ABCFT - YOUnionews - August 28, 2020
MEET SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEES
On Monday, August 31st from 5:30 to 7:00 pm ABCFT membership is invited to meet ABCUSD School Board Trustees. This November there will be a school board election for four of the seven seats. Four is a significant number because it represents a board majority. When it comes to the school board voting to either support or defeat an issue four votes decide the fate of an issue.
Three of the current board trustees, Leticia Medoza, Sophia Tse, and Chris Apodaca are up for re-election. These three incumbents were recently endorsed by ABCFT Executive Board and Rep Council. Board Trustee, Maynard Law is retiring from the board so his seat is open. Brad Beach, a parent and active community member is running for this open trustee area. For an opportunity to hear directly from the school board members and potential members please join us.
Here is the link for the virtual school board trustee meeting.
The meeting ID: 814 4858 1133 and is Passcode: A91wRe.
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
The negotiating team is continuing to work on the myriad of issues related to our new virtual environment. A MOU that addresses elements of what a safe and successful return to school in a hybrid format will be next up on our longer term agenda. But let us pause for a moment and assess where we stand at the end of our first full week with students. We literally never stop negotiating from the time school got out in June. There were so many elements to consider and such a limited timeline to try and address so many moving pieces that it is worthwhile to step back and look at where we were then and where we are now.
We do not have any furlough days this year. Following the May revise, severe cuts to the proposed state budget made at least some furlough days seem inevitable. But instead we are working on a salary schedule that includes our 3% raise that began in January 2020.
The original proposal for furlough days included our two opening prep days in August. Given all that we are being asked to do in unfamiliar conditions it is almost unthinkable to imagine that we could have opened effectively if our first day of work was our first day with students. But in addition to preserving our two opening prep days we were able to bargain some of the one time funds made available by the state to provide three additional days of paid, optional, virtual professional development. These professional development days not only gave our members more opportunities for training but opportunities for additional compensation as well.
The demands of virtual instruction are both universal for all of our members and yet particular in how they impact each of us and how we deliver services to our students. So our negotiating team made it a priority that all members were paid an additional $500 for costs associated with virtual instruction. This is compensation without receipts required. It is yours to spend as you deem appropriate as a professional. It should not replace any budget you are used to accessing nor does it mean that you shouldn’t be able to ask your administrator for technology support as needed. But when you combine the three days of professional development compensation with this $500 it should mean that, even in an overall economic downturn, our members were able to earn the equivalent of at least a 1% off schedule payment.
All of our gains in negotiations were not limited to compensation. We listened to our members as well as our excellent health and benefits committee and were committed to maintaining our current strong benefits package without disruption or any significant changes.
Putting the health and safety of our members at the forefront of our decision making also informed our fighting for the flexibility for our members to teach either remotely or from their classrooms. Unlike some neighboring districts, which wanted to mandate where members would deliver services, we were able to give our members the choice that best suited the needs of them and their families. With so many question marks and so much change to deal with, it was important to ensure that our members could make this decision for themselves.
Reasonable instructional minutes was another key issue that we bargained for successfully. We pushed back against the “more is better” philosophy and promoted language that supported teacher autonomy and professionalism when defining what teaching in a virtual classroom would look like. We argued that effective teaching was about quality and engagement rather than the counting of minutes spent in front of a screen. We were also advocates for our students and their parents when we warned against the burnout and frustration that would accompany such unrealistic expectations.
The negotiating team realized that with all of the other things we had to worry about this year, evaluations shouldn’t be one of them. So the vast majority of our members will be able to breathe a little easier with a suspension of the evaluation process for the 2020-2021 school year.
We listened carefully to the input we received during our task forces, from your site representatives, and our YOUnion chats and heard loud and clear about the need for defined and protected time for teacher planning and collaboration. That is why our Wednesday schedule has 60 minutes set aside for teacher planning and 45 minutes for teacher collaboration. Staff meetings are built into the minutes of the duty day and expectations like Keenan videos can now be fulfilled during the time set aside for professional development.
While many districts have teachers working synchronously with their students five days a week, we were able to bargain for Wednesday to have an innovative schedule that would match the innovation needed to meet the additional demands of virtual instruction. We argued that our members needed that additional time to help their students adjust successfully to our new virtual delivery of services.
So in the midst of a pandemic and a recession we were able to maintain permanent jobs as well as our salary and benefits structure. We protected our prep days and even added more with increased compensation as part of the package. We were able to bargain for a $500 payment for every member. We allowed members the choice to work remotely or from their classrooms. We ensured that veteran teachers would not have to deal with an evaluation this year. We fought to keep instructional minutes reasonable and teacher planning time sacrosanct. One concrete result of this is our Wednesday schedule, having one entire day centered around professional development and teacher planning time rather than increased synchronous expectations.
Questions remain to be answered and policies to be clarified. Some solutions will be relatively straightforward. Others will require more creativity. I suggest that we rely on precedent when applicable. With attendance, for example, we shouldn’t allow technology and extension menus to make the process more difficult than it needs to be. Yes, virtual classrooms are different entities but if you expended only so much time and energy taking attendance last year with in person instruction it shouldn’t be a radically different expectation now that we are using a live synchronous delivery model.
Thanks again to the negotiating team, the ABCFT executive board, and all of the members who help contribute throughout the bargaining process. We want to keep hearing from you. Your energy and insights are what help keep us strong and informed at the table.
In Unity,
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:
Teacher Leaders Program Participant Guidelines
Teacher Leaders Program Application
Final Application due date Friday, September 11, 2020
MEMBER ONLY RESOURCES
For the sixth year, the AFT has partnered with the Delta Research and Educational Foundation and the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Inc. to provide informative, engaging and in-demand professional development opportunities centered on our shared belief that public schools should be places where children are prepared for college, careers and life. A series of virtual professional development sessions will examine critical spaces where educators can make a difference in the lives of children that will lead to their success and bright futures. Session participants are eligible to receive professional development units.
When the Bell Rings: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Sept. 1 at 6 p.m. EDT Presenter: Raechel Broussard, M.R. Null Middle School, Sheldon Independent School District, Houston
Register at www.cbcfinc.org/alc.
Igniting and Inviting Student Self-Direction and High Achievement in the Now Remote Learning Environment, Sept. 8 at 6 p.m. EDT Presenters: Bobb Darnell, president, Achievement Strategies; Rosalind LaRocque, associate director, AFT Educational Issues Department
Register at www.cbcfinc.org/alc.
Other helpful links from AFT:
Helpful Tutorials on Google Meet and Aeries by Bryan Jernigan CHS Teacher
To learn how to set up break out room for Google Meet click the video link below https://youtu.be/_P8gif1VkAc
I created an additional tutorial on adding Google meeting links and classroom url to Aeries. It is really simple. I will also make one for importing grades from Google to Aeries. The new Aeries update makes it so that you no longer have to type out your assignment dates and categories before you import them. I used it during the summer and learned that if you create the assignments in Aeries and on Google Classroom you will have duplicates of assignments. https://youtu.be/p6M6ccrBZM0
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. This weekly report aims to keep the membership informed about issues that impact their working/learning conditions and their mental well-being. Together we make the YOUnion.
Last night, I attended my first Virtual Back To School Night for my sophomore year daughter Emma and I have to say that I personally liked my experience for many reasons. One, I didn’t have to hurry from work, scramble for a parking place and then take the long walk to the classroom all the while hoping that I would be able to find my way around campus. Then I’d have to decipher Emma’s schedule and navigate the school map while frantically looking at the clock so I wouldn’t be tardy to any of the classes. Attending the Virtual Back to School was effortless and not stressful. The teachers were wonderful and they made parents feel comfortable with the strangeness but teachers were great at reassuring parents about how they would engage their students. Overall as a parent, I felt connected to the school and my daughters teachers and navigating getting into the classes was an excellent way to expose parents to the daily routine of their children and the modern tools our education system is using to fulfill our duty as educators.
Here’s my point. Teachers are rising to the challenge and doing it with a positive attitude. This first week in ABC was crazy but I’m happy to report that in most cases we had no major disasters anywhere in the district. Teachers in the Tuesday YOUnion chat had a lot of questions but the attitudes of most teachers is unbelievably resilient and hopeful. The collaboration among teachers and the support we are all giving each other is the key to our success. For example, I know that Bryan Jernigan, a CHS teachers was one of those who heard his colleagues struggling with how to create breakout sessions in Google Meets. Bryan has since produced three helpful teacher friendly tutorials on his YOUTUBE channel to help everyone set up breakout rooms and setting up meeting links with ARIES ( you can find his channel here). Another good example of banding together are the secondary PE teachers from across the school district. They have been meeting together the last couple of Wednesdays to share concerns, strategies, resources and are working with the District on developing a liability waiver for their protection. The ABCFT nurses also meet each week to develop safety protocols, share resources and to support each other to handle their increased workload. I could go on and on with examples. This is one of the reasons why we have a strong district teaching/nursing force in ABC.
If you feel like you are alone in your struggles or maybe you have resources to share or maybe you just want to feel connected. I encourage you to join the ABCFT Union Chats on Tuesdays and keep reading the latest YOUnionews for more information as the year progresses. I think Ruben said it best in his article this week that all your combined insights and energy keep the YOUnion fighting together for good working conditions and academic supports to give you the tools to be world class educators. Week one is in the books and you have a weekend to recharge. When this pandemic is over, ABCFT is going to throw you all a party to remember, that’s a promise to remember.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
ABCFT President
Reality feels like this right now...hehe
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
CFT President Jeff Freitas Statement on
Police Shooting of Jacob Blake and the Harassment of California Teacher Supporting Black Lives Matter at School
SACRAMENTO, CA - Today CFT issued the following statement from President Jeff Freitas:
“Educators and classified professionals will not be silent in the face of racism, brutality, and the murder of Black lives by the police who are supposed to protect them.
“We will not tolerate a justice system so unbalanced that the cops who murdered Breonna Taylor or paralyzed Jacob Blake still have not been arrested. We will actively work to defeat anti-Black racism because our country is better than what we, once again, witnessed this week, as a 17 year old white youth took to the streets and murdered those engaged in our most sacred right -- civil and peaceful protest.
“Here in California, one of our fellow educators who was working to create anti-racist curricula for the classroom had to flee her home under threat of death for her role in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Whether we teach math or social studies, educators and classified professionals need to be able to teach about racial and social justice without threats, harassment, bullying, or scare-tactics and have the support and protection of their administration.
“Today we mourn the loss of innocent life, and we support each and every school employee who continues to do the important work of teaching about racial and social justice while shouldering a heavy burden in the wake of these events.
“CFT unequivocally stands with educators and classified professionals who are fully dedicated to our students inside and outside the classroom. We call for systemic and sweeping changes to a criminal justice system that truly fulfills the promise of innocent until proven guilty -- regardless of the color of our skin. And we stand behind educators doing the critical work of teaching anti-racist curriculum in their classrooms because BLACK LIVES MATTER.”
The California Federation of Teachers represents 120,000 teachers, faculty, and school employees in public and private schools and colleges, from early childhood through higher education. It is the statewide affiliate of the AFT. More information at www.cft.org.
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
Date: Subject:
AFT Executive Council, State Federation Presidents, Affiliate Leaders and AFT Affiliate Legal Counsel
Randi Weingarten, AFT President
David J. Strom, General Counsel, AFT Legal Jessica Rutter, Assistant Director, AFT Legal
August 26, 2020
Update on AFT Reopening Litigation
AFT and AFT affiliates are on the frontlines fighting for the resources we need to have safe school reopenings. We are using every tool we have and creating new ones. Recently, AFT issued a memorandum discussing possible litigation strategies to complement other strategies and has since supported the efforts of affiliates around the country to utilize these strategies. This memo provides an update about current litigation brought by AFT and AFT affiliates in Florida, New Mexico, Illinois, and Texas in an effort to stop unsafe openings. The court documents in these cases are available here.
Major Victory for AFT and Florida Education Association: Court Grants Temporary Injunction Striking State’s Across the Board Reopening Order
More info down below -
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Educators Grapple With Feasibility Of Resuming In-person Classes
CBS News (8/24, Segers) reports that “the Trump administration is pushing for schools to reopen to in-person learning in the fall,” but “many are choosing to begin the year with virtual learning for the time being.” Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, said, “The lack of consistent leadership, the failure to tackle the curve, the stupidity in how some of these schools opened because they wanted to please Trump more than keeping people safe, has now led to a lot of people being very fearful — parents and teachers alike — even in places where you probably could’ve reopened and reopened safely.” According to the article, “although experts agree it would be better overall for children to return to in-person learning, the question is how, and whether doing so will put more people in danger.” In an op-ed for NBC News (8/24), Dr. Valda Crowder, an emergency medicine physician, writes that “as the rates of infection drop in cities around the U.S., it is possible for some schools to reopen safely.” However, “this will only be possible if intense cleaning, social distancing and testing protocols are carried out.”
Additional coverage was provided by Medium (8/24, Morris) and the Daily Beast (8/24).
Uncertainty Remains Over What Impact Students’ Return To Schools Will Have On Coronavirus Spread. The AP (8/24, Willingham, Pane) reports, “The world is settling into a new normal for everyday life amid the coronavirus pandemic: online school classes, intermittent Zoom outages, museums that will only allow about a quarter of their usual visitors.” Over “800,000 people worldwide have perished from the virus and more than 23.5 million have contracted it, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University – figures experts say understate the true toll due to limited testing, missed mild cases and other factors.” While “older people and those with underlying health conditions appear to be the most vulnerable,” uncertainty remains “about long-term effects and what impact millions of school children around the globe returning to classrooms might have on the virus’ spread.”
School Nurses On Front Lines As Schools Reopen. ABC News (8/24) reports, “As millions of students and teachers return to school amid the coronavirus pandemic, so too will tens of thousands of school nurses who suddenly find themselves on the COVID-19 front lines.” School nurses “this year will be executing schools’ coronavirus response plans, disseminating information to parents and staff and taking care of students with COVID-19 symptoms, on top of their usual duties.” Before the pandemic, “as many as a quarter of U.S. schools did not have a nurse on site, and fewer than 40% of schools employ a full-time nurse,” according to the National Association of School Nurses.
----- COVID NEWS -----
Some School Districts Have Withheld Information Regarding Coronavirus Cases They Have Had
The New York Times (8/22, Levin) reported a number of school districts throughout the nation have been transparent with regard to “coronavirus cases in their buildings. They send weekly – and in some cases, daily – reports to families and updating online dashboards with the latest positive test results and quarantine counts.” However, “[other] districts have been silent, sometimes citing privacy concerns to withhold information, to the dismay of some anxious parents, concerned educators and public health experts” attempting to battle the coronavirus outbreak. Harvard Global Health Institute Director Dr. Ashish Jha said, “If schools don’t notify, it actually can make disease control more difficult,” adding, “And it’s not like no one will know. Word will get out through a rumor mill. You don’t scare people by telling them what’s going on. You scare them by hiding information.”
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
USDA Won’t Extend Waiver For School Meal Requirements
Education Week’s (8/21, Blad) “Politics K-12” blog reported the USDA announced it will not “extend a key waiver from federal school meal requirements that has given schools and community groups more flexibility to feed students during unprecedented interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.” Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue “said in an Aug. 20 letter to federal lawmakers that his agency will require schools to transition back to the requirements of the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs. The agency has extended some separate waivers from those requirements through the 2020-21 school year, but the summer meal authority will lapse as the new school year begins.” Anti-hunger groups, education organizations, and lawmakers “had pressed the agency to allow school meal programs to continue operating under summer meal program rules” that presented “fewer restrictions on how schools can serve meals and who they can serve them to.”
Devos softens reopening schools rhetoric
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos appears to have softened on her previous insistence on schools reopening for in-person instruction. During a visit to Forsyth Central High School in suburban Atlanta on Tuesday, she said: “I think perhaps there’s been a little bit of a misunderstanding that going back to school meant 100% of the students had to be in-person 100% of the time. No, the expectation is that there’s 100% learning in a way that’s going to work for each family and each student, and importantly, in each community and each school.” Local superintendent Jeff Bearden used the opportunity to stress that in-person instruction is "especially important" for special education students, students learning English, or students from less affluent families: "We cannot serve those students as well virtually as we can face-to-face," he told DeVos.
ABC News Billings Gazette Atlanta Journal-Constitution
U.S. schools await next round of COVID relief funding
As negotiations in Congress over coronavirus relief remain adrift, federal statistics show that schools have almost run out of money to use from the last aid package, underscoring what looks like a very bleak future for school funding. Updated spending data from the federal government reveals that only 5% of the $30.6 billion allocated by the CARES Act to K-12 schools, and colleges and universities, remains unobligated. Despite tens of billions proposed by Democrats and Republicans to provide a fresh infusion of cash for K-12, none has been forthcoming to help offset major state and local budget cuts hitting schools now or looming in the future. And schools around the country started laying off teachers and others over the summer, a trend that many fear will accelerate in the coming months.
----- STATE NEWS -----
California OKs school return for kids with special needs
More California children with specialized needs, such as students with disabilities or those who are homeless, will be allowed back in classrooms even as most schools remain shut for in-person learning, under new state guidance released Tuesday. The limited return to school applies to students needing special care, such those with disabilities, English language learners, kids at risk of abuse or neglect or students who are homeless, and allows for learning groups of up to 14 students with two instructors. Any individual school can have up to 25% of the normal student capacity in the building at one time.
State moves to stop excessive punishment of black and disabled students
Three school districts in Barstow and Oroville discriminated against Black students and students with disabilities by excessively disciplining them, prompting the state to impose five-year corrective plans, California Atty. General Xavier Becerra said Tuesday. The California Department of Justice found that Barstow USD, Oroville City Elementary School District and Oroville Union High School District had a “systemic over-reliance on punitive, exclusionary discipline against Black students and students with disabilities,” and that the districts failed to respond adequately to complaints of harassment and discrimination, including in some cases the use of racial slurs. The department began its investigations in May 2019. It would not comment on the original source of complaints about the districts. The findings come about a year after California extended its ban on so-called willful defiance suspensions for disruptive behavior from Grades K-3 to Grades K-8, though students may still be suspended for more serious actions.
Los Angeles Times The Enterprise-Record
----- DISTRICTS -----
Los Alamitos lays off 300 classified workers
Los Alamitos USD is terminating 290 classified employees, with the board citing a lack of funds. Those laid off will receive 60 days of severance and benefits. According to Dr. Joe Fraser, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, the Los Alamitos "staffing needs with distance learning greatly differ from our staffing we need with students on campus."
Teacher says she was threatened over ‘I Can’t Breathe’ shirt
A teacher at El Camino Real Charter High School in Woodland Hills says she fears for her safety after receiving threats for wearing an “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt while instructing her online class last week, according to school officials. A parent took a screenshot of the teacher wearing the shirt and shared it online, school officials said, which created an uproar with some parents, pouring onto social media threads and forums online. The teacher’s decision to wear the shirt was an effort to apply teaching from a workshop she’d recently attended on how to create an anti-racist curriculum, and join in a movement called Black Lives Matter at Schools, according to David Hussey, executive director of the school. He said he supports the teacher’s actions.
Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Daily News
----- CLASSROOM -----
Mounting concerns amid new student discipline rules
Kalyn Belsha explores a "flood" of changes to school discipline rules at a time of already heightened stress for students, parents and teachers. While in Memphis, minor misbehaviors could land students in an online “supervised study,” she notes, in Jacksonville, Florida, students who don’t wear a mask repeatedly could be removed from school and made to learn online, while in some Texas districts intentionally coughing on someone can now be classified as assault. While such rules obviously reflect schools’ attempts to make learning during a pandemic safe and possible, Belsha argues, the increased attention to student misbehavior is raising concerns that students who were disproportionately removed from classrooms before the pandemic, including Black and Native students, will bear the brunt of these new consequences and undermine schools’ promises to provide students from hard-hit communities with extra social and emotional support. Liz King, who directs the education equity program at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, an umbrella organization of civil rights groups, comments: “We need to find better ways to support children and better ways to support families. That was always true, but the urgency now is just incomparable.”
US School Districts Revamp Curricula In Response To Black Lives Matter Movement
Reuters (8/21, Scheyder) reported the nationwide response to the Black Lives Matter movement has “jump-started demands for teaching materials and practices that help Black students better understand their history and place in the country.” Following a “summer of teacher workshops focused on updating curricula, millions of students will return to U.S. classrooms in coming weeks – virtually or in person – that focus more on Black history and experiences, according to interviews with teachers, officials, publishers and others.” The National School Boards Association said requests from school districts “for advice on crafting racially diverse educational material doubled this summer from the same period last year” NSBA Executive Director Anna Maria Chavez said, “They’re making sure teachers are teaching the right history in their classrooms.”
Teachers Discuss How The Coronavirus Has Changed Their Classrooms
The New York Times (8/27, Wise) asked educators about how the coronavirus is changing their classrooms. They responded with photographs showing shower curtains being used to separate students at a table and how one choir teacher spent $2,000 of his own money to make the classroom safe for him and his students. One high school science teacher said she added fans to her classroom “to increase ventilation, HEPA air purifiers in my classroom and plastic dividers.” A second grade special education teacher who is working remotely said she created a space in her home “that felt welcoming and included items from my classroom that would be familiar, to make a future transition back to the classroom easier.”
Disrupted Schooling Will Further Inequality For US Students
The Economist (8/28) reports the “continued disruption to schooling” in America will “probably spell permanent learning loss, disproportionately hurting poorer pupils.” Analysts at McKinsey “reckon that the typical American pupil would suffer 6.8 months of learning loss if in-person instruction does not resume until January 2021 (which looks plausible). This would fall heaviest on black pupils, who would regress by over ten months’-worth of instruction, and poor ones, who would fall behind by more than a year.” In addition, a team of education scholars “recently calculated that American schoolchildren in 2020 learned 30% less reading and 50% less maths than they would in a typical year.” Yet the actual scale of “the educational fallout will be unknown for years, because it manifests itself in future decisions like dropping out of high school or university.”
----- FINANCE -----
Ten benefits that might appear in a new COVID relief package
Although negotiations are currently on hold, Congress is expected to pass a new economic relief package in the near future, to alleviate the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. CNET looks at 10 key issues that could be addressed in the legislation, including extra funding to help schools reopen safely. Under the Democratic-backed Heroes Act, there would be $58bn for grades K-12 and $42bn for higher education, while the Republican’s HEALS Act calls for $70bn to go to K-12 schools that open for in-person classes, $29bn for higher education, $1bn to the Bureau of Indian Education and $5bn at states' discretion. The HEALS Act would also shield employers, schools and health care providers from coronavirus-related lawsuits.
----- LEGAL -----
Lori Loughlin sentenced to two months in prison
Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, were sentenced Friday to spend months in federal prison for participating in a fraudulent scheme to help their daughters get into the University of Southern California as phony crew team recruits. Loughlin was given a term of two months, and Giannulli five months, resolving one of the most closely watched cases in the college admissions bribery scandal that rocked higher education last year.
Federal Appeals Court Rules In Favor Of Virginia Transgender Student In Bathroom Case
The AP (8/26) reports in a 2-1 decision, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals “ruled Wednesday that a Virginia school board’s transgender bathroom ban is unconstitutional and discriminated against a transgender male student who was barred from using the boys bathrooms in his high school.” The AP calls the ruling a “victory for transgender rights advocates and Gavin Grimm, a former student at Gloucester High School who was required to use restrooms that corresponded with his biological sex – female – or private bathrooms.”
Politico (8/26, Stratford) reports the appeals court “previously backed Grimm in 2016. The Supreme Court was set to hear the case in 2017 but sent it back to the lower courts after the Trump administration, during President Donald Trump’s first months in office, revoked Obama-era guidance on the rights of transgender students.” US Circuit Court Judge Henry Floyd wrote in the majority opinion: “At the heart of this appeal is whether equal protection and Title IX can protect transgender students from school bathroom policies that prohibit them from affirming their gender. We join a growing consensus of courts in holding that the answer is resoundingly yes.”
The Washington Post (8/26, Davies) reports the Wednesday ruling “shows the ripple effects of the Supreme Court’s landmark victory for gay and transgender workers in June, which said a federal law forbidding discrimination protects people of all gender and sexual identities.” In addition, the decision “upheld a lower court’s ruling that discrimination against transgender people is subject to heightened judicial scrutiny, an important precedential holding for the 4th Circuit.”
Also reporting are the Wall Street Journal (8/26, Bravin, Subscription Publication), CNN (8/26, Schneider, Cole, CNN), and Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch (8/26, Times-Dispatch).
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
How to ensure schools are properly ventilated
With schools across the U.S. reopening, evidence continues to suggest that the coronavirus can circulate through the air in a closed indoor space. However, the risk can be lowered, according to Dennis Knight, a member of the epidemic task force of ASHRAE, the organization of heating, ventilation and air conditioning professionals. The group’s guidance on opening up buildings includes ensuring that their HVAC systems are up to code and correctly maintained; it also advises buying more efficient air filters, running systems for more hours in the day, including flushing cycles before or after people are inside, using portable units with HEPA filters or UV lights to sanitize air, and opening windows and doors.
Caution urged over reopening schools too quickly
Public health experts and educators are warning that the politicization of reopening schools – specifically reopening them in-person as quickly as possible – will "all but ensure" that the 50m children enrolled in the country's public school system will be back to remote learning for the 2020-21 academic year. During a school reopening panel hosted by U.S. News & World Report on Tuesday, Ashish Jha, director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said: "The bottom line is not whether you're pro-open school or against it, it's do you have a sustainable plan for keeping schools open. If your goal is to have in-person education for any extended period of time into the fall and winter, you need a whole strategy, and I have found it really stunning that all these political leaders who claim to be pro-open up the schools are actually behaving in ways that will make schools shut down." LaTonya Goffney, superintendent of Aldine ISD in Texas, agreed: "We want to go as fast as we can but as slow as we must."
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
Privacy concerns raised over remote learning
Concerns have been raised about the privacy implications of broadcasting lessons via remote learning, with every debate, teacher mistake and student outburst on display, and potentially recordable. Schools need to consider if and how they’ll store videos that capture kids’ voices and faces, said Linnette Attai, a student data privacy compliance consultant. “The critical piece for schools and districts is to really refresh the fundamentals of privacy,” she said. “Don’t just try something new because it’s new. Think really carefully.” They should take steps to secure access to the virtual classroom, so that only students can get inside, and set community norms and rules around not taking screenshots or recording the session on a separate device, she added. If public schools record these livestreams and keep the video files, they will also have to consider the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law that protects student privacy. Under the law, any records, including video recordings, that are directly related to an individual student generally can’t be shared without parental permission.
Shortage Of Laptops Complicates Pandemic Learning
USA Today (8/25, Graham) reports that there is a “laptop shortage, in which the essential tool for schools and offices got hit by a double whammy, the coronavirus and President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs on China. ... School districts feel the biggest brunt of the laptop shortage as their bulk orders get delayed.” Several manufacturers “told school districts they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops, according to The Associated Press.”
Zoom restores service to U.S. users
Many U.S. users were unable to log in to work meetings or attend school classes remotely using video-conferencing giant Zoom on Monday. Outage tracking website Downdetector.com showed almost 17,000 issues on Zoom, which has seen a huge surge in users amid the pandemic, earlier in the day. Grade schools, high schools and universities are relying on Zoom and competing technologies such as Microsoft Teams to learn remotely so as to reduce the chance of infection during the COVID-19 pandemic. "We have resolved the issue causing users to be unable to start and join Zoom Meetings and Webinars. Users are now also able to sign up for paid accounts, upgrade, and manage their service on the Zoom website. We are currently monitoring to ensure that these services are operational," Zoom asserted on its website.
Los Angeles Times Washington Post TechCrunch Reuters NBC News
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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
