PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Public Schools (PPS) is altering its suspension policy, after agreeing to a new contract with its teachers on Sunday.

The district and teachers agreed to give more support to kids and cut back on suspensions. Portland Public also plans to divert more resources, like psychologists, therapists and school counselors to intervene before students’ problems escalate into fights.

“It was very difficult to get that rapid response on time,” said Francisca Alvarez, a bilingual instructional coach at Scott Elementary School.

Alvarez said after the past few years, she has noticed a change in students.

“Educators are seeing more students in crisis,” Alvarez said.

Since the pandemic, there’s been more mental health issues in Portland Public Schools, and sometimes, that’s led to fights in school, Alvarez said.

Previously, PPS could suspend middle and high school for at least five days for extreme cases of physical harm or threats of violence. Now, a new contract agreement with teachers changes that.

“Through this bargain, we have added or expanded a team of professionals,” said PPS Chief of Student Services Jey Buno.

Instead of minimum five-day suspensions, staff psychologists, counselors and social workers will take a more hands on role. Other staff will also help provide additional student support.

“Now when students are in crisis, we have a rapid response team that we made sure to increase,” Alvarez said.

Rapid response teams increased from four to 12. They will intervene earlier when teachers and principals realize a student may need help.

“We have to move to the prevention and not the reaction,” Alvarez said.

PPS said there will be instances where discipline and suspending students may be required.

“We’ll take the unique circumstances of the situation and the student into consideration,” Buno said.

Some students are also unsure how effective the policy will be.

“I guess my question would be ‘How do they know what to intervene with?'” asked Lincoln High School senior Casey Marotta.

Source : KGW8

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Alberta’s government is having an “active conversation” about whether school employees should require parents’ permission before changing the names or pronouns they use to address students, the education minister says.

Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said parent concerns and inconsistent policies across the province have sparked the discussion about whether to introduce optional guidance or binding rules.

“There’s concerns as well, I know, from school boards and school divisions,” Nicolaides said at the legislature on Tuesday. “We had, of course, that million march for kids. So there’s concerns just generally about the topic, so I think it’s something that’s important for government to examine.”

The internal discussions come weeks after members attending the United Conservative Party annual general meeting in Calgary voted in favour of a non-binding motion pushing the government to require school staff to seek a parent’s permission when a student wishes to be addressed by a different name or pronoun.

A policy change earlier this year in New Brunswick requiring such parent permission for name changes prompted public protests and dissent within the ruling Progressive Conservative party.

Saskatchewan’s premier is using the notwithstanding clause to guard similar legislation the Saskatchewan Party government tabled earlier this year.

The province’s Parents’ Bill of Rights prompted a court challenge from the University of Regina Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity.

The notwithstanding clause allows a government to override certain sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that deal with fundamental freedoms, legal rights and equality rights, for five-year terms. Once invoked, the notwithstanding clause prevents any judicial review of the legislation in question. After five years, the clause ceases to have any effect unless it is re-enacted.

Alberta policy variance

In Alberta, school boards, charters and independent schools set policies about how to handle requests from gender-diverse students.

CBC News reviewed some of those policies earlier this year and found variation across the province. Calgary Catholic Schools requires parental permission to change a student’s name, but is silent on pronouns.

Some other divisions explicitly say students decide how they are addressed. Other boards’ policies and procedures are silent on the matter.

“There’s a lot of variance,” Nicolaides said. “So, does the government need to provide some more guidelines?”

Nicolaides said he is also examining changes to schools’ requirements to inform parents and guardians about sex education or religion lessons.

Alberta’s Education Act requires schools to tell parents when instruction will deal with religion or human sexuality.

On Tuesday, Nicolaides said there is inconsistency in how parents are notified. He said parents may not know they have the ability to opt their children out of those lessons if they wish.

He said the government hasn’t decided whether it will issue guidelines or amend the Education Act to change the requirements.

‘A solution looking for a problem that doesn’t exist’

Kristopher Wells, an associate professor at MacEwan University and Canada Research Chair for the public understanding of sexual and gender minority youth, said it could be daunting for the Alberta government to bring a name and pronoun policy into law because Saskatchewan’s experience shows the province would likely have to use the notwithstanding clause.

He said if parents are concerned about what’s happening in their child’s school, their best recourse is to get involved with school councils.

“We’ve certainly heard from 2SLGBTQ students who feel under threat. Feel that their government doesn’t support them, and feel anxious and unsafe in their schools, wondering if their identities and confidentiality is going to be respected,” Wells said.

“This is a solution looking for a problem that doesn’t exist.”

NDP education critic Rakhi Pancholi said she’s disturbed, but not surprised, that the government is looking at a provincial policy on gender-diverse students’ names and pronouns.

“Children’s right to feel safe and welcome at school should not be up for discussion,” Pancholi said in a Monday interview.

She said the government is pandering to a far-right base of the party that showed up in droves at the UCP’s AGM to vote on policies and elect board members.

Pancholi said it’s a move by the premier to hang on to power after the grassroots group Take Back Alberta and its leader, David Parker, claimed to successfully push former Premier Jason Kenney out as UCP leader.

“We knew it was going to be a matter of time before Danielle Smith had to make good on her promises to them and bring forward something, at some point, that is actually going to make it less safe for kids to be in school.”

Source : CBC

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Members of Alberta’s ruling United Conservative Party approved a resolution calling for a requirement that teachers, schools and school boards get written consent from parents before using chosen names and pronouns of students Saturday.

It was one of 30 policy proposals put to a vote at the UCP’s annual general meeting in Calgary. Almost 3,800 people gathered at the BMO Centre – the largest provincial party meeting in Alberta’s 118-year history, UCP leader and Premier Danielle Smith said.

Approval from members is non-binding on the government, and doesn’t guarantee the ideas will translate into legislation.

During her keynote speech, Smith made a nod to the long-time conservative push for more “parental rights.”

“Parents are the primary caregivers and educators,” she said to a loud applause and a standing ovation.

“Regardless of how often the extreme left undermines the role of parents, I want you to know that parental rights and choice in your child’s education is and will continue to be a fundamental core principle of this party and this government, and we will never apologize for it,” said Smith.

However, speaking to reporters, Smith was non-committal about bringing forward legislation like that seen in Saskatchewan and New Brunswick that will require teachers and schools get parental consent before allowing students under the age of 16 to change their names or pronouns.

Critics say such requirements limit the rights of trans and non-binary kids and could put them at risk.

When asked about her thoughts on the UCP resolution Smith said she would take the issue back to caucus, and consult with stakeholders before making any decisions or legislative changes.

“The way our policy process works, is the members tell us what they would like us to do, but we obviously have to put it all through the lens of what is best for Albertans as a whole,” said Smith, adding that she is still hopeful the issue can be de-politicized.

“I don’t think it matters if you’re a straight couple or a gay couple, or whether you’re a trans individual. You want to know what’s going on with your kids, that’s what I hear,” said Smith, adding she believes the government needs to ensure kids feel protected and supported.

During debate on the resolution, put forward by the Edmonton West-Henday UCP constituency association, Blaine Badiuk argued that the policy might intend to enhance parental involvement, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of vulnerable kids. “This policy divides kids and their parents,” Badiuk said.

Michelle Bataluk, from Edmonton West-Henday, said parents are being pushed aside by leftist indoctrination that caters to a loud minority.

“Children and teens should be educated in school, not brainwashed by woke activists who do not have their best interest in mind,” she said to massive applause.

The resolution was approved by an overwhelming majority.

The large turnout for the annual general meeting is widely assumed to have been driven by the work of Take Back Alberta, a third-party advertiser that’s been working to rally social conservatives, including those who were disenchanted with former premier Jason Kenney and helped bring Smith to the helm of the party last year.

About one-fifth of the resolutions stemmed from some kind of grievance from the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, including one calling for the protection of medical practitioners’ right to research, speak and write, and protect them from having their licences threatened for expressing their medical opinions publicly. During that yes vote, one audience member yelled “freedom!”

Take Back Alberta leader David Parker spoke in support of a successful resolution calling on the government of Alberta to protect “an individual’s right to informed consent decisions regarding their own body.”

“This is why many of us are here. So let’s vote for it,” he told the crowd.

Other policy proposals approved by members included calls for an end to funding for supervised consumption sites, more pushback against Ottawa’s draft clean electricity regulations, and banning transgender women from being placed in women’s correctional facilities.

Resolutions calling for the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion offices in post-secondary institutions, the banning of using race as a factor in admissions were approved. One resolution lashing out at the municipal planning of accessible, 15-minute cities and another against the use of electronic voting machines also carried.

Only one, calling for the implementation of a school voucher system “to ensure that education funding follows each student and enhances the vision of school choice,” was narrowly defeated.

With two board members acclaimed, nine of 18 executive positions were filled Saturday.

Rob Smith, an Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills constituency association president who opposed Kenney and supported Smith for leader, won enough votes in a third ballot to become president after Cynthia Moore decided not to run for re-election.

Source : Edmonton Journal

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Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown (D) is helping to lead a coalition of attorneys general in an amicus brief to support the Montgomery County school board’s policy for students to participate in classroom discussions when books mention LGBTQ+ characters.

The brief, filed Tuesday, requests that the U.S. Fourth District Court of Appeals uphold a District Court judge’s decision made this summer denying Montgomery County families a preliminary injunction to immediately opt their children out of lessons and to require the school system to give them advance notice of when such a book was to be discussed.

“Our schools play a fundamental role in shaping the minds and hearts of the next generation, and it’s our duty to ensure that every child feels safe, supported, and valued,” Brown said in a statement. “Educational policies that promote respect for LGBTQ+ people will help build a more equitable future for all children.”

The attorneys general argue the county’s policy doesn’t violate Maryland law, doesn’t strip a parent’s religious freedom for their children and provides parents due process rights under the 14th Amendment.

In addition, courts have ruled public schools are obligated to educate all children.

“Public schools are not obliged to shield individual students from ideas which potentially are religiously offensive, particularly when the school imposes no requirement that the student agree with or affirm those ideas, or even participate in discussions about them,” according to the brief. “Whatever religious beliefs students or their families may hold, it cannot be constitutionally problematic to familiarize students with LGBTQ+ people, who exist and are an integral part of communities in every part of the country.”

Joining Brown to co-lead the argument is Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell (D).

The other attorneys general on the brief are from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, the state of Washington and Washington, D.C.

Another amicus brief filed this week in support of Montgomery County comes from several LGBTQ+ advocacy groups such as the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Human Rights Campaign Foundation and GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network).

That brief notes a March report from the U.S. Department of Education that stated “school climates that foster a sense of belonging and community not only provide a more supportive learning environment in which children learn to respect those who differ from them, but also report better test scores, graduation rates, student engagement, mental and physical health, and brain development.”

Meanwhile, the Montgomery County plaintiffs filed a reply Wednesday to urge the appeals court to revert to the policy that was set in the 2022-23 school year. The plaintiffs argue that opting out is allowed in every other jurisdiction.

The reply submitted by Eric Baxter, vice president and senior counsel with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, contends that the school board allowing books with LGTBQ characters interferes with a parent’s religious beliefs and “violates their most sacred duty.”

“The Parents seek only to restore the opt-out rights already required by Maryland law and Board policy – rights still permitted for all instruction except the Pride Storybooks,” according to the plaintiffs. “The Parents’ pre-existing notice and opt-out rights should be restored.”

Source : Maryland Matters

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School systems in several localities nationwide are considering or have recently implemented grading policies that aim to clarify expectations, remove biases and create grading consistency across schools.

For the past two-and-a-half years, Boston Public Schools has been developing a proposed policy that would provide students with high-quality and meaningful feedback about their academic performance. Specifically, the district’s plan puts emphasis on summative assignments that demonstrate students’ mastery of a lesson. It would put less emphasis on behaviors unrelated to academics, according to a proposal presentation from February. 

The proposal also seeks to use grading scales that are mathematically accurate, such as 0-4 or 50-100% in order to avoid disproportionately penalizing students for low performance. The thinking behind recalibrating grading scales is that when students receive a zero on an assignment — depending on how that assignment is weighted among other tasks — it can be difficult for them to recover and earn a passing mark.

In an update to its grading policy for this school year, Virginia’s Fairfax County Public Schools said teachers may now issue zeros for assignments that have not been submitted. For students who make an effort to finish the work, the minimum mark will be 50%. Students also have two weeks past the due date to submit major assignments, which balances accountability with flexibility, the district said in an Aug. 23 statement. 

Meanwhile, Nevada’s Clark County School District overhauled its grading system in the 2021-22 school year by implementing a grading scale that uses a 50% as the minimum grade in an effort to be more equitable. In July, however, the district announced that it was modifying the grading scale for secondary students based on teacher feedback. The grading scale will now be applied for quarterly grades and not at the individual assignment level. 

Nationally, research has found that average GPAs have increased over the past few decades. A 2022 report by ACT, the nonprofit that administers the college admissions exam, found that high school GPAs increased 0.19 grade points on average, from 3.17 in 2010 to 3.36 in 2021.

The same year, the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that high school graduates earned an average 3.11 GPA in 2019, up from 3.00 in 2009 and 2.68 in 1990. 

Some educators, researchers and politicians are raising concerns about grade inflation. Arizona State Superintendent Tom Horne, in a May statement, urged districts to abolish equitable grading practices.

“In education today, we have a war between excellence and mediocrity. So-called ‘equitable’, ‘compassionate’, or ‘standards-based’ grading promotes mediocrity,” Horne said. “If we are to increase learning and show it in increased test scores, students must do homework and be graded objectively.”

Source : K-12 Dive

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WASHINGTON — Implementing a portfolio of programs and policies to reduce intergenerational poverty would yield a high payoff for children and the entire nation, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

The report examines the key drivers of intergenerational poverty in the U.S. and concludes that evidence-based policies — such as increasing K-12 spending for underfunded districts, expanding occupational training programs, increasing access to the Medicaid program, and expanding the earned income tax credit — appear likely to lessen the chances that children living in poverty will experience poverty as adults.  

Intergenerational poverty occurs when children who grow up in families with incomes below the poverty line are themselves poor as adults. Among U.S. children born around 1980 who grew up in households with incomes near or below the poverty line, 34 percent were still living in low-income households when they were in their 30s. Rates of intergenerational poverty are much higher for Black (37%) and Native American (46%) children than other children. Contemporary and historical disparities, discrimination, and structural racism create further challenges for Black and Native American families in establishing economic security for their children.  

“The costs of persistent intergenerational poverty fall not just on individuals and families with low incomes but on society as a whole,” said Greg Duncan, distinguished professor in the School of Education at the University of California, Irvine, and chair of the committee that wrote the report. “Intergenerational poverty reduces overall economic output and places increased burdens on the educational, criminal justice, and health care systems. Our report sifts through decades of evidence to point to our ‘best bets’ for overcoming these challenges.”  

Child and Maternal Health and Welfare

Children in families with low incomes have worse health than other children, a disparity that begins before birth and increases as children grow older. There is a strong association between growing up in a single-parent family and experiencing childhood poverty. Income and poverty are also highly correlated with child maltreatment and involvement in the child welfare system. The report suggests that increasing funding for Title X family planning programs and ensuring that Medicaid beneficiaries have access to family planning services are promising policy changes for reducing intergenerational poverty. The report also concludes that expanding access to Medicaid with continuous 12-month eligibility and 12-month post-partum coverage and expanding access to Indian Health Services for all eligible mothers and children are likely to reduce intergenerational poverty.  

Education

Children from low-income families start school with lower levels of academic and social skills than other children, on average, and these gaps do not close as they progress through school. Large gaps in school achievement and completed schooling also persist across racial and ethnic subgroups. The report concludes that there is strong support for reducing intergenerational poverty through increasing K-12 spending in the poorest school districts, increasing the diversity of the teaching workforce, boosting campus supports like tutoring and case management, and expanding high-quality career and technical education programs in high schools and after. Intergenerational poverty could also be reduced through effective financial aid programs for college students with low incomes and expanding industry-specific training programs for youth and young adults.  

Neighborhood Safety and Criminal Justice

Individuals with low incomes are most likely to report being victims of crime in their neighborhoods and schools, and incarceration rates disproportionately affect children in families with low incomes. In addition, the report says, juvenile detention lowers the rate of high school completion and increases the likelihood of experiencing incarceration as an adult. Rigorous research shows that neighborhood violent crime can be reduced through community investments and engagement, certain kinds of policing, and gun safety regulations.

Family Income, Employment, and Wealth

Low wages, earnings, and income perpetuate the cycle of economic disadvantage. Evidence suggests that income transfer programs during childhood and adolescence have the potential to improve children’s educational and labor market attainment, as well as physical health, in adulthood. Studies examining policy changes over the past 30 years of positive intergenerational impacts provide the strongest evidence for expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Housing

Intergenerational poverty is linked with high lead levels, homelessness, overcrowding, frequent moves, and high housing costs in childhood. The report concludes that expanding coverage of the Housing Choice Voucher program, coupled with customized counseling and case management services, would support a reduction in intergenerational poverty.

Recommendation for Further Research

The report identifies a number of programs and policies that appeared to be effective in reducing intergenerational poverty, but high-quality evidence on the intergenerational impacts of many other promising programs is lacking. Improving existing census, survey, and administrative data — linked for families over time and across subject domains — would be invaluable for promoting needed policy research on intergenerational mobility. Specifically, the report recommends that the White House Office of Management and Budget facilitate research on economic opportunity, intergenerational poverty, and related topics and that the federal government make available existing census, survey, and administrative data to researchers, in ways that respect and protect the confidentiality of respondents’ data. 

The study — undertaken by the Committee on Policies and Programs to Reduce Intergenerational Poverty — was sponsored by the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Bainum Family Foundation, Doris Duke Foundation, Foundation for Child Development, National Academy of Sciences W.K. Kellogg Fund, Russell Sage Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.  

Source : National Academies

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Nadiem Makarim has led the Indonesian Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology since 2019. Nadiem, a young startup entrepreneur, is one of the architects of the influential app Gojek.

Appointing a non-academic minister to oversee education was an unconventional choice — historically, all education ministers have hailed from academia. This decision elicited speculation but also optimism regarding potential transformative shifts in the education sector’s trajectory.

In his final year in office, Nadiem focused on his leading initiative — introducing a new curriculum and concept of Merdeka Belajar (Freedom to Learn), officially launched on 11 February 2022. This curriculum reform is underpinned by the aim of tackling chronic problems of learning loss among Indonesian students, which can be primarily attributed to subpar educational quality.

Curriculum revision extends beyond Nadiem’s administration — this pattern of change has been apparent in appointed ministers’ policies over the past 15 years. But Nadiem’s recent curriculum overhaul distinguishes itself by instilling optimism about integrating components that resonate with policy coherence and a systems thinking framework.

Policy coherence fosters policy integration and holistic alignment towards shared objectives. Systems thinking requires an understanding of the interactions and feedback loops among diverse system elements, acknowledging that modifications in one part of the system will have reverberating impacts. In practice, the systems thinking framework involves critical concepts like transparency, collective action and stakeholder engagement. This framework is imperative in addressing Indonesia’s chronic educational problems, which primarily stem from impractical past policies and grow in complexity as they intertwine with emerging external challenges.

Nadiem’s curriculum demonstrates transparency in its formulation, implementation and potential outcomes by providing readily available information to the public through dedicated online platforms. The curriculum also exhibits more explicit goals for enhancing quality education by emphasising fundamental skills of literacy, numeracy and logical thinking, narrowing the curriculum’s scope. This is coupled with complementary policies, including a new instrument of national assessment and adjustments to the university entrance exam, offering cohesion between Nadiem’s policies.

But the curriculum and its supporting policies also have several shortcomings. Notably, the mechanism for ensuring public accountability raises significant concerns, particularly regarding stakeholder engagement, public discourse and adaptive responsiveness.

For instance, the discourse surrounding the new curriculum appears to overlook the significant role of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) institutions, in education. Indonesia hosts more than 314 ITE institutions, with considerable quality and program disparities. But current policies lack a strategy to address and narrow this gap.

The policies also do not clarify how these institutions should align with and adapt to the concept of Merdeka Belajar at the school level. While Nadiem introduced the Kampus Merdeka (independent campus) policy as an extension of its primary emphasis is student mobility and university accreditation. The question of how these prevailing policies might contribute to bridging the quality divide among newly graduated teachers from diverse ITE institutions remains unanswered.

Another concern surrounds the one-sided nature of the government narrative, which leaves minimal space for critical perspectives and suggestions. Public discourse involves diverse stakeholder engagement to uphold policy coherence and foster systems thinking. This discourse has the capacity to illuminate overlooked domains, such as the strategic response to emerging critical issues like AI advancement or aligning education with the 2030 sustainability framework, while identifying discrepancies or contradictions between policies and societal expectations.

It then becomes the government’s responsibility to capture the narrative emerging from public discourse and stakeholder engagements through adaptive policy measures and feedback mechanisms. But this responsibility is difficult to shoulder.

The government’s inadequacy in adapting policy feedback is evident in the ongoing predicament surrounding school enrolment under the zonation policy. Introduced in 2017, this policy aligns with Merdeka Belajar to facilitate impartial access to quality education while mitigating biases and favouritism towards particular schools.

Nadiem’s decision to maintain the zonation policy stems from an analysis of its perceived benefits. Still, school distribution across Indonesia diverges across educational tiers, forming a pyramid structure where elementary schools predominate, followed by junior and senior high schools. This uneven distribution, compounded by regional disparities, has led to persistent annual enrolment challenges since the policy’s inception.

Upon requests for clarification, Nadiem has attributed the policy’s inception to the former minister, Muhadjir Effendy. Yet Nadiem refrained from outlining the strategy to optimise the policy’s benefits. Conversely, Muhadjir held local governments accountable for their failure to elevate the overall quality of schools within their respective regions, which led to intricate implementation challenges.

These examples indicate missing policy coherence and systems thinking elements in Nadiem’s policies. Assuming Nadiem will not continue in office after the 2024 election, a comprehensive policy impact assessment will only be feasible after his tenure. Still, he has an opportunity to effect change and leave behind a legacy as a reformer of the education sector.

Source : East Asia Forum

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Details included in court proceedings Tuesday have revealed that Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Education developed its pronoun consent policy over the span of nine days before it was announced in August.

The timeframe was spoken of during submissions from both applicant and respondent counsel during an injunction hearing on Tuesday, sourced from an affidavit of assistant deputy minister Michael Walter submitted by the provincial government.

The injunction has been requested by UR Pride Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, as part of an originating application filed against the province challenging the constitutionality of the policy.

UR Pride counsel Adam Goldenberg raised the detail first, stating the policy “went from zero to a final version in nine days in August,” according to Walter’s statement.

He argued that this detail is relevant to UR Pride’s stance that proper consultation during development was not done, meaning the policy does not serve the public good.

“Experts could not have been consulted, there was not time,” he told sitting justice Michael Megaw.

The government’s counsel Mitch McAdam countered that the expediency of development is not indicative of the policy’s integrity.

“The fact this policy was put together quickly does not do away with the presumption of public interest in any way,” he said.

Premier Scott Moe also responded Wednesday morning, calling the claim of a nine-day timeline “not correct.”

“This is a policy that’s been discussed at the elected level of government for some period of time,” he said.

“Most certainly, there’s broad support for this policy across Saskatchewan. That’s why the government is ultimately committed to ensuring its implementation today and into the future.”

Former and current ministers of education Dustin Duncan and Jeremy Cockrill have previously been asked who was consulted when creating the policy, but have not provided any specifics to date.

Provincial children and youth advocate Lisa Broda expressed similar concerns over consultation to those raised by UR Pride in her report released last week examining the policy.

The Saskatchewan School Boards Association has also made clear that school divisions were not consulted.

Leader-Post asked the Ministry of Education if further context of that timeline could be provided, but the ministry was not able to do so by the time of publication Wednesday.

Those in court Tuesday also heard that according to Walter, the Minister of Education’s office received 18 letters between June and the policy’s release in August expressing concern about pronoun usage in schools.

Eleven letter writers did not identify themselves as parents of school age children. Most were speaking to New Brunswick’s recently announced Policy 713, not to Saskatchewan.

Goldenberg said the province declined to attach those letters in the affidavit or provide them to his legal team.

Government officials have not publicly provided a clear number on how many letters or emails were received from concerned parents about this topic, stating only there have been a number in contact with MLAs on the issue.

In an emailed response provided Wednesday, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General advised the Walter affidavit is “only one snapshot” of evidence to be advanced by government in this case, which continues in November.

Moe also reiterated previous statements on Wednesday that he remains open to using the notwithstanding clause to counter a successful injunction order.

“We’ll use the tools to ensure the policy ultimately is in place,” he said.

Source : Regina Leader Post

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Chicago education officials will vote next week to officially codify new changes that will grant teachers and school leaders additional parental leave time, bringing them in line with other city workers.

The Board of Education is set to approve an expanded parental leave program for Chicago Public Schools employees that will give birthing and non-birthing parents up to 12 weeks of paid time off after they have a child.

“Many educators have been pushing for this for a long time, particularly adoptive parents, so I’m glad that this is moving forward,” board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland said during Wednesday’s agenda review committee meeting.

Until now, birthing parents received six-to-eight weeks of short-term disability leave, while non-birth parents got two weeks of paid leave. The new policy brings CPS in line with other city workers, who already received up to 12 weeks of leave.

Mayor Brandon Johnson announced this change back in June, but said it wouldn’t be approved until later in the summer. That gave CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union time to review and tweak the policy through a joint working group.

While the policy won’t officially be approved until next week, it was enacted last month at the start of the current school year, according to Karla Kirkling, the district’s executive director of healthcare and benefits.

“From an equity focus, we believe the extension of leave benefits to all parents — regardless of gender or biological relationship to the child — creates a more inclusive and supportive work environment,” Kirkling said. “Furthermore, equitable pay family leave policies acknowledge the financial needs and challenges faced by all parents and this helps provide a safety net for families.”

Kirkling said CPS also sees this policy as an attractive benefit to recruit and retain educators and employees.

She told the board Wednesday that 471 CPS educators and employees have already requested or been approved for this leave, which carries an estimated cost of $8.3 million.

According to Kirkling, CPS estimates spending an additional $16 million on this for the rest of the current school year.

The board will vote on this policy during its monthly meeting next week.

Source : WTTV

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A New Jersey school district suspended its unpaid meals policy following backlash from the community. 

On Sept. 13, Deptford Township School superintendent Kevin Kanauss sent a letter to the community obtained by the Philadelphia Inquirer. The letter stated that students with school breakfast and lunch debt of $50 or more would be impacted.

Under the policy, impacted students in preschool and kindergarten would still receive breakfast as well as an alternative lunch but be barred from field trips and receiving report cards, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Impacted elementary school students would not receive any breakfast and receive alternative lunch and also be barred from field trips, receiving report cards and attending school dances. Impacted middle and high school students would not receive breakfast or lunch and be barred from field trips, receiving report cards, attending dances and the prom, and attending graduation. These restrictions would remain for the students until the outstanding balances were paid by their parents or guardians. 

In the initial letter, Kanauss said the policy was implemented due to the “huge financial burden from families failing to pay their meal balances for their scholars.”

“Such financial losses impact our programs, staff and supplies for students,” Kanauss wrote.

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The policy sparked backlash from the community as well as politicians, including U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) who called the ruling “evil.”

On Sept. 19, Kanauss sent another letter to the school community, stating the district had suspended their policy following feedback and discussion with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.

“All students will be offered school breakfast and lunch, regardless of the balance of their meal account,” Kanauss wrote in the most recent letter. 

A spokesperson for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy also confirmed with NBC10 that they worked with the Deptford School District to immediately terminate the policy. The spokesperson said the New Jersey Department of Education reached out to the Executive County Superintendent (ECS) to confirm they would contact the Deptford Township School District to help bring them into compliance with the Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act and the Working Class Families Act.

“The district’s policy went against protections outlined in the Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act and the Working Class Families Act, which seek to eliminate school meal policies that stigmatize students over lunch debt and improve identification and participation of students in free and reduced-price meal programs,” the spokesperson wrote. “The Governor and his Administration do not support policies that ostracize New Jersey students and thank the district for their cooperation in discontinuing this harmful policy.”

Kanauss said they would still “reevaluate” their policy and process for collecting past due balances.

“We encourage families to complete the free and reduced lunch application, and for those paying out of pocket to remain current on their balance,” he wrote. “However, as stated above, these factors will not affect a student’s ability to receive a school meal.”

Kanauss also told NBC10 on Wednesday that the district is working to help families who qualify for the free lunch program.

“One of our objectives is to ensure that families who qualify for the USDA’s free lunch program are aware of this benefit, and that we are here to assist them if they need help completing the application. Our goal is a 100% participation rate among families who qualify,” Kanauss wrote. “In addition to benefitting these families directly, increased participation in this federal program has the potential to see more of our schools designated as Title I, resulting in additional funding to support current and new programs for our students.”

Kanauss also said the district plans to hold a policy committee meeting at some point next week to “evaluate all the feedback and recommendations from the Department of Agriculture and our community, as we adjust this policy to create an equitable solution for all involved.”

Source : NBC

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