♪ geoff: good evening. i'm geoff bennett. amna: and i'm amna nawaz on the "newshour" tonight. the biden administration releases its own review of the chaotic evacuation of afghanistan, placing the blame on intelligence failures and the trump administration. geoff: militants in lebanon fire barrage of rockets into israel, heightening tensions at an already volatile time when muslim and jewish holy days overlap. amna: and an investigation reveals priests in baltimore abused hundreds of children over several decades. the state's attorney general details the alleged coverup. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs

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♪ this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. amna: good evening, and welcome to the "newshour." two stories have dominated this day, escaling israeli-palestinian confrontations appeared to move the middle east closer to a broader conflict. and the biden white house put out its long-awaited report on the widely criticized fall of afghanistan in 2021. geoff: first, afghanistan. u.s. forces hastily withdrew in august 2021 as the talan re-captured the country after nearly 20 years of war. amid the chaos, a suicide bombing killed 13 u.s. troops

and more than 100 afghs. today, the national security council's john kirby laid out a 12-page summary, blaming the trump administration, bad intelligence, and the afghans emselves. our laura barron lopez had a seat at today's briefing and joins us to break down the report's conclusions. what does this 12 page or after action report say? correspondent: this is a report compiled by the national security council based off the after action reew conducted by the state department and defense department, so there are a number of key findings from this report. that includes that the administration will now prioritize earlier and faster evacuations, something that was not done in the withdrawal during afghanistan. they also say president biden was significantly constrained by the trump administration's decisions in the four years prior. they did not expect the ease and

speed of the taliban takeover, and from here on out they will use more aggressive communication about risks, acknowledging there was an intelligence failure. despite these findings, the administration still said the president stands by the withdrawal of things it was the right decision, and in terms of additional reports being released, they said not so far. ultimately they are giving these reports to congress, the classified versions of them. geoff: throughout this report, the biden administration to repeatedly fall trump administration for a lack of planning and poor communication from one administration to the next. >> that was a big part of this report. i was in the white house press briefing where john kirby answered a lot of our questions. he said that it was undeniable that the actions in planning by the trump administration limited the president's options. they specifically cited the fact

the negotiations between the trump administration and the afghan government to release fighters from prison, reduce troop levels to 2500 service members on the ground. they said during the transition, the trump administration gave them no plans they potentially had about a final withdrawal, so kirby was pressed on this over and over, and he ultimately said about the accountability the current administration should take itself, and he said this document, this review is not about accountability. it is about understanding what happened and to move forward with lessons learned. geoff: in terms of understanding what happened, what about the evacuation itself? what were those lessons learned? correspondent: john kirby admitted the administration did not do everything right, specifically that this experien and afghanistan directly impacted how they handle evacuations in ukraine and ethiopia when those capitals were lessened, so they said ty

learned their lesson thereby trying to speed up and start evacuations earlier, but nowhere in this report does it say officials made major mistakes in their handling, so kirby was pressed on this, challenge about the evacuation, challenged about the lives that were lost during this evacuation. >> so for all this talk of chaos, i just didn't see it, not from my perch. at one point during the evacuation, there was an aircraft taking off full of people, americans and afghans alike, every 48 minutes, and not one single mission was missed. so, i'm sorry, i just don't buy the whole argument of chaos. it was tough in the first few hours, you would expect it to be, there was nobody at the airport. correspondent: that response is not sitting well with the number of people that helped americans evacuate from afghanistan. geoff: you have been speaking with americans still trying to get their friends and family and

former colleagueout of the country. what do they have to say. correspondent: i spoke to allison, and iraq war veteran and ceo of iraq and afghanistan war veterans of america, and she said she expected more accountability from the white house. >> there wasn't enough preparation going on for the withdrawal, especially to make sure some allies that we made promises to could make it out before the inevitable takeover by the taliban. there's blame to go all around here. the prior administration definitely didn't set the current administration up for success, but it's their job when they, you know, get into the seat of power to assess the lay of the land and then make course corrections as necessary. correspondent: she also added that there are still allies of america that are still the in afghanistan, like interpreters that helped americans, some of whom who have gone silent. they have lost communication with them, and many veterans is

looking for a plan from the administration and asking what is their plan to help these people to evacuate now years later. geoff: laura with the latest. thank you so much. ♪ amna: our other lead story tonight, clashes between israeli police and palestinians at a jerusalem holy site have spilled over to lebanon. the israeli military says hamas or islamic jihad militants in lebanon fired 34 rockets into northern israel today. trails of white smoke from those rockets streaked over the city of nahariya. the israelis said they shot down 25 of the rockets, but at least two people were wounded in the barrage. late tonight, the israelis began air strikes against targets in gaza. a short time later, siren

sounded indicating new rocket attacks. to get an update on the latest, we are joined by roman, a staff writer for new york magazine and author of rising: first: the secret history of israeli targeted assassinations. bring us up to speed on the latest we have seen about israeli airstrikes and retaliatory strikes in israel. >> one of the things israel has tried to refrain from and to make sure that it's adversaries are not doing is to have some kind of collective planning, and connecting between the different fronts that israel has to face, and here israel achieved the exact opposite. while something happened in jerusalem, that led to confrontation with hamas in

gaza, and now is a retaliation for both of those hamas is able to fire from lebanon to israel and the most extensive rket barrage since 2006, that is the last time hezbollah had all-out war. it is a deterioration of the situation. the cabinet just finished it session, and it was followed by bombing in gaza, which is now followed by yet another firing of mortars and rockets into israel he cities -- israeli cities in the south. i think israel is trying to reactive but not contribute to a full confrontation. we will see if this is successful. amna: this is progressing quickly. i want to bring people up to

speed. there were israeli police horses that went into a mosque where there were worshipers there. this is the muslim holy month of ramadan coinciding with jews getting to observe passover. is there any sign that could happen again, that there will be further escalation or how israeli forces will continue to respond? >> the mosque is probably the most sensitive place on earth, and anything can provoke further deterioration to violence there. yesterday according to israeli police, many of the worshipers barricaded themselves in one of the rooms, which led to the police breaking in, because the police do not allow anyone to stay overnight inside, which led to weight massive outburst of

violence from both sides. worshipers were injured. many of them were arrested. of course we have the different narratives from both sides, but it is clear israel has done something many israelis including policymakers and intelligence officers advised not to do, which especially not during passover, ramadan, do not touch the most sensitive button in this confrontation, and as expected this just inflamed the region in a further deterioration. i am not sure we see the end of. i would assume that during tomorrow's friday prayer, the most important player of the week, the police will try to do whatever it can not to intervene. there are other elements with

hamas and other elements inside the palestinian public calling for what they call protecting the holy mountain from what they see as israeli or jewish propagation. we haveet to see, this is also israeli domestic politics, whether benjamin netanyahu who for the first time called for a cabinet meeting since january, whether netanyahu will adopt a more moderate line. also suggested and advised by intelligence services in the military or will follow from the most extreme ministers in his own cabinet that are calling for a harsh line, tough hand, and reaction with much force to the different fronts and challenges israeli public and military is facing.

this is all talk of i would say much suspicion toward netanyahu from much of the israeli public that he is ready for confrontation to distract the public. amna: it is a tenuous situation escalating quickly. that is ronana joining us from tel aviv. thank you. ♪ amna: thousands of protesters engulfed the tennessee state capital as a majority of republicans vote to oust three democratic lawmakers. justin pearson, gloria johnson, and justin jones had led

anti-gunrotest from the house for last week. today their supporters surrounded the capitol building and crowded inside as the trio with raised fists entered the house hand-in-hand. the calls for gun control has grown since the school shooting in nashville killed six people, including ree children. the biden administration move today to block states from outright banning transgender athletes in scol sports. the proposed rule would allow limited exceptions. it was issued as the u.s. supreme court allowed a transgender girl in west virginia to compete in girls sports, for now. a lawsuit in her case is pending. china vowed today to take forceful measures after taiwan's president tsai ing-wen met with us house speaker kevin mccarthy, wednesday, in los angeles. chinese coast guard and naval vessels sailed north and south of taiwan today. but beijing said washington and taipei are the ones making trouble. >> the united states and taiwan are colluding with each other,

to condone taiwan independence separatists to engage in political activities in the united states, carry out official exchanges and enhance substantive relations between the united states and taiwan. this move seriously violates the one-china principle. amna: last august, after then-house speaker nancy pelosi visited taiwan, china conducted its largest ve-fire drills in decades. french president emmanuel macron was in china today, urging president xi jinping to help end the war in ukraine. the two leaders and their delegations met in beijing. macron said he encouraged xi to persuade russia to stop the fighting and negotia peace. >> the russian aggression in ukraine has dealt a blow to stability and put an end to decades of peace in europe. i know that i can count on you to bring russia to reason and everyone to the negotiating table.

we need to find a lasting peace that respects internationally recognized borders and avoids any form of escalation. amna: macron said president she agreed there can be no use of nuclear weapons. they are protest raised in france over raising the retirement age from 64. crowds march in paris and other cities to voice their opposition. their overall numbers were down, the police fired tear gas to disperse some of the demonstrations came after talks between unions and the government failed to yield any progress. back in this country, the republican governor of idaho has signed the nation's first abortion trafficng law. the measure bars adults from helping a minor to get an abortion without parental consent. that includes obtaining abortion pills. penalties range from two to five years in prison, and offenders can be sued by the minor's parent or guardian. and on wall street today, stocks finished with small gains before

taking good friday off. the dow jones industrial average added 2 points to close at 33,485. the nasdaq rose 91 points. the s&p 500 was up 14. still to come on the newshour, iran and saudi arabia take a major step toward reconciliation. former us education secretaries weigh in on the widening learning gap. an investigative report unveils how supreme court justice clarence thomas took lavish trips paid for by a gop donor. plus much more. >> this is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. geoff: more than 150 catholic priests and others associated with the archdiocese of baltimore sexually abused over 600 children, often escaping accountability.

that is according to a long-awaited report from the maryland attorney general's office, revealing the horrific scope of abuse and spending some a decades. the report accuses church leaders of decades of cover-ups and paints a damning portrait of the archdiocese which is the oldest roman catholic diocese in the country. anthony brown is the attorney general of maryland and joins us now. thank you for being with us. your investigation found that over 600 young people from preschoolers to young adults suffered sexual abuse and physical torture in some cases by clergy members from the 1940's through 2002. that's the year at which this investigation ended. clergy in some cases preyed on children who were recovering in hospitals. give us a sense of the full picture of depravity and evil that your investigation uncovered in the church. >> that's a tall order in that we interviewed as you mentioned,

close to 600 survivors. many other witnesses, we reviewed hundreds of thousands of documents that were produced to us for the grand jury subpoena by the archdiocese of baltimore. and what we saw and we tried to detail in the report was pervasive abuse by priests, seminarians, deacons and other employees of the archdioce. and this intentional effort by the catholic church hierarchy to conceal this ase. there was physical abuse and and this occurred between the abusers who add positions of power and authority, and some of the most vulnerable people in our society, children, children who are devoted to the catholic church, and yet were abused over and over again by the very people who are entrusted to care

for these children. geoff: on the matter of accountability, only one person has been indicted through this investigation, as i understand it, many of the abusers are now dead, but in the report at least 10 abusers' names are redacted. there are other catholic officials whose names are redacted in the report. but what accounts for that? why are these people's names their identity shielded from public view if the focus is on transparency and accountability? >> where the information that is included in the report came to us solely through the grand jury process, the subpoena documents, and the documents that are subpoenaed to a grand jury are confidential and can only be released upon order of the court. so the circuit court for the city of baltimore has instructed us to redact certain names to give those individuals notice

and an opportunity to review the materials and the context in which their name would be disclose and then they have an opportunity to file objections to the court. and i can assure you that our office will be filing a an argument to disclose those names if the individuals resist that disclosure, but ultimately, it will be the decision of the circuit court of the city of baltimore. geoff: in preparing to speak with you, mr. attorney general, we spoke with david lorenz, he's a maryland state director of the survivors network of those abused by priests also known as snap, and he said that this report gives him some sense of relief. >> vindication is too weak a word and i don't have a better word. it is a release, it is vindication. it's being able to take that off and hand it to someone else and

say this does not -- the weight of this abuse does not belong on me. it belongs on someone else, and it belongs at the foot of the catholic church. geoff: i'm sure you've heard a similar sentiment from many of the survivors that you've spoken with. mr. lorenz wants to know when your office plans to investigate the two other diocese include parts of maryland, the archdiocese of washington dc and the diocese of wilmington delaware, which covers part of the eastern shore. >> i think mr. lorenz for his advocacy on behalf of survivors, i had the privilege to meet with the survivors yesterday in my office before we publicly release this report. and it was clear to me that for many, if not most of the survivors, yesterday was truly a day of reckoning and public accounting, a detailed report of what they had to endure at the time of the abuse and throhout their lives since.

i tried to convey to them that we are listening. we believe them and we will continue to be for them. so four years ago when the investigation was initiated by my predecessor, dr. brian frosh of the archdiocese of baltimore, the attorney general also initiated investigations of the archdiocese of washington dc and the diocese of wilmington, delaware, those investigations are ongoing. we have issued subpoenas. we have not sat idle. my predecessor i think made a important and sound decision to focus on the archdiocese of baltimore so that we could complete that report and make it public as soon as possible. and now we will continue the efforts to investigate the archdiocese of washington dc and of wilmington delaware. geoff: when it comes to holding the archdiocese accountable, priests to abuse children are often known as the archdiocese

get little was done to stop them. there's some reporting by the baltimore sun and they fnd that helpful. in some cases, the church spent more money on services for abusive priests than they did for the actual victims, mental health services and so on. what's the proper remedy? for those who are looking for accountability from the archdiocese of baltimore? >> it is clear that the church valued the denials are the abusers over the claims the , -- the claims, the complaints, the credibility of the abuse. there is no doubt about that. we in our report, laid out two recommendations, one of which was for general assembly to consider eliminating the statute of limitations in civil actions brought by survivors against the abusers and against the archdiocese of baltimore. actually, the way that the legislation was passed just an

hour after we released our report, the general assembly did pass that legislation and in all child abuse cases, there's no longer statute of limitations in the state of maryland. that is a good step forward. it will give those who are were abused, the survivors, an opportunity to bring civil actions against their abusers assuming that they're still alive, and the catholic church. geoff: anthony brown is the attorney general forhe state of maryland. thanks for being with us, sir. >> thank you. amna: saudi arabia and iran are taking a major step to improve relations. at a gathering in china today, the two nations agreed to re-open embassies in each other's capitals. in nearly a decade, the first formal meeting between longtime

rivals. saudi tv show the foreign ministers from iran and saudi arabia signing a landmark deal brokered by beijing to reestablish diplomatic relations. a chinese spokeswoman said the deal could bring peace to the middle east. >> the further improvement of saudi-iranian relations fully demonstrates the willingness and ability of regional countries to take the lead in regional peace and development. amna: it includes the resumption of ties between saudi arabia a iran, at the reopening of embassies and consulates, and the granting of these size of the citizens of two countries. it comes a monthfter riyadh and tehran announced they would normalize relations in a breakthrough that represents beijing's growing influence in the region. relations between the two nations have been a fraud for decades, but officially broke into 1016 when saudi arabia carried out a mass executioof

50 people, including a prominent shiite cleric. in response iranian protesters stormed the saudi embassy in tehran, and we hawed last back -- re-odd -- riyahd last back. -- amna: another thorn in the relationship, the war in yemen. for eight years saudi arabia and iran affect opposite sides of a brutal battle that if guilds -- that have killed hundreds of thousands. rebels seize the capital and took over much of the country. in 2015, iran's sunni archrival mobilized a coalition of their militaries to defeat the group. the men behind saudi arabia's strategy, de facto ruler

mohammad bin salman, who served as defense minister when the war broke out. the u.s. last month expressed optimism that the deal between iran and saudi arabia could be positive. >> we welcome any efforts to end the war in yemen and de-escalate tensions in the middle east region. amna: for decades the u.s. and saudi arabia at close relations, opposed deteriorated over the kingdom's human rights record. and hit a new low in 2018 when a journalist walked into the saudi consulate in istanbul, was murdered and dismembered. the u.s. intelligence community says the operation was approved by mbs himself. the following year candidate joe biden promis punishment. >> we will make them pay the price and make them the pariah that they are. amna: news has sent shockwaves through the region and dealt a

blow to israeli prime minister bennett netanyahu, who estimate the threat posed by iran a personal crusade and hoped for a deal witthe kingdom. >> the ability to fashion normalization and a normal peace with saudi arabia will be a quantum leap, because it will change israel's relationship with the rest of the arab world. amna: for that we turn to vali nasr, he was an adviser at the state department during the obama administration and is now a professor of middle east studies and international affairs at johns hopkins university's school of advanced international studies. put this into context for us. how big a deal is it that these two nations are working to normalize relations? >> it is very important for the middle east. the sour relations between the two was viewed as the most important in the region and also push israel toward an alliance

against iran. the fact that they decided to meant fences reshapes the entire way in which the middle east functions. amna: let's talk about those impacts. what is the approach mean for some of those proxy conflicts we mentioned in the report in yemen, lebanon, and elsewhere? >> the first place it will have an impact is in yemen. today there were rumors the hutis will extend to their cease-fire until december 2023. saudi arabia is been engaged in talks. it once iran to stop supplying them with weapons, put political pressure to agree to a political end to the war, and the thawing of relations makes that much more possible. the military success in yemen, we can think about syria and lebanon and iraq as well. amna: what does this new establishment mean for american and israeli efforts to isolate

iran, to have sanctions on iran, to contain iran's nuclear program. >> the united states policy has been somewhat schizophrenic. it does not want to go to war in the middle east. in pursuit a nuclear deal with iran and focus on ukraine. this is good for the united states. president biden has been on record in saudi arabia saying the most important way to think about the middle east is a very close israeli alliance against iran, and that is everybody together against iran. the fact that it moves so quickly really questions that strategy, and for the israelis it is a net loss. the israelis wanted everyone to focus on iran and forget about the palestinians. the palestinian issue is heating up, so to that extent basically

the way it and the united states approached iran is no longer at play. amna: what about the fact that this meeting took place in beijing and was mediated by china. what does that say to you about china's influence in the region and a region where the u.s. seems to be losing fluence? >> i think it seems a lot. the chinese have vested interest in both iran and saudi arabia. they approach the middle east with the view that they do not want these two sides to fight. it benefits china if they make peace. shows saudi arabia and iran trust china and chinese president and he has been able to deliver. not only get an initial handshake, get more handshakes. it has broad implications for the united states, because it largely says america' s closest allies in the gulf are moving

into an orbit of nonalignment and closer proximity to china, which then will have implications for a variety of other implications the united states has with those countries. amna: in the 30 seconds we have left, i just want to get you assessment of what we are seeing in the way of escalating tensions and conflict between israeli forces and palestinian militants. >> it is very dangerous. we are seeing the palestinian issue come back with a vengeance. president trump assumed the palestinian issue was dead. it is going to be about iran, and now all of the sudden the palestinian issue is making a big comeback, and that will have an impact on the mentality of arab leaders. it is like we are back to the future, back to the time when the palestinian issue was very deciding in middle east affairs. amna: thank you, always good to

see you. ♪ geoff: private jets, lavish trips, and access to exclusive clubs provided to supreme court justice clarence thomas by a dallas businessman and republican megadonor. that's according to exclusive reporting today by propublica. the luxury trips around the globe were valued in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. and all went unreported on justice,'s --hoanc'ma 's' disclosures. josh kaplan is one of the reporters who broke the story. what did you find. >> we found the justice has been taking luxury lavish trips from

a dallas billionaire republican donor virtually every year for over 20 years. so we found private jet flights around the world, international cruises on a super yacht, regular vacations at lambda invitation private resort all in secret, so one recent example is in 2019, the businessmen whose name is harlan crow, flew th omas to indonesia and took him ivan topping for nine days on the super yacht staffed by a private chef and host of stewardesses. geoff: the supreme court did not immediately respond, mr. crow told you he has been friends with justice thomas and his wife are more than 30 years, and that the hospitality he has extended them was no different from the hospitality he extended to his

many other friends. and the statement reads, we have never asked about a pending or lower court case, and the justice is never discussed one, and we have never sought to influence thomas on any legal or political issue. is that statement sufficient based on your reporting? >> there is a broader question of influence here that is very much so an open question. these men have spent a lot of time together over the years, and what they have discussed and whether crow has had lambda influence on tom is whether that is directly or indirectly is not known. crow has never had a case before the supreme court but has vast ideological and financial interests. he has given over $10 million to republican political campaigns justin disclosed donations. he has also given to dark many groups.

we know he has spent a lot of money to groups dedicated to moving the judiciary and the law further to the right, including the federalist society. he sits on the board of major conservative think tanks. there scholars publish scholarships advancing conservative legal theories and to file amicus briefs with the supreme court. geoff: you spoke to a number of experts. what did they conclude upon reviewing your reporting? >> they concluded thomas appears to have violated the disclosure law. there was a law passed after watergate that it requires high-level officials from members of congress to justices of the supreme court to disclose most gifts that they received to the public, and it is actually one of the few binding restrictions on the supreme court justices, and we talked to ethics lawyers, and they said he

appears to have violated it here. geoff: your reporting is prompted frescoes from democrats for the supreme court to adopt as tricks ethics code. there were some calls for th justice to resign. is thomas an outlier, or have other justices to get a vacations provided by the rich and powerful? >> there are two answers to that question. in terms of what is known, there is nothing comparable in terms of the scale of frequency and lavishness coming from a single source. justice scalia took a number of hunting trips with private individuals tacked onto the end of the lecture he was giving at a local bar association or something like that. justices teach in europe and might enjoy themselves while they are therebut this what we found in terms of its scale has

no known precedent in modern history of the court. the fuller answer is that this all happened in secret and was not disclosed. everything we found out about thomas took a lot of work. another way of answering that would be, we are still looking. geoff: josh kaplan, thanks for being with us and sharing your exclusive reporting today. >> thank you for having me. ♪ amna: new research shows the vast majority of k-12 parents believe their kids are performing at grade level when they are actually not. a survey conducted in march 2023 for a group found 90% of parents think their kids are doing fine, but standardized test scores show otherwise. among eighth-graders just 29%

were proficient in reading either at or above their grade level. you do just 26% were considered proficient. they sheds light on what is being called the parent perception gap. to up explained that gap, i am joined by two former secretaries of ecation involved with the study. duncan is now the managing partner with the emerson collective in chicago, and margaret spellings served under president george w. bush and his president and ceo of texas 2030 six, a nonpartisan public policy think take. -- think take. the big question here is why is that gap so big? why do so many parents think their kids are doing better than they actually are? >> one reason is they see report cards that have other data from schools that is different from what we see on standardized test scores.

that is why our national education report card and standardized test scores are an important indicator for parents to understand that along with the fact that they get from report cards. there was a lot to be done to better understand where their children actually stand, and also know help is available to close that gap. amna: we'll talk about that more in just a bit. arnie duncan, did you see the same gap across all ages k-12? >> you do see a gap, and it is not just a perception gap. it is a reality gap, and it breaks my heart. parents are the greatest advocates for children. if they do not know if their child needs more help in reading or math, they do not know what to do, so the fact that we are being dishonest with students but also parents, we are missing a massive opportunity to help

parents help their children to catch up and close these gaps in high school and ultimately college ready to be successful. amna: also those proficiency numbers are alarming. you go city by city in this study, and when you take a look at just reading proficiency in a few cities who looked at here, you see in boston eighth-graders showed a 30% proficiency in rating. 85% of the parents thought they were doing fine. in houston, 92% of parents that their parents were fine. sacramento, 90% of parents believed their kids were proficient. when you look at the numbers were math, they are even more alarming in so many spaces. theurveys were from march of 2023. that tested it was from the end of 2022. how much of this is just due to the pandemic? >> certainly some of it is, and that is why we have to have a

sense of urgency and triage around the perception and the reality gap. also know that the resources sent from the federal government to states to remediate these issues, those funds are expiring in the near future, so the resources are available for parents to get their children help so kids can get caught up and recover those losses. amna: americans did get a huge influx of endemic funding. $190 billion. how much of that is gone toward addressing closing these gaps and bringing up proficiency numbers? >> clearly not enough, and it is a time of unprecedented resources. high dosage tutoring whether it is physically, virtually, hybrid works well. what are children need now is more time.

whether it is after school, weekends, summer school. i think we are in a sprint to april and august, the next four or five months to close this gap is much as we can so children can enter the next school year ready to be successful. there has got to be a massive sense of urgency on this. it is not something we can wait on, discuss or debate. users resources to help kids get to where they need to be. amna: there are some folks who look at the way the money has been spent and they see their art tutoring programs available, virtual help lines, and the uptick has been pretty low. en you just look at staffing shortages, recent numbers from the end of last year it shows 45% of public schools were operating without a full teaching staff. what can parents be advocating for most of them do not seem to be taking up the virtual learning or the help lines now and teaching staff?

>> the one thing great about this project is it elevates resources available through the community. the school district is the first place to turn. those are programs are aligned with the curriculum. this website shows resources available, girls who code, ymca, you name it, community-based organizations that may be the right organization who can help close those gaps. parents have information now where they can understand what i my child's needs? are they in reading or math. third grade, eighth grade. let's get smart and help parents get smarter about what they need and help them find it through school districts or community-based organizations. all of those resources are part of this campaign and easy to access for parents. amna: you and margaret are putting the emphasis on summer programs and tutoring and

outside help. so many educators tell us one of the biggest problems they face right now is mental health and they do not have the resources to address that. shouldn't we be focusing on that equally or more than test scores right now? >> absolutely. this is focused on the ability to read and do math and do arithmetic, algebra. given the massive unprecedented influx of resources into districts, we can absolutely help kids learn and take care of the fear and trauma and social emotional challenges they are facing. we need that for students and teachers and for other adults and principles. go back to your original question, parents are not taking advantage because of these programs because of this reality gap. if they do not understand their children are so far behind. this is true parental empoweent.

would it really means is knowing honestly where your child is and advocating for your child to get where they need to go. thisata can hopefully unlock true parental empowerment. amna: that is arnie duncan and margaret spellings joining us tonight. thank you very much. appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. ♪ amna: next month will see the release of a new album by a nashville artist called peter but to call him simply a one. nashville artist doesn't tell you the half of it. and though he's known as peter one, he's soon to embark on a most extraordinary second act, playing at the grand ole opry . special correspondent tom casciato has the story for our arts and culture series, canvas.

correspondent: here at rockwood music hall in manhattan, nashville's peter one and his band are making nashville guest: sounds. how peter arrived at that sound, well, that's a story. >> i started, you know, loving country music before i came here. but i would say i did not know that it was called country music. correspondent: the 67-year-old grew up in ivory coast, a french-speaking country in west africa where he says the radio exposed him as a kid to all kinds of great music from the region. >> g.g. vikey from benin. eboa lotin from cameroon. correspondent: from france. >> claude francois, mike brant. correspondent: and from the u.s. >> bob dylan, paul simon, james brown, otis redding, wilson pickett, michael jackson, even donny osmond. correspondent: later the great

nashville singers grabbed him. don williams was a favorite. ♪ with influences that varied, maybe it is no surprise that peter one developed a unique style that crisscrosses the ocean musically, with vocals you might hear sung in his native tongue gouro on one song, english on another, french the next. ♪ he got his start in college in abidjan, the ivorian capital, where he met a musical partner, jess sah bi, the duo became a sensation in west africa with their 1985 release our garden needs its flowers. but political turmoil plagued ivory coast. 1990 saw the beginning of pro-democracy protests that would eventually lead to a government crackdown and arrests of the opposition. that was the year, peter says, when he founded the country's first musicians union. >> i was calling people,

explaining what the copyright means, how we can, you know, fight for our own right if we are united. and that thing was good for musicians, but it brought me a lot of trouble on the side because a lot of people were taking advantage of, you know, the chaos. so i became a target. correspondent: a move to the states followed, where he did not make it as a musician, but after a job as a security guard and study at colleges first in delaware and then new jersey, he eventually got a job in music city, not on music row as a performer, but in a hospital as a nurse. when you were in nashville and you were working as a nurse rather than a musician, did you ever feel like i have failed? >> no. when i got this opportunity to be in nashville, i said, wow, god sent me here for a reason. he has a plan for me. let's do it. correspondent: he never stopped playing and writinsongs, and when a rearcher came upon that

1980s album and reissued it on a label called awesome tapes from africa in 2018, it was discovered by the likes of pitchfork, which called it joyful vision of a world without borders. and now, after 20 years of rsing, peter one is finally releasing his first solo album, come back to me. his second crack at stardom, this time, nashvilletyle. one instance is cherie vico, it has a traditional country theme. the singer longs for the return of a lover. but when you learn what the words mean in english, they are not exactly nashville. correspondent: the song is saying, i don't want to separate you from your brother. i don't want to separate you from your father. >> in my culture, when you, a man or woman, you are with someone.

it is not just a person. you are with the whole family because a family is not just , father, mother and children. so the union of two people is actually the union of a group of people. correspondent: so that's you marryingountry music themes to your own thes. >> to my own culture. correspondent: maybe that is why you sound like you and not somebody else. peter recently opened on a tour with popular singer/songwriter jason isbell, including this show at nashville's famed ryman auditorium. but in many ways, his life is no different now than it has been for decades. for one thing, he is always writing songs. >> when i'm doing something that i don't have my guitar nearby, so i go ahead and record it on my cell phone first. correspondent: because you do not want to lose -- >> exactly, because the inspiration comes. if you do not catch it, you forget it, and it never comes back. ♪ >> i was driving.

♪ correspondent: another way things have not changed, he is still got his day job. >> yeah, i am still nursing, because you can work on your own schedule. that can leave me time, you know, to go and do my passion. and nursing is one of the rare jobs that can allow you to do that. correspondent: part-time nursing, guitar picking, country singing with a west african lilt. that is nashville, peter one style. for the pbs newshour, i am tom casciato in new york city. geoff: and that is the newshour for tonight. i am geoff bennett. amna: and i am amna nawaz.

on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by -- >> for 25 euros consumer cellular has been offering no contract plans designed to do more of what people like. our customer service team can help. visit consumer cellular.tv. >> the ford foundation, working with missionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide . ♪ >> and with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. and friends of the newshour. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. ♪ and friends of the newshour.

this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

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