U.S. Department of Education Finds Fairfax Schools Didn’t Provide Necessary Services to Students with Disabilities During Remote Learning

The U.S. Department of Education found that Fairfax County Public Schools didn’t take needed steps to ensure that students with disabilities received a legally-guaranteed free appropriate public education (FAPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Based on the evidence obtained through the Division’s documents and data, as well as interviews of administrators, OCR [Office for Civil Rights] found that the Division failed or was unable to provide a FAPE to thousands of qualified students with disabilities in violation of Section 504,” OCR District of Columbia Regional Director Emily Frangos wrote in a Wednesday letter to FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid.

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Learning Loss Greater in School Districts That Stayed Remote Longer, Study Shows

School districts that resorted to remote learning during the pandemic took a large learning loss hit, according to Thursday study by a Brown University economist.

K-12 school districts who stayed with remote learning the longest during the pandemic saw a 13% sharper drop in learning losses than schools that returned to in-person learning sooner, according to study by a Brown University economist Emily Oster. The study notes that while there were other factors that resulted in learning losses, remote learning was a “significant contributing factor.”

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New York Gov. Hochul Calls Remote Learning During Pandemic ‘A Mistake’

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday called it “a mistake” the state switched to remote learning in schools at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago.

Hochul, a Democrat running to serve a full term in November, made her remarks during a wide-ranging speech at the University of Albany commemorating Women’s Equality Day. That included her calling on the Department of Labor to study the impact the coronavirus had on women in the workforce.

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Columbus City Schools Plan Remote Learning If Teachers Strike

Ohio’s largest school district continues to move forward with plans to open the school year for students Aug. 24, despite the system’s teachers union getting closer to a strike.

Jennifer Adair, president of the Columbus City Schools Board of Education, said in a statement the board was troubled to learn the Columbus Education Association filed a notice of intent to strike a day after a 20th negotiating session.

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CDC Study: Remote Learning Hurt Kids’ Mental Health

When schools pivoted to remote learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the first casualty was kids’ mental health.

A new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) analyzed teenagers’ mental health from January 2021 to June 2021. Compared with 2019, the study found that the proportion of mental health–related emergency department visits in 2020 increased by about 31% among kids aged 12–17 years.

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Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers Awards $15 Million to Schools for Mental Health Initiative

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Wednesday awarded $15 million to schools throughout the state for a new mental health initiative.

The “Get Kids Ahead Initiative” will utilize the money to “provide direct mental healthcare, hire and support mental health navigators, provide mental health first aid and trauma-based care training, or provide family assistance programs.”

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Public School Pandemic Decline Leads to Rise in Parent-Formed Microschools

School closures and district struggles to provide adequate remote learning platforms for students have led parents, and some teachers, to think outside the box to create their own private “microschools” that provide individualized learning and flexibility.

In late summer of 2020, as many school districts wrestled with reopening amid government-imposed mandates and teacher union demands, Jason Bedrick, director of policy at EdChoice, and his colleague, fellow Matthew Ladner, prepared a report at Heritage.org that explained the concept of microschools.

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Flint Schools Gave $22,500 COVID Bonuses Before Shifting Indefinitely to Remote Learning

Flint Public School staff members got a $22,500 COVID bonus with federal money intended “to safely reopen” schools before the school in January shifted indefinitely to online learning, citing COVID.

The move forced more than 3,500 students – a majority of them Black kids – back into virtual learning, despite bleak past results and at least $99 million of federal money the U.S. Department of Education expressly designated “to reopen K-12 schools safely.”

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New Tennessee Bill Would Benefit Students Forced to Learn Remotely Due to COVID-19

Members of the Tennessee Senate Education Committee are scheduled to consider a bill this week that would, if enacted into law, expand Educational Savings Accounts, also known as ESAs. Senator Mike Bell (R-Riceville) said Monday that at least one school district in Tennessee, in Collierville, moved students to remote learning this month, as Chalkbeat Tennessee reported.

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Universities That Received Billions in COVID Relief Are Still Imposing Delays, Remote Instruction

In 2020, the federal government gave American colleges and universities approximately $14 billion in relief through the CARES Act. As part of the $2.2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package, the CARES Act allocation mandated that approximately half its funds be used for emergency student aid.

Now, nearly two years after President Donald Trump signed the CARES Act in March 2020, numerous institutions that received aid are delaying in-person learning due to the Omicron variant.

By Jan. 7, seven out of 10 University of California campuses announced “revisions to their winter quarter or winter semester plans.” Winter sessions precede the spring semester, which traditionally starts in mid-to-late January.

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Columbus Teachers Union Lobbying for Two Weeks of Remote Learning

A Columbus Teachers Union wants two more weeks of remote learning as Ohio and the rest of the country deal with the latest COVID-19 outbreak.

“We know we keep asking the district what are the metrics and how is it determined whether schools are closed. And they can’t tell us what they use or how they close schools. There’s no metrics or data that they will share with us in how they determine whether or not a school closes,” Columbus Education Association (CEA) president John Coneglio reportedly said.

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As More Schools Start 2022 with Remote Learning, Advocates Say 2021 Was ‘Historic Year’ for School Choice

As school districts across the U.S. start 2022 in remote-learning settings or are considering doing so because of a rise in COVID-19 cases, parents now have more options as 22 states expanded or created school choice initiatives in 2021.

That’s a silver lining, advocates say, as parents grow more frustrated by ever-changing mandates, failed virtual learning outcomes and conflicting views with school boards over a range of issues.

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Wisconsin Gubernatorial Candidate Rebecca Kleefisch Releases New Campaign Ad, Knocks Evers for School Closures

Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Rebecca Kleefisch on Wednesday released her first campaign ad in 2022, pledging to allow in-person learning in the state.

The video, entitled “Open Schools,” knocked incumbent Governor Toney Evers for allowing districts across the state to remain closed and force students to learn virtually.

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Multiple Wisconsin School Systems Reinstate Remote Learning for Students

Multiple Wisconsin school districts on Monday announced a return to remote learning for students, citing a spike in positive coronavirus cases.

School systems in two of the state’s largest cities, Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) and Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), detailed that students will be forced to learn from computer screens when the new semester begins.

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Clinton Says Critical Race Theory Was a ‘Stalking Horse’ for Anger About Remote Schooling

Hillary Clinton

Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said critical race theory was a “stalking horse” used by Republicans in the Virginia gubernatorial race to capitalize on anger parents harbored toward remote schooling during the pandemic.

“One of the things that I think happened in Virginia, after having schools closed for so long, people were really focused on schools and education,” Clinton said in an interview on “Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist.

“I don’t think that the Democrats and Terry [McAuliffe] understood how disoriented parents, particularly moms, were about the experience that they had gone through,” she said.

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Ohio Lieutenant Governor Contender Joe Knopp Blames DeWine Administration for Educational Setbacks

Candidate for Ohio Lieutenant Governor and conservative filmmaker Joe Knopp on Monday blamed Governor Mike DeWine for educational setbacks among students throughout the state.

During the coronavirus pandemic, many schools were forced to move to “remote learning” for large time periods. Because of this, students have been faced with unique mental and physical health issues.

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Remote Learning Lowered Test Scores in Every State Surveyed, Disproportionately Affected Minorities

Remote learning led to declines in test scores in English and math when compared to the scores of schools that had more in-person learning, according to a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

Leadership throughout the COVID-19 pandemic forced many schools to close in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus, but many schools remained closed throughout the 2020-2021 school year. According to new research from the NBER, remote learning had a negative impact on students’ test scores in English language arts (ELA) and math in all 12 states studied. Declines in scores were smaller for students who continued in-person learning.

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Florida Judge Clears Pathway for Possible Lawsuit Against University of Florida

Florida Judge Monica Brasington refused to dismiss a potential class-action lawsuit against the University of Florida which says the school should refund the fees to students who were forced to study from home during the COVID-induced school year.

If it is considered a class action lawsuit, then Anthony Rojas’ lawsuit against the university, would likely affect tens of thousands of students who were forced to study and learn from home when the university shut campus down during the pandemic.

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Arizona Charter Schools Add Thousands of New Students Amid COVID-19 Closures

Arizona’s charter schools experienced a rush of new applications amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools released a compilation of state-by-state data on charter school enrollment compared with enrollment in the 2019-2020 school year. It found nearly 240,000 new students enrolled in charter schools nationally, a 7% increase from the prior year.

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Virginia Chapter of American Academy of Pediatrics Releases Stunning Effects of COVID Lockdown on Children

The Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has released the results of a survey about the effects of COVID-19 lockdowns on children in the state, which it calls “alarming.”

“In the nine months since the issuance of the COVID-19 emergency declaration, our patients have experienced a major disruption in their lives, including disruptions to academic structure, participation in activities, peer interactions, lifestyle, and overall physical and emotional health,” the group explained. “To better identify and address the concerns of our patients and providers in Virginia, the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics conducted a survey in December 2020 of 203 pediatric providers in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

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Delegate McNamara Sponsors Bill Allowing Schools to Replace Snow Days with Remote Learning Days

Delegate Joseph McNamara’s (R-Roanoke) HB 1790 will allow public schools to declare unscheduled remote learning days instead of snow days — but he’s not trying to eradicate snow days.

“I want kids to have snow days, and I want them to go out and build snowmen, and throw snow balls and have grilled cheese sandwiches,” he said. “I’ll use Roanoke County as an example. Several years back, they missed about 13 days of school in about a month and a half period. And when you have situations where you have ice in the mountains areas and kids can’t get back in to school for days sometimes, it’s not really a snow day. It’s a nasty, ugly day, and so this would give schools another opportunity.”

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Remote Learning Is Leaving Working Parents with Few Options, Big Bills

Many public school districts across the country have shifted from offering some in-person learning options for students to offering only remote learning at the start of the school year.

The change in plans sent many working parents rushing to find either a place for their kids to go while they work or to find a caregiver they could pay to supervise remote learning at home. Either option could end up costing parents thousands of dollars. 

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