As the father of a young daughter with autism, I have learned that getting your child to school is not always as simple as putting them on the bus and waiting for them to come home.

When your child has an Individualized Education Program, you pay attention to things other parents may never have to think about.

Who is working with my child today? Does this person understand her needs? What happens if her routine suddenly changes? If something goes wrong and she cannot fully explain it to me, who will be able to tell me what happened?

Those questions do not stop at the schoolhouse door. They follow our children onto the school bus.

That is why one of the simplest pieces of advice I can give another parent of a child with an IEP is this: Get to know your child’s bus driver and attendant.

Learn their names. Introduce yourself. Say good morning. Ask how your child is doing on the ride.

Those few minutes can matter more than we realize.

For some children with disabilities, consistency is incredibly important. The same bus, the same driver, the same seat and the same routine can provide a sense of comfort before the school day even begins.

Then one morning, something changes.

The bus is late. There is a substitute driver. The route changes. The bus does not arrive when expected.

For many families, that is an inconvenience. For some of our children, it can change the entire morning.

As parents, we also know that our children may not always come home and tell us exactly what happened during the ride. That makes the adults who interact with them even more important.

A bus driver may notice that your child suddenly does not want to get on the bus. An attendant may notice that your child seems upset at the same point along the route every day.

They may notice a change in behavior, a problem with another student, or simply that something seems different.

That information can be valuable to a parent.

But relationships work both ways.

Parents can also help transportation staff understand our children. You do not have to share every detail of your child’s disability or educational record. But appropriate information about communication, behavior, safety or transitions can help the adults responsible for transporting your child better understand how to support them.

And when a transportation problem occurs, you are no longer starting the conversation with a complete stranger.

That does not mean parents should be responsible for fixing school transportation. We shouldn’t.

School systems remain responsible for providing required transportation services, including services identified in a student’s IEP. When buses are repeatedly late, accommodations are not being followed or transportation problems interfere with a child’s education, parents should document those concerns and raise them with the appropriate school and transportation officials.

Building a relationship with a driver should complement accountability, not replace it.

That distinction is important.

As a father navigating special education, I have learned that advocacy is not only about what happens during an IEP meeting.

Advocacy happens in the hallway. It happens at pickup. It happens through an email to a teacher. And sometimes it happens at the bus stop at 7 o’clock in the morning.

Our children’s educational experience begins before they enter the classroom and continues after they leave it.

Think about the person behind the wheel.

For some children, their bus driver is the first school employee they see every morning and the last one they see every afternoon.

That person is part of your child’s school experience.

So tomorrow morning, if you haven’t already, introduce yourself.

Learn the driver’s name.

Let them learn your child’s name — and, when appropriate, a little about what helps your child succeed.

It won’t prevent every late bus, substitute driver or transportation problem.

But if there is one thing I continue to learn as both a father and an advocate, it is that relationships matter.

And for children with IEPs, one more adult who knows, understands, and cares about your child can make a difference.

Based on reporting by Washington Informer.

By Adam Shapiro

Kristen Amundson has devoted her professional life to supporting students and parents throughout the education system. Previously, she authored “81 Questions for Parents” and “Unfinished Learning: Parents, Schools, and COVID School Closures.”

Amundson, the former president and CEO of the National Association of State Boards of Education, is now turning her attention to grandparents. Her new book is titled “The Grandparent Effect: Helping Children Thrive Through Love, Support, and Connection,” and is published by Bloomsbury.

Amundson explains that grandparents have become increasingly important in children’s lives due to longer lifespans and changing family dynamics. Originally, grandparents were important for children’s survival, particularly at a time when families were large and mothers needed extra caregiving support. Because mothers often turned to their mothers for this help, the positive impact on children was often called the “Grandmother Effect.”

Today, many more grandfathers are involved with their grandchildren. Amundson prefers to talk about the “Grandparent Effect” and notes that these caregivers also support reading and writing, boost confidence, and encourage grandchildren’s interests. She notes that those involved grandparents experience health benefits themselves (“if you have to get on the ground with an infant and take a child to the park, you are moving around and that’s good exercise!”).

The book provides an overview of how the role of grandparents has evolved over time, explaining that until the 19th century grandparents often lived close to their grandchildren and worked together on farms. She describes how the Industrial Revolution led to families splitting up, with children moving to cities for factory work while grandparents remained on farms, resulting in grandparents becoming poorer over time.

“There are many examples of how grandparents have adapted during recent challenges, including providing support during the pandemic through in-person care when possible or using technology like FaceTime and Zoom when physically distant, and taking on roles like ‘granny nannies’ to help with childcare and education needs,” she says.

Amundson tells the story of a grandmother who took the time to become certified in dyslexia training and taught her family members, including her granddaughter and grandson.

But with these added roles come some possible hiccups along the way. She emphasizes that grandparents need to remember they are no longer in charge like they were with their own children, and parents have the right to set rules that grandparents should respect. Amundson illustrates this point with examples about discipline and food choices, noting that grandparents should follow the parents’ guidelines rather than overruling them (except for maybe allowing an extra cookie).

“I know of a situation where grandparents crossing boundaries affected family dynamics when they took their grandchild to the emergency room without involving the parents, which later led to a temporary timeout for the grandparents.”

Amundson’s book also includes examples of ways grandparents advocate for the next generation, such as Texas grandmothers who speak out on state legislation.

Other grandparents participate in a self-help group supporting custodial grandparents who care for children whose parents are dealing with substance use issues or are incarcerated. The group provides practical support including educational seminars, college application assistance, and simple activities like Halloween decorations to help children feel included.

Amundson’s book is a valuable and enjoyable resource for grandparents who are navigating the excitement and joy of their senior status in the 21st century.

What began as a few encouraging words to Jacksonville Jaguars Head Coach Liam Coen has grown into a community message – and a way to help nurture the next generation of journalists.

Earlier this year, Jacksonville Editor Lynn Jones offered spontaneous encouragement, telling him to ‘keep your head up’ and ‘keep it going.’ The exchange quickly went viral, gaining national and international attention across television sports programs, podcasts, social media and online video platforms.

The Jacksonville Free Press turned the unexpected attention into an opportunity to give back, creating “Keep Your Head Up” T-shirts inspired by Jones’ words. Hundreds of shirts have since been sold, with proceeds benefiting the Jacksonville Free Press Journalism Fund, which supports efforts to nurture, encourage and develop future journalists.

For Hammock and Bolden, the words extend beyond football. They said the message also serves as a reminder to their families to remain positive and keep moving forward through life’s victories and setbacks.

The shirts have allowed a fleeting viral moment to produce a more lasting impact. Proceeds from sales are helping support a fund focused on creating opportunities for aspiring journalists and encouraging young people to learn the importance of storytelling, community news and documenting history.

Based on reporting by Jacksonville Free Press.

“Stompin’ Out Gun Violence” uses sought-after sneakers to open the door to a life-saving message for young people.

A new pair of shoes can do more than complete an outfit—it can help a young person step toward a safer future. That is the idea behind “Stompin’ Out Gun Violence,” a traveling shoe giveaway led by the Latroy V. Harris Initiative, “I Will Not Die to Gun Violence.”

Founder Monte Mabra says the work comes with no paycheck. Its reward is measured instead in smiles, gratitude, and the chance to turn a potentially negative outcome into a positive one. By pairing free shoes with conversations about gun violence, organizers hope to reach young people with a message that stays with them long after the event ends.

“I like what Monte is doing to change the course of violent crime,” said Michael F. Hupy of personal injury law firm Hupy and Abraham, S.C. and leading sponsor “The shoes carry them in the door, and the message follows them out.”

Students at Carmen School of Science and Technology, 3215 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, received Nike, Adidas, and Jordans. Principal Miller said she looks forward to next year and to continuing to build a relationship with the Latroy V. Harris Initiative.

The initiative honors Latroy V. Harris, who was lost to gun violence on Dec. 15, 2025. His family and loved ones are keeping his memory alive by working to prevent other families from experiencing the same loss.

The campaign’s next stop is Bruce Elementary School on Sept. 30. Organizers plan to give away shoes, gun- and domestic-violence awareness and prevention coloring books, and educational books.

For the young people reached by the initiative, each pair of shoes carries more than a brand name. It carries a reminder: their lives matter, their futures are worth protecting, and every step away from violence counts.

Based on reporting by Milwaukee Times Weekly.

Affinia Healthcare and Employment Connection are teaming up to help patients find jobs, training or volunteer opportunities as new Medicaid work requirements approach.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2027, certain adults will have to meet work, education or community service requirements to keep their coverage. Some patients may qualify for exemptions.

Patients seeking assistance can call Affinia Healthcare at 314-814-8700 and ask about the partnership. Affinia’s outreach team can help connect them with Employment Connection.

The post Partnership helps patients prepare for Medicaid rules appeared first on St. Louis American.

Based on reporting by St. Louis American.

When I play poker and go all-in, I may be holding pocket aces. Other times, I’m bluffing. Either way, all of my chips go into the pot. In poker, going all-in doesn’t require certainty. It requires commitment. And the same is true when it comes to artificial intelligence.

For Black Americans, this particular bet is crucial. We have too few voices in the rooms where AI is being shaped and too much at stake in what happens next. Black workers, students and entrepreneurs are already being affected by AI. So this isn’t just somebody else’s technology debate. It’s ours, too.

AI could cure cancer. AI could kill us. That is the extraordinary range of possibilities now being debated by some of the very people building the technology.

And some of the risks are becoming less theoretical. OpenAI recently disclosed six instances of unexpected or concerning model behavior during training or evaluation, including models taking unauthorized actions, concealing information and finding ways around constraints. A recent brief from the U.N.’s Independent International Scientific Panel on AI described a separate OpenAI-Hugging Face incident as one of the clearest real-world warnings yet of a possible path toward losing human control over advanced AI agents.

But development is hardly slowing down. In fact, it’s clearly going all-in.

President Donald Trump has framed AI largely as a competition America cannot afford to lose, saying, “Whoever wins AI wins.” He recently announced plans to create an “AI Force” and appoint an AI “czar,” while promising not to “hinder or stifle” the growth of the AI industry. And Anthropic reports that Claude now leads 26% of the company’s AI research and development work and collaborates on more than 90% of it.

Vast sums of money, extraordinary computing power and some of the smartest people on the planet are being committed to making these systems more powerful.

If that is the bet we are making, then responsibility deserves the same commitment.

There are signs that at least some in the industry recognize that. Anthropic recently announced a partnership with Accenture to embed independent evaluators inside its frontier AI development process, with each company expecting to invest at least $1 billion over five years.

That is closer to the balance we need. Development does not necessarily have to stop for responsibility to accelerate.

Responsibility starts with safety: keeping increasingly powerful systems under human control, protecting privacy and cybersecurity, and guarding against misuse.

But responsible AI has to mean more than preventing some future catastrophe.

It means preparing workers whose jobs may change or disappear. It means making sure algorithms don’t reproduce discrimination in hiring, lending, health care and education. It means helping schools decide when students should learn without AI, about AI and with AI.

And it means making sure people who will live with the consequences have a meaningful role in shaping them.

That includes Black folks.

I’m not an AI expert, a tech billionaire or a politician. I’m a Chicago educator who has spent most of my adult life preparing students, almost all of them Black and from low-income communities, for an unpredictable future. That makes this debate especially urgent to me.

And our young people aren’t waiting for adults to figure it out. About six in 10 Black teenagers are already using AI chatbots for schoolwork. Yet federal data show that about 60% of schools serving mostly students of color provide AI training to at least some teachers, compared with 75% of predominantly white schools.

The economic stakes are significant, too. McKinsey estimates that 24% of Black workers are in occupations with greater than 75% automation potential, compared with 20% of White workers. Black people make up about 12% of the U.S. workforce but only 8% of workers in tech jobs and just 3% of technology executives in the C-suite.

So Black people are not watching this transformation from the sidelines. We are using the technology, our children are learning with it, and we are working in occupations that could be significantly changed by it. What we don’t have are nearly enough seats at the tables where the biggest decisions are being made.

That lack of representation was visible recently. At a major Washington gathering calling for action on AI safety, almost none of the people onstage were Black.

Black voices aren’t absent, however. Sen. Cory Booker called for a special session of Congress on AI, saying the technology’s rapidly evolving risks and opportunities require urgent attention. Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke has pushed for greater accountability when AI is used to make consequential decisions in employment, housing, credit, education and other areas. And the NAACP is challenging the expansion of AI data centers over concerns including pollution, water and energy use, utility costs and insufficient community input.

Those questions are now playing out here in Chicago, where Mayor Brandon Johnson has proposed a one-year moratorium on new or expanded data centers while the city develops regulations addressing their effects on energy, water, pollution and residents’ quality of life.

Those concerns illustrate why inclusion must be part of what we mean by responsible AI. Responsible AI cannot mean only preventing AI from someday escaping human control. It also has to mean making sure the AI we are deploying today does not deepen inequities we already know too well.

The Gates Foundation’s new Goalkeepers report emphasizes that AI could become a powerful equalizer or deepen existing inequalities. The foundation is putting its money where its mouth is, committing at least $1 billion over two years to expand access to AI and help ensure its benefits reach people who might otherwise be left behind.

Bill Gates writes that the people with the greatest needs often have the least power to determine where innovation and investment go.

That sounds eerily familiar.

Black Americans know from experience that national progress does not guarantee racial equality. The United States has grown richer, stronger and more technologically advanced while Black people have too often been denied an equal opportunity to share in that progress.

We should not repeat that pattern with AI.

Going all-in cannot mean committing everything to making the technology more powerful and then hoping safety, opportunity and equity somehow catch up.

Going all-in means going all-in on responsibility, too.

All-in on technical safety. All-in on privacy. All-in on preparing workers. All-in on helping schools and students navigate the technology wisely. All-in on preventing old biases from becoming automated ones. And all-in on making sure Black students, workers, professionals and entrepreneurs can help shape AI and benefit from it rather than simply absorb its disruptions.

The AI industry is already going all-in on development. Black people should insist that responsibility includes us, too.

We don’t know how our country’s gamble on AI will turn out. But Black people need a seat at the table so we can play our hand.

The post Responsible AI Development Requires a Seat at the Table for Black America appeared first on Chicago Defender.

Based on reporting by Chicago Defender.