QuotED in 2019: The 19 Quotes About Schools and American Education That Made Us Laugh, Cry and Ponder This Year
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Updated Dec. 23
Nationally, the news of 2019 was dominated by the seemingly endless presidential campaign and the highly partisan debate over whether to impeach President Trump. Education often struggled to find a voice. But outside the Beltway, school news dominated the headlines. Chicago reckoned with a school sexual misconduct scandal that spanned more than a decade. The Palm Beach, Florida, school district fired a principal who denied the reality of the Holocaust. And all over the U.S., from a state takeover of schools in Providence, Rhode Island, to a district secession battle in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, schools wrestled with the legacy of generations of inequity.
These historic moments (and, yes, a gaffe or two) are captured regularly in QuotED, a roundup of the most notable quotes behind America鈥檚 top education headlines 鈥 all taken from our regular EduClips series, which regularly spotlights important headlines you may have missed from America鈥檚 15 largest school districts.
Here are a few of our favorite education quotes from 2019:
鈥淟unch should be lunch, which should not be somewhere between breakfast and lunch.鈥 鈥擭ew York City Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, on a Daily News analysis showing that many city schools offer 鈥渓unch鈥 long before 11 a.m. ()
鈥淩ich kids go to therapy, poor kids go to jail.鈥 鈥Melivia Mujica, a student activist in San Antonio. (Read at The74Million.org)
鈥淟et鈥檚 just say my phone has rung a lot.鈥 鈥擜merican Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, on interest from the field of 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls in courting the union vote. ()
鈥淸The superintendent] came to me in a panic because he had been accosted by prominent, wealthy alumni of the school who were Mr. Trump鈥檚 friends. 鈥 He said, 鈥榊ou need to go grab that record and deliver it to me because I need to deliver it to them.鈥欌 鈥Evan Jones, former headmaster of the New York Military Academy, on attempts to conceal the high school academic records of President Donald Trump. ()
鈥淲ell, you know, I鈥檓 going to die in here and I鈥檓 a virgin and I will have never met Bruce Springsteen.鈥 鈥Heather Martin, recalling what she told a friend over 20 years ago as two gunmen terrorized Columbine High School. Today, she teaches high school English in nearby Aurora, Colorado. (Read at The74Million.org)
鈥淎dult misconduct is surely not acceptable, but, holy crap, we have a lot of work to do in terms of student behavior against other students.鈥 鈥擟hicago teachers union president Jesse Sharkey, on 900 sexual misconduct cases being logged in the district over the course of four months, mostly students reporting on other students. ()
鈥淲hen it was us, the district didn鈥檛 feel like they needed to have any immediacy. We don鈥檛 have the resources that SLA has, and their parents jumped on it right away. Where there鈥檚 money and influence, there鈥檚 more privilege.鈥 鈥Keith Pretlow, a culinary-arts teacher at Ben Franklin High School in Philadelphia. When Science Leadership Academy, a magnet school, relocated to share the site with Ben Franklin, a long-delayed asbestos cleanup moved into high gear. ()
鈥淓ven though you might be scared, you never turn down a story, and it taught me you never know what鈥檚 going to happen.鈥 鈥Amelia Poor, 13, one of 45 students who form the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps that writes for Scholastic鈥檚 classroom magazine. Despite her fear of canines, she successfully covered a recent Westminster Dog Show. (Read at The74Million.org)
鈥淲e鈥檙e taught to live in the present. Right now, my children are healthy.鈥 鈥Melissa (last name withheld), who said her Buddhist views prevented her from vaccinating her children unless they became very sick, and one of several parents who successfully sued Rockland County, New York, to overturn a measure that barred unvaccinated children from attending schools. ()
鈥淚 work 55 hours a week, have 12 years鈥 experience and make $43K. I worry and stress daily about my classroom prep work and kids. I am a fool to do this job.鈥 鈥A teacher in an online focus group, quoted in this year鈥檚 PDK survey of American teachers. More than half said they had seriously considered quitting in recent years. (Read at The74Million.org)
鈥淓ducation reform isn鈥檛 a cure-all. As a supporter of education reform, I agree that fixing educational inequality requires doing more to address the broader, systemic sources of economic inequality.鈥 鈥擣ormer President Barack Obama. ()
鈥淓ducation clearly has not been at the top of his list of priorities to address directly. But he has been very supportive of all the work that we have done.鈥 鈥擡ducation Secretary Betsy DeVos, on President Trump鈥檚 policy priorities. ()
鈥淧oor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids.鈥 鈥擠emocratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. ()
鈥淚t just becomes like a ghost town.鈥 鈥Jack Thompson, superintendent of the Perry, Ohio, school district, on what would happen if a nuclear plant there closes. Experts warn that half of the nation鈥檚 59 nuclear plants could close by 2030. (Read at The74Million.org)
鈥淚 can鈥檛 say the Holocaust is a factual, historical event.鈥 鈥William Latson, former principal of Spanish River High School in Florida. This year’s revelation of his 2018 comments in a local newspaper sparked international outrage and ultimately led the Palm Beach County Schools to fire him. ()
鈥淎nyone who does what we do knows it鈥檚 happened not by chance but by deliberate choice by those who embrace and embark on this work.鈥 鈥Alberto Carvalho, Miami-Dade superintendent, on the district getting an A grade from the state education department two years in a row. ()
鈥淪chools in north Baton Rouge for 100 years have been getting less. I firmly believe the St. George movement is rooted in racism. Look at the boundaries. You go down Florida Boulevard and it鈥檚 like the Mason-Dixon line. South of Florida, it鈥檚 white; north, it鈥檚 black.鈥 鈥Tramelle Howard, a new member of the school board in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, which is facing a secession attempt from a mostly white and affluent enclave. (Read at The74Million.org)
鈥淪ince when did real estate agents become experts on schools?鈥 鈥Fred Freiberg, executive director of the Fair Housing Justice Center, who served as a consultant on Newsday鈥檚 three-year investigation that uncovered widespread evidence of unequal treatment by real estate agents on Long Island. ()
鈥淔or the past two days, I have felt like I have been kicked in the sternum by Godzilla wearing steel-toed boots.鈥 鈥擯rovidence Teachers Union President Maribeth Calabro, on a scathing report from Johns Hopkins University that lambasted the district for poor academic performance, unsafe schools and lackluster morale. (Read at The74Million.org)
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