ABCFT - YOUnionews - December 11, 2020
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KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
As we enter the last week before our winter break the negotiating team is looking forward to the news coming from outside of the district that will shape our bargaining in 2021. Governor Newsom will present his initial budget in January and we continue to closely follow the status of the stimulus bill at the federal level.
The recognition that we are not returning to in-person instruction in January has allowed us to focus on some other issues. Thanks to the many participants in our YOUnion chats for generating many of the ideas we will be bringing to the table. For example, we will be discussing potential solutions to adjusting our schedule given that we have three Monday holidays in January and February. Particularly at the secondary level, the imbalance of “losing” those days with one cohort of students presents challenges in terms of pacing so we will be working on appropriate ways to make the instructional minutes more equitable during the impacted weeks.
But grading appears to be the project that we will be asking our partners to focus on in coming weeks. We all lived through the awkward series of clarifications regarding grading during OLAH last spring and we don’t want to repeat that process. Grades are being discussed at the state level as well as a number of neighboring districts. I have personally had my meeting with my administrative team to discuss the number of D’s and F’s at my site. I welcome the fierce conversation and look forward to taking the best ideas from every resource to best address the needs of our students in this virtual environment. But at the end of the day grades remain the prerogative of the teacher and we should not feel pressured, directly or otherwise, to eroding our professional standards or foregoing our professional discretion.
I was troubled by the recent district professional learning session where so-called “toxic grading practices” were the topic. I value the presenter and the worthwhile discussion but the implication that there is something inherently broken in our practice is not a constructive position to proceed from. That is why I am proposing that the district work with us in a transparent forum to talk about what is working and what could be improved regarding grades rather than schedule more professional learning based on an agenda that presumes we are doing something wrong. I apologize for letting the English teacher part of me not let it go but “toxic” is just not helpful whatsoever. Plus, the pop cultural associations are troubling as well. Last week I was forced to make a Deep Purple joke and now I have colleagues making the obligatory Britney Spears references. 2020 truly can’t end soon enough!
As we head into our well deserved winter break, please take the time to take care of yourself and cherish our small victories during this difficult year. I am aware that the holiday work traditions that I may have taken for granted are another victim of our distanced lives. My Santa socks will stay in the drawer rather than be worn during ASB spirit week. That white elephant gift I’ve been saving all year will have to sit in the closet that much longer. I can’t look forward to the holiday pan dulce in our staff lounge. It is a reminder for me to better appreciate good times as they occur and to take advantage of the opportunities to bond with colleagues when given the chance. Happy Holidays and a Healthy New Year to everyone.
In Unity,
SPOTLIGHT ON MEMBERS - CTE TEACHERS
A regular feature we like to have in the YOUnionews is to spotlight members and their work in ABC. Our hope is that our readers will gain a broader understanding and appreciation of what members are doing in their departments and at their schools. All members have value but understanding each others jobs creates the bond of unity. This week our guest writer is CTE teacher and advocate, Brian Rodriguez from Cerritos High School. ABCFT will be featuring more articles in the future about CTE teachers across the district. If you would like a spotlight on your school, department or position drop us an email at abcft@abcusd.us
CTE = ADDED VALUE TO OUR SCHOOLS
At the December 2020 ABCFT rep council meeting last Thursday, the secondary CTE (Career Technical Education) teachers took the spotlight and delivered a very passionate and informative presentation to the site representatives in attendance. In the brief presentation, the CTE teachers provided insight and information on their inequitable status and salary compensation written into the current master contract. For the last four, almost five years, the CTE teacher group has been working closely with Union leadership towards resolving this current contract situation.
Like all classroom teachers in the district, these very valuable and specialized teachers provide the secondary students of ABCUSD with additional opportunities for career development and training that extends beyond the teachings of their core curriculum.
In addition, the current CTE programs implemented at the various ABCUSD secondary sites bring with them a significant source of state funding to purchase equipment and develop relevant programs that are necessary to produce well rounded, 21st century students ready to compete and contribute to today’s workforce.
Students currently attending ABCUSD secondary sites are able to pursue pathways in film and television production, automotive technology, medical pathways, welding, theatre arts, graphic design, computer science, engineering, video game design and more, with plans to grow additional programs in the years to come.
In the coming weeks and months leading up to contract negotiations, the CTE teachers will be providing more information on the specifics of how their specialized programs bring value to the district, while also spotlighting some of our CTE members. We thank ALL ABCFT teachers in the district for their support and consideration on the path to obtaining an equitable employment situation for the ABCUSD CTE Teachers! For more information, please contact brian.rodriguez@abcusd.us.
MEMBER BENEFITS - WELLNESS WEDNESDAYS
Maintaining our mental health and well-being is important for all of us. ABCFT will be offering Wellness Wednesdays from 3:00 to 3:30 pm members will have an opportunity to virtually participate in Guided Meditation and Chair Yoga. These weekly sessions will give members a chance to practice self-care.
In partnership with Kaiser Permanente, you can also access mindfulness resources for all ABCFT members. For Kaiser members, you have free access to the app Calm and myStrength which offers personalized self-care programs based on the cognitive behavioral therapy model. Please be kind to yourself and find time in your busy schedule to take care of yourself.
This week, Donna focuses on mindfulness for overall well-being and used tapping as a way to relax and can be useful to calm yourself if you find yourself angry.
The session ended with a quote from an unknown author,
“Don’t stress the could have, if it should have, it would have.”
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - HEALTH BENEFITS By Megan Harding
In December, the District Health Care Committee where ABCFT has 3 of 12 votes, met for the first time each year to discuss health benefits rate usage. This committee meets each month. The negotiations for health care rates are ongoing until the month of June when the health care providers submit their bids based on rate useage. Below is a brief summary from the December meeting.
Blue Shield Medical Dashboard is running higher than what they’d like to see and may affect our rates. There were several large claims. There was some movement within the Blue Shield plans.
The Kaiser dashboard is not available at this time. Dental and vision both continue to perform well. Kaiser continues to grow.
Next report will include highlights of both Blue Shield and Kaiser especially related to Mental Health and remote services.
DECEMBER ACADEMIC SERVICES UPDATE
This month’s academic service update is vital for all teachers. We hope that you will take a moment to look at this monthly report which discusses changes in academic services. This document provides the union with a means of giving the District feedback on the many programs or changes they are proposing at any one time. Without your feedback or questions on these changes, it is harder for ABCFT to slow down and modify the district’s neverending roll out of new projects. Please submit your comments and questions to the appropriate ABCFT liaison.
For Elementary curricular issues please email Kelley at Kelley.Forsythe@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
For Secondary curricular issues please email Rich at Richard.Saldana@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
For Special Education issues please email Stefani at Stefani.Palutzke@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
For Nurses issues please contact Theresa at Theresa.Petersen@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
Click Here For This Month’s Full Report
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.
I’m sitting here this morning staring at the screen and nothing is coming to mind on what to write this week. Sure I can talk about the latest legislation, the pandemic, a hybrid model, PPE, the Equity Committee, how wonderful the ABCFT Reps are, or the latest grading drama. NOPE, its just not there today. The best laugh I had this week was a similar experience at the YOUnion Chat when Tanya and I presented a rough outline of what we were considering to include on our new ABCFT.org website. Because we badly needed input, we asked the 100+ attendees if they had any suggestions on what to include on the website and for a good 20 seconds we had a zoom stare off where it was completely silent until I just had to laugh. Who the hell wants to talk about a website in December a week before vacation, during a pandemic, a democratic crisis, and just utter exhaustion after a ridiculous year. Really Ray and Tanya!? Really? It was a profound moment where I understood that none of us have any gas left in the tank. We’re done man. If I was a was a piece of toast the toaster would be on fire.
Therefore, I’m going to keep this short today because by this time you’re already tired of reading and unless I have news about a 20% pay increase (which is not happening, sorry) this is more dead air like the YOUnion chat. Therefore, let me just say you have five more days, finish strong for your students, pat yourself on the back this weekend for making it this far without losing it (we really are amazingly resilient). Do some safe holiday shopping if you celebrate or if you just want to shop do it responsibly. How many of you are like me and don’t quite remember a purchase that arrives at the front door. I blame it on the wine because it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Stay safe for you and your families. Make a conscious effort to make someone smile and remember we are only in control of those things we can actually impact. We’ve made it this far and I’m sure most of you by now can do another five days in your sleep but of course with your camera off so the principal doesn’t notice. I joke, but honestly be good to yourself and help your students understand that there is hope in the world and that we all have each other. Enjoy this last weekend before the break and start to think of the creative ways you can share joy, love, and happiness with your love ones in the upcoming weeks.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Governor Newsom announces coming statewide regional stay at home orders, but school policy left unchanged
At a press conference on Thursday, Governor Newsom announced new statewide regional stay at home orders that when implemented will significantly restrict activity throughout the state in order to address surging COVID-19 cases. The stay at home orders will be triggered when ICU capacity hits 15% in five designated regions throughout the state.
According to the Governor, four of the state’s five regions will likely reach the threshold to be placed in a regional stay at home order as early as this weekend, including Northern California, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, and Southern California. The Bay Area region is likely to be placed under a regional stay at home order starting in mid to late December. The orders will last a minimum of three weeks.
The regional stay at home orders come as COVID-19 cases continue to surge throughout the state. According to the LA Times, over the last week the state has averaged 14,869 cases per day, a 47.8% increase from two weeks ago. And there are now 8,517 hospital patients statewide with a confirmed case, a change of 98% from two weeks ago.
In the midst of this surge, the Governor’s announcement of more restrictions makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, he didn’t change the state’s approach to the physical opening of schools, with many schools throughout the state continuing in-person instruction despite the surging cases.
After careful consideration, last month CFT President Jeff Freitas released a statement calling on school districts throughout the state to transition to distance learning as cases were beginning to surge. With the Governor’s announcement of the pending regional stay at home orders, CFT’s position remains the same - schools that are in-person should transition to distance learning until the surge is under control.
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
Special Education Survey Opportunity
Apologies for the last-minute request, but we wanted to give you and your members an opportunity to respond to a survey on issues facing special education teachers. Specific information on the survey’s impetus is below; Randi tweeted the survey out last night around dinnertime (https://twitter.com/
The survey is at https://bsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Dangerous COVID-19 surge leads to hard shutdown of L.A. public schools
By HOWARD BLUMESTAFF WRITER
DEC. 7, 20208 AM
Los Angeles campuses will shut down completely beginning Thursday for all in-person tutoring and special services, as prospects for fully reopening the nation’s second-largest school district recede further into 2021 amid a dangerous coronavirus surge, Supt. Austin Beutner announced Monday.
The move immediately affects some 4,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade and outdoor conditioning for athletes. Beutner’s emergency order comes on the first day of a sweeping stay-at-home order across much of California and as Los Angeles County’s coronavirus rates reach unprecedented numbers.
“My commitment has been throughout to protect the health and safety of all in the school community,” Beutner said in an interview with The Times. “We have an imperative to get kids back to school as soon as possible the safest way possible. But all that comes through the front door, and the front door is what is COVID in the overall Los Angeles community. Right now it’s at extraordinary and quite dangerous levels.”
The superintendent’s remarks follow those from teachers union president Cecily Myart-Cruz, who said Friday on social media that it has become a question of “if” rather than “when” campuses would reopen for the spring semester.
----- COVID NEWS-----
Herd immunity should arrive once 75%–80% of people get vaccinated against COVID-19, Anthony Fauci tells Axios. Go deeper by clicking here.
ABC School District Dashboard Find it here
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Education groups urge CDC to prioritize school staff for COVID vaccine
An alliance of labor organizations and trade groups representing teachers, principals and support staff is pressuring the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prioritize access to a coronavirus vaccine for the country's 5m public school employees as the first approved immunizations hit the market in the U.S. The American Federation of Teachers, along with the National Education Association, the 3.2 million member teachers union, the AASA, the School Superintendents Association, which represents the country's 13,000'school districts, as well as organizations representing principals, school counselors and parents, implored the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in a joint letter to bump them to the top of the list, just after health care workers. "I'm a big believer that educators should have priority after health care workers," said AFT president Randi Weingarte n. "But coming right after that, those in schools that are reopening in person or have reopened in person, should be a very close second priority."
Schools face up to ‘off the rails’ numbers of failing grades
Students’ grades for the first period of the 2020-21 academic year are being recorded, with districts across the nation reporting an unprecedented rise in the number of F grades, with English language learners and disabled and disadvantaged students suffering the most. “It was completely off the rails from what is normal for us, and that was obviously very alarming,” said Erik Jespersen, principal of Oregon’s McNary High School, where 38% of grades in late October were failing, compared with 8% in normal times. He said that hundreds of students initially had not just Fs, but grade scores of 0.0%, indicating they simply were not participating in school at all. Elsewhere, in Houston, 42% of students received at least one F in the first grading period of the year, and nearly 40% of grades for high school students in St. Paul, Minnesota, were Fs, double the amount in a typical year. Th e increase has seen many educators ask if it is fair give students regular A-F grades at such a disruptive period in history. Pedro Noguera, dean of the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education, said the issue is complicated. “Ideally, teachers should provide feedback in narrative form so that students receive detailed comments on how they have done and where improvement may be needed,” he said. “This is a lot of work for teachers so it may not be possible in many cases. For students who are motivated by grades, a letter grade may be helpful for encouragement. For students who are struggling, letter grades are unlikely to do much to motivate them to apply themselves.”
Washington Post Washington Post
U.S. house passes one-week stopgap spending bill
The House of Representatives has overwhelmingly approved a one-week stopgap spending bill, on a 343-67 vote, averting the immediate threat of a government shutdown after Friday. The bill, known as a continuing resolution, now heads to the Senate, which is expected to take it up later today. The hope among negotiators is that the additional time will be enough to not only strike a sweeping funding deal but also to reach agreement on a new round of COVID-19 relief before key pandemic aid programs expire at the end of the year and Congress leaves Washington for the holiday recess. Now, congressional leaders and appropriators are in the middle of negotiating a $1.4tn, 12-bill spending package that will increase agency budgets for the rest of the fiscal year, hoping to pair that funding bundle with desperately needed coronavirus relief. Millions of Americans are set to lose a critical safety net as a number of pandemic assistance provisions expire at the end of the month. A government shutdown on top of that would be a true nightmare scenario. “If we do not act, 12m Americans could lose unemployment aid just after Christmas and millions more access to paid sick leave and protections against evictions,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CN) the incoming chair of the House Appropriations Committee, on the House floor. “This will put working families over the edge and our economy closer to the financial cliff.“ A centre point of negotiations could be a bipartisan, $908m stimulus plan, although two major sticking points are the amount of fresh aid to state and local governments, and liability protections, a key priority for Republicans. The plan as it is would revive the weekly federal unemployment benefit at $300 a week for 16 weeks, from the end of December to April, and extend a series of unemployment programs set to expire at the end of the month. It would supply $82 billion for education providers, and $10bn for child care providers, along with funding for COVID vaccine development and distribution, and for test-and-trace programs.
New York Times Politico CNN Politics Bloomberg
U.S. Supreme Court rejects transgender student case
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday preserved an Oregon public school district’s policy of accommodating transgender students, rejecting an appeal challenging a policy that let students use bathrooms and locker rooms that correspond to their gender identity. The justices left in place a lower court ruling that threw out a lawsuit against Dallas School District No. 2 near Salem, in rural western Oregon, led by the parents of a group of students who had argued that the policy “violated students’ rights to privacy and religious freedom under the U.S. Constitution,” as well as a federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals tossed out the lawsuit in February, prompting the appeal.
Biden vows to reopen most schools quickly
Joe Biden asserted Tuesday that he would open most of the nation’s schools during his first 100 days as president. During a speech in Delaware, to introduce a team of health experts set to help the new administration combat the ongoing pandemic, Biden said he’d also be calling for all Americans to wear masks for 100 days and would distribute at least 100m vaccines during his first 100 days in the White House. “It should be a national priority to get our kids back into school and keep them in school,” he asserted. “All I can say is Hallelujah,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers. “We finally have a president-elect who understands that we need resources and strong public health measures in order to reopen school buildings.” The national superintendents association, AASA, welcomed Biden’s plan but underling that any such push hinges on his ability to secure funding from Congress.
Washington Post Chicago Tribune
States urged to do more to publicly disclose COVID-related info
Neither the federal Department of Education nor a majority of states are publicly logging coronavirus-related information, such as the number of cases recorded, or safety strategies in schools, aside from a handful that are beginning to tackle this challenge. “Schools are opening and yet we don’t seem to have any coordinated way to collect and share information about what’s working, what’s not working, how risky are schools,” said Brown University economist Emily Oster. “Posting [data] publicly at the state level is really important for public trust. For people to think, ‘My state is paying attention to this, somebody is on top of it, they are reporting things out that are real and helpful and they care about health.’” In failing to collect data or to show the public what they know, state and federal agencies are missing out on rigorous experiments to find how to control the virus in school buildings. “We’re missing a huge opportunity here to be studying all of these things,” said Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician and director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children’s, who has written in favor of reopening school buildings. “We shouldn’t be waiting for kids to go back. If we had started [collecting data] in the fall or in the spring, we could be deploying best practices now.”
----- STATE NEWS -----
State lawmakers press for all districts to resume in-school teaching in the spring
On Monday, a trio of Democratic Assembly leaders proposed legislation that would require public school students to physically return to school in stages by early spring, after public health officials lift closure orders. Assembly Bill 10, which as emergency legislation would need a two-thirds majority to pass, would see the reopening of schools for at least the most struggling or perhaps the youngest students when their counties move from the most restrictive purple tier, where 99% of school districts are now, to any less restrictive color: red, orange or yellow. Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach), chair of the Assembly Education Committee and one of the lead authors of the bill, said the intent is to “inject a sense of urgency” and to “push and prod” district administrators and unions back to the table to get a plan for fully ready for reopening schools. He added that if more resources for testing and other safeguards are needed, legislators will work with Gov. Gavin Newsom to provide them. Claudia Briggs, a spokesperson for the California Teachers Association, called the bill a starting point and said that union looks forward to working with authors, educators and administrators.
Schools urged to establish ‘wellness centers’ to address mental health needs
Responding to a surge in student anxiety and depression, exacerbated by the pandemic, a state commission has called for California schools to move quickly to become “wellness centers” addressing mental and physical health needs among K-12 students and their families. The state Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission report, Every Young Heart and Mind: Schools as Centers of Student Wellness, cites a sharp increase in young people’s mental health needs over the past decade or so, due in part to the prevalence of social media, rising rates of poverty that have put stress on families, and an uptick in disasters such as wildfires and floods. According to the report, 1 in 6 high school students in California has considered suicide in the past year, and 1 in 3 report feeling chronically sad. LGBT students and low-income Black and Latino students experienced higher rates i n both of those categories. Because of the pandemic, the state needs to start providing school districts with step-by-step guidance immediately, with changes in place as soon as possible, the report said. The Legislature and Gov. Newsom will have final say on whether and how the recommendations will be implemented.
Parental help could ‘skew’ fall assessments
State level assessment officials and testing experts have expressed concerns that screening assessment results to determine learning loss levels due to "COVID slide" could have been skewed by a number of factors, including parental help. Students who took diagnostic exams remotely showed improvement in scores when compared to previous years, according to Curriculum Associates, makers of the i-Ready test adopted by some school districts, which were looking to fall assessment data to gauge learning loss or gains that occurred during remote learning in the spring. Jadi Miller, director of assessment for Nebraska's Elkhorn Public Schools, said she has heard from parents who assisted their K-1 children on remote assessments. "Our perception is that those scores are not necessarily reflective of what students could do. But they could be," she added. Juan D'Brot, senior associate at the Center for Assess ment, said focused and non-threatening surveys could help districts determine whether parents assisted to students, suggesting, "Something like a two-parter: 'Did your child need any assistance to successfully complete this test?' and 'If your child needed help to take this test, were you able to assist them successfully?'"
----- DISTRICTS -----
COVID surge leads to hard shutdown of L.A. public schools
Amid soaring COVID-19 case numbers in Los Angeles County, contributing to the imposition of a regional stay-at-home order, Los Angeles USD Superintendent Austin Beutner has ordered the suspension of all in-person instruction and child-care programs for the balance of the fall semester, effective Thursday. “My commitment has been throughout to protect the health and safety of all in the school community,” Beutner said. “We have an imperative to get kids back to school as soon as possible the safest way possible. But all that comes through the front door, and the front door is what is COVID in the overall Los Angeles community. Right now it’s at extraordinary and quite dangerous levels.” California Federation of Teachers President Jeff Freitas welcomed the move, and called for all California districts to shut down until at least January. L.A. school board President Richard Vladovic said he didn’t see how a full campus return, even a staggered, partly online schedule, could happen before mid-February. Even then, he said, on-campus instruction would probably be available initially to only the youngest students.
Los Angeles Times NBC Los Angeles ABC7
Escondido suspends in-person learning
Escondido USD has suspended in-person instruction and extended care because of the difficulty of operating under pandemic protocols. The district, which has been providing in-person instruction on a hybrid model, will immediately shift students into virtual learning with their assigned teachers until January 12th. “Ensuring sufficient, high-quality staffing is a daily struggle in this situation,” Superintendent Luis Rankins-Ibarra said. “This includes teachers, substitute teachers, health technicians, custodians, aides, and other staff members, all of whom fill vital roles. That compromises safety for our children and employees. We can’t provide a quality in-person educational experience if we don’t have the staff.”
----- CLASSROOM -----
Report warns of 'tangible learning loss'
A wealth of new data on the national, state and district levels finds students began this academic year significantly behind. A study released this week by management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. concludes that students of color and those in high-poverty communities fell further behind their peers, exacerbating long-standing gaps in American education. Emma Dorn, one of the authors of the report, comments: “Something out of the ordinary is needed to help these kids catch up. No matter what we do now, tangible learning loss has already occurred.” Former education secretary John B. King Jr., who is now president of Education Trust, an advocacy and research group focused on equity issues, says: “I think we should be very concerned about the risk of a lost generation of students.”
----- FINANCE -----
School finances holding up for now
Despite the massive financial impact of the pandemic, states across the U.S. are yet to have their education budgets cut. However, even though many school districts are in a better-than-expected financial position, the longer term picture is less clear, with the prospects of future federal relief uncertain. In October, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities calculated states were actually just 2% or $22bn short, far less than its earlier estimate. In California, for instance, revenue saw a “dramatic rebound,” according to state analysts. Colorado too has seen higher-than-expected revenue. “We actually have seen, in the last couple of months, much better news at the state level,” said Michael Griffith, a fiscal policy analyst at the Learning Policy Institute, a progressive education think tank. That reflects a quicker-than-expected economic bounceback and the apparent success of the federal CARES Act, which included provisions, such as increased unemployment benefits, $1,200 checks, that kept families from deeply cutting their spending. Nevertheless, some schools are facing financial stress. In states that cancelled out CARES dollars with cuts, districts don’t have that extra cushion. Other districts have made costly decisions to improve ventilation or hire more teachers to help balance remote and in-person instruction. School districts and states are hoping that the federal government will pass a stimulus package that includes additional money for schools and for state governments. Talks have continued, with new proposals and new momentum in recent days, but a deal is still far from guaranteed.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Architectural strategies to combat COVID-19 in schools
In considering the reopening of school buildings amid the ongoing pandemic, representatives of the Spiezle Architectural Group outline steps school leaders can take to create the safest environment possible for students, teachers and administrators. They focus on five major categories; policies and procedure, site arrival, building envelope, building interiors and building systems. The authors urge officials to consider reviewing systems to ensure proper ventilation rates, filtration and fresh air levels, maintaining proper humidity levels - from 40-60% which can help our bodies respond to viral exposures - and also ultraviolet lighting, which has been shown to be effective in de-activating many contaminants, bacteria and viruses. "While no one anticipated the level of impact from this pandemic, it is important to look for bright spots and come up with new designs that are more equita ble and more consistent with the future learning environment," they conclude.
-----TRANSPORTATION -----
Calls for school bus drivers to receive COVID-19 vaccine priority
The National School Transportation Association (NSTA) has petitioned the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an arm of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for school bus drivers across the country to be made a high priority for phased allocation of COVID-19 vaccines when they become available. NSTA estimates that 5% to 10% of school bus drivers at present are unavailable due to complications caused by the coronavirus and that approximately 33% of industry drivers are age 60 or older and are in racially and ethnically diverse groups. Notably, school bus drivers are included on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency list of Essential Critical Infrastructure Workers.
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
Schools failing on cybersecurity
Brandon Wales, acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, has told a Senate hearing that only a small fraction of K-12 schools are taking advantage of federal resources for safeguarding their networks. Only 2,000 of the 13,000 U.S. school districts have signed up for free membership in the Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center, which offers government organizations, including school systems, network vulnerability assessment, cyberthreat alerts and other related services. "How do we build a national community with the school districts to get them focused on the security aspects related to their networks that are not going to go away even after the pandemic is over?" Mr Wales said. "Ransomware operators are looking to make money quickly, and they are going to look for whoever is the most vulnerable. With the bare minimum level of cybersecurity, there is a good c hance that the ransomware operator is going to go on to the next victim." U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), who organized the hearing, said the urgency has "never been greater" for stronger federal support for cybersecurity. Possible solutions, she said, include a grant program for state and local governments and improved information-sharing between the federal government and schools.
State of K-12 cybersecurity explored
Nathaniel Evans, cyber analysis and research lead for Argonne National Laboratory, during the annual ISTE conference last week, led a group of educators through a discussion of the importance of cybersecurity awareness in K-12 and also where the subject can fit in curriculum. Cybersecurity has again resurfaced as a major concern for school districts recently, with a spate of ransomware attacks. Cybersecurity typically fits into one of three categories for school districts, he asserts, traditional information technology, digital citizenship or cybersecurity workforce, and, since 2016, there have been around 1,110 publicly reported cybersecurity incidents in K-12, according to The K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center. Evans goes on to champion the importance of teaching students how to stay safe online, with lessons on information literacy, cyberbullying prevention and awareness, online s afety, digital responsibility, and health and wellness in the digital world.
Schools need long-term solutions to digital divide
New research warns that as COVID-19 cases rise this winter and schools revert to virtual learning, the digital divide will widen again. After analyzing data from the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey, the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs in Los Angeles found "inequitable access" to technology and connectivity across the U.S., with African Americans and Hispanic students being 1.3 to 1.4 times as likely to experience limited accessibility as their non-Hispanic White peers. Low-income households are most impacted by unavailability, with more than two-fifths of households having limited access to a computer or the internet, the data shows. While school systems have worked to find solutions to technology barriers for remote students, the paper concludes, "permanent solutions are needed" to ensure educational equity by shrinking the digital div ide even after the pandemic is over. "Remote learning, in some form, is now permanent," researchers said.
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More schools trending toward integration
More schools are making efforts to become racially and socioeconomically diverse, but additional resources are needed to further expand integration policies, according to a new report from The Century Foundation. It found that 907 school districts and charter schools, representing 25% of students nationwide, have efforts underway for student diversity, including districts with self-initiated integration policies and systems under legal desegregation orders or voluntary agreements. Those 907 districts represent 25% of students nationwide. Research shows students who attend schools with diverse populations perform better academically on average and have reduced levels of racial prejudice. “The data also shows that parents of all racial and economic backgrounds, of course, want the best education for their child so we have seen that by students going to diverse schools, they are more culturally compete nt,” said Michelle Burris, a senior policy associate at The Century Foundation and co-author of the report. The states with the most districts making efforts to integrate schools are California, Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Iowa and Minnesota.
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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
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