Saturday, May 30, 2020
Schools issue warning: Coronavirus testing and tracing are needed before campuses reopen
From the Los Angeles Times, reporters Howard Blume and Sonali Kohli, May 30, 2020. Full story here.
Raising the possibility that campuses won't reopen in the fall, leaders of the state's two largest K-12 school systems on Friday demanded that public health authorities, not school districts, take the lead on setting up coronavirus testing and contact tracing of students and employees.
Los Angeles Supt. Austin Beutner and San Diego Supt. Cindy Marten — whose combined districts represent 915,000 children and workers — issued a public warning: Either their school districts get more funding and assertive health department intervention or they can't consider reopening campuses in the fall.
"Opening our schools will not be as easy as separating desks or placing pieces of tape on the floor," Beutner and Marten said in their statement. "A robust system of COVID-19 testing and contact tracing will need to be in place before we can consider reopening schools. Local health authorities, not school districts, have to lead the way on testing, contact tracing and a clear set of protocols on how to respond to any occurrence of the virus."
Raising the possibility that campuses won't reopen in the fall, leaders of the state's two largest K-12 school systems on Friday demanded that public health authorities, not school districts, take the lead on setting up coronavirus testing and contact tracing of students and employees.
Los Angeles Supt. Austin Beutner and San Diego Supt. Cindy Marten — whose combined districts represent 915,000 children and workers — issued a public warning: Either their school districts get more funding and assertive health department intervention or they can't consider reopening campuses in the fall.
"Opening our schools will not be as easy as separating desks or placing pieces of tape on the floor," Beutner and Marten said in their statement. "A robust system of COVID-19 testing and contact tracing will need to be in place before we can consider reopening schools. Local health authorities, not school districts, have to lead the way on testing, contact tracing and a clear set of protocols on how to respond to any occurrence of the virus."
Supreme Court, in rare late-night ruling, says California may enforce certain restrictions on religious gatherings
“The notion that it is ‘indisputably clear’ that the government’s limitations are unconstitutional seems quite improbable,” Roberts wrote. He was referring to the standard that challengers must meet to enjoin enforcement of the state order.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan also voted to deny the request for intervention from a Pentecostal church near San Diego but did not join the statement by Roberts...
Friday, May 29, 2020
School's out for the summer...Three Weeks Early
From parent AJ Campbell.
This COVID canceled semester has been a disaster, but now three
weeks early, it is over. But let's face it the entire 4th quarter has been over
before it even began.
Thrust on to nonexistent online learning environments, without a
lifeline or follow up, some students, like my daughter, have not done well. She
has been struggling. I have sent pleading emails to the teachers at her high
school who have not bothered to answer me. Now that the school board has
enacted its no-fail policy towards grading, she will finish off the semester
with an A even though she is currently getting a D. Pencils down kids, school
is officially over, and you did great!
Please let me disavow you of any notion that MCPS is teaching my
kid at all. Worksheets are dumped into an online system, and my kid has to go
figure out how to complete them. There have not been online classes as you or I
might think of them but rather "office hours," where the teacher sits
on an open zoom line, and kids ask questions or usually sit there and do
nothing. It is entirely possible that this is just my kid's experience and that
others are having a fantastic time full of enrichment and support. However, my
kid was dropped off a cliff, Wylie E. Coyote style with an anvil to follow.
We asked the kids to keep working and hope that their
efforts matched their grades. For my special ed kid, it has been even more
stringent. MPCPS unilaterally rewrote her IEP then told me to agree to it. Not
even a phone call to give me a heads up or to let me know what is going on. The
IEP looked ok on paper, but to the best of my knowledge, nothing has been done
on it. It exists as a document in theory, not in practice.
With no IEP and no teaching going on, it is not surprising that
there are problems. My kid spends her time looking up resources and teaching
herself unaided by MCPS teachers.
When I complain to MCPS, they historically and, in this case,
ignore my complaints. When teachers do respond, I am asked to have a little
"grace" and give the school time to cope. Usually, I would extend
whatever courtesy is needed as long as it did not impact my child's grades. No
one puts Baby in a corner, and no one messes up my kid's GPA.
My daughter's 10th-grade year grades are essential to her
college success. I am a divorced mom who has an ex-husband who has already told
me, the lawyers and the court, that he is refusing to pay a penny towards
college. Sincerely, he wrote it into the separation agreement. I couldn't force
him to anyway as it is not a requirement, but he wanted to make sure he would
not be contributing to her 529 plan.
Scholarships will be the only way she will go if my
college-bound rising 10th grader is going to any college. Even if her father
agrees to give his financial information for the FAFSA program and our
financial contribution is $10,000, I will be on the hook for all of it. He can
spend it on a sportscar or hair plugs, I guess.
You will excuse me then for making her grades matter so much.
The shifting sands of the MCPS grading system have made me very uncomfortable.
I had a sneaking suspicion that MCPS would find a way to grade on a curve so
the school system would make it so kids could not fail.
Fretting over her 3rd marking period grades paid off big time.
In the regular scheme of MCPS grading, they round up to the advantage of the
student. If a child gets a B in the third quarter and an A in the 4th quarter
the child does not get an A- or a B+ they get an A. MCPS doesn't give + or -
grades just A, B, C, D, E (the new fail).
Under Condition COVID, things have changed. Now it doesn't
matter how she did in the 4th quarter. If she got a B in the 3rd quarter, she
would still get an A even if she barely checked in and did little or no work.
With the "hump bump," as it is less than affectionately called, a C
becomes a B, and a B becomes an A so that kids are motivated to show up and do
something. But now, even if she does nothing, she will still retain her
third-quarter grade with the bump.
If your student had a D or a Fail (E) in the third quarter and
your kid has not passed the fourth quarter, they will get an incomplete. It is
an utterly no-fail environment for MCPS, less so for the students.
The message to all MCPS students is: school is out for summer.
See you in the fall, stay cool.
Note: I reached out to Shebra Evans, Stephen Austin, Sunil
Dasgupta, and Lynne Harris for their positions on the new grading systems, and
none were provided.
Traditional Grading Scheme
No Letter Grades it's Pass/Fail
MCPS gives up and gives grades away
Only 12% of MCPS Students Voted in Election for Student Member of Board of Education
...All 88,468 middle and high school students in MCPS were eligible to vote. About 12% — 11,000 — participated in the virtual election, a significantly lower turnout than last year, when about 85% of students voted...
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/richard-montgomery-student-elected-next-student-member-of-montgomery-school-board/
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/richard-montgomery-student-elected-next-student-member-of-montgomery-school-board/
Update on Agency Maryland PIA Practices during the Pandemic
In March, when it was apparent that the covid-19 pandemic would severely impact all levels of society for the foreseeable future, the Ombudsman published guidance to agencies that emphasized a reasonable and good faith approach to PIA responses given the limitations and burdens placed on governmental operations. You can read that guidance here.
Among other suggestions, the Ombudsman recommended that agencies evaluate each incoming PIA request and, to the extent feasible, promptly respond to those that could be handled remotely. For requests that could not be handled readily and/or within the statutory timelines, the Ombudsman suggested that agencies explain to the requestor the limitations on the agency’s ability to respond to the request and provide an assurance that the agency would respond as soon as it was able to do so.
Since then, the Ombudsman’s Office has continued to work remotely on new and pending requests for assistance from agencies and requestors, and it is apparent that agency PIA practices during this challenging time vary widely. Some agencies appear to have ceased to process PIA requests altogether, while others seem to be taking a good faith approach like that outlined in the Ombudsman’s guidance. The Ombudsman is also aware that some State and local agencies have utilized the process outlined in the Governor’s March 12, 2020 emergency order entitled Extending Certain Licenses, Permits, Registrations, and Other Governmental Authorizations, and Authorizing Suspension of Legal Time Requirements to formally suspend PIA deadlines as applied to them until 30 days after the Governor lifts the state of emergency. She applauds those agencies that are taking steps to respond to PIA requests in a good faith and pragmatic manner even when they have announced the suspension of PIA deadlines; for example, see the City of Rockville’s relevant Executive Order here.
The Ombudsman continues to encourage all agencies to follow the guidance published in March, including the recommendation that agencies respond to PIA requests to the extent feasible, and communicate with requestors about operational limitations. Ultimately, reasonableness under the circumstances should be the touchstone of an agency’s PIA practices during this time. And, as always, the Ombudsman’s Office is here to help.
Thursday, May 28, 2020
Md. trial courts to fully resume Oct. 5; other proceedings phased in earlier
https://thedailyrecord.com/2020/05/26/md-trial-courts-to-fully-resume-oct-5-other-proceedings-phased-in-earlier/
‘How Could the CDC Make That Mistake?’
The government’s disease-fighting agency is conflating viral and antibody tests, compromising a few crucial metrics that governors depend on to reopen their economies. Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and other states are doing the same...
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/cdc-and-states-are-misreporting-covid-19-test-data-pennsylvania-georgia-texas/611935/?fbclid=IwAR1zj8ixpKcz7ckXscYEQ_io7QIkfa3fX6d_YDdwm9oFzUmMWbDYN38GviI
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/cdc-and-states-are-misreporting-covid-19-test-data-pennsylvania-georgia-texas/611935/?fbclid=IwAR1zj8ixpKcz7ckXscYEQ_io7QIkfa3fX6d_YDdwm9oFzUmMWbDYN38GviI
5 Students Return to School
...The students in the classroom, which is overseen by the Marin County Office of Education rather than a single district, come from throughout the county. As of now, five students are in school for a regular full day of instruction from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., while three of their classmates join in via distance learning...
https://edsource.org/2020/with-masks-and-distance-these-special-ed-students-have-already-returned-to-their-school/632357?fbclid=IwAR1slD3Z8NKMXtQUu0sR6J6HG_fQyONu6x7sHNFoL1C1aC88ZyMfVYQ6nj8
https://edsource.org/2020/with-masks-and-distance-these-special-ed-students-have-already-returned-to-their-school/632357?fbclid=IwAR1slD3Z8NKMXtQUu0sR6J6HG_fQyONu6x7sHNFoL1C1aC88ZyMfVYQ6nj8
How Will Residents Be Heard During Pandemic?
...With a proposal such as this one, WMCCA ordinarily would be trying to personally contact all of the neighbors affected, conducting open meetings, etc., but we will not be able to do that for the foreseeable future. In the meantime, the application process continues and we will be requesting that OZAH and the Planning Board provide additional methods for citizens to participate. If you are interested in learning more about the process and want to be involved and included in our efforts, please email me at susannelee1@hotmail.com or call me at 301-956-4535.
OZAH indicates that because their offices are closed, the case documents will be found on the Planning Board website on the DAIC Dashboard...
Analysis: What Lasting Academic (and Economic) Effects Could Coronavirus Shutdowns Have on This Generation of Students? Some Alarming Data Points From Research on Previous Disasters
...Researchers have attempted to quantify the loss of learning from school closures in a number of contexts. Natural disasters provide one useful parallel. For example, test scores fell in Thailand the year after severe flooding in 2011 forced schools in some provinces to close for up to a month. The losses were the most pronounced for younger students...
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
How Contact Tracing Helps the Country Reopen. "A single person can lead to 59,000 additional coronavirus infections over time..."
A single person can lead to 59,000 additional coronavirus infections over time, according to a recent study. That's where contact tracers come in.
Contact tracers play a big role in reopening the country and preventing future outbreaks, but it's not easy.
They're trained to interview people to find out if they're sick, where they've been and who they've been around...
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Mapping Covid-19 outbreaks in the food system
As we read about breakdowns in our food supply chain, Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN) reporter Leah Douglas gathered the data on meat and poultry plants nationwide. Her full story, and the interactive map showing locations, and numbers of cases at each plant, is here.
According to data collected by FERN, as of May 22 at 12pm ET, at least 220 meatpacking and food processing plants and 20 farms and production facilities have confirmed cases of Covid-19, and at least four food processing plants are currently closed. At least 19,160 workers (17,360 meatpacking workers, 1,134 food processing workers, and 666 farmworkers) have tested positive for Covid-19 and at least 72 workers (66 meatpacking workers and 6 food processing workers) have died.
According to data collected by FERN, as of May 22 at 12pm ET, at least 220 meatpacking and food processing plants and 20 farms and production facilities have confirmed cases of Covid-19, and at least four food processing plants are currently closed. At least 19,160 workers (17,360 meatpacking workers, 1,134 food processing workers, and 666 farmworkers) have tested positive for Covid-19 and at least 72 workers (66 meatpacking workers and 6 food processing workers) have died.
***
A beef plant in Colorado. A pork plant in Iowa. A hamburger plant in Pennsylvania. Since mid-March, outbreaks of Covid-19 have appeared in meatpacking plants across the country, infecting thousands of workers. The coronavirus has also reached workers in processed food facilities, which make frozen dinners, baked goods, and dairy products. And slowly, outbreaks are arriving at farms and ranches.
States Are Reopening: See How Coronavirus Cases Rise or Fall
From ProPublica, reporters Lena V. Groeger and Ash Ngu, May 20, 2020, updated May 24, 2020. To read the article and see all the stats on all the states, DC, and territories, go here.
Many states are lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions on social and business activity that were put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19. Questions linger, however, about whether some states meet criteria set by public health experts and the federal government for doing so. Experts are keeping a close eye on whether states that have reopened are seeing an uptick in cases or a worsening in other key metrics.
To give people context on state reopenings, and what happens afterward, we are tracking metrics derived from a set of guidelines published by the White House for states to achieve before loosening restrictions. Even if these criteria are met, without a vaccine, reopening may cause an increase in cases. What’s more, some states may meet all of the criteria and still have a high infection rate.
We plan on updating this data daily. Read more about how we chose these metrics.
- Positive tests per 100K people: A seven-day moving average of the number of positive tests, adjusted for population. We show an arrow representing the trend over the last two weeks. This metric comes from White House guidelines, and the data is updated daily.
- Percentage of tests that are positive: A seven-day moving average of the percentage of total tests that are positive. We show an arrow representing the trend over the last two weeks. This metric comes from White House guidelines, and the data is updated daily.
- Tests per 100K people per day: A seven-day moving average of the number of total tests, adjusted for population. We show a goal of 100 tests per 100,000 people per day. That number is taken from statements by the White House suggesting 30 tests per 1,000 people per month as a target. While there have been several targets put forward by both the White House and public health experts for what would make a sufficient number of tests, our metric takes the White House’s 30 tests per 1,000 people per month target and uses it to derive a minimum daily goal. This data is updated daily.
- ICU bed availability: The percentage of intensive care beds in the state’s hospitals that are available. The White House’s guidelines say that states should be able to “treat patients without crisis care.” We’ve chosen to use ICU bed availability to track this criteria. We show a goal of 30% availability, which is taken from the target set by New York state. This data comes from a subset of facilities in each state that report this information to the CDC, and it is updated daily.
- Hospital visits for flu-like illness: The percentage of patient visits to health care providers for influenza-like illness. We show an arrow representing the trend over the last two weeks. This metric comes from White House guidelines. The data comes from a subset of facilities in each state that report this information to the CDC and is updated weekly.
Monday, May 25, 2020
Memorial Day
This year marks the 75th Anniversary of the end of World War II. 405,399 Americans died in that war.
"Vale" From Carthage
(Spring 1944)
by Peter Viereck, July 1947
I, now at Carthage. He, shot dead at Rome
Shipmates last May. “And what if one of us,”
I asked last May, in fun, in gentleness,
“Wears doom, like dungarees, and doesn’t know?
He laughed, "Not see Times Square again?" The foam,
Feathering across that deck a year ago,
Swept those five words--like seeds--beyond the seas
Into his future. There they grew like trees,
And as he passed them there next spring, they spread
Across his road of fire their sudden shade.
Though he had always scraped his mess-kit pure
And polished piously his barracks floor,
Though all his buttons glowed like cloudless moons
To plead for him in G.I. orisons,
No furlough fluttered from the sky. He will
Not see Times Square--he will not see--he will
Not see Times
change; at Carthage (while my friend,
Living those words at Rome, screamed in the end)
I saw an ancient Roman's tomb and read
"Vale" in stone. Here two wars mix their dead:
Roman, my shipmate's dream walks hand in hand
With yours tonight ("New York again" and "Rome"),
Like widowed sisters bearing water home
On tired heads through hot Tunisian sand
"Vale" From Carthage
(Spring 1944)
by Peter Viereck, July 1947
I, now at Carthage. He, shot dead at Rome
Shipmates last May. “And what if one of us,”
I asked last May, in fun, in gentleness,
“Wears doom, like dungarees, and doesn’t know?
He laughed, "Not see Times Square again?" The foam,
Feathering across that deck a year ago,
Swept those five words--like seeds--beyond the seas
Into his future. There they grew like trees,
And as he passed them there next spring, they spread
Across his road of fire their sudden shade.
Though he had always scraped his mess-kit pure
And polished piously his barracks floor,
Though all his buttons glowed like cloudless moons
To plead for him in G.I. orisons,
No furlough fluttered from the sky. He will
Not see Times Square--he will not see--he will
Not see Times
change; at Carthage (while my friend,
Living those words at Rome, screamed in the end)
I saw an ancient Roman's tomb and read
"Vale" in stone. Here two wars mix their dead:
Roman, my shipmate's dream walks hand in hand
With yours tonight ("New York again" and "Rome"),
Like widowed sisters bearing water home
On tired heads through hot Tunisian sand
Sunday, May 24, 2020
How to Participate in Taps Across America on Monday at 3 PM
Since parades and gatherings are cancelled this Memorial Day weekend, retired Air Force bugler Jari Villanueva and correspondent Steve Hartman are asking buglers and trumpet players across the country to stand on their porches this Memorial Day, and play the haunting music of “Taps” – and for the rest of us to soak in this 24-note reminder of what Memorial Day is all about. For information on how to participate, go to cbsnews.com/taps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4_uTsBzg4s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4_uTsBzg4s
Friday, May 22, 2020
University of California Will Stop Using SAT, ACT
Admissions tests, allegedly biased against minority students, will be phased out over five years
The University of California board of regents voted Thursday to stop using the SAT and ACT college admissions exams, reshaping college admissions in one of the largest and most prestigious university systems in the country and dealing a significant blow to the multibillion-dollar college admission testing industry...
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
All NYC public school families will receive $420 per child for food benefits through federal coronavirus relief effort
Every public school student in New York City will soon receive more than $400 to help pay for food while school buildings are shut down, regardless of family income.
Through a federal relief effort, the state was recently approved to disperse the Coronavirus Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer, or P-EBT. The sweeping program will automatically send families the equivalent of about $5.70 per day to make up for meals that each student would have been eligible for while in school.
Because New York City is a universal free lunch district, providing no-cost meals to all 1 million students regardless of need, every child in a city-run public school qualifies. It adds up to about $420 per child — retroactive from the time buildings were shuttered in mid-March, through the end of the academic year in June. Across the state, the program will bring in more than $880 million in federal funds.
Charter and parochial students should also benefit, so long as their school participates in the federal school lunch program...
In Montgomery County, schools and parents clash over how much teachers and students are connecting
“I understand there are equity issues,” he said. “But I think there’s a way to have things fair and still provide more of a learning experience than kids are getting now.”
His concerns in Montgomery County, one of the nation’s largest and most diverse school systems, come amid broader tensions between learning and fairness in a suburb where poverty co-exists with affluence and priorities sometimes clash...
Tuesday, May 19, 2020
MCPS Staff told Board of Ed. $800,000 Artificial Turf Field for City of Gaithersburg is just a "tot lot." Staff never told Board of Ed. about $800,000 Expenditure or About Payment for New Bleachers!
Back on April 16, 2020, the Parents' Coalition reported that the City of Gaithersburg had made public a Land Acquisition deal with the Montgomery County Board of Education.
The City of Gaithersburg voted on that Land Acquisition deal on April 20th.
The next day, the Montgomery County Board of Education was supposedly voting on the same deal.
But when the Board of Education was presented with this deal, they were not given the actual Land Acquisition agreement. Instead, Board members were treated to a Power Point Presentation shown in the videos below.
The City of Gaithersburg Land Acquisition Agreement detailed how the Board of Education was agreeing to expend up to $800,000 for an artificial turf field to be built on City of Gaithersburg land and the Board of Education would be paying for new bleachers for a City baseball field.
The Board of Education was only told that the plans for the new elementary school at the Kelley Park site included a "tot lot."
MCPS staff did not mention that the Board of Education was expected to agree to pay up to $800,000 to cover that "tot lot" with artificial turf and MCPS staff never mentioned the bleachers at all.
And this amid a Global Pandemic.
April 21, 2020, video of Board of Education audio meeting: Montgomery County Board of Education discussion and vote on acquisition of land from the City of Gaithersburg. Listen as MCPS staff describes the "tot lot" that will be next to the school, but never mentions that the Board of Education will be paying for that "tot lot" to be covered with up to $800,000 of artificial turf and never mentions that the Board of Education will also be paying for new bleachers of an unknown cost!
Part 1:
Part 2:
The City of Gaithersburg voted on that Land Acquisition deal on April 20th.
The next day, the Montgomery County Board of Education was supposedly voting on the same deal.
But when the Board of Education was presented with this deal, they were not given the actual Land Acquisition agreement. Instead, Board members were treated to a Power Point Presentation shown in the videos below.
The City of Gaithersburg Land Acquisition Agreement detailed how the Board of Education was agreeing to expend up to $800,000 for an artificial turf field to be built on City of Gaithersburg land and the Board of Education would be paying for new bleachers for a City baseball field.
 |
| Page 5 of the Agreement the Board of Ed. Never Saw |
The Board of Education was only told that the plans for the new elementary school at the Kelley Park site included a "tot lot."
MCPS staff did not mention that the Board of Education was expected to agree to pay up to $800,000 to cover that "tot lot" with artificial turf and MCPS staff never mentioned the bleachers at all.
And this amid a Global Pandemic.
April 21, 2020, video of Board of Education audio meeting: Montgomery County Board of Education discussion and vote on acquisition of land from the City of Gaithersburg. Listen as MCPS staff describes the "tot lot" that will be next to the school, but never mentions that the Board of Education will be paying for that "tot lot" to be covered with up to $800,000 of artificial turf and never mentions that the Board of Education will also be paying for new bleachers of an unknown cost!
Part 1:
Part 2:
How Virginia Juked Its COVID-19 Data
In The Atlantic, by authors Alexis C. Madrigal and Robinson Meyer, date: May 13, 2020, with updates on May 14, 2020. Full article here.https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/covid-19-tests-combine-virginia/611620/.
The state is combining results from viral and antibody tests in the same statistic. This threatens to confound America’s understanding of the pandemic.
The United States’ ability to test for the novel coronavirus finally seems to be improving. As recently as late April, the country rarely reported more than 150,000 new test results each day. The U.S. now routinely claims to conduct more than 300,000 tests a day, according to state-level data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic.
The state is combining results from viral and antibody tests in the same statistic. This threatens to confound America’s understanding of the pandemic.
The United States’ ability to test for the novel coronavirus finally seems to be improving. As recently as late April, the country rarely reported more than 150,000 new test results each day. The U.S. now routinely claims to conduct more than 300,000 tests a day, according to state-level data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project at The Atlantic.
But these rosy numbers may conceal a problem: A lack of federal guidelines has created huge variation in how states are reporting their COVID-19 data and in what kind of data they provide to the public.
These gaps can be used for political advantage. In at least one state, Virginia, senior officials are blending the results of two different types of coronavirus test in order to report a more favorable result to the public. This harms the integrity of the data they use to make decisions, reassure residents, and justify reopening their economy.
And:
The state is reporting viral tests and antibody tests in the same figure, even though the two types of test answer different questions about the pandemic and reveal different types of information. By combining these two types of test, the state is able to portray itself as having a more robust infrastructure for tracking and containing the coronavirus than it actually does. It can represent gains in testing that do not exist in reality, says Ashish Jha, the K. T. Li Professor of Global Health at Harvard.
“It is terrible. It messes up everything,” Jha told us. He said that combining the test results, as Virginia has done, produces information that is impossible to interpret.
The state’s decision to combine the tests was first reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
An outbreak of severe Kawasaki-like disease at the Italian epicentre of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic: an observational cohort study
Background
The Bergamo province, which is extensively affected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic, is a natural observatory of virus manifestations in the general population. In the past month we recorded an outbreak of Kawasaki disease; we aimed to evaluate incidence and features of patients with Kawasaki-like disease diagnosed during the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic...
Monday, May 18, 2020
70 cases of COVID-19 at French schools days after re-opening
But French Education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer sounded the alarm Monday, telling French radio RTL that the return has put some children in new danger of infection. He said the affected schools are being closed immediately. French media reported that seven schools in northern France were closed...
Fairfax County Public Schools consider starting classes online in the Fall
From WUSA9 from reporter Bruce Leshan. For the full story go here.
Fairfax County Public Schools has had huge challenges teaching children at home during the pandemic. Now, the school board has released a new planning document looking at what to do if the crisis continues into the fall.
Social distancing in school could cost millions and there's a ton of uncertainty.
Desks will have spread out with only a dozen students allowed in each classroom, according to the 47-page PowerPoint presentation.
Students won't be allowed to pack on buses either, cutting school bus capacity by 50% for middle and high school students, and by two-thirds for elementary students.
Fairfax County Public Schools has had huge challenges teaching children at home during the pandemic. Now, the school board has released a new planning document looking at what to do if the crisis continues into the fall.
Social distancing in school could cost millions and there's a ton of uncertainty.
Desks will have spread out with only a dozen students allowed in each classroom, according to the 47-page PowerPoint presentation.
Students won't be allowed to pack on buses either, cutting school bus capacity by 50% for middle and high school students, and by two-thirds for elementary students.
NYC teachers, students grapple with tech glitches, equity concerns as virtual AP exams begin
After months of study and practice, Brooklyn high school senior Abigail Grigoryan churned out two short essays in just 45 minutes during her online AP Government exam.
But when she hit submit, her computer screen flashed a terrifying message: her response didn’t go through, and time was up...
Sunday, May 17, 2020
"...had New York imposed its extreme social distancing measures a week or two earlier, the death toll might have been cut by half or more."
Two Coasts. One Virus. How New York Suffered Nearly 10 Times the Number of Deaths as California.
AP Snafus / Why is the College Board in our Schools?
In the midst of this pandemic it became clear that the College Board, a private company, could not use its favorite space for AP examinations: public schools across the country.
Why does the AP like using public school space, paid for by local governments, and not its own private space?
Let’s start by asking, what does the College Board pay school systems to use their space? Oh, and what does it pay school systems for cancelling classes? And I guess, what does it pay to families for having their children’s classes cancelled?
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
The College Board steals from families and local governments across the country. But the cost is built in. It’s hidden. But it is real.
The College Board also could not use its favorite proctors. Who do they use to proctor their exams? How do they pay them?
Public School teachers. And the College Board does not pay them. Local school districts pay the College Board’s proctors.
Are these unemployed teachers?
Nope. These teachers have their own classes. While they are proctoring, their classes are not being taught by their regular teachers. They are being taught by subs...
Saturday, May 16, 2020
Magruder High teacher accused of pointing gun at his wife
A Magruder High School teacher has been charged with pointing a gun at his wife during a dispute.
Christopher McGuthrie, 45, of Burtonsville, was arrested on May 8. Police said he pointed a gun at his wife multiple times...