It was meant to be a day of proud parents snapping pictures with their phones and tiny paper graduation caps. On the morning of June 11, the preschoolers at Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School in Southeast Baltimore were getting ready for their pre-K ceremony. Days later, parents and teachers are still struggling to comprehend what actually happened in the school’s parking lot off Fait Avenue. Around eight in the morning, a man identified as Jesus Acevedo-Sanchez drove into the school parking lot and was pursued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, according to witnesses and authorities. The subsequent events…
Author: Kelsey Myers
Kelsey Myers
Kelsey Myers is a Senior Editor at worldomep.org and a dedicated advocate for early childhood education whose work begins — and ends — with a simple belief: that the earliest years of a child's life matter more than almost anything else we can invest in. Based at a local school, Kelsey works daily alongside the children and families whose experiences inform everything she writes. She doesn't observe early education from a distance. She is inside it — in the classrooms, on the playgrounds, in the conversations between teachers and parents that shape how young children understand the world around them. That proximity gives her writing a warmth and specificity that purely policy-driven commentary rarely achieves. Through her writing at worldomep.org, Kelsey brings that same energy to readers — making the case, clearly and consistently, that early childhood education deserves far more attention than it typically receives. Kelsey shares her personal opinions on: https://x.com/Butterflyboule
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In the dark, Jaykob Knazur drove to school. The principal of Andrean High School in Merrillville, Indiana, arrived at the intersection of Broadway and East 59th Avenue at five in the morning on Friday, unsure of what he was going to enter. The previous evening, he had heard enough to know it was bad. That was not as bad as what he discovered. The Andrean campus appeared more like something from a weather service report than a school photo after the tornado that ripped through northwest Indiana on the evening of June 11. The building’s north side has significant roof…
Huang Xiaoming’s approach to this was subtly obstinate. Not dramatic, not loud. Just a man who promised to try again after failing the first time. His name appeared on the Shanghai Theatre Academy’s 2026 doctoral admission list on June 10. His reported total score of 271.34 points was sufficient to secure a place in the Arts Management and Drama Planning program. According to his own account, he was extremely anxious the entire time. He is 48 years old. This was his second try. He applied in 2025 with comparable undergraduate credentials, and his written score of 89 points was sufficient…
One of those locations that, in the best way possible, makes people feel small is El Capitan. For decades, climbers have hung banners from the face of the granite wall, which rises almost 3,000 feet above Yosemite Valley, commemorating milestones, celebrating accomplishments, and occasionally making statements. A group led by Shannon “SJ” Joslin, a wildlife biologist and park ranger at Yosemite, unfurled a 55-by-35-foot transgender pride flag across the rock in May 2025. It was awake for roughly two hours. Joslin removed it. They were then let go at some point. Failure to “demonstrate acceptable conduct” while still on probation…
Canvas bag boxes were waiting to be shipped in a warehouse located at 8369 Milliken Avenue in Rancho Cucamonga, California. They resembled the ones people wait in line for outside Trader Joe’s stores before dawn in terms of shape, proportions, and overall vibe. However, Trader Joe’s claims that they were completely incorrect. The stitching was not correct. The weight of the fabric was different. It wasn’t exactly the same color. Additionally, they were being sold for more than $50 apiece on eBay from Hong Kong. That particular detail—a sophisticated enough counterfeit tote bag operation to justify a federal lawsuit and…
In toddler classrooms all over Queensland, and probably everywhere else, there is a seemingly common occurrence where a teacher crouches down next to a group of two-year-olds and says something like, “Look at that!” or, “Can you hear that sound?” It sounds insignificant. However, recent research from the University of Queensland indicates that it may be more important than previously thought for a child to hear “look” or “want” during those formative years. Elizabeth Brook, a psychology honors student, led the study, which examined 182 playtime interactions between teachers and toddler groups at early childhood education and care facilities. Researchers…
For a long time, mothers were the primary focus of research on how babies learn to speak. Given that mothers have traditionally spent more time providing direct care and that the mechanics of maternal speech, that lilting, melodic style sometimes referred to as “parentese,” were well documented, that made some sense. When fathers were included in these studies at all, they typically appeared as supporting characters. New studies, including those related to Vanderbilt University, are starting to add complexity to that picture in ways that seem important to consider. Researchers are discovering that fathers do more than just mimic their…
Watching a state legislature debate tax exemptions for data centers while thousands of kids wait on preschool waitlists is almost surreal. That is essentially what has been going on in Virginia for several months. Since the regular 2026 General Assembly session concluded without a budget and a special session in April yielded no results, lawmakers in Richmond have remained impassed. The families who rely most on early childhood programs are quietly bearing the burden of someone else’s political impasse as the July 1 deadline for preventing a government shutdown draws near. Children are not the main point of contention. It…
The fact that a Spanish early childhood organization traveled to Oslo to advocate for children’s rights is telling. Not to a UN meeting in Geneva, not to Brussels, but to a research congress in Norway centered around a classroom environment assessment tool. The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-focused ECERS Congress may not seem like a clear area for advocacy. However, the decision made some sense for OMEP Spain. ECERS is not a curriculum. It’s an observational framework, a methodical approach to examining the physical and social surroundings of a preschool and determining whether or not it genuinely promotes the growth…
A teacher is teaching toddlers about waste and reuse somewhere in a Lagos preschool. In a nursery outside of Seoul, across the Pacific, kids are analyzing their clothing and inquiring about the source of the materials. Teachers in Bolivia, Peru, and Argentina have submitted projects to an award program that didn’t exist fifteen years ago. A brochure was not distributed to any of these classrooms. Not one of their instructors received a cold email. All of them were reached by OMEP, the World Organization for Early Childhood Education, without spending a dime on advertising. It’s important to comprehend how, as…