ABCFT - YOUnionews - June 11, 2020
CALL TO ACTION FOR EQUITY COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Now is the time to get involved in making a difference as we join with other organizations in the desire to seek solutions and solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement that is sweeping the nation. This invite is for any ABC teacher that is interested in creating an all teacher/nurse Equity Committee to discuss how we can support changes in education that will improve the racial equity of all stakeholders. Click here to register your interest and together we will build a committee that will take on this important issue that impacts our classrooms and our communities.
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.
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - NEGOTIATIONS UPDATEby Ruben Mancillas
Notes from Underground
The budget situation is largely unchanged from last week. ABCFT, along with the other labor groups, have met with the district and we have made our priorities clear. We want to save jobs and keep the cuts as far from the classroom as possible. The district is preparing an updated budget proposal for the upcoming board meeting of June 16. There is still an approximately 9 million dollar deficit to be addressed but we have been pressing for options such as utilizing more of the reserve or finding additional savings from mechanisms like a retirement incentive.
What has changed is the onslaught of surveys hitting our inboxes. I, too, have survey fatigue! Seriously though, thank you to the many members who participated in our ABCFT surveys. The negotiating team has reviewed your responses and they will help guide us at the table. I particularly appreciate the comments; we received a lot of excellent ideas from those who know the most about what kind of services our students need the most. Similarly, the SOS committees formed by ABCFT will provide insights as to what our members truly need to safely serve our students. Our instructional survey will get us solid data regarding what worked, and what didn’t, during our sudden shift to OLAH and better understand what we need in the future.
But it is frustrating to feel that there still remain more questions than answers. About the budget, about what instruction will look like for next year, and, most importantly, how to ensure the health and safety of every member and student in ABCUSD. I understand that we need data to plan effectively but it can feel like we are being rushed or that it is difficult, if not impossible, to provide meaningful feedback without having more useful context. How can I give my preference, for example, if it is unclear just how a particular model is supposed to work? It is also crucial that district surveys be just that, surveys that gather information rather than tools to reinforce a foregone conclusion. Sometimes it can feel as if we are being asked our opinion but that a decision has already been made. One obvious issue that has been noted in surveys or in our union chats is just how these potential hybrid models are going to be implemented? Being responsible for live instruction on identified days while simultaneously being responsible for providing online assignments is double the workload, isn’t it?!? But that’s precisely why the integrity of the district surveys or committees is so important so that their results will be valid. We don’t want to get to the table only to be told that the results of committee X or survey Y says that this outcome “needs” to happen so as a result we are expected to make concessions! We remain committed to the principle that all such proposed changes to working conditions must be negotiated.
A similar concern is the idea that this legitimate crisis not be used to advance an unnecessary agenda. Colleagues have shared with me that recent staff meetings can focus on doom and gloom scenarios involving budget cuts and decreasing enrollment with the answer being that the burden is on us to do more with less and somehow become more desirable to keep parents from leaving the district. ABCFT understands the need to be innovative, we have a proud tradition of supporting new ways of empowering members to better serve their students, from our nationally-recognized labor-management partnership to our successful teacher leader program. We acknowledge the need to be ahead of the curve in terms of ideas like an extended online presence. But I reject the model of parents as consumers because implicit in that argument is the conception of our students as widgets and education as a primarily transactional exchange. That is the flawed vision of corporate ideologues like Betsy DeVos; who invoke coded terms like “competition” and “choice” to destroy public education and use vouchers to produce a two-tiered system that would only exacerbate the problems of inequity we see all around us today. I enjoy the movie, Glengarry Glen Ross. If you catch me at the right moment I might even do a fair approximation of Baldwin’s famous “coffee is for closers” monologue. But we are educators and education is not a business; it is in fact a public trust. We aren’t competing for a set of steak knives and providing a nurturing environment for our students is about much more than hitting a sales number.
The counternarrative to this pessimistic vision of the future of public education is one that many of us were gratified to experience this week; the spectacle of our students graduating or moving on to new grade levels. I was fortunate to be part of Tracy High’s drive-through graduation yesterday. I realized how much I missed seeing the students (in-person teaching counts!) as well as my colleagues. We were careful to wear masks and distance ourselves. We called the names of graduates as they rolled past in balloon laden cars rather than walking across a stage. It was an untraditional event, to say the least. But seeing the pride on their faces and on the faces of their loved ones as they received their diplomas truly brought back a little bit of what I have lost staring into a screen these past months. If my students could keep their composure even under these circumstances, if they could smile that brightly with all of the challenges they have been faced with, then I can redouble my efforts to keep fighting for them. Please take a moment to reflect on the good work you have done as this school year comes to a close. No one wanted the year to end as it has but we must recognize the successes along with the frustrations. Be proud of what you accomplished, be proud of your students, and be proud to be ABCFT!
In Unity,
HEALTH BENEFITS UPDATE by Megan Harding
At the beginning of this school year, the Health Benefits Committee was interested in getting information from carriers other than Blue Shield. Some carriers were not willing to give us quotes due to the high number of Kaiser participants. In January, we saw some numbers, and although there were some that came in with lower rates we felt that the disruption to members would not be worth the savings. We met again in February and began to look at both Kaiser and Blue Shield.
We met remotely in March and April. In April we received numbers from both Kaiser and Blue Shield. We felt we might be able to do better and sent the brokers back to further negotiate. In May we received the news that Blue Shield and Kaiser combined would give us a 1.24% increase. This is about a $300k cost to the district. By making some plan schedules we might be able to eliminate that cost. We felt at this time we are not interested in making any plan changes.
TAKE ACTION NOW
ABCFT is encouraging all its members to listen to the next school board meeting on Tuesday, June 16 at 7:00 p.m. At this school board meeting, the board will approve a preliminary budget plan by approving a district budget proposal to address the 16 million dollar hole in ABC’s budget. Certain items on this budget proposal will need to be negotiated. (A note of interest, during the recession we were operating at a budget that was 40 million dollars deep over the course of four years.)
To listen to the school board meeting on Tuesday use the following contact information. Call Phone Number: (310) 372-7549 Conference Code: 654456
Keep Cerritos Crossing Guards
Due to budget cuts, Cerritos City Council has decided to totally eradicate crossing guards. Not only are they imperative for students' safety, but without them, students are more prone to accidents and are at risk of traffic danger.
In March of 2008, due to the absence of a crossing guard, a child was killed while crossing Gridley Rd.
Under current law, the city is responsible for all costs associated with potential lawsuits if a child were to be injured on the way to school. Furthermore, it is the City Council's responsibility and moral duty to make sure our children are safe, as well as, their financial duty.
ABCFT PRESIDENT’S REPORT - Ray Gaer
Communication is a union’s most important tool for advocating for its members at the bargaining table. Every conversation with the membership is focused on the end result of negotiating for the future prosperity and wellbeing of ABCFT members. The purpose of this weekly report is to keep the membership informed about issues that impact their working/learning conditions and their mental wellbeing. Together we make the YOUnion.
I don’t know about you, but as I think about the school year in its entirety I find it so hard to remember what was going on prior to the district closure. As a district we were having a pretty damn good year where teachers got a 3% raise, ABCFT was gearing up for some very progressive contract negotiations, our mental health supports at our schools were becoming a part of our school’s cultures, we were starting to see the improvements of the bond, our bands were sweeping competitions, teachers felt comfortable with technology, and overall teachers, nurses and SLPs were content as we moved forward. It was a good time and we were getting ready to cruise through state testing on our way to Summer.
Things changed with the closure of schools and because it was so sudden we were all in a state of shock for quite some time as we all scrambled to regain our balance. Anyone who felt like they had seen it all in education (me included) were stunned by scope and disruption caused by COVID19. Regardless of the shock, you all found new ways to deliver curriculum, you reconfigured your lessons, you experimented with platforms, you engaged your union and colleagues, and explored new ways that helped you feel connected to who you are as teachers, as employees, as YOUnion members, and as members of your families. One thing I’ve learned is that teachers are not only resourceful but they are also resilient and hopeful.
During the Summer ABCFT will continue to provide detailed updates for our membership. ABCFT will continue to have weekly YOUnionews newsletters throughout the month of June, we will publish on Friday July 10, and another on Friday, August 7th. During the Summer months, ABCFT will hold two additional Executive Board meetings and two additional site representative meetings so we can continue to get feedback about the changing working conditions. We will hold our first YOUnion Chat on August 18 and thereafter we plan to continue our live chat format into the future on ABC School Board meeting days from 3:30-5:00 p.m. each month. Our number one goal at this time is to keep everyone informed about the changing working conditions as we prepare for the start of school in August.
I would personally like to thank all of you that have participated in our weekly live chats and those who submitted questions and concerns for our Tuesday Talk Member Voices Q&A sections. Thank you for filling out ABCFT surveys that have helped to guide me and the ABCFT leadership so that we could make better decisions. Thank you for not burning down the district office for all the grading changes and revisions. Thank you for treating each other so kindly, showing your humanity, laughing, and crying together in your frustrations and sadness. Finally, thank you ABCFT site reps, Eboard members, PAL liaisons, committee members, negotiating team members, my right arm Tanya Golden, and my left arm Ruben Mancillas who’s been by my side since day one. We are a YOUnion!
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.
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
California schools chief details plan for reopening
The California Department of Education has published a 62-page guidebook detailing what it wants to see when schools start next year – including face coverings and daily temperature checks for students and staff, campuses that minimize access to volunteers, and classrooms that separate students by six feet. “The effects felt by COVID-19 have been widespread and created impacts unlike anything that we’ve ever seen,” State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said in a statewide online forum. “As our students return, schools will have to look dramatically different for their own safety and for the opportunity to accelerate learning.” How students will learn in the age of coronavirus could vary. The guidebook offers four different models of instruction. One option is what Thurmond called a “two-day rotation blended learning model.” This would have students report to school on two designated days a week based on their grade level. Others include “A/B blended learning, whereby half of the students would attend in-person four full days one week, while the other is engaged in distance learning, and switch the following week. A third option is for a “looping structure”, where K-8 students could stay with the same teacher for multiple grade levels, which would not only lead to improved relations between teachers and students but “a better understanding of health and safety, decreasing risks to students and staff.” Finally, early/late staggered start and dismissal schedules have been suggested, with multiple recesses and lunch periods. State officials said their recommendations are based on input from educators across the state and advice from the Centers for Disease Control and the state Public Health Department.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Pandemic-hit schools call for federal investment
Educators warned a Senate panel Wednesday that without a large federal investment in the nation’s public school system, coronavirus-hit districts will struggle to meet students' needs this fall. In testimony before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, education leaders from around the country said budget challenges were among their chief concerns as they drafted plans to resume in-person classes, particularly for students who have suffered economic, educational and racial injustices exacerbated by the pandemic. Though the stimulus bill passed by Congress in March sent about $13.5bn to the nation’s primary and secondary schools, dozens of education organisations say they will need at least $200bn more. John B. King Jr., the former education secretary and current president of The Education Trust, warned that there was a "degree of paralysis" among districts as they faced state budget cuts of up to 20%, while Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), the committee’s chairman, urged senators to examine how existing funding and laws were being maximized. Alexander went on to close the hearing by asking the panelists for details - specifically, a price tag - "about exactly what it would take, in terms of financial support, to open our schools safely." Separately, a report by the National Education Association released Wednesday estimated that without federal relief, the education system would lose 1.9m education jobs.
Senate Hearing Considers Cost Of Safely Reopening Schools
NPR (6/10, Turner) reports on a Wednesday hearing by the US Senate Education Committee focusing on opening public schools, at which it was said that “safely reopening the nation’s public schools will be an expensive and Herculean task without additional help from the federal government.” Witnesses “told senators that many districts will struggle to put in place recommendations for protecting students” such as “providing masks, gloves and sanitizer, hiring cleaning staff and nurses, conducting testing and contact tracing, as well as planning for socially distant classrooms.” According to one report, “the average district would incur nearly $1.8 million in additional expenses.”
The New York (NY) Times (6/10, Green) reports education leaders from around the country told the Senate panel that “budget challenges were among their chief concerns as they drafted plans to resume in-person classes.” This is “particularly true for students who have borne the brunt of the economic, educational and racial injustices that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.” Education advocacy groups have lobbied for more funding in recent weeks; a report released Wednesday by the National Education Association “estimated that without federal relief, the education system would lose 1.9 million education jobs.” Denver Public Schools Superintendent Susana Cordova told senators her district is facing a $61 million budget gap. “At a time when our kids and our communities need us most, we are having to make massive cuts,” she said.
U.S. News & World Report (6/10, Camera) reports Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), chairman of the committee, “requested cost estimates from states for how much additional federal assistance they need to reopen schools this fall.” He said, “It would be helpful to me and I think other senators if you could provide some specifics to the committee about exactly what it would take in terms of financial support to open the schools safely.” Despite his apparent interest, “Senate Republicans have no plans to consider the $3 trillion relief package the House of Representatives passed last month, which includes about $100 billion for K-12 education.”
Chalkbeat (6/10, Bryan) reports Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said during the hearing, “We need to get additional funding to states and/or to school districts before the July recess because the planning that’s going to need to be done in order to make sure schools can reopen safely is going to be done this summer.” Former US Education Secretary John King testified, “Without Congressional action, there will be no conceivable way to avoid layoffs and hiring freezes disproportionately impacting educators and staff at high-poverty schools.”
CQ Roll Call (6/10, McIntire) reports the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing “focused less on whether schools should reopen but more on how to do so safely, which may include a mix of in-person and virtual learning.” Senators asked the witnesses “on how to make up for gaps in education that students may have faced after finishing the academic year virtually and how to account for disparities such as economic status, race or learning disabilities.” Ranking member Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) said, “It is likely that some schools will need to keep their physical buildings closed, either fully or partially, for all or some of our students.”
Education Week’s (6/10, Blad) “Politics K-12” blog reports other challenges schools will face opening in the fall include “logistical issues associated with keeping students healthy; equity in areas like internet access; providing adequate compensatory services for special education students; and accommodating employees and students at elevated risk for severe illness from the virus.” Nebraska Education Commissioner Matthew Blomstedt testified, “I am concerned that the economic impact of the pandemic will result in necessary and sustained cuts in my state’s K-12 education funding to exceed 20 percent,” calling the situation a “perfect storm as we faced increased needs and decreased resources.”
----- STATE NEWS -----
California releases stringent school reopening rules
The California Department of Public Health has published guidelines for the reopening of the state’s schools. In addition to requirements for physical distancing, the state plans to supply every school and child care center with no-touch thermometers, hand sanitizer, face shields for every teacher, cloth face coverings for staff and students, and tight-fitting N95 masks for health care professionals in schools. The guidance asks schools to try to keep students 6 feet (2 meters) apart at all times, in class, in the hallways and at recess. It also says schools should consider installing “portable hand-washing stations” as part of a rigorous hygiene regime urging students and staff to wash their hands before and after eating, coughing, sneezing, being outside and using the restroom. The state also suggests staggering arrival times to minimize contact between students, staff and families and serving meals in classrooms or outdoors rather than in cafeterias. It calls for intensified cleaning and disinfecting, at least daily, of frequently touched surfaces on school buses and in buildings, such as door handles, light switches, student desks and chairs. School districts and teachers unions have said the checklist will be logistically challenging and costly and could be impossible to complete, given budget cuts. Members of the California Education Coalition, which includes groups representing labor unions, administrators, school boards and parents, have said schools may have to continue distance learning. “Deep budget cuts to public education will stand in the way of preparing our schools for the safe return of students and educators and further prolong the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic,” said E. Toby Boyd, president of California Teachers Association.
State schools chief launches campaign against racial bias
The California Department of Education is launching the California Implicit Bias Training Initiative, a campaign to train department employees and create guidance for school districts in an effort to end systematic racism in schools, said Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond during a virtual press conference last Thursday. The campaign, funded by a $500,000 donation from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, will train department staff and create resources and guidance so that California schools can include implicit bias training in staff professional development. “Although this work was underway before the tragic deaths of George Floyd and others sparked the widespread unrest we see across the country, we know that we must accelerate the work of disrupting institutional racism with a sense of urgency,” Thurmond said. “We are grateful to be the recipient of such a large statewide investment that will support educators closing achievement gaps and securing racial justice for our students.”
----- DISTRICTS -----
Eliminate school police, L.A. teachers union leaders say
The United Teachers Los Angeles union has called for the Los Angeles School Police Department to be disbanded. If the 400-strong force was to be eliminated, it would save around $70m from the district’s $7.9bn budget. “We have to dismantle white supremacy. We must ... defund the police and bring in the mental health services that our students need,” said Cecily Myart-Cruz, the incoming president of UTLA, which represents about 30,000 teachers, nurses, counselors and other staff in the school district. The movement to defund school police has been a concern of education equity advocates for year. But the nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd and calls to defund the Los Angeles Police Department and some others throughout the country nationwide reinvigorated their calls in the past days. Gil Gamez, president of the school police union, said that school police are necessary to keep the peace at schools and are trained to deescalate situations better than other officers. “We are trained different. We have a vested interest ... we had restorative justice [training], our police officers come from the communities they serve,” Gamez said. Many, he said, are L.A. Unified graduates and work closely with school counselors. “To see us be demonized and ostracized, I don’t get it.”
Schools Anticipate Spending Thousands To Protect Students, Teachers Upon Reopening
The Washington Post (6/9, Stein) reports “school leaders across the nation are preparing to reopen campuses in the fall” and they’re “quickly learning that, when it comes to necessary supplies, it isn’t going to be easy – or cheap.” Schools will need “gallons of soap, thousands of containers of disinfectant wipes, hundreds of thermometers and masks for students and staffers. On top of that, there are the costly crews that will need to routinely come into school buildings for intensive cleans.” KIPP DC, which serves “7,000 students across seven campuses, provided...the Post with a list of its first bulk order of cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment,” and the supplies are “expected to last the charter network only three months.” The cost? “More than $300,000.”
Education Dive (6/9, De La Rosa) reports a cost analysis provided by AASA, The School Superintendents Association, “estimates that implementing safety measures for reopening will cost an average district $1.78 million.” The analysis shows the “most expensive safety measures will be additional staff. Custodians will cost $448,000, full-time and part-time nurses will cost $400,000 and aides who give temperature checks before students board buses will cost $384,00.” Daily disposable masks for staff will cost an average of $44,415. Despite the increased costs, “many districts are forging ahead with ways to get students back into classrooms.”
----- CLASSROOM -----
How COVID-19 is shaping school tech use
Education Week presents 10 key findings from the surveys its Research Center has conducted this spring about how the coronavirus school closures have influenced the role and use of technology in K-12 education and what that might mean for the future. Insights include that, although many teachers initially struggled with the shift to remote learning, 87% have said their ability to use educational technologies had improved during the school building closures, with some saying they plan to continue using those newfound skills even when school buildings reopen. Additionally, 73% of district leaders and teachers said they believe that when school buildings reopen, greater access to 1-to-1 computing will make high-quality teaching easier. Nevertheless, the shift to remote learning has highlighted a digital divide in American society and education, with shortages of devices and a lack of access to high-speed wireless internet affecting the less well-off. Districts’ ability to close this gap, by providing students with laptops and tablets, is likely to be limited, with fiscal analysts are forecasting that the recession associated with the coronavirus pandemic will be deeper and longer-lasting than the last. Without another federal bailout, several states will have to cut 5%-20% from their budgets. “What’s so stunning about this recession is that poor districts are going to bear the brunt of these cuts because they rely so heavily on state aid and they don’t have the capacity to raise their property taxes,” said David Sciarra, the executive director of the Education Law Center.
School closures dramatically impacting public education
The coronavirus schools shutdown is taking a profound toll on the nation’s school system, according to a survey of almost 60 school districts serving just short of 3m students by Reuters, with a large majority revealing that they are providing elementary and middle school students with half or less the usual face time with teachers. Less than half of districts take attendance, and many of those that do say fewer kids are showing up for class. The survey encompassed rural school districts and those from large urban communities, such as Miami-Dade County Public Schools and Houston ISD. It discovered that about a third of districts aren't providing federally required services to their special needs students, such as physical and occupational therapy, as they did before schools closed. About three-quarters of districts reported they served a cumulative 4.5m fewer meals a week. As they look ahead, nearly 70% of districts surveyed told Reuters that they face a budget deficit and the total shortfall of these districts alone exceeds $450m.
Teachers As Likely To Have Racial Biases As Non-Teachers, Study Shows
Education Week (6/9, Will) reports a study published in the April edition of the journal Educational Researcher found that “teachers are just as likely to have racial biases as non-teachers...suggesting that schools need to do more work to combat stereotypes and discrimination.” Researchers examined data from Project Implicit, which collects results from self-administered Implicit Association Tests, and found that 77 percent of teachers “demonstrated implicit bias, compared with 77.1 percent of non-teachers.” Likewise, they found “that 30.3 percent of teachers showed explicit bias, compared with 30.4 percent of non-teachers.” The researchers repeated their study with a second national dataset and “found no significant association between occupation and level of bias.” Co-author Jordan Starck, a doctoral student in the department of psychology at Princeton, explained that teachers’ racial biases tend to influence the expectations they have for their students, the quality of their teaching, and the choices in how they manage their classrooms.
----- SAFETY & SECURITY -----
More School Districts Are Reexamining Ties With Police
Stateline (6/10, Quinton) reports on the nationwide movement to “replace the armed officers who patrol school hallways with nurses, counselors or unarmed guards.” Recently, education leaders in Minneapolis and Portland announced they will no longer hire school resource officers. Denver is expected to follow, “and student protesters are calling for similar changes from Phoenix to Chicago amid nationwide anti-racism protests and, increasingly, calls to reduce the funding and responsibilities of police departments.” According to Matthew Mayer, associate professor at Rutgers Graduate School of Education, there is no “rigorous, casual evidence” whether school resource officers improve school safety. Meanwhile, civil rights groups “argue that a police presence can funnel black students into the criminal justice system.”
Education Dive (6/10, Modan) reports that some argue “while changing SRO policies and roles is a first step, the issue also stems from who is in the classroom and in leadership positions.” For example, Verjeana Jacobs, chief equity and member services officer for the National School Boards Association, “recounted a story of a new superintendent who approached the district’s local police department seeking to reform arrests taking place in schools, only to discover many of the referrals were coming from within the school district itself.”
Chicago Mayor Won’t Pull Police From Schools, But Promises Reforms. Chalkbeat (6/9) reports Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot “has said she won’t consider removing police from schools, but has promised new reforms to the police department in the coming weeks, including increased training and a shift in recruitment to bring more officers from communities of color onto the force.” The city “overhauled its school policing system this year in response to changed mandated by a federal consent degree.” Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department were instructed to “make a slew of reforms intended to bring clarity, accountability, and safety to school policing” by September.
Norman, Oklahoma Activists Call On City Council To Eliminate School Resource Officers. StateImpact Oklahoma, a collaboration of four NPR (6/10, Korth) stations, reports a 14-year-old Norman girl described her “traumatic” experience being handcuffed by school resource officers “at a raucous Norman City Council meeting Wednesday to discuss the city’s budget.” Activists “flooded the meeting” and called on the council to “pull money from the police department.” Instead, they would replace the officers in schools with social workers.
----- FINANCE -----
How districts, states can survive the COVID-19 recession
The Lehman Brothers collapse in September 2008 sparked the start of the last Great Recession, sending sales and income tax revenue into a tailspin and forcing school districts over the next three years to lay off more than 300,000 employees. Now, little over a decade later, America’s public schools system is on the verge of another recession, which threatens to be deeper and longer than the last. “There’s a reason people called it the Great Recession. We really thought something like this wouldn’t happen again in our lifetime,” said Michael Griffith, a senior school finance researcher and policy analyst for the Learning Policy Institute. Marguerite Roza, a school finance professor at Georgetown University, has advised districts to act early, and use the time before state legislatures cut their budgets combing through academic and spending data to see which programs are most effective, which should be kept, and which should be scrapped; coming up with budget-cutting scenarios; and negotiating potential layoff scenarios with teacher union leaders. Last-minute scrambling leads to deeper, sometimes unnecessary cuts, contentious school board meetings, and sour feelings, she said.
----- WORKFORCE ----
Public education job losses already larger than in Great Recession
According to the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, state and local government employment fell by 981,000, with the vast majority of losses found in local government, with the majority coming in the education sector, with a drop of 468,800 jobs in local public school employment alone. More K–12 public education jobs were lost in April than in all of the Great Recession. Half of the job losses in K–12 public education between March and April were among special education teachers, tutors, and teaching assistants. Other significant job losses occurred among counselors, nurses, janitors, and other building maintenance workers.
Coronavirus fueling teacher shortage
The coronavirus pandemic is fueling the United States' teacher shortage, with education jobs accounting for two-thirds of the 585,000 government jobs lost in May. In April, 469,000 public school district personnel across the country, including K-12 teachers and other school employees, lost their jobs. Michael Madowitz, an economist at the Center for American Progress, comments: “I’m pretty sure this was unprecedented. We’re already past the total state and local job losses of the last recession.” Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute adds: "Even if the state and local governments manage to get back to pre-pandemic employment levels, it’s still significantly below where they should have been to keep up with student enrollment." Almost 300,000 jobs were shed from the public education sector in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, while two months into the coronavirus-induced economic crisis of 2020, around 750,000 public school teachers and other school employees have been laid off, according to estimates by the American Federation of Teachers.
Record school layoffs to hit high-poverty areas hardest
Almost half a million US public school district personnel lost their jobs in April alone as a result of closures amid the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a Labor Department economist, even more than the nearly 300,000 total during the entire 2008 Great Recession. As the number of public school teachers hasn’t recovered from that shakeout, reaching near-2008 levels only in 2019, a Brookings Institution paper in April predicted that education layoffs “would come at the worst possible time for high-poverty schools, as even more students fall into poverty and need more from schools as their parents and guardians lose their own jobs.” Michael Griffith, a senior researcher at the Learning Policy Institute, says “we’re looking at record cuts in teaching positions.”
----- CHILD DEVELOPMENT ----
Financial crisis hit academic performances
There was a decline in new kindergartners’ academic skills, particularly in math, between 2010 and 2017, according to a new study published in the journal Educational Researcher, which links the fall to the impact of the 2007-2008 recession. The research, by academics at nonprofit assessment organization NWEA and Margaret Burchinal at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which is only descriptive and doesn’t answer why any of these trends occurred, also suggest changing demographics like the increase in children with non-English-speaking parents and the implementation of the Common Core standards as contributing factors. “It is likely that the timing of the Great Recession had some impact on children’s early home environments for some cohorts more than others,” the researchers agreed.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
State Superintendent urges counseling groups to strengthen student mental health support
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond has called on counseling groups to help meet the social, emotional and mental health needs of students across California. The Department of Education is pulling together a coalition of support groups to address the needs of students at every level. "For students who are homeless and have food insecurity. For students who we know are experiencing depression and sadness related to being in a shelter-in-place," Thurmond said. "And we know that when students return to campus they will have needs for additional support." The death of George Floyd and renewed conversations around police brutality may have also triggered some emotions for students and teachers alike—grief, anger, and fear.
-----SPORTS -----
CIF trying to develop plans for return to high school sports
Amid growing indications that the start of the high school sports season in California could be delayed until January because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Southern Section commissioner Rob Wigod said on Thursday that he believes a path forward will be ready to be announced by the end of this month. “We have one chance to get it right,” he said. The California Interscholastic Federation, which governs high school sports in the state, has been compiling information from school districts and private schools about when they plan to resume classes for 2020-21. After two months of discussions, the 10 section commissioners are scheduled to begin a three-day meeting on Tuesday. Coming up with viable contingency plans is a top priority. “We have all options on the table but have not made any decisions with respect with when and how sports will return,” said Ron Nocetti, executive director o f the CIF. “It’s premature to use the word ‘likelihood’ to any scenario as things change rapidly.”
----- SOCIAL & COMMUNITY -----
Calls for free school meals for all
With two more waivers allowing schools’ grab-and-go meal sites to operate set to expire at the end of this month unless the U.S. Department of Agriculture steps in, the School Nutrition Association has urged the USDA to extend 11 school meal waivers through the 2020-21 school year and provide all students with free meals. Even if schools serve meals in classrooms, the letter states, nutrition staff would have to revise menus and procedures and likely need additional equipment and supplies. In the letter, to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, the group wrote: “Schools are considering vastly different learning models for the upcoming school year and urgently need answers now to plan modified school meal service based on what will be permissible under USDA regulations.” Crystal FitzSimons, director of school and out-of-school time programs at the Food Research and Action Center, comments: "The area eligibility waiver, which allows for meal providers in communities where less than half of students meet family income cutoffs, is a huge one."
Leaders working to provide educators of color with increased supports
Black educators are facing multiple challenges as protests sweep the nation following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Compounded with the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black and Hispanic communities, many educators of color are balancing working from home while caring for their families, losing loved ones, and the trauma of navigating "systemic racism." Education leaders are doing all that they can and Chad Mazza, assistant superintendent at Somerville Public Schools in Massachusetts, says he’s trying to give teachers increased flexibility in their schedules and provide educators with professional development around social-emotional learning practices. Whitney Weathers, assistant principal at Manual High School in Denver, has made it a point to check in individually with all her black male educators and express her support.
----- INTERNATIONAL -----
School reopenings in Europe reduce virus concerns
Public schools in the United States preparing to reopen can take solace from their peers in Europe who haven’t seen significant increases in new coronavirus cases. After nations including Denmark, Austria and Germany began sending children back to classrooms in April and early May, with no major rises in infection rates, experts are cautiously optimistic that returning to school is relatively safe. In Norway, where schools began reopening on April 20, the spread of infection has continued on a downward trend despite cases being detected through increased testing. Eva Schernhammer, head of the Department of Epidemiology at the Medical University of Vienna, comments on the effects of reopening schools: “So far, so good.”
----- OTHER -----
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.
To All Members of the ABC Federation of Teachers,
National Teacher Associates (NTA) is committed in our efforts to helping educators through tough times. It’s what we do. After all…in our eyes you are the heart and soul of our communities.
Protecting you and your families has been our goal for over 45 years. Despite the current global pandemic, we are not about to slow down now. We know that many of you have had our programs for years and sometimes forget the intricacies of how they work. NTA wants to help facilitate any possible claims for now and in the future. Fortunately, all claims and reviews can be done by phone and on-line. I personally want to offer my services to guide you in the right direction with your NTA benefits.
We also apologize for not being able to finish the open enrollment for those of you who wanted to get our protection. We are still able to help by extending our enrollment window for the near future. Again, this can be done over the phone, email, or on-line.
Please contact Leann Blaisdell at any time either by phone or email.
562-822-5004
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