On this week's show, I welcome Sharon Ward to the show. Sharon is the Senior Policy Advisor for the Education Law Center, a statewide nonprofit legal services and advocacy organization that works to secure quality education for Pennsylvania children with an emphasis on students who are most underserved. She has worked for 30 years, inside and outside of government, to secure quality schools, affordable health care, and people-serving budget priorities and to empower advocates to work for economic and social justice.
We'll be talking about the ongoing attempts by school boards across the country to ban books, limit teachers' ability to provide welcoming environments to LGBTQ students, and enact extremist agendas in our schools. Last week the ACLU of PA filed a lawsuit against Central Bucks School District for creating a hostile environment for LGBTQ students and the Pennridge School District seems like it wants a lawsuit of its own as it bans books, limits expression, and demands schools be stripped of Pride flags. We'll talk with Sharon Ward about the work of the Education Law Center in defending the rights of ALL students and the legal hot water Bucks County Schools find themselves in.
Sharon served two terms on the Albany, NY City Council, directed Governor Tom Wolf’s Budget Office and led a government-wide transformation initiative to help state agencies use technology, data, collaboration, and social policy innovation to deliver better and quicker services to Pennsylvanians. She is the founding director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center; Pennsylvania’s premier progressive policy think tank and led the fight for an equitable state tax system. She has served as an advisor on state legislation, policy, and advocacy for the School District of Philadelphia, the Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, the Impact Project, Education Voters of Pennsylvania, the Voter Project, and the Keystone Research Center.
LINKS:
REPORTING:
You can support this show by becoming a patron for as little as $5/month at https://www.patreon.com/rcpress
Don’t Let Paul Martino & Friends Buy Our Schools and push extremist politics in our community. Raging Chicken has teamed up with LevelField to launch a truly community-rooted PAC to invest in organizing, support local and state-wide progressive candidates, and unmask the toxic organizations injecting our communities with right-wing extremism. We’re putting small-dollar donations to work to beat back the power of Big Money. You can get more information and drop your donation at https://ragingchicken.levelfield.net/
Join our Discord to continue the conversation all week long: https://discord.gg/BnjRNz3u
Out d’Coup LIVE | Pennridge School District hires far-right Vermillion Education to rewrite social studies curriculum
Friday Politics Roundup for April 28, 2023
Out d’Coup LIVE | François Furstenburg on his article, ”Higher Ed’s Grim, Soulless, Ed-Techified Future”
Friday Politics Roundup | House GOP goes after the poor and climate; gun violence; Rutgers strike; Lower Merion restricts guns; satellite crashes; Starship goes boom
Out d’Coup LIVE | Chris Ullery, extremism and social justice reporter for the Bucks County Courier Times
Friday Politics Roundup | FL passes 6-week abortion ban; Air Force leaker arrested; Fort Lauderdale flooding; religious law firm infects PA schools; Temple ; DnD Movie, book recs; and, more!
Out d’Coup LIVE | ProPublica exposes Clarence Thomas; TN Republicans remove Black reps for gun reform protest; Catholic priest abuses; Ashley Ehasz announces; abortion pill ban coming; school boards
Out d’Coup LIVE | Karen Feridun, founder of Berks Gas Truth on the ”hydrogen economy” diversion and the PA Climate Convergence 2023
Friday Politics Roundup | Trump indicted; Waco speech; migrants killed in fire; 15m people set to lose Medicaid; no ”Rainbowland” for 1st graders; Martino’s PAC readys; Summer Lee; D&D movie!
Out d’Coup LIVE | Cyril Mychalejko, Editor-in-Chief of the Bucks County Beacon, extremism on school boards and supporting independent media
Friday Politics Roundup | IPCC alarming climate report; Biden OKs Willow Project; Iowa passes anti-trans bills; woke capitalism; Trump warns death and destruction
Out d’Coup LIVE | Alan Gratz on his latest book ”Two Degrees,” climate change, and controversy
Friday Politics Roundup | SCOTUS goes after student loan forgiveness; extremists in FL; Twitter Files; Pennridge SD faces lawsuit; Gov. Shapiro’s lukewarm budget; and, more!
Out d’Coup LIVE | Rohan Montgomery writing in In These Times on the epic victory of D&D community over corporate greed; and, voice actors organizing for fair wages & better working conditions.
Out d’Coup LIVE | Patricia Roberts-Miller, Prof. Emeritus Rhetoric & Writing U of Texas - Austin on Demagoguery and Democracy
Out d’Coup LIVE | Robyn Underwood from KOFEE (Kutztown Organized for Educational Excellence) on book bans and reclaiming our schools
Friday Politics Roundup | Majority of Republicans fans of Christian nationalism; state courts attack LGBTQ & abortion; student debt forgiveness threatened; Central Bucks; Temple grad strike; more!
Out d’Coup LIVE | Alyssa Bowen, Senior Researcher & Manager Editor for Truth North Research, on expanded right-wing strategy to dominate school boards
Friday Politics Roundup | 22K killed by earthquake in Tukey and Syria; SOTU; Fetterman health scare; Telford council meeting off the rails; The Good Liars in CBSD
Out d’Coup LIVE | Hannah Leffingwell on the need for fundamental change in higher education
Join Podbean Ads Marketplace and connect with engaged listeners.
Advertise Today
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free