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

September 6, 2020 Statewide Emergency: Fires - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

September 6, 2020 Statewide Emergency: Fires - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

September 6, 2020 Statewide Emergency: Fires

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Main Web Page

In response to an emergency proclamation issued on September 6, 2020, by Governor Gavin Newsom regarding the fires burning in several counties, the California Department of Education (CDE) Nutrition Services Division is sending this notice to all statewide participants in the Child Nutrition Programs.

On September 6, 2020, Sacramento – Governor Gavin Newsom issued an emergency proclamation for the counties of Fresno, Madera and Mariposa due to the Creek Fire; for San Bernardino County due to the El Dorado Fire; and for San Diego County due to the Valley Fire. The fires have burned tens of thousands of acres, destroyed homes and caused the evacuation of thousands of residents.

Guidelines on Disaster Relief

For information on Governor Newsom’s emergency proclamation, please refer to the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom web page.

For information on the CDE Resources for California Wildfires, please refer to the CDE Resources for California Wildfires web page.

For information on the CDE Disaster Relief Guidelines, please refer to the CDE Disaster Relief Guidelines web page.

For information on disaster assistance and resources in California, please refer to the CDE Disaster Resources web page.

For information on emergency resources from federal, state, and local agencies, please refer to the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) website.

Reimbursement Claims Submission Flexibility

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) can authorize the CDE to allow school food authorities, institutions, and sponsors to submit claims beyond the 60-day submission requirement. Claims submitted after 60 days, as a result of a disaster, are not subject to the one-time exception for late submissions. For more information on late claim submission due to disasters, refer to the USDA Policy Memoranda SP 46-2014, CACFP 12-2014, SFSP 18-2014 web document (PDF).

For assistance with submitting your claim, contact your Child Nutrition Fiscal Service Analyst on the CDE Nutrition Services web page.

Use of U.S. Department of Agriculture Foods during a State and Federally Declared Disaster

Disaster relief organizations may designate schools as community feeding sites or request that schools provide their USDA Foods to other feeding sites. USDA Foods can be released on request to recognized disaster relief organizations such as the American Red Cross or the OES. Information regarding USDA Foods usage, reporting, and claiming procedures during a disaster can be found in Management Bulletin 02-401 on the CDE Use of USDA Foods in Disaster Feeding web page.

The Disaster Feeding Guidance for School Food Service using USDA Foods can be downloaded from the CDE Food Distribution Guidance, Manuals, and Resources web page.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact the following programs:

School Nutrition Programs (SNP)

• Katie Tully, Northern SNP Unit Manager, by phone at 916-322-3609 or by email at ktully@cde.ca.gov.

Summer Meal Programs

• Jeannine Cook, Summer Meals Unit Manager, by phone at 916-322-2146 or by email at jcook@cde.ca.gov.

Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP)

• Joseph Cormack, CACFP Unit Manager, by phone at 916-324-7133 or by email at jcormack@cde.ca.gov.

Food Distribution Program

• Augie Aguilar, Food Administration Unit Manager, by phone at 916-445-4850 or by email at aaguilar@cde.ca.gov.

Questions:   Nutrition Services Division | 800-952-5609

Last Reviewed: Tuesday, September 8, 2020

September 6, 2020 Statewide Emergency: Fires - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education)

Education Matters: If the superintendent is going isn't going to be honest about subs what else will she not be honest about.

Education Matters: If the superintendent is going isn't going to be honest about subs what else will she not be honest about.

If the superintendent is going isn't going to be honest about subs what else will she not be honest about.

Superintendent Greene has not been honest with us and that may be as uncomfortable for you to read as it was for me to write, but it's the truth, and if the superintendent is going to deceive to us about job openings and sub positions, where is her limit?

On Facebook, I posed this question:

 The super said we had 2000 subs ready to go, including some trained to do virtual learning. I don't think this is accurate. Every day there is a call for several sub-teams at my school. I was wondering if any teachers have had a hard time getting a sub or have had to cover classes because of teacher absences.

I put in on my personal page and four others whose primary focus was local education. The response was overwhelming and damning.

The posts received over a hundred comments, and I received 11 personal messages about subs, and overwhelmingly they reported issues.

Classes are being canceled, classes are being split, and teachers are being called to cover their colleagues' classes at a pace like never before. Why? Because we don't have the subs like Greene said we did.

Now somebody supposed when she said it, this was her doing a poker bluff, and sure I buy that but should the super be bluffing during a pandemic about coverage for classes? Should she be making stuff up? She also did so when talking about openings. She said we had 80 a few weeks back when we had twice that many.

https://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2020/07/about-those-2000-subs.html

Being deceptive isn't her only disturbing behavior. She has ignored science from the get-go and also ignored CONTINUE READING: Education Matters: If the superintendent is going isn't going to be honest about subs what else will she not be honest about.

CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos Says We're All In This Together. Ha!

CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos Says We're All In This Together. Ha!

DeVos Says We're All In This Together. Ha!

So this just popped up on my feed:

So much to unpack.

First, who's this "we"? Because Betsy DeVos has made it clear that in her universe, the failed public "government" schools are not "in it" with her. She has not invited public school teachers, the unions, public school students--all the things that are part of what she derides as "the system"--to be on Team DeVos. Plus, note to Betsy--other parts of the country have been back to school for weeks.

And there's no question that the rest of us aren't in it together. The parents who can pay to send their kids to pod school at a literal country club are not "in it" with the families who have to send students to get on the internet in a Taco Bell parking lot. The parents who can afford to have someone stay home with the kids are not "in it" with the parents who have to scramble for child care or do without critical income. And as local school leaders look for guidance from the state or CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: DeVos Says We're All In This Together. Ha!

Jersey Jazzman: Racial and Class Bias In New Jersey's School Reopening Plans

Jersey Jazzman: Racial and Class Bias In New Jersey's School Reopening Plans

Racial and Class Bias In New Jersey's School Reopening Plans

Most New Jersey school districts are starting the 2020-21 school year this week -- although the way they are starting varies quite a bit. This year, some districts are fully remote, while others are offering a limited form of in-person instruction known as a "hybrid" model. Many of the districts offering the hybrid are rotating students in cohorts that switch between in-person and remote instruction; this way, students get at least some time in their school buildings.

The Murphy administration initially wanted all districts to offer some form of in-person instruction; however, many pushed back, saying they were not prepared. A large part of the problem is staffing: many districts are having trouble finding replacements for the wave of teachers who retired early or took leaves of absence rather than return during a pandemic. Governor Murphy has since allowed districts to apply to start the year remotely.

NJ Spotlight published a list late last week of which school districts -- including charter schools and private schools approved for special education -- would be implementing which model to start the year. I thought it was worth taking some time to crunch the numbers, even if many plans are, as of this writing, still under review. The list I'm using omits almost 200 districts, including every one in Hudson County. Still, it's instructive to see where we are as of now.

I should note before I start that a hybrid program does not require a student to attend CONTINUE READING: Jersey Jazzman: Racial and Class Bias In New Jersey's School Reopening Plans

Schools Matter: Awakening to Racist Child Abuse of Charter Chains

Schools Matter: Awakening to Racist Child Abuse of Charter Chains

Awakening to Racist Child Abuse of Charter Chains

Fabiola St Hilaire is among a growing number of teachers from the "no excuses" cultural sterilization charter schools who are calling out the racist child abuse by charter chains like Success Academy. 

Working for this organization has truly showed me that as long as I stand with the inaction and blatant disregard for child morality and healthy development it in turn will make me complicit, which I will never be. --From former Success Academy teacher Fabiola St Hilaire's resignation letter

  

From a story by Michael Elsen-Rooney for New York Daily News:

. . . . For [some] educators and parents, however, Success’s approach feels heavy-handed and inflexible at a time when many families need the opposite.

“It’s inhumane,” said Fabiola St Hilaire, who resigned as a first-grade teacher at the network’s Flatbush, Brooklyn elementary school — lasting just one week under the new remote rules.

 “Just seeing how difficult it was for the kids to stay focused and still as they want them to be, it was like wow,” she said. “You see the fidgety bodies, you see the blank stares.”

Under the plan, kids as young as 5 have to log on by 8:50 a.m. wearing their checkered orange and blue uniforms, pictured here, and sit still with their hands clasped for nearly CONTINUE READING: Schools Matter: Awakening to Racist Child Abuse of Charter Chains

Going “Black to School” With Counselors Not Cops!: An interview on the victory for #PoliceFreeSchools with Minneapolis student leader Nathaniel Genene – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Going “Black to School” With Counselors Not Cops!: An interview on the victory for #PoliceFreeSchools with Minneapolis student leader Nathaniel Genene – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Going “Black to School” With Counselors Not Cops!: 

An interview on the victory for #PoliceFreeSchools with Minneapolis student leader Nathaniel Genene

Minneapolis students demonstrate the day before Superbowl 2018 for cops out of the schools. (Photo: Unicorn Riot)

An interview with Minneapolis student leader Nathaniel Genene about the uprising for Black lives, the victory of removing police from public schools, and the need to rethink what school looks like.

By Jesse Hagopian

On June 2, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer, the Minneapolis Public Schools school board voted to terminate the Minneapolis Police Department’s contract, removing all police from their schools. The board also directed Superintendent Ed Graff to come up with a new plan for school safety by August 18, the date of the board’s next meeting.

While the uprising in response to the murder of George Floyd was the immediate catalyst to the removal of police from MPS, many youth had been working toward this goal for years. A 2018–19 survey by Minneapolis Public Schools survey showed that school cops had more interactions with black students than with their peers. MPS will save $1.1 million annually by not contracting with the police department.

On June 7, Seattle high school teacher and author Jesse Hagopian interviewed Minneapolis Public School student Nathaniel Genene about the uprising in Minneapolis against police violence and the movement to remove police from the schools. Nathaniel is the current student representative on the Minneapolis Board of Education and an officer on the citywide Youth Leadership Council for the Minneapolis public schools.

A version of this interview was originally published in The Nation magazine.

Minneapolis Public Schools Expel the Police!

Jesse Hagopian: Thanks for taking the time to talk to me, Nathaniel. I know with the uprising at your doorstep, you have a lot going on. I want to talk with you about the dramatic victory to remove police from the Minneapolis schools. But before we get there, let’s start with your experience as a black student in the school system. Can CONTINUE READING: Going “Black to School” With Counselors Not Cops!: An interview on the victory for #PoliceFreeSchools with Minneapolis student leader Nathaniel Genene – I AM AN EDUCATOR

Teacher Tom: Pretty Good Parenting

Teacher Tom: Pretty Good Parenting

Pretty Good Parenting

When you hear someone use the term "adulting," it's usually used as the punchline to a sarcastic joke about having tackled a responsibility that is associated with being a grown-up, like changing a tire, folding laundry, or paying the monthly bills. It's sometimes used to refer to the day-to-day grind, such as having conscientiously undertaken irritating, but necessary tasks, but just as often, it's a kind of self-effacing boast about having accomplished some relatively petty thing that we perceive of as uniquely adult. We didn't use the term back then, but "adulting" is how I felt the first time I belly crawled through the dust under our first house to change the furnace filter. It's how I felt when I grew my first edible tomato. And it's how I felt almost every day as a new parent.

How much better "adulting" is than "parenting." Both refer to the assumption of responsibilities, but the first, at least the way it is most commonly used, has a sort of light-heartedness to it, a wink that says that you can feel proud of having at least done your best even if it falls short of perfection. Whereas the second word, parenting, refers to a weighty business. There are so many tragic ways one can fail, and those failures will "shape" your child, "damage" them, causing them to grow into adults who are incapable of adulting. Adulting might still be stressful and challenging, but it's nothing compared to dead seriousness of parenting, which carries with it the connotation that you are responsible for manufacturing a whole human being and falling short is not an option. 

I've often noted here on these pages that we have seen a disturbing and steady rise in the incidence of childhood CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Pretty Good Parenting

SSPI THURMOND STUFF TODAY FROM THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

California Department of Education

SSPI THURMOND

STUFF TODAY FROM THE

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Big Education Ape: September 6, 2020 Statewide Emergency: Fires - Nutrition (CA Dept of Education) - https://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2020/09/september-6-2020-statewide-emergency.html

Public Safety Power Shutoff Event September 2020

4h

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) have announced that public safety power shutoffs are in progress due to extreme weather and fire danger.

Summer Food Service Program Annual Update 2020-21

4h

The California Department of Education (CDE) has opened the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) Annual Update in the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS) for School Year (SY) 2020–21 (October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021).

California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom Free Two Day Virtual AgVentura

4h

The California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (CFAITC) is offering a free two day virtual AgVentura in lieu of the 2020 California Agriculture in the Classroom Conference.

Youth Mental Health First Aid Virtual Training 2020

20h

Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) No Cost Professional Development Virtual Training 2020 digital flyer.

Thurmond Issues Statement in Response to Trump

21 1d

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Issues Statement in Response to President Trump's Threats Directed at California Schools

Parent Engagement Modules Series

5d

The presents information and strategies for parents to develop their capacity to support their children at school and at home.

Serie de módulos sobre la participación de padres

5d

La tiene información y estrategias para que los padres desarrollen la capacidad de apoyar a sus hijos en la escuela y en su casa.

California Department of Education