I remember how it was -- JR
Migrant students in NYC schools without proof of vaccinations for anything
The flood of migrant families into New York City is forcing schools to accept children who lack required vaccinations and has possibly led to one outbreak already.
The Simon Baruch Middle School in Gramercy Park had a chickenpox case, according to a Jan. 25 notice from the principal which said students not vaccinated for the illness could not attend school.
A parent at the school said after the announcement, five migrant children were absent for a few days from the class in question.
“When you are talking now about hundreds of children entering a school and coming from countries where we know the same childhood vaccinations are not available— it’s hard to not see where vulnerable families could be put at risk,” the parent said.
A top city health official recently told the City Council that a surprising number of migrant children who had never had a single shot were arriving in the Big Apple.
“We’re seeing so many unvaccinated kids,” Dr. Ted Long, executive director of the NYC Test & Trace Corps, said at a council hearing, speaking generally about the migrant influx.
An estimated 11,000 migrant children have enrolled in Department of Education schools since the summer.
The city Health Department tracks outbreaks of illnesses like chickenpox but refused to say how many it has recorded in city schools since September or comment on the Simon Baruch situation.
Carolina Chicaisa, who arrived in New York from Ecuador on Jan. 8, said her 8-year-old-son, Jareth, has been attending third grade at PS 111 in Hell’s Kitchen since last week without a record of his vaccinations.
“I had proof of them from Ecuador, but I lost them in the jungle on our way here,” Chicaisa said.
She said she took Jareth for blood tests to prove he was vaccinated and was waiting for the results to show to the school, which has been overwhelmed with migrant students. He is allowed to attend class until they get the proof.
Another mom from Ecuador said her son has been attending eighth-grade classes at the City Knoll Middle School, which is located in the same West 53rd Street building as PS 111, for about two months although his shots were not up initially to date.
“A month ago they asked for the vaccine records, and he did have vaccines in Ecuador but he still had to go have six more. I don’t even remember which ones he got,” said the mom who declined to give her name.
Students in kindergarten through fifth grade are required to get the chickenpox vaccine as well as the DTaP, MMR, polio, and hepatitis B shots. At least two doses are required for each of the vaccines.
Students are not required to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
DOE rules say schools must accept kids living in temporary housing, including asylum seekers, even if they can’t immediately show vaccination or academic records, according to guidance sent to principals in September.
“Students transferring from another state or country, including asylum seekers, have 30 days from their enrollment to provide evidence of vaccinations or be in the process of acquiring vaccinations,” the guidance says.
They are allowed to attend school during this 30-day period.
Students who are not migrants or in temporary housing need at least the first dose in a vaccine series to provisionally remain in school. They then need to provide proof that follow-up shots have been scheduled or risk getting excluded from school, according to DOE rules.
“Both DOE and DOH work closely with families to ensure they have access to immunizations services and are in compliance with the school requirements to prevent outbreaks,” DOH spokesman Patrick Gallahue said.
Test & Trace Corps staff have given in excess of 4,600 shots to more than 1,800 kids, a spokesman told The Post.
The Simon Baruch principal did not immediately return a request for comment nor did a DOE spokesman.
https://nypost.com/2023/02/04/migrant-students-dont-need-to-show-proof-of-vaccinations/
********************************************************Library That Banned Christian Book Story Hour Backs Down After Legal Challenge
The NWEA, which says it provides map-testing assessments to Roman Catholic dioceses and almost two thousand Catholic schools across the country, features articles on its website encouraging educators to help students to “come out” and promoting gender ideology to children.
Formerly known as the Northwest Evaluation Association, the NWEA boasts of developing Pre-K through 12th grade assessments (Measure of Academic Progress or MAP tests) trusted by educators in almost 10,000 schools, districts, and education agencies in 145 countries.
The organization’s website also notes that it partners with over 1,900 Catholic schools: “Nearly 400,000 Catholic school students benefit from MAP Growth data,” the NWEA says in a resource sheet. “Catholic schools nationwide in 84 dioceses trust NWEA for assessments.”
Literature on the organization’s website—written by NWEA staff—pushing gender ideology, drag queens, and other left-wing ideological content suggests that Catholic dioceses and schools might want to take a closer look at their MAP-testing assessments.
Jeremy Tate, the founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test (CLT), told The Daily Signal that his organization has been in contact with “numerous Catholic school administrators who are now refusing to administer NWEA MAPS assessments to their students. “
“Although MAPS claims that assessments used for Catholic schools will be free from this ideology, administrators are still concerned about administering assessments from a company that recommends ways to introduce drag to five-year olds,” he said.
“In response to the increasingly ideological agendas of many standardized testing companies, CLT has launched a new suite of standardized assessments for third-sixth graders featuring time-tested children’s literature that is removed from the current hot button topics,” Tate added.
The NWEA did not respond to requests for comment for this story. On its policy page, the organization promises to “fight for bold, courageous policy changes that will move the needle for students and educators.”
“It’s unclear from the statement what sorts of ‘policy changes’ NWEA is working toward,” the Lepanto Institute, a Catholic, education-based organization pointed out, “but an examination of their grants, articles, and partnerships indicates that NWEA is fostering the promotion of homosexual and transgender ideologies.”
One NWEA article on “supporting LGBTQ students” cites Republican-led legislation that bans educators from formal instruction about sex and gender for kids before warning: “These are kids who desperately need to understand that the world is better because they’re a part of it.”
“You have the chance to be an adult in their lives—possibly the only adult in their lives—who helps them see that,” the article adds.
That same article tells educators that if a child confides that he or she identifies as LGBTQ+, the proper response to the child is: “Thank you for trusting me, I’m so proud of you.” Not once does the article mention the word parent, father or mother.
NWEA senior writer Erin Ryan recommends 20 LGBTQ+ books for K-12 readers to peruse during Pride Month in another article published on the organization’s website. The books recommended for children in kindergarten through third grade (as young as five years old) feature gay families, pride parades, gay animals, and transgender children.
The NWEA has apparently removed one particularly objectionable recommendation for preschool children from its website: “The Hips on the Drag Queen go Swish Swish Swish.”
That book focuses on drag queens and is apparently set to the tune of the song, “the wheels on the bus go round and round.” Leftist political commentator and drag queen “Lil Miss Hot Mess” wrote the book.
Videos show the drag queen, who is reportedly one of the founding members of Drag Queen Story Hour, reading the book for children, singing and dancing.
“I wrote this book because I wanted everyone to get to experience the magic of drag and to get a little practice shaking their hips or shimmying their shoulders to know how we can feel fabulous inside of our own bodies,” the drag queen said in a episode of “Let’s Learn,” which aired on PBS.
“Being a drag queen is about being bold, shining bright, and showing a little bit of bravery, being willing to step outside the box and to dance to our own beat sometimes.” the drag queen adds.
The NWEA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Signal explaining why it removed this book, which includes drag queen characters named “Frida Bea Mee,” “Stinkerbelle,” “Pina Buttah-Geleé,” “Cinderfella,” “Ella Menopipi,” and more.
The book’s colorful illustrations, created by Olga de Dios, depict drag queens, some with facial hair, dancing in exotic outfits.
This NWEA article also recommends young adult books, including a book about a gay Iranian American high schooler diving into a physical relationship with another boy, a book about a teenaged girl’s relationship with another girl that begins in a lesbian bar, “A Queer History of the United States for Young People,” and more.
In another NWEA article, a gay NWEA project manager encourages educators to “invite students to share how they prefer to be addressed in the classroom.”
“This can include their preferred names and pronouns,” Nathan Breeden writes. “Not everyone will take you up on the pronouns part, and that’s OK. The point is to build a foundation of respect through the validation of each student’s identity, showing that each individual has equal value. In the weeks to come, hold yourself and others accountable for learning and using everyone’s preferred names and pronouns. This includes learning the proper pronunciation of names that are less familiar to you.”
NWEA describes itself as”a research-based, not-for-profit organization that supports students and educators worldwide by creating assessment solutions that precisely measure growth and proficiency—and provide insights to help tailor instruction.”
“For 40 years, NWEA has developed Pre-K–12 assessments and professional learning offerings to help advance all students along their optimal learning paths,” the organization’s website says. “Our tools are trusted by educators in more than 9,500 schools, districts, and education agencies in 145 countries.”
************************************************
Biden’s Back Door to Free College
Although President Biden’s attempts to offer free community college for all have been stymied, his administration seems to have found another way to offer free college for more individuals — and not just at community colleges.
The problem with the maneuver is that taxpayers will be left holding the bill while encouraging unaccountable colleges to raise their prices. This isn’t making college affordable or valuable for students. It’s merely charging bad investments to the public.
The origins of the administration’s move lie in what’s known as income-driven repayment. Borrowers who avail themselves of this payment plan reduce their debt payments by paying a fixed percentage of their income, not a set monthly payment.
The original idea behind income-driven repayment was to provide a safety net for struggling borrowers who couldn’t get a good job and couldn’t pay down the federal loans they had accumulated. It wasn’t meant as a get-out-of-debt-free card for most.
In the past month, the White House proposed new regulations that would allow more individuals to exempt more of their income under these plans, as well as halve the percentage of their income they pay to 5 percent from 10 percent.
Under the proposal, if a student’s payments don’t cover the interest, no big deal. Uncle Sam will forgive it. And borrowers will have their loans themselves forgiven after 20 years — or, even more generously, after 10 years if they borrow less than $12,000.
The net result? According to a Brookings Institution analysis, 85 percent of borrowers will reduce their payments, and 70 percent will have a portion of their loan balance forgiven. So much for a targeted safety net.
This may sound like a good deal, especially if you’re hoping Biden’s executive order to forgive student debt is legal. What’s not to like about borrowers unable to get a good job after enrolling in college having their bad debts entirely or partially forgiven?
It may sound like an even better deal if you wished for free community college. After all, according to the administration, community college will now be “free” for 85 percent of borrowers.
But this is a bad set of regulations — and arguably worse than blanket loan forgiveness. The reason is that many more students will have no incentive not to borrow lots of money for college because they know their payments will be capped.
That will be true regardless of whether they attend a community college, a public four-year school, or even a private university. Given that there will be fewer incentives to curb one’s borrowing, schools in turn will have wider latitude to raise their prices.
Not only that, but schools will have free reign to launch programs that don’t help students find good jobs—but do bring in federal largesse with the promise of a free education for students when the government forgives their loans.
That of course will create more debt, only now students won’t be on the hook for much of it. Taxpayers will. This isn’t really “free.” As higher interest rates are demonstrating, the public will get stuck with the bill and tradeoffs in the form of higher taxes or spending cuts.
And we know colleges already love to raise prices much faster than inflation. They also love to spend more. Expenditures at public colleges rose 4.1 percent above inflation from 2009-10 to 2019–20, for example.
What’s more, by effectively gutting the monthly debt payments that students will make relative to their earnings, many programs that shouldn’t be eligible for federal student loans can now escape one of the government’s only accountability mechanisms — monitoring the ratio of a program’s debt-to-earnings.
And that points to the biggest problem in all this. The big winner will be colleges of all stripes, which will be able to bring in far more money with less risk. The Biden administration says it will try to create a list to shame programs that offer little value, but don’t expect that to move the needle.
What would? Tying the ability of college programs to participate in federal student aid programs on the condition that their students get good paying jobs when they leave and repay their debt.
Or Congress could pass new policy to require that colleges share in the risk with taxpayers when student borrowers don’t repay the full amount they borrow. That would make them think twice before launching worthless programs or raising prices.
Anything that encourages colleges to create value by keeping costs low relative to the earnings of their graduates would be better than this proposed regulation. But simply allowing students to take out more money with no skin in the game for schools is a bad bet.
It’s one that will fuel the continuing increase in college costs, cause students to enroll in schools that won’t give them a good return, and will leave taxpayers holding an ever-rising bill with little to show for it.
https://www.nysun.com/article/bidens-back-door-to-free-college
***********************************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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