A Pennsylvania group has responded to what it says are "discriminatory policy proposals in the state education system" by launching the "Inclusive Schools and Honest Education" initiative.

The Keystone State serves more than 1.7 million students in grades K-12, in 500 school districts.

Kristina Moon, senior staff attorney with Education Law Center, said the last few years have seen increasing numbers of attacks on the basic principle that every child deserves an educational experience that is safe and prepares them for success.

Moon said the initiative covers three key areas of concern.

"One being book bans," said Moon, "another being censorship of curriculum and classroom discussion, and the third - and kind of laced throughout these, those first two - is really targeted discrimination and exclusion of LGBTQ students."

Moon added that the group has reviewed some of the policy proposals on school-board agendas that parents and other community members have raised concerns about, and has given legal advice to students and parents about the policies.

She said they've also addressed school boards, describing the potential legal problems with some of the proposals.

Moon said the group has two levels of concern - one with local school boards, the other with more and more restrictive legislation at the state level.

She said she believes their continued advocacy effort has been helpful, and says parents also are making their voices heard - even after policies are finalized - to try to ensure that implementing them doesn't create discrimination.

"We have been lucky enough that the censorship and book banning and 'don't say gay' bills proposed in the Pennsylvania Legislature," said Moon, "so far have been successfully thwarted, and not gone forward."

Moon said it's critical that state lawmakers not give the impression to local school board leaders that Pennsylvania schools are places where gay and transgender students can be excluded and discriminated against.

Some students, parents and educators plan to rally to send a message to Gov. Ron DeSantis on April Fools' Day.

The group of unions, parents and community leaders are planning a Miami rally using the hashtag #NotFoolingUs. It's all in protest of what they see as DeSantis' "extreme" agenda, on issues from health care to education.

Touri White, a parent leader at P.S. 305 with two kids in high school and elementary school, said his biggest concerns are censorship and what he sees as attacks against marginalized groups. White said he's a big proponent of getting parents to volunteer and read to students in schools, but lately that's been restricted.

"Parents can no longer bring in books from home - from a home library, children's book - they have to be pre-approved books," he said. "That was mandated by the governor's office, to be able to read to the students. And I have a big problem with that."

The governor has rebutted claims of book bans, stating it's "a false narrative in terms of using schools for indoctrination, rather than education." However, he continues to back proposals and laws against teaching about race, sexual orientation and gender, which has led to book bans in some districts.

The #NotFoolingUs rally is to kick off at 10 a.m. Saturday outside the Stephen P. Clark Government Center in Miami.

Organizers have said they're struggling to keep politics out of the classroom, and to focus on teaching math, science, reading and honest history - but they say the governor is only pretending to be in support of those issues, while attacking teachers and passing laws to criminalize them. White said he'd like to see fairness.

"You know, I firmly believe that we all have a right to exist and coexist, and be treated fairly and equitably," he said, "and that's definitely not happening in this current administration with the governor."

The groups are encouraging people to speak up across the state on issues that concern them regarding actions in the Florida Legislature - from abortion bans and permitless guns to what they see as attempts to silence teachers.

Labor leaders in various industries recently celebrated the 85th anniversary of a federal law that laid the groundwork for registered apprenticeship programs in Pennsylvania and across the country. However, a new report says not everyone gets a fair shot at these opportunities.

The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that Black apprentices are underpaid and underrepresented in registered apprenticeship programs. Dewitt Walton, vice president and program director for the Pittsburgh chapter of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, said the key to changing this is for more people to know what's available.

"The opportunities for life-changing careers in the construction and building trades, we have to increase the awareness of those opportunities," he said, "and promote them in a more comprehensive and successful manner than we have in the past."

Walton said the Institute has been approved as the city's first Black-owned, state-certified pre-apprentice program for the skilled trades. He noted that they received a PA Smart Initiative grant of $400,000, and added that Pennsylvania is seeking additional grant dollars to boost diversity in apprenticeship programs.

Walton said 80% of people in the "Breaking the Chains of Poverty" workforce development program are African American, and from underserved, underrepresented or previously incarcerated communities.

"As a result, built real relationships with manufacturing, which the steelworkers' union has a huge impact in, and particularly in Western PA," he said. "We build out relationships with the construction and building trades."

Justin Nalley, the center's senior analyst for workforce policy, said apprenticeships have long served as a great "earn-as-you-learn" model in carving out a career. However, he added, there are some big gaps in opportunities for Black workers, including enrollment.

"Black apprentices only make up 9% of registered apprenticeship programs," he said, "but we make up 12% of the workforce."

Last year, the U.S. Department of Labor issued grants aimed at modernizing apprenticeships and boosting the representation of workers of color in registered programs. Currently, about 600,000 people are enrolled in apprenticeship programs across the country.

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.

New findings confirm suspicions about the top reasons many students considered dropping out of college over the last six months.

The Gallup and Lumina Foundation report, "Stressed Out and Stopping Out: The Mental Health Crisis in Higher Education," reveals about three in five undergraduates say emotional stress and mental health are the biggest reasons they've considered quitting.

Both far exceed such other factors as cost and course difficulty. Dr. Zainab Okolo - strategy officer at Lumina Foundation - said a growing mental-health crisis is making it difficult to keep pace with students requesting assistance.

"Counseling professionals were overwhelmed, where they had to create waitlists for students that were brave enough to finally reach out for help," said Okolo. "On average now, the waitlists are about eight months. This is a resource demand issue, and the data has made it clear that our students need these mental health resources."

Okolo said isolation exacerbated during the COVID-19 restrictions is waning, but warns students in a two or four year program are just as likely to drop out today than they were during the once-in-a-generation pandemic.

One of the glaring data points for Okolo is that 73% of young adults who decided to forgo higher education entirely, say mental health issues are a significant reason - ranking higher than their need to work.

She said it's an "all hands" on deck situation, with every sector having to make significant adjustments to re-center, and reconsider mental health.

"One example of that - the National Governors Association - their winter meeting was centered on how to equip and inform governors around their investments," said Okolo. "And then, we're seeing - in North Carolina, California, Kentucky and Louisana - these governors coming together and going, 'Yes, we hear you, and let's put some funding towards that work.'"

Okolo added that in states like Indiana, with a high concentration of rural communities, students who have challenges accessing in-person services would benefit from online services.

The survey says seven in 10 college students rate their on-campus mental health resources positively, although those who actually face mental-health issues rate them lower.

Lumina Foundation Vice President of Impact and Planning Courtney Brown said schools can learn from these results.

"There's a way to help students, so this isn't a doom and gloom," said Brown. "We can actually use this and move forward. And we did see in the data that that students who felt like they were were supported by faculty and students experienced much less stress."

Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.




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