Whitmer links Betsy DeVos to upcoming coronavirus stay-at-home order protest; organizers say she’s not involved - mlive.com

Whitmer links Betsy DeVos to upcoming coronavirus stay-at-home order protest; organizers say she’s not involved - mlive.com

Whitmer links Betsy DeVos to upcoming coronavirus stay-at-home order protest; organizers say she’s not involved

Supporters of an upcoming “traffic jam” aimed at protesting Michigan’s stay-at-home order say U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has no connection to the event after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said it was “inappropriate” for a sitting Cabinet member to attack her politically.

Whitmer didn’t mention DeVos by name during a Monday press conference, but suggested the West Michigan native was linked to the protest because a group funded in part by members of the DeVos family, the Michigan Freedom Fund, is supporting it.

“I think it’s really inappropriate for a sitting member of the United States President’s cabinet to be waging political attacks on any governor, but obviously on me here at home,” she said. “I think that they should disavow it and encourage people to stay at home and be safe.”

The protest, scheduled for noon Wednesday, was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition and also lists the Michigan Freedom Fund as a host. Participants are being asked to stay in their cars and drive around the Michigan Capitol building to start a traffic jam while honking horns and displaying signs or painted vehicles to protest the stay-at-home order.

“We WANT gridlock,” the event description reads.

Nick Wasmiller, a spokesperson for the DeVos family, said the family hasn’t funded the protest and hasn’t offered prior support to the Michigan Conservative Coalition.

“They understand the frustration of fellow Michiganders, however, as elements of the governor’s top-down approach CONTINUE READING: Whitmer links Betsy DeVos to upcoming coronavirus stay-at-home order protest; organizers say she’s not involved - mlive.com

Jack Schneider: How covid-19 has laid bare inequities in public education - The Washington Post

How covid-19 has laid bare inequities in public education - The Washington Post

How covid-19 has laid bare the vast inequities in U.S. public education

There is something about a crisis that has a way of shining light on stark realities — and nowhere is that truer than in education.

The closing of schools during the covid-19 pandemic and the quick switch to distance learning has laid bare the gaping and persistent inequities in educational opportunities that exist across the United States.

This post examines how that looks in the era of the pandemic and how we might look at things differently when schools reopen, which they will — eventually.

This was written by Jack Schneider, a scholar of education history and policy at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and the author of several books, including “Beyond Test Scores.” He is also the co-host of an education podcast called “Have You Heard” with Jennifer Berkshire.

By Jack Schneider

For the past generation, we have been talking about the achievement gap in American public education — the fact that low income students and students from historically marginalized racial groups, on average, score lower than their more privileged peers. Chiefly, this matter has been treated as a problem with the schools. CONTINUE READING: How covid-19 has laid bare inequities in public education - The Washington Post

ANDRE PERRY: Experienced teachers could retire in droves by the time schools reopen

Experienced teachers could retire in droves by the time schools reopen

Teachers could retire in droves by the time schools reopen
The disruptions after Hurricane Katrina sparked a major exodus of experienced teachers. Could the same happen to schools nationwide after the coronavirus pandemic?

Eventually we will flatten the curve, create a vaccine for Covid-19 and re-open school buildings that have been shuttered for months. But schools won’t look the same.

In particular, students may not see some of their most beloved teachers when they come back to school next year.

A study of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina offers powerful insights into what we might see on the other side of our social distancing efforts. One of the most important, and potentially devastating, effects of our current extended period of homeschooling is a likely flood of early retirements.

Comparisons to post-Katrina New Orleans make a lot of sense. The causes of our impending recession are more akin to what happened in the Gulf South after Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005 than to the housing crisis, sparked in 2008: An unprecedented, singular natural disaster forced multiple cities to shut down schools and businesses for months. An obvious difference is people aren’t being forced to leave their homes because of the coronavirus. Yet, just as the pandemic is upending our entire society, Katrina forever changed Southern Louisiana and parts of Mississippi, its schools, and the mindset of anyone who lived through that CONTINUE READING: Experienced teachers could retire in droves by the time schools reopen

Teacher Tom: Let's Not Forget What We Lose With Those Screens Between Us and the Other People

Teacher Tom: Let's Not Forget What We Lose With Those Screens Between Us and the Other People

Let's Not Forget What We Lose With Those Screens Between Us and the Other People

I've been taking a lot of long and necessarily solitary walks these days. The weather has been glorious and, frankly, there's not a lot else to do. Occasionally, I encounter people coming toward me from the opposite direction. The protocol is for both of us to move as far to the right as we can in an attempt to create the six foot separation that is the depressing hallmark of our current era. Sometimes one or the other of us has to step out into the street because most of the neighborhood sidewalks aren't wide enough to accommodate both of us. I've been trying to make eye contact, to smile, and to greet my fellow pedestrians. It's not the usual big city protocol, but these are extraordinary times.

The other day I was making my way up the long hill of Dexter Avenue after a turn through Fremont. I spied a young man in the distance, a boy really, maybe still in middle school. We were to pass one another on a wide section of the sidewalk so I moved to my side well in advance of our encounter and he to his. Then, just as we approached one another, just as I was about to nod my head in greeting, he began to drift toward the center of the sidewalk, toward me. It didn't seem intentional. Indeed, I felt myself pulled toward him as well. It was almost as if we were falling into one another's gravitational fields.

Several years ago, there was a commercial on television featuring screen-based technology that allowed children to "paint" on their screens. The pitch featured a girl CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Let's Not Forget What We Lose With Those Screens Between Us and the Other People

“The Coronavirus Just Might End School Privatization Nonsense” | Diane Ravitch's blog

“The Coronavirus Just Might End School Privatization Nonsense” | Diane Ravitch's blog

“The Coronavirus Just Might End School Privatization Nonsense”

This is an essay I wrote for Education Week. I thank them for their close reading, fact-checking, and careful editing.

The vast majority of the nation’s schoolchildren are out of school because of the deadly coronavirus. Parents are frantically trying to figure out how to keep their children engaged in learning, and many districts are providing online instruction or recommending resources for lessons. After teaching her two children for a week, Shonda Rhimes, the creator and producer of hit TV shows, tweeted, “I think teachers should be paid a billion dollars a year. Or a week.” Another parent forced into homeschooling joked, “Is there any way I can get one of my children transferred to someone else’s class?”

Most parents don’t feel qualified to teach their children at home, especially since museums, libraries, and other public spaces are also closed. They don’t long to be home schoolers; they long for schools to reopen. It turns out that parents and students alike really appreciate their local schools, really respect their teachers, and can’t wait for schools to restart.

Among the sweetest videos on Twitter these days are the teacher parades, such as the one in Lawrence, Kan., where elementary school teachers drive their cars in a slow line around the neighborhood, waving to their children, who stand on their porches and wave back to CONTINUE READING: “The Coronavirus Just Might End School Privatization Nonsense” | Diane Ravitch's blog

Louisiana Governor Closes School Facilities for Rest of School Year | deutsch29

Louisiana Governor Closes School Facilities for Rest of School Year | deutsch29

Louisiana Governor Closes School Facilities for Rest of School Year

Louisiana governor, John Bel Edwards plans to issue a formal proclamation closing Louisiana schools for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year.

WDSU.com includes a video in which Edwards declares the following during a April 13, 2020, press release while in Monroe, LA:

It is my intention to announce that school will not resume in the sense that students are going to go back to school, going to the school building.

Education will continue, the school year continues, but they will not be going back onto the campuses.

According to the April 13, 2020, Baton Rouge Advocate, Edwards plans to issue a formal declaration “later this week after consulting with state education leaders.”

On April 08, 2020, the Louisiana Association of School Superintendents petitioned Edwards to close schools for the remainder of the school year. One day later, on April 09, 2020, the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) issued its own letter “respectfully request[ing] that [Edwards] act now in making a decision to formally extend school facilities closures for the remainder of the Spring term.”

Louisiana Governor Closes School Facilities for Rest of School Year | deutsch29

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Grading for the Pandemic Term | JD2718

Grading for the Pandemic Term | JD2718

Grading for the Pandemic Term

How are we going to do it? That’s a great question. Soon the UFT will meet with the DoE to shape guidance to schools. This would be a great moment for teachers to weigh in, which is exactly what a group from Francis Lewis has done here. I actually was invited to sit down with them (metaphorically, I’m not allowed in the same room as them irl today), but could not make it.

But after they were done, I looked at their notes, and thought, I like these. I’d like to change some stuff.  So that’s what I’ll do. First comes their suggestion, then mine, then some of my thoughts. You should express your opinion, too. The more voices, the better.

Proposed Grading Policy for Spring 2020 (from several teachers at FLHS)

We agree with the mayor that now is a time to show compassion for the students we serve. We understand that they and their families are suffering from enormous stress, anxiety, and perhaps even the loss of loved ones. We understand some of them lack sufficient technology to participate. We therefore propose the following policy for the remainder of our school year:

1. Do no harm. Wherever students were at the time schools were closed, we agree not to lower their grades. We cannot penalize students for circumstances beyond their control.

2. Teachers shall have flexibility to use either numerical grades, or pass/ fail options. Students who may have been on the cusp of passing and show promise can receive a P as a grade. High achieving students entering or applying for colleges can still get grades of 98 or higher, for example. Teachers will have wide latitude in raising student grades for excellent work or participation as they see fit.
3. Classes based on cumulative learning will do a thorough review in September 2020, CONTINUE READING: Grading for the Pandemic Term | JD2718

CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Court Delivers Another Blow To Public Education

CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Court Delivers Another Blow To Public Education

FL: Court Delivers Another Blow To Public Education

Florida's HB 7069 is the gift that just keeps on giving. Or rather, taking. This cobbled-together Frankenstein's monster of a bill included a variety of methods for draining the blood from public education, and one of its most astonishing pieces of legalized theft was just upheld by the court.

The bill was shepherded through by then-House speaker Richard Corcoran; he's now the state's education head honcho. The most famous portion of the bill was the Schools of Hope, a name that only makes sense if you mean that these schools give hope to privatizers and profiteers. Schools of Hope are the ultimate use of the tactics of weakening public schools and then publicly labelling them failures; this program encouraged edu-biz entrepreneurs to open up charter schools right next door to "failing" public schools, thereby tapping into a ready-made market. The program is already targeted for expansion by including Trump's "opportunity zones" and by expanding the definition of "failing" for schools. It's a fine policy for a state legislature that is absolutely devoted to gutting public education and letting privateers feast on the pieces. Schools of Hope are the anti-Samaritan law, a law in which the state finds struggling schools beaten and lying beside the road (and by "finds" I mean "helps beat up") and then, instead of calling for assistance, waves over a bunch of vultures.

But schools of hope might not be the most audacious, astonishing attack on public schools.

While plenty of Florida legislators have close personal connections to the charter school industry, CONTINUE READING:  CURMUDGUCATION: FL: Court Delivers Another Blow To Public Education

School Nurses Join Fight Against Coronavirus - NEA Today

School Nurses Join Fight Against Coronavirus - NEA Today

School Nurses Join Fight Against Coronavirus

After a grueling shift, exhausted nurses and doctors walk out hospital doors, their tired faces red and raw where masks have rubbed against their skin for many long hours. But when they’re met by a chorus of cheers and salutes from firefighters, police, and EMTs, those tired faces break into smiles, and, a lot of the time, tears.

Among them is Sue Weimer, the school nurse from Shawnee High School in Burlington County, New Jersey. Now she’s on the front lines, caring for the surge of coronavirus patients as a per diem nurse at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she had been working part time as an ER nurse on weekends during the school year.

The cheers from other first responders and the waves, applause and signs saying “Thank You” from people standing on porches or in apartment windows helps buoy spirits, as does the outpouring of support Weimer says she’s received from from friends and neighbors. The support is tangible — from donated meals from area restaurants to headbands with buttons sewn onto them so hospital staff can attach masks and head covering bands around them to avoid irritating their skin.

On social media, Weimer sends encouraging messages to students and their families.

“I want to let kids know their school nurses are still here and we’re doing what we CONTINUE READING: School Nurses Join Fight Against Coronavirus - NEA Today

Teacher Bashers Gonna Bash — Even In a Pandemic | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Teacher Bashers Gonna Bash — Even In a Pandemic | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Teacher Bashers Gonna Bash — Even In a Pandemic

Teaching during a pandemic is challenging.

And some teachers are facing more hardships than others.  There are teachers who have been infected with Covid-19.  There are teachers who have family members who have been infected and are currently fighting for their lives.  There are teachers who have family members who have already died of Covid-19.  There are teachers who are physically healthy but are suffering mental trauma from all that is going on.  And, yes, there are teachers who have died — infected, some of them, in schools that should have been closed a week or two sooner.

One challenge that some teachers have is that they have their own children at home.  Not to diminish the very real issues that teachers who do not have children at home are facing, but since this is the struggle that I am dealing with most, it is the one that I can address with the most detail.  I have two children, 12 years old and 9 years old.  My older child has adjusted pretty well to remote learning so far.  My younger child has not.  For me, this is my hardship and I’m lucky that, at least for now, this is the thing that occupies a lot of my energy.  I could have much bigger problems.

This crisis has put a lot of people out of work.  Certain jobs have temporarily ceased to CONTINUE READING: Teacher Bashers Gonna Bash — Even In a Pandemic | Gary Rubinstein's Blog

Teacher Tom: I Am Not Afraid; I Am Afraid

Teacher Tom: I Am Not Afraid; I Am Afraid

I Am Not Afraid; I Am Afraid

I'm not afraid of this virus. I'll either get it or I won't. My immune system will either fight it off or it won't. It's like every other virus in that sense. I'm practicing social distancing, staying home, and washing my hands because that's what we're doing to keep our healthcare system from being overrun, but I'm comfortable with the fact that I will one day slip up, or someone close to me will slip up, and I'll contract the highly contagious illness that goes with it. There's even a decent chance I've already survived it given all the travel I did between December and March and the fact that this virus is as likely to reveal itself through symptoms as not. There are a handful of doctors, nurses, and even some infectious disease specialists in my social circle and every one of them privately confirms my assumptions, with the caveat that there's a slim chance that I get lucky enough to dodge it for a couple years until a vaccine is developed and deployed.

Mine isn't a manufactured fearlessness, one to wear like armor against anxiety. I'm genuinely unconcerned about this virus and I've been genuinely unconcerned about all viruses during my entire career as a preschool teacher. I've always washed my hands and taken other common sense CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: I Am Not Afraid; I Am Afraid