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Anti-racist Curriculum: The California Department of Education shared plans to combat racism and bigotry in schools this week, as reported by NBC News. The initiative, known as “Education to End Hate,” was announced days after President Trump decried the notion of teaching slavery as a founding tenet of the U.S. in schools, even going as far to threaten reduced funding for schools that implemented curriculum inspired by the 1619 Project ––a New York Times Magazine production named after the year that the first slaves arrived in Virginia, as reported by POLITICO. Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond called out the police killing of George Floyd and the subsequent protests, bullying of Asian American students because of the coronavirus and a spike in anti-immigrant rhetoric and antisemitism as reasons for the project. A $1 million foundation donation kick-started the initiative that will include resources and training grants for teachers to teach tolerance for differences in race and religion, virtual classroom sessions that will be broadcast next month on how to end discrimination, and a roundtable with political and social justice leaders on how to create safe learning environments, as reported by EdSource.
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Back to School: Thousands of pre-K students and students with disabilities in New York City have returned to in-person school this week, as reported by The New York Times. Roughly 90,000 kids, a small fraction of the district’s 1.1 million public school students, will be attending in-person classes while adhering to social distancing and precautionary guidelines, as reported by POLITICO. A mix of joy and confusion were on display on the first day of school, as many parents were relieved to be able to go back to work but still faced anxiety and uncertainty, as reported by The New York Times. Other districts are making plans to reopen soon, including Miami-Dade County in Florida –– the nation’s fourth largest school district –– that approved a plan on Tuesday to reopen to full-time in-person classes (with remote still being an option for families) next month, as reported by The New York Times. In Sacramento County, where COVID-19 numbers are steadily improving, state officials announced on Tuesday that students may possibly be able to return to in-person schooling for all grades by mid-October, as reported by The Sacramento Bee. The County will have to maintain low infection rates for another week before the plan can be officially approved on September 29th.
Related article: The Los Angeles Times: Orange County school reopenings: joy, anxiety and gallons of hand sanitizer
Held Back: The latest kindergarten enrollment numbers are abnormally low, which may be due to parents opting for another year of in-person preschool or “learning pods” with a shared homeschool teacher instead of overseeing their child’s virtual kindergarten, as reported by POLITICO. Getting a young child to learn virtually can be challenging, and many argue that the most important developmental aspects of kindergarten can’t be taught over a screen. This is especially true for working parents who don’t have time to oversee their child’s remote classes — a reality that early childhood advocates are worried will widen the “achievement gap” for kids from low-income backgrounds. In L.A. County, the newly released numbers from LAUSD show that roughly 6,000 fewer students registered for kindergarten this year — a 14% decrease from the previous year, as reported by The Imprint. LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner said the biggest decline in enrollment came from under-resourced neighborhoods, where he suspects families have a harder time giving the full-time support needed for a child’s remote kindergarten schedule.
Related article: CBS Sacramento: Preschoolers With Special Needs Get Laptops To Help With Distance Learning
Social, Emotional Learning Skills: Educators are finding new strategies for fostering social and emotional learning skills (SEL) and play for their youngest students even amid the pandemic and social distancing guidelines, as reported by Education Dive. For example, non-profit Asphalt Green has published a list of games with SEL skills, such as conflict resolution, built into them that kids can do while still social distancing. For kids who are continuing remote learning, other educators are adapting yoga and mindfulness activities to do virtually –– and one parent writes for The Washington Post about how these meditation practices for kids look a lot like play. SEL is a proven approach to teaching students how to identify and process emotions, build relationships, work in groups, resolve conflicts and foster resilience –– which is why SEL is especially pertinent and needs to be made a national priority during this time of crisis, argues First Lady of New York, Chirlane McCray and Ohio Representative Tim Ryan in an op-ed for The Hill. For parents whose children are entering preschool this year and are expressing anxiety about the new environment, Moms.com shares tips on how to tend to their emotional needs and mitigate anxiety.
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COVID-19 and Preterm Birth: New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggest that pregnant women infected with the coronavirus are at higher risk for preterm birth, pregnancy loss and still birth, reports The New York Times. Two new CDC studies, following 703 cases, showed a greater than average preterm delivery rate, with ten of the women experiencing pregnancy loss, including miscarriage and still birth, reports Today. Three of the women died. Of the cases, almost half did not show symptoms, but those that did were more likely to experience severe effects. As the virus is still relatively new however, Dr. Neel Shah, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard University, suggests the data suggests further investigation, and is not definitive. Another study, lead by researchers at UC San Francisco, suggests that babies born to mothers infected with the virus generally do well six to eight weeks after birth, reports Science Daily. This study, which followed 263 infants, did acknowledge a higher rate of neonatal intensive care unit admissions for mothers with COVID-19, but no pneumonia or lower respiratory tract infection were reported through eight weeks of age.
Related article: The Washington Post: Notes on being pregnant in a pandemic
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Private Sector Solutions: With almost half of the nation’s child care centers closed, most schools operating remotely and the federal government slow to find solutions, companies are helping fill in the gaps for working families, reports The New York Times. While child care has traditionally been considered solely a parent’s responsibility, the pandemic’s upending of schools and day cares has made child care's role in the health of the economy more visible, reports Vox. So while companies offering child care was a pre-pandemic perk for some companies, several have accelerated and enhanced their family friendly workplace policies to retain and attract talent, reports CNN. Based on what they are hearing from employees however, companies are getting creative in how they support families. For example, Bank of America is reimbursing employees $75-$100 a day for child care costs, where Microsoft and Google have extended their paid parental leave benefits. At their manufacturing facility in Kentucky, Toyota has set up an on-site program for children in kindergarten through fifth grade to help with their virtual classes. Still others, mostly companies with hourly employees have done nothing to support families. According to a recent survey by CNBC Make It, over 80% of hourly employees expect to lose some income due to a lack of child care or in-person school attendance.
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Politics and Current Events
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Paid Leave for Small Business Workers: Last Friday California’s Governor Gavin Newsom signed Senate Bill 1383, which will ensure that nearly 6 million small business workers will have access to job-protected Paid Family Leave, reports POLITICO. Introduced by state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), the new law is considered one of the the broadest in the nation, where employees of small businesses can take up to three months off from work to care for a family member, reports CBS Sacramento. “The COVID-19 pandemic has only further revealed the need for a family leave policy that truly serves families and workers, especially those who keep our economy running. This bill will ensure almost all Californians can access the time off they need to keep themselves and their communities healthy,” said Gov. Newsom in a statement. The bill passed thanks in part to Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, a Democrat from Oakland, who took a break from maternity leave to vote for the bill from the Assembly floor with her infant in her arms, reports The Washington Post. She had requested to vote by proxy, but was denied, so brought her infant daughter with her, making a powerful visual in favor of the bill. “No parent should have to choose between the healthy development of their new child and their family’s financial security,” said Camille Maben, Executive Director of First 5 California, in a press release about the bill’s passing.
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ICYMI: In Case You Missed It, More Great Reads
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