Head of the Class
A weekly conversation between the founders of Our Schools USA, covering the latest headlines and hot topics in public education. Hosted by Christina Gagnier, a former school board member, and Kristi Hirst, a former teacher and current public school parent.
Episodes
It has not even been a week since the last podcast, but when the firehose of Executive Orders is at full blast, we got to keep up. In this episode, Kristi and Christina discuss the funding freeze fiasco, the Executive Orders impacting public education, RFK Jr.'s dangerous nomination, the state voucher pushes in Tennessee and Texas, and how none is this is making America great at all.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagra...
This past week was a blur of executive orders and agency actions emerging from the Trump Administration. While some of these actions may have been under your radar, these actions will have deep impacts on the safety of public schools. In this episode, Kristi and Christina discuss school safety, covering how everything from the U.S. leaving the World Health Organization to cybersecurity changes will make our public schools less safe...
Come Monday, we are in the second Trump Administration (we are calling it "T2A"). What happens Day 1? What can Trump do unilaterally through Executive Orders? Who will be told "You're Fired?" How will Trump's moves immediately impact public education in America? Kristi and Christina dive into these questions and more. All they know is that it's going to be very unpredictable.
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Low and behold, the group behind the chaos that has enveloped public schools and that has rejected expertise and education has launched its own university How fitting. In this episode, Kristi and Christina introduce listeners to M4LU. Not to bury the lede, but they did fail the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) "Quiz" provided by M4LU to parents.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
Suppo...
It's Season 3 of Head of the Class, and what a topic to start off with: public schools as a conduit for "increasing the married birth rate." No, we cannot make this stuff up. In this episode, Kristi and Christina discuss the Heritage Foundation's (yes, the Project 2025 architects) education policy reforms, which are to gut pro-college education and programs for public schools, cut teacher credentialing, and supp...
In this episode, Kristi and Christina dive into the debate around U.S. immigration policy, American education, and the increasing demand for highly skilled labor. While the recent conflict has been sparked by figures like Elon Musk, Laura Loomer, and Vivek Ramaswamy fighting on the Internet, the Our Schools team explores the impacts of culture wars in U.S. public schools and discusses how these issues are affecting both the workfor...
In this podcast, Kristi and Christina discuss the trend of school closures in West Virginia and how what is happening in these rural communities in the state are a sign of what is to come nationally as the far-right Christian Nationalists continues to push the defunding of public education.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
Support Our Schools USA. Text OURSCHOOLSUSA at (855) 575-7888 or visit ...
In this episode, Kristi & Christina discuss how public schools are funded from federal, state, and local funding streams, and how cuts to the Department of Education funding to public schools could have deep impacts to your local local public school district.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
Support Our Schools USA. Text OURSCHOOLSUSA at (855) 575-7888 or visit ourschoolsusa.org/donate to ...
In this episode, Kristi & Christina introduce listeners to Linda McMahon (yes, that WWE McMahon family), who is Trump's pick to lead the federal Department of Education. If you think the education agenda in Project 2025 is bad, just wait until you get a load of the America First Policy Institute's agenda, of which McMahon is a driving force.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
Supp...
In this episode, Kristi and Christina discuss whether President-Elect Trump can unilaterally get rid the federal Department of Education (no, he cannot). The team discusses what would be required to get such a proposal through Congress, as well as what would happen inside the Department of Education should Trump not succeed in its disbandment.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
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In this episode, Kristi & Christina contrast the education policy platforms of Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. Spoiler Alert: Not a lot of alignment. Further spoiler alert: One candidate's platform is eerily similar to Project 2025, so they revisit that as well.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
Support Our Schools USA. Text OURSCHOOLSUSA at (855) 575-78...
In this episode, Kristi & Christina discuss a looming issue in education: the inevitable trend of school closures and how America will deal with it. Across the United States, in communities that may not seem remotely similar to one another, local parents and communities are grappling with school closures. For the piece that inspired this podcast, you can read it here.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa...
In this episode, Kristi & Christina address "Tampon Tim", how menstruation became a discussion topic in the culture wars around public schools, and their hope that a return to common sense and compassion will be the theme of this election cycle.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
Support Our Schools USA. Text OURSCHOOLSUSA at (855) 575-7888 or visit ourschoolsusa.org/donate to dona...
In a timely podcast, in this episode, Kristi and Christina discuss how the "That's Weird" label that is now across the Internet in national politics is the exact phrase that they have been seeking out for nearly four years to describe the far-right Christian Nationalists push in public schools. Because, it's true, a lot of what has happened is just weird.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschools...
In this episode, Kristi and Christina discuss communications scaffolding on public school issues to effectively communicate to friends, neighbors, and fellow voters. Using the TIPs strategy, the podcast explores how personalizing information and storytelling are key to races up and down the ballot this November.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
Support Our Schools USA. Text OURSCHOOLSUSA at (8...
In this episode, Kristi & Christina discuss the recent passage and signature of Louisiana House Bill 71, which mandates that the Ten Commandments be posted in public school classrooms. While the story is a few weeks old, the strategy from the Christian Nationalists has been over forty years in the making.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
Support Our Schools USA. Text OURSCHOOLSUSA at (855)...
In this episode, Kristi and Christina discuss the governors who have refused to take federal funds for summer lunch programs in their states, leaving over 10 million kids without needed nutrition over the summer. They address why this is happening (political extremism) and why the failure to give kids "lunch" may be a good political litmus test for elected officials.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoo...
In this episode, Kristi and Christina revisit Project 2025, explaining what it is, where it is coming from, who is behind it, what it does, and how it actually would go into effect.
This podcast is a follow up to a series of five podcasts on Project 2025 that delved into the Education chapter of Project 2025's manifesto, Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@o...
In this episode, Kristi and Christina discuss the newest branding campaign being pushed out by the extremists: government schools. And, by "government schools," they mean your local public schools, wanting to create another negative association with public education to siphon off taxpayer dollars to line their own pockets.
Visit us at ourschoolsusa.org or on Instagram (@ourschoolsusa).
Support Our Schools USA. Tex...
In this episode, Kristi and Christina explore the story of a far-right Christian conservative school board member in deep, deep red Texas who ran on inappropriate curriculum and indoctrination in public schools only to discover that once she was on the board, none of what she campaigned on turned out to be true. When she approached the political establishment, she was told they didn't care, because the truth didn't align ...
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