ABCFT - YOUnionews - July 10, 2020
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
The latest news from the state budget process is promising. Following negotiations between the legislature and Governor Newsom, previous cuts have been restored with additional money coming from the rainy day fund and a large number of deferrals. While we have yet to receive the numbers indicating just what this will mean for ABCUSD we are not anticipating the need for any furlough days during the 2020-2021 school year.
A targeted retirement incentive was made available to TK-12 teachers in an email from Dr. Zietlow on June 29. The deadline for this incentive is July 31 and the form itself is contained in a link on the email. The entire process can be done electronically and no one needs to visit the district office or get a supervisor’s signature.
The district and the ABCFT task forces have presented their recommendations as to how to safely reopen schools. Much of this data formed the basis for the presentation during the board study session of July 7 but, unfortunately, all of our recommendations were not heard and the negotiating team will continue to work with the district to ensure that our concerns and priorities are addressed as we work to come up with feasible solutions for delivering instruction for the next school year. The health and safety of our members, their families, and our students remains our primary concern during any such discussion. Thank you to all of those who participated in these committees and who have continued to write in and join us for our rep council meetings. Your feedback and knowledge of what is truly needed in your classrooms, in person or otherwise, help keep us informed at the bargaining table.
Lastly, allow me to offer my own opinion, and my own opinion alone, of what it means to be “political” for a public educator right now. Our members form a diverse constituency. All of us should be free to identify with an ideology or a party that matches their values and vote their conscience. But we do not have the luxury of claiming an apolitical status. Our role is not to indoctrinate our students with our personal beliefs but recent headlines have shown all too clearly that our very bodies have been made political. When the Secretary of Education and the President announce that schools must reopen with a maximum of live instruction or risk federal funds being withheld, that is the definition of political. Congratulations, we all knew that we were essential but now our status as essential workers has been made explicit!
Our members are very well informed, we are educators after all. We read the articles, assess the data, and make informed judgments. And many of us are justifiably concerned about how we can realistically open schools with a majority of in person instruction by August 24. We also have legitimate ideas about just how much daily live synchronous instruction is appropriate for each developmental range we teach. We are also workers with our own school age children. We have family members who are in at-risk demographics or we are at-risk ourselves. The crucial role that public education plays for so many facets of our society has never been more clear and yet a disproportionate burden is being placed on us to somehow “make it work” during these most uncertain circumstances. We have been pushed to the forefront of a national debate which includes health, economics, childcare, equity, education, and so many other linked factors that all directly impact us and our families. And that makes our roles, whether we asked for it or not, political. How we choose to positively engage and advocate given this status will prove crucial in the coming months.
In Unity,
MEMBER BENEFITS By Tanya Golden
AFT Member Benefits - Trauma Coverage is another free benefit available for ABCFT members only. You now have access for up to twenty-one hours over a 3 month period of remote counseling to support your mental health needs as it relates to specific traumatic event(s). You will need your AFT member number to register.
Follow these 3 steps to get started on accessing these member-only benefits.
- You can find more information and qualifications for the trauma coverage by clicking this link for the trauma flier and clicking this link for the trauma FAQ.
TEACHER LEADERS PROGRAM By Tanya Golden
In collaboration with our national affiliate, AFT we are honored to offer the ABCFT Teacher Leaders Program for the 2020-21 school year. More now than ever, educators are needed to advocate for policy which affects the entire education family. Teacher Leaders will complete action research and along the process learn how to identify and self-select education policy to change or influence. The Teacher Leader program help educators find their inner voice and learn how to advocate for their students and colleagues. Now is the time to use your voice and become a part of the ABCFT Teacher Leaders community.
Below are the details regarding this national program as well as the online application process.
These attachments offer highlights of the program:
Application due date extended to Friday, August 14, 2020
MEMBER RESOURCES
A new website section for Training Videos has now been added. Members can now watch CFT trainings on their own time, on any device, in one click. This section will certainly grow and change over time, but it's off and running with these four recent trainings:
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.
Ruben’s column for this week really sums up the current situation we are dealing with concerning the opening of schools in six weeks. Yesterday, we held an ABCFT Representative Council meeting which is unusual in its own right but it was an important meeting. After last Tuesday’s board meeting there are as many questions as there were answers about the direction of ABC for the Fall or what safety measures will be implemented as we look at the possibility of opening schools with limited numbers of kids.
Two months ago there was a fairly strong desire by teachers to get back into the classrooms to engage their students. Educators across the country know this is the most effective way to deliver curriculum and to facilitate learning for most students. However, now that California cases of COVID are rising at an alarming rate teachers are becoming more and more nervous (that’s not a strong enough word). Let’s be honest, we are all scared shitless. The idea that teachers and students will be thrown into a situation teeming with danger is unthinkable for all of us. Here we are, finally in our much-needed Summer break and the specter of gloom lurks everywhere when we remember we have to go back in August. It’s unnerving for everyone.
The hardest part in this whole situation is not necessarily knowing what the opening of the school year will look like and the possibility of opening live with students while COVID cases are still rising. Not knowing just sucks and at times we feel like saying, “will someone just make a decision.” It is so hard to wait for the decisions to be made. However, ABC is not about rushing to a decision. We will balance the facts and make the right decision on what school will look like. My personal opinion is that as other states and districts go to online for the first trimester or semester it will put more pressure on Dr. Sieu to make a similar decision. The waiting for direction is tough but it is currently out of our control. Just know that Dr. Sieu will do whatever it takes to ensure your safety and if that means tons of PPE or her taking the heat from the community for going to dismissal she will do what is right. I know she has your best interests and safety in mind with all her decisions.
As I said before, the school board meeting this week was more confusing than anything but just know that it was an important part of the process of coming to consensus on what the hybrid will look like for the Fall. The details of the minutes and what instruction look like is not yet decided. Later this month, parents will be asked which program they would like to enroll their sons and daughters in for the Fall. In June, only 25% of all parents wanted online instruction but I can see this percentage increasing significantly over the next couple of weeks. Around the same time at the end of July teachers will also be asked what their preferences will be for the Fall. Once the enrollment is finalized and the list of teacher preferences (who gets priority is still being negotiated) is gathered, ABC can truly begin to prepare for the next academic school year on paper.
My thought is this about what is next. In the next couple of weeks, there will be negotiations but there won’t be any major decisions to be made until the last week of July. For that reason, I think it is important that everyone listen to the ABC School Board meeting on August 4th. During that same week, we will have a live ABCFT Chat on Thursday, August 6th followed by an ABCFT Rep. Council meeting. There will be many opportunities to be heard and to ask clarifying questions.
As you try to relax this Summer I ask that you remember this. We are a YOUnion, which means this union is about people and relationships. We watch out for each other. We listen to each other. We value each other and most importantly we will represent and fight for each other. We are a support network for each other so in those moments where you feel overwhelmed, just know that we will all be there for each other. Now is the time to lean on our support networks. Thank you for tuning in during your Summer. I am thankful for your engagement and your guiding questions along the way.
Take care and stay safe.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
@CFTunion Jul 10
Trump’s dangerous push to open schools without safety measures could cause a huge brain drain. His recklessness has caused people to not trust him on the virus. @rweingarten https://t.co/1rdXMj3f75
Tell us what you think: Is it time billionaires pay their fair share to fund our public schools? https://t.co/QjuRaDJa8n
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
Dear AFT Member,
I don't need to tell you how critical the next few months are for our members, our country and our children's futures. On top of today's horrible Espinoza decision that opens the doors to Betsy DeVos's voucher schemes (we sent you our response, which you can find attached), parents, students and educators all around the country are in flux, having no idea what back to school looks like this year. We have no clear guidance nor the necessary resources from the Federal government to help reopen schools safely. We have no commitment of aid that could prevent thousands of layoffs of teachers, nurses, EMTs and other essential public workers in our states, cities and towns.
This is why AFT launched the HEROES Campaign: Don't Forfeit Our Future, and it's why our members need this union more than ever. And we need your voice RIGHT NOW.
Today the Senate Dems put forward a whopping Coronavirus relief & recovery package with $430 billion for child care, K-12 schools and higher education.
The House passed the HEROES Act more than a month ago. HEROES would provide $1 trillion in aid to our states, cities and towns, including at least $100 billion for public education. But the Mitch McConnell refuses to call a vote on the bill. But TODAY - the Senate Democrats are putting forward a series of bills to help the nation continue to fight and recover from the economic, health and educational effects of the COVID-19 crisis. The Senate Republicans could do something to help, but they are sticking with their plan to go on vacation for two weeks.
Sens. Patty Murray (D-CO) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) put forward the a bill that would provide $345 billion for education, including:
- $175 billion for K-12 schools,
- $132 billion for higher education, and
- $33 billion in education aid that would be at the discretion of governors.
The Democratic package also offers:
- $875 billion for state and local relief;
- a $50 billion fund to help child care providers;
- $1.5 billion for programs aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect;
- $12 billion in new special education funding under the IDEA;
- $4 billion for the E-Rate Program to help bridge the “homework gap;”
- food security access for families and communities;
- resources for nursing homes keep residents and patients safe;
- safeguards for election security; and
- resources for small businesses and their employees, including unemployment insurance, that they need to stay afloat and resume operations through and after this crisis.
Basically, this is almost everything we have asked for. All of these things would provide immediate relief and comfort to American families hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and the economic collapse.
We already know that Republican leadership plans to kill these bills. They are in denial or simply spreading false information. Just a few hours ago, Rand Paul (R-KY) had the audacity to say that kids can't even transmit the virus. They simply won't put our families and our children on their priority list.
As Mitch McConnell leads the Senate out on vacation, our campaign is kicking into high gear. We've already driven more than 16,000 calls into key Senate offices, more than 7 million people have seen our digital ads and we have vacation-shaming actions planned in their districts next Monday. We need the American public to see who is fighting for us and who is on vacation. We need people to understand what's at stake and why they aren't getting the answers they need from their states or local school districts. We need to make sure that Mitch McConnell and the Republican Senators (particularly those up for re-election in 2020) feel the cost of their inaction - that the public understands that the Senate is hurting their local economies and jeopardizing their kids' health and future.
In Unity,
Randi
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
LA County Health Director: COVID spike jeopardizes school openings
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer has warned that the ongoing surge in coronavirus cases is placing the reopening of K-12 campuses at risk, and has urged all public and private schools to prepare for students to continue learning entirely from home. Nevertheless, she said she remains hopeful that campuses can reopen as anticipated and said administrators should continue to develop those plans. The county is planning to release more detailed guidelines for reopening campuses in days. They will include requiring all teachers and all students older than 2 to wear face coverings at virtually all times, and for schools to implement hybrid schedules, in which students would be on campus part time in small groups, while working the rest of the time at home, both online and offline.
CTA: Schools should not open until safety is assured
California’s largest teachers union has declared that “California cannot reopen schools unless they are safe,” and that a recent surge in COVID-19 infections “gives us pause around the state’s preparedness for safe in person school instruction in a short six to eight week time frame.” The California Teachers Association’s letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, legislative leaders, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond also said that, although teachers want to be back in class with their students, “we cannot ignore science facts and safety.” The CTA leaders said that California school districts have two options. One is to adopt what they called “a high risk in-person opening.” That, they said, would be risky even if it adopted a so-called “hybrid” approach, with students in school only part of the time, and the rest of the time at home, learning remotely. The preferred model, they suggested, would be “to start the new school year under robust distance learning protocols until the virus is contained in local communities and proper safety measures can be put into place.”
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
International students must take classes in person
The federal Student and Exchange Visitor Program has announced that the U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection will also not permit these students to enter the country. “Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status,” the announcement says. Sarah Spreitzer, director of government relations for the American Council on Education, laments: “This is just going to make things more complicated.”
Reopen schools or lose federal funds, Trump suggests
President Donald Trump on Wednesday suggested that he could withhold federal money if school districts don’t ensure that their students are back in class this fall. Separately, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be issuing new guidance next week “that will give all new tools to our schools” to keep students safe. Though the President can't unilaterally cut current federal support of schools, and the federal government provided only 8.3% of funding for public elementary and secondary schools in 2015-2016, the last year for which a detailed funding breakdown was available, pandemic relief funding and bailouts could be used as leverage. Only 1.5% of the $13bn CARES allocation for local school districts has been drawn to date. During a call with governors, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who had been more open to kids learning both online and during in-person classes earlier on in the lockdown now appears to be taking an increasingly firmer stance. “Education leaders need to examine real data and weigh risk … Risk is involved in everything we do, from learning to ride a bike to riding a rocket into space and everything in between,” she told state leaders. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar was quick to back her up: "We must reopen," he asserted. Meanwhile, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that a decision on reopening California schools this fall will be made by local education and health officials weighing the state of the COVID-19 pandemic, and emphasized that he won’t be swayed by statements from the President urging campuses to bring back students quickly.
Federal health officials sticking to school-opening guides Trump criticised
The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said Federal health officials will not revise their coronavirus guidelines for reopening schools despite criticism from President Donald Trump. “Our guidelines are our guidelines,” Dr. Robert Redfield declared, adding that additional information will be provided to help states, communities and parents decide what to do and when. In draft CDC documents obtained by The Associated Press, the agency says there are steps that schools can take to safely reopen but that it “cannot provide one-size-fits-all criteria for opening and closing schools or changing the way schools are run.” The documents say decisions about how to open and run schools safely “should be made based on local needs and conditions.” Many districts nationwide are offering parents a choice of whether to send their kids back to school in person or seek virtual instruction. But President Trump is pressuring state and local officials to reopen schools this fall, even threatening to withhold federal funds from those that keep teaching and learning remote. Trump on Wednesday criticized the CDC’s guidelines as “very tough and expensive” and said the agency was “asking schools to do very impractical things.”
USDA provides flexibilities to ensure kids receive meals this fall
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue has announced a range of nationwide flexibilities to ensure America’s children receive the nutritious food they need throughout the upcoming school year. The waivers create extra time for states, schools, and childcare providers to plan for how they will serve children in the fall, including allowing for new and innovative feeding options as the nation recovers from the coronavirus. Schools will be able to operate the School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program to best serve their students throughout the 2020-2021 school year. It also allows providers in the Child and Adult Care Food Program to tailor operations to serve the children in their care. They will be able to serve meals that do not meet normal meal pattern requirements when necessary to keep kids fed; offer meals outside of group settings and outside of standard times to facilitate grab-and-go and other alternate service options; and offer parent-guardian pick-up of meals for students participating in distance learning. “The flexibilities announced today give states, schools, and child care providers the certainty they need to operate the USDA child nutrition programs in ways that make sense given their local, on-the-ground situations and ensure America’s children can count on meal service throughout the school year,” Perdue said.
Secretary DeVos challenges educators to rethink education options for rural high school students
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has announced a challenge to advance high-quality technology instruction in rural communities. The Rural Tech Project, with a total cash prize pool of $600,000, invites high schools and local educational agencies (LEAs) to develop competency-based distance learning programs that enable students to master skills at their own pace with the goal of preparing them for the well-paying, in-demand jobs of today and tomorrow. Rural high schools and LEAs interested in entering the challenge should submit a proposal for a competency-based program by 5:59 p.m. ET on October 8th. Up to five finalists will each receive an equal share of the initial $500,000 prize pool and progress to Phase 2. From January to June 2021, finalists will develop detailed program plans and build partnerships before programs launch. During summer 2023, finalists will document their outcomes and learnings in a final submission; the judging panel will then recommend one grand-prize winner to receive an additional $100,000.
'All change' at the NEA
Lily Eskelsen GarcÃa, who will soon step down as president of the National Education Association (NEA), discusses her tenure, which has included tussling with an education secretary who has frequently clashed with teachers' unions, the recent wave of teacher activism, the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling against unions and the current global pandemic that has potentially changed how schools operate forever. The former Utah Teacher of the Year, who has frequently sparred with Betsy DeVos over the administration's school choice push and led the NEA through the aftermath of the 2018 Supreme Court forbidding of teachers' unions from collecting fees for collective bargaining from workers who decline to join the union, will today and tomorrow lead the annual Representative Assembly meeting, where delegates will hear from Joe Biden, approve the union's budget and elect a new president - which is widely expected to be current NEA Vice President Becky Pringle. In a candid interview, she reveals "great misgivings" about the role of law enforcement officers in school buildings and asserts: "My hope for the teaching profession is that people will recognize us for the creative, important, vital leaders of communities, and get out of our way and let us do our jobs in ways that bring teaching and learning to life."
Dems push major education and child care virus relief packages
Top Senate Democrats have introduced a major aid package for K-12 schools and child-care services, in what they say will help them reopen with appropriate health precautions. The $430 billion Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act includes $175bn in "stabilization funding" for K-12, in order to "help schools address learning loss, implement public health protocols, and provide quality education to all students—whether they open in-person, remotely, or a hybrid of both," $50bn for a Child Care Stabilization Fund "to ensure that child care providers can stay open, educators can continue getting paid, and working families get tuition relief," $33bn in a "governor's fund" for them to spend on early-childhood education, K-12, and higher education, and $12.9bn specifically for vulnerable populations of students, including those from low-income backgrounds, homeless students, English-language learners, and those in juvenile-justice facilities. In other news, the House has approved a large infrastructure bill that includes $130bn for school upgrades and repairs. Part of the Moving Forward Act, the K-12 infrastructure aid would include $100bn in direct federal spending and $30bnin bond-issuing authority. The proposals reflect many of the COVID-19-related policy recommendations ASBO International and other national education groups have been advocating for to support school recovery efforts in the aftermath of the pandemic
CDC issues guidance on K-12 coronavirus monitoring
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued guidance for K-12 school administrators regarding COVID-19 testing for students and staff when campuses reopen in the fall, advising that they should not be expected to directly administer the tests. The CDC said universal testing has not been “systematically studied” and experts don’t know if it would further reduce person-to-person transmission of the virus; it added that schools should still implement preventive measures like social distancing, wearing masks, hand washing and enhanced cleaning and disinfecting to prevent the spread of the virus. Schools are advised conduct symptom screenings, including taking temperatures and checking the symptoms of staff and students, and to set up isolation areas to separate those who show signs of carrying the virus.
----- STATE NEWS -----
A brief guide to California’s education budget deferrals
California’s Legislature recently passed a state budget that will let K-12 schools spend at the same level in 2020-21. However, the package includes deferrals, meaning that school and community college districts will have to put up $11bn they would normally get from the state in exchange for IOUs, which will be made good in in 2021-22. The first deferral began in June, when the state withheld $1.9bn as the last payment for 2019-20 and pays it back this month, the start of 2020-21. Starting in February, the state will make partial payments through June, pushing back repayment to 2021-22. Unlike most forms of debt, the state will be in arrears, but districts will borrow and bear the costs. The cheapest and easiest way is to borrow from districts’ own budget reserves. In a report in April, the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that in 2018-19 school districts held reserves equaling 17% of s pending and were in better shape than heading into the Great Recession. However, a year later, reserves in many districts are likely smaller. Some of the state’s largest districts, including Los Angeles, Sacramento City, Oakland and West Contra Costa, have been eating into savings for years, with reserves at or below 3%. Such districts will have to borrow short-term on the private market through Tax and Revenue Anticipation Notes, or TRANs.
----- DISTRICTS -----
More than 40 Bay Area school principals in quarantine after in-person meeting
More than 40 school principals in the South Bay are in quarantine after being exposed to COVID-19 during an in-person meeting two weeks ago. The exposure occurred at a gathering called by Santa Clara County USD; a pre-symptomatic individual at the school reopening planning meeting on June 19 tested positive for the coronavirus just a few days after school administrators congregated. Last week, the district superintendent confirmed the exposure during an online meeting with the school board, but says the district didn’t do anything wrong. “Given the complexities of our reopening, some of our staff meetings are taking place in person,” said Stella Kemp, SCCUSD superintendent. “Of course those meetings are being conducted under the strict guidelines provided to us by the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.” Santa Clara County is one of 19 on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s state watch list of regions that are struggling to contain the spread of the virus.
LA schools reopening: 20% of parents, 36% of staff are not ready for return
About 20% of Los Angeles USD parents said they are not ready to send their children back to a campus this fall, and more than a third of employees said they are against returning amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new district survey. Respondents said they want to know that facilities are being sanitized, that everyone will wear masks and that social distancing will be maintained if children are allowed back on school campuses. Additionally, they want to see more testing, protocols for people who may be infected with the virus, and contact tracing. Superintendent Austin Beutner said Monday that no decision has yet been made on whether campuses will reopen in the fall for in-person classes but that the district’s recent survey compounded by the ongoing spike in infections and hospitalizations has intensified concerns. An official with a South Los Angeles nonprofit said it’s no surprise that most parents favor a return to campus. “They’re really concerned about the fact that their children are not learning during this COVID crisis, and they need a lot of support in helping their children recover and remediate the time that they lost so far,” said Aurea Montes-Rodriguez, executive vice president of Community Coalition. Moreover, many parents are considered essential workers, she added.
Berkeley school district votes to rename two schools
Berkeley USD’s board has voted to rename the Jefferson and Washington elementary schools, both named after founding fathers who were slaveholders. “Place names convey a sense of location, identity and aspiration, but those names also exist in the context of our history - a history that we reaffirm when we maintain those names,” said Natasha Beery, director of the Berkeley Schools Excellence Program, at the meeting. The board also unanimously passed a resolution to move toward police-free schools. According to BUSD board member Julie Sinai, only Berkeley High School and Berkeley Technology Academy have a police presence, which consists of one police officer paid for by the city of Berkeley. The resolution passed by the board will begin a process to gather community input to move toward ending that presence.
Manhattan Beach considers staff layoffs
At a meeting on Wednesday night, the Manhattan Beach USD board of trustees will look at laying off staff and reducing hours for others, effective September 10. Positions potentially facing a reduction of hours or elimination include administrative support at Mira Costa High School, athletic trainer, choral music accompanist, clerical assistant, Extended Day Program teacher, Preschool teacher, Extended Day Program site lead, Preschool site lead, and human resources technician. The board will also review the draft of a COVID-19 Mitigation Plan, regarding the coronavirus, distance learning and on-campus learning for the fall.
----- CLASSROOM ---
Poll reveals parental satisfaction with remote learning
The parents of nearly three-quarters of students in a recent poll believe their children learned less during remote instruction than they would have if they'd been in school for face-to-face lessons, according to a new Education Next survey conducted in mid-May. However, 72% said they were satisfied with the activities and instruction that their children's schools provided during COVID-19's prolonged disruption of schooling. The poll also showed a disconnect between teachers' and parents' perception of remote learning. Teachers took a dimmer view of the kind of learning that was taking place during the shutdown. While parents of 71% of the students said their children learned less, 87% of teachers thought the same. While parents of 72% of the students said that their children had "required assignments multiple times a week," just a little more than half of teachers said that they assigned work that regularly.
----- FINANCE -----
Schools need federal funding to reopen safely
As US school districts battle to reopen this fall, Elizabeth Chuck examines how many are finding themselves in an "impossible situation" without federal funding for the new health and safety protocols they need to meet the raft of new restrictions amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. With schools primarily funded through tax revenues which have suffered terribly since the virus wrecked the economy, Elleka Yost, the government affairs and communications manager with the Association of School Business Officials International, asserts that school districts are trimming costs everywhere they can but warns that this may still not be enough. "The challenges that stand before schools are just Herculean. School districts have dealt with economic crises before, but they have not dealt with an economic crisis on top of a global health pandemic at the same time," she says. Amy Spies, a teacher at R.J. Longstreet Elementary School in Daytona Beach in Florida, where schools are slated to reopen at full capacity as per Gov. Ron DeSantis' recommendations, says her district is already facing a $14 million budget deficit. "With the safeguards they are attempting to have in place, I just don't know where they're going to get the money, or even the manpower, to ensure it's all happening," she laments.
----- LEGAL -----
SCOTUS declines education salary history case review
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined a review of a lower-court ruling that invalidated a California county education agency's policy of considering new employees' pay history in setting their salaries. The case was brought by Aileen Rizo, a former mathematics teacher who was hired in 2009 by the Fresno County Office of Education, who had complained that several male colleagues and one female colleague were being paid more than her based on their own salary histories. Separately, the justices ordered a lower court to re-examine a case about state bus transportation for private school students in light of this week's decision that a state may not exclude religious schools when it subsidizes private education.
Supreme Court rules job discrimination laws don’t protect church-school teachers
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that federal employment discrimination laws do not apply to teachers at church-run schools whose duties include religious instruction. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the majority, said the First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom forbids judges from interfering in the internal workings of religious institutions. “When a school with a religious mission entrusts a teacher with the responsibility of educating and forming students in the faith,” he wrote, “judicial intervention into disputes between the school and the teacher threatens the school’s independence in a way that the First Amendment does not allow.” In dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, said the majority’s “simplistic approach has no basis in law.” The 7-2 ruling could affect more than 100,000 teachers at Catholic elementary and secondary schools and many other employees of religious groups. The cases — Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, No. 19-267, and St. James School v. Darryl Biel, No. 19-348 — were brought by elementary schoolteachers in Catholic schools in California who sued their employers for job discrimination. Sunu P. Chandy, the legal director of the National Women's Law Center, said the decision gives a "blank check" to religious employers to discriminate. "This is a very unhelpful and dangerous decision for workers' civil rights protections," said Chandy, who co-wrote a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the teachers that was also signed by numerous other groups including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Why the AAP is pushing to reopen schools this fall
New guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics, published this week, encourage schools to reopen this fall, arguing that there are major health, social and education risks to keeping children at home. Dr. Sean O’Leary, a pediatrics infectious disease specialist at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus who helped write the academy’s guidelines, speaks to the New York Times about the reasoning behind the advice. He says that the data suggest that children are both less likely to catch the infection, and less likely to spread it, than initially thought. He also says that “the downsides of having kids at home versus in school are outweighed by the small incremental gain you would get from having kids six feet apart” in the classroom, particularly when mitigation measures such as mask wearing and frequent hand washing are employed.
Coronavirus-linked condition hits U.S. children
At least 285 US children have developed a serious inflammatory condition linked to the coronavirus. Papers published online in the New England Journal of Medicine provide the fullest report yet on the condition, which has killed six children. Most affected children had no other health condition but about 30% were obese. The condition also appears to disproportionately affect Latino and Black children and boys. The average age of those affected was eight.
Research supports federal nutrition policy
A group of academic researchers have found that the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 strengthened nutrition standards for meals and beverages provided through the National School Lunch, Breakfast, and Smart Snacks Programs. They found no significant association between the legislation and childhood obesity trends overall, but for children in poverty the risk of obesity declined substantially each year after the act’s implementation - equating to a 47% reduction in obesity prevalence in 2018 from what would have been expected without the legislation. The academics agree that the results support the continuation of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act’s science-based nutritional standards - especially among children living in poverty.
----- SOCIAL & COMMUNITY -----
Educators support Black Lives Matter, but still want police in schools, survey shows
An EdWeek Research Center survey of 1,150 teachers, principals and district leaders, carried out on June 17-18, found that while most educators support the Black Lives Matter movement, they oppose measures to remove armed police officers from schools, and overwhelmingly believe school police officers in their own districts treat students of color fairly despite nationwide statistics to the contrary. The perception that armed officers belong in local schools is significantly more common among high school teachers and principals (67 percent) than among those who work in elementary schools (51%). It’s also more prevalent among teachers, principals, and district leaders in large districts with 10,000 or more students (69%) than in smaller districts with less than 2,500 students (41%). Support for the presence of armed officers in local schools is significantly higher in the South, where 71% of teachers, principals, and district leaders say it’s necessary, compared with other regions in the country, which hover around 50%.
An ideal time to address racism in schools
In an op-ed for The Hill Manos Antoninis, director of the Global Education Monitoring Report at UNESCO, says that the killing of George Floyd has shone the spotlight even brighter on “the racial inequality and segregation embedded in America’s education system.” He cites the new 2020 Global Education Monitoring Report, which found that only a little over half of teachers in the U.S. adapt their teaching to the cultural diversity of students, resulting in some marginalized students being siphoned off into slower school tracks or dropping out. He also notes that teachers with minority backgrounds are underrepresented relative to the student population.
----- HIGHER EDUCATION -----
USC reverses fall reopening plans
The University of Southern California will no longer resume in-person instruction for the fall semester and instead will move to mostly online classes. The decision, announced by Provost Charles Zukoski, follows Gov. Gavin Newsom’s introduction of new restrictions on indoor activities. Only 10% to 20% of courses during the fall semester will be conducted in person and on campus. These courses include certain labs, studios and performance classes, and research studies that require hands-on work.
----- INTERNATIONAL -----
How schools across the globe are reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic
As school districts across the U.S. make plans to safely reopen their campuses amid the coronavirus pandemic, schools that have opened in other countries provide insights into what may lie ahead. Precautions taken overseas include regular temperature checks, physical distancing, hybrid schedules and even new restrictions on eating lunch. At most public schools in Hong Kong, students must apply hand sanitizer that is between 70% and 80% alcohol. They are also required to stay three feet apart from one another. Students sit in single rows, with nobody seated side by side. Facilities that are shared, such as computer rooms and libraries, can only be accessed by a small batch of students at a time. Cafeteria service has mostly been suspended, with students bringing their own lunches. Computers used by students are disinfected twice a day. Protocols at schools in some countries in Europe, including the Netherlands, are less strict in some regards, with no requirements for students or teachers to wear masks, although they are kept in “bubbles,” and are not allowed to mingle with students in other classes.
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
