Highlights from the week of May 23-29, 2022.
Of all the monuments and memorials in Washington, DC, I find Maya Lin's Vietnam Veterans Memorial to be the most moving. It's not just the aesthetics of the memorial or its setting, both of which are magnificent. What really sets the memorial apart are the more than 58,000 names carved in the polished black granite. Every day, you can see visitors reaching out to touch the name of a family member or friend who died in the war; many leave offerings of flowers or mementos, and then walk with muffled tread up one of the two sloped paths that angle out from the center of the memorial.
Most military monuments, like the nearby World War II Memorial, use the place names of famous battles as a shorthand for honoring the people who fought there: Normandy. Battle of the Bulge. Midway. Iwo Jima. Guadalcanal. Largely lost to history are the names of the people who actually died. Lin's design brilliantly upends that tradition, reminding us that we should memorialize the people who sacrificed their lives and not the geography where they happened to fall.
The 185 children and adults (at least) who have died as a result of gun violence in schools since 1999 were more sacrificed than sacrificing, but the same geographical shorthand is dimming our memory of the actual lives lost: Columbine. Red Lake. Sandy Hook. Parkland. Santa Fe. Oxford. Uvalde.
Our most pressing responsibility, of course, is to figure out how to prevent that list from getting longer by even a single location. But we should also have the moral courage to carve those names into a monument that can remind us of what we lose every time this happens.
As you can see from the headlines below, social media and digital communications are once again at the center of the investigation into the planning and execution o the Uvalde attack. As more information becomes available, I'll share it in on this platform. A number of points are already clear:
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Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University have been given a grant by the Centers for Disease Control to study the effectiveness of an educator sexual misconduct prevention program created and marketed by a company called Praesidium. The program, known as The Praesidium Safety Equation, is designed to evaluate and strengthen eight different aspects of an organization's student abuse mitigation and response efforts.
Dr. Charol Shakeshaft, the Principal Investigator, is looking for schools and school districts that would be interested in participating in the study. She provide me with the following details regarding study participation:
Participation includes ~50 minutes of Praesidium's Safety Equation® online self-paced training for all staff and ~45 additional minutes of online self-paced training for administrators, completion of two surveys, and sharing school policies and procedures with researchers. Participating schools will receive the most comprehensive training on the market at no cost for the duration of the grant and a safety assessment documenting safety practices at the school. Schools will receive modest tokens of appreciation for participation. Training is available between July and early 2023.
If you work in a school/district that might be interested in helping with this research project, please contact Dr. Shakeshaft at cshakeshaft@vcu.edu or (804) 752-2413.
Published in September 2020, this book is an invaluable tool for educating teachers and administrators about the risks arising from the use and misuse of digital devices. Each cautionary tale is linked to specific provisions of the Model Code of Ethics for Educators to help guide educators in the ethical use of technology. Contact the author to arrange for bulk purchases.
🎼 Above the Fold: School District Strips "Sound of Music" of Nazi Imagery ~ 💽 2. The Shifting Stories of A School Data Theft ~ 🌈 3. Wisconsin "Pride Fest" Draws Online Attacks ~ 🚓 4. Teacher Gets 10 Year Jail Term for Solicitation ~ 🏖️ 5. What, No Vacation Days Left?
📖 Above the Fold: Diary of a Pervy Teacher ~ 📹 2. Update on Plainview ISD iPad Video Controversy ~ 🏈 3. CA Football Player Accused of Electronic Sexual Assault ~ ⛪ 4. Bible Reference Sparks Online Outrage in Loudon County ~ 🎌 5. Japanese Teacher Crosses a Line
Above the Fold: Video of Teacher Using N-Word Earns Student a 3-Day Suspension ~ 2. Oregon Schools Grapple with Emojigate ~ 3. North Carolina School Board Member Indicted for Extortion ~ 4. New CISA Toolkit: Strengthening K-12 Reporting Systems ~ 5. Will AI Be Critiquing Your Teaching Soon?
Cybertraps Summer 2023 Webinar Series ~ Above the Fold: 1st Grader Records In-Class Sexual Assault ~ 2. The Cellphone Ban Debate Continues ~ 3. Teacher Pepper-Sprayed after Confiscating Phone ~ 4. MPS Data Breach: "Worst Case Scenario" ~ 5. Teachers Face Economic Threats and Moral Dilemmas
A Guide to the Risks Arising from the Use and Misuse of Digital Devices
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