Thursday, July 9, 2020

New Precautions for Hotels in the Wake Of COVID-19


Education professional Nichole Thiel has worked in both administrative and educational capacities, gaining diverse experience across a wide range of industries, including corporate retail and sales. In a search for new opportunities, Nichole Thiel has now shifted to working in the hospitality industry, which has been hard hit by the COVID-19 global pandemic.

As hotels begin to reopen, with restrictions being lifted in numerous locations, the reality is that the hotels we return to may look very different than before the pandemic. Best Western and its arsenal of brands are no exception, as new cleaning procedures are being implemented by nearly all the major hotel brands across the globe.

Best Western is one of the many major hotel chains dedicated to implementing the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s (AHLA) StaySafe campaign. Created by an advisory council composed of members from across the hotel industry, the AHLA StaySafe campaign covers everything from how to implement contactless check-in and check-out procedures to new and updated cleaning and sanitization procedures.

To facilitate the adoption of these new policies, the AHLA’s American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute has created a new online program titled “COVID-19 Precautions for Hotels.” The course is available in both English and Spanish for employees of all levels. Because of its easy length (just 15 minutes) and affordability, this course will be a simple addition to improving training and helping update cleaning procedures.

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Challenges Faced By Charter Schools in the US


Former high school teacher Nichole Thiel has served in several educational institutions throughout her career, including the University of Idaho. Nicole Thiel also was vice-principal at a top-ranked charter school in Idaho. Charter schools have been facing problems for many years, but despite criticism, they continue to offer the best educational outcomes for some populations of students.

One of the big struggles that charter schools have to deal with is infrastructure. Only about 27 percent of charter schools occupy buildings specifically constructed for them. The majority rent or lease space, which puts them at a disadvantage compared to traditional public schools.

Charter schools also have limited access to state funding compared to public schools. On average, charter schools receive around three-quarters of the finding traditional public schools receive per pupil.

One area where both traditional and charter schools continue to struggle is in providing equitable access to education across student cross-sections. All these problems have received some attention in recent years, but there’s still a long way to go if more charter schools are to open.