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Missouri vaccination update: Get ready teachers, childcare centers, grocery workers

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The next tier of Missouri’s coronavirus vaccination plan will be activated on March 15. That means all teachers, faculty, and staff in public, private, and nonprofit pre K-12 will become eligible. So will state licensed childcare center workers, some food production employees, as well as grocery and convenience stores workers.

Missouri is currently vaccinating residents in Phase 1A, Phase 1B – Tier 1, Phase 1B – Tier 2.

During a press briefing today, Gov. Mike Parson says the next group to become eligible, Phase 1B – Tier 3, allows 550,000 additional Missourians to get vaccinated.

Missouri Governor Mike Parson briefs Capitol reporters in Jefferson City on February 4, 2021 (file photo courtesy of the governor’s Flickr page)

“Tier 3 represents another very important part of our society,” says Parson. “They are the workers in many of the industries we depend on each day to keep our day-to-day lives operating normally.”

Earlier this month, Missouri’s 2017-2021 Teachers of the Year sent a letter to state Department of Health and Senior Services Director Randall Williams asking him to prioritize educators and support staff for immediate coronavirus vaccinations. Missouri’s K-12 schools have been operating for months with at least partial in-person education.

The following is a statement from the Chair of Missouri’s Education Roundtable, Dr. Doug Hayter:

“The Education Roundtable, representing eight major education organizations in Missouri, appreciates Governor Parson’s announcement allowing educators to begin receiving COVID-19 vaccinations. Getting educators vaccinated as soon as possible is an important step toward keeping educators in the classroom and providing our students with in-person instruction.”

Missouri’s Education Roundtable is made up of the American Federation of Teachers (Missouri), the Missouri Association of Elementary School Principals, the Missouri Association of School Administrators, the Missouri National Education Association, the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals, the Missouri School Boards’ Association, the Missouri State Teachers Association, and the Missouri PTA.

Parson says vaccine supply remains limited, but he expects slow and steady increases.

“We heard news this week that the pharmaceutical companies are increasing their production,” says Parson. “The federal government is planning to increase our allotment and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is expected to be approved at any time.”

The governor says he expects that Missouri will be able to order vaccine from Johnson & Johnson by early next week.

He says if supply continues to improve, Parson says he thinks Phase 2 of Missouri’s vaccination plan will begin mid-April.

A press release today from Parson’s office says the state also continues to move forward with regional mass vaccination events. There have been 68 completed across Missouri, and more than 66,500 Missourians have received an initial vaccine dose at one of these events.

The release says targeted teams in St. Louis and Kansas City have completed 24 vaccine clinics with more planned in the coming days and weeks. These teams serve vulnerable populations in communities with limited access to health care.

For more information about the next tier of eligible Missourians, click here.

Copyright © 2021 · Missourinet

Missouri Supreme Court hears arguments in key case involving 2018 labor bill

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The Missouri Supreme Court heard remote oral arguments on Monday afternoon in a key case involving public-sector employee labor laws.

The Supreme Court heard 36 minutes of arguments in a complicated case that involves a 2018 Missouri bill, that was sponsored by State Rep. Jered Taylor, R-Nixa. Republicans describe that bill, House Bill 1413, as paycheck protection, while Democrats view it as anti-labor.

In January, St. Louis County Circuit Judge Joseph Walsh III declared the bill “void in its entirety,” and prevented any of its provisions from being enforced. The state appealed.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer says the trial court erred several times, and emphasizes that no provision of the bill violates public employees’ rights to bargain collectively.

“There’s unrefuted, unrebutted evidence in the summary judgment record in this case that the plaintiffs submitted no evidence at all to refute that directly addresses how the various provisions of House Bill 1413 do protect in advance employees’ ability to select representatives of their own choosing,” Sauer tells the court.

You can read the full 146-page brief submitted by Solicitor General Sauer here.

Seven labor unions that represent public sector employees in Missouri disagree with Mr. Sauer, and are asking the state Supreme Court to affirm Judge Walsh’s decision. Those unions include the Missouri National Education Association, Ferguson-Florissant National Education Association and the Laborers’ International Union of North America, Local Union Number 42.

National Education Association attorney Jason Walta, who represented the plaintiffs at the Missouri Supreme Court, says the 2018 bill dramatically curtails public-sector collective bargaining.

“I think that the trial court wrote a very thoughful and excellent decision in this matter. He (Judge Walsh) considered the issues very carefully, and I think that it’s a decision that’s worthy of this court’s affirmance,” Walta tells the Supreme Court.

Counselor Walta says the bill infringes on the rights of employees to bargain collectively. You can read the full 103-page brief submitted by Counselor Walta here.

Because of COVID concerns, Missouri Supreme Court Chief Justice George Draper III was the only judge in the Jefferson City courtroom on Monday. The other six Supreme Court judges participated remotely, as did Counselors Sauer and Walta. Capitol reporters listened to the arguments remotely.

There is no timeframe on when the Supreme Court will issue a decision.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Getting meals to Missouri students learning online: “Where there’s a will there’s a way”

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Missouri has consistently ranked as one of the worst states in the nation for people having access to enough food. Many students count on their schools to provide them with a number of basic needs, including nutritious meals.

Getting meals to Missouri students learning online: “Where there’s a will there’s a way”

When Missouri’s schools closed in March to fight the spread of COVID-19, the community sprang into action to help ensure that students did not go hungry. Educators, parents, philanthropists, the Missouri National Guard and others have worked to fill the hearts, bellies and minds of our youth during these uncertain times. Some continued to do so throughout the summer and even today.

Now that the academic year has started again, Missouri schools are taking a variety of approaches to get food to kids learning remotely who also qualify for free or reduced price meals. Phil Murray, president of the Missouri National Education Association, says schools have been creative.

“A lot of places – there’s just multiple delivery spots. I know that in Poplar Bluff, where I’m from, actually they sat through the summer and actually used the schools and other locations as drop-off points for food for families. I think that where there’s a will there’s a way,” says Murray.

Some schools are also using buses to deliver food directly to kids.

“We know how important it is to make sure that our kids are taken care of and I think that’s something that we’re all on the same page on,” he says.

Doug Thaman, executive director of the Missouri Charter Public School Association, says the state’s charter schools, which are in St. Louis and Kansas City, are taking similar measures.

“That was really important as a community to make sure that we were covering all those areas and did not have any families who just were unable to provide nutritious meals to their kids,” he says.

Thaman says some Missouri charter schools are pickup sites for anyone in the community with kids 18 and under to stop by and get meals once or twice a week. Others are running buses to key locations in neighborhoods for families who live further out and might not have transportation.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Database of COVID-19 exposures in schools? Missouri NEA wants one.

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The Missouri National Education Association says the state should make a centralized system for the public to see information about COVID-19 exposures in K-12 and higher education schools. It has sent a letter to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education calling on the agency to create one that would “regularly publish” the information and protect patient privacy.

Database of COVID-19 exposures in schools? Missouri NEA wants one.

President Phil Murray tells Missourinet his organization began a weekly report over the summer detailing some exposures within K-12 schools because he says some communities did not have accurate information. He says in a couple instances, people were told by their administrators not to talk about any positive cases that popped up. In other cases, he says schools were not reaching their entire audience through social media, the newspaper or the radio.

“The information was not widely distributed and if you weren’t listening on that particular day or you weren’t on social media, you probably weren’t going to get that report. And so, the districts were communicating with their local communities but they were not communicating with the community as a whole,” he says.

Murray says the association’s weekly report does not capture the true scope of exposure in schools and thinks the state could present a much more comprehensive picture.

“This is something that none of us have ever had to deal with and we are all kind of making it up as we go and we are trying to work together. We have been generally very happy with the things that DESE has been doing for our schools. We just came up with this idea and we would really like for them to continue this work,” he says. “Several districts are starting to do their own reporting and we are very grateful for that. Springfield Public Schools has a dashboard. We know that the Troy Public Schools has a dashboard as well. So, districts are starting to become a little more transparent. We are just looking for all that information to be in one place.”

Some schools started this week while others started a couple weeks ago. So why is the request being made now?

“There are several districts that have been in session now for a couple weeks,” Murray says. “And so what’s happening in those districts – that’s information we would like everybody to have as well. We are all in different places right now, but we are actually in the place where we’re starting to get some real hard information and we really think that’s information that should be shared.”

Murray says the database should include:

*The building or activity in which the exposure occurred
*The date of the incident
*The number of people exposed
*Actions the school district is taking to inform parents and staff
*Safety precautions the district is implementing to limit exposure and spread to others

The association, about 34,000 members strong, wants the state to require schools to report cases directly to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).

The department says schools are required to report the information to their local and state Health Departments. DESE spokesperson Mallory McGowin says the agencies are working to make this information available to the public. DESE says it has forwarded the association’s request to DHSS for review.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

Parson about kids catching COVID-19 comments: ‘What I said didn’t come out the way I intended’

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Gov. Mike Parson has gained national attention for comments he made Friday on “The Marc Cox Morning Show” in St. Louis. The governor has been firm in getting Missouri’s kids back to school this fall.

Gov. Mike Parson

“These kids have got to get back to school,” Parson said. “They’re at the lowest risk possible. And if they do get COVID-19, which they will — and they will when they go to school — they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home, and they’re going to get over it.”

The governor’s comments have sparked a flurry of criticism in Missouri and nationally.

A statement from Missouri National Education Association President Phil Murray says Parson’s comments demonstrate “a callous disregard for the suffering of children and the safety of the parents, grandparents, educators, and students that will be put at risk if schools are reopened with improper plans and protections.”

State Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democratic candidate for governor, said Parson’s comments displayed “stunning ignorance”.

Former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, had a bit more to say.

Former presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, inserted her thoughts.

During a press conference Wednesday at the state Capitol, Parson started off by bringing up the topic. The governor says he did not do a good job of explaining his point – that COVID-19 will likely be in Missouri’s schools and we must be prepared.

“For someone to use politics as a tool to say that I don’t give a damn about children is one sick individual,” Parson says during a Capitol press conference Wednesday. “And anybody that wants to follow my career, take a good look at it and you’ll find out who I care about and who I’ve protected.”

Parson pointed out that his daughter is a teacher and he has five grandchildren attending public schools. He added that he has funded education more than any other Missouri governor.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

State could require Missouri school districts to have armed resource officers

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Missouri public school districts could be required to have at least one armed officer in every building during normal school hours. The House Elementary and Secondary Education committee is considering the bill sponsored by State Representative Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon. It would also have retired police officers, educators, military members or veterans, or volunteers serve in the paid or unpaid roles. Under the proposed mandate, the individuals would have to complete training prior to starting.

State Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O’Fallon, speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on May 17, 2019 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

“I don’t think every Tom, Dick and Harry should be tasked with looking out for the kids, making sure certain situations don’t arise, looking out for the safety of the entire staff. I think that you need somebody who’s armed and trained in these situations,” says Schroer.

During a public hearing, Representative Chuck Basye, R-Rocheport, says he backs the measure.

“I think we should try and do everything we can to make sure our children are as safe as possible,” says Basye.

Representative Karla Eslinger, R-Wasola, a lifelong educator, says she wants the bill to go a step further.

“Some of the most heated times that we’ve had, where I was truly concerned about behavior or somebody being violent was at ball games, when you have those extracurricular kinds of times,” she says.

The legislation would put an administrator’s or employee’s job in jeopardy if they fail to ensure that an armed officer is on duty.

“I don’t see why any school district, even though we have 60% of them so far that have RSOs, why would they go the extra mile to ensure the safety of their children if they’re not required to and there were penalties if they didn’t do so,” says Schroer.

Otto Fagin, speaking on behalf of the Missouri National Education Association, says local school boards should decide about armed resource officers – not the state.

“We have concerns that when you create this mandate, but there’s no funding attached with it, which may be an Article 10 violation, that creates a pressure for the school districts,” says Fagin. “Do we cut staff in other areas so that we can have school resource officers? The governor’s safety task force – they talk about the best solutions designed through local governance and that one size doesn’t fit all and we agree with that very strongly. That’s why we have concerns about a bill that mandates this. We would probably have no objection whatsoever if the state were wanting to invest in supporting school districts having more access to resource officers in every school.”

Moms Demand Action member Cathy Gilbert of St. Louis County raised other concerns.

“Most school violence is not the mass shootings that we see at Parkland or Sandy Hook. Most of those incidents – 78% – are guns brought to school by students from home,” says Gilbert. So, we need to ensure that parents are aware that safe storage is a critical factor in keeping their children safe.”

The state has 518 public school districts and about 2,400 school buildings.

The committee has not yet voted on House Bill 1961.

Copyright © 2020 · Missourinet

MO Education Commissioner addresses e-mail controversy (AUDIO)

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Missouri’s Commissioner of Education says she and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education did nothing unusual in working with a lobbyist on the development of a ballot initiative.

Chris Nicastro testifies in a House Committee Hearing (courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

Chris Nicastro testifies in a House Committee Hearing (courtesy; Missouri House Communications)

The Missouri chapter of the National Education Association obtained and released e-mails exchanged among Chris Nicastro, staff members at DESE and Kate Casas, state policy director for the Children’s Education Council of Missouri. MNEA Political Director Mark Jones says those e-mails, “show a disturbing level of collusion and cooperation between a high-ranking official and a paid lobbyist.”

The ballot initiative Casas was working on would eliminate teacher tenure and institute teacher evaluations based on student performance. The campaign has been financed by political activist Rex Sinquefield.

Nicastro tells Missourinet her office routinely reviews proposals from individuals and organizations from varying points of view to make sure they don’t conflict with the State Board of Education’s vision for education in the state.

She stresses DESE was not working with Casas on the tenure issue.

“We made it very clear from the beginning that we did not have a position on tenure and would not weigh in on that topic,” she says.

Nicastro says her staff instead focused on the student performance testing component of the initiative and how that might mesh with what DESE is doing regarding educator evaluations.

“We’ve been working on that with all of our education partners, including the NEA, for three years and we wanted to make sure that whatever they put in the petition, should that prove to be passed at some point, that it didn’t conflict with that work.”

See our earlier story on MNEA’s release of those e-mails

Jones keys on two points in the e-mail communications. In one, Nicastro instructs DESE Counsel Mark VanZandt to bring copies of the proposed language to the closed session meeting of the State Board of Education and not to include it in the publicly posted agenda.

Nicastro says there was “nothing nefarious” or unusual about that.

“We do not post things that go into closed session. That’s certainly in compliance with the law,” says Nicastro. “The reason we would do that in executive session is so that the Board’s attorney could brief them on the implications of that initiative petition relative to the Board’s role in dealing with evaluation or other issues that might come up legally, related to that petition.”

Jones also criticizes Nicastro for changing a proposed cost estimate to be submitted to the State Auditor from reading local governments could face the “potential for significant unknown costs” to reading “cost unknown.”

Nicastro says her change made the wording more concise, and was meant to keep DESE’s input on the fiscal note objective.

“Any time we do a fiscal note we have to be sure that we can document exactly where those numbers came from,” she explains.

She says the costs of student testing in support of new staff evaluations could vary widely across Missouri’s 520 school districts and more than 50 charter school local education agencies.

“If they choose to adopt the state model as it exists, if they choose to use all the forms and procedures that we’ve outlined, if they choose to use the training that we’ve provided, their cost could be zero or very little. If, on the other hand, a district were to choose … which they can … to develop their own model aligned with the seven principles that we’ve put forth and do their own development and their own training, their cost could be quite significant,” says Nicastro. “In a case like that we would simply say we don’t know. ‘Cost unknown.'”

Nicastro says she does not know if at the time she changed the fiscal note, information was available from the cost analyses of cost of the new student testing the initiative would require.

In those analyses the Cape Girardeau District said the tests could cost it more than $2.6 million up front and more than $105,000 annually. The Hannibal District put those costs at more than $1.7 million initially and more than $79,000 annually. The Rockwood School District said the initial cost would be more than $10 million, with an annual cost of nearly $557,000.

Nicastro says, “I wouldn’t be privy to that.”

The State School Board President has revised its statement in support of Nicastro. It asserts, “The Commissioner and her staff routinely respond to requests for review of legislative proposals. In this case the primary focus was on alignment with the Department’s work on a state model for educator evaluation.”

Listen to Mike Lear’s interview with Chris Nicastro:

Union: MO education commissioner too involved with lobbyist backing teacher tenure initiative

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The Missouri chapter of a national teachers’ union says the state’s education commissioner went too far in working with lobbyists creating a ballot initiative to eliminate teacher tenure and institute evaluations based on student performance.

The Missouri-National Education Association obtained a series of e-mails from September of last year through March of this year between Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro and other Department of Elementary and Secondary Education officials and staff members and Kate Casas, state policy director for the Children’s Education Council of Missouri, a group backed by political activist Rex Sinquefield.

MNEA Political Director Mark Jones says those e-mails show Nicastro editing the proposed initiative and making comments to expand its scope. He says the e-mail communications, “show a disturbing level of collusion and cooperation between a high-ranking official and a paid lobbyist.”

In one e-mail, Nicastro instructs DESE Counsel Mark VanZandt to bring copies of the proposed language to the closed session meeting of the State Board of Education and not to include it in the publicly posted agenda.

After the ballot initiative had been submitted to the Secretary of State’s Office, Nicastro changed a proposed cost estimate to be submitted to the State Auditor from reading local governments could face the “potential for significant unknown costs” to reading “cost unknown.”

Three analyses were done by local school districts in Missouri of the costs of the new evaluations the initiative would require. The Cape Girardeau District says the tests could cost it more than $2.6 million up front and more than $105,000 annually. The Hannibal District put those costs at more than $1.7 million initially and more than $79,000 annually. The Rockwood School District said the initial cost would be more than $10 million, with an annual cost of nearly $557,000.

Jones says MNEA also submitted a cost analysis.

“We estimated the initiative requires high stakes, standardized testing in every subject and every grade,” Jones says, “and will cost at least $200-million, and the upward cost is actually several billion dollars.”

The summary of the Auditor’s fiscal note for the initiative reads, “Decisions by school districts regarding provisions allowed or required by this proposal and their implementation will influence the potential costs or savings impacting each district. Significant potential costs may be incurred by the state and/or the districts if new/additional evaluation instruments must be developed to satisfy the proposal’s performance evaluation requirements.”

Attempts to reach Casas for comment were not responded to by the time this story was posted.

The State Board of Education in a statement says, “It is the duty of Missouri Commissioner of Education to serve all members of the public not just select groups. It’s unfortunate that special interest groups want the Commissioner to choose sides in debates that serve the interests of adults not children.”