ABCFT - YOUnionews - June 4, 2021
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
Today is the day when you should see your second installment of additional compensation for the pay period from 4/24-5/23. Our third and final round of additional compensation should be available on July 2 for the pay period from 5/24-6/10. And remember, we are paid by the instructional week rather than the day so next week is considered a complete week in terms of earning your full rate of additional compensation.
The negotiating team has no new information at this time regarding the potential of voluntary professional learning days in August. ABCFT made a proposal involving two PL days on August 17 and 18. We have a bargaining session scheduled for June 10.
If we cannot come to an agreement a consequence will be that much of this training will need to occur with members being subbed out during the opening weeks of the school year. This is not our preferred model given the disruption this will cause as well as the difficulty that we have district-wide regarding the amount of quality substitute teachers that are available. We believe that these voluntary professional learning days have value but only at a rate that is equitable for our members.
This is the time of year when many of us are busy with our respective promotions and graduations. It is an opportunity to reflect on a job well done under the most challenging of circumstances. I recognize how much struggle and loss has been a part of so many lives this past year. To see my students demonstrate growth and resilience even during a pandemic and reopening is to remind me that our students have learned a great deal that is unlikely to be measured with a standardized test or academic metric. I believe that our students necessarily became more familiar with issues involving public health and policy or the utilization of technology, to name only the most obvious examples. Our students were faced with problems like never before but they also were forced to come up with creative solutions like no previous year. So rather than focus on a deficit model of what was presumably lost I suggest looking at this last year with more of a growth mindset in terms of life lessons and teachable moments that were gained. Please take a moment to consider all of the hard work and simple kindnesses that you showed your students throughout this year that helped make these achievements possible.
Let me close with a personal appreciation for the class of 2021. Congratulations not only to our students but to the many of our family members and loved ones who are part of this unique group. My children attend school in LBUSD but their journey this past year helped remind me of what my students were experiencing in trying to make virtual learning a success. The Mancillas kids are finishing up their AP tests next week and then graduate (on their birthday!) the following week. Thanks to Ethan, Julian, and Olivia for making their Dad proud even as they added more gray hairs to his head.
In Unity,
THANK YOU ABCFT MEMBERS
For the past three years, National Teachers Life Insurance Association, NTA has worked with and sponsored ABCFT events and offer life insurance needs for our members. To thank the teachers, nurses, and SLPs, NTA will be delivering a self-selected sweet or savory treat from Porto’s Bakery on Thursday, June 10th. Be sure to put in your order by Monday. An email was sent to your work email.
LATE ADDED CONTENT (my bad Alan ~Ray)
ABCFT has been meeting with the ABC band teachers throughout the school year learning about their struggles, scheduling challenges, equipment needs, and how they have improved the academic and mental health of all the students they impacted this year. We asked Alan Hallback (congrats on your retirement!) if he wouldn’t mind letting us peer into the process band teachers/directors have used to produce their lovely band recitals. Thank you to all the band teachers for all their hard work and persistence during this extremely difficult school year. They made lemonade out of lemons and pretty darn amazing music along the way.
Click here to see on of the recordings of their concerts.
The Bands Played On!
Teaching Band Classes online proved to be an incredible challenge for our district band directors this year. The biggest issue was the inconsistent response times of computers when students played together with the microphones on. It sounded like a jukebox spinning in a tornado! In grades 4 - 12 this year, music instructors could have only 1-2 students playing with their microphone on; the other students had to follow along muted. Using recording technology, many schools were able to produce a concert program by having each student record themselves and then aligning the individual videos and audios into one musical ensemble (which takes a great deal of time). Our young musicians worked very hard to improve their skills this year, with the vision of performing together next year as a full band in front of a live audience!
LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITY - Teacher Leaders Program
ABCFT is seeking teachers, nurses, and SLPs to join the 2021-22 Teacher Leaders program. ABCFT now has 42 members that have completed this powerful program and we are hoping you will join us next year.
Have you ever seen a news report or talk show discuss issues around education, social and emotional issues, equity, or learning and thought to yourself or said to your colleagues, “Why don’t they just ask a real educator about (you fill in the blank)?”
The AFT Teacher Leaders Program is a union-sponsored program designed to help prepare YOU to be that classroom teacher, nurse, or speech and language pathologist facilitating discussion of the issues that affect our profession both here in ABC Federation of Teachers and nationally.
ABCFT is seeking teachers and nurses interested in collaborating with colleagues across the city/district and nation on:
Increasing an understanding of the major challenges facing the education profession
Improving leadership skills
Representing our profession as spokespersons
Becoming members of an influential and supportive network of educators
Over 70% of the Teacher Leaders are also active in our local and serve as Site Reps, ABCFT Executive Board, ABCFT’s Equity committee, district committees, Negotiating team, Facilitator for Professional Learning, PASS Coach, PAL Council, CFT convention delegates, and state committees, and AFT Committees. Essentially, where there is ABCFT union representation and leadership there is a Teacher Leader.
This program will take place monthly, from October 2021 to May 2022. A modest stipend will be offered. We are looking forward to you joining us in this exciting, rewarding program. Here is the Teacher Leaders Guidelines. For more information, contact co-facilitators, Erika Cook at Erika.Cook@abcusd.us or Tanya.Golden@abcusd.us
Click here to Apply for the ABCFT Teacher Leaders Program
MEMBER-ONLY RESOURCES
JUNE ACADEMIC SERVICES UPDATE
This month’s academic service update is vital for all teachers. We hope that you will take a moment to look at this monthly report which discusses changes in academic services. This document provides the union with a means of giving the District feedback on the many programs or changes they are proposing at any one time. Without your feedback or questions on these changes, it is harder for ABCFT to slow down and modify the district’s neverending roll out of new projects. Please submit your comments and questions to the appropriate ABCFT liaison.
For Elementary curricular issues please email Kelley at Kelley.Forsythe@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
For Secondary curricular issues please email Rich at Richard.Saldana@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
For Special Education issues please email Stefani at Stefani.Palutzke@abcusd.us if you have any questions or concerns.
For 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.
State of the Union
It says in our bylaws that the president of ABCFT needs to give a yearly state of the union address so there is at least one opportunity for the members to hear from the organizational leader. I told Executive VPTanya Golden that I thought this was unnecessary after this last year but she prevailed…..again. I don’t think the writers of our union bylaws ever anticipated a union leadership team that would hold weekly membership live chats, publish a weekly newsletter, run a blog for the public, maintain a Facebook and Twitter account, or be magically transported from meeting after meeting through a TV screen. The 1970s were much simpler times. For many of you, ask your parents and they will probably agree with me.
Honestly, you know you’ve heard from the union president too much when you start to catch many inside jokes and you know there are multiple drinking games going on during school board meetings. It’s been a strange year but let’s agree that it’s been a great year to get to know each other on a different level and that the ABC Federation of Teachers has not been this united since the monumental 8-day strike in 1993.
I remember when I first joined the union the veterans at my school the ABCFT leadership would speak fondly about how tough the 8-day strike of 1993 was and how they bonded as a team. I heard the stories of dressing up in cow costumes and the throwing of jelly-filled donuts for years. For all the sacrifices they made and how painful the experience of a strike was, they seemed to have a strange happy glow when they spoke of those days. I always appreciated hearing the happy strike stories from my predecessor Laura Rico who was president of the union during that strike but I never understood what she was conveying on a deeper level….it was a little weird to me that something so dramatic could be positive. I never thought this day would come but I totally understand how they felt.
This year, we endured challenges that surpassed our imaginations but we did it together and we did it as a united team. I feel like this union came of age during this year’s crisis and that we are united in a way I didn’t think was possible. Your individual activism and willingness to provide guiding input have strengthened our negotiation skills, fine-tuned our communication skills, and we have all made personal and professional connections where there were none before.
One thing that I will always remember about those veteran teachers is that they didn’t have fond things to say about those who didn’t participate in the strike, the scabs who crossed the picket lines. Their betrayal was a dividing line that prevailed until those people left or retired from ABC. I’m glad this generation really won’t have those dividing scars that never go away. We will proudly move forward more united and cohesive than we’ve been in decades. I’m proud to say that the ABC Federation of Teachers has a 99% membership level and that members can point to the services their union provides.
You have my personal appreciation for your support of this fine organization during this year and I want to personally thank every member for the opportunity to work with you to overcome the seemingly impossible challenges this pandemic has provided. Dare I say “unprecedented” but then you would have to take a drink. I would also like to say thank the ABCFT Executive Board for all the tough decisions you made over the past 16 months, the negotiating team for the countless 14 hour days of negotiating, the site representatives for keeping their colleagues tethered to the union, the teacher leaders participants for finishing a program when the world was turned upside down (Erika Cook you rule!), CFT committee members for keeping the state representative grounded, district committee members for all the hard work you did over this past year, nurses for your tireless advocating for PPE, COVID testing, and vaccinations, and all you classroom teachers and SLPs who became technology gurus and curriculum wizards virtually, in person and then both simultaneously. All amazing feats of pure will to succeed. As a YOUnion, we advocated for safety PPE, ventilation, and vaccinations and ran the clock out until it was “safe” for us to return to in-person instruction. A special recognition to Ruban Mancillas and his negotiating team who were able to get a stipend to every member who worked in-person with students for the past 9 weeks in a time when most districts ordered their teachers back without any additional pay. We couldn’t of done these things for your classrooms and your families without being united as a team.
Who knows what next year holds in store for us, we shouldn’t worry about it right now. Some things are just out of our control so let’s worry about that late in the summer. My hope is that you make time for yourself and your families because I’m sure they will be glad to see you back after a year of challenges. When I look back on this time in my life I probably won’t remember all the scary, frustrating, or dark times. Nope, most likely I’m going to remember my friends in the union, how we laughed and couch raved together, and how there was no hill we couldn’t climb together. I hope that your memories of this year are as selective as mine...If you aren't in education you won’t understand what we’ve been through….it sets us apart from any other profession.
Cheers to all of you for making it through this school year together.
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
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- LOCAL NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Click the picture to watch the video
----- ATTACKS ON EDUCATORS -----
Texas Governor Expected To Sign Legislation Limiting How Teachers Can Discuss Race And Current Events
The Washington Post (6/2) reports Republican lawmakers in Texas are pushing legislation that would “impose restrictions on how teachers discuss current events, bar students from receiving course credit for civic engagement and, in the words of advocates, restore the role of ‘traditional history’ to its rightful place of primacy by emphasizing the nation’s noble ideals, rather than its centuries-long record of failing to live up to them.” State Board of Education member Georgina Pérez, “who helped shepherd Mexican and African American studies to approval for high schools,” said, “This is classic Texas pushing back because there are people of color who are learning their history, and their fear is that if you are brown, as most children in Texas are, you are going to learn the good and the bad like we should and that these brown kids will become victims and hate White people. That rationale is so far from reality that I can’t see it with a telescope.” According to the Post, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) is expected to sign the measure into law.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Federal guidance loosens restrictions on use of COVID-relief funds
New guidance from the U.S. Department of Education released on Wednesday permits school districts to use money from the American Rescue Plan and other COVID-19 aid packages to provide “premium pay” to educators, to prevent layoffs, and to fund vaccinations, as well as outreach efforts encouraging people to take the jabs. Relief money for school districts can also be used to improve heating, ventilation, and other projects that would help schools’ air quality. The guidance also says that federal relief money can be used to provide job training, postsecondary counseling, and other services to students who graduated last year or are due to graduate this year but who “have not yet successfully transitioned to college or careers.” That interpretation of the aid packages could be especially helpful to students in special education programs whose access to services was disrupted by the pandemic and who are close to aging out of them.
Florida Bans Transgender Girls From Participating In Female Sports
Reuters (6/1) reports that on Tuesday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) enacted a law “to ban transgender girls and women from participating in female sports at schools,” making his state the latest and largest US state to adopt such a ban. Supporters of the law “say transgender female athletes have an unfair advantage, having been designated male at birth but having since transitioned.” Opponents say the measure is discriminatory.
The Miami (FL) Herald (6/1) reports that at a “bill signing event at the Trinity Christian Academy in Jacksonville, DeSantis touted the ban as a way to protect the integrity of women’s and girls’ sports.” DeSantis said, “In Florida, girls are going to play girls’ sports, and boys are going to play boys’ sports.” According to The Herald, the law will “prohibit an athlete from competing in school-sponsored girls’ and women’s sports if the athlete was not assigned the female gender at birth. Elementary school athletes are not included in the ban.”
The AP (6/1) reports the new law, which takes effect July 1, is “sure to be challenged as unconstitutional, inflames an already contentious discussion unfolding nationally as Republican-controlled states move to limit the rights of LGBTQ people, whose advocates were particularly annoyed that the legislation was signed on the first day of Gay Pride Month.” The transgender athletes ban “was tucked at the last minute of the legislative session into a measure allowing public universities and colleges to sponsor charter schools – a point the governor did not mention during the bill signing.”
In an editorial, the Miami Herald (6/1) says the true intent behind the bill is “giving DeSantis one more issue to brag about on Fox News as he sets himself up as the next Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential primaries.”
Also reporting are ABC News (6/1), The Hill (6/1, Choi), the Advocate (6/1), and National Review (6/1).
U.S. Earns A ‘C’ In School Finance Report
As states and school districts wrestle with how to spend an unprecedented flood of federal pandemic aid, the EdWeek Research Center's latest school finance analysis, based on 2018 federal data, the most recent available, shows the existence of issues in K-12 spending patterns even before the COVID crisis struck. The nation as a whole earns a C grade for school finance on this year’s Quality Counts report card, with a score of 76.1 out of 100 possible points, up 0.3 points over last year. Nineteen states receive grades between C-minus and D-minus reflecting a need for strong improvements in their education funding policies and results. New Jersey scored highest, at 91.2 and earning an A-minus, followed by New York, Wyoming, Maryland and Rhode Island. Nevada finished bottom with the only D-minus. Oklahoma, Utah, Arizona, and Idaho were all given D-grades. The analysis reveals continued tension between the average amount spent on K-12 per pupil and how fairly that money is actually distributed across districts—a question of equity that takes on added relevance as some $122 billion in federal pandemic-impact aid is distributed. The nation fares considerably better on equity indicators than measures of overall spending, receiving a B-plus (88.4) for equity and a D (63.7) for spending. Despite the reality that students in high-poverty districts often have the most need for school programs and services, Alaska is the only state providing higher funding to property-poor districts than to their wealthier counterparts, according to the wealth-neutrality scores featured in the report card.
Ed Dept Releases FY2022 Spending Proposal
The U.S. Department of Education has released details of its FY 2022 spending proposal, a request that, at $102.8 billion for early childhood, K-12 and higher education programs, is 41% higher than the current fiscal year. The plan is centered around equitable pandemic recovery programs and includes $20 billion in Title I Equity Grants to close a funding gap between majority White and majority non-White school districts. The Title I spending proposal also includes $30 million in new discretionary funding for the School Leader Recruitment and Support program, along with $200 million over the next 10 years for a new Expanding Opportunities for Teacher Leadership and Development program. The department will prioritize projects that recruit and prepare school leaders to work in schools identified for improvement under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Announcing the plan, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona also highlighted budget ambitions for universal preschool access, full funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, mental wellbeing support, expansion of college pathway programs and more.
----- STATE NEWS -----
California Senate and Assembly advise changes to K-12 budget
The Assembly and Senate budget committees Tuesday jointly recommended billions of dollars of both spending cuts and additions for K-12 in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2021-22 state budget. The additions include hundreds of millions more in funding for special education and billions in defraying districts’ payments for teacher and staff pensions. In creating their budgets, both chambers’ budget committees chose the higher revenue forecast of the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office over the Department of Finance’s projections. But budget leaders contend they have taken a more financially responsible approach. Instead of funding additional one-time programs that Newsom wanted, the Legislature’s plan pays off the last $2.6 billion in late payments owed to school districts and community colleges and puts $3 billion toward paying down obligations to CalSTRS and CalPERS, the state’s main retirement systems. Among other big changes, the joint budget committee plan would use $700 million in one-time funding for districts to help more students to pass the A-G courses required for admission to the University of California and California State University. Once the full Legislature approves the package, no later than June 15th, legislative leaders must then negotiate a final state budget with the governor and pass it by June 30th.
California's K-12 funding formula likely to change
For the first time since its adoption eight years ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to change the formula that determines more than 70% of California school districts’ annual spending. But his plan to direct more money only to districts with the greatest concentration of low-income children is proving to be a tough sell so far to the Legislature. The Local Control Funding Formula already targets additional funding to school districts based on the enrollment of four groups of students identified as needing additional services: low-income, foster and homeless students and English learners. Arguing that “Equal treatment for children in unequal situations is not justice,” former Gov. Jerry Brown persuaded the Legislature to pass the landmark funding law in 2013. Newsom wants to move a step further by significantly increasing funding under the formula for “concentration” districts, where those qualifying students comprise at least 55% of enrollment. He has proposed adding $1.1bn annually to the formula to enable those districts to hire more staff.
State prepares for projected rise in teacher retirements
Earlier this year, the California State Teachers Retirement System warned that teacher retirements in California are projected to hit nearly record-breaking heights in 2021. The statement, which came in the form of a February blog post, said that the numbers will be almost as bad as the year after the Great Recession when more than 16,000 teachers retired. While districts generally haven’t experienced retirements as a serious problem this past year, several administrators said they were overwhelmed by the large number of teachers who resigned or transferred during the pandemic. San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee said some of her districts have been hit hard as many educators left to be closer to family. Burlingame, for example, had twice as many teachers leave during the pandemic than during an average year. Unexpected resignations, coupled with routine and early retirements, have created staffing shortages in some districts, raising concerns about how schools will manage when they reopen in the fall. Magee said her districts are trying to plan what classes will look like next year but they still don’t have guidance from the California Department of Public Health.
Summer school to emphasize fun as well as learning
California's summer schools will this year follow expert guidance this year that they won’t be able to combat learning loss until they deal with the social and emotional needs of children who have been away from their peers and teachers for more than a year and may have experienced other trauma during the pandemic. To entice students to enroll, they are offering a diverse selection of fun programs that will give students a chance to reconnect with their peers and get acclimated to being back on campus. Research shows that the most effective summer learning experiences, academic and social, are full-day programs designed like a camp and staffed by teachers and community-based educators, said Jennifer Peck, president of Partnership for Children and Youth, an Oakland-based organization that advocates for extended learning programs for students from underserved communities. They should be enrichment classes, which are generally designed to be fun, interactive and designed around students’ interests, she explained. “We are encouraging districts to step away from the old summer school frame that feels punitive to children and families,” she said. “They make you feel like you are going to summer school because you have done something wrong.”
California bilingual programs ready to grow
The pandemic slowed down many California school districts’ expansion of bilingual education programs, putting some new bilingual programs on hold. But now, several school districts are resuming their plans and enrolling students in new bilingual immersion programs in the fall. Under the California Department of Education’s Global California 2030 Initiative, the state now has a goal of enrolling half of all K-12 students in “programs that lead to proficiency in two or more languages” by 2030. The initiative aims to have 3 out of 4 students proficient in two or more languages by 2040. Studies have shown that dual immersion programs, which teach children both English and another language simultaneously, can improve long-term academic achievement for both English learners and native English speakers. Los Angeles USD is back to planning the launch of 12 new dual immersion programs: eight in elementary schools and four in secondary schools. The district is aiming to increase the number of their bilingual and dual immersion programs to 212 for students in K-12 schools and 31 for students in expanded transitional kindergarten. This fall, the district’s first dual immersion program in a seventh language, Japanese, will open at Amestoy Elementary School in Gardena, located in the county’s South Bay region. And, though a specific timeline has yet to be finalized, the goal is to also launch the Filipino dual immersion program postponed by the pandemic.
----- DISTRICTS -----
LAUSD authorizes officials to 'staff up' for new school year
As part of the plan to help students recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the Los Angeles USD board has authorized officials to proceed with plans to hire up to 3,030 new employees for the summer and new school year, a process that will cost the district an estimated $330m. The hirings represent the largest increase in the number of teachers, counselors and custodians in the district in over a generation, said Superintendent Austin Beutner. “Out of crisis comes the opportunity to do what was once unimaginable,” he said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to make things meaningfully better for the children we serve.” Also this week, the board voted 6-1 to end the emergency authority it had granted the superintendent in March 2020. That authority allowed the superintendent to go ahead and procure goods and services during the pandemic by bypassing normal procedures requiring board approval first.
LAUSD Super urges return to classrooms in fall
Los Angeles USD Superintendent Austin Beutner stressed again yesterday that all students will be able to return to campuses full-time in the fall, insisting the classroom is the ideal place for kids to further their education. “The best place for students do learn is a classroom at school, and we’ll continue to do all we can to make sure school classrooms are as safe as possible,” Beutner said during his weekly address to the LAUSD community. He reiterated that the district has implemented “the highest set of safety standards of any school district in the nation” to protect against COVID-19, pointing to upgraded air-filtration systems, sanitation efforts and ample supplies of protective equipment. However, he also said there will be an online option for those who are unable or choose not to return to the classroom.
SFUSD sees enrollment drop as families flee the district
San Francisco USD’s schools are facing an exodus of families during a crisis-filled and difficult pandemic year, potentially pitching the district into deeper financial distress in years to come. As the school year rolled to a close in recent weeks, the district counted 50,955 students in its schools, the lowest enrollment in decades and a 3% drop compared with the end of the 2020 school year, according to a report prepared for a school board budget committee meeting Wednesday. The decline was seen across racial and income lines, although white enrollment saw the largest loss, a decline of 4%, or 299 students, during the school year. The district needs to rebuild trust and interest in the schools, said Orla O’Keeffe, chief of policy and operations, including learning recovery and other support systems. “We also think it’s important to have an understanding of what the needs and desires are of families when applying to SFUSD,” she said. District officials said they won’t know for sure how many students they’ve lost until they count official enrollment 10 days into the new school year. The financial hit could be huge. The district already faces a significant deficit, up to $100m out of a $1bn budget, in the coming years.
S.F. teachers union vote to support Israel boycott
The San Francisco teachers union recently voted to endorse a boycott, as well as official U.S. divestment and sanctions, against Israel over what they called apartheid and war crimes against the Palestinian people. On Wednesday, the United Educators of San Francisco's executive assembly called on Israel to end the bombardment of Gaza, and urged President Joe Biden to stop providing aid to Israel. The political declaration drew immediate and heated criticism from parents, local Jewish leaders and the national Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy organization. Rabbi Jonathan Singer, who co-leads Congregation Emanu-El with his wife, Beth, said he was disappointed with the union’s “inability to convey nuance or balance that we would expect from educators.” He said that some kids in his congregation are feeling unwelcome or unsafe in their own classrooms as instances of antisemitism continue to rise in the Bay Area. Meanwhile, elementary school teacher Max Raynard, a “proud Jewish man,” signed onto the resolution, saying he has personally experienced hate and prejudice and can sympathize with others suffering the same. “Any rational person with empathy for other humans can see that the Palestinian people are suffering under injustice,” he said. “A boycott is a non-violent form of protest that has been used throughout the history of civil rights struggles.
My News LA
Culver City authorizes creation of new diversity role
Culver City USD's school board has voted unanimously to create the new role of Assistant Superintendent of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The new position will report to the Superintendent, and will create programs and strategies to foster a diverse district. The district says there are no other school districts in the state with an equivalent role.
----- CLASSROOM -----
New data reveals ways full-time remote learners lost out
Students in schools that were fully remote for most of this school year received less instructional time and were more likely to be absent and receive a failing grade than students who were attending classes in person, a new report from RAND Corp. claims. Researchers analyzed March survey results from nationally representative samples of teachers and principals. While RAND found that about 90 percent of fully remote schools provided at least one synchronous, or live, class per day, students learning from home still received less instructional time on average than their peers in schools. The survey found that fully remote elementary schools offered, on average, 110 fewer minutes of English/language arts, 80 fewer minutes of mathematics, and 40 fewer minutes of natural sciences than schools that were fully in person. Nearly half of fully remote schools reported a shorter school day than in previous years, compared to 17% of fully in-person schools and 25% of schools offering a hybrid model. Julia Kaufman, a senior policy researcher at RAND and one of the authors of the report, said it’s possible the principals were answering with a traditional view of instruction in mind, and some remote students may be getting additional instruction that’s not captured in their responses. Even with that caveat, though, it appears remote students get less face time with their teachers, she added.
----- FINANCE -----
Deep education funding challenges remain despite stimulus boost
An EdWeek Research Center survey of school and district leaders nationwide has revealed that more than half of respondents fear that it’s at least "somewhat likely" their schools will lose overall funding over the next 10 years due to declining enrolment. Just over a quarter of respondents said federal relief funds were somewhat or completely inadequate for overcoming state and local budget shortfalls during the pandemic, while 19% said the federal relief was somewhat or completely inadequate for covering additional COVID-19-related expenses. Almost half (42%) of school leaders said their districts increased spending between the 2019-20 school year. Even though the stimulus is the largest single federal investment in K-12 education in the history of the United States, Education Week's Mark Lieberman laments, it can’t "singlehandedly erase the myriad flaws and intricacies of the nation’s labyrinthine school finance systems."
----- LEGAL -----
Lawsuit claims California fell short on equal education during pandemic
A lawsuit charging that California has failed to offer equal education to low-income students of color during the pandemic will get its first hearing in state Superior Court on Friday. The plaintiffs, including 15 students, and nonprofits Oakland REACH and Community Coalition, claim that they still lack computers, adequate internet connections and sufficient mental health care 14 months after the pandemic started. “It’s really surprising to us how little has been done” since the pandemic forced schools into distance learning, said Jesselyn Friley, a staff attorney at Public Counsel, one of the firms that filed the lawsuit. With more than half of the state’s students still in some form of remote learning, she added, California has offered no guidance to districts on how to improve instruction and no method for monitoring students’ progress — or lack thereof. The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction for immediate relief as well as long-term changes to avoid a return to the system that was in place pre-pandemic. Named as defendants are the state, its Board of Education, its Department of Education and state Superintendent Tony Thurmond. Friday’s session in Alameda Superior Court will be the first time a judge will hear arguments in the case.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill barring transgender females from playing on public school teams intended for student athletes born as girls, placing the state "front and center" in the national debate over transgender rights. “In Florida, girls are going to play girls' sports and boys are going to play boys' sports,” he said. While LGBTQ advocates complain that the law is discriminatory and will be challenged in court as unconstitutional, the Florida law mirrors an Idaho law, the first of its kind when enacted last year, that is now mired in legal challenges. GOP governors in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee too, have recently signed similar measures. The NCAA, which oversees college athletics, currently requires transgender women to get treatment to lower their testosterone levels before they can compete in women’s sports.
Education Dept. Drops For-Profit College Accreditor ACICS
The Education Department is withdrawing its recognition of the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), barring the agency from serving as a gatekeeper between colleges and billions of dollars in federal financial aid. The Education Department doesn't individually accredit colleges. Instead, it relies on third-party agencies known as accreditors to vet schools. Colleges that are approved can access taxpayer money in the form of grants and student loans. ACICS' loss of accreditation means the roughly 60 colleges the agency had approved will have 18 months to find a new accreditor if they want to keep accessing federal money. ACICS' members are mostly for-profit colleges and rely heavily on federal money to keep afloat. Accrediting Council President Michelle Edwards said the agency will appeal the decision to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. “We have worked too hard over the past five years to strengthen our organization, our accountability, our procedures and accreditation criteria not to fight this decision,” she explained. “All that we ask is that a decision regarding our continued recognition be driven by the improvements we have made and our effectiveness as an accreditor today, not by policy priorities and outside pressure from political activists.”
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Should mental health be a valid reason for missing school?
Experts and advocates have warned for months of a simmering mental health crisis as students across the nation have struggled with depression, anxiety, isolation, family hardships, sick relatives and plunging grades since schools closed in March 2020. Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland is taking steps to address this, by adding mental health to the list of valid reasons to be absent from school. Under a measure unanimously approved, the board requested the superintendent of schools to revise regulations to include student “well-being” beside a mention of “student illness” as an excused form of absence. The phrasing was selected to avoid any worries that families may have about mental illness stigma. A committee considered the possibility of recommending a “mental health day” each semester, or year, for every student. But members decided to broaden the definition of excused absence to better accommodate individual student needs. Parents must write a note, as with other types of absences. “Mental health professionals have been telling us all year that the pandemic has had a devastating effect on the mental health and wellness of our young people, even our staff, and we may not know the ripple effects of that for years,” said board member Rebecca Smondrowski.
Report finds transformative education should include anti-racist commitments
A new report by The Century Foundation advocates for schools to create post-pandemic anti-racist models that are student-centered and culturally responsive. Some of the specific approaches to this progressive educational reform are: building stronger connections between school and students' communities and homes; eliminating inequities and deficit-based mindsets; supporting educator training and thoughtful curriculum development; and creating transformative school experiences. "There are many powerful models of school accountability and student assessments of learning that are more authentic to the diverse understandings and interpretations of knowledge that students develop through their own experiences," the report said. Locally, schools can incorporate anti-racist practices by reforming school discipline policies to include culturally relevant restorative justice practices, as well as diversifying faculty through Grow Your Own programs, according to the report.
Will universal free school meals outlive the pandemic?
Relaxed rules during the COVID-19 pandemic have given many Americans a glimpse of a policy child hunger organizations have supported for years: universal free school meals. Now those same advocates, and some Democratic lawmakers, hope to make free meals for all students permanent. “Children may not understand when their parents can’t pay the light bill, but they sure understand when there is no food,” said Suzanne Morales, the director of nutrition services at the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, a 25,000-student school system in Orange County, California. Efforts to extend free meals through legislation are supported by groups like national teachers’ unions and the School Nutrition Association, which represents school food directors around the country. Making free school lunches universal would not only help poor children, the organization says; it would also eliminate the bureaucratic churn of helping newly eligible families enroll in reduced-price meal programs. However, some congressional Republican argue that existing school nutrition rules are already too lenient. Groups like the conservative Heritage Foundation have said free school meals aren’t targeted enough. They’ve criticized federal rules that allow districts to combine high-poverty and low-poverty schools in clusters, qualifying them for Community Eligibility by averaging their enrollment between buildings.
----- TECHNOLOGY -----
How the digital divide predated the COVID crisis
For educators, the digital divide is a growing source of concern that has demanded greater attention amid an influx of digital resources and technology into schools over the last two decades. When the coronavirus pandemic shut down schools and forced an emergency transition to remote learning for public schools nationwide in the spring of 2020, it thrust the issue into the spotlight, making it a household topic of conversation nationwide. It's an issue that has been top of mind for Jessica Rosenworcel, acting chairwoman of the FCC, since she was first appointed as a commissioner at the agency in 2012. She is often credited with coining the term "homework gap," describing the facet of the digital divide in which students whose families lack home access to reliable broadband or devices are unable to complete assignments dependent upon those tools. "Our classrooms have internet access, but when our students go home at night, not all of them have reliable internet access," Ms Rosenworcel said. "The more that I talked to teachers, the more I heard the same stories repeatedly: Kids sitting in the school parking lot with school laptops they had borrowed, late into the evening, trying to peck away at homework because that was the only place they could get online.” "When I was at the White House, we had a massive problem with the lack of connectivity," said Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education and former director of the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education during the Obama administration. "So there was a lot of effort around that, and it got much better. Clearly, as we saw when we went into COVID, it was not all solved. It was solvable, generally, because so much work had been in place on improving bandwidth."
----- SOCIAL & COMMUNITY -----
Study reveals how well-off families react to school shootings
After districts suffer school shootings, student enrollment plummets over the long term as wealthy families move away, according to a new report from Lang (Kate) Yang and Maithreyi Gopalan, respectively of George Washington and Pennsylvania State universities. The enrollment declines persisted even as districts shelled out millions of dollars on physical security and student supports like counselors and as educators assured families that the schools remained safe places to learn. The enrollment dips could also be felt over time as the areas’ median household income declines and the communities’ socioeconomic profiles are altered. “It’s a stigma that needs to be countered,” Yang said. Even though districts increase spending on physical security and mental health care, she said those efforts aren’t enough to dispel the bad rap, “which suggests that either the resources are not enough or they’re not used correctly. Maybe there is not an effort, or a coordinated effort, to show people that the school is still safe,” despite the isolated shooting.
----- OTHER -----
Experts Say America’s Schools Are Falling Into Disrepair With No Solution
NBC News (6/2) reports that “nationwide, the backlog in school maintenance and repair projects is at least $500 billion, the nonprofit 21st Century School Fund estimates.” The Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan “would inject $193 billion into the country’s crumbling schools.” In guidance it “issued last month, the Education Department said schools can use the money on school facility repairs and improvements to reduce the risk of virus transmission and exposure to environmental health hazards, as well as inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, and upgrade projects to improve the indoor air quality in school facilities.” However, it “cautions against new construction projects that could suck money from ‘essential needs and initiatives’ and warns that major remodeling, renovation and new construction projects might be time-consuming and, therefore, unfeasible.” Additionally, “much of the money is expected to go to remedy learning loss and to hire teachers and support staff members.”
U.S. faces shortage of summer camp counselors
America’s summer camps are facing a staffing crunch this year, due to delays in processing visas for overseas workers coming in on a temporary, cultural exchange basis. "We’re going to see more camps that can’t open or have to cut capacity," said Scott Brody, the director of Camps Kenwood and Evergreen in New Hampshire. Brody is missing about 20 camp counselors because of the J-1 visa backlogs. And he has another two dozen former counselors who aren't returning this year because they must catch up on schoolwork missed during the pandemic. Camp directors have been urging President Joe Biden's administration to speed up the visa processing, Brody said. "There's normally 12,000 to 13,000 camp counselors who come from the U.K.," Brody added. "This year, there were only about 5,000 applications, and even those haven't been processed yet. "If the State Department would free up those 5,000 people, it would make a big difference."
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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