Monday, November 11, 2019

PA Ed Policy Roundup for Nov. 11: Proposed Erie charter evaluation framework would require PSSA proficiency rates to be at or above average district rate.


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, Wolf education transition team members, 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.

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PA Ed Policy Roundup for Nov. 11, 2019



On twitter since November 2010; 36,000 tweets; over 1500 tweeps get their ed policy updates at @lfeinberg



“Brokman said the basic standards will be the same in Erie as they are in Philadelphia, with the focus on academic performance. The Erie School District’s framework would require, among other things, that a charter school’s proficiency rates on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests and the Keystone Exams be at or above the average for schools in the Erie School District. The charter schools must have as many students passing those tests, on average, as schools in the Erie School District.”
Erie School Board to take major votes on charters
GoErie By Ed Palattella Posted at 12:13 AM November 10, 2019
School directors to decide on charter renewal for Erie Rise, adoption of evaluation standards for charter schools.
The Erie School District’s relationship with charter schools is about to change in the short- and long-term. The Erie School Board on Wednesday will vote on whether to approve a new five-year charter for the Erie Rise Leadership Charter School Academy, whose charter renewal the district administration is challenging due to poor academic performance and other concerns. The district and Erie Rise have been negotiating a renewal agreement that would include an improvement plan and strict benchmarks for the 436-student charter school. Also on Wednesday, the School Board is expected to approve a framework that the school district would use to evaluate the performances of the four brick-and-mortar charter schools, including Erie Rise, that enroll students who live in the Erie School District. The district would apply the framework annually and in advance of a charter school’s renewal period. The framework for evaluating charter schools would be a first for the Erie School District. The administration of Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito proposed the adoption of the framework after Erie Rise suggested the district develop uniform standards to evaluate charter schools. Erie Rise officials made the suggestion at a charter-renewal hearing in August before the Erie School Board. The board also held a hearing in June. Erie Rise recommended that the Erie School District model its framework after the evaluation system for charter schools in Philadelphia.

Popular Lehigh Valley charter may open second school
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO THE MORNING CALL | NOV 08, 2019 | 3:54 PM
Executive Education Academy Charter School is floating the idea of opening a second location in the Lehigh Valley, ideally in Allentown, to accommodate the more than 600 students from the city on its wait list. The proposition concerns some Allentown School District officials. Thursday night, CEO Bob Lysek told the Allentown School Board that the K-12 charter school is considering applying for a charter for a second school. Lysek said it’s just a possibility, but he mentioned it during the charter school’s annual review with the district. “We’d like to grow,” Lysek said. “We have 600 students on a waiting list. It’s tough. Every day we have families in that main office in tears because we can’t provide an opportunity for them.” But the idea of another charter school that could put even more of a financial strain on a school district already paying $60 million a year to charters and cyber charters upsets some directors and Superintendent Thomas Parker.

How ZIP codes determine the quality of a child's education
Philly Trib by Jacqueline Palochko Sarah M. Wojcik Michelle Merlin Nov 9, 2019
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Students at Allentown's Harrison-Morton Middle School look forward to hearing the squeaky wheels of the technology cart approaching their classroom, though the iPads they hold may not be the latest models and time with them is limited. A luxury in Allentown schools, such technology has become a necessity for many suburban students — something they're accustomed to tapping at-will and often. Technology is one of the many things that separate students in Pennsylvania's school districts, where wealth equates to quality. Food is another. That's why the staff at Donegan Elementary School on Bethlehem's South Side sends students home with a bag of healthy snacks on weekends. Because clothing also can divide students who have from those who have not, the Bethlehem Area School District installed a washer and dryer at Donegan, ensuring children have access to clean clothes. Language sets students or schools apart, too. And so do ZIP codes, education reformers say, effectively segregating students by income and race. The problem: Where you live determines what type of education you receive in the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere in Pennsylvania. Where the tax base is high, the educational offerings tend to be many. Where it is low, the options decline. The gap isn't just between districts but sometimes between schools in the same district.

“Those districts educate mostly white students with lower numbers of students who are poverty-stricken. At Kernsville, for example, 73% of students are white and 20% are economically disadvantaged. The school, educating under 400 students, also has just 4% of students who are English-language learners.”
PSSA, Keystone scores in Lehigh Valley suburban schools exceed state goals; city districts still struggling
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO AND EUGENE TAUBER THE MORNING CALL | NOV 08, 2019 | 6:07 AM
Lehigh Valley schools with a high number of students living in poverty continue to struggle on Pennsylvania’s standardized tests, while students in high-performing suburban districts continue to exceed the state’s goals.
Lehigh Valley schools with a high number of students living in poverty still struggle on Pennsylvania’s standardized tests, while students in high-performing suburban districts continue to exceed the state’s goals. Across the state, 61% of students scored proficient or advanced in English, 42% in math, and 68% in science on the 2019 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exam taken each spring by students in grades three to eight. Statewide on the Keystones, taken by high schoolers, 72% of students passed literature, 63% passed algebra and 63% passed biology. The state recently released results for both mandatory exams. In the Lehigh Valley, Parkland, Northwestern Lehigh, East Penn, Saucon Valley and Southern Lehigh school districts were among the top performers on both the PSSAs and Keystones. The top six English PSSA scores belonged to Parkland schools: Kernsville Elementary in particular scored almost 30 percentage points above both the state average in English and science, and 40 percentage points above the state’s math average. For all three tests, Kernsville had the best scores among Lehigh Valley schools.

How do we end the cycle of childhood trauma passed from parents to kids? | Brain Trust
Inquirer by Abraham Gutman @abgutman | agutman@inquirer.com Updated: November 9, 2019 - 7:00 AM
Growing up in Philadelphia can be a traumatizing experience. Poverty, hunger, gun violence, evictions, and mass incarceration are just some of the difficult experiences that bear down on children here. Over the last couple of decades, public health researchers and policymakers have increasingly recognized that the body "remembers” childhood trauma, and these experiences at a young age can predict illness, risky behavior, and criminal involvement well into adulthood. To mitigate the impact of childhood trauma, we need to know which kids are most likely to be traumatized. If we identify them early enough, maybe we can even prevent the trauma from occurring altogether. Last week, Dr. Christine Forke, a violence prevention initiative fellow at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, presented at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in Philadelphia with new data exploring the relationship between the levels of childhood trauma experienced by parents and their kids. Her findings can help develop a road map to address the transfer of trauma across generations.

Lawmakers Taking Another Stab At Stabilizing PA Public Pension Funds
LevittownNow By Steve Bittenbender | The Center Square November 10, 2019
Three Pennsylvania pension reform bills made their way out of the House State Government Committee and will now be considered by the full chamber, which could be called for debate when lawmakers return to Harrisburg later this month. The proposals came out of recommendations made by a public pension review commission that was formed through legislation passed two years ago. The commission identified actuarial savings of about $10 billion over a 30-year span for both the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS) and the Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS). Currently, $65 billion of the state’s $75 billion debt shortfall is due to unfunded future retirement benefits, including health insurance for public employees after they retire. “When you break it down, each taxpayer is on the hook for $17,100,” said state Rep. Garth Everett, R-Lycoming, the chairman of the House State Government Committee. “That’s unacceptable and it shows why these bills are necessary. Now more than ever it is time for pension reform.”

Three state GOP lawmakers successful in bids for local offices
POSTED ON NOVEMBER 8, 2019 IN PSBA NEWS
Three Republican legislators will be leaving the PA House of Representatives following their victories this week in various local elections. Rep. Justin Walsh secured one of two spots for judge on the Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas bench. Rep. Tedd Nesbit was successful in his bid for one of two judge seats on the Mercer County Court of Common Pleas. Rep. Gene DiGirolamo won his race for Bucks County Commissioner. Republicans hold the state House majority with 110 seats. Democrats have 93 seats. There will be three vacancies created as a result of these wins. 

Students see ‘Hamilton’ and perform their own pieces about history
Coming from all over the region, they met cast members and saw a special matinee as part of the musical's education outreach, #EduHam.
The notebook by Joseph Staruski November 8 — 5:51 pm, 2019
Youngscrappy, and hungry might just be the perfect words to describe the students who performed Thursday on the Hamilton set in Philadelphia. “We just had to go for it,” said Brandon Santana, a student performer.  More than 1,700 students from 36 high schools in the Philadelphia region – and from as far away as Allentown, Lebanon, and Harrisburg – went to the Forrest Theatre as part of the show’s educational program. They got a special opportunity to see a matinee performance of Hamilton and to interact with cast members.  Over the last few weeks, these students have been working in the classroom and after school to learn about U.S. history with the program (#EduHam) designed around the blockbuster musical. All the students who attended participated in the creation and submission of an artistic performance individually or in small groups. 

‘They identify with Hamilton’: Philly teens take a shot at writing revolution-inspired music
WHYY By Peter Crimmins November 8, 2019  Listen 3:00
The phenomenal success of Hamilton, the musical, has given birth to an entire shorthand language on social media. HamFans are fans of Hamilton. Ham4Ham is the name of the daily lottery to buy Hamilton tickets for $10. (Get it? Hamilton’s face is on the ten-dollar bill.) There’s also EduHam, a curriculum for high school students that tries to make history as exciting as the Broadway play itself.  Thursday, 1,700 high school students packed the Forrest Theater in Philadelphia to see a matinee performance of Hamilton. But first, they performed their own original works for each other. “Since I was a little girl, I’ve been the drama queen,” said Jalyn Tabourn, a senior at Franklin Learning Center in Spring Garden.  

It's time to change the marketing on the importance of mathematics [opinion]
THE LNP EDITORIAL BOARD
THE ISSUE: Lancaster County students tend to be better at math than their peers across Pennsylvania. But that’s small solace. Because, “according to an analysis of Pennsylvania standardized test scores from 2015 to 2019, less than half of the county’s students in grades three through eight are at least proficient in math,” LNP’s Alex Geli reported Tuesday, Nov. 5. Proficiency rates for the math section of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment have been in the mid-40% range in Lancaster County. Being stuck at that level, experts say, represents a crisis for our county — along with the rest of the state and the nation.
Math is cool.
It’s fun.
It’s important.
It’s relevant to our everyday lives.
That’s the absolute truth. But the other reality is that math has been stuck in a yearslong cycle of terrible and inaccurate public perception. Instead of the above, this is what we hear far too often from our young people:
Math is boring.
Math is too hard.
Everyone does badly in math.
Math isn’t anything we need in our daily lives.
We must all work to change that negative narrative and convey to today’s students, at all grade levels, the importance of math. The stakes are high.

New school start time recommended at Hampton
Trib Live by Natalie Beneviat Thursday, November 7, 2019 | 12:01 AM
Hampton high school students may be getting some extra sleep next school year if a recent recommendation from the School Start Time Committee is approved, per a presentation at the Hampton Township School District school board meeting on Nov. 4. Dr. Michael Loughead, superintendent for Hampton, along with other School Start Time Committee members presented the suggested scenario of Middle School beginning at 7:50 a.m. with dismissal at 2:40 p.m.; high school beginning at 8:20 a.m. to 3:01 p.m.; and elementary from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Research shows that nine hours of sleep is recommended for students, especially in high school. The goal is to achieve a later start time for high school students, which is recommended at 8:30 a.m. These recommendations come from several organizations including Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, American Medical Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics, according to the committee presenters. An advisory committee from the Joint State Government Commission also supports this start time or even later, according to the presentation. Currently the high school day runs from 7:30 a.m. to 2:19 p.m.; middle school, 7:55 a.m. to 2:45 p.m.; and elementary from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. The recommendation, termed “Secondary Switch,” also provides minimal impact on middle school, has the least impact on athletic and extracurricular activities, and has minimal impact on bus transportation. The committee has been spending the past two years deliberating whether a delayed school start time was feasible and studying several possible scenarios, said Loughead.

Haverford High wins national recognition from Special Olympics
HAVERFORD — Smiles, cheers and speeches marked the unveiling of a new banner at Haverford High School Friday. It is one of two high schools in Pennsylvania to be recognized this year by the Special Olympics organization as a National Unified Champion School for its efforts to include all students in sports and other activities. District Superintendent Maureen Reusche called it “a terrific honor.” The program leads special education and regular education students to become friends and learning that they can work together, she said. The district has been involved in the Best Buddies program, a club for both regular education and special education students, for 20 years and the Unified Sports program for four years. Special education life skills teacher Kayla Kishbaugh said that it is “an honor” for the school to receive the recognition. “It’s really exciting,” she said. “The whole community is really excited about it.”

Chestnutwold Elementary School designated a 2019 National School of Character
HAVERFORD — Respect, responsibility, empathy, trustworthiness, positive attitude and integrity. These are the traits that Chestnutwold Elementary School staff tries to foster in the pupils. The school was recently recognized as one of 88 schools as a 2019 National School of Character by Character.org, an organization that has promoted good character since 1993. Guidance counselors Jennifer Munch and Jaclyn Huston meet with all classes biweekly and emphasize these good character markers and teachers also promote them every morning in during class morning meetings. Even the Parent Teacher Organizations talks about the character traits. “That’s whole school, every year,” said Munch. “It’s the foundation of what we do here.” There are signs with those qualities posted around the building and they are mentioned frequently in academic and social lessons.  In 2006 when the Havertown Township School District redistricted and Chestnutwold opened as a new school with students from other schools, “our principal (Tim Bickhart) took it upon himself to establish a new community,” said Huston. “We wanted to make sure there was a sense of belonging and community. He worked on promoting community.” Joel DiBartolomeo, who became the principal in 2010, built on that foundation and began the character trait program.

School bus driver shortage squeezes districts around the region
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Updated: November 10, 2019- 5:00 AM
If all goes well, Michelle Donia’s daughter arrives home in Westtown Township from Collegium Charter School in Exton around 5 p.m. But on days the bus driver “forgets the route,” Donia said, her fourth grader has been late by a half-hour or more: “It’s hit or miss.” Donia’s daughter is bused by the West Chester Area School District, which, like other Pennsylvania districts, transports charter and private school students in addition to those enrolled in its schools. And along with districts across the country, it doesn’t have enough bus drivers. Nationally, 24% of school districts reported “desperate” or “severe” driver shortages in a survey this year by School Bus Fleet, an industry trade publication. An additional 38% reported “moderate” shortages. The median pay for bus drivers in 2018 was $34,450, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — which predicts a “very good” job outlook, “as many drivers are expected to leave the occupation.” Locally, whether they contract out for bus services — as most in Pennsylvania do — or manage their own fleets, school districts around Philadelphia are experiencing a driver shortage.

Former charter school CEO in Allentown accused of stealing $42,000
By MANUEL GAMIZ JR. THE MORNING CALL | NOV 07, 2019 | 5:42 PM
The former CEO of the Arts Academy Elementary Charter School in Allentown was charged Thursday with stealing $42,000 from the school’s bank account, according to court records.
Jason M. Eitner, 40, of Mount Laurel, New Jersey, was charged with theft by deception and receiving stolen property. He was arraigned by District Judge David M. Howells Jr. and released on $10,000 unsecured bail. According to a criminal complaint: Allentown police began an investigation on Dec. 24, 2017, when Aldo Cavalli, the CEO of the charter school at the time, reported fraudulent activity on the school’s corporate checking account. He said that Eitner, the former CEO, made a series of transactions between Aug. 1, 2017, and Oct. 1, 2017, with a company identified as “RMC.” An Allentown detective obtained bank records and saw three transactions with “RMC.” The detective learned that Eitner reached out to the charter school’s financial adviser on Aug. 10, 2017, about a transaction he was trying to complete for curriculum. Eitner told the financial adviser that he attempted to make the transaction, but it showed that it was unapproved and assumed he had to approve it.

Is your Pa. school on the list of most arrests in 2018-19?
Post-Gazette by JANA BENSCOTER PennLive NOV 8, 2019
Crime statistics for the 2018-19 school year were recently released by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. The state requires schools to keep tabs on crimes in schools. The report is released every October and offers 52 different categories of crimes.
Last year, the top three reasons why students were in trouble:
● School code-of-conduct violations: 65.14 percent, or 78,680 reported incidents
● Fighting: 8.62 percent, or 10,409 reported fights
● Tobacco or vaping: 8.34 percent or 10,073 reported incidents of tobacco or vaping sales or use
Of the 52 categories, the school code-of-conduct violation doesn’t explain what students have done to earn the designation. Listed below are the schools in southwestern Pennsylvania with the most arrests as well as what crime was committed at the school the most.


‘In most professions, you steal office supplies from work to bring home. But teachers steal office supplies from home to bring to work.’
Washington Post Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss November 8, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. EST
It has long been known that most U.S. teachers spend their own money on supplies without reimbursement, so The Washington Post decided to ask them how much they spend on supplies, what they buy and why.Teachers — mostly in public school districts — sent more than 1,200 emails to The Post from more than 35 states. The portrait the messages paint is devastating — and reveals that educators do more than just spend their own money and have done so for decades with little public conversation about how to remedy the problem.A story about all of this can be found on The Answer Sheet here, and below are quotes from teachers on the issue. Some of the teachers gave me permission to use their names; others only their state; some, no identifiers at all. Most of the teachers said they wanted to remain anonymous because they feared retaliation from administrators. I am including anonymous quotes because they are powerful and represent the vast majority of those teachers who responded to The Post.

‘I am a scavenger’: The desperate things teachers do to get the classroom supplies they need
Washington Post Answer Sheet By Valerie Strauss November 8, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. EST
Like nearly all teachers in America, Becky Cranson spends her own money to buy supplies for her students. Working in a rural school district in Michigan, where 70 percent of her middle-school students come from low-income families, she shells out at least $1,000 a year for pencils, books, journals, glue sticks, tissues and much more. But opening her wallet without reimbursement is only a small part of what she — and many others in America’s corps of 3.2 million teachers — do to secure classroom supplies they can’t get from their schools or from students’ families. “I am a scavenger,” said Cranson, who teaches English at Bronson Jr./Sr. High School in Bronson, Mich. “My friend who works in the Michigan [Department of Natural Resources] office gives me their used binders, and my husband brings me furniture and supplies that the hospital he works at is throwing away.” “I love my district and the families it serves,” Cranson said. “This is my 31st year, and I have many former students trusting me with their pride and joy. I refuse to let a family’s financial challenges be a stumbling block within the four walls of my classroom.”


PSBA New and Advanced School Director Training in Dec & Jan
Do you want high-impact, engaging training that newly elected and reseated school directors can attend to be certified in new and advanced required training? PSBA has been supporting new school directors for more than 50 years by enlisting statewide experts in school law, finance and governance to deliver a one-day foundational training. This year, we are adding a parallel track of sessions for those who need advanced school director training to meet their compliance requirements. These sessions will be delivered by the same experts but with advanced content. Look for a compact evening training or a longer Saturday session at a location near you. All sites will include one hour of trauma-informed training required by Act 18 of 2019. Weekend sites will include an extra hour for a legislative update from PSBA’s government affairs team.
New School Director Training
Week Nights: Registration opens 3:00 p.m., program starts 3:30 p.m. -9:00 p.m., dinner with break included
Saturdays: Registration opens at 8:00 a.m., program starts at 9:00 a.m. -3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Advanced School Director Training
Week Nights: Registration with dinner provided opens at 4:30 p.m., program starts 5:30 p.m. -9:00 p.m.
Saturdays: Registration opens at 10:00 a.m., program starts at 11:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m., lunch with break included
Locations and dates


Webinar: Introduction to PSBA’s Equity Toolkit
NOV 12, 2019 • 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
The equity toolkit supports school entities as they incorporate equity into district practice. This webinar will offer a walk-through of the components of the toolkit, from the equity lens approach to the equity action plan. Participants are encouraged to ask questions and share experiences throughout the webinar.
Facilitator: Heather Bennett J.D., Ph.D., director of equity services
Pennsylvania School Boards Association
Registration URL: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1261156731797681154
*Note: registration closes one hour prior to the event.

UPDATE:  Second Workshop Added Thursday, November 14, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm: Adolescent Health and School Start Times:  Science, Strategies, Tactics, & Logistics Workshop in Exton, PA
The first workshop on November 13 sold out in less than 4 weeks.  Thanks to recent additional sponsorships, there will be a second workshop held on Thursday, November 14. Register HERE.
Join school administrators and staff, including superintendents, transportation directors, principals, athletic directors, teachers, counselors, nurses, and school board members, parents, guardians, health professionals and other concerned community members for a second interactive and solutions-oriented workshop on Thursday, November 14, 2019 9:30 am to 3:00 pm  Clarion Hotel in Exton, PA. The science is clear. Many middle and high schools in Pennsylvania, and across the nation, start too early in the morning. The American Medical Association, Centers for Disease Control, American Academy of Pediatrics, and many other major health and education leaders agree and have issued policy statements recommending that secondary schools start no earlier than 8:30 am to allow for sleep, health, and learning. Implementing these recommendations, however, can seem daunting.  Discussions will include the science of sleep and its connection to school start times, as well as proven strategies for successfully making change--how to generate optimum community support and work through implementation challenges such as bus routes, athletics, and more.   
For more information visit the workshop website www.startschoollater.net/workshop---pa  or email contact@startschoollater.net

Congress, Courts, and a National Election: 50 Million Children’s Futures Are at Stake. Be their champion at the 2020 Advocacy Institute.
NSBA Advocacy Institute Feb. 2-4, 2020 Marriot Marquis, Washington, D.C.
Join school leaders from across the country on Capitol Hill, Feb. 2-4, 2020 to influence the legislative agenda & shape decisions that impact public schools. Check out the schedule & more at https://nsba.org/Events/Advocacy-Institute

Register now for Network for Public Education Action National Conference in Philadelphia March 28-29, 2020
Registration, hotel information, keynote speakers and panels:

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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