Started in November 2010, daily postings from the Keystone State
Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education
policymakers – school directors, administrators, legislators, legislative and
congressional staffers, Governor's staff, current/former PA Secretaries of
Education, superintendents, school solicitors, principals, charter school
leaders, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, business leaders,
faith-based organizations, labor organizations, education professors, members
of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies, professional
associations and education advocacy organizations via emails, website,
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
If any of your colleagues would
like to be added to the email list please have them send their name, title and
affiliation to KeystoneStateEdCoalition@gmail.com
A June 2 paper from the highly respected Brookings
Institution stated, “We find the impact of attending a virtual charter on
student achievement is uniformly and profoundly negative,” and then went on to
say that “there is no evidence that virtual charter students improve in
subsequent years.”
Taxpayers in Senate Majority
Policy Committee Chair David Argall’s school districts paid over $17.3 million
in 2018-2019 cyber charter tuition. Statewide, PA
taxpayers paid over $600 million for cyber charter tuition in 2018-2019.
|
Blue Mountain SD
|
$971,270.94
|
|
Conrad Weiser Area SD
|
$606,367.70
|
|
Fleetwood Area SD
|
$792,772.05
|
|
Hamburg Area SD
|
$1,114,402.87
|
|
Hazleton Area SD
|
$2,841,667.30
|
|
Kutztown Area SD
|
$616,343.17
|
|
Mahanoy Area SD
|
$611,232.61
|
|
Minersville Area SD
|
$482,882.29
|
|
North Schuylkill SD
|
$755,140.34
|
|
Panther Valley SD
|
$1,850,483.64
|
|
Pine Grove Area SD
|
$368,600.16
|
|
Pottsville Area SD
|
$1,600,479.61
|
|
Schuylkill Haven Area SD
|
$473,973.93
|
|
Schuylkill Valley SD
|
$830,507.78
|
|
Shenandoah Valley SD
|
$513,639.42
|
|
Saint Clair Area SD
|
$216,332.03
|
|
Tamaqua Area SD
|
$715,693.30
|
|
Tri-Valley SD
|
$162,121.27
|
|
Tulpehocken Area SD
|
$562,654.24
|
|
Williams Valley SD
|
$760,948.39
|
|
Wilson SD
|
$474,630.10
|
|
|
$17,322,143.14
|
Data Source: PDE via PSBA
Why are cyber charter tuition rates the same as brick and mortar
tuition?
Why are PA taxpayers paying twice what it costs to provide a
cyber education?
Blogger tweet: Being a volunteer school
director can be challenging even when there is no COVID crisis. But email with
these simple words of encouragement makes it all worthwhile:
"Your plan for the up coming school
year is absolutely terrible !!!! I hope you are all voted out !!!"
Panned on the pandemic, Biden leads Trump 50-41 percent
in Pa. | Thursday Morning Coffee
By John L. Micek July 30,
2020
With less than 100 days to go before this
November’s general election, former Vice President Joe Biden holds
a 9-point, 50-41 percent, lead over President Donald Trump in
a critical battleground state, where voters say they’re disappointed in the
45th president’s job performance and his management of the COVID-19 pandemic. About
two in five registered voters (38 percent) say they believe Trump is
doing an “excellent’ or “good” job as the nation’s chief executive, according
to a new Franklin & Marshall College poll. Only 29 percent
of registered voters say Trump is doing a good or excellent
job of managing the pandemic, which has so far, claimed the lives of nearly
150,000 Americans, including 7,162 people in Pennsylvania, according
to state Health Department data.
July 2020 Franklin & Marshall College Poll SUMMARY OF
FINDINGS
Prepared by: Center for Opinion Research
Floyd Institute for Public Policy Franklin & Marshall College
Philly promises public school students will have internet
access as coronavirus keeps classes online
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Updated: July
29, 2020- 4:41 PM
Every Philadelphia School District student
will have the tools to access digital learning in September, Superintendent
William R. Hite Jr. said Wednesday, pledging to connect the thousands of families
who lacked internet access this spring when schools first
went remote. “Every student that needs it will have it,” Hite said. He said the
city, district officials, and internet service providers are hammering out
details, which he hopes to announce soon. The school system will also continue
to make free Chromebooks available for loan to any district student that needs
one. Fleshing out the district’s back-to-school plan, which will have students attend school
fully virtually at least through Nov. 17, Hite
said that parts of school buildings, as well as city recreation centers and
libraries, would likely be opened to provide child care for families who need
it. Child-care details, including capacity at such locations, remain unclear. The
superintendent also said that while teachers will not be expected back in
buildings, those who want to teach from schools will likely be given the green
light to do so.
https://www.inquirer.com/education/philadelphia-schools-reopening-plan-internet-access-20200729.html
Hite promises all students will have internet connection
by the start of school
"Lots more people" are engaging in
the effort compared to the spring, he said.
The notebook by Dale
Mezzacappa July 29 — 7:45 pm, 2020
Superintendent William Hite has pledged that
all students will have internet access by the beginning of the 2020-2021 school
year, which will be all virtual at least until Nov. 17. “We’re going to solve
that problem,” Hite vowed in a Wednesday call reporters. “All of our children
who need internet access will have it.” On Tuesday, Board of Education
President Joyce Wilkerson said that responsibility to assure this went beyond the District to the
city and the internet service providers themselves, the major ones of which are
Comcast and Verizon. “My position is we’re not starting school unless every
child is connected,” Wilkerson said. If the District has to, she said, “we will
pay for it. But we can’t pretend we’re running school virtually, and have
children who have no way of getting connected.
Pittsburgh Public Schools board hears from community days
before reopening decision
ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com JUL 29,
2020
10:24 PM
How do you comfort an upset student from 6
feet away? Or tie a shoe? Or apply a Band-Aid? Teachers asked these
questions and many others Wednesday evening at a public hearing before the
Pittsburgh Public Schools board just two days before it will decide how the
district will hold classes as the 2020-21 school year begins amid the COVID-19
pandemic. The district’s plan would give students the option of taking classes
in person two days a week, but a proposal is on the table that would move instruction
completely online for the first nine weeks of the year. A majority of those who
submitted testimony to the school board said they preferred to start the school
year virtually. “You cannot comfort a 3-year-old with separation anxiety,
emotional distress or temper tantrums from 6 feet apart,” said Jeannine
Schreiner, a teacher at Montessori PreK-5. “You cannot give a one-on-one
lesson, redirect a small child or teach conflict resolution from 6 feet apart.
You cannot change clothes, open milk, apply a Band-Aid, zipper a coat, tie a
shoe or countless other necessary functions of teaching, nurturing and
protecting a small child from 6 feet apart.” That 6-feet separation is a
component of the Pittsburgh Public Schools’ health and safety plan, which the
district continues to work on less than five weeks before classes begin.
Panel gets input on how to safely open local schools
Delco Times by BILL RETTEW July 29,
2020
WESTTOWN — Like a small boat piloted by a
lone captain during a hurricane, school districts grapple with how to best
educate and keep students and staff safe during the ongoing pandemic. Districts
have been directed to individually decide how to best serve students with
little firm input from the state, according to several members of a
Pennsylvania Senate Panel, held Tuesday at Rustin High School. The hybrid
panel, with both in-person and virtual participants, was designed to discuss
how to open schools safely and was organized by Sen. Tom Killion, R-9th, of
Middletown, who is seeking reelection this year. “There is much uncertainty,”
said Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., Education Committee Chairman. “I feel
frustration and a lack of clarity from everyone and how we’re supposed to move
forward,” Rep. Chris Quinn, R-168th, of Media said. More than a dozen
participants seemed to agree when West Chester Area School District
Superintendent Dr. Jim Scanlon said, “At the end of the day, it’s about the
kids.”
New PSBA Success Starts Here website launches
POSTED ON JULY 29, 2020 IN PSBA
NEWS
SuccessStartsHere.org is
coming out fresh, with PSBA’s launch of a newly designed website today,
featuring the success stories of public school districts statewide.
The launch of the site is only one part of a statewide promotional campaign
that will roll out through a variety of online media, along with television and
radio. The new site is designed as a resource where the public can
access core information about each Pennsylvania public school district and
board, including positive stories of educational impacts. Each member
school district has a dedicated webpage, with data and stories specific to its
schools. Now is the time to join the more than
380 school entities that are leveraging the campaign to share their
positive news! As your schools open this fall, with in-person education,
remote learning or a hybrid instructional scenario, inspiring and creative
student experiences are what we’d like to know about. Share your
stories and photos by completing the Show Support button on the
webpage.
PA cyber charter schools are flourishing | Opinion
Penn Live Opinion By John Chandler, Jim Hanak
, Richard Jensen and John Chandler Posted Jul 29, 2020
Dr. John Chandler, Member, Public Cyber
Charter School Association (PCCSA); CEO, PA Virtual Charter School
Dr. Jim Hanak , Executive Director, Public
Cyber Charter School Association (PCCSA); CEO, Pennsylvania Leadership Charter
School (PALCS)
Dr. Richard Jensen, Member, Public Cyber
Charter School Association (PCCSA); CEO, Agora Cyber Charter School
Dr. John Chandler, Chief Executive Officer
Driven to educate, inform and empower cyber
charter schools to further evolve in our ability to serve communities and
better futures, the Public Cyber Charter School Association (PCCSA)
takes responsibility to continue the dialogue started by Lawrence Feinberg in
his opinion piece, “After 20 Years it’s past time for the
legislature to act on cyber-charter school funding reform.” Although
Feinberg clearly set out to make his case against the value of public cyber
charter schools, he only presents one side of the story. Feinberg strategically
structured his argument for cyber school funding reform on two assertions he
knew would grab attention: 1. Pennsylvania Cyber Charter Schools cost taxpayers
“twice what they reasonably should” pay. 2. They are failing children. We agree
wholeheartedly taxpayers must be concerned about the value of the education
they fund, but students and parents consistently share the depth of value they
receive from their cyber charter school experience—from improvements in learning
to emotional and social growth of each student. Any discussion comparing the
value of traditional and cyber charter schools can never be a straight
apples-to-apples comparison, and Feinberg’s piece, although quoting reports,
provided data out of context. It deliberately cast traditional school systems
in a positive light, while eclipsing unique challenges overcome by cyber
charter schools. We offer a few examples.
Reprise June 16, 2020: After 20 years it is well past
time for the legislature to act on cyber charter school funding reform| Opinion
Penn Live Opinion By Lawrence A. Feinberg Posted
Jun 16, 2020
Lawrence A. Feinberg has been a school
director in Haverford Township for 21 years. Since 2010 he has curated a daily
statewide PA Ed Policy Roundup targeted to school leaders, legislators and members
of the press. He can be reached at KeystoneStateEdCoalition@gmail.org.
With the anticipated loss of revenue facing
school districts due to COVID-19, now, more than ever, the Pennsylvania
legislature must grab the bull by the horns and reform the way that cyber
charter schools are funded. Cyber charters may be a great fit for some highly
motivated, self-disciplined students or those with very involved parents or
guardians. But overall, by any measure, after 20 years the state’s cyber
charters have consistently underperformed. Generally speaking, cyber students
are not learning, and taxpayers are paying twice what they reasonably should,
with the excess funds being taken away from all the other students remaining in
a school district when a parent chooses to send their child to a cyber charter.
Responding to parents’ concerns about returning to school buildings in
September, cyber charters will be spending your tax dollars on advertising,
trying to convince parents that the education they offer is better than what
your student might receive if they stay in their own district. Despite the
impression those ads may give, your child will not be sitting in front of a
screen facing a live teacher all day, and many cyber charters require that a
parent be involved as a coach.
Some Parents Turning To Cyber Charter Schools As Local
Schools Reveal Reopening Plans
KDKA July 29, 2020 at 6:59 pm
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — As school districts
across our area create and approve reopening plans for the fall, many parents
are looking for different options. “It’s a weird year for every school in
Pennsylvania and it certainly has been for us,” said Brian Hayden who is the
CEO of PA Cyber Charter. Hayden told KDKA that more families are turning to
Cyber Charter options this fall. “That is primarily being driven by the mask
requirement. Parents with younger children that are in kindergarten through 5th
grade either don’t want their kids to wear a mask or don’t think they can wear
a mask all day,” Hayden said. Hayden describes the cyber charter’s uptick in
enrollment as explosive. “We are getting over 1,000 inquires per week from
families from all across Pennsylvania,” Hayden said. In fact, some elementary
school grade levels are already at capacity.
Cyber schools prepare for crush of students
Johnstown Tribune Democrat By
Joshua Byers jbyers@tribdem.com Jully 29,
2020
Although most local school districts are
planning for a return to in-person instruction at the end of August,
administrators are also preparing online options for those not comfortable
with coming back to school. Upon adopting a health and safety plan, Westmont
Hilltop, Greater Johnstown and Richland administrators all made
mention of the cyber academies the schools offer. “Our program provides courses
provided by three programs, Apex, Acellus and CodeHS, and are facilitated by
Westmont Hilltop teachers,” Westmont Superintendent Thomas Mitchell said. With
the program, students have the option of full-time or part-time enrollment, and
the teachers are available during scheduled office hours to answer questions. Students
can also take their time and complete assignments at their leisure because
it’s asynchronous learning. All of the schools in the Allegheny Intermediate
Unit 8 have some form of cyber school in place, IU Director Thomas Butler said.
However, area districts won’t know exactly how many students will be signed up
for the cyber programs until after schools starts, because that’s when
enrollment will be verified.
Enrollment rises for cyber schools and online academies
Trib Live by JOE
NAPSHA | Thursday,
July 30, 2020 12:01 a.m.
With families concerned about the safety of
students returning to schools amid the covid-19 pandemic, cyber charter schools
and the online academies run by school districts are seeing an increase in
demand, officials of the schools said. “Pennsylvania’s public cyber charter
schools have been inundated with inquiries about their schools and requests for
enrollment,” said Jessica Hickernell, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania
Coalition of Public Charter Schools, a Mechanicsburg-based association
representing 12 of the state’s 14 public cyber charter schools. The biggest
factors driving the increase in enrollment are concern over students’ health
and safety in a traditional school setting and frustration over the online
education that school districts delivered when Gov. Wolf ordered schools to
close in mid-March because of covid-19, said Brian Hayden, CEO of the
Midland-based PA Cyber Charter School. PA Cyber Charter already is at capacity
for the upcoming school year, the earliest that ever has happened, Hayden said.
The school can teach 12,000 students; 11,000 are enrolled, and 1,100 have
submitted applications, Hayden said.
‘Virtual Academy' in Lower Merion Stokes Fears of Losing
‘Best of Best' Status
One of the Philadelphia region's most
prestigious public school systems is dealing with parent pushback to its
initial all-virtual plan, emblematic of struggles districts are facing in an
ever-changing COVID-19 landscape.
NBC10 By Brian X. McCrone • Published
July 28, 2020 • Updated on July 28, 2020 at 5:42 pm
What to Know
- School
officials in Lower Merion, which is one of the most expensive districts in
Pennsylvania, have proposed an all-virtual option that uses a Montgomery
County agency to teach students.
- Parents
described the decision as "the lazy choice" and called the program
"not up to the Lower Merion standard."
- The
district has not yet released its plans for a September reopening amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, but an official says in-school learning is currently
part of the working proposal.
Stacy Bronte and her daughter, a soon-to-be
junior at Lower Merion High School, took their virtual learning seriously after
schools closed abruptly in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She remembers
working on chemistry assignments with her daughter. "That's not an easy
course to do at home. We were trying to do experiments in our house with the
little supplies we had," Bronte said. "We were essentially saying
let’s get through this year." Now, months later and still in the midst of
the COVID-19 pandemic, parents in one of Pennsylvania's most expensive school
districts are fearful of losing their status as standard-bearers in public
education. They say the district wants to send children who opt out of
in-school learning in September to a "virtual academy" run by
Montgomery County. "They chose [a program] they’ve been using for their
summer courses, which has a one-star rating," Bronte said. "We’re
supposed to be the best of the best. We should exceed the standards not just
meet them." About 1,000 parents have signed a petition in opposition to
the virtual academy. Some parents are planning a protest Thursday afternoon
outside the district's administration building.
Find out how your school plans to reopen and keep
students safe
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO and KAYLA DWYER THE MORNING
CALL | JUL 29, 2020 AT 6:28 PM
The state Education Department requires all
districts to submit a Health and Safety Plan approved by local school boards.
In the plans, districts and charter schools outlined what safeguards they will
put in place to protect students and staff from the coronavirus and what steps
they will take if a student or staff member contracts the virus. The plans all
include such state requirements as mask wearing for students, staff and
visitors; daily temperature checks and screening for symptoms of COVID-19;
disinfecting of buildings and classrooms; and social distancing, even during
gym classes and recess. Schools have cut out field trips, limited the number of
visitors and volunteers, and have braced parents for a pivot to online-only
classes if cases spike. The Education Department is posting plans as schools
submit them, at education.pa.gov. Schools
also are required to post their health and safety plans on their websites. Here
are highlights from plans that Lehigh Valley schools so far have either
publicly announced or submitted to the state.
Parkland approves reopening plan: Hybrid attendance for
some grades, full-time for others, with an all-virtual option
By KAYLA DWYER THE MORNING
CALL | JUL 29, 2020 AT 6:28 PM
Families in the Parkland School District will
have a choice this fall between sending their children to school for
face-to-face instruction — either full-time or part-time, depending on their
grade level — or keeping them home for online learning, according to the reopening plan school
board directors approved in a 7-2 vote Tuesday night. More than 500 people
watched the virtual school board meeting and dozens submitted public comments
about the plan, representing the gamut of viewpoints: from the measures being
“draconian” to not going far enough. They asked questions administrators answered
one by one, from what lunch time will look like to how masking can be enforced.
“There’s no one educational decision that will allay every concern or satisfy
the desires of every person in the Parkland School District,” Superintendent
Richard Sniscak said, following more than an hour of input from community and
board members.
Bensalem School Board approves hybrid back-to-school plan
Start of school has been moved back a week in
the Bensalem School District to Sept. 8.
After listening to more than four hours of
heartfelt comments, the Bensalem School Board voted 8-1 Tuesday night to offer
a hybrid school-reopening plan, with students going to school two days a week. The
board also voted to move the start of school date back a week until Sept. 8, to
allow time for staff members to receive training on how to deal with the
coronavirus pandemic while working in the schools. The hybrid plan, as of now,
does not offer a complete virtual-school alternative for students whose parents
want to keep them home but have them be enrolled in the regular Bensalem school
system, though the district is working on one, said district Superintendent
Samuel Lee. The district has set up a Bensalem Cyber Academy but
that has a completely different staff and curriculum, so it would not be easy
for students enrolled in the cyber school to switch back to the regular school.
And it would not offer programming for children who may need to stay home for
two weeks to quarantine if they or another family member tested positive for
the coronavirus.
Pottstown votes Thursday on recommendation for only
online classes
Pottstown Mercury by Evan Brandt ebrandt@21st-centurymedia.com
@PottstownNews on Twitter July 29, 2020
POTTSTOWN — Following the release of the
results of a parent survey, Pottstown Schools Superintendent Stephen Rodriguez
announced that he will recommend that the district open schools virtually only,
with no in-person classes, for at least the first semester. The decision is not
final and will only be so after a vote of the school board at a special meeting
scheduled for Thursday night. Rodriguez says more than 1,000 parents took the online survey
that was only announced Wednesday, July 22. "I
think that's the biggest response since (the district)
asked about the dress code," he
said. The parents who responded to the
online survey were spread fairly evenly across the different grade levels. He
ran through the results, which varied depending on who was answering the
question: parents of elementary, middle or high school — or all or some of
the above.
Woodland Hills School District reopening plan begins with
online classes
Trib Live by JULIA
FELTON | Wednesday,
July 29, 2020 1:53 p.m.
Woodland Hills School District on Tuesday
released a plan for reopening its schools, beginning with virtual instruction. The
academic year will begin on Aug. 24, as planned, but there will be no students
in the classrooms. Per the document outlining the plan, schools may reopen for
in-person classes after “14 days of continuous declining covid case diagnoses
within the County.” Once the schools open for in-person classes, Woodland Hills
will operate on a hybrid model. Students will go to school either Monday and Thursday,
or Tuesday and Friday. On the other three days of the week, they will learning
virtually from home. Students who prefer not to return to the building can
continue studying entirely online.
Penn Hills School District’s reopening plans to focus on
hybrid learning
Trib Live by MICHAEL
DIVITTORIO | Wednesday,
July 29, 2020 4:17 p.m.
Penn Hills School District officials plan to
welcome students back to school with a hybrid in-person learning model, as well
as a continued online learning option for families who might not be comfortable
sending children back into the buildings. Administrators are expected to
officially present the two options during a safety and grounds committee
meeting Aug. 5. A draft of the plans is posted on the district’s website. Superintendent
Nancy Hines said the district had considered another option that would have
students in school five days a week. That was taken off the table because of a
rise in covid-19 cases as well as responses to a recent parental survey. Students
would be placed into two groups under the hybrid option with one group in
school buildings Mondays and Tuesdays. The other group would be in class
Thursdays and Fridays.
Wilkinsburg School District to open with online classes
in August
Trib Live by PAUL
GUGGENHEIMER | Wednesday, July 29,
2020 5:53 p.m.
The Wilkinsburg School Board voted
unanimously to begin the new school year with a full distance, online learning
curriculum on August 31. The vote was 9-0. The decision was made based on
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data regarding the coronavirus
pandemic, guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Health and survey responses
from parents, said Board president Ed Dovovan. In a Wednesday interview,
Donovan said more than half of the students’ families said they would not be
comfortable sending their children back into a school building. “Everyone on
our board got behind it,” said Donovan. “We were guided primarily by looking at
infection numbers and case numbers for Allegheny County and trying to dig down
to see numbers for Wilkinsburg and trying to figure out what’s the safest thing
we can do for our kids.”
PIAA board approves start of fall sports season
York Dispatch by ROB ROSE 717-505-5418/@robrosesports
July 29, 2020
The PIAA's board of directors voted unanimously
Wednesday to move forward with a plan that would see fall sports start with a
normal schedule, but with a number of precautionary measures. The move
came as an increasing number of school districts throughout Pennsylvania have
declined to send students back to classrooms in the fall as the number of
coronavirus cases continues to rise in the state and nationally. PIAA executive
director Dr. Robert Lombardi said it is up to individual school districts to
decide whether they will have in-person, virtual or hybrid schooling, but
the type of class meetings won't impact a team's ability to
participate in fall sports. Because of policies that allow students who chose a
cyber education to participate in sports, if schools were to go to with fully
virtual learning it would not prevent the student-athletes from playing their
sport.
Bucks County school board president calls Black Lives
Matter ‘anti American’
WHYY By Aaron
Moselle July 29, 2020
Amid criticism from the teachers’ union, a
fellow board member, and residents, Neshaminy School Board President Steve
Pirritano is defending a comment he posted to Facebook that calls the Black
Lives Matter organization “Marxist, anti family, anti American.” Pirritano, who
became board president in January, has said his opinion was directed at the
Black Lives Matter organization and
not the Black Lives Matter movement. The movement and the organization, he told the Bucks County Courier Times, are “two
very separate and distinct things.” Lifelong Bucks County resident Michelle
Powell finds that logic confusing. To her, there’s no discernible difference
between the Black Lives Matter organization and the Black Lives Matter
movement. “I’m not really sure exactly what he’s referring to in that matter,”
she said. Either way, Powell, a graduate of Neshaminy High School, thinks
Pirritano’s “off-base” comments should cost him his post as school board
president.
Why Is There No Consensus About Reopening Schools?
New York Times By Kim Tingley July 29,
2020
Is it possible to reopen school buildings in
the fall in a way that keeps kids, educators, staff and their families and
communities safe from Covid-19? Is it possible not to do so
without harming them in other ways? Already, school closures have
set children behind academically. More than 20 million children rely on school
breakfasts and lunches. Too many parents face the choice between losing their
jobs or leaving their children at home unsupervised. Vaccination rates for
various dangerous diseases, typically required before students can attend
school, have plummeted. Isolating children from their peers exacts social and
emotional costs, which differ by age group and are nearly impossible to
quantify. And whether schools reopen or remain closed, the risks are borne
disproportionately by low-income communities and people of color. “This is
really one of the most perplexing and complex issues I’ve ever faced in 40
years,” says Dan M. Cooper, a professor of pediatrics at the University of
California, Irvine.
A flood of guidance has been issued in recent
weeks, much of it urging schools to reopen and suggesting safety precautions. Media
outlets as well have relayed reams of often conflicting expert advice on how to
weigh risks and benefits, to individuals and to society. In every case, that
calculation is constrained by major gaps in our understanding of how Covid
affects children and those in contact with them. Strong evidence suggests that
children are much less likely than adults to get sick or die from the virus.
(By July 9, data from most of the U.S. showed that nearly 242,000 children had
tested positive for Covid, representing 8 percent of cases, the American
Academy of Pediatrics reports; they account for fewer than 3 percent of
hospitalizations and fewer than 1 percent of deaths.)
Top DeVos Deputy Tells Nation’s Education Reporters That
Pandemic Adds Urgency to Federal Push for Private School Choice
The 74 by BETH HAWKINS July 28, 2020
If anything, the global pandemic has deepened
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’s commitment to all forms of school
choice, top deputy Jim Blew told reporters in a keynote question-and-answer
session at the Education Writers
Association’s 73rd National Seminar, held
remotely last week. The U.S. Department of Education’s assistant secretary for
planning, evaluation and policy development, Blew defended
DeVos’s desire to create a national tax-credit private school scholarship
program, requiring schools that want federal relief funds to offer in-person
classes in the coming academic year and to share that aid with private schools
and parents opting out of traditional schools. “We’re not backing off from the
need to empower families and classroom teachers with choices,” Blew said. “If
anything, COVID-19 underscores the importance of having choice.”
Blogger commentary:
Parents considering cyber charters due to COVID might not be
aware of their consistent track record of academic underperformance. As those
parents face an expected blitz of advertising by cybers, in order for them to
make a more informed decision, you might consider providing them with some of
the info listed below:
A June 2 paper from the highly respected Brookings Institution stated,
“We find the impact of attending a virtual charter on student achievement is
uniformly and profoundly negative,” and then went on to say that “there is no
evidence that virtual charter students improve in subsequent years.”
In 2016, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers,
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the national charter lobbying
group 50CAN released a report on cyber charters that found that overall, cyber
students make no significant gains in math and less than half the gains in
reading compared with their peers in traditional public schools.
A Stanford University CREDO Study in 2015 found that cyber students on
average lost 72 days a year in reading and 180 days a year in math compared
with students in traditional public schools.
From 2005 through 2012 under the federal No Child Left
Behind Act, most Pennsylvania cybers never made “adequate yearly progress.”
Following NCLB, for all five years (2013-2017) that Pennsylvania’s School
Performance Profile system was in place, not one cyber charter ever achieved a
passing score of 70.
Under Pennsylvania’s current accountability system, the Future Ready PA Index, all 15 cyber charters that operated
2018-2019 have been identified for some level of support and improvement.
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.
PSBA: Adopt the resolution against racial inequity.
School boards are asked to adopt this
resolution supporting the development of an anti-racist climate. Once adopted,
share your resolution with your local community and submit a copy to PSBA.
Learn more:
The 2021 PA Superintendent of the Year nominations are
now open.
Those
seeking to nominate must first register on the American Association of School
Administrators (AASA) Superintendent of the Year website. For more information,
visit: https://t.co/2omWRnyHSv
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.
283 PA school boards have adopted charter reform
resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 280 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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