RIGHT SPEAK: Pennsylvania Dad Takes on School District Over Strict COVID Policies: ‘You’re hurting my kids’; With So Few Students in Class, Why aren’t Public Schools Doing Better? and other C-Virus related stories

Pennsylvania dad takes on school district over strict COVID policies: ‘You’re hurting my kids’:

Chad Williams is taking the fight against COVID-era tyranny to his kids’ school district in southeastern Pennsylvania.

“If I don’t fight this battle, nobody else is going to,” Williams told The Post. “What happened was wrong.”

A business lawyer and father of four, Williams began to question the Unionville-Chadds Fords School District’s legal authority to impose restrictions such as mask mandates and forced remote instruction during the pandemic in 2020.

At the time, his children — who ranged from elementary school to high school — were struggling mightily with disruptions to their schooling.

Like so many other parents, Williams had a simple question for his children’s school officials in the Philadelphia suburbs: Why push policies that clearly do damage to our children?

“You’re hurting my kids. I don’t think you have the legal authority to enforce the policies you’re enforcing,” Williams said of his initial communications with school officials. “I want to know where your authority comes from, and why you’re refusing to report the harm [done] to my kids and to other kids.

As a volunteer football coach in the district at the time, Williams was a mandated reporter and therefore compelled to raise his concerns for the community’s children.

Four years later, Williams is fighting for answers.

“This is the only case in the country that I am aware of that is a legal challenge based on unlawful conduct by school officials during the pandemic that resulted in harm to children,” Williams said.

Williams said the Pennsylvania Department of Education finally confirmed in a letter he received Friday that on the merits of his Educator Misconduct Complaint, it will investigate UCFSD Superintendent John Sanville for misconduct and potential violations of the law. --->READ MORE HERE

KEVIN C DOWNS

With so few students in class, why aren’t public schools doing better?

Across America, student enrollment in traditional public schools is plummeting to lows not seen in generations.

Yet many states, cities, and districts stubbornly cling to a bloated staffing and organizational model ill-suited to today’s realities.

We collected data on 9 of the 10 largest urban school districts and their states and found that policymakers have embraced funding models that insulate school districts from the fiscal implications of dwindling student enrollments — a risky divorce from prudent budgeting.

Even as enrollments fell, costs per student increased in New York City, Houston, San Diego, Dallas, Austin, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Antonio, and Los Angeles. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the number of public school teachers was 11% higher in 2021 (3.8 million) than in 2011 (3.4 million).

Following these trends, the student-to-teacher ratio fell in Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Houston, and San Antonio because of declining enrollment.

For reference, from 2013-2022, cities such as Philadelphia and San Antonio witnessed overall enrollment declines of nearly 17%.

Enrollment in Chicago declined 21%. Furthermore, NCES reports that public schools spent an average of $14,789 per pupil in 2020, an increase of 9% from 2010.

Previously, the high costs associated with hiring more teachers posed a barrier to rapidly reducing class sizes.

But as enrollments plummet while staffing levels hold steady or even increase, a leaner student population is enabling lower student-teacher ratios organically. --->READ MORE HERE