Started in November 2010, daily postings from the Keystone State
Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education
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National Museum of African American History and Culture
Releases “Talking About Race” Web Portal
Coronavirus precautions and protests create problems but
fail to disrupt Pa.’s primary election
The challenge now: Counting nearly 2 million
mail-in ballots. Final results may take a week to tabulate
PA Post by Emily Previti JUNE 2, 2020 |
11:57 PM
The results of Pennsylvania’s June 2 primary
will likely take days to tabulate, and it may
take even longer for election officials to assess how well the voting was
managed. The main holdup is the unprecedented number of mail-in ballots that
counties must process — 1.8 million in all. No-excuse vote-by-mail took effect
this year, and the coronavirus prompted many voters to mail in their ballots
for the primary instead of voting in person. Many county elections
departments warned well in advance that they would not begin tabulating results until Wednesday. Seven
counties also will accept mailed ballots postmarked on or before June 2 for
another week, thanks to 11th-hour court and gubernatorial orders. A range of
problems at in-person polling places were recorded across the state, but there
were no reports of widespread disruptions. In some counties, new voting
machines malfunctioned, but not enough to seriously delay voting. Long lines were
reported in some cities.
No surprise: Trump, Biden win Pennsylvania primary amid
unrest, pandemic
The lack of drama in the outcome of the
presidential primary and the huge number of voters who opted to vote by mail
means turnout was expected to be light.
WITF by Marc Levy/The Associated Press ,
Mark Scolforo/The Associated Press JUNE 2, 2020 | 8:40 PM
(Harrisburg) — Pennsylvania held a primary
election Tuesday amid civil unrest, a pandemic, the introduction of new voting
machines in some counties and the debut of mail-in balloting that pushed county
election bureaus to their limits. The result of the highest-profile contest on
the ballot was a foregone conclusion: President Donald Trump and former Vice
President Joe Biden, uncontested for their party’s nominations, both won their
primary Tuesday in Pennsylvania. The lack of drama in the outcome of the
presidential primary and the huge number of voters who opted to vote by mail
meant turnout was light. Still, voters in some places were dealing with
late-arriving mail-in ballots and a dramatic consolidation of polling places in
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Montgomery County to cope with the difficulty of
recruiting poll workers fearful of the coronavirus.
Pennsylvania 2020 primary: An unprecedented election,
with still-incomplete results
WHYY By Katie
Meyer and Zachariah Hughes June 3, 2020
After a primary election was thrown into
chaos by a pandemic and buffeted by civil unrest, Pennsylvania voters likely
won’t see conclusive results for at least a few days. Thanks to newly-expanded
mail-in ballot laws, a pandemic-inspired spike in remote voting, sluggish mail,
and protests that sparked daily curfews right before the election, several
counties say they need extra time to count votes. Six counties — Philadelphia,
Montgomery, Delaware, Allegheny, Erie and Dauphin — will still be accepting
mail-in ballots postmarked by June 2 for an extra week thanks to an executive
order from the governor. Bucks also has an extra week after a successful,
last-minute emergency petition — though its order only applies to ballots
mailed by June 1. In the Philadelphia region, where a significant portion of
the state’s registered voters live, nearly all of the area counties need more
time to count ballots. However, as
election night wound down, there were some interesting trends — and a few
declared victories — that emerged from the incomplete returns.
Three big takeaways from Pennsylvania’s pandemic and
protest primary | Wednesday Morning Coffee
PA Capital Star By John L. Micek June 3,
2020
Good Wednesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
If we know one thing for certain about
Tuesday’s most unusual primary election — and it’s not the results, those were
still being counted before we turned off the lights — it’s that everything we
know about politics has been turned completely on its head. Whole college
political science courses are waiting to be taught about everything we’ve
learned during this time of profound upheaval. So as we mainline some caffeine
to get the blood flowing, here are a few thoughts about what we learned on
Tuesday.
“Since opening the museum, the number one question we are asked
is how to talk about race, especially with children. We recognize how difficult
it is to start that conversation. But in a nation still struggling with the
legacies of slavery, Jim Crow laws, and white supremacy, we must have these
tough conversations if we have any hope of turning the page and healing. This
new portal is a step in that direction.”
National Museum of African American History and Culture
Releases “Talking About Race” Web Portal
Portal Helps People Explore Issues Of Race,
Racism And Racial Identity
Smithsonian Institution May 31, 2020
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of African
American History and Culture today launched Talking About Race, a new online
portal designed to help individuals, families, and communities talk about
racism, racial identity and the way these forces shape every aspect of society,
from the economy and politics to the broader American culture. The online
portal provides digital tools, online exercises, video instructions, scholarly
articles and more than 100 multi-media resources tailored for educators,
parents and caregivers—and individuals committed to racial equality. A rash of racially charged incidents—from an
altercation in Central Park to acts of police brutality resulting in the deaths
of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and the protests they provoked in cities
around the country—prompted the Museum to move up the release date of Talking
About Race. By releasing the new portal today, the Museum aims to help
individuals and communities foster constructive discussions on one of the
nation’s most challenging topics:
racism, and its corrosive impact.
Talking About Race
Smithsonian Institution National Museum of
African American History and Culture
Talking about race, although hard, is
necessary. We are here to provide tools and guidance to empower your
journey and inspire conversation.
Union president urges school administrators to speak out
about racism and discrimination
"We will promote anti-racist policies,
culturally responsive curriculums, peaceful protests, and intellectual
discourse and courageous conversations about these difficult topics."
The notebook Commentary by Robin
Cooper June 2 — 2:14 pm, 2020
As the proud president of Teamsters Local
502: CASA, the only administrators’ union in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
I am compelled to speak out about the senseless murder of George Floyd, who
died because he was African American and because of the institutionalized
racism that has made such killings a commonplace part of our culture. It is
equally important to note that George Floyd follows a long list of African
American people cavalierly killed for either minor violations or for absolutely
nothing at all. Police officers are sworn to serve and protect, not judge and
execute. This violence has become an alternative strategy to enforce vigilante
justice against a race of people they apparently neither understand nor seek to
understand. To imagine a grown man lying on the ground with a police officer’s
knee on his neck using his last gasps of breath calling for his mother and
children is enough to make any person, regardless of race, cry out with the
heart of a human. This is a human rights violation.
Professor, students examine charter school hiring
practices
Penn State News by Stephanie Koons June 02,
2020
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — It takes more than
high-quality teachers and educational leaders to help students thrive in
school. Research led by Ed Fuller, associate professor of education
(educational leadership), indicates it’s also important to have professional
support personnel such as nurses, counselors and librarians on site, for the
development of the whole student. The research team found those important
resources are far less likely to be present in charter schools than in public
schools in Pennsylvania, which Fuller said could have a particularly damaging
effect on urban students living in poverty. “Our goal is to push legislators
and local policy makers to expand access and ensure all schools have access to
these personnel,” said Fuller. Fuller, along with Zoe Mandel, a doctoral
student in the Department of Education Policy Studies (EPS), and Jessica Bard,
an undergraduate majoring in education and public policy (EPP), have produced
policy briefs that outline the importance of nurses, counselor and librarians,
in addition to examining access to these types of school personnel across the
state. Despite the importance of nurses, librarians and counselors, according
to the researchers, there has been little research about the extent to which
charter schools — schools that receive government funding but operate
independently of the established state school system in which they are located
— employ these crucial personnel.
Council Rock holding special virtual budget forum
Wednesday night
Bucks County Courier Times By Chris
English @CourierEnglish Posted
Jun 2, 2020 at 9:05 AM
The forum will be a discussion of budget
reductions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Council Rock school board will hold a
special virtual budget forum starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday to discuss budget
reductions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Included will be a
presentation from district administrators on services and programs that could
be impacted due to the COVID-19 financial climate, a district news release
stated. Council Rock and school districts across the country are facing
significant drops in earned income tax and other revenue sources caused by
business closures, job losses and pay cuts brought on by the pandemic. The
impact will likely last for several years, district Business Administrator
William Stone has stated. After making more than $3 million in cuts
mostly to planned material and equipment purchases, and approving salary
concessions from teachers and administrators that will save another $2.5
million in 2020-21, the district still faces a budget deficit for next school
year of roughly $3.5 million. That number already factors in a 3.1% proposed
property tax increase.
Union leaders warns more Scranton teachers could leave
without new contract
Scranton Times Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL /
STAFF WRITER / PUBLISHED: JUNE 2, 2020
If Scranton teachers do not receive a new
contract, they will continue to leave the district for jobs elsewhere, the
union president warned Monday night. During a school board meeting in which
directors recognized 32 teachers who completed the new teacher induction
program, Rosemary Boland wondered how many would stay. While the district deals
with unprecedented financial stress due to the coronavirus pandemic, teachers
in September could start their fourth year working under an expired contract.
The board approved the resignation of another teacher on Monday. “There is
absolutely no excuse for this,” Boland said. “We need to keep the teachers and
paraprofessionals in this district, working in this district.” A
state-appointed mediator will provide the sides with negotiation dates for this
summer, she said. Teachers have not received a raise since the 2016-17 school
year, and Boland questioned how many new teachers will continue to work for
$39,000 a year with no raises in sight.
4 unanswered questions about PIAA sports, covid-19
Trib Live By: Chris
Harlan Tuesday, June 2, 2020 | 9:51 AM
Here are a few unanswered questions regarding
PIAA sports and covid-19:
When can Pennsylvania high school teams
resume workouts?
For now, PIAA teams must wait until July 1 to
start working out together because Gov. Tom Wolf has school buildings closed
for the rest of this school year in response to the covid-19 pandemic.
The 2019-20 school calendar ends June 30. However, the PIAA is working to
move that date sooner for schools in counties
designated “green” in Wolf’s color-coded reopening system, if the governor
approves. But first, the PIAA has requested safety guidelines from Wolf and the
state departments of health and education for use by the schools. Eighteen
counties entered the green phase last week and 14 more are scheduled to join them
Friday. Pa. Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Monday: “I believe more
guidance will come out this week.”
What will the governor’s guidelines say?
The guidelines are likely to include
requirements for social distancing, athlete screenings and other restrictions
intended to prevent spread of covid-19. So far, a number of national sports
organizations have issued return-to-sports guidelines, including a 16-page
document by the National Federation of
State High School Associations. PIAA
executive director Bob Lombardi said the lengthy list was shown to Wolf’s
staff, but Lombardi called some of the NFHS requirements “very questionable.”
Mandate Relief: The Campaign to Support Public Schools
PSBA Website May 18, 2020
Pennsylvania public schools have risen to the
challenge to provide education to the commonwealth’s students during the
COVID-19 pandemic. Schools have become creative and innovative and used
whatever resources they could muster to deal with the local diverse challenges
they face. PSBA recognizes that in these difficult and challenging times
schools need Harrisburg policymakers to help reduce costs and remove the barriers
that hamper local innovation. PSBA is announcing the creation of a campaign
consisting of 13 proposals addressing cost savings, planning and budget issues
of concern to our members. This initiative was developed through member
recommendations and is designed to relieve school districts from the effects of
state-imposed unfunded and underfunded mandates as well as provide the
flexibility needed to weather the challenges of our current crisis.
PSBA calls on the state to pass broad relief
for public schools that allows them to realize immediate savings and strategic
flexibility to better confront current and future challenges. PSBA’s proposed
campaign to achieve these goals calls for providing sustained state education
funding, broadening mandate relief, enhancing flexibility for budgets,
reforming charter school funding, updating transportation policies, providing
needed personnel management flexibility and modernizing public advertising
rules.
College Board suspends plan for at-home SAT, urges
colleges not to punish applicants who can’t submit scores
Inquirer by Nick Anderson, Washington Post, Updated: June
2, 2020- 5:15 PM
The College Board is halting plans to offer
the SAT admissions test at home in the coming months and is urging schools not
to punish students who don't submit scores, further demonstrating how the
coronavirus crisis has upended college admissions. In backing away from at-home
exams, the testing organization cited concerns that many students would not
have access at home to three hours of reliable Internet service that would be
required to complete the multiple-choice exam. The decision came after the
College Board has faced significant criticism in recent weeks from students who
took its online Advanced Placement exams but were unable, due to technical
glitches, to submit their answers through cellphones or computers. The online
AP tests, shortened this spring to 45 minutes each, were offered after the
novel coronavirus pandemic shuttered high schools across the country. With
testing schedules in tatters as a result of the pandemic, the College Board on
Tuesday urged selective colleges to extend deadlines for students to submit SAT
scores and hold harmless any applicants who are unable to take the test because
of the virus.
Early Reading Instruction Takes a Hit During COVID-19
Education Week By Sarah Schwartz June 1,
2020
For Claudia Margaroli, teaching reading
during the coronavirus school shutdowns has looked nothing like what she used
to do in the classroom. Instead of small group work, the 1st grade teacher at
Charlotte East Language Academy in Charlotte, N.C., sees all her students in a
whole-class Google Meet video chat twice a week. She tries to answer the
questions that students have in their district-issued packets, but keeping more
than 30 wiggly 1st graders on task remotely is a challenge. When the video
freezes, it’s hard to write words on her whiteboard for students to sound out,
or decode. She worries most about her students who were already struggling with
foundational reading skills, like phonemic awareness—identifying and
manipulating the sounds in spoken words—and phonics, the relationship between
spoken sounds and written letters. “Is this increasing the gap?” Margaroli
asked. “Because the kids who are spending the most time on learning right now
are kids whose parents are home, who can understand this reading packet in
English.”While remote learning has presented challenges in every subject and
grade level, some teachers and researchers say that early reading instruction
is especially problematic.
Steve King, House Republican With a History of Racist
Remarks, Loses Primary
Mr. King, one of the nation’s most divisive
elected officials, saw his power in Congress curtailed last year
after he questioned why white supremacy was considered offensive.
New York Times By Trip
Gabriel June 3, 2020 Updated 1:36 a.m.
ET
Representative Steve King of Iowa, the
nine-term Republican with a history of racist comments who only recently became
a party pariah, lost his bid for renomination early Wednesday, one of the
biggest defeats of the 2020 primary season in any state. In a five-way primary,
Mr. King was defeated by Randy Feenstra, a state senator, who had the backing
of mainstream state and national Republicans who found Mr. King an
embarrassment and, crucially, a threat to a safe Republican seat if he were on
the ballot in November. The defeat was most likely the final political blow to
one of the nation’s most divisive elected officials, whose insults of
undocumented immigrants foretold the messaging of President Trump, and whose
flirtations with extremism led him far from rural Iowa, to meetings with
anti-Muslim crusaders in Europe and an endorsement of a Toronto mayoral
candidate with neo-Nazi ties.
Editorial: President Trump takes aim at America’s core
principles
TRIBUNE-REVIEW | Tuesday, June 2,
2020 6:01 p.m.
The president’s primary job is to preserve,
protect and defend the U.S. Constitution. Even when it is inconvenient. Even
when people are using it to say the government is wrong. Especially when they
are doing that. We know that, because the framers realized immediately they
left important things out of the Constitution. The whole point of our country
is written in those first 10 changes they made. The Bill of Rights. Everything
government does is supposed to be in service to protecting and ensuring those
liberties. The very first one is the freedom to speak and assemble. It is what
set America the country apart from America the colonies. When 56 people signed
their names to the Declaration of Independence, they did so knowing their words
were weapons. They started a war over the right to tell the king that he was
wrong, that they were treated unfairly and they wanted a voice. The first thing
they chose to enshrine in their new nation was the right to criticize it. It is
shocking that an American president should oppress that speech. President
Trump’s actions Monday did that with a hail of rubber bullets and tear gas. A
crowd of loud but otherwise peaceful protesters was then herded aside so he
could walk across the street from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal
Church. He posed for pictures, holding a Bible in his right hand, like a prop. That
jaunt raises issues with another aspect of the First Amendment — government
involvement with religion.
Adopt the 2020 PSBA resolution for charter school funding
reform
In this legislative session, PSBA has been
leading the charge with the Senate, House of Representatives and the Governor’s
Administration to push for positive charter reform. We’re now asking you to
join the campaign: Adopt the resolution: We’re asking all school
boards to adopt the 2020 resolution for charter school funding reform at your
next board meeting and submit it to your legislators and to PSBA.
Over 245 PA school boards adopt charter reform
resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 245 school boards across the state have adopted a resolution
calling for legislators to enact significant reforms to the Charter School Law
to provide funding relief and ensure all schools are held to the same quality
and ethics standards. Now more than ever, there is a growing momentum from
school officials across the state to call for charter school funding reform.
Legislators are hearing loud and clear that school districts need relief from
the unfair funding system that results in school districts overpaying millions
of dollars to charter schools.
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA Charter Change Website:
The Network for Public Education Action Conference has
been rescheduled to April 24-25, 2021 at the Philadelphia Doubletree Hotel
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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