Board of Ed (laterblog): reopening school

Riley: review of where we've been and where we're going
"I think we grounded everything we did first and foremost on collaboration"
used health community "to ground every guidance we put out"
"this is an issue that transcends education"
have worked with group of stakeholders from what started in the spring

Have put out over 200 pages of guidance documents: from access to mobile testing to sports to special education
"fundamentally what we did was we asked districts to prepare for three models of learning"
"recognized that this virus could change"
goal was to get as many students learning back to learning in-person as possible
handwashing, distancing, masks, staying home if you're sick
"have focused on attendance, but this is a year where we really want to focus on staying home if you're sick if you can"
what? No, not "if you can"!
Did this because we weren't sure of our financial picture--districts that were were making cuts of 20% or more--and didn't know virus direction
Thank for level funding "so we knew the cuts weren't necessarily going to have to be made"
$193M ESSER, $202M CvRF grant
"those have really allowed schools to do any of the three models"
IT DOES NOT
$33M technology grant
"why, beyond we had the money, did we think we should reopen schools"
Johns Hopkins "in the green" deemed reopen
DPH and the medical community "stoplight metric"
red "you can think about going remote" but we recommend bringing
Yellow going hybrid
if you're green or grey "we really think you should be going back full time in person"
this is not possible under the appropriate spacing of students
We gave this metric
"wait for a trend, multiple weeks worth of data"
"look for other pieces of data which could explain some of the reason behind the metric"
asking for clarification on metrics: "we feel like we have a moral obligation as a Department to have people aligning to the metric as much as possible"
a MORAL obligation to "align with the metric"??? That isn't a moral cause!
"give them an opportunity to explain to us what's happening in their particular world"
"We don't know if there will be a second spike or not" 
can use this "using multiple weeks of data"
"we feel districts should be back in-person to the greatest extent possible"
Technical assistance/audits "to monitor quality instruction"/way
support on technology: orders held up due to crunch
most districts had ordered in May or June of last year
new estimated Chromebooks (22,000 for 50 or 60 districts); were told they'd be coming in first week of October; 80% have come in early, rest expected next week
still districts having supply chain issues
"most districts already do formative assessment every year" but were some were looking for an assessment system, so contracted with Riverside Insights: Iowa Flex (math 2-8; ELA 4-8) and Istation: Indicators of Progress (ISIP) (math PreK-8; reading PreK-8; Spanish literacy PreK-5)
mobile testing unit: a plan in place "beyond the kind of one-offs"
Set to come out to a school to test more than close contacts; "stands at the ready to use"
Key has been communication among HHS, DESE, DPH, and local districts
Over 3000 kids "were able to get special education services" 
More than that received services; he is only speaking here of in-person services which is SUPER misleading
"try to deal with [cases] quickly and effectively" as they came up

Moriarty: is there some way "to get measures of learning loss or disparities at this time?"
Commissioner: MCAS has typically been the diagnostic tool at the state; systems use their own formative
Moriarty: "I do understand that, but we're flying SO blind right now"
Riley: "we've talked about sort of dipsticking in" to get an idea; will discuss that

Morton said things here but his mic was off, so I have no idea what it was
Riley: contract tracing is done by the medical community; can offer technical assistance as well
"that will be a signal that several people have COVID or potentially have COVID"

Hills: comment on letters to districts
"I think that the amount of work that the Department has done has been terrific"
"Don't overlook the value of sending out those letters"
"we have limited ability to directly control" districts "and that's the way the system's set up and that's fine. On the other hand, there's an accountability that you can force a conversation around by sending out letters like that."
"You're not trying to pretend that you have an authority you don't have" but are "trying to hold local districts and governments accountable to local families and those who live there"
"I would say don't be shy and meek in thinking about the districts in which that conversation should be forced. That's also leadership, even if it's not direct control"
Riley: "we really gave districts some time to adjust to the metric...we said we're not going to say you have to undo your plan, but we do say use the metric going forward"
"we only stepped in on weeks 7 8 and 9 and we have a moral obligation to ask why"
"we just want people to be aligned with the data and the science and what the medical community is telling us so we can maximize the amount of student learning and we fundamentally believe that in-person instruction is better than remote instruction"
"I don't think we can say with a straight face is that anything can replace remote instruction"

Riley: critical nature of family engagement
work with families on what they wanted 
"they did prefer in person instruction"
"and they did want the communication to be robust"
none of this is data that was share with districts nor is it data that's being used now
set of letters that districts could be used that were translated
covid19K12parentinfo@mass.gov

Rouhanifard: presentation "reflects how you are leading so dispassionately and following the facts and the guidance"
"I've been in the arena but never in these sorts of circumstances
"extends to our district staff and administrators" staff
"to have that baseline data and information to understand learning loss is critical"
delay in getting MCAS scores back
formative assessments are really critical
"to the extend we can do it in partnership, perhaps with [Boston]"
question I have on enrollment, and what we have year over year; some districts seeing double digit loss
if that is the case, what if any ramification on the distribution of funds?
Riley: October 1 numbers are coming up
"we are hearing ant...several parents of kindergarten children are keeping them home for another year"
private or Catholic schools if those have fully opened
will have year over year data at the end of October
Peyser: "no implication on the current school year, but for the next year, there could be implications for the next year"
hold harmless loss
Notes MBAE report on loss of enrollment leading to hold harmless over time

Lombos: diversity, inclusion, equity
asking districts to really think about who they're talking to 
would love to be part of a discussion of what those discussions behind the scenes are like
"have heard some higher income cities and towns that maybe can reopen" and districts that cannot
know that the pandemic is exacerbating inequities
Riley: "has been a focus on this Board"
diversification of teacher ranks

Fernandez: thanks for work, thanks families,
"it really is an all-in effort"
expand on point of Lombos, relative to distribution of technology and where we're at
good to know where there might be continued disparties
not just Chromebook, but access to dependable broadband
training in families in the use of the technology
play a huge role in exacerbating those gaps
want to expand on the thought of equity; how might we be involved in creative solutions
would like to know if there are more innovative, solutions across sectors
Note on communication to families: literal technical assistance?
do districts have the technology they need for communication?
Riley: have put out documents districts can use
have asked districts to put people into place for translation
"we're in a decent spot in technology"
"there is some internet connectivity issues we still need to work through" could probably have speak at next meeting

Moriarty: engagement/disengagement "that I think is rife particularly in urban districts"
Holyoke suggested that 40% of K-8 could have moderate to high engagement with students
Globe suggested that as many as 10,000 students in Boston couldn't be accounted for
"I think it goes to I don't think many of our public school districts are particularly good at engagement or are particularly strong in engagement"
especially where smaller numbers of administrators in large districts
especially in chronic absenteeism, which is different that truancy "which is a legal policy"
"don't punish, but give more engagement"
"engage those families, resolve whatever can be resolved"
"we can't be thinking about chronic absenteeism, and truancy doesn't make sense, and it may not even be actionable as data is difficult"
looking for information that "genuinely allows for policy to be made"

Morton: who again didn't turn on his mic, so I can't hear him
Riley: engagement with districts, getting districts and students back on track
something "we're certainly hyperfocused on"
think data on enrollment won't be until November meeting

And Quincy Schools speaking of their special education
Johnston: all 90 programs were able to remain open despite a few cases of COVID
Perkins (assistant superintendent) "couldn't be prouder of what accomplished
"knew we had a problem"
had heard from parents that remote learning model from last spring didn't work
"how are we going to remediate that as a district in the fall"
families expressing extreme concern with students with disabilities
think ahead to the fall to prepare staff and families for in-person instruction
try to find solutions for our students
committed to creating a safe in-person environment for highest need students
provided a remote alternative plan for families who didn't feel comfortable coming back
students who needed gaps and holes in education
creating a well-trained staff: "so many things have changed with COVID-19"
136 students met every day; 50 staff worked with students
"kept our program open and were able to keep moving forward"
remote learning 122 staff members instructing 2300 students 
had to consider how to develop program
moved program to the high school; students in small cohorts; masks; paraprofessionals rode buses with students; rethought transportation by using large buses rather than small 
each classroom had a bathroom assigned; small cohorts allowed for separation
all remote learning was synchronous; included live sessions in art, gym, and social-emotional earning weekly
programs for EL, AP, transitions for grade 6 and 9, SAT prep, credit recovery
"tried to reach every possible student that we could"
used some CARES funding from the city of Quincy
expanded bandwidth as well as adding devices
separate order of Chromebooks arrive yesterday

Morton: what results you think you had including attendance
what you think you spent per students
excellent attendance overall
in-person summer program had pretty good attendance
"When we had our positive cases, we did see a little bit of a drop"
"a little bit of nervousness around those positive case"
$5000-5700 per student
could be replicated in surrounding communities
thank teachers who stepped up, due to commitment to students
Morton: what did you do when there were exposures?
Called all of the staff; health commissioner let them know it was a positive staff case
worked with commissioner as to who needed to be quarantined
spoke directly with staff, with student families
classrooms were so isolated that it was very low risk that there had been any further contact
students were even sitting six feet apart on the bus
"had no spread from those cases"
"and as a result we were able to keep going"