A generation of scholars in this country have grown into maturity, with energetic shooter drills and police presence in schools shaping their school years. Lawmakers simply cannot – or will not – take the essential actions to stop the school shootings which have marred the education landscape for a long time.

An example of this political impotence was recently observed in Tennessee, only one 12 months after the state’s collapse the deadliest shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School claimed the lives of three adults and three nine-year-olds, some conservative state lawmakers have passed a bill that might allow teachers and staff to carry concealed weapons. The bill passed by an awesome majority of votes and has just been signed into law by Governor Bill Leedespite pleas from protesters, including a mother from Covenant School who gave birth a letter with over 5,300 signatures, including from parents and doctors, calling for the measure’s failure.

Supporters of the bill argue that it will help fill gaps in school security where law enforcement presence is proscribed, especially in rural areas, and that requiring annual training, background checks and making applications subject to approval by school principals and native law enforcement will address concerns about arming teachers.

But giving teachers guns won’t make schools safer.

As unarmed Black individuals are disproportionately victimized by police in communitiesTennessee law endangers black children. Black children are already disproportionately subjected to excessively punitive discipline. Tennessee law will allow teachers to carry concealed weapons without notifying parents or students that teachers are armed. What is most annoying is that this motion is contrary to tests this shows that punitive interventions, reminiscent of increased police presence in schools, have little positive effect on school violence. If guns in schools are an issue, why do lawmakers pass bills to put more guns in schools? I argue that policymakers are reluctant to enact evidence-based school safety interventions, reminiscent of gun control measures and restorative practices, because they espouse a “school safety” narrative that’s racist, narrow-minded, and divorced from research.

Many of the interventions implemented in schools in the name of “school safety” are racist, meaning they’re based on stereotypes about them black youth crime. These stereotypes portray black students as lazy, criminally inclined, intellectually limited and defiant. These stereotypes persist despite research showing this Black students now not misbehave than their white peers. As a result, Black children are disproportionately subjected to overly punitive disciplinary interventions, including suspensions, expulsions, and arrests, that facilitate their exclusion from schools.

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Moreover, schools with over 80% black and Latino children they’re more likely to have police on site, often called school resource officers (SROs). Presence of SRO increases the likelihood of black students being arrested and early involvement in the criminal legal system — often for minor offenses like dress code violations (which particularly affect black girls). This is school-to-prison pipeline. Additionally, police presence in schools is more likely to foster a hostile school climate, of which many exist students feel threatened. AND recent research found that support for teachers selecting weapons is related to racial resentment.

Students affected by this problem suffer Consequences of punitive disciplinary practicesincluding lack of worthwhile study time, decreased likelihood of graduating on time, and increased likelihood of repeating a grade. Black children bear the best burden of punitive disciplinary interventions enforced under the guise of school safety, while the deadliest incidents of school violence, in the shape of school shootings, are more likely to occur in predominantly white, suburban school communities. However, these disciplinary practices persist because the general public narrative about school safety focuses narrowly on these terrifying, nevertheless, relatively rareacts of school shootings.

In addition to exposing Black students to the results of those disciplinary practices, limited public narrative about school safety obscures other types of violence occurring in schools. It comprises violence at schoolreminiscent of teaching prohibitions regarding the contributions of Black Americans and other historically marginalized groups, reminiscent of LGBTQIA+ people, to this country, reminiscent of 2021 Tennessee Bill Prohibiting Teaching of So-Called ‘Divisive Concepts’ like racial inequality. In addition to violence in the curriculum, many students also experience violence in the shape of disinvestment in education. Tennessee has one of the vital unfairly funded education systems in the nation, rating forty fourth in the country in terms of spending per student. These funding inequities disproportionately affect low-income students in segregated schools, who lack resources reminiscent of experienced teachers, college preparatory courses, and high-quality facilities. Instead of putting more guns in schools, Tennessee lawmakers should use their legislative power to invest in interventions which have been found to promote real school safety.

These interventions must be evidence-based, community-led, and responsive to what students need to feel secure in schools. School safety must be defined by students, school staff and leaders, and other members of the school community, and should look different in each school. To help school stakeholders discover essentially the most effective interventions for them, researchers have identified several interventions and practices that promote safety and inclusion, reminiscent of: restorative practices, social and emotional learning, multi-level behavioral support systemsAND continuous training biased towards all adults in school who come into contact with young people. These interventions have to be tailored to the particular school context and implemented in a culturally sensitive manner.

Arming teachers will only increase the harm that current disciplinary interventions inflict on Black students—possibly with deadly consequences. Instead of putting more guns in schools, lawmakers need to be politically courageous and implement them gun control and security measures invest in evidence-based interventions, developed with community input, that meet school needs and may promote true safety for all students.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Armed with garden hoes while others held bamboo seedlings, students gathered outside their school in Kenya’s capital. They hoped that the fully grown bamboo would help filter dirty air from one of Africa’s largest landfills.

More than 100 bamboo plantings grow around Dandora High School, which shares its name with a landfill that was declared full 23 years ago. Hundreds of trucks pass by each day, taking away more garbage.

Allan Sila, 17, said sitting in his classroom was like studying in a stinking latrine.

Every morning, acrid smoke from burning garbage fills the air, obstructing visibility and causing respiration problems for some students.

“Asthma is a common disease,” Sila said.

The school’s principal, Eutychus Maina, remembers that when he was sent to school last 12 months, he was greeted by stench and smoke. He knew he had to do something.

“My motivation for initiating the bamboo project at school was to alleviate the effects of landfill. It really pollutes the air we breathe,” he said.

He said he searched online and got here across the use of bamboo. He believes this can help reduce the number of cases of respiratory infections in society.

The United Nations and other organizations promote fast-growing bamboo because of its high carbon sequestration.

Aderiana Mbandi is an air quality research and policy expert at the United Nations Environment Programme, based in Nairobi. She said the effects of air pollution are felt in all parts of the body, including the brain, and the best way to reduce its effects is to minimize exposure.

The seedlings, which the students began planting in August last 12 months, are already three meters high. The giant bamboo variety is predicted to reach 40 feet when mature, depending on soil conditions.

Students hope that the bamboo will help transform the school grounds right into a green haven in the litter-ridden Dandora district.

The publicly funded school relies on donations to purchase the seedlings, which retail for 400 Kenyan shillings ($3) each.

However, the school management is decided to proceed the work until bamboo lines the 900-meter wall separating the school from the landfill.

The Dandora landfill occupies about 50 hectares (123 acres) of land and receives greater than 2,000 tons of waste day by day from around Nairobi, home to 4 million people.

Its stench might be smelled for kilometers (miles).

UNEP, in cooperation with the Stockholm Environment Institute, deployed sensors in the Dandora district from October to April to monitor pollution levels from the landfill.

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Of the 166 days monitored, only 12 days had average daytime air quality that was excellent, in line with World Health Organization guidelines.

Nairobi’s air can be polluted by emissions from used cars, which make up much of the city’s transport. Other pollutants include smoke produced by industries often positioned near residential areas.

Dandora School also plants trees, including jacaranda and grevillea.

Student Josiah Nyamwata called them easy to obtain and simple to plant. “Another advantage is that the trees will help improve air circulation around our school,” he said.

Air is just not the school’s only challenge. Dump vultures are a nuisance at mealtimes. Students protect their plates from theft.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The very last thing standing between Ashnaelle Bijoux and her college dream is the FAFSA form, a financial aid application that was supposed to help students get into college, but is as an alternative blocking her. She tried to report it over and over. It fails each time.

“I feel overwhelmed and stressed,” Bijoux, 19, said. The last time she tried this kind, she was close to tears. “I feel like I’m being held back.”

This spring, often a time of celebration for prime school graduates, was marred by the federal government’s botched rollout of the brand new FAFSA application. By May 1, students often know where they are going to go to college in the autumn. This 12 months, most still haven’t received financial aid offers. Three months before fall classes start, many individuals do not know where they are going to study or how they are going to pay for it.

“We are asking them to make perhaps one of their most important financial decisions – and the decisions that will have the greatest consequences for their future lives – without all the information,” said Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, has undergone a significant overhaul to make it simpler and shorter. But a series of mistakes by the Department of Education have made this tougher than ever, delaying college decisions for months and raising fears that a whole lot of hundreds of scholars will drop out of college altogether.

Across the United States, the number of scholars passing the FAFSA is down 29% from this time last 12 months, according to the National College Attainment Network, and the situation is even worse in schools with more low-income students. National College Attainment Network data.

The group’s CEO, Kim Cook, warned members of Congress this month of a potentially “catastrophic” decline in college enrollment that may make the pandemic decline appear mild.

According to Bijoux, of Norwich, Conn., FAFSA problems threaten to undermine the guarantees of upper education.

College is a probability for her to make the most of opportunities that weren’t available to her mother, who emigrated from Haiti to the United States as an adult. Bijoux hopes to change into a therapist and set a positive example for her three younger brothers.

If her FAFSA passes, she should qualify for enough financial aid to cover her $13,000-a-year tuition at Southern Connecticut State University. If not, she will be able to go to a area people college, but even that can require loans if she will be able to’t complete the FAFSA.

“That’s why it hurts, because you work so hard to go somewhere and do something and do something for yourself,” Bijoux said. “I believed I’d start at a four-year college after which work hard like I’ve done all my life. But it is not like that.”

The updated FAFSA form includes one section accomplished by students and one other by their parents. But when Bijoux finishes her part, nothing appears on her mother’s online account. He keeps trying, but nothing seems to change.

Similar problems have been reported across the country, together with many other errors that the Department of Education has sought to correct. Families calling customer support face long wait times or say the decision center has hung up on them.

“It sucks out all the momentum” for families trying to send their children to college, especially those that are combating the method for the primary time, said Anne Zinn, a counselor at Norwich Free Academy, where Bijoux attends school.

“I can only say, ‘Just be patient, just be patient,’ so many times before they throw up their hands and say, ‘Why am I doing this?’ I’ll just do it go discover a job,'” she said.

The implementation has faced bipartisan criticism in Congress and is being investigated on the request of Republicans. Last week, Richard Cordray, the federal student loan chief who oversaw the FAFSA update, announced he would step down at the tip of June.

Delays also pose a serious threat to universities.

Enrollment declines similar to those currently projected may lead to the collapse of many small colleges or require deep staff cuts. Some colleges are clamoring for emergency aid to stay afloat, said Angel Pérez, CEO of the National Association of College Admissions Counseling.

“If they don’t get checks from the federal government that would basically get them through next year, they won’t survive,” Pérez said.

The FAFSA has been a mainstay of student financial aid for many years. It is used to determine eligibility for the federal Pell Grant, grants for low-income students, and is required for federal student loans. Colleges and states also use the FAFSA to distribute their very own scholarships.

The FAFSA has long been maligned for being boring, difficult and intimidating for families without college experience. Congress passed laws in 2020 to simplify the shape. The Department of Education was ordered to reduce the variety of questions from greater than 100 to about 40 and alter the formula to extend help to more students.

Problems began to mount as soon as the brand new form went online in December, which was already several months late.

The first applications were incorrectly processed using outdated inflation calculations. A federal contractor later incorrectly calculated a distinct formula on greater than 200,000 claims. Each error caused delays, requiring students to wait longer for any financial aid information.

Even more troubling is a bug that prevented students from completing the shape if their parent didn’t have a Social Security number. Supporters say the system has excluded a whole lot of hundreds of scholars who’re U.S. residents or everlasting residents but whose parents should not.

The Department of Education announced Tuesday that it’s offering parents a brand new way to manually enter tax information. However, this week, some students reported that they were still unable to submit the shape.

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Federal education officials say they’re addressing persistent errors but are making progress. The agency said greater than 8 million student applications have already been processed and sent to universities, and latest applications are processed inside three days.

However, the wait isn’t over yet. It often takes several weeks for schools to prepare financial aid offers. Some universities have prolonged decision deadlines to give students more time to consider their options. Some, nonetheless, stuck to May 1, forcing students to select a college and make a non-refundable payment to keep their place, without knowing all of the scholarship opportunities available to them.

In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency on Tuesday that permits students to receive state scholarships without the federal government having to process their FAFSA. West Virginia has the bottom college graduation rate within the nation, and the state’s FAFSA highschool graduation rate is now down nearly 40%, said Justice, a Republican.

“There’s really loads of kids sitting on the sidelines wondering, ‘Will I have the ability to go to college?’ – he said during a press conference.

In Baltimore, Camryn Carter waits to discover whether he can get a full ride to the University of Maryland or whether he faces tens of hundreds of dollars in student loans.

Carter, a top student and captain of his baseball and wrestling teams, sees college as a step in his life. He thinks back to the times he stood in line on the food market and had to put things back on the shelf because his mother couldn’t afford to pay the bill. The 18-year-old said graduating would give him stability he didn’t all the time have.

But when he looks at tuition, it’s intimidating. In addition to Maryland, he can also be considering McDaniel College, a non-public school in Maryland. If he enrolls there, he expects to borrow nearly $30,000 a 12 months.

“I try to make the best decisions now to ensure a good future,” he said. “I’m a little nervous that something won’t work out. But I am faithful.”