ABCFT - YOUnionews - April 24, 2020
MEMBER VOICES - We Want to Hear from YOU
YOU are a vital part and voice of the YOUnion. ABCFT leadership wants to know what is on your mind. Do you still have unanswered questions? Still unsure about remote learning, contact language, salary, negotiations, evaluations or anything else related to our current working conditions, click this link here. All questions will be anonymous. For universal issues, we will address the answers each week in our Tuesday Talk.
NEGOTIATION UPDATE - KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Ruben Mancillas
Our formal negotiation process is on hiatus right now but we continue to work with Human Resources and our partners at the district to help navigate issues that arise as a result of the shutdown. We wrote about evaluations in this space last week but to review: evaluations that were partially completed and heading towards a satisfactory conclusion could be signed off on as completed with the approval of both the evaluator and the member. The intent is to not make everyone redo their evaluations next year if the process was going well. Administrators should have received this messaging from the district about being flexible with incomplete evaluations but please write to me if you are getting pushback and I will try to help.
The union has also worked with the district in crafting video conferencing protocols that are reasonable and hopefully provide another safe way to help provide instruction to our students. Our mantra is, once again, remain flexible and keep expectations realistic. Video conferencing is one tool that may be successful with engaging your students but it is not a mandate. Unfortunately, the district chose to send out a final version of the new grading policy during Spring Break with less of an opportunity for us to provide feedback in advance but Academic Services has been hosting Q & A sessions this week to get input as to this substantive change to how we do grades.
A question we have received was what the recent MOU had to say regarding grading and, specifically, whether progress reports were required? Our MOU does not address this particular issue but giving families an idea of their student’s progress is reasonable and a brief report accomplishes that goal. This is, however, a suggestion and not a requirement.
Lastly, our current master contract is effective from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2020 but our established precedent is that our current contract will remain in place until we are able to finish negotiating a new three year deal. For example, during our last round of master contract negotiations we didn’t complete bargaining until the spring semester of 2017 so we worked under the previous contract until the latest iteration could be ratified. Despite our pause in formal negotiations you will continue to be protected by our current contract.
MEMBER WELLNESS
Stress Management for Educators - watch on demand, anytime. This is the first session of a new interactive webinar series, "Caring for the Educator Community During COVID-19." The 30-minute recorded session highlights the impacts and response patterns associated with stress, along with practical tips to rise above and maintain your cool even in times of crisis. The virtual trainings and evidence-based resources are available to all educators, anytime, in the Healthier Generation Action Center. A free account is required to access the resources. Thanks to Kaiser Permanente, Sanford Harmony, and Healthier Generation for providing these free resources to all educators.
ABCFT PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Ray Gaer
Each week I work with unit members in representations, contract resolutions, email/text/phone call questions, site concerns, site visits, presentations, state/national representations and mediations. Here are some of the highlights of interest. Throughout the year I find articles that are interesting and food for thought;
The most important responsibility of a leader is to provide reassurance, clarity, and guidance during the darkest of times. We all need a lighthouse as we navigate the stormy seas. We all need something to hold on to in our moments of doubt. Along with being a person with empathy, we should expect steadfastness as a quality in all of our leaders. In ABCFT the YOUnion leadership is collectively working hard to ensure your working conditions, the financial and personal well-being of its members.
Let me reassure all of you reading this that WE WILL SURVIVE and we will make the best of this impossible situation. The next few years may be full of turmoil in many ways but ABCFT will work with its members and the ABC District to provide the stability needed to rough this storm. There are starting to be many lingering questions among members about what next year will look like and honestly nobody is sure yet. However, one thing is a fact, no permanent employee at ABC will lose their job. That was our goal during the recession and it will be our goal going forward. For those of you new to the profession or just new to ABC, it is important that you know that not a single pink slip was issued in ABC during the Great Recession. This is important because ABC teachers should always be about teaching and not worrying if they will get laid off during an economic downturn. Giving out layoff notices is just a bad way to do business and not the way ABC has ever treated its employees. (This paragraph is meant to reassure you, not make you fearful. Remember the lighthouse)
The timeline for how we start the school year and what it looks like will depend on a number of intersecting factors. The Governor will release a new preliminary budget in May, the final taxes and final budget should be approved by early August. The challenge of this timeline is that it gives us very little time in August to adjust to the COVID-19 situation in conjunction with the budget crisis that will unfold. ABCFT will keep you fully informed throughout the Summer to keep you abreast of the latest development. My golden rule is that there should “never be surprises.” The truth is not always savory but it is necessary. Districts and Unions across the country and states will be focused on the openings of our economy over the next few months and school openings will garner its share of attention. Safety for everyone will be paramount as we move forward.
During this week’s ABCFT Thursday Chat, we discussed some of the possibilities of what next year could look like, the budget timeline, contract negotiations, and grading changes. There are many different ideas about what it could look like but nothing has really been discussed yet. At the May 5th ABC School Board meeting, ABC’s chief financial officer, Toan Nguyen will be presenting a May budget report where we will hear how much the district has spent so far because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ABCFT/ABCUSD contract negotiations will proceed during the Summer and Fall but because of the many changes at the start of the school year the Master Contract will most likely take all of next year to finalize. Lastly, following the Thursday YOUnion Chat ABCFT was able to negotiate for some minor changes to the proposed grading teachers have been trained on this week. I hope that you will read Ruben Mancillas’ negotiation update this week for some grading clarifications (some dates for grading have been changed to give teachers more time to complete their grading).
To sum up the week, it may feel like Groundhog Day the movie sometimes but you need to ask yourself, which Phil Connors are you going to be today? Thank you for your guiding questions, insightful communications and conversations, shared resources, and encouraging thoughts. On behalf of Membership Coordinator, Tanya Golden and myself, we give you a big high five Friday THANK YOU!
Want to relax and hear soothing sounds as you work online. Check out this awesome page ABC Teacher, Yvette Romero passed on for everyone! Nice find Yvette.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
The latest CFT articles and news stories can be found here on the PreK12 news feed on the CFT.org website.
FAQ
Covid-19: Answers to essential questions for CFT members
GO HERE ---> https://www.cft.org/faq
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
- 04/22/2020
- 04/21/2020
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Artesia High School is mentioned in this article.
Always on’ COVID-19 educators risk burnout
Emily Tate explores how diligent educators, who amid the COVID-19 lockdown are confined to their homes and often plugged in to their work via the internet, might "draw the line" to avoid burnout when it’s so difficult to not make themselves available to students and their families. She describes how the expectations being placed on educators during the pandemic are huge and suggests that if workloads are not managed properly and teachers aren't properly supported by the their districts then their performance - and health - is at risk.
ABC School national/state rankings
Best high schools 2020 rankings published
U.S. News and RTI International have published the annual 2020 Best High Schools rankings, after evaluating more than 24,000 public high schools on metrics including college readiness, college curriculum breadth, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance and graduation rate. Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, topped the list, Academic Magnet High School in North Charleston, South Carolina came second, while Merrol Hyde Magnet School in Hendersonville, Tennessee, came third. School for Advanced Studies (SAS) in Miami came fourth and Townsend Harris High School in Flushing, New York, ranked fifth. California Academy of Mathematics and Science in Carson, California, ranked 11th, while Oxford Academy in Cypress, California, ranked 20th.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
College Board postpones SATs until at least August
The College Board has canceled the SATs until at least August due to the coronavirus pandemic. The New York-based nonprofit said it will provide a digital SAT for home use, which it stressed was unlikely, in the event that schools don’t reopen in the fall. Once it’s safe from a public health standpoint, it added, the Board will offer tests every month beginning in August through the end of the calendar year. Rival ACT is still planning to administer June and July tests and will be offering a remote proctoring option by the end of the year allowing students to take the exam online from their home. A growing number of colleges -- including Amherst, Williams, Middlebury, Pomona, the University of California, Haverford and Tufts -- have made the SAT and ACT optional for admission, at least temporarily.
Devos cautions governors over stimulus money
The U.S. Department of Education has cautioned governors against giving any stimulus funds to teachers unions. Governors can spend the nearly $3 billion in emergency education aid on school districts, colleges or any “education related entity” providing emergency educational services, child care, social and emotional support, or even working to help protect education jobs, but if any teachers union receives money, the Department said, states would have “to separately identify and account for” how it was spent. The caveat is one of the few requirements in the notice attributed directly to Betsy DeVos, who has previously clashed with teachers unions. Randi Weingarten, head of the American Federation of Teachers, comments: "Educators and unions like the AFT and our affiliates are partnering with their districts to put these resources to good use, and we want to do more, but adding an onerous reporting requirement for unions is a cheap shot."
Special education provision in uncertain territory
Two groups of education administrators — the Council of Administrators of Special Education and the National Association of State Directors of Special Education — have written to Congress demanding that school districts deliver education equitably, in line with the federal Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Separately, the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates (COPAA) have written to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos concerning special waivers from federal law regarding the education of students with disabilities, as some districts cannot provide special education services at home so aren’t offering online instruction to any student. "We are asking for temporary and targeted flexibilities in implementing IDEA during this pandemic so that we can keep our focus on collaborating with parents and families and on providing appropriate services to students with disabilities. In no other situation in our organizations’ history can we find a time where we have asked for limited flexibilities in implementing the IDEA," the letter reads in part. The Education Secretary has not yet indicated that she may seek new congressional authority to provide waivers from IDEA to districts.
Bill to ensure students have internet access amid pandemic
Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation Tuesday that would mandate students to have access to the internet amid the coronavirus pandemic. Meng, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, said: “COVID-19 has forced over 55m students to stay home during this national health crisis and adjust to a new future that requires internet access and a computer to continue their studies.” The Emergency Educational Connections Act of 2020 would create a special $2bn fund for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to disburse for schools and libraries to buy Wi-Fi hotspots, routers and internet connected devices.
Over 1m students to miss SATs and ACTs
An estimated 1m-plus high school students will miss the chance this spring to get their first SAT score, according to new data, which underlines how the coronavirus crisis has torn up college admissions testing. The College Board will offer at-home testing in May for its Advanced Placement program, which aims to give students a chance to earn college credit, but a pivot to at-home testing for the SAT - which seems an unlikely scenario - would raise questions about testing access and security. “We will need an at-home-style solution for the SAT if schools are out this fall,” acknowledges David Coleman, chief executive of the College Board, which owns the test. The next testing dates for the SAT and ACT in June are also in doubt.
School chiefs say K-12 stimulus funds are ‘woefully insufficient’
One of the "greatest challenges" education leaders are facing is providing students and staff with access to technology and the internet during the pandemic so that learning can continue and families can get health information they need, according to a new report from Chiefs for Change. The bipartisan network of state and district education leaders described the $13.5 billion set aside for K-12 systems under the CARES Act as “woefully insufficient” and “not nearly enough to meet the extraordinary needs of schools, students and families struggling to cope with the wide-ranging effects of COVID-19.” It is urging the federal government to provide additional funding to bring technology and connectivity to every family across the country.
White House bars DACA and undocumented students from billions in federal aid
The White House is blocking tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants and DACA recipients from getting billions of dollars in aid earmarked for college students affected by the coronavirus pandemic. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos ordered higher education institutions to give out more than $6bn in emergency relief only to students who are eligible for federal financial aid, including U.S. citizens or legal residents. The measure will compound the challenges facing undocumented students, whose families have also been excluded from aid like stimulus checks for individuals and unemployment insurance, said Miriam Feldblum, the executive director of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, which advocates on behalf of immigrant students.
----- STATE NEWS -----
California to give 70,000 devices to students
Gov. Gavin Newsom yesterday announced a series of partnerships with the likes of Amazon, Apple and T-Mobile, to provide laptops, Chromebooks and tablets to 70,000 students as well as internet access for hundreds of thousands of households. Approximately one in five students in California lack high-speed Internet or an appropriate computing device at home, according to the state. Amazon is donating 10,000 tablet devices, while HP and Lenovo are between them donating 9,000 Chromebooks. Apple, meanwhile, is actively working with 800 districts across the state, offering free coaching sessions to teachers to help them with the transition to remote learning. In addition, Apple is offering special pricing for iPads with cellular, and has given the equivalent of 9,000 iPads to ensure the most vulnerable in our state have access. “We are so thankful to everyone that is stepping up to help us close the digital divide. These efforts will truly make an impact in the lives of our students and an even greater impact as we work to close achievement gaps that existed before this public health crisis,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
California school districts to get accountability plan reprieve
California Department of Education officials have said they expect Gov. Gavin Newsom to push back the deadline for districts to file their next Local Control and Accountability Plan to mid-December, when a clearer picture of state finances will have emerged. He decided not to suspend the LCAP for a year, as school management groups like the California School Boards Association and the Association of California School Administrators had called for. Officials also announced that the department will ask the Legislature to cancel the 2019-20 California School Dashboard, the color-coded accountability system that rates schools and districts on multiple performance measures. School closures and the cancellations of standardized tests because of the coronavirus have rendered this year’s dashboard, which would have been published in the fall, incomplete and invalid.
California prepares for socially distant schools in the fall
Gov. Gavin Newsom has released a detailed plan for easing social distancing guidelines in the future, suggesting staggered start times, “reconfigured” classrooms that allow for social distancing and some continuance of online learning. “We need to get our kids back to school. I need to get my kids back to school,” Newsom said. “We need to do it in a safe way so kids are not going to school, getting infected and then coming back home and then infecting grandma and grandpa. So we have to be very vigilant in that respect.” The proposals were outlined along with six critical indicators the state will consider before modifying the stay-at-home order, including: the ability to monitor and protect communities through testing, contract tracing, and isolating; the ability to prevent infection in people who are at risk for more severe COVID-19; and the ability of the hospital and health systems to handle su rges. Edgar Zazueta, of the Association of California School Administrators, said: "We do appreciate that the governor is talking about this early but folks are going to be reluctant to go into places where there's still some density. With just the nature of schools, no matter what we put in place, we're talking about kids here. The notion of physically distancing is not going to go well." On a similar note UC Berkeley education and African American studies professor Janelle Scott said: “The ability of things to spread is just really not controllable,” adding that it is not uncommon for parents to catch the bugs their children bring home. Fears over safety are likely to persist among both teachers and non-teaching staff, some of whom will be tasked with doing the deep cleaning needed to keep others safe, she said.
California schools ask for pension relief, more funding to cope with coronavirus costs
California school districts are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to delay scheduled increases to their pension payments and to divert money from a variety of relief funds to help them get through the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus outbreak. The superintendents of five major school districts, including Sacramento City Unified, outlined the requests in a letter to Newsom on Friday. The state is protecting funding for schools’ regular staffing costs and providing an additional $100m in emergency money, according to the letter. Federal coronavirus aid will provide $1.6bn in short-term emergency money for California schools, the letter says. But the money won’t be enough to ensure access to online learning, provide meals to children and adults and to provide “overtime, stipends and differential pay to maintain a minimum level of staffing,” the letter states. The letter was signed by the superintendents of school districts in Sacramento, Los Angeles, San Diego, Long Beach and Riverside County. Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David Gordon made similar requests in a separate letter. The superintendents also asked the state to freeze school districts’ contributions to the California State Teachers Retirement System and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System.
----- DISTRICTS -----
Teachers union, LAUSD agree on distance-learning pact
Los Angeles USD and the United Teachers Los Angeles union have come to an agreement on the terms of how educators teach students remotely during the coronavirus crisis. Under the agreement teachers will be able to create their own work schedules and not be required to teach classes using live video conferencing platforms, key demands made by UTLA President Alex Caputo-Pearl ahead of negotiations that began last Thursday. The deal will “provide the flexibility and support educators need to do their best work in these extraordinary circumstances,” wrote district superintendent Austin Beutner and Caputo-Pearl in a joint statement. “Our shared goal is to help students continue to learn and support students and families most in need.” Under the agreement, which expires either on June 30 or when schools reopen, teachers “shall create, share and follow” a regular weekly schedule that includes teaching and student support. Methods of distance learning can include online instruction, printed instructional materials, phone calls, emails, text reminder applications and video conferencing — which “is encouraged, but shall not be mandatory.”
Berkeley school district temporarily suspends use of video conferencing after ‘Zoom bombing’
Berkeley USD temporarily suspended its use of Zoom and Google Hangouts for instruction Tuesday after a man disrupted a Berkeley High School class through “Zoom bombing.” Superintendent Brent Stephens said a man joined a class meeting on Zoom, exposed himself to students and shouted obscenities before being removed from the video conference call by a teacher. He added that the teacher whose class was disrupted followed all current guidelines about security precautions in Zoom, but the man still gained access. According to the email, Zoom and Google Hangouts are currently being updated to address public school-use concerns. To address this, BUSD has started to incorporate Zoom into a student-friendly portal that already has BUSD verifications, as well as configuring a new “corporate” account that teachers can use to exert more control over communications.
Huntingdon Beach proposes elementary school closure
The possible closure of an elementary school with a large population of economically disadvantaged students drew criticism from many residents during a meeting of the Huntington Beach City School District board of trustees Tuesday night. An 11-member citizens’ task force, formed in February to narrow down candidates for closure, voted recently to recommend Joseph R. Perry Elementary School. Critics of the decision say that closing the school could negatively affect some of the city’s most vulnerable students. Perry has the highest percentage of socioeconomically disadvantaged students in the district at 50.7%, according to its state-required 2017-18 School Accountability Report Card. School board members will decide at their next meeting, on April 28, whether to accept the panel’s recommendation or choose a different elementary school.
LAUSD to spend $200m in emergency coronavirus response costs
Los Angeles USD officials said Monday that the district will incur $200m in estimated emergency coronavirus response costs by the end of the school year, as anticipated state budget cuts loom. Superintendent Austin Beutner said the unexpected expenditures have gone toward food assistance, remote instruction training for educators and technology procurement, among other expenses. The mounting expenses will not immediately push the district’s $7.87bn general fund into insolvency, but the unbudgeted spending probably violates state law requiring school systems to maintain a three-year balanced budget. Mr Beutner said the state Board of Education has been informed about the expenditures and is committed to ensuring the district helps all students continue to learn, and provide support to students and families in need.
----- CLASSROOM -----
Researchers warn schools to plan for coronavirus slide
Nonprofit assessment and research group NWEA has warned school leaders to plan now on how to address the learning gaps caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The organization’s latest report predicts dramatic losses in learning after what could well be up to six months of school closures; when students return to school, overall they are likely to retain about 70% of this year’s gains in reading, compared with a typical school year, and less than 50% in math. Losses are likely to be more pronounced in the early grades, when students normally acquire many basic skills, and among those already facing steep inequities. Chief executive Chris Minnich suggested that district and charter leaders consider bringing students back earlier, keeping them for longer school days or academic years, or otherwise increasing the amount of time pupils have with teachers. In turn, teachers will need more strategies for serving students with wildly varying needs in a single classroom. “The main message from this research is we’re in a moment,” he said. “This won’t be back to school as normal. Figure out what you want school to look like in the fall now.”
----- FINANCE -----
Coronavirus aid might not prevent cuts to school funding
The $13.5bn K-12 school relief package signed by President Trump last month amounts to less than 2% of all spending on public schools, a new analysis by school finance consultant Michael Griffith has shown. His report assumes that 90% of the $13.5bn pot specifically for school districts ends up going to districts. The CARES Act says that at least 90% of that money must end up with districts, so the amount that actually reaches districts could be higher. The education community has put Congress and the White House on notice that the current round of federal aid won’t be enough to keep school budgets from a sharp decline. There has been tension about how schools should be approaching the next several months as the majority of students have shifted to online learning at home. Some have focused on the urgent need to expand internet access and provide more online devices to students as the academic year enters the home stretch. But others say schools should save what money they have in reserve to help them weather the economic hard times ahead.
----- LEGAL -----
Court blocks school nutrition standards rollback
The U.S. district court in Maryland has thrown out the federal administration’s rollback of some school nutrition standards, meaning white bread and other refined grains may again vanish from lunch menus when schools reopen. In response to a lawsuit brought by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and Healthy School Food Maryland, the court agreed that the administration did not give adequate public notice of the change, which went into effect this past school year. Diane Pratt-Heavner of the School Nutrition Association, which represents cafeteria operators and food suppliers, said tighter budgets and strained supply chains could make it even harder to meet stricter nutrition standards once schools resume, however Laura MacCleery, senior policy director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stressed: “None of this applies under the current situation. This is for when we resume post-pandemic school operations.”
----- WORKFORCE ----
Coronavirus could worsen teacher shortages
Educators and academics are concerned that the pivot towards remote learning amid the coronavirus outbreak could severely limit student teachers' classroom exposure and hamper schools' recruitment needs. Though student teachers are racking up experience in distance learning, amid the national teacher shortage this year's class of new talent is obviously in dire need however. By 2025, the United States is expected to be short around 200,000 teachers, according to research by the Economic Policy Institute, with high schools particularly hard hit.
Burbank approves classified staff layoffs and more budget-cutting measures
Burbank USD’s board has unanimously approved a plan to cut school programs such as stage-craft technology classes, while cutting almost 30 core-subject, arts and physical-education teacher roles. Sixteen classified staff positions are being cut, including a special-education facilitator, attendance technician, technology support specialist and several instructional assistants working with disabled students or in a childcare center. All positions are currently vacant except for three - an employee benefits technician in human resources and two instructional assistant positions at Washington Elementary and Burbank Adult School. An hour is being reduced for four part-time instructional assistants, who work at Roosevelt, Harte, Edison and Stevenson elementary schools.
Commission to consider relaxing student teaching requirements
The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing is expected to vote next week on whether or not to require the state’s teacher candidates to complete all their student-teaching hours or take all required tests before teaching in their own classrooms next year. According to the commission, about 26,000 of the 80,000 educators enrolled in credentialing programs across the state are in their final year of preparation. If these prospective teachers can’t get their credential that is likely to increase the state’s teacher shortage, which are most acute in high-needs subjects like science, math, bilingual education and special education. Most of them are studying to become teachers, and are usually referred to as teacher candidates. The vote could see a reduction in the required 600 hours of student teaching for this year’s class, and also in the number of formal observations of student teachers by program supervisors.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Pandemic prompts mental-health workers to connect virtually with students
With local school districts switching classrooms to online settings, mental health workers are also moving quickly to ensure they can maintain services for students in need. The Family Service Agency (FSA) is a nonprofit that provides general mental-health counseling, and about 50 counselors support Burbank USD students during the academic year. Karissa Provost, the FSA’s director, said counselors started calling every family assigned to them to offer phone counseling sessions when the district announced school closures. The agency is looking into possibly adding video-conferencing sessions in the future. Students can also reach out to counselors to access a free small food pantry. Elsewhere, Glendale USD’s Student Wellness Services Department continues to provide online and phone therapy sessions for students. About 45 interns studying for master’s degrees work under the district’s Intern Academy and connect with students to provide school counseling, social work and therapy services. During the past week, the department collected nearly 100 virtual-session consent forms. It is conducting wellness checks on students, calling them to see if they are safe and still connecting to their school.
Schools struggling to meet food demand
The coronavirus crisis is now taking its toll on the social safety net of free school meals, with more districts turning to food banks and nonprofits for help, reconfiguring meal distribution plans, and authorizing hazard pay for front-line employees to keep them safe. Jenny Arredondo, the executive director of child nutrition services at San Antonio ISD, in Texas, has seen the desperation and fallout from economic collapse first-hand and reveals that her district prepared and distributed almost 40,000 meals on Monday. In the last month, more than a third of parents reported skipping entire meals for their children or cutting the size of servings because they did not have enough money for food, according to a survey by Hunger Free America. “Schools are making heroic efforts to get children food, but they’re not able to do it alone,” said Joel Berg, the chief executive officer of the New York City-based nonprofit.
-----CHARTER SCHOOLS -----
UTLA continues protests against charter school co-locations
United Teachers Los Angeles staged a socially-distanced demonstration at Shirley Elementary School in Reseda on Tuesday, against a plan to open a new charter school on their campus this fall. Nonprofit group Citizens of the World Charter is set to move into 11 classrooms at Shirley this year. Under state law, school districts are required to make classroom and non-classroom facilities available to public charter schools serving students who reside in L.A. Unified boundaries. There are currently 56 co-located schools in the district. At the Tuesday protest, Shirley Elementary teachers and supportive parents expressed outrage that Citizens of the World charter was allegedly installing technology systems as their students lacked home Wi-Fi connections. “Colocation?” signs read as some two dozen protesters spread out on the sidewalk or on cars driving by. “Not in the middle of a pandemic.” A spokesman for the California Charter Schools Association compared the union’s tactics to “Trumpian” politics.
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
How video games can help teachers reach out to students
The Washington Post examines how the use of video games can help teachers engage students during the coronavirus lockdown period – from using Minecraft as an education tool for younger students, to the Assassin’s Creed series for high schoolers, with its digital recreations of famous historical periods like the Renaissance and the American Revolution. This Discovery Tour allows players to explore the game’s environments without the interruption of story moments, missions and combat. Developer Ubisoft has also created “a network for teachers,” a closed forum that allows educators to exchange their experiences with the Discovery Tour for both Assassin’s Creed: Origins and Odyssey.
----- HIGHER EDUCATION -----
Colleges consider a new school year with no students on campus
University chiefs are busy trying to figure out how to handle new students and new courses in the fall. Normal spring semesters have gone for most colleges and summer classes too will be online or canceled. Barbara Mistick, president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, who said some of the more than 1,000 higher learning institutions her group represents are now considering keeping their campuses shut to students in the fall semester, adds: "Most institutions need somewhere around a six-week to two-month runway to ... be able to be open."
Higher education stimulus 'stymied by bureaucracy'
The Education Department has announced that barely a quarter of the nearly 5,000 colleges and universities eligible to receive $7bn in stimulus funding for emergency grants to students have applied for the money. Higher-education groups say schools have been "stymied by bureaucracy" and a lack of clear guidance from the agency. “It’s really wrong for the Department to suggest that the schools don’t want the money when they have not sent out a dime to the schools who have applied and can’t tell any schools what the rules are for spending it,” complains Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president for the American Council on Education.
California law schools want to cancel this year’s bar exams
California law school deans say states should postpone July’s bar exam, and instead allow new graduates to practice law under an experienced attorney’s supervision until the coronavirus crisis abates. Supervised law practice, for as long as two years, would allow financially pressed graduates to begin their careers while helping to meet the public need for increased legal services during the coronavirus pandemic, argue Deans Erwin Chemerinsky of UC Berkeley and Jennifer Mnookin of UCLA. Law students in California can already take part in court cases under a lawyer’s direction before they graduate, and, in the U.S. medical profession, about 100,000 physician assistants, monitored by a doctor but without their own medical degree, are licensed to examine and diagnose patients. The National Conference of Bar Examiners, which drafts multiple-choice questions for the exam, plans to decide by early May whether to make the July exam available to states that decide to administer it, or to postpone it to early or late September.
UC reeling under coronavirus costs
The University of California was hit with $558m in unanticipated costs in March alone due to the coronavirus, as students canceled housing and dining contracts, medical centers paused elective surgeries and campus costs soared for online learning. In a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, UC President Janet Napolitano requested more funding to help cover the unprecedented costs. Without additional funding, students may face larger class sizes, reduced course offerings, more difficulty getting into needed classes and potentially higher tuition, said Michael Meranze, a UCLA historian who has long studied UC finances. A generation of scholars could be sidelined if UC lacks the funds to recruit them, jeopardizing the system’s renowned innovation and intellectual leadership, he said.
Cal State to suspend SAT, ACT test requirement
California State University , the largest public university system in the nation, announced Friday it would suspend its SAT and ACT testing requirement for students seeking admission in 2021-2022. The admission adjustment represents a major shift for the CSU system, which educates nearly half a million students and currently relies almost exclusively on the combination of an SAT or ACT score and a student’s GPA to determine acceptance eligibility. The decision by the 23-campus system follows a similar one by the University of California earlier this month. Under the new guidelines, first-time freshmen seeking admission for the terms of fall 2021, winter 2022 or spring 2022 must have earned a high school diploma or equivalent, completed the 15-course college preparatory sequence known as the “A-G” requirements and earned a GPA of 2.5 or better.
----- INTERNATIONAL -----
Global education community cautious despite encouraging coronavirus studies
School closures are less important than workplace closures in stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to a study published in the Lancet and a separate paper by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, though few reopening decisions are more sensitive than when to send students back to class. Russell Viner, an author of the Lancet study and president of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health in London, who suggests that children have not been super-spreaders of the coronavirus, says: “Anything we do when we exit lockdown is not without risk. But once we pass the peak, the balance of risks takes us to definitely gradually starting to reopen schools early in the exit from lockdown.” In China, some provinces reopened schools last month, though not in Beijing or Shanghai, while Norway’s schools reopen April 27 for grades one through four and a host of other countries plan to follow for some students within the next three weeks, with New Zealand, Mexico, Germany and France among them.
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National spelling bee canceled
The annual Scripps National Spelling Bee has been canceled due to safety concerns amid the coronavirus. The next competition will now be held in June 2021 and there are no plans to alter eligibility requirements, so eighth grade contestants this year will miss their chance to compete in the national finals. It's the first time the competition has been canceled since World War II.
NTA Life Insurance - An ABCFT Sponsor
About three years ago ABCFT started a working relationship with National Teachers Associates Life Insurance Company. Throughout our partnership, NTA has been supportive of ABCFT activities by sponsorship and prizes for our various events. This organization specializes in providing insurance for educators across the nation. We have been provided both data and member testimonials about how pleased they have been with the NTA products and the opportunity to look at alternatives to the district insurance choice.
