Latest news with #DepartmentOfEducation
Fox News
3 hours ago
- General
- Fox News
Dept of Education labels June as 'Title IX Month' in wake of trans athletes winning girls' competitions
The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced on Monday that it is recognizing June as "Title IX Month." The announcement came in honor of the 53rd anniversary of Title IX of the Educational Amendments (1972) being signed into law. The official date is June 23. "June will now be dedicated to commemorating women and celebrating their struggle for, and achievement of, equal educational opportunity," the DOE said in a release. "Throughout the month, the Department will highlight actions taken to reverse the Biden Administration's legacy of undermining Title IX and announce additional actions to protect women in line with the true purpose of Title IX." "By prohibiting sex-based discrimination in federally funded programs, #TitleIX opened countless athletic & academic opportunities for women & girls across the country. This month, we celebrate Title IX's 53rd anniversary & will take more action to protect women's hard-earned rights," the DOE added in an X post. U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement of her own, "The Department is recognizing June as 'Title IX Month' to honor women's hard-earned civil rights and demonstrate the Trump Administration's unwavering commitment to restoring them to the fullest extent of the law. "Title IX provides women protections on the basis of sex in all educational activities, which include their rights to equal opportunity in sports and sex-segregated intimate spaces, including sororities and living accommodations," she continued. "This Administration will fight on every front to protect women's and girls' sports, intimate spaces, dormitories and living quarters, and fraternal and panhellenic organizations." The move comes days after trans athletes in different states recently dominated their competition. In Minnesota, a softball pitcher, born a male, led Champlin Park High School to the state tournament with the help of a shutout in the section final on Thursday. On Saturday, just days after President Donald Trump sent a warning to California about letting a male compete in girls' track and field, the state allowed a trans athlete, AB Hernandez, to take two state titles against female competitors. In another track meet on Saturday, this one in Oregon, two high school seniors, Reese Eckard of Sherwood High School and Alexa Anderson of Tigard High School, stepped down from their respective spots on the podium next to a trans athlete who represented Ida B. Wells High School. In Washington, transgender competitor Veronica Garcia won the 400-meter state championship for the second straight season. With the announcement came "Title IX Month initiatives," one of which is an investigation into the University of Wyoming and Jefferson County Public Schools in Colorado for "allegedly allowing males to join and live in female-only intimate and communal spaces," the DOE said. Several other states have defied Trump's executive order on the issue, resulting in Maine temporarily losing federal funding. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
CBC
17 hours ago
- General
- CBC
'It's frustrating and tiring': Another western Newfoundland daycare faces government delays
The Mi'kmaw Cultural Foundation in Stephenville is trying to open a registered child-care centre in a newly leased building, but it's stuck in a limbo period while waiting on provincial government approval to move forward with renovations. "It's frustrating and tiring. We are exhausted," Jeffrey Young, president and CEO of the foundation, told CBC News. Young applied for the child-care capacity initiative funding through the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development in early January. The funding program is designed for not-for-profit organizations, like the Mi'kmaw Cultural Foundation, to develop regulated child-care services where the need has been identified. He said there was a strong response from staff in the regional office, but he is stuck waiting for an approval from the minister's office for the next phase of the project. "It's been this ongoing … silence and no responses. We were initially told by one of the employees in the department to give it a six-month period for you guys to be open. That was in January. We are coming up on six months and we don't even have Phase 2 approved by the government," said Young. The approval would allow renovations, staffing and furniture purchases for the newly rented space, which already has multiple conference rooms, playrooms, two kitchens, bathrooms and access to the outdoors. Young said he has emailed and phoned the department's current and old ministers, and contacted opposition parties about his concerns. Just 24 kilometres away in St. George's, child-care operators face similar frustrations with governments this month, as they wait to open a registered daycare to accommodate an already long waitlist. Young says he is getting calls and emails every day from Stephenville residents wanting to know when the daycare might open. "We needed this daycare yesterday, not tomorrow. People are needing this service now. If the government don't speed things up, we are going to be losing people in our community, and maybe even our province," he said. "Because the services are not here. People want to go to work." While the Education and Early Childhood Development departments wouldn't do an interview with CBC News, Angela Sullivan, a communications director, sent an e-mailed statement. "The department carefully evaluates each submission to ensure a thorough and fair assessment process. The process considers overall project timelines, commitments to other child-care projects, and long-term viability of projects," Sullivan wrote. There was no mention of the specific southwest coast daycare delays. The Mi'kmaw Cultural Foundation was established over a decade ago to preserve and promote the Mi'kmaw culture in the province. Members work on community-based programming and focus mostly on youth. The goal is to open a registered Indigenous child-care centre and offer the service and employment opportunity within the Bay St. George area. "They are not recognizing the value of the programming we want to offer," said chairperson Ang Brockway. She says culturally relevant learning for children is always beneficial. "We want them to learn from authentic people in our communities who grew up on the land and know these things. We are really committed to offering that type of learning and environment." The Education Department says the government is focused on improving access to high-quality and affordable child care for families across the province, and it's trying to increase spaces to ensure families have access to child-care services. Brockway says her foundation is sick of broken promises and their application is very straightforward with no requests for new builds or massive renovation costs. "They have agreed to the reconciliation piece. They have put it out there that they are ready to do this work. But we are coming up against these barriers that make us think … are you really ready to do reconciliation work or are you relying on the people on the ground working to make everything happen?" Brockway said. "We could have [a] culturally relevant daycare, which is something our province is really lacking." As for Young, he is sitting and waiting for government officials to call so he can move on with the next stage. He says the organization has enough money reserved to rent the large building until the end of the summer.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New educator development housing coming to Lahaina
LAHAINA, Hawaii (KHON2) — Lahaina will be getting a big boost to development with a new housing project coming soon. The Hawaiʻi State Department of Education and Maui leaders broke ground on a new $20 million educator workforce development housing project, with construction starting soon on the 47-unit rental complex. Maui Council passes bill allowing certain Lahaina structures to build back as it was Centrally located near three Lahaina schools, the approximately five-acre site sits above Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena Elementary and below Lahainaluna High. 'This development is pivotal to the retention and recruitment of our west Maui staff. We cannot afford to lose our educators. Their presence, their stability, their relationships with students is what helps our students learn, heal and move forward,' Superintendent Keith Hayashi said. 'When teachers have secure housing, students have stable classrooms.'The 2023 wildfires made an already severe housing crisis in Lahaina worse. 'This project responds directly to that need – the need for housing our school employees,' Maui Mayor Richard Bissen said. 'That will bring consistency to our classrooms that allows those who guide, who nourish, who transport and care for our students to remain close to the places they serve.' In an employee survey, nearly one-third of the Maui employees were displaced due to the wildfires, with 20% of educators surveyed saying they are thinking about leaving the state due to the high cost of housing. 'It's an honor to work on this project. We're very anxious to get started. We have a tight timetable and we'll make that, I'm sure,' Everett Dowling, founder and president of Dowling Co., said. 'Home ownership equity is the largest creator of wealth in the country. But in order to buy a home, you have to save some money. Hopefully this project will enable employees of the DOE here on the west side to put some money aside as the community rebuilds.' Check out more news from around Hawaii The project will include one and two-bedroom configurations. Rental rates will be income-based. The teacher workforce housing complex is expected to be complete in December. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
NYC public schools newsletter accusing Israel of ‘genocide in Gaza' prompts new crackdown
The New York City schools boss has suspended release of mass communications sent to educators, students and parents without her approval — sparked by a furor over a recent Department of Education newsletter claiming Israel is committing 'genocide in Gaza.' The Post first reported Wednesday on the antisemitic message that was included in a 14-page 'Teacher Career Pathways' spring 2025 newsletter — sent out to 'master teachers' across the system's 1,800 schools. Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said newsletters and other mass communications cannot be released without first being reviewed by her office, amid consultation with Mayor Eric Adams' office. 'It is egregious and deeply disappointing that despite our efforts to streamline communication protocols in this massive system, politically one-sided materials that are deeply offensive to the Jewish community were once again shared with educators,' Aviles-Ramos said in a statement Thursday. 'I profusely apologize for this. Moving forward, all system-wide communication will be directly signed off by my office until we can further build team capacity to reflect our core values and the highest commitment to curating materials that ONLY reflect political neutrality.' Adams — who is considering running for re-election under an independent 'EndAntiSemitism' ballot line -— was furious after hearing of the Israel-bashing message sent out by his education department. 'Let me be clear: Schools are where our children should feel safest, which is why neither antisemitism, nor any other form of hate, has any place in New York City Public Schools,' the mayor told The Post. 'As the home of the largest Jewish community in the world outside of Israel, we must ensure our Jewish students, families, and educators feel welcomed, not targeted. Today, our city's public school system is taking direct and sweeping action to ensure that no politically one-sided rhetoric ever appears again in any official communication sent from our schools.' Meanwhile, a DOE directive sent to educators Thursday was even more explicit. 'Effective immediately, please pause all newsletters and mass communications from your teams and divisions until further notice,' the memo sent by a DOE supervisor obtained by The Post said. 'This applies to any staff-facing, family-facing, or citywide messages, regardless of audience or platforms,' the memo sent to educators said Earlier this month, Aviles-Ramos was also forced to apologize for a different newsletter that linked to a 'Stop Gaza Genocide Toolkit' — sparking outrage in the Jewish community. That 17-page document contained radicalized messaging that encourages readers to 'Stop arming Israel and free Palestine!' Meanwhile, an anti-Israel group last week sent an email blast to hundreds of city teachers pushing for a May Day strike and other 'civil disobedience' to protest the Gaza war. The Labor for Palestine Network called for union members to rise up against 'the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza' and even coordinate their efforts with student groups, which teachers were told to ignore by city school officials. Jewish educators applauded the action from the chancellor and City Hall. 'We thank the chancellor for recognizing that certain mass email communications and distributed resources have reflected historical inaccuracy and bias, undermining the Department of Education's core commitment to political neutrality,' said Karen Feldman, co-founder of the New York City Public School Alliance.' 'We welcome her efforts to build a team that truly reflects and upholds these values. However, we must emphasize that this is not an isolated incident—what we are facing is a systemic problem that demands comprehensive and sustained attention.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Fifth case of NYC teachers getting anti-Israel propaganda in DOE schools is ‘clearly an attack'
Hateful anti-Israel propaganda has slipped into city Department of Education literature and schools at least five times in the past two months, The Post has learned. In the latest instance, faculty members at a large Brooklyn elementary/middle school received an email Monday with the subject line: 'How Much Jewish Wealth From The Black Slave Trade Was Used To Help Create Israel?' Among a dozen links to inflammatory texts, the email includes several articles branding Jews as former slave owners; a piece by Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakahn claiming 'Jewish behavior has ill-affected Black people and others;' and a Palestinian children's workbook decrying 'bullies called Zionists.' 'It's clearly an attack,' a Jewish teacher who received the diatribe in her DOE email told The Post. The incident is evidence of rising antisemitism in NYC schools and other educational institutions since the Israeli-Hamas war began on Oct. 7, 2023, experts say. The emails came from think.285@ an encrypted account hiding the sender's identity. The teacher asked that she and her 'amazing' school, which she described as close-knit and harmonious, not be named. 'There was never an issue with antisemitism — not once,' she told The Post, adding she wears a Star of David at work. 'It wouldn't be fair to drop such a stain on the school. I would put my last penny on the fact that I don't think it's a person from the school' who sent the offensive missive. Like many other NYC schools, the Brooklyn school posts its teachers' DOE email addresses on a public website. Two assistant principals were 'horrified' by the cyber stealth, but the teacher has not discussed the emails with the principal — who did not address them with staff. It's the latest in a series of anti-Israel attacks popping up in DOE communications. In early April, schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos apologized after a 17-page 'Stop Gaza Genocide Toolkit' was linked in a newsletter sent to teachers and parents. Weeks later, a 'Teacher Career Pathways' newsletter for master teachers in the city's 1,800 schools called for student voices to be heard on the 'genocide in Gaza.' In a DOE crackdown on 'politically one-sided materials that are deeply offensive to the Jewish community' being disseminated, Aviles-Ramos halted the release of mass communications sent to educators, students and parents without her approval. At the same time, an anti-Israel group, the Labor for Palestine Network, sent an email blast to city teachers on their DOE accounts calling for a May Day strike and other 'civil disobedience' to protest the Gaza war. The DOE said it would investigate. Last month, a flyer distributed in several Manhattan schools urged teachers voting in their union elections to back a campaign to divest pension funds from Israel. The flyers came after the cold-blooded murder of two young Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C. by a gunman who yelled, 'Free Palestine.' The United Federation of Teachers disavowed the flyers. The DOE said it removed them from schools. Karen Feldman, a middle-school teacher and Holocaust educator studying the rise of antisemitism in NYC public schools, said the mounting incidents 'point to a systemic issue.' 'We must all demand stronger oversight and safeguards to ensure public institutions do not become platforms for hate,' she said. Asked whether the Brooklyn school had reported the emails, a DOE spokeswoman said, 'We are investigating this matter and will address it as appropriate with disciplinary action, community engagement, and educational intervention.' Officials said the DOE has identified who sent previous anti-Israel emails, but would not elaborate on 'personnel matters.'
