Biden tells teachers their profession is ‘the most important’ - The Washington Post

Biden tells teachers their profession is ‘the most important’ - The Washington Post

Biden tells teachers their profession is ‘the most important’ on same day Trump trashes public schools

Former vice president Joe Biden told members of the largest teachers union in the country during a virtual event that their profession is “the most important” in the United States.

On Friday, the same day President Trump said America’s public schools teach students “to hate their own country,” Biden addressed members of the National Education Association at its annual Representative Assembly and answered a few questions as he detailed his vision for education. (You can watch the video of the event below.)

“You are, and I’m not joking about this, you are the most important profession in the United States,” Biden said. “You are the ones that … give these kids wings. You give them confidence. You let them believe in themselves. You equip them.

“And I promise you, you will never find in American history a president who is more teacher-centric and more supportive of teachers than me.”

Biden noted his wife, Jill Biden, is a veteran educator — and a member of the National Education Association — and his late first wife was a teacher as well. He has promised to name an educator as education secretary to succeed Betsy DeVos, Trump’s controversial choice.

Biden’s tone and view of public education was in sharp contrast to that of Trump, who said in his Friday speech at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota that public schools are teaching kids to “hate our country” with “a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance.”

Trump’s newest assault on America’s public schools: They teach kids to ‘hate their own country’

Trump, in a smack at public schools and teachers, said, “Against every law of society and nature, our children are taught in school to hate their own country and to believe that the men and women who built it were not heroes but that [they] were villains. The radical view of American history is a web of lies. All perspective is removed, every virtue is obscured, every motive is twisted, every fact is distorted, and every flaw is magnified until the history is purged and the record is disfigured beyond all recognition.”

On the country’s birthday, Biden offers hopeful counterpoint to Trump’s message

Biden was vice president for two terms to President Barack Obama, whose Education Department pushed a school agenda that included high-stakes use of students’ standardized test scores to evaluate teachers, the expansion of charter schools and the Common Core State Standards. CONTINUE READING: Biden tells teachers their profession is ‘the most important’ - The Washington Post

Facing Uncertainty: Opening Schools during a Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Facing Uncertainty: Opening Schools during a Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

Facing Uncertainty: Opening Schools during a Pandemic

As an ex-superintendent of schools (I served seven years in a mid-sized East coast city), family and friends have asked me often what I would specifically recommend to a school board when to re-open schools and under what conditions. I have given the question a lot of thought but have been reluctant to answer simply because I no longer sit in the superintendent’s suite and in the time I served there were surely crises but nothing like this pandemic.

So much remains unknown about the virus itself–its transmission, mutations and resurgence after the “curve has been flattened.” How long one has immunity if they have had Covid-19 also is a mystery.

Sure, there are ways to protect one’s self from getting the coronavirus through physical distancing, wearing masks, and avoiding gatherings of family and friends. There is no treatment other than self-quarantine and if one has to be hospitalized concerns about using ventilators and the disease’s after effects fuel anxieties. Finally, no vaccine is yet available.

And then there is its unusual pattern of spreading across the country with relatively safe areas and hot spots scattered across the nation. Map below show green counties (lowest incidence of infections to red counties (highest incidence)

Incidence of infections by county

In short, each person, each family, each business has to make risky decisions of what to do daily–from going to re-opened bars and restaurants to getting a haircut to CONTINUE READING: Facing Uncertainty: Opening Schools during a Pandemic | Larry Cuban on School Reform and Classroom Practice

A Grand Bargain: Reopen the Schools (Where Feasible) But Only If the Feds Pay for It | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Grand Bargain: Reopen the Schools (Where Feasible) But Only If the Feds Pay for It | Diane Ravitch's blog

A Grand Bargain: Reopen the Schools (Where Feasible) But Only If the Feds Pay for It

This post will propose a GRAND BARGAIN for reopening the schools.

There is a great demand to reopen the schools for the sake of the economy, and there is great resistance to reopening the schools due to fears about the safety of children and staff.

Parents and teachers are worried that if schools open too soon, they won’t be safe. Students won’t be safe if classrooms are crowded. If students don’t wear masks, they will be in constant confrontations with teachers. How do you keep very young children six feet apart? What about safety measures to protect the staff? These are all genuine problems.

What makes this entire discussion surreal is that Congress and the Trump administration have thus far refused to pass legislation that would send the aid needed to help schools reopen safely and help local and state governments cope with drastic reductions in revenues due to the shutdown of the economy.

Some states are planning to cut school funding by large amounts. They are willing to lay off teachers and support staff, including nurses. Under these conditions, schools cannot possibly reopen safely and should not.

A few states, like California, plan to hold the school budget where it is, with no cuts.

But to reopen, schools need MORE funding. They must reduce class sizes drastically to have safe social distancing. Depending on room sizes, classrooms should have no more than 10-15 students. To do that means hiring MORE teachers.

The Council of Chief State School Officers has estimated that it will require up to $244 billion in additional federal CONTINUE READING: A Grand Bargain: Reopen the Schools (Where Feasible) But Only If the Feds Pay for It | Diane Ravitch's blog

Teachers, Parents, Doctors Have Different Concerns about Reopening Schools, but Congressional Passage of HEROES Act Remains Top Priority | janresseger

Teachers, Parents, Doctors Have Different Concerns about Reopening Schools, but Congressional 

Teachers, Parents, Doctors Have Different Concerns about Reopening Schools, but Congressional Passage of HEROES Act Remains Top Priority

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a second COVID-19 relief package—the HEROES Act—on May 15.  At the end of last week, however, without taking up the HEROES Act, the Senate began a two week recess.  Congressional consideration of assistance for states and local school districts can’t possibly happen until the third week of July, and yet the school year in most places is supposed to get underway in mid-August.

Senator Mitch McConnell, has been in no hurry to bring the bill up for a vote in the U.S. Senate despite documentation from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the National Education Association that a COVID-19 recession is ravaging state budgets. McConnell has said he wants to wait and see if more federal relief is really necessary.  One wonders if he grasps or cares about the needs of America’s schoolteachers, children, and families.

In U.S. public schools 3.2 million teachers educate over 50 million children and adolescents. Last Friday, the Washington Post‘s Valerie Strauss published a column from New Jersey schoolteacher and school finance expert Mark Weber, who worries about very real practical concerns for public school teachers themselves: “Children, especially young children, cannot be expected to stay six feet away from everyone else during an entire school day… Children cannot be expected to wear masks of any kind for the duration of a school day… The typical American school cannot accommodate social distancing of their student population for the duration of the school day… School staff do not generally have isolated spaces in their workplaces where they can stay when not working with children… School buses cannot easily accommodate social distancing, nor can they easily adjust to accommodate staggered school sessions… Like every other workforce, school staff have many people who have preconditions that make them susceptible to becoming critically ill when exposed to COVID-19… Unsupervised adolescents cannot be expected to socially distance outside of the school day if CONTINUE READING: Teachers, Parents, Doctors Have Different Concerns about Reopening Schools, but Congressional 

Bonnie Lesley: We Have Lost a Champion for Children in Texas | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bonnie Lesley: We Have Lost a Champion for Children in Texas | Diane Ravitch's blog

Bonnie Lesley

We Have Lost a Champion for Children in Texas

It is with great sadness that I inform you that our dear friend Bonnie Lesley, leader of Texas Kids Can’t Wait, died of pneumonia.

She was a champion for children, and we will miss her friendship and her guidance. She was beloved by everyone who had the good fortune to know her.

Her son Bruce posted this notice today on Facebook:

Our family is devastated and heartbroken that my mother, Bonnie Lesley, who has loved, inspired, and impacted the lives of so many, has passed away this morning from complications related to pneumonia in Waco, Texas.

Our family is immensely grateful for all the love, support, prayers, and best wishes her various communities have provided to her, us, and to each other through this terribly difficult time.

My mother loved you all (“y’all” from our Texas friends). Her boundless love for family, students, colleagues, neighbors, and those dedicated to improving the lives of others is so apparent in the outpouring support she received in return.

Although not normally one who liked people reading to her, she loved to hear each and every post that I read to her via texts, email, Facebook, and Caring Bridge. She was so pleased to hear the kind words she got from people all over this country. It give her some much needed peace and happiness through this crisis.

We are going to have a graveside burial service for her in Her hometown of Hedley, Texas, this coming Friday. More information on this is forthcoming as arrangements are finalized. In lieu of flowers, we would ask that people consider donating to the The Network for Public Education Action, Planned Parenthood, or the Alzheimer’s Association.

Recognizing this will be very difficult if not impossible for people to attend, we are planning an on-line “Celebration of Bonnie’s Life” in the coming weeks. We will let people know when and how to participate in the near future.

Thanks again to all of you for your love, kindness, and support of my mother and our Thanks again to all of you for your love, kindness, and support of my mother and our family.

-Bruce Lesley

I share this quote (slightly modified) that my Mom loves from Gabriela Mistral:

“Many things we need can wait. The child cannot. Now is the time his or her bones are formed, his or her mind developed. To them, we cannot say tomorrow, their name is today.” Bonnie Lesley: We Have Lost a Champion for Children in Texas | Diane Ravitch's blog

New Sacramento Bee Reporter Accepts and Uses Deceptive Claims of Data on"Personalized Learning " in Response to Covid School Closings

New Sacramento Bee Reporter Accepts and Uses Deceptive Claims of Data on"Personalized Learning " in Response to Covid School Closings

Sac Bee Reporter accepts and uses deceptive data on “  Personalized  Learning” schools response to Covid.  Welcome to Sacramento. 

In the Bee Article  “ Lawmakers, advocates say budget hurts top schools, “   published in the Bee on July 5,  new  Bee reporter Mackenzie Hawkins makes a series of claims   based upon a fundamental, and highly partisan claims.  Hawkins has been at the Bee for 2 months. Prior to this position she wrote for the Yale News, which may have been a student intern position.   Note, recognize that reporters often do not write the titles of pieces. 

Hawkins  says, 

“But under this year’s education budget, lawmakers and education advocates warn, the state will abandon its traditional allocation formula in favor of a system that harms the very schools — disproportionately, charter schools and personalized education programs — that have performed best under pandemic pressures.” [ no evidence  provided of the last phrase… that have performed best under pandemic pressures]

“California’s public schools usually receive money based on a combination of the prior year’s funding and the current year’s average daily attendance — a metric that reflects not the number of students enrolled, but rather how many students show up each day. 

Historically, this has meant that if a student switches schools from one year to the next, the money to fund their education moves with them. That will change under budget trailer bills AB 77 and SB 98, which allocate next year’s funding based on attendance through February 29 of this year.”
here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article243822982.html#storylink=cpy

This statement is inaccurate.  State funding of schools in California is based upon the Local Control Funding system, LCFF.    

The Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) was enacted in 2013. The LCFF was designed to be a more equitable system of funding, with the goal of providing additional funding for the highest needs students. These subgroups of students include English learners, low-income students, and foster children. If the student groups targeted for assistance make larger than a majority of enrollment, districts receive additional concentration money.

          Schools do not receive money sole  based upon Average Daily Attendance, as the reporter asserts.  They receive money based upon ADA and  the state also gives additional state funds to districts based on the number of low-income students, English learners, foster children and homeless youth they serve.

There is a significant difference between these two

Reporter Hawkins goes  on to say, 

“Proponents say the legislation preserves educational equity and ensures adequate funding in the most disadvantaged areas. But according to charter school advocates and a bipartisan group of lawmakers, turning an emergency measure into a permanent policy undermines school choice and forces top-performing schools to turn away students — often, those served poorly in traditional schools — looking for another option. “[There is no evidence for the  claim that the funding would force top performing schools to turn away students because we do not know which are the top performing schools.]

“What the state is essentially proposing is we’re going to protect and essentially reward failing schools, and we’re going to punish schools that have proven that they’re performing well and successful in this COVID crisis,” Association of Personalized Learning Schools & Services (APLUS+) Director Jeff Rice, who represents 75 personalized education programs in California, told The Sacramento Bee. “While so many other public schools had to completely shut down their educational CONTINUE READING: New Sacramento Bee Reporter Accepts and Uses Deceptive Claims of Data on"Personalized Learning " in Response to Covid School Closings - 

NYC Public School Parents: Where is DOE stashing $400 million in savings from cancelled busing this year?

NYC Public School Parents: Where is DOE stashing $400 million in savings from cancelled busing this year?

Where is DOE stashing $400 million in savings from cancelled busing this year?

Ever since April, when I saw that the DOE was asking the Panel for Educational Policy to approve  retroactive extensions of the busing contracts for March costing $180M,  to be automatically renewed in April for about the same amount, I've been concerned about why they were intent on spending these funds despite the fact that there has been no school busing since March 15, when schools were closed due to the pandemic.

The waste involved was even more astonishing, considering that the DOE will be facing big budget cuts next year, which will severely hamper the ability of NYC schools to provide the health and safety protections as well as educational and emotional support that students will need.

The DOE argued that, for some reason, they were obligated to renew the busing contracts through the end of the year, but would only pay 85%, as they apparently get 15% savings on snow days.

This didn't make any sense to me, given that these were contract extensions, with no legal obligations to renew.  Moreover, in most such contracts there is a provision called "force majeure" meaning the contract could be rendered null and void in case of a real emergency, including an epidemic.  

Sure enough, the City Controller wrote a letter to the DOE on April 17, pointing this out and asking, "Given the extreme budgetary pressures faced by the City amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it would seem contrary to all sense of fiscal prudence that the City would continue to pay for services that can no longer be rendered for the remainder of the CONTINUE READING: NYC Public School Parents: Where is DOE stashing $400 million in savings from cancelled busing this year?

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

NewBlackMan (in Exile)

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

Uncle Bobbie's Presents: Bakari Sellers 'My Vanishing Country'

by Mark Anthony Neal / 21h

' Uncle Bobbies own Dr. Marc Lamont Hill stayed home with author and state representative Bakari Sellers to discuss his newest work My Vanishing Country: A Memoir .'

People's Party: Talib Kweli & Reginald Hudlin Talk Black Excellence, Afrofuturism and Happy Rap

by Mark Anthony Neal / 21h

'In this full episode of People's Party , Talib Kweli and co-host Jasmin Leigh sit down with acclaimed screenwriter, director, and producer Reginald Hudlin ( House Party , Bernie Mac Show , Django Unchained , Boondocks ) about entertainment, music, and culture, all tying back to a central theme: Black Excellence.' -- UPROXX Video

Actors on Actors: Anthony Mackie & Daveed Diggs

by Mark Anthony Neal / 21h

' Anthony Mackie ("Altered Carbon") and Daveed Diggs ("Snowpiercer") join Variety Studios Actors on Actors #At Home for a discussion about race, politics, and Marvel.' -- Variety

A Brief History of Police Impunity in Black Deaths

by Mark Anthony Neal / 21h

'Until recent years, there was no reliable data on how many people in the US were killed by police every year, or on the legal outcomes of those killings. But data collected by the Mapping Police Violence project provides some answers, including one that has held steady every year for which we have data: Police are almost never charged with killing someone, and are even less often convicted. The

This Is America: Black Lives, Structural Violence, Protest and Change

by Mark Anthony Neal / 21h

'Presented by Brown University 's Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice. Panelists include Dr. Joy James (Ebenezer Fitch Professor of Humanities at Williams College), Felicia Denaud (PhD candidate in Africana Studies at Brown), Dr. Brian Meeks (Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Brown), moderated by Dr. Anthony Bogues (CSSJ Director).'

How Black-Owned Businesses Are Surviving Without Stimulus

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

' Black small-business owners have faced hurdles accessing the Paycheck Protection Program. Here’s how the African-American owners of MahoganyBooks in Washington, D.C., have kept their small business afloat.' -- Wall Street Journal

Rodney Evans: "I Was Inspired by a Void in Representattion"

by Mark Anthony Neal / 2d

'Filmmaker Rodney Evans talks WORLD Channel through his experience as an LGBTQ+ African American man with a disability. This journey includes his documentary, Vision Portraits, and how a lack of representation deeply informs his work.'

NewBlackMan (in Exile)