Ground Truthing

Welcome to Season Two of Ground Truthing, Westchester Children’s Association's monthly podcast where we offer policy insights from the ground up by featuring community voices from Westchester county. Hosted by Erica Ayala. This episode, we chat with Karen Blumenthal. Karen will soon retire after 25 years working as a policy advocate at Student Advocacy. Karen has been at the forefront of the code of conduct conversations happening throughout the county. We break down the history of codes of conduct, districts diligently working to make less punitive school environments, and what still needs to change at the state level. Karen also discusses the Cornell Blumenthal Internship, which she and her husband David created to promote paid internship opportunities in Westchester. Finally, Karen breaks down the status of the Every Students Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Solutions Not Suspensions and what we can do to support more positive and less punitive learning environments for all students. You can find all our gr