 This program is brought to you by cable franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you Seeing a presence of a quorum I'm going to call to order this meeting of the regional school committee on Thursday, October 22nd at 749 p.m And we'll start with a roll call attendance Mr. Deming Mr. Harrington Harrington present Miss Kenny Kenny present Miss Lord Lord present Miss figure see your present Spitzer present miss Dancer looks like she just left the meeting. Yeah, I'm McDonald present Stand there. I hit the wrong button I've done that So you're present So this evening and we have a high volume of public comment and to go through that's our first order of business I will start with the Voice recordings the voice messages. Thank you everyone for submitting the comment. I noticed I posted it the The document is posted already on our school committee the regional school committee agendas page I'm so folks that want to follow along at home. Let me do it that way If you have trouble reading the document while it's projecting on screen our friends at Emerson media have Signaled that the recording is HD recording so that the document is much more easily legible on screen But as I said, I will start with the with the voice recordings and I Was alerted by this first caller that she neglected to give us her name And I apologize if I mispronounced it but her name is Elsa Pettit, and she's calling from Amherst Sorry, I'm gonna start over. I have to turn that volume up. I am writing again Talking again and to both revising your metrics on your model to be open schools in light of the new scientific findings We found that me families have left the district and we are worried that this will impact further Living the district again because they are not happy and they are trying to find Prior to we began afforded so this will increase the gap between me that can afford things and some of that cannot and overall the long-term Worry that we have is that it's gonna hurt the district and the school to public school in the district So we would like to have a discussion open to the parents So that we could all boys are concerned and maybe find a good content for all of us so that it's safe and people are happy to Be able to meet on school that you said condition of course. Thank you. Oh, my name is Gina Kauffman. I have a child in the building blocks program special education at Fort River. I Would like to make a comment Since returning to school in person my special education daughter instead of being depressed and regressing on every front has been joyful and Cooperative and advancing forward eager to return to school every day I Am reaching out to implore you to use Scientific metrics to decide when to close and reopen our schools Rather than a fear-based metric created behind closed doors Please reconsider the shutting down of our schools for our vulnerable Special education students. Thank you. My number is from Alfie. I live in Amherst First, I want to thank everyone in the school committee for your time and effort and all that you continue to invest in managing and planning for this most Unusual school years. We are the working parents. My husband and I have a first-grader with the IEP We are reaching out today to convey our disappointment and concern about the decision to revert to remote learning for two weeks It is our understanding that the criteria in governing this decision is very conservative setting the threshold for case counts for 100,000 people well below what is recommended by Desi and the leading health experts Further, it was indicated in Dr. Morris's email that locally our positivity rate is below the agreed-upon threshold And that the decision to close is being based on an increase in case counts in the wider county Frankly, this seems extreme in the absence of more information about whether these cases are contained clusters or if there is evidence of wider community spread I deeply appreciate that everyone wants to be safe I want that too, but we must weigh the decision to close against the real and measurable costs of doing so All students benefit from in-person learning This is especially true of our youngest learners for whom remote learning is decidedly not optimal and for whom so much screen time is not developmentally appropriate At this point, I want to emphasize that I am truly amazed at how well our teachers have adapted to the unusual Circumstances we are in and I feel that the remote instruction we receive is as high quality as it can be given the constraints of this medium No matter its quality though, it cannot replace the benefits of in-person learning for students and their families Students with disabilities are at high risk for falling behind Some therapies do not translate well to the remote environment and rely heavily on parent involvement Which is a burden for working parents to this point during remote learning We opted for fewer therapy sessions simply because we could not fit it into our household schedule This is not what was best for our child, but it is what was required. We wanted to keep our jobs We will also admit to not doing many of the asynchronous activities that are suggested again because this requires our direct involvement Facilitation which is not always possible as we work and care for a talk-sizing movement So he is not getting the outdoor time but seems to be an assumption built into the remote learning schedule And these are just some examples of how remote learning has affected that A hundred children have left the district presumably to be home schools or attend private schools that are staying open for in-person learning This is alarming and a very measurable cost of keeping our school buildings closed This will affect resources allocated to our school districts which in turn will affect our entire school community I want our district to prioritize safety But I also want our district to adopt closure policies that place our district level risk tolerance in line with what is recommended by public health experts Again, I so appreciate your leadership as we continue to navigate these murky waters. I recognize Hi, my name is Maureen Lee McNally I live in Amherst and my public comment is on the threshold of the COVID cases that is required to move from in-person schooling to remote and I would strongly urge you to reconsider how low the threshold is for Amherst It seems like it's significantly lower than the rest of the state. That's what the recommendation is And I have a kindergarten or at a first grader and they desperately need to be in the classroom if it is possible So I would strongly consider Raising that threshold. Thank you as Nicola Usher. I am a resident of Amherst I am a parent to a Wildwood third grader and I'm calling in regards to the recent Return to remote learning for those students that were in phase one I just want to say that I really hope that the school committee can Renegotiate and be more flexible with the metrics that were initially laid out by the APEA. I completely deferred our educators in terms of their comfort level being in the building, but it seems a bit extreme at this point to have metrics that are lower than what we're seeing throughout the state and the CDC Recommendations, I'm from New York City and it's just kind of astounding to me that I Have friends and with kids in elementary school in New York City that are able to go to school in person And we're not here when our case load has been relatively low The 20 just seems like an Unreasonably high expectation and at this point, it's just untenable to not have The kids in school and to have so much uncertainty It would have been better to have just said we were going to be remote for the whole semester, but now this Consent back and forth and she knew indeed of when her children might go to school is just creating increased anxiety for parents and children and It's just really unfortunate and I really hope that we can come up with more flexible metrics That are reviewed regularly and maybe allow us to not have a hard number But allow us to look at the average over a certain number of days after the number of cases go up But either way, I just want to say that this is just this is in a way that we can continue to live I really hope we can either do something to make sure that kids can stay in school for more than a week or Just commit to being remote because this inconsistency is really hard on families. Thank you They plead for the union and the school committee to find a way to do what I believe is the right thing Keep face one kids in schools on Monday Which means you're visiting the agreement to specify the thresholds for shutting the schools down We have the most rigorous requirements in place in the state today And we need more room for flexibility and discernment in order to to contribute to stability in a difficult time Somebody who wears a mask religiously outside of the home and who has had both parents contract and recover from COVID-19 I do not think this is either foolhardy or unsafe What's unsafe is committing to a rigid and flexible set of figures that pulls kids out of school almost as quickly as it puts them in Thank you the kindergartner and second grader I'm calling to share some of our experience some observations and a couple of suggestions Our family was extremely distressed to learn of the pending recloser of our school despite no reported cases in our school Our kindergartners had the best week he has had in the months because he finally got to go to school and begin to make friends Twice now. We've had to break into a five-year-old that he's not actually going to get to go to school We are well past the summer months when plans were being made and there was less knowledge on transmission in schools schools have reopened across the country and across the state and it is more clear by the day that in school Transmission is not common particularly at the elementary school level and even less so in environments that are well-prepared physically and procedurally such as the ARPS facilities do not put blinders onto the reality around us Which is increasingly clear that schools are not accelerators of this pandemic. No, it is not 100% safe But nothing is families have skin in the game here We want to put our children in the class environment kids are good at wearing masks in school Even preschoolers probably better than adults Another issue private schools are open. They have been open for two months and without instance So our district is showing that kids who by and large come from families with more money get to go to school in person If you don't have the means to pay for private school or can't get in because they're quite full then tough luck Instead your kids get to sit in a google meet being shown sing-along videos and movies and being asked to mute Is that an alignment with the district's mission? In-person school has become a privilege in this town rather than the fundamental rights that all kids are entitled to The agreement with the APEA with arbitrary metric levels Triggering an automatic shutdown visit this service to our community our families and especially our kids It is a long past time to stop putting the interest of children Last you have failed this community with this agreement and our kids deserve better So our suggestion and negotiate a new deal and do so in open session Affirmacy that means meeting every day not twice a week and when you do get to an agreement Don't set some distant date for reopening every single day these kids are not in school Is a day they have been failed by this district? Please treat this crisis as the emergency that it is Our second suggestion is that this is a lot of responsibility for the school committee and the superintendent If you are not up to the challenge that past the district can to participate guidance In order from the governor shut the schools in the spring and the district listened That same governor is now urging schools to reopen using state guidance the district should listen again. Thank you I apologize for that I was in Amherst and my five and nine-year-old children attend Crocker's farm Since day PA seems keen on hearing the voices of people of color. I'm also a state that I'm a black woman There's so many things that I could see right now The school committee voted to adopt the agreement just two weeks ago Many parents stated over and over again that adhering to an arbitrary metric That is not based on the recommendation of any scientific body would lead to repeated closures We foresaw this coming and I cannot understand how the school committee and superintendent did not If you believe in science and that we should adhere to evidence-based approaches Then the metrics we use for moving journal learning must be based on the recommendations by deffy CDC Harvard global health or some other credible body rather than the wins of non experts In Tuesday's meeting dr. Morris reported that 100 children have left the district that many of them have gone to private schools And that there will be financial repercussions I want to inform directly to the statement that parents should know that their decisions affect the district The school committee and APA APA need to know that their decisions impact district families and that they're putting us between a rock and a hard play I would have written my children from the district, but our local private schools are entirely full Common school is already taking applications for next year and I heard the same from high school parents who looked as far away as an hour To get to the school years so far my mother-in-law moved into our house for four weeks with my father-in-law traveling three and a half hours Each way every weekend so he could see his wife We then hired someone at the rate of five hundred twenty five dollars per week to bridge the last shutdown Risk in our community has been and continues to be low We believe in our public schools, but we believe that our five and nine year olds are better than what the district has offered Families are being forced to pay for childcare anyway Why would we not opt to pay a place that will go much farther and offering safe and consistent in-person learning than the district has so far This is the moment for the school committee to get this right and we should learn from and incorporate what we know about our community so far First, we need a metric that is based on expert recommendations and moves with those recommendations if they change in the future Second consistent with cdc harbored and other recommendations The decision to move to remote should be based on multiple pieces of data that indicate whether there is increased risk specifically in our community Not in springfield not among college students, but in our school community and the individuals who are accessing our public schools This means that our metrics should trigger consultation with public health professionals who have the education expertise to make decisions about risk One metric should not trigger an automatic shutdown I want to support the district, but the district needs to adopt a route that shows it is supporting our children I hope the school committee will do the right thing Real for negotiations and demands of evidence based approach moving forward the future of the district can just APA and administrators My name is ronata shatford amherst resident and i am a parent of a second and tenth grader It is very frustrating to hear that we have to start phasing in from zero When unreasonable metrics not even related to our schools trigger or remote learning All around new england schools are opening safely taking care of business improving grade schools are not a problem I hope you are all aware that students whose families can afford it are leaving our district Which will lead to teacher and staff lay of us More students per classroom and less offerings for all our children We love our teachers, but I believe the union is doing a disservice to them and to the community at large We chose to pay higher taxes in exchange for better schools Therefore this agreement needs to be adjusted With parents and dsc taking part in the decision making since all families in this community are the ones paying to support the schools Thank you The effort underway from all involved the superintendents and central office staff teachers and building staff And you volunteer school committee members in particular like all of us No one signed up for this and I hope we all remember that everyone's doing the best we can With the best intentions for students our beloved teachers and our community safety Regarding the metrics for remote versus in-person schooling I do hope the district will reconsider the metric currently being used in this evolving crisis We need some flexibility to assess actual threats based on infection rate testing and contact tracing Beyond a set percent parents are all over the map in our opinions about remote versus in-person learning I understand the same to be true for teachers addressing the very real public health concerns and the educational equity concerns through union negotiations seen from this place Given the unprecedented nature of this protracted public public health crisis I personally support the idea to have the town's health director decide whether and when teachers can be in the school building Again, thank you for your leadership and thank our teachers who are doing an amazing hi This is Anastasia Ordonas. I'm the Amherst resident and a mother of two Fort River elementary school students I understand that the school committee is working with our superintendent and district teachers To agree upon a metric for in-person learning that means the health and education needs of our students families and district employees I recognize that this is challenging to do in a normal year, but in the midst of a pandemic One fact about the virus of changing rapidly is almost impossible I also appreciate the concerns that are raised by some officials and parents about not overreacting to increasing virus infections in our county and revising the agreement on our metrics metrics to ensure we return students to in-person learning as quickly as possible However, I also strongly believe that our educators many of whom are also our neighbors And fellow parents themselves Want what is best for our students to do? And they are balancing their own health and mental well-being And that of their families in the midst of a pandemic that does not respect town or city boundaries We've all read the news and we've watched as numbers have started to rise again In communities that everyone thought safe or recovered from the pandemic And until we develop and distribute a vaccine We should not stake a position that the fears of essential workers like our teachers are unreasonable I believe and my husband believes that we have a duty to educate our public school students And to protect our community's health at the same time I hope that negotiation with the teachers union over this agreement Will be flexible enough to recognize our educators concerns As legitimate and that we do not decry them Thank you as always for all your hard work in your service to our community. We really appreciate it Take care and enrolled in the schools within the district My children are learning remotely and they are receiving excellent online education from their teachers My children are enrolled in online learning because we are in the midst of a global pandemic with cases arriving locally And online learning protects them and our community from the spread of COVID-19 It is not convenient in any sense, but it is the right thing to do In fact, I view it as a civic responsibility I am making a comment Because I am disgusted with the school committee Whose members have demonstrated that they are not leaders, but rather are merely politicians And I mean that in the worst sense of the word I'm disgusted because the school committee and their proxies Including the superintendent and other community members have attempted to slander my children's teachers And are trying to force president trump's school reopening agenda onto our community Why does the school committee of amherst massachusetts of all places Have such regressive views regarding the health and safety of our community school committee wishes COVID-19 does not exist It is not going away anytime soon And their schools must operate appropriately Operating appropriately Means closing when COVID-19 cases rise up the metrics that were negotiated Agreed upon and signed by the school committee I am thankful that the teachers in our district have the best interests of our community at heart And have decided that health and safety are important because clearly the school committee does not I'm now going to present the document And just as a reminder for folks that are watching at home This document is posted on the Agendas page of the original school committee web page On arcs.org Are folks able to see that? Have you seen my screen? Yes, thank you Just as a An alert, um, you'll see there's 47 pages here. So I'm going to scroll a little faster than my usual As I mentioned, um, it is available online So folks can come back and look at things that um, they may have missed as I scroll as a reminder, um That document that full document is available on the regional school committee Agendas page, um, and where you can access and read the full comments if I scroll too quickly I'm just pulling up the the language for moving for our next agenda item So, uh, I will make a motion To enter into executive session to discuss strategy with respect To collective bargaining with the a pea if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body And the chair so declares I declare And with no intention of returning to open session Is there a second second? Sorry, was that miss spitzer That was me, miss spitzer I think, um, moved by mcdonald's second by spitzer. Um, and we will now take a roll call vote Mr. Demling Deming I Mr. Harrington Harrington I miss kenny Kenny I Miss lard Lord I Miss seager Seager I Will spitzer Spitzer I Miss stancer Stancer I mcdonald I And seller than not present And the motion passes a unanimously 8 to 0 We will now adjourn to executive session