ABCFT - YOUnionews - August 21, 2020
KEEPING YOU INFORMED
ABCFT reached out to the ABCUSD Academic Services Department this week to encourage them to create a Q&A document that would give clarity some of the most asked teacher questions. We hope that this document would give teachers and principals universal understandings and definitions of the most critical parts of our virtual learning rollout in ABC. We welcome this information from Academic Services but ABCFT will also advocate for additional language and support for breakout rooms, recordings, liability questions for PE teachers, and other issues that will surface over the next couple of weeks. ABCFT will continue to work with members and administrators to provide you clear guidelines and answers to critical issues as they occur.
(Provided by) Academic Services
#Let’s Connect Virtual Learning Summer Institute
Q&A on Top 7 Questions Asked
Thank you for your participation in the #Let's Connect Virtual Learning Summer Institute. Listed below are answers to the Top 7 questions from teachers who attended the training.
Are teachers required to record their lessons?
Teachers are not required to record lessons. Further discussions between HR and ABCFT Negotiation teams will address this item.
Teachers interested in recording lessons may do so using Screencastify, which will allow teachers to edit students from the recording by cropping the screen.
There are a list of benefits to using Screencastify
Screencastify allows teachers to pre-record their lessons.
It provides student access to a recorded lesson they can review. This is a great resource for students when learning difficult concepts and for students who need additional support.
RSP teachers can use this resource when providing support for students in RSP.
Students who are absent from school, don’t have to miss-out on learning.
Its is a great option for a substitute teacher
Are teachers required to use ‘breakout’ rooms?
Teachers are not required to use breakout rooms. However, technology exists that allows teachers to safely incorporate breakout rooms in their virtual classrooms.
Google Meet relies on 3rd party extensions to provide breakout room control (Google Meet Breakout Rooms, Google Meet Attendee and Breakout rooms), and teachers can manually facilitate breakout rooms without an extension. Training for each option is available from the IT Department. Google has new enhancements slated for October 2020 which will include native integrated breakout room technology, similarly to Zoom.
Will the district provide Zoom licenses?
ABC’s primary instructional platform for video conferencing is Google Meet. In October 2020, Google is expected to release upgrades to be more competitive with Zoom. Professional learning on these new features will be offered on the Wednesday Professional Work Day.
Zoom may be used in the instructional setting for niche and special cases where Google isn’t currently meeting teacher’s instructional needs. Schools may purchase Zoom licenses and their site budget will be charged.
The District has purchased Zoom Meeting Licenses for every school. These licences can be used to host one, 300 person large meeting. Principals should contact Dr. Sprigg’s office for access to a license to host a meeting with 500 attendees. Within the coming days each ABC school will be upgraded to having an additional 1000 attendee large meeting license.
Why do we have to provide ‘live’ instruction?
It’s the law. Education Code Section 43503 requires that distance learning include “daily live interaction.” Daily live interaction is two-way communication between a certificated employee and student each instructional day, at the actual time of occurrence. Daily live interaction is required for every student with both a certificated employee and their student peers. In particular English learners, and students with special needs benefit from daily oral language development opportunities.
The intent of the law is ‘active’ instruction that mirrors a traditional classroom learning experience.
GoGuardian is a classroom management software that allows teachers to monitor what students are doing on their devices. Monitoring students is not in lieu of ‘live instruction.’ Monitoring instruction, similar to a traditional classroom setting, is appropriate during testing and when students are engaged in independent work following direct instruction.
Why did the District provide a recommended lesson design?
SB98 stipulates that distance learning must include content aligned to grade level standards that is provided at a level of quality and intellectual challenge substantially equivalent to in-person instruction.
The lesson design helps you meet the requirement of the law, “provide instruction equivalent to in-person instruction.”
The lesson design for elementary and secondary includes the following components: a greeting, a lesson opener, direct, standards-aligned instruction, structured guided practice, check for understanding, independent practice, and closure.
Teachers have a broad range of strategies to interact with students and support instruction in each of the components.
Should teachers meet one-on-one with students during the secondary support block?
During the Virtual Academy, teachers who meet with students one-on-one should require a parent/guardian present during the meeting.
Teachers can work with a subject matter/department partner to host the support block together to ensure that teachers are not alone with students; therefore, two teachers would be available to support all of their students.
Teachers can be available via Google Meet and/or via email
Teachers can have students sign-up in advance and inform students that there must be at least two students in the meeting. If there are not at least two students for the support block, the teacher will provide the support via email communication with the student.
What are the requirements for supporting English learners and students with disabilities?
Ed.Code 43503 law requires the following:
Academic and other supports designed to address the needs of students who are not performing at grade level, or need support in other areas, such as English learners, pupils with exceptional needs, pupils in foster care or experiencing homelessness, and pupils requiring mental health supports
Special education, related services, and any other services required by a pupil’s individualized education
Designated and integrated instruction in English language development
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 BENEFITS - Open Enrollment Options
Years ago ABCFT began working with the National Teachers Associates Life Insurance Company as part of a collaborative way to provide alternative choices for members when they consider their insurance options. 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.
Virtual Open Enrollment
Click the link below to enter the raffle for a 32” flat screen TV, $50 Amazon gift card, $25 Starbucks gift card, $25 target gift card and to receive more information.
Because of these uncertain times NTA has made important changes to help personalize your coverage: including a higher monthly benefit amount to better match your salary, flexible elimination periods to work with your existing sick time and money back for wellness screenings. In addition, we have a new hospital plan that is designed to work with your disability to give you more comprehensive coverage.
We will be contacting all teacher currently enrolled to review their current benefits.
For those of you who do not have the NTA disability coverage, now is the time to get a personalized quote and more information.
Join me Sept 16th, 4pm live on Instagram to watch the winners be announced!
@Leann_Blaisdell
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.
Congratulations to all of you who survived this weeks Professional Learning Overload! Here’s something most of you didn’t know, the fact that at one point we were negotiating with the district and they proposed five professional learning days in a row…..thinking back on that I’m so glad we didn’t agree to do that many days. That would of been insanity. This weeks’ training was great for getting back into the mindset of preparing for classrooms and the coming changes for this school year. There were lots of questions but also some good sharing of best practices and techniques on how to make the virtual classroom effective and as structured as possible. The trainings were exhausting but well worth the time. It was great to see everyone again and it didn’t hurt that we were all getting paid for attending.
I guess what is most important here is to not panic. If you have questions now is the time to reach out to colleagues, your site/department ABCFT Rep and your administrators. Most likely the answers are “in the room” and for those situations that are beyond the site your principals are often the best advocates. In a sense this school year will be like every other start of the school year and during your first week you may experience situations that will need solutions and support structures. That is normal. What is abnormal is that as educators we are all working in new situations in a new virtual environment.
The boundaries of how we deliver instruction have been shattered. In the Spring, we all felt the seriousness of this educational crisis but after listening to teachers over the three days of professional development, you can see determination. Teachers are resilient and so are our students. I get the overall impression that most teachers and nurses have shifted their mindset. As a parent of a teenager, I get the impression that our students have also shifted their mindset also.
ABCFT will be there week after week to support you this year. Myself and the entire ABCFT leadership team is working daily to make sure that your focus and energy is centered on the main thing, your students. With your guiding voices we were able to navigate through the Spring and the Summer and I know that you will continue to provide the guidance and support for your students in much the same way. I know this year will be a challenge like no other year we have experienced, but no other group of professionals would take this journey so seriously. I am proud to work side by side with all of you.
Have a great start of the school year. Take it day by day and week by week and we will get their together.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
It’s time to raise revenue by taxing those who can afford it: California's billionaires
CFT has long argued that in order to fully fund our schools and communities and give them the tools to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, our state needs to raise revenue in three ways.
The first is by passing Prop 15, also known as Schools and Communities First. The second is that the federal government must step up and provide relief and stimulus funds to state and local governments. And the third is that we must adjust our tax system to account for the ultra millionaires and billionaires who live in California, many of whom have actually made huge sums of money during the pandemic.
At a time when millions of Californians are filing for unemployment, the ultra wealthy have been increasing their net worth. In fact, if you took three of the top billionaires that live in our state and combined how much they increased their net worth - not their total worth, just how much it’s increased - you would have more money than the entire Prop 98 public education funding guarantee in this year’s state budget. California must fix our tax system, so that the ultra wealthy contribute enough to help those who desperately need it the most. We have until the end of August to debate ideas at the legislative level, and two such bills are currently gaining traction.
The first opportunity to bring more fairness to our tax code is AB 1953, which was introduced by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago of Los Angeles. This bill would increase personal income taxes on people with an annual income over $1 million dollars. It would only affect the top 0.5% of tax filers and would return around $6.8 billion in revenue to California annually.
The second opportunity is AB 1977, introduced by Assemblymember Rob Bonta of Alameda. This bill is not an income tax, but rather a wealth tax, imposing an annual tax of 0.4% on individuals with a net worth in excess of $30 million dollars. Estimates show that this tax would affect about 30,000 CA families, or the top top 0.15%, and it would raise about $7.5 billion per year. The wealth tax would help with the current fiscal crisis, reduce the inequitable wealth concentration in our state, and improve funding for our schools and essential programs.
There will be opportunities for CFT members to voice support on these bills, and potentially any other revenue-generating bills that are introduced before the end of August, so stay tuned for more information.
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-----
Teachers Unions Nationwide Pushing Back Against In-Person Instruction
CNN (8/20, Levenson, Grayer) reports, “Across the country, in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Florida and Michigan, teachers have united to voice their concerns with reopening plans – and in some cases filed lawsuits or taken steps to go on strike.” In many districts, teachers are “being forced to make agonizing choices between doing what they love and earning a paycheck, or running the risk of being exposed to the virus by students and other school staff. And so far, their unions have been among the most important voices pushing back against reopening.” Teachers unions in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit have all come out against plans to open schools for any in-person instruction. Meanwhile, the Florida Education Association “filed a lawsuit last month seeking to overturn the state’s emergency order to open schools for in-person instruction.”
CBS News (8/20) adds upset teachers have “stuck to their vehicles while protesting plans by some U.S. governors to resume in-class instruction during the coronavirus. The horn-honking by educators in cities including Chicago, Milwaukee and Philadelphia came amid demands that instruction be offered online until tests show that classrooms are safe and districts hire more nurses.” In Arizona’s J.O. Combs Unified School District, classes were canceled for three days this week “after a number of teachers made it clear they wouldn’t be showing up.”
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Child COVID-19 cases, school outbreaks spike in run-up to fall
Over the past week school districts in Georgia and Indiana have been forced to quarantine more than 1,000 students, following a series of coronavirus outbreaks. A new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association suggests this may be a harbinger of things to come across the U.S., as schools begin to reopen amid high community infection levels of the virus. The study found that of the more than 380,000 total COVID-19 cases reported so far among children, nearly 180,000 have been reported from July 9-August 9, a 90% jump within a month, representing an infection rate of 501 for every 100,000 children. The AAP found that even as the percentage of child coronavirus cases rose from spring to summer, the percentage of child COVID-19 cases that led to death fell, from 0.6% in May to 0.2% in August. Only 1.6% of all child coronavirus cases required hospitalization.
Trump's school funding pitch favors in-person learning
President Donald Trump on Wednesday outlined a potential funding model which favors schools that reopen from the coronavirus crisis for in-person instruction and suggested that, for schools that don't reopen in-person, federal dollars "should follow students so parents can send their child to the private, charter, religious or home school of their choice." As the education community continues to pressure legislators to agree a new round of federal support to K-12 schools amid the pandemic, the president's latest pitch included $70 billion for schools, $35 billion of which would be reserved for those that reopen in-person. "I think the money should follow the student. That's something we want to do and we're having a hard time with the Democrats," he said. In response to President Trump signing a raft of executive orders over the weekend, Noelle Ellerson Ng, associate executive director of advocacy and government at AASA, The School Superintendents Association, comments: "The use of executive orders exacerbates and complicates this political divide and does nothing to drive relief in a manner that helps schools."
US News and World Report US News and World Report
White House declares teachers are critical infrastructure workers
U.S. teachers have been added to an advisory list of essential workers as they face pressure from the White House to return to classrooms, even as their unions challenge decisions to return to in-person instruction amid the COVID-19 pandemic. A memo from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security also said that classroom aides and superintendents have been added to a list of critical essential workers that includes doctors, nurses and IT workers. The list is advisory and “is not, nor should it be considered, a federal directive or standard,” the memo added. President Donald Trump has spent the summer pushing hard for schools across the nation to start the academic year with in-person learning, even as cases of the novel coronavirus have surged in some of the country’s most-populous areas, prompting districts to start fall classes online or offer at least some classes virtually. Educators in Florida and Iowa have filed lawsuits challenging plans to reopen schools in those states, while educators across the country have held protests and threatened to strike if they are forced to go back into classrooms this autumn.
Reuters NBC Philadelphia Fox 13 Memphis
----- STATE NEWS -----
Millions of students, and teachers, prepare for new era of distance learning
California schools are participating in a giant experiment never attempted in the state, with nearly six million public school students to be taking all their classes online. So far, half of the state’s 30 largest districts have started the school year in learning distance mode, and the rest will do so in the next two weeks. California’s decision to open most of its schools for only distance learning now seems prescient in light of new reports showing a startling increase in the number of coronavirus infections among children and teenagers, as well as the quarantining of thousands of students and staff within days of children returning to school in Georgia and other states. To get up to speed, teachers have turned in large numbers to online webinars and courses, such as the two day online teaching academy organized by San Jose State University’s Connie L. Lurie College of Education. Nearly 2,000 teachers signed up for one or more of the 23 sessions on topics such as “rethinking assessment for the Google generation,” and “leveraging YouTube for distance learning.” Compared to when schools closed abruptly in March, teachers are now much better prepared, said Taft Union High School District superintendent Blanca Cavazos. “What we did under crisis teaching in the spring and what we’re going to do with distance learning now is very different,” said Cavazos, whose district opened for instruction on Thursday.
California criticizes 'inaccurate and outdated beliefs' of parents suing to reopen schools
In response to a lawsuit filed last month by more than a dozen parents looking to have the state’s schools reopened amid the pandemic, California argued that they are depending on incorrect beliefs early in the pandemic that COVID-19 had a “minimal effect on children of any age.” Describing their stance as “inaccurate and outdated,” the state’s opposition brief argued that the scientific consensus is that children are “susceptible to the disease” and could “experience uniquely severe complications.” It also noted that children may transmit the virus in communities in the same manner as adults. The parents’ lawsuit alleges that the state shutdown of schools within certain counties violates their children’s constitutional rights to an education; it states that California officials did not deny that virtual learning in the spring was "an unmitigated disaster that deprived millions of California students of an adequate education," and that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order for schools in areas on the state’s coronavirus watchlist falls hardest on students without access to needed technology and students with learning disabilities.
The Hill NBC Bay Area
UC Berkeley study finds some schools may be able to safely reopen in fall
While most schools will begin online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a recent UC Berkeley-led study found that it may be possible to reopen some Bay Area schools this fall. The study, published August 7, examined the effects of school closures using surveys and models to predict the potential impacts of schools reopening in the fall. While middle and high schools would pose too dangerous a risk, the study found that it may be possible to reopen elementary schools provided they enforce social distancing measures. The study’s model predicts that opening Bay Area high schools at the current level of community transmission could result in an additional 44% of teachers being infected. This level is similar to what has been seen in other countries afflicted with COVID-19, and lead study author Jennifer Head said this estimate is a “warning sign” for what could happen if the issue of reopening schools is not taken seriously. “We hope that these findings might motivate decisions to really make an effort and lower community transmission,” Head said. “This might be seen by perhaps not opening nonessential services for adults and instead choosing to prioritize opening schools.”
Why some California classrooms are reopening for child care
Some California students may find themselves in child care this fall in the very same classrooms they are barred from entering for in-person instruction. In an effort to meet the needs of working families, school districts in coronavirus hot spots across California are reopening classrooms as child care sites. However, the contradictory rules for child care and in-person instruction has some parents questioning how one is safer than the other. Schools in counties with high numbers of new coronavirus cases or hospitalizations cannot open for in-person classes until the counties have been off the state monitoring list for two weeks. Child care programs, on the other hand, can open across the state, even in coronavirus hot spots, as long as they meet health and safety guidelines. “Why is a gathering of kids and an adult in a room acceptable if we call it ‘child care,’ and not acceptable if that adult is a teacher, and we call it ‘class?’” asked Todd Madison, a parent and school board candidate in Oceanside Unified in San Diego County. The district has said it will give priority for child care to the children of first responders and health care workers and will enroll other students if there is enough space.
----- DISTRICTS -----
Oakland schools and teachers reach distance learning agreement
Oakland USD and the Oakland Education Association have reached a tentative agreement over what distance learning would look like during the pandemic. School officials said both sides say the deal would prioritize teacher flexibility as well as "a quality learning experience for students with consistent live interaction with their teachers and other OEA members," based on a memorandum of understanding regarding distance learning. The teacher's union had asked for flexibility during negotiations, while the district had proposed more time for teachers to do live instruction. “While we do not always agree on the details, both OEA and OUSD are passionate about serving Oakland’s students and families,” they said in a joint statement released Wednesday. Aside from the statement both OUSD and OEA did not release any further details about the agreement and what it will mean for students. The teachers were presented with the terms of the deal Wednesday night and still have to vote to accept it.
San Jose teachers given option of working from home
San Jose USD teachers will have the option of working from home this school year, in a last-minute decision before the return of students to campuses. The district’s reversal comes just two weeks after it and the San Jose Teachers Association reached an agreement requiring the majority of teachers to return to campus to deliver their virtual lessons. The deal was negotiated by the union’s governing board without a full vote from all teachers represented. Under the new agreement, all teachers are eligible to work from home so long as they submit a form to the district registering their decision beforehand. Teachers can go to campus to retrieve materials, but once they make a decision to work from home they won’t be allowed to change their minds and return. Any district employee who opts to work from home and fails to fulfill their job responsibilities will face disciplinary consequences, such as a dock in pay.
----- CLASSROOM -----
Homeschooling ‘exploding’ amid pandemic
Homeschooling applications are surging nationwide amid the coronavirus pandemic. In Vermont they're up 75%, while in North Carolina a rush of parents filing homeschool notices overwhelmed a government website last month. Outschool CEO Amir Nathoo says the demand for classes has been particularly strong in states that moved aggressively to reopen, including Texas, Florida, Georgia and Arizona. There were about 2.5 million homeschool students last year in grades K-12 in the U.S., making up about 3% to 4% of school-age children, according to the National Home Educators Research Institute, and Brian Ray, the group’s president, is expecting the numbers to increase by at least 10%. The National Home School Association received more than 3,400 requests for information on a single day last month, up from between five and 20 inquiries per day before the coronavirus. “Clearly </ span> the interest we have been getting has exploded,” says executive director J. Allen Weston.
----- SPORTS -----
Big Ten postpones college football season
The Big Ten Conference has voted to postpone its 2020 college football season. The decision comes less than a week after the Big Ten announced a restructured 2020 football schedule, with a 10th conference game added for all schools amid a season that would extend from as early as September 3 through November 21. "As time progressed and after hours of discussion with our Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Big Ten Sports Medicine Committee, it became abundantly clear that there was too much uncertainty regarding potential medical risks to allow our student-athletes to compete this fall," Commissioner Kevin Warren said.
Debate About Suspending School Sports Intensifies
Education Week (8/20, Mitchell) reports that “debates are roiling across the country over the role that high school sports should play as schools reopen during the coronavirus pandemic.” Decisions “handed down from state capitals and state athletic associations on when and if students should play have created a fractured landscape for high school sports – and a debate over whether schools that opt for distance learning should be playing contact sports.” In states “such as New Jersey and Oklahoma, high school sports will be allowed on campuses this fall, when in many cases, classes may not be.” Out West, “states such as California and Oregon have postponed all high school sports until at least 2021.”
----- FINANCE -----
Stimulus talks impasse 'doubly painful for schools'
Matt Barnum outlines how stalled talks over a new coronavirus relief package mean Congress has "not only failed to provide more money to schools," but also injected additional uncertainty into an already tumultuous school year. The consequences will be "far-reaching," he warns, for America’s schools and the over 50m students they serve, and Sharon Contreras, superintendent of Guilford County schools in North Carolina, agrees: "We’re taking resources that would have provided children opportunities ... and we’re now funding some basic health and safety issues. Without additional federal money, she said, future cuts could mean fewer art programs, school counselors, or even teachers." In the background, Barnum notes, almost 500,000 public school staffers nationally had lost their jobs or had been furloughed by mid-April as schools transitioned to remote instruction, and Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University, cautions: “We’re watching districts give teachers raises this year. It’s like spending money for a job you haven’t gotten yet.” Chalkbeat
----- WORKFORCE ----
Los Alamitos employees protest layoffs
Los Alamitos USD employees staged a protest at its headquarters on Friday, calling on district officials to rescind the layoffs of some 300 classified staff members, including instructional assistants for special education and daycare assistants. District officials said the layoffs, which were approved by the school board this week but won’t go into effect until mid-October, are necessary as schools start the new year online. There simply isn’t work available for many of the classified employees, who typically serve students on campus, Superintendent Andrew Pulver said, adding many will be brought back when district schools return to in-person learning.
Teachers concerned over PPE provisions
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that teachers, staff and students wear cloth face coverings whenever possible, and many states and school districts plan to provide personal-protective equipment to those who need it, some teachers still haven’t received anything and aren’t even sure what is being distributed or when it might arrive. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, expressed frustration in a statement Friday that teachers feel compelled to buy their own protective gear. “In a good year, teaching is one of the only professions where workers are forced to buy their own supplies to subsidize what should be a cost borne by the employer,” she said. Now, she added, “It’s become a matter of life and death.”
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Federal report highlights key ways to prevent school attacks
A United States Justice Department report on school safety published Tuesday asserts that school officials nationwide should improve mental health resources, monitor student social media accounts and boost physical security measures to help prevent school attacks. Among the key findings of the report, compiled by the department’s School Safety Working Group, is the need for a comprehensive school safety assessment which would be updated annually and would be a “foundation” for educators to evaluate potential vulnerabilities. The report also highlights the importance of mental health services and employees with specialized training to deal with those experiencing mental health issues, while asserting that bullying prevention and training programs are “critical” to reducing school violence. Officials believe that practice drills, anonymous reporting systems and increased coordination with first responders are essential for schools, as is “defensive social media monitoring,” whereby communications are monitored for warning signs. The report also champions the work of school resource officers, police officers with specialized training to address school violence, and underlines several incidents where those officers had built relationships with students and helped prevent or stop school shootings.
Teachers with health risks: who gets to stay at home?
As school buildings in some states begin to reopen in various capacities, many teachers at higher risk for complications from COVID-19 are questioning whether they should return to the classroom. People who are older than 65 are at higher risk for serious illness due to COVID, as are those who are obese, have serious heart conditions, or have Type II diabetes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that people with immune deficiencies, asthma, Type I diabetes, are smokers, or pregnant might also be at increased risk. Forty-three percent of teachers said they personally have a physical condition believed to make people more vulnerable to the effects of the coronavirus, a nationally representative Education Week Research Center survey found. Further, an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that about 1.5m teachers, nearly one in four, have health conditions that put them at higher risk for COVID-19 complications. In some cases, teachers who have not been able to secure an accommodation are considering not coming back to work at all. Some are retiring early, resigning, or taking unpaid leave. The Family Medical Leave Act also allows employees who have been at their job for at least a year to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected time off. This can be used if the employee has a serious health condition that makes it impossible to perform the essential functions of his job, or if the employee needs to care for a spouse, parent, or child with a serious health condition. However, it can only be used once in a 12-month period.
Increasing concerns that kids spread coronavirus
A new study published in the Journal of Pediatrics indicates that children could be a risk for spreading the new coronavirus. The research suggests that children can carry a "significantly higher" viral load, meaning they can be very contagious regardless of their susceptibility to developing a COVID-19 illness. Study author Dr. Alessio Fasano, director of the Mucosal Immunology and Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, comments: “Contrary to what we believed, based on the epidemiological data, kids are not spared from this pandemic.”
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
The rise of COVID-tracking surveillance tech
Julie Jargon explores the wave of surveillance technology aimed at helping schools prevent or contain infection amid the coronavirus pandemic, while considering how such measures, such as thermal imaging cameras, might be used going forward. Motorola has developed artificial intelligence compatible with its existing cameras, used in schools nationwide, to recognize when an individual isn’t wearing a mask. The cameras can also detect how far apart people are. Raptor Technologies, which makes automated visitor and volunteer management systems for schools, has added customizable health-screening questions to its visitor check-in systems, based on guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Volan Technology, which started out in 2018 designing emergency response systems for schools, has also positioned its systems to assist in contact tracing. Volan CEO Michael Bettua reveals that districts have told him they might one day try to use the technology to take attendance and keep track of who is on campus.
----- OTHER -----
NTA Life Insurance - An ABCFT Sponsor
Years ago ABCFT began working with the National Teachers Associates Life Insurance Company as part of a collaborative way to provide alternative choices for members when they consider their insurance options. 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.
Because of these uncertain times NTA has made important changes to help personalize your coverage: including a higher monthly benefit amount to better match your salary, flexible elimination periods to work with your existing sick time and money back for wellness screenings. In addition, we have a new hospital plan that is designed to work with your disability to give you more comprehensive coverage.
We will be contacting all teacher currently enrolled to review their current benefits.
For those of you who do not have the NTA disability coverage, now is the time to get a personalized quote and more information.
Join me Sept 16th, 4pm live on Instagram to watch the winners be announced!
@Leann_Blaisdell
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