SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said Thursday that his administration is partnering with Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI to bring artificial intelligence into more than 5,000 public schools.
The millennial leader, who previously made El Salvador the first nation to make bitcoin legal tender in 2021, is betting big on technology again.
In a statement Thursday, xAI said that its Grok chatbot will bring “personalized learning to over one million students” by creating tutoring “that adjusts to each student’s pace, preferences, and mastery level — ensuring every child, from urban centers to rural communities, receives world-class education tailored to their needs.”
Bukele said in the statement that El Salvador would be “pioneering AI-driven education.”
Last month, Bukele announced a partnership with Google to launch a mobile app that would allow Salvadorans to access free virtual medical consultations with doctors that would be assisted by AI.
Earlier this year, xAI said it was taking down “inappropriate posts” made by Grok, which appeared to include antisemitic comments that praised Adolf Hitler. Musk said at the time that the chatbot was improving.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN—Lerner Publishing Group, a leading publisher of K-12 educational materials, is proud to announce the launch of Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s groundbreaking Genius and Joy curriculum in Summer 2026. This new, all-in-one supplemental curriculum for Grades K–5 is grounded in Dr. Muhammad’s Five Pursuits Framework, a research-based educational model that enhances student engagement and intellectual growth.
Within her research and scholarship in literacy development, English education and writing instruction, and culturally responsive pedagogies, Dr. Muhammad posed the question, “What if the purpose of schools and curriculum was to recognize and elevate the genius and joy of teachers and students?” The result is the Genius and Joy curriculum. This innovative curriculum prioritizes academic rigor by developing literacy skills, building subject area knowledge and centering students’ learning experience on joy. The curriculum is deep in content and thought while also practical and easy for teachers to use.
Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s Five Pursuits framework of Identity, Skills, Intellect, Criticality, and Joy is a research-based instructional approach that enhances student engagement and achievement by focusing on literacy, identity development, and historical awareness. Its impact is evident in the Lemon Grove School District in California, where implementation of the framework has led to measurable gains: Black and African American students have consistently increased their academic achievement, even surpassing the overall student population in English Language Arts proficiency. Additionally, Multilingual Learners (MLLs) in the district have experienced a tripling in reclassification rates, reflecting the effectiveness of equity-centered, data-informed practices that align with the framework’s core tenets. Schools and districts across forty-three states have implemented the Five Pursuits Framework into their instructional practices, and have been clamoring for an official curriculum.
“I wanted teachers to see curriculum as the stories we teach and tell, as the world around us, and as the legacy that we leave in the lives of our children,” said Dr. Gholdy Muhammad. “It is my hope that this curriculum is a genius and joy experience for youth and teachers alike. We all deserve a comprehensive curricular experience.”
The Genius and Joy Curriculum
Celebrates Joy in Teaching and Learning: The Genius and Joy Curriculum provides easy-to-implement approaches and strategies that include space within the learning experience where students can live out and discover their fullest potential. Joy is a safe and creative space to be free—free to learn, free to dream, and free to be.
Recognizes the Genius Within Every Child: Through powerful stories and dynamic activities, every lesson is designed to spark curiosity, encourage inquiry, and build students’ confidence in their own unique brilliance.
Elevates Learning Through the Five Pursuits: Through innovative pedagogy, students explore more than simple skill building. The five pursuits—identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and joy—of the HILL model are intended to teach the whole student and honor the goals of genius and joy.
“We know that true learning happens when students see themselves in the material, feel their voices are valued, and are encouraged to think critically about the world around them,” said Adam Lerner, Publisher and CEO of Lerner Publishing Group. “We are proud to partner with Dr. Gholdy Muhammad on Genius and Joy to create an environment where students can not only excel academically, but also engage with Lerner’s award-winning books in ways that help them grow as whole individuals.”
Genius and Joy will be available for purchase through Lerner Publishing Group starting Summer 2026. The curriculum will be accompanied by professional development resources to help educators implement the framework effectively, ensuring that the values of joy and academic excellence reach students in classrooms across the country.
Click here to watch Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s webinar Celebrate the Genius and Joy of Every Student in Your Classroom.
About Dr. Gholdy Muhammad Dr. Gholnecsar (Gholdy) Muhammad is the John Corbally Endowed Professor of Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois Chicago. She has previously served as a classroom teacher, literacy specialist, school district administrator, curriculum director, and school board president. She studies Black historical excellence in education, intending to reframe curriculum and instruction today. Dr. Muhammad’s scholarship has appeared in leading academic journals and books. She has also received numerous national awards and is the author of the best-selling books, Cultivating Genius and Unearthing Joy. She also co-authored the book, Black Girls’ Literacies. Her Culturally and Historically Responsive Education Model has been adopted across thousands of U.S. schools and districts across Canada. In 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, she was named among the top 1% Edu-Scholar Public Influencers due to her impact on policy and practice. She has led a federal grant with the United States Department of Education to study culturally and historically responsive literacy in STEM classrooms. In the fall of 2026, her first curriculum, entitledGenius and Joy, will be available to schools and educators.
About Lerner Publishing Group™Lerner Publishing Group™ creates high-quality fiction and nonfiction for children and young adults. Founded in 1959, Lerner Publishing Group is one of the nation’s largest independent children’s book publishers with seventeen imprints and divisions: Carolrhoda Books®, Carolrhoda Lab®, Darby Creek™, ediciones Lerner, First Avenue Editions™, Gecko Press™, Graphic Universe™, Kar-Ben Publishing®, Lerner Publications, LernerClassroom™, Lerner Digital™, Millbrook Press™, Soaring Kite Books, Sundance Newbridge, Twenty-First Century Books™, Zest Books™, and Lerner Publisher Services™. For more information, visit www.lernerbooks.com or call 800-328-4929.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
Greenville, Wis – December 8, 2025 – School Specialty®, a leading provider of learning environments, supplies and science curriculum to the preK-12 education market, today announced the acquisition of Nasco Education U.S., a trusted name in specialized, curated education solutions for K-12 schools. This strategic acquisition enhances School Specialty’s ability to serve its core customers by enhancing its value proposition to schools across the country.
“We estimate that nearly two-thirds of Nasco Education U.S.’s customers are already School Specialty buyers,” said Ryan Bohr, CEO of School Specialty. “Like School Specialty, Nasco Education U.S. has been an industry fixture of supplying schools for decades. Combining our companies will bring procurement efficiencies to our customers and expand the scope of products available to them.”
School Specialty has more than 60 years of leadership in transforming classrooms into future-ready learning spaces for preK-12 educational institutions, serving five in every six school districts nationwide and curating products from hundreds of trusted brands. Nasco Education U.S. offers a broad selection of specialized products, including hands-on, activity-based resources that support instruction across subjects like science, math, and the arts. Both companies share a deep commitment to providing high-quality, relevant resources that empower teachers and students.
Both organizations will operate independently for the near term. School Specialty expects to integrate the businesses gradually to ensure a seamless experience for the longstanding customers of both organizations.
“Together, we will be able to provide even greater support, innovation, and value to schools nationwide, helping them deliver the best possible learning experiences for their students,” said Ryan Bohr, CEO of School Specialty.
About School Specialty, LLC
With a 60-year legacy, School Specialty is a leading provider of comprehensive learning environment solutions for the pre-K12 education marketplace in the U.S. and Canada. This includes essential classroom supplies, furniture and design services, educational technology, sensory spaces featuring Snoezelen, science curriculum, learning resources, professional development, and more. School Specialty believes every student can flourish in an environment where they are engaged and inspired to learn and grow. In support of this vision to transform more than classrooms, the company applies its unmatched team of education strategists and designs, manufactures, and distributes a broad assortment of name-brand and proprietary products. For more information, go to SchoolSpecialty.com.
About Nasco Education U.S.
Nasco Education U.S. is a leading developer and distributor of instructional materials, offering a wide range of hands-on learning products for the preK-12 education market with 80+ years of experience. Nasco Education U.S. provides schools and educators with the educational materials needed to create impactful classroom experiences that enhance student engagement and academic performance. For more information, go to NascoEducation.com.
eSchool Media staff cover education technology in all its aspects–from legislation and litigation, to best practices, to lessons learned and new products. First published in March of 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information necessary to help K-20 decision-makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and colleges and achieve their educational goals.
The bell rings at 10:00 a.m. A teacher begins explaining quadratic equations. Some students lean forward, pencils ready. Others stare at the clock. A few are still turning yesterday’s lesson over in their minds. On the surface, it’s a standard, well‑planned class period. But here’s the catch: Learning doesn’t always happen on schedule.
Think about your own class last week. Did every student learn exactly what you were teaching? Or did some of them circle back a day or two later with new questions, fresh insights, or sudden understanding?
Across the country, laws and regulations attempt to define and balance synchronous and asynchronous instruction. Some states fund schools based on seat time, measuring how long students sit in classrooms or log into live online sessions. Here in Indiana, recent legislation even limits the number of e‑learning days that can be asynchronous, as if too many days without live teaching would somehow shortchange students. These rules were written with the best of intentions–ensuring students are engaged, teachers are available, and learning doesn’t slip through the cracks.
Over time, “asynchronous instruction” has picked up a troubling reputation, often equated with the idea of no teaching at all–just kids simply poking through a computer on their own. But the truth is far more nuanced. The work of teaching is so difficult precisely because all learning is, at its core, asynchronous. The best teachers understand the enormous variance in readiness within any group of students. They know some learners grasp a concept immediately while others need more time, multiple exposures, or a completely different entry point. Giving them space beyond the live moment is often exactly what allows learning to take hold.
Devoting resources to well-designed asynchronous learning, such as recorded lectures available for rewatch, self-paced learning modules, project-based activities, and educational games, allows students to immerse themselves in instructional materials and gain a better understanding of content on their terms. Instead of helping students catch up during class time, teachers can focus on whole-group instruction and a deeper analysis of curriculum content.
When we’re measuring butts in seats or time in front of a screen with an instructor on the other end, live, we’re measuring what’s easy to measure, not what’s important. Real student engagement happens in the head of the learner, and that is far harder to quantify.
That’s why I can’t help but wonder if some of these mandates, while well‑intentioned, actually get in the way of real learning, pushing schools to comply with a regulation rather than focus on the conditions that actually help students grow.
What if, instead of focusing so much on the ratio of synchronous to asynchronous minutes, we asked a better question: Are students being given the time, space, and support to truly learn? Are we creating systems that allow them to circle back and show growth when they’re ready, not just when the bell rings? As an administrator, I know our district is still figuring out the complexities of putting these goals into practice.
Instead of tying funding and accountability to time in a seat, imagine tying it to evidence of growth. Imagine policies that encourage schools to document when and how students show understanding, no matter when it happens. Imagine giving educators the freedom to design opportunities for students to revisit, rethink, and re‑engage until the learning truly sticks.
The teaching might be synchronous. But the learning is always happening asynchronously, and if we can shift our policies, practices, and mindsets to honor that truth, we can move beyond compliance and toward classrooms where students have every chance to succeed.
George Philhower, Ed.D., Eastern Hancock Schools
Dr. George Philhower is the superintendent of Eastern Hancock Schools, a rural district located just east of Indianapolis. With five years of experience as a superintendent, George is driven by a vision where every student and staff member wakes up eager to go to school each day. He believes this is possible when everyone feels safe and valued, has opportunities for success, engages in meaningful work, plays and learns with friends, and is supported by caring adults. George holds a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Special Education from Cardinal Stritch University, a Master’s in Instructional Leadership from the University of Indianapolis, and both an Ed.S. and Ph.D. from Indiana State University.
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The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Treasury Department are seeking public feedback on how to implement a new federal tax credit scholarship program created under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), which aims to expand school choice and help students cover education-related costs.
Under the OBBBA, the tax credit scholarship program is designed primarily to help K–12 students pay for private school tuition, though it also covers a range of other educational expenses. States will decide individually whether to participate in the program.
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The U.S. Department of Education is starting to break apart its major offices and hand their duties to other agencies — an early sign of how U.S. President Donald Trump might follow through on his campaign promise to shut the department down completely.
Several offices that support the nation’s schools and colleges will be moved to departments such as Labor, Interior, Health and Human Services, and even the State Department. Officials say federal funding for schools and colleges will continue as Congress intended, but they have not said whether current Education Department employees will keep their jobs.
Since taking office, Trump has pushed to get rid of the Education Department, saying it is too influenced by liberal ideas. Department leaders have already been preparing to split up their work among other federal agencies. In July, the Supreme Court allowed major layoffs that cut the department’s staff in half.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon has recently begun publicly arguing that her department should be closed, saying on social media that states and other federal agencies could handle its main tasks — such as giving out grants and answering questions from schools — more effectively.
But questions remain about whether other agencies are prepared to take on these responsibilities. The Education Department manages billions of dollars in federal aid and helps states interpret complicated education laws. Closing it will test whether the administration can make the transition smoothly or whether students who depend heavily on federal support — including those in rural and low-income schools and students with disabilities — will be harmed.
Money Will Still Flow
Although most school funding in the U.S. comes from state and local governments, the Education Department plays a crucial role in sending federal money to schools and colleges. Officials say that money will continue to flow, but often through different agencies. For example:
The Department of Labor will now manage major funding programs, including Title I money for schools serving low-income students. Labor already took over adult education programs in June.
Health and Human Services will handle grants that help parents who are attending college.
The State Department will run foreign-language education programs.
The Interior Department will oversee programs for Native American students.
One of the Education Department’s biggest jobs is managing the US$1.6 trillion federal student loan system. For now, this will not change, though both Trump and McMahon have said another agency might be better suited to run it. Pell Grants and federal student loans will still be issued, and borrowers must continue making payments.
The FAFSA website, which students use to apply for financial aid, will stay open, and the department will continue to help families with the application. The department will also continue to oversee college accreditation, which allows schools to accept federal aid.
For now, the department will continue to handle student disability funding, though McMahon has said it could eventually be transferred to Health and Human Services.
The Education Department also oversees investigations into schools accused of discrimination — including cases involving disability rights, sex discrimination, racial discrimination, and shared ancestry bias. These responsibilities will stay within the department for now, though McMahon has suggested they could be moved to the Department of Justice.
However, after the mass layoffs in March, the Office for Civil Rights has been operating with far fewer staff. The cuts have raised doubts about whether it can reduce its enormous backlog of student and family complaints. Department data shows it has been resolving fewer civil rights cases even as new complaints continue to rise.
ARE STEPPING UP FOR THE FLORIDA CLASSIC. FROM THE BRASS TO ALL THE FANS IN THE STANDS, THIS EXCITEMENT RUNS WELL BEYOND THE FIELD AT CAMPING WORLD STADIUM. THIS YEAR MARKS THE 80TH MEETING BETWEEN THE FLORIDA A&M RATTLERS AND THE BETHUNE-COOKMAN WILDCATS. THE FLORIDA CLASSIC IS GOING TO BE A GOOD TIME. AND JOINING ME THIS MORNING TO TALK ABOUT THE RICH HISTORY OF THIS AND WHAT WE CAN EXPECT FROM THIS MILESTONE YEAR. WE HAVE TONY JENKINS FROM FLORIDA BLUE AND JUSTIN KINSEY, BOARD MEMBER FOR FLORIDA CITRUS SPORTS. GENTLEMEN, THANK YOU BOTH SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE THIS MORNING. THANK YOU. SUCH AN EXCITING TIME, TONY. LET’S TALK ABOUT, FOR THOSE WHO AREN’T FAMILIAR, WHAT IS THE FLORIDA CLASSIC? IT’S AN INSTITUTION NUMBER ONE. IT’S THE NUMBER ONE FUNDRAISER FOR BOTH OF THESE SCHOOLS FOR THE ENTIRE YEAR. MOST BOWL GAMES YOU HAVE MIDDLE INDIVIDUALS, PRODUCERS THAT ARE INVOLVED IN RECEIVING THE FUNDS. ALL OF THESE FUNDS GO BACK TO THE SCHOOLS. SO THAT’S ONE REASON WHY PEOPLE SHOULD ATTEND THIS. BECAUSE YOUR MONEY IS GOING BACK FOR SCHOLARSHIPS. SECONDLY, THIS IS THE BEST WEEKEND OF THE YEAR. YEAH, ALL THE ACTIVITIES SURROUNDING THE FOOTBALL GAME. THERE’S A BATTLE OF THE BANDS. THERE’S A BIG LUNCHEON. SO IT’S JUST A FESTIVE WEEKEND. SOME PEOPLE CALL IT A BIG FAMILY REUNION. IT ACTUALLY IS THE FOOD THAT’S OUT THERE. IT SMELLS GOOD. IT TASTES EVEN BETTER. THE ATMOSPHERE IS SO ELECTRIC. ABSOLUTELY. ALWAYS A GOOD TIME. WHAT MAKES CLASSIC WEEKEND SO SPECIAL? JUSTIN, ALL THESE YEARS LATER, I THINK IT’S JUST WHAT TONY SAID. IT BEING A FAMILY REUNION. SO BEING IN THE CENTER OF THE STATE, YOU HAVE PEOPLE FROM ALL OVER THE STATE OF FLORIDA THAT HAVE ATTENDED BOTH FAMU OR BETHUNE-COOKMAN. YOU HAVE FAMILY MEMBERS THAT HAVE ATTENDED AND EVERYONE MEETS RIGHT HERE IN THE MIDDLE, AND THEY JUST GO ALL AROUND THE STADIUM. YOU HAVE A WILD ELECTRIC ATMOSPHERE, AND THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT SPECIAL. JUST THE PEOPLE COMING BACK TO BE WITH EACH OTHER, THE COMMUNE, EVERY YEAR. IT SURE DOES. I REMEMBER BEING A LITTLE GIRL WATCHING MY COUSINS COME DOWN FROM TALLAHASSEE FOR THE CLASSIC STAYING WITH US, AND I WOULD JUST WATCH THEM IN AWE, GET READY FOR ALL THE EVENTS AND ALL THE FUN THINGS THAT COME ALONG WITH CLASSIC WEEKEND. SPEAKING OF THE EVENTS, TONY, THERE’S SOMETHING NEW THIS YEAR. THERE’S A GOLF TOURNAMENT WHICH IS TEEING OFF RIGHT NOW. YES. WHAT CAN PEOPLE EXPECT WITH THIS NEW ADDITION AND THE REST OF THE EVENTS THIS WEEKEND? I’M EXCITED THAT THE ORGANIZERS FLORIDA, CITRA SPORTS, THE TWO SCHOOLS. WE’RE ALWAYS LOOKING FOR WAYS TO ADD NEW INGREDIENTS AND NEW PROJECTS WITH THE GAME. THIS GOLF TOURNAMENT IS BRAND NEW. IT’S OUR INAUGURAL GOLF TOURNAMENT AT EAGLE CREEK, AND WE’VE GOT OVER 20 TEAMS THAT HAVE BEEN A PART OF IT THIS YEAR, SO I’M EXCITED THAT WE’RE ADDING THIS NEW COMPONENT TO THE FLORIDA CLASSIC. YEAH, IT’S GOING TO BE A LOT OF FUN. AND JUSTIN JUST PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE. WE TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE IMPACT, BUT THIS REALLY AFFECTS NOT JUST THE SCHOOLS BUT CENTRAL FLORIDA AND BEYOND. BEYOND ESPECIALLY THE COMMUNITIES OF WEST LAKES, LAKE LORNA DOONE, THE ROCK ROCK LAKE COMMUNITIES, LAKE SUNSET. WE HAVE OVER 70 TO 80 VENDORS THAT ARE LOADING IN RIGHT NOW. AND THE FISCAL IMPACT FOR THE SMALL BUSINESS AND ENTREPRENEURS ARE ABOUT 500 TO $750,000 PER YEAR. SO THE COMMUNITY BENEFITS FROM IT. OBVIOUSLY, THE THE HOTELS, THE AIRPORT TRAVEL, ALL OF THE EVENTS HAPPENING AROUND HERE. THERE ARE A LOT OF FREE EVENTS HAPPENING THAT MAKE THAT ATMOSPHERE ELECTRIC, LIKE IN LORNA DOONE PARK. WE HAVE THE YARD WHERE WE SEEK TO CREATE THE HBCU CAMPUS ATMOSPHERE. YOU HAVE THE DIVINE NINE OUT THERE. YOU HAVE THE VENDORS, YOU HAVE THE FAN FEST GOING ON THE FLORIDA BLUE FLORIDA CLASSIC FAN FEST, AND IT’S JUST AN AMAZING TIME. ALWAYS, ALWAYS STOP BY THE RV LOT IF YOU GET A CHANCE. OH, CERTAINLY. SO. AND I’LL BE OUT THERE WITH MY SOURCE FOR DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY INCORPORATED REALLY QUICKLY. BEFORE WE GO, WHERE CAN PEOPLE LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FLORIDA CLASSIC? GO TO OUR WEBSITE, FLORIDA CLASSIC DOT. THERE’S NEWS OUT THERE. PEOPLE CAN FIND OUT ABOUT THE GAME, ABOUT THE EVENTS, SIGNING UP FOR THE GAME. SO THAT’S INCREDIBLE. AND OF COURSE WE’LL POST ALL OF THIS ON OUR WEBSITE WESH.COM. AND EVEN THOUGH IT IS A FRIENDLY RIVALRY, I’M WEARING ORANGE FOR A REASON.
The 2025 Florida Classic Weekend is underway in Central Florida.The lineup of events celebrating the 45th annual matchup between Florida A&M University and Bethune-Cookman University will run Thursday, Nov. 20, through Saturday, Nov. 22.Leaders from Florida Blue and Florida Citrus Sports join WESH 2 to discuss the rich history, impact, and events in Orlando.Event RundownInaugural Florida Classic Golf Tournament Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, 7 a.m.Eagle Creek Golf ClubFlorida Classic Consortium Kickoff Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, 11:30 a.m.Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress ResortFlorida Blue Battle of the Bands Friday, Nov 21, 2025, 7 p.m.Kia CenterFlorida Classic Fan FestSaturday, Nov. 22, 2025 (pre-game)Tinker Field Florida Blue Florida ClassicSaturday, Nov. 22, 2025, 3:30 p.m.Camping World StadiumClick here to learn more.
ORLANDO, Fla. —
The 2025 Florida Classic Weekend is underway in Central Florida.
The lineup of events celebrating the 45th annual matchup between Florida A&M University and Bethune-Cookman University will run Thursday, Nov. 20, through Saturday, Nov. 22.
Leaders from Florida Blue and Florida Citrus Sports join WESH 2 to discuss the rich history, impact, and events in Orlando.
It’s this creeping surveillance that gives some students pause, even those who told The 74 they otherwise support vape detectors in bathrooms. The possibility of unknown capabilities with the sensors is “very scary to me” said Moledina, the Austin teen, who worries about a future where bathrooms come with cameras.
“Just knowing that there is vape smoke in the bathroom doesn’t really help you because the administrators already know it’s happening, and just by knowing that it’s there isn’t going to help them find out who is doing it,” he said. “So my concern is that, at the end of the day, we’re going to end up having cameras in bathrooms, which is definitely not what we want.”
Minneapolis educators have used surveillance cameras in conjunction with the sensors to identify students for vaping in the bathrooms, discipline logs show.
In February, for example, a Roosevelt High School senior was suspended for a day based on accusations they hit a weed vape in the bathroom. Officials reviewed footage from a surveillance camera outside the bathroom and determined the student was “entering and exiting the bathroom during the timeframe that the detector went off.” They were searched, and administrators found “a marijuana vape, an empty glass jar with a weed smell and a baggie with weed shake in it.”
That same month, educators referred a Camden High School student to a drug and alcohol counselor for “vaping in the single stall bathrooms.”
“After I reviewed the camera it does show [a] student leaving out that same stall bathroom,” campus officials reported.
Gutierrez, the 18-year-old from Arizona, said she quit vaping after she was suspended and now copes with depression through positive means like painting. What she didn’t do, however, was quit because she received help at school for the mental health challenges that led her to vape in the first place.
She stopped vaping while she was suspended, she said, because she was away from her friends and lacked access. She was frightened into further compliance, Gutierrez recalled, by the online lessons depicting vaping as a gross, gooey purple monster that would poison her relationships.
“Yes I stopped, but it wasn’t a good stop,” she said. “I didn’t get no support. I didn’t get no counseling. I stopped because I was scared.”
A 29-year-old Sacramento man has been arrested after an investigation into suspicious activity at schools in east Sacramento County led to the seizure of multiple firearms, law enforcement patches and tactical gear, the sheriff’s office said. The investigation of Dalmin Muran began after he was repeatedly observed engaging in suspicious activity at schools, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. In one case, he allegedly drove his vehicle onto the grounds of Rosemont High School during the evening and was observed wearing military-style clothing and night-vision optics. After a security guard told him to leave, he allegedly said he should be allowed access because the schools are “public grounds.” The sheriff’s office said during other visits he erroneously claimed to have prior military service and expressed interest in joining law enforcement. Deputies executed a search warrant at a home last week in connection with Muran and found “numerous” guns that had been modified, including an unserialized “ghost gun” rifle hidden in an attic, the sheriff’s office said. Hundreds of firearm parts and components for building or altering weapons were also seized, along with multiple smoke grenades, flash bangs and “pepper spray deployable smoke grenades.” Deputies also found multiple law enforcement patches and tactical gear, “including those from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.”Muran was released on bond hours after being booked into custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail, the sheriff’s office said.Muran faces four felony counts related to weapons offenses, according to a criminal complaint filed on Nov. 13. One of the counts alleges that he stole firearm accessories from a gun range. An earlier complaint filed on Dec. 11, 2024, accuses Muran of unlawfully carrying a concealed firearm. He was arraigned on that case in June. He is next due in court in connection with both cases on Jan. 14. The sheriff’s office said it is concerned there may be unreported incidents where Muran represented himself as a law enforcement agent.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
A 29-year-old Sacramento man has been arrested after an investigation into suspicious activity at schools in east Sacramento County led to the seizure of multiple firearms, law enforcement patches and tactical gear, the sheriff’s office said.
The investigation of Dalmin Muran began after he was repeatedly observed engaging in suspicious activity at schools, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office. In one case, he allegedly drove his vehicle onto the grounds of Rosemont High School during the evening and was observed wearing military-style clothing and night-vision optics. After a security guard told him to leave, he allegedly said he should be allowed access because the schools are “public grounds.”
The sheriff’s office said during other visits he erroneously claimed to have prior military service and expressed interest in joining law enforcement.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
Deputies executed a search warrant at a home last week in connection with Muran and found “numerous” guns that had been modified, including an unserialized “ghost gun” rifle hidden in an attic, the sheriff’s office said.
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
Hundreds of firearm parts and components for building or altering weapons were also seized, along with multiple smoke grenades, flash bangs and “pepper spray deployable smoke grenades.”
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
Deputies also found multiple law enforcement patches and tactical gear, “including those from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office.”
Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office
Muran was released on bond hours after being booked into custody at the Sacramento County Main Jail, the sheriff’s office said.
Muran faces four felony counts related to weapons offenses, according to a criminal complaint filed on Nov. 13. One of the counts alleges that he stole firearm accessories from a gun range.
An earlier complaint filed on Dec. 11, 2024, accuses Muran of unlawfully carrying a concealed firearm. He was arraigned on that case in June.
He is next due in court in connection with both cases on Jan. 14.
The sheriff’s office said it is concerned there may be unreported incidents where Muran represented himself as a law enforcement agent.
Leah Feiger: Zoë, I am obsessed with this story. Before you continue, I think that it’s really important to say that Caroline, the lovely reporter of this story on your business desk, obtained 1,665 pages of documents about the dispute about Zuckerberg’s house. This story is canon now.
Zoë Schiffer: Caroline Haskins is a complete star. Our fact-checking team literally cried when I asked them. They were like, “Wait, sorry, how many documents are we looking through?” I was like, “Yes.”
Leah Feiger: Shout out to the WIRED research team.
Zoë Schiffer: Absolutely. The school, I think we just have to say, is named after one of the Zuckerberg family chickens. It’s called the Bicken Ben School.
Leah Feiger: I mean, hearing you say this, it’s, I know you’re being serious, but again.
Zoë Schiffer: So, the Crescent City neighborhood in Palo Alto, where the Zuckerbergs live, as you can imagine, is some of the best real estate in the entire country. It’s filled with these gorgeous homes, a ton of greenery. Mark Zuckerberg has been expanding his presence throughout the years in this ultra fancy neighborhood. The plot of land that the Zuckerbergs live on has expanded to include 11 previously separate properties. This is so funny and just such a nightmare. If you’re living on the street, you paid whatever, $5 million for your house, and suddenly all of your neighbors are Mark Zuckerberg.
Leah Feiger: Important to note that not all of them are connecting either. I don’t totally understand what that means. Do they walk through a neighbor’s porch to get to their horse’s pool? What does this entail?
Zoë Schiffer: We have more questions. We have to Google Earth this. I think there’s some holes in this story that we need to fill in. The expansion first became a concern for Mark Zuckerberg’s neighbors, back in 2016, due to fears that his purchases were driving up the market pretty dramatically. But then, about five years later, neighbors started noticing that a school appeared to be operating out of the Zuckerberg compound. So, this is illegal to do without a permit, at least under the area’s residential zoning code. And so, naturally, the neighbors started to alert the city. Caroline Haskins, the reporter on the story, obtained over a thousand documents, like you said, outlining the resulting fight between the neighbors and the city authorities, basically arguing that, it felt to them like the Zuckerbergs were getting special treatment.
SANTA FE, N.M. — On a recent field trip to view historical markers in New Mexico’s capital city of Santa Fe, seventh grader Raffi Paglayan noted the range of careers and contributions made by the women featured on them.
Paglayan’s favorite was Katherine Stinson Otero, a skywriter who was one of the first women to obtain a pilot’s license in the U.S. After Stinson Otero contracted tuberculosis while driving ambulances in World War I, she moved to New Mexico and started a second career as a renowned architect.
“She seems pretty cool,” Paglayan said with a smile.
Introducing New Mexicans to women from the state’s history is the goal of a decades-long program that has put up nearly 100 roadside markers featuring the significant contributions of women from or with ties to New Mexico. Now the New Mexico Historic Women Marker Program is branching out to create a curriculum for schools based on its research.
“It’s just so essential that all students, not just female students, but every student has the ability to recognize and see the significance of the people that have done so much work to create what we have,” said Lisa Nordstrum, the education director and middle school teacher who took Paglayan and her classmates on the field trip.
The road marker efforts started decades ago. Pat French, a founding member of the International Women’s Forum – New Mexico, a leadership and networking group, noticed in the 1980s that there were hardly any women mentioned in any of the state’s historic roadside markers. In 2006, the group secured state funding to work with the New Mexico Department of Transportation to change that.
Over the years, the group visited individual counties and Native American communities, asking for stories about important women in their history. The research compiled biographies of dozens of women from precolonial times through the Spanish and Mexican territory periods, and into the time when New Mexico became a state.
Now those women’s stories are displayed on 6-foot signs across the state and in an online database. While some honor well-known historical figures such as American modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe and New Mexico’s first female Secretary of State Soledad Chávez de Chacón, many others feature local women whose stories have not been widely told.
For example, Evelyn Vigil and Juanita Toledo are remembered for reviving the Pecos Pueblo style of pottery in the 1970s, after the indigenous Pecos Pueblo population was decimated by years of disease and war by the 1890s, and the pottery techniques were lost.
“There is just a sense of justice about it,” said program director Kris Pettersen. “These women put all this effort in and made all these contributions, and they were unrecognized, and that’s just wrong.”
Other markers are dedicated to groups of women, such as healers and the state’s female military veterans. The collection notes that the history of the state cannot be told without recognizing the conflict that came with colonialization and the wars fought over the territory.
“They are not, however, the first women to take up arms and defend their homes and society in our region,” the veterans’ online blurb notes. “New Mexico is a state of culturally diverse people who have protected themselves over many centuries.”
For now, the group has paused creating new markers, opting to maintain the current ones and focus on the educational mission.
Over 10 years ago, Nordstrum had a revelation similar to French’s: There was a lack of women in the standard state history curriculum. She stumbled upon online biographies from the marker program and started teaching their stories to her seventh graders.
In 2022, the New Mexico Historic Women Marker Program secured state funding to hire Nordstrum to develop a K-12 curriculum from women’s biographies.
“We have women that wouldn’t be in any textbook,” Nordstrum said.
The funding was renewed in 2024 with bipartisan support. One of the legislation’s co-sponsors, Republican state Rep. Gail Armstrong, believes it’s important for New Mexico residents, young and old, to understand how the world they live in was formed.
“History, good or bad, should not be changed. It needs to be remembered so that we don’t make the same mistakes again and so that we can celebrate the good things that have happened,” she said.
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The Associated Press’ women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Rayann Martin sat in a classroom hundreds of miles from her devastated Alaska Native village and held up 10 fingers when the teacher asked the pupils how old they were.
“Ten — how do you say 10 in Yup’ik?” the teacher asked.
“Qula!” the students answered in unison.
Martin and her family were among hundreds of people airlifted to Anchorage, the state’s largest city, after the remnants of Typhoon Halong inundated their small coastal villages along the Bering Sea last month, dislodging dozens of homes and floating them away — many with people inside. The floods left nearly 700 homes destroyed or heavily damaged. One person died, two remain missing.
As the residents grapple with uprooted lives very different from the traditional ones they left, some of the children are finding a measure of familiarity in a school-based immersion program that focuses on their Yup’ik language and culture — one of two such programs in the state.
“I’m learning more Yup’ik,” said Martin, who added that she’s using the language to communicate with her mother, teachers and classmates. “I usually speak more Yup’ik in villages, but mostly more English in cities.”
There are more than 100 languages spoken in the homes of Anchorage School District students. Yup’ik, which is spoken by about 10,000 people in the state, is the fifth most common. The district adopted its first language immersion program — Japanese — in 1989, and subsequently added Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, German, French and Russian.
After many requests from parents, the district obtained a federal grant and added a K-12 Yup’ik immersion program about nine years ago. The students in the first class are now eighth-graders. The program is based at College Gate Elementary and Wendler Middle School.
The principal at College Gate Elementary, Darrell Berntsen, is himself Alaska Native — Sugpiaq, from Kodiak Island, south of Anchorage. His mother was 12 years old in 1964 when the magnitude-9.2 Great Alaska Earthquake and an ensuing tsunami devastated her village of Old Harbor. He recalls her stories of joining other villagers at high ground and watching as the surge of water carried homes out to sea.
His mother and her family evacuated to a shelter in Anchorage, but returned to Kodiak Island when Old Harbor was rebuilt. Berntsen grew up living a subsistence life — “the greatest time of my life was being able to go out duck hunting, go out deer hunting,” he said — and he understands what the evacuees from Kipnuk, Kwigillingok and other damaged villages have left behind.
He has also long had an interest in preserving Alaska Native culture and languages. His ex-wife’s grandmother, Marie Smith Jones, was the last fluent speaker of Eyak, an indigenous language from south-central Alaska, when she died in 2008. His uncles had their hands slapped when they spoke their indigenous Alutiiq language at school.
As the evacuees arrived in Anchorage in the days after last month’s flooding, Berntsen greeted them at an arena where the Red Cross had set up a shelter. He invited families to enroll their children in the Yup’ik immersion program. Many of the parents showed him photos of the duck, goose, moose, seal or other traditional foods they had saved for the winter — stockpiles that washed away or spoiled in the flood.
“Listening is a big part of our culture — hearing their stories, letting them know that, ‘Hey, I live here in Anchorage, I’m running one of my schools, the Yup’ik immersion program, you guys are welcome at our school,’” Berntsen said. “Do everything we can to make them feel comfortable in the most uncomfortable situation that they’ve ever been through.”
Some 170 evacuated children have enrolled in the Anchorage School District — 71 of them in the Yup’ik immersion program. Once the smallest immersion program in the district, it’s now “booming,” said Brandon Locke, the district’s world language director.
At College Gate, pupils receive instruction in Yup’ik for half the day, including Yup’ik literacy and language as well as science and social studies. The other half is in English, which includes language arts and math classes.
Among the program’s new students is Ellyne Aliralria, a 10-year-old from Kipnuk. During the surge of floodwater the weekend of Oct. 11, she and her family were in a home that floated upriver. The high water also washed away her sister’s grave, she said.
Aliralria likes the immersion program and learning more phrases, even though the Yup’ik dialect being spoken is a bit different from the one she knows.
“I like to do all of them, but some of them are hard,” the fifth-grader said.
Also difficult is adjusting to living in a motel room in a city nearly 500 miles (800 km) from their village on the southwest coast.
“We’re homesick,” she said.
Lilly Loewen, 10, is one of many non-Yup’iks in the program. She said her parents wanted her to participate because “they thought it was really cool.”
“It is just really amazing to get to talk to people in another language other than just what I speak mostly at home,” Loewen said.
Berntsen is planning to help the new students acclimate by holding activities such as gym nights or Olympic-style events, featuring activities that mimic Alaska Native hunting and fishing techniques. One example: the seal hop, in which participants assume a plank position and shuffle across the floor to emulate how hunters sneak up on seals napping on the ice.
The Yup’ik immersion program is helping undo some of the damage Western culture did to Alaska Native language and traditions, he said. It’s also bridging the gap of two lost generations: In some cases, the children’s parents or grandparents never learned Yup’ik, but the students can now speak with their great-grandparents, Locke said.
“I took this as a great opportunity for us to give back some of what the trauma had taken from our Indigenous people,” Berntsen said.
ATLANTA (AP) — When families are evicted, it can lead to major disruptions to their children’s schooling.
Federal law includes provisions to help homeless and evicted kids stay at their schools, but families don’t always know about them — and schools don’t always share the information. Beyond the instability that comes with losing their home, relocating also can deprive kids of networks they rely on for support.
AP followed the year-long quest of one Atlanta mother, Sechita McNair, to find new housing after an eviction. The out-of-work film industry veteran drove extra hours for Uber and borrowed money, eventually securing a lease in the right neighborhood so her eldest son could stay at his high school. At $2,200 a month, it was the only “semi-affordable” apartment in the rapidly gentrifying Old Fourth Ward that would rent to a single mom with a fresh eviction on her record.
Even so, her son was not thriving. McNair considered a homeschooling program before re-enrolling him at the coveted high school. Despite continuing challenges, McNair is determined to provide her three children with better educational opportunities.
Evictions often lead families to schools with fewer resources
Like many evicted families, McNair and her kids went from living in a school district that spends more money on students to one that spends less.
Atlanta spends nearly $20,000 per student a year, $7,000 more than the suburban district the family moved to after they were evicted from their apartment last year. More money in schools means smaller classrooms and more psychologists, guidance counselors and other support.
Thanks to federal laws protecting homeless and evicted students, McNair’s kids were able to keep attending their Atlanta schools, even though the only housing available to them was in another county 40 minutes away. They also had the right to free transportation to those schools, but McNair says the district didn’t tell her about that until the school year ended. Once they found new housing, their eligibility to remain in those schools expired at the end of last school year.
Support systems matter, too
The suburban neighborhood where the family landed after the eviction is filled with brick colonials and manicured lawns. McNair knows it’s the dream for some families, but not hers. “It’s a support desert,” she said.
McNair, who grew up in New Jersey near New York City, sees opportunities in the wider city of Atlanta. She wants to use its libraries, e-scooters, bike paths, hospitals, rental assistance agencies, Buy Nothing groups and food pantries.
“These are all resources that make it possible to raise a family when you don’t have support,” she said. “Wouldn’t anyone want that?”
It’s tough to find safe, affordable housing after an eviction
It took months for McNair to scrape together funds and find a landlord in her gentrifying neighborhood who would rent to her in spite of her recent eviction.
On Zillow, the second-floor apartment, built in 2005, looked like a middle-class dream with its granite countertops, crown molding and polished wood floors. But up close, the apartment looked abused. Her tour of the apartment was rushed, and the lease was full of errors. She signed anyway.
Shortly after — while she was still waiting for the landlord to install more smoke detectors and fix the oven and fridge — McNair’s keys stopped working. The apartment had been sold in a short sale.
The new owners wanted McNair to leave, but she consulted with attorneys, who reassured her she could stay. Eventually, she even moved some of the family’s belongings to the apartment.
But a new apartment in their preferred neighborhood doesn’t solve everything. At night, McNair’s 15-year-old son, Elias, has been responsible for his younger brothers while she heads out to drive for Uber. That’s what is necessary to pay $450 a week to rent the car and earn enough to pay her rent and bills.
While McNair is out, she can’t monitor Elias. And a few days after he started school, Elias’s all-night gaming habit had already drawn teachers’ attention. As she drove for Uber one night, she couldn’t stop thinking about emails from his teachers. “I should be home making sure Elias gets to bed on time,” she says, crying. “But I have to work. I’m the only one paying the bills.”
Consistency is important for a teen’s learning
McNair attributed some of Elias’s lack of motivation at school to personal trauma. His father died after a heart attack in 2023, on the sidelines of Elias’s basketball practice. Wounded by that loss and multiple housing displacements, Elias failed two classes last year, his freshman year. His mother feared switching schools would jeopardize any chance he had of recovering his academic life.
But after Elias started skipping school this fall, McNair filed papers declaring her intention to homeschool him.
It quickly proved challenging. Elias wouldn’t do any schoolwork when he was home alone. And when the homeschooling group met twice a week, McNair discovered, they required parents to pick up their children afterward instead of allowing them to take public transit or e-scooters. That was untenable.
McNair considered enrolling her son in the suburban school district, but an Atlanta schools official advised against transferring if possible. He needs to be in school — preferably the Atlanta school he has attended — studying for midterms, the official said.
Now, with Elias back in school every day, McNair can deliver food through Uber Eats without worrying about a police officer asking why her kid isn’t in school. If only she had pushed harder, sooner, for help with Elias, she thought.
But it was easy for her to explain why she hadn’t. “I was running around doing so many other things just so we have a place to live, or taking care of my uncle, that I didn’t put enough of my energy there.”
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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
ATLANTA (AP) — As an education reporter, I’ve heard teachers worry that the most pernicious challenges their students face, like poverty or housing insecurity, are beyond the realm of what schools can fix.
I wanted to understand better how the rising cost of housing and the prevalence of eviction could undermine a young person’s ability to thrive in school and in life.
Research shows schoolchildren threatened with eviction are more likely to transfer to another school, often one with less funding, more poverty and lower test scores. They’re more likely to miss school, and those who end up transferring are suspended more often.
I’ve seen this firsthand through my own reporting. A few years ago, when I was writing about students who missed school for months or longer, many of them said a housing disruption had first kept them out of class. They lost their home, ended up staying with a relative, and didn’t get back in school for weeks or longer.
So I called up a parent organizer in Atlanta who had introduced me to other families struggling with that city’s rapid gentrification.
McNair was one of the easiest people I’ve ever written about because she was a film-industry veteran. She understood my desire to document or understand every step in the process of getting evicted or advocating for her children. I never had to explain why I was asking a question, why I wanted so much detail about where she was when she received a certain phone call, or why I wanted her to send me emails or documents. She’s an open book and sincerely thought others might benefit from reading about her perseverance and resourcefulness.
She also was challenging to write about because her life was extremely complicated. McNair has immense family responsibilities, without support from other relatives, yet she holds a deep belief that things will work out if she just keeps moving. Her situation and plans would change rapidly. Sometimes I struggled to keep up.
I traveled to Atlanta three times over several months to visit McNair, and in between we were in constant touch. I often spoke to her while she drove the kids to and from school or while she picked up orders for Uber Eats. The result is a close-up portrait of life as a single mother trying to swim upstream while carrying three boys on her back.
This is the hardest part: Everything McNair was working toward — getting her kids back into Atlanta — is exactly what researchers would say she should do. She should keep her kids in the same school so they can be in a stable environment.
But so far, it hasn’t been enough.
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Bianca Vázquez Toness covers the intersection of education and children’s well-being. She led the nation in showing how many students were missing school after the pandemic, and her work was honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
ATLANTA (AP) — It was the worst summer in years. Sechita McNair’s family took no vacations. Her younger boys didn’t go to camp. Her van was repossessed, and her family nearly got evicted — again.
But she accomplished the one thing she wanted most. A few weeks before school started, McNair, an out-of-work film industry veteran barely getting by driving for Uber, signed a lease in the right Atlanta neighborhood so her eldest son could stay at his high school.
As she pulled up outside the school on the first day, Elias, 15, stepped onto the curb in his new basketball shoes and cargo pants. She inspected his face, noticed wax in his ears and grabbed a package of baby wipes from her rental car. She wasn’t about to let her eldest, with his young Denzel Washington looks, go to school looking “gross.”
He grimaced and broke away.
“No kiss? No hugs?” she called out.
Elias waved and kept walking. Just ahead of him, at least for the moment, sat something his mother had fought relentlessly for: a better education.
The link between where you live and where you learn
Sechita McNair, center, and sons Derrick McNair-White, left, and Malachi McNair-Nesbitt, right, walk to catch a city bus in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sechita McNair, center, and sons Derrick McNair-White, left, and Malachi McNair-Nesbitt, right, walk to catch a city bus in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Last year, McNair and her three kids were evicted from their beloved apartment in the rapidly gentrifying Old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta. Like many evicted families, they went from living in a school district that spends more money on students to one that spends less.
Thanks to federal laws protecting homeless and evicted students, her kids were able to keep attending their Atlanta schools, even though the only housing available to them was in another county 40 minutes away. They also had the right to free transportation to those schools, but McNair says the district didn’t tell her about that until the school year ended. Their eligibility to remain in those schools expired at the end of last school year.
Still wounded by the death of his father and multiple housing displacements, Elias failed two classes last year, his freshman year. Switching schools now, McNair fears, would jeopardize any chance he has of recovering his academic life. “I need this child to be stable,” she says.
Bianca Vázquez Toness covers the intersection of education and children’s well-being. She led the nation in showing how many students were missing school after the pandemic — work that was honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
With just one week before school started, McNair drove extra Uber hours, borrowed money, secured rental assistance and ignored concerns about the apartment to rent a three-bedroom in the Old Fourth Ward. At $2,200 a month, it was the only “semi-affordable” apartment in the rapidly gentrifying ward that would rent to a single mom with a fresh eviction on her record.
On Zillow, the second-floor apartment, built in 2005, looked like a middle-class dream with its granite countertops, crown molding and polished wood floors. But up close, the apartment looked abused and held secrets McNair was only beginning to uncover.
The first sign something was wrong came early. When she first toured the apartment, it felt rushed, like the agent didn’t want her to look too closely. Then, even as they told her she was accepted, the landlord and real estate agent wouldn’t send her a “welcome letter” laying out the agreement, the rent and deposit she would pay. It seemed like they didn’t want to put anything in writing.
When the lease came, it was full of errors. She signed it anyway. “We’re back in the neighborhood!” she said. Elias could return to Midtown High School.
But even in their triumph, no one in the family could relax. Too many things were uncertain. And it fell to McNair — and only McNair — to figure it out.
The first day back
Sechita McNair, left, talks to her oldest son, Elias Washington, before he walks into Midtown High School for the first day of school on Aug. 4 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sechita McNair, left, talks to her oldest son, Elias Washington, before he walks into Midtown High School for the first day of school on Aug. 4 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Midtown is a high school so coveted that school administrators investigate student residency throughout the year to keep out kids from other parts of Atlanta and beyond. For McNair, the day Elias returned to the high school was a momentous one.
“Freedom!” McNair declared after Elias disappeared into the building. Without child care over the summer, McNair had struggled to find time to work enough to make ends meet. Now that the kids were back in class, McNair could spend school hours making money and resolving some of the unsettled issues with her new apartment.
McNair, the first person in her family to attend college, studied theater management. Her job rigging stage sets was lucrative until the writers’ and actors’ strike and other changes paralyzed the film industry in 2023. The scarcity of work on movie sets, combined with her tendency to take in family and non-family alike, wrecked her home economy.
The family was evicted last fall when McNair fell behind on rent because of funeral expenses for her foster daughter. The teen girl died from an epileptic seizure while McNair and everyone else slept. Elias found her body.
McNair attributes some of Elias’s lack of motivation at school to personal trauma. His father died after a heart attack in 2023, on the sidelines of Elias’s basketball practice.
Elias Washington talks to a friend on the phone as he walks to Midtown High School in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Elias Washington talks to a friend on the phone as he walks to Midtown High School in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
On his first day back at school this August, Elias appeared excited but tentative. He watched as the seniors swanned into school wearing gold cardboard crowns, a Midtown back-to-school tradition, and scanned the sidewalk for anyone familiar.
If Elias had his way, his mom would homeschool him. She’s done it before. But now that he’s a teenager, it’s harder to get Elias to follow her instructions. As the only breadwinner supporting three kids and her disabled uncle, she has to work.
Elias hid from the crowds and called up a friend: “Where you at?” The friend, another sophomore, was still en route. Over the phone, they compared outfits, traded gossip about who got a new hairdo or transferred. When Elias’s friend declared this would be the year he’d get a girlfriend, Elias laughed.
When it was time to go in, Elias drifted toward the door with his head down as other students flooded past.
The after-school pickup
Hours later, he emerged. Despite everything McNair had done to help it go well — securing the apartment, even spending hundreds of dollars on new clothes for him — Elias slumped into the backseat when she picked him up after class.
“School was so boring,” he said.
“What happened?” McNair asked.
“Nothing, bro. That was the problem,” Elias said. “I thought I was going to be happy when school started, since summer was so horrible.”
Of all of the classes he was taking — geometry, gym, French, world history, environmental science — only gym interested him. He wished he could take art classes, he said. Elias has acted in some commercials and television programs, but chose a science and math concentration, hoping to study finance someday.
After dinner at Chick-fil-A, the family visited the city library one block from their new apartment. While McNair spoke to the librarian, the boys explored the children’s section. Malachi, 6, watched a YouTube video on a library computer while Derrick, 7, flipped through a book. Elias sat in a corner, sharing video gaming tips with a stranger he met online.
“Those people are learning Japanese,” said McNair, pointing to a group of adults sitting around a cluster of tables. “And this library lets you check out museum passes. This is why we have to be back in the city. Resources!”
McNair wants her children to go to well-resourced schools. Atlanta spends nearly $20,000 per student a year, $7,000 more than the district they moved to after the eviction. More money in schools means smaller classrooms and more psychologists, guidance counselors and other support.
But McNair, who grew up in New Jersey near New York City, also sees opportunities in the wider city of Atlanta. She wants to use its libraries, e-scooters, bike paths, hospitals, rental assistance agencies, Buy Nothing groups and food pantries.
“These are all resources that make it possible to raise a family when you don’t have support,” she said. “Wouldn’t anyone want that?”
Support is hard to come by
Sechita McNair, right, and sons Derrick McNair-White, center, and Malachi McNair-Nesbitt, left, ride an escalator to take the MARTA train on June 11 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sechita McNair, right, and sons Derrick McNair-White, center, and Malachi McNair-Nesbitt, left, ride an escalator to take the MARTA train on June 11 in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
On the way home, the little boys fall asleep in the back seat. Elias asks, “So, is homeschooling off the table?”
McNair doesn’t hesitate. “Heck yeah. I’m not homeschooling you,” she says lightly. “Do you see how much of a financial bind I’m in?”’
McNair pulls into the driveway in Jonesboro, the suburb where the family landed after their eviction. Even though the family wants to live in Atlanta, their stuff is still here. It’s a neighborhood of brick colonials and manicured lawns. She realizes it’s the dream for some families, but not hers. “It’s a support desert.”
As they get out of the car, Elias takes over as parent-in-charge. “Get all of your things,” he directs Malachi and Derrick, who scowl as Elias seems to relish bossing them around. “Pick up your car seats, your food, those markers. I don’t want to see anything left behind.” Elias would be responsible for making the boys burritos, showering them and putting them to sleep.
McNair heads out to drive for Uber. That’s what is necessary to pay $450 a week to rent the car and earn enough to pay her rent and bills.
But while McNair is out, she can’t monitor Elias. And a few days after he starts school, Elias’s all-night gaming habit has already drawn teachers’ attention.
“I wanted to check in regarding Elias,” his geometry teacher writes during the first week of school. “He fell asleep multiple times during Geometry class this morning.”
Elias had told the teacher he went to bed around 4 a.m. the night before. “I understand that there may be various reasons for this, and I’d love to work together to support Elias so he can stay focused and successful in class.”
A few days later, McNair gets a similar email from his French teacher.
That night, McNair drives around Atlanta, trying to pick up enough Uber trips to keep her account active. But she can’t stop thinking about the emails. “I should be home making sure Elias gets to bed on time,” she says, crying. “But I have to work. I’m the only one paying the bills.”
Obstacles keep popping up
Sechita McNair arrives at her new Atlanta apartment on Aug. 1 to find a door that she says looks like it was forced open. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sechita McNair arrives at her new Atlanta apartment on Aug. 1 to find a door that she says looks like it was forced open. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Ever since McNair rented the Atlanta apartment, her bills had doubled. She wasn’t sure when she’d feel safe giving up the house she’d been renting in Clayton County, given the problems with the Atlanta apartment. For starters, she was not even sure it was safe to spend the night there.
A week after school started in August, McNair dropped by the apartment to check whether the landlords had made repairs. At the very least, she wanted more smoke detectors.
She also wanted them to replace the door, which looked like someone had forced it open with a crowbar. She wanted a working fridge and oven. She wanted them to secure the back door to the adjoining empty apartment, which appeared to be open and made her wonder if there were pests or even people squatting there.
But on this day, her keys didn’t work.
She called 911. Had her new landlords deliberately locked her out?
When the police showed up outside the olive-green, Craftsman-style fourplex, McNair scrolled through her phone to find a copy of her lease. Then McNair and the officer eyed a man walking up to the property. “The building was sold in a short sale two weeks ago,” he told McNair. The police officer directed the man to give the new keys to McNair.
The next day, McNair started getting emails from an agent specializing in foreclosures, suggesting the new owners wanted McNair to leave. “The bank owns the property and now you are no longer a tenant of the previous owner,” she wrote. The new owner “might” offer relocation assistance if McNair agreed to leave.
McNair consulted attorneys, who reassured her: It might be uncomfortable, but she could stay. She needed to try to pay rent, even if the new owner didn’t accept it.
So McNair messaged the agent, asking where she should send the rent, and requested the company make necessary repairs. Eventually, the real estate agent stopped responding.
Some problems go away, but others emerge
Finally, McNair moved her kids and a few items from the Jonesboro house to the Atlanta apartment. She didn’t allow Elias to bring his video game console to Atlanta. He started going to bed around 11 p.m. most nights. But even as she solved that problem, others emerged.
It was at Midtown’s back-to-school night in September that McNair learned Elias was behind in most of his classes. Some teachers said maybe Midtown wasn’t the right school for Elias.
Perhaps they were right, McNair thought. She’d heard similar things before.
Sechita McNair, center, rests in the summer heat as she works to repair her family van, while adopted son Derrick McNair-White, 6, right, plays in the driveway of their rented home in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sechita McNair, center, rests in the summer heat as she works to repair her family van, while adopted son Derrick McNair-White, 6, right, plays in the driveway of their rented home in Jonesboro, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Elias also didn’t want to go to school. He skipped one day, then another. McNair panicked. In Georgia, parents can be sent to jail for truancy when their kids miss five unexcused days.
McNair started looking into a homeschooling program run by a mother she follows on Facebook. In the meantime, she emailed and called some Midtown staff for advice. She says she didn’t get a response. Finally, seven weeks after the family’s triumphant return to Midtown, McNair filed papers declaring her intention to homeschool Elias.
It quickly proved challenging. Elias wouldn’t do any schoolwork when he was home alone. And when the homeschooling group met twice a week, she discovered, they required parents to pick up their children afterward instead of allowing them to take public transit or e-scooters. That was untenable.
Elias wanted to stay at home and offered to take care of McNair’s uncle, who has dementia. “That was literally killing my soul the most,” said McNair. “That’s not a child’s job.”
Hell, no, she told him — you only get one chance at high school.
Elias Washington watches a video on his phone as he rests on a bed left by a previous tenant in his family’s new apartment in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Elias Washington watches a video on his phone as he rests on a bed left by a previous tenant in his family’s new apartment in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Then, one day, while she was loading the boys’ clothes into the washing machine at the Atlanta apartment, she received a call from an unknown Atlanta number. It was the woman who heads Atlanta Public Schools’ virtual program, telling her the roster was full.
McNair asked the woman for her opinion on Elias’s situation. Maybe she should abandon the Atlanta apartment and enroll him in the Jonesboro high school.
Let me stop you right there, the woman said. Is your son an athlete? If he transfers too many times, it can affect his ability to play basketball. And he’d probably lose credits and take longer to graduate. He needs to be in school — preferably Midtown — studying for midterms, she said. You need to put on your “big mama drawers” and take him back, she told McNair.
The next day, Elias and his mother pulled up to Midtown. Outside the school, Elias asked if he had to go inside. Yes, she told him. This is your fault as much as it’s mine.
Now, with Elias back in school every day, McNair can deliver food through Uber Eats without worrying about a police officer asking why her kid isn’t in school. If only she had pushed harder, sooner, for help with Elias, she thought. “I should have just gone down to the school and sat in their offices until they talked to me.”
Sechita McNair, center, and sons Derrick McNair-White, right, and Malachi McNair-Nesbitt, left, have breakfast on the steps of Midtown High School in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sechita McNair, center, and sons Derrick McNair-White, right, and Malachi McNair-Nesbitt, left, have breakfast on the steps of Midtown High School in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
But it was easy for her to explain why she hadn’t. “I was running around doing so many other things just so we have a place to live, or taking care of my uncle, that I didn’t put enough of my energy there.”
She wishes she could pay more attention to Elias. But so many things are pulling at her. And as fall marches toward winter, her struggle continues. After failing to keep up with the Jonesboro rent, she’s preparing to leave that house before the landlord sends people to haul her possessions to the curb.
As an Uber driver, she has picked up a few traumatized mothers with their children after they got evicted. She helped them load the few things they could fit into her van. As they drove off, onlookers scavenged the leftovers.
She has promised herself she’d never let that happen to her kids.
Dotted Line with Center Square
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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
SAN FRANCISCO — A senior member of the athletics staff at a community college in Oakland was shot on campus Thursday, the second time in two days the city has had a shooting at a local school.
The Oakland Police Department said it is investigating the shooting that occurred just before noon at Laney College, where officers arrived to find a man with gunshot wounds. The victim was taken to a hospital and his condition is unknown.
Mark Johnson, spokesperson for the Peralta Community College District, said in an email that a senior member of Laney’s athletics staff was shot on campus in its field house.
“The individual was immediately transported to a local hospital, and we are keeping them—and their loved ones—in our hearts during this incredibly difficult time,” Johnson said. “Out of respect for their privacy, we are not releasing their name at this moment.”
Authorities didn’t immediately provide more details about the shooting.
John Beam, the school’s athletics director and longtime football coach, and the Laney Eagles were featured in the 2020 season of the Netflix documentary series “Last Chance U.” The docuseries focused on athletes at junior colleges looking to turn their lives around.
Thursday’s incident came a day after a student was shot at Oakland’s Skyline High School. The student is in stable condition. Police say they arrested two juveniles and recovered two firearms.
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee said she was “heartbroken” by “the second shooting on an Oakland campus in one week.”
A revolution quietly underway in American education: the rise of homeschooling. In the past decade, there’s been a 61 percent increase in homeschool students across the United States, making it the fastest growing form of education in the country. You might not have noticed (I didn’t, at first), because only about 6 percent of students are homeschooled nationally. But that number is nearly double what it was just two years ago.
Then I noticed something that made me take a closer look closer to home. At Starglow Media, the podcast company I founded in 2023, nearly 20 percent of our listenership comes from homeschool families. That substantially overindexes against the national population. In other words, podcasts were particularly popular in the homeschool community.
I was curious, for my business and in general. We make podcasts for kids (and their parents) without any specific content for homeschool families. Why was audio resonating so well with this audience? I did some digging, and the answers surprised me.
First, I wanted to find out why homeschooling was booming. According to the Washington Post, the explosive growth is consistent across “every measurable line of politics, geography, and demographics.” Experts have offered multiple explanations. Some families started homeschooling during COVID and never went back, others want greater say in what their children learn. Some families feel their kids are safer from violence and discrimination at home, others think it’s a better environment for children with disabilities. All these reasons collectively suggest a broader motivation: people are dissatisfied with the traditional education system and are taking it into their own hands.
None of these factors, however, explained why podcasts were popular among homeschool families. So I decided to ask the question myself. I reached out to some Starglow listeners in the Starglow community to hear what about the format was appealing to them. Three main themes emerged.
Many people told me that podcasts are uniquely well-suited to address educational hurdles facing homeschool families. When you’re a homeschool parent, it can be difficult to navigate all the resources that inform lesson planning while ensuring that the content is age- and subject-appropriate. Parents have found podcasts to be an intuitive way to elevate their curricula. They can search for subjects, filter by age group, and trust that the content is suitable for their kids. Ads on the network add another layer of value–because parents can trust the content, they tend to trust further educational materials promoted via the same channels. Simply put, the podcast ecosystem offers a reliable means to supplement lesson plans.
They also offer a clear financial benefit. Homeschooling can be expensive, especially in STEM, but the majority of states don’t offer government subsidies for homeschool education. Podcasts have proven to be a cost-effective way to supplement at-home learning modules. Parents appreciate that it’s free to listen.
Lastly–and this came up in nearly every conversation–they fit in well to homeschool life. Routine is a critical part of any educational context, and podcasts are useful anchors in the school day. Parents can easily pair podcasts with lessons at any point in their day, whether it’s a current events primer paired with a news podcast over breakfast or a specific episode of “Who Smarted” (our most popular educational podcast) about how snow forms worked into a science lesson. In this way, podcasts are becoming an integral part of family life in the homeschool community. Educational content like “Who Smarted” or an age-appropriate audiobook of “Moby Dick” may be the gateway, but families tend to co-listen throughout the day, whether it’s to KidsNuz over coffee or a Koala Moon story at night.
What does all this mean? Homeschooling is growing, and with it is the need for flexible, affordable, and trustworthy educational content. To meet that demand, families are turning to audio, which offers age-appropriate solutions that can be worked into family life through regular co-listening.
I expect that the homeschool movement will continue to grow, because new formats and strategies are offering families new opportunities. That’s good news, because we need innovation in education right now. Test scores are falling, literacy is in decline, and school absenteeism hasn’t fully bounced back from the pandemic. The homeschool surge is just one indicator of our increased dissatisfaction with the status quo. If we want to course correct, we all need to embrace new resources, podcasts or otherwise, to enhance education at home and in the classroom. New media has the potential to transform how people teach–we should embrace the opportunity.
CARLISLE, Pa. — For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States government and Christian denominations operated boarding schools where generations of Native American children were isolated from their families. Along with academics and hard work, the schools sought to erase elements of tribal identity, from language and clothing to hairstyles and even their names.
The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, where the remains of 17 students were exhumed and repatriated in recent weeks, served as a model for other schools.
By the Numbers:
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An Interior Department review published in 2024 found 417 federally funded boarding schools for Native children in the United States. Many others were run by religious groups and other organizations.
An “incomplete” number of burial sites, at 65 schools, identified by the Interior Department across the federal boarding school system.
Number of treaties between the U.S. government and Native American tribes that implicate the federal boarding school program, reflecting its significance to westward expansion.
Amount the U.S. government authorized to run the schools and pursue related policies, in inflation adjusted dollars, 1871-1969.
Carlisle Indian Industrial School operated from 1879 to 1918.
Children and young adults enrolled at Carlisle over four decades, from more than 100 tribes.
Number of students who signed a petition in 1913 asking for an investigation into conditions at Carlisle.
Deaths among students enrolled at Carlisle.
Deaths among students at government run boarding schools in the U.S., according to the Interior Department report. A review by The Washington Post last year documented about 3,100. Researchers say the actual number was much higher.
Indigenous students repatriated from the Carlisle Barracks cemetery since exhumations began in 2017, leaving 118 graves with Native American or Alaska Native names. About 20 more contain unidentified Indigenous children.
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Sources: National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition; “Carlisle Indian Industrial School: Indigenous Histories, Memories and Reclamations”; U.S. Army; “Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report, Volume 2″
Progressive-backed candidates flipped three school board seats in a district near Houston, Texas, as Democrats flipped seats across the country Tuesday night.
Mike Doyle, chair of the Harris County Democrats, told Newsweek in a phone interview that the wins in a red-leaning, suburban area are a testament to “a lot of hard work” by candidates and their supporters.
Newsweek reached out to the Harris County GOP for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Tuesday’s elections were a key bellwether for the electorate’s mood ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, when Democrats are hoping to stage a comeback following losses in the 2024 elections. The results fueled Democratic optimism after a year of uncertainty about the party’s future, with Democrats outperforming expectations in key races.
Those victories extended to suburban Texas. The Lone Star State has been viewed as a reliably conservative state. Democrats did make some gains in the first Trump administration, but it shifted back toward Republicans last November. Still, Democrats are hoping to make the state’s Senate race competitive next November.
Public education has remained a divisive issue in Texas as some state legislators have supported bills that would infuse religion into schools, including by requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in classrooms across the state.
What to Know
Three candidates who have identified as being more progressive flipped seats on the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD school board, reported local news outlet Houston Press. Lesley Guilmart, Cleveland Lane Jr. and Kendra Camarena all defeated Republican-aligned candidates in the race, the news outlet reported.
That is the third-largest school district in the state
Technically, the board is nonpartisan, but Guilmart, Lane and Camarena have all voted in Democratic primaries, while their opponents were viewed as more conservative. They have said they would keep their personal politics off of the school board due to its nonpartisan nature, the news outlet reported.
Conservatives previously held a 6-1 majority on the school board, but will now be in a 4-3 minority, reported Houston Public Media. They have implemented policies including book-banning practices and adding a Bible-focus elective course for students, according to the report.
The races became competitive as voters saw “Republican ideologues fully revealed themselves,” Doyle told Newsweek. The race, despite the nonpartisan nature of the board, had become partisan, he said.
“They were focused on banning books and running off good teachers and cutting school budgets, and pretty much ripping into the fabric of the school system out there,” he said.
Their defeat comes amid a broader debate about religion in schools, of which Texas has found itself the center after lawmakers passed a bill that required schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. In August, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, issued a statement directing schools to abide by the order.
“The woke radicals seeking to erase our nation’s history will be defeated. I will not back down from defending the virtues and values that built this country,” he said in a statement at the time.
What People Are Saying
School Board Trustee-elect Lesley Guilmart wrote in a Facebook post: “’Im so proud of us, and I am deeply grateful. We came together across lines of difference, from across the political spectrum to do right by our children. Every student and staff member deserves to thrive in our district, and Cleveland4CFISD, Kendra 4 CFISD, and I will fight for just that.”
Zeph Capo, president of Texas American Federation of Teachers (AFT) wrote in a statement: “While there’s more work to do to make this board representative of the community and responsive to its needs, this victory turns the page on a dark chapter in this district’s history. The trustees defeated last night routinely pushed the school board into a hard right turn to the extremist fringe, and voters said enough.”
What Happens Next
Republicans will continue to grapple with losses during Tuesday night’s elections. Democrats performed well across the country, including in high-profile contests like the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races. Victories also extended into states like Georgia and Mississippi.
Staff at a high school in Arizona have been doxed and flooded with online attacks, and have received multiple death threats, after a spokesperson for Turning Point USA inaccurately accused a group of teachers of wearing Halloween costumes that purportedly mocked the assassination of TPUSA cofounder Charlie Kirk.
On Friday, members of Cienega High School’s math department wore matching, bloodied white T-shirts with the words “Problem Solved” written in black lettering across the front. A picture of the group was posted on the Vail School District Facebook page. The district’s superintendent, John Carruth, said in a statement that no student or parent complained about the costumes during the school day.
Then, on Saturday, Andrew Kolvet, who was the executive producer on Charlie Kirk’s show, posted the picture on X. “Concerned parents just sent us this image of what’s believed to be teachers in [Vail School District] mocking Charlie’s murder,” Kolvet wrote. “They deserve to be famous, and fired.”
The white T-shirts, Kolvet implied, bore a resemblance to the “Freedom” T-shirts Kirk was wearing when he was assassinated while speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on September 10.
Kolvet’s post went viral and had been viewed almost 10 million times before it was deleted on Tuesday after WIRED contacted him.
Immediately following Kolvet’s post going live, Cienega High School was bombarded with social media posts, comments, direct messages, emails, and at least one voicemail containing racial slurs, calls for the teachers to be fired, the personal information of school staff, and explicit threats of violence. The school shared these messages with WIRED.
The school district immediately responded to the accusations, clarifying on Facebook that the costumes were not a reference to Kirk’s assassination and that the math department had in fact worn the same costumes a year previously.
“We want to clarify that these shirts were part of a math-themed Halloween costume meant to represent solving tough math problems,” Carruth, the superintendent, wrote. “The shirts were never intended to target any person, event, or political issue.” The Vail School District provided WIRED with a copy of an email from October 31, 2024, featuring a picture of the same costumes.
While Kolvet acknowledged Carruth’s statement and admitted in a post on X later on Saturday that the costumes had been worn the year previously, he did not remove his original post.
“It’s a very weird costume for teachers in general, but after what happened to Charlie, I’m absolutely floored they wore it again,” Kolvet wrote. “I do not believe for a second that all of them are innocent.”
