Georgia Pre-K teachers to get two more $1,000 bonuses – By AP News
State-funded prekindergarten and child care teachers in Georgia will get two more rounds of $1,000 bonuses paid from federal coronavirus aid.
The Department of Early Care and Learning announced the plan Tuesday, with one bonus planned for early this year and one planned for June. Commissioner Amy Jacobs in a statement called the payments “a small yet significant way to recognize the dedication and hard work shown during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
An earlier round of bonuses last year paid a total of $33.4 million to more than 33,000 teachers statewide. Jacobs told The Associated Press on Wednesday that all three rounds of bonuses are projected to cost about $100 million.
The state and public university system made $1,000 bonus payments to K-12 and university employees last year, also using federal aid.
In addition to the roughly 3,800 prekindergarten teachers and assistant teachers in Georgia’s public schools getting the bonuses, an equal number of prekindergarten teachers and assistants in private schools will get the money. A much larger number of teachers of children 3 or younger are eligible.
Second State Seeks to Lift Tuition Assistance Ban on Incarcerated Students – By Hugh Furguson, NASFAA News
New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday announced that her administration would seek to restore Tuition Assistance Program funding to incarcerated New Yorkers, lifting a 30-year eligibility ban. The move would make New York just the second state to repeal a state-wide ban along with New Jersey.
According to a recent analysis from The Education Commission of the States as of 2020 there were "19 of the 52 U.S. states and jurisdictions place no restrictions on eligibility for system-impacted students in either of their two largest financial aid grant programs."
“We know that incarcerated people who participate in correctional education programs are far less likely to reoffend and 13 times more likely to obtain employment after returning home,” Hochul said during her state of the state address. “So today I'm announcing a new ‘Jails-to-Jobs,’ initiative, so incarcerated people will have the support they need to find employment during re-entry.”
California looks to add 10,000 mental health clinicians to public schools – from CBS8
As the pandemic approaches the two-year mark, kids and teens are experiencing increased rates of depression and anxiety, and emergency rooms are seeing more young people suspected of trying to harm themselves.
In light of this, the American Academy of Pediatrics recently declared a national state of emergency in children's mental health, and California schools are responding.
"We are definitely seeing higher incidences of depression," said psychiatrist Dr. Gaurav Mishra, Chief Behavioral Health Officer for San Ysidro Health. "We are seeing a lot more anxiety."
Dr. Mishra said the disruption caused by the pandemic to schools has had a profound impact on our children's and teens' mental health as well as their ability to seek help.
"Many kids are waiting much longer," Mishra said. "And their symptoms are progressing a lot further before they get help."
Dozens of schools start 2022 with doors closed due to surging infections – By Matt Zalaznick, District Administration
Students and teachers in dozens of districts, many in the Northeast, will spend days to weeks on remote learning to start 2022 due to the latest COVID wave. And additional districts were closed Monday and Tuesday to allow students and staff to get COVID tests before returning to their classrooms.
Though New York City schools began the year in person, two large districts on the city’s northern border, in Mount Vernon and Yonkers, have gone remote in efforts to stem the spread of COVID.
Mount Vernon City School District, which borders New York City, has made one of the longest planned shifts to virtual learning, keeping students home until at least Jan. 18, 2022. Administrators say the closure could last longer and thay they will implement weekly COVID testing when schools reopen. “I have been very reluctant to close schools, but given the current trends in COVID cases it would be risky not to do so,” Superintendent Kenneth R. Hamilton said in a message to the district.
Neighboring Yonkers Public Schools will be remote for the first week of 2022, with students expected to return in person on Jan. 10. The City School District of New Rochelle, another urban district just north of New York City, has also shifted to virtual learning until Jan. 10 due to sharp and rapid increases in COVID infection rates, Superintendent Jonathan Raymond said in a message to the district.
“The rates of infection and transmission have surpassed levels seen at the height of the pandemic last year,” Raymond said, adding that the district will launch a test-to-stay program when in-person classes resume.
