First, Leonie recapped some of the latest news from NYC, including that despite last week's order from Governor Cuomo to close more than 300 public and private schools in COVID hotspots in Brooklyn and Queens, it has been reported that little enforcement has been done to close the Ultra-orthodox Yeshivas in these neighborhoods. She greeted back to the show Prof. Noliwe Rooks of Cornell University, who explained how successful independent schools run by Black educators in the 1960s and 1970s had closed due to the expansion of well-connected charter chains. Prof. Rooks also described why many Black parents and other advocates were suffering from “integration fatigue,” and provided her thoughts about what should have been done in planning for the reopening of schools this fall, instead of what actually happened. Then Leonie interviewed William Doyle, an author who has written or cowritten several works on education, and whose book “Let the Children Play” is about to come out on paperback. Doyle is living in Finland this year, researching a book on that nation’s education system, while his son attends 7th grade in a Finnish public school. Doyle spoke about how Finland is dealing with the pandemic and more particularly, what was happening in the school his son attends. He also explained how Finland’s education system provided important lessons for the direction of US public schools.
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