Northern lebanon school district

A Wisconsin school district has banned a first grade class from singing Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton’s duet “Rainbowland” because it was deemed “controversial” and conflicting with school policy. Melissa Tempel, a teacher at Heyer Elementary in Waukesha, tweeted on March 21 that her first graders were “so excited” to sing "Rainbowland" for a spring concert, but it was vetoed by the administration. The 2017 song talks about working together and living in harmony with lyrics including “Cause I know if we try, we could really make a difference in this world” and “Living in a Rainbowland … Where we’re free to be exactly who we are / Let’s all dig down deep inside / Brush the judgment and fear aside.” Venting her frustration over being barred from using the song, Tempel tweeted, “When will it end?” Waukesha School District said in a statement on March 24 that there's an approval process for instances like these. In this case a teacher suggested “Rainbowland” to the music … [Read more...] about Wisc. school district bans first graders from singing Cyrus-Parton duet ‘Rainbowland’ at concert

The coronavirus pandemic has been defined by so much loss. Of lives, jobs, relationships. Of normalcy. But amid that upheaval, there have been occasional moments of hope, small positive changes borne from the chaos of the past three years. Hundreds of you wrote to us about the ways that pandemic disruptions surprisingly reshaped your lives for the better. Some of you found time to start a new business venture or fall in love. Lockdowns allowed you to spend more time with your children or parents, or prioritize your own happiness through daily morning walks, new recipes or oil painting. In June 2020, I adopted a sickly kitten, a responsibility I wouldn’t have been able to take on had I not been newly working from home. Now she’s almost 3 years old and a lovable companion for whom I feel immensely grateful. Reading your pandemic silver linings genuinely improved my week. I hope you enjoy them, too. Here’s some of what you shared, lightly edited for clarity. “In the spring … [Read more...] about Californians Share Their Pandemic Silver Linings

On the morning of Oct. 5, President Bush and his education secretary, Margaret Spellings, paid a visit, along with camera crews from CNN and Fox News, to Friendship-Woodridge Elementary and Middle Campus, a charter public school in Washington. The president dropped in on two classrooms, where he asked the students, almost all of whom were African-American and poor, if they were planning to go to college. Every hand went up. “See, that’s a good sign,” the president told the students when they assembled later in the gym. “Going to college is an important goal for the future of the United States of America.” He singled out one student, a black eighth grader named Asia Goode, who came to Woodridge four years earlier reading “well below grade level.” But things had changed for Asia, according to the president. “Her teachers stayed after school to tutor her, and she caught up,” he said. “Asia is now an honors student. She loves reading, and she sings in the school choir.” Bush’s Woodridge … [Read more...] about What It Takes to Make a Student

I. A Broken Economy As Barack Obama prepares to accept the Democratic nomination this week, it is clear that the economic policies of the next president are going to be hugely important. Ever since Wall Street bankers were called back from their vacations last summer to deal with the convulsions in the mortgage market, the economy has been lurching from one crisis to the next. The International Monetary Fund has described the situation as “the largest financial shock since the Great Depression.” The details are too technical for most of us to understand. (They’re too technical for many bankers to understand, which is part of the problem.) But the root cause is simple enough. In some fundamental ways, the American economy has stopped working. The fact that the economy grows — that it produces more goods and services one year than it did in the previous one — no longer ensures that most families will benefit from its growth. For the first time on record, an economic expansion seems … [Read more...] about Obamanomics

The roads surrounding the Jerusalén-San Luis Alto Picudito Indigenous reservation in Putumayo, Colombia, are treacherous on a good day. Made mostly of gravel and mud, they narrow to barely the width of a small truck in some places, and in others, especially after a storm, they yield almost completely to the many rivers with which they intersect. They also twist and turn and bump without stop. So, in the most difficult months of her pregnancy, when everything tasted like cardboard and it hurt even to sit or stand, Marleny Mesa avoided traveling altogether. This meant skipping checkups at the clinic in Villagarzón, which could take two hours or more to get to. But Marleny wasn’t overly worried. A nurse had assured her early in her pregnancy that her blood work was good and that everything looked fine. As a midwife herself, Marleny knew that making the trip would be riskier than missing a few doctor’s visits. But now, in the final days of her pregnancy, she could not shake the feeling … [Read more...] about The Incredible Challenge of Counting Every Global Birth and Death

Seo Jun-won The KBO on Tuesday indefinitely suspended Seo Jun-won after the former Lotte Giants pitcher was indicted without detention on charges of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offense. Seo was indicted by the Busan District Prosecutors Office under Article 11 of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth, which deals with the production or distribution of child or youth sexual exploitation materials, on March 23. According to the indictment, Seo is suspected of having persuaded a minor that he met online to take a picture of their body and send it to him in August last year. He was released by the Giants immediately after the news broke. The KBO indefinitely suspended Seo Tuesday under Article 152 of the league regulations, which grants the KBO commissioner the right to indefinitely suspend a player until a disciplinary committee can meet. The KBO will call a disciplinary committee meeting once the judicial process has been … [Read more...] about Seo Jun-won suspended after being indicted for violating child sexual offenses act

Along the riverbanks of Eastern Kentucky, the redbud trees are just starting to bloom, their branches still lumbering under the weight of last summer’s catastrophic flood: Lawn chairs, trampolines, twisted gutters and school backpacks remain high in the treetops, each item a persistent and disorienting sign of how life here was turned upside down last July when shallow streams surged more than 18 feet in 10 hours in parts of the state, killing more than 40 people and leaving hundreds homeless . Yet while residents reach for the possibility of renewal, the largest regional investment being offered is a federal prison proposed for Letcher County, the heart of the flood zone. The possible federal correctional institution adds insult to an already injured region. In 2019 activists defeated the proposal, demanding that the funds be used for more forward-thinking purposes, including safe and affordable housing — all the more needed since the flood. The Trump and Biden … [Read more...] about Eastern Kentucky Needs Flood Relief, Not Another Federal Prison