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Coverage of PDE’s School Reopening Guidance
PDE: Preliminary Guidance for Phased Reopening of Pre-K
to 12 Schools
PA Department of Education June 3, 2020;
Version 1
PA Department of State June 2nd Unofficial
Election Returns
Four Pa. lawmakers have lost seats in primary, some races
remain too close to call: AP
Penn Live By Marc
Levy | The Associated Press and Mark
Scolforo | The Associated Press Posted Jun
03, 2020
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Election officials
worked through a mountain of still-uncounted ballots Wednesday after a
Pennsylvania primary that was held amid civil unrest, a pandemic, the
introduction of some new voting machines and the debut of mail-in balloting
that pushed county bureaus to their limits. The result of the highest-profile
contests on the ballot were a foregone conclusion: President Donald Trump and
former Vice President Joe Biden, uncontested for their parties' nominations,
won their Tuesday primaries. With the flood of mail-in votes still being
counted, The Associated Press called four races in which incumbents lost, all
of them in Democratic legislative primaries. Beaten were Sen. Larry Farnese and
Reps. Maria Donatucci and Roni Green of Philadelphia, and Rep. Adam Ravenstahl
of Pittsburgh, brother of the former mayor.
Pa. clears schools to reopen for 2020-21, hints at how
classrooms may look
WHYY By Avi Wolfman-Arent June 3, 2020
Pennsylvania took its first, formal step
toward reopening schools by announcing Wednesday that districts can choose to
hold in-person classes as soon as July 1 — if they’re located in a county
that’s ended stay-at-home restrictions. That does not mean schools will begin
again on July 1, a date that coincides with the official start of the next
academic year and is, in this instance, likely symbolic. But the announcement
does signal that the work of reopening schools has officially begun — along
with the process of determining how in-person school can be conducted safely. The
details will largely be left to local school leaders. The Pennsylvania
Department of Education released a list of “possible considerations” Wednesday
that hinted at how schools may look upon its return. Among the considerations
are:
— Flexible attendance policies for students
and staff
— Routine, daily health checks
— Isolation rooms for anyone with COVID-19
symptoms
— Masks or face shields for adults
— Open windows to increase ventilation
— Frequent cleaning and disinfection of
surfaces
— Classes in gyms or auditoriums
— Limits to student movement in hallways,
with “one-way traffic patterns” established
— Staggered student arrival and dropoff
— Meals served in classrooms
Districts and charter schools will be asked
to submit a formal reopening plan that has to meet relatively broad
requirements. Schools will have to appoint a pandemic coordinator, establish
guidelines for quarantine and isolation, create a policy around mask usage,
post signs about hygiene, and create a process for changing their
transportation schedules.
Department of Education offers guidelines for 2020-2021
school year, which could start as soon as July 1
PA Capital Star By Elizabeth Hardison June 3, 2020
Pennsylvania’s K-12 schools will be permitted
to resume in-person classes as early as July 1, state officials announced
Wednesday, though classrooms, cafeterias and playing fields could look much
different than they did before they closed in March. Guidelines published
by the Pennsylvania Department of Education suggest that schools consider
serving meals to students at their desks; limiting travel for intramural
sporting events; conducting routine temperature checks and relaxing attendance
policies for faculty and staff to limit the transmission of COVID-19 as they reopen.
Right now, however, the guidelines are simply that — suggestions, not
enforceable regulations. But Education Secretary Pedro Rivera says that they
represent the best practices that the state can offer to protect students and
staff from a surge of COVID-19 cases. “We are planning for the best in
terms of school opening, but we are preparing for the worst,” Rivera told
reporters on a conference call Wednesday. He added, “It’s important that we
provide guidance, but also flexibility for school leaders to customize their
plans around their specific learners and their needs.”
State says schools in yellow and green areas can reopen
July 1
The key will be flexibility, said Secretary
of Education Pedro Rivera.
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa June 3 — 1:56 pm, 2020
Gov. Wolf and Pennsylvania Secretary of
Education Pedro Rivera said Wednesday that schools in designated green- and
yellow-phase counties could reopen for in-person instruction as early as July 1
as long as they follow guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and
the state Department of Health. Schools will be required to develop a health
and safety plan based on these guidelines, which Wolf said would be released
later this month. He called the state’s guidance “a starting point” that will
“continue to evolve as further research, data and resources become available.” He
indicated that the state guidance would include some “non-negotiables” related
to social distancing, cleaning requirements, and health monitoring. “There are
required elements under this plan,” he said in a call with reporters from
around the state. Preliminary guidance on the
PDE website indicates that K-12 school districts in the yellow phase of the
state’s COVID-19 recovery plan will need to identify pandemic coordinators and
teams to focus on health and safety preparedness and response. Schools will be
required to have protocols regarding identifying and quarantining people who
are symptomatic with COVID-19 and will restrict the use of cafeterias and other
large meeting spaces. And there must be guidelines for overall hygiene and
handwashing, among other requirements.
Pennsylvania to allow schools to reopen, in-person
teaching to resume July 1
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Maddie Hanna and Rob Tornoe, Updated: June 3, 2020-
11:36 AM
Pennsylvania teachers and students will be
permitted to return to schools as soon as July 1, the state Education
Department announced Wednesday. According to preliminary guidance issued by
Education Secretary Pedro Rivera, schools in counties that have reached either
the “green” or “yellow” phase of the state’s coronavirus reopening plan may
resume in-person instruction on July 1. Schools will be required to adopt their
own health and safety procedures that meet both federal and state guidelines. The
guidance does not prescribe class size, but calls for six feet of separation
between students. “Schools can then personalize those expectations based on the
needs of their classrooms,” Rivera said during a news conference. While the
state is permitting in-person instruction, it is not requiring it. Officials
said both K-12 schools and colleges would be allowed to decide whether they
resume in-person instruction, and at what levels. Though they will be required
to submit their plans to the education department, the state won’t be formally
approving them, leaving that authority to local districts. “Schools are going
to have to engage their communities and their specific needs through this
plan," Rivera said. He noted that “not every parent will want to or be
able to send their children back to school,” and remote learning may well be
part of districts’ plans for the coming school year.
Officials: Schools can reopen in-person teaching on July
1
AP News By MARK SCOLFORO June 3, 2020
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Elementary and
secondary schools inside Pennsylvania’s less restrictive reopening zones can
resume teaching in person and other activities at the end of June, the
Education Department announced Wednesday. The guidance issued by the department
says school boards in the green and yellow zones under the stoplight-colored
reopening system must first adopt health and safety procedures that meet
federal and state guidelines. The more than 300 colleges and other
post-secondary institutions can restart on Friday if they have a plan to keep
students and teachers safe, the agency announced. The reopening details follow
a spring in which buildings were closed to prevent the spread of the COVID-19
virus, sending students home for distance learning to complete the school year,
and more recently virtual graduation ceremonies. Signs the pandemic is easing
have prompted officials to implement gradual reopening of many functions. “We
fully expect students to return to classrooms in some capacity,” said Education
Secretary Pedro Rivera in a news release, describing the guidance as helping
schools establish “a framework that best meets the unique needs of their
students and communities.” Rivera stressed during a virtual press conference
that districts would have a lot of flexibility about the details of their own
reopening plans, and that they are not required to have all students learning
in person on the first day they reopen. “One of the considerations in the plan
is understanding not every family may want, or be able, to send their kids
physically back to school,” Rivera said.
Preparing for best and worst: Before reopening, Pa.
schools must develop safety plans to deal with COVID-19
Penn Live By Jan
Murphy | jmurphy@pennlive.com Updated Jun
03, 2020; Posted Jun 03, 2020
Public schools can return this fall to
in-person classes but as state education officials have been saying, it won’t
mean a return to the way it was in early March. Wearing masks is suggested by
state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine. Temperature checks could be taken at
the door. Social distancing will be emphasized in every setting as much as
possible. And depending on how COVID-19 pandemic behaves in the state, the
possibility exists for another shortened school year. Schools can still choose
to deliver education through remote means either fully or partially and school
activities can resume with limitations. But the overarching principle guiding
all these decisions is protecting students and staff alike from exposure to
COVID-19.
To reopen our schools safely, Pennsylvania needs
Congress’ help | Opinion
By Rich Askey Capital-Star Op-Ed Contributor June 4,
2020
Rich Askey is a Harrisburg music teacher and
president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. He writes from
Harrisburg.
In the months since COVID-19 closed our
schools, educators, parents, and students did a tremendous job transitioning
from classrooms to kitchens and living rooms across Pennsylvania. Teachers
continued teaching, and students continued learning — at a distance. This is
far from the perfect way to educate our students. It’s not easy to teach in
this environment, and the challenges so many parents have had juggling work,
home, and kids during this crisis were truly without precedent. We need to get
our kids back in school. Educators and administrators are already planning for
what that will look like. We still have a lot of work to do, but one thing is
clear: Our schools will need federal help to reopen safely. That is why the
Pennsylvania State Education Association is joining educators, parents, and
community leaders to urge Congress to invest
$175 billion in our nation’s schools,
colleges, and universities. This investment will provide Pennsylvania with
enough funding to close the revenue shortfalls K-12 schools and higher
education are facing and reopen safely.
Editorial: As school days beckon, clarity is the first
lesson
TRIBUNE-REVIEW | Wednesday, June 3,
2020 7:01 p.m.
Schools can get back to teaching and
providing activities for students starting July 1. The Pennsylvania Department
of Education made that announcement Wednesday with the release of the Process
to Reopen Pennsylvania — a procedure that requires schools to develop health
and safety plans, implement guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and the state Health Department and appoint pandemic coordinators. This
is how schools that have not seen students walk through the doors since March
13 will get back to business as we emerge from one phase of the coronavirus
pandemic and warily eye a future where another phase could bloom. The proposed
steps are good ideas. Schools have health and safety plans for things like mass
casualty events and fires and weather emergencies. A disease that can shut the
doors for months seems like it is at least equivalent. But what we need to see
gamed out are the decision-making processes — for the schools and for the
state.
Teacher diaries: Tasaday Messina
Remote teaching is especially challenging
with autistic children.
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa June 3 — 9:46 am, 2020
Interviews with these teachers on their
experiences teaching in a pandemic were conducted in mid-May, before the death
of George Floyd and the subsequent unrest.
Tasaday Messina has one of the hardest jobs
for any educator during the pandemic: teaching students with autism. Messina, a
teacher at the Chester Arthur School in South Philadelphia, works with
students at the middle school level and has a class of six. Her first major
challenge was mastering the technology herself and then teaching her students
and their families how to use it. “In special education, teachers or students
are never exposed to Google Classroom,” she said. “The logistics are
extremely hard. While we are teaching the students, we are also teaching
ourselves.” For the first two weeks after schools closed on March 13, she
worked frantically “by any means possible,” simply to keep in touch. She
called, used FaceTime, and made attempts over Google Meet. It took another two
weeks of hard work for her and her students to master Google Classroom. “We got
them all in,” she said. “They get on, I am so impressed with my students
and myself.” For most of her Google Classroom sessions, she has had 100% attendance.
Her students do two assignments a day, through i-Ready, a research-based
curriculum and intervention for reading and math that is approved by
the District. “It adjusts to the student’s level,” she explained.
A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT
With schools shuttered, learning lags and students left
behind, Reuters survey shows
A Reuters survey of nearly 60 school
districts across the country provides hard evidence confirming parents’ fears:
Distance learning is no substitute for in-class teaching, with students missing
classes, meals and hands-on instruction.
By M.B.
PELL, KRISTINA
COOKE and BENJAMIN LESSER Filed June 2, 2020, 12:30 p.m.
GMT
Jennifer Panditaratne’s third-grade daughter
had been seeing a reading specialist once a week before her Florida school
closed abruptly in March due to the novel coronavirus. Since then, her child
has had no contact with the specialist. Panditaratne is left to download her
daughter’s special education material and sit with her as she does her school
work—in between her own calls as a maritime lawyer in South Florida. “Is it the
same material? Sure,” she said. “But is it being administered by a professional
who knows what they are doing? No.” More than two months after schools across
the United States began closing in an effort to slow the spread of the
coronavirus, the shutdown is taking a profound toll on the nation’s system of
education, Reuters found by surveying nearly 60 school districts serving some
2.8 million students. Almost overnight, public education in the United States
has shrunk to a shell of its former self, the review found, with teacher
instruction, grading, attendance, special education and meal services for
hungry children slashed back or gutted altogether. The survey encompassed
school districts from large urban communities, such as Miami-Dade County Public
Schools and the Houston Independent School District, to the smallest rural
settings, including San Jon Municipal Schools in eastern New Mexico and Park
County School District 6 in Cody, Wyoming. The survey reflects what is
happening only in those districts that responded.
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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