Can\u27t Really Teach: CRT Bans Impose upon Teachers\u27 First Amendment Pedagogical Rights

The jurisprudence governing K-12 teachers’ speech protection has been a convoluted hodgepodge of caselaw since the 1960s when the Supreme Court established that teachers retain at least some First Amendment protection as public educators. Now, as new so-called Critical Race Theory bans prohibit an array of hot button topics in the classroom, K-12 teachers must either preemptively censor themselves or risk running afoul of these vague bans with indeterminate legal protection. This Note proposes an elucidation of K-12 teachers’ free speech rights via a two-part test to assess the reasonability of instructional speech. Rather than analogizing K-12 teacher speech to citizen speech, student speech, or public employee speech, as the leading Supreme Court cases direct lower courts to do, this test would account for the specific interests at play in K-12 education and consider the teacher’s pedagogical expertise. As school board meetings host heated arguments and state legislatures ban books, the contours of K-12 public school teachers’ rights have never been more relevant. The Court continues to voice a need to maintain K-12 schools as the nurseries of democracy but does not articulate how teachers might do so in light of increasingly intrusive restrictions on speech. In higher education classrooms, professors retain academic freedom to cultivate a marketplace of ideas. In K-12 classrooms, teachers should preserve a corresponding freedom: the pedagogical freedom to teach permissible concepts in as myriad of ways. This Note argues that approaching K-12 teacher speech cases from the proposed two-step approach will clarify teachers’ First Amendment pedagogical freedom rights and thereby shield the kind of teacher instructional speech that is so crucial to U.S. democratic values

Aging in Holliston: A Community Needs Assessment

This report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging (CSDRA) within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the Holliston Council on Aging (COA). The goals of this project were to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of Holliston’s residents age 55 or older by engaging the community regarding their experiences and needs relevant to the COA’s objective to identify and serve the needs of all Holliston citizens 55 and older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the Town of Holliston, the Holliston COA, Senior Center, and organizations that work with and on behalf of older residents of Holliston for the purposes of COA mission fulfillment alongside planning and coordination of services for current and future needs of residents. The report will also help to build awareness about issues facing Holliston among community members at large. The population of Holliston is comprised of about one quarter older adults (24%); and an additional 16% age 50-59 are expected to move into this demographic within the next few years. This central, overarching observation—that the older population of Holliston is already large and will continue to expand—makes clear the importance of considering how well features of the Town, the services and amenities available, and virtually every aspect of the community align with the age demographic moving forward. In preparing for this demographic shift, the Holliston Council on Aging and the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging at the University of Massachusetts Boston partnered to conduct a study to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of the Town’s residents age 55 and older. As part of this assessment, we conducted interviews and focus groups to hear from Holliston leadership, key stakeholders in the community, and specific cohorts of residents. In addition, a survey was developed and administered to Holliston residents age 55 and older. A total of 1,332 questionnaires was returned, reflecting a strong return rate of 26%. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources were examined in support of the project aims. A broad range of findings are reported in this document, highlighting the many positive features of Holliston as well as concerns expressed by older residents. The report is intended to inform planning by the Holliston COA as well as other Town offices, private and public organizations that provide services and advocate for older people within Holliston, and the community at large. While many of our findings, and the recommendations that follow, intersect with the scope of responsibility of the Holliston Council on Aging, it is understood that responding to many needs and concerns expressed in the community will require the involvement of other municipal offices or community stakeholders, and some will require substantial collaborative effort

Aging in the City of Attleboro: A Community Needs Assessment

This report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the Attleboro Council on Aging. The goals of this project were to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of Attleboro’s residents age 60 or older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the City of Attleboro, the Attleboro Council on Aging and Senior Center, and organizations that work with and on behalf of older residents of Attleboro for the purposes of planning and coordination of services. The report will also help to build awareness about issues facing Attleboro among community members at large

Envisioning an Age Friendly Stoneham

Tucked between two major highways, about nine miles from Boston, the Town of Stoneham is currently home to more than 22, 000 residents, 27% of which are age 60 and older. According to projections created by the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts, a trend toward an older population in Stoneham is expected in future decades. Donahue Institute vintage projections suggest that by 2035, more than one out of each three Stoneham’s residents will be age 60 or older—28% of the town’s population will be between the ages of 60 and 79, with an additional 10% age 80 and older (see Appendix A). Occupying just about 6 square miles, this densely populated community is rich in resources for livability. Aside from proximity and transportation to a major metropolitan city with world-class healthcare and education, Stoneham is home to idyllic New England features (a Town common, the Stone Zoo, the Stoneham Theatre on Main Street, and a daily “Nine O’Clock Horn”1) as well as a plethora of shopping, healthcare, and dining opportunities within the Town limits. Some could argue that Stoneham “has it all”. The Town of Stoneham and the Stoneham Senior Center have led the commitment to becoming a more age friendly community and in 2018, the Town was accepted into the WHO’s global network of age-friendly cities and communities. The significance of this event is that the Town was willing to identify the strengths of Stoneham as a community to grow up and grow old in, but also to acknowledge where there is room for improvement. In January 2020, the Council on Aging invited collaboration from the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging (CSDRA) in the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston to initiate a needs assessment and explore the age-friendly community framework, as outlined by the World Health Organization. The purpose of this report is to document results from the needs assessment and lay forth recommendations as to how Stoneham can take action to advance their goals of becoming a more age friendly community. The project was planned to be completed during the Spring of 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic caused these plans to change. In order to accommodate public health recommendations and capacity of the Town’s leadership, the scope of this project was adjusted. Specifically, 2 community forums, initially scheduled to be conducted in-person in March and April 2020, were forced to be moved to a virtual format as were the facilitation of 3 focus groups. The purpose of this report is to share highlights from these components of the needs assessment and to provide a foundation for future input from the community and future age friendly planning efforts

HealthStream Orientation Assignment Process Improvements

Problem/Impact Statement: The Training and Development Center (TDC) has seen increased use of HealthStream Learning Center (HLC) for new user assignments. In CY 2017 there were 359 new students from 64 departments with 89 different job titles. This volume requires significant resources to manually add orientation assignments, with risk of error in student entry and assignment accuracy

Aging in Westborough: A Community Needs Assessment

This report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging (CSDRA) within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the Town of Westborough. The goals of this project were to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of Westborough’s residents age 55 or older by engaging the community regarding their experiences and needs relevant to the Council on Aging’s (COA’s) objective to identify and serve the needs of all Westborough citizens 55 and older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the Town of Westborough, the Westborough COA, Senior Center, and organizations that work with and on behalf of older residents of Westborough for the purposes of COA mission fulfillment alongside planning and coordination of services for current and future needs of residents. The report will also help to build awareness about issues facing Westborough among community members at large. A broad range of findings are reported in this document, highlighting the many positive features of Westborough as well as concerns expressed by older residents. While many of our findings, and the recommendations that follow, intersect with the scope of responsibility of the Westborough Council on Aging, it is understood that responding to many needs and concerns expressed in the community will require the involvement of other municipal offices or community stakeholders, and some will require substantial collaborative effort

Aging in Hamilton: Planning for the Future, A Community Needs Assessment

Like many communities across Massachusetts, the population in the Town of Hamilton is aging. According to projections created by the Donahue Institute at the University of Massachusetts, a trend toward an older population is expected. Donahue Institute vintage projections suggest that by 2035, more than one out of each three Hamilton residents will be age 60 or older—32% of the Town’s population will be between the ages of 60 and 79, with an additional 9% age 80 and older. As the demographics of Hamilton shift toward a population that is older and living longer, the demand for programs and services that address aging-related needs will likely increase as well. The Town’s Council on Aging serves as an important and valued resource that is a central point of contact for many older residents. Planning is necessary to ensure that the Town is adequately prepared to meet the challenges and to capitalize on opportunities that an aging population will present. In addition, it is increasingly relevant and necessary for those who provide services and amenities in the Town to recognize opportunities for collaboration and coordination to ensure that residents have the opportunity to age well in their community. This report presents research findings from a study conducted by the Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston), in collaboration with the Town of Hamilton. The purpose of this study was to investigate and document current and future needs and preferences of Hamilton’s older residents. To this end, we conducted a web-based survey of residents as well as four key-informant interviews with the aim of identifying concerns related to aging in Hamilton, with the added benefit of learning about the preferences and intentions of residents as they relate to programming and services offered by the Hamilton Council on Aging (COA). The contents of this report are intended primarily to inform planning by the Hamilton COA and other municipal departments. In addition, contents may be of interest to community stakeholders in other public and private organizations that operate programs, provide services, and/or advocate for older adult residents in and around the Town of Hamilton

Opioid Use as a Predictor of Health Care Use and Pain Outcomes: Analysis of Clinical Trial Data

Objective . To examine effects of pre-enrollment opioid use on outcomes of a 12-month collaborative pain care management trial. We hypothesized that participants with opioid use would have worse pain at baseline; use more health care services and analgesics; and have worse pain outcomes during the trial. Design . Secondary analysis of randomized controlled trial data. Setting . Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care. Subjects . Patients age 18-65 years with chronic pain of at least moderate severity who were enrolled in a 12-month pragmatic trial of a telephone-based collaborative care intervention for chronic musculoskeletal pain. Methods . Participants were categorized as opioid users (n = 84) or non-users (n = 166) at baseline and trial randomization was stratified by opioid use. We used logistic regression to examine cross-sectional associations with baseline opioid use and mixed-effect models for repeated measures to examine baseline opioid use as a predictor of Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) scores over 12 months. Results . At baseline, 33.6% reported use of prescribed opioids. Baseline opioid users had higher baseline BPI scores and higher health-related disability than non-users. Baseline opioid users also had more outpatient visits (15.0 vs. 10.1; p = 0.001) and received more analgesics (p < 0.001) during the trial. In the final multivariable model examining effects of baseline opioid use on BPI over 12 months, opioid users and nonusers had a non-significant difference of 0.25 points (p = 0.098). In conclusion, although baseline opioid users had worse pain at baseline and used more health care during the study, response to the intervention was not significantly modified by pre-existing opioid therapy

Acute Ethanol Administration Rapidly Increases Phosphorylation of Conventional Protein Kinase C in Specific Mammalian Brain Regions in Vivo

Background Protein kinase C (PKC) is a family of isoenzymes that regulate a variety of functions in the central nervous system including neurotransmitter release, ion channel activity, and cell differentiation. Growing evidence suggests that specific isoforms of PKC influence a variety of behavioral, biochemical, and physiological effects of ethanol in mammals. The purpose of this study was to determine whether acute ethanol exposure alters phosphorylation of conventional PKC isoforms at a threonine 674 (p-cPKC) site in the hydrophobic domain of the kinase, which is required for its catalytic activity. Methods Male rats were administered a dose range of ethanol (0, 0.5, 1, or 2 g/kg, intragastric) and brain tissue was removed 10 minutes later for evaluation of changes in p-cPKC expression using immunohistochemistry and Western blot methods. Results Immunohistochemical data show that the highest dose of ethanol (2 g/kg) rapidly increases p-cPKC immunoreactivity specifically in the nucleus accumbens (core and shell), lateral septum, and hippocampus (CA3 and dentate gyrus). Western blot analysis further showed that ethanol (2 g/kg) increased p-cPKC expression in the P2 membrane fraction of tissue from the nucleus accumbens and hippocampus. Although p-cPKC was expressed in numerous other brain regions, including the caudate nucleus, amygdala, and cortex, no changes were observed in response to acute ethanol. Total PKC? immunoreactivity was surveyed throughout the brain and showed no change following acute ethanol injection