Category: School

A school district in Pennsylvania temporarily banned the Girls Who Code book series for young readers, according to an index of banned books compiled by the free expression non-profit, Pen America.

The books are four of more than 1,500 unique book titles that have been banned by various schools across the country after conservative pushes to censor books. According to a report released by Pen America in April, 138 school districts across 32 states have banned books from their classrooms and school libraries, sometimes temporarily, even if only for a day, sometimes on an ongoing basis.

A recent update to Pen America’s banned book index included the Central York school district in Pennsylvania as banning the books The Friendship Code, Team BFF: Race to the Finish!, Lights, Music, Code! and Spotlight on Coding Club! They were among a suggested new list of more diverse teaching resources that ended up being

“The suspension rate was high. MLK lamentably had the highest rate of disciplinary referrals in the entire district,” said Leslie Hu, MLK’s community school coordinator who added that standardized test scores were really low. The principal wanted to incorporate PBL, but knew students were distracted by a lack of basic needs that could not be met at home. Shifting to a community school model helped students with needs like food and medical care, and teachers like Founds were able to invest more time in developing their teaching practice.

Schools aren’t typically designed to offer more than instruction, but by addressing basic needsthey’re finding that students can learn better. Cincinnati Public School Learning Centers, Oakland Unified School District and even Lebron James’ I Promise School in Akron, Ohio, are community schools that lend a helpful framework for closing achievement gaps and improving student outcomes.

“The community school approach is where

Meet Anthony Triplett Jr. He’s 31, he lives near Lacey and he’s a nine-year Army veteran with two children enrolled in North Thurston Public Schools’ Evergreen Forest Elementary and Nisqually Middle School.

He has worked in federal security, he says, and he followed that by forming a nonprofit called All in a Days Work to address veteran suicides.

And then on May 24, a mass school shooting unfolded in Uvalde, Texas, killing 21 people, including 19 students.

Triplett’s children asked him if they had to return to school the next day.

“It was heartbreaking,” said Triplett. Galvanized by the moment, Triplett asked himself, “What can I do?”

Around the time of the Texas shooting, there were elevated concerns about school safety, said North Thurston Public Schools spokesman Aaron Wyatt. Some in the community offered to patrol school hallways and some asked if bullet-proof glass could be installed, he recalls.

Triplett