NYC Public School Parents: Parents & community members protest closure of PS 88 in the Bronx; will they be forced to take DOE to court to stop this irrational proposal?

NYC Public School Parents: Parents & community members protest closure of PS 88 in the Bronx; will they be forced to take DOE to court to stop this irrational proposal?

Parents & community members protest closure of PS 88 in the Bronx; will they be forced to take DOE to court to stop this irrational proposal?

Stories on the proposed closure of PS 88 have appeared in the Daily News and on Bronx News-12 TV.

DOE officials are trying to close a small, beloved K-3 zoned school in District 9 in the Bronx, PS 88, also called CES 88 or the Silverstein Little Sparrow School.  They want to leave the entire building empty and send the current students to PS 53, a 4th-5th grade school blocks away.  Why?

They claim that the school has lost enrollment this year, but so have 60% of all NYC public schools.  They claim the school is under-enrolled, but this ignores that the school utilization formula is aligned with class sizes larger than the state's highest court in the CFE lawsuit said were necessary for a sound basic education.  The DOE refused to revise the school utilization formula to allow for smaller classes, despite the fact that their own advisory Blue Book Working group urged them to do so.

Instead, PS 88's relatively low enrollment and available classroom space has meant that their students have been able to attend school in person five days a week during the pandemic, complete with small classes and social distancing,  in nearly ideal learning conditions especially for a high-poverty school.  If these kids are shunted off to PS 53, their class sizes will likely double and fewer kids will be able to attend in person, that is if the safety protocols require any social distancing in the fall.

Moreover, if DOE officials are really so concerned about the school's under-enrollment, all they have to do is add a 3K and/or a preK class to the school, neither of which it currently has  though strangely, they did insert preK classes into PS 53, sharing that building with 4th and 5th graders. 

Alternatively, they could also rezone the neighborhood, so that more children now attending the Walton Avenue School (09X294) and Lucero Elementary School (09X311) just a CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Parents & community members protest closure of PS 88 in the Bronx; will they be forced to take DOE to court to stop this irrational proposal?

Shawgi Tell: New York State: 50 Charter Schools Closed in 20 Years | Dissident Voice

New York State: 50 Charter Schools Closed in 20 Years | Dissident Voice

New York State: 50 Charter Schools Closed in 20 Years

According to New York Charter School Fact Sheet (January 2021) from the New York State Education Department, the number of charter schools issued in New York State since the passage of the state’s charter school law in 1998 is 397. The total number of privately-operated charters permitted statewide under 2015 legislative amendments is 460. It is worth noting that a conversion of an existing public school to a charter school is not counted toward the numerical limits established by Article 56 of Education Law. This amounts to about 10 charter schools.

A separate but related document from the New York State Education Department, New York State Charter Schools (January 2021), claims that 46 privately-operated charter schools closed or never opened in the state. Fifteen of these charter schools closed since 2010.

It is not unreasonable to assume that more investigation and more recent data would reveal that more than 46 charter schools have actually closed in the state over the past 20 years. For example, the Buffalo School Board voted in April 2021 to close two failing charter schools in Buffalo.

Broken Promises: An Analysis of Charter School Closures From 1999 – 2017 provides a more comprehensive picture of the high failure and closure rate of charter schools nationwide. Equally problematic, persistently poor oversight CONTINUE READING: New York State: 50 Charter Schools Closed in 20 Years | Dissident Voice

My Kids’ School Closed Again. So I Started Calling Experts. — ProPublica

My Kids’ School Closed Again. So I Started Calling Experts. — ProPublica

My Kids’ School Closed Again. So I Started Calling Experts.

Many New York City public schools have been repeatedly closed because of two positive COVID-19 tests, even without evidence of in-school spread. Experts call it “crazy.” And it’s driving me nuts.

Here is the minute I finally lost it: Sunday, March 21, at 9:34 p.m.

That’s when my wife and I got an email saying our kids’ New York City public elementary school would be closed yet again. Testing had found two positive COVID-19 cases among nearly 700 students and staff.

It was the fifth time the school had closed since New York reopened schools in the fall. Each time has been the same: First, we get an email that testing has turned up one case. A few days later, we get a second email saying testing has found a second case and the whole school will be closed for a day while health officials investigate.

And then, every time, comes the coup de grâce form letter: “Subject: 10 Day Bldg Closure.” Per New York City policy, two unlinked cases result in the building being shuttered for 10 consecutive days.

The first time it happened, I didn’t wonder about the rationale. Everything has been crazy during COVID-19. And despite more than 25,000 deaths, New York City, with the country’s largest public school system by far, was way ahead of most other cities in opening up schools.

Then it happened again in January, again in February and twice in March. Let me be honest here: Something in me snapped with the last one. Our kids, a second grader and a fourth grader, had done five in-person school days since the previous 10-day shutdown and 19 total since the New Year. Everyone in our apartment was struggling.

I’m lucky enough to be able to work from home. But I couldn’t concentrate. Our kids needed help. And I just could not get my mind off the rule, which mandates closure for two cases regardless of the school’s size or if, as has happened in my school, the two cases are kids grades apart who never cross paths. What, I CONTINUE READING: My Kids’ School Closed Again. So I Started Calling Experts. — ProPublica

NANCY BAILEY: Covid-19 School Contradictions, Confusion, and Mistrust

Covid-19 School Contradictions, Confusion, and Mistrust

Covid-19 School Contradictions, Confusion, and Mistrust

Covid-19 is a strange phenomenon without any proven how-to guides. Recommendations and contradictions surrounding Covid-19 and schools have raised uncertainty. When there’s a lack of clarity, people become suspicious of what they’re told, and they wonder what and who to believe.

Parents and Teachers Can’t Agree

Many parents believe schools are safe, few children get sick, Covid-19 is not real or not as bad as it’s made to sound, and teachers’ unions are remiss for their caution about in-person learning.

On the other hand, persons of color are hesitant to send their children back to school.

According to Mother Jones:

The pandemic has dealt a disproportionately heavy blow to Black Americans. According to CDC data published in September, Black youth accounted for 29 percent of COVID-19 deaths among people under 21, twice the percentage for white youth. The federal agency also found Black children under 18 at a significantly higher risk of hospitalization—almost four times higher than white children and teens.

Mixed Messages From the CDC, Pediatricians and Dr. Fauci

Parents who blame teachers for schools not fully opening, do so partly due to a sloppy push to make schools sound safe from the CDC, pediatricians, and Dr. Fauci.

Many claims ignore problems with school infrastructure and how schools work, while CONTINUE READING: Covid-19 School Contradictions, Confusion, and Mistrust

March 14, 2020 | JD2718

March 14, 2020 | JD2718

March 14, 2020

TOP POSTS THIS MONTH 3/14/20

One year ago today.

One year ago today was Saturday. NYC public school attendance had been plummeting. But schools were scheduled normally for Monday, March 16.

Cuomo and de Blasio were still insisting that schools stay open. Not just de Blasio, but Cuomo too. Those of you blinded by him not being batshit nuts during his press conferences, don’t forget how bad he was. And not just about nursing homes. And group homes for the developmentally disabled. March 14, 2021, the mayor and governor were insisting that schools stay open.

1199 did not want to close schools. They were concerned about how their members – crucial hospital workers – could work if they suddenly had childcare needs thrown on them. Many teachers were sympathetic. Eventually we got REC centers, but on March 14 this was very much part of the conversation.

The UFT was recommending to de Blasio that he close schools. “Recommend” is weak language, right? And that recommendation was not made until Friday March 13. Read Mulgrew’s press release. He agreed to disagree? Also, the UFT leadership started a petition on March 13 to de Blasio to close schools. It got lots of signatures, though not nearly as many as the earlier member-initiated petition to Cuomo.

Side note – it was already clear that the UFT leadership was afraid of criticizing Cuomo. This foreshadowed April, when they went ballistic when de Blasio took away Good Friday, but Mulgrew told members to suck it up when Cuomo stole Spring Break.

I have heard some confusion about Mulgrew threatening to go to court. We need to be precise. Mulgrew DID threaten court action – but it was not to close NYC public schools. The NYCDoE was violating its CONTINUE READING: March 14, 2020 | JD2718

Did Closing Schools Save Lives Or Cost Lives? The Debate Continues | 89.3 KPCC

Did Closing Schools Save Lives Or Cost Lives? The Debate Continues | 89.3 KPCC

Did Closing Schools Save Lives Or Cost Lives? The Debate Continues

In November, I reported for NPR on a scientific paper that estimated millions of years of life could be lost due to prolonged school closures in the U.S. — far more, in fact, than might be lost by keeping schools open. The paper has since been corrected and critiqued. The central question it tried to answer remains.

The paper's author, Dimitri Christakis is a pediatrician at Seattle Children's Hospital, editor of the American Medical Association journal JAMA Pediatrics and an outspoken advocate of opening schools when possible to protect children's well-being. He told NPR recently that he wrote the paper to flesh out his argument:

"The debate has been around kids going to school or life lost. When it's framed that way it's a no-brainer. But we're also killing people by not putting kids in school. It's just that they're not dying today, so we're not taking them into account."

Killing people? Because of several months of Zoom school? How could that be?

Well, there is a well-documented association between educational attainment and life expectancy. By young adulthood, according to one study, Americans with a college degree can look forward to a decade more of life compared to people who don't have a high school diploma. This gap tends to be larger in more unequal societies, like the United States. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports the average gap across rich countries is six years.

But could temporary school closures really hurt a significant number of young Americans' chances of graduating college? It's also been documented that even short interruptions in education — especially when they're combined with social and political upheaval, such as we're currently experiencing — can knock some students off track to their degrees. It can take years to recover from just a few months of lost learning, and some never do. Already, NPR has reported college enrollment CONTINUE READING: Did Closing Schools Save Lives Or Cost Lives? The Debate Continues | 89.3 KPCC

WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread | Diane Ravitch's blog

WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread | Diane Ravitch's blog

WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread

Last spring and summer, we read many articles about Europe’s success in keeping its schools open, based on the belief that young children are less likely to get sick with COVID-19 and less likely to spread it.

Ruth Bender reports in The Wall Street Journal that European nations are closing their schools because new studies show that children do get the disease and are likely to spread it.

As U.S. authorities debate whether to keep schools open, a consensus is emerging in Europe that children are a considerable factor in the spread of Covid-19—and more countries are shutting schools for the first time since the spring.

Closures have been announced recently in the U.K., Germany, Ireland, Austria, Denmark and the Netherlands on concerns about a more infectious variant of the virus first detected in the U.K. and rising case counts despite lockdowns.

While the debate continues, recent studies and outbreaks show that schoolchildren, even younger ones, can play a significant role in spreading infections.

“In the sec­ond wave we ac­quired much more CONTINUE READING: WSJ: Europe Is Closing Down Schools for Fear of COVID Spread | Diane Ravitch's blog

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 4, 2021--Vaccines, Openings, Closings and Food Banks

NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 4, 2021--Vaccines, Openings, Closings and Food Banks

UFT Executive Board January 4, 2021--Vaccines, Openings, Closings and Food Banks

UFT Secretary LeRoy Barr--Welcomes us. DA Next week, Jan. 13th. 

Karen Alford--Thanks members for toy drive donations. Says many children got toys, and over 20K in monetary donations, not to mention toys.

Al Shanker scholarship deadline extended to February 1.  

Anthony Harmon--Food drive to help communities--partnered with restaurants to get 1K meals per week per borough, over 20K done so far.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew--Moment of silence for Jerry Rainer, teacher at MS 216, who passed last week. 

We will continue helping communities with food.

City and state have different numbers. Currently state numbers take precedence. Discrepancy is large, but COVID definitely rising. Number for state is 6.2 while city number is over 9, yet mayor says he's following the state. Testing is continuing to work. Since 12/7 closed 390 schools, over 45%. Just today, we had 121 schools shut down due to pre-break tests. 

We need everyone to continue to report testing issues. They have made changes, but we need quick turnaround and real random testing. In order to get it all done, they can't just test a whole school. They will test 20% and leave, and they can't test only adults. Governor said if school district reaches 9% it's up to them to close. UFT says we have to close at 9%. This could be a fight if we get there. 

My focus has been moving teachers up in terms of vaccine access. There are tens of thousands of doses sitting in freezers, and worst offender is NYC, having distributed only CONTINUE READING: NYC Educator: UFT Executive Board January 4, 2021--Vaccines, Openings, Closings and Food Banks

Will they close school buildings in NYC in January? | JD2718

Will they close school buildings in NYC in January? | JD2718

Will they close school buildings in NYC in January?

There are so many issues with the QUESTION!

Schools are open – the question is about the buildings

Notice “school buildings”? That’s because our schools have remained open, and will remain open, for remote instruction.

High Schools and Middle Schools are open –
but those buildings are closed and will remain closed.

Also, high school and middle school buildings were closed before break, and will remain closed for the foreseeable future (probably not up for real reconsideration until February). So we are really only talking about half the schools in NYC. Oh, and also, even if that half are open, as we saw in December, many of them get closed because – well – COVID-19. So maybe we are asking “will they open 30 – 40% of the school buildings in NYC?”

New York State counts funny (their counts are low) CONTINUE READING: Will they close school buildings in NYC in January? | JD2718

Dangerous COVID-19 surge leads to hard shutdown of L.A. public schools

Dangerous COVID-19 surge leads to hard shutdown of L.A. public schools

Dangerous COVID-19 surge leads to hard shutdown of L.A. public schools

Los Angeles campuses will shut down completely beginning Thursday for all in-person tutoring and special services, as prospects for fully reopening the nation's second-largest school district recede further into 2021 amid a dangerous coronavirus surge, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday.

The move immediately affects some 4,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and outdoor conditioning for athletes. Beutner's emergency order comes on the first day of a sweeping stay-at-home order across much of California and as Los Angeles County's coronavirus rates reach unprecedented numbers.

"My commitment has been throughout to protect the health and safety of all in the school community," Beutner said in an interview with The Times. "We have an imperative to get kids back to school as soon as possible the safest way possible. But all that comes through the front door, and the front door is what is COVID in the overall Los Angeles community. Right now it's at extraordinary and quite dangerous levels."

The superintendent's remarks follow those from teachers union president Cecily Myart-Cruz, who said Friday on social media that it has become a question of "if" rather than "when" campuses would reopen for the spring semester.

Beutner is not alone in pulling back from campus-based services, but there's been a range of responses across California.

The school board in San Bernardino City Unified, which serves about 47,000 students, voted Nov. 17 to keep campuses closed in that district, the state's eighth-largest, for the remainder of the school year.

In northwest L.A. County, Las Virgenes Unified, with about 11,000 students, has expanded in-person instruction — bringing back third-graders to campus on Monday. About three-quarters of students in transitional kindergarten through second grade had already returned under a county-approved waiver that is available to any school.

Dangerous COVID-19 surge leads to hard shutdown of L.A. public schools

Reopening Whiplash in New York City - The New York Times

Reopening Whiplash in New York City - The New York Times

Reopening Whiplash in New York City

Schools will reopen as abruptly as they closed — but only for some.

Parents, teachers and children had only a few days to get used to the nation’s biggest school district shutting classrooms before Mayor Bill de Blasio announced another plot twist on Sunday: Students in pre-K and elementary school would return to school after all, starting on Dec. 7.

But — and there is always a “but” in the New York City school system — not all younger school students will be able to go back.

(This story gets a bit into the weeds for New Yorkers. For everyone else, it’s most important to know that by prioritizing young and special needs learners, New York City is adopting a model that is becoming more common across the country and world.)

In early November, the mayor set a deadline for parents to decide if their children would return to classrooms this school year. To date, about 335,000 students have opted into hybrid learning — less than a third of the city’s roughly 1.1 million students in public schools.

Of those, about 190,000 are in pre-K or elementary school, or in a specialized district for students with disabilities. They’re the only kids who will be able to attend class starting next week. Middle and high school students will continue all-remote learning.

“I have to say, I’m not actually surprised at all,” said our colleague Eliza Shapiro, who covers the city’s schools. “The mayor was super clear that he wanted to reopen, that he would do it as soon as he could, and the science from the summer and fall has made elementary schools the safest bet.” CONTINUE READING: Reopening Whiplash in New York City - The New York Times

Schools Struggle To Stay Open As Coronavirus Sidelines Staff | Across America, US Patch

Schools Struggle To Stay Open As Coronavirus Sidelines Staff | Across America, US Patch

Schools Struggle To Stay Open As Coronavirus Sidelines Staff

Around the country, contact tracing and isolation protocols are sidelining school employees and closing school buildings.

COLUMBUS, OH — The infection of a single cafeteria worker was all it took to close classrooms in the small Lowellville school district in northeastern Ohio, forcing at least two weeks of remote learning.

Not only did the worker who tested positive for the coronavirus need to quarantine, but so did the entire cafeteria staff and most of the transportation crew, because some employees work on both. The district of about 500 students sharing one building had resumed in-person instruction with masks and social distancing and avoided any student infections. But without enough substitute workers, administrators had no choice but to temporarily abandon classroom operations and meal services.

"It boils down to the staff," Lowellville Superintendent Geno Thomas said. "If you can't staff a school, you have to bring it to remote."

Around the country, contact tracing and isolation protocols are sidelining school employees and closing school buildings. The staffing challenges force students out of classrooms, even in districts where officials say the health risks of in-person learning are manageable. And the absences add to the strain from a wave of early retirements and leaves taken by employees worried about health risks.

It's another layer of the "tremendous stress" faced by administrators and educators navigating the pandemic, said Dan Domenech, executive director of AASA, the nation's leading school CONTINUE READING: Schools Struggle To Stay Open As Coronavirus Sidelines Staff | Across America, US Patch

Close Connecticut’s Schools Now | Real Learning CT

Close Connecticut’s Schools Now | Real Learning CT

Close Connecticut’s Schools Now

Stephen Singer, a teacher, calls on Connecticut to close its schools to save the lives of teachers and to keep students and their families safe.

Hundreds of teachers have died from Covid-19.
More than 1 million children have been diagnosed with the disease.
Yet a bipartisan group of seven state Governors said in a joint statement Thursday that in-person schools are safe even when community transmission rates are high.
Safe – despite hundreds of preventable deaths of school employees.
Safe – despite mass outbreaks among students.
Safe – despite quarantines, staffing shortages, longterm illnesses and mounting uncertainty about the longterm effects of the disease on children and adults.
State Governors must have a different definition of safety than the rest of us.
The message was signed by New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Delaware CONTINUE READING:  Close Connecticut’s Schools Now | Real Learning CT

L.A. schools could face hard shutdown if COVID-19 worsens - Los Angeles Times

L.A. schools could face hard shutdown if COVID-19 worsens - Los Angeles Times

Schools could face a hard shutdown if the COVID-19 surge worsens, officials warn

Campuses at public and private schools in Los Angeles County could once again be forced to shut down completely for in-person instruction if the current COVID-19 spike continues to worsen, health officials warned school leaders Thursday.

Officials in the county’s 80 public school districts, which serve more than 1.43 million students, had hoped to open campuses for general instruction by January, if not sooner. Even in the best-case scenario, it would be extremely unlikely that campuses could reopen to all students for at least six weeks, based on state health guidelines, said Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

The schools discussion took place on a day when coronavirus infections in California surpassed 1 million cases, with county rates surging and hospitalizations climbing.

School leaders are being asked to prepare for the worst, even while they ready reopening plans.

“I need to ask that every school be prepared for virtual learning, distance learning, in January,” Ferrer said in a call. “I hope we never get to the point where our healthcare system is so compromised and so threatened that we have to look backwards in time to severe restrictions and additional closures, but I don’t want to rule it out.”

L.A. County’s health data place it firmly in the state’s purple tier — the worst category — which means that community transmission of the coronavirus is widespread. Campuses cannot reopen for all students until a county has entered and remained in the next — or red tier — for two weeks.

In response to skyrocketing infections nationwide, many school districts, including in Wichita, Kan., have imposed new limits on reopening campuses or have shut down again, as in Minneapolis and Boston. Others, including Philadelphia’s school system, have delayed reopening campuses — indefinitely in some instances. Other school systems, including in Florida, remain open or are reopening gradually.

Neither the federal government nor California is collecting comprehensive reopening CONTINUE READING: L.A. schools could face hard shutdown if COVID-19 worsens - Los Angeles Times

McKeesport Superintendent: Keeping District Open During COVID Outbreak is Following Recommendation of County Health Department | gadflyonthewallblog

McKeesport Superintendent: Keeping District Open During COVID Outbreak is Following Recommendation of County Health Department | gadflyonthewallblog

McKeesport Superintendent: Keeping District Open During COVID Outbreak is Following Recommendation of County Health Department

McKeesport Area School District (MASD) has been rocked with nine positive cases of COVID-19 in a little more than a week.  

According to guidelines from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the Pennsylvania Department of Education, affected schools should be closed for somewhere between 5 days and two weeks. 

Superintendent Dr. Mark Holtzman says the district ignored these guidelines on the recommendation of the Allegheny County Health Department. 

“The County Health Department is the local governmental agency responsible for the school districts in [the] County,” Holtzman said at last night’s school board open agenda meeting. 

“So their determination of what next steps to take is their primary responsibility. So at this particular time, they have recommended to us that we not follow the CDC guidelines because those guidelines have been created before the start of school and are outdated. So they’re currently working on new guidelines to direct schools.” 

The response was in answer to citizens comments.  

Greg Kristen and I went to the board meeting hoping CONTINUE READING: McKeesport Superintendent: Keeping District Open During COVID Outbreak is Following Recommendation of County Health Department | gadflyonthewallblog

Closing University Education Schools: A Bad Omen

Closing University Education Schools: A Bad Omen

Closing University Education Schools: A Bad Omen

The University of South Florida (USF) has announced the end of their education school due to a $36.7 million university budget cut. The change will save $6.8 million over two years. They’re using the coronavirus as the reason at a time when teachers are struggling to teach students safely. This loss is a bad omen for public schools and a professional teaching workforce, not just for the State of Florida but for the country.

How many more teacher education schools will close? Who will become teachers in the future? Will there be any real teachers in the future? If Colleges of Education are not valued in a university the size of USF, will education and professional teachers be valued anywhere?

Every reputable university should have a building dedicated to preparing teachers called the College of Education. Those schools must continually question through peer-reviewed research how schools work for students and how to professionally prepare teachers to serve students. While these schools have sometimes been criticized, they have prepared many teachers well.

USF prepared teachers for six decades, and many express sadness about the school’s closure. They’re wondering why the USF administration quickly chose to close the education school after hearing about the cuts.

Without an undergraduate teacher preparation program, the likelihood of students CONTINUE READING: Closing University Education Schools: A Bad Omen

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