A daily round-up of education news and views for the Golden State

The California Board of Education and Department of Education (CDE) settled a lawsuit with parents over an ethnic studies program that included the recital of prayers and chants to Aztec gods. The Californians for Equal Rights Foundation and three San Diego parents sued last September over the new curriculum that included teaching the state's 1.7m high school students to recite the Aztec “In Lak Ech” affirmation and the Yoruban “Ashe” affirmations. The plaintiffs, represented by the Thomas More Society, alleged the State Board of Education violated the California Constitution’s free-exercise and establishment clauses and state law banning government aid to religion by approving a curriculum that instructs students to pray to pagan gods.

 

The Center Square

The U.S. Department of Education has issued a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) to Chief State School Officers detailing information about federal funds and resources available to support Afghan children and their families, who have recently arrived or may be arriving soon to states and school districts across the country. As part of Operation Allies Welcome, a unified approach led by the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate federal government efforts to support vulnerable Afghans, the Department recognizes the immediate and urgent need to provide high-quality, culturally responsive education to Afghan newcomers. Although the letter is specific to Afghan children and their families, the information applies to children and families arriving from other countries as well. SEAs and LEAs may use funds under the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund and the Governor's Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on recently arrived children, including leveraging these funds to develop culturally and linguistically relevant instructional materials as well as materials and assessments in other languages. In addition, federal education funds from the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) can be used to support recently arrived children, and the DCL includes a short summary of how funds under Title I, Part A; Title III, Part A; Title IV, Part A; and Title IV, Part B of the ESEA and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act can be used by states, LEAs, and schools to support recently arrived students.

 

US Department of Education

Fremont Union High School District Polly Bove has announced she intends to retire before the close of the 2021-22 school year. Ms. Bove, who has served as superintendent since 2006, first joined the district in 1989, serving in a variety of roles, including deputy superintendent, executive director of educational services, district coordinator of student services and assistant principal of Homestead High School. Under her leadership, Fremont has created a variety of special education programs that help students ages 18-22 transition to independent living, vocational training and employment with job coaches. She is also credited with developing a collaborative approach to negotiations with the district’s collective bargaining units that has resulted in faculty and staff benefiting when the district manages its finances well. 

 

The Mercury News

Marin County Superintendent of Schools Mary Jane Burke says she will not seek reelection at the end of her current term, her seventh, on December 31st. She has served the district as an educator since 1971, and as superintendent since 1995. She is credited with collaborating with Health Officer Dr. Matt Willis with helping Marin become among the Bay Area's first communities to reopen its schools last spring. The district's schools have remained open amid Omicron.

 

The Patch

Sacramento City USD is set to receive a shipment of close to 150,000 N95 respirator masks, which it will begin distributing to teachers and other staff, and expects to receive a shipment of different respirator masks for students next week. “N95 masks offer the best face covering protection (against COVID-19) that can be provided, blocking 95% of particles when worn properly,” Victoria Flores, a district student support and health services director, said in a statement. “We will be educating our staff on proper fitting and handling of these N95 masks to assure they are used effectively as possible.” The district said a separate shipment of KF94 masks for students in the district is “expected to arrive as soon as next week.” KF94 masks differ from the N95 masks by using design elements of a cloth mask that contours toward the face with an adjustable band over the nose that filters 94% of particles.

 

The Sacramento Bee

The Oakland USD school board is considering pushing back the deadline again for all students 12 and older to be fully vaccinated. The board had first set the deadline at January 2nd, but then moved it to January 31st. Now, they are considering moving it to August. The resolution states that if students are not vaccinated by the deadline, students are required to move to independent study. “We recognize enforcement could potentially be a problem,” board President Gary Yee told the newspaper. “I think we’re doing as much as we can.”

 

EdSource

Total undergraduate enrollment dropped 3.1% from the fall of 2020 to the fall of 2021, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center has reported, bringing the total decline since the fall of 2019 to 6.6%, or 1,205m students. Tens of thousands of students, many of them low-income, were forced to delay school or drop out because of the pandemic and the economic crisis it has created. The new data showed that enrollment in community colleges was down 13.2%, or 706,000 students, compared with 2019. The number of students seeking associate degrees at four-year institutions also fell, as did the number of students aged 24 and over. “Without a dramatic re-engagement in their education, the potential loss to these students’ earnings and futures is significant, which will greatly impact the nation as a whole in years to come,” said Doug Shapiro, the executive director of the research center.

 

New York Times

Since 2020, there’s been a 25% uptick in school districts nationwide meeting or surpassing the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) bandwidth goal of 1 Mbps per student, according to a report from Connected Nation. The nonprofit's Report on School Connectivity found that 56% of districts met the FCC benchmark in 2021 compared to 47% in 2020. The progress shown in this report is “crucial,” said Julia Fallon, executive director of the State Educational Technology Directors Association, although she added that more needs to be done to improve bandwidth issues. For rural areas facing difficulties funding strong telecommunications infrastructure, public-private partnerships could be a solution, Ms. Fallon recommended.  The report found districts pay a wide range of prices for the internet. In fact, the median cost per megabit has decreased from $11.70 in 2015 to $1.39 currently. Over 1,700 districts pay more than $5 per megabit, however, and 746 districts are still paying more than $10 per megabit, according to the report.

 

K-12 Dive

A parental nomination and a push by teachers on social media led to Merced County teacher Sou Lee being recognized as a Rack Room Shoes Teacher of the Year. Lee is a sixth grade teacher at John Muir Elementary School in Merced. Just before the holiday break, Lee was presented with a $10,000 technology grant for the school and a $500 gift card from Rack Room Shoes. “I’m overwhelmed and speechless, Lee said. “My students inspire me every day and this is all for them.” Rack Room Shoes launched a national campaign at the beginning of the year for customers to nominate teacher who have made a positive impact in their lives and the lives of their children.

 

Merced Sun-Star