I can still hear it: ”I can’t believe you’re going to let him play football. That’s basically child abuse.” Wanting to send your children back to school for in-person learning is the 2020 version of letting your child play football. It hit me today that the back and forth parents of opposing views are having over… Continue reading The Parent Debate Over Reopening Schools Sounds A Lot Like the Football Debate
There is no easy answer when it comes to what should happen with our schools — on the contrary, it is one of the most complex, multi-layered and now grotesquely politicized crises we have faced in a very long time. Within the educational context, it is likely the greatest challenge in modern times. We have… Continue reading Teacher’s Unions Hold School Districts —and Families—Hostage Over School Reopening
Rhode Islanders just learned last night that there will likely be no announcement of reopening plans for the fall until August 17th. The Governor has said that the first day of school, statewide, will be August 31st. This would mean that parents and families would have 14 days to make arrangements for the fall. If… Continue reading Two Weeks Is Not Enough Time for Parents (or Teachers) to Plan
It is increasingly vital that we stand up to the people who lie about and defame our allies and friends. As libel (and slander) increasingly permeate the media ecosystem by those for whom truth takes a back seat to a preferred ideology, it is incumbent upon the rest of us to stand up and fight… Continue reading In Defense of My Friend, Robert Pondiscio
*I wrote this on my personal Facebook page on May 30th. Feels right to share it here. On this, my 47th birthday, my heart is full and broken at the same time. The sun is shining, my children are healthy, my parents are healthy and my husband is headed into major surgery in less than… Continue reading A Birthday Reflection: My Heart is Full and Broken at the Same Time
We learned in recent weeks that our state’s “paper of record”, the Providence Journal, let its editorial page director go after twenty one years because they no longer think having an editorial page is a good idea. Putting aside the reasons they gave for the decision versus what all thinking people know to be the… Continue reading Ed Achorn Spoke Up for Kids Stuck in a System That Has Never Served Them Well
Dear Teachers of Rhode Island, Many of you probably don’t realize that the hard work you’ve been doing for the past two months is not the norm throughout the country. You have led the way while other cities and states have been painfully slow in keeping students connected to school and to learning. Perhaps you… Continue reading A Letter of Thanks to the Teachers of Rhode Island
I noticed (and was enjoying) on Facebook that David Upegui, a high school science teacher in Central Falls, Rhode Island, had developed an interesting ritual as a teacher now instructing from his home. So I asked him about it. Why the hats? When we asked students amass to switch their schooling experience and rely exclusively on… Continue reading A Teacher and His Hats
We’ve been at this Quarantine Life now for more than two weeks and my state of Rhode Island found out today that remote learning will continue statewide through at least the end of April. I appreciate that my governor (Gina Raimondo) is taking it slower than the governors in states like Kansas, Virginia and Vermont… Continue reading My So Called #QuarantineLife (Ch. 4)
Hope everyone who can is staying home. I sure am—we haven’t left our yard for ten days with the exception of a walk with the dogs and that was me getting away from everyone else for a little while. It wasn’t their fault—I was impatient and frustrated. The walk didn’t really work to cure my… Continue reading My So Called #QuarantineLife (Ch. 3)
