Michelle Goldberg | Remote School Is a Nightmare. Few in Power Care. - The New York Times

Opinion | Remote School Is a Nightmare. Few in Power Care. - The New York Times

Remote School Is a Nightmare. Few in Power Care.

Government should treat the need to reopen schools as an emergency.

Scott Stringer, the comptroller of New York City, has sons who are 7 and 8 years old. Over the last three months, like many parents, he’s tried to navigate what schools are optimistically calling “remote learning” while he and his wife both worked from home. It’s been, he told me, “one of the most challenging things I ever had to do in my life.”

So when he hears from parents desperate to understand what’s happening with schools in September, he empathizes. As in many other cities, if New York public schools reopen, students will likely be in the classroom only part-time. But no one knows if that means that students will attend on alternate days, alternate weeks or — Stringer’s preference — in half-day shifts.

“Parents have no more information today about what schools will look like in the fall than they did last March,” he wrote in a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City schools chancellor, Richard Carranza, last week.

With expanded unemployment benefits set to expire at the end of July, many parents will have no choice but to return to work by September. Even for parents who can work from home, home schooling is often a crushing burden that’s destroying careers, mental health and family relationships. And online school has had dismal results, especially for poor, black and Hispanic students. CONTINUE READING: Opinion | Remote School Is a Nightmare. Few in Power Care. - The New York Times

Rule Followers, Unite! And Stay Alive… | Teacher in a strange land

Rule Followers, Unite! And Stay Alive… | Teacher in a strange land

Rule Followers, Unite! And Stay Alive…

Meme wisdom: Those who have stayed inside, worn masks in public, and socially distanced during this entire pandemic are the same people who are used to doing the whole group project by themselves.

Of all the hundreds of things I’ve read about distancing, risk assessment, statistical analyses and their failings, back to school/stay home, and whether masking is really an IQ test—I like this one the best.

Every teacher with a couple years’ experience recognizes those kids: the ones who do what they’re supposed to do, even if it means picking up considerable slack generated by other kids. Community-minded kids are not always academic superstars, by the way—some of those really resent having to share their superior intellectual skills in the service of a good grade for a group. They will let the teacher know that, too.

In my classroom, rule-followers were kids who retrieved the percussion mallets or folders, after class. Students who showed the person next to them the correct fingering—and said ‘good job’ to their stand mate, when they mastered the Ab scale.

After all, we were playing together. Music is not an interpersonal competition—it’s a group project. We need each other. That was the party line in the band room, anyway—and most kids actually believed it and lived it. It didn’t come naturally, however.

The question is: how do cooperative kids get to be that way? What is the secret sauce CONTINUE READING: Rule Followers, Unite! And Stay Alive… | Teacher in a strange land

Housekeepers and custodians, fearful as campuses reopen, demand more protection from their schools - The Washington Post

Housekeepers and custodians, fearful as campuses reopen, demand more protection from their schools - The Washington Post

Housekeepers and custodians, fearful as campuses reopen, demand more protection from their schools 

After about two months off the job, Gliny Gonzalez, a 51-year-old housekeeper at the University of Maryland in College Park, was finally called back to work last month. But even after 14 years, she suddenly felt unprepared.

There was some training, including on updated cleaning procedures and ways to prevent exposure to the novel coronavirus. But Gonzalez, who speaks Spanish, understood only “a tiny bit” of the English instructions, she said. She was given gloves and a surgical mask to last her through the week.

The work itself made her nervous, too. She was called back to clean dorms as students and families arrived on the campus to remove belongings left behind when campus emptied. She was told they’d wear masks. But that wasn’t always the case, Gonzalez said.

“I was worried I’d get infected,” she said in an interview around the time she returned to work. And despite her best attempts to stay safe, Gonzalez contracted the virus and was admitted to a hospital last week, said Stuart Katzenberg, a leader from the College Park chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 3,400 College Park employees, including housekeepers, bus drivers, administrative assistants and other campus staff.

Gonzalez lives in Lanham, Md., with her 18-year-old son and three friends, but she believes she got sick at work. She spends most of her time in College Park, working in close quarters with other housekeepers, she said. State health officials will be notified about positive cases so they can start contact tracing, but Natifia Mullings, a university spokeswoman, did not say whether that process has started.

As campuses announce plans to reopen in the fall, service workers, many of whom are people of color, have been summoned to the front lines. Maintenance workers and custodial crews are being called back to work with little preparation, their union says. And housekeepers like Gonzalez are tasked with washing floors and sanitizing surfaces to keep the community safe even when they don’t feel safe themselves.

“People on campus are very, very concerned,” said Todd Holden, interim president of CONTINUE READING: Housekeepers and custodians, fearful as campuses reopen, demand more protection from their schools - The Washington Post

WAPO, NPR, NEA, HUFFPOST, RAVITCH, DEVOS AND POLITICO - Supreme Court eroded the separation between church and state

How the Supreme Court eroded the separation between church and state - The Washington Post

How the Supreme Court’s decision on religious schools just eroded the separation between church and state

 

The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 on Tuesday that a Montana tax incentive program that indirectly helps private religious schools is constitutional, a major victory for Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and her allies, who advocate for more public funding of religious institutions.

As my Washington Post colleague Robert Barnes wrote, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who wrote for the conservative majority, said Montana’s Supreme Court had been wrong to strike down a tax incentive program that allowed public money to be used for religious education.

Supreme Court says Montana program aiding private schools must be open to religious schools

The issue of whether public funds should be used to pay for religious school education has been increasingly central to the education reform debate for several decades as a growing number of states have started various programs — vouchers, tax credits and similar plans — that allow the use of public money for religious school tuition.

School-choice supporters say that state laws prohibiting public money from being used for religious institutions is discriminatory, while opponents say that they protect the doctrine of “separation of church and state” that has been interpreted as the meaning of the establishment clause and free exercise clause of the First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

DeVos has long been an advocate of using public funds for religious education, and she and President Trump have made expanding school “choice,” or alternatives to traditional public schools, their top education priority.

What ‘school choice’ means in the era of Trump and DeVos

In this post, Kevin Welner, an attorney and professor specializing in educational policy and law, writes about how this decision helps erode the doctrine of the separation of church and state. CONTINUE READING: How the Supreme Court eroded the separation between church and state - The Washington Post

Supreme Court: Montana Can't Exclude Religious Schools From Scholarship Program : NPR - https://www.npr.org/2020/06/30/883074890/supreme-court-montana-cant-exclude-religious-schools-from-scholarship-program?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=education on @NPR

Supreme Court Gives States Green Light to Expand School Vouchers http://neatoday.org/2020/06/30/supreme-court-opens-door-to-voucher-expansion/#.XvtuQoydXgg.twitter

Supreme Court Rules State's Denial Of Funding For Religious Schools Violates Constitution | HuffPost - https://www.huffpost.com/entry/supreme-court-montana-espinoza-religious-schools-constitution_n_5eeccb52c5b634145cc1309b on @HuffPostPol

BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court Rules Against Montana Ban on Funding Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-qUV via @dianeravitch

Secretary DeVos on Espinoza: Religious Discrimination is Dead | U.S. Department of Education - https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretary-devos-espinoza-religious-discrimination-dead

Supreme Court blurs the line between church and state by striking down Montana’s exclusion of religious schools from scholarship program – Raw Story - https://www.rawstory.com/?p=1640074

Supreme Court hands victory to DeVos in decision on aid to religious schools - POLITICO - https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/30/supreme-court-tax-dollars-religious-schools-345349

Trapped On a Runaway Train to a Public School Disaster | gadflyonthewallblog

Trapped On a Runaway Train to a Public School Disaster | gadflyonthewallblog

Trapped On a Runaway Train to a Public School Disaster

Congratulations, America.

We did it.

We screwed up the response to COVID-19 so badly that things can only get worse in the fall.

I’m a public school teacher and the father of a public school student.

I spent the last 9 weeks of class trying to create a new on-line curriculum for my 7th and 8th grade students out of thin air. Meanwhile, I had to assure my 11-year-old daughter that everything was okay during a global pandemic that robbed her of friends and teachers – all while trying to help her with her own school work.

And now at the end of June during Summer break I look at the upward curve of Coronavirus infections in the United States, and I want to cry.

We had this thing on a downward trajectory in May. It continued until about the CONTINUE READING: Trapped On a Runaway Train to a Public School Disaster | gadflyonthewallblog

Mr G. for District 3 ----------------- Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: What lesson is the district giving its teachers and kids with its reopening plan. (draft)

Mr G. for District 3 ----------------- Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: What lesson is the district giving its teachers and kids with its reopening plan. (draft)

What lesson is the district giving its teachers and kids with its reopening plan. (draft)

I have to say having a zoom call to discuss reopening subjects is a terrible look. If you don't feel safe enough to meet in person, why would you expect staff and students.

I want to thank the board and district for working so hard to ensure students can return to the classroom. It is what we all want and I also want to acknowledge how hard this must be, there are lots of moving parts and they all have moving parts too.

That being said I and many others have grave concerns about the district’s plan as is.

Unless there is a robust mask and ease of movement plan the district is assuring the virus will spread, people will get sick and schools will close. Some people say that is inevitable, well I reject that.

Then what lesson will we be teaching our children?

We will be teaching our children that science does not matter because all the science says masks are necessary.

We will be teaching our children that we can ignore experts because all the experts say masks are necessary.

We will be teaching our children that kindness, courtesy, and concern for their fellow citizens if optional as well.

These are the lessons the district will be teaching.

Somebody said to me, well we could not enforce it, kids don’t listen to teachers now. If that is true, then that’s indicative of a huge problem the district should address. I know the district hates to say no to children but with lives on the line the district needs to step up.

Then somebody said to me well if you want your kid to wear a mask, then do Duval homeroom or virtual school, the things is that is what we should be saying to families that don’t believe in science, care what experts say or have concern for their fellow citizens, the district should be saying to them have we have these other options but for in person school, to protect the health of our students and staff we are going to do everything possible. To me and many others the fact that you have not said that up till now is reckless and unacceptable.  

 Also while you have been trying to give families options what options have you given to staff? (pause) As far CONTINUE READING: Mr G. for District 3 ----------------- Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: What lesson is the district giving its teachers and kids with its reopening plan. (draft)

BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court Rules Against Montana Ban on Funding Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court Rules Against Montana Ban on Funding Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court Rules Against Montana Ban on Funding Religious Schools

The Supreme Court just released a 5-4 decision in the case of Espinoza V. Montana that struck down a provision in the state constitution banning public funds to religious schools.

The decision seems to be narrowly tailored to say that if a state provides aid to private schools, it can’t bar aid to religious schools. I will post expert opinions on this as soon as they are available.

The many rightwing groups arguing on behalf of the plaintiffs (Espinoza) said that the ban was rooted in 19th century anti-Catholic bigotry (Blaine amendments), but Montana’s ban was enacted in 1972.

The decision will be celebrated by DeVos and other conservatives but it is not the knockout blow they were hoping for. If states don’t fund any private schools, they don’t have to fund religious schools. Conservatives were hoping to tear down Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state.” That didn’t happen.

The Los Angeles Times reported, in a story titled “Religious Schools Are Entitled to State Grants Given to Other Private Schools, Supreme Court Rules”:

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that states may not exclude religious schools from tuition grants that support other private schools.
The justices, by a 5-4 vote, decided that denying grants CONTINUE READING: BREAKING NEWS: Supreme Court Rules Against Montana Ban on Funding Religious Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why This Historic Moment Is Special: My Reflections on the Movements Sweeping the Nation

With A Brooklyn Accent: Why This Historic Moment Is Special: My Reflections on the Movements Sweeping the Nation

Why This Historic Moment Is Special: My Reflections on the Movements Sweeping the Nation

I am tremendously optimistic about the current historic moment because the Black Lives Matter movement has grown to proportions as large, or larger than any movement I have seen in my lifetime, including the anti-war movement of the 60's which it resembles most. What has been most astonishing has been the number of small towns that Black Lives Matter vigils have been held in, many of them in places where most people would have said protesters would fear for their safety. In Eastern Long Island, there have been BLM vigils not only in relatively liberal towns like Sag Harbor and Bridghampton, but in conservative enclaves like Montauk and Hampton Bays. Almost all of these protests have been led by young women, many of high school age. And this has taken place all over the US and in many parts of the world. At last count, my students and former students have participated in 51 BLM actions, more than half in small towns and suburbs. And these movements have forced long needed changes in police procedures and police funding in many states and
cities, and this in less than two months

. Now, the movements are also turning their attention to colleges and universities where racist practices have long been tolerated or been too difficult to challenge. What is most exciting is that for a significant number of protesters, this has been their first action which has put them in direct conflict with police, public officials and racist and white supremacist hecklers and goon squads and CONTINUE READING: With A Brooklyn Accent: Why This Historic Moment Is Special: My Reflections on the Movements Sweeping the Nation

SSPI Announces Ethnic Studies Webinar Series + WHERE ARE THE TECH BILLIONAIRES WHEN YOU NEED THEM? - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

SSPI Announces Ethnic Studies Webinar Series - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces Ethnic Studies Webinar Series Featuring Civil Rights Leaders and Special Guests

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today announced that the California Department of Education (CDE) will lead a series of virtual ethnic studies webinars and lessons in the coming weeks. As the CDE prepares to submit a revised Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum for public review, these webinars will help students, educators, and families familiarize themselves with the core areas of ethnic studies, including how different groups have struggled and worked together, as well as key concepts such as equality, justice, race, ethnicity, and indigeneity.

“Our students have spoken, and they want to have conversations and learn about our nation’s complex history in a way that is more representative of the world they’ve experienced and lived—a way that represents them and their families,” said Thurmond. “During this historic moment, we as a nation are re-examining the problematic fabrics of our society and history; ethnic studies helps emphasize cross-relational and intersectional study of different groups and helps tell of the struggles, histories, and contributions of America’s ethnic groups that all students need to learn.”

This series of webinars will feature the four foundational groups of ethnic studies: Africana Studies, Asian American Studies, Chicano Latino Studies, and Native American Studies. The series will feature prominent leaders and educators from each discipline to provide lectures during the webinars.

So far, confirmed special guests include:

• Civil rights activist Dolores Huerta
• Assemblymember Shirley Weber, a professor emeritus and co-founder of Africana Studies at San Diego State University
• Assemblymember Jose Medina, who drafted legislation to make ethnic studies a high school graduation requirement
• Dr. Karen Korematsu, educator, civil rights advocate, and daughter of late civil rights icon Fred Korematsu
• Assemblymember James Ramos, co-founder of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians’ Cultural Awareness Program and director of the California Indian Cultural Awareness Conference at California State University, San Bernardino

Over the course of history, both in our state and nationally, specific ethnic groups have had unjust treatment even from respected institutions of authority. Renewed national discussion has served as an urgent reminder that curriculum taught in schools has not done enough to highlight and preserve the contributions of people of color and has actually minimized the importance of their role. A movement to create a better model of inclusion to be taught in our kindergarten through grade twelve public school system was established in the hopes of teaching a history that is more representative of what actually occurred. Ethnic studies as a whole should represent a broad range of topics, but it must devote a special emphasis to people of color, including their experiences and their important roles in our state and national history.

The first webinar will be held July 7, 2020, at 3 p.m., and more details will be released soon. Updates will be announced on the CDE’s Facebook page, Instagram page (@cadepted), and Twitter (@cadepted).

Clarifying Meal Service Guidance - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/mealserviceguidclarif.asp

 SSPI Calls on Private Industry to Aid Tech Needs - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr20/yr20rel51.asp

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

SSPI Announces Ethnic Studies Webinar Series - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

Calling All Teachers: Please Complete This National Teacher Survey | deutsch29

Calling All Teachers: Please Complete This National Teacher Survey | deutsch29

Calling All Teachers: Please Complete This National Teacher Survey

Kate Phillippo is an associate professor in social work at Loyola University in Chicago. In 2019, I reviewed her excellent book about competitive school choice in Chicago, A Contest Without Winners.

During this time of coronavirus and massive protest, Dr. Phillippo and her colleagues have created a national teacher survey, which she describes as follows:

A group of colleagues and I are launching, today, an online survey of PK-12 teachers, to learn how they are navigating their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resistance to racial injustice that has intensified since George Floyd was killed.

We know that many PK-12 students have experienced trauma, disruption, distress, loss and challenging circumstances in these unprecedented times. We hope to learn how teachers have been able to respond to students’ wellness concerns (mental health, health, safety, family and academic), and how teachers themselves are doing during these unprecedented times.

Our goal is to use this information to help inform teacher preparation, education and support efforts, along with policy that pertains to teachers and mental health. We also hope to showcase all the critical work teachers have done during this unprecedented time.

Dr. Phillippo asked me to share the survey with fellow teachers nationally, which I am happy to do.

If you taught full time in 2019-20 in the United States, any grade levels ranging from pre-K to twelfth, please consider completing the survey. I just did so in about 15 minutes.

My thanks to Dr. Phillippo and her colleagues for seeking teacher input during this unprecedented time.

Calling All Teachers: Please Complete This National Teacher Survey | deutsch29

My latest book, A Practical Guide to Digital Research: Getting the Facts and Rejecting the Lies, is now available for purchase on Amazon and via Garn Press!

Follow me on Twitter @deutsch29blog

Calling All Teachers: Please Complete This National Teacher Survey | deutsch29

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board June 29, 2020 What in the World Are We Gonna Do in September?

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board June 29, 2020 What in the World Are We Gonna Do in September?

UFT Executive Board June 29, 2020 What in the World Are We Gonna Do in September?

Roll Call 5:50


UFT Secretary LeRoy Barr--Minutes have passed via email.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew--We will be talking during the summer. We are at the end of the city budget. DOE has been cutting central and outside contracts, to some degree, but this is phase one. If we don't have fed package, state will do more cuts. City may have to borrow money, but if everything stays the same, we can do bare bones in September. Can we open safely? Probably not.

City may have to borrow, but hoping not. We don't know where we will be next year, but virus is still raging out of control around the country. Last week we had good week of planning with DOE and CFA on safety. Will we open? No idea, but odds are not good. We need fed funding and virus under control. We need both. Very tough.

We finally got medical accommodation process, but criteria is changing. We try to track it based on facts, talking to doctors rather than pollsters. Of course changes contribute to fear and anxiety. Age group affected dropping dramatically. Won't be able to make call until it's very close. Governor has grave concerns. How can we keep NY safe? No answer as of yet.

People need to do basics, stay away from one another and wear masks. We want people to get info out, and do more planning about staying remote. We will look at both ways. Exec. Board needs to understand as we move forward.

Some groups are upset at us. We want to cut central. We don't want layoffs of people who work with children. Budgets are not good. We want central and outside contracts cut before we look at cuts to school. DOE moving in that direction now, and hopefully programs that help children will be taken off chopping block.

As soon a budget is done we will send synopsis to Exec. Board. Our teams did Town Halls with every series of electeds. Seems we're headed more toward funding things that help kids.

Cassie Pruett--We were aligned with Chairman Treygor and protected dollars that affected members and students. We will stay close with updates.

Mulgrew--We're staying with that. Cuts need to be from central and contracts. Money needs to go into social workers, PLC programs, and  CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board June 29, 2020 What in the World Are We Gonna Do in September?

Parents: Google Classroom is not your friend | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

Parents: Google Classroom is not your friend | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

PARENTS: GOOGLE CLASSROOM IS NOT YOUR FRIEND

The following is by Carrie McLaren, a Brooklyn parent.  If others have similar experiences with Chromebooks, please let us know at info@studentprivacymatters.org

A couple of years ago, my then-4th grade son started watching YouTube videos about Magic, a trading card game. These were snoozy, lo-tech commentaries that struck me as quasi-educational. But I soon noticed that YouTube’s algorithm would start recommending more and more “engaging” videos —  a video of white gamer known for dropping the N-word, for instance.

A close friend noticed the same thing happening with her teen. The boy watches videos about American history and started slowly being fed conspiratorial, alt.right nonsense. The racism was not intended on Google’s part. It’s simply the formula we’ve seen all over media platforms: big emotions + edgy content = more engagement. YouTube is in the center of the attention economy, after all, and YouTube’s goal is to keep users watching YouTube.

This economic imperative doesn’t end with Google Classroom. Classroom is just another piece of Google’s data-mining machine. Why school districts are so eager to jump on board the platform is CONTINUE READING: Parents: Google Classroom is not your friend | Parent Coalition for Student Privacy

Government Watchdog Report Shows DeVos Delayed Students From Receiving Stimulus Money

Government Watchdog Report Shows DeVos Delayed Students From Receiving Stimulus Money

Government Watchdog Report Shows DeVos Delayed Students From Receiving Stimulus Money

Last week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report evaluating the federal government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The watchdog’s report showed that the implementation of the coronavirus relief law, known as the CARES Act, from Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and the Department of Education was less than satisfactory. 

Congress allocated nearly $14 billion in the CARES Act to go to colleges and universities to provide emergency relief after campuses were forced to shutter due to social distancing. Half of the money appropriated was to be sent to students in the form of emergency grant aid. 

The GAO found that the Department’s “evolving communication may have delayed schools’ distribution of funds to students.” Five of the seven higher education associations that the GAO talked to said this created difficulties in distributing aid to students.

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Two weeks after colleges and universities submitted paperwork to receive the money, the Department introduced new information about student eligibility. These changes caused major blowback against the Department and Secretary DeVos, as it blocked undocumented students from receiving the aid money. This resulted in multiple lawsuits and has even led to two injunctions being issued.

One association told the GAO that “some schools had already developed their plans for how to distribute the funds prior to the release of Education’s (guidance), so they had to start their planning process over in response to the new information provided on student CONTINUE READING: Government Watchdog Report Shows DeVos Delayed Students From Receiving Stimulus Money