COVID-19 Policy Update #103
COVID-19 Policy Update
MONDAY 9/14
TOP THREE
PA Sees Surge of Retirements: From June through Sept, the state’s Public School Employees' Retirement System received 3,370 applications from school employees for pension benefits representing a 31% increase from a year ago.
Ransomware: Fairfax County Public Schools is investigating a ransomware attack on its technology system. Infosecurity Magazine reports that the ransomware group MAZE took responsibility for the hack and posted a zip file with 2% of the stolen material so far.
Vaccine
Pfizer's CEO said they should have data from its late-stage trial for the FDA by the end of October. Pfizer submitted a proposal to the FDA to expand the late-stage trial to include up to 44,000 participants, a significant increase from its previous target of 30,000.
AstraZeneca announced the resumption of clinical trials in the United Kingdom for its COVID-19 vaccine, four days after the studies were paused following a suspected adverse reaction from a participant in the U.K.
While we're on the subject, here's the update from the NYT vaccine tracker:
FEDERAL
Phase 4:
Secretary Steven Mnuchin told CNBC that lawmakers should not allow fears over the size of the federal deficit or the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet to delay additional COVID-19 relief.
FEMA told states that funding for the $300 extra weekly unemployment benefit created by the President's Executive Order ran out on Sept. 5.
ED: Secretary DeVos calls online-only schools a ‘tragedy’ for kids, urges in-person learning.
STATE
Indiana: Purdue announced a record enrollment of 46,114 for the fall 2020 semester – 3.5% above 2019. Close to 90% of those students were taking some form of in-person courses.
New York:
42% of the NYC's students have requested a remote learning — up from 26% on Aug. 10
The United Federation of Teachers is threatening to delay the start of the school year after more teachers tested positive for the virus.
NYC principals say they don't have enough teachers for their hybrid models, creating new challenges for a strained substitute system.
Tennessee: Parents are suing a school district for enforcing a mask mandate.
Texas: In the spring, Fort Worth ISD adopted Edgenuity for their remote learning. "Not many teachers or students liked the platform. Students didn’t have much live interaction with their teachers, and if a student struggled to understand a concept, there was no good way for teachers to go back and re-teach it. Under the new model, pre-K teachers use a platform called Seesaw. All other grades use Google Classroom. The classes more closely mirror what happens in a typical classroom."
Virginia: Loudoun school leaders crack down online learning misbehavior
Washington: ‘We want choices’: Spokane parents plead for in-person learning weekend before school starts. One single mom said she has to balance her graveyard shift as a first responder, on top of being there for her kids as they learn from home full time. "I can’t afford more child care because that’d be about 19 hours a day of child care, just so I can sleep, my kids can get educated and I can keep my job."
INTERNATIONAL
Canada: Last minute surge in demand for online learning poses a challenge for some Ontario school boards Peel District School Board says it had to push back live online classes because 10,000 students signed up for virtual learning in the past week.
Denmark: Schools in Denmark defy COVID-19 with no masks, no distancing. Schools focused on hygiene standards and breaking up classes into smaller groups.
EU: The EU is testing a platform to link up coronavirus tracing apps.The platform, built by Germany’s SAP and Deutsche Telekom, would make it possible to log encounters between people while they are traveling abroad and issue push warnings should one of them be infected.
Israel: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a new three week countrywide lockdown will be imposed, including the closure of schools.
Italy: Schools reopened this week. The AP has a photo essay showing what the experience was like.
Guyana: Over 24,000 Guyanese have registered for online learning via Coursera.
Pakistan: 300,000 schools and colleges will reopen this week.
Qatar: The Ministry of Public Health launched a new saliva-based COVID-19 test for children
Syria: More than 3 million students have started school. Students will be required to wear a mask.
UK: All 1,569 schools in Wales will open this week full time to all students.
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
The Economic Recession Is Falling Heavily On Two Groups: Women and older workers.
Women and workers aged 65 and older make up a disproportionate share of the 3.7 million people no longer working or actively seeking a job.
People 65 and older made up less than 7% of the workforce in February, but 17% of those who have left the labor market through August.
Women previously accounted for 47% of the workforce, but make up 54% of the departed.
The number of women who cited child care or family responsibilities as the reason, increased 178%, while the number of men citing it less than doubled.
Small Businesses: One in 20 businesses expect to need to close in the next six months. Revenues are only increasing week-on-week for 9 percent of small businesses. Well worth reading the entire EIG analysis of the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey data.
Amazon: Announced they will hire for 100,000 new, regular full- and part-time jobs along with opening 100 new operations buildings around the country. Starting wages will be at least $15 per hour. They are also holding a virtual career day Wednesday to hire for its 33,000 job openings in corporate and tech roles where average pay is expected to be $150,000.
LEARNING PODS
Texas Business Creates Its Own Classroom: To help employees juggle work and remote learning. The company even hired a full time, TEA certified teacher.
Students Create Tutoring Programs:
Two Mountain View High School students created Student2Student Tutoring that will offer tutoring services for math, science, English, and history completely free of charge.
El Paso seniors created Student Tutors of El Pasoavailable (STEPS) that provides tutoring via Zoom for students grades 3rd through 12th in math, reading and science.
NJ Editorial On Pods: Teresa Ruiz, chair of the Senate education committee, suggests setting up public versions of pods, in libraries or the auditoriums of empty schools or colleges, where more kids can form their own learning hubs. The founder published a list of steps they were taking to address the concerns.
Talentnook: The company announced a new offering for parents and students with online homeschooling programs and dedicated StudyPods that can be started anytime from any location. The full range of Talentnook tutors includes high school and college students, working professionals, homemakers, teachers, and retired professionals.
Cleveland Foundation, United Way: Organized learning pods for 800 students.
RESOURCES
Schools Drop Acellus Learning Platform Over ‘Glaring’ Offensive Content: "A number of district leaders are scrambling to address concerns from parents and staff that their chosen online learning platform features content that is racist, sexist or inappropriate for children"
Educator Competencies for Student-Centered Teaching: New Christensen Institute report outlining a more modular professional development system, which includes specific, verifiable and predictable microcredentials.
School Choice: AP article on the Administration's work on school choice in appeal to vexed parents
Venus: High in the toxic atmosphere of the planet Venus, astronomers have discovered signs of what might be life. Has nothing to do with education or COVID, I just thought it was interesting.
It's Monday: Make it a good week.