December 2020 Board of Ed: opening remarks

 You can find the agenda here, the livestream here, posting as we go

Public testimony:
Dianne Kelly, Superintendent of Revere 
Bob Baldwin, Superintendent of Fairhaven (MASS President)

Baldwin: listening to superintendents and being their voice is something I've been honored to do
since March, we've had the unpredictable happen
has always been about social emotional, getting students fed, connectivity, and "of course loss of learning"
an initiative to support learning should be supported
concerns about how regulations will be implemented
compliance may overshadow engagement
timing "with almost half of our year completed"
"our educators are our lifeblood"
but the superintendents "are our implementers"
take initiatives from DESE, work with school committees, speak with stakeholders
"very serious decisions" starting in March
"always about emergency learning"
plans for next year "immediately began" as soon as last year ended
looked at classroom configuration, reviewed and vetted plans
"reflected unique...circumstances" of districts
submitted plans in August
"in many cases, we exhausted financial and human capital, but also political capital"
"pivoting this aircraft" midyear without resources
regulations without resources "nothing but political fodder"
"synchronous learning does not necessarily equate to connection"
confident "we will be labelled winners and losers"
ask that you communicate with superintendents before making judgments
"make sure you see the story of each district"
"take a qualitative look" as well as a quantitative one

Kelly: "agree that effective engagement and quality instruction" are key
"disagree that counting hours of synchronous learning equates to either of these"
"although we meet the mark in elementary" miss the mark at middle and high
"not evident" that responses played any role in department's evaluation
meeting with small groups for instruction necessitates some asynchronous learning
teachers collaborating also requires it, as does connection with families
only way to meet mandate is to increase whole group instruction
if being considered out of concern on SEL and connection, this does not meet it
Revere's way of doing it better meets these goals
reviews the work that Revere is doing now
"contrived regulations"

Piwowar Billerica: share concerns
"do not believe these regulations are the right way to achieve these goals"
regulations rely on faulty assumption that synchronous learning is synchronous with engagement and that time is what matters
"these regulations value these" over engaging one
second concern is timing of release
"it is only now at the eleventh hour that these regulations are trying to provide blueprints for a building that has already been built"
third: concern with routines that have already happened, agreements made "in good faith by both sides"
"we should all be spending time" on quality of engagement
getting vaccine out
rebuilding partnerships

sorry, missed Jerry, was catching up

president Haverhill Educators Association
unfortunate we were unable to conduct this meeting remotely
request Board not require testimony
over 100 local teachers unions have taken a vote of no confidence in Commissioner Riley
"a grassroots action" that start with several locals, supported but not proposed by MTA
representing over 50,000 MTA members
Commissioner "continuously moves the goalposts as the pandemic worsens"
"simply redefined what it meant to be high risk"
"without having any conversations with teachers and their unions
teachers "are trying with our superintendents and our school committees to hold this fragile" system of remote learning together
"has all but stopped conferring" with teachers and unions
stop trying to overrule local decisions
call for conferring with educators and their locals before decisions are made

president of Malden teachers union
"having a vaccine doesn't eliminate the need for" surveillance testing
"health and safety measures should not be zip code dependent"
"how do you actually know what the actual transmission is in schools" if there's no regular testing of asymptomatic 
"Educators and students are both contracting COVID-19 in schools"
calls for reallocating funding of MCAS to COVID testing

president of Worcester teachers union
many schools are old, aged ventilation
district is improving that but in the meantime not safe
Commissioner has tried to pressure Worcester to open rather than providing guidance and resources

Superintendents of regional vokes
Keefe Tech: demographics of district and demographics of sending districts
Greater Fall River: my district was ID as a school with concerning demographics
options that were presented to fix it
access to students limiting students that can admit
Southeastern Regional: demographic very reflective of sending districts
interest in vocational education is increasing
propose adding an equity/opportunity factor

Chair Craven: asks Fernández for update on educator diversification initiative
Fernández: impressive to see all the progress that has been made
teacher diversification grant, Influence 100, INSPIREd fellows, DESE racial equity training
committee will meet again in February

Peyser will defer to learning time

Commissioner defers to later