Back to school #2

One family's tradition is to bake a cake for the first day of school and the last day of school each year.

This blog entry I've been meaning to post at the start of school each of the last few years, but I never manage to pull it together.

-- "Back to school reprint: Why isn't walking/biking to school programming an option in Suburban Omaha? | Inadequacies in school transportation planning"
-- "Back to school #2"
-- "Back to school #3"

Past writings to reference

On community schools
-- "Schools #2: Successful school programs in low income communities and the failure of DC to respond similarly," 2019
On community planning focused on creating great neighborhood schools
-- "The bilingual Key Elementary School in Arlington County as another example of the "upsidedownness" of community planning," 2019

Students in line for security check.  Reddit photo.

School security ("Uvalde rekindles school police officers' looming fears," AP). Who knew there's a National Association of School Resource Officers?  

With massive failures by Oxford High School in Michigan ("Attorney: Security guard didn’t try to stop Oxford school shooting, thought it was a drill,"MLive, "Lawsuit: Oxford High School shooting was "predictable and preventable","Michigan Public Radio ) and the police at Ross Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas ("Uvalde report: 376 officers but ‘egregiously poor’ decisions,"), New Jersey has passed a law requiring that school districts create threat assessment teams ("A new law will require threat assessment teams for all New Jersey school districts this fall," Philadelphia Inquirer).

Post-covid drops in urban school enrollment ("Shrinking enrollment in big cities may force public schools shut," AP).  This is a big issue because for the most part, school systems are funded on the basis on the number of students.  And schools with smaller enrollments get less funding.  So underenrolled schools face the threat of closure. But closing schools can be politically perilous.  Some argue that Adrian Fenty wasn't reelected as mayor of DC in part because of school closures.

Many ascribe covid home schooling to why students today are less able to read and socialize, and national test results find this cohort continues to lag.  The Boston Globe offers a program to address this ("Does Massachusetts need a 'nuclear option' for academic recovery?").  Seven bold ideas:

• Start a statewide tutoring army
• Longer school days, years
• Do more for recent grads who need help
• Pay teachers more
• Overhaul reading instruction
• Personalized plans for every student
• Don’t try to fix everything, everywhere  

Truancy ("Students who miss school get help, not punishment," "Stemming school truancy," Washington Post).  According to the New York Time,s "Why School Absences Have ‘Exploded’ Almost Everywhere": 

The trends suggest that something fundamental has shifted in American childhood and the culture of school, in ways that may be long lasting. What was once a deeply ingrained habit — wake up, catch the bus, report to class — is now something far more tenuous. 

“Our relationship with school became optional,” said Katie Rosanbalm, a psychologist and associate research professor with the Center for Child and Family Policy at Duke University. The habit of daily attendance — and many families’ trust — was severed when schools shuttered in spring 2020. Even after schools reopened, things hardly snapped back to normal. Districts offered remote options, required Covid-19 quarantines and relaxed policies around attendance and grading.

Today, student absenteeism is a leading factor hindering the nation’s recovery from pandemic learning losses, educational experts say. Students can’t learn if they aren’t in school. And a rotating cast of absent classmates can negatively affect the achievement of even students who do show up, because teachers must slow down and adjust their approach to keep everyone on track.

Truancy and youth crime.  Associated with drops in enrollment are enrolled students skipping school.  DC's youth crime epidemic is strongly associated with truancy ("Empty desks: How the District’s failure to curb truancy in middle schools fueled the biggest youth crime surge in a generation," Washington Post), "Want to know the truth about books and bullets? One can beat the other," Crain's Chicago Business).  In Chicago:

More than 90% of youth victims of gun violence in Chicago were not enrolled in school at the time of the shootings. These young people weren’t violent. They were disconnected from the systems that could have kept them on a different path.

"Government schools" ("Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling," Trump Administration) school boards and the right ("The right is pushing to wreck U.S. public schools," Philadelphia Inquirer).  For a few decades, part of the right's campaign against government generally has been focused on demonization of public schools, as "government schools," among other epithets, and a major focus on creating publicly funded alternatives to public schools through the funding of charter schools, vouchers, and tax credit programs for non-public schools.

Books and reading ("Students lose access to books amid ‘state-sponsored purging of ideas’" Washington Post).  This was accentuated by the creation of the "critical race theory" bogeyman ("What Is Critical Race Theory, and Why Is It Under Attack?," Education Week).  Red states like Florida and Texas have passed legislation restricting curricula that teach about race, segregation, slavery, sexual orientation, etc.

OTOH, some kids are reading more.  From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Minneapolis school libraries seeing big increases in book lending":

More than 1,500 titles have been checked out so far this school year, representing a four-fold jump over the number of books that left the shelf by this time last school year. 

"As much as I want to say I managed to shoot book checkout up 400%, it's not because of anything incredible that I personally did," said Ted Anderson, the school's librarian. "It's because I'm here and the library is actually open." 

Like a handful of other Minneapolis schools, Franklin had no library staff last year, meaning it was often closed to students. Anderson came to the school as part of a librarian hiring wave across the district, marking a renewed investment in the positions that are often among the first to be cut when school budgets are squeezed. Minneapolis Public Schools has doubled its number of librarians since last year and met its goal of staffing at least a half-time librarian at each of its more than 60 schools. 

But most worth celebrating, staff members say, is the number of books finding their way into the hands of young readers across the city. 

... In addition to more books, many of the school libraries also got new furniture, including bean bags for students and rocking chairs and rugs for story time. That has helped create a space where students want to gather, Bellm said. A couple of schools are in the process of launching book clubs based on student demand, and other clubs are using the library as their meet-up spot. 

... "If kids are actually engaging with the space and wondering about the books, that's a success," he said while groups of students chatted loudly in a circle of arm chairs, each with books at their sides. "The last thing you want is a quiet library."

The NBC News article, "Can a new early reading program help revive this poor Mississippi town?, describes an early learning academy for children under 5 focused on learning to read, since not being able to read makes school success impossible.  

I wonder if there should be dedicated Spanish to English schools for immigrants, at least in cities, to ease assimilation and reduce the burden on classrooms where the majority of the students are English speakers.  Plus the majority minority issue. 

The screen issue ("A groundbreaking study shows kids learn better on paper, not screens. Now what?," Guardian).

... there’s been curiously little discussion in this debate about the physical object most children use to read, which, starting long before the arrival of Covid, has increasingly been an illuminated screen displaying pixelated type instead of a printed or photocopied text. What if the principal culprit behind the fall of middle-school literacy is neither a virus, nor a union leader, nor “remote learning”?

Fourth grade is when a crucial shift occurs from what another researcher describes as ‘learning to read’ to ‘reading to learn’ Until recently there has been no scientific answer to this urgent question, but a soon-to-be published, groundbreaking study from neuroscientists at Columbia University’s Teachers College has come down decisively on the matter: for “deeper reading” there is a clear advantage to reading a text on paper, rather than on a screen, where “shallow reading was observed”.

Books like me ("Teen voices: Young people work to have a say in school books," "Children need to see themselves in books. Enter Young, Black & Lit," Christian Science Monitor).

Attacks on school boards ("‘I Don’t Want to Die for It’: School Board Members Face Rising Threats," New York Times).  Some of this is funded by national groups focused on strengthening and extending the conservative agenda into local schools including on curriculum (" Education White Parents Rallied to Chase a Black Educator Out of Town. Then, They Followed Her to the Next One," ProPublica) and taxes.

Although some argue at the end of the day it doesn't much matter ("Why It’s Hard to Control What Gets Taught in Public Schools," NYT).  

Should School Boards be elected? School boards are a tough issue in terms of democracy.  Community representatives on a board often pursue pecuniary interests, and lack technical expertise that could make for better decision making.  

In Ontario, the premier wants to make school boards appointed, not elected ("School boards in ‘shambles,’ Doug Ford says as he warns more spending abuses will be revealed," "Could the mayor take control of school boards? Here’s what an Ontario education system may look like with no more trustees," "Ontario’s school boards are ungovernable and unaccountable. Shut them down," Toronto Star).  

A letter to the editor suggests that the Ontario government is more motivated by the ability to cut school taxes ("The rich don’t care about public education they send their kids to private school. They just want the tax cut," Star).

FWIW, Mayoral control of the school board in Chicago hasn't worked out so well.  DC switched to an appointed board controlled by the mayor.  Now it's mixed with appointed and elected members.  I'm not sure it has worked very well.  Chicago did reintroduce elected members a couple years ago ("Meet Chicago's new school board members," Chicago Sun-Times).

Running for the school board. Given the boards are publicly elected, it's important to have motivated members, like Vanessa Estrella in Fullerton, California ("A pachuca wanted to help her community. Now, she’s a trustee at Fullerton’s school district," Los Angeles Times).

Estrella is more than just a local business owner. She lives and works in District Five of the Fullerton School District, where its five elementary schools lag behind the city’s other campuses because of historical neglect by school administrators and the legacy of redlining in the southern part of the city. “There’s always an area in any city that gets the short end of the stick,” said the 43-year-old Estrella, who sat at a table filled with podcast equipment.

She had spent years volunteering at schools and raising funds through her family’s nonprofit to help confront these challenges. But after finding herself frustrated by what she felt was a lack of change at the district, last year Estrella decided to channel the bold spirit of pachucas and run for a position on the board of trustees.

... She had spent years volunteering at schools and raising funds through her family’s nonprofit to help confront these challenges. But after finding herself frustrated by what she felt was a lack of change at the district, last year Estrella decided to channel the bold spirit of pachucas and run for a position on the board of trustees.>

... Estrella still attends ELAC and PTA meetings to hear parents’ concerns about the schools she represents. While protecting immigrant families in the district has been a priority, Estrella also plans to close achievement gaps, get more parents involved, and address children’s mental health needs.

I think it's interesting that Estrella still attends PTA and other community meetings.  I haven't seen that kind of action by school board members, except for major meetings. 

Teacher shortage ("As the start of the school year looms, many districts can’t fill their vacancies," Philadelphia Inquirer).  Hmm, teachers, schools, and school boards are vilified plus covid, and people are retiring or not going into the profession? ("Teachers wanted: The declining pipeline of educators-to-be has experts worried the teacher shortage will only get worse," PI, "There’s no shortage of teachers. We’ve just driven them out of schools," Washington Post).

Some schools address this as a housing affordability issue ("To recruit teachers, schools offer affordable housing," Wall Street Journal).  

Adopting a customer service mindset .("Parents Survey: Majority of parents say schools' customer service needs improvement:"

As school districts look to build trust and engagement with families and the larger school community, having a “customer service mindset” can help build effective communication and affinity toward the district, K12 Insight said.

With competition from other school districts, private schools, charter schools, and vouchers, increasingly public school districts need to build their skills and operations in marketing, planning and other disciplines to compete and provide better value.

Vergennes Union High School students rally outside their school April 29, 2024, the day of a crucial vote on a proposed school budget in Vergennes, Vermont.  Riley Robinson: Christian Science Monitor.

Taxes. Schools are mostly funded by property taxes, and can be a sore subject for households, especially if they don't have school aged children.  It's also an issue with tax exemptions awarded by economic development interests, taxes foregone are also from schools, which lose out from major revenue streams.  

This has been an issue with the approval of a suburban stadium for the Chicago Bears football team.   Since labor is the primary cost of schooling, to raise pay you often have to raise taxes ("Kansas City school district wanted to raise teacher pay. So voters approved a tax hike," Kansas City Star).

A school district in Pennsylvania monitors property tax hearings to ensure the school district keeps up its revenue flow (Community improvement strategies for keeping the property tax base up: Something school systems should think about? | Nesquehoning Pennsylvania).

Structural racism and urban education systems.  From the Philadelphia Inquirer, "This race scholar studied 50 years of Philadelphia school reform. Here’s what she found":

Camika Royal, an education professor at Loyola University Maryland and critical race scholar, studied 50 years of district history for her new book, Not Paved for Us: Black Educators and Public School Reform in Philadelphia, which examines school reform efforts from 1967 through the lens of racism. ...

From early attempts to desegregate Philadelphia schools to recent and ongoing concerns over environmental conditions inside buildings, particularly those that educate large numbers of Black students, racism has permeated the district, Royal said. She provides examples in her book throughout the five decades she studied.

School zone safety,.  DC has a rise in crashes on roads abutting schools ("Study confirms what D.C. parents have known: Drivers don't care," Washington Post).  London has a special School Streets program where they designate roads serving schools as no or limited traffic during drop off and pick up times.  (Some schools in NYC are adopting the concept too.)

Bike parking at Bonneville Elementary School in Salt Lake City. (They have a separate area for scooter and skateboards.)

I think that is probably overkill, especially because many of these roads serve multiple segments of the public, not just schools, but these roads and roadsides need enhanced treatment in terms of "Safe Routes to Schools"  ("Why isn't walking/biking to school programming an option in Suburban Omaha? | Inadequacies in school transportation planning") and physical improvements, including road materials designed to reduce speeds of motor vehicles ("Walkable community planning versus "pedestrian" planning").

Summer school ("Summer programs help area students, educators with learning loss," Washington Post).  Especially to help lower income students achieve, when access to educational opportunities may otherwise be reduced, more school systems should provide summer school options, or move some schools to the "year-round school" calendar or creating an "extended school year" for Title I schools ("Schools #2: Successful school programs in low income communities and the failure of DC to respond similarly").

National best practice school improvement programs in Dallas.  Dallas Transformation Schools apparently are quite successful.  In past writings about ways to boost the outcomes of DC Public Schools, I remember charlie suggesting a kind of magnet school with enrollment open to non-DC residents, as a way to strengthen the educational quality of the peer group.  I thought that was an interesting idea, although it would be tough to attract students from out of the city.

Apparently, Dallas is doing a form of that, although it's city-wide enrollment eligibility which isn't extended to Tarrant County ("Dallas parents flocking to schools that pull students from both rich and poor parts of town: School districts see success with ‘Transformation Schools’ that offer a socioeconomically mixed student body," Hechinger Report).

They also have a separate initiative of "Innovation Schools," which involves repositioning schools around special programs like Montessori and the International Baccalaureate, although those programs lag the success of the transformation schools program ("Dallas Schools, Long Segregated, Charge Forward on Diversity," New York Times). 

From this presentation.

The magnet schools have special, exciting curricula and foci, but also requirements on achieving diversity demographics in terms of race and economic levels.  They have zero admissions requirements and transportation is provided so mobility isn't a barrier.

School lunch and breakfast as an opportunity for learning.  This is a perennial issue for me.  See this blog entry, which compiles the issues, in response to a wanting op-ed in the Washington Post. The biggest things for me are quality of the meal and opportunities for learning, including meal preparation.

In Montgomery County, Maryland, a parent suggests providing free meals for everyone ("Montgomery County father calls on school board to provide free meals for all students," WJLA-TV).  The Chicago Sun-Times writes about the degradation of school meal quality in Chicago ("School lunch used to ace the test").

Still some school districts call unwanted attention to kids who can't afford to pay for meals, which is why some groups advocate for free school meals for all.  In the meantime, the Trump Administration is cutting back on USDA support for school feeding programs ("Trump Admin. Cuts Program That Brought Local Food to School Cafeterias," Education Week).

Food advocacy groups in Toronto do interesting school programming ("Farm-to-School program boosts health of students and food economy," Toronto Globe and Mail, " Toronto chef Jesus Gomez makes vegetable-focused school cafeteria food kids will actually eat," Toronto Star).  

This NYT article, "If You Think the School Lunch Battle is New — Go to Philadelphia," calls our attention to a museum exhibit in Philadelphia, "Lunchtime: The History of Science on the School Food Tray," about the history of school meals.

I always mention how in Japan, school kids are responsible for cleaning schools rather than custodians, to teach them responsibility.  In some schools, even young children are involved in preparing or serving meals.

-- "School lunch (and breakfast) as an opportunity for learning," 2022

Another issue is that the private sector aims to leverage school lunch programs as a revenue opportunity, to set preferences early for the types and brands of food children will eat ("Kraft Heinz Sees a $25 Billion Opportunity--In Schools," Wall Street Journal).  From the article:

Across the U.S. this fall, school cafeterias will serve children familiar staples such as pasta and hamburgers. Some might also offer Lunchables, Kraft Heinz’s prepackaged meal kits, in a move that has raised concerns over adding processed, branded foods to school menus. 

For Kraft Heinz, making the iconic yellow meals eligible for school lunch is part of a strategy of marketing its brands to a new generation of consumers. Shoppers for years had been gravitating toward upstart brands that promoted more natural and less-processed products. That changed during the pandemic, when many returned to familiar foods and big-name products. 

... “The kids have it and then they go to retail and they see it,” Abrams-Rivera said. “[It’s] a penetration machine,” Patricio added. In a quarterly report in May, the company estimated education food service as an untapped, $25 billion potential market. 

... The move has drawn pushback from some child-nutrition advocates, school-meal officials and others who see the products as a step backward for school-meal programs, as concerns grow over children’s nutrition and processed foods’ impact on health.

School lunch has been a battleground, with some pushing for years to make offerings healthier, fresher and more locally produced. The Biden administration earlier this year proposed new rules under which schools will be required to gradually limit the amount of sugar and salt in meals served to children. This month, the administration unveiled $30 million in grants to boost school nutrition in more than 250 small and rural communities.

Assistance programs for low income families.  I've written about Back to School festivals in cities, where kids can get backpacks stuffed with items they need for school.  DC is providing a special "back to school" payment to low income families ("D.C. to provide $1,000 for school expenses to 15,000 needy families,"Washington Post).  That provides more substantive assistance.  From the article:

Bowser said the one-time payments are intended to offer another layer of support for families enrolled in the city’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which provides monthly cash assistance and other benefits to low-income households with children in the District. As she walked through possible ways families might choose to spend the $1,000 — on uniforms, haircuts, shoes or other supplemental supplies for school and extracurricular activities — Bowser emphasized that the recipients can spend the money however they see fit.

That's a good idea.  The expenses of supporting children in school can be considerable.  

I've talked with my school teacher friend about wash machines in schools serving low income students, her school did it.  And I've written about such in Montgomery County, Maryland  and Virginia ("School principal tends to students’ needs outside the classroom," Washington Post).  

It seems to becoming a common practice "Upper West Side Councilwoman Pushes for More Washing Machines in Schools for Migrant Students Not Wearing Clean Clothes," New York Sun, "‘Desperate neglect’: teachers washing clothes and finding beds as poverty grips England’s schools," Guardian).  From the Guardian:

Schools are finding beds, providing showers for pupils and washing uniforms as child poverty spirals out of control, headteachers from across England have told the Observer. 

School leaders said that as well as hunger they were now trying to mitigate exhaustion, with increasing numbers of children living in homes without enough beds or unable to sleep because they were cold. They warned that “desperate” poverty was driving problems with behaviour, persistent absence and mental health. 

... The school recently stepped in to help after discovering a pupil begging outside a supermarket and its free breakfast club was “really needed”. But lack of sleep had become another big symptom of poverty – and a barrier to learning. 

... A report published on Friday by the Child of the North campaign, led by eight leading northern universities, and the Centre for Young Lives thinktank, warned that after decades of cuts to public services, schools were now the “frontline of the battle against child poverty”, and at risk of being “overwhelmed”. It called on the government to increase funding to help schools support the more than 4 million children now living in poverty in the UK.