Tuesday, September 17, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup Sept. 17, 2019 A clash on cyber charters kicks off fall legislative session in Harrisburg


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PA Ed Policy Roundup Sept. 17, 2019


“Because costs to cyber educate a student are less than $5,000 per student, far less than the cost in traditional public schools or brick and mortar charter schools, this report finds that Pennsylvania’s current system for funding cyber charter schools wastes over $290 million in taxpayer money each year.”
New Report: Cyber Charter Waste Grows to $290 Million in Taxpayer Money Annually
Education Voters PA Published by EDVOPA on September 16, 2019
Education Voters of PA issued this press release about the cyber charter school funding report we released on Monday, September 16. The report has been updated with 2017-2018 cyber charter school expenditure data.
Updated cyber charter funding report finds taxpayer money wasted on Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools grows to $290 million per year
HARRISBURG, PA (September 16, 2019) – Education Voters of PA, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, statewide public education advocacy organization, issued a report that finds school district payments to cyber charter schools increased to $519 million in 2017-2018. “There is an urgent need for the PA legislature to work with Governor Wolf and take immediate action this fall to match cyber charter school tuition rates to the actual cost of educating a student at home on a computer,” said Susan Spicka, Executive Director of Education Voters of PA.

“Amid a larger push by Gov. Tom Wolf to reform charter school policy, a bipartisan interest has grown to amend the rules and funding methods of cyber charters.”
A clash on cyber charters kicks off fall legislative session in Harrisburg
WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent September 16, 2019
Stefaine D’Amico says her oldest son Bobby was bullied relentlessly at the public and Catholic schools he’d attended. “The bullying just took over. That’s all he cared about,” she said. “He would go to school and sit there like, ‘Oh my god are they looking at me? Are they gonna say something?’” For sixth grade, the Delaware County mom decided to send Bobby to a cyber charter school, where he could learn online from home. She says the cyber school has been a godsend, providing Bobby the refuge needed to focus on academics. He’s now a senior and he’s thriving, D’Amico says, who has also enrolled her other two children in cyber charters. On the other side of the state, Beth Pacoe, also a mother of three, had a much different experience. The family had tried public and private schools in Pittsburgh but didn’t like either. She hoped cyber school would be the right fit for her son Preston. Preston, like Bobby, started at a cyber charter school in sixth grade, but he left after just a few months. Distance learning required too much independence, Pacoe says. And she ended up having to hover over him to ensure he did the work. “I was playing bad cop all the time,” she said. Public school superintendents say they see this dynamic too often. Families leave for a cyber charter and return in a few months or a couple of years. Returning kids, they often claim, come back months or years behind academically.

“What’s at issue here is not just the money spent, but the results. Charters were established to allow freedom and innovation that could ultimately improve all public education, but that promise has remained unfulfilled. On academic performance, the results are also a mixed bag. Some individual schools do very well, but too many fall short of traditional public schools. And a recent Center for Research on Education Outcomes report from Stanford University pointed to dismal performance of cyber charters.”
Will Governor Wolf finally bring change to charter school law? | Editorial
The Inquirer Editorial Board opinion@inquirer.com Updated: September 13, 2019 4:58 AM
Twenty-two years after its enactment, Pennsylvania’s charter school law may finally see some long overdue revisions. Last month, Gov. Tom Wolf issued a set of rule changes to the 1997 law that calls for more accountability, a formalization of applications, and tighter ethical guidelines. A legislative package should follow soon. Some charter advocates are not happy, and not just because Wolf referred to charters in terms of “the privatization of public education,” but because he also wants to charge charters fees for financial disputes they have with districts. While we are tempted to criticize Wolf for taking so long to act, the fact is, until Wolf, the state has had four governors since the charter law was first passed who have done nothing — or in some cases, worse than nothing — to make necessary amendments to the charter law. Meanwhile, growth of the sector has been explosive. Almost 9 percent of students in the state — about 140,000 — are now charter-educated, to the tune of $1.5 billion a year.

What We Should Ask About Charter Schools
Forbes by John Ewing Contributor Sep 14, 2019, 01:52pm
I am a mathematician, currently president of Math for America, writing about math and science education.
Charter schools are contentious. Most people sort themselves into one of two camps — fierce proponents or fierce opponents. Teachers, both in and out of charters, sort themselves as well, although less fiercely than the general public. That tells us something. Both sides include thoughtful people of good-will. Charter advocates point out that some neighborhood schools, especially serving disadvantaged students, provide poor education. Attempts to improve the schools failed; families are desperate. Charters offer a seemingly miraculous alternative. Charters were once envisioned as laboratories in which one could experiment with innovations that district schools might subsequently adopt. Everyone wins when if that happens. Opponents point out that innovations seldom happen. (Longer school days, school uniforms, and "no excuses" are not innovations!) In any case, charters make little effort to interact with district schools to spread ideas. While some charters are excellent, high test scores are frequently the result of selection bias, not in admissions but in retention. Almost without exception, the cohorts of charters dramatically decrease in size as students leave or are expelled. And some charters are dreadful, run by unscrupulous entrepreneurs who see schools as a way to profit from rather than to serve the community.

Pa.'s charter schools say Gov. Wolf is attacking them and trying to limit choices for parents
While waiting for legislative action to reform Pennsylvania's charter school law, Gov. Tom Wolf is pressing ahead with changes through executive actions.
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated Sep 16, 12:41 PM; Posted Sep 16, 5:30 AM
Gov. Tom Wolf has touted the decision to charge new fees on charter schools and prospective cyber charter schools as a necessary financial step but critics don’t see it that way. Advocates of these independent public schools see Wolf’s move as another attempt to try to limit school-choice options in Pennsylvania. Wolf last week announced plans to begin this school year charging charter schools $15 every time they turn to the state Department of Education to help them settle a funding dispute with school districts. He also announced a new $86,000 fee on new cyber charter school applicants to cover the department’s cost of reviewing their applications, starting Jan. 1. Until now, those services have been provided for free. But the department claims that dealing with the funding disputes has consumed thousands of hours of department staff’s time. The state has seen a growth in the number of charter schools – 180 at last check – and their student enrollments continue to rise, now topping 137,000.

“Research shows that Pennsylvania’s charter schools deliver mixed results for their students. A 2019 Stanford University study found that brick-and-mortar charter school students did better in reading than their traditional public school counterparts. The gains were even higher among black and Hispanic charter students. Those outcomes don’t hold, however, for the students in cyber charter schools, who take most of their courses online.  Those children experience the equivalent of nearly a year less of instruction in math and reading than traditional public school students, Stanford researchers found.  Charter school critics point to those outcomes to argue that Pennsylvania must rein in the growing cyber charter sector, which consists of 15 online schools that perennially log some of the lowest test scores and student attendance rates in the state.”
During Capitol rally, charter school parents, students vow to push back against Wolf’s proposed reforms
PA Capital Star By  Elizabeth Hardison  September 16, 2019
Busloads of Pennsylvania charter school students and their families gathered in the state Capitol on Monday, just in time for the end of lawmakers’ summer recess, as they reignited an annual debate over how the state pays for the privately run, publicly funded institutions.  Charter school proponents who packed the ornate rotunda came armed with a very specific grievance: Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposal to impose new rules on charter schools, which enroll more than 140,000 children and control $1.8 billion in taxpayer money. Wolf announced a series of executive actions in July imposing new fees and ethics requirements on charter schools. Public school districts would also be authorized to limit enrollment to low-performing charters. The proposed regulations would be the first substantive reforms to the charter sector since the General Assembly passed Pennsylvania’s charter school law in 1997. But Wolf’s executive power is limited, and he can only affect change in the charter sector through rule-making. The Republican-controlled General Assembly would have to pass a law to change how charter schools are funded — a top priority for many public school advocates.

Parents, students protest charter school reform plans
Erie News Now By CHELSEA KOERBLER Monday, September 16th 2019, 6:57 PM EDT
HARRISBURG, PA (WPMT) -- About 500 charter school families rallied at the State Capitol Monday. They're not happy with Governor Rom Wolf's plan to update charter school regulations. Those plans include school districts limiting student enrollment at charter schools, and requiring charters to document costs to prevent school districts and taxpayers from being overcharged. Gov. Wolf says he wants to hold charter schools to the same standards as public schools.' "They also need to take additional steps to hold traditional school district's accountable," said Ana Meyer, Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools Executive Director. Charter school families stopped by the governor's office to make sure he knows how they feel about his reform plans. They dropped off thousands of signed petitions and letters against the governor's plan, and also requested to be involved in the reform discussion. "We're not going to resolve these issues unless we are able to be at the table and participate in the discussions," said Meyer. "Which we have not been involved with so far." About 140,000 children, like Addisyn Dohm from York County attend charter schools in Pennsylvania.

“I understand completely a parent’s wish for the best education for their children. What I do not understand is why a parent’s choice should come at the expense of funding for everyone else’s children. Our state constitution requires a full and adequate education for all children. Without that we no longer have a true democracy.”
Taxpayers should not have to pay for school choice | Opinion
Penn Live Letter By Jill Sunday Bartoli Updated Sep 16, 9:46 AM; Posted Sep 16, 8:48 AM
Dr. Jill Sunday Bartoli is a Professor Emerita at Elizabethtown College and a resident of Carlisle.
I read with interest the op-ed written by Colleen Cook, “My Child May Have Died Without School Choice.” Cook, an Oklahoma resident and president of the National Coalition for Public School Options, a special interest group that lobbies for laws that benefit charter and cyber charter schools, tells a story about her choice to withdraw her child from a school district and to place him in a cyber school. Indeed, parents have multiple reasons for choosing to send their child to a non-district school. I sent my children to a non-public elementary school that was more family oriented and less competitive/test focused. But that choice was my responsibility—not the responsibility of the state. What is different now is that the state requires Pennsylvania school districts to pay for parent choice, and the resultant proliferation of cyber and charter schools, which use public funds to pay for private management company fees, eye-popping CEO compensation packages, and even lobbying by groups like Cook’s. Costs to taxpayers for charter and cyber schools also include radio and TV adds to entice parents to leave their public schools, additional transportation costs and facility and maintenance costs. In addition to the $1.8 billion student tuition bills public schools are forced to pay out to charter and cyber schools annually (this was a legislative decision by the same legislators who refuse to fully fund our public schools) public schools often have to supplement the less than adequate student services at cyber and charter schools.

School choice supporters gather in Capitol to urge Wolf not to crack down on charters
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s decision in August to impose new rules on the state’s charter schools drew praise from those who feel the charter system has an unfair advantage over traditional schools. But it also attracted condemnation from school choice supporters who saw the move as an attack on a system that has provided alternatives to failing public schools. On Monday, with the Legislature on the verge of returning to Harrisburg for the fall session, school choice advocates led by the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools gathered at the Capitol to make sure that Wolf, a Democrat, knows exactly how disappointed they were by his August executive order. The sizable rally, moderated by Ana Meyers, executive director of the coalition, was the culmination of a letter-writing campaign by parents, students, administrators and educators who want the governor to know that they’re unhappy with his moves.

John Stossel: Charter schools, better schools
Trib Live Opinion by JOHN STOSSEL  | Friday, September 13, 2019 7:00 p.m.
With most services, you get to shop around, but rarely can you do that with government-run schools. Philadelphia mom Elaine Wells was upset to learn that there were fights every day in the school her son attended. So she walked him over to another school. “We went to go enroll and we were told, ‘He can’t go here!’ That was my wake-up call,” Wells says. She entered her sons in a charter school lottery, hoping to get them into a charter school. “You’re on pins and needles, hoping and praying,” she said. But politicians stack the odds against kids who want to escape government-­run schools. Philly rejected 75% of the applicants. Wells’ child did eventually manage to get into a charter called Boys’ LatinI’m happy for them. I wish government bureaucrats would let all kids have similar chances.

Harrisburg School District leader approves charter oversight
Penn Live By Sean Sauro | ssauro@pennlive.com Updated Sep 16, 8:46 PM; Posted Sep 16, 8:41 PM
With accountability in mind, Harrisburg School District Receiver Janet Samuels on Monday approved a resolution giving officials at Montgomery County Intermediate Unit the power to review the district’s charter schools. The out-of-district oversight will come at no additional cost to the financially struggling Harrisburg district, which already is operating under a contract with the intermediate unit, Acting Assistant Superintendent Chris Celmer said. “The school district of Harrisburg has a responsibility to ensure that charter schools are operating in compliance with all applicable laws,” Celmer said. “This is something that should have been operating annually through the normal course of district operations.” Celmer explained that charter schools, which are funded through the district, must meet certain regulations and certifications to operate.

Conestoga Valley denies charter school after it failed to garner 'sustainable support'
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer September 17, 2019
The Conestoga Valley school board denied a proposed charter school Monday, saying the school didn’t earn enough support in the community. TLC Leadership Charter School, which could have served up to 200 students in kindergarten through 12th grade who have mental health issues, was rejected by an 8-1 vote. Leaders of the proposed charter school were not surprised by the outcome. “Well, we’re disappointed. But it’s not unexpected at all,” GT Freeman, CEO of the Lincoln Center for Family and Youth, a Montgomery County-based social services organization which sought to create the school, told LNP following the vote. “In fact,” he said, “when we started this journey a year ago, we knew that it would come to this night. And we knew that there was a very high probability that it would be denied.” Freeman said his team will appeal the decision to the state charter school appeal board.

‘Fee-for-service’ central to Erie Rise Charter talks
GoErie By Ed Palattella Posted at 2:00 AM September 13, 2019
Erie School District would charge the charter school for extra help in deal meant to keep school open, improve test scores.
The Erie School District is amenable to getting more involved in the daily operations of the Erie Rise Leadership Charter School Academy. The increased involvement, however, would come at a cost to Erie Rise, according to the school district’s proposal to end the dispute over whether to renew Erie Rise’s charter. The district has put forth five “non-negotiable” requirements that Erie Rise would have to accept for the Erie School Board to renew the charter at a board meeting on Nov. 13. One stipulates that the school district “agrees to consider providing appropriate supports requested by Erie Rise on a fee-for-service basis, if such services are requested by Erie Rise and are appropriate to provide to a charter school,” according to a statement that Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito read at the School Board meeting on Wednesday night. The additional support services would address a concern that Erie Rise officials brought up at two non-renewal hearings before the School Board, one in June and the other in August. While the school officials, including its CEO, Terry Lang, acknowledged the charter school’s poor standardized test scores — the key evidence in the school district’s nonrenewal push — they also said they believed the Erie School District should do more to help Erie Rise.

“Cyber school funding and charter reform is another issue that’s getting more attention from both lawmakers and the governor, Longietti said. “The discussion on charters, particularly cyber charters, seems to be getting traction,” he said. Longietti said that the charter school law, which dates to 1997, was supposed to allow the charter schools to innovate and potentially model new practices that can be employed in traditional school. Since then, the state has done little to confirm what innovations are taking place in the charters or whether their practices are less effective than those used in traditional school. At the same time, traditional school district officials have been clamoring for changes to the way cyber schools, in particular, are funded. School district leaders say that the schools charge more than they spend to educate students.”
Full slate awaits Pa. lawmakers in fall session
Daily Item by John Finnerty jfinnerty@cnhi.com Sep 14, 2019
Funding the replacement of voting machines, possible changes to gun laws and cyber school funding top the list of controversies awaiting lawmakers when they return to the Capitol for the fall session. The House resumes its session on Tuesday. The state Senate returns to Harrisburg on Sept. 23. Those on both sides of the aisle said that reaching a deal to providing funding for counties to replace their voting machines with paper-ballot systems before the 2020 election is a priority. “I support stepping up to the plate” to help counties pay for the machines, said state Rep. Mark Longietti, D-Mercer County. The funding would have been included in legislation that Wolf vetoed over concerns about a provision in the bill that would have eliminated straight-party voting as an option on ballots.

Active shooter drills are traumatizing our children | Opinion
By Brian Malte Capital-Star Op-Ed Contributor September 17, 2019
It’s September and America’s school children are back in class. They’re greeted every day with the usual staples of education in America: new classes and teachers, the latest and trendiest technology and school supplies followed shortly by relentless test taking. It is probable they will also be met with more recent school staples: active shooter drills and armed guards or police monitoring their hallways. The first few back-to-school staples are benign. But the newer practices are a real problem. For our children, going to school has never been so terrifying, not because they are likely to encounter an active shooter — the vast majority won’t — but because for several years now we have drilled the terrifying possibility into their impressionable bones. We tell kindergartners to hush while they hide under desks or in closets; we teach them songs to sing and games to play so they will remember how to hide and stay quiet if a shooter is in their school. We teach them how to scatter, running in different directions away from a gunman — a game known as popcorn in some schools.

Students join Philly school board calling for unity, more teachers of color
"I am ready to go and I want the wheels to start turning."
The notebook by Joseph Staruski September 16 — 8:29 am, 2019
Humbled and inspired by their experiences growing up — one with a mother who has cerebral palsy and another berated by students for wearing a Muslim headscarf, Imere Williams and Doha Ibrahim are determined to robustly represent their peers as the student representatives to the Philadelphia Board of Education. The two hard-working and disciplined high school seniors were selected from 44 applicants to serve for one year on the school board. They are the second pair of student representatives to the board since the District’s governance returned to local control in spring, 2018. Ibrahim attends Abraham Lincoln High School, a neighborhood school in the Northeast, and Williams is a student at Boys’ Latin Charter School in West Philadelphia. Being on the school board might be a challenge, but these students are no strangers to struggle. Ibrahim was born and raised in Canada, and came to the United States when she was in eighth grade. “For me, in middle school, I wanted to get my education when I moved here from Canada. But I was always attacked in a way where I was called a terrorist and my scarf was pulled off.”

Eyes on the Philly Board of Education: September 19, 2019
Alliance for Philadelphia Public Schools by Karel Kilimnik September 16, 2019
Years ago the garden of privatization seeds were sown, the garden well tended by corporate disruptors, and now in full bloom. The current administration, led by the Broad Academy-trained Superintendent William Hite, has been steadily outsourcing everything from school staff to special education services to support for central administration. Crumbling and toxic buildings, along with past and future school closings, give lie to the District’s stated goal of having  “a great school close to where children live”. Not long ago children walked to their neighborhood school. Teachers spent their career teaching in one or two schools. That has all changed now as the winds of corporate reform continue to blow through the District. Corporate education supporters hold Board and CEO positions at many of the vendors who are offered contracts before the Board this month.  Attuned Education Partners (Item 7) is rife with officials from TFA,  Broad Academy, Relay GSE, and McKinsey & Company. The Executive Director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education is on the Board of  Relay GSE Board.

School ‘lunch-shaming’ has become a national issue; here’s how Pa. deals with unpaid bills
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: September 13, 2019- 2:18 PM
The Cherry Hill School District dished out tuna sandwiches. Wyoming Valley West, a district in northeastern Pennsylvania, threatened to put students in foster care. Cafeteria staff in Ohio seized a 9-year-old’s cheesy breadsticks — on his birthday. Actions by school districts seeking to reduce unpaid lunch bills have garnered headlines in recent weeks, adding to a national debate that has flared around “lunch-shaming.” Pennsylvania, however, has been grappling with the issue for years — and still hasn’t solved it, school officials say. Districts in the Philadelphia area say student lunch debts have been climbing, and that efforts by the state to avoid shaming students have made it harder for schools to collect on payments. In response to district complaints about mounting bills, Pennsylvania in June allowed schools to give “alternative meals” to students who owe more than $50 and aren’t eligible for free or reduced-price lunches under federal guidelines based on poverty levels.

State auditors looking at Harrisburg schools to date found nothing worth sharing with investigators
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated Sep 13, 1:18 PM; Posted Sep 13, 12:55 PM
State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s team of auditors looking into the embattled Harrisburg School District have not uncovered anything that would be of interest to share with state or federal investigators, but they have found the district’s new leadership team has already made “significant” changes in district practices and policies. At a Capitol news conference on Friday, DePasquale made it clear it was media reports that alerted him to the FBI investigating the district’s past management and nothing that his team of three auditors conducting a real-time audit of the district uncovered. PennLive reported on Thursday the FBI has joined the state attorney general’s office in conducting an investigation into district affairs. The federal investigators have been interviewing employees and former employees about missing computers and records for the past week and a half.

Company cuts Elizabeth Forward bus routes as contract showdown continues
Trib Live by JACOB TIERNEY   | Monday, September 16, 2019 4:40 p.m.
More than 350 children in the Elizabeth Forward School District won’t be able to take a bus to school this week as the contract spat between the district and its transportation provider continues with no end in sight. Pennsylvania Coach Lines is under court order to continue transporting students while negotiations are ongoing. However, the company announced Monday that it is cutting three of the district’s 26 bus routes effective immediately. “We don’t have any spare drivers here to take the runs,” said Pennsylvania Coach Lines President David Sunstein. “It’s been a very tenuous situation this whole time.” Sunstein said he believes cutting the routes does not violate the court order, because his company has been working to the best of its abilities to transport students. Pennsylvania Coach Lines provides transportation services to more than 20 school districts. It would take about 20 more drivers than the company has to provide adequate bus service to Elizabeth Forward, Sunstein said. He doesn’t want to hire those drivers until a contract agreement is reached.

JASON KELCE’S EAGLES EDUCATION SEASON
Each week this season, the Super Bowl-winning offensive lineman compares Philly schools to those of our on-field competitors—and celebrates a local education innovation. This week, he looks at Atlanta
The Philadelphia Citizen BY JASON KELCE
Hey, Philly! It’s no secret that professional athletes are often put on a pedestal and given a platform to try to influence the public. But I’ve been thinking: There’s one place where your voice matters as much as anybody else’s, no matter how much more fame, money, or touchdowns they may have on you—the voting booth.  Teaching students to speak their minds by voting is one of the greatest gifts a teacher can give a kid. Down in Atlanta, where we’ll be facing off against the Falcons this weekend, districts have explored giving students the day off to vote. And here in Philly, Central High School social studies teacher Thomas Quinn isn’t just teaching kids the value of voting—he’s on a mission to register every single eligible Philly student to do so through Philly Youth Vote.  Quinn says he and his colleagues were particularly busy over the summer: At the past few school board meetings, students, teachers, and organization members have come with impassioned requests to implement a voter registration policy in all high schools. The board responded favorably, organizing a professional development day and partner fair, which Quinn co-facilitated with the Office of Curriculum and Instruction, Draw the Lines PA, Next Gen PA, Vote that Jawn, and the City Commissioners’ Office.  “We drew 53 teachers from 33 schools, and 17 partnering organizations,” Quinn shares. Every teacher present, he says, walked out with more than enough registration forms for every student turning 18 this year! “We have just [a few weeks] before the October 7th registration deadline, so we’re all ready to get started!” Students and educators can get more details on getting their school involved here.

Toomey: Beto O’Rourke’s plan to confiscate assault weapons is an ‘awful and extreme’ idea
PA Capital Star By  John L. Micek September 13, 2019
 (*This post has been updated to clarify Toomey’s position on O’Rourke’s comments)
Confiscating assault weapons, as suggested by Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke, is an “awful and extreme idea,” that would derail “commonsense … efforts” to pass gun-safety reform on Capitol Hill, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Friday. O’Rourke, a former Texas congressman, enraged gun rights advocates during Thursday night’s Democratic debate in Houston when he pledged to ban — and confiscate — AR-15s and other semi-automatic weapons that have been the weapon of choice in mass shootings across the nation. In a Twitter post, Toomey, one of the lone Senate GOP voices on gun reform, said O’Rourke’s “rhetoric undermines and hurts bipartisan efforts to actually make progress on commonsense gun safety efforts, like expanding background checks.” Toomey’s post came in response to comments from U.S. Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Del., who told CNN that he doesn’t agree with O’Rourke’s comments, and suggested that they will be played at gun rights rallies for years. Toomey has publicly opposed an assault weapons ban.

“It’s long past time for America to again ban these weapons of war. And one of the best ways to get them off our streets is through a nationwide buyback program — not through any sort of confiscation program, which would surely lead to unrest. As I wrote in an Aug. 15 column, America banned these weapons for a decade, from 1994 to 2004. And, as PolitiFact notes, “in raw numbers,” researchers at New York University’s medical school found that mass shootings decreased when the ban was in effect and rose afterward. In fact, “the death toll from mass shootings went from 4.8 per year during the ban years to 23.8 per year afterwards.”
Beto O’Rourke’s inconvenient truth: Bans on assault weapons work | John L. Micek
PA Capital Star By John L. Micek September 13, 2019
So hang on for a second, what if Beto O’Rourke was right?
The former Texas congressman enraged the right, and netted himself something that sounded an awful lot like a death threat, when he vowed to ban, and apparently confiscate, AR-15s and other assault weapons favored by mass shooters. “Hell, yes, we’re going to take away your AR-15, your AK-47,” the former Texas congressman said, in a meme heard ‘round the world, during Thursday night’s Democratic primary debate in Houston. Critics immediately pounced. In a single, emotion-charged sentence, O’Rourke appeared to confirm the most feverish fears of the NRA and other gun-rights extremists — that the government really is coming for their guns.
“My AR-15 is ready for you, Robert Francis,” Briscoe Cain, a conservative state lawmaker from Texas, snarled on Twitter, using O’Rourke’s full name. This is a death threat, Representative. Clearly, you shouldn't own an AR-15—and neither should anyone else. When O’Rourke suggested Cain’s tough-guy talk was a death threat, Cain shot back, “You’re a child, Robert Francis.” Nonetheless, Twitter removed Cain’s tweet, ruling that it had violated its guidelines. It was exactly the sort of reaction you’d expect, and it may also have been exactly what O’Rourke was hoping for, since he’s been doing a slow fade in the polls. And now we’re all talking about him again.

When School's a Battleground for Transgender Kids, Teachers Learn to Protect, Affirm Them
Education Week By Madeline Will September 16, 2019
Homecoming kings and queens. Lines for boys and lines for girls. Class rosters with names and gender seemingly set in stone. Schools can be a battleground for transgender students or students who are gender nonconforming. And the potential land mines go far beyond restroom assignments, which have been a politically charged focal point in conversations about transgender youth for the past few years. Advocates say teachers must create a safe, supportive, and inclusive classroom for transgender and gender-nonconforming students, whose gender identity or expression does not conform to the traditional expectations of the gender they were assigned at birth. And that means teachers need specialized training. "Educators really need guidance on these issues," said Sophia Arredondo, the director of education and youth programs at GLSEN. "Most of them will tell you they don't want to do anything wrong. They want to be as supportive as possible."

Where Betsy DeVos started her 2019 back-to-school tour says it all about her agenda
And she explains her view of ‘education freedom.’
Washington Post Answer Sheet By  Valerie Strauss  September 16, 2019 at 5:05 p.m. EDT
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos began her 2019 back-to-school tour Monday. Given that she runs a publicly funded department and that most U.S. students attend schools in traditional public systems, you might think she would go to one in a district working hard to improve its academic performance. Nope. She didn’t go to a public school, and she didn’t choose a city because of the achievements of its public schools. Rather, Devos went to St. Marcus Lutheran School in Milwaukee and touted that city as the “birthplace of modern education freedom.” That is a reference to a program started under a 1989 law that was the first in the country to give substantial public funding for students to use for private, nonsectarian schools. It later expanded to include religious schools.


Information about the education sessions for the 2019 @PasaSupts @PSBA School Leadership Conference are now live on our website! We hope to see you there! #PASLC2019

What: Informal discussion on cyber charter schools
When: 9 a.m. refreshments, 9:30 a.m. panel, Oct. 7
Where: Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, 800 E. Park Ave., State College
AAUW State College Branch invites you to attend an informational panel discussion to learn more about background and issues connected with cyber charter schools. Join us on Oct. 7, at the Central Pennsylvania Convention and Visitors Bureau, 800 E. Park Ave., State College (visitor center off Porter Road). Refreshments, 9 a.m.; panel discussion, 9:30 a.m.
The American Association of University Women State College Branch is part of a nationwide network of about 1,000 branches that are dedicated to advancing equity for women and girls.

Adolescent Health and School Start Times:  Science, Strategies, Tactics, & Logistics  Workshop Nov 13, Exton
Join school administrators and staff, including superintendents, transportation directors, principals, athletic directors, teachers, counselors, nurses, and school board members, parents, guardians, health professionals and other concerned community members for an interactive and solutions-oriented workshop on  Wednesday, November 13, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm 
Clarion Hotel in Exton, PA
The science is clear. Many middle and high school days in Pennsylvania, and across the nation, start too early in the morning. The American Medical Association, Centers for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatrics, and many other major health and education leaders agree and have issued policy statements recommending that secondary schools start no earlier than 8:30 am to allow for sleep, health, and learning. Implementing these recommendations, however, can seem daunting.  Discussions will include the science of sleep and its connection to school start times, as well as proven strategies for successfully making change--how to generate optimum community support and work through implementation challenges such as bus routes, athletics, and more.   Register for the workshop here: 
https://ssl-workshop-pa.eventbrite.com Thanks to our generous sponsors, we are able to offer early bird registration for $25, which includes a box-lunch and coffee service. Seating is limited and early bird registration ends on Friday, September 13.
For more information visit the workshop website 
www.startschoollater.net/workshop---pa  or email contact@startschoollater.net

“Each member entity will have one vote for each officer. This will require boards of the various school entities to come to a consensus on each candidate and cast their vote electronically during the open voting period (Aug. 23 – Oct. 11, 2019).”
PSBA Officer Elections: Slate of Candidates
PSBA members seeking election to office for the association were required to submit a nomination form no later than June 1, 2019, to be considered. All candidates who properly completed applications by the deadline are included on the slate of candidates below. In addition, the Leadership Development Committee met on June 15th at PSBA headquarters in Mechanicsburg to interview candidates. According to bylaws, the Leadership Development Committee may determine candidates highly qualified for the office they seek. This is noted next to each person’s name with an asterisk (*).

WHERE: Hershey Lodge and Convention Center 325 University Drive, Hershey, PA
WHEN: Wednesday, October 16 to Friday, October 18, 201
Registration is now open!
Growth from knowledge acquired. Vision inspired by innovation. Impact created by a synergized leadership community. You are called upon to be the drivers of a thriving public education system. It’s a complex and challenging role. Expand your skillset and give yourself the tools needed for the challenge. Packed into two and a half daysꟷꟷgain access to top-notch education and insights, dynamic speakers, peer learning opportunities and the latest product and service innovations. Come to the PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference to grow!

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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