Wednesday, October 28, 2020



In Staying Closed, Schools Ignore Low COVID-19 Rates, Needs of Families

At this point in the pandemic, research demonstrates that schools have not become so-called superspreader sites—not even close.

Two studies profiled on NPR recently found “no consistent relationship between in-person schooling and the spread of coronavirus.”

Local school leaders’ evaluations of the health evidence remain a mystery, and many officials have not met parent and student needs during the pandemic.

At what would normally be the end of the first academic quarter for most K-12 schools, millions of students still have not set foot in a classroom.

Many haven’t done so since March.

Evidence continues to mount that COVID-19 affects children the least, and ad hoc school district e-learning platforms, hastily assembled in the spring, are driving families away from assigned schools.

Some of the largest school districts in the U.S. are still offering only online instruction, despite reports of losing contact with thousands of students, from Philadelphia to Houston to Los Angeles, when districts went online earlier this year.

According to reports, districts have still not been able to reach those students.

School officials have the unenviable task of balancing health and safety concerns with student learning, but those leaders should be considering the research on the spread of COVID-19 and the needs of local families and children in making reopening decisions.

Yet some district leaders are doing neither.

Parents have led protests in favor of reopening schools across the country, from San Diego to Baltimore and places in between.

Furthermore, at this point in the pandemic, research demonstrates that schools have not become so-called superspreader sites—not even close.

The latest figures from Brown University researchers found a confirmed case rate among students of 0.14% in a database of nearly 1,300 schools. As explained in The Wall Street Journal this week, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention numbers show hundreds more fatal cases of the flu among school-aged children than COVID-19.

Two studies profiled on NPR recently found “no consistent relationship between in-person schooling and the spread of coronavirus.”

Yet, are these low numbers the result of keeping schools closed? Findings from international studies and the available evidence from K-12 private schools in the U.S. that are open to in-person learning suggest that’s not the case.

The Brown research includes data from private schools. In fact, the case rate for private schools operating in person is still only 0.15%—admittedly with a smaller sample size, but still an encouraging number. The case rates for staff in those schools stands at 0.4%.

Teachers unions in some areas are ignoring those facts.

In Fairfax County, Virginia, where officials are already charging families for the use of school buildings for in-person day care, the union is demanding that public schools stay closed to in-person learning until August 2021.

That announcement followed news from school officials of a phased-in reopening in the coming weeks, a plan that includes basic protocols about maintaining spacing between students and asking parents to keep a student home if he or she shows symptoms.

Despite statements by federal officials last summer about tying federal spending for schools to reopening plans, Washington will not have to withhold spending for schools to feel the effects of frustrated parents.

At the start of the school year, schools in Washington, D.C., were reporting a drop in enrollment of 13%. Houston is reporting 7% fewer students; Orlando, Florida, a decline of 5%; and in Nashville, Tennessee, schools are down nearly 5%.

Meanwhile, private school closures have slowed, and since the middle of the summer, homeschooling numbers have soared.

In Connecticut, homeschool advocates are reporting higher figures than ever before, and interest in homeschooling has “exploded,” according to Minnesota Public Radio. The Texas Homeschool Coalition reports a 400% increase in students compared with last year.

Similar news can be found around the country. Learning pods, where parents bring together small groups of children during the school day to learn, continue to spread, and with each passing day, pods become less of a fad and more of a permanent solution.

Local school leaders’ evaluations of the health evidence remain a mystery, and many officials have not met parent and student needs during the pandemic. Now, families are leaving, reminding everyone that we should make students the priority of policy solutions, not the system.

Federal and state policymakers have used the bully pulpit to implore schools to reopen, but the most effective persuasion will be the kind that assigned district schools like the least—namely, fewer students.

British Mother-of-two, 29, is threatened with prison and a £2,500 fine for refusing to send her children to school over fears she'll 'die from coronavirus'

A clinically vulnerable mother has been threatened with a three-month prison sentence and a £2,500 fine because she refused to send her children back to school amid coronavirus.

Katy Simpson, 29, chose to keep her son Damien and daughter Alisha, both six, at their home in Redcar when schools returned last month.

She told teachers at Galileo Academy Trust in North Yorkshire: 'If I get that virus I will die'.

Ms Simpson has Type 1 diabetes, asthma and an under-active thyroid - which classes her as clinically vulnerable under NHS guidelines.

She has barely left the house since lockdown was first introduced in March, and only to shop for food once a week.

Last week she was visited by an education welfare officer who handed her a court warning letter.

If she does not return her children to school she could be fined £2,500 and sent to jail for up to three months.

Under The Education Act 1996, parents can be ruled to have broken the law if their child fails to regularly attend school and there is no 'reasonable justification'.

But unemployed Ms Simpson said she has no plans to return her son and daughter to school - despite the written warning. Ms Simpson said: 'There's no two ways about it, if I get that virus I will die.

'I'm a single mum and don't have my family around to help out with the kids. I can't take that risk. When there's cold or a flu about I always get it and I'm knocked for six.

'The virus has killed thousands of people and we're all getting locked down again and it looks like it's going to get worse.'

She said staff at her children's school were not listening to her, adding that she was asked to go to meetings to explain why her children had not been sent in.

The letter from the officer, who represents the school, said: 'Missing school damages a pupil's opportunity to achieve a good education. It reduces future life prospects, disrupts school routines and the learning of others.

'It can leave a pupil and the community vulnerable to anti-social behaviour and youth crime.

'I am particularly concerned that despite knowing the seriousness of the situation, you have (not only) failed to secure the regular attendance of your child in school (but you have also failed to attend meetings or engage with the assistance that has been offered to you).

'In light of this, I have no option but to begin prosecution procedures for the more serious offence under the Education Act 1996 contrary to Section 444 (1A). 'This offence means the courts, if they find you guilty, can fine you up to £2,500 and impose a prison sentence of up to three months.'

Australia: Elite $33,000-a-year grammar school enrages parents and students with new ecological uniform design - as it is slammed as being ‘reminiscent of wartime Europe’

image from https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/10/26/04/34840608-8879009-image-a-33_1603687995489.jpg

An elite $33,000-a-year grammar school has come under fire from some parents and students for the 'dowdy' look of its new eco-friendly uniform.

Firbank Grammar School in the affluent bayside Melbourne suburb of Brighton last week unveiled an Eco Uniform designed from fully biodegradable materials like nut corozo buttons in place of plastic and 'upcycled polyester'.

Firbank touted the outfit - made in collaboration with designer Kit Willow - as the world's first sustainable school uniform but the big reveal on its Instagram page attracted criticism.

One unhappy student set up a petition to protest the design, saying the new uniform was 'reminiscent of wartime Europe', 'impractical' and 'unflattering.'

The petition has garnered almost 900 signatures since it was first launched over the weekend.

'I fully support sustainable uniforms, but please listen to the people wearing them to make the uniform appropriate for the 21st century,' one person wrote.

'I graduated 33 years ago and our uniforms were less, dare I say it "dowdy",' another added.

An e-brochure released by Firbank last week showed a complete overhaul to the existing uniform in both the senior and junior school - covering winter and summer - plus student sportswear.

Willow became a household name in Australia in the early 2000s before making a comeback with her KitX label in 2015 - a brand priding itself on sustainable materials.

The school's principal Jenny Williams told parents in an e-mail the school board would meet on Monday to review the feedback to the designs.

'Changing a uniform is one of the most controversial things a school can do,' she said in the email seen by the Leader.

'All I ask is you remember our values and respond in a manner expected from members of our community.'

Firbank is a co-educational school at primary level, and a girls-only school at secondary level.

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