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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSchool Comm. 08/19/2021Approved 09-14-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Thursday, August 19, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar RECEIVED MJ7RKS OFFICE An Open Meeting of the Mansfield School Committee was held in person a1ZMii{f GVII�gn Pu2S4, August 19, 2021. The open meeting session was called to order by Chair Kiera O'Neil at 6:00 p.m. Members Present: Administration Present: ({ 5 +' (� ` T Kiera O'Neil,Chair Teresa Murphy, Superintendent of Schools Lynn Cavicchi, Vice Chair Michael Connolly, Assistant Superintendent (Teaching/Learning) Linda Fernando Lauren Scher Jenn Walsh Members Absent: None ***All votes taken by roll call vote *** Roll Call: Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Kiera O'Neil aye Linda Fernando aye (attended remotely) Lauren Scher aye Public Speak: Public Speak is open for 15 minutes for anyone who has registered via GoToWebinar. David Wilson, 14 Wildflower Lane, Mansfield, MA: Mr. Wilson presented many statistics on the current state of the covid-19 virus and the use of masks. He is against the use of masks in school and provided his reasons for this stating that children need to be able to breathe during the school day. Anthony Pellegrini, 292 Williams Street, Mansfield, MA: Mr. Pellegrini insisted that there be no mask mandate. It should be parents' choice to mask their children. His family is healthy and will never be a part of a system that mandate masks. He would like to see that we live in a community that is "all in this together." Nicholi McLaughlin, 112 School Street, Mansfield, MA: Ms McLaughlin respectfully asked that schools give the parents the option to mask. Her child has hearing loss and has difficulty hearing lessons if the staff member is masked. It should be a family choice. The district needs to look at local metrics and know that the town is not in danger of virus spread. Communications: The Committee received 32 emails regarding parent opinions on mask wearing. 30 emails were in favor of mandating masks and 2 were opposed to mandated masks. Agenda order revised; new Business will be held first. New Business: Consideration of Remote School Committee Participation; This item postponed as we are still under State authorization to hold virtual meetings. Page 1 of 4 Approved 09-14-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Thursday, August 19, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar School Opening 2021-2022: Superintendent Teresa Murphy and Director of Health Services Christine Dooling discussed opening plans in regards to health concerns. They began by reviewing a timeline of guidance provided to districts. In March of 2021 DESE required masks of all individuals. On May 27, 2021 DESE continued the mask mandate through the end of the school year while indicating in the fall districts are required to be in -person, full-time, five days a week and all DESE health and safety requirements will be lifted. On May 29, 2021, DESE indicated that fully vaccinated educators do not have to wear masks while outdoors. Unvaccinated educators are encouraged to continue masks when outdoors. During the summer months of July and August, DESE began fine-tuning guidance for the fall based on uptick in COVID cases. They started by strongly recommending that all students K - 12 wear masks when indoors. Based on this guidance, Mansfield put out a statement on July 20th highly recommending that unvaccinated individuals wear masks while indoors for summer school. Passengers and drivers must wear masks on busses. As you can see guidance was vague and fluid. Mansfield did have an issue with one summer school class. One person tested positive and spread to others leading to the class being placed in quarantine. We know that unvaccinated persons were not wearing masks despite our guidance. There was discussion regarding peer pressure cultural shifts. Mansfield is recommending that masks are mandated for all staff and K - 12 students for the start of the school year. The reasons for this recommendation are: best and safest way to return to normalcy, our goal is to keep students in school every day, we tried a recommended mask approach but it was not successful. Teresa understands that any recommendation is controversial as it has been for over a year. There is no right answer; we can only go with what we know today. Our hope is that if we start wearing masks now, we can remove them later. It is important to set expectations for day 1. Remember we had many students who were remote all of last year. Many of them are anxious about coming back. Teresa feels very strongly that she has a responsibility to our students and staff. We have over 4000 students and staff in the building on a daily basis. Tonight, Superintendent Murphy is asking the school committee to support universal indoor masking to start the school year. The language in policy EBCFA (Face Coverings) will be finalized and brought to vote at the next meeting. She also proposes revisiting the decision every 4 weeks. Christine Dooling spoke of the current metrics and DPH/DESE protocols. She defined close contact as individuals who have been within 6 feet of a COVID-19 individual while indoors for at least 15 minutes during a 24 hour period. Those that are exempt from quarantine include asymptomatic, fully vaccinated individuals, individuals who are masked and at least 3 feet apart, individuals on buses (with windows open) who are masked, individuals who have had COVID-19 within the past 90 days and remain symptom -free. There are many more testing options available to us now and we will use these tests to help identify close contact cases much faster than last year. Mansfield will adopt the recommended "Test and Stay" approach to the school year. It allows us to test individuals on a regular basis and keep staff / Page 2 of 4 Approved 09-14-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Thursday, August 19, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar students in school. Traditional quarantine will be required for those that are not willing to participate in testing. Christine Dooling then reviewed the symptom checklist and identified when individuals are required to stay at home. The new testing protocols and symptom checkers will be very difficult to manage. However the ultimate goal is to keep everyone safe. Starting with masks gives us the best opportunity to do so. Consideration of Policy Change: Code Title Notes Action EBCFA Face Per MASC revise Revise Coverings for new recommendations JCFB Bullying Remove one Revise JCFB-R Bullying sentence per Plan attorney Discussion related to EBCFA: Lauren Scher: Is this for inside buildings only? Yes. Will classrooms be at least 3 feet apart? No, it is not possible with everyone back. There are a few classes in J/J and Robinson that will be o.k. I do approve of the mask wearing. Lynn Cavicchi: How are the vaccination rates in town? Per Christine Dooling those ages 16 and up are very high but we don't know the breakdown by age. Will you ask parents for confirmation? Yes, we do ask for this information but we do not have a formal process in place. How are staff rates? Based on an anonymous survey our vaccination rate is high. How do we handle the reduced efficacy of the vaccine overtime? Per Christine, it is something we are watching but we are approaching a time with no prior history to go on. How do we support accommodations of students and staff? Teresa indicated that we will continue to provide clear masks as needed. As always, we will use the fm systems in schools as noted on any accommodations. The current policy allows medical and behavioral exceptions and we will continue to review 504 plans and IEPs. Linda Fernando: This is a huge opportunity to encourage the use of clear masks. They are accessible and available. It is important to be able to see facial expressions. Linda supports the use of masks but wants to make it easier for all to teach and learn. Lauren Scher: It is unfortunate that we are back to discussing masks due the impact of the Delta variant. We must be mindful of families who are immunocompromised or cannot get the vaccine for various reasons. We want to follow any guidance given. It is unfortunate that DESE is not providing specific guidance. Lauren does agree with Linda on the use of clear masks but thinks it should be an option rather than a requirement. Kiera O'Neil: It has been a year of agonizing decisions. However, this is an easy one for me. Masks are the only way to make sure we keep kids in school. Offering the option to mask or unmask is not going to work. Kiera believes we should address again after a period of time. Page 3 of 4 Approved 09-14-21 Mansfield School Committee Meeting Minutes for Thursday, August 19, 2021 In Person & Virtual Meeting using GoToWebinar Jenn Walsh: I work in health care and I strongly support this mandate. I have seen the changes over the summer. We need to keep kids in school. Both Lynn and Lauren emphasized the need for consistent mask breaks during the day. Motion to approve the draft of the Facemask Policy requiring the use of masks with plans to edit the final version on 8-24-21 by Linda Fernando / Jenn Walsh Roll Call Vote Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Kiera O'Neil aye Lauren Scher aye Linda Fernando aye Motion Carries S - 0 Due to time constraints this meeting will adjourn without completing the full agenda. Items will be postponed until 8-24-21. Other- Items not anticipated by the Chair 48 hours prior to this meeting: Documents Referenced: Mansfield / DESE Mask Proposal presentation DESE / DPH Protocols presentation Motion to adjourn: Kiera O'Neil asked for a motion to enter into Executive Session pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 30A, Section 21 for the Following Purpose: Under Exception No. 3. To discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares. At 7:01 p.m., Motion to adjourn the open meeting and enter into executive session not to return to open session by Linda Fernando / Lauren Scher Roll Call Vote Lynn Cavicchi aye Jenn Walsh aye Kiera O'Neil aye Lauren Scher aye Linda Fernando aye Motion Carries 5 - 0 Respectfully Submitted, Diane Nugent, Administrative Assistant to Superintendent & School Committee Page 4 of 4