Why 1.4 Million Children Left Public Schools In 2020 And Where They Went

 by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Over a million children left public schools in 2020, a migration that came on the heels of school lockdowns and masking requirements, and was hastened by increased parental dissatisfaction with K-12 education.

Enrollment in U.S. public schools declined by 1.4 million students between fall 2019 and fall 2020, dipping to 49.4 million, a loss of nearly 3 percent, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

The decline may be closer to 2 million, according to a report by Education Next showing that traditional public school enrollment as a percentage of all school enrollment declined sharply between 2020 and 2022.

Enrollment in traditional public schools fell from 81 to 76.5 percent of total enrollment during that period, while enrollment in public charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling grew by a combined 4.5 percent.

Those numbers indicate that nearly 2 million students left traditional public schools for other educational options over the previous three years.

In many cases, the disruption in learning due to COVID-19 policies was the catalyst many parents needed to make the jump away from public schools to charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling.

Based on recent enrollment figures and the comfort many parents express with their decision to opt out of public schools, it appears the missing millions will not return.

Dissatisfaction With Learning

Parent satisfaction with K-12 education plunged between 2019 and 2022, according to GALLUP. Prior to the onset of COVID-19, 51 percent of parents said they were either completely or somewhat satisfied with their child’s education. Three years later, that satisfaction level was 42 percent, the lowest in over 20 years.

A student works on a computer at a Provo, Utah, school on Feb. 10, 2021. (George Frey/Getty Images)

Nearly a quarter of Americans, 23 percent, said they were completely dissatisfied with their child’s education.

Parent interviews conducted by The Epoch Times revealed that distance learning during school lockdowns provided a glimpse into the classroom that made parents question their school’s ability to educate their children.

“For a while, [our kids] were getting homework assigned to them by their teachers … but there was no teaching going on,” Matt Mohler of Tallahassee, Florida, said. He moved his children from a highly public school to a classical charter school in the fall of 2020.

“Once a week they’d all get together on a classroom call, and that was the extent of what the teachers were doing. We realized that we weren’t getting a lot of effort out of the teachers.”

“The distance learning was eye-opening,” said Maria Nicholas of Whittier, California, who began homeschooling her son in the fall of 2021. She said she would not have considered homeschooling if not for the lockdown, but seeing how her middle-school son thrived while at home rather than in the classroom was a factor in her decision.

Shireen Qudosi of Orange County, California, took her autistic son out of public school in October 2020. “There wasn’t even a functioning curriculum in place, which access into the classroom through remote learning confirmed.”

Mask and Vaccine Requirements

In January 2022, 65 percent of public schools tracked by data site Burbio had student masking requirements. Parent and student protests against mandatory masking erupted that month in New York, California, and Massachusetts.

The combination of public school mask policies and state vaccine mandates drove some parents to seek alternatives.

Longtime home-schooler Christine Hamman saw an influx of parents to her home-school group during the last two years. “COVID added people who are anti-vax and anti-masking,” she said. “Mostly, parents didn’t want their kids masked for six hours a day.”

“When SB 276 was signed, we realized we’d be homeschooling all of our children,” said Sara Cruz, speaking of a California law expanding vaccine requirements for schoolchildren. Cruz began home-schooling during the current school year.

“I’m on the other end of this spectrum,” Nicholas said.

“I’m for it, and I would like more people to have it,” she said, but seeing the number of people unmasked and unvaccinated at her school caused concern for her son’s health. “I thought they weren’t doing enough to keep the kids safe,” she said, which was a factor in her choice to withdraw.

Parents demonstrate at a Long Island Loud Majority protest against state-mandated masks for schoolchildren on Jan. 26, 2022, at the Suffolk County government offices. (Dave Paone/The Epoch Times)

Other reasons for leaving public schools included concern over appropriate teaching on social issues like sex, gender, and drug abuse, as well as student safety.

Parents don’t want their children exposed to the “radical indoctrination that the public schools are doing,” J. Allen Weston, Executive Director of the American Home School Association, told The Epoch Times.

“The school had a ‘Say No to Drugs’ campaign, but they were going into detail on what drugs were out there,” Mohler said, speaking of his daughter’s second-grade class.

“If they’re going to learn about that, they’re going to learn about that from me.”

Other parents expressed concern over bullying, the stress created by active-shooter drills, and the availability of sexual content on smartphones carried by other students.

Where They Went

Most parents who opted out of public schools over the last few years chose other educational options for their kids. Homeschooling was the choice for many, though the number of children enrolled is difficult to estimate.

“It is impossible to know the exact numbers because more than half of the states do not require parents to register as homeschoolers. Or if they are required, then the state does not keep count,” Weston said. He reported that his organization grew by a factor of 20 over the last three years.

Heather Martinson, the founder of Celebration Education home-school co-op, told The Epoch Times the Facebook group for homeschoolers in her area tripled to 12,000 members since January 2020.

Public charter schools, which had more than doubled to 3.4 million in the preceding decade, enrolled another 270,000 students between 2019 and 2021, according to the National Association of Public Charter Schools (NAPCS).

Students in uniform at Voice Charter School of New York, Corona, Queens, Sept. 18, 2014. (Petr Svab/Epoch Times)

Private school enrollment grew as well, adding over 500,000 in 2020 reach 11.1 million, according to data site Statista. A study by the CATO Institute shows that more private schools gained enrollment than lost it during 2020-21.

Some students who left public schools in 2020 entered the workforce. About 2 million students dropped out of high school that year, according to NCES.

In 2017, the NCES found that 47 percent of high school dropouts were employed. If the percentage remained similar in 2020, that would mean over 900,000 students left school for work that year.

Other Shifts

Though not reflected in national totals, public school enrollment in large cities has been in decline for up to 20 years in some cases. These losses appear to be driven more by demographic changes than by parents opting out of public schools.

Enrollment in Denver public schools dropped 3 percent from 2019 to 2021, a change driven in part by low birth rates and a shrinking population, according to education news site Chalkbeat.

New York City’s public school enrollment decreased by some 38,000 students in 2020, but 9,376 of them simply crossed the river to New Jersey according to the website Gothamist. More than 5,100 students moved from New York to Pennsylvania that year, and another 5,600 to Florida.

Also, the population of New York state was in decline during that time. The state lost over 350,000 to domestic migration between July 2020 and July 2021.

Enrollment in Los Angeles public schools has dropped 42 percent since the early 2000s, according to the online publication EdSource. LA Unified School District Superintendent Alberto Carvalho told journalists in July that recent losses are attributable partly to people moving to other states because of political ideology or the desire for lower taxes.

Return Unlikely

Relatively few students who withdrew from public school in 2020 have returned so far. Public school enrollment rebounded just 0.2 percent in 2021, including first-time enrollees, and remains at its lowest level since 2010.

Parents who made the choice to withdraw from public school during the last two years are highly satisfied with their choice, according to a report from NAPCS.

Nearly 90 percent of families who changed school types experienced a positive change as a result of the switch, with 57 percent saying their child was happier, according to NAPCS.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/great-dropout-why-14-million-children-left-public-schools-2020-and-where-they-went

Sanofi seeks to launch blood disorder drug this year

 

French drugmaker Sanofi SA plans to launch a drug for rare bleeding disorder hemophilia A this year, Chief Executive Officer Paul Hudson told CNBC in an interview on Thursday.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year accepted the marketing application for the therapy, which is being developed in collaboration with Swedish drugmaker Sobi, and is expected to decide on an approval status by Feb. 28.

Hemophilia A is an inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot normally. About 400 babies are born with this condition every year, although the exact number of people affected is not known, according to government data.

https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/SANOFI-4698/news/Sanofi-seeks-to-launch-blood-disorder-drug-this-year-CNBC-42767058/

SBF's Clinton Ties Helped Disgraced Crypto King Dupe Investors

 The relationship between FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and the Clintons helped him to boost credibility before his firm imploded.

Bankman-Fried, or SBF, is accused of eight criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers and lenders, conspiracy to commit commodities and security fraud, and separate wire fraud on customers and lenders.

And as the NY Post reports, a close relationship with the Clintons helped SBF to dupe investors.

Bill Clinton was paid north of $250,000 when he spoke at the disgraced FTX CEO’s Crypto Bahamas Conference in April, sources told The Post. At the over-the-top tropical shindig, the ex-US president along with former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair were famously photographed onstage next to Bankman-Fried, who appeared wearing shorts and a T-shirt.

Shortly thereafter, Bill and Hillary Clinton invited the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried — known as “SBF” in crypto circles — to speak at their annual Clinton Global Initiative in New York — an effective endorsement of the former FTX CEO that played a pivotal role in elevating his reputation among politicians and deep-pocketed investors alike, insiders told The Post. -NY Post

To promote the Clinton event, SBF's photo was featured on the Clinton Foundation website next to notables such as Matt Damon, Gavin Newsom, Melinda French-Gates and Larry Fink.

People close to the Clintons say it was a typical quid-pro-quo between the Democratic power couple and SBF; up and coming business leaders gain credibility by riding the Clinton coattails - and then the Clintons get a check.

"The Clintons’ involvement gave SBF some air cover," said one former confidante in a statement to the Post.

And while many politicians have returned donations from SBF and other FTX executives, it's been crickets from the Clintons - with critics saying it's 'unseemly' for Bill Clinton to hold on to the $250,000 speaking fee he received when thousands of investors have lost their retirement accounts and savings in the implosion. 

"I don’t think every public figure has to give back every dollar from every tarnished source, but it’s obviously wrong to hold onto money the orchestrator of a Ponzi scheme paid you to lend their grift credibility," said Jeff Houser, director of progressive corruption watchdog, the Revolving Door Project.

"They should just apologize and give the money back now," another insider told the Post, adding "It’s only going to get messier."

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/sbfs-clinton-ties-helped-disgraced-crypto-king-dupe-investors

Chemicals for possible fentanyl production seized in Arizona

 U.S. agents in southern Arizona said Thursday they seized up to 440 pounds (about 200 kilograms) of what they suspect is a precursor chemical often used to manufacture the dangerous drug fentanyl, a chilling sign that producers may be moving to manufacture the deadly synthetic opioid on American soil.

The powdered chemical was being transported by agents Thursday morning from a residence and warehouse in Tucson, where it had been sent in recent months in a series of suspicious packages from China that did not identify their contents, said Leo Lamas, the deputy special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in Tucson.

There were no immediate reports of arrests after agents with federal search warrants entered the locations and found no people inside.

“If criminal entrepreneurs start producing fentanyl here, it could become a frightening situation for the United States,” said Mike Vigil, former head of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration. “If the chemicals do turn out to be precursors, this could really aggravate fentanyl distribution and overdoses.”

“Once you have a drug trend like this, it can catch on and spread quickly,” Vigil added.

Lamas said the agency launched the investigation several months ago after learning suspicious packages containing the chemical, which he did not name, were being shipped to the two locations from China. DEA agents and Tucson police provided important support, he said.

He said the agency was still investigating who was involved in shipping and storing the chemicals and did not yet know if they were part of a local crime group or an international drug organization.

If further investigation shows that the chemicals were destined for fentanyl production, Thursday’s seizure could mark a new model for how it is manufactured, making it more readily available to consumers in the United States.

Already, the DEA calls fentanyl the deadliest drug in the nation. Two-thirds of the 107,000 overdose deaths in the country in 2021 were attributed to synthetic opioids like fentanyl, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Originally developed as a legal drug to treat intense pain from ailments including cancer, Mexican drug cartels in recent years have produced most of the illegal fentanyl seen in the U.S., smuggling it inside vehicles or strapped to pedestrians crossing at ports of entry along the international border.

“I consider fentanyl to probably be the most dangerous controlled substance we’ve ever had to deal with,” said Lamas.

The drug is sold in various forms, including blue pills designed to look like oxycodone, known locally in southern Arizona as “Mexican oxy.” In its powder form, fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs like heroin or methamphetamine.

But investigators in recent months have seen incipient signs that producers may be trying to make fentanyl inside the U.S., said Lamas.

“Over the last, I would say a year or so, we have started to uncover pill presses domestically in the United States,” he said.

“Certainly, these criminal organizations know that the emphasis is at the border,” Lamas said of interdiction efforts. Importing precursors from China and producing fentanyl domestically would be “just another mechanism that these criminal organizations will attempt to get their products sold in the United States,” he added.

Cheap to produce and buy, fentanyl has exploded in popularity in recent years. But even a tiny dose can be fatal because it’s 50 times more potent than heroin and producers don’t tend to worry about quality control when pressing the powder into pills or lacing it with other drugs.

Addiction to fentanyl has spread through homeless populations in Los Angeles and other large western cities where it is sold in small doses at low cost.

“What makes it so much more dangerous is because it really doesn’t discriminate in terms of economics,” said Lamas. “It’s available to anybody.”

https://apnews.com/article/health-pain-management-china-tucson-opioids-2a75df686af9985955a38a79f7568bba

Avian Flu Is Crushing Farmers

 by Salena Zito via The Epoch Times,

The public’s pocketbooks have been hit hard by the skyrocketing cost of eggs in the last few months. Prices have doubled and, in some places, tripled over what they cost a year ago—if you can even find them in your local grocery store.

The average cost of a dozen eggs in the United States is over $4.25, more than twice what it was just a year ago. Options such as cage-free eggs or organic go for over $7. Inflation is a part of the reason, but the agriculture industry says the bigger cause is the outbreak of the avian flu here in the United States a year ago; nationwide, it has affected nearly 60 million birds—nearly 5 million of them here in Pennsylvania.

American consumers love their eggs. The food staple is highly regarded by every walk of life for its simplicity and accessibility; for some families, it is their major source of protein. For others, it is the most important ingredient in baking and the central element in preparing casseroles, pasta, and numerous other dishes.

For many of us, it is hard to make a meal without an egg, so of course consumers are deeply affected by this. However, there is another side of that story that we are not examining. That is the equally devastating economic impact this is having on American poultry farmers and all of those who work with them. Their lives, livelihoods, and family legacies have been upended and even destroyed by the avian flu, a worldwide outbreak that shows no signs of subsiding.

Stopping the spread of avian flu is like chasing a ghost.

The virus spreads easily through wild birds—in particular migratory birds that fly across the country, spreading it along the way with droppings that infect farm animals.

Farmers have to take drastic measures. Any interaction with the public is risky. And if even one bird is infected within a 6-mile radius of where an outbreak has occurred, the consequences can be devastating.

Chris Pierce, a member of a multiple-generation poultry farm family and president of the poultry management group Heritage Poultry in Annville, said he works with 120 poultry farms in Pennsylvania with management services that provide veterinarian nutritionists to assist the health and productivity of the farmer’s flocks that they service.

“The biosecurity measures all of the farmers infected or not, like not having visitors on your properties—covering your workers from head to toe in bio suits and constantly and meticulously disinfecting equipment, clothing, buildings, walls, tires—is expensive and mind-numbing,” he said. “Even the simplest thing such as a fertilizer truck or a delivery from UPS or Amazon or your children’s school bus can track the disease onto a farm and destroy their flocks, their income and their family’s legacy.”

“We’ve lost two of our family farms out of the 120 with the avian influenza in April of 2022,” he said. “If you are an area poultry farmer, your focus is on keeping birds healthy and caring for them because the birds cannot care for themselves. So that involves making sure all of the equipment in the barns, the feeders, the water system, the ventilation, the lighting systems is all safe because as an egg farmer, your No. 1 priority is the health and safety of your birds. It’s your income.”

Pierce says those are the things a poultry farmer can control. “When a disease you cannot control hits your farm, like the avian influenza, that can happen when there are 30,000 snow geese flying over your farm that have feces coming out. That’s when the uncertainty starts to unravel their lives and livelihoods,” he said.

Pierce also points to neighbors’ bird feeders and bird baths or homesteaders or families who purchase chickens to save money who don’t take the same stringent precautions as farmers do. These can inadvertently become a spreading source of the avian flu.

Pierce said having to isolate from everyone has devastated many of these farmers who rely on community and social gatherings such as church services, school functions, and festivals as part of their emotional well-being. The measures these farmers take are so drastic that many of them refuse to leave their farms for fear of picking up a particle on the tread of their tires or their shoes and then bringing it back to their farms and infecting their flocks.

“Then there is this constant fear and really a sense of hopelessness that despite all of the precautions, all of the economic and emotional toll, all of the hardships that this epidemic has had on poultry farmers, even more birds are going to die this upcoming season,” Pierce said.

Pierce is correct to be worried about the isolation, uncertainty, and fear that farmers are experiencing. These emotional impacts are rarely discussed in the farming community and in our culture, even though farmers and ranchers are nearly twice as likely to die by suicide as any other occupation, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pierce said farmers are always affected by things that are out of their hands. “The weather, politics, global markets, commodities, trade, and the whims of newest food fad that influences the American consumer,” he explained. “The avian flu just adds to that uncertainty.”

For the first time in recent memory, poultry farmers in Pennsylvania, of which there are thousands, were not featured at the Pennsylvania Farm Show because of the deep precaution that local poultry farmers took to keep their flocks free of infection.

Chris Herr is the executive director of PennAg Industries, the trade group that represents over 500 agribusinesses and farms across Pennsylvania. He said he spent several days as a volunteer late last year euthanizing poultry whose farm had been infected. “It takes a toll on you, having to senselessly kill these birds,” he said, adding that he has spoken to several farm families who don’t know if they can take another year of this.

“The emotional impact of this isn’t just the killing of the poultry; it is also not being able to leave your farm. You know that fear is gripping to someone who understands that one trip to the store in town and a dropping from a migrant bird or something airborne might infect your entire livelihood.”

Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.) was recently touring the massive Pennsylvania Farm Show with his newly named agriculture secretary, Russell Redding, a holdover from the Wolf administration. Both men said the issue remained a top priority heading into the new governor’s administration.

“There is the cost to the consumer, which is a big concern, but there is also the concerns of our poultry farmers that we our making our priority,” said Shapiro.

Pierce said that Redding, along with the state legislature, did a phenomenal job last Spring. “What they did and the challenges they had were handled very well. I am concerned as we head into what looks to be yet another year of this avian influenza this spring—can they do it again?” said Pierce.

This spring, the flu is expected to maintain its intensity across Pennsylvania. Indeed, Pierce mentioned that 20 percent of the testing done on the eggs in this country were conducted in the state’s labs.

“Our state is the No. 1 state in the country in USDA organic poultry,” Herr said. “This is an important industry, and it’s a point of pride for a lot of these farmers whose family has been doing this for two, three, four generations.”

Pierce says there are thousands of poultry farms in Pennsylvania alone. Some are small 30-acre farms; some are much larger. “There are a lot of niche markets in Pennsylvania,” he said. “We need to be able to have all of them communicate with each other. One outlier can take down an entire industry.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/avian-flu-crushing-farmers

Lilly gets Complete Response Letter on submitting Alzheimer's med

 Accelerated approval application was based on Phase 2 trial showing amyloid plaque lowering

Complete response letter based on limited number of patients with 12-month drug exposure data in the accelerated approval submission; no other deficiencies were identified

Definitive Phase 3 readout and submission for traditional approval remain on track for mid-year 2023

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-food-drug-administration-issues-230000623.html

Medicare to do "targeted, off-site audits" of antipsychotic use in nursing homes

 The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced actions on Wednesday that would put greater scrutiny on antipsychotic prescribing in nursing homes as well as let consumers know about citations the homes are disputing.

"President Biden issued a call to action to improve the quality of America's nursing homes, and HHS is taking action so that seniors, people with disabilities, and others living in nursing homes receive the highest quality care," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a press releaseopens in a new tab or window. "No nursing home resident should be improperly diagnosed with schizophrenia or given an inappropriate antipsychotic. The steps we are taking today will help prevent these errors and give families peace of mind."

CMS said that beginning this month, it will "conduct targeted, off-site audits to determine whether nursing homes are accurately assessing and coding individuals with a schizophrenia diagnosis. Nursing home residents erroneously diagnosed with schizophrenia are at risk of poor care and prescribed inappropriate antipsychotic medications," which are "especially dangerous" to nursing home residents because the side effects can be devastating, and can even lead to death.

Chris Laxton, executive director of AMDA -- The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine, an association of nursing home medical directors, told MedPage Today that while his group has "always supported accountability around the appropriate use of antipsychotic medications," capturing overall antipsychotic use is a crude measure of appropriate care.

"We know that no two facilities are alike in terms of their patient population," Laxton said. "Some may have a greater need for appropriate antipsychotic prescribing."

He added that there "are patients with dementia and psychosis for whom antipsychotics are helpful and not categorized as inappropriate." He also warned that facilities may become hesitant to take patients with legitimate diagnoses and need for antipsychotics because it will make their overall rate go up and cause increased scrutiny.

"There's certainly a question about inappropriate diagnoses of schizophrenia and antipsychotic prescribing," Laxton said. "On the other hand, we need measures that don't create a situation where nursing homes refuse to accept patients or where diagnoses are driven by a desire not to be penalized."

David Gifford, MD, MPH, chief medical officer of the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), said in a statement that antipsychotic use in nursing homes has fallen by 40% over the last decade, and noted: "In many cases, physicians not directly affiliated with the long-term care facility are diagnosing patients and prescribing these medications."

LeadingAge, a group representing more than 5,000 nonprofit aging services providers, applauded CMS's action. "LeadingAge supports efforts to address the issue of inappropriate antipsychotic drug use among providers of all types," Katie Smith Sloan, the organization's president and CEO, said in a statement. She noted that LeadingAge led the creation of the National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes, a program that CMS supervised.

"Much has been achieved since the program's start in 2012, and nursing homes deserve a lot of the credit for the progress," she said.

"There is more work to be done, however," she continued. "We understand the challenges of implementing alternatives to drugs, particularly if programs that reduce the use of antipsychotics require more or specialized staff ... However, this is a serious quality of care and quality of life issue for residents. Inappropriate use of potent drugs can compromise a person's overall health. If stepped-up enforcement is needed, we support that approach. At the same time, we urge CMS to address the issue of inappropriate antipsychotic use among providers of all types ... Healthcare is a team sport; all providers in the system must be held to the same expectation."

On another front, CMS also announced that it is going to include disputed citations -- in addition to those not in dispute -- in its Care Compareopens in a new tab or window nursing home database. "Currently, when a facility disputes a survey deficiency, that deficiency is not posted to Care Compare until the dispute process is complete," CMS said in the release. "This process usually takes approximately 60 days; however, some cases can take longer. While the number of actual deficiencies under dispute is relatively small, they can include severe instances of non-compliance" including those that could lead to serious injury.

"Displaying this information while it is under dispute can help consumers make more informed choices when it comes to evaluating a facility," the agency said. "This new information will begin appearing on Care Compare on January 25, 2023."

Laxton lamented that the policy would create a "guilty until proven innocent" situation for nursing homes.

In his statement, Gifford said that while AHCA/NCAL appreciates CMS's efforts to enhance its rating system, "dramatically downgrading entire ratings based on a single measure results in misleading information and causes more consumer confusion. It is becoming increasingly difficult for consumers to use Care Compare to see and understand what is most important when searching for a nursing home."

https://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/medicare/102683