Students accused of truancy when they didn’t turn in their work

Students accused of truancy when they didn’t turn in their work

They didn’t turn in their work for remote school. Their parents were threatened with courts and fines

After their kids experienced tech glitches or turned off cameras during online learning, these families were accused of truancy and received legal threats

Hayden, 12, had been having panic attacks about school even before a letter arrived at his home last month, threatening legal action for his alleged absences from distance learning. 

The sixth grader has been attending online class from his home outside Austin, Texas, since August, and having difficulties adjusting. When his grades dropped, he started having intense bouts of anxiety, working himself up until he cried so hard he could barely catch his breath. He wailed that he hated himself and wished he could do better in school.

When the letter arrived from Round Rock School District in November, saying that legal charges punishable by fines or court action could be brought against his mother for his absences, Hayden spiraled into a dayslong episode, says his mother Holly Barentine. He started crying even before they finished reading the letter, disclosing fears about worst-case scenarios that he would fail his classes. When he went to stay the night at his dad’s house, the crying continued. His father emailed Barentine, expressing concern for their son’s well-being.

Hayden, a sixth-grader, hadn’t actually been missing online school. However, his school district only counts kids present in some classes if they both show up and submit their homework for the day. Some of Hayden’s homework hadn’t been reaching his teachers due to apparent technological glitches on the school’s online platform, or in some cases because he hadn’t handed it in ― an oversight he didn’t expect to be met with potential legal action. 

Around the country, school districts are subject to state truancy laws and regulations. However, as the coronavirus pandemic has turned schools upside down and put most learning online, some of these rules are CONTINUE READING: Students accused of truancy when they didn’t turn in their work

Classrooms of the Future? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Classrooms of the Future? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Classrooms of the Future?

Technological fantasies of the future school have been around for decades. Here’s one from 1910. Note all of the information going into students’ heads comes from textbooks fed into a wood chipper.

  Or another from 1963 cartoon called “The Jetsons.”

 Or this one in 1982 predicting that the future school will be monopolized by the then dominant company Atari.

And then “Meet The Classroom of the Future” in 2015 at David Boody Intermediate School (IS 228) in New York City.

 Modeled after the School of One, an  innovative program that began in New York City a few years ago, sixth-to-eighth grade students work at their individual skill levels based on data collected from state and  school tests, diagnostic assessments, and past performance. From this data bank, software installed on laptops presents individual lessons tailored for each student to work through on the screen daily. These individual lessons become the day-to-day “playlist” for each student in various subjects. Teachers monitor, adapt, and enrich  lessons for each student.  The blended learning program at IS 228 touts “personalized instruction” for  over 800 students (2012) who apply to its varied magnet programs.

The journalist who described his visit to IS 228 began the article by saying: “The classroom of the future probably won’t be led by a robot with arms and legs, but it may be guided by a digital brain.” Describing a sixth grade math class at David Boody Intermediate School,  the classroom of the future  “may look like this: one room, about the size of a basketball court; more than 100 students, all plugged CONTINUE READING: Classrooms of the Future? | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Teacher Tom: What if Being Good at Things Wasn't the Point of Doing Them?

Teacher Tom: What if Being Good at Things Wasn't the Point of Doing Them?

What if Being Good at Things Wasn't the Point of Doing Them?

Our daughter played on a middle school soccer team in a league that didn't believe in keeping score. The kids, of course, simply kept score themselves, always knowing in the end who had won and who had lost. They knew that not keeping score wasn't part of the real world and they mocked the charade.

That said, her team was not very good, losing all of their matches, often by double digits. The girls were aware to this and mocked that too. I'd played on sports teams like that as a boy. Adults would try to buck us up, to assure us that today was our day, that we possessed the talent to win and we would win if we just stuck to it. They assumed that we must be down in the dumps from all the losing, but I don't recall feeling that way. Sure, I would have preferred to win, I suppose, but more important was getting together with my buddies and playing baseball or football or basketball. The camaraderie was everything and I saw that with our daughter and her friends. They loved playing bad soccer together, even as we adults worried about their self-esteem.

We ought not to have worried, of course, but it's hard. We live in a culture that emphasizes winning. It's not enough to be good at something, let alone to merely dabble in it. One must strive to be best and when someone falls short, we think, it must have shame attached to it. In school, we grade our children, ranking them according to how well they do CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: What if Being Good at Things Wasn't the Point of Doing Them?

NYC Educator: Another Letter from the Chancellor

NYC Educator: Another Letter from the Chancellor

Another Letter from the Chancellor

Dear Colleagues,
 
As we approach the end of the calendar year, I am reflecting back on some of the events of 2020. We have confronted uncertainty and pain together, working as a community dedicated in service to our city’s children. Because their safety is paramount, we took a principled stand and vowed to close schools as soon as the positivity rate reached 3%.
 
It goes almost without saying that we backed off on that stand as soon as public pressure began. I took some hard criticism—the hardest, perhaps, of my lifetime, and of course I backed off my principles completely. We have all worked incredibly hard to protect our children and our communities from COVID-19, and continue to do so.  That’s why we’ve now tripled our threshold for closure to 9%, and when it hits that, we’ll read a few nasty op-eds in the Post and raise it again.
 
But the difficulties of this year extend beyond the coronavirus crisis, of course. This has been a watershed year for the struggle for racial justice in this city and country. Rest assured that we at the DOE will make you travel through COVID infested trains and buses no matter what color you are. We don’t care what religion you are or what CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Another Letter from the Chancellor

NYC Public School Parents: Patrick Sullivan on the DOE's acquisition of Reliant bus company: Why the PEP should vote no.

NYC Public School Parents: Patrick Sullivan on the DOE's acquisition of Reliant bus company: Why the PEP should vote no.

Patrick Sullivan on the DOE's acquisition of Reliant bus company: Why the PEP should vote no.

Patrick Sullivan, a former member of the Panel for Educational Policy, sent this to current members in opposition to the DOE acquisition of Reliant bus company.  For more on this issue, see Sue Edelman's article yesterday  in the New York Post and the editorial today.  The PEP is voting on this contract tonight.  Livestream here.

From: Patrick Sullivan <patk.j.sullivan@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Dec 13, 2020 at 7:08 PM
Subject: Vote no/abstain vote on NYCSBUS contract due to pension risk
To: <AChapman7@schools.nyc.gov>, <GChacon@schools.nyc.gov>, <ICarmignani@schools.nyc.gov>, <DDillingham@schools.nyc.gov>, <NGreenGiles@schools.nyc.gov>, <MKraft2@schools.nyc.gov>, <VLeung@schools.nyc.gov>, <GLinnen@schools.nyc.gov>, <LPodvesker@schools.nyc.gov>, <kparkprice@schools.nyc.gov>, <SWaite3@schools.nyc.gov>

 

Dear Panel for Educational Policy Members,

I am writing to express my concerns about the contract with the new NYCSBUS entity for school bus services.  I ask you to abstain or vote against the contract.

The contract is part of a two-pronged program to create a DOE-controlled busing company.  One component is the new non-profit intended to buy Reliant from its parent MV Transport.   The non-profit has a board controlled by the Chancellor and his appointees.   The non-profit will get Reliant's assets including buses owned outright and leases for both buses and bus depots.   The non-profit will also be responsible for Reliant's pension obligations.  The pension is a private one for the union's members and funded by all the bus company employers.  Like most pensions, it's underfunded.  The responsibility to make up any underfunding is with the employers.   When NYCSBUS buys Reliant, it becomes responsible for the pension.  Their share of the underfunding is about $140 million.  

I do not believe the DOE has been either comprehensive or candid in explaining the risks involved in their plans:

NYCSBUS fails to deliver services - the company only exists on paper right now so a number of scenarios could derail operations including inability to staff management, CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Patrick Sullivan on the DOE's acquisition of Reliant bus company: Why the PEP should vote no.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Epstein's poke at Dr. Jill Biden backfires.

Mike Klonsky's Blog: Epstein's poke at Dr. Jill Biden backfires.

Epstein's poke at Dr. Jill Biden backfires.

Whatever the purpose of Joseph Epstein's WSJ screed... it surely failed. I think his poke at Dr. Jill Biden for professionally using 'DR.' in front of her name had less to do with educational leadership titles and Dr. Biden's personal achievements (which are notable) and more with discrediting the Biden/Harris election victory. 

The best honorific for Dr. Biden might be "Teacher". 

Whatever his intent, it most certainly backfired. The negative response on social media has been over the top. While the relatively-unknown Epstein may be the current hero in MAGAland's war on "identity politics",  in the education community he has become just another symbol of Trumpian anti-educator, misogyny. 

If anything, I'm sure he's driven even more white, educated, suburban women from DT's base. That being a demographic shift that helped put Biden over the top in several swing states. Thanks for that, Epstein.

Other reactions: 

Northwestern University said in a statement on Saturday that it disagrees with the "misogynistic views" of Joseph Epstein, an author and former professor at the Illinois school who wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published Friday that Biden should drop the "Dr." because it "sounds and feels fraudulent, not to say a touch comic."

He also compared Biden’s doctoral credentials to an honorary degree that requires no academic CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: Epstein's poke at Dr. Jill Biden backfires.

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT – Dad Gone Wild

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT – Dad Gone Wild

THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT

“As far as Kiva could tell, whenever selfish humans encountered a wrenching, life-altering crisis, they embarked on a journey of five distinct stages: Denial. Denial. Denial. Fucking Denial. Oh, shit everything is terrible grab what you can and run.”
― John Scalzi, The Last Emperox

This past weekend, riding in the car with my 10-year old son, I was regaling him with tales of my origins in the hospitality industry. Not quite, “I walked 10 miles to school every day, both ways uphill” stories, but not too far off either.

I started working at the Summit Resort when I was 15 years old. I was a dishwasher, and it sucked.

The Summit was your classic Pocono Mountain honeymoon resort, complete with champagne glass-shaped hot tubs in the rooms. Serving three meals a day meant plenty of dishes to wash and don’t even get me started on pots. You haven’t lived till you have taken a piece of steel wool to 75 metal baking sheets encrusted with bacon grease and remnants,

This was at a time when the restaurant business wasn’t exactly a friendly place to be. Employers really didn’t care what you thought, nor did they see a need to pretend otherwise. The owner of the place used to like to pop in behind the dish machine and tell us tales, that he must have thought were inspirational, about his 7 decades of experience in the industry, “I was your age when I started, doing the same job you are. I worked hard and paid attention. Look at me now. All of this could be yours someday.”

We would try to hold back our smirks and say, “Thank you, Mr. Farda!” Only to break into laughter CONTINUE READING: THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT – Dad Gone Wild

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER

 NewBlackMan (in Exile)

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/12/this-week-with-newblackman-in-exile_12.html

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