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The White House on Wednesday touted the diversity of President Biden’s judicial nominees as it announced nine new federal court nominations.

The nominees are Biden’s eleventh round of federal judicial nominees, which brings the number of his total nominations to 73, one more than former President Donald Trump nominated during his first year in office.

President Biden announces the nomination of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for a second four-year term at the White House in Washington, Nov. 22, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo

“These choices also continue to fulfill the president’s promise to ensure that the nation’s courts reflect the diversity that is one of our greatest assets as a country — both in terms of personal and professional backgrounds,” the White House said in a press release.

The press release from the White House went on to highlight that, if confirmed, Biden’s latest slate of nominees would feature the first Native American Article III judge in California, the only active Hispanic judge on the Eastern District of New York, the first gay Article III judge in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the third Asian American Pacific Islander female judge to serve in the Central District of California.

In this Nov. 5, 2020, file photo, the Supreme Court is seen in Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

“President Biden has spent decades committed to strengthening the federal bench, which is why he continues to move rapidly to fill judicial vacancies,” the release added.

Biden’s has nominated 53 women for federal judicial appointments. He has nominated 20 African Americans, 15 Hispanics and 13 Asian American Pacific Islanders.

Most recently, the Senate confirmed Jennifer Sung to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday. On Monday, Lucy Koh was also confirmed to serve on the 9th Circuit.

President Biden points to the Oval Office of the White House as he arrives aboard Marine One on the South Lawn in Washington Nov. 21, 2021.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Below is the full list of Biden’s most recent nominations:

Since the pandemic, there’s much talk about rethinking education and this includes the early years of schooling. Most parents just want their schools reopened safely and schedules back to normal, but corporate reformers want to see even more changes made to schools than seen with No Child Left Behind (NCLB)!

The October edition of KAPPAN, the professional journal for educators, is titled: Rethinking the Early Years. The picture is a child climbing on books and implies the need for change in how children learn.

The best change would be to make kindergarten kindergarten again, ensuring that all children have access to safe and lovely classrooms, and nurturing, well-prepared early childhood teachers who encourage truly age-appropriate activities!

Instead, one is left with the feeling that academic expectations will rise further. Schooling will become increasingly difficult for young children in the name of future progress.

What’s missing in the journal is any reflection about the problems with how kindergarten changed years ago with NCLB, continued with Race to the Top and now the Every Student Succeeds Act, and the pressure placed on children.

Remember the 2016 paper by Bassok, Latham, and Rorem, Is Kindergarten the New First Grade?

Recent accounts suggest that accountability pressures have trickled down into the early elementary grades and that kindergarten today is characterized by a heightened focus on academic skills and a reduction in opportunities for play. This paper compares public school kindergarten classrooms between 1998 and 2010 using two large, nationally representative data sets. We show substantial changes in each of the five dimensions considered: kindergarten teachers’ beliefs about school readiness, time spent on academic and nonacademic content, classroom organization, pedagogical approach, and use of standardized assessments. Kindergarten teachers in the later period held far higher academic expectations for children both prior to kindergarten entry and during the kindergarten year. They devoted more time to advanced literacy and math content, teacher-directed instruction, and assessment and substantially less time to art, music, science, and child-selected activities.

Who’s considering the stress caused in kindergarten, so much stress that Web MD includes this class with other age groups when discussing anxiety?

There’s much equity talk, but a refusal to connect the dots with the incidents that involve kindergartners and young children arrested for acting out. Who’s talking about the stress, the trauma children face with all the demands? Who’s looking at how so much pressure could lead to the school-to-prison pipeline?

In 2017, the ACLU reported, Spokane Public Schools suspended 110 kindergarten and first graders during the first 35 days of school this year, more than double the rate of suspension and expulsion for high school students in the district. To put it another way, the district suspends more 5- and 6-year-olds from school than it does 14-18-year-olds combined. In fact, Washington schools suspended or expelled over 6000 students in kindergarten through third grade in the 2015-2016 school year.

Instead of factoring in kindergarten stress, the experts are revisiting the well-known and universally accepted stages of growth by Jean Piaget (p.21). One gets the feeling Piagetian beliefs are about to be cast aside as irrelevant and replaced by a new framework of early learning where anything goes.

This obsession with making children better learners includes some research that might make children more comfortable with schooling. Still, it’s a slippery slope to higher expectations that could leave a large number of young students in the lurch.

Many want an even more rigorous curriculum for young children at a time when parents and policymakers complain about test scores showing children floundering when it comes to reading and math. But no one considers that children might be shutting down due to the pressure they face starting school.

Let’s remember what kindergarten used to be, a happy entryway to school. Children attended half a day. They played, painted pictures, dressed up, pretended to cook using play kitchens, took naps on their little rugs, learned how to take turns, and played some more. They listened to stories, proudly told their own stories, described something unique about themselves during show-and-tell, mastered the ABCs, counted to 10, printed their names, and tied their shoes. They had plenty of recess and got excited over simple chores like watering the plants or passing out snacks. They had art and music and performed in plays that brought families together to generate pride and joy in their children and the public school.

Then, NCLB changed kindergarten in 2002. The Chicago Tribune described this rethinking well, which I’ve broken down.

So how will they rethink early childhood again? Instead of kindergarten being the new first grade will it become the new third or fourth grade, with more standards piled onto the backs of 5-year-olds?

What happens to the children who are developing normally and can’t meet the standards, or children who have disabilities and need more time? Will they be labeled as failing, sorted into the can’t do kids who get bombarded with online remedial programs?

The harder they make early learning for young children, the more likely parents will seek more humane alternative placements that treat children like children.

It’s time to start caring more about the children and less about driving outcomes or results that don’t make sense.

I am sharing the best standards for children of all time, written by now-retired teacher extraordinaire, Sarah Puglisi.

Here’s a sample. Please go to the link and read all 100 of them. Then bring back kindergarten!

1. All children should know love.

2. All children should know that they have a bed to sleep in tonight, and next week, and for their life.

3. All children should have adequate, even delicious food, and know all about their food.

4. All children should have support within the walls of their homes.

5. All children should have the experience of play.

6. All children should know nature, value nature, interact within nature, and be in families that have some capacity to do the same.

7. All children should know, have, and be able to be friends.

8. All children should have clothes to wear that help keep them warm, and expresses their beauty.

9. All children should feel that their family is accepted, and is of value.

10. All children should learn language, learn to speak by finding their world one that enjoys communication, the more languages that they know the more broadened the understanding.

11. All children should have health and DENTAL care that their families are not fearful about, or simply can’t afford or have, and know illness cannot bankrupt them. They need health care that attends to their well being.

12. All children should be regarded as potentially, and individually, and instantly a part of whatever cosmic beauty, goodness, whatever we wish to call it, that exists and as such is the reason we all live with hope and possibility.

Thompson, J. and Stanković-Ramirez, Z. (2021, September 27). What Early Childhood Educators Know About Developmentally Appropriate Practice. KAPPAN. 302 (N2) p. 20-23.

Utah Board of Higher Education votes unanimously to change Dixie State University’s name

The Utah Board of Higher Education voted unanimously on Wednesday to recommend Dixie State University’s name change to Utah Tech, forwarding the proposal to the state Legislature for a final decision.

In approving the measure, which has been controversial with some locals who want to keep the “Dixie” name intact, the board also recommended the creation of a “heritage committee” that could find ways to preserve the school’s earlier heritage without keeping the “Dixie” moniker.

“I feel that the work of this committee has been a tremendous success for the state of Utah,” NRC Chair Julie Beck said. Beck, who sits on the DSU board of trustees, said she has found the process to be challenging but overall will be best for the university’s future.

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The Legislature, which convenes for its annual regular session in January, could decide to change the name or not. The state board of education and the school’s board of trustees also voted to recommend a name change last year, but lawmakers declined to do so, instead sending the matter back to the school and tasking DSU with forming committees to study the name and to consider ways to celebrate the local heritage if a change was made.

In June, DSU leaders recommended changing the school name to Utah Tech, building on the recommendations of a committee formed to study the issue, but not without angering many local residents.

The decision was made in front of a full-capacity crowd, including many people wearing red shirts calling for the school to keep the “Dixie” word in the name. Some meeting-goers were re-directed to another room on campus that lived streamed the meeting.

Changing the “Dixie” name

Dixie State’s name has been a matter of contention for years, having survived as the school moved away from its Old South-styled imagery. In the past 20 years, the school moved away from its former mascot, a “Rebel” fashioned after a Confederate soldier, and removed many of the Confederate-themed decorations and imagery that was used in the past, while condemning past practices such as mock slave auctions that were held as late as the 1990s.

But the “Dixie” name remained, with backers arguing the term had little association with the South and was instead a nod to the area’s pioneer-era settlers, groups of members of The Church of Latter-day Saints who were sent to the area by Brigham Young to build a community in the state’s desert Southwest.

Both sides are likely to lobby heavily with lawmakers, given the Legislature’s past hesitance to pass a name change.

In March, lawmakers passed House Bill 278S01, which declined to change the name immediately and instead tasked the school with creating a committee that would be able to find a name for the university that “reflects the institution’s mission and significance to the surrounding region and state and enables the institution to compete and be recognized nationally.”

The trustees had already voted to change the name, voting unanimously in December 2020 to recommend changing the name.

That proposal made it past the state board of higher education and then the Utah House of Representatives before stalling in the state Senate, where members passed a measure that suggested a name change would be allowed, but only after a more intensive effort to include local constituencies in the discussion about what the new name should be.

Elle Cabrera covers breaking news and topics. Please help us to continue producing this content at thespectrum.com/subscribe. 

Leading provider of school administration software adds advanced asset management and inventory control with integrated help desk to enhance partnership with K-12 districts

Malvern, PA/Austin, TX – June 17, 2021 – Frontline Education™, a leading provider of K-12 school administration software, today announced that it has acquired Hayes Software Systems (Hayes) from Transition Capital Partners (TCP). Hayes Software Systems, including TIPWeb-IT, TIPWeb-IM, and GetHelp, provides solutions for asset management and inventory control with integrated help desk capabilities for K-12 schools. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Hayes has served educators for nearly 30 years and currently supports school districts in 40 states. Hayes’ technology solutions support asset tracking and inventory planning for district technology, physical assets, textbooks and other instructional materials.

“We are thrilled that Hayes has joined the Frontline Education team. Their expertise in asset management and inventory control addresses critical operational needs for schools, especially today, with remote and hybrid models putting more technology and instructional materials in circulation,” said Mark Gruzin, CEO of Frontline Education. “Bringing Frontline and Hayes together allows us to provide K-12 school districts connected solutions that meet a broader set of administrative needs.”

Hayes’ TIPWeb-IT, TIPWeb-IM solutions complement Frontline’s ERP, SIS and HR systems by enabling the purchase, funding and financial management of assets and providing more targeted distribution and management of devices and instructional materials used by staff and students. GetHelp offers seamless help desk integration to provide end-user support for those assets. As the combined companies move forward together, Frontline and Hayes will drive additional operational effectiveness and efficiency for K-12 schools, enhancing the client experience through continued product innovation and connectivity.

“We are thrilled to join Frontline Education and are looking forward to continued employee growth, expanded customer support and enhanced innovation as part of the Frontline family,” said Matt Winebright, CEO of Hayes Software Systems. “This is an exciting day for the Hayes team and our clients as we begin to realize the synergies gained from our combined organizations. Together, we will explore opportunities for further integration and alignment of our asset management, instructional material management and help desk solutions to Frontline’s ERP, SIS and HR systems, to provide additional value to our collective clients.”

Transition Capital Partners (TCP) was the majority owner of Hayes Software Systems and Thoma Bravo is the majority owner of Frontline Education. 

About Frontline Education:

Frontline Education is a leading provider of school administration software, connecting solutions for student and special programs, business operations and human capital management with powerful data and analytics to empower educators. Frontline partners with school systems to deliver tools, data and insights that support greater efficiency and productivity, enabling school leaders to spend more time and resources executing strategies that drive educator effectiveness, student success and district excellence.

Frontline’s broad portfolio includes solutions for proactive recruiting and hiring, absence and time management, professional growth, student information systems, special education, special programs, Medicaid reimbursement, school health management, payroll, benefits and financial management. Over 9,500 school districts representing millions of educators, administrators and support personnel have partnered with Frontline Education in their efforts to develop the next generation of learners.

Frontline Education’s corporate headquarters is located in Malvern, PA, with Location Hubs (physical offices) in Roseville, CA, Naperville, IL and Austin, TX. In addition to Frontline’s Location Hubs, Collaboration Hubs – flexible locations in areas where Frontline has a concentration of team members, have been established across the country and Remote Location Hubs – designed to drive remote employee engagement through intentional and common use of tools and processes, have been established as part of a company-wide effort to reimagine the work environment.

 
About Hayes Software Systems:

Based in Austin, TX, Hayes Software Systems provides SaaS solutions to empower K-12 school administrators. Schools partner with Hayes to address their asset management, inventory control and integrated help desk needs with simple, easy-to-use solutions, including TIPWeb-IT, TIPWeb-IM and GetHelp.

Offering software and services that are optimized for the unique needs of the education community, Hayes has helped over 10,000 schools across the country implement asset management and inventory control solutions. Today, the company supports hundreds of districts in 40 states across the country and serves district-wide deployments in 37 of the nation’s largest 100 school districts.

 
About TCP:

Transition Capital Partners (“TCP”) is a Dallas, TX-based private investment firm affiliated with the Patterson Thoma Family Office. TCP was founded in 1993 and has successfully invested in over 45 lower middle market companies spanning a diverse array of industries. TCP partners with management teams to build sustainable value in businesses over the long-term, without the artificial constraints fundraising cycles create for traditional private equity funds. With more than twenty-five years of proven success, we have a long track record of collaborating with our partners to accelerate the growth of lower middle market companies.

 
About Thoma Bravo:

Thoma Bravo is a leading private equity firm with over $78 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2021, and a focus on investing in software and technology companies. They pioneered the buy-and-build investment strategy and applied this strategy to the software and technology industries 20+ years ago. Since then, Thoma Bravo firm has acquired more than 300 software and technology companies representing over $85 billion of value. Their investment philosophy is centered around working collaboratively with existing management teams to help drive operating results and innovation, taking a partnership-driven approach supported by a set of management principles, operating metrics and business processes. Thoma Bravo supports their companies by investing in growth initiatives and strategic acquisitions designed to drive long-term value.

It’s already October, and teachers are getting a true feel for this school year’s biggest challenges. TikTok challenges, anyone? We asked the WeAreTeachers Advisory Board to give their predictions for the remainder of the school year and tell us the biggest issues facing teachers. From critical race theory to mental health and wellness, these are likely to be the biggest issues in education for 2021-2022.

Reintroducing Collaboration Skills

After almost two years of virtual/asynchronous learning, most schools are planning a fully in-person schedule this year. We are likely to find many of our students out of practice with working with others face-to-face. Therefore, one of the biggest issues facing education today will be how we reintroduce and reteach these vital collaboration skills.

Understanding Critical Race Theory

Scroll through your social media feed or check the news outlets, and you’re likely to hear about this issue. Critical race theory has jumped into public consciousness in a big way. A major topic in political debates, it’s certainly going to remain one of the biggest issues in education today. Because of this, teachers will need support in understanding what it is, what it isn’t, and how to talk about it with students and parents. WeAreTeachers Advisory Board Member Patty McGee believes that teachers are facing a daunting but essential challenge this school year. “Inequities in our society have come to the surface, and we have the opportunity to repair them as a country. The classroom is one of those places that can aid this repair through healthy, developmentally sound conversations about inclusion.”

Rebuilding Student Stamina

WeAreTeachers Advisory Board Member Shannon Webster is concerned about how the hybrid and remote school settings have affected student stamina. “Students have become very accustomed to having someone at home give them immediate direction, correction, and support. I imagine many teachers this year will struggle to reestablish the need to grapple and will have to reignite students’ desire to be empowered by learning.” In addition to fears over “learning loss,” teachers this year are going to be faced with the challenge of how to reacclimatize students to the rigors of the school setting.

Scheduling Time To Reflect

Many districts are rushing to return to normal pre-COVID routines. But if schools bring students back without reflecting on these past few years, we will have lost a great opportunity. One of the biggest issues facing education this year will be finding much-needed time to reflect. The modern educational system has never experienced anything like this before. What have we learned about what works and what doesn’t work for our students during this pandemic? How can we keep the things we know worked for our students and find better alternatives for what didn’t? “If we don’t reflect on the innovative approaches used during and lessons learned from the pandemic and leverage that new knowledge moving forward, we miss an opportunity to make the best of a bad situation,” states WeAreTeachers Advisory Board Member C.C. Bates.

Building Meaningful Connections

We know the power of positive face-to-face interaction. Being able to see our students in person this year will definitely be a good thing. But our students are arriving in our classrooms carrying not only their triumphs but also their traumas along with them. WeAreTeachers Advisory Board Member Fred Dillon stresses the importance of focusing on what really matters this year. “A big part of helping students move forward is building meaningful connections with them, so they know we value them, their experiences, and their learning.”

Supporting Mental Health and Wellness Needs

As students return, they will bring a wide range of mental health and wellness needs with them. In addition to all of the normal things teachers do in an average school year, one of the biggest issues facing education this year will be how to best address our students’ mental wellness needs. WeAreTeachers Advisory Board Member Julie Stern explains how valuable this is for our students and for us. “When teachers practice well-being strategies with their students, everyone benefits. We don’t have to be experts or do anything elaborate. Even something as simple as asking students to take three deep breaths or playing a nature video as students enter our rooms can help boost our moods and health.”

Planning For The Unexpected

We are so ready to “return to normal.” But one of the biggest issues facing education this year will be the knowledge that we aren’t there yet. We may never be. The debates over mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and potential second quarantines loom in the wings as we greet our students and begin the year. WeAreTeachers Advisory Board Member Anthony Kim states, “Our mental models of what school is will shift as macro-conditions from our health to work environments change in coming years. Adaptability is key to supporting our future generation.”

Anthony Kim has been making yearly predictions about education on his blog since 2010. Check out his complete list of predictions for 2021 here.

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Nevada’s higher education system on Thursday approved a policy requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for employees.

After more than two hours of public comment, the Nevada System of Higher Education’s Board of Regents voted 10-3 to approve the policy. Regents Patrick Boylan, Byron Brooks and Lois Tarkanian, all of whom represent districts in Clark County, voted “no.”

Employees must provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination on or before Dec. 1. New NSHE employees must be vaccinated before they start on the job. Medical and religious exemptions will be considered.

Failure of an employee to comply with the mandate “will result in termination from employment,” a board briefing paper stated.

The step comes after regents voted unanimously Sept. 10 to authorize NSHE Chancellor Melody Rose’s office to draft policies and procedures to implement a mandate.

There were significantly more public comments at Thursday’s meeting than at the previous session. Opinions were mixed, but most commenters opposed a mandate.

NSHE employees are already under a state requirement to either be fully vaccinated or undergo weekly testing.

No ‘significant employee loss’ expected

Currently, 77.2 percent of the system’s employees are vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a briefing paper, but Rose said that rate has since climbed to around 80 percent. That leaves approximately 5,000 employees who aren’t vaccinated.

“I think as a general matter, we’re moving in the right direction and we do not anticipate any sort of significant employee loss,” Rose said.

Employees who work entirely remotely or via telecommuting aren’t subject to the policy, but will be barred from any NSHE property without first providing proof of vaccination.

The decision by regents comes after the State Board of Health voted in August to require all public college and university students to be fully vaccinated in order to enroll for the spring 2022 semester. Medical and religious exemptions also are allowed.

“It’s important to note that the student mandate isn’t under our control,” Regent Jason Geddes said, adding that it’s appropriate for employees who will be around those students to fall under the same requirements.

Over six days in September, NSHE held five stakeholder roundtable meetings to gather input on the policy and about 338 people participated. The policy was updated as a result.

The emergency code provisions will be effective for 120 days and would have to return to the board if they’re considered for permanent enactment, said Chief General Counsel Joe Reynolds said. The provisions have a limited purpose and scope, and are solely intended to address the COVID-19 vaccination issue and “no other issue,” he said.

The matter will also come back to the board before the start of the fall 2022 semester.

NSHE isn’t the only educational institution in Nevada to mandate employee COVID-19 vaccination. The Clark County School Board voted 5-1 in early September to allow Superintendent Jesus Jara to draft and implement a policy and it would allow for medical and religious exemptions. The district is negotiating the policy with unions and has yet to present a draft to the board.

Under NSHE’s policy, employees — with the exception of classified staff — who haven’t provided a record of a completed COVID-19 vaccination by Oct. 15 will receive a “notice of noncompliance.”

Employees who continue to defy the edict will receive a “notice of warning” on or before Nov. 1 and a “notice of termination” on or before Dec. 1.

There will be an additional 30 days before notice of termination becomes effective Dec. 31, Reynolds said.

An employee can request reconsideration of a notice of termination based on a “mistake of fact,” he said.

Employees can also request a stay that’s effective the day of termination if they’ve received one shot in a two-part vaccination series to allow extra time to receive the second shot, Reynolds said.

Classified employees will also be subject to termination for noncompliance, but under a different set of procedures.

Employees may request a waiver “due to a diagnosis of a pre-existing and individual medical condition which presents a medical contraindication to the COVID-19 vaccination or if receiving a vaccine would violate a sincerely held religious belief,” the policy states.

A medical waiver must include certification by a licensed physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant in good standing who practices in any U.S. state.

A waiver review committee with three to five members will be appointed by the president of each school, according to the policy. If a waiver request is denied, an employee has a right to appeal.

If an employee is granted a waiver, there may still be requirements to engage in mitigation measures such as wearing a mask and possibly undergo weekly or periodic COVID-19 testing.

Employees who are on already-approved continuous Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave, sabbatical or researching overseas don’t initially have to comply with Dec. 1 deadline, but must do so before they return to the workplace.

The policy will also require new contracts that are entered into to have a provision that requires employees of that contractor, subcontractor or event planner to be vaccinated.

The policy doesn’t apply to COVID-19 booster shots at this time, Reynolds said.

Opponents explain concerns

Of the regents who voted against the mandate, Boylan indicated he had a change of heart after initially favoring one.

Boylan, a 40-year Las Vegas resident, said he was opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine for many reasons, but got vaccinated because he didn’t think it would be right to impose a mandate on others if he hadn’t received the shots.

But he said that upon further reflection, he can’t be part of an unfunded mandate or something that will cause employees to lose their income.

What happened to freedom of choce in this country? Boylan asked, noting the mandate feels like coercion. He also said those who are undocumented and are entering the United States aren’t being forced to get vaccinated.

As for whether to get the COVID-19 vaccination, “I think adults should make those choices for themselves,” he said.

For the 80 percent of NSHE employees are vaccinated, “why are we worried about the 20 percent who are not vaccinated?” Boylan said.

He also questioned whether face masks work and said there are vaccinated people who have contracted the virus.

Board Chair Cathy McAdoo interjected during Boylan’s response and said she was hearing he wasn’t in support of the policy.

She said she appreciated his comments, but asked if he could begin to wrap up in order to give other regents the opportunity to speak.

Brooks said he also had raised concerns about a COVID-19 vaccination mandate during a State Board of Health meeting in August and noted that if he didn’t support such a policy for students, it wouldn’t make sense to support a mandate for employees.

Tarkanian said she was voting “no” after hearing arguments from her two fellow regents but did not elaborate.

Public comments

Of the members of the public who spoke, one who identified himself as a UNLV employee for almost 19 years, said he had a simple message for regents: “You all need to repent.”

He told regents they have believed a lie and are now propagating it. He alleged “experimental injections” are being called vaccines and aren’t safe.

By mandating vaccination, regents will be guilty of murder if any employees die and guilty of crimes against humanity no matter what.

Another UNLV employee said he previously had COVID-19 but was asymptomatic. He said approving a mandate would be taking away an employee’s right of medical choice.

Multiple people affiliated with Western Nevada College in Carson City signed a written public comment saying they understand the health and wellness of students and employees come first.

But they called on regents to support the current state policy, which requires workers to either be fully vaccinated or undergo mandatory weekly COVID-19 testing.

They also wrote they’re worried about the stability of the college operationally during spring semester and beyond, citing concerns about a sudden loss of staff.

Patty Charlton, vice president and provost for the College of Southern Nevada’s Henderson campus, and Chris Heavey, executive vice president and provost at UNLV, are both on NSHE’s COVID-19 task force. They urged regents to approve the mandate.

Charlton said the decision may be challenging, but the policy reflects input sessions that were held and “the review process has been extensive for the policy.”

She said the science is solid on the efficacy of the COVID vaccine and supporting the mandate is “the pathway to ending this public health crisis.”

Despite what others said, vaccines are extremely effective and our last remaining tool in the arsenal to help end the pandemic, Heavey added.

Kent Ervin, president of the Nevada Faculty Alliance, said the alliance issued a statement in July urging vaccination requirements for students and employees.

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.

As students begin to return to classrooms, teachers and administrators are tasked with balancing young people’s education alongside a truly monumental set of obstacles – a global pandemic, political infighting, structural educational inequities and a mounting climate crisis. At the same time, nurturing leadership in young people has never been more important, and supporting the incredible educators who do this essential work is the pathway forward. 

This week, we are excited to highlight the one-of-a-kind Bioneers Indigeneity Curriculum project which provides free and cutting edge cultural educational resources for educators. We also learn from youth who are walking the walk, pointing out the connections between educational equity and climate justice. And, as the delta variant emerges, we revisit the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative, which has been instrumental in supporting schools to get education outdoors. 

Bioneers’ Expanding Indigeneity Education Resources

While overall public awareness of contemporary Indigenous issues and experience is severely lacking, appropriate educational materials are in even shorter supply. To meet this need, the Bioneers Indigeneity Program, with the support of dedicated and visionary funders, has developed Indigeneity study guides and lesson plans aligned with national standards for grades 9-12+, inspired by the conversations in the annual Bioneers Indigenous Forum. These curricula offer educators an invaluable toolkit for teaching these incredibly essential concepts in the classroom.

With curriculum bundles on topics including (most recently): “Three Sisters,” “The Real Thanksgiving,”  “Water is Life,” “Alcatraz,” “Borderlands,” and “Honoring Women,” this body of work represents a unique opportunity to bring Indigenous-created curriculum into both formal education and non-formal learning environments.  Each curriculum bundle includes teacher instructions, activities, assessment, and additional materials for a week of instruction aligned to the lesson’s theme. These curricula can be accessed free of charge on our dedicated Indigeneity Curriculum webpage. 

Join Us At the 2021 Bioneers Conference!

How Equity in Education Can Foster Youth-Led Climate Advocacy

A clear distinction between who produces the astronomical amounts of pollution affecting our climate and who bears the brunt of its impact arises as young people push for equity in education to highlight holistic understandings of climate change. Earlier this year, a group of students led an effort in San Mateo County to rally their school district to pass a Climate Emergency declaration. After successfully organizing for the resolutions approval, the students developed climate action plans for their district. In this new interview, Lilian Chang and Katinka Lennemann, two of the students behind the effort, speak about the role of education in the push for climate justice. 

COVID-19 Learning Resources

The single most-read article on Bioneers.org in 2020 was an interview we conducted with the founders of The National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative, based on the straightforward idea that fresh air and outdoor learning could allow students to return to school in the midst of a pandemic. Co-founded by Green Schoolyards America; the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley; San Mateo County Office of Education; and Ten Strands, the National COVID-19 Outdoor Learning Initiative has developed a community of practice and curated a very practical library of ideas and resources designed to support you in using the outdoors for learning during the pandemic and beyond. 

Numerous studies have shown that the key factor that impacts student academic performance the most is the quality of the teacher that is in the classroom. It would therefore make logical sense to place significant financial investment into recruiting and producing teachers of the highest quality if the goal is to improve student performance. The higher the quality of the teacher, the better the education that students will receive. There must be a significant increase in the renumeration of those who are investing in the students on a regular basis. 

The battle for the future of education begins with motivating the best college and university students to choose to pursue careers in education. It is extremely difficult to do that with the existing non-competitive salaries and limited career trajectory structures that permeate educational systems. Advancements in curriculum, pedagogy, and school management strategies should be accompanied by financial incentives that are on par with other industries to lure top level talent.

The priority must be to allure and attract the best possible potential educators to teach and pour into the next generations. Unfortunately, many people who would be phenomenal teachers can’t financially afford to be teachers. Too many of the best and brightest higher education students in terms of academic performance won’t even consider careers in education because the salaries won’t allow them to live comfortably in many areas. Dr. Marcus Bright

The missing link is investing in the link between students and the education that they receive. You can’t have an impoverished system of inputs and reasonably expect an abundant production of outputs. You can’t bypass producers if you want consistent production. Sometimes reform needed and sometimes revolution is required. It is time for a revolution in teacher pay beginning with a minimum starting salary of $80,000 across the board.

The existing teacher workforce should not be overlooked in the effort to recruit great new teachers. Teachers who are currently working in classrooms have stabilized the existing implementation of educational programming and deserve to have a level a financial stability that allows them to lock in even more on perfecting their craft. Their economic status should be lifted at a rate that is proportionately above the rate the new teachers that need to be attracted to the profession.

Unfortunately, many teachers can barely afford the necessities of life in a lot of major cities. The salaries of teachers have not even come close to keeping up with the rising cost of living. Economic stability needs to be provided to those who are pouring into children daily. Even those who may have a supreme calling to the teaching profession eventually realize the reality of escalating bills and other financial obligations. 

Too many great teachers are forced to leave the profession because they find it too difficult to make ends meet. Temporary raises or episodic bonuses will not be sufficient in the long run. There needs to be dedicated funding streams that revolutionize the status and appeal of the teaching profession. Teachers deserve to be respected and have a competitive salary.

The challenge of the recruitment and retainment of high-quality teachers is perhaps the most important one for the future of education. The education of children deserves to be a vocation that is intentionally chosen and not one that people just fall into by default. That will not happen without tremendous increases in teacher pay. The best and brightest educators need to be incentivized to deliver high level curriculum and programming to students. Adequately funding education means more than just providing facilities and supplies. It is time for a revolution of financial investment in teachers who are the crucial link between students and the high-quality education that they deserve.

Dr. Marcus Bright is a scholar and educational administrator