What We’re Reading This Week: June 23

Columbus State program helps immigrant, refugee kids acclimate after school and in summer

The Columbus Dispatch

“Columbus State Community College’s five ESL Afterschool Communities in Franklin County has helped 2,326 immigrant and refugee children—and by extension, their parents—acquire the academic, social and personal skills they need for success in their new country.” 

STUDENT VOICE: Let's stop the apathy in Kentucky and beyond—The connection between student and civic engagement

The Hechinger Report

"If my voice doesn't matter in school, then how could my ballot? If in a classroom of 30 students I don't feel valued, then why in a city, state, or nation of millions would I share my opinion?" 

The 395 Kids Philando Castile Left Behind

Huffpost Black Voices

“Castile―or Mr. Phil, as students at J.J. Hill Montessori Magnet School would call him―often greeted students with high-fives while they waited on line to get breakfast in the cafeteria. ... The students have spent the past year mourning Castile, a loss that was felt anew last week with the news that Yanez had been acquitted of any wrongdoing.”

Louisiana Is First State To Ban Public Colleges From Asking About Criminal History

National Public Radio

“Louisiana has become the first state to prohibit all public universities from asking applicants about their criminal history. As many as 70 to 100 million Americans have some kind of criminal record. And the proportion is far higher in some minority communities.”

75 Years Later, Anne Frank's Diary Still Has Much To Teach

National Public Radio

“It’s been 75 years since 13-year-old Anne Frank sat down to write her first diary entry about hiding during World War II. Today, her legacy is carried on at an elementary school in Philadelphia.”

At Colleges, Demographic Changes Everywhere but the Top

The New York Times

“Although diversifying the makeup of student bodies has been a major effort on college campuses in recent years, when it comes to the president’s office, there has been little change: The typical college president continues to be a white man in his early 60s, a new national survey has found.”

Gay Texas high school football player also performed at halftime in makeup with the drill team

SB Nation

“The other teams and their parents realized ‘the gay kid who wears makeup and does the splits’ was kicking their butts on the field—I played both offensive and defensive line—and was going to do it again when halftime was over.”

Education Dept. closes transgender student cases as it pushes to scale back civil rights investigations

The Washington Post

“The Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights last week closed a long-running discrimination case involving a transgender student and withdrew its earlier findings that the girl had suffered discrimination at school, a move that comes amid the Trump administration’s push to scale back civil rights investigations in public schools.”

Rethinking the parent-teacher conference: Meeting more often, working as a team

The Washington Post

“Through Academic Parent-Teacher Teams, schools are rethinking the parent-teacher conference. Parents and teachers are meeting more often, working as a team.”

Wisconsin lawmakers offer bills to ban 'ex-gay' therapy for minors: Nevada governor signs bill banning 'ex-gay' therapy into law

Winsconsin Gazette

“Wisconsin lawmakers have introduced legislation in both chambers aiming to protect LGBTQ kids from the harmful practice of so-called ‘ex-gay’ therapy. The bill would prohibit certain mental health providers from engaging in conversion therapy with a minor.”