COVID-19 Policy Update
WEDNESDAY 8/17
FEDERAL
Phase 4: Although the Treasury Department has also not provided any guidance on the unemployment benefits EO, the Labor Department sent a memo and additional guidance to state workforce agencies to provide technical assistance for administering the benefits if a state chooses to participate. As of Aug. 18, the Trump administration has approved Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico and Utah to offer the unemployment supplement created by the EO. Other states said they would not be spending the state match for the benefits, citing strained budgets.
CARES Act: The IRS said it would provide additional time for those who were unable to give the agency the necessary information in time to receive the $500 direct cash benefit - the Economic Impact Payments (EIP) - for qualifying children. The registration period will be open from Aug. 15 through Sept. 30. The IRS created a Non-Filers tool so even people who didn’t file their taxes could still receive the stimulus payments. However, they are still barring incarcerated and undocumented taxpayers from receiving the payments
Extending Foreclosure Plan: HUD will extend a ban on evictions and foreclosures for homes backed by the Federal Housing Administration through the end of the year
Expiring USDA Waivers: A wide group of education organizations, including CCSSO, NGA, and AASA, sent a letter to Congress and the USDA requesting the agency extend important waivers beyond August 31. There are concerns that an extended set of waivers may be made contingent on schools reopening which would penalize students who are learning remotely.
STATE
Colorado: Poudre School District is purchasing 30,000 laptops and 2,250 hotspots.
Florida: The state's largest teachers’ union and attorneys for the state are meeting for court-ordered meditation in an attempt to come to an agreement on how to safely reopen schools.
Georgia: Children’s hospital employee and young patient have a dance party.
Iowa: A data glitch means the Iowa Department of Public Health has inadvertently been reporting fewer new infections and a smaller percentage of daily positive tests than is truly the case.
Mississippi: The state reports coronavirus cases within schools in 71 of 82 counties.
New Jersey: List of schools planning to open remote only.
New York:
Ohio: Dayton Children's Hospital developed protocols for COVID-19 screening in schools including 12 scenarios schools might encounter. Useful for schools throughout the country.
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Tennessee: Over 2,000 school-age children tested positive for COVID-19 in the last two weeks.
INTERNATIONAL
Denmark: How Denmark safely reopened schools in a pandemic without requiring masks.
Ireland: Reopening schools full-time is the "top priority" for the Education Minister, the chief medical officer (CMO) and chief scientific adviser (CSA). The CSA said, "I know that the guidance from the Department of Health, the Department of Education is aimed at making schools as Covid-secure as possible and making the experience of our schools opening as safe as it can be."
Italy: The government will make 2 million COVID tests available to teachers, custodians, and other staff ahead of schools reopening.
LEARNING PODS
Pandemic Pods: One Facebook group has almost 40,000 members. “It’s basically individual groups of people who decided to come together to find a solution during these times where there aren’t a whole lot of solutions.”
Reinventing on the Fly: From CRPE: How learning pods may hint at a new structure for public education.
Let’s Create More Human-Centered Solutions to Schooling: OpEd from Amy Anderson, Co-Founder and Executive Director at RESCHOOL and Michele Morenz, an Instructional Coach at the Downtown Denver Expeditionary School.
- Center around those with the greatest needs
- Invest in people and their ideas
- Leverage under-utilized community assets
- Adjust staffing models
A National Tutor Corps: OpEd from Paul DiPerna:
- "With 1 in 5 20- to 24-year-olds out of work, a tutor corps could offer employment to millions of educated young adults, providing solid returns on investment for public dollars — in effect, a jobs stimulus that will keep people productive and contributing to the economy."
- "A good example is taking shape in Tennessee, where former governor Bill Haslam is recruiting 1,000 college students to the Tennessee Tutoring Corps. Its members will help as many as 5,000 K-6 students in the state."
- "In Oklahoma, there’s the new Bridge the Gap Digital Wallet, tasked with giving 5,000 low-income families $1,500 to spend on curriculum content, tutoring or technology."
- "We should start by investing in tutor banks, based on the ESA model, that directly provide funds to students and parents so they can afford regular tutoring. A tutor bank at the state level, paid for with federal and state funds, could help alleviate or prevent COVID-related learning loss."
This Mom Created an Education Pod, and You Can Too: Podcast episode and transcript.
Financial Strain: Two financial services surveys of parents. Should be read with a bit of caution given the self-interest, but important given the general trends they suggest.
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RESOURCES
A Warning for the United States From the Author of ‘The Great Influenza’: "If we don’t get the virus under control, the devastation will get worse." OpEd from John Barry whose book was instrumental in President Bush creating the first Pandemic Preparedness Plan. When I was at the Dept. of Commerce in 2005, Dr. Fauci gave us a copy of the book with pages marked and sections highlighted to help cabinet members understand the scope of the challenge a pandemic would create.
Telemedicine for Mental Health: School leaders are looking to use technology tools ranging from text message-based counseling sessions to artificial intelligence that can help detect warning signs. “What we saw before the pandemic was many, many schools were kind of hesitant to bring technology into their suite of the health services because of the unknowns around it,” said Laura Horne of Active Minds, which advocates for better mental health services for young people. “For better or for worse, the pandemic has kind of forced schools in a way to try those technology tools.
When Can Schools Safely Reopen? The Answer Is Part Science, Part Guesswork: Via FiveThirtyEight: "In New York state, Governor Andrew Cuomo said schools could reopen if no more than 5 percent of local COVID-19 tests were coming back positive. But in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said schools couldn’t reopen unless the positivity rate was below 3 percent. In Arizona, it’s 7 percent; in Minnesota, it’s 10 cases per 10,000 residents. And in Iowa, schools won’t be allowed to close for anything less than a 15 percent positivity rate."
Thermal Scans: NCS is working with schools to implement thermal imaging which allows 16 to 20 individuals to pass through at one time vs individual temperature checks. This could help schools address a big bottleneck as they begin to reopen.
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Mask Simulator: From IHME
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Higher Education Reopening Tracker: Only tracks non-profit 4 yr degree institutions (1,400) but incredibly useful.
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