Education

CNN reports: Dr. Scott Atlas, a former adviser to President Donald Trump, was met with a flurry of boos, jeers and chants as he delivered a keynote speech during the graduation ceremony for the New College of Florida Friday night, amid a contentious conservative government takeover of the college. The commencement comes just months after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis replaced …

The Daily Beast reports: A Florida middle-school teacher who had his class watch a self-made, pro-Confederacy video for Confederate History Month has filed a complaint against his school district for launching an investigation into his questionable teaching practices. Collier County Public Schools looked into a video that Manatee Middle School social studies teacher Jonathan Papanikolaou had his students watch during …

NBC News reports: Penguin Random House, authors, parents and a free speech group filed a lawsuit Wednesday against a Florida school district for removing 10 books related to race and the LGBTQ community after a high school teacher complained. In addition to the publishing house, PEN America, a nonprofit group that advocates for free expression in literature, five authors whose …

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports: Organizers of the New College of Florida graduating Class of 2023 student-led “Commencement On Our Terms” have announced civil rights leader and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Maya Wiley as the keynote speaker at the alternative graduation event on Thursday, May 18. New College graduating seniors and Nova Alliance alumni will …

The Washington Post reports: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill into law Monday barring the state’s colleges and universities from spending money on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and limiting how race can be discussed in many courses. The move comes amid a larger conservative attack on higher education DEI programs, which DeSantis and others say reinforce racial …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: A Florida teacher is under investigation by the state Department of Education after what she believes is a targeted attack by a school board member who took issue with a Disney movie shown in her classroom. At a Hernando County School Board meeting Tuesday, fifth-grade teacher Jenna Barbee alleges school board member Shannon Rodriguez reported her …

The Guardian reports: Florida education officials allegedly told a school teacher that she was under a misconduct investigation after, her friend claimed, she showed students the Disney animated film Strange World. The purported investigation following this alleged showing of Strange World comes amid rightwing Republican governor Ron DeSantis’s attacks on educators that include book censorship and limitations on discussions of …

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reports: Florida’s state education department rejected two new Holocaust-focused textbooks for classroom use, while forcing at least one other textbook to alter a passage about the Hebrew Bible in order to meet state approval. The books were rejected as part of a broader review of new K-12 social studies material. According to documents provided by the …

Politico reports: Florida’s Department of Education as of Tuesday approved dozens of social studies textbooks for use in local schools after initially rejecting many over content the DeSantis administration found objectionable. Publishers in many cases tweaked the content in their books after an initial review from the state, according to the state’s education agency. State education officials flagged several potential …

NewsNation reports: Public schools in Flint are enforcing a policy banning backpacks, including those made of clear plastic material, amid concerns over firearms, weapons and threats. The Flint Board of Education voted 7-0 to ban backpacks for the remainder of the school year. The new policy allows small purses for personal items, clear plastic bags for gym clothes and lunchboxes …

Politico reports: Illinois is poised to become the first state to punish public institutions that ban books. Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has said he supports a House bill that would withhold state funding from any of the state’s 1,600 public or school libraries that remove books from their shelves. It passed in the Illinois Senate on Wednesday, and Pritzker is …

“Oklahomans, we have a clear choice in front of us. When it comes to our schools, do we want the radical ideology in our classroom that pushes gender theory? That pushes graphic pornography in order to push a social experiment on our kids? “Or do want the US Constitution? Do we want documents like the Federalist Papers and the bible? …

The BBC reports: A US principal forced to resign after parents complained about an art lesson showing one of the world’s most famous sculptures has visited the masterpiece. Hope Carrasquilla and her family went to see Michelangelo’s David on Friday at Florence’s Accademia Galleria. They came at the invitation of museum director Cecilie Hollberg, who said that she was grateful …

ABC News reports: A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows over one out of every four high school students in the United States identifies as LGBTQ. Using data it collected in 2021, the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) found that 74.2% of American high school students identified as heterosexual. The CDC surveyed …

Inside Higher Ed reports: During a contentious Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday, five professors at the New College of Florida were denied tenure—even though they had already received approvals at every other point in the process. Those professors are the latest casualties of the culture-war politics that led conservative trustees appointed by Florida governor Ron DeSantis to spearhead a self-declared …

The Associated Press reports: Florida officials are threatening to revoke the teaching license of a school superintendent who criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis, accusing the educator of violating several statutes and DeSantis directives and allowing his “personal political views” to guide his leadership. Such a revocation by the state Department of Education could allow DeSantis to remove Leon County Superintendent Rocky …

Law & Crime reports: The school district that employs the teacher who was shot by her 6-year-old first grade student says that the teacher’s lawsuit against the district should be dismissed because she was injured in the course of her job — and therefore it’s a matter of workers’ compensation. In other words, the school district appears to be arguing, …

The Texas Tribune reports: Most West Texas A&M faculty have lost confidence in university President Walter Wendler, according to the results of a campuswide vote that came weeks after he canceled a charity campus drag show. Faculty senate leaders announced the results of the weeklong no-confidence vote Tuesday evening. According to faculty senate president Ashley Pinkham, there were 179 votes …

The Alabama Political Reporter reports: Dr. Barbara Cooper, secretary of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, has resigned under pressure from Gov. Kay Ivey [photo] for the inclusion of a “woke” pre-K educator resource book in the state’s curriculum. Ivey’s office said it was brought to Ivey’s attention last week that the book included content “that is simply not …

The Texas Tribune reports: A little more than a year after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declared war on faculty tenure at the state’s public universities, the Texas Senate approved a bill Thursday that would bar schools from granting the benefit to newly hired professors. Patrick’s push to end tenure in Texas started more than a year ago after some University …