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Burlington School District to apply for 2-week extension for online learning

Michaele Niehaus

| The Hawk Eye

Burlington students will not be returning to their school buildings Monday, when the district’s approval to teach 100% online was set to expire, and they may continue to learn from home until the start of the new year.

The Burlington School Board on Friday voted 4-2 to apply for a two-week extension for online-only learning. While the state likely will not review the application until next week, schools are allowed a two-day grace period wherein schools can remain online until a decision is made.

“This is gut-wrenching,” board member Darven Kendell said after voting in favor of the motion. “This entire process is very stressful and very taxing, and I know we are all trying to make the best possible choices for our students and staff and community.”

With extended school hours and Friday’s reserved for professional development, there are 10 school days left

Travel

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December 5, 2020

At least 285 kids and school staff caught COVID-19 at school, new state stats show

Find all of the most important pandemic education news on Educating N.J., a special resource guide created for parents, students and educators.

The number of students, teachers and school staff who have contracted or transmitted the coronavirus at school rose to 285 this week after four new school outbreaks were reported, state health officials said Wednesday.

The new school outbreaks — defined as cases in which two or more people caught the virus in class or during other academic activities — were in Cape May, Bergen and Salem counties.

That brings the totals to 70 school outbreaks involving 285 people since the schools began reopening for the new school year in late August, according to the state’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Though the numbers keep rising every week, Gov. Phil Murphy said the school outbreak statistics remain below what state officials were expecting when schools reopened for in-person classes.

“I think

Recreation

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December 3, 2020

Florida’s second semester school plans remain uncertain

Students and educators across Florida return to classes today, after a week (in most cases) away from what has proven a trying and complicated school year during the time of coronavirus. The break might not have been as restful as they might have hoped, after the state Department of Education failed to provide guidelines for second semester planning by Thanksgiving, as promised. The new self-set deadline for details arrives today, the final day of November. If it comes, families and school officials will have just less than three weeks to begin preparing, before their winter vacation arrives. Read on for the latest in Florida education news.

Education commissioner Richard Corcoran did announce some second-semester highlights before the holiday. Corcoran said students will be allowed to attend classes online through the end of the year, and that “full parental choice” will remain. But how the state will define “online,” and how

Vacation

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November 30, 2020

School districts saw unprecedented drop in enrollment during pandemic

Going back to school this year has been a lesson in patience. Since the surge of COVID cases this fall, many cities, including New York, Detroit and Philadelphia, have suspended or postponed their plans to hold in-person classes.

The delays and ever changing schedules have been frustrating to parents and students but also worrisome to educators who told us at the start of the school year, hundreds of thousands of students did not enroll. They’re not logging in or coming in. We wondered, where did they go?

To find out, we went to Tampa, Florida where one of the state’s largest school districts, Hillsborough County, saw an unprecedented drop in enrollment.

Sharyn Alfonsi: What do you hear from teachers? Are they saying to you, “We’re missing kids. He should have been in my class. Where is he? He’s not showing up”? Do you hear that?

Laura Tucker: Well

Hotel

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November 23, 2020

Nevada school district may cut jobs amid online learning

LAS VEGAS (AP) — About 1,500 employees in the largest school district in Nevada could lose their jobs if students do not return to in-person instruction this school year, according to a staffing report.

The Clark County School District Board of Trustees requested the report to determine the potential effects of remaining in a distance learning model throughout the 2020-2021 academic year. No decision on that has been made.

Chief Financial Officer Jason Goudie said the cuts would apply to about 1,480 positions “directly connected to the physical presence of students in the school buildings,” including 700 custodians, 650 bus drivers, 100 transportation support employees and 30 school police officers.

The district could save about $13.5 million in the reduction of custodial staff, about $12.5 million in the transportation staff cuts and about $1.5 million in law enforcement and safety cuts.

The district said in a statement after the meeting

Hotel

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November 21, 2020

A season on the road: Triad football players go to great lengths | HSXtra | Greensboro High School Sports

How far would a high school football player go to make sure he had a senior season and that he had an opportunity to be recruited amidst the COVID-19 pandemic?

In the case of East Forsyth’s Jacob Fletcher and L.J. Whisnant and Glenn’s Devin Flowers, all the way to the Charlotte suburbs 100 miles away.

While

Hotel

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November 20, 2020

Prestigious La Jolla Country Day School tells student to remove ‘offensive’ MAGA hat –

LA JOLLA (KUSI) – KUSI News has obtained an email sent to all staff from La Jolla County Day’s Head of School, Gary Krahn.

The controversy that emerged from Krahn’s email to LJCD staff is in regards to one of their students showing up to school wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat.

Krahn’s email reads, “We also had a student wear a MAGA Hat today. I have talked with that student who now understands why that hat is offensive to our community. He will not wear it again. In addition his mom said that she is embarrassed by his actions. She will fulfill her role as a parent. We will continue to grow as a community that sees and values the dignity of all people.”

According to the school’s 2020-2021 Parent/Student Handbook, there is no rule against political attire in the school’s dress code. The dress code for the … Read More

Vacation

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November 19, 2020

Georgia school board discusses downplaying impact of high school standardized tests

One Kemp appointee then joined the majority in a second 9-3 vote that preliminarily reduced the weight to 10%. Currently, the four high school Milestones End of Course Tests — in English, math, science and social studies — count for a fifth of each course grade. Because the scores affect grades, they can influence college admissions and scholarships.

It is unclear whether the discussion changed any minds.

“What gets measured gets done. It gets taken seriously and people apply themselves if they’re being held to a standard, to a measure,” said board member Scott Johnson, who had voted against Woods’ proposal.

Martha Zoller, the board member who had sided with Woods before backing the 10% motion because it was at least lower than the current weight, said she believed students and educators would take the test seriously even if it didn’t affect their grades or the school accountability scores. “I

Vacation

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November 18, 2020

This Vintage School Bus Brings the Joy of Houseplants to People During the Pandemic

Courtesy of Jessica Watts

If you live in Birmingham, Alabama, you may have spotted a vintage white school bus parked outside of the city’s most popular breweries and shops. But this bus isn’t transporting people to places—instead, it’s transporting plants to people.

Jessica Watts of House Plant Collective grew up tending to her mother’s outdoor garden, but as she grew older she learned to love houseplants more than shrubs or flowers. Watts is currently a proud parent of over one hundred different plants in her home, although she shows a bit of favoritism toward her 8-foot tall fiddle-leaf fig and her bird of paradise, both of which have stunningly elaborate leaves.

The idea for a mobile plant shop came to her while she was hosting community plant swaps, where people met at a certain time and place to trade houseplants. “I’ve always had a personal passion for plants…and I enjoyed

Adventure

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November 7, 2020

Auburn school district reverses course; won’t kick out 2 students remote learning from another state

Auburn, NY – The Auburn city school district has decided two students who are taking classes remotely while out of state with their father can continue to do so.

Auburn School Superintendent Jeffrey Pirozzolo sent parent Jeffrey Emmette an email today saying his two sons can continue with remote instruction while with their father on extended vacation in Missouri.

The district had sent Emmette an email Oct. 15 saying the district intended to kick his two sons out of the school as of Oct. 23 because they appeared to be living elsewhere and not returning to Central New York.

A Syracuse.com | The Post Standard article highlighting Emmette’s case gained national attention, and was featured on several television shows.

Emmette has said he feels safe from Covid-19 in the rural area he is visiting in Missouri, and the weather is warmer.

In the email today, Pirozzolo says Emmette has provided

Vacation

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October 28, 2020