Yearly Archives: 2021

(The Center Square) – Wisconsin’s governor will not issue a statewide vaccine mandate for schools, but he is open to local vaccine requirements.

Gov. Tony Evers on Wednesday said he “hopes” local schools talk about requiring teachers and school workers to get vaccinated.

“Our staff needs to be vaccinated,” Evers told reporters. “I hope those conversations happen locally too.”

The governor has been considering a vaccine mandate for state workers for weeks, but he has not yet issued the order.

Evers’ comments about local school vaccine requirements comes one day after Milwaukee Public Schools’ board essentially ordered the district to come-up with a vaccination requirement for its teachers.

The hurdle, of course, are teachers unions in the state.

Gov. Evers used to be a teacher himself, then led the Department of Public Instruction as state superintendent, and received major backing from Wisconsin’s teachers’ unions during his run for governor.

Evers said he thinks unions could be brought on-board with a vaccine mandate.

“I think so," Evers said. "I've seen teaching unions and boards in New York City and L.A., Chicago, Broward County in Florida come together and said yes.”

Amy Mizialko, the president of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, earlier this week said she had no problem “incentivizing” coronavirus vaccinations for teachers. Her union has not taken a position on MPS’ likely vaccine requirement.

No other school district in Wisconsin has yet announced plans for a vaccine requirement. Most are relying on masks and regular testing as kids get ready to go back to school.

(The Center Square) – A new poll shows nearly a third of Democratic primary voters support school choice.

The Wisconsin Federation for Children on Tuesday released the poll from the Remington Research Group, polling group headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.

The poll shows support among Democrats in Milwaukee County for both school vouchers and public charter schools. The survey was conducted July 27 through July 29, and polled 766 likely 2022 Democratic Primary Election voters. The margin of error is +/- 3.3%.

“Democratic candidates should not ignore or run away from the fact that their constituents support school choice,” Justin Moralez, the Wisconsin Federation for Children state director said.

The question on vouchers asked: “School voucher programs provide a state-funded payment to families for their children to attend a private school. Generally speaking, do you support or oppose the concept of school voucher programs?”

Pollsters say 31% of people asked said they support vouchers, while 49% oppose them. But the Federation says another 20% didn’t have an opinion, which means voters are nearly evenly split.

It’s a similar breakdown when it comes to charter schools.

The pollsters asked: “Public charter schools are schools that have independence from many school district rules. Generally speaking, do you support or oppose the concept of public charter schools?”

Thirty percent of voters said they support public charter schools, while 44% said they opposed them. Twenty-five percent of voters didn’t have an opinion.

Again, the Federation’s Moralez said that means there is more support for school choice among Democrats in Milwaukee than many people think.

“A strong, growing segment supports school choice,” Moralez said. “When politicians state that they want to limit or eliminate the voucher program, they are really hurting these historically marginalized students.”

The poll also asked about what the government's top priority should be. Voters said it’s dealing with crime. Pollsters also asked about the Democratic race for U.S. Senate. Mandela Barnes got the most support at 34% of the vote. Thirty-eight percent of Democratic primary voters said they had not made up their mind yet.

(The Center Square) – Reports of violence and chaos in Afghanistan as the Taliban asserted control of the nation has sparked criticism of President Joe Biden, but the president reaffirmed his commitment Monday to the U.S. withdrawal.

Biden addressed the fallout of the U.S. removal of troops from Afghanistan in a speech from the White House.

“Here’s what I believe to my core,” Biden said. “It is wrong to order American troops to step up when Afghanistan’s own armed forces would not. The political leaders of Afghanistan were unable to come together for the good of their people, unable to negotiate for the future of their country when the chips were down. They never would have done so while U.S. troops remained in Afghanistan bearing the brunt of the fighting for them. And our true strategic competitors, China and Russia, would love nothing more than the U.S. to continue to funnel billions of dollars in resources and attention into stabilizing Afghanistan indefinitely.”

Biden ordered 5,000 troops last week to return to Afghanistan temporarily to help evacuate the U.S. embassy. Those troops were needed after a sweeping takeover of the nation by the Taliban, the Islamic extremist group known for its violence, oppression of women and involvement in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

While initial estimates questioned the Taliban’s ability to retake the country, or at least expected the process to take months, the terrorist group was able to take every major city, including the capital, within days.

President Donald Trump set the U.S. withdrawal date during his administration for earlier this year, but Biden pushed it back after taking office. Trump has since called for Biden’s resignation, saying he would have handled the withdrawal differently.

Republicans in the House and Senate also have criticized Biden for his handling of the withdrawal.

“I fought in Afghanistan,” U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., said. “I lost friends in Afghanistan. We’ve seen this before in how Obama-Biden withdrew from Iraq in 2011. Same leadership. Same failure.”

Others pointed to the humanitarian crisis as religious minorities, foreign residents, women and those known to have helped the U.S. face danger as the Taliban establishes its rule.

“Biden’s decision in Afghanistan undermines America’s credibility around the globe,” U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said. “His actions have destabilized the region and put Americans, our allies, women, and children in Afghanistan at greater risk of harm by the Taliban.”

Biden has remained firm in his position, saying the Taliban takeover was inevitable.

“I stand squarely behind my decision,” he said. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces.”

(The Center Square) – School shutdowns last year created devastating academic, economic and mental consequences among K-12 students that could last into their adulthoods, a new report published by McKinsey & Company found.

The impact of school shutdowns on K–12 students was significant, leaving them, on average, five months behind in mathematics and four months behind in reading by the end of the school year, according to the analysis.

Historically disadvantaged students were hit the hardest. In math, students in majority Black schools ended the year with six months of unfinished learning and students in low-income schools with seven, the report states. High school students were more likely to drop out of school, and high school seniors, especially among low-income families, were less likely to attend postsecondary education, McKinsey found.

Of the 16,000 parents McKinsey surveyed in all 50 states, 35% said they were very or extremely concerned about their children’s mental health. A year of virtual learning, isolation from their friends, and inability to engage in social and athletic activities took a tremendous psychological toll on their children’s well-being.

Nearly 80% of parents indicated some level of concern. Parents also reported a 6% increase in clinical-level anxiety, a 5% increase in clinical-level depression, increased social withdrawal, self-isolation, lethargy and irrational fear among their children.

While schools were initially ordered to shut down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, once it became clear that children were relatively immune from getting or spreading the virus, and those who did get it experienced a 99% survival rate, many states began to reopen their schools. However, teachers’ unions continued to push for restrictive requirements or blocked reopenings in many states. In California, for example, public schools have still not reopened, despite numerous lawsuits filed by parents and taxpayer money still funding unions and school districts.

When the 2020–21 school Year began, only 40% of K–12 students were in districts that offered any in-person instruction. By the end of the year, more than 98% of students had access to some form of in-person learning, from the traditional five days a week to hybrid models. Throughout the year, school districts adapted from virtual to hybrid and in-person learning methods. Students faced multiple schedule changes, and many were assigned new teachers and struggled with slow or intermittent internet connections and Zoom fatigue.

Some students disengaged from school altogether, slipped backwards, and lost knowledge or skills they once had. The majority simply learned less than they would have in a typical year, the analysis notes. Additionally, students who advanced to the next grade level were unprepared and missing key building blocks of knowledge necessary for success. Students who repeated a year were less likely to complete high school and move on to college.

Distance learning proved problematic, with students nationwide reporting increased failing grades, and parents increasingly pulled their children out of public school altogether, seeking alternative ways to educate them.

“And it’s not just academic knowledge these students may miss out on” as a result of school shutdowns, the analysis notes. “They are at risk of finishing school without the skills, behaviors, and mindsets to succeed in college or in the workforce. An accurate assessment of the depth and extent of unfinished learning will best enable districts and states to support students in catching up on the learning they missed.”

“The ripple effects may undermine their chances of attending college and ultimately finding a fulfilling job that enables them to support a family,” the report states. “Our analysis suggests that, unless steps are taken to address unfinished learning, today’s students may earn $49,000 to $61,000 less over their lifetime owing to the impact” of their education being disrupted. “The impact on the U.S. economy could amount to $128 billion to $188 billion every year as this cohort enters the workforce,” McKinsey projects.

McKinsey recommends that, “The immediate imperative is to not only reopen schools and recover unfinished learning but also reimagine education systems for the long term.”

The report assessed student learning by evaluating Curriculum Associates’ i-Ready in-school assessment results of more than 1.6 million elementary school students in more than 40 states, using several key metrics.

Curriculum Associates published its own analysis, which found that more first and second graders ended the year two or more grade levels below expectations than in any previous year analyzed.