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While pundits worry about "learning loss" due to the pandemic, Steven Singer writes about the mental and emotional stress of the pandemic on students. "...this is not what teaching middle school used to be like."
It's more important than ever to protect and promote public education. Below are articles discussing charter schools, dark money, school choice, the national teacher shortage, and the continued attack on public education by Critical Race Theory opponents.
In local news, a Northrop High School teacher (FWCS) is an Indiana Teacher of the Year finalist.
IMPACT OF THE PANDEMIC
My Students Haven’t Lost Learning. They’ve Lost Social and Emotional Development
It's not just "learning loss." Who is watching out for the mental health of America's public school students? Why teachers, of course.
From Gadfly on the Wall Blog
After 18 months of a pandemic, even when they aren’t infected with disease, children still are suffering tremendously from the effects of Covid-19.
Adolescents are dealing with higher rates of anxiety, depression, stress, and addictive internet behaviors.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that children between the ages of 5 and 11 visiting an emergency department because of a mental health crisis increased 24 percent from April through October of 2020 compared to the previous year. Among 12- to 17-year-olds, the number increased by 31 percent.
Suicide attempts among 12- to 17-year-old girls increased by about 50 percent over winter 2019, according to the CDC.
And these numbers are probably under reported since these increases took place at the height of a pandemic when many people were hesitant to seek medical attention.
As usual, the place where these issues are most visible is our public schools.
SCHOOL CHOICE, PRIVATIZATION
Why charter schools are not as ‘public’ as they claim to be
Charter schools use public funds but aren't as "public" as people might think.
From The Conversation
Proponents of charter schools insist that they are public schools “open to all students.” But the truth is more nuanced. As an education policy researcher – and as author of a new book about charter schools I wrote with fellow researcher Wagma Mommandi – I have discovered that charter schools are not as accessible to the public as they are often made out to be.
This finding is particularly relevant in light of the fact that charter school enrollment reportedly grew at a rapid rate during the pandemic. Specifically, according to the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, enrollment increased 7% from 2019-20 to 2020-21. The organization says that is the biggest enrollment jump in a half-decade.
In our book, we identify and describe 13 different approaches that charters use to bring certain types of students in and push other kinds of students out.
How I Got Scammed by My Charter School’s False Promises
One reason we have public education is so that parents can send their children to a local school and not have to worry about getting scammed. Public schools and school boards are answerable to the public.
From Public Voices for Public Schools
I knew something was seriously wrong as soon as I saw the budget of the charter school my kids attended. As a member of the school site council, I was on the budget committee. Now, as I looked at the numbers, I could see for myself how dire the situation was. The school was paying five times fair market value to lease a property from a shell company created by the former CEO of the charter management company. We were on a fast track to bankruptcy.
How did a charter school created by parents and teachers morph into a series of shell corporations and a money-making scheme so complex that the Securities and Exchange Commission would ultimately step in? The story begins nearly two decades ago with budget cuts. Like districts all over California, the Livermore schools had been forced to make deep cuts, including shuttering two beloved magnet schools. The Livermore Valley Charter School, which opened in 2005, emerged from a grassroots desire to provide art, music and science—all of the things our district schools were being forced to eliminate.
Democrats for Education Reform and the GOP are splitting up on school choice.
From Curmudgucation
Many observers have followed this dissolving partnership (Jennifer Berkshire has covered it exceptionally well-- try here and here) looking at the causes. Part of the issue has been that Democrats were always the junior partners; school choice has been near and dear to conservative hearts for generations, while Democrats were brought into the fold more recently. Often they were simply Democrats of convenience, as typified by Democrats for Education Reform (DFER), a group whose creation hedge funder Whitney Tilson described thus:
“The real problem, politically, was not the Republican party, it was the Democratic party. So it dawned on us, over the course of six months or a year, that it had to be an inside job. The main obstacle to education reform was moving the Democratic party, and it had to be Democrats who did it, it had to be an inside job... In fact, our natural allies, in many cases, are Republicans on this crusade, but the problem is not Republicans. We don’t need to convert the Republican party to our point of view…”Democrats came into school choice on the theory that choice would bring improved education results and lift people out of poverty. Technocrats thought disruption--moving fast and breaking things--would revolutionize education. But none of that happened. Years--decades--passed and test scores didn't rise and charter schools didn't provide genius new education ideas and the gaggle of education amateurs running about didn't actually have any great successes and poverty was not erased.
UnKochMy Campus: Send a Message
Here's something you can do, now.
From Diane Ravitch
Each year in October, UnKoch My Campus coordinates a National Day of Action that focuses on building public awareness of the impact of the Koch network within institutions of education and our broader democracy. This year, we will take collective action and reach out to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, requesting that he address the issue of dark money in education, all the way from Kindergarten through college. Our K-12 and Critical Race Theory reports have shown us the role dark money’s influence has in destabilizing our democracy, advancing climate denial, and prioritizing private profits over people and our planet.
Join us October 28th and 29th! We want to make sure Secretary Cardona knows about the impact of the Koch network and how they are leveraging our institutions of education to spread climate disinformation and destabilize our democracy.
Click the link below and we’ll do the work for you. Simply enter your information and we’ll add your name and return address to the postcard. SIGN UP FOR A POSTCARD BEFORE OCTOBER 15th.
FWCS TEACHER IS INDIANA TEACHER OF THE YEAR FINALIST
Northrop High School teacher among top 3 finalists for Indiana Teacher of the Year
From WANE.com
Lisa Clegg is an English language learner (ELL) teacher at Northrop High School in Fort Wayne. As an educator, now in her ninth year of teaching, she is passionate about student connections, community and the importance of making sure every voice is heard. Clegg is innovative in her methodology and values student achievement both inside and outside of the classroom. During her time at Northrop High School, Clegg’s ELL students have nearly doubled district average gains in language acquisition. Additionally, she has implemented an ELL peer mentor program that ensures each student in her program has the tools to succeed.
NEWS FLASH: TEACHING IS HARD
School superintendent asks: ‘Who would want to be a teacher right now?’
Teaching has always been a harder job than the public thinks. Just because someone, as a child, sat in class and observed teachers doesn't mean they understand the depth of commitment needed to last in an education career. And now, during the pandemic, it's even harder.
From the Answer Sheet
Teachers have had to endure revolting public comments at school board meetings, floggings via social media and even being called “losers” by national leaders. This kind of treatment needs to end immediately.
Teachers are indispensable to our society, but sadly, they are not treated as such. We have to not only defend our teachers, but praise them and elevate them to a level commensurate with the value they add to our communities. I recognize that the vast majority of folks in our community agree, and they do respect, appreciate, and recognize the value they provide to our community.
Teaching is hard work. Unless you have done it yourself, you may not be able to relate entirely. I am not, by the way, pitting teaching against any other profession. I wouldn’t attempt to draw those comparisons unless I had actually walked in those shoes. And yet, some will do just that even if they’ve not spent a single day teaching in a classroom.
SEARCHING FOR CRT
Illinois: Mysterious Group Asks Schools if They Have Materials Included in “1619 Project”
The purge has started.
From Diane Ravitch
I received the following alarming notice from a friend in Illinois. Some organization wants to know whether schools in the state have any articles or books cited in “The 1619 Project.” This looks like the beginning of a McCarthyite witch hunt.
Subject: Interested in the 1619 Project? Work in IL schools and educational spaces? You’ll want to be aware of this. Public school districts are receiving this FOIA notice from a company called LocalLabs, a Chicago-based publisher (of sorts) that sells its FOIA research to news media outlets of all kinds. The librarians I work with are now scrambling with their districts’ attorneys and compliance officers to fulfill this request. I find it interesting that they’ve cherry-picked these particular titles and perhaps you do, too.
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