ABCFT - YOUnionews - April 30, 2021
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 participate in Guided Meditation and Chair Yoga virtually. 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 continues to focus on breathing and the value of taking a cold shower at the end of your daily shower. The cold water slows down the heart rate naturally and helps the vascular system work better.
The session closes with a quote from author, Wim Hoff
“ There is still every reason for healthy people to take cold showers.”
ABCFT TEACHER LEADERS PROGRAM By Tanya Golden
The best verb to describe this year’s Teacher Leaders is resilience. The Teacher Leader participants, Monique Erece, Laura Kleven, Megan Mitchell, Edith Padilla, Jenise Page, and Oralia Rojas, were still able to keep their heads up and smile for a picture but I can guarantee you they have experienced many hours of collaboration, researching, creating surveys, analyzing data, building relationships, writing their research summary and preparing their presentation. All of this work while enduring what has been described by many as the absolute most difficult year of teaching ever. As a co-facilitator, Erika Cook’s contagious enthusiasm and expertise guided and coached the TL’s during their twice-monthly virtual meetings as they each created their own education-related action research. Congratulations to these incredible Teacher Leaders!
Celebrate these courageous union activists as they present their final Action Research projects.
4th Annual Teacher Leaders Showcase
Wednesday, May 12th, 4:00 - 5:30 pm
Virtually on Zoom
Applications for the 2021-22 Teacher Leaders Program will be available in early May. We are looking forward to you joining us in this exciting, rewarding program.
MEMBER ONLY RESOURCES
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 am sorry for the lateness of this weeks YOUnionews. The negotiating team and ABCFT Executive Board we taking part in a district LCAP and Funding meeting. We will have more details and analysis about this meeting in the YOUnionews next week. Still, for now, I can report that as part of our LCAP input the union’s greatest priorities for the next three years is class size reductions, combo class limitations, and greater numbers of school site nurses. We will have more details shortly.
During this week’s YOUnion Chat, we presented the latest salary comparisons for all eighty Los Angeles school districts. Here is a link to that document for those of you interested so you can look at these comparisons. I made sure that we included a comparison list of all the different health plans that are offered across the county. You will see throughout this document that there are other numbers of contract days, different ADA funding situations, and a variety of combinations of health plans. I will reiterate that the work of the ABCFT Negotiating team is evident, especially when you see that we are fifty-third in funding, yet we are in the top quartile in almost every category in the study. These are your YOUnion dues at work, and as the president of this organization, I continue to appreciate your support of this great organization of teachers and nurses.
On another note, I think many of us are “just done with this year.” I don’t know of anyone in the education system who isn’t looking forward to finishing the 2020-21 school year. I received an email from a teacher who described a day in her life as a teacher right now, which I’m sure many of you can identify with because you live a parallel life with many of your colleagues. Here is an excerpt from her letter that she so kindly shared and permitted me to publish.
Today started with a materials pick-up for my first-grade students. These packets take weeks to prepare everything they will need for the remainder of the year. Only half of my class showed up to get it, which leaves me spending the next two days with phone calls and emails trying to "gently remind them" to come to get what they need for Monday.
Followed by an hour of PD .... I attended the one regarding Asian American Youth which was geared for secondary, but so needed for primary as well.
Next up was a staff meeting where we discussed....enrollment, our calendar is being negotiated, we have so much gray in the near future for so many....but don't forget to plan a great Open House ....oh yeah and a 5:00 pm email reminding us that progress reports for ALL students are due next Friday....but wait there's more...because now we have to figure out which day to give the STAR Math and ELA benchmark by end the of May so the district has "data" for this year.....logging on six-year-old students to an assessment while virtual or from six feet away is going to give data alright...not necessarily accurate data!
I am sure there are things I am forgetting, but after picking up my daughter and taking her to finish off her one-year immunizations....We were both in tears!
I do not know how much more we can take, and am left feeling like enough is enough. I know that if we continue to do all the things that is asked of us, they will continue to ask and then some. Trust is lost at the district level, along with respect for those making decisions for us when having no idea what is actually going on hour by hour or day to day.
I do not have answers but hope this gives you a glimpse into just one day of what we are going through. The expectations put on teachers this year are unprecedented and at this point, unacceptable.
I’m sure many of you can empathize with the frustration and confusion this teacher is going through. I know I do. However, here is my advice. Survive. Do what you can do and handle as an individual. This is not the time to “reach for the stars with your students” as all teachers and nurses usually do in ABC. Now is the time to do what is reasonably possible to meet the needs of your students. This entire national narrative about “learning loss” is just a way to pile more work on students and teachers. We need to push back on this narrative by illustrating that we need time to re-engage and reinvigorate our students and staff as a nation of educators. That doesn’t mean that our students need more academic rigor. It means we take the time to be human beings to show compassion and love to one another.
In Unity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
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 on White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment
Collective Bargaining Is the Official Policy of the United States; Executive Order Shows Biden Administration Is Dedicated to Its Success
WASHINGTON—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after President Joe Biden launched a task force to empower workers to organize and successfully bargain with their employers.
“Workers know that labor unions are a ticket out of poverty and into the middle class, but all too often their freedom to organize and bargain has been thwarted. Today, President Biden is acting to remove the structural impediments to the power and promise of unions so workers can join together for a better life.
“Like Franklin Roosevelt, the president believes in the goals of the National Labor Relations Act, which not only permits collective bargaining but actively encourages it. This historic task force, by including senior officials from across the administration, shows just how committed the president and Vice President Kamala Harris are to mobilizing the full force of the federal government to propel organizing and worker activism.
“We look forward to working with the administration to identify opportunities within the current legal framework, as well as new policies and provisions workers need to get ahead, including the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. Workers finally have a champion in Washington, and today’s announcement couldn’t be timelier or more important.”
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
School reopenings bring pay bumps for California teachers
Some California teachers and school staff are receiving bonuses, salary increases and stipends as part of union agreements with school district officials eager to reopen classrooms. Gov. Gavin Newsom first proposed offering incentive funds to districts to reopen schools in December. While some school districts had already signed off on agreements offering pay increases to their staff before the proposal, many more signed off on memorandums of understanding or side agreements to contracts to include pay raises for staff in the months since. Recently-signed school district agreements with teachers unions include everything from retroactive pay raises and a bonus in Long Beach to bonuses as high as $5,000 for a course in Campbell Union High School District and one-time 7% salary increases in April for teachers who voluntarily return to campuses in Sweetwater Union High School District. In Long Beach, where elementary students returned to campuses April 1, teachers are expected to receive retroactive pay raises of 1% for last school year and 2% for this school year, as well as a one-time bonus equal to 2% of each teacher’s salary, if a tentative agreement is approved by the school board on April 28th.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Biden’s American Families Plan to expand universal Pre-K
President Joe Biden has proposed a $1.8tn package of policies, the American Families Plan (AFP), which would expand universal prekindergarten access, make it easier for high-poverty schools to serve free meals, and fund programs to train and support teachers. The centrepiece of the plan would add four years of education for every student, with $200bn to fund universal preschool for all 3-4 year olds, and $109bn for two years of community college later. “When this nation made 12 years of public education universal in the last century, it made us the best-educated and best-prepared nation in the world,” Mr Biden said. “But the world is catching up. They are not waiting. Twelve years is no longer enough today to compete in the 21st Century.” Expanding access to early education could boost many young children’s later chances of later graduating from high school and going to college, he added. The AFP also provides $9bn to “train, equip and diversify American teachers” through expanded federal scholarships for would-be educators, “grow-your-own” programs that help paraprofessionals become full-time teachers, and teacher residency and leadership programs. Forty-five billion dollars will be used to expand nutrition programs, allowing more schools to participate in the existing Community Eligibility Program, which allows schools in low-income areas to serve universal free meals without individually qualifying students. National Education Association President Becky Pringle said the package “will not only make sure that the wealthiest few and corporations contribute their fair share but, most importantly, make sure that students, families, and communities have the resources they need to thrive.” However, it faces hurdles in passing the Senate, where Democrats do not hold a filibuster-proof majority and where Republicans have criticized calls for additional federal spending.
Chalkbeat Education Week New York Times
Education Dept. provides $800m to support homeless students
The U.S. Department of Education has announced plans to distribute $800m to help support the needs of students experiencing homelessness, as part of the American Rescue Plan, and will distribute $200m in funding from today. "The pandemic made the inequities in our education system even worse, especially for students experiencing homelessness," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. "As districts and schools return to in-person learning, we must act with urgency to provide all students, including students experiencing homelessness, equitable access to high-quality learning environments and the resources to help meet their basic needs which schools often provide." Alongside the announcement, the Department issued a letter to Chief State School Officers underscoring the urgent need to use this funding to identify homeless children and youth, provide wraparound services in light of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provide assistance to enable homeless children and youth to attend school and participate fully in school activities, including in-person instruction this spring and upcoming summer learning and enrichment programs. The remaining funds will be allocated to states as soon as June.
----- STATE NEWS -----
Newsom gets strong public ratings on school reopenings
A new poll from the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California has found that a majority of Californians like how Gov. Gavin Newsom has handled school closures throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey found that 57% of adults and 64% of public school parents approve of Newsom’s handling of K-12 education comes as the Democratic governor prepares to face a recall election this fall, driven in part by frustration with school closures. Californians weren’t shifting frustration with school closures onto school districts either; asked how their local school district has been handling school closures, 65% of adults and 72% of public school parents approve. However, 86% of adults and 83% of public school parents, say children have fallen behind academically during the pandemic. The eight in 10 who say kids have fallen behind either a lot or a little is consistent across racial and ethnic groups, with eight in 10 either very or somewhat concerned that students in lower-income areas have been more likely to fall behind.
East Bay Times Los Angeles Times Politico San Francisco Chronicle
California provides schools with rapid COVID testing
California is to cover any school district’s or charter school’s cost of rapid diagnostic COVID testing of students and staff through the summer and on into the fall. The state Department of Public Health has awarded a statewide contract to Primary.Health, following an 11-district pilot program and has purchased 5m BinaxNOW antigen test kits, produced by Abbot Labs for $5 each. With training over the internet, state health officials teach school staff on the testing procedures. Testers don’t have to be medical and health professionals. Primary.Health provides the online platform and dashboard for recording test results, uploading them to the state and displaying the data to the public. The partnership between the California Department of Public Health and Primary.Health eliminates many of the logistical and cost obstacles districts have faced, said Sunshine Moore, senior vice president of external affairs and business development for Primary Health.
Assembly committee advances school accountability bill
A bill that aims to fix loopholes that have allowed cases of charter school fraud in California has passed the state Assembly Education Committee on a 5-2 vote. Education Committee Chair Patrick O’Donnell (D-Long Beach) has said he introduced AB 1316 to prevent future charter school scandals, including ones like the A3 charter school case, in which operators of the online charter school network manipulated enrollment numbers to fraudulently obtain hundreds of millions of state education dollars. The sweeping bill contains a variety of measures that mostly address online charter school accountability, finance and operations. Charter school proponents view the bill as an attack on charter schools that could force some to close by reducing their funding. They also say the bill has so many regulations, it would take away charter schools’ ability to innovate and provide flexible alternatives to traditional brick-and-mortar schools.
----- DISTRICTS -----
LAUSD reopens all schools
Los Angeles USD's remaining middle and high school campuses began reopening on Monday, meaning all students now have the option to be back on district campuses for the first time in more than a year. “Reopening schools is an important part of the healing process,” Superintendent Austin Beutner said. “We need to build on this and make sure all students are back in the classroom where they belong.” The on-campus experience for middle and high school students returning this week will be somewhat different from elementary school students. Secondary students will start the day with in-person, teacher-led engagement in an advisory period to help reconnect with each other before participating in classes online, having lunch with friends, and then working independently before participating in after-school activities like sports or music. Mr Beutner said the district's students should be able to return to all-day, in-person instruction in the fall, assuming schedules are adjusted, more people in the community get vaccinated and the level of coronavirus infections continue to drop. “At this time, we’re going to err on the side of caution to keep people safe for the few weeks remaining in the semester,” he said. “And it wouldn’t make any sense to change school schedules this late in the school year.”
Los Angeles Sentinel Los Angeles Daily News
L.A. school board names Megan Reilly as interim superintendent
The Los Angeles Board of Education has appointed Megan Reilly, who oversees Los Angeles USD's finance, business and operations arm, as interim superintendent, two days after schools chief Austin Beutner announced he would not seek a new contract when his current agreement expires on June 30th. As interim schools chief, she will lead the nation’s second-largest district as it works toward transitioning from a hybrid model of teaching and learning to full-time in-person instruction again, while helping many of the more than half-million students in LAUSD to recover from learning losses and the trauma they’ve endured throughout the coronavirus pandemic. It’s unclear if Reilly plans to apply to become the permanent superintendent. It also was not immediately clear if she will receive a pay raise as interim superintendent.
The Daily Breeze Los Angeles Times
----- CLASSROOM -----
Struggling readers scoring lower on foundational skills
The National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) has published an analysis of student scores on a supplemental Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) NAEP test that a portion of 4th graders took in 2018. On the ORF test, students were assessed on how quickly and accurately they could read short passages aloud, whether they could recognize and read familiar words from a list, and whether they could sound out nonsense words that followed typical sound-spelling patterns. The researchers found that students’ reading comprehension was connected to their ability to read text fluently and accurately, and to their ability to recognize and decode words. The lower students scored on the main NAEP reading test, the harder time they had with reading fluency and foundational skills on the ORF. “Research shows that reading comprehension is very much dependent, critically dependent, on oral reading fluency and what we call foundational skills that underlie oral reading fluency,” said Sheida White, an educational researcher at the American Institutes for Research, and the lead author on the study. “Students who have oral reading fluency and foundational skills, they tend to comprehend connected text such as passages and paragraphs with greater efficiency and effectiveness,” she added.
Study suggests COVID learning loss may be overstated
Even though the pandemic has interrupted learning, students are still making progress in reading and math this year, according to a new analysis from the assessment provider Renaissance. The company looked at a large sample of students, about 3.8m in grades 1-8, who had taken Star Assessments, which are interim tests, in either math or reading during the winter of the 2020-21 school year. Overall, the analysis found, students’ scores rose during the first half of the 2020-21 school year, with the amount of progress made similar to what Renaissance would expect in a non-pandemic year.
----- LEGAL -----
Supreme Court considers student free speech case
The Supreme Court has heard oral arguments in a case about a profane Snapchat post that could define schools’ authority to regulate off-campus speech. The case, Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L, centers around a Pennsylvania high school student’s 2017 Snapchat post expressing frustration because she didn’t make the varsity cheerleading squad. The student, Brandi Levy, posted a selfie of herself on a weekend in which she displayed her middle finger and included a profane caption. Though the post was uploaded away from school, her message made its way back to campus where the student, then 14 years old, was suspended from participating on the junior varsity team for a year. At question is the applicability of a decades-old standard set in 1969. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District declared that students don’t “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” Lisa Blatt, the attorney representing Pennsylvania’s Mahanoy Area School District in the case before the court Wednesday, turned that formula around, arguing that the advent of digital communications meant that administrators’ authority couldn’t be limited to school grounds. “When it comes to the internet, things like time and geography are meaningless,” Ms. Blatt told the court. Still, she said students could only be disciplined for school-related speech, so young people’s right to discuss political or social issues retained constitutional protection. Levy’s attorney, David Cole of the American Civil Liberties Union, warned the justices that rules the court established a half-century ago allowing limits on on-campus speech should not be extended to the internet and the vast array of social media platforms that young people now use. A decision in the case is expected before July.
Politico The 74 Wall Street Journal
Former White House adviser charged with stealing from charter network
A former senior adviser in the Obama administration was arrested Tuesday on charges that he stole more than $200,000 from a network of charter schools that he founded and used the money to get a lower interest rate on a mortgage for a Manhattan apartment, federal prosecutors said. Seth Andrew is accused of taking the cash from bank accounts controlled by Democracy Prep Public Schools, which serves mostly low-income students of color in New York and other states. Mr. Andrew is charged with one count each of wire fraud, money laundering and making a false statement to a bank. The first two charges both carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and the third carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail. Natasha Trivers, the chief executive of Democracy Prep Public Schools, said that although the organization was not materially affected by the crimes Mr. Andrew was accused of, it was a stark departure from their values. “His alleged actions are a profound betrayal of all that we stand for and to you and your children, the scholars and families that we serve,” Ms. Trivers wrote to students’ parents.
Schools asked to submit civil-rights data
The Biden administration is instructing school districts how to collect the latest high-profile trove of civil rights-related data about students and educators, despite concerns about how the pandemic will affect that process. Instructions from the U.S. Department of Education about the 2020-21 Civil Rights Data Collection sent to school districts Thursday, for example, indicate that for discipline and safety incidents, the term “at school” refers to virtual as well as in-person activities. The instructions say student suspensions in virtual as well as in-person school settings should count the same; if students were temporarily blocked from their virtual classrooms and transferred to a different and supervised virtual setting, that’s a suspension. More broadly, the department asks schools to indicate whether they offered only in-person instruction with additional safety protocols, only virtual instruction due to the coronavirus pandemic, a hybrid of the two, or if their instruction was unaffected by the pandemic. In a letter to school superintendents accompanying the data collection forms and instructions, acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Suzanne Goldberg, who oversees the department’s office for civil rights (OCR), acknowledged the challenges educators face with the data collection due to disruptions to in-person learning. “All of us at OCR recognize the ongoing challenges that state educational agencies, [local educational agencies], and schools have been experiencing due to the shifting dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Goldberg wrote. The pandemic has highlighted challenges about the relationship between student privacy, virtual classes, and discipline. Additionally, whether to hold students accountable for absences this school year has also become a pressing issue for educators.
Judge rejects lawsuit to ban transgender students from girls' sports
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by female high school athletes who claimed that Connecticut's policy of allowing students to compete in sports based on gender identity deprived them of fair competition due to the participation of two transgender students. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Chatigny rejected the case because transgender students Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller had both graduated, rendering the case moot. The case had been brought by Selina Soule, Chelsea Mitchell, Alanna Smith and Ashley Nicoletti against the Connecticut Association of Schools; they alleged that a Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) policy allowing students to compete according to their gender identity violated their rights under Title IX. Chatigny ruled that because Soule and Mitchell had graduated they no longer faced any harm, and that Smith and Nicoletti did not face any continuing harm because there were no longer any transgender students competing against them.
----- WORKFORCE ----
Teacher salaries on the up across the U.S.
The average teacher in America is starting to get paid more, but the economic downturn caused by the pandemic could jeopardize any progress made, the largest national teachers’ union has warned. The National Education Association’s (NEA) annual report on teacher salaries, published Monday, estimates that the national average teacher salary for the 2020-21 school year is $65,090, a 1.5% increase from the previous year. It also projected that states’ average spending per student, largely dictated by teachers’ salaries, increased nearly 5% to $14,243. “What we don’t know is what will happen in the 2020-21 school year and beyond because the COVID-19 pandemic has completely changed public education,” said NEA President Becky Pringle. “We are still in a funding hole that was dug decades ago, and as unprecedented inflation looms from our current economic crisis, the country cannot afford to take its foot off the pedal of progress.” The NEA collected data from state departments of education to rank teacher salaries across the nation. New York, Massachusetts, and California topped the list with the highest salaries, while Mississippi, Florida, and South Dakota remained at the bottom. The rankings do not account for regional cost-of-living differences. Many states in the South and Midwest, where the cost of living is often cheaper, rank near the bottom of the list.
Miami private school bans vaccinated teachers from student conduct
A private school in Miami has been criticized after reportedly sending out a letter telling vaccinated employees they could not be around students, citing false claims linking the vaccine to changes in women’s reproductive cycles. Leila Centner, a co-founder of the Centner Academy in Miami, reportedly told employees that they would not be allowed to be around students if they received the coronavirus vaccine, pointing to reports she claimed that “surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated…Even among our own population, we have at least three women with menstrual cycles impacted after having spent time with a vaccinated person.” The Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and many other authorities have all concluded that the coronavirus vaccines now in emergency use in the United States are safe and effective.
Miami private school bans vaccinated teachers from student conduct
A private school in Miami has been criticized after reportedly sending out a letter telling vaccinated employees they could not be around students, citing false claims linking the vaccine to changes in women’s reproductive cycles. Leila Centner, a co-founder of the Centner Academy in Miami, reportedly told employees that they would not be allowed to be around students if they received the coronavirus vaccine, pointing to reports she claimed that “surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated…Even among our own population, we have at least three women with menstrual cycles impacted after having spent time with a vaccinated person.” The Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and many other authorities have all concluded that the coronavirus vaccines now in emergency use in the United States are safe and effective.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Mental health, equity should be schools’ focus as students return, report says
To help students readjust to life after the pandemic, schools should use their COVID-relief funding windfall to imbue mental health, equity and relationships into every aspect of the school day, according to a sweeping new report released Thursday. The report, “Reimagine and Rebuild: Restarting school with equity at the center,” was published by Policy Analysis for California Education and an array of other groups, including the California PTA, the California Teachers Association, Association for California School Administrators and numerous social justice and youth advocacy groups. “This is the biggest infusion of money into schools that many of us will see in our lifetimes. We’re hoping educators take advantage of this moment to not go back to the way we were,” said Christopher J. Nellum, interim executive director of the Education Trust-West, an Oakland nonprofit that advocates for equity in schools and one of more than a dozen groups that contributed to the report. “We should take a moment to explore what we can do that’s exciting and innovative.”
-----CHARTER SCHOOLS -----
Miami private school bans vaccinated teachers from student conduct
A private school in Miami has been criticized after reportedly sending out a letter telling vaccinated employees they could not be around students, citing false claims linking the vaccine to changes in women’s reproductive cycles. Leila Centner, a co-founder of the Centner Academy in Miami, reportedly told employees that they would not be allowed to be around students if they received the coronavirus vaccine, pointing to reports she claimed that “surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated…Even among our own population, we have at least three women with menstrual cycles impacted after having spent time with a vaccinated person.” The Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and many other authorities have all concluded that the coronavirus vaccines now in emergency use in the United States are safe and effective.
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
Unvetted digital resources pose risk to school data privacy
The transition to remote learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many schools adopting an array of free online resources that may still need to be vetted in order to avoid data security and privacy risks. In a report from the Center for Democracy and Technology, half of teachers surveyed said they received no substantial training to protect data privacy, and only 40% of parents said data privacy had been discussed. When educators and students use devices to access learning from home, the risk for a data breach is also higher due to the lack of protections otherwise available on a school's network. Many schools also lack chief privacy officers, whose job it is to enact privacy policies and protect student and staff data.
----- HIGHER EDUCATION -----
Stanford's business school ranked nation’s best
Stanford University's business school ranked first among U.S. colleges offering master of business administration programs, according to a new study by U.S. News that examined 364 schools. The Stanford school has an annual in-state tuition rate for full-time students of $74,706, and its enrollment of full-time students was 844, according to the 2022 U.S. News ranking.
----- INTERNATIONAL -----
Students from China, Iran, Brazil and South Africa to be allowed into U.S.
Foreign students from China, Brazil, Iran and South Africa will be exempt from the remaining travel bans imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, opening up the possibility of a significant rebound in international-student enrollment at U.S. schools this fall. The U.S. State Department said the resumption of travel for those with proper visas is because the government has determined it is in the country’s best interest to allow those students in. International enrollment at American colleges and universities plummeted last fall, as hundreds of thousands of students were stranded overseas, unable to secure new visas or unable to travel if they already had the proper documentation. Visa records show the number of students here on F-1 or M-1 visas, which include those at colleges, vocational programs and K-12 schools, fell by 18%, to 1.25m, while visa records for newly enrolled students tumbled by 72%.
----- 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
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