Big Education Ape: Jul 14, 2020

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Teachers Are Worried About Schools Reopening & Here Are 15 Of Their Biggest Concerns

Teachers Are Worried About Schools Reopening & Here Are 15 Of Their Biggest Concerns

While some states have made progress in reducing new coronavirus cases, many others are battling new surges in infections after moving to reopen businesses. Despite these recent spikes, President Donald Trump has been pushing states to reopen schools for full-time, in-person instruction. As debate over reopening schools heats up, teachers are worried about schools reopening and have shared their biggest concerns.

Across the country, school districts are grappling with when and how to reopen amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While the Trump administration has called for schools to fully reopen in the fall, many teachers have questioned how safe and feasible such a demand really is. From questions about the practicality of social distancing on school buses and in small classrooms to concerns about who'll pay for the needed sanitizing supplies and face masks, it's clear that reopening schools is much more complicated than it initially sounds, and educators rightfully have concerns.

In New Jersey, English teacher Sarah Mulhern Gross crowdsourced nearly 400 questions from her fellow New Jersey educators. These included questions as to whether surviving spouses would be provided with a life insurance payout if a teacher died after contracting COVID-19 while teaching? Whether teachers could be held liable and sued if a student contracted COVID-19 from their classroom? Will districts cover the health insurance costs of a substitute teacher who gets sick when covering for an infected teacher?

The list goes on. Questions about testing, cleaning, funding, contact tracing, exposure protocol, job security, hybrid learning models, and how schools will ensure parents are properly monitoring their children's health fill the list, emphasizing teachers' well-thought out concerns. Below are 15 additional concerns teachers have raised about reopening schools while coronavirus cases continue to rise:

Where Is The Funding?

In a tweet shared on July 6, the head of the country's second largest teacher's labor union pushed back against the president's call to reopen schools in the fall by asking where funding and safety plans for said reopening were.

"Where is the funding?" Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers tweeted. "Where are the safety plans?"

How And When Will Cleaning Happen If Kids Are In The Classroom More? CONTINUE READING: Teachers Are Worried About Schools Reopening & Here Are 15 Of Their Biggest Concerns

Do #BlackLivesMatter in schools? Why the answer is ‘no.’ - The Washington Post

Do #BlackLivesMatter in schools? Why the answer is ‘no.’

We’ve seen a movement arise in recent months, led by Black Lives Matter, demanding racial and social justice following the police killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, in Minneapolis in May. Protesters have filled the streets of hundreds of cities and towns, calling for an end to America’s institutional racism and the defunding of police.

As part of the national discussion, this question arises: Do #BlackLivesMatter in schools? The two authors of this post, Subini Annamma and David Stovall, say the answer is no and take a deep dive into the subject to explain why.

Annamma is an associate professor of education at Stanford University, and Stovall is a professor of African American studies and criminology, law and justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

They wrote the piece with footnotes, which I am leaving in to make it easier to see the list of source material and further your reading on these subjects.

By Subini Annamma and David Stovall

In calls to defund and abolish police and prisons, some are suggesting those resources be reallocated to schooling. We agree that abolishing punitive systems and reinvesting in the community is necessary. But we also need to ask: Do #BlackLivesMatter in schools? CONTINUE READING: Do #BlackLivesMatter in schools? Why the answer is ‘no.’ - The Washington Post

The Reopening Question: Is It Safe? | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Reopening Question: Is It Safe?

There is one basic principle that must be honored in deciding whether and when to reopen schools: SAFETY FIRST.

No child or teacher or staff member should die because of a rush to reopen.

NBC News reported:

WASHINGTON — As the calls from the White House to fully reopen schools grow louder, evidence continues to pile up to show that scenario is unlikely to happen, at least not on the national scale President Donald Trump desires. That’s not because state and local officials aren’t trying, but because the spread of the virus is beginning to overwhelm even the best-laid plans.

Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa, for example, had been working on a blueprint to reopen schools in August as part of a long and delicate process. But with the virus now surging across Texas, the outbreak may make the decision for him.

“Initially I thought we would be ready, but I’m starting to have second thoughts,” Hinojosa told MSNBC’s CONTINUE READING: The Reopening Question: Is It Safe? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Shawgi Tell: Starve It, Demonize It, Discredit It, Privatize it - Miserable Bankruptcy of Neoliberal "Takeover" Reports | Dissident Voice

Miserable Bankruptcy of Neoliberal "Takeover" Reports | Dissident Voice

Miserable Bankruptcy of Neoliberal “Takeover” Reports

For decades, one of the main strategies used by neoliberals to destroy public enterprises and eliminate the public interest has been: Starve It, Demonize It, Discredit It, Privatize it.

Since the late 1970s, neoliberals and their state have made greater use of the “Takeover” reporting method to justify wrecking and privatizing social programs and public enterprises, especially public education.

In practice, this neoliberal strategy means continually cutting funding for public enterprises and making it very difficult, even impossible, to do things properly and effectively, even though an enormous amount of money actually exists. Then the targeted public entity is vilified and blamed for not surviving brutal funding cuts. The targeted entity is methodically and repeatedly disgraced, shamed, and reproached. It is blamed for everything under the sun even though it is the victim of numerous neoliberal assaults. Then, once antisocial public opinion is consolidated, the targeted public enterprise is privatized—handed over to powerful private interests in the name of “efficiency,” “accountability,” “sustainability,” “competition,” “choice,” and “results.”

Neoliberals call this attack on the public “restructuring.” Such language debases the meaning of things and sanitizes assaults on the public. It is an attempt to conceal the fact that “restructuring” always enriches owners of CONTINUE READING: Miserable Bankruptcy of Neoliberal "Takeover" Reports | Dissident Voice

Jeff Bryant: After Years of Underfunding, Now Public School Teachers Are Supposed to Save the Nation’s Economy? | Ed Politics

After Years of Underfunding, Now Public School Teachers Are Supposed to Save the Nation’s Economy? | Ed Politics

AFTER YEARS OF UNDERFUNDING, NOW PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS ARE SUPPOSED TO SAVE THE NATION’S ECONOMY?

“After 9/11, New York City police and firefighters were hailed as heroes,” said Mary Parr-Sanchez, president of the New Mexico affiliate of the National Education Association, when I spoke with her about how educators have responded to the pandemic in her state. “After this, I hope teachers will be viewed as the community pillars that they really are,” she said.

Parr-Sanchez may get what she wished for.

In the early months of the coronavirus outbreak, the nation relied on health care and grocery store workers for survival, but that labor force couldn’t possibly turn around a crashing economy. Then, conservative governors across the nation, particularly in the South and West, thought bringing back the leisure and hospitality workforce would revive business and commerce. That didn’t turn out so well. So now a broad range of policy makers and political actors are turning to school teachers to get the economy humming again.

In May, as the pandemic was just about to explode from hotspots in the Northeast to a nationwide contagion, Forbes contributor Nick Morrison argued, “Until children go back to school, parents will have to remain at home looking after them, and it will be impossible to fully restart the economy.”

New York Times op-ed writer Spencer Bokat-Lindell, marveling at how European countries were able to reopen schools, wrote, “Restarting classes is essential not only to parents’ mental health and children’s development, but also to reviving the economy.”

“We cannot have a functioning economy, or any hope of reducing economic inequalities, without a functioning educational system,” wrote Paul Starr for the American Prospect in June.

“A consensus is emerging among top economists and business leaders,” reported Heather Long for the Washington Post in July, “that getting kids back into day cares and schools is critical to getting the economy back to normal.” She quoted chief CONTINUE READING: After Years of Underfunding, Now Public School Teachers Are Supposed to Save the Nation’s Economy? | Ed Politics

New York City: How Does a District with More than One Million Students Plan to Reopen? | Diane Ravitch's blog

New York City: How Does a District with More than One Million Students Plan to Reopen?

Leonie Haimson writes here how New York City hopes to reopen its public schools, which enroll more than one million students.

Haimson has chided the city for years about its failure to reduce class sizes, and that long history of neglect is making it even more difficult to find space to reopen with small classes.

DOE officials have determined that to maintain proper social distancing, a range of 9-12 students per classroom will be allowed, varying according to the size of the classroom.

Because class sizes are much larger than this in nearly every school, schools will have to separate their students into two or three or sometimes four groups who will take turns attending school in person, to be provided with remote learning when not in school. Families can also choose full-time remote learning with their children never attending school in person.

As a result of vastly different levels of school and classroom overcrowding across the city, some schools will be able to offer about half of their students in-person instruction each day; while others may only be able to allow each student to attend school one or two days a CONTINUE READING: New York City: How Does a District with More than One Million Students Plan to Reopen? | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Administration's Favorite Word: Privatize - Will the pandemic kill public schools? – BillMoyers.com

The Administration's Favorite Word: Privatize – BillMoyers.com

The Administration’s Favorite Word: Privatize

Will the pandemic kill public schools?

The big news today was the administration’s escalating insistence that our public schools must reopen on schedule for the fall. Today, on “Fox News Sunday,” Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos told Chris Wallace (who is one of the Fox News Channel’s actual reporters), “We know that children contract and have the virus at far lower incidence than any other part of the population, and we know that other countries around the world have reopened their schools and have done so successfully and safely.”

Wallace asked her if it was fair to compare countries that have as few as 20 new cases a day with the U.S., which is currently seeing 68,000. DeVos dodged the question.

She vowed to cut off federal funding for public schools that do not reopen. Wallace asked, “Under what authority are you and the president going to unilaterally cut off funding, funding that’s been approved from Congress and most of the money goes to disadvantaged students or students with disabilities?” “You can’t do that,” he continued.

Then DeVos said something interesting: “Look, American investment in education is a promise to students and their families. If schools aren’t going to reopen and not fulfill that promise, they shouldn’t get the funds, and give it to the families to decide to go to a school that is going to meet that promise,” she said.

This is the best explanation I’ve seen for why the administration is so keen on opening up the schools. DeVos is not an educator or trained in education or school administration. She is a billionaire Republican donor and former chair of the Michigan Republican Party. She is a staunch proponent of privatizing the public school system, replacing our public schools with charter schools, as her wealthy family managed to do with great success in Michigan, CONTINUE READING: The Administration's Favorite Word: Privatize – BillMoyers.com

CURMUDGUCATION: The Test Many School Districts Failed Before The Pandemic Even Started

The Test Many School Districts Failed Before The Pandemic Even Started

You’ve heard about an emotional bank account, a metaphor for the investments in personal relationships that keep them healthy and able to deal with the bumps and bruises that come along in any relationship. Build trust and deposit in the account in good times, make withdrawals in the lean times, and maintain a healthy balance. Organizations such as school districts have similar accounts, and 2020 is turning out to be the year some districts are finding out just how deep—or shallow—their reserves are.

Many districts are used to getting plenty of work from teachers without paying for it, either financially or emotionally. Teachers routinely work beyond their contracted hours, spend their own money on supplies, and fulfill many duties beyond simply instructing their students; all of this is part of the gig. Good teachers make regular deposits in the bank accounts of their district and their students. But district administrations have a wide variety of reactions.

Some districts are led by people who are appreciative and supportive, who look after their teachers and maintain conditions that help staff do their best work. These district leaders treat staff like valued, professional teammates. They build trust. They make regular deposits to the bank account.

Other districts are not so well led. Too may districts are bossed by people who consider the teaching CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: The Test Many School Districts Failed Before The Pandemic Even Started

Intro to Next Book (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Intro to Next Book (Part 2)

Here is another segment of the Introduction to my next book, “Confessions of a School Reformer.” Part 1 was published July 9, 2020

Since the early 1900s, three overlapping social and political movements have churned across the U.S. and left marks on government, business, and community institutions, including public schools: The Progressive movement (1900s-1950s), the Civil Rights Struggle (1950s-1970s), and Binding Schools to the Economy (1980s-present).

In all three movements, the dominant but often unspoken assumption was that human behavior can be made perfect. Faith that individuals and institutions can improve and correct errors has been at the center of American reform for centuries.

Religious dissenters carried that belief across the Atlantic Ocean on the Mayflower. Nineteenth century anti-slavery advocates fought for abolition and succeeded with the end of the Civil War. Along with “abolitionists” other social reformers flourished in New England and the Midwest fighting for prison reform, ending poverty, building Utopian communities, and caring for the mentally ill. Joining these social reformers were Horace Mann, Henry Barnard, and a cadre of school reformers who envisioned a Common School for American children that would make a “more perfect union.”

Progressives like President Theodore Roosevelt, settlement house founder Jane CONTINUE READING: Intro to Next Book (Part 2) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Let’s End this Debate and Talk about Best Practices for Remote Teaching | JD2718

Let’s End this Debate and Talk about Best Practices for Remote Teaching

One way or other, the debate will end.Last week the Chancellor announced that NYC schools would engage in some sort of blended learning – a hybrid model – for September. Sometimes kids would be in school, sometimes kids would be out getting remote instruction, but they would have five days, and some would be in school. Teachers would come to school each day. Some kids and some teachers would opt out or be medically excused (completely different processes).

I’ve written a bit about issues with scheduling and safety that are so serious that I believe this plan is dangerous and will lead to chaos if not stopped. And a lot of other people are talking about it. It should be stopped. It can be stopped. It will be stopped.

The Chancellor is unlikely to just back down because of scattered resistance from teachers or schools. But the resistance may start to come from many schools. Or the union may feel the unease of members, and back away from its support for the idea. Or Cuomo may not permit NYC schools to reopen. Or the pandemic may surge again in the northeast, and make much of this moot. But one way or another, I think we will be remote in September.

And that’s a problem. We just finished the better part of a term remote. And I don’t know if you noticed, it didn’t go well. Not for most of us. Not for most kids. We learned about problems. Some of us found CONTINUE READING: Let’s End this Debate and Talk about Best Practices for Remote Teaching | JD2718

DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: Reopening Schools: A Decision to Die For!

Reopening Schools: A Decision to Die For!

Would I die for my students?
Probably.
Teachers have placed themselves in harm's way for their students countless times.

But, not like this.
Not in a situation where decisions could be made that would keep our students and educators safe.

A 61 year old educator in Arizonza was infected with COVID19, along with two other educators who were working in the same classroom. She died.They still don't know if she got it from her family, and bought it into the classroom, or if she contracted it from another teacher.

It doesn't matter. With all the precautions, all three teachers were still infected.

Our "Secretary of Education" Besty Devos states that we shouldn't worry.
“If there’s a short-term flare-up for a few days, that’s a different situation than planning for an entire school year in anticipation for something that hasn’t happened,” she told CNN host Dana Bash. “Kids have got to be back at school, they’ve got to be back in the classroom. Working families have got to have their kids back in school.”

What do you notice?
I notice that she does not mention the fact that educators or school personnel can get CONTINUE READING: DIARY OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER!: Reopening Schools: A Decision to Die For!

New York State Tip-Toes Toward a Measured School Opening with Significant Local Input and a Long List of Unanswered Questions. | Ed In The Apple

New York State Tip-Toes Toward a Measured School Opening with Significant Local Input and a Long List of Unanswered Questions.

As the President and the Secretary of Education call for a full school reopening, with threats aimed at states that are more cautious, the fifty states and 14,000 school districts consider the options.

John Hopkins University posted a reopening policy tracker, a user-friendly source that enables the user to click on every state and organization and view whatever documents they posted. Impressive!!

For example, see the Texas plan here and the New York University, Guidance on Culturally-Responsive Sustaining School Openings here.

New York State is complicated and confusing. The governor, who was granted wide-ranging emergency powers by the legislature appointed a “Reimaging Education Task Force” and, at daily press conferences emphasized again and again that he will decide on whether or not schools re-open. The chancellor reminded us that the State Constitution places education under the leadership of the Board of Regents.

The State Commissioner, after a number of regional meetings with representatives from across the states, presented the state plan to the Board of Regents. See plan here

A few hours later the governor held his press briefing and laid out the data points CONTINUE READING: New York State Tip-Toes Toward a Measured School Opening with Significant Local Input and a Long List of Unanswered Questions. | Ed In The Apple

Now is not the time. | Opine I will

Now is not the time

Now is not the time to open schools!

Yes, I know we need to get the economy open. I know parents need to get back to work. I know children are losing important time in school. I know all the reasons why we need to open schools. Unfortunately, now is not the time.

We keep hearing that we need more testing, more contact tracing, social distancing, and masks. Even if we had 100% compliance ( which we are nowhere near), is it worth the risk?

We don’t know the long term effects of Covid. We are not pouring money and assets into school buildings to upgrade their ventilation systems, expanding to accommodate 6′ social distance spacing, or the proper training of teachers and other staff members that will need to work in a potentially high infectious environment.

When the policy makers are meeting in virtual meeting rooms from their respective “bunkers” to decide whether children and teachers should be together in a classroom, we should all be able to see through their smoke and mirrors to know something is wrong.

Governor Cuomo today told us all that as long as the infection rate stays below 5% of CONTINUE READING: Now is not the time. | Opine I will

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Superintendent Greene's less than inspiring Meninak Meeting

Superintendent Greene's less than inspiring Meninak Meeting

After I read the Times Union's summary of the meeting, I didn't feel much confidence that teachers and their concerns are being addressed.

https://www.jacksonville.com/news/20200713/duval-schools-superintendent-greene-gives-hints-for-back-to-school-plan-ahead-of-tuesdayrsquos-meeting

You know papers have deadlines and space limits, so I tracked it down online and listened.

https://www.facebook.com/meninakjax/

Here are the highlights.

She talked about finding out learning losses and mental health, where she mentioned mental health for staff.

Then she talked about CDC guidelines and the massive undertaking bussing for busses. She admitted that they could not meet the standards and talked about mitigation instead.

I am begging to learn guidelines are more like suggestions than rules you can and cannot break even when lives are on the line.

Desks will be spaced apart whenever possible.

Face shields were ordered for all pre-k- second graders.

The upper elementary grades will get face coverings and desk guards.

The district shifted custodians from evening hours to the day CONTINUE READING: Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Superintendent Greene's less than inspiring Meninak Meeting

IF ONLY IT WAS SO SIMPLE – Dad Gone Wild

IF ONLY IT WAS SO SIMPLE

“Though we are politically enemies, yet with regard to Science it is presumable we shall not dissent from the practice of civilized people in promoting it”
― John Hancock

“Every year, if not every day, we have to wager our salvation upon some prophecy based upon imperfect knowledge.”
― Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

School districts across the country have begun releasing their re-opening plans for the upcoming school year. Plans are running the gamut from full opening with minor adjustments to opening schools in person with alternating schedules; from a complex hybrid opening to full-time distance learning. MNPS falls into the latter camp.

On Thursday afternoon, MNPS announced that starting on August 4th schools would be open, but all instruction would be delivered remotely through a curriculum developed by the Florida Virtual School. In all fairness, it’s probably the best option available at this stage in the game, considering rising infection rates across the city, but comes with some concerns that need to be further fleshed out. But I’m getting a little ahead of my self.

Throughout the ongoing pandemic, there have been cries that we just need to follow science in developing strategies. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), National Education Association (NEA), and AASA, The School Superintendents Association, joined together late last week to issue a statement on the safe return of students, CONTINUE READING: IF ONLY IT WAS SO SIMPLE – Dad Gone Wild

YOUR DAILY DOSE OF 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

A VERY BUSY DAY

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...

The latest news and resources in education since 2007

“Q&A Collections: Student Voices”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 4h

Q&A Collections: Student Voices is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. All Classroom Q&A posts featuring commentaries written by students (from the past nine years!) are described and linked to in this compilation post. Here’s an excerpt from one of them:

YESTERDAY

New TED-Ed Video & Lesson: “What makes volcanoes erupt?”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

Pexels / Pixabay I’m adding this new TED-Ed lesson and video to The Best Sites For Learning About Volcanoes :

Tuesday’s Three Must-Watch/Must-Read Videos & Articles About School Reopening Plans

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

paulbr75 / Pixabay The roller coaster ride continues. Here are Tuesday’s additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : DeVos Abandons a Lifetime of Local Advocacy to Demand Schools Reopen is from The NY Times. I hope our district can do something like this: California district designs novel plan to boost remote learning with in-person ‘student support hubs

New Resources To Help Us Understand All The New TOK Curriculum Changes

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

geralt / Pixabay I’m in the final week of an International Baccalaureate online course to review all the new changes to the Theory of Knowledge class, and my head is spinning a bit. Here are some new additions to THE BEST RESOURCES FOR LEARNING ABOUT THE NEW THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE SYLLABUS : Mr. Hoyes TOK Website TOK Resource The Oxford University Press has two videos you can watch, though you have

A Look Back: Implicit Bias Training Doesn’t Seem To Work – So What Should Teachers & Others Do, Instead?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 13h

I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from the first half of this year. You can see the entire collection of best posts from the past thirteen years here . In the wake of recent murders of Black citizens, like George Floyd, and subsequent protests, there has been a lot of attention being paid to the concept of implicit bias and how t

Latest Update On Reopening Sacramento Schools

by Larry Ferlazzo / 17h

OpenClipart-Vectors / Pixabay The Sacramento Bee has just published California school districts announce fall closures. Will Sacramento schools be next? , and that gives the most recent update about where we are on reopening. For what it’s worth, here are my observations that appear in the article: Luther Burbank High School teacher Larry Ferlazzo said teachers want to return to their classrooms,

Reopening Schools Is Analogous To The Research Finding That The Greatest Influence On Student Achievement Is Outside School

by Larry Ferlazzo / 18h

So much of the discussion about school reopening has been on safety procedures in school – masks, social distancing, temperature checks, cleaning, etc. I understand that is important and support – and have participated – in those talks. Of course, the primary determining factor about if schools will be able to open will be the rate of community spread of COVID-19. Just as over two-thirds of the f

Los Angeles and San Diego School Districts Announce They Are Starting The School Year All Online

by Larry Ferlazzo / 21h

I’m adding this info to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Los Angeles and San Diego Schools to Go Online-Only in The Fall L.A. Unified will not reopen campuses for start of school year amid coronavirus spike So many districts in CA have been making the same announcement over past few days. . @officialSCUSD should work w/ unions 2 make similar announcement now so

The Publisher Of Our Next Book Has Agreed To Let Us Release Our Chapter On ELLs & Distance Learning Early & For Free

by Larry Ferlazzo / 23h

Katie Hull and I are working hard on the second edition of The ESL/ELL Teacher’s Survival Guide, the first book we wrote as a team. We think it’s a great book, and we’re keeping most of what’s in the first edition. In addition to minor changes, though, we are adding content to double the size of the book. In addition to writing new chapters ourselves, we’ll be including new ones from other great

“Five Ways to Use Music in Lessons”

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Five Ways to Use Music in Lessons is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Five educators share ways to use music in lessons across the curriculum, including for textual analysis and to help create a

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