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On her very first day of student teaching at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, N.Y., Martha Strever pushed, pulled and pounded on the school’s door, which was locked. No one came. Where was everybody? It was, after all, the first day of school.

It turned out everybody was exactly where they were supposed to be: inside, having entered through the school’s front entrance. Strever had been knocking on a side door. Flustered but undeterred, she not only found her way inside, she also found her life’s calling.

Strever’s sentences are punctuated with laughs when she recounts the story to

Paraprofessionals and school-related personnel are often overlooked because of their support roles. They are the last ones hired and often the first ones fired when budgets get tight. This certainly seems true right now as the Trump administration withholds nearly $7 billion in education funds, effective July 1, which has hamstrung summer school programs, hindered English language support, halted professional development this summer, and left before- and after-school programs in limbo for the coming school year.

Paraprofessionals are key employees in all these programs. For example, in Alabama

It is clear that higher education is under attack. The Trump administration has frozen funding for science, from cancer research to reproductive care; has hamstrung student financial aid programs; has stripped colleges and universities of diversity, equity and inclusion programming; has strangled affirmative action designed to expand access to college; and is demanding that some institutions sign a “compact” that forces them to adopt Trump’s ideology in exchange for federal funding.

On Nov. 7, students, faculty and staff rose up at more than 100 universities and colleges across the country and

United Teachers of New Orleans condemns the racist, nativist attacks on hard-working communities across the country. Instead of celebrating our differences and respecting the dignity of our families, neighbors, and coworkers, our elected officials are tearing us apart by wasting public resources to meet made-up deportation quotas.

As educators, we know that operations like this are also part of an ongoing attack on school safety. Every student and every educator and school staff member has the right to feel safe at school, regardless of their race, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or national origin. We are ashamed and angry that this is being done in the name of our own government, which should be by us and for us, not against us.

We call on educators, school staff, families, and students to work together to keep each other safe, as communities in other targeted cities have done. As unionists, we know that the only way we overcome struggle is together.

As an educator, it's important to keep yourself informed about our new laws, especially those related to education, Here's a rundown of many of this year's education-related laws, with links to more information about each, should you want to take a deeper dive into the language.

Gov. Landry's term started with multiple legislative sessions and more than a thousand bills filed between them. Though the volume was overwhelming, we were able to fight off some horrible bills—this year.

As an educator, it's important to keep yourself informed about our new laws, especially those related to education, Here's a rundown of many of this year's education-related laws, with links to more information about each, should you want to take a deeper dive into the language.

We deeply mourn the tragic loss of all life, including the recent murder of 17-year-old Tawfic Abdeljabbar, former student of Muslim Academy Gretna Islamic School in the Greater New Orleans region, by an Israeli settler in the West Bank.