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Montreal Gazette
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Montreal Gazette
Prayer rooms, student groups increased tensions over Israel-Hamas war at CEGEPs: report
By Politically oriented courses, a lack of power over student associations and the presence of prayer rooms all contributed to heightened tensions over the Israel-Hamas war at Dawson and Vanier colleges, a new government report suggests. Released Friday morning, it is the result of a months-long investigation launched by Quebec's Education Department following complaints of deteriorating climates at both CEGEPs last winter. Among other recommendations, it calls for tighter regulations on academic freedom and student clubs, as well as better enforcement of Quebec's secularism law in CEGEPs. '(The report) highlights a series of failures that have profoundly undermined the climate in both colleges, fuelled tensions and weakened community life,' Higher Education Minister Pascale Déry said in a statement Friday. 'As a government, we cannot tolerate our campuses becoming the scene of divisions.' When the investigation was launched in December, Déry said it was necessary in order to determine whether the colleges were ensuring the 'physical and psychological well-being of students.' She had cited multiple complaints of alleged bullying on campus over the Israel-Hamas war and concerns about some teachers' actions amid the heightened tensions. Friday's report takes aim at what it describes as 'politically oriented' courses offered at the schools and argues against the presence of prayer rooms for Jewish and Muslim students on campus. 'Prayer rooms can be seen as a privilege, or even a factor facilitating radicalization and proselytism,' the report states. 'In the current sociopolitical context, this exacerbates tensions and makes it difficult for students and certain student clubs to coexist.' The report also calls on Quebec to review its laws governing academic freedom and student associations in colleges. For the latter, it argues certain student clubs have become too militant and that schools have little power to reign them in. 'The institutions have neither the authority nor the leverage to intervene in problematic situations involving student associations or clubs and, where appropriate, to sanction or even ban them,' it says. Reached for comment on Friday, both Dawson and Vanier said they are taking time to process the report. When first announced, several teachers' unions had denounced the investigation as political interference and an attack on academic freedom. Students had also protested against it, describing it as an attempt to intimidate teachers and calling for Déry's resignation.
Boston Globe
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Supreme Court says Maryland parents can pull their kids from public school lessons using LGBTQ books
The decision was not a final ruling in the case, but the justices strongly suggested that the parents will win in the end. The court ruled that policies like the one at issue in the case are subjected to the strictest level of review, nearly always dooming them. Advertisement The school district introduced the storybooks, including 'Prince & Knight' and 'Uncle Bobby's Wedding,' in 2022 as part of an effort to better reflect the district's diversity. In 'Uncle Bobby's Wedding,' a niece worries that her uncle won't have as much time for her after he gets married to another man. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The justices have repeatedly endorsed claims of religious discrimination in recent years and the case is among several religious-rights cases at the court this term. The decision also comes amid increases in recent years in books being banned from public school and public libraries. Many of the removals were organized by Moms for Liberty and other conservative organizations that advocate for more parental input over what books are available to students. Soon after President Donald Trump, a Republican, took office in January, the Education Department called the book bans a 'hoax' and dismissed 11 complaints that had been filed under Trump's predecessor, President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Advertisement The writers' group Pen America said in a court filing in the Maryland case that the objecting parents wanted 'a constitutionally suspect book ban by another name.' Pen America reported more than 10,000 books were banned in the last school year. Parents initially had been allowed to opt their children out of the lessons for religious and other reasons, but the school board reversed course a year later, prompting protests and eventually a lawsuit. At arguments in April, a lawyer for the school district told the justices that the 'opt outs' had become disruptive. Sex education is the only area of instruction in Montgomery schools that students can be excused from, lawyer Alan Schoenfeld said. The case hit unusually close to home, as three justices live in the county, though they didn't send their children to public schools.
17 hours ago
- Health
Rural schools feel the pinch from Trump administration's cuts to mental health grants
WASHINGTON -- In parts of rural upstate New York, schools have more than 1,100 students for every mental health provider. In a far-flung region with little public transportation, those few school counselors often are the only mental health professionals available to students. Hennessey Lustica has been overseeing grant-funded efforts to train and hire more school psychologists, counselors and social workers in the Finger Lakes region, but those efforts may soon come to end — a casualty of the Trump administration's decision to cancel school mental health grants around the country. 'Cutting this funding is just going to devastate kids,' said Lustica, project director of the Wellness Workforce Collaborative in the Seneca Falls Central School District. 'The workforce that we're developing, just in my 21 school districts it's over 20,000 kids that are going to be impacted by this and not have the mental health support that they need.' The $1 billion in grants for school-based mental health programs were part of a sweeping gun violence bill signed by President Joe Biden in 2022 in response to the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The grants were meant to help schools hire more psychologists, counselors and other mental health workers, especially in rural areas. Under the Biden administration, the department prioritized applicants who showed how they would increase the number of providers from diverse backgrounds, or from communities directly served by the school district. But President Donald Trump's administration took issue with aspects of the grant programs that touched on race, saying they were harmful to students. 'We owe it to American families to ensure that taxpayer dollars are supporting evidence-based practices that are truly focused on improving students' mental health,' Education Department spokesperson Madi Biedermann said. Lustica learned of her grant's cancellation in April in a two-page letter from the Education Department, which said the government found that her work violated civil rights law. It did not specify how. Lustica is planning to appeal the decision. She rejected the letter's characterization of her work, saying she and her colleagues abide by a code of ethics that honors each person's individuality, regardless of race, gender or identity. 'The rhetoric is just false,' Lustica said. 'I don't know how else to say it. I think if you looked at these programs and looked at the impact that these programs have in our rural school districts, and the stories that kids will tell you about the mental health professionals that are in their schools, it has helped them because of this program.' The grants supported programs in districts across the country. In California, West Contra Costa Unified School District will lose nearly $4 million in funding. In Alabama, Birmingham City Schools was notified it would not receive the rest of a $15 million grant it was using to train, hire and retain mental health staff. In Wisconsin, the state's Department of Public Instruction will lose $8 million allocated for the next four years. The state had used the money to boost retention and expand programs to encourage high schoolers to pursue careers in school-based mental health. 'At a time when communities are urgently asking for help serving mental health needs, this decision is indefensible,' state superintendent Jill Underly said in a statement. In recent House and Senate hearings, Democrats pressed Education Secretary Linda McMahon on the end of the grants and the impact on students. McMahon told them mental health is a priority and the grants would be rebid and reissued. 'Anyone who works or spends time with kids knows these grants were funding desperately needed access to mental health care services,' American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten said in a statement. 'Canceling the funding now is a cruel, reckless act that puts millions of children at risk.' The strains on youth mental health are acute in many rural school districts. In one upstate New York district, half the students have had to move due to economic hardship in the last five years, creating instability that can affect their mental health, Lustica said. In a survey of students from sixth through 12th grade in one county, nearly half reported feeling sad or depressed most of the time; one in three said their lives lacked clear purpose or meaning. 'We've got huge amounts of depression, huge amounts of anxiety, lots of trauma and not enough providers,' Lustica said. 'School is the place where kids are getting a lot of the services they need.' Some families in the region are unable to afford private counseling or are unable to get their children to appointments given transportation challenges, said Danielle Legg, a graduate student who did an internship as a school social worker with funding from the grant program. 'Their access to mental health care truly is limited to when they're in school and there's a provider there that can see them, and it's vital,' Legg said. In the past three years, 176 students completed their mental health training through the program Lustica oversees, and 85% of them were hired into shortage areas, she said. The program that offered training to graduate students at schools helped address staffing needs and inspired many to pursue careers in educational settings, said Susan McGowan, a school social worker who supervised graduate students in Geneva City School District. 'It just feels, to me, really catastrophic,' McGowan said of the grant cancellation. 'These positions are difficult to fill, so when you get grad students who are willing to work hand in hand with other professionals in their building, you're actually building your capacity as far as staffing goes and you're supporting teachers.'
Hamilton Spectator
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
The Latest: Supreme Court limits nationwide injunctions, but fate of birthright citizenship unclear
A divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled that individual judges lack the authority to grant nationwide injunctions, but the decision left unclear the fate of President Donald Trump's restrictions on birthright citizenship. The court is issuing decisions on the final six cases left on its docket for the summer, including those that are emergency appeals relating to Trump's agenda. Cases on the court's emergency docket are handled swiftly, and decisions often come without explanations of the justices' reasoning. Decisions released today will be related to appeals on birthright citizenship, an online age verification law in Texas, the Education Department's firing of nearly 1,400 workers and DOGE-related government job cuts. Here's the latest: Attorney general applauds limits on nationwide injunctions 'Today, the Supreme Court instructed district courts to STOP the endless barrage of nationwide injunctions against President Trump,' U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on the social platform X shortly after the ruling came down. Bondi said the Justice Department 'will continue to zealously defend' Trump's 'policies and his authority to implement them.' Universal injunctions have been a source of intense frustration for the Trump administration amid a barrage of legal challenges to his priorities around immigration and other matters. Nationwide injunctions limited, but fate of birthright citizenship order unclear The outcome was a victory for Trump, who has complained about individual judges throwing up obstacles to his agenda. But a conservative majority left open the possibility that the birthright citizenship changes could remain blocked nationwide. Trump's order would deny citizenship to U.S.-born children of people who are in the country illegally. Birthright citizenship automatically makes anyone born in the United States an American citizen, including children born to mothers in the country illegally. The right was enshrined soon after the Civil War in the Constitution's 14th Amendment . Justice Sonia Sotomayor is reading her dissenting opinion from the bench, a sign of her clear disagreement with the majority's opinion. The other big cases left on the docket The court seems likely to side with Maryland parents in a religious rights case over LGBTQ+ storybooks in public schools, but other decisions appear less obvious. The judges will also weigh a Texas age-verification law for online pornography and a map of Louisiana congressional districts, now in its second trip to the nation's highest court. The justices will take the bench at 10 a.m. Once they're seated, they'll get right to the opinions. The opinions are announced in reverse order of seniority so that the junior justices go first. The birthright citizenship case will likely be announced last by Chief Justice John Roberts. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
San Francisco Chronicle
19 hours ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
The Latest: US Supreme Court to rule on birthright citizenship
The U.S. Supreme Court will issue decisions on the final six cases left on its docket for the summer, including those that are emergency appeals relating to U.S. President Donald Trump's agenda. Cases on the court's emergency docket are handled swiftly, and decisions often come without explanations of the justices' reasoning. Decisions released today will be related to appeals on birthright citizenship, an online age verification law in Texas, the Education Department's firing of nearly 1,400 workers and DOGE-related government job cuts. Here's the latest: The other big cases left on the docket The court seems likely to side with Maryland parents in a religious rights case over LGBTQ+ storybooks in public schools, but other decisions appear less obvious. The judges will also weigh a Texas age-verification law for online pornography and a map of Louisiana congressional districts, now in its second trip to the nation's highest court. The justices will take the bench at 10 a.m. Once they're seated, they'll get right to the opinions. The opinions are announced in reverse order of seniority so that the junior justices go first. The birthright citizenship case will likely be announced last by Chief Justice John Roberts.
