Deb Davis for Academic Excellence in Iowa Schools

This is a great idea for a public school to run with - creating a classical school track within their public school. Give parents choice within the public school system. If any public school is brave enough to take on the challenge, I believe they would reap the benefits and have a waiting line of families trying to open-enroll to their district!

WE NEED A CONVERSATION REVIVAL.

A lot of SEL is deeply self-focused. How do I feel? What is my identity? What trauma have I experienced? How was I harmed? Where do I fit socially? How am I perceived? Even when the goals are positive, the attention is constantly directed inward.

But Holleman’s framework feels different, it is more outward facing. She writes, “great conversations involve these essential elements: interest, liking, caring, and sharing.

- Be curious about other people.
- Believe the best about them.
- Express concern and care.
- Share honestly and listen well.

Link to full article in comments below.

How can libraries remain trusted civic institutions in a polarized world? That organization is the Association of Library Professionals (ALP)…. For generations, libraries have functioned as a bedrock of civic life: spaces where anyone, regardless of their background or belief, could access information freely, without being steered toward a particular conclusion or political or social agenda. Yet this principled commitment to open inquiry is increasingly under pressure…. ALP offers a clear and consistent vision: libraries exist to serve the reader, not to shape what the reader thinks or believes…. By focusing on how we think rather than what we think, ALP is helping to preserve libraries as sanctuaries for free thought.

Link to full article in comments below.

Unbelievable!!! Movie theaters are “BANNING” movies!!! 😉

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals today vacated the preliminary injunction entered against Senate File 496. The court’s decisions reinstate Iowa’s ability to enforce the law.

The 2023 law prohibits sexually explicit books and materials in school libraries. It also requires schools to prioritize age-appropriate instruction and prohibits instruction relating to gender identity or sexual orientation in kindergarten through 6th grade. Finally, the law ensures that parents are informed and involved in significant decisions regarding their child’s wellbeing at school.

The law has been blocked since March of 2025 due to litigation.

Full article in comments below.

I spent several days in Virginia training on conservative leadership and the public policy process. Thank you Leadership Institute for this amazing opportunity!

P.B.S. Pinchback

Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback, the son of a white Mississippi planter and a former slave, was the first African American to serve as governor of a state when after the governor of Louisiana was impeached, he as Lt. Governor, completed the 34 days left in his term (December 9, 1872 to January 12, 1873). Despite that short tenure, Pinchback nonetheless was the highest ranking black officeholder at the state level until 1989 when L. Douglas Wilder won the governorship of Virginia. As such Pinchback was a highly sought after speaker who rallied African American voters for the Republican Party.

Excerpt from Blackpast.org. Full article in comments below.

On February 12, 1865, Reverend Henry Highland Garnet, a former slave who was pastor of the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., became the first African American to speak in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. His sermon was delivered on Sunday, February 12, 1865 within days of Congress’s adoption of the 13th Amendment banning slavery. A number of Republican leaders thought the occasion merited a public religious service to commemorate the event. They extended the invitation to Rev. Garnet. His sermon titled, “Let the Monster Perish,” appears below.

Excerpt from Blackpast.org. See link in comments below for the full article and sermon.

Was the Constitution written as a pro-slavery or anti-slavery document?