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Tag: public schools

  • Covid-19 vaccines will be on the 2023 vaccine schedule, but that doesn’t mean they’re required in schools | CNN

    Covid-19 vaccines will be on the 2023 vaccine schedule, but that doesn’t mean they’re required in schools | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Covid-19 vaccines will be part of recommended immunization schedules in 2023 for both children and adults, after a unanimous vote by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s independent Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

    That doesn’t make the vaccines mandatory for anyone, a point that was emphasized in a discussion before Thursday’s vote. The board members addressed concerns from the public that adding Covid-19 vaccinations to the schedule would force schools to require the shots.

    “We recognize that there is concern around this, but moving Covid-19 to the recommended immunization schedule does not impact what vaccines are required for school entrance, if any,” said Dr. Nirav Shah, a committee member and director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “Indeed, there are vaccines that are on the schedule right now that are not required for school attendance in many jurisdictions, such as seasonal influenza. Local control matters, and we honor that. The decision around school entrance for vaccines rests where it did before, which is with the state level, the county level and at the municipal level, if it exists at all. They are the arbiters of what vaccines are required, if any, for school entry. This discussion does not change that.”

    In fact, Covid-19 vaccines are explicitly banned from being included in school mandates in at least 20 states. Only California and the District of Columbia have announced that Covid-19 shots will be among mandated vaccinations for students, but those mandates were not implemented for this school year.

    It’s been nearly a year since eligibility for the Covid-19 vaccine was expanded to include everyone in the US 5 and older, but coverage among children still lags behind that of adults. Even as these vaccines and the related mandates have become highly politicized over the course of the pandemic, experts say vaccine hesitancy among parents isn’t new.

    Although the Covid-19 shot will not become mandatory for school, all 50 states do have laws requiring specific vaccines for students – most of which include shots for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) and varicella.

    Uptake for these vaccines, mandated by schools long before Covid-19, fell during the pandemic.

    In the 2020-21 school year, vaccination coverage for kindergarteners fell to less than 94% – dropping below the overall target of 95% that was set as an objective by the US Department of Health and Human Services in the Healthy People project for the first time in six years.

    A CNN analysis of the latest CDC data suggests that students in states with stricter school vaccine requirements are more likely to have their shots.

    All school immunization laws grant exemptions to children for specific medical reasons. But 44 states and Washington, DC, also grant religious exemptions, and 15 states allow philosophical or moral exemptions for children, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

    According to the CNN analysis, states that were stricter with exemptions were much more likely to still meet the 95% coverage target. In the 2020-21 school year, an average of about 96% of kindergarten students had their MMR vaccine in states that allowed only medical exemptions, compared with 92% of students in states that also allowed philosophical or moral exemptions.

    The full effect of the pandemic on children’s routine vaccination rates isn’t clear: It will be another few months before the CDC shares national data for compliance rates for mandatory vaccinations in the 2021-22 school year, and schools are in the midst of outreach and programming to ensure that as many students as possible will continue through the 2022-23 school year up to date on their vaccines.

    Correcting the drop in vaccination coverage in students will probably depend more on better access to care, information and outreach – and school vaccine mandates can help.

    With many people who are hesitant, it’s “because of something they’ve heard or something they’ve read,” said Dr. Jesse Hackell, a pediatrician who co-authored a clinical report about countering vaccine hesitancy in 2016. “Most people [who are hesitant] have a very free-floating worry about vaccines. It’s not specific in most cases.”

    A small share of parents – about 2% or 3% – are adamantly opposed to vaccines, and that rate has stayed mostly consistent over the years, said Hackell, who is also chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Practice and Ambulatory Medicine.

    Overall vaccination coverage fell among kindergarteners in the 2020-21 school year, but the share of students who had an exemption also declined from 2.5% to 2.1%, according to CDC data. The rate has changed by less than 1 percentage point over the past 10 years.

    About 3% of kindergarteners in the US – about 120,000 students – were considered to be out of compliance with mandatory vaccines in the 2020-21 school year.

    “Mandates may not do anything to those people who would pull their kids out of public school,” Hackell said. “But the vast majority of parents are not opposed. They’re hesitant, or they’re uncertain. And when there’s pressure to do it for another reason, such as getting your kid into school, they come around.”

    Responsibility for enforcing vaccine mandates falls to the education system, and practices vary by state. Some students are ultimately turned away because they aren’t up to date, but most states offer provisional enrollment periods that allow kids to stay in school if they are in progress with at least one shot in a series or evidence of an upcoming appointment.

    According to the CDC, “school officials may prefer to keep students in school where they have access to education, safe supervision, nutrition, and social services while working with parents or guardians to get children vaccinated.”

    And many states do their best to help students stay up to date on their immunizations, with vaccination drives and direct followup with parents.

    “I think that the drop in the past year or two is partly pandemic-related,” Hackell said. “What we’re seeing, I think, is a little bit of a disparity between kids who have a medical home and have a private [doctor] versus kids who get their immunizations from a public source” like a school clinic.

    Mississippi is an impressive example of finding ways to keep child vaccination rates high, Hackell says. Public schools are the only option for many in the state, where poverty rates are higher than anywhere else in the US.

    Despite the large public need and additional resource struggles that the pandemic brought, 99% of kindergarteners in Mississippi met required vaccination coverage in the 2020-21 school year – better than any other state, according to the CDC.

    “They’ve done a tremendous job at that,” Hackell said, and it demonstrates the power of mandates. Mississippi is strict with exemptions – one of just six states allowing medical reasons only – and just 0.1% of kindergarteners were exempt in the 2020-21 school year.

    Hackell says he would be most concerned if he sees a sustained drop in vaccination rates for highly transmissible diseases, especially measles and polio. And he’s worried about pockets of low vaccination rates in certain communities.

    Schools are public spaces with a level of control, and 95% vaccination coverage is a goal with intent.

    “We know it’s never going to be 100% because there are some people who cannot medically be vaccinated. But if you have 95%, that means in any given school classroom of 30 kids, there might be one unvaccinated kid. And so if that child brings a case of something into the class, there’s nobody else to give it to,” he said. “It stops there with one case.”

    And when it comes to adding Covid-19 vaccines to the CDC’s recommended immunization schedule, the focus is still on public health – not on adding another requirement.

    “I’ve had parents who come in my office, and I say, ‘What are you here for?’ And they say, ‘Well, we’re here for vaccines so that our kids can go to school.’ And I’ve said, ‘OK, I understand that, but really I’m not vaccinating so you can go to school, I’m vaccinating because I want to prevent serious disease and death in your kids,’ ” Dr. Matthew Daley, an ACIP member and senior investigator with the Institute for Health Research at Kaiser Permanente Colorado, said at Thursday’s advisory meeting.

    “And the fact that there’s a school immunization requirement helps because it brought you into the office, but that’s not my goal. My goal is to prevent serious disease.”

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  • What the Student-Loan Debate Overlooks

    What the Student-Loan Debate Overlooks

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    A core conservative critique of President Joe Biden’s executive action on student-debt forgiveness is that the plan requires blue-collar Americans to subsidize privileged children idly contemplating gender studies or critical race theory at fancy private colleges.

    That idea, articulated by Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, among others, aims to portray the GOP as the party of working Americans and Democrats as the champions of the smug, well-educated elite. But it fundamentally misrepresents who’s attending college now, where they are enrolled, and the reasons so many young people are graduating with unsustainable debt.

    Read: A Democratic economist’s case against Biden’s student-loan plan

    Many factors have contributed to the explosion in student debt, but one dynamic is almost always overlooked: the erosion of the commitment to affordable public higher education as an engine for upward mobility that benefits the entire community.

    Contrary to the stereotype conjured by critics, the number of debtors from public colleges today (about 22 million) exceeds the number from private and for-profit colleges combined (about 21 million), according to federal data. One reason so many of those students from public schools are in debt is that they have graduated in an era when states have shifted more of the burden for funding higher education from taxpayers to students—precisely as more of those students are minorities reared in families on the short side of the nation’s enormous racial wealth gap.

    Biden’s plan, despite its imperfections, recognizes that this massive cost shift is crushing too many young people as they enter adulthood. It is also a belated reaffirmation that society benefits from helping more young people obtain degrees that will allow them to reach the middle class.

    Public colleges and universities are the principal arena in which the debt and affordability crisis will be won or lost because—again, contrary to popular perception—the majority of postsecondary students (about four in five) attend public, not private, institutions.

    When Baby Boomers were in college, few seemed to question whether society benefited from helping more young people earn their diploma at an affordable price. States provided public colleges enough taxpayer dollars to keep tuition to a minimum. In the 1963–64 academic year, around the time the first Boomers stepped onto campuses, the average annual tuition for four-year public colleges was $243, according to federal statistics. Tuition at those public schools was still only about $500 to $600 a year by the time most of the last Baby Boomers had started college, in the mid-1970s. (Adjusting for inflation, prices grew at a modest rate while Boomers matriculated, rising only from about $2,100 in constant 2021 dollars when the first ones started to about $2,600 when the last ones did.) The renowned University of California and City University of New York systems didn’t even charge any tuition until the mid-’70s.

    Read: What it takes to get into New York City’s best public colleges

    Dowell Myers, a demographer at the University of Southern California, told me that the generous mid-century funding for public higher education drew on the legacy of the GI Bill after World War II and the post-Sputnik investments in education and research, each of which had broad political support. “The attitude was ‘We should invest in young people,’” he said. “It was just an ethic.” Also important, he noted: “The young people they were thinking about were young white kids primarily.”

    But for racially diverse Millennials and Generation Z students, the experience has been quite different. By 1999, the year the first Millennials entered campuses, the average annual cost for a four-year public college or university, measured in inflation-adjusted dollars, had doubled since the mid-’70s to more than $5,200. By the time the last Millennials (generally defined as those born between 1981 and 1996) entered college in the 2014 academic year, the cost had soared by another 80 percent to roughly $9,500 a year. So far, the average annual tuition cost has stayed at about that elevated level as the first members of Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2014) have started their studies.

    As these numbers show, tuition at four-year public universities increased more than three times as fast while Millennials attended than it did over the span when most Baby Boomers did. The failure of colleges to control their costs explains part of this disparity. But it’s also a political decision at the state level. “The trend of having students and their families pay more for their college today is absolutely linked to the state disinvestment in higher education,” Michele Siqueiros, the president of the California-based Campaign for College Opportunity, told me.

    Public colleges and universities relied on tuition and fees for only about one-fifth of their total educational revenue in 1980, the first year for which these figures are available, with state tax dollars providing most of the rest. Today the share funded by tuition has more than doubled, according to analysis by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association. Even that figure is somewhat misleading, because it includes community colleges, which don’t rely as much on tuition. In four-year public colleges and universities, tuition now provides a 52 percent majority of all educational revenues nationwide. Even with some recent increases in state contributions, 31 states now rely on tuition for a majority of four-year public-college revenues, the executives’ association found.

    Even as those costs have increased, Pell Grants, the principal form of federal aid for low-income students, have failed to keep pace. In 2000, Pell Grants covered 99 percent of the average costs of in-state tuition and fees at public colleges, according to research by the College Board. Today, the grants fund only 60 percent of those costs—and only half that much of the total bill when room and board are added on.

    This historic shift in funding has occurred as college campuses have grown more racially diverse. As recently as the late 1990s, white kids still constituted 70 percent of all high-school graduates, according to the federal National Center for Education Statistics. But NCES estimates that students of color became a majority of high-school graduates for the first time in the school year that ended this June. Their share of future graduates will rise to nearly three-fifths by the end of this decade, the NCES forecasts. That stream of future high-school grads will further diversify the overall student body in postsecondary institutions—especially in public colleges and universities, where kids of color already constitute a slight majority of those attending, according to figures provided to me by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. (Most private-college students, especially on the campuses considered most elite, are still white.)

    The inevitable result of less taxpayer help has been more debt for public-school graduates. Even in the ’90s, only about one-third of public-college graduates finished with debt, federal figures show. But today a daunting 55 percent of public-college graduates leave with debt, not much less than the share of students who finish with debt at private schools (somewhere around 60 percent, depending on the data source). What’s more, the average undergraduate debt held by students from public colleges isn’t much less than that held by those who attended private campuses. In effect, as USC’s Myers noted, because states generally are prohibited from borrowing to fund higher education (or anything else) by their constitutions, “they pushed the borrowing onto the individual families.”

    This shift has hurt families of all types, but it’s been especially difficult for the growing number of Black and Latino postsecondary students. Those families have far less wealth than white families to draw on to fund college. That increases pressure on kids of color to borrow—and to support other family members after they graduate, reducing their capacity to pay down their debts. To compound the problem, as the Georgetown Center has repeatedly documented, Black and Latino students are heavily tracked into the least selective two- and four-year public colleges, which have the smallest budgets and produce the weakest outcomes, both in terms of graduation rates and future earnings. White kids, the center calculates, still constitute three-fifths of the total student body at the better-funded, more exclusive “flagship” public universities, with Black and Latino students together representing only one-fifth. “The money is going to where the affluent and preponderantly white students are, and the money is not going to where the minority and less advantaged students are, which exacerbates the dropout crisis,” Anthony Carnevale, the center’s director, told me.

    The Republican attacks on Biden’s loan-forgiveness plan are aimed at convincing the GOP base of older white voters, especially those without a college education, that diverse younger Americans constitute a threat to them. Yet compared with the taxpayer investments in the first decades after World War II (in everything from education to housing to roads) that helped so many of those Baby Boomers live better lives than their parents, Biden’s plan represents only a modest effort. Older generations of college students didn’t have as much debt not because they were more individually virtuous but because they benefited from a collective social investment in their education. Many of those arguing against debt forgiveness, Siqueiros told me, seem to be conveniently forgetting all of the ways the government provided “benefits to Baby Boomers.”

    The irony is that it’s in Boomers’ self-interest to reduce the debt burden on younger students. As they age into retirement, Boomers are relying on younger generations to bear the payroll taxes that sustain Social Security and Medicare. I’ve called these two giant cohorts the brown and the gray, and though our politics doesn’t often acknowledge it, there is no financial security for the gray without more economic opportunity for the brown.

    Derek Thomson: Why the old elite spends so much time at work

    The debt-forgiveness program, which White House officials pointedly insisted to me was a “onetime” deal, is only the first of many steps needed to equip those younger generations to succeed. The college-debt crisis will simply repeat itself if Washington and the states don’t pursue other policies to undo the burden shift toward students—such as the free-community-college program, more generous Pell Grants, and crackdown on predatory for-profit colleges that Biden has proposed.

    It’s reasonable to question whether Biden’s debt plan could have been targeted more precisely or tweaked in myriad different ways. But the plan got one very big thing right: All Americans will benefit if our society provides today’s diverse younger generations with anything approaching the investments we made in the Baby Boomers more than half a century ago.

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    Ronald Brownstein

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  • Wake County Families to Safely Reopen Schools Calls for Immediate Action by the Wake County Board of Education

    Wake County Families to Safely Reopen Schools Calls for Immediate Action by the Wake County Board of Education

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    Press Release
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    updated: Sep 10, 2020


    WAKE COUNTY, N.C., September 10, 2020 (Newswire.com)
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    ​​Among the school reopening choices outlined by Governor Roy Cooper and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Plan B allows North Carolina students to return to classrooms in a blend of in-person and virtual instruction. Accordingly, Wake County Families to Safely Reopen Schools respectfully requests that the Wake County Board of Education (the “School Board”) finalize a clear plan to reopen schools under Plan B no later than Oct. 1 and that schools reopen no later than Oct. 22. ​

    Wake County Families to Safely Reopen Schools believes in the Wake County Public School System, our school administrators, and our teachers. We believe that our community is strong and that we can create a public-private partnership to return students and teachers to schools safely, consistent with The Strong Schools NC Public Health Toolkit (K-12). Most important, we believe that there is no replacement for in-person student-teacher interaction within the school building. We believe that our students deserve and are legally entitled to this education.

    The School Board’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been inconsistent and muddled. ​The School Board has changed the date for reopening at least three times and currently takes the position that schools will be reopened in Plan B as soon as it is “practical,” without providing clear guidance what that means. We have written to our School Board members seeking clarity and have received no concrete response.

    On July 10, Superintendent Cathy Moore stated that decisions will be made in accordance with “state health guidelines and legal requirements that are handed to school systems.” The state has given the School Board a toolkit for reopening. The governor has allowed schools to reopen in Plan B. Parents and the community are offering to help. The School Board continues to stall.

    To date, the School Board has no plan to safely reopen the schools for in-person instruction. In fact, in a September 9 response to a member of the group regarding a reopening date, school board member Christine Kushner stated, “I just don’t have any answers for you that reflect a consensus way forward.” However, that same day Vice-Chairwoman Roxie Cash stated that she supports a return to the classroom saying “I do not believe that we can wait any longer to put … children back in the classroom.”

    The School Board must take positive action to determine what it will take to open the schools. The time is now. A return to in-person instruction will require monumental efforts from administrators and teachers. The plan must come from the top. Our children’s education is too important to politicize.

    Wake County Families to Safely Reopen Schools is made up largely of tax-paying families in Wake County. Since its creation on Aug. 26, the group has accumulated more than 1,500 members and is steadily growing. You can find the group on Facebook.

    Source: Wake County Families to Safely Reopen Schools

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  • New Non-Profit Launches With ‘Bullish’ Outlook on Newark’s Education Future

    New Non-Profit Launches With ‘Bullish’ Outlook on Newark’s Education Future

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    New organization wants to show the nation that Newark can demonstrate ‘third way forward’ on public education

    Press Release
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    updated: Apr 30, 2019


    NEWARK, N.J., April 30, 2019 (Newswire.com)
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    As public education in Newark undergoes another major transition, a new non-profit organization is launching with a bold vision for what’s possible. The organization, named the New Jersey Children’s Foundation (NJCF), intends to show the rest of the nation that cities can move past the acrimony and us-versus-them politics of education reform to create systems of district and charter schools working together to improve opportunities for ALL children.

    The new organization’s mission is to invest in people, programs and partnerships that will improve public education systems by putting the interests of children first. Its vision is that each and every child will break down the walls of inequity through the creation of high-quality public education systems.

    “Children have been the biggest beneficiaries of the improvements to public education in Newark over the last decade,” said NJCF founder and Executive Director Kyle Rosenkrans. “But no one should run a victory lap until every child can get into a great public school. 

    “That’s why Newark’s next phase of locally driven leadership is so exciting. The city can show the nation that it’s possible for a system of district and charter schools to work together and expand educational opportunity.”

    The new organization will focus on three issue areas:

    1. Citywide School Performance. Newark has come a long way but needs a consistent, fact-based discussion about student outcomes, one that is unafraid to talk about both the successes and failures, and leads to real improvement strategies.

    2. District-Charter Collaboration. Newark can be a national model for how we create systems of high-performing public schools, with great district and charter schools living side by side as neighbors and collaborators.  

    3. Fair Funding for All Public Schools. There are tremendous inequities in the way both district and charter schools are funded in New Jersey. We will work alongside anyone dedicated to fixing this problem so that every student in the city has the resources they need to learn at the highest level.

    NJCF will do three things to advance these issues:

    1. Publish policy, data and research to promote a fact-based discussion about what’s working and what’s not and identify potential solutions.

    2. Support grassroots advocacy projects to increase the number of people involved in the discussion about public education.

    3. Fundraise for proven, citywide solutions to improve student outcomes.

    The new non-profit is launching with a board of experienced professionals that it hopes to expand over time. Board chair Everett Johnson was born and raised in Newark and is now a partner at the prestigious Wilentz law firm, specializing in municipal finance. Board member Modia Butler is a partner at Mercury Public Affairs and a top advisor to New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. Kevin Shafer is a founding board member and a partner with the City Fund, a new national philanthropic initiative that is supporting NJCF’s launch. Kevin has deep experience in working in large city school districts focused on improvement.

    Founder and Executive Director Kyle Rosenkrans has worked in Newark for more than a decade. Kyle is a first-generation college graduate from New Jersey who went on to become a civil rights attorney, law professor and public policy advocate. Kyle’s career has covered a variety of social justice initiatives in Newark: K-12 education reform, low-income housing preservation, assisting victims of foreclosure scams and related research about the impact of foreclosures on Newark communities, LGBT rights and police brutality, anti-bullying policy and prisoner reentry. He is a successful fundraiser who spent the last two years helping KIPP New Jersey build and launch a multi-million dollar fundraising campaign — raising millions in pledges for the non-profit organization. Prior to this, Kyle spent five years as lead education attorney at Essex-Newark Legal Services, two years as a visiting law professor at Seton Hall Law School’s Center for Social Justice in Newark and several years as the CEO of the charter school association in New York and Connecticut. He is a fellow of the Leadership Newark class of 2011 and proud father of a 5-year-old son.

    Contact: Matthew Frankel, MDF Strategies, 917.617.7914

    Source: New Jersey Children’s Foundation

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  • Pfister Energy Installs Solar for First Net Zero Energy Maryland School

    Pfister Energy Installs Solar for First Net Zero Energy Maryland School

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    Rooftop and Ground-mount solar part of overall renewable energy package for Wilde Lake Middle School.

    Press Release
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    updated: Mar 13, 2017


    Baltimore, Maryland, March 13, 2017 (Newswire.com)
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    ​​Pfister Energy, a national commercial solar installer, was chosen by Howard County Public Schools to help create the first net zero energy school in Maryland, Wilde Lake Middle School. To achieve net zero energy, a building is designed efficiently to reduce energy usage, then utilizes renewable energy to produce enough energy to meet its annual consumption requirements.  

    With Howard County’s goals in mind, Pfister Energy designed, engineered, and constructed rooftop and ground mounted solar systems, placing each panel at optimum tilt for maximum sun absorption and output.

    William Cole, President of Pfister Energy of Baltimore noted, “Pfister Energy presented unique qualifications, bringing over 10 years of commercial solar experience that evolved from a 100 year old commercial roofing company.  Our expertise in roof integrated solar as well as our experience in ground mounted solar was the winning combination that Howard County was looking for.”

    The new solar arrays are expected to produce over 826,000 kWh in the first year and more than 19 million kWh over a 25-year period.  Wilde Lake Middle School’s solar plan was specifically designed to work with additional renewable and energy management solutions (natural daylighting, geo thermal, lighting and building controls) creating a “stackable energy” approach that will offset power consumed on-site and therefore, eliminate the need to buy electricity from the grid. 

    The new school is nearly 30,000 square feet larger, expected to house 49% more studeMr. Cole concluded, “Statistics show the buildings sector is the primary energy consumer in the U.S. With growing concerns about the stability of our energy grid, fluctuating energy prices, and the impact on our environment, targeting this sector for net zero energy design is the key to minimizing the nation’s energy requirements. We are honored to have been chosen to work on the Wilde Lake Middle School project and are eager to share their story to educate and inspire others.”nts, and use 50% less energy than the old location.

    Mr. Cole concluded, “Statistics show the buildings sector is the primary energy consumer in the U.S. With growing concerns about the stability of our energy grid, fluctuating energy prices, and the impact on our environment, targeting this sector for net zero energy design is the key to minimizing the nation’s energy requirements. We are honored to have been chosen to work on the Wilde Lake Middle School project and are eager to share their story to educate and inspire others.”

    About Pfister Energy, Inc.

    Founded in 2005, Pfister Energy provides turnkey renewable energy systems for commercial, industrial and institutional facilities, with an emphasis on building-integrated applications.  Pfister develops innovative power solutions and energy efficiency measures for clients across a number of industries. The company’s services include the design, procurement, installation, commissioning and maintenance of photovoltaics, solar thermal, LED lighting, natural daylighting, wind power, solar lighting, green roofing, geothermal, rainwater harvesting and fuel cell systems. As a total solutions provider, Pfister Energy offers customized alternative energy systems and assists clients with financing and implementing the latest renewable and energy efficient technologies.

    Source: Pfister Energy

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  • Dance Education Documentary PS DANCE! Is Nominated for a New York Emmy

    Dance Education Documentary PS DANCE! Is Nominated for a New York Emmy

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    PS DANCE!, an inspirational film about dance education in New York City public schools, has been nominated for a New York Emmy in the Documentary category. The New York Emmy Awards will be held on Saturday, March 19, 2016.

    PS DANCE! showcases the profound effects of consistent and sequential dance education programs in five NYC public schools. It debuted on public television on THIRTEEN/WNET, WLIW21 and NJTV in May 2015 and has been broadcast on public television channels across the nation.


    New York, NY, March 16, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    PS DANCE!, an inspirational film about dance education in New York City public schools, has been nominated for a New York Emmy in the Documentary category. The New York Emmy Awards will be held on Saturday, March 19, 2016.

    PS DANCE! showcases the profound effects of consistent and sequential dance education programs in five NYC public schools. It debuted on public television on THIRTEEN/WNET, WLIW21 and NJTV in May 2015 and has been broadcast on public television channels across the nation including stations in Denver, Tampa, Rochester, Miami, Boston, Albany, Orlando, Detroit, San Francisco, Phoenix, Cleveland, New York and New Jersey.

    After the initial broadcast, the full film became available for online viewing at http://www.thirteen.org/programs/thirteen-specials/ps-dance. PS DANCE! was a featured screening at Dance Films Association’s 2016 Dance on Camera Festival and has been discussed on panels during Dance/NYC’s 2016 Symposium, the 2015 National Dance Education Organization conference, and more.

    Hosted by veteran TV journalist Paula Zahn and filmed in the classrooms of five NYC public school full-time certified dance educators, this film reveals the impact that dance instruction has on students’ aesthetic, artistic and expressive development. While every child is born with the innate inclination to create, imagine and dance, PS DANCE! highlights how the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance, PreK-12, supports dance teachers in developing these qualities. The Blueprint, used by dance teachers citywide, frames this documentary created by Executive Producer Jody Gottfried Arnhold, Director and Producer Nel Shelby, and Dance Education Consultant Joan Finkelstein. The film was developed in collaboration with the NYC Department of Education Office of Arts and Special Projects.

    The documentary captures a typical day in the classrooms of five extraordinary master dance educators: Catherine Gallant (Pre-K-5), Battery Park City’s P.S. 89; Ana Nery Fragoso (K-5), the current NYCDOE Director of Dance, P.S 315 in Midwood; Michael Kerr (6-8), Brooklyn’s New Voices School of Academic & Creative Arts; Patricia Dye (9-12), Science Skills Center High School for Science, Technology and the Creative Arts in Downtown Brooklyn; and Ani Udovicki (9-12), Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, in Long Island City.

    After the film’s release, Arnhold, Shelby and Finkelstein launched an organization with the mission: Dance for Every Child. Dance education enthusiasts can submit their details at psdancenyc.com and join in advocating for more dance in schools. The movement will empower implementation of quality dance programs in schools across the nation.

    PS DANCE! is available on DVD distributed by First Run Features and for rent or purchase on Vimeo. All proceeds from the sale of the film will go to The Fund for Public Schools for dance education programs in NYC Public Schools.

    JOIN THE MOVEMENT: DANCE FOR EVERY CHILD
    Visit psdancenyc.com to join the movement to bring dance to every child and follow the discussion on social media on Facebook,  Twitter and Instagram or by using the hashtags #psdancenyc and #danceforeverychild.

    ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

    Jody Gottfried Arnhold is a passionate dance advocate and educator. She taught dance in NYC public schools for over twenty years, founded Dance Education Laboratory 92Y (DEL), supports the dance program at NYC Dept. of Education, created the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College, and supported and mentored countless dance teachers many of whom now lead the field. She champions and supports NYC dance companies including Ballet Hispanico where she is Honorary Chair. Arnhold serves on the Board at 92Y, Harkness Foundation for Dance, Hunter College, Chairs Hunter’s Dance Advisory Committee, and is on Dance/NYC’s Advisory Committee. She has received the National Dance Education Organization’s Visionary Award, Teachers College Distinguished Alumni Award, the New York State Dance Education Association 2015 Outstanding Leadership Award, Dance Films Association’s 2016 Dance in Focus Award, and was honored by the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable and Lincoln Center Education for her commitment to dance education. She holds a B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and M.A. in Dance Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and is a Certified Movement Analyst. Arnhold continues these efforts as the Executive Producer of the NY Emmy nominated documentary, PS DANCE!, to raise awareness and advocate for her mission Dance for Every Child. It is not just a movie. It is a movement – and Arnhold leads it!

    Nel Shelby, Director and Producer of PS DANCE! and founder and principal at dance film production company Nel Shelby Productions, is deeply dedicated to the preservation and promotion of dance through documentation of live performance, creative video marketing and original filmmaking. Her NYC-based video production company, Nel Shelby Productions, has grown to encompass a long and diverse list of dance clients, and her team has filmed performances at venues throughout the greater New York area and beyond. Shelby serves as Festival Videographer for the internationally celebrated Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival each summer and is also Resident Videographer at the Vail International Dance Festival. Her longer-form, half-hour documentary on Vail’s festival, The Altitude of Dance, debuted on Rocky Mountain PBS in May 2013. In 2016, she will have a premiere screening of a new half-hour dance documentary featuring Nejla Y. Yatkin that she filmed in Central America in 2010. Shelby created four short films for Wendy Whelan’s Restless Creature, and she collaborated with Adam Barruch Dance on a short film titled “Folie a Deux,” which was selected and screened at the Dance on Camera Festival in New York City and San Francisco Dance Film Festival. She has a long personal history with movement – in addition to her degree in broadcast video, she holds a B.F.A. in dance and is a certified Pilates instructor.

    Joan Finkelstein, Dance Education Consultant for PS DANCE! and Executive Director of the Harkness Foundation for Dance, performed professionally in modern, ballet and Afro-Caribbean dance companies and in RAGS on Broadway, choreographed for the Atlanta Ballet and the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and has taught children and adults across the nation. She directed the 92Y Harkness Dance Center from 1992-2004, overseeing classes, the 92Y Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) teacher-training program, performances, workshops, lectures, and social dances. As Director of Dance for the New York City Department of Education from 2004-2014, she spearheaded the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in Dance PreK-12 and ongoing professional development for dance teachers. A member of the Dance Writing Task Force that created the new National Core Arts Standards in Dance, she received the National Dance Education Organization’s 2009 Leadership Award and the New York State Dance Education Association’s 2014 Outstanding Leadership Award. Finkelstein holds a BFA (Dance Performance) and MFA (Choreography) from NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

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  • Daley Plaza Announced as Official Location for Spark Chicago’s Discovery Day

    Daley Plaza Announced as Official Location for Spark Chicago’s Discovery Day

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    Hundreds of CPS Middle School Youth and Spark Mentors to Showcase Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship at Inaugural Citywide Celebration


    CHICAGO, IL, March 15, 2016 (Newswire.com)
    –
    ​​​​​Spark today announced its inaugural citywide Discovery Day event will take place on Daley Plaza on June 10, 2016 to celebrate hundreds of Chicago middle school youth who are participating in workplace-based apprenticeships with Spark mentors at companies like Google, KPMG, Tyson Foods, West Monroe Partners, and more.  The event will showcase the talents of over 300 students through hands-on projects like making films, creating websites and video games, pitching new businesses, building mobile applications, robots, and more.

    Discovery Day is sponsored by leading Chicago companies and is hosted by the Spark Chicago Board of Directors.  The event committee includes Charles Calloway of Chapman and Cutler LLP, Jim Evans of Entertainment Cruises, Kyla Kelly of Google, Ashley Lavin of Northern Trust, Robin Lavin of the Osa Foundation, David Leiter of KPMG, Neil Mann of Chapman and Cutler LLP, Kristina Oderinde of KPMG, Gordana Radmilovic of West Monroe Partners, and Marta Stein of McGuireWoods LLP.

    “I am working with my Spark mentor Jordan on a project to make Chicago a better city for all of us,” said Armon, Spark student from North Lawndale. “I want to thank the City of Chicago for allowing Discovery Day to take place on Daley Plaza. I hope a lot of people will visit my booth to hear my ideas for our city.”

    Armon, 7th Grade Spark student in North Lawndale

    Since the launching of the Chicago program in 2011, Spark has served over 1,000 Chicago Public School (CPS) students. Through dynamic apprenticeships, Chicago’s youth are exploring career fields including entrepreneurship, STEM, law, architecture, and more. These workplace experiences empower students to dream big and envision themselves working in some of the nation’s top industries and companies.

    “I am working with my Spark mentor Jordan on a project to make Chicago a better city for all of us,” said Armon, Spark student from North Lawndale.  “I want to thank the City of Chicago for allowing Discovery Day to take place on Daley Plaza.  I hope a lot of people will visit my booth to hear my ideas for our city.”

    Discovery Day is the culminating event of a yearlong program in which 7th and 8th graders work with volunteer mentors at the workplace.  The event will feature Spark students engaging the entire City of Chicago through interactive displays and presentations showcasing their skills in technology, business, design, and beyond.

    In 2004, Spark was founded by two educators who saw early intervention as a tool to help under-resourced youth build the confidence, skills and career awareness to thrive in school and in the workforce.  Spark successfully gets students on track in key areas of attendance, behavior, and grades. What’s more, Spark students transition to high school at rates higher than their counterparts. Evidence shows that by combining project-based learning with engaging mentors in the workplace and a 21st century skill-building curriculum, Spark students enter high school engaged, on-track, and ready for success.

    “Investing in Spark is a commitment to the future,” said Kathleen St. Louis Caliento, Ph.D., Executive Director of Spark Chicago. “Spark students represent the promise of tomorrow, and with the support of our partners and the Chicago community we are hopeful that we can reach even more students in the years to come.”

    Spark’s leading investors in Chicago include CEB, Deloitte, Finnegan Family Foundation, Google, KPMG, Osa Foundation, Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Polk Bros. Foundation, Pritzker Foundation, Steans Family Foundation, Tyson Foods, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, West Monroe Partners, and Zell Family Foundation.  Starcom MediaVest Group is Spark’s media sponsor.  Spark is a proud partner of Chicago Public Schools, the City of Chicago, and Department of Family and Support Services.

    Spark is grateful for support of the program and the Discovery Day event.  Individuals, corporations, foundations and organizations interested in supporting and contributing to Spark and Discovery Day can visit DiscoverSparkChicago.org.  Follow Spark on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @SparkProgramCHI and use #DiscoverSpark to follow the Discovery Day excitement.

    —

    ABOUT SPARK:

    Spark is a national non-profit organization that provides life-changing apprenticeships to middle school youth in underserved communities in Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay Area. We re-engage underserved seventh and eighth grade students in their education, keeping them on track and ready for success in high school and beyond through workplace-based apprenticeships that uniquely combine mentoring, project-based learning, skill building and career exploration.

    Spark partners with Chicago Public Schools to serve school communities on the south and west sides of Chicago including Ariel Community Academy, Chavez Multicultural Academic Center, Deneen School of Excellence, Dewey School of Excellence, Frazier International Magnet School, Irvin C. Mollison Elementary School, John Fiske Elementary, John Milton Gregory Elementary School, Legacy Charter School, Namaste Charter School, National Teachers Academy, and Perkins Bass Elementary.

    For more information, visit sparkprogram.org.  Follow the excitement on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter @SparkProgramCHI using #DiscoverSpark.

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