ABCFT - YOUnionews - March 26, 2021
ABCFT: Spotlight on Community - Addressing Asian Hate
Dear ABCFT Colleagues,
The events of recent week in Georgia are a reminder that words and actions have consequences that lead to violence. Innocent people always pay the price for the thoughtless actions of those who spout words of hate. There is no state, no district, and no classroom that isn’t impacted by the rhetoric of hate, and ABCFT believes it is vitally important that we use our teaching abilities to shed light on this language of atrocities so that we can empower a new generation of activists to take the steps to rid our society of the ignorance of hate. We need to work together to ensure that all humans are treated equally regardless of their race, ethnicity, country of origin, skin tone, or religion. The language of hate only seeks to divide us as equal citizens in a free society. Racism in all forms directly impacts our students and the communities they live in. ABCT hopes you will join the battle against the language of hate and the violence it breeds.
What are we doing as a local union to address racism?
ABCFT has formed the ABCFT Equity Committee which is made of members who are actively engaged in pursuing change locally within our school district. We encourage you as members of ABCFT to get involved in this process of change by joining our monthly Equity Committee meetings. If you are interested in joining and would like to attend the next meeting please write to abcft@abcusd.us so we can send you the latest resources and virtual meeting links. There are resources below from the ABC District and additional resources from Share My Lesson which is a free resource of lesson plans and information provided by the American Federation of Teachers.
Thank you for your continued support and attention to this critical issue and the need for change.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President - ABC Federation of Teachers
Equity Committee Resource
ABCFT Equity Committee member Viki Yamashita was kind enough to share with the committee a thought-provoking slide presentation this week addressing the topic of Asian Hate. Thank you for sharing Viki!
AFT Resources
https://sharemylesson.com/todays-news-tomorrows-lesson/anti-asian-hate-crimes
https://sharemylesson.com/collections/racism-lesson-plans
https://sharemylesson.com/todays-news-tomorrows-lesson/asian-american-racism
Black Live Matter Resources
Here are hundreds of lesson plans, projects, and articles addressing Racism and the Black Lives Matter movement for equality.
https://sharemylesson.com/search?search_api_views_fulltext=black%20lives%20matter
ABCUSD Resources
The Office of Secondary Curriculum would like to help provide resources to address this in the classroom.
1) Here are a few resources to discuss these topics with students:
We Are Not A Stereotype:A video series from the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
The Asian American Racial Justice Toolkit: A collection of resources from grassroots organizations hosted by Asian American Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment.
Asian Americans K-12 Education Curriculum: Lesson plans and additional resources from Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Los Angeles.
A Different Asian American Timeline: An online tool for exploring the history of Asians and Asian Americans in land that is now the United States, starting in the 1400s.
Asian Americans: A PBS series exploring “the history of identity, contributions, and challenges experienced by Asian Americans.” Streaming online.
2) After the January insurrection, our office did training on "How to address controversial topics in the classroom". I am including the slides here. We will be creating a webinar recording for your to view by next week since there are no professional learning days next week.
Click here for the presentation.
3) In addition, our coaches are available to help and at least be a thought partner for you as you prepare to address this topic. We will have office hours next week to support you.
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 finding balance while having difficult conversations. Participants practice breathing techniques and love and kindness meditation by focusing on these word: May you be safe, may you be happy, may you be healthy, may you be free from suffering. Participants use stretching movements focusing on participants shoulders and neck.
The session closes with a quote from Criss Jami ,
“Everyone has their own ways of expression. I believe we all have a lot to say, but finding ways to say it is more than half the battle.”
ABCFT-RETIREES UPDATE
The ABCFT-Retirees put together their latest newsletter for the month of March. Please click the link below to read this report which opens with an article by ABCFTs former VP of Child Development, Arlene Riddick who informs us about their latest efforts to fundraise for their food basket project that provides resources and food for some of ABC’s families in most need of support. ABCFT-R update
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 everyone, I’m sure you had an eventful week and that you were able to see some of your colleagues live in person over the past couple of days. Tanya Golden and myself have been busy putting out fires and answering questions as best we can throughout the week. We are encouraging members to work with their principals and department supervisors to get answers to site/program questions. The principals are being updated regularly about the many changes and work needed in preparation for the in-person transition.
Tanya, myself and thirty-two other ABCFT delegates are attending the CFT’s bi-annual State Convention which is being held virtually this year. We will have a full report about the Convention in next weeks YOUnionews so please excuse the brevity of this weeks report. I do want to say congratulations Tanya Golden has been re-elected as the Secretary for the EC-TK/12 Division Council. I am running for my fifth term as one of the twenty-four Vice Presidents for CFT as part of the leadership slate. I have had the honor and opportunity to represent EC-TK/12 and the ABC Federation of Teachers at the State level as part of my responsibilities. More info to come….
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
California Federation of Teachers Responds to Updated CDPH and CDC Distancing Guidelines
SACRAMENTO, CA -- CFT President Jeff Freitas issued the following statement following the announcements from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Public Health altering physical distancing guidelines for school classrooms:
“Educators and staff share the goal of a safe return to in person instruction and have been proposing safe reopening guidelines since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We know our students learn best in physical classrooms and want nothing more than to be reunited in a manner that keeps our educators, students, and communities safe.
“The latest guidance from the CDC and CDPH comes after months of planning at the local level for a safe return to in person learning. Districts created plans that include the previous CDC and CDPH recommended 6 feet of distancing along with testing, masking, and ventilation to create safe learning environments.
“We are concerned that our schools lack the time needed to now update other mitigation measures, including adjusting ventilation based on an increased number of students in classrooms. We are especially concerned about how the new guidance will impact California’s middle and high schools, especially in urban school districts.
“CFT will continue to advocate for 6 feet of distancing at the local level, because we know it adds to the safety of the classroom environment, we know our educators and students need stability, and we know that it helps keep class sizes smaller to strengthen the connections between the educators and students in the classroom, especially during these times.”
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
AFT’s Weingarten Sends Letter on Physical Distancing to CDC, Education Department
WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten sent a formal letter today to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky and Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona questioning the CDC’s recent guidance reducing physical distancing in classrooms from 6 feet to 3 feet.
The text of the letter follows:
March 23, 2021
Dear Dr. Cardona and Dr. Walensky:
I noted Friday’s shift in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance around physical distancing in schools with keen interest. As we have shared with you previously, AFT members trust the CDC and their union above all other entities to provide them with accurate information that will keep them, their families, their students and their communities safe during this pandemic.
As you also know, although I was very worried about the implications of the shift, I reserved judgment until we could review the new studies that were presented. We have done that this weekend, including those in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report as well as the studies cited in the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s “New CDC Guidelines to Reopen Schools Could Be Dangerous.”[1]
We appreciate that the body of knowledge regarding the impact of COVID-19 in school environments is expanding, but we are not convinced that the evidence supports changing physical distancing requirements at this time. Our concern is that the cited studies do not identify the baseline mitigation strategies needed to support 3 feet of physical distancing. Moreover, they were not conducted in our nation’s highest-density and least-resourced schools, which have poor ventilation, crowding and other structural challenges.
One thing the studies were clear on is the need for layered mitigation if there is a shift to reduce physical distancing. Now that we have had a chance to review the research, we conclude that any shift from 6 feet to 3 feet must be accompanied by, at a minimum, universal and correct masking; effective ventilation; thorough cleaning of buildings; regular COVID-19 testing of teachers, staff and students; effective contact tracing and quarantine/isolation protocols; and the availability of vaccines to all people in schools who are eligible.
Weakening one layer of layered mitigation demands that the other layers must be strengthened. We strongly urge you, in any discussion of this shift, to forcefully insist on strict and strengthened adherence to the other mitigation strategies.
After months of mixed messaging and misinformation, consistency from our public health officials is a welcome change. But as educators with the expertise on how physical distancing works in schools, we have immediate logistical questions:
• With the guidance that students can be 3 feet apart from each other but adults should remain 6 feet from children or other adults, what is the expectation for the teacher in a classroom—that she remain in one spot at the front of the room the entire day, not moving about the classroom?
• How will paraprofessionals work in reading circles or other small-group settings? Does this also apply to bus drivers and school bus protocol—i.e., will students be 3 feet from each other on buses, but 6 feet from a bus driver or a bus attendant?
• With the increased number of in-person students, can we end the practice of concurrently teaching in person and simulcasting to students at home? Alternatively, can we provide guidance on the negative effects of this practice?
• What is the expected timeline for implementation of these changes? Many school systems are just returning to in-person instruction right now, after significant planning—for bus routes, staggered schedules, etc.—based on 6 feet of physical distancing. Even with the significant investment of American Rescue Plan money, districts lack the human resources and institutional planning ability to make changes like this quickly. Is this something that can be implemented in the fall, or perhaps the summer?
We ask that the Education Department, in conjunction with the CDC, release a national checklist outlining the enhanced mitigation strategies that must be in place if we move to 3 feet physical distancing, and provide details about how to ensure that 3 feet of physical distancing is implemented properly. We also request that the CDC conduct comparative studies on mitigation efforts in urban, densely populated schools that do not have up-to-date ventilation systems and have been systematically under-resourced for decades. This will help in planning for summer and the next school year.
AFT members want to trust the CDC to keep all of us safe, and to trust the Education Department to have students’, families’ and educators’ well-being as its goal. Your responses to this letter’s requests will help ensure this. Thank you.
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
CDC Reduces Social Distancing Guidelines For Students
The New York Times (3/19, Rabin, Goldstein, Anthes, Stolberg) reported, “In a major policy revision intended to encourage more schools to welcome children back to in-person instruction, federal health officials on Friday relaxed the six-foot distancing rule for elementary school students, saying they need only remain three feet apart in classrooms as long as everyone is wearing a mask.” This change “applies to students in middle schools and high schools, as long as community transmission is not high, officials said.” But in areas where there are high levels of transmission, “these students must be at least six feet apart, unless they are taught in cohorts, or small groups that are kept separate from others, and the cohorts are kept six feet apart.”
The Washington Post (3/19, Meckler, Brulliard, Sun) reported this move “came as the CDC published new research that found limited coronavirus transmission in schools that require masks but not always six feet of distance, which had been the standard. That was true even in areas with high community spread of the virus.” The article said teachers’ unions are opposing “the change, and local unions may resist efforts to bring large numbers of students back into school buildings at one time.” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement, “These updated recommendations provide the evidence-based roadmap to help schools reopen safely, and remain open, for in-person instruction.”
USA Today (3/19, Rodriguez) reported that the new guidelines “create more opportunities for schools to reopen for in-person learning. The 6-foot rule had sharply limited how many students some schools could accommodate.” Walensky stated, “Safe in-person instruction gives our kids access to critical social and mental health services that prepare them for the future, in addition to the education they need to succeed.”
Education Week (3/19) reported that “many educators and policymakers viewed the agency’s previous recommendation of 6 feet of space as a major hurdle to a full return to in-person school during the COVID-19 pandemic. And some feared the more-rigid guideline could affect schools’ ability to return to fuller in-person operations in the fall.” Nevertheless, it remains “unclear how much the revision will help more schools open.”
Also reporting are the Wall Street Journal (3/19, A1, McKay, Calfas, Subscription Publication), Los Angeles Times (3/19, Blume), the AP (3/19, Stobbe), Chalkbeat (3/19), The Seventy Four (3/19, Mahnken), Reuters (3/19, O'Donnell), NPR (3/19, Kamentz, Turner, Aubrey), CNN (3/19, Mascarenhas), ABC News (3/20, Flaherty), CBS News (3/19, Tin) and more.
----- EQUITY ISSUES -----
Pandemic Overwhelms School Counselors In US’s Poorer Districts
The AP (3/20, Melia) reports that “school counselors everywhere have played important roles in guiding students through the stress and uncertainty of the pandemic, but the burden has been especially heavy in urban, high-needs districts like Bridgeport, Connecticut, where they have been consumed with issues related to attendance and engagement.” In a nation where poor districts “typically have fewer counselors per student, those demands highlight one way the pandemic is likely to worsen inequities in the American education system as those with the most on their plates have the least amount of time to help students plan for the future.” There is “one guidance counselor for every 350 students in high school in Bridgeport, Connecticut’s largest city where three quarters of the students in the low-income district are Black or Hispanic.” That “compares with much smaller ratios in neighboring, largely white Fairfield County communities including 1 for every 220 in Greenwich, 206 in Darien and 162 in Weston, according to federal data.”
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Biden working towards new spending package to boost infrastructure and schools
President Joe Biden is working towards the next big White House priority, a sweeping $3 trillion package of investments on infrastructure and domestic needs. Biden met late Monday with Senate Democrats as Congress has already begun laying the groundwork for the president's “Build Back Better” pledge. Though the White House plans are still preliminary, much like the $1.9 trillion virus rescue plan signed into law earlier this month the new package would also include family-friendly policies focusing on education and paid family leave.
Education Secretaries discuss pandemic recovery strategies
Schools need to be innovative and inclusive when planning comprehensive programs as students return to full-time in-person learning, advised U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and two former education secretaries - John King Jr. and Arne Duncan, who both served under the Obama administration - during a virtual education summit hosted by the CAA Foundation last Thursday. The speedy rollout of high-quality academic resources and supports should be prioritized, along with efforts to build engaging but safe social interactions among students. Building a sense of community will be necessary as students acclimate to being back on school campuses, the secretaries said. The virtual summit, which also included advocates, actors and youth leaders, focused on building support for public education and increasing awareness about the hardships marginalized students faced during the pandemic.
AFT raises concerns about CDC’s eased distancing guidelines for schools
The leader of the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union is “not convinced that the evidence supports” easing social distancing requirements in schools, a shift many policymakers have seen as key to getting more students into classrooms for in-person learning. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week that 3 feet of space between students who are wearing masks is a sufficient safeguard in most classroom situations, a change from a long-running recommendation of 6 feet of social distancing in schools. “Weakening one layer of layered mitigation demands that the other layers must be strengthened,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a Tuesday letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. “We strongly urge you, in any discussion of this shift, to forcefully insist on strict and strengthened adherence to the other mitigation strategies,” like mask-wearing, testing, and ventilation, she wrote, asking for more guidance and research on the issue. In the letter, Weingarten specifically requests that the CDC conduct comparative studies on mitigation efforts "in urban, densely populated schools that do not have up-to-date ventilation systems and have been systematically under-resourced for decades."
New infrastructure plan could help kids and schools
The Biden administration is thought likely to soon introduce another major funding package that includes billions of dollars for schools and early childhood education. The plan could include funding for universal pre-K extending to three-year-olds. Additionally, it could also boost the number of children eligible for child care assistance, and increase pay for child care providers; further extend the child tax credit for several more years; provide $100 billion for school repairs and construction; and provide free community college. With a total price tag reportedly in the $4 trillion range and an expected call for tax increases on corporations and individuals earning at least $400,000, the plan is, however, thought unlikely to receive broad support across the aisle. AASA, The School Superintendents Association, remains “optimistic that a proposal like this can garner the bipartisan support it deserves,” Noelle Ellerson Ng, executive director for advocacy and governance, told The 74. “After a year of the COVID pandemic, it’s clearer than ever that public schools are the backbone to our economy, a critical piece of our societal infrastructure.”
Don’t force standardized tests on schools, academics urge Cardona
Over 500 education scholars have written to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona urging him to reconsider his department’s decision to require school districts to administer federally mandated standardized tests this pandemic year. The academics, in a letter signed by 548 members of the education research community, fear that the exams will exacerbate inequality and produce flawed data. The letter, which underlines how critics of high-stakes testing have warned for decades that the high-stakes use of any metric will distort results and narrow curriculums, also asks the department to invest in “more holistically evaluating school quality” by “developing new measures of educational opportunities.”
----- STATE NEWS -----
California adopts CDC’s recommendation to reduce social distancing in schools
In alignment with new federal guidance, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California Department of Public Health have halved the minimum social distancing requirement in schools from 6 feet to 3 feet. Other safety measures recommended include the wearing of masks, proper classroom ventilation, and contact tracing and virus detection protocols. The revisions, which will also enable middle and high schools in counties with high rates of COVID infection to reopen sooner, should help resolve a lawsuit that parent groups in six school districts in San Diego County filed against the state. The lawsuit charged that state public health officials failed to provide a scientific rationale behind stricter reopening rules. Last week San Diego County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Freeland agreed and issued a temporary injunction against the state, pending a hearing on April 1st.
----- DISTRICTS -----
San Francisco School Board Member Urged To Resign Over Racist Tweets Directed At Asian Americans
The San Francisco Chronicle (3/19, Tucker) reported San Francisco Board of Education Vice President Alison Collins is facing calls to resign “after critics highlighted a series of racist tweets she posted in 2016 about Asian Americans, who have been targeted in a recent surge of violent acts in the Bay Area and across the country.” Collins said in series of tweets on Dec. 4, 2016 that Asian Americans had used “white supremacist thinking to assimilate and ‘get ahead.’” Collins explained in the thread that she was seeking to “combat anti-black racism in the Asian community” and “at my daughters’ mostly Asian Am school.”
The San Francisco Chronicle (3/20, Tucker) added that “in an unprecedented move,” San Francisco’s top elected officials, including Mayor London Breed, state legislators, and nearly all supervisors, called Saturday for Collins to resign over her racist tweets. In a statement, 22 incumbent and ex-elected officials said, “We are outraged and sickened by the racist, anti-Asian statements tweeted by school board Vice President Alison Collins that recently came to light,” adding, “No matter the time, no matter the place, and no matter how long ago the tweets were written, there is no place for an elected leader in San Francisco who is creating and or/created hate statements and speeches.” School board members Jenny Lam and Faauuga Moliga and the head of the San Francisco’s teachers union have also called for Collins to step down.
Oakland Teachers Union Approves School Reopening Deal
The San Francisco Chronicle (3/21, Sanchez) reports members of the Oakland Education Association “approved a tentative agreement with the Oakland Unified School District to get some elementary school students back into classrooms by the end of the month, the district announced late Saturday.” According to the deal, pre-K through second grade students will return to school March 30, “with all elementary and at least one middle or high school grade back in schools by April 19. High-needs students across all grades, including homeless students, foster youth, English learners, disengaged students and those with special needs, among others, would also be able to return by mid-April.” The agreement must still be approved by the school board.
Los Angeles USD sued over vaccine, tracking policy
California Educators for Medical Freedom, with assistance from the Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF), is suing Los Angeles USD over its mandatory vaccine policy and digital tracking system. Both violate federal law and basic human rights, the plaintiffs argue. The district is mandating that its employees be vaccinated as a condition of employment, something the lawsuit claims is both unconstitutional and unethical, and violates the most fundamental human rights laws.
----- FINANCE -----
How are school budgets faring?
One year into the COVID pandemic, Mark Lieberman explores the current state of school finance. State-level debates over school budget cuts are happening across the country, he says, though there is much discrepancy between states in how they have weathered the pandemic. For districts with a high volume of federal Title I funding, the three sets of federal stimulus funds over the past year could go a long way toward addressing school leaders' concerns. States like California, which rely heavily on capital gains revenue, have even been buoyed by the relatively resilient stock market. Most states’ current revenue stacks up to less than what they were expecting before the pandemic however. In a recent survey by the Association of School Business Officials International, 55% of respondents said the two federal stimulus packages in 2020 were not enough to meet "unprecedented financial needs" during the pandemic. For some states, including Ohio, Vermont and Kansas, the current revenue is only a touch lower than anticipated. In other states though, pre-pandemic predictions have far exceeded things "on the ground." States that rely heavily on tourism, like Hawaii, or revenue from the oil and gas industries, like North Dakota, are facing substantial losses, which could prove particularly tough for districts in low-income areas which rely on state funds. New York, Alaska, Nevada, and Texas each came in more than 10% below expectations, for example. Michael Griffith, a senior school finance researcher and policy analyst for the Learning Policy Institute, laments: “It’s the kids that need help the most that tend to get hurt the worst.”
How schools are still affected by 1930s housing policies
Disparities in education funding, academic performance and school segregation still persist along racist lines drawn in the late 1930s, according to a new working paper from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University. In the aftermath of the Great Depression, the U.S. government mapped out the supposed risk for mortgage lenders in neighborhoods across hundreds of cities, basing their assessments largely on the area’s racial makeup. Zones deemed high-risk, often inhabited by Black, immigrant, and Jewish populations, were coded in red by mapmakers. The researchers compared how schools and districts from redlined areas stacked up against schools in neighborhoods that, 80 years ago, mapmakers had viewed more favorably. Findings include that schools in redlined areas spend nearly $2,500 less per pupil than schools in top-rated zones, and over $3,000 less than schools in neighborhoods rated second-tier. “Education policymakers need to consider the historical implications of past neighborhood inequality on present-day neighborhoods when designing and implementing … interventions that target inequitable outcomes," the paper concludes.
----- LEGAL -----
Transgender Student to Receive $300K In Discrimination Suit
The Anoka-Hennepin School District, the largest in Minnesota, will pay $300,000 to settle a discrimination lawsuit with a transgender student who was barred from using the boys' locker room. It has also agreed to make several policy changes, including a rule that allows every student to use all facilities consistent with their gender identity, along with a complaint procedure and prohibition on reprisals. Training on the policies will be provided for school board members, staff and students. The student swam for Coon Rapids High School in 2015-16 and had used the boys’ locker room for much of that season, his attorneys said. That February, the school board stepped in and told the student he would be disciplined if he continued to use the locker room. The move led to bullying and threats against the student and his family, the lawsuit said.
----- OPERATIONS ----
States target learning loss with summer school and extended days
State lawmakers across the U.S. are weighing proposals to establish summer learning initiatives, expand afterschool programs and extend the school year, to help students make up for missed instruction due to school closures. Preliminary data shows that students, particularly English learners and students of color, are especially off track in math compared to their peers in a typical year. In North Carolina, a bill passed Feb. 24 in the House mandating that districts offer students at least 150 hours of summer instruction, as well as sports and enrichment activities. The bill includes funding for transportation and lunch to make it easier for families to participate. In New Mexico, meanwhile, districts will have the option of extending the school day instead of pushing the school year into the summer months. In other states, lawmakers are considering the retention issue from the perspective of parents. In Florida, a Senate bill would allow parents of students in K-8 to request that their children repeat the grade they’re in this year. Lawmakers in California are considering a similar bill. Polling data from the National Parents Union shows that almost three-fourths of parents support having the option of their child repeating a grade.
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
Utah High School Students Fight School’s Filters for LGTBQ Searches
The AP (3/21, Deininger) reports that Park City High School students “googled ‘gay rights in Poland’ in a current issues class recently and found the phrase blocked by filtering software that prevents access to inappropriate content on school-issued computers.” Out of curiosity, they “googled gay, lesbian, queer, and same sex marriage; all were blocked.” Before the district’s software upgrade March 11, “those terms were searchable.” Students “wasted no time contacting their principal and requesting the blocks be removed.” Junior Summer McGuire, president of the PCHS Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), wrote in an email to Principal Roger Arbabi. “It is incredibly difficult to effectively educate and inform when we are prevented from doing further research of our own.” He replied, “writing, ‘The new filter system that is in place will need to be adjusted to accommodate the needs of our community. I was in touch with the Director of Technology at PCSD and have granted access to topics related to LGBTQ+.’”
----- SOCIAL & COMMUNITY -----
Pandemic 'overwhelming' many urban counselors
Michael Melia explores how school counselors in many urban, high needs districts have been overwhelmed working to help students engage with their schoolwork since the pandemic hit. Nationally, high school counselors who serve predominantly students of color attend to 34 more students than others, according to a 2019 report by the American School Counselor Association, the Education Trust and Reach Higher. It also found that schools serving the most students from low-income families tend to have fewer counselors. "A shift to emphasize student attendance and well-being — and not necessarily academic counseling — has taken place even in suburban districts," comments Amanda Fitzgerald, an assistant deputy executive director at the Connecticut School Counselor Association.
LGBTQ students at Christian colleges face more bullying than straight peers
A new survey of major Christian colleges around the U.S. indicates that bullying and even sexual assault against LGBTQ students occurs at a higher rate than among their straight and cisgender peers. The study, from the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP) and CollegePulse, is based on responses from 3,000 students at Christian schools with specific rules targeting LGBTQ students in their school policies. Students who identified as gay, lesbian or another sexual preference reported far higher rates of loneliness, anxiety and depression than did straight students, and they were nearly three times as likely to report being sexually assaulted.
----- HIGHER EDUCATION -----
Community colleges to offer limited expansion of fall in-person classes
After a year in which they operated almost entirely online, California’s community colleges are likely to offer more in-person instruction and activities this fall, while many classes will still be offered remotely. “We do expect to see a reopening, but given that no one thought we would be here a year ago, there is a lot of uncertainty,” Eloy Ortiz Oakley, the chancellor of the state’s 116 community college system, told its Board of Governors at its meeting on Monday. Oakley said the colleges are awaiting further guidance from state health officials that could have an impact on school reopening plans. He confirmed, though, that there will be more lab courses and other courses requiring in-person or hands-on instruction, as well as more sporting activities than were possible for the past year.
----- INTERNATIONAL -----
Foreign student enrollment tumbled last year
The pandemic and a flurry of immigration-related directives from the Trump administration hit international-student enrollment at U.S. schools hard in 2020. The number of students here on F-1 and M-1 visas fell by 18% last year, to 1.25m, according to a new tally by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program, which manages the Department of Homeland Security’s student-visa monitoring system. Visa records for newly enrolled students declined by 72%. At the start of the school year in August, F-1 student visas down by more than 90%. A snapshot survey of 700 colleges and universities last fall showed declines of 16% overall, and 43% among new students.
----- 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.
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
