Educators call on Congress to ensure healthy school meals for all students - Education Votes

Educators call on Congress to ensure healthy school meals for all students - Education Votes

Educators call on Congress to ensure healthy school meals for all students

By Cindy Long

Susan Jones, a nutrition services professional in Colonial School District, New Castle, Delaware, has seen far too many students skip lunch because they were afraid they couldn’t afford it or were embarrassed to hand the cashier the card announcing that they qualified for free meals.

“The best possible use of my tax dollar would be to feed a kid,” Jones says, who dreads seeing hungry kids avoid the line and the stigma of the “free lunch” label.  “Universal school meals would make a huge difference at the  register. Everyone’s going to get lunch, no questions asked. I hope it’s forever.”

If lawmakers are successful, it will be.

Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, and Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Gwen Moore of Wisconsin introduced the Universal School Meals Program Act of 2021, which would permanently provide free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack to all school children regardless of income while eliminating school meal debt.

Susan Jones

“In the richest country in the world, it is an outrage that millions of children struggle with hunger every day,” Sanders said in a statement. “Every child deserves a quality education free of hunger. What we’ve seen during this pandemic is that a universal approach to school meals works. We cannot go backwards.”

An emergency nutrition waiver program was implemented in spring of 2020 as COVID-19 closed schools and businesses, triggering an economic crisis and widespread food insecurity. The waivers made it much easier to feed all students, but if universal school meals don’t continue, educators say, many students will fall back into hunger.

There is a large refugee and immigrant population in the Phoenix Union High School District, where Vanessa Jimenez CONTINUE READING: Educators call on Congress to ensure healthy school meals for all students - Education Votes

New Study: School Streets Improve Air Quality - Popular Resistance Org

New Study: School Streets Improve Air Quality - PopularResistance.Org

NEW STUDY: SCHOOL STREETS IMPROVE AIR QUALITY

New Study Finds That School Streets Reduced Nitrogen Dioxide By Up To 23 Per Cent During Morning Drop Off.

81 per cent of parents and carers supported the measures at their children’s school and 18 per cent of parents reported driving to school less as a result of School Streets.

London, UK – Closing the roads around schools to traffic at pick-up and drop-off times has reduced polluting nitrogen dioxide levels by up to 23 per cent and is strongly supported by parents, new research published by the Mayor Sadiq Khan reveals.

To measure the air quality benefits of the new School Streets, 30 cutting-edge sensors from the Breathe London network were installed at 18 primary schools across Brent, Enfield and Lambeth to record nitrogen dioxide levels. The air quality monitoring project, funded by FIA Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, was launched in September 2020 to give the most accurate indication yet of how the School Streets scheme is working. 

Since April 2020, almost 350 School Streets have been delivered across London with funding from Transport for London (TfL) and the boroughs to tackle children’s exposure to air pollution and improve their health.

Roads surrounding schools are closed to motor traffic at drop-off and pick-up times, enabling children to walk or cycle to school, reducing car trips and improving air quality. School Streets also provide space for social distancing and help to reduce road danger around schools, making journeys safer and easier.

Around half of London’s emissions come from road transport, and London’s toxic air already leads to thousands of premature deaths in the capital every year as well as stunting the development of young lungs and increasing cases of respiratory illness. Air pollution has also been linked to increased risk of contracting Covid-19 and experiencing the most serious effects.

TfL has also today published new survey results which suggest that interventions outside schools to make walking and cycling safer are popular with parents and carers and have contributed to a drop in car use. Parents and carers from 35 schools took part in the study and the results showed:   CONTINUE READING: New Study: School Streets Improve Air Quality - PopularResistance.Org

Pressure on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Grows: Cancel Standardized Tests in this Crazy COVID-19 School Year | janresseger @teachcardona

Pressure on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Grows: Cancel Standardized Tests in this Crazy COVID-19 School Year | janresseger

Pressure on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Grows: Cancel Standardized Tests in this Crazy COVID-19 School Year

There is absolutely no reason why the U.S. Department of Education should refuse to grant states waivers this spring from the federal requirement for standardized testing. Two weeks ago, a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of Education’s Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Ian Rosenblum released guidance telling states they must test students as required by the Every Student Succeeds Act despite the pandemic. After that, the Senate finally voted to confirm President Biden’s appointment of Miguel Cardona as Secretary of Education.

We all hope that Dr. Cardona will reconsider. And it is becoming clear that the subject is not closed.  Experts, parents, educators, and members of the public continue to press the new Secretary of Education to do the right thing in this year when some students have been in school, many are on hybrid schedules, and many others continue to learn remotely.

Why should Secretary Cardona cancel testing this spring? When Rosenblum announced that he was charging ahead to require testing, he ignored more than a month of informed advocacy by board of education members, education experts, school administrators, schoolteachers and parents—all pushing the Department of Education to grant states waivers to cancel the tests in this COVID-19 year. (See here, here, here, and here.) No one in the Department has provided a convincing justification for requiring that the high-stakes tests be administered this school year.

Opponents of testing this spring have spoken about problems of feasibility when some CONTINUE READING: Pressure on Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Grows: Cancel Standardized Tests in this Crazy COVID-19 School Year | janresseger

NANCY BAILEY: President Biden’s Ideas About Schools and Covid-19 Miss the Mark

President Biden’s Ideas About Schools and Covid-19 Miss the Mark

President Biden’s Ideas About Schools and Covid-19 Miss the Mark

I watched President Biden’s CNN Townhall. I like President Biden and feel that he is sincere and wants to do a good job. He is well-focused on helping the country move forward. His kindness shines through. But his school plans for Covid-19 are worrisome.

As expected, Covid-19 dominated the Townhall conversation. A whole segment could have been on schools and Covid-19. Unfortunately, the school issue wasn’t well-addressed with only two questions.

Opening Schools in 100 Days

I wish the President had never said that schools should open in 100 days. It reminds me of when politicians from both parties said that with No Child Left Behind, all third graders would read proficiently by 2014. In 2021, students still have reading problems. Covid-19 is different from reading, of course, but making predictions about Covid-19 seems like a gamble.

It’s also not like all schools have been closed. Some schools have in-person learning or a hybrid approach. Schools may open then close due to Covid-19 cases. Teachers have been safely teaching remotely since the beginning of the pandemic.

If he had to pick a time, perhaps it should be Fall, as noted by Dr. Leana Wen, M.D. CONTINUE READING: President Biden’s Ideas About Schools and Covid-19 Miss the Mark

2017–19 Biennial CA Healthy Kids Survey Results - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

2017–19 Biennial CA Healthy Kids Survey Results - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces Results of

2017–19 Biennial Statewide California Healthy Kids Survey

Big Education Ape: SSPI TONY THURMOND: STUFF THIS WEEK FROM THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/12/sspi-tony-thurmond-stuff-this-week-from.html

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced results today from the 2017–19 Biennial California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS), one of the largest statewide surveys in the country. Covering a period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey reflects student attitudes regarding social-emotional wellness, health risk behaviors, and overall connectedness to school that can impact school climate, pupil engagement, and academic achievement.

Although the data does not reflect student attitudes since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the results spotlight trends school leaders can use to direct resources to support student wellness.

“This survey gives educational leaders valuable insight about critical issues students were facing before the COVID-19 public health crisis exacerbated impacts on student wellness,” said Thurmond. “School leaders can compare these findings with the most current, real-time data they gather at the local level to identify important trends that have emerged since the onset of the coronavirus. Knowing if students are being bullied, struggling with depression, participating in high-risk behaviors, or feeling unsafe is vital information that can help school leaders make decisions and implement strategies that will facilitate improvement for not only students but the entire school community.”

The CHKS has been conducted every two years since 1985. The California Department of Education (CDE) and the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) coordinated the survey of a representative, random sample of seventh, ninth, and eleventh graders throughout the state, and approximately 70 percent of school districts conducted the survey in their local schools.

Among the most positive findings: Alcohol use and cigarette smoking have been steadily declining since 2011–13. Binge drinking is now only reported by 4% of ninth graders and 9% of eleventh graders—less than half the level six years ago. Cigarette smoking is down to 2% in high school.

There were declines in other areas that signal additional supports are needed; perceived school safety dropped markedly in all grades to the lowest rates in the last six years. Only 54% felt safe or very safe at school, compared to 61% in 2015–17. The findings also showed reports of experiencing chronic sadness or hopelessness rose in all three grades, to 30% in seventh grade, 33% in ninth, and 37% in eleventh, the highest levels reported in the past six years—and before the pandemic.

“The students who reported feeling hopeless or sad when they participated in the survey may be grappling with those issues at more intense levels now due to the disruption caused by the coronavirus, social and racial unrest, and increased trauma,” Thurmond said. “Even though some schools are physically closed, it is imperative that students have access to school-based mental health services and support and that school staff do what they can to maintain connections with students during this challenging time.”

The State Superintendent and the CDE have made addressing social emotional health and student mental health an urgent priority in recent months. School districts are encouraged to use the remaining $2.1 billion in CARES Act funding available to schools to prioritize social emotional learning and mental health programs for students.

On Monday, the CDE hosted its latest interactive professional development webinar for educators, designed to provide resources and strategies for building supportive connections with students in the virtual world across K–12 grade levels.

In June, the State Superintendent began convening leaders from the California Association of School Counselors, the California Association of School Psychologists, the California Association of School Social Workers, and the California Alliance of Child and Family Services to begin identifying additional supports and resources for students in need.

The CDE also has numerous resources for educators, families, and students, including resources for students in crisis, students experiencing homelessness, and foster youth. CDE’s guidance for the safe reopening of schools also addresses ways to support the mental health and well-being of all.

Additionally, the CDE and DHCS are collaborating under Project Cal-Well, a federally funded mental health project, to increase mental health awareness and expand access to student mental health services. Project Cal-Well provides free Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) trainings to school and district staff at no cost. More information about Project Cal-Well and the YMHFA trainings is available on the CDE Project Cal-Well web page.

The full 2017–19 Biennial State CHKS report (PDF) is available on the CalSCHLS website, along with individual school district reports. The CalSCHLS Data Dashboard also provides online graphical access to the results for the state as a whole and for 10 demographic subgroups of students.

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

2017–19 Biennial CA Healthy Kids Survey Results - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)