 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 calling to order this meeting of the regional school committee at 604 p.m. And It will take a rope call if you can when I call your name if you can Say present so we know that you can hear us and we can hear you Ms. Spitzer Mr. Demling Deming present Miss Lord Lord present Mr. Harrington Harrington present Miss Seager Seager present Miss Dancer Stancer present Mr. Sullivan Not present and mr. Manino Not present Seeing a presence of a quorum. I'm called to order this meeting of the Amherst school committee And I'll call your name and if you can say present so that we know you can hear us Miss miss Spitzer Spitzer present Mr. Demling Demling still present Miss Lord Lord present Mr. Harrington And McDonald present And now I'll turn it over to Sarah Hall All right. Thank you seeing the presence of a quorum. I will call to order the meeting of the Palom school committee Jesse John Louie present. Sorry. I didn't mean to catch you up guard there Sarah Bass Sarah Bass can he present and Margaret Stancer present and Hall present and Ron Manino is not here. Okay Our first order of business is public comment and as of Shortly before this meeting actually and we had received zero public comment And just reminding everybody that is watching from home we always accept Comments at our school committee at arps.org email address and for public comment To be played at our meetings we ask that you submit public comment by 3 p.m. On the day of the meeting Either by email to myself McDonald a at arps.org or by phone To the Google number that's on our agenda And now turn it over to dr. Morris for a superintendent's update Sure Unfortunately, I start with more sad news That I do want to share with the committee So this week we found out that a former student Felix Fonseca who was a graduate of our school district? passed away and so We've had an unfortunate set of Bad news in terms of Tragedies in our community. We have been their family members still in the district again many thanks to the number of Staff members who've reached out to the family There's a GoFundMe page that's gone around as well as some counseling support that's been offered But I'm gonna continue on that and then ask for a moment of silence because something mr. Harrington mentioned a couple weeks ago, but you know Kind of conduits through me. I've given me permission to speak in more detail about the passing of Susan Kennedy marks So Susan someone I knew really well. She was a former educator in the district She worked in multiple of the elementary schools She worked at central office and a position on diversity and equity as well as a principal assistant principal and counselor And she passed away recently after a battle with cancer and there's her family is now ready to share the news with the broader community In particular the the ARPS community. It was an email that went out to all staff yesterday Many of us and I consider myself one of them had the honor to work with Susan and and got to see the her extraordinary Contributions she made at Fort River and marks Meadow, which she was a elementary school that used to be in the Amherst Public School district and at Crocker farm and Particularly her deep commitment to social justice and equity. She's been involved in the Roger Wallace Foundation as well as other a EF many many other things and retirement for her was not something that Stopped working or stopping connected to children and particularly this these districts As the many of the best educators do Susan enriched the lives of countless students as well as the lives of her colleagues there is a The family has set up the Sue Kennedy marks fund for social justice. There's a website, which is ww It's social justice for all all one word dot org And this organization will continue to Susan's anti-racism work, which was her passion in life So given the the passing of a former student as well as miss Kennedy marks I'd ask us all to take a moment of silence In remembrance and honor of of those two individuals. Thank you Um one of Susan's passions and something she worked on was anti-racist curriculum and I think um This is unrelated in terms of timing to her passing and the announcement but I think related to her life's work and life's passions that Tomorrow miss Cunningham will start with a group of educators Because what we're going to commit to is that all of our elementary schools k to six All students will receive anti-racist curriculum director into really explicit anti-racist curriculum Next year. There's wonderful dot things that have been done by individual teachers. Uh, and it's not to minimize We're starting at zero Particularly some of the work that that you all experienced in terms of school improvement plan about crocker farm And their work with teaching tolerance in that organization We'll be working in taking off from the work they started But uh in hammers and pelham the firm commitment in the fall is that there will be an anti-racist curriculum For all students in grades k to six and I want to thank miss Cunningham Miss Smith a number of who's the assistant principal at crocker farm mr. Shea the principal we had a really good meeting kickoff meeting today just about organization and I want to thank miss Cunningham for facilitating and and leading that work But the firm commitment is that it'll be done for fall And we'll be happy to share that with the committee before fall But I wanted to let you know our direct intention is that it's not an optional thing. It's not based on Uh teachers background experience. It's for all kids and all staff next year. Uh, who received that Um, so the timeliness of mentioning that and uh while mentioning miss kennedy marks again for those of you who knew her This is is something that would have been was incredibly meaningful for her And I think it's it's time for us to just commit to it that it's not Uh one school or one particular grade level. It's everybody everybody has to be in on this Uh two other announcements one along the other next friday is juneteenth and um, it's a pretty significant day of Emancipation and it's not something that has been celebrated in the same way in terms of officially by the district But one thing we are implementing this year is for staff members And this relates to full year staff members only because the school year staff the school year ends next thursday Uh, who uh choose to take this as a day of um Of honoring that day, uh, it'll be considered almost as if a religious day So people are able to take it off without having to take a personal day Which has been the past practice of the district. We want to support that I think a longer conversation in the near future Is about whether we can take that off as a as a as a full holiday for all staff members who are working that day That involves some I tried to work that out logistically as mr. Dr. Slaughter knows and some other folks Ran into some roadblocks But I think the commitment that we have is for full year staff who Would choose to take that day on honor and remembrance. Um, they'll be able to do that without having to take Any personal time or or anything like that We want to make sure and we want to work towards a larger celebration of perhaps Full recognition of the holiday moving forward But we wanted to assure all staff who again want to take that day off can take it without having to To pull into their personal vacation days Last thing I just want to update you and I know we're going to talk about the survey results But this this is related but different enough where I feel like it's more in superintendent update than it should be related to the agenda Is I've met with every administrative team except pelham, which I'm meeting with tomorrow with lisa and lee To go over space. Um, so one of the things that you'll read and we'll get to this when we do the survey Is some of the feedback is about what what option people are searching for what options are feasible, right? We talked about two general options and I guess the word choice I would use I should have used what models are feasible So we've made a lot of inroads We've looked at different classrooms in different schools What what classrooms could be used what classrooms actually are in use now We wouldn't use because of size or the lack of Open air, you know if it's a small classroom with no windows We would opt not to use that space for a whole list of reasons both physical and mental health Um, so we've made a lot of inroads since the last time we talked about this again Pelham will be tomorrow and I think perhaps not next week But when we meet again, which is probably as a large group perhaps the week after that Uh, I think we'll be able to get More nuts and bolts on what what options are real and what are the implications both in terms of in-person learning But also how that intersects with distance learning because there's a relationship between What teachers are doing and their capacity to improve good quality work in person as well as in distance To that point. Um, we've made some decisions about Wildwood and Fort River Wildwood has a number of projects going on this summer. Uh, two quads carpeting will go to tile Hallways are being painted. The lighting is getting an led upgrade The el room is getting a new floor and the mechanical room is getting some work for better reliability in the winter All that combined with some existing challenges, uh at Wildwood that don't exist at Fort River They're they're closely related, but they're not exactly the same in terms of all the building materials Has has resulted in a decision that our staff our maintenance staff will be able to make the changes at Wildwood this summer Um, it won't be as extensive as the changes at Fort River given some of the challenges of The materials and use there as well as all the other work going on in the Wildwood building Um, it would that project to do it at Wildwood would take much longer than just all summer So we will get it done our staff can do that the Fort River project would be a little more extensive The walls will be a little more extensive. They'll go above the ceilings as mr. Roy Clark Talked about yesterday. They're not the same challenges with that at Fort River than there are at Wildwood And that actually is going I think either went out to bid today or we'll go out to bid tomorrow um, I think today I think um seeing a nod from someone who might know so um, so We are actively not waiting for the model because that's going to have to happen one way or the other those edits those revisions to the space is I also want to say that um I think those will improve the quality. I think we do also have to think about when A vaccine is here. We are going to have to uh, re Reinstall the temporary wall. So the problems of Fort River and Wildwood. I want to be really clear are not going away This doesn't solve the problems. I got a couple emails that made me think that Some people think oh, yeah, they could have done this a long time ago We could have if we were going to reduce the class the number of classes Uh, significantly and you know the temporary walls aren't the only problems in those buildings So I want to be really clear. Maybe I wasn't clear enough last time that the problems of Fort River and Wildwood Are not going anywhere. This is actually just a way to uh, given the virus To do from a public health perspective to make the buildings habitable and safe around that That one particular measure this in no way convinces me that those buildings shouldn't have been replaced Many many years ago All the needs still exist It's just taking one step and one improvement, but it's nowhere close to what those buildings need to be So I apologize if I wasn't clear enough apparently I wasn't because I got some emails that indicated perhaps that That I was solving the problem This would solve the problem of Fort River and Wildwood and I would argue that it is a temporary fix In a particular situation that does not actually solve the problems of those two schools And I think that's my update tonight Any Any comments or questions from any of the committees? Not seeing any Uh, Ms. Seager Hi, I'm not sure if this is the time to ask or maybe later, but in terms of spaces and schooling for the fall um Is it appropriate to maybe look at spaces outside of the schools that are still located within town? And are you doing that? So we have I have engaged the town manager of Amherst on that Um, uh tomorrow when I talk to Pellum, I think there there's there's not a little bit But there there's not a ton but there are there is a space across the street for instance from Pellum school As well as Pellum library. That's you know worth exploring In the town of Amherst the challenge is that any building we'd we'd have to be in would require a nurse to be present And so one of the things that's a challenge is there's great uncertainty in the state budget I think it for anyone who tuned in for the Amherst town council meeting on monday Town council slash finance committee. I think it was. Um, I was pretty explicit that I have a lot of concerns about where the state budget is And what it will land to be But the problem is, you know in the spaces that I've talked to the town about we could maybe add a couple classrooms And from an economy a scale perspective adding an administrator a nurse and a couple classrooms Doesn't it it doesn't push the needle enough And it pushes our cost needle the other way So that is one of the challenges that we experience. We also think about accessibility There are some buildings that potentially could be okay And they're incredibly inaccessible for students and in this climate where public health and safety is at the forefront You know, I don't see tremendous amount as viable Certainly if anyone from the community is watching this or any committee member and and wants to suggest something But you know the best we saw was maybe a space that would involve adding four classrooms in a site and having a full-time nurse At least some administrative presence in four classrooms Uh Is a hard financial hit to take without really moving the needle on What spaces so we absolutely have and again the more suggestions the better, right? We got 160 some odd pages of suggestions in the survey So that we want to keep that coming and keep that two-way flow of information going But the challenge of doing it in a public health environment that we're in Create some unique challenges for us But again, the more suggestions the better I apologize. I thought it was six o'clock Welcome Ron. I um, I had the same same thought um Ms. John Louie I just want to say thank you to all those um, you know working on putting the antiracist curriculum into um It's a place that makes me feel really good that we're moving in that direction and um I can't wait to hear more about it Thank you me too Okay, any any other comments or questions? I'm not seeing any um We'll move on the next item as a chairs update. Um, I actually don't have an update to provide I feel like we've been seeing each other a lot so Um, we continue our conversations. Are there any announcements from any of the committee members? Mr. Demling Yeah, I just wanted to give another plug. I know I've done this once or twice before but um about What a priority it is for everyone in the community to be filling out the census this year um, and in what a role uh, hopefully collaborative role that um town governments and school committees can be playing in order to Broadcast that as as much as possible. I was just I was reminded about this recently Have the good fortune of living in the neighborhood with multiple members from the league of women voters who have been Doing a tremendous amount of work to raise awareness about um the need to fill out the census and you know We all know what an impact that has on our federal funding over the course of a decade Um, and so, you know, I know that we obviously have more overflowing on our plate than we normally Are able to handle but um You know, I just think whatever way that we can add that message in whether it's it's having information available at meal distribution Or but just always thinking about whenever we're engaging the community you've been talking about the census It just has such a enormous impact on what we're able to do for the next decade. So Fill out your census Miss lord I would like to announce to everyone listening that there will be a school equity task force meeting on june 17th from 6 to 8 The link and the agenda will be published In but I just wanted to bring it up right now Any other announcements from the committees? I'm not seeing any Great, so we'll move on to um our new and continuing business And and our first item is a statement of support for black lives matter, you know, um this uh was suggested um by two members of the regional regional committee and Heather lord and kerry spitzer and so they've drafted a document. I'll turn it over to you both okay Before I read it I want to clarify any confusion around this statement That is talking about racism and specifically anti-black racism Hopefully most most of us know that when we say black lives matter. It does not imply that other lives don't matter Of course, of course, every life matters Um, but lifting up black lives is the very thing that will create the shift so that all lives can matter We will all benefit when we challenge the institutions That have been set up in a classist heteropatriarchal ableist cisgendered christian colonial white supremacist white Decentering those powers that cause oppression and privilege One over the other can create community communities that are authentically like from the roots of inclusive equitable adjust And I also want to thank the educators of black lives mad matter rally that was held On saturday sunday for your commitment and I want to support you in your work Okay, would you like me to read the statement or you want to read the statement? Would you be like me to bring it up so people can see it as well? Yes, please. It's a draft so I'd be happy to have you read it if you'd like I'm happy to read it as well. So it's I'm okay. I'll read it. Okay. Either way. Sorry. We should have coordinated more It's been a busy day We mourn along the side the black community with each life that has been unjustly taken by police violence and white supremacy George floyd rihanna taylor tony mcdade amad aubrey And the list if it were only one name it would be too many but horrifically this list is in the thousands from when it began Amid our efforts to cope with a global pandemic, which is also disproportionately taking the lives of black people We stand We take a stand against the systemic profiling harassment assault and killing of black people Deeply rooted racial disparities are exposed here in public health and police surveillance We also acknowledge call out and commit to change the racial disparities that are in our education system We know that solidarity is not enough and are committed to being accountable and actionable because black lives matter And must no longer be devalued and dehumanize Amherst regional school committee is committed to acknowledging and address addressing the impacts of systemic racism on and within our educational system We reaffirm that racial justice and equity are important and should be prioritized Our school improvement plan indicates the social justice commitments we have made We must do more and our work will continue as a reminder. They were objective a increase and maintain staff diversity to reflect student diversity increase the number of teaching staff that are people of color Objective b strengthen instructional practices to foster student engagement and teachers and to the school objective c strengthen instructional practices to respond to the cultural identities of students of color while dismantling white supremacy in the system for all students objective d prioritize the well emotional well-being of students while maintaining high expectations for success objective e Wide in learning opportunities STEM restorative justice, etc to reflect the range of students interests diverse post-secondary paths and social emotional needs objective f upgrade educational recreational facilities to meet the needs of every learner and program The need is for us as individuals and as a community to join those who are already participating in this change And ensure the decisions we make are in the best interests of our students and made through the lens of equity We also take the pledge that was made on sunday june 7th 2020 at the educators for black lives matter rally created by our educators As ed the pledge goes as educators and allies we will work to address Iniquities that result from institutionally racist policies and practices in our schools and in the communities in which our students live We choose not to accept these conditions as they exist but accept the responsibility for changing them We pledge to take actions that will address Access and opportunity for all students by highlighting Iniquities and increasing awareness organizing for change and growing the movement In presence and power amherst regional school committee Thank you Are there uh comments or questions from uh those in the committee, uh, mr. Manino I just read the letter prior to the meeting. I endorse it well said That's all Mr. Demling Yeah, I mean I would echo that sentiment. Um, I mean first of all, thank you to miss lord and miss spitzer for putting this together. Um I think it's this is really really well written. Um, I like that the core of it focuses on Our practical objectives. It brings it brings us back to What we have already committed to and in in the context of where we are today um, I also really like that it doesn't shy away from using um uncomfortable terms and Our terms that might be uncomfortable in conversation. Um, and it's like, uh, you know, like white white. I feel like You know, um, I'm a lot of reflecting obviously. We've all done a lot of reflecting in the last few weeks You know, I think one thing as someone who's white, um I feel like a responsibility is to Is to have no fear or hesitation about having uncomfortable conversations and saying uncomfortable words So and part of that is is learning exactly what these terms are and what they mean Um in in our institutions today. So like white supremacy, for example I think is maybe typically thought of is, you know, the kkk and confederate flags and those sort of ugly um horrendous images, um, but You know, white supremacy can also be the the reflection of white privilege in an institution Um, and and then the need to just dismantle that right and so Um, you know, these are some of these terms of things. I'm still learning about I I just I just value the fact that we have this written here and that we are continuing to have conversations where we're articulating these terms openly and and discussing them without Um, you know without hesitation. So so thank you very much for putting this together Um, I I can't see everybody on on the screen. So, um, uh, oh, thank you um, and now, uh, mr. Harrington Yeah, I just wanted to take this with sir and miss lord again for for jeff and uh Yeah, I was I was gonna say like I'm actually proud to be a part of this body With that statement like that's that statement actually Is somewhat comforting to me and uh I also want to wanted to kind of acknowledge That you know, our educators who were a part of that that statement that that's a profound statement Like I really feel that and I just wanted to point out that they actually inspired A group of youth that are going to be conducting a youth led march tomorrow. So Thank you. Thank you So I agree with uh all the the statements that have made so far and thank you and I fully in my role endorse the statement as written Uh, my actually I just wanted to raise a procedural question, which is um, this is a joint meeting and so I wonder if Uh, there's nothing that precludes This to be either a region only vote or for each committee to take a vote, you know with some Minor edits to names at the end. That's not mine to there's mine. Not my decision to make I just wanted to note that it's a joint meeting. Uh, and that's you know, the committee's plural may want to think about whether It's endorsed by all three or the region kind of endorses it, you know kind of But the facto which we do in other things in terms of policy But I just wanted to note that fact and at least give the opportunity for the committees to weigh in on what the best Approach was since there seems to be broad support for that Mr. Manino I think we best if each committee endorses the document Miss john louis I agree is hall Uh, yeah, I mean, I would love to obviously giving all credit and thanks to miss lord and miss spitzer for the work going into drafting it But I mean I would take every word of that. Absolutely I'm seeing a lot of nodding heads And I'll speak for the other committee the amherst school committee Um, I I believe that the five members of that committee would also nod heads and endorse signing it separately. Yes Um, great Um, so I would I would also add my um gratitude and thanks um to both of you for both Stepping forward and making this an urgent action. Um item and making sure that we Address this this week. Um, I know you put a lot of long hours into it this week and um emotional hours So I really appreciate the time effort and strength that you Pulled together and pulling this together. Um, it's it's a great document and a great statement for us to be able to make So thank you um So I'll um, I guess move uh to for the region committee to um endorse the statement as presented Is there a second? second Moved by mcdonald and seconded by stancer any further discussion Seeing none, uh, we'll call vote Uh on the motion mr. Dimley Dimley I Mr. Manino Manino I Miss lord Lord I Miss spitzer Spitzer I Miss seager seager I Miss stancer stancer I Yep, mr. Harrington Thank you And mcdonald I And that passes uh, so the motion passes eight to zero With so many like with the motion from the members committee I move to approve the uh statement The black lives matter statement second Moved by Harrington seconded by demling Mr. Demling I demling I Miss lord Lord I Miss spitzer spitzer I Mr. Harrington Herrington I And mcdonald I said passes five to zero and welcome mr. Sullivan And I believe you may have had the same same, uh error in scheduling as I did and Sir Manino and um, we actually started at 6 p.m. So I apologize for that um misunderstanding I'll turn it over to miss hall All right. Thank you. Um, I will entertain a motion that the pelham school committee endorses the black lives matter statement of support I move that the pelham school committee, uh, adopt the draft letter as presented All right. Is there a second uh, stancer second Any further discussion? Okay. Um, all right So hall I Ron Jesse Jean-Louis I sarah best had her hand raised sorry Oh, I didn't notice. I'm sorry sarah sarah best. Did you have a question? Yeah, do we need to amend the name? Yeah, I mean, well We're just taking the statement. Yeah, just the statement having our names on the bottom. Yes. Yeah Yeah Yeah, I can make that with miss lord and miss spitzer's Approval I can make those minor edits when we will publish this on you know on the website and other things And we might actually just just because of space say the amherst pelham and amour and amherst pelham regional school district school committees All voted and you know something like along those to make it a little flow a little better than adding The multitude of names Okay, great. Thank you um Okay, uh sarah best you're up uh, kenny I And I that was everybody right? Oh no, margaret. Okay. Go ahead margaret Sensor I All right. Thank you All right Back to allison. Okay Thank you Um, great. So we'll move on to our next Order of business, which is a the personal protective equipment presentation from uh, dr. Morris Yeah, and I'll do a quick introduction and pass it over to jill consolino who's our nurse manager our nurse leader Who will go through this? Um, so the short story of the introduction And there's some slides that she'll show they were in the packet As well as a letter from desi is that as we're thinking of heading back next year to school We know that based on cdc guidelines And public health guidelines. We need to buy a significant amount of personal protective equipment desi wisely in my opinion Said even though where our guidance isn't out for this the full guidance Every other state's going to be ordering lots of ppe for their schools So why don't we provide a general some general thoughts? Some specific thoughts actually shouldn't say general about what's needed and we encourage districts to buy three months supply and Interestingly last night we got an email from them that they're creating some online system To perhaps have some purchasing not at necessarily a better price But for districts that didn't have the capacity fortunately for us miss consolino has been working over the last week to itemize ours our order And she uh, I signed the p.o. This afternoon So that's good news. Um, and it also means we're getting it out frankly a week and a half before The statewide, you know the desi sort of order and as she can and she can speak to That means it'll come sooner as well and and things aren't back order and things that are back ordered You know, we feel very comfortable with coming before fall It's a significant amount of materials and items And so in the slides miss consolino will just do a broad overview of the types of public health measures that are being recommended to us And how we're approaching them And then if there's questions she can answer more specifics on the on the PPE and and what's been what was ordered today And how we're thinking about this moving forward Am I missing anything for an introduction miss consolino? No, I don't think so Okay, so i'm gonna bring up your slides and when you want the next slide Just tell me next slide and then i'll move it along sure. Thank you Tell me if this is visible. Um, is that good? We're actually seeing ourselves Still, huh Let me stop doing that and try again. Oh, there we go. I'm sorry about that Is that better? Yes Okay, all right. So good evening everybody as dr. Morris said my name is Jill consolino I um took on the position of school nurse manager for the district um back in the middle of december and then the pandemic hit mid-march and so as he explained um department of ed and Has given us some guidance as priorities to take for returning to school safely in the fall And the there's five key areas that we're looking at for returning for face-to-face learning And those are in the areas of personal protective equipment or PPE Facial coverings and masks handwashing and sanitization isolation and discharging Discharge planning and then student and staff screening next slide So on the PPE front What the cdc is saying is that the best way to avoid getting the illness is actually to Have some type of personal protective equipment to protect ourselves and prevent the illness from being Spread and from people to be exposed to the to the illness itself And so we're looking at various different types of of PPE some that will be required for For general staff to be worn. Um, and then for staff that are more involved with um higher intense higher needs students And then also our custodial staff and nursing will get special equipment that will be provided to them Next slide And then on the the facial coverings and masks, this is the hot topic for everybody What the the key to this whole thinking is that The virus itself is um spraying spread from person to person through respiratory droplets when somebody who's infected with the virus coughs talks or sneezes And so the reason why we want everybody in what's being pushed is from cdc and department of public health is for everybody to wear a mask Or facial covering is so that You're protecting yourself from other people and other people are protecting themselves from you And so and the studies have shown that people who are asymptomatic or don't have symptoms can spread the virus Before they show any types of symptoms. So Going into the fall we will be requiring all students and staff who are able to to wear a facial covering or a mask And then the the guidance for people who should and should not wear masks says on this slide Mainly people that are under two a health condition or someone who cannot Take a mask put a mask on or off by themselves Next slide And then the biggie to preventing this virus is hand washing and sanitization. Um, so we're Focusing on hand washing in the areas that we can with You know classrooms that have sinks and the classrooms that don't we're looking at hand sanitizer to be put in those classrooms and then Touchless hand sanitizer dispensers in main areas in all of the buildings We're also going to look at putting those on our vehicles as well like the buses and vans will have pump dispensers that the drivers can Give the students to clean their hands So students will clean their hands coming on transportation Leaving transportation and then when they enter the school buildings And then we're going to have new protocols in place for cleaning the buildings using specific EPA registered disinfectants. Um, and then if we do have an area that's affected by this virus with a student The criteria and the ideal is to have this area blocked off for 24 hours before disinfecting But that that may or may not happen. So we'll have to cross that verge when we get there next slide Um student and staff screening We're going to adopt a policy if you are not well to stay home And we're going to we have a protocol in place for the district for reasons why students would be sent home That's going to be tweaked a little bit over the summer And we're going to ask For staff and for families to self report if they have any symptoms if there have been If somebody has tested positive for the virus or they've been exposed in the last 14 days to someone who's tested positive for the virus The hot topic was if temperature screenings would be mandatory for a lot of buildings But right now dph is not recommending that because there's a lot of false positives and false negatives with temperature screening So we're going to probably go based on a symptom symptom checker for all of our students and staffs And it's honestly It's going to take way too long if we try to temperature screen everybody walking into the building on a daily basis And a lot more a lot more nursing power that I don't have control over Next slide and then finally is isolation discharge planning So anybody who exhibits exhibit symptoms that's in our building. Um, they will be asked to go home A student we are looking at a separate isolation room for students to go into Outside of the nurse's office. Um, this will be separate from where healthy students are evaluated somebody will be designated to stay with the student until a parent is um Deemed to parent has to come pick them up. Um, my goal is for a parent to come pick up within an hour Any staff members who are symptomatic they're going to be required to leave For the day and then we will have um, we're going to work on new guidance for when somebody can return Is safe to return to work and then the whatever room this person has been in will go through those the cleaning procedures as well So that's the slides that you guys have um, and then what I did over the last Couple of days as dr. Morris said was I we had this huge list that desi department of education provided us with a formula um to purchase per ppe for Our students our staffs People that are more involved custodial staff staff with special ed students. Um, and so The rough estimate dollar wise it's going to total about $240,000 for the first to get us ready for the first 12 weeks of school in the fall and that breaks down to three 100,000 adult masks 16,000 pediatric masks About 13,000 k and 95 masks um reusable face shields and eye eye wear protection A couple hundred of those um isolation gowns close to 10,000 of those um about two 20,000 pairs of gloves um, and then hand sanitizer we're looking at about 250 of um pump bottles to go in classrooms that don't have sinks And then gallon refills for each one of those so we purchased 750 gallons of hand sanitizer um, and then we looked I ordered um some sanitizing wipes for um all the classrooms nurses offices and then the touchless hand sanitizing dispensers 50 about 55 of those refills for those and then refills for the soap that we have in all the bathrooms and sinks and stuff About 45 cases of those and then also the state required us to have some type of disposal medium Which we try I tried to look for a definition of that But essentially it's some type of receptacle for um, you know the all the equipment to go into so a specific trash barrel for every building so um, I got together with um with rupert roy clark who's our facilities director and we um We purchased um according to the needs of each each specific building and came up with 15 for each building And then I got uh, dr. Morris a spreadsheet um of and broke it down by um each school district for what would be spent I'd be happy to entertain any questions on any of this huge list or any specifics Yeah, I mentioned one thing Um transition to questions, which is uh the thing about isolation rooms that miss constantly You know, uh mentioned that directly connects back to some of the space conversations that I've been having with principles because we want to think about What's a space that um can be isolated easily, but also one that's not far from the nurses office, right? We wouldn't want a student or a staff member who had to be in it to be trekking across the right just both from a For all sorts of reasons that wouldn't be good. So we are starting to isolate um bad choice of words We are starting to identify Where the those rooms slash rooms could be and we're trying to think of a main room in a backup room Not that we're anticipating needing it, but I think we always want to plan for the worst-case scenario And if a student gets sick and feels sick and that room is not ready and another student or staff member feels sick We want to plan for that So we're having active conversations and that's directly connected to the space conversation mentioned earlier So I just wanted to connect what I said in the superintendent update to on that one point But thank you miss console, you know You're welcome. Thank you. I saw lots of hands up I'm gonna start with mr. Manino whose hand is still up A question and a comment With all the universities in the nation and all the school systems ordering this stuff Do you really think you're gonna have your purchase order filled on time? We I submitted four purchase orders today with four different companies and the majority of the items we're purchasing were in stock today Um, and we should have the majority of what we're purchasing by the end of the month Thank you and a comment for um, mr. Morris, uh When you were switching up her powerpoint slide It was the first time in the history of these meetings that my face appeared on the grid Would you please do that glitch again? So I I'll do my best I see your face. Oh, uh, I think it's It's something in my was right there in the, uh, pretty bunch Who wants to just make sure that we're not staring at ourselves our own face as well? We're needing Um, I I saw, um, is seager. I think and Miss john louis and did you have your no? Okay, it's a miss seeker and then miss putter and mr. Demling So one one thing I'm curious about in terms of ordering masks is um in reading through the guidelines for purchasing from desi They talk about parents providing masks and one of the questions I personally had is Can well homemade masks suffice? For these students and are you planning on providing masks for everybody? Um, student wise or are you anticipating that that? Students will bring their own masks and if they don't have them then provide them So the our hope is that everybody will be able to provide their own mask and it can be either, you know A cloth mask like a handmade mask or a surgical type mask and so the supplies desi wants us to have on hand is If if somebody forgets a mask or if they're not able to afford a mask Like we we know that we're going to run into that speed bump or if somebody's mask, you know gets ruined during the school the the course of a school day and we need to replace it so That's where the the basis of their decision making came from and actually dr. Morris and I we tweaked the formula a little bit And bumped up the number for um the the younger kids And did a little bit more for the for the students versus staff Just with the anticipation that we may need to provide for more students than staff Okay, miss spitzer Thank you very much. Um I had one I'm gonna be two questions. So the first one has to do with the issue of um hand sanitizer versus soap So everything I've read has said that like soap is actually preferable To using hand sanitizer. Um, I'm just concerned if there are kids who throughout the day are only going to have access to hand sanitizer Rather than actually being able to use soap and water to because like everything i'm read it said it's better to Use soap and water and then have the hand sanitizer for the moments when you can't use And if it's going to be that kids are in specific rooms for the entire school year without being able to move around much Then it seems like there'll be a group of students who are Going to be missing out on the opportunity to wash their hands in the preferred way So how big of I mean, it sounds like you're still figuring this out But I just want to flag this as something that I As a parent I want to have my kid in a room with a sink and a some soap. Um, and then the other thing was um thinking about issues around privacy and um, I Like contract contact traits from everything I've read like, you know make testing contact tracing those things kind of come up as What needs to be in the environment? around the school and potentially through the pool to have Better control of the virus. So how do we balance? um privacy concerns and making sure we're not disclosing you know confidential information about the kids and also making sure that if if we do unfortunately have a case of COVID in the schools that we notify everybody who needs to know and um, maybe that's a conversation for an future date, but more my mind I'll start a little bit with the first one jill if that's okay Thinking about the elementary schools the majority of those spaces have sinks in their classrooms That's not true at some of the upper grade the regional district Um, so it's not necessarily practical given the number of classrooms and the number of bathrooms for students to Always leave the room to go to the bathroom to wash their hands Um, so I think some of it's just a practical concern of the number of kids the number of sinks Which at the elementary level? I just frankly know this even if you go back to When we were testing our water if you remember there's there's an unbelievable number of sinks Uh at the elementary level compared to the regional level and so I think some of it's just the practicality of Where the bathrooms are located and how long it would take for students to to get there Depending on the structure of the building um, but everything else I'll leave to miss consolino, but uh, I just Not one I knew so I figure I'll give you a breath Yeah, so we're you know, it'll be a work in progress with the sinks versus hand sanitizer and what classrooms You know kids will get placed in but to answer the confidentiality question and the contact tracing We I have expressed it to the state level as well as a bunch of nurse leaders in this area that I'm part of a group that we we meet on a weekly basis and it's a it's a big concern about how the information will get delivered to the school system From the public health standpoint Right now public health is able to give the information to Ems providers for addresses If the call goes to a specific address with a covid positive person that guidance hasn't been made for the school districts yet So our concern is if we have somebody In the school district in one of the towns that test positive for the virus. How is that information going to get to the school district? And we don't know that we don't know that answer yet, and I'm hoping that guidance comes sooner than later But if we do end up with somebody who we're suspecting of being pat, you know of being symptomatic In the school district, then we will You know all that information stays private It stays, you know, it will get documented in our electronic charting system And the the people that need to know will you know, we will contact parents to pick up that individual And then if we need to contact trace it back to say a classroom Nobody no names will be identified. Um, you know, we will say that There's been you know a suspected case in this classroom And you've been identified the way it's handled is you'll say you've been identified as a close contact And this these are the recommendations that we're following from dph So no identifiers will be um, you know presented to anybody so confidentially will be maintained And just one other piece of that is that we do have an hr Oh, excuse me, we have a staff support working group as you know thinking about fall And they're actively having conversations about this as well as is at what point the staffs need to know versus students and families need to know because I think there is Some distinction there perhaps Around that as a staff member, they have a little more access to student information if a student for instance is is become sick So those are those are thorny issues that we're working out on There's multiple angles to that about what is the larger group know and what is the smaller group know and who's on a need to know basis Even within the school around those types of things so We are relying on dph And and I will say again, you'll hear me say it even more because she won't she's retiring not that long And i'm very sad about that but julie frederman has been an absolute rock stars health director in town amers Even when we had some some issues of after school closed She was able to really help guide us Around the requirements and I think frankly the requirements continue to change and evolve So, you know they evolve within a week, you know some point in late march from No one needs to know to we need to tell people to we don't need to tell people I think at this point the the better part of where we were as compared to then is The health departments in general have had more time to process the best methods You know everything was happening so live in march that it was hard to process it And I feel like the we're getting more consistent Feedback and protocols these days, uh, which is understandable given the pace that was happening in the spring versus where we are now um I'm seeing two more hands, but um, mr. Deming you you had been On deck already. Do you did you have a question or do you want to wait? Yeah, that's all right. Yeah, and then miss dancer and miss john louis Um, thank you for very informative Time efficient present. You could give a class in teaching a night giving a presentation at the school committee. That was really great Uh, and I would I really love it if you're able to come back and present to us again As we're closer to the fall and we have a better idea what the model is I think a big part of what our role is on school committee is um showing the community That we have we know what the plan is and that we're prepared to execute it and and also setting student expectations And uh, you have a really great grasp of that and you communicate really well. So thank you for that. Um, my question's about, um younger kids and and the transportation and the protocol there and this might be more of a dr. Morris question Um, you know, feel free to whoever answer but when I think about Kids getting on a bus and needing to sanitize their hands and needing to keep a mask on And then needing to sanitize hands when you're getting off the bus Uh for our youngest kids, that's a lot of potential oversight. That's required if we're going to be Consistent and have that product. I'll be reliable and you know, we don't have that staffing on our buses right now And so what what's what's the vision there? In terms of how that protocol is implemented Yeah, it's not going to be the super satisfying answer. So that's one the one area I would argue cdc guidance was not particularly clear One of the things that you'll notice if you go over that cdc guidance is Step two of that guidance has pretty prescriptive number of students on a bus Step three in their guidance, um Has nothing like, you know, it's like you could go from 12 kids on a bus to 57 apparently, you know Uh, and obviously that's not not true So, uh, we have received direct feedback from desi that they will give very prescriptive guidance about transportation And on that particular front, we're looking forward to having prescriptive guidance Uh, but I think you're right to note some people are feeling like do we need monitors on every bus? How many kids are going to be on a bus if there's 12 kids on a bus? Maybe we don't if there's 30 kids on a bus Maybe we do So we'll look forward to that. I know that the state is working with the mass department of public health on those particular issues So, um, I know we could continue to wait for desi guidance on many things, but that's a pretty critical one I want to be really clear. It's likely I don't see a scenario by which we're not Which is the opposite of how I usually feel we're not encouraging some families to be able who can to be able to transport Their kids to do that There's no way we're going to be able to run enough buses without some parental support Not everyone has the capacity, you know the ability to have a car. That's a privilege But for those who do We're going to really rely on that because the buses are going to be it's going to be a challenge I frankly think the the optimistic side of me says that I know I've heard much feedback from many families Who are unconcerned about bus transportation because they're going to feel much more safe Driving their kids to school no matter what safeguards we put in place It's just something that people are feeling more comfortable about As opposed to a school bus and it's not about what we would or wouldn't have in place. It's just I think There's a lot of anxiety, right? And I think anyone who's a parent who has school-age kids Feels that anxiety no matter what safeguards are in place So I think we will have to talk about what safeguards the bus needs and then to Realistically try to plan out how many kids how many students are taking a bus in any given time and whether those bus runs need to be staggered Even between schools at the same grade level band So a lot to come on transportation. That's one of the kind of I said at the beginning We're feeling better about what options are in terms of space But the transportation is gonna I don't know of different word. I don't mean to be make a pun but drive a lot of Some of the some of the decisions that are made about Capacity and some of that's going to be where we are going to have to survey families about their interest in transporting their own children And how much they really need to rely on the bus and It's going to be that it's one of the largest variables in the whole operation But right now we're still sort of waiting on that guidance And miss dancer, um, I'm wondering about the use of masks Um, you know the guidelines that I've seen I've been involved in making masks About not touching them about washing them if they're cloth masks, they should be washed Um, how many days can surgical masks be worn and still be effective? Um, is there going to be that kind of information available for people? Um, there will be we are the I'm actually on one of the heading one of the planning committees that we have for the district for You know the reopening and it's the facility is an operations planning committee and we will be putting together guidance and education for students families and staff for a whole host of things in preparation for the fall I had I did a little bit of research Last week on the kn95 masks, which are the the higher level medical grade masks And um, when you you can put those in a paper bag after use, um, and that'll self sanitize itself and You can actually get five uses out of um one of those masks If you can rotate them Um to prolong the usage of those um surgical masks I have to look at how long you can um, you know, you can go with individual You know sanitizing those in between, you know putting them in a bag in between each one Because I know there's methods that you can do that And then like you know with a cloth handmade mask the preferred method is you know Once it's been worn for a certain number of hours to to remove it and then to wash it in you know hot water and let air dry To to get rid of the you know any potential virus that that stays on it But we're we will be working on some type of you know education for for the whole district I was going to put into chat the order because i'm seeing that so I see um, Ms. Don louis has been waiting and then I see Ms. Kenny and mr. Menino and I'll go in that order because mr. Menino's Already had a chance to ask um So my question is um around where you talked about those who that medically can't wear a mask could you suggest like alternatives to wearing a mask if Like someone has asthma and it constructs breathing or anxiety around it or Yeah, so alternatives to masks so students in particular if they have if they meet that criteria They won't be required to wear a mask or a facial covering Staff that interact with those students will get extra protective equipment What it's probably going to be a full face shield that they'll wear To protect themselves, but if students fall into that category of you know having some either a disability or a medical condition That prevents them and that goes actually now in general public if you have you know a condition that prevents you from wearing one That you're not required to You know we can I can suggest you know a different type of facial covering But we wouldn't we wouldn't require students if it would escalate a situation for them to to wear one It's it would be the recommendation um, and we know that you know the our youngest children like you know And preschool or kindergarten You know they they may not tolerate wearing a mask for the entire day So it'll be something that will address on a you know a case-by-case basis Thank you. Just just another thing That I think we'll have to come back to you over time is also just the training needed for staff As well as the training needed for students, uh, we may want to look again at that school year calendar And see if there's a way to to get an extra day for staff before the school year starts because when you're talking about young children um, some of that's just around How do you not all kids at that age at any age level? Particularly have worn a mask before and certainly very few have worn it for the duration of time That they'll be at least encouraged to wear it if not asked to depending on their age level And so some of that's really developing programs to support staff about how to work with young children and all the what ifs Because you know what we know about working with children in any situation is You have to plan a plan b plan c and plan d and we want to make sure our staff are equipped to be able to support students Uh, and also to make sure that students who can't wear a whole host of reasons that miss consoleino said um aren't potentially the targets of um Higher uh from from other students or adults or the parents of other students So we're going to need a lot of both staff training student training and actually community training And one of the things that I know in talking with dr. Brady and miss smith is Looking at community resources that can help assist students to to build some tolerance of that over time Because I think that's going to be critical as well for certain populations of students okay miss kenny Okay, I Have three real quick things one have we thought about possibly um, you know, there's all the don't wear a hat rules maybe talking about those as a way to protect everybody's ears from aggressive rubbing um and then um Secondly, uh, especially for the staff have we thought maybe about I mean we did this for our personal staff the cost of respirator respirators with refillable cartridges rather than the Uh disposable masks they a work a little bit better. They last a bit longer You know all those kinds of things and then I'm We talked about a lot of money Is our our magic money fair is going to come and deliver us You know gifts how how is this gonna? It wasn't my three quick things You know, why don't you do the first two and I'll let dr. Slaughter talk about the fairies sure. Okay We have not um, I haven't Looked into the idea of hats or like headbands that I've seen. Um, you know in healthcare that End up getting worn because of the the tour that you know, what it it ends up doing to you know your ears and stuff So it that'll be um, you know a topic that I'll talk with you know, dr. Morris about If we need to go down that road um because it it will probably be something that comes up with a lot of students And staff too. Um, and then with the respirators with the disposal filters those, you know, I've seen in Hospitals, you know, I've seen healthcare settings that they wear those and those were easier to obtain at some point for staff So it's what we what we looked at initially was what was based on desi guidance For the requirements that they gave us last week. So that's what we looked at right now And we may you know, if we run into uh, you know a Speed bump we may need to look into a different alternative too. So But the the staff that need that requires the Higher level of protection. Um, those we've ordered kn-95s for so that's a higher grade. So our nursing staff Some of the special education staff that will work on a one-to-one basis So the the staff with the higher levels of needs, um, they'll get the higher level protective masks And then mr. Slatter can answer the the magic magic money fairy question My magic wand right here now, uh, I don't have a magic wand And unfortunately, uh, you know, it is an open question one that worries all of us a lot of me mostly Or more so maybe than others who were thinking about how to sort of operationalize some things but but certainly Uh, you know, where the resources come from and is it is a difficult question. There are Uh, some funding Identified um, and the next topic on your on your agenda gets into it a little bit but but really sort of three pots of money There's FEMA Has some funds available. There's some uh, and then there's two other Chunks of money From the cares act uh, one particularly for these kinds of things and then another one It's more about operational expenses for the school year, but obviously, you know Um We'll leverage those resources in in the best way we can to to sort of execute what we have to do to to have school so Um, I'll leave it at that just to sort of paint the picture a little bit But I think, you know, we're ever hopeful that Uh You know the the powers that being namely the federal government who has the most resources to do this would would You know come through with some additional supports for schools across the nation because it's not just a massachusetts issue Or a amherst problem. It's it's you know, or a palim problem or you know, it's it's nationwide So it's a massive problem that they need to really Wrap their heads around. I think at the federal level, but I'll stop at that point Dr. Morris Just to add to dr. Slaughter's statement. I think two things one is that um, we are working with our municipalities And have reached out to them because they have cares act. Um, that is directly related to Staff who interact with the public and our students actually technically are members of the public So, uh, we we're trying to engage not just the school, but but budget but to see if the municipalities will support us in that I think the other thing to note and I I I send a lot of emails to you also I'm not sure I sent this one or not But asbo, which is the national business officials organization and then my professional organization, which is The social national association to superintendents did a study And there's too many factors for this to be Directly applicable to every district, but the average district in the united states has about 3600 students So when we have about 26 or 100 between our three districts and they estimate the costs, you know Between 1.5 and 2 million dollars of all the additional covet needs That are needed and you know, again, you look at our district some like no, we have a nurse in all of our buildings We wouldn't need that cost other ones We were less well positioned financially to be able to handle but I think anyway, you cut it. Uh, whatever the funding source is Um, these are real costs and so miss constantly, you know, read that number and again That's the best guess for the first three months of the school year That's not the year supply So if you know, you multiply that by three, you're getting an estimate of you know, about three quarters of a million dollars And that's not including Staffing caught right. That's just the materials the you know, it's beyond pp because I know it's about sanitizer and other things, but So I think it is a concern. Uh, I think from the Pelham perspective There is 20 000 of of carers act funds. Um, well, you don't receive title one funds that just the Desi made sure that every district got some funding from that But we are trying to reach out to the municipalities and had some positive responses about Wanting to support the schools in that way given this expenses and given the funds that the municipalities received So just wanted to add a little bit to that statement because I know the next agenda item is is somewhat focused on Loading on potential resolutions more than some of the details on on your question Um before I go to mr. Menino's question just to stay on this Question of the money. So you mentioned 245 thousand dollars for the first three months How does that do you have a sense for how that divides between the three districts? I do I actually I broke it down and Just before I we finished we got to the dinner table and um, my brain was my eyes were fried from doing so many calculations So it breaks down. Um, and I what I did was I looked at um the enrollment for um every every school district. Um, and what we're the um The the supplies would need to go do based on students and staff and stuff. Um, so some broke down evenly and some Like pediatric masks. We don't have any pediatric You know, we don't have any and young kids at the high school level in middle school level So, you know, that went directly in between um Amherst and Pelham and so the way it broke down Was for the region. Um, it was about 117 thousand dollars Um, Amherst Was around 97 thousand dollars and Pelham was around 26 thousand dollars Thank you. You're welcome Mr. Many uh before I go to mr. Manino, are there others that haven't asked had a chance to ask a question that would like to ask one Mr. Mr. Harrington All right, so I'm gonna I'm gonna try to ask this with as much brevity as I can so As far as the the n95 max, right? I know that that osha actually like classifies them as as uh respirators Which means that you're required to have a fit test I'm wondering that since we're a municipality and don't necessarily Fall under the umbrella of osha. We adhere to uh department of labor standards. That's the that's the ls right? so um Are a are we required to have the staff that will be using the n95s? Are we required to have them fit tested and b? Those dls or do you know if dls? Defines them the same as osha So because of the fit testing I stayed away from n95s and went with kn 95s So those don't require fit testing. Um, and it's a so it's a it's a little bit of a larger mask. Um And there's two straps that go behind the head. So it's a more a little bit more of a comfortable fit um And was the reason was because you have to be fit tested for an n95 because it's a specific fit And those are More geared towards, you know hospital and medical facility settings And because we're going to have a wide range of staff wearing them just outside of nursing And some of the um, you know higher intensive needs staff. That's why I stayed away from those and went with the kn 95s To eliminate that I'm not seeing any other questions. So mr. Many know you're up Do you do you anticipate encountering a student who refuses to wear a mask based on political conviction? I I can jump in on this one. Um, that's not uh, that's not a you question I don't think I think that's a me question. So this is coming up a lot in my listserv and meetings I'm having with desi and other superintendent groups. Um There is there are some people who Um, strongly disagree with the use of masks in schools. Um, not from a, you know, what miss consolino said before in terms of uh, you know, either someone with disabilities or Um, health needs, uh, or just age and developmental level Um, but for political beliefs and we are looking for explicit guidance from desi on how to manage that situation Uh, when we receive that I will be sure to share that with the committee Even if we don't have a meeting because I know it is a question that is on a lot of people's minds mind included. Um, and Whether this is a civil liberties issue as some people are framing it or it's a public health issue Um, and I think there's a difference of opinion on some members across our comp. I'm not even talking about the nation I'm talking about specific to massachusetts right now, uh on that particular topic And I think that's where we're looking forward looking for consistent guidance That's not amherst pellum leverage shoots very specific, but actually is across the commonwealth would be incredibly helpful So we don't have it, but we're looking forward to it and we've been assured it'll come Um, I I actually have one more question on the regarding the face masks for, um, uh Thinking of the students, but also I guess it applies to the adults. Um staff as well. Is there, um What sort of flexibility in terms of definition of a of a face mask, um, are we planning on so a lot of A lot of kids. We're wearing bandanas as opposed to an actual mask or sort of neck gators You know the the you know that sort of cover the whole neck and face Are those acceptable face coverings as well? So they would be because I'm just I'm looking at the desi guidance and it says students and staff must wear a face covering or mask So what's defined as face covering or mask would be acceptable? Um, you know, we may put out a list of Examples of what would be acceptable Um, but according to what desi wants It it doesn't have to be a quote-unquote mask. It can be a facial covering Which is what is being given out for guidance with dph right now too Okay, thank you. You're welcome there. I saw your hand A short follow-up question about the budget piece Um, I think at the beginning when you were talking about the dollars You said that you had ordered enough for the first 12 weeks of school. So could we assume that those costs Are just going to cover 12 weeks and we'd actually probably need to reorder and it's going to for the entire year be substantially more Possibly and there's um, there is actually a burn calculation Formula that the cdc has put out that we will be probably using to see Based on our initial stock of what we have and then how, you know, how quickly we go or how quickly or how slowly We go through supplies how how we'll need to reorder. So You know, they desi wanted us to order for the first 12 weeks based on the numbers that we had and then we may have to You know do Two additional reorders like that or we may have to reorder half as much for the next 12 weeks And it's one of those things that will be like only time will tell Yeah, and i'll just add that some of that depends on how many students are in school and also the rate of student and staff Bringing their own masks and the use of those, uh, those are huge variables So I think anytime you're thinking of a statewide expectation or cdc is nationwide There's going to be a lot of variance, uh district to district And some of that's just based on incredible number of factors, so I think that's why they're strongly advising us to advise families and staff members that, um You know much like sometimes people, you know get school supplies in the summer that um, this is this is a critical school supply Uh, and we know that for some families that's going to be a hardship And we're going to need to provide that and we're source source of course going to do it and much like homework Sometimes kids forget to bring it in, uh, and we want to have a supply for that as well I have heard from a number of staff members who are Particularly, you know, these are going to be disposable because that's the the safe way for us to do it Not to hand out ones that need to be laundered. Uh, we don't have the capacity to do that and and But I know that there's a number of staff members who in particular want to kind of encourage Others and and there's people who are literally making their own which i'm always amazed with Um, so there's some efforts that all staff members, um have some capacity to have Washable masks just from the environmental impact element let alone from the the comfort and some of the other Other pieces as well miss seager So i'm curious a follow-up to the budget and ordering question When I know that in the desi guidance, there's recommendations on how to buy quantities along with the columns of Assuming 100 attendants 50 in 25 and i'm just curious Um, I know nothing has been decided in terms of how school is going to be laid out for the fall But what what was was the assumption in purchasing? If it was, you know what percentage of maybe students in the building So the way the not the way I worked the numbers was, um, based on Did I do? I think so the what the disposal masks that was the one where desi gave You know at at 100 attendance 50 attendance and 25 attendance and I think I did We we accounted for Like for students, you know one per student per week um, and then and the the two proposed, um You know we if we have you know Some of the students come a couple days a week and then some come the rest of the week at some point We will have every student in the building So to account for that And I I think what I did was I went with The you know the worst case scenario with having everybody in the building at one time Which we know it's not going to happen, but we may you know do a staggered You know attendance, but that's to be determined But to get enough for you know every student to have one You know if they forget one and then for staff we cut down on the recommendation for The the teachers and staff number and then with nurses and other health providers I went by the number that they had given with which what was like for disposables 10 per week And then they also those those staff members will probably get Some of the the kn95s too and then something that had come up from the special ed Area was for our hearing impaired students and the staff that teach them And our our ELL students and speech therapists and so we're looking at a clear version of a You know a wash a clear mask. So the the whole face is clear It's made of a clear plastic and I I have a a source for those I'm just waiting for the numbers so that those students and staff can can have the the Appropriate accommodation so that they don't you know When you have a barrier in front of a face and you need you need it for speech You know, you can't listen to that person. You can't you know read lips and stuff. So we're we're looking at that at that avenue too Are there any other questions anybody who hasn't asked a question yet that would Any follow-up questions? I'm seeing None last call Great, I think we're we're good. But thank you very much Um, Ms. Constelina that was very helpful over you. Thank you. You're welcome and I will I As mr. Demling requested, I will probably be back at some point this summer to give an update and stuff closer to closer to school but yep wonderful great and speaking of the funding fairies Next on our agenda is a resolution or three resolutions for state funding for COVID-19 related items and this was brought to the committee by mr. Demling. So I'll turn it over to him to introduce the topic Sure, um, dr. Morris. I don't know if we could bring it up Okay, so I'll talk to Morris is bringing that up So I'll just talk about what the spark and the origin of this was so we've already alluded to it So we have all these expenses That we're going to additional expenses unplanned for expenses for the fall Uh, that we're going to have it's it's going to have to get paid for somehow And it's not just what Ms. Constelina just talked about staffing its transportation. So How does that all get paid for and so this this was the spark for this was really this past friday when desi released its initial um guidance about purchasing ppe And you know essentially said so here's you know, we recommend you go ahead and purchase this so there you go go ahead and purchase it and That sparked quite the negative reaction and concern among a number of school committee members online about Well, if we don't have the funding to pay for these things then where is it going to come from? And and you know at the end of the day, who's left holding the bag because You know right now there is a lot being um a lot of hope being Placed on the magic money fairies That we talked about the cares act fema and a massive federal stimulus that that we hope for But but if that doesn't happen And and we have to deal with what we have Then then who's left holding the bag? right if if if that doesn't come through and and right now the the state's implication is that that we're left holding the bag um and that um You know if we have to pay for these things that are going to be required by CDC guidance and required by the state It's it's going to destroy our budgets. Um And so hoping for the magic fair. I I sincerely hope for the magic fairies, but but hope is not a plan and um, I don't know enough about the cares act um Amounts in our own individual towns and how they relate to the figures just mentioned But I do know enough to say That There are districts that have already said very directly that they are not going to have enough money to pay even for the ppe Even for the stuff that It's constantly no just mentioned to say nothing of additional staffing and transportation uh, and so, um, you know in discussion This was really a grassroots effort the the petition that is circulating Among school committees. It's it's under my email address, but it had to be under somebody's so I but I just sort of pulled the ideas together and the thinking about how to focus This particular resolution was to make it as simple as possible so that it had as much Broad support among school committees as possible. We we could have gone the the three page wrote like we did with the federal funding Uh resolution that got into all the details, but this just really boils it down to Uh, if if you know if it's our responsibility to open schools in a a safe, uh an equitable manner And the state's responsibility to make sure that we have the funds available to do things that they're requiring us to do And so therefore they need to guarantee reimbursement of that And you know, we understand that the state has its own fiscal crisis. I don't think anybody denies that but, um You know the feeling expressed here is that school committees need to have some unity and some solidarity at the beginning of of this fiscal crisis, right because we've all talked about this fiscal crisis is going to last a long time And uh, if school districts Don't early and clearly state that we're not going to allow it to Eviscerate our budgets and in an inequitable fashion across the state Then we need to take a stand and we need to do it in a unified way. And so that's that's what this is About um, so it's you know, I'm happy to say it's gotten some positive response so far. Um So this was started circulating monday. Um, it's thursday now and um If if our three committees pass it tonight, that'll be 11 school committees so far. It's pretty good for four days There's another 20 or so that have already said it's on their agendas in the next couple weeks. Um Uh, so so yeah, it's it's it's it's the beginning of a statement But but it's it's a clear articulation. Um to raise public awareness that that we need to We need to really put a fine point on on defending our budgets and doing it so in an equitable manner Dr. Morris Yeah, I'd just like to from my vantage point speak in support of of mr. What mr. Deming wrote I also, you know, just want to note that we still don't know at all What our chapter 70 budget will look like which is education funding We have no idea what fiscal shape will be in, you know, much like many other districts in the area We've taken, you know, we did me as you know at the regional level We have 300 000 to account for cuts in state funding. We've been conservative in filling vacancies We did not go the route of riffing Dozens of staff members you've seen you may have seen some districts do that in eastern massachusetts um, and so You know, I just think When there's such uncertainty on the state budget and I think mr. Deming noted this for districts then to be stuck with a You know, we're relatively medium-sized district in massachusetts if we consider all three districts together Uh, it's a significant burden financial burden absolutely needs to happen from a public health perspective There's no critique of that but but the uncertainty of what We're going to be dealing with when the state budget comes out whenever that is july august And how to run school is significant and again, I want to stress that We have some, you know Kind of placeholder values to support us if the state budget comes in incredibly low to a certain extent But one of the reasons we didn't riff people is we need every staff member we can have to make school work next year It's not just because we're like riding high or like rolling the dice It's that I don't know how you run school with that many fewer staff members And so I think I just wanted to add to mr. Demling's I think accurate description that this is it's they're not It's you can see it as two variables We don't know what the state budget is and is a need for ppe But actually all of it's happening simultaneously And I think that it makes the need so much more critical. So thank you for your work, mr. Demlin any Comments or questions from the committees mr. Manino I read the resolution earlier today its brevity is its effectiveness. I endorse the resolution Any other comments or questions? Um, uh, dr. Morris, can you stop sharing so I can See everybody's faces. Thank you I'm not seeing any Uh comments or questions and this one we actually were prepared ahead of time and we have three versions of this for each district and committee um I will take a motion from uh, the region I'm not quite sure how to say this but I I move that we endorse the Um, mr. Collins the resolution. Um I'm not sure of the wording Open to wording help here Um, I think if you just say the add the what the resolution was for for state funding, I think okay So I motion that that we, um Endorse the uh COVID state funding resolution a second Move by speaker second by spitzer Um, we will move to a roll. Oh any further discussion Seeing none. We'll move to roll call vote. Mr. Manino Manino why? Mr. Harrington Sir, tonight Mr. Demling Demling I Ms. Seeker Seeker I Ms. Spitzer Spitzer I Mr. Stanser Or Ms. Stanser sir Stanser I Mr. Sullivan Sullivan I Ms. Lord Lord I And mcdonald I and the resolution passes nine to zero And I'll make a motion for the Amherstville committee. I move that we endorse the Resolution in support of state additional funding to support COVID-19 supplies I second lord second Move by mcdonald second by lord any discussion Seeing none we'll move to a roll call vote Ms. Lord Lord I Mr. Harrington Aaron can I Mr. Demling Demling I Ms. Spitzer Spitzer I And mcdonald I The house is the resolution passes five to zero and I'll turn it over to ms. Hall All right. Thank you. And um, thanks very much peter for spearheading this and Letting me take all the language. So I will entertain a motion from Pellum school committee Um, I move that we endorse the resolution for state funding Just in support of COVID-19 Okay, is there a second? second Second second. Oh, that was you jesse. Okay. Thank you. Any further discussion? No, okay, um ron go ahead Manino I Sarah best Kenny I jesse Jean-Louis I Margaret Stancer I And hall I Mr. Demling Yeah, so thank you. Um, and I just a quick comment if anyone else here Sits on other school committees that aren't represented here or if you are friends colleagues with other school committees If you want to just send this to them, um, you know numbers here is is going to help visibility If this becomes a critical mass thing then then it hits the sort of the next level of new cycle in it It impacts there. So um anything we can do to spread the word is good Okay, so moving on to our next item is a survey results and I'll turn it over to dr Morris Yep, I'll try to mirror. Ms. Consolino's brevity In describing very complex Things so I put a slideshow together just it just has the raw data and I'll be able to speak to some desegregations I did It's 160 some odd page Document because of the qualitative data. It's incredibly interesting to read through Um, I tried my best to come up with themes I'll speak to a couple of the qualitative data a little later But this present the the slides are really just looking at the quantitative data And the reason I put it on a separate slide deck is because there's so many pages of qualitative data Sometimes it was I found myself Going back and putting little post-it notes on the pages with the quantitative data and then having to you know Go back and forth. So I thought it might be easier. So see if I can do this more effectively than earlier Okay Can folks see that? Yes, good. Thank you. So There we go So we got 880 responses We did a lot of broad outreach. I want to thank publicly dr Guevara who contacted many families And you know who who might have needed support in accessing the survey and we allowed for Hand entering of you know our staff to hand enter Data that was received as well as miss Richardson who did a lot outreach with elel families Um The first question was just simply a demographic of who is responding to the survey You could see that the primary groups were parent guardians You'll notice that the number is over 100 and that's because we have a significant number of respondents who are both Staff members in the district as well as have children in the district So you might have been wondered why that data came out the way it did and and that is why their percents Came out looking a little funny for people who used to those percentages usually adding up to 100 percent By the way, since I can't see anyone if there's questions throughout, please slow me down and stop me If there's any clarifying pieces of information We did send us our did reach out to leverd and chute spray to Encourage their sixth grade students or some families of sixth grade students in those districts To be able to um participate in this survey as well The second question asked if safety plans are in place based on guidance from you know Officials you believe students should return. I was really pleasantly surprised. I'll be honest with the number of about 82 percent of respondents Suggesting that we should that's well above some of the national polling that I've seen And I think it confirms that while we've taken a lot of conservative What would I feel like are conservative measures or strong measures around safety? Hopefully that's inspired some confidence that our next steps collectively as an organization will retain those I will say that there was a bit of a difference between staff and families So staff was a little lower again. It was it was about 75 percent Families was a little higher than that and it averaged out to about 82 percent, but a significant majority Feeling that if we take those safety measures That students should be back in school in the fall The third question was one with a lot of qualitative data again I'll try to summarize that my best best I can a little later The fourth question was about the hybrid model. So just as a review the hybrid model involves all students coming to school for some days and and having some form of distance learning on other days and this question tried to ascertain whether Kind of a two days a week model where one group of students perhaps would come on monday and tuesday another group would come on thursday or friday and friday We're preferable as opposed to Having groups of students come in person four days four days one week in the next week a different set of four days You can see about three to one The respondents prefer the two days a week There's a lot of anecdotal that qualitative data as to why some of that's about work schedules for for different People some was just the concern that four days a week would leave a too large a gap from a learning perspective Staff was a little more split on this. They still preferred two days a week The respondents who are staff members still preferred two days a week, but not by the same margin It was much more about 55 45 For staff. So we have a question from mr. Manino. Oh, thank you. Sorry about that How would the uh hybrid model work? A teacher is in the classroom four days a week When are they when are they preparing the online portion? Are we expecting them to teach seven days a week? So that gets to a great question and if mr. Manino if you could hold till the end of the presentation I'd like to address that more directly No, no your spot on because I think the way you do a hybrid model will determine the quality of The distance learning. I think it's a critical point. Um, so I'd love to loop back to that at the end if that's okay with you Okay, fine. Yeah um And I had these as graphs and actually they were more confusing as graphs, uh because uh the wording than so sorry for looking at all the numbers But um the visuals actually I found didn't help with the charts. Um, so that's why I just had the data tables So the fifth question was, um, what challenges would be created and and so you see, uh, nearly nearly half Uh, the respondents indicated that child care on distance learning days would be a major concern um Which ability to return to employment was not not surprisingly pretty tied to that same or similar number An ability to provide assistance for my child for distance learning was was about two-thirds of respondents suggested that The staff numbers were very similar I do want to note that when the staff numbers are similar about returning to ability to return to employment. That's a major caution for me Uh, you know, well, I deeply am concerned about family's ability to return to employment if our staff members aren't able to return to employment Um, the whole operation doesn't work. And so we are actively thinking Taking that question seriously and trying to consider what alternatives Could we look at could we provide child care for staff members, uh for their children? Um Again, not all of our staff members children attend one of our districts. So, uh, that was an eye-popping number 43 percent, uh, and again for staff members It's pretty similar to that number And so that is something that we have to take into account for our planning both to the community But but also in particular for our staff members who we're relying on to uh to educate children Question six was a qualitative data, uh, uh, asking about, uh, elementary, um, students where elementary students are Prioritized in terms of having more in-class instruction. So question seven asked, uh, What's the minimum amount of in-person instruction needed for middle school students? I want to just be clear that choices were one two or none There wasn't a three four or five days a week because I don't see those as viable options right now For secondary school students, you could see about three quarters of respondents Suggested two days a week Would be the minimum number of days and staff the staff when I desegregated for staff members It was the same. I think it's worth noting when we talk about, uh, when I desegregated for students with special needs Uh, parents of students with special needs, excuse me These numbers were higher in terms of the two days a week as a minimum That there was a distinction and a little bit of a distinction of the ELL students So the the end size of the parents of ELL students was was relatively small Uh question eight asked, uh, the same question but for high school students and you see similar data But not quite as high, you know, so 63 compared to, you know, about 73 Uh, feeling like two days a week is, um, is needed. Uh, the staff numbers were similar but actually a little bit Less, uh, so only 56 percent were advocating at least for a minimum of two days a week As opposed to about 64. Um, all aggregated into the family numbers a little higher than that Question nine, uh, if implemented, uh, what challenges, uh, would this model present? You could see a pretty significant drop in the child care needs ability to return to employment significantly lower than the hybrid model Uh, and even a little bit of reduction in terms of the ability to provide assistance during distance learning And and that's the end of the the qualitative or the quantitative data. Um, so let me stop sharing And go back to this screen. I think as it relates to qualitative, um Data, um, it was all over the map is a short story There was all and if those are you reading or not in your head So there was a lot of concern about, uh, everyone wanting more in time School for their students, uh, whether that's coming from a staff member coming from a parent Which I think all of us would endorse, uh, in a perfect world. We'd want to get students in as much as as we could And I think, you know, when you disaggregate the data for secondary versus elementary of some predictable trends that emerge that, um For parents of elementary students thinking of child care needs thinking of how distance learning is when particularly for primary grade students Is critical when you think about secondary students. There's a lot of concerns about maintaining social connections as well as academics I want to address mr. Medino's point because I think it's really important. Um, so i'm going to restate in my own terms, mr Medino, and if it's if it's different than what you were suggesting, please stop me. Um So the question is under some hybrid models where, uh, for instance, you can imagine middle school students coming in Two days a week it might be group a comes in monday tuesday and group b comes in thursday friday Uh, one of the concerns that was expressed and I think it's accurate is well, those teachers are teaching four days a week Uh, so they're not going to be accessible for live Kind of zoom calls things like that or google meets on the days they're working with different sets of students And wednesdays are really would be designed both for cleaning but for staff members for professional development as well as for planning Some acre asynchronous types of activities, but one of the things that we know we've heard from our community is maintaining those social connections Is really critical. Uh, I've taken that feedback incredibly seriously. I think when we come back maybe two weeks from now I'm trying to develop models that perhaps Would not have teachers, uh involved in hybrid models Teaching direct students directly four days a week Uh, because I do think that's going to be a really hard model from a distance learning standpoint to be satisfactory Um, so I don't have all that fleshed out. It's still in the kind of working out phases But I think, you know, your point is really well taken because I think there's some assumption that Uh teachers would be able to do both simultaneously Right. I think you probably I nodded so you're nodding your head before it looks like you really read the long document And saw some of the feedback and and the reality is if there's an a group monday tuesday and a big group thursday friday There's no way for teachers to be managing both. Uh, we need as many hands on deck So to speak to cover classrooms that all have 10 to 15 students as possible And so I think you really are hitting on a central point that uh, if there are ways to have if there are models where Staff members aren't doing that that's going to enhance the distance the quality of the distance learning Uh, immeasurably and so we are trying to take that feed It's been one of the critical the reason i'm harping on your point because I think it's critical piece of feedback that If we are going to have some distance learning going on, which we assuredly will We want to develop models where that can be the highest quality possible And then you balance that with the in-class piece and it's a complex tetris board to try to solve and We are actively trying to develop models and I think we're making some inroad Inroads I should say to to think deeply about that because what we don't want to do is promise the community That we can be effective in the model you you shared And I think having the reality to be something less satisfying particularly on the distance learning days So i'm really glad you raised that point because it's something that uh, Was screaming at me as I was reading through the data about making sure that we can be clear about what we can and can't do Uh, and you know, we're sitting on on a lot of these working groups There's a real commitment from staff to to increase in the quality of what we're doing to being more thoughtful on the distance learning piece And collaborating more with staff so that we're going to be able to differentiate For different groups of students and make those firmer connections that may have been possible this spring when we did it on a dime But we can't do that if Teachers are in front of students that much of the time, right? There's not the critical mass of teachers won't be there to to do that. And so That's why I'm being long-winded in my response, but I don't think I can understate your point because I think it's so apt My point is I appreciate your concern, but my point is I've attended the third grade class distance learning all semester this year and Miss Sarah LaPlante Does a good job, but she couldn't do that job If she was in the classroom four days a week This basically says well, I don't know what your plan for Imagining a different way of delivering the distance learning is I look forward to it Are you going to clone teachers or something like that? I don't know Right and and and to the point. I just want to Oh, I'm sorry, mr. Menino it really is a concern because I talked to distance learning, but it was asynchronous. It wasn't synchronous Are you going to make it? Maybe that's a way of doing it all the online is asynchronous Right, which is I think broadly unsatisfactory to many families who who really A mix of that I think the other point is you know for people who are saying because I read a couple comments And it's a reasonable thing could half the teachers be there and half the teachers do the asynchronous part That won't work with class sizes that we're talking about We need us we really need a full complement of staff to be in person to cover the days when students are there Because the class sizes are going to be so reduced So it doesn't really work unless we were doubling the size of our staff to have half Half staff doing distance So I think we're you know, I'm often cautiously optimistic that we're looking at some models That takes that point into account and I'll be honest that I didn't think all of that through and that's why you do a survey Right, we did this was a gestalt survey to try to get an overview of where people were at a certain moment in time And I got a lot from the response. I read every single response Uh, I got a tremendous amount from the responses and it's making my team All of us think a little differently about how to make this feasible and effective uh for instructing our students So, um, I'm glad you picked up the same thing that we picked up Thank you And I saw uh, mr. Demling's hand and then miss spitzer's hand Um, yeah, so uh the the point about the the wide variance of Passionate and well articulated responses in the survey. I don't think it could be understated. It's it's really amazing Um, and it's not just a couple people here, but most people over there It's it really drove home for me that You know, there is no solution here where there are not going to be a large number of people who are Pretty unhappy that things didn't go how they felt initially. And so I feel like um, when we choose a or b for a lot of these variables, we really need to be, um Ensuring that that that that b is as good as it can be, you know to to your point about Um, making distance learning a higher quality level than even what it was, um in distance learning You know, we need to be thinking about upgrading to distance learning 3.0. And what does that mean? Um, I think um, you may have mentioned this um, if this is what you meant, but having teachers doing exclusive Um online learning. I think sounds like a great idea um You know, we had the very first, um question that you showed on the survey that uh, 18 percent Of families, even if we're following all recommended safety guidelines 154 responses still wouldn't be feel okay Sending their kids back that that's not a small number. It's not a a small number of parents. Um If if we go with one of these models and so, you know, the possibility of you know, could we make it that there's an option if you're if a parent says Great for your model, but I want my kid to be online. Uh 100 of the time. Can we support that? I think that's something we need to um consider but um, but yeah, so I think I think focusing on on um Articulating as soon as possible What what distance learning looks like at especially at the older the older grades? Um, when it might be more of the majority of their learning what that looks like Um, and and you know also getting some feedback from the students. We talked about getting student feedback Uh, you know, we haven't seen that so far. Um, I think that would be that would be great if before You know students leave if we could we could gather that and say, you know, what what were the stumbling blocks for you? what really You know was was was kind of bothersome to you about your learning experience So if you're going to be doing this three or four days a week We can make it as as as excellent as as a possibly can be Yeah, if I could just respond to that briefly Um, so one is that survey will go out early next week. We're just finalizing it right now We're using uh, Wellesley had a pretty good example. We got some feedback from the distance learning working group that's looking at fall Um, uh today uh yesterday and today, so we'll be finalizing that tomorrow Getting it translated and having that go out to all families Uh, all secondary students and all staff people uh, staff members. Um, so we'll get that additional feedback lens From that as you suggested. I think the the other piece that I think is worth stressing is there was um In the qualitative feedback There was a real desire for every student in the district to have some in-person education Right, there was varying levels of what people felt like was sufficient not sufficient But the idea of any student being all virtual I think maybe a non-starter For a great number of people in the community and that's another piece of feedback that Again, that's why we did a survey relatively early on before we had desi guidance We just had some kind of broad options Because I think that's something that we wanted to see where people were on and I think there was overwhelming clarity on That particular point and so, um, I didn't say that earlier But mr. Demling's comment um reminded me that I think it's important to say that out loud And right we could have some disagreeing about how much and where to emphasize but the idea of all virtual I think it is is as close to a non-starter as As we have on this um miss spitzer and then miss dancer great, so, um I have a few questions. I'm going to start with um Question two where um, we were asking about Whether or not school should be open and I think we should point out that that's a slightly different question Than whether or not if schools are open will you send your child and I think that sometimes we've been kind of Mixing the two and I could see somebody saying yes school should be open But I personally will make the decision not to send my kid to school or none of these options look good and therefore I'm not gonna accept them. So I don't know if um, I mean um I think clearly like you put a lot of thought into the survey But that's probably the question you wanted to ask but I think it's just important to highlight that it could be very different Um Looks like you want to answer. Yeah, so I think that we asked you're right We asked it intentionally. We didn't want to ask families a question until we had a specific model that we were Closer to proposing because we felt like it was an unfair question. Um So right there may be and even some of this came out in the qualitative data Some people were like Well, I really like the one week on one week off and people Some people felt safer in that model other people felt differently about that. There were some questions about ppe And so until we had some More clarity on that we didn't want to ask people a question that they would Not fairly not be able to answer because it's dependent on other items I do think I agree with what miss spitzer said. I also think the opposite's true It may be families who say well if it was up to me I wouldn't want school to open but given that other kids are coming back And that's going to be by far in a way the best form of education my kid receives. I may Feel comfortable. So I think it's it's proxy. It's not exact proxy. And I don't think the correlation is a hundred percent I was still surprised to see the number at that level. Um, and again, pleasantly surprised I like that the number is high higher than I would have guessed But but I think you're right We we did not ask would you send your child back and I think as we develop models and Get more feedback from the community. We're gonna have to get much more Direct in our questioning on that and the transportation question and some other questions But for our first glance Survey, um, we didn't want to put anyone in the spot where they'd be answering that direct question without more information I guess um, and I'm just offering some Feedback on the survey as somebody who's done a little survey design So feel free to take some of it early, but I found it And I again, I'm assuming these are all really intentional But we had this conversation about wanting to make sure that we were reaching certain communities But we didn't have any we had one question about if somebody was an ELL learner and one question about whether or not They had A child with an IEP I believe I forget the exact wording But I'm wondering if we want to be a little bit more And maybe it's a privacy issue and we don't want to be collecting this type of data But it seems like it would be useful to try to see like who are we reaching with these surveys a little bit and be able to profile A little and then if we aren't reaching Say certain communities We'd want to then follow up and do maybe phone calls or more average and sounds I'm really happy to hear that it sounds like the family center was doing some of that and that's excellent and then the other thing is um thinking not just about accessibility of the surveys that are sending out but also I was really surprised to see like the highest Category was ability to provide assistance to my child during distance learning and I'd like to drill down into that a little bit more So we've been thinking about distance learning and the accessibility of the kids But we haven't really been thinking about what are the parents coming to it with in terms of um, you know, did they have any Any issues themselves that might make it difficult for them to access the distance learning and since parents are going to be partnering I think we need to know something about the parents ability and maybe this has been happening already, but I know we've been doing some Outreach to try and touch base with students who aren't showing up and that that hopefully that's um unearthing some issues That might be on the parents side, but I think um As we go into next year It would be really good to do some surveys of parents and find out what Their challenges are with accessing some of these technologies And if we need to do things like having captioning or you know Things that will make our distance learning more accessible And I think we were kind of building the plane as we were flying at this mark But to the extent that we have time over the summer to think about that um And then the only kind of other really nitty nitpicking is that I noticed that we had two separate links for the survey One in Spanish and one in English when he took it But then but then it opened up and it was all the English and the Spanish were On top of each other and I personally found that kind of Hard to read and I'm wondering if we're if what the thinking is with putting them together if we are actually providing separate links And I think it's great. We're translating it But is that is there a reason to put both the English and the Spanish in the same documents Or could it ease some of the burden on the survey reader by doing it just in English or just in Spanish? So that's it Yeah, so I'll just if I could comment just briefly I think the distance learning survey that I mentioned is coming out next week gets at some of the questions You get at in terms of families We struggle I struggle. I'll just say myself. I struggle with what level of demographic data to collect Personally, I'd like to collect a lot more. I know the privacy piece gets a little complicated perhaps for some folks About asking more demographic data the researcher side of me really likes if we could somehow anonymize it but capture very intentional demographic data Um at the same time, I think the civil liberties piece gets a little complicated, right if we're identifying um What we identify it Can get uh, we've gotten some negative feedback when we've add we've added questions that captured more demographic data Even when we said click all that apply or optional question Uh, so, you know, I'd love to think with you about it because I know you have a lot of background in that Perhaps offline. Um, I think to the last point you made, um Now I'm losing track of the last point you made. Can you remind me of that miss spitzer? Sorry Um, I made a point about having the english and spanish right now Instead of creating two separate link or yeah So the links that were there were links to the presentation in english and spanish was the same survey monkey link, but it was Uh, for people who wanted to view the presentation. We had the trend presentation translated Which is a suggestion of the committee and a good one. Um What we found is first of all merging the data gets a bit messy, uh, when you have two different, um survey links and um The other feedback we received from the spanish peaking community in particular is that um When they receive an email in english and and then it's translated to spanish and goes to a different link um It's not qualitative data, but qualitatively it doesn't feel Great. Um, and I know that we could say we're offering the same survey, but um, you know, we've gotten Feedback that actually there's positive feedback that everyone's taking the same survey and that feels better Uh to the communities as having like a spanish language only survey, but I think a readability It's a question I think to the first point you made about overall readability It's interesting because one of the things that we received This was a relatively brief survey in terms of the the data is huge But the actual survey was relatively brief and there was some desire to actually make it even smaller Like that 11 questions or 12 questions was too many and just being cautious of the wording And I think when we're trying to hit a very broad demographic It does make a challenge about what's accessible. What's too long? What's too short? But again, I think uh, not that anyone who offers a critique is then responsible for partnering I don't want to set that dynamic, but but I would love to have you know, an external person I know you have a lot of background and next time around to to help think through some of these door near issues I just want to say I'd be happy to connect offline and then the other Thing is that you have to think about a lot of people. I think are taking this on their smartphone Yeah And that's the other reason that I find like if there's a lot of text It can be really hard to and people might shy away from doing it. Yeah Um, this is Dan sir. You had a question earlier um, well, I I have some Comments and maybe a couple of questions. So um, you know, this is Completely atypical for responses to surveys to get this much when I opened the document and saw 169 pages I was like, oh my god I did not read everything, but I tried to read a pretty good portion of the comments and A couple of things that stood out for me. Um There it seemed to me there Parents or people responsible responding perceived an inconsistency in, um The presentation of the distance material some people indicated That they found google meets was very awkward Um, very hard to navigate even for the adults let alone for the children Um, which lead me to the question because several people mentioned Moodle Which I know about from my previous job Um, and I wondered are we locked into a google for what we're doing? um another thing, um there Seemed to be perceived that there was inconsistency in the amount of in-person time that students received And also of expectations about what they were going to do and um I I wondered if What kind of training may be provided for the The teachers, you know, you don't just go from teaching in front of people To teaching online, you know, it's a completely different way of thinking about what you're doing And it seems to me if we want this to be really successful. We're really going to have to provide Some or more assistance to our instructors um See I I did note that a lot of people mentioned the special ed in el Students needing to have in person even if that was not someone in their family It seemed to me like it was mentioned by many people Perhaps not just the people who had students in those categories um And I would like to have seen the teacher comment separate from the parent guardian comments because You didn't know necessarily there were a few that it was easy to tell it was a teacher But for the most part it was very difficult to know and and I just would have been interested in the observations of the teachers versus the parent guardians So that's just my thoughts Dr. Morris I took notes. So I got all yours down. I should have done that for miss fitzer So in terms of google meets, um, it's not not settled. I mean we did purchase inexpensive zoom Accounts, um, we did have a lot of concerns about safety and security number of districts in new york city being one Band zoom because of um, and there were numerous zoom bombing incidents in in our commonwealth including a horrific one on the eastern part of the state with a bunch of racist dialogue and so In the fall, maybe zoom will have solved those problems But um, and we do have some teachers using the accounts we set up for zoom But we really were supporting google meets google is also pouring tremendous amount of resources into improving google meets like starting next week The sound quality is going to be much better than on any other system. They've developed a technology to reduce background noise Which is a big issue in any video conferencing. Um, but we're not we're not, you know That's not settled question. Um I think the in-person time. I think that's right. I think uh, we Had some inconsistencies. Uh, I think that's an accurate piece of feedback We got that in the distance learning survey that we had the first time as well And I I know from being on both distance learning committees that there's a commitment to making sure that that's much more consistent organized and equitable moving forward The expectations piece is one that everybody agrees with parents students everyone I was in a meeting today actually this morning with the elementary a subgroup of the elementary distance learning And an elementary teacher said I completely agreed with the desi guidance at the beginning that this work was encouraged It was enrichment But if we're doing any of this in the fall, um, I'm taking attendance And uh, and we need you know, I want to be accountable to my students And I need my students to be accountable to me and uh, this is not someone coming from in my opinion From a negative place about students. It's someone who's seeing the impact of Having, you know, two thirds of three quarters of her class active on and and accessing the curriculum And it's going very well and having those students who aren't and what they're missing. So, uh, I do think K to 12 and both of those groups There's really a lot of clarity about setting expectations and problem solving You know, if there are remaining technology issues for families, but not in continuing the sort of looser model that we've had this spring I think the last one. Yeah, I'll send along just the teacher comments. I disaggregated and I'll send those along to you tomorrow to the to the committees Great. Um, I just one comment anecdotally I have heard concern from teachers about the students who have not been participating being the students who most need To be participating. So there's what seems to be a lot of concern about that Right and we've heard it from parents, too Who don't want to argue with their children about when the children say I don't have to do it It's just encouraged It's actually created. Well, I think it came from an empathetic place from desi It's actually created a fair bit of tension and we've heard that from families who are Don't have a great retort when a student says it's encouraged not required And we actually want to reduce any tension between children and families during this time in particular and and I think well Again well intentioned. I think it's actually Some families it's contributed to tension. Um, they would much rather the school Take a little bit of a firmer stance that attendance is required that this is school work That there's some version of grading Uh, and I think you know in fairness to the state when this all started We didn't know how long it was going to last it was two weeks And as it grew it was hard to reverse course once you're down a path And I think the summer is a big reset for us Um, I don't know if it's happening for other folks, but uh, google meet is doing a very Funky thing this evening that only the speaker is in motion and everybody else is frozen Um, but as soon as the somebody else starts speaking they start moving So I apologize if I haven't seen raised hands, but you're all frozen in various Interesting poses on my screen Fortunately, we're not broadcasting from my my my screen Um, so I want I um have just a few um comments slash questions. Um, because I didn't see any other hands raised So I'll um ask mine, but um One of the things just to echo. I think what a few other people I read Probably about five or six hundred of the the responses And and they and they you know at the same time that they're all oh, you know, everyone there's no sort of my my sort of sense is You can't sort of bucket them and say the majority of people said this so the majority respondent said that um But there are some very strong themes like that are in there and I think dr. Morris you mentioned them or alluded to them earliest is that everybody Everybody is wants some some in-person learning. Everybody agrees that everybody also agrees that none of these options are as good as what they You know as close to you know, what we had before before pandemic and And there's a real sense of loss. I think coming through everybody's comments and that is that you know just that sort of Morning that We can't we can't be back to where we were Before march and I and that came through loud and clear at least for me as I was reading it And I think everybody agreed. Um, nobody wants exclusively online learning I think several folks have said that nobody wants their students their children to be Only on doing distance learning next year. Um, but then between those two bands, it's it's really Wide-ranging Somebody asked the question about sort of parents having trouble accessing it and I've had a few Like direct conversations with people in the community over the last week or so Specifically on that comment and it is interesting. I think we we tend to assume A lot about sort of just basic technologies and how you know, just like how do you do? How do you find out? How do you how do you ask for help if you can't if you're not getting a response? Or how do you ask for help if you can't figure out how to submit this assignment in this particular way and um, I think you know one of the Takeaways so it's not just it's not just the technology help and also there's also pieces of Um, you know my math learning didn't go all the way up. I can't help my high school student middle school student In math, um, there were several comments about that in the in the survey as well but you also hear that from other folks is that You know my students learning and and coursework is beyond sort of my recollection or you know my schooling um But even but I think you know, there's some amount of when whatever distance learning we have There is some amount of um It is basic how-to guides that we'll we'll want to be preparing for Students and parents as to here's what here's how it's going to roll. Here's what's going to happen Here's what you do if you have a question here Here's what you do if you have a question there or if you can't if you're not hearing xyz from your school That isn't that's beyond sort of what we normally do to help families and students adjust to a new school year um I think you know also building on um, I think uh, mr. Manino may have said this that um Making sure that we have options for families that don't want to send their children Back to school in person. So whether that be Enabling folks to opt in for distance only Even though I said that most people's most everybody agrees. They don't want exclusively distance but making sure that the folks that still are not comfortable um Sending their their students back to school to in person learning that they have an option Whether it's distance learning or taking, you know a gap year for example if they're later in high school and want to just repeat the year later um, I think that will be really important to mapping out um the start of the school year. So that's um My uh, I'm just looking to see if I had other notes here. Um I think the other thing that I noticed too is a lot of people were comparing as the the two options Comparing it back to either the current distance learning or or our pre-pandemic in-person learning and I think what you know As we think through and sort of building on mr. Manino's observation that If you're doing a hybrid model, you're in You know teachers are teaching four days a week Your in-person is going to be very very different not just because we're going to have 10 person or 15 person classrooms um, but also just the way school is going to be taught or experienced um In you know given all of the PPE and everything that's happening. So it's not Whatever we whatever model we end up with school Whether it's in person or distance is going to look very very different than what we experienced this year um Dr. Morris, sorry that just that also made me think one of the questions that's uh, that I've gotten Some by email. So it's not all in the survey is What if a vaccine's here in november or december? And so that's something particularly at the secondary level That we have to think through because if we're thinking of a different model Or a different schedule for secondary students and I don't mean number of days a week But literally a different schedule. Um, how many courses students take at a time or how long it is We have to to also plan for that. There's some commitment that gets made if you're taking fewer courses at a time And in january Everyone's got a vaccine and we're all back in school full time We have to figure out that out and I know at the secondary level. We're having active conversations administrative team of You know, what would make sense given cdc guidance uh, and then what would it look like if Uh, we're in a different place for second semester How would we finish the year and I don't again? I don't mean literally finish the year because I think great. We're in school more often things are returning to normal Uh, or whatever that means But it's uh, it's also that whatever system you set up in the fall has to be continued at the secondary level Just the nature of secondary school. Um, so that's an additional wrinkle that Has to be thought about in all of our models. Um as we think about middle school and particularly at the high school Because the middle school with the team model Is a little easier to manage with them and the high school is a unique bear as it relates to that so just another Variable that we are actively thinking about that came through and a couple of the comments in the survey about You know and emails I've gotten about what happens when a vaccine comes and how far down are you a road? How far down a road are you where you can't undo what you've done? So we want to have sustainability and durability for whatever the model is Because you know I tend to be a pessimistic person about those kind of things But some people I know who are more knowledgeable seem to be showing more optimism and so we don't want to set up a model that's Can't be reversed or uh won't work when we go back to a five day week full day model Just another variable There's a lot of them. Sorry, but that's another Are there any other comments from the committees questions Dr. Morris, I just say in terms of next steps. Uh, what I imagine we have a I think hopefully a relatively brief amor school committee meeting next week Um, which actually we have to get that agenda done posted tomorrow. Now that I think about it. Um, and uh Well, originally I'll find out more tomorrow. I have a conference call superintendents have a conference call with the commissioner I think originally the the guidance was slated to come out next week An email I got this week said in the next week or two. So I'm not sure when What that means But you know, I think we should try to plan for meeting Not next week with the week after whether guidance comes or not Because I think at that point we'll have clarified what our real options are At least, you know dependent on transportation And staffing those are two variables. It's hard to to totally figure out right now But I think we can have a more informed conversation given the feedback we received in some of the dialogue tonight So I think we are scheduled to have a regional meeting that week And so I'll work with the regional chair and then the helm chair because I do think it makes sense to think about this All three districts at once But I think for me that'll be probably the next step and let People get done with school next week and celebrate the juneteenth and Come back the week after to firm more robust conversation With some potential options and maybe talking about continued outreach into our community Great. Um on that topic also on the continued outreach. I don't know. Um one of the things um And I probably we're Really late now. We're moving on to two and a half hours here. So I think um, I think we'll table, uh We talked about sort of segwaying into sort of more about sort of community outreach and community and information and how do we um Continue to inform. Um, our communities about um, what we're what we've been talking about. Um, so Maybe dr. Morris instead of going through that overview PowerPoint We can email it to the committee committees, um And uh included in as part of our conversation Two weeks from now I think that makes sense. Thank you right Mr. Deming um, just a thought um I assume that the survey results you shared with us are are public now They were part of the packet is that yeah, um if that could get emailed out in the um The the weekly ARPS update this friday, I think people would be really interested Um, even those who maybe didn't participate in survey. Um, not just to see the um the top level aggregate but to see the that wide variance of uh qualitative responses and really dig in because You know, I what I'm really looking for from the public now is in addition to your own lived experience and what you want fall to look like um Is is to you know, advise the school committee to some degree about now that we have this wide variance of input You know, how do we collectively make the best decision going forward? And so I think I think having that source data as widely dispersed as possible Um, what will help people get the magnitude of the problem and and get us the most effective feedback miss seager So I don't necessarily have a well-formed thought on this But as I was reading through survey results today too a thought struck me And and it was more around this problem is not just a school problem yet, you know Administration teachers everybody's going to be working really hard to solve this problem And it's also obviously a state level problem and we've we have a resolution about covid funding Um, I'm wondering too if there's anything that we can push on at the state level um To help families who are going to have to deal with this um, it's a to for the state That this is where it's not a well-formed thought So i'm just putting it out there But if the state were to somehow help these parents who need to go back to work But also deal with a split schedule in school take the pressure off by having companies putting some pressure on companies to um Be flexible with their employees or to have some sort of subsidized childcare for those days when You know the kids aren't in school and the parents have to work Um, so basically I'm just maybe planting a seed if anyone thinks of something that we could do to help advocate for something like that at a state level um That's really kind of where my thought ended But it was just that this problem is bigger than us and I hope it's not on Us meaning the schools and the community built around the school to solve it all And I've gotten some emails that were directly to me not not necessarily sent to the full school committee along that same dimension About you know, can the state, you know support child care or other other uh other ways they can do that So, you know, the other people are having similar thoughts to you as well That's there and then miss lord I share your concerns and I unfortunately everything I've been seeing is Child growth going in the opposite direction that we may see a contraction in the number of slots available for Um younger children at least so so I mean, I guess this is the question, right? So Um How where what are the levers we can pull in order to solve this problem? And I think it's unfortunate that at the time when that we're going to have the greatest need for some of these Things like funding for the PPE and you know more childcare slots for parents who who newly need them Those things are not available So I don't have a solution, but I wanted to Yes, this is um just about the survey I didn't understand that it would be public and I don't know if other families felt that way So I don't know in the future because some of it feels very, um Personal and I'm I want to be protective of that Not that I don't trust our community at large, but I don't know if there's a way in the future to you know, suggest Being more anonymous or finding ways to make it more anonymous just so that We protect our families Yeah, and I if I could respond to I I'd love some thinking about that I mean our community in the past has really um desired for survey results to be shared In the raw format they were we typically Look for survey results and scrub anything that identifies a name a teacher name a student name This was a hard one to scrub was long, but I think we got it If anyone noticed something, please let us know um But I think maybe a proviso at the beginning that all responses will become Will be shared in a public document would would perhaps be more explicit about that. That's great feedback Right because I do I also hold that let's be transparent, but I also hope the this information or why not want to share Miss uh generally so along the lines of um Making sure that families in the community are representative and maybe there's you know employers being flexible I think as a district that employees um You know many teachers that have children that are going to be need needing to be flexible You know, let's keep that in mind as as a district as well that um, you know for those that have Young children that are going to be on a split schedule No matter what it may be that let's think about how we can be flexible for those people to maintain employment um specifically if they're in different schools then You currently work in and one other point. Um I lost it. Sorry. I forgot No, I think it's a great point And I think it's one of the things that I find frustrating about the state's school choice law It's different in other states, but in some states, um right now in massachusetts The only way only uh folks who are prioritized in the school choice list have siblings having in the district um It has always bothered me When I was a staff member a teacher and didn't have kids It just philosophically bothered me that we weren't allowed to prioritize staff members who work in the district on school choice lists That's the law. Um, I think it's um unfair Said this before in public meetings. I think it's unfair that we're not able to prioritize staff members Especially as we live in in four communities that are on the more expensive side um of in western massachusetts So so that's really bothered me and um, I don't have a good solution for that. That's not changing state law, which Isn't easy But I do think when we think I mentioned before about child care for for staff members At least offering it and trying to think about how we could do that safely and and reasonably Um, we are going down that road and trying to think about it. And I think to miss seager's point I hate to be pessimistic again about this But I do think it's going to be on the schools to solve that problem Even though I agree it's a much broader problem than what we have And so we are trying to think about given the survey results. How do we maximize? Uh what we can Uh in terms of in class time for elementary kids while taking that feedback This is just my perspective while taking the feedback that we need to get every secondary kid in The district and so we're working on models to try to do that. Um, again, it's it's a puzzle piece There's some some pieces missing in terms of transportation and staffing That we have to wait and see but that is what we're trying to find the right balance of But I I am not optimistic about the state Jumping in and offerings. There's no evidence that uh leads me to believe that that will occur I'll put it that's a more appropriate way to say what I want to say Any other Comments and questions If there's not I just want to say I continue to work closely with with the miss called superintendent colkeen in union 28 And we continue to chat and text. Um, including tonight And um, you know, because we I do know there's a cross section between what happens in union 28 And this these three districts as well and not that we have to make decisions for one another That would be inappropriate But at least that that line of communication continues to be open I want to publicly thank her for always keeping me in the loop things going up on uh, Up and she's very clever Okay, thank you Okay, so, um, it it seems we'll we'll talk about scheduling our next, um Big joint meeting, um offline but tentatively coinciding with the region school committee date, okay Um, so with that, um, I will entertain a motion from The emmer school committee Who's your adjourn? Second Moved by demling seconded by spitzer. There is no discussion vote. Um, uh, roll call vote. Mr. Demling Demling I Miss spitzer spitzer. I Mr. Harrington Harrington I Miss lord Lord I And mcdonald I I'll turn it over to miss hall All right, I will entertain a motion to adjourn helms will committee meeting So moved Go ahead second All right, uh, okay roll call vote ron Manino I Jesse John Louis I There best Kenny I Margaret Stancer I and haul I Okay Um, I I'm gonna now turn it over to mr. Demling Okay as chair of the union 26 school committee seeing the presence of a quorum I will call to order the union 26 school committee And before reading the following Motion, I will do what is required of bodies meeting virtually which is to go around And ensure that we are present can be heard. So, um Going to scratch my head here because it's been a few months since we've all met it's union 26 So the union if you are a union 26 member, this is going to be Um, is this miss mcdonald miss mcdonald? I think miss. I think miss spitzer is the other emersed. Okay Um, let me hear miss mcdonald miss spitzer. Um Um Present Okay Uh, and then the other three members of union 26 miss hall. Yes hall president. Um, mr. Manino Manino And the sixth and final member of union 26 is It's either miss dancer or miss seager I believe no Dr. Morris is it possible the sixth column member cycled off and we have not replaced them I'm going to defer to the chair of pellum here. Um No, it's just it's um me ron and margaret So, okay, so miss dancer. Yes It's cancer present. Sorry miss dancer. Okay Um, okay now we're in the workout session and so, uh, if it's okay with the regional chair, I'll read the union 26 motion first and then Have you read yours? Is that Okay, um So I move that union 26 enter into executive session according to mass general law section 21 Chapter two to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations With non-union personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union union personnel Dermene cunningham assistant superintendent If an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body And the chair so declares and I do so declare With no intention of returning to open session Is there a second on that motion? second Moved by demlich seconded by miss mcdonald's roll call vote to enter into executive session. Uh, miss mcdonald's mcdonald's I miss spitzer spitzer I miss hall all I miss dancer miss dancer I And mr. Menino All right, you point six is um in executive session Um and for the region Um, I move that we the region enters into executive session according to mass general law section 21 chapter two To conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel Or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel during cunningham assistant to superintendent um Should I continue? And and continue in exact after union 26 adjourns With no intention of returning to open session the region will continue an executive short Session in accordance with mass general law section 21 chapter three to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining ufc w afsc me If an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares And I do declare with no intention of returning to open session Is there a second? Second stanzer second Uh, okay moved by mcdonald and seconded by stanzer. We are now in executive session. Oh, no, we have to vote. Sorry Um, mr. Menino Menino I Mr. Demling Demling I Ms. Dancer Stanzer I Ms. Spitzer Spitzer I Ms. Lord Lord I Mr. Harrington Harrington I Mr. Sullivan Sullivan I Ms. Seeger Seeger I And mcdonald I So we now in executive session