2020-21 Return to School Roadmap Recommendation

August 3, 2020

ProcessCommittees:

● Facilities● Operations● Wellness● Instruction/Technology● Governance

People on committees: Over 70 people with voices from all staff groups, union leaders and Thinc Team (teacher) leaders, surveys to collect thoughts from all staff and parent/guardians, meetings with PTSA Council, students and the Board of Education

Focus on Return to Schools● From the outset we focused on getting our kids back into school● We believe face-to-face learning is the best option for most kids● We believe that kids need and crave the relationship with teachers and peers

that is best enhanced by face-to-face learning● We believed that by now the virus would be waning and that health experts

would be more certain about all things around the virus● Our surveys to parents and teachers were sent from the perspective of doing

everything we can to get students back in school

Learning along the way● The more we studied how to safely bring students back to school the more

obstacles we uncovered:○ We realized we can’t realistically keep students 6 feet apart which is recommended by the

CDC at any level; School is academic and social and kids will congregate○ The virus is not under control, and where people come together it seems to spread○ When we started this work the belief was the high school and middle school students don’t

spread the virus as readily as adults--health experts are now saying that isn’t correct○ They are now reporting students as young as 10 spread this as readily as adults--what will

they find out next week?○ There are many unanswered questions about how the virus is spread by younger children

according to Dr. Fauci--so they will learn more about that as time goes on○ According to at least one report, as schools opened in Israel it was the schools and not bars or

gyms that have been major spreaders of the virus

Learning, continued...● There are a number of choke points or possible failure points if we come back

to school in-person that we need to consider:○ Health protocols require quarantine of a student or staff member with close contact with a

confirmed case of COVID-19○ Health protocols require quarantine of students and staff if a classmate or teacher has a

confirmed case--this could lead to daily disruptions of in-person learning for two weeks or more at a time

○ Health protocols call for excluding students and staff with any symptoms of the virus○ We were in a time of substitute teacher shortages before the virus hit. We believe that will

only get worse in this pandemic.○ And there are others...

Learning, continued...● Just last week the Governor issued an order to limit inside gatherings to 10 or

fewer people. She did this because the best evidence shows that the virus spreads when people come together inside.

● Schools, almost by definition, are a gathering of hundreds of people, primarily inside. It doesn’t make sense to me that schools would be immune from the way the virus spreads simply because we are schools.

● We are very concerned about starting school, stopping for a quarantine, then restarting, then stopping again. This seems very likely to happen.

● Those disruptions of starting and stopping, coming to school one day and not the next for a maybe a week or two will make in-person learning less effective, less stable and certainly less safe than online learning.

Core PrincipleOne of our core principles is the safety of every student and staff member.

● We run fire drills, train staff in CPR, run active shooter drills, run tornado drills, train people to use defibrillators and more all in an attempt to protect students and staff members and ensure safety.

● We’ve been using electrostatic sprayers in our school for over a year to increase our capacity for disinfecting--we started this well before the virus hit.

● This virus is spread when people are asymptomatic--when they are without fever or cough or sniffles--once symptoms are present they have already unknowingly spread the virus for approximately 48 hours.

● Masks help, social distancing helps, but we know what exacerbates the spread of the virus is bringing people together indoors for extended periods of time.

Core PrincipleOne of our core principles is the safety of every student and staff member.

● We began to ask ourselves if we believe in our core principle or do we just pay it lip service.

● I know in all my time in the District that protecting students and staff is paramount. We don’t just pay it lip service, we live it.

RecommendationTonight I’m recommending the Board adopt the 2020-21 Return to School Roadmap as presented.

Our Roadmap is 27 pages long.

So I’ll offer some highlights.

Phases 1-3In these phases:

● Community spread is increasing and substantial● There are hospital capacity concerns● Testing/tracing efforts may not be sufficient

● In these phases all schools must be closed for in-person instruction● Our plan in these phases calls for remote learning ● Our remote learning plan will be more comprehensive and more robust than

what we did in the Spring

Phase 4● Number of cases/deaths fallen, but overall cases are still high● Most outbreaks are quickly identified, traced and contained● The health system can handle outbreaks

● We are currently in Phase 4

● Phase 4 of the Governor’s plan allows face-to-face instruction or any other mode of instruction, with required safety precautions

Phase 4Though we are currently in Phase 4:

● Bridge Magazine reports our 7 day average of cases across the state is 639 per day---one month ago our 7 day average was 290.

● State Superintendent of Education, Dr. Rice, was quoted recently as saying, “as I talk to health officials I don’t hear that conditions are likely to get better.”

● Dr. Fauci said in an Education Week article, there are many unanswered questions about how the Coronavirus is spread by children.

● He also said, many schools shut down in March so we don’t know the full impact of students in school and what to expect.

Phase 4● We are currently under an order to limit the number of people inside a building

to 10 people, but we’re supposed to be ok with opening schools with hundreds of staff and students:

○ Even when we look at classes in an every other day hybrid schedule there will be hundreds of students and staff in our schools on any given day

○ Yes we can wear masks, but we can’t social distance to 6 feet○ It appears we would be encouraging the very kind of environment for heightened spread of the

virus○ Teachers and staff members will likely be exposed to 50 to 100 students daily (and a different

set of students the next day at the secondary level)

Phase 4If we were to open for students as normal, or on an every other day basis, here are some of things that I believe we would experience:

● There would be disruption in learning for face-to-face students for any number of reasons. Some of these are:

○ Teacher shortage--teachers with what would normally be just a scratchy throat or the sniffles will rightly view these as COVID-19 symptoms and need to leave work or not report

○ Teachers love their students and the last thing they want to be responsible for is making their students or their students’ families ill, especially with this virus

○ We will likely be in a position to cancel schools or classes mid-day as teachers feel the need to leave and we can’t find substitutes

○ Additionally these interruptions in face-to-face learning may be extended as we wait for test results

Classroom disruptions, cont.● Family illness for staff

○ Keep in mind having a member of a family who is symptomatic many necessitate a teacher/administrator or other staff member not reporting to work because of a mandated quarantine for a period of time

● Student illness/Family illness○ Students who are symptomatic or have family members with symptoms will be in and out of

classes adding to the disruption in their learning

● Custodial illness/Family illness○ Our custodians do a great job and we run a lean operation with our custodians○ Having one or two custodians out with an illness, whether it is the Coronavirus or other, may

mean we can’t disinfect our schools on any given day, which may mean closing for a day

Classroom disruptions, cont.● All of these disruptions may mean students being sent home in the middle of

the day or parents getting a call the night before a school day saying students can’t come for an indeterminate amount of time because of an illness. This will surely impact student learning, stability and consistency.

● One teacher from out of state who is one of the few who have actually taught classes under this environment wrote: “Online learning is not as good as on-site learning. Not nearly. But it is better, I think, than on-site learning under the impossibility of the CDC Guidelines.”

RecommendationFor all of these reasons and other similar ones, I am recommending that we start the year in an online mode for every grade level in the District and that we continue in that mode through at least the first card marking period (October 30).

We will monitor the trajectory of the virus and progress towards treatments and vaccines and towards case reduction measures. We will also monitor other districts in the state and nation who may choose to attend school face-to-face to see if they experience learning interruptions of the kind we anticipate. We’ll learn from them.

RecommendationWe also recommend that the Board approve the Berkley Schools 2020-21 Return to School Roadmap fully as presented which addresses all Phases in the Governor’s plan. We also understand we may need to make adjustments as we move through the school year.

I know the Board has read the Roadmap and the implementation plan for returning to schools when it is safe to do so.

Throughout this process we have learned a great deal and have been challenged to adjust.

What’s Next?If the Board approves this recommendation then we need to put all of our resources toward providing the best remote learning possible.

We know that it will be far superior to what happened in the Spring for several reasons:

● Time to plan● We learned from parent, teacher and student feedback from this Spring● We can layer in more accountability for students● We can provide a sign-in check point for parents, students and teachers. In

fact we purchased Schoology, a Learning Management System to help.

Remote Learning ScheduleElementary (Grades TK-5) Schedule:

● Teachers will deliver live lessons daily● Daily lessons will include math and English language arts, with half the class

at a time● Science and Social Studies will be provided by the teacher● Students will be online for no longer than 1.5 to 3 hours per day● Specials will be offered to all students● Attendance will be taken● Work will be assessed● All teachers will use the same system to deliver instruction

Remote Learning ScheduleSecondary (Grades 6-12) Schedule:

● Students will follow an A/B block schedule● Students will follow their in-class schedules● Instructional blocks will be 1 hour and 15 minutes for middle school and

1.5 hours for high school● Fridays will rotate A & B days● Attendance will be taken● All work will be assessed● A support block of time will be available daily for interventions, individual

conferences, student clubs, etc. ● All teachers will use the same system to deliver live instruction

Time to Pull Together● We have fantastic teachers, administrators and support staff across the

District.● We all feel an enormous responsibility to make the remote learning the best it

can possibly be.● Our teachers will come with and develop ideas for both synchronous and

asynchronous learning so that we can reach every child.● School means more than just a place to learn for some families, and we’ll

work to provide food service, child care and social-emotional learning options.● More information will continue to be sent to our parents as we approach the

first day of school.