Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-07-21-SC-min LEXINGTON SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEETING Tuesday,July 21, 2020 Conducted by Remote Participation CALL TO ORDER AND WELCOME: 6:00 p.m. Chair Kathleen Lenihan welcomed and introduced committee members SCHOOL COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT Kathleen Lenihan, Chairperson Eileen Jay, Vice-Chair Deepika Sawhney Scott Bokun Sara Cuthbertson, Clerk STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE Sara Mei SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS PRESENT Dr. Julie Hackett, Superintendent Mr. David Coehlo, Assistant Superintendent for Finance & Operations Assistant Superintendent to Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development The minutes were taken by Kristen Cronin, Executive Assistant to the School Committee Ms. Lenihan reviewed some of the ground rules for how the meeting will be conducted as well as instructions on how to participate during public comment. Ms.Lenihan read Governor Baker's Executive Order from March 12, 2020 which allows public meetings to be conducted remotely due to the state emergency related to the COVID-19 outbreak. Ms. Lenihan covered additional ground rules for an effective and clear conduct of business and to assure accurate meeting minutes. COMMUNITY SPEAK: Laura Sheppard-Brick, Math teacher at Lexington High School: Ms. Sheppard-Brick expressed concerns about safely returning to school until a vaccine is available. Dr. Amy Boutwell, 20 Cliffmont Road: Dr. Boutwell noted she is a physician and worked full time as a COVID physician throughout the surge. Dr. Boutwell disagrees that "pre-covid" conditions is an appropriate bar to have students return to school full time. Dr. Boutwell encourages the School Committee to reconsider the "pre-covid" bar that has been set in the Blueprint as a public policy measure and encourage the School Committee and the Board of Health to take a data informed planning approach to articulate what would be the current state conditions and what would be the resources, policies and procedures required for the school in the future. LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Jyoti Rai, 5 Woodland Road: Ms. Rai suggested that whichever model chosen, why can't it be fully synchronized? Natalia Hunik, 11 Volunteer Way: Ms. Hunik stated that Lexington parents are hiring private tutors because of the gap from remote learning over the spring. Ms. Hunik said that private tutors cost anywhere between $40.00 - $50.00 an hour and wants to know how LPS is going to help and assist working parents. Brian Felcher, 20 Summer Street: Mr. Felcher thanked the committee members, Dr. Hackett and staff for the draft Blueprint. He was happy and relieved to see Lexington taking into consideration families that may have immunocompromised family members or those living with older parents. Jay Rajamony, 171 Lincoln Street: Thanked everyone for the draft Blueprint. Mr. Rajamony expressed concerns about the lack of Performing Arts, especially chorus, in the Blueprint. Craig Gibson, 350 Waltham Street: Thanked everyone for the time, effort and planning that went into the Blueprint. Mr. Gibson said he was pleased to see a table listing some of the options that were evaluated but not included. Mr. Gibson would have liked to understand it a little bit more. Instead of pros and cons he would have liked to see the reasons why the other options were not selected. Trying to understand how a hybrid plan will work for ALL ages, especially the younger elementary students who may not have the capacity or the ability to benefit from remote learning exclusively and may have difficulty retaining what they learned during weeks on when they are on their weeks off. Rami Tzafriri, 43 Cedars Street: Recognized the need for remote learning, but does not think it worked out as it was hoped for. Mr. Tzafriri commented that having students return to in-person learning is best, especially for the younger kids, so parents can go to work in a normal way. He reminded people that there may not be a vaccine for some time and Lexington needs to have a long-term plan. Elisa Tzafriri commented that during the remote learning in the spring, especially for the high schoolers, it was not mandatory for the students to attend the classes and they were doing their homework late at night. Ms. Tzafriri commented that high school students need a daily schedule week to week. It is unhealthy for them to have one week on and one week off because they will stay up too late doing their homework at night instead of during the day. Kuncheng Zheng, 47 Cary Ave: Hoping Lexington Public Schools can adopt fully synchronized remote learning with % students at home and the other% of the students in class. Irina and Andrea, 96 Fifer Lane: Expressed concerns about English Language Learners (ELL) in the Blueprint. Would like the plan to allow for more in-class options for ELL students. LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Erin Barrett, 14 Milk Street: Ms. Barrett stated she is a teacher in the Lexington school district and also has a child that attends Lexington Public Schools. Ms. Barrett expressed concerns for teaching AP classes in a hybrid setting. As an AP teacher, she thinks that it would not be feasible to cover the full AP curriculum in the hybrid model. She believes that we would only be able to teach AP classes in the Remote Learning Academy. Chandomay Mandal, 6 Calvin Street: Thanked committee, Dr. Hackett and Leadership Team for the Blueprint. Expressed concerns about switching from hybrid to full remote or vice versa at any time. Commented that it would create logistical challenges. Would like to know how it is going to be addressed. Arvind: Thanked everyone who worked on the Blueprint plan. Arvind is looking for clarification regarding what kind of instruction would be included for the sub-separate classroom students when it comes to inclusion. Will IEPs be honored when it comes to inclusion time? During Blue & Gold weeks will the curriculum be the same/repeated? Will ESY (Extended School Year) program be extended so the children do not have such a gap? Jay Burkholder, 51 Ward Street: Thanked everyone for being ahead of every other district in the area. Mr. Burkholder is looking for clarification in the hybrid option of the need for cohorts/grouping students to minimize the potential for spreading. Will you continue to honor the full range of honor students or will every student group be heterogeneous? Concerned about what is available in the hybrid option vs. remote and what is feasible vs. what is not. Stephan Marzabel: Acknowledged the work that has been done. Stephan expressed concern that teachers do not have the tools they need and are not fully supported/prepared for hybrid or remote. PRESENTATION: LPS Back-to-School-Blueprint Dr. Hackett noted that because the Blueprint is a large document, she is going to talk through some of the aspects of the Blueprint and then members of the Planning Committee will help respond to questions that people are asking. Planning Committee members in attendance are:, Ms. Caitlin Ahern, Director of Professional Learning; Mr. Dave Coehlo,Assistant Superintendent for Finance&Operations; Mr.Johnny Cole, Director of Student Equity and Supports, Ms. Barbara Hamilton, Director of METCO and Student Engagement; Ms. Maureen Kavanaugh, Director of Planning and Assessment; Dr.Avon Lewis, President of the Lexington Education Association (LEA); Dr. Christine Lyons,Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction,and Assessment; Mr.Tom Martellone, Director of Innovation and Instructional Technology; Ms. Karen Rufo, Director of School Health Services; Mr. Eamonn Sheehan, President of the Association of Lexington Administrators and Coordinator of PE and Wellness; Ms. Ellen Sugita, Director of Special Education;and Ms. Monica Visco, Director of Human Resources. LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Dr. Hackett acknowledged the frustrations that people are having at all levels. She expressed her appreciation for everyone who works at Lexington Public Schools for working so hard during these past few months and for adapting to all the adjustments that needed to be made in an emergency situation. Dr. Hackett addressed the parents and caregivers who, in the last few months, have faced new challenges trying to balance managing jobs, maintaining households, and becoming teachers overnight. She acknowledged that it has not been easy for the parents and caregivers. Dr. Hackett recognized that despite how hard everyone has worked, the district has not been able to meet the needs of everyone. Dr. Hackett provided a review of the past four months: • March 13, 2020 -Two week emergency school closure • April/May 2020 - Governor extended school closure through June • Remote Learning setting from March -June • Collected Data through surveys (2 given to staff& 2 given to parents & caregivers) in order to see how to better plan for remote learning • Daily meetings with Administrators & Unions • Weekly meetings with Curriculum Supervisors • Thousands of emails and communications • May 21, 2020 - Planning Memo outlining the task for planning the Blueprint • Superintendent Chats w/parents, staff and students • June 30, 2020- First Draft of the Blueprint • Received Blueprint feedback from staff, parents, students • Leadership Team analyzed the feedback (data dialogue teams) • July 21, 2020 Blueprint is the result of the deep analyzed process of data analysis and really listening to the community. Dr. Hackett noted that all sections in the July 21th Blueprint that contain any changes made between the June 30th version and the July 21st version are noted in the table of contents with an asterisk next to them. Dr. Hackett highlighted a few of the changes made: • Thursday% day has been changed to Friday % day • July 15th deadline for Staff and Student Choice Forms • Added a feasibility study of room capacities using various social distance parameters Dr. Hackett read the "Why No Return to School in the Fall" section of the Blueprint. Click here to read. Dr. Hackett read through the "Executive Summary" section of the Blueprint. Click here to read. Dr. Hackett noted that section one of the Executive Summary has a recommendation to the School Committee of a September 14, 2020 start date instead of the initial start date of September 1, 2020. Section two of the Executive Summary notes that Lexington Public Schools will exceed the State's public health and safety guidelines. Whenever possible, all students and staff will LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC practice six (6) feet of social distancing and wear face-masks in grades K-12. Meals will also be served in classrooms and grab-and-go lunches will be available for middle and high school students. Section three of the Executive Summary discusses equity. Dr. Hackett noted that equity is at the heart of all the work that is done in Lexington Public Schools, and the district plans to offer more support for vulnerable and at-risk students. The Blueprint includes a plan for a full return to school for students in pre-kindergarten (including students who receive special education services and their typical peers), students with disabilities in substantially separate special education programs, and others determined to be at risk. In section four/five of the Executive Summary, Dr. Hackett discusses what staff and educators have learned in a very short period of time. She reported that from March to June there were 700 educators that participated in professional learning. The district had 65 technology workshops that were offered from the Tech Department. Two hundred and twenty-seven educators completed 583 technology learning courses this summer. This adds up to over 2400 hours of technology professional learning. Section six of the Executive Summary explains that everyone should be fully prepared for a return to remote learning if necessary, and should understand that it could be a decision that must be made at a moment's notice. Dr. Hackett noted that, in section seven of the Executive Summary, initially the district had asked families and staff to indicate their teaching, learning, and work assignment preferences by July 15, 2020 for planning purposes. We have heard from members of our school community that with so many uncertainties, it is difficult to make a choice for a preferred model of teaching and learning. With authorization from the State, the district is making the following modifications: (1) any student can participate in remote learning, (2) doctors notes are no longer required, and (3) families will not be locked into one particular learning model for the entire school year. If your family circumstances change, you have a change of heart, or have yet to submit a preference, any parent/caregiver may complete the Student Fall Learning Change Request Form. In January, we will establish a process to check in with families and staff about their teaching and learning assignments. Similarly, staff members can contact Human Resources if they wish to discuss potential changes in assignments. COMMUNITY SPEAK: Anna Pevzner, 15 Dewey Road: Family has a member with high-risk conditions and opted for remote academy this year. Ms. Pevzner would like to request more flexibility for working parents. It is hard to juggle schedules and supervise children's learning. Also concerned with the amount of screen time with remote learning. Would like to limit the amount of synchronized learning for their child. Maria, 336 Bedford Street: Full remote learning is the best option LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Sanjeev Rhee, 5 Woodland Road: Would like to know how the district is going to make up the lost time from March to June. Commented also that whether hybrid model or full remote it needs to be synchronized. Matt Sneider, 56 Isaac Davis Road: Commented on the safety and health of the students. Mr. Sneider stated that even though remote learning is an inconvenience, it is absolutely necessary. Mr. Sneider commented that unless the remote learning is fully synchronous, the hybrid model goes against everything the Lexington Public Schools and State administration taught us about providing an equitable experience. It drives a wedge between the privileged who can afford private teachers and tutors and the less fortunate students who will be left behind because these families cannot afford private teachers. Mr. Sneider said "Equity" isn't just a convenient word to include in the mission statement, it must be systematically addressed and confronted in a moment like this. S. Otto: Commented that it would be best to keep students together in cohorts with their friends from the previous school year or keep the same grade together as last year, if at all possible. Kids need their friends as a support level as well as their teachers. Christina Pachano, 12 Winston Road: How will we manage the logistics and space when back in the school environment (i.e., drop off, halls, etc.)? Expressed concerns for teachers and special needs children. She also expressed concerns on school funding. Patrick Donaher, High School Performing Arts Teacher: 1) Think everyone knows there is no good answer, the district is doing the best it can and thank the leadership across the board for everything you are doing. Mr. Donaher stated that there will be a lot of things that are going to happen that are out of Lexington's control (i.e. the District Music Festivals, MIAA); there are a lot of folks that a lot of people in this meeting have no say over. 2) Teachers are working really hard right now, even though technically it is summer break. What do masks for a trumpet player look like, or for a singer? How do we do real time rehearsals if we have to go remote again? Mr. Donaher wants the community to be assured that they do not have all the answers, but are taking the questions very seriously. Sonal Gupta, 24 Parker Street: Thanked the Leadership Team for providing both versions of the Blueprint. Ms. Gupta is looking for clarification on honors classes in the remote learning classes. Kang Wang, 15 Downing Road: How will testing for contact tracing be done? Heard other districts will test kids every three days. Helen Yang, One Solomon Pierce Road: Ms. Yang thanked Dr. Hackett and the Leadership Team for the amount of work on the revised version of the Blueprint. Would like to encourage Lexington to focus on fully synchronous learning/teaching. Jianhua Zhou, 26 Packard Street: Ms. Zhou on behalf of Chinese American Association of Lexington (CAAL) thanked Dr. Hackett and the School Committee for giving the community a chance to express their concerns. Appreciate the opportunity to switch between hybrid and full LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC remote that is given in the revised Blueprint. How can we be sure the hybrid model and full remote will share the same pace on progressing with the core curriculum? Noticed there is a fairly large gap in the survey results between the staff and family feedback. Around 63% of the teachers are willing to return to the school, while we have over 80% of the students choosing to use the hybrid model. Also how do students have a smooth transition between the two models? Monica Davis, 26 Hayes Lane: The Massachusetts DESE guidelines are very clear that the goal for this fall is the safe return for as many students as possible to in-person school settings to maximize learning. The state guidance clearly indicates that districts and schools should prepare a reopening plan that addresses three possible learning models for the fall: (1) In person learning with safety requirements; (2) Hybrid model; and (3) continuation of remote learning. Ms. Davis believes that Lexington owes to the public the first type of plan (in-person learning with safety requirements) requested by the DESE. Would like to hear a plan of what in-person learning with safety requirements would look like. Especially since Lexington is making a commitment to offer a full year of remote learning options to families. Ms. Davis also expressed concerns for how Lexington will transition between the hybrid model and a fully remote model. Simon Reavely, 43 Webster Road: Consider looking into fully remote learning for as many people as we can and having the synchronous as well, but allow some parents who need to go to work to apply for in-class teaching. Colette Powell, 1359 Mass Ave: Commented on what the goal posts are and what metrics would be safe for a full return to school. Sensing a lot of frustration in the community by not having those targets spelled out clearly and transparently front and center. Wish Dr. Hackett would share the goals publicly so the community can track them and have a better idea on what we need to achieve to get back to school full time. Ms. Powell stated that if it is the Board of Health's role to determine those metrics and not the superintendent's decision, then she strongly urged the School Committee to publicly push for the Board of Health to post the goal posts in order for the community to track them. On behalf of SEPAC and ESY (Extended School Year) program families, Ms. Powell commented on the proposal for a later school start date of September 14, 2020. She suggested that the ESY program be extended into September. The kids in ESY should not have a break for more than two weeks. Kathy Booth: Ms. Booth commented on hearing the lack of concern over the safety of the children during public comment. She spoke of her concerns about METCO and covid testing for students. Jeff Feldman: Commented on his experience from this past spring. Would like to see a plan for each stage, including in-person, that's based on data (i.e., what do we need to know when something will trigger, what will happen, why it will happen, what does "safe to do" actually mean?). As a community we can help meet the needs of each of those stages, but we cannot LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC do that unless we know what they are. We need an educational approach that doesn't differentiate between the students' location. Bronte Abraham, 22 Hudson Road: Would like to know why we are looking at a single hybrid and a single remote plan for elementary and secondary. Can there be different hybrids for different grade levels? Fully support the Palo Alto model. Ms. Abraham expressed disappointment that there wasn't a two week schedule for the high school hybrid plan. Really challenging for parents to understand what the two weeks is going to look like for any student. Unclear how a student will be able to access help during the remote week or actual week (has between 5-9 days before he sees his teacher again to ask a question). SEPAC is looking for clarification on how the Resource teachers will support students that are not in district-wide programs when they are assigned to the buildings by two cohorts of students. SCHOOL COMMITTEE DISCUSSION AND QUESTIONS: Each member provided their comments and feedback on the Blueprint as well as the following questions for Dr. Hackett and the Planning Team: Mr. Bokun: Mr. Bokun asked Dr. Hackett what the timeline will look like from now until September 14th for when things need to be determined in order for parents to be able to have time to adjust? Dr. Hackett: Told by the State that a preliminary plan needs to be submitted by July 31st with the three options. Also told by the State that we will receive updates by mid-August with more direction. It's possible to receive an order from the Governor that everyone will be fully remote or everyone will be fully in-person. Mr. Bokun: How do you see COVID testing happening within the schools? Would it be random testing of teachers, staff, and students or do you see it as an everyday occurrence? Dr. Hackett: We do not handle the testing aspects. In Massachusetts, it is the Massachusetts Department of Public Health who handles the testing piece. There are protocols that just came out on July 17th from the State, and they indicate that if somebody believes they have COVID they must be tested and then quarantined for 10 days. In addition, the entire classroom would be quarantined if they have been in contact with that person and cannot return to school until they have been tested. Ms. Jay: There's a large gap between the number of students wanting hybrid and the number of staff willing to return to school. Ms. Jay expressed concern about asking teachers who are uncomfortable with the health risks involved to return to school. How can we go about honoring that while still making the hybrid model work? It is particularly difficult at the high school where the number of classes students take would lead to a lot of mixing of multiple groups of students and faculty. This could result in a high level of potential COVID exposure for LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC both faculty and students. In hybrid, teachers would be in contact with about 50-60 students one week, then another 50-60 the next week. It is more difficult to create small cohorts at LHS than it is in elementary school where class size is 20-25 students. Dr. Hackett: We have had a number of socially distanced in-person meetings with Dr. Lewis and Ms. Visco, trying to sort out this very complex issue. I agree with wanting to give people their choices but it is going to be very challenging to do so. We've been sorting through the process in two steps. Staff have requested a certain preference and Dr. Kavanaugh collected the data, school by school, person by person, both student and staff, and we are cross referencing those. Ms. Viso then reviews the list using the CDS protocols on staffing. There is a process in place and the scheduling team has been working with principals and their team to help. Dr. Lewis: We know we have this mismatch and we know we have some of the staff who are nervous about coming back. So if we can think about the schedules, we can think about ways on how we address our processes in the buildings. Maybe we can adjust our processes in the building so people will feel less nervous. Be creative and moderate so people feel more comfortable. Dr. Hackett: Asked Dr. Lewis if she would mind giving the example of AP Bio; that was a question that came up a few times. Dr. Lewis: Chemistry; you might have a class where there is only a handful of sections of it and in that case, maybe you have a situation where you offer it and maybe the teacher is in the hybrid model, but you have both remote and hybrid enrolled in that class so maybe you offer that class as a remote class and both groups of kids are enrolled in that class as a remote class. The kids who are in school are sitting with their chrome books and taking the class as if they were home. This is all brainstorming suggestions and we are trying to figure it all out. None of this are questions we ever would have imagined asking 6 months ago. Ms. Jay: Completely appreciate that you are beginning to work on these questions. Hope to have the approach of working in creative ways. It would be worthwhile taking a look at an approach that values or finds a way, as much as possible, to honor teachers preferences. Possibly altering the model somehow so that students are coming in less often or having students come in but some of them are working in rooms together perhaps with a remote teacher. Consider possibly teaming remote and hybrid teachers in pairs. Hoping there might be creative ways to mitigate the mismatch and still take care of the people who would be more comfortable not being in the buildings. Ms. Jay: In the plan it talks about trying to get alignment between the curriculum in the hybrid model and the remote learning academy. How can alignment of the two models occur in terms of pacing and coverage? LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Dr. Lyons: Need to pay attention to the disparities between students who chose to be in the hybrid model vs. the remote model. We need to make sure that the pace of the curriculum moves along at the same pace. Ms. Jay: A related question that's come up is about the pacing of the hybrid model. There's some worry about the cohort model. Is it repeating the second week with Cohort B what you did the first week with Cohort A, therefore slowing down the pace by half, or are teachers looking at those two weeks as a whole? Dr. Lyons: The idea with the hybrid model is to think about those two weeks as a unit. We are going with a model of flipped learning. Ms. Jay: If the situation arises that we have to go fully remote for everyone, would the students in the hybrid model maintain the hybrid schedule or would they be using a structure/schedule that's a little more like what students in RLA (Remote Learning Academy) are doing? Dr. Lyons: We are in the process of prioritizing what we need to be organized and ready to be up and running. The first two models we are working on is exactly what is RLA going to look like and what will the hybrid model look like? We are anticipating that the hybrid model would be more of a modified hybrid model. We can find a way to make the pacing work for the hybrid model and make it more robust. Ms. Cuthbertson: I know the chart spells out the pros/cons of the different models that you've considered, some of the questions that we've gotten recently are about the Palo Alto model. Some people are wondering what tipped the team to choose the one week on/one week off instead of the Palo Alto model? Dr. Hackett: What tipped the need in any direction was the need to do some sort of in-person model. The easiest thing to do would be a full return, it's definitely not the safest thing to do. It's not what the Planning Team or the Board of Health recommends. The second easiest thing to do is full remote. Johnny Cole: Equity has been a big part of the discussion along with safety and health. What's challenging about these conversations is the way equity gets interpreted by individuals. What we're seeing right now is the core values that Ms. Cuthbertson spoke about, and those are really being tested. We are going to work as a community so there is a community safe net and that no child falls through the cracks. Barbara Hamilton: One of the biggest challenges for our Boston students is the impact of transportation. A lot of our families are very concerned about whether Lexington will be able to manage that. They value the relationship that their kids have with the students and families in Lexington. They are concerned if the hybrid model will even be an option for them as Boston LPS students. We are waiting to hear guidance from DESE regarding the transportation issue. LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC The other thing that is in our core values is what we really believe in as a school district and ensuring that all students' needs are met while we also consider the needs of our staff. We all know from the pandemic that families of color have been hit in ways that families of non-color have not. One thing this pandemic has done is show the inequity that is embedded not just in educational institutions but in a number of other institutions. Most of our Boston families are choosing the hybrid model, very few have chosen the remote model. Their concern around health issues and safety are extremely high. Dr. Hackett: Do you want to say a few things about what's been happening over the summer in terms of equity and making sure we get kids off on the right track in the fall? Barbara Hamilton: Because transportation was impacted, we had some financial resources that would have been absorbed in our transportation that enabled us to engage with a couple of organizations, so that students and parents who want to can participate in some academic enrichment programs. We have about 98 students throughout the summer either in a 6-week program or an 8-week program participation in Literacy Comprehension, Writing or Mathematics. Sara Cuthbertson: Would there be the potential to have the ability for parents to transport students at times, if transportation is an issue? This might apply if parents can get the kid one way or the other way or if the timing is a little bit off, where the parents need to get to Lexington earlier or if the parents can't come until later. Something for the Planning Team to think about. We had parents, especially of younger children because we are hearing a lot about the child care issues, if there is a way when planning the cohorts that the younger children could have one buddy request where it could be their family and another family in their cohort. If their kids were hybrid they could share child care. It would be helpful for families that are really struggling financially if we could do that. Dr. Hackett: We have been working on a hardship form for families. We are trying to be responsive particularly to families that have the challenges that you just described. When speaking in a larger context, it has been very challenging. Maureen Kavanaugh: It is really complicated. On an annual basis, the building administrators start scheduling very early in the year. At both elementary and middle school levels, they do try to accommodate those social connections. We are at the point where we are trying to evaluate how much of the earlier scheduling work, which is thousands of hours of staff man-hours to do the schedules, can be salvaged or is applicable at all to the current situation. One of the new variables that we've never had to deal with is PK-12 sibling alignments. We also have some families who do not prefer a sibling match. We are still working on the PK-12 sibling alignment. On top of that, we still need to work on special education and ELL schedules. Ms. Sawhney: What are the monitoring variables, how are we going to be judging/assessing our performance at a system level? What mechanisms are we going to put in place to judge the LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC performance? I know the administration does not have those answers yet, but it is something to keep in mind. Those are the feedback mechanisms that will help us build a better system. Is there a way to receive monthly feedback possibly from parents in the community? Testing and contract tracing is key. If the administration needs us to lobby the State let us know. Concerned about online safety security as well. Dr. Hackett: Agree advocacy for testing is good. It may be something that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) addresses. Thomas Martellone: We've made a large effort throughout the district working on student data privacy. We are a member of a consortium that helps to get data privacy agreements with different software vendors and companies that we work with. We are also going to do more parent professional learning with helping parents to navigate technology between school and home. We are also working with students around online behaviors and how those behaviors may impact them or other people. As we look back on the spring, there were opportunities that kids did not have due to the pandemic in regards to collaboration outside of school. We are looking at finding ways for kids to collaborate more/differently as we move forward but also thinking about how to put safety pieces in place as we make those collaborations work. We are also working with a company on doing cyber security work that has been informative. Caitlin Ahern: As Mr. Martellone was saying, there has been a lot of new learning going on around all the new tech tools that we are incorporating into our teaching and learning. We have been leaning on the Digital Learning Coaches tremendously to help us with this work (i.e. how do we make sure our students understand what to use and how to use it safely; parents asking how do we keep our students safe and know that they are safe). We are working with our Digital Learning Coaches to have dedicated parent professional learning in the fall to help parents understand what the tech tools are and how to use them. The Digital Learning Coaches have a great set of digital citizenship lessons. We are looking to have a technology orientation for when students come back in the fall. Sara Mei: During the hybrid model could teachers be teaching in the classroom during the remote weeks and the students be at home on their chrome books? Dr. Lyons: Yes, we are going to figure out all the different ways that we can make that work. Sara Mei: A little confused what a hybrid week on/week off schedule would entail, especially regarding teachers schedules and synchronous schedules throughout the remote week. Would a more specific model with details be released soon? LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Dr. Lyons: There is so much discussion and so much flexible thinking of what a high school schedule might look like at this point. As far as the specifics of what things will look like, once we get more grounded on what the plans are, we will be getting that information out. Sara Mei: How will contact tracing happen at the middle school/high school when students are mixing and matching in every class? It seems that if a student would come down with symptoms most of their classes (7 or 8 classes) would be quarantined. That seems like a lot of students. Dr. Hackett: The reason for cohorts is to help with contact tracing. We are supposed to keep a really good log of when kids ride on buses and who they sit with and who they have classes with. Karen Rufo: The key is to keep seating plans and knowing where kids are. Sara Mei: If there is a student paired with a teacher doing the hybrid model learning, the data shows there are less teachers needed to pair with students in the hybrid model. If there is a student paired with a teacher doing the hybrid model when the student is in remote learning, how would that student get material for that classroom to participate? It seems like they would be at a disadvantage. Dr. Lyons: That also goes back to that notion of flexibility. The idea is that the remote learning academy is not going to operate as a silo in the hybrid model. Also making sure the remote learning and the hybrid model move along at the same pace from a curriculum perspective. Dr. Hackett: Dr. Lyons, could you talk more about why it's important to integrate the hybrid into remote learning? Dr. Lyons: Depending on staffing situations and which staff are working remotely vs. staff working in person. We need to figure out how to match the courses and the classes that need to be taught with the staff that want to teach in each of those settings. There's a lot of different ways that we need to be able to make sure that we can get all the courses that we need to get out to the students in the different settings that they're in. Dr. Hackett: The configurations are necessary so that kids can have more options and we can have more options for staff members. Trying to maximize opportunities by using those tools/descriptives is really important but it is hard to figure out until you've done the exercise. Sara Mei: If a parent wants to switch between remote and hybrid models, would they have the same teachers and be part of the same class? Dr. Hackett: No, not necessarily. Dr. Lyons: That might not work out based on who needs to be staffing which classes. LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Sara Mei: Their schedule could be changed if they change between remote and hybrid. Dr. Hackett: The likelihood that it would be the exact same schedule is highly unlikely. Kathleen Lenihan: What kind of PPE is the district providing to staff? Dave Coehlo: We have plastic face shields, smile mask (mask that fits around the face, but has a clear window over the mouth area), N95 masks, surgical scrubs (for certain staff members that will be working with certain populations), tissues, and hand sanitizer. We will be getting in hand sanitizer stands (touchless). Disposable masks for both adults and kids, plexiglass shields that are desktop size for places in use with OT, PT, Speech and Language. We have plexiglass barriers being installed in administrative areas. We have something for everyone at this point depending on what they need. We are trying to function all of that out based on the staff member and their need relative to their position. Relative to the feasibility study, we will look at the capacity that our classes can handle given the distancing thresholds. Using a software program given by the State. Dr. Hackett: Dave could you speak about the MERV filters? Dave Coehlo: Working closely with the Department of Public Facilities. They are working with an outside service and assessing all the filters in the building. The MERV filters are the filtration that goes into the room air exchange. MERV 13 filters are considered a superior level. They are not quite the HEPA filters that people are known to have in a purification type of place, but for this use and space the MERV 13 filters are an excellent choice. Bringing filtration levels up to the maximum that we can to make sure the air that does get exchanged in the room is filtered enough and fine enough to eliminate as much of the impurities as we can. Kathleen Lenihan: Is the filtering that you described, is that going to be done for the entire high school? Dave Coehlo: Currently with facilities and this outside vendor, who specializes in this area, is doing a lot of other projects with colleges and other school districts specifically examining to make sure that the equipment does what its supposed to do and filters are in place. We will have to look at individual room by room where we find that perhaps the air is not being exchanged at the optimum levels, but also as we replace those filters that we are putting them in the right places. It's an ongoing process. Kathleen Lenihan: Question about PE classes. How are we going to maximize getting our kids outside as much as possible? Eamonn Sheehan: We've conducted a number of workshops across K-12 departments about how we maximize outside space and revising our curriculum that would allow us to keep our kids outside longer than November. We are looking at more high tech/project adventure activity programs that might allow our kids to go outside for longer. LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Kathleen Lenihan: What happens if the "sick bank" was all used up? Monica Visco: We have a really robust sick bank right now, they are all combined into one. We haven't had a lot of utilization of it yet and hopefully we can maintain that status. Kathleen Lenihan: Are their consequences if kids do not want to wear their masks? Dr. Hackett: There is a section in the Health & Safety protocols section of the Blueprint that talks about the need for administrative protocol. It is recommended by the CDC to develop plans. Dr. Hackett: Ellen could you answer the question around inclusion? Ellen Sugita: Remote and socially distancing is going to be difficult with inclusion. Inclusion involves working closely with the students and reading their body language and closer interaction/collaboration. Ellen Sugita: The Extended School Year (ESY) program is running in a synchronous model right now. We've received a lot of good feedback from parents and from teachers. Scott Bokun: We talked about some special ed students that will be attending the blue and yellow week. In terms of equity, are they going to be missing out on that off week? What material will they not be getting because they will be in school for both of those weeks? Ellen Sugita: That remains to be seen if they will not be offered what the students at home will be offered. Usually I receive the question if the students will be repeating the same curriculum during those weeks. Dr. Hackett: Could families elect to do the same model? We're offering the in-person for each week, if they want to do hybrid and they have special education services in a sub-separate program. Ellen Sugita: Yes, they could do that. Synchronous and in-person may be more similar in some situations than we think, and as effective. COMMUNITY SPEAK: Rajeshwari Godbole, 6 Tewksbury Street: Wondering if the district has looked into getting help from established systems, such as DECA online public school? Ronita, 30 Turning Mill Road: Can we define quarantine guidelines if there are families that travel out of state? LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Wai Chang, 23 Lillian Road: Concerned about if the time comes to go fully remote. During the remote week there is mostly no synchronous learning, it's asynchronous learning. Can we have some parameters that there will be synchronous learning when the time comes for school closure? Would like follow up for when the hybrid learning switches to full remote learning. Lei Yu: Where is the place for the quality of education? Disappointing to hear we have to sacrifice our quality of education by cutting our curriculum in half. A lot of other districts do synchronous classes with zoom. What exactly are the roadblocks that our district cannot do while other districts can do? Nicola Rinaldi: Suggest sending out the contract tracing document embedded in the Blueprint as a separate document. If someone receives a negative test they are allowed to return after 24 hours symptoms free, I would encourage you to push that to three days. There is up to 20% post negative rates. Suggest having a longer December break. Allow redistricted students to view their new building. Would like to hear more discussion on learning outside of LPS, e.g. college classes earn LHS credit.. Gopi Shanker, 109 Shade Street: Find a group of 10/12 kids who will be in the same cohort that are all taking the same classes, so they can be in the same classroom the whole day. Qing Fu: Simultaneous Remote and In-person Learning (SRIL) would work the best for LHS and middle school. Jordan Litman, 130 Emerson Road: Commend how much the district has listened to all constituents. Would like to see a shift toward competency based education rather than standard based. It would help make what is expected and how it's assessed more transparent. Family communication was a challenge in the spring, necessary to have a parent communication tool where all interactions with the teacher are in one spot and you can directly reach out to the teacher and the teacher can send comments where it's organized and accessible. Commend the work on equity and race. Are there going to be conversations with students on equity and race? Angela Carpenter, Music Specialist at Harrington: What creative logistics are being considered for specialists that see the entire school body and thus would be hot spots for cross contamination of cohorts and grade level teachers. Teaching remotely is the safest way for students and staff members. Consider remote learning for the safety of everybody. Mahala, Hancock Street: Something that is being missed out on is the psychological impact on children, especially in the lower grades. Claire Feingold-Thorne: We'll probably switch to remote. I don't feel confident in the hybrid. Synchronous learning is better; doing asynchronous learning needs skills to do it well. LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC Nick Hart, 66 Oak Street: Urge you to resist this wave of parents who say the kids must be full time and if you think it's best for kids education to be remote, to pull that trigger and make it happen. James Chan, 227 Lowell Street: Echoed a lot of the previous comments from parents about synchronous learning Lily Yan: Would like to ask the School Committee and the School Administrators to give teachers the opportunity to freely choose to teach in-person or remotely. ADJOURNMENT: Dr. Hackett provided information on upcoming parent chats that are scheduled for the remaining week. Deepika Sawhney: Would it be easier on the school system if more families went remote? Dr. Hackett: Yes, it would be easier. The hardest model is the hybrid. Ms. Cuthbertson made a motion to adjourn at 11:08 PM, seconded by Mr. Bokun. Ms. Lenihan took a roll call vote. (Approved 5-0) LSC 7/21/2020 Meeting Minutes-Approved 8/25/2020 KC