The main problems faced by schools at the start of a new academic year

Students and educators across the country return to school this month with a new set of challenges for the academic year, as well as some remaining challenges from the last.

Educators face new laws to obey and varying instructions on how to do so. Students plan to return to protest against the Gaza war and will have to deal with the growing problem of bullying fueled by artificial intelligence (AI).

Here are the top five questions of the new school year:

Student protests

Colleges were rocked this year when students set up dozens of camps on campuses to protest Israel’s actions in its war against Hamas and demand that their schools divest from the country.

Thousands of people were arrested when the start season ended.

Schools were on the edge of their seats when Columbia’s president was called to resign by bipartisan lawmakers over protests, fights broke out at the University of California, Las Angeles (UCLA), and a House hearing was called with Northwestern leaders , Rutgers and UCLA over chaos.

But battles with police don’t appear to be slowing down student activists.

“What will we see [is] students will continue their activism, they will continue to do what they did in conventional and unconventional ways. So not just protests, not just camps, any kind of any available means necessary to pressure Colombia to divest from Israel,” Mahmoud Khalil, a student negotiator on behalf of Apartheid Divest at Columbia University, told The Hill.

“And we’ve been working all summer on our plans, on what’s next to put pressure on Columbia to listen to students and decide to be on the right side of history,” Khalil added.

Other schools that have agreed to meet some of the protesters’ demands, such as Northwestern University and Brown University, will hold votes on whether to divest from companies that work with Israel this fall.

AI bullying

In elementary and middle schools, educators and students will face a new type of bullying that no one knows exactly how to combat yet: AI.

The use of AI in schools increased last school year as teachers and students better understood how the technology can be used to help create lesson plans or work as a personal tutor.

Unfortunately, children have also discovered how to use AI for more nefarious purposes.

Educators watched in horror as students created fake sexual images of female classmates; an athletic director created fake voice audio to try to get a director fired by making it sound like he was racist.

For schools, analyzing what is AI and what is real is a difficult task, and Congress is having difficulty keeping up with what kind of punishments should come from these acts.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) is among the lawmakers who have promoted legislation to combat fake pornography.

“And what’s even crazier is that right now there are no federal protections for anyone, regardless of their gender, if you are a victim of non-consensual deepfake pornography,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Transgender protections

Policies regarding transgender students will be a major battleground this year, as states take diametrically opposed positions and various legal cases make their way through the courts.

California’s governor is in the midst of a lawsuit after passing the state’s first law that says teachers don’t have to tell a student’s guardian if they want to use a different name or pronoun unless they request a change in official name. record.

“This is a deeply unserious lawsuit, seemingly designed to fan the dumpster fire formerly known as Twitter, rather than surface legitimate legal claims. AB 1955 preserves the relationship between parents and children, California law ensures that minors cannot legally change their name or gender without parental consent, and parents continue to have guaranteed and full access to their students’ educational records, according to with federal law. We are confident that the state will quickly prevail in this case,” Izzy Gardon, the governor’s spokeswoman, told The Hill.

Another contentious issue will be the final Title IX rules, which have been challenged by several Republican attorneys general.

The Biden administration finalized Title IX changes that codified federal protections for LGBTQ individuals, including gender identity and sexual orientation under sex discrimination.

“These regulations make it clear that everyone has the right to schools that respect their rights and provide safe and welcoming learning environments,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

However, the new rules only took effect in 24 states due to rulings by lower court judges in about 10 lawsuits challenging the regulations.

The Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to take emergency action, arguing that lower courts have suspended the entire rule in these states when Republicans only question the parts relating to transgender individuals.

“The district court found that defendants’ challenges are likely to be successful and issued a preliminary injunction. But the court refused to adapt the injunction to the two provisions of the Rule that are the source of the defendants’ alleged injuries – or even the three provisions they challenged on the merits,” said U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Prelogar. “Instead, the court enjoined the entire Rule, including dozens of provisions that defendants did not challenge and that the court did not intend to find likely invalid.”

Republicans have argued that the administration’s changes to Title IX will allow transgender students to use school bathrooms, locker rooms and compete on teams that match their gender identity. The new rules do not cover the eligibility of student athletes.

School choice rules

The momentum of education savings accounts (ESAs) as the most popular school choice option doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

ESAs allow parents to open an account if they want to homeschool their children or send them to a private school. The state government will give families a certain amount of money to help them with the transition.

Qualifications differ, with some states allowing universal ESAs for any family, while others have restrictions based on income level or disability.

“Starting this year, students who attended an accredited nonpublic school at any time during the 2023-24 school year and did not receive an ESA will be eligible for the 2024-25 school year if their family income is at or below 400% of 2024 income. Federal poverty level,” Iowa said in announcing that applications for the 2024-2025 school year would open in April.

Other states are still grappling with school choice policies, most notably Texas, where resistance from rural Republicans has turned the issue into a fight that divides state lawmakers.

“We don’t have the same economies of scale as larger districts,” said Aaron Hood, president of the Texas Association of Rural Schools.told NBC News. “If we lose five or 10 students, that’s a teacher’s salary. But we can’t afford to have one less teacher, so now we’re cutting academic programs, we’re cutting sports, we’re cutting the things that this community depends on.”

New laws 

Among the most recent changes educators are grappling with is in Oklahoma, where the state superintendent said teachers have no choice but to include the Bible in lesson plans. However, more than a dozen school districts so far say they will not comply.

“I suspect the first thing that will happen is that he will target a specific school district or several school districts that he believes are not complying with his directive, those school districts will then have to decide whether to double down or not. [to] your whim or sue,” Rob Miller, superintendent of Bixby Public Schools, previously told The Hill.

“And I can tell you that if Bixby was one of those schools he chose to go to, we would take legal action,” Miller added.

Several states also banned new books over the summer, with Utah saying the goal is to “identify and remove pornographic or indecent material.”

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story