By Kennedi Combs
Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration.

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- As the Delta variant sweeps across the state, Ohio's public universities are taking a range of protective measures for the upcoming fall semester, from requiring students to report their vaccination status to implementing incentive programs to motivate students to get vaccinated.

All 14 state universities are requiring masks indoors for the fall semester, according to an examination of COVID prevention procedures as explained on schools' websites.

Universities - including Kent State University, Bowling Green State University, Miami University, and The Ohio State University - have implemented incentive programs for all students who are vaccinated and report their vaccination to their university. Vaccinated students are entered into raffles for the chance to win prizes on a weekly basis.

Some including Shawnee State University, University of Cincinnati, Wright State University, Miami University, and Youngstown State University - are offering all three vaccines for students, staff, and faculty on their campus.

Kent State University is requiring face masks to be worn regardless of vaccination status during all indoor activities. Along with this rule, KSU has also put an incentives program into effect for vaccinated students. All Kent State students who are vaccinated and register their vaccination on the University Health Services website are eligible to win prizes in twice-weekly drawings. The drawings take place through Oct. 12; prizes include free tuition for a semester, free room and board for a semester, a kayaking trip, Homecoming concert tickets, Beats headphones, and Apple Watches.

However, sophomore journalism major Jayla Forest thinks vaccinations aren't enough. "There are people who are vaccinated who are still contracting COVID," said Forest, who received the Moderna vaccine last May. "And honestly, even though they have rules and restrictions, not everyone is going to follow those rules and restrictions. So, I don't really know if being vaccinated is enough to go back on campus and become normal again."

Cleveland State University also requires students, faculty and staff to wear face coverings for the upcoming semester, and encourages students to get vaccinated. On its website, the school expresses a commitment to following CDC guidelines. It also lists exceptions and accommodations to the mask mandate for certain situations, such as when eating in the dining hall, when a student is alone in their residence hall room with a roommate, or when a person has been granted a university-approved medical or religious accommodation to not wear a mask.

"On a scale of one to 10, I feel like a 'six'as far as how safe I am on campus," said Jordan Hill, a sophomore engineering major at CSU."When they open up campus completely, I would give it within a month before there's a spike in cases, and we all have to go remote again."

Unlike all the other public universities in Ohio that just encourage students to register their vaccination status, the University of Akron is requiring students to report it.

"In order for the University to make informed decisions about COVID-19 and to further facilitate contact tracing, we are requiring all members of the campus community (faculty, contract professionals, staff and students) to report their vaccination status by August 20," said spokesperson Cristine Boyd in an email. "All members of the campus community who are unvaccinated or do not confirm their vaccination status will be subject to up-to-weekly testing, beginning the week of August 16 (employees) and August 30 (students)."

Boyd added the university will provide remote classes to accommodate students. "We currently have a variety of options available for classes, including in-person, hybrid and fully online as we try to meet the needs of all students," she wrote. "Not all courses are guaranteed to be available online."

Incoming University of Akron freshman Romeo Pitts-Medley appreciates the university's commitment to keeping students safe. "I think it's a really good idea that they are keeping track of who is unvaccinated and making them get tested," he said. "It's the only way to keep everyone as safe as possible with the delta variant on the loose."

Ohio has seen 1,180,986 total coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic. With 64,215 hospitalizations and 20,689 deaths, more and more Ohioans are making the decision to get vaccinated. Half the state's population, 51.22%, has received a vaccination. Of Ohioans ages 12-18, 59.87 % are vaccinated, while the vaccination rate is 62.15% for adults 18 and older.

This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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By Lane Wendell Fischer for the Shasta Scout via The Daily Yonder.
Broadcast version by Suzanne Potter for California News Service for the Public News Service/Daily Yonder Collaboration

Hiring and maintaining a qualified educator workforce is often a primary concern for rural schools across the country, requiring local education leaders to create innovative solutions.

The University of Wyoming’s College of Education has recently partnered with local community colleges across the state to repair a pipeline for future Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers at high schools and community colleges. 

CTE programs offer students an array of skills-based learning opportunities for many high-demand industries ranging from construction, to nursing, to marketing.

For decades, Wyoming has relied on traditional methods to fill out its CTE teacher workforce. After completing a two-year associate’s degree at their community college, students could either enter the trades or take another two years of teacher training. 

“It was very much a fork in the road,” said Rob Hill, a CTE consultant for the University of Wyoming and president of SkillsUSA Wyoming. Hill became a Wyoming CTE teacher through this traditional path.

“You had to take life off and go to school,” Hill said. “That limited a lot of people, especially students with families, jobs, and homes.”

As it turned out, most students never completed the final two years of teacher training and just entered the trades after the first two years at their community college, Hill said in an interview with the Daily Yonder.

This outdated pipeline has contributed to a shortage of both CTE teachers and skilled workers in the state.

According to a 2023 report from the Wyoming Professional Teaching Standards Board, the median age of CTE teachers in Wyoming schools is 52, and national numbers are similar. Compare this to the average age of all teachers in the U.S., which is just over 42. 

On average, a state employee in Wyoming retires at 62. This means that in the next 7 to 10 years, Wyoming could lose close to half of its CTE workforce to retirement.

“We’ve seen a number of things that have impacted us and that rural part is very real,” Hill said.

In rural communities, a CTE program might only consist of one or two teachers. When that school loses a teacher, the whole program is at risk until a qualified replacement is found. 

During a recent tour of Wyoming’s school districts, Jenna Shim, PhD and interim dean of the College of Education, learned that some high school CTE programs are closing down because they couldn’t find replacements.

“One CTE teacher shared with me that he has a specialty in welding, but he has to teach culinary arts,” Shim told the Daily Yonder. “I could see welding and construction, but welding and culinary arts seem like a far stretch.”

And it can be difficult to attract new talent to small schools and communities. 

“We tend to do best with people that are invested in that community previously and become teachers, as opposed to bringing in teachers into small communities,” Hill said.

The CTE Domino Effect in Rural Communities

Adding to the difficulty of attracting new teachers is a domino effect caused by current teacher shortages, Shim and Hill said.

A shortage of educators leads to a shortage of high school CTE programs, which leads to a shortage of students pursuing CTE in the state, followed by a shortage of tradespeople in the state, and a shortage of essential services, which, in turn, leads to less attractive communities.

On top of educational advancement for students, repairing CTE teacher pipelines through state and local partnerships helps assemble the next generation of rural water experts, plumbers, electricians, technicians, mechanics, and more, Hill said.

“It has a trickle-down effect into the stability of the community,” Shim said.

And in rural communities, small fluctuations in population, programs, and services can be especially catastrophic — or especially beneficial. 

“It doesn’t seem like a big deal if you don’t have one teacher,” Hill said. “But that one teacher in a town of 2000 people that teaches welding, where you have a huge welding industry, that has an extremely large impact.”

The broken pipeline has also raised economic concerns. “Without a sufficient number of teachers, it’s hard to prepare a sufficient workforce,” Shim said.

Two key industries in Wyoming are energy and tourism. Both rely heavily on skilled workers. And both are susceptible to booms and busts that give local communities economic whiplash.

“Over the last decade especially, there’s been a real desire to diversify our workforce,” Hill said. “And that means a different generation of career and technical education, like manufacturing, cybersecurity, and data analysis.”

Repairing the Pipeline

The biggest problem in the previous CTE teacher pipeline was continuity, Hill said. The pathway to teacher certification in rural communities must be both attractive and achievable.

This spring, the College of Education piloted a new course that aims to do both by exposing community college students to CTE teaching before they complete their associate’s degree and decide between trades work or teaching. 

“Creating a more seamless pathway is a real goal here,” Hill explained. 

The bridge course will be offered each semester in partnership with all eight community colleges in the state and is inherently low stakes. The course credits can be applied toward an associate’s degree at the community college, toward their teaching degree at the university, or toward any other bachelor’s degree they pursue.

In the course, students get a taste of what a career in CTE teaching is like. Coordinated by Hill, the course is one dose online learning and one dose on-site learning. Hill leads the online classroom, where students learn about different national and statewide topics. “But students will learn about how it’s implemented locally,” Hill said. 

Each community college has a community college professional and a school district professional that serve as a mentor and safety net for local students, introducing them to CTE leaders at both levels. 

One area of misconception is how much CTE teachers are paid, Shim said.

“I think wages scare them most,” Hill said. “But in Wyoming, our hourly wage is higher than many of the trades folks. We have pensions. We have healthcare. It’s a lot more competitive than folks think it is.”

The organization of the course is a masterclass in rural ingenuity. By using technology, the course eliminates long distance travel to the university campus in Laramie on the southern border of the state. It allows students to remain in their local communities, while still being connected to the state’s CTE teacher network.

“We knew we had a statewide problem and we needed to create a statewide solution, or in this case, a local solution for a statewide problem,” Hill said. “This is about connecting people in Wyoming. Because we have these vast distances between us, we have to have a way to connect people.”

Twenty-two students are currently enrolled in the pilot course. Half of the inaugural cohort are community college students. The other half includes veterans, community college instructors, K-12 instructors, and paraprofessionals who are exploring their future career options.

The course has garnered support from state legislators, the university, the colleges, local high schools, local business, and from the students themselves. 

Each of the enrolled students is taking the course tuition-free, thanks to scholarships from local businesses and private donors.

“Word is getting out,” Shim said. “I think that’s a testimony for how important this work is.”

Strong CTE programs lead to strong communities, Shim and Hill said. A lot of high school CTE programs are embedded into community culture. Organizations like FFA provide opportunities for social gathering and community service, for example. 

“We’ve come up with a mutually beneficial solution and this takes a partnership and teamwork,” Hill said. “No significant advances take place without a group of us working together in a mutually beneficial system.”


Lane Wendell Fischer wrote this article for the Shasta Scout via The Daily Yonder.


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Texas Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick has released 57 "interim charges," the topics he wants Senate committees to study in preparation for the 89th legislative session next year.

Four charges are for the committee overseeing public education. They include improving reading and math readiness in grade school, and redesigning the state's standardized tests.

Eli Melandrez, government relations associate for the American Federation of Teachers-Texas, said educators are surprised the list does not include pay increases for teachers or controversial school vouchers, which use public money to pay for private schooling.

"It's interesting to see both of those key issues absent from the interim charges," Melandrez observed. "Across the state we've seen school closures; we've seen teachers being let go. We've seen a greater percentage of our teacher workforce as uncertified educators."

Two unsuccessful special sessions were held in the past few months, in an attempt to pass a school voucher proposal. Other charges for public schools include examining how school districts used COVID-19 funding, and monitoring the implementation of bills passed in the last session.

Patrick also directed the Higher Education Committee to analyze faculty senates, monitor bans on DEI policies at colleges and universities and revise policies for faculty tenure.

Melandrez noted their union is now affiliated with the American Association of University Professors and members are concerned the lieutenant governor is inserting his own political views into the education system.

"That's worrisome for us," Melandrez emphasized. "In public education and higher education, we are seeing a concerted effort to minimize educator voices."

Patrick also wants senators to review university antisemitism policies and protecting the First Amendment rights of faculty, staff and students. The next legislative session convenes Jan. 14, 2025.

Minnesota's largest school district is at the center of a budget controversy tied to the recent wave of school board candidates fighting diversity programs and some parents feel it's time to call out the "politicizing" of public education.

Students and parents packed this week's meeting of the Anoka-Hennepin School Board after a member posted on Facebook he and two other colleagues would oppose the new budget if it contained some diversity, equity, and inclusion provisions.

Kendra Redmond, a parent of school children and a grassroots organizer who has fought book ban attempts in the Bloomington district, said it is frustrating to see what is happening in the Anoka district.

"Public schools are meant to serve all students," Redmond contended. "School boards should be elected to do what's best for students, not what's best for particular groups or what aligns for specific stakeholders."

The Anoka-Hennepin board has seen its dynamics shift with the election of some members supported by conservative groups pushing "culture-war" issues within education. The officials and candidates contend DEI initiatives only foster more divisiveness in schools. Some of the programs being targeted in the Anoka district are mandated under state law.

Redmond and fellow parents in Bloomington recently formed a grassroots group to protect programs and materials that promote inclusiveness. She acknowledged she never thought she would become this active but noted it is a different environment now, with some voices deemed "extreme" having an influence.

"In our community, a lot of people leading the effort don't even have kids in the public school system," Redmond pointed out. "The fact that they're tying up the work of the school board, the energy of parents and the energy of kids; that're tying that up for political maneuvering is just a waste of everyone's time."

Nationwide, those tracking school board candidates with extreme views said the movement saw a dip in last fall's elections. Redmond emphasized parents should still keep an eye out for controversial actions and either speak up or run for seats themselves to counter what's happening.


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