TALAS E-newsletter – July 19

Dr. Rick Fernandez, the superintendent for the Tuloso Midway Independent School District, was placed on paid administrative leave on Monday, July 12, 2021 after a school board meeting.

Somerset Independent School District’s board of trustees was named the Region 20 school board of the year on Thursday.

The seven-member board is one of 15 school boards across Texas that were selected as their Education Service Center region’s nominee. Education Service Center Region 20 comprises 19 Texas counties and stretches from San Antonio to Eagle Pass.

The Southwestern Adventist University Board of Trustees voted unanimously on July 7, 2021, for Ana Patterson to become the 26th president of the school. Patterson has served as the interim president of the institution located in Keene, Texas, United States, following former president Ken Shaw’s transition to Southern Adventist University.

Michelle Sotolongo can easily recall the anxiety, uncertainty and emotions of feeling like an “other” that often fall upon undocumented students.

“When you have to go outside, when you have to interact, when you have to go to class and all you’re hearing is, you know, the stuff from the news or what the governor is saying, it’s literally demoralizing and dehumanizing,” Sotolongo says. “Basically, your whole existence is an issue for someone.”

As the coordinator for Texas State’s Monarch Center, she connects immigrant students of varying legal statuses with support groups and legal help, working with a team of individuals to solve the unique problems these students may face.

It’s no surprise that job seekers still feel inferior during the interview process despite it being a candidate-driven market. Traditionally, employers dominated an interview using interrogative tactics. They knew they held the power because jobs were scarce and they were able to control the process.

However, times have drastically changed. The pandemic has created high levels of unemployment which has since led to one of the most competitive candidate-favored markets in the last 20 years. In fact, candidates are now qualifying companies based on flexible working hours, remote work opportunities, company culture, professional growth, and benefits, to name a few. Yet, many job seekers are desperate for a job that they overlook the power they hold.

A federal judge in Texas on Friday declared illegal the federal program that has allowed nearly 800,000 young people brought to the United States illegally as children to avoid deportation and remain in the country.

House lawmakers have advanced an annual funding bill for education that would provide billions of dollars in funding increases for students in poverty, special education, and other programs in K-12 public schools.

The House appropriations committee voted to favorably report the fiscal 2022 bill for the U.S. Department of Education to the full chamber on Thursday after a lengthy debate. The legislation would represent a huge increase in annual federal spending on schools, on top of three COVID-19 relief packages since early 2020 that have provided tens of billions of dollars for K-12.

All but four states — Alaska, Mississippi, Tennessee and Vermont — reported teacher shortages in special education during the 2019-20 school year, according to U.S. Department of Education data. Additionally, recently published survey results from Frontline Education revealed 71% of districts with shortages find it challenging to recruit special education teachers.

A lack of special educators is of particular concern because school systems are required under IDEA to provide individualized services to qualified students. Educators, families and advocates have said progress on students’ individualized education program goals could be hindered if there aren’t enough teachers.

Asked recently by the U.S. Education Department to identify the top issues facing students and schools in the wake of the pandemic, state education officials were remarkably consistent: There’s a strong need to expand learning opportunities and address students’ social and emotional needs, they wrote in plans they shared with the department for spending their share of federal COVID relief aid for education.

But a FutureEd analysis of the 39 state plans submitted to the department to date found that state education leaders are pursuing those goals in a variety of ways.

An ancient African king who made a religious pilgrimage accompanied by caravans of gold. An FBI operation spying on members of a movement for Puerto Rican Independence. A Black female cowboy from the 19th century who “broke more noses than any other person in central Montana.”

These are a few of the histories and stories included in the state’s new Black and Latino Studies curriculum.