CDC guidelines for reopening schools: What's real?

CDC guidelines for reopening schools: What's real?

CDC guidelines for reopening schools: What's real?
What will it really take to put children back in school buildings safely this fall?

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a "Schools Decision Tool" this week with recommendations for reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parents are reacting strongly — either in relief or in outrage — at the changes the recommended CDC guidelines for reopening schools would cause. While alarmist posts on social media about the recommendations have upset many, the reality of the CDC guidelines is not so black-and-white.

The new CDC guidelines aim to help school administrators figure out how to safely open schools in the fall.CDC

The CDC tool offers specific suggestions for how to ensure the safety of students and faculty and staff if schools reopen in the fall. These include detailed recommendations for hygiene and face coverings, cleaning and disinfecting, classroom layouts and lunchtime procedures, and class and bus schedules.

It's not a simple checklist. The CDC states each school "should be guided by what is feasible, practical, acceptable, and tailored to the needs of each community."

After the CDC released the guidelines, some of their recommendations were paraphrased in memes that went viral on social media. In simplifying the recommendations into memes, a few essential words were left out, making them seem like rules instead of suggestions.

For instance, the CDC recommends that schools "teach and reinforce use of cloth face coverings," while acknowledging that "face coverings may be challenging for students (especially younger students) to wear in all-day settings."

So the CDC advises that staff and students should wear masks "as feasible," especially when physical distancing is hard to do. It says that children younger than 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or anyone who would be unable to remove the face covering without help should not wear them.

But the memes paraphrasing the guidelines just state, "Wear face masks if over the age of 2."

Although the meme says things like "No field trips, assemblies, or external organizations," the actual recommendation from the CDC is to "limit" these activities or pursue alternatives "as possible." It recommends the same for areas like playground equipment: "Clean and disinfect as much as possible."

Memes paraphrasing the CDC guidelines for reopening schools spread over social media. In the translation, though, a few important words were left out that made the guidelines seem like absolute rules instead of suggestions.www.KidsActivities.com

Parents have mixed feelings about what the CDC guidelines might CONTINUE READING:CDC guidelines for reopening schools: What's real?

What will COVID 19 bring for Education in Fall? | Cloaking Inequity

What will COVID 19 bring for Education in Fall? | Cloaking Inequity

WHAT WILL COVID 19 BRING FOR EDUCATION IN FALL?

COVID 19 is radically impacting education. Sharing a few resources and thoughts that may be helpful as we consider education in the midst of a pandemic. I joined WWL LIVE today to discuss.

Contributed to an article on MarketWatch considering the impact of COVID 19.

Also, Kentucky recently released a document of items to consider when planning for COVID 19.

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Kentucky is doing some heavy lifting on the strategic planning for Fall: COVID-19 Considerations for Reopening Schools Initial Guidance for Schools and Districts https://education.ky.gov/comm/Documents/Reopening%20Guidance%20%20051520kf_tkt%20421pm%20TM.pdf … @DianeRavitch @Network4pubEd @carolburris @Lily_NEA @rweingarten

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What will COVID 19 bring for Education in Fall? | Cloaking Inequity

No Need to Catch Up: Teaching without a Deficit Lens – radical eyes for equity

No Need to Catch Up: Teaching without a Deficit Lens – radical eyes for equity

No Need to Catch Up: Teaching without a Deficit Lens

Some jokes work only when spoken aloud, and possibly especially when spoken aloud in certain regions of the country, but this one came to mind recently in the context of the impact of Covid-19 on schooling: “This is the worst use of ‘catch up’ in education since the Reagan administration allowed the condiment to count as a vegetable in school lunches.”

Photo by Charisse Kenion on Unsplash

As I noted in a Twitter thread, a common response to schools closing during the spring of 2020 because of the pandemic is an editorial (The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC) declaring, Use summer to figure out how to catch up SC students; they’ll need it.

“How do schools help students catch up after the Covid-19 closures?” is the wrong question, grounded in a deficit lens for teaching and learning also found in concepts such as remediation and grade-level reading.

Traditional formal schooling functions under several inter-related ideologies, some of which are contradictory (consider assumptions about the bell-shaped curve and IQ v. the standards movement that seeks to have all students achieve above a normal standard).

Deficit ideologies depend on norms, bureaucratized metrics, against which identified populations (in education, grade levels linked to biological age) can be measured; the result is a formula that labels students in relationship to the CONTINUE READING: No Need to Catch Up: Teaching without a Deficit Lens – radical eyes for equity

Proposed budget cuts threaten safe opening of California schools, leaders say - Los Angeles Times

Proposed budget cuts threaten safe opening of California schools, leaders say - Los Angeles Times

Proposed budget cuts threaten safe opening of California schools, leaders say 

State education leaders on Thursday said proposed budget cuts to education would threaten their ability to reopen safely next fall and that confronting the COVID-19 pandemic calls for more nurses, counselors, custodians and teachers.

The forum for these warnings was a video conference hosted by state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. Also taking part in the event was Gil F. Chavez, a senior state health official, who said that the manner and timing of reopening for individual school systems would depend on local county health officials.

The live broadcast drew more than 13,500 viewers on Facebook alone, signaling broad interest and concern over cuts to education funding that work out to about 10%. Although Thurmond remains a solid political ally of Gov. Gavin Newsom, he nonetheless allowed the education establishment to take critical aim at the governor’s proposed budget, which was released a week ago.

“I’m finding it very difficult to figure out how we’re going to maintain the safety levels that we need to have,” said Ben Valdepeña, president of California School Employees Assn., which represents more than 250,000 school support staff.

“I really don’t know if the two custodians that work at the school where I work would be able to keep up with the demand of constantly sanitizing the school,” said Valdepeña, a Yucaipa-area school custodian with 38 years of experience.

 He also stressed the need for clear guidance: “I don’t know what it takes to open up a school in this era of COVID-19.”

The state health department and the education department are working on guidelines, which Thurmond said would be available in weeks or possibly days and also could roll out gradually. Chavez, deputy director for the California Department of Public Health,
indicated that instructions are likely to include recommendations for wearing masks, practicing social distancing in classrooms, limiting the social and academic mixing of students and providing health screenings for students and employees.

He acknowledged the difficulty of requiring young children and disabled students to wear masks.

“We’re sensitive to the notion that you can’t require 100% of everybody to wear a mask,” he said.

Campuses shut down statewide in March; the last day of on-campus instruction in L.A. Unified, the state’s largest school system, was March 13.

Leaders of the state’s 1,000 school districts generally have appreciated Thurmond’s supportive tone, but the substance of Thursday’s message was less encouraging. The most unwelcome note, pertaining to funding, was no surprise. As matters stand, most school systems in the state can look forward to less money for the approaching school year, Thurmond said, a result of plummeting state tax revenue due to the pandemic-related economic shutdown.

“We know that this is hard and we know that the financial implications have made this even more difficult,” Thurmond said.

He added: “We hear you loud and clear. ... We agree with you that we cannot ask schools to do more with less.”

In California, about 90% of education funding is from the state, with about 10% from CONTINUE READING:  Proposed budget cuts threaten safe opening of California schools, leaders say - Los Angeles Times

My Thoughts on the Election | Diane Ravitch's blog

My Thoughts on the Election | Diane Ravitch's blog

My Thoughts on the Election

I will vote for Joe Biden. I will vote for him with enthusiasm. The alternative is almost too horrible to contemplate.

Donald Trump is a wannabe fascist. Under Mitch McConnell’s direction (or control), Trump is filling the federal judiciary with rightwing extremists and incompetents. Trump is vicious. He has not an ounce of empathy. He is incompetent, and he has surrounded himself with incompetent lackeys, who are determined to dismantle the federal government and break every international institution created since 1945 to assure mutual cooperation. Given another four years, he will utterly destroy whatever is left of our government, ideals, our hopes for a better future, our belief in progress.

Joe Biden didn’t win the nomination because the Democratic establishment backed him. In fact, Biden was written off by the Democratic establishment after his CONTINUE READING: My Thoughts on the Election | Diane Ravitch's blog

CURMUDGUCATION: How Hard Are CDC Guidelines To Follow

CURMUDGUCATION: How Hard Are CDC Guidelines To Follow

How Hard Are CDC Guidelines To Follow

So now everyone is freaked out about the CDC "guidelines" as reported on that blue meme that was going around. This, of course, was the point-- to sell the idea that public schools will be like prisons, so everyone should pull their kids out. Because in the spirit of never letting a crisis go to waste, there are folks from your neighbor with the tin hat all the way up to the US Secretary of Education who see the pandemic as one more chance to dismantle public schools.  So the blue list was framed, worded, and occasionally misrepresented in order to create maximum outrage. Mission accomplished.

Let's look instead at the actual CDC guidelines. I won't lie-- as I pointed out when they were just a few suggestions, they are not particularly awesome. But let's take a look-- Just how big a challenge do schools face when it comes to re-opening in the fall?

You can see two versions of the same info, either here on the CDC website, which is more recent, or here on the leaked document starting on page 47. I'm going to use the leaked document and try to pick up some details that are on the website, which is a little more listlike. It's worth noting that the recommendations are, in fact, phrased as recommendations and that the phrase "if feasible" turns up a lot. The whole re-opening America document is organized around the idea of three phases. One-- school is closed. Two-- Open with enhanced social distancing. Three-- Open with distancing measures.

This is going to be long, but I want to be thorough.

FOR ALL PHASES

Establish and continue communication with local and state authorities.

So that the school is in tune with the surroundings. Do-able.

Protect staff and students who are higher risk by offering things like "telework" and "virtual CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: How Hard Are CDC Guidelines To Follow

Misguiding Public School Policy: The Role of Giant Philanthropy and Technocracy | janresseger

Misguiding Public School Policy: The Role of Giant Philanthropy and Technocracy | janresseger

Misguiding Public School Policy: The Role of Giant Philanthropy and Technocracy

This blog will take Memorial Day off.  Look for a new post on Wednesday, May 27, 2020.

Several years ago, I was privileged to receive an invitation from a school psychologist at our local high school to visit the school and write about what I saw during that visit. The most memorable experience  was a social science elective class open to high school juniors and seniors—a high school level course introducing political philosophy.  The students were discussing Voltaire’s Candide, and the teacher began by presenting the class with a list of questions for discussion and asking the students to choose where to begin. By challenging the students to begin with the hardest question, which would help them explore what they were struggling to understand, the teacher disarmed the students’ anxieties and gave them the freedom to participate actively. In the discussion that followed—which the teacher struggled to wrap up even as students had to move on to the next class—students engaged each other, the teacher probed the students’ understanding of the book, and students demanded background to fill in their limited experience with this sort of reading. One girl, sitting in a chair at the back of the room near the windows, became so engaged that she climbed up to sit on top of a radiator in order to be able to see everyone who was talking and participate more actively in the conversation.

This is the best high school class I have ever observed. The engagement—between the teacher and students and the students with each other— was spontaneous, emotional, and intellectual. I don’t think that experience could really have happened on Zoom, though I’m sure that same teacher has done his best in these past two months to engage his students in this year’s version of that class.  We all do the best we can in an emergency.  In our current emergency, Zoom and other programs like it are all we have.

I thought about that high school political philosophy class when I read that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has sought the help of Bill Gates to realize Cuomo’s latest proposal—“The old model of everybody goes and sits in a classroom, and the teacher is in front of that classroom and teaches that class, and you do that all across the city, all across the state; all CONTINUE READING: Misguiding Public School Policy: The Role of Giant Philanthropy and Technocracy | janresseger

Advance SEL in CA Campaign Launched - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

Advance SEL in CA Campaign Launched - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and State Board President Linda Darling-Hammond Launch "Advance SEL in California," a Social and Emotional Learning Campaign

SSPI Holds Virtual Forum to Safely Reopen Schools - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr20/yr20rel35.asp

SSPI Hosts First Student Support Circle - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr20/yr20rel36.asp

The effort kicks off with a WikiWisdom Forum, where educators, school leaders, and families from across the state can communicate directly about how to advance, elevate, and spur action on Social and Emotional Learning in California.

The campaign will run from May-August of this year, led by Beyond Differences in partnership with Education First.

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today, announced a new collaborative online campaign, "Advance SEL in California," to engage educators, school leaders, and families in a wider conversation about how to advance, elevate, and spur action on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in California.

The initiative will first gather large-scale input through a forum called WikiWisdom, a virtual resource where educators, school leaders, and families can collaborate, interact with peers, and share best SEL practices to support students dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and over the long term. This 2.5 week-long forum launched on Monday May 18, 2020, and has already seen participation from hundreds of California educators. Following the conclusion of the WikiWisdom Forum, the campaign will hold three virtual convenings in July with education stakeholders from around the state to deepen the discussion on the status of SEL in California. Lastly, the project will culminate in a report on the status of Social and Emotional Learning in California, with recommendations for how teachers, school leaders, and families across the state can address the social and emotional needs of students both in response to COVID-19 and over the long term.

“The social and emotional well-being of our students has always been important. Now more than ever, it needs to be an integral aspect of distance learning practices,” said Thurmond. “This campaign will allow educators to not only share their current strategies, but participate in conversations that will impact social and emotional learning decisions moving forward.“

Joining the State Superintendent to promote this partnership are First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom and State Board of Education President Linda Darling-Hammond.

“Prioritizing the social and emotional well-being of our kids has perhaps never been more important,” said Siebel Newsom. “That’s why I am proud to partner on ‘Advance SEL in California,’ and to help our teachers, school leaders, and families get the tools they need to support our kids in reaching their full potential.”

"Children who have strong life skills—self-awareness,confidence, empathy, problem-solving abilities, resiliency—are more able to cope with challenges and to learn more,” said Darling-Hammond. “So as we work to mitigate learning loss and address trauma triggered by the pandemic, it makes sense to focus on reinforcing those life skills through social-emotional learning. That's why I am pleased to lend my support to this important campaign."

The SEL WikiWisdom Forum was created by WikiWisdom and is sponsored by Beyond Differences, a student-led nonprofit organization that inspires middle school students to end social isolation and make schools more welcoming for everyone, and Education First, a mission-driven strategy and policy organization with unique and deep expertise in education improvement and Social and Emotional Learning, with funding from the Marin Community Foundation.

This work builds upon the California Department of Education’s (CDE) commitment to helping educators learn more about SEL and how to infuse social and emotional supports into every child’s school experience. The CDE convened a group of experts from different sectors of the education system to advise on the best ways to support SEL implementation. The team developed Social and Emotional Learning Guiding Principles and a Social and Emotional Learning Resource Guide. To learn more about this work, visit the CDE SEL web page.

For more information and to participate in the Social Emotional Learning Forum, send an email to AdvanceSELinCA@education-first.com. You may follow this campaign on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

# # # #

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

Advance SEL in CA Campaign Launched - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

Hire, Don’t Fire, Teachers! They’re the Educational Superheroes to Help Students Through this Crisis!

Hire, Don’t Fire, Teachers! They’re the Educational Superheroes to Help Students Through this Crisis!

Hire, Don’t Fire, Teachers! They’re the Educational Superheroes to Help Students Through this Crisis!

Once upon a time, this country waited for Superman to save its schools. Teachers are today’s Superheroes. They face this crisis with strength and determination. The elite can write their blueprints. It’s the teachers who get the job done. The country should be hiring, not firing, its teachers.

The Learning Policy Institute reports grim statistics about teacher firings. A 15 percent reduction in state education funding means more than 300,000 teaching positions would be lost, while a 30 percent loss means approximately 697,675 teachers could lose their jobs.

Meanwhile, lawmakers are accusing Education Secretary Betsy DeVos of handing public funding meant for public schools, over to private and parochial schools. We know that DeVos is not on the side of teachers. She has also been using money to fund charter schools, which are often unaccountable to the public. DeVos is failing to support the schools and the teachers who are serving students at this serious time. The states and the local school districts depend on financial support from the federal government to survive. If these schools go under, if teachers across the country lose their jobs, we will, in part, have DeVos to blame.

How should schools safely reopen? Will it be safe for children to return to classes? How  CONTINUE READING: Hire, Don’t Fire, Teachers! They’re the Educational Superheroes to Help Students Through this Crisis!

Kansas Preschool Teacher Is the 2020 National Teacher of the Year

Kansas Preschool Teacher Is the 2020 National Teacher of the Year

Kansas Preschool Teacher Is the 2020 National Teacher of the Year

Meet the new National Teacher of the Year! Preschool teacher Tabatha Rosproy, a Kansas-NEA member, is the first early childhood educator to win the honor, which is given annually by the Council of Chief State School Officers.

“I am so honored to have been chosen to represent the incredible educators in our nation,” said Rosproy, in a statement. As National Teacher of the Year, Rosproy said she hopes to shine a light on the importance of early childhood education, and also on the “powerful role of social-emotional education at all ages.”

Rosproy, who has taught for 10 years, teaches in a rare, intergenerational program—a preschool located inside a retirement community and nursing home in Winfield, Kansas, a small town near the Oklahoma state line. Her classroom is a loving, multi-generational space where preschoolers, including some with special needs, interact daily with residential volunteers, called “Grandmas and Grandpas,” who help foster a sense of community and connections.

“It’s the most joyful experience you can imagine,” Rosproy told CBS News. “[The children] come into our class and not only do they get love and connection from the teachers and staff, but they get it from the grandmas and grandpas…They get connected to people who are older than them, who have different abilities, and it has built so much empathy in their hearts.”

Rosproy was chosen from among four outstanding national finalists—all state teachers of the year and NEA members—who included: Chris Dier, a Louisiana high CONTINUE READING:  Kansas Preschool Teacher Is the 2020 National Teacher of the Year

SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS UPDATE Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... 

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

TODAY

Classroom Instruction Resources Of The Week

by Larry Ferlazzo / 2h

Each week, I publish a post or two containing three or four particularly useful resources on classroom instruction, and you can see them all here. Of course, this is a crazy time for “classroom” instruction…. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES ON CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION IN 2019 – PART TWO. Here are this week’s picks: Research-Based Instructional Strategies is from Clearview Schools.

Around The Web In ESL/EFL/ELL

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

BiljaST / Pixabay Six years ago I began this regular feature where I share a few posts and resources from around the Web related to ESL/EFL or to language in general that have caught my attention. You might also be interested in THE BEST RESOURCES, ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS FOR TEACHERS OF ELLS IN 2019 – PART ONE and THE BEST RESOURCES, ARTICLES & BLOG POSTS FOR TEACHERS OF ELLS IN 2019 – PART TWO. A

The Best Sites For Creating Not Totally Useless Word Searches

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

I’m not a big fan of using Word Searches in class – I think they’re more busy work and a genuine learning activity. However, I have, on occasion, had students create their own, which classmates than played. You might also be interested in The Best Sites For Making Crossword Puzzles & Hangman Games. Here are a few tools and examples of not totally useless word searches: Thanks to Alison Rostetter

New TED-Ed Video: “How do ventilators work?”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

PIRO4D / Pixabay I’m adding TED-Ed’s new lesson and video to A BEGINNING LIST OF THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE CORONAVIRUS :

What Are Your Favorite Sites For Teaching U.S. History To ELLs?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

geralt / Pixabay I’ll be teaching United States History to English Language Learners again next year. Unfortunately, one of my “go-to” sites, SAS Curriculum Pathways, is closing up shop, and I’m not sure our school will be able to afford to pay for Brainpop. I’m exploring iCivics (see Wow! It Looks Like iCivics Wants To Be THE One-Stop Shop For Social Studies Teachers ), but wanted to also get su

D.C. Committee Comes Up With Most Detailed Proposal For School Re-Opening That I’ve Seen

by Larry Ferlazzo / 15h

Mayor’s advisers say D.C. schools shouldn’t fully reopen without vaccine or cure is a new article in The Washington Post that provides the most detailed proposal that I’ve yet seen for schools re-opening in the fall. They also recommend that no more than ten people, including the teacher, be present in any classroom. It’s well worth a full read. I’m adding it to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCH

“Teaching Poetry in ‘Playful’ Ways”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 16h

Teaching Poetry in ‘Playful’ Ways is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Four educators share multiple ways to teach poetry, including by modeling and by mimic writing, so that students can enjoy and appreciate the literary form. Here are some excerpts:

Unsurprising Statistic Of The Day: Many Ed Tech Companies Manipulate Research Findings To Support Their Products

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

In an excellent article, The Hechinger Report finds that many ed tech companies manipulate research findings to show that their products are successful. Ed tech companies promise results, but their claims are often based on shoddy research lays out their research in damning detail. This result isn’t surprising to me. And I can’t really see how it could be surprising to just about anyone. What is

New CBS News Video: “School students around the world return to class, COVID-19-safe classrooms are the new normal”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

This new video from CBS News provides a good overview, along with images, of what school re-openings look like around the world. I’m adding it to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007