KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG A site to discuss better education for all

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG 

A site to discuss better education for all

Nancy Flanagan: Is Facebook the Fount of All Wisdom or the Essence of Stupid?

by dianeravitch / 1h

Nancy Flanagan writes here about why she is sticking with Facebook, despite it multiple flaws. I was on Facebook for a brief time, then quit. Then resumed, then quit again. What I discovered was that when I quit Facebook, my identity remained there, waiting for me to return. I was reminded of King George III in “Hamilton” singing “You’ll Be Back.” No, I won’t. It’s addictive, true. But anyone who

Glenn Brown: An Addendum to “The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump”

by dianeravitch / 2h

Retired teacher Glen Brown has written his own poetic addendum to a book by Robert Sears called “The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump.” I was not aware of Sears’ collection and organizing of Trumpian verbiage into blank verse. Searching for the poetry of Trump by Sears on Amazon, I discovered that he also wrote a book titled: “Vladimir Putin: Life Coach.” Here are one of Glen Brown’s Trump poems:

Carl J. Petersen: LAUSD Stood by While Charter Executive Embezzled $3.1 Million

45by dianeravitch / 3h

Carl J. Petersen, a parent advocate for students with special needs in the public schools of Los Angeles, wrote here about the failure of the LAUSD school board to monitor graft in the charter sector. He writes about the deliberate negligence of board members supported by the charter industry: As Community Preparatory Academy (CPA) approached the end of its charter, it was $820,303 in debt. The L

Peter Greene: The Risk That Families Take When They Choose a Charter School

by dianeravitch / 4h

In this article that appeared in Forbes , Peter Greene reviews the implications of the Network for Public Education’s report of charter school closures. When parents choose a charter school for their child, they are gambling that the 

Cuomo Says It Is OK to Reopen Schools in New York

50by dianeravitch / 15h

Governor Cuomo gave thumbs-up to reopening schools in New York so long as their plans are approved by the state. Some parents and teachers are happy. Some are worried. Sone wonder how schools will pay for testing and tracing. Schools have already opened in a few other states, and their experiences bear watching. There is still much about the virus that is unknown, and some states (California and

Fauci: To Open School or Not

24by dianeravitch / 19h

Dr. Anthony Fauci hems and haws as he dances around the question of whether to open schools. He is trying his best not to anger the touchy Trump, not to provoke an angry tweet. He is worried about the death threats that follow when he takes issue with Trump’s bombast. He thinks children should be in school, except when they shouldn’t be. He has become the Delphic Oracle of COVID-19. Interpret his

George T. Conway III: Trump’s Name Will Live in Infamy

35by dianeravitch / 20h

George T. Conway III is a lawyer and a Republican. He is a founder of The Lincoln Project. His Twitter feed is brilliant. He happens to be married to Trump’s senior advisor Kellyanne Conway. Imagine the dinner-table conversations at the Conway home. He wrote this article for the Washington Post , where is is an occasional contributor. I did not insert the many links that verify each statement. It

John Thompson: With Coronavirus Surging in Oklahoma, School Reopening Is Unlikely

by dianeravitch / 21h

John Thompson asks how it is possible to open schools in Oklahoma with coronavirus on the rise. Thompson writes: The New York Times reports that on June 1, the Oklahoma City metropolitan area had a seven-day average of 17 new COVID-19 cases a day. I believe Mayor David Holt deserves great credit for the science-based policies that kept infection numbers down. By Aug. 1, however, the seven-day ave

Connecticut: Charters Struggled with Ethics of Double Dipping Federal PPP

44by dianeravitch / 22h

This story in the Middletown (Connecticut) Press shows that charters in the state debated whether it was ethical to take federal money intended to help small businesses and nonprofits that might go bankrupt. Some took the money, others decided against it. The Connecticut Charter Schools Association encouraged the state’s charter schools to go for the money. Among those that did were members of la

University of Kentucky Joins with NAACP to Establish New Research Initiative

20by dianeravitch / 23h

The University of Kentucky College of Education and the NAACP have agreed to establish a research center at the university to address issues of concern to African American communities. The driving force behind this project is the new Dean of the College, Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig, who is a nationally recognized scholar on equity policies. Heilig has written extensively about civil rights, charter

AUG 06

Private Schools Collected Billions from Federal Paycheck Protection Program

400+by dianeravitch / 1d

Baptistnews.com reported this important piece of information. Private schools have scored billions from the Paycheck Protection Program. This represents a massive transfer of public funding to private and religious schools. Of course, this fulfills a major policy goal of the Trump administration. Americans United for Separation of Church and State rev iewed federal records and calculated that pri

NPE Releases New Report on Astonishing Charter School Closure Rates

98by dianeravitch / 1d

Today, the Network for Public Education released a new report on the astonishing rate at which charter schools close. The period covered in the report was 1999-2017, using data collected by the U.S. Department of Education. The findings were researched by Ryan Pfleger, Ph.D., and written by Carol Burris, executive director of NPE. Contact: Carol Burris Phone: 516 993 2141 Email: cburris@networkfo

Tennessee: A District Opens in Midst of Surging Pandemic

by dianeravitch / 1d

The Washington Post reported this morning on a district in Tennessee that is opening for in-person instruction, even though the state is experiencing rising rates of coronavirus. Someone has to go first, and Blount County has decided to try it. The nation is watching. The story was written by A.C. Shilton and Joe Heim, with the help of Valerie Strauss. MARYVILLE, Tenn. — It was just before 7:30 a

Anthony Cody: Who Is Allowed to Be Selfish?

46by dianeravitch / 1d

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 exp

AUG 05

Peter Wehner: Trump Is a Broken, Bitter Man

27by dianeravitch / 2d

Peter Wehner worked in the Reagan administration as a young man, as well as in the administrations of both Bush presidents. He remembers Reagan as a man who exuded hope and optimism. Whether or not you liked his policies, he was relentlessly cheerful and friendly. Trump, on the other hand, is filled with self-pity and rage . Look at almost any photograph of him, and he is a portrait of an angry m

Paul Horton: The Pathetic Story of Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas

100+by dianeravitch / 2d

Paul Horton teaches history at the University of Chicago Lab school. He has studied the history of the South, among other topics. The Eighteenth Brumaire of High Cotton In the South, everything is about geography and history. Arkansas’s current junior senator, Tom Cotton, routinely ignores both subjects in his embrace of Tea Party agitprop, Grover Norquist-like tantrums about strangling the publi

Dr. Birx: To Open Schools or Not?

67by dianeravitch / 2d

For months, Dr. Deborah Birx has stood loyally by Trump as he painted an optimistic picture of the pandemic. She sat silently on the podium at the White House briefing when he recommended that people inject or ingest disinfectant. Surely she knew that was absurd. Several days ago, the New York Times noted that Dr. Birx had become a favorite of Trump because she did not contradict him as Dr. Fauci

Ashley McCall: What If We Radically Reimagined School?

47by dianeravitch / 2d

Ashley McCall is a bilingual third-grade teacher of English Language Arts in Chicago Public Schools. She asked in a recent post on her blog whether we might seize this opportunity to reimagine schooling for the future, to break free of a stale and oppressive status quo that stifles both children and teachers. She writes: “What if?” I thought. What if we did something different, on purpose? What i

AUG 04

Tennessee: Plaintiffs File Amicus Brief in Voucher Case

50by dianeravitch / 3d

This news just in from the Education Law Center about resistance to vouchers in Tennessee. Vouchers are a huge waste of public money. Studies in recent years have converged on the conclusion that students who use vouchers fall behind their peers who remain in public school. Meanwhile, the public schools lose money that is diverted to subpar voucher schools. Why do politicians like Governor Lee of

Arthur Camins: Beware the “Me-First” Pandemic

21by dianeravitch / 3d

Arthur Camins, retired science educator, warns that the coronavirus pandemic is rivaled by an equally harmful pandemic of selfishness. He begins: Deadly as it is, the uncontrolled spread of Covid-19 in the United States is but a part of a broader, more devastating phenomenon: the be-out-for-yourself-pandemic. The readily available antidote is organizing for mutual benefit, but that medicine has b

John Merrow: Why Does the Press Go Easy on Trump?

by dianeravitch / 3d

John Merrow thinks the White House press corps has failed to ask Trump tough questions. This was true during the 2016 campaign, he says, and its true now. The recent Chris Wallace interview on FOX was a rare exception. Wallace has facts to challenge Trump’s lies. But typically he ignores questions and answers questions that no one asks. He always plays the victim, and a docile press lets him get

Peter Greene: How Charters in Pennsylvania Monetize Students with Disabilities

by dianeravitch / 3d

Peter Greene describes in this post how charter schools in Pennsylvania manage to game the system by making money from students with disabilities even while excluding many of them. He writes: In a new report, Education Voters of Pennsylvania looks at “how an outdated law wastes public money, encourages gaming the system, and limits school choice.” Fixing the Flaws looks at how Pennsylvania’s two

Steve Nelson: Not Wearing a Mask Is Stupid

23by dianeravitch / 3d

Since the pandemic began, public health experts have told us to wear a mask when interacting with others, keep a social distance from others, avoid crowds, and wash your hands frequently. The purpose is to protect yourself and others and to stop the spread of the disease. The evidence shows that it works. New York City and New York State went from worst in infections, hospitalizations, and deaths

Is the Demand to Reopen Schools Really a Plot to Dismantle Them?

100+by dianeravitch / 3d

Floridians, and everyone else, want to know the answer to this question. Some believe that keeping schools open during a pandemic will destroy them; some fear that opening them during a pandemic will destroy them. Take your pick. Thanks to Peter Greene, I discovered a Florida blog called Accountabaloney, written by two savvy Floridians who are fed-up with their state’s absurd education policies.

AUG 03

Glen Brown: The Retired Teacher’s Concerns

76by dianeravitch / 4d

Glen Brown taught for many years in Illinois public schools. This Retired Teacher’s Concerns This is a letter to retired teachers who knowingly disregard the current crisis that teachers confront this fall and most likely next spring because of the dangerous Covid-19 pandemic. Let me begin by asking them a few questions: Where is your concern for current teachers (who, by the way, are funding you

NY Times Magazine: Why We Are Losing the Fight Against COVID-19

by dianeravitch / 4d

The New York Times declared that its coverage of the pandemic would not be locked behind a paywall, so I’m assuming this article is available for free use. It focuses on the fight to contain the virus in Harris County (Houston). One obstacle is the defunding of public health services in this country, which left us unprepared for the pandemic. Another obstacle is the actions of politicians who fol

Trump Goes Berserk, Again

36by dianeravitch / 4d

From today’s Washington Post: President Trump threatened a lawsuit Monday after Nevada passed legislation Sunday to send mail-in ballots to all voters in response to the pandemic, claiming without evidence that the move was illegal and that Democrats were “using Covid” to win the election. “In an illegal late night coup, Nevada’s clubhouse Governor made it impossible for Republicans to win the st

Pawan Dhingra: Why Indian Americans Excel at Spelling Bees

by dianeravitch / 4d

Pawan Dhingra, a Professor of American Studies at Amherst College, writes about what he calls “hyper education,” the stress that parents apply to get their children to become high achievers. In this article, he writes about the phenomenon of Indian American students dominating spelling bees. He begins: Succeeding in the Spelling Bee for Indian Americans is more than a family affair Growing up in

Fred Klonsky: What is “Cancel Culture”?

85by dianeravitch / 4d

Fred Klonsky writes here about “cancel culture” and about opinion columnist John Kass, who lost his prominent spot in the Chicago Tribune after his references to George Soros as a bad guy. Kass did not get fired, but his column did lose its highly desirable spot on page 2 of the paper. Here is what you need to know about George Soros. He was born in Hungary, survived the Holocaust, and became a b

AUG 02

The Lincoln Project Video: MOMS

by dianeravitch / 5d

Moms will not be intimidated by thugs without name tags in unmarked cars or by tear gas.

My Interview with the New York Review of Books

21by dianeravitch / 5d

An interview in which I talk about education , poetry, and changing my mind.

Why Andrew Cuomo Refuses to Tax the Billionaires in New York

by dianeravitch / 5d

New York, like California, has a large cohort of billionaires. To be exact, there are 118 billionaire families in New York. Despite the desperate financial condition of the state, Andrew Cuomo refuses to raise the taxes on the top one-tenth of 1%. Cuomo says that if he raised taxes on the billionaires, they would move to another state. Walker Bragman and David Sirota explain another reason why Cu

Larry Cuban: The Best Post on Dilemmas of Reopening

50by dianeravitch / 5d

Larry Cuban reposts here the best summary of the dilemmas of reopening the schools during a pandemic. Trump and DeVos think that they can sit in D.C. and order the schools to open up for in-person instruction or lose funding. An order is not a plan. School boards and superintendents have to figure out how, when, and whether to reopen, and how to pay for it. They know that in-person instruction is

New Orleans: Hit Hard by COVID-19, Compounded by Racism

22by dianeravitch / 5d

The National Education Policy Center released a report recently by Kristen Buras, one of my favorite scholar-writers. It focuses on dramatic racial disparities in New Orleans as the COVID-19 pandemic spread in the city. Her earlier book about the privatization of the public schools of New Orleans is powerful and, aside from my review, did not get the attention it deserved. It is titled Charter Sc

Johaan Neem: Will Public Schools Survive the Pandemic?

36by dianeravitch / 5d

Johann Neem, historian of education at Western Washington University, wrote an article in USA Today about the threat that COVID-19 poses to the future of public education. Affluent parents, he notes, are making their own arrangements. Some have created “learning pods” and hired their own teachers. Others will send their children to private schools, which have the resources to respond nimbly to th

AUG 01

Network for Public Education: The Work of Our Grassroots Education Network

by dianeravitch / 6d

Marla Kilfoyle, who used to be executive director of the BadAss Teachers Association, is now the Grassroots Coordinator for the Network for Public Education. She stays in touch with grassroots organizations of parents and teachers and other supporters of public schools across the nation. Here is her report for the month of September. The NPE Grassroots Education Network is a network of 150 grassr

WorldoMeter: U.S. Is Number One in Coronavirus Cases

by dianeravitch / 6d

According to WorldoMeter , the U.S. accounts for about one-quarter of all the coronavirus cases in the world, at 4.7 million cases out of a world total of 17.8 million. The U.S. has recorded over 157,000 deaths. That is 475 deaths for every one million people. It is not the highest death rate in the world, but it is among the highest. It is even worse in Peru, Chile, Spain, the UK, Italy, Sweden,

Nancy Flanagan: What If This Were the Best Year Ever?

91by dianeravitch / 6d

Nancy Flanagan, who taught music in Michigan public schools for more than three decades, notes that journalists are referring to 2020 as “the worst year ever” for schools. She poses a question: What if teachers used this time to take control of their work and make this the best year ever? She writes: What if this were the year that we–students, teachers, parents—got to try everything we ever cons

Peter Greene: Don’t Believe the D in DFER

20by dianeravitch / 6d

Democrats for Education Reform is a group of Wall Street hedge fund executives that decided that schools would improve if they were privatized and adhered to business principles, like pay for performance, no unions, testing, accountability, and private management. DFER likes mayoral control and state takeovers, not elected school boards. Above all, it is mad for charter schools, which honor the p

The DFER Democrats Who Support the Betsy DeVos Agenda of “School Choice”

200+by dianeravitch / 6d

DFER (Democrats for Education Reform) is an organization founded by Wall Street hedge fund managers to support charter schools. They believe in privatization; they actively undermine public schools that belong to the community. They believe in high-stakes testing, and they strongly support evaluating teachers by the test scores of their students, although professional associations like the Americ

Bruce Baker and Preston Green: What Happens After the Espinoza Decision?

by dianeravitch / 6d

Two of the nation’s leading education experts ponder the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Espinoza decision. Bruce D. Baker of Rutgers University is a school finance expert. Preston C. Green III of the University of 

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

Lessons from the pandemic’s education pod parents - The Washington Post

Lessons from the pandemic’s education pod parents - The Washington Post

Lessons from the pandemic’s education pod parents

It was only a few weeks ago that we began hearing about “pandemic pods” or “microschools” — which essentially are groups of students whose parents have paid for professional instruction because of the chaos the covid-19 crisis has wrought on America’s schools. And now they are all over the education news.

Some say these pods are a decent solution to a real-time problem, while others say the pods will only fuel the inequity already baked into our educational system because only people with money can participate.

For parents who can afford it, a solution for fall: Bring the teachers to them

This post, written by Kevin Welner, an attorney and professor specializing in educational policy and law, explains why both sides have it partly right, and what we can learn from what he calls the new “pod parents.”

Welner is the director of the National Education Policy Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder and co-author of several books on school law, including the 2019 law school casebook “Education and the Law.” He is also author of “NeoVouchers: The Emergence of Tuition Tax Credits for Private Schooling.”

The huge problem with education ‘pandemic pods’ suddenly popping up

By Kevin Welner

Hollywood told us in 1956 that the “pod people” are determined to subdue the entire planet, replacing each person with an alien surrogate devoid of feelings and personality. Those human traits keep individuals from pursuing their best interests, the Pod People explain in “Invasion of the Body CONTINUE READING: Lessons from the pandemic’s education pod parents - The Washington Post

Pandemic Pods and Micro Schooling - LA Progressive

Pandemic Pods and Micro Schooling - LA Progressive

Pandemic Pods and Micro Schooling

Pods, Privatization and Pandemic Wages of Whiteness

The bright-eyed bushy tailed, white Atlanta-area elementary school kids featured frolicking, reading, and doing math problems in suburban “Pods” on a recent CNN morning show were Exhibit A for everything that is wrong with Covid-era education.

Pods are the latest trend in elite learning for privileged, mostly white families who can afford to provide their kids with protected academic enclaves beyond the Covid storm. Decried for their exclusivity, pods simply crystallize the disparities that already exist in hyper-privatized, segregated K-12 American schools. One widely touted K-4 pod run by New York’s elite Hudson Lab school will run parents $125,000 for the academic year, or $68,750 for a five-month commitment.

As districts across the nation pushback against Trump’s fascist demand to reopen, pod learning underscores how the neoliberal crisis of public education has accelerated. Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos have exhibited near sadistic glee in threatening to withhold federal funding from districts that don’t comply. Over the past several months, DeVos has moved even more aggressively to siphon funding from public schools to private religious schools.

Meanwhile, some charter schools unscrupulously double dipped to receive Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds, from the Small Business Administration, designated for struggling small CONTINUE READING: Pandemic Pods and Micro Schooling - LA Progressive

Black and Brown Students Need Culturally Competent Teachers - LA Progressive

Black and Brown Students Need Culturally Competent Teachers - LA Progressive

Black and Brown Students Need Culturally Competent Teachers

was told by the Greenfield Unified School District that I could not wear a t-shirt with the words “Phenomenally Black” because they said it was the same thing as wearing a “Make America Great Again” shirt. A Black colleague then later told me the administration asked if I was trying to push a Black agenda on campus. And yet when I wore a “Phenomenally Woman” shirt, there was no issue.

I wore the shirt to show my students how to embrace self-love and love for your culture. When I was in high school, I had a college counselor tell me I didn’t need to try because I was going to end up at the community college anyway. This is the Bakersfield education system I grew up in. An education that told Black students they didn’t have a future. I decided to become a teacher so that I could positively impact students like myself and be the person I needed when I was younger.

I know students who were told by educators that Trump is doing the right thing by building the wall. Others were called dumb for chanting “Black Lives Matter” and were forced to stand up for the pledge of allegiance.

My story is the story of many young Black and brown students in California’s Central Valley. I know students who were told by educators that Trump is doing the right thing by building the wall. Others were called dumb for chanting “Black Lives Matter” and were forced to stand up for the pledge of allegiance.

Discrimination and racial insensitivity against Black and brown students are sadly commonplace in Kern County schools, and protests and complaints are condemned.

Before I started teaching at Greenfield Unified, I established a competitive cheer team at Ollivier Middle School. After the district dismissed me, I was told by district leadership that I wasn’t allowed on campus because they “want to keep the campus safe.” The students and their parents felt differently, so we moved practices off school campus. Despite the turmoil we faced when I was not allowed on campus, we still won a CONTINUE READING: Black and Brown Students Need Culturally Competent Teachers - LA Progressive

Timpsila, Medicine for Tech-No-Logic – Wrench in the Gears

Timpsila, Medicine for Tech-No-Logic – Wrench in the Gears

Timpsila, Medicine for Tech-No-Logic

John Trudell, Native American activist and poet, spoke prophetically of a predator energy that mines the “being part of humans.” He called it tech-no-logic. Every January since the early 1970s, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) power brokers have assembled in Davos to plot out the next steps of their planned tech-no-logic coup. We’ve now reached a tipping point with the introduction of “stakeholder capitalism.” It is a vast program of poverty mining meant to transform the masses into human capital data commodities for financial speculation and ubiquitous surveillance. This emerging investment sector runs on poverty and trauma, two things the response to Covid-19 has manufactured in abundance.

We are experiencing the lead up to WEF’s planned transhumanist future. Covid has paved the way for a reset meant to usher in their Fourth Industrial Revolution. This is a revolution in which artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, 5G, robotics, and synthetic biology threaten to consume humanity. We’re on the brink of normalizing biocapitalism – humans and nature as batteries for financial markets. Picture derivatives mixed with bioengineered eugenics, deceptively sold to the public under the brand of “green” capitalism. The plan is to channel the concentrated wealth of the world’s largest asset holders through structured deals aligned to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Pull back the curtain and see a program unthinkingly embraced by so many progressives and liberals exposed for what it is – not climate justice and not liberation of the poor and dispossessed, but instead an orgy of mechanistic spirit eating.

“What Is The Fourth Industrial Revolution?”

The next phase of Davos’s mining program involves deploying nano-tech CONTINUE READING: Timpsila, Medicine for Tech-No-Logic – Wrench in the Gears

2020 Medley #17 — All COVID-19, All the Time | Live Long and Prosper

2020 Medley #17 — All COVID-19, All the Time | Live Long and Prosper

2020 Medley #17 — All COVID-19, All the Time

IT’S ALL COVID-19, ALL THE TIME

Is there really anything to write about besides the problem of schools starting during the pandemic…the threat to students and teachers…the lack of preparation and science-based decisions?

The big problem facing public education right now is the fact that states are coercing school staff and students back into in-person classrooms before the pandemic is under control and virtually every education writer has at least one, and often more, opinions about the subject.

Maybe it’s my “bubble” but most of the articles I’ve read (and posted) were on the side of “no in-person school until it’s safe.” The few that were in favor of opening schools in the middle of a pandemic took the side of 1) parents need to go back to work, which only shows up the failure of state and federal governments ability to provide for safe child care and provide support for parents who would have to stay at home to be with their kids, and 2) kids are less affected by COVID-19 so they’ll be ok…with little if any acknowledgment that in order to have kids in school one must also have adults who are at greater risk from the illness.

For me, however, the biggest problem is the same one that the media has faced CONTINUE READING: 

NYC Educator: Not As I Do

NYC Educator: Not As I Do

Not As I Do

It's remarkable to turn on the TV and see people broadcasting from their home computers. More remarkable still is when they speak from isolation demanding we open school buildings. Though it's too risky for them to get off their butts and go to a TV station, though it's too dangerous for the interviewers to be in the same room with these authorities on education, it's okay for over a million kids to visit NYC school buildings. 



 In fact, in New York City, indoor dining is considered too dangerous, so New Yorkers may only eat outside of restaurants. The city, in fact, started a program to enable and expand this. They don't seem to have bothered preparing this much for school next year. We've got an outlandish program that proposes two teachers for every class, one online and one in person. Guess what? The city doesn't have enough teachers to accomplish that. 

We get hopeful letters from the chancellor, saying they care about our health and that of the students. This notwithstanding, it's simply inevitable that there will be new cases of Covid. And while we may have contained it for a while by being extremely careful, this particular experiment will move us precisely in the opposite direction. Eleven Kansas educators just went to a Branson educational retreat, and six came back infected. I'm pretty sure hotels in Branson are cleaner than NYC schools. 

Elsewhere, there are other disturbing developments. While it's comforting to entertain nonsense about how young people are at such low risk, a 7-year-old boy in Georgia with no complicating health issues just died of the virus. Does Mayor de Blasio or Governor Cuomo think that New Yorkers are somehow tougher, and therefore immune? What are they going to say after the first New York kid dies? It's the price of doing business?

I'm bone weary of hearing people say it's all about the kids, while ignoring not only the kids who get sick and die, CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: Not As I Do

Myths and Facts About the COVID-19 Public Education Relief Being Debated in Congress | janresseger

Myths and Facts About the COVID-19 Public Education Relief Being Debated in Congress | janresseger

Myths and Facts About the COVID-19 Public Education Relief Being Debated in Congress

Congress is debating a new COVID-19 relief bill, and there is much unhappiness, mythology and confusion about what is being proposed to support the nation’s 98,000 public schools, which are being forced to undertake big expenses to reconfigure classrooms and buses for social distancing and to improve ventilation systems.  At the same time school districts are coping with unprecedented state budget cuts which are forcing districts to lay off teachers and other essential staff.

Here is some background.

• The first gambit in the Congressional negotiations over more COVID-19 aid was the HEROES Act, passed on May 15, by the U.S. House of Representatives and sent to the Senate, where the bill languished for two and a half months. The House’s  HEROES Act (if passed by Congress) would provide $90 billion for public education (including higher education) along with $915 billion to shore up state, local, and tribal governments during the COVID-19 fiscal downturn.
• The HEALS Act, proposed piecemeal on July 27th by U.S. Senate Republicans, includes $105 billion for education—$70 billion for K-12 public schools and the rest for higher education.  For Forbes, Sarah Hansen explains the so-called bill’s release: “Senate Republicans on Monday released their plan for the next coronavirus relief package: the Health, Economic Assistance, Liability Protection, and Schools (HEALS) Act. But the legislation didn’t come all at once: instead, it trickled out from a handful of Senators and committees in different outlines and bills, including a few items that predate the Covid-19 crisis.”
• As of yesterday, the terms of the negotiations had shifted. Senate Republicans and the Trump administration were fighting to reserve the $70 billion in their HEALS Act proposal for schools opening with in-person classes. Senate Democrats had reduced their demand for relief for state and local governments to $875 billion and increased their request for combined relief for public schools as well as child care for a total of $430 billion, the amount needed for funding services outlined in a separate bill introduced on June 30 by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA).

Sometimes on the news shows there is considerable confusion about the details of the various CONTINUE READING: Myths and Facts About the COVID-19 Public Education Relief Being Debated in Congress | janresseger

Some District 75 Concerns | JD2718

Some District 75 Concerns | JD2718

Some District 75 Concerns

It is nearly impossible to practice social distancing when most, if not all, of our students require hand over hand prompting with everything from washing their hands, to wiping their bottoms to completing classwork. These children unfortunately won’t wear masks so the classroom is going to be extremely unsafe; yet D75 is telling parents they can come to school 5 days per week. Many of our students are in diapers and paraprofessionals are required to change their diapers in unventilated bathrooms.

Like many community schools, our classrooms are also unventilated but they are much (much!) smaller than any regular DOE classroom.

A very challenging part of our day as D75 educators is when a child is going into crisis; we often get bit, CONTINUE READING: Some District 75 Concerns | JD2718

I Bought HEPA Air Filtration for My Classroom | deutsch29

I Bought HEPA Air Filtration for My Classroom | deutsch29

I Bought HEPA Air Filtration for My Classroom

As part of my effort to control what I can in the face of so much COVID-19 unknown, today I purchased two HEPA (“high efficiency particulate air”) filtration machines for my classroom (I chose Okaysou AirMax8L for its reasonable price and for the square footage a single machine is able to filter multiple times per hour.)

Given the squre footage of my room (roughly 600 sq ft), the two units should be able to filter the entire room four to five times per hour.

My classroom has windows, but they do not open. Besides, the Louisiana climate does not often lend itself to comfortable, non-AC living. (I attended high school in Louisiana without AC, and we often had to move to an abbreviated, 7 a.m. – 1 p.m. school day because of the sweltering afternoon heat and humidity.) Too, even though my classroom has a back door that I could leave open, doing so introduces safety concerns associated with a campus comprised of multiple buildings (and therefore, multiple entrances).

I do have two wall AC units, but these are not equiped with HEPA filtration.

I feel relief because of this purchase. Let me tell you why.

First of all, if it is safer to be outdoors during this pandemic, then quality filtering of indoor indoor air makes sense.

Second, even though my district is mandating that my high school students wear masks in class (exceptions must be approved by administration on a case-by-case basis), and since I am grounded in K12-teacher reality, I anticipate that I will encounter varied student resistance to doing so (i.e., masks under chin; masks over mouth but not nose; full-on mask defiance that requires disciplinary CONTINUE READING: I Bought HEPA Air Filtration for My Classroom | deutsch29

Connecting School Leaders to Available Devices - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

Connecting School Leaders to Available Devices - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and Digital Divide Task Force Connect School Leaders to Available Devices as Learning Resumes

SPI Announces Collaboration with Apple & T-Mobile - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr20/yr20rel65.asp

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and the Closing the Digital Divide Task Force held a special webinar today to connect school districts to available technology during a time when most schools are starting the school year in distance learning and many are experiencing a shortage of computing devices.

The task force, co-chaired by Senator Connie Leyva (D-Chino), also provided an update on one-time funding available immediately to school districts to purchase devices. State law requires that schools have a plan for ensuring access to devices and connectivity for all students whenever distance learning occurs.

“We know that up to 1 million students still need devices for distance learning, and we’re in a race against the clock as most schools plan to begin the next school year virtually,” Thurmond said. “We are proud to have provided this opportunity for all school districts in California to learn about the public-private partnerships available that can help us accelerate our efforts to meet the urgent needs of our most vulnerable students.”

During today’s webinar, panelists provided more details about a landmark collaboration with Apple and T-Mobile to fulfill orders from districts—which could reach 100,000 students during the back to school period and up to 1 million students by the end of 2020—with discounted iPads already equipped with high-speed internet connectivity.

The Governor’s Office also offered additional guidance for school districts regarding the $5.3 billion in one-time funding in the state budget for schools to strengthen distance learning heading into the same year. These funds—a rare opportunity for districts to make short and long-term investments in student technology—can be used immediately for purchasing needed devices.

An archived broadcast of today’s task force meeting can be found on the California Department of Education (CDE) Facebook page.

# # # #

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

Connecting School Leaders to Available Devices - Year 2020 (CA Dept of Education)

CURMUDGUCATION: GA: Bad Cover-Up Management In Times Of Crisis

CURMUDGUCATION: GA: Bad Cover-Up Management In Times Of Crisis

GA: Bad Cover-Up Management In Times Of Crisis

For years, I worked for an administration whose philosophy about any problematic or controversial issue was, "If we don't talk about it, the public won't notice and this will all blow over in a while."

It was a terrible management philosophy, not just because it was dishonest and unfair, but because it failed. It failed hard. Every. Single. Time.

See? Doesn't everything look better now?

People always found out, and they always got upset about the exact things administration was afraid they'd get upset about. And on top of that, they were upset that administration had been trying to hide problems instead of solve them or share them with the affected parties, which in turn meant that they had zero trust in leadership moving forward. It just always ended poorly, and yet, administration never learned.

We're seeing some of that already with the news out of Georgia, where a couple of photos of unmasked students crowded wall to wall in the hall made Paulding County schools look pretty--well, not good. Buzzfeed (yes, you really have to start taking them seriously as a news outlet) has the whole story so far.

The school's nurse had already quit over the policy. Football players at North Paulding had already tested positive. And the first day of school was a scary mess. The superintendent responded to the CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: GA: Bad Cover-Up Management In Times Of Crisis