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
Reported positive COVID tests in school districts around
the state
Taxpayers
in Senator Scott Martin’s school districts paid over $10.6 million in 2018-2019 cyber charter
tuition. Statewide, PA taxpayers paid over $600 million for cyber charter tuition
in 2018-2019.
|
Conestoga Valley SD
|
$685,501.37
|
|
Hempfield SD
|
$1,657,030.71
|
|
Lampeter-Strasburg SD
|
$471,593.12
|
|
Manheim Township SD
|
$1,090,242.44
|
|
Octorara Area SD
|
$1,019,188.28
|
|
Penn Manor SD
|
$988,527.36
|
|
Pequea Valley SD
|
$559,195.21
|
|
Solanco SD
|
$1,035,984.49
|
|
Lancaster SD
|
$3,163,518.00
|
|
|
$10,670,780.98
|
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 note: PA Schools Work, a group that advocates for
traditional brick-and-mortar public schools, recently created a Check
Before You Choose online
resource where families can compare public cyber-charter schools to traditional
public schools.
“Lincoln Learning Solutions, a Rochester-based charter school
management company, held nearly $82 million in financial reserves as of June
30, 2018” ….“Board President and CEO Robert Clements received a 50 percent
increase in pay from 2015 to 2018, from $186,100 to $279,652. Then-chief
financial officer James Livingstone’s salary jumped 148 percent, from $88,033
in 2015 to $218,505 three years later. The company also reported spending more
than $622,000 on lobbying during the four-year review period. According to the
Internal Revenue Service filing, it used that money to “influence the
Legislatures to give funding and grants to digital schools.”
Lincoln Learning review reveals need for charter school
reform, state says
Beaver County Times by Chrissy Suttles csuttles@timesonline.com August 24,
2020
A local education services company is the
focus of a statewide push to reform Pennsylvania’s charter school law —
considered by some to be one of the nation’s worst. Pennsylvania Auditor
General Eugene DePasquale on Wednesday called on the state’s General Assembly
to overhaul the 22-year-old law after revealing that Lincoln Learning
Solutions, a Rochester-based charter school management company, held nearly $82
million in financial reserves as of June 30, 2018, and gave sizable raises to
key executives in recent years. Lincoln Learning Solutions is connected to
Midland’s Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School and the Pennsylvania
Cyber Charter School, both of which DePasquale said appear to be “almost
entirely funded by public sources.” The registered nonprofit receives millions
of school tax dollars every year for students, but its finances can’t be
reviewed by the state because of its legal status, officials said. In 2019,
DePasquale requested financial statements from Lincoln Learning to determine
how it spent taxpayer money in years prior. Under current charter school law,
neither the Department of the Auditor General nor the state Department of
Education can perform a full review of the company’s books. The nonprofit’s tax
forms showed it had received a “substantial amount of revenue” from PA Cyber in
2017, he said.
After receiving a variety of documents,
DePasquale initiated a review of Lincoln Learning’s public tax filings from
July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2018. He found that key executives at the company
received sizable pay increases in recent years.
“The full scale of the enrollment increase won’t be clear for
months. School hasn’t started yet in some parts of the country, the virtual
schools are still enrolling students, and parents in schools of all types may
reassess their options as this year unfolds. But if the growth is substantial,
it will both put increased financial strain on school districts that lose
students and indicate a reversal of fortunes for the virtual charters, which
have faced growing skepticism for their disappointing test scores and graduation rates.”
Virtual charter schools see spike in interest as families
grapple with the pandemic’s disruption
Chalkbeat By Matt
Barnum Aug 27, 2020, 7:03pm EDT
New data suggests virtual charter schools are
seeing a sharp uptick in interest and enrollment across the country. K12, the
country’s largest operator of virtual schools, says enrollment has jumped from
123,000 students last year to 170,000 this year, and that number could still
grow. Connections Academy, the country’s second largest virtual school network,
doesn’t have national enrollment numbers yet but says applications have jumped
61%. For both companies, those figures include charter schools and virtual
schools run on behalf of school districts. Those numbers are in line with
spikes reported in Oklahoma, where enrollment in
virtual charter schools increased from 19,000 to 33,000 students this year, as
well as in Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Utah. Together,
they’re the clearest evidence yet that the virtual charter school model is
appealing to new families at a moment of upheaval and uncertainty for school
districts across the country.
Students protest education inequity in march from Lower
Merion to Philly’s Overbrook High School
Inquirer by
Harold Brubaker, Posted: August 30, 2020-
6:19 PM
Less than four miles separate Lower Merion
High School in Ardmore from Overbrook High School in West Philadelphia, but the
two schools and their communities are worlds apart. Lower Merion’s average
annual household income is more than $131,000 a
year. In the neighborhood surrounding
Overbrook High, that figure doesn’t quite reach $35,000, census
figures show. During a recent school year, Lower Merion spent
$26,422 per student — at least $12,000 more per
student than the Philadelphia School District could muster. That contrast has
existed for a long time, but for Kisara Freeman, and three other rising seniors
at Lower Merion High this summer of protests and widespread social and economic
upheaval has become the time to do something.
Pittsburgh Public Schools pushing back start date
NICK TROMBOLA Pittsburgh Post-Gazette AUG 29,
2020 10:20 PM
Pittsburgh Public Schools announced Saturday
night that it has delayed the start of the school year to Sept. 8. The change
postpones the start of classes for all students preK-12. Originally, all but
kindergarten and pre-kindergarten were scheduled to start Aug. 31.
Kindergarten and preK were scheduled to begin Sept. 3. The delay is due to a
nationwide technology supply-chain shortages, according to the school district,
which has prevented it from providing laptops to all its in-need students in
order for them to learn from home. The PPS board mandated in late July
that students will spend at
least the first nine weeks of the school year taking classes virtually. Up to 7,000
laptops are expected to arrive by the end of next week to fulfill the
outstanding need, the district said, though some are not expected to be
delivered until late October.
Teacher shortages affecting some Pittsburgh-area
districts
ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com AUG 31,
2020 5:29 AM
When teachers are absent and the number of
substitutes are low during a normal school year, administrators have some
options. They could ask a full-time instructor to cover an extra
class during an off-period, or combine different groups of students under one
teacher. But because of COVID-19, this is not a normal school year.
Usually, an administrator dealing with a teacher shortage could say, “‘All
right, well, that’s an English class with a teacher who is going to be out. Who
else is teaching English at the same time?’ And now that teacher is going to
have twice the amount of kids,” said Carrie Rowe, superintendent of the
Beaver Area School District. “But you can’t do that during COVID,” she
added. “That defeats the whole purpose of going hybrid.” While the Pennsylvania
State Education Association said teacher shortages have not been a widespread
problem so far, some districts have seen an increased number of full-time
teachers taking leave.
Letter to the Editor: An open letter to those eager to
reopen schools
Delco Times Letter by Joseph Consiglio August
31, 2020
September is here, and I want to go back to
school. I really do. I am a high school teacher, the son of a
teacher, the husband of a teacher, and the father of two
teachers. In short, I’m invested. And I really want to go
back to school. And I would like to take you with me. I would like
you to see what I see every September — the kids swarming the halls, excited to
wear their first day outfits, eager to make a good impression, ready to make
good on their ambitions. I would like you to visit my classroom
where you are greeted at the door with a hello, a fist bump, a hug, or a chin
up nod. I would like you to see how 32 desks crammed together feels
comfortable, how we play music, sing songs, tell stories, make videos, share links,
read poems, write essays, complain, argue, laugh, walk around, look out the
window, and get in each other’s business. I would like you to see how,
when my room empties out, it fills up again, with kids who need an adult to
talk to, a snack from the bottom drawer, or a place away from the cafeteria
noise.
“Susquenita, for example, shut down its entire
district this week on only the second day of school because of new cases. Derry Township is supposed to bring students back
on Monday and has already had two elementary school staffers test positive.
Cases have also been reported at West Shore and among student athletes
from Central Dauphin and Middletown.”
COVID cases at central Pa. schools: Who has it, what
they’re doing about it
Penn Live By Jenna
Wise | jwise@pennlive.com Updated Aug 27, 2020; Posted Aug
27, 2020
Lower Dauphin is the latest in a string of
central Pennsylvania school districts to announce new coronavirus cases among
students or staff just as the school year is kicking off. Administrators
from Lower Dauphin School
District said on Thursday that one case
was found in the high school, but declined to say whether it was a student or
staff member. The district notified those who came into contact with them and
kept the high school open Thursday, administrators said. The coronavirus has
had a large impact on a number of nearby districts days into the new school
year or before it’s even begun.
Elizabeth Forward virus outbreak pushes high school
classes virtual for first week
NICK TROMBOLA Pittsburgh Post-Gazette AUG 28,
2020 6:29 PM
The Elizabeth Forward School District
announced Friday that Elizabeth Forward High School will start classes
virtually during its first week after six students and a part-time staff member
recently tested positive for COVID-19. The district said the individuals who
tested positive were part of several athletic programs at the school. After it
learned that the individuals had tested positive the district immediately shut
down practices for the affected activities, according to a press release. “We
have and are continuing to work closely with the Allegheny County Health
Department and are following their lead on how to manage this situation.”
Elizabeth Forward Superintendent Todd Keruskin said. “We have also taken
proactive steps to inform all of the families with students directly impacted
by this situation.” Although the High School will start its first week remote,
K-8 students will follow a hybrid model already set in place by the district.
Boyertown shuts down activities after football player
tests positive for COVID
PAPREP Live by Austin Hertzog August 28,
2020
A Boyertown football player has tested
positive for COVID-19 and forced the suspension of all extra-curricular
activities on Friday. Voluntary sports workouts and other activities including
band have been halted until Sept. 7 as a precautionary measure. The delayed
start for participating Pioneer Athletic Conference schools is scheduled for
Sept. 7 with a first date for interscholastic competition set for Sept. 25. “We
have been in touch with the Department of Health and are waiting for further
direction. In the event that anyone would need to be quarantined, the Boyertown
Area School District will notify them directly,” wrote Athletic Director Nick
Palladino in a letter posted on the Boyertown School District website. A
student-athlete testing positive for COVID-19 in Berks County has occurred
before: five Berks County schools, including Exeter, Schuylkill Valley,
Muhlenberg, Reading and Wyomissing, have been forced to suspend voluntary
workouts since July 1. Sources indicated the positive test was from a football
player, though Palladino declined to confirm, only allowing in the statement
‘an individual associated with the Boyertown Area Senior High School Football
team.’
Susquenita School District to switch to hybrid learning
after positive COVID tests
ABC27 Posted: Aug 28, 2020 / 10:46 AM
EDT / Updated: Aug 28, 2020 / 12:14 PM EDT
DUNCANNON, Pa. (WHTM) — Susquenita School
District announced Friday that its schools will transition to a hybrid learning
model starting next week after the district recently has positive COVID-19
cases. The district says it will break students into two groups based on last
names. “Group A” will include students with the last names A-K, and”Group B”
will include students with the last names L-Z. Wednesdays will be designated as
remote learning days for all students. Heavy cleaning will to occur on
Wednesdays and Friday evenings/Saturdays as needed. Teachers will work remotely
on Wednesdays so as not to interfere with the cleaning. The district plans to
begin its hybrid learning model on Monday, Aug. 31, 2020 and it will remain in
place until the end of the first marking period on Oct. 27, 2020.
Two West Shore elementary school staff test positive for
COVID-19: district
Penn Live By Becky
Metrick | bmetrick@pennlive.com Updated Aug
20, 2020; Posted Aug 20, 2020
Two staff members at Washington Heights
Elementary School have tested positive for COVID-19, according to an email the
district sent parents on Thursday. According to the email, written by Principal
Michelle Trevino, a third staff member is experiencing symptoms and has a test
scheduled. While the West Shore School District will start remotely next week,
the letter references that families may have come into contact with the staff
members while visiting the central offices or during the distribution of materials
since August 12.
Second Derry Township teacher tests positive for
COVID-19: district
Penn Live By Becky
Metrick | bmetrick@pennlive.com Updated Aug
26, 2020; Posted Aug 26, 2020
Derry Township School District has confirmed
that the Hershey Elementary School building will be closed for the remainder of
the week after a second teacher tested positive for COVID-19. Spokesman Dan
Tredinnick said Wednesday that the second case was also an elementary staff
member. The school district is scheduled to open for classes Monday, Tredinnick
said. Multiple emails have been sent to staff members by Superintendent Joseph
McFarland discussing the positive cases and expressed “disappointment” in the
situation. Writing about the first case, McFarland said that “we have a number
of other staff who were potentially within close contact with this individual
and were neither wearing masks nor adhering to the physical distancing
requirements recommended by public health officials embodied in our district
Health and Safety Plan.”
Central Dauphin High School student athletes test
positive for coronavirus
Penn Live By Steve
Marroni | smarroni@pennlive.com Updated Aug
10, 2020; Posted Aug 10, 2020
Several student athletes at Central Dauphin
High School have tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting
the district to cancel team workouts and gatherings for all sports for the next
week.
According to school district officials, the
student athletes had been exposed to someone with COVID-19 and, as a result,
have received positive tests. Numerous athletes have been present at
community events as well as conditioning and practices, district officials said
Monday, and as a result, the district is implementing the Central Dauphin
School District Athletic Health and Safety Plan, canceling events for the next
week.
Middletown student-athlete tests positive for COVID-19,
some football players to quarantine
Penn Live By Edward
Sutelan | esutelan@pennlive.com Updated Aug
24, 2020; Posted Aug 24, 2020
Middletown has learned of a positive test for
the coronavirus among one of its student-athletes, and as such, members of the
football team have been told to quarantine. According to an update from the
Middletown School District on Monday, “certain members of the football team who
may have been in close contact with this player on Thursday, August 21″ are
going to be quarantined for 14 days and thus will not be allowed to return to
practice until Sept. 4. And due to the Labor Day weekend, they will not be able
to return “to their regularly assigned high school cohort” until Sept. 8.
Peters Township School District confirms positive
COVID-19 test at high school
School district says impacted areas of Peters
Township High School have been cleaned and sanitized
WTAE Action News Updated: 3:22 PM EDT Aug 26,
2020
PETERS TOWNSHIP, Pa. —
Someone at Peters Township High School has
tested positive for COVID-19, the Peters Township School District said
Wednesday. A statement issued by the district said the person will not return
to school until they have completed isolation procedures. It did not say
whether the patient is a student or an employee. "Initial contact tracing
conducted by district and Department of Health personnel indicated no close
contacts," the school district said. The "impacted areas" of the
school have been cleaned and sanitized, the district said. If there is a second
confirmed case before Sept. 8, the school will be closed for five to seven days
per Health Department guidelines, and students will have remote learning during
that time, the district said.
North Hills School District teacher, student test
positive for covid-19
Trib Live by JULIA
FELTON | Saturday,
August 29, 2020 4:08 p.m.
North Hills School District announced
Saturday that a third-grade teacher at Highcliff Elementary School and a
student at North Hills High School tested positive for covid-19. The teacher
was in the school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, before symptoms appeared
Wednesday evening. She was not in the building on Thursday or Friday, officials
said in a letter to school
district families. The teacher was tested for covid-19
on Thursday and received positive results Saturday. Highcliff Elementary School
Principal Kristy Bilderback will notify families whose students were in her
classroom Tuesday or Wednesday and anyone else who was in close contact with
her while in the school this week. The Allegheny County Health Department will
also contact anyone else who is identified as a close contact. The school
district also reported a high school student
who has a presumed positive case of covid-19. That
student was in the high school Thursday. The Allegheny County Health Department
will handle contact tracing with that student’s close contacts. Officials will
directly notify anyone who was within close contact with that student without a
mask on and for more than 15 minutes. Students were in all of the district’s
school buildings from Tuesday through Friday, at 25% capacity. All aspects of
the district’s health and safety plan were
followed, according to school officials.
2 Greater Latrobe School District employees test positive
for covid-19
TRIBUNE-REVIEW | Thursday, August
27, 2020 11:10 a.m.
Two employees of Greater Latrobe School
District tested positive for covid-19, according to Superintendent Georgia
Teppert. Administrators were informed over the weekend that the staff members
were showing symptoms. The district contacted the state Department of Health,
which conducted contact tracing, according to Teppert. No students were
affected. Teppert said she could not disclose any identifying information about
the staff members, including in which of the district’s five schools they
worked. The school year is expected to begin Monday as planned, according to
Teppert. Elementary school students will attend school as normal. Students in
the middle and high schools will use a hybrid model, attending school some days
and learning from home on others. Greater Latrobe is the latest of several
local school districts with reported cases of covid-19.
Second staff member at Crawford Central School District
tests positive for COVID-19
Meadville Tribune Aug 24, 2020
A second staff member at Crawford Central
School District has tested positive for COVID-19, the district announced late
Monday afternoon. The school district said it was informed Monday that
a professional staff member that attended a "training on August 18th
tested positive for COVID-19." The district said all individuals who were
identified as a close contact have been contacted. On Aug. 17,
the school district also reported a professional staff
member testing positive for COVID-19. The district said at that time
the staff member attended a training on Aug. 12.
UPDATE Bloomsburg High, Mount Carmel students tests
positive for COVID-19
Sunbury Daily Item Aug 28, 2020 Updated Aug 28, 2020
Students at two school districts — Bloomsburg
and Mount Carmel — have tested positive for COVID-19, according to district
officials. Mount Carmel superintendent Pete Cheddar confirmed Mount Carmel's
case in a letter posted to the district's website and social media this
afternoon. Bloomsburg officials posted an alert on the district's website. Both
schools began school on Monday. Cheddar said the student was not in attendance
at school during regular school hours but was at an after-school activity this
week. "We are not giving out more specific information and trying to
keep the information confidential on the student’s behalf," Cheddar wrote.
Cheddar said students that were in contact with this student will quarantine
for 14 days from their most recent contact with the student, as per guidance
from the state Department of Health. Students who came into contact with the
student have been contacted by the school district already and will also
receive a follow-up phone call from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. "If
any student that was in contact should exhibit any symptoms, they should
contact their health care provider immediately," Cheddar wrote. "The
health and safety of our students and staff is of the highest priority to our
district. We have spent countless hours working in conjunction with the
Pennsylvania Department of Health to create Health and Safety Plans that make
every effort possible to keep our students healthy and safe." The
Bloomsburg case was in a high school student, school leaders said.
Mt. Carmel student tests positive for coronavirus
August 28, 2020 The Shenandoah Sentinel
MOUNT CARMEL, Northumberland County – One student
in the Mount Carmel Area School District has tested positive for coronavirus,
the district’s superintendent announced Friday afternoon. “Today we received
information about a positive COVID case related to one of our students,”
Superintendent Pete Cheddar wrote in a statement. ” I can’t go into details
because of HIPAA (privacy laws) but I can mention that the student was not in
attendance during regular school time hours but was in attendance during an
after school activity this week.” Students who were in contact with the student
in question will quarantine for 14 days from the last close contact, Cheddar
continued. “Students that were in contact with this student have been contacted
by our school district already and will also receive a follow-up phone call
from the Pennsylvania Department of Health,” Cheddar wrote. “If any student
that was in contact should exhibit any symptoms – they should contact their
healthcare provider immediately.”
Online curricula see major increase amid pandemic
Beaver County Times by Dani Fitzgerald August 29,
2020
Cyberlearning isn't new. But in the wake of
the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for virtual curricula is skyrocketing.
Lincoln Learning Solutions is feeling the
brunt of that. Officials with Lincoln Learning say
they're experiencing unprecedented inquiries and website traffic for
their online curriculum, which is popularly used by PA Cyber and other area
charter schools. Since mid-March, the Beaver County-based online curriculum has
seen a 233 percent increase in website traffic compared to last year,
and website-based inquiries have skyrocketed by 612 percent. "We
absolutely have seen an increase in the need for online and blended
learning," said Dr. Rachel Book, chief of sales and marketing at Lincoln
Learning Solutions. "We've been facilitating a crazy amount of sessions,
webinars, and showing brick and mortar traditional teachers how to teach in
these new, uncharted territories of teaching." Since the beginning of the
COVID-19 pandemic, Lincoln Learning has nearly doubled its partnerships,
now serving over 500 educational institutions across the country.
One year after passage, progress on Scranton School
District recovery plan continues
Times Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL STAFF WRITER Aug 31,
2020 Updated 10 min ago
In the year since the Scranton School Board
approved the recovery plan, the district eliminated 3-year-old preschool,
updated curriculum and balanced a budget without using one-time revenue sources
for the first time since 2012. While the coronavirus pandemic slowed some
progress and continues to present great financial challenges, the chief
recovery officer said she is pleased with what the district has accomplished so
far. “We have made giant progress,” Candis Finan, Ed.D., said. “We’ve really
attacked pretty much everything in the plan.” When Finan wrote the five-year
plan last year, current leaders did not know of the costly environmental
problems, including lead and asbestos, that came to light in January. Less than
two months later, the state ordered all school buildings closed due to the
pandemic. The projected loss in tax revenue will likely affect the district for
years to come. At tonight’s work session, officials plan to present a five-year
capital improvement plan to the school board. The district would need to borrow
money to complete the work.
How Centre County career-technical programs plan to give
students hands-on experience amid pandemic
Centre Daily Times BY
BRET PALLOTTO AUGUST 29, 2020 08:00 AM
More than five months of planning and
discussion culminated Tuesday when several schools in Centre County reopened
for the first time since March. Some districts offered a variety of learning
options, including in-person, online or a combination of the two. Other schools,
like the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology, were more
straightforward in their offerings. The Spring Township-based career and
technical education center welcomed back all of its students, who rely on
in-person instruction to gain hands-on experience. And while some families have
shied away from gathering at school, enrollment in CPI’s high school programs
is up about 3% when compared to 2019, according to Secondary Education Vice
President MaryAnn Volders. About 464 students are enrolled in high school
programs for the 2020-21 academic year, up from about 450 students last year,
she said. “We want to provide as much hands-on time while we’re physically in
the building as we can because we expect that we’ll be closed at some point in
time in the future,” Volders said. “We’re ready to do that, but it’s so
important to give them as many hours of hands-on work from the very beginning.”
The approach isn’t atypical for vocational schools. State College Area School
District’s Career and Technical Center plans to “front-load” its classes to
give students an opportunity to grasp fundamental concepts before a potential
closure, Director Ben Mordan said.
West Mifflin Area School District approves transgender
guidelines
Focus is on equality, privacy, no bullying
Post Gazette by DEANA CARPENTER AUG 28, 2020 11:32
AM
The West Mifflin Area School District’s
school board has approved administrative guidelines for transgender and
gender-expansive students in the district. Board member Matthew Blazevich had
called for the guidelines in February, saying they would “reduce the stigma of
transgender and gender identity issues.” After months of work by the board’s
policy committee and their solicitor, the guidelines were unanimously approved
during the board’s Aug. 20 virtual meeting. The 12-page set of guidelines
states: “The district shall ensure that transgender and gender expansive
students are provided with an equal opportunity to achieve their maximum
potential through district programs, as well as provided with equal access to
all school programs and activities.” It also outlines that “harassment,
bullying and discrimination on the basis of actual or preferred sex, sexual
orientation or gender identity or expression shall be prohibited in the
district.” The guidelines also provide for students’ rights to privacy,
including keeping a student’s actual or perceived gender identity and
expression private.
School districts may sue Delco over residential
reassessments
Delco Times By Kathleen E. Carey
kcarey@21st-centurymedia.com @dtbusiness on Twitter August 31,
2020
At least three school districts are
considering taking Delaware County to task for a perceived negative impact to
homeowners stemming from reassessment allegedly increasing the burden of real
estate taxes for residents. Marple Newtown, Radnor Township and Springfield
school boards all took action this week to address what they see as an
"unfair and inequitable shift" of the real estate tax bill to
residents. Delaware County has been undergoing a countywide reassessment by
court order with new values set to take hold in the 2021 tax year. Delaware
County Councilwoman Christine Reuther outlined the process to this point and
responded to these districts' concerns.
Garnet Valley starts virtual instruction on Sept. 1
Delco Times By Susan
L. Serbin Times Correspondent August 30, 2020
CONCORD — In late August, the school
board held its final meeting prior to opening the 2020-2021 school year. Garnet
Valley School District is in line with most other county districts in observing
the recommendation made by the Chester County Health Department. which asserted
that “public and private K to 12 schools in Chester County and Delaware County
should begin their academic year virtually and assess their ability to transition
to a more in-person instructional model after Oct. 9, 2020.” Start date is
Sept. 1, with three days of virtual attendance for students; a break of Sept. 4
and 7 for Labor Day, and back at the family’s chosen place for at-home
schooling in earnest on Sept. 8. “We adamantly want kids in school,” said
Superintendent Marc Bertrando, “but not until we can comply.”
Springfield (Delco) gears up for virtual school openings
Delco Times By Susan
L. Serbin Times Correspondent Aug 30, 2020
SPRINGFIELD — The school board,
administrators and staff have a laser focus on everything leading up to the
first student day on Sept. 8. Months of preparation have been put into opening
in an all-virtual mode. This follows the aggregate information - at the
national level from the Centers for Disease Control; state recommendations, and
hard data collected for the district and Delaware County as a whole, working
with the Chester County Health Department. Technology is an essential
requirement, and the district continues to work on “managing and expanding”
every aspect, said Melissa Butler, director of communications and technology.
During the first week in September, computer hardware will be distributed with
the goal of every student having a device, which now will include grade K-5.
Butler said the main servers will be moved into the new high school building.
Information on procedures will be continuously rolled out to the school
community when developed and as needed.
‘End of the Line’: School Bus Industry in Crisis Because
of the Coronavirus
Industry leaders say it will be the nation’s
schoolchildren and parents who will suffer, as they alter their lives and
figure out how to replace a mode of transportation that was once a certainty.
New York Times By Pranshu
Verma Aug. 28, 2020
WASHINGTON — When Glenn Every received notice
in early March that schools in the Hudson Valley of New York would close
because of the coronavirus pandemic, he parked his fleet of 20 school buses
thinking they would be running again in a few months. But the pandemic
worsened, and schools remained shuttered. School administrators told Mr. Every
that if students stayed home, they could not pay buses to remain idle. His
costs remained, and any chance of making up for lost revenue with after-school
or summer contracts was wiped away by the pandemic. To stay afloat, he
furloughed nearly all 32 of his staff members, including his son. All told, his
company has lost $750,000 because of the pandemic, a critical blow for his
business, which averages $2 million a year in revenue. Now, Mr. Every worries
that when schools are able to reopen fully, his company may not be there to
take children to class. “We’ve been in business for over 60 years,” he said.
“But this may be the end of the line for us.” Privately owned bus companies,
which carry nearly 10 million children to school a year, account for roughly 40
percent of the school bus industry — and now are facing an unparalleled threat
to their survival.
U.S. Coronavirus Rates Are Rising Fast Among Children
New York Times By Lauren
Leatherby and Lisa
Waananen Jones Aug. 31, 2020
As some schools begin in-person classes, data
compiled by the American Academy of Pediatrics from the summer show that cases,
hospitalizations and deaths from the coronavirus have increased at a faster
rate in children and teenagers than among the general public. The data set, which
spans from May 21 to Aug. 20, varies from state to state, possibly obscuring
differences in how the virus affects infants, young children and adolescents. For
example, many states group infants and teenagers into the same category. One
state even includes people up to age 24. But the rise remains similar across
states. Young children seem to catch and transmit the virus less than adults, and
children of all ages tend not to experience severe complications from it. But
Dr. Sean O’Leary, vice chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics’
committee on infectious diseases, said that substantial community spread in
many parts of the United States corresponded with more infections among
children. The rise in reported cases comes in part from more widespread testing,
but Dr. O’Leary said there was evidence that minors were becoming infected at a
higher rate now than earlier in the year because hospitalizations and deaths
among children had increased as well. Although much is still unknown about how
the virus affects young people, like adults, Black and Latino children who
contract the virus are more likely to be hospitalized.
Second Judge Blocks DeVos' Virus Relief Rule, Calls Her
Reasoning 'Jiggery-Pokery'
Education Week By Andrew Ujifusa on August
26, 2020 10:18 PM
A second federal judge has ruled against
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her
department's controversial rule governing how much coronavirus aid
relief public schools must set aside for private school students. Public school
officials and advocates have sharply criticized her rule, saying it siphons
money away from their schools at a time of immense need for many students
during the pandemic. U.S. District Judge James Donato granted a preliminary
injunction blocking the U.S. Department of
Education from implementing or enforcing its interim final rule in several
states and school districts while he hears arguments in the case. It marks
the second time in less than a week that a federal judge has ruled
against DeVos on the issue. In both cases, judges issued blunt criticisms
of the directive. The rule, which the
department officially released on July 1,
governs virus relief money in the CARES Act. It directs schools to set aside
money for what's known as "equitable services" for all local private
school students, if they want to use the remaining money for all their local
public schools. That's a departure from how federal law typically handles those
services, which are normally provided to disadvantaged and at-risk students in
private schools. Read more background on
equitable services here.
Blogger commentary:
Parents considering cyber charters due to COVID might not be
aware of their 20 year 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.
PA SCHOOLS WORK WEBINAR : Public School Advocacy in the
New Normal of a COVID-19 World; Tue, Sep 15, 2020 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM EDT
For the foreseeable future, COVID-19 is a part
of our everyday lives. More parents and community members than ever before have
engaged at the school district level as schools wrestled with their options for
reopening this fall. This conversation will be about continuing our advocacy
for public schools, and how the challenges districts are facing in the COVID-19
era are magnified by long-term inequities in our funding system and years of
lackluster financial support for public education from state government. So,
what can we do about it? Come find out
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.
Save The Date: The PSBA 2020 Equity Summit is happening
virtually on October 13th.
Discover how to build a foundation for equity
in practice and policy.
Learn more: https://t.co/KQviB4TTOj
PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference October 14-15
Virtual
Registration is now open for the first ever
virtual School Leadership Conference! Join us for all-new educational sessions,
dynamic speakers, exhibitors, and more! Visit the website for registration
information: https://t.co/QfinpBL69u #PASLC20 https://t.co/JYeRhJLUmZ
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: http://ow.ly/yJWA50B2R72
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.
292 PA school boards have adopted charter reform
resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 290 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.
