When a proposal to “reimagine” Charleston, South Carolina’s schools suddenly surfaced late last year, it prompted a furious backlash. Community groups and public education advocates warned that the plan, backed by a deep-pocketed foundation, was a fast-track to privatization disguised in the language of innovation. In other words, the vision being offered up for the city’s schools isn’t new at all but the same one embraced by business interests, civic leaders and philanthropists for decades now. Jennifer “travels” to Charleston to hear from parents, activists and educators about the complicated politics of school reform in a city that can’t or won’t grapple with its past. And Jack stays closer to home while traveling back in time to help us understand the enduring appeal of school takeovers and makeovers.

Jennifer joins forces with the hosts of the popular podcast Know Your Enemy to discuss why almost every big culture-war battle of the moment—from "Critical Race Theory" to COVID mandates—is being fought in America's schools. Meanwhile, Democrats, anxious about a midterm rout driven by angry Republican parents, too often are conceding these battles to the right, adopting their rhetoric and their terms of debate, and have been for a long time—despite supposedly being the party of teachers' unions. Does it have to be this way?

The impulse to reform American schools is as old as the nation itself. And so too is the impulse to "forget" all of the fixes we've tried before. Have You Heard is joined by the eminent emeritus education historian Larry Cuban to discuss his new book, Confessions of a School Reformer. Among the topics taken on in this episode: the remarkable constancy of American schooling, what's old about the new, and the education historian's dilemma.

Even before Omicron swamped schools, teachers were feeling beleaguered. In this episode we catch up with four teachers who appeared on Have You Heard last year to learn about how they’re surviving education gag orders and a culture that regards them as heroes one minute and villains the next. The bad news: two of our special guests are no longer teaching. But there’s also plenty of inspiration to be found in this episode. Starring Selena Carrion, Misty Crompton, Nick Covington and Jessica Piper.

The sudden passion for all things parents’ rights may seem like it came out of nowhere. But as education historian Jon Hale explains, it’s the latest in a steady erosion of the idea of public education as a public good. From white parents pulling away from ‘that public’ in the aftermath of the Brown. Vs Board of Education decision in 1954, to the hardening of school district boundaries post Milliken vs. Bradley, we’ve been whittling away at the public good for decades.

Even before the pandemic, schools were struggling to meet the needs of students in special education programs. Now, a long-standing special education staffing shortage threatens to become something more dire. Special guest: Nate Jones, associate professor of special education at Boston University.