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Dan Gordon

@dangordondc.bsky.social

Working in edu-policy & strategy at EducationCounsel. Former civil rights lawyer & DC Public Schools teacher/district official. Views my own. He/Him

878 Followers  |  240 Following  |  192 Posts  |  Joined: 06.02.2024  |  2.0613

Latest posts by dangordondc.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence NATIONAL SECURITY PRESIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM/NSPM-7 MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE                THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Among (too) many things this evening, this one is sitting heavily on me: "Common threads animating this violent conduct include...extremism on migration, race, and gender"

www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

26.09.2025 00:59 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

#DCstatehood

Enough.

17.09.2025 11:23 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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DEEP DIVE: Who Benefits? Considerations for Education Leaders regarding Immigrants’ Access to “Public Benefits” Who Benefits? Considerations for Education Leaders regarding Immigrants’ Access to “Public Benefits” Mario Cardona & Dan Gordon | September 9, 2025 (updated September 12, 2025) The Trump Administrat...

Important story but make sure to read to 10th paragraph to learn that the policy has been *stopped* for now by a federal court for likely violating the law—and the ruling applies nationwide. All eligible Head Start students are still eligible.

Much more here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

15.09.2025 12:23 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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BREAKING: Trump-appointed judge *dismisses* DOJ lawsuit against Maryland judges over their decision to automatically pause deportation cases for 48 hours

He also calls Trump and his admin's attack on judges a "smear" that is "unprecedented and unfortunate
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

26.08.2025 14:21 — 👍 3516    🔁 999    💬 45    📌 48

And they’re doing it in a way that misstates and/or misleads about the law. Our “Misguidance” piece unpacks all the problems with the DOJ guidance. 🧵 below:

bsky.app/profile/dang...

25.08.2025 14:00 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Washington DC’s 700,000+ residents deserve federal representation.

DC statehood now.

20.08.2025 19:31 — 👍 5838    🔁 1422    💬 170    📌 56

Policy-by-ctrl-f has its limits as a theory of governance….

15.08.2025 20:26 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Fears Grow That Trump Will Cut Special Education Support Funding Advocacy organizations are warning members to brace for "hundreds" of grant terminations.

Just to be clear, if you cancel every special education grant that mentions "inclusion," you will cancel NEARLY EVERY SPECIAL EDUCATION GRANT. www.edweek.org/teaching-lea...

15.08.2025 20:21 — 👍 9    🔁 9    💬 1    📌 2

Great news - judge issued a final ruling in case brought by AFT (via Democracy Forward) completely vacating OCR's "Dear Colleague" letter & anti-DEI certification. These policy moves were forerunners for recent DOJ recent guidance - see 🧵 below for more on that

www.courtlistener.com/docket/69672...

14.08.2025 23:07 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Fears Grow That Trump Will Cut Special Education Support Funding Advocacy organizations are warning members to brace for "hundreds" of grant terminations.

Federal IDEA grants affecting special education research and parent support are likely to be cut in the coming weeks, advocates say: www.edweek.org/teaching-lea...

14.08.2025 21:28 — 👍 2    🔁 6    💬 0    📌 1
EducationCounsel - MISGUIDANCE - 8.12.25.pdf

🧵 We just published "Misguidance," a deep analysis of the recent Dept of Justice (DOJ) guidance on how the Administration is applying antidiscrimination laws to efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion:

drive.google.com/file/d/1q3H6...

#EduSky #CivilRights #highered

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 2
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Exclusive: Support for Schools Falls, But Closing Education Dept. is Unpopular Latest PDK Poll also reflects rising embrace of private school choice, support for DEI and a backlash against artificial intelligence.

Latest PDK Poll also reflects rising embrace of private school choice, support for DEI and a backlash against artificial intelligence. @lrj417.bsky.social reports

14.08.2025 14:12 — 👍 1    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
EducationCounsel - MISGUIDANCE Executive Summary - 8.12.25.pdf

11/11
Full paper ➜ drive.google.com/file/d/1q3H6...

Executive summary ➜ drive.google.com/file/d/1P1HG...

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

10/ Our bottom line: DOJ’s guidance will most likely chill lawful activities creating equal opportunities for all. In this period of federal uncertainty and overreach, education leaders must not substitute the Administration’s anti-“DEI” policy preferences for the actual law of the land.

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

9/ It's all nuanced but really important. The risk here is being misguided into thinking all sorts of generally lawful strategies are categorically unlawful, including training, outreach, selection criteria (incl about candidates' lived experiences), student groups/programming, and more.

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

8/ Tree #4: Misguiding the Field Through Misleading Examples

Most of DOJ’s examples of “unlawful practices” are only unlawful if the assumptions embedded in the hypotheticals are true. DOJ fails to clarify for the field the range of lawful ways to pursue legitimate goals via race-neutral means.

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

7/ Tree #3: Delegitimizing Lawful Race-Neutral Means that Advance Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Goals

Authentic mission-aligned race-neutral criteria (eg 1st-gen) are ok, even if correlated w/race. DOJ’s treatment of this blurs correlation w/intent & overstates legal risk of acting w/mixed motives.

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

6/ Tree #2: Delegitimizing Federal Court-Endorsed Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Interests

DOJ gives the false impression that diversity is no longer a legitimate inst'l interest (even post-SCT in SFFA v Harvard). For ex., inclusive outreach/recruitment is permissible, but DOJ suggests it's not.

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

5/ Tree #1: Delegitimizing Efforts to Address Discrimination

DOJ discourages considering race, sex, etc in performance metrics even though disaggregated data is key to identifying and lowering barriers. This risks freezing inequities in place & undermining obligations to address discrimination.

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

4/ "Misguidance" analyzes the guidance from three perspectives:
- the “FOREST” (bigger context of the Admin's anti-"DEI" efforts)
- four “TREES” (cross‑cutting themes/shortcomings)
- several “BRANCHES” (misleading examples)

Here are the four "trees" 👇

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

3/ While some portions of DOJ's guidance reflect current law, others misstate or overreach—creating a real risk of chilling lawful practices to ensure equal opportunity for all. That's why it's so important to read it carefully & with a critical lens.

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
EducationCounsel - MISGUIDANCE Executive Summary - 8.12.25.pdf

2/ It's a long piece because there's a lot to unpack. We also drafted a one-page executive summary that gives you a sense of the key issues we flag in the piece:
drive.google.com/file/d/1P1HG...

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
EducationCounsel - MISGUIDANCE - 8.12.25.pdf

🧵 We just published "Misguidance," a deep analysis of the recent Dept of Justice (DOJ) guidance on how the Administration is applying antidiscrimination laws to efforts to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion:

drive.google.com/file/d/1q3H6...

#EduSky #CivilRights #highered

13.08.2025 16:00 — 👍 0    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 2
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DC prepares for $1 billion budget cut after House passes bill The House passed a bill Tuesday that would avert a government shutdown but D.C. leaders say it will have devastating effects. Here's what would happen.

While everyone is (rightly) focused on National Guard being deployed in D.C. - even though crime is down - we can't forget that the House took $1B of revenue from D.C. in the CR.

The Senate did pass a fix back in March but the House has yet to vote on it.
www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/d...

11.08.2025 14:48 — 👍 74    🔁 45    💬 6    📌 0
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The 2024 violent crime rates per 100,000 people in Washington, DC (926) and Indianapolis Indiana (878) are very similar.

In 2024, you were more likely to experience violent crime in Elkhart, Indiana (995) than DC

11.08.2025 18:36 — 👍 482    🔁 142    💬 20    📌 4

#dcstatehood

11.08.2025 19:01 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

👀
(silver lining…may get in the way of them declaring illegal even the collection of disaggregated data)

07.08.2025 15:57 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

#sigh (to clarify...these are the early DOGE-led cancellations or are you sharing new news as well?)

05.08.2025 22:48 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Today is the last day for many Education Department workers. Here's what they did Employees across multiple divisions agree: They can't imagine how the department will fulfill its legal obligations with roughly half its staff gone.

Grateful for this piece by Cory Turner in @npr.org. These public servants did vital work. Imagine doing your job well and then hearing your boss's boss calling your layoff "a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system." www.npr.org/2025/08/01/n... #edusky

01.08.2025 18:02 — 👍 8    🔁 5    💬 1    📌 0

Thank you to all the dedicated US Dept of Ed civil servants terminated today as part of the RIF and to all those still employed but now doing extra work to serve schools without sufficient staffing.

01.08.2025 12:55 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

@dangordondc is following 20 prominent accounts