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Keystone
State Education Coalition
PA Ed Policy Roundup for Dec. 16, 2020
CCIU Board Honors
Senator Dinniman for a Lifetime of Public Service
Blogger note: Senator Dinniman served as
long time minority chair of the Senate Education Committee.
CCIU Board of Directors Honors Senator Andrew Dinniman for a Lifetime of
Public Service
December
15, 2020 - by MyChesCo - Leave
a Comment
DOWNINGTOWN,
PA — The Chester County Intermediate Unit (CCIU) Board of Directors passed
a resolution at its November 2020 meeting honoring Senator Andrew Dinniman’s
lifetime of public service and commitment to education. “Senator Andy Dinniman could always be counted on to join our
schools and communities in our celebrations, to support our educators in times
of needs, and to advocate for our students tirelessly,” said Dr. George F.
Fiore, executive director of the Chester County Intermediate Unit. “Senator
Dinniman could be counted on to show up in good times and in bad. Most
recently, he was instrumental in securing two million dollars in additional
relief funds for our schools during the pandemic.” The resolution is in
recognition of Dinniman’s decades of public service, which began in 1975 when
he was elected to the Downingtown Area School Board. He has also been elected
to the Chester
County Board of Commissioners and to the Pennsylvania State Senate.
In the Senate he was minority chair of the Senate Education Committee and a
member of the State Board of Education and the State Public School Building
Authority, as well as representing Pennsylvania on the Education Commission of
the States. He served in the Senate from 2006 until his retirement on November
30, 2020.
“We are fortunate that we have access to
the devices and web tools that make virtual learning possible. However, we also
recognize that a traditional snow day could provide a welcome break for our
students, staff, and community,” Reusche said. “ It will depend upon the most
updated forecast. It’s possible that we will hold another virtual day or
experience a good old fashioned snow day. I know what I am hoping for!”
Snow Day! Area
schools pro-active ahead of winter storm
Delco Times
by Pete
Bannan Pbannan@21st-Centurymedia.com December 16, 2020
With a major
snow storm moving into Delaware County, a number of county school districts are
making plans to go all-virtual and even close ahead of time. Radnor, Garnet
Valley, and Haverford, normally in hybrid mode this week, all alerted parents
and students that Wednesday would be an all-virtual day of learning. In the
Upper Darby, which is presently all-virtual, Superintendent Dan McGarry said
staff will work from home on Wednesday and there will be no transportation for
private schools. As for Thursday McGarry said at the monthly board meeting
Tuesday evening that he was torn whether the district would in class but after
attending a event Monday evening some young students helped convince him of the
importance of snow days. “Thursday will be a good old-fashioned snow day.” Said
McGarry. “No school.”
Is a snow day coming?
It depends on the school district.
Inquirer by
Kristen A. Graham and Maddie Hanna, Updated: December 15, 2020- 4:04
PM
With
COVID-19 pushing education online for many students, snow days could be a thing
of the past. Around the region, school leaders are taking different approaches
to Wednesday’s impending storm. Some are declaring snow days a cherished
tradition that kids need despite the fact that remote learning means many kids
aren’t going to school buildings anyway. Others are holding firm. In
Philadelphia, “with students and staff learning and working remotely, there is
no need to cancel classes,” said Monica Lewis, a spokesperson for the
Philadelphia School District. “If we find that the weather causes issues that
prevent instruction or learning, we will absolutely make the necessary
adjustments and communicate such to our staff, students, and families.” Philadelphia
school buildings have been closed to students since March, with no immediate
plans to return children to face-to-face instruction.
https://www.inquirer.com/education/philadelphia-snow-days-school-district-forecast-20201215.html
Philadelphia teachers
next for vaccine, after healthcare workers and nursing home residents
City may use
schools as distribution centers
Chalkbeat
Philly By Johann Calhoun Dec 15, 2020, 6:43pm EST
Teachers
will be able to get the COVID-19 vaccine after healthcare workers and nursing
home residents, Mayor Jim Kenney and Dr. Thomas Farley, the city’s health
commissioner, announced Tuesday. They could not say when the vaccine would be
available. Farley identified teachers as part of the “second big group of
critical infrastructure workers” to get the vaccine. Teachers are “very likely
to be exposed while on the job,” Farley said during the mayor’s press briefing
Tuesday. Kenney acknowledged that teachers aren’t among the highest risk
workers — as they are unlikely to pass the infection to vulnerable people — but
said it would give them a “level of comfort” and help get students back in
school buildings faster. “That will help the economy move faster,” Kenney said.
Farley said the city may also consider using schools as distribution sites, as
hospitals began this week taking delivery of the first COVID-19 vaccine.
Philly students want
school board voting power, more representation
Inquirer by
Kristen A. Graham, Updated: December 15, 2020- 4:28
PM
Philadelphia
students need true representation on the district’s school board — and voting
power, a group of youth activists said Tuesday. Two student representatives now
sit on the board, participating in meetings and advising the nine-member panel
that governs the Philadelphia School District. But they lack the ability to
vote. Both the city’s charter and state law currently prohibit students from
having voting rights on the board. Tatyana Roldan, a senior at Northeast High,
said a new form of student power is needed, including a 15-member advisory
board of students that would help young board members effectively represent the
school system’s 205,000 students in traditional public and charter schools. Roldan
is a member of the Philadelphia Black Students Association, which, along with
UrbEd, a student-organized and -run nonprofit focused on city school issues,
held a news conference about expanded student representation Tuesday.
Scranton School Board
approves tax increase for 2021
Times
Tribune BY
SARAH HOFIUS HALL STAFF WRITER Dec 14, 2020 Updated Dec 15, 2020
City
property owners will see their school taxes increase 3.9% next year, under a
balanced budget approved by the Scranton School Board on Monday night. The
district eliminated a $4.1 million budget shortfall through several measures,
including delaying interest payments on new debt, adjusting projected health
care costs and reducing the number of special education aides employed through
outside agencies. Directors passed the $166.5 million budget with an 8-1 vote,
with Director Sean McAndrew dissenting. The district’s financial recovery plan
calls for raising taxes to the maximum allowed by the state each year. With a
tax increase of 3.9%, or 5.4 mills, the owner of a property assessed at $10,000
would pay an additional $54 next year. A mill is a $1 tax on every $1,000 of
assessed property value. The district’s total millage rate will rise to 143
mills.
The 2020 election
established Montgomery County as a powerful Democratic stronghold in
Pennsylvania
Inquirer by
Julia Terruso, Posted: December 16, 2020
As holiday
decorations went up across Montgomery County this month, the reindeer and the
Santas shared lawn space with Biden-Harris signs. “They’re still up and I think
it’s intentional,” said Jane Murphy, a Democratic committeewoman who lives in
Ardmore. A rebuttal, perhaps, to President Donald Trump’s refusal
to concede his election loss. Or maybe, she thought, a lingering celebration of
the overwhelming Democratic turnout in these suburban towns west of
Philadelphia, which helped deliver Pennsylvania to Joe Biden and make him president-elect. While
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh have traditionally driven the Democratic vote in
Pennsylvania, the suburbs showed up huge for Biden. And the biggest and bluest of them all is
Montgomery County, whose leftward swing, while expected, still managed to defy
expectations. Biden won the county with a margin 50% larger than Hillary
Clinton’s in 2016 and double President Barack Obama’s in 2012. “The numbers
were just remarkable,” said U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, a Jenkintown
Democrat. “I said Montgomery County will be the lynchpin for the state and that
came absolutely true... I predict that we will continue to be sort of one of
the most important counties in the country.”
‘Ticket-splitting’
voters in Bucks County show it’s the most competitive Philly suburb
Inquirer by Andrew Seidman, Updated: December 15, 2020- 11:55
AM
Michael
Harcum is active in his church, watches both CNN and Fox News, and wants
property taxes to stay low. A registered Democrat, he tends to vote for
Republicans at the local level, and this year he cast a ballot for U.S. Rep.
Brian Fitzpatrick, crediting the GOP congressman for sometimes breaking ranks
with his party. Yet Harcum, a 36-year-old college administrator from Bensalem,
also hears from former students who are mired in debt well after they’ve
graduated, a crisis he calls “ridiculous and unacceptable.” Harcum voted for
Joe Biden, saying he was the “lesser of two evils” compared to President Donald
Trump. “Sometimes when things are so bad, you do need the government to step
in, to intervene, to try to make things a little bit better,” he said. Harcum
is among tens of thousands of people who voted for both Biden and Fitzpatrick
in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District, which spans Bucks County and a slice of
Montgomery County. Those so-called ticket-splitters helped deliver Fitzpatrick
57% of the vote for a resounding 13-point win over Democrat Christina Finello,
even as Biden won the district with 53% of the vote, beating Trump by 6 points.
Overturn Gov. Wolf’s
COVID-19 ban on interscholastic sports, Pa. school board, parents urge court
Penn Live By Matt Miller | mmiller@pennlive.com Updated Dec 15, 2020; Posted Dec 15,
2020
A
Pennsylvania school board is claiming Gov. Tom Wolf’s latest COVID-19
restrictions are illegal and is asking Commonwealth
Court to overturn his temporary ban on extracurricular activities, including
interscholastic sports. The Butler Area School Board and nine parents of
students in a petition filed Tuesday also urged the court to block any moves by
Wolf or Health Secretary Rachel Levine to force districts to go to remote-only
learning. They claim Wolf and Levine lack the authority to force coronavirus
curbs on school districts that don’t agree to follow all guidance issued by
state officials aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19. Such decisions rest
with the individual school boards and the Legislature, the board and parents
contend.
Over-the-counter home
test for covid-19 gets U.S. green light
Trib Live by
ASSOCIATED
PRESS | Tuesday, December 15, 2020
3:16 p.m.
U.S.
regulators on Tuesday allowed emergency use of the first rapid coronavirus test
that consumers can buy without a prescription to test themselves entirely at
home.
WASHINGTON —
The first home test for covid-19 that doesn’t require a prescription will soon
be on U.S. store shelves. U.S. regulators Tuesday authorized the rapid
coronavirus test, which can be done entirely at home. The announcement by the
Food and Drug Administration represents another important — though incremental
— step in efforts to expand testing options. Regulators granted emergency use
for a similar home test last month, but that one needs a doctor’s prescription.
The agency’s action Tuesday allows sales in places like drugstores “where a
patient can buy it, swab their nose, run the test and find out their results in
as little as 20 minutes,” said FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn, in a statement.
https://triblive.com/news/world/over-the-counter-home-test-for-covid-19-gets-u-s-green-light/
More covid cases
reported among staff and students in Allegheny Valley School District
Trib Live
bby PAUL GUGGENHEIMER | Tuesday, December 15, 2020
5:38 p.m.
The
Allegheny Valley School District has been notified within the last week that a
total of five students and staff have tested positive for covid-19. District
spokeswoman Jan Zastawniak, said none of the individuals have been in the
buildings for more than a week, and the cases are unrelated and do not suggest
school community spread. The district is currently working under a remote
learning format. In all, seven students and five staff have tested positive for
covid in the district since Oct. 9, including two students who attend out of
district schools.
“Those glad to see DeVos’ time at the
department end, like Arizona teacher Beth Lewis, say her leadership will be
marked by what wasn’t done to address various inequities in schools that have
become a grim hallmark of the pandemic’s effect on schools. “We had four years
when none of that was addressed, because the person in that highest office
doesn’t support public education,” said Lewis, who is also the executive
director of Save Our Schools Arizona, which supports public schools and more
K-12 funding. “Even teachers who are not super-tuned into politics understand
that. … I hope that people realize how fringe it is not to support public
education.”
How Betsy DeVos
Bent the Nation’s Education Debate in Four Tense Years
Education
Week By Andrew Ujifusa — December 14, 2020 12 min
read
Shortly
after President-elect Joe Biden’s victory—amid the continued disruption of the
COVID-19 pandemic—U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos decided to send
schools a message. DeVos
unveiled a website purporting to show that little
coronavirus education relief had actually been spent, many months after it
became available. She used the announcement to challenge states’ alacrity in
responding to the virus and cast doubts on their calls for additional federal
aid. “I hope parents, teachers, and local leaders will use this information to
advocate for an immediate safe return to learning for all students. Our
children’s futures, and therefore our nation’s future, depend on it,” DeVos
said in a statement. But the targets of her rebuke swiftly countered that
DeVos’ comments and the data were misleading, and that schools continued to
need more resources from Washington even as they worked hard to reopen. This
episode captured many of the elements that have defined her tenure as education
secretary: tension, if not plain distrust, between DeVos and
other school leaders, divisions about how systems should be held accountable,
and confrontational rhetoric from the secretary and her opponents amid a
fraught atmosphere that lately has been accentuated by crisis.
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
335 PA school boards have
adopted charter reform resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 330 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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