PSEA is a community of education professionals who make a difference in the lives of students every day.
October 21: CDC Expands Eligibility for COVID-19 Booster Shots
September 24: PSEA joins other statewide education associations to encourage state representatives to oppose House Bill 1254, a bill that would require school districts to create tuition voucher programs for their students if they close a school, even for a day, because they are following COVID-19 health guidelines.
September 22: FDA Authorizes Booster Dose of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for Certain Populations
September 8: PSEA provides members with information about the statewide mask order for pre-K-12 public schools and makes it clear that members must follow it.
September 7: A statewide mask mandate for pre-K-12 schools in Pennsylvania goes into effect.
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The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, by affirming a Commonwealth Court ruling, invalidated Gov. Tom Wolf’s statewide mask mandate for public school entities. This means that, effective immediately, the Secretary of Health’s masking order is no longer in effect for Pennsylvania’s public schools and local school entities will decide masking policies for their students and employees. Here are some key things to consider about this.
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PSEA Legal Document: Advice to PSEA members regarding order directing face coverings in schools
PSEA Legal Document: New Secretary of Health Order Regarding Face Coverings in School Entities
Talking Points:
Mask Safety Studies
Even as we go back to school for in-person learning, PSEA continues to offer a wide array of professional learning opportunities to members online in both synchronous and asynchronous formats. Members can earn Act 48 credit (PSEA is an approved Act 48 provider by PDE) and Chapter 14 verification to submit for District consideration toward the fulfillment of annual hours for HQT.
Check out these professional learning opportunities at www.psea.org/prolearning.
Whether you are looking to move from Level I to Level II or you simply want to move horizontally on the pay scale, PSEA offers the opportunity through Micro-credentials, online professional learning (PEARL), and Edinboro graduate coursework for $70 per credit.
Have you yet? Tell us about it by dropping us a line at communications@psea.org.
From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, PSEA has advocated for educators, support professionals, students, and their families. PSEA has encouraged policymakers to follow the health and safety recommendations of scientific and medical experts, offer the COVID-19 vaccine to school staff members, and direct state and federal resources to schools so that they have the tools they need to ensure that students receive the highest level of academic, social, and emotional supports.
President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan into law on March 11, authorizing unprecedented federal investments in K-12 and higher education, support for state and local governments, and programs that will slash child poverty for children under 18 by nearly 50 percent.
The single largest federal investment ever in public education, the historic aid package includes $170 billion for K-12 schools and colleges and universities, with $6.46 billion of those funds earmarked for Pennsylvania.
Since February 2020, PSEA has communicated with state and federal officials on key issues. Here are some examples.
Pennsylvania’s school staff vaccination program began on March 10. On March 31, the program was completed, after vaccinating nearly 112,000 school employees in less than four weeks. The process was smooth and well-organized.
As of September 10, 88 percent of PSEA had received one of the COVID-19 vaccines.
"On behalf of the 140,000 PSEA members who have already begun to receive the COVID-19 vaccine because of your efforts, I want to extend my gratitude for the incredible work you did to make the vaccine available to the school staff members who are so dedicated to teaching and serving Pennsylvania’s students."
“The best way to reduce health risks in schools and reduce reliance on social distancing guidelines is to vaccinate school staff members as soon as possible.”
The association leaders added that prioritizing the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine to school staff will help Pennsylvania schools to open for in-person instruction and make it safer to bring more students back to their classrooms.
“By prioritizing providing the COVID-19 vaccine to school staff members, we can address all of these issues and we can do it quickly. This will offer a new level of safety and confidence for staff members, students, and their families, and help speed the safe reopening of all of Pennsylvania’s schools for in-person instruction.”
