Items

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  2021-04-15

  COVID-19 Changed Education in America

  The pandemic has completely changed education. Students' views and attitudes towards school has changed, as well as been impacted by trauma and lack of normal school routine. School districts and teachers have been scrambling to accommodate to the new change while also trying to maintain a feeling of being "normal" during a pandemic.
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  2021-07-15

  High School COVID-19 Expectations and Procedures

  The document is the "COVID-19 Parent/Guardian Expectations" section of a school handbook for the 2021-2022 school year. For this school district, the 2021-2022 school year is the first year since the pandemic started that would be entirely in-person. Due to this, school staff, parent/guardians, and students were expected to comply with essential health and safety standards. The handbook covers when students should be kept home from school, how to report symptoms of COVID-19 or a positive test, bus protocols, sanitation policies followed by teachers and school staff, mask expectations, cafeteria and food procedures, accommodations for social distancing, requirements of school volunteers, and athletics. This document shows how schools worked to create policies and procedures in order to keep students in school in-person. These procedures were created in anticipation of the first school year that would be completely in-person, since the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years were partially online.
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  2022-03-16

  School Shootings, I don't miss them.

  This is a ParentSquare message from the superintendent from the school district that I work at. A student from the Online school that our district provides as an alternative for students because of COVID-19 decided it was a good idea to shoot at fellow students. This is particularly frustrating for me as a school employee because this student put other students in danger and ended the life of at least one student. Actions like this also put the school employees or outside civilians in danger if they get caught in the crossfire. Gang activity has become an issue in this town and I fear there will be more retaliation and the cycle of violence will continue. This will likely interrupt the student's education even more because of fear or fascination, probably just as much as COVID has. It has become increasingly difficult to engage some students with their students because they are behind maturity-wise after a year of being online due to COVID and this school shooting is not helpful.
• 
  2021-09-06

  Empty Classrooms: An Uncertain Future

  When COVID hit and schools were forced to shut down, education had to transform in many ways. Students began remote learning through video conferences and online tools like Google Classroom. Moving online not only took away a lot of the personal interaction and connection between students, but it made learning the content even more difficult. Students were less motivated, it was more difficult for them to ask questions and get their questions answered, and many students began to fall behind. Transitioning back into the classrooms has helped students begin to pick back up from where they left off with their class content, but there are still so many absences daily in classrooms all across the country. This article discusses the issue of how future generations will be impacted by the COVID education crisis.
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  2021-10-05

  Child's Letter to Doug Ducey

  Twitter user @amybchan tweeted a photo of a letter that a 7-year-old student wrote to Governor Doug Ducey. She tells him that she and her sister both got COVID and asks him to make masks at school mandatory. Governor Ducey has not only refused to mandate masks at K-12 schools in Arizona but he has punished public school districts in the state that have chosen to require masks by withholding federal funding meant for COVID mitigation strategies. Parents, students, and educators have been outspoken about this policy and the federal government has weighed in over the mishandling of these COVID relief funds. My children are in a district that requires masks and have put in a grant application for those specific funds but have been told that it is "pending review" and has not released the money to the district. It is hurting districts who are actually trying to keep students and families safe and rewarding schools for not following proven mitigation strategies. At a time when children under 12 cannot get the vaccine this is especially troubling to many Arizona families.
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  2020-10-29

  COVID Testing in Schools

  This article informs of the Texas Education Agency's decision to provide covid testing kits to school districts throughout the state. The testing kits were purchased from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and were to be distributed by size of district and rate of infection. From there, the school districts could decide how to make these available to students and staff.
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  2021-08-05

  Tucson Unified requires masks

  Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and the Arizona State Legislature have attempted to make it illegal for school districts to require face masks. Tucson Unified School District's school board voted for a mask mandate in defiance of this. Other Arizona districts followed, risking the withholding of COVID relief funds that the governor is refusing to disburse to any district with a mask mandate. A judge later ruled that the law was invalid and schools could have a mask mandate. As someone with children who are in school but are too young to receive a vaccine yet, I hope districts continue to require face masks for the safety of the students and staff. The Arizona Daily Star published a story about TUSD's decision. TEXT OF ARTICLE: Tucson Unified School District is requiring all staffers, students and visitors to wear masks at all its school sites when the school year begins on Thursday, Aug. 5. The TUSD decision defies a new state law that bans public schools from issuing mask mandates. “While Gov. (Doug) Ducey and the state Legislature has decided to ignore the advice of our public health experts and endanger our community, we can’t sit idle and watch COVID inevitably spread throughout our schools and devastate so many TUSD families,” said board member Ravi Grivois-Shah during an emergency Governing Board meeting Wednesday morning. “This is why I will support, along with my colleagues, a requirement to have masks on TUSD campuses and authorize TUSD to enforce this.” The board passed the measure 4-0. Board President Leila Counts was not present for the vote. Masking in schools is an important mitigation measure to slow the spread of COVID-19, and especially the new delta variant, health agencies at the county, state and federal level all say. This week, with Tucson classrooms back at capacity, as nearly 140,000 children across Pima County are returning to classrooms in person, indoor masking is one of the remaining virus mitigation measures schools have left. Social distancing is problematic at most school sites because of large class sizes, and there’s a state ban on a vaccine mandate. Further, a vaccine is unavailable to anyone younger than 12 years old. Between July 20 and Aug. 2, there were 102 virus cases in Pima County schools and 11 outbreaks, according to data from the Health Department. Those figures occurred when most schools here were not yet open. At the end of July, cases in schools accounted for about 8% of the Pima County’s total reported cases, compared to 4% of total cases during last school year — when masks were required. The county also has seen an increase in pediatric admissions and ER visits in children over the last two weeks of July. Vail Unified is the only Tucson school district that has been open for two weeks. Without a mask mandate, the district has 57 current COVID-19 cases in students and 12 in staff workers. The county Health Department has already temporarily closed three Vail classrooms and told staffers and students to quarantine. “Last year, schools had a number of tools that are no longer available,” said Vail Superintendent John Carruth. “They had the ability to do hybrid learning with smaller class sizes, require face coverings and close classrooms if needed. This year, Vail has two instructional options for families — fully in person and fully remote. With all of our teachers assigned to in-person or fully remote instruction, we are leaning on structures we built last year to support students when (the Health Department) requires them to quarantine.” And while some parents, especially those with children not old enough to be vaccinated, fear for their children’s safety in a packed classroom with unmasked people, other parents are staunchly against mask mandates, saying it is unnecessary and even harmful. In an informal survey by the Arizona Daily Star, with 180 participants two weeks ago when the COVID-19 numbers were lower, less than a third of respondents said masks should be optional, in line with the new state law. The other two-thirds said masks should be required or schools should at least have the option to require them. TUSD, with about 42,000 students, follows at least two other school districts in the state, the Phoenix Union High and Phoenix Elementary school districts, in defying the governor and state Legislature by requiring masks. A Phoenix Union teacher sued the district over the mandate, but a court hearing on the case that was set for Wednesday morning was postponed until next week. Science teacher Douglas Hester filed a lawsuit against the Phoenix Union school district’s board members and superintendent on Aug. 2, saying the mandate is illegal and can’t be enforced. A hearing on the case is set for Aug. 13. While most Tucson school districts are strongly recommending that students and staff wear masks indoors, most have also said they don’t intend on mandating masks, including Vail, Marana, Amphitheater, Sahuarita, Sunnyside and Tanque Verde. TUSD Board Member Adelita Grijalva said the mask mandate is necessary for the following reasons: More children are getting sick from the new COVID variant; new evidence has shown that fully vaccinated people may still be able to transmit the virus; the delta variant appears to be more contagious than chickenpox; and many students in the district are too young to be vaccinated. “Probably over 30% of our district cannot be vaccinated because of age,” she said. “I know my youngest can’t. I know many of our children cannot or their friends cannot, and so we have to do everything we can in the district to ensure their safety. That’s our No. 1 priority.”
• 
  2021-08-06

  Arizona Doctor Tweets Frustration After Child Exposed to COVID

  Dr. Christina Bergin shares a thread on Twitter after her child was exposed to COVID in the classroom. She provides a story about spending 18 months doing everything she could to not expose her family to COVID because of her work in a hospital, only to have her child exposed after three days of in-person learning at school. She addresses her tweets to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, who (with the legislature) have attempted to prevent schools from instituting mask mandates and have threatened to withhold federal COVID relief funding that the state is supposed to disburse to Arizona school districts.
• 
  2021-04-22

  CA Colleges to Require Vaccine

  Numerous times in the past couple of months, we’ve been wondering if CA colleges would require the vaccine. Today it’s official - the answer is yes. To be transparent, this Californian who has friends and family employed by the UC system is extremely happy. I realize there is vaccine hesitation but I am relieved for the safety of students and staff that the universities are taking this step. And it’s not just the UC system, the Cal State system and Stanford are also instituting the same requirement (actually Stanford announced first). The UC system is often a trend setter - if it does something, other universities follow. I’m hoping this will begin a trend, not only in higher education but at the K-12 level. I know, super controversial, but schools already require other immunizations, why not this one? Public health, people!
• 
  2021-04-14

  California teachers are getting one-time stipends as incentives and hazard pay

  As much as there are "reopening schools" supporters, there are about as much hesitant to do so. You might hear the hesitations from concerned parents and children, but school employees experience it as well. Schools are typically crowded and people are in close quarters at almost all times of the day. Although California regulations are to remain 3-6 feet apart in and out of classrooms, it continues to be a difficult challenge. Moreover, such precautions might lessen the spread but they're not guaranteed. This is where aid funds in the form of stipends come in. These stipends are displays of gratitude, used as an incentive and, unfortunately, hazard pay. More than $2 billion will be distributed across 42 K-12 school districts in the San Diego region. Stipends vary, however. There are one-time stipends for Lakeside school district teachers who have taught since October 1, 2020 of $450 to $900. Special education teachers in the same district will receive more, about $500 to $1000. Despite the incentives, there is an ongoing conflict over who is eligible for the stipend (to my personal surprise). One argued that only employees returning to campus are eligible, while there was a debate over whether those teaching since Fall 2020 should even be compensated for. If this were the criteria, it should simply be an incentive to return as the act of “being appreciative” would not exclude any teachers who have and will continue to work during the pandemic.
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  2021-04-10

  Gargle Test Provided to Vancouver Schools, Easy & Accessible Testing at Home

  In order to relieve some stress for COVID-19 testing, the BC Children's hospital in Vancouver, Canada is supplying 1,200 testing kits to 1,000 schools. It's supposed to be replenished as needed. However, the main purpose is to make testing more accessible (without medical facility visitations). Those who show symptoms, or simply get a runny nose, may be sent home.
• 
  2021

  Vaccine Eligibility Expanding to Adolescents, Californian Parents React to Schools Reopening

  California is soon expanding their vaccine eligibility to 16 and older on April 15, 2021. The plans for expanding it even more aren't expected to be for sometime. However, the announcement from Pfizer-BioNTech stating that the vaccine is safe and effective for 12 and older does give some hope for a quicker time frame. The is a focus on giving children and adolescents back their youth. There are schools opening with hybrid instructions (online and on-site instruction), but there the on-site hours are always rotating students to minimize crowd interaction. The article goes on to include opinions from parents of adolescents, which emphasized the importance of getting everyone (school faculty and students alike) vaccinated. Everyone seems eager to get back to pre-pandemic life as soon as possible, so the eligibility expansion does receive as good news and gives the public hope. Naturally, however, it’s not all good news as people need to remain informed and cautious. The article reminds us that variants of the virus have the potential to harm younger children. Notably, it’s the B117 strain that’s been said by Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, that can be “50% to 60% more contagious than other strains of Covid-19” from his observations of Minnesota schools.
• 
  2021-04-10

  Child Care Concerns Persist Despite Returning to In-Person Instruction in Californian Schools

  Californian schools are opening back up, but there continue to be concerns over employees and their families. Although there have been some employees working at schools the past year (i.e. custodians), those working remotely (i.e. teachers) continue to face challenges in child care. Due to this, "Los Angeles Unified School District earlier this week announced it would provide a day care stipend of $500 a month for each child under age 5 to all full-time employees, including teachers." The Service Employees International Union (SEIU 1021) did clarify within the article by Sacramento Bee that some demands could not be met. Among the demands was a one-time stipend amount of $1,500 for employees with children aged 3 - 14. This is an ongoing issue with its latest update on April 10, 2021 being: a weekly stipend of $125 for employees with children aged under 14. This represents one of the issues employees of educational institutions are facing. They’re hesitant to return to in-person instruction. Although there’s a fair amount of news coverage of children returning to school, the ones hesitant (especially those responsible for the school to run smoothly) should also be acknowledged.
• 
  2021-03-21

  Your Priority is to Open Schools Faster Rather Than Safer?

  So @andrewyang, let us get this straight... your priority is to open schools faster rather than safer? You would have preferred for @uftny to open schools in the largest school district in America BEFORE it was safe to do so (which it arguably still isn’t)? Got it. 👍🏽 What are your thoughts on @andrewyang as a candidate? Do candidates’ views on education/ teaching unions influence your vote? Share below! 👇🏽 Source; @nyc_covid_mutualaid
• 
  2021-01-21

  13,000 School Districts, 13,000 Approaches to Teaching During Covid

  As a teacher, I miss our old normal. I miss my students. I miss the connections. The numbers where I live are pretty high and we have not been inside a classroom since March of last year. The kids are not doing well. No amount of scaffolding would be enough right now. My English Language learners are struggling and most have just stopped coming. Parents are frustrated (understandably), and it is evident in their desperate e-mails to me. I am failing them all but I keep pushing and adapting for them. I am so homesick for these kids. Seeing how other schools are dealing with Covid-19 definitely makes me sad. Apart of me wants to go back so badly that I would risk getting sick. The other part of me knows that I have children of my own and asthma. I need to be here for my own family.
• 
  2020-12-14

  The Daily Numbers, No More Beds

  Since October, I religiously check the daily case rate everyday at 12:30 when my distance learning class breaks for lunch. Originally, I checked in outrage, as I watched the local numbers climb, while simultaneously hearing our school administrators claim our school of 2500 was “safe to open.” After Halloween, I spent a tense November planning to take a leave because there was no way I was risking my family to continue to teach in person but still over Zoom, unable to walk around, with kids unable to work in a capacity beyond their chrome books. Me, exposing myself unnecessarily to the virus inside my classroom with students, but teaching exactly as I would for distance learning, for the political facade that things are “normal.” 20 people dying a day in this county is not normal. These daily numbers climbing confirmed to me my gut instinct was right. Our school ended up having our re-opening cancelled by the state when our area moved into the most restrictive tier at the end of November. I had mixed feelings of relief, horror, and deep sadness. The day we hit 700 cases a day, I was in shock. When we crossed 1000, I was horrified. Last week, when we hit 2000 cases a day, I was in terror. Today and yesterday, we have reached over 3000 new cases a day, and there are now 0% ICU beds available in our county. I feel nothing but numb. Numb and exasperated that people here are still refusing to wear masks and still think going out is more important than the safety of our community. Oh, but don’t worry. My school still thinks it’s safe to open.
• 
  2020-11-22

  A Superintendent On What It's Like Overseeing A School District During The Pandemic

  Lulu Garcia-Navarro interviews the superintendent of Great Falls Public Schools in Montana about COVID-19 and schools.
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  2020-11-18

  As COVID-19 soars in many communities, schools attempt to find ways through the crisis

  As schools reopened around the world, countries saw surges in new COVID-19 cases. In response, some countries have re-closed schools while others have remained upon and employed strict guidelines.
• 
  2020-02-27

  School Emails regarding COVID-19

  Some emails sent by my school to students and family as the COVID-19 situations developed. I selected these emails because it shows the lack of information there was about COVID during the beginning. Shows a situation a lot of people experienced. I think first hand sources are great and I hope in the future people will look back and see first hand emails. It will help a lot of people in the future place themselves in our shoes.
• 
  2020-07-21

  If Schools Reopen Now...

  Schools, education, and the development of students has become one of the new points of contention out of many concerning coronavirus. While in-person education is vital to the development of students, many plans seem to be overlooking the feasibility of safety guidelines, in addition to not fully addressing the fears of teachers and administrators. This item was added TAGS v6.1.9.1. I originally searched under the hashtag #ifschoolsreopennow. Within that search, I have chosen to add the following tweet because it is highlighting the divide amongst teachers concerning a desire to return and work with students while also fearing for their safety. Link to the article: (https://www.teenvogue.com/story/teachers-reopening-schools-coronavirus-covid-19/amp?__twitter_impression=true)
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  2020-07-14

  O.C. School Board Announces Return to Class

  Orange County has been one of the cultural battlegrounds in the U.S. over all issues surrounding the coronavirus. As reopening the economy and the mask debate have somewhat receded, the next major issue is how schools will go about returning to classes in the Fall. Despite the existing health concerns, the school board voted to proceed with suggestions concerning health concerns, but no mandates. This item was added TAGS v6.1.9.1. I originally searched under the hashtag #orangecounty. Within that search, I have chosen to add the following tweet because it highlights the public reaction to the ongoing debate on how to successfully get students back to school. Link to the CBSLA article: (https://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2020/07/13/oc-school-board-classes-fall/)
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  2020-07-12

  States vs. The Department of Education

  As a teacher, I am concerned about having to go back into the classroom. I have preexisting conditions, live with at risk individuals, and don't want to die. While I know that private schools tend to be better funded than public schools, I was shocked and confused as to why the government would choose to prioritize institutions that are able to support themselves better in these trying times. This item was added TAGS v6.1.9.1. I originally searched under the hashtag #schools. Within that search, I have chosen to add the following tweet because it discusses the opening salvos in an ongoing battle between States and Individuals vs the Federal Government over the allocation of relief funds. Link to the NPR article: (https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/07/888793021/states-sue-education-department-over-allocation-of-pandemic-funds-to-schools?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social)
• 
  2020-07-12

  Pennsylvania's Halt on Extracurriculars

  When the coronavirus first started, online learning seemed like it could be fun in the interim. Working from home, avoiding a commute, and dressing less informal all were wonderful treats the first two weeks; as the quarantine and education questions stretched on, these same treats are now driving educators insane. In Pennsylvania, these concerns over reopening have led to voluntary halts on some of the most important social aspects of high school: sports and extracurriculars. This item was added TAGS v6.1.9.1. I originally searched under the hashtag #schools. Within that search, I have chosen to add the following tweet because is reflective of a general mood of uncertainty that is present around almost all aspects related to schools reopening. Link to tagged article: (https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/lackawanna-county/schools-suspend-sports-due-to-health-concerns/523-1dd67802-ac20-49a2-b0e3-f4a54f43b45d)
• 
  2020-07-05

  As summer break wains, will schools open?

  As summer break wains and the beginning of the school year approaches, one of the biggest questions is whether schools will reopen. All schools from elementary to graduate schools are deciding on whether to bring back students for in person classes. In the US, cases continue to peal, raising doubts about the safety of in person classes. This topic stood out to me as I am one of the many students awaiting to see what will happen with law schools in the fall. I am waiting to see which schools if any will have in person classes, and basing my plans around that. For the millions of of families with school aged children, this is perhaps the biggest question up in the air. Children and students being at home will have a multitude of effects in many different areas, including parents jobs and price of education and so on. Many people felt confident early in summer that classes would resume, but now doubts are beginning to set in as cases surge.
• 
  2020-06-05

  Temperature checks, masks for teachers: California releases stringent school reopening rules

  As an educator I worry what next year will look like for us.