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Aug. 27, 2020

ALAS UPDATES

Only a few more days until Early Bird registration closes on August 31st! ALAS ALAS is excited to host the 17th Annual National Education Summit on October 9 – 10, 2020! In collaboration with our Region II Northwest State Affiliates, we have an exciting Virtually LIVE gathering planned for our members, partners and sponsors! View the Summit at a Glance Register now for the ALAS 17th Annual National Education Summit ALAS Members: $125 Non-Members: $275 READ MORE

UnidosUS Guiding Questions and S.A.F.E. Critical Action Items for School Reopenings ALAS UnidosUS (formerly National Council of La Raza) recognizes that school leaders have multiple considerations for reopening schools, including family outreach, physical and mental health, operations, access to technology, and academics. A recent survey by Latino Decisions found that a majority of Latino families in the U.S. are resisting pressure to go back to school this fall. Respondents also expressed inability to provide fully functional distance learning due to lack of internet access, devices, and updated software. It is challenging for families to navigate a new school year in this time of precarity. Families deserve to know how their children will be kept safe and continue learning in this upcoming school year. UnidosUS has developed a comprehensive list of guiding questions for states and districts as school reopening plans continue to be developed. The resource concludes with S.A.F.E. Critical Action Items for State Education Agencies and School Districts, because the optimal wellbeing of students and their academic success go hand-in-hand. English and Spanish versions of the UnidosUS Guiding Questions and S.A.F.E. Critical Action Items for School Reopenings will be accessible and can be downloaded via UnidosUS’s Progress Report blog. Feel free to share with your networks and among families who continue to advocate in their communities. English: https://progressreport.co/unidosus-guiding-questions-and-critical-action-items-for-school-reopenings/ Español: https://progressreport.co/guia-de-preguntas-y-puntos-de-accion-criticos-para-la-reapertura-de-escuelas-de-unidosus/

Planning the Return to School: 7 Questions School Boards Must Ask Is your school board ready for this fall’s unprecedented challenges? This guide reveals the critical questions boards need to ask. MORE INFO

SCHOOL LEADERS NEWS

Superintendent offers 4 strategies to hiring substitute teachers District Administration Magazine Thomas Taylor is the deputy superintendent in Chesterfield County, Va., and oversees approximately 62,000 students and more than 60 schools. The district features seven national blue ribbon winners and seven national Title I distinguished schools. It has a 90 percent on-time graduation rate and a 96 percent daily attendance rate. And it has about 5,000 teachers. So when the district seeks out potential hires for its substitute teaching positions, it does its homework. READ MORE

Pandemic outbreaks are inevitable. What should superintendents do when kids and teachers start getting sick? Education Week Regardless of whether schools open with full-time in-person classes or a hybrid model, their success in preventing a new outbreak of COVID-19 from spreading will depend on their capacity to quickly find and isolate those who come to school sick. Districts in at least five states have had to quarantine or stop in-person classes shortly after reopening after students or teachers turned up positive for the new coronavirus. READ MORE

For students with disabilities, schools say they have to do better in the fall EdSurge Right now schools are making — and, in some cases, already implementing — tough decisions about where learning should take place this fall. Elected officials are making decisions contrary to recommended guidelines that can leave school leaders in an impossible situation of shouldering accountability for health and safety while lacking the control to do so. READ MORE

Back to school amid the COVID-19 pandemic: Balancing students' right to education against public health The Brookings Institution As COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the U.S., K-12 schools are preparing to reopen with inconsistent guidance from federal and state authorities. Not only has remote learning exacerbated existing inequities in the public education system, it has created new ones. The federal government has urged the reopening of schools but the decision of how and when lies with state and local communities. READ MORE

TECHNOLOGY

How to improve teacher training for more successful remote learning EdTech Magazine When K–12 leaders implement expanded remote learning — whether at the start of the school year or as needed throughout the semester — teacher training will be crucial. The quick-fix tech training many schools offered in the spring will not provide the quality online teaching students need. The scramble to implement remote learning in March left many educators with no option but to learn, apply and teach with unfamiliar virtual tools. Now, educators must be able to navigate remote learning and be skilled in technology tools. READ MORE

Data clarity in K-12 education more important than ever Education DIVE Communities across the country have serious questions about how their students were affected by the rapid transition to distance learning wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. How many attended online classes? How much did they really learn through virtual instruction? How far behind might they be in September? READ MORE

What is cybersecurity's impact on K-12 education today? EdTech Magazine There is no shortage of challenges in K–12 education, especially given the enormous changes brought about by COVID-19 and other recent world events. Amid the chaos related to physically closing schools, rewriting significant portions of curricula, dealing with frustrated parents and setting up virtual classrooms, the impact of cybersecurity has only increased in significance. READ MORE

POLICY CORNER

How deep coronavirus school budget cuts are expected to harm student achievement The Hechinger Report In April 2018, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos made the argument that more money isn't the way to improve public schools. A chart, which she shared on Twitter, showed how school spending had skyrocketed over the last 30 years while student test scores have barely budged. Lackluster academic achievement "is not something we're going to spend our way out of," DeVos tweeted. READ MORE

Trump administration guidance says school staff are 'critical' workers Education Week The Trump administration has released nonbinding guidance that teachers and other school staff are "critical infrastructure workers" as it pushes for schools to resume in-person classes this school year. In a document by the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, teachers and others in the K-12 education field are identified as part of a long list of "essential" workers "who conduct a range of operations and services that are typically essential to continued critical infrastructure viability" and who "support crucial supply chains and enable functions for critical infrastructure." READ MORE

EDUCATION HEADLINES

Teachers need emotional support this school year eSchool News At Hicks Canyon Elementary School in Orange County, Calif., students have been learning with digital devices since the Tustin Unified School District went 1:1 six years ago — so the shift to remote learning amid the coronavirus pandemic wasn't as jarring as it could have been. Yet, it was still a profound change. "Teachers didn't sign up for online learning," says Assistant Principal Kristy Andre. "They signed up for in-person teaching." Transitioning to all-online instruction has been physically exhausting for teachers. But it has taken a huge social and emotional toll as well. READ MORE

6 ways to improve to outcomes for immigrant students District Administration Magazine Immigrant-origin children, whose communities have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19, represent the fastest-growing segment of the country's school-age population, a new report says. Immigrant communities have been more likely to lose employment, work frontline and essential jobs, and fall ill. The children are also less likely to have access to learning resources at home, according to "Supports for Students in Immigrant Families," a report released by the EdResearch for Recovery Project at The Annenberg Institute at Brown University. READ MORE

Virtual schooling poses extra challenges for English language learners The World On a warm morning back in June, Hossanna Pacheco stared excitedly at her computer screen. The Los Angeles 11-year-old was achieving her first educational milestone — graduating 5th grade — and she was doing it over Zoom. This week, like hundreds of thousands of students across Los Angeles, she started school from a Chromebook in her living room. Hossanna is excited to be in middle school. But her mom, Mireya Pacheco, is not as excited. READ MORE

Is it finally time for year-round school? The Hechinger Report When Harlandale Independent School District in south San Antonio shuttered its doors in March amid the coronavirus pandemic, Melissa Casey's first thought about her students was, "How are all of their basic needs going to be met?" In the small district, 88% of schoolchildren are economically disadvantaged and almost 75% are at risk of dropping out. Harlandale administrators tried to smooth the transition to remote learning, lending students tablets, parking WiFi-enabled buses throughout the district and partnering with food banks to give out groceries and school supplies. READ MORE

Schools have no good options for reopening during COVID-19 Scientific American Even as schools have already begun reopening across the United States, debate is still intensifying over whether students should be physically present in classrooms. Children are widely thought to be at relatively low risk of developing severe COVID-19, but a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics indicates that cumulative cases doubled in roughly the past month: between July 9 and August 13, the number increased from about 200,000 to over 406,000. Physically reopening schools might accelerate the increase — potentially raising the number of children with severe symptoms and spurring spread among the community at large. READ MORE

Kids are bigger coronavirus spreaders than many doctors realized — Here's how schools can lower the risk The Conversation The first U.S. schools have reopened with in-person classes, and they are already setting off alarm bells about how quickly the coronavirus can spread. Georgia's Cherokee County School District, north of Atlanta, had over 100 confirmed COVID-19 cases by the end of its second week of classes, and more than 1,600 students and staff had been sent home after being exposed to them. READ MORE

Schedules for distance learning are all over the place (and it's making parents crazy) The Hechinger Report "I feel so defeated," the mom wrote as she posted a screenshot of an email she had just received from her young child's elementary school principal into a parent's group on Facebook. The email, written by a principal for an elementary school in central Texas, detailed a complex new plan for remote learning in the fall and was full of jargon: asynchronous time, maximum continuous minutes and a separate plan to teach special subjects like art, music and physical education. READ MORE

CAREERS

New Postings Every Week on ALAS Website! ALAS 08/20/20 — Curriculum Writers, Public Consulting Group, Inc., Boston, MA 08/20/20 — Principal – Carlin Springs Elementary School, Arlington Public Schools, Arlington, VA 08/17/20 — Executive Director of Human Resources, Santa Paula Unified School District, Santa Paula, CA 08/14/20 — Partner, Southeast, The New Teacher Project (TNTP), Southeast Region (USA and Puerto Rico) 08/13/20 — Director, Academics- Southwest and Southeast Regions, The New Teacher Project (TNTP), Multi-Regional (LA, TN, FL) 08/11/20 — Assistant Principal, South Monterey County Joint Union High School District, King City, CA 08/07/20 — Executive Director of Literacy, K-12, Fort Worth Independent School District, Fort Worth, TX 08/07/20 — Executive Director of Mathematics & Science, K-12, Fort Worth Independent School District, Fort Worth, TX 08/04/20 — Commissioner of Education and President of the University of the State of New York, New York State Board of Regents, Albany, NY 07/30/20 — Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, Garland Independent School District, Garland, TX 07/29/20 — Superintendent, State of Illinois Department of Human Resources, Springfield, IL 07/29/20 — Superintendent, Illinois Association of School Boards, Beardstown, IL 07/28/20 — Assistant Principal – Middle School, Central Bucks School District, Doylestown, PA 07/28/20 — Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Bellingham Public Schools, Bellingham, WA 07/24/20 — Executive Director Communications and Public Relations, Garland Independent School District, Garland, TX 07/24/20 — Executive Director of Special Education, Garland Independent School District, Garland, TX 07/14/20 — Assistant Superintendent, Fairfax County Public Schools, Fairfax, VA VISIT ALAS WEBSITE FOR MORE CAREER OPPORTUNITIES & INFORMATION!!

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