Demming or mr. Harrington if you want to speak oh yeah sorry I didn't hear you Alison is it okay to go ahead now yes please okay um it's funny I had the exact same questions that I was gonna highlight for the exact same reasons this misfit sir great minds think alike um yeah I mean these are all interesting great questions it's just a matter of in what will even in the best case be a challenging technical environment with 17 plus people on a conference call trying to listen to and thoughtfully consider lots of input it's gonna be challenging so um I mean I would say it's I would I would suggest that you and the tile council chair should be should feel empowered to be ruthlessly pragmatic about whittling this down I mean and I totally understand and support the idea that if you cut a question it's not because it's not a great question it's just that I would rather have you know seven or six questions rather than have you know thirteen that were that were more comprehensive I think between the statement of interest and whatever written portion we asked from asked about and these you know what we should get a pretty good chunk of input so I stress too hard about you know not including certain topics I think I think including a number of general generalized questions like the ones about what are the you know three biggest issues and and how do you engage the public about big decisions those are broad enough that candidates can take them wherever they want to right so if a candidate is really looking for an opportunity to highlight one or or or more aspects of their experience background I think I'll have the opportunity to do that so I think it's pretty flexible and you shouldn't stress about trying to trying to get eight million questions into mr.
Harrington do you have any thoughts that you want to add yeah I guess we're all pretty much on the same page as far as the ones that have been highlighted so far the one the one that I would add to it because it's it's just based on on personal experience would be number seven in terms of how will you handle you know criticisms and differences of opinion publicly I think as a candidate I would have given one answer and then actually understanding what we do and you know kind of experiencing it I'll give completely different answers now and I'll be giving you two words before and I would give you a book now so I I kind of feel like that one's a little extra but yeah I'm I'm definitely in favor of whittling it down to seven eight questions may be a little more tolerable and easy to digest get to 78 questions so that that's helpful a target number Misfits or mr.
Demming do you you sort of have a target number that you you'd suggest as seven to eight and miss spitzer yes I'm saying what's up for mr. Demming miss spitzer but one thing I wanted to add was just I mean we could go with a time frame so if we think that 15 minutes per person is reasonable and we're giving four minutes for opening and in closing remarks then that leave in a minute for each question I guess that 7 or 1 to 2 minutes for each question I think that 70 would work ok great that's helpful thank you okay so I'm hearing resounding support for deleting questions five ten and fourteen and possibly also seven four and then guidance on staying with the questions that are higher-level broad general questions that give the candidates room to go down specific during the news that they would like to do to go in their responses but miss Spitzer I would just add that I think it's important we do ask about the MSBA process you know that's specific I think that's such a big piece of what's gonna be coming down the pipeline we need to ask about it okay I really never Mogi function on this on this webinar so that's a plus one on that one yeah okay great any other thoughts on the questions that anybody wants to add before we move on No okay great thank you and I should note I did as well I think so the the next piece of the process and there's there's differing I'd say one of one of the things in the process that has been discussed was the potential for the school committee to weigh in and make a statement about how we will be evaluating candidates or what sort of guidance or criteria that we're using as we evaluate the candidates to inform how we were going to vote and there's been conversation in terms of modeling this process off of some of the other processes that Town Council has put into place for filling vacancies for example in the Planning Board or the Zoning Board of Appeals so which includes this documentation or creation of a document called selection guidance or criteria for effective characteristics of effective members and so we've been asked for this I will say you know it's up to us it's a it's a it could be a mechanism for us to sort of alert the town there are counselors as to what we think is important in selecting a candidate we could also opt not to do it it's it's not like we're forming the process as as we go you know in a way so the document that I drafted I think the other thing too is we want to be we don't want to be dictating sort of how people should be making their decision obviously every one of us all seventeen of us are going to be making our own decision so the document that I drafted as a way of sort of saying here's how we're going to think about these candidates but in a way that really just restates the description of the roles and responsibilities as opposed to getting into you know some anything more specific than that there's also a school of thought that says that the only requirement that we had in running was that we were residents of Amherst which I can you know see that as well however as voters we made we used other things in you know in voters used more than that to make a decision on who they're going to vote for so I just put this out there I haven't had the opportunity to talk about this with anybody other than town councillors so I'm interested in folks opinion on the you know the first question is do we want to submit or prepare a document that outlines our our guidance or our thought process for evaluating candidates and if yes what how do we want to we can use the document that I drafted as a starting point for for finalizing that what are folks thoughts mr.
Demming so reading through the list and I mean so maybe for that if for the folks at home I could just quickly read down the list because it's a pretty short list that would that be all right yeah okay so it's a Murr School Committee selection guidance list of characteristics of effective school committee members intended to assist the committee and Town Council and evaluating candidates and so it's six bullets it's committed to the mission of the Amherst and Amherst poem Regional schools commitment and flexibility to attend all meetings of the school committee or most as practically feasible will we miss an ability to participate and contribute to the work of the committee's in between meetings including subcommittees and other ad-hoc work understanding of the responsibilities and roles of the committee's ability to listen to ideas and opinions different than their own and willingness to work collaboratively with those whose views are different than their own so when I read this list I like I agree with every one of these principles I think they're very high level very positive non-controversial guidelines and so I mean I have no trouble supporting it as a general document the only place I hesitate is is whether this is something that the town council wants or not and so the point you brought up towards the end I think is at front of my mind which is well I don't think anybody would want to evaluate a candidate who is not committed to the mission of the schools for example right it's not really a debatable anything any reasonable person wouldn't want I am I am cognizant that this is you know it's a joint meeting of the time amaura School Committee and you know people on both committees and the School Committee and the council have a right to evaluate and come to their own judgment based on whatever principles and guidelines they think is appropriate so if this is something that the Town Council is really asking for because they're struggling to get a framework around this I'm more than happy to you know wordsmith this up and and and get something of consensus here but but I certainly wouldn't want a town council to feel like where we're trying to you know box people in our frame into how they ought to evaluate people so I don't know if I'm if I if Lynn has anything that maybe based on that discussion time yeah we've got there's been some discussion of this in the Town Council but not that there's certainly not a consensus some councillors believe that when you put your name forward to be elected the only criteria is that you are a resident of Amherst and registered to vote that's it okay and so therefore having any other criteria in written form is pretty kind of why okay and I think Peter you've also reflected what many counts with some councillors feel and that is will all be evaluating people based on our own criteria of what we think of the candidates and what we think is important having said that if you can even provide us with this account wants to totally recognize that we go to your for but this is somebody almost two years okay and that's I don't think people are people aren't going to sit there and rape candidates based on the criteria okay it is a way sometimes to have a conversation after a meeting that basically says you know as I look at the candidates after the after the interviews look at the candidates and tone so it seems to be fully comprehending the role of a School Committee somebody else might say you know candidate X or Y certainly seem to grasp and as shown through their previous activity with schools that they're really out there and willing to be on committees I mean it is sometimes it allows you to formulate if you want to have a conversation between the point that you finish the interviews which I want to come back to a moment and the point which you actually vote so let me just mention two things that I just want to go back and reiterate for the School Committee we actually will be interviewing both candidates at the same time so candidate one will ask answer the first question our candidate a will answer the first can question candidate B will answer the first question candidate seam will answer the first question then when you get to the second question you start with candidate being see an egg you keep doing it so the same candidate doesn't always get to go first okay the other thing that is very important for you to realize and that is in the protocol that we've written up for this the School Committee votes first which was another one of our ways council saying we really want to hear what you have to say we want to really hear where you are on this okay that doesn't mean you're going to get all the same votes the council it just means they won a respective school committee and the fact that we're selecting a committee member for your committee okay that helpful hello yes yes hmm I just talked to thin air got it yeah right no I think mr.
Harrington had a question or comment yes so so kind of my thinking like like when I was reading over this is that we weren't necessarily held to this standard right I mean we we absolutely may have been by individuals but there's no way of establishing that so like for me I kind of have issues with being withholding someone new coming on so a standard that wasn't even available to us at that time right so what I'm kind of sort of more in favor of is us giving our opinion of what we think makes a good committee member and maybe presenting that maybe we do that as individual statements maybe we do that as a collective statement but but not to have any sort of binding guidelines that's that's kind of my my input I guess I guess my other concern is like I generally agree with all of these like Peter centered their qualities that you would like but I'm also worried about the way in which implicit bias in terms of gender or race could end up as making people making assumptions about somebody's commitment and flexibility like oh I see a mom here she doesn't have the flexibility that this you know male person is I'm just thinking like some of this is gonna potentially in ways that we don't actually think about and and that's gonna come into all of this interviewing process but just because we as a district are doing so much work on implicit bias when we're hiring and trying to get a more diverse group of people working in our schools I'm kind of thinking the same thing with our lens should be applied to what we're putting into our selection guidance and I don't know how to do that properly and I'd almost therefore I don't know better to err on the side of doing nothing do you know like to not have this statement or if it's better to try to apply that lens and think about how we could write it in a way that tries to not trigger some of these potential pitfalls and I haven't had the time to think this through thoroughly so um I'd almost wish kind of like Tareen were on the call because I know she's kind of our in-house expert on this in the schools but I'd be open to anybody else's thoughts on this issue mr.
Demming yeah I appreciate those observations from misfit sir and I mean I kind of went into this thinking that if we weren't all immediately on the same page that it's probably not a great idea I mean like I don't doubt for a second that everyone on this committee supports the mission of the public schools for example but I think if you know and it's not like we haven't already signaled what's important to us and in a pretty definitive way I mean we have a very specific question for example about the MSB a project in process that's you know a question right right in there and we also have a fairly detailed roles and responsibilities document so I think I think there's been enough articulation of those kinds of you know principles from us as a committee and also individually you know we've spoken of these things now at multiple meetings I think there's enough content out there I would also be a little wary of working up what we are presenting as an important document this late in the process you know it's like five days to go before applications are due applications may have already been submitted and so I was you know more comfortable with kind of going through these draft documents at the start of the process but now that we're kind of approaching the end of it I guess less so so it's no comment on the content I think it's they're awesome principles and I certainly think any town councilor who's you know really looking for a base level foundation or guidance could review that responsibilities and expectations document they could watch the recording of this meeting in which we all gave the virtual thumbs-up to these general principles but I think beyond that it's probably so it sounds to me like it's it's it's most practical to to not go forward with something like this I'm seeing general head nodding yeah and thumbs up Amy okay so Lynn I think what we'll do is we'll move forward with or not move forward with this document so move forward without preparing a any sort of selection criteria or guidance for the meeting but use our voting as the way that we're signaling what we think is important in a candidate and so during during the actual vote voting process is when will will be sort of making a signal to how we are evaluating our candidates that's perfectly great and I will communicate that as well on Monday night when we meet again and the other thing is just to give you a heads up at this point based on the number of candidates applications that we have we will probably only be meeting on the 14th we will probably not use the 16th so that's on the 14th we will actually meet do the interviews and vote unless there's a flurry of applications between now and Tuesday that close of business ok yeah I think it's important to note that it's not only because we have only two candidates but also because everybody's schedules have been upended and now all of our voting members are going to be able to be present virtually on the 14th right right yes yeah thank you okay I really appreciate the time you've all put into this it's important for all of us I'm going to sign off if that's ok yes thank you and go to my map go to my next conference call yeah all right yeah thanks okay so with that I think we've come to the end of our agenda um just pulling up the packet we didn't have any sort of discussion of future agenda items on on our agenda so um miss dr.
Morris I just wanted to share that the state of emergency called by for the town manager has limited public boards and committees some many for meeting and even those like this group this body who's able to meet the reasons for their meeting so that that was sort of an intentional why there wasn't future agenda topics because while we're in this current state of emergency it's not so open-ended as it typically is in terms of why this body would come together and for what reason certainly we talk a lot to Paul I talk a lot to Paul multiple times a day these days and we've been in communication and the chair as well you know we've been in frequent communication throughout this time period but certainly any committee members can be in touch with the chair or myself about that but there are some limitations to what bodies can meet and even the bodies that can be what topics or would be would warrant a meeting during a state of emergency that has been cotton called for in the town of Amherst so I just wanted to note that good thank you that's helpful so does anybody want to make a motion I move to adjourn moved is there a second second second owned by Spitzer and moved moved by Deming and seconded by Spitzer there's no discussion so we'll do roll call vote mr.
Spitzer aye mr. Harrington Harrington aye mr. deadly my guy and Mick down I say that is for zero we are adjourned I don't have my gavel thank you everyone and this meeting was recorded and will be shared with Amber's media reviewing okay thank you they say for everybody yeah stay safe stay healthy
but to open this meeting of the Eastern Townships Board of Education pursuant to the open public meetings Act adequate public notice has been given by the secretary of the Eastern Townships word of education in the following manner posting written notice oh hold on one second sorry about that posting a written notice on the official bulletin board at the Berlin Board of Education office emailing emailing written notice to the Berlin County Times and The Courier Post I'm filing written notice with the municipal clerk of each one Township may I have a roll call please mrs. barber Giovanni here mrs. Everhart this is Everhart here mr. pizzicato here mr. Fleming here mr. Canton here this is no here mr. Lanza lada here mr. Meighan here mrs. Ryan yeah we have a quorum thank you all right all right then your resolution to go into executive session or as in nsj a 10-12 allows for a public body to go into closed session during a public meeting and whereas the board of education of each from Township is deemed necessary to go into closed session a closed session to discuss certain matters which are exempted from the public and whereas the regular meeting of the Board of Education will reconvene following the end of the closed session and approximately 7:00 p.m.
welcome to the first ever treasure for education online meeting mr. Nazca we're going to have a call for for mr. Griffin Oh Miss Helen miss Howard miss ham here is Harrigan here mr. Martelli here mister peres Janie dear mr. white okay mr.
now therefore be it resolved the Board of Education will go into closed session for the following reasons as outlined in MJS a 10 4-12 and that is items 2.2 through 2.3 do I have a motion Lea Ryan makes mission motion by miss Ryan do I have a second Trish Everhart miss Everhard the second all right any questions or comments let's go with the roll call please this is Barbara Giovanni yes missus Everhart yes mr. physic ro oh yes miss Fleming yes mr. Canton yes mrs. know yes mr. Lanza Lada yes mr. Meighan yes mrs. Brion yes where's your pass okay we're gonna go an executive session mr.
Chanin when you have a pawn Thank You Carol we're gonna actually stand for the pledge allegiance I think superintendent someone has a flag for us to uh to look at while we do this awesome yes stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I want to thank the board for joins us evening I noticed rather something new for us but given the advances situation we had a me give an update to the public and have some discussion on the Kovach 19 virus so that's why thank you often joints this evening before we begin I think we all need to think clearly everyone in Cheshire Public Schools and our great town for the incredible patience and support has shown us over the last two weeks to say this is an unprecedent event is an understatement I cannot everyone involved for getting us through the last couple of weeks things have been upended so to speak but the babies operate we exclude closures a lot of parents are working from home and the asserting around all this I think church public schools employees or cons come together very very nicely in the knowledge and thank you for that and just a little background about this meeting tonight last week governor Lamont executive order relaxes some of the treatment formation requirements so it gives local governing bodies and boards some flexibility to me electronically whether we do it via video as we're doing tonight or conference call so this is our first attempt at that so we are making history so if it was you joining us your infamous at this point this is our first online meeting ever and possibly more to come depending on a situation on bulls our format this evening is a regular board meeting agenda format which allows our call the commentary and questions and we're allowing the public to send in questions Vino same as the last time which is including the agenda that email addresses cps co vid 19 a Cheshire Dyke k12 dot CT that us and we'll be monitoring those questions as they come in with that being said mr. superintendent Solon its return over to you for your report thank you very much chairman farad Jeannie and I would just certainly personal knowledge I appreciate the accolades stowed upon everybody in our school system I just want to echo that and you know I appreciate that all of us all of the board the full staff community our students in particular I mean it's not just a shift in education for us it's an absolute change in lifestyle so you know as you mentioned you have parents that some are going to work some are working from home our kids are kind of trapped and out of their routine this is absolutely unprecedented and it's taken an incredible amount of effort and patience to do what our entire community is doing but again I am so proud of the way that everybody has handled them selves and you know look forward to making the best of this difficult situation and hopefully turning this into a positive memory for our community in the way that we pulled together and work through this collectively and I appreciate all the board's efforts toward that end so thank you guys as well just a few updates as a matter of fact this one I literally just got off the phone with our town manager mr.
ace let me know when you're ready you like to reconvene this meeting of the evesham Township Board of Education if we could all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance that was crazy at this point first off welcome to anybody who is who's watching this or listening to this this is surreal for all of us I am going to try my best to go through this meeting as as deliberately as possible you're gonna notice me looking off to my side I have my agenda over here so it's not like I'm watching TV or a DVR in something so I want everybody to know that I for my efficiency sake that's what I'm doing you know we will have two public sessions one for agenda items only and in one for public discussion on anything all right with that being said we are going to start to move on all right so obviously at this point this meeting you don't have any presentations I would hope not so we are gonna move to the first public comment okay so this meeting will now be open to the public referencing agenda items only however if your questions or comments pertain to litigation student or personnel items or negotiations we ask that you see the superintendent after the meeting since you do not discuss these matters in public please limit your comments to three minutes per person again this is for agenda items only at this point mr.
Kimball before this meeting and all town parks have been closed in effective 7:00 a.m. tomorrow including the dog park the playgrounds at our schools the athletic fields in an effort to limit you know people coming together and improve our social distancing that decisions been made so I asked that everybody watching please heed that request and stay away from the parks in the fields and maintain social this thing saying the better we do that the quicker we can get through this the governor has made a decision to close all Connecticut schools through at least April 20th where his words so we are in this for the long haul we've got another several weeks of remote learning and thankfully our school system has prepared for that and we feel like we're in a pretty good place to continue with remote learning now that being said April Break is an issue that that comes up and I mentioned it our meeting a week ago this past Monday that we're retaining the April Break kind of strategically as a holding place for the moment and the reason we're doing that is is really kind of twofold one of the things we're looking at is collectively across Connecticut what's the likelihood that the governor will continue to keep school closed for a even longer period and the other is just to look at the emotional and physical health of our students staff and community so if it turns out that you know we are having a lot of illness with staff and with with students the likelihood is greater that we would want to rich retain the April vacation to give people a time to kind of recuperate if we seem to be holding up okay and it looks like perhaps the remote learning will carry on even beyond April 20th I think that what we would prefer to do is take days off the end of the year if people can't go outside anyway we'll maintain our routine if again if it seems like the emotional health of our our students and community is in a good place to do that alternatively we'll examine other options like even just taking a few days off so that decision we hope to have made by April 3rd so next Friday so that people can have a little bit more time to plan unfortunately it's not like vacations are in order for that week but we still want to try and get people a little bit of a heads up on what the overall schedule should look like this also has impacted many of our major school events things like plays and trips and it's getting into at this point where we're even looking at you know things like proms and potentially even our CHS graduation or other promotion ceremonies so what we're in the process of doing now over the last you know week or so we've been starting to look at these events and is there a way to postpone them and still give our students the incredible opportunity to perform in these events or to attend their prom these are lifetime memories that we really want to try and hold on to for our kids to the greatest extent possible so for example with proms we've been working with venues to find dates and June is an alternative we have already had conversations about having an official graduation remotely on the last day of school which would be June 18th at this point barring April Break change and then having a more of a ceremony in the summer if we have to on a volunteer basis for students and I think most students would want to participate in that although once they've graduated we can't force them to but you know certainly welcome their attendance and celebration with them they deserve it so we are trying to plan for some of these really important social community and educational events and we're pushing those back as much as we can to still have them happen are all of our school field trips are canceled through April 20th unfortunately nature's classroom starts up shortly thereafter and that is I would say in pretty significant jeopardy we have been working with nature's classroom and you know we'll be communicating more out to our parents next week a decision on the 8th grade trip to Washington DC that trip occurs though Wednesday Thursday Friday but before Memorial Day weekend that we will also make a decision on that next week we've been working with Nations classroom the tour provider they've been incredible with us and so we're looking to make that decision next week if it again if things don't dramatically improve in the next you know week or so unfortunately it looks like many of these events all those events will have to be cancelled anyway I want to remind everybody in the community who's watching that our website we built a website specific to remote learning so if you go on our homepage and click on the link for coronavirus right at the top of the page you will see all of the communications that we've sent home I've probably sent a communication to parents eight out of the last ten days I'm trying not to be overwhelming but keeping people kind of what's what's on tap for tomorrow kind of thing additionally you can link there and find all sorts of information about technical glitches how to support your your child and your family's emotional health through this process technology if you have a question about technology one of the questions we got through CPS covin 19 was can my elementary school students still acquire a Chromebook yes if you go on to that technology tab on the coronavirus page you just simply fill out a form and somebody will be in touch with you we even do house calls we do deliveries on those so if there is a need please reach out that website for technology education and food services I know vanill talked a lot more about food services we move on I also want to encourage you if you haven't already you can follow us on Facebook Instagram or Twitter and we provide regular updates there as well as some cool things that are going on around town for example over at Norton the other day some students had written in chalk on the driveway we miss our teachers and that was just really awesome and it meant a lot for our staff and I tweeted that out as that our official page so follow that and you can see some neat stuff remote learning as I think most people would imagine has been our I want to say only priority because we are looking at other things like health and food service and things like that but it has been a significant priority we have 4,200 students learning from home now so everything else is kind of gone by the wayside unfortunately but we have poured a lot of energy into trying to make sure that our students have a real positive experience and their families feel like this is a worthwhile time for them and I know that we solicited our parents through a survey yesterday and I want to just take the we had more than 1400 responses already and about a 24-hour period which is incredible and I know Marlene will talk more about that but I just want to thank everybody for that that helps us focus on like I said that priority of making sure that we're providing a great remote learning experience for our families and particularly our students obviously I also want to thank the town in Chester Pat they've been tremendous partners for us we speak regularly so for example today mr.
summers I give you the floor since you are handling our give us a few minutes a few seconds for Frederick to bring that up this slide up for the people to sign in on and you will hear calls hopefully coming over the next two minutes sounds good you just let us know when you're ready we're not going anywhere God knows we're not going anywhere okay the slide is up and we're just waiting for the first phone call okay all time in the mo my end I'll let them know when they're three minutes is up okay and Frank I'm gonna I'm gonna rely on you to tell me when close this yep well you you really gotta tell me all right I just don't know what's going on on your and that's why I was saying it well you'll hear the phone ring if the phone rings and we'll give it another mode we'll give it a moment yeah I would I would give it a few moments yeah just to be sure I did get some phone calls around 6:30 they started around 6:30 okay Joe you're gonna have them state their name and address that Frank's going it's also over the board if they read the board Frank did you ask them to call back in no no okay okay here's the first phone call okay you're on with the board please state your name and address please yeah you know talking aloud please talk louder Terra for school and I know all of us are wondering decided how we're being paid are we doing a vice principal more by with the final employment so the board won't take questions at this point just for public comment okay is that all you had we tried to call back later yeah Frank can conductor dr.
anciano myself town manager the fire chief more Esposito from Chester Cod others were on a conference call and what we're planning for is what-if scenarios and so we all you may not see things at the surface level but we're all working together to make sure that if the town needed school facilities if the town needed school resources that we would be there to support the town as they've been there to support us through all of this so you know that's a pretty comprehensive overview there of just kind of a generic entry point I know miss Solano will be going into a lot of the remote instruction stuff and mr.
Blachford just we just explained that that there's a resolution on on the agenda about paying about paying the paraprofessionals so they have some peace of mind there's resolution there but you can you explain it if you want okay all right I'm sorry if you just called there is a resolution and new business for paying hourly employees it is it's a new business if you look at the agenda it's a please hold on for one second you guys ready for next call yep okay guys caller Kim Craig go go ahead call no you can't you this is calling just ask to state an opinion this isn't - listen you're listening on YouTube okay thank you that's okay thank you we're glad you're listening we were there at least 10 seconds behind us on you thoughts it's okay I just want to make sure they have the chance to do what they need to do Frank anything now you're here the yeah during Mike yeah Frank you're cool we'll wait til 7:10 how's that you are you are breaking up that I can barely hear you Frank so anybody who's listening out there we're gonna go up until 7:10 since another another minute and a half but do recognize that you were probably on a 10-second delay from us so if you do want to call just you know make sure that you are making that phone call now this is new for all of us so now should be the quietest this word has ever been that's cuz you have us all on Miuccia I know [Laughter] I know we backed out here on yeah someone yeah can you hear me can you see me I just got a yeah can you yeah yeah you're on and you you're fine you're moving fine okay yes Frank however is not I cannot see you okay that was me can't hear you friend got to see you Frank Frank it might be you man he's getting in and out you I'm being told via text message I'm on yeah legacy everybody I was just told Kent like you can't I can't see me when Frank has the duel I have the dialing number on the screen is that normal yes oh right right now the dial is no miss them on the screen so once you tell me public session is over we'll take okay all right then that's that's perfectly fine right that's that's designed that way correct correct okay all right well we're at 7-eleven at this point so I figure we can we can leave we can leave the this public agenda item very good Frederick go back to the live screen please just give us a second Joe to work till we verify that mm-hmm okay we're back to live screen all right so at that point if you were watching you were doing the the public agenda item when up came up the dial screen came on obviously you weren't able to see me but we were still able to hear you if you if you called in and then we could respond after after you called in we're going to move into the approval of the minutes and get started with the actual actual meet of meeting now so we're going to go to item six approval B of the minutes I need a motion to approve items six point one through six point four makes mission to prove motions on this Brian Melissa Fleming second seconded by Mrs Flynn are there any questions or comments pertaining to the approval of minutes okay seeing none yeah Dennis give a sorry they just screen popped on you for a second all right with that being said let's go to roll call please this is Barbie Giovanni yes to February 27th regular and executive session one and abstain for from others meetings executive session tip and then do our 24th 25th and 10th watch tap abstain okay miss Everhart yes mr. first Kara yes but abstain for the same reasons as miss barber Giovanni stated there's a lot to say there okay miss Fleming yes mr.
Massey on will be covering a lot of our facilities and financial implications and a lot of other items but I just want to pause here to see if members of the board have any questions for me to this point thank you Jeff that being said do we have any members with questions he's the first to the buzzer yeah thank you thank you for that thanks for the update Jeff I appreciate it and I again applaud you on the work you've been doing for the last few weeks I think it's been fantastic I'm speaking as a dad rat right now with my daughter and what what what I've seen and what's happening so thank you for that let me see with regard to you mentioned the April vacation before and I'm wondering about you were talking about absences I'm just curious do you happen to know off the top of your head like what is a typical number of absences that you would have for teachers and you know throughout the year in April or students like what the baseline number you have that's normal and then anything above that would be abnormal I'm just curious sure sure thanks it's great to see your daughter in the background too and we miss seeing kids around all the time but you know I think it would be a little bit misleading to look at what would be a typical number of absences because everybody's working from home so you know I may call out under certain circumstances because I don't want to get in and maybe you know get other students sick or whatever but I may be okay to work from home so this is kind of uncharted water for us and we'll have to maintain strong communication with our teachers we and that's why we have our nurses working right now as well so that they can track ok who's been quote symptomatic and how long I have they been symptomatic and what do we have to track for them to support them or who's going to be out because of something not related at all to Coe bid or something I broke my ankle in the backyard or something then I could probably teach online but not if I broke my wrist you know so these are really unique circumstances that we're trying to work through but we are going to monitor that and right now knock on wood we've been pretty good and all of our staff have been engaged in no he's been missing time really okay thank you thank you two more just two more points I think under the topic of Cove vid as I mentioned to you Jeff just before the meeting I probably for this weekend I'm hoping for this weekend to call a meeting of the Personnel Committee we have we don't know what could happen people could become incapacitated including you the superintendent principals things like that all at once and so I'm hoping to just have a meeting with a general discussion without getting into too many details but a general discussion of succession planning for everyone who were all your staff and then also more specifically you who would it be who would the board who would you recommend to the board so that's just a comment for people to be aware that it is on our radar that we need to have that discussion in light of the circumstances and then the last question I have recognizing that the number one issue right now is public health at the same time I also you know think about the economy and we want things to go well and people to have jobs and stuff and so I'm just curious do you have any sense at this point when you might be doing some day-to-day work aside from specifically all the co vid related stuff and I can give you a specific example I can give you that went through my mind it won't surprise you it's like solar and I don't want it that's not my specific point right now but I do I do want other things to continue I don't want everything to just you know stop and to the extent that we can have things continue that's what I'm just wondering about from your perspective do you see any light at the end of the tunnel right now to be frank not right now the way that such a dynamic situation at the moment it doesn't seem like we can string three days together without something new showing up whether it's planning for emergency services or enhancing our remote learning as well as I think that's gone you know we're still really trying to prove it for our students but I would hope that you know over the next couple of weeks we will start to see the light that you're talking about and start to pay a little bit more attention to something beyond this if this is going to be the new normal okay thank you thanks to him faith raised around that so faith you have the Mike Hale and Jeff and team again congratulations on all that you're doing I cannot thank you enough for your efforts just curious in with we know Cheshire's testing numbers I think we have one we might I haven't read today's numbers but without violating HIPAA laws do you have any reports on any within our school community who have tested positive for the virus that you've heard of I know that there are four folks it seems preliminary in Cheshire testing positive now if they're in a you know they're in our community period so the at this point I had this conversation with Mora yesterday that because we've been out of school at this point as long as we have been chances are that into a very high probability that if somebody ends up with the covet virus that they will have contracted it after they were out of school so I'm not concerned about community spread in our school community unless you know people are gathering outside of school at this point if I could have just one follow-up totally totally different direction you and I have talked about the graduation and the play and you mention it and I'm so glad that we recognized we may have to do spread into the summer months I'm hoping that this is all done just once again I just re-emphasize the note the idea that this will then become a huge community in bet event and so please involve us all of us because we want to see these kids have their ceremonies and I you know perform that play and have that prom so I'm just saying we're here and we're ready to help thank you you know I know our students in particular really appreciate that support I'm sure our whole community does but I received regular emails from our students hopeful that these things will transpire and unfortunately you know school whether we're in or out is really out of my hands at this point but we want to see that move forward and we'll definitely solicit your support hopefully we'll be able to do that thank you thanks babe Andrew do you have a question you or just kind of thing I'm gonna thank you.thank thanks for you got they know mrs.
Canton yes this is no yes mr. Lancelot oh yes mr. Meighan yes this is Ryan yes mission carries Thank You mr. Shanthi at this point we're going to go to the superintendent's report administrative items I need a motion to approve items 7 1 through 7 6 5 a motion please chef Lazo motion by mr. Lanza lada do I have a second you name second it by miss Barbara Giovanni before we go into questions and comments dr.
Lana's gonna talk about the remote learning aspect this in a second it sort of you mentioned April break I'm glad that it's not being changed this point I do think the kids could use a break from the computers I know I know my two daughters have been literally in their rooms for most of the day every day engaged with the exercise and so forth they're trying they're working breaks and break up the monotony that so I think by the time April Break comes around you know it'll be welcome even though we can't really venture far away I just think miracle technology for a few days is a key and the other thing one that is on other Bourget notifications and there's a lot of discussion going on between board about chairs in the district ensures you're aware of there seemed to be a 50/50 split so far as I'm seeing on a commentary where seems like half the school districts have adjusted their April Greggy to reduced it to a long weekend and the other half have kept it unchanged I think the districts that got a later start than we did with online learning I had to make that change with able break because they're already gonna run into the end of June so I just want I burned out because not because we're any better off than their school district but the once a kudos to your team for again the ball rolling so quickly with remote learning I think that give us a little bit of a head start especially known early on that there might be more closure so good had good call there and good call the break it's when uh you know thank you for putting the kids uh you know social needs first thanks any other questions from the board before we turn over to miss alone see there's not Marta Marlene you have the mic hello everyone first I really want to say due to the parents because we've always felt that our parents were partners with us in students education I think probably parents more than anyone would say that they really feel like partners now with children being home every day so we're really grateful for parents as partners in this we know that people are working from home and that we've got people who work in the medical field and they have their kids home with them while they're trying to do all these things and we we really really appreciate feedback and their support as we go down this journey into remote learning so thank you very much I also just that you know really give some credit to the fantastic team that I've been lucky to work with Kevin Hanlon as our k-8 curriculum coordinator Tom Lee walk in Scott Conway who are our tech integration specialists been building this right along with us our teacher leaders and the Rams and then our technology sure Mike papa and B Jacobs in getting all the Chromebooks into the hands of every student who needs one so with regard to remote instruction wanted to just review the tools that we're using our platform for this is Google classroom and then we're using Google meat which we're all on tonight as as part of the board so teachers are able to have this tool at their disposal to use with students either individually or in smaller groups it gets a little more tricky when you have many students in at a time they're also able to use something called screencastify which records video or at snippets of videos that they can then push out to their students via Google Google classroom and then of course school messenger which probably will look too different to parent but it means that you're getting emailed enables us to do large batches of emails at once so that's would be the foundation that this lays on as far as access to devices right now we have 2400 students with one-to-one devices that are our treasurer public schools Chromebooks and our tech integration specialists and our tech department we are supporting those students and 600 staff members with this remote technology we have a tech support web page set up for both friends and students so if there's anyone out there who's having difficulty with a Chromebook you can go right to the tech support page and enter a maintenance ticket and we will either we can swap your Chromebook out we can walk you through things there's also some videos available to parents and students unhappy some of those tools if I just want to reiterate what Jeff said earlier about that continuity of educating their of support materials out there for parents including some tip sheets on what parents can do at k3 level at the four eighth level and then at the 912 level so a parent who who was loaded device also was given a phone number if that device isn't working we have a hotline set up where they can call in to a phone number that we are checking regularly here at school as far as intervention we are working with our with providing devices to all of our intervention staff which is a pharisee support tutors our kindergarten is our first grade is our special education II's also we want to be able to help students in this remote learning environment trade assist extent possible and so you have our school counselors and school psychologists and our speech and language therapist ot and Pt reaching out to parents and students either via email or Google meat or old-fashioned phone call to see how we can best support and those staff members are also in communication with classroom teachers to be able to figure out which students may be struggling and you'd need extra support during this time per our state guidance upon our return to school we would reconvene any BT meetings that would would need to happen but the state has asked us to hold off on those we were doing those in those first couple of days when being changed fast and we got some new guidance on that of course we're always you know available for any kind of communication outside of the PPT when we get back to school those PPT meetings will convene reconvene and we'll identify any regression that students have had and we'll make a plan to support them so are some of the information about remote learning in a nutshell I really want to say again thank you to the parents for all the feedback they provided us up until right before this meeting we had 1419 responses to our survey and while we're not finished collating and disaggregating all of that data it really is looking very positive we asked questions about whether or not they feel parents feel that they're getting the right amount of communication from teachers and its interests k3 we had 89% of parents say they were getting just the right of communication with 5 percent saying too much and 6 percent saying too little so I think those are pretty good numbers what we asked out the right amount of work on computer we had roughly 75% tell I'm sorry 89% tell us that it was the right amount and then the split between too much and too little so we will like we are targeting that majority that most people are feeling like the amount and the cut the amount of work and the the amount of time on the computer and the amount of remote learning activities we're giving kids our meeting students needs it's gonna put a little farther down we also queried rk3 parents specific with a couple of questions because as you know we did not deploy Chromebooks in K through 3 we sent home little kits with white boards and illative and both some lessons and so we were asking them what is their families to do there have the ability to have their child view some instructional recesses on either a computer or an Xbox or a Smart TV or a cell phone or an iPad and 94% said yes we have that mobility and 94 sent all said they had the capability to help complete 10 to 20-minute work on a device so good start giving them some more online instruction pipe worked day so that's the thing to hear because we needed that information and/or make some changes moving ahead in grades 4 through 80 then of parents that communication was just fate 74% said the amount of time on the computer was and 70% said the world just right and again in most of those too much and too little that was they kind of balanced each other out at nine to twelve similar positive results of course when you're getting into that school there's a spec munication typically so because the students are already up and running on Google classroom so that's an area where we might be looking to have some additional parent communication a linking home which i think would certainly be helpful also the amount of work 66% just right 13% said too little 20% said too much so we're going to disaggregate that a little bit more find out is this by a grade level and it'll I think help us to to do even to just continue to improve this process this won't be the last survey that we do we intend to survey for students with some of these same questions and to survey our teachers on a couple of other things and this will be the last time we survey parents either if we're looking at this across the long haul we're going to need continued feedback from our from our packs out there next is the state testing update and we've received word we've gotten a waiver and the smarter balanced and the next generation science teams will not be required this well the IT he are going to be working with the college boy and looking at your dates that might be available for students who need to take that and our advanced placement classes much of ding or at least one those tags will act become an at-home test they have modified that so that tests will be taken at home the last part of my report is just to let though about all the staff that we have can work remotely we have I've got daily meetings with our tech engine specialists both in the morning and a day with bi-weekly technology meeting to make sure that we're getting those devices into the hands of those who need them and so being both teachers and and students and any of the tools that were using we've got daily teacher leadings taking place with the RAM so that we can continue to plan for instruction for the next few weeks and we've been meeting daily with our administrative team too so needless to say everyone very used to using Google I think we're a week or two ago we didn't have that mix for I'd say we have a whole lot more now so that's my report for you to take any questions Thank You Marlene does the board have any questions go ahead out thank you can I can everyone hear me okay excellent so Solano I'll begin with actually making a comment to all the parents out there as a parent who's who's been helping the home school effort here I'm fortunate enough to have a partner to also split the duties but I was I guess just wondering is there any support for the single parent or anything like that where you know the what if the parent needs to work if they're perhaps a first responder or anything is there any support for for the child that the school system parent can provide or is that something sort of out of our realm and I have several other questions out there so Tony I know if you want to you know put me back in the queue or whatever Thanks so Adam that's a really good question and I would say for any parents in that situation flexibility is our is the middle name here so communicate with the teacher we are happy if the child is doing that work at night if they're doing it on Saturday or Sunday that's part of the blessing of remote learning it's not that you have to do reading from 8:00 to 9:00 every day or from 10:00 to 12:00 it's really flexible and the assignments are we're working to make sure that those assignments in a way are given time and multiple days to complete that we want to take that pressure off parents and we want to take that pressure off kids this is going to be a much more fluid situation than you're handing your paper at X time so the key to that is going to be the communication between the teacher the parents and the student thanks running go ahead oh okay thank you so um I guess the friends throughout the you know the United States and I've been touting our system as one of the first who sort of you know I congratulate you it seemed like it was about or you guys like that I guess my question is because it seemed like a lot of other states are sort of in the opposite direction I just wanted to reiterate does all of the work that the the children are doing does it actually count because there are some states where their work is where they're just having children do work so that they can you know I guess stay educated but it's not actually counting towards anything and it seemed like that that's what we're doing here is that everything that the children are doing it actually means something and that the the the teachers are our keeping track of what the children are doing and that it actually is they're working towards their education so that no one has to repeat for next year or no one has to make that type of decision so I would like to say that it all counts in the big scheme of things and I know that and Jeff would probably add to this that across the state superintendents are getting together to really talk about grading and to make some recommendations to the commissioner but we are practicing some of the grading policies that are in place but again with with uber flexibility and knowing that a lot of what was in those learning toolkit was some of it was review we want to make sure that we get those basic skills down and they're strong but also know that when kids come back whenever we come back we'll be assessing them and as a district we're gonna have to monitor and adjust our instructional path to make sure that we get to where they need to be because it's a huge disruption and if when I ask another one then I'll turn up a Katherine and we can jump back to you my bad one more you had several oh no I'm all set thank you exam by Katherine Europe okay thanks mr. chair it's really more of a comment that a question that I had when you were speaking I mean about the you know parents but the partnership between the parents and the children because they're both home you know the parents are working from home or whatever it just struck me that this may be a bit of a silver lining that this is an opportunity that I don't think many parents get to experience which is really seeing what their kids are doing you know what the curriculum looks like it just it's a view of their children's educational experience that I don't think many people have gotten the benefit of I know I I didn't so I think that's just fascinating and obviously it's you know it's created a very optimistic view from parents because of the results of the survey that you're starting to see you know that parents are really feeling engaged and you know the communication is where it needs to be and the amount of work generally it just sounds like it's it's really been fairly positive to the extent it can be experienced so far and so but I was just struck by that thought I would have loved to and well I'm home with my child you know really getting engaged in their learning so that's well thanks if I could respond to that one of our questions was what type of support do you need to support your child at home and we had 459 parents say time management 460 456 that understanding curriculum content and so I want a reassurance that they do not need to the curricular content experts that we we will take that on and we will help with that but we're also happy to explain things because if your child comes home and it's fresco home when your child is home and it's frustrated with what they're doing and you're looking at that saying well I remember what eighth grade you know what that topic was any math or science you know that's okay you don't have to explain it and understand it you need to help them advocate for themselves and say well let's sit down and send your teacher an email and say that you know you need help understanding that I think it's a great time for parents to help their child build those independence and self-advocacy skills so it certainly is unique that was a great observation you know is it was so obvious that even noticed that my wife and I being home and our kids working you know in their rooms upstairs we do check in periodically so I think Marlene may be one of the reasons you get time management I'll cook them content is probably because pants myself feel that the kids a little bit more about the subject and that we used to back in the day so maybe we're trying to leg up on what they're learning so we don't seem to - haha far behind in the topic but I will say there's a good storyline for as a parent we do get the experience a little bit more what they're experiencing and you know to get a chance to vent and talk more and so we'll take advantage of while we can it's easier for some families not for others or sharing you know maybe two computers among score people I know that happens to some households but that's a great observation I believe Andrews next then Anne and then Adam again so I Andrew Europe thank yours want to congratulate Marlene van and Jeff and all the parents everyone out there we've been having our lunch waves together here in the kitchen and today I was lucky enough to be allowed on a four-way group chat with four of my daughters friends over five total and overwhelmingly they are enjoying this they feel supported I'm sure there's people out there who might be not having his creative experiences they have but one thing that I witnessed on day one my daughter's a seventh grader at Dodd is they encourage the kids to get up do a quick workout and then shower and get ready as if they were getting ready for school and she has done that every day so I work from home primarily anyway so I've been kind of following in that in that routine as well I'm so again I just want to say that I know it's not perfect I think that all of our lives are kind of changed but I think we're doing a great job and I was on a conference call today with a project and there were several people whose kids are just starting to get into the remote learning next week and so I definitely have bragging rights to say that we've been doing it for over a week a week in a day today so especially thanks to everybody out there thanks grant you and your up you and if you're speaking your mic is muted I just unmuted thank you and thanks Marlene for that report very eye-opening I just wanted to add that your Cheshire Public Schools is not alone with the call for more time management skills because certainly on many of our students at the college level that is what they are calling out or especially in their first year in college as well and it's it's really a big thing about going to remote learning is you are responsible for getting yourself into the into the virtual classroom into the online activities and there's just the lack of having that person standing over you with eyes on you it makes a big difference but it's remarkable what Chester Public Schools has been able to do and so congratulations Jeff Ben Marlene and all the principals and everybody that's been working so hard in this effort it's it's a lot you guys are doing a great job and I just want to say thank you thank if there's no other questions about waiting I want more yeah I know Adams next Adam and then Tim am europe thank you yes so I just wanted to comment firstly that my son's in third grade and I was impressed by you know it really gives a great sort of depth to the report card I'll be around when we online learning is when the report card for I believe the second term came out and happy to say that he did very well but to know that how prepared he was with the classroom instruction and how his teacher had him really know a lot of the materials at least in this first week where they at least he seemed to have a depth of knowledge to be able to carry himself through this first week of this very difficult transition and how he knew already knew how to use the their I guess there are a couple of assignments that were on the Chromebook how we knew how to use the Google classroom already and that was a learning curve for me I was like wow I didn't know you knew how to use all this stuff this is really great and so and and on top of that my wife and I had a video conference with this teacher today and he you know he was able to check in and we are able to ask questions it was a great you know 15 minutes of it was still face to face conversation and I was you know really great to see how we're able to use all sec knowledge II so quickly and that's a testament to Marlene and to your staff that you know we're really able to get up and running and that you guys really had a lot of this sort of in the hopper already I guess and it's really good to see how it's been put to great use so I guess my question is and I sort of asked his teacher for today and so that's why I asked you now is so as we I know that you you guys had sort of prepared you know a two-week curriculum when do you think that parents can see that that I guess addendum to that have you are you I'm assuming you're in preparation now now that we're going to have to go out through I guess April 20 at the very least do you have a timeline as to how those things are going to roll out and and what exactly parents should expect for that continuing education yes so basically the day that the kids at home with all of that material we were already busy trying to build what we knew was probably going to be more than two weeks so that is what our teacher leaders and Kevin Hanlon and the team that's what we're engaged in and what we've been digging up our suite into since since that Friday that we sent everyone home with those materials and we'll be communicating to how we're going to get these materials out to everyone and so we have we have a good team to help prepare those and I don't want to guarantee that they're going to be delivered but they in parents hands before you you need to put them in front of your child thank you thanks Adam Tim you have a question thank you yeah I'm not sure what people can see on TV I actually had to step away for just a couple minutes because my son started my four-year-old son kind of needed to step away too I say that just because I may have missed a comment so Tony you feel free to cut me off if you already crossed if you already discussed this briefly and also it's it's just our world that were it's our world that we're living with just wondering trying to think I'm lost my train of thought for a second with regard to with regard to this is really a lot for parents one of the one parent contacted me and talented this week and mentioned that one high school class was well structured and the teacher would have all the students log in at the certain time and Marlene I know you mentioned this briefly about logging in and having the structure and the parent said that was great and I agree however at the same time some teachers probably have little kids like I'm dealing with and daycare has disappeared so you cannot simply send your four-year-old to daycare and so this is really just a request on the part of parents to recognize the situation in which some teachers are finding themselves and to just try to take that into consideration they may not some parent some teachers may not actually be able to have that forty-five minutes if their kid is coming after them you know anyway that's really it just to be understanding of everyone involved in this and I do believe that our teachers by and large are trying to do a really good job and I think they are doing a good job but the circumstances are just difficult thanks Tony now tennis a great point I I just want matic assume when we say we think the parents that we realize teachers of parents so these are parents too so yeah I know it's tough for someone especially if we have you know single parent households it's a juggling act really I just thought I think thank you for a great update I I know you in particular was a Solon and Kevin and a lot of folks have been working around the clock every day and a number of things I still picture you in Jeff's office last week you know elated we're gonna be through details I'm sure you're the same thing at home so so thank you for you and your team's help on this and for the audience you know as I was listen everybody's comments it may sound like we're bragging we're not bragging I think if people tuned in the hairs thinking this and positivity it just that there's been a lot of positivity around this by no means are we perfect but I think it is a pretty huge feat for Cheshire Public Schools to get this upper running quickly and I had to be equality and Oh looky that momentum so I do want to just acknowledge everyone start work one one quick thing I was probably one of the less than 5% parents said that said my kids had too much homework at the high school teachers have reached out to us and I tried they got a email from DARS history teacher yesterday's checking in so they are doing outreach in fact my younger daughter her messaging wasn't working on her phone for a good part of the week so her book club was able to reach her teacher was concerned and absolutely contacted us mission was ok so there they're looking out for everybody appreciate you know that that that care they're showing us just one one idea that can different parent the other day I just share this with Jeff yesterday but one parent said is it's going well but it seems that at least the high school may in some classes kids can use more interactions directly with the teachers and when Marlene talked about you know it's kind of difficult to do when you have 20 to 24 tiles of students on Google meet at one time I could see the challenge in trying to have that happen on you know call just thought me possible to schedule some one-on-one time weeks doing during the week maybe 20 minutes or 25 minutes just to have FaceTime on the teacher I think even pretty under grades I think some of the kids do miss the direct contact they have with the teachers and I'm not sure how much time they can dedicate to doing that but it might go a long way and this parent mentioned that if it's a technology problem that he has a friend that works at echo360 that's all for up to service free for educators as a possible option so I think he has an email on that but other than that that like what I went unsaid is we are getting a lot of feedback a lot of good ideas so keep up the great work again thank you to your team and you know we'll see how this progresses more forward Ronny I think that's in the your update correct yes I just want to thank you all for live comments and let you know that this is not perfect this is not what we all want we are going to make mistakes along the way there's no doubt or doing something this big in this vast but having your support and and having so many positive things and by the community really very much appreciated so thank you Thank You Marlene I think up next we have about a report from mr.