Hurricane Ida

Powerful storm leaves swath of destruction from Louisiana to New York

Hurricane Ida hit the Gulf Coast states this week with powerful winds that forced the evacuation of many Americans from their homes, disrupting lives — school included — that have already been disrupted the past 18 months by the pandemic.

On Wednesday night, the remnants of the storm pounded New York City with powerful storms and flooding that have left nine persons dead in the NYC metro area.

Here’s what you can do:

There are at least a couple of ways to use a story such as this for your school publications:

• It’s a climate story because most climatologists attribute these record-breaking storms to human-induced climate change. You may not be in the line of hurricanes, but your area will probably be impacted in some way be climate change and climate refugees. Who are the climatologists in your area who can address this? (Note: Meteorologist and climate scientist are two different professions. Meteorologists generally predict the weather for a week out or slightly longer. Climate scientists predict climate trends over longer periods of time using much larger data sets.)
• It’s a human story, especially if your state or town is trying to cope with the impact of this storm and prepare for future storms of this magnitude.

Texas abortion law

U.S. Supreme Court upholds ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy

A deeply divided U.S. Supreme Court this week upheld a controversial Texas law that bans abortions after the sixth week of pregnancy, the time when a fetal heartbeat can be detected by ultrasound, but long before most people learn that they’re pregnant.

The law also allows any citizen to file suit in court against someone who facilitates or performs an abortion after six weeks. That means anyone who gives a ride to a clinic or anyone who helps pay for an illegal abortion will be legally liable for their actions.

Abortion proponents are calling it a virtual ban on all abortions in the state, the second-most populous in the U.S. Anti-abortion activists hope the law can be exported to other states that are dominated by conservative legislatures.

Here’s what you can do:

The most obvious local angle, of course, is a reaction piece from both pro-abortion  and anti-abortion activists in your community that includes expert opinion from doctors that specialize in pre-natal care and politicians who might have a say in whether your state copies Texas’ law.

But another angle would be an explanation of how the U.S. Constitution allows for some states to grant more freedom to its residents than do other states. It’s true of marijuana laws, speed limits and other issues.

As someone who once taught English as a Second Language to immigrants and new U.S. citizens living in Colorado, I know that those students always wanted to know how Colorado could have legal marijuana when other states didn’t. They were equally perplexed to learn on Election Night 2016 how the candidate with the fewest votes could win the U.S. Presidency.

So if you’re squeamish about opening the abortion can of worms in your school’s publications, use this is a jumping-off point for discussion how U.S. laws can differ wildly from one part of the country to another.

Freedom School

Pulitzer winner brings after-school program to her Iowa hometown

Nikole Hannah-Jones is taking her “1619 Project” and building on it to create an after-school program for low-income public school students in Waterloo, Iowa, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist’s hometown.

The Freedom School will be a five-day-per-week program where students supplement their regular classes by learning about U.S. history by focusing specifically on the Black experience. The program is free to all students, though it will specifically reach out to Black students who are having trouble reading.

“I think this intervention is necessary because we can just look at the test scores of Black students, particularly low-income Black students in Waterloo, as compared to white students, and see there’s a failure happening somewhere,” Hannah-Jones said.

Iowa is one of several states to ban material that the legislature contends stokes racial animus. The “1619 Project” has been a specific target for such legislation, so the independent Freedom School project is a work-around to avoid breaking the controversial law.

Here’s what you can do:

The program is intended to help any student interested in learning more about Black history, but it specifically wants to address the disparity in test scores in the Waterloo district.

If you choose to look at potential racial disparities in your school district’s test scores, keep in mind that this is a very difficult subject to report on and write about. Many factors influence how students perform in school and on standardized tests, but educational research has found that the top factors are the levels of educational attainment of a student’s parents, along with the the socio-economic status of parents.

So any good story about this issue will include more than just data. A good story will reach out to experts on poverty and its impact on learners of all racial backgrounds and ethnic identifiers. It will also tell personal stories of students and their experiences with learning U.S. history and whether they feel it adequately reflects their own backgrounds and experiences.

Finally, you’ll need to lean on your adviser and other professionals in your building to help you make good decisions about your word usage in the story.