Education Week - September 8, 2021 - 2

20 States File Lawsuit
Against Biden Team
Over LGBTQ Shields
The Biden administration is on the firing line again
(when is it ever off?)-this time from attorneys general
from 20 states who want to halt directives that extend
federal sex-discrimination protections to LGBTQ
people, including schoolchildren.
The lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in
Tennessee argues that legal interpretations by the U.S.
Department of Education and the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission are based on a faulty view
of U.S. Supreme Court case law.
The Supreme Court ruled in June 2020 that a landmark
civil rights law protects gay, lesbian, and transgender
people from discrimination in employment
under Title VII.
In June, the Department of Education said discrimination
based on a student's sexual orientation
or gender identity will be treated as a violation of Title
IX, which protects against sex discrimination in education.
A legal analysis by the department concluded
there is " no persuasive or well-founded basis " to treat
education differently from employment.
Also in June, the EEOC released guidance about
what could constitute discrimination against LGBTQ
people and advised the public about how to file a complaint.
With
its guidance, the Biden administration in part
took a stand against laws and proposals in a growing
number of states that forbid transgender girls from
participating on female sports teams. The state attorneys
general contend that the authority over such
policies " properly belongs to Congress, the States, and
the people. "
In adddition to Tennessee's, the plaintiffs are the attorneys
general from Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas,
Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska,
Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and
West Virginia.
The lawsuit asks a judge to rule that Title IX and
Title VII don't prohibit schools and employers from
having showers, locker rooms, restrooms, and other
living facilities separated by " biological sex " ; do not
require employers, employees, or students to use a
transgender person's preferred pronouns; don't outlaw
separating school sports teams by " biological sex " ;
and don't ban workplace dress codes based on " biological
sex. "
Hunkered
Down
Erica Bordreaux,
Waylon Bordreaux,
Nicholas Beltier, and
Hank Bordreaux took
refuge at an emergency
shelter at
Thibodaux High School
in Thibodaux, La., on
Aug. 30, during
Hurricane Ida. An
estimated 250,000
students have been
affected by the
devastating storm.
Only Half of Parents Plan to Have Children
Vaccinated Against COVID-19, Poll Finds
Parents are deeply divided on their intentions to vaccinate
their children against COVID-19 and on their support of
school mask mandates.
Those are two key findings from the Education Next survey
of public opinion on education policy, which is published by
the Education Next Institute and the Program on Education
Policy and Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School.
The survey also found a drop in public support for education
policy reform proposals across the board-whether the policies
were backed by those on the right or those on the left. For
example, support for free public college dropped from 2019 to
2021, but so did support for school vouchers.
" While the pandemic has created space for innovation, it
is not clear that it has created broad demand for change. And
so those who see this as an opportunity to rethink education
policy or practice will still need to convince the public that
that's the right way forward, " said Martin West, the academic
dean and a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
and the editor-in-chief of Education Next.
Just about half the parents surveyed, 51 percent, said they
would " probably " or " definitely " vaccinate their child. About
a third, 34 percent, said they probably or definitely would not.
Fifteen percent are undecided.
The rates varied across party lines, with more Democratic
parents saying they would get their children vaccinated.
When it comes to other COVID safety precautions, parents
are similarly split. Forty-seven percent support mask mandates
in schools, while 35 percent oppose them. Republicans
were more likely to oppose them.
Opinion on mask-wearing also differs by race. Sixty-nine
percent of Black adults, 59 percent of Hispanic adults, and 33
percent of white adults approve of mask mandates.
The past year has brought many anecdotal reports of parents
pulling their children out of traditional public schools in favor
of private schools that offer more opportunity for in-person
learning. Still, the poll found that the proportion of students
attending traditional public schools has returned to spring
2020 levels, after taking a dip earlier during the pandemic.
Masks, Distancing, Testing-Mitigation Measures
Show Promise of Working for Nation's Schools
Things may look bleak as the country continues its war against
COVID-19, but now and again, some bright spots pop up.
Federal officials, for instance, are offering new hope for the
safety of U.S. schoolchildren threatened by the coronavirus.
The Biden administration says half the nation's adolescents
ages 12-17 have gotten at least their first COVID-19 vaccine, and
the inoculation rate among teenagers is growing faster than any
other age group.
" We have now hit a major milestone, " White House coronavirus
coordinator Jeff Zients told reporters at a briefing late last month.
" This is critical progress as millions of kids head back to school. "
Meanwhile, new studies from California provide more evidence
that schools can open safely if they do the right things and highlight
the danger of failing to follow proper precautions.
A study of COVID-19 cases from the winter pandemic peak in
Los Angeles County found that case rates among children and
adolescents were about 3½ times lower than in the general community
when schools followed federal guidance on mask-wearing,
physical distancing, testing, and other mitigation measures.
But another study from Marin County found that a single unvaccinated
teacher who came back to school two days after showing
symptoms and read to her class without wearing a mask led
to 26 other infections in May, before the highly contagious Delta
variant ran wild.
" Most of the places where we are seeing surges and outbreaks
are in places that are not implementing our current guidance, "
said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, who discussed the studies at a briefing.
More
than 3,100 active coronavirus cases have been reported
in Arkansas public schools among students and employees, and
most youths are enrolled in districts that require masks. The mandates
emerged after a judge temporarily blocked a state law that
banned mask mandates in the state, which ranks fifth nationally
for new virus cases per capita, according to Johns Hopkins University
researchers.
About 1,100 people are dying daily of COVID-19 in the United
States, the most since mid-March, according to Johns Hopkins.
BRIEFLY STATED CONTRIBUTORS: Evie Blad, Sarah Schwartz, Mark Walsh, Associated Press and Tribune News Service. Edited by Karen Diegmueller.
2 | EDUCATION WEEK | September 8, 2021 | www.edweek.org
Aaron E. Martinez / Austin American-Statesman via TNS
http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - September 8, 2021

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