School lunch in America, our first Facebook Live event, and meet our new intern!

Dear Bright community,

I’d like to introduce you to Zoie Matthew, our new intern. Zoie comes to us fresh from the University of California, Irvine, where she has developed into an outstanding long-form journalist. One of Zoie’s jobs will be to help us with social media, and she’s jumped right in, creating this promo for Bright Magazine’s first Facebook Live event.

Please join us on June 3rd at 11 a.m., EST, on Facebook, as writer Holly Korbey interviews Vanderbilt University math professor Melissa Gresalfi on sparking student interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) through knitting. There will even be a live demonstration! Turns out that knitting requires mathematical thought, and some scientists are using the craft to encourage girls to pursue careers in STEM, an area in which women are sorely underrepresented. Korbey wrote about this trend for Bright in March, and you loved it.

Food Month continues on Bright, and this week writer Holly Korby took on the woefully short lunch periods in some U.S. schools. We also took a photographic look at school lunch through time.

Remember to join us over on Facebook and Twitter.

Now, to this week’s reading:

School Lunches are Too Short. And That’s a Problem

By Holly Korbey in Bright

Many students have 20 minutes or fewer to bolt down lunch and clean up, and that is simply not enough time. Eating too quickly can cause obesity and result in kids throwing away healthy food in favor of quick snack food that’s high in salt or sugar. A growing movement of parents and educators are demanding that schools dedicate more time for kids to sit and eat.

A History of School Lunch in Pictures

By Andrea Gurwitt in Bright

A collection of school lunch photos, beginning around 1905. Boy, has the midday meal changed over the years — from lunch pails to liver loaf to lots of French fries to whole grains and robust salads.

Trump’s first full education budget: Deep cuts to public school programs in pursuit of school choice

By Emma Brown, Valerie Strauss and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel in The Washington Post

The Post scored a copy of the education budget ahead of Monday’s expected release, and spells out what’s in store. The plan as of now, according to the reporters, is to put about $400 million toward expanding charter schools and vouchers and $1 billion toward persuading public schools to install more “choice-friendly policies,” while cutting the budget by more than $9 billion overall. Twenty-two programs are on the chopping block, including teacher-training classes and after-school programs serving 1.6 mostly poor children.

Valerie Strauss lays out the Administration’s thinking about why particular programs should be cut.

Educators: This is How to Help Your Syrian Students

By Shiyam Galyon in Bright

An important primer for teachers on ways to understand and aid their students who have endured trauma, war and culture shock.

Student Voices: I wanted a high-quality education, and I found it at a South Seattle public school

By Rhea Panela in The Seattle Times

Panela, now a student at the University of Washington, writes that after she switched from a parochial girls high school to her local public school, she got a better education and felt more accepted.

Major changes could come to L.A. schools after charter school movement’s big win

By Howard Blume and Shelby Grad in the Los Angeles Times

The second-largest school district in the country just voted in a pro-charter board of education. It was the most expensive election in school board history, running more than $14 million, and it marked the defeat of the pro-union faction that had previously held power. Blume and Grad break down what this means for L.A. schools.

School lunch in America, our first Facebook Live event, and meet our new intern! was originally published in Bright on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.