December Board of Ed: pandemic learning including emergency regulations

 Riley: air purifiers
webinars on air quality
contracted for over 12,000 air purifiers
MEMA distribution of adult and student masks, 1 1/2 million masks out to districts
P-EBT benefits extended through Sept 2021
no word on when it's coming
Postpone MCAS January for juniors
extended ACCESS testing window
modified CDs for class of 2021: science for classes of 21, 22, 23
high school senior internships in education
$33M in federal funds for technology and internet access
prioritized those with fewer resources
back and forth here with Mary Ann Stewart about what the internship looks like

Riley: vaccine coming February and March to educators
CDC reports increases in mental health visits for young people
struggle with remote and even hybrid learning
emergency regulation: born out of a concern of mental health challenges for children

president of pediatrics "children have fortunately been spared" the effects of COVID-19
mitigation has led to significant harm to our youth
prior to pandemic, struggled to find timely and appropriate mental health services for students
I am going to miss these stats, which are coming from a single doctor, in any case
"we all know we're going through difficult time and it sucks"
sometimes all you can do is be with them and say "yes, it sucks"
fight or flight response...there's a whole thing that I think is supposed to be an analogy...this is going on forever...
"we're going to lose more kids to suicide than we will to the virus"
suicide has been the number 2 or 3 killer of kids before COVID

Mass Advocates for Children: strong support for emergency regulations
"all children have opportunities to learn in real time with their teachers and their peers"
coping with pandemic
anxiety and depression, falling behind academically
isolation from teachers and peers "entirely predictable" that many students are experiencing mental health issues
seeking connections with others through the internet to replace those missing in real life
difficulties with remote learning through technology and translation

Moriarty: this resonates with me in a very big way
"I'm not sure our overall mental health system for children is...as available as it was in the 90's"
students "being in isolation for all of 2020"
"we cannot just sit with the status quo which is what I think many of those speakers asked us to do"
kids ended up in in-patient services because there weren't earlier interventions
connect dots "to end the isolation" from schools and communities
doctor: ....he's telling a story about a patient again...
rates for child abuse are down, teachers see more of it than doctors
"have to have a trusted adult...families that don't have the resources, don't have the ability" to deal with all of this

Morton: tell us why this is the solution
Doctor: two thirds of districts are already doing it
"speaks to me of the recognition" of the importance 
what?
"not just teaching; you're raising a nation"
"neglect and isolation is harmful to kids"
"recommendation to me says...if we're going to be the safety net to protect our kids"
"have a teacher look after them, check in with them"
Morton: there's nothing that I find disagreeable, it all makes logical sense
but I am also "struck by the raging coronavirus in our communities of color in particular"
"is this the time, is this the moment" as opposed to waiting a few weeks for the virus to calm down
suspect that districts not doing it right now are those serving the most vulnerable
their families are those being challenged by the virus
this is founded on the idea of caring adults wants to be in that relationship
"a forced relationship is not the one that we want"
doctor: "the teachers need to be cared for, too. If teachers are convinced that we care for them, they are free to care for students."
insert hollow laugh
"so the solution is care for them, guys...for me, it's about developing a relationship of trust"
"we need the teachers to be well"
advocate: in terms of health and safety concerns...this proposed regulation really provides "a nice balance" between those concerns "and the mental health and well being of children"
"where they're left a list of assignments" with no contact, no ability for them to check in, "creating a situation where that is really lacking" or "if it's half a day"
doctor: looking at this specific proposal, I think...and then he talks about his own son
have to look at the data on what is happening within the schools; schools are not driving this pandemic
"that is a message I am trying to get out"
"if we're not keeping them safe"

Peyser: we're starting to get into the conversation about the regulations themselves
"really insightful...much deeper level of understanding of how this is impacting children and families"
believe that more students need to be in person 
engage daily with teachers and classmates: critical not only to educational process, but to social emotional and mental health
spike in ER visits
"we know that one way to mitigation...is a daily routine of interaction" with teachers and friends
"most districts that are falling short...only need to add a few hours"
can have a waiver
"averaged across all grades" in order to differentiate
further guidelines and recommendations for early learners
"will establish a common but flexible baseline" across the state
urge Board to vote in favor

Lombos: hearing testimony from expert educators at beginning, then from mental health experts
"I don't like that dichotomy" in testimony
I think we're in agreement "there's a huge problem" 
People are starving, they're unemployed
"what I would have liked for you to dialogue...and actually talk about this policy"
"hearing that the quality of time is more important than the quantity"
"I'm not sure this gets at what we're trying to address"
"the intent of these regulations I'm not sure meet what these goals are"
"this is a false dichotomy...I don't think this addresses the magnitude of this crisis"
would have wanted to ask qualitative and quantitative question to superintendents as well
doctor: important of dialogue
"have had children defend their abusive parent"
"you guys will have to come up with a way...do I know you're looking out for the things I can't see"
advocate: have never met a teacher who didn't want to connect to children
"children are really just...there are so many students whose needs aren't being met"
"having minimum standards...is the first step"
following this...there will be additional guidance
"there will be opportunities to have discussions with teachers, with mental health professionals"

Coughlin: "not sure how more hours of live instruction" will lead to more connection
"no sense of deeper connection" in sitting six feet apart or on a zoom call
"assumption that more time learning synchronously will" create deeper connections "is false"
rather than expanding the safety net "what would be better than to catch students when they're falling is to prevent them from falling"

Stewart: time and mental space that this takes up is enormous
Has shone a big light on all the holes everywhere
"have just seen this pile up of all kinds of things"
"the challenges at home leave a big gap there in positive learning environments"
"we were taking for granted a lot of what educators were doing for kids"
educators who appeared today spoke to that, "and wanting to be seen and heard"
"have some serious concerns if more time on screens" is going to catch kids in crisis
"what resources...more than guidelines! what resources are going to be available to educators on the other side of the screen"
"need to constantly be working together towards the greater good on this"
doctor: feel that in this situation, this will help
not going to be the end of the process
Stewart: it's the only means we have; it's the best means available
what can we do that's going to support the other third of districts
"and I don't think that these have come from a lot of conversations with classroom educators"

Morton: why now? raging coronavirus
"why not have the dialogue with all the stakeholders...you talked about trust...and caring...if the best possible situation, folks are in it because they want to win it"
question for me is not so much the content of the regulation as it is the process
"it's going to feel heavyhanded"
"the emergency is not the regulation; it's the raging coronavirus"
why not have the input from the stakeholders "and the refinement that comes from that"
Riley: think it is an emergency 
asking small number of districts "to go a little bit further"

Rouhanifard: not an obvious right or wrong answer
"that is what we're grappling with"
"I don't think this actually goes far enough to promote in person instruction"
joined Board due to Riley's reputation of listening
"I think you're underselling how much your team has done to lead that dialogue"
he hasn't
Riley: not to do so could have devastating consequences

Hills: would also be open to adjustments you have to make over time that could be implemented in a reasonable way given when we are in the year
have also left an appeals process
the more waivers you grant, the more you're undercutting the broader health you're addressing
"we have an MOA so we can't" isn't the right way to open the conversation
would ask for some sort of a summary on where we are on districts implementing

West: discussion on a robust and well informed discussion on something that hasn't been presented to us
reminded of our obligation under the state constitution to ensure all children have high quality and adequate education
delegate particular aspects to local districts
"but ultimately we're on the line"
ensure that we're doing that
"it's not a regulation that I love"
"but we're in a world of second best here"
"an attempt to put as many districts as possible in the best position it can be"
inclined to support it as much as I agree with concerns being raised

Fernández: similar to Lombos, heard commentary from superintendents, then from doctors and legal
did create dissonance to me
regulation itself does not address this massive mental health issue that was described by the physicians
"fear that there is some conflation going on of the issue"
not opposed to better quality engagement
"but I don't know that this regulation is going to solve what are these massive" issues 
other piece is data: in these one-third of districts, what is happening?
what is the response? 
"it is important for me to have a better understanding of what we are talking about"
"this is addressing something very short term and the bigger issues are ahead of us and our time is better spent as a state, as a board, as an institution to focus on these issues that are coming before us"
view "is we should have some basic" outlines "but does that require regulation"
"we need to talk about that: is the regulation necessary for the schools and districts stepping up"

Johnston: relationship, routines, recreation adds regulation, 
really can have an impact on what our students are facing right now
key areas of work 
and now we're going through a bunch of the documents that were put together over the summer
"shared resources, shared engagement... they're the voice of the state, they're the voice of parents, they're the voice of educators"
mental health academy: ongoing work engaged in for years
idea is if you have more live time with teachers, teachers know what to look for, what interventions teachers can supply
"how do we use these professional learning opportunities well"
"in our minds" it's not more screen time
"can be opportunities" for teachers to direct play in students' homes, or students to engage with each other through the screen, one assumes?
Curtin: normally I present the framework and then a vibrant discussion would assume
want to be sure you know how we got here today
started getting a lot of questions about what was happening in our schools
"just didn't have the answers as to how that had evolved"
collected data in early November: really large knowledge base of what's happening
two weeks snapshot of grades 1, 4, 7, 10
variance in amount of live instruction (in person + remote synchronous)
"can't be stagnant"
majority of districts "seemed to provide" a great deal of 
"there were some things that were in the data that were concerning"
saw hybrids there are days that are fully asynchronous
in fully remote models, there are districts that have fully asynchronous days
"important to note that these do not change the original" learning standards
based on average amount of live instruction or synchronous instruction across grades
allows for district judgment on the appropriate use of synchronous instruction
last week issued preliminary clearance: SLT report based on data they gave DESE
districts currently reviewing report, open for editing
"these regulations do not require any district to send any district to any additional students back to school"
"we are not requiring within these regulations" any additional students in buildings
hybrid must have 35 hours of synchronous learning over 10 days
remote must have 40 hours of synchronous learning over 10 days and something every school day 
45% of remote districts not meeting proposed standards
some districts will need to add both hours and days
will consider waivers on a fairly limited basis
"if a district can show us that we're close and we have a high degree of parent satisfaction"" or they're running alternative models

Morton: when are districts to respond back to department on data? by tomorrow
Curtin: have received requests for editing
Morton: who else have you spoken with
Curtin: we've had conversations with the superintendents' association
Morton: did we talk to educators, parents, students
Riley: this whole thing has been generated by parent concerns for their children
medical community has been "vociferous"
have talked "to superintendents' association, to school committees, and have been in some conversations with teachers' association"
West: which districts
Curtin: pretty diverse, across districts
West: want to be sure it isn't grossly misleading presented this way, but also what is possible
Lombos: why do we have to change a regulation? Couldn't we just give the supports to the one-third districts? and since we've haven't had a discussion with teachers, students?
Johnston: "don't think it's unrealistic to ask for this to happen" 
"we do think supports will have greater impact"
Peyser: superintendents and school districts have historically asked for more flexibility
most insistent critique has been superintendents needing more clarity
Lombos: hear that, but superintendents were clear that they needed these much earlier
Peyser: expectations were that this might be met
Morton: one of the most important decisions put before us
questions are to help me make a decision
talk about why schools are using a day of asynchronous?
Curtin: "I want to be clear that we haven't asked why"
thought that there needed to be a deep clean in hybrid models during the week
"felt that there needed to be time built in for PD"
Morton: some of that was division of groups
Curtin: that was at least the rationale behind it
Stewart: students are the most vulnerable, and certainly students of color
don't want to lose sight of what is said
ensure things aren't conflated: push to get back into classrooms
"I don't want to support this in a way that's most productive"
going to support it

call for a vote: passes 7-4, Morton, Lombos, Fernández, and Coughlin opposed