Started in
November 2010, daily postings from the Keystone State Education Coalition now
reach more than 4050 Pennsylvania education policymakers – school directors,
administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
staff, current/former PA Secretaries of Education, superintendents, school solicitors,
principals, charter school leaders, PTO/PTA officers, parent advocates, teacher
leaders, business leaders, faith-based organizations, labor organizations,
education professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory
agencies, professional associations and education advocacy organizations via
emails, website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.
These daily
emails are archived and searchable at http://keystonestateeducationcoalition.org
Follow us on Twitter at @lfeinberg
If any of your colleagues would like to be added to the
email list please have them send their name, title and affiliation to KeystoneStateEdCoalition@gmail.com
“Despite our best efforts, things will not be perfect. It
will not be from a lack of effort or care. We ask your patience and grace to
continue to partner with us”
Blogger note: PA Schools Work, a group
that advocates for traditional brick-and-mortar public schools, recently created
a Check Before You Choose online
resource where families can compare public cyber-charter schools to traditional
public schools.
Dear @NorristownASD
Families: I am proud of all NASD staff for
their tireless preparation for the school year. Despite our best efforts,
things will not be perfect. It will not be from a lack of effort or care. We
ask your patience and grace to continue to partner with us.
A school year like no other
Students, parents, teachers, and school
leaders share their hopes and worries as they head back to school — many behind
a computer — during a pandemic.
Inquirer by Kristen A. Graham, Maddie Hanna and Melanie Burney,August 28, 2020
With the world still in the grip of a
pandemic and millions of children across the United States preparing to begin
the 2020-21 school term not by walking into classrooms but by logging on to
computers, questions swirl: When will in-person classes be able to resume? How
will districts afford the staggering costs of adjusting for COVID-19? Will
children educated in remote or hybrid settings fall behind? How can schools
overcome the digital divide? Are school staff adequately prepared for new
learning models? How will parents manage child-care challenges? How will
schools manage virus outbreaks? One thing is clear: This will be a school year
unlike any other. As schools reopen, The Inquirer talked to students, parents,
teachers, and other school staff from around the region about their thoughts on
the year to come.
MAP: School is back in for Pennsylvania students. Find
your district’s reopening plan here.
The PLS Reporter BY: SAM ZERN AUGUST
27, 2020
Thousands of Pennsylvania public school
students started classes this week, and thousands more will go back to school
in the coming weeks amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Local education
agencies spent the summer months preparing for the fall semester, as
policymakers and stakeholders continue to argue over the safest way to start
the year. With the new year already underway, The PLS Reporter went
through the reopening plans for the state’s 500 school districts. There appears
to be strong support for attending school, at least in some way, in-person
across the state, with the majority of districts opting for either in-person or
blended returns to learning. All local education agencies are offering some
form of cyber education for parents who choose not to send their children back
to school, whether through virtual instruction from district teachers or
through contracted cyber academies. Many districts have received grants to
provide computers and internet hotspots to families that don’t otherwise have
them.
Still, plans continue to change in the
districts that haven’t started back yet.
Valley View, Dunmore students have 'unprecedented' first
day of class
Times Tribune BY SARAH HOFIUS HALL AND
KATHLEEN BOLUS STAFF WRITERS Aug 27, 2020
Wearing masks and sitting apart, fewer than
half of Dunmore’s students returned to their classrooms Thursday. At Valley
View, students sat at home in front of their computers, participating in live
lessons with their teachers. The first day of classes never looked so different
in Northeast Pennsylvania. In this historic, unprecedented time for education,
both teachers and students must adjust to restrictions and precautions because
of the coronavirus pandemic. During the next two weeks, half the districts in
Lackawanna County will return under a hybrid model, like Dunmore, with students
splitting time between learning from home and inside classrooms. The other
districts will learn virtually, like Valley View, as students and teachers
connect through computers. Educators knew that when the state ordered all
schools to close in mid-March, they’d eventually reopen with new guidelines,
teaching methods and expectations. “No one would choose this,” Valley View
Superintendent Michael Boccella, Ed.D., said as he watched a virtual lesson in
first grade. “But, we’re as prepared for this as we possibly could be.”
After first COVID-19 cases, school officials say opening
was the right move
Lindsay C VanAsdalan York
Dispatch August 27, 2020
South Western Superintendent Jay Burkhart
was not phased Wednesday by his district’s recent confirmed case of
COVID-19. In fact, he still had full confidence that the board-approved
hybrid plan — in which students attend school three days per week on an
A/B schedule — will work. “I know we had a setback today,” he said at a
board meeting Wednesday night, following news of the positive case at the high
school earlier in the day. But his comments, and those from the board or
administrators, all came back to the fact that students were back — and
they were happier than ever to be in school. "I have never seen so many
happy first day of school photos as I did on Facebook," said board
President Vanessa Berger. Administrators from multiple districts that have
returned in person are reporting the same — that students needed this and
are overjoyed to be back in their classrooms again, bolstering what has been a
major argument for in-person return.
Schools make step-by-step plans to deal with COVID-19
cases
ANDREW GOLDSTEIN Pittsburgh Post-Gazette agoldstein@post-gazette.com AUG 28,
2020 6:53 AM
Schools have been dealing with the
uncertainty of COVID-19 for months. But as schools have begun reopening,
health and education experts know one thing for sure: When students and staff
return to buildings, the virus is coming with them. “You almost have to accept
that there’s going to be virus coming in the door every day in almost every
school if you have high community transmission rates,” said Dr. Thomas Walsh,
an infectious disease doctor with Allegheny Health Network. What will happen
when a student or staff member at school comes down with COVID-19? School
districts, with the help of state and local health departments, have developed
protocols that include specific steps to take from the time a case is
identified.
Hite says as many as 18,000 Philly district students
still need internet access, with days to go until the start of school
Inquirer by Maddie Hanna, Posted: August 27, 2020-
8:03 PM
Less than a week before school is to begin
virtually, as many as 18,000 Philadelphia School District students may still
need internet access, Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said Thursday. “We’re
estimating somewhere between 15,000 and 18,000 individuals will need to be
connected,” Hite said. “Those are district families that would need some sort
of connection.” Total enrollment is about 125,000. The district is preparing to
start the school year with an all-virtual program Wednesday. The city earlier
this month announced that free internet access would
be available to 35,000 low-income families with students enrolled in
Philadelphia schools. That includes charter schools — which enroll about 70,000
— and private schools. The $17 million plan, a partnership between the city and
Comcast Corp., provides free broadband access for some households via Comcast’s
Internet Essentials program, and wireless hot spots to others.
“Meanwhile, there’s an opportunity to do something right.
It’s pending legislation that would create a citizens’
commission to handle redistricting of congressional seats starting next year
after completion of the Census. It’s timely, and lets ordinary voters pick
congressional maps.”
Pa. legislature has a chance to put people over politics
– but it’s not what you think | John Baer
By John Baer | For PennLive Posted Aug 27,
5:30 AM
Pennsylvania’s Legislature, rarely a source
of good or smart policy, is suddenly positioned to improve elections and
democracy. But that’s only if it can find the time. After all, it’s busy
brawling with Gov. Tom Wolf over his COVID-19 restrictions, mounting new fights
over how to vote by mail and railing against his “fall agenda” of new
spending and legalizing weed (as if, by the way). Still, this legislature only
last year passed welcome and prescient reform by giving the state mail-in voting --
before anybody knew about any pandemic. Now, it can follow up with election
reform that empowers people over politicians. More on that in a bit. First,
though, the Republican-run House is back for voting days this coming Tuesday
and Wednesday. The GOP Senate’s back September 8. That means clashes start soon
over voting in November.
Allentown School Board gives go ahead for sports to
resume
By JACQUELINE PALOCHKO THE MORNING
CALL | AUG 28, 2020 AT 12:51
AM
After a lengthy discussion Thursday night,
the Allentown School Board approved allowing sports to resume, which
means all teams in the Eastern
Pennsylvania Conference will play fall seasons. In a 7-2
vote, many Allentown directors said they felt it was only fair to let Allentown
students play sports, especially with students from surrounding schools getting
ready to play. Allen High athletic director Randy Atiyeh also made a passionate
plea before the vote to let student athletes play. Atiyeh compared the risk of
catching the coronavirus while playing sports as a similar risk to getting hurt
in a football game. “There are always risks for participating in athletics. Yet
we play them anyway because we know the benefits far outweigh the risks,”
Atiyeh said. “I ask you to let them play.” The EPC is expected to have its 2020
league schedule released Friday to include all 18 teams in all sports. Superintendent
Thomas Parker said he respected the opinions from both sides and understood the
value of sports, especially for students who use athletics as a means for
college. “We just have to make sure we balance safety,” he said.
EPC is set to announce its fall sports schedule Friday
with all 18 schools set to go ahead with seasons
By KEITH GROLLER THE MORNING
CALL | AUG 27, 2020 AT 6:59 PM
The Eastern Pennsylvania Conference athletic
directors met via a virtual meeting on Thursday afternoon with the idea of
finalizing its fall sports schedule. But the schedule couldn’t be completely
finalized because the Allentown School District was still deciding on whether
or not to proceed with fall sports. Late Thursday night, the Allentown School
board put the Allen and Dieruff programs back on the field with a 7-2 vote. So sometime on Friday, the EPC will have its
2020 league schedule released including all 18 teams in all sports. Several league officials declined comment
earlier Thursday when asked who was in and who would potentially be out.
No change on spectators for high school fall sports
GoErie By Tom
Reisenweber @etnreisenweber Posted
Aug 27, 2020 at 5:27 PM Updated
Aug 27, 2020 at 6:28 PM
Gov. Wolf administration keeps ban on fans at
sporting events during pandemic
High school sports have been given the
go-ahead by most school districts around Pennsylvania, but the volatile
discussion over spectators at those events is still ongoing. Gov. Tom Wolf put
out return to sports guidance, referred to as a “mitigation order” on the
administration’s website, which states: “All sports-related activities must
adhere to the gathering limitations set forth by the Governor’s Plan for Phased
Reopening (25 or fewer people for indoor activity, 250 or fewer people for
outdoor activity) and the facility as a whole may not exceed 50 percent of
total occupancy otherwise permitted by law.” The guidance, however, goes on to
say “Sports-related activities at the PK-12 level are limited to student
athletes, coaches, officials, and staff only. Band and cheer are also allowed
in a sports setting, but individuals involved in such activities count towards
gathering limitations and must comply with face covering order and social
distancing guidelines. Visitors and spectators are prohibited from attending
in-person sports-related activities.” The Times-News reached out to the Wolf
administration to ask if he is considering changing the spectator ban or the
25/250 limits as they could make it tough to conduct events, especially
volleyball and water polo matches indoors. “The administration is not
considering making changes to the current mitigation orders or sports guidance
at this time,” said Lyndsay Kensinger, Wolf’s press secretary.
2 Greater Latrobe School District employees test positive
for covid-19
TRIBUNE-REVIEW | Thursday, August
27, 2020 11:10 a.m.
Two employees of Greater Latrobe School
District tested positive for covid-19, according to Superintendent Georgia
Teppert. Administrators were informed over the weekend that the staff members
were showing symptoms. The district contacted the state Department of Health,
which conducted contact tracing, according to Teppert. No students were
affected. Teppert said she could not disclose any identifying information about
the staff members, including in which of the district’s five schools they
worked. The school year is expected to begin Monday as planned, according to
Teppert. Elementary school students will attend school as normal. Students in
the middle and high schools will use a hybrid model, attending school some days
and learning from home on others. Greater Latrobe is the latest of several
local school districts with reported cases of covid-19. An administrator in the
Southmoreland School District tested positive and several other administrators
are under self-quarantine because they came in contact with the affected
employee, the district announced this
week. A Penn-Trafford School District employee tested positive this
month. Two North Hills School District students who participated in hockey
tryouts tested positive in
early July.
Federal Appeals Court Backs Gavin Grimm in Long-Running
Transgender Case
Education Week By Mark Walsh on August
26, 2020 4:27 PM
A federal appeals court on Wednesday held in
the long-running case of transgender student Gavin Grimm that his Virginia
school district violated the equal-protection clause and Title IX when it
barred him from the boys restroom when he was in high school. A panel of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, in Richmond, Va., also ruled 2-1
that the Gloucester County district violated Grimm's rights by refusing to
amend his school records after Grimm, who was assigned female at birth, had
chest reconstruction surgery and the state amended his birth certificate to
"male." "At the heart of this appeal is whether equal protection
and Title IX can protect transgender students from school bathroom policies
that prohibit them from affirming their gender," U.S. Circuit Judge Henry
F. Floyd wrote for the majority in upholding a series of federal district court
decisions in favor of Grimm in 2018 and 2019. "We
join a growing consensus of courts in holding that the answer is resoundingly
yes."
DeVos out of sight even as her signature school issue gets
top billing at RNC
The Education secretary didn’t even get a
role in a convention video montage about the role of female leaders in the
Trump administration.
Politico By NICOLE GAUDIANO 08/28/2020
04:30 AM EDT
School choice is finally getting prime-time
attention as President Donald Trump makes the issue a focal point of his
reelection bid, appealing to parents clamoring for an alternative to
neighborhood public schools during the pandemic. But the policy issue’s biggest
cheerleader, his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, has been kept out of that spotlight.
DeVos isn’t so much as getting a cameo during the Republican
National Convention this week, even as the president builds his second-term
ambitions around the cause DeVos has championed for the past 30 years. The
billionaire's public image is synonymous with “education freedom” or “school
choice,” political shorthand for using government money or tax credits to help
pay for kids to attend private schools, home instruction or other programs
instead of their regular public school. It also encompasses charter schools,
public schools that are independently run.
Betsy DeVos & the Death of the GOP
The Merrow Report August 27, 2020 John Merrow
If you weren’t already convinced that the
Republican Party was Donald Trump’s personal property, the 2020 Republican
National Convention demonstrated that–lock, stock & barrel–the party of
Dwight Eisenhower, John McCain, the two Bush presidents, Ronald Reagan, and
Abraham Lincoln no longer exists. How did this happen? Will
historians be able to point to a moment in time when Trump, a classic bully,
might have been stopped if the GOP had stood up to him, instead of appeasing
him? Historians generally agree that, when Western powers failed to
stand up to Hitler after his annexation of Czechoslovakia, the die was
cast. “Peace for Our Time” was promised by Chamberlain in his and
Hitler’s Munich Agreement of September, 1938, but as we know World War II soon
followed. While there were earlier events (such as The Night of the Long Knives in
1934) where strong responses to Hitler’s bullying and posturing might have
forced him to back down, most see the Munich appeasement as the point of no
return.
Blogger commentary:
Parents considering cyber charters due to COVID might not be
aware of their 20 year consistent track record of academic underperformance. As
those parents face an expected blitz of advertising by cybers, in order for
them to make a more informed decision, you might consider providing them with
some of the info listed below:
A June 2 paper from the highly respected Brookings Institution stated,
“We find the impact of attending a virtual charter on student achievement is
uniformly and profoundly negative,” and then went on to say that “there is no
evidence that virtual charter students improve in subsequent years.”
In 2016, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers,
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, and the national charter lobbying
group 50CAN released a report on cyber charters that found that overall, cyber
students make no significant gains in math and less than half the gains in reading
compared with their peers in traditional public schools.
A Stanford University CREDO
Study in 2015 found that cyber students on average lost 72 days a year
in reading and 180 days a year in math compared with students in traditional
public schools.
From 2005 through 2012 under the federal No Child Left
Behind Act, most Pennsylvania cybers never made “adequate yearly progress.”
Following NCLB, for all five years (2013-2017) that Pennsylvania’s School
Performance Profile system was in place, not one cyber charter ever achieved a
passing score of 70.
Under Pennsylvania’s current accountability system, the Future Ready PA Index, all 15 cyber charters that operated
2018-2019 have been identified for some level of support and improvement.
PA SCHOOLS WORK WEBINAR : Public School Advocacy in the
New Normal of a COVID-19 World; Tue, Sep 15, 2020 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM EDT
For the foreseeable future, COVID-19 is a
part of our everyday lives. More parents and community members than ever before
have engaged at the school district level as schools wrestled with their
options for reopening this fall. This conversation will be about continuing our
advocacy for public schools, and how the challenges districts are facing in the
COVID-19 era are magnified by long-term inequities in our funding system and
years of lackluster financial support for public education from state
government. So, what can we do about it? Come find out
PSBA Fall Virtual Advocacy Day: OCT 8, 2020 • 8:00
AM - 5:00 PM
Sign up now for PSBA’s Virtual Advocacy Day this
fall!
All public school leaders are invited to join
us for our fall Virtual Advocacy Day on Thursday, October 8, 2020, via Zoom. We
need all of you to help strengthen our advocacy impact. The day will center
around contacting legislators to discuss critical issues affecting public
education. Registrants will receive the meeting invitation with a link to our
fall Virtual Advocacy Day website that contains talking points, a link to
locate contact information for your legislator and additional information to
help you have a successful day.
Cost: As a membership benefit, there is no
cost to register.
Registration: School directors can register
online now by logging in to myPSBA. If you
have questions about Virtual Advocacy Day, or need additional information,
contact Jamie.Zuvich@psba.org.
Save The Date: The PSBA 2020 Equity Summit is happening
virtually on October 13th.
Discover how to build a foundation for equity
in practice and policy.
Learn more: https://t.co/KQviB4TTOj
PASA-PSBA School Leadership Conference October 14-15
Virtual
Registration is now open for the first ever
virtual School Leadership Conference! Join us for all-new educational sessions,
dynamic speakers, exhibitors, and more! Visit the website for registration
information: https://t.co/QfinpBL69u #PASLC20 https://t.co/JYeRhJLUmZ
Adopt the resolution against racial inequity!
School boards are asked to adopt this
resolution supporting the development of an anti-racist climate. Once adopted,
share your resolution with your local community and submit a copy to PSBA.
Learn more: http://ow.ly/yJWA50B2R72
Adopt the 2020 PSBA resolution for charter school funding
reform
In this legislative session, PSBA has been
leading the charge with the Senate, House of Representatives and the Governor’s
Administration to push for positive charter reform. We’re now asking you to
join the campaign: Adopt the resolution: We’re asking all school
boards to adopt the 2020 resolution for charter school funding reform at your
next board meeting and submit it to your legislators and to PSBA.
292 PA school boards have adopted charter reform
resolutions
Charter school funding reform continues to be
a concern as over 290 school boards across the state have adopted a resolution
calling for legislators to enact significant reforms to the Charter School Law
to provide funding relief and ensure all schools are held to the same quality
and ethics standards. Now more than ever, there is a growing momentum from
school officials across the state to call for charter school funding reform.
Legislators are hearing loud and clear that school districts need relief from
the unfair funding system that results in school districts overpaying millions
of dollars to charter schools.
Know Your Facts on Funding and Charter Performance. Then
Call for Charter Change!
PSBA Charter Change Website:
The Network for Public Education Action Conference has
been rescheduled to April 24-25, 2021 at the Philadelphia Doubletree Hotel
Any comments contained herein are my comments, alone, and do not
necessarily reflect the opinions of any other person or organization that I may
be affiliated with.
