Started in November 2010, daily postings from the Keystone State
Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education
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PA Ed Policy Roundup for April 23, 2020
Heads-up: After careful
consideration and discussion, the PSBA executive team, along with the governing
board, has made the decision to cancel the annual PASA-PSBA School Leadership
Conference scheduled for October
2020.
Shouldering the burden, one class at a time
A veteran teacher moves to salvage the year
and the futures of her 23 first graders however she can, whether by learning
new technology or delivering learning materials to their homes.
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa April 22 — 7:00 am, 2020
The Notebook and WHYY will be periodically
checking in with two teachers for the rest of the academic year to see how they
are coping with the move to virtual learning. We hope to recount their
successes, discoveries, and frustrations. This is the first story in the
series.
For the Philadelphia School District, the big
number is 130,000. As the coronavirus shutdown settles in, that’s the number of
students the District must now educate from a distance. For Mattie Davis, the big number is 23. That’s the number of students in her
North Philadelphia first grade classroom. And that’s the number of young
educations she’s committed to saving, if necessary, one academic packet and one
mail slot at a time.
“It’s been over a month I haven’t heard any of my students read,” she lamented on Monday.
The last day of traditional school, Friday, March 13, was almost normal in Davis’s class at the William Dick Elementary School. First thing, her students made their morning report — about the weather and the news of the day — and did a lot of reading and writing, followed by lunch, and then their regular Friday computer class.
“It’s been over a month I haven’t heard any of my students read,” she lamented on Monday.
The last day of traditional school, Friday, March 13, was almost normal in Davis’s class at the William Dick Elementary School. First thing, her students made their morning report — about the weather and the news of the day — and did a lot of reading and writing, followed by lunch, and then their regular Friday computer class.
Philly high school seniors: Don’t let coronavirus force
more budget cuts | Opinion
Doha Ibrahim and Imere Williams, For The
Inquirer April 22, 2020
Doha Ibrahim is a senior at Lincoln High
School and is a student representative on the Philadelphia Board of Education.
Imere Williams is a senior at Boys Latin Charter School and is a student
representative on the Philadelphia Board of Education.
We are members of the class of 2020. In the
last few weeks, you’ve heard about us as the class who won’t get to go to prom,
throw a senior prank, or share a normal graduation with our classmates and
families. These things are true, but more importantly, you should know us as
the class that started kindergarten in 2007, the year the great recession hit.
We have been living with the consequences ever since. In Philadelphia, this
means that we have spent much of our education in classrooms with too many
students, in schools without enough nurses and counselors, and under roofs that
leak and may be contaminated with environmental hazards. In our specific
experience, we have faced classrooms that lacked supplies, libraries without
books and a district with little available technology for students.
Despite these challenges, we have made it
through. And we were proud to be leaving a better and stronger public education
system behind us. After significant work and advocacy by our school
communities, District leaders and elected officials, public education in
Philadelphia is on the rise. Our school system is no longer in fiscal distress.
The District has been slowly restoring staffing levels. Across Philadelphia the
academic performance of our public schools is starting to improve. And the
District was once again about to have a balanced budget that would allow for
more investments in our schools. But this is now all in serious jeopardy due to
the projected financial impact of COVID-19.
School District of Lancaster may eliminate 23 positions,
furlough 8 employees due to COVID-19 impact
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer April 23,
2020
School District of Lancaster may eliminate 23
positions and furlough up to eight employees – including three teachers – due
to the sudden financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The district, the
county’s largest with some 11,000 students, faces a potential $12.3 million
budget deficit next fiscal year, $2 million of which was added since the health
crisis began. School officials said they’re trying to cut where they can
before raising taxes on an
already financially strained taxpayer base. “We’re definitely in a challenging
time,” said Matt Przywara, Lancaster’s chief of finance and operations. Przywara
said the district will likely feel the effects of the pandemic for years to
come – immediately in real estate and earned income tax revenue, and in the
long run with rising pension costs and an expected lag in state support. The
current situation, he said, “is happening faster and on a much larger scale”
than the 2008 financial crisis. Every economic level – local to federal – will
take a hit, he said. On the chopping block could be four administrative
positions, 18 teaching-related positions and one support position, all of which
would be reduced through attrition. Three teachers, plus five administrative
staffers, could be furloughed. The district has more than 1,600 employees.
Editorial: What the virus has stolen from Class of 2020
Delco Times April 23, 2020
For some, it was the chance to be on stage as
part of an ensemble singing in the school musical. For others, it was achieving
a personal best on the track in the 800-meter run. It could be the long-awaited
trip to HersheyPark with friends, the “senior skip day” breakfast at Shady
Maple Smorgasbord, the school record pole vault jump or the team celebration of
a softball championship. For many, it was prom night -- posing for pictures,
riding with friends in a rented limo, dancing the night away. And for just
about every high school senior, it was the long-anticipated walk across the
stage in front of family and friends to be handed a diploma. Those were the
memories stolen from the Class of 2020 by the coronavirus. When Gov. Tom Wolf
gave his first school closing directive to Montgomery County schools on March
13, the losses began. But it wasn’t until weeks later after the order was
extended statewide and throughout the remainder of the school year that the
reality hit. No proms, no graduation ceremonies, no theater, no class trips, no
sports -- or at least not this spring and not in the way that seniors
anticipated for so long. “I can't stop thinking about how at the time, I didn't
even know that my last day of high school was my last day of high school,” said
Anna Alberti, a Wissahickon High School senior.
PSBA Conference and summer events update from CEO Nathan
Mains
POSTED ON APRIL 22, 2020 IN PSBA
NEWS
After
careful consideration and discussion, the PSBA executive team, along with the
governing board, has made the decision to cancel the annual PASA-PSBA School
Leadership Conference scheduled
for October 2020. In order to still provide members with the
opportunity to connect and hear from outstanding presenters, PSBA is developing
a solution for a fall event to be held in a remote environment. The summer
Solicitors Symposium and School Board Secretaries Conference will also be moved
to a virtual platform. Click here to
read the complete details of PSBA’s plan or click here to
watch a video message from CEO Nathan Mains.
State awards $5.1M in grants to aid with remote learning
during school closure
BRIAN C. RITTMEYER | Wednesday,
April 22, 2020 4:49 p.m.
Nearly 100 school districts and schools
statewide are getting part of nearly $5.1 million in state grants to help pay
for remote learning efforts while classrooms are closed during the covid-19
pandemic. The grants can be used to buy laptops, tablets and internet hot
spots; paper, postage and shipping; and other accommodations that increase
student access and participation in learning, according to the state Department
of Education. Schools with the highest percentages of students lacking access
to resources were given priority in receiving the grants, according to the
department. “Grants were competitively
selected and took into consideration the
(school’s) poverty rate and the percentage of students not able to participate
in the school’s continuity of education plan,” department spokesman Eric Levis
said. Of the $5.1 million, nearly $2 million went to four districts:
Philadelphia City, Reading, and Scranton received $500,000 each; Upper Darby received
just under $500,000.
Address, change inequities in city school
Post-Gazette Opinion by CHERYL KLEIMAN, Staff
Attorney, Education Law Center APR 19, 2020 12:00 AM
The April 6 article “Off-Site Education:
Schools Face Myriad Challenges as Remote Learning Gets Underway”
highlighted the long-standing inequities in school districts’ capacities to
meet students’ needs. Families across our region are reckoning with the reality
that schools will be closed into June. Educators are working hard to find new
ways of providing students with remote learning while also responding to basic
health and safety needs. As the article acknowledged, these extend beyond
computers or internet access. In our country — where structural racism is built
into the foundation of employment, health, housing and education systems —
public schools can be the only place where students of color and students
living in poverty access meals, physical and mental health care, and social
supports. Yet here, the students with the highest needs too often are in
schools with the fewest resources, largely due to Pennsylvania’s unfair,
inequitable school funding system. These are injustices that our organization,
the Education Law Center, along with the statewide PA Schools Work coalition,
has been highlighting and challenging for years.
Pittsburgh city school board looks to amend remote
learning grading guidelines
ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com APR 22,
2020 7:05 PM
The Pittsburgh Public Schools board will vote
next week on grading guidelines for students during the remote instruction that
will continue for the remainder of the academic year because of the COVID-19
pandemic. Several school board members speaking Wednesday at an agenda
review meeting, though, said they want to make changes to the guidelines that
the district proposed. “Some of us have received input from other
stakeholders,” school board member Terry Kennedy said in a phone interview
following the meeting, which was held via video conference. According to the
school district’s proposal, students still would receive a letter grade. But as
long as students are sufficiently engaged in instruction, they would not
receive a grade of less than 70%.In addition, courses that are not covered in
remote learning would be graded based on the average of the students’ grades
from the first three quarters of the school year. The proposal also includes the
cancellation of final exams.
Philly student meals to be distributed Thursday mornings
WHYY By Liz
Tung April 21, 2020
Starting this week, the School District of
Philadelphia’s 49 meal sites will only be distributing student meals once a
week on Thursday mornings. Students will continue to receive 10 meals for the
week (five breakfasts, five lunches and a half-gallon of milk), but will only
be able to pick them up on Thursday mornings. Mattie Davis has 23 first graders
in her North Philadelphia classroom. And she’s committed to reaching them, if
necessary, one mail slot at a time. The change is meant to help the district
follow social distancing guidance and abide by the state’s stay-at-home order,
which has been extended through May 8. The change doesn’t affect student meal
sites belonging to charter schools or being distributed by Parks and
Recreation.
PA School Funding Coalition Urges Congress to Support
Additional Federal Funds to School Districts
PA Schools Work Press Release
HARRISBURG, PA (April 21, 2020) – PA
Schools Work, a non-partisan coalition of organizations
representing the state’s urban, suburban and rural communities working together
to advocate for PA public schools, is urging Pennsylvania’s Congressional
delegation to support additional significant, flexible funding for public K-12
education in the next phase of emergency COVID-19 response legislation. PA
Schools Work expressed gratitude to Congress for the swift and bipartisan of
COVID emergency response packages which will provide $13.5 billion nationally
to schools, with about $628M earmarked for Pennsylvania. These funds are a
fraction of the $79 billion the federal government provided through the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in 2009 and likely to fall far short of
the tremendous need. Current estimates show that PA school districts are likely
to lose more than $325 million in local revenue this fiscal year, and
potentially lose more than $1 billion next year. At the same time, Pennsylvania
is projecting budget deficits of as much as $5 billion and will be hard-pressed
to keep up funding for schools, let alone close the local shortfalls, without
more federal relief. Clearly, this first investment by Congress is not enough
to ensure that schools can avoid drastic, student-harming budget cuts and mass
layoffs.
OP-ED: Pandemic exposing disparities in school system
Observer-Reporter Opinion By Jamie Baxter Apr
20, 2020
A crisis can bring clarity and lend
perspective. So it is the case with the COVID-19 pandemic, which is shining a
light on a great many things about our society, our communities, and ourselves.
With the unprecedented statewide shutdown of Pennsylvania’s schools, the
current emergency has enabled us to recognize just how vital public education
is to our lives and to the fabric of our communities. Schools are being
recognized as not just places of learning, but also suppliers of meals and
health care for students and centers of activity and enrichment for
communities. And yes, as so many parents are now home trying to juggle their
work while keeping an eye on the kids, schools are seen as a provider of child
care too.
Guest Editorial: Breaching the digital divide
The Sentinel Opinion by Donna Cooper Apr 20,
2020
Gov. Tom Wolf recently announced that schools
in Pennsylvania would be closed for the remainder of the school year due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. A crisis like this can bring clarity and lend perspective. The
coronavirus is shining a light on a great many things about our society, our
communities and ourselves. The current emergency has enabled us to recognize
just how vital public education is to our lives and to the fabric of our
communities. Schools are being recognized as not just places of learning, but
also suppliers of meals and health care for students and centers of activity
and enrichment for communities. And yes, as so many parents are now home trying
to juggle their work while keeping an eye on the kids, schools are seen as a
provider of childcare, too.
Pa. teachers’ pensions are invested in a NYC skyscraper
linked to Jared Kushner, but they probably don’t know it
Post-Gazette by MATT MCKINNEY Spotlight PA APR
22, 2020 12:36 PM
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s teacher pension
system has more than $200 million pledged to a fund with ties to a
long-troubled, high-profile New York City skyscraper linked to the family of
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Spotlight PA has learned. Before the
COVID-19 pandemic, critics told Spotlight PA the investment could face
challenges because the building has struggled to attract tenants. Now, the fund
— and many of those like it — face growing headwinds as the virus devastates
the global economy. In October 2018, trustees of the Pennsylvania School
Employee Retirement System voted to invest in Brookfield Strategic Real Estate
Partners III, a fund touted in documents as an “attractive investment
opportunity” for those looking to bet on various real estate sectors. But they
were apparently unaware of the fund’s stake in the troubled office building.
Attend Your Next Virtual Meeting in Style with these Ten
Lavish Backgrounds
Metropolitan Museum of Art by Rachel Smith, Digital
Department Intern April 21, 2020
If you're stuck at home, you may be looking to shake up your work-from-home routine right about now. Spruce up your next staff meeting with one of The Met's iconic interiors or elegant artworks and be the envy of your colleagues. We've hand-picked ten of our favorites from throughout the Museum to get you started. Here are the instructions to set the images below as your background on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Snap Camera.
If you're stuck at home, you may be looking to shake up your work-from-home routine right about now. Spruce up your next staff meeting with one of The Met's iconic interiors or elegant artworks and be the envy of your colleagues. We've hand-picked ten of our favorites from throughout the Museum to get you started. Here are the instructions to set the images below as your background on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Snap Camera.
Metropolitan Museum of Art Open Access Artworks
Browse more than 406,000 hi-res images of
public-domain works in The Met collection that can be downloaded, shared, and
remixed without restriction
PSBA Board Presidents Panels (Zoom) April 27, 28, 29 and
30 (depending upon the size of your district)
This annual event supports current and
aspiring school board leaders through facilitated discussion with colleagues in
leadership. Board Presidents Panel is designed to equip new and veteran board
presidents and vice presidents as well as superintendents and other school
directors who may pursue a leadership position in the future.
Due to current social distancing
requirements, this annual program will shift from a series of in-person
regional events to a digital platform using Zoom Meetings. Participants of each
of the four sessions will meet in small groups using virtual breakout rooms.
Experienced facilitators will guide discussions on attendees’ unique
challenges, solutions and experiences related to board leadership during the
COVID-19 school closures.
This year’s program will be organized to
group together leaders from schools of similar enrollment sizes for relevant
conversation. Members may register for one or two nights to participate in all
of the topics offered. If your district's average enrollment is above 3,500,
you are invited to join the sessions on Tuesday, April 28 and/or Thursday,
April 30. If your district's average enrollment is below 3,500, opt to join the
sessions on Monday, April 27 and/or Wednesday, April 29.
Request@PSBA.org: PSBA establishes
channel to answer COVID-19 questions
POSTED ON MARCH 19, 2020 IN PSBA
NEWS
In light of statewide school closings and as
the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve, PSBA is here to provide support to members
and answer questions regarding how schools will operate, meet instructional
requirements and provide services both now and in the future. Please send your
questions to request@psba.org with
your name, district and contact information. A member of PSBA staff will
respond directly or will funnel your inquires to the Pennsylvania Department of
Education. PSBA will act as your voice and ensure you receive the answers and
information you need to make decisions at this crucial time.
PSBA: Coronavirus Preparedness Guidance
In the last few weeks, the novel coronavirus
(SARS-CoV-2), which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, has become a topic
of concern nationwide. Although the virus is not widespread in Pennsylvania at
this time, that status could change. Being proactive is key to prevention and
mitigation. Below, you will find a list of resources on all aspects of
preparedness, including guidance on communication planning, policy, emergency
management and disease control. Use these resources to help you make decisions
regarding the safety and health of those in your school district.
Blogger note: we’re waiting for details on this event becoming
virtual.
Rescheduled: Join us for Advocacy Day in Harrisburg to support public
education Monday May 11, 2020! (subject to change)
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
Register today for the 2020 PASA/PA Principals
Association PA Educational Leadership Summit, August 2-4, at the Lancaster
Marriott at Penn Square
(hosted by the PA Principals Association and
the PA Association of School Administrators). Participants can earn up to 80
PIL hours (40 hours for the Summit and - for an additional cost of $50 -
40 hours for EdCamp) for
attending the conference and completing program requirements. Register
early to reserve your seat! The deadline to take advantage of the Early Bird
Discount is April 24, 2020.
Click here to
register today!
Network for Public Education 2020 Conference in Philly Rescheduled
to November 21-22
NPE Website March 10, 2020 7:10 pm
We so wanted to see you in March, but we need
to wait until November!
Our conference will now take place on November
21 and 22 at the same location in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Please
read the important information below.
Registration: We will be rolling over our
registration information, so there is no reason to register again. You will
be automatically registered for the November dates. If you cannot attend in
November, we ask that you consider donating your registration to absorb some of
the costs associated with rescheduling the conference. If you feel you cannot
make such a donation, please contact: dcimarusti@networkforpubliceducation.org.
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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