Virginia HS lowers standards so much that students don’t even need to try on final exams or complete assignments on time



A school district in northern Virginia is making sure students don't fall behind during the COVID-19 pandemic by discounting bad final exam grades and no longer requiring students to complete homework assignments on time.

What are the details?

In an email to parents on Thursday, Alexandria City High School Principal Peter Balas reminded parents about adjusted grading policies passed by district board members last month that aim to "mitigate the impact of the pandemic" on students.

The policies — which effectively make it so that students don't need to try at all on final exams or worry about completing homework assignments — sound like a lazy high school student's dream.

"A final exam for a year-long or semester course will only be counted if it does not lower the student’s final grade for the course," Balas noted, adding, "The lowest grade that may be awarded on a final exam is 50%."

As for missing work, Balas recited that "a one-week minimum grace period with no penalty will be used for all assignment deadlines."

Moreover, students who fail to complete the assignment during the grace period due to verified absences or quarantine are allowed to turn in the assignment for full credit up until two weeks before the end of the quarter. And students who fail to complete the assignment without a verified absence can still turn in the assignment later for up to 80% credit.

Beyond that, "Students will be provided with an automatic opportunity for reassessment on any assessment for which a grade of D or less was earned," for which a maximum revised grade of 80% can be earned.

The full policy document implemented by Alexandria City Public Schools can be viewed here.

Why does it matter?

The COVID-19 pandemic's negative effect on students' academic achievement has been well-documented. And a large majority of parents remain concerned that schedule disruptions will result in their children falling farther behind academically — especially as schools across the country have moved once again to close classrooms in recent weeks over "teacher burnout."

But lowering standards as much as Alexandria City Public Schools has may certainly be considered a questionable approach to addressing the problem.

"I'm glad Alexandria City Public Schools took the time to translate their complete surrender of all academic standards into four separate languages; it's like a Rosetta Stone of mediocrity," tweeted National Review's Jeff Blehar.

I'm glad Alexandria City Public Schools took the time to translate their complete surrender of all academic standards into four separate languages; it's like a Rosetta Stone of mediocrity. https://mailchi.mp/acps.k12.va.us/grading-policy-reminders?e=aa58dcd77d\u00a0\u2026
— Jeff B. is *BOX OFFICE POISON* (@Jeff B. is *BOX OFFICE POISON*) 1639147861

"So grades are not earned but are now awarded. Scary," another user commented.

"Man I WISH my finals were ever like this," still another added.

What else?

In their policy release, board members claimed they instituted the policy changes "to recognize the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on ACPS students, and to address learning loss due to the 2020-2021 school closures."

"Such changes are intended to ensure maximum flexibility and benefit for students while maintaining opportunities for mastery of content standards," they added.

TheBlaze reached out to the district with further questions but has yet to receive a reply.

Horowitz: Norwegian study shows very little transmission in school without masks, as suicide crisis intensifies



Shutting down schools or forcing kids to wear masks – either one is likely the greatest crime ever committed against children under the most false pretenses imaginable. New research continues to show that schools are not drivers of spread, not to mention the fact that the virus is not dangerous to children. Meanwhile, children continue to commit suicide in record numbers. This is the evil cost of adult virtue-signaling.

A brand-new study of transmission in Norwegian primary schools from August through November published by the Norwegian Public Institute of Health showed minimal child-to-child and child-to-adult transmission. "This prospective study shows that transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from children under 14 years of age was minimal in primary schools in Oslo and Viken, the two Norwegian counties with the highest COVID-19 incidence and in which 35% of the Norwegian population resides," concluded the researchers.

Despite systematic testing of all the 234 child contacts twice during quarantine of those children infected, just two primary cases and no secondary cases were identified. Also, among the 58 adult contacts of the infected children, just one primary case and no secondary cases were detected. All the children involved in the study were ages 5-13.

Here's the kicker: While the reopening of the schools included measures such as "strengthened hygiene measures, physical distancing and a clear message to stay home if symptomatic, even with mild symptoms," there was one major element missing. "Use of face masks is not recommended in schools in Norway," according to this study.

The study further contradicted the notion that somehow teachers are more at risk than people from other professions, a false premise that has led to some states prioritizing the vaccination of young teachers over elderly non-teachers. "This supports findings in Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway that teachers are not at higher risk of COVID-19 compared with other professions," wrote the Norwegian researchers.

It is truly shocking how consistent the data have been for months that children are not a threat of spreading the virus, yet the politicians have continued to keep children out of school. Well, at least until now – that Trump is out of office. Suddenly, most Democrat politicians, who now have an incentive not to saddle the Biden regime with a bad economy, are pushing for children to return to school. However, conservatives need to be vigilant about the left co-opting what it means to open schools. Opening schools while needlessly masking children for seven hours a day and constantly living in a state of fear might not be much better than keeping schools closed.

Now that Trump is out of office, it's kosher for outlets like CNN and the NYT to begin reporting on the child suicide crisis. CNN reported last week that in Texas, 37 students were admitted to a Fort Worth hospital following suicide attempts in September alone and that 19 students in Las Vegas actually committed suicide. The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that one Alaska clinic saw a 173% increase in admission of children with severe injuries due to suspected child abuse last year. Suicides are now the leading cause of death in England. You no longer need to go to conservative websites to discover the truth about the mental health crisis triggered by lockdowns.

The gratuitous panic and fear embodied by masking and other draconian measures are destroying the mental health of an entire generation. Even in Florida, where people are freer than in most parts of the country, a recent report shows that suicide was more deadly to the under-55 population in Tallahassee than the virus itself.

The masking, aside from the long-term harms to child development and communications, is the single biggest reminder for kids to live in fear. Opening schools with masking is not proper schooling; it's a concentration camp. Teachers would have been sent to jail a year ago for suggesting such an idea. We should not jump on the first opportunity just to open schools at all costs and forget about the conditions to which they are subjecting the children.

The same data that show there is no meaningful viral threat from schoolchildren demonstrate that they need not be masked. Not only is the virus not a threat to children, nor are they a threat of spreading it in school, but this year's flu cases are down 99.5%. As such, there has never been a safer time for children to be in school, even relative to every other year in recent history. Republican governors shouldn't let Democrats insidiously co-opt the talking point of reopening schools now that Trump is gone. It's time to force them to reopen schools without the child abuse. The mask religion should not be exempt from following the science.

Chicago Teachers Union ​tells members to not return to the classroom Wednesday, threatens illegal strike if any teachers are disciplined



The Chicago Teachers Union has escalated its ongoing fit over its members being asked to return to their workplaces, telling all its members to refuse to return to the classroom Wednesday, including those teachers who had voluntarily returned to work on Monday as they were initially ordered to do. The move forced Chicago Public Schools to tell parents at the last minute that all classes would once again be remote on Wednesday.

The union further threatened that if any teachers were disciplined for refusing to report to their classrooms as they were ordered to do, that their members would stop working altogether and picket, which would almost certainly constitute an illegal strike. Under Illinois law; teachers are permitted to strike only if they do not have an active contract. Currently, CTU has a contract with CPS.

The CTU's stated reason for striking is that they believe the district has not done enough to make their classrooms safe for reopening. They also say that they want the district to set clear metrics that will determine when schools will be open for in-person learning and when they will close. They also claim that the district's teacher vaccination schedule is unsatisfactory.

In response, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) has pointed out that the city has paid more than $100 million to make schools able to safely operate. Additionally, numerous researchers and studies, including the CDC, have found that schools are an extremely low-risk environment for the spread of the coronavirus.

"I am deeply disappointed that after all this time, all these sessions, all the work to make our CPS school buildings are safe, no agreement has yet been reached," Lightfoot said.

According to WBBM-TV, negotiations between the CTU and CPS are continuing, and the current plan is for all K-8 students in Chicago to have the option for a return to in-person learning on Feb. 1; however, the union's bluster and threat of an illegal strike has raised the possibility that Chicago parents may have to endure distance learning for a substantially longer period of time.

A member of the executive board of the CTU was lambasted on social media in January for encouraging teachers to refuse to return to schools while she vacationed in the Caribbean.

Chicago teachers last went on strike in October 2019. That strike lasted 11 days and threw the community into disarray.

Another reason to reopen schools: Parents with kids stuck learning remotely are twice as likely to be unemployed or working only part-time



For the last several months, Americans have had a nationwide debate on the need to reopen schools. The intensity of that debate has picked up over the last few weeks with the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The fight over returning to schools has centered largely on the well-being of students. Is it safe for kids to be in the classroom? Are kids learning as well with remote learning as they would be in the classroom? How is not being at school impacting their mental and emotional health?

Naturally, there also have been discussions about teacher safety. Which, of course, brought the unions to the forefront of the fight over reopening and exposed their role in keeping schools closed.

But one group heavily impacted by school closures has not received nearly as much attention: parents, specifically working (or formerly working) parents.

A new Gallup survey revealed this week that parents of students learning remotely are twice as likely to be either working only part time or unemployed as the parents of students who are in the classroom full time.

What did the survey say?

According to Gallup's report, nearly three-quarters of parents said their student is doing the remote-learning thing at least part time. Some 55% of parents said their student is full-time remote, and 18% said their child is part-time remote.

Only 26% of parents with kids in school said their child is learning in person full-time.

It turns out being forced to have kids at home for remote learning may well have a negative impact on employment.

Parents whose children are doing remote learning full or part time are two times more likely to be either unemployed or employed part time than those whose kids have daily in-person learning. Plus, parents of remote learners are markedly more likely to not even be in the labor force.

From Gallup:

Parents whose children are engaged in distance learning are significantly more likely than those whose kids are at school full time to be out of the labor force altogether -- 24% vs. 15%. They are also about twice as likely to be working part time (18% vs. 9%) or unemployed (11% vs. 5%).
Time to get kids back to school: Parents with kids doing remote learning are twice as likely to be unemployed or wo… https://t.co/zs564SQ7oS
— Chris Field (@Chris Field)1611765407.0

Broken down by moms and dads, the survey found that a clear majority (57%) of women with kids in school full time are employed full time, while just over a third (38%) of women with kids learning remotely are employed full time.

Women with kids learning remotely are nearly twice as likely to be unemployed or employed part time.

Time to get kids back to school: Employment status of women with kids learning remotelyMore from Gallup:… https://t.co/laSimWl4PS
— Chris Field (@Chris Field)1611765427.0

The impact on men's employment is equally profound.

Just 61% of men with kids stuck with remote learning are employed full time while 87% of men with kids at school every day are fully employed.

Men with children learning remotely are more than twice as likely to be employed part time and four times more likely to be unemployed.

Time to get kids back to school: Employment status of men with kids learning remotelyMore from Gallup:… https://t.co/9v8jZIGmsJ
— Chris Field (@Chris Field)1611765443.0

CDC researchers: In-person schooling has resulted in hardly any spread of the coronavirus



Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention discovered as part of a recent study that schools operating with in-person instruction have contributed to hardly any transmission of the coronavirus at all.

What are the details?

The researchers wrote in an article posted on the Journal of the American Medical Association website on Tuesday that while there have been some isolated reports of the virus spreading in schools, fears that in-person schooling would wreak havoc on communities across the U.S. have not been backed up by evidence.

"As many schools have reopened for in-person instruction in some parts of the U.S. as well as internationally, school-related cases of COVID-19 have been reported, but there has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission," the researchers wrote.

"The preponderance of available evidence from the fall school semester has been reassuring insofar as the type of rapid spread that was frequently observed in congregate living facilities or high-density worksites has not been reported in education settings in schools," they added.

The team came to its conclusion after reviewing data from schools in the U.S. and around the world, including data from 11 North Carolina school districts that restarted in-person instruction for nine weeks during the fall semester of 2020. Of the more than 90,000 students and staff attendants in the districts, just 32 infections were reported from school activities and no cases of student-to-staff transmission were reported.

The researchers concluded that the data, which aligns with what other studies have found, "suggests a path forward to maintain or return primarily or fully to in-person instructional delivery."

Schools debate on whether to reopen

The news comes as several schools across the U.S. grapple with whether or not to fully reopen, of which many have adopted a fully or partially online approach to instruction for the better part of year since the start of the pandemic.

Additionally, a growing amount of evidence also indicates that school lockdown measures have taken an immense toll on students' mental health. Yet even with accumulating data supporting a return to in-person classes, some teachers' unions have fought back against plans to reopen.

Anything else?

The CDC researchers were careful to note in the report that however safe in-person instruction is, certain activities, such as school sports, pose a greater risk for transmission and should still be avoided if possible.

They also advised continuing to practice transmission mitigation efforts such as mask-wearing and social distancing.

"The conclusion here is with proper prevention efforts ... we can keep transmission in schools and educational settings quite low," Margaret Honein, lead author of the JAMA report, told the Washington Post. "We didn't know that at the beginning of the year but the data has really accumulated."