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

CURMUDGUCATION: Update #1 From The Pandemic's Trailing Edge

CURMUDGUCATION: Update #1 From The Pandemic's Trailing Edge

Update #1 From The Pandemic's Trailing Edge

 About a month ago, I told you that if it can work anywhere, it can work here.

I'm in Northwest PA, a rural/small town county with a little under 50,000 people. As of a month ago, we had about 70-ish confirmed cases. Schools re-opened, almost entirely face-to-face five days a week. 

Well, things have changed. Our confirmed case number has doubled in about five weeks. The norm was days with zero or one or two new cases; now we are having some days with double digits. 

In two of the local four high schools, this week we learned that there were two cases in each of two high schools. In each case, one student and one adult. One school has closed for two days for a round of deep cleaning; the other has reportedly sent 40-some students and staff into quarantine. 

If you're wondering why the responses are inconsistent, well, that's what you get when a pandemic hits at a time like now. There are no rules, and words don't mean anything, so local districts have to just figure it out themselves. At another local elementary school, a teacher has been sent home for fourteen days because her son was sent home from his school (a different one than the one where she teaches) with a fever. That determination was made by the school nurse. 

That situation highlights another feature of the area. There are four different school districts, but CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Update #1 From The Pandemic's Trailing Edge

Our First Student Tests Positive for COVID-19 | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Our First Student Tests Positive for COVID-19 | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

Our First Student Tests Positive for COVID-19

We made it longer than I thought we would.

Our first day with students was September 08, 2020. One month later, on October 09, 2020, my Louisiana high school had its first case of a student testing positive for coronavirus.

I appreciate the way in which the situation was handled. Our administration did not leave the issue to ferment in rumors. Instead, faculty received an email about a robocall sent to us and one to parents informing that a student (identity not released) tested positive for the virus, and that a local health agency has been informed and is guiding the process of contact tracing, which involves identifying students and faculty who were within six feet of the infected student for more than 15 minutes and instituting 14 days of quarantine for those individuals in order to combat potential spreading of the virus on our campus.

Such tracing is enabled by classroom seating charts that teachers are required to provide to admin for this very purpose. (The email also reminded faculty of the importance of keeping accurate attendance and updating seating charts.)

I also appreciate that having approximately half of the student body on campus enables individuals to maintain social distancing; that masks are mandatory (and that most individuals wear their masks consistently and correctly), and CONTINUE READING: Our First Student Tests Positive for COVID-19 | deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog

DeVos pledges use of 'bully pulpit' to urge school reopening - POLITICO

DeVos pledges use of 'bully pulpit' to urge school reopening - POLITICO

DeVos pledges use of 'bully pulpit' to urge school reopening

The comments come the same day Boston schools paused reopening plans because of a rise in coronavirus cases.

SACRAMENTO — Education Secretary Betsy DeVos pledged Wednesday to use the "bully pulpit" to pressure states to reopen schools for in-person learning amid the pandemic.

DeVos said on a Zoom event hosted by the Pacific Research Institute that she and President Donald Trump have been "very consistent" about the need to reopen schools for in-person learning "in every possible situation."

The context: The comments come the same day that Boston schools paused reopening plans because of a rise in coronavirus cases and as New York City scrambles to reverse its reopening plans for hundreds of schools. In California, some schools have reopened with mandated mask and social distancing policies but many, including Los Angeles Unified, the country's second-largest district, have no plans of a full scale reopening anytime soon.

"We know that in some places where there is a spike in cases of the virus, that there may have to be short times of working at a distance, but for those families who need and want this for their children, learning in person, there's no other substitute for it," DeVos said Wednesday. "We have continued to urge states and districts to make sure they're offering this as an option to families. Of course, these are state and local decisions, but we will continue to use the bully pulpit to urge this to happen."

California reported on Tuesday that there has been no spike in coronavirus cases in the limited openings across the state, which mostly include elementary schools.

The big picture: DeVos used the pandemic as reason to promote school choice, including charter schools, "micro schools" and learning pods, saying now more than ever parents should have a say in their child's education due to campus closures and distance learning struggles.

But teachers unions and civil rights advocates across the country have warned of the impact that an increase in charter school or private school enrollment could have on the traditional K-12 system, worried it will exacerbate already wide achievement gaps for low income students and student of color.

In California, online charter schools that were not a popular choice before the pandemic now have wait lists in the thousands, with parents scrambling for CONTINUE READING: DeVos pledges use of 'bully pulpit' to urge school reopening - POLITICO

Opinion | What Parents Need to Know About School Coronavirus Case Data - The New York Times

Opinion | What Parents Need to Know About School Coronavirus Case Data - The New York Times

What Parents Need to Know About School Coronavirus Case Data

Some reported cases come from districts that are operating fully remotely, or districts in which the cases occurred before school was open.

It is the start of a school year unlike any other. Many schools, especially in large urban districts, are fully remote. In New York, school opening was announced and then delayed. Some schools have opened and then grappled with quarantine. Others started closed and are now opening.

As this has been happening, I’ve been talking and writing a lot about school opening and the best ways for parents and educators to gauge the risks involved. My central message has been that we need to focus on the denominators.

What does that mean?

Much of the reporting on schools has focused on cases of Covid-19. There are several dashboards, including in The Times, which do an excellent job of collecting the available information on coronavirus cases in schools. That information is limited, but it has grown over time.

What these reports lack, though, is a sense of the size of the pool. Knowing that there are five cases associated with a school may be useful information, but it is difficult to interpret that information without knowing whether those cases occurred in a school of 15 students or a school of 1,500.

One way to think about it: If there are five cases in a school of 15, then if your child interacts with other children randomly, there is a 35 percent chance that they interact with someone who has Covid-19. If there are 5 cases in a school of 1,500, there is a 0.33 percent chance. That’s the denominator.

Denominators are part of the larger context, but they are not the only piece.

We also need to understand what schools are doing. Are they undertaking mitigation? Masking? Distancing? Are they open at all? Some reported cases come from districts which are operating fully remotely, or districts in which the cases occurred before school was open. In both of those situations, the cases have nothing to do with schools, they just happen to be among school-affiliated people. Without linking the cases to their context, it is very difficult to understand what the numbers mean. CONTINUE READING: Opinion | What Parents Need to Know About School Coronavirus Case Data - The New York Times

I Can’t Shield My Daughter From Both Coronavirus AND Edmentum – Our District’s Crappy On-line Learning Platform | gadflyonthewallblog

I Can’t Shield My Daughter From Both Coronavirus AND Edmentum – Our District’s Crappy On-line Learning Platform | gadflyonthewallblog

I Can’t Shield My Daughter From Both Coronavirus AND Edmentum – Our District’s Crappy On-line Learning Platform

Being a parent during a global pandemic means having to make difficult decisions.

The most pressing of which seems to be: from which Coronavirus spawned horror should I shield my child?

As schools slowly reopened in my neck of the woods, it was basically a choice between in-person instruction or remote learning.

Do I allow my child the benefits of a living, breathing teacher but risk the COVID-19 incubator of a physical classroom environment – or do I keep her safe at home but parked in front of a computer all day?

It’s not an easy call.

On the one hand, in-person learning is nearly always more effective than distance learning.

On the other hand, I don’t want her to get sick or become a Typhoid Mary bringing CONTINUE READING: I Can’t Shield My Daughter From Both Coronavirus AND Edmentum – Our District’s Crappy On-line Learning Platform | gadflyonthewallblog

John Thompson: Reflecting on “The Lost Year” for Students | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: Reflecting on “The Lost Year” for Students | Diane Ravitch's blog

John Thompson: Reflecting on “The Lost Year” for Students

John Thompson, historian and retired teacher in Oklahoma, read the New York Times Magazine’s report on the possibility of a “Lost Year” and wrote these reflections:

Three times, I had to take a break from reading the New York Times Magazine’s special education issue, “The Lost Year.” The Magazine’s powerful reporting delivered gut punch after gut punch, forcing me to put the magazine down, calm myself, and contemplate the suffering our children are enduring.

Three times, as these compelling and emotionally overwhelming student stories hit home, I would get sick at my stomach. I’d sense anxiety growing to the point where it hit as hard as when ideology-driven, Trumpian policies are announced. As these tragedies unfolded over recent months, I got into the habit of taking a break, breathing heavily, and relaxing, resulting in naps to calm my nerves.

The anecdotes in “The Lost Year” illustrating the damage being done to our most vulnerable children hit me especially hard because of decades working in the inner city and our most disadvantaged schools. But I must warn readers who may not have been covered by so CONTINUE READING: John Thompson: Reflecting on “The Lost Year” for Students | Diane Ravitch's blog

New Dashboard Tracks Coronavirus Cases In Schools Across 47 States | 89.3 KPCC

New Dashboard Tracks Coronavirus Cases In Schools Across 47 States | 89.3 KPCC

New Dashboard Tracks Coronavirus Cases In Schools Across 47 States

A new national effort asks K-12 schools to voluntarily — and anonymously — report their confirmed and suspected coronavirus cases, along with the safety strategies they're using.

Opening schools safely in person is seen as key to restarting the economy and recovering the learning loss that has fallen most heavily on marginalized groups of students. There are also many fears associated with reopening — of severe illness among vulnerable staff and family members, and of stoking broader outbreaks, as seems to have happened where colleges have reopened in person.

The COVID-19 School Response Dashboard, which NPR is reporting on exclusively, was created with the help of several national education organizations. Right now it shows an average of 230 cases per 100,000 students, and 490 per 100,000 staff members, in the first two weeks of September. The responses come from public, private and charter schools in 47 states, serving roughly 200,000 students both in person and online, as of Tuesday, Sept. 22.

As of right now, this sample is a tiny fraction of the more than 56 million K-12 students in the United States. But the dashboard will be continuously updated, and the number of schools participating is expected to grow.

Emily Oster, an economist at Brown University, is spearheading the effort. She is known for her popular writing on data and science literacy for parents. She said she got involved in independent data collection on coronavirus cases in schools because "other people weren't doing it." Eventually, the School Superintendents Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals, the National Association of Secondary School Principals and groups representing charter and independent CONTINUE READING: New Dashboard Tracks Coronavirus Cases In Schools Across 47 States | 89.3 KPCC

What We Know About Coronavirus Cases in K-12 Schools So Far - The New York Times

What We Know About Coronavirus Cases in K-12 Schools So Far - The New York Times

What We Know About Coronavirus Cases in K-12 Schools So Far

Schools are not islands, and so it was inevitable that when students and teachers returned this fall to classrooms, coronavirus cases would follow them.

But more than a month after the first school districts welcomed students back for in-person instruction, it is nearly impossible to tally a precise figure of how many cases have been identified in schools.

There is no federal effort to monitor coronavirus cases in schools, and reporting by school districts is uneven. One independent effort has counted more than 21,000 cases this school year.

While some districts regularly disclose their active cases, others have cited privacy concerns to withhold information, a move that has frustrated parents, educators and public health experts trying to assess the risk of exposure in schools and the potential impact on the larger community. Eleven states do not publish information on school cases, leaving many of the nation’s students and parents in the dark. CONTINUE READING: What We Know About Coronavirus Cases in K-12 Schools So Far - The New York Times

How Covid-19 Froze School Reform (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

How Covid-19 Froze School Reform (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

How Covid-19 Froze School Reform (Part 3)

Covid-19 has not only frozen prior reforms–BC (Before Covid)–see Parts 1 and 2–but the spread of software and devices throughout schools prior to the coronavirus pandemic has led to a total embrace of online instruction or DC, During Covid-19. Districts are providing families with laptops and tablets like popcorn.

I take up particularly the work of entrepreneurs and school districts to spread “personalization” software and claims of tailoring teaching and learning to each student, a reform that will finally reach the Holy Grail of mass schooling–individualized learning at home and school. Using devices and software is now not a choice, it is a must. *

That is the story I want to tell. I begin with the word, palimpsest:

Palimpsest: “A manuscript, typically of papyrus or parchment, that has been written on more than once, with the earlier writing incompletely erased and often legible (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, fourth edition, 2000, p. 1265).

Personalized instruction in 2020 is like a palimpsest.

Tailoring knowledge and skills to the individual student and given students CONTINUE READING:  How Covid-19 Froze School Reform (Part 3) | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Coronavirus Puts School Cafeteria Workers At Risk, Too - The Atlantic

Coronavirus Puts School Cafeteria Workers At Risk, Too - The Atlantic

The Silent Suffering of Cafeteria Workers

As schools navigate reopening for the fall, most coverage has focused on the safety of students and teachers. But another group on campus has been silently suffering

Shannon Spear’s family had just finished dinner when the phone rang. It was a Friday night in March, and Spear’s school district was calling to announce that her daughter’s high school was moving to remote learning.  This was no surprise: Like other parents whose children attend the Contoocook Valley schools in New Hampshire, Spear had received dozens of emails from the district preparing families for the change. Earlier that day, teachers had even reminded Spear’s daughter to make sure that her school-issued Chromebook and charger were in her backpack before the final bell rang.

Spear didn’t notice when her phone vibrated a second time, alerting her to a call from her boss at Fresh Picks Cafe, which serves school cafeterias in Contoocook Valley. Her daughter was going to stay home for the rest of the school year. But, like other cafeteria workers across the country, Spear still had to show up to work the next week.

Spear spent the next couple of months working at the same school that the district had deemed too dangerous for her daughter to attend. She helped bag hundreds of lunches a day, bringing them to color-coded school buses that would make the trek to the nine rural towns her district covered. As unemployment rates rose, so did the number of families signing up to receive free meals. On the first day of remote learning, Spear helped make just under 400 lunches; by the end of the month, she and her colleagues were making nearly 900 each day.

At her job, Spear had to wear a mask and change her gloves every half hour, but toward the end of the school year, her supervisors stopped checking. Another woman in the cafeteria stopped showing up, because she was immunocompromised. Food-service workers in other cafeterias around the country tested positive for the coronavirus, but as far as she’s aware, no one at her job did. Then, in July, her employer laid off Spear and three other workers. CONTINUE READING: Coronavirus Puts School Cafeteria Workers At Risk, Too - The Atlantic

91 Examples of Americans At Odds About Covid-19 as Students Start School

91 Examples of Americans At Odds About Covid-19 as Students Start School

91 Examples of Americans At Odds About Covid-19 as Students Start School

When it comes to Covid-19 and reopening schools, we are a nation divided. Opposing ideas float around on social media. Teachers will ultimately be responsible for the safety and well-being of children, but poor leadership has put them and their jobs in jeopardy.

For example, here’s what Education Betsy DeVos recently said.

The pandemic is a good thing because I think it’s going to really force changes that should have happened many years ago, and most of that’s going to happen when families themselves are empowered to make those choices and those changes and those decisions.

Confusion about the virus and about how schooling should be handled run rampant. Opinions about the virus are often at odds.

I take the virus seriously as I have stated before. I see that keeping schools closed poses problems, but reopening schools is risky, and many public schools do not have safety measures in place.

It would help if we worked together as a nation to address the problem of Covid-19. Thus far, leadership has been  CONTINUE READING: 91 Examples of Americans At Odds About Covid-19 as Students Start School

NYC Public School Parents: Update: a deal to delay the reopening of NYC schools and a new plan to provide regular Covid testing to students and staff

NYC Public School Parents: Update: a deal to delay the reopening of NYC schools and a new plan to provide regular Covid testing to students and staff

Update: a deal to delay the reopening of NYC schools and a new plan to provide regular Covid testing to students and staff

Today, the Mayor, the Chancellor and the unions – the UFT, CSA and DC37—announced a deal that would move back the first day of school to Wednesday, September 16. All students will begin remote instruction on that day. In-person learning in schools will begin the week of Monday Sept. 21 for blended learning students who have opted in. Teachers will report to buildings on September 8 as originally scheduled and will have six days to receive training, coordinate, collaborate and prepare. (Here's the link to the video if you want to watch the press conference - it starts about 25 minutes in.)

Among the health and safety measures announced today is that between 10-20% of all students and staff will be tested every month at every school by mobile testing units– a huge undertaking. Along with the promise of centrally-provided PPE, mandatory mask wearing, social distancing and improved classroom ventilation, the testing protocol led UFT President Michael Mulgrew to describe the plan “as the most aggressive policies and greatest safeguards of any school system in the USA.” The state and city positivity rate last week has been hovering around one percent for weeks, among the lowest in the nation. Last week, it was an extremely low 0.6% -0.7%. 

Before today’s announcement, uncertainty and chaos reigned supreme. The UFT was threatening a strike, and the CSA, the school administrator/principal union, was strongly pushing for a delay to ensure more time to prepare. Many principals spoke out publicly about the need for this delay, along with several CECs, teacher and parent groups. 

Last week the DOE released two new guidance documents, one entitled Blended Learning and Fully Remote Teaching and Learning and another called Preparing for the 2020-2021 School Year: FAQs for Blended and Remote Learning. These documents made it clear that schools would have to staff three different positions for each grade and/or CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Update: a deal to delay the reopening of NYC schools and a new plan to provide regular Covid testing to students and staff

Newsweek: Teachers Resigning to Avoid COVID | Diane Ravitch's blog

Newsweek: Teachers Resigning to Avoid COVID | Diane Ravitch's blog

Newsweek: Teachers Resigning to Avoid COVID

The most important concern about reopening schools is the health and safety of students and staff. The Trump administration has adamantly refused to provide funding to states and cities to enable them to make schools as safe as they should be.

As a result, Newsweek reports, significant numbers of teachers are quitting. This is a blow to students and schools across the nation.

It was hard to recruit teachers before the pandemic. How will these teachers be replaced?

Veteran K-12 teachers in states across the U.S. are resigning and retiring at higher rates as schools begin reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic this fall, with educators citing the stress tied to remote learning, technical difficulties and COVID-19 health concerns.

Several teachers who recently resigned, retired or opted out of their jobs ahead of pandemic reopening efforts say leaving their kids has been hard, but remote learning has CONTINUE READING: Newsweek: Teachers Resigning to Avoid COVID | Diane Ravitch's blog

Education Matters: In Florida, Choice is great unless it is the choice to stay safe and healthy or not

Education Matters: In Florida, Choice is great unless it is the choice to stay safe and healthy or not

In Florida, Choice is great unless it is the choice to stay safe and healthy or not

You know DCPS is saying the state has told them they can't release information about COVID cases in schools, which is reprehensible and I guess just dumb luck that weeks ago the district announced that was their policy too.

Earlier this summer the district said unless schools close they weren't going to announce COVID cases in schools. I thought and still feel this is reckless and reprehensible. So maybe the state learned it from watching us.

From WJXT,

After the first full week of classes in Duval County, school officials say they are still counting how many teachers and students test positive for the novel coronavirus. But, the district said, it can’t share those numbers.

The Duval County Health Department told Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) officials Tuesday they needed to get permission from the state level in order to tell parents and the community how many cases are in its schools.

On Friday, after multiple requests for answers, the Florida Department of Health said the information about the number of COVID-19 cases in schools was “confidential.”

“In the interest of public health in Florida, the Surgeon General instructed County Health Departments to CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: In Florida, Choice is great unless it is the choice to stay safe and healthy or not

As Schools Reopen, A New Tool Tracks Coronavirus Cases As They Emerge : Shots - Health News : NPR

As Schools Reopen, A New Tool Tracks Coronavirus Cases As They Emerge : Shots - Health News : NPR

How Many Coronavirus Cases Are Happening In Schools? This Tracker Keeps Count

Teacher Alisha Morris created an interactive tracker of coronavirus in schools, current through Aug. 23, including this map, created by another volunteer. The National Education Association will now take on updates to the database.

US schools tracker/Screenshot by NPR

Looking for a snapshot of coronavirus outbreaks in U.S. schools? The National Education Association has just launched a tracker of cases in public K-12 schools.

The tracker is broken down by state and shows schools and counties with known cases and suspected cases and deaths, as well as whether those infected were students or staff. It also includes links to the local news reports so users know where the virus data comes from.

The NEA tracker builds on the volunteer efforts of a Kansas theater teacher Alisha Morris. In early August, just ahead of the new school year, Morris was looking for data about coronavirus cases in U.S. schools. She could find local news reports about positive cases at individual schools across the country but nothing that gave her a cohesive picture of how the virus was spreading in schools.

So Morris built it herself.

She started with a simple Internet search.

"I put in the words 'school, positive' " she tells NPR's Morning Edition. "I clicked on the news tab and would search the articles from the past week or the past 24 hours and then I would input those articles into my spreadsheet."

Kansas high school theater teacher Alisha Morris created a database of coronavirus outbreaks in U.S. schools.

Alisha Morris

Morris started building a database on Aug. 6. She looked for news reports going back to July 1, since some schools had begun holding practices for fall sports or opening for administrative activities early in the summer.

Even with schools in only a few states back in session by early August, she had no trouble finding reports of coronavirus cases. Morris quickly logged cases at over 700 schools.

"I started feeling sort of shocked by what I was seeing and how many cases were already popping up in opening schools," she says. "That's when I decided that I should share it with some personal colleagues in Kansas and my district board of education. And their reactions are what really prompted me to share it on a wider scale with other CONTINUE READING: As Schools Reopen, A New Tool Tracks Coronavirus Cases As They Emerge : Shots - Health News : NPR