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Wednesday, November 14, 2018

PA Ed Policy Roundup Nov. 14: Pennsylvania once again has a woman in Congress


Daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, Wolf education transition team members, superintendents, school solicitors, principals, charter school leaders, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations, education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

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Pennsylvania once again has a woman in Congress



PA Schools Work Summit Meetings Saturday Nov. 17th 9 to noon
Hundreds of local school and community leaders will come together on Nov. 17, to lead the fight for greater state investment in public education. #TheSummit will be held in seven locations across Pennsylvania from 9-noon on Saturday Nov. 17.



“A large number of veteran lawmakers’ retirements this year means there will be considerable changes in the coming months as committee chairs are selected. Among the openings in the House are the chairs of Judiciary, Finance and Transportation, and in the Senate, the chairs of Education, Judiciary and Transportation.”
State House leadership elections bring change to Harrisburg
AP By MARK SCOLFORO yesterday
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republicans in the state House elevated Rep. Bryan Cutler to be floor leader Tuesday and made Rep. Kerry Benninghoff whip, while Democrats re-elected Minority Leader Frank Dermody and voted for Rep. Jordan Harris as whip. The biggest surprise among the top jobs was Harris, a 34-year-old Philadelphian whose selection reflects the increasing numbers and growing influence of Democrats from the southeast within their caucus. “Let’s be clear, the gains in our caucus were in the southeast,” Harris said after the vote, referring to last week’s election that gave his party a pickup of about 11 House seats. “Our caucus has to represent the membership.” Cutler, a six-term member from southern Lancaster County, had served as whip under current Majority Leader Dave Reed. Reed opted not to seek re-election this year and planned to run for Congress, but ended up redistricted into an incumbent Republican’s territory. Reed announced recently he is taking an executive job at a bank in his Indiana County district. Cutler said Tuesday he was working on plans for the two-year session that begins in January, saying a natural place to begin will be legislation that made headway in the 2017-18 session but did not become law. He listed education bills and regulatory reform among the prime candidates for action early next year. Republicans also elevated Benninghoff, of Centre County, to the vote-gathering position of whip, and returned Rep. Stan Saylor of York County to chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee.
https://apnews.com/c5adab64440049f7a492b0948c9df858

Lancaster County Republican chosen as next state House majority leader
Trib Live by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, 1:48 p.m.
HARRISBURG — Republicans in the Pennsylvania House turned to a six-term member from Lancaster County on Tuesday to serve as their majority leader during the legislative session that starts in January. Meeting behind closed doors, the House GOP caucus elected Rep. Bryan Cutler to the critical job, which includes running floor debates about legislation; chose Rep. Kerry Benninghoff of Centre County for the vote-gathering job of whip, held most recently by Cutler; and returned Rep. Stan Saylor of York County as chair of the powerful Appropriations Committee.
Cutler will succeed Rep. Dave Reed as majority leader. Reed did not seek re-election in hopes of running for Congress, then found himself redistricted into an incumbent’s seat and has taken an executive post at a bank in his Indiana County district. The chamber’s presiding officer, speaker of the House, will be elected in January, when Allegheny County Republican Rep. Mike Turzai is expected to retain that position.
https://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/14288116-74/lancaster-county-republican-chosen-as-next-state-house-majority-leader

In Pa. House, Democrats from Philly and suburbs gain political muscle
Inquirer by Angela Couloumbis, Updated: November 13, 2018- 7:41 PM
HARRISBURG — After nearly a decade of being largely shut out of leadership positions, lawmakers from Philadelphia and its suburbs will soon be flexing political muscle in Democratic circles in the state House of Representatives. On Tuesday, three Philadelphia legislators were elected to leadership spots in the House's Democratic caucus. Rep. Jordan Harris will be the caucus' new whip — the No. 2 leader, whose job is to persuade members to vote on bills important to the party. Rep. Joanna McClinton was chosen to be the caucus chair, and Rep. Rosita Youngblood was reelected to be its secretary. Rep. Matt Bradford of Montgomery County will be the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, through which all bills requiring approval to spend taxpayer money must pass. He is taking over the spot vacated by retiring Rep. Joe Markosek of Allegheny County. As expected, Minority Leader Frank Dermody (D., Allegheny) retained the top leadership job in the caucus.
http://www2.philly.com/philly/news/politics/state/in-pa-house-democrats-from-philly-and-suburbs-gain-political-muscle-20181113.html

“The internal election results mostly-reflected the Democrats big gains in the Philadelphia suburbs this year: In the new legislative session beginning in January, 49 of the caucus’s 93 members will hail from Philadelphia or its four, suburban collar counties. The latter two changes also mark generational shifts for the minority caucus on the House, as both Harris and McClinton are in their 30s, and taken with Rep. Rosita Youngblood’s re-election as caucus secretary, they give African-American members three of the caucus’s seven leadership posts.”
Pa. House Democrats revamp leadership team with Philly tilt
Penn Live By Charles Thompson | cthompson@pennlive.com cthompson@pennlive.com Updated Nov 13, 9:43 PM; Posted Nov 13, 8:56 PM
Pennsylvania’s House Democrats re-elected Pittsburgh Rep. Frank Dermody as their floor leader Tuesday, but otherwise dramatically revamped their 2019-20 leadership team in a reflection of the caucus membership’s dramatic eastward drift. Dermody ran unopposed after an election cycle that saw the caucus pick up 11 seats, for a total of 93 in the 203-seat House. But the rest of the Democrats’ leadership team took on a decidedly more Philadelphian flavor, as city and suburban lawmakers captured three top posts that were open at the start of the day, all previously held by lawmakers from central or western Pennsylvania.
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2018/11/pa-house-democrats-revamp-leadership-team-with-philly-tilt.html#incart_river_index

Pennsylvania once again has a woman in Congress
By Laura Olson Contact Reporter Morning Call Washington Bureau November 13, 2018
The latest era of Pennsylvania having an all-male congressional delegation ended Tuesday evening, when the state’s newest lawmaker on Capitol Hill stood at the front of the U.S. House chamber and raised her right hand. Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon of Delaware County won two elections last week. One is the full two-year term to represent Pennsylvania’s 5th Congressional District beginning in January. She also won a special election to serve out the term of Republican Pat Meehan, who retired early from the former 7th District. That meant Scanlon, along with two other special-election winners from New York and Oklahoma, were sworn in Tuesday evening, joining the 115th Congress for its remaining session days this year. Earlier in the day, a group of reporters clustered outside the hotel where the newly elected legislators are staying asked the civil rights lawyer and former school board member if she was nervous to dive right in, just days after being elected.
https://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/capitol-ideas/mc-nws-pa-congress-scanlon-sworn-in-20181113-story.html

Congresswoman-elect Susan Wild heads to Capitol Hill to learn the ropes
By Laura Olson Contact Reporter Morning Call Washington Bureau November 13, 2018
The Lehigh Valley’s incoming member of Congress walked Tuesday into the Rayburn House Office Building, looked at the security guard and said the magic words. Democratic Congresswoman-elect Susan Wild told the Capitol Police officer she is a “member-elect,” and he waved her around the security line, saying, “Congratulations.” Soon, Wild will have a pin for her jacket signaling her status as a member of the U.S. House, which officers will watch for when she walks on to the House floor to vote. For now, she’s sporting a U.S. House of Representatives lanyard as she races between orientation sessions, meetings with legislators, and receptions with interest groups such as Planned Parenthood and the League of Conservation Voters. For Wild and the more than 80 incoming lawmakers who will join the U.S. House in January, this week’s new-member orientation is a mix of new and old, familiar and information overload.
https://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/capitol-ideas/mc-nws-susan-wild-heads-to-congress-pa-7-story.html

“Guns are a part of the culture here. We have off the first day of buck hunting season — from school, from work, from everything,” said Pinkey, a parent to three children in the school district, in an interview. “We’re not against guns. My husband is very pro-gun, very N.R.A., and even he said these are just not the right hands to be putting weapons into.” In September, Tamaqua’s school board unanimously approved a policy change that would recruit staff to anonymously carry firearms in the district’s four schools after completing a three-and-a-half day training. If the policy is enacted, the district would be the first in the state to have armed teachers in classrooms.”
In Pa. coal country, debate flares over arming teachers to prevent school shootings
WHYY By Jen Kinney November 14, 2018
Nearly three hours into a special meeting about a policy that would ask some staff at the Tamaqua Area School District to carry guns, parent Liz Pinkey read aloud a letter from educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School. They had written to the Pennsylvania State Senate last year, when lawmakers were debating a bill to allow personnel with concealed carry permits to be armed on school property. “We would like to make something clear,” the teachers wrote, “we would not have wanted that option, nor would it have made us or our students safer. In fact, it might have made things even worse.” They signed it, “the surviving educators of the Sandy Hook school massacre.” When Pinkey finished reading, Tamaqua School Board President Larry Wittig replied, referring to the Sandy Hook educators who did not survive, “I would add to that, if we could speak to the six adults who are no longer here, they may have a different opinion.” A shocked groan went up from the crowd of over 150 parents and residents who had gathered in a middle school cafeteria last week to hear perspectives for and against arming staff. It’s become a controversial issue in this small Schuylkill County town in Northeastern Pennsylvania’s coal region, where guns are commonplace but opinions are divided on their role in schools.
https://whyy.org/articles/in-pa-coal-country-debate-flares-over-arming-teachers-to-prevent-school-shootings/

Court mulls case that would make districts liable for ongoing harassment between students
WHYY By Robert Brod November 13, 2018
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court heard arguments Tuesday in a case that could set state precedent, holding school districts liable for ongoing student-on-student harassment. The first hurdle plaintiffs must clear is related to the statute of limitations in the state’s anti-discrimination law. The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act protects people from being discriminated against for things such as race, gender, religion and sexual orientation. But the statute of limitations to file a harassment complaint is six months. In the case heard Tuesday, the plaintiff alleges being bullied and then sexually assaulted by his elementary school classmates for being gender non-conforming, but he waited three years before filing a complaint. The plaintiff is seeking damages from the School District of Philadelphia for failure to intervene to stop the harassment, but first must convince Commonwealth Court judges that the anti-discrimination law allows minors more time to bring a complaint.
https://whyy.org/articles/court-mulls-case-that-would-make-districts-liable-for-ongoing-harassment-between-students/

PSEA mourns the passing of President Dolores McCracken, first education support professional to lead the Association
PSEA Website November 13, 2018
HARRISBURG (Nov. 13, 2018) – Dolores McCracken, president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, died earlier today following a brief battle with cancer. “Dolores McCracken was an excellent PSEA president, a phenomenal woman, and a great friend,” said PSEA Vice President Rich Askey. “Dolores was not just the president of PSEA. She was also part of our family. We will miss her dearly.” Askey said PSEA members from across the commonwealth are mourning the loss. McCracken was a local, region, and statewide PSEA leader for more than two decades, directing her talents and energy toward programs and initiatives that improved both public education and the lives and livelihoods of PSEA members.
https://www.psea.org/press/dolores


I looked for a state that’s taking gun violence seriously. I found Massachusetts.
Massachusetts offers a model for dealing with gun violence that the rest of the country could follow.
Vox.com By German Lopez@germanrlopezgerman.lopez@vox.com  Nov 13, 2018, 7:00am EST
In New Hampshire, the process for buying a gun is easy — easier than getting a driver’s license.
You go to a gun store, you show your ID, and if you pass a background check that looks at your criminal record and some of your mental health history, you can walk out with a firearm. No training required. No registration of the gun. In the great majority of cases, not even a waiting period. Still sound arduous? Well, there’s a workaround: Private sellers — say, a family member or someone online — can sell you a gun without any background check at all. Drive a few miles south to Massachusetts, though, and the process is very different. First off, it doesn’t begin at a gun shop; it begins by obtaining a permit to purchase a gun from your local police department — basically, a gun license. Obtaining this permit is a potentially weeks-long process, which requires paperwork, an interview, a background check, and, even if you pass all of that, the police chief has some discretion to deny the license anyway — if he or she, for example, knows something about your past that may not necessarily show up in your criminal record. Only once you clear that entire process can you go to a gun store. Then, you have to show your license and pass additional background checks. If you do that, you can get your gun, which will have to be registered in a database of all the state’s firearms, the Massachusetts Gun Transactions Portal.
https://www.vox.com/2018/11/13/17658028/massachusetts-gun-control-laws-licenses

No longer just male or female: D.C. schools to give families a third option with ‘non-binary’
Washington Post By Perry Stein November 12 at 8:12 PM
The District’s public school system is slated to become among the first in the nation to let families select “non-binary” — rather than male or female — when indicating the gender of their child on enrollment forms. The option is scheduled to go into effect for the next school year, and school system leaders said it is part of a broader effort to ensure that transgender and non-binary students feel welcome in classrooms in the nation’s capital. “We value the whole child at [D.C. Public Schools], and have worked diligently to ensure our schools are safe and inclusive for all students, staff, and families,” interim chancellor Amanda Alexander said in a statement. “Whether through policies, programs, affinity groups, or our enrollment forms, [D.C. Public Schools] is proud to be a leader in affirming, supporting and welcoming LGBTQ students.”The change comes as the Trump administration has made efforts to limit the federal recognition of transgender people, with the Education Department abandoning Obama-era guidelines that directed public schools to accommodate transgender students.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/no-longer-just-male-or-female-dc-schools-to-give-families-a-third-option-with-nonbinary/2018/11/12/dc34d9e5-a70c-43a1-84b7-bcd6e3acd19b_story.html?utm_term=.05d36ddcb33d


Build on finance, policy, board culture skills at PSBA’s Applied School Director Training
Four convenient locations in December and January
Take the next step in your professional development with Applied School Director Training. Building upon topics broadly covered in New School Director Training, this new, interactive evening event asks district leaders to dive deeper into three areas of school governance: school finance, board policy and working collaboratively as a governance team. Prepare for future leadership positions and committee work in this workshop-style training led by experts and practitioners. Learn how to:
·         Evaluate key finance documents such as budget and audit materials
·         Review and analyze board policies and administrative regulations
·         Build positive board culture by developing strong collaboration skills
Locations and Dates:
Dec.11, 2018 — Seneca Valley SD
Dec. 12, 2018 — Selinsgrove, Selinsgrove Area Middle School
Jan. 10, 2019 — Bethlehem, Nitschmann Middle School
Jan. 17, 2019 — State College
Cost: This event is complimentary for All-Access members or $75 per person with standard membership and $150 per person for nonmembers. Register online by logging in to myPSBA.
https://www.psba.org/2018/11/applied-school-director-training-state-college/

Save the Date:  PARSS Annual Conference May 1-3, 2019
Wyndham Garden Hotel, Mountainview Country Club
Pennsylvania Association of Rural and Small Schools
https://www.parss.org/Annual_Conference

NSBA 2019 Advocacy Institute January 27-29 Washington Hilton, Washington D.C.
Register now
The upcoming midterm elections will usher in the 116th Congress at a critical time in public education. Join us at the 2019 NSBA Advocacy Institute for insight into what the new Congress will mean for your school district. And, of course, learn about techniques and tools to sharpen your advocacy skills, and prepare for effective meetings with your representatives. Save the date to join school board members from across the country on Capitol Hill to influence the new legislative agenda and shape the decisions made inside the Beltway that directly impact our students. For more information contact federaladvocacy@nsba.org. 

2019 NSBA Annual Conference Philadelphia March 30 - April 1, 2019
Pennsylvania Convention Center 1101 Arch Street Philadelphia, PA 19107
Registration Questions or Assistance: 1-800-950-6722
The NSBA Annual Conference & Exposition is the one national event that brings together education leaders at a time when domestic policies and global trends are combining to shape the future of the students. Join us in Philadelphia for a robust offering of over 250 educational programs, including three inspirational general sessions that will give you new ideas and tools to help drive your district forward.
https://www.nsba.org/conference


Any comments contained herein are my comments, alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of any other person or organization that I may be affiliated with.


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