Articles of Interest
In Lynchburg, Youngkin signs swatting bill at site of multiple false calls
Virginia schools increasingly eye weapons detectors to keep firearms out of buildings
Virginia teacher fights to include a Bible verse in her work email – UPI.com
FCPS focuses on absenteeism, special education with last round of federal relief funds | FFXnow
Virginia budget negotiators agree to wait until June
Virginia will not require elected school boards | News | pmg-va.com
NEW: FCPS is testing bathroom vape sensors, weapons screening and other safety measures | FFXnow
New cell phone policy for Carroll Public Schools
Va. teaching jobs at risk as state manages delays in issuing licenses
DOE Updates
Advancing Rural Computer Science
This is a two-year professional development program that allows K-5 educators (teachers, ITRTs, and librarians) to become highly skilled in integrating the Virginia Computer Science SOLs into K-5 English, mathematics, science, and history and social science. Participants will complete the Code VA K-5 Coaches Academy and earn microcredentials in CS Integration that are being offered by ODU, a stipend, receive a free Chromebook, and their choice of a classroom set of CS instructional technology.
Aviation Teacher Grants
Virginia Department of Aviation Teachers Grant is open to all Virginia teachers in grades K-12. One teacher per school can receive up to $500 for teaching an aviation-themed lesson that enhances their students’ learning experiences. Past grants have been used for model planes and rockets, drones, field trips, and art supplies. Find out more information today!
Experience Works 2023: Pathways for the Future Online Registration Open
The CTE Experience Works 2023: Pathways for the Future professional development opportunity will be held June 28-29, from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. daily. The targeted audience includes CTE Work-Based Learning coordinators, CTE teachers, administrators, school counselors, career coaches, and business and industry leaders. Online pre-registration is open. After your pre-registration is received, additional information regarding workshop registration will be forthcoming. See Superintendent’s Memo 056-23 for more information.
Summer Professional Learning at William & Mary
Join SURN at William & Mary’s School of Education for their 5-week, online, asynchronous courses. All courses offer re-certification hours and are self-paced. Register today:
-For the Joy of Learning: Cultivating Student Engagement (May 28-July 1)
-Deeper Learning: Unpacking the 5 Cs (July 16-August 19)
-Engaging Students In Meaningful Formative Assessment (July 16-August 19)
-Multilingual Learners 101 (July 16-August 19)
-Project Based Learning (July 16-August 19)
-Mentoring & Coaching Teachers 1 (May 28-July 1*prerequisite)
-Mentoring & Coaching Teachers 2 (July 16-August 19)
Ed. Department Updates
CHILD CARE NEEDS REFLECTED IN ACTIONS FROM WHITE HOUSE AND THE HILL
The White House and senior Capitol Hill Democrats rolled out child care initiatives recently, exhibiting the party’s ongoing desire to provide more support for families. On Tuesday, April 18, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order containing a comprehensive set of more than 50 directives to nearly every cabinet-level agency to support childcare, home-based care, family caregivers, and long-term care. Specifically, the Executive Order aims to address several agenda items. First, to make childcare and long-term care more accessible and affordable for families, including military families, building on the child care requirement for semiconductor production employers seeking funding under the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 to submit a plan for how they will help employees access affordable childcare. Additionally, the Executive Order attempts to boost job quality for early educators and long-term care workers – seen in the support for tribal communities through a streamlined process for grantees of federal childcare assistance.On Tuesday, Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Senator Patty Murray (DWA) reintroduced the Child Care for Working Families Act. According to Scott and Murray, the bill would tackle the childcare crisis head-on, ensuring that families can afford the childcare they need, expanding access to more high-quality options, stabilizing the childcare sector, and helping ensure childcare workers are paid appropriately. The legislation would also expand access to pre-K and support full-day, full-year Head Start programs and increased wages for Head Start workers. Moreover, the sponsors argue the bill encompasses four primary areas of needed improvements: making childcare affordable for working families, providing quality childcare and expanding childcare options, increasing childcare options for children who receive care during non-traditional hours, and supporting childcare for children who are dual-language learners, experiencing homelessness, or in foster care. The partisan proposal has been introduced in previous Congresses, and never made much progress. It’s unlikely it will in the divided 118th Congress, either, but its supporters will continue to assert that the federal government can better support child care access in other debates. A fact sheet on the Executive Order can be found here; a summary of the bill can be found here.
