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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for October 19, 2020
This
Election Day, vote like your kids’ future depends on it | Opinion
Today, Monday, October 19, is the last day to register
to vote or change your registration.
Find deadlines, links and everything you need to know at the PA
Department of State Ready to Vote page:
https://www.votespa.com/readytovote/Pages/default.aspx
Why are cyber
charter tuition rates the same as brick and mortar tuition?
Taxpayers in House Ed Committee Member Steve McCarter’s school districts
paid over $780K in 2018-2019 cyber charter tuition. Statewide, PA taxpayers paid over $600 million for cyber charter
tuition in 2018-2019.
|
Cheltenham SD |
$629,117.00 |
|
Jenkintown SD |
N/A |
|
Springfield Township SD |
$151,018.80 |
|
|
$780,135.80 |
Source: PDE via
PSBA
“This is a high-stakes election for public school students. …Let’s
make sure we elect lawmakers who value public schools, prioritize equity in
school funding, and who will support a system that works for all students.”
This Election Day, vote like your kids’ future depends on
it | Opinion
By Susan Spicka Capital-Star Op-Ed Contributor October 18,
2020
Susan Spicka is the education policy director
for Education Voters of PA Action.
An Oct. 9 story in the Pennsylvania
Capital-Star highlights a problem many voters
face: In this pandemic, when many candidates do not hold public meetings, it is
hard for voters to get information on where candidates stand. Lawmakers’ policy
choices have human consequences. Whoever is elected to the General Assembly on
Nov. 3 is going to need to reckon with a state budget that has been profoundly
impacted by the COVID-19 economic downturn. State lawmakers will be faced with
decisions about how to fund programs that will take care of people and move the
Commonwealth forward, all while facing enormous revenue shortfalls. In an
effort to help voters understand candidates’ positions key issues related to
public education, Education Voters of PA Action emailed a questionnaire to all
candidates for Pennsylvania’s General Assembly. We received a response from
about one third of the candidates. They are posted on a website www.edvoterspaaction.org, where
voters can search for candidate responses by district number. No response does
not necessarily reflect that a candidate has a bad position on an issue. Voters
who want to learn about a candidates’ positions when there is no questionnaire
response can visit their websites and use our questions to see if candidates
have addressed key education issues, which include school vouchers/school
privatization, charter school funding reforms, and equitable funding for
districts where students lack the basic resources necessary to learn.
Trump's And Biden's Plans For Education
NPR by ELENA
MOORE October 16, 20208:09 AM ET
BIDEN AND TRUMP ON THE ISSUES
Key priorities
- Make
public colleges, historically Black colleges and universities, and
minority-serving institutions tuition-free for families making less than
$125,000.
- Make
two years of community college and training programs tuition-free.
- Cancel
$10,000 of every American's student debt and revise the current loan
repayment system.
- Establish
universal prekindergarten.
- Read details of Biden's plans below.
- Strengthen school choice policy and expand accessibility to
charter schools.
- Promote
"patriotic education" curriculum in schools.
- Read details of Trump's plans below.
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/16/919203532/trumps-and-biden-s-plans-for-education#trumpplan
Pa. has to pass a budget soon. Here’s what is on the
table.
PA Capital Star By Stephen Caruso| Elizabeth Hardison October 18,
2020
Budget debates in Pennsylvania’s state
Capitol are fast-moving affairs in the best of years, with legislative leaders
talking behind closed doors with little input from the public. This year,
however, brings some historic variables: a pandemic, a major election, and
volatile unemployment. Pennsylvania’s General Assembly has to pass a new budget
by Nov. 30. That’s when the current budget expires, and when the current
legislative session ends. But in order
to approve new spending and revenue plans, lawmakers must confront a projected
$5 billion tax revenue shortfall that’s expected to endure through 2021 — the
result of job losses and slow economic activity during the pandemic-induced
recession. Lawmakers typically pass a 12 month budget in June before
sending it to the governor for his signature. But this year, Gov. Tom Wolf and
the Republican-controlled General Assembly agreed to a $28.5 billion,
five-month interim budget as the state emerged from the first wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Deadline looms to finish state budget
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OCT 17, 2020 10:24 PM
HARRISBURG — Months after passing a partial
budget that avoided some hard decisions, Pennsylvania’s Legislature and
governor face a deadline at the end of November to finish the job and plug a
multibillion-dollar deficit. The partially funded budget that Democratic Gov.
Tom Wolf signed in May was incomplete by design. It was approved amid
uncertainty about the scale of federal coronavirus support and about the
pandemic’s effect on state revenues and costs. Five months later, the $25.8
billion deal that funded many governmental functions and programs is expiring
on Nov. 30, which is also the last day of the two-year legislative session. There
is little more certainty now about where funding for the budget gap, estimated
to be more than $5 billion, will come from. The General Assembly meets for
three days this week before lawmakers head home for the campaign’s final
stretch, and there is no expectation they will finish their work on the budget
before Election Day.That means the governor and lawmakers will have to iron out
a deal during a lame-duck session between Nov. 3 and Nov. 30 on what will be a
painful budget, while also contending with legislative retirements and possible
leadership battles. Lawmakers will leave at the end of November and likely would
not return until the new session begins early next year.
Pennsylvania coronavirus update: Second highest case
count of the pandemic recorded Saturday
By CHRISTINE SCHIAVO THE MORNING
CALL | OCT 17, 2020 AT 5:18 PM
With a new surge of the coronavirus well
underway, Saturday’s case count brought the second highest total in
Pennsylvania since the start of the pandemic, with 1,857 new cases reported by
the state Health Department. There were 132 fewer cases than the 1,989 reported
April 9, the highest daily total. Nearly 200 cases were reported in
Philadelphia and more than 130 cases in Allegheny County, which is home to
Pittsburgh, as well as more than 100 in Berks County.
Here’s how Democrats could flip the Pennsylvania
legislature
WHYY By Katie
Meyer October 12, 2020
After years of Republican dominance,
Democrats and their supporters in Pennsylvania’s state House and Senate see a
path to take control of both chambers this year. For the past several election
cycles, Democrats have been slowly chipping away at strong GOP margins. And
now, just nine Republican seats in the House and four in the Senate would have
to flip to blue in order for power in Harrisburg to change hands. Just because
they’re in the realm of possibility, though, doesn’t mean the legislature will
have a dramatic shift. Election prognosticators at the Cook Political Report
still have both chambers ranked as “lean
Republican,” which means there’s a better shot of
continued GOP control than not. And as Democrats stake out vulnerable
Republican seats, Republicans are doing the same thing. Several Democrats are
hanging on to seats in reddening areas and could be ousted.
https://whyy.org/articles/heres-how-democrats-could-flip-the-pennsylvania-legislature/
Virtual school lets teachers see directly into students’
lives. Here’s what they’re learning
WHYY By Avi
Wolfman-Arent October 19, 2020
As soon as students logged on for the first
day of virtual school, Reading School District teacher Kyle Wilson heard the
first chirps. Was it something wrong with his headset? He waited. More beeps.
And then more beeps. Finally, he realized: about a quarter of the students in
his fifth-grade math and science classes didn’t have functioning smoke
detectors in their homes. “I need to do something,” Wilson thought. So he did,
fundraising over $1,200 on social media to make sure families in the district
have working detectors. Those little beeps signaled something else — the fact
that virtual education was bringing Wilson into his students’ homes. He was
learning little details about their lives he’d never known before. Kyle Wilson,
a teacher at Northeast Middle School in the Reading School District, works at
his desk Oct. 18, 2020, in the basement of his Schwenksville home. (Matt Smith
for Keystone Crossroads)
“Coming into the year, that was my biggest
fear: ‘How the heck am I gonna get to know these kids?’” said Wilson. He’s been
pleasantly surprised. Whether it’s a pet walking across the screen or a baby
sibling babbling in the background, he feels like he’s connecting with his
students in new ways. “It’s actually led to so many conversations just by what
we see in each other’s homes,” said Wilson. “I’ve never met these kids and I
feel like I know a lot of them very, very well.” In school districts with
virtual education, teachers and students are spending hours a day beamed into
each other’s homes. It’s a big departure from meeting face-to-face in school
classrooms.
Lehighton School District battles for cyber students
Times News Online BY JARRAD HEDES JMHEDES@TNONLINE.COM Published
October 16. 2020 02:45PM
The tug-of-war battle over students between
public school districts and public cyber charter schools has intensified
greatly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March 13, Pennsylvania’s 14
public cyber charter schools have enrolled more than 14,000 new students who
have left their assigned school districts. The mass exodus has public districts
pushing even harder for a revamped funding system, while cyber charters are
defending their turf. During a Lehighton Area School District finance committee
meeting Tuesday night, Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said between 150 and 180
LASD students are attending public cyber charter schools. “Any other school is
competition for our district,” Cleaver said. “But we see it as an unfair
competition because of the way many charter schools promote their education and
portray things. You’ll see commercials that call it a free education, but the
home district is paying for it so that’s not necessarily the case.”
https://www.tnonline.com/20201016/lehighton-school-district-battles-for-cyber-students/
Chester County Commissioners Announce $10 Million
COVID-19 Public School Grant Program
Chester County Government
News Posted on: October 16, 2020
Chester County Intermediate Unit to
administer grants for all public school districts
The Chester County Board of Commissioners is
pleased to announce a major grant program that will provide financial support
to public schools in Chester County, all impacted by COVID-19. The Chester
County COVID-19 Public School Grant Program provides $10 million to 12 school
districts to help their schools comply with COVID-19-related public health
measures. Commissioners Marian Moskowitz, Josh Maxwell and Michelle Kichline
approved a resolution authorizing the Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU)
to administer the $10 million fund, which will be available immediately to 12
of the public school districts in Chester County. Chester County
Commissioners’ Chair Marian Moskowitz said, “Since the start of the COVID-19
pandemic, our schools have been particularly hard-hit. The uncertainties of the
virus have led to intensive planning, preparation – and revised planning – by
school administrators and school board members, who have had to make tough
decisions in trying to balance the desire for in-school learning with the need
to ensure the health of students, teachers and staff.” The $10 million
Chester County COVID-19 Public School Grant Program is funded from CARES Act funding
acquired by Chester County government. Each of the 12 school districts have
been apportioned money by the County, based on Title 1 allocations.
Funding for the school districts ranges from over $330,000 to $ 2.4 million.
https://chesco.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1177
Erie School District's ventilation fixes moving along as
return to in-person classes nears
Ed Palattella Erie
Times-News October 19, 2020
Perhaps never before have the Erie School
District's elementary school classrooms received so much attention
and been on schedule to get repaired so quickly. The motivation, like so
much of what is happening at the school district, is pandemic-driven. The district
must make sure that the air inside its 10 elementary schools is fresh and
circulating properly when the district's 4,900 elementary school students start
in-person classes in a hybrid plan on Nov. 9. The students will attend
in-person classes one week and remote classes the next, and vice versa,
according to the schedule the Erie School Board approved on Wednesday. Poorly
functioning ventilation systems at all of its 16 school buildings forced the
11,000-student Erie School District to delay in-person classes until November
for all traditional students. The fixes to the system are on schedule to be
done by Nov. 3 for the elementary schools and Dec. 8 for the middle and
high schools, though those older students will continue to take online-only
classes until the spring.
Council Rock North to remain closed through Wednesday
Chris English Bucks
County Courier Times October 16, 2020
Council Rock High School North in Newtown
Township will remain closed through Wednesday after five more student COVID-19
cases were reported during the week, school district Superintendent Robert
Fraser announced Friday afternoon. He had announced Monday the school's
closure the rest of this week after five cases among students had come up
during the previous week. The latest five cases, making a total of 10, prompted
the decision to extend the closure, with the tentative plan now to reopen the
school on Thursday. The 10 cases are in addition to three CR North
student-athletes who tested positive before the school district started a
hybrid instructional option Sept. 29.
Quaker Valley middle school, high school moves to remote
learning after sharp increase in COVID-19 cases
LAUREN LEE Pittsburgh Post-Gazette OCT 17,
2020 8:51 PM
Quaker Valley School District announced
Saturday its middle school and high school are moving to remote learning for
the next 14 days after a sharp hike in COVID-19 cases – and over 100 students
and staff are quarantining. In an email sent to parents, the district
said they were notified of nine new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours. On
Thursday and Friday, the district had also been notified of two additional
cases. This brings the total cases to 11 among the schools – with seven cases
at the high school and four cases at the middle school. “Our 11 cases
across the District (over such a short time period) exceed the recommended
threshold for school closures,” district officials said in the email. As a
result, the district said remote learning will begin on Monday and end on Oct.
30. The district announced they have a COVID-19 Tracker on
their website, which reports approximately 102 students and staff members are
in quarantine.
All athletics and activities for both schools
will be put on hold as well, the district said, noting they will work with the
WPIAL to determine the direction of their athletic teams.
Donegal High School suspended in-person classes due to 60
students quarantining after homecoming party
Lancaster Online by ALEX
GELI | Staff Writer Oct 17, 2020
Donegal High School suspended in-person
classes for most of this week after learning nearly 60 students had to
quarantine after coming into contact with a student who was presumably positive
for COVID-19 at a homecoming party last weekend, LNP | LancasterOnline has
learned. Dozens of students, including the Donegal school board president’s
son, attended the party, which parents hosted in lieu of an official,
district-affiliated dance, according to information from school officials,
parents and social media posts. One of the students at the party was considered
probable for COVID-19, forcing the high school to shift to online-only
instruction Wednesday through Friday and postpone all extracurricular
activities, including this week's football game against Ephrata. In-person
learning is expected to resume Monday.
After nine COVID-19 cases, Lackawanna Trail students and
teachers adjust to virtual learning
Times Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL STAFF WRITER Oct 19,
2020 Updated 5 hrs ago
CLINTON TWP. — Shortly after 7:45 a.m., the
principal of Lackawanna Trail Junior-Senior High School begins the daily
announcements. His voice echoes through the mostly empty classrooms of the
building, closed for two weeks to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Students
hear the announcements from their computers at home. The students rise from
their dining room tables, desks or a quiet spot in the basement and recite the
Pledge of Allegiance. It’s time for a full day of virtual learning. The
district, which spans both Wyoming and Lackawanna counties, was one of the only
in the region to reopen fully this fall. The junior-senior high school reported
its first COVID-19 case Oct. 6, followed by eight more people with mild
symptoms within the next week. The school remains closed until Oct. 26.
Wilkes-Barre Area goes virtual due to COVID-19 cases
Citizens’ Voice BY JAMES HALPIN STAFF WRITER Oct 18, 2020 Updated 21 hrs ago
The Wilkes-Barre Area School District
announced Saturday it is suspending in-person education until next month as a
result of several confirmed COVID-19 cases. In a message to parents,
Superintendent Brian Costello said the district has confirmed two to four
positive cases in “multiple school buildings” in a two-week period. “As a
result of these positive cases, based on (Pennsylvania) Department of Education
recommendations, close collaboration with the Department of Health, and out of
an abundance of caution all option one students (in-person) will transition to
option two (live virtual sessions) beginning Monday,” Costello wrote.
“In-person classes will be scheduled to resume on Wednesday, November 4.”
Elizabethtown middle and high schools move to online
learning to start week
Penn Live By Becky
Metrick | bmetrick@pennlive.com Updated Oct
18, 2020; Posted Oct 18, 2020
Two new cases of COVID-19 within the
Elizabethtown School District has the middle and high school closing for two
days, according to the district website. One of the
cases was a confirmed positive case, while the other was a presumptive positive
case at the high school, the district said. Based on the Department of Health’s
“when to close a school” guidance and the recommendation of the school
physician, the middle and high schools will move to online learning for Monday
and Tuesday, the district said.
Norwin reports 2 more covid-19 cases
Trib Live by JOE
NAPSHA | Saturday, October
17, 2020 2:08 p.m.
Two more Norwin elementary school students
have tested positive for the coronavirus, the school district announced
Saturday morning. One student attends Sunset Valley Elementary School, which
has had covid-19 cases, and the other student attends Sheridan Terrace. This is
the first Sheridan Terrace student the school district reported who had tested
positive for the coronavirus. The state Department of Health, in coordination
with the school nurses, is studying the two cases to determine if contact
tracing is necessary, the district said. None of the 12 Norwin students and
staff who previously reported having been infected with the virus contracted it
while in school, according to the health department. Sunset Valley was one of
Norwin’s five schools that were closed
for three school days before reopening last Tuesday. The high
school, middle school, intermediate school and Hahntown Elementary were the other
schools that were closed because of students or staff being infected with
covid-19.
https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/norwin-reports-two-more-covid-19-cases/
Hopewell Area School District moves to one day of remote
learning after positive COVID-19 case
LAUREN LEE Pittsburgh Post-Gazette OCT
18, 2020 10:20 PM
Students in the Hopewell Area School District
will learn remotely Monday after the district was notified of a positive
COVID-19 case last week. In a letter posted to the
district’s website, superintendent Michelle Miller said
the Department of Health has yet not made a recommendation to close the
schools “due to the complexity of the recent case.” The district,
which consulted with epidemiologists over the past two days, chose anyways to utilize
one day of remote instruction “out of an abundance of caution,” Ms. Miller
said.
Burrell High School student tests positive for covid-19
Trib Live by MARY
ANN THOMAS | Friday, October 16,
2020 5:15 p.m.
A Burrell High School student has tested
positive for covid-19 and some students in the district have been asked to
quarantine, said Shannon Wagner, superintendent for Burrell School District. Wagner
sent a letter to parents Friday, saying, “We are following the Health
Department recommendations and have notified families that need to quarantine.”
While Wagner’s letter commends students and staff for keeping the school from
illness, she advised parents to be prepared to “make the shift to virtual
learning should your child have to quarantine at some point or the district has
to switch to all virtual instruction for a period of time.”
Turtle Creek Steam Academy moves to remote learning for 5
days after employee tests positive for COVID-19
LAUREN LEE Pittsburgh Post-Gazette OCT 17,
2020 10:48 PM
Turtle Creek Steam Academy has moved to
remote instruction after the district announced a building administrator has
tested positive for COVID-19. The school posted
an announcement on its website written
by Woodland Hills School District superintendent James Harris stating
the building will immediately close “out of an abundance of caution.” Mr.
Harris asks that teachers instruct remotely and that testing and self-quarantining
for students and building staff are “highly recommended.” Mr. Harris said
the school will be closed Oct. 17 to Oct. 23.
Keystone Central SD: Student tests positive for COVID-19
Lockhaven Express FROM STAFF REPORTS OCT 19,
2020
MILL HALL — The Keystone
Central School announced on Friday that its first district student has
tested positive for COVID-19. The announcement appeared on the KCSD website
Friday afternoon. The official statement came from KCSD superintendent
Jacquelyn Martin. It read: “Dear KCSD Families: “Today I was informed that a
Central Mountain High School student has tested positive for Covid-19. It has
been determined that the student was exposed to the virus early last week in a
non-school event. We have been in contact with the PA Department of Health to
conduct contact tracing and have been in touch with all students and families
who may be impacted. We have not received any reports of other students or
staff members experiencing illnesses or symptoms resembling those of
coronavirus.
https://www.lockhaven.com/news/local-news/2020/10/kcsd-student-tests-positive-for-covid-19/
Northwest Area SD going virtual after positive COVID-19
case
More schools are shutting down because of the
coronavirus, and Northwest Area is added to the list.
WNEP Web Staff Published: 5:23 AM EDT
October 19, 2020 Updated: 5:23 AM EDT October 19, 2020
LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — Schools in the
Northwest Area School District are closed, and it will stay that way for a
while. The district says a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. As a
precaution, schools are closed. Students will shift to distance learning
instead. All sports at Northwest in the Shickshinny area are canceled.
Meyersdale Area School District going virtual Monday
after positive COVID case
WJACTV by Crispin Havener Sunday,
October 18th 2020
MEYERSDALE, Pa. (WJAC) — Meyersdale Area
School District officials announced Sunday night that students will not report
to school Monday after a student tested positive for COVID-19. According to a
post on the district's Facebook page, the case involved a high school student
and they are in the process of contact tracing so anyone within 6 feet of the
student for greater than 15 minutes has been contacted to quarantine for the
required 14 days. "Based on our findings, we feel it is in the best
interests of our student body, faculty & staff to have a virtual instruction
day (Monday)," the statement said, adding buses will not run and there
will be no extracurricular activities Monday.
COVID cases force the private Philadelphia School to
switch to remote learning
WHYY By Darryl
C. Murphy October 16, 2020
The Philadelphia School, a private pre-K to
eighth grade school in Center City, will switch to remote learning next week
after eight cases of COVID-19 there were confirmed. “TPS’ priority remains the
health and safety of our students, faculty, staff and their families,” Melissa
Grimm, a spokesperson for the school, said in a statement issued Friday. “This
period of remote learning will allow time for contact tracing, potentially
affected individuals to be tested and quarantined as needed, and the school to
review safety protocols so in-person learning can resume.“
West York School District reports positive case of
Covid-19
ABC27 by: WHTM Staff Posted: Oct 16,
2020 / 07:43 PM EDT / Updated: Oct 16, 2020 / 07:43 PM EDT
WEST YORK, Pa. (WHTM) — The West York School
District reports Friday that there has been a case of coronavirus that impacts
both the high school and middle school. Neither school will close, however. The
district also says they are not releasing the person’s name for their privacy.
Anyone who has been in close contact with the
coronavirus positive person has been informed and will quarantine under
guidelines from the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
https://www.abc27.com/community/west-york-school-district-reports-positive-case-of-covid-19/
Virtual learning could leave lasting bad impression of school
for Lehigh Valley kindergarteners
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO THE MORNING
CALL | OCT 16, 2020 AT 9:56 AM
It was only a week into the school year when
Jennifer Ortiz’s 5-year-old daughter started pulling on her hair and breaking
down in tears. Isabella’s first year of
school at Jackson Elementary in Allentown is nothing like she imagined, her
mother said. She is not making friends or playing with them at recess. She is
not sitting criss-crossed on a carpet as a cheerful teacher reads the class a
story. Instead, Isabella experiences kindergarten through a computer in her
family’s east Allentown home. Rather than learning kindergarten rituals like
sharing toys and reciting nursery rhymes, she’s mastered how to mute and unmute
her computer’s microphone during her virtual class. Every day is a battle to
get Isabella to stay in front of her computer from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m., Ortiz
said. She cries every morning when she’s told she has to log on for school. She
developed a nervous habit when she doesn’t understand her work of licking her
lips to the point where they’re raw. Ortiz has to sit with her daughter to make
sure she listens to her lessons and does her work. That can be difficult when
Ortiz’s other daughter, third grader Gianna, also needs help with her virtual
lessons. More than once, Isabella has told her mother that she wants to be in a
real school with friends, like last year when she had preschool.
BLAIRSVILLE MIDDLE-HIGH SCHOOL TO GO VIRTUAL THROUGH OCT.
30
Indiana, PA WCCS AM1160 & 101.1FM Oct 18,
2020 9:11 PM
The Blairsville-Saltsburg School District is
reporting that Blairsville Middle-High School Cohort A & B – all students –
will not report to school beginning Monday, October 19, 2020 through Friday,
October 30, 2020. The announcement comes after high school
principal Mike Leasure released in a letter that a middle school student had
tested positive for Covid-19.
https://www.wccsradio.com/2020/10/18/blairsville-middle-high-school-closes-through-oct-30/
Connellsville Area High School student tests positive for
COVID-19
BY THE DAILY COUIRER | OCTOBER
17, 2020
A Connellsville Area High School student has
tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, a post on the district website
confirmed. District administrators were informed of the situation 6 p.m.
Thursday. The student has not been in the school since Monday, does not utilize
district transportation and is isolated based on state Department of Health
guidelines, the notice said.
Northern Tioga SD employee tests positive for COVID-19
Westfield Free Press Courier Oct 15, 2020
An employee from Clark Wood Elementary School
in Elkland tested positive for COVID-19. Diana Barnes shared information about
the incident in a Facebook post on the Northern Tioga School
District page on Oct. 12. “The employee was home after work on Sept. 30 (with
no symptoms) and was injured. The employee returned to work for the morning on
Oct. 1 to prepare for the substitute (masked and socially distancing) and left
that morning; the employee has been home since the morning of Oct. 1,” said
Barnes in the post. After a week, the employee started to show symptoms and was
tested. This test resulted positive.
What's the connection between reading early and high
school dropout rates? Learn with us at the Education First Compact on 11/5.
Philadelphia Education Fund Free Virtual
Event Thursday November 5, 2020 9:00 am - 10:30 am
From Pre-K to Fifth Grade: Early Literacy as
Dropout Prevention
It’s long been understood that literacy is
the gateway to learning. No doubt you’ve heard the maxim: In grades
K-3, a student must learn to read, so that in grades 4-12 they can read to
learn.
In the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2014
report, “Double Jeopardy,” researchers also found a link between 4th
grade reading proficiency and high school completion rates. Astonishingly,
they discovered that students with low levels of proficiency were four times as
likely to drop out of high school. In Philadelphia, the struggle to improve
upon rates of early literacy is a collaborative one. At the center of
these local efforts are the School District of Philadelphia, the Children’s
Literacy Initiative, and various community partners engaged through
Philadelphia’s Read By 4th Campaign. Join us for the November Education First
Compact to probe such questions as: What lessons has been learned prior to and
during COVID? What adjustments are being made during this period of distance
learning? What challenges remain? And, most importantly, what role can the
larger Philadelphia community play in the effort?
Panelists:
- Caryn
Henning, Children’s Literacy Initiative
- Jenny
Bogoni, Read By 4th Campaign
- Nyshawana
Francis-Thompson, School District Office of Instruction and Curriculum
Host: Farah
Jimenez, President and CEO of Philadelphia Education Fund
Schedule: 9:00 –
9:45am Presentation
9:45 – 10:15am Q & A
Attendance is free, but registration is
required.
A PHILadelphia Education: An Evening with Bill Marimow
and Phil Goldsmith
Monday, October 19 -- 7:00 pm
Join us Monday, October 19 at 7:00pm for a
special interactive virtual interview presentation. Bill Marimow, two-time
Pulitzer Prize recipient, former Executive Editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer
and former Haverford Township resident will interview Phil Goldsmith about his
new book, A PHILadelphia Education: Tales, Trials, and Tribulations of
a Serial Careerist.
Goldsmith, current Haverford Township Free
Library Board President, has held several prominent public positions including
deputy mayor of Philadelphia, chief executive of the School District of
Philadelphia and chief operating officer of the City of Philadelphia.
Goldsmith will also interview Marimow about
his lengthy career in journalism and the future of journalism, and both will
talk about the challenges facing Philadelphia. Attendees will have the
opportunity to ask questions to both Marimow and Goldsmith after the
interviews.
This program will take place live virtually
on the Zoom platform.
To register, click here or
email Amy Moskovitz at moskovitz@haverfordlibrary.com and
you will be sent the Zoom link for the event.
Tell your legislators that school districts need their
support
POSTED ON OCTOBER 12, 2020 IN PSBA
NEWS
If you missed Advocacy Day, it's not too late
to reach out to your legislators and ask for their support for public schools
during this challenging school year. Take Action to
send a letter to your members of the Senate and House of Representatives. The
letter addresses the need to support our schools and help to control our costs
so that districts may better serve their students. Among the most important
areas of concern are limited liability protections; broad mandate relief; delay
in new state graduation requirements delay; the need for broadband expansion;
and charter school funding reform. Now, more than ever, it is vital that
legislators hear from school districts.
https://www.psba.org/2020/10/tell-your-legislators-that-school-districts-need-their-support/
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.
Resolution
for charter funding reform (pdf)
Link
to submit your adopted resolution to PSBA
301 PA school boards have
adopted charter reform resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 300 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.
https://www.psba.org/2020/03/adopted-charter-reform-resolutions/
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA Charter Change Website:
https://www.pacharterchange.org/
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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