< Previousby Fiordaliza White College readiness continues to be an indicative measure which points out the disparities in education between affluent areas and pover- ty-stricken areas. For many, college readiness is an assured thing; monies have been saved for this moment, sec- ondary schools have been strategically identified and additional skillset to improve on knowledge and behaviors necessary for college and beyond have been identified and nurtured. For some, college readiness is simple. Unfortunately, for many areas that serve black and brown communities, we are all too aware that the set of skillset, knowledge, and behaviors high school students have once they graduate are lacking. Finding success at an institution of higher learning, then, becomes more of an uphill bat- tle than a guaranteed success. In knowing this, many of us still struggle to figure out how to get students in poorly resourced areas the skills they need to acquire in order to be college ready, and struggle to find available programming, which teaches behaviors that students should embody to tackle the aca- demic, social and emotional challenges that come with higher education. In addition, there is still the dilemma of determining how to best balance advocating for college readiness and having the conversation about non collegiate readiness for those who are not college bound, yet in need of just as much success as their college bound peers. Over the years, the PA Dept. of Education has seen some struggle in creating college ready students in under resourced, less affluent school districts. Receivership has specifically shown itself to be the key indicator that educational structures are failing, needing intervention in order to get back on track towards a more successful outcome for the students. Within the State’s Capital of Harrisburg, Th e Harrisburg City School District and its recent receivership is a clear reminder of the consequences that mismanagement of funding and unidentified programming strategies already had in creating, developing, and maintaining many college and career ready students. With the ongoing pandemic now leaving more uncertainty in the future of our education system, college readiness now becomes a question of how to move forward in systems with already struggling school systems. Resources will get scarcer, teachers will struggle to maintain in already poorly funded districts, and the morale for students who already feel left behind could prove challenging towards the road to academic excellence. IN SHORT, THE DEVASTATION OF THE COVID-19 VIRUS ADDS TO THE MORE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS: How can we create and maintain college readi- ness in poorly resourced communities? How can we prepare students for academic success in the middle of one of our nation’s most devastating pandemics? For many school districts, equipping their stu- dents with the skillset necessary to attend college fully prepared was halted. Reading curriculums now need to become modified. Materials now need to be online. 1:1 Instruction becomes more difficult and using testing methods can prove to be even more difficult for students who aren’t adjusting to online learning as their means of being educated. Districts were scrambling to identify how to modify instruction to students at every grade level, identifying already existing deficits in resources for getting educational ma- terials to their students. Internet access, ensuring socioemotional wellbeing was maintained in households, and trying to gauge next steps in an uncertain pandemic were challenges that eff ected our entire nation. Th e idea of college readiness is nearly impossible to prioritize under the nation’s pandemic outbreak. Many were not prepared to begin this process nor the now daunting task of regrouping and reshaping existing academic structures. Schools that were in disasters before may not survive the financial and enrollment pressures. Colleges may restructure their academ- ic policies, which could negatively impact their enrollment. Higher learning could prove to see transformative changes with more resolution to online and e-learning metrics and standards for learning. Many prospective students may be suf- fering financially, with much of their funds being utilized by parents tapping into their savings to account for their new normal of job instability. Th e current crisis will leave very minimal institu- tions of learning unscathed. So, how can parents, teachers, and resource coordinators work collectively to ensure col- lege readiness still occurs in a space of learning that will inevitably be forever impacted by the pandemic? Parents are left with the responsibility on turn- ing their households into learning stations, with some struggling to make space for quiet, focused learning. Th e inability to make those spaces can create difficulties for students to learn in their new makeshift classrooms. Teachers are strug- gling to identify the best ways to secure learning objectives with an online classroom filled with diff erent learning styles and access to computers and additional materials. Resource coordinators struggle to maintain communication with their students and parents, with essential workers having schedules which make it harder to contact them to get the necessary updates. Many children are going between two custodial parents’ homes, some landing wherever they were when the ‘stay in home’ precautions were announced. Many of the existing factors for learning no longer apply. Th e next steps will require creativity, reducing testing metrics and standards, and identifying how to best get back to learning using the basics. FOR PARENTS, THIS MEANS FOCUSING ON HOW TO BEST NURTURE THEIR CHILDREN UNDER THIS NEW NORMAL. What aspects of learning can be coupled with strong socioemotional support? How can schedules be modified, with emphasis on balanced learning necessities and self-care? How can communication between parents and teachers be maintained, strengthened, and modified to fit each parent, both essential and non-essential? Parents will have to take on the task of under- standing the benefits of classroom style layouts, understanding their child’s learning style and what is needed to accommodate that learning style. Special needs and IEP plans will need to be reviewed and assistance in how to best replicate a strong learning center for their child will be necessary. Replicating the classroom as much as possible will require creativity, but also a sense of honesty in knowing nothing can compare to the classroom setting. How the COVID 19 Pandemic Reshapes College Readiness Back to the Drawing Board: 18 | TALK MAGAZINE • SPRING 2020 Perry Traditional Academy and Pittsburgh Milliones 6-12 (also known as University Prep) have some of the highest percentages of African American students at the high school level in the Pittsburgh Public Schools district. Th ey’re also, along with Pittsburgh West- inghouse 6-12, the district high schools with the lowest percentage of students utilizing the Pittsburgh Promise scholarships. “It’s absolutely alarming,” Promise Executive Director Saleem Ghubril told the New Pitts- burgh Courier exclusively, about the data. Th e low percentages are a vital component as to the reason the Promise announced the forma- tion of “Promise Coaches,” a group of profession- als whose task is to help students get on the track to becoming eligible for Promise scholarships. Th e initiative was made possible by a $2 mil- lion investment to the Promise from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Beginning next school year, four coaches will be assigned to work inside Carrick High School, and two coaches each to work inside Perry and Milliones. Ghubril told the Courier that the organization wanted to track the eff ectiveness of the program in Carrick, Perry and Milliones first before expanding it to Westinghouse. In 2018, just 18 percent of Milliones’ high school graduates used their Promise scholarship; at Perry, it was 11 percent. Carrick’s percentage was 38 percent. Compare that with the schools that have the highest Promise scholarship usage rates, like CAPA and Sci-Tech, which hover around 70 percent, Ghubril said, with Allderdice and Pitts- burgh Obama not far behind. Over the next four years of the Promise Coaches program, Ghubril hopes the percentages at Carrick jump by two-thirds to 62 percent, double to 36 percent at Milliones, and triple to 33 percent at Perry. “Our data tell us that the Promise usage rates in certain high schools is very low,” Ghubril said at a news conference in the Hill District, “and our study of best practices across the country show that investment in coaching at the high school level and in certain colleges ends up trans- forming that outcome.” Ghubril said that while the Carrick percent- age of 38 isn’t anywhere as low as Perry and Milliones, there’s a growing student immigrant population at Carrick which, he feels, can be better served with Promise Coaches. Th e coaches, to be hired by the Promise and begin a three-month training process in June, will focus on five areas while at the three high schools: Help students determine their interests and skills; determine the resources (including financial) available to the students; determine the best options available to the students post-high school (four- or two-year institution, trade or technical school, military, entrepreneurship); keep students abreast on what’s happening pro- fessionally in the Pittsburgh region’s marketplace; and help students develop professional skills that can be used in the workplace. Th e coaches will serve all students beginning in the ninth grade or earlier at the three schools, with an emphasis on those who are below, or at risk of falling below, Promise eligibility. To be eligible for the Promise scholarship, PPS students must have at least a 2.5 GPA and have an atten- dance rate of at least 90 percent. Th ey must also have been enrolled at a Pittsburgh Public School or one of its select charter schools, continuously, since the ninth grade. Students who have been enrolled in a Pitts- burgh Public School since Day 1 of the ninth grade and who have met the academic and atten- dance requirements are eligible for up to $20,000 in college scholarships from the Promise. To utilize the scholarship, students must attend a post-secondary school in Pennsylvania. Ghubril said it’s important that the coaches are familiar with the culture of the students and schools served. He said that during the selection process of the coaches, preference will be given to those with a bachelor’s degree, who are PPS grad- uates and also received a Promise scholarship. “Th ey know the system, they know the city,” and they know the culture, Ghubril said. “To me, that is the ideal candidate.” To provide ongoing intensive support to the coaching cohort, the Community College of Allegheny County and Carlow University com- bined were awarded $1.9 million by the Richard King Mellon Foundation. Ghubril applauded both Carlow and CCAC for their continued partnership with a number of Promise students being enrolled in those schools over the years. “We are thankful that the missions of CCAC and Carlow University compel them to take risks on students that other institutions may not,” Ghubril said in a statement provided to the Courier. “Th is new partnership will deepen our collective work and widen the pathways to opportunity before our students.” by Fiordaliza White s Saleem Ghubril, photo J.L. Martello PITTSBURGH PROMISE looks to increase SCHOLARSHIP RATES FOR TEACHERS, THE ONGOING TASK OF ADJUSTMENTS AND MODIFICATIONS REMAINS. Online learning will now be the base of each child’s learning, with paper and pencil taking a back seat to online curriculums and facetime instruction. Grading will still be a challenge across districts, with each school having to deter- mine how learning is ‘achieved’ and what takes place when learning is not being achieved with each student learner. Teachers will rely heavily on the Dept. of Education’s suggestions and directives as they move forward in determining who passes and fails. Instructional resources will be more creative and accessible to those who can be reached. Some teachers have relied on email correspondence with attachments, mailing items, and scanning as a means of sharing information from teachers to parents. Resource coordinators will be working closer than ever with teachers to form a much needed ‘bridge’ between teachers and learners. Above all else, college readiness will now re- quire a new task, resilience. Th rough these trou- bling times, children and high school students are experiencing their own historical moments in time. Th eir history is being written, the future of which is still unknown. College readiness is about skillset and subject matter, but it is also about how to maintain socioemotional stability during troubling times. In this moment, we may be clear about traditional standards and metrics for college readiness. However, our new normal may require us to look at how to best modify those standards, measures, and resources to en- sure now, more than ever, we provide learning in a way that’s more compatible for every student. DEVELOPING COLLEGE READINESS STANDARDS WILL FOREVER BE IMPACTED BY THE PANDEMIC. While going back to the drawing board and redeveloping the behaviors and values of educa- tion and higher education, we begin to realize what skillsets are essential, what components of learning are ill equipped for the sustainability of our current education systems, and what new and innovative ways we can use to develop, create, and develop better learners in a more progressive educational system. WWW.TALKMAGAZINEONLINE.COM | 19 New Pittsburgh Courier"Our responsibility to provide a great education does not end with high school. Reinvesting in higher education and community colleges will help prepare people for jobs that pay. Rebuilding the middle class and creating a better future for all Pennsylvanians depends on a skilled workforce and a real-world education and training strategy." —Governor Tom Wolf WHY IS THIS GOAL IMPORTANT? In the 21st century, most family-sustaining jobs will require some education or training beyond high school. It is vital to the future of our common- wealth to support Pennsylvania's higher education institutions in prepar- ing the next generation of Pennsylvanians to succeed in the 21st-century workforce. However, attending a four-year college or university is not the only path to a successful career for Pennsylvania's high school graduates. It is also vital to the future of our commonwealth that students who do not go to college have access to skills training that enables them to compete and succeed in today's economy. WHAT ARE WE WORKING ON TO REACH THIS GOAL? Governor Wolf is committed to making higher education more affordable for middle-class families. Since taking office, the Wolf Administration has secured a total funding increase of $188 million for higher education. As part of his PAsmart initiative, the governor has made a first-of-its-kind $30 million investment in workforce development in Pennsylvania, which included funding for post-secondary education. Reflecting the governor's commitment to preparing students for in-demand careers, Pennsylvania now ranks second in the nation for investment in computer science edu- cation. In recognition of the sacrifices that Pennsylvania National Guard members and their families make to protect the commonwealth, Governor Wolf proposed and passed the PA GI Bill, a groundbreaking program to provide spouses and children of Pennsylvania National Guard members tuition reimbursement for higher education. In addition, Governor Wolf has proposed a new $200 million scholarship program through PASSHE that will help more Pennsylvanians earn a degree with fewer loans. HOW ARE WE DOING? Governor Wolf has set a goal to increase the share of working-age Pennsylvanians with an industry-recognized certificate or degree to 60 percent by 2025. In 2016, 41.7 percent of working-age Pennsylvanians (ages 25 to 64) had a post-secondary degree. It is estimated that another 3 percent of working-age Pennsylvanians had a post-secondary certificate. EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA The chart below shows the estimated number of working-age Pennsylvanians at different levels of educational attainment. 20 | TALK MAGAZINE • SPRING 2020 Governor Tom Wolf in post-secondary education and training Improve ACCESS, AFFORDABILITY, AND COMPLETION Take the Promising Path. Choose Clarion University. 800-672-7171 | clarion.edu/visitus Related Measures POST-SECONDARY DEGREES AWARDED Th e chart below shows the number of degrees awarded by Pennsylvania's higher education institutions. STEM ENROLLMENT Th e chart below documents the number of undergraduate students at Pennsylvania's publicly supported institutions enrolled in STEM degree programs. WWW.TALKMAGAZINEONLINE.COM | 2122 | TALK MAGAZINE • SPRING 2020 by Danielle Kost Small-business owners trying to weather the coronavirus pandemic will face a financial blow that’s likely to be worse than what they experienced during the Great Recession more than a decade ago, says Karen G. Mills, senior fellow at Harvard Business School. “This is going to be orders of magnitude worse than the financial crisis,” says Mills, who led the United States Small Business Administration from 2009 to 2013. “Many small businesses will not survive more than a month.” Small businesses have been scaling down and temporarily closing as consumers stay home to stem the spread of the highly infectious virus, also known as COVID-19. Without incoming cash, many small businesses—es- pecially restaurants and shops on American Main Streets—will soon need to cut staff or shut down for good. “To many of these small businesses, daily cash flow is their lifeblood,” says Mills, who in recent days has been advising Congressional and business leaders about potential aid approaches. “Money in the door allows you to put money out the door.” A CASH CRUNCH WITH NO END IN SIGHT The JPMorgan Chase Institute estimates that the average small business has 27 days of cash in reserve, but Main Street businesses often have less than 20 days’ worth. While forecasts vary, many public health experts don’t ex- pect the coronavirus outbreak to subside for at least eight weeks, assuming that social distancing and other mitigation efforts can slow the spread. CASHED STRAPPED EVEN IN THE BEST OF TIMES The most vulnerable businesses won’t last that long. They’ll need inter- est-free loans and other cash buffers to pay their workers and keep their storefronts while they wait out citywide lockdowns and school closures. After that, consumers might resume some of their spending habits, Mills says. “If small businesses can stay solvent, then we have a greater chance for a recovery after the virus threat subsides,” she says. The grim reality is sinking in. About 77 percent of small business owners say they’re “very worried” about the economic impact of COVID-19, according to a new National Small Business Association survey. Almost half of the 950 people surveyed said that customer demand was down, and one- third of respondents were experiencing supply chain disruptions. More than half expect the US to sink into a recession during the next 12 months, up from 14 percent in January. SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS ARE BRACING FOR THE WORST Owners surveyed said they're worried about the fallout from the COVID-19 outbreak. THE NEXT WAVE OF SMALL BUSINESS AID Mills joined the Obama Administration and his National Economic Coun- cil in early 2009 and led efforts to help small businesses recover in the wake of the 2007-2008 recession. She has been drawing from that experience in recent weeks as she helps government officials explore ways to shore up the 30 million small businesses that provide almost half of the country’s jobs. Earlier in March, Congress and the Trump Administration authorized $7 billion in disaster loans for small businesses affected by COVID-19. The program helps businesses in states that have declared emergency status borrow as much as much as $2 million and repay it over 30 years with an interest rate of less than 4 percent. Both chambers of Congress are considering additional relief, with small business loans packages of over $300 billion under consideration. Mills hopes that the government will go a step further and offer interest-free loans and work to include new financial technology companies, such as Square and Kabbage among the permitted lenders. After all, small businesses generate almost 2 million net new jobs a year and employ 47 percent of the workforce. Even though macroeconomists rarely give them their due, Mills says, small businesses contribute 44 per- cent of US gross domestic product. Helping them withstand a brutal cash crunch will support the broader economy, Mills says. “This is the number one thing that we can do to keep our economy going during this particular crisis,” she says. “This is about helping small businesses, but it’s also about helping their employees and their families. They need to know that there will be a job and a paycheck when we get to the other side of this crisis.” Small Businesses Can Survive the Coronavirus Outbreak How continued on page 28“Not only do we believe black teachers are important for black students, they are good for every student." For a dress-down Friday shortly after the 2014 police shooting of Mi- chael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., Amy Alexander, then a high school teacher, decided to wear a T-shirt emblazoned #mikebrown. Some of her colleagues at the Penn Hills High School just outside Pitts- burgh objected to her attire and complained to the administration. Alexan- der, who is black, was questioned by the school principal. Her colleagues, all of whom were white, were concerned that her T-shirt would incite a riot in the predominantly African-American school, she said. Alexander said her T-shirt sparked vital conversations. Student after student, all of them black, shared their concerns about racial profiling and excessive police force. They told her they were worried that what happened to Brown, an 18-year-old African-American killed by a white cop, could happen to them, too. “It gave me a chance to talk and discuss distal and proximal trauma with my students. To say it’s normal to be affected by something like this, even by things not happening in your community,” said Alexander, now counselor to the 400-student senior class at Penn Hills. To some the episode may have seemed a provocative gesture, but for Alexander the T-shirt spurred an important teaching moment, allow- ing her and her students to discuss relevant and important race issues. The reaction from her colleagues underscored the chasm created by the racial disparities in Pennsylvania public schools, where the over- whelming majority of teachers are white. Pennsylvania’s teacher roster is the least diverse in the nation, as Pennsylvania Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera has said. Less than 5 percent of Pennsylvania’s teachers are people of color, according to the state Department of Education. The gap between the state’s students of color (33 percent) and teachers of color remains among the most disparate in the country, according to Research for Action. The group analyzed data from the Department of Ed- ucation and found that 55 percent of Pennsylvania’s public schools and 38 percent of all school districts employed only white teachers in 2016-17. That number is a function of the historical context of teaching: Teachers have historically been white and female, in large part due to the college enrollment process. In fact, it’s a nationwide challenge. “Pennsylvania is no different than any other state in the nation,” said Noe Ortega, the Deputy Secretary for Higher Education. “The challenge we have now is we know a little more about the benefits of having teachers of color in the classroom, especially where you have large populations of color.” The disparity is particularly stark among male educators: 73 percent of all teachers in the state are women; men of color comprise slightly more than 1 percent of teachers. THE IMPACT ON STUDENTS – AND TEACHERS – IS PROFOUND The glaring racial disparity has negatively impacted student achievement, graduation and truancy rates, and the career or collegiate aspirations of thousands of children of color. “It’s really outstanding how bad it is,” said Sharif El-Mekki, founder and director of The Center for Black Educator Development in Philadelphia, and a former Philadelphia teacher who spent 16 years as a school principal. “People make assumptions. You think that a city like Philadelphia, which is so diverse, you would think the numbers are not as bad or that they mirror other cities across the country. You figure.” A single black teacher can make or break the educational track of a black student, particularly one from a low-income household. Black students who have at least one black teacher in elementary school are more likely to graduate high school and consider college, according to a study out of the Johns Hopkins University. The results are even greater for black boys from very low-income homes. But that’s not all. The disparity reinforces racist stereotypes and even negatively impacts the professional experience of teachers of color. In fact, Pennsylvania teacher diversity mirrors that of midwestern states like Minnesota, whose schools are growing increasingly diverse, but its teacher workforce remains overwhelmingly white. In a school district like Philadelphia, whose student makeup is almost 70 percent black, black male teachers account for about 1.9 percent of teachers. “You start seeing how this plays out,” El-Mekki said. “Not only do we believe black teachers are important for black students, they are good for every student. It’s good for white students who are conditioned to not be in spaces with black people and especially nurturing black people in positions of authority.” At the core of the challenge is the student-teacher connection. of Teaches are People of Color 5% In PA Less than WWW.TALKMAGAZINEONLINE.COM | 23 In PA, less than 5% of teachers are people of color; the lack of diversity is hurting kids and schools. “Not only do we believe black teachers are important for black students, they are good for every student."24 | TALK MAGAZINE • Alexander, who has a doctorate in education, said children of color, in particular, need figures of authority they believe can relate to them. “This is important to them,” she said. “They are getting ready to go out in the world and find out where they fit and find their purpose. Race is not that determining piece either. There are African Americans who aren’t necessarily helpful in that respect, but race is helpful when it comes to someone’s sensitivity and cultural background.” A CHANGING LANDSCAPE Across Pennsylvania, student demographics continue to increasingly di- versify with a growing number of districts becoming less white, and more brown and black. Yet, according to state education data, more than half of all schools and nearly 40 percent of the state’s 501 school districts employ only white teachers. An inordinate number of students across the state navigate their entire school days – from riding the school bus, to a day of classes and evening sports practice – without seeing a person of color, certainly not a teacher. “I am for some kids the first black male teacher they have ever had,” said Frank Howard Anderson, a fifth-grade teacher at South Park Middle School in the South Park School District in Allegheny County. A 22-year teacher, Anderson is the only teacher of color in the district. “From Kindergarten to the day they graduate, they will have no other minority teacher other than myself,” he said. The fallout impacts not just students; teachers feel it as well. Joseph Headen, a U.S. History, sociology, AP history teacher and head football coach at Susquehanna Township High School in Dau- phin County, said he can attend a teacher conference and see few educators of color. “Then you start to think about how many teachers of color you had, and, for me, I had one,” he said. “There is a huge disparity in the amount of teachers of color.” Teacher diversity during Headen’s high school career may have been skewed given that he attended Bishop McDevitt High School, a private Catholic school, but his collegiate experience and teacher career have been far from unique. During his collegiate and graduate studies at Bloomsburg and Ship- pensburg Universities, respectively, Headen was often the only person of color, certainly the only male of color, in the education track. Throughout his early teaching posts, including student-teaching at Susquenita High School in Perry County, he was the only educator of color. At times he has been the only teacher of color in a district. His current school, Susquehanna, ranks among the Top 10 most di- verse schools in Pennsylvania – with a virtual 50/50 percent ratio of white students and students of color. “It’s as balanced as you get in the student diversity aspect in a high school,” Headen said. “We do have staff members of color. I think there are two of us, if I’m correct. Most of our assistant principals, support staff, coaches, our head baseball coach, head basketball coach, football coach even swim, are of color, but in our building, teaching wise, our number resembles the statewide numbers.” School districts across the state continue to increasingly diversity racially and ethnically. The Washington Post this year published a report looking at the changing makeup of the nation’s school districts. The report measured diversity and integration using student race data from two years: 1995 and 2017. According to the Post’s report, for instance, between those two years: • The West Shore School District went from being 95 percent white to 82 percent white • Cumberland Valley School District went from 95 percent white to 75 percent • Central Dauphin School District went from 85 percent white to 51 percent • Chambersburg Area School District went from 91 to 65 percent white • Conestoga Valley School District went from being 90 percent white to 66 percent • Manheim Township School District went from being 91 percent white to 67 percent • Carlisle Area School District went from being 91 percent white to 72 percent • Hazleton Area School District went from being 97 percent white to 44 percent • Amid the changes, the teacher ranks of the district remained constant – predominantly white. THE IMPORTANCE OF DIVERSITY Black educators say the importance of having teachers of color in class- rooms cannot be overstated: The stark disparities have created a dearth of role models for young people of color and an environment that often lacks in the cultural sensitivities young people need to navigate difficult and impactful conversations. “Some of the situations students go through would be difficult for people who are three and four times their age to be able to navigate and be success- ful,” said Robin Harris, a counselor and one of the few black educators at Thomas Holtzman Elementary School in Susquehanna Township School District. “You are in a situation where you have to navigate these hard situations. Devastating situations,” Harris said. “Situations that are going to have an impact for the rest of your life and you are here and the majority of people who are here to assist you aren’t people who look like you or come from your community. I think people want to understand not just that kids come in and bring whatever they are going through, we bring in our own personal issues.” While Holtzman Elementary has a robust student diversity demo- graphic, with an influx of students from neighboring Harrisburg School District, the school’s teacher roster mirrors the overall state picture: the majority of the teachers are female and white. Harris said the school’s teaching staff is dedicated, caring and consci- entious, but she said not everyone is equipped to navigate some of the profoundly sensitive situations and home lives that students can bring to school. “If you are a caucasian female coming from a situation that is not as diverse as Susquehnna and you are dealing with children who have situations that are unique, it may not be something you can relate to,” Harris said. The gulf created by that disparity also leaves a void of cultural and racial sensitivities important to students and educators, regardless of race. Black educators say they routinely negotiate situations in which black students are having to defend their attire, hair styles, even the mundane factors that create identity. “Even something as everyday as quotidian as a name,” Alexander said. “I’m talking about educated adults who are supposed to be mentors asking, ‘What kind of name is that? Where did this name come from,’ and other cultural things that we should not be articulating.” 24 | TALK MAGAZINE • SPRING 2020 “Some of the situations students go through would be difficult for people who are three and four times their age to be able to navigate and be successful."THE IMPACT: BEYOND THE IMMEDIATE AND PERSONAL Thousands of black children and young adults in Pennsylvania go about their school days shut out from the difficult and impactful conversa- tions about racial issues in the country simply because of the gulf of under- standing in classrooms. Other times, they face persistent racial stereotypes, even racially hostile environments. S-qy Featherstone, who is black and a senior at Penn Hills High School, said the lack of teachers of color contributes to that. He said racial undertones are a constant backdrop at his school, which has a student demographic of roughly 75 percent African American. Penn Hills has two educators of color. “It happens all the time. I try to ignore it,” said Featherstone, a member of the Black Student Union and a defensive end on the football team. “You can’t change how others feel towards you. You can’t change it at all.” His school district has for months wrestled with issues of racial hostilities involving accusations that the Connellsville High School boys' soccer team and fans used racial slurs against Penn Hills players during a soccer game. Connellsville is a predominantly white school. For students like Featherstone, the racial divide in school can be as subtle as it can be stark. He notes the fact that the heritage and history of his racial lineage is taught only once a year, during Black History Month in February. “We are not at school just in February,” he said. “During Black History month last year, we read a book and watched a cartoon about Martin Luther King. I had already seen it.” THE NUANCES SOMETIMES TURN STARK Last year, Featherstone walked into one of his classes to find a substitute teacher. Featherstone was wearing a hoodie and had his ear buds in his ears. “As I sat down everyone was looking at me,” said Feather- stone, who next fall will attend Clarion University, where he will play football and study business sports management in the hopes of someday becoming a coach. “The substitute was like, ‘Is that what you do everyday?… You need to be more safe.’” “I’m like, what does that mean? Just because I have my headphones and a hoodie on? I walked in quiet, not disturbing anyone?’ It was plain sight racism,” Featherstone said. The black educators who spoke to PennLive for this story said that the overwhelmingly white teacher roster in Pennsylvania reinforces negative attitudes towards African Americans and waters down the academic curriculum. “Black kids in schools get a negative portrayal of black peo- ple,” El-Mekki said. “They don’t see themselves in the literature or history lessons. They go to a museum and it’s all white history. This is the whole ecosystem that occurs and its conscious and un- conscious. That is dangerous. It reinforces, particularly for black children, poor identity and self-worth, and for white children, it breeds white supremacy. If you grow up falsely seeing that no one else contributed now or then, it sets your world view.” The dearth of teachers of color in classrooms also denies young black people the opportunity to see – and emulate – role models in positions of authority and achievement, said El-Mekki, whose Center for Black Educator Development is focused on growing the number of teachers of color in Pennsylvania, largely through peer mentoring and part- nership between students in high school and college and teachers of color. “We can recruit 1,000 folks but if the conditions are not right, and we are sending them back into a toxic environment. That’s not helpful,” he said. “Be- ing black in America is very similar to being black in school. Racism does not dissipate. Schools are a microcosm of society. It’s the same experience. It behooves us to recognize that for us, folks of color, we don’t see color and race in a historical context.” That day with the encounter with the substitute, Featherstone said that as with so many other days during his school career, he moved on quickly. “I shrugged it off,” he said. “There are way more people like that out in the world. If I’m going to feel some type of way about one person for saying one thing, I wonder how my life is going to be when so many people are so much more ignorant.” Featherstone believes that if his school district had more black teachers, he would have had a different educational experience. Under the current demographic breakdown of teachers to students – a predominantly Afri- WWW.TALKMAGAZINEONLINE.COM | 25 “Being black in America is very similar to being black in school. Racism does not dissipate. Schools are a microcosm of society. It's the same experience..."26 | TALK MAGAZINE • 26 | TALK MAGAZINE • SPRING 2020 can-American school in which every single student is enrolled in the free lunch program – the gulf of understanding between students and teachers at times seem insurmountable. “Sometimes it’s not so easy to speak and let your situation be heard or known to someone that you continually think they don’t care, or they show no emotion or empathy toward what you have to say,” Featherstone said. “I would rather speak to someone who can relate to how I‘ve been feeling and going through rather than someone who sits like a sponge and soaks it up and uses it for other purposes.” SLOW AND LITTLE CHANGE Featherstone’s experience is not unique to that of other students of color – past and present. When she attended Central Dauphin School District during the 1970s and 1980s, Jill Gouse, who is biracial, had only one black teacher. She attended and graduated from Central Dauphin East, one of the most racially and ethnically diverse schools in the state – then and now. “I used to think what a shame,” said Gouse, who nine years ago returned to her school district as a third-grade teacher at Silver Spring Elementary. “It’s a shame that there weren’t more black teachers. That was the ‘70s and ‘80s but, I we are in the same boat." Her two daughters, who recently graduated from Cumberland Valley High School, had no black teachers. “It’s really important for students to see role models, people of authority that represent what the world looks like, what our communities look like, what our country looks like,” Gouse said. “It makes it normal. For most of these students I have in class, I‘m part of the school and not the black teacher at school. Not the biracial teacher. I‘m just a teacher. I think it normalizes seeing that.” The Cumberland Valley School District, her daughters’ school district, is in fact counted among school districts in Pennsylvania wrestling with a fast-changing student demographic makeup. Until recently, the district, considered one of the top districts in the state, was predominantly white, but in recent years has increasingly become more diverse. In the process, the district is encountering the hurdles that are sometimes associated with racial disparities among teachers and students. The district recently came under scrutiny amid allegations from students and parents of color that officials are not adequately addressing what they say is a climate of racial intolerance and racism in the district. Students and parents have multiple times addressed the school board to report incidents of racial and ethnic harassment, intimidation and bullying. For district superintendent David Christopher, a former assistant superintendent at North Allegheny School District, where he was the only non-white employee, the matter is a priority. “We would be remiss to discount serious concerns of racial tolerance,” he said. “As a district we have to promote what is in the best economic interest for students and teachers to work in diverse workplaces, to be culturally sensitive. It’s better for kids in the long run and better for all students.” Christopher, who is of Indian descent and was recently appointed superintendent, has pushed for special initiatives and programs to tackle the challenges before the district. The district has involved the U.S. Department of Justice, the Anti-Defamation League, among some of its partners. “Our challenge here is capacity,” said Christopher, whose district is literal- ly bursting at its seams to find classroom space for the fast growing number of students. The school district employs 650 faculty members. Central to Cumberland Valley’s effort to address intolerance is the fact that of the district’s 1,200 employees – professional and support – roughly 15 are persons of color, making the entire staff about 97 percent Caucasian. “It definitely needs to be higher,” said Michelle Zettlemoyer, Cumberland Valley’s director of human resources: “For us it’s a vicious cycle if we can attract more people of color that would contribute to a more inclusive environment for staff and students and that’s good overall. It’s just a matter of how do you find them when the pool is diminishing overall in education ..as far as teacher candidates.” RACE IMPACTS TEACHING AND TEACHERS Teachers of color across Pennsylvania schools say they often feel obligat- ed to defend black students amid a landscape of bias. “I stick up for the black kids,” said Anderson, the South Park fifth-grade teacher. “It is very obvious sometimes the punishment that comes down for black students versus that for white students.” South Park’s fifth grade is populated with 124 students: about five are African American; about the same number are of Middle East or Pakistani descent. Anderson said that at times the biased treatment towards black students is stark. “I‘m always being proactive in saying we have to make sure everyone gets treated fairly,” he said. “I‘m getting worn down because I try to take care of all the black kids. I have my own family I coach football at a different school. I don’t want to use the term burden, but I get worn out sometimes. I have a lot more pressure than any white teacher that I teach with.” In predominantly white districts, black teachers say negotiating racial intolerance can be difficult across the board – whether in dealing with other teachers, administrators, students and parents. Diversity, they said, helps. “The whole process of education in and of itself is learning who you are and finding out what you value, what you respect,” Harris said. “One of the big pieces of that is respect.” “The whole process of education in and of itself is learning who you are and finding out what you value, what you respect..."Coronavirus Shutdown When the coronavirus shutdown hit Pennsyl- vania public schools, Cathy Keegan felt ready. As superintendent of the Milton Area School District in central Pennsylvania, she’d already bought enough laptops and tablets so that each of her roughly 2,000 students had a personal device. They seemed well positioned for the statewide pivot to virtual learning. “We thought, ‘Wow, this is great. We at least are ready with devices and a hybrid learning model and students being familiar with online learning tools,’” said Keegan. Then her district hit the internet-access wall. Milton realized that a combined 240 students and teachers had no internet connections at home. Officials decided to buy hotspot devices for each of those households, but that plan pre- sented its own problems. Wireless providers used to offer hotspot hardware for free, Keegan said — as long as the district committed to a year of internet service for each new device. But with the coronavirus outbreak fueling demand for at-home internet access, prices skyrocketed and supply evaporated. “As we called vendors to purchase hotspots, if we even blinked and a couple of minutes went by, those hotspots were sold and gone,” Keegan said. Wireless hotspots, it turns out, have quickly become the hand sanitizer of the technological world. Congressional Democrats sought gov- ernment aid for school districts purchasing the devices, but the final relief bill out of D.C. didn’t include a subsidy for hotspots. The Milton Area School District ended up buying 140 devices from a pair of companies that connect consumers with used hotspot dealers — spending as much as $200 a device. The district also invested $4,650 to recognifigure Wi-FI access points so that families could drive into a school parking lot, if needed, and download assignments. All told, the district estimates it’s already spent about $20,000 on technology upgrades designed to ensure that every family can get online — with more bills to come as usage increases. “We’re doing our very best to be present for our students and to follow a directive to continue educa- tion,” Keegan said. “We think it’s important.” NO STOPLIGHTS, NO INTERNET Pennsylvania’s quick pivot to online education has exposed significant technological gaps among the state’s 500 school districts. In rural areas, internet access has emerged as one of the most vexing issues. It is a twofold dilemma. Many districts serve a high percentage of low-income families that can’t afford internet service. But even among those families that could afford Wi-Fi connections, there are wide swaths of the state where service is painfully slow or nonexistent. The FCC estimates that around 600,000 Pennsylvanians don’t have broadband internet access. A recent study, led by a Penn State profes- sor, estimated that the true number is far higher when you account for households where the aver- age download speed falls below what the federal government considers broadband quality. As Pennsylvania embarks on an indefinite school closure — and with the state telling districts to provide as much education as possible during the break — local administrators are furiously trying to gauge home internet access in their districts. Some rural administrators have found that as many as 50% of their students can’t connect in the home, according to the Pennsyl- vania Association of Rural and Small Schools. And the issues associated with slow download speeds have started to multiply in families where children and parents working from home are suddenly sharing the same connection all day long. As has been the case elsewhere in society, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed deep inequities of opportunity in the U.S. education system. While many well-resourced suburban districts in Pennsylvania have been able to jump- start virtual instruction relatively quickly, many others have faltered. In Philadelphia, the district is scrambling to distribute as many as 50,000 laptops to students without computers at home. New York City reportedly loaned out 300,000 electronic devices to students. In rural Pennsylva- nia, internet connectivity — access to the world’s information in an instant — has been a defining deficit. In rural McKean County, researchers estimate that the average download speed is 8.21 Mbps — nowhere near the 25 Mbps standard for broad- band quality. The Otto-Eldred School District occupies about 86 square miles on the county’s northern fringe, right along central Pennsylvania’s border with New York state. “We don’t have a stoplight — so that gives you an idea of how small and rural we are,” Superin- tendent Matthew Splain said. The hilly terrain, he added, creates massive disparities in internet service, ranging “from high- speed cable internet with 100 megabytes of services, down to zilch.” The district believes that about 10% of its students have no internet access at all — and another 10% have such slow service it would be difficult for them to participate in any form of online learning. So, the district plans to make every assign- ment available in paper form for those students who need it — using meal sites and possibly mail service to get hard copies to families. The district may also create Wi-Fi hot zones in parking lots, a common tactic among rural districts. As of now, the plan is to get this hybrid model running by Thursday. “We’ve probably changed our direction on things three times since the first announcement that schools are closing,” Splain said. “We’re just maintaining flexibility as best we can.” HOMEWORK AT DAIRY QUEEN In the Montoursville Area School District — east of Williamsport — internet service gets spotty once you move about seven miles out of the main town, said Superintendent Christina Bason. The district has mulled several stopgap measures, including using buses as mobile Wi-Fi hotspots that would pull up to students’ houses and allow them to download their work. The Connellsville Area School District southeast of Pittsburgh asked local businesses to host free Wi-Fi hotspots for this purpose. District residents can now drive up to Indian Creek Baptist Church, Mountain Pines Campground, or even Lynn’s Dairy Queen, where students can download assignments and dig into a Blizzard while riding out the coronavirus storm. “They’re truly doing it for students,” said Su- perintendent Joseph Bradley. “I don’t think there’s anything in it for them.” Superintendent Christopher Pegg of the near- by Albert Gallatin School District has converted his eight school parking lots into Wi-Fi zones. He’s hoping that provides enough coverage in his 144-square-mile district, but the district may fall back on paper packets if problems arise. “The magnitude of this is not something that we’re used to, and it’s gonna be a learning curve for everybody,” Pegg said. Cathy Keegan, of the Milton Area School District, said it’s been a time of experimentation and rapid problem-solving. On Monday, the district started its online education program, which includes daily check- ins via video chat. One teacher recorded herself doing a virtual Pledge of Allegiance with a class- room of kindergartners. “Is it perfect? No,” said Keegan. “Because of our connectivity issues, we still have kids that are struggling to get on.” Keegan said her staff is working to close the gaps that remain. She wants her students to see that teachers are there for them — however long this shutdown lasts. “The most surprising to me is how people have come together,” Keegan said. “Empathy and caring have risen to the top again.” by Avi Wolfman-Arent/WHYY Reveals Inequity of Student Internet Access in PA WWW.TALKMAGAZINEONLINE.COM | 27Next >