Thursday, February 28, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup Feb. 28: Sonney: “My hopes throughout the course of the next year are that I can generate interest and investigate the cyber issue.”


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Sonney: “My hopes throughout the course of the next year are that I can generate interest and investigate the cyber issue.”


“If my bill passed today, cyber charters would go out of business. More than likely that’s what would happen,” he said. “Right now we have a choice to go to a cyber charter school outside of our public school district. We are not going to ruin that choice if school districts offer next to nothing.” Sonney’s bill is basically sitting in the education committee as a tool, a conversation starter, he said. Sonney is majority chairman of the House Education Committee.
“I’ve proposed the same bill for two prior sessions. But once I was named chairman of the education committee this session, I knew districts would rally around it,” he said. “My hopes throughout the course of the next year are that I can generate interest and investigate the cyber issue. I want to physically see what districts and cyber charters offer. I’m going to assume most public schools don’t have as much programming that is available in the cyber industry today.”
Bills target cyber costs
Altoona Mirror by RUSS O'REILLY Staff Writer roreilly@altoonamirror.com FEB 28, 2019
Proposed legislation would provide financial relief for school districts but could dismantle the cyber charter industry, officials say. There are two proposals, both of which would make a significant impact on local budgets and ultimately taxpayers, Altoona Area School District community relations director Paula Foreman said. Senate Bill 34 introduced in January and House Bill 526 introduced Feb. 19 would eliminate school district payment to cyber charter schools if the student’s district of residence offers a cyber-based program. Altoona Area School District pays over $2 million per year to cyber charter schools, Foreman said, so the savings if the legislation passes would be astronomical. However, Rep. Curtis Sonney, R-Erie, doesn’t plan on pushing his House Bill 526 through the education committee without thoroughly investigating the viability of school districts’ cyber programs.

Blogger note: Total cyber charter tuition paid by PA taxpayers from 500 school districts for 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 was over $1.6 billion; $393.5 million, $398.8 million, $436.1 million and $454.7 million respectively.
Over the next several days we will continue rolling out cyber charter tuition expenses for taxpayers in education committee members and legislative leadership districts.
In 2016-17, taxpayers in Senate Majority Caucus Administrator .@SenatorKimWard’s districts had to send over $10.6 million to chronically underperforming cybers that locally elected school boards never authorized. SB34 (Schwank) or HB526 (Sonney) could change that.
Data source: PDE via @PSBA


Derry Area SD
$810,760.44
Franklin Regional SD
$696,213.95
Greater Latrobe SD
$810,985.74
Greensburg Salem SD
$1,108,610.19
Hempfield Area SD
$1,782,875.00
Ligonier Valley SD
$1,467,647.04
Mount Pleasant Area SD
$973,980.02
Norwin SD
$0.00
Penn-Trafford SD
$1,633,146.97
Jeannette City SD
$763,511.52
Yough SD
$611,683.99

$10,659,414.86


How much could your school district and taxpayers save if there were statewide flat tuition rates of $5000 for regular ed students and $8865 for special ed.? See the estimated savings by school district here.
Education Voters PA Website February 14, 2019


Has your state representative cosponsored HB526?

Philly school board to take its first votes on applications for new charter schools
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: February 27, 2019- 5:31 PM
In its first chance to expand or curb Philadelphia’s field of charter schools, which enroll about one-third of the city’s public-school pupils, the school board is expected to vote Thursday on three new applications. If approved, Frederick Douglass Charter High School, proposed for Francisville; Joan Myers Brown Academy, for West Philadelphia; and Tacony Academy at St. Vincent’s, Tacony, could open this fall and eventually serve 2,300 students. About 70,000 students are already enrolled in the city’s 87 charters, which are publicly funded but independently run and are a continued source of debate in Philadelphia. Charter advocates say parents need more options and have a new statistic to highlight: 30,000 students applied to city charter schools this year through a new online system. Supporters of traditional public schools, meanwhile, say the district — and taxpayers — can’t afford more charters. In Pennsylvania, they are funded by school districts, who pay charters based on enrollment and what the districts spend per pupil. While public schools no longer have to educate students who leave for charters, research shows districts still incur charter-related expenses. Over the five-year initial term, the three new charters would saddle the district with $42 million in so-called stranded costs — the difference between those carryover expenses and what the district would save in per-pupil expenses, according to Temple University law Professor Susan DeJarnatt.

Pittsburgh Public rejects charter application from Imani Christian Academy
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by ELIZABETH BEHRMAN Lbehrman@post-gazette.com FEB 27, 2019 9:34 PM
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board on Wednesday night unanimously rejected an application from Imani Christian Academy to become a charter school.  At a previous meeting to discuss Imani’s charter application, school board members cited issues with the school’s proposed curriculum and questioned whether it would meet the requirements of students with special needs. And district administrators tasked with reviewing the application and making a recommendation to the board said they had concerns about Imani’s ability to completely drop its “deeply embedded” Christian curriculum. Representatives for Imani did not respond to requests for comment. In Pennsylvania, new charter schools must get the approval of the school board from the district in which the charter would be located. If the home school district does not approve an application, that decision can be appealed to the Pennsylvania Charter Appeals Board.

How Pa.’s House delegation voted on that gun background check bill
PA Capital Star By  John L. Micek February 27, 2019
The majority-Democrat U.S. House voted 240-190 Wednesday to approve the first, major piece of standalone gun-control legislation to come before the chamber in two decades. The bill, which requires universal background checks on all firearms purchases, now goes to the Senate for consideration. President Donald Trump has threatened to veto the legislation.
Here’s how every member of Pennsylvania’s U.S. House delegation voted on the bill, and their public statements on it, if applicable.

House approves first major new gun bill in a generation, signaling political shift
Inquirer by Jonathan Tamari, Updated: February 27, 2019- 5:16 PM
WASHINGTON — In a vote illustrating the changing politics around guns, the House on Wednesday passed a bill to expand background checks to all firearms purchases, the first time in 20 years that either chamber in Congress has approved a significant expansion of gun laws. After weeks consumed by the government shutdown and jousting with President Donald Trump, Democrats used the vote to make one of their first major policy statements as the House majority — showing that they now see tougher gun laws as a central part of their appeal to voters, even in swing districts. The bill passed 240-190, with support from eight Republicans. The vote also reflects the shift of power on Capitol Hill, with Democrats now in position to push proposals that couldn’t get a hearing under GOP control. All but two House Democrats supported the measure to expand background checks, including dozens of newly elected lawmakers from competitive suburban districts. Reps. Andy Kim and Jeff Van Drew, of South Jersey, and Conor Lamb, of Western Pennsylvania, represent districts Trump won, yet were among the 232 House cosponsors.

Gun background check bill clears U.S. House, but is unlikely to advance in GOP-controlled Senate
Laura Olson Contact Reporter Morning Call Washington Bureau February 27, 2019
The newly Democratic U.S. House on Wednesday approved the chamber’s first major gun control legislation since the 1990s, sending to the Senate a bill seeking to tighten rules for background checks on gun purchases. Supporters of tougher gun laws heralded the 240-190 result, even as the legislation faces an uphill climb in the Republican-controlled Senate, where GOP leaders have said they are unlikely to take it up. Unlike the House, the Senate has repeatedly wrestled with gun legislation following recent mass shootings, most prominently in 2013, when Pennsylvania Republican Pat Toomeyand West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin pushed to expand background checks following bloodshed at Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School. Since then, Republicans have gained control of the U.S. Senate. Roughly one-quarter of the senators who supported the Toomey-Manchin measure in 2013 are no longer in the Senate, and most have been replaced by more conservative successors. Two of the four Republicans who backed that bill — Toomey and Susan Collins of Maine — remain in office.

Auditor General: Wilkinsburg schools have hope ‘for first time in generation’
Trib Live by JAMIE MARTINES   | Wednesday, February 27, 2019 4:01 p.m
The Wilkinsburg School District is finally heading in the right direction, state Auditor General Eugene DePasquale announced Wednesday. “We now have some hope in the Wilkinsburg School District, I think for the first time in probably a generation,” DePasquale said, unveiling the results of a recent audit, which covers July 2013 through June 2017. That’s not to say the district, which was placed in financial watch status by the state Department of Education in 2013, is in the clear. The audit released Wednesday shows that in July 2013, shortly after being placed in financial watch status and while the district was struggling to meet day-to-day operational costs, the district entered into what DePasquale described as a “risky” tax collection deal by bundling delinquent real estate taxes into “a payday type loan.”

Strikes come at a time when teachers are more undervalued than ever | Opinion
Opinion by David Klein, for the Inquirer Updated: February 27, 2019 - 10:48 AM
David Klein is 28-year veteran public high school teacher of history and political science in the Philadelphia suburbs.
The nationwide wave of teachers strikes has now lasted a year. Oakland, Calif., teachers went on strike last Thursday, and this week, faculty at the Community College of Philadelphia authorized their union to call a strike vote if their contract isn’t updated within three weeks. Critics of such strikes, including ones printed in this paper, have fallen back on familiar myths to attack these teachers. They claim that teachers and the unions supporting them only care about money and power, that teachers and schools are the reasons students don’t graduate, and that charter schools are the panacea solution. None of that could be further from the truth. I have taught in one of the best private prep schools in the Philadelphia area and have also taught for the last 26 years in one of the best public school districts in Pennsylvania. In my experience, teachers do this job because we want to see a student’s light bulb go on, or we love to impart knowledge, or we want to coach the skills we believe students will need for their future — even when this work comes at our expense while blame is cast in our direction.

West Mifflin Area students ask board to add transgender students to discrimination policy
Post Gazette by DEANA CARPENTER FEB 28, 2019 12:00 AM
The West Mifflin Area High School Gay-Straight Alliance wants to see a change in the school district’s nondiscrimination policies to include transgender students. Students Cloe Loosz and Allyson Kowalczyk, members of the Gay-Straight Alliance at West Mifflin Area High School told the board at a Feb. 21 meeting that they want to make sure transgender students have the same protection against discrimination as any other student. Cloe and Allyson want the board to make the policy change by the beginning of the next school year. The board’s current policy, which was adopted in 1992 and revised in 1999, states that the board will “provide an equal opportunity for all students to achieve their maximum potential through the programs offered in the schools regardless of race, color, creed, religion, sex, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin or handicap/disability.” Cloe and Allyson said they want gender identity and expression included in the board’s nondiscrimination policy.

Tonight: Elanco to discuss student privacy after backlash over transgender boy's bathroom use
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer February 28, 2019
Four Eastern Lancaster County school board members will discuss student privacy tonight following a public outcryover a transgender student’s desire to use the boys’ restrooms and locker room at Garden Spot High School. Details of the meeting — the first of at least three — are yet to be ironed out, as of Wednesday evening. Here’s what you may have missed up to this point.
What’s the issue? Administrators have allowed a high school student who was born female but identifies as male to use the boys’ restrooms and locker room this year. The district has added private changing stalls to the boys’ locker room and made available an alternative locker room for students who are uncomfortable changing in the same area as the transgender student. In response to a public outcry over how it’s accommodated the student, the district created a four-member committee to review student privacy districtwide.

Philly students call for Green New Deal, citing a spike in ‘heat days’
The notebook by Catalina Jaramillo WHYY NEWS February 27 — 12:12 pm, 2019
Abigail Leedy is a senior at Central High School in Philadelphia. For the last few weeks, she and other climate justice activists have been visiting congressional offices in the city, asking for support for the Green New Deal. “We have about 15 people here today because we want Dwight Evans to co-sponsor this resolution now,” said Leedy, standing outside of Democratic U.S. Rep. Evans’ office in North Philadelphia. Nationwide, only 84 house representatives and 11 senators have signed on as co-sponsors of the ambitious proposal to tackle climate change that was introduced by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass. The only member of Pennsylvania’s delegation to support the resolution to date is Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle from Northeast Philadelphia. But Leedy and other local members of a nationwide youth-led group called The Sunrise Movement are determined to change that. The group spearheaded the Green New Deal and won Ocasio-Cortez’s support. Now they are giving senators and representatives in the state until Tuesday to get on board or risk sit-ins like those that the Occupy movement has used.

More than 100 pack meeting on proposed new school in Clifton
Delco Times By Kevin Tustin ktustin@21st-centurymedia.com February 27, 2019
UPPER DARBY — The Upper Darby School Board is inching closer to building the district’s first new school in almost 50 years, following a contentious committee meeting Tuesday that helped to move the process along. Moved out of the finance and operations committee was consensus to put to a board vote on March 12 approval to begin draft phase 1 design and documentation work for the proposed middle school in Clifton Heights. This work is a starting point to get a clearer picture about the design of the school and traffic and environmental impacts for the proposed 150,000 square foot school building and reconfigured recreational fields on a piece of district-owned land along North Springfield Road. The cost of phase 1 work is estimated at $2.5 million for a project that is estimated at least $60 million. As noted a number of times by the board and district administrators, approving phase 1 work to draw up schematics for the project does not approve the construction of such a building. Any approval for such work would follow an Act 34 hearing sometime before the end of the year with bidding to start in 2020. Consensus to move the work ahead for board approval came after three hours of cheers and jeers from the public during the first official presentation of the plans on Tuesday night. More than 30 people of the more than 100 in attendance at the auditorium of Beverly Hills Middle School gave public comment on the matter, most not in favor of the district using the land full of athletic fields by putting a school, with better fields, in its place.


$23 Billion Funding Gap Exists Between White and Nonwhite School Districts, Report Finds
New York Times By Sarah Mervosh Feb. 27, 2019
School districts that predominantly serve students of color received $23 billion less in funding than mostly white school districts in the United States in 2016, despite serving the same number of students, a new report found.  The report, released this week by the nonprofit EdBuild, put a dollar amount on the problem of school segregation, which has persisted long after Brown v. Board of Education and was targeted in recent lawsuits in states from New Jersey to Minnesota. The estimate also came as teachers across the country have protested and gone on strike to demand more funding for public schools. “You can tell these dollars make a difference,” said Rebecca Sibilia, the chief executive of EdBuild, a nonpartisan organization focused on improving the way states fund public education. “Walk into a rural nonwhite community,” she said. “Walk into an urban nonwhite school district. You can see what that means in terms of how much that has added up over time.” The report took aim at school district borders, which it said can chop up communities and wall off wealthier districts to fund their schools with local property tax revenue, while poorer districts are unable to generate the same revenue. “Because schools rely heavily on local taxes, drawing borders around small, wealthy communities benefits the few at the detriment of the many,” the report said. The report, which looked at state and local funding for school districts in the 2015-16 school year, found that more than half of the nation’s schoolchildren are in racially concentrated districts, where over 75 percent of students are either white or nonwhite.

Why White School Districts Have So Much More Money
NPR by CLARE LOMBARDO February 26, 20192:00 PM ET
In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education that segregated public schools are unconstitutional. In 2018, on the 64th anniversary of that ruling, a lawsuit filed in New Jersey claimed that state's schools are some of the most segregated in the nation. That's because, the lawsuit alleged, New Jersey school district borders are drawn along municipality lines that reflect years of residential segregation. The idea that school district borders carry years of history is the premise of a new report from the nonprofit EdBuild, which studies the ways schools are funded in the U.S. The report starts with a number: $23 billion. According to EdBuild, that's how much more funding predominantly white school districts receive compared with districts that serve mostly students of color. "For every student enrolled, the average nonwhite school district receives $2,226 less than a white school district," the report says. EdBuild singles out 21 states — including California, New Jersey and New York — in which mostly white districts get more funding than districts composed primarily of students of color.

Betsy DeVos Pushes New Federal Tax Credit to Expand School Choice
Education Week Politics K12 Blog By Alyson Klein on February 28, 2019 3:30 AM
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has had trouble selling her school choice agenda in Washington, is throwing her weight behind new legislation to establish a federal tax credit to expand choice, a senior department official said. The measure, which faces long odds in Congress, would offer a new federal tax credit for individuals and companies that donate to organizations offering scholarships to students. Under the plan, states would get to decide how big those scholarships are, which students and organizations would be eligible for them, and what could they could be used for. Traditionally, tax-credit scholarship programs, which are on the books in 18 states, help low-income students or students in special education attend a private school. But under the proposal, states could also decide to direct them to apprenticeships, industry certifications, online learning, early-childhood education, dual-enrollment courses, home schooling, transportation costs for intradistrict choice, and more, the official said.   he legislation, sponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., is likely to run into major opposition from public educators and a tough road in Congress, where Democrats control the U.S House of Representatives. Even Republican lawmakers have been skeptical of broadening the federal role in K-12 education to advance choice. In fact, opposition from conservatives helped doom a previous, behind-the-scenes attempt to create a similar program back in 2017.  

America's students deserve freedom to choose their education options: DeVos, Cruz, Byrne
USA Today Opinion by Betsy DeVos, Ted Cruz and Bradley Byrne, Opinion contributors Published 3:15 a.m. ET Feb. 28, 2019
We propose that students should be free to learn in ways that work for them, no matter where they pursue their education or how they learn.
What should determine the quality of a child’s educational experiences? Her family income? His home address? The luck of the draw? Or should every child in America — regardless of those things a student cannot control — have opportunities to learn in places and grow in ways that work best for him or her? We believe that every student deserves a great education, because we believe that every student has the innate potential to change the world, if given opportunities. Today, too many young Americans are denied those opportunities. The numbers tell a grave story. We’re 24th in reading, 25th in science and 40th in math when compared with the rest of the world. That’s not because our students aren’t capable of being No. 1. They are. But our government’s antiquated approach to education limits their ability to achieve their true potential. A series of administrations on both sides of the aisle have tried to fill in the blank with more money and more control, each time expecting a different result. Just keep trying to fix the same problem the same way over and over again, and then try to tell us you’re not insane.

“There it was: “Look, if it’s public dollars, it’s public education.” And DeVos was quick to tweet her support, saying, "Completely agree, @GovRonDesantis.”
Betsy DeVos and her allies are trying to redefine ‘public education.' Critics call it ‘absurd.'
Florida’s new governor is right on board
Washington Post Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss February 28 at 6:00 AM
In September 1875, President Ulysses S. Grant traveled to Des Moines, where he gave a speech that said in part: "Encourage free schools and resolve that not one dollar of money appropriated to their support no matter how raised, shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that either the state or Nation, or both combined shall support institutions of learning sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school education, unmixed with sectarian, pagan or atheistical tenets. Leave the matter of religion to the family circle, the church and the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.” hat was long the consensus of what “public education" means in the United States: common schools open to all and funded, operated and governed by the public through local governments. Now, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her allies are pushing their own definition of public education, as new Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) did this month, to the secretary’s delight. On Feb. 15, DeSantis gave a news conference about his plan for a school voucher-like program that would use public money for private and religious school tuition, an expansion of the “school choice” options already available in the state. He said: “An important point to make is, you know, we talk about, ‘This is public school, this is charters.' Look, if it’s public dollars, it’s public education. . . . In Florida, public education is going to have a meaning that is directed by the parents, where the parents are the drivers because they know what’s best for their kids."


“BACKPACK FULL OF CASH” DOCUMENTARY You Are Invited to A Free Screening presented by BASD Proud Parents and the Bethlehem Area School District MARCH 21, 6:30pm – 8:00pm  NITSCHMANN MIDDLE SCHOOL Discussion to Follow
“BACKPACK FULL OF CASH” DOCUMENTARY – Narrated by Academy Award-winning actor, Matt Damon, BACKPACK explores the real cost of privatizing America’s public schools. Before the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the appointment of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, filmmakers Sarah Mondale and Vera Aronow couldn’t have known that the new administration would dramatically shift the national debate about education to the very issues at the heart of their film: charter schools, vouchers and privatization. Now, this timely new documentary takes viewers into the world of market-based education “reform”.
BACKPACK FULL OF CASH follows the tumultuous 2013-14 school year in Philadelphia and other cities where public education – starved of resources and undermined by privatization – is at risk. The documentary also showcases a model for improving schools – a well-resourced public school system in Union City, New Jersey, where poor kids are getting a high-quality education without charters or vouchers. BACKPACK FULL OF CASH makes the case for public education as a basic civil right. The film features genuine heroes like the principals, teachers, activists, parents and most hearteningly, students who are fighting for their education. Former Assistant Secretary of Education Diane Ravitch, writer David Kirp and policy expert Linda Darling Hammond are among the national thought leaders who provide analysis in the film.

2019 State of Education report now online
PSBA Website February 19, 2019
The 2019 State of Education report is now available on PSBA.org in PDF format. The report is a barometer of not only the key indicators of public school performance, but also the challenges schools face and how they are coping with them. Data reported comes from publicly available sources and from a survey to chief school administrators, which had a 66% response rate. Print copies of the report will be mailed to members soon.

PSBA Members - Register for Advocacy Day at the Capitol in Harrisburg Monday April 29, 2019
All PSBA-members are invited to attend Advocacy Day on Monday, April 29, 2019 at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. In addition, this year PSBA will be partnering with the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units (PAIU) and Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators (PASA) to strengthen our advocacy impact. The focus for the day will be meetings with legislators to discuss critical issues affecting public education. There is no cost to attend, and PSBA will assist in scheduling appointments with legislators once your registration is received. The day will begin with a continental breakfast and issue briefings prior to the legislator visits. Registrants will receive talking points, materials and leave-behinds to use with their meetings. PSBA staff will be stationed at a table in the main Rotunda during the day to answer questions and provide assistance. The day’s agenda and other details will be available soon. If you have questions about Advocacy Day, legislative appointments or need additional information, contact Jamie.Zuvich@psba.org  Register for PSBA Advocacy Day now at http://www.mypsba.org/
PSBA members can register online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you need assistance logging in and registering contact Alysha Newingham, Member Data System Administrator at alysha.newingham@psba.org or call her at (717) 506-2450, ext. 3420

Board Presidents’ Panel
Learn, discuss, and practice problem solving with school leader peers facing similar or applicable challenges. Workshop-style discussions will be facilitated and guided by PSBA experts. With the enormous challenges facing schools today, effective and knowledgeable board leadership is essential to your productivity and performance as a team of ten.
Locations & Dates
Due to inclement weather, some dates have been rescheduled. The updated schedule is below.
Feb. 28, 2019 — St. Marys Area High School (Section 2)(Rescheduled from Jan. 31)
Mar. 28, 2019 — Crawford Cty CTC (Section 1)(Rescheduled from Jan. 30)

PSBA Sectional Meetings - Ten convenient locations in February and March
School safety and security is a complex, multi-perspective topic impacting school entities in dramatic ways. This complimentary PSBA member meeting featured in ten locations will offer essential updates and information on Safe2Say reporting, suicide awareness related to student safety, school climate, and emergency preparedness planning. Representatives from the Attorney General’s office, PEMA, and a top expert in behavioral health will be presenting. Updates on legislation impacting your schools will be presented by PSBA staff. Connect with the experts, have your questions answered, and network with other members.
Locations and Dates
Section Meetings are 6-8 p.m. (across all locations).
Register online by logging in to myPSBA.

Open Board Positions for 2019 PA Principals Association Election
Thursday, January 10, 2019 9:05 AM
Margaret S. (Peg) Foster, principal, academic affairs, in the Crestwood School District, has been appointed by President Michael Allison to serve as the chairperson of the 2019 PA Principals Association Nominations Committee to oversee the 2019 election. Her committee consists of the following members: Curtis Dimmick, principal in the Northampton Area School District; Jacqueline Clark-Havrilla, principal in the Spring-Ford School District; and Joseph Hanni, vice principal in the Scranton School District.   If you are interested in running for one of the open board positions (shown below) in the 2019 election, please contact Stephanie Kinner at kinner@paprincipals.org or (717) 732-4999 for an application. Applications must be received in the state office by Friday, February 22, 2019.

Pennsylvania schools work – for students, communities and the economy when adequate resources are available to give all students an equal opportunity to succeed.
Join A Movement that Supports our Schools & Communities
PA Schools Work website
Our students are in classrooms that are underfunded and overcrowded. Teachers are paying out of pocket and picking up the slack. And public education is suffering. Each child in Pennsylvania has a right to an excellent public education. Every child, regardless of zip code, deserves access to a full curriculum, art and music classes, technical opportunities and a safe, clean, stable environment. All children must be provided a level chance to succeed. PA Schools Work is fighting for equitable, adequate funding necessary to support educational excellence. Investing in public education excellence is the path to thriving communities, a stable economy and successful students.
http://paschoolswork.org/

Indiana Area School District Safety & Security Symposium March 15, 2019
Indiana Area School District Website
Background: It’s 2019, and school safety has catapulted as one of the top priorities for school districts around the country. With an eye toward providing educators with various resources and opportunities specific to Pennsylvania, the Indiana Area School District -- in collaboration with Indiana University of Pennsylvania, PA Representative Jim Struzzi, and as well as Indiana County Tourist Bureau-- is hosting a FREE safety and security symposium on March 15, 2019. This safety and security exchange will provide information that benefits all stakeholders in your education community: administrators, board members, and staff members alike. Presenters offer valuable resources to help prepare your organization to continue the discussion on safety and security in our schools.  Pre-registration is required, and you will be invited to choose the breakout sessions that you feel will have the most impact in your professional learning on these various topics, as well as overall impact on your District’s systems of operations. Please take time to review the various course breakout sessions and their descriptions.  Don’t miss this opportunity to connect and learn.
How to Register: Participants attending the Safety Symposium on March 15, 2019, will have the option to select a maximum of 4 breakout sessions to attend on this day.  Prior to the breakout sessions, attendees will hear opening remarks from former Secretary of Education - Dr. Gerald Zahorchak.  We want to empower the attendees to exercise their voice and choice in planning their day!  Please review the various break out session descriptions by clicking on the "Session Descriptions" on the right-hand side of this page.  On that page, you will be able to review the sessions offered that day and register for the symposium.  
https://www.iasd.cc/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1491839&type=d&pREC_ID=1637670

Annual PenSPRA Symposium set for March 28-29, 2019
Pennsylvania School Public Relations Association Website
Once again, PenSPRA will hold its annual symposium with nationally-recognized speakers on hot topics for school communicators. The symposium, held at the Conference Center at Shippensburg University, promises to provide time for collegial sharing and networking opportunities. Mark you calendars now!
We hope you can join us. Plans are underway, so check back for more information.
http://www.penspra.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

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


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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