Started in November 2010, daily postings from the Keystone State
Education Coalition now reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education
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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
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These daily emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
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If any of your colleagues would
like to be added to the email list please have them send their name, title and
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‘A lose-lose situation’: Schools try to plan their
reopening amid conflicting coronavirus guidelines
Join LEARN and PASA
for a webinar: Keeping Your Students: How to Communicate About and Market
Your Own Cyber Academy This Summer
Open to
superintendents, deputy superintendents, communications staff and board members
who regularly interface with the public.
Date: Thursday
July 9 2020 Time: 10 a.m. - 11:30 am
For more information: sharon@learnpa.org
Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_A9K-MY9MSf2FtWfbS7dKFA
Blogger comment: What the world needs now: another PA cyber
charter school….
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: Cyber Charter School
Application; Virtual Hearing, August 3rd, 9 a.m.
Pennsylvania Bulletin [50 Pa.B. 3311] [Saturday, July 4, 2020]
Pennsylvania Bulletin [50 Pa.B. 3311] [Saturday, July 4, 2020]
The Department of Education (Department) will
conduct a virtual public hearing regarding a revised and resubmitted cyber
charter school application previously received on or before October 1, 2019. The
hearing will be held on Monday, August 3, 2020. This hearing will take place
virtually, beginning at 9 a.m.
Login information to access the hearing will
be posted to the Division of Charter School's Applications webpage at https://www.education.pa.gov/K-12/Charter%20Schools/Pages/Charter-Applications.aspx.
The hearing pertains to applicants seeking
to operate a cyber charter school beginning in the 2020-2021 school year. The
purpose of the hearing is to gather information from the applicants about the
revised proposed cyber charter schools as well as receive comments from
interested individuals regarding the revised applications. The names of the
applicants, copies of the revised applications and a listing of the dates and
times scheduled for the hearing on each revised applications can be viewed on
the Department's web site after July 13, 2020, at www.education.pa.gov.
Individuals who wish to provide comments on
a revised application during the hearing must provide a copy of their written
comments to the Department and the applicant on or before July 27, 2020.
Comments provided by this deadline and presented at the hearing will become
part of the certified record. Failure to comply with this deadline will
preclude the individual from providing comments at the hearing. Verbal comments
may be limited based on the number of individuals requesting time to provide
comments and may be limited if the comments are duplicative or repetitive of
another individual's comments. Persons who are unable to attend the hearing may
provide the Department and the applicant with written comments on or before
July 27, 2020. Any written comments provided to the Department by this deadline
will also become part of the certified record.
The hearing will be conducted by a panel of
individuals who have completed an initial review of the revised application.
The panel members may question the applicant on issues identified during their
review, as well as issues raised in the written comments filed by the deadline.
Panel members may also question individuals who offer verbal comments.
Commentators will not be permitted to question either the applicant or the
panel members.
Comments sent to the Department should be
addressed to the Division of Charter Schools, 333 Market Street, 3rd Floor,
Harrisburg, PA 17126-0333, ra-charterschools@pa.gov. Hearing agendas will be
prepared no later than July 31, 2020, when the Department is aware of the
number of individuals who wish to provide verbal comments at the hearing. The
hearing agenda will provide the order of presentation, as well as specify the
amount of time allotted to each commentator.
Hearing agendas will be posted under Charter
School Applications on the Department's web site at
http://www.education.pa.gov/K-12/Charter%20Schools/Pages/Charter-Applications.aspx.
For questions regarding this hearing,
contact Division of Charter Schools at ra-charterschools@pa.gov.
“Dozens of Pennsylvania charter schools received PPP loans,
including: Pa. Leadership and Pa. Virtual cyber charter schools; an
organization linked to Chester Community Charter School; I-Lead; Mastery; KIPP;
Esperanza; and Franklin Towne. Some have criticized charters for accepting small-business
relief aid while at the same time enjoying tax-free status and continued
revenue from state and local taxes passed to them via school districts.”
Dozens of Pa. charter schools among recipients of federal
small business aid
WHYY By Miles
Bryan July 6, 2020
Hershey Creamery Co. The Philadelphia Museum
of Art. Auto dealerships owned by Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly. The C.F.
Martin Guitar Factory. Several prominent charter schools. Those are some of the 206 organizations in
Pennsylvania that have received loans of upwards of $5 million from the
Paycheck Protection Program, according to data released Monday by the federal
Small Business Administration. About 165,000 organizations in the state have
received PPP funding so far, totalling $20.7 billion — making Pennsylvania one
of the top users of the loan program. All together, Pennsylvania loan
recipients reported 1.8 million “jobs retained” due to the money, though the
data was self-reported and many organizations didn’t list any number at all.
‘A lose-lose situation’: Schools try to plan their
reopening amid conflicting coronavirus guidelines
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna and Kristen A. Graham, Posted: July
5, 2020
A month into planning what fall might look
like for the 2,700 students in his Gloucester County school district, Jim
Lavender tore through 104 pages of guidance from the New Jersey Department of
Education. By Wednesday, Lavender had spent days, nights, and a weekend
scouring every page three times, trying to figure out how he could safely meet
social distancing, masking, and health requirements — to say nothing of
teaching and learning. “It’s almost an untenable task,” said Lavender,
superintendent of the Kingsway Regional School District. After an abrupt
transition this spring to virtual learning that left many students and families
struggling, schools are trying to craft plans to reopen while navigating a
series of questions that don’t have clear answers. Will kids keep masks on?
Should temperatures be checked? And how much distance should schools maintain
between students, from classrooms to bus seats, if those requirements mean some
students will have to stay home? Agencies, researchers, and advocacy groups
have weighed in on returning to school during the coronavirus outbreak, but the
guidance sometimes conflicts. Experts say children are less likely to be
severely impacted by the virus, and also less likely to spread it. Yet the
evidence isn’t uniform, and schools are staffed by adults — many of whom are
older, more at risk of illness, and not all comfortable with returning.
Reopening schools involves evaluating those risks and balancing them against
the pitfalls and child-care complications that emerged during months of remote
instruction that widened achievement gaps and challenged families.
CDC preparing to release new guidance on safe return to
school
Covid19data.com By Chino
Contreras July 6, 2020
The US Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention is planning to release new guidance on how K-12 students can
physically return to the classroom this year, according to a senior CDC
official with knowledge of the discussions. The recommendation was
presented internally to leaders at the CDC early last week and
is “a priority this week,” according to the senior official. Over the
weekend, senior officials at the agency presented CDC Director Dr. Robert
Redfield with details on the science behind why schools should reopen, the
source said. The specifics of the guidance were not available. “Schools should
be the first to open and the last to close,” the official said. “Kids need
to physically be in school.” The officials comments’ echo that of the American
Academy of Pediatrics, which put out new guidance last week that “…strongly
advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should
start with a goal of having students physically present in school.” CNN has
reached out to the CDC and the White House coronavirus task force for comment.
The exact timetable for the proposed new guidance is unclear.
Students and school employees must wear masks under
Secretary Levine's order: Education Department
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer Jul 3, 2020
Students and school employees must abide by
Secretary of Health Rachel Levine's order requiring all Pennsylvanians to wear
a mask while in the public, the state Department of Education confirmed in an
email to educators Thursday. Levine signed the order Wednesday amid a
resurgence of the coronavirus in parts of the state, particularly Allegheny
County, and the country. The email sent from the office of
Education Secretary Pedro Rivera Friday states the rule goes into effect
immediately and applies to "all individuals while in school
entities." "For the safety of students, staff and families, and to
avoid community spread of COVID-19, students and staff are considered to be
members of the public who are congregating in indoor location," the email
states. "As such, they are required to adhere to this Order." The
order applies to all children ages 2 and older. Under the Education
Department's preliminary reopening guidance, schools planning to reopen in the
fall must first adopt a school-board approved health and safety plan. As of
Friday, only Lampeter-Strasburg has approved a plan, which
"strongly encourages" mask-wearing.
Pa.'s mandatory mask order complicates school reopening
plans
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer July 7,
2020
The state Department of Health’s order
requiring all Pennsylvanians to wear masks adds another twist to the already
convoluted plot of reopening schools this fall. The order, which also applies to
students and school employees, was
announced last week, as Lancaster County schools were in the thick of planning
for the 2020-21 school year, with many opting to encourage, not require,
mask-wearing. Now, school leaders must consider how and when to enforce the new
rule. "While I understand the order, it threw yet another complication
into the plans that have been developed," Penn Manor Superintendent Mike
Leichliter said. Penn Manor, which plans to unveil a draft health and safety
plan later this month and approve it in early August, initially was going to
stop short of requiring universal masks, but the state’s latest update
supersedes that, Leichliter said. School
boards must approve reopening plans before their districts return to in-person
instruction.
Order Requiring Universal Face Coverings
PDE Website July 1, 2020
On July 1, 2020, the Secretary of the
Pennsylvania Department of Health announced an Order Requiring Universal Face Coverings. The order,
signed under Secretary Levine's authority under the Disease Prevention and
Control Act, outlines the situations when a mask must be worn and includes
limited exceptions to the face-covering requirement. Answers to questions
school leaders may have regarding the application of this order in school
settings is included below. Please reference this guidance as you plan to keep
your students, staff, and school communities safe. The content below was added
on July 6, 2020.
https://www.education.pa.gov/Schools/safeschools/emergencyplanning/COVID-19/Waivers/MaskWearing/Pages/default.aspx
https://www.education.pa.gov/Schools/safeschools/emergencyplanning/COVID-19/Waivers/MaskWearing/Pages/default.aspx
Updated PDE Guidance on Instructional Days/Hours During
the 2020-2021 School Year
Implications Related to COVID-19
PDE Website July 6, 2020
The Pennsylvania Department of Education
(PDE) recognizes that school leaders face many difficult decisions and
challenges in planning for the start of the 2020-2021 school year and
determining how to provide students with a minimum of 180 days of instruction
and 900 hours of instruction at the elementary level and 990 hours of
instruction at the secondary level. See 24 P.S. §§ 13-1327,
15-1501; see also, 22 Pa. Code § 11.3. This correspondence
addresses the minimum instructional time requirements and other issues that
must be considered when making decisions related to the provision of
instruction during a global pandemic.
Section 520.1 of the Pennsylvania Public
School Code (School Code) provides the following:
(a) Whenever an emergency shall arise which
the board of school directors of any school district in the performance of its
duties could not during the prescribed length of school days, number of days
per week, anticipate or foresee, and which emergency shall result in any such
school district being unable to provide for the attendance of all pupils or
usual hours of classes, it shall be found as a fact by the school directors of
any school district and so recorded on the minutes of a regular or special
meeting of such board and certified to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction1, and such board of school directors, subject to the approval of
the Superintendent of Public Instruction, shall have power to put into
operation in such school district any one or more of the temporary provisions
hereinafter provided for, but in no event shall such temporary provisions
remain in effect for a period of more than four years after they are first put
into effect.
(b) Subject to the foregoing provisions,
any board of school directors may:
(1) Keep the schools of the district in
session such days and number of days per week as they shall deem necessary or
desirable, but the provisions of this act requiring a minimum of one hundred
eighty (180) session days as a school year shall not be affected thereby.
(2) Reduce the length of time of daily
instruction for various courses and classes.
(c) Any school district, by invoking the
powers herein granted, shall not thereby forfeit its right to reimbursement by
the Commonwealth or other State-aid as otherwise provided for by this act.
Join LEARN and PASA
for a webinar: Keeping
Your Students: How to Communicate About and Market Your Own Cyber Academy
This Summer
Open to
superintendents, deputy superintendents, communications staff and board members
who regularly interface with the public.
Who: LEARN - PA
school superintendents working for charter school reform, and PASA - PA
Association of School Administrators
Date: Thursday
July 9 2020 Time: 10 a.m. - 11:30 am
As schools
face an uncertain 2020-21 school year, many parents are eyeing cyber charter
schools as an option for their children. Some say they won’t return until
there’s a vaccine, and cyber charters have launched an unprecedented
advertising campaign to capture those parents.
This webinar
will provide you with a basic framework (including samples) that you can use to
communicate about and market your own, in-house cyber program, to help you
retain as many of your own students as possible. The session will address
critical messaging, talking points, and materials that you can easily
develop. The session is designed to be practical and useful – not a time
waster!
Speakers:
Frank
Gallagher, Superintendent of the Souderton Area School District
Mark
DiRocco, Executive Director, PASA
Beth
Trapani, Communications Consultant who will share insights and tools to turn
around skeptical parents who may be considering a cyber charter school.
For more
information: sharon@learnpa.org
Register
here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_A9K-MY9MSf2FtWfbS7dKFA
“The Pennsylvania legislature could fix the problem pretty
simply; just apply the same funding system to both public and charter schools.
The report shows that this would save taxpayers roughly $100 million. We’ll see
if charter schools are willing to let that kind of income go quietly.”
Report: PA Charters Game The Special Education System.
Forbes by Peter Greene Senior Contributor July 2, 2020
In a new report, Education
Voters of Pennsylvania looks at “how an outdated law
wastes public money, encourages gaming the system, and limits school
choice.” Fixing the Flaws looks at how
Pennsylvania’s two separate funding systems have made students with special
needs a tool for charter gaming of the system, even as some of them are shut
out of the system entirely. The two-headed system looks like this. Public
schools receive special education funding based on the actual costs of
services, while charter schools are funded with a one-size-fits-all system that
pays the same amount for all students with special needs, no matter what those
special needs might be. Pennsylvania’s Special Education Funding Formula
recognizes three levels of cost. Tier 1 is minimal interventions (eg a student
who needs one speech therapy session per week). Tier 2 students need larger
interventions, such as a separate classroom or physical therapy. Tier 3
students may require interventions such as a full-time nurse or even
out-placement at a special school (for which the sending district is still financially
liable). Public schools receive state funding based on student tiers; charters
get the same funding whether the student needs an hour of speech therapy a week
or a separate classroom, teacher and aide. This creates an obvious financial
incentive for charter schools to cherry pick students who are considered
special needs, but who need no costly adaptations or staffing to meet those
needs, while at the same time incentivizing charters to avoid the more costly
high needs students.
A look at the 2020-2021 stopgap budget: How Pa. is paying
for k-12 schools and higher ed. | The Numbers Racket
PA Capital Star By Cassie Miller July 6,
2020
Last week, we took a first glance at the
2020-2021 stopgap budget, looking at how appropriations had changed for state agencies
such as the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, as well as the
Departments of State, Military and Veteran Affairs, and Community and Economic
Development. This week, in part two of our look at the five-month budget
plan, we’ll go deep on the changes being made to funding for K-12 schools,
higher education and pension funds, according to an analysis by Democratic
staff on the House Appropriations Committee.
Education: The stopgap
budget suspends the fair funding formula for basic and special
education. However HB 1210, which is included with the budget specifies
that each school district will receive the same amount of funding in
2020-2021 as they did in the 2019-2020 fiscal year. House Bill 1210, sponsored
by Rep. Mike Jones, R-York, repurposed the School Safety and Security Fund to
provide COVID-19 Disaster Emergency School Health and Safety Grants for
2020-2021.
According to the House Appropriations
Committee, $215 million is available from the following
sources:
- $150
million from
the Coronavirus Relief Fund
- $49.8
million from
the State Education Agency portion of the Elementary and Secondary
School Emergency Relief Fund
- $15
million from
the existing transfer from the Judicial Computer System
Augmentation Account
The COVID-19 Disaster Emergency School Health
and Safety Grants will be distributed as follows:
- Each
school district will receive $120,000 plus an estimated $67 per
student
- Each
charter school, intermediate unit, and area career and technical school
will receive $90,000
- $7.5
million is
available for nonpublic schools to apply for $10,000
maximum grants
- $7.5
million is
available for the existing Community Violence grant program
Two education appropriations will receive an
increase in funding from their 2019-2020 budget:
- PSERS
– a $74
million, or 2.8 percent, increase to cover the actuarially
required contribution.
- Pupil
Transportation – a $157 million, or 28.6 percent, supplemental increase for 2019/20 to backfill
underpayments from prior years, and for 2020-2021, a $62.9, or
11.5 percent, increase compared to the 2019-2020 level to right
the appropriation.
Blogger comment: its not about forcing cyber students back into
district schools. The issue is the funding. Why should cybers get the same
funding as brick and mortar charters? That excess funding, roughly twice what
it costs the cybers to provide a student’s education, is resources taken away
from all the other students who remain in the sending school districts.
Oftentimes these are our most underfunded school districts.
Letter: A need for comprehensive virtual learning for
students
BRIAN HAYDEN, CEO, Pennsylvania Cyber Charter
School, Midland JUL 5, 2020
The writer is a board member of the
Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools
The COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in Gov.
Tom Wolf closing schools, proved the need for comprehensive virtual learning
and the value of Pennsylvania’s public cyber charter schools. Cyber charter
schools, which have been educating children online for years, continued to
teach more than 35,000 students without missing a step. Yet that didn’t stop
those in the traditional education system from deriding families for choosing
public cyber charters and claiming district schools can do it better. That has
proved false. The pandemic showed that district schools were not prepared to
instruct a large number of students online. They also struggled with ensuring
equity in education for students who did not have resources to learn virtually.
In contrast, the Charter School Law requires public cyber charter schools to
provide the technology, curriculum materials and support students need. Cyber
schools must provide a computer, printer, scanner and internet service to all
families. As CEO of a statewide public cyber charter school, I travel the state
visiting our students and their families. I have gotten to know them on a
personal level, and I know what educational opportunity means to them. I
believe one of the biggest responsibilities parents face in life is to find the
best education for their children so they can go on to lead meaningful lives.
Therefore, I firmly believe parents — not school administrators — know what is
best for their children. Unfortunately, there are school officials who want to
take that power away from families and force them to return to a district
school they chose to leave. For the sake of thousands of Pennsylvania families,
we cannot let that happen.
Meet Pa. House Speaker Bryan Cutler: A farmer, a
triathlete, a leader who never forgets his mistakes
PA Post by Jan Murphy/PennLive JULY 6,
2020 | 1:06 PM
(Harrisburg) — It’s not often when the top
leadership position in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives opens up in the
middle of legislative session. But when it did this year, there was broad
agreement it was Lancaster County
native Bryan Cutler’s job for the taking. The
45-year-old father of three ascended to that post in near-record time after
first being elected in 2006 to represent the 100th House District and rising up
to serving as majority leader last year. His GOP colleagues offered high praise
for the job Cutler did as leader, helping to steer more than 560 pieces of
legislation through the chamber in the first 18 months of the 23-month session.
Even more impressive, some of those bills touched on substantial issues that
had been sitting on the back burner for years, if not decades, including
election reform, police reform, criminal justice reform and even a historic
reform bill opening the door to a reshaping of the 37-year-old system of
state-owned universities.
Less than half of Lancaster County school districts
raised taxes in 2020-21; here's who did [chart]
Lancaster Online by ALEX GELI | Staff Writer Jul 4, 2020
More than half of Lancaster County school
districts decided not to raise property taxes this year despite
unpredictability surrounding the coronavirus pandemic. With projected revenue
losses in the tens of millions of dollars, according to one statewide agency,
local school boards appear to have prioritized homeowners, many of whom are
also reeling financially, in their 2020-21 budgets. “We have a lot of people
who have lost their jobs, a lot of people who can’t open their businesses, and
they’re struggling, plain and simple,” Penn Manor school board President
Carlton Rintz said. Penn Manor is one of 10 county school boards that voted
against a tax increase this year. Like many districts, Penn Manor utilized a
portion of its fund balance, a so-called rainy day fund, to help balance its
budget instead of raising taxes.
Bucks County schools push to address systemic racism
Bucks County Courier Times By Anthony
DiMattia @dailydimattia By Chris
English @CourierEnglish Posted Jul 5,
2020
School districts in Bucks County are trying
to become more proactive to battle systemic racism in response to last month’s
death of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. T.R. Kannan
is no stranger to racism. The Pennsbury school board president has seen it
firsthand before immigrating to the U.S. from India, where discrimination on
religion, caste and gender is widespread. More than 20 years later, Kannan has
now grown accustomed to experiencing microaggressions, or unconscious biases
that others may not be aware of. “Sometimes there’s a feeling of unease that’s
always there,” he said. “I’ve seen it myself, I’ve heard it from family,
friends and everyone.” To create an environment in schools where students
hopefully will not feel these pressures, the administration has asked the
school board to come up with a plan to make equity a key focus by creating a
dedicated position to provide “leadership and oversight in equity and
excellence,” officials said. “You need
to look at policies, you need to look at curriculum, you need to look at
disciplinary practices, you need to look at simply educating everyone on what’s
going on,” Kannan said. “You need to look at hiring. So I would say almost
every aspect of what we need. “We want to find the best person available.” It’s
one of the many practices school districts in Bucks County are implementing to
be more proactive in battling systemic racism. Some say that not enough is
being done.
Readers' Views: Spring-Ford School District curriculum
should reflect more diversity
Pottstown Mercury Letter by Siena Johnson and
Maeve Brennan, 10th-grade students Jul
4, 2020
Dear Members of the Spring-Ford Area School
Board,
Recent events involving the tragedy of George
Floyd and the many others who have lost their lives due to police brutality
prompted us to take the time to educate ourselves on race and the history of
racism in our country. Through our independent research we have noticed that
our history classes are lacking content about minority discrimination and many
of the stories we hear come from a patriotic point of view. Education is one of
the most important factors to shifting the mindset of our society. We are two
10th grade students at Spring-Ford High School, this topic is very important to
us and many other students and parents of the district. We have compiled a list
of topics we would like to see incorporated into our curriculum. We find it
crucial to reconstruct the curriculum as the majority of Spring-Ford students
and staff are white. History is taught so that we, whether white or People of
Color, do not repeat the mistakes of our ancestors, but how can adults expect
the new generation to successfully achieve this goal when their education is
non-inclusive and patriotically biased? Understanding our past creates a
connection to issues, especially racial ones, today and supplies students with
the tools to actively dismantle them.
Our hope is that Spring-Ford will no longer
be complicit in letting hate and prejudice shape the minds of students.
Regardless of whether or not students and staff actively hold racist beliefs,
everyone has had implicit biases about People of Color (POC) ingrained into
their minds as a result of societal beliefs stemming back to slavery and
colonization. Therefore, change that includes a more diverse and accurate
curriculum will help create productive, anti-racist members of society, as well
as people who treat women and lgbtq+ people with equality and respect. That
being said, we propose the history curriculum includes:
Atmosphere improved at Woodland Hills H.S. as police
presence phased out, superintendent says
ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com JUL 6, 2020
Woodland Hills High School made news for the
wrong reasons a couple of years ago. Among
them was this: Former students filed a lawsuit that detailed incidents of
alleged assault and intimidation by police officers in the school while
administrators ignored the abuse. The lawsuit was settled in 2018, and new
leadership in the high school and in the district has worked to change the
atmosphere. One of the ways district leaders have done that was by phasing out
the police presence in the school. “We changed the supports and the
expectations of the folks in that building until it became irrelevant to have
the police and those other supports there,” Superintendent James Harris said
Wednesday in a phone interview. “The police are really looking at situations as
compliance, where the school staff looks at things as teachable moments and how
they can develop young men and women into good citizens.”Mr. Harris said the
plan to eliminate officers from the district was already underway before a
nationwide movement to remove police from schools started gaining momentum
after a Minneapolis officer killed George Floyd in May.
Schools still need protection
How police work in schools should be
reformed, but they should not be removed altogether.
THE EDITORIAL BOARD Pittsburgh Post-Gazette JUL
7, 2020
A nationwide movement to ban police from
schools has divided communities, with advocates claiming that Black students
are disproportionately arrested compared to white students, while opponents
cite the need for officers to provide school safety. Banning officers from
schools isn’t the answer; reforming the school safety system is what’s needed
instead. A resolution offered by two Pittsburgh Public School board members
offers a commonsense approach to “reimagine school safety” that the board
should adopt. It would involve gathering data, analyzing the findings and
forming a community task force to provide recommendations for change. Board
members Devon Taliaferro and Pam Harbin propose making public the data on
student arrests starting with the 2015-16 school year and going through 2019-20
and beyond. The data, already collected by the district for the Department of
Education Office of Civil Rights, includes the number of students arrested,
referred to police or issued a summary citation. It is broken down by race,
age, sex, disability and language proficiency. With data in hand, a community
task force would lead sessions with stakeholders — school administrators,
parents, teachers, students and officers — to identify and prioritize needs and
recommend strategies. This is an approach that offers proactive measures to
reforming how officers do their jobs in schools.
A message to our public servants: You represent all of
us. Think twice about your social media posts | Opinion
By Shira Goodman Capital-Star Op-Ed Contributor July 7,
2020
Shira Goodman is the regional director of the
Philadelphia Region of the Anti-Defamation League. Follow them on the web
at www.philadelphia.adl.org.
Public service comes in many forms. There are
the high profile elected positions that come with prestige and fame, and there
are the more local elective positions that bring lots of work and meaningful
actions, but few perks. And then there are the first responders, whose names
are usually unknown, even as we honor them as front line heroes. All of these
positions come with their own rewards. And they each come with a special
responsibility. When one becomes a public servant, he or she speaks with
a different power and authority, and their words carry special weight. It seems
that many public servants have forgotten this recently and need a refresher. Every
week, it seems, there’s a new story of a school board member, township
official, police officer, or other public servant who has publicly said or
posted something hateful, biased or discriminatory. I don’t mean statements
about controversial political topics. I mean a display that lays bare feelings
and attitudes that undermine the speaker’s ability to maintain trust and
therefore continue to serve in their position. The root problem may be bigotry,
ignorance, indifference or hatred; all of those are unacceptable in those who
seek to lead, to represent, to serve.
Blogger note: keeping readers up to date on school privatization
megadonor Jeff Yass (of PA Students First PAC)
Here’s How Philly’s Rich and Famous Are Spending Their
Political Dollars
From Stephen Starr to Jennifer Weiner to the
brothers responsible for ruining suburban landscapes with all those fugly
McMansions.
PhillyMag by VICTOR FIORILLO· 7/2/2020,
8:32 a.m.
We combed through campaign finance records
published by the Federal Election Commission to find out which presidential
candidates, PACs and Super PACs have been getting money from some notable
Philly-area residents. Note that the towns listed are those provided on the
forms filed with the FEC and may represent office locations as opposed to towns
of residence, in some cases. …. Jeff Yass - Bala
Cynwyd You probably don’t know much about Jeff Yass.
And he’s perfectly happy with that. Yass is the secretive co-founder of the
also secretive Bala Cynwyd-based trading firm Susquehanna International Group,
which uses strategies from games like poker and chess to make a ton of money
for its clients. And for Yass, of course. Not so secret is how Yass spends his
cash in politics. And he spends a lot of it. Yass has historically backed
Libertarian candidates or other non-big government candidates, like Rand Paul
and Gary Johnson. But the biggest recent donation we found in FEC records was
the $5 million (yes, you read that right: $5 million) he gave in March to Club
for Growth Action. According to the Super PAC’s website, Club for Growth Action
is “dedicated to a single mission: defeating big-government politicians and replacing
them with pro-growth, limited government conservatives.” Just before that, Yass
gave $1 million to the “pro-freedom and liberty-minded” Protect Freedom PAC and
$500,000 to the Term Limits Super PAC.
New Jersey is the first state to add climate change to
its K-12 education standards
By David Williams, CNN Updated 2:48 PM ET, Thu June 4,
2020
(CNN)New Jersey students will start learning about climate change in
kindergarten and keep studying the crisis through graduation under the state's
new education standards. The State Board of Education adopted the new
guidelines on Wednesday --which outline what will be taught to New
Jersey's 1.4 million students. It's the first state to include climate change
education in it's K-12 learning standards, officials said in a
statement. New Jersey's first lady Tammy Murphy
pushed for the new standards and met with 130 educators statewide. She said New
Jersey is already dealing with problems caused by climate change, including
disappearing shorelines, algae blooms, super storms and hot summers. "This
generation of students will feel the effects of climate change more than any
other, and it is critical that every student is provided an opportunity to
study and understand the climate crisis through a comprehensive,
interdisciplinary lens," she said in a statement. Young people, including teen activist
Greta Thunberg, have been at the forefront of recent
climate change protests and students in more than 100
countries staged walkouts last year. The new standards, which will go into effect
in 2021 and 2022, cover seven subject areas -- 21st Century Life and Careers,
Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, Science, Social Studies,
Technology, Visual and Performing Arts, and World Languages. The Mathematics
and Language Arts guidelines aren't up for review until 2022, but the board
added climate change standards as an appendix to those subjects.
What to Watch for in Any New Coronavirus Bailout for
Schools
Education Week By Andrew Ujifusa on July
6, 2020 4:51 PM
Schools are now firmly at the epicenter of
America's anxiety.
Students missing classmates, teachers, and
extracurricular activities. Parents frantic about a fresh round of mandatory
remote learning in the fall. Educators worried about health and safety in schools.
A crippled economy. And a presidential election on Nov. 3 featuring an
incumbent who demanded on Monday
that schools reopen in the fall. All those factors
are increasing the likelihood that
Congress will approve a new virus bailout with help for schools. "Every
single education system had to shut down their every day work and figure out
how to reopen, possibly with a lot less funding," said Sarah Abernathy,
the deputy executive director of the Committee for Education Funding, an
umbrella group that lobbies for federal education spending. "I'm assuming
that Congress is going to provide a lot more than the $30 billion in
funding." (That was the aid for K-12 and higher education in the most
recent federal virus bailout, the CARES Act.) To
help you keep track of the competing priorities in Washington, we put together
a list of 10 items to pay attention to in the next relief package if and when
the lawmakers finally pass one. Here's some context for that list:
- The
Senate is not scheduled to be back in session until July 20. So even if a
bailout bill moves quickly, remember that schools are due to reopen in
mid-August.
- A
federal watchdog report found that by the end of May, less than 1 percent
of CARES Act aid available to K-12 had actually been spent. That tells you
how long it can take for federal money to have an impact in schools.
Now, here's the list:
Trump’s newest assault on America’s public schools: They
teach kids to ‘hate their own country’
In Fourth of July remarks, Trump goes after
'radical left' and media
Washington Post By Valerie Strauss July 5,
2020 at 10:39 a.m. EDT
President Trump started his administration
with a dystopian inaugural speech on Jan. 20, 2017, in which he talked about
“American carnage” and said the country has “an education system flush
with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all
knowledge.”This year, in his Fourth of July speech at Mount Rushmore National
Memorial in South Dakota on Friday, he changed that narrative: Now, in his
view, schools are teaching kids to “hate our country” with a “far-left fascism
that demands absolute allegiance." “If you do not speak its language,
perform its rituals, recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you
will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished,” he said. Trump
blamed public schools for the popular uprisings across the country that have
led to the removal of statues honoring leaders of the Confederacy and other
historical figures who owned slaves, such as George Washington.
eanwhile, Trump’s education secretary, Betsy
DeVos, has made clear her disdain for public schools, once calling them “a dead
end” and making her No. 1 priority the expansion of alternatives to traditional
public schools.
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 seeking Allwein Society nominations
POSTED ON JUNE 29, 2020 IN PSBA
NEWS
PSBA is accepting nominations for The Allwein
Society, the association’s award program recognizing school directors who are
outstanding leaders and advocates on behalf of public schools and students.
This prestigious honor was created in 2011 in memory of Timothy M. Allwein, a
former PSBA staff member who exemplified the integrity and commitment to
advance political action for the benefit of public education. Learn more and submit your
nomination online.
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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