More than 50 doctoral programs in the humanities and social
sciences won’t be admitting new students in the fall of 2021 — a
response to the pandemic and ensuing economic turmoil. It’s a
sort of financial triage to help the programs devote funding to
their current students, many of whom will be delayed in
completing their degrees because of the disruptions. Suspending
admissions for a year, some administrators say, will also allow
them to reimagine their doctoral curricula to account for the
flagging Ph.D. job market.
The University of Georgia has faced criticism in recent days from
Black and Hispanic student leaders and organizations that it has
not adequately responded to discrimination complaints.
The complaints stem from incidents involving crude images, sexist
language and racial slurs, the students say. They want leadership
at the state’s flagship university to enact measures that result
in a better learning environment for students of color.
A hacker published documents containing Social Security numbers,
student grades and other private information stolen from a large
public-school district in Las Vegas after officials refused a
ransom demanded in return for unlocking district computer
servers.
Lindsay Ellis, Jack Stripling, and Dan BaumanThe Chronicle of Higher Education
It was a long time coming; 140 years, in fact.
When Republicans seized control of both chambers of North
Carolina’s General Assembly, in 2010, for the first time in more
than a century, they quickly set about remaking a politically
moderate state that Barack Obama had carried in the presidential
election just two years earlier.
Shemar, a twelve-year-old from East Baltimore, is good at math,
and Karen Ngosso, his fourth-grade math teacher, at Abbottston
Elementary School, is one reason why. “I would try to pump him up
and tell him, ‘You’re a good student,’ ” she said. But she
knew that he didn’t get enough sleep, and he was often absent.
His home situation, like those of many of her students, was
unstable: his mother suffered from drug addiction, and they moved
frequently.
Almost every waiver application for in-person instruction for
grades K-6 has been approved by the state for schools in counties
deemed a high risk. But private schools comprise an overwhelming
majority of those schools, creating an equity problem.
Although some school districts publish detailed data about coronavirus case counts, others reveal little or no information, reports Ty Tagami of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Excellent example of accountability journalism in the COVID-19 era by @Ty_Tagami: Request the data, be skeptical of blanket statements on "privacy," and push back on districts that aren't following the law. He's my pick for @edwriters#tellEWA. https://t.co/A0ZIIKMt95
EdSurge’s Jeffrey R. Young covers what’s left of campus life for students to enjoy at a time of social isolation and how professors are coping.
So much of what makes college valuable happens in informal conversations among students, or students and profs, that are happening less due to COVID restrictions. Hear the latest in our campus diaries podcast series. #TellEWAhttps://t.co/nqXBRx4fFn
A snapshot of fall enrollment shows fewer students are pursuing
undergraduate degrees this semester as
the coronavirus continues to sow fears of infection and
devastate the economy.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center on Thursday
released its first look at fall enrollment through Sept. 10,
confirming what many in higher education already suspected: that
the public health crisis would lower head counts at the nation’s
colleges and universities.
In New York City, the nation’s largest school district, teachers
and students of color say they don’t feel safe returning to
school. Many of their schools lack windows that open, an ample
supply of soap, masks or working ventilation systems — making it
nearly impossible to navigate live classes in the middle of a
pandemic.
An hour’s drive from the U.S. Capitol, about 27,000 Baltimore
city school children — 1 in 3 students — do not have computers
vital for virtual school. Thousands lack reliable wireless
internet access.
America’s most widely used school rating system is overhauling
its approach with a series of changes that will weaken the link
between race, poverty, and school scores.
The website GreatSchools is rolling out the changes nationwide
Thursday after introducing them for schools in California
and Michigan in August. They are part of an effort by the
site to make its ratings better reflect how much schools help
students learn, rather than things like students’ prior academic
achievement and poverty levels that schools don’t control.
Around Georgia, groups of parents and teachers are criticizing
what they see as a dangerous trend. Although some school
districts publish detailed data about coronavirus case counts,
others reveal little or no information.
College leaders are talking more than ever about inclusion.
Faculty members and students are demanding institutional changes.
At some colleges, dozens or even hundreds of faculty members have
signed onto open letters that call for anti-racist action and
offer criticisms that, depending on one’s point of view, will
either seem compelling or exaggerated.
An independent government agency will investigate whether
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos breached a law forbidding federal
employees from engaging in political activities on the job after
her department distributed a clip of Ms. DeVos criticizing the
Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joseph R.
Biden Jr., through government channels.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which has jurisdiction to
investigate violations of the law, known as the Hatch Act, will
conduct the inquiry, according to the investigative watchdog blog
that filed the complaint.
On June 23 at 1:35 p.m., Delilah Ballesteros finally sent an
email she’d been thinking about for weeks.
It starts: “After many prayers, I have decided that I won’t be
returning to work this school year.”
The recipient was the principal of Holy Trinity Elementary School
in Atwater Village, where she taught fourth and fifth grade.
“That was a hard decision to admit, ‘OK, I’m a stay at home mom
now,’ because that’s not what I wanted to be,” Ballesteros said.
“I wanted to be a working mom, but that’s what my family needs
right now.”
For The New Yorker, Casey Parks covers the enrichment centers that quickly opened in March for the children of essential workers.
"I said to myself, ‘If these people are putting their lives on the line, at least let me make sure that their kids are good.’" @caseyparks' superb storytelling is my pick for this week's @EdWriters' #tellEWA. https://t.co/dyhi35BEo2
Only California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have
implemented all of the state policies that research shows
contribute to young children’s health and well-being during their
first three years, according to a comprehensive new “roadmap”
released Tuesday.
On a cold, drizzly Monday morning in late March, Santiago Taveras
left his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, before the sun rose.
Traffic was light as Taveras merged onto the George Washington
Bridge, crossed over the Hudson and Harlem Rivers into the Bronx,
passed the shuttered Cardinal Hayes High School, and steered
toward a big, boxy building in Mott Haven. Already, the city had
begun to feel like the national epicenter of what people would
come to call the pandemic. The previous week, the city had
implemented shelter-in-place rules, shutting down offices,
restaurants, and schools.
A year ago, when Bianca Argueta was beginning her senior year at
Richmond Hill High, she felt pretty excited about what the fall
of 2020 might hold for her. Richmond Hill is a big, old-fashioned
public high school in central Queens, the alma mater of Rodney
Dangerfield and Phil Rizzuto, and Bianca was a top student there,
full of ambition, part of the leadership club, taking A.P.
classes.
For KNKX’s Take the Mic, 18-year-old Ukweli Bayard interviews four of his friends about their feelings as they begin their college journey online.
We talk *a lot* about the value of getting more youth voices into education stories: @knkxfm's @ashleykgross is handing them the mic! The debut installment of this innovative project is my pick for this week's @EdWriters#tellEWA. https://t.co/PFQHTvckJQ
For The Boston Globe, Linda K. Wertheimer dives into the complexities of teaching about racism and talks with teachers who feel compelled to do more to show that Americans are far from living in a post-racial era.
The Education Department plans to scrutinize a wide range of
employee activities — including internal book clubs — in search
of “Anti-American propaganda” and discussions about “white
privilege” as it carries out the White House’s demand that
federal agencies halt certain types of race-related training.
In Iowa, some school districts are playing a game of musical
chairs in order to skirt mandatory quarantining for students
exposed to COVID-19, a method health experts warn may only put
students at greater risk for infection.
Sarah Kliff and Margot Sanger-KatzThe New York Times
As child care centers and schools reopen, parents are
encountering another coronavirus testing bottleneck: Few sites
will test children. Even in large cities with dozens of test
sites, parents are driving long distances and calling multiple
centers to track down one accepting children.
The pandemic may be exacerbating achievement gaps not only by
leaving some students behind but also by propelling more
privileged children even farther ahead academically, new data
suggest.
Cities across the country are grappling with an uncomfortable
truth: Where we educate our children is becoming more and more
divided by race and economics.
In this season of The Promise, we examine school re-segregation
by zooming into one neighborhood in Nashville where that divide
is indisputably apparent.
Lauren Lumpkin and Susan SvrlugaThe Washington Post
A history professor at George Washington University admitted in a
blog post to claiming a Black identity, despite being White.
Jessica A. Krug said she has deceived friends and colleagues by
falsely claiming several identities, including “North African
Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx
Blackness,” she wrote in a blog post on Medium. Krug, whose
areas of expertise include African American history, Africa and
Latin America, is White and Jewish, she admitted.
Austin Statesman’s Melissa B. Taboada covers the shortage of school nurses and the crucial role they play in reopening schools.
As districts across the country reopen their doors to students amid the pandemic, school nurses will be critical in the fight against the spread of the virus among students and teachers. But the country faces a shortage of school nurses. https://t.co/SvasyMT4Hm#tellewa#txed
Active shooter drills became one of the most common school safety
measures implemented nationwide in recent years,
despite widespread fears that the procedures heighten
anxiety, and evidence that school shooters, like the one in
Parkland, Florida, use knowledge of the drills to their
advantage. Teachers unions in February called for
schools to not conduct active shooter drills with students.
Now, new research adds data to those concerns.
Teachers, students and parents around the country have been
bracing themselves all spring and summer long for the start of
this unprecedented school year. This week, it’s here.
All teachers will be on the frontlines when school buildings
reopen. But in some cases, they might formally be considered
essential workers, which means they’ll be expected to continue to
go to work even if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19.
According to a study by Michigan State University, 86% of
Michigan school districts will offer some or all instruction
in-person at the beginning of the school year.
The study, conducted by Michigan State University’s Education
Policy Innovation Collaborative in partnership with the Michigan
Department of Education, found 59% of Michigan school
districts are offering students an option to return to school
five days a week and 27% of districts are providing students
with the ability to return to schools at least two to three days
a week.
As 5,000 students prepared for move-in day at the University of
Arizona this week, the school warned they would be tested
periodically for the coronavirus. One test, though, doesn’t
involve a nose swab. The university is regularly screening the
sewage from each dorm, searching for traces of the virus.
For all of St. Petersburg’s progressive bona fides, Tori and
Khyre Edwards come home at least once a week with stories to
unload, experiences of being profiled, pulled over, discounted,
dismissed. In their liberal-leaning circles of advocacy and
faith, they find solace and momentum, but also exhaustion.
Now, as protesters march again for Black lives, the days feel
heavy, hopeful and too familiar.
Unable to meet with her students in person because of the
pandemic, Taylor Lifka, an advanced English teacher at Roma High
School, set out to personalize and add warmth to her virtual
classroom space.
As the fall semester begins, many college students will be
attending classes from the relative safety of their family homes.
Others have arrived to live on university campuses, with varying
amounts of success; even schools that enforce strict social
distancing guidelines are seeing outbreaks of the
coronavirus.
But some students are pursuing a third option: Renting giant
houses with friends — sometimes in far-flung locales — and doing
school remotely, together. Call it the rise of the college
“collab house.”
On the morning of Friday, Aug. 14, The Daily Tar
Heel newsroom got a tip: The University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill was about to announce clusters of positive
coronavirus cases in student housing, after only a week of
in-person classes. The student-led independent
newspaper broke the news before the university sent its
campus-wide alert.
Over the weekend, more news of clusters trickled in —
this time at a fraternity house and another dorm.
The new coronavirus is not the only illness that teachers,
students, parents and staff will have to worry about as some
schools attempt to reopen this fall. Legionella could lurk in the
water supplies of school buildings, and some measures to keep
people in schools safe from coronavirus may even increase risks
from deadly illnesses caused by the bacteria.
Last week in Ohio, officials found Legionella at five
schools in an assortment of towns. On Friday, a district in
Pennsylvania also announced it had found Legionella at four
of its schools.
The Cleveland school district begins the fall semester
— entirely online — in two weeks, and in the 11th hour,
it heard from a major supplier that it would not be able to give
every student their own laptop by then.
The Hewlett-Packard Company reneged on a commitment to provide
9,000 laptops by Sept. 8, the first day of the new academic year,
and now the infuriated school district is rushing to find
computers for students before then.
This spring, as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted campus life
for college students across California, UC San Diego sophomore
Kayla Monnette had trouble sleeping at night.
The stress of moving to online classes, figuring out how to
safely buy food during quarantine, and worrying about the
well-being of her immunocompromised family manifested in what
Monnette described as persistent anxiety. Not knowing how many
students on campus might have contracted coronavirus, she said,
added to her fears that she could become infected.
A team at Chalkbeat compiled the most recent inspection reports for each NYC school to help parents and educators find out whether their NYC school building had any reported ventilation issues.
A smart idea and ideal time to put focus on inequities in campus facilities. We need more stories that help answer readers'/listeners' big question: "OK, but what about MY child's school?" @ChalkbeatNY is my pick for this week's @EdWriters #tellEWA.
On paper, Tiffani Torres looked like a strong candidate for one
of New York City’s highest-performing, most selective public high
schools. She had high test scores and excellent grades. “I was a
good fit for what the school was looking for,” Tiffani said.
But when Tiffani was rejected by her dream school, Eleanor
Roosevelt High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, she
didn’t realize she never had much of a chance in the first place.
That’s because Tiffani lived in Brownsville, a mostly low-income,
Black and Hispanic neighborhood in the center of Brooklyn.
OAKLAND — Kirsten Hove and her mom have been taking
care of kids in San Francisco for decades.
Hove’s mother opened a day-care program in her home in the city’s
Marina neighborhood more than 30 years ago. In 2006, Hove and a
family friend expanded the business by opening sites in their
apartments nearby. The days were long, but the women loved the
work.
What took years to build, however, was dismantled by the
coronavirus in just a few months.
Through his high school years in Orlando in the 1990s, Florida
state Sen. Randolph Bracy never heard a word about a massacre
seven decades earlier that took place on Election Day just 15
minutes away in Ocoee.
Two weeks after move-in began, students must now decide how to move forward with their on-campus housing after the university announced undergraduate classes would shift to being fully remote, reports Kate Carrol for The Daily Tar Heel.
Kudos to the student journalists of @dailytarheel for outstanding reporting (and yes, a *memorable* op-ed headline) amidst COVID-19 campus crisis. They’re my pick for this week’s @EdWriters#tellEWA. https://t.co/idGGHXF8FT
For Latino USA, Karen Coates and Valeria Fernández follow a migrant student as he juggles school work, financially helping his family, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lindsay Huth and Melissa KornThe Wall Street Journal
Thousands of students from states now considered hot zones for
Covid-19 are embarking on a great migration to college campuses
elsewhere around the country—including in states where the
pandemic is largely under control.
With the “will they, won’t they” of school reopenings as one of
the most divisive debates of pandemic America,
education policy is enjoying a rare moment at center stage.
But as the presidential election draws nearer, remote learning is
just one of many education policy concerns on the ballot. College
affordability, sexual assault policies and charter schools could
see widespread changes depending on whether President Trump or
Joe Biden wins the electoral college come November.
Amid rising fears about the health risks posed by COVID-19, a
teachers group is seeking to block the Cypress-Fairbanks
Independent School District from requiring teachers and other
campus employees return to their schools for professional
development and new teacher orientation.
This is worth it. The sentiment echoed on the steps of the
student center, outside the dorms, in a conversation between
parents outside the bookstore. Tens of thousands of students were
moving back to the University of Kentucky this week after the
campus abruptly shut down, in March. They bought new gear. They
posted pictures of their dorm rooms. The sweet relief of
togetherness, after months of isolation.
More Doctoral Programs Suspend Admissions. That Could Have Lasting Effects on Graduate Education.
More than 50 doctoral programs in the humanities and social sciences won’t be admitting new students in the fall of 2021 — a response to the pandemic and ensuing economic turmoil. It’s a sort of financial triage to help the programs devote funding to their current students, many of whom will be delayed in completing their degrees because of the disruptions. Suspending admissions for a year, some administrators say, will also allow them to reimagine their doctoral curricula to account for the flagging Ph.D. job market.
University of Georgia Grapples with Student Discrimination Complaints
The University of Georgia has faced criticism in recent days from Black and Hispanic student leaders and organizations that it has not adequately responded to discrimination complaints.
The complaints stem from incidents involving crude images, sexist language and racial slurs, the students say. They want leadership at the state’s flagship university to enact measures that result in a better learning environment for students of color.
Hacker Releases Information on Las Vegas-Area Students After Officials Don’t Pay Ransom
A hacker published documents containing Social Security numbers, student grades and other private information stolen from a large public-school district in Las Vegas after officials refused a ransom demanded in return for unlocking district computer servers.
The New Order
It was a long time coming; 140 years, in fact.
When Republicans seized control of both chambers of North Carolina’s General Assembly, in 2010, for the first time in more than a century, they quickly set about remaking a politically moderate state that Barack Obama had carried in the presidential election just two years earlier.
The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning
Shemar, a twelve-year-old from East Baltimore, is good at math, and Karen Ngosso, his fourth-grade math teacher, at Abbottston Elementary School, is one reason why. “I would try to pump him up and tell him, ‘You’re a good student,’ ” she said. But she knew that he didn’t get enough sleep, and he was often absent. His home situation, like those of many of her students, was unstable: his mother suffered from drug addiction, and they moved frequently.
Few California Public Schools Pursuing Elementary Waivers
Almost every waiver application for in-person instruction for grades K-6 has been approved by the state for schools in counties deemed a high risk. But private schools comprise an overwhelming majority of those schools, creating an equity problem.
Read the full story here.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Sept. 18 -24)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Although some school districts publish detailed data about coronavirus case counts, others reveal little or no information, reports Ty Tagami of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
EdSurge’s Jeffrey R. Young covers what’s left of campus life for students to enjoy at a time of social isolation and how professors are coping.
Pandemic Hammers College Enrollment This Fall, Report Says
A snapshot of fall enrollment shows fewer students are pursuing undergraduate degrees this semester as the coronavirus continues to sow fears of infection and devastate the economy.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center on Thursday released its first look at fall enrollment through Sept. 10, confirming what many in higher education already suspected: that the public health crisis would lower head counts at the nation’s colleges and universities.
The Pandemic Could Widen The Achievement Gap. A Generation Of Students Is At Risk.
In New York City, the nation’s largest school district, teachers and students of color say they don’t feel safe returning to school. Many of their schools lack windows that open, an ample supply of soap, masks or working ventilation systems — making it nearly impossible to navigate live classes in the middle of a pandemic.
An hour’s drive from the U.S. Capitol, about 27,000 Baltimore city school children — 1 in 3 students — do not have computers vital for virtual school. Thousands lack reliable wireless internet access.
GreatSchools Overhauls Ratings In Bid To Reduce Link With Race, Poverty
America’s most widely used school rating system is overhauling its approach with a series of changes that will weaken the link between race, poverty, and school scores.
The website GreatSchools is rolling out the changes nationwide Thursday after introducing them for schools in California and Michigan in August. They are part of an effort by the site to make its ratings better reflect how much schools help students learn, rather than things like students’ prior academic achievement and poverty levels that schools don’t control.
Some Schools Withhold COVID-19 Information from Parents
Around Georgia, groups of parents and teachers are criticizing what they see as a dangerous trend. Although some school districts publish detailed data about coronavirus case counts, others reveal little or no information.
Read the full story here.
Are Colleges Really Falling Short on Racial Justice?
College leaders are talking more than ever about inclusion. Faculty members and students are demanding institutional changes. At some colleges, dozens or even hundreds of faculty members have signed onto open letters that call for anti-racist action and offer criticisms that, depending on one’s point of view, will either seem compelling or exaggerated.
DeVos to Be Investigated for Potential Violation of Ethics Law
An independent government agency will investigate whether Education Secretary Betsy DeVos breached a law forbidding federal employees from engaging in political activities on the job after her department distributed a clip of Ms. DeVos criticizing the Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., through government channels.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which has jurisdiction to investigate violations of the law, known as the Hatch Act, will conduct the inquiry, according to the investigative watchdog blog that filed the complaint.
With Day Cares Shut and School Online, LA’s Working Moms are Carrying the Child Care Load
On June 23 at 1:35 p.m., Delilah Ballesteros finally sent an email she’d been thinking about for weeks.
It starts: “After many prayers, I have decided that I won’t be returning to work this school year.”
The recipient was the principal of Holy Trinity Elementary School in Atwater Village, where she taught fourth and fifth grade.
“That was a hard decision to admit, ‘OK, I’m a stay at home mom now,’ because that’s not what I wanted to be,” Ballesteros said. “I wanted to be a working mom, but that’s what my family needs right now.”
#tellEWA Member Stories (Sept. 11 -17)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
For The New Yorker, Casey Parks covers the enrichment centers that quickly opened in March for the children of essential workers.
Chalkbeat’s Matt Barnum chronicles how we got to a point where the stakes for improving America’s school buildings are higher than ever before.
First-Ever Report Spotlights California, New Jersey, D.C. as Best in Nation for Creating Prenatal-to-3 Policies That Set Children Up to Excel in Early Education
Only California, New Jersey and the District of Columbia have implemented all of the state policies that research shows contribute to young children’s health and well-being during their first three years, according to a comprehensive new “roadmap” released Tuesday.
Read the full story here.
The New York City Schools That Didn’t Close
On a cold, drizzly Monday morning in late March, Santiago Taveras left his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, before the sun rose. Traffic was light as Taveras merged onto the George Washington Bridge, crossed over the Hudson and Harlem Rivers into the Bronx, passed the shuttered Cardinal Hayes High School, and steered toward a big, boxy building in Mott Haven. Already, the city had begun to feel like the national epicenter of what people would come to call the pandemic. The previous week, the city had implemented shelter-in-place rules, shutting down offices, restaurants, and schools.
Her School Offered a Path to the Middle Class. Will Covid-19 Block It?
A year ago, when Bianca Argueta was beginning her senior year at Richmond Hill High, she felt pretty excited about what the fall of 2020 might hold for her. Richmond Hill is a big, old-fashioned public high school in central Queens, the alma mater of Rodney Dangerfield and Phil Rizzuto, and Bianca was a top student there, full of ambition, part of the leadership club, taking A.P. classes.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Sept. 4 -10)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
For KNKX’s Take the Mic, 18-year-old Ukweli Bayard interviews four of his friends about their feelings as they begin their college journey online.
For The Boston Globe, Linda K. Wertheimer dives into the complexities of teaching about racism and talks with teachers who feel compelled to do more to show that Americans are far from living in a post-racial era.
In Crackdown On Race-Related Content, Education Department Targets Internal Book Clubs, Meetings
The Education Department plans to scrutinize a wide range of employee activities — including internal book clubs — in search of “Anti-American propaganda” and discussions about “white privilege” as it carries out the White House’s demand that federal agencies halt certain types of race-related training.
Musical Chairs: Iowa School Districts’ New Way To Skirt COVID Rules
In Iowa, some school districts are playing a game of musical chairs in order to skirt mandatory quarantining for students exposed to COVID-19, a method health experts warn may only put students at greater risk for infection.
It’s Not Easy to Get a Coronavirus Test for a Child
As child care centers and schools reopen, parents are encountering another coronavirus testing bottleneck: Few sites will test children. Even in large cities with dozens of test sites, parents are driving long distances and calling multiple centers to track down one accepting children.
Read the full story here.
New Data Suggest Pandemic May Not Just Be Leaving Low-Income Students Behind; It May Be Propelling Wealthier Ones Even Further Ahead
The pandemic may be exacerbating achievement gaps not only by leaving some students behind but also by propelling more privileged children even farther ahead academically, new data suggest.
The Promise
Cities across the country are grappling with an uncomfortable truth: Where we educate our children is becoming more and more divided by race and economics.
In this season of The Promise, we examine school re-segregation by zooming into one neighborhood in Nashville where that divide is indisputably apparent.
A District Changes Course on Special Education, But Leaves Parents And Teachers Frustrated
Bonnie Budd is used to supporting her 16-year-old daughter Sabrina, but the past six months have stretched her and her family to the limit.
“Everyone is just exhausted,” she said. “It’s like groundhog day. Wake up, do this routine, yada, yada, yada.”
Even though Budd feels like her family possesses the flexibility this moment demands, she knows they can’t juggle much longer.
Read the full story here.
White Professor At George Washington University Admits She Falsely Claimed Black Identity
A history professor at George Washington University admitted in a blog post to claiming a Black identity, despite being White.
Jessica A. Krug said she has deceived friends and colleagues by falsely claiming several identities, including “North African Blackness, then US rooted Blackness, then Caribbean rooted Bronx Blackness,” she wrote in a blog post on Medium. Krug, whose areas of expertise include African American history, Africa and Latin America, is White and Jewish, she admitted.
#tellEWA Member Stories (Aug. 28-Sept. 3)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
As schools in Florida start to open, Jeffrey S. Solochek of the Tampa Bay Times compiles the education news from around the state.
Eric Kelderman of The Chronicle of Higher Education examines the impact of cancelling or postponing college athletics on small colleges.
Austin Statesman’s Melissa B. Taboada covers the shortage of school nurses and the crucial role they play in reopening schools.
Active Shooter Drills Are Meant To Prepare Students. But Research Finds ‘Severe’ Side Effects.
Active shooter drills became one of the most common school safety measures implemented nationwide in recent years, despite widespread fears that the procedures heighten anxiety, and evidence that school shooters, like the one in Parkland, Florida, use knowledge of the drills to their advantage. Teachers unions in February called for schools to not conduct active shooter drills with students. Now, new research adds data to those concerns.
Long-Awaited Asteroid Finally Hits Earth
Teachers, students and parents around the country have been bracing themselves all spring and summer long for the start of this unprecedented school year. This week, it’s here.
Listen to the full story here.
Deemed ‘Essential Workers,’ Some Teachers Told to Skip Quarantine After COVID-19 Exposure
All teachers will be on the frontlines when school buildings reopen. But in some cases, they might formally be considered essential workers, which means they’ll be expected to continue to go to work even if they’ve been exposed to COVID-19.
86% of Michigan School Districts Offering Some In-Person Learning
According to a study by Michigan State University, 86% of Michigan school districts will offer some or all instruction in-person at the beginning of the school year.
The study, conducted by Michigan State University’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative in partnership with the Michigan Department of Education, found 59% of Michigan school districts are offering students an option to return to school five days a week and 27% of districts are providing students with the ability to return to schools at least two to three days a week.
University of Arizona Used Wastewater Testing to Detect Cases of Coronavirus in a Dorm
As 5,000 students prepared for move-in day at the University of Arizona this week, the school warned they would be tested periodically for the coronavirus. One test, though, doesn’t involve a nose swab. The university is regularly screening the sewage from each dorm, searching for traces of the virus.
Life While Black, as Told by One St. Petersburg Couple
For all of St. Petersburg’s progressive bona fides, Tori and Khyre Edwards come home at least once a week with stories to unload, experiences of being profiled, pulled over, discounted, dismissed. In their liberal-leaning circles of advocacy and faith, they find solace and momentum, but also exhaustion.
Now, as protesters march again for Black lives, the days feel heavy, hopeful and too familiar.
Texas Teacher Put on Leave After Posting Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ Signs
Unable to meet with her students in person because of the pandemic, Taylor Lifka, an advanced English teacher at Roma High School, set out to personalize and add warmth to her virtual classroom space.
College Is Everywhere Now
As the fall semester begins, many college students will be attending classes from the relative safety of their family homes. Others have arrived to live on university campuses, with varying amounts of success; even schools that enforce strict social distancing guidelines are seeing outbreaks of the coronavirus.
But some students are pursuing a third option: Renting giant houses with friends — sometimes in far-flung locales — and doing school remotely, together. Call it the rise of the college “collab house.”
UNC’s ‘Daily Tar Heel’ Covers Front Lines Of College Reopenings
On the morning of Friday, Aug. 14, The Daily Tar Heel newsroom got a tip: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was about to announce clusters of positive coronavirus cases in student housing, after only a week of in-person classes. The student-led independent newspaper broke the news before the university sent its campus-wide alert.
Over the weekend, more news of clusters trickled in — this time at a fraternity house and another dorm.
Reopened Schools Find Health Risks in Water After Covid-19 Lockdowns
The new coronavirus is not the only illness that teachers, students, parents and staff will have to worry about as some schools attempt to reopen this fall. Legionella could lurk in the water supplies of school buildings, and some measures to keep people in schools safe from coronavirus may even increase risks from deadly illnesses caused by the bacteria.
Last week in Ohio, officials found Legionella at five schools in an assortment of towns. On Friday, a district in Pennsylvania also announced it had found Legionella at four of its schools.
As Hewlett-Packard Can’t Deliver Computers on Time, Cleveland School District Sent Scrambling to Find 9,000 New Laptops in Two Weeks
The Cleveland school district begins the fall semester — entirely online — in two weeks, and in the 11th hour, it heard from a major supplier that it would not be able to give every student their own laptop by then.
The Hewlett-Packard Company reneged on a commitment to provide 9,000 laptops by Sept. 8, the first day of the new academic year, and now the infuriated school district is rushing to find computers for students before then.
Pandemic Tests The Fragile College Mental Health System
This spring, as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted campus life for college students across California, UC San Diego sophomore Kayla Monnette had trouble sleeping at night.
The stress of moving to online classes, figuring out how to safely buy food during quarantine, and worrying about the well-being of her immunocompromised family manifested in what Monnette described as persistent anxiety. Not knowing how many students on campus might have contracted coronavirus, she said, added to her fears that she could become infected.
#tellEWA Member Stories (August 21-27)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
A team at Chalkbeat compiled the most recent inspection reports for each NYC school to help parents and educators find out whether their NYC school building had any reported ventilation issues.
For The Hechinger Report, Charlotte West talked with students from across the country about their thoughts on school reopenings.
A Perk for N.Y.’s Richest Areas: First Dibs on Top Public Schools
On paper, Tiffani Torres looked like a strong candidate for one of New York City’s highest-performing, most selective public high schools. She had high test scores and excellent grades. “I was a good fit for what the school was looking for,” Tiffani said.
But when Tiffani was rejected by her dream school, Eleanor Roosevelt High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, she didn’t realize she never had much of a chance in the first place.
That’s because Tiffani lived in Brownsville, a mostly low-income, Black and Hispanic neighborhood in the center of Brooklyn.
Coronavirus Prompts Child-care Providers to Call it Quits
OAKLAND — Kirsten Hove and her mom have been taking care of kids in San Francisco for decades.
Hove’s mother opened a day-care program in her home in the city’s Marina neighborhood more than 30 years ago. In 2006, Hove and a family friend expanded the business by opening sites in their apartments nearby. The days were long, but the women loved the work.
What took years to build, however, was dismantled by the coronavirus in just a few months.
REPORT: Black History Instruction Gets New Emphasis in Many States
Through his high school years in Orlando in the 1990s, Florida state Sen. Randolph Bracy never heard a word about a massacre seven decades earlier that took place on Election Day just 15 minutes away in Ocoee.
#tellEWA Member Stories (August 14-20)
Here's what we're reading by EWA members this week:
Two weeks after move-in began, students must now decide how to move forward with their on-campus housing after the university announced undergraduate classes would shift to being fully remote, reports Kate Carrol for The Daily Tar Heel.
For Latino USA, Karen Coates and Valeria Fernández follow a migrant student as he juggles school work, financially helping his family, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coronavirus Quarantine Rules Complicate College Move-In
Thousands of students from states now considered hot zones for Covid-19 are embarking on a great migration to college campuses elsewhere around the country—including in states where the pandemic is largely under control.
Read the full story here.
Joe Biden’s and President Trump’s Education Policy Stances Widely Diverge
With the “will they, won’t they” of school reopenings as one of the most divisive debates of pandemic America, education policy is enjoying a rare moment at center stage.
But as the presidential election draws nearer, remote learning is just one of many education policy concerns on the ballot. College affordability, sexual assault policies and charter schools could see widespread changes depending on whether President Trump or Joe Biden wins the electoral college come November.
Suit Seeks to Halt Return of Cy-Fair ISD Teachers, Campus Employees
Amid rising fears about the health risks posed by COVID-19, a teachers group is seeking to block the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District from requiring teachers and other campus employees return to their schools for professional development and new teacher orientation.
Read the full story here.
Excitement. Fear. Resignation. Welcome to the Fall Semester.
This is worth it. The sentiment echoed on the steps of the student center, outside the dorms, in a conversation between parents outside the bookstore. Tens of thousands of students were moving back to the University of Kentucky this week after the campus abruptly shut down, in March. They bought new gear. They posted pictures of their dorm rooms. The sweet relief of togetherness, after months of isolation.
Read the full story here.