Mediaboss Marketing

For the first time since 2018, the Academy Awards is returning to an emcee format in a bid to inject some humour into proceedings - with actress Regina Hall hosting this year alongside comedy veterans Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes.

Sky News caught up with Hall to talk Oscars and her new scary film Master, which is out now.

In it, she plays Gail Bishop, a university professor - or "master" - at an elite university, where horror and hauntings unfold against a backdrop of her struggles to navigate an all-white institution. Here's what she had to say...

Have you felt a lot of support since your name was announced as one of this year's Oscars hosts?

I think people are excited for hosts. I've watched it for the past couple of years without a host... it's great that it's back; it's crazy that I'm one of them, but it's exciting. And of course, my my co-hosts are wonderful and I love them so much, so I'm very excited to work with them.

Have you been working with a team of writers and is there a vague plan in place for who'll be saying what during the ceremony?

No, we just get together, get high and just go, 'let's just see where it's going to fall now! No, we have a great team of writers and they sit and we come and bounce ideas off each other. I think that's what's so great, it's so collaborative, and sometimes it's like, 'Oh, Amy, you'd be great for this', and Amy will email me or text or leave a voice note, the same with Wanda. Like, 'Oh, I read this, I thought it'd be great for Wanda'.

It's just been very collaborative, and that process has been really fun to get to know them but also, you know, the bigger thing is we're all rooting for each other on stage.

Tell us about your new film, Master, and do you think using the horror genre to illustrate racism is a particularly effective tool in terms of helping people to understand some of the issues?

Gail Bishop is the first black master at Ancaster College, which is an elite institution. It's a fictitious college, apparently better than Harvard, and it's kind of what happens that first semester as the first black master, she goes through a lot!

I certainly think that putting it in a genre where people may not see it coming allows people... it makes it a bit more digestible. You know, as opposed to feeling preached that they feel like they're kind of experiencing it because they're also experiencing like the discomfort of the world, you know. Like, oh my goodness, I hear the sound. Something's about to happen. So I think... it gets the palate prepared and I think it does make the subject matter a little bit more digestible.

Did any of your character's experiences of racism resonate?

I think racism is something you just experience constantly... it doesn't mean you experience it from every person, you know, I think that's what's interesting, the subtlety. Certain things, the intentions aren't racist, you know, even when [in the film] they're calling [my character] Beyonce. What could be a joke for one person can be a little more traumatic for the person who's on the receiving end.

So, of course, I've received, perceived or experienced racism but that's also just a part of being a black woman. It's like a woman is going to experience sexism at some point, you know, even if the intention is not there, it just is. And so that's what I liked about how [filmmaker Mariama Diallo] explored it, there wasn't necessarily anything intentionally dark about it, but that doesn't lessen the experience.

In the UK, following the Black Lives Matter marches we talk now about culture wars and there are debates ongoing about removing statues of slave owners and changing the names of institutions. Do you think it's a positive thing that these conversations are happening?

I think with social media it enables people to be able to see it who may not have experienced it, but once you can actually see it, you can see, 'Oh, wait, that was not right' and that starts a conversation. And then there are people who don't want to see it. That's just the reality of people who want to make those events isolated as opposed to being like, 'Well, what can we do?' It doesn't mean that that's intentionally horrible either, you know. Some people are very attached to their history, even if it's a negative one.

Subscribe to the Backstage podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

Master is in cinemas and streaming on Amazon Prime. You can watch the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday 27 March exclusively on Sky Cinema from 11pm - and follow our live blog on the Sky News website and app. For those not wanting to stay up late, you can watch again on Monday 28 at 7pm on Sky Cinema or from 10pm on Sky Showcase

Continue reading here:
Oscars 2022: Regina Hall on culture wars, funny women and tackling racism: Meet one of the hosts of this year's awards ceremony - Sky News

WASHINGTON Even as other European leaders rushed to support Ukraine in its effort to repel the invasion Russia launched in late February, Hungarys nationalist, authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orbn, remained defiantly aloof, unwilling to sacrifice his long-standing relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the sake of a neighboring nation trying to assert its independence from Russia, as Hungary once had.

Like counterparts across the continent, Orbn had been subject to an impassioned appeal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. In Orbns case, Zelensky invoked Hungary's uprising against communism in 1956, which was ruthlessly suppressed by Moscow. There is no time to hesitate. Its time to decide, Zelensky told Orbn.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks from Kyiv by video to leaders of the European Council on March 24. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

The man sometimes called Viktator which intentionally rhymes with dictator remained unmoved. Our moral responsibility is not for Ukraine: our moral responsibility is for our own people, he said in a radio interview last Sunday, pointing out that Hungary is heavily dependent on Russian energy.

He also drew a distinction with his liberal opponents, who he said were willing to sacrifice our interests on the altar of Ukrainian interests and do what the president of Ukraine says we should do.

Those liberal opponents hope to score a major victory in Sundays parliamentary election, which will serve as a referendum not only on Orbns self-described illiberal democracy a cousin of the managed democracy his friend Putin implemented in Russia but on the imperiled future of democracy in Eastern Europe.

In many ways, Hungary is a cautionary tale, David Koranyi, a fellow at the Atlantic Council and a critic of the Orbn regime, told Yahoo News. He laments how, under Orbn, the promising, newly minted democracy of the 1990s has curdled into a repressive regime where, as in Russia, independent media outlets have been suppressed and democratic institutions bullied into submission.

Story continues

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbn on Friday at the final electoral rally before Sunday's election. (Petr David Josek/AP)

Hungary under Orbn has also become something of a fixation with American conservatives; in January he received an endorsement from ally Donald Trump, who praised him as a strong leader.

Many on the right seem to admire Orbn for claiming victories in the same culture wars they have been waging for decades. Since returning to power in 2010 (he had previously served a single term as prime minister between 1998 and 2002), Orbn has pushed what he calls a pro-family agenda that is similar to the one supported by American evangelicals. He was also a staunch opponent of allowing migrants from Syria and North Africa into Hungary, and he built a border fence similar to the barrier Trump promised as a means of keeping migrants from Latin America out of the United States.

That earned Orbn a visit from Tucker Carlson in the summer of 2021. The Fox News host hosted a week of his primetime program from the capital city, Budapest, culminating in a one-on-one interview with Orbn. Hungary, Carlson told his American viewers, is a small country with a lot of lessons for the rest of us.

Orbn fandom on the American right did have to do with his moves to ban abortion or same-sex marriage or otherwise curtail LGBTQ rights in Hungary, the journalist Sarah Posner, who has covered Hungarian politics, told the radio program "On Point" last year. They liked that. They also liked his appeals to not just ethnic nationalism but Christian nationalism, which is what they have been promoting here in the United States.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson speaks during the Mathias Corvinus Collegium Feszt in Hungary in 2021. (Janos Kummer/Getty Images)

Hungary is a starkly different cultural battleground from the United States. About 62% of Hungarians are Catholic today. The nations Jewish population, once large and thriving, was nearly eradicated in the final murderous months when the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau was in operation during World War II, while Muslims have never been nearly as welcome in Hungary as they have been in Western European countries like Germany and the United Kingdom.

Opponents of Orbn hope the mutual admiration will be disrupted with Sundays election, which they hope will be the culmination of years of political organizing under highly inauspicious circumstances. Liberal and centrist opposition groups have united behind Peter Marki-Zay, a young mayor from a southern city near the Romanian border. Hungary borders seven countries in all, and it has historically served at different times as an imperial power and as a vassal. Today it is both a member of the European Union and an ally of Russia a weak link in the chain of NATO, as Koranyi put it.

Marki-Zay imagines a different future for Hungary, one more closely aligned with the West. Putin and Orban belong to this autocratic, repressive, poor and corrupt world. And we have to choose Europe, West, NATO, democracy, rule of law, freedom of the press, a very different world: the free world, he recently told the New York Times.

Hungary's joint opposition candidate for prime minister, Peter Marki-Zay, at a campaign event in Budapest on Tuesday. (Anna Szilagyi/AP)

The sad irony of the Hungarian oppositions increasing unity is that it is up against an authoritarian ruler as determined as ever to stay in power. Now that German Chancellor Angela Merkel has stepped down, Orbn is the European Unions longest-serving head of state. Never especially shy about wielding state power to advance his own chance of reelection, he has recently gone so far as to use a coronavirus alert service to make a pitch ahead of Sundays election. Given the crosscurrents of fear and propaganda that mark Hungarian public discourse, Marki-Zays chances of victory are lower than they should be, Koranyi lamented.

Orbn has tried recently to edge away from Putin without alienating him, a tactic to spare Hungary from repercussions an embittered Kremlin could levy. The contrast is especially stark with Poland, where a nationalistic and conservative government has pivoted to support Ukraine. A similar move is highly unlikely to emanate from Budapest if Orbn remains in charge.

There are really alarming similarities between Putins Russia and Orbns Hungary, media scholar Eva Bognar of the Central European University in Hungary, told Yahoo News. The two countries are not identical, she cautioned, but the war in Ukraine could only bring the similarities into high relief. Orbn has been very proud of being friendly with Putin, Bognar said.

The special relationship between the two strongmen makes Sundays election a broader referendum on Hungarys future. Orbn really subordinated the country to Putin, Hungarian politician Katalin Cseh recently told former Obama foreign policy adviser Ben Rhodes on the Pod Save the World podcast. If Orbn stays in power, we will become the pariah of the EU for a very long time to come.

View post:
Why Americans should care about the Hungarian election - Yahoo News

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An Ohio bill that would require public schools to provide age-appropriate child sexual abuse prevention instruction has been held up in an Ohio Senate committee, as a conservative Christian public policy group is pushing for changes that would emphasize abstinence before marriage, discourage transgender students from gender-affirming care, ban the simulation of sexual acts and the demonstration of contraception use during the lessons, among other propositions.

House Bill 105, also known as Erins Law, has been introduced five times in the Ohio General Assembly. This legislative session, the Ohio House passed the bill June 10 by a margin of 86-8.

The bill requires school districts, charter schools and science, technology, engineering and math or STEM schools to provide child sexual abuse prevention instruction for grades K-6.

For grades 7-12, schools would have to provide age-appropriate instruction in sexual violence prevention. Schools must also provide counseling and resources for students who have been victims of abuse and violence.

But the Center for Christian Virtue is wading into the bill and has circulated a proposed amendment with several changes to HB 105.

The proposed changes come at a time when a vocal contingency of parents do not trust their kids schools. They say they are concerned about liberal ideologies taught to their kids about the history of American racism, social-emotional learning and sex education. Critics say the new fears over indoctrination are invented and a ploy for the GOP to anger and mobilize voters ahead of the November midterm election.

Some of the groups suggestions are already in other parts of Ohio law, such as instruction that promotes sexual abstinence until marriage.

Erins Law is named after Erin Merryn, an Illinois woman who was abused by two people when she was a child. She suffered with confusion and shame for years, and struggled with self-injury, an eating disorder, depression and a suicide attempt as a result. Both men who abused her told her to not utter a word, she said.

I stayed silent because my only education was from these perpetrators, she said.

Realizing that children are taught what to do when a fire alarm goes off, but not what to do when theyre abused, she created Erins Law. Over 30 states have passed it. Ohio is a special place for Merryn, she said, since her husband is from the state. She said she wants it passed but does not agree with some of the ideas the Center for Christian Virtue have for her bill.

This bill will get passed and I will make sure of it, she said. I dont want these changes. They are being unrealistic and putting all this fear that Erins Law addresses all these other issues it doesnt. It teaches personal body safety, so they need to quit interrupting the process and let the bill pass.

Erins Law is now in the Ohio Senate Primary and Secondary Education Committee. Bill sponsor Rep. Scott Lipps, a Dayton-area Republican, said he believes there are the votes in the committee to advance the bill to the Senate floor. But its being held up, he said.

Committee Chair Sen. Andrew Brenner, a Delaware County Republican, hasnt held a hearing on the bill since Oct. 5. He wants the sponsors and the Center for Christian Virtue to negotiate a compromise.

Among the provisions in the Center for Christian Virtues amendment:

- The bill should stress that students should abstain from sexual activity until after marriage.

- That age-appropriate instruction means no visuals showing couples in sexual situations, children shouldnt role play scenarios or sexual conversations in the K-6 instruction

- That there be no instruction about consent for grades 7-12.

- No instruction shall imply that healthy relationships for minor children may include consensual sexual activity.

- Contraception use cannot be demonstrated.

- No instruction shall incorporate materials from groups advocating abortion, marketing contraceptives or cross-sex hormones, or those advocating or condoning sexual behavior among minor children.

- No instruction should advise that any information be withheld from parents, or imply that parents are untrustworthy, or in any way undermine the parent/ child relationship or the primary role of the family. Very few parents are guilty of sexual abuse of children, and to imply in any way that information should be concealed from most or all parents is unjust and deeply harmful to children and the family relationship.

- No teachers/staff may encourage students to join school-based groups that advocate teen sexual identities and behaviors.

For Lipps and Rep. Brigid Kelly, a Cincinnati Democrat who is also sponsoring the bill, the changes are unacceptable and steer away from the original purpose of Erins Law.

Its really about trying to prevent kids from being victims, from having to live through a life of trauma, Kelly said.

Lipps and Kelly recently agreed to a compromise in which parents can choose to opt their children out of receiving the instruction, which is another suggestion from the Center for Christian Virtue expected to soon be amended into the bill. But beyond that, the sponsors arent interested in the other provisions the group wants.

Brenner, the chairman of the Senate committee, said in addition to the Center for Christian Virtue, Ohio Value Voters also have concerns with the bill.

Theyre concerned that it is leading to sex ed and promoting a social agenda, Brenner said. ... There is so much distrust among a large chunk of the electorate over what is going on on these matters in schools -- with the issues around identity, you know students identity. Theyre concerned that things are going to be taught or promoted that are not along the lines of Erins Law.

Aaron Baer, president of the Center for Christian Virtue, said the amendment in part attempts to prevent Planned Parenthoods curriculum from making its way into Ohio schools, although Planned Parenthood has not provided testimony on the bill and hasnt been involved in the drafting of HB 105.

The Center for Christian Virtue doesnt agree with Planned Parenthoods stances on abortion and gender-affirming care for transgender kids.

Its all of these things that we have concerns with that parents dont want to have in their classroom. And so were saying, Look, if you want to do sexual violence prevention education, OK. Lets see what it is. Show us what it is. And then people can go along with that, Baer said.

Aileen Day, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio said that the organization has no specific curricula for sexual violence prevention. It has a number of sex education programs, depending on the audience, that include discussions about the age of consent, identifying healthy and unhealthy relationships, communication with parents and other topics that are interconnected with sexual abuse and violence prevention.

Baer said that his organization wants to continue to work with Lipps and Kelly on the bill to make sure parents arent locked out of this equation, and children arent being pushed into more risky behaviors. Then well be in great shape.

Ohios existing sex education law is clear: When schools provide instruction in venereal disease prevention, they shall emphasize that abstinence from sexual activity is the only protection that is one hundred per cent effective against unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, and the sexual transmission of a virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

So why is it necessary to repeat the abstinence requirement in Erins Law, which isnt about sex ed but sexual abuse and violence?

Baer said that its to prevent schools or curriculum from veering too far off course. He also notes that having a bullet point in the law emphasizing abstinence doesnt mean that teachers have to literally tell children they need to refrain from sex outside of marriage in the same breath as explaining good touch versus bad touch.

But with all laws, the devil is in the details, and instruction will depend on how the law is interpreted.

Theres a potential that if a child hears about the abstinence requirement during sexual abuse prevention education, they may blame themselves for abuse that has happened to them, which could cause shame and a slew of psychological harm that could last decades, said Erin Ostling Burkholder, director of outreach and prevention for Crime Victim Services.

Her organization offers 10 different programs in Allen and Putnam counties in the west-central part of the state, including rape crisis, child advocacy and violence prevention. It favors the bill in its original form, she said.

I think we can still teach an abstinence-only sexual education, curriculum and have a sexual violence, sexual abuse prevention curriculum, Ostling Burkholder said. Sexual abuse and sex are not the same thing. Rape and sex are completely different. And so to try to say that they are the same or to talk about them in the same way is very harmful. And I think its very confusing and misleading, particularly for children.

Merryn, who created Erins Law, said that she supported the Center for Christian Virtues position that parents deserve an opt-out from the instruction if they so choose. Several other states have that. But she doesnt support the groups other propositions as they might weaken the effectiveness of the legislation, she said.

In discussions with the Center for Christian Virtue, Merryn said that her website contains a list of age-appropriate sexual abuse and sexual violence prevention curriculum used in the other states that have Erins Law. Examples include Kid Power, a curriculum that also includes bullying prevention, abduction and other violence, and Darkness to Light: End Child Sexual Abuse, which trains adults in prevention so they can take it to their communities.

Ninety-percent of sexual abuse is perpetrated by someone a child knows -- a family member, faith leader, coach or others, said Dr. Tracy Najera, executive director of the Childrens Defense Fund of Ohio. Its important for children to know they deserve bodily privacy and what is appropriate touch. As a child gets into middle and high school they need to learn about sexual violence.

There are curriculum out there that are age-appropriate, posted on websites for school administrators, for teachers, for parents, for community members to take a look and see whats being taught, so theres nothing off or weird or would make parents take pause, she said.

Najera found the Christian organizations position puzzling, she said.

This is not the time and place for these types of cultural wars, she said. Theres so many stories in the last couple of years of someone who is a teacher or a coach, or someone who is trusted, violating a child. And this goes on for years, and the child is suffering. And then when the child is asked, Why didnt you tell anyone? They say, I didnt think anyone would believe me.

See the article here:
Culture wars may sink bill in Ohio General Assembly on child sexual abuse prevention instruction - cleveland.com

All Kenneth Laferriere wanted to do was adjourn a school committee meeting in a small district in central Massachusetts.

But the Dudley-Charlton committee member found even that impossible after 90 minutes of jeering that was sometimes laced with profanity.

Were trying to have a business meeting, Laferriere pleaded with the audience, banging his microphone on the table.

Yelling at us is not getting us anywhere, added committee vice chair Jamie Terry, raising her own voice, as the board wrapped up debate on COVID protocols.

Finally, committee members asked the Dudley police officer present to clear the room, so they could finish the meeting.

School boards across the country have been facing recalls and angry questions about everything from COVID restrictions to the way schools teach children about racism.

That's true even in Massachusetts, which has a reputation as one of the most liberal states in the nation. But the reality in many communities is considerably more complex.

A WBUR review discovered people have challenged mask mandates in at least one-third of all school districts across the state since last summer. And WBUR found dozens of districts have faced criticism over how teachers discuss race and diversity in the classroom, as well assex education.

Dudley and Charlton are two small towns that share a school district and a high school.

For years, local school committee meetings had little drama focusing on routine items such as staffing and trips by the marching band.

But that all changed last July when dozens of parents and residents packed a committee meeting to protest the school's efforts to combat racism, including the hiringof a new diversity consultant.

Carroll-Sue Rehm, who raised her children in the district but later moved to Florida, was one of the concerned attendees. Hergrandchildren are students in the district now.She raised concerns about the consultant, including his work in Wellesley to create opportunities and meeting spacesfor students with the same identity such as Black studentsor those who are gay so theycan share their experiences; Rehm called that segregation.

This will lead to the destruction of young hearts and minds, and this will be catastrophic in generations to come," she charged. Others in the audience yelled and applauded as she spoke.

School district officials said the consultant was hired to help the Dudley-Charlton system with diversity, equity and inclusion. The district has since ended its work with the consultant. The superintendent declined to be interviewed for this story.

Rehm said she has flown back dozens of times to attend school committee meetings, and she is one of a dozen people whove regularly attended themsince last summer to raise objections about COVID mandates and curriculum.

They also have other concerns, as Rehm explained, after leaving her seat at a recent meeting in the high school library to examine new books on display.

I'm looking for anti-American books," Rehm said."I'm also looking specifically for any books that sexualize children."

Jordan Willow Evans, a school committee member and a social worker whos lived in Charlton her whole life, said recent meetings have been consumed by concerns from the group.

Evans said shes also faced verbal harassment and calls to step down from the committee over her work on LGBTQ rights. She called it disheartening, especially because she considers the community part of her extended family.

"It hurts to see people who you knew for many years, suddenly pivot and go down a road you could not have foreseen," she said.

I'm looking for anti-American books. I'm also looking specifically for any books that sexualize children."

Another longtime Charlton resident, JoEllen Burlingame, blamed some of the conflict on the rise of Donald Trump and partisan politics.

"It has led to a rise in very vocal concepts of nationalism," said Burlingame, who teaches in Worcester and has a son in eighth grade in Dudley-Charlton. "These views were always here, but unfortunately, they're coming out of the shadows."

Massachusetts generally elects Democrats, but Dudley and Charlton both narrowly went for Trump in 2016 and 2020.

Rehm, the Charlton grandmother, said she is looking forward to elections this year and in 2024. She helped organize a forum for Republican candidates in the neighboring town of Oxford to talk about education.

The room was festooned with signs condemning masking and critical race theory,a frameworkthat suggests racism is embedded in American laws and other institutions.The approach has generated controversy, particularly among Republicans.

"So critical race theory," said former state Rep. Geoff Diehl, who's now running for governor. "Is anybody a fan of that? No!' "

Critical race theory is also popping up in campaigns across the country.

Academics say its a tool,first developed by legal scholars,for understanding structural racism. But there are wide differences in how people use the term.

Many educators say the framework is generally taught in graduate school not K-12.But some conservatives use the term as shorthand for a much broader range of instruction on diversity and racism they say is increasingly taught in public schools.

WBUR askedDiehl at the candidate forum whetherhe thought critical race theory, sex education and COVID mandates would be driving political issues in elections this year.

That debate is raging right now, and tonight is a perfect example of parents really stepping up," Diehl said. He said hehopes outraged parents will join and help energize his campaign for governor across the state.

"It hurts to see people who you knew for many years, suddenly pivot and go down a road you could not have foreseen."

Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said all the controversy has taken a toll on educators, even as the mask mandates gradually end.

People are feeling very exhausted," Scott said. "They're feeling very beaten down, defeated, and just sort of the climate that we're facing today is challenging to everybody's mindset.

School committee members are also feeling the pressure.

Some voters unsuccessfully tried to recall two school committee members who supported a vaccine mandate for some students in Belchertown, in western Massachusetts.

In Bourne, a recall failed against a board member who vowed to ensure critical race theory was not being taught in her town.

In the Dudley-Charlton school district, some residents unsuccessfully pushed to recall five school committee members over issues including COVID mask requirements and the hiring of the diversity consultant.

One of the committee members targeted for recall decried the controversy.

"Most of the people that I've talked to feel it's kind of gotten out of hand," said Jeanne Costello, of Charlton. "They feel like it's too partisan politics, happening in a local town where we all know each other."

"It shouldn't kind of devolve to an 'us versus them,' " she said.

The gradual lifting of mask mandates will probably notend the political fight anytime soon.

There is a school committee election scheduled for thisspring in Dudley and Charlton. And several committeemembers are up for reelection.

So local voters will likely get the final say.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Jeanne Costello's first name. The post has been updated. We regret the error.

Read the original:
How one Mass. school board got caught in the culture wars - WBUR

In recent years, school boards have become one more battlefield in the culture wars polarizing the country. The reasons include the influence of outside money and interest groups as well as national media coverage that fans the flames, according to three experts recently brought together by the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life for a March 16 panel discussion entitled Whats Going on With School Boards? Jen McAndrew, Tisch Colleges director of communications, strategy, and planningand a school committee member in Melrose, Massachusetts, moderated the event, which featured education and political science experts.

Here are a few takeaways:

Local educational issues hitting the national stage is not a new phenomenon and outside money plays a leading role.

Controversy over masking mandates, the teaching of critical race theory, and sexual orientation and gender identity curricula in schools may be the issues of the day, but there is a long history of local educational concerns rising to national prominence. Michigan State political science professor Sarah Reckhow, who co-authored a book entitled Outside Money in School Board Elections, saw the same pattern when she followed races in five school districts across the country a decade ago.

The driving issue in those elections was predominantly charter schools especially in districts associated with large growth and outside money, she said. Donors to candidates involved in the charter school fight included former New York City mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg and Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg, according to Reckhow. Brian Reagan, the superintendent of Waltham, Massachusetts public schools, said that on the ballot of his citys recent school committee election was a formerly unknown conservative candidate later discovered to have been funded by an outside group.

Some of the controversial issues school committees are dealing with, like Michigans curriculum transparency bill, seem to be more about providing state and national politicians with talking points than about the needs of local students.

Reckhow spoke about a bill that would require Michigan educators to post curricula, lesson plans, and other teaching content online. It provided plenty of fodder for political sloganeering. We're coming up on election season with a lot of important state races and these sorts of issues are galvanizing, certainly on the conservative side, she said. Labels like parental rights or transparency get attached to the bills that may not deal with the nuances of the local districts and the issues on the ground.

While conservatives have been blamed for much of the lack of civility at school board meetings, the left can also be divisive and inflammatory in its response.

The media have given a lot of coverage to conservatives disrupting school board meetings and threatening members, but the lack of civility is not limited to one side, said Gerard Robinson, vice president for education at the Advanced Studies in Culture Foundation and formerly Virginia and Floridas top education official. For example, in a recent letter decrying the growing threats of violence at school board meetings across the country, the National School Boards Association used what Robinson considered incendiary language, comparing the behavior to domestic terrorism and asking the White House for federal law enforcement intervention. Robinson conceded that some of the conduct has been reprehensible, but the idea that you can use the term domestic terrorism! Fourteen attorneys general have now submitted Freedom of Information Act requests for more information about the letter and the administrations response, and all of them are Republicans. Are we saying that this is not an important issue to the Democrats? asked Robinson.

When the national media swoops in to cover local school boards, polarization intensifies.

The consolidation of the media industry has resulted in the loss or contraction of many local outlets. Often, when school boards are covered, its by the national press drawn to the most contentious issues at the expense of the more specific substantive local issues that might be unique to the district and really important to the students and families in that community, said Reckhow. Another effect of this nationalization is that local school board candidates feel like they have to pick a side when it comes to controversial issues, at the expense of thoughtful, less black-and-white positions, she added.

School boards might be less vulnerable to outside influences if they had broader representation.

Often the composition of school boards does not reflect the demographics of the students and communities they serve, Reagan said, including his district in eastern Massachusetts, where 44% of the population is Latino. Yet students have shown a willingness to participate. A recent controversy over the presence of two LGBTQ+ -themed books in the high school library resulted in a packed school committee meeting at which students spoke eloquently in favor of keeping the books. We need to find ways to get them to be more of a voice on the school committee as well, he said.

Contributing to the homogeneity, Reckhow said, is that few people vote in school board elections and those who do are often older and not people of color.

There is an interesting interplay between the idealistic things we say about school boards being grassroots and participatory institutions, she said, and the reality.

Read more from the original source:
How School Boards Have Become a Nexus of the Culture Wars - Tufts Now