 This program is brought to you by cable franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you Let's start with Amherst Maybe maybe we'll start with Yeah, Amherst and so senior presidents of a quorum of the Amherst school committee I'm calling to order the meeting of the Amherst school committee and at 632 p.m. And we'll start with a roll call attendance and Mr. Demling Downing present mr. Harrington Harrington present miss Spitzer Spitzer present Her mcdonald present miss hope All right seeing the presence of a quorum. I'll call to order the meeting of the Pelham school committee And we'll do roll call attendance here to Mr. Manino Manino present miss Kenny Kenny present this dancer Stancer present and Hall present and we we do actually have a new member and I'm Somehow she's not able to get on so I'm trying to figure that out. So we might have Brenda Barlow join shortly So Sorry Sarah miss Hall. Yeah, it's one miss McDonald the public comments are on the website if you check your email if you're able to Miss Figueroa was able to do that When we get there so but miss Hall Could she because she doesn't have an ARPS email yet was she invited by miss Figueroa? No by me I Did her but probably did something wrong. Yeah, it's just a Google for education security protocols So what I will do is have miss Figueroa. Can you if you could message me her email address? Okay Who set up the appointment emails her or lets her in then she can get in okay. All right Sorry to the group. All right. Thank you. Yeah, okay So seeing a presence of a quorum I'm calling to order the meeting of the regional school committee at 634 p.m. And I'll start with roll call attendance and mr. Demling Demling present Mr. Harrington Harrington present I think I saw miss Lord join miss Lord No, yeah, mr. Manino Manino present Miss eager see your present miss Spitzer Spitzer present miss cancer stance her present mr. Sullivan Sullivan present McDonald present We are now in order We Before the meeting started we noted that we do not yet have the minutes from last night, which is I think I think we were Minally ambitious expecting that we might have those to approve today, but so we will approve them at our next joint meeting And so now we'll move on to public comment. I will say We are being broadcast live on Channel 15 and Amherst and online. Thank you to Amherst media We also are being recorded So we'll move on to public comment We have a few recorded voice messages and then Many email public comment and I will thank you to everybody who submitted and resubmitted their public comment today with the With the subject line public comments so that it was very clear that you intended those to be shared for public comment when we get to the email version we'll be sharing a document on screen and Similarly to last night, we've also posted a PDF of that Of that document on the regional school committee website on the agenda page Good evening. This is Steve's a con Anderson teacher at the Amherst middle school and live in Conway I'm reading a letter that has been submitted by a collective group of educators for tonight's meeting To the Amherst regional school committee and superintendent Morris Teachers have been actively paying attention. It seems to have I can't get it to play again Listen to school committee meetings making their concerns known and advocating for their students in recent weeks We know that regardless of the model the school committee chooses teaching and learning will be different this year It will not be business as usual. Please listen to our voices and consider the following in what will be best for all students Almost every public comment from your meeting last evening supported full-time remote learning for the fall Yet the school committee conversation that followed did not seem to reflect these comments or concerns Teacher anxiety and fear are not the main reasons teachers have concerns teaching in person in fall 2020 We want to be sensible and smart about health and safety Long-term community safety and physical and emotional well-being We have expert knowledge on the best way to educate students during this pandemic These are the reasons teachers think remote learning will be most effective this fall Marginal educational gains provided by in-person learning Compared to distance learning if any gains exist do not outweigh the risk cost in human lives and Consequent communal trauma that comes with in-person schooling. It's not even close Please talk to vulnerable populations and those who teach them to seek their input about what those students need School committee members Recognize the risks posed by UMass reopening plans and we're willing to put those concerns in writing to the university Yet those concerns did not seem to be taken into account in discussions about our own reopening model if we wait until Conditions change and infection numbers go up in Hampshire County before changing the plan. Isn't it going to be too late? We urge you to also include all members of the community in this dialogue by reading aloud all public comment letters providing closed captioning and translations Sincerely, and I know I don't have time to read all the names, but you can see a Large group of educators have sent you this letter Thank you very much. I will note that this This letter is also in the public comment to PDF. That's posted online So that with the full list of names of educators that have submitted that comment The middle school as well as a parent in the district of Amherst School committee members in a school administration through conversations and I'm listening to community members staff and the news I feel that it is imperative that the school committee not let physical education health be pushed aside We cannot lose sight that this is a health pandemic In planning for the fall, we should remain cognizant that this is affecting all of us staff and students both mentally and physically Teaching and in learning we need to make sure our students and staff are healthy as a whole That we are thinking about the overall wellness and not just What many consider the core academics? There are many studies that discuss the connection between exercise and the brain If once the motions are unstable cortisol is built Which is a chemical that over time creates anxiety depression and pessimism It's a body goes into a fight or flight mode for too long It creates permanent messages that will take a lot of work to edit our brains needs What we call a dose of happiness dopamine oxytocin This is happiness through movement or creativity through artistic and musical thought to identify Emotions and work through them. All of us are feeling many emotions daily in Creating an educational plan that helps to foster these opportunities for dose We need to cut down on the transitions from being remote or in person This only causes more trauma and cortisol for everyone's brains Understanding our health and what is happening in our bodies is important and creating a healthy being that is red Not ready to shut down from the negative thoughts and anxiety due to the buildup of cortisol We know that if we return in a few weeks, it will not be the learning environment that we all remember It will be a space that continues to create anxiety about the unknown Therefore not Appears that this is the message has gotten cut off. I apologize The co-president of the Pellum Amherst and Amherst Pellum regional special education parent advisory council CPAC would like to encourage you to reconsider the failed vote of the Amherst school committee concerning the guiding principles for school staff during this pandemic If the committee is unable to pass the guidance as written the result could be that our schools will adopt a fully remote learning model a Fuller remote learning model would leave our students with complex special needs within an inadequate education Physical occupational speech therapy and social learning are essential services for many students in our district And these cannot be delivered meaningfully through a computer Parents do not have the years of training to be substitute specialists Nor the bandwidth to be parents teachers and speciality service providers Without these interventions our students will be impacted for the rest of their lives It is the mission of our district to teach all children How can we do that equitably if we don't have enough teachers to do this? We sympathize with the concern of requiring teachers to return to work during this time and agree with the need to Accommodate as many teachers as we can who still feel that they cannot return to in-person teaching however, we feel That the district is taking appropriate measures to make our schools resilient to this virus There are many jobs that have been deemed essential Teaching should be one of them the work that teachers do is invaluable It has been decades in the making for our society to value the lives of all of our students Regardless of the variety of abilities that our students present with we cannot accept a change to this value now Thank you. Well Connor. This is a public comment Related to tonight's that to the school committee vote Caitlyn O'Connor who's a resident of Amherst high school. I sent an email as well, so I apologize It's a little bit redundant, but but Caitlyn's mother and I wanted to underscore the importance that that we think Making sure that we That Caitlyn and others with special needs are able to get their education delivered to them and we don't think that can work through a fully remote The issues with the COVID-19 crisis, but but speech therapy, etc Issue for us and with individualized and special needs as well. So thank you for listening again My name is Michael O'Connor. I'm calling on behalf of myself as well as Catherine Lodge who is Caitlyn's mother I'm a resident of Sunderland a teacher in Amherst middle school and an a pe a building rep I'm reading this comment for the Amherst Pellum educators educators association Dear Amherst regional school committee and superintendent morris. Thank you for considering the reopening plans for the fall We have been following your discussions The Amherst Pellum educators association our educators union would like to be clear that our position has not changed Remote learning is the safest and most educational sound delivery model for the fall reopening The narrative portrays of the school committee does not match the live reality of how students learn How our educators the lead students will learn fast and remain safe during the pandemic and the public comment made to the school committee While some educators may be willing and able to be in person in the fall We cannot guarantee that they will be special education English language learner or high needs educators We need the district to meet directly with special education English language learner and high needs staff before discussing it further We are willing to help facilitate and schedule this. We are concerned that the models do not reflect the reality of safety protocols We would like to give our staff a chance to share what has worked about remote learning Especially the summer for intensive needs students and to assist in problem solving In an anonymous ap a survey 94 percent of educated respondents have expressed concerns about the safety for students and staff If we return to an in-person model We anticipate with various significant percentage of staff who will not return to in-person learning We need answers to information requests to move to the district in response to a health and safety checklist As well as other questions members have submitted It is july 21st 2020 and valuable time for planning has already been lost The arts calendar needs to be adjusted to allow educators adequate time to plan and receive additional training Serving our students needs An educational needs safety must be the starting point for determining delivery models We had knowledge that we will need to provide virtual learning this year The transitions in between models will ensure unrecoverable learning loss for our students remote learning Should be the focus with attention to issues that need to be resolved rather than in-person learning as a focus We need immediate resources for staff to begin planning for remote learning Thank you the Amherst Holland Education Association I will now share the printed version which again as a reminder is on the website on the regional school committee agendas page For those who can't If that's blurry on your screen at home Can folks see that? So i'm watching the clock and I believe that i've been on this letter for three minutes So i'm going to scroll more quickly To continue on to the next comment This is the text of the email that was read to us in the very first comment So i'm going to skim right over that. This is the list of teachers Or educators that were party to that message And that is everything as a reminder that That full document is um posted on our website on the school committee website at arps.org Navigate over to the regional school committee Meeting agendas page and you will find the link to that document there And just as a reminder, um, there are plenty of meetings coming up. Um, so any additional future public comment Can be voice message To our phone number which is posted on our On every one of our agendas and usually as school committee members also post that on their facebook pages So you are welcome to re submit public comment by voice message at any time before Meetings and they'll get included or email To my email address McDonald's a at arps.org and please please please um put the subject line public comment or in the first line of the email Indicate that it is for public comment so that we be sure that we can include it in um in public comment period And Now moving on um to the superintendent's update. Um, dr. Morris Sure, uh, I got a couple items. Believe it or not. This is where we're here 24 hours ago There's still new news um that I want to share so the first is that the m i a A which is the message. It's inter collegiate or inter scholastic excuse me athletic association unanimously approved a recommendation put forth by the The their covet 19 task force to push the fall sports season back to september 14th And that the commissioner Riley has said that They'll be releasing updated guidelines for athletics in august So sort of no news particularly, but I know I've received a number of communications from families And actually from students On this particular issue. So the only thing I have to share is that It won't be starting at the beginning of september and that early august seems like when we'll get more information And then we'll bring that here and have that conversation Speaking of school reopening uh email this to the school community members and it's on our website our fall 2020 website. Um Bring them a Brigham and waymans hospital and the harvard chan school of public health They created a school reopening readiness guide. It's it's long It's about 80 pages, but I found it incredibly helpful. Um, and so it just encouraged people to go to our website It it has sort of a Checklist for that would be useful. It talked about a little with principles today as well as for central office administrators related health and safety Of openings, so it's a really helpful resource and I want to thank all the people who worked on it And encourage people take a look A couple other things we had uh, miss conning ham and I had a I thought a very productive meeting with the apa executive board today At that meeting are slightly thereafter for 30 or so we received the data request and we'll work on that as soon as possible Get it back for the apa You know and certainly happy to meet with um special ed staff as was mentioned in the public comment We've also been in touch with multiple. Um, uh, both special education Placement schools so uh places where students might attend an added district placement They have schools there and they work with Specialized populations also many of our neighbor districts are opening up for special ed summer school for a sense of need students Holyoke's open Hamsh Hadley's opening next week and Northampton's opening So we're also trying to collect a lot of information about what's working What's not from places that are working with specific populations this summer And we are happy to connect our staff to other staffs as well to see what we can learn from them Um, a good news update, uh, is that uh, this will go out tomorrow morning, but um, share this here I'm pleased to inform the committee in the community that um, Talib Siddique who's on this call. There he is Um, has been appointed the interim principal for the high school for the 2020 This current school year. I can't say 2020 2021. It just doesn't roll off the tongue Uh, for those who don't know, mr. Siddique has been the assistant principal for the past few years Um, was dean of students counselor at the middle school Mickey Grimackie who's been the assistant principal will continue to support them Miss Cunningham sent a kind of an info update to staff On friday and said any ideas you have and a high number of staff responded saying we really appreciate the leadership team their collaboration and their their their work moving forward so Really appreciate mr. Siddique stepping up at a typical moment in education Right now and you know I was able to see last week some of his work with staff thinking about the schedule, which we'll talk about a little later Uh, and I'm just uh, you know, both miss Cunningham and I are thrilled about that And as is our leadership team and we're happy to support the work of mr. Siddique and the high school moving forward So congratulations Talib, uh, and just wanted to share that with the larger group The last update is uh, and you'll see this a little later in the presentation But I just want to stop and pause and something I don't probably say enough Though uh in public it's just a really appreciate the hard work of the administrative team this summer People are on this call from other locales tonight People have not taken vacation. You know, they've not traveled Obviously with covet but just they've given up made a lot of personal sacrifice of not seeing kids and family And maintaining very long hours Throughout and I just want to really stress how important And how talented our administrative team is whenever we're putting together wherever we land at the end of this Just the work that's gone on over the last four months, but particularly the last two months of planning You know, I just really want to thank the creativity of our team. I learned something new every day That's you know, if we're looking for silver linings over the last couple months And most of those things I learned from the the talented leaders that I get to work with Precated 12. So I just wanted to share that and just acknowledge and appreciate That people have been on for a really long time There hasn't been an off switch that anyone's been able to take. I keep on encouraging people to Be able to take uh take a little breaks here and there and every time I do You know, well, I don't I try not to text an email It's uh, you know, I'm getting them from people who are really trying to creatively think of this challenge And just want to say that this is You know for all of us on this call Everyone who's watching as well. This is the most atypical challenge that I've seen in my 20 years in education. I know we have been people on this call who have been in education longer this is not a typical situation and It requires a lot of creative thinking And I just want to really appreciate that I feel like our staff wherever we land at the end of this as a district has really risen to the challenge Of being creative and working collaboratively to try to figure out what's best for kids And so I just wanted to really acknowledge and appreciate the leadership team's work Over the last few weeks and months You're muted miss mcdonald. Thank you Um, I was eating while while presenting so Um, are there any questions for our comments, um, mr. Dunling Yeah, so I really appreciate what you said about the admin staff It takes me back to a concern that I raised about six weeks ago. So I want to ask you an impossible question, which is You know, we have people in key positions who have been doing extraordinary work at a maxed out level Since at least march And we need these people it's critical to the whole anything that we do Over the next school year that they that they're at their best over the next school year But they're not they're not super cute. Nobody's superhuman It's a how do we how do we Make sure they don't burn out. It's like the it's the most important resource in education You know is is is the human resource and how do we how do we ensure that the people in key positions who have Not had much of a break at all don't are there when we need them and that we that we're taking care of them Okay, I'm not muted. I thought I was um, so, uh It's an impossible question What else share is that what we've tried to do and I've encouraged folks actually for the rest of this week You know and some folks shaking me up on it is to take a couple days We know you have a meeting on thursday for the amherst school committee anyway Have a meeting on thursday and you know to to try to pause for a couple days because you're right You know, I you know, I heard from one of the staff members not on this call today because I had a question And the comment was, you know, I've taken a half day off since the last day of school in june And and that's probably not a sustainable base because it wasn't a quiet spring. It wasn't like, oh, yeah I got away enough in in april from the office and spend time with family or visited people and and so it is something We actively talk about and I think right now the The piece that I would say is sustaining is the collaborative nature of the team That people are actively working together on a routine basis And that only gets you so far. So I want to be realistic that that's not like an answer to your question I do think that has really contributed That the fact that we'll leave a meeting and almost every meeting that we leave It's like, you know, do you go and talk and make you're like, hey, let's talk afterwards about secondary and That people are actively not on islands Or at least we're trying to make them not on islands as much as possible and we're collaboratively But I think there is some finite limit to that and and really I've been trying my best to encourage some folks to take some Time and and I think in the next week, you'll you know, if not, you'll see but well You may if you look for them that some people are taking time A little bit because we know that whatever again wherever the school committee lands will have a tremendous amount of work to do From now until september no matter what the plan is It's sort of plan plan Independent it's still going to be a significant amount of work. So not a great answer But I think it's the truth and it's the dedication that our staff that even when they're on vacation I'm still getting texts about I had this creative idea about this and and that that that's who the people are And we also need people to to unplug Which is harder in this world than it was before oddly enough That's what we're finding anyway Mr. Harrington I just kind of wanted to add on to that I just want to make sure and I'm I probably have a different perspective on this that we we aren't forgetting The other folks who have been consistently working since the the day that we shut down And that's our transportation workers custodial workers in the food service workers who've been providing food for our Our students at the same time, but yeah I just want to thank everyone that's been Burning the candle at both ends Absolutely. Thank you for saying that mr. Harrington Any any more comments or ask? Okay, thank you um and uh Moving on to the chair's update. Um as as chair of region in Amherst since we just met last night I don't have any new updates. Um, but I'll uh let the Pelham chair Ask if she would like to make an update Sure. Thank you. Just very quickly. I know we have a packed agenda I want to welcome Brenda Barlow who's our newest member as of this morning So we're officially a full committee. Um So welcome Brenda. She has been Following us. This is a hell of a time to get into this, but we are thrilled to have you Okay Um and next up is a school committee announcements. Um, so are there any new announcements since uh yesterday evening Seeing none. Um, though I I did I did hear mr. Demling suggest that we have a um an open meeting cocktail party tomorrow evening So I will just put that out there that that might be um an invitation coming um, so Moving on to new and continuing business um tonight We're hearing a presentation um from uh, dr. Morris and the uh district um on uh fall planning So I'll turn it over to you Sorry, this will be a collaborative effort, but I want to start by uh, Suggesting the next agenda item which talks about staff and uh, family surveys. I think we'll get into um Some responses to last night's conversation a number of school members asked me what the implications of A variety of different scenarios are so, uh I just want to be clear at the beginning that we'll make this presentation It was made it was crafted at a time where we had certain information We now have different information or at least potentially different information. Uh, so I want to both acknowledge that we're not We're considering that fact and we'll be talked about at least I will share it and see what the committee wants to do Uh after this presentation, but we're going to move forward with the work that we've been We've been again, uh advancing over the last several months, uh Because we want to know to let the committee know What's in there? You know, we went back and forth last night and I think you heard me going back and forth last night But whether to have this meeting and we felt like it's the right thing to do to share with the committees and the community At least one model or models. I should say there's not one uh that we were considering and then have another conversation of of Uh, what the committee how the committee wants to move forward So, uh, I just want to be really clear at the beginning that we're not Ignoring the conversation last night, but we also didn't feel right about not Presenting the work that had been done If that makes hopefully that makes some sense if it doesn't hopefully it will at the end except for Brenda I'm sorry since uh, we'll just move forward and uh, please let us know and welcome And if you have any questions along the way something I say to everybody who joins knew whether it's administrative team or school can be a member, um, please um Feel free to speak up and uh No one assumes that you know all the things then the last the meetings that have happened recently and sometimes the questions from someone new on the group Show a different perspective than people who have been sitting in meetings and can be incredibly valuable So just welcome and I wanted to share that So, uh, I'll share my screen again. Once I do that I won't be uh able to see all of you So please orally tell me if there's any, you know issues with seeing it or anything like that It's the same presentation that's on our website, you know, it was in the agenda packet Um, so no if people have that they can follow along there as well Okay So can people see that okay? Okay, um So, uh, again, this is opening schools in fall 2020. Um So, uh, I just put on the dashboard from yesterday about the state. Um dad I didn't choose to put on local data, but I certainly could have um, but Compared to where we were in april you could see there's a significant uh downward trajectory that knock on wood fortunately for us has continued Uh, if you look at states like maryland, virginia, washington dc there are about three times the um these same indicators in other states So we feel very fortunate. I'm not a uh, I can't predict the future I don't have a crystal ball and I don't know what's going to happen in the future But I wanted to say really publicly I want to thank the community of amherst and people across the commonwealth because we see the outcomes for states Uh that don't follow social distancing and don't have those norms and opened up Things like bars and amusement parks and and things like that, uh, you know, and I think some of that we're seeing the difference You know and moving forward this type of decision making, uh, that we'll have to do about schools Needs to be done both at a statewide and local level We don't know what those future trends are But one of the things that we need to do is be looking at them on a daily basis Not just day by day because you see some variants, especially low incidence communities right now hamshare and franklin county Are relatively low incidence for covet 19. Uh, so day by day numbers can shift up or down and you know One or two cases can shift the percentage significantly But looking at seven and 14 day average is much like new york state and other states are doing can be valuable But um, you know, I feel very fortunate to be living here and working here at this moment in time That may not be true in the fall, right? Who knows what'll happen, but I do think This is our current situation. I also want to say that, you know, for probably three quarters of the nation Uh, it probably shouldn't be having in my opinion conversations about opening school Right. I know there's a disagreement here about whether we should be having these conversations or what the decisions should be Uh, and I respect people with lots of different opinions on that matter But if we were in a different state, I would be having a really different I think all of us would be having a very different conversation And if the data changes here, I think again that conversation will change significantly So a couple things just some guiding assumptions. Many of these came from philadelphia. They came out with a I thought a really strong document So our local community is a low rate of infection community spread that could change The expectation that well the 99 percent and what that means is a vaccine you think of vaccines that are almost all Effective and you can think of some of those to be available at the start of school year won't happen and possibly not This school year or beyond many of the vaccines. I mean I've heard Epidemiologists say, you know, it'd be successful to have a 75 percent vaccine So if you think of the flu vaccine, it's like 50 percent and some of the other vaccines we have at closer to 99 like polio and In the high 90s, um, you know, we don't know what the vaccine will do This is not a short term issue in my opinion. I tend to be pessimistic about that I know other people can be optimistic, but uh, you know, I don't think Waiting till a vaccine is one thing, but I think what the vaccine's success rate is another factor We need to think about The virus can progress quickly. We've seen that over the last month across the country And we need to continue to receive guidance from local and state health officials Um, we need to as a result have operational and structural flexibility as conditions change That we need to think about our schools being nimble about changing between different models Based on public health information There certainly are going to be students and staff who Based on their health needs cannot return to building And we need to make accommodations and support them and we also have student populations for whom face to face learning Remains a priority. So those are just some guiding assumptions They're my opinion. Philadelphia wrote them and Obed and I made some edits to them But they're they're sort of my opinion and those probably aren't changing much, right? Um, you know, they're sort of Statements, I guess, um at the current time So what have we done in terms of health and safety? I know this is going to be the labor of the point But I think it is important to stress some of the things that we have planned So we have face coverings required In our our vision that we're required for all staff and students in k to 12 like many states desi has required In grades two to 12 and encouraged in k and one We want to have more more You know face covering breaks things like that for the younger kids. We know it's going to be a process But when we look at other states who have it k to 12 There's nothing in massachusetts that seem unique about kindergarten and first graders here versus in new york and other states Uh, as as you're aware the world health organization in desi recommended a three foot minimum and We've committed with your support to arrange them at six foot distancing in classrooms Our ppe is purchased and available for students and staff differentiated by roles on our website everything that's purchased or is coming Um staff will not need to purchase their own ppe We've developed contract tracing protocols with our nurse manager here who does that um in her home community As well as with the amherst town health department We have tools and protocols being developed for self certification processes So what the state is recommended to us is that on a daily basis staff and students and families Self certify in terms of any symptoms. Um looking at this data It's going to be helpful long after you know knock on wood. COVID is gone about Tracking community spread for non-covid related illness. It's actually, you know It's one of these things that once you start looking at what's possible. You're like, why weren't we doing this before? What we could have tracked flew we could have tracked other kinds of illness within schools within classrooms So we're excited about that We've made a decision no visitors will be allowed inside school buildings Other districts are providing different ways for that for us. It's really about students and staff We've purchasing clear trifold partitions for individual student evaluations to allow for them to occur safely And as you'll find out in a couple minutes with elementary schedules that build in hourly outdoor time Those are all about personal safety from a building for safety perspective Uh, we've purchased hepa and uv light pure air purifiers for each classroom. Um, I talked about that a little last night We've talked about classrooms being in only windowed spaces We're talking about reduced school hours for enhanced cleaning and also to improve ventilation Disinfecting sprayers and we've ordered electrostatic devices to assist with that Rooms that don't have hand wash stations. We've bought um, so That uh sanitizer stations that can be installed in every classroom and in entrances I should say that we're also buying the hepa uv light purifiers not just for classrooms, but also for office spaces Mr. Mio, could you wait to like get to the end of just this list? I know it's a lengthy list, but I think it's Um, it's important um to go down and then we'll move things along quicker after this The construction work is progressing very well at fort river and wildwood to improve the air quality and ventilation Quarantine rooms have been identified and the tents have been purchased for each building So again, I won't belabor other points and I'll encourage some principles not to but I did think it was I know we've talked about these things a number of different times piecemeal And I wanted to have one sort of organized list And it's not, you know the the longer document the 17 page pdf has a couple other things But I wanted to have one place where uh, so a summary of our approach could be um accounted for I think this might need to pause for questions and we'll start with mr. Manino Uh, the question of no visitors I have been helping out at the Pelham school and in any one time about 15 cars parked in the parking lot Volunteers of various sorts. Does that mean those people won't be volunteering anymore? It does that's the recommendation we receive from cdc and the way we've approached all of these things is we take the most conservative Um recommendations and we're trying to implement them as best we can So there are states and other places that allow a more flexible visitor policy Um for us, you know, it just felt it added another variable into our environment and especially when you get into contact tracing That gets really complicated very quickly When you have visitors who are in and out of school. So it is a polar change I don't want to minimize that and volunteers like you mr. Manino I'm just going to embarrass you a little bit offer a tremendous amount To your school to the schools and I know you do in Pelham with the work you do with students And yet the public health piece um and the guidance we received is to really limit Uh anyone who's not a student or staff member and so, you know, that's unfortunate But we feel like um, we want to hold the line on that Thank you Are there other questions on this particular side miss dancer? I don't know if this is the right place to ask this question. Um, and it's something that's come up in a number of the comments that we've received asking um What happens if someone ends up testing positive, you know, what's the extent Of the of the contract tracing the quarantining and things and so this may not be the right place to ask that But I'd like to leave it there For some point in time Yeah, I can respond briefly to that. So desi on friday released a 17 page document It's on our website with the protocols that um, they're recommending be in place. Um, some of them are different if you're Six feet versus three feet. So, you know, there there's some of that but they it's a long document But there's a nice chart about halfway through that describes situation by situation what would happen So, um, if you go to the fall 2020 planning site under planning, we've every time we get a desi document We're uploading it there. So we're trying to be very transparent with what we're receiving Um, and uh for anyone, you know, I think it would take a lot longer than we have right now to go through that Full document, but uh, it is it does lay out. Uh, what happens when? Okay, thank you I'll ask a question another um question that we've heard a lot. Um, we've asked, um, but we're also hearing it from the community as well What about um testing of um staff indoor students So we are in the last week, uh, miss consolino and I have had conversations both with amherst college about their testing protocol as well as Testing company that they're in most places in new england. Frankly are using most colleges The recommendation from the department of public health and desi at the current time is is not to test students and families Excuse me students and staff You know the right now driving it carrying it to the lab in cambridge to getting the results the lag time That's thought to limit the some of the usefulness or effectiveness of asymptomatic testing I did notice this week that the um, the government did allow an approved pool testing. So pool testing is a method where multiple it's Cost efficient and can test a large number of people at once you don't get individual results But you do see if there's anyone within the community Who um does test positive? Um, so that that's an interesting development So it is we have been actively talking about that. We do have a price point of what it would cost And we do have a sense of what the logistics would be not the pool testing because that just happened a couple days ago, but We as far as I know, there's one school district in illinois that's instituting it They happen to live in the same town as the testing company. So there's some arrangement that's been made But I have not heard about that Don from a student perspective it creates some challenges If a student or a family refuses for their child to get tested, you know Are they allowed in the school and frankly the same would go for a staff member that would have to be negotiated With the association About what happens with that information what happens with that data? So I won't talk about that in a public meeting because certainly if we go down that road that would have to be negotiated with with all the bargaining units About how that would go. Um, so it raises some challenges. It's not something that I'm closing the door to but it it It's not been recommended to us at the current time Are there other questions? Mr. Harrington I had a question regarding uh, like contact tracing that that's already been ongoing um Have we established some sort of a protocol for if if somebody comes up within contact tracing prior to school starting like like will they Do we have a means to prevent them from coming Into the school or how would we handle that situation? Can you I'm sorry, it's probably I'm sure it's me mr. Harrington. Can you I'm not sure I'm totally getting the question. So I apologize So with with the contact tracing that that's already started like in other communities and so on and so forth if we had like an educator from somewhere that that Or a student even that that We had found out due to contact tracing had been exposed Prior to school starting. Oh, we have like some sort of a protocol to handle that and I mean, I know we have to respect people's privacy Yeah, so I mean the short answer is yes that the department of public health departments from different towns do communicate And one of the questions is you know, what's your workplace? Who's your employer to be able to do that? The desi document does describe that in some detail But the short story is that the public health departments and you know, in our case miss consolino would be a contact for us The moment someone gets tested they're contacted and the contract tracing, you know, one of the first pieces is employment And for children to be school or college or wherever, you know workplace So there is quick communication that occurs on that front And I'm sorry. I misunderstood the question at the beginning and there are other questions Miss spitzer and then miss segar so, um I just had a quick question about The fact that there will probably be movement across state boundaries in particular. Are we going to be asking either the staff or the families to in the same similar way to Um I think I've seen this guidance at the Pre-k and daycare level that you're supposed to quarantine for two weeks if your family has been outside of First it was massachusetts and I've changed it to new england So I'm wondering if we're going to do anything like that to try to really get people to agree to You know not visit disney land or disney world, which is just They're both equally problematic right now. I think so, uh, Los angeles and florida probably not the places to to be in this front So that's really where some of the self self certification piece comes in is about Also including pieces around prior travel. We've already had staff indicate that they're planning to drive it. You know, they planned to visit family And they know there's a 14 day Peace and they were concerned if we started like professional development early Before the school year started, you know They wanted to know how early it could be to make sure that they're going to have the 14 day quarantine before they'd be at work Uh, so we responded to those emails similarly So short answer is yes, and then that's really why we want to have an electronic system that around sour flavor verification miss sigar Um, I actually don't have a question anymore I do have um a clarification question you um note here that uh staff will not need to purchase their own ppe Does that include facial coverings? It does now the facial coverings we purchased Are are multiple types. Um, we know that many staff will prefer to bring their own facial covering based on comfort based on That they're disposable in terms of impact on the environment We've heard that already from many staff, but um, it's not going to be you know For some staff that might be a financial barrier and we've bought You know tens of thousands of disposable masks for staff members and it's um It would be staff members choice whether to do that and then we've bought a significant number of specialized ones like Ones that have clear mouth covering for students for staff members working with students who are learning English who are Um, they have speech challenges, you know for staff members working with specific populations as well as more intensive ones for students Where social distancing is going to be more of a challenge based on age or developmental need Promise we'll pick up the pace So, uh, you know phasing models is the next piece So phasing essentially means allowing in-person learning for smaller population students Learning along that process while others throughout the year By distance learning and what it will do in our opinion and you see we're proposing three phasing models There's not a non phasing model that we're proposing For consideration. So I want to be really clear sometimes the absence you might just assume. Oh, these are options are not phasing Uh, the administration is not proposing a non phased model. I want to be really clear about that And and one of the reasons it gives us more time to develop our programming our procedures and targeted professional development It also gives us opportunity to learn with a smaller set of students Be more planful about in-person if not the whole school is coming back at once or even half the school Um, and our initial phasing was developed to prioritize students who have a hard time accessing distance learning We know that based on research as well as our own experience It's also consistent with desi special education guidance, which also included beyond special education talked about ELL homeless students And the guidance that you know was in your document that all three committees voted last night in terms of prioritization Um Right all students, uh, regardless of their phase group and there's important points I think this was pointed out when we were first developing it. That's why we have a strong team Have the option of distance learning and it's going to be substantially different again All indications from this our state are that students will receive 998 hours at the secondary level 900 hours at the elementary level You know expectations of attendance grading direct instruction time on learning You know that this will not look like what I would call emergency distance learning was in the spring And I think our staff did a fantastic job this spring trying to make that work But that's not going to be what anyway And I think the survey data showed from all three stakeholder group students Families and staff that there was a lot of learning that happened about what we can do what what happened and what we can do better Um, all phases we'd want to start with training and orientations for students and staff and then a virtual one for families Um, and that we'd want to start the day with partial start the school year at any phase with partial days both to build up to build up mask tolerance or face covering tolerance But also to to work on the routines of the day that it's going to be an adjustment for everyone And we want everyone to have the time to adjust effectively And I think the key point too moving between phases forward or backwards has to be based on public health data So the well there's dates on the next slide. It's their dates assuming Uh, our public health data trends in a positive direction if it trended in different direction We make different decisions about phases. So they're not locked in stone But we need to start with some level of planning around that So I mentioned the desi guidance earlier. So just a couple quotes from there students or disability I'm just going to read them students with disabilities particularly preschool age students and those with significant and complex needs should be prioritized for receiving in-person instruction next year and even if schools or schools or districts are operating in hybrid or remote model educators and administrators Provide up to full-time in-person instruction to such students. Some of this is based on um You know students access to distance learning and some of this is based on the level of expected Achievement gap growth or opportunity to grab growth that happened in the spring not just in our community But actually nationally. We know that certain accommodations and modifications Don't work well in a virtual context and some do and for some students distance with disabilities distance learning was fantastic We've heard that and for other students with disabilities. That was not the case So again for our face Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. Uh, we have a Question at least one. Um, mr. Deming Yeah, I'm so if you could just back up. Yeah on that slide So, you know, one of the guiding principles from the framework document that we had is um prioritizing in-person learning For the student groups who are least effectively able to access Um that and and we've had this kind of So somewhat evolving definition, right? We've had ELL Special ed and special ed in general is different than those with significant and complex needs. It's different than our That's that's mostly but not always the specialized special ed programs We have ELL and ELL is beginner to a gradation Um, and then there's so that's that's like what we've defined and then there's there's what the the FAPE requirements are so, um And it's okay. So there's those two things and then in addition And tonight isn't the first time we've seen or read this but we've seen a lot of Uh, very detailed comment from teachers who've worked with all the populations. I just described and so Not being an educator myself. Um, you know, I'm left to trying to Take all that input and determine well, which student groups really aren't able to access remote effectively Um, which which ones do we not even have a choice about because of fate? And in which ones is there a little more evaluation? And how are we making out of it? Could you just talk? I know it's a long question But it's a really really important one for me in terms of um in terms of how we prioritize the phasing So if you just talk about FAPE and then how we identify those other population Sure, and dr. Brady's on this call. I don't know if she wants to jump into this question But if she does she's welcome to uh, and I'll maybe just start us off with with that I think it is an individualized decision, right? So even students within any specialized program The the wide berth of needs And learning styles learning modalities And so I don't think it can be necessarily kind of broad brush And I know I know you I'm not suggesting you were attempting to that you're attempting to do the opposite of that. Mr. Demling Um, and so I do think it has to be thought about on an individual level and uh, I think the other thing I would say um Oh, let me let me dr. Brady jump in and then I'll jump in back after her with one more thought Sure, and and thank you mr. Demling for asking such a great question And I think it is one that I wish there was a very easy answer to but as in most of the work we do um general broad based Comments do not capture all the work. Um, I often say to people the most important letter in the term when we say IEP is the I for individualized And I think the guidance tries to capture that a little broader saying students with complex Disabilities and high needs and there's a page in the IEP called the pl three That identifies which students are high need category So I think we would be looking at all of those and I think most importantly All of that in collaboration with families because there's a lot that goes into making those decisions And most decisions will be most effective for students when they're made in collaboration and partnership with families So I know that doesn't give you many specifics But um, I hope it gives you the frame of reference in how we would be making those decisions And coming to some conclusions Yeah, and I the thing I wanted to add to dr. Brady is she's done some initial work Not by individual student but by program to say what would this additional support look like You know for some students um Yeah, I'm going to keep it a little general I think for tonight for some students It might be that their academic program occurs even if their grade level is not there because their academic program Um, it's significantly far off from their age level peers for other students It could be that they're accessing distance learning while in the school with different resources and support So when necessarily be a corner of a teaching model, it would be much more A tutoring model. So if students were in the school, they could have a chromebook or, you know, whatever model, you know technology and that Staff would be could be supporting them With what the rest of their peers are doing because the academic level is relatively close But it may be other factors they get in the way From accessing the curriculum. So that's where it gets really complex and I appreciate dr. Brady Starting to kind of map that out at a broad level about the different levels of support that we Would want to offer and then have to look at individual students and make the best determination Mr. Deming Yes, thank you for that But just just quick follow-up to kind of finish that thread If you could just because it is such a a generalized but important term could you define fAPE? and and how that impacts Because I think I think it from the school think many point of view in terms of the what we need to provide With education as a service um, I think it factors into that conversation and so if you could just just Briefly describe what it is and how it affects how we identify these populations I'll let dr. Brady take this one Sure. So I'll give you a very brief thumbnail sketch of that. So Back in the mid 70s The law was passed to Provide a free and appropriate public education for all students including students with disabilities And some people I am one of those people who can remember life before that and how our students with disabilities Were really not anywhere near included in any educational experience And that has changed over the years and that and I think we've seen tremendous Growth in our culture in our society as we Began to see the value of educating all students So when they talk about a free and appropriate public education that means access To the general education and the education that all other non disabled students are receiving As well as not just access but making meaningful progress And I think those are the two tenants that are most important when you're thinking about When we talk in our acronyms called faith. Those are the two most important tenants to keep in mind. So Um, because sometimes one can think about it's just access But if this if our students aren't making meaningful progress Then we aren't meeting the standard of faith either Does that answer the question well enough? Yes, thank you Take a whole legal course in this Thank you. Um, uh miss dancer So that's a term I've not heard before can you provide the acronym for that? Sure F As in free appropriate a Public p Education e Thank you. So and the other acronym which if you're want a little kind of piece about Special education to think about is lre which is least restrictive environment and Kind of both of those are become important in this conversation as we plan Thank you very much. You're welcome All right. I think I'll move forward if that's okay So you can see our first draft of phasing plans again I explain why the students in group phase one at all three levels would be in phase one and some of this comes from research and evidence about Who was able to be successful in a distance learning In all the ways that dr. Brady said even the non-special engineering sense on the list The only difference is that elementary we talked about having kindergarten or first grade as part of phase one and Some of this is based on the feedback that if students aren't able to read and many students in those grade levels in particular aren't able to read That it makes distance learning a substantially different experience Then for students who are older I'm not suggesting one can leave a second grade or a third grader home alone every day And so I know that there are real implications Around that but we wanted to start with no more than about 30 percent of students in the building and that's sort of How we came to that calculation You can see it phase two At the elementary level We're thinking about grades two and three at the middle school level grade seven the transition grade High school grade nine and we're going back and forth on grade ten and you can see that in the chart high school is the most complex because For for many teachers at the other levels they teach in one grade level not all but many And that's not true at the high school and that adds a layer of complexity That's not not there at pre-k to eight and then at phase three you can see that that would be where we get just about to all students Back in school and by all again, we know that some students won't come back. So it's just 100 capacity It's not expecting truly 100 of students to respond to to return And here's a couple different models that we developed. So the first has You know relatively and we don't know exactly the date We're waiting for desi about what that looks like but the first whenever school starts to have those groups The phase one groups join In model one the phase two groups would be towards the end of the month or at the end of the month and phase three Would be after indigenous people's day in mid-october In model two You see that the start would be the same in terms of phase one This this is the most complex model to look at and understand because the elementary and the secondary are on different Different phases or different models. I should say so phase two at elementary would be after indigenous people's day and phase three likely after veterans day in november Whereas at the secondary level Those come a bit later You can see that model three again simpler to look at simply phase one is in the First quarter of the year phase two starts after the first quarter and phase three starts at the mid-year point and so three different ways to to to Present or to think about this. We wanted there's a million different ways. You could also do it We wanted to show three different models for your consideration And why don't I stop there because after this we get into schedules and other matters I said um, I say a question from Ms. Kenny and mr. Manino some is Kenny I'm just curious about why uh 10th grade is so Fluid I can speak to it, but if mr. Sadiq wants to he should feel welcome. Would you like to speak to her? Do you want me to start? Sure, I can speak to it um as I said earlier in the high school, there are a lot of Classes that aren't just grade specific So there are a lot of teachers who will teach some ninth grader some class with just ninth graders a lot of classes that have ninth 10th graders and ninth and 10th graders in them as well So it makes it challenging just to phase in one grade at a time So we're trying to figure out what is going to be the way That if we do phase them in we'll have the appropriate teachers in the building Being able to teach there as much of their class as possible Is that get at the end answer for you? All right Thank you Mr. Manino What are the students doing while they're waiting for their phase to kick in? Sure. Yeah, I'm sorry. I wasn't clear on that one. So that would they would be involved in that distance learning And so, you know if if someone was in the grade levels that weren't or didn't fit in Phase one doesn't describe who they are in terms of grade level or other Features, then they would be engaged in distance learning until Their phase was up. So they would start the year in that. Sorry about that Mr. Deming um, so question and a comment, um So so question is that the um the middle school and high school In model two and model three are the same for phases two and three Is is there a a scheduling Our semester or some kind of other constraint that Makes it not possible for those two schools to be Later than what the phase one model one is but earlier than model three like are you basically saying there's only two options for for middle and high school So it is hard to imagine even it, you know Kind of that first model is challenging to think about just because so many of the courses are based on a quarterly model It's also the quantity of students is more significant and we're talking about a hybrid model Which is that much more complex in terms of the organization and structure to do so For us it was a combination again of middle school and high school students are in general Have more access to distance learning than younger students a lot of evidence to that I'm not talking about amour specific The second factor was that the courses, you know, there are courses that are quarterly courses The ready had conversations some high school staff reached out to me They would want to teach certain courses first quarter Other courses in the winter based on the weather and when they can get outside So, you know, it's hard to do the kind of mid-cycle switch and also because they'd be in a hybrid model It really layers on additional challenges of when they phase in, you know, certainly if mr Sadiq or mr Sharon, you know of anything they'd want to add they certainly can I think try to capture our conversation But if you have anything you'd like to add please do Doesn't look like it And I'll ask a question and I'll come back to you. Mr. Demling for your question number two the is there a In any of these presumably there's a decision point before we move into the next phase. So and so I know this is hypothetical and we have no idea how things are going to pan out and and how the Infection rate community spread is going to change in the fall um but let's uh Maybe a thought experiment. Um, if there's a decision point, let's say in model two, um that We will look at the situation in october Is there a decision point that we might continue with phase one and just delay phase two or would would you know And not sort of close it down and and and then set another way I guess the net effect would be it's quite possible that those students in phase three might not set foot in the school at all That they would stay remote learning for the full year Is that yeah, that's accurate and and you know again if as we develop and hopefully a state is giving us again I keep on thinking of my home state in york, but at least they have clear metrics to guide that and so, um, I think Hopefully our state provides that if not we'll have to develop Sort of what metrics mean for us. I do expect them to provide that but I think if we're seeing an uptick, but it's not You know locally, uh, it might be moving back a phase and not eliminating all students depending on the severity I mean new york is very clear They have a certain percentage that if you cross that you close school if you don't cross it You don't close school, but I think when I'm thinking about when we're thinking about phasing There's going to be a little more gray there that we want to Take a look and it may be that rates are increasing. They're not at the closed school level Or maybe not even approaching it, but they may make us pause about we're going to slow down this and not have that Next phase happen until we're seeing, you know a downward slide, right? It may be that we're not concerned about the number the raw number But we are concerned about the trending and that may slow us down considerably as a mr And mr. Demily, if you're okay since you've asked a question, I'll start with mr. Harrington. Okay, mr. Harrington Yeah, so I noticed in all of the phase ones regardless of what which school we're talking about There are there's the homeless students that we have. I'm wondering I have a lot of questions regarding this. I'm going to try to like One thought like For one thing, what are we doing to kind of reduce any stigma? They might be dealing with because it kind of puts them front and center a little more so than they normally would be and then also At the elementary level that would that cover homeless students from All grade spans and what would that look like for? You know Say if there's one sixth grade student who falls into that category in a school or lower numbers Yeah, so no, I think we're all wondering those same questions And I and I'll try my best to answer it But you know it is in that special ed document explicitly and we are legally obligated in terms of the key event of law To ensure that Students who are defined as homeless Do have full access and additional access to adults? And they would normally have so, you know, I think It may be one of those models where it's a tutoring model where students are accessing distance learning in school With an adult or a set of adults There to help them because there may or may not be the same level of Support possible in their current location So that's the model that we're anticipating for that is that students would come it obviously is an option I think you're spot on we want no student to feel any stigma At the same time if students feel like their current environment doesn't allow them to participate Distance learning then we really worry about the gap that's formed So it would be much more a tutoring model than being with one teacher and one class or two kids in a class Much more about you know with chromebooks and wi-fi In their site and having a caring adult who can support them through the day As they do it in a similar way that other families may opt to do at home But if that's not possible for that subset of students that we would want to provide for them in the school setting Mr. Deming Yeah, so um, so this is one slide that I feel like School committee needs a lot of feedback on in a pretty Well, everything in this process is a rapid fashion But I would just I would just note to the public, you know to like get us your input and take on Our discussion and and the details of of the pros and cons of these three models And I'm really interested to hear what the rest of the the committee members have to say You know, so just just my my initial take is So model one seems fair it feels fairly rushed Like it does get everybody back in like as soon as possible I kind of feel like you know two weeks for two two weeks into the school year to have The school's half full seems like it's kind of pushing it in terms of having all the kinks worked out and and also being able to respond to to you know Myriad number of issues that are that everyone's going to be raising um You know and then when I look at the when I look at model three not having second graders in the building until november Feels late, but but but I don't know. I'm a little kind of on the fence here. I I I see some compelling advantages to a much longer phase period We would certainly have a much better sense of the impact of UMass in the winter And and and just the general environment in october november than we do in july and august And and that's that's a pretty long time for teachers to be Having to ramped up and be doing full remote for that population um I am I'm I'm a you know, it's that being said it is hard to tell That many kids that you're not going to be in the building You know at all until late january. That's that's it's that's you know, it was that five months um So, you know, this is my initial thoughts, but I I do like I do like the sense of of expanding expanding the um Uh The roll in the roll in the roll out of um in-person learning like this and and prioritizing the groups like that Okay, miss spitzer Sorry for the delay. Um, so I I personally I like that we're moving towards a phasing model for the reasons that um peter just raised and and I I think one of the things when you knew you brought up communicating to this public the public and wanting to get feedback From the public on this and I think one of the things to remind folks of Is that even though we are all meeting here together? We are three districts. So when we are talking and about prioritizing So a lot of the guidance out there like if you look at the guidance from that you were circulating today says we should prioritize younger children For I think two really good reasons and there may be additional ones But one is that it's a lot harder for them to learn remotely and the other one is that all the The evidence out there is showing that there's less spread and they're less likely to um have severe outcomes It's not zero, but but the but it's it's a lot less So the the tricky thing is that since we are in a region and you know We have two elementary districts at this meeting and the regional district and we can't create a phased model that would you know keep It just limits the phasing options that we have So I think that's something to to to just keep in mind when the public is responding to this because I think it's something that Is easy to forget and and it makes our districts unique And the challenges that we face unique um related to that another thing that peter said I think this question of Does this mean that my kids not going to see their classmates until you know, January and and I want to put out there that I think this is the time for us to try to be thinking as creatively as possible and if this phasing model Would potentially accommodate some outdoor like at least early on in the fall. Maybe some outdoor socially distanced meetings with teachers or meetings with of students where we were able to get kids together to you know Talk about a book for an hour a week outside just so they could you know socialize a little because I think that's What we're all missing I'm definitely getting tired of meeting in zoom and when I get to take a walk with a friend in a socially distanced way I find it really energizing. So I think if we could find a way to add that on To this phasing it would make me feel I think we could do it safely and I also think it would be good for the kids and potentially for the teachers and staff too If I could just comment briefly on that I saw a model in another community it's in a state with It's in a hot spot right now. And so they're not starting the year in school I think probably very few districts in that state are and this urban district which Space is at a premium, but they're thinking of a model even for the their virtual classes Much like you described miss spitzer So especially at the elementary level in particular that students do have an opportunity for an orientation in person Even if they're not planning to meet in person for for quite a while So I think that's a really good suggestion. I saw for the first time yesterday morning actually It's kind of neat. So So I'm looking at these three models what First I'm really glad that you're introducing a phased approach like this I really appreciate that and I feel like this makes me feel more comfortable In thinking about this In the models, I want to sort of echo what mr. Deming was saying about The distance in them like for example in model one where you have Grades two through three or grades seven and grade nine and ten starting two weeks after the priority groups We don't really have a chance to evaluate How things are going that's not even enough time for like a 14-day quarantine That type of thing so even in between the phase two starting in that In before october the middle of september and then the middle of october that's still doesn't feel like enough time to really see like And I realized that there'd be an evaluation point in there as well, but that feels really compressed to me Whereas the model two and model three do seem like we'll have a really good handle on um, if something were to happen in the school if The local health data significantly changed around here It gives us more time to really analyze that and Think about it Yeah, in terms of feedback if I could just add on this front We did actually obed did create a survey that we were ready to go We were going to do it with priorities documents and and so I think that's a good question to come back to on the next agenda item Because we we actually do want to solid just a lot of feedback But I think the timing of it I think is worthy of a separate conversation probably not on this agenda item Okay, you get to hear from some other people so that we'll be welcome. Oh, I'm sorry not yet. Mr. Deming has a question Mr. Deming. Yeah, I mean I didn't want to go again if anybody else wanted to jump in Right. Um, I'll just go ahead. Um So just process wise. I'm just thinking about processing dependencies like When do you all need to pick one of these in order to implement it responsibly? Because then we school community can then back up and know when we have to finish our direct guidance and direction to you um I think if we can uh have that conversation a little later. I think there's just multiple other pieces that Yeah, if we could hold on that for however long to the next item, that would be great Um, I'm gonna know I cannot on my screen. I cannot see mr. Sullivan Or miss lord and maybe somebody else. So I don't um Do you have do either of you have questions mr. Sullivan? Yes Did you have a question? No, okay. Um, so hi Um, I do I do think um before we move on to the next page. I do think sort of um Noting maybe in this diagram when sort of a decision point will be made I and the way you describe that dr. Morris that reminded me of of the um our state's guidance and and sort of Guidance in terms of when we might move into the our the state's next phase. Um that you know, this phase will be you know You know, we won't enter phase two until at least this point and this is what will happen and it might be longer Right. So just like spelling out sort of the timing of those decision points might also be helpful for that feedback Yeah, no, that's a good point. I also just want to note uh earlier I should have mentioned that dr. Guevara is our liaison uh for homeless students Um, and so I just want to give her if she wants to add anything to my response to Mr. Harrington's uh, good question earlier. Certainly dr. Guevara, you don't need to but if there's anything you'd like to add I wanted to give you the opportunity No, I just I want to echo your words. I think uh, I just want to reassure everybody that we address and support and treat all of our students without permanent housing In the way that we would our own children. We take great pride of supporting them and Surroundings, you know supports so that they feel part of the community. There's no stigma and they're you know We're supporting them just like all students. We take we take great effort to do that. So Um Any other questions that you have? Please let me know we stay really close to those students and their families as well as students in foster care And students, you know facing other challenges Thank you, dr. Guevara Right. So I think at this point I'll transition. I think mr. Yafi is going to describe draft schedules at the elementary level You know on a note, um Kind of two different models one you've seen one we want to respond to feedback that we reserve heard particularly from Crocker farm families. I realize there's a typo. It should be about grades five and six Crocker farm families. So I apologize about that Um And I think mr. Shea will then jump in talking a little bit very briefly about crocker farms map in a hybrid scenario So with that I'll turn it over to principal yafi Hey, everybody I want to thank you all for all the work you've done and certainly superintendent morris and our district team and thank all our staff and families Who've contributed their feedback and ideas so Before we look at the schedule as we look at the schedule. I just wanted to just say that this is This time if we come into an in-person model The schedule is there as a framework of what we can do in terms of The time allotted to the different subject areas in a day But more importantly is there's overarching That we're coming back together And that's a time of healing It's a time of celebration And it's also a time to really take care of children and staff And so that's something that I just we all recognize as the school principals Will be that priority We have a saying that we use in education the first six weeks of school Is about this relationship building And this is like the first six weeks of school enhanced And that it's all going to be about you know, we've experienced this time apart this trauma And how can we reconnect? And most importantly, how can we have that human to human connection Through our relationships and our in-person interaction And so we've been You know working with both our staff and our children with a form called circles But the idea is that that will be the focus when we come back to school So I just wanted to give that brief introduction before we show the schedule So that said so Michael we got to scroll down. Yeah, thank you. So here's a again what we see this as a as a framework And Within this framework, there is some there are guiding principles that we develop And that will continue to develop based on what the reality is like And so that arrival time Is going to be so important checking in with every student Making sure that That the arrival is done in a way that's Following the health guidelines What we see and what we propose is proposing and Recommended is that students really spend time together. I'm calling them family groups. They're classrooms But it's really like their family The people that they'll be with most of the day And so that time of checking in whether it's a morning meeting or a circle Is going to be super important Um, we call it break recess, but we've put in times throughout the day And these could be added to and certainly classroom teachers will be encouraged to go outside and bring learning outside But we want to make sure that there are these frequent Breaks throughout the day where kids get outside Get um, potentially mask off time Move their bodies and that this is a a good thing Especially during these times And then we broke it down into English language arts math and then in the elementary schools we call it unit study Science and social studies and just that this gives you a sense of what minutes Could be allowed, but we really are going to be stressing also Continuing our work around integrating the arts into disciplinary project based learning That these will be important There's a phrase that's out there in the educational world about finding this is a time to find joy on a daily basis and I've adopted a phrase that I like called Marie condoing the education And so we're going to emphasize that as well that kids are going to need joy When they come back to school and we put in a time for social emotional learning as well You know specials is in there as a time and what we see is for the specials teachers That this is an opportunity for them actually to come into the classroom And work with a particular grade level over an extended period of time For perhaps two or three weeks we'll have to work out the schedule But that way would be safer for the specials teachers to just be exposed to A few classrooms or you know in case of wild would it be three or so classrooms a week? But it would also lead to what we would call integrated arts and deeper learning So This is a schedule again again. It gives you a sense of what this shortened day could look like But within that schedule what's so important will be this in-person human connection checking in working with students Throughout the day and making sure that they feel safe and and then for us And for everybody as colleagues working with our staff so that they can feel safe in the school So I see Derek has made himself visible and I know I think Diane is either en route or available and Lee If anybody wants to chime in And Mr. Deming for any questions Yeah, so thank you very much for this seeing it laid out like this is very helpful a couple of questions on the brakes um, so it it goes from Um, uh, four three breaks totaling 40 minutes k to two to two breaks totaling 20 minutes and three to six and it seems like kind of a Of a of a big Drop down when you go from grade two to grade three So if you could sort of comment on is that really a hard break or these are sort of General placeholders and the other thing I was wondering about breaks is you know long ago I was at a preschool late in Minnesota and it took us about 30 minutes to bundle everybody up to go outside So i'm looking at these 10 minute breaks and i'm thinking about the new england winter and how how we might Be implementing that in an effective manner So just that's just your thought on breaks because we get a lot of parent input and feedback about Maximizing the outdoor time kids need to run around Outdoors out to the outdoors and so i'm just wondering how we get the time on learning and yet breaks in an effective way Good question peter and as a former kindergarten teacher. Yep It does take time to bundle so there's a reality of that and I think certainly looking at the schedule This is a draft and looking at the grade three to six side. It does look like it could use another break in there um And I think it's it's something that Something has to give so you're right in terms of minutes And I think again, we'll be monitoring Everybody's well-being and their need to move and their need to take A mask break for instance and so whether that has to be added. I think that's something We'll know as we implement this Does that does that answer the question I wouldn't I wouldn't look at either of these documents is like Oh, this is the way it's going to be You know, this is something that we we came up with we work together to present to give us to give you all And us too a sense of okay. This is how many minutes we have Derek or dian do you But I'll just I'll just offer briefly that I think one of the things I just met with um I met with our pgo group crocker firm pgo group A week ago last monday and one of the things we were talking about was making sure um That every single student in our school. So here's a good one for example There's a bunch of times and we go to say a lot at crocker farm I know the other schools do as well, but there's a bunch of times in the fall Sometimes you don't get because it's raining, right? It's only rain, right? So if you get the right gear then you're going to go outside and play I spent a bunch of time in iceland watching students Do this thing and it rained every day I was there and students were outside every day But you gotta have the right gear to go outside. So I think our school pgo was working on making sure We're going to make sure that every single kid that comes into your building Is get even for rain has get the right gear so you can get and play for a while Because it's not going to always be sunny and dry and nice This is the opportunity for us to do things differently too So we can seize the opportunity in that way just by Derek saying getting out more Moving our bodies on a regular and see what see what that does and mr. Harrington Yeah, so I'm Kind of taking the baton from that I worked at this school where where they had this great morning ritual that includes a morning walk In and I know other schools have the outside outdoor time in the in the mornings I'm wondering is that still going to be a part of the day considering that they're going to spend so much time inside and And are we going to continue that beautiful ritual? So rituals like that everything has I'll just jump in everything has to we have to follow health guidelines So again, this is an opportunity for us to look at things creatively and say yes, that was a beautiful ritual But to put 400 kids walking around wild with It's it's a recipe for no social distancing So whether you know, I trust the creativity of our our teachers To say, okay, we're going to create new rituals. We're going to create new Ways to connect as a community to move our bodies And if I could jump in just very briefly to add to what nick said, this is really where we get into phasing being so important I could be the case that with k and one students. We're able to think about Some way for students to start the day outside Learn what we need to learn and as more students phase in be able to make very intentional decisions Whereas if all k to six students started at once I think then you get into a conversation where you're like, whoa, that's too many students You know to go down that road but starting with 25 30 of students allows for that level of Kind of creativity that nick talked about in his comments and it allows for us to think about all right How many students could be outside at once at the beginning of the day? Could it be a rotation where it may not be the entire school but certain classes are able to do it And it allows for that that if we were all going back at once I think there would be a very definitive answer on that whereas I think you know the kind of feedback that you're hearing is That we could probably creatively think of something Test it out with 30 percent if another 30 percent comes back we could think about how does that work and that's really a Crystalized a really good example of one of the benefits of phasing is being able to have those experiences and To safely try things out And see what we're like, you know that we think maybe we could add another class outside But you can't do that with all the kids come back at once Miss spitzer you had your hand up I just want to say how much I I I think Moving as much as possible during the day and doing that outside is really a wonderful potential You know positive thing that's going to come out of this And also look at the potential for having lunch breaks outdoors if kids could could potentially do that I know lunch is going to look a lot different, but there's nothing sadder Eating your desk at your lunch at least as an adult I feel that way and into the extent that like I'd love to be able to have my kids eat their lunch outside But obviously we're not going to be able to do this every Every day of the year and then and I like In what I'm hearing from um principal shea about doing Getting gear for for kids. I think you know rpgs did show us that they were very um quick response responding to getting things like um chromebooks and not chromebooks Wi-Fi to to students who didn't have it And I think if we can find a way to kind of level the playing field and make sure that all kids Do have access to the gear they need to spend as much time outside as possible I think that would be wonderful and if if the district can help in that too I think that's something we should have Across the elementary schools and not just at the ones where the the PGOs are I'm not I um I have a question and maybe that's on the on your next slide. I'm not sure but um the the prior slide referenced That there's still some discussion about Hybrid models at the elementary level and so I was wondering um if that's on the next slide great um, I'll I'll wait But I just wanted to hear sort of what the thinking is on that Yeah, so I'll that's a great segue if that's okay with the committee I'll do a quick 30 second bit and turn it over to mr. Shea We did receive fair bit of feedback about the model that would have crocker farm fifth and sixth grade students At a different site. So we wanted to develop a model whether it was for crocker farm or for all schools That would allow for all the elementary students to be Staying at their home school what they anticipated for next year and that was one of the guidelines In or one of the principles that you all had is to the extent possible Try to maintain students in their home schools. So, uh, you know, we have looked at this There are some advantages from a staffing capacity We're able to do more and be more accommodating for staff who May not be able to return and that's true at all schools not just at crocker farm But we want to show just a quick map of that that I'll turn over to mr. Shea To be able to talk about, you know, how the map changes if we're in a model where the upper grade levels are hybrid That's okay, mr. Shea Um All right, so this is a map of a crocker farm and The the previous model that was on display Had grades five and six at the middle school And the reason that they were placed at the middle school is for every student to attend five days a week Or 80 percent of the time whatever outplays it with that time that you start every day But for students to extend school five days a week We wouldn't have had enough room in crocker farm to make that happen. So this is a model that has kind of gotten through third grade in school Every day and four through six on two days a week. Is that accurate Mike to say that? So what we've done here, um, it's a shift from the last plan that we had so A couple of quick things and I'll be as fast as I can. So there's three kindergarten classes placed here I believe the last time we'd to um, the reason three is because we're in this sort of like odd number right now Where we have a fairly decent enrollment Um Number coming to crocker farm and it's sort of wavering between two and three. It would ordinarily be two classes if there was no Situation for reduced numbers in class So we'll find out probably in the next three or four weeks or so whether we actually need two or three And I think Mike and his team Are monitoring that quite closely. So there's three kindergarten classes What you'll notice is the upstairs, which is in the bottom left hand corner here Which is looks like it's downstairs, but it's upstairs You'll see that grades five and six are placed back in the building and back in the property and um, obviously we If you remember the last um, we actually needed seven classrooms for grades five and six And that was again on a five day a week model. Um, and so now what you would need is Upstairs it looks like four classrooms, but if you're coming to school two days a week, you're going to split those classrooms up um, two students two two grades would come or two of the Half of the classes would come Monday, too As they say in the other half what Thursday Friday Mike is out with player Yeah, so essentially you get four classrooms up there, but it's essentially eight classrooms because The students would come part of the week. We've done some shifting down below where we we sort of gave preschool a whole bunch of spots today Are going to need in the long term, but we've had to sort of Retract it a little bit. So preschool is going to have one additional room next year. Um, they were slightly to have a couple more than that um, and so you'll see that in the back hallway there in 22 then get up to 24 where they have a room ELL was upstairs. We've moved them downstairs into the sort of the middle hallway there So the big issue again is that five and six gets to be back in the building Less room for pre-k You'll see that there's a a quarantine room still Looking like we still need a one two classroom But again, this model works if it's a five day a week for k through three and a two day a week for four five and six Happy to answer any theoretical questions And if I could add just two quick ones to what mr. Shea said one is this is again Based on a hundred percent student attendance, which we don't anticipate having even our original survey showed that so It may be the case that we only need two kindergartens because 75 percent of kids not come that are registered not a hundred percent So, you know space could get better We just tried to make a model where it couldn't get worse or we don't think you get worse In terms of the the tightness the second is just for our pelham colleagues That this doesn't really work a four through six hybrid model at pelham If we did go to an upper grade model that was hybrid It would probably grades five and six at pelham because three is an odd number when you have one class per grade level So again, there'd be questions about is this a crocker farm specific model Is this a model all elementary schools go to and would there be some differences between the amherst and pelham In terms of that because of the size of the school and some differences there So, you know all that is just information chew on there's a lot there But we wanted to respond to the feedback we received particularly around Crocker farm fifth and sixth graders Miss spitzer and then I think mr. Harrington you had your hand up too. So miss spitzer So Mike, I just want to clarify two things one just for the record and for those who are watching I think we have a Policy that we are not going to put kids in classrooms without windows But specifically I think the functioning windows. It's just I did get some community feedback from the, you know The prior models saying why is the why aren't we using the library and why are we using the cafeteria? And I just want to clarify that those rooms are not in use because they don't have functioning windows I'll let you run in So I I'll answer. I think I'll answer. So the library The library is not a functional space in terms of being for a classroom. You need to take large volumes of bookshelves and various other things at the library for actually be a space where you could you could have There's probably a space in the center where you can have probably about seven or eight students But you couldn't have any more than that unless you took the shelves out Mike and other people maybe answer the cafeteria better, but we do have a cafeteria with With windows that are way high up in the ceiling probably I'm going to say, you know, 30 feet up in the air They're not windows that we open on a regular basis. We have blinds where we go back and forth So I think that's a difficult spot to make functional But Mike, perhaps you have got Mr. Harrington perhaps have got fairer information in terms of why that room Yeah, I'm sorry. I would agree with everything. Mr. Shea said the windows are so high up. They're not particularly functional It's also a room where, you know, as opposed to the cafeterias for instance at Wildwood and Fort River In terms of air flow and univents and and how often the air gets turned over It's such a large space in the volume so high that we we would have concerns about students spending all day there So everything there everything. Mr. Shea said I just wanted to add That piece to it. It's also just acoustically with the high ceilings and windows to be very difficult It's it gets incredibly hot in that space because of the ventilation piece that mr. That I mentioned You know just having worked there for a couple years, you know cafeteria in a hot day at Crocker farm is Gets probably the hottest room that you have I'm guessing mr. Shea So just from a comfort perspective as well as ventilation and windows It just didn't seem functional for us. Whereas the other spaces are quite different in the other schools both at Pelham and at the other two elementary schools Mr. Harrington Yeah, I kind of just had sort of a Space usage question just from kind of being in the building recently. So, um If we were to follow the hallway From you know 24 22 going down. There's there's a kindergarten Room where it's marked as kindergarten room 21 in that corner. I was I was just wondering Is that Is there a reason we're not using that for classroom space? Is there like another purpose for that space there? So so mr. Harrington, I think the mark Probably needs to get organized a little bit so that the preschool actually has five classrooms so preschool uses nine 10 11 12 and then they use that corner classroom that the Um Back in the day it was initially designed as a kindergarten class But it has become the fifth functional preschool classroom the one right down by the elevator. Is that the one you're talking about then? Yep, yep, that's exactly. Yeah, so that's that's the fifth preschool classroom that we use It's the biggest one. Um, but it was initially built to be a kindergarten room But then the preschool grew and they moved into that that room So so that space will be used for pre-k as well then correct, yeah Mr. Manino Are we talking about this hybrid model as the preferred model? Are we still considering the model where the fifth and sixth grade is moved to the middle school? So, uh, it's a great question. I wouldn't say we're at a preferred place I think some of this actually depends on the conversation. We'll have a little later today Because it all relates to staffing as well um Because it does provide a little more flexibility for elementary staffing. So Uh, I keep on saying all these things are interrelated. Uh, this was really an attempt to respond to feedback we received Uh, particularly as it relates to crocker farm. We have similar maps that are organized for the other schools, but They're sort of predictable like you use fewer of the cafeteria spaces. They are music room things like that. They don't functionally change Things the same way this has an impact at crocker farm. And that's why we didn't think adding three more maps Uh, would add to the presentation tonight Okay and and so I I'll just ask also a point of clarification to be decided still is whether this is the hybrid model is for crocker farm only for all amherst elementary And all district is that I mean both districts Yeah, that's accurate. And again, I think in addition to the instructional piece, there's staffing implications That again, I think we'll get into a little later in a conversation that that don't necessarily just have about space and crocker farm but actually About staffing decisions the committee might make would influence what how we would how I would respond to that So how Sorry if I'm jumping ahead. How how is that a decision That you're looking for input from the committees on or is that going to be determined at a later date? And just one yeah, so I think once this the committees make decisions about staffing models, uh, and that document, um I think then I'd be better able to answer more affirmatively How we might approach whether we'd want a hybrid model at the upper grade levels or not Those two things. I mean some of it came from feedback about space the more we dug into it Uh, the more we realized that you know having a hybrid model at the upper grade levels means that There's more of a need for teachers who would be teaching virtually And that really dovetails into the whole conversation that happened last night about Staff choice and all those things. So, you know, I frankly think on a practical level that will determine what the recommendation is Uh, the k-to-6 in every day requires more staffing to be in every day Uh, a model where the upper grade levels are in a hybrid model requires a lower level of staff to be in every day and a higher level to be teaching virtually and You know, it's not a Really neat academic answer, but it is probably the answer that staffing will determine what the recommendation will be I'm not trying to punch you all. It's just the reality on that one So we can uh flip over to the middle school if that's okay Obviously, there'd be implications if we went to that model and uh, Crocker farm students weren't being in the middle school But because we had enough space again, we didn't feel like drawing up a map would would do anything Functional for the conversation. So, you know, I think for the middle school We're really looking primarily at a draft hybrid schedule or hybrid schedules And they look a little different than what the middle school schedule Is right now. So I think I'll turn to principal Sharon to be able to walk the committee through this. Thank you for being here Diego Oh, you're muted. Thank you my pleasure and I want to thank all of you for your Engagement and attention and your care with this issue and these issues. I think it's uh, you know, one thing that I've been really holding is just The critical nature of all these decisions and and also the impossible complexity of them And I've certainly had a lot of conversations over the past weeks not only with parents and and uh, some students, but also obviously with the faculty and teachers and staff and uh And and in all those discussions, I've heard lots of different Needs expressed but also a common goal of trying to create the right system for our community in our district And and how we're going to educate our students this fall in the way that's that's safe, but also effective and and And all that thinking and a lot of the reading I've been doing and a lot of the conversations we've been having in the leadership group led me to create this look at what a phased opening is and over on the left of the diagram you see potentially what a schedule for a student might look like and And the idea is that there would be an opportunity for students and I'm sorry for teachers to work on Developing some flexibility and scheduling by working in the interdisciplinary mode And so the student that we have here As you can see has Three courses a day that are in person And those are year-long courses, but they're divided up into two subjects So for example in the in a period they would have an English And social studies block and the teachers would work together to develop that however So they could split that 80 minute period into two 40 minute classes Or they could split that into alternate days or portions of it Or co-teaching parts of it even if it need be But it's obviously we're not talking about a typical kind of Classroom situation or when I say co-teaching I think people think of two teachers in front of a class working together Maybe one speaking to the class and the other circulating that's really how we're talking about We're talking about A hybrid model here a model where Depending on the stage or the phase of learning that we're in You would see that students would have the opportunity to To attend school either Either Not at all, but they would be doing it in stage one completely remotely And then or moving to stage two It's a situation where a student would be in school one day a week and would have guided instruction the rest of the week In a in a hybrid i'm sorry in an online setting And then transitioning to stage four would be one where we could actually have Students in school four days a week. All of this of course is dependent on What the health conditions are in the community what what the health picture looks like in a region And you know, I know there was some questions earlier about whether In phasing does this model seem like it's Too quickly or does this model seem like it's too slow? And I think I think those are justified concerns given the fact that we don't know what's going to happen And so the advantage of a phased approach like this is that we could be Flexible we could be engaged With what's happening. We can we can we would have the benefit to learn from our experience In a in a in a hybrid remote setting where we have a small number of students in the school And then and then at any time We would set up the schedule in such a way that we could draw down to being completely remote Or we can step up and go into a into a model that is You know more where students are in the building more obviously stage four Is is Is what we would call normal school day And that's something that we're all wishing for I know But it is something that That's a one extreme and the other extreme Is completely remote learning and I think the idea would be To be able to go back and forth between those as needed But also to be able to maintain some engagement that's constant and that is Consistent regardless of what phase we're in So unless there's anything else you'd like to have Mike I would just open up to questions. I know I'm trying to be brief because I know there's been a lot of information here Yeah, I think just the two kind of uh things I want to stress are that This schedule the hybrid schedule could work if it started all remote Which we're suggesting that most middle schoolers would Just same as it could in person so that that way and you'll see this at the high school as well There can be consistency That whether it's remote whether it's in person the schedule and the courses can stay in constant And I think from a learning perspective We want to maintain no matter what the module is or where students literally are being accessing their education That their schedule doesn't undergo a radical change Uh, because we want a continuity of learning plan and this uh, both in middle school high school I just want to appreciate the approaches because I think they make sense elementary too But it's it's a little more complex at high school Um and middle school because the nature of changing classes And I think the second thing when you know, one thing I just want to know to stage two Which might be moving from remote learning That's almost like another layer of phasing for the middle school that it could be that at the beginning of a phase two That seventh grade students come in and they might start with one day a week And build up to that over a gradual basis and that that's really uh, I think a thoughtful way Particularly as we think about developmentally where seventh graders are we'd be able to contribute to that And again that they're you know, stage four and five is not where we are It's not where we anticipate being but I appreciate just thinking through and showing that um We're not going to go down the doesn't uh, allow for social distancing But it sort of answers the question as to why that we can't fit the students In six feet apart if we get to more than two days a week Um, so I think those are the only things I want to share and and we could open up for any questions From miss Kenny. I saw your hand up Um, so I see on the weekly schedule cohort a And then cohort b. So there is both like the in-person and then the remote learning um, how How does that work for a teaching model the same teacher teaching you in class and then transitioning to remote with you or What does that look like? Yeah, I think I think one of the things that That would make that question difficult to answer at this point is that we don't really have a sense of Who are the teachers who are going to be with us in the building and so Obviously if there are a number of teachers in a certain subject area who Aren't able to be in the building for whatever reason and that we mean that we will need to develop some sort of system Uh, to to make sure that there is partnership enough to make it a consistent thing We obviously have The team model at the middle school which gives us the opportunity to have a lot of co-climbing and a lot of support within those teams But but to answer a question ideally what would happen is that we would have A student who would be studying with Let's say for example in English social studies class. They would have teachers who would Be with them Two days a week in this model in this phase of the model In in school and then they would be with them Also online the rest of the week And you know and and I think one thing that's important to stress is that In in looking at this there's You know, the question was asked at what point do we need to have a decision and and to the extent that We have a decision is That's going to determine how much time we have to really plan this and to plan the mechanics of it and I think that's a really important consideration You know from from the perspective of that question, but thank you I I have a um Because of a point of clarification and on the I'm not sure how to connect the dots between The phasing models from several sides ago that we had Three phases and we had seventh grade all in phase one um an eighth grade all in phase two so How do I map that to The stages That are here on the right Or do we look at that and is seventh grade cohort a and eighth grade is cohort b I'm trying to sort of wrap my brain around You know, I yeah, I appreciate I probably want to add to this, but but I guess I will just say that One of the things that really led me to think into developing a model like this is the developmental differences that exist with middle school students You know, I think I think there's a real developmental difference between middle school students and elementary school students And also middle school students versus high school students and and without going into too much detail about those things I think it's really important to have a model that allows for us to to even within the context of Of a phased approach like the one that there was in the previous slide that had, you know 10 percent of the students arriving On this date and then the seventh grade arriving in a later date and eighth grade arriving later Even within those phased approaches it would be possible as michael's suggesting to Have a phased in approach say for the seventh graders when they're coming at the beginning of the second quarter To be able to give them the opportunity perhaps to develop the the skills and and and and to practice being In the building after months away In under these new conditions and perhaps go from a Stage two where they're one day a week to a stage three where they're two days a week And have that be a way that that that they're developmentally their needs are met in a way that's appropriate to their needs And so and so there isn't really a clear like this is how it's going to go I think this is just part of the flexibility that's built into that schedule And I think one of the things you'll find is that the phased model has some projections about when When we when we plan to do certain things But but none of those are written in stone because as you know, they're dependent upon other factors as well right, sorry for just following up so Great just thinking about grade eight and I will confess I have an eighth grader rising eighth grader So it's a more sort of like I'll tell him But what so he so on that previous chart we have grade eight as being phase three So would I understand that when we get to phase three They would be phase three stage two and On this chart coming in one day a week and then moving into phase three stage three. Is that how I understand this? So again, that's uh, that's that would be dependent It could be very likely that the conditions are such that we feel very comfortable at that point having Phase three stage three be the way eighth graders enter for example, and that's based on the fact that we have We've we've we feel that Having students in school two days a week has proven to be something that's Sustainable and and that we can do in a way that maintains our commitment to public health And and and we feel that the students because they're older Won't need as much of a phase did approach and they're probably anxious to be coming in because they've had to wait longer And so and so it's it doesn't necessarily mean that all the students would enter in stage two Uh, it could be that um, you know that they can be entering in stage three For example, thank you I have a question about I'll let others ask. Um miss dancer Um, I don't see anything here for lunch break or mask breaks Is that something you've talked about? It is something we've talked about and I think one of the things that that we have talked about, uh, is um So first of all, I'll just say that this schedule isn't As elaborated as one of the schedules you saw from the elementary and part of that is because Uh, the emphasis here has been Placed on having as few transitions as possible And recognizing that within those within the school day of a student We would have built in opportunities for there to be transitions in place. So We've talked about and I'm having conversations with with for example teachers That that the teacher electives Or exploratory courses to be able to push into some of these classes In a in an interdisciplinary setting to have the opportunity for students to Engage in other activities that aren't what would be considered traditional academics without actually Being in a being, you know, without leaving the class and going to a different classroom We're we don't intend to be using the cafeteria for lunch We've talked about having Having lunches delivered to the classrooms And those are some of the mechanics some of the mechanics of those things are things that are still under development you know, but The idea is that students would be relatively Uh, there would be in cohorts and it would be relatively stationary throughout the day with the exception of planned Breaks and movements that would be choreographed in a way to to not Have them interact with other students in the course of the day again, it's a very different kind of School day than what they're used to and that's one of the reasons why Having this phased approach with the different stages gives us Gives us all the opportunity to to plan And to learn from that From the execution of those And also to do it in a way that is not anxiety provoking for for kids or adults Thank you You're welcome Other questions Miss Seager In looking at this sample schedule I I know For a lot of us having kids coming in from sixth grade into seventh grade We're excited about a broader spectrum of offerings In the middle school and presumably people coming into the high school as well So I was curious about things like I know this is world language What does that mean specifically and I know there's things like studio art that probably just can't happen Or happen as easily But things like the digital art and languages in general And some of those things that we don't get in the elementary school at least in the region where I'm from Could you talk a little bit about that? Yeah, I I can absolutely First of all, I think I would preface my comments by saying that I absolutely believe particularly in an environment like this one That arts are a critical part of what students should have the opportunity to engage in I think The last thing we want to do is create A dense academic environment for students to begin when they're in school and so the opportunities and The opportunities to integrate arts Into learning is one of the things that we're talking about and and I'm actively having meetings with with the art department to imagine into How to do that, of course Because that's so dependent on what the day looks like what the schedule looks like Uh, you know the dialogues are uh at this point exploratory. We've talked about things like having Having interdisciplinary units in in in the STEM classes or or in the humanities classes that involve For a period of say a couple weeks Having one of the visual arts teachers come in and teaches a certain aspect of a project that's aligned with what they're doing For example, and that's more of a push-in kind of model with some of the art classes Then what we're used to where a student will have a whole period where they go down to the art classroom in that art space but of course We have to be very careful with making sure that all the art supplies and everything else are are are cleaned and and And and public health is stressed in those environments. So it's a bit tricky, you know And obviously there are other things that we're trying to think into as well that are even more complex like You know like some of the the The band classes for example and things like that And so so these are all really difficult questions that aren't easy to answer and I think once we have some clarity about What we're looking for in terms of how we'll be in the year It'll give us the opportunity to really develop those systems I can say that that there's a lot of enthusiasm about wanting to Think into how to make this work for students in a way that's not only enriching but enriching and engaging but also New and different, you know, and and I think there's a lot of opportunities for learning and and there's certainly a lot of Different models that that I've been looking at and some of us in the department in the art department have been looking at They give us some, you know, some some good ideas as to what we can do And my last question was and I and maybe this is because this is still a very still such a work in progress so, um, I apologize for the question, but there's a One hour gap in the schedule. So is that I'm going back to Ms. Stanser's question about lunchtime. Is that intended to be lunch between 12 and 1 between b and c? Yeah, that's that's correct. It's not it's not Just intended to be lunch, but it's a it's an opportunity for that to be So sort of break time built in and again, it's a it's a loosely formed schedule. Yeah But yes, uh, some some combination of three three blocks within the day would be It's a plant correct correct and and then of course the the the last one is Is a fully online class that would run the whole year And this could be an opportunity for some of the other kinds of exploratory classes that might be more special interest or or you know, might give students different opportunities to interact with each other learn one another and of course materials for those would be things that That students will be provided. Now the example here is fiber arts and drawing Again, these are just different ideas for For the kinds of classes that could be in the first semester But those would be classes will be conducted fully online and and and would last You know nine-week periods or quarter to give students the opportunity to have an enriching way to You know to be with one another and with their teachers and And particularly for the students who haven't met those teachers to develop You know the seven graders coming in They've never spent any physical time with the art teacher for example And and if they're fully online for part of the Beginning of the semester then that would give them the opportunity to at least make some of those connections In a smaller setting with with the school and the teachers Good questions Thank you Thank you Last but not least turn to you to talk about the high school Okay So you can see there's a lot of similarities between the schedule and the middle school schedule It's based on a traditional block schedule Those for those of you aren't really familiar with a block schedule on the time they spent on learning Classes that usually happens throughout an entire year is condensed into a semester. So they meet for longer periods of time fewer classes So this is an example of what it would look like for Teachers and students when they'd be in the building you see the same 730 to 9 Period would be a planning period for teachers And then again an example student would be in their a period class with a small cohort of students And they could be in math period and then now instead of the five minutes passing period that has been norm for our seven block schedule We have 10 minutes of releasing having fewer students in the building and One way routes throughout the different hallways and giving them a little more time to get from one class to another And the b period block You see it is that's when the longer there's an extra hour and 10 minutes in there that is time Built in for 10 minutes for students to receive their lunch either if it's delivered or if there's A place different places throughout the building when they were to go and pick it up They would have time to go get their lunch and bring it back to the classroom 30 minutes to eat And then there's another 30 minute period built in there for students It's almost like a built-in directed study or study hall at that time students could take a break They could also potentially access some of their support classes meet with their special education teachers They had had the opportunity to maybe work on some of the asynchronous work from some of the other classes During that time So there's a variety of things that folks can do with the other half an hour built into b period And then similar and you can see in semester two you see the two nine week electives So we want to obviously offer The traditional academic courses as well as as many elective as we can within the health and safety guidelines And so and those which are traditionally semester-long classes would be condensed into half-semester class quarter-long classes In nine weeks long so students could potentially take two electives I'm during the second semester first nine weeks could be Say a drawing class in the second nine weeks could be like a A version of p that they could socially distance and still have some movement All the elective teachers I've been meeting with them all with ap teachers and other teachers as well to try to figure out What our classes will look like in this new reality that we're in And so we're going to figure out which classes which elective class it can still be offered in person and then which ones We want to keep as many as possible, but which ones are going to be Incordant the guidelines are possible to offer in person and those classes students could potentially access during that d period virtual block And there will be there'll be an ace the synchronous piece to it Which again the timing of it all We're not exactly sure when they meet if students are in two days a week You can see to the right If they're in two days a week, they would be in the school one cohort would be in school Monday Tuesday that Wednesday cleaning time So, you know at 10 30 on Wednesday may be the time that that d period teacher has their synchronous lesson for all the students who are in that class But again, it's flexible and Nothing's set in stone. I think flexibility is going to be our mantra for the year Everything we do So again, we're trying to think about How to keep as many offerings as we have and Offer them in the most meaningful way possible. So that d period becomes really flexible and a piece of that puzzle Trying to keep it brief that might be a little quick Happy to answer any questions folks Mr. Dunley Thank you principal siddique This is really great to be able to get get these details that we've been talking abstractly about so far I guess my question is more for dr. Morris. So this is the second slide where we're talking about potentially one day a week at the 7 to 12 level As opposed to two days a week and I know we said two days in the framework document I you know, I think I made a comment when we were discussing that that I have I have heard some some compelling arguments For for one day a week and and now now we're sort of weaving it into this this phasing discussion that it could be a A sub phase of one of these phases and I don't know if you could just maybe talk a little bit more about Where what your current thinking is at with regards to The the most effective way way to do this I I understand there's a lot that that can't be Said yet because there's the staffing resources And if you could just talk about that one specific thing that one day versus two day the middle school and the high school Immuted later the night I go the more I forget if I'm muted or not. So I would differentiate them a bit in that You know, I think you know, mr. And I want to speak for him But I think I'll just do it as an overview and you know, do you go happy to jump in but for principal Sharon at the middle school it's really The staffing piece comes into play especially as it relates to teachers teaching seventh grade or eighth grade because typically most teachers don't Teach both those grade levels or at the high school Most teachers teach more than one grade level of students and so at the high school I think it's much more of an instructional design question where if there's Students are in one day a week that might enhance some of the distance learning pieces So in two days a week that gets a little complicated because of the number of courses and the grade levels they cover At the middle school, I don't want to say it's less complicated, but I think the structure of it where Someone is on a team And they're teaching, you know, currently and they're teaching one grade level at a time I think the two days a week has perhaps less of an impact on the the other pieces where at the high school Where it's subsequently different groups. Some may be in school. Some may not be depending on the phase I think that gets adds a layer of complexity again. No disrespect to the middle school or principal Sharon But the structures are really different there I don't know if principal Sharon principal Sadiq want to jump in but sort of that's how I'm seeing it I think at the high school, there's perhaps more of a Interest in thinking about one day a week to enhance distance learning I think at the secondary depending on the staffing model. It might have Not the same impact You don't have to but if there's anything I said that's wrong Please jump in and tell me either of you or if that may if that resonated, you know, that's that's fine Covered So At the elementary grade level, it's really easy to think about pods or what people call cohorting And I find it a lot harder for me to think about cohorting when we get up to the middle school and the high school models um, so I guess what I'm trying to understand is And it's been a long time since I've been in the middle school and the size of like I'm not sure how big How big are the teams now if you could just speak a little bit to how you're thinking about keeping these groups together and small and I Fully acknowledge that this is probably like one of the hardest things to solve about this And you may not have have it fully formed yet, but it just would be helpful to know that we're The guidance I think from desi and then also some of the guidance that dr. Morris has shared By email with us and also on the fall 2020 scheduling have suggested, you know different sizes, but generally like around 25 people including students and staff It's kind of like the upper limit of what you'd want in a pod or a cohort of students So how are you thinking about that with with these schedules? Well, um, I can I can speak to that for the middle school certainly We're we're not thinking of numbers anywhere near 25 in a cluster or a cohort Generally, we're looking at at cohorts And again, as you stated carry, this is very hypothetical and this is one of the most difficult parts of of really trying to elaborate the system is what What the specific schedules what the what the adults work with those kids? That at what time, you know, and all those things are are still up in the artist's extent But but so I find it instructive to kind of think of an ideal And then work back from there. And so when I'm thinking of that that ideal I'm looking at a at a cohort of you know, approximately anywhere from 12 to 15 students Who spend their days together? And they have they go through their battery of courses More or less together and and they have opportunities to go outside as a as the group still social distancing Coming back in to the classroom They have assigned classrooms that they they spend their days in for the most part with adults and different teachers coming into those spaces and And because they're middle school students That's very difficult, you know, it's very difficult to attain not only But also the masks and and and everything else that does require a lot of Thinking into the mechanics how we make that engaging And and how we do that in a way that's engaging two days a week is difficult Which is part of why At having that option to do it one day Uh, you know is a is a potentially good transitional way to to think in but But that requires a lot of you know, it requires some some some complex choreography in terms of making sure that those Students have adults in front of them who are purposely offering learning opportunities in a way that's time just right and so So i'm more i'm kind of laying out what an idea looks like based on the schedule that was on that document for a group of students and then of course That depends a lot on on the number of teachers who are able to be in the building and and and the extent to which we're able to support those teachers within the team and within the team Of the teachers and I think there's a lot of really good will to make that work and there's a lot of Very collegial engagement between the teachers or a lot of professionalism And so i'm confident we can I I just Know that it's going to take a good deal of planning and it's planning that's already underway But that's kind of the ideal that we're working from Yeah, and at the high school i'll turn over to principal sadeek But I would say that the the same number is not possible and if you look at the desi guidance They acknowledge that you know and whether how the committee and the community feels about that But there's there's not a way to run a high school like you run a middle school or elementary school And i'll i'll turn over principal sadeek to briefly describe that Right so as um dr. Morris and the principal sadeek was saying there's There's going to be no cohorts There's no way to have all the students who are going to be in the school Provided up in the cohorts that stay together throughout the entire day So with the block schedule, there'll be fewer transitions But there'll be like in the math class for example There'll be made up between You know 10 to 15 students and at the end of that those students will go to a different classroom With potentially 10 or 15 other students There may be a few of them like in our current model. There are students who have several classes of the day together And not going to be true in this model, but it's not going to be the entire Math class not going to travel together to their english class So it's kind of a quick version of it. Mr. Denley Yeah, so just one general comment and then and then a couple like hopefully short of very questions Why is it? It's just really interesting to me that you know the evolution of this of how You know a day or two ago We have I think the word in the framework document is minimum two days a week at the high school and then You know, we're talking about this kind of very gradual phasing where we have one day a week Where you know 10 of the population of the students are in the building until and in some of these phasing models until november And you know 35 percent until january It's just it's just really interesting to look at you know, but when we talk about population density How everybody two days a week feels much different in the you know in the official visceral memory than Than than these these do so this is really helpful So very specific kind of details and if you don't have these yet, that's fine But just because parents are going to hone in on this kind of stuff So it looks like you're only doing english for one semester and social studies for one semester Is that will that be like a new limitation as opposed to two semesters of english two semesters of each And then and then for that deep period of distance learning we have ensembles and ap courses all in that One available block. Does that mean you're then choosing between Either ap courses or ensembles or or is it just way too early to answer those detailed questions? Yeah, I'll try to do the first one in general because it's the same on both I'll turn it to a missed principal siddique for the second one. So this is what is called a block schedule So a block schedule, you know, like for instance many districts north hampton uses a four by four block schedule It's not an atypical Especially at the high school level where the course meets for a longer period of time More regularly for a semester So if you think of a college schedule Colleges often have essentially block schedules and and significant numbers high schools do and so as the team was thinking about this From a distancing perspective We wanted to maintain the same number of courses or as close as we could to the same number of courses that we currently offer But from a if students are going to be back in the building We can't run six classes a day So right now both the middle school and high school under a seven drop one schedule So that means students have seven classes and every day are rotating one drop So they have six classes a day seven classes total That's a non-starter from a physical distancing perspective. And so Like many other secondary schools We we recognize we had to go to a block and this offered the most flexibility But as mr. Siddique will I imagine will tell us in a second It's not perfect in terms of flexibility. It does force some choices That wouldn't be forced in in our ongoing schedule. It's part of the reason we don't have a block schedule Is we like some of the flexibility of the seven drop one So hopefully that aligns with what you're about to say mr. Siddique anyway Yeah, it does Yeah, so the deep period those are just examples of some of the things that may be offered in there Both student will have one deep period class. So at them and they wouldn't necessarily have to choose One of the options when an elective option And there's actually not going to be any of the ap classes if we're have students coming just to the building with receiving in-person learning The ap classes will be offered during You know during their mass or science or social studies block So There may be a student who will get additional support From an ap teacher during that time if there is an ap teacher who's teaching Only remotely So a lot of the but so we don't want students to try to juggle Five or six classes like they had to do this spring So we're limiting this is why we chose a block schedule because at most we'll have four classes to try to manage And I think I heard understood that the key part is that with a block schedule Even though you're doing English for just one semester, you're covering the entire year school year is worth of of content in that one semester. Is that correct? Correct. Yes, how the block schedule works, yeah Um miss with miss seager. Yeah All right, Kenny You're right on top of each other on my screen I just have a quick question. So it looks like when it's on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday part So if you are not in school, right, does that mean you are remote learning those days or Okay, that's what I figured. I just thought we should be clear Right and that's some of the advantage of the one day a week at the high school versus two in my opinion Is that if if teachers aren't teaching two different cohorts two days a week That means those two days of remote learning may be more challenging to have Synchronous lessons that we know many people in our community All the survey feedback that we have from all actually all students staff and And the parents guardians Wanted whereas if you're in one day a week and could really supplement a more robust distance learning format And that's I think the the rub and as we get more staffing information We can bring that a little more robust analysis. Mr. Siddiq actually already started a more robust analysis I Think I was accurate describing that maybe it was too long for this evening But I think it's certainly as as we resolve The approach around staffing we can certainly come back to that question And mr. Siddiq already has his you already has a slide deck ready to go for it, but I think tonight wasn't a night for it Any more questions saying any I I can't see mr. Sullivan again So speak up if you have a question miss seeker I have a general question After just hearing from a couple of families in Leverett who have kids going into the middle school So in general We have these meetings people can see the agendas and stuff, but are you communicating with high school and middle school families? Pretty regularly about this or like how are they if they're not attending these meetings? How are they? Learning what is in the planning, you know, and obviously none of this is set in stone. So Yeah, I'll start at a broad level, you know our plan was originally To put out a survey that would go middle school high school students as well as middle school high school families and then elementary families Based on both the health safety protocols the academic models and the phasing You know, I am hesitating to do that until we have another conversation Because I don't want to set folk. I don't want to send a survey That's not based in kind of the approach that the committees are advising us to take But now that we had this information we plan to send Our original plan was to send the priorities documents voted by the committees as well as the slide deck To get you know electronic feedback and then set up and I think we'll get us this later topic on the agenda Some town hall events where we get more specific feedback again differentiated secondary versus elementary like we did the last time So that's sort of the plan. I think it's a little bit on hold and we'll see where we land at the end But you know at the secondary level really want student feedback as well It's not that we don't want to elementary. It's hard to a little bit hard to organize Whereas at the secondary level just developmentally where there are they can do that But I don't know if there's other things that folks want to add And we definitely want to communicate it would have been hard to figure out exactly what to communicate to families at this point Um and the closer we get to having a solid model on a meeting with different co-worker teachers to try to Get more detail about which classes we'd offer and how they'd be offered because it feel like a lot of If I tried to put out a lot of information now Generate more questions than anything else, but we definitely want to get communication out there as soon as possible to families and the students Yeah, I would just I would just add that the communicating Without a clear plan has been something that definitely Have definitely felt uh, you know considerable amount of tension about because on the one hand I do want to be having those dialogues and and reassuring Parents and I think one of the things that When the kinds of conversations that I've had with uh students, I mean, I'm sorry with parents have Have felt unsatisfying is my impression because I've just been reassuring them about the amount of Thought that we're putting into Coming up with this plan and and telling them that once we figure it out Then you're going to be able to expect more communication from from us about how that You know how that progress is and I think that is my intention But I've hesitated to do that because if I put out that, you know I think I think there's just so many questions that that it generates That that would you know, that would be a whole other Job to to answer those responses Do you want to know we have one more present one more school? Um principal sloven's going to be brief. He promised me But uh, you know talking through a summit academy for those of you don't know summit academy is a Special education day school. It's located In the high school building, but it's a separate school and we're proud of students proud of principal sloven his leadership as well as the staff's work So i'm going to go forward a slide. There's a lot of text on it. We're not going to read I'm not going to ask principal sloven to read the text I think you know more if you're able to give just a rough overview First of all the number of students in general at summit academy And then really the sort of internal phasing That you're thinking about it, but I apologize principal sloven. I'm going to ask you to be relatively brief just because of the hour Oh, you got a mute unmute yourself Yeah, I'll absolutely be brief. I'm on a stopwatch here. I've been So I'll try to I'll try to get to the to the most important points Um, but if you could throw that slide up, that'd be great. So the thing about summit academy We're so proud of our students and the staff. They're working right now with summer school and And they did an incredible job of staying I'd say we did an incredible job staying a community and that is a guiding principle for some of the academies that we have to Be a community, but we are a phase three school. So to try to just be real clear with people Because we're we're going to go in stages, but we're phase three that means we're starting at the beginning of september And then how how does that start? Actually happen and I think on the document. I can't see it on my thing. I don't know if you can throw it up there, but You know, we'll start The the stages are we'll start with up to four days at the beginning and I and I put it out there I don't know how many days we will actually meet um And because we have to figure that out and unfortunately I can't see my document, but that's okay And then if you look at stage two, it says at least four days and then stays three and that it has I think october and I was just using some of those guidelines again What I try to do when we we fixed up this schedule is make it as flexible and As therapeutic as possible and the guiding principle and we'll go all the way back to the beginning When dr. Brady talked at for phase three school is free and appropriate education What the what the guides from uh desi is that we need to get in person as much as possible That being said we had an incredible experience of students doing really well actually engaging more Sometimes online And that we didn't know was going to happen. So we're excited about that And we had students that did not engage the way we wanted them to so so we're going to be balancing that If you look at the schedule you see a check in and you see a check out at the end of the day We have four blocks Plus that online block um The deep period we would look at as our clinical block Where we would have community meeting we would have uh Clinical groups and we'd had advisory and so we worked with uh Mr. Sadiq earlier uh last week and just to try to because we do it share some students But our guiding principles are fake our guiding principles are making sure that our students and families social emotional needs are met And uh, we we will continue on the notion of having conversation with families Our clinicians are constantly and our teachers right now But not this was the day that I think we'll start the next phase of communication um and so That's And I'll I'll end with that And open to any questions Mr. Deman Yeah, I just didn't want the likeness of the hour to go Um by without being said that you know, I think Under mr. Sloven's leadership, you know summit continues to be a high priority and a visibility at the school committee Um, I remember three years ago when the students came and presented. I think since then it's been really Uh a heightened level of awareness and engagement particularly with the move to high school and Uh, please feel free to reach out to the school committee. Um, if you feel like You know, you need some more discussion need some more visibility about things that are going on But um, you know, thank you for your leadership And I you know, look forward to seeing how this how this all pans out in the next couple months Appreciate that Mr. Harrington I just had a Quick question to see if I understand something so you you have all middle school students as well in some academy if i'm Correct there. Yeah, so we we just started our middle school last year We had one student who did some transitioning. We're hoping to have more than one student or a couple students but that that's just you know, again who who Who has that level of need so we're a public day school, which means, you know We're at that point where we're we're just before being sent out to maybe a private day school So it's uh, you know, it's driven by A team it's driven by needs if that if that's helpful No, yep, perfect Miss denser Um, so how many students do you have at summon academy? uh, so So it's it fluctuates, but right now I think we're looking at 25 And so, you know, and by the end of the summer we might have 27 or it might go a different a different way But that's that's probably the best number I can give you We will also have you know, and and mr. Harrington was great with us. We'll have outdoor Tents and and one of the great things that our school community has been doing is we we have this huge project We worked with conway school design all last year to create an outdoor Learning experience, which you know was before coven So we have this incredible designer that because the side of our building needs to be updated And so that would be one thing that I would love to share with the school committee is this Incredible design that the students were totally Invested in and involved in raised money for and they actually were participated when it was showcased at conway a school design and it actually Created two outdoor spaces for learning and um, you know, this would be you know This might be an opportunity for us to get that moving in the right direction So we're looking for that as an opportunity Any other questions I will just say I don't know if um Our friends from the elementary schools are still still on the line, but um This was it went much longer than we had pegged it in the agenda. So, um Are bad, but it was it was time well spent and it's clear that that a lot of creativity and thought and a lot of hard work and has gone into these plans and it's it's It's exciting to see that level of creativity and thoughtfulness From all of you in this in this challenging scenario. So I appreciate it and thank you very much for sticking with us for this late hour Thank you If I'm going to see if we're okay taking a quick Three to five minute break or are folks okay to take a five minute break? And then we turn it. Yes Okay, uh, so it's nine thirty nine. Um, if we can I'll be back At nine forty four so that we can get started promptly By nine forty five that would be great our next Item on our agenda is the schedule for serving of students and staff and fall return And Dr. Morris is that the at the end of the packet or is that There's a talking item. Um, there is a Document at the end of the agenda it's the last two pages But I actually think it probably ends up being a talking item Um More than it was because I think you know as we talked about and I feel bad First of all Brenda our meetings aren't usually this long. Um, and uh, but also, um Based on the 24 hour time period between last night and tonight. Uh, I think um Think at least I'd like to start by making a formal statement and then see where it goes instead of focusing on the calendar If that's all right, okay, that sounds great. Yeah, so so our team wrote I mean we worked with a group to write something up So I apologize. I'm going to read something but but I I want to be consistent with what our leadership team developed so We want to I'll just say I want to acknowledge and thank all of you for the incredible amount of work and time and effort You've devoted to planning For fall in the 2021 school year Got it Can you um stop presenting? Oh, yeah Thank you Great, thank you. Sorry. Sorry. No, thank you. I appreciate it. Uh, I was not aware Um, so guidance from the committees is essential, uh for us as we plan for reopening Um Well, there were three committees the three committees voted consistently last night That's for some of the priorities to guide our planning a consensus was not reached among the committees on staff priorities And the disparity in guidance presents a number of challenges to our planning moving forward in the last day since last night a number of school members have reached out to me Um, and I've asked for the administration to share the implications of potential Decisions given the discussion last night. And so uh leadership team met twice today to work and develop a list I'll share of potential implications for your consideration Um, I want to note here that this is not attempt to convince the school committee Uh, I've had a vote, uh, you know, there's no vote on this agenda tonight. So it's not Something to worry about but it's it's not attempting to Do that it's really an attempt to offer factual feedback to the committee as requested We we tried our best to stay Really neutral and and just respond with factual information So our first challenge is based on our current governance and structural model. Um, as brenda's finding out firsthand tonight We have three different committees, uh meeting and uh, there's good reason why there's three committees But however, our three districts really function as one. It's not like we have conversations and The principal appellum school has to leave at some point because we don't want her there or Anything like that. We really we function as a leadership team. And so, uh, when decisions are made on behalf of staff collectively, we look at it collectively across the three districts. There may be Uh, differences based on developmental needs of kids or structures. We talked about one earlier in terms of potential hybrid model at the elementary level Um, but in general, we we think ourselves as a collective group working to better the students education and In amerson pelham at the elementary level and those two plus levard and shoots very at the secondary level And so offering separate guidance for each district Our concern is would could lead to significant disparity in expectations And this would be inconsistent with past precedent and for us create issues and equity That would be difficult to implement across three different districts with with two different models Additionally, there's many planning considerations if the administration is asked to develop academic models based on Um staff choice for the virtual or in-person instruction as a guiding principle for our fall planning And i'll try to document. I think that we identified. I identified six of them And i'll try to be as clear as possible So the first one is that uh, I have a concern that there'd be equity Challenges in regarding asking staff of whether to return to work in buildings There's certain staff members like custodians and nurses Who would be under more pressure to return because buildings cannot open if they do not come back We can't open buildings without nurses. We can't open buildings like custodians We could make a long list, but on a practical level those are two ones, you know, again That's not at the exclusion of other people, but there's no nurse. There's no school There's no custodians. There's no school And so we were worried that there might be a differential that question might have different weight depending on the role and responsibility Um that different folks have The second uh concern we had or piece of information we want to share Is the composition of staff who are opt for an in-person return may not provide full access for the students Who want to return and so for us it was or for me It was likely a model that cannot be effectively implemented for all students For instance, if there was an english language learner who wanted and desired in-person education But the staff who were the english language learner staff provided who English language learner staff in that school opted for virtual instruction We don't believe that student would have access to in-school learning If they're the critical support they need would would only be met virtually We were i'm also concerned that it would lead to inequities between schools particularly schools in the same grade level ban It almost seems certain to me that the staffing levels grade levels available for in-person education Services and elective specials would vary school to school and that's something that we've endeavored over the last Probably eight nine years to try to align our systems try to align our our opportunities to be the same No matter what school you're in as best we can And so I don't think we could do that successfully The third is that there'd be issues in the district's ability to provide free and appropriate public education So the fake uh acronym that you heard about earlier for all students and the evidence research evidence would suggest that our districts Some of our district's most vulnerable students Uh, and we talked about those groups earlier could be disproportionately impacted Based on their lack of access to a full curriculum by distance learning And that's not because our educators aren't doing a wonderful job and wouldn't do an even better job In the fall as we've heard it's based on the learning profile of students and the evidence There's there's virtual schools in massachusetts. There's virtual schools Around the country and world and not every student has the same level of access in that setting So none of that is to critique the fantastic educators we have in amherst It's the reality of some needs Some economy combinations and modifications cannot be met in a virtual environment And um in order to produce or provide FAPE uh free free and appropriate public education for some students with significant and complex needs Who are unable to access and make meaningful progress? The districts would need to consider alternate options, uh, which may include contracted service providers or other placements That are providing in-person education including out of district placements This would have significant financial and um the other acronym you heard least restrictive environment Uh implications and that would be something we do obviously with families And you know, mr. Demling asked a question. We expand on that earlier. I don't want to repeat myself Um, but given the fiscal uncertainty that would cause we would have to take some pretty quick measures To control the fiscal constraints because there there'd be so many unknowns in that fiscal, um Environment, uh, again, this is really different than the spring when the state closed down schools and all schools were closed Um, you know at the current time the health situation in massachusetts is not is not that um that situation fortunately Is not where we are and so we might have to make some pretty immediate Financial decisions to constrain a non-essential spending and non-grant spending To be able to make that work The fourth one is there's not sufficient time in my opinion to implement a full staff choice model and still reopen on schedule Staff and students would need to be surveyed. That process would take a few weeks Uh and given a deadline to commit of whether they were returned or not As you saw earlier this point is sort of already been spoken to that our schools are working for weeks on developing schedules Based on the involving health and safety requirements to educational needs of our students and staff return data That's already been gathered and are ready to begin scheduling students And this is particularly acute at the secondary level If the process is substantially delayed, uh, we're just concerned and i'm just concerned We won't have students scheduled for either in person or virtual learning time Uh virtual learning in time for school to begin in september Additionally, we I can't send the final information for our facilities department for transportation in mid august and expect them to have Buses ready to roll in early september or vans ready to roll in early september Typically they're done by mid august You all know that because you get it in the amherst bulletin for those of you get the bulletin and post on our website with the bus routes That's a significant and lengthy process to be able to do that And so it would really push us to plan for a virtual only start to the school year With a possible exception, you know being uh important of the desi guidance preschool age students and students with significant and complex needs Just literally quoted from the desi document based on fape and desi guidance Fifth point is if the committees would like to direct the administration plan for virtual only instruction for the fall We really need that feedback as soon as possible It's also quite likely that we begin in a virtual only program shifting from that model will be increasingly difficult and may impact students and families Who feel like they rely on in-person instruction? And to summarize the sixth point if the committee is choose to provide guidance to administration develop academic models based on all staff Having full choice whether to return My perspective is that it'll be logistically and operationally incompatible with offering students in person education in an equitable manner And we'll go to distance learning and if that's a decision of the committee We just would want to know that as soon as possible. That's not a critique of that perspective We certainly get a lot of feedback around that in public comment Uh, additionally the committees we would ask you to be prepared I'd ask you to be prepared to request additional funds from municipal government If the added district placement costs and all those other costs can't be met And I want to make sure that i'm saying I don't want to put additional stress or burden like I said earlier on specific staff members Who work in in in programs and and and all that at the same time? FAPE is FAPE And we can't deny FAPE for students And I think we saw some public comments about that tonight as well It it's not consistent with special education law or ethical commitment to Those students needs and so that's I think where we we the rub is for us and I don't want to I don't intend to put additional pressure on you all you already have enough pressure as it is I'm highly conscious of that But I did want to respond since the conversation last night Was about kind of this staff choice model You know for us that really pushes us in a certain direction About how the school year would start and perhaps beyond So again, I I hope you found this neutral and just factual and how we would approach it There's the reality is it's July 21st And we're getting a little concerned And I'm getting a little concerned about the time to thoughtfully plan for September if one way or the other and Certainly, I know no decisions made till early august as we we understood it But if the staffing model pushes us to do that We just have a lot of work to do on that. So I'm happy to answer any questions I apologize. It wasn't as succinct as Uh at 9 57 as I hope to be but I wanted to lay out just you know, some of the implications for your all consideration See if you have questions for me on next steps I know that's a topic on the amherst school committee agenda on thursday night I won't be able to be present for that meeting. Um, but hopefully this is information that's useful Are there any um questions from the committee on this? miss spitzer so I just um How much can we go into the content of the Conversation less excited. It's not on the agenda here and I'm trying to But we just went over a list of all the implications So I I guess I have a follow-up question about something and I but I also don't want to go off off agenda Dr. Mark Yeah, I mean the topic we're on is survey for schedule for servings of students and staff on fall return So, you know, I think I tried to limit my comments tonight And that of the that the feedback I got from I received from the leadership team to talking about surveying of staff So if it goes beyond that, I think You know, that might be hard, but I do think the surveying staff and the schedule has brought implications for um Other items. So, I mean, I'm open to deferring to committee members on that. That's just, you know, how I saw my comments Tonight's fitting within the agenda I'm Mr. Demling. Yeah, I was just going to say as someone who recused himself from that item As long as we're not making comments or discussing our opinion of what the decision on that content should should be Uh, and we're just asking, you know factual follow-up clarification questions I don't I don't see any I don't see any problem problem of that My opinion I I tend to agree. Um, again, this is within the context of surveying staff for and for their feedback and and choice and Within the context of what are we asking them? So So miss spitzer you may you may For that clarification. So the document we shared yesterday um And I know the district's already done some serving to understand. Um Health health concerns of individuals, but then we also The the document we were working with yesterday said we would seem to accommodate staff for any reason including concerns about household members Who may be vulnerable expressive preference for full or mostly remote work to the extent that such positions are needed and available And based on the instructional model and student preferences. So it sounded like the guidance that we were That two of our committees voted for would have had you surveying staff about their preferences Regardless of whether and you know, like that was always part of the plan was to survey the staff about their preferences Yes, so how has your changing how has your thinking about surveying staff about their preferences Changed into a way that we're going from talking about what we just talked about now to to moving all to to being a virtual only peace Can you repeat the question just to make sure I'm understanding it correctly? So we were going to survey. I think no matter what if we if we had gone with the The statement in the that two of our committees voted that our president here today voted on we were going to be surveying about their preferences Um No matter what so how so now are we are you suggesting that now we um I guess it's the action that we would have taken in response to the preferences, right? Right That that is the key difference. It's it's um the crux of that is is that When we ask staff preference, are we committing to meeting and and accommodating that preference or are we seeking To accommodate that within within the scope as outlined That we did yesterday. So yes, what what is the action? Um or decisions that we will take based on the feedback And we're talking about the serving of students well families presumably not the students but um serving of student preference that the two go hand in hand um Yeah, and again, I want to just emphasize that you know, um our attempt or my attempt is not to It's to give factual information, you know and um, and I think the the challenge for us In this whole and I mean the collective us not just the people on the call is that You know, we're concerned about health information changing. We're concerned about Creating a schedule that's really different from what we've done before pre k to 12 Things aren't the same and how do we actually accumulate and acquire enough information to make accurate plans moving forward? and and I think That's where we as a field they're all struggling right now and I think the phasing helps with that You know, and there's an interrelationship between having phases and being able to plan for in person for a smaller group um, but um You know, we still have to plan for the virtual as well, you know in any of that and and so I think that's where our team is trying to figure out. How do we make decisions? And that's where we're looking for guidance from you all and we don't expect it to come tonight I know there's another meeting. I'm certainly happy to answer questions and hear any feedback I'm not trying to stifle dialogue, but um, it's just trying to understand where the committee is so that we can move forward Because there's implications no matter which way we go And a lot of work frankly no matter which way we go. It's just trying to get a sense of direction Directionality so that we can take the next steps in planning so, um As a question again staying on on the survey and the timing of the survey um is Is there anything preventing us from from sort of parallel pathing that survey and and just being clear that that you know, it whatever for at least the staff first well actually for the students as well, but that that What we do with that survey is is going to be um Well, actually we're talking first about feedback feedback on what we've talked about so far um, and then as long as we're clear that There's still some pieces to be tbd Or if we just delay the survey for a couple more days, um depending on um I don't know how the survey would change other than the pre-mumble in the survey of of what we're going to do with the survey Yeah, I think I mean the only thing I would suggest is if So if the survey for staff is designed where their decision is binding In other words, they're making a quasi. I don't mean permanent forever, but but a binding decision um I think we Want to redesign the student survey to suggest that we're not sure what kind of models we can offer Right, and it'd be much more Do you want to be back in the building and for school without some of what you heard tonight? Which not that that's all complete or 100 done Because we don't I feel awkward asking those questions without Any confidence that we could for any knowledge that we would be able to pull it off And similarly, I think respectfully for staff They if I was in that situation, I want to know what was happening with my responses Right, so if my response was going to be was going to mean that I'm not back in the fall for sure Versus I'm going to advocate for it because of xyz and what's their hierarchy of it? Is it obviously staff who have? medical health conditions is the second tier staff who have Household members with medical health conditions is that the same or different than that first year or similar to the third tier of people who Would choose not to come back like I think To get actual data and to be you know And to be you know be really transparent with staff. We'd want to be really clear With with the clear intentionality of why we're asking the questions and what's going to happen Got it. Am I some miss hall and miss seager. So I'll start with miss hall Okay. Yeah, I mean, I think I could go either way on either parallel tracking or not it just um, I think I mean everyone On this committee and certainly staff and families I think are really craving some element of certainty and I think to have a survey that's qualified in some way would I I think might be hard to take. I mean, it was hard enough where there was one survey and then The entire situation in our country changed and there were questions about that. We can't be blamed for that we certainly couldn't have predicted that but um, I think to avoid Survey fatigue and also just to make sure that questions that we ask and how we treat those answers are very clear And have meaning to the people who are answering them I think it makes sense. We're we're never going to have full clarity. Um, but I think having more and being having people Be able to really answer questions With as much information as possible would be my preference. Yep, miss seager and then mr. Miss seager Uh, a couple of things stood out to me. Dr. Morse when you were talking about a binding survey, so What one of the things that I could see a need for and I wouldn't think would cause fatigue Um survey fatigue is doing a litmus test of the educators in the school like a very simple survey because we've heard from A bunch of arms teachers and we've heard from the apa like they have serious concerns in there And so what happens if we say you all need to come back you all need to be there? um You know, how does that play out? So I would just think a very quick and non binding survey to that group of educators Could could really reveal something, you know, if we've got a high volume of educators who are saying like I really don't feel comfortable being in the building You know, I mean I read the news every day and the latest research and all I can think of for the fall is virtual Um, but that being said, you know, that's why I'm supportive of the phasing plan start it see how things play out and adjust from there um And I'm also You know open to looking at the framework doc again on a different night. Obviously when it's part of the agenda um to see if there's different phrasing so um But I I really feel like I would I would love to know across all the educators in the district. What are they thinking? um And what happens if you say all the educators need to be there and they can't be there And do we have people leaving the district? Because of their serious concerns of needing to be virtual for a non medical reason um It's just so complicated Mr. Demling Um, yeah, I mean I agree with most of what was said in the last couple of comments. Um, I am definitely very interested in to to see a Uh a survey to all staff. Um, but the gets definitively at at the kind of questions Um, you know, I still agree though with what miss hall was saying. I don't think I don't think there's a big difference um in two days I mean this this issue is going to be resolved the emmer school committee thursday night and so sending it out Wednesday morning versus friday morning. I don't see a difference. We were talking about two weeks than I would um, you know, but and and I don't I don't see how that that plays Um, materially into you know having to make the decision. So, um, you know, I think I think timing wise I don't I don't see a huge loss for for waiting to two days and then being able to Be really clear with what the status is to both parents and and staff in the service miss seeker Uh, forgive me. It's 10 o'clock at night I guess i'm not clear on if the issue is that the emmer school district emmer school committee doesn't have a Framework in place for staff or is the problem that the other two committees do and and there's a problem with those that's Does that make sense what i'm asking? I'm not clear on which is Because if amherst talks about this in two nights, it may not actually solve this problem for the leadership It's a good question um Would you like me to answer dr. Morse or do you want to answer? I I think the issue is amherst the amherst has not voted It does not have a document and that's that's it's that difference but it but ultimately it's that we don't The we we don't have clear Unified direction because as dr. Morse was talking about even though we're three districts And it from the administration perspective it's we operate as one so Did I did I represent that well? And just to clarify um the amherst school committee meeting is on thursday to discuss it Um, so when mr. Deming says it'll be resolved it would be it'll be resolved and that we will discuss it again So go ahead. Sorry. I didn't realize I was unmuted I I think the thing i'm really struggling with is this all or nothing kind of view It's either virtual only or we don't meet the needs of our most vulnerable students and I I want to make sure that And it is tricky because I think if we're still just talking about support for staff It's really putting um boundaries on Who can participate in that conversation and what um And it just it narrows it so much that I think it's hard to then have this full conversation about all the implications that dr. Morse brought up and I I'm I'm posing this because I'm wondering not so much that I want to have this debate right now But I want to think through what it means for us just on Like logistically, how do we have? The conversation about these implications coming from one district's decision about this support for staff document and dominoes that dr. Morse laid out because I I think we We haven't um And I'm hearing things, you know from the committee that I don't think I heard yesterday last night too You know about preferences for virtual learning or not virtual so um Is there a way for us to all have this conversation about whether or not we Do virtual learning or if we go? Because that's that's what I think is the crux of this what is there is there a reason why we should open up the conversation on on On thursday night to include more people. Maybe it's not actually technically possible now because of the 48 hour rule Okay Now this is just so hard. I want to acknowledge that and thank everybody for I think Doing as good a job as we can having these kind of difficult difficult conversations And mr. Deming and then and and then dr. Morse Just a very fine question because I'm just trying to understand what you're getting at miss fitter Are you suggesting that we should revisit the entire framework document? No, but it's a vote on one piece of a framework document by one district can then Jeopardize the ability for anybody. I mean I personally like I would like to think there's a third way And that we can protect our most vulnerable students and our most vulnerable teachers in a in in in a way and I'd like to be but it's it feels like The feedback I'm getting on that is that that's not an option. So then we need to come up with a compromise Or maybe there is no compromise option, but I I don't I don't feel comfortable with the two options I've gotten you know some of this stuff. So but It's also limiting to have one committee And only three of the five people on that committee being part of that conversation to try to work through this difficult problem Dr. Morse so, um, I just want to Maybe see a power back. I think what I'm hearing and people can tell me if I'm wrong But so one of the things I'm thinking I think I'm hearing and this is particularly from it's spitzer Is that it's not just the Amherst school committee who may want to revisit the question of staffing document So I heard comments from people who are not members of the Amherst school committee That perhaps want to re-engage on this question. So, um, I just want to I think I heard that at least a little bit and so I want to um, you know There may be an interest in having More than just the Amherst committee kind of revisit this and and that can't happen thursday, but um, You know, I just I think I heard that the second thing I think I heard Was the and I think the struggle is the inherent tension between wanting to the needs of students and And wanting to meet them and The staff concerns that have been laid out and I feel that tension as well. I know our administrative team certainly feels that tension and I think that that's It's a hard one for me You know to comment on I think, you know, what I tried to do tonight was just give some implications Of what could happen, but I was intentionally not trying to make it a doomsday scenario because that's not You know, there is anyone looking for a great solution in any district right now It's not there. Um, so I think this is our unique challenge perhaps at the moment, but it's not It's not something that um, you know, I think has easy solutions So I just also I don't know if that's reassuring or more vexing But I want to also just acknowledge that fact and I think the third thing is I'm trying to figure out what's the balance and how to do this in the three districts and I Can fully acknowledge the frustration of the governance structure. Trust me I can acknowledge the frustration of the governance system we have for these districts I think the reality is to have expectations for staff in one of the districts that Share a superintendent and central office and particularly a human resources staff Who would be doing a lot of this work and have two other districts that have share a completely different set of expectations It's it's uh, well technically I could understand how people would view that when we get to negotiations with bargaining units multiple units that share Members in all three units. I don't actually think it's a viable strategy That we could we could go on and so, you know, I just wanted to You know part of my role here is to you know, tell you what I'm hearing because um In some ways, you know, it's I'm not a voter on this and I won't even be at the meeting Thursday if you do have it But trying to just paint a picture of what the options are and None of them Are fabulous and that's that's the nature of where we are So I don't know if that's helpful or not. I just wanted to pause and just share what I thought I was hearing from the I think just to put a pin on this because I've struggled with understanding The you know, some of the the multiple consequences is it's not The the notion of protecting most vulnerable staff and most vulnerable students. It's that the the conversations um and and The idea of offering all staff A complete choice of saying I you know Deciding which which way to go and then building and then requiring us to have to build the art educational model based on what staff Have expressed preference and that will meet every single one of those desires That that I think is the crux of it and that's where you get to sort of the the doomsday And it's not even I wouldn't call it doomsday because many people In the communities we've heard want 100 distance learning. So I mean for many other reasons, there's a lot of other negative increased costs budgets jobs, etc That that dr. Morris outlined, but I think that that's the key piece of that is is is that difference and and You know going going further than what has already been outlined Miss fitzer I just want to ask one more question I've been thinking about this all day, but I actually hadn't thought about this one particular thing So if we meet as a just if the Amherst district meets on Thursday and we come up with a compromise new language, I'm not saying I'm proposing this but If we were to do that Would we still not meet the needs of the district? Because you would still potentially have so say it was some compromise. It's not the full choice It's but it's something in between Would that still be a problem because you'd have three different Pieces of guidance and then would we inevitably need to go back to the other districts? to Have them either vote up or down on on Amherst's compromise for the support for staff section Yes Yeah, we really what we need to implement any and again this isn't about One's better than the other but to implement any system. We really do need it to be consistent from a personnel standpoint Yes, technically, you know the different committees or the tech the employer, but to imagine us Working with our bargaining units in a differentiated way this way and just functionally day to day I don't see as viable It could be the case that the Amherst group wants to go and come up with something that they bring back to the region in Pelham I obviously can't speak to that but that could be a model That is explored. You know again, that's for One of miss mcdonald's hats and miss hall's hat about whether they would want to reengage on that if there was a Different solution or use I think you was a word compromise if there was such thing that You know the amherst school committee could agree on, you know, whether the other committees would be open to that Is up to the chairs and the committees And miss seager and then miss hall if the document that the region voted on last night Is causing issues um And there was better language proposed then, you know as a member of the committee, I would be interested in Reading that In talking about it To be clear, it's not what has been voted on. That's the issue Right, right Okay, I'm I'm still a little unclear about this because Because there's one framework and then there's kind of nothing and I realize that it's probably the the lack of guidance there that will be an issue um, I guess what I'm I'm confused about is is um The framework that was voted in by some committees was The seeking to accommodate for staff without medical reasons and If that language is troublesome and it sounds like it's not I think I just want to make sure that that's that is not the problem Um Mostly that's what I've been wondering about. Okay, that is not the problem. It's more of just the okay Thank you um miss hall Yeah, so I guess I'm I'm struggling Um still in with timeline and chronology like The only way we could be a hundred percent certain whether or not there could be an ideal matchup of teachers who prefer to return and Families who choose to stand send students in is to have a plan And take that information and then do the work to kind of match Things up, but I don't we can't know that yet so But it really isn't it's it is impossible to make a full commitment to Staff and students. I mean we we could we simply could not deliver We could not promise that we could potential we could potentially get lucky and deliver But we can't promise it without numbers So I I guess I'm I I don't want to be overly negative. I I just can't I can't imagine that there is compromise language in there that is going to break to make everyone Meaning committee members families Staff administration everyone. I don't think that language exists. I think it is like I think I think we have to make a really wrenching choice Thank you, miss hall. I I do think that that is the the tough choice that we're facing absolutely well said Um, mr. Manino and then mr. Demling I agree with miss hall Mr. Demling So yeah, so in terms of timing procedure since that's kind of what we're talking about is um So if the emmer school committee on thursday votes the same or In substance to the question of full staff flexibility option Substance it's substantively the same Then then the train continues if if not then then that's where it stops and all three committees would have to get back together again And I start talking about it and there would be inevitable timing delays. So I think that's the Procedurally and timing wise that that is the urgency for the emmer school committee itself to meet thursday We don't know what the emmer school committee will do on thursday But they'll either vote this same document or something that's similar enough on this point or that is divergent enough that um, that it doesn't make sense for the district to send out surveys or Pursue models and we'll need to reassess. I think that's That's the summation of where we are and so i'm not i'm not sure what else we have to decide For this evening. Um, I think Given that dr. Morris isn't going to be here thursday. I'm glad he gave that info So I think if there's any other clarifying questions anybody has on those specific points Now would be the time Um, but I think that's pretty much where we're at in terms of what we need to do at 10 25 on tuesday Yes, I agree. So we um, that's a key point because um after this meeting We're not going to have any new or additional information. So if there's anything That um, anybody particularly for anybody but particularly from the emmer school committee who will be talking about taking this up on thursday um Let's let's hear any more questions For dr. Morris not seeing any um Oh I I generally I'm comfortable moving forward with this, but I just want to be 100% clear. So if We will the emmer school committee will come together on thursday Discuss the support for staff piece. Unfortunately, we still will have to Meet with a group of a limited group to talk about this because of um, I don't think we're going to be able to change the Who's participating in the conversation Then we could potentially bring it back Our next meeting is tuesday That's an emmerced meeting Is again a dammer's meeting. So one would be the the soonest possible time we could Bring back any proposed compromise to the group and would that be Good enough for the district Or would we need to schedule potential it depending on thursday's outcome Would we want to potentially schedule a time for the rest of the team to be Rest of the districts to be part of that conversation. This is all contingent on what happens on thursday, but Since dr. Morris isn't going to be here with us on thursday. I kind of want to pick We do have sort of a tentative schedule mapped out. Um, is that we you're about to point to dr. Morris? No, go ahead Dr. Morris, I mean, I think to miss spitzer's point Um, if I'm understanding you correctly, so I'm going to say it out loud to make sure I am Because late we spent a lot of time together lately, right collectively, but So I think what I hear you saying miss spitzer is if we wanted to Have a time where the three committees get together Um, that's contingent on what happens in amherst. It may not be needed But it's possible my advice to you is you could certainly do that on friday You could certainly do that on monday. You could post the meeting Actually, I take it back pelham. I'm looking at miss hall for posting Actually, yeah, you could post it this tuesday, so it could be posted for friday Just the pelham town clerk is is in certain days and and um, isn't yeah five day a week employee um So it could be posted and if you don't need the me I'm not trying to make another meeting for you all But if you I hear your point and you could post it and if not needed you could just cancel it The problem with not posting it is that um till after you meet is then You eliminate the option of having the meeting occur because of open meeting loss. So Um, I think that's a decision this this these bodies could make about when you'd want to do that and Certainly i'll be out of town, but but all of you have access and miss frigor will be in and she can do all the posting Stuff um, if that's something that the groups want to do as a contingency and then again worse comes to worse You meet thursday night There's no need for the other group to meet and then you can Decide not to have the larger meeting if it's not needed Sorry, I was just doing all logistics. I'm not suggesting that's a good or bad idea But I did want to give an explicit answer to to miss spitzer's question so I'll just say I've um, uh I love you all but um after three nights this week um, and I'm planning to go away this weekend So I do not want I was taking friday off. I would prefer not to meet on friday. Um, I need it. Sorry um, so I mean the vice chair could um run the meeting. Um, if if the folks really want to meet on friday, but um I might propose monday if that was the route that we wanted to go Unless miss stancer wanted to Um, I don't really wanted to run A leverant is meeting on monday. So that's not um possible um I could I could run the meeting but because I recused myself last night I'm a little bit lost on the intricacies of the conversation. So I don't know that I'm in a good position To really be able to do that We we wouldn't be able to because also the vice chair of the emmer's committee recused himself to so we do that um So we could um double up on the 28th um and have but it's Potentially risky. Um, because I don't know how long Such a meeting might go of the three districts, but we because the emmer's Committee has a joint meeting already with the emmer's town council on on tuesday the 28th So, uh, I can offer my advice which is uh myself and a couple of their staff members won't be at work the next couple days So in terms of stressing a couple days here there. These are good days not to stress Um, because there won't be a lot of work no matter which the what happens with the committees the next couple days because It worked out where a number of people myself included won't be at work Um, the next couple days. So I think if it does need to get pushed to tuesday wednesday thursday of next week I think that's uh won't um Throw us back In a way where we can't have it. I think we get to the week after that and we're in august That's I feel like a break point um Where a lack of a decision becomes a decision If that makes sense to people I know it's late at night and I'm probably not being very articulate, but uh, you know and so You know, I don't know, you know, and we don't have to do it all here I mean, there could be follow-up of which night works better next week, but um It's a critical question and It's easy for me to say because I'm not a decision maker But I think getting to a place where the committee feels Like it can move forward even if it's not a unanimous vote, but the committee, you know talks about the implications I don't think you This is gonna sound a little paternalistic and I'm sorry. I apologize, but it's late I don't think you want to look back and say that felt rushed Right and if anyone feels that it felt rushed I think that's gonna not feel good and if everyone people look back and say we disagreed Then I think that's gonna feel better than that and if some people are feeling like they need more time to process and more conversation You know, um again easy for me to say, but um That's the sense. I was getting at least from a few members tonight. So um, I could be wrong. I could be reading that wrong I'm super duper tired. Um But um, I don't know that that's my two cents Um, if we I'm just asking again for pelham posting. Um, if we think that Tuesday we want to double up, um School committee meetings, um, can we post on friday in pelham or is that too late? No, we can't I could I mean I check to see if she could do something on a day that she doesn't work. Um So like I could Reach out to her tonight It was but if we were to stick to this if we were to really be loyal to the schedule as it was given To our town boards the answer is no So what about So so uh tuesday would have to be posted tomorrow Yeah, yes. Yeah Well, I think I mean we we have to put something and we had um originally planned that we would be meeting on the 30th But that feels like that's too that might be pushing it too late. So um, if if there is a need to come back on On this document, so Mr. Demling just the other date driving this is that the district has to submit the three plans by um a week from friday yes, so I mean we keep talking about the 28th 29th the 30th like You know like the district if if we if we if we suddenly make a major change that That invalidates much of the framework document that we just voted We have to give the district time to responsibly implement that in what they submit to the state. So um, it's just another Another layer of factor for scheduling consideration. Um, so I'm going to suggest that we Post a three committees meeting for tuesday the the 28th Can people do 5 30? Okay, um 5 30 and then the Amherst committee Think an hour and a half will be sufficient So we can make the Amherst committee meeting at It's definitely the other option is that we flip and we meet We have our three committees start at 7 30, but I know that we've been we've been meeting Till 10 30 a lot. So I don't know. I don't want to ask these three committees to do to do that But um, that that would be the other option nobody's expressing a solid preference so Okay, so we uh our three committees will meet at 5 30 on tuesday So that we can get that posted Miss dancer So that's presuming that a certain thing happens at the Amherst meeting tomorrow night To Thursday night Thursday. Oh, sorry. We may if there's no if there's If there's no change to either where we are now or um Or the the identical document is is voted in then we will we will just cancel the joint meeting There's any more conversation on that. No um, so I I'm thinking that for um Oh, sorry. Our next order um is the superintendent evaluation timeline um Miss spitzer would you like to talk to some of the things? I'm happy to um So I'm just trying to find which document has the It's the it's the very end of this um agenda packet. You'll see the dates on there Yeah, I've got the wrong. I've got 720 open. I need to find some Um, sorry. All right. So um, if you look at the end, is it possible for somebody to share it or should I share my screen? Can you share your screens? Let me give you a moment Um, I think I'm sharing. Are you guys seeing anything? No Now are you seeing the yep? Okay. So, um We normally would have been done with the superintendent's evaluation at the end of the school year. I think it's important that we still um do the evaluation and do it before um the new school year starts. Um, and um the chair and I have talked about this Right now Make it larger. I'm sorry. Let's see if it's Is that better? um So we have as in I don't think the superintendent evaluation dates are on here Oh, here it is. Okay. Um So we were talking about because we have this deadline of august 10th That the district's working towards to submit the plans that it didn't seem fair to ask Dr. Morris to also simultaneously be um you know working on his um presentation of the artifacts and we've also Talked about this at length about how we want to really scale back the expectations for that presentation of the artifact. So where we Where we normally would have a power point with a full Stock with hyperlinks, we're going to you know, given everything that's going on um Cut that back. So it's going to more be um a verbal presentation. Maybe some bullets to go along with it Showing, um, you know, this was the goal. These are the things, you know Quick bullets showing what might have you know been done to accomplish those goals And then the idea would be and this is somewhat based on people's vacation timelines that we Have the presentation on the 11th We'd ask everybody to respond before Um, this this isn't on here, but we were thinking by august 15th, you know, give people a shorter time frame than maybe they'd be used to um, but hopefully it would feel less burdensome because the amount of Documentation to go through would be less and then on the 25th. We'd hopefully vote. Um Should I talk about how we were thinking? It's so late. I don't know if I want to get into the details of Mike's right So just respectfully with the desi plan do august 10th um It's just going to be a lengthy document the the one that's due on the 31st is less. So I'm just a little concerned Uh to be candid about the capacity to pull off a presentation the night after that's due because that's going to take All of the focus. So I'm sorry. I should have thought of this beforehand, but I didn't but now looking at it I hate to do it in a live meeting, but I think there's no other way to do that I would just, you know, maybe think about um, maybe we can have a follow-up conversation next week mspits are about um just Some real capacity limitations given what what's due at that time Thank you for raising those concerns. I hear you and I'd be happy to talk about it. Um next week or when you're back That sounds good. Okay Any other um Any thoughts from the committee? I don't want to move on without um, miss hall Just really quickly Pelham is just going to do kind of a different timeline and we'll just work separately and do it Eventually tvd. So we're just going to do it differently Sounds good Um future agenda planning, I think um, we we've planned out next week And I think that's as far as we can go at this point. Um, so Unless somebody um, uh, sorry I should I should look at your faces before I say we're moving on. Um, is there anything that anybody would like to add for? Our potential meetings next week Yeah Um warrant report. Um, no new warrants since yesterday um from amherst and none from region. So And no gifts so I moved to adjourn Which committee? Where did it go we're on and we have a motion in pelham. Is there a second? Is there a second second? All right, uh roll call vote miss dancer Uh, I miss kenny I Mr. Manino. Hi manino. Why? Uh, miss barlow Hope you're on mute Barlow I And hall I Hello, miss adjourned. Thank you Mr. Deming I moved to adjourn the emmer school committee second Oh, sorry to you Moved by demly seconded by mcdonald. No discussion. Um, mr. Demling demling. I mr. Harrington Harrington I miss lord Lord I miss spitzer Spitzer I And mcdonald I emmer school committee is adjourned Now mr. Harrington, would you like to make a motion? I move to adjourn the regional schools committee lord second Moved by Harrington second by lord. No discussion. Mr. Demling Demling I Mr. Harrington Harrington I Miss lord Lord I Mr. Manino Manino I Miss seager Seager I Miss spitzer Spitzer I Miss dancer Stancer I Mr. Sullivan Sullivan I And mcdonald I the region is adjourned Thank you all