Chalkbeat now has a new look — and a public health sister site

Three logos, one blue, red and pink on a white background.
Chalkbeat, Votebeat and Healthbeat logos (Civic News Company)

Welcome to the new Chalkbeat!

If you’re a regular reader, you might notice that things look a little different here today. Nothing about our stories or the functionality of our site is changing, but we have a new look that we hope you enjoy: simple, modern, and with the work you know and love front and center.

Why? It’s always nice to feel fresh at the start of a school year. But more importantly, the change comes as we launch a new sibling site. Meet Healthbeat, which is officially launching today to cover public health.

Healthbeat reporters will be digging into issues that shape our collective well-being, from infectious diseases to air and water quality and food safety. And they will be bringing the Chalkbeat (and Votebeat) model of national and local reporting to bear on public health at a time when it’s badly needed. Healthbeat will start with bureaus in New York City and Atlanta as well as national reporting in partnership with the great folks over at KFF Health News.

I hope you will check them out, starting with editor in chief Charlene Pacenti’s introduction to Healthbeat’s work. You can also sign up for Healthbeat’s newsletters here.

— Sarah Darville, Chalkbeat editor in chief

The Latest

Carla Brown of Detroit is among the ranks of those caring for and educating kids from infants to 3-years-old in Michigan. She works hard in her classroom but gets paid $15 an hour for it.

New data shows the state’s chronic absenteeism rate was still significantly higher last year compared to 2018-19.

Elevated rates of absenteeism have bedeviled school districts across the country in the wake of the pandemic.

The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights wrote to the district that it has found its Black Student Success Plan and a policy on gender identity are discriminatory.

Debates about what teachers can say — and what they should say — have intensified as GOP officials seek consequences for some who’ve commented about Kirk’s death on social media.

"Esta detención injusta ha frustrado y paralizado mi educación y mis esfuerzos momentáneamente", dijo Dylan. "Pero no me hará renunciar a esforzarme por alcanzar mis metas educativas".