COVID-19 “Microschools” Are Betsy DeVos’s Latest Privatization Scheme

COVID-19 “Microschools” Are Betsy DeVos’s Latest Privatization Scheme

COVID-19 “Microschools” Are Betsy DeVos’s Latest Privatization Scheme

Working parents grappling with the difficult choices before them this school semester — keeping their children home to learn remotely, or risking COVID-19 transmission by sending them to class — are increasingly turning to a new trend being hailed as a “solution” to the pandemic: privatized “microschools.”

Microschools consist of small groups, or “pods,” of mixed-level students located in homes or local facilities like churches or community centers, who are guided through personalized pedagogies by parents or educators as an alternative to public education. The model blends a private school and homeschool approach, retaining flexibility of homeschooling while relying on paid teachers to facilitate a classroom experience.

Right-wing and Libertarian proponents of privatization, including Charles Koch, the Walton Family Foundation, the Heritage Foundation, the Reason Foundation and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, are exploiting the pandemic to push the model.

DeVos tweeted her support several times last week for the School Choice Now Act that would provide $5 billion in tax credits for families opting for homeschooling or private school. At the same time, DeVos and the Trump administration have threatened to withhold federal funds from any school that does not open its classrooms fully in the fall.

Microschools were already gaining interest over the last several years with companies like Prenda piloting the model in Arizona in 2018. Since its launch, Prenda has opened more than 200 “campuses” in the state, according to its CEO, Kelly Smith. The pandemic, however, has strengthened the appeal: Google searches for “microschool” have spiked since major districts began announcing plans to remain online for the fall.

Now, Silicon Valley is jumping on the bandwagon, with several new startups hoping to take advantage of what they see as a big market amid the COVID-19 crisis. New online platforms in Seattle and San Francisco are connecting families and educators looking to pool resources and form CONTINUE READING: COVID-19 “Microschools” Are Betsy DeVos’s Latest Privatization Scheme

Will the Teachers Take Control? | Dissent Magazine

Will the Teachers Take Control? | Dissent Magazine

Will the Teachers Take Control?
No group is better positioned than organized teachers to force Washington to develop a national plan to deal with the pandemic.

On August 3, 1981, federal air traffic controllers in the United States launched an illegal strike, grounding flights from Guam to Puerto Rico. President Ronald Reagan walked into the Rose Garden that morning to deliver an ultimatum: unless they returned to work within forty-eight hours, the controllers would be fired. While few contemporary observers immediately grasped its significance, that confrontation soon led not only to defeat for the controllers—who were permanently replaced when they defied Reagan’s order—but to disempowerment for American workers generally. Following Reagan’s example, private-sector employers made the 1980s synonymous with strikebreaking and union-busting, initiating a decades-long labor retreat.

We might soon witness a similarly momentous showdown. Today, thirty-nine years to the day after the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) strike began, teachers across the nation are staging a National Day of Resistance demanding safe schools. Their protest is every bit as audacious as the 1981 strike, yet the teachers’ strategy, and the context behind their protest, could not be more different. The differences indicate both how much public-sector unions have learned from history and the crucial role their members are poised to play in pushing our leaders to finally deal seriously with this raging pandemic.

The controllers’ strike, even many of its most ardent supporters later conceded, was poorly conceived. It was an illegal walkout whose most important demand was a large across-the-board wage increase—a demand levied during a recession in which other unions were offering concessions. PATCO not only challenged a popular president, it made no effort to cultivate allies even in the AFL-CIO, after alienating union leaders by endorsing Reagan’s election a year earlier. Controllers believed they could win their fight alone—that they would CONTINUE READING: Will the Teachers Take Control? | Dissent Magazine

Ed Notes Online: Teachers, Parents, Students to Rally Outside Tweed and UFT HQ to Protest Unsafe School Reopening

Ed Notes Online: Teachers, Parents, Students to Rally Outside Tweed and UFT HQ to Protest Unsafe School Reopening

Teachers, Parents, Students to Rally Outside Tweed and UFT HQ to Protest Unsafe School Reopening

Good morning,

I thought you would be interested in this rally and march led by school staff, parents and students, happening today at 5 pm outside UFT headquarters and Tweed DOE offices. This is part of a national day of action against unsafe, unfunded school reopening. In addition to MORE, 20 additional groups are joining and we expect a big turnout.

Please let me know if you have any questions,

Liat

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 3, 2020

Press Contacts:

Liat Olenick

917-930-2788

LiatOlenick@gmail.com

Teachers, Parents, Students to Rally Outside Tweed and UFT HQ to Protest Unsafe School Reopening 

New York, New York:  Today, the MORE-UFT Caucus as well as parents, students and advocacy organizations including the Alliance for Quality Education, Rise and Resist and Coalition for Educational Justice will join school communities taking action across the country to march and rally to push back against the insufficient, unsafe, underfunded hybrid reopening plan being put forth by the UFT, the Chancellor and the Mayor. Those who cannot join the rally and march in person will be taking action from home to prevent an unsafe reopening. 

“The science is clear. COVID is airborne indoors, especially in poorly ventilated, crowded classrooms Here in New York City, more than 20,000 people have already died from COVID-- mostly Black and Latinx New Yorkers. Returning to school buildings while COVID continues to spread across the country will put more Black and Latinx New Yorkers at even greater risk,” said teacher Andrew Worthington. “ We demand no new cases for 14 days, all health and safety measures implemented including consistent rapid testing, contact tracing, safe public transit and community input.”

‘Our schools were underfunded before COVID hit. Now they face new budget cuts because the Governor refuses to tax the rich, and the Mayor refused to substantially divest from the NYPD. In order to reopen safely we need more funding for teachers, nurses, social workers, counselors and supplies and New Yorkers need financial relief,” said Tajh Sutton, CEC14 President and Teens Take Charge Program Manager. “Forcing school buildings to reopen without additional funding will put staff in the untenable position of having to enforce high stakes public health guidelines without adequate resources which could further put our Black and Brown students at risk of being criminalized.” 

“The DOE, the Mayor and the Governor have consistently left parents, teachers and students out of decisions about reopening. They have refused to consider our creative ideas, hear our feedback on remote learning or transparently answer basic questions,” said Marilena Marchetti. “We demand that stakeholders are fully empowered and included in planning for both school reopening and for equitable remote learning that includes opportunities for outdoor learning and therapeutic service delivery for prioritized student populations.” 

What: March and rally to stop and unsafe school reopening as part of a national day of action. 

When: Monday, August 3rd, 5:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m. 

Where: The March will start at UFT Headquarters at 52 Broadway and end at DOE offices at Tweed Courthouse. 

Who: Movement of Rank & File Educators(MORE-UFT), Parents Supporting Parents NY, PoliFem, DC 37 Progressive Caucus, Justice Center en el Barrio, Rise and Resist, Revolting Lesbians, Alliance for Quality Education NYC, Ya-Ya Network, Black Lives Matter School Week of Action NYC, A Call to Action on Puerto Rico, Workers World Party, New York Boricua Resistance, Peoples Power Assemblies NYC, NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, BATALA, Young People of Color Incorporated, Freedom For all, Dynamic Therapy Intervention, NYC Democratic Socialists of America 23. Party for Socialism and Liberation, Community Education Council 14

Ed Notes Online: Teachers, Parents, Students to Rally Outside Tweed and UFT HQ to Protest Unsafe School Reopening

The Undeniable Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Today’s Education | Occupy Wall Street News

The Undeniable Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Today’s Education | Occupy Wall Street News

COVID-19 and Education: The Effect of the Pandemic on Today’s Education

The COVID-19 epidemic will forever be known as the world health crisis that managed to shut down almost every school in the world. Since the virus doesn’t care about one’s race, age, or gender, the education community had to make a decision, and fast. The result is a major change in education systems all around the globe. It is not only the educators and students that are affected but their parents and families as well.

Impact of the pandemic on schools and teachers

Due to the presence of the virus, the education community needed to think fast and find other ways to provide quality education to its students. Others have resorted to online learning. It is not only the traditional schools that are now teaching their student online. Even other institutions are adapting to the new normal by providing virtual lessons like online piano lessons and subject tutorials to their clients.

Now, schools are looking forward to innovating other ways to provide students with quality and effective education. Researchers argue that online learning is not that effective. This is the very reason why educators are working hard to help keep students engaged and better learn despite the current learning arrangements.

Many teachers are overwhelmed for all of a sudden, they need to adapt to online teaching. Many of which are not necessary for traditional teaching. According to a new poll, over a third of teachers fear for their health, both physically and mentally. Many have to work long hours just to be able to prepare and finish everything they need to do for their students. Add the fact that they now have to ensure their families are well-taken cared of while making sure they get to cater to their students and the school’s need at the same time.

Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on students

Social distancing and online learning can have negative effects on students’ personal and academic lives. According to a recent study, the sudden shift in online learning will result in a wider achievement gap. While top students are more likely to thrive, many students will have a hard time coping with the new learning arrangements due to many reasons.

For one, there is little-to-no learning structure back home. Students have already associated school with studies. Suddenly have to do CONTINUE READING: The Undeniable Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Today’s Education | Occupy Wall Street News

GALLUP POLL: Fewer U.S. Parents Want Full-Time In-Person Fall Schooling

Fewer U.S. Parents Want Full-Time In-Person Fall Schooling

Fewer U.S. Parents Want Full-Time In-Person Fall Schooling

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 36% want full-time in-person instruction; 28% want full-time remote learning
• More parents concerned about children catching the coronavirus
• A growing percentage of concerned parents want full-time remote learning

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As U.S. coronavirus infections and parents' concerns about their children catching COVID-19 have surged, parents' preferences for school attendance this year have shifted.

In late May and early June, a majority of 56% of K-12 parents wanted full-time in-person school this fall. Now, 36% prefer this option. Meanwhile, 28% of parents, up from 7% in the prior survey, prefer full-time remote instruction. The remainder, 36%, favor a hybrid system of part in-person teaching and part distance learning.

U.S. Parents Less Likely to Favor Full-Time In-Person Schooling This Fall

In the fall, would you want your children's school to have full-time distance/remote learning, have a modified program where they attend school part time and do some distance/remote learning, or have your children attend school full time?

The July 13-27 Gallup Panel survey results come as governors, school officials and parents decide how best to educate children amid the coronavirus pandemic.

After nearly all U.S. schools relied on remote learning to finish the 2019-2020 school year, the Trump administration has insisted that all children should attend school in person this fall. But some larger school districts in COVID-19 hot spots have already decided they will have full-time remote learning in the fall, something President Donald Trump recently acknowledged may be necessary despite his administration's preferences. Organizations representing pediatricians, superintendents and teachers recently urged leaders to base decisions about reopening schools on the recommendations of local public health officials, educators and parents.

When Gallup last asked this question in late May and early June, parents' preferences for full-time in-person schooling largely conformed with their experiences with remote learning at the end of the 2019-2020 school year. At that time, 56% said their children's distance learning was difficult for them, while 44% said it was easy.

Parents' preferences for 2020-2021 schooling at that time were also largely shaped by CONTINUE READING: Fewer U.S. Parents Want Full-Time In-Person Fall Schooling

Mitchell Robinson: Who Is Paying for the Move to Virtual Schooling? Not Betsy DeVos… | Eclectablog

Who Is Paying for the Move to Virtual Schooling? Not Betsy DeVos… | Eclectablog

Who Is Paying for the Move to Virtual Schooling? Not Betsy DeVos…

Dear Teachers,

As we prepare for the uncertainty and confusion regarding the return of school, one  piece of advice: Please keep the receipts for *anything* you purchase in order to teach online this fall…

• new office chairs
• tables
• computer monitors
• laptop stands
• headphones
• mics
• speakers
• cameras
• lights
• routers
• wifi extenders
• upgraded laptops, tablets, and smart phones
• enhanced internet service
• professional development classes or workshops
• home renovations or remodeling that need to be done to create a suitable online teaching “space” in your apartment or house

*Anything* you need to do your job from home–and submit copies of these receipts to your school’s business office for reimbursement.

Then use social media to share how much money you spent “out of pocket” to do your job. And how much your school district reimbursed you–or not–for these expenses.

Now, do I expect that schools will actually reimburse teachers for these expenses? Not really.

But it just might be a wakeup call to everyone who thinks that a switch can simply be flipped on CONTINUE READING: Who Is Paying for the Move to Virtual Schooling? Not Betsy DeVos… | Eclectablog