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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 10/06/2020Approved 10-27-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 06, 2020 t � D Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar u; riC� An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held virtually on Tuesday, October 06,' 2020. The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Kiera O'Neil at 7:03 P.m.: Members Present: Administration Present: Kiera O'Neil Teresa Murphy, Superintendent of Schools Lynn Cavicchi Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Linda Fernando Edward Donoghue, Assistant Superintendent (Finance/Operations) Lauren Scher Jenn Walsh Members Absent: ***All votes taken by roll call vote *** Roll Call Vote: Kiera O'Neil aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Linda Fernando aye Lauren Scher aye Public Speak: Public Speak is open for 15 minutes for anyone who has registered via GoToWebinar. Erika Miao, 7 Noreen Road, Mansfield, MA 02048: Thank you for all of your hard work. However, school is not working and hybrid will not work either. I have delivered a petition to the Superintendent's office. This petition asks that students return to schools 5 days per week 1/2 days. Communications: We have received 2 emails stating overall concerns; 4 emails advocating for a full return to school; 10 emails regarding an alternate hybrid model. A petition with 286 signatures was received asking us to go to a half day/5 day per week model for grade K - 2. Finally we received a letter from 27 Robinson teachers asking to go to the half day/ 5 day per week model. Chair O'Neil Statement on Proposed Hybrid Model: The teacher proposal is for a different hybrid model than what has been planned and what has been worked on for the last 3 months. The proposal would like us to use a model similar to adjoining districts. We are guessing that they are referring to Foxboro as that is the only neighboring district with that model. (Cohort A every morning and Cohort B every afternoon.) According to the teachers, the benefits are: daily live instruction from their teacher; students will learn routines at a faster pace, at home portion of day would not be fully asynchronous as specialists can still teach remotely, expectations and materials can be delivered in person to the students. This eases burden on parents and would drastically reduce cleaning due to transitions. They want what is best for the students. The parent petition: Page 1 of 6 Approved 10-27-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 06, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar We petition that all elementary students and especially K-3 students be in school EVERY DAY. We understand the need for hybrid and think having our youngest learners in school for half days EVERY DAY would be a huge benefit over the currently proposed 2 days in, 3 days asynchronous hybrid model. We believe that the best interest of children's education is always to be in the classroom. Children would benefit more from 2112 hours of face to face explicit education than 2 days on and 3 days asynchronous. This will allow them to grow their skills academically and socially in a developmentally appropriate environment. Half days would allow teachers to teach all lessons in person and asynchronous time could be the independent practice. More academics could be covered this way than with the current hybrid model. Elementary kids should not be sitting in front of screens without teacher support for three days a week! We see neighboring towns successfully implementing this schedule and question why it is not happening in Mansfield! This model is supported by the Mansfield Educators Association for the students at the Robinson School (K-2). Please share your own experiences and request half day hybrid by emailing the School Committee and the Superintendent! Kiera O'Neil: Thank you for this communication. The information we receive regarding the day to day struggles is important as we work to improve our delivery of education. Kiera provided background on how we developed the hybrid model. In early summer a district wide committee was commissioned to develop a fully remote and a hybrid model. This committee was comprised of administrators, teachers, parents, school committee members, students and other staff members to bring in many view points. The recommendations were brought forward to the school committee. We are scheduled to open in hybrid on October 1Sth. We cannot make significant changes this late in the process. There have been a lot of statements being made that everyone wants the half day model but the school committee is against it. However, the school committee approved the plan that was presented to us. The committee has not spoken against any plan. Throughout the process we have emphasized that these models will be fluid throughout the year. Hopefully we will eventually head to a full return to school model. We, as a committee, committed to a plan for our parents and in turn, parents were asked to commit to a plan for their individual students. Eighty out of ninety MA communities are using a plan very similar to what we proposed. There are a few districts using 1/2 day models and some districts where students attend every other week. Challenges are real and they are everywhere. Parents of young children are saints; Ms. O'Neil recognizes how difficult this has been on parents. The reality is that remote and hybrid is not what anyone wants. We need kids back when it is deemed safe. We need to continue to adapt and make things better. Superintendent Murphy provided some insight. We are moving ahead with our hybrid model which we have been planning since mid summer. Everyone is excited to have students back in the classroom. She understands the concerns of parents. She believes all models have merit and she takes all emails into consideration. There have also been other parents who have the opposite view and are concerned that we may cancel the virtual Page 2 of 6 Approved 10-27-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 06, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar cohort based on things they have heard in the community. We have no intention of cancelling the fully remote. We cannot turn around a plan in a week. We have worked so hard on buses, safety, cleaning, signage, etc. "I have heard you; and I understand but we have to move forward with the established plan. " However, we will certainly look at the feasibility of this plan. Lynn Cavicchi: It is important to note these models will change. We are making the best decisions with the information we have at the time (which is constantly changing). We recognize as we always do the challenges that face young children. Jenn Walsh: We are in a pandemic, nothing is easy. We will continue to listen to your concerns and work on the best solutions for our children. Linda Fernando: We need to be flexible. We really don't know what it will look like when our kids get into the building. After a few weeks into hybrid, we will reassess. Trying to change course now would be too much of a challenge. She recognized the difficulty that parents are having. Lauren Scher: Takes these emails to heart and cannot imagine the struggles these young children are having. Remote is a challenge and needs to be fixed. The spring remote option was not the best. We need to continue to collect data on the issues. Who is impacted? Do we have a consistent way to collect the data? We need to listen to teachers, parents and students. Kiera O'Neil proposed 3 closing thoughts: 1.She asked if we could have a timeline on when the school committee can look at the proposed model. 2. Is there a threshold for daily cohorts? Is there space for students to move around? 3. What can we do to prioritize getting our kindergarten students in? Teresa Murphy asked if we could postpone a timeline for at least a week so we can concentrate on getting our students in the building next week. Administrative Reports: Superintendent Murphy provided the following updates. Teresa reported that the MEA signed the Return to School MOU. Included discussions are PPE, schedules, HVAC, cleaning, social distancing, visitors, leaves of absence, instruction and Ed Eval. Ms. Murphy is so appreciative of the MEA Leadership (Scott Cohen, Tim Carpentier and Kevin McGovern) as well as the entire negotiating team. The District had its first positive COVID case. Since it was our first case, we chose to send out communication over the weekend to notify parents. We have used this method of communication for many years. However, most families did not receive the notification because it went to SPAM. We chose to resend the information out via a Newsletter. Our Technology team is working with the vendor to determine a cause. We will continue to keep the school community informed of COVID related cases but are still working out the best method to do so. Page 3 of 6 Approved 10-27-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 06, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Finally, it is the Green Hornet's 75th Birthday (October 16, 1945.) We are working on ways to celebrate this next week. Assistant Superintendent Connolly: no update Assistant Superintendent Donohue: no update Approval of Minutes: Motion to approve the open meeting minutes dated 9-22-20 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Roll Call Vote: Lynn Cavicchi Yes Jenn Walsh Yes Kiera O'Neil Yes Linda Fernando Yes Lauren Scher Yes Motion Carries S - 0 Motion to approve the executive session meeting minutes dated 9-22-20 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Roll Call Vote: Lauren Scher Yes Linda Fernando Yes Kiera O'Neil Yes Jenn Walsh Yes Lynn Cavicchi Yes Motion Carries 4 - 0 Old Business: Committee Updates. Audit: The next meeting will be held on October 29th. CIP: Next meeting will be held on October 7th to review proposals for the fall. Budget: We have started to review student activities and will continue to do so over the month of October. The budget subcommittee will meet monthly to prepare for the upcoming budget discussions. Facilities: A meeting had been scheduled for this morning but was cancelled since most of the information would be discussed at this meeting. Policy: Will meet on October 22 and again in November and December. Return to Hybrid: We are reviewing the role of the subcommittee. We would like to continue to monitor and improve upon the hybrid model so the committee name will be changed to Returning and Learning and will regroup in a few weeks. New Business: Return to Hybrid Health Protocols. Page 4 of 6 Approved I0-27-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 06, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Christine Dooling presented. Key points presented were COVID numbers, contact tracing, Isolation and Quarantining, DESE hotline help, Mobile Testing unit. There will be times that parents are contacted by the nurse. This could be for a number of reasons including absence notifications, travel plans, immunization follow up, close contact information. She reviewed the difference between positive cases, close contacts and contacts of a contact. She noted how contact tracing works; who would be notified and how important it is for staff and families to keep us informed of health concerns. Questions/Answers: What is the expectation for reporting travel plans? We are working on guidelines for our staff. We are also relying on parents to be up front with their plans. If a child is quarantined will they have access to learning? We are reviewing this but yes, students will have access to the classes. This is true only if the student is healthy; if sick, we would ask that they work on their recovery. Are we set with the bus spacing? How will we contact trace with the bus. We will drill down based on each individual case. HVAC Ventilation Report. Facilities Director Matthew Jacques provided an update on the HVAC inspections. The majority of our equipment is deemed to be in overall good condition. The most common findings on the report were: Exhaust fans not operational, Unit Ventilator air dampers closed, MERV 13 filters should be installed in Air Handlers, Nurse isolation room need negative pressure machines. There were two inspections on our schools The first tools place between September 1 and September 4th. Follow up inspections occurred between September 13 and 18. The issues that were identified in 20% of the classes were then researched and checked in 100% of the classrooms. We worked alongside these inspectors and when issues were identified then we took immediate action to address concerns. Many items were fixed by the second round of inspections. It is also important to note that during the initial inspections we were still working on our energy management system. It is now 100% operational and is working well. Questions/Answers: Can we use COVID funding for these expenses? We can use it for some of the items but there are limitations. We continue to seek ways to get reimbursements. What are the plans for continuing monitoring? We have asked the inspectors to come back during the year for another inspection. Additionally, we now have our own HVAC person on staff here who continues to work in every building for inspections and repairs. Do we have enough filters for the year? Not currently, but we do have orders in place. FY21 Enrollment Reports. Superintendent Murphy reviewed the October 1 enrollment numbers. Our enrollment is down from June projections primarily due to the withdrawal of 40 students from kindergarten to home school and private schools. Also homeschool applications are way up this year. New registrations were also down this year. We will need to monitor the kindergarten and first grade numbers next year to see if these students return to Mansfield. Page 5 of 6 Approved I0-27-20 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Tuesday, October 06, 2020 Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar FY21 Budget Update: Ed Donoghue provided an update. We are working with the town on accessing the CARES Act money. We will meet regularly with the town. The committee will work with the best use of these funds when they are reimbursed. FY22 Budget Update: Ed Donoghue provided an update. See the proposed schedule for the upcoming budget season. Kiera O'Neil suggested a different approach as to building the budget. In the last couple of years we worked toward the percentage increase allowed by the town. This year we need to start with what we need. Next year is a year to stabilize. We have had to make cuts over the years due to limited funding. Next year we will need to address the many areas that we need in order to bring our students back from this pandemic and the loss of learning. Kids will need careful attention. New School Committee Business: It will be helpful if we can get another technology update (improvements, what is still a concern and how is hybrid working.) Superintendent Goals need to be started. No meeting on 10/20 and 11/3. Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: None Documents Referenced: Health Protocol Presentation HVAC Inspection Motion to adjourn: At 9:36 p.m., Motion to adjourn the open meeting by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Roll Call vote: Lauren Scher aye Linda Fernando aye Kiera O'Neil aye Jenn Walsh aye Lynn Cavicchi aye Motion Carries 5 - 0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Secretary to the Superintendent & School Committee Page 6 of 6