Friday News Roundup

It’s a gray Friday in Iowa. Time for the Roundup.

How a Notorious Maximum-Security Prison Was Transformed Into a Thriving Preschool (The 74)

We talk a lot about “anytime, anywhere” learning here at ABPTL, but this story takes that phrase to a different level.

Rhian Allvin was looking for learning space for her newly launched preschool. She decided to buy a vacated penitentiary, the Lorton Reformatory, located in Lorton, Virginia.

“’I said, ‘I’m already out over my skis. This isn’t a great idea,’ Allvin recalled. ‘I must’ve looked at 40 or 50 other spaces in Virginia. They were all so vanilla. Office buildings. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I took friends to see it.’”

“It took over a year to prepare the space, but Allvin opened the doors to Brynmor Early Education and Preschool in October 2023, with capacity to serve up to 152 children. Today, the shuttered correctional facility is home to a thriving, high-quality early learning program.”

Anytime, anywhere learning at its finest.

“Great Lifelong Habits”: How This District Is Keeping Young Kids Off Screens (EducationWeek)

One of the lessons I learned as a 35-year public school educator was that “busy minds are happy minds.”

Adams Elementary School in Spokane, Washington doesn’t have a social media problem inside (or outside) their school. They haven’t banned Tic Toc, cell phones, or any other technology. In fact, their kids have no limitations to using technology other schools and school districts have banned.

Instead, the kids at Adams Elementary are so busy with school-sponsored extracurricular activities they don’t have time to idly sit by and stare numbly at screens all day.

“’I feel like we’re planting seeds for how they could use devices and technology for productivity in the future,’ said Kelsy Shatto, a 3^rd grade teacher who co-runs the school’s coding clubs. ‘It’s getting them off the mindless doomscrolling and games and into, ‘how can this work in the real world?’”

Washington Central’s $43.2 million Budget Assumes School Closings and Deep Staff Cuts (The Bridge)

Staffing Déjà Vu: Districts Add 118,000 More Employees, Serve 135,000 Fewer Kids (The 74)

Vermont public schools continue to struggle with shrinking budgets based on declining enrollment. Many districts, like Washington Central located near Montpelier, Vermont, say they will close schools and cut staffing for this upcoming school year.

The problem is that Washinton Central, other Vermont districts, and other districts across America don’t always do what they say they’ll do. In the end, too many “keep the same ‘ole the same ‘ole.”

And nationally, the National Center for Education Statistics reports that America’s public schools added 118,000 employees last year even as they served 135,000 fewer students.

This is an example of an unsustainable model.

National Internship Program Grows, Placing High Schoolers in Rare Corporate Jobs (The 74)

I served on the board for Houston GenesysWorks, a national non-profit committed to placing high school students in well-paying, high-responsibility corporate jobs. GenesysWorks has been a national school-to-work model for decades.

Which begs the question: why aren’t school districts banging down GenersysWorks’ door – along with other school-to-work programs – to get their students into these types of programs?

Like we’ve asked many times here at ABPTL, why don’t we do what we know works inside public education?

Maybe instead of cutting federal funding away from the K-12 system, the Trump administration could apply funding to programs we know work – like GenesysWorks?

Iowa Students Shouldn’t Need Vaccinations To Go To School, Bill Says (The Des Moines Register)

The Des Moines Register reported today that a bill advancing in the Iowa House would end the state’s requirements that children receive vaccines before they can attend school.

Crazy as the day is long.

Bill Expanding “Don’t Say Gay” Law Through High School Advances (The Des Moines Register)

The Des Moines Register also reported today that the Iowa House can now take up the “Don’t Say Gay” bill limiting public schools from teaching students about LGBTQ topics through high school.

Crazier than the day is long.

I think I need a little more Vermont time. Have a great weekend. Til Monday. SVB