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,
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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PA Ed Policy Roundup for Jan. 7, 2020
Have you registered for Advocacy Day in Harrisburg to
support public education Monday March 23, 2020?
All school leaders are invited to
attend Advocacy Day at the state Capitol in Harrisburg. The
Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), Pennsylvania Association of
Intermediate Units (PAIU) and the Pennsylvania Association of School
Administrators (PASA) are partnering together to strengthen our advocacy
impact. The day will center around meetings with legislators to discuss
critical issues affecting public education. Click here for more
information or register at http://www.mypsba.org/ School directors
can register online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you need assistance logging
in and registering contact Alysha Newingham, Member Data System Administrator
at alysha.newingham@psba.org
“March 2, 2020 - Monday
10:00AM Department of Education
1:00PM Department of Education (continued)”
10:00AM Department of Education
1:00PM Department of Education (continued)”
House
Appropriations Committee Budget Hearing Schedule Released
PA House GOP Caucus Website JAN. 06, 2020
HARRISBURG – House Appropriations Committee Chairman
Stan Saylor (R-York) released the following schedule for the 2020 House Budget
Hearings:
WBAI Radio: Charter Schools Out of Control; Wednesday
10 am
Excited 2 hear @carolburris guests on @WBAI Wednesday's #TalkOutOfSchool radio show -
Retired teacher & blogger Peter Greene @palan57 & @EdVotersPA Executive Director
@SusanSpicka You can tune in
live Wed. 10 a.m. EST https://wbai.org/listen-live/ Call w/ ? (212)
209-2877
By Merlyn J Clarke Published on LinkedIn December
23, 2019
Merlyn J Clarke is a School Board Member at
Stroudsburg Area School District
This communication concerns the problems that school
districts currently face as a result of existing charter school laws.
Obviously, some of what I have to say will not be new. I write,
nevertheless, from the perspective of a school board member from a district,
Stroudsburg, that is facing real problems caused by current charter school
legislation.
The Legitimacy of Public Schools is Long
Standing
Let me be clear up front. I am an
unapologetic advocate of UNIVERSAL public education. This position arises
from decades of evidence and persuasive philosophical argument that a
democratic, pluralistic society cannot succeed in the absence of a universally
educated and integrated public, where access to education reaches all sectors
of society, regardless of race, religion, economic status, gender or geographic
location. We tamper with this commitment at our peril. I will argue that
the charter school law, as currently constituted, threatens this commitment by
making it progressively more difficult for school districts to do their job of
providing this education.
School
Districts Must Have Control Over Their Budgets
How does current charter school law jeopardize these
commitments? Because school districts are sitting ducks for any charter
school promoter/entrepreneur, whether local, regional or national--brick and
mortar or cyber--that decides to invade a region, demand a charter, and then
claim entitlement to legislatively mandated, locally generated
tuition money for any student who chooses to attend the charter school.
Carol Burris: Joe Roy, a Hero of Public Education
Diane Ravitch’s Blog By dianeravitch January 4, 2020 //
Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for
Public Education, writes here about Superintendent Joe Roy, a champion for
students and public schools. I add him now to the honor roll of the blog.
Superintendent Joe Roy is a fearless fighter for
better opportunities for the students that attend his small city school
district of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. His district is diverse, and about
60% receive free or reduced price lunch. In 2016, he was the Pennsylvania
Superintendent of the Year. This is what he said when honored, “I’m one person
out of 2,000 people in the district who do great work. So many people
contribute, and it’s nice to have the recognition, but it shouldn’t be one
person.” That is who Joe Roy is. Two years ago, I spoke with Joe Roy who
told me how his district is being drained of funding by charter schools and
cyber charters. I was shocked by how much they cost. You can read about
our conversation and what I learned here.
Now Joe is fighting side by side with
other superintendents of Pennsylvania city districts whose finances are
becoming unsustainable due to charter school drain. Joe therefore has become a
target of the charter lobby. At a public meeting he said the following…..
Charter
Schools; Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
PENNSYLVANIA BULLETIN PROPOSED RULEMAKING DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION [ 22 PA. CODE CH. 711 ]
Asbestos
closes Philly elementary for at least the rest of the week
Inquirer by Kristen A.
Graham, Updated: January 6, 2020- 5:00 PM
Carnell Elementary School will remain closed this
week as Philadelphia School District officials scramble to fix damaged asbestos
in dozens of locations throughout the building. The decision came after
district personnel and officials with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers
spent several hours Monday walking through the Oxford Circle building. On the
walk-through, they discovered new areas of damaged asbestos that will require
attention, union officials said. The school, on Devereaux Avenue, was closed
on Dec. 20 when damage to asbestos-containing pipe
insulation was flagged. Carnell students will have missed eight school days if
they return to class as planned Monday, Jan. 13, a date that depends on testing
and inspection. Students can still come to the school building this week to
pick up free breakfast and lunch between 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., district officials
said in a news release. Carnell is the sixth Philadelphia school that has been
temporarily shut because of asbestos. A seventh building — an early childhood
education center — was also closed because of “imminent hazards” from asbestos.
Poverty grew in almost half of Pennsylvania counties
despite strong national economy
Morning Call By TIM HENDERSON ASSOCIATED PRESS |
JAN 02, 2020 | 8:00 AM
Despite an economic recovery that lifted people out
of poverty in most areas of the country, poverty increased in at least one
county in every state between 2016 and 2018. The poverty rate grew in 30% of
counties from 2016-18, according to a Stateline analysis of U.S. Census Bureau
county estimates released last month. The poverty rate is the percentage of
people in households earning less than the poverty threshold, $25,750 for a
family of four. While the overall poverty rate dropped between 2016 and 2018,
from 13% to 12%, states varied widely. In New Jersey and Rhode Island, the
poverty rate grew in only one county, compared with 83 in Texas. The poverty
rate in Pennsylvania in 2016 was 12.9%, dropping slightly to 12.2% in 2018,
according to the census estimates. Statewide, 30 of 67 counties, 45%, had a
higher poverty rate in 2018 than in 2016.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s mental health plan offers hope of more
counselors, social workers for schools
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO THE MORNING CALL |
JAN 03, 2020 | 6:26 PM
The Allentown School District referred about 700
students a year to mental health services about a decade ago. Now it’s closer
to 3,000 a year. That’s a drastic increase for a district that educates 17,000
students, and shows the need for more resources to help children struggling
with mental health, Superintendent Thomas Parker told Gov. Tom Wolf Friday
afternoon. And for financially strapped districts like Allentown, Parker said,
it’s nearly impossible to find the money for the necessary social workers and
counselors. Parker shared the district’s struggle in getting children the help
they need with Wolf and others attending a round-table discussion at Muhlenberg
College in Allentown a day after Wolf announced a statewide effort offering
help. Federal and state lawmakers were among those on hand. Wolf’s “Reach Out
PA: Your Mental Health Matters,” campaign includes developing new state
regulations on health insurance coverage, coordinating services for physical
and behavioral health, analyzing pay and other factors for those who provide
mental health services — and finding ways to get more social workers into
schools. Wolf has said the effort would attempt to destigmatize the issue and
provide people struggling with mental health issues the help they need. Wolf
has not said how much if any additional money for mental health services he
might be seeking in his coming 2020-21 budget address.
'Cyber snow
days:' Why few school districts statewide opted in for the program
Teresa Boeckel, York Daily Record Published 6:00 a.m. ET
Jan. 6, 2020 | Updated 10:23 a.m. ET Jan. 6, 2020
Cheers for snow days will still ring out in many
homes in Pennsylvania.
Fewer than 80 school districts, charter schools and
others across the state have opted to use "cyber snow days" for
the 2019-2020 school year, according to the state Department of Education's
website. Gov. Tom Wolf signed a bill over the summer allowing districts to use
the flexible instructional days when school
has to be closed for inclement weather, emergencies or other reasons. Up to five
days can be used each school year. That means students complete
assignments at home while the buildings are closed. Nine school districts and
one regional charter school in York County have been approved, according to the
state Department of Education's website. But in other counties, such as
Lebanon and Franklin, none of the school districts are participating. Statewide,
seven applications were denied because the schools did not provide information
that met the requirements of the law, such as single-day lesson plans,
completed narratives or approved school board minutes, said Eric Levis, a
spokesman for the state Department of Education. Here's a look at some of the
challenges:
Snow days are slowly melting away across Pennsylvania
— except in Lancaster County
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer January 7, 2020
Lancaster County students get to enjoy snow days
this year, but others across the state aren’t so lucky. Seventy-nine of
Pennsylvania’s 500 school districts are participating in the state’s new flexible
instructional day program, which allows schools to provide online
instruction when snow or another emergency forces school buildings to close. But
none of the county’s 17 public school districts are participating. Local school
officials say they’re not yet sold on the
voluntary program, which was signed into law last year by Gov.
Tom Wolf. “Our best product is when we have teachers and students face-to-face
throughout the learning process,” Pequea Valley Superintendent Erik Orndorff
said. “We could do a cyber day but for us, it wouldn’t be our best product.” Orndorff
expressed concern over the lack of interaction between teachers and students,
and the problems that arise when considering students with special needs. “Learning
is a social activity and we want to make sure our learners are engaged and
involved,” Orndorff said.
Harrisburg
schools progress report: State takeover brings changes, but much remains to be
done
Penn
Live By Sean
Sauro | ssauro@pennlive.com Updated Jan 06, 8:00 AM;Posted
Jan 06, 5:32 AM
It was mid-August, only a week before classrooms
were opened to returning students, that teachers and staff members filed into
the auditorium at Harrisburg School District’s John Harris campus, filling the
hundreds of seats inside. A ringing
bell drew their attention to the front of the room and to Janet
Samuels, the newly appointed district leader who’s been tasked with turning
around decades of financial and academic underperformance. Samuels addressed
the cheering crowd, offering a promise: This school year will not be “business
as usual by any stretch of the imagination,” she said. A semester later,
Samuels, Acting
Superintendent Chris Celmer and many of their supporters argue it’s
a promise that’s been largely fulfilled. They point to achievements such as the
creation of an accurate budget, a districtwide elementary school curriculum and
clean, well-maintained school buildings. Still, there is much work to be done,
they agreed. To help students caught in a failing system succeed, they must
also find a way to effectively engage parents, retain teachers and contend with
a dwindling savings account.
Erie School District to open bids for outside janitors
GoErie
By Ed Palattella Posted
Jan 5, 2020 at 12:10 AM Updated
Jan 5, 2020 at 12:46 PM
State financial improvement plan mandates that
School Board review contracting custodial services. Vote not until May 13. The
Erie School District’s financial recovery is continuing with what will be more
consequential decisions in 2020. The district administration is scheduled to
open bids for outside custodial services on Monday as it reaches another stage
of a process expected to dominate discussion on the School Board for the first
half of 2020. The school directors must examine whether to outsource custodial
services as part of the district’s state-mandated financial improvement plan.
Contracting for such services will save the district an estimated $1 million a
year, according to district figures. The financial improvement plan does not
mandate that the School Board outsource the services, though it requires the
board find other ways to save as much as $1 million a year if it does not
approve the outsourcing for custodians and custodial supervisors. The board
must consider whether to award a contract for outside custodians at its May 13
meeting, about five weeks before the June 30 deadline for the board to pass a
budget for 2020-21. The board must consider whether to award a contract for
outside custodial supervisors at a meeting in May 2021.
Pittsburgh
Public Schools board member proposes more participatory process on budget
ANDREW
GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com JAN 5, 2020
With just a few days left in 2019, the Pittsburgh
Public Schools were stuck with a budget that faced a massive funding hole. Its
cause comes from the school board adopting a $665.6 million budget for 2020 but
declining to approve the 2.3% property tax increase that the district wanted to
help fund it. This, as board members argued over where the additional revenue
would go, items that could still be cut from the budget and why a millage hike
was necessary. The problem was solved when the board passed a more
moderate tax increase as a compromise during a special legislative session five
days before the start of the new year — avoiding a possible district shutdown
— and school administrators adjusted the budget accordingly. Several
board members at the Dec. 27 meeting where a new 1.2% tax increase was passed,
though, expressed frustration that the budget remained unresolved until the
final days of the year. Board member Pam Harbin said she would introduce a
resolution that would make budget creation a more year-round and participatory
process as a way to circumvent similar issues in future years. At a school
board meeting later this month, she said, she will ask for three more workshops
throughout the year where the public and board members can address budget
concerns.
Kenney wants
to ‘deliver’ on local control of Philly schools through more investment,
service coordination
He plans a new Office of Children and
Families to better coordinate services and will pursue more aid for community
college students.
The notebook by Dale Mezzacappa January 6 — 3:11
pm, 2020
Updated with information about the appointment
of Cynthia Figueroa as head of the Office of Children and Families.
Starting his second term on Monday, Mayor Kenney
promised to continue increasing the city’s support for the School District,
working to make Community College of Philadelphia more affordable, and
coordinating city services better through a new Office of Children and
Families. “We must follow the rest of the civilized world and make the
investments necessary to improve the quality of education available to all of
our kids,” the mayor said. “This isn’t just the right thing to do; our city’s
future depends on it. … It’s a new era, and we will not fail another generation
of our kids.” Kenney and City Council members took their oaths of office at the
newly restored Met Philadelphia opera house, 858 N. Broad St. Among the four
new Council members is education activist Kendra Brooks, who became the first
person elected to Council outside the two major parties. She ran with the
Working Families Party. The other new Council members are Democrats Jamie
Gauthier, Katherine Gilmore Richardson, and Isaiah Thomas. Kenney promised
to expand his administration’s initiatives on universal pre-K, community
schools, after-school programs, and behavioral health services for students.
Norwin to cap tax hike at 3.4%
Trib Live by JOE NAPSHA | Monday,
January 6, 2020 8:41 p.m.
Property owners in the Norwin School District will
not see their school taxes increase more than 3.4% — the maximum allowed
without state or voter approval. The Norwin School Board Monday unanimously
voted at its workshop meeting to limit any tax hike to the state maximum, which
is about 2.8 mills in the Westmoreland County communities it serves. The school
board does not have to approve a budget for next fiscal year until June 30. “Everybody’s
goal here is to keep it (tax hike) as low as possible,” while maintaining a
safe environment and quality education, said Brian Carlton, board president. Ryan
Kirsch, business affairs director, said he expects to present a review of the
2020-21 budget at the school board’s workshop meeting in April, a month before
the board likely will introduce a tentative budget for the next school year. Norwin
has raised real estate taxes to the state-permitted limit each of the last four
years.
PA Farm Bill Farm to School grant program accepting
applications through Jan. 15
NorthCentralPA.com by NCPA Staff January 3, 2020
The PA Farm to School grant program offered through
the PA Department of Agriculture aims to enrich the connection communities have
with fresh, healthy food and local producers by changing food purchasing
behaviors and education practices at schools and early childhood education
sites. Up to $15,000 is available to school districts, charter schools, or
private schools with pre-kindergarten classes, and elementary through fifth
grade. Requirements and limitation information is available on the PA
Dept. of Agriculture website. Specifically, the
grant program provides schools with funding to improve access to healthy, local
foods and increase agriculture education opportunities for pre-kindergarten
through fifth grade. The goal is to bridge the gap between children and the
food system by showing them that fresh, healthy food is available from
Pennsylvania agricultural producers in their own community and the surrounding
areas. In addition to funding the procurement of locally grown foods in school
cafeterias, grant projects can include staff training initiatives, the
development of nutritional and agriculture education, and even field trips to
farms or other experiences that connect kids with food sources.
Eligible organizations have until January 15 to
apply.
Special
election to fill Folmer’s Pa. Senate seat pits a district attorney against a
history professor
Penn
Live By Jan
Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Posted
Jan 06, 5:00 AM
Voters in the 48th state senatorial district will
have the opportunity to go to the polls on Jan. 14 and elect someone to serve
as their senator for the better part of three years. The two men vying for that
seat are Lebanon County District Attorney Dave Arnold and Lebanon Valley
College associate history professor Michael Schroeder. The district includes
parts of Dauphin and York counties and all of Lebanon County. The seat is open
following the resignation of
Lebanon County Republican Mike Folmer, who stepped down
after he was arrested and charged with possessing child pornography in
September. The 48-year-old Arnold, the
Republican nominee, is no stranger to politics, having held
his elective office for the past 14 years. Schroeder, 61, the
Democratic nominee, is making his first run at public office
but counts his community and environmental activism along with study of
politics and government from his work as a history scholar as qualifying him
for the position.
Who’s running for Lehigh Valley state House seats?
By FORD TURNER THE MORNING CALL |
JAN 06, 2020 | 6:00 AM
Open seats, entrenched incumbents and even
gerrymandering have been part of the conversation as current or aspiring
politicians decide whether to run for the Pennsylvania House in the Lehigh
Valley. Statewide all 203 House seats are up for grabs this year, including the
11 whose districts contain parts of Lehigh or Northampton counties. The terms
last two years, the annual pay is more than $90,000 and the benefits package is
considered top-notch. None of the three state Senate seats that include
portions of either county is open in this year’s election. As the Jan. 28
opening of the window for circulating nomination petitions approaches, the
largest amount of jockeying and speculating in the Lehigh Valley may surround
the 131st and 138th district House seats, which are being vacated by retiring
incumbents Justin Simmons and Marcia Hahn. Other topics of political
conversation have included the fact a sitting incumbent ― Republican Rep.
Zachary Mako in the 183rd District ― is away on a long-term military
deployment, as well as the widely held, bigger-picture belief that many
districts across the state have been politically redrawn so as to make them
almost unwinnable by one major party or the other.
Guest Column: Once upon a time, when politics worked
for common good
Delco Times By Joseph Batory Times Guest Columnist Jan
5, 2020
In 1984, when I was offered the opportunity to
become the superintendent of schools in Upper Darby, I had one serious
reservation. I had to learn more about the “political factor” before I would
accept the job. My predecessor and mentor, Mike Maines, had built relationships
with the local politicians and cultivated these connections. As an assistant
superintendent at that time, I didn’t know much about this. I was certainly
aware that most of Upper Darby’s school board members had won election because
of being endorsed by the Upper Darby Republican political powers, which had an
overwhelming voting majority of the community at that time. But I knew little
else. And so, a political breakfast meeting at a table reserved for such
purposes took place in the back of Upper Darby’s Llanerch Diner. I met with
John McNichol, the legendary and powerful leader of Upper Darby’s Republican
political machine, and my knees were shaking. What in blazes did I know about
dealing with politicians? John had had a private meeting with President Ronald
Reagan in the White House the previous day. Talk about intimidating … I was
scared to death and didn’t sleep the night before.
“As part of a ‘blue wave’ in the
Philadelphia suburbs, Democrats also won control of the majority of governing
seats in Bucks and Chester Counties during the last election cycle. Now, the entire
five-county southeastern Pennsylvania region is controlled by Democrats.”
Delco Dems
promise ‘sweeping change’ as GOP loses power in Philly suburbs
WHYY By Laura Benshoff January 6, 2020
Three Democratic council members took oaths of
office in Delaware County on Monday, ending more than a century of GOP
leadership. One by one, they remarked on the historic shift and pledged to
increase accountability. “We’re going to face obstacles trying to change
culture in a courthouse that’s been run by one party for generations … but our
strength is really the commitment to make sure that government works better for
all of the people in Delaware County, regardless of their party, the
municipality they live in, or who they know,” said new council member Christine
A. Reuther. Delaware County
Councilperson Christine Reuther was elected as a Democrat in the 2019 election,
helping to give her party a 5-0 hold on the chamber. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY) Democrats
swept local races in November, changing party control of the county council for
the first time since that body was created, and ending GOP dominance in county
government that began in the Civil War era and was considered
impossible to overcome until only recently.
“How will we
know how our kids are doing if we don’t test them?” Here’s how…
Electablog by Mitchell Robinson December 18, 2019
Mitchell Robinson is associate professor and chair
of music education at Michigan State University. His research is focused on
music education and education policy.
Attending the recent Public Education Forum in
Pittsburgh last weekend was a wonderful experience in many ways…getting a
chance to hear what many of the presidential candidates had to say about public
education; meeting some of my favorite education reporters bloggers, and
activists; and finally seeing public education receive the attention it
deserves as one of the most important issues facing our nation. All in all, it
was a terrific weekend…except for one nagging question, left largely unanswered
by any of the candidates, and now lingering and looming over the next several
months of debates, analyses, and discussions. This question was asked many
times, and in a variety of ways, but in its most essential form it looks pretty
much like this:“How will we know how our kids are doing if we don’t test
them?”
On its face this looks like a perfectly legitimate
question. After all, isn’t that what “tests” are for? To determine what and how
much students know? Didn’t all of us have to take tests when we were in school?
We turned out ok, so what’s the big deal? Why do so many teachers have such
strong feelings about testing all of the sudden? What’s going on??? Well,
first–a little context.
Common Core
school standards keep failing, but they don’t have to | Opinion
Pam
Greenblatt and Nicole Pugliese, for the Inquirer Updated: January 5, 2020 - 8:00 AM
Dr. Pam Greenblatt is head of lower school at the
Haverford School, a (private) pre-K-12 boys’ school, where she developed a
structured literacy program and design thinking curriculum. Nichole Pugliese is
director of the Enrichment and Learning Center at the Haverford School and a
graduate of the School of Health Studies and Education at St. Joseph’s
University.
Why aren’t our children learning to read? At its
debut, the Common Core gave hope that we could improve the reading, writing,
and math outcomes of American children being outpaced by their international
peers. The Common Core State Standards Initiative was introduced in 2009 by a
bipartisan group of governors, experts, and philanthropists, and supported by
then-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Originally adopted by more than 40
states, the Common Core aimed to create shared standards, including universal
goals for mathematics and
English language arts. Ten years into these standards, not a whole
lot has changed for our students. The 2018 Program for International Student
Assessment (PISA) reported that
U.S. students have shown no statistically significant changes since 2000, and
have improved only in overall global rankings because other countries have
declined, not because our scores improved. In Pennsylvania, only 40% of fourth
graders are reading at a proficient level, just slightly better than the national average of 35%. While
there isn’t one single reason why Common Core hasn’t affected literacy outcomes
as significantly as hoped, a glaring shortcoming is the inefficient way
students are taught to read.
“The Achievement School District has
taken over dozens of underperforming schools in Tennessee’s two largest cities
and assigned most to charter operators charged with moving the schools’
academic performance into Tennessee’s top 25 percent in five years. That
didn’t work. Most remain in the bottom 5%, and several schools have closed due to low enrollment. Teacher retention has been another major challenge. Similar turnaround
models in other states haven’t fared better. Nevada closed its achievement district, while North
Carolina and Mississippi have struggled to get theirs off the ground.”
All 30
schools in Tennessee’s turnaround district would exit by 2022 in a massive
restructuring proposal
Chalkbeat By Caroline Bauman, Marta W. Aldrich January 6,
2020
Tennessee wants to return 30 state-run schools to
local districts in Memphis and Nashville no later than the fall of 2022, but
also wants to retain its state-run district to possibly take over other
chronically low-performing schools, says a proposal being unveiled this week. Exactly
how that transition would happen is unclear as the state education department
seeks to revamp turnaround work for Tennessee’s lowest performing
schools. According to a copy of the proposal obtained by Chalkbeat, the
transition is part of a massive reset for the embattled turnaround model known
as the Achievement School District – made up mostly of charter organizations –
which has fallen woefully short of its goal to improve student performance
since launching in 2012. The department wants the proposed reforms, which
would affect other struggling schools outside of the achievement district, to
start by next fall. But before other schools could be absorbed by the
achievement district, they would have a year to nine years to improve with the
help of local interventions and additional state funding and support.
Bloomberg
education plan to promote charter school expansion
New York Post By Carl Campanile January 5,
2020 | 5:56pm
Presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg may have backed off
supporting stop-and-frisk, but he plans to double-down on another
controversial policy from his time as New York Mayor — expanding charter
schools. Bloomberg will soon roll out an education plan that will include
backing the privately managed schools as an option for families, his campaign
office told The Post — drawing a contrast with other top-tier Democratic
presidential rivals. “Mike’s education plan will absolutely promote charter
schools,” Bloomberg campaign spokesman Stu Loeser insisted. “The record number
of charter schools opened under Mayor Bloomberg is clear. That isn’t changing.”
“Few if any people in the country have opened more charter schools than Mike
Bloomberg,” he continued. Many Democrats oppose charters, saying they divert
funds and weaken traditional public schools.
All school leaders
are invited to attend Advocacy Day at the state Capitol in
Harrisburg. The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA), Pennsylvania
Association of Intermediate Units (PAIU) and the Pennsylvania Association of
School Administrators (PASA) are partnering together to strengthen our advocacy
impact. The day will center around meetings with legislators to discuss
critical issues affecting public education. Click here for more information or register at http://www.mypsba.org/
School
directors can register online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you need
assistance logging in and registering contact Alysha Newingham, Member Data
System Administrator at alysha.newingham@psba.org
PA SCHOOLS WORK:
Special Education Funding Webinar Tue, Jan 14, 2020 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM EST
Training: Enhancing
School Safety Jan. 9th, 8 am – 1 pm Council Rock High School South
The training is
provided by the United States Secret Service and the Office PA Rep Wendi
Thomas, in partnership with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit, Bucks County DA
Matt Weintraub and PSEA.
Date: Thursday,
January 9, 2020, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Council Rock High
School South, 2002 Rock Way, Holland PA 18954
This is the
region’s first presentation of the National Threat Assessment Center's (NTAC)
2020 research on actionable plans to prevent violence in schools. The training
is provided by the United States Secret Service (USSS)
and is based on updated operational research conducted by the USSS and the
NTAC. The training will offer best practices on preventing incidents of
targeted school violence. This workshop will focus solely on how to proactively
identify, assess, and manage individuals exhibiting concerning behavior based
on USSS methodologies.
At the conclusion
of the training, attendees will be able to:
· Understand operational research on preventing incidents of targeted
school violence;
· Be able to proactively identify, using USSS methodologies, concerning
behaviors prior to an incident;
· Be able to assess concerning behaviors using best practice standards and
use identified methods to better manage individuals who exhibit concerning
behaviors with the goal of preventing school violence.
PSBA: Required School
Director Training
Your trusted and
approved source
The Pennsylvania
Department of Education has named PSBA an approved provider of required school
director training. Your association has more than 100 years of statewide
expertise in school law, policy, finance and ethical governance, so you can be
sure you’re receiving the highest quality learning, relevant to your role. To
learn when you or your board will be required to complete training hours,
please refer to PDE’s
FAQs here
Act 55 and Act 18
Training requirements specific to you:
• Newly elected and appointed school board directors –
• Successful completion of five training hours.
• Re-elected school board directors –
• Successful completion of three training hours.
Training requirements specific to you:
• Newly elected and appointed school board directors –
• Successful completion of five training hours.
• Re-elected school board directors –
• Successful completion of three training hours.
PSBA knows that
everyone has unique scheduling requirements and distinct learning styles.
Therefore, we have created two pathways in meeting state requirements:
PSBA New and Advanced
School Director Training in Dec & Jan
Additional sessions now being offered in
Bucks and Beaver Counties
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, January 11, 2020 — PSBA
Headquarters, 400 Bent Creek Blvd, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
- Saturday, January 25,
2020 — Bucks County IU 22, 705 N Shady Retreat Rd, Doylestown, PA 18901
- Monday, February 3,
2020 — Beaver Valley IU 27, 147
Poplar Avenue, Monaca, PA 15061
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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