The Advocate
The Advocate is updated in the first week of every other month September through May, containing articles relating to private school issues, representation, and local-to-national news relevant to independent schools.
DOH Updated Guidance for K12 schools & childcare now in one merged document
The WA State Department of Health's NEW Requirements and Guidance to Mitigate COVID-19 Transmission in K-12 Schools, Child Care, Early Learning, Youth Development, and Day Camp Programs take effect March 12 to coincide with the lifting of general indoor masking...
A most positive shift during the 2021-22 school year
This school year has been full of local, county, and state agency meetings for the WFIS staff. WFIS Member school leaders have remained updated of this work through our weekly Member Zoom meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as our WFIS Member Weekly Update...
This Private Equity Firm Is Amassing Companies That Collect Data on America’s Children
The Markup by Todd Feathers Vista Equity Partners has been buying up software used in schools. Parents want to know what the companies do with kids’ dataOver the past six years, a little-known private equity firm, Vista Equity Partners, has built an educational...
Federal Dept. of Labor vaccine mandate
OSHA's COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing: Emergency Temporary Standard applies to businesses with 100 employees or more (this counts seasonal, temporary, and employees who work from home but not independent contractors). The new protocol must be in place by Jan 4, 2022...
Cyber Liability Insurance policies for independent schools
A cyber liability policy protects your organization beyond the basics of general liability insurance, which does not protect against cyber attacks and data breaches. 70% of cyber attacks target small businesses, and the cost of data recovery alone could force a school to fold.
California Accounts for 12% of U.S. Students, but Only 1% of Covid School Closures
The state has done remarkably well limiting outbreaks, even before its student vaccine mandate has been put into place. If masking, testing and other prevention strategies are working so well, why is the state adding an immunization requirement?
L.A. first major U.S. school district to require vaccinations for students
Today, Los Angeles became the first major school district in the U.S. to mandate coronavirus vaccines for students 12 and older who are attending class in person. The measure, which passed the district’s Board of Education with broad support, requires students to get...
U.S. states with low vaccination rates see sharp spikes in children with Covid-19
NY Times September 9, 2021 The number of children admitted to the hospital in the United States with Covid-19 has risen to the highest levels reported to date. Nearly 30,000 of them entered hospitals in August. Pediatric hospitalizations, driven by a record rise in...
Student Vaccine Mandate Considerations For Private Schools
By Kathryn Murphy, Rob Duston and Levi Schy for Law360 On Aug. 23, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for individuals ages 16 and older. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine had been approved for those 16 and up under an emergency use...
1.1 million kids left public schools in the fall of 2020
Public K-12 schools in the United States experienced a loss of roughly 1.1 million students in the fall of 2020, research finds. Futurity by CARRIE SPECTOR-STANFORD Districts that began the school year with remote-only schooling had significantly larger enrollment...
Updated School Guidance is here
WFIS has pulled some of the key highlights from the WA State Department of Health Summary of July 28, 2021 Changes for schools to grasp below. As always, we encourage everyone to read the full guidance and bring questions and concerns to WFIS for further...