John H. Loflin: Indianapolis Public Schools For Sale | Diane Ravitch's blog

John H. Loflin: Indianapolis Public Schools For Sale | Diane Ravitch's blog

John H. Loflin: Indianapolis Public Schools For Sale

John Harris Loflin assembled the following description of the privatization and takeover of the Indianapolis Public Schools by out-of-state interests, aided by local “reformers.”

He writes:

Purchasing the 2012, 2014, and 2016 IPS school board elections

According to the truly transformative IPS Racial Equity Policy and Black Lives Matter Resolution (REP/BLM), racism is social and institutional power combined with racial prejudice. IPS defines racial prejudice as a system of advantage for those considered white, and of oppression for those who are not considered white

The IPS resolution mentions years 1922 (the year the IPS board created Attucks) and 1968/1970 of IPS history (the era when the board was sued by the feds for maintaining segregated schools long after Brown). IPS histories of the Citizens School Committee or 1950s-early 1960s events leading to 1970 lawsuit aren’t noted. And, it skips the 1990’s era and notably, major board changes of the 2010-2020 decade.

The 2010-2020 decade

REP/BLM also states “[IPS] has participated in maintaining a system of racial inequality in Indianapolis through its actions and inactions, policies and practices, budgets and priorities, advocacy and silence, and by too often privileging the prejudice of white parents over the well-being of Black students.”

A review and analysis of “Purchasing the IPS school board elections” shows that the majority of donors to the winning candidate were mainly white wealthy males. Some were very wealthy.

The white money and power represented by the CONTINUE READING: John H. Loflin: Indianapolis Public Schools For Sale | Diane Ravitch's blog

Teacher Tom: All We Have to Do is Open the Doors

Teacher Tom: All We Have to Do is Open the Doors

All We Have to Do is Open the Doors

My earliest memories are of playing outdoors and barefoot. I remember walking to the end of my driveway, a concrete slab that held warmth, but not heat, stepping gingerly onto the blazing asphalt street, running on my tippy toes to the other side, then stepping thankfully into the cool of a neighbor's lawn where I slowed down to let my soles be soothed by the tickle of grassy blades. You had to watch out for "stickers," which is what we called the thorny blackberry rhizomes that encroached into even the best maintained lawns. Stepping on a pinecone was more painful, but avoiding them was simply a matter of keeping an eye out, while the only real defense against the camouflaged stickers was to develop a nice, thick callous on the bottoms of our feet.

Mud oozing between our toes.

Sand eroding from beneath our feet as a wave draws back from the beach.

The slippery, weedy bottom of a road side drainage ditch.

The rough security of granite as we grip it with our toes.

Speaking at CONTINUE READING:  Teacher Tom: All We Have to Do is Open the Doors

K-12 Teachers Worried About COVID-19 on the Job - Gallup News

K-12 Teachers Worried About COVID-19 on the Job

K-12 Teachers Worried About COVID-19 on the Job

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• 57% teachers, 21% other workers very concerned about COVID-19 exposure
• 64% teachers, 51% other workers say COVID-19 situation a lot worse
• Teachers have become as likely as other workers to prefer remote work

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As school districts around the country begin to announce their plans for educating students this fall, a broad majority of U.S. schoolteachers say they are worried about being exposed to the coronavirus while working. Three-quarters of kindergarten through high school teachers say they are "very" (57%) or "moderately" (18%) concerned about COVID-19 exposure at their workplace. This compares with half of all other workers who are either very (21%) or moderately worried (29%).

These data are based on a subset of respondents from the ongoing probability-based online Gallup COVID-19 tracking survey who identified their occupation as a teacher of kindergarten through 12th-grade students. The June 29-July 19 polling included a sample of 495 teachers, while more than 650 teachers completed the survey in both May and June.

The latest data marks an uptick in teachers' levels of apprehension since May and June when fewer (though still majorities) were concerned.

Teachers are currently about three times as likely as other U.S. workers to say they are very concerned about workplace exposure to the virus. This divergence in the views of teachers and workers in all other industries has grown since May. While concern about workplace exposure has been fairly steady among workers who are not teachers, this unease has risen sharply among teachers. CONTINUE READING:  K-12 Teachers Worried About COVID-19 on the Job

How Los Angeles and San Diego Unified Started Driving State Education Policy — Voice of San Diego

How Los Angeles and San Diego Unified Started Driving State Education Policy — Voice of San Diego
How Los Angeles and San Diego Unified Started Driving State Education Policy
The moment was ripe for a novel statewide organizing approach. Coronavirus had upended schooling and many important questions, beyond even money, would have to be answered over the course of the pandemic.

Back in May, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed a new draft of his budget, based on the bleak financial outlook caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. California’s rosy fiscal position had evaporated in a matter of weeks and it was time for the bad news: Schools would take the biggest hit.

Newsom said he was left with no choice but to cut $7 billion from education. It was one of the biggest single year drops in funding ever proposed. Education leaders immediately compared it to the devastating austerity of the Great Recession.

At the time, the state’s two largest school districts, Los Angeles and San Diego Unified, had been cultivating a partnership for weeks. And even though they had different purposes in mind for the new alliance, the moment of Newsom’s cuts was going to be a big moment for them.

“In the last recession, the entire education establishment rolled over,” said Richard Barrera, vice president of the San Diego Unified school board. “These big cuts were coming and everyone in Sacramento capitulated. Most districts were just waiting to be told, ‘Here are your guidelines. Here’s what you have to spend.’”

Barrera, a union organizer by trade, believed school districts should at the very least fight back against Newsom’s budget. Within days, Los Angeles and San Diego Unified wrote a letter saying they wouldn’t be able to physically reopen campuses if Newsom’s cuts went through. Other big districts signed onto the letter. School leaders pushed their local legislative delegations to CONTINUE READING: How Los Angeles and San Diego Unified Started Driving State Education Policy — Voice of San Diego

Why Is There No Consensus About Reopening Schools? - The New York Times

Why Is There No Consensus About Reopening Schools? - The New York Times

Why Is There No Consensus About Reopening Schools?

Is it possible to reopen school buildings in the fall in a way that keeps kids, educators, staff and their families and communities safe from Covid-19? Is it possible not to do so without harming them in other ways? Already, school closures have set children behind academically. More than 20 million children rely on school breakfasts and lunches. Too many parents face the choice between losing their jobs or leaving their children at home unsupervised. Vaccination rates for various dangerous diseases, typically required before students can attend school, have plummeted. Isolating children from their peers exacts social and emotional costs, which differ by age group and are nearly impossible to quantify. And whether schools reopen or remain closed, the risks are borne disproportionately by low-income communities and people of color. “This is really one of the most perplexing and complex issues I’ve ever faced in 40 years,” says Dan M. Cooper, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine.

A flood of guidance has been issued in recent weeks, much of it urging schools to reopen and suggesting safety precautions. Media outlets as well have relayed reams of often conflicting expert advice on how to weigh risks and benefits, to individuals and to society. In every case, that calculation is constrained by major gaps in our understanding of how Covid affects children and those in contact with them. Strong evidence suggests that children are much less likely than adults to get sick or die from the virus. (By July 9, data from most of the U.S. showed that nearly 242,000 children had tested positive for Covid, representing 8 percent of cases, the American Academy of Pediatrics reports; they account for fewer than 3 percent of hospitalizations and fewer than 1 percent of deaths.)

But are children less likely to be infected, or just less likely to show CONTINUE READING: Why Is There No Consensus About Reopening Schools? - The New York Times

Eleven Vacuous Truths, and One Lie | JD2718

Eleven Vacuous Truths, and One Lie | JD2718

Eleven Vacuous Truths, and One Lie

The NYC Department of Education falsely claims that Hybrid is easy, but Remote is very tricky.

In reality, they are both tricky. Remote did not go well this past spring. It is imperative that it be improved. But Hybrid if completely untried, and involves complexity beyond what Tweed can handle (which is why the execution is pushed off on principals.)

In the hybrid models they are pushing, one teacher will teach the kids on the days they are in school, and another will teach them when they are home – and these teachers will coordinate. I’m not sure exactly how, or who has the responsibility for overall planning, marking, etc.

In an alternate that is much-discussed, a teacher does both the remote and in-person teaching for a class (probably by not really teaching remotely – just assignments). In that case, four different groups of kids, or three, rotate the in-person class, while nominally continuing their work at home. Let’s say there are three groups, and you and me are in different groups. That means we will each have about 20 in-person classes in the fall – but whatever you learned in person – I didn’t, and whatever I learned in person – you didn’t. Not sure how a teacher can keep a class on one pace this way.

In short, the idea of hybrid teaching is very tricky. And all of that effort – while classes stay two-thirds or three-quarters remote. That’s quite a trade off for very little in-person class. And of course there is more CONTINUE READING: Eleven Vacuous Truths, and One Lie | JD2718

The 'she-cession': Teachers, a majority-female workforce, grapple with what's next

The 'she-cession': Teachers, a majority-female workforce, grapple with what's next

The 'she-cession': Teachers, a majority-female workforce, grapple with what's next
More than 3.5 million Americans are full, or part-time, public school teachers— and 76 percent of that workforce is female.

By Ali Vitali and Molly Roecker

There are no good options, and no playbook.

Across the country, schools are grappling with what “back to school” looks like in the time of a pandemic. And pressure from the White House and President Donald Trump to send kids back into classrooms, comes with questions from educators about how best to do that while keeping everyone — including themselves and their loved ones — safe.

“I want to be with my kids,” Stephanie Viramontes, a 57-year old high school teacher in Santa Clarita, California told NBC News. “I don’t want to affect my family.”

It’s just one of the concerns rippling through one of the nation’s largest workforces. More than 3.5 million Americans are full, or part-time, public school teachers— and 76 percent of that workforce is female.

Some teachers who spoke with NBC News said they felt left out of the discussions about reopening, or that the debate leaves out the realities of the classroom that they know well. For instance, how kids, especially younger ones, will likely need frequent reminders to not touch their face, their mask, or their classmates. Or, as Laura Hammock, an elementary school teacher in Jacksonville, Florida, already foresees, there could be difficulty social distancing because of space constraints in classrooms.

“It’s gonna be hard to put … 20 kids in a classroom with desks six feet apart,” she said. “You know, it’s not like we have extra money to add on to our classrooms.”

Other educators, like Amanda Lukesh, a middle school teacher in Lincoln, Nebraska, fear that by going back “it's not if you get COVID, it's when. When am I going to get it?” She has even discussed the possibility with her husband of drafting a will before going back to school. CONTINUE READING: The 'she-cession': Teachers, a majority-female workforce, grapple with what's next