First hour: Previewing Black Lives Matter Day at the Rochester City School District
Second hour: Public school leaders react to the confirmation of Betsy DeVos
This coming Friday is Black Lives Matter Day in the Rochester City School District. RCSD says the mission is to create "a day of education, dialogue and action that will actively engage a significant number of educational communities throughout Monroe County in activities that support understanding the affirmation of black lives." The Rochester Board of Education and the RTA supports this programming, but participation by individual teachers is optional. We'll discuss it with our panel:
- LoWan Brown, assistant principal at Joseph C. Wilson Foundation Academy and co-organizer of the event
- Chris Widmaier, science teacher at World of Inquiry School No. 58 and co-organizer of the event
- Mahreen Mustafa-George, parent and co-organizer of the event
- Atim Okung, student activist and co-organizer of the event
In our second hour: Betsy DeVos has been confirmed as the new Secretary of Education. What does that mean for our public schools? We reached out to many local school leaders to join the discussion; most declined. Our panel will discuss the issues they see as most in play during the Trump administration. Note: there are school-choice advocates who are not in positions of public school leadership, and we'll be inviting them to join us in the coming days, too. In studio:
- Steve Uebbing, professor of educational leadership, and director of the Center for Urban Education Success at the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester
- Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers Association
- Trina Newton, superintendent of the Geneva Central School District
- Van White, president of the Rochester City School Board
