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School districts race against the clock, coronavirus &
Trump’s tweets to plan reopening
Cybers charters are paid at the
same tuition rates as brick & mortar charter schools, even though they have
none of the expenses associated with operating school buildings. It has been
estimated that cyber charters are paid approximately twice what it costs them
to provide an online education. Those excess funds are then not available to
serve all of the students who remain in the sending school districts.
Here is the 2018-2019 cyber tuition paid in House Majority
Leader Kerry Benninghoff’s school districts:
|
School District
|
Cyber Tuition 2018-2019
|
|
Bellefonte Area SD
|
$701,843.85
|
|
Mifflin County SD
|
$1,237,485.20
|
|
Penns Valley Area SD
|
$318,294.28
|
|
State College Area SD
|
$895,345.93
|
|
|
$3,152,969.26
|
Data Source: PSBA
“And the choices don’t stop at the classroom door.
District officials must decide what to do about food service,
transportation, extracurricular activities, sports, special education, career
and college planning, payroll and even contract negotiations. And each decision
ripples out since schools are often the first line of defense against child
abuse, hunger and neglect for at-risk students. And there are still
many unanswered questions about how coronavirus spreads among children, their
status of vectors spreading the disease to others and the long-term effects of
COVID-19, even if the child is asymptomatic.”
PennLive By Wallace McKelvey | WMckelvey@pennlive.com Updated
6:07 AM; Today 5:05 AM
President Donald Trump shone a bright
spotlight on America’s K-12 schools this week with a threat that he “may cut
off funding” for any schools that don’t reopen in the fall. The president’s
comments are problematic (more on that later) but he’s using his bully pulpit
at a pivotal moment for an issue the public should be paying attention to: the
nation’s school districts — including 500 in Pennsylvania — are actively
deliberating how students will be instructed in the fall. Most will announce
their plans in the weeks ahead. Schools have three basic options: full online
instruction, full in-person instruction or a hybrid model that combines some of
both. And, while a cadre of government agencies and politicians are weighing in
with guidance, the ultimate decision and its consequences rests entirely with
district administrators and elected school boards. “It’s an excruciatingly
heavy lift,” said Mark DiRocco, director of the Pennsylvania Association of
School Administrators. “Administrators and school boards are making potentially
life-or-death decisions and they’re doing the best they can with the
information they have.”
CDC head sticking to school-opening guides Trump
criticized
Post Gazette by JEFF AMY AND CAROLE FELDMAN Associated
Press JUL 9, 2020 6:37 PM
ATLANTA — Federal health officials won’t
revise their coronavirus guidelines for reopening schools despite criticism
from President Donald Trump, the head of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said Thursday. What they will do, he said, is provide additional
information to help states, communities and parents decide what to do and when.
“Our guidelines are our guidelines,” Dr. Robert Redfield declared. In draft CDC
documents obtained by The Associated Press, the agency says there are steps
that schools can take to safely reopen but that it “cannot provide
one-size-fits-all criteria for opening and closing schools or changing the way
schools are run.” “Decisions about how to open and run schools safely should be
made based on local needs and conditions,” the documents say. They also include
a checklist that encourages parents to carefully consider whether they should
send their kids back to school in person or seek virtual instruction. Many
districts nationwide are offering parents a choice of either mode of
instruction. New York City, among other school districts, has announced that
students will only return part-time in the fall. That runs counter to Mr.
Trump’s messaging. He has been repeatedly pressuring state and local officials
to reopen schools this fall, even threatening to withhold federal funds from
those that keep teaching and learning remote.
Philly schools weigh reopening with a hybrid learning
model, masks and cleanings every 4 hours
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, July
9, 2020
Philadelphia School District officials have
signaled what a return to buildings amid the coronavirus outbreak is likely to
look like this fall: a hybrid in-person and online learning model, no
temperature checks for students and staff, and cleaning high-touch areas every
four hours. They also said they could prioritize some subjects for face-to-face
instruction — English, math, science, art, music, and physical education — and
teach other subjects virtually. A final school reopening plan is expected next
week, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Thursday. But in town halls over
four days this week, the school system’s chief medical officer, academic chief,
interim facilities leader, and chief of schools laid out where a combination of
public health guidance, public feedback, and their own teams’ planning have led
them so far. The realities of Philadelphia buildings, some of which are
overcrowded, with classrooms of 30 children or more, mean that not all of the
district’s 125,000 students will be able to be in school at the same time, the
superintendent said.
In class or online: Pittsburgh parents can choose how
their kids go back to school
PA Capital Star By Mary Niederberger Special to the Capital-Star July 9,
2020
PITTSBURGH — Parents in the Pittsburgh
Public Schools can choose whether they want their students to attend a hybrid
schedule with some in-school and some remote learning, or opt for a 100 percent
online education. That announcement was made Thursday by district officials as
they updated their back to school plans in the midst of the coronavirus
pandemic. District officials said by the start of school Aug. 26, all students
from preschool through grade 12 will have personal technology devices that are
age-appropriate and all district teachers will have devices as well.
Parents who want to choose the 100 percent
online system should let the district know as soon as possible. Parents
can notify the district via its website. Superintendent
Anthony Hamlet said he understands that by not opening schools fully he risks
the loss of federal funding — a threat made by President Donald Trump on
Wednesday.
Pittsburgh Public Schools to offer online-only option to
students in the fall
Trib Live by MEGAN
GUZA | Thursday,
July 9, 2020 3:03 p.m.
There is still no concrete plan for how
Pittsburgh Public Schools will reopen in the fall — or what brick-and-mortar
learning will look like — but administrators on Thursday said parents will have
the option of all-online learning for the 2020-21 school year. Superintendent
Anthony Hamlet said during a virtual news briefing that there will be a
“definite online, full-time learning component.” The in-school option will
blend online learning with in-classroom learning, he said. “We know … that even
if we had a brick-and-mortar option, some parents just do not want to send
their kids back to brick-and-mortar school,” he said. The goal, he said, is to
give families options. More than 300 stakeholders — staff, faculty, parents,
students, community leaders — have made up five committees that together have
14 subcommittees. All are working on different pieces of the plan to ensure the
district is ready for students, regardless of which option they choose.
BEA’s preliminary reopening plan: Masking, temperature
checks and sanitation
Centre Daily Times BY
MARLEY PARISH JULY 09, 2020 09:30 AM
With safety as the top priority, the Bald
Eagle Area School District released preliminary reopening
plans as students and staff are expected to return for in-person learning this
fall. In a letter sent to district families, BEA
Superintendent Scott Graham described an outline of the school’s safety and
instructional plan for the 2020-21 school year, which was developed in-part by
a team of 40 and includes administrators, staff and one board member. “The Bald
Eagle Area School District’s number one priority is the safety and well-being
of our students and staff,” Graham wrote. “We are committed to working with
parents and staff to have a smooth transition back to school. We live in
uncertain times, but I hope that this letter gives you some comfort in knowing
we are committed to creating a safety and instructional plan that meets the
needs of all students and staff.” Plan drafts are expected to be completed in
the coming weeks. After sending them to the school solicitor for review, the
district will post plans on its website and Facebook page. A special board
meeting is tentatively scheduled for July 30 at 7 p.m. where the board will
vote to approve them.
Survey: Laurel parents prefer traditional schooling
By Pete Sirianni New Castle News July 10,
2020
Laurel School District parents want
their children back in a traditional school setting with teachers in the
classroom. The results of the survey, which closed on July 3, were announced at
Wednesday night's school board meeting. The results will be uploaded to the
district's website this week. The survey went out to 1,050 parents, more
than half of who have multiple children enrolled in the district. The findings,
as presented to the board by Superintendent Leonard Rich, include: •58 percent
said they intend to send their child on the bus, which will be using the same
routes and runs with drivers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE). Buses
will be sanitized twice a day.
•72.8 percent said they intend to permit
their child to have lunch at school as normal. The cafeterias will be
sanitized twice daily and cleaned between lunch periods. No salad or fruit
bar will be offered and staff will wear PPE. A smaller lunch room will be
designated to accommodate students who want to utilize it.
•76.2 percent said their children will
participate in recess and physical education classes.
•73.2 percent said their children will
participate in a traditional classroom setting. Classrooms will be cleaned
daily, desktops and seats sanitized daily and disinfectants will be available
to each teacher.
•87.3 percent said their child will attend
traditional in-classroom learning while nine percent said they will take
advantage of a synchronous virtual option through Google Classroom. This option
can also be utilized if a child is home sick for the day. The district has
heard from four students, two at each school, who are thinking about
transferring out to the Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School. It was noted by the
administration PA Cyber has ramped up advertising in recent weeks to increase
its enrollment.
Rich clarified some points about all
residents, including all students, being required by a state health department
order to wear masks during times when social distancing is not feasible.
Working parents can’t become pretend public-school
teachers again this fall | Maria Panaritis
Inquirer by Maria Panaritis Posted: July
8, 2020 - 5:00 AM
My goal was to figure out whom to call to
make sure that working parents are not crushed again this fall. Instead of a
satisfying answer I got a growing sense of terror. Those of us with children in
public schools were like deer thrown into highway traffic in March when
coronavirus public school closures left us sequestered for months at home with
kids and no school or real-time teaching. With the fall school year
approaching, what are districts doing to avoid a repeat of this horror show
that threatens to force parents out of the workforce and damage children in
ways too great to grasp? School districts in Southeastern Pennsylvania are
scrambling to figure out how to safely reopen this fall. They are doing this on
the shifting sands of public health guidance and coronavirus contagion rates
that are changing every day. And with no wartime mobilization at any level of
government to help them out. Yet again, our nation fails us in our time of
greatest need — only this time, the shortcomings of a national pandemic
response is taking direct aim at working parents, at our youngest children, at
our jobs, and those who hold up our most vital public institution:
taxpayer-funded schools and all who work there.
Hite announces launch of District-wide equity initiative
The plan is to study policies and examine
attitudes "through an equity lens." Activist teachers and students
plan a "march for Black lives" this weekend.
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa July 9 — 6:54 pm, 2020
Superintendent William Hite said Thursday
that the District is embarking on a major effort to combat racial inequities
that exist within it. He declared that “it is our intention to ensure that all
our school communities are inclusive and have inclusive cultures.” Hite and
other school officials who are heading up the effort said that the time is
right for such a self-examination. “We are in transformational times as a
country and seeing a nationwide conversation on race,” said Estelle Acquah, the
special projects director in the District’s leadership development office who
is helping to organize the project. The District is putting together an “equity
coalition,” beginning with staff but with intentions to eventually include
students, parents, and community members, who will join subcommittees that will
spend a year meeting and making recommendations for policy changes. More than
policy, though, the District wants teachers and others who work with students
to go deep into their own attitudes and behaviors. “We’re focused on
policy changes, but also on how we address beliefs about our students and their
potential, and what they can do,” said Acquah. “We understand that there are
always activists on the ground, on the student level, our teachers, our
leaders, who have been … passionately calling attention to issues of racial
inequity for decades. And what we’re trying to do right now is really give
organizational and systemic power to their voices.”
Black Lives Matter movement prods Bethlehem and other
districts to review how history is taught
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO THE MORNING
CALL | JUL 09, 2020 AT 6:00 AM
Jared Dowling was surfing the internet three
years ago in June when he noticed a Google Doodle paying tribute to Juneteenth.
Having no idea what the event was, Dowling, a 2020 Freedom High School graduate
heading to Syracuse University, spent all day reading about how it originated
in Texas on June 19, 1865, when slaves learned of their freedom — two years
after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. In four years of high school,
Dowling, who is Black, never learned about
Juneteenth in classes. But that didn’t surprise
him. “There was never going to be a heavy focus on things of that nature in
history class,” Dowling said. Freedom, like other schools across the country,
celebrates Black History Month in February. But classes that month tend to touch
upon familiar issues, Dowling said. Figures such as Malcolm X and
discriminatory policies in such things as housing are missing from textbooks. “Every
time February rolled around with Black History Month, it’d be a conversation
about MLK Jr., Rosa Parks and something else that was currently happening, and
that would be the extent,” Dowling said. “But that’s truly not enough.” Schools
do not honestly and accurately teach the struggles and history of African
Americans, Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Joseph Roy
acknowledged. That’s why he is proposing that the district spend the next year
reforming middle and high school history courses.
New research details racial, socioeconomic inequities
during school shutdown across Allegheny County
The data underscore the impact
pandemic-related closures had on students of color and economically
disadvantaged students.
WITF by Sarah Schneider/WESA JULY 9,
2020 | 5:30 AM
(Pittsburgh) — Allegheny County school
districts that transitioned to remote learning quickly, provided
technology for all or some grades and performed real-time instruction, serve
fewer historically marginalized students than those who didn’t, according to a
new report. With funding from the Heinz Endowments, Philadelphia-based education research
organization Research For Action examined
continuity of education plans that districts and charter schools submitted to
the state this spring after Gov. Tom Wolf ordered all schools to close on March
13. “Overall we found that districts that provided these learning opportunities
generally served lower rates of students with economic disadvantage and
students of color than districts that did not,” said Mary Eddins a policy
fellow with RFA based in Pittsburgh. The data underscore the impact
pandemic-related closures had on students of color and economically
disadvantaged students. Nationally, data suggest that racial and socioecomic
achievement gaps will widen because of disparities like technology access. In
Pennsylvania, schools are largely funded with local taxes, meaning they rely on
the wealth of a community for resources.
Pa. coronavirus recovery: Face masks will be required
inside all schools
WHYY By Aaron
Moselle July 9, 2020
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Department of
Health reported 92,148 coronavirus cases since the coronavirus
pandemic began, and 6,812 deaths. Philadelphia’s Department of
Public Health has reported 27,069 cases and 1,625 deaths
as of Wednesday.
Face masks will be required inside all Pa.
schools
Students and staff will be required to wear
face masks when they return to school, according to new guidelines from the
Pennsylvania Department of Education. The guidelines —
issued on the heels of an executive order requiring state residents to wear
face masks whenever they leave the house — apply to all people in all school
buildings who are 2 years old and older, including individuals at pre-K
programs, public K-12 schools, private and parochial schools, brick-and-mortar
cyber charter schools, and career and technical centers. Anyone traveling into
Philadelphia from those states, which include its neighbor Delaware, are
advised to self-quarantine for 14 days and monitor their symptoms. Under the
order, students and staff are allowed to remove their masks if they are eating
or drinking and at least six feet apart, seated at desks or assigned workspaces
that are at least six feet apart, or engaged in any other activity and at least
six feet apart. Students with medical conditions, including respiratory issues
or mental health conditions or disabilities, are not required to wear face
masks at school.
What will return of high school football look like?
Doctors discuss staying safe from COVID, other risks
By Edward
Sutelan | esutelan@pennlive.com July 9,
2020 Updated 6:28 AM; Today 5:30 AM
High school football teams across central
Pennsylvania have returned to the practice fields and are putting on their
equipment again, but it’s already looking a little different. Players are
working out in groups. They can’t share water bottles. They have to stand six
feet apart whenever possible. Still, it’s a return to football. But while
everyone’s back out on the gridiron, there’s still a lot of uncertainty about
what the future has in store for the sport across the country. College football
has been a changing landscape with teams like Ohio State announcing
cancelations of practices due to positive coronavirus tests while
the Ivy League has gone so far
as to cancel the season altogether and reevaluate later. Dr.
Matthew L. Silvis of Penn State Health, a sports medicine specialist at the
Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, and Dr. Philip Patrick Mularoni, who specializes
in sports medicine at Johns Hopkins All Children Hospital, both believe that
risks are going to continue to be present for high-school athletes throughout
the fall, but that the best way to ensure a season takes place is with
cooperation.
Coronavirus Outbreaks in Summer Sports Shape School
Reopen Plans
At least half the states have districts that
have shut down summer athletic training due to positive virus testing
Why Stadiums Are Incubators for Coronavirus
Spread – Video Runtime 8:05
From May 17: Sports fans are longing to
return to the stands, but health experts say stadiums are one of the
highest-risk areas for coronavirus transmission. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an
infectious disease specialist, walks us through how easily the virus could
spread among the crowd
Wall Street Journal by Tawnell D. Hobbs July
9, 2020 10:42 am ET (Paywall)
School districts throughout the U.S. are
getting a firsthand lesson on what a fall reopening could bring: sporadic
closures as students and staffers test positive for Covid-19. At least half the
states have districts that have shut down summer athletic training mainly due
to students and coaches testing positive for the virus, some of whom passed
pre-screening checks. The experience has been a wake-up call for administrators
planning to open schools for in-person learning after summer break.
Educators say when it comes to reopening schools, ‘the
devil’s in the details’
What's at stake: An unknown number of lives,
the futures of tens of millions of children, and the livelihoods of their
caregivers.
By Anya Kamenetz/NPR JULY 9, 2020 | 5:38 AM
(Washington) — Jeanne Norris is a teacher,
the wife of a teacher and the mother of an 8-year-old in St. Louis. She’d love
to send her son back to school in August. But, she says, “I feel like my
government and my fellow citizens have put me in a position where it’s not
really in the best interests of our family.” Norris has a long list of reasons
why. She says she has personally taught in buildings where ventilation systems
are outdated and malfunctioning, and even soap for handwashing is in short
supply. In June, Missouri cut K-12 education funding by
more than $100 million, amid the pandemic-induced recession. The Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities anticipates state budget shortfalls of 25% this fiscal year as a
result of that recession. Education leaders have said schools may need more than $200 billion in new
federal education funding to stop these gaps and meet the new need. The
House passed a bill in May
with $58 billion for school districts, and the Republican-controlled Senate has
not yet acted on it, though the president has recently weighed in heavily in favor of
reopening schools. Jeanne Norris says she’s disappointed by her state’s
response to the virus, and she’s worried about the risk to her son’s teachers
too. “You know, a third of teachers are over the age of 50, I believe.
… You want to talk about social-emotional impacts? Thinking about my child
experiencing somebody die because of coronavirus? Sounds like a pretty heavy
burden to bear.”
With coronavirus science still iffy, U.S. schools hope to
reopen for 56.6 million K-12 students
Washington Post By Joel Achenbach, Laura Meckler and Chelsea Janes July 9,
2020 at 7:42 p.m. EDT
In just a matter of weeks, tens of millions
of children will start a new school year, and what that will look like has
become the nation’s thorniest political and epidemiological issue. School
officials have to figure out how to resume schooling while limiting the risks
to children, their teachers, school staffers and their communities. This pivotal
moment in the coronavirus pandemic
comes as scientists are still trying to understand precisely how the virus
affects children and how children affect the spread of the virus. This dicey
decision point has generated tension between President Trump and his own public
health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with Trump
saying the CDC is “asking schools to do very impractical things” to allow
classes to resume. The reopening of schools is likely to be halting and
improvisational. It could be marked by setbacks. There is no proven strategy
for the remobilization of 56.6 million K-12 students amid a pandemic like this
one. “It’s not going to be easy because we’ve never done it before,” Anthony S.
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases,
said Thursday in an interview with The Washington Post. “This is uncharted
waters — always remembering the primary issue is the safety and welfare of the
children as well as the teachers who are going to be interacting with the children.”
Schools Are Planning To Reopen. Stop Threatening Them For
Political Show.
Forbes by Stacey Childress Contributor Jul 9, 2020,03:06pm EDT
CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund, a national
venture philanthropy.
Educators across the country are striving to
understand reopening guidance from public health officials and make it work in
their own cities, neighborhoods, and classrooms. Logistical demands present a
complex puzzle of people, space, time, and money. At least as important? How to
understand and address the social-emotional and academic needs children will
bring back to school with them, whether in-person, online, or some hybrid of
the two. On the whole, school, district and state education leaders are working
like mad to create feasible approaches that meet the moment. All of this in the
midst of conflicting guidance, shifting conditions, and constrained resources. That’s
why it is cynical and destructive for the President of the United States to
suggest that state and local officials are conspiring to keep schools
closed to hurt him politically and
for his Secretary of Education to imply they are doing so because they
are lazy or weak. Practically, neither has the
authority to follow through on their threats to punish schools who don’t do
exactly as they say by withholding federal funding because, well, federalism.
But leadership is about more than purse
strings. The divisive posturing makes a once-in-a-lifetime challenge even
harder to tackle for state and local education leaders, some of whom will now
face increased pressure to act in accordance with the bluster.
Europeans are sending kids back to school. Why can’t we?
| Trudy Rubin
Inquirer by Trudy
Rubin | @trudyrubin | trubin@inquirer.com Updated: July
9, 2020 - 5:36 PM
In Denmark, Germany, and Austria, kids
began returning to classrooms in
April and early May, and there haven’t yet been spikes of new cases. Schools reopened in Norway, but the
spread of infection in the country keeps trending downward. Italian kids will
go back to classes in September. The reason European countries are reopening schools
and parents are willing to send their kids is because most of those countries
had flattened the curve on COVID-19 by May or June (our East Asian allies did
so even earlier). That is true even of countries like Italy and Spain that botched
their virus response at the outset. Yes, there have been some new spikes as
young people surge into bars but nothing that isn’t containable. Americans
don’t have to numb themselves to at least 70,000 more dead by
fall and accept tens of thousands of new cases a day as the new normal — as the
White House clearly hopes they will. The European experience proves that such
an option is obscene.
As Washington reviews its NFL team name, what will
Neshaminy schools do?
WHYY By Zachariah Hughes July 10, 2020
Neshaminy School Board President Steve
Pirritano says the district’s logo is “based on culture, and heritage, and
respect.” To a longtime resident and advocate, though, the district’s
unwillingness to shed a decades-old team nickname is “heartbreaking.” The name
in question is the Neshaminy Redskins, depicted on the Bucks County district’s
sports paraphernalia through tomahawks, feathers, and a Native American warrior
shown in profile wearing a Plains-style war bonnet. “It’s very frustrating to
have people constantly telling you that you’re supposed to be honored, that you
must be honored or you have to leave their community,” says Donna Fann-Boyle,
who is Choctaw and Cherokee. With the vigorous national debate over racism,
representation and history sparked by George Floyd’s death at the hands of
Minneapolis police, efforts to remove Native American imagery from school icons
in Pennsylvania are gaining more traction. So, too, are their defenders’
demands that the mascots remain in place. Neshaminy’s logo had already
attracted a lot of scrutiny because of a long-running case brought
forward by the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Across the state,
dozens of schools use names and imagery that Native
American groups criticize as insensitive, harmful and long
overdue for reconsideration.
Interested in becoming an Advocacy Ambassador? PSBA is seeking
ambassadors to fill anticipated vacancies for Sections 1, 2 and 6.
PSBA Advocacy Ambassador program brings legislators to
you
POSTED ON JULY 1, 2020 IN PSBA
NEWS
PSBA’s Advocacy Ambassador program is a
key resource helping public school leaders connect with their state legislators
on important education issues. Our six ambassadors build strong
relationships with the school leaders and legislators in their areas to support
advocacy efforts at the local level. They also encourage legislators to visit
school districts and create opportunities for you to have positive
conversations and tell your stories about your schools and students. PSBA
thanks those school districts that have worked with their advocacy ambassador
and invites those who have not to reach out to their ambassador to talk about
the ways they can support your advocacy efforts. Interested in becoming an
Advocacy Ambassador? PSBA is seeking ambassadors to fill anticipated vacancies
for Sections 1, 2 and 6. For more information contact jamie.zuvich@psba.org.
PSBA Fall Virtual Advocacy Day: OCT 8, 2020 • 8:00
AM - 5:00 PM
Sign up now for PSBA’s Virtual Advocacy Day
this fall!
All public school leaders are invited to join
us for our fall Virtual Advocacy Day on Thursday, October 8, 2020, via Zoom. We
need all of you to help strengthen our advocacy impact. The day will center
around contacting legislators to discuss critical issues affecting public
education. Registrants will receive the meeting invitation with a link to our
fall Virtual Advocacy Day website that contains talking points, a link to
locate contact information for your legislator and additional information to
help you have a successful day.
Cost: As a membership benefit, there is no
cost to register.
Registration: School directors can register
online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you have
questions about Virtual Advocacy Day, or need additional information, contact Jamie.Zuvich@psba.org.
Apply Now for EPLC's 2020-2021 PA Education Policy
Fellowship Program!
Applications are available now for the 2020-2021 Education Policy
Fellowship Program.
The Education Policy Fellowship Program is
sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center
(EPLC). The 2020-2021 Program will be conducted in briefer, more
frequent, and mostly online sessions, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The content
will be substantially the same as the traditional Fellowship Program, with some
changes necessitated by the new format and a desire to reduce costs to sponsors
in these uncertain fiscal times.
The commitment of EPLC remains the same. The
Fellowship Program will continue to be Pennsylvania's premier education policy
leadership program for education, community, policy and advocacy leaders! The
Fellowship Program begins with two 3-hour virtual sessions on September 17-18,
and the Program ends with a graduation event in June 2021.
The application may be
copied from the EPLC web site, but it must be submitted by mail or scanned and
e-mailed, with the necessary signatures of applicant and sponsor.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of
the Fellowship Program and its requirements, please contact EPLC Executive
Director Ron Cowell at 412-298-4796 or COWELL@EPLC.ORG
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 270 PA school boards have adopted charter reform
resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 270 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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