ABCFT YOUnionews for August 20, 2021
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Negotiations Update By Ruben Mancillas
Welcome back, fellow ABCFT members. The negotiating team was busy this summer working on a side letter regarding state mandated changes to Independent Study. The finished product reflected ongoing, and often last minute, adjustments from the state in terms of just how much synchronous and asynchronous instruction would be required. It is important to note that Independent Study by its very definition is not a full time synchronous model and that this particular agreement is in place for this 2021-2022 school year only.
The state and county will continue to provide us guidance and support regarding COVID compliance and health and safety protocols. I am cautiously optimistic about the majority of our students returning to full time in person instruction. The virus and its variants will be an ongoing challenge for all of us but I am looking forward to being able to focus on student achievement in the classroom.
Your Keenan safe schools online training email has been sent and time should be provided for you to complete these mandatory modules during your staff meeting. I encourage you to reach out to your principal to determine which staff meeting time will be set aside to complete these required training sessions.
The negotiating team will be providing updates throughout the year as we bargain for salary and benefits as well as our master contract. Please keep us informed as to what is working and what could be improved upon so that we can better represent you at the table. Best wishes to everyone during our new school year.
In Unity,
MEMBER BENEFITS - Wellness Wednesday Archive
Maintaining our mental health and well-being is important for all of us. Last year, ABCFT offered Wellness Wednesdays members had an opportunity to virtually participate in Guided Meditation and Chair Yoga. These weekly sessions gave members a chance to practice self-care. Even if were not able to attend these wonderful restorative practices you can still access the archive by using the link below.
Click here to view the recording of the Guided Meditation and Chair Yoga for the weekly archives
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.
KEEPING YOU INFORMED - Governor Recall Election Guide
Next month’s recall election may be the most important election we have seen in decades. The margin for error is slim and every vote will count regardless of which side you fall on. Hopefully, by the time you read this, a ballot has been delivered to your home but you might have some questions about the recall election process since it doesn’t follow typical election protocols. Below are some general questions and answers to help guide you through the recall process. At the bottom of this post, we have also provided a link to some additional recall questions for your convenience. Thank you for taking the time to vote in this very important election for educators.
Q: How do I find out if I’m registered to vote?
A: You can check your registration status and register to vote at the Secretary of State’s website.
Q: I want to vote in person on or before Election Day or drop my ballot off at a dropbox rather than put it in the mail. Where is my polling place? Can I vote early in my county in person?
A: Each county in California maintains county-specific voting information. Check your county’s elections page to find out about alternatives to mail voting.
Q: What will my ballot look like?
A: There will be two questions on the ballot. FIRST, a recall question will be presented: “Shall GAVIN NEWSOM be recalled (removed) from the office of Governor?” SECOND, all qualified replacement candidates for the office of Governor will be listed. Voters can vote “Yes” or “No” on the first question and choose a candidate from the list for the second question. You can answer either or both questions. CFT is urging you to simply vote NO on the first question and leave the second question blank.
Q: Is there anything else on this ballot?
A: No. This election is only a recall election.
Q: What do the polls say?
A: The polls are very close and your vote matters.
Q: Where can I get more information on the recall election?
A: You can visit our website at cft.org/ and the California Labor Fed’s website CLF.com. Both have excellent resources like news stories, fact sheets, and opportunities to volunteer.
Click here for ABCFT’s Information Guide to the Election
MEMBER-ONLY RESOURCES
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 this 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@abcusd.us or Tanya.Golden@abcusd.us
Click here to Apply for the ABCFT Teacher Leaders Program
Applications are due by Friday, September 10, 2021
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.
Where do I even begin…
First, let me say welcome back for the 2021-2022 school year, its a bit of a chaotic start but we are all getting ready for the first day with students. The beginning of this year is not what we all thought it would look like back in June but we will be starting this school year in person and with new challenges and rules. This past Tuesday, I spoke during the five hour school board meeting about the new safety measures put into places such as sanitizer dispensers and portable air purifiers. We still have the MERV13 hospital-grade air filters in place but we no longer have the plastic shields in every classroom. According to the research out there, the desk shields are a hindrance to air circulation and caused more harm than good (however when the 3 foot distancing rule cannot be met Dr. Zietlow mentioned that schools will then be using shields
Since the first week of August we have been meeting with new teachers and site representatives, delivering a welcome back greeting and provided a general update of the universal changes and challenges we are facing as a district. Many people are supportive of the governors new policies concerning the requirement for vaccinations or weekly testings if not vaccinated. However, not everyone is in support of these mandatory vaccinations for a variety of reasons. Regardless of where you fall on this issue personally, ABCFT is encouraging you to receive a vaccination if you can but we do understand that there are those where this is not possible at this time. Please note that because these vaccination and testing guidelines were set by the government because of a medical emergency, a local union or district does not have any authority to modify these guidelines so that they are less restrictive. However, districts have been given the authority to make even stricter mandates such as the mandatory student vaccination policy we now see in Culver City ( Click here for this latest story). ABCFT will continue to monitor the positions of the ABC school board members and their influence on our district administration concerning all things COVID related. As a district, we continue to make adjustments as the state and county makes changes as to how our classrooms and our schools will look.
As you have come to know, the ABCFT leadership will do its best to get you the latest information, provide you weekly updates, speak with you monthly in Chats, survey members concerning important issues, visit member classrooms, and visit school sites so that we can best serve the needs of ABCFT members.
With that all being said (a phrase I dislike), Welcome back…. You are all wonderful, resilient, resourceful, student focused and despite the challenges you continue to make academic achievement the main thing. We all have support systems that will help guide us through this school year. Look to your supervisors for answers, let them know your needs. Reach out to your school/program ABCFT site representatives when you have contractual questions or concerns. Stay on top of changes weekly by reading the YOUnionews or monthly by joining an ABCFT YOUnion Chat. Most importantly, take care of yourself, manage your stress, and don’t let things pull you away from the thing that you love to do the most...TEACHING.
In YOUnity,
Ray Gaer
President, ABCFT
CALIFORNIA FEDERATION OF TEACHERS
CFT leaders visit districts across the state as part of their ‘Back to School: Forward Together’ tour
As communities across the state return to school, CFT President Jeff Freitas, Secretary-Treasurer Luukia Smith, and Senior Vice President Lacy Barnes, kicked off their statewide ‘Back to School: Forward Together’ tour this week.
On the tour, CFT leaders will spotlight parents, students, educators, and classified staff coming together to support the safest return to classrooms, and outline our union’s vision for utilizing a record state budget investment to strengthen students’ academic achievement and social-emotional well being.
“As students, educators, and classified staff return to classrooms there is no return to a pre-pandemic normal; but we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to renew public education and set a nationwide standard for world-class learning and whole student support,” said Freitas. “This tour spotlights CFT’s commitment to moving forward together – to create community schools that are true, safe, learning spaces for our students and to ensure that every student’s educational and social-emotional needs are met.”
This week CFT officers have already visited communities that span California’s diverse regions, including the San Jose Federation of Teachers, Salinas Valley Federation of Teachers, Gilroy Federation of Paraeducators, Paso Robles Public Educators, Poway Federation of Teachers, and the Lawndale Federation of Classified Employees, with more to come in the following days.
With the growing threat of the Delta variant, CFT is committed to working with local school and community leaders to ensure that all eligible educators, classified professionals, and students can get vaccinated in addition to ensuring adequate PPE and social distancing in classrooms.
Back to school interview with Tony Thurmond
To kick off the ‘Back to School: Forward Together’ tour, CFT President Jeff Freitas got an opportunity to sit down with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond to hear his thoughts on the beginning of the school year and how his office is supporting students, educators, and school workers.
Watch the Tony Thurmond interview here.
For photos and details of the tour, check out CFT’s Facebook and Twitter feeds and our tour page on the CFT website. Make sure to share your photos and experiences on getting back to school as well, tagging @cftunion.
Dear CFT Leaders and Staff,
I write you this email to give you the sad and shocking news that the national AFL-CIO President, Richard Trumka, passed away last night. The passing of our sibling-in-arms is a loss to the fight for workers’ rights, but we will continue our fight with his amazing additions to the movement.
AFT President Randi Weingarten’s statement on his death:
“Rich Trumka was our brother in the truest sense of the word. His sudden passing is a tremendous loss for the entire labor movement, and for working families across the country. From his first mining job in the late 60s, to joining the staff of the United Mine Workers of America and eventually becoming president, to his fierce and courageous leadership of the AFL-CIO for more than a decade, Rich fought his entire life for dignity and respect for American workers. He practiced what he preached, and he brought the voices of working people to the forefront of our nation’s consciousness with deep humility and an abiding belief in the power of collective action. President Trumka was a beloved colleague and friend, and his legacy will endure for generations.
“If you have to be in a war, you want to be in the trenches with Richard Trumka. Our hearts go out to Barbara, Richard Jr. and his entire family. May his memory be a blessing.”
In unity,
Jeff
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
Leading Teachers Union Passes Resolution on Workplace Vaccine Policies
WASHINGTON—The executive council of the American Federation of Teachers last night unanimously passed a
resolution guiding the union on workplace vaccination policies. The resolution is one of several passed by the board since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, designed to protect the health and safety of AFT members and the communities we serve. It was brought to the council in light of the significant change in circumstances with the delta variant and rising COVID-19 cases, infections in children, and an ongoing effort by the union to educate members and communities on the importance of vaccination.
In response to the passage, AFT President Randi Weingarten said:
“Throughout this pandemic, our No. 1 priority as a union has been to keep our members, our communities and those we serve safe. COVID is mutating, it’s spreading to kids, and vaccines remain our best defense to protect people and prevent the spread of disease; prevent hospitals from overflowing; keep our economy functioning, plus reopen—and keep open—our schools for full-time in-person learning.
“The variant and ensuing rise in cases have changed the situation: More employers are considering vaccination policies, including mandates. And while we still believe the best way to increase vaccinations is through education and voluntary adoption, we want to be in a position to work with our employers on workplace vaccination policies, including how they’re implemented—so people who need to be vaccinated can get accommodations, so everyone has access to vaccines and time to get them, and so no one is penalized for medical or religious reasons. Moving forward, we will bargain the impact of these vaccination policies.
“We believe that workplace policies should be done with working people, not to them. In fact, several of our affiliates have already worked with elected officials, school districts, and other employers on vaccine or test policies. This once-in-a-generation pandemic calls for us to work together to keep people safe and put COVID-19 behind us. “As educators, healthcare professionals, and public employees, we play an important role in our communities, and the overwhelming majority of us are vaccinated. We will continue to advocate for masking, testing, and accurate science-based information about vaccinations to combat the rampant misinformation that’s literally killing American people. Vaccines work. Vaccines are safe. And vaccines save lives.
Follow AFT President Randi Weingarten: http://twitter.com/rweingarten
----- NEWS STORY HIGHLIGHT-----
Biden announces bipartisan infrastructure agreement
President Joe Biden has secured a deal on an infrastructure package worth about $1tn that would allocate billions of dollars to upgrade roads, bridges and broadband networks over the next eight years. Although it doesn't include funding for school facilities, it does allocate money for electric school buses, as well as for expanding broadband access and replacing lead pipes to ensure students have clean drinking water. Mr. Biden said congressional Democrats would pursue a parallel spending package that would include some of his other priorities, like expanded spending for child-care and education, that could be passed through a reconciliation process. The agreement as it stands calls for $7.5bn to help replace thousands of school and transit buses with electric models; $55bn in water infrastructure, including a plan to eliminate lead service lines and pipes; and $65bn for broadband access, a priority for education groups that have sought to close the digital divide for students who don’t have reliable home internet connections.
COVID cases surge as students return to schools
Classrooms in some U.S. states that have reopened for the fall are seeing a growing number of COVID-19 outbreaks just days into the semester, causing some schools to temporarily shut down buildings or send students home to quarantine. In Mississippi the Pearl River County District has reverted to virtual learning just a week after the first day of school, because the number of positive cases among students and teachers doubled within a four-day period, while Dallas ISD in Texas has seen 167 positive cases districtwide, and Florida's Hillsborough County Public Schools, which includes Tampa, has had 295 positive cases among students and employees since classes started last Tuesday. The early outbreaks could portend another disruptive school year, said Paul Offit, an infectious-disease specialist who is the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Our behavior matters, and our behavior is worse now than it was a year ago,” he said. Dr. Offit said that the loosened rules around safety protocols like masks, combined with the more contagious Delta variant and the coming winter season, “seems like a recipe for more outbreaks.”
Delta Variant Surge Ensnares Children, Stoking Fears Ahead Of School Openings
The AP (8/19, Tanner) reports that “with the highly contagious delta variant spreading across the U.S., children are filling hospital intensive care beds instead of classrooms in record numbers, more even than at the height of the pandemic.” The AP says many “are too young to get the vaccine, which is available only to those 12 and over.” The AP adds that the surge in infections is “spreading anxiety and causing turmoil and infighting among parents, administrators and politicians around the U.S., especially in states like Florida and Texas, where Republican governors have barred schools from making youngsters wear masks.” With millions of children expected to return to classrooms in the coming weeks, “experts say the stakes are unquestionably high.”
A CNN (8/20) analysis says the “surge in the Delta variant came at just the wrong time.” It has “led to extreme stress and concern among parents, who are desperate to send their children back to school but are conflicted by a natural instinct to keep them safe – and who are leery of yet more disruption in the form of quarantines and isolation periods just as employers have begun nudging workers back to offices.” CNN suggests the “new school year is also exposing new political fault lines over basic public health precautions in states, and local jurisdictions that reflect the country’s cavernous ideological divides.”
Bloomberg (8/19, Querolo) reports thousands of schoolchildren and teachers in Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana “are in quarantine after being exposed to Covid-19. Districts in Kentucky and Georgia have shuffled opening plans, while others in Indiana and South Carolina have switched to remote learning.” According to Bloomberg, these challenges “offer a preview for some of the country’s largest districts that are opening in the coming weeks, keeping parents in suspense over whether they’ll be able to return to a regular workday themselves.” Dan Domenech, Executive Director of the American Association of School Administrators, said, “This situation is not under the kind of control that we thought we had gotten back in July. We’re going to be going back to the same kind of process that districts went through last year, and the shame of it is that it’s not necessary.”
----- VACCINATION POLICIES -----
S.F. schools could follow city's mandatory vaccination policy
San Francisco USD could require teachers and other staff to get a coronavirus vaccine, following the city’s lead in mandating that its 35,000 government workers be eventually vaccinated. The city’s policy, the first of its kind in the state, could result in the firing of workers who refuse to be vaccinated and don’t get a medical or religious exemption. The district does not currently require vaccinations of any kind for workers. State law requires day care workers to be annually vaccinated against the flu, unless they sign a declaration declining one. “I support the city’s position to require vaccinations for all adult workers given that city employees are often public facing,” said Dr. Monica Gandhi, a UCSF infectious disease expert. “Requiring vaccination will allow us to continue to approach herd immunity to keep even the unvaccinated (children who don’t qualify for the vaccine yet) safe.”
California school district mandates COVID vaccine for students
Culver City USD in west Los Angeles County may be the first school district in California to require all eligible students to be vaccinated against COVID-19, along with teachers and staff. Students and teachers also must be tested for the virus once a week. District officials took into consideration that the University of California is requiring all of its students to be vaccinated, many of whom aren’t much older than high school students, Superintendent Quoc Tran said. California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond applauded the district for its decision to mandate vaccines and said he wouldn’t mind if more districts followed suit. Currently, anyone aged 12 and older is eligible to be vaccinated against the virus, and children aged 5 to 11 could be eligible for the vaccination by the end of the year, according to national health officials.
LAUSD orders all teachers and staff to be fully vaccinated by mid-October
All Los Angeles USD employees must be vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 15th, interim Superintendent Megan Reilly announced Friday — an order that puts it at the forefront of school systems across the country that are mandating strict coronavirus safety measures for employees and students. The date was set to give unvaccinated employees enough time to comply. It’s also the date when all California school districts, under a separate state order, must have a system in place to test unvaccinated workers every week for a coronavirus infection. Exemptions will be limited. There will be a process for documenting those “who cannot take the vaccine due to disability or sincerely held religious belief,” according to information posted by the school system. Shortly after the L.A. Unified announcement, a separate one supporting the mandate was released by United Teachers Los Angeles, which represents more than 30,000 teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians. Shortly after the LAUSD announcement, a separate one supporting the mandate was released by United Teachers Los Angeles, which represents more than 30,000 teachers, nurses, counselors and librarians.
----- NATIONAL NEWS -----
Biden directs Ed. Dept. to deter states blocking classroom masking
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the Education Department would use its broad powers to deter states from barring universal masking in classrooms. "They're setting a dangerous tone," Mr. Biden said of governors, such as Ron DeSantis of Florida, Doug Ducey of Arizona, and Greg Abbott of Texas, who block local mask mandates. "This isn't about politics. It's about keeping our children safe." He said that he has directed Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to "use all of his oversight authorities, and legal action if appropriate, against governors who are trying to block local school officials and educators." If a governor wants to cut the pay of an educator for requiring masks in school, Mr. Biden said money from the American Rescue Plan can be used to pay that person's salary. Mr. Cardona has suggested that his department may investigate public complaints about the lack of school masking as a civil rights and discrimination issue. Under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, students are entitled to a free, appropriate public education, known as FAPE, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color and national origin. If state policies and actions rise to potential violations of students’ civil rights, the department could initiate its own investigations into districts and investigate complaints made by parents and advocates who argue that prohibiting mask mandates could deny students’ right to education by putting them in harm’s way in school.
The Hill K-12 Dive New York Times
Districts across the nation impose mask mandates
School districts across the U.S. are ordering students and staff to wear masks to stem the pandemic’s spread, in open defiance of Republican governors who have attempted to bar them from imposing new restrictions. Chief administrators in districts including Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona say the mandates are necessary to avoid a repeat of last year’s start to the school season, when thousands of American schools closed and millions of children stayed home. That has set local school boards up against state officials who have imposed statewide controls at the expense of local autonomy. “They’re trying to take every step they can to reopen their school building so that students get back to an experience where they can be together, so they can have a more traditional school day, but also they’re taking every precaution to keep their students safe,” Chip Slaven, interim executive director of the National School Boards Association, said of local officials. “They’re being responsible decisionmakers as elected officials representing their communities and their schools.” In other cases, districts are going the other way, defying a Democratic governor’s order to require masks. School districts in New Mexico and Illinois have voted in recent days against issuing mask mandates ordered by Govs. Michelle Lujan Grisham and J.B. Pritzker respectively. Separately, the Center for Reinventing Public Education has reviewed every state’s guidance to school districts between July 29th and August 6th, finding that many have ceded their role in ensuring students are safe and able to learn in-person. “They have not positioned districts to prepare for all that might confront local school systems over the next year,” said Ashley Jochim, a senior research analyst at CRPE, a research center based at the University of Washington, Bothell. “Ultimately families and students bear the costs of that inadequate preparation.”
NCES: 3% school enrollment drop is largest decline in over two decades
According to preliminary data from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, public school enrollment in 2020-21 fell by 3% compared to the previous year, marking the largest decline since the start of this century, according to researchers. The changes were concentrated in pre-K, which saw a 22% decrease, and kindergarten, which experienced a dip of 9%. Changes also differed by grade groupings, with a 13% decrease in pre-K and kindergarten, a 3% decrease in grades 1-8, and a slight increase of 0.4% in grades 9-12. NCES Acting Commissioner Peggy Carr in a statement called the numbers "preliminary but concerning," noting the enrollment decreases were "widespread and affected almost every single state and every region of the country." Mississippi and Vermont had the largest declines at 5%, according to the NCES analysis, with Washington, New Mexico, Kentucky, New Hampshire and Maine trailing not far behind at 4% or more. The District of Columbia, South Dakota and Utah saw the smallest enrollment drops, at less than 1%. Illinois was the only state to not submit data.
Pandemic 'widened in-person learning disparities,' CDC warns
New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that the pandemic widened disparities in full-time, in-person learning between white and minority students. While in-person learning increased for all school children in 2021, it increased the most for white students. In-person learning increased to 74.6% for whites from January 2021 to April 2021, to 63.4% for blacks, 58.9% for Hispanics, and 56.9% for all other races. Though the study had a number of limitations, including sampling primarily from larger school districts, researchers found that students in the South had the highest rate of in-person learning, on average, at 62.5%. The rates in the Midwest, Northeast, and West were 37.1%, 16.2%, and 21.8%, respectively. Separately, a survey by the Rand Corp. indicates that the percentage of Black and Latino parents who reported being uncertain about or against the fall return to class was just under 30%, nearly three times as high as the 10% for White parents. Similarly, research from the University of Southern California shows 30% of Black parents and 18% of Hispanic parents surveyed from mid-May through June 22 are planning for remote instruction or are unsure about returning to school for fall, compared with just 12% of White and Asian parents.
Washington Examiner Washington Post
Biden says teachers deserve ‘a raise, not just praise’
Speaking to the National Education Association's annual meeting in Washington, D.C. on Friday, President Joe Biden said that the pandemic has given America’s parents the "ultimate education" on the challenges of the teaching profession, adding that it shows educators deserve higher pay. "You deserve a raise, not just praise," he said. "Every parent in this country who spent the last year educating their children at home understands that you deserve a raise." He made the case while selling his proposed legislative priorities and budget for next year, which includes $20bn in new funding that aims to spur states to increase teacher pay. Mr. Biden is the first president in recent history to address the labor group; he drew attention to a recent survey by the teachers union finding that 84% of its members had been vaccinated. But he also looked forward to challenges as schools work to recover from the pandemic. “On Sunday we’ll celebrate our independence as a nation, as well as our progress against the virus,” he said. “In the days ahead, we have a chance to make another beginning, the beginning of a stronger, fairer education system. But it can’t be done without you.”
Education Dept. declares that Title IX protects transgender students
The rights of transgender and gay students are protected at school by Title IX, the Department of Education said Wednesday, reversing previous guidance that said those students were not protected by any federal laws. The department said Wednesday that its new position comes out of its interpretation of a landmark Supreme Court decision a year ago in Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended protections in the Civil Rights Act against discrimination in the workplace to gay and transgender Americans. “The Supreme Court has upheld the right for LGBTQ+ people to live and work without fear of harassment, exclusion, and discrimination — and our LGBTQ+ students have the same rights and deserve the same protections," said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona in a statement. I’m proud to have directed the Office for Civil Rights to enforce Title IX to protect all students from all forms of sex discrimination,” he added. The new guidance is particularly important for students in places where state-level protections for transgender youth don’t exist, said Christy Mallory, legal director at the University of California-Los Angeles’ Williams Institute, which conducts research on sexual orientation and gender identity law and policy.
USA Today The Hill Washington Post
Federal government to issue rules on COVID relief
The Biden administration is set to issue regulations governing two programs in the American Rescue Plan, as well as the federal law governing the privacy of student records and a pilot for new student assessments, among other priorities. The list of upcoming rules also includes those that would affect magnet schools, charter school facilities, and preschool special education grants. One involves the American Rescue Plan’s $800m earmarked to support homeless students, a group that’s been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. The Education Department says its rules for the program will apply to three-quarters of the funding and will focus on the formula that state education agencies use to provide subgrants to local school districts. The other concerns the relief package’s $2.75bn in relief for private schools; the department says this must go to private schools enrolling “a significant percentage of low-income students” and to “schools most impacted by COVID-19.” The government also plans to issue rules for the testing pilot authorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act, the federal Charter Schools Program that’s designed to help states establish or enhance per-pupil funding for charter school facilities, and the federal Magnet Schools Program that will help “magnet schools that incorporate evidence-based designs and strategies that have been shown to both increase diversity and improve outcomes for students.”
----- STATE NEWS -----
California directs districts to offer remote independent study this fall
With the pandemic still reverberating across California, districts must offer students an independent study option this fall, but with improvements to what was offered during the shutdown and pre-pandemic. The directive to offer independent study is detailed in SB 130, known as the TK-12 education trailer bill, released on Monday. The bill reflects an agreement among Newsom and the state Assembly and Senate, and elaborates on policies related to the state budget for 2021-22, which was approved by the Legislature and awaits Newsom’s signature. The SB 130 bill must also be approved by the full Legislature and signed by the governor. The requirement to offer independent study for the 2021-22 school year can be waived in districts where it would create an “unreasonable fiscal burden” due to low enrollment. In cases where a program is not available, districts must contract with a county office of education or create a transfer agreement with another school district.
California Becomes First State To Impose Vaccination Mandate Or Testing For Teachers, School Staff
The New York Times (8/11, Cowan) reports that “California became the first state to issue a vaccine mandate for all educators in public and private schools on Wednesday when” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) “ordered teachers and school staff members to provide proof of vaccination against Covid-19 or face weekly testing.” Reuters (8/11, Shumaker, Szekely) quotes Newsom as saying, “We think this is a sustainable way to keeping our schools open, and to address the No. 1 anxiety that parents like myself have for young children.”
The Washington Post (8/11, Meckler) reports Newsom “cited the surging delta variant, which has challenged plans for the opening of school this fall across the country.” The mandate “echoes decisions by the federal government and many private employers, who are increasingly requiring their workers to prove they have been vaccinated.” Newsom also “said it was urgent to vaccinate school support staff, whose inoculation rates are lower.”
The AP (8/11, Gecker, Ronayne) continues, “The new requirement affects California’s 320,000 public school teachers and tens of thousands of others – from cafeteria employees to cleaners and even school volunteers.” USA Today (8/11, Hayes) explains that “the order requires teachers and all school employees, including custodians, aides and bus drivers, to show proof of their vaccination status to their school district. Employees who are not vaccinated must submit to weekly testing.” The order gives schools and employees until Oct. 15 to obtain compliance.
Also reporting are The Hill (8/11, Weixel), the Los Angeles Times (8/11, Blume, Myers), Education Week (8/11), the San Francisco Chronicle (8/11, Tucker), Politico (8/11, Mays), The Wall Street Journal (8/11, A1, Mai-Duc, Chapman, Subscription Publication), CBS News (8/11), Bloomberg (8/11, Woodhouse), US News & World Report (8/11, Camera), CNBC (8/11, Mendez, Towey), the New York Post (8/11, Lungariello), HuffPost (8/11), EdSource (8/11), the Orange County (CA) Register (8/11), the Riverside (CA) Press Enterprise (8/11), Newsweek (8/11, Rouhandeh), and National Review (8/11).
Homeschooling applications in California more than double amid COVID-19 school closures
The number of California parents who elected to homeschool their children amid the COVID-19 pandemic increased significantly last school year. Data released by the California Department of Education on the number of parents who applied to homeschool their children in the last school year shows 34,715 affidavits filed to homeschool at least one child. In the 2018-19 school year, 14,548 applied. An additional 3,215 people submitted private school affidavits, which would allow them to operate schools with six or more students. The increase came as many schools in the state remained closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic for a longer period than schools in other states, partly because of pressure from teachers unions to keep their members teaching remotely. While California households didn’t see as large of a percentage increase in homeschooling from spring to the fall, the state’s percentage of homeschooled children already was at 8.6% in the survey, lower than only two other states.
Pomona removes police from school campuses
Pomona USD will ceasing having dedicated police officers assigned to its campuses next school year, Superintendent Richard Martinez confirmed yesterday. The decision to shift away from school police is the result of concerns from parents and students calling for more on-campus resources such as mental health services, he said. Joined by the ACLU and nonprofit law firm Public Advocates, Gente Organizada, a Pomona social action group, applauded the announcement after years of advocating for the removal of CSROs from campuses. The group credited its recent report on racial disparities in arrests of Pomona youth for helping to bring an end to the school district’s contract with the Police Department.
California faces shortage of dual-language teachers
A program that prepares bilingual teachers for the growing number of dual-language classrooms in California is set to end this month, potentially worsening a chronic bilingual teacher shortage. A fall 2020 survey of officials from eight of the largest school districts and nine small, rural districts in the state, the Learning Policy Institute found that most districts still needed more bilingual teachers. The state has already moved to remedy this by setting up the Bilingual Teacher Professional Development Program, under which eight county offices of education and school districts offered college-level courses in bilingual education, coaching and other services to prepare teachers to work in bilingual classrooms. According to the California Department of Education, the program helped 353 teachers work toward their bilingual credentials as of April 23, 2021, and it helped prepare an additional 392 teachers who already had their bilingual credentials but had been teaching only in English. However, its funding is set to expire June 30th. A number of nonprofit organizations have been calling for $5m in the 2021-22 budget to renew the program, but the funding was not included in the budget passed by the Legislature on June 14th. Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislators are expected to continue negotiating the budget over the next two weeks.
California districts lack teacher numbers to help students catch up
California schools collectively have billions of state and federal dollars to spend on programs to help students catch up on the learning they lost while school campuses were closed. However, many lack enough fully-qualified teachers to both fill regular classrooms and launch new academic programs in the fall. Research by the Learning Policy Institute, which consisted of interviews with district leaders from eight of the largest and nine of the smallest school districts in the state, found that the number of teacher candidates earning credentials declined during the pandemic. Los Angeles USD hired an additional 210 reading specialists for the 2020-21 school year for its Primary Promise program, which gives targeted help to 6,700 students in kindergarten through second grades. But the district needs an additional 400 to 500 reading specialists to help all the students who are struggling with reading, Superintendent Austin Beutner said. He added that the district also could improve the first-time passage rate for students who take algebra - currently 56% - if it could hire 170 more algebra teachers to reduce class sizes. To fill vacancies, school district officials have turned to underqualified teachers working on intern, short-term or provisional intern permits who have not completed the testing, coursework and student teaching required for a preliminary or clear credential.
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San Bernardino accused of failing neediest students
San Bernardino County school officials failed to provide proper oversight of millions of dollars meant for the neediest students, including English learners, students from low-income families and foster students, according to the California Department of Education. The finding came in response to a complaint filed last year by the ACLU of Southern California and Public Advocates Inc. on behalf of two community groups. State officials found merit with two of three allegations in the complaint. First, county officials failed to ensure that districts were identifying and justifying how funds allocated for high-needs students were spent. The complaint alleged that the failure resulted in a shortfall of more than $150m in services for the county’s neediest students. County education officials dispute this finding. The state also said the county should not have allowed districts to use money intended for high-needs students to pay for law enforcement and other security services without showing how such a use benefits them. Jenny Owen, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, said the decision “validates there was no misuse or misappropriation of the funds” by their office or the school districts involved. She added that the decision does not require the education office “to take any additional actions other than comply with its oversight responsibilities ... moving forward.”
LAUSD strikes deal with UTLA on COVID-19 protocols
Los Angeles USD and the United Teachers Los Angeles union have reached a tentative agreement on safety protocols and staffing for the 2021-22 academic year, which will see campuses reopen for full in-person learning five days week for the first time since the coronavirus began last year. Some of the safety protocols in the proposed deal are similar to those in the current agreement the union and district hashed out to return to hybrid learning in the classroom and online. Classrooms and other areas on campus will be cleaned and disinfected daily, for example. There will be daily symptom checks for everyone on campus. And all students, staff and visitors will have to wear masks when on campus, though the two sides can renegotiate that after September 1st. Social distancing will be set at three feet. The agreement also calls for monthly inspections of the district’s ventilation systems until at least October 1st to make sure filters are working properly. The union’s more than 30,000 members will have to ratify the agreement, which would begin June 23rd, and will likely need Board of Education approval as well.
Educators more prone to experience depression symptoms than other adults
Teachers are almost twice as likely to experience frequent job-related stress and nearly three times as likely to experience symptoms of depression than the general adult population, according to a new RAND Corp. report. The results are based on a nationally representative survey of teachers in late January and early February, and a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults in early March; 78% of teachers questioned said they experience frequent job-related stress, the survey found, and one in five said they were not coping well with that stress. Half of teachers reported feeling burned out, and 27% said they experience symptoms of depression. Nearly a quarter of teachers said they were likely to leave their current teaching jobs by the end of this school year. “It’s concerning,” said Elizabeth Steiner, a policy researcher at RAND Corp. and the co-author of the report. “People who are experiencing symptoms of depression and burnout can be less engaged in their work, they may be absent more often. … Those behaviors can impact students unfavorably, not to mention the impact depression has on teachers themselves and their well-being and their relationships.”
----- CLASSROOM -----
Scholarly groups decry laws limiting teaching on race
A coalition of more than six dozen scholarly and educational groups have backed a statement criticizing the proliferation of proposed legislation limiting classroom discussion of race, racism and other so-called “divisive concepts,” calling such laws an infringement on “the right of faculty to teach and of students to learn” and a broader threat to civic life. The statement, which was spearheaded by the free expression group PEN America, comes as more than 20 states including New Hampshire, Michigan, Texas and South Carolina have introduced legislation restricting teaching about race, taking aim at critical race theory, a framework used to look at how racism is woven into seemingly neutral laws and institutions. “The clear goal of these efforts is to suppress teaching and learning about the role of racism in the history of the United States,” says the statement, whose signatories include the American Historical Association, the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers and the Association of American Colleges and Universities. “Educators must provide an accurate view of the past in order to better prepare students for community participation and robust civic engagement.”
----- FINANCE -----
California ranks among top states for teacher pay
California teachers are among the highest-paid educators in the U.S., according to Business.org's annual teacher pay report, which compares how much teachers earn vs. the average salary in each state. The report compared teacher earnings across the U.S. from 2019 to 2020 and examined how teacher pay has changed over the last decade. Pennsylvania ranked highest for comparative teacher pay at No. 1. The average teacher there earned $70,258. Pennsylvania teachers earned 30 percent more than the average wage. The East Coast had six of the best-paying states for teachers, including New York, which paid teachers the highest salary at an average of $87,233. New York ranked No. 2 for comparative teacher pay. California ranked No. 3 for comparative teacher pay. Teachers in California earned $84,659, which is 28.80% more than the average salary in California. The teacher salary in California was 4.59% higher in 2021 compared to 2010.
Legislators fear state budget decisions could undercut COVID-19 education relief
As K-12 educators grapple with the pandemic and its fallout, concerns are being raised about the use of funds provided by the federal government to help reopen schools. In late May Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), a member of the U.S. House subcommittee that handles federal education spending, shared a letter from a U.S. Department of Education official to Wisconsin’s state schools chief expressing concern that a K-12 funding proposal in the legislature might run afoul of requirements that states maintain certain spending levels on education in order to access the aid. At issue is a plan from Wisconsin’s Joint Finance Committee to create a $350m stabilization fund in the state’s biennial budget that could be used for K-12, but also other state expenses. “We are concerned that this proposal may have an impact on the State and its local educational agencies ... to comply with Federal fiscal requirements if the funds, in fact, are not appropriated for public education,” Ian Rosenblum, the acting assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, wrote to Wisconsin state superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor. The federal maintenance of effort requirements triggered a clash between state Republican officials in Texas and school district leaders, who lobbied against what they called an alarming delay in the release of federal aid. There was also tension in Michigan over conditioning federal relief on schools agreeing to hold a certain amount of in-person learning time. States can seek waivers from maintenance of effort requirements, both in general and specifically related to the three COVID-19 relief packages, if they can demonstrate certain circumstances, such as a decline in state revenues.
----- LEGAL -----
State Supreme Court won't hear Orange County's challenge to mask mandate
The California Supreme Court has declined to hear the Orange County Board of Education’s petition seeking to overturn Gov. Gavin Newsom’s statewide mask mandate for K-12 students. The Board of Education, along with two other groups, filed a petition on August 10th asking the court to end the governor’s emergency declaration, issued on March 4th 2020. “More than eighteen months after the pandemic began, Californians are living in a seemingly perpetual quasi-state of emergency, with ballparks full but mask mandates returning and millions of families waiting to see whether, and how, their children will be educated this school year,” the petition reads. Attorney Robert Tyler, who represents the board, indicated Thursday that further litigation may be coming. “The Court’s denial does not deter us from moving forward in the lower courts and we will decide our next step over the next couple days,” he explained.
SCOTUS backs college athletes in NCAA compensation fight
The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rule on Monday that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) may not bar payments to student-athletes. The decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, clears the way for colleges to provide more school-related perks to students like computers, musical instruments and internships; it did not directly touch on the issue of whether athletes may earn money for the use of their names, images and likenesses, but some legal experts say the case could be a prelude to challenges aimed more broadly at compensation restrictions on college athletes.
The Hill New York Times Reuters
Lawmakers seek to ban teaching of critical race theory
In the wake of a proposed rule from the U.S. Department of Education prioritizing racial, cultural and ethnic diversity in history and civics curriculum nationwide, state legislators are moving to ban the teaching critical race theory (CRT) in schools. The latest proposal came in Washington, D.C., where Rep. Glenn Grothman, a Republican lawmaker from Wisconsin, has introduced legislation to require that no employee of D.C. public and charter schools "shall compel a teacher or student to adopt, affirm, adhere to, or profess ideas that promote race or sex stereotyping or scapegoating." The bill is thought unlikely to pass; the nation's capital is under the authority of Congress, with both chambers in Democratic control. In Montana, meanwhile, Attorney General Austin Knudsen has issued a 25-page legal opinion characterizing critical CRT and antiracism. not as academic ideas but as potentially discriminatory ideologies propped up by universities, corporations, government agencies “and even late-night television.” “The CRT and ‘antiracism’ movements demonstrate that although ‘racism’ is widely understood and accepted as an epithet, it encompasses vastly different meanings for different people,” Knudsen wrote. “The gravamen of CRT and antiracism’s theories, however, rely on the popular shibboleths of ‘systemic,’ ‘institutional,’ or ‘structural’ racism. A minimal investigation into these claims exposes them as hollow rhetorical devices devoid of any legally sufficient rationale for purposes of civil rights law, as well as a threat to the stability of our institutions.”
Montana Free Press Washington Examiner
SCOTUS backs cheerleader over school in free speech case
The Supreme Court has ruled that the Mahoney Area School District in Pennsylvania overstepped its authority by punishing a high-school cheerleader who used a vulgar word on Snapchat when she didn’t make the varsity cheerleading team. The dispute arose after Brandi Levy, a freshman at Mahanoy Area High School at the time, posted an expletive-filled message airing frustration in May 2017 at her rejection from the squad. Despite Ms. Levy’s apologies, the school then suspended her from the junior-varsity team for the school year, saying she had violated various rules including prohibitions of foul language, unsportsmanlike conduct and disrespect of the school. Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the majority, avoided drawing sharp geographical boundaries around school officials’ authority, noting that schools retain an interest in regulating some student speech that occurs away from campus; however, he added that “courts must be more skeptical of a school’s efforts to regulate off-campus speech, for doing so may mean the student cannot engage in that kind of speech at all” if the speech in question is prohibited on school grounds. Wednesday’s decision reaffirmed a high-water mark for student speech, the court’s 1969 decision siding with students who wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War.
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Special education teacher shortage impacting 48 states
Fourteen percent of all public school students received some kind of special education services during the 2019-20 school year, the U.S. Center for Education Statistics has reported. However, every state except New Hampshire and New Mexico expect shortages in special education teachers for the 2021-2022 school year, according to a U.S. Department of Education spokesperson. Special education teachers are not limited to helping students with disabilities. They also help students who struggle in specific subjects. But the work doesn't stop with teaching. "The working conditions can be tough. There’s a lot of paperwork involved. When you’re managing higher caseloads and students, it’s an intense amount of time, it’s an intense position," said Stacey Ellison Glasgow, the associate director for school services at the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
Most teachers are vaccinated, says NEA
The vast majority of the country’s largest teachers union’s members have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and most have finished out the school year teaching in person as some contemplate leaving the profession. The National Education Association says that around 86% of its 3m members have received at least one dose of the vaccine, up from 49% a month ago. A survey of its members, conducted at the end of May, also found that 76% are prepared to return to full-time in-person instruction. “Educators are ready for the hope and promise of having all of their students learning in-person this fall, knowing there are going to be opportunities and challenges we still must face,” said NEA President Becky Pringle in a statement. She also said that the stress of the past year on teachers needs to be addressed, citing a survey result showing that one of three teachers said they are thinking about leaving the profession or retiring early. The NEA is calling for ongoing safety improvements to be made to school buildings, saying many buildings still lack proper ventilation.
Survey: Stress Is Causing More Teachers To Consider Leaving Profession
HealthDay (6/23) reports a new RAND Corp. study found that “nearly 1 in 4 public school teachers may leave their job by the end of the 2020-21 school year, compared with 1 in 6 who were likely to leave prior to the coronavirus pandemic.” The survey, conducted in January and February, found “Black teachers were particularly likely to consider leaving.” Survey respondents were also “nearly two times more likely to say they had frequent job-related stress and nearly three times more likely to report symptoms of depression, compared with working adults in the general population.” Study author Elizabeth Steiner said in a release, “This raises the concern that more teachers may decide to quit this year than in past years if nothing is done to address challenging working conditions and support teacher well-being.”
How can districts improve recruitment, retention for male teachers of color?
Since assuming the superintendency in Columbia, South Carolina's Richland School District Two in 2017, Baron Davis has overseen several key initiatives to diversify the school system's teacher workforce and academic offerings, as well as to fortify and enhance its facilities. In an interview with K-12 Dive Mr Davis, the first African American to lead the district, discusses his strategy for recruiting and retaining male teachers of color. He outlines the Premier 100 initiative he helped implement, which sees the district look to HCBUs for recruitment purposes, and provides mentorship for new teachers.
----- HEALTH & WELLBEING -----
Pandemic prompts grief support in schools
As students prepare to return to their classrooms for the 2021-22 school year, many are processing grief after the death of a loved one during the pandemic. To help those students, some schools are planning to offer grief support as part of their social-emotional learning curriculums. “Bereavement and grief is not a mental illness. It’s a life experience,” said Dr. David Schonfeld, a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and director of the National Center for School Crisis and Bereavement. “It’s a very difficult life experience, but everyone goes through it.” Any feelings or reactions to that experience that can typically be “managed through support and assistance,” he added. In response, some school systems, such as Los Angeles USD in California, are developing grief curricula designed to help students heal. Teachers can help guide students through these feelings by using talking prompts or journaling that help students process their emotions. One-to-one check-ins and using empathy to validate feelings can be helpful for older students.
Educators more prone to experience depression symptoms than other adults
Teachers are almost twice as likely to experience frequent job-related stress and nearly three times as likely to experience symptoms of depression than the general adult population, according to a new RAND Corp. report. The results are based on a nationally representative survey of teachers in late January and early February, and a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults in early March; 78% of teachers questioned said they experience frequent job-related stress, the survey found, and one in five said they were not coping well with that stress. Half of the teachers reported feeling burned out, and 27% said they experience symptoms of depression. Nearly a quarter of teachers said they were likely to leave their current teaching jobs by the end of this school year. “It’s concerning,” said Elizabeth Steiner, a policy researcher at RAND Corp. and the co-author of the report. “People who are experiencing symptoms of depression and burnout can be less engaged in their work, they may be absent more often. … Those behaviors can impact students unfavorably, not to mention the impact depression has on teachers themselves and their well-being and their relationships.”
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Colleges anticipate high levels of COVID learning loss
College and university campuses in California and across the nation this fall face special challenges in welcoming freshmen who have not been in a real classroom for a year and a half. Colleges and faculty plan to provide extra tutoring, more academic counseling, some changes in courses and, if necessary, a slower teaching pace at first to help students rebuild their academic and social strengths. “Of course, they are not going to have the skills they were supposed to have. There will be some gaps in their learning from senior year in high school. We have to get ready for that,” said Tina Jordan, Sacramento State University’s assistant vice president for strategic success initiatives. Anticipating that fewer students will be ready to jump into advanced material right out of high school, UC Riverside is expanding English and math tutoring in its summer bridge program some students take and is adding fall sections for more elementary math and writing courses than in other years. The campus also plans to spend some of its federal relief funds to hire 50 additional tutors and supplemental instructors to help students review material in small groups and prepare for tests and projects.
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 online. 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 online.
Please contact Leann Blaisdell at any time either by phone or email.
562-822-5004
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