Jaylin D. McClinton’s Post

In his new blog post, Aaron N. Taylor, Executive Director of the Center for Legal Education Excellence, examines how schools can still foster diverse learning environments despite the recent Supreme Court decision regarding affirmative action. Read this important piece today!

Is there a difference in engaging graduate alumni versus those who passed through your undergraduate programs? There is lots to learn from this valuable and insightful webinar from Gravyty #alumniengagement #mentoring #advancment

#Louisiana is all over national news because of a new state law requiring public schools to display the #10Commandments in legible font and on a poster no smaller than 11” x 14”. This makes Louisiana the first state to pass such a law since the #SupremeCourt decision in Stone v. Graham in 1980 that ruled #Kentucky statute requiring public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments was unconstitutional.   Now, I am no expert on #constitutionallaw, but what I do know is that a law like this won’t actually change the moral character of Louisiana students, which it has promised to do. Instead, it will merely create legal troubles for the state and waste taxpayer dollars in what will almost certainly end up being a Supreme Court case. The governor, #JeffLandry, knows this. He’s said, “I can’t wait to be sued.”   David French, an evangelical Christian conservative columnist for the #NewYorkTimes, in his June 20th op-ed “Thou Shalt Not Post the Ten Commandments in the Classroom,” writes, “I happened to grow up in Kentucky and went to classes before the Ten Commandments were ordered removed, and I can testify that the displays had no impact on our lives. My classmates and I were not better people because of the faded posters on the walls.” He is right.   Over the last twenty-five years, I have, every day, communicated with my patients. This #communication is complex, and it doesn’t happen by hanging posters on the wall. Patients come in with low self-esteem, fear, and anxiety, and I have to convince them that at Columbia Dental P.C. they are part of a community of patients and providers and that everything is going to be OK. Likewise, if Louisiana really cares about the moral character of its students, it should dedicate resources to fostering a sense of #community where students can live, learn, and grow. As a business owner, I’ve also seen firsthand overzealous politicians like Mr. Landry wasting taxpayer dollars on issues that frankly don’t matter and are not in the interest of their constituents rather than facing the real issues. It makes me sad to see people in positions of power neither understand how to foster community nor their obligation to the people they represent. 

Meet Professor Hannah Garry 👋 our new Executive Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights for Human Rights at UCLA Law. "We're training the next generation of human rights advocates here at UCLA Law," she says. "Through in-classroom learning and experiential education, we're helping students make a real-world impact now, while they're students." The Promise Institute is a leader at UCLA, in California, nationally and internationally for bringing together communities, scholars, advocates and practitioners to address some of the most serious injustices, and working to rectify these injustices through a human rights lens. Promise's current work focuses on several key areas including, accountability, the environment, race & indigeneity, tech and migration. Watch now as Prof. Garry shares '5 things you should know about Promise' - enjoy! 🍿 Ready to learn more? Click the link below ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/ggeQvnfX #HumanRights #Education #Law

Our future is in good hands (hopefully). Last week, I did something out of my comfort zone: I helped as a judge in Douglas Freeman High School's civics "We The People" competition. It is a fantastic program that requires high school seniors to analyze and answer some very difficult questions about the Constitution, the founding principles for the United States, and Supreme Court rulings. My unit's question was: "In what ways was the due process clause of the 14th amendment interpreted by the courts in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War?" And before you think it was simple question, it also had sub-parts about the protection of individual rights and the incorporation doctrine (we lawyers all remember that doctrine from law school, right?). The students were well-prepared and gave incredibly thoughtful answers to the main question AND the judge's individual questions. Most groups (there were 8) fully engaged with 100-year-old Supreme Court precedent, and many analyzed the incorporation doctrine better than me and my fellow law school classmates did almost 30 years ago. And, of course, the top groups were absolutely impressive. They spoke eloquently about the Federalist Papers, the role of the Supreme Court (and its limits), the creation and purpose of the 14th amendment, and the individual amendments in the Bill of Rights. As well, in virtually all of the classes, the students had spirited discussions about the importance of the right to free speech, the freedom of the press, the right to bear arms, and the right to privacy. (And, by the way, the VAST MAJORITY of students LIKE the right to privacy and think Dobbs was wrong. It's a big deal to our youth.). It was like a Constitutional Law class on steroids. It was also a very heartening experience. For all of the dysfunction we see and hear about with the folks in DC (or even the folks in Richmond), we can take comfort in the fact that the upcoming generation of our leaders is not only learning substance about our Republic but also learning style -- that is, how to engage in civil discourse about some of the most important issues of the day without things devolving into a shouting match or a barrage of insults. The "We The People" program is a nationwide program, and we as a citizenry need to commend all of the folks -- especially the high school teachers who work so hard with their students -- who make this program work. We should reap the benefits of this program for years to come. #Wethepeople #USconstitution

This week, Denver Public Schools announced its new Strategic Plan. Unfortunately, it’s riddled with confessions that it has engaged in unconstitutional and illegal conduct in the past, by treating parents’ and students’ opinions differently, based on race. And worse, it announces that the future is filled with even more unconstitutional conduct. Some students will be prioritized based on race and placed on “specialized learning plans for students of color.” “Marginalized students”—a phrase defined by race, among other characteristics—will be “prioritized” in DPS’s “culture and decision-making.” And DPS’s “resources and opportunities” will be shifted to “accelerate the trajectory” of students, based on their race. That’s why MSLF filed a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on September 22. OCR has jurisdiction over Denver Public Schools, under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. It’s important that the Strategic Plan be stopped before DPS can even begin to implement it. #civilrights #discrimination #publicschool

Wow. You tell em girl!! 👀 Just yesterday I endured a mere 8 hrs of training in Human Trafficking, as a requirement for the volunteer work I do. It was intense and simply brutal to hear what goes on and the ‘stats’ that we currently know about this multi, multi-billion dollar industry. It is simply engaging in human sacrifice at its core. Destroying other people’s children for money is about as low as one can go- and yet because the vermin who take part in this are rich and powerful people- we do nothing about it. I would say that if you know these innocent lives are being destroyed in this manner and you simply watch or pretend you don’t see, you are as guilty as the vermin who are directly engaged in the destruction. This is not okay. And initially these are not drug-addicted ‘throw-away’ children just out there wandering the streets that become trapped and enslaved. These are young lives being recruited via social media by callous individuals, portraying themselves as someone looking to hire your daughter as a model, or portraying themselves as a teen who is sympathetic to your son and the hard life he has to endure because you make him mow the lawn. Because this industry is so lucrative and growing so fast, it is likely you will see its impact upon a child or grandchild of someone you know. It doesn’t matter how much money one has or how powerful they are, there is simply no excuse for allowing / enabling them to perpetrate this type of evil. Please become informed, so you can help put a stop to this atrocity.

While many of us are off today to celebrate Labor Day, it is back to school starting tomorrow. Many students returned to the classroom last week. Every parent wants to maximize their investment in their child's education. A criminal charge can substantially devalue the return. Parents need to understand every potential scenario in the school environment. My latest blog breakdowns 3 different scenarios which could happen at school this year. Read it today! https://lnkd.in/eFfsxj6w

As we continue commemorating #BrownvBoard, we recommend reading our colleague, Kim Forde-Mazrui's article, “For All of Our Children: Justice Thurgood Marshall’s Faith in Integration Is Still Right.”   https://lnkd.in/exKG3KTv    This article uses social science and legal research in support of true integration for the benefit of every student and is part of a larger publication focused on #Brownat70 and #Millikenat50 – Read the whole volume here: https://lnkd.in/e-Um65VB 

As Indiana's new reading retention law goes into effect in 2025, government support of summer learning programs, like Indy Summer Learning Labs, is key. Learn more about the law and how it will affect students in Chalkbeat Indiana: https://lnkd.in/gA3XYg6t