Outraged Over Trump's Inept School Reopening Push, Teachers Ready #RedForEd Resurrection | Common Dreams News

Outraged Over Trump's Inept School Reopening Push, Teachers Ready #RedForEd Resurrection | Common Dreams News

Outraged Over Trump's Inept School Reopening Push, Teachers Ready #RedForEd Resurrection

"I think we are closer right now to a national teacher strike than we have ever been in this country."

As teachers and parents across the U.S. continue to express outrage over the federal government's demand that public schools fully reopen in the next few weeks for the fall semester, some educators are looking to revitalize the nationwide Red for Ed movement of 2018 which led thousands of them to walk out of their classrooms in a fight for better conditions and wages. 

The original wave of protests in Oklahoma, Arizona, West Virginia, and other states were focused on properly funding public schools and paying teachers and support staff to ensure a quality education for students.

Now teachers in Florida, where more than 100 Covid-19 deaths have been recorded per day for four days in a row, are demonstrating with signs reading, "Red for Ed, Not Red for Dead" as they express anger over the Trump administration's refusal to ensure schools have safety measures in place in the fall and its simultaneous insistence that schools are "fully operational." 

Teachers in Tampa are protesting this week as officials decide whether to adopt a hybrid teaching model this fall, with some in-person instruction and some remote. 

In June, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) conducted a poll of its 1.7 million members and found that two-thirds hoped to teach in person at least part-time this coming school year, provided the government ensures there are proper ventilation and CONTINUE READING: Outraged Over Trump's Inept School Reopening Push, Teachers Ready #RedForEd Resurrection | Common Dreams News

High Schools Are Asking Parents To Sign Coronavirus Waivers | CafeMom

High Schools Are Asking Parents To Sign Coronavirus Waivers | CafeMom

Some Schools Are Asking Families To Sign Coronavirus Waivers in Case Students Die

As schools across the nation gear up for back to school, it's clear that the 2020-21 school year is will look a whole lot different amid the pandemic. Reopening plans already differ widely depending on the district and state, but several high schools across the nation are already welcoming back students for summer sports -- and reportedly implementing some eye-opening new protocol. According to The New York Daily News, some high schools are asking parents to sign liability waivers should students attend voluntary extracurricular activities and contract the coronavirus.

• In a nutshell, this means that parents couldn't sue if their child were to catch COVID-19 at school, become severely ill, and even die.

  The waivers have reportedly been sent home to parents at schools in California, Missouri, and Florida, among others. So far, all of them only apply to summer sports programs as opposed to the upcoming academic year, though it's not a stretch to wonder whether we'll be seeing more like them come fall.

• News of the waivers has been popping up on social media this week, where (surprise, surprise) it's sparked quite the debate. 

  The Hazelwood School District, which serves St. Louis, Missouri, was forced to clarify news of its new waiver in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

  "There is no COVID-19 waiver for parents who select the education option that includes in-person school," the post stated. However, "Parents who want their child to participate in CONTINUE READING: High Schools Are Asking Parents To Sign Coronavirus Waivers | CafeMom

What Happens If I Get Sick? - Teacher Habits

What Happens If I Get Sick? - Teacher Habits

What Happens If I Get Sick?

This past week my district hosted a virtual “happy hour” during which administrators provided an update on planning for the fall and invited questions from staff. There were many questions and not quite as many answers. I do not fault district leaders for this. When the Secretary of Education has no plan and the state’s school reopening Roadmap is not really a plan, it’s a bit much to expect local administrators to have a plan.

Part of the reason for the lack of a plan is that there are no answers. The pandemic has acted as a stress test for our entire society and schools, barely surviving in normal times, have broken under that stress. We haven’t witnessed the destruction yet because schools are not in session, but if they reopen in the manner advocated for by the President, Secretary of Education, and ill-informed parents on Facebook who want to get back to work and are sick of watching their own kids, then the crumbling will be swift, vivid, and startling.

Teachers who actually work in schools have thousands of questions about how in-person education will work. Those questions will continue to go unanswered because most are unanswerable.

Either there are no answers or the answers are so unpalatable that to voice them exposes the absurdity of the entire effort.

Those who insist we embark on this ill-fated escapade have either CONTINUE READING: What Happens If I Get Sick? - Teacher Habits

A Dangerous Political Game | The Crucial Voice of the PeopleThe Crucial Voice of the People

A Dangerous Political Game | The Crucial Voice of the PeopleThe Crucial Voice of the People

A Dangerous Political Game

In the midst of our Coronavirus Crisis, President Trump and Education Secretary DeVos are playing a dangerous political game.

Gambling on parent’s desire for their children to go back to school, Trump and DeVos are pushing for in-person instruction this fall in all schools. But they have no authority over that decision. So why would they make the demand?

The Obvious Set-Up

From the Daily Beast: “Trump Banks on School Reopening to Help Him in November”

“Donald Trump’s aggressive push to fully reopen schools this fall is being driven by a belief inside the president’s orbit that the policy will be a political winner for him this November. Their confidence, they say, is backed up by the campaign’s private polling data.”

“It’s unclear if Trump’s gambit—aimed largely at suburban female voters and moms—will work in his favor. …”

Yes, we know the president only has his eyes on re-election. But we should not think the  appeal is aimed at just suburban women. Opening schools appeals to every single-parent working person without support at home, the working-poor couples that can’t afford daycare, and all those still not seeing COVID-19 as a real threat.

But there’s more. CONTINUE READING: A Dangerous Political Game | The Crucial Voice of the PeopleThe Crucial Voice of the People

Leading a non-profit through this racial reckoning? It’s more complicated if you’re Black. - Philly's 7th Ward

Leading a non-profit through this racial reckoning? It’s more complicated if you’re Black. - Philly's 7th Ward

LEADING A NON-PROFIT THROUGH THIS RACIAL RECKONING? IT’S MORE COMPLICATED IF YOU’RE BLACK.

Like most of us, my inbox has been flooded for weeks with pointed statements from organizations condemning the recent murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, George Floyd, and Rayshard Brooks. Most of these messages have shown support for the calls for justice and reform being heard across the country and taken a stand against racism and hate generally, and anti-Blackness specifically.

Carmita Semaan

Many organizations have been applauded for these bold and vocal stances. But I’ve noticed another dangerous and more subversive trend that has largely been ignored. Multiple — primarily Black — leaders of nonprofit and youth-serving organizations have shared with me that they have faced negative backlash from “supporters” who found their statements off-putting.

These “supporters” have found the direct reproach of abject racism and calls for justice regarding violence against Black citizens just a step too far. It turns out that sanitized language regarding the education, housing, food, and health inequities faced by people of color is palatable, but direct language about Blackness — and the reality of our country’s history of fear and weaponization of Blackness that underpins those inequities — is a bit too unpleasant.

I founded and run the Surge Institute, an organization that supports, educates, and elevates Black, brown, and Asian/Pacific Islander education leaders. It’s why we exist, which means I’ve never felt the need to sanitize or downplay who we are and why we do this work. That has admittedly made it more difficult for us to secure some investments and scale as rapidly as we would like, but that’s been a consequence I’ve been willing to accept.

I didn’t have to hesitate to publish a statement from Surge in which I said, “We must understand and never forget that the roots of this nation are forever stained with the blood of our Black ancestors … We cannot — especially now — passively accept or ignore the anti-Blackness that infects our country like a virus.” In response, one of our most dedicated white CONTINUE READING: Leading a non-profit through this racial reckoning? It’s more complicated if you’re Black. - Philly's 7th Ward

Introduction to My Next Book (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Introduction to My Next Book (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Introduction to My Next Book (Part 3)

And so, the last century of reform in America has been the story of these three political and social movements beginning with excited policy talk, then moving to downsized policy actions, and finally erratic implementation spilling over public schools. Beyond these reformers achieving a few of their intended goals in each era, what often goes unnoticed are some of the unintended—even perverse– effects of hyperbolic reform talk, narrowed adoption of policies, and uneven execution.

Perverse outcomes of school reforms

Consider the massive effort by civil rights reformers to desegregate schools between the 1960s and 1980s following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Brown decision (1954).

Activists used both direct action such as boycotts and marches and indirect action such as legal strategies to get urban districts to desegregate through busing, making larger city/county districts that straddled attendance boundaries, and taking school boards to federal court for maintaining segregated schools—strategies that civil rights reformers believed would bring minority and white children together to learn. Many of these efforts succeeded, particularly in the South in the 1970s and 1980s (see here and here).

The fact of the matter is that then residential segregation determined school CONTINUE READING: Introduction to My Next Book (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

UPDATE: Gina Bellafante: Schools Beat Plagues with Outdoor Education, Why Can’t We? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Gina Bellafante: Schools Beat Plagues with Outdoor Education, Why Can’t We? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Gina Bellafante: Schools Beat Plagues with Outdoor Education, Why Can’t We?

This is a terrific article that appeared in the New York Times by the regular city columnist Gina Bellafante. It is about how schools beat plagues in the early 20th century by opening outdoor classes. The Times is making articles about coronavirus available for free, so it may not be behind a pay wall. You should see it for the wonderful historical photographs. If the bureaucracy could think creatively in 1915, why not now?

Here is the text:

In the early years of the 20th century, tuberculosis ravaged American cities, taking a particular and often fatal toll on the poor and the young. In 1907, two Rhode Island doctors, Mary Packard and Ellen Stone, had an idea for mitigating transmission among children. Following education trends in Germany, they proposed the creation of an open-air schoolroom. Within a matter of months, the floor of an empty brick building in Providence was converted into a space with ceiling-height windows on every side, kept open at nearly all times.

The subsequent New England winter was especially unforgiving, but children stayed warm in wearable blankets known as “Eskimo sitting bags” and with heated soapstones placed at their feet. The experiment was a CONTINUE READING: Gina Bellafante: Schools Beat Plagues with Outdoor Education, Why Can’t We? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Parent: Why Not Open Outdoor Classrooms in Tents and Other Temporary Structures? | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-r8A via @dianeravitch

Teachers: Why Not Shift to Outdoor Learning? | Diane Ravitch's blog - https://wp.me/p2odLa-r8R via @dianeravitch

glen brown: We Have Lost "The Conscience of Congress": John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 - July 17, 2020)

glen brown: We Have Lost "The Conscience of Congress": John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 - July 17, 2020)

We Have Lost "The Conscience of Congress": John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 - July 17, 2020)

“The life of the US congressman John Lewis, who has died aged 80 after suffering from pancreatic cancer, is a paradigm for the history of race relations in the US over those eight decades. Born into segregation, Lewis took a leadership role in civil rights protest as a young man, and was at the heart of many of the most crucial, and dangerous, events in that movement. He was beaten by the Ku Klux Klan and by the police, jailed repeatedly, and continually forced to move forward while ignoring friendly voices warning him not to push too hard against the apartheid legislated in large parts of America.

“As the changes for which he battled came into being, he found himself elected to the US House of Representatives, where he served in leadership positions, and was called ‘the conscience of Congress’ by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And while he saw a black man elected president, he then watched as many of his movement’s hard-fought gains were walked back by reactionary judges, senators and, indeed, a president.

“A leader of the Nashville Student Movement, Lewis was arrested multiple times while organising sit-ins against the city’s segregated restaurants and bus services. In 1960, along with a similar student group in Greensboro, North Carolina, he and Nashville colleagues Diane Nash and Marion Barry (a future mayor of Washington) were at the heart of the founding of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, pronounced CONTINUE READING: glen brown: We Have Lost "The Conscience of Congress": John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 - July 17, 2020)

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Have the powers that be thought about what in-school teaching would look like in the age of COVID

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Have the powers that be thought about what in-school teaching would look like in the age of COVID

Have the powers that be thought about what in-school teaching would look like in the age of COVID

The powers that be say, it will be fine, we'll have a mask policy, practice social distancing, clean in between classes and wash, wash, wash our hands and things will be fine, to which I say, they are %#&%ing nuts if they think that's going to be both easy or doable.

Let's take those items one at a time.

Masks, let's say schools have strict mask policies and staff, and students have to wear them at all times, something that is not in place now. Have you tried to lecture and talk for an hour at a time? What about actually wearing one for an hour straight? I went to a three-hour school board meeting the other day, and it sucked.

So at best it's going to suck. However, we know thins we all be at their best.  We are going to have to fight with kids to keep their masks on at every grade level, and many school districts have lax mask policies, mine says they don't have to be worn in music and gym classes, then what is the point of even having a mask policy.

Practice social distancing. First, the vast majority of classrooms are not big enough to social distance if there CONTINUE READING: Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Have the powers that be thought about what in-school teaching would look like in the age of COVID

SPI Issues Statement to Governor's School Guidance - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

SPI Issues Statement to Governor's School Guidance - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Issues Statement in Response to Governor's Updated School Guidance

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond issued the following statement today in response to the Governor’s updated guidance for schools:

“I want to commend the Governor for his leadership and for his focus on prioritizing public safety during what might be one of the most challenging experiences we will face in our lifetime. I appreciate the concern he expressed today as a father, his concern for the safety of California’s six million students, and his concern for the health and welfare of our schools’ educators and families.

“I also want to thank the Governor for the work he has led to ensure that our educators have necessary personal protective equipment—already on its way to our 10,000 schools—in the form of millions of units of face coverings, face shields, hand sanitizer, and thermometers.

“Today’s guidance from the California Department of Public Health lays out clear metrics for our schools so that they can best understand the conditions that determine when they must close. On Monday, the California Department of Education will host a meeting for our 1,000 school districts to unpack today’s guidance. We are grateful that our partners in the California Department of Public Health will present the guidance in this format and take questions from educators across the state.

“As so many of our schools will begin their academic year virtually, we remain committed to continuing to work with the Governor, the Legislature, the State Board of Education, the California Department of Public Health, and educators across the state to address ways we can improve distance learning. We must accelerate this effort to ensure there is consistency and continuity moving ahead and that we are doing everything in our power to offset learning gaps that have been exacerbated by this pandemic.”

# # # #

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

SPI Issues Statement to Governor's School Guidance - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

CURMUDGUCATION: Everything's Made Up (And Nobody Is Behind)

CURMUDGUCATION: Everything's Made Up (And Nobody Is Behind)

Everything's Made Up (And Nobody Is Behind)

This is the opportunity we're missing, but to grab it would require us to look at things that some of us would rather not look at.

We can start with the notion that students are currently "falling behind." Well, now-- behind what, exactly? Is there some line scribed by the Hand of God in the intellectual sand that tells us, yes, a child who has been on earth 193 months should have crossed this absolute line on the One True Path of intellectual growth?

No box. Also, no spoon.

No, because it's all made up. The line that says "This is where they should be" is made up. In fact, the notion that there is a single path along which progress should be measured is also made up. Hell, this should not be news, because it wasn't that long ago that we moved all the lines, accompanied by declarations about rigor and challenge and other baloney that posited that making kindergarten the new first grade was somehow a good idea because it would push students "ahead" of that made up line on that made up path. none of this "ahead/behind" baloney is based on anything scientific or objective or rooted in anything except that some people with power decided "This is the rule we'd like to make up."

People are really struggling. There are so many nuts and bolts questions that are coming up in the face of whatever-the-hell is going to happen in a few weeks, like "If a teacher is sent to quarantine CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Everything's Made Up (And Nobody Is Behind)

NYCDOE, where’s our masks? | JD2718

NYCDOE, where’s our masks? | JD2718

NYCDOE, where’s our masks?

Write your NYC Council Person / Tweet your NYC Council Person

Write politicians? I usually don’t. Most days it’s just a great big time sink. But today? Safety in schools and COVID-19? Issues they all care about. So I’m writing.

We don’t have answers from Carranza? Fuzziness from our union? Let’s ask the elected officials to get us some answers.

I wrote an e-mail version, and a tweet version. I’m writing to my NYC Council member, plus others I know.

Email version

I am a NYC public school teacher.

{if you live or work in the council member’s district, put that info here}

And I am concerned that the reopening plans are leaving safety aside. I am worried for my school. I am worried for every school.

Have they ordered PPE?

How many masks do we need for September? And how many do they have on hand? Can you find out? How are they making up the shortfall?

Where are the hand sanitizer stations? They should be installing them in every school – now. But we see CONTINUE READING: NYCDOE, where’s our masks? | JD2718

ELECTION SEASON IS UPON US – Dad Gone Wild

ELECTION SEASON IS UPON US – Dad Gone Wild

ELECTION SEASON IS UPON US

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” – J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye

“The weak-minded choose to hate,” she said. “It’s the least painful thing to do, isn’t it?”
― Yiyun Li, Gold Boy, Emerald Girl

I think it’s safe to say that school board election season is now officially upon us. In three weeks Nashville residents will be given the opportunity to cast their vote in 5 races, though two are uncontested. While next week, Metro Council member will appoint a candidate to fill the vacant seat on the board created by the untimely passing of board chair Anna Shepherd.

COVID means that the tried and true methods of campaigning – door knocking, public meetings, and polling station canvassing – are not viable this year. Candidates are being forced to find alternative means in which to get their message out. Mailers, phone calls, and social media posts have become even more vital than they were in previous elections. All of those methods have a financial cost connected to them which in turn makes fundraising, even as it becomes more difficult, more vital.

In the past, a candidate could overcome a lack of donations by just getting out and knocking more doors than their opponent. Not this year, show up at someone’s door unsolicited and you are likely to have a voter recoil and cast a vote for your opponent.

The current conditions also place more emphasis on the virtual town halls being held by numerous groups. NOAH just completed a series of forums with candidates and earlier in the week the Tennessean’s David Plaza hosted a forum with candidates in all 5 races.

The topics of Wednesday’s forum consisted mainly of the expected – school re-opening, equity CONTINUE READING: ELECTION SEASON IS UPON US – Dad Gone Wild

Are Parents, Teachers and School Boards Epidemiologists? State Ed Gives Districts Wide Discretion in Crafting Re-Opening Plans | Ed In The Apple

Are Parents, Teachers and School Boards Epidemiologists? State Ed Gives Districts Wide Discretion in Crafting Re-Opening Plans | Ed In The Apple

Are Parents, Teachers and School Boards Epidemiologists? State Ed Gives Districts Wide Discretion in Crafting Reopening Plans

The NYS Department of Education released re-opening guidance, all 145 pages of guidance. (Read here)

The key sentence:  “The guidance encourages community involvement and allows for flexibility so that districts and schools in every corner of the state can assess their unique situation and develop a plan that best meets the needs of their students.”

On the instructional side, “… the document reminds schools and districts that they must always work to create and foster culturally responsive, student-centered learning environments that affirm racial, linguistic and cultural identities; prepare students for rigor and independent learning; develop students’ abilities to connect across lines of difference; elevate historically marginalized voices; and empower students as agents of social change.”

In other words, continue to do what we hope you’ve been doing instructionally in whatever configuration your school district thinks will meet the needs of your students.

The document frequently uses the words “encourage,” “consider” “assess,” the ultimate decisions will be made by your school district and principals, with stakeholder participation and requires approval by the state.

The guidance incorporates social distancing, wearing masks and the other CONTINUE READING: Are Parents, Teachers and School Boards Epidemiologists? State Ed Gives Districts Wide Discretion in Crafting Re-Opening Plans | Ed In The Apple

Wishing Doesn’t Make it So | Live Long and Prosper

Wishing Doesn’t Make it So | Live Long and Prosper

Wishing Doesn’t Make it So

UPDATE: Link at the end of the post…

America’s schools will start to open in a few weeks…some as early as the beginning of August…some after Labor Day. With this small window of time to plan, the unhinged President and his unqualified Secretary of Education demand that…

…kids need to be back in school, and that school leaders across the country need to be making plans to do just that.

STATES OPENED TOO EARLY

When the President called for states to reopen he didn’t do it because of any medical or scientific reason. He didn’t insist that the states follow the CDC guidance on reopening because we happen to be in the middle of a deadly pandemic. Pundits have suggested that he is more interested in getting the economy running again than in keeping people safe. A good economy, it is reasoned, will help the President’s reelection campaign.

The point is that we should have solved problems associated with coronavirus months ago.

We shouldn’t be seeing surging cases any more — which are especially bad in states which opened too early or without adequate safeguards.

We shouldn’t be hearing continued complaints from health care workers that CONTINUE READING: Wishing Doesn’t Make it So | Live Long and Prosper