蜜桃影视

This is a special edition of EduClips, our recurring roundup of top education headlines from America鈥檚 15 largest school districts, where more than 4 million students across 10 states typically attend class every day. See our full EduClips archive right here.

If you look up on Wikipedia, you鈥檒l be greeted with the following bit of conventional wisdom: 鈥淭his is usually in August or September in the Northern Hemisphere.鈥� That factoid is only one part of what has become a daunting equation for schools, districts and states as they stare down the enormous question of when (and whether) to reopen schools in the fall. A recent by the AASA, the national school superintendents association, reveals the second part. In the June 16 survey, the association said that 94 percent of superintendents said they weren鈥檛 ready to announce whether they鈥檒l reopen or resume in-person instruction. Even with the necessary caveats 鈥� the poll was conducted between May and June, when reopening for the 2019-20 school year was still a possibility 鈥� the math is straightforward: Officials have mere weeks to make what will undoubtedly be the most important decision of their careers.

The stakes? 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to be the superintendent to open too quickly and somebody dies,鈥� Kristi Wilson, superintendent of the Phoenix-area Buckeye Elementary School District, where schools reopen Aug. 5, bluntly told . 鈥淟ive with that! It鈥檚 just way too much to take on.鈥� But the penalties for remaining closed are also severe. Experts that the economy entered a recession in February. No recovery can happen unless parents return to work, and that can鈥檛 happen if kids don鈥檛 return to school.

The bits and pieces of reopening plans that have already come to light only underscore the uncertainty. New York City, the nation鈥檚 largest school system, indicated that 20 percent of its teachers might have to work from home due to health concerns. As noted, those 15,000 teachers represent more teachers than Houston鈥檚 entire public school system. And elsewhere, there has been considerable pushback. In , the governor鈥檚 plan to make children come to school with their own masks has come under fire for punishing low-income students and minorities. And in , several district chiefs called the state鈥檚 guidelines for in-person summer programs 鈥渋nappropriate.鈥�

A large part of the problem is that districts have to foot the hefty price tag for new health and safety protocols at a time when they are already hemorrhaging from the recession. The estimates that it will cost an average school district with 3,700 students $1.8 million to meet reopening guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including $448,000 for additional custodial staff. 鈥淚 mean, it鈥檚 like it’s a lose-lose situation,鈥� said , who runs the AASA. 鈥淵ou have parents that are demanding the schools to open. And then you have parents that are saying, we’re not going to send our kids to school. You have teachers that are saying, we’re not going to go back to work. Districts that are saying, with these budget cuts, we’re going to have to lay off teachers. 鈥� It’s just, this is unbelievable.鈥�

Top Stories

Equity 鈥� Pandemic High: How One of Chicago鈥檚 Largest Schools Rebuilt Itself for Cyberspace ()

Reopening Schools 鈥� The Socially Distanced School Day ()

Black Lives Matter 鈥� High School Students and Alumni Are Using Social Media to Expose Racism ()

Immigration 鈥� A Border School for Asylum Seekers Goes Virtual (Read at The74Million.org)

Teachers 鈥� As Teacher Layoffs Loom, Should Schools Seek Private Donations? ()

Parents

As COVID-19 Threatens Millions of Child Care 鈥楽lots,鈥� Families Face Deep Disruptions to Their Children鈥檚 Early Learning and Social Development and to Their Own Jobs (Read at The74Million.org)

‘Our Kids Had Been Forgotten’: Parents of Special Education Kids Hope for Summer School ()

As Playgrounds Start to Reopen, Here鈥檚 How to Keep Kids Safe ()

Hundreds of Southern California Schools Vulnerable to Outbreaks Because of Vaccine Reluctance, Data Suggests ()

Educators

20% of NYC Teachers Might Work From Home Because of Health Concerns, According to Education Department Estimates ()

A Teacher Ponders Risk of Returning to Work While Being Paid Less Than Unemployment ()

Teachers Need Opportunities to Heal Before the School Year Begins ()

Pandemic Fallout

Could the Online, For-Profit College Industry be 鈥淎 Winner in This Crisis鈥�? ()

Analysis: Just 1 in 3 Districts Required Teachers to Deliver Instruction This Spring. They Mustn鈥檛 Be Left on Their Own Again in the Fall (Read at The74Million.org)

Colleges Are Ditching Required Admission Tests Over COVID-19. Will They Ever Go Back? ()

Charter Schools, Some With Billionaire Benefactors, Tap Coronavirus Relief ()

5 Radical Schooling Ideas for an Uncertain Fall, and Beyond ()

Meanwhile, Beyond the Pandemic…

DACA Teachers Across the Country Embrace SCOTUS Ruling Allowing Them to 鈥楲ive, Work Without Fear鈥� (Read at The74Million.org)

The End of Police in Schools ()

A Black Teacher Questioned Eva Moskowitz’s Response to George Floyd’s Death. Now, Success Academy Is Facing Bigger Questions About Race ()

鈥楾he Students Were the Danger鈥�: In Racially Diverse Schools, Police Were More Likely to View Students as Threats, Study Shows (Read at The74Million.org)

Essays and Reflections

Bradford: Black Lives Matter and Black Education Matters Because Freedom Matters. Only When Black Folks Are Safe to Both Learn and Live Will America Be Free (Read at The74Million.org)

Analysis: For Foster Children in Texas, a State of Despair ()

How the New York City School System Failed the Test of COVID-19 ()

Fuck the Bread. The Bread Is Over. ()

In the Face of American 鈥楾ruth Decay,鈥� Polls Shed Light on How Much Families Are Hurting During COVID-19 (Read at The74Million.org)

QuotED

鈥淚 was able to drive, live, work without fear. Without the constant fear that I鈥檓 going to get deported at any minute.鈥� 鈥�Karen Reyes, an Austin, Texas, bilingual special education teacher, after the Supreme Court handed down its decision blocking the Trump administration鈥檚 effort to end DACA, the program that鈥檚 allowed some 650,000 immigrants who were brought into the U.S. as children 鈥� as Reyes was 鈥� to live and work without the threat of deportation. (Read at The74Million.org)

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want to be the superintendent to open too quickly and somebody dies. Live with that! It鈥檚 just way too much to take on.鈥� 鈥�Kristi Wilson, superintendent of the Phoenix-area Buckeye Elementary School District, where schools reopen Aug. 5. ()

鈥淎t a time when our kids and our communities need us most, we are having to make massive cuts. We must double down for those who have been most impacted by the COVID crisis if we are to deliver on the promise of education to create a more equitable society.鈥� 鈥�Susana Cordova, the superintendent of Denver Public Schools. ()

“This is my great worry. In a moment when we should be investing, we are going to be seeing cuts because Congress apparently feels no urgency … as schools are trying to get ready for what is arguably the most important beginning of a school year that will happen in a lifetime.” 鈥擬innesota Sen. Tina Smith, a Democrat. ()

鈥淭he concerns that the [school police] had by and large were about the students themselves. It wasn鈥檛 about protecting these innocent [youth] from dangers that could come from the outside 鈥� the students were the danger.鈥� 鈥�Ben Fisher, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the University of Louisville, on research showing enormous gaps in how school police viewed threats at racially diverse and predominantly white schools. (Read at The74Million.org)

鈥淩emote learning may be able to crack into students鈥� minds, but I think the pain of this reality is knowing that remotely reaching students鈥� hearts is not the same.鈥� 鈥�Allison Tingwall, principal of Curie Metropolitan High School in Chicago. ()

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