As Louisiana Returns to Phase 2, Superintendents Want Shorter Quarantine | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

As Louisiana Returns to Phase 2, Superintendents Want Shorter Quarantine | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

As Louisiana Returns to Phase 2, Superintendents Want Shorter Quarantine

As Louisiana moves back into a modified Phase 2 due to “the aggressive third surge of COVID-19 across all regions of Louisiana,” several Louisiana school superintendents are calling for “looser quarantine rules” for students who come into contact with individuals testing positive for coronavirus.

When Louisiana moved into Phase 3 on September 09, 2020, my school system chose to delay full, in-person learning for our high schools (and retaining a “hybrid” attendance schedule) until the beginning of the second quarter, November 09, 2020. I was able to arrange my classroom so that I could maintain six feet from my students and my student desks so that at most, a student testing positive was within six feet of only two other students.

By day three, students began being called out for quarantine. The cause?

Adults deciding to rent a party bus and create an off-campus Homecoming party for students.

In the end, one in three of my seniors ended up in either a confirmed or suspected quarantine for two weeks.

So, in reality, I taught full classes for only three days and then ended up teaching a partially-quarantined, partially-in-person, “hybrid” arrangement likely brought about by some of the very adults who insist that These Kids Need to be in School.

The Louisiana district superintendents who want to reduce the quarantine period have asked the state health department to alter its guidance; however, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) maintained that it would continue following guidance offered by the Centers CONTINUE READING: As Louisiana Returns to Phase 2, Superintendents Want Shorter Quarantine | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

The importance of clean air in classrooms—during the pandemic and beyond - Brookings

The importance of clean air in classrooms—during the pandemic and beyond

The importance of clean air in classrooms—during the pandemic and beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about an increased focus on public health, particularly in school settings. From social distancing to testing regimes, education leaders are making serious changes to ensure that schools are safe for students, staff, and teachers. As the school experience continues to be reinvented, research points to an overlooked but potentially critical factor when thinking about reopening: air quality. While we have known for some time about the negative effects of air pollution on child health, recent evidence indicates that pollution also has detrimental effects on student learning. In turn, these relationships suggest the potential for some highly cost-effective interventions to raise student performance—and keep kids safer during the pandemic.

EVIDENCE ON THE EFFECTS OF POLLUTION ON COGNITION

To date, most research has linked pollution to student learning using variation in outdoor air pollution. Researchers (see here and here) have documented significant declines in test scores when students take tests on days with high levels of particulate pollution. Another study compared students attending schools downwind relative to upwind of highways and found that increased air pollution from being downwind lowered test scores and raised behavioral incidents and absences. Similarly, in a recent working paper, a co-author and I use year-to-year variation in power production combined with wind direction to show that pollution from coal-fired power plants lower students’ test scores. CONTINUE READING: The importance of clean air in classrooms—during the pandemic and beyond

Voters Have Spoken and They Support Children | First Focus on Children

Voters Have Spoken and They Support Children | First Focus on Children

Voters Have Spoken and They Support Children

A 2020 election-eve survey of voters by Lake Research Partners reflects a divided nation on politics but finds American voters bridge that divide in their common support of a better life for children.

This vision includes ensuring that the “best interests” of children (81–13 percent support) govern decision-making involving them, an independent Children’s Commissioner is established (65–26 percent) “to protect and improve the care and well-being of children,” and that Congress and the President will work together to address issues such as cutting child poverty in half (70–20 percent) and covering all children (85–12 percent) with health insurance coverage.

While there is no doubt that our nation is deeply divided on most issues and the 2020 election results and aftermath confirm those divisions, there is uniform and tremendous “tripartisan” support for making significant progress on children’s issues with little to no demographic divide by gender, race, age, income, geography, education, marital status, or religion.

While there is no doubt that our nation is deeply divided on most issues and the 2020 election results and aftermath confirm those divisions, there is uniform and tremendous “tripartisan” support for making significant progress on children’s issues with little to no demographic divide by gender, race, age, income, geography, education, marital status, or religion.

As our nation seeks to heal and come together again on improving our “now” and our “future,” children are clearly a pathway toward finding common ground.

Unfortunately, since children do not vote, do not give campaign contributions, and do not have lobbyists or political action committees (PACs), they have often been treated as an afterthought by policymakers in the past.

At the close of 2019, Fatherly highlighted how dozens of bipartisan bills that would improve the lives of children across a variety of issue areas were left unacted upon by the U.S. Senate. It cited the Legislative Scorecard by First Focus Campaign for Children (FFCC) that could not identify a single vote throughout the entire year that was specific to the needs and well-being of children.

As Michael Freeman, author of The Moral Status of Children, writes:

All too rarely is consideration given to what policies…do to children. This is all the more the case where the immediate focus of the policy is not children. But even in children’s legislation the unintended or indirect effects of changes are not given the critical attention they demand…

But where the policy is not ‘headlined’ children…, the impact on the lives of children is all too readily glossed over.

In the past, the President and Congress have largely ignored or neglected the needs of children and the consequences are that outcomes for children are CONTINUE READING: Voters Have Spoken and They Support Children | First Focus on Children

Use of FRPM Data for Funding Purposes 2020–21 - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

Use of FRPM Data for Funding Purposes 2020–21 - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

2020–21 Requirements for Collecting Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility Data Used to Determine Supplemental and Concentration Grant Funding

Tip Sheet: CACFP Meal Service During COVID-19 - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education) - https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/tipsheetcacfpmealserv.asp

Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators:

2020–21 Requirements for Collecting Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility Data Used to Determine Supplemental and Concentration Grant Funding

Due to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued nationwide waivers allowing schools to operate summer meal programs through December 31, 2020. On October 9, 2020, the USDA announced the extension of these waivers to June 30, 2021. With the operation of the summer meal programs, all children receive meals at no charge and no free and reduced-price meal (FRPM) applications, which are required under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), are collected.

In California, students who are determined to be FRPM-eligible based on an FRPM application are included in the Unduplicated Pupil Count (UPC) used to determine supplemental and concentration grant funding under the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). Prior to the USDA announcing the summer meal programs waiver extension through June 30, 2021, the California Department of Education (CDE) had communicated to local educational agencies (LEA) that those school sites opting to operate under the waiver may continue to solicit FRPM applications for LCFF funding purposes, and in anticipation of the waiver expiring on January 1, 2021. With the USDA waiver now in place for the entire school year, all school sites within an LEA operating summer meal programs need to transition to collecting alternative household income forms to determine FRPM eligibility for the UPC. FRPM applications distributed prior to October 9 and received by December 31 are valid for LCFF and LEAs do not need to collect alternative household income forms from these families at the affected school sites.

The CDE anticipates that many school sites will opt to operate summer meal programs since all students may receive free meals and to benefit from the significantly reduced administrative burden. The purpose of this letter is to provide LEAs with specific information on ways to mitigate the FRPM application LCFF funding impact when operating the summer meal programs now that the waiver has been extended to
June 30, 2021.

Attachment A provides specific actions LEAs may take based on whether the school is operating the summer meal programs, under a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), or Provision 2/3. In order to maximize the return of completed forms, LEAs collecting alternative household income forms may want to provide information to households regarding the importance of the information being collected and the potential benefit to their LEA.

It should also be noted that an LEA’s FRPM-Eligible count that the CDE posts on DataQuest is used for various other programs/grants beyond LCFF. These counts are derived from the same data LEAs certify for the UPC as part of the Fall 1 submission to the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). Therefore, any increased count that results from the time extension and other accommodations that have been made this year to support LEA efforts to collect UPC data for LCFF, will be reflected in the FRPM-eligible count, posted on DataQuest, that LEAs rely on for other purposes.

The CDE recognizes all the challenges the LEAs are facing this year and it is unlikely that any additional COVID-19 related legislation will be considered until next year. In the meantime, please direct any questions as follows:

• For questions related to LCFF funding and the alternative household income form, please contact the Principal Apportionment Section by email at PASE@cde.ca.gov.
• For questions about NSLP, summer meal programs, CEP, or Provisions, please contact the School Nutrition Program Unit by email at SNPinfo@cde.ca.gov.
• For questions related to CALPADS, please contact the CALPADS Service Desk by email at calpads-support@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,


Elizabeth Dearstyne, Director
School Fiscal Services Division

Kim Frinzell, Director
Nutrition Services Division

cc: Chief Business Officers, Food Service Directors, CALPADS Administrators

Attachment

2020–21 Requirements for Collecting Free and Reduced-Price Meal Eligibility Data Used to Determine Supplemental and Concentration Grant Funding Based on Meal Program Type

Use of FRPM Data for Funding Purposes 2020–21 - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

NYC Public School Parents: Gov. Cuomo: please call off the SHSAT, absolutely critical especially during a pandemic.

NYC Public School Parents: Gov. Cuomo: please call off the SHSAT, absolutely critical especially during a pandemic.

Gov. Cuomo: please call off the SHSAT, absolutely critical especially during a pandemic.

The letter below was sent to Gov. Cuomo on Monday via his webform; feel free to send your own thoughts on the matter.  

November 23, 2020

Dear Governor Cuomo, 

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, write to request the issuance of an Executive Order to suspend the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) for the specialized high schools in New York City. 

The Hecht-Calandra Act requires that admissions to the specialized high schools be solely and exclusively determined by scores on the SHSAT, which is administered by the NYC Department of Education usually in late October/ early November every year.  Nearly 30,000 students take the SHSAT for approximately 5,000 seats across 8 specialized high schools. The test is administered on campus at these schools.  Obviously this year with the pandemic and particularly now with the increasing infection rates, in-person testing is infeasible and the DOE has not announced how it plans to administer the test. 

The Mayor hinted at offering the SHSAT online at the weekly radio address last week. However, not every student has access to an adequate device or reliable internet connectivity, making the online option discriminatory. In addition to the inequitable access to the digital platform, many of our students are traumatized by the pandemic, having lost loved ones to the disease, facing a new economic reality resulting from parental job loss, or living with the anxiety of a parent who is an essential worker. These traumas disproportionately affect historically marginalized students.

Because the Mayor does not have the power to change the admissions to the specialized high schools, we call upon you to issue an Executive Order suspending the SHSAT this year and allowing the Chancellor of the NYC DOE to develop an alternative method of admissions to the specialized high schools. And given that our estimate of the costs for test administration is approximately $3 Million per year, suspending the SHSAT is also prudent in the face of the fiscal crisis.  We believe this is the only equitable path forward.  

Sincerely, 

Organizations

Alliance for Quality Education

Class Size Matters

Coalition for Asian American Children & Families (CACF)

Community Education Council District 14

Community Education Council District 16

Community Inclusion & Development Alliance

Education Council Consortium

EduColor

El Puente

Families for Real Equity in Education (FREE)

IntegrateNYC

Masa

MORE-UFT (Movement of Rank and File Educators)

NYC Kids PAC

NYC Opt Opt

S.E.E.D.S., Inc. <www.seedswork.org>

Teens Take Charge

NYC Public School Parents: Gov. Cuomo: please call off the SHSAT, absolutely critical especially during a pandemic.

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007

A VERY BUSY DAY
Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day...
The latest news and resources in education since 2007

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK IN EDUCATION Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... The latest news and resources in education since 2007 - http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/11/this-week-in-education-larry-ferlazzos_21.html

Engaging Parents In School… | Going Beyond Parent "Involvement" - https://engagingparentsinschool.edublogs.org/

‘My Online Learning Experience as a Student This Fall Has Been Great’

by Larry Ferlazzo / 11h

is the headline of my latest Education Week Teacher column. Three students share a relatively positive picture of their full-time virtual learning experiences this year, highlighting that they think it saves time and that teachers are working hard to make it work well. Here are some excerpts:

Wednesday’s Must-Read Articles & Must-Watch Videos About School Reopenings

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Memed_Nurrohmad / Pixabay Here are new additions to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL : Two School Districts Had Different Mask Policies. Only One Had a Teacher on a Ventilator. is from ProPublica. How de Blasio Backed Himself Into a Corner on Closing Schools is from The NY Times. As COVID-19 Soars in Many Communities, Schools Attempt To Find Ways Through the Crisi

“Verse By Verse” Is A Cool Google Tool For Introducing Students To Poetry

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

Thanks to Katherine Schulten , I just learned about Verse By Verse , a fun Google tool that uses Artificial Intelligence to inspire uses to write poetry. You first choose famous American poets you like, and then you’re given a choice of what kind of poetry you’d like to write. Next, you write the first line, and then Artificial Intelligence uses the works of the poets you chose to inspire you in

A Look Back: Enrollment In Some Districts Is Going Down – Should We Be Worried?

by Larry Ferlazzo / 12h

I thought that new – and veteran – readers might find it interesting if I began sharing my best posts from over the years. You can see the entire collection here . I’m starting with posts from earlier this year. NPR just published Enrollment Is Dropping In Public Schools Around the Country . According to the article, it sounds like the big drop is in kindergarten, which makes sense to me. I can’t

All Ed Week Articles Are Freely Available For The Next Two Weeks

by Larry Ferlazzo / 1d

Usually, unless you have a paid subscription to Education Week, you’re able to access a few free articles each month and then everything is behind a paywall. However, all articles are free to everyone for the next two weeks! At 

Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day... | The latest news and resources in education since 2007