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PA Ed Policy Roundup for May 14, 2020
Adopt the 2020 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.
Blogger note: I watched the Bucks County event last week; the
students were eloquent. A similar event is being planned with Delaware County teens
and legislators on May 22nd at 11 am. We’ll keep you posted.
PCCY'S MONTGOMERY COUNTY VIRTUAL TEEN TOWN HALL with
Congresswoman Madeline Dean - May 15th at 11 AM
Congresswoman Madeleine Dean will join State
Lawmakers from Montgomery County to hear from students experiencing
firsthand the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on their education. Please don’t miss this virtual TEEN TOWN HALL, allowing
students a platform to discuss challenges facing their public schools during
COVID-19 shutdown. Decisions on stimulus legislation and budgets are being made
now and all voices matters!
After registering, you will receive a
confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
CARTOON: ECONOMICS LESSON
Times Tribune Blog by John Cole | Apr
28, 2020
School districts and teachers are scrambling
to offer online-lesson services to students during the coronavirus-related
lock-down of facilities across Lackawanna County and beyond. A major obstacle
to these efforts is the digital divide that
separates families who have full access to the internet and devices such as
laptop computers, and those less well-off who don’t. It’s another long-running
socioeconomic problem that’s been brought into high relief by the pandemic.
“Speaking about the coronavirus, Turzai said children are “not
at risk unless they have an underlying medical issue.” A new study and a
growing number of gravely ill children in New York City prove otherwise.”
A top Pennsylvania Republican said coronavirus only
threatens children in poor health. That’s not true. | PolitiFact
Inquirer by Jessica Calefati, May 14,
2020
Arguing that Pennsylvania should move quickly
to reopen its economy even as coronavirus cases surge in
some areas, the state House’s Republican leader
said this weekend that reopening schools in the fall should be a top priority. Not
only do students deserve a chance to perform experiments in science labs and
play instruments in recitals, House Speaker Mike Turzai said — children are
largely protected from the ravages of the virus because of their youth, and
would be safe if they go back to school. “Guess what, they’re not at risk
unless they have an underlying medical issue,” said Turzai, whose comments
came in a video he recorded from his Allegheny
County home and later shared on social
media. We wondered whether school-age children are as safe as Turzai said.
Fauci’s caution on schools reopening ‘not an acceptable
answer’ to Trump
Post Gazette CNN by KEVIN LIPTAK AND ALLIE
MALLOY MAY 13, 2020 9:25 PM
President Donald Trump voiced
frustration Wednesday at the nation's top infectious disease specialist after
he warned a day earlier against reopening schools and businesses too quickly. "I
was surprised by his answer, actually," Trump said when asked about Dr. Anthony Fauci's warnings
during televised congressional
testimony that reopening states too
quickly could have dire consequences. "It's
just -- to me it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to
schools," Trump said. During a Tuesday appearance before lawmakers
on the Senate Health Committee, Fauci warned that students looking to
return to campuses in the fall would likely not have a coronavirus vaccine
available to them. "The idea of having treatments available or a vaccine
to facilitate the reentry of students into the fall term would be something
that would be a bit of a bridge too far," he said. Fauci suggested instead
that schools open cautiously, and said in some places schools should remain
closed in the fall. He said if states reopen before meeting the criteria set
out by the Trump administration, they risk reprisals of the outbreak.
“The daily coronavirus task force briefing makes no regular
mention of the school situations as they discuss bringing the US back to work.
To help inform states and counties that are struggling to make this enormously
consequential and urgent decision regarding the fall semester, an expert task
force focusing exclusively on school closure should be convened immediately.
This panel should include epidemiologists, infectious disease experts,
educational scientists, and child psychologists, among others. They should
review the state of the evidence regarding horizontal transmission among
children and their families, as well as what is known about the feasibility of
distance learning and the psychological implications of children continuing to
stay at home. Their recommendations should be developmentally framed, taking
into account children’s varying needs and cognitive abilities; kindergarten is
not the same as high school or college. Using all existing and emerging
data—however incomplete—they should make their best-informed recommendations to
help states make this crucial decision, based on science and not politics, as
soon as possible. We owe this to our children. Years from now, when they
reflect on the pandemic, they will hold us accountable.”
JAMA Editorial: School Reopening—The Pandemic Issue That
Is Not Getting Its Due
Journal of the American Medical Association
by Dimitri
A. Christakis, MD, MPH1,2 May 13, 2020
Author Affiliations Article Information JAMA
Pediatr. Published online May 13, 2020.
doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.2068
The outcomes of pandemics are best understood
in retrospect. Years from now, historians, epidemiologists, psychologists, and
economists will provide extensive explanations of the damage done, mistakes
made, and lessons learned. While in the thick of it, decisions must be made
without the benefits that hindsight will provide, and those decisions can have
considerable and lasting implications. It is also clear that certain vulnerable
subpopulations have been asked to make greater sacrifices, as noted by Dooley
et al1 in
this issue of JAMA Pediatrics. Elderly people in institutions have
given up all in-person visits; many adults in the workforce have been asked to
forego their livelihood, together with all of the attendant hardships that
brings; and millions of children have been kept home from school and
transitioned rather abruptly to distance learning that no child, school
district, or teacher was adequately prepared for. The decision to close schools
was among the first action that many states took to stave the impending
pandemic and was based on a strong theoretical foundation. Children are
typically at greatest risk of infectious diseases, and they transmit them to
each other and their families with considerable speed. Many drew parallels to
the 100-year-old influenza epidemic, in which it was true that children played
a central role in transmission. But in the 6 to 8 weeks since most schools in
the US have closed, we have gathered new evidence about both children’s risks
from the virus and their likelihood of transmitting it, as noted by Esposito and
Principi2 in
this issue of JAMA Pediatrics. We know only what we know today
about the benefits and harms associated with school closure.
Pottsville school leaders warn of hard times ahead
balancing budgets
The school board voted to increase taxes on
property owners, furlough teachers, and make full time staff part-time.
WNEP Author: Peggy Lee Published: 9:58
PM EDT May 13, 2020
POTTSVILLE, Pa. — The Pottsville Area School
District said it may have to furlough more than a dozen teachers in an effort
to balance its budget for the next school year. School leaders said with
COVID-19 putting the economy in a tailspin, school districts anticipate having
to make even deeper cuts as there will most likely be a loss of education
funding from the federal, state, and local levels. "With the pandemic,
it's anyone's guess what the losses could be from that," said Pottsville
Area Superintendent Jeffrey Zwiebel. As school districts across the country
typically struggle each year to balance budgets, that process is expected to
become even more painful. "In my 30 years, I've never seen quite like
this. If there's such a thing as a perfect storm, this is for all school
districts, not just in the Commonwealth of PA but across the country,"
said Zwiebel. Zwiebel is issuing this warning as his district is having to make
tough calls to approve its budget for next year, even without the full
financial blowback from the pandemic. The school board voted to increase taxes
on property owners, tentatively furlough 15 teaching positions, and make 13
fulltime support staff part-time. It is still considering cutting junior high
and freshman sports but hopes the money can be found to save that.
Proposed Carlisle school district budget includes 3%
property tax hike
The Sentinel by Joe Cress May 13,
2020
Carlisle Area School Board will convene a
virtual meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday to consider a proposed school district
budget for 2020-21. The proposed $86.9 million budget calls for a 3% real
estate tax increase from the current 14.9057 mills to 15.3528 mills. If
approved, property owners would pay $1,535.28 on every $100,000 of assessed
property, an increase of $44.71 from the current school year. presentation on the final budget is scheduled
for June 11 followed by a possible vote on final adoption scheduled for June
18. The tax increase would generate $1,436,000 in additional revenue that could
be used to offset a projected $4,455,217 shortfall in the 2020-21 budget. Other
proposals under consideration to bridge the gap include:
• Using about $1.8 million in capital reserves
to pay one of the two debt service payments for 2020-21.
• Using about $369,000 in reserves to shore
up the general fund budget.
• Approving savings of about $300,000 from
contract renegotiations.
• Cutting four support staff positions for a
savings of $238,000.
• Reducing professional staff through
attrition for a savings of $160,000.
• Decreasing a pay hike for Act 93 and
support staff from 3.2% to 2% next year for a savings of $142,465.
Pittsburgh Public Schools 'disappointed' it didn't
receive Pa. remote learning grant
ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com MAY 13,
2020
The state Department of Education in April
allocated about $5 million in grants to some of the schools that needed the
most help providing remote instruction for their students amid the COVID-19
pandemic, but Pittsburgh’s application was rejected. Schools could use
the state-funded equity grants to purchase devices, software, instruction and
administrative supplies, as well as other items the Education Department deemed
necessary for learning to continue during the shutdown. The state awarded
grants to 96 local education agencies, including school districts, charter
schools and intermediate units. Grants of various sizes were allocated to
schools with a wide range of demographics, but the largest amounts were
provided to three urban districts — Philadelphia, Reading and Scranton — each
of which received $500,000. Pittsburgh Public Schools applied for a grant
but did not receive one, which spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said was “disappointing”
for the district.
Pennsylvania receives $523.8M to support schools during
pandemic
Trib Live by TEGHAN SIMONTON | Wednesday,
May 13, 2020 12:34 p.m.
Pennsylvania will receive $523.8 million in
federal funding to help schools respond to the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Tom
Wolf announced Wednesday. The money from the U.S. Department of Education is
available through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund.
The Pennsylvania Department of Education applied for a grant last week. “Our
schools and educators have been working tirelessly to help students and their
families during this crisis,” Wolf said in a statement. “These efforts must be
paired with investments that reflect the unprecedented scale of this
challenge.” School districts and charter and cyber schools can begin applying
to the state Department of Education for funding. Schools and districts can
expect to start receiving money within the next several weeks, according to a
news release. Each entity will receive an amount proportional to federal Title
I-A funds received in 2019 under the Every Student Succeeds Act.
Amid coronavirus challenges, SDP music teacher finds new
ways to inspire students
WHYY by Chanel Hill, The Philadelphia Tribune
May 13, 2020
This story originally appeared on The Philadelphia Tribune.
When the School District of Philadelphia
suspended classes in March in hopes of containing the spread of COVID-19, South
Philadelphia High School music director Courtney Powers still wanted her
students to have access to their music and instruments. “During that time,
everything was so new with the coronavirus,” Powers said. “I initially thought
the school was only going to be closed for a limited time. I wanted to make
sure that my kids had the necessary equipment to continue their education. I
asked the kids if anyone wanted any instruments and they replied back.” Powers,
a Berklee College of Music alumna, received permission from the school’s
principal, Kimlime Chek-Taylor, to deliver instruments from her classroom to
her students’ homes. Wearing masks and gloves, Powers along with the school’s
building manager sanitized all of the instruments before loading them into her
car. She drove around Philadelphia for several hours, passing out 33
instruments such as drum sets, piano and midi keyboards, guitars, and voice
recording and DJ-ing equipment.
Saving early childhood programs is essential — especially
during a pandemic | Opinion
By Scott L. Bohn Capital-Star Op-Ed Contributor May 14,
2020
It’s clear that in the wake of the COVID-19
crisis, state and local governments will be faced with extremely difficult
budget challenges. Such essential services as public safety and emergency
response must continue. In order to preserve this system all options must be on
the table, including additional aid from the federal government. Another
essential service worth saving is quality early childhood programs.
Pennsylvania law enforcement has long supported early childhood education
investments because of the research showing a dramatic impact on future crime
prevention. Quality early learning programs ensure children are ready to learn,
succeed throughout school, and live productive lives free from crime and
violence. The COVID-19 crisis threatens this carefully constructed system. If
lost — and early childhood programs could very well be hollowed out in ways
that will take years to reconstruct — we lose the precious opportunity to usher
another generation of children toward productive futures.
Central Bucks seniors will walk the stage
Bucks County Courier Times By Marion
Callahan @marioncallahan Posted
May 13, 2020 at 1:36 PM
Central Bucks seniors will have their chance
to walk the stage as part of their 2020 graduation celebration. A complete,
edited commencement event will be broadcast at 7 p.m. June 12 for all three
schools while a parade and motorcade event is also being organized for the same
day. Central Bucks School District 2020 graduates will walk the stage. But it
won’t be all at once. That news came in a statement released by Central Bucks
Superintendent John Kopicki on Wednesday. Working with student representatives
from class councils and building principals, the district developed a plan “while
operating within the parameters of what is permissible and safe,” Kopicki said.
“Footage of each student crossing the stage in cap and gown will be filmed
while family members are present at a designated date and time to be
communicated by the building principal.” Each student’s name will be read by
the building principal or educator as they walk the stage. Then, on June 12,
the Central Bucks School District “will proudly celebrate the commencement of
the class of 2020,” he wrote. A complete, edited commencement event will be
broadcast at 7 p.m. on June 12 for all three schools individually. On the same
day, a “parade” motorcade event is also being organized by each school.
Graduates and their families may drive along a pre-set route on campus, Kopicki
wrote. In other planned celebrations, district officials will distribute
individual lawn signs, unique to each school and bearing each graduate’s name.
A traditional “class celebration” production featuring images of seniors and
footage of their time in high school is being prepared for each school
celebration. A united celebration may also happen later this summer.
Philly District sets up a hotline for high school
seniors, announces virtual graduation
The event, which promises a surprise keynote
speaker, will take place June 9.
The notebook by Neena Hagen May 13 — 2:44 pm,
2020
In order to provide further support for
high school seniors in the age of COVID-19, the School District of Philadelphia
has created a hotline specifically for them. The hotline will be
available from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays,
starting May 12. During those times, District experts in applying to colleges,
jobs, and technical education facilities will provide advice to seniors who
call in. Seniors can access the hotline by calling 215-400-4130 or by
emailing collegeandcareer@philasd.org. A language
line will also be provided for non-English speakers. Superintendent William
Hite also announced that the District is planning a virtual high school
graduation at 11 a.m. June 9. In his weekly Facebook Live appearance Wednesday,
Hite said the event would include a surprise keynote speaker, as well as
student contributions. Students are helping to plan the event, he said. It will
be available on PSTV, the District’s public access TV channel, as well as on
social media and other platforms. The event will include participation from
Mayor Kenney and others, and the keynote speaker will be “very special,” he
added. In a statement about the hotline, Chief Academic Supports Officer Malika
Savoy-Brooks said it would provide an additional layer of support for students,
who should already be receiving advice virtually from counselors and teachers.
Riverside seniors plan all-class event in July
Riverside seniors will be videotaped getting
their diplomas individually from June 1-4. A class gathering tentatively has
been scheduled for July 10.
Beaver County Times By Patrick
O’Shea @NewsAddict2 Posted
May 13, 2020 at 11:36 AM
NORTH SEWICKLEY TWP. -- Riverside seniors
will get their diplomas individually, but they tentatively are planning to get
together for an all-class event in July. The class date of online instruction
for seniors will be May 19 and they will return materials to the school and
collect their belongings on May 20-21. Then, on June 1-4, students will arrive
at scheduled times at the school gymnasium to walk across the stage to receive
their diplomas from the school board president in view of up to four family
members. The diploma presentations along with speeches will be videotaped and
edited into a video that will be distributed to the seniors. After receiving
their diplomas, each senior will be given time to take pictures in front of the
school, near the mascot statue and at the tennis courts, where signs honoring
seniors are posted. Because officials have no way of knowing when restrictions
related to the coronavirus pandemic will be lifted, many senior events have
been canceled or delayed, but leaders tentatively have scheduled an event in
the summer when the students could possibly gather one more time. On July 10,
the district has proposed an event at the school replacing the senior picnic.
The rain date is July 11.
AP goes online, and problems follow
For some students, the servers crashed. And
there is evidence of potential cheating.
The notebook by Neena Hagen May 13 — 7:25 pm,
2020
When the College Board surveyed 18,000
Advanced Placement (AP) students in March asking if they wanted to take AP
exams as scheduled amid the pandemic, 91% of respondents said “yes.” But
the first days of the tests’ first-ever online administration were
marked by server crashes and evidence that students may have been seeking
answers on the internet while taking the exams — a practice not banned but
strongly discouraged by the College Board. AP exams, which are taking
place May 11-22, underwent significant modification this
year as the College Board moved them online. To prevent easy cheating, the
organization nixed the multiple choice section of the exams and instituted a
45-minute time limit for the free response questions. The organization
was also forced to make the exam “open book,” given the online format. The AP
exams are usually closed book. The College Board set detailed rules for
what was and wasn’t allowed, but in many cases, it seems that those rules
either weren’t followed or were misunderstood. The Notebook looked at Google
trends data from around the time the tests took place, and Google searches for
terminology related to a particular exam spiked during the time the test was
administered.
In Philly, amid the coronavirus, a step forward for
transgender students
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Updated: May
13, 2020- 6:38 PM
After public and school board pressure, the
Philadelphia School District is moving to assure that its transgender and
nonconforming students are referred to by their preferred names and pronouns. The
move — announced in an email to principals this week and expected to be
formally presented to the school board on Thursday — follows a groundbreaking 2016 district
policy meant to ensure “safety, equity,
and justice for all students regardless of their gender identity or gender
expression so that they can reach their fullest human and intellectual
potential.” Students do not need parental approval, a court order, or evidence
of medical transition, and the policy also applies to the bathrooms students are
permitted to use and the sports teams aligned
with their gender identity. But when the pandemic halted in-person instruction,
some students found themselves referred to by their “dead name” because Google
Classroom, the district’s preferred online platform, didn’t reflect the
students’ preferences. At first, school officials said they were limited by
technology in how to fix the issue. It’s unclear how many students in the
district identify as transgender or nonconforming; the district doesn’t keep
such data. But it was a major problem for some students, said Maddie Luebbert,
a district teacher who identifies as nonbinary.
Saturday classes? Year-round attendance? Schools mull
ways to make up lost time
Morning Call By CAROLYN THOMPSON ASSOCIATED
PRESS | MAY 13, 2020 | 11:24 AM
When students return to school after a
lengthy pandemic-induced absence, the consensus is they will have lost
significant academic ground. Still unresolved for governments and educators are
the questions of how — or even whether — teachers should try to make up for
lost learning. Some have proposed holding evening or Saturday classes for
students to catch up. A Maryland senator has proposed school year-round. In
California, the governor has suggested the next school year could begin as soon
as July. But any remediation plans will be complicated by social distancing
mandates that may require smaller class sizes and budget cuts that appear
imminent because of falling local and state revenues. In surveys, many
educators say the fall will be no time to pile on additional schoolwork. “First
and foremost, we need to recognize that we have young people in front of us who
have gone through a traumatic experience,” said Andres Perez, a Chula Vista,
California, high school teacher who warns against moving too fast to get back
on track. "And right now, I think students and teachers really want to
make school something that feels meaningful, that students are excited to go
back to.”
“... No credible scientist, learning expert, teacher, or parent
believes that children aged 5 to 10 years can meaningfully engage in online
learning without considerable parental involvement, which many families with
low incomes are unable to provide because parents must work outside the
home."
Pediatricians: Pandemic Recovery Plans Ignoring Child
Health, Education
Education Week By Sarah D. Sparks on May
13, 2020 9:44 AM
From states' reopening plans to federal
emergency aid, the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus pandemic has
"focused on the health and economic effects facing adults," and top
pediatricians argue child wellness and school reopening plans must be included
in discussions for the nation's recovery. "Even as states provisionally
plan on opening workplaces, most are giving no consideration to opening
schools," said Dimitri Christakis, director of Seattle
Children's Research Institute, Center for Child Health, Behavior, and
Development and editor of JAMA Pediatrics, in the first of a trio of articles on the reopening problem
published online today in that journal. "The
risks posed by delaying school openings are real and sizeable, particularly for
students from low-income families. ... No credible
scientist, learning expert, teacher, or parent believes that children aged 5 to
10 years can meaningfully engage in online learning without considerable
parental involvement, which many families with low incomes are unable to
provide because parents must work outside the home." In a separate article,
researchers led by Dr. Danielle Dooley, of the Child Health Advocacy Institute
at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., argue that state and
federal governments must do more to target support to the health and learning
needs of low-income children who have been disproportionately hit by the virus
and the school closures.
Over 220 PA school boards adopt charter reform
resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 220 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.
The school boards from the following
districts have adopted resolutions calling for charter funding reform.
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA Charter Change Website:
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.
