Monday, October 21, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup for Oct. 21: Choice is not enough when it comes to education | Editorial


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PA Ed Policy Roundup for Oct. 21, 2019
Choice is not enough when it comes to education | Editorial



No PA Ed Policy Roundup tomorrow morning; I plan to catch the early train to Harrisburg for the Senate Education Committee charter school hearing.



PA Senate Education Committee public hearing on charter school entities. Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019 9:00 a.m. North Office Building, Hearing Room #1
Watch Live PA Senate GOP Website
9:00 – 9:10      Opening Remarks
Senator Wayne Langerholc, Jr.
Senator Andrew Dinniman
9:15 – 9:45      Panel 1
Scott Gordon, CEO, Mastery Charter Schools
David Hardy, Senior Advisor, Excellent Schools PA | Supplemental 1 | Supplemental 2
9:50 – 10:30    Panel 2
Jane Swan, CEO, Reach Cyber Charter School
Dr. John Chandler, CEO, PA Virtual Charter School
Dr. Michael Conti, CEO, Agora Cyber Charter School
Dr. James Hanak, CEO, Leadership PA Charter School
10:35 – 10:50   Panel 3
Joyce Wilkerson, Board President, School District of Philadelphia | Supplemental 1 | Supplemental 2
10:55 – 11:10   Panel 4
Dr. Andria B. Saia, Executive Director, Capital Area Intermediate Unit #15 | Supplemental 1
11:15 – 11:55   Panel 5
Kari King, President & CEO, PA Partnerships for Children
Tomea Sippio-Smith, K-12 Education Policy Director, Public Citizens for Children and Youth
Lenny McAllister, Director of Western Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Foundation
Marc LeBlond, Senior Policy Analyst, Commonwealth Foundation
Susan Spicka, Executive Director, Education Voters of PA
 11:55 – 12:00  Closing Remarks
Senator Wayne Langerholc, Jr.
Senator Andrew Dinniman

Pa. educators say more money needed as the number of special education students rises
Post-Gazette by KIM JARRETT The Center Square OCT 19, 2019
Educators say that the number of students with special needs has increased in Pennsylvania, and so has the need for funding. Pennsylvania's Special Education Funding Commission was created by Act 3 of 2012. After a series of meetings in 2013, the commission developed a funding formula that gave schools districts deemed to have the greatest need additional dollars. The commission has been reconstituted to review the formula. The 15-member committee consists of senators, representatives and members of the Wolf administration, including Education Secretary Pedro Rivera. Special education has changed since the first funding formula was created, and more children need services, panelists said at a recent meeting in Lancaster County. “Statewide data shows that we have seen a 12 percent increase of students with emotional disturbances, a 34 percent increase in students with autism and a 47 percent increase in students with other health impairments,” said Michele Reichard-Huff, director of early childhood and student services for the Berks County Intermediate Unit.

Reforming the way we grade teachers will help our students
Lancaster Online by THE LNP EDITORIAL BOARD October 20, 2019
THE ISSUE: State Sen. Ryan Aument, R-Mount Joy, is the author of Senate Bill 751, legislation that would reform Pennsylvania’s educator evaluation system by placing greater emphasis on direct classroom observation, and reducing the impact of student standardized testing scores. The bill passed the Senate by a vote of 38-11 in June and is now in the House Education Committee. A companion bill was introduced in the House by Republican Rep. Jesse Topper of Bedford County. Aument met with the LNP Editorial Board on Tuesday, along with Eastern Lancaster County School District Superintendent Robert Hollister, McCaskey High School teacher Bryan Hower and Pennsylvania State Education Association President Rich Askey.
Today, we’re going to discuss how Pennsylvania’s public school teachers are evaluated. Please don’t stop reading. This is more interesting than you might think. It involves use of taxpayer money, the quality of the education our kids are getting, and a lawmaker who genuinely listens — and admits when he’s gotten something wrong. We know. That is unusual. That lawmaker, of course, is Aument. Aument wrote the 2012 legislation that created the state’s current teacher evaluation system. He told the editorial board last week that he initially was defensive when that system drew frank criticism from educators, including Hollister and Hower. Among the criticisms: The ratings of underperforming teachers are inflated by the positive ratings of the buildings in which they teach. And excellent teachers are punished when their students score poorly on standardized tests, even if those students have learning disabilities, or come from low-income households where they have none of the advantages — books, private tutoring, vocabulary-enriching vacations and other resources that increase school readiness — that middle-class students have. This is causing highly skilled teachers to hesitate before taking on the classrooms that need them the most: those in poorer schools.

Later school start times could address ‘crisis’ of sleep-deprived teens, Pa. report finds
Inquirer by Rita Giordano, Updated: October 18, 2019
Citing a “public health crisis of epidemic proportions” regarding American adolescents not getting enough sleep, an advisory committee convened by Pennsylvania’s Joint State Government Commission has ample support from medical authorities for later school start times, particularly for high school students. However, the committee, in a report released Thursday, did not call for a statewide adoption of initiatives already underway in several of the Commonwealth’s 500 districts or for the creation of a pilot program. Rather, the lengthy document is more of a resource for districts considering changing their start times. The committee encouraged local schools to collect data on their own experiences, while acknowledging the considerable body of research supporting later-starting school days. “Sleep health literacy is an important component of any school health curriculum,” the report stated. The committee’s recommendations, based on the findings of groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and other health organizations, include:

New study: Delayed school start times working well in Chester County
West Chester Daily Local MediaNews Group Oct 17, 2019
HARRISBURG—The results of a comprehensive sleep study advocating for the delay of secondary school start times were released this week. The study was conducted by a special Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission (JSGC) advisory committee. In Chester County, the Unionville-Chadds Ford and Phoenixville school districts have switched over to a delayed school start. West Chester and Owen J. Roberts are considering it. The report highlights that delaying secondary school start times has the “greatest potential to impact large numbers of students at the same time,” giving students more time to sleep, and helping prevent the health concerns brought with sleep deprivation. This marks the first time Pennsylvania has studied this issue, and includes an assessment of the health, academic and safety benefits associated with delaying secondary school start times, as well as the costs associated with this change. It was established under Senate Resolution 417, legislation introduced by Sen. Andy Dinniman that unanimously passed the Senate Education Committee last fall. Dinniman said the findings should serve as a guide for school districts that are looking at pushing back their start times.

State report suggests schools start too early in the morning. How will Lancaster County schools respond?
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer October 19, 2019
Falling asleep in class? Can’t focus? Feeling depressed? There may be a cure: later secondary school start times. That’s according to a report published this week by a state-commissioned advisory committee made up of educators, health professionals, transportation administrators, parents and students. The group, created after the General Assembly passed a 2018 resolution crafted by state Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D-West Chester) calls sleep deprivation among teenagers a "public health crisis of epidemic proportions," but concludes Pennsylvania schools can help by considering moving secondary school start times to 8:30 a.m. or later. Educational, medical and psychological organizations across the country agree. But Lancaster County school officials contacted by LNP haven’t completely bought in. “I agree wholeheartedly that adolescents are not getting enough sleep, but question whether or not later start times would fix that,” Eastern Lancaster County Superintendent Bob Hollister said. Hollister said later start times could “yield a zero gain” due to pushing back after-school and sporting events — and, therefore, family dinner times.

Penn State research informs PA report on school start times
Penn State Kristie Auman-Bauer October 17, 2019
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Later school start times improve educational and health outcomes by giving students more sleep, according to a new report from the Pennsylvania Joint State Commission on School Start Times, released today (Oct. 17). Orfeu Buxton, professor of biobehavioral health at Penn State, was asked to serve on the commission’s advisory committee after conducting research that demonstrated secondary school start times after 8:30 a.m. increases the likelihood teens obtain the minimum recommended amount of sleep, benefiting their overall health and well-being. “We know that most adolescents do not get enough sleep, and insufficient sleep has detrimental effects on the physical and mental health of teens,” said Buxton, also a Social Science Research Institute cofunded faculty member and editor-in chief (designate) of the journal Sleep Health. The report, “Sleep Deprivation in Adolescents: The Case for Delaying Secondary School Start Times,” includes a study of secondary school start times in Pennsylvania; evaluates studies and initiatives by other organizations; assesses the effects of later school start times on the health, safety and academics of students; and contains recommendations on best practices to rollout later start times.

School choice has not cured Philadelphia’s ailing system | Opinion
Deborah Gordon Klehr, For the Inquirer Updated: October 20, 2019 - 5:00 AM
Deborah Gordon Klehr is executive director of the Education Law Center-PA, a nonprofit, legal advocacy organization with offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, dedicated to ensuring access to a quality public education for all children in Pennsylvania.
Exercising “school choice” has increasingly become the norm in Philadelphia, where many neighborhood schools have been struggling and under-resourced for decades. Over 70,000 students in the city are opting to attend charter schools; tens of thousands more attend district schools other than their neighborhood schools. Many other families opt out of public education for private and religious schools, sometimes with taxpayer-subsidized scholarships. Proponents of “parental choice” often argue that it is the best strategy for ensuring equal educational opportunity for underserved students. Providing more choices, in this view, means more equity – the opportunity for every student to have access to a quality public option. So there are calls to create more charter schools and more slots for students within them. A study of charter schools in Philadelphia published by the Education Law Center earlier this year is a stark reminder that many parents don’t get to choose and that ultimately it may be the school and not the parent doing the choosing. More charters and more slots haven’t cured an ailing school system.
This is not to discount the successes we know exist for students in many city charters. But Philadelphia’s 22-year history of rapid charter expansion coupled with inadequate oversight is entrenching new inequities in an already unequal landscape.

“If choice alone were enough, that would make Philadelphia -- with more charter schools and other offerings than any other city in the commonwealth -- the epicenter of academic excellence and equity.”
The Inquirer Editorial Board opinion@inquirer.com Updated: October 20, 2019 - 5:00 AM
More than two decades after the charter law in Pennsylvania was passed, school choice remains the center of a lively but largely unresolved debate -- one that has taken on new shapes. “School choice” used to be synonymous with vouchers, but that is no longer the case, at least in Pennsylvania. Now, the state offers a range of public education options: district schools, brick and mortar charter schools, cyber schools, private and parochial school scholarships publicly funded via a tax credit program. Across Pennsylvania, 137,000 students are enrolled in charters and another 50,000 go to private or parochial schools using the tax credit program. In all, the state spends $2 billion on these alternatives to traditional public schools. The bedrock belief of those championing choice is that parents deserve options for where they send their children to school, and that parents know what’s best for their child. For some lawmakers, parental choice is a civil rights issue, insuring that a child’s zip code doesn’t dictate the quality of his or her education. Sound arguments, but too often, choice for its own sake is treated as the goal, rather than quality education options. If choice alone were enough, that would make Philadelphia -- with more charter schools and other offerings than any other city in the commonwealth -- the epicenter of academic excellence and equity. But despite academic progress, Philadelphia district schools have a ways to go. Just as some district schools are high quality and some are troubled, many charter schools excel, while many fall short. Cyber charters, according to recent studies, post “overwhelmingly negative” results in student performance.

The segregating effects of school choice policies | Opinion
Inquirer by Allison Roda and Molly Vollman Makris Updated: October 20, 2019 - 5:08 AM
Allison Roda is assistant professor of education in Molloy College’s Educational Leadership for Diverse Learning Communities, Ed.D. program. She is the author of “Inequality in Gifted and Talented Programs: Parental Choices About Status, School Opportunity, and Second-Generation Segregation,” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015).
Molly Vollman Makris is associate professor of urban studies at Guttman Community College, CUNY, where she also serves as the Program Coordinator for Urban Studies. Her book “Public Housing and School Choice in a Gentrified City: Youth Experiences of Uneven Opportunity” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) won the American Educational Studies Association Critics Choice Book Award and the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Book Award.
Every parent wants the best education for their child, but options are often limited for a variety of reasons. One challenge is that schools in the United States are socioeconomically and racially segregated and unequal, a condition recently examined in a Stanford study, “Is Separate Still Unequal?” What the Stanford study left out is how school segregation is maintained or exacerbated in part via school choice policy, and how parents, school leaders, and policymakers can work to break that cycle. As two qualitative researchers, we have analyzed this topic deeply and have found that school choice options can have a segregative effect. Our findings point to both the pitfalls of school choice policy, and also the promises when diversity is the goal.

Three parents, who made three different school choices, share advice on how to decide where to send your kids | Perspective
Inquirer Staff Reports Updated: October 20, 2019 - 4:15 AM
Every parent wants the best education for their child, but it can sometimes be hard to know which option is the best one. In Philadelphia, 65% of the city’s 237,000 school-age children exercise choice every day by attending a school other than their assigned neighborhood school. The Inquirer asked three parents, who all made different educational choices, to share their experiences and give advice to other parents grappling with this decision.

Parents want school choice. Here are tools that can help them. | Opinion
Inquirer Opinion by Salma Khan and Eileen Walsh Updated: October 20, 2019 - 5:00 AM
Salma Khan and Eileen Walsh work for the Philadelphia School Partnership, where Khan is the director of GreatPhillySchools and Walsh is the manager of Apply Philly Charter.
Policies in support of school choice have been bitterly contested for years in public discourse. However, the majority of Philadelphia families have made their positions clear: School choice is an integral part of our education system. In Philadelphia, 65% of the city’s 237,000 school-age children exercise choice every day by attending a school other than their assigned neighborhood school. At the high school level, the numbers are even greater: 88% of all students exercise some form of choice. The schools these children attend include a variety of public district schools, public charter schools, and private/parochial schools. The Philadelphia School Partnership (PSP) funds two important online tools to help families make informed choices. The first is GreatPhillySchools (greatphillyschools.org), a website that provides easy-to-understand data on academics, school incidents, and student engagement for elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as early childhood education centers. Families go to GreatPhillySchools to review school profiles and find step-by-step instructions for applying to all types of schools, and identifying which schools have available seats. For instance, the website has information on the District’s “Find Your Fit” campaign, which encourages students to apply to as many as five district schools – elementary, middle, or high – including schools other than their neighborhood school, by the Nov. 1, 2019, deadline. The second tool is Apply Philly Charter (applyphillycharter.org), which PSP launched in 2018 in partnership with charter schools in response to family feedback about the difficulty of applying to schools with different deadlines and application processes. Families fill out one standard application for the 80 participating charter schools in the city, with one deadline and one date for notification of lottery outcomes. (The application deadline for fall 2020 enrollment is Jan. 27, 2020.)

Blogger note: Here’s a March 2013 PA Ed Policy Roundup posting that touches on the Philadelphia School Partnership…

Purchasing public policy? Money talks - In Philly the same folks who brought us the EITC bailout of parochial schools via millions of diverted tax dollars and spent millions on voucher candidates are apparently now just buying more charter schools….meanwhile, Wm. Penn Foundation has significantly cut funding to public ed advocacy groups
Reprise March 2013: Philadelphia School Partnership Board of Directors
You know the names: O’Neill, Bravacos, Yass…..
In addition to a $15 million grant from the William Penn Foundation in July, the partnership has received $5 million from the Maguire Foundation and $31.9 million from a group of twenty donors that includes the Samuel S. Fels Fund and school reform advocate Janine Yass.

Philadelphia School Partnership Investors
McGuire, Walton, Gates, Dell, Yass, 50CAN, Karp, Bravacos, O’Neill….

Why private school turned out to be the wrong choice for my son’s special needs | Perspective
Inquirer Opinion Nancy Ironside Updated: October 20, 2019 - 5:00 AM
Last June, both of my sons graduated from high school. It was a remarkable day. No, they are not twins. Their educational paths were quite different, but at graduation, both were honored for the individuals they are. My older son was diagnosed at age 2 with an autism-spectrum disorder. It was a difficult reality to confront. But our family was fortunate enough to have the resources needed for him to learn language, build relationships, and gain a measure of independence that allowed him to begin school.  When it was time for him to start kindergarten, our district, Springfield Township, offered a county-run language-development program. It was small and supportive and my son learned to love school. He made progress — so much that the district decided he was ready for a more typical setting. I was less sure. As a mom, I feared that the school might not appreciate this boy. As a teacher, I did my homework — meeting with the principal, visiting the classroom, and asking questions of the special education director. I also visited some private schools that specialized in teaching kids with learning differences, offering smaller classes and more intensive instruction.

Are cyber charters a way to ‘hide’ from child welfare scrutiny? Some Pa. superintendents say yes
WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent October 21, 2019
On October 3, 2018, sometime before dawn, a toddler wandered alone from his home on the edge of a small Schuylkill County town and into a nearby car. Responding to a neighbor’s call, police arrived to find the three-year-old wearing only a diaper that “was completely filled and was hanging down to his knees,” according to an officer’s notes. The boy was taken to the borough police station a few blocks away.  Thirty-five minutes later, his mother showed up, searching for her son.  The toddler, she explained, had climbed on the front window sill of their home in Saint Clair, Pennsylvania and unlocked the door while she slept. The police contacted county children and youth services, who, with the mother’s permission, removed the toddler and his three siblings from her custody and resettled them in foster care. The news eventually reached Sarah Yoder, superintendent of the Saint Clair Area School District. She knew the family — not surprising in a town of 3,000 people and a district of 508 students. Two of the family’s four children were enrolled in the district’s elementary school. Yoder’s staff had been concerned about them for years based on their poor dress and hygiene, as well as contentious conversations with their mother. But by the time the family reached this crisis point, Yoder had been shut out. About six months earlier, the mother pulled her children from the district and placed them in the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, the state’s largest, headquartered 300 miles away in Beaver County.

Pa. lawmakers seek fix to return arrest powers to school police officers
Penn Live By Jan Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Today 5:15 AM
When state lawmakers return to session on Monday, they will begin work on correcting a mistake they made last summer that stripped school police officers of their longheld arrest powers. The House Education Committee will consider legislation on Monday to address this unintended consequence of a school safety measure that Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law on July 2. Bi-partisan-backed legislation also is being proposed in the Senate to address the matter as well. Central Dauphin School District is one of the 80 districts in Pennsylvania with a school police department. Its director of safety and security Gabriel Olivera said he would like to have the arrest powers returned. “It causes an inconvenience for us because now we have to wait for available officers [from the community] to respond and then it’s an inconvenience for the officers from the local jurisdiction because they now have to handle something we normally would handle,” Olivera said.

PA-48: GOP chooses district attorney to run for seat vacated by senator facing child porn charges
Penn Live By David Wenner | dwenner@pennlive.com Updated Oct 20, 7:25 AM; Posted Oct 19, 2:33 PM
Lebanon County District Attorney David Arnold was quickly and smoothly picked Saturday as the Republican candidate to replace former state Sen. Mike Folmer. Arnold easily outdistanced four other candidates during the nomination conference held at Lebanon Valley College. He received 50 votes out of the 72 cast. Conservative think tank leader Matt Brouillette received 20 votes and state Rep. Russ Diamond received two. The Democrat who will face Arnold in the Jan. 14 special election to represent the state’s 48th Senate District is expected to be picked Sunday. Arnold said he has devoted his career to public service and being a state senator will enable him to serve more people than he could as a county district attorney. “I’m going to do the right things for the right reasons,” he said after Saturday’s vote. “I’m going to work harder than anyone in the senate.”

PA-48: Democrats pick history professor to run for seat vacated by senator facing child porn charges
Penn Live By Sean Sauro | ssauro@pennlive.com Updated Oct 20, 2019; Posted Oct 20, 2019
A self-described “political neophyte” has been nominated by a group of Lebanon County Democrats to serve as the nominee for the seat previously held by former state Sen. Mike Folmer, who resigned earlier this year after being accused of possessing child pornography. Michael J. Schroeder was selected Sunday from a pool of five potential candidates. He will now face off in a Jan. 14 special election against Lebanon County District Attorney David Arnold, who was  chosen Saturday to run on the Republican ticket. The winner of the special election will represent the 48th District, which was left vacant after Folmer’s September resignation. The 48th District represents Lebanon County and portions of Dauphin and York counties. The winner of the special election will serve for the remainder of Folmer’s term, which ends in November 2022.

Key changes would alter the government’s massive survey on schools and civil rights
WHYY - NPR By Alexis Marshall October 20, 2019
The Department of Education has proposed several key changes to its massive survey that collects data from the nation’s public schools on a wide range of civil rights issues. Among the changes, the 2019-2020 version of the Civil Rights Data Collection would remove questions that focus on preschool and school finance. The proposals would also add more questions about sexual assault and bullying based on religion. The CRDC, as it’s known, is a massive trove of self-reported information published every two years by the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. The data collected is used by the Department, education researchers, policymakers and scholars from many fields. Every public school in the country is required to participate, and the government gets data from nearly all of them: more than 96,000 in 2015-16, from around 17,000 school districts. The proposals for the upcoming survey, which will gather data from this school year, are still under review. The public comment period ends Nov. 18, and the department said the earliest that these proposals could go into effect is 2020. Here are some of the proposed changes.

'Backpack Full of Cash' Screening Wednesday, October 23, 2019, 5 – 7:30 pm St. Joseph’s University
Narrated by Matt Damon, this feature-length documentary explores the growing privatization of public schools and the resulting impact on America's most vulnerable children. Filmed in Philadelphia, New Orleans, Nashville and other cities, it takes viewers through the tumultuous 2013-14 school year, exposing the world of education "reform" where public education - starved of resources- hangs in the balance.

FOR TEACHERS: Whatever your math objective may be, we have something to fit your goals, passion, and schedule!
The Barnes Foundation Website
The Barnes Foundation partners with the School District of Philadelphia (pre-K and grades 3, 5, and 7), Catholic schools in the Delaware Valley (grades 5 and 7), and Camden Catholic Partnership Schools (grade 3) to provide free in-depth programming to schools. Students receive two one-hour outreach lessons with a Barnes educator in their classroom, before and after a field trip to the Barnes Foundation. These programs include materials, busing, and admission.

Career, Trades & Labor Apprenticeship Fair Saturday • October 26, 10 a.m.– 2 p.m.
Delaware County Intermediate Unit (DCIU) Marple Education Center • 85 N. Malin Road • Broomall, PA
Sponsors: Senator Kearney’s Office, Delco AFL-CIO and DCIU
This event will be open to students from grades 8 – 12, along with their parents and guardians. We are also inviting school administrators and teachers, local businesses and trades, and all community stakeholders who are interested in preparing today’s students for tomorrow’s opportunities. The 26th Senate District has a wide range of career, technical, and labor apprenticeship training programs for young people seeking careers in growing fields where they can earn living wages and, in some cases, even Associate degrees during their training. We hope to connect students with these opportunities and to build new relationships between everyone invested in our young people’s educational and career paths. Please RSVP no later than October 25, 2019. You can RSVP online at https://www.senatorkearney.com/apprenticeship-fair/  or by contacting Gina Curry, my Constituent Relations Associate, at Gina.Curry@pasenate.com or 610-352-3409 (ext. 222). We look forward to seeing you at the fair!

Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then Call for Charter Change!
PSBA PA Charter Change Website September 2019

Register now for PSBA’s Sleep & Student Performance Webcast OCT 31, 2019 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
POSTED ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 IN PSBA NEWS
Our students face many issues today, but who would have imagined sleep deprivation could be a significant issue? The Joint State Government Commission established an advisory committee to study the issues, benefits and options related to school districts instituting later start times in secondary schools. Register now to hear from the executive director of the Commission, Glenn Pasewicz, commission staff and David Hutchinson, PSBA’s appointee to the commission, on the results of their study and work.

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

Congress, Courts, and a National Election: 50 Million Children’s Futures Are at Stake. Be their champion at the 2020 Advocacy Institute.
NSBA Advocacy Institute Feb. 2-4, 2020 Marriot Marquis, Washington, D.C.
Join school leaders from across the country on Capitol Hill, Feb. 2-4, 2020 to influence the legislative agenda & shape decisions that impact public schools. Check out the schedule & more at https://nsba.org/Events/Advocacy-Institute

Register now for Network for Public Education Action National Conference in Philadelphia March 28-29, 2020
Registration, hotel information, keynote speakers and panels:


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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