Pandemic Pods: Parents, Privilege, Power and Politics – Have You Heard

Pandemic Pods: Parents, Privilege, Power and Politics – Have You Heard

Pandemic Pods: Parents, Privilege, Power and Politics

Private pandemic “pods” are the latest edu-craze to sweep the land. But turns out there’s nothing new about privileged parents fleeing the public school system—or using the threat of departure as leverage. Special guests Jessica Calarco, L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy and Jon Hale help us understand the implications of pods for public education. And Jennifer and Jack discuss why pods have quickly emerged as a policy darling on the right. Hint: conservatives see the pandemic as the best opportunity they’ve ever had to dismantle public schools. Complete transcript available here. The financial support of listeners like you keeps this podcast going. Subscribe on Patreon or donate on PayPal.

Have You Heard · #94 Pandemic Pods: Parents, Privilege, Power and Politics

Pandemic Pods: Parents, Privilege, Power and Politics – Have You Heard

High School Students Implore Cuomo – Move NYC to Remote for September | JD2718

High School Students Implore Cuomo – Move NYC to Remote for September | JD2718

High School Students Implore Cuomo – Move NYC to Remote for September

This letter was signed by a bunch of student government leaders, representing about 15% of NYC high schools, and then by about 1300 more students and parents. They sent it off to Cuomo on Wednesday August 5, because of the August 7 deadline. That’s a shame. While the letter makes good points, the authors managed to make a different one: they excluded the majority of NYC high schools that are majority Black/Brown. I don’t think it was intentional – I’m almost certain that it was not. But this is a reminder that it is not good enough not to be racist, we need to be actively anti-racist.

In any case, here’s the letter. I hope different leadership, inclusive leadership, takes up the mantle. Being inclusive takes work. It is a pretty gross display of privilege to say “we don’t have time to include Black and Brown voices.” And there is time – when NYC failed to submit an actual plan last Friday (it was an outline, not a plan) the deadlines got pushed back. 

Dear Governor Cuomo,

Over the past few weeks, Mayor de Blasio, Chancellor Carranza, and the NYC Department of Education have created a blended learning model, under which at least 33% of students are expected to attend each day and no school is permitted to conduct fully remote learning. However, this “one size fits all” model is not suitable for NYC high schools specifically. We believe that each NYC high school should be fully remote during this fall, especially schools with over 2,000 students, regardless of how other schools operate. 

First, New York City high school students have longer and riskier school commutes. While most elementary and middle school students in NYC attend schools within their own districts, high school students apply to and end up in schools all over the city. As a result, over 300,000 high school students consistently commute on crowded buses and trains, thus increasing chances of contracting and High School Students Implore Cuomo – Move NYC to Remote for September | JD2718

What I Told McKeesport Area School Directors About the Unsafe Reopening Plan Proposed by Administrators | gadflyonthewallblog

What I Told McKeesport Area School Directors About the Unsafe Reopening Plan Proposed by Administrators | gadflyonthewallblog

What I Told McKeesport Area School Directors About the Unsafe Reopening Plan Proposed by Administrators

This evening I went back to my high school to tell school board members what I thought of administration’s reopening plan during the global pandemic.

McKeesport Area School Directors have not voted on the proposal yet.

So I gathered my thoughts, put on my mask and went to the work session meeting.

This is what I said:

“Thank you for allowing me to address you this evening. I appreciate all the time and effort you put forward to lead the McKeesport Area School District and do what’s best for students, staff, and families.

I am a life-long resident of this community. Most of my family graduated from this school as did my brother and I. Before I got a job as a teacher at a neighboring district, I subbed here in the high school for years. My daughter has attended the district for the past 6 years and has received a first rate education so far.

However, I am very concerned with Superintendent Dr. Mark Holtzman’s proposed plan to reopen schools. He would have students attend school buildings in-person for half days and do virtual instruction for the other half.

This is not a safe plan for students, staff and families. I ask you to reconsider and move to a reopening plan that begins with all students engaged in distance learning.

The reason is simple. New cases of COVID-19 are spiking throughout Allegheny County. Along with Philadelphia – where students will be getting 100% virtual instruction – we have some of the highest numbers of new cases CONTINUE READING: What I Told McKeesport Area School Directors About the Unsafe Reopening Plan Proposed by Administrators | gadflyonthewallblog

Anthony Cody: Who Is Allowed to Be Selfish? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Anthony Cody: Who Is Allowed to Be Selfish? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Anthony Cody: Who Is Allowed to Be Selfish?

Anthony Cody taught for many years in the Oakland public schools. We co-founded the Network for Public Education in 2012. His blog is called “Living in Dialogue.”

He writes:

Who is Allowed to be Selfish?

Isn’t it a bit strange – our capitalist economy is built on the glorious profit motive. The wealthy are expected to be selfish – they are rewarded for their ability to make more and more, and expected to avoid taxes, military service, and anything else that is unpleasant or risky. But only some people are allowed to be selfish.

Trump can insist that anyone who meets with him be tested. But he demands schools reopen, which means teachers will meet in closed rooms with as many as 160 students a day. Teachers must not put their own health above the needs of their students and the economy that requires they be in school six or seven hours a day.

It is unfortunate that we do not have funds to pay for nurses, counselors or librarians in our schools. But most wealthy people don’t send their children to public schools anyway. They get to make a different choice. But some of us have fewer choices. It pretty much falls along CONTINUE READING: Anthony Cody: Who Is Allowed to Be Selfish? | Diane Ravitch's blog

Audio: Most Teachers Concerned About In-Person School; 2 In 3 Want To Start The Year Online | 89.3 KPCC

Audio: Most Teachers Concerned About In-Person School; 2 In 3 Want To Start The Year Online | 89.3 KPCC

Most Teachers Concerned About In-Person School; 2 In 3 Want To Start The Year Online

As the school year starts in many districts across the country, a new national poll of teachers from NPR/Ipsos finds overwhelming trepidation about returning to the physical classroom.

Eighty-two percent of K-12 teachers say they are concerned about returning to in-person teaching this fall, and two-thirds prefer to teach primarily remotely. On the latter point, teachers are aligned with parents and the general public: Another recent NPR/Ipsos poll found two-thirds of respondents thought schools in their area should be primarily remote, including 62% of parents of children under 18.

The teacher poll was conducted July 21-24 and included 505 respondents. Half teach at low-income schools.

When it comes to going back to the classroom, 77% of teachers are worried about risking their own health. Robin Stauffer is one of them. She's taught high school English for four decades, most recently in Katy, Texas, a suburb west of Houston. She says working with kids has kept her young and lighthearted, and she has a strong sense of mission "to be the type of teacher that I wish I would have had when I was in public school, to kind of right the wrongs that I experienced."

But she's also 66 years old and has diabetes, both of which make her more vulnerable to the coronavirus. According to the U.S. Department of Education, almost 30% of teachers are 50 and older, putting them in a higher-risk category for CONTINUE READING: Audio: Most Teachers Concerned About In-Person School; 2 In 3 Want To Start The Year Online | 89.3 KPCC

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Secrecy and subterfuge is the future of DCPS

Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Secrecy and subterfuge is the future of DCPS

Secrecy and subterfuge is the future of DCPS

I am both outraged and terrified at the districts plan to keep cases of COVID-19 secret in our schools, unless the schools are forced to close. Spoiler alert if people know there is a case, we may never get to the point where a school has to close. This planned secrecy is going to risk lives.

I have heard stories of cases at two local high schools, cases that were kept secret from the majority fo staff, and even from people who might have been exposed. Superintendent Greene has said if it was up to her despite the risks she would open schools, so I have to question the lengths she would go to keep them open.

Sadly our district may not be the only one that plans to keep people in the dark.

From the Tampa Times,

  Teachers at Pierce Middle School learned this week that a coworker tested positive for COVID-19 after coming on campus Friday to prepare for the upcoming school year.

They did not hear that news from the Hillsborough County school district, nor from principal Pablo Gallego. It came in an email Tuesday from social studies teacher Aron Zions.

“I believe Mr. Gallego followed the proper protocols,” Zions wrote, noting that CONTINUE READING: Mr. G for District 3: Chris Guerrieri's Education Matters: Secrecy and subterfuge is the future of DCPS

Gov, Mayor, Chanc., Pres. – keep us all alive: shut us down now | JD2718

Gov, Mayor, Chanc., Pres. – keep us all alive: shut us down now | JD2718

Gov, Mayor, Chanc., Pres. – keep us all alive: shut us down now

Today’s letter to Cuomo

(this is not by me, as you can tell from the opening line. The author is a teacher who raises important questions. She wrote similar letters to de Blasio, Carranza, and Mulgrew)(The biggest question? Why not remote? Why not start work on it today? – jd)

Dear Governor Cuomo,

I have admired and respected your leadership during this pandemic, despite serious disagreements with many of your education policies, and I was counting on your reliance on science and good sense to prevail over plans for reopening school buildings. I was very disappointed by your message yesterday, which sounded much like an abdication of your responsibility, leaving to parents and schools the task of keeping COVID numbers down and people alive.

I have sent you numerous letters citing flaws and unresolved questions in NYC’s opening plans and begging you to allow teachers to do the best by our students and staff by spending August preparing to teach fully remotely. No plan put forward has begun to reassure teachers or parents that students and CONTINUE READING: Gov, Mayor, Chanc., Pres. – keep us all alive: shut us down now | JD2718

NYC Educator: The Chancellor Sends Us Another Email

NYC Educator: The Chancellor Sends Us Another Email

The Chancellor Sends Us Another Email

Dear Colleagues,

  

I hope you and yours are safe and healthy, and experiencing a bit of rest and relaxation this summer. You'd better get as much rest as you can now, because September's coming, and we have no idea what the hell is going to happen.

  

Last month, I wrote to you with information about our plan for blended learning in the fall. Today, I am writing to share details about some newly announced health and safety protocols, which we hope will work, but who knows? They didn't work anywhere else, but we think our way is the charm. Uncertainty is a constant during this pandemic, and our plans must be flexible enough to allow us to make excuses and weasel out of blame when they fail. But in all cases, your safety and the safety of our students and families would be the first priority—no matter what, if it weren't for my boss's reckless insistence on opening buildings.

  

We all experienced anxiety and alarm from the events of this pandemic starting back in March, as we failed to close public schools after having closed Broadway. Since then, we have been working diligently and in partnership with other city agencies to build on the lessons learned and prepare fully for a new school year. Last time we failed to follow our own rules and let Covid-infested buildings linger open for a long time. We are drawing on your feedback and on the best-available public health guidance to craft our plans for the fall. This is difficult, since we haven't asked what you want, but my magic 8-ball has gotten me this far,

  

Full details of the protocols are available on the DOE website. I also encourage you to read the plan we recently submitted to the State Department of Health, which Governor Cuomo says is an outline rather than a plan. Screw him. He doesn't pay my salary.

The major components of our health and safety planning include the following: 

·         Building Safety Measures:   

o   At all times, students and staff must wear face coverings protecting their nose and mouth while on school property or on DOE-provided transportation, unless students cannot medically tolerate a face covering or wearing the face covering is developmentally inappropriate. If other CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: The Chancellor Sends Us Another Email

Mike Klonsky's Blog: CPS made the right decision but big challenges remain

Mike Klonsky's Blog: CPS made the right decision but big challenges remain

CPS made the right decision but big challenges remain

After floating a plan for a mix of in-person and remote learning, the mayor and CPS made the right decision by starting the Chicago school year with remote learning only. It was a decision driven by rising coronavirus numbers along with resistance to an opening from the CTU and many parents. It's also a decision that may save some lives and prevent fewer COVID casualties.

According to Sarah Karp at WBEZ:

The announcement also comes amid rising COVID-19 cases in Chicago. The district said a move to remote learning was dependent on whether the Chicago Department of Public Health determined COVID-19 cases weren’t under control. Though the city hasn’t surpassed those benchmarks, there is growing concern Chicago will reach them before too long. 

Now, Chicago parents and teachers will be looking to Chicago Public Schools to put forth a robust remote learning plan.

The initial hybrid plan would have rotated students into buildings two days a week for in-person classes. But CPS officials also said all along that the plan was "preliminary" and that they wouldn’t reopen schools unless it’s safe to do so. That determination has now been made.

But keeping schools closed for the next few months doesn't even begin to deal with either the immediate or long-term educational or health issues created by the pandemic.

There are some immediate measures that CPS, together with the teachers and other CONTINUE READING: Mike Klonsky's Blog: CPS made the right decision but big challenges remain

CURMUDGUCATION: Cyber Outsourcing

CURMUDGUCATION: Cyber Outsourcing

Cyber Outsourcing

It's a sort of cyber school bait and switch that has implications for students and teachers in public schools. Let me offer a specific example of how it works, courtesy of my old school district.

On the district web page, you'll find a flyer for the newly christened Franklin Area Virtual Academy, a "100% online option for families." The flyer is a nice single page, including some photos of Franklin students in action, and it lists the many positive features of FAVA:

You get a Franklin diploma. You get access to Franklin facilities. It's tuition free. There's teacher support for the student. Students do their standardized testing at Franklin. Students "have the opportunity" to develop a hybrid schedule, part cyber, part bricks and mortar. They'll get guidance from a "district liaison" as well as an "opportunity" to get "district tutoring." And if there are further questions, they can contact the high school principal.

Everything about the flyer would lead one to believe that the district had hunkered down and used its own staff and resources to create an in-house cyber school. Not exactly.

Meet VLN Partners.

This Pittsburgh-based company offers virtual leaning solutions, including "turnkey virtual academies."

The company was founded in 2007 by Alex Stone, the same year he received his doctorate in education from Duquesne. Stone had taught at a cyber school and worked as multimedia developer, CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Cyber Outsourcing

Deadline on Friday to sign up for remote or in-person learning next year | Class Size Matters

Deadline on Friday to sign up for remote or in-person learning next year | Class Size Matters 

Deadline on Friday to sign up for remote or in-person learning next year 

Dear friends–

Late on Friday, the DOE released the outline of a plan for school reopening in the fall, to be submitted to the State Board of Health.   They promise more details at the school level will follow. They released a rubric and protocol for individual school closures if Covid cases emerge among students or staff. The Mayor also announced that he will not reopen schools unless the positivity rate citywide remains under three percent by early September, while the Governor’s benchmark is a less restrictive five percent. As of today, the city’s rate is one percent – one of the lowest in the country. According to the Governor, there have been no Covid deaths in NYC for three days in a row.

The DOE is also letting parents decide whether they want to keep their children home for 100 percent remote learning next fall. Parents need to decide by this Friday, August 7 by registering their decision online.  Families can change their mind to choose full-time remote learning at any time, but if they alter their original choice to opt for in-person learning, this can happen only a few times a year.

This will be a difficult decision for many parents to make, especially as much information is missing in the DOE’s reopening plan, which does not say whether all schools will have nurses; doesn’t say how widely available busing will be; and doesn’t allow parents to know how many days per week their kids will be able to attend school if they opt for in-person learning. The disparities across the city regarding how little in-person learning will be available result from the awful inequities of class size and school overcrowding that plague our public schools.

Parents also do not know yet what full-time remote learning will look like and whether it will be improved from the version their children were subjected to this spring. The model used in summer school has apparently not gone well.

Rather than the DOE’s current plan, with all students offered “blended” learning and attending school only 1-3 days per week, other officials including City Council Education Chair Mark Treyger and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams issued proposals recommending that DOE should focus in-person instruction on elementary school children and those students with special needs, English Language Learners and living in temporary housing.

This makes sense as especially as children under ten are believed to transmit Covid less effectively and youngest students generally do worst with remote learning. If middle schools and high school buildings were closed with their students engaging in full-time remote learning, then younger students could theoretically be provided with smaller classes in those buildings and attend school nearly full time – if there were enough teachers.

Neither the UFT nor the CSA is satisfied with the current plans, and their opposition may prevent schools opening at all. Infection rates may also rise higher as the fall progresses, with schools closing at that point, but at least some kids will then have had the chance to meet their teachers and each other in person before that happens, as this epidemiologist points out.

In any case, no one can possibly fault you whatever choice you make for your child and family. Again, here is the link to fill it out by this Friday, August 7 .

Yours, Leonie

PS Please also check out the blog to see how in the midst of budget cuts to our public schools, 108 NYC charter schools received a windfall of federal funds averaging between $940,000- $2.2 million each, meant for small businesses.

Deadline on Friday to sign up for remote or in-person learning next year | Class Size Matters 

Teacher Tom: Sitting and Watching is the Not So Secret Sauce

Teacher Tom: Sitting and Watching is the Not So Secret Sauce

Sitting and Watching is the Not So Secret Sauce

As a boy of six-years-old, I objected to the term "babysitter." For one thing, I wasn't a baby, and for another, the word conjured the image of babies being sat upon. 

By the time I was 10, old enough to be entrusted with the care of children back in the early 70's, it made more sense. After all, most little kids were "babies," with all their whining and fussing, although no one did much sitting on my watch. My counter to whining and fussing was to actively play with my charges. After all, I was, by virtue of being a big kid, a figure of some glamour, someone to be looked up to, and having recently been a little kid myself, I knew it. I would spend the first few hours performing the role of games master, romping right along with them, winding them up, tiring them out, then packing them off to bed, making a big deal of allowing them to stay up past their bed times if only they would agree to not tell on me.

By the time our daughter Josephine was old enough to babysit (which in the 00's was 12), I'd evolved once more. I now placed the emphasis on the "sitting." As a teacher, I'd figured out that a big part of the adult role with young children is sitting (or standing or kneeling or squatting) and watching (another word for babysitting, as in "watching the kids"). I told Josephine that she could entertain the kids if she wanted, but that babysitting was a job with the description in its title. 

The longer I've worked with children, the more time I spend sitting and watching. Of course, there's more to it than that, CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Sitting and Watching is the Not So Secret Sauce

Toward a More Just (and Creative) Curriculum, Part I | Teacher in a strange land

Toward a More Just (and Creative) Curriculum, Part I | Teacher in a strange land

Toward a More Just (and Creative) Curriculum, Part I

Virtually all of the discussion between educators is now centered on whether it’s feasible, with any kind of plan, to return to in-person schooling in the fall. I believe this national conversation will follow the Major League Baseball template: schools will begin closing as viral clusters pop up, perhaps re-opening, then closing again for the balance of the year, as it finally dawns on the most resistant anti-mask parent and school board member: This just ain’t gonna work. It’s too dangerous.

Wouldn’t it be great to just skip that step and focus instead on two things: getting adequate broadband to the half of students and teachers who don’t have it, and figuring out how to use available connections to teach kids things that actually matter?

Teachers settle into a teaching practice– gathering, testing and adopting habits and materials that are effective (and discarding those that aren’t). Many teachers had difficulty abandoning those standardized resources and pedagogies when forced to teach online. They tried to do what they always did—at first, anyway. When that didn’t work so well, they began experimenting, with personal calls and meetings, extending or modifying assignments—and plenty of other strategies.

Teachers quickly discovered that the usual deliver/practice/test model was a bust, CONTINUE READING: Toward a More Just (and Creative) Curriculum, Part I | Teacher in a strange land

Remote Delivery of Instruction–Covid-19 and Re-opening Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Remote Delivery of Instruction–Covid-19 and Re-opening Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Remote Delivery of Instruction–Covid-19 and Re-opening Schools

Regardless of what President Trump wants, the vast majority of American students will begin their school year with remote delivery of instruction. As the surging of infections in many southern and western states has occurred, health risks for both children and adults have again risen. (see here and here). And many parents unwilling to take risks with their children will opt for staying home and their children doing the best they can with electronic devices

Note that I avoid the phrase “remote learning.” I do so because “learning” implies that through a medium–a computer screen–students have acquired knowledge and skills, been assessed for mastery, and can apply either or both in a different situation. Sitting at home in front of an Internet-connected device and listening to a teacher conduct a ZOOM session or completing and submitting an assigned worksheet, or partnering on-screen with a small group, or have small groups of students collaborate on-screen separately from the teacher can be (and are) worthwhile tasks leading to learning. But the medium has severe limitations as anyone knows who has taken online courses and experienced it since lockdowns and sheltering in began in March. And veteran and novice online teachers, are familiar with both strengths and shortcomings of distance education.

Nor am I romanticizing in-person classroom teaching. Rest assured as someone who has taught for 14 years, headed a school district for seven years, and have studied how teachers have taught over the past century I know full well the CONTINUE READING: Remote Delivery of Instruction–Covid-19 and Re-opening Schools | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

NYC Public School Parents: Today's "Talk out of School": the need for more nurses before reopening NYC schools, and how the COVID shutdown threatens the future of public education

NYC Public School Parents: Today's "Talk out of School": the need for more nurses before reopening 

Today's "Talk out of School": the need for more nurses before reopening NYC schools, and how the COVID shutdown threatens the future of public education

In today's "Talk out of School" podcast, I spoke to Kim Watkins, NYC parent leader, about the need to ensure all schools have nurses before they can reopen safely next year. Then Prof. Johann Neem joined us to explain why he fears that the Covid shutdown of schools could hasten the end of support for public education nationwide. 

You can listen here. Links to more resources, including Kim Watkin's piece for Gotham Gazette and Prof. Neem's oped in USA Today are below.

 

Resources

NY DOE reopening plan

Links to alternative reopening plans by CM Treyger and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams

Harvard Epidemiologist: 'Hybrid' Model For Reopening Schools Is 'Probably Among The Worst' Options, by Joe Mathieu, WGBH

DOE still has no plan to fill nursing shortage ahead of school reopening, by Sara Dorn, New York Post

Solving the School Nurse Crisis Before Schools Reopen, by Kim Watkins, Gotham Gazette

Does the Covid pandemic spell the end of public schools?, by Johann Neem, USA Today

COVID-19 "Microschools" Are Betsy DeVos's Lastest Privatization Scheme, by Candice Bernd, Truthout 

NYC Public School Parents: Today's "Talk out of School": the need for more nurses before reopening