 This program is brought to you by cable franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you Lord present mr. Harrington Harrington present miss Spitzer Spitzer present and McDonald present And we also have Joining us today. We have superintendent of schools. Dr. McMorris, and we have our public health director for the town of Amherst miss Emma dragon Ms. Dragon will be with us until 7 p.m. As many of you I'm sure are aware. She's been very busy working 24 seven Setting up and running our vaccine clinics, and I think I heard that we we you achieved 600 shots in arms so far this week, so Many thanks to you for your hard work there, and we also have Serge Fedorovsky assisting us as our technical co-host And I'm going to take a moment to Bring up some slides just a moment our folks seeing that I'm looking at my panelists to see Yeah, okay, and So Welcome everyone to this open meeting with the Amherst school committee before we get going I want to point out that this meeting is being recorded and Is being broadcast. Thank you to Amherst media for your tireless support And community engagement. I think this is a second of three times that we'll be working with you this week We have the full Amherst school committee here And our plan for this evening is listed here after a short introduction about the subject of the meeting I'll review our basic meeting norms And then I'll turn it over to dr. Morris for a brief presentation about the current planning and situation in our schools Our primary goal for this open meeting is for the school committee to hear from you the community And to hear from as many of you as wish to share your thoughts questions concerns or ideas with us so we'll look in to move quickly through these first agenda items and Maximize the time for the main purpose which is open comment from you all I'll share with you in a moment how you can participate and be heard But before that I'd like to share the topics of this open meeting Tonight's meeting is being hosted by the Amherst school committee pursuant to article 8 section 1 of the Amherst town charter In December a group of 240 residents submitted a petition requesting this open meeting on 12 subjects related to the Ambers public schools during COVID The 12 requested meeting subjects are bucketed roughly into five bigger topic areas. These are First the negative impacts of the current distance learning model and The questions that are listed here are the questions that submitted from the petitioners in the petition to the school committee Second the health and safety plans for in-person learning Third the metrics and decision framework in the memorandum of agreement with the Amherst Pellum Education Association Otherwise known as the teachers union Fourth the phasing plan for in-person learning And fifth, what are the budget impacts and needs in this time? And then move on to our shared norms for interaction engagement during this meeting When we get to the open comment segment, we ask that you let us know that you'd like to speak by raising your hand To raise your hand click on the small hand icon at the bottom of your screen If you're using your phone to attend this meeting you can tap star 9 to raise your hand You'll be added to the queue and when it's your turn will call on you and enable you to unmute yourself If you're using your phone tap star 6 to unmute yourself When call the plan, please limit your comments to three minutes We will have a timer to alert you when you've reached the time limit If there are multiple people sharing a zoom attendee login, you may share your three minutes or You may take turns and rename yourself in the participant panel so that we know who's raising their hand the second time If you have a question and prefer to type it rather than to speak Please use the Q&A function to submit your question Click on the little speech bubbles icon at the bottom of your screen labeled Q&A to type your question We'll be collecting your submitted questions and we'll shift from public comments to respond to the submitted Q&A questions later in this meeting Because we want to ensure all those who wish to speak during this meeting are able to do so We may not get to every question during this open meeting We will publish next week any questions with responses that we don't get to tonight I'll now turn it over to Dr. Morris for a brief presentation around spring and early and early planning for fall Sure. Thank you, chair McDonald I'm going to be quite brief because again the purpose of tonight's meeting is much more to listen and respond than to present So really I'll try to keep my comments a less than five minutes And they're mostly going to be focused on an update similar to what I offered on Tuesday night at school committee So for those of you who watched that I apologize in advance. It's going to sound really similar So last month the school committee school committee is actually voted a motion to Plan for a volunteer return to in-person learning and they asked me to collaborate with the Amherst Palom Education Association on that plan We've worked collaboratively with a subcommittee of their executive board. We've met multiple times We sent a survey out last week I believe on Friday of last week Asking staff if they were interested in returning to in-person and whether they would return to in-person learning And it was due this afternoon. We haven't compiled all the data from the survey I think it closed I don't know hour or two ago From that and at that point once we were able to compile it We'll have to look to see how many positive responses they were about returning in person and then figure out what model We might be able to offer at which point We will contact families if there are seats available at their grade level at their school to see and as best We can match students to educators who are willing to be in person at this moment in time You know, there's until we get a little further along in the process of understanding who's willing to return to in-person What kind of staffing models we have there's not a tremendous amount more we can share We will be sharing updates on that But you know, I want the community to know that we've worked collaboratively to get a very neutral survey We wanted to make sure no staff member felt compelled one way or the other And now we did have you know last time I checked which was probably at 12 or 1 o'clock We had over 400 responses. So we did have good response rate from staff member to complete the survey There's both, you know Kind of forced binary question of yes. No, but also a comment box, which is critically important because even what I saw so far was You know some questions as well as a response and some conditionals that we need to consider So we'll spend the better part of the next week going through all those responses Identifying what program We were able to to work with and then contacting families if their seats available again in their child's school and grade level To see if their what their willingness is to return to in-person learning And try to build a program as best we can it's a unique experiment we have going on in this community And so, you know, we appreciate everyone Understanding that we want to make sure that we're doing things in a timely manner But also making sure that we're able to do it in the way that has transportation not be a barrier for families So once we have the model and know which kids are coming, we need to also work on transportation For families who choose not to provide it The last thing i'll say is that, you know, what we Originally thought of as, you know, february really when we looked at it because of the break week in february And we want to be collaborative planning this model with staff who want to be in person We're looking at that model starting on march 1st And we'll we'll communicate to the community communicate to the community as that process goes, but that is our start date The february break well many of us do work february break Not everybody does and we want to make sure that we're we're following and all the safety pieces and making sure we're getting the right kids on buses who want transportation and Linking them up in the way that we feel like is in everyone's best interest So i think i got under five minutes miss mcdonald, which was my goal for that rather brief update on the school committee The motion that was passed and where we are in terms of the planning and just appreciate everyone's partnership and trying to Figure out the the next steps and appreciate everybody who's on this call with a strong interest in Understanding what the next steps are at a larger level Thank you. Um, we will now move on to our open comment And I will say I also see that One question has already come in about the numbers of attendees We have about 130 people In the attendance here in addition to those of us that are here on the panel So I see some hands raised I think we can start with Kate Atkinson Hi, can you hear me? We can Hi, i'm dr. Kate Atkinson I want to thank you for listening to me tonight And I want to thank all of you who probably had no idea what you were getting into joining a school committee before pandemic hit I know this isn't easy and none of us have answers and I don't pretend I have answers I just want to share what I've seen in my practice As most of you know, I've been a family doctor taking care of all ages of patients for the past 22 years in the Pioneer Valley I started out in belcher town and after a few years moved to start my own practice in amherst As a result of that about half of my family is my practice of from from belcher town Last spring as a pandemic hit and kids started to work remotely I started to experience some pretty upsetting things with patients seeing a lot of patients to huge numbers Very stressed and going through a bad time Particularly teenage girls I've never in all of my years of practice Admitted five teenage girls to a hospital within a couple months and I did that last spring Cutting suicidality eating disorders depression Exhausting is stressful and scary times for us As a family doctor I think you all know the summer there was a reprieve The weather got better everybody got out and it began to feel like okay. We've got this figured out It can't be so bad And then at the end of the summer I started getting all of the The calls and emails from all of my patients who are teachers professors and teachers Asking me right to write letters saying they had to work remotely We decided as a practice not to start writing those because we felt like it was a slippery slope The fall hit things seemed okay, and then they got worse again and by this winter It's been about the worst situation. I've ever dealt with as a family doctor The things I've seen and the stress I've seen have been really horrible And it's and it's painful and I know that that people are scared And I know that we're trying to think about the needs of everybody But I've got to tell you my belcher town kids are not having this I'm not seeing this. I do not have one of my kids from belcher town Who's going through this and they have had this hybrid model Up until recently and it just seems to have worked And I really wanted to share this with you because I want Amherst to look at how belcher town did it because as far as I know they didn't have any outbreaks Every one of my kids was in school two days a week. Some of the single moms were able to still work two days a week I mean it felt like the best of both worlds Um, so I just really want to encourage you. I applaud you for looking at ways to bring kids back in the school I really hope that we can come up with some kind of hybrid model for the spring Because it's time that we start priority prioritizing the needs of our kids They are really suffering at levels that I don't think everybody realizes. Thank you Thank you. Okay, I'm gonna help Allison with the hands and coordination Calling on speakers and whatnot. Um, my apologies if I get your name wrong So next up is bill kaizen. You have uh, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Can you hear me? Hello. Yes. Okay. Thank you My name is bill kaizen. I'm one of the people who helped organize the petition that brought about this meeting I did so as the parent of two children at wildwood Because I was concerned about how the district has handled its response to covet I wasn't paying enough attention this past summer when the school committee and the teachers union Were negotiating the agreement that has kept our schools closed to in-person learning Other parents were paying attention They said to the school committee that the metric used in this agreement was too low The school committee didn't listen and 28 new cases per week per 100,000 people Was enshrined in the agreement Becoming a fixed and inflexible trigger that has made it impossible for our children to resume in-person school The school committee now seems to have realized that this was a mistake The teachers union has not The teachers union has refused to renegotiate this metric or the agreement Which is in effect for the rest of the entire school year including this spring Given that umass has now brought back far more students It's highly unlikely that there will be fewer than 28 new cases per week in the area for the rest of this school year even with vaccination This means that unless the teachers union agrees to throw out the old agreement The vast majority of our children will not return to in-person schooling this year I've been heartened that the school committee and the teachers union have begun talking to each other again I am utterly thankful that a small number of teachers are willing to selflessly volunteer To return to in-person teaching to help a small number of children in dire need I hope that with some teachers back in the building others will recognize that it's possible for them to return safely as well And that we might just maybe get some in-person schooling for all of our kids before summer break Nevertheless, I remain extremely concerned first for our children second for our district and third for our town Every week I hear new stories from parents about how their kids are suffering from remote learning Every week I hear about another family pulling their kids from the district Although our family isn't leaving the district. I would never blame a parent for doing what's best for their family My family loves wildwood and all the teachers and staff and in no way wants to see them endangered Everybody involved is making difficult decisions right now I'm calling on the school committee tonight to make a commitment to students families and residents of the district Will you members of the school committee tonight? Pledge that all children in the district who want and need to be back to in-person learning Will be back on the first day of school in september 2021 If not, then the consequences for students families residents teachers and staff may well be dire Please school committee answer this question now or tonight later during the q&a Before we lose more families from the district. Thank you Thank you Okay So between questions i'll just pause in case any of the panelists want to respond So we will go next to amber kano martin Please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Hi everyone. Um, my name is amber kano martin. Um, i'm a parent of two children I have a fourth grader at wildwood Um, who's been remote this entire year And um, I have a little one who's going into kindergarten at wildwood coming up this fall um So just before I even get into my comment and I I did prepare a comment, but I really am just struck by the wording of this petition and And and quite frankly, I'm not a teacher myself, but it hurt me It really hurt me. Um, you know, first of all by the allegation that remote learning is hurting our children That that's how this starts. Um remote learning is not hurting my child My child is connecting via remote learning. He's interacting with his peers He has a wonderful teacher who has innovated to make the classroom a vital learning space The best he can when that's not how he learned to teach He is working hard and a lot of our educators are working hard as well They love our children They're doing the best they can to create some normalcy for our children in this situation And to use that kind of language around our educators Is to me shocking and hurtful So I I would like to apologize to any educators who read that and what they felt Because I felt it too This is a terrible situation None of us asked for it. Nobody wanted to be here But these workers are on the front line day in and day out Trying to serve and take care of our children through it and trying to educate them Secondly, how is remote learning failing to serve special needs students low income and bIPOC students in particular And how does the school system plan to redress the situation? I'd like to rephrase the question. How is remote learning Serving special needs students question mark because I don't know and I'm not sure those who wrote the petition know either How is it serving low income and bIPOC students again? Can we ask that question? I don't know Let's find out. Maybe that could be shared with us If our priority is to serve those students who are really suffering in remote learning Let's make that be the priority But I feel that the agenda here Is that certain folks would like to get their children back into school and I get that I am with you I have been I'm a year into this too. Just like you all are, okay Um, but I don't think that writing a petition like this with really antagonistic language towards our educators is the way to go Um, quite frankly, I'm also opposed to the union busting That's being used to try to get around a legal MOA in order to get educators back in the building when the union already Negotiated an agreement. So why is our district going to be engaging in union busting by asking for a voluntary return? And how is that voluntary return going to be organized given the fact that our children already are in classrooms They already have teachers. So is my teacher going to be taken away from my child to go back in person? Every each and every one of our educators is being selfless already It is not a selfless act to expose yourself to covid and to voluntarily educate in person right now They're selfless because they're there for our kids, okay? And we have a system that I feel should at least go to the end of the year And then let's take the summer to plan and return in the fall And let's do it right and let's make sure we're safe and let's make sure as many of us are vaccinated as possible Thank you Okay, thank you Next up is uh, Bridgette Hines. Please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Hi there. Good evening. Um, I'm joining tonight Is a parent of a ninth grader and also an educator of high school youth And I just want to briefly speak to the last commenter and say I really deeply appreciate the work of our educators I know myself as an educator that many of us are working day and night while being at home with our own Children And that it's incredibly difficult to teach this way Because we've got to revamp our pedagogy our approaches our ways of engaging youth and um really learn things All afresh so I am I deeply sympathize and um And have amazing respect for the educators in the community and the work they're doing But at the same time, I really want to address the losses to high school students related to remote learning Best as I understand presently emmerced high school students aren't scheduled to be back in the building until max fall This will mean about 18 months out of school for our ninth to twelfth graders And we've been out of in-person learning longer than any other school in Hampshire county Well, yes, many children are doing okay, and you know bless your heart I'm glad that those are your children many other children are not and high schoolers in particular Are really taking a big hit from the current situation. Um I'm troubled by the academic impacts which include failure rates for high schoollers um in nationwide data nearing 50 percent for math in english um, I'd say my own son this week Like many other ninth graders had his first math class um a full, you know 80 something minute math class the first time since last march That's an awfully long time for someone who's going to depend on knowing algebraic Equations and things like that in his future plan career. Um In environmental science, they never met together to study natural environments. It was an amazing teacher who went above and beyond to Teach the youth, but if you wanted to be an environmental scientist You certainly didn't get the base that you would need going forward into college um So while teachers are diligent in trying to engage students pedagogically I feel like so much is lost on the academic side On top of which many kids aren't there During the class even those who are smart enough to check in And sign up for attendance the rest of the block they're Off doing different things and if you're at home Um Seeing what's on your kids instagram and so forth, you know, a lot of those things are much more dangerous covid-wise Than um, then the things that they'd be doing if they were in a safe protected environment at school Developmentally teenage students need to be independent confident and with their peers And currently they really don't have the opportunity to do that being at home with their parents most of the day It just leads to dynamics that don't line up As a director of a program for high schoolers who are learning remotely I've seen more youth partially hospitalized with mental health disorders than in the seven previous years I've held this role and in Amherst I hear many stories of high schoolers in crisis seeking help And finding that hard to access i'm extremely worried about the outcomes for our kids I just would ask that please when you're formulating these um Reopening plans that you don't put high schoolers at the end of a list Thank you miss Heinz Next up is is kim nadeau and if all speakers could limit their comments to three minutes So that we can hear the most people possible. That would be great. So please unmute yourself. Um, miss nadeau and you have three minutes Uh, hi, this is surge. It looks like kim is using an older version of zoom Um, I'm trying to work out exactly what we need to do here But I may need to temporarily promote her to a panelist in order for her to be able to speak Okay, let me go ahead and do that right now And while you're doing that, I'll I'll note that our attendance has increased to approximately 150 for my mom's right Okay, miss nadeau. It seems that you are ready to go It looks like she left the panel Okay, um, so um, miss nadeau if um next time you see your hand raised will um, we will call on you next And uh, so in the meantime, we'll go to the to the next person in the queue Uh, so that is uh, jennifer page. So um this page, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Hi, um, my name is jennifer page. I have a sixth grader at crocker farm Um, I I have a couple I have a point and a couple of questions One of the previous speakers mentioned the selfless teachers Who may volunteer to return to in-person learning and I just wanted to say that we shouldn't expect teachers to have to be selfless Teachers care about their own health and they care about the the condition and the The status of their families and that their families thrive as much as the rest of us do Um, so my two questions are first I have talked to families whose kids were not Thriving in in-person school pre-pandemic. It was not an ideal situation for them and whose kids are If not thriving they are doing better with remote learning. So what um, what will the school committee? What will the district do to support those families when in-person learning broadly returns? and secondly What things have worked well about remote learning that can or will be applied to in-person learning Logistical things like class sizes or group sizes or pedagogical things that have been developed or discovered during in During remote learning. What things have we learned that we can apply when in-person learning returns either partially or Or at large. Thank you Okay, thanks very much. Um, so I'm you know, just trying to remind the panel if anybody wants to Comments or respond to questions we can do now or later. It's completely up to you. Um So we will go to um, so currently there are no more additional hands in the queue. So if anybody wants to Sorry, just uh, just click uh anybody additionally wants to speak in the meeting. Just click your um, Raise hand button. I see some going up there. Um, but I'll um go to dr. Morris now To comment and he added his hand raised and then we'll go to the next person in the queue Yeah, so I'll briefly comment on the two questions that were asked by the previous speaker. So I think They're both excellent questions. I think on the first one, you know I think there will be families who are interested in a remote option next year And that's certainly something that we are considering about how to how to be able to do that I'll be honest to say that there's budgetary implications of trying to run parallel systems that way There's something where this year and and there will be next year. And so That is a concern about how how do we do that and how would the numbers work? So Um, you know, it's something that's on our radar I don't have anything specific to tell you except that it's on our radar We are thinking about it and there really are financial implications of running multiple systems simultaneously I think on the second one, there's a tremendous amount. Uh, it's a great question again Tremendous amount of that we're learning uh from this experience We're learning about different instructional modalities about, um, you know These kind of formats force us to think about creative ways to look at engagement a little differently And I think there are implications for our in-person instruction as well Um, you know, you sort of can't everyone who's been on these zoom calls Which I'm sure as most people in the audience know that One person like me talking definitely on a zoom call is not an instructional modality And so I do think we've figured out ways in terms of breakout rooms And how might that be simulated or emulated an in-person? Experience we've always done that but I think it's it's pushed our thinking a little bit On that and our educators are being incredibly creative About that. I think that will have positive implications when we return in person as well So I just wanted to comment briefly on those two Okay, thank you. Uh, so we have a good cute piling up again. So next up is michael ash Please unmute yourself. Uh, and you have three minutes Um Thank you very much We are an amherst family with uh one graduate and one current high school student When our younger son graduates next year, both of our children have had their entire k-12 education Through the Amherst public schools. We're grateful for the efforts of teachers staff administrators and the elected committees We appreciate the challenges that COVID has brought to our entire society With the parents of young children and of children with special needs facing especially great burdens The national pandemic response represents a policy failure of colossal proportions But teachers and staff cannot be asked to simply bridge the chasm with their lives and health to make up for the force of the pandemic Or for the failed federal and state responses A report from the u-k indicate where we're largely education continued indicates that teacher infection rates were nearly twice those of the general population That's not peer reviewed. I'm still trying to assess its accuracy In the current state of the pandemic See for example the new york times Daily reporting on it and with the arrival of the new more contagious strain of the virus It is not possible to reopen the amherst schools safely for in-person instruction now Wide spread vaccination over the coming months will soon provide a safe path to return to school and work The prospect of widespread vaccination and a safe resolution later this year Makes pressure for a premature and high risk return to in-person instruction into an especially bad idea The individual decision to return advocated by the school committee undermines the principle and benefits of collective bargaining about shared working and learning conditions Will teachers in their early pre tenure years, for example feel compelled to come in person This solicitation of individual volunteers to return also takes deeply unfair advantage Of the enormous personal dedication that our educators have to our children My colleague nancy fulgrei at umass defines the prisoner of love phenomenon as a willingness to take on untenable costs And risks for people we care for it's apt in this context and the proposal of a voluntary return is exploitative We urge the school's committee to stop pressuring the teachers and staff of the amherst public schools into a premature unsafe return. Thanks for your attention Okay. Thank you. Um Next up is julian hines Please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Hi there. My name is julian hines. I am a resident of amherst and a ninth grader in Amherst high school amherst regional high school and I would like to speak to the return of in-person learning. Um So as many of you know, um, we've been About nine or ten months now with completely virtual, um learning for our students and Most districts around us have not. Um Then that far without in-person learning, although I don't believe right now is a safe time to go back I do believe that there was large periods this fall that could have been Accessed to go back and I also believe that there Will be time in the future this spring where it is safe to go back the um amount of learning loss I've seen within my peers and classmates is absolutely, um notable and Is something that I believe the district and the school committee should Um take more seriously. Um as they approach this issue and I would also say that the That the town and the school committee should use verified public health metrics And we should be relying on experts in our community like dr. Atkinson who just spoke who's also my doctor and Miss dragon who is um Here in the meeting today and not the personal opinions of teachers and um their unions so I don't have anything else to say really but I would like to ask before you all leave if you can promise myself and um every single one of my peers in all of our Grades that the emers district serves. Um that we will be able to see each other in person Um sometime this spring sometime before the 2021 2022 school year. Thank you. Bye Okay, thank you Uh, next up is alisa gomez Uh, please unmute yourself alisa and you have three minutes I am the Speaking today primarily as in my role as a psychologist in amherst. Um I specialize in child and adolescent psychology and um, I see roughly about 20 students um part of the emers regional pellum school district and I just wanted to echo doctor kate atkinson statements about the effects on the mental health of our communities children um it it As I said, I see roughly about 20 students in the school district and um within the last year and I would say Uh, largely over the last few months during the winter. Um, again in line with what doctor atkinson reported Um, I have seen an exponential increase in mental health crises in these kids. Um, many of whom were quite high functioning Prior and who are now just suffering tremendously um So I just wanted to to to Add those two cents. Um And I also had a quick question, which is what is the current plan in massachusetts Around teacher vaccination. My understanding is that teachers are not currently eligible Um, I would love and if anybody has an explanation as to why and if and when that might change I would love to know. Thank you so much Thank you. Um, dr. Morse, please feel free to clarify but as I understand teachers are in phase two Of the vaccination plan from massachusetts. They are currently slotted after Um, those aged 65 to 74 Um, and there has been quite a bit of frustration expressed Overall with the pace of vaccinations rolled out in the state Um, generally speaking is that is that accurate? Um, yeah, maybe I'll comment For a second, but since emma's here, um, she's I'm going to defer to her To describe the state plan and then maybe I can share a little bit of my own thoughts and advocacy on that but emma if you I don't know if you're able to describe phase. I think it's phase two group three, but I may have the language Yeah Sorry, we had a little break in by the two and a half year old. I didn't step away from bath time The nanogans, so hi, I'm emma. I'm the new public health director for the town of amherst So in terms of the vaccine rollout in massachusetts, it is broken out into the three phases We have just uh concluded not concluded because it's a rolling phased approach Um, but we have started phase two on february 1st Uh, and phase two is broken out into those three different um steps like peter said The first phase the first step of phase one is those 75 and over step two of phase Two is those um I think I can pick it up if emma's having connection troubles Sure go ahead Oh looks like emma's back perhaps Oh, no We lost you at phase two. I don't know what happened Yeah, so that's those 65 and over with two plus comorbidities Individuals will have to just attest to those comorbidities You won't have to bring medical information with you because we certainly understand the privacy um for protections for health information and then the third tier of step of phase two is those That are teachers trade workers public health workers grocery transit And then phase three is the general rollout for the public that don't identify in those areas Currently there is a large supply chain Um challenge throughout the united states Especially being experienced here in massachusetts Uh through the at least the month of february So that's kind of what has happened to our supply and the pace of vaccines at this time We are really hopeful with the new administration coming in that the and president biden Going for purchasing more vaccine That we will have more soon. Um, but right now The timelines that we I think had all been really eager for In february or not as quick As we were originally anticipating. I know that I am really really Looking forward to being able to move through phase two quickly as as quick as we can When vaccines are here, I know that's why we've made a tremendous effort on the public health side to Make local clinics possible to make this faster with our community because we value everyone in our community So we don't have a set time right now, but we're all trying our best Yeah, if I could add to that just briefly Because I think there was to broaden the scope. I just uh two things I want to share and then broaden the scope So one is just thanks to Emma who's been a great partner in all of this and in helping us understand where we are Thanks to our facilities crew and our high school administration because one of the things that we partnered with the town is because they're Some of the days are now happening in the gyms Two gyms at amherst regional high school. I mean Emma. Is it fair to say that double the capacity of Vaccines given a daily basis. So we think that that's good for forever in the community And uh, this is not about Emma at all But I do want to express some frustration. I heard from the speaker as well that right now according to New York Times Anyway, there's 24 states or territories where educators are Um able to be vaccinated. Massachusetts is not one of those states um a group of uh superintendents um in our area in hampton hampshire and franklin county wrote a letter advocating for An inclusion to be more like new york and other states that have allowed for educators to receive vaccines Now at the current time we received a response from secretary of pricers the secretary of education for the commonwealth Did not agree with our assessment of the need for vaccines in this timely manner for educators I think that's a factual recounting of his letter. Um, I could editorialize but i'll choose not to in this forum And none of that I just want to be clear. I know i've said it none of that has to do with emma emma does not have all power to disregard The advice that she's given and the guidance that comes from the state So I want to be really clear none of the frustration is directed towards you emma or the health department or the town at all You've been wonderful partners in this but it is a sense I do have a sense of frustration and I think in the age of social media as people cross the border to new york and Um, it's pretty easy to do that in a virtual context these days and see selfies of educators getting Getting immunized. It's it's been a very uncomfortable moment And I know many of our educators feel very frustrated and I agree with them about that and It's I think on the agenda for the next tuesday's school committee meeting is Uh, this topic. I see there's another school member the hand up. I probably Uh, I'll just put the soapbox down and let other people Perhaps jump on it. It's good sir Yes, I just wanted to confirm that it is on the agenda and I'm currently working on a statement That would be probably echoing many of your sentiments and sentiments of the caller Thank you Okay, so just a time check we have about eight people currently in the speaker queue. So, um Miss mcdonald or nine eight or nine So why don't we try and clear out that queue in the next 25 minutes or so? Um And then um, and then we can switch to rotating between the the questions that are Starting to come in through the chat and some of the questions that were submitted in the survey And i'm miss mcdonald's you can confirm but uh, I believe we've committed that if there's a question that's submitting We don't get an opportunity answer it in this form that'll be answered in a published q&a. Is that correct? Yeah, yeah, I see that there's a question in the queue In the typed queue that is asking whether we're going to answer the questions and just to restate what mr. Deming just said we want to give priority to the speakers. Um, so that we hear from everybody who wishes to speak to us Um, and then we'll start cycling through the questions that are being submitted right now in the Ted q&a. There's about 10 or 12 that are in there as well Um, one of them is are we going to answer the question? So yes, um, and if we if we don't get to them Um, we will be publishing Afterward the questions and responses to those that we do not get to tonight And this also includes the questions. I think we had about 39 questions. Um, submitted Through the online form. Um through yesterday. So those will also be cycled through when we get to that portion of the meeting Okay, great. So, uh, without further ado next speaker up is uh, carlo Delapichola, um, please unmute yourself. You have three minutes Thank you. Can you hear me? Yep. Uh, okay correct pronunciation Thanks Uh, I want to thank you for having this meeting and listening to us. Um I'm the parent of two children in the amherst regional schools. One is A sixth grader in wildwood and another is a tenth grader in the high school Um Needless to say, of course, neither of them has been inside a classroom since the middle of last march when the school is closed Um, I don't need to get into details, but um, as you can imagine, it's been very difficult for them and for our entire family I'm working on the assumption That they will in fact return to the classroom for at least some number of days before the end of the 2020-2021 school year Particularly in light of the fact that at some point vaccines will reach all school faculty and staff The sooner the better my question is um Whether or not I can I can get from the school committee A hard commitment to a full-time return of all the children who wish to be in the classroom meaning normal school operations Potentially with a little bit of social distancing or whatever is necessary By the beginning of fall 2021 Of barring any unforeseen complications, of course I've I'm really wanting to see a very concrete statement um Of a strong commitment of the type as soon as every teacher is vaccinated That's when we start opening everything up and by the time we're at fall 2021 Every single child will be who wishes to be in school And have in-person instruction five days a week will be able to do so um I have to say we've been extremely happy with with the school system We are proud residents of Amherst everyone We know in other regions of the country and as well as outside the country um Consider us to be a wonderful district. So this is this is a moment of um a little bit of embarrassment actually because I have to explain to people who do have their children Going back to the school that now it hasn't happened yet for us. We still don't know etc And to be honest if we can't get a strong commitment for fall 2021 We just we don't want to do this, but we have to look at other options I my number one job in life at this point is to be an advocate for my children That comes above everything else and I don't want to do that So i'm really really hoping that within the next week or two I I see a statement that's strong enough that That makes me want to stick around and keep my kids in the school system Thank you Thank you. Carlo. I'll just take an opportunity to respond to that and then you know, obviously any other panelists I'll just say for my part. I'm just one person on the committee. So I can't speak for the committee It's it's certainly my My my desire And and and my goal that that any student who wants full-time in-person learning in the fall Is is able to have that It it it requires us to to discuss and plan that as a committee and what the superintendent Right now The the plate is overflowing In terms of what the superintendent needs to be focused on and what the school committee is focused on both in terms of the voluntary return of staff And and also the budget Which is a pretty serious situation in both the region And Amherst in addition to other initiatives that are also going on that we are trying to engage the community on like a change in start time and so I Pragmatically speaking. I it's I don't think that it would be responsible As as an individual school committee member. I can only speak for myself To say tonight I commit that this will happen because I can't I don't I can't you know I don't have that control But it's certainly a very high priority For the school committee. We've talked about this at recent meetings to be focused on what is possible in the fall And to as soon as we are able to Clarify What will be available? um I know that's not a satisfying answer right now, but that's that's you know, honestly the best that I can Provide um dr. Morris or chair mcdonald. I don't know if you have anything to add to that Yeah, I was going to it's going to step in because I I see that there's also multiple questions of this and an earlier speaker Asked a similar question and so there's there's multiple Ways at this and requests for a pledge and I Hope I will restate a little bit what mr. Demling just said um I think I think the most that we can say is that we are absolutely committed to Getting as many students in person as as want to um We can't make a guarantee that that's going to happen because as we learned in the last year Every you know everything can change and um things uh, we have new learnings and new Um obstacles along the way um, I think That I and um, I'm not alone. I don't believe on the committee are really committed to making um making changes so that we can get there um and Short of a commitment. I that's probably as close as we can go at that point it will also make note that um We do have a quorum of another school committee here that has not been called to order So I will just make notes that we can speak freely about our elementary schools and will When it comes to our secondary schools, we will listen And make notes, but we are are limited in our ability to respond at that one Dr. Morris, I don't know if you want anything wanted to add anything Um, I I know that um, I mentioned uh that miss dragon Needs to leave shortly and there there is a question in the um In the q&a that is related specifically to vaccine clinics um I can read that out. This is coming from um miss bridgette hyans I heard the communities have flexibility in the vaccine schedule Can we prioritize teachers and vaccinations in town? If not, could we work with you mass or the town to get all of our teachers vaccinated on the first days of their place Unphased schedule I think that's a great question. Um, and certainly one that I know lots of people have been hearing about um unfortunately Individual towns and health departments. We are not giving guidance that we are allowed to change the metrics If we change metrics, we could lose our ability to continue to provide vaccination sites um So we unfortunately are following the guidance that is given to us Um, I I don't make the didn't make the phases. Um, but I certainly want to at least have a clinic for our community Following the guidance that we have right now even if it's challenging with its rollout Um, but I remain committed to that Okay, thank you. So, uh, next up in the queue is ryan mccarthy Uh, please, uh, unmute yourself and you have three minutes Okay, ryan, feel free to go ahead Hello, can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. All right. So, uh, my name is ryan mccarthy And I'm an amherst an amherst resident with a five and nine year old at crocker farm I'm a public school teacher and a union member and I've been teaching in person in hampshire county since september I come from a family of public school teachers all of which teach in massachusetts and all three of them are currently working in schools with in-person learning My two public, uh, the two public schools that my parents recently retired from in massachusetts Currently offer in-person learning and the overwhelming majority of schools in hampshire county in massachusetts As we are all well aware of our offering, uh Um in-person learning, uh, right in it right now Having been intimately involved in the process of public schools of a public school navigating reopening during the pandemic I know firsthand that it can be done safely and effectively My personal experience with teaching during the pandemic has been somewhat unremarkable I am the sense that we have a safety plan in place That everyone follows and I pretty much just teach like I normally do There have been no instances of covid spreading in our school Our students and staff are safe and the students are benefiting from the far superior experience of learning in person For my students that struggled with remote learning struggled with social social isolation and have less than ideal home environments In-person learning has been a step towards normal that they so desperately needed It pains me to see how appreciative my students are to be learning In the classroom and how disengaged and frustrated my own children are with the extended remote learning Unresolved the unresolved issue of in-person learning in our district has my family feeling very unsure about what school Will look like in amherst for the rest of this year and the next year as well We are very happy with the education that our children are receiving at crocker farm But extended remote learning has negatively impacted our children to the extent that we are Looking into options outside of amherst next year As a public school teacher, i'm not asking anyone to do anything that i'm not doing myself I'm just asking Everyone to do what's best for our children Thank you Thank you. Mr. McCarthy. Uh, next up is uh a user by the name of gw gw Please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Hello, um, thank you for holding this meeting and for allowing participants to voice their questions and opinions I'd like to start by addressing one of the comments that was made early on Regarding the language used in the petition Seeming to be disrespectful of teachers and I'd like to Indicate that uh, I am one of the people who Signed the the request for this meeting to happen and I Have the utmost respect for the individual educators Who are teaching our children in the amherst regional public schools? um, what I am extremely concerned about and In fact, I would go so far as to say angry about is the The decision that was codified in the memorandum of agreement Regarding how the metrics were going to be used to decide if Return to school would be taking place this year or not Um, the reason I'm using my initials is because I have two children We we live in amherst. I have two children in the elementary schools I had to pull one out in Fall because that child was unable to learn on a computer setting at all a month later, we were able to Get a confirmed diagnosis of ADHD for that child by that point We had already had to find an outdoor school for that child And in fact, we had to remortgage our home to be able to afford that and we are Still in financial straits as a result of putting that child through that school But it has been a lifesaver for her and I am not using that term hyperbolically um I am an educator and I also research education. I research teaching and learning And I will tell you that the child that we have at home learning online is a not learning b Going through uh an extreme change in his behavior and so much so that we have had to return to um, we'll rather begin Um therapy for him. He had been doing some social behavioral therapy group group work on weekends But things have gotten so bad with him that I am now having to attend um Individual therapy sessions with him again a cost that we are bearing not only in terms of dollars But in terms of the time that I have to take away from work and that he has to take away from School time in order to do that because we have to drive there do the session and then drive back His teachers have been incredibly supportive. In fact, his teachers Um have have really been doing all they can to work with him I value and respect and I'm super grateful to his teachers. It's not the teachers. It's the methods It's the the the setting in which we're trying to educate children. It is not working and the the idea that we Might maybe return some people to school in march at the beginning of march That is too little too late. I'm glad to hear that there is forward progress But I personally would like to beg you to try to turn up the heat on this discussion And try to think about the effects that really are happening to our children that are going to last Much longer than this school year That's all it happens Thank you for your comments gw Next up is uh, laura drakker. Uh, laura, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes And if all speakers could keep it to three minutes, that would be great. Um, so we can get to as many people as possible. Thank you I'll also note that there's about 170 people in attendance at this point Hi, um, my name is laura drakker From august parents have been asking For really simple things a science-based approach Something that's a little more nimble a little more creative This is not anti-teacher or anti-union when I feel most discouraged by this entire situation It's an effect that we can't as a community agree to these basic principles This doesn't mean we start school tomorrow or we go to school when it's unsafe Or that we even agree to a final outcome, but why can't we agree to these basic principles? Why are we teaching our children that we can't agree to these things? Many things can be true in this situation. I'm happy to hear that some kids are thriving But we have real data that shows attendance is not good for all students in our community The doctors who have spoken have confirmed that mental health is suffering in our community COVID is real and scary. There's a risk of COVID and everything we do outside of our homes I am glad to hear and I've always been glad that our district has prioritized letting parents that want to keep their kids home for whatever reason Remote can do so and if I understand correctly teachers and staff who need to be remote are being accommodated And if that is not correct, it should be And I see dr. More shaking his head and in an ideal world No one would be putting ourselves at risk and we would all have been vaccinated yesterday But we also have to be realistic that amherst is an outlier Others in hamster county as we just heard have been or are currently in person including neighboring towns In our county I think we could all agree that all teachers and child care workers should be getting vaccinated now And I personally had been writing and calling our elected officials About this and we should all be doing this no matter what sides of this that we Are sitting on We should be able to speak up without being told be our anti teacher My mom is in her 34th year as an elementary school teacher in maryland Please my fellow community members Can we stop with the name calling and putting people into groups and camps without any evidence to support it? No one is union busting other districts have successfully Renegotiated contracts just this year around covet including Boston public schools only months after going to court Again amherst is an outlier We don't like so let's just put that on the table I personally think it would be more pragmatic pragmatic just to renegotiate the contract But that's been taken off the table. So now we're here with this volunteer approach. I appreciate the creativity And I really hope we can move forward. Thank you Thank you Next up is debra lennard Deb, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Hi, good evening My my I just really have a simple question actually I've been doing my best to follow this and and seeing The vaccines come online over the course of the end of last year I became very hopeful that we would be moving forward to Have some reopening of in-person learning amherst and I've I've read the moa and recognize that Both all parties agreed to it. So it is a legally binding document The way I read the part about the joint labor management safety committee Is that in the advent of a vaccine becoming widely available? The jl msc will discuss its impact on the educational model being used And we'll make a recommendation to the district and the apa And the bargaining will proceed from there. So Beyond renegotiating It seems to me there is a mechanism for negotiating in-person learning For where we will be very soon and I just don't understand why that's not happening Thank you Yes, dr. Morris Yep, and I'll ask Emma to confirm something and then I know she's got to get on her way So I'll use it as a segue to get one more one more piece of information from Emma and I know she's depart So, you know, I think uh, and this is where I'm going to ask Emma to confirm So, you know in general when when we're talking about vaccination The first shot is then followed roughly a month later ish depending on which vaccine it is With a second shot with the the vaccines that are currently available and then Emma. Can you tell me how many weeks after that? it's perceived or believed that um, kind of The vaccination process is more or less complete Yeah, so for Pfizer it's 21 days later that you get your second dose of vaccine um, you start to build those antibodies after that injection And then it's undetermined really probably about a month or two later that you start to have maximum effects from the vaccine administration With Moderna, it's the second injection four weeks later 28 days later. So a little bit longer Um, certainly I I know I'm hopeful for for the other vaccines coming on board like the johnson and johnson That might be only one injection Um to help kind of speed this process along for all of us Yeah Yeah, and so what I was going to say after Emma and then I really I'm going to make sure Emma goes because I know she's she's Five minutes beyond her hard stop Which uh, I want to be respectful of her time is that one of the challenges we have But one of the reasons I've been pushing another superintendent's been pushing so so strongly for teachers to be on the vaccination um list right now Is if you think about the the first shot the second shot that month gap and then perhaps another month after in terms of Uh following it. It's it's it's not a short process in terms of That that you described and so if we get too late into the spring before teachers names Are called up on the list It's really going to be a push to see whether this school year from a back if we if we want staff to be vaccinated Or some staff want to be vaccinated before they return I think it's really questionable whether that you know is possible with the current timeline the state has and that's really why You know superintendents like i'm not trying to claim glory for this other superintendents are Are doing the same thing not just in western mass, but the north shore group started it um north shore boston Because that process to get to the place where the vaccines have taken root more fully and um, I don't have the right language But emma does is is not a an immediate process when you get a shot and the next day The immunity is there and so it definitely increases, you know Over time it's not that the first shot's a waste of time but if we're talking about building immunity it's a longer process and um our school year ends in june And so, you know, that's really a lot of the advocacy around that To to get our educators in sooner is because of the process as you described at emma. So again emma can't solve our problem I want to be really clear and I know I said that before but other people may have not heard that I really don't want people calling emma tomorrow and saying, you know, please sneak in the educators I mean, that's great. But emma's got a lot of things on her plate right now, too And i've already had that conversation with emma right and emma rightfully said no But but on a serious note it it is a process that takes a while and the longer into the spring It goes until we get to the phase two step three the more i'm concerned that some of the benefits around immunity The timeline's not going to be working our favor and that's why I feel so much urgency at this point And so many many of my colleagues do as well and I know this will be a topic on school committee next week and You know, I'm not going to speak for the school committee and they'll have that to talk about but Thanks emma and I'm going to make sure you get off this call and and get to the other things that you have to get to And thanks for all of your work Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you for having me Take care everybody Okay, and uh, dr. Morris or miss mcdonald correct me if i'm wrong, but as to the speaker's question about impact of vaccinations in moa and jlmsc, I think it's correct that MOA says that it should be brought up for discussion and the jlmsc should make a recommendation If there's if it desires to but does not require a renegotiation of the Of the moa. Okay. Um Next up is heather scheldon Heather, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Hi there, um, my name is heather scheldon And I am speaking on behalf of the board of the amherst pellum special education parent advisory council These comments are very similar to comments. We have made at multiple school committee meetings since our school buildings closed last school year But it's clear From some of the comments tonight that they need to be said again Our schools have been closed in person Instruction with teachers and specialists Regardless of indicate individual education plans that call for life changing services Like occupational therapy that can only be meaningfully delivered in person for almost a year now This has serious long-term implications for many of our students Virtual learning means no learning for a great many of our students designated to be in phase one We have heard leaders in our community ask for creative solutions And we want to make sure that the use of our buildings remains on the list of creative solutions Much effort has been put into making our buildings more robust to the virus For a variety of reasons schools remain a safe haven for many of our students And there are significant barriers to providing instruction elsewhere and through different means That are impacting whether many of our students are getting an education or the services that are that they are entitled to at all While our comments above are centered on students with significant disabilities We know that students have a broad spectrum of abilities and all learn in different ways Just as robust learning must be an option this year In-person learning needs to be an option for all of our students as well To the greatest extent possible And I don't think we have found that balance in Amherst Yes, there are risks to providing in-person instruction, but there are also significant risks to not doing so as well Thank you Thank you, Michelle then Next up is Lara wall Lara, uh, please unmute yourself and hear Hi there, can you all hear me? Yeah, great. Thank you for so much for having this I have a daughter Zuleika who is in eighth grade and I have a daughter at Crocker farm who is in sixth grade We recently have decided to do a homeschool hybrid plan Because my children, um, they were in Montessori school till fifth grade. So they love learning They are so motivated. They are brilliant when they went to public school. They were straight a students My eighth grader. It's just been heartbreaking. She is so disengaged and I'm I'm sorry. I'm getting emotional, but Education is so important to our family And to see these kids just turn off So now what we're doing because they they love peers I don't know if you know much about Montessori, but it's the belief that a child learns academically And emotionally so in order to still have social and emotional We're doing a hybrid plan where for the first half of the day, they're doing their online classes And then for the last half of the day, I'm taking on the role as their teacher Their teachers have been incredible. This is not about our hardworking educators who have had to adapt I'm sure it's not easy for anybody Their teacher, mr. Hughes over in sixth grade at Crocker farm has been amazing at working with me so that they can Go back in person the hybrid plan that I'm doing is only until they can be back in person So we're staying right along with the curriculum, but this has been so hard for our family So thank you for doing everything you can because I can't tell you as a Montessori mom who has poured thousands of dollars into our children's education To be met with this one. There's so many kids in private schools that are back There are so many children in other districts that are back. I can't believe that we can go bowling You know and be around people bowling, but we can't have our children in school So I'm very passionate about this. I'm very angry about this and I appreciate Everything our teachers and the administration is doing. Thank you for hearing my comments Thank you Next up is ellen boucher Ellen, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Thanks. So, um, I'm the parent of a wildwood kinder gardener and second grader And I'm also the proud daughter of public school teachers And I want to start by expressing my deep appreciation for the work that the school committee and our teachers and staff are doing at this very difficult time I think it's great that Emma dragon was here because it's striking to me how significantly the scientific understanding of kovat transmission and risk has evolved since the creation of the moa And which with the majority of recent studies as well as the cdc showing that in school transmission rates are very low If the proper precautions are taken So I think it's more important than ever for the school committee and the apea To be making decisions according to the evolving scientific evidence when about Evaluating how to enable children to return to in-person learning And my my second thing is a question I'd like to know more about how the district is measuring the impact of remote learning on our students and their families Given that some of the more significant potential emotional effects Things like suicidal ideation increased bedwetting depression You know effects that people like dr. Atkinson started the meeting by talking about These are things that students and parents might not feel able or comfortable disclosing on a survey. Thank you Now dr. Morris Yeah, I'll just speak briefly that we are working On a screening tool that's anonymous to gather some of some qualitative and quantitative data About some of the issues that were cited by the last speaker You know, we have a tool that's been used other places that's being evaluated particularly focused on middle school high school students But not exclusively Because we share those concerns and want to gather we have a lot of anecdotal data But I think the speaker wisely noted. It's it's hard to Have a survey that's potentially tied to an individual and really more we're looking more at the aggregate About how kids are doing so more soon on that But we I want to recognize that that's a really good suggestion. It's something we're actively working on and we had Dr. Brady is our student services Director obit who was an intern did some research into that and he did some presentations with us So some of you may remember him So it's something we're actively exploring and working on because we want to make sure we're getting Not just the individual stories, but a cross-section of past students are experiencing things and what supports they need Okay, next up is Nina M Nina, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Peter, I think we I think there's another person ahead. Michael. I believe oh my apologies Michael Michael who's in my yeah, my apologies to not see that Michael. Please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Hi, this is michael huston. Thank you Uh, I was on the school board for nine years the chair of the regional and also the chair of the pelham elementary school board for nine years One of the things I want to point out first of all is that I really am upset about this binary equation between teachers versus kids and while And the teachers have there there's no mystery to the teachers that the kids are suffering Kids they know that and I want to point out that the teachers have kids themselves in the schools And so this idea that we keep repeating about the suffering of the the children and the mental health issues Which are real is somehow lost on the teachers It is not lost on the teachers the teachers know this And they want to be back in the classroom as much as anybody wants them back in the classroom So that's the first thing I feel like the tone That has been set is of teachers versus kids as opposed to what somebody else mentioned earlier Is that the problem is with the state and the federal response that our teachers are not being vaccinated That we have not been given the enough ppes That the kinds of money that are required to make our school buildings safe have not necessarily been provided And I haven't heard that loud and clear from the school committee saying that is where the problem lay It's not the problem with the teachers I understand these difficulties my kids went through school. I had my kids went to k through 12 through amherst schools pelham schools They're not there now And I I know a lot of these teachers and I know how committed they are Um, the other thing is I'm not so sure we're such an outlier San Francisco teachers are not back and and they're being sued and their school committee is standing behind them They're being sued by I believe the city and this and maybe the state chicago teachers are not back There's a reason for that and it's because they're also scared. They're scared for their families. They're scared for their children. So We're not such an outlier Um, and I have one question here Uh about the mo u my understanding is that it was a number of around 28 or 30 based on the combination of two or three counties And my and if that is true Then the numbers for per 100,000 are now over 100 per those three counties what I have not heard from the school committee is Everybody wants to change the mo u. But what do you want to change it to what's the number you're proposing? Uh, they proposed or the uh, the the education association of the union Or however that came about proposed one number. I assume based on some science And now we're saying we need to revisit that. So what's the science for the new number? if we're still looking at numbers so, um Um, that's all I want to share right now. I appreciate the work you're doing Uh, I've sat on that side of the table. I know how hard it is These are really difficult times Um, this is not a problem that the teachers have created It's not a problem that any of us have created and we're trying to muddle our way through Thank you. Thank you Thank you, mr. Hudson. Um, I'll just respond briefly a couple things one If you haven't heard Say you haven't heard strong enough from the school committee about where the real Responsibility for this lies. Um, we've said it a few a few times recently at school committee meetings Although people don't watch those things all the time, but I'll say it again right here You know, donald trump and his criminal gang are number one with a bullet in terms of responsibility for The pain suffering and death in this in this country and in our state that that's very clear His misinformation campaign is dereliction of duty. That's That that and it's not even close, you know, and my opinion number two is is uh, is is the the mismanagement the bungling of the The vaccine rollout, uh, and the general logistics from governor baker Um, you know, and and it leaves it you're absolutely correct that it puts an undue amount of pressure and responsibility On school committees and unions to to figure this out and it's happening all over the country Um, you know as far as like what you know, what what specific number do we want if we're so anxious to talk about metrics You know the the request since october from the school committee has it hasn't been We want you to agree to a level. It's please just sit down and talk to us about it You know, that's and that's been the real frustration in the in the moa process Uh for me is that we're not saying it has to be xyz. We're saying so much has happened Uh, and and and we need to talk about it. Would you please just sit down and talk to us about it About the metrics in the moa and so far there's been an unwillingness to do so and that's where the frustration For that lies. Um, but I also want to say just so it doesn't come across too negative You know, I personally hold that very real frustration that continues over the unwillingness to sit down and just talk to us about the metrics with a very real gratitude For the recent collaboration on this voluntary return It would not have gone as smoothly or as supportively of staff were it not for The hard work and sincere collaboration of union leadership And I honestly think they deserve a lot of public positive credit for that You know, so I personally I hold those two feelings At the same time it's difficult, but but i'm glad you raised the issue about what we're dealing with. Um, so Next up is mar mario luisa these these to final Um, please i meet yourself and you have three minutes Sorry, I think I think I see nina's name above that Is that okay? I'm sorry. I must be having a little scrolling issue here. Uh, nina my apologies. Um, please. I'll meet yourself and you have three minutes Hi, um, thank you. I'm nina. I have a third grader in wildwood and His teacher is incredible and even though he is Telling me now that he hates school because he hates being on a computer. Um, he I'm endlessly impressed with how well The school is handling remote learning for those who are attending Um, so I want to thank you all and I can't imagine how hard it is to be in your position right now Um, but it's very difficult for me to watch um As districts around us and across the country are opening to in-person and hybrid learning and countless professional studies have shown transmission of the virus happens in homes and Rarely in schools that implement appropriate measures um, I feel it is So important as the previous speaker who is a teacher in the school and it's so important for our residents to understand that San Francisco Chicago is not Amherst and that Amherst is is an outlier and I want to speak a little bit to um to to To what was just spoken about the frustration of of the school committee working with the union Um, and as an outsider watching this process and talking to friends who are who are teachers in the union um, I'm told endlessly about a long history of mistrust Between the union and the district and that I think goes back way, you know Be way longer than this current obviously school committee and I understand and I sympathize with teachers particularly BIPOC teachers Some of whom may have lost faith in a system that they feel has not taken care of their needs and protected their bodies and Who may harbor a really deep? understandable distrust of their employers um It seems plausible to me that this history of mistrust is actually at the root of of Of what mr. Demling just addressed as a frustration of why we're not able to Renegotiate an MOA that is so clearly outdated to To look at what could happen When it's safe to make that happen and to get the kids who need it into schools and by question is really How are you going to move forward to address this at a systemic level? um It seems to me that this doesn't have to be happening in our town that other districts Are doing so much better and other districts are collaborating so much better with their teachers unions And my question is will the district and the union commit to some kind of process of outside evaluation and remediation to address Whatever this underlying issue is what these issues are that are creating what appears from my side to be A dysfunction in these parties that have the same goal in mind Which is really to serve our children Thank you Thank you, nina Miss mcdonald. I think it's just briefly to respond to part of that. I think we had mentioned at one of our co-meetings with the apa About um potentially at some point doing our restorative process and there was I think agreement expressed About that general that general notion yes, that's um We've been talking about that and we've um We opted to meet informally at first and not Through a restorative process. I think um at the in january And made good progress and I think as we as we continue later into the spring It is something that we Will want to do I want to just a Couple speakers have asked about this and I see some questions in the in the in the typed q regarding The metrics in the moa and just to answer clarification Right now and I think mr. Gemling mentioned this there's no negotiation happening With the union on the moa the moa is settled It's it's what we're operating under and there's no negotiations or offers at this point because Both parties need to agree to To reopen negotiations on on that moa in order for that to go forward So I just want to make that point of clarification. I will also say That the current moa expires at the end of june and does not continue beyond that I think there's been some question about that as well Thank you. Um, you know, I just want to also appreciate the comments from the speaker about trust and um You know while I agree that like rebuilding and having a strong foundation of trust is better and more productive in the long term I think with the With the the recent collaboration the very positive collaboration on the volunteer return has shown that You know, we we don't have to necessarily Trust each other in order to work together Effectively, you know, it's it's obviously ideally it to forever want to trust each other, but um, you know, we've What what what has been achieved with the voluntary return is is was no small feat Um required some back and forth some real discussions And those were had even even though all the trust has not been Reestablished so we should we should certainly work on that. I'm not saying we shouldn't um, but it's it's it's also not a necessary precondition to to practical Efforts forward. Um, next so next up is uh, unless Surgeon I have the cue wrong again is christianne healy You know, okay, my cue is just um, okay. I'm sorry maria luizia DeStefano I'll get this right. Sorry about my my continued error on that. Um maria luisa, uh, you have uh three minutes. Thank you. Yes I'm here. Hi. Thank you. Thank you so much everyone My name is maria luisa de stefano. Um, my comments are based on um, my work as a as a college professor We had expertise in bilingual and dual language education and as a parent of a multilingual child Enrolling the dual language coming on this program for river First of all, I would like to praise the work of all Educators staff and leaders and especially in the coming on this program That's you know, my my experience that I have with the destiny specifically who have been able to strategically maintain the language allocation plan and the focus on equity and social justice Um the 15 years of experience that I have in this field I never seen anything like this done online, you know remotely in terms of language development um at the same time, um I understand that maintaining that the 50 50 exposure to both english and spanish And the access to those resources that would allow all students to succeed in such a program is is difficult in a remote learning model Um, so I have one main point. Um, I Believe that if we work together, we can find a plan that that for example would allow students to go back in person at least For partial time in the late spring Would you use for example outside facilities and structures that um, I remember the work Purchased by the district at the beginning of the school year And um ensuring, you know that all educators staff and students will be safe inside and outside the building So I don't know if that will be uh I would like, you know to ask if that is something that could be considered Or if it's that impossible because obviously it's not part of the MOU is not included in the MOU In the second point, I really wanted to call to unity and collaboration Avoiding the toxic conversation and and the use of some derogatory remarks that inflamed the the discourse instead of focusing on On a common solution. Um, I just want to encourage all of us to engage in a collaborative approach. Um, we are Um, this has been said all the times. We are in a unique Uh community very diverse group with families representing different languages races and needs of these classes Genders sexual orientations abilities, etc So we all as a community need to be united and work for a solution that will Support both families and educators and staff Um, so we need to unite heal and engage in an explicit and to buy as approach for our schools Um, thank you so much for your attention Thank you. Um, okay, and now is christian haley. Okay Uh, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, so my name is christian haley I'm the mother of um two fort river kids One in third grade one fourth grade Um, and first of all, thank you to everyone who's working hard on behalf of our children And they're really many people. Um Their teachers are wonderful And really hard working and they make this remote experience. Um Actually very strong. I think you can probably hear my kids in the background. Um As much as they can it's and I I do teach online at UMass as well So I recognize some of the challenges that they are facing and I'm impressed with how well they're doing But at the same time we are providing a lot of support for our kids My husband and I we've shifted our work around and we're fortunate that we can shift our work where One of us is at home and near our kids at all times listening in. Um, and especially for one of, um Our kids we are providing a lot of support similar to that of a para educator So reminding when it's time to switch checking remember, I mean, there's just so much that we're doing and we're lucky that we can And I just think about all the families that out there the parents who cannot support Their children the same way and where the kids then are much less able To really get much out of remote learning so earlier A couple of speakers were sort of speak, you know We're kind of doubting that there is has to be strong motivation to go back to end-person learning But I think there really is and we're one of the you know, fortunate families that we can provide support But many others can't um, and I especially think they're about the you know, special needs children Um who yes who cannot access the curriculum in the same way when it's a flat computer screen with some faces on there plus all the you know, we're many of us I think are familiar with the zoom fatigue and the social interactions just is not The same and so for kids that have problem with social communication. For example, this is a rough environment Or those who are easily distracted and need frequent reminders to stay on task It's just not the same no matter how wonderful the teachers are And then I'm we're also foster parents. We do short term hotline kind of work And I am so I you know, I'm I mean my my experience is certainly limited and yet I still I do have experience With that really vulnerable group and those parents, you know when when kids enter Um the foster system, you know, it's often because of neglect and those parents cannot support those children And it's hard for foster parents to then support those children So, you know, I come back to that question about um, sorry But you know, if so many other schools around Amherst can do it, they can be open safely really why can't we It's just I come back to that. Why can't we and then other compares to Chicago and San Francisco is just Not realistic because those are huge cities and they also in states that have much we get problems So, yes, thank you for all your work Thank you Next up is Zach early All right, I got right Zach, uh, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Can you hear me? Yeah, yeah, great. Um, so uh, first of all, I'm a parent of uh, like Mike a first grader and a seventh grader in the district, um And we moved here about five and a half years ago Intent and living uh here in Amherst because of the schools and we love Amherst schools so much that um a couple years ago I'm I actually teach now at fort river and and I'm proud to teach in Amherst. Um, I've been in education for 23 years Uh and part of that time also I I led a group Of people who wrote online courses at the university of Missouri and so I've seen Online and I've done I've been in a lot of classrooms and I've I've been in I've been in person and Um, frankly, this is not working Um, I think people pointed out a lot of the the shortcomings of distance learning I like to say we're we're working twice as hard for half the result Um, so obviously we're all working really hard Um, but the results aren't there And I mean those socially emotionally academically Really in all ways and and I not only see it in my own students, but I see it in my own children And it's it's heartbreaking My uh, we just even got to the point where because we're both professionals Um, I've had we've had to bring my mother in From several states away Sort of putting her at risk And in some ways putting our own family at risk. Um, just to bring her to help support My first grader It's it's what's most frustrating is that the the data since schools have been open To in person overwhelmingly Uh demonstrates that we can do this safely I think in particular the community like this where our numbers are actually Have generally been quite low But schools don't tend to be the drivers of of higher numbers So, you know with that in mind, you know that it's frustrating that we're not opening And then I you know to echo some of the other things that have been said to to be able to open the spring To take advantage of of outdoor opportunities and there's just I just feel like we're leaving a lot on the table It's gotten to the point where you know despite all that love for this district and being committed to working here and my kids attending um In march, we'll be looking at school choice If if our kids can't be in person particularly in the fall And that's just that kills me a little bit That you know that I I've been an educator for so long and my mom was an educator and I really believe in public schools and And it's tough for us to consider that we may have to look elsewhere Um, so I would really encourage school committee my own union To work together To finding a way to open the spring You know In and even in the fall. Thanks Thank you. Zack. Uh next up is benet Benet, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Two layers of unmuting had to happen there. Sorry about that Um, my name is benet hazel. I have two kids in the schools. They're not doing great Along with carlo we spoke earlier. I'm embarrassed too. I'm embarrassed. We're begging for some signs that may be Hopefully if we asked nicely we could talk about being back in school in fall Um, since the MOA was signed in last in late summer We now have real studies from places like duke by actual scientists from many states and districts using many different models And there's real consensus now schools that have undertaken the right processes and procedures and protocols Can do this successfully without meaningfully contributing to the spread of the virus even without the vaccine They are doing this successfully The cdc says they are multiple reliable articles in the media say so I'm embarrassed that the science is not influencing our approach in amherst now Not next fall The union's so-called consistency and sticking to the MOA Is not a virtue when you're hanging on to an agreement that was made in a fog of war Last summer over this virus Knowing this can be safe and having made real significant investments to make it safe We should be finding ways to get kids and teachers back in school Thank you. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Uh, next up is desmond fits gibbon Please unmute yourself. We have three minutes Can you hear me? Yes, okay. Excellent. Um, so the uh, this is i'm speaking for desmond fits gibbon and kathryn corson We are parents of a sixth grader at wildswood and a seventh grader at the middle school Um, these are amazing schools with incredible educators broadly defined and I want parents who are not yet in the district to know this And we as a community really need to do a better job of getting this knowledge out I'm an educator myself and um Have been so impressed with the work that has gone into adapting pedagogical approaches for the virtual environment Building a sense of community and keeping kids engaged Even remotely my children's teachers remain critical anchors and sources of joy and inspiration in their lives It's important to note that while there are challenges There are also things about remote learning that are working well for some children and for some even better than in person But I would like to appeal for unity today for working together in how we approach this incredible difficult challenge We as a community of parents educators and administrators need to work together across our differences to come up with solutions That do not pressure educators That ensure the health and safety of those that choose to return and most importantly prioritize the children most in need For a return to in-person education This is an incredibly difficult time and we are facing a colossal failure of leadership and social services in our country But schools and educators specifically cannot possibly solve every problem We need a community focus on what's best for all of our students Not a divisive battle that attacks the union and pressures educators We need to be lobbying the state and the federal level for more social services for prioritizing teachers for vaccines For the same PPE protections and provisions for educators that health professionals have For housing and food security for increased funding for schools that are doing much more than usual at these times And for taking the community closure precautions that the cdc recommends before opening schools The mental health toll that others have talked about is important to recognize and redress All the more reason to do the careful planning in collaboration with the union and the school staff to ensure that the students who are the highest priority As identified by educators and beginning with the side letters already on the table To return to a safe healthy and mentally supportive space So we have some questions Can you tell us what the in-person school will look like for returning children? How different will it be from what our children are used to will successful? What will it successful in-person look like learning look like? How will teachers and other staff be supported in making this relatively rapid transition? How will you decide which children get to go back? Then related many of us who want to remain remote are concerned about how this move will affect our children How will a partial return to in-person learning affect the current classroom placements and pedagogical approaches being used? Will remote learners have new teachers be with new students or have to go to new schools? Will teachers be required to teach in-person and remote simultaneously? How will the transition affect students who have established connections with their teachers? How will you ensure the positive relationships that they've built with their peers and teachers already this year are not disrupted? This is of deep concern to many whose children are thriving in remote learning Thank you for hosting the meeting and the dedication that you've all Shown to making this the best possible decision that you can at this incredibly difficult time Thank you Dr. Morse some of those questions that were raised we got so there's a lot of questions related to What will volunteer what will in-person learning look like? Wouldn't the volunteer process Plays out Both for students and staff who are remote and students and staff who are in person a lot of questions about what will the support to be? I'm sure you saw them in the in-survey input I'm going to give you a moment to kind of collect your thoughts on that because it's it's It's one of the biggest topics in the survey While we go to the last speaker in our currently in our queue Um, and maybe that will be our point where we'll we'll transition and try and knock out some of the q&a Questions that have been submitted in the chat and then maybe bounce back and forth From there. So, um, next up for speakers is uh, alicia read Alicia, please unmute yourself and you have three minutes Okay, can everyone hear me? Okay Okay, thank you So i'm alicia read and i'm married to ryan mccarthy As ryan described us a little bit earlier He has been teaching in person in a hampshire county public schools since september And he'll be there tomorrow as well three of his siblings in eastern messachusetts The thing that has been most frustrating to me and that i've heard stated multiple times tonight Is the bizarre amherst bubble that we seem to be living in in which statements are made that Well, we're in a pandemic and schools just can't be open right now Except schools really are open locally statewide throughout new england today and without vaccines I'll note that biden's nomination for secretary of education medgal cardona came from connecticut just next door Where he successfully had all but two districts open in some form by december When desi collected data in november 70 percent of districts in massachusetts had hybrid or in-person models for the majority of their students Not just a handful but the majority of their students Our district was in the bottom 30 of the state running a primarily remote model I also contacted every single school committee in hampshire county and can therefore say definitively That we have had the fewest days with students in buildings of any district in the county In the fall we closed on october 23rd while 17 out of the 18 other hampshire county towns kept children in buildings until november 20th And many persisted into december that 18th town has now opened in january for k through 12 And those towns including hadley just right next door 10 minutes away have now brought students back following the holiday spike When people just shrug and say well, we're in a pandemic We need to be clear that the amherst palm district is in a situation of its own making In which our children alone are not receiving what has been offered in the other 18 towns in hampshire county Some feel quite good about our remote status as a spouse of a teacher who will be in his public high school tomorrow Quite safely and without a vaccine. I disagree I also want to note that I feel fortunate to have found a remote learning center in an amherst state care that my kindergarten now attends I have no concerns about her safety. She is happy there I don't know how else it can be more clear that people can be together in congregate settings Very safely without vaccines and they will be doing it today tomorrow and until the teachers are fully vaccinated Thank you Thank you, alicia. So so right now there are No hands raised in the queue. Um, please feel free to raise your hand if you'd like to speak and you haven't spoken yet So we'll take this opportunity then given that the the queue is uh, is that zero at the moment? to transition to Hitting some of the survey questions and some of the q&a questions So dr. Morris, um, they're they're uh, you heard a couple speakers ago ask about Implementation questions about the volunteer plan return. I know you said that a lot of those details haven't been finalized yet because we need to establish The staffing some of the themes and the survey questions from about the volunteer return were about how is this going to change or disrupt my student who chooses to remain remote And what support will there be both for students and for staff in making this kind of transition? So, um You could speak to that sure, um So I think the one of the key questions I want to start with it's a little it was asked by the same speaker but I think it's a really important one is um What is high quality, you know teaching and learning look like when there are restrictions in place in terms of mask wearing and six feet and you know The easiest way to answer that question is we saw fantastic Teaching for the set and it was only seven days for the seven days. We were in person in october. I visited the schools and our staff did an outstanding job and You know, we had a lot of positive reports about the kids reaction to that and how they were learning and Things were going very smoothly From that perspective. So, you know, I want to start that we're not starting at zero We don't have any not that we don't have any examples of successful models that have worked I think on the broader point, um, it's the same actually conundrum that we faced even as we were phasing in Potentially the you know later phases of the rollout plan So, you know a kindergarten and first grade for the elementary level We did kind of put students who at that point their parents indicated parents guardians indicated They want to be in person with teachers who were slated to be in person um, we didn't do that at grades two to six because it was later on and so I think uh To the point that was made we there it's possible that there'd be shifting of staff of to match students and families who want their children Families who want their children in person and staff who volunteer to be in person We would try to minimize that as much as possible But I want to be transparent that that would have happened under the old plan As we phased in more grade levels and it would certainly be possible phase in the new plan And that's really when we get later into the year and talk about well, is there another opportunity? We do I think there is some critical point at which, you know We're in april or may It's hard at that point to think of a switch where the semester We're just about ending the first semester now right at the elementary level report cards are coming The semester just flipped at the secondary schools That's a point in the year that that happens it happens sometimes routinely just because teachers have to go out. They're either Sometimes there's expecting, you know child things like that And we were well accustomed to making those transitions and supporting students through those transitions with our talented counseling staff So I want to acknowledge that that's a real concern that I've heard from families And the goal would be to match Learners and staff with the learning modality as best we can On that front and communicate ahead of time and that's one of the reasons we did push off You know, originally we're thinking of the volunteer return happening the month of february We pushed at the beginning of march because we wanted to have an entry plan that was supportive of staff and students to Be able to have time to to work that out in terms of staff returning um To the buildings we did build in some time before they would return for you know More trainings with nursing staff and other staff around If they needed refreshers on ppe We did all this in the fall, but it's been a really long time for for staff members So we'd want to make sure that we provide them space and time Both pedagogically but also from a health and safety perspective and a protocol perspective to feel comfortable and confident About the systems we have in place And I think um This is really I want to acknowledge the the concerns because this is really hard and very difficult Year and you know, I really want to appreciate the speakers for being able to express their viewpoints very clearly and I think This is one of these situations. I'm sorry. I'm riffing mr. Demling and mr. McDonald. I hope it's okay where Uh Lots of people can be right right and I think lots of perspectives can be shared that are opposed And you know, I just appreciate, you know, people being able to share them tonight and the way that they were shared Um, because it's really been productive for me to hear all the different voices tonight Um, it's a little different hearing voices um in this setting versus, you know, reading emails Which are really helpful, but but feel a little bit different from my perspective So, um, I'll let you get back to the q&a, but I wanted to note that Okay, um, so I'm going to try and thematically batch some of the input questions from both the survey and the q&a um If I would also encourage if there's any panelists who is is seeing some questions that they would like highlighted that I'm not getting to Um, just just raise your hand and you can you know, do the same thing um So, um, and and if anybody is um, still would like to speak, uh, who's attending again, just please raise your hand and we'll Rotate back to the q. Um, so with regards to um, this fall dr. Morris, um So there's four related questions here. I'll I'll pretty much asking the same thing So similar topic about you know, you've you've said in general terms about how um But what we what we know and what we know can't can't say at this time But you know, I'll just read the questions anyway So carlo dilapid chola asks Will the school committee and apea Commit that 100 of the kids elementary middle and high school Who want or need to go back to in-person learning will be back on day one of the fall 2021 semester full time um The second question in this theme from lee jennings Will arps guarantee that instruction will be in person starting in late august september For the 2021 2022 school year um, also from deb lennard Um, I would like to know when we will know if fall of 2021 will have an in-person component Most private school deadline application deadlines are already passed. I need to know when I um Need to make alternative plans for my rising senior in high school And then finally from Kathleen dority Can we expect a decision regarding the fall soon so that we have time to enroll in private schools if desired Dr. Morcer or any of the panel At this point, I would defer to the school committee if they want to comment on that one. I think there's some other questions I think well equipped to answer, but I think um since it was some of these were addressed directly to the school committee I'll I'll defer to you all for now Um, I believe can you restate the last question? Mr. Devlin Yeah, uh, can we expect a decision regarding the fall soon so that we have time to enroll in private schools? They're all basically asking the same thing, which is like What when will when will parents know about the fall and can we now or soon? Is the school kid does the school committee and one of them says any apa? Commit to uh in person and to what extent for the fall Yeah, I we talked about this a little bit earlier tonight. I think um, we are we are in the midst of working on the planning for for the fall um We we did have a conversation about the calendar specifically earlier. Um, I can't remember the specific date. Um, but uh, the um, we looked and talked briefly about sort of the implications of moving to start earlier to enable um outdoor learning and other sort of creative options for that we opted against that given the many other sort of impacts and um Both in terms of the summer school as well as cost um for and for in facilities, etc. So we are um, we are not moving significantly earlier But we haven't looked at the specific calendar dates um, I think as I mentioned earlier um While we are committed to um to maximizing in-person learning that hasn't changed since the beginning of the school bit, you know since last summer um We as we as we've learned this year the both the pandemic and our learnings and understanding of the pandemic and our nature of schooling changes And evolves We can't make a hard and fast 100 commitment that all all children will be Unable to have in-person learning if they so choose. That's what we're working toward We can sort of state that that is our goal um But um, and I think somebody had asked sort of what are some of the things that you know prevent us from making that commitment today um number one is we we don't know the nature of where the pandemic will be and the and the extent to which Not just teachers, but also students and families will be vaccinated. Um, and um, we also have a our current agreements with all of our unions. Um, I think all of our unions are expiring at the end of June um, so There's there's some uncertainty surrounding that as well as um Sorry, I think those are the the biggest ones. Oh budget That's that's not um any minor, but we um that doesn't impact in-person learning But it impacts what that what school will look like um in some cases And and just a plug for future school committee meetings. We do have some upcoming budget presentations that um Both at the Amherst level and the other school committees I don't know if that um answered all of those questions there All right, um Yeah, I mean, I would just I know this is not a satisfying answer to parents right now because um, if um If I was a parent of a student next year, I would have the exact same question Which is you know, when are we going to know the answer to these questions because people have to make decisions? And and um, I mean, I would just say again personally just speaking for myself on the school committee These are answers that I would like to um I would like for our committee to answer as soon as we are able, you know, it's it's a priority for us to to identify and figure that out um and and um You know to be to to work out the things that we need to work out in order to be able to Commit to that. Um, this McDonald you mentioned budget. There are Uh, quite a few questions in the survey about budget impact Uh, so I'll I'll I'll try and read and summarize Those in batch. Some of them are technical about what what can we use with regards to federal funds? Some are more um general about um impact to remote learning and whatnot um, so from Ina uh, ganguli Prokofovich How will the loss of students to other districts charter schools and private schools combined with level funding impact the district next year? What will be the number of positions cut both staff and faculty? Who gets let go first and why how much money is lost per student who leave the district? What programs will be cut? I'm just going to read these in batch because a lot of them are related and then people can Reply to one or more points as as uh, any panelists as desired um, so the next one of the four or five is uh from laura drakker Is the district being strategic about positioning itself in terms of getting the funds? That are about to start flowing from the federal government. My understanding is that these funds are earmarked for districts with in-person learning How will that impact our ability to get this support? In longer term, how can we position ourselves effectively to advocate for funds to cover losses from this time period? How can parents be the most effective allies? um, a related comment from lauren mills What local state fed federal and or emergency monies will the district make available to be used for amorous elementary students? And most struggling students that do not fall under special education IEPs or five before plans to provide one-on-one tutoring so that so that this no longer falls in parents Or does not get provided because parents lack personal resources Um, again related from, uh, nina menkin What is arps doing to ensure that we are able to get all federal funds that are coming through for schools? Do we have the development infrastructure to do that? Is it true that we need to be in person to receive most of that funding? Thank you uh, and finally from sarah gough Has the economic impact of students leaving the district been evaluated if students do not return What will this translate into budgetary changes and what would be cut? So a lot about trying to try to access federal funds our model impacts that and Um losing students. What does that mean in terms of loss of services and cuts? um For any of our panel dr. Morris Yeah, so so hard to track all of those questions But i'll do my best and the ones i miss please remind me because they're all really good questions and Definitely in my wheelhouse to answer so um The state the chapter 70 funds which are the state funds that come to districts. Um, they're based on october 1 enrollment so, um, you know multiple school communities and he shared an enrollment update That showed a significant decline in in our student population beyond what would have been expected with, you know Just year-to-year variants And so that is having an impact on our budget for next year At all three. Oh, I'll just speak to a region in amherst the two districts that um, are represented for students in amherst This will be a very difficult budget year for multiple reasons not only that But it does contribute to that because it does affect how much the funds that flow from our state government to our local schools You know at our regional schools two nights ago. I shared that the budget cuts we're looking at At the 7 through 12 Are about a million dollars And we estimate about 16 positions will be lost To as well as other items that are not personnel To make up that gap and so our budget situation is very serious that it is impacted by the number of students who Attend our district at the elementary. We also have a significant budget gap. It's not quite as significant But we're that process plays out a little bit later than the regional schools For bureaucratic regions, but it just plays out a little bit later So we'll get to that by the end of the month in terms of some some rough estimates and the regional schools plays out sooner We don't have to be in person to access federal funds So I know that was a question. We do have though. It's called s or two which are the second cares act that was Voted I think of the last week in december And that's really intended to be used for it's not just like free cash It's intended to be used for covid related pieces of back to school. So we do have Access to that to support us next year if we do need to purchase more ppe If there are covid related needs that we had to have, you know, it could be used For if we do have a remote learning program next year, it could be used for some of the pretty expensive programs we purchased this year Um, so we do have that funding source, but it doesn't really supplement the operational budget. It's much more focused on supporting covid related expenses for our schools Some other ones in there. I miss mr. Demling. I'm sorry when you're reeling them off I wasn't able to gather all of them trying to think critical ones that I missed there Yeah, so if anybody else on the panel notices questions that are missed, please I'm trying to uh Cue up the next batch for you. Sure. Um one that I know was asked. Um, so what I answer is that, um, you know, uh, Well, I think it was asked, but I'll just say it anyways that there's been some questions sometimes from community members Could some of the federal funds be like direct payments to families for the impact? And holy oak explored that and it was deemed an Inexpensive could not be used in other words. We can't quote unquote pay parents For their support during this remote learning None of that is to suggest that parents aren't taking on and parents guardians and caretakers aren't taking on An amazingly large role and just want to share my appreciation right now But I know that's a question that's come up a couple times from a couple different people So even if it wasn't in the comments explicitly tonight, I did want to address that because it is a question that I've gotten On four or five occasions from different individuals this year This McDonald's with the other ones that um, sorry mr. Demling that that I missed No, I think you've got I think you've got um, all of my scribbled was scribbling as mr. Demling was speaking to Um, I covered it all I just want to also note um, because folks have asked, um, that we are at about 110 attendees at this point Right, I think the high watermark that I noticed was 168. Um, a little while ago. Um, so, um, a couple of Uh detail questions that in the q&a that I think I know the answer to well the results of the survey Uh q&a, uh, that we're publishing be made of it publicly available. I think the answer is yes Um, I'm seeing nodding heads there. Uh, is the comment on tase program at risk of being cut? No Uh, it is not. Um, and I see nodding heads from dr. Morris Um, it's a couple of detail ones there. Um, next kind of thematic batch is about lessons learned from um, from our current model. Um, so, uh, so there's three here. Um, one from jennifer page What has worked well about remote learning that can be applied to in-person learning? Um, second from tony cunningham What is working well in remote learning? What new pedagogical approaches are being used in the classroom? Uh, third from will snider Um, it's a longer comment. Um, this past 12 months has been the biggest shake-up the schools have experienced In the normal practices perhaps ever we've all been surprised that some things have gone so well Teachers parents and students have all been resourceful and creative What have we learned about teaching and learning that we can apply as we move forward Particularly about teaching in school and remotely on a more regular perhaps permanent basis So I think um, I tried to respond to a number of those. Uh, I think when miss page asked, uh questions during the First part of the um the meeting I think another thing and and You know, it wasn't explicitly asked but in terms of what we learned I think we've learned about, you know, that start times are a topic worth exploring You know, and you know, I'm not going to belabor that because that's tangentially related to the topic of the night Uh, I don't think if we didn't have an adjusted covid schedule at the secondary school We necessarily would feel the urgency Uh to pursue this topic this year It's probably more likely, you know, just roll the way we've always rolled. So that's one aspect I think, you know, for some students because I do want to note this In it's in the question and kind of a comment there We I don't want to Not acknowledge that many people came here tonight And I've heard from numerous people throughout the year how challenging remote the remote environment is and I've also heard throughout the year That for some students coming to school is a very stressful experience for a whole host of reasons And that the remote environment is working very effectively In terms of reducing stress and some anxiety that can come for some students attending school in person So I think we wouldn't have known that because typically students who don't come to our schools We're homeschooled so we wouldn't necessarily have that same type of feedback loop Um, so I think that's been really effective I think our teachers use of technology our staff member our educators use of technology Is never going to go back, right? It's not just that people Teach online this year just in general how we organize ourselves how we organize google classroom Even with younger students or seesaw at the primary grade levels I think that's been effective. I will say that even for our youngest students Their own technology use has surpassed what we would have anticipated In the past and so we are having active conversations about how can we What's the right way to integrate technology as we eventually do move back to in-person instruction? So there's an awful lot we've learned and you know, thankfully my school committee and I think miss spitzer I believe was the one who came up with the ideas and one of my professional goals this year is to report back And what did we learn this year? What what are the instructional and larger? Educational learnings that we've had and how can we improve our educational system instead of quote-unquote going back to what we used to do? How do we actually move forward with the learning that we've had kind of in this, you know forced experiment That everyone is having around the world because of covet So, you know, I appreciate that forward thinking about the school committee and look forward to being able to report on that in the spring Yes miss spitzer I think I'd also just like to recognize the amazing amount of effort that's gone into Feeding our families and students especially. I think that's something that I've been Particularly impressed by our district's response. So I don't I know it depends on some emergency federal funds that we've been able to Feed so many folks but um I think it's highlighted the need in our community and also our ability to meet it creatively and with you know Tremendous effort both by staff and volunteers. I just want to recognize that Yeah, thank you miss spitzer just to put it quantified. I believe we're in the neighborhood of 150 000 meals served since march 17th which is all free all for for students Uh in their district and and we continue to hear even if there's like, you know, the curriculum day, you know We always hear about it because families just want to know is the food, you know, pick up still happening and Our custodial staff our food service volunteer or food service staff, excuse me Have done a fantastic job working with our the families and really supporting our larger community Because it's not just about the kids. It's actually has such a large impact on families in general About food scarcity. So I appreciate you mentioning that So uh speaking of the amazingness of our various staff on this next next batch of questions has an opportunity for that So with regards to uh facility safety and staff safety, um a few questions There um Sarah gough asks our teachers fully informed about the efficacy of n95 masks Plus goggles or face shields. Can the school district provide these? Uh laura drakker asks can mr. Harrington speak to the hvac updates And ppe available and zack early asks can someone speak to the safety of the buildings? Um, so general questions there about the ppe and facilities status and safety Yeah, I'll take it. I don't I don't want to put mr. Harrington He can jump in but uh, he knows more than me, but I also uh want to keep his hat straight so, uh in terms of um Where we have we have um thousands I think 64 000 kn 95 masks that have all been rated by you know and verified by cdc To be above the 95 threshold In terms of how well they work. Um, so they're on hand Uh, we do have goggles face shields. Um, um, we have uh We have a we've spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on ppe high quality ppe So, you know, our nursing staff have been leaders in that I want to thank them To mr. Dunlings point for organizing that um and making sure that our staff have The highest quality products uh in terms of ppe in terms of ventilation Our facility staff have been working constantly throughout the year to both test The spaces where students and staff would be in and make changes and fixes when needed and retest At this point, um our our instructional spaces Pretty much uniformly have met the four air changes per hour threshold. Many are quite above quite above that Many have made it without an air purifier But we've committed to have air purifiers in every room that are the hep air purifiers with the UV light disinfecting light And so we feel very I feel very good I think we collectively at the district level feel very good in terms of school safety Many of our surrounding districts don't have the same standards around ventilation I know of some that are two three But you know our our rooms are are well above that threshold We we committed to not having classes and rooms like for instance There's a couple in the middle school that don't have windows so that you know Naturally people can open open windows and get additional ventilation and even on cold days You know cracking the window a bit our heating system keeps up And maintains that so people can't have that access have access to that so in general I feel like you know the HVAC the facilities team is and the nursing team's done a great job. So in terms of PPE ventilation You know nursing staff All of those pieces protocols around that I feel very comfortable and confident with the work of our team Mr. Harrington if I missed anything, please feel free to jump them Yeah, I mean the few things I would add are like it's building specific like wildwood in in fort river The opening of the quads kind of I mean we doubled our capacity for HVAC in those areas that sort of thing and then I don't think there's ever been a point In the existence of our buildings where where every single component has been analyzed to the the extent that it has I just want to kind of echo the sentiment that the facilities department has worked Beyond over time and especially our HVAC specialists who uh I mean the there's one person like that and And it's Doug Payone. So We're definitely in good hands Yeah, I mean I would really quickly echo that that in addition to the amazing work that the facilities staff have done this year It's really a testament to their work over the years leading up to this year That has put us in this in this position, right? You don't you don't have old buildings that that tests so well with the a ch if you're not meticulously on maintaining them And knowledgeably with with you know a discipline in a work ethic and it's it's that and that's you know, that's department-wide About about how people have just put the work in day-on-day out years before the pandemic even hit us to even put us in this position So many other districts have so few rooms that have that a ch level of four or above and and you know We're very fortunate even with the age of our buildings To be where we're at. So it's I find that amazing um So um next batch of thematic questions and again, I'll just remind attendees if you just click There's no queue right now. So if you click raise hand, you can speak And I'll call on you next Next next backs of questions is about BIPOC students black indigenous people of color So a few comments and questions here from the survey from mary clays We've seen a drop in attendance among BIPOC students Which is enhancing resource gaps now and will only increase them when we return What's the plan for handling this now? What are the plans for handling this upon return to school buildings? I'm going to read these all in succession and then y'all can Cogitate and respond to them Next from Nina Menken The attendance data we saw in the fall was very disturbing Showing a huge discrepancy between attendance of white families of means who can work from home Who showed an increase in attendance from in-person schooling and lower income families with a large majority? BIPOC representation who showed dramatic absenteeism. What are the current numbers? Does the district have personal advocates assigned to children who are falling through the cracks in this way? What is the plan to assess and address learning loss? Please include my entire comment along with my question rather than just posting these last questions I feel strongly that our concerns and voices need to be heard without editing and thank you for your difficult and dedicated work Um Yeah, so those were the uh the three comments there Yeah, so uh, I could speak to those so uh in terms of the attendance data We've seen an improvement in the attendance data as it relates to the the discrepancies that we noticed in the fall Um, I think that's primarily due to two reasons. One is that each of our schools has attendance teams Uh, that they review data every week and make proactive problem-solving phone calls not in terms of, you know threats or anything that, you know, you may read online that districts have been doing but They're really framed to how to solve problems how to work with families And the second has been the expansion of our distance learning centers. Um, has had a huge impact. Um, Marta Gabbara or Who works in the family center leads the family center Dr. Gabbara has worked to identify students who have been struggling the most with attendance issues um and We now have upwards I believe we're up to 60 students K to 8 now and distance learning center at the middle school and another 15 or 16 That's the intensive needs distance learning center at the high school. So we have seen A significant difference in the data. I want to note that it's not it's still not even it's still not equal It resembles some of the attendance data that we've had pre-covid And so it is something that we're actively concerned about. Um, it's it's a topic a weekly topic of Conversation again at the schools. It's a topic of conversation in my work with principals And you know our staff have done I think a fabulous job of outreach And you know, I want to be something I've said before and I want to say it again A lot of times there's an assumption that you know the lack of um, are the attendance challenges that any student has Is based on, you know devices and internet access our IS team's done a great job And that that no longer is the primary barrier, but that's not actually the only barrier for the attendance. Some of that is supervision some of that is quite honestly House of size of home how many students would be trying to study And some of that's about the challenges that some of our students are facing with distance learning in general That the the modality is not effective for them Um, and you know, I think we heard some of that tonight and I think that's reflected in some of the data We see more generally about attendance as well So it is a real challenge and I think next year What that looks like and how to support students academically and social emotionally is going to be A different challenge that we have but no less large, you know Than the challenges that we face this year because we know there's been huge impacts on many students and many families in our community So our related question Good segue you teed me up there. Dr. Morris There are a lot of questions about mental health And how to best support students mental health needs. I won't read everyone but the the general Theme is how do we help students who first? How do we identify those students given that they're remote? And how so how do we support them in the remote setting? um, and then As we do transition back to in-person um, and students have had the um are coming with with the Increased frequency of mental health needs. What are we doing to prepare for that? What is the? um What is the thinking in terms of you know, the immediate return starts next month? And in longer term as we help kids recover from the pandemic Yeah, so I think in the short run. I mean our counselors are still connecting with families and students routinely We have a grant for supporting students emotional needs working with river valley Counseling and that's we have additional resources this year and we're using them both to work directly with students And also be planning for next year in the way that that the question described As I mentioned earlier, we we're working on finalizing a screening tool to best understand At a broad level how our students are doing and what challenges they are experiencing And you know, I think here's what I'd say is that even if we're in you know I hear a lot of concerns or questions about being in person in the fall and right I understand those and I think we'll be in a different place in the fall But we're not planning to go back to the same place. We were in prior it's not Pretending that this year didn't exist Is not going to be an effective strategy because regardless of in person now or not in person our students all of us have not had a normal existence Since march of last year and so, you know simple relational pieces or aspects of our work Is going to need to be really centering and how we approach the beginning of the school and how we approach the school I've had fascinating discussions this week actually With some elementary faculty members with some optional meetings to talk about start time And one of the things I continue to hear from our educators is can we rethink the beginning of the day? Particularly as we head to next year Can we think about how to start the day in a way that development is appropriate that we're re-teaching some social skills understanding that students have had a traumatic experience over the course of the Of the pandemic and so that's the type of thinking that our educators are doing about how to support students And and I really like the focus at the beginning of the day because we know that you know The hustle and bustle of just getting to a classroom is not going to be sufficient for students feeling enveloped Into the school back back into the school environment And we also know there's going to be a lot of fearfulness On the part of students as much as students want to be back and we saw this in october Even they're excited to be back They hadn't been in a indoor space with other people and months and months and it's going to be an even longer period potentially For students coming back in the fall So we are going to have to do professional development and the beginning of the year has to look different next year to support students Social emotional needs And the biggest thing we can do is to support to prioritize setting a strong school culture and classroom community And showing that students are valued and understanding that we're going to see some different behaviors and different relationships form Because of what happened to this year and what happened during a pandemic Thank you. So I see a hand is up as a speaker. So Keith McFarland Please unmute yourself and you have three minutes. Thank you. Can you hear me now? All right, so my name is Keith McFarland. I am a teacher at the high school I'm also a sitting scope school committee member in sundayland next town over and at frontier regional I went through the difficult decision that you all had to go through I chose when we were going forward with a hybrid model because I felt it served the most people But those students and staff that did not feel comfortable could go remote But at the same time I wanted to respect the people that wanted to try to come in the building both students and staff Uh, we have been successful in doing that. We started off with metrics and had to revise them. So quickly that they were Um, they didn't really register exactly what was going on. We found that the school did not exactly near the district But we've also found that it's not without risk. We have had students get ill. We have had staff get ill So it is not without risk It's also not an exact panacea because the classroom is very different than a normal one Students will be masked. It will not be working in groups. They will be in cohorts. It will be socially distant Um, some of them won't have teachers. Some of them some of their teachers will be remote So it's going to be very different. It's not an exact answer, but it can be done So I have urged the union to Negotiate with the school committee to look at the metrics again I've quite honestly. I've had a little frustration that that there hasn't been communication Uh, one of the things that I think has been the hallmark both in centerland and deer field is that we've had a lot of communication and good communication constant communication I appreciate the school committee and the hard work. I know exactly the position you've been in But I am critical of the decision to ask for volunteers I think that that is asking me as a teacher to violate a contractually negotiated contract And so for me it comes down to the moa I'm going to continue urging the union to come to the table And to to talk about the contract, especially outside the moa, especially considering As we get closer to warmer weather vaccinations happen. I am really hopeful that In my mind, especially post-apel vacation that we can come back and that we can have students in some way in the building So I would ask I hope that the school committee and the union really work towards communication effective communication and communication can and that can get something done So I do appreciate your hard work um, and I and all the other teachers are going to continue doing what we can to try to do the best thing We can for our students this year and hopefully next year as well. So thank you Thank you um So a few uh lower level detail questions. Um, uh Couldn't from sally fits Sports are able to occur, which is wonderful. Couldn't clubs happen outdoors? Well, what other plans or ideas are in place to connect students and families? Even if in-person classes don't happen before next Next school year. Thank you There was also a somewhat related question about tents and will As the weather gets better will tents allow us to have more outdoor activity Whether or not schools classes are in person or remote Dr. Morrison, I don't know if you can speak to that. Yeah, so it tends to be back up when the weather allows you know, the poles are still there and you know, it's New England weather is hard to predict But in springtime, uh, we'll work to get those back up I think the the clubs and some of those pieces definitely I've heard that feedback and you know, depending which teachers opt to return to in-person There may be some possibilities there and that's some of the feedback we're gathering as we get the survey results and Try to put together what we're able to to support students to In-person instruction for students to the degree to which we are able we can Thank you. Um Just another reminder. Uh, any attendee would like to speak. Uh, just raise your hand. Um There was a question on um Will this will the school committee Change its its decision to force Students who have school choice into the elementary to Go into the lottery for the regional Um, and I just wanted to clarify that that's not a school committee decision. There's a state law that changed recently That affects, um, the Students who have choice in at the kindergarten first Grade level in the last couple years that when they eventually get to the to the region, they're not automatically Um Accepted into the the choice program. That is something that we are have explored advocacy with with our state local rep because We've the few discussions you had about it. We've we've expressed support for the fact that we want to accept those students But we're not legally allowed to because of the school choice program and the state regulations there So just a brief clarification there Um Uh, I am going to go through these kind of one at a time um Can someone specifically address the needs of children with IEPs who require services to access the curriculum I would like to see some sort of plan that prioritizes their needs um So tomorrow morning actually dr. Marsh will be joining us at the cpac meeting special ed parent advisory council Um, just public meeting open at nine o'clock. Um, any kind of question can be directed at that time You can also reach out to cpac at arps.org for support for special education I don't know if you have anything to add dr. Marsh about IEPs And and how those are affected by the the remote and the in-person transition Yeah, I think the it's something that you know, the cpac representative spoke to I think quite eloquently tonight It's not the first time as she noted that um cpac has made a statement on that I encourage You know about tomorrow morning. Like you said, I think at a broader level You know, I think getting in touch with the liaison For parents for families is the recommendation I'd make I think we you know, we've made a lot of progress I think last year summer school, which was virtual our special ed staff who worked it found out a lot about what worked and what didn't Um In much different ways than we did, you know last spring So I think being in touch with any concerns with the liaison and being able to talk through what accommodations are working and not working In a virtual context is is is the first step that I would take I recommend All right, so um, I guess I just wanted to ask the panelists for a time check So we're approaching two and a half hours. Um, we have about Half of our attendees remaining from our higher watermark um I've been through most of the um The batch questions. I know I have not gotten to every question and we have made a commitment that if we do not get to a question I'm I'm sure that I'm just going to logistically by mistake overlook a question that we will publish answers to that So, um Yes, let's me down. Yep. Um I the I do Believe that most of the questions have been addressed in some form or another and and so we will be publishing these afterwards. There is a there is one question about um regarding, uh this Excuse me. Um The school committee, I assume is um asking when it says can you can you the school committee? Please make a commitment to engage in conversations again. I believe that that that's suggesting with the union And the answer is yes. Um, we will um, we had, um Really productive informal conversations in um in january the three conversations. They started out tough, um, but everybody showed up and we ended um with the third one I think in a really good spot and a commitment to continue the collaboration and conversation And just as an aside, you know, the the informal conversation continues in email And just a collaborative working Throughout so yes, um, we will continue to commit to engaging in conversations with the apa Yeah, so I'm just um, it's going through for related questions. Um Earlier question from kyle broders was similar What will be the process and timeline for creating a new agreement with the apa for the 2021 2022 school year? Um, I think it's referring to the fact that uh, not only does the main contract the apa expire But the moa also expires this academic year at the end of june Will the deliberations be public? Will they be open to input from families and community members? um, I think Most most we can say right now that's that's to be determined um And I guess the the only other detail I'd add on continued conversations is that um, You know the the informal online meetings we've been having um, are specifically Not about changing the the the moa if if if we were to have a meeting about um Changing the moa that would have to be agreed upon by both parties and and as as we know that hasn't We haven't gotten to that point yet where both parties have agreed to to talk about changing it. Um So we can make um one one last call so Last call for raised hands for any any speaker comments. Um, and any Questions that are remaining here. We will follow up with a published Question document. Dr. Morris There's one about lunches. Um, that's a logistical one that I can answer There's a question that talked about can can student feed outside And that was the way that we tried to do it as much as possible for when students were in that's in our plan The reality is it's not always possible to eat outside in new england. Um the lunch outside in new england So as much as possible absolutely And we follow all the recommendations around public health That we have the reality is with our class size and our room size We can easily have students, you know Pretty far apart as they're eating The optimal is certainly outside from a health perspective. I agree with that and but it's just you know, if it's 40 degrees and raining It's just not quite possible to have students be eating outside. So it's a great question The answer is as much as possible and But we can't guarantee every day Dr. Morris a logistical question about the um volunteer return process When will you inform families of in-person possibilities depending on the survey results? I think refers to sir depending on the staff survey results Many families will need to plan and we'll need at least a few weeks. It would be very helpful To communicate this before february vacation. Yeah, the goal that we have is from jasmine kersi Oh, i'm sorry So the goal is as soon as possible to compile all the information and ask for interest About return And our goal is you know, i'm not sure before the february vacation But certainly during the february vacation to have outreach to families Where there are seats to see if they're expressed interest in returning to in-person um Another planning question from ariel ash. Well Is there a conversation happening about in-person summer school assuming all teachers are vaccinated by that? um, so I would just I would Leave off the last part. Um, just say there is a conversation happening about in-person summer school As it relates to the vaccinations. I think i want to be really clear that um At the current time we have not uh, it's unclear whether we even could or would but How to say this differently Vaccines aren't mandated for employment right now. So I want to be really clear that well, I think many or most And that's what I hear teachers are interested in vaccines I I can't pledge that every teacher or any educator or every staff person Who'll be back in the fall will be vaccinated not necessarily because of supply But I don't want people to to believe that Will necessarily be at 100 i mean as people who work in hospital settings and other settings know um They're not at 100 either Even in a setting that um is there for sick people primarily So, you know, I just I can't guarantee the that everyone, you know There's a lot of language not necessarily in that question But another question is about that everyone's going to get vaccinated and that's not something that um, I can say will definitely occur um, what one last thought before we um start to wrap up, um, if they're Once you publish the the the response document to question answers to questions that weren't answered um If someone reads that and still finds that they feel their their question wasn't answered. What's what's their best follow-up method? Am I right going oh, so go ahead, please. No, I would my um recommendation would be to um to submit public comment, um for uh To to an upcoming school committee meeting send an email to schoolcommittee at arps.org and um, or if it's um and or uh to dr. Morris um And what morris m at arps.org I know we're trying to wrap up. Could I just answer? There's one or two. I think that are pretty quick and logistical So yeah, yeah has there been discussion of pool testing in classrooms We were a district that applied and were accepted into the state's pool testing system Uh, that only covers us for the next six weeks or so At that point we could decide whether we want to opt in which there's a financial cost Uh to the district that the state's only covering it through mid march, but we were accepted for both amherst and the region And we'll you know, see how it's used and implemented But you know, we think you know at the current time it's worth exploring and our application is expected And we have a webinar, you know about implementation coming soon. So Um, we appreciate the state's support We wish it was going on longer than to mid march frankly, but uh, we're going to take what we can get from that and see how it goes um moving forward If there's um, and I'm just going to look also at the School committee members if they've seen any questions that they wouldn't like to answer feel like they've answered a lot Um, and I'm not seeing any more raised hands for speakers I'm going to pause momentarily I'm seeing none. Um, so I will um actually Move us to adjourn and as um as as we've said multiple times we'll follow up with um published document with these questions This meeting um was recorded. And so we will also post the recording of this meeting um on on our amherst school committee website So I am going to make a motion that we adjourn this meeting of the amherst school committee. Is there a second? second And we will move to a roll call vote mr. Harrington Harrington I miss spitzer spitzer I Mr. Demling Demling I Miss lord Lord I And mcdonald I and we are adjourned. Thank you everyone for coming out tonight