I remember how it was -- JR
Schools, Universities Bringing Back Mask Mandates, Shutdowns
Schools and universities around the U.S. are bringing back mask mandates and shutdowns as COVID-19 numbers rise, according to public records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Runge Independent School District in Texas, Magoffin County Schools in Kentucky, Lee County School District in Kentucky, and Rosemary Hills Elementary School in Maryland are all reimplementing some form of COVID-19 measures, according to public records reviewed by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Some universities are reimplementing mask mandates, such as Dillard University in Louisiana and Morris Brown College in Georgia, though Morris Brown College backtracked on its mandate.
Rising COVID-19 numbers are cited by schools, colleges, and universities as the reasoning for returning COVID-19 mandates and shutdowns. COVID-19 hospitalizations increased 15.7% from Aug. 20 to Aug. 26 compared to the previous week, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Magoffin County Schools and Lee County School District in Kentucky shut down in-person classes due to respiratory illnesses in the districts in August.
“We were seeing an uptick of absentees. They were saying COVID, but they were also putting strep throat in there, and there was a virus going around, a stomach virus,” Magoffin County Health Department Director Pete Shepherd told WKYT News, a Kentucky-based outlet.
Three kindergarteners at Rosemary Hills Elementary School in Maryland tested positive for COVID-19 Tuesday and the school is now requiring the students and staff involved to wear masks for 10 days.
Children don’t become seriously ill from COVID-19 as often as adults do, according to the Mayo Clinic, a nonprofit medical center. “While children are as likely to get COVID-19 as adults, kids are less likely to become severely ill. Up to 50% of children and adolescents might have COVID-19 with no symptoms,” its website reads.
Dillard University in Louisiana reinstituted a mask mandate to “mitigate the spread” of COVID-19 on campus in August.
“COVID-19 cases are on the rise across the nation and we are seeing elevated numbers of reported infections in the Dillard community as students return to campus from across the country. We want everyone to be aware of the steps being taken on our campus to mitigate the spread of COVID-19,” Dillard University’s website reads.
Morris Brown College reinstituted its mask mandate in August due to rising COVID-19 cases in Georgia and said the college has no cases yet but is “taking precautionary measures for the next 14 days.”
“Ensuring the safety and well-being of our Morris Brown College community remains paramount to this administration,” read a campus letter that President Kevin James shared with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A January 2023 Cochrane meta-analysis found that it was “uncertain whether wearing masks or N95/P2 respirators helps to slow the spread of respiratory viruses.”
Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance introduced legislation for a federal mask mandate ban Tuesday, according to a press release. “We tried mask mandates once in this country. They failed to control the spread of respiratory viruses, violated basic bodily freedom, and set our fellow citizens against one another,” Vance said in the press release.
Runge Independent School District, Magoffin County Schools, Lee County School District, Rosemary Hills Elementary School, Dillard University and Morris Brown College did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/09/08/schools-universities-bringing-back-mask-mandates-shutdowns
*************************************************Education Around the Country Looks Different This School Year. Here’s What Parents Need to Know
Jennifer Wolverton has a plan for her child’s education: A great laptop, software programs for practicing writing and designing artwork, piano lessons, and art classes.
She is also looking for education therapy sessions for help with ADHD and dysgraphia (difficulty writing by hand).
But that’s just for ninth grade. She has plans for her student’s entire high school career, including community college classes on videography, business management, and graphic design.
Now, though, there are obstacles in the way. “Last year, we spent $3,400 on therapies alone, and we are looking at $10,000 in therapies this year,” Wolverton said in an interview.
She would consider a traditional school, but, she says, “The schools have never ‘pivoted.’” That is to say, they have not updated their services to meet the new needs that students today are bringing to school.
“We need an exit ramp, and an education savings account is an exit ramp,” Wolverton says.
As we explain in our new report, these accounts and similar education choice options are now available to millions of families around the U.S. after state lawmakers made 2023 the “year of education freedom.”
Officials in four states enacted new universal choice policies (Arkansas, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Utah) and legislators in two other states expanded existing policies to all students (Florida and Ohio), bringing the total number of states with universal choice to eight.
Policymakers in seven states passed new education choice policies and eight states expanded existing education opportunities, such as private school scholarships and education savings accounts.
With a K-12 education savings account, mothers and fathers can use their child’s portion of the state education formula to “unbundle” his or her children’s education.
They can hire personal tutors, purchase textbooks, pay private school tuition, find education therapies, and more—simultaneously, if they choose.
Wolverton’s family lives in Alabama, and she is already taking advantage of homeschool co-op and micro-school options in the state, but, as her plans indicate, she has ambitious expectations through high school and beyond.
To reach their goals, education must be more than a system of “moving a pot of money from this school to that school,” she says. It should be a process of selecting from different products and services and “making it more flexible.”
Mothers and fathers are clamoring for these choices. After Arizona lawmakers expanded student eligibility for the state’s education savings accounts in 2022 to include all children in the state, more than 50,000 new students have enrolled in the accounts. In Ohio, where officials expanded eligibility for private school scholarships this year, more than 66,000 students have applied to participate.
Some 55% of adults say they are dissatisfied with K-12 education today, a figure that has seen a steady increase since 2020. The reasons are many—including that reading and math test scores have fallen to historic lows.
But that’s not all. Surveys find that Americans do not want children taught radical ideas about “gender” in school, nor do they want boys participating on girls sports teams. Polls find that parents do not want their children taught that America is defined by slavery or that their skin color is the most important thing about them.
In 2023, lawmakers addressed these concerns, too.
Lawmakers in seven states adopted either parental bills of rights or provisions that require school officials to inform parents when their student comes to school and wants to be addressed by a name or pronoun that does not match the child’s birth certificate, or both. The latter policy, called the Given Name Act, is an effective measure that calls on educators to work with mothers and fathers and secures parents’ roles as their child’s primary caregivers.
Alabama lawmakers expanded the state’s existing private school scholarship option for K-12 families, but Wolverton and other parents like her are watching what legislators are doing in states nearby.
The broad eligibility for education options in states such as Florida and Oklahoma and the versatility of the education savings accounts and account-style options in Arkansas and Iowa “would be life-changing” for her family and those like hers, she said.
“We love unbundled education in our house,” Wolverton said.
State lawmakers made this school year one of new, creative opportunities for millions of families around the U.S. Millions more are waiting—and ready—for education freedom to come to their states.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/09/11/new-school-year-brings-unbundled-education-freedom
***********************************************Private Catholic School Quietly Introduces Social Justice Course, 'Disguised as Religion Class,' Required for Graduation
A private Catholic school in Maryland has quietly introduced a social justice course for seniors that's required for graduation. One mother calls it social justice indoctrination "disguised as a religion class." The curriculum is vague; much is kept secret.
Now, she's demanding answers.
"We chose this school because we thought it was more conservative compared to some of the others," Mrs. Fletcher told The Epoch Times.
Social justice training, on the other hand, frequently pushes students to see the world through the lens of systemic racism and inequity, in other words, that of CRT.
The "syllabus" is particularly vague, and Mrs. Fletcher is unsettled by the ambiguity surrounding the curriculum.
The document states that classroom assignments, tests, and homework will be done primarily in the form of essays.
"There aren't even any books," Mrs. Fletcher said. "For three years, I bought religion books and books for English class. But this year, no religion books. I've never seen a class with no books. How will I know what's being covered in class?"
Grades are based on an equally vague points system. Students receive up to five points at the end of each eight-day cycle based on their level of "participation" in the class.
Mrs. Fletcher questions whether "participation" refers to the student's level of involvement or the degree to which a student agrees with the teacher.
Knowing that CRT often goes hand in hand with transgender ideology, Mrs. Fletcher worries that JC could be indoctrinating her daughter through a secretive social justice course.
"My daughter came home yesterday and said she was confused," she recalled. "When I asked her to show me what confused her, she wouldn't show me. That's because she knows it's something I won't want to see. You shouldn't want to hide things from your parents."
The Epoch Times has previously reported on children who were secretly indoctrinated into the transgender lifestyle at their schools.
Another document, the "Reflection Rubric," thinly explains the teacher's expectations and his scoring system.
Up to 10 points are possible for students who can "explain the key points of his or her reflection" when answering questions.
Handwritten notes taken by Mrs. Fletcher's daughter during class show the definitions students were given for four topics: Catholic Social Teaching, Economics, Politics, and Prudential Questions. The last topic deals with political issues "where the Church can offer guidance, but does not have a universal teaching."
"What does any of this have to do with religion?" Mrs. Fletcher asked.
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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)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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