When the field of gifted education was first coalescing in the early twentieth century, it was mostly oriented toward children whom anyone would call gifted: your Mozarts and Doogie Howsers, your Little Men Tate. They were not merely bright and precocious but true outliers who, not unlike kids with dyslexia or other learning differences, needed a tailored curriculum and classroom setting in order to thrive. Troublingly, many of the early psychologists and educators who took the lead on studying and developing curricula for these children were steeped in eugenics, including the belief in intelligence as hereditary, race- and class-dependent, and largely fixed. For these thinkers—including Lewis Terman, who developed the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale—an exclusive gifted classroom logically doubled as a tool of racial and socioeconomic segregation.
In the mid-nineteen-thirties, the New York City Board of Education and Teachers College at Columbia University launched a five-year program in Harlem known as the Speyer School experiment, which, as a Board of Education representative later explained, was intended “to determine a desirable program of education for intellectual deviates.” There, kids who had earned either lower-than-average or exceptionally high scores on the Stanford-Binet test were divided into groups of “slow” and “rapid” learners.
The Speyer experiment wound down in 1941; one of its unofficial successors was Hunter College Elementary School, in Manhattan, founded as “an experimental and demonstration center for intellectually gifted pupils.” Prospective kindergarteners at Hunter must score off the charts on a modified I.Q. test just to get past the first round of the admissions process, which is, as the Times once wrote, “probably one of the most competitive in the world.” A Daily News piece from 1988 reported on the dilemma of “middle-class parents trying to make it in Manhattan” whose kids weren’t admitted to Hunter, despite I.Q. scores in the top one per cent. Many of these disappointed parents enrolled their children in private schools; others likely decamped to the suburbs. But a few instead began recruiting and fund-raising for what became one of the five ultra-élite citywide G. & T. programs, at the Anderson School on the Upper West Side. (Even today, Anderson is regarded among G. & T.-savvy parents in Manhattan as an exceptionally prestigious consolation prize, the Yale to Hunter’s Harvard.)
It’s easy to caricature some G. & T.-curious parents as grasping, status-obsessed, or slightly deluded about their child’s special brand of specialness. But research shows that the kinds of kids who might just miss a shot at Hunter or Anderson—not necessarily geniuses or savants, just very bright, driven, academically oriented kids—are likely to become inattentive, frustrated, or disruptive in a gen-ed classroom, with possible long-term effects on their academic performance and social-emotional development. Karen Rambo-Hernandez, a professor of education at Texas A. & M., told me that students suffer “when they show they need the challenge and are not challenged. They need opportunities to fail and learn from failure. They need the chance to say, ‘Oh, yeah, there’s an edge to what I know.’ ” These students, Michael Matthews, an education professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, told me, “keep sailing through school without having to do much of anything—until all of a sudden they do, and then they don’t know how to respond.”
Gifted class sizes are not necessarily smaller than their gen-ed counterparts, but they can feel that way because students’ level of academic attainment is more homogeneous. “In your typical neighborhood school, a fifth-grade classroom has everything from kids who can’t read at all to kids who are reading at a high-school or almost-college level,” Matthews said. “Asking a teacher to meet the learning needs of all those kids is an impossible order. What tends to happen is that the teachers focusses on the kids who need the most help. They figure that the ones who are achieving above grade level will be O.K. on their own, and we know that’s not the case.”
A precocious kid who is bored in a gen-ed classroom might need gifted education, but decades of data and research suggest it’s more likely that he and everyone else simply need fewer classmates, so that his teacher can give each student more individualized attention. Even Mamdani, who has not made K-12 education a focus of his campaign or early mayoralty, lamented “crowded classrooms” in his inaugural address. In 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law requiring public schools in New York City to limit classroom sizes to between twenty and twenty-five students by 2028. But funding, construction, and teacher hiring may be lagging behind the goal. As of last year, according to reporting by Chalkbeat New York, the city had reached its legally mandated benchmark only by juking the stats: more than ten thousand classrooms had been temporarily exempted from the law, including in schools that did not request the exemptions.
Texas education leaders are considering a major change that would require public school students to study passages from the Bible as part of their English Language Arts curriculum.
The proposal is part of a statewide reading list the Texas Education Agency created under House Bill 1605, a 2023 law that aims to give students a more consistent set of texts across grade levels.
The State Board of Education will take its first vote next week. If the plan moves forward this spring, Texas would become the first state in the country to write specific Bible stories into required reading for multiple grade levels.
Here’s what to know.
🔥 In case you missed it…
Why is Texas adding Bible passages now?
State officials say students often encounter very different texts depending on where they live, and this list is meant to create a shared foundation.
The TEA also says the selections were chosen because of their cultural and literary influence, not to promote a particular faith tradition.
Supporters say a unified list also helps publishers create simpler materials, so districts aren’t piecing together lessons on their own.
The broader goal, they say, is to streamline what schools teach without raising the workload for teachers.
Which Bible passages would Texas students be required to read?
The draft list includes hundreds of literary works for grades K-12. Among them are 11 passages from the Christian Bible that would become required reading if approved.
Some examples include:
Do Not Be Anxious (Matthew 6:25–34) – Grade 6
The Definition of Love (1 Corinthians 13) – Grade 7
The Shepherd’s Psalm (Psalm 23) – Grade 7
Jonah and the Whale (Book of Jonah) – Grade 7
The Eight Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1–12) – Grade 8
David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) – English I
Lamentations 3 – English I
The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9) – English II
To Everything There Is a Season (Ecclesiastes 3) – English III
The Book of Job (selected chapters) – English IV
The TEA notes that many classic texts contain biblical references, and students may need to understand the stories behind them to fully grasp larger themes.
Are these readings connected to the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum?
The statewide literary list is separate, but TEA pulled three biblical retellings from Bluebonnet as optional texts for the new canon.
Those retellings are:
• The Golden Rule
• The Parable of the Prodigal Son
• The Road to Damascus
So the statewide list isn’t the same thing as Bluebonnet, but it borrows pieces of it.
How have Texas districts responded to religious content in curriculum?
Fort Worth ISD is one of the clearest examples. In 2025, the district adopted the Bluebonnet Learning reading curriculum, which contains several Christian stories, in its early grade units.
That decision drew weeks of public comment from parents, pastors, and community groups who worried it blurred the separation of church and state.
The curriculum is now in its first year of classroom use for the 2025-26 school year.
Fort Worth’s experience may offer a preview of how communities respond if the statewide list moves ahead with required Bible passages.
When would Bible readings start in Texas schools?
The SBOE will take a preliminary vote next week. If it passes, the board will spend the next few months reviewing public feedback and making revisions before a final vote in April 2026.
Even then, the change would not show up in classrooms right away. Publishers need about two and a half years to update materials, and the state must also adjust standardized tests to match the list.
Because of that timeline, the earliest students would see the new required readings is the 2030-2031 school year, according to the TEA.
Tiffani is a service journalism reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She is part of a team of local journalists who answer reader questions about life in North Texas. Tiffani mainly writes about Texas laws and health news.
Public school advocates rallied in front of the General Assembly on Wednesday to lobby for more school funding and for restrictions on charter schools and private school vouchers.
Participants at a “wEDnesdays for Public Schools” protest organized by Public Schools First NC and the North Carolina PTA held up signs with messages such as “Keep Public Dollars in Public Schools” and “Schools Just Wanna Have Funds.” Protesters argued that traditional public schools are suffering at the expense of more taxpayer money being provided to charter schools and private schools.
“We are 50th in the country in our funding effort for investment in public education, and that’s abysmal and shameful,” Lynn Edmonds, outreach director for Public Schools First NC, said in an interview. “We need better teacher pay. We need more investment in classroom materials. We need more investment in public school funding.”
The groups plan to hold “wEDnesdays for Public Schools” rallies on the second Wednesday of the month on Feb. 11, March 11 and April 8. Wednesday’s protest drew around 15 people.
Public school advocates including Marie Dexter, president of the Wake County PTA Council, center, gather outside the N.C. Legislative Building in Raleigh to lobby for more public school funding on Wednesday. NC Teachers in Action plans to hold protests on Feb. 7, March 7 and April 7. Ethan Hyman ehyman@newsobserver.com
Hundreds of teachers called out of work on Jan. 7 to lobby for more school funding. NC Teachers in Action plans to hold monthly protests on Feb. 7, March 7 and April 7.
“Fully fund public schools to the national average or better using the Leandro Comprehensive Remedial Plan as a guide.”
”Stop the harmful diversion of public tax dollars from traditional public schools to voucher and charter schools; apply the same policies & regulations to all schools that receive public tax dollars.”
“Repair the teacher pipeline by increasing teacher base pay and restoring and bolstering essential classroom, teacher, and student supports. Increase pay for all other school personnel.”
“Promote student well-being and safety by creating safe and supportive learning environments for all students and teachers.”
“Provide a healthy start for all children by ensuring access to universal free pre-K and school meals for every student.”
“Reverse policies that unfairly and inequitably target public schools. “
Public school advocates gather outside the N.C. Legislative Building in Raleigh to lobby for more public school funding Wednesday. Ethan Hyman ehyman@newsobserver.com
North Carolina was the only state that didn’t pass a comprehensive budget in 2025, leaving funding largely at 2024 levels. This means teachers and other school employees didn’t get new pay raises at a time when state Health Plan costs are going up.
“We need to show that parents support our educators throughout North Carolina and our students,” Marie Dexter, president of the Wake County PTA Council, said in an interview. “We need the legislature to pass a budget so that we can pay our teachers properly, so our students are fully funded, so our buildings are maintained properly.”
How should NC provide school choice?
Several of the items on the Public Schools First list put it at odds with the priorities of the Republican-controlled state legislature.
Public Schools First wants the state to restore the cap on the number of charter schools allowed. The group also wants to put a moratorium on funding for school voucher programs such as the Opportunity Scholarship program.
GOP legislative leaders are fighting the Leandro plan, arguing that only the legislature and not the courts can order the spending of state money.
In addition to removing the cap, lawmakers eased the rules on charter school expansion. Legislators also sharply increased funding for the Opportunity Scholarship program and opened it up to families of all income levels.
“Public schools, it’s education for everybody. It’s education for all,” Dexter said. “We need that money in our schools to make sure that everyone has a proper education.”
Enrollment is continuing to rise in charter schools at a time when it’s dropping in traditional public schools. Enrollment is also rising in private schools. The majority of private school students now get a voucher.
“You know where you can find a lot of school choice that’s free,” said Edmonds, who is also a Wake County school board member. “That’s in the public school system.
“There’s a lot of choice within the public school system, and if parents want that, that’s where the General Assembly should be investing our tax dollars.”
This story was originally published January 14, 2026 at 3:05 PM.
T. Keung Hui has covered K-12 education for the News & Observer since 1999, helping parents, students, school employees and the community understand the vital role education plays in North Carolina. His primary focus is Wake County, but he also covers statewide education issues.
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — Sterling Ranch, one of Colorado’s master-planned communities, has become the center of a heated debate over school land.
The controversy centered on whether John Adams Academy, a 26-acre charter school currently under construction in Sterling Ranch, should count toward the developers’ commitment to dedicate 110 acres for schools in the community.
Douglas County leaders faced the decision Tuesday night of whether to include the charter school in the public school land dedication total, with state law defining charter schools as public institutions.
Ultimately, commissioners voted unanimously to allow John Adams Academy to be included, and Sterling Ranch developers increased their land donation from 110 acres to 125 acres, which they said will create space for another district-led school.
Leading up to the vote, there was nearly four hours of public comment.
Denver7
Pictured: A packed house at Tuesday’s Land Use Public Hearing in Douglas County
“This is in honor of fairness and honoring parental choice,” one woman said at the podium, in support of including the charter in the land dedication.
However, other residents argued the decision would break promises made about traditional neighborhood schools, which influenced their decision to move to Sterling Ranch in the first place.
“Making this change damages our community potential and community trust,” one resident told Douglas County commissioners.
Robyn DePan, a Sterling Ranch mother leading efforts for more district-led schools in the community, expressed concerns about future educational options if they amendment to Sterling Ranch’s planned development agreement passed.
Right now, a DCSD public elementary school funded by a bond passed last year is set to open in Sterling Ranch in fall of 2027.
Denver7
Pictured: Robyn DePan, Lives in Sterling Ranch
“I have fears and cautions that if this amendment passes, we’ll never have another Douglas County School District school here, and that means we have one elementary school and we’ll never have a middle or high school,” DePan said.
Ellie Reynolds, co-founder of John Adams Academy, defended the charter school’s inclusion in the land dedication.
“My big message to everyone is that charter schools are public schools, and they should qualify for land dedication, just like district schools,” Reynolds said.
Denver7
Pictured: Ellie Reynolds, co-founder of John Adams Academy in Sterling Ranch
Commissioners praised Brock Smethills, president of Sterling Ranch development company, for offering up the additional land at the end of the public hearing.
After the vote, Douglas County Schools provided Denver7 with this statement which says in part, “We are disappointed that a land use issue where the district’s primary concern is ensuring that sufficient land for future schools is set aside turned into a debate about charter schools.”
You can read the full statement from DCSD below:
“We are disappointed that a land use issue where the district’s primary concern is ensuring that sufficient land for future schools is set aside turned into a debate about charter schools. 25% of our students attend public charter schools and we honor those family choices and appreciate all of our amazing schools, neighborhood and charter.
It was also disappointing that the County Commissioners denied the school district the opportunity to testify as a referral agency and a community partner. The School District’s priority remains the best interest of our students (current and future) and our community.
We will continue to work with Sterling Ranch and the County on solutions that benefit our entire community and we believe some progress is being made in that regard.”
Douglas County School District
Conversations between the school district and developers are expected to continue in the coming months as the community continues to grow.
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Claire Lavezzorio
Denver7’s Claire Lavezzorio covers topics that have an impact across Colorado, but specializes in reporting on stories in the military and veteran communities. If you’d like to get in touch with Claire, fill out the form below to send her an email.
Over the last two years, Oklahoma state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters has attracted national attention to the state several times while serving as the state’s top education official.
Since his election in late 2022, Walters has launched initiatives like enabling the Bible to be in Oklahoma classrooms in Oklahoma public schools, or his most recent effort to establish Turning Point USA chapters in every high school in Oklahoma.
During much of Walters’ tenure, many people formed polarized opinions on his actions. The same programs he pushed sparked discourse on all sides of the political spectrum.
Now, the superintendent has announced plans to leave the role and accept a job as CEO of the Teacher Freedom Alliance, a new professional organization that touts itself as “an alternative to union membership” for teachers. It is a part of the Freedom Foundation, a far-right anti-labor union think tank.
Here’s a rundown of some of his most notable moments since he entered the office in January 2023.
In a July meeting, Walters, alongside Gov. Kevin Stitt, said that the district “has failed the students,” criticizing the district’s closing during the COVID-19 panic and Walters noting the school faced “significant and severe issues” and was “plagued by scandal.”
“They’ve been one of the worst performing schools in the state of Oklahoma,” Walters said at a state Board of Education meeting in 2023 after threatening to remove the district’s accreditation.
Ryan Walters, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist. Photos by The Oklahoman and Tulsa World
Lawmakers alleged that the targeting was due to the system having the “most African American kids” as well as the fact that OKCPS was led by a man while TPS was led by a woman.
“Look at the district leadership of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, what’s different? I don’t think you can ignore that either,” Tulsa mayor Monroe Nichols said while serving as a representative for the city.
When Gist resigned in August 2023, there were mixed reactions of outrage and optimism that the schools would improve.
In 2025, a 60-page audit report was released by Oklahoma Auditor and Inspector Cindy Byrd that reviewed financial irregularities in Tulsa schools. Auditors investigated financial records from 2015 to 2023, and found $25 million was spent without proper bidding, and $824,503 in fraud by a former administrator.
Banned books in Oklahoma, February 2024
Walters attempted to remove “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini and “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls from the school library in Edmond. Walters, himself, called both books pornographic in nature and criticized the district for choosing to “peddle porn.”
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters at the February meeting of the Oklahoma state school board, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024.
The books, both award-winning best-sellers, were adapted into movies yet still received criticism for their depictions of sexual violence, addiction and profanity.
When Walters asked the school to remove the books, citing a review from OSBE’s Library Media Advisory Committee, the district pushed back, filing a lawsuit against the state with the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
Though Walters attempted to pull rank, saying his election allowed him to “go in and clean up schools,” the Oklahoma Supreme Court ultimately ruled that neither Walters nor the board and department of education has the authority to establish policies concerning books. Instead, it is to be decided on a district level by their board systems.
Bibles in public schools, May 2024
In May 2024, a request was issued by the Oklahoma state Department of Education to purchase 55,000 Bibles with the intention of being in all classrooms in Oklahoma public schools.
A stack of books, including bibles is placed near State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters’ seat during an Oklahoma school board meeting at the Oklahoma Capitol in Oklahoma City, on Thursday, June 27, 2024.
Walters said the proposal came after Oklahomans told him they believe the book should be in the schools as part of American history.
“That is absolutely something that I will continue to fight, till every kid understands that the history of America includes the Bible, includes biblical principles,” Walters said in 2024. “I mean, my goodness, you would have to walk around with a blindfold throughout American history to not see that.”
After making bids for the Bibles, vendors had to meet a few qualifications, which ended up only leading to the God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, which was often referred to as the Trump Bible. With a $60 price tag, this would equal $3.3 million expended on all the Bibles.
In the end, just more than 500 Bibles were purchased for AP Government classes across the state.
“We have the Bible, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights — these are foundational documents in our nation’s history,” he said in 2024. Each of those documents is also reprinted in the “God Bless the U.S.A.” Bible.
New social studies standards, Dec. 2024
Swiftly after proposing that the Bible be in schools, Walters promised to overhaul social studies teaching standards for classrooms.
State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks during a press conference following a State Board of Education meeting in Oklahoma City, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024.
The standards were touted as “among the strongest in the country: pro-America, pro-American exceptionalism, and strengthen civics and constitutional studies across every grade.”
The new standards, Walters said at the time, would be developed by a new “Executive Review Committee” to ensure “that social studies reflect accuracy and not political slanted viewpoints.”
Now, 9 months later, recent developments state the overhaul has been put on pause by the Oklahoma Supreme Court as the court considers a lawsuit challenging the social studies standards.
Thus, the standards, which took effect for the current school year, cannot be taught, and no money can be spent to implement them in Oklahoma schools, effectively stopping that process.
‘Anti-woke test’ for teachers, July 2025
Ryan Walter’s wants teaching applicants to take “woke” test.
Since July, Walters has been on a mission to ensure that “radical leftist ideology” from states like California and New York remains out of Oklahoma by threatening to hold their teaching certificate if they are unable to pass the new assessment.
To do so, he worked alongside PragerU to formulate a “woke test,” which was later rebranded to “Teacher Qualification Test” on PragerU’s website. The test was published in an ad in the New York Times.
Beneath the questions, the ad addresses PragerU’s support for the test:
“How would you assess a teacher who took this test and failed it? Would you want that person teaching your children? The answer for Oklahoma is no. We suspect (or, at least, hope) your answer would be the same. Oklahoma will require teachers from New York and California to pass this test before being hired. Oklahoma, it seems to us, has the right to expect its teacher to be both competent and consonant with its values.”
William C. Wertz, Alexia Aston, Molly Young, Murray Evans, The Oklahoman contributed to this report.
A coalition of over 200 New York City public charter schools marched across the Brooklyn Bridge last week in what school networks are calling a show of support for a “child’s right to learn” and opponents have labeled as forced advocacy.
Eva Moskowitz, founder and CEO of Success Academy — after hosting organizer webinars, sending SOS emails to supporters, family and faculty, and allegedly admonishing employees for failing to lobby elected officials to her — rallied on Sept. 18 with some 15,000 students, parents and staff, then “marched for excellence” from Brooklyn to Printing House Square, just outside New York’s City Hall.
The rally was described by organizers as an opportunity for advocates to “raise their voices in unity” and send a message demanding “excellence as a civil right,” as well as “equal treatment and access to excellent schools.”
Supporters said the rally was an opportunity to demand equal treatment of and access to charter schools. Photo by Jonathan Portee
“This rally is about equity, justice and opportunity,” said Samantha Robin, a parent at Dream Charter School. “Parents deserve the freedom to choose schools that honor their children’s genius, their culture, and their potential.”
With mere weeks before the New York City mayoral election, charter schools, facing the prospect of a new mayor opposed to their expansion in Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, are framing the “March for Excellence” rally as part of a yearslong larger fight for the equal treatment of charter school students.
The rally comes at a delicate moment for the charter sector. Charters, which are publicly funded and privately run, serve 15% of city students but have experienced slowed growth in enrollment since the pandemic, according to research from the New York City Charter School Center.
Mamdani, the only major mayoral candidate running in November, has been critical of charters. He centered his education platform on universal child care and has been vocal about his intention to review charter school funding as mayor.
Thousands of people attended the rally and march.Photo courtesy of March for ExcellenceSuccess Ccademy CEO Eva Moskowitz, who organized the rally and allegedly demanded that Success students and teachers attend. Photo by Jonathan Portee
Supporters in attendance included Rafiq Kalam Id-Din, Chair of the Black, Latinx, and Asian Charter Collaborative; Leslie-Bernard Joseph, CEO of KIPP NYC public schools; and many charter school families and faculty, who were instructed on organizing and staying on message throughout the event.
Rumors circulated online that faculty attendance at the rally was compulsory.
In the r/survivingsuccess group on Reddit, one user’s simple question concerning the veracity of the claim sent members of the small but sprawling community of current and former charter school teachers into a frenzy.
Reporting that details internal emails and other documents about the event suggest a coordinated effort to pressure employees into participating and coerce students into demonstrating what the charters are calling targeted advocacy.
Will Doyle, 21, grew up attending public schools in the Bay Ridge area. Now a first-year teacher with Success Academy in Sheepshead Bay, Doyle explained the reason for the rally.
A number of charter schools canceled classes for the day and brought students to the rally instead. Photo by Jonathan Portee
“We’re here advocating for charter schools, but I do know that with the mayoral elections coming up, some candidates oppose the expansion of charter schools,” Doyle said. “From what I’ve heard, mayoral candidate Mamdani seeks to oppose the expansion of charter schools. I don’t have a source for that, but I have done some personal research. I don’t know if he’s the only one.”
Doyle said he was happy to attend the rally because he works for a charter school and all employees are required to attend these events as part of their job.
An operations associate with Success, who asked not to remain anonymous, echoed that the event was planned due to a general concern about “certain candidates” in the upcoming election. The associate noted that Success Academy is trying to show a presence for the cause of charter schools.
“I think that [charters] definitely would advocate that they need more money and space. But I think the big thing is just accounting for future challenges,” he said.
Rallygoers marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan after the Cadman Plaza event. Photo by Jonathan Portee
While the repercussions for skipping the rally may not seem swift or severe, staff at the charters have said they worry about the condition of their working environments should they opt not to attend the rally.
“I think that there is pressure. I know that it might not reflect directly on your employment, but it’ll reflect on your experience in the school building if you weren’t going to be here,” the associate said.
CUNY law professor David Bloomfield told Gothamist that under laws governing nonprofits, charters can require staff to participate in demonstrations if they are advocating for the schools, rather than speaking in support or opposition to a political candidate.
Documents obtained by a reporter for Labor New York showed that Zeta Charter elementary and middle schoolers had classroom instruction canceled for the day and instead were scheduled to participate in a “school-on-a-bus” civics lesson, suggesting the event was part of the school’s curriculum for the 2025-2026 academic year.
Some lawmakers are calling for an investigation of the event, which they said was a “misuse” of public funds. Photo by Jonathan Portee
Pop-up tents for rally “marshals” to hand out water, snacks, and protest signs were scattered around Cadman Plaza Park. First-year parents and teachers showed little hesitation in sharing their excitement about the event, while members of the charter system with more than a year under their belt were often skittish about sharing their reasons for attending.
A day after the rally, two lawmakers — state Sens. John Liu and Shelley Mayer, who chair the senate’s education committee — called for an investigation of the event, which they said had been an “egregious misuse of instructional time and state funds.”
The pair said in a letter that the state provides public funding to charter schools “to educate students, not for political activism or for influencing elections.” If violations are uncovered, they said, the state should take back a portion of the funding it had provided to the participating charter schools.
Out-of-state flagships became even more attractive after the Great Recession of 2008, as families with financial means started to question the value of paying full freight at more obscure private colleges. In contrast to a private school like Scripps, Skidmore, Chapman, or Clark, a flagship—even if it meant moving states—seemed like a relative bargain. Sure, these families had to pay out-of-state tuition. But a price tag of, say, thirty thousand dollars a year at the University of Minnesota looked pretty reasonable compared with the fifty thousand or so that a private school such as the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts expected them to pay annually.
In some cases, high-school seniors were actively pushed to apply to out-of-state universities. Although most public universities expanded to take in more students from elsewhere, while still being able to cater to a sizable in-state student population, not all did. According to a study from 2017, a third of the nation’s flagships—all highly ranked and thus popular with out-of-staters—turned away some of their own state’s residents to make room for higher-paying students from elsewhere. For every two non-resident students who enrolled, the study found, one in-state student was shut out. That vicious cycle spins in states such as California, Illinois, and Texas. Residents apply to their local flagship. They get crowded out, and so they go to big public universities in other states which have space for them. Then students in those states get pushed aside, so they apply to public universities in other states, too.
In other cases, strong applicants were pulled across state lines by a hefty discount or a boutique academic experience, such as an honors college. One prospective student I met from Pennsylvania had initially set her sights on the University of Chicago. Despite her near-perfect stats (a 35 on the ACT, a 1510 on the SAT, thirteen Advanced Placement courses, and a 3.95 grade-point average), she was rejected after applying early decision. At the time, she didn’t have a single public university on her shortlist. Her mother did some digging and landed on the University of Mississippi as a possibility. It has an honors college and generous scholarships, including some that come with stipends for study-abroad programs and undergraduate research. “I applied to appease my mom and get an acceptance under my belt,” she told me.
It wasn’t until after she was accepted and had started the interview process for the university’s top scholarships that she seriously considered going there. She realized, “There were all these opportunities I could qualify for, and I was hearing about them before I heard I was even accepted to other schools.” Mississippi knew it was competing with much higher-ranked colleges, so it had to come in strong and early.
By April, the student had acceptance letters and financial-aid packages from Rice and Vanderbilt. Neither included the full ride and other perks that Mississippi offered her. Before making her decision, she flew to Houston with her dad to visit Rice again. It was a weekday, but the campus felt dead. They walked to a nearby park, where she made a pros-and-cons list for Rice and Mississippi. Then she broke down in tears.“The only pro I could come up with for Rice,” she recalled when we spoke recently, “is that people will know I’m smart because I go to Rice.”
With more tuition dollars coming in from out-of-state students, public universities such as Ole Miss could afford to offer discounts or even full rides to a select number of academic superstars. The University of Alabama, for example, spent $185.4 million on merit aid in 2023-24, more than twice what it allocated for need-based aid. These high-achieving students act as magnets, attracting others in their home towns who don’t mind paying an out-of-state sticker price that, to them, still seems like a steal.
When Alabama started going after out-of-staters, it focussed on two types of places, according to a team of social scientists who studied how colleges recruit. It targeted high schools in prosperous suburbs around Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Los Angeles, where the university knew that getting accepted to in-state flagships was very difficult for all but the top students. It also courted applicants from bedroom communities around New York; Washington, D.C.; Seattle; Boston; and eventually Chicago, where Alabama’s sticker price looked downright reasonable compared with the tuition at pricey private colleges and more expensive public options. Over time, these efforts paid off. By 2022, Georgia, Illinois, Florida, Texas, and California ranked among Alabama’s top sources of out-of-staters.
When the big public universities first went on their out-of-state recruiting spree more than twenty years ago, they had an abundance of prospective students to choose from among millennials. Then, over the past ten years, they also saw a steady increase in interest from overseas, as the number of international students enrolling in U.S. institutions grew by twenty-seven per cent, amounting to more than a million international students attending school in the U.S.
And yet those pipelines may be drying up. The class of freshmen arriving on college campuses this fall may be the last big one for years, owing in part to declining birth rates and fewer high-school graduates deciding to attend college. What’s more, the decline is not evenly distributed across the country. Only the South will see a net increase in high-school graduates, and that’s the region where out-of-state enrollment has swelled the most among public flagships. For those universities, the supply of students from elsewhere may begin to dwindle.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas and a group of LGBTQ+ and student rights organizations are suing to block a new state law that would ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in K-12 public schools.
In a lawsuit filed last month in federal court, attorneys from the ACLU of Texas and Transgender Law Center argued that Senate Bill 12 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments as well as the Equal Access Act. Gov. Greg Abbott signed the legislation last June, and it will go into effect Sept. 1 alongside an array of other transformative laws for public education in Texas.
“Senate Bill 12 is a blatant attempt to erase students’ identities and silence the stories that make Texas strong,” said Brian Klosterboer, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas. “Every student — no matter their race, gender, or background — deserves to feel seen, safe, and supported in school.”
Supporters of SB 12 say DEI programs use class time and public funds to promote political agendas, while opponents believe banning those initiatives will disproportionately harm marginalized students by removing spaces where they can find support.
Here’s what you need to know about the effort to block the law.
What the ban would do: Authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, SB 12 prohibits public school districts from considering race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation in hiring decisions. The ban also bars schools from offering DEI training and programs, such as policies designed to reduce discrimination based on race or gender identity, except for when required by federal law.
The law requires families to give written permission before their children can join any school club, and prohibits school groups created to support LGBTQIA+ students. Parents will be able to file complaints if they believe their schools are not complying with the DEI ban, and the law requires school districts to discipline employees who knowingly take part in DEI-related activities.
Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Allen, said SB 12 builds on a 2021 state law barring public schools from teaching critical race theory, an academic discipline that explores how race and racism have influenced the country’s legal and institutional systems. While critical race theory is not taught in Texas public schools, the term has become a shorthand used by conservatives who believe the way some schools teach children about race is politically biased.
DEI advocates say initiatives that promote diversity provide support for marginalized communities in workforce development and higher education, while critics say DEI practices give preference to people based on their race and ethnicity rather than on merit.
What the lawsuit says: Attorneys from the ACLU and the Transgender Law Center are suing Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath and three school districts on behalf of a teacher, a student and her parent. They’re also representing the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, two organizations that say they would be harmed by the ban. The ACLU amended the complaint in September, adding as plaintiffs the Texas American Federation of Teachers, another student and his parent.
The suit calls SB 12 an “overzealous” attempt to ban DEI in public schools and argues that it censors constitutionally protected speech and restricts students’ freedom of association. It’s also vague and overly broad, the suit says.
“S.B. 12 seeks to erase students’ identities and make it impossible for teachers, parents, and volunteers to tell the truth about the history and diversity of our state,” said Cameron Samuels, executive director at Students Engaged in Advancing Texas. “The law also guts vital support systems for Black, Brown, Indigenous, Asian, and LGBTQIA+ students and educators.”
As part of the lawsuit, the Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network claims SB 12 singles out the organization by explicitly restricting student clubs based on “sexual orientation or gender identity,” language the group uses to describe the student organizations it sponsors at schools. That restriction harms the freedom of speech of the group and its members, the suit says. The Genders & Sexualities Alliance Network has chapters in Texas at more than a dozen school districts, according to the filing.
Lawsuits against similar laws have had mixed results in the past.
Because of SB 12’s ban on discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms, opponents have compared it to Florida’s “don’t say gay” law, which attracted widespread media attention in 2022 due to its far-reaching impacts in public schools. Civil rights lawyers sued to block it, saying the law violated free speech and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. But a federal judge dismissed the case and said the plaintiffs had no legal standing and had failed to prove harm from the law. The attorneys ultimately agreed to a settlement with Florida education officials that clarified the law to allow discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms only if it’s not part of instruction.
The Texas Education Agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The broader push against DEI: The DEI ban on K-12 schools comes two years after the Texas Legislature passed a similar ban for the state’s higher education institutions. Senate Bill 17 requires public universities to close their diversity offices, ban DEI training and restrict hiring departments from asking for diversity statements, or essays in which a job candidate expresses their commitment to promoting diversity in the workplace.
Creighton, who also authored that bill, has warned higher education leaders that they could lose millions of dollars in state funding if they fail to comply with the law. Earlier this year, Abbott threatened Texas A&M University President Mark Welsh III’s job after claims spread online that Texas A&M was sending students and staffers to a conference that limited participation to people who are Black, Hispanic or Native American.
At the national level, President Donald Trump has ordered all federal agencies to end “equity-related” practices and asked contractors to certify they do not promote DEI efforts. Trump also told schools and universities they would lose federal money if they do not eliminate diversity practices.
Over the last five years, Texas and other Republican-led states have also taken other steps to abolish and ban DEI efforts in public education and the workforce. Similar to Trump, Abbott issued an executive order in January mandating that Texas agencies end all forms of DEI practices.
“We must always reject race-based favoritism or discrimination and allow people to advance based on talent and merit,” Abbott said.
Disclosure: ACLU Texas and Texas A&M University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
More all-star speakers confirmed for The Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13–15! This year’s lineup just got even more exciting with the addition of State Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo; former United States Attorney General Eric Holder; Abby Phillip, anchor of “CNN NewsNight”; Aaron Reitz, 2026 Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General; and State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin. Get your tickets today!
Tremblay didn’t identify the teacher or comment on the content of the post, but said an internal review was underway.
“As a District, we are committed to fostering a safe and respectful environment for everyone. We do not condone violence or hateful behavior in any form,” Tremblay said in a statement. “While the law prevents us from discussing specific personnel matters, the employee is on leave pending an internal review. Be assured that we are addressing the situation in full compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, and policies.”
“Today, we were made aware of and were extremely concerned about a recent personal social media post by a member of our staff that has been shared publicly in other social media posts,” Botelho and Keenan wrote in a letter to the school community. “We recognize that this post has caused distress for members of our school community.”
Botelho and Keenan didn’t identify the teacher in question, and they didn’t comment on the content of the post, only noting that the views don’t reflect the values of the town’s schools.
“The views expressed in that post categorically do not reflect the values of Sharon High School or Sharon Public Schools. As a district and school, we are and remain committed to fostering an environment grounded in empathy, respect, and thoughtful reflection and dialogue,” Botelho and Keenan wrote. “The post in question is inconsistent with those values, and we are reviewing and addressing the matter in accordance with established district policies and procedures.”
Botelho and Keenan didn’t say if the teacher would face any disciplinary action.
“These comments sparked heated debate, millions of views, and brought into question the safety of school operations for both students and staff at WRHS,” the Holden Police Department said in a statement.
In the wake of the comments, police officers were assigned to patrol the high school campus throughout Thursday out of an abundance of caution.
Police and school officials didn’t reveal what the teacher’s post stated, but screenshots floating around on social media showed the words, “Just a reminder, we’re NOT offering sympathy.”
While investigators uncovered no credible threat, Wachusett Regional School District Superintendent James Reilly and School Committee Chair Lauren Salmon-Garrett announced the teacher will remain on leave “for the foreseeable future and is not allowed on school property” while an investigation is conducted.
“As many are aware, a teacher has been accused of making inappropriate comments in response to this event on her own personal social media page,” Reilly and Salmon-Garrett wrote in a letter to the school community. “Please know that Wachusett Regional School District condemns violence in all forms. Political violence, especially, has no place in our country, and it directly contradicts our nation’s founding principles.”
The incidents in Framingham, Sharon, and Holden both remain under investigation.
President Donald Trump announced Monday the Department of Education would be issuing upcoming guidance that protects prayer in public schools.
Trump made the announcement at the White House’s Religious Liberty Commission hearing, held at the Museum of the Bible.
“I’m pleased to announce this morning that the Department of Education will soon issue new guidance protecting the right to prayer in our public schools,” he said, to audience applause.
The commission’s hearing on Monday was intended to look at the “historic landscape of religious liberty in the educational setting,” the Department of Justice said.
“As president, I will always defend our nation’s glorious heritage, and we will protect the Judeo Christian principles of our founding, and we will protect them with vigor,” Trump said. “We have to bring back religion in America, bring it back stronger than ever before.”
Trump said the commission was gathered Monday to discuss the “grave threats to religious liberty in American schools.”
“I will tell you, a lot of progress has been made in the last eight months, tremendous progress, more than I thought we could make in so many ways,” he said.
Trump said that over the course of the country’s history, the Bible was found in “every classroom in the nation.” On Monday, however, he said students are “indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda and some are even punished for their religious beliefs.”
The right to pray in school is protected under the First Amendment’s religious freedom guarantees.
It was the commission’s second public meeting. In June, Attorney General Pam Bondi addressed members of the commission and said they will ensure Americans can live out their faith freely and “without fear.”
President Donald Trump speaks to the White House Religious Liberty Commission during an event at the Museum of the Bible, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Washington. | Evan Vucci
Bondi expressed gratitude for Trump’s efforts to expand religious liberty and the establishment of the presidential commission.
Trump signed an executive order on May 1, which is National Day of Prayer, to create the commission. Its panel members include TV talk-show host Phil McGraw, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former U.S. Housing Secretary Ben Carson, among others.
The commission plans to host several hearings over the next several months.
While Trump, Bondi and the commission’s members are celebrating the expanded efforts, some groups are concerned that the actions are only focused on promoting Christian beliefs. Trump’s order doesn’t specifically cite Christianity, but a fact sheet says the task force has been designed to “eradicate anti-Christian bias.”
Department of Education Press Secretary Savannah Newhouse said in a statement to The Deseret News that free exercise of religion is a “founding principle” that is protected by the Constitution.
“The Department of Education looks forward to supporting President Trump’s vision to promote religious liberty in our schools across the country,” Newhouse said.
It’s back-to-school season across the country, and as children sharpen pencils and power up tablets, we had a burning question for parents and caregivers: Do you still have faith in America’s public school system?
The tug-of-war between public and private has been simmering for decades, and with President Donald Trump‘s decision to dismantle the Department of Education and congressional Republicans’ push to funnel more money into private and religious schools, the K-12 conversation has now come to a boil. Parents and children, it seems, have more options than ever – charter schools, homeschooling and “unschooling” among them – and we wanted to know how you decide what’s best for your families.
Do public schools offer a competitive education for students? Are vouchers the answer? What would you do to improve our school systems? Do you think your own schooling and experience prepared you for the so-called “real world”? Dozens of readers from Massachusetts to Montana and Iowa to Arkansas responded in our latest Opinion Forum. Read a collection of their perspectives below.
We’re grading public schools on the wrong curve
Public schools are a public good. It’s not just about educating our own children, but also about making sure we have the educated citizens essential to a democratic society. Yet the vast majority of public schools are historically underfunded; they are already an endangered resource. Those who need schools the most will not benefit from vouchers; they will be hurt even more.
Our schools already have to scramble for funds just to maintain the quality they have. Meanwhile, there’s a tremendous need for additional programs like public preschool and year-round schools, not to mention a tremendous need for higher teacher salaries ‒ which are criminally low.
So-called choice programs like vouchers only drain funds from the neediest public schools and subsidize the parents of private-school kids. Vouchers and school choice programs will only take us backward. We cannot afford to lose more kids than we already have.
I think the culture wars are mostly at fault for this. The evangelical right has had an outsize influence on national politics in their lobbying for things like prayer in schools. The social media fight about diversity, equity and inclusion and “wokeness” isn’t helping. Yes, many parents perceive that the public schools are failing them or their children, and I can understand this. But the pressures on public schools today are enormous. They are asked to do more and more ‒ to remediate, counsel and even feed kids ‒ all while their funding keeps shrinking and their public support diminishes.
Private schools do no better than public ones – if you control for the factors that affect that child’s life outside the school. Public schools must accept every student who walks through the door − from the impoverished and the abused children to the kids who’ve never been read to until their first day of kindergarten. Of course private school kids are going to score better on standardized tests or other measures of “educational outcome” than public school kids!
I attended multiple Catholic schools as a child, then attended public high schools. When I compare my schools with my children’s, I see my own education as mediocre. My children’s education was far and away better than mine in every sense; the schools of today teach understanding and critical thinking, while mine emphasized rote learning and memorization. Looking back, I see that this was because the public school was more concerned with the “whole child,” and valued our emotional health as much as our classroom achievement.
— Patty Kruszewski, Richmond, Virgina
Our public school systems are antiquated
My child has autism, so the convenience that other parents may feel from a simple school bus drop-off or pickup is not what I want or need. I want the school to be welcoming of parents, to be more of a small community, and collaborative. Educating my child is my responsibility, and I’m partnering with whatever school I send him to, and I want everyone to feel that way.
It might have made sense 100 years ago to carve school assignments up by geography and use property taxes to pay for it, but it seems very antiquated today. People want a variety of options, and one school will never cater to all needs. Schools get stronger when everyone is there because they want to be ‒ not because they are compelled to be.
For years, public schools complained of overcrowding; now they’re complaining because schools and classes are getting smaller. Is there an optimal funding, enrollment and staffing level? We already spend more per pupil than most other industrialized nations. People are having fewer kids and are recognizing that their kids need different things.
Outcomes are relative. Anyone with more than one kid knows that each is unique and needs something different. Some do well in large schools, some don’t. Some do well with tech, some don’t. Some need more character education, some need more hard skills. Education is as complicated as religion, and trying to boil it down to the governance or tax status seems odd.
I mostly went to a low-cost, religious private school. I was rebellious and wanted to go to a public high school. My parents didn’t let me. I think I got a good education − probably better than the school I wanted to go to − but education is what you make of it. If you don’t have personal responsibility, motivation or interest, you’re not going to learn in any type of school.
Education is framed as if it’s a conveyor belt, and if you miss a section, you’re doomed. It’s an industrial view of education that should have gone out of fashion decades ago.
— Adam Peshek, Atlanta
I’m a public school teacher. We need active parents.
As a public school teacher, I fully support anything that helps get parents involved in the education of their child. Without proper parent involvement, a child will not succeed in school. A voucher plan may help parents get involved. That said, taking resources from public schools is not the answer, especially when those resources go to schools that do not play by the same rules as public schools.
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Public schools are often the scapegoats for problems happening at home. Communities must invest in education, but the accountability for those investments must be consistent and applied evenly, no matter where parents use their vouchers.
Parents and students will get out of school exactly what they expect. Nothing more. Nothing less. No matter which school you choose for your child, you need to hold it to the standards you expect.
I attended a mix of public and private schools. I value my time in both. I thank my parents for being involved in the schools they chose for me.
— Andrew Taylor, San Antonio
I don’t want government schools or vouchers ‒ just freedom
I feel I can give my kids a better quality of education than public schools can. I’m a minority that grew up in an inner-city public school. I remember teachers walking out due to a lack of funding, busy work, 40 kids to a classroom, and watching movies with subs. My kids will have none of that. They can all read above grade level. And thanks to my privilege of being a stay-at-home mom who has money, I can afford to go all in and give them everything I didn’t have access to. Plus, I don’t have to worry about school shootings or bullying.
I don’t know about private schools, but most homeschoolers I know don’t want vouchers. We don’t want government money because that will likely come with more government oversight. We want the freedom to teach our kids our way without red tape or hoops.
I realize not everyone can homeschool or send their kids to private schools, but generally, I don’t think public schools are doing a good job. And that’s coming from someone with lots of friends and family who work in education. Kids can’t read today; they’re not ready for college or the real world, so yes, I get why people are looking for alternatives.
Public school is a good safety net, but quality education? Decent, maybe. OK in some areas, sure, but on the whole? I don’t think it’s very good. I think we should just privatize the whole thing and give large incentives for inner-city communities or communities of color and poor areas so they can have access to education as well. Charter schools are already taking over − might as well lean into it, especially as public schools are not teaching well and not paying teachers well.
— Daisy Garant, Granbury, Texas
Public schools are the best educational option. No question.
When it came to deciding what kind of education I wanted for my kids, being able to compete in the job market and having exposure to a diverse environment were the most important factors for me.
Study after study has proved that wealthy families benefit most from vouchers. In my family, we are high-income earners but cannot afford private school tuition and would not qualify for a voucher. Vouchers seem like a fabricated scheme by conservatives to drain funds from public education and force children into private Christian schools, where they will be indoctrinated with some version of Christianity instead of focusing on education. Whatever version it purports to teach may not be the version that aligns with our family values.
My kids enjoy going to school. I understand that some districts have safety concerns the district should address, and I am worried about public funding.
Public schools, without question, are the best educational option, exposing kids to a diverse group of people and ideas. Religious education is important if you are educating children on the variety of faiths practiced. What is inappropriate is when you single out one faith as the “true faith” to the exclusion of all other faiths. My kids will encounter people of many different faiths in society.
Society can be difficult to navigate as an adult if you have been taught that anyone who doesn’t believe in your faith is immoral. For example, if schools are trying to educate based on Christianity, which version of Christianity is the right version? Protestant versus non-Protestant? Which Bible is the right version? King James or New International Version?
The separation of church and state is foundational. I want my kids to learn history, social studies, math and science-based standards, based on proven scientific research and historical facts. When I want my kids to explore their faith, that is done by our church, not our schools.
I attended public school in a small Midwestern community with wealthy families, farmers’ families and economically disadvantaged families, and learned something about each of those distinct groups of people. We said the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school. That’s what I want for my kids, and I think that’s what most families want.
A weekly selection of opinions and analyses from the Arab media around the world.
The new elite in Egypt
Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt, August 14
Until the early 1990s, the upper echelon of Egyptian society largely emerged from the public school system. Ministers, doctors, engineers, diplomats, and countless other professionals began their journeys in village and small-town schools before moving on to public universities.
Today, however, the equation has shifted dramatically. Although precise studies and accurate statistics remain scarce, it is clear that graduates of private institutions – especially international schools – have risen to form Egypt’s new elite. The mere mention of such a school on a résumé can tip the balance in a young person’s favor, providing them with a decisive edge over their peers.
Many jobs now demand proficiency in a foreign language, a requirement that leaves the majority of public school graduates – even those with advanced degrees from public universities – shut out from these opportunities. English, in particular, has become the gatekeeper of opportunity.
If one’s English reflects the colloquial version taught in government schools, career prospects are stunted, no matter the strength of one’s university credentials. Conversely, fluency in polished English opens doors that remain closed to the majority.
This phenomenon is not unique to Egypt. Across the globe, private schools have entrenched themselves in education systems. Roughly 17% of primary school students worldwide are enrolled in private schools, a figure that climbs to 26% at the secondary level.
An illustrative image of private school students. (credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)
Yet in Britain, the percentages tell a different story. As Alastair Campbell, former communications director under prime minister Tony Blair, recently noted, 93% of Britons attend state schools. Still, the 7% who receive private schooling disproportionately dominate positions of power across government, the judiciary, the media, finance, and beyond.
Even though most ministers in the current Labour government hail from state schools, this does not automatically signal that Britain has achieved true meritocracy, or that social mobility ensures that anyone with talent, determination, and resilience can climb to the top.
Campbell argues that private education confers an enduring advantage, positioning its graduates to occupy senior government offices and claim the lion’s share of society’s wealthiest and most prestigious roles. The so-called 7% club continues to wield vast political, cultural, and economic influence.
Workplaces, by extension, favor private school graduates. While public school and university alumni strive to adapt, they often encounter a professional environment that feels alien, marked by subtle cues of exclusion. Accents, dress, hobbies, dining habits, and even conversational styles set them apart, reinforcing a sense of division between the world they come from and the world they now inhabit.
Is this not precisely what we see in Egypt today? Increasingly, workplaces operate in English, even when serving a consumer base that is overwhelmingly Arabic-speaking.
Sectors ranging from real estate to telecommunications, banking, and even hospitality package themselves as extensions of international firms, though their foundations remain deeply Egyptian. The cultural and social norms of these environments diverge sharply from those of the communities surrounding them.
If Egypt is to achieve genuine social mobility, the graduates of its public schools – those scattered across its countless towns and villages – must be granted real access to elite positions. It should never be enough for someone to simply wave the credential of a private or foreign school as a passport to privilege. Equity demands more. The path to true mobility begins when opportunity is earned, not through background or accent but through merit, commitment, and ability. – Abdullah Abdul Salam
Where did Iran’s Arab masses disappear to?
Asharq al-Awsat, London, August 15
A grave-like silence hangs over the Arab public, untouched by the seismic events shaking the region. No demonstrations, no protests, no sit-ins can be found across Arab capitals – an unprecedented absence, perhaps for the first time in seven decades or more.
Iran, meanwhile, has endured devastating blows. Its military setbacks and the damage to its nuclear infrastructure are immense, representing the loss of billions of dollars and countless lives, and years of labor. Beyond its ballistic and nuclear ambitions, Tehran has also seen the erosion of its vast network of influence – a popular movement painstakingly cultivated across the Arab world from Iraq toMorocco.
When theLebanese government made the audacious decision to confiscate Hezbollah’s weapons, the reaction amounted to little more than a few dozen motorcycles roaming the streets of Beirut in protest. So where are the millions once summoned by the party’s leader or by Tehran itself?
The collapse of Iranian influence across the Arab sphere echoes the unraveling of Nasserism after the crushing defeat of 1967. Stripped of its ability to ignite the street, Nasser’s regime fell back on choreographed displays – pressing Socialist Party loyalists and labor unions into filling venues – after spontaneous, fervent crowds that had once surged into public squares in response to the magnetic pull of radio broadcasts dwindled away.
What remained was a collective sense of shock and despair in a region that had long pinned its hopes on the liberation of Palestine.
Iran, too, once commanded a similar popular reach. It defied attempts to ban its ideas, molding generations of Arabs through ideology and outreach. Tehran embraced Sunni extremists – including al-Qaeda figures – despite their anti-Shi’ite dogma, and threw support behind Sunni opposition movements challenging their regimes.
It forged organic ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, held semiannual conferences for Arab nationalists and Communists, and invested heavily in cultivating intellectuals and artists. Poems, books, and speeches extolling the virtues of the imam’s regime poured forth, while Tehran’s reach extended across Shi’ite, Sunni, and Christian circles, drawing in voices from the Gulf, Egypt, the Levant, North Africa, Sudan, Yemen, and Western Arab diasporas. Many Arab media outlets echoed Khamenei’s messaging.
Somehow, Tehran managed to reconcile contradictions that seemed irreconcilable. In Tripoli, a city marked by historic tension with the Shi’ites of Beirut, Sunni factions remained loyal to Tehran since the 1980s. In Jordan, elements of the Muslim Brotherhood pledged allegiance to Tehran’s leadership. Publications appeared across the region defending its policies, while conferences in the Gulf celebrated sectarian “rapprochement” under historical banners.
Yet none of this was undertaken in the name of God or to genuinely heal sectarian rifts; it was always part of a calculated political project aimed at domination. For decades, Tehran orchestrated both elite circles and street movements across Arab cities, mobilizing protests not only against regimes but against films, novels, and peace negotiations.
But since the wars following the October 7, 2023 attacks, that once-unshakable dynamism has evaporated. The reasons are clear: People turn away from the defeated, and the agencies that fueled these movements have seen their lines of communication severed and their resources dry up. The Arab street venerates victors and abandons them when they fall, only to embrace the next rising force.
Iran’s followers have been stunned by repeated defeats, just as Nasser’s admirers were traumatized by the failures of the 1960s. Today, the central challenge is whether Tehran can retain even its Shi’ite base, which has borne the greatest burden and remains in shock.
Sooner or later, Lebanon’s Shi’ites will confront a painful realization: They are victims of Hezbollah and Iran, not beneficiaries. For four decades, they have carried the weight of this alliance, suffering economic collapse, the destruction of their neighborhoods, and punitive sanctions targeting their livelihoods and remittances from Africa, Latin America, and North America. What they have endured is not the empowerment of a community, but the crushing cost of serving as Tehran’s front line. – Abdulrahman Al-Rashed
Bombing civilians without a clear strategy
Al-Ittihad, UAE, August 15
On August 8, while commenting on the deaths of civilians in Gaza caused by Israeli airstrikes, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee sought to justify the attacks by invoking the Allied firebombing of Dresden in February 1945. His remarks, provocative as they are, raise a broader issue worth examining: the long and deeply contested history of aerial bombardment against civilians.
The use of air power against noncombatants dates back to World War I, when German Zeppelins dropped bombs on British cities. Though casualties were relatively limited compared to the slaughter inflicted by artillery on the European front lines, the psychological impact was immense, signaling a new era of warfare.
In the interwar period, air raids were deployed in colonial campaigns across the Middle East and North Africa. In Europe, the most notorious case was the German bombing of Guernica in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. Though only a few hundred people were killed, the attack targeted a market day and became immortalized through Pablo Picasso’s iconic mural, which conveyed the horror of modern mechanized destruction.
The Sino-Japanese War which erupted that same year marked an even more brutal expansion of this tactic. Japanese forces unleashed devastating air raids on Chinese cities, killing tens of thousands in Chongqing and contributing to mass civilian deaths in Nanjing.
World War II cemented the role of air power in civilian carnage, with estimates of one to one and a half million people killed across multiple fronts. The German bombing of Warsaw in 1939, the flattening of Rotterdam, and the Blitz against Britain in 1940 foreshadowed the sheer scale of devastation yet to come.
As the war intensified, the Allies responded with massive bombing campaigns across Germany, creating “firestorms” that consumed cities such as Hamburg, Kassel, and Dresden, while others – Cologne, Berlin, Hanover, Stuttgart, and Magdeburg – were left in ruins.
In the Pacific theater, American raids on Japan culminated in the March 1945 firebombing of Tokyo, which incinerated more than 100,000 civilians, and later in the atomic annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The use of air power against civilians did not end with World War II. In Southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of thousands perished in bombing campaigns, and the region suffered the ecological and human toll of Agent Orange, a chemical weapon aimed at destroying crops and forests.
In later decades, wars in the Middle East and South Asia saw comparatively fewer deaths from airstrikes, yet the protracted bombing campaigns in Gaza have triggered some of the fiercest debates in recent memory.
The ubiquity of raw, daily video footage – images of families digging through rubble, children starved and displaced, and entire neighborhoods flattened – has amplified global accusations that Israel is committing war crimes, even genocide.
This moral quandary is not new. At the end of World War II, the destruction of Dresden was criticized by British officials, church leaders, and ordinary citizens alike, though it was not classified as a war crime, largely because the revelation of Nazi atrocities overshadowed such debates.
Likewise, the moral reckoning over Hiroshima and Nagasaki was muted by the widespread belief that the atomic bombs spared millions of lives by forcing Japan’s surrender and avoiding a ground invasion.
Today, Gaza presents its own moral labyrinth. While Hamas bears responsibility for embedding its operations among civilians, Israel faces mounting criticism for what increasingly appears to be a war without a clear exit strategy. The grim lesson of history is that aerial bombardment of civilians invariably raises doubts about both morality and strategy, doubts that reverberate long after the bombs have fallen. – Geoffrey Kemp
Hezbollah’s weapons never intended to safeguard Lebanon
An-Nahar, Lebanon, August 15
The Islamic Republic says one thing and its opposite when it comes to Lebanon. Before Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, arrived in Beirut, Iranian officials – including Larijani himself – dismissed outright the Lebanese government’s stance on Hezbollah’s weapons. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi even proclaimed that the Lebanese government would “fail” in any attempt to disarm the party.
Yet as Larijani’s visit approached, the rhetoric shifted. Suddenly, Iranian officials were speaking of “Iran’s support for the Lebanese people,” not merely for Hezbollah.
This change in tone appears to have been one of the conditions set by the Lebanese side to grant Larijani meetings with President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, who insisted during a cabinet session on fixing a deadline – by year’s end – for dismantling Hezbollah’s arsenal. The president raised no objection, underscoring that the Lebanese authorities have but one option: to adopt a definitive position on the illegal weapons of a party that is Lebanese in name only.
The difference between mounting a hostile campaign against the Lebanese government and claiming to “support the Lebanese people” is stark.
Those who defend Hezbollah’s arms are, in truth, standing against the Lebanese themselves, given the devastation those weapons – extensions of Iran’s arsenal – have inflicted on the nation, including on its Shi’ite citizens. Hezbollah’s weapons have never been intended to safeguard Lebanon; their purpose has always been to transform it into a state orbiting within Tehran’s sphere of influence.
Larijani could not maintain even a veneer of moderation. At a press conference following his meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, he reverted to reiterating Iran’s opposition to any timetable for Hezbollah’s disarmament – in essence, resisting the dismantling of the Islamic Republic’s weapons stationed throughout Lebanon.
He urged the Lebanese to “preserve the resistance,” ignoring that the primary cause of Lebanon’s misery is precisely this so-called resistance, which has impoverished the south and dragged the entire country into becoming little more than a battleground for Iran’s messages to Israel, and previously for the exchanges between the Assad regimes in Syria and Israel.
There is a reality in Lebanon that Iranian officials like Larijani refuse to acknowledge: The “resistance” was never more than an Iranian instrument, advancing Tehran’s agenda under the guise of Lebanese struggle. Iran seized on the US-led war in Iraq in 2003 to push its expansionist project further across the region.
What, after all, explains the assassination of Rafik Hariri and his companions, and the long chain of killings that followed – including the assassination of Lokman Slim – if not Iran’s determination to dominate Lebanon and suffocate any effort to revive its national life, especially in Beirut?
Who can forget Hezbollah’s paralyzing sit-in in downtown Beirut, or the bloody events of May 7, 2008?
Nor is there any need to revisit in detail the 2006 summer war, which preceded Hezbollah’s incursion into Beirut and Mount Lebanon. That conflict, with its devastating aftermath, exposed the depth of collusion between Iran and Israel, culminating years later in the election of Michel Aoun as president in 2016 and, before the close of his term, in the maritime border demarcation agreement with Israel that served Israeli interests.
Iran acts solely for its own benefit. Every Lebanese child knows this.
Every Lebanese child understands that the Islamic Republic has done nothing but dismantle Lebanon and displace its people. Iran has no allies in Lebanon – only tools it wields in the hope of striking a grand bargain with its “Great Satan,” the US, to cement its regional dominance.
Larijani came to Beirut after first stopping in Baghdad, where he signed a security pact with Iraq aimed at salvaging what remains of Iran’s expansionist vision. At this moment, the Islamic Republic seeks nothing more than to prove it still has leverage in the region, Lebanon included.
To that end, Larijani falls back on tired, hollow language that glorifies the “resistance” while deliberately ignoring the calamities it has unleashed, including the “Gaza Support War.”
That war devastated Lebanese villages, most of them Shi’ite, and drove their people into displacement. It effectively reimposed the Israeli occupation, and Hezbollah’s insistence on clinging to its weapons now stands as the surest guarantee of its indefinite continuation.
Larijani has no shortage of rhetoric and “advice” for the Lebanese, but he offers no answers to the obvious questions: Why did Hezbollah open a front in southern Lebanon? Who will bear the cost of the party’s crushing defeat? Who will rebuild the villages of the south? Who will return the displaced to their homes? Who will remove the Israeli occupation – an occupation Iran itself, through its proxy, has all but restored?
Finally, the Iranian envoy, who claims to know the region well, seems to have forgotten Iran’s own most painful wound: the loss of Syria. Syria matters to Tehran as the indispensable corridor to Lebanon, and thus to Hezbollah.
Until Iranian officials confront this new reality – that their wars can no longer be waged by proxy militias in Arab lands but must be faced within Iran itself – they will continue to repeat the same hollow script, even as the region around them moves on. – Khairallah Khairallah
Translated by Asaf Zilberfarb/The Media Line.All assertions, opinions, facts, and information presented in these articles are the sole responsibility of their respective authors and not necessarily those of The Media Line, which assumes no responsibility for their content.
From August 22-24, Club Car Wash at 985 Hwy 6 will donate $1 from every MVP wash and all donations to local schools.
IOWA CITY, Iowa, August 21, 2025 (Newswire.com)
– Club Car Wash is proud to announce its Back-to-School $5 Wash Weekend, taking place August 22-24 at 985 Hwy 6, Iowa City, IA 52240. During this limited-time event, customers can receive the MVP wash for just $5-with $1 from every wash donated directly to the Iowa City School District to help teachers and students start the school year strong.
This initiative is part of Club Car Wash’s ongoing commitment to giving back to the communities it serves. The Iowa City location has partnered with the Iowa City School District to make a meaningful local impact.
“We’re proud to support education and help ease the back-to-school transition for students and educators,” said Collin Bartels, President at Club Car Wash.
In addition to the $5 wash promotion, customers can also contribute donations, available at the Iowa City location throughout the weekend. Every dollar collected through open donations will go directly to the Iowa City School District.
School districts that help students receive mental health and healthcare treatment create safer, more inclusive learning environments. By making care accessible, reducing stigma, and fostering early intervention, students are empowered to thrive both emotionally and academically, ultimately benefiting families, schools and society at large.
KENNETT, Mo., October 22, 2024 (Newswire.com)
– Kennett School District 39 (Kennett), a rural school district in the Missouri Bootheel, received a grant through Project AWARE to hire a coordinator to connect students in need of mental health services. They immediately experienced positive results with CrossTx, a HIPAA-compliant referral management platform.
As Morgan Blankenship, ED. S., Project AWARE care coordinator for Kennett, explained, “One of our students, let’s call her ‘Lucy,’ faced significant behavior challenges and found it difficult to stay in class for even an hour without being sent to the office. Thanks to our new student referral system, she was able to start mental health services, which led to extraordinary strides. Now, Lucy is able to attend school all day and fully participate in classroom activities alongside her peers. This transformation is a testament to her hard work, the availability of our referral system, the dedication of our school staff, and the invaluable support from the behavioral health agency. It highlights the critical role of mental health resources in fostering student success. We are incredibly proud of her and excited to see Lucy’s continued growth.”
Schools often struggle to integrate behavioral health services into the educational environment. Although many schools recognize the importance of addressing mental health, few have comprehensive programs to integrate these services. On-site services, such as counseling or therapy, are often limited, leading to reliance on external providers. Kennett School District had similar challenges. Initially, the district faced difficulties with workflow, communication, and recordkeeping, which resulted in students missing vital services. Often, staff lacked clarity on whether students had received services or made progress.
The team at Kennett Schools reached out to the Missouri School-Based Health Alliance to find a solution. This resulted in a partnership with Healthy Blue to access funding for a cloud-based software and training solution implemented and delivered by CrossTx, a care coordination and referral management platform used by rural health clinics, health networks, and school districts around the country.
Kennett engaged with CrossTx to implement a closed-loop referral management collaborative care coordination program for the school district in what became known as Project AWARE.
Blankenship praised the solution to date. “CrossTx has proven to be an invaluable program for our district, effectively ensuring that no student falls through the cracks. Through this platform, I can easily send referrals to the agency, which allows for prompt appointment-scheduling and provides us with essential tracking information, such as attendance, no-shows, transportation needs, and agency notes.”
According to Chandra Donnell, Vice President of Client Success for CrossTx, the program has been a successful start. “As a society, there is still plenty of work to make our schools safer and more supportive of the mental health needs of our students. I am, however, excited to be a part of the transformational process that supports our teachers’ natural ability to notice behavioral changes and thereby advance early intervention before problems escalate. Many educational leaders work tirelessly to reduce the stigma of mental health and create supportive networks in their schools; our software uses these networks to increase access to services while tracking supportive data to highlight progress. Without the data and feedback, schools don’t fully understand the impact of their programs, an integral part to optimizing successful outcomes for students.”
The dedication of many individuals helped create Kennett School District’s positive results for students like Lucy. Their continued success is a model for American school districts determined to support their students’ health and wellbeing.
About Kennett School District 39
Kennett School District is in a rural area of the Missouri Bootheel. It has received grant funding to implement a care-coordinated, referral management program with local behavioral health practices.
About CrossTx Inc.
A cloud-based, HIPAA compliant platform supporting bi-directional and multi-directional referral management and care coordination specialized in school, community, and healthcare workflows.
Over the last few years, elections for public education officials have gone from overlooked and low-profile to heated and politicized affairs, a shift that’s due in large part to conservatives increasingly eyeing schools as places where they can wield significant influence and enact a specific agenda.
Moms for Liberty, a far-right group that popped up in Florida during the COVID pandemic and has since campaigned nationwide for a variety of conservative causes, is a significant driver of this shift. The so-called “parental rights” organization has thrown its support behind school board candidates across the country who have gone on to ban books, pass policies that hurt LGBTQ+ kids, and limit what teachers can do and say in their classrooms.
In 2022, more than half of the candidates endorsed by Moms for Liberty won their races, with those in Florida seeing particular success. But the following year, the group’s high-profile attempts in Pennsylvania were largely a dud.
This year, the group said it has identified 77 candidates for endorsements but has not publicly released the list.
“We continue to strive to have all voters across the country engage in their local school board elections and get to know the candidates because we know that change happens at the local level,” Moms for Liberty co-founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich said in an emailed statement to HuffPost. “We have seen an incredible win rate the past two years that shows the power of our grassroots organization and we are excited to see that same kind of win rate this year.”
But even as the group keeps a lower public profile than it has during previous elections, its impact is clear. Across the country, far-right extremists are looking to get on school boards and reshape public schooling.
The blueprint for a right-wing, Moms for Liberty-style candidate has been made, and conservatives are following it. These candidates typically rail against “critical race theory,” a college-level academic framework for understanding structural racism that has been co-opted by conservatives to mean talking about race at all and making white people feel uncomfortable. They falsely claim books about gender or sexual identity are inherently pornographic. They may smear teachers as groomers, and make sure transgender children are targeted and ostracized at school.
Parental rights and fighting to keep trans kids from playing sports are now Republican talking points at all levels of government.
“The work of Moms for Liberty hasn’t been as visible. But the rhetoric they use and their candidates are very much visible,” Tamika Walker Kelly, the president of the North Carolina Association of Educators, told HuffPost.
In blue, red, and purple states alike, this election is shaping up to have dozens of hotly contested school board races that feature right-wing candidates going up against their more liberal counterparts and hoping to shape the next generation of public school students.
North Carolina
There is perhaps no state where more is on the line for public education than North Carolina. Some of the largest school districts in the state could end up with an ultraconservative majority, and the Republican candidate for the top statewide educational role attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally at the U.S. Capitol and has no experience in education.
The Wake County school board, the state’s largest school system, is at the epicenter of the fight for North Carolina’s schools. Five of the board’s nine seats are up for grabs.
This isn’t the first time right-wingers have tried to influence Wake County schools. In 2009, after a Tea Party takeover of the school board led to the erosion of long-term integration policies, the Democrats took action and have managed to keep the school board liberal for the last decade and a half.
But now, Republicans in Wake County are trying to make inroads in the schools again. Conservative activists have tried banning books in the county and recently ginned up a moral panic about sexually explicit content in schools after a high school student claimed a book she read in class was inappropriate. (The book in question was “Tomorrow Is Too Far” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, which depicts a relationship between cousins and has the line “he tried to fit what you both called his banana into what you both called your tomato.”)
To Democrats, the GOP vision is clear. “Their goal is to make public schools go away,” Kevyn Creech, the chair of the Wake County Democrats, told HuffPost. “They want to get rid of the Department of Education, make everything religious, and privatize it all.”
Democratic leaders are particularly worried because a Republican win for state superintendent, coupled with GOP victories at the county level, could create the perfect storm.
The state superintendent for public instruction oversees more than 2,500 schools in North Carolina and an $11 billion budget. The race is between Democrat Mo Green, the former superintendent of Guilford County schools, and Republican Michele Morrow, who homeschooled her own children.
After defeating the Republican incumbent in March, Morrow made headlines when CNN discovered that she had attended the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection with her children. (There is no evidence that she entered the Capitol building or committed any crimes.) She has also called for the execution of prominent Democrats and made a video saying former President Donald Trump should use the U.S. military to stay in power after he lost the election in 2020.
Morrow ran for school board in Wake County in 2022 and lost by 20 points. As a candidate for superintendent, she has lobbed homophobic and transphobic attacks at Green and vowed to rid the state’s schools of diversity, equity and inclusion programs and censor what teachers can say in the classroom.
Educators believe that a Morrow win will set the state’s schools on a dark path.
“Morrow and her extremist agenda will push our public schools further behind,” Walker Kelly said. “We will continue to see the further underfunding and disrespect of our public school system.”
The state superintendent would work closely with the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly — meaning Morrow could wield influence over the schools and usher in her extremist agenda, which centers white conservative Christian ideology.
“As a department of the state, there’s still enough power to do damage to public schools,” Walker Kelly said.
South Carolina
In South Carolina, the school board race in Berkeley County, a Charleston suburb, is shaping up to feature right-wing candidates looking to further entrench a Moms for Liberty-style agenda against a slate of candidates who have branded themselves as the “education over politics” group. Five of the board’s nine seats are up for grabs.
Moms for Liberty has already made its mark in the county. In 2022, six of the new board members were endorsed by the group. One of their first actions was to fire the superintendent and ban critical race theory.
At a school board meeting, she said the books she challenged were “unconstitutional and ungodly.”
“Why is it acceptable to make choices for my child, choices I’m not included in, choices I do not agree with?” she said. Board members told Davenport was free to opt her child out of any material she found objectionable.
Maryland
Further north in Maryland, there’s yet another school board race with at least one extreme candidate.
In Anne Arundel County, home to the state’s capital of Annapolis, all seven seats on the board are open. One candidate, Chuck Yocum, is running on parental rights and barring transgender students from playing on sports teams that match their gender identity. His campaign website features a long screed about how public schools used to be good but have been ruined by teachers unions and the creation of the Department of Education.
“Unions, once held in high regard as fighting for fairness are fighting to take parents rights and put biological males in female locker rooms and sports,” he wrote. “Something that until about five minutes ago would have gotten a young man arrested. Now, it’s encouraged.”
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Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) announced the closure of Orlando schools due to Hurricane Milton, as the school system continues to monitor and track the storm.
Based on the latest forecast, Orange County Public Schools announced that all after-school activities will be canceled beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, October 8th with the exception of after-school childcare. All OCPS schools and facilities will be closed on Wednesday, October 9th and Thursday, October 10th.
This is due to the projected impact of the hurricane in Orange County and some schools will be used as shelters.
Any decision on schools for Friday, October 11th will be determined by the impact on Orange County, according to officials.
The local school district’s Safety and Emergency Management team works closely with the Orange County Office of Emergency Management and other Central Florida officials to ensure the school district’s decision-making is aligned with local partners.
Many parents and families in Orange County were waiting for this announcement as Central Florida prepares for the incoming hurricane. While Florida’s west coast braces for impact, the National Weather Service in Melbourne has also issued several warnings and advisories for the Orlando area, adding “residents and visitors should be preparing for hurricane conditions across East Central Florida.”
OCPS will communicate all additional Hurricane Milton updates with families and employees through Connect Orange phone calls/emails/text messages, posts to OCPS social media pages and online.
CHELMSFORD — Police will increase their presence at Chelmsford High School this coming week after a threat was discovered written on a student bathroom wall on Friday morning.
The threat on the wall comes a day after school officials received information about a student who allegedly wanted to harm the school community. In both instances, investigations determined the threats were not credible.
In a message to the Chelmsford community on Friday, Principal Stephen Murray stated that the investigation into the threat found on the bathroom wall, which included “a threat of future harm” to the school, is ongoing. However, since there was no immediate threat to the school community, he added “students remained on their current class schedule, and it was business as usual.”
“At the end of the school day,” Murray said, “I made an announcement to our school community to inform them about the situation, that we were taking steps to investigate the incident, and how they could help by contacting an adult in the building if they have any information. I also reminded the school community about the importance of safety and security and commended the students who came forward quickly to alert our administration of this future threat. When speaking with your children, I ask that you please support our ‘See Something, Say Something’ message to help us in keeping Chelmsford High School safe for all.”
Murray reiterated that authorities “have not found evidence that lends any validity to the threat.”
“You may have noticed a police presence at the school drop-off this morning,” Murray added. “We partner closely with the Chelmsford Police Department to keep our schools safe, and you will also notice an increase in police presence at our school next week, similar to how they supported us today with that presence. We appreciate and are grateful for the partnership with the Chelmsford Police Department to keep our school community safe.”
Murray also released a note to the public on Thursday after school officials learned “about a student allegedly wanting to harm our school community.”
In the note, Murray emphasized that each threat is taken seriously. As he did following Friday’s discovery, Murray stated that the Chelmsford Police were contacted and conducted an investigation, ultimately determining there was no credible threat.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X, formerly known as Twitter, @aselahcurtis
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The start of the new school year is fast approaching, which means its time to start getting the tiny scholars prepared. Across Orlando and Central Florida, several organizations are hosting school supply giveaways and events, offering up free supplies and services (like haircuts, eye screenings and more) over the next week. Avalon Park Back 2 School Bash When: 10 a.m. Saturday, July 27 Where:13798 Cygnus Drive, Orlando
Elementary and middle school students will each be given one free backpack filled with supplies, while supplies last. Students must be present.
Packing District YMCA’s Back to School jam When: 11 a.m. Saturday, July 27 Where: 2178 Packing District Way, Orlando Jump in on the fun with the inaugural Packing Districts back-to-school jam, where students will be given free backpacks filled with supplies and a lineup of summer activities, food trucks, prizes and giveaways.
South Orlando YMCA Back to School Bash When: 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 27 Where: South Orlando YMCA, 814 W. Oak Ridge Road, Orlando There will be free school supplies, back-to-school haircuts, brand new backpacks and more.
Florida Technical College Back to School Giveaway When: 10 a.m. Saturday, July 27 Where: 12900 Challenger Parkway, Orlando With a day of fun planned, students can also pick up free backpacks filled with supplies that last, electronic device raffles, campus tours and more.
Winter Park Library Back to School Bash When: 1 p.m. Sunday, July 28 Where: 1052 W. Morse Blvd., Winter Park
Expect carnival games, airbrush tattoo artists, crafts and more as well as character meets and ice cream to soothe your end-of-summer blues.
Christ is the Victory Church Back to School Event When: 11 a.m.,Saturday, Aug. 3 Where: 1320 S. Chickasaw Trail, Orlando Christ is the Victory Church is offering students free school supplies, food and drinks, gospel music, live entertainment and more.
Winter Garden Back to School Bash 2024 When: 11 a.m. Saturday Aug. 3 Where: 362 11th St., Winter Garden Hosted by the City of Winter Garden, attendees are offered free backpacks and school supplies, free food, an interactive DJ and more.
Orange County Sheriff’s Office Back to School Bash When: 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3 Where: 2500 W. Colonial Drive, Orlando Students can grab a free backpack filled with school supplies and participate in activities OSCO has planned for the day.
Winter Park Back to School and Wellness Event When: 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3 Where: 434 Orlando Ave., Winter Park Three supply-filled backpacks will be allotted per household. Be sure to stick around for the summer activities planned.
The Action Church Back To School Bash When: 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3 Where: 1485 Grand Road, Winter Park Join the fun with bounce houses, food, school supplies, backpacks and more while supplies last.
Casselberry Faith Assembly Back to School Bash When: 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3 Where: 2641 Red Bug Lake Road, Casselberry Expect an interactive kids zone and check to-do’s off your list for the new school year with free school physicals, haircuts, professional photos and more.
Orlando Back to School Bash When: Noon Saturday, Aug. 3 Where: 6201 Nandina Drive, Orlando Join the fun with free food, bounce houses, a DJ and free school supplies to stock up before the new year.
LIV Realty Back to School Bash When: 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 3 Where: 10783 Narcoossee Road, Orlando Grab free school supplies, backpacks and get a fresh haircut at this back-to-school event.
Kids of Hope Back to School Bash When: Saturday, Aug. 3 Where: 263 King St., Oviedo Grab a new backpack and fill it up with back-to-school essentials like socks, toiletries, underwear and more, plus services like free eye screenings and a free lunch.
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Wake County Public Schools is now enforcing a new clear bag policy at all high school games.
Spectators will now be allowed to bring one clear bag no larger than 12 inches by 15 inches into events. This includes small, clear clutch bags or wristlets.
Bags containing medical items and diapers are allowed.
All other bags are banned from going inside.
The change comes a year after a male teen was arrested on the Millbrook High School campus for allegedly bringing an ar-15 weapon to a school basketball game.
WCPSS Security Department worked with law enforcement and principles on the new policy.
“We’re seeing it in Durham County, we’re seeing it I believe in Johnston County,” said Wake County School Board Member Sam Hershey. “Given how our society is and what we kind of see and all the unfortunate things that happen at schools and can happen really anywhere, that it’s just another layer of protection.”
A survey done by the National Center for Education Statistics finds the percentage of students who say they’ve carried a weapon or on a school campus is decreasing, with just 3 percent of students surveyed saying they’d brought a weapon on a school campus in the timeframe studied.
