TOP THREE
NYC Vaccine Mandate: Two-thirds of NYC schools could experience disruptions due to vaccine mandate, UFT says
“If you have not gotten that first dose by Friday, 5 o’clock, we will assume you are not coming to work on Monday, and you will not be paid starting Monday, and we will fill your role with a substitute or an alternative employee,” de Blasio said."
"A representative for the DOE disputed the results of the UFT survey, and said that the majority of staffers are vaccinated and working hard to avoid any disruptions."
Vaccine Mandate: Randi Weingarten: "Overwhelming number of teachers' want a vaccine mandate."
Related: An AFT survey from last week which found support for vaccine mandates is strong among teachers (67%) and paraprofessionals (65%) and exceeds 60% in every region of the country
Indoor Masking Doesn’t Always Make Sense When Everyone is Vaccinated: Argues Joseph Allen in a new Washington Post oped.
"We have to think about this in terms of likelihoods. Being vaccinated reduces the chance of getting any infection by about 80 percent or more. Yes, breakthroughs do happen. But symptomatic breakthroughs should not be a major problem — the days of “toughing out” a cold and heading into the office or campus while sick are over. Weed out the symptomatic breakthroughs, and the pool of potentially infectious people becomes even smaller."
"We overestimate the risk of transmission because we forget about joint probabilities. A lot of things have to line up for someone to be exposed and get covid-19 in a fully vaccinated environment."
"On top of this, what’s the risk that a vaccinated individual ends up with severe illness? Here, the vaccines have an impeccable record — proving 95 percent effective at preventing hospitalization and death."
FEDERAL
Infrastructure: Two Democratic senators told The Hill they expect the Speaker to cancel a scheduled vote Thursday on the infrastructure bill.
“The two Democratic senators said they had been in contact with House members and that they did not believe the votes would be there for the bill with at least two-dozen progressives planning to vote ‘no’ on infrastructure without a separate vote on a larger social spending package.”
Punchbowl seems to agree, "As of right now, the leadership says the vote is moving ahead tomorrow, despite the poor outlook for passage."
Budget: Senate Democrats signaled they will decouple the government funding CR bill from the debt limit bill and will instead move forward with a standalone bill to avert a government shutdown Thursday night.
Reconciliation:
“The Senate parliamentarian has nixed Democrats’ back-up plan for getting immigration reform into a sweeping spending bill, handing them a second setback,” The Hill reports.
Sen. Manchin told CNN “that won’t happen” when asked about Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying there needs to be deal on “legislative language” with the White House on a budget reconciliation bill in order to get progressives to support the bipartisan infrastructure bill when it’s scheduled for a vote tomorrow.
COVID-19 RESEARCH
Vaccine Data for Kids Under 5 Are Coming ‘Before the End of the Year’: According to Pfizer's CEO
Booster Side Effects: A CDC report found that the side effects of a booster dose of a COVID-19 vaccine are similar to those of a second dose, with no new serious unexpected patterns emerging.
"The frequency and type of side effects were similar to those seen after the second vaccine doses and were mostly mild or moderate and short-lived," Walensky said at a White House press briefing."
Confusion Over Boosters Lingers as States Roll Out Shots: Via Politico. "The sheer breadth of qualifying medical conditions and occupations, plus the lack of any proof requirements, means just about anyone who got the Pfizer vaccine can now seek out a booster."
CDC Starting To See Mix-and-Match Data for COVID-19 Vaccines: Via Yahoo Finance.
COVID-19 Vaccines Are Good, but Shouldn’t Be Mandated for School Kids: Argues Vinay Prasad in US News.
Vaccine Hesitancy: Really thoughtful answer by NBA star Jonathan Isaac on his hesitancy around the vaccine.
STATE
Alabama: The Alabama Department of Public Health "says consistent and correct mask use in schools has helped reduce the number of cases of COVID-19, helped schools remain open to in-person learning in Alabama, and helped prevent the consequences of this serious disease."
Arkansas: Jacksonville North Pulaski School District shares how they keep virtual students engaged.
California:
Gov. Newsom says a California school vaccine mandate is 'on the table'
San Diego Unified School board votes to require vaccinations for eligible students and staff.
L.A. Unified enrollment drops by more than 27,000 students, steepest decline in years.
Florida: Secretary Cardona called a new rule restricting schools from requiring students to quarantine after having a direct exposure to COVID-19 “dangerous” and “irresponsible.”
Georgia: Georgia Dept of Ed launches ESSER funding transparency dashboard and announced it will partner with Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education to evaluate use of COVID-19 relief funds.
Illinois: St. Charles teacher files lawsuit over Illinois vaccine mandate. And another 11 teachers have filed a lawsuit against Edwardsville CUSD 7 and Triad CUSD 2 over the statewide COVID vaccination, testing and masking mandates for school employees.
Michigan: Grand Valley State University is expanding its K-12 tutoring program.
New York: NYC schools to begin screening students for social-emotional skills next month.
Ohio: The Cincinnati Federation of Teachers is supportive of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for Cincinnati Public Schools employees, but its president says one for students would make the district safer.
She also argued the school district would gain students: "If our district is saying we're going to have everybody vaccinated and (wear) a mask, we'll have a safe environment for our employees and students," Sellers said. "I believe that those districts that are surrounding us that don't have a mask policy or a vaccine policy, there will be families in those districts who will say, 'I'm going to send my kids to CPS.' "
South Carolina: Federal judge overturns South Carolina school mask ban.
"It is noncontroversial that children need to go to school. And, they are entitled to any reasonable accommodation that allows them to do so. No one can reasonably argue that it is an undue burden to wear a mask to accommodate a child with disabilities,” Judge Lewis wrote."
INTERNATIONAL
Canada: Alberta Teachers' Association calls for vaccine mandate for teachers.
RESOURCES
A Parent Town Hall with the AFT and Open Schools USA: Sept 30, 6pm EDT. Details. Randi gives some background.
It's National Coffee Day: For those that celebrate, I hope you have a grande day and a latte fun.
Just 1 in 5 Families Was Asked for Input into School Stimulus Fund Spending: According to a new NPU/Echelon Insights poll.
Flipped learning: What Is It, and When Is It Effective?: New report from Brookings that summarizes the lessons from over 300 published studies on flipped learning. "The findings suggest that flipped learning might be worth a try."
A Mastery-Based Math Teacher’s Journey: Via Aurora Institute.
Back to School for Reporters, Too: Via Alexander Russo
Sound On: Love this.