At my OLD school, we...(Worcester School Committee, May 7 meeting notes)

It feels only right as we complete eight weeks of not going to school and instead...whatever it is we are doing, that we open with some acknowledgement:

xkcd 911: Magic School Bus
Title text: At my OLD school, we used Microsoft Encarta 2005.

Last night's Worcester School Committee opened with an executive session that started at 5:30, went to public session around 6:45 which lasted until 9:45, and then continued in executive session until 11.
That's a five and a half hour meeting. 

The agenda is online here; the video of the public session is here.

At administrative request, we took the request to purchase new geography texts out of order (it was late on the agenda). I think it's important to note here that general process is that new texts are sent to Teaching, Learning, and Student Support for vetting before coming back to the full Committee for approval. Curricular approval remains with the Committee in Massachusetts. The administration argued that the item needed to go through now so teachers could receive training in the new texts (which, to be frank, doesn't make a lot of sense to me); I believe there probably also is a budgetary issue here with when things need to be ordered in order to clear the fiscal year. The issues I have with this, and thus why I voted against this, are two-fold: poor time management on the part of administration shouldn't be a regular reason to circumvent process (and it seems to be a habit); and second, why are we buying geography textbooks? Had this gone to subcommittee, processwise, I would have asked that there, but this didn't give time or space for such a discussion.
In any event, it passed 6-1.

We next moved into something we haven't done before, done at student request: we had our student reps and some of those on the Superintendent's student advisory council meet with us. I have put my notes from that section over here. Mayor Petty closed by saying we'll do this again soon; I personally hope they plan to attend our budget hearing (which should be at our next meeting?).

We then had a series of teachers and staff testify about their experiences with remote learning. Let me just note here that the School Committee has been receiving a constant stream of messages from teachers about their working conditions around remote learning, particularly when it comes to the tracking that is being required, the communication, and consistency across the district. The testimony offered last night was of a piece with that, as Scott O'Connell covered in the Telegram & Gazette today. We're actually in negotiations right now--thus the lengthy executive sessions--so I won't say more than that, other than to encourage those concerned to keep contacting us.

The response to Mrs. Clancey's item on special education meetings came in at about 1:25, so for families to which that is of interest, you might pick up there in the video. While there are IEP meetings being scheduled during the school shutdown, they're being triaged, with students in transition (particularly those aging out of the public schools) going first.

The response of administration to a request for clarification on the source of work gave as backup the state's April 24 guidance as well as both the elementary and secondary standards for what is needed for the next grade (I have that all saved here, if that's useful.) That, not surprisingly, led to a fairly lengthy discussion (starts about 1:27) around remote learning in the district at this time. A few things that were repeatedly brought up by more than one of us: 

• There continues to be a massive gap around access. The district isn't, for example, giving out Chromebooks to any students beyond the handful that have gone to special education and homeless students for another week, despite our being eight weeks into this, and despite more districts that I can name coming up with little to no contact ways of having given out literally thousands of devices across the state. We also have done nothing on access beyond pointing students to Spectrum offers and free hotspots. At the same time, the district has mailed out one paper packet of work over the preceding seven weeks; the work has been pushed out online. . "We have failed our students...We could have found a way to get these Chromebooks into the hands of these kids much faster," is what Mr. Foley said, and I agree.
  As I noted, the response we repeatedly got from administration was that the city said no. However, the city has also provided for (these are my examples) me to be able to eat a hamburger from the Fix, a pizza from Blue Jeans, a McFlurry via a drive-thru, and buy a plant for my mother for Mother's day; plus this week we're opening up the yard waste site. It has to have to do with how administration was describing what was going to happen in pick-up or drop-off of Chromebooks, as otherwise, this doesn't make sense in terms of the health guidance the city has been given.
  To his credit, Mayor Petty said that he'd work with the city to come up with a way to get it done sooner.
  Superintendent Binienda then said it would not be possible for the district organize sooner.
• Even for those with access, we aren't being thoughtful on use. We have been told that schools will be requiring (!) attendance for particular classes at particular times starting next week. As Ms. McCullough noted, this presents a very big problem for families with multiple children. If you have one device, who gets it if the times overlap (which they well might, if you have students at multiple schools)? And how much bandwidth does your family have? You aren't--I speak here from personal experience, as a parent who has had a college student home doing courses online--going to have enough. Both are why districts are specifically advised against having synchronous lessons online (check page 12 of the state guidance linked above). They create an equity issue.

As a side note, we still have an outstanding item to schedule a town hall, which I know we'll be following up on.

Miss Biancheria noted that the High School Voter Registration and Pre-Registration Grant that we were being asked to vote to accept need to have half of it used by June, which seems complicated with school not meeting. The administration plans to have this organized online.

Miss Biancheria also had filed an item requesting additional information about the acquisition of the property adjoining Roosevelt Elementary for traffic flow.

There were also a series of items that went to administration regarding, in essence, school being closed:

• Request that the Administration provide a report with a breakdown by high school for seniors regarding reimbursements for all trips, events, graduations and any other costs. In addition, provide an additional report for all student events and trips that have been paid for and need to be reimbursed. This, because we've gotten some uneven reports over if seniors are getting funds paid to schools for senior activities that are not happening refunded to them. Ms. McCullough expanded this item to include all students in the report.
• To forward a letter to Congressman McGovern to support the Emergency Education Connection Act of 2020 to ensure that K-12 students can be connected and continue online learning and instruction.
• Request that the Administration provide a report on the district’s plan to enhance extended learning for the remainder of the school year that will ensure students are meeting the standards and are ready for the next grade level. 
• Request that the Administration report on the number of seniors eligible for the modified competency determination as passed by the Massachusetts Board of Education on April 28 and the process through which their application for competency will be submitted. This is the MCAS thing.
• Request that the Administration consider the number of Worcester Public Schools’ students in a family in the distribution of district Chromebooks. This is happening, but the second and third rounds of Chromebooks won't go out until the week of May 25 for elementary and middle and the week of June 8 for high school, with the ultimate goal of every district family being 2-1 on Chromebooks. That's at 2:14 on the video, if you'd like to hear that. The Mayor has also put together a group to be working on internet connections. 
• To clarify the structure of the feedback rubric vis-à-vis district assigned work versus extended work. We have had students being told they can't get a 4 unless they do, in essence, extra work. This item led to the Superintendent clarifying that no points can have been earned toward final grades so far; that is only to be going forward. Students who do not have online access are to take photos with their phones and email them to teachers; failing that, teachers will be calling.
• To create and administer a survey for students, families, and staff regarding current remote learning, to inform Phase III remote learning planning and work. We sent this to Governance, which meets this Wednesday.
• To clarify the district’s directive requiring the recording of teacher-student interactions. This has come up a LOT in discussions with teachers. That starts about about 2:38, but takes a substantial sidetrack around recording online interactions, but the crux of documenting interactions starts more like 2:47. 

Our next meeting is May 21, which should include a public budget hearing.