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...
@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
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...
#DCstatehood
Enough.
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...
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...
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...
Washington DC’s 700,000+ residents deserve federal representation.
DC statehood now.
Policy-by-ctrl-f has its limits as a theory of governance….
15.08.2025 20:26 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0Just 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 📌 2Great 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...
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🧵 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
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 📌 011/11
Full paper ➜ drive.google.com/file/d/1q3H6...
Executive summary ➜ drive.google.com/file/d/1P1HG...
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 📌 09/ 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 📌 08/ 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.
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.
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.
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.
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" 👇
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 📌 02/ 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...
🧵 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
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...
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
#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)
#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 📌 0Grateful 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 📌 0Thank 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