What happened? | JD2718

What happened? | JD2718

What happened?

August 19 and August 20 the United Federation of Teachers leadership began work towards a school reopening job action. NYC and the NYC Department of Education had been mostly uncooperative all summer. Disagreements about safety were not close to be resolved. The Department wanted minimal testing requirements, the union wanted stringent testing requirements.

There had been cooperation over the summer – but the results were generally bad for teachers and schools: Blended learning with impossible constraints, 1800 plans written by 1800 principals (with training in pedagogy, not in safety planning), Instructional lunch, and just now more roles than teachers.

So August 19 and 20 the UFT holds a press conference, announces safety non-negotiables, and begins organizing meetings. First chapter leaders were invited to borough-wide meetings. Then members were invited to meetings in smaller groups.

My union is run top-down. Central gives instructions to the boroughs, and often directly to District Reps. District Reps give directions to Chapter Leaders – some of whom follow them – and that’s all that’s really expected. In a few chapters there is actual discussion, but in many the CL doesn’t even communicate information from the Central, and in most the CL just communicates from Central. There is not much two-way flow of information. The idea of Officers and Reps “serving” members is paternalistic, at best. (with very notable exceptions – if you almost jumped out of your chair when you read those words – you are probably in that minority. And we are incredibly thankful to the handful of you)

So Chapter Leaders, then members got invited to meetings. And the stakes, possible job action, questions about personal safety and safety of our students, were high. Very high. Higher than at any other union meeting most of us have been to. Ever. And the reaction was not what they leaders expected. In the UFT, instructions are given, chapter leaders follow them, or ignore them. But here there were questions. Lots of questions.

• Do we have to strike? (Quite a bit of nervousness)
• Why aren’t we demanding full remote (Quite a few challenges to Central’s “We want to go in, but safely” strategy)
• What’s the timeline? (Central had not prepared a timeline. These were designed a bit like pep rallies)
• When’s the vote? There was no answer.
• What steps should chapter leaders take? The answers were absent or nebulous, came from a variety of sources, but not central. I was asked to organize a chapter meeting, but not yet. And there was no follow-up to say “now” (passive voice there, intentionally so) (Central had not prepared next steps. These were designed a bit like pep rallies)

The process gets repeated in the member meetings, but attendance is gooooood… but not excellent. And members might ask fewer difficult questions, but there is a clear “enthusiasm gap” (larger when considering the significant numbers who did not come).

What happened? 

That’s easy. You should not run a union top-down. You cannot organize a strike  CONTINUE READING: What happened? | JD2718

Parents, Districts, and NAACP Win Major Victory over DeVos | Cloaking Inequity

Parents, Districts, and NAACP Win Major Victory over DeVos | Cloaking Inequity

PARENTS, DISTRICTS, AND NAACP WIN MAJOR VICTORY OVER DEVOS

I received the following press release from the Education Law Center about the DeVos defeat at the hands of the NAACP in court this past week.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Late this afternoon, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in NAACP v. DeVos, striking down a rule that imposes unlawful conditions on federal emergency aid for public schools. Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education violated the clear language of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in issuing a regulation that would illegally divert desperately needed funds away from public school students for the benefit of private schools.

Judge Friedrich wrote: “Congress expressed a clear and unambiguous preference for apportioning funding to private schools based on the number of children from low-income families…” The court continued: “Contrary to the Department’s interim final rule, that cannot mean the opposite of what it says.”

“This decision sends a clear signal that Secretary DeVos cannot use illegal means to advance her agenda of funneling scarce public resources to private education, to the detriment of our highest need students in public schools across the country,” said Tamerlin Godley, a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, who argued the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment. “We are particularly grateful that the court issued this decision quickly so that public school districts do not lose any more time in meeting the urgent needs of their students during this pandemic.”

The plaintiffs are the NAACP, public school parents and districts across the country. The plaintiff families have children enrolled in public schools in states including Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Florida, Tennessee, Nevada, Mississippi and Alabama, as well as Washington, D.C. The plaintiffs also include Broward County Public Schools, FL; DeKalb County School District, GA; Denver County School District, CO; Pasadena Unified School District, CA; and Stamford Public Schools, CT.

The plaintiffs are represented by the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, LLP, as well as Education Law Center and the Southern Poverty Law Center. These organizations collaborate on Public Funds Public Schools (PFPS), a national campaign to ensure that public funds for education are used to maintain, support, and strengthen public schools.

The rule invalidated today required districts to either divert more funding for “equitable services” to private school students than the law allows or face onerous restrictions on the use of those funds in their public schools. It would have drastically diminished the desperately needed resources available to support public school children during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a particularly harmful effect on historically underserved student populations, including students of color and low-income students.

The court’s ruling grants a nationwide vacatur of the rule, bringing much-needed certainty to public schools across the country that they will have the full amount of CARES Act funds to which they are entitled.

More information about NAACP v. DeVos is available here.

Parents, Districts, and NAACP Win Major Victory over DeVos | Cloaking Inequity

Charter Schools' Clear Statement in the Face of Ethics - LA Progressive

Charter Schools' Clear Statement in the Face of Ethics - LA Progressive

Charter Schools’ Clear Statement in the Face of Ethics

Charter Schools Find Gold in Federal Government Aid to Small Businesses While Black-Owned Firms Get the Shaft

The charter school industry has done much during the COVID-19 pandemic to add to systemic inequities that afflict Black communities by hijacking small business relief aid originally intended for minority-owned businesses and redirecting these funds to schools that further isolate Black families.

When emergency aid for small businesses hit by the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic rolled out in North and South Carolina, Black-owned businesses were mostly bypassed. Only 3 percent of loans worth $150,000 or more went to Black-owned businesses, according to Charlotte-based WCNC, which analyzed loans awarded to small businesses that included race on their applications. Of the 2,026 small business owners and nonprofits who got the loans, only 64 of them were Black, and 1,791 were white.

In Tennessee, the story was much the same. When a Nashville Fox News affiliate compared the amounts of small business emergency aid given out to businesses in Black communities in the city to those in whiter, wealthier parts of town, it found “a huge [negative] discrepancy when it comes to historically Black neighborhoods.”

To their credit, some charter schools recognized the “ethical dilemma” and chose not to apply for the aid. But most faced no such ethical struggle.

This pattern held true on the other side of the country where San Diego public media station KPBS reported, “Storefronts in underserved communities south of I-8 couldn’t get any money.”

In heartland Kansas City, KCTV reported, out of 4,677 emergency loans given to small businesses in the region, less than 5 percent went to minority-owned small businesses, and only 24—less than 0.5 percent—went to Black-owned firms.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV reported, “Only 17 business owners identified as African American, representing 0.62 percent” of small businesses, were loan recipients.

According to a nationwide survey conducted by Color of CONTINUE READING: Charter Schools' Clear Statement in the Face of Ethics - LA Progressive

'No resources, just threats, bullying, and bluster:' AFT president on Trump's handling of back-to-school

'No resources, just threats, bullying, and bluster:' AFT president on Trump's handling of back-to-school

'No resources, just threats, bullying and bluster:' AFT president on Trump's handling of back-to-school

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden recently slammed President Donald Trump for his lack of leadership during the back-to-school season, a sentiment shared by the American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. She joined Yahoo Finance to discuss the union’s concerns about school re-openings.

“Joe Biden was right to call it a national emergency and to completely blame Trump for the lack of leadership and ... mishandling of all of this,” she said.

“We knew we needed the resources we knew we needed to tackle the virus first ... And what happened is that the president in July decides, [on Twitter] in all caps, ‘We must reopen schools.’ No plan, Betsy Devos is missing in action, no guidance,” she said.

The president of the second-largest teachers’ union in the U.S. tells Yahoo Finance that Trump’s behavior is unprecedented in U.S. history — and unpresidential.

“That’s never happened in any crisis in a Republican or Democratic administration: no resources, just threats, bullying, and bluster. And now in places like Georgia, Florida, Texas, where you saw this huge surge, now they're trying to actually cover up cases because they don't want people to know what the truth is,” she said.

Weingarten says that for schools to gradually reopen the nation needs to “invest in recovery” and work together. “Do not abandon America’s communities or forfeit America’s future. These interventions will require more—not less—investment in public health and in our schools, universities, hospitals, and local and state governments. Strengthening communities should be a priority in the recovery,” she said. CONTINUE READING: 'No resources, just threats, bullying, and bluster:' AFT president on Trump's handling of back-to-school

ACLU warns 500 Texas school districts to revise discriminatory dress codes | The Texas Tribune

ACLU warns 500 Texas school districts to revise discriminatory dress codes | The Texas Tribune

ACLU warns 500 Texas school districts to revise discriminatory dress codes

The letter comes two weeks after a federal judge blocked the Barbers Hill Independent School District from keeping a dress code policy that advocates have called racist.

The Texas arm of the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter Wednesday to nearly 500 school districts across the state asking them to revise dress code policies that it says are “unconstitutional and discriminatory.”

The letter calls policies like requiring different hair lengths for male and female students “outdated” and “harmful” and claims such rules could leave districts open to lawsuits.

The action from the civil rights organization comes two weeks after a federal judge blocked a Houston-area school from enforcing a dress code policy that states male students, but not female students, must keep their hair ear-length or shorter. This same policy sparked national debate when it was used to punish two Texas students earlier this year for wearing their natural hair in dreadlocks.

“While school districts throughout the country have removed policies that were based on antiquated sex stereotypes, many school districts in Texas still have policies that treat students differently on the basis of their gender,” Brian Klosterboer, an attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said in a written statement.

“School districts need to conform to federal law and fix outdated policies that cause serious harm to students in Texas,” Klosterboer added.

In January, Kaden Bradford and De’Andre Arnold, two Black students in Barbers Hill ISD, were told that if they refused to cut their hair, Arnold wouldn’t be allowed to walk the stage at his May graduation ceremony and Bradford, his cousin, would be placed on indefinite in-school suspension.

Both students transferred out of the district earlier this year. Bradford can return to his former high school for his junior year without the threat of suspension.

The ACLU’s letter to the districts includes a copy of Arnold’s court case and dress code guidance from the Texas Association of School Boards. If districts want to restrict hairstyles and hats, the association suggests they be mindful of how their CONTINUE READING: ACLU warns 500 Texas school districts to revise discriminatory dress codes | The Texas Tribune

Steel Valley Schools Will Reopen Fully Remote Rather Than Compromise on Safety | gadflyonthewallblog

Steel Valley Schools Will Reopen Fully Remote Rather Than Compromise on Safety | gadflyonthewallblog

Steel Valley Schools Will Reopen Fully Remote Rather Than Compromise on Safety

Thursday would have been the first day of in-person classes for hundreds of students at Steel Valley Schools.

But instead, district buildings will be closed and classes will be 100% virtual for all students.

The Western Pennsylvania district just south of Pittsburgh had planned to reopen with a hybrid model during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, as the start date rapidly approached, it became clear that the district would not have the safety supplies necessary to protect students and staff. So administrators and school directors agreed to start the year with fully remote classes for at least the first month.

According to a letter sent home to parents written by Substitute Superintendent Bryan Macuga:

“…due to factors beyond the district’s control, efforts to upgrade systems at our buildings are not yet complete. In an effort to ensure we are proving the safest possible learning environment for students and staff, the administration – in consultation with the district’s board of directors – has decided to begin the school year with four full weeks of remote synchronous instruction. Students will still begin on schedule, but all classes for students will be held virtually for the first four weeks of the school year until October 5th.”

The original plan had students attending classes in one of three ways: enrolled in the CONTINUE READING: Steel Valley Schools Will Reopen Fully Remote Rather Than Compromise on Safety | gadflyonthewallblog

Breaking! Federal Judge Rejects DeVos’ Efforts to Give Federal Funding to Private Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Breaking! Federal Judge Rejects DeVos’ Efforts to Give Federal Funding to Private Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

Breaking! Federal Judge Rejects DeVos’ Efforts to Give Federal Funding to Private Schools

Secretary of Education DeVos issued a rule requiring states to share coronavirus relief funds with private schools, irrespective of need or low-income status.

News from the NAACP, the Education Law Center, and the Southern Poverty Law Center:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 4, 2020
Contacts: Ashley Levett, (334) 296-0084 / ashley.levett@splcenter.org
Sharon Krengel, (973) 624-1815, x24 / skrengel@edlawcenter.org

Parents, Districts, and NAACP Win Major Victory as Federal Court Blocks

Illegal DeVos Rule Nationwide

WASHINGTON D C – Late this afternoon the U S District Court for the District of Columbia
Judge Friedrich wrote: “Congress expressed a clear and unambiguous preference for apportioning funding to private schools based on the number of children from low-income families…” The court continued: “Contrary to the Department’s interim final rule, that cannot mean the opposite of what it says.”….The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in NAACP v. DeVos, striking down a rule that imposes unlawful conditions on federal emergency aid for public schools. Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the U.S. Department of Education violated the clear language of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act in issuing a regulation that would illegally divert desperately needed funds away from public school students for the benefit of private schools.

“This decision sends a clear signal that Secretary DeVos cannot use illegal means to advance her agenda of funneling scarce public resources to private education, to the detriment of our highest need students in public schools across the country,” said Tamerlin Godley, a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP, who argued the plaintiffs’ motion for partial summary judgment. “We are particularly grateful that the court issued this decision quickly so that public school districts do not lose any CONTINUE READING: Breaking! Federal Judge Rejects DeVos’ Efforts to Give Federal Funding to Private Schools | Diane Ravitch's blog

NYCDoE Denies Medical Accommodations for Serious Risk Factors | JD2718

NYCDoE Denies Medical Accommodations for Serious Risk Factors | JD2718

NYCDoE Denies Medical Accommodations for Serious Risk Factors

Unconfirmed – but likely true.
Update – they denied MOST, not all

It appears that the New York City Department of Education has denied every request most requests for accommodation by a school nurse – even those with serious risk factors (eg. immunocompromised) and multiple risk factors.

The DoE needs nurses in every building to open.

The drive to open is folly. Political folly. de Blasio’s political folly. The only big school system in the country to open. Whether or not it is safe. Whether or not it is possible. And as the DoE finds obstacles, which they have and they will, since it is not time to open, they dump the problems on principals, or they ignore them, or they come to some horrible compromise with the UFT (insert reference to “instructional lunch” here.)

One big obstacle de Blasio faced was not enough nurses. We were 400 nurses short earlier in the summer. They promised to hire them. Mulgrew said schools would not open without them. But I do not think any have been hired. This will be an issue Tuesday. It will be a far larger issue September 21. The CONTINUE READING: NYCDoE Denies Medical Accommodations for Serious Risk Factors | JD2718

AN EMERITUS QUESTION – Dad Gone Wild

AN EMERITUS QUESTION – Dad Gone Wild

AN EMERITUS QUESTION

“Please don’t grow up to be one of those men who lie for the sport of it, and most men do. That’s a fact. That’s why the world is so messed up, Noah. That’s why history books are full of so much heartache, and tragedy. Politicians, dictators, kings, phoney-baloney preachers-most of ’em are men, and most of ’em lie like rugs”
― Carl Hiaasen, Flush

“Remember the key to life,” Serge shouted over the engine. “Always act like you deserve to be here.”
― Tim Dorsey, Hurricane Punch

Today marks a milestone of sorts for Metro Nashville Public Schools. It’s the half-way point of the first quarter of the school year, a school year that has been conducted completely virtual. We shouldn’t let that go unrecognized. Something that was completely unimaginable a year ago is now in the history books. We can argue about results and outcomes, but we can’t argue about the magnitude.

Over the past week, I’ve listened to the arguments, pro, and con, about the course being charted by Director of Schools Adrienne Battle and her team. School board member Fran Bush and several hundred parents held a rally at Bransford Avenue early in the week to demand that schools reopen and afterschool activities, including sports and band, resume.

There was an immediate response by teachers, and others, expressing resistance to returning to face to face instruction too soon. While acknowledging the importance of kids being in school, they argued that the data did not support a resumption of classes at this juncture.

Both sides make very compelling arguments, but I feel the need to point a few things out. . COVID numbers, while down and declining, are still substantial. Those who think that opening schools CONTINUE READING: AN EMERITUS QUESTION – Dad Gone Wild

Choose a Teacher! | Live Long and Prosper

Choose a Teacher! | Live Long and Prosper

Choose a Teacher!

IN NOVEMBER: DUMP DEVOS

The upcoming election gives us the chance to change the occupant of the White House, which would also, thankfully, remove the person who purchased the office of Secretary of Education.

Betsy DeVos’s tenure at the US Education Department has not gone well. From her lack of educational qualifications to the “Where are the pencils” tweet to the attempt to “strip public money from public schools,” she has shown, to put it mildly, a general lack of interest in public schools.

The vast majority of American students attend public schools and they will all benefit when “dead end” DeVos goes back to her Michigan mansion and her yachts.

But who should replace her? Joe Biden, should he take the Presidential 0ath of Office on January 20, 2021, will nominate someone other than DeVos for Secretary, and he has promised to nominate a teacher.

But if you’ve been a public school educator in the last 20 years, you know that a promise from any presidential candidate, Republican or Democratic, about CONTINUE READING:  Choose a Teacher! | Live Long and Prosper

SSPI THURMOND STUFF THIS WEEK FROM THE CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

  California Department of Education

SSPI THURMOND

STUFF THIS WEEK FROM THE

CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

SEP 03

Parent Engagement Modules Series

1d

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

1d

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

SEP 01

Initial ELPAC Test Moves Online

3d

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces Major Step to Assess English Language Proficiency During Distance Learning

AUG 31

USDA Summer Meal Program Waiver Extensions

4d

On August 31, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released nine Summer Meal Program Waiver Extensions.

COVID-19: CNP Response 44, 45, 46, and 47

4d

On August 20, 2020, as part of the COVID-19 Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued four Child Nutrition Programs (CNP) flexibility waiver extensions as part of the COVID-19 Child Nutrition Response.

COVID-19: School Re-opening FAQs

4d

Frequently asked questions (FAQs) related to re-opening guidance for school nutrition programs as of August 28, 2020.

USDA Extension of Summer Meal Programs

4d

U.S. Department of Agriculture Announcement on the Extension of Summer Meal Programs Until December 31, 2020.

AUG 28

Meal Reimbursement Rates 2020–21

7d

Federal and State Meal Reimbursement Rates for School Nutrition Programs, Child and Adult Care Food Program, and Food Distribution Program for School Year 2020–21.

COVID-19: USDA Q&A for CNPs SY 2020-21, 5

7d

On August 21, 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released Policy Memorandum SP 24–2020, CACFP 13–2020, and SFSP 13–2020 Questions and Answers for the Child Nutrition Programs during School Year (SY) 2020–21, #5.

SBE Agenda for September 2020

7d

Agenda for the California State Board of Education (SBE) meeting on September 10, 2020.

FAQs Regarding COVID-19 Pandemic Relief

7d

These FAQs are intended to provide details regarding the Prop 98 COVID-19 disaster claim application, review, and payment processes, as well as information regarding COVID-19 pandemic relief, such as CARES Act reimbursements.

  California Department of Education