them. The conditions made it hard for her to teach and for her students to learn. Brown set up a “fan corner” using equipment she brought from home to offer some temporary relief.

One thing to read this weekend

A Losing Fight to Keep Schools Desegregated via Education Week

Few districts have done as much as Wake County, N.C., has to keep its schools racially and socioeconomically diverse. It is a battle that the school board says it has been losing.

Now, the school board in Wake County, which includes the state capital of Raleigh, has publicly declared that it wants to reverse a trend where increasing numbers of its schools are overwhelmingly poor or affluent, and as a result, increasingly separated by race. In the county, as in North Carolina as a whole, schools with predominantly poor and minority students have more inexperienced teachers and fewer rated by the state as effective, even though the children may have the highest academic needs.

Did any of these articles particularly speak to you? We would love to know your thoughts! Let us know in the comments below: