Public Education Under Attack with Juliana Paré-Blagoev

On January 6, 2023, Governor DeSantis of Florida launched a takeover of a small public liberal arts college, New College of Florida, promising to turn it into the “Hillsdale of the South”. Since the New College takeover, more than 1500 articles and news media reports have been produced. Why all the fuss about a school with less than 700 students? In this talk, I explore why DeSantis chose New College for a takeover and why the connection to the private religious Hillsdale College with an impressive resumé of far-right donors is significant. Join this platform to hear from a New College alum about how and why the community has organized to resist this authoritarian takeover. What is happening at New College won’t stay at New College; analysis of the events and players establish there are massive implications for the entire public education system from kindergarten through university. For interested audience members, an invitation is extended for follow-up to-be-scheduled discussion that will be action-oriented.
To join us, please RSVP at:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/public-education-under-attack-tickets-769406855617

In 1994, Juliana Paré-Blagoev dedicated her undergraduate thesis about Public School Choice to “something as yet unknown”. Now, her alma mater, New College of Florida, has become a reluctant symbol of ideologically driven efforts to undermine the very existence of a public liberal arts higher education that can prepare critically thinking citizens for membership in a participatory democracy. As an education researcher with 30 years experience, she has conducted brain and behavioral studies of skill and language, classroom based partnership work to develop and test curricula, and participatory research with families affected by pediatric cancer. Currently, she is an Associate Clinical Professor at the Johns Hopkins University where she is also President of the JHU Advocacy Chapter of the American Association of Research Professors. Juliana completed her Masters at Tufts University and her doctorate at Harvard University, Graduate School of Education. She is the delighted mother of three children, only two of whom are still teenagers.