Started in November 2010, daily postings from the Keystone State
Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education
policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and
congressional staffers, Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of
Education, Wolf education transition team members, superintendents, school solicitors,
principals, charter school leaders, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher
leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations,
education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory
agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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email list please have them send their name, title and affiliation to KeystoneStateEdCoalition@gmail.com
PA Ed Policy Roundup for Nov. 12, 2019
Pennsylvania
is home to the widest per-pupil spending gap in the nation between wealthy and
poor school districts.
“Added, too many young Pennsylvanians
attend public K-12 schools that lack adequate resources to ensure a quality
education. In fact, Pennsylvania is home to the widest
per-pupil spending gap in the nation between wealthy and poor school districts.
Furthermore, Pennsylvania ranks third overall in the statewide percent of
children attending severely financially disadvantaged districts, behind only
Illinois and New Hampshire. Our state’s over-reliance on local property taxes
to fund public education has drastically limited poorer communities’ ability to
adequately fund their schools.”
Veterans Day honors
those who served. Now we need to look to the next generation of warriors |
Opinion By Thomas J. Wilson III Capital-Star Op-Ed
Contributor November
11, 2019
Rear Adm. Thomas J. Wilson III (U.S. Navy,
Ret’d) is a member of the executive advisory council of Mission: Readiness –
Military Leaders for Kids. He writes from Biglerville, Pa.
“Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are
won by men.”
The nature of war
may have changed since Gen. George S. Patton wrote those famous
words, but the
principle remains the same. No matter what we invest in weapons and technology,
the men and women wearing the uniforms of our nation deliver the
resourcefulness and skill that keeps America safe. On this Veterans’ Day, we
honor those who serve, but it’s also a time to cast our vision ahead to those
who might someday serve. Unfortunately, here is where we see potential problems.
Like employers throughout Pennsylvania and nationwide, the U.S. military
strains to draw recruits from an increasingly depleted workforce. Low
unemployment has created a hiring crunch, complicated for the military by the
fact that nearly three out of four young Pennsylvanians do not qualify for
military service due to educational deficiencies, health or fitness issues, or
a criminal record. If we do not address this eligibility problem and expand the
readiness of young people, will we have the sufficient pool of talented
recruits needed to serve in our military in the future? Will private
sector employers have a sufficient pool of talented applicants needed to fill
their labor force? The retired admirals and generals of Mission: Readiness
recommend a solution – investing in our young people today to better ensure the
readiness of workers and service members tomorrow.
Video: This is what
many Philadelphia school children experience each day. #toxicschools have to go!
Tweet from Senator
Hughes Office Video Runtime 3:47
A+ schools report touts programs successes
By PAULA REED WARD Pittsburgh Post-Gazette pward@post-gazette.com NOV 11, 2019
For 14 years, the
educational advocacy group, A+ Schools, has issued an annual report critiquing
the Pittsburgh Public Schools district. This year, executive director James
Fogarty said he wanted to do something different. Instead of highlighting where
the district is struggling, the report instead focuses on success stories at
six local schools. It was presented to the community on Monday at the Kaufmann
Center at the Hill House Association. "How do we replicate what's being
done in these buildings?" Mr. Fogarty asked. "How do we, as a
community, support these schools? "I'm done thinking the problems in our
education system are intractable." One story that he specifically
highlighted focused on Pittsburgh Schiller 6-8 in the East Allegheny section of
the North Side. In the spring of 2013, 36% of students there were chronically
absent. In 2018/19, that rate was down to 3%. Not only that, but student test
scores, in English and math, were up, Mr. Fogarty said. "That's as a
result of kids being there," he said.
“El-Mekki has become a leading voice in
the country advocating for the importance of diversifying the nation’s teaching
force, which has become more white as the nation’s K-12 enrollment edges toward
becoming majority students of color. He is traveling the country in a quest to
entice young African Americans into teaching, telling them that they will be
building on a proud history of black education and community leadership. And he
is working in a state that has one of the worst disparities between the
demographics of its teaching force and its student population.”
‘Revolutionary’ principal goes all-in on quest for more
black teachers
WHYY By Dale Mezzacappa November 12, 2019
Sharif
El-Mekki left his job as a principal in Southwest Philadelphia to start an
organization which aims to recruit more African Americans into the teaching
profession.
On a misty October
Tuesday, Sharif El-Mekki sat in the gymnasium of a North Philadelphia elementary
school that had been decked out with bright lights and sleek microphones. He
sat in the next-to-last row, on the edge of his seat, as videographers darted
around the room to record the event. Tobias Harris, the Sixers’ star forward,
was announcing to pep-rally-like fanfare the first nine organizations to be
recognized by his philanthropy. It was the Tobias Community Draft.
The organizations
in line to receive money were told to show up, but not how much they would
receive. El-Mekki waited as, one by one, in ascending order of amounts, Harris
announced his choices. He started at $25,000, rising to $50,000, then $75,000. As
names were announced, the amounts kept increasing — $100,000. $200,000. Soon,
there was just one recipient left: The Center for Black Educator Development,
an organization El-Mekki founded in June after 26 years as a teacher and
principal in Philadelphia. As lights flashed, Harris announced that the Center,
or CBED, was his “top draft pick,” receiving $300,000 of the $1 million he gave
out that day.
It was a huge coup
for an organization that is only a few months old.
“I’m blown away,”
El-Mekki said in accepting the symbolic oversized check.
'There Will Be No
Teachers Left': Educators in Philadelphia Talk About Quitting, School Violence
and Paying for Classroom Supplies
More than
500 teachers took a survey provided by NBC10, giving their opinions on whether
educators should be armed, whether the classroom is a safe environment and how
often they contemplate leaving the profession
By NBC10 Investigators Published Nov 11, 2019 at 3:44 PM | Updated at 12:05 AM EST on Nov 12,
2019
Last year, a high
school school teacher in Philadelphia said the cost out-of-pocket was $600 for
their classroom supplies. "I don’t have money to spare, but I’m committed
to teaching," the teacher told NBC10 in an interview. The educator, along
with five other teachers in the city district, spoke in-depth about their jobs
on the condition of anonymity for fear they could lose their jobs. Another
teacher said that test-dominant cirriculums take all of the joy out of the
profession and all self-expression and imagination out of the classroom. "We're
asked to teach to the test. They will come right out and tell you: 'if it’s not
a test-taking skill, don’t teach it,'" the elementary school teacher said.
"If the parents knew, truthfully, what went on in the schools, there would
be repercussions." Teachers in Philadelphia don't make a fortune — between
$46,000 and $84,000 annually — and it's hard-earned: they deal with occasional
in-school violence, constant pressure to improve test scores and a high-rate of
turnover among their peers.
Quakertown policy would restrict activity participation
for students who owe money
Bucks County Courier Times By Jo Ciavaglia Posted
Nov 11, 2019 at 2:06 PM
With school lunch debt rising more
Pennsylvania districts are looking for ways to recoup those losses before they
send food service programs into the red. Quakertown Community School District
students who owe money for school property — including outstanding lunch tabs —
could find themselves barred from school activities and their debt referred to
a collection agency under a new policy under consideration. The Upper Bucks
district is not the only one expected to take action in response to rising
school lunch debt that
has local food service programs chasing after thousands, even tens of
thousands, of dollars, risking their ability to operate without dipping into
the general fund to subsidize operations. The proposed Student Financial
Obligations policy would apply to any money Quakertown students owe, including
overdue library books, damaged district property, fundraising money, and other
classroom materials and district services, district spokesman Gary Weckselblatt
said. The board gave its preliminary approval at a first reading in late
September; the proposal is now
under legal review and a final vote is scheduled for the Thursday school board
meeting.
The tech industry
wants more diverse workers — here's how Lancaster County is helping
Lancaster Online by
ALEX GELI | Staff
Writer November
12, 2019
Lancaster County
has launched Pennsylvania’s first technology industry partnership in response
to the growing demand of computer science-related careers. More than 20 experts
from the tech, education, health care and nonprofit sectors gathered for the
first time Monday to brainstorm ways to cultivate and retain diverse talent in
the tech industry. “There is nothing in this world that is untouched by
technology,” said Charlie Reisinger, Penn Manor School District’s technology
director and one of a handful of partnership members. “So, frankly, this is the
most important conversation we can be having when it comes to the future of
Lancaster.” Among the two most high-demand jobs in Lancaster County, according
to the local workforce
development board, are
computer systems analysts and computer user support specialists. From 2014 to
2024, those jobs are projected to grow by 22% and 10%, respectively. But
businesses struggle to recruit talent — especially diverse talent. Thus the
Lancaster Tech Industry Partnership was born, thanks to a $50,000 PA Smart
grant from the state.
Pennsylvania schools struggling with bus driver shortage
WHYY By Associated Press November 11, 2019
Pennsylvania school
districts are struggling with a shortage of bus drivers.
A decline in the number of licensed school bus drivers statewide has some
districts scrambling to get students to and from school, a situation that has
gotten “progressively worse,” according to Mike Berk, executive director of the
Pennsylvania School Bus Association, which represents companies that provide
districts with busing services. In the West Chester Area School District
outside Philadelphia, 12 of the district’s 192 routes don’t have permanent
drivers, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Some drivers have had to double up
on runs, forcing students to spend twice as much time on the bus. “We’ve
received more complaints this year than we have in the past,” said Joanne
Yarnall, West Chester’s transportation manager. She and others attribute the
shortage to a strong economy in which potential drivers have plenty of other
job options. “Typically in this industry, if the economy is in the toilet, we
have enough drivers,” said Yarnall. “Part-time work is better than no work.” Council
Rock, another suburban Philadelphia district, has reported shortages of as many
as 25 drivers a day for its 150 buses. Its bus contractor, First Student, has
been offering sign-on bonuses of $1,000 in hopes of luring drivers.
Poll: Many say high
school diploma enough to succeed
TribLive by ASSOCIATED PRESS | Monday, November 11, 2019 8:45 a.m.
Although most young
Americans believe in the value of higher education, many still consider a high
school diploma alone to be enough for success, according to a survey of teens
and young adults by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs
Research. The findings alarm some experts who say young Americans don’t seem to
be getting the message that college pays off. Federal labor data shows a wide
earnings gap between Americans who do and do not have a college degree, and unemployment
rates are far lower for those with a bachelor’s or master’s degree. More than
half of Americans ages 13 through 29 do see college as a path to economic
success, but about 4 in 10 believe a bachelor’s degree prepares people only
somewhat well, or even poorly, for today’s economy. Meanwhile, about half said
their high school education has provided the skills they need to get a good job
right after they graduate. And 45% say a high school diploma is good
preparation for future successful workers. Researchers disputed that notion,
saying it has been decades since a high school diploma was enough to earn a
good living.
THANKING A 20-YEAR SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER
Centre Daily Times
Letter by Jonathan Lumley-Sapanski, Morristown, New Jersey November 10, 2019
Twenty years ago,
Robert Lumley-Sapanski was first elected to the Bellefonte school board. The
world of public education was in a period of great change. Over the past two
decades, public education has seen profound changes, from coping with the fear
active shooter drills instill in students to the challenges and wake of No
Child Left Behind.
That same year, I
sat in the sixth grade preparing for the state’s first PSSAs. This was when
teachers, administrators and school boards alike started living in fear that
“below basic” scores would lead to loss of funding, not increased assistance,
due to new legislation, and Pennsylvania teachers were forced to teach to
tests. As time progressed, even greater challenges came to public education
with the fear generated by the 9/11 attacks, countless school shootings, and
budget cuts, among others. Over the 20 years since his election, the middle
school renovation project was completed with state-of-the-art improvements. Bob
was elected vice president of the board, and then president. During his time as
president he led the district in radically improving facilities including
Marion-Walker Elementary renovations, high school renovations, and the Rogers
Stadium, Jeremy Herbstritt and Jonas Panik track. Bob was elected and served as
Pennsylvania School Board Association president, working to advance legislation
including vastly improving mental health services provided in our public
schools.
Please join me in
thanking Bob, my father, for his dedication and tireless efforts championing
public education over the past two decades on the school board.
SOME OF THOSE FOLKS WHO CLAIM TO BE PROGRESSIVES ARE
LYING
Philly’s 7th
Ward Blog BY ZACHARY WRIGHT NOVEMBER 10, 2019
“Progressive” is a
slippery word. The very term denotes improvement, progress, and thus is by
nature a desirable term with which to self-apply. But “progress” is in the eye
of the beholder. What might be
progressive to one may be regressive to another. And indeed, what was at one time thought progressive, may in today’s
world be embarrassingly regressive (“don’t ask, don’t
tell” comes to
mind.)
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A PROGRESSIVE TODAY?
One place to look
is the platform of the Progressive Democrats of America.
Their list of
issues include:
- Healthcare Human Rights
- Equal Rights Amendment
- End Corporate Rule
- Stop Global Warming
- Voter Access
- Economic & Social Justice
- Ending Wars
There is a general
theme here. To be “progressive,” it would seem, is to fight for equitable
access. Access to healthcare. Access to equal pay. Access to voting rights.
Access to justice. Access to a clean environment. Access to peace and
wellness. This increase in access is counter measured with environmental
protection and dismantling corporate lobbying structures that influence or
control Congress. To me, this progressive platform can be boiled down to a single
objective: creating a system in which all people have access to quality
education, jobs, health, housing and justice—regardless of race, gender, sexual
expression, religion, economic status or zip code.
Do you know what
else falls under this progressive platform? School choice.
Where Civility Is a Motto, a School Integration Fight
Turns Bitter
A plan to
desegregate schools in a liberal Maryland suburb founded on values of tolerance
has met with stiff resistance.
New York Times By Dana Goldstein Nov. 12, 2019, 5:00 a.m. ET
COLUMBIA, Md. — The
planned community of Columbia, southwest of Baltimore, has prided itself on
its ethos of inclusion ever since it was founded more than half a
century ago. Racially integrated. Affordable apartments near big homes. “The
Next America” was its optimistic, harmonious motto. But a recent proposal to
restore some of that idealism by balancing the number of low-income children
enrolled in schools across Howard County, including those in Columbia, has led
to bitter
divisions. Protesters
in matching T-shirts have thronged school board meetings. Thousands of letters
and emails opposing the redistricting plan, some of them overtly racist, have
poured in to policymakers. One high school student made a death
threat against
the superintendent of schools, Michael J. Martirano. The plan, announced by Dr.
Martirano in August, would transfer 7,400 of the district’s 58,000 students to
different schools in an effort to chip away at an uncomfortable truth: Some of
the county’s campuses have become havens for rich students, while others serve
large numbers of children whose families are struggling. Dr. Martirano’s plan,
which he called Equity
in Action,
would also alter the racial makeup of some schools, given that the
majority of poor students in the county are
black or Hispanic.
Screen Time Up as Reading Scores Drop. Is There a Link?
Education Week By Sarah D. Sparks November 8, 2019
American students
have never had more access to digital devices for reading in and out of school.
Now emerging research and troubling results on the test dubbed the Nation’s
Report Card raise questions about what effect all this digital access could
have on students’ longterm reading skills. A little more than 1 in 3 American
students read proficiently in grades 4 or 8, according to the 2019 National Assessment of Educational Progress, released at the end of last month. Reading scores in
both grades declined significantly across states, races, and income levels, in public and private
schools. Students have actually lost ground since 2017 on both of the NAEP’s
main reading content areas: literary experience, such as fiction analysis, and
reading for information, such as finding evidence to support an argument. Both
grades declined significantly in both areas from 2017 to 2019, but the drop was
larger for literary skills. In fact, 8th graders perform worse now than they
did in 2009 in literary experience.
“For the most part, despite her wild
unpopularity, they chalk up DeVos’ success to President Donald Trump’s relative
disinterest in education, her comparative lack of ethical conflicts and
scandal, and her connections to the evangelical community, a group that serves
as an important voting bloc for the president.”
Betsy DeVos Might
Outlast Them All
Education
Secretary Betsy DeVos is one of the Trump administration’s most reviled Cabinet
members. Here’s why she’s here to stay.
Huffington Post By Rebecca Klein November 11,
2019
Betsy DeVos’ confirmation hearing in January 2017 made her a universal punchline.
When asked about her thoughts on guns in school, she famously pointed to the
need to protect students from grizzly bears. When asked about her opinions on
exams that measure proficiency versus those that measure growth, she could
barely stammer out an answer. In a Republican-majority Senate, the billionaire
mega-donor was barely confirmed to her position, a humiliating turn that
required Vice President Mike Pence to cast the tie-breaking vote. Two years later, DeVos remains among the
least popular Cabinet members in a historically unpopular administration. Yet, somehow, even as her
peers dropped like flies — former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, former
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson — the education secretary has remained
standing. HuffPost spoke with over a dozen people about DeVos’ longevity,
including former colleagues at the Department of Education, former co-workers
in the advocacy space, and several political opponents who continue to root for
her downfall.
PSBA New and Advanced
School Director Training in Dec & Jan
Do you want
high-impact, engaging training that newly elected and reseated school directors
can attend to be certified in new and advanced required training? PSBA has been
supporting new school directors for more than 50 years by enlisting statewide
experts in school law, finance and governance to deliver a one-day foundational
training. This year, we are adding a parallel track of sessions for those who
need advanced school director training to meet their compliance requirements.
These sessions will be delivered by the same experts but with advanced content.
Look for a compact evening training or a longer Saturday session at a location
near you. All sites will include one hour of trauma-informed training required
by Act 18 of 2019. Weekend sites will include an extra hour for a legislative
update from PSBA’s government affairs team.
New School
Director Training
Week Nights:
Registration opens 3:00 p.m., program starts 3:30 p.m. -9:00 p.m., dinner with
break included
Saturdays: Registration opens at 8:00 a.m., program starts at 9:00 a.m. -3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Saturdays: Registration opens at 8:00 a.m., program starts at 9:00 a.m. -3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Advanced
School Director Training
Week Nights:
Registration with dinner provided opens at 4:30 p.m., program starts 5:30 p.m.
-9:00 p.m.
Saturdays: Registration opens at 10:00 a.m., program starts at 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Saturdays: Registration opens at 10:00 a.m., program starts at 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Locations
and dates
- Saturday, December 7 — AW Beattie
Career Center, 9600 Babcock Blvd., Allison Park, PA 15101
- Saturday, December 7 — Radnor
Township School District, 135 S. Wayne Ave., Wayne, PA 19087
- Tuesday, December 10 — Grove City
Area School District, 511 Highland Avenue, Grove City, PA 16127
- Tuesday, December 10 — Penn Manor
School District, 2950 Charlestown Road, Lancaster, PA 17603
- Tuesday, December 10 — CTC of
Lackawanna County, 3201 Rockwell Ave, Scranton, PA 18508
- Wednesday, December 11 — Upper St. Clair
Township SD, 1820 McLaughlin Run Road, Upper St. Clair, PA 15241
- Wednesday, December 11 — Montoursville
Area High School, 700 Mulberry St, Montoursville, PA 17754
- Wednesday, December 11 — Berks County
IU 14, 1111 Commons Blvd, Reading, PA 19605
- Thursday, December 12 — Richland
School District, 1 Academic Avenue, Suite 200, Johnstown, PA 15904
- Thursday, December 12 — Seneca Highlands
IU 9, 119 S Mechanic St, Smethport, PA 16749
- Thursday, December 12 — School
District of Haverford Twp, 50 East Eagle Road, Havertown, PA 19083
- Saturday, December 14 — State College
Area High School, 650 Westerly Pkwy, State College, PA 16801
- Saturday, January 11, 2020 — PSBA
Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Blvd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
UPDATE: Second Workshop Added Thursday, November
14, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm: Adolescent Health and School Start Times:
Science, Strategies, Tactics, & Logistics Workshop in Exton, PA
The first workshop on November 13 sold out in
less than 4 weeks. Thanks to recent additional sponsorships, there will
be a second workshop held on Thursday, November 14. Register HERE.
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 a
second interactive and solutions-oriented workshop on Thursday, November 14, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm Clarion
Hotel in Exton, PA. The science is clear. Many middle and high schools 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.
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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