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A bipartisan bill has been reintroduced in the U.S. House, proposing funding to study the impact of active shooter drills on students. Reps. Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) are backing the School Safety Drill Research Act, which would give the National Academy of Sciences $1m to research how to prepare for active shooters in ways that are effective and do not cause undue anxiety. “For a practice that is so widespread, we really should not be operating in the dark,” said Rob Wilcox, federal legal director for Everytown for Gun Safety. The group has tried to look at the impact of these experiences on kids. Some are announced ahead of time, so kids know it is coming and are prepared. Others, they get no warning at all. And some go even further, Mr. Wilcox said: "(some schools will do) an unannounced drill where students are caught off guard, (where) an individual is dressed and acting like an intruder and is trying to storm classrooms," carrying and shooting a fake gun. Rep. Perlmutter is optimistic that there’s enough bipartisan support to get Ellie’s idea to the president’s desk, even though funding for the research was derailed last year at the 11th hour.

 

Education Week

California schools collectively have billions of state and federal dollars to spend on programs to help students catch up on the learning they lost while school campuses were closed. However, many lack enough fully-qualified teachers to both fill regular classrooms and launch new academic programs in the fall. Research by the Learning Policy Institute, which consisted of interviews with district leaders from eight of the largest and nine of the smallest school districts in the state, found that the number of teacher candidates earning credentials declined during the pandemic. Los Angeles USD hired an additional 210 reading specialists for the 2020-21 school year for its Primary Promise program, which gives targeted help to 6,700 students in kindergarten through second grades. But the district needs an additional 400 to 500 reading specialists to help all the students who are struggling with reading, Superintendent Austin Beutner said. He added that the district also could improve the first-time passage rate for students who take algebra - currently 56% - if it could hire 170 more algebra teachers to reduce class sizes. To fill vacancies, school district officials have turned to underqualified teachers working on intern, short-term or provisional intern permits who have not completed the testing, coursework and student teaching required for a preliminary or clear credential. 

 

EdSource

Hawaii Gov. David Ige has threatened to veto 28 bills passed by the Legislature this year, including measures that would award bonuses to public school teachers. Ige said legislatures don’t have the authority to limit how an education agency — in this case the Hawaii Department of Education — uses federal relief money. He also complained that local education agencies had agreed bonuses in conference committee “and it is unclear whether any meaningful community consultation occurred.”

 

AP News

While most principals have spent time as teachers at some point, there is value in remaining closely connected to the classroom. At the Weilenmann School of Discovery, a charter school outside of Salt Lake City, administrators continue to spend time teaching students, which lets them “walk the walk.” Utilizing this approach can help administrators build credibility and leadership; the school community also benefits when teachers can see the vulnerability in their leaders, who in turn are maintaining firsthand experience of how their decisions impact the classroom. In recent years, principals' roles have also increasingly shifted to that of being an instructional leader. This has included revising principal standards and evaluations, creating additional administrative positions to oversee non-instructional duties, and strengthening the roles of principal supervisors.

 

K-12 Dive

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) may not bar payments to student-athletes. The decision, written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, clears the way for colleges to provide more school-related perks to students like computers, musical instruments and internships; it did not directly touch on the issue of whether athletes may earn money for the use of their names, images and likenesses, but some legal experts say the case could be a prelude to challenges aimed more broadly at compensation restrictions on college athletes.

 

The Hill

New York Times

Reuters

Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of the civil rights organization Advancement Project National Office, looks at how the conversation on the role of police in schools has changed in the 13 months since the murder of George Floyd. The decades-long argument for police-free schools, of which Ms Browne Dianis is an advocate for, has seen numerous districts across the nation, including in Minneapolis, Denver, Seattle, Phoenix, and Portland, severe ties with local police. She goes on to note that "the pendulum seems to be shifting back to business as usual," with federal funding allowing schools to monitor students through anonymous reporting systems, social-media surveillance, and threat-assessment teams that coordinate with law enforcement. Not long after cutting ties with the Minneapolis police department, the city’s school board employed tools to digitally surveil their students, and has hired “school safety specialists” to provide security as a “bridge” between in-school interventions and law enforcement. Ms Browne Dianis describes these as "dangerous and unproven practices" that disproportionately criminalize Black and brown students.

 

Education Week

The cleaning and maintenance of Chicago Public Schools’ 600-plus buildings is coming back under district control in October, after officials agreed to ditch contractors Aramark and Sodexo, which had complete control of buildings upkeep, management and human resources arrangements. Executives pledged increased staffing, better transparency and improved response times. Officials also hope that a three-year, $375 million contract with new vendor Jones Lang LaSalle will help to fix longstanding problems.

 

Chicago Sun Times

U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and other federal officials are expected to announce steps that the federal government plans to take to reconcile the legacy of boarding school policies on Indigenous families and communities. Starting with the Indian Civilization Act of 1819, the U.S. enacted laws and policies to establish and support Indian boarding schools across the nation. For over 150 years, hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children were taken from their communities and forced into boarding schools that focused on assimilation. Ms Haaland cited statistics from the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, which reported that by 1926, more than 80% of Indigenous school-age children were attending boarding schools that were run either by the federal government or religious organizations. Besides providing resources and raising awareness, the coalition has been working to compile additional research on U.S. boarding schools and deaths that many say is sorely lacking. Ms Haaland has suggested that investments planned by the Biden administration and efforts to strengthen tribal sovereignty can help to heal the wrongs.

 

US News and World Report