Lauded by critics for its crucial look at justice in the United States, This is My America by author Kim Johnson has been recognized as the 2021 recipient of the Malka Penn Award for Human Rights in Children’s Literature, presented by Dodd Human Rights Impact at UConn.

“Kim Johnson has delivered a gripping story that tackles the human rights issues of historical racism, corruption, police brutality, and incarceration at a critical moment in our society,” says Glenn Mitoma, director of Dodd Human Rights Impact and a Neag School faculty member.

Preston Green doesn’t think a decision for the plaintiffs would immediately lead to churches or other religious organizations running charter schools, but added, “You’re really, really close.”

“This is about dominoes falling and it’s a deliberative legal strategy,” he said. “They don’t need to do it right away. They just need to establish a true line where they can make these legal arguments.”

Stamford Public Schools (SPS) announced Corine Matarasso as assistant principal of Toquam Magnet Elementary School. Matarasso fills the position recently vacated by the departure of former Assistant Principal Casey Cummings. Matarasso is a long-time Stamford resident and member of the SPS staff.

Justin Michaud, math, was born and raised in Waterbury and attended Catholic schools for grammar and high school. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business management and psychology and master’s degree in education at the University of Connecticut. He’s described as “passionate, outgoing and dependable,” and enjoys tennis. He has experience at in the food industry, most recently at Sacred Heart High School in Waterbury for the past seven years.

Panelists on this episode argue that inadequate and inequitable funding of our public schools pose a dire threat to American democracy. That’s because students in under-resourced schools, those who tend to be poor and people of color, are less able to participate in the democratic process. The full panel includes: Derek Black, Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law; Preston Green, Professor of Educational Leadership and Law, University of Connecticut; Joshua Starr, Chief Executive Officer, PDK International; and Sanaa Kahloon, student, Harvard University.

White public schools have always gotten more money than Black public schools. These funding disparities go back to the so-called “separate but equal” era – which was enshrined into the nation’s laws by the Supreme Court’s 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson. The disparities have persisted even after Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision that ordered the desegregation of America’s public schools.

Connecticut is the first state in the nation to mandate that all of its high schools offer an elective class on Black and Latinx history. These classes must be taught by the fall of 2022, but many high schools have added them to the curriculum this year. Alan Marcus, a professor of curriculum and instruction in UConn’s Neag School of Education, has led a team that developed a website to assist high school teachers with the instruction of this course.

U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona will be visiting Wayne Center Elementary next week as part of tour recognizing teachers and school staff for their efforts in classrooms for the 2021-22 school year. In 2012, Cardona won the 2012 National Distinguished Principal Award for the State of Connecticut and the Outstanding Administrator Award from UConn’s Neag School of Education.

Throughout the academic year, the Neag School is proud to share the latest achievements of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni.

A study co-authored by Neag School doctoral candidate, Robert Cotto, and former faculty member Sarah Woulfin, is featured. A survey of more than 150 parents whose children attend school in Hartford found that child care needs and concerns about the effectiveness of schools’ COVID-19 safety measures strongly impacted whether or not families sent their children back to school buildings for in-person learning in fall 2020.