Christina Samuels
@casamuels.bsky.social
Deputy Managing Editor for The Hechinger Report. We do education.🎓
Former employers: Ed Week, Washington Post, Miami Herald. FAMU grad.🐍
Signal: cas.37
Former employers: Ed Week, Washington Post, Miami Herald. FAMU grad.🐍
Signal: cas.37
Pinned
Tracking Trump: His actions to dismantle the Education Department, and more
The president has said he wants to eliminate the Education Department while fighting ‘woke’ ideology in schools. A week-by-week look at what he’s done
hechingerreport.org
The Hechinger Report has been following the Trump administration's actions on a week-by-week basis. Keep up with all the news here:
hechingerreport.org/tracking-tru...
hechingerreport.org/tracking-tru...
Reposted by Christina Samuels
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
November 3, 2025 at 11:25 PM
thank you for all the support; the statement from our union is now live here with some more reporting.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
now that this is public I can confirm that the majority of today’s layoffs were women of color. there are no longer any Black women working at Teen Vogue.
Teen Vogue and @hechingerreport.org, where I'm an editor, worked together on several stories over the years. @leximcmenamin.com and @allegrak.bsky.social and many others were wonderful partners and this is gutting news. A list of just a few of the stories where Teen Vogue was a valued partner:
Teen Vogue Is Joining Vogue.com
The transition, in which Teen Vogue will keep its unique editorial identity and mission, fortifies the evolving Vogue ecosystem.
www.vogue.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Teen Vogue and @hechingerreport.org, where I'm an editor, worked together on several stories over the years. @leximcmenamin.com and @allegrak.bsky.social and many others were wonderful partners and this is gutting news. A list of just a few of the stories where Teen Vogue was a valued partner:
I’m at the laundromat washing comforters and I have forgotten how…assertive…you have to be at a laundromat. I am such a soft suburbanite.
November 1, 2025 at 9:03 PM
I’m at the laundromat washing comforters and I have forgotten how…assertive…you have to be at a laundromat. I am such a soft suburbanite.
Not a great picture but I was just struck by my red osier dogwood over here being quietly beautiful🌱
November 1, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Not a great picture but I was just struck by my red osier dogwood over here being quietly beautiful🌱
It's hard to keep track of everything, but the government shutdown means that more than 100 Head Start centers won't receive their expected funding on Nov. 1. Christy Gleason at @savethechildren.org told me how families in those programs are facing so many challenges right now.
‘The clock is ticking’: Shutdown imperils food, child care for many - The Hechinger Report
The federally funded Head Start provides free preschool and child care for low-income families, and is particularly important to rural communities with few other child care options.
hechingerreport.org
November 1, 2025 at 6:25 PM
It's hard to keep track of everything, but the government shutdown means that more than 100 Head Start centers won't receive their expected funding on Nov. 1. Christy Gleason at @savethechildren.org told me how families in those programs are facing so many challenges right now.
My question is, what's next for these jewels? One could build a whole novel around that! You can't sell the jewels on the open market. If some evil billionaire paid for them to be stolen, there's no way he could ever display his ill-gotten gains, he'd have to just look at them in private.
I spend a year plotting a mystery novel and then this happens.
October 20, 2025 at 1:01 PM
My question is, what's next for these jewels? One could build a whole novel around that! You can't sell the jewels on the open market. If some evil billionaire paid for them to be stolen, there's no way he could ever display his ill-gotten gains, he'd have to just look at them in private.
The Education Department is close to functionally disappearing. I didn't think this could happen, and I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Here's a piece I wrote on how the hollowing out is affecting special education:
hechingerreport.org/parents-advo...
hechingerreport.org/parents-advo...
Parents, advocates alarmed as Trump leverages shutdown to gut special education department
Two months after Education Secretary Linda McMahon was confirmed, she and a small team from the department met with leadership from the National Center for Learning Disabilities, an advocacy group tha...
hechingerreport.org
October 18, 2025 at 1:34 PM
The Education Department is close to functionally disappearing. I didn't think this could happen, and I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Here's a piece I wrote on how the hollowing out is affecting special education:
hechingerreport.org/parents-advo...
hechingerreport.org/parents-advo...
I covered special education and children with disabilities for years before I became an editor - this week I had a chance to dust off the source list and pull together a story on just what the heck is happening in the federal special education office:
hechingerreport.org/parents-advo...
hechingerreport.org/parents-advo...
Parents, advocates alarmed as Trump leverages shutdown to gut special education department
Two months after Education Secretary Linda McMahon was confirmed, she and a small team from the department met with leadership from the National Center for Learning Disabilities, an advocacy group tha...
hechingerreport.org
October 17, 2025 at 6:10 PM
I covered special education and children with disabilities for years before I became an editor - this week I had a chance to dust off the source list and pull together a story on just what the heck is happening in the federal special education office:
hechingerreport.org/parents-advo...
hechingerreport.org/parents-advo...
A new normal for schools - trying to figure out how to fill budget gaps left because federal money has been delayed or cut. From one supe: “I had teachers crying, staff members crying. They thought they were going to lose their jobs a week before school."
Schools confront a new reality: They can’t count on federal money
Ashe County, North Carolina, and thousands of other school districts are preparing to lose some federal public school funding after a freeze on nearly $7 billion over the summer.
hechingerreport.org
September 18, 2025 at 6:25 PM
A new normal for schools - trying to figure out how to fill budget gaps left because federal money has been delayed or cut. From one supe: “I had teachers crying, staff members crying. They thought they were going to lose their jobs a week before school."
If Isaac Chotiner ever said "Sorry, what did you just say" in a conversation with me, my whole life would flash before my eyes
August 26, 2025 at 10:08 PM
If Isaac Chotiner ever said "Sorry, what did you just say" in a conversation with me, my whole life would flash before my eyes
Seemingly relentless attacks and funding cuts since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidential term have been “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said one professor who left higher education on the eve of the pandemic, in 2019. “I’m hearing from a lot more people that it’s too much.”
A ‘Great Defection’ threatens to empty universities and colleges of top teaching talent
Political attacks and other problems appear to be driving an exodus of Ph.D.s and faculty from higher education, threatening a diminished experience for undergraduates.
hechingerreport.org
August 25, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Seemingly relentless attacks and funding cuts since the start of Donald Trump’s second presidential term have been “the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said one professor who left higher education on the eve of the pandemic, in 2019. “I’m hearing from a lot more people that it’s too much.”
It's amazing to me that I'm walking around with a $1,000 device in my pocket that I've had to disable some of the core functions of, because otherwise I would be overwhelmed with spam phone calls and texts. The calls come every day. The texts seem unstoppable/unblockable. And this is just...OK?
August 21, 2025 at 1:04 PM
It's amazing to me that I'm walking around with a $1,000 device in my pocket that I've had to disable some of the core functions of, because otherwise I would be overwhelmed with spam phone calls and texts. The calls come every day. The texts seem unstoppable/unblockable. And this is just...OK?
The Naked Gun was so stupid and funny. I went with my 12-year-old and he understood and laughed at more jokes than I would have suspected (or wanted)
August 10, 2025 at 2:26 PM
The Naked Gun was so stupid and funny. I went with my 12-year-old and he understood and laughed at more jokes than I would have suspected (or wanted)
Just got back from Fantastic Four. In terms of pure "this is fun" excitement, I think Superman was better. In terms of me understanding some of the deep lore, I'm a Marvel girlie so I had that background knowledge. But FF was good! Better than just another cog in the massive Marvel machine.
July 27, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Just got back from Fantastic Four. In terms of pure "this is fun" excitement, I think Superman was better. In terms of me understanding some of the deep lore, I'm a Marvel girlie so I had that background knowledge. But FF was good! Better than just another cog in the massive Marvel machine.
I have been sticking paint samples up all over my house (thanks, Samplize) and I'm happy to realize that even though I can perceive the difference between, say, Wind Chime and Soft Fern (two grayish greens) I don't CARE about the difference. I'm happy this is one thing I won't obsess over (much).
July 26, 2025 at 8:49 PM
I have been sticking paint samples up all over my house (thanks, Samplize) and I'm happy to realize that even though I can perceive the difference between, say, Wind Chime and Soft Fern (two grayish greens) I don't CARE about the difference. I'm happy this is one thing I won't obsess over (much).
Man this really hurts. I grew up with him.
The death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner was mourned by fans and admirers of the actor. He played the only son of Bill Cosby’s Cliff Huxtable on the landmark series “The Cosby Show” from 1984 to 1992.
Tracee Ellis Ross, Jennifer Hudson, Magic Johnson and more react to death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner
The death of Malcolm-Jamal Warner was mourned by fans and admirers of the actor. He played the only son of Bill Cosby’s Cliff Huxtable on the landmark series “The Cosby Show” from 1984 to 1992.
bit.ly
July 21, 2025 at 9:17 PM
Man this really hurts. I grew up with him.
This pupster cannot be real. That face! 🥹
This friend is in search of a forever home: Sophie, located in Page, AZ.
Learn more: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/sophie-77221346/az/page/page-animal-adoption-agency-az399/
Learn more: https://www.petfinder.com/dog/sophie-77221346/az/page/page-animal-adoption-agency-az399/
July 18, 2025 at 1:28 AM
This pupster cannot be real. That face! 🥹
With inflation, it's now a 10-alarm fire
If your #1 issue is inflation, this is a five-alarm fire
July 16, 2025 at 3:54 PM
With inflation, it's now a 10-alarm fire
You don't have to be steeped in education policy like I am to be stunned at the disrespect demonstrated here. And I imagine this has happened in dozens of different federal agencies:
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
Suddenly sacked
Former education stats chief describes her final days under DOGE
hechingerreport.org
July 16, 2025 at 1:35 PM
You don't have to be steeped in education policy like I am to be stunned at the disrespect demonstrated here. And I imagine this has happened in dozens of different federal agencies:
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
hechingerreport.org/proof-points...
Does anyone else, confronted with a lot of housework, latch on to the most obscure and kind of useless task first? Like, I really should get the dishes in the dishwasher but I feel compelled to scrub and mop the floor under the dining room table. The floors are really not at a crisis point, and yet.
July 13, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Does anyone else, confronted with a lot of housework, latch on to the most obscure and kind of useless task first? Like, I really should get the dishes in the dishwasher but I feel compelled to scrub and mop the floor under the dining room table. The floors are really not at a crisis point, and yet.
I don't know enough about how this works: is it possible that children who are born in the U.S. would still have access to Head Start even if their parent(s) are not citizens? Is Head Start considered a benefit to the child, or to the child's family?
HHS announced today they will consider Head Start a welfare program, not an education program, and will subject it to new citizenship requirements. This goes against decades of legal precedence that all children in America have a right to education. Announcement here. www.hhs.gov/press-room/p...
www.hhs.gov
July 10, 2025 at 6:00 PM
I don't know enough about how this works: is it possible that children who are born in the U.S. would still have access to Head Start even if their parent(s) are not citizens? Is Head Start considered a benefit to the child, or to the child's family?
So do I take my son to see Superman this weekend like a good mother would, or do I go see it by myself so I can actually enjoy it? 🤔
My son talks nonstop through movies (and also through life) so much of my time is spent shushing him (in movie theaters, and also in life)
My son talks nonstop through movies (and also through life) so much of my time is spent shushing him (in movie theaters, and also in life)
July 10, 2025 at 12:30 AM
So do I take my son to see Superman this weekend like a good mother would, or do I go see it by myself so I can actually enjoy it? 🤔
My son talks nonstop through movies (and also through life) so much of my time is spent shushing him (in movie theaters, and also in life)
My son talks nonstop through movies (and also through life) so much of my time is spent shushing him (in movie theaters, and also in life)
I loved working with @arielgilreath.bsky.social on this story -- she got a chance to talk to such cool kids:
High school speech and debate allows students to find common ground
In a time when respectful debate seems impossible, high school speech and debate clubs have persevered. Debate team members and sponsors see the activity as even more important in a fracturing society...
hechingerreport.org
July 8, 2025 at 12:30 PM
I loved working with @arielgilreath.bsky.social on this story -- she got a chance to talk to such cool kids:
I don't get to write much any more, but last week I pulled together a piece on Mahmoud v. Taylor, which happens to be my child's school district. Thanks so much to @scribnerumcp.bsky.social and author Sarah Brannen for taking the time to speak with me.
hechingerreport.org/supreme-cour...
hechingerreport.org/supreme-cour...
Mahmoud v. Taylor decision could have widespread effects on school curricula
In Mahmoud v. Taylor, the Supreme Court sided June 27 with a group of Maryland parents who said they wanted to opt their children out reading storybooks featuring LGBTQ+ themes and characters.
hechingerreport.org
June 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
I don't get to write much any more, but last week I pulled together a piece on Mahmoud v. Taylor, which happens to be my child's school district. Thanks so much to @scribnerumcp.bsky.social and author Sarah Brannen for taking the time to speak with me.
hechingerreport.org/supreme-cour...
hechingerreport.org/supreme-cour...
😂
My pet peeve is "high school should have X" posts when most high schools already have X. "They should teach how the government works in high school." They did, Chris. It was 12th grade social studies. It was called "Economics and Government". You were in my class. You were always drawing.
June 20, 2025 at 3:00 AM
😂