Health In Our Environment

A news blog for health, environmental and education policy.

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Polio Outbreak Spurs Strong Stance From WHO

Since Dr. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was released to the public in 1955, the dangerous disease has all but been eliminated. Poliomyelitis (polio) is a notoriously sneaky affliction, showing symptoms in only 0.5% of cases but resulting in paralysis and death when it enters the spinal cord. It's transferred from feces-to-mouth, and it's why Franklin Delano Roosevelt used a wheelchair. 

Between January and April of this year, 68 known cases of polio have emerged. While this number doesn't seem like a lot, health officials are concerned because the larger-than-normal outbreak has appeared during the "lull" season when polio outbreaks should be few and far between. The amount is almost three times as large as this time last year.

So severe is the outbreak that the World Health Organization has put its foot down. 

For only the second time since they passed their 2007 regulations that allowed them to demand more concrete results, WHO has imposed travel restrictions on the three countries where the outbreaks have occurred: Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon. Although WHO technically has no power to enforce these restrictions, it is a stronger stance than they have taken in the past. 

In addition to that, WHO has called for all citizens from these countries to be vaccinated before traveling for up to a year after the last "exported case". They also recommended that travelers from Afghanistan, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria and Somalia receive the vaccination. Countries could use WHO's declaration as a basis for denying travelers from these countries lacking vaccination cards. 

Unfortunately, mass vaccination in these countries will be difficult. In Syria, citizens flee bombings and the government has been unable to reach an estimated 300,000 children, and radical groups in Pakistan and Cameroon have taken violent measures to prevent vaccination. While it's easier to provide vaccines in refugee groups, the fact remains that the most vulnerable people remain unprotected. 

With warmer weather coming for many of these areas, polio cases are expected to take an upward turn.

[hioenews]

The Subsidization of Primary Education

In a kind of surreal tableau reminiscent of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, primary education today finds itself increasingly funded by corporations. Although, not quite as blatant as having your social studies class brought to you by a teacher wearing a McDonald’s nametag and discussing the history of burgers, there’s a disturbing trend of corporate-backed non-profits funding charter schools across the nation. 

The Walton Family Foundation is a conservative non-profit run by the same family that owns Walmart. It has spent around $335 million dollars on funding charter schools across the country, most notably those run by DC Prep in our nation’s capital. 1,200 students attend the four charter schools run by DC Prep, which are largely successful in terms of test scores, attendance and student experience.

What does it mean for a conservative group to be funding the education of one of the most politically liberal cities in the United States? With education budgets being slashed, when do the benefits outweigh the costs? 

Some parents are willing to take advantage of the opportunity even while expressing concern over the effect charter schools have on public schools. “Charter schools are a bit of a disservice to the public schools,” said DC resident and father, Marcus Robinson . “It puts the onus on public schools to take on the people and children that other schools don’t want. But in the meantime, between everyone fighting about it, I did not want my kids to be caught in the limbo.”

When one-fourth of all charter schools have received money from the Walton Foundation, it brings into question the amount of influence a deep pocket can have on the curricula being taught to our children. The Walton Family Foundation can be credited with many trends in education like test score-based teacher evaluations and taxpayer-funded vouchers for students to attend private school. 

"Last year, the Walton Family Foundation gave $478,380 to a fund affiliated with the Chicago public schools to help officials conduct community meetings to discuss their plan to close more than 50 schools at a time when charters were expanding in the city." 

[hioenews]

An article I wrote on my new blog. 

[hioenews]

The Subsidization of Primary Education

In a kind of surreal tableau reminiscent of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, primary education today finds itself increasingly funded by corporations. Although, not quite as blatant as having your social studies class brought to you by a teacher wearing a McDonald's nametag and discussing the history of burgers, there's a disturbing trend of corporate-backed non-profits funding charter schools across the nation. 

The Walton Family Foundation is a conservative non-profit run by the same family that owns Walmart. It has spent around $335 million dollars on funding charter schools across the country, most notably those run by DC Prep in our nation's capital. 1,200 students attend the four charter schools run by DC Prep, which are largely successful in terms of test scores, attendance and student experience.

What does it mean for a conservative group to be funding the education of one of the most politically liberal cities in the United States? With education budgets being slashed, when do the benefits outweigh the costs? 

Some parents are willing to take advantage of the opportunity even while expressing concern over the effect charter schools have on public schools. “Charter schools are a bit of a disservice to the public schools,” said DC resident and father, Marcus Robinson . “It puts the onus on public schools to take on the people and children that other schools don’t want. But in the meantime, between everyone fighting about it, I did not want my kids to be caught in the limbo.”

When one-fourth of all charter schools have received money from the Walton Foundation, it brings into question the amount of influence a deep pocket can have on the curricula being taught to our children. The Walton Family Foundation can be credited with many trends in education like test score-based teacher evaluations and taxpayer-funded vouchers for students to attend private school. 

"Last year, the Walton Family Foundation gave $478,380 to a fund affiliated with the Chicago public schools to help officials conduct community meetings to discuss their plan to close more than 50 schools at a time when charters were expanding in the city." 

   A running theme of conservative politics today encourages the application of business acumen and values to non-business endeavors. While there can be some benefits to injecting "entrepreneurial energy" into a system that can easily find itself bogged down in bureaucracy, not all business practices make sense in education. Things like performance pay for teachers and closing "low-performing" charter schools completely miss the point of education and disregard all the influences on a student that could be causing poor "performance" in school. Where a corporation focuses on a profit margin, the success of schools has a more nuanced approach. 

One of the major criticisms of charter schools concerns the practice of expelling or "asking" students with low grades to leave, for the purpose of improving test scores. Some districts like DC have attempted to improve accountability for such tricks by publishing data on expulsions and midyear departures. But even with such transparency in place, critics of charter schools worry that already-disadvantaged traditional public schools are increasingly burdened with students who suffer from behavioral problems and learning disabilities. So in the end, those who struggle more are left with less.

Kevin G. Welner, director of the National Education Policy Center at University of Colorado in Boulder, thinks the connection between Walmart and charter schools runs deeper than funding: 

“When lots of charter schools open up, it’s like a new Walmart store moving in. You could look at it and say, ‘Well, the schools in a community are losing families because of healthy competition the same way that the hardware store is losing customers because of healthy competition.’ But that doesn’t take into account the long-term harms to the community, which are probably greater than any short-term benefit.”

[hioenews]

Transgender Students Now Officially Protected by Title IX

On April 29th, the Department of Education clarified whether transgender students are protected under Title IX with a strong yes. 

"Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity and OCR accepts such complaints for investigation. Similarly, the actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity of the parties does not change a school’s obligations."

The report then goes on to recognize that a disproportionate number of LGBT students report feeling sex discrimination and violence in schools. It also called for schools to improve their policies by making them more inclusive. 

"If a school’s policies related to sexual violence include examples of particular types of conduct that violate the school’s prohibition on sexual violence, the school should consider including examples of same-sex conduct."

Title IX also requires schools to properly train faculty and staff to respond to LGBT students. 

"Thus, a school should ensure that its counselors and other staff who are responsible for receiving and responding to complaints of sexual violence, including investigators and hearing board members, receive appropriate training about working with LGBT and gender-nonconforming students and same-sex sexual violence."

A cherry on top for the piece concludes the clarification by acknowledging that LGBT rights student groups (like the Gay-Straight Alliance) are important for fostering healthy, violence-free environments for LGBT students. The report then links to a previous DoE guidance letter reminding schools that singling out and prohibiting LGBT groups in schools is unlawful under the Equal Access Act. 

[hioenews]

Welcome to Health in Our Environment

I am an attorney in Maryland with an interest in health, environmental and education policy. This blog strives to provide information about subjects that affect our lives.