NYC schools chancellor robocalls to plead with parents over attendance

The city Department of Education has been sending out robocalls to plead with parents to get their kids to class amid apparent ongoing attendance issues.

The roughly 40-second recording — voiced by Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter — has so far been sent to thousands of city families in an effort to fill classrooms.

“Hello, this is schools Chancellor Meisha Porter,” the recording says. “We are so excited to welcome your child back to school. Our schools are safe and supportive environments, and the classroom is a better place for your child this year.”

In making her case, Porter argues that kids are better off in class as opposed to wherever else they are spending their days.

“More time in school means your child will get the social, emotional and academic support they need to thrive, learn and be happy,” she said.

Porter adds that if some kids are having problems finding transportation to school, the DOE can assist.

“We also know getting to school isn’t always easy,” she said. “We are here to support you. Please contact your school or call 311 to get connected to what you need for your child to attend school and succeed.”

The DOE has yet to reveal this year’s enrollment or say exactly how many kids are in school each day, instead offering a daily percentage.

On Thursday, the agency said 88 percent of kids were in class — several percentage points lower than in a comparable pre-pandemic period.

The DOE said robocalls are a routine element of outreach — although one involving attendance is not apparently the norm. Every parent was slated to receive Porter’s message this year, the department said.

“We’re proud of our work to reach every student every day,” said DOE rep Sarah Casasnovas. “We’ve already seen strong attendance this school year, and as always, are doing the important work of ensuring our families have a smooth transition back to school.”

Daily absentee estimates have ranged from 140,000 to 180,000 kids in the school system, which has about 1.1 million enrolled.

Teachers union chief Michael Mulgrew pressed city officials to intensify outreach to chronically absent kids during a city council meeting earlier this month.

The DOE has pledged to provide enrollment and attendance data before the end of this month.

Observers attribute this year’s elevated absentee rate to several possible factors — including ongoing pandemic-related health fears and the habituation of some kids to absenteeism during prolonged COVID-19 school closures.

https://nypost.com/2021/10/15/nyc-schools-chief-pleads-with-parents-to-get-kids-to-class/

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What One bigoted Liberal Teacher Wore To Class

There is a reason that parents are pulling their kids out of school left and right in favor of the option to homeschool them. The public school system has turned into nothing more than an indoctrination camp to push their liberal/socialist agenda onto unsuspecting kids for 7-8 hours a day.

Their little minds are like sponges and soak these ideas up and people wonder why their kids are showing such a lack of respect for authority or our country. It is simple, their teachers are taking advantage of the time spent with them in the classroom to indoctrinate them into hating anything that is American.

This is exactly was what this one fifth-grade teacher, Emma Howland-Bolton of Detroit Public Schools Community District, did when she wore a sweatshirt that boldly declared “Columbus was a murderer” in her classroom.

Howland-Bolton said she wore the shirt to “spark discussion,” and the school district did nothing about it.

Here is more from The Blaze:

Howland-Bolton, who teaches fifth grade at Clippert Multicultural Magnet Honors Academy, says her shirt isn’t controversial, because “it is a fact.”

She added that a school administrator initially advised her to change her shirt.

“I was informed that my shirt was my opinion, and I countered with ‘It is a fact,'” she added.

A spokesperson for the district said that the shirt was noticeable because sweatshirts are not permitted for the school’s business casual dress code. The district later determined that the shirt was only problematic because it was not “submitted as any lesson plan to be pre-approved,” according to WXYZ-TV.

The teacher did not face discipline over the shirt and ensuing controversy.

There is no reason that a teacher should be wearing a shirt like this in the classroom and what makes it even more disturbing is that there were no consequences for it at all. This is what is going on in our classrooms which is why people are pulling their little ones from schools to protect them.

We have seen over the last several weeks, parents getting fed up with it all and are now protesting the liberal agenda that is found in their schools.

The only way this stops is more parents getting involved and saying enough is enough.

These people work for us and not the other way around. It is the parent’s decision to teach them what history they want their child to know, but when in the public school system, these teachers just need to keep it to the facts and that’s all.

https://dailyheadlines.net/what-one-liberal-teacher-wore-to-class-proves-they-are-all-insane/

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Australia: NSW plans an advertising campaign to recruit 3700 new teachers needed to plug school shortages

This is pissing into the wind. It's not more propaganda that's needed. It is reforms designed to make teaching less stressful. Teachers have to put up with constant bureaucracy and constant bad behaviour from students. So only a loser would normally now choose a job in teaching.

The key to improvement is to re-establish realistic discipline policies. Unruly students have to be prevented from making life hell for everyone around them

The NSW Department of Education will promote the joy of teaching, poach teachers from overseas and identify regional students suitable for the profession while they are still in high school as part of a multi-pronged plan to avert a looming teacher shortage.

Pay remains a point of contention, with the NSW Teachers Federation saying shortages will continue without higher salaries. But the department insists its new teacher supply strategy will attract 3700 extra teachers over 10 years without a significant wage rise.

Award negotiations have begun, and the department has offered teachers 2.5 per cent a year - the highest rise possible under the public sector wage cap imposed by this government. However, the federation rejected the offer and is standing by its claim of 5 to 7.5 per cent a year.

The looming teacher shortage, detailed in internal NSW Department of Education documents, is due to a declining number of people choosing it as a career, a significant proportion of the workforce heading to retirement, and growing enrolment numbers.

The department’s strategy, released this week, involves recruiting teachers from overseas and interstate, improving perceptions of teaching - including with an advertising campaign - and accelerating the careers of high-performing teachers.

The department will also encourage more teachers to train in high-needs areas by providing mid-career pathways in those areas; helping teachers’ assistants become fully qualified; and training teachers in high-demand skills such as maths.

It aims to get teachers to regional and rural schools with a new incentive scheme and scholarships.

The plan for the bush also includes a pilot scheme to identify high school students in regional areas who have the potential to become teachers, and offering them a year’s paid experience in a school before supporting them through university with scholarships.

“There’s a lot of elements to it, and that’s for a reason,” said Education Minister Sarah Mitchell. “There’s a number of issues and complexities in terms of how we manage staffing in our schools, and the challenges are nuanced.

“I’ve been having regular round tables with teachers from all over the state. What has come through is the joy - how much they enjoy their job, how much they feel connected and responsible for the students. They talk about students as if they are their own.”

The department said it used workforce modelling, analysis of teacher supply and demand, and tactics that worked elsewhere to develop the strategy, which it expects will deliver 3700 teachers over 10 years, including 1600 in the first five years.

However, past attempts to boost teacher pipelines show mixed results from strategies such as incentives, scholarships and mid-career pathways. Over 10 years, Victoria’s Teach for Australia program, which fast-tracks people from other professions into teaching, produced just 619 teachers.

Regional incentive schemes have existed for years, and have been tweaked many times, but teacher numbers in the bush are still dropping. There are teacher shortages overseas and interstate, which could also make poaching teachers difficult.

One internal department document also said it was unclear whether there was much demand for teaching assistants to become fully qualified.

The president of the NSW Teachers Federation, Angelo Gavrielatos, said the shortage was a direct result of non-competitive salaries and unsustainable workloads. “If we don’t pay teachers what they are worth, we won’t get the teachers we need,” he said.

However, Ms Mitchell said NSW teachers were paid well compared with those interstate and overseas. “There are opportunities for career progression, there are opportunities to teach in rural and regional schools, and it’s also about creating more opportunities,” she said.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-joy-of-teaching-plan-to-find-3700-new-teachers-to-plug-school-shortage-20211014-p5902t.html

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My other blogs: Main ones below

http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)

http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)

http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)

http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)

http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)

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