vox--2020-08-07--A rural New York county has adopted one of the most progressive trans prison policies in the US

Steuben County , New York , seems like an unexpected place to find one of the nation ’ s most progressive transgender prison policies .
The rural and conservative county lies just west of Elmira , in the central part of the state , about a four and a half hour drive from New York City .
But thanks to a recently announced legal settlement , it now has a trans jail policy that could serve as a model for other prison systems throughout the state — and even the rest of the country .
At the center of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ picked up by police in April 2018 for allegedly using counterfeit money to buy pizza , beer , and chicken wings , and initially sent to the Steuben County Jail for pre-trial confinement , according to a legal complaint filed in August 2019 .
During intake , Faith informed jail officials that she is transgender , having begun her medical transition six years earlier and changing her name and gender marker in 2014 .
Initially , she was housed in the jail ’ s women ’ s facility but several days later was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and put in the general population .
Once there , jail staff discontinued her hormone replacement treatment , she told Vox .
A fellow inmate — a man and registered sex offender — began harassing her , touching her , blowing kisses at her , writing her letters saying he loved her , and propositioning her .
At first , her complaints were ignored , and she hid in her cell as often as possible .
Later , she was transferred to a different portion of the jail in which several inmates lobbed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to her initial legal complaint .
Faith was confined there for four months and her mistreatment was enough to prompt her to file a lawsuit against the county sheriff , who is responsible for managing the jail , as well as jail staff .
“ I felt that I should have been respected as being a woman , ” she told Vox , pointing to New York state law protecting trans people who aren ’ t incarcerated .
“ They can ’ t discriminate against you , but when you ’ re @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want and I thought that was wrong.
” According to a settlement negotiated by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund in Faith ’ s case , which was announced Tuesday , trans people in Steuben County will now be presumptively held according to their gender identity , not their assigned sex at birth .
The new policy , which the New York State Sheriff ’ s Association consulted on , also requires the jail to administer hormones according to an inmate ’ s prescribed schedule @ @ @ @ @ @ @ affecting incarcerated individuals ’ daily lives .
LGBTQ advocates hope that the new trans policy in Steuben County can be applied elsewhere in New York state and throughout the rest of the country .
If that were to happen , it would be a victory for trans people , given the community ’ s disproportionately high rate of incarceration .
According to a joint study by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force , 21 percent of all trans women have been incarcerated at some point @ @ @ @ @ @ @ percent incarceration rate among the general population .
That percentage jumps to 47 percent for Black trans women .
“ We know that it is a workable policy that can easily be implemented in any county in New York state and throughout the nation , ” said David Brown , legal director at TLDEF .
“ There ’ s no reason to think that the conditions are so different that it can ’ t easily be adapted to serve any jail.
” Steuben County ’ s new policy is not a first of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ passed a bill in May 2019 which would institute a similar policy ) , but it ’ s progressive because it recognizes trans people as human beings who experience unique threats based on their identity .
Trans women specifically are often singled out by anti-trans activists as potential physical and sexual threats to cisgender women , an unfounded myth based largely on stereotypes .
In actuality , they themselves are statistically the most at-risk imprisoned demographic .
The new Steuben County policy skirts the political issue behind housing trans women with cis women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inmates to be assessed on a case-by-case basis , rather than assuming all trans women are a risk .
This is how risk assessments for cis inmates have been done for a very long time .
In other words , trans women are presumptively housed in the women ’ s unit unless there is a specific reason to deem an individual a risk , in which case other accommodations would be made .
Beyond the policy ’ s housing stipulations , there are several other key provisions that put it among the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the county jail must respect a trans person ’ s gender identity in all contexts , including the use of names and pronouns .
• Searches should be conducted by staff of the same gender as a trans person ’ s gender identity .
• Trans inmates must be given access to clothing , toiletries , and grooming standards consistent with their gender identity .
This is particularly important because trans women are often not allowed to wear a bra and trans men are denied the liberty to wear a chest binder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be able to access transition-related medical care like hormone replacement therapy while in custody .
The fight for trans prison justice is a piecemeal process As with many issues around prison justice , the sheer number of state and local jurisdictions makes the nation a patchwork of different policies when it comes to where and how to treat transgender prisoners .
While statistics are difficult to come by , trans women are most commonly imprisoned in men ’ s facilities .
A 2017 review of 21 state policies conducted by the Prison Policy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for trans housing decisions to be made on a case-by-case basis , rather than according to assigned sex at birth .
In men ’ s prisons , trans women are nine times more likely to face physical or sexual violence than other inmates , according to a National Center for Transgender Equality report .
Congress has acknowledged the problem , laying out guidelines in the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003 .
But the executive branch ignored the issue for nearly a decade — it wasn ’ t until 2012 that the Obama @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Prisons policy requiring prisons to take steps to eliminate sexual assault , including against trans inmates .
This was too much for the Trump administration , which reversed the policy in May 2018 to once again house trans people according to their assigned sex at birth .
As a result , in order to keep trans inmates safe , they are often held in solitary confinement — but that ’ s not a good idea for prisoners ’ mental or physical health , either .
This was the case for Layleen Polanco in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While incarcerated in June 2019 , Polanco died of a seizure .
While Polanco lay lifeless in her cell last June , correctional officers stood outside her cell laughing , according to security footage released this summer .
Prison staff had failed to conduct the 15-minute-interval health check-ins that are required for prisoners held in solitary confinement .
Staff told investigators that they thought she was sleeping .
It was her third seizure in custody .
In June , an investigation by the Bronx District Attorney ’ s office cleared prison staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ death , even though the DA report also indicated that correctional officers had left her alone for up to 47 minutes , contravening jail regulations .
“ You have facilities that are placing trans people in solitary confinement because they refuse to place people in safe housing outside of solitary confinement , ” said Zahara Green , executive director of Transcending Barriers , a trans-led nonprofit that supports the trans community in Georgia .
“ There are many issues with solitary confinement that we suffer psychological issues or mental health issues .
... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these prison systems all over the nation.
” Polanco ’ s death has spurred discussion on how to better accommodate trans women in prison .
“ I have found myself in the room with many prison officials all over the nation .
What they ’ re saying is that when they try to implement policies or create policies to protect trans people from sexual abuse and physical abuse and confinements , especially trans women , they have to deal with pushback from legislators , ” said Green .
Trans people have also sued @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be housed correctly .
In 2018 , a 52-year-old trans woman in Massachusetts named Angelina Resto sued the state prison system after she was housed in a men ’ s prison facility after being convicted of a nonviolent crime .
Resto had transitioned more than four decades before her conviction , and yet the prison system housed her with men ; she claimed she was repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted by other prisoners as well as prison staff .
In September 2018 , Resto won her suit and became the first trans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from a men ’ s prison to a women ’ s facility , according to attorneys at GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders .
Several similar lawsuits have been brought since .
It ’ s the systemic change in Steuben County that ’ s most important to Faith , who praised the policy change even though she ’ s no longer locked up .
“ I ’ m just tired of the mistreatment and they need to know that it stops now , ” said Faith .
“ No more hatred towards the community.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Steuben County, New York, seems like an unexpected place to find one of the nation’s most progressive transgender prison policies. The rural and conservative county lies just west of Elmira, in the central part of the state, about a four and a half hour drive from New York City. But thanks to a recently announced legal settlement, it now has a trans jail policy that could serve as a model for other prison systems throughout the state — and even the rest of the country.
At the center of the case is Jena Faith, who was picked up by police in April 2018 for allegedly using counterfeit money to buy pizza, beer, and chicken wings, and initially sent to the Steuben County Jail for pre-trial confinement, according to a legal complaint filed in August 2019. During intake, Faith informed jail officials that she is transgender, having begun her medical transition six years earlier and changing her name and gender marker in 2014.
Initially, she was housed in the jail’s women’s facility but several days later was transferred to the men’s side and put in the general population. Once there, jail staff discontinued her hormone replacement treatment, she told Vox. A fellow inmate — a man and registered sex offender — began harassing her, touching her, blowing kisses at her, writing her letters saying he loved her, and propositioning her.
At first, her complaints were ignored, and she hid in her cell as often as possible. Later, she was transferred to a different portion of the jail in which several inmates lobbed homophobic and transphobic slurs at her, according to her initial legal complaint.
Faith was confined there for four months and her mistreatment was enough to prompt her to file a lawsuit against the county sheriff, who is responsible for managing the jail, as well as jail staff.
“I felt that I should have been respected as being a woman,” she told Vox, pointing to New York state law protecting trans people who aren’t incarcerated. “They can’t discriminate against you, but when you’re in jail they can do whatever they want and I thought that was wrong.”
According to a settlement negotiated by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund in Faith’s case, which was announced Tuesday, trans people in Steuben County will now be presumptively held according to their gender identity, not their assigned sex at birth.
The new policy, which the New York State Sheriff’s Association consulted on, also requires the jail to administer hormones according to an inmate’s prescribed schedule and follow a number of trans-inclusive policies affecting incarcerated individuals’ daily lives.
LGBTQ advocates hope that the new trans policy in Steuben County can be applied elsewhere in New York state and throughout the rest of the country. If that were to happen, it would be a victory for trans people, given the community’s disproportionately high rate of incarceration.
According to a joint study by the National Center for Transgender Equality and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, 21 percent of all trans women have been incarcerated at some point in their lives compared to a 5 percent incarceration rate among the general population. That percentage jumps to 47 percent for Black trans women.
“We know that it is a workable policy that can easily be implemented in any county in New York state and throughout the nation,” said David Brown, legal director at TLDEF. “There’s no reason to think that the conditions are so different that it can’t easily be adapted to serve any jail.”
The Steuben County policy, briefly explained
Steuben County’s new policy is not a first of its kind (the California state Senate passed a bill in May 2019 which would institute a similar policy), but it’s progressive because it recognizes trans people as human beings who experience unique threats based on their identity. Trans women specifically are often singled out by anti-trans activists as potential physical and sexual threats to cisgender women, an unfounded myth based largely on stereotypes. In actuality, they themselves are statistically the most at-risk imprisoned demographic.
The new Steuben County policy skirts the political issue behind housing trans women with cis women by allowing for any risk toward fellow inmates to be assessed on a case-by-case basis, rather than assuming all trans women are a risk. This is how risk assessments for cis inmates have been done for a very long time. In other words, trans women are presumptively housed in the women’s unit unless there is a specific reason to deem an individual a risk, in which case other accommodations would be made.
Beyond the policy’s housing stipulations, there are several other key provisions that put it among the most progressive in the country:
Staff at the county jail must respect a trans person’s gender identity in all contexts, including the use of names and pronouns.
Searches should be conducted by staff of the same gender as a trans person’s gender identity.
Trans inmates must be given access to clothing, toiletries, and grooming standards consistent with their gender identity. This is particularly important because trans women are often not allowed to wear a bra and trans men are denied the liberty to wear a chest binder in custody.
Trans people should be able to access transition-related medical care like hormone replacement therapy while in custody.
The fight for trans prison justice is a piecemeal process
As with many issues around prison justice, the sheer number of state and local jurisdictions makes the nation a patchwork of different policies when it comes to where and how to treat transgender prisoners.
While statistics are difficult to come by, trans women are most commonly imprisoned in men’s facilities. A 2017 review of 21 state policies conducted by the Prison Policy Institute found that just eight states allowed for trans housing decisions to be made on a case-by-case basis, rather than according to assigned sex at birth. In men’s prisons, trans women are nine times more likely to face physical or sexual violence than other inmates, according to a National Center for Transgender Equality report.
Congress has acknowledged the problem, laying out guidelines in the Prison Rape Elimination Act in 2003. But the executive branch ignored the issue for nearly a decade — it wasn’t until 2012 that the Obama administration rolled out a new Department of Prisons policy requiring prisons to take steps to eliminate sexual assault, including against trans inmates.
This was too much for the Trump administration, which reversed the policy in May 2018 to once again house trans people according to their assigned sex at birth.
As a result, in order to keep trans inmates safe, they are often held in solitary confinement — but that’s not a good idea for prisoners’ mental or physical health, either. This was the case for Layleen Polanco in New York City’s Rikers Island. While incarcerated in June 2019, Polanco died of a seizure. While Polanco lay lifeless in her cell last June, correctional officers stood outside her cell laughing, according to security footage released this summer. Prison staff had failed to conduct the 15-minute-interval health check-ins that are required for prisoners held in solitary confinement. Staff told investigators that they thought she was sleeping. It was her third seizure in custody.
In June, an investigation by the Bronx District Attorney’s office cleared prison staff of any wrongdoing in Polanco’s death, even though the DA report also indicated that correctional officers had left her alone for up to 47 minutes, contravening jail regulations.
“You have facilities that are placing trans people in solitary confinement because they refuse to place people in safe housing outside of solitary confinement,” said Zahara Green, executive director of Transcending Barriers, a trans-led nonprofit that supports the trans community in Georgia. “There are many issues with solitary confinement that we suffer psychological issues or mental health issues. ... It’s something that exists within these prison systems all over the nation.”
Polanco’s death has spurred discussion on how to better accommodate trans women in prison. “I have found myself in the room with many prison officials all over the nation. What they’re saying is that when they try to implement policies or create policies to protect trans people from sexual abuse and physical abuse and confinements, especially trans women, they have to deal with pushback from legislators,” said Green.
Trans people have also sued, as Faith did, in order to be housed correctly. In 2018, a 52-year-old trans woman in Massachusetts named Angelina Resto sued the state prison system after she was housed in a men’s prison facility after being convicted of a nonviolent crime. Resto had transitioned more than four decades before her conviction, and yet the prison system housed her with men; she claimed she was repeatedly sexually harassed and assaulted by other prisoners as well as prison staff.
In September 2018, Resto won her suit and became the first trans woman in the country to be transferred from a men’s prison to a women’s facility, according to attorneys at GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders. Several similar lawsuits have been brought since.
It’s the systemic change in Steuben County that’s most important to Faith, who praised the policy change even though she’s no longer locked up. “I’m just tired of the mistreatment and they need to know that it stops now,” said Faith. “No more hatred towards the community.”


vox--2020-08-07--What women in Congress want from Facebook

About 100 female lawmakers from across the world have sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg demanding that the company do a better job combating misogyny on its platform , especially hateful content directed at female public figures .
The letter , which was signed by prominent US politicians including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , Sen. Tammy Baldwin , and Reps. Jackie Speier , Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez , and Ilhan Omar , comes as Facebook faces widespread criticism from civil rights groups and politicians over its handling of hateful content and misinformation .
“ [ M @ @ @ @ @ @ @ directed at women on Facebook is amplified by your algorithms which reward extreme and dangerous points of view with greater reach and visibility creating a fertile breeding ground for bias to grow , ” the lawmakers write in the letter , which was announced at a forum about misogyny and social media at George Washington University on August 6 .
The letter comes just days after Facebook opted not to take down a fake , viral video of Pelosi being shared on its platform that makes her seem drunk .
This is the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that Facebook has left up one of these so-called “ shallow-fakes ” about Pelosi .
While some other platforms removed both Pelosi videos , Facebook only added a fact-checkers ’ label to the video and reduced its distribution .
Rep. Jackie Speier from California ’ s 14th District is a co-chair of the Democratic Women ’ s Caucus and the primary organizer of the letter .
She told Recode in an interview on Thursday that the recent Pelosi fake proves that Facebook isn ’ t doing enough to tackle sexism that spreads on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emphasizes that Facebook ’ s systems magnify the hateful content , harassment , and misinformation targeted at female public figures .
That ’ s why she wants Facebook to conduct an internal audit of misogyny on its platform .
The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length .
The Nancy Pelosi fake shows how Facebook ’ s algorithms can amplify misogyny Earlier this week , we saw Facebook fact-checkers label — but choose to not take down — a fake video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi that made her seem intoxicated .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ peer social media platforms did take that video down .
I ’ m curious what you think of Facebook ’ s approach here , especially given that this is the second video like this that we ’ ve seen made about Speaker Pelosi .
So it ’ s deeply troubling on a number of levels .
... 2.6 million people saw it on Facebook and Facebook ’ s response is that “ it is partially false.
” It ’ s not partially false — it ’ s completely false .
And Facebook is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a company that has added great value and great jobs for so many of my constituents .
One of the statements they make in their mission is that they promote diversity and they promote equality .
There is no question : Many studies have already established that women on these platforms are maligned in much greater instances than men , that they actually give license to persons that engage in misogynistic and hate speech , and do so with impunity because they are anonymous .
And the algorithms that Facebook uses enhance and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So — of course — it ends up amplifying misogynistic statements , [ and ] doctored videotape of the speaker to make her look like she was drunk .
... We can take the slings and arrows .
All of us have pretty tough skin .
You got ta have tough skin to be in this business , but you do not have to be the subject of constant , persistent misogyny .
There have been so many threats on my life over the length of my service .
Two in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the local district attorney , and individuals were convicted .
So there has been an increase of this kind of vile behavior , and it ’ s got to stop .
And we ’ re putting Facebook on notice that they ’ ve got to be part of bringing some normalcy back to this process and to espouse their mission about diversity and inclusion and empowerment .
In the letter , you use the term “ gendered disinformation.
” I ’ m curious what you mean by that .
Could describe what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s not just run-of-the-mill harassment online .
It seeks to spread deceptive and inaccurate information and images about women , and particularly to follow storylines that draw on misogyny and distrust of women ’ s leadership .
“ Self-policing isn ’ t working , ” and Congress has a role in regulation This comes after a civil rights audit that Facebook essentially failed and an advertiser boycott of Facebook that civil rights groups organized .
A lot of people are very upset with how Facebook is handling content on its platform .
As @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if do you think it ’ s Congress ’ s role to step in and legislate in this area ?
For the longest time , I think Congress has allowed the internet to be the wild , wild West , and we wanted to take this embryonic platform and allow it to grow — and e-commerce as well .
I think we recognize now that it needs to be regulated .
And in many respects , these platforms want to be regulated .
The self-policing isn ’ t working , and it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
At the recent antitrust hearing , some of your conservative colleagues seemed to take an opposite approach , saying that Facebook is censoring them too much and that Facebook is being too aggressive in moderating content .
And I ’ m curious what you think of that argument .
I don ’ t think that argument holds any water .
In some respects , I think they do that in order to encourage Facebook to be more conservative .
...
Hate speech is wrong anywhere and everywhere .
So I don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as to whether or not you should tolerate that .
We don ’ t tolerate hateful graffiti to be placed on buildings , on churches ... you know , it ’ s a form of verbal graffiti .
You call out algorithms specifically , but there ’ s horrifying sexist content online because there are real people who are willing to post this content .
What does it mean for Facebook to change the algorithm , when often it ’ s real people posting this in the first place ?
Part of what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is that if they post this kind of content , that they should take it down .
If they repeatedly post this kind of content , you should take down their actual site .
I think that this attitude that we don ’ t have responsibility doesn ’ t fly anymore .
As someone who is a woman lawmaker in office , could you talk a little bit about what it ’ s like to be someone who is online ?
Let me tell you how bad it is .
I don ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ do not read my Twitter comments , in part because it distracts me from doing my job .
I mean , when someone writes on Facebook , and they don ’ t like something I ’ ve posted , and they say , “ they should have finished you off in Jonestown.
” Or when , recently , they called me a “ post-menopausal cunt.
” That is venomous .
...
If they were doing that in person , they wouldn ’ t get away with it .
Let me share with you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to your letter : I think they need to do much more .
I think they need to do an internal audit of misogynistic comments on Facebook pages .
And I hope that they will join in meeting with the Democratic Women ’ s Caucus and explore this further .
...
But , you know , it ’ s very consistent with their attitude , which is , “ we ’ re just a platform , we ’ re just here to give people the public forum.
” They ’ re much more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this question of misogyny and sexism on Facebook touches on a lot of issues that Facebook is dealing with right now , like misinformation and content moderation .
I want to close by asking whether you think this is a platform that ’ s prepared for the upcoming November election .
No , I don ’ t think it is .
As soon as Vice President Biden announces his vice presidential pick , the onslaught on Facebook and other sites is going to be horrific .
We can ’ t tolerate misogyny , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racism .
... What I ’ m most concerned about is the effect that this kind of content will have on women who contemplate running for office and who are dissuaded from running because they don ’ t want their names just besmirched like this [ or ] their families impacted .
And we do have to recognize that there ’ s a kind of a format that ’ s used .
Most of these comments about women in politics are that we are either dumb or we are too emotional .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of women when we wanted to get the vote , for goodness ’ sake .
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Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

About 100 female lawmakers from across the world have sent a letter to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg demanding that the company do a better job combating misogyny on its platform, especially hateful content directed at female public figures.
The letter, which was signed by prominent US politicians including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, and Reps. Jackie Speier, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ilhan Omar, comes as Facebook faces widespread criticism from civil rights groups and politicians over its handling of hateful content and misinformation.
“[M]uch of the most hateful content directed at women on Facebook is amplified by your algorithms which reward extreme and dangerous points of view with greater reach and visibility creating a fertile breeding ground for bias to grow,” the lawmakers write in the letter, which was announced at a forum about misogyny and social media at George Washington University on August 6.
The letter comes just days after Facebook opted not to take down a fake, viral video of Pelosi being shared on its platform that makes her seem drunk. This is the second time in just over a year that Facebook has left up one of these so-called “shallow-fakes” about Pelosi. While some other platforms removed both Pelosi videos, Facebook only added a fact-checkers’ label to the video and reduced its distribution.
Rep. Jackie Speier from California’s 14th District is a co-chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus and the primary organizer of the letter. She told Recode in an interview on Thursday that the recent Pelosi fake proves that Facebook isn’t doing enough to tackle sexism that spreads on its network. In particular, she emphasizes that Facebook’s systems magnify the hateful content, harassment, and misinformation targeted at female public figures. That’s why she wants Facebook to conduct an internal audit of misogyny on its platform.
The following has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
The Nancy Pelosi fake shows how Facebook’s algorithms can amplify misogyny
Rebecca Heilweil
Earlier this week, we saw Facebook fact-checkers label — but choose to not take down — a fake video of Speaker Nancy Pelosi that made her seem intoxicated. Meanwhile, several of Facebook’s peer social media platforms did take that video down. I’m curious what you think of Facebook’s approach here, especially given that this is the second video like this that we’ve seen made about Speaker Pelosi.
Rep. Jackie Speier
So it’s deeply troubling on a number of levels. ... 2.6 million people saw it on Facebook and Facebook’s response is that “it is partially false.” It’s not partially false — it’s completely false.
And Facebook is in my district. It’s a company that has added great value and great jobs for so many of my constituents. One of the statements they make in their mission is that they promote diversity and they promote equality. There is no question: Many studies have already established that women on these platforms are maligned in much greater instances than men, that they actually give license to persons that engage in misogynistic and hate speech, and do so with impunity because they are anonymous.
And the algorithms that Facebook uses enhance and amplify issues and statements that create controversy. So — of course — it ends up amplifying misogynistic statements, [and] doctored videotape of the speaker to make her look like she was drunk. ... We can take the slings and arrows. All of us have pretty tough skin. You gotta have tough skin to be in this business, but you do not have to be the subject of constant, persistent misogyny.
There have been so many threats on my life over the length of my service. Two in the last two years actually were taken up by the local district attorney, and individuals were convicted. So there has been an increase of this kind of vile behavior, and it’s got to stop. And we’re putting Facebook on notice that they’ve got to be part of bringing some normalcy back to this process and to espouse their mission about diversity and inclusion and empowerment.
Rebecca Heilweil
In the letter, you use the term “gendered disinformation.” I’m curious what you mean by that. Could describe what’s going on?
Rep. Jackie Speier
It’s not just run-of-the-mill harassment online. It seeks to spread deceptive and inaccurate information and images about women, and particularly to follow storylines that draw on misogyny and distrust of women’s leadership.
“Self-policing isn’t working,” and Congress has a role in regulation
Rebecca Heilweil
This comes after a civil rights audit that Facebook essentially failed and an advertiser boycott of Facebook that civil rights groups organized. A lot of people are very upset with how Facebook is handling content on its platform. As a member of Congress, when or if do you think it’s Congress’s role to step in and legislate in this area?
Rep. Jackie Speier
For the longest time, I think Congress has allowed the internet to be the wild, wild West, and we wanted to take this embryonic platform and allow it to grow — and e-commerce as well. I think we recognize now that it needs to be regulated. And in many respects, these platforms want to be regulated. The self-policing isn’t working, and it’s being enforced in a disparate manner.
Rebecca Heilweil
At the recent antitrust hearing, some of your conservative colleagues seemed to take an opposite approach, saying that Facebook is censoring them too much and that Facebook is being too aggressive in moderating content. And I’m curious what you think of that argument.
Rep. Speier
I don’t think that argument holds any water. In some respects, I think they do that in order to encourage Facebook to be more conservative. ... Hate speech is wrong anywhere and everywhere. So I don’t think there’s a question as to whether or not you should tolerate that. We don’t tolerate hateful graffiti to be placed on buildings, on churches ... you know, it’s a form of verbal graffiti.
Rebecca Heilweil
You call out algorithms specifically, but there’s horrifying sexist content online because there are real people who are willing to post this content. What does it mean for Facebook to change the algorithm, when often it’s real people posting this in the first place?
Rep. Jackie Speier
Part of what we’re asking in the letter is that if they post this kind of content, that they should take it down. If they repeatedly post this kind of content, you should take down their actual site. I think that this attitude that we don’t have responsibility doesn’t fly anymore.
Rebecca Heilweil
As someone who is a woman lawmaker in office, could you talk a little bit about what it’s like to be someone who is online?
Rep. Jackie Speier
Let me tell you how bad it is. I don’t read my Facebook posts, I do not read my Twitter comments, in part because it distracts me from doing my job. I mean, when someone writes on Facebook, and they don’t like something I’ve posted, and they say, “they should have finished you off in Jonestown.” Or when, recently, they called me a “post-menopausal cunt.”
That is venomous. ... If they were doing that in person, they wouldn’t get away with it.
Sexist attacks on social media discourage women politicians
Rebecca Heilweil
Let me share with you the comment that Facebook issued in response to your letter:
We appreciate Representative Speier and the other policymakers who have shared their personal experiences with us and we will continue working with them to surface new solutions. Abuse of women on the internet is a serious problem, one we tackle in a variety of ways — through technology that identifies and removes potentially abusive content before it happens, by enforcing strict policies, and by talking with experts to ensure we stay ahead of new tactics.
Cindy Southworth, Facebook’s Head of Women’s Safety
Rep. Jackie Speier
I think they need to do much more. I think they need to do an internal audit of misogynistic comments on Facebook pages. And I hope that they will join in meeting with the Democratic Women’s Caucus and explore this further. ... But, you know, it’s very consistent with their attitude, which is, “we’re just a platform, we’re just here to give people the public forum.” They’re much more than a platform.
Rebecca Heilweil
It seems like this question of misogyny and sexism on Facebook touches on a lot of issues that Facebook is dealing with right now, like misinformation and content moderation. I want to close by asking whether you think this is a platform that’s prepared for the upcoming November election.
Rep. Jackie Speier
No, I don’t think it is. As soon as Vice President Biden announces his vice presidential pick, the onslaught on Facebook and other sites is going to be horrific. We can’t tolerate misogyny, just like we can’t tolerate racism. ... What I’m most concerned about is the effect that this kind of content will have on women who contemplate running for office and who are dissuaded from running because they don’t want their names just besmirched like this [or] their families impacted.
And we do have to recognize that there’s a kind of a format that’s used. Most of these comments about women in politics are that we are either dumb or we are too emotional. They’re the same kinds of assessments of women when we wanted to get the vote, for goodness’ sake.
Open Sourced is made possible by Omidyar Network. All Open Sourced content is editorially independent and produced by our journalists.


vox--2020-08-07--All of this week’s best new movies are about anxiety. In a good way.

Hollywood ’ s long-held August ritual — dumping all the mediocre movies into theaters to get them off the studios ’ slates — has been disrupted this year , for a simple reason : Movie theaters , by and large , aren ’ t open .
Couple that with the ever-evolving release schedule and you get an unusually eclectic month of films , albeit mostly on digital platforms and in drive-in theaters .
There are a whole lot of good films out this weekend , but one worth highlighting is An American Pickle , which stars Seth Rogen and ... @ @ @ @ @ @ @ light , sweet comedy , adapted by Simon Rich from his 2013 serialized New Yorker story “ Sell Out ” ( which you can read in four parts ) and directed by Brandon Trost .
Rogen plays an impoverished Ashkenazi Jew named Herschel Greenbaum , who , in the 1920s , marries a woman named Sarah ( Sarah Snook ) and immigrates to New York City .
He gets a job in a pickle factory and promises Sarah that their descendants will be wealthy and successful .
But unfortunately , Herschel falls into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , perfectly preserved , in modern-day New York City , 80 years later .
There , he discovers his only living relative is Ben Greenbaum ( also Rogen ) , an app developer in Williamsburg , Brooklyn .
The two go searching for the family cemetery plot where Sarah is buried , and they find it .
But it ’ s surrounded by highways .
As you might imagine , this does not please Herschel .
Finding the burial plot kicks off the great-grandfather and great-grandson ’ s series of mishaps , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
An American Pickle is about many things — family , ambition , wondering if your ancestors would be pleased with you — but it ’ s at its best when illustrating how hard it is , and has always been , to just scratch out a living .
Whether you ’ re a pickle maker or an app coder or anything in between , just affording the rent in 2020 can be a cause for worry , let alone starting a business .
And in the midst of that anxiety , your @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support ... or your worst enemy .
( You can watch An American Pickle exclusively on HBO Max . )
An American Pickle isn ’ t the only new movie that centers on anxiety this week .
I can hear you saying , Oh , great !
Just what I need .
But the good news is there ’ s a film for every way of dealing with whatever it is you ’ re anxious about .
If you ’ re worried about the end of democracy ... Well , A Thousand Cuts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but it will arm you to fight back by understanding the slip from democracy into autocracy in the Philippines under the violent rule of Rodrigo Duterte .
Director Ramona S. Diaz follows the story of journalist Maria Ressa , CEO of the independent press outlet Rappler , who has been jailed , arrested , and harassed by the government , as well as influencers and candidates who support Duterte .
It ’ s a chilling and daring film , and essential viewing .
( You can watch it in “ virtual cinemas ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; more details at the film ’ s website . )
If you feel like your life is going nowhere fast ...
Check out I Used to Go Here , starring Gillian Jacobs ( best known as Britta Perry from Community ) as a Chicago writer named Kate Conklin .
Her first novel is coming out , but her life is falling apart : She ’ s split from her fiancé , her publisher just canceled her book tour , and she ’ s beginning to worry she ’ s a fraud .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Clement ) calls to ask her to give a reading at her alma mater , she jumps at the chance .
The film , which was supposed to premiere at South by Southwest before the festival was canceled this year , is a sweet , funny coming-of-age-in-your-30s story from director Kris Rey ( Unexpected ) and producers Andy Samberg , Akiva Schaffer , and Jorma Taccone , better known as the Lonely Island .
( You can watch I Used to Go Here on streaming platforms such as Apple TV and Google Play @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the abyss square in the eye and think you might be losing ... She Dies Tomorrow is a brilliant , atmospheric drama about a young woman named Amy ( Kate Lyn Sheil ) , a recovering alcoholic , who becomes convinced she ’ s about to die the next day .
She ’ s not suicidal ; she just knows it ’ s going to happen .
But her premonition is not hers alone — it starts to spread to her friends .
She Dies Tomorrow is designed to infect you , too @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lights , unidentifiable soundscapes , and a heavy pace cast a spell of existential dread .
The mood is catching .
She Dies Tomorrow challenges both what we pretend to be and what we really are by forcing us to remember that we ’ re real , living in bodies that won ’ t last forever .
( You can watch She Dies Tomorrow on digital services such as Apple TV and Google Play and at select drive-in theaters . )
If you need to believe in magic again ...
I ’ m @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new movie version of Frances Hodgson Burnett ’ s 1911 novel The Secret Garden , but I ’ m not mad about it .
This one is moody and a little mystical .
It tells the story mostly through the eyes of Mary Lennox ( Dixie Egerickx ) , who moves into the palatial English manor occupied by her bereaved and cold widower uncle ( Colin Firth ) after her parents die of cholera in India .
Left to her own devices , Mary discovers both a sickly cousin hidden away in a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she believes to be magical on the property .
It ’ s a relatively faithful adaptation of the classic book , but even if you ’ re familiar with the story , it ’ s a bit bewitching .
( You can watch The Secret Garden on digital and on-demand platforms ; a full listing is on the film ’ s website . )
And if you just want to watch a joyously formulaic dance competition movie ... Look , the cure for any malaise is a dance competition movie .
Everyone knows @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s where Work It comes in .
Starring Sabrina Carpenter and Liza Koshy ( who are both pretty great ) , the movie follows the saga of high schooler Quinn Ackerman ( Carpenter ) , who “ accidentally ” tells the admissions offer at Duke that she ’ s part of her high school ’ s champion dance team .
Quinn is emphatically not a dancer , but she has to figure out a way to become one to get into Duke , and thus the antics begin .
So brilliantly does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dance movie that scarcely 10 minutes in , there ’ s already a wholly unmotivated dance-off .
Also , Alicia Keys is one of the producers .
( Work It is streaming on Netflix . )
If you ’ re interested in something that ’ s not quite as new ... • The original Mad Max , from 1979 — starring Mel Gibson , directed by George Miller , and set in an apocalyptic wasteland ruled by societal collapse and motorcycle gangs — is newly streaming on Netflix .
• Inside Out , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your emotions and allowing yourself to feel them without judgment , is streaming on Disney+ and available to digitally rent or purchase on platforms like Apple TV and Google Play .
• And Kedi , a 2017 documentary about the street cats of Istanbul — no talking heads , just lots of cats and the people they hang out with — is available to digitally rent or purchase on platforms like Apple TV and Google Play .
Back when Kedi was released , our own Emily VanDerWerff wrote that the film explores “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ creatures anywhere you might be able.
” ( She also interviewed its director . )
It ’ s both a cure for doldrums and a reminder that there ’ s plenty of good in the world yet .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Hollywood’s long-held August ritual — dumping all the mediocre movies into theaters to get them off the studios’ slates — has been disrupted this year, for a simple reason: Movie theaters, by and large, aren’t open. Couple that with the ever-evolving release schedule and you get an unusually eclectic month of films, albeit mostly on digital platforms and in drive-in theaters.
There are a whole lot of good films out this weekend, but one worth highlighting is An American Pickle, which stars Seth Rogen and ... Seth Rogen:
It’s a light, sweet comedy, adapted by Simon Rich from his 2013 serialized New Yorker story “Sell Out” (which you can read in four parts) and directed by Brandon Trost. Rogen plays an impoverished Ashkenazi Jew named Herschel Greenbaum, who, in the 1920s, marries a woman named Sarah (Sarah Snook) and immigrates to New York City. He gets a job in a pickle factory and promises Sarah that their descendants will be wealthy and successful.
But unfortunately, Herschel falls into a vat of pickles and wakes up, perfectly preserved, in modern-day New York City, 80 years later. There, he discovers his only living relative is Ben Greenbaum (also Rogen), an app developer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The two go searching for the family cemetery plot where Sarah is buried, and they find it. But it’s surrounded by highways.
As you might imagine, this does not please Herschel. Finding the burial plot kicks off the great-grandfather and great-grandson’s series of mishaps, and along the way they learn a lot. An American Pickle is about many things — family, ambition, wondering if your ancestors would be pleased with you — but it’s at its best when illustrating how hard it is, and has always been, to just scratch out a living. Whether you’re a pickle maker or an app coder or anything in between, just affording the rent in 2020 can be a cause for worry, let alone starting a business. And in the midst of that anxiety, your friends and family can be your best support ... or your worst enemy. (You can watch An American Pickle exclusively on HBO Max.)
An American Pickle isn’t the only new movie that centers on anxiety this week. I can hear you saying, Oh, great! Just what I need. But the good news is there’s a film for every way of dealing with whatever it is you’re anxious about.
If you’re worried about the end of democracy ...
Well, A Thousand Cuts won’t exactly comfort you, but it will arm you to fight back by understanding the slip from democracy into autocracy in the Philippines under the violent rule of Rodrigo Duterte. Director Ramona S. Diaz follows the story of journalist Maria Ressa, CEO of the independent press outlet Rappler, who has been jailed, arrested, and harassed by the government, as well as influencers and candidates who support Duterte. It’s a chilling and daring film, and essential viewing. (You can watch it in “virtual cinemas” or on an August 9 live stream; more details at the film’s website.)
If you feel like your life is going nowhere fast ...
Check out I Used to Go Here, starring Gillian Jacobs (best known as Britta Perry from Community) as a Chicago writer named Kate Conklin. Her first novel is coming out, but her life is falling apart: She’s split from her fiancé, her publisher just canceled her book tour, and she’s beginning to worry she’s a fraud. So when a former professor (Jemaine Clement) calls to ask her to give a reading at her alma mater, she jumps at the chance. The film, which was supposed to premiere at South by Southwest before the festival was canceled this year, is a sweet, funny coming-of-age-in-your-30s story from director Kris Rey (Unexpected) and producers Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, better known as the Lonely Island. (You can watch I Used to Go Here on streaming platforms such as Apple TV and Google Play.)
If you’re staring the abyss square in the eye and think you might be losing ...
She Dies Tomorrow is a brilliant, atmospheric drama about a young woman named Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil), a recovering alcoholic, who becomes convinced she’s about to die the next day. She’s not suicidal; she just knows it’s going to happen. But her premonition is not hers alone — it starts to spread to her friends. She Dies Tomorrow is designed to infect you, too, at least a little — colored lights, unidentifiable soundscapes, and a heavy pace cast a spell of existential dread. The mood is catching. She Dies Tomorrow challenges both what we pretend to be and what we really are by forcing us to remember that we’re real, living in bodies that won’t last forever. (You can watch She Dies Tomorrow on digital services such as Apple TV and Google Play and at select drive-in theaters.)
If you need to believe in magic again ...
I’m not entirely sure why we needed a new movie version of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s 1911 novel The Secret Garden, but I’m not mad about it. This one is moody and a little mystical. It tells the story mostly through the eyes of Mary Lennox (Dixie Egerickx), who moves into the palatial English manor occupied by her bereaved and cold widower uncle (Colin Firth) after her parents die of cholera in India. Left to her own devices, Mary discovers both a sickly cousin hidden away in a wing of the house and a garden she believes to be magical on the property. It’s a relatively faithful adaptation of the classic book, but even if you’re familiar with the story, it’s a bit bewitching. (You can watch The Secret Garden on digital and on-demand platforms; a full listing is on the film’s website.)
And if you just want to watch a joyously formulaic dance competition movie ...
Look, the cure for any malaise is a dance competition movie. Everyone knows this, including Netflix, and that’s where Work It comes in. Starring Sabrina Carpenter and Liza Koshy (who are both pretty great), the movie follows the saga of high schooler Quinn Ackerman (Carpenter), who “accidentally” tells the admissions offer at Duke that she’s part of her high school’s champion dance team. Quinn is emphatically not a dancer, but she has to figure out a way to become one to get into Duke, and thus the antics begin. So brilliantly does Work It understand the formula for a dance movie that scarcely 10 minutes in, there’s already a wholly unmotivated dance-off. Also, Alicia Keys is one of the producers. (Work It is streaming on Netflix.)
If you’re interested in something that’s not quite as new ...


vox--2020-08-07--The US has an extraordinary opportunity to reform education

As of August 6 , the US had more than 4.8 million reported cases of Covid-19 and at least 160,000 deaths .
But we know the devastation is far greater : Our testing and contact tracing remain insufficient , and the official numbers don ’ t capture the indirect death toll , which could be far greater .
If there is one bright spot , nearly every sector of society has seized on the opportunity for systemic reform .
We have expanded telehealth and temporarily disabled restrictive policies around medications for the treatment of substance use .
We halted cash @ @ @ @ @ @ @ eviction moratoriums .
Every sector , that is , except for the educational system , which is not even offering temporary measures such as a gap year for students or a moratorium on standardized testing .
As a front-line health care provider and parent who innovated during this pandemic by helping to open temporary hospitals for people experiencing homelessness , and as an educator and parent in the public school system where massive cuts are planned , we find this lack of creative thinking incredibly frustrating .
As schools plan for reopening , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nearly closed for changes to the educational system that would reduce the opportunity gap and promote individualized learning .
But there is a small window of opportunity to take advantage of this pandemic and wedge in measures — including ending compulsory education laws , waiving standardized testing , and empowering teachers — that will allow for deeper changes in the near future .
It ’ s essential to pursue them now before the window closes .
Why is structural change in the education system necessary ?
Much of the US educational system is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing and student discipline .
Even the textbooks that many public schools are forced to use are outdated ( because of lack of funding ) .
The landscape of students ’ needs has changed over the past 50 years , but the educational system has not .
For example , there are more English-language learners and children with individualized education plans than ever before .
Families are facing profound economic hardships that are rivaled in this country only by stories of the Great Depression .
In the Kansas City Public School district alone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to transfer to a different school this year due to eviction .
Half !
Students who experience eviction can miss weeks of classroom time .
Why does this matter ?
One reason is that students who miss large amounts of class time will , inevitably , “ fall behind.
” Another reason is that eviction can cause trauma , especially in children .
Nevertheless , children who have experienced eviction are still held to the same standards as their stably housed peers , still expected to perform at grade level , and still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which , by the way , have also been shown to cause significant harm especially to low-income students , students of the global majority , English-language learners , and students with disabilities ) .
Some of these students ( especially Black and brown students ) are also likely to have negative encounters with school disciplinarians such as resource officers , be targeted for minor infractions such as dress code violations , and be the victims of zero-tolerance disciplinary policies developed during the Reagan administration .
Our educational system largely does not account for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dynamic needs of students .
And , in some cases , it can actually cause harm .
What if , instead , we embraced policies that were not predicated on the need for an uninterrupted linear trajectory from kindergarten to 12th grade ?
What if students were not penalized and harmed for missing school ?
What if we changed the system such that educational success meant more than “ making it through ” and taking a test ?
Why haven ’ t schools embraced change in the pandemic ?
We have no reason @ @ @ @ @ @ @ matter how temporary or incremental — is impossible in the educational system .
The fault in lack of change thus far lies , in part , with the federal government ’ s response .
If anything , there is a sense that many in the Trump administration and its allies across the country want public education to fail .
For example , Kansas City Metropolitan charter and private schools received between $ 19.9 million and $ 55.9 million from the Paycheck Protection Program ( PPP ) , program whereas Kansas City Public Schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to cut $ 131 million from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education .
The US Department of Education has stayed on the sidelines , allowing these inequities to persist .
Any discussion of schools from the federal government has focused solely on “ reopening safely.
” On July 23 , the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) finally released resources and tools intended to help facilitate school openings this fall .
Essentially , these guidelines include topics such as how to promote behaviors that prevent the spread of Covid-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ schools , how to restructure school days , and how to keep the school environment healthy through cleaning and proper ventilation .
These recommendations came just days after President Trump pressured the CDC to reverse course and after he threatened to withhold federal funding for schools that did not fully reopen .
Not surprisingly , the president then flip-flopped on his stance , admitting that some schools may need to delay full reopening .
The US Department of Education , again , has been largely silent on the issue and has yet to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chronic underfunding , inconsistent messaging , and leadership vacuums have put individual schools and school districts in the precarious situation in which they must “ go it alone.
” But the lack of progress can not be blamed fully on the federal government ; school district leaders have been largely absent on seizing on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to remake the system .
Aside from groups of individual K-12 educators including “ Liberate and Chill ” and scholars like Bettina L. Love and the Abolitionist Teaching Network who have mobilized during the pandemic , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to move toward even incremental change , let alone systematic change .
More commonly , school districts have simply assembled expert panels , held town hall meetings , and sent out virtual surveys to parents to determine the best approach forward within the established paradigm .
The plans that have emerged are predictable and limited to three models : all in-person learning , all virtual learning , or a mixed model of in-person and virtual for all students .
We say these models were predictable because they are predicated on an outdated paradigm @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The current paradigm , reinforced by the National Academies of Sciences , Engineering , and Medicine , has forced school districts into the impossible predicament of choosing health or equity rather than health and equity .
We would even argue that “ health ” has largely been ignored and “ safety ” has been used as a stand-in .
By entertaining only in-person or virtual learning , school districts are struggling to understand how they can provide a quality education in a safe and equitable way .
Let ’ s take health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ obvious question of how they protect teachers , staff , and students from Covid-19 — also known as “ safety.
” This is where the CDC guidance is meant to be useful .
Given the confines of the brick buildings , school officials are asking how they can best protect members of our community from Covid-19 .
But even though Covid-19 is a clear and present threat to our safety , schools must take a holistic view of health when considering reopening plans .
Nearly 32 million students in public schools rely on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ At least 22 percent receive mental health counseling through school programs , a number likely to grow as a result of isolation from the pandemic .
How do we continue to provide these life-sustaining ( and lifesaving ) services without reopening in person ?
Now let ’ s take on the issue of equity .
There is already a profound educational opportunity gap in this country , as Prudence Carter , Gloria Ladson-Billings , and others have helped us understand .
What happens to that opportunity gap if private schools , which are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ able to reopen for in-person learning while urban public schools , which are populated by majority Black and brown children , are not ?
What about kids with individualized educational plans and English-language learners ?
If schools remain virtual , what does this do to children who can not learn virtually ?
What about parents who can not attend to and monitor their children ’ s virtual learning ?
Will the opportunity gap not also widen ?
These all-or-none approaches are , at best , lazy , and at worst , harmful .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ there is no “ good way ” forward so we simply need to pick the least bad option .
They pit health and equity against each other .
They are harmful for a number of reasons , and they do not account for the unique needs of individual children in a larger societal context .
But it raises the question : Why hasn ’ t the educational system seized on this opportunity to enact permanent or even temporary changes ?
Time is almost up to make any changes Ultimately , the question is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ school in person versus virtually , but rather , how we can remake our educational system such that it serves the needs of individuals in our path to achieving equity .
The potential to innovate for the future and reduce the opportunity gap are bold objectives .
From an equity perspective , both require significant changes to policies and established structures .
Sadly , the time appears to be nearly up .
Schools in half the country have reopened while the other half are firming up their reopening plans .
Unfortunately , these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the transmission of Covid-19 , but do little else to promote health and virtually nothing to address the opportunity gap .
We have done nothing to reimagine space but to move desks further apart and eat lunch in one ’ s classroom .
We have done nothing to address the fact that education and learning mean more than achieving Common Core standards .
The incremental steps that can be taken now To salvage this opportunity and leave the door open for structural change , we need to enact incremental or even temporary changes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we propose to end compulsory education laws .
In 1852 , Massachusetts became the first state to enact a compulsory education law , which required every city and town to offer primary school that focused on grammar and basic arithmetic .
Rooted in racism and institutionalized as a way to control minority populations , compulsory education laws became the norm across the US .
Currently , with few exceptions , children across the US are required to attend public or state-accredited private schools from age 6 through 16 .
The most notable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work release permits offered in many states that allow students to work outside of the school during normal school hours .
In this unprecedented time , we need to consider an end to , or at the very least , a temporary moratorium on compulsory education laws .
If done on a temporary basis , parents would be given the choice of whether to send their children to school for the 2020-2021 school year , thus creating a “ gap year ” alternative .
In the temporary model , any child who does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ required to begin again in the fall of 2021 , and they will start the grade they are currently slated to start .
How would this help ?
First , this would result in decongested schools and buses that would allow for more physical distancing , thus making it safer from a Covid-19 standpoint for students who attend in person as well as teachers and other staff .
Second , it might relieve the anguish many parents across the wealth spectrum feel about the inadequacy of virtual education and our inability to monitor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gap year would unburden parents from having to monitor ( and worry about ) whether their children are paying attention , whether they have completed all their assignments , or whether they are engaged with their schoolwork .
Parents may struggle with other activities to occupy their children , but likely will not experience the same stress of worrying that their child is “ falling behind.
” Third , it would provide students of all ages with an opportunity to learn outside the traditional classroom .
High school-age students may be able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ families with income and gaining valuable work experience .
Younger students may participate in learning pods with other families such that it unburdens individual families with child care responsibilities and children may be exposed to culturally diverse experiences in other households .
Finally , there is not a dearth of college-age students who are also taking a gap year or who are unable to find gainful employment and stand ready to provide enrichment activities and other social-emotional learning opportunities to boost their résumés .
When school buildings closed in March and April , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ education seemed wide open .
Educators were partnered with families and community organizations knowing that student success was not possible without these relationships .
The cancellation of standardized tests was central to this progress .
It allowed teachers to engage students in more meaningful learning experiences instead of weeks of test prep , and there was one less barrier to post-secondary education for many students who were no longer required to take a college admission exam .
Teachers across the country came together to form grassroots organizations to provide online learning experiences for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of anti-racist and liberatory pedagogy .
This was only possible because teachers were no longer bound by standardized tests as a marker of success .
As a result , students were able to engage in schoolwork that spoke to them .
This , coupled with the absence of routine harmful interactions with school resource officers and oppressive school policies faced by many Black and brown students , meant that some students were engaged like never before .
School districts and teachers should seize on the fact that a number of colleges and universities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the upcoming year .
There is no need to reinstate these problematic and inherently racist tests .
A continued moratorium on standardized testing buys us time to reimagine what we consider to be valuable knowledge and skills .
While individual teachers have little control over state- and district-wide policies , they can continue to strengthen relationships with parents and students and design curriculums that centers their voices and lived experiences .
They can use anti-bias and anti-racist pedagogy not just during back-to-school professional development but for the long haul .
They can use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the Abolitionist Teaching Network ) to create teacher and student learning experiences that provide space to imagine new possibilities and the tools to remake the educational system .
They can advocate to make schools a place for educators and not police officers .
They can push schools to reinvest resources at school level and implement restorative justice policies and practices that will help close the school-to-prison pipeline .
They can do this if given the freedom to innovate by districts and unconstrained by the need to “ teach to the test.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will exist between those students in a gap year who can afford enrichment activities or a full-time one-on-one care provider and those who are part of a gap-year family child care pod .
We need a systematic way to ensure that children who are on a gap year remain engaged in some activity that captures their attention and imagination , or addresses a need .
Schools receive funds based on pupil size , which , in turn , is how teachers are provided salaries .
Fewer students means less funds ( as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lead to teacher layoffs .
Instead of threatening to withhold funding , public schools should receive federal funds to support innovative approaches and retain teachers during this turbulent time .
If the federal government can find ways to provide relief packages to corporations , they can surely find a way to provide financial relief to public school districts .
Many people will likely bemoan the lack of standardized testing , as there will be no “ objective ” way to measure students ’ success .
But it is clear that standardized tests are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intellect and we must resist calls for their reinstatement .
Finally , teachers may encounter resistance from school districts , parents , and government officials .
Teachers can not do this alone , and we need a broad coalition of parents and educators who see this as a way forward to address both health and equity .
These actions do not fix the problem , but they are necessary steps Do these actions fix all the problems with the educational system ?
Absolutely not .
Based on our own conversations and experiences , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ we must do everything ” mentality instead of the “ we must do something ” mentality that we are missing the opportunity to do anything .
With time running out before public schools reconvene the same system that has not changed in the past 50 years , we must be willing to look for unconventional solutions , no matter how temporary they may be .
As we have seen in the health care system , even temporary changes such as reimbursement for telehealth visits will be hard to reverse .
The educational @ @ @ @ @ @ @ temporary policies such that they leave the door open for the future .
Unfortunately , it will likely take another global pandemic to create a similar window of opportunity for change .
Joshua Barocas is an infectious diseases physician at Boston Medical Center and assistant professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine .
Jennifer Lacy received her PhD in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin Madison .
She teaches high school science in Kansas City , Missouri , and is the director of Education for American Daughters .
Every @ @ @ @ @ @ @ answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

As of August 6, the US had more than 4.8 million reported cases of Covid-19 and at least 160,000 deaths. But we know the devastation is far greater: Our testing and contact tracing remain insufficient, and the official numbers don’t capture the indirect death toll, which could be far greater.
If there is one bright spot, nearly every sector of society has seized on the opportunity for systemic reform. We have expanded telehealth and temporarily disabled restrictive policies around medications for the treatment of substance use. We halted cash bail in many jurisdictions, and enacted eviction moratoriums.
Every sector, that is, except for the educational system, which is not even offering temporary measures such as a gap year for students or a moratorium on standardized testing.
As a front-line health care provider and parent who innovated during this pandemic by helping to open temporary hospitals for people experiencing homelessness, and as an educator and parent in the public school system where massive cuts are planned, we find this lack of creative thinking incredibly frustrating.
As schools plan for reopening, it seems as though the door has nearly closed for changes to the educational system that would reduce the opportunity gap and promote individualized learning. But there is a small window of opportunity to take advantage of this pandemic and wedge in measures — including ending compulsory education laws, waiving standardized testing, and empowering teachers — that will allow for deeper changes in the near future. It’s essential to pursue them now before the window closes.
Why is structural change in the education system necessary?
Much of the US educational system is based on outdated institutional policies for standardized testing and student discipline. Even the textbooks that many public schools are forced to use are outdated (because of lack of funding). The landscape of students’ needs has changed over the past 50 years, but the educational system has not.
For example, there are more English-language learners and children with individualized education plans than ever before. Families are facing profound economic hardships that are rivaled in this country only by stories of the Great Depression. In the Kansas City Public School district alone, nearly half of students will need to transfer to a different school this year due to eviction. Half! Students who experience eviction can miss weeks of classroom time.
Why does this matter? One reason is that students who miss large amounts of class time will, inevitably, “fall behind.” Another reason is that eviction can cause trauma, especially in children.
Nevertheless, children who have experienced eviction are still held to the same standards as their stably housed peers, still expected to perform at grade level, and still expected to sit for standardized tests (which, by the way, have also been shown to cause significant harm especially to low-income students, students of the global majority, English-language learners, and students with disabilities).
Some of these students (especially Black and brown students) are also likely to have negative encounters with school disciplinarians such as resource officers, be targeted for minor infractions such as dress code violations, and be the victims of zero-tolerance disciplinary policies developed during the Reagan administration. Our educational system largely does not account for the complex social, economic, and dynamic needs of students. And, in some cases, it can actually cause harm.
What if, instead, we embraced policies that were not predicated on the need for an uninterrupted linear trajectory from kindergarten to 12th grade?
What if students were not penalized and harmed for missing school? What if we changed the system such that educational success meant more than “making it through” and taking a test?
Why haven’t schools embraced change in the pandemic?
We have no reason to believe that structural change — no matter how temporary or incremental — is impossible in the educational system. The fault in lack of change thus far lies, in part, with the federal government’s response.
If anything, there is a sense that many in the Trump administration and its allies across the country want public education to fail. For example, Kansas City Metropolitan charter and private schools received between $19.9 million and $55.9 million from the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), program whereas Kansas City Public Schools received nothing.
Additionally, Missouri plans to cut $131 million from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The US Department of Education has stayed on the sidelines, allowing these inequities to persist.
Any discussion of schools from the federal government has focused solely on “reopening safely.” On July 23, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) finally released resources and tools intended to help facilitate school openings this fall. Essentially, these guidelines include topics such as how to promote behaviors that prevent the spread of Covid-19, how to make physical modifications to schools, how to restructure school days, and how to keep the school environment healthy through cleaning and proper ventilation.
These recommendations came just days after President Trump pressured the CDC to reverse course and after he threatened to withhold federal funding for schools that did not fully reopen. Not surprisingly, the president then flip-flopped on his stance, admitting that some schools may need to delay full reopening.
The US Department of Education, again, has been largely silent on the issue and has yet to release any guidance on the topic. Chronic underfunding, inconsistent messaging, and leadership vacuums have put individual schools and school districts in the precarious situation in which they must “go it alone.”
But the lack of progress cannot be blamed fully on the federal government; school district leaders have been largely absent on seizing on this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to remake the system. Aside from groups of individual K-12 educators including “Liberate and Chill” and scholars like Bettina L. Love and the Abolitionist Teaching Network who have mobilized during the pandemic, there have been virtually no district-level attempts to move toward even incremental change, let alone systematic change.
More commonly, school districts have simply assembled expert panels, held town hall meetings, and sent out virtual surveys to parents to determine the best approach forward within the established paradigm. The plans that have emerged are predictable and limited to three models: all in-person learning, all virtual learning, or a mixed model of in-person and virtual for all students. We say these models were predictable because they are predicated on an outdated paradigm of learning that deserves to be reevaluated.
The current paradigm, reinforced by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, has forced school districts into the impossible predicament of choosing health or equity rather than health and equity. We would even argue that “health” has largely been ignored and “safety” has been used as a stand-in. By entertaining only in-person or virtual learning, school districts are struggling to understand how they can provide a quality education in a safe and equitable way.
Let’s take health first. Schools must grapple with the obvious question of how they protect teachers, staff, and students from Covid-19 — also known as “safety.” This is where the CDC guidance is meant to be useful. Given the confines of the brick buildings, school officials are asking how they can best protect members of our community from Covid-19.
But even though Covid-19 is a clear and present threat to our safety, schools must take a holistic view of health when considering reopening plans. Nearly 32 million students in public schools rely on schools as a source of food. At least 22 percent receive mental health counseling through school programs, a number likely to grow as a result of isolation from the pandemic.
How do we continue to provide these life-sustaining (and lifesaving) services without reopening in person?
Now let’s take on the issue of equity. There is already a profound educational opportunity gap in this country, as Prudence Carter, Gloria Ladson-Billings, and others have helped us understand. What happens to that opportunity gap if private schools, which are filled with affluent white children, are able to reopen for in-person learning while urban public schools, which are populated by majority Black and brown children, are not?
What about kids with individualized educational plans and English-language learners? If schools remain virtual, what does this do to children who cannot learn virtually? What about parents who cannot attend to and monitor their children’s virtual learning? Will the opportunity gap not also widen?
These all-or-none approaches are, at best, lazy, and at worst, harmful. They are lazy because they admit that there is no “good way” forward so we simply need to pick the least bad option. They pit health and equity against each other. They are harmful for a number of reasons, and they do not account for the unique needs of individual children in a larger societal context.
But it raises the question: Why hasn’t the educational system seized on this opportunity to enact permanent or even temporary changes?
Time is almost up to make any changes
Ultimately, the question is not as simple as who should attend school in person versus virtually, but rather, how we can remake our educational system such that it serves the needs of individuals in our path to achieving equity. The potential to innovate for the future and reduce the opportunity gap are bold objectives. From an equity perspective, both require significant changes to policies and established structures.
Sadly, the time appears to be nearly up. Schools in half the country have reopened while the other half are firming up their reopening plans.
Unfortunately, these reopening plans only enhance safety by preventing the transmission of Covid-19, but do little else to promote health and virtually nothing to address the opportunity gap. We have done nothing to reimagine space but to move desks further apart and eat lunch in one’s classroom. We have done nothing to address the fact that education and learning mean more than achieving Common Core standards.
The incremental steps that can be taken now
To salvage this opportunity and leave the door open for structural change, we need to enact incremental or even temporary changes before it is too late.
1) End compulsory education laws
First, we propose to end compulsory education laws. In 1852, Massachusetts became the first state to enact a compulsory education law, which required every city and town to offer primary school that focused on grammar and basic arithmetic. Rooted in racism and institutionalized as a way to control minority populations, compulsory education laws became the norm across the US.
Currently, with few exceptions, children across the US are required to attend public or state-accredited private schools from age 6 through 16. The most notable exceptions to the law include homeschooling and work release permits offered in many states that allow students to work outside of the school during normal school hours. In this unprecedented time, we need to consider an end to, or at the very least, a temporary moratorium on compulsory education laws. If done on a temporary basis, parents would be given the choice of whether to send their children to school for the 2020-2021 school year, thus creating a “gap year” alternative.
In the temporary model, any child who does not attend school this fall will be required to begin again in the fall of 2021, and they will start the grade they are currently slated to start.
How would this help?
First, this would result in decongested schools and buses that would allow for more physical distancing, thus making it safer from a Covid-19 standpoint for students who attend in person as well as teachers and other staff.
Second, it might relieve the anguish many parents across the wealth spectrum feel about the inadequacy of virtual education and our inability to monitor our child’s success. A gap year would unburden parents from having to monitor (and worry about) whether their children are paying attention, whether they have completed all their assignments, or whether they are engaged with their schoolwork. Parents may struggle with other activities to occupy their children, but likely will not experience the same stress of worrying that their child is “falling behind.”
Third, it would provide students of all ages with an opportunity to learn outside the traditional classroom. High school-age students may be able to work for the year, helping their families with income and gaining valuable work experience. Younger students may participate in learning pods with other families such that it unburdens individual families with child care responsibilities and children may be exposed to culturally diverse experiences in other households.
Finally, there is not a dearth of college-age students who are also taking a gap year or who are unable to find gainful employment and stand ready to provide enrichment activities and other social-emotional learning opportunities to boost their résumés.
2) Do not reinstate standardized tests
When school buildings closed in March and April, the door to structural change for public education seemed wide open. Educators were partnered with families and community organizations knowing that student success was not possible without these relationships. The cancellation of standardized tests was central to this progress. It allowed teachers to engage students in more meaningful learning experiences instead of weeks of test prep, and there was one less barrier to post-secondary education for many students who were no longer required to take a college admission exam.
Teachers across the country came together to form grassroots organizations to provide online learning experiences for educators who wanted to develop their understanding of anti-racist and liberatory pedagogy. This was only possible because teachers were no longer bound by standardized tests as a marker of success. As a result, students were able to engage in schoolwork that spoke to them.
This, coupled with the absence of routine harmful interactions with school resource officers and oppressive school policies faced by many Black and brown students, meant that some students were engaged like never before. School districts and teachers should seize on the fact that a number of colleges and universities are waiving ACT and SAT requirements for the upcoming year. There is no need to reinstate these problematic and inherently racist tests. A continued moratorium on standardized testing buys us time to reimagine what we consider to be valuable knowledge and skills.
3) Empower teachers
While individual teachers have little control over state- and district-wide policies, they can continue to strengthen relationships with parents and students and design curriculums that centers their voices and lived experiences. They can use anti-bias and anti-racist pedagogy not just during back-to-school professional development but for the long haul.
They can use resources (such as Liberate & Chill and the Abolitionist Teaching Network) to create teacher and student learning experiences that provide space to imagine new possibilities and the tools to remake the educational system. They can advocate to make schools a place for educators and not police officers.
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They can push schools to reinvest resources at school level and implement restorative justice policies and practices that will help close the school-to-prison pipeline. They can do this if given the freedom to innovate by districts and unconstrained by the need to “teach to the test.”
These ideas are not without problems
Inequities will exist between those students in a gap year who can afford enrichment activities or a full-time one-on-one care provider and those who are part of a gap-year family child care pod. We need a systematic way to ensure that children who are on a gap year remain engaged in some activity that captures their attention and imagination, or addresses a need.
Schools receive funds based on pupil size, which, in turn, is how teachers are provided salaries. Fewer students means less funds (as the president has implied), which would lead to teacher layoffs. Instead of threatening to withhold funding, public schools should receive federal funds to support innovative approaches and retain teachers during this turbulent time. If the federal government can find ways to provide relief packages to corporations, they can surely find a way to provide financial relief to public school districts.
Many people will likely bemoan the lack of standardized testing, as there will be no “objective” way to measure students’ success. But it is clear that standardized tests are not a measure of academic success or intellect and we must resist calls for their reinstatement.
Finally, teachers may encounter resistance from school districts, parents, and government officials. Teachers cannot do this alone, and we need a broad coalition of parents and educators who see this as a way forward to address both health and equity.
These actions do not fix the problem, but they are necessary steps
Do these actions fix all the problems with the educational system? Absolutely not.
Based on our own conversations and experiences, educators have gotten wrapped up in the “we must do everything” mentality instead of the “we must do something” mentality that we are missing the opportunity to do anything. With time running out before public schools reconvene the same system that has not changed in the past 50 years, we must be willing to look for unconventional solutions, no matter how temporary they may be.
As we have seen in the health care system, even temporary changes such as reimbursement for telehealth visits will be hard to reverse. The educational system would be wise to implement even temporary policies such that they leave the door open for the future. Unfortunately, it will likely take another global pandemic to create a similar window of opportunity for change.
Joshua Barocas is an infectious diseases physician at Boston Medical Center and assistant professor of Medicine at Boston University School of Medicine.
Jennifer Lacy received her PhD in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin Madison. She teaches high school science in Kansas City, Missouri, and is the director of Education for American Daughters.