-
Amid vaccine mandates and CDC calls to ramp surveillance, schools from LA to Philadelphia confront logistics of mass testing
In the “isolation room” at Indian Springs High School — the command center for any COVID-related issues on campus — Janak Kaur seals the school security officer’s swab sample in a plastic bag. Meanwhile, the officer fills out a registration on a website where he’ll get his results in a day or two. As the...
By Linda Jacobson | November 2, 2021
-
Child tax credit payments a ‘shot in the arm’ for families, but some argue extending them should depend on results
Jessica Hudson, a political science student at San Francisco State University, was balancing school and work when she had to quit both to stay home with her two children during remote learning last year. Then the whole family, Hudson’s partner included, got sick with COVID-19. They found themselves overspending on a laundry service because they...
By Linda Jacobson | October 7, 2021
-
White House memo: Debt ceiling debate could impact $50 billion in K-12 funding, including Title I and special ed
Updated October 8 The Senate on Thursday passed a short-term, $480 billion increase in the debt ceiling that lasts through Dec. 3 — a move that prevents the U.S. government from failing to pay its financial obligations. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, after vowing not to help Democrats with the issue, rallied 11 Republicans to end debate...
By Linda Jacobson | October 6, 2021
-
What happens when an ‘all-of-government approach’ to preventing evictions leaves out schools: Advocates fault Biden plan for delays in rental assistance
Most of the students at Monte Del Sol Charter School live along what is known as the Airport Road corridor in Sante Fe, New Mexico — a high-poverty, mostly immigrant community where “trailer parks hide behind fake adobe walls,” said Cate Moses, the school’s homeless liaison. These are the families she had in mind last...
By Linda Jacobson | October 4, 2021
-
As the pandemic set in, charter schools saw their highest enrollment growth since 2015, 42-state analysis shows
Charter schools experienced more growth in 2020-21 — the first full year of the pandemic— than they’ve seen in the past six years, according to preliminary data released earlier this month from the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. In contrast to traditional public schools, which saw a significant, 1.4 million drop in student enrollment during the tumultuous...
By Linda Jacobson | September 29, 2021
-
‘Too much masking is real’: More districts call on students to mask up outside, but scientists are skeptical
It wasn’t long after school started in California’s Solana Beach School District that some classrooms shifted to remote learning because of positive COVID-19 cases. During the first four weeks of school, there were 19 positive cases among students and staff and eight classrooms in quarantine. But on Aug. 30, the 2,800-student district began requiring students to...
By Linda Jacobson | September 22, 2021
-
‘The first big domino to fall’: Los Angeles district mandates student vaccines as Biden unveils aggressive COVID testing plan
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation’s second largest, voted Thursday to require all eligible students to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 10 — a move that could prompt other districts across the country to follow suit and fuel ongoing opposition from families and politicians opposed to such mandates. Los Angeles students must get their second...
By Linda Jacobson | September 10, 2021
-
From reopening schools to mask mandates, education policy expected to play key role in upcoming Newsom recall vote in California
Updated September 15 California Gov. Gavin Newsom decisively beat back a recall effort Tuesday, as almost two-thirds of voters chose to keep him in office for the remainder of his first term. While mail-in votes await to be counted, the race was called for the no votes. Republican Larry Elder, the frontrunner to replace Newsom...
By Linda Jacobson | September 9, 2021
-
As Biden pushes nation toward universal pre-K, home-based child care could help fill gaps in the system. But a new report urges caution
When a little girl in Chris Nelson’s family child care center painted a picture of a purple cow, a boy in the program was quick to correct her: Cows, he said, could only be black and white. So the North Troy, Vermont, provider began organizing cow-related field trips so the preschoolers could reach their own...
By Linda Jacobson | September 8, 2021
-
Virtual pre-K filled a void for ‘overwhelmed’ parents last year, but experts disagree about its role — and federal funding — in a post-pandemic world
As in most pre-K classrooms, Geneva Gadsden’s students — known as the All Stars — rotate through different stations, from dress-up corners to building block areas. But the All Stars, the Happy Owls and other groups of preschoolers at the Whitted School in Durham, North Carolina, also take turns with Chromebooks, spending 15 minutes a...
By Linda Jacobson | August 17, 2021