Two pairs of legs cross steaming blacktop in lockstep. Kneecap to thigh, they appear like the sort to scramble or stumble to keep one another; yet, the duo covers no less than three and three quarter feet per stride, in tandem. Each walker trained to the other. Nothing stops these legs, nor their upper halves jawing about the insufferable heat on their elementary school stomping grounds. “Was it always this hot here?” one asks. “Our teachers should be jailed for letting us run our way towards...

Last summer I wrote that something BIG was coming to Walla Walla. It was much-needed, exciting, but most importantly for the kids. No it wasn’t the Gentlemen of the Road Tour—although I am sure that was quite nice; rather it was the Willow School of Walla Walla. This public charter school was chartered to serve middle school students in August of 2015, based on project-based learning, trauma-informed care, and community partnerships (among other things)...

Have you heard the big news coming to Walla Walla? It is something bringing residents, businesses, students, and even people from out of town all together. Walla Walla might find itself at the center of a national story and it has got some people asking ‘will this even work out!?’ Our town is joining a trend already rocking the nation. What? No, I am not talking about Gentlemen of the Road’s “MumFoo” music festival hitting town...

Are schools today capable of adequately meeting the needs of all their students? On Tuesday February 3rd, the Senate Committee of Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) conducted a ‘roundtable discussion’ discussing the role that innovative practices play in better educating America’s youth. The third and final hearing addressing the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) doubled-down on previous discussions regarding how education policy can address the diverse needs of young people....

More resources and local efforts are crucial for the advancement of America’s underserved students. This sentiment reigned during the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing Tuesday morning, January 27th. Meeting before a panel of witnesses representing teachers, school and state leaders, and educational researchers, the 114th Congress HELP committee engaged in its second formal discussion on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that hasn’t been reauthorized since No Child Left Behind in 2002...

Co-written and published in collaboration with the Latino Community Fund and through Whitman College's yearlong community-based research program, The State of the State of Washington Latinos. For full report, data indexes, and more info visit: walatinos.org