ABCFT - YOUnionews - January 15, 2021
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - CFT CONVENTION
DELEGATE NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN
It is time to consider nominations for delegates to represent the ABC Federation of Teachers at our state convention for the California Federation of Teachers. The CFT Convention will be held virtually from March 26-28, 2021.
NOMINATIONS ARE DUE BY 4:00 PM, Tuesday, January 19, 2021. Please submit your nominees by filling out the online form here CFT Convention Delegate Nominations. You may nominate any ABCFT member in good standing including yourself. Please check with your nominees prior to nomination to make sure they are willing to participate. 
The requirements/responsibilities of the delegates are:
· To be a member in good standing (a member for two months prior to the election date) of ABC Federation of Teachers,
· To attend and participate in all voting sessions of the convention,
· To attend ABCFT virtual delegate meeting here at home and at the convention (there will be one here and one or two at the convention),
· To attend at least one division meeting at the convention, and
· To attend the entire convention.
Please participate in the democratic process of our union by completing the electronic nomination form. You may nominate yourself and other members to represent ABCFT at the CFT Convention. Please try to nominate only those people you know who have expressed an interest in attending the virtual CFT convention.
MEMBER BENEFITS - DONORSCHOOSE Webinar
As teachers have been adapting with the challenges of remote learning, there are ways to work with DonorsChoose even if your school is not in-person. Horace Mann is a national sponsor of DonorsChoose, a not-for-profit organization that connects teachers in need of resources with donors who want to help. This webinar will help raise awareness of the new DonorsChoose Distance Learning Projects, created in response to COVID-19. All interested ABCFT members are invited to attend the virtual workshop provided in partnership with NTA Life Insurance to learn how to leverage DonorsChoose during these unprecedented times.
Save the date for DonorsChoose Webinar on Tuesday, February 2, 2021 at 4:00 PM directly after our weekly YOUnion chat.
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 the Breath of Fire meditation and movements to loosen up hips and backs. The don’t know mind or beginner’s mind was introduced. All of this unknowing that is occurring in our world causes stress. By using this practice it may allow participants to live in the moment, support creativity, and less stress. Letting go of things we do not control is a part of this practice. Creating a beginner’s mind takes time and practice. Perhaps you are ready to take on the challenge of having a beginner’s mind.
Quote from Zen master, Shunryu Suzuki,
“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything, it is open to everything. In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few.”
Click here to view the recording of the Guided Meditation and Chair Yoga for this week and weekly archives
MEMBER BENEFITS - WELLNESS UPDATES
Kaiser Permanente Education is previewing two performances, “RISE-UP” and “Ghosted” on Wednesday, February 3 at 3-4pm. Please feel free to share with your membership.
“RISE-UP” is professional development for teachers and staff to explore the prevalence and potential impact of trauma and stress on student behavior and offer strategies to help educators and other school staff navigate challenging interactions.“Ghosted” is a social emotional wellness program for Grade 9 students.
To learn more and register for this preview, open the link below and click on the “Click to Register” button.
https://kp.showpad.com/share/ef9ZMdT9ZBzCfRx9OOkof
MEMBER FEEDBACK - CSTP Survey by Tanya Golden
Refreshed California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP) Feedback Opportunity
Every decade the state of California refreshes the CSTP’s which at ABCUSD are used for teacher evaluations. I have the honor to serve and represent CFT on this workgroup along with twenty-five other California educators. We are asking teachers such as yourself to provide valuable input for the draft document. Here is the current CSTP’s for reference. Let’s make certain ABCFT members let their voices be heard by taking the survey. The CSTP survey will be open until Friday, February 5, 2021.
CA Standards for the Teaching Profession survey
JANUARY 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.
Resources on ShareMyLesson.com for Special Education:
https://sharemylesson.com/collections/supporting-students-disabilities-during-covid-19-pandemic
https://sharemylesson.com/todays-news-tomorrows-lesson/investment-in-special-education
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 Nurse 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.
Hello my fellow Sisters and Brothers…..
When someone starts off their letter with those words my I start to wonder what’s going on. I open my letter this week with that because there’s a ton of important work going on both in the classrooms and at the bargaining table. The next couple of weeks and months will probably be the most intense period of bargaining ABCFT has seen in a couple of decades. In my twenty years at the bargaining table, I’ve never seen such a demand to bargain in such a short time. I know that all of you in the classroom are also under a ton of stress about what needs to be done this month.
I know that you are also feeling the impact of changes in your classrooms. It is unfortunate that there are changes in the grading policy for secondary in addition to the change in the grading dates for elementary reporting(made earlier this year). For the secondary grading changes there is confusion about what days are being counted for the 85% and after clarification I can report that Wednesdays are not included in that calculation. But what about those middle school students who came an extra day this semester and the confusing fact that the 85% actually gives them an extra day, right? Every MOU has unintended consequences and I apologize for those holes but as I have stated in our YOUnion Chats, the alternatives that were presented by the district in early negotiations increased the burden on teachers by changing percentages for grades, taking late work, documentation and extra time for every students etc. I am thankful that after our counterproposals that the district team came up with some of the current language based on attendance. Is it perfect, absolutely not, but it doesn’t bury teachers with grading or an extended semester grading period with a boatload of late work. The ABCFT Negotiating Team is already working on the grading policy for next semester in hopes that you will have it in front of you before the next semester begins.
For Elementary Teachers, we are hearing that at some sites there is pressure to give progress report grades when you’ve never done this before. For some schools they already have the practice of giving every students regardless of their marks, some sort of feedback for progress reports. Each school is different and teachers have worked with their principals to create those practices. Here’s my opinion about this change. Yes, our contract doesn’t say that you have to send progress reports to every student and in that sense it is unenforceable by the administrators. However, we are in the middle of a pandemic and there is a demand nationwide for educators to provide timely feedback for parents. Ask yourself as a staff member, how will your school balance the demands of more progress reports if that’s what you can agree to for every student. I was talking with a principal and he is moving or cancelling meetings to provide his staff with more time for grades, it’s a compromise. Is it good enough? Maybe or maybe not but at least this principal recognizes that extra work demands more time of teachers. I applaud all of those administrators who are addressing not only the needs of students but also those who are working with their staffs to address the workload and time constraints on their teachers as professionals. Me, I say thank you teachers for being SO DAMN professional. I am proud to represent a membership that cares so intensely for their students.
Here is a preliminary list of the items that ABCFT will be negotiating over the next month:
School Safety Plan that needs to be complete by February 1 for full funding. This plan revolves around the requirement that a district would have to open schools when the newly reduced infection rate is 25/100,000.
ELPAC in-person testing for 3,000 students for hearing and speech sections. (Some EDP teachers will voluntary to help with this part but elementary teachers will not)
Secondary grading policy for second semester.
Vaccinations and the timeline and rollout of the vaccinations.
Summer school staffing.
A calendar for the 2021-2022 school year.
Salary and benefit negotiations for the 2020-2021 school year.
The possibility of of negotiating for school to open two weeks earlier next year possibly adding additional days to the school year and how that impacts teachers and the need for compensation.
ABCFT will keep you posted as things progress at the bargaining table with all of these items. Our preliminary negotiations starts today at 2 p.m. as we work with the district to create the ground rules for this rapid negotiation marathon that will happen in the next couple of weeks. Don’t be surprised if you see a short survey hear and there or for those of you who attend the YOUnion Chat we will continue to bounce ideas off of you. Any member feedback is welcome and useful.
In the meanwhile, I’m going to have a relaxing beverage after a crazy couple of weeks as I look forward to a three day weekend. I hope that you will also find time to relax and regroup this weekend. The importance of what Dr. Martin Luther King did to move the needle in America was never more important than ever, therefore, I hope you will take a moment this weekend to reflect on a favorite quote or saying from the good Doctor.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
A cartoon twofer
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
January 11, 2021
CFT calls for four week halt to all in-person K-12 instruction in California
Skyrocketing prevalence of virus in communities creates unacceptable risk, teachers and school staff say;
Union urges all Californians, including educators and school staff, to take vaccine when offered
SACRAMENTO, CA -- The California Federation of Teachers (CFT) today called for a four week halt to all in-person K-12 instruction in the state, saying the action is necessary to preserve life, and slow community virus spread. The call comes as California’s COVID-19 case rates reach unprecedented levels, ICU’s are at or near 0% capacity in most parts of the state, and ambulances wait hours to deliver patients to emergency rooms. To protect lives and move toward in-person instruction as soon as safety allows, the CFT Executive Council is also urging all school staff and educators to take the COVID-19 vaccine when it is made available.
“California’s educators and classified professionals have been eager to safely return to their schools for many months now. We did not sign up for our jobs with the intention of teaching through screens. However, we cannot put our own lives, the lives of our students, and our communities at risk during what is clearly an escalating crisis in our state,” said CFT President Jeff Freitas.
The call from the CFT comes as California’s COVID-19 crisis only continues to worsen, with one in fifteen Californians having tested positive to date. It also comes on the heels of the LA County public health director’s call last week for a hard three week shutdown of all schools in the county. Illustrating the severity of the crisis, one in three students in some LA schools are testing positive.
This call also comes as data raises concern over disparities faced by children of color who contract COVID-19. The CDC has found that the rate of hospitalization for Latino and Black children are eight times and five times higher, respectively, than for white children. These findings also reflected the racial and economic disparities in death rates in California.
In a meeting over the weekend, the CFT Executive Council called on all Californians, including its school workers, to take the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as it’s made available to them. The resolution passed unanimously.
The latest CFT articles and news stories can be found here on the PreK12 news feed on the CFT.org website.
View current issues here
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Gov. Newsom’s budget includes record $90bn for education
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced a proposed budget for the upcoming year that includes a record estimated $90bn in K-12 and community college funding to tackle reopening schools, learning loss, and mental health for students. Additional funding for schools would include $2bn for reopening schools, $4.6bn for summer programs and efforts to address learning loss, and $400m for school-based mental health services, as well as changes to the local funding formula. Transitional kindergarten programs would expand with another $250m, and special education for young children would increase by $300m, while the University of California and California State University systems would receive an additional $786m. Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach, who chairs the Assembly Education Committee, called the funding for learning loss “crucial for getting students ba ck on track.” “Distance learning has been ineffective for students,” he said. “These funds will help prevent further widening of the academic achievement gap and support our students in credit and grade recovery. Reopening schools safely, which must include adequate testing and vaccination of teachers and other school staff, must also be a priority.” Separately, Gov. Newsom says he's given no consideration to forcing schools to reopen if teachers unions refuse to move ahead with in-person instruction once educators are vaccinated. "Our approach is not to do it top down and mandate," he explained. "It's to have a collaborative framework with real incentives that allow for resource allocation to occur when people are committed to promoting the cause of in-person education."
EdSource NBC Bay Area San Francisco Examiner Modesto Bee SF Gate
California details plan to track school cases, reopening
As part of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to usher students back into classrooms as soon as possible, California officials have ordered schools across the state to begin reporting new coronavirus cases within 24 hours and their reopening status every two weeks. On Thursday, the state’s “Safe Schools for All Hub” went online as a platform that eventually will provide links detailing the reopening status of schools statewide as well as case and outbreak information, something the state resisted last year. Thursday’s order requires every district, charter and private school to report to local health authorities within 24 hours any COVID-19-positive test result of a student or employee who was on campus within 10 days prior to the test sample being taken. The order is intended to let state health officials more comprehensively monitor infections among school staff and students and p rovide help. But it was unclear Thursday how much of that information would be reported publicly through the website. Schools have reported case information individually but there has been no tracking and disclosure statewide.
The Mercury News
----- BIDEN PLAN FOR EDUCATION -----
Biden proposes $175bn to reopen schools
President-elect Joe Biden is pitching a $175bn plan to help K-12 schools reopen, with billions more to implement rapid coronavirus testing in schools as part of a $1.9tn economic stimulus package. The education element of the plan includes $130bn for public elementary, middle and high schools, and approximately $35bn for higher education institutions. School administrators would be able to use the funding to help reduce class sizes and reconfigure classrooms to be able to adhere to social distancing; improve ventilation; hire more nurses, counselors, teacher aides and janitors; provide personal protective equipment; increase transportation capacity so students can social distance on buses; provide students with computers and other digital devices and internet access; and provide summer school and tutoring programs to make up lost learning time this year. A portion of funding would be reserved for a COVID- 19 Educational Equity Challenge Grant, which would fund partnerships between state, local and tribal governments and teachers, parents and other education or community organizations that address COVID-related challenges through an equity lens. Mr Biden reiterated that he would do everything he could to safely reopen “a majority of our K-8 schools” by the end of his first 100 days in office. “We can do this if we give the school districts - the schools themselves, the communities, the states - the clear guidance they need as well as the resources they need that they can’t afford right now,” he said.
US News and World Report Washington Post
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Superintendents call for ‘faster rollout’ of vaccines
Superintendents from Texas, Florida, Washington, North Carolina and other states are pushing for an organized plan to vaccinate the country's teachers and school staff more quickly, in order to allow schools to open for more in-person learning. The statement was organized by Chiefs for Change, an advocacy group for state and local school districts; Patrick Magee, its chief executive, asserts: “We need a much faster rollout of the vaccine. Many districts have not received the support they need from the federal government or from their states.” He also emphasizes the need to release doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to local officials who can work directly with school districts to speed up the vaccination process. “We don’t expect our children to get vaccinated,” says Pedro Martinez, superintendent of San Antonio ISD in Texas, noting that no vaccine has yet been approved for st udents under 16. “But if we can take care of the at-risk adults, we take a lot of things off the table. We take deaths off the table.”
CNN The 74
Several educators join White House team
At least half a dozen individuals recently appointed to positions in the White House include those with teaching experience and others who have worked with education-focused organizations. Incomers include Kaitlyn Hobbs Demers, who taught fifth grade in the Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia and spent 2013 and 2014 advising Teach for America “corps members” and interviewing future candidates, has been appointed special assistant to the president and chief of staff for the Office of Legislative Affairs, while Corina Cortez, once a senior advisor at the National Education Association, will serve as special assistant to the president for presidential personnel. Anne Hyslop, assistant director for policy development and government relations at the Alliance for Excellent Education and herself a former policy adviser at the U.S. Department of Education, comments: “I think it’s interesting to see appointees with education backgrounds. That is experience, a point of view they’ll be bringing with them that affects how they think about policy and the role education can play.”
The 74 Million
U.S. school schedules expected to remain fluid
Tenuous school schedules are expected to remain fluid across the Unites States this year, as districts continue to weigh rising coronavirus cases in much of the country against concerns about student learning loss and when teachers can be vaccinated. Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, a group representing about 75 of the country’s largest urban-school districts, comments: “It’s a mixed picture all across the country. People set dates as a target to help with their planning purposes.” Some school leaders are however expressing more optimism about reopening with vaccine distribution on the horizon and billions in federal aid for public K-12 schools on the way, Mr. Casserly asserts.
Wall Street Journal
This article shows that the Devos administration was not about students. (comment by Ray)
Title IX protections apply only to ‘biological sex’
The U.S. Department of Education has released an internal memorandum from its acting general counsel that stakes out the view that “sex” in Title IX refers only to biological sex, and that schools do not violate the law by refusing to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms or participate in athletics consistent with their gender identity. “[B]ased on controlling authorities, we must give effect to the ordinary public meaning at the time of enactment and construe the term ‘sex’ in Title IX to mean biological sex, male or female,” says the January 8th memorandum from Reed D. Rubinstein, the department’s principal deputy general counsel, to Kimberley M. Richey, the acting assistant secretary for civil rights. “Congress has the authority to rewrite Title IX and redefine its terms at any time. To date, however, Congress has chosen not to do so.” The memo is not a formal regulation, and could be withdrawn by the Biden administration in the coming months.
Education Week
----- STATE NEWS -----
School officials push for standardized testing waiver
A majority of California’s State Board of Education is now in favor of asking the federal government for a waiver that would remove the obligation to carry out standardized testing for the second year in a row. The state board did not vote on the issue of waivers at a public meeting on Wednesday, but it was discussed at length and nine out of 11 members said they would support a waiver if it became an option. “It would be educational malpractice to require LEAs (local education agencies) to provide results of assessments that really are seriously in jeopardy of being valid going forward,” said State Board of Education member Sue Burr. “It’s important to make a strong statement about how we feel about that.” The board did not discuss next steps for seeking a waiver. However, Board President Linda Darling-Hammond, a top education advisor on the transition team for President-elect Joe Biden, said that alternative measures of academic progress and accountability, such as engagement, attendance, and access to courses, have “come up quite a bit” in discussions with the team.
EdSource
----- DISTRICTS -----
LAUSD, labor leaders call for strengthening of state’s school reopening plan
Los Angeles USD officials and labor leaders are urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to strengthen his proposed Safe Schools For All reopening plan to better reflect the disproportionate impact months of COVID-19-related distance learning has had on students in low income communities. The plan includes $2bn in schools funding and seeks to reopen most campuses by February, with elementary students and those with special needs coming back first. However, Superintendent Austin Beutner said the plan as it stands is not enough. “While it prioritizes the reopening of public schools, with the potential for additional school funding, the plan falls well short of what is needed to provide help to the students and communities we serve,” Beutner and his allies said in a joint statement. “Los Angeles Unified stands ready to resume in-person instruction as soon as it is safe and appropriate to do so, but we cannot do it alone.” The statement outlines several key areas for improvement, including funding for all schools to redress the disproportionate impact on low-income communities, and for additional funding to maintain clean, safe, and sanitary schools. Superintendent Austin Beutner also said that once vaccines are available to children, the district’s students will have to be immunized before they can return to campus.
Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Daily News Fox News
San Francisco suspends COVID testing pilot
San Francisco USD officials said yesterday that the district is pausing its pilot program with COVID testing startup Curative, following warnings last week from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the potential for false negative results. Berkeley officials also recommended residents not use free Curative tests for the time being and Los Angeles County officials on Sunday said they would stop using the test for mobile testing sites. Curative defended the tests last week with a reminder that the tests have been validated and have specific labels.
San Francisco Examiner
LAUSD, labor leaders call for strengthening of state’s school reopening plan
Los Angeles USD officials and labor leaders are urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to strengthen his proposed Safe Schools For All reopening plan to better reflect the disproportionate impact months of COVID-19-related distance learning has had on students in low income communities. The plan includes $2bn in schools funding and seeks to reopen most campuses by February, with elementary students and those with special needs coming back first. However, Superintendent Austin Beutner said the plan as it stands is not enough. “While it prioritizes the reopening of public schools, with the potential for additional school funding, the plan falls well short of what is needed to provide help to the students and communities we serve,” Beutner and his allies said in a joint statement. “Los Angeles Unified stands ready to resume in-person instruction as soon as it is safe and appropriate to do so, but we cannot do it alone.” The statement outlines several key areas for improvement, including funding for all schools to redress the disproportionate impact on low-income communities, and for additional funding to maintain clean, safe, and sanitary schools. Superintendent Austin Beutner also said that once vaccines are available to children, the district’s students will have to be immunized before they can return to campus.
Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Daily News Fox News
San Francisco suspends COVID testing pilot
San Francisco USD officials said yesterday that the district is pausing its pilot program with COVID testing startup Curative, following warnings last week from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration of the potential for false negative results. Berkeley officials also recommended residents not use free Curative tests for the time being and Los Angeles County officials on Sunday said they would stop using the test for mobile testing sites. Curative defended the tests last week with a reminder that the tests have been validated and have specific labels.
San Francisco Examiner
Berkeley school district discusses updates to phased reopening of schools
In light of rising COVID-19 cases across Alameda County, the Berkeley USD board discussed updates to the phased reopening of local schools last Wednesday. Alameda County is currently in the purple tier of the state’s four-tiered COVID-19 risk system, which indicates a “widespread risk” of COVID-19. Superintendent Brent Stephens presented updates on the projected timeline of reopening schools and designing a hybrid learning model with the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, or BFT. In a discussion of hybrid learning models for elementary schools, Stephens said the school district and BFT agree on a model that implements distance learning in the morning and optional in-person learning in the afternoon, but they disagree on requiring COVID-19 testing for students. “BFT is asking that this be mandatory for all students,” Stephens said during the meeting. “But the district doesn’t want to see that school reopening is made contingent upon the availability of this COVID-19 testing. We don’t want to see it as a precondition, although we do think it’s very important.”
The Daily Californian
San Diego USD to stay closed indefinitely
San Diego USD officials are continuing to hold off on setting a potential school reopening date, although progress is being made on vaccinations and COVID-19 testing. Dr. Howard Taras, a UC San Diego pediatrician who is advising the district on reopening, said Tuesday he hopes all school staff will be able to get vaccinations in a few weeks and all willing school staff may be vaccinated by April. The district said early last month that it would release a new reopening timeline on January 13 after canceling its original plans to open for in-person instruction this month. On Tuesday, Superintendent Cindy Marten indicated the district will not open for in-person instruction anytime soon, without giving any potential future dates. “Despite the progress that is being made and all of the best efforts of all of our employees, it’s important that we recognize that the virus continues to spread and it’s out of control in our communities,” Marten said. “The fact that we’re losing 4,000 of our fellow Americans to this disease every day is shocking and something we must all continue to attend to. This is not the time to let up on our efforts to defeat this deadly virus.”
San Diego Union-Tribune
----- CLASSROOM -----
Teachers of color more likely to tackle ‘controversial’ civics topics
A new report on civics education from the RAND Corporation suggests that an approach to civics education that places a greater emphasis on the global community and doesn’t shy away from so-called “controversial” issues, is more common among teachers of color. Researchers surveyed 820 social studies teachers in the United States, at all grade levels K-12, through their American Teacher Panel, finding that all wanted more support in the subject. They also identified some key differences in responses for two groups of teachers: teachers of color, and all teachers who work with English-language learners. These two groups held different priorities, and identified different needs, compared to the other teachers in the survey. Teachers of color placed a greater emphasis on teaching international relations, the environment, and immigration and emigration. They were also more likely than their wh ite peers to say that it was essential for students to understand the Bill of Rights and the responsibilities of citizenship. Teachers of color more often discussed controversial issues in their classrooms, and they were less likely to indicate trust in institutions. “Teachers of color are so much more likely to engage students in these topics, because this is not controversial to them. It’s life,” said Kristen E. Duncan, an assistant professor of secondary social studies education at Clemson University. “They need this information in order to navigate the systems and structure in which they live.”
Education Week
----- WORKFORCE ----
School Staff Classified As “Frontline Essential Workers,” But Access To COVID-19 Vaccine Varies Throughout Country
NPR (1/13, Kamenetz) reports President-elect Joe Biden “pledged to try to open most schools within his first hundred days in office.” In order “to make opening schools safer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classed school staff as ‘frontline essential workers,’” but timelines and access to COVID-19 vaccines “vary around the country, and some teachers remain worried about coronavirus continuing to spread in schools, even if they themselves can get the shots.” School workers in some states “have already begun to receive vaccines, or expect to in the coming days.” And in other states, “educators have been in tense discussions with state leaders over vaccine priority.”
The AP (1/13) reports New York state “expanded vaccine eligibility to teachers this week,” while Ohio’s governor “offered to give vaccinations to teachers at the start of February, provided their school districts agree to resume at least some in-person instruction by March 1.” Utah is “among the earliest states to give priority to educators,” as Gov. Spencer Cox “has said he wants to vaccinate all teachers by the end of February.” Meanwhile, Arizona teachers “began receiving shots this week,” coinciding with Gov. Doug Ducey push for schools to reopen “despite objections from top education officials.”
Superintendents Push For Faster Rollout Of COVID Vaccine To Teachers, School Staff. CNN (1/13, Stuart) reports an advocacy group for state and local school districts is “pushing for an organized plan to vaccinate the country’s teachers and school staff more quickly, in order to allow schools to open for more in-person learning.” In a Wednesday virtual press conference, Mike Magee, CEO of Chiefs for Change, “emphasized the need to release doses of the Covid-19 vaccine to local officials who can work directly with school districts to speed up the vaccination process.” He said, “We have a supply problem. The demand is obvious, and given the proper support from federal and state governments, our members are prepared to play a pivotal role in protecting our teachers and children.”
K-12 Dive (1/13) reports several district superintendents participating in the press conference said federal and state authorities “should make COVID-19 vaccines immediately available to all school staff and clearly communicate those plans so there can be a speedier return of full in-person learning.” The school leaders said vaccination distribution program “for school employees should be in addition to other safety protocols many schools already are implementing, such as contact tracing, testing, social distancing, mask use and personal protective equipment availability.” Robert Runcie, superintendent of Broward County Public Schools, said, “We have far too many students who are struggling, and I’m very concerned that we could lose a generation of kids if we don’t act quickly.”
The Seventy Four (1/13, Jacobson) reports Runcie “added that school nurses are prepared to participate in community-wide vaccination programs.” He said, “We could train them and have them be part of this network of delivery,” adding that “because the district is the county’s largest employer, vaccinating teachers and staff would ‘reach a critical mass of our community.’”
----- CHILD DEVELOPMENT ----
Strategies to reform early education professional development
As national calls for equity and the end of systemic racism influence efforts to retool professional development, career growth and compensation in early childhood education, a new paper from National Head Start Association, The HeadStarter Network and Bellwether Education Partners offers specific strategies providers could consider when building an effective early childhood educator workforce. Among the strategies detailed in the paper are the redefinition of credentials and using job-embedded coaching, to help reduce fragmentation in early childhood educator preparation and to incentivize the creation of stable and high-quality early education programs. It also suggests providing competitive career and leadership opportunities, such as fellowships and job rotations, for effective early educators, which would give them increased recognition, professional status and compensation while t hey remain in the classroom.
K-12 Dive
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Teachers in California and New York begin receiving vaccines
Teachers and school employees in Mariposa County are expected to be among the first of California’s 1.4 million teachers and other school staff to be vaccinated for Covid-19 on Monday. New York teachers can begin receiving coronavirus vaccines starting Monday, state and city officials said Friday afternoon. Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved the next phase of vaccine distribution, also known as 1b, which includes education workers, along with people over the age of 75, public safety personnel and transit workers. Cuomo stressed however that health care workers must receive priority, and warned it could take months to inoculate everyone who will become eligible for shots as of Monday.
EdSource Chalkbeat
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
Effective online teacher training improving
Experts say professional teacher development is becoming more "accessible, flexible and personalized" as a result of the pandemic-related need for online training. On-demand instructional learning, quicker access to best practices and the growing ability to connect with colleagues and experts across the state and country are some of the benefits of online training is enhancing during remote teaching. “There is innovation that can continue to happen,” said Lynn Holdheide, who is senior advisor at the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders as well as co-director of the CEEDAR Center, a technical assistance center supported by the U.S. Education Department. Academics are keen to assert however that a "comprehensive plan" for online and in-person teacher training and supports is required to better boost teacher effectiveness and retention rates, particularly in high-poverty school communities.
K12 Dive
----- SOCIAL & COMMUNITY -----
Exposure to desegregated schools leads to less tolerant adults
School integration, long part of the unfinished business of the civil rights movement, has been the subject of revived interest for several years. Now, however, new evidence casts doubt on one of the most ambitious promises underlying Brown v. Board of Education and the decades of work that followed: that America’s prejudices might be alleviated through the mingling of children from diverse backgrounds. The study, released in November as a working paper through Brown University’s Annenberg Institute for School Reform, was authored by Mark Chin, a doctoral student at Harvard; it found that exposure to desegregated schools led white people to view African Americans more negatively and decreased their willingness to support policies like affirmative action. The study doesn’t necessarily argue against contemporary efforts to break down racial divisions in K-12 schooling, or even against the idea that school integration per se might lead to less racism among white students who participate in it. “I’m not convinced that integration always doesn’t work. In my theory of a transformed society, we would all be in more integrated spaces”, Mr Chin said. “But there’s a link missing because it’s so hard to get spaces to integrate….We need to improve people’s racial attitudes and behaviors and empathy toward others. But [school integration] is what I thought would have done that.”
The 74
----- HIGHER EDUCATION -----
Higher Ed leaders pledge to improve community college transfers
California’s legislative and higher education leaders on Wednesday committed to increase the number of students who can transfer from the state’s community colleges to universities this year. Only 19% of community college students who intend to transfer to enter the nine undergraduate campuses of the University of California, the 23 campuses of California State University or private universities reach that goal within four years, and 28% do so within six years, according to a September 2020 report from the Public Policy Institute of California. CSU is developing a new transfer planner tool that will hopefully lessen or eliminate some of the challenges. The online platform will help California community college students plan and track transfer to one or several CSU campuses. It would also notify students of pathways and alert them if there can be a transfer path for them, he said.
EdSource
----- OTHER -----
NTA Life Insurance - An ABCFT Sponsor
About three years ago ABCFT started a working relationship with National Teachers Associates Life Insurance Company. Throughout our partnership, NTA has been supportive of ABCFT activities by sponsorship and prizes for our various events. This organization specializes in providing insurance for educators across the nation. We have been provided both data and member testimonials about how pleased they have been with the NTA products and the opportunity to look at alternatives to the district insurance choice.
Apply Here for NTA Benefits
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
leann.blaisdell@ntarep.com
Easter Egg comic
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