Outdoor Classes Might Be the Best Way to Reopen Schools - The Atlantic

Outdoor Classes Might Be the Best Way to Reopen Schools - The Atlantic

Outdoor School Has Never Sounded Better
Moving classes outside might be the safest way to have in-person instruction this fall. Why aren’t more schools considering it?

This month, Berkeley public schools, like many school districts across the country, announced they will not start the year with full-time, in-person school. Soon after, J Li, a business-innovation strategist who lives in the area, noticed moms in the local Facebook groups turn, like starlings at dusk, to one topic in particular: homeschool pods.

Reluctant to face more months supervising Zoom classes, wealthy parents are grouping together in families of three or four and hiring someone to privately teach their children, at a cost of thousands of dollars a month.

“So what are poor parents going to do?” I asked Li.

“I mean, get fucked,” she said, frustrated that the government hasn’t come up with a solution for everyone.

As the first day of school rapidly approaches, people across the United States who can’t afford this system of private governesses are desperate for alternatives to in-person schooling or all-day Zoom. Both these options, after all, raise thorny objections. Teachers, and many parents, are reluctant to resume in-person schooling in the fall, fearful that children could contract the virus and spread it in their classrooms or at home. Meanwhile, virtual learning appears to be a giant failure. Not all students have internet access, so poor kids are falling behind. Even if they can get online, having a 7-year-old stare at a computer all day is generally not seen as advisable by child-development experts.

Given this dearth of good options, the best one appears to be moving the classroom outside. A small group of activists across the country are pushing for schools to consider teaching children in person, but outdoors in a park or even a parking lot. Outdoor time has always been healthy for kids, but that’s especially the case now: One study found that the odds of catching the coronavirus are nearly 20 times higher indoors than outdoors. Though it isn’t free of problems, learning outside might be the only way to provide parents with a break, kids with an adequate education, and teachers with protection from the coronavirus.

Read: The school reopeners think America is forgetting about the kids

But while some schools are considering outdoor classes as at least a partial option for CONTINUE READING: Outdoor Classes Might Be the Best Way to Reopen Schools - The Atlantic

AFT threatens 'safety strikes' in school reopening talks - POLITICO

AFT threatens 'safety strikes' in school reopening talks - POLITICO

AFT threatens 'safety strikes' in school reopening talks
The American Federation of Teachers adopted a resolution denouncing “unsafe and unsound plans” or “the faulty implementation of plans.

The American Federation of Teachers called Tuesday for “safety strikes” as “a last resort” if negotiations over reopening schools don't meet demands for keeping educators healthy and safe amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Union President Randi Weingarten delivered that battle cry during an address to union members, as Congress begins negotiations over a fresh tranche of federal aid expected to provide at least $70 billion to boost K-12 education.

“Let’s be clear: Just as we have done with our health care workers, we will fight on all fronts for the safety of our students and their educators,” Weingarten said in prepared remarks on Tuesday. “But if authorities don’t protect the safety and health of those we represent and those we serve, as our executive council voted last week, nothing is off the table — not advocacy or protests, negotiations, grievances or lawsuits, or, if necessary and authorized by a local union, as a last resort, safety strikes.”

Weingarten said 76 percent of her union's members polled in June said they were comfortable returning to school buildings with "proper safeguards," before the virus started to spread more rapidly in the U.S. and President Donald Trump, as well as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, began "reckless ‘open or else’ threats."

“Now they’re afraid and angry," Weingarten said. "Many are quitting, retiring or writing their wills. Parents are afraid and angry, too.” CONTINUE READING: AFT threatens 'safety strikes' in school reopening talks - POLITICO

DeVos Aide: We are Not Likely to Waive Mandated Testing in 2020-21 | Diane Ravitch's blog

DeVos Aide: We are Not Likely to Waive Mandated Testing in 2020-21 | Diane Ravitch's blog

DeVos Aide: We are Not Likely to Waive Mandated Testing in 2020-21

Jim Blew was hired by Betsy DeVos for a key role at the U.S Department of Education, having worked at the far-right Walton Family Foundation, which has a strong commitment to privatization, charter schools, Teach for America, and union-busting. He told education writers that the Department of Education was not likely to grant waivers for next spring’s annual federal testing, despite a year of confusion and disruption in schooling.

The American people are likely to tell Betsy DeVos and Jim Blew and the other public-school haters to pack their bags this November and clear out by January 20, 2021. Someone appointed by President Biden will decide whether to inflict the detritus of NCLB on the nation’s students. If the public votes wisely, the whole wrecking crew will be ousted, blown with the wind, so to speak.

An assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Education said Friday that his agency’s inclination is not to grant states waivers from federally mandated tests for the upcoming school year like it did in the spring.

Speaking on a video call with reporters at the Education Writers Association’s National Seminar, Jim Blew, the CONTINUE READING: DeVos Aide: We are Not Likely to Waive Mandated Testing in 2020-21 | Diane Ravitch's blog

Education Research Report: Over a Decade After Katrina, Racial Inequities Resurface in Federal Response to COVID-19

Education Research Report: Over a Decade After Katrina, Racial Inequities Resurface in Federal Response to COVID-19

Over a Decade After Katrina, Racial Inequities Resurface in Federal Response to COVID-19

To inspire support for public health directives, many warn COVID-19 does not discriminate—everyone’s susceptible. The reality is more complicated. We are not “all in this together.” Racism ensures this, and New Orleans’ experience following Hurricane Katrina illustrates one way that racial inequities play out in times of crisis.

In a report released today by the National Education Policy Center, From Katrina To Covid-19: How Disaster, Federal Neglect, and the Market Compound Racial Inequities, professor Kristen Buras of Georgia State University draws on history, storytelling, and political analysis to describe how the government neglect that disproportionately affected communities of color during Katrina is again evident during the COVID-19 crisis, with similar devastating results.

On August 29, 2005, Katrina struck New Orleans with disastrous effects. Yet while Katrina is regarded as one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, Buras argues that government neglect and market-driven public policy generated the worst effects, especially for communities of color. Despite forecasts that Katrina could kill tens of thousands, federal, state, and local governments did little to protect those in geographically vulnerable neighborhoods or evacuate those without cars. In New Orleans, African Americans were left to drown in floodwaters and dehydrate on rooftops, disproportionately suffering an array of harms.

But the harms did not end there. As floodwaters receded, policies aimed at privatizing assets in African American neighborhoods, including public schools, were enacted, compounding racial inequities wrought by a history of white supremacy.

Almost 15 years later, on January 20, 2020, the first U.S. case of COVID-19 was detected. Despite warnings that a pandemic could wreak physical and economic havoc, the federal government failed to take preventative action. As a result, communities of color are again suffering disproportionately, with African Americans and other racially marginalized groups overrepresented among those who have died from the virus. Yet states have been slow to produce racially disaggregated data or provide racially CONTINUE READING: Education Research Report: Over a Decade After Katrina, Racial Inequities Resurface in Federal Response to COVID-19

glen brown: "Plain and simple: it is wrong to reopen schools at this time" -Michael Flanagan

glen brown: "Plain and simple: it is wrong to reopen schools at this time" -Michael Flanagan

"Plain and simple: it is wrong to reopen schools at this time" -Michael Flanagan

“There has been a growing push by the Trump administration and the Coronavirus deniers to reopen schools, and it is about to get ugly. Politicians are trying to convince parents that the reason they will not be able to return to work is because of lazy, selfish teachers…

“Politicians want the pressure on. They want to force schools to open before it is safe in order to get the economy moving. They want this, despite the fact that scientific data does not support the notion that reopening schools is safe. If we were to open schools now, we would literally be sacrificing children, teachers, and the health of families, to the wishes of these politicians who clearly have no regard for our lives.

“To accomplish this, they are seeking to create discord among us—it is a divide-and-conquer strategy at its most obvious. Scapegoat teachers and their unions as lazy and greedy, as unconcerned about the stress parents are under. Portray parents as having no concern for the professionals who educate their children.

“Plain and simple: it is wrong to reopen schools at this time. If schools are open now, there will be no safety. Social distancing in a school, even in a blended hybrid model, will never work. Air conditioning re-circulates the infected air. Schools cannot fund the constant cleaning, testing, and infrastructure maintenance necessary to make things sanitary. And it would be virtually impossible to enforce the mask mandates, CONTINUE READING: glen brown: "Plain and simple: it is wrong to reopen schools at this time" -Michael Flanagan

ANOTHER ROLL ON THE HAMSTER WHEEL – Dad Gone Wild

ANOTHER ROLL ON THE HAMSTER WHEEL – Dad Gone Wild

ANOTHER ROLL ON THE HAMSTER WHEEL

“Everyone had a reason for everything they did, even if that reason was sometimes stupidity.”
― Karin Slaughter, Fractured

“A writer, like a sheriff, is the embodiment of a group of people and without their support both are in a tight spot.”
― Craig Johnson, Another Man’s Moccasins

Why is that Nashville is incapable of holding a school board election without the subject of charter rising up like the ghost of Christmas past? Whether it’s a special appointment by the metro council or a full-fledged election season undertaking, charter schools continue to set the agenda for school board elections at the expense of other more pressing concerns.

Recently metro council appointed Dr. Berthena Nabaa-McKinney to fill the vacated position of Anna Shepherd on the MPS School Board. Despite having two very strong candidates competing for the position, strategies did not center around discovering the best candidate, but rather on how to make sure a charter school-centric candidate did not secure the position. As a result, the victory dance wasn’t for the appointment of a highly qualified school board member, but rather for stopping another imagined attack from the charter school army. Who won was reduced to an afterthought, CONTINUE READING: ANOTHER ROLL ON THE HAMSTER WHEEL – Dad Gone Wild

For September – All Remote? How about Almost All Remote? | JD2718

For September – All Remote? How about Almost All Remote? | JD2718

For September – All Remote? How about Almost All Remote?

Mayor de Blasio is ordering schools back in session for September – and Carranza insists that each school gets to make its own decision – by choosing from among his unworkable models, or jumping through hoops for an exemption.

What should we do?  Fight de Blasio’s tone-deaf incompetence? Yes.

And in the meantime? Apply for an exemption? That sounds like the wise course, for the moment. But what sort of exemption?

Four Cohorts? A/B/C/D?

There are a bunch of schools that will ask for 4 cohorts instead of the 2 or 3 the Chancellor pre-approved. In fact, slick move, if the “cohort models” worked (which I don’t think they will for most schools), more schools would need 4 (requiring an exemption), than would need 2… but it would have been bad PR to put out 4 as an option (what, a child goes into the building just 16 times before Christmas? Why are we fighting so hard for so little???). In any case, if you are applying for an exemption, it might as well be for something that would let you run a schedule. A fourth cohort wouldn’t do that. And, if you are applying, it would be nice to protect people. That’s not a case for a fourth cohort.

Fully Remote

So this option makes sense. It keeps everyone safe. It allows teachers to actually begin planning. And it allows some serious teacher conversation – how can we make remote teaching into something more substantive than what we did in the spring? But the DoE has said, no. One strategy might be to CONTINUE READING: For September – All Remote? How about Almost All Remote? | JD2718

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Greene risk your life or talk to HR (draft)

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Greene risk your life or talk to HR (draft)

Greene risk your life or talk to HR (draft)

That was my take away from the latest flowery letter she sent today. You know there was a time I liked and even appreciated her letters of inspiration but that stopped when she said, her risk you and your family's life or check into other options. I have included the letter so you can make your own judgment.

Every time she sends one of the emails I kind of feel responsible. She was hired in June and it was six weeks and she still hadn't reached out to the staff so I sent her chief of staff the letter below.

It was nice talking to you at the meet and greet the other day.

I saw this on Facebook, posted by a teacher

I don't know why the new superintendent is leaving me with flat emotions, but I'm not feeling it, not yet. She needs to address teachers and support staff and soon.

I know she had that great speech at UNF and much of the media covered it but I cant't help but think a hello note could go a long way especially for those teachers who may not have seen the coverage. 

I would also suggest in the note a pledge to meet with teachers to both listen to their ideas and their CONTINUE READING: Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Greene risk your life or talk to HR (draft)

NPE Publishes Comprehensive, State-by-State Listing of PPP Money to Charter Schools | deutsch29

NPE Publishes Comprehensive, State-by-State Listing of PPP Money to Charter Schools | deutsch29

NPE Publishes Comprehensive, State-by-State Listing of PPP Money to Charter Schools

The Network for Public Education (NPE) has composed a state-by-state listing of charter schools, charer management orgs (CMOs), and education management orgs (EMOs) that have received Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans impacting small businesses and nonprofits as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The looming question is whether charter schools– which receive public funding– suffered any reduction in funding as a result of the pandemic– or whether charter schools see PPP’s likely-forgivable loans as an opportunistic grab.

Indeed, a June 25, 2020, Utah Military Academy board meeting discussion has found its way into the Utah news for such an opportunitsic view. KUTV.com offers this segment of Utah Military Academy discussion of its planned PPP loan exploitation:

“So we take this money to pay the salaries, and the money we were going to pay salaries is going to go into our accounts to help flush up our funds,” said the board member.

“Can I ask a question?” a female voice said. “My understanding was that this money is for businesses who, because of the drop in business, were having trouble keeping all their employees. How do we qualify for that? CONTINUE READING: NPE Publishes Comprehensive, State-by-State Listing of PPP Money to Charter Schools | deutsch29

NYC Educator: NY Times Education Reporter Eliza Shapiro Doesn't Know What Teachers Do

NYC Educator: NY Times Education Reporter Eliza Shapiro Doesn't Know What Teachers Do

NY Times Education Reporter Eliza Shapiro Doesn't Know What Teachers Do

Every day I'm surprised. There's just never a bottom. A man can get up and say the most vulgar things you've ever heard and get elected President by every possible measure (except votes cast). That same man can then spend four years indulging in the most juvenile insults, outlandish conspiracy theories, and tell so many untruths it becomes impossible to count.

The NY Times, though, is something altogether different. They see things from a far more exalted plane than the rest of us, and come down from their pedestal every now and then to let us know important things we won't find in any other paper. For example, amidst a crushing pandemic, the Times is there with a vital story on how Americans are so threatened they need to turn second homes into primary homes. What an ordeal (and what a comedown from going to the Cape, or renting that chateau in the South of France).

NY Times education reporter Eliza Shapiro is focused on whether or not teachers are childcare providers. While it's true a lot of children spend their days with us, we simply are not. Our job is to support children and help with with education, not to watch them while mom and dad go to work. Our absence from school buildings doesn't help anyone, but the fact is we too have children, and we too have to worry about where they are and what they're doing.

We live in a country that doesn't much value childcare. When my daughter was very young, it was so expensive CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: NY Times Education Reporter Eliza Shapiro Doesn't Know What Teachers Do