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Lutz miss Morland Feeny Borland I thank you Sano's I'm sorry you're [Music] unaware and in a way parallels the arizona's pretend association doesn't have all the same members and my understanding is that essentially it's a pretty powerful lobbying two things that I've learned during closure is being able to collaborate with other superintendents in the state has been very helpful and it's been very powerful and their voices have been heard that ad hoc temporary a group the it was called the superintendent's convening committee was very much an ad hoc group that folks just kind of put together they had a pretty powerful voice with the governor's office with the ATP that very kind of sunsetting no long races many of those same people are part of this organization and I'd like to continue that kind of a relationship the second part you know for many many years even I have been complaining about the fact that the state of Maricopa makes decisions for the whole state we can continue to complain about that or we can do something about it and the fact that these superintendent's convening committee involved superintendents from the rural areas as well as the city areas and it can included superintendents from Unified School District's and from high school districts from elementary school districts mister flora and I kind of a server ourselves to represent Western Arizona because the only Western Arizona district that was represented was a human there was nobody wants to there were other rural districts represented from the northeast part of the state and the southeast part of the state so we kind of asserted and inserted ourselves into be committing and it was that resulted in this invitation because one of the members of that group [Music] Howard Carlson who is the executive administrator for this group apparently of things that I said and the way I represented our district and Western Arizona in there so I would like to be part of this I'd like our district to be part of this and so I'm recommending that your approval for us to sign this intergovernmental agreement okay comments concerns I didn't see any I didn't see the cost is going to be to our district but across the state a number of other organizations dr.
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Solon that was an excellent presentation with a lot of information and I know a lot of people were have been watching this evening and I'm sure they're all trying to digest this plan as well I'll have I'll begin with two questions the first one is a two-parter so policy-wise we have in it we have an attendance policy which I believe is 20 excused absences and I wasn't sure if the governor's executive orders covered whether or not that policy is suspended or not it's as far as you know how quarantine ii may occur yeah the governor's orders don't but we can we have the authority to address that and I that and I'm glad you mentioned it Adam because that was an area that I've had some questions on and there's some more here about attendance but the the attendance we understand it's like extraordinary this year that you may be home not because you're sick but because you have to be for five days or seven days or something like that and we don't want that to count against your matriculation but what we do know also is that it really underscores the importance of us providing a remote learning environment that is as good as can possibly be and particularly if your child is home healthy you know I have two little boys that I don't want playing roblox in fortnight all day if they're home so anyway the the attendance policy is something we have to look at but like I said the virtual learning the remote learning piece is really important in to just touch again on that technology outfit I was explaining today that we did this as an investment in our students education not just a band-aid for kovat now the the cost of doing one of these rooms is about $3,200 per room that's that's a good chunk of change for us in you know so you're just short of two hundred thousand dollars when you're doing 56 60 rooms in order for us to really expand remote learning we would probably have to add at least another 60 rooms if we were gonna go a hybrid model that includes you know in school out of school we would really have to engage in a conversation with the Town Council now I am reticent to do that today because I also don't want to just spend two hundred thousand dollars if I don't you know again it's an investment but I don't want to you know treat it like it's just free money either this will be very valuable you know resource and technology for students when kovat is over but it's still 200 grand so you know that is something we're looking at don't be surprised if next month particularly if we're going to that sort of hybrid model I turn around and say to you guys you know we've had these rooms and come look at them because here's why we need another 60 not just for their hybrid learning but for the value of what would take place in the room once it's over so I just want to underscore that point too as an elaboration on the attendance okay thank you and so so what we need to do you think we wouldn't need to suspend anything as far as you're concerned whatever occurs were fine for now as far as holding anyone to their twenty days per matriculation yeah we you know right now I don't think we would we would do that we are modifying our attendance we're reviewing that I met with our administrators today we have to have to look at that okay um so the next one then it gets a little more complicated would be the thresholds for quarantine I know I've seen the the one of the major questions out there is well what if a teacher goes down number one what happens to the class if a student in the class I guess feels they're sick and then if and if or they test positive for Kovac does the entire cohort have to be quarantined for 14 days have you done any war gaming as to how that would look on how that would affect the school population and their education or is it just a matter of being able to transition instantly to the remote model and then are you expecting the teacher who potentially could be sick to continue teaching remotely as well or have you thought through any of that sure situation yeah and it's obviously super messy and it gets more difficult for every school system in Connecticut every business in Connecticut that has people returning to work given the fact that we don't have rapid testing availability that's easily available so you know if I suspect the student or staff member is sick and they were able to go to a pediatrician or a walk-in and get a quick swab half-hour you know if you got it or you don't that is much different then I think you're sick you get swabbed we'll let you know in two weeks and so we're working with the health department dr.
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Mitchell shared there they will have their live time with their teacher so they will be receiving their same percentages so we will be looking at the schedule and making sure that we maintain the instructional percentages so during those instructional books for example first grade is a 90/10 split we will be ensuring that those instructional blocks reflect those instructional percentages so that our students and Dual Immersion are receiving the appropriate supports and similarly when we have our parent meetings who are interested in dual immersion one of the biggest concerns is how do we support our child at home and our teachers are wonderful resources and they are always able to provide some different apps and those types of things but I think we also have to think about how we might be you realizing some of our bilingual personnel to also continue to do some extra support for our Dual Immersion students so that their language additional language development is able to continue and then no that's helpful to hear helpful or no and then same thing as far as does this plan for secondary does this mean that there will not be any zero periods or any seven periods or things things after the outside of the the one to six period structure yeah thank you for that question and actually yes and so we have been talking with different stakeholders and teachers and principals how do we do that and what would that look we will definitely have zero period and there will definitely be that seventh period as well it is just a matter of we wanted to get this kind of you know foundational piece and then we know okay wait a minute now we've got some nuances and how do I do that and we really did want to engage our teachers in terms of those who do teach those courses what would be best and how should we look at that and so that's that's definitely a piece that will be there as well thank you Gabriela or a board member Ariana's yes I actually have three questions my first question is I don't see block here for teachers planning periods so so what does that look like sure thank you for that question like I did not buy sorry I did not mention that so typically when for secondary teachers they have they do have a planning time period right so I might teach tenth grade language arts and my planning period is always second period so that means that essentially whatever period they have that's on the master schedule for planning they don't have a course during that time so if I have second period planning that means on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:05 to 1:55 that is my planning time and how about for elementary teachers sure so part of the part of that plan when you take a look at how the the eld and the special education services we have flipped it and so if I am a a primary teacher for example and I'm going to I'm a TK 3 teacher that means that I actually start my day at 8 o'clock and I have my English learners right for my designated LD well then my schedule goes all the way until 1:35 begin there is a planning time block that's right there and then on the flipside if I am if I am a 4 6 teacher I actually don't start my instructional day until 8 55 because my LD is at the end of the day and goes from 1:45 until 2:30 so we've actually put in that planning time at the front end and the back end every day depending on for that flip to give them that time for planning thank you for that and Adrian I'm on my second question oh okay thank you I'm sorry okay and so or member ariana.sea you muted yourself I believe I'm yes yes when would there be a time for speech ot therapy for our 2-meter IEP students needs excellent and so during so in at that elementary block that's where so for example with the the TK 3 that time on let's see TK 3 that time is from 145 to 230 so again we've done the opposite with our language learners because many of our language learners are also students with disabilities as well so there is that block of that block of protected time is actually for those services right and so students who are for example in a special day class they would just they would follow the the instructional blocks with their teacher but those related services would happen either at the beginning or the end of the day on the opposite side of eld to make sure that they have their protected time to and then for for the secondary there are if a student in their IEP for example has a period of instruction that's a period of support they would have that as well and if not then it would be the same situation where for example the speech services could be scheduled you know at a different time sometimes it's you know during their instructional time other times it's maybe it would be you know after school I'm not sure but it's this it would be the same situation that it would be in the brick-and-mortar environment miss Mitchell fair to say just to point out that although we have tried really hard to create these carve outs for special ed so that students are getting the related services while not in the instructional blocks that's not gonna cover a hundred percent of the related services so there will be times when a student might to your to your question might need speech or ot or whatever that may be and just like they would when we're back when we're in school then you know they get they get pulled out to do that particular service but but the fact that we have created these opportunities is going to lessen that disruption but but I don't but but again I think it's fair to say that it's not gonna completely erase that but it gives us a running start for sure okay no Musketeers administer pretend opera a los servicios de los estudiantes que receiving its ocasion a special case even a severe sous-sous su servicio see marijuana Clara Casey - addressed severe su servicios so it's muy importante que man thinkin like Monica simple - track on special allergic MySpace special ID but a both aggressive erasers thank you guys for your answer those are my questions thank you board member Pena mr.
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Stewart mentioned for instance the superintendent's organization the Arizona School Boards Association principals you can name it but what they need to do is get their act together and they do it's like the Arizona School Business officials chuckles down there in lobbies all the time and you're not going to find a better person than him to do your lobbying but you talk to the legislators down there and they'll talk hey Maricopa I agree with dr. Stewart they dare lis get the gravy but that's because they've got all the votes down there and you're not going to change that folks you know the big districts Phoenix Union Mesa least Glendale and Turin they're the ones with the power I didn't see those named they're very tense first regarded so legislature votes i down in Maricopa and I don't care how many groups you put together you're not going to change that yeah just to let you know we did get the cost it was 3,100 a year for the cost for this Association and that was one of my concerns also it is a very expensive Association to be part of and I am concerned if you are Phoenix so much so tries to control everything they tried to pass on us last year a mandate that they only need a majority vote in the ASB a deal instead of a supermajority vote which thank goodness was voted down because they do try to circumvent the smaller districts every chance they can my concern is also I mean if this was a you know 500 $600 that's a big difference than 3,100 now I didn't think to ask one of these meetings and when are they held and how often because that could be a big thing too because that's another day that we've got to go down to Phoenix and and do whatever we need to do to to be part of that my thing is thing for the buck sure are we gonna be getting sure that value and I totally understand that has three sub three come in at three groups and so superintendents represent the board so boards are not expected to go and I do and they are so the meanings and we could choose to participate in any of the three groups so there's a superintendents group there's a curriculum council and then there's the greater Phoenix area business officials maybe not so much especially since our local business group our County business group is becoming much more active and as Doug said the ASBO is very good and we are joining that group this year and we have been member of that group for several years amazing this person so we know we've got you know we know we've got some good things there the meetings this year are area on the month for these three committees one two two three four six meetings during this year from the actual meetings I will tell you I've been together emails and information from the group literally every other day since I received this information are we part of the state superintendents are you a si district is part of a SBA and ESA has been amazing where instead who's the director for that is an amazing representative for us and keeps us all informed in lots of things and both a SA and SB a good lobbying representation so those thoughts did cross my mind when this came across as well and those are several couple hundred dollars actually a sba is four thousand or something like that for the district 1482 my job and but I will tell you relative to that and some other information that I had sent to you but Kim has done a lot of work to reestablish positive relationships and with certain folks at the NSBA especially related to our more policies when she first started talking to them they were not very friendly and I might actually say rude and whatever but she's reestablished relationships with that we we kind of along the way on what was going on there so we really we really reestablished some really good relationships with all of those organizations already so I would perfectly understand whatever decision made relative to this one I just felt on behalf of the district we have to mean on behalf of the district but this was kind of Cheetos for our district to be recognized and now in a very positive way in this at the state level and let's let's face it we can always use some positive things any other questions [Music] no no motion moving on executive session 9.1 we need a motion to enter into an executive session when we enter into a executive session Cori verges I second okay all in favor Cori burgers I thank you we are an executive session you we're recording alright okay we'd like to reconvene our meeting at this time moving on to item 10 points to I'm sorry there's no action there ten point three future topics do we have any future topics to discuss other than our meeting on the twelve well and I'm meeting on the 12th will there be the behavior plan also the Guardian will be coming back to schools and all that okay virtual because that's the thing it'll be different than the handbooks this is what the committee is coming up with for how they're going to deal discipline when kids are online okay otherwise okay right so just the meeting on the 12th no other future topics okay moving on to when you actually just discussed that 10.4 time and date for a future meeting we're gonna have our special meeting on the 12th at five o'clock so nothing else there do we want to schedule our other meeting or wait till the 12th it's it's on here for August 20th then we used to always do it that third Thursday yes go back to that what day would that be is it the term yeah yeah that's what she has recommended for us here's the 20th okay okay so our next regular meeting August 20th at 5:00 p.m.
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O'Connor the state to try and develop guidance around that because that's that's a very real issue the testing right yeah that's I'm sure it's a huge moving target right now so I guess so so then too for my last question then on flexibility you had mentioned it before so if a you had we add to what eleven percent of I guess families we're saying they wouldn't begin the year in person and so then you would have the 88 percent in person what if someone were decide to switch what would be the time the notice that would need to be given if someone wanted to come back in or someone wanted to leave yeah I think it'd be about a day or two a dad - okay you know though ambitious we'd like to try and turn it around as quickly as we can but you know the only thing I would caveat that with is for somebody who's been on remote learning to return if they need to have some sort of test which I don't know why we would because we don't test everybody who comes every day anyway but that's something we would work through with the Health Department but I'd like to be able to turn it around pretty quickly thank you you know Andrew Europe and then I'm sure Java's might say thank you for everything you've been doing in your team you guys really put together a good plan in short order I know that the game is constantly changing so I appreciate all the work you guys been putting in this summer I'm following up on what Adam was saying will there be a cut-off where as families will alert the district if they will be sending their children back to or reason why I say that I know that you're saying that people can go from remote learning to back in the classroom but just when it comes to space planning in the schools and reducing the class sizes and maintaining the social distancing wouldn't it make sense and know exactly what that number is set that number and then have I mean I'm kind of the part of that if you're gonna keep your cat home you should have you know give the district a couple weeks in order to plan for us soon to come back and forth versus you know we're shooting for mid-august to be able to have enough I think it's a great question Andrew that's that balance between we need enough advance notice but I think it's also fair to our parents to give them as much detail as we can about what school will look like before I ask you to decide you know we all appreciate I know you're a parent of a you know kids in our system I have kids too I want to know before I make that decision what's appropriate for my child and family and so we're gonna try and balance that those two competing issues got it thanks yep thanks Andrew and your hi yeah Jeff thank you and Marlene and the whole team this is a huge undertaking that you've been doing this summer when will we know if we I mean we need we need some lead-in time if we're going to be retrofitting these classrooms with this new technology right so do we need to know sort of when we might be able to do this hybrid model by a certain time or because I'm I'm pretty convinced that the hybrid model is kind of going to be the way to start out and that's just because I think things will change as we go through the next several weeks if any indication from what is happening in other parts of the country start to happen he in Connecticut so I'm just wondering because doing the hybrid model really is going to take quite a bit of time to get classrooms retrofitted in order to do it do we need to sort of know from the state at a certain point that we can that we do have the go-ahead to do that yeah I think we need to get information from the state we are planning the hybrid to an extent you know in terms of installing those the technology even now you the the technology we've ordered is extensive in the install doesn't just happen in a day it's pretty significant a they're telling us we'll guarantee you by September 15 I know likelihood of it being installed before that but the biggest challenge is really availability of the materials so like right now there's such a demand on it's like tents so for example even if we wanted to hold our traditional graduation ceremony even if that was permitted getting tense right now is super hard in chairs because the restaurants have had them all so like there's a lot of demand for this technology from businesses and things like that another school system so you know when we put our information public we had a ton of people reaching out to us and we've been trying too close to the vest about where we're getting it from because it's competitive you know so even if we said we're gonna install more it would be throughout the the fall best case we have more installed by October 15th another 60 rooms great and the other sort of follow-up question would be is there not in your expert opinion is there not a lot of teacher training that would be involved with using this equipment or is it pretty yeah smart boards yeah because there's smartboards it's already part of the teaching yeah it's it's super intuitive because if you've run Google meat before it's it's a lot like that you're just running a Google mean and turning your camera on and off turning the mics on and off it's very much like that making a presentation whether you're at home or in the in the room okay great thank you thanks again faith you have a question yeah um first of all I know that there are a lot of people watching on YouTube and there have been some really dedicated members of the community who've been sitting in on these committee meetings and I just want to commend them you know it's they've done a fabulous job and Jeff and Marlene and VIN have been peppered with questions over and over and over again so thank you to those guys who are watching Jeff just to be sure you have ordered the equipment we you don't need approval from the board to expend those funds from yeah that's correct it's all on the state bid and so when previous meetings when we talked about it and reached out to people it was endorsed by board members but we could just do that out of our operating budget if we wish it's just an expenditure of the book of the school system okay or you to make so you're retrofitting those rooms no matter what if Kovac goes away tomorrow are you going to yes okay because we think actually from an instructional perspective you know like I did a classroom walkthrough where you know myself and another group of other superintendents go to different districts and provide feedback on the instruction and how to improve teaching and learning you know I did that in Weston several months ago before the whole koban thing all their rooms are outfitted with this sort of technology and it's such a game changer the kids tell me the ability to focus the hearing of the information is so much clearer and the engagement is so much easier when everybody can hear every word that said from the teacher so it is an investment so that's why I would say yeah I think we knew we need to move forward with this would I be you know doing it in this fashion and this is expeditiously if it weren't for Co vid no but it is valuable after the fact if I could add one more question okay interesting someone raised an interesting point one of the letters today regarding the filming of teachers and students and classrooms with privacy concerns that's just one policy Tim has already raised this you know how a quick response by the subcommittee's wherever it may be but in policy in particular do you see other areas besides the privacy where we may have to make some adjustments are these waived because of executive orders I mean how is this all going to be dealt with now you know Marlene and I were on a call yesterday we were talking about well I guess you know the state was indicating that well I I guess where it says policy in the reopen plan we don't really mean policy is in a board of education policy that we're gonna change for the co vid period we mean you just need to have a clear protocol on this so you know with the cameras in the classroom the camera is situated in such a way that it's only shooting at the front of the room where we don't have students seated anyway additionally at least not during kovat additionally we are working with the Union to facilitate this if people think that like if they're just doing on a google meet that they can't already be recorded they're crazy you know or you know we have situations where it's it's not permitted but people have cell phones out in school and record each other it's you know that that's the reality of the world we live in today it's not a you know it's an unfortunate reality but this is so powerful to support teachers and students through this difficult time that it's it's well worth it and then afterward you don't even need the camera but it's a the camera itself is a very small part financially of the install okay thanks sure I'm chuckling because I sent Jeff and Marlene today I don't think three pages of summary questions that I've seen a there's a lot of questions that when details emerge about how for example we're going to enforce for example if a student shows up at the front door when I'm asked is not allowed to come in without one and we give them one and they refuse you know I think there's a lot of that detail clear and I want to thank for so let me just backtrack a little bit I want to thank the entire reopening team base an entire CPS staff Nasia Board and so many parents out there that have been in turn a great way involved answering questions giving ideas there's a lot of work on into this you know I don't want to be to beat a drum on that but and there's still a lot more work coming so a B you know be a disservice not to recognize everyone that's been helping and I know there's more to come even today we received more messages and folks that want to help in some way shape or form and that's awesome because this is gonna take a community effort to get us through this safely that being said testing I I think it's important point that you made earlier Jeff that right now at least in Connecticut and I haven't heard otherwise some other board about chairs yet but there is not a proliferation of Rapid Response testing and I'm pretty sure Chester cotton would advise us if there were and take advantage of it my guess is if and one that those become available I hope it does even during the course of the school year if there was rapid testing and you could get or student or parent could get a result within a short period of time if that's something that trestle crop has indicated that we should enforce doing in the schools or is that really up to the parents to return you tested kids I know it's I know a solution yet that's great oh yeah all the time every day I'm yeah we don't like during strep you know outbreaks and things like that we're not testing kids in school that's really a function of the child's pediatrician so you know this is unique in the sense that it's a global pandemic I think in a perfect world Cheshire would have multiple locations where you could get a rapid response test but I you know I've never heard anybody say that districts school systems should be testing sites it wouldn't shock me if some day that were to come to fruition but that's never been part of the conversation yet no I understand I am I stay this because I know I price I'm like a stuck record I guess in a loop but we don't have a vaccine for cobia and I know there's some of the development and some approaching trials and I'm of the mindset was like they do work in the specialty drug farm a part of this health care system that even when a vaccine is made available it's going to take time to proliferate throughout the entire world level our country so in vaccine came up during the school year that's awesome I don't believe that it would be fully vaccinated and you know immune just overnight it's gonna take time to distribute knowing that knowing that the nature of code is a little unpredictable as we are seeing spikes in other states for various reasons you know I haven't know myself they were playing for the worst hoping for the best and I go to the hybrid model you mentioned and I know the state right now is only looking that honestly got two options I do know other school districts as folks have mentioned emailed us have talked about a hybrid model but that's all it is right now is talk so that's not the states not gonna happen I would I would hope our governor and if our education or gonna be listening to everyone soon that there should be a third watch in the hybrid model because it's strong support that from that for a number of stakeholders so I know there's a hybrid model plan in the works for us I know it involves around what you mentioned earlier Jeff which is splitting the groups of students you know two days a week on off-site with a cleaning but in the worst case scenario if you know refine ourselves shut down schools and bathroom all learning and they have forwarded the board members of comments that please no more Google pre-recorded meetings I think folks have had enough of that but so we are looking for for a rich equitable live Crescent classroom situation so the technology and I know the Jeff was kind of to kind of give me a more detail on technology where it's coming from on a state where but if that technology be using the classroom our magic can also be used at home in some ways of teachers that teach remotely long story short what's the difference between hybrid and synchronous learning if we remove transporting kids to and from schools but they are we any one remote learning ideally that's what we had to do with rely on this technology so we could have a serve at a live Google classroom with microphones on and kids participating share some pre-recorded videos I think that would be the the best solution in the worst case scenario if we couldn't go in that school my painful it would really be the equivalent of being in school raise the point you know I mean you're not it's as close as we can get you to be in there without being there so I guess I'm saying is can we sneak this hybrid thing under remote learning option to the state yeah no is remote learning yeah if I still have to provide all day every day for everybody you know if people elect remote learning I want it to be a powerful experience for them Yubel experience i also understand that you know for some people particularly of younger ages you know our little guys and girls when they're in second grade if they may not always be in a position where they can engage in live synchronous learning depending on their family situation yeah I understand that oh we we also want to provide we have to provide some asynchronous learning for some kids too which is a challenge to do - make sure as I'm trying to be hopeful that you know we're not waiting until last week of August before the governor says ok with hybrids okay go yeah but I think to come around and I just for folks know there's not a lot of Board of Ed chair emails with cave and this these questions we're receiving if there's any positive and all that cuz that's a great idea is is that we're not alone as a community everybody's got the same questions every school district is working for this Friday response and the survey is working for us two options for state but it is also working that third option in their back pocket for hybrid learning with us seems to be the most popular thing I have some other things I until we get further details on the mechanics of you know the traffic situation at the schools will parent drop-off how it's going to work I would just be you know throwing things out that we can't answer right now but I would say is one of the things that would help is I know the reopening team is demeaning and I want to thank all those folks I'm pretty sure Maura from Chester Canada's on there which is amazing to me but sometimes I wanted to just clones herself because between that and being around town in so many services industries on top of this I think people understand our state Russell Scott is doing for the community as so many levels so so thank everyone for that the real men team meanings I thought that they would be available on YouTube I haven't seen anything yet but I think because I myself is that may help answer a lot of questions before there is if some of the folks can you know seals meetings ah see after they're done then I reduced the amount of questions coming in to the group yeah moving or we could probably do more of that originally I wasn't comfortable recording because we were discussing a property acquisition which we didn't want to inflate the cost of the property taking that off the table you know I'm certain and then we had a technical snafu to be frank on another one but you know certainly happy to publicize that going forward yeah if we can't look in reason all these questions you know I I know you try to answer every single one of them I try to we all do it skim a little yeah oh say we're whelming but it could be kind of a full-time job on top of the two full-time jobs you already have so is there any way you think you know next few weeks we can get a website up or page on our site that you know there's just focused on the CPS reopening fa Q's all this information and maybe people can look there first to see if their questions already answered and I know it's more work on on the staff but over 19 their ins you know online learning period it may work probably easier than answering 150 emails so yeah I would definitely you know we could now that we have a really good sense of what the questions are I could certainly build that up onto our website right now if people are watching you know the co bid or go to our home page and the kovin stuff is all there all my correspondences there as well as the the remote learning site but we could definitely add frequently asked questions clearly so it's a good suggestion too one last thing that the technicality I call it tech expansion but the technology that you and I talked about and you mentioned tonight about the in classroom and microphones all that I think we probably should give the town council heads-up that you know there's going to be some cost and I appreciate the fact that we could try to absorb that operating budget it's just that you know we have twenty thousand dollars that we set aside and thank pound councils not the account for us to do that to use towards real bringing cost I don't know if that $20,000 been exhausted already just by the nature of PPE this infected addition and cleaning help etc then we layer in about another eight hundred eighty thousand dollars hundred ninety thousand dollars but its technology to come out of operating budget when that you know is again I must still fairly tight and I think at least given a heads up that these are things that were looking at because if we don't need that money let's say August 27 or 28 and we may need it in December at least they can plan for that you know ahead of time if it doesn't happen it's not me that's great I think that you know we will need some help it's the only shape or form I just can't imagine how and I won't put you guys in a spot you Vincent in particular but you know I think we're gonna chew that $200,000 just getting ready for your opening I can't imagine that we absorb the rest of it through operating budget without something you put on so it's my two cents but we can discuss it you know in their time on that the you know the cares Act money it was another question that I'm going to just jump in weave in from Kobe email question you know that was $99,000 Marlene you're pretty well worse than the care of cares act money if you don't mind just kind of talking about how we spent that money or getting reimbursed for what we've already spent but sure so there was a little bit of hurry-up-and-wait with with these money in that we need to share it with the local private schools and so there was we were waiting some further guidance and that came out last week so we're waiting for what that calculation is that we need to share with the private schools having said that we were going to put in for reimbursement for the as many iPads in kindergarten and as many of the first-grade Chromebooks as we could so that's what that funding was earmarked for got it yeah take up so much it's enough to hear me and you know mono it on stereo so if I want to wish that anybody just one last thing if some reason Jeff instead Marlene we think that we need to look at some of our policies to help and force some of the things that we have to do for your opening you know we can always get the positive committee had a head of the school not sure what that is yet but we're still open today that being said I'm sorry before I get the Adam and Tim again Katherine did you have anything I'm not try playing a spot and I see your hand raised oh thanks no I mean I I am on the reopening committee song I don't maybe have as many questions as some of the other people do and faith is also on that committee and I think what I want to say is not so much a question but you know the vast you know the the kinds of experience and expertise that is represented on that committee I think people should take a lot of comfort from that you know jeff has really brought together you know people from all sorts of areas you know including more esposito and then nurse supervisor you know consulting with the pediatrician consulting with the fire chief it's been a very collaborative really creative committee and I just want to make sure you know people understand that the overriding critical factor that we've all been focused on is like how are we gonna do this in a way that's safe and makes people comfortable did either have to work in the building or send their children to the building so I just you know I want to just emphasize that that that's top of mind for all of us and you know so far I think the plan is coming together but there's no question that as things evolve which they seem to be doing every single day we're just gonna have to be as nimble as we can and yes I completely agree with you Tony of that it's probably a good idea start you know talking to the town council and yeah I guess that's it so thank you thanks for the opportunity well and I just want to yeah I agree with you had a reopening team we I I just don't I don't talk about that enough of folks because I'm not sure if the folks on the team really want their names out there you know I'm sure they don't mind that's why I'm hoping that we get the videos up people can watch and they do reach out as needed but so folks watching do know that both faiths Hamm and Kathryn are on that real big team represent the Board of Ed we try to spread the love here so we're all up working on different committees and I'm you had your hand up earlier then and for now so and you want to chime in yes firstly I just wanted to give clarification on faiths I guess comment before about privacy this issue had come up throughout the distance learning in the spring time and I had had a conversation with Jeff about it it's a combination of state law because teachers are mandatory reporters so if they do happen to see something in the background of a student's camera like if they're doing a live a live transmission like we are here that that potentially could be an where a teacher would be compelled to report if they saw something out of the ordinary and there's I believe there's also a a consent form that parents sign at some point during the year I'm not sure if it's in the handbook or or Jeff here you have a confused look now yeah we do all parents indicating that the letter is still on our website actually indicates you know you're basically this is how we're going to be able to provide instruction with an option to opt-out nobody took advantage of that we had some questions but I think when people realize you know what you see at home is like what we see of everybody else right now it's a very tight camera shot limited information and if this is a most effective way for my child to engage in learning right now we're gonna do it but the letter is on our websites though right so I would encourage those who have concerns to review the letter and secondly regarding the the new technology package that you were talking about what what was your plan for distribution is it like all at the high school is that are you planning for X amount in each school or what was the plan for that that's our picture asking the question it came up from a couple of folks on our kovat email address - so the distribution plan was to have one at every grade level K through six in each building plus one on each team at the middle school so one in the seventh grade one of the eighth grade teams plus a couple of world language classes at the middle school and then at the high school level three from each core content area math science social studies English and three in world language plus two more at the high school so that and we would be working with principals and staff members to identify people appropriate teachers that could facilitate that so it's spit so that this seems that to me that feels like it's workable at least from middle school down ish but with all of the I guess electives and stuff at the high school I guess that would be very complicated yeah I think that's where we're looking at you know you're you know Tony's point and building on what you were staying and in our attendance issue and hybrid where we probably like to pursue more installations of this but I also I'm being kind of judicious in the way that we roll it out and I'd like to you know get one in the building first have more teachers and as much as it's had Universal endorsement to date I'd like to have more people look at it before we pull the trigger on another two hundred thousand dollars or something like that right and has the option been looked at to just you know simple web cameras to do you know like what they I think was there was a screencastify or the live the live synchronous that they that was starting to be done near the end of the year yeah live lectures and stuff has there been you know have you looked into that because that certainly wouldn't cost thirty two hundred if the teacher has you know a fifty dollar webcam and a decent mic and everyone else has their laptops or whatever right yeah and again you know we looked at this from two perspectives one we want to replicate the in-class experience at home to the greatest extent possible and we didn't want to throw good money after bad kind of thing and just buy cheap speakers that we would hook onto a onto a and then at the end the co vid we've got a whole lot of cheap speakers that we don't have anything to do with so yes we could do it you know through the Google meet and try and do live but I think it's gonna be really hard for kids at home to be able to follow that with audio without high quality audio so we don't want to create a source of frustration but we are you know looking to see how we can best bridge it with outside of those 56 rooms right but I'm just saying from like let's say if we had the scale quickly like you know you we shut down in a matter of four days he had the changer if we didn't have the opportunity to purchase another 56 cameras it's called that or whatever can we still have the ability to at least do this basic yeah rudimentary yeah you're absolutely correct and it's a great point to the challenges though because we you know my company who last year we made a Senate investment there zoom rooms we essentially turned all our conference rooms on all our buildings into almost what this technology does it's pretty it's night and day difference between you know what cam and a laptop versus something that you know kind of follows you around and the clarity and all that but it's also the software that helps make setting up the sessions easier managing and easier for a teacher so it's I'm sure worst case scenario we can still roll out some of the bare-bones web stuff but I think when we get a chance to see this I think the board understand why it's a more quality solution but it's good to have both options in our back pocket so if I could just comment one last time so it almost sounds like if we were to have to shut down or go to a hybrid model that it almost sounds like the preference would be to have the kids not in school but have the teachers be in school to use the technology to recreate the in classroom experience or is that sort of the intention with this technology you could in if I think it would depend on the road factors I guess at the point you know if how many people can we have in a building etc and you know what's the the teachers situation are they quarantined not quarantine or whatever but we would think that at the least teach we would hope could have access to it if they choose and if if the circumstances present but they could at that point probably do something very similar from home I think what it makes it easier to do is if I'm a teacher who wants and a lot of our teachers are animated and do things in the room and so you'd be able to hear them crystal clear you'd be able to in the room and I'll tell you frankly for me one of the challenges I had for the last three months of the spring is I never left work you know I was constantly at home working and you know it's it's healthy to go to a place and work there and at least feel like there's a little bit of separation now obviously I'm at home working tonight but you know I think it's healthy for our staff to have that option - could I just add something to that I was very impressed when you send us the information on that that equipment and the retrofitting Jeff because I can see how it's it's very forward-thinking to start using this technology because I can think of hundreds of reasons why some students might in the future they have in the past been confined to home for illnesses or other other reasons and and this way in the future even post kovat if there is going to be such a thing which doesn't seem like it right now but there probably will be a post go fit but we always have students who who are homebound and this provides a really good solution for them still being able to participate in school which i think is fantastic just for that reason alone sure absolutely Tim had his hand up 15 mins ago thank you Tony yeah Jeff I'm not sure if you touched on this at all I could have missed it extracurriculars so everything from high school sports Dodd sports down through you know Cub Scouts and brownies after school in the Elementary's you know after the day is over at the elementary schools do you have any thoughts on that at all at this point or is it it's just not not in radar at all at this point we would say that we're not gonna allow other community groups to use the school as of today now that may change we don't want to hinder our ability to engage in disinfection after the school day which is really the the guiding factor in that decision but again that may change as we get closer because I you know I appreciate that our schools are the community facilities and that many organizations rely upon our buildings for meetings like you're talking about in gatherings that are important to the emotional well-being of our kids in the community so we hope to be able to evolve to a place where we can permit that but as of today I would say we're not going to do that and what about what about like CI AC or AB and anything like that there any thoughts on a dance point yeah so that right there is a question that came in on the co-ed line to like what are we doing for band and sports so the CIA see at this point we are in a phase of athletics where kids can engage in conditioning in groups of about ten so they can participate in and weightlifting to become physically better prepared for the fall sports season they have a goal CIA C Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference of opening athletics you know to students in the fall and we hope you know for our kids sake and our community safe that they can do so health you know safety safely the band we are planning to start mid-august with additional health precautions in place similar to what you see in the athletic domain so we want to be able to offer the full experience to our kids of extracurricular options we may have to do some of that virtually but again you know when it comes to cohorting when people say well we really need to cohort cohort high school students and then they go play sports you know or in the mix with the band it's it's really hard to do that so you know we hope that kids can have access to those things that mean so much for so many of them ok thank you sure any other questions or comments on board on this I mean your or the communications from the public job yeah I'd love to just buzz through a bunch of questions that came in so Dee I dressed this at the beginning but why a virtual meeting but we're talking about sending kids back to school again it's this is July 14th we're under executive orders no more than 25 in a meeting and you know hopefully by August things are in better condition security versus ability to go a door so when we activate our to our administrators we talked about you know propping doors open to the exterior of the building we will do that when it's supervised so you know for example I use the example of often I'll walk into Cheshire Hyatt 7:20 in the morning and our assistant principal Dan tart or le will dutifully be standing out in front of the building in that case we want doors open propped open because we don't want people constantly touching door handles when the school day starts we'll close those doors now students being outside we have students outside all the time now for recess and PE and things like that we will have more students outside in a Kovan environment because we want to try and get more fresh air mask breaks instruction outside whenever we can it's not uncommon for elementary classes to go outside and read and do stuff like that now it will be more commonplace in koban we're making a decision like what presents the greater risk today somebody entering the building or Co vid and we're gonna have to you know weigh those options out and more than likely it'll be we'll take kids outside supervised but we won't leave doors propped open unsupervised the question about the brand of hand sanitizer because recalls then can you touch upon the hand sanitizer ordering I know there were questions about ingredients a couple of weeks back and I know we're sensitive to that wave right now this is one of the products that that we have these are the individual bottles I don't have the brand of the hand sanitizer that's going to be used in the dispensing station available but you know we'll certainly keep checking any kind of recall less hmm you know yeah that's really all I can offer at this point in time with lyrtle well well I've got you here then can parents donate supplies like cleaning supplies was a question that came up I don't know the answer to that I mean when you say donate cleaning supplies are we talking about you know items that they're going to purchase to donate to the school or provide funding to make the purchase you know we're trying to be pretty meticulous about what what type of sanitizing and disinfecting agents that that we purchase but what I would suggest if a parent has a particular donation they want to make to contact me you know by email via Massie Anna a Cheshire dot k12 C T us and I'll take it up individually Thank You desk cleaning cleaning I guess there's a couple of points on that I would make you know one is that you know as part of the nightly cleaning we anticipate you know cleaning and disinfecting desk during the day you know we are supplying the disinfecting wipes to all the classrooms you know so you know students and staff we're going to basically be doing that wipe down if they need to do so and again that underscores the importance of you know not only wiping down but you know hand sanitizing washing hands those are all the things that we'll keep reinforcing you know throughout this the school year you know for our students and our staff it's just part of what everyone needs to do effectively you know I think what we'll be judicious about cleaning but I think everyone that is in our buildings needs to do their own part to help out by using the product that we will make available okay there was another question related to donations about soliciting financial donations to pay for either supplies or technology if somebody wanted to make a donation then that would be contact you as well yes okay thank you remote attendants there was a question about remote attendants yes teachers would be taking remote attendants for synchronous learning again you know we're sensitive to absenteeism it kind of like last spring we were really focused on trying to make sure there was student engagement even though we weren't able to count like how many heads were coming to the class like we typically do but we really want to make sure their student overall and that there's the students are getting access to learning as much as possible travelling between I school classes as a question to be honest with you we don't have a perfect example answer for that right now we'd be looking at staggering schedules otherwise it would be one directional hallways kind of like the stop and shop aisles or whatever you have to walk in a certain direction to get to class so that at least everybody's traveling in the same direction and but we are still working on that if we go to a hybrid option and kids are split am/pm kind of thing on different days the question is can we try and get siblings on the same day and I would say absolutely we would try and do that why don't we have a no mask option the state and health guidance has been clear that we have to require masks and I know Marlene loves to point out her favorite line from the 50 page document indicates that you have to wear a mask unless you're unconscious or unable in some other way so they literally road unless you're unconscious I think it's pretty clear a question from a teacher is what board members engage in a day in the life experience if we go to a when we start school I'm not gonna speak for them but I'm just throwing that out there to you certainly we welcome your participation in our schools anytime this is a good question this is a such a heartwarming question for me from a fellow educator about what are we doing to support instructional consistency between teachers in in buildings Marlene can you kind of touch upon some of the work we've been doing there absolutely so instructional consistency is always something that we strive for it's one of the biggest challenges not just in our district but in others and I think when you go to a remote environment or in a time such as this all of those those holes really rise to the surface and so I feel like it's almost a silver lining in this in this area because now we can clearly see where those gaps may be and I think we've seen the best work come out of those teams that are collaborating so out of my office and out of our professional development we will be that will be a clear focus this year on consistency both across building thank you if someone in my child's class is sick and they have to my child has to be cohorted well cheshire provide day care and you know my my guess would be no but you know I guess we can look at that who who will teach the kids if a teacher can't come in for a particular reason and I think you know in order for us to provide the highest level of instruction possible if the teacher is home and able we would prefer that over a substitute in most cases so we would prefer that the teacher engage remotely then to have there's somebody thrown in the room and hope that they're good enough and I don't mean that in any sort of disrespect but if it's a more extended period than we want the people we originally hired for that job to be teaching our kids because our teachers are second to none if there's quarantining by cohort I know I dress this kind of a little while ago you know we'll who would have to be quarantined if a student in the class gets sick does that mean everybody in the class plus everybody on the bus plus everybody on the you know the hockey team or whatever know the each case as of today will be individually I waited for who they came in closest contact with and whose it greatest risk and that could be unique to each individual for some kids it's just the 20 kids that were in their elementary class for others it's those 20 kids plus the six kids in their neighborhood that they play with every day so you know it really changes by individual and we're working with that with the local health directors on Monday um a really another question I really appreciate about who's taking care of the cleaning staff our maintenance team has really evolved and is fantastic and I'm meeting with their leadership next week to talk about hey guys what are your concerns what are your questions how do we make sure we support you like the same way I'm meeting with ice secretaries teachers administrators to get feedback on that so I had another question about n95 masks why can't we use those I guess and 95 masks the white ones would be permitted some come with the exterior vent the problem the exterior vent is some of those are not filtered others are and so we can't be evaluating that all the time in order to ensure that all the masks provide the greatest prevention we would only go with the non-filtered kind I know that you know perhaps it may be more comfortable but unless until we can get to a place where we would purchase filtered and 95s for everybody we don't want to take that risk at this point in talking to our health professionals so those are the ones that I you know I think we can get through now I mean I am still getting other ones I promise to reply to you guys that have sent more recent emails but that's kind of where we are at the moment thanks Jeff and you have a comment a while ago or is that an old I did I don't know if it's relevant or not or perhaps maybe a demonstration would would set my mind at ease but they for the for the technology you're speaking of could we get a demonstration and does it have reverse capability so I and I'm as I'm thinking about it maybe that doesn't make any sense but you were saying that in order to keep the teacher teaching hopefully if they're well enough is there a way where the children or the students are sitting in the classroom and the teacher can teach using that technology you know what their face of pairing on a screen like The Wizard of Oz or something yeah you know I would expect for those of us that are old that's the thing yeah Andrew may not know Max Headroom but you know anyway yeah that is a thing they'll let him pull you he thought that yeah god bless so yeah no teachers can do that from home and your face would be on the screen and they probably would do it until they realize that your face is as big as a TV screen that would intimidate all of us I'm sure but you know it is possible thank you thanks thanks everyone we don't have new business without old business I didn't quit very quick chair update I had kind of a the board earlier today and asked me you Jeff tomorrow I'm gonna ask Carol I guess this week to kind of pull the board members see if where we want to try going back to some format in person board meetings not because we're being accused of being Chicken Little and not in your old dog food and hold our own meetings in person and our school buildings but you know we've held off for a number of reasons Koby concerns number one but I know Town Council's trying it if they haven't already I would somehow try to pull the board to see if we're able to do this I think we can and if we're able to resume in-person board meetings I would suggest we try in such a way that perhaps we hold one at a different school I'm thinking about cafeteria for escalatory I'm back even maybe even you know dive dive library and we can space ourselves apart enough possibly even have a mixed hybrid approach where some of us are in person so might be home I'm Google meat I know we're limited to 25 person max I think with 1314 if we include Mike that might you know leave ten or eleven folks or opposed to attend waiting for the public they could still watch the other YouTube live and submit questions anyway so I'll ask Carol to pull us this week's ce-web-rity thoughts are definitely try it and I think as we get closer to reopening and as these protocols are trying to place and if classrooms are cleared out to make space may be a great way to show parents if we're in these facilities what they might look like and what this distance thing might look like if we're doing it so just consider that someone asked earlier for one to be a day in life as a student there in this absolutely I would also invite or let the representatives state to permit occasion as well as mr.
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Rodriguez Pena uh you are on mute that's what I was wondering sorry okay so um my questions are regarding zero period or seventh period where the students have yes after school program of the mariachi's in the orchestra it's not going to continue as a distant learning or um where does that come in also students the social emotional well-being of the student you know we spoke about this before but you know seeing a counselor or reaching out you know but what time do they do do this in this in this in this block schedule or that's it thank you great question and so yes for for our all of our music programs mariachi Orchestra again that all this is all distance learning environment for this schedule and then as it relates to being able to have that time to see their counselors right that is also it would be the same situation as we are in the brick-and-mortar where students would be able to go and have that time for their you know for their counselors so again we'd have to work for the sites in terms of how does that work right how do we make sure that there's communication with the with the teachers and the students and you know the counseling staff and what's the system gonna be and that's a that's a great it's a great question and it's one of those nuances that we need to work with the sites to really develop a system to make sure that students are able to to get those supports in and see their counselors absolutely so there is a in this program there is a zero period in the seventh period imaginary in this yes and one of the things we did was just let's create this kind of base plan because we know we've got some nuances and then after speaking with some teachers who actually do teach the you know zero in seventh period what would be the best way to do that and how would we fit that in and so so we will layer that in there to be able to address that as well thank you should we would you like me to continue on with the the plan and take a look at some of the other components now in terms of professional learning communities and assessment and lesson design and we'd like to talk about that yes please okay all right very good great you want me to go back to the yeah great thank you can you see that Oh No yeah yes okay yep and if you could scroll down to the second piece which is the assessment and professional learning communities there we go perfect okay so so I just I want to highlight some of these some of the pieces that are also part of this instructional plan and again as you saw with these schedules it's very important that teachers have that time to meet in their professional learning community this carbajal camacho lara cerca de pena nieto tiempo para los maestros oh they're on Thursday and Sue's comunidades de aprendizaje paraprofessional y tambien acerca del evaluation and in the same as we and in a brick-and-mortar environment it's really focusing in on the data from formative assessment right to guide that planning and answering those four questions of the PLC what is it that we expect students to learn and be able to do how do we note that they've learned it what do they do when they haven't and then how do we extend and enrich learning opportunities for students who have already demonstrated mastery what is particularly important now with this this piece is addressing learning loss and so having that time for the professional learning community and being able to measure student learning to in formal instructional planning and addressing learning loss is is a pivotal piece so when esta parte del plan say in polka and atilla's our evaluation is formative owes yeah you don't know los maestros in for marcia cerca de que tipo de instruction intervention necesitan los alumnos eat ambien SOC coordinate con el tiempo the the collaboration and train maestro's para que ellos pueden contestar las preguntas / InFocus we inform se on que es lo que los alumnos necesitan aprender que tienen que hacer para aprender lo e que vamos a ser cuando ellos no aprender remember cruise controllers mm-hmm thank you I you know I have questions about this piece and I just in the context of like I see this as being a place where maybe we can be more innovative in terms of like that quote-unquote reimagining education and as we think about how do we in de Ville individualized learning and so you know maybe looking at accelerating learning on an individual basis I'm just wondering have you thought about in terms of different either programs out there other pieces that we can use to help kids loot learn at their own pace when when it's the when it's the asynchronous or the you know by the you know by themselves or with their parents not with the teacher in front of them so that so that we can it so that we've been try to address some of these some of these learning loss mm-hmm yeah that is a that's a great point and so there there's quite a bit of research around that you know the idea of how we accelerate learning and how we address that learning loss and so with the accelerating learning piece and and part of that is really talking about how do we make sure that all students again or getting their grade level standards and at the same time getting that formative assessment at the right time right when they need that so in terms of thinking about innovative practices and being able to personalize an instruction some work that we need to do in terms of what do we have what kinds of models family offer and how might we plan our instruction around that so that's that's definitely some work that that needs to be done and then the other question that I have around this is that is really about sort of how you're planning on developing the formative assessments and how standardized they will be across across the district and I mean I know I mean and really are they really truly going to be formative assessments are they going to be like you know for often people default to test prep saying oh this is a formative assessment when it really isn't really assessing where students are in terms of the day to day learning so I just curious in terms of how do we envision ourselves creating or finding a formative assessment and then using them it's a great question in the absence of you know is some of the big data sets right like a spec and whatnot and some of the other pieces like the MD TP we've used for mathematics we don't have that so when you're thinking about that formative assessment piece what is it that we will be using one of the things that that we want to use that standardized for example is reading inventory right so those reading assessment so that will be very tremendous for us to use at our grade levels to really understand where kids are with our reading and innovative practice and and I am actually very thankful that this was months ago I'll give you an example our elementary math leadership team that is headed up by julie miguel our elementary math Tosa they began thinking about this looking at the literature in terms of what it means to accelerate learning what it means to be able to give that just right formative assessment that aligns with that grade level standard right at the time that they're teaching that and understanding what the previous grade-level standards are as well so again we're not going back and re teaching you know some of these things that we've missed but really being very intentional about what are the most important content standards that those students need to know and if with a focus on on literacy and numeracy is another piece of the literature tells us as well so what they did and again this was weeks ago and looking at some of the documents from achieve the core org and TNTP around the is they created a mind the gap plan and and so they what they did is they took their elementary mathematics curriculum map and then what they did was they focused in on what are some of those key essential standards for mathematics for elementary that students really need to know be able to do and then they inserted these different options for formative assessment so that's the best practice but to answer your question in terms of kind of you know standardizing we still have we have our district assessments we need to bring teachers in at the beginning of the year quickly to really take a look at that and determine you know in terms of how effective that you know that will be as well so we will still have our you know district common formative assessments to be able to you know benchmark if you will but also create a foreign of assessment plan and that would be done at the site level to really think about how we will do that to to address that it's a great question okay okay moving on to the next sub area is just lesson design instructional planning what we do know in terms of when we're planning our instruction this is a very different environment right and so we this is this is where the innovative instructional thinking comes into play this is where we think about what are some of the blended learning instructional design opportunities do we have you may know that we have been we have about a hundred teachers who signed up this summer to be part of a optional virtual book club and we are digging into a text right now all around blended learning and so that's been a great conversation every week to talk about that and so how do we make sure that we're looking at different kinds of models like board member Cruz Gonzales was talking to know what's out there how might we do this and so there are all kinds of different instructional models and again part of the professional learning that we will offer to teachers will be around the different kinds of structures for this we did some test kitchens you know last year before we went into closure around station rotation flipped learning we have lots of examples of teachers who have been trying that out and have found some very very successful you know results as a result of that we're still focused on our three student success drivers as we develop and implement our students plan for success and again around cognitive rigor academic discourse and collaborative practices and of course that focus on our emergent bilinguals student success and we've included a link in there that is has different kinds of models that that people might want to take a look at that as well okay you know and just go back dr.
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is that a good time for everyone Doug you did for August 20th yeah Jeannie you did for August 20th at this point I don't think we need one I'm anybody need training for board dogs no we're good yeah we could skip a so just to us so we can do a five o'clock meeting then no workshop all right sounds good we'll set that time now all we need is a motion to adjourn meeting five o'clock meeting is that good for you or do you need to have at 6:00 5:30 5:30 I'm good for 5:30 yeah yeah we can do 5:30 Doug you good for 5:30 hell yeah okay 5:30 right okay then Corey Burgess I move we adjourn make it brandy all in favor Corey Burgess I be Borland I we are adjourned thank you very much you
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Lamont to join in with us and kind of see what the experience got look like so we all know what's going on but in all seriousness we have a couple things happening upon being aware of we actually are doing contract negotiations with two or major but the bargaining units the administrators union and I believe the teachers union should be starting soon so that will be happening the rest of this summer ending into the new year we don't have our up cut means between now and and the vlog is scheduled yet so on that Jeff you know like Rob about now but I guess next steps on this I imagine we want to have more feedback refine this plan a little bit more honestly as you get more information from the state and health officials what do you think we can have another meaningful meaning and the reopening and would you like to see some more feedback maybe a survey before we have a next meeting to discuss the plans further do we have a ETA I'm thinking probably you know in a couple of weeks again you know things are continuing to evolve continued conversations with folks at the state level continue to work with our our health folks so I you know I went then I don't want to meet particularly over the summer to just give you more of the same but I want there to be substantial changes and and I think two weeks would probably give us more time to be able to do that I also know that the governor is planning on making some sort of related announcement on August first so it may be helpful to shoot for a couple days after that to is a is a deadline for us yeah I agree as much listen I we all appreciate the time you Marlene and Tina take taking tonight to answer questions and I was a lot more but I stand on always our time your time or the public's time you know rehashing the same things if things are not evolving yet so just being concept but the point is we need to put up our 2020 2021 Board meeting schedule on our website so the first official meeting and started school which i think is in the August or September between now and then we will have more meetings we don't have h as just mentioned but as soon as we have an idea we'll post that so folks are you know informed beyond that I don't have any other updates so that being said there's nothing else on our agenda unless there's any closing statements from Jeff and team I just want to not try to recap what happened tonight but on behalf of the board CPS you know we thank everyone out there those of you watching those who haven't been watching but have been engaged with us at some way shape or form thank you for your patience we all share your concerns we all share your frustrations and we mean that we also have kids in school systems so we shared during the same concerns you do it is an evolving process and it's just merlini this evening the options are sitting is was pretty much me and my state right now that will evolve more information will be made available this is not set in stone the reopen team is still working Stovall feedback is still welcome so I would say please have patience hang in there and it was mentioned earlier this meeting as parents we have choices to make and you know we have choices to make up until they're open in school whether we decide to keep our kids home or let them go to school and hybrid model so we're not locking and anything yet we hope hopefully by the middle of August we can make up decisions with you know with concrete data but the point is you have flexibility but as you have questions as you hear ideas please send them our way will will essentially get back to you on that so thank you again this is not over by far and we'll keep working at it we'll get to the endgame so that being said I'm going to call for a motion to adjourn the meeting move second Katherine over urine Adam seconds all in favor it is unanimous again thank you everyone thank you team Jeff Marlene thank you go thanks Joe I asked you how many viewers we had tonight roughly
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Mitchell thank you en esta parte Olimpica is a circa the the el deseo de las elecciones y tambien preparation the instruction en esta parte is investigaciones the police it was the Mo's ellos son massive activist para poder de nuestros alumnos and last Meniere's en que ellos están estudiando the manera de distancia tambien but they're in focus and el desarrollo professional de los maestros ambien otis investor investigaciones a cerca de el aprendizaje calm bernardo como una studios algunos maestro's participant o and include elector apirana hora Swinton Demyan como who police are el aprendizaje condenado tambien otra vez info Cantona's n en el desarrollo de Inglis para apoyar mejor a nuestros algunos Gaston aprendiendo English como segunda Deema I just like to say that I see that there are two people who were attendees who have their hands up to ask questions and I we do see that I want you to know that we're acknowledging you but unfortunately in a meeting basically we don't take questions from the audience but if you feel free you email us or call us with your questions and we'll make sure they get answered okay being pretty even or even in put them in the chat box maybe Jerry oh yeah that would be fantastic too yes great idea and so we and just kind of continue on here we did talk about with the with the plan we talked about our integrated and designated LD we alluded I think at our last board meeting and talking about professional learning plan again to focus on the student success drivers but really now thinking about what are those other pieces as as we layer these in with student success drivers so instructional technology culturally relevant and responsive pedagogy emergent bilingual integrated designated LD social-emotional learning blended learning strategy student engagement and of course PLC is informative assessment all of these pieces are centrifugal to to the success of of this instruction so how do we make sure that we're providing that those professional learning pieces this year we also noticed in our instructional plan again we've got our our time for our special education students the attendance I touched on that just briefly but again SP 98 and then the learning continuity attendance plan does say that we we are responsible for making sure that we are taking attendance and that we are monitoring the engagement of students and again in terms of progress reporting to families grades and progress reports and using Ares you know the same way that we would in terms of that environment in a brick-and-mortar environment and then the last piece would be again PE in athletics and now with in a distance learning environment coming up with you know these there's there are different different instructional modules and things and so some resources from the state that I have seen and so working with our our PE teachers how we will be creating some of those distance learning opportunities as well and then the very last piece was you know activities right we want to make sure that our students are that they that they feel that they are attending their school and that they're connected to their school and so what are the ways in which the you know we can help support the sites and how will they you know have like virtual class meetings and celebrations and those kinds of things to make sure that it's still they're still participating in school just come on would you like me to go back up okay can I ask a question please this is Yolanda so so just what you mentioned about the students I'd like to know you know how will we build this morale for the high school students especially you know they're used to having cheerleading and you know they're they're blue and red or what what yellow whatever their colors and their shirts and how are we going to continue that or you know help them build their morale and spirit school spirit that's it that's not one thing their school spirit may be virtual pep rallies I think answer that question I think yeah absolutely we have to you know work with the sites to figure out how are we what are the what are the options what we're gonna do and I and I really think one of the best ways to find that out is to ask students right whether what do they think right in terms of maintaining this and morale in school spirit right what or what did they think about that and that's really really important that's where that's where the listening circles come in right to to find out you know again and it's surveys and what kinds of things would they like to see I think that's an important piece and then are you know engaging of course the principals and and sharing ideas and talking with especially at the secondary leadership teams or you know the students were involved in that so getting everybody's perspective but yeah a thousand percent that's so important yeah and just one more question I'm trying you know I I did ask about the music in high school the music classes so in the middle school also will they have a zero period when they have their yeah same pretty one same on okay right con el enfoque a um an el desarrollo professional de los maestros pass Aguirre el distrito containers and los conductores de éxito s to the until también el plan habla assert the Thomas Vanek continue at los servicios el plan de educación para los alumnos education especial a en como save a cantar la asistencia en la escuela y en como save our reporter el progreso de los alumnos a los padres y tambien como se mira education física en modo de aprendizaje de distancia a tambien vas actividades about that so there are four distinct for additional distinct areas to this plan we have Health and Safety we have social emotional well-being we have family community engagement and we have operations if it if it if it is okay I'm gonna recommend only because it's 8:02 I'm gonna recommend that we allow mr.
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creel and miss Camacho an opportunity to talk about the social emotional and to talk about the founding community engagement and then we could touch for sure on the health and safety and the operations those become ever more important as we're working on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health guidelines and how we're gonna how we're going to in a safe manner bring students back to school in a distance learning there are things again that we can that we can begin to do but but I'm suggesting that we jump over to to this area right here which is the social emotional support for students in a distance learning environment if that if that is okay everybody okay with that okay so social emotional support I'd like to turn over to mr.
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krill good evening everyone superintendent did you go up to the best practices again please thank you I had a team that was comprised myself and a Sanford Elmo principal at for the middle school and Frank Chang the director of college and career and also two students and so we came up with these best practices our guiding principle was that we would ensure that all students and staff are emotionally healthy and safe at school and home at home and the community and the best practices that we came up with that as a group and a lot of this came from the students was to maintain a positive school climate and that goes back to something I was discussed a little bit earlier promote and D stigmatized support for mental health issues build on existing services and better publicize their availability to students parents community and staff provide ongoing training for students and parents and staff on mental health issues and how to access support and how it was excuse me into established maintain proactive positive behavior interventions and supports including peer mediation restorative justice practices and conflict resolution and that goes right back to the positive school climate and her do you want me to pause for yes principalis ILA's practicas mejores is is Montaner Colima positive on the squalor from over e destigmatize r la necesidad de apoyo for assistance iya the solute mental eat ambient from oubli sad meh or low suppose ki para los padres estudiantes la comunidad e tambien a tener entrenamiento de manera regular para estudiantes e padres a personal and a cerca de salud mental ecomo pro interests so suppose y tambien mantener comportamiento positiva tenor interventionist a opposed para nuestra nuestros alumnos en como resolver and the good news is that we have a lot of this in place already that Azusa unified in addition to our counselors and school psychologists and firms clinicians the the therapists that we have our teachers our principals we also have partnerships with quite a few organizations and among those organizations would be the apu where we have interns that we have that our BSW bachelors in social works and also doctoral students who work with our students we have cougar pals we partner with five acres Foothill family Pacific clinics where we do outside counseling referrals to them we have the wellness centers at our high schools another really extraordinary partnership we have is with McKinley Children's Center where they have clinicians on who's with with a school is basically that constitutes their caseload and for our larger schools a clinician is assigned to that school for an elementary school we might have a clinician who sees a couple of schools and these are at no cost to the family as kirbo much we know noticias que tenemos mucho Sesto servicios yeah I've system and was just asked Willa's tenemos tenemos la universidad de souza Pacific en tenemos la clínica the Pacific clinics a champion tenemos un gran socio and McKinley Children's Services and what we're looking what doing theory we have a question boardmember Ariana's hi yes Gary you mentioned the Wellness Center at the high schools during this distance learning how are they going to be available for our students during this this distance learning time in the fall most of the providers are using telehealth that they're finding that they're able to to do or provide services that way while still maintaining their obligation per HIPAA applications and this would be good but how do parents or for example these are you know how do i I'm sorry not parents how do the students have access to to the wealth centers they're you know something on the website where students can email somebody to let them know I'm you know what is the process what is the protocol well the process right now is kind of top-down where students are referred to the various counseling agencies but what we're looking at doing and when you get to the the top bullet on the school-based mental health services that's going to be one of the items that we discuss how students are able to better self refer to those organizations we also have this actually I'll get to that but that would be one of the issues that we would be discussing with that group of individuals that I will be getting to in a moment not individuals but organizations thank you okay board member pan yeah yes Gary thank you this is a great you did good you know I really like that you included staff and parents and students because I think maybe you could include board members I think we all need help here but just saying you know how would we reach out to staff because seems like their schedules gonna be a very busy schedule you know if they need assistance you know to talk to someone and parents also how does that work for staff this was kind of an HR issue but there's the moms program but there's also something called Carrizales that we have which is a self referral platform for students families staff members whomever and this is on the website and it's it's absolutely confidential nothing you know comes back to the district if if a staff member chose to refer themselves but what it takes into consideration is the the person who is referring or it could even be you know a counselor or somebody else can help someone through it takes you know whatever the issues that that person is going through it matches with their insurance or a lack of insurance and then just a radius of how far that person is willing to travel and it matches them up with providers and that happens like in a matter of you know seconds that's great thank you thank you Gary so and getting to a board member ariana.sea point that we have a lot of this in place but what I found out from the students in the group is they really weren't as aware of it as we would like them to be so that gets to the the number or the first bullet that you see and I'm gonna kind of just do a big picture I'm not going to go through each subcategory because they're they're interrelated and I'm sorry I missed Camacho go would you like to try to take that I'm sorry I was having some tech issues and you were cutting in and out on that section well then I guess it would make it very difficult to translate so I will just move on so what I'm going to be doing and I've already sent out the email and this is you know starting to happen right now is I'm assembling a team of mental health professionals and that would be from as I said McKinley Children's Center Western Justice Center APU and McKinley Children's Center in the beginning just to talk about what they're doing right now and then the idea is to build that up and take it back out to students and staff and to really hone in on what we have how we can offer it and and really improve upon you know what we're offering and so it's like we're getting into the re-imagination of how we're providing services to students regardless of how this Mir plays out this is going to open up more forums for clinicians to meet with their students whether it's in person or virtually and I think that's going to give them even more access students now are probably undergoing different sorts of trauma that they might during the school year and you know not seeing friends and isolation whatnot so this is even more important but I think you know just starting with what we have really looking at it making sure everybody's on the same page and then moving forward and the future is going to really allow us to help even more students salud mental as he still and coordinate servicios disponible is para nuestros alumnos es equipo Ventress personal para organizer este tipo assistant iya para nuestros alumnos e los tera pistas tal vez sarin viendo suspenders for modalert wall or talvez and persona another element of what we're going to be doing is doing more outreach to students staff and parents part of that will be through sport to which the the board approved a an MoU with them last year sport to is suicide prevention and ongoing resiliency training and through these modules will be able to train staff for what to look like or look for rather in a student who may be down not necessarily to intervene but just some of the signs that they they should be looking for each school site has a crisis response team who will be trained annually and those are the ones who actually intervene when students are in need and they have a risk assessment tool that they use and that helps them to determine the next steps that they take sport to also provides training for parents so they will be able to know what to look for in their children and when they might need some help and then how to access that help so the ongoing training of students teachers staff administrators and parents is also going to help us get to a place where we have you know our better meeting the social emotional needs of our students a question for Gary yes the social-emotional curriculum that the program that that we approved is the another one that we have is the to good for drugs you know we spent many dollars on this and I would like to know how we are implementing this in our district with distance learning that I really can't respond to I can't but I believe dr. Mitchell it's more of a curricular yeah so this would be that's a great question and so as we think about our instructional program right so there's there's different pieces it's just you know it's our core program - good for drugs right we have that curriculum and that's implemented you know it's been implemented in our you know brick and mortar and so in terms of continuing on with that piece we have made the masters for example so we do have various programs so we will be working with the sites to you know to have that be a part of of those instructional blocks right so again that's a perfect opportunity for you know for teachers to design may be different you know station rotation or models but yeah continuing to use that curriculum yeah right so so so my question I'm I'm glad that we have it but my question is is how are the teachers going to be using this program if we spent you know a lot of money on this and it's something that it we know it's going to be needed in the fall you know is this something that a teacher can use for one other block Pro you know a lot of times can't can we make this you know maybe that's the time that they learn about a student that may perhaps may not catch when they're you know in the regular instruction time and perhaps this time through this program as they're teaching this that's when they learn that a student may be in need of mental health services or any other type of resources you know for their family at that time so um do we have any plans and bring in this out at least a week we are continue to use this program we we have been using that and we want to continue to do that and you know what you're absolutely right because especially in the younger years right this is the part where we're learning how about self-esteem it's about friendship it's about inclusivity right all of those pieces so yes absolutely that's what that is part of our curriculum are going to continue to use that and the same on getting example the same with our but we have for seventh grade in biology for example we have a sexual health curriculum as well and so all of these pieces are part of the curriculum that we will continue to use I think I think I just want to really just focus on this one that I I'm talking about because of effect again because how you know we're talking about during this time right now this is going to be most needed we're walking in unprecedent waters that we have not been in before and we if we're going to expect our children our parents to collaborate with us and to be in full force we also have to be in consideration that they're meeting another base that they have their basic needs and during this time perhaps like I said maybe the time where a child or a parent you know the teacher can see or can you know get a glimpse of what is going on you know with a child so I personally have not have I've asked my kids if they and they actually have not received this program so I I would just like to throw it out there to our school board members what do you guys think I think it's something that should be included in our curriculum this fall um like I said because it's something that you know we're we're gonna go in this together and it's it's it's something new and we have to also take care of our mental health needs of our students I just want to clarify Ella are you are you saying that you want us to do this specific program that you referenced or that you want to integrate social emotional learning and into so the training for our teachers and how they're what they're delivering to students know so my understanding is that this program has already been rolled out and the teachers have already had training and they had their three-ring binders and so that that was my so so we have this program is that is that correct Dana that's correct and so then my question is is how can teachers you know use this program the the it's within their curriculum yes so it's a social-emotional curriculum and so you know like you said in the in the younger years yes it's gonna help them you know the coping skills and so forth the inclusion and what does that look like because them not being in the classroom as well I mean they're they're not getting there you know with their peers their friendships that literally they're being isolated and so we're talking about coping skills here remember re honest you know it is a very crucial time that we do need this curriculum especially now especially not even more so I totally agree with her and just I just have one one I'm sorry are you done working very honest yes thank you yeah so my next question is hmm ie piece for special ed how and when would this take place with parents so they can keep up with their with their child and how they're progressing and how we can help them it if they're um you know not not following their program you or anybody hear me I hear you oh yes sir deciding who's gonna answer it oh okay I don't know who you're asking no I'm just asking a general question regarding students IEP I we can that would be Aaron and Kramer right I'm just called mr.
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Colton can you move there we go thank you and we have a couple of questions there from some of our parents on the chat screen so I'm sorry I'm just not done just don't know no no no no I'm not saying sir I'm just bringing we have them cuz I think the questions let's so I'm glad you asked okay yeah yeah and also yeah cuz I've been seeing it come up here in front of me well yeah I'm just going I know I didn't want to lose track of the social-emotional cuz I know it's really important with this happen this is just in my mind regarding the academic Birdie college medical pathway stem ethnic studies gay habit we haven't discussed any of those programs you know where they fit in and do students will students have an individual schedule that they all have because of course they're all gonna have right so I mean that that detect me for now but what this isn't in my thought nah I just wanted to say it thank you okay I'm with that I'm gonna go ahead and hop on in the sixth grade what are the questions was what is it 6-3 learning going to look like since it's an elementary level I think that really does need to be answered so can we can we stick assess emotional first before we start changing it so so yeah so I just wanted it I mean give it go do I know it's not like you throw out a question to the rest of us um I just want to say that I'm allowed to say from the board level to direct what exact specific curriculum in classes but I think that as we learn as we talk about social emotional learning I am really hesitant to trade in people's mind an association between so see emotional learning and a package a package program or package approach because social-emotional learning is really a framework with what within how you how to jurors and students interact how they build relationships how they build mutual respect so that students learn all those the pieces that you just talked about in terms of social skills and interacting and all those are internal but but but in a strong social emotional approach those are embedded in how teachers are interacting with students really it's not it's not like a price not like a program that okay we're going to do the SEL lesson today for fifteen minutes and it's going to teach you how to be a good student right and so I really hope that if we're going to as we focus on social-emotional learning in classrooms that really that's the message we're taking to what we're using in our district because it's not really about you can't you can't use the package program to teach those emotional skills it's more about how are those teachers connecting and building relationships with students so I just wanted to put that on the table I'm sorry are you saying that correct me if I'm wrong is what I'm hearing from each board member gonzales is that at this packet this program that we purchased for this for the teachers are you seeing that the teachers are not why not to share even 10-15 minutes with students no I'm not I'm not saying not to use it I'm not saying that to use the approach but I'm saying I think that as a district I hope that we realized that that is as that is that those that kind of packaged curriculum is there to help help facilitate um embedding social-emotional learning but that that's just a piece of social-emotional learning right so that's not just still let's not think that if we do a 15-minute activity with students that were doing social-emotional learning that's that's not really if you talk to experts that's not really how they frame that kind of learning so so now I'm not saying that that we don't use it especially if we've been trained and using it I'm just saying let's be mindful of context in it can you can you confirm is that the way that this this program is designed is in this program particular is it designed to be standalone activities or is it designed to be integrated into learning throughout the instruction that's a great question so they're too good for drugs program is it is a standalone program it does have activities and each grade level has a different focus and again in the earlier grade levels it is about you know building friendship and it's about you know self-identity and making sure that we feel confident and that kind of a thing so there's different stories like for kindergarten for example they have some puppets and they do some different stories and things so it's just that it's a piece of it so yeah they are standalone different activities to engage kids in conversation and you know unto cruise board member Chris Gonzalez's point that is a it's a piece of it right so yeah but definitely thinking about you know again we haven't used that so it's a it's a great point to bring up we haven't used that in a distance learning environment so the question would be what will that look like and how will we do that that's exactly my question what does it look like and since we haven't used it you know it's it's it's gonna be you know online how is that going to be different and how you know how are they going to be implementing it and that's it and that's just my question okay so to wrap it up to to board member cruise cans Allah sees point that's what this panel is supposed to do it's it's supposed to be taking in all of these different elements peer mediation and conflict resolution know all of those sorts of things with our partners and you know really go to what the school day looks like whether it's in distance learning or some sort of hybrid or once we get back to school to but a real big feature of this going back to what's been discussed is we need to make parents aware so our partners are willing to do you know presentations at virtua coffees with the principal live coffees with the principal's whatever the case may be where we address a lot of these issues and then also as I said working with students directly and then I will take any other questions that anyone might have board member Pena do you have a question you know Jerry thank you I asked my question with my hand down thank you it's okay so okay I do the same thing okay so I have the pleasure of sharing our family and community engagement portion of the plan and I had a wonderful team of parents and other directors who helped to inform this part of the plan so again we kept our frame focused on what our guiding principle was in ensuring mm-hmm sorry my eyes are going a little bit ensuring equitable and accessible communication channels that allow for information-sharing and ongoing dialogue so in terms of our best practices our best practices actually informed our subheadings so if you can scroll down to the or section the first sub area that we had was communication and really focusing in on that ongoing deep level of communication with the community and with families and having weekly communication that covers the gamut of just the various aspects of how we are reaching out to families utilizing social media platforms utilizing our blackboard phone text messaging systems and also again thinking about how our parents and families hearing also from their sites from their principals so how might we create perhaps what would we we would call a floor of communication that would come from a template that our communications department would develop and principals can then add additional information that is specific to their school sites and that might be a video message it might be a phone message but you know during distance learning it's really important that those connections are maintained with the school site and also a big piece of of where our conversation went in this team was about two-way communication and how will we utilize the various aspects of social media our district tip line the website contact form help lines forums so that parents and families have a means and a way to ask questions get feedback and CERN's those types of things and how we would utilize all of those various platforms to to maintain that two-way communication so again we're not just giving information but how are we taking in information and acting on that the next section speaks to outrage and I didn't translate I go back and translate my section I'm so sorry so the esta parte del plan habla cerca de la communication am entry distrito y tambien entre la comunidad de los padres de familia y como vamos a wittily sad Laurette sociale para comunicados tambien utila sad los mensajes los mensajes get receive endless familias the blackboard port media the text message a tambien for mensaje de teléfono pero solamente no del distrito no de información pero tener Meniere's para recibir a communication de los padres CI preguntas preocupaciones i model and que los last familias pueden communica ii también con nosotros y tambien Montaner communication and tre las cuales still conscious directories a los padres de familia yo SE que las familias les gusta tenaris a connection conscious direction did directories a poder escuchar mensajes it mensajes de ellos están de la escuela connections to outreach and having systems in place where we would monitor student engagement and I think we spoke a little bit about this earlier when we were looking at the instructional plan so if students aren't attending during their instructional blocks how are we reaching out to families to identify what might be some barriers that are occurring that are maybe prohibiting or are creating a challenge for students engaging in their classwork maybe the family needs resources maybe it's a Wi-Fi issue maybe it's a tech issue with a Chromebook but having a system in place where we aren't just waiting to hear from families but how are we actively reaching out to them and having systems in place so that there isn't an extended period of time where where students aren't engaging but that we are implementing these systems to continually monitor that engagement to be able to connect families with whatever resource they need so that students don't experience barriers to be able to connect to their classroom and and not lose learning opportunities in esta parte de estamos hablando they all can say the net Meniere's and escuela the apple Yaron was just estudiantes si los estudiantes no estan connect on to us whose elecciones kimonos vamos a kumanyika con con ustedes padre c familias para ver como Lizbeth podemos are you tired como los podemos asistir CS una manera de Wi-Fi CS una manera de el Chromebooks is that an indoor guna problem pelvis recourses una manera in que nosotros estamos connect ando con los padres de familias para saber como es que podemos hablar de nuestros alumnos para que ellos pueden connect our houses classes is a gear swap and decide this next section speaks to our parent and family engagement and training and this is a big one because this captures a lot of those aspects that we've heard from families and meeting that support and being able to support their children specifically in a distance learning situation be at Google classroom be it logging on you know with classroom codes and those types of things we know that some parents experience challenges and there was a time span where there was some loss so how might we proactively create some live training sessions for helping parents through that some recorded sessions that would be posted so you know maybe a parent or somebody else's is there and doesn't know how to help them you know quickly be able to log on to the website and access a video that can help them log their child onto Google classroom a way to get their student on to their learning so that they're not experiencing that gap this section also speaks to how we will maintain those committee meetings like our school site councils like our elects like our D locks in the same systematic way those are all requirements that we have to maintain so how will they look in a distance learning format they will occur virtually and we will have to create schedules and maybe post agendas because agendas have to be publicized posting those on social media on websites and utilizing those types of formats so that our parents are able to engage and also you know putting out phone numbers so parents who might not have a device available to them can connect by phone as well this section also speaks to parent coffees and having virtual sessions of with principals live sessions but then also may be recording them because maybe we do have some parents who are working during the day and aren't able to attend those parent coffees but want to hear the information that was shares she which would be really critical during these times so how might we able to record some of those parent coffees so that parents are able to access those at a later time so they can participate and gain that kind of information as well they're really thinking beyond just virtual live sessions but how might we capture some of those things so that they are accessible at different times to parents so en esta parte es el enfoque a saucer today entrenamiento para familias pero también and como se M Binet involucre the sagir ago Luke Rando in committees and hunters cafes phone directories Concilio says Polaris committees the apprentices inglis del distrito y tambien de la escuela vamos a tener oportunidades Bert Wallace para juntos para seguir este tipo de cuenta pero también investigation maneras the hacer video this Assunta sportsy acaso a lien no se puede connect era el tiempo de l'homme de alva speedin escuchar la información our tiempo para poder seguir inform and o SE and tucumán acondo del escuela or del distrito and um this next section actually wrote what a quick question so these these would be I'm just to clarify you said these will be school site based not not district based so so on each school will have their own copies some will be so parent coffees are typically um site based so principals have their principal copy coffee typically they occur once a month then there are also site elect meetings and then there's also district elect meetings where representatives from a site's ela is elected and they come and participate at the district level so having both of those levels continuing to have both of those levels of engagement for families norms will the norms will continue on virtual salutely so going back to if we were brick-and-mortar setting those would be the norms and how will we shift those same norms and expectations in to this virtual format the board member opinion yes so um PTAs well they will they each individual school continuing a PTA and also superintendent Ortega will you be having superintendent roundtable at the district level yes so in terms of PTA we actually spoke to PTA s and P tos and those volunteer groups in our volunteer section we kept this section about those real specific norm opportunities for parent engagement at the sites so there will be opportunities for virtual parent PTAs because we want to continue that connection that families have with the school sites to do their volunteer work and and the work that they continually do to support sites so that that will continue for the superintendent and parent table those have already been scheduled sites have already been communicated to in terms of names and when those are due they're already in the calendar so yes looking forward to continue with with that group okay so any other questions I'm sorry nope so in this next section this speaks to staff professional learning and this is really about how to get all of our staff on a level playing field so that they are better equipped to support families with the needs that they may have so that this type of professional learning speaks to ensuring that all of our a USD staff is able to support and connect families to the resources they may need be it teacher clerk community liaison principal so that our fan we can be efficient efficiently linked to whatever resource they need so they don't have to be redirected to different people thinking about how do we streamline this information so that parents can quickly be connected with whatever resource it is that they need be it you know help with resources to clothing maybe its assistance to mental health and and how do we streamline that in an efficient way so that we aren't sending parents to different people to get those supports that they need so that's what this section will speak to and how we will support staff in really calibrating that in an efficient way I have a question on that so you're saying so this is going to be implemented and the way that it's going to be implemented and protocol is what you guys will be working on my hearing correctly yes so really you know maybe it's utilizing you know I know I believe on the website on the CWA page there is a resource handbook of different resources that are available in the district and then the community so how might we utilize some of those resources at the site so that everybody is aware of of those resources so that we can efficiently connect parents with whatever it is that they need and it will be in English and in espanol tambien los recursos para los padres absolutamente porque es importante porque ellos necesitan entender koala servicio sy para ellos y como NOS pueden Montaner gracias gracias I'm sorry any other questions audience okay so um en esta parte is como el distrito apoyar entrainer el personal de de teatro del distrito con recourses based on this Ponyville s para los padres de familias a para the mejor manera connected los on esos record records OSI services and the next section is our community partnerships which we value and speaks to how we might work with the many community partners that we have and ensure that we're utilizing the resources that offer us in efficient and effective ways so that we aren't duplicate duplicating those efforts but rather aligning our resources and all of our community partners are very unique in the services they provide and how they work with us so you know that might look different in different ways for example homework house you know offers a service so that might look a little different than somebody who is making donations or something like that so you know that will be that how we continue to connect with those community partners will look different because of the unique identity of all of those different partnerships that we have that I had just spoken to or turtle about the San Gabriel Valley even municipal water district and they've been donating to food banks in the area and I know that Thanksgiving dinner with hearts for the hungry so they're looking forward to working with us fantastic so an insta parte del plan habla cerca de los recursos que tenemos en la comunidad y como el distrito de seguir montani endo s trabajo que ellos hacen con ellos a buscar diferentes maneras en trabajar con ellos communica y cuáles son los servicios que ellos tienen tipo como homework house que de bois de guitarra esta here SI esta manera de de trabajo que hacen en la comunidad con nosotros and finally our beloved volunteers we love our volunteers here at the district and school sites and this is really thinking about how we would provide virtual opportunities for our families to continue to volunteer in virtual in a virtual space and and being creative about how we do that and and really again as you know we spoke to before maintaining our PTAs our PTO s not losing that connection the parent one of the parent reps on our team spoke about the space the social space that is created for for parents and families at the school site and we know that school sites especially in our community tend to be kind of a social hub so how do we continue to create that space for our parents and families and volunteers to continue to engage in that manner because we know not only is that work that they do so valuable for us but you know it's powerful for them too so hearing that from a parent that that was something that you know they really missed when schools closed down so you know not only are students missing their peers but our parents missed seen the the French you know continuing with the friendships that they had established at our school sites a board member Pena yes I was gonna ask regarding outside services since you mentioned homework house if they will still be working with our students and also maybe work member Greer can help help me out on the might third place rotary and thing together are you know are we going to partner with them these organizations that are outside our school they work with our students yes and and really thinking about how we will continue those partnerships and that work in a safe virtual virtual setting so that our students are still able to to access those important resources that our partnerships provide for them and remember reduce meaning to speak to that directly with another hat yeah we've even begun to look at what are understanding the where we may be heading into you know this this and now we are what our waterways that my third place can shift to be a support and continue to provide you know additional and supplemental services and and even in partnerships that I have with homework house and other organizations I know I know everybody's on the same page with that so this will definitely be a community you know effort and so I love seeing that that you know community partnerships and parents and volunteers that that's all a part of this because it's gonna it's gonna take all of us in the season I do know I do know that students and parents really look forward to go to like their place or homework house or think together you know these programs it's great that partnership that we have with community you know I think it's great thank you finalmente and West Rose voluntarios appreciable todo el trabajo que hacen ustedes en nuestras escuelas yok en el distrito y en esta parte vamos a cerca de como vamos a poder Montaner es oportunidad para que ustedes cig an embolic Rondo se en la escuela de una manera Bert wall see it as soon as the PTA say if Susan tells the PTO then el espacio para Montanez oportunidades para para los padres voluntarios sigiriya trabajo que es muy importante para nosotros y el servicio y todo lo que ustedes tan tan para nosotros los alamos thank you miss Camacho mr.
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creel for that we have gone through quite a bit and it's a lot of information a lot of new hopefully you see that distance-learning block schedule plan 2.0 compared to 1.0 is a vast difference so again what what I propose to do is at our next board meeting on 7 21 continue this conversation number one number two some of the questions that came up today some of the ideas that came up today talk about how those how those can take life as we move as we move forward with that and they even though we're moving to a distance learning environment maybe next week again get a preview from the safety and health and the operations in terms of again this parallel track right that we're gonna have to begin that we're going to begin as we work diligently to prepare ourselves right for that eventually that eventual return of students I want to kind of close out right there are different I have a couple more questions if you don't mind before you close out yeah just just more broader questions I was waiting for it all to be wrapped up so I'm not that not that I want to go into the specifics of the Virtual Academy any other different pieces right but are we going to build into decision making in the next month for parents around if there are certain parents that know that there were honest a distance learning for the entire year um how are we going to make sure that the parents had the opportunity to sign up for that and so that those students are not placed into this this distance learning approach and then it sort of a it creates or creates issues when we pull them out to go to distance on you because we're going back into school so how is that gonna work so the answer is yes we we will have some different options for our parents moving forward we're gonna do that in two ways one way will be messaging through through our normal communications we'll have a for lack of a better word like a registration form to sign up with that that's one way number two we do have a planned saying some live virtual meetings with parents in the community to in English and two in Spanish in the a.m.
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and the p.m. to allow for different timeframes to dive into the nuances between distance learning Virtual Academy independent study right and those and what are those mean and how do they look because to your point board member kruseman's AHS if I sign up for the Virtual Academy versus the distance learning may be originally it looks like the same but eventually when we come back to a hybrid or fool whatever that may be the Virtual Academy continues in a virtual environment and so kind of you know putting out those nuances I also in addition to that there will also be supporting documents like an FAQ document to clarify the different programs and what they mean and what I'm what am i signing up for and how does this work and how does this operate so that is kind of the multi pronged pronged approach to that okay thank you and then step two other two other just generalize general questions so in terms of thinking ever since we are going to be full remote or distance learning and so have you put thought in terms of what what kind of instructional some supports and by then I mean like textbooks or other pieces that need to be like that need to be in the hands of families and students in order to work and so you know not just the computer and the huts and in the interactions but also the other so have you put some bottom to that yet yeah we've put some initial thought luckily for for us we have a model that worked really well last year that keeps us socially distance that keeps some safeguards in place with by my appointment and so so yes those are initial conversations that we've had around a curriculum be material because if you're taking an art course for instance at the high school you know what kind of material supplies are you going to need to be able to be successful in in that type of course when you're in distance learning and then see technology and then miss Mitchell I don't know if there's anything to add to that absolutely there there will be a plan for again for distributing instructional materials in a socially distanced manner and so we followed that model that we did when we distributed over 5,000 Chromebooks so the same same piece with that so we'll work with the sites to determine what's the best way to do it to make sure that we do that in a safe manner to make sure that the students do get those instructional materials that III appreciate that I think this really just even simpler like are we gonna make are we gonna give students like their textbook so they have it with them right are they gonna have a copy of it Vica okay all right all right but I'm glad to hear that and then the last question I have is around the family engagement right in terms of the learning right and so I think we're a couple parents talk about or a connection right so let me talk about it this way so I so I found out recently like that so the practice at the school that my son's going to be going to next year is that generally kids family find out the day before school starts to watch classroom their sign to write and so how are we thinking about how are we going to make sure that we have enough time built in so teachers can build relationships with students before we expect everyone to jump on a computer the first day of school and be in classrooms right the biggest difference this year from last year is that teachers had two thirds of the year to build up norms and expectations in classroom you know how could their supposed to act we don't have that coming into this year so how are we going to make sure that teachers are connect of families and students are connecting with that teacher so that on day one we're not spending two weeks relationship building but instead we're trying to start instruction I apologize I was writing that down and then I need an answer right now I think these are just things that I want us to tackle right because I think especially as a family I want to make sure that I know the teacher and we know what walking in what's going to happen and I don't want that to happen the day before school starts okay thank you okay um I I'd like to just piggyback on that she moaning because at one of our conferences it was in Texas and one of the things that they did was all of the pair all of the teachers before school went to their students homes knocked on the door introduced themselves to him and talked to them it was cut in then at the end they had like a big picnic so it was really a really cool idea but I wanted to ask what's the sixth grade learning going to look like since its back at the elementary level get that answer our Turner or Dena mad miss Mitchell okay mom is metal your are mute the sixth-grade plan is part of the distance learning 2.0 for elementary so it is the same instructional schedule as the elementary and the secondary is 7 through 12 thank you and um next we have board member oh I'd like to say thank you for all the hard work everybody has done this is the last time I'm in talk thank you so much it was a very impressive ok agent you good so look looking at this and another kind of question so I know one I talked about like the consistency of scheduled the other thing that I wonder about just when I'm thinking about logistics and so maybe we can speak on that in more detail next next week I know that Maria called her on your you already came on and spoke a little bit but think thinking about food distribution if it's happening during the time throughout instruction just the the how how is that happened it's it's it's already enough if parents are having a juggle instruction and work and now if they're needing to juggle instruction work and also food pickup that's just a lot for one time you know III see that there's the block on Mondays Monday afternoons is that is at a time outside of an instruction time where some food pickup can can happen so just thinking through the logistics it would be helpful to have a conversation about that next week oh I'm sorry board member panting okay thank you yes sir I was gonna superintendent take a regarding so when we determine if we go in the future to hybrid or blend mode Oh would that be the determination of the CDC guidelines first question and the second one is will we be giving parents and staff a survey like in December in the middle to see how things are going with them and you know what we can improve on but also what what we're doing that is great so we know where we're at absolutely the first part of the question so so yes right now as of 7:13 which was yesterday we have new guidelines for reopening and so that'll be what we will be using to get ready and to prepare for any kind of hybrid staggered blended you know whatever we fall on that working in conjunction with l'école and with DPH but the guidelines the opening paragraph right speaks to these are the guidelines right now and so these guidelines can change next week next month six weeks from now you know whatever so we will continue to navigate you know through that but for right now this will be what we will be using as we do our work the second piece I think that is a great idea to continuously keep our ear to the ground and kind of get a sense and I would push that to not only families but but staff as well as we as we get a sense of how we're doing you know things that need to be addressed in addition to of course the things that were we're all we're going to be doing without Reach [Music] family and community engagement I think that's a that's a good way to get a comprehensive look at that okay board member ariana.sea hi I would like to ask since some of the parents had mentioned earlier that they're gonna have kindergarteners come into our district what what is that you know what does that look like for them they're coming you into our district are we you know what is the protocol is it going to be online are they to come in person are they gonna have to go to the district you know are the schools gonna be open for them so just something to think about I don't know if you have the answer right now but something that in you know we should be speaking of at the next meeting since these parents are eager for their students to start in our district but their kindergartners I I would like to go ahead and have those answers for them thank you I might get a point of clarification we remember our Deanna's are we talking about registration and those kinds of things yes yes okay thank you thank you okay was there anything else I'm so sorry one more thing that I had written down I forgot which board member had mentioned suddenly I think this board member Yolanda Pena and she had mentioned about the schedules for the students that will be going into different periods in the made up middle school in high school and usually they go to the to the school to pick up their textbooks and their schedule and so that's something to think about of how they're going to receive their textbooks and their their schedule so that's another question that we can go ahead and discuss at the next meeting please thank you okay I just want to thank everyone for all oh you're hard-working and all the great questions to my colleagues and from parents and it's gonna work I feel very positive and it's really good that were working together as a team thank you right I forgot to I forgot to say one thing um dr.
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Tina Mitchell I just wanted to congratulate you this is your first meeting and uni position and you are bombarded with this heavy task and okay thank you very much and miss Norma Camacho thank you so much for jumping in and you know and being there to translate this this was a hard one so thank you so much and I concur with my colleague Yolanda Vega Pena and that this is I think a very positive a school board meeting and meeting our students needs because that is what we're here for for our students so thank you thank you all who participated in bringing this to us I appreciate you thank you so I would like to kind of just end on on three notes number one echoing what's happening right now just to show an immense an immense amount of gratitude to the staff the students the parents our partners that had a voice as we were navigating these these decisions absent the Los Angeles Department of Public Health guidelines and so when I look at the plan that was created first and foremost the five different areas again I think that that that is crucial that we are looking at not just instruction but the things that that hover around that the social emotion of the family and community engagement and then you look at the work that was created in those areas and we look at those subheadings and again I appreciate the the amount of thoughtfulness that went into all of these different you know areas that that go into this this one area as we talked about again being innovative and imagined and moving forward and then lastly the fact that we had miss Jennifer edik Bryant who you know said let's we have SB 98 and we have these new requirements let's not have that separate right how do we how do we meshed this and combine this so that it's one plan not a plan and then these these requirements over here and so when I when we look at the plan as a whole I just want to just show again an immense amount of gratitude for what for what has happened there and this commitment to support for success is evident and we're definitely going to be living by that number two I just want to make sure that that we that we understand that that this is fluid this this can change right from the time that we posted this to now lots of things change and so today we uncovered some nuances right 0-7 should we have a consistent start time what about ECP you know so today we uncovered some nuances and so as we start to refine moving forward I just want to remind us that again this is fluid it can change it gets better and as we as we as we talk and and communicate and engage different stakeholders again different inputs will come into place and again new nuances will pop up that that we might not have have thought about and so I just want to just make sure that we understand that that this is a moving thing but we have we have some time to to really kind of those weren't those things out and then number three I want to to our parents and to our community we we are committed to continue frequent and open communication I want to remind us and again we'll make these public here this week that we will have two opportunities in English and two opportunities in Spanish I went like this too it's late I apologize two opportunities in English and two opportunities in Spanish to engage in a life life format where where we're going to dive into this more we're gonna dive into the different options and what those means what those mean and give an opportunity for for further dialogue and further engagement in a life manner and we also have again we're going to publicize this better but we also have currently right now already a hotline and a phone one and a forum one we are monitoring that daily and we are we are answering phone calls we're returning phone calls we ran seen answering the forms and answering the those emails and so that's also a great Avenue to ask questions and get clarity on things as we move as we move forward so again thank you to all the staff today all of the stakeholder input all of the board member input it really helped us as well as we start thinking about our next steps well anybody have anything else to say okay well with that it's 912 and I am concluding the meeting oh my gosh
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it's thursday july 16th at 5 36 p.m and this is the city of ann arbor public market advisory commission call to order stephanie can you call to order all right so i'll do the roll call um in no particular order got lisa young i'm here all right peter wolf here holly parker i'm here jeff namith attempting to uh join i'd be here and then helen chandler is not yet with us unless there is a phone phone call let's see is that you helen oh hello oh i guess not all right is it anybody does anyone know helen's okay never mind we'll move on okay um hello hello is this helen are you just no i'm just audience this is carlene oh hey carly well i'm gonna um i'm gonna mute you back and you'll if you want to say stuff i can give you a moment when we get to their need yeah that's fine okay thanks all right all right so approval of the agenda is the next item um has everyone had a chance to look at the agenda from the previous time or this agenda and are there any changes or modifications do i have a motion to approve motion to approve i second all in favor say aye hi anyone opposed it's unanimous um section e approval of meetings of previous minutes in your packet you should have previous minutes from the last meeting which was quite a while ago um there are there any corrections or changes hearing none or is there a movement or a motion to approve a motion to approve is there a second unanimously all right section d first public commentary agenda items only three minutes per speaker all right we'll see if we have do you have a comment carlene um this is carlene um the only thing i wanted to say is i'm thankful that the market is back open on behalf of other vendors and customers as well and i would i'm thankful that this last week we're signing three stalls for those who want it on wednesdays because there's so much empty space and i would hope that as we see how many vendors are coming as more crops are coming in if we can give those who have lots of different crops that we've always planted enough space to at least give everything one foot of table space um and uh and i just hope that no matter what comes that sense where we have essential service called food that everything would be done to at least keep the market able to function in some manner or form and that's it for now thank you thanks colleen and that's the only attendee we have uh so then we'll move on to regular business item g so stephanie can you follow help us up with this yes um so i noticed in the last minutes from the last meeting back in february there had been a conversation um about hemp at the market and the reason i wanted to put it on a follow-up was just an update that we do have a vendor that has started bringing um their cbd products in addition to their other products they are a farm uh that does mostly vegetables but they have added that to um their lineup uh we haven't had really anyone else applying or discussing it yet but we we have had that one farm take advantage of that opportunity great has there been any other reaction from anybody else at the market not really um i know i spoke with jeff a little bit about it but i was hoping to be able to hear from him um but obviously technical difficulties kept him away um but none none otherwise that i have heard i don't know becky if you've heard from anybody i don't know if you have no i actually haven't heard anything what um stephanie i'm sorry if you said this what what hemp product is being sold yeah it's mostly just um you know salves and balms and lip balm and things of that nature and do you have any sense of how sales are going i have not asked them i have not um but you know some people seemed at least on the social media to be interested that we had that product on offer um but i think it is still so new that it might not be on people's radar yet okay thank you thank you but that's all i really had about all right unless you wanted to rehash anything you know that that seems good it'd be interesting to see how that comes how that follows up with time i think once things expand out further and more people get see what's going on then we'll get more feedback too but it's good there haven't been any hiccups yet so yeah none really at all okay number two update you as needed great thank you then number two coveted related market changes and next steps okay um so yeah i just wanted to check in and give you all update what we've been doing with the kobit you might have heard a little bit through email or social media but we have changed around a lot of the items uh not items but the ways that which we run the market and one of them the one of the big changes is the sign-in process um previously you know annuals would have their permanent stalls and then the dailies would be assigned day of um what we're doing now instead is we're actually giving everybody the opportunity to sign in either via phone or online with us the day before market and then we're sort of already assigning it you know with the same sort of seniority processes as previously and that's what we've done partly to reduce the amount of people coming into the office and to reduce congregations but it also seems i don't know i've been having some positive feedback as well as neutral uh and maybe not as positive feedback depending on which vendor um so so yeah i just wanted to get your feedback on that is that a process that you're interested in pursuing because again obviously we're doing it as covid continues and we don't know the end date of that um unfortunately but i just wanted to let you know that's our current process i know from previous discussions that the sign-in process before how it was done seemed like it was ripe for some improvement and so making one of the proposals was doing it via phone or online but there wasn't ever really the impetus to do it so it's possible that one bright spot might be that this makes us do it so hopefully this will be some an improvement that we can hold on to long term if indeed we can make an improvement sure yeah i mean we don't know how long we're going to be in this so we're moving forward with it and you know there's there are things because some people are still um on the old process and especially people that haven't come back yet there is a few minutes of people like wait i don't have to sign in anymore hold on um but you know that that's to be expected with any any major thing um that they're used to but overall it's been a pretty positive smooth process for us um uh at least but again i also don't know what it was like before so uh my perspective is a little bit different on that it's too bad that jeff and helen aren't here to i know give us some feedback that way um oh it looks like you're trying again hopefully maybe he could you know um i wanted to ask about the amish farmers though since they don't uh you know since the access to technology is is clearly much more of a challenge so um how are the amish farmers doing and how are you accommodating um them yeah great question um for the most part they've just been calling in or once they've come back they've just told us you know like every saturday i'll be here expect me or i'll be here both days a week expect me and uh in the case of all of them they are all annuals so they do have assigned spots so that is relatively easy um to accommodate them great thank you yep and i think even one of them has been taking advantage of the curbside so oh good tapping in so but all right all right um and then two the stall reductions in physical distancing protocol yes so um as carlene did mention a little bit um in her comment we have had to reduce the amount of stalls vendors can get obviously based on our need for physical distancing because our goal is to have at least one vacant stall in between each vendor in some cases it ends up being naturally two just because people would prefer not to have a post in the middle of their booth um but there has been some discussion around this issue carlene did mention in her comment that just this week we've returned to allowing um the larger farms to have their third stall back on wednesdays only um and that's partly because you know wednesday's a smaller market there is space for it and we are still able to maintain the physical distancing so we figured that would be a good compromise uh whereas saturday right now um i don't know when we'll be able to return to that if at all this season um just because you know each week we have more and more people um returning and we already went extended a little bit into the sand lot last saturday so we are starting to get a little bit more full um so but i just wanted you to be aware that that is something that uh many farmers are discussing and obviously the people that have the larger stall numbers want to return to normal on that um but we have been capping everybody at two stalls um when there is not space for it so everyone has two macs on saturday and for most of the artisans we've also been capping them at one stall just to prioritize you know essential items so have there been pretty have you actually hit your capacity yet or is there still space in the sand lot still um we have not hey jeff welcome can you hear us turn your volume on oh i don't know if i can control it let's see yep sorry you gotta unmute yourself oh oh i see fingers i know i know i wish there was a way that i could see it look we can do hand signals yeah again i know i wish i wonder if there's a way that i can control it like i did the last time it's permissions on his side so yeah it is anyways hopefully you can hear us jeff even though we can't hear you um but oh it says his audio is still connecting so yeah it's too bad he did it oh there he can probably hear us you're muted jeff yeah okay hi finally guys hey there you are thank you it was your daughter that did it right [Music] [Laughter] so we were just discussing the salt the stall reduction that we've been having to do for the physical distancing yeah and how for wednesdays we've returned back to allowing people to have three because there's space um but saturday we're still pretty full okay so how are sales going for vendors i mean i i've seen the um turnout and it looks decent but not you know not great in terms of um customers i'm just wondering i i'm sure we probably don't have actual numbers but i'm just wondering in general how it's going for the vendors and how you know how hard hit they've been and if they're able to really start making things up and if now that it's open it seems like sales are getting back to anywhere near normal um i think that they're probably the biggest hang up is the attendance is down for customers i think and then i think aside from that a big problem is getting people through you know i mean everyone's trying to stay six feet away from each other so it's that makes it a little difficult to uh move people along when people start lining up through the market you know but i mean i think everyone's doing the best we can and um i think it's to get to a point where we just have maximum you know number of people that can uh go through and get help either they want to wait in line or they don't yeah and how have the online orders been going uh i i know it was very popular at the beginning uh has it waned um are you getting the support from the city that you need to to help deliver the online orders to the cars is that even still happening i haven't checked the last couple of weeks yeah um it's been you know there's less people participating over time but we still are definitely getting support from the city we have some extra park staff that has been helping us run the curbside um and you know there are still people doing it i don't think it's as many people as uh in the beginning but some people are using it also for delivery of their csa if they aren't doing specific just uh pre-order in a you know per week thing um so it definitely is still getting used um but you know it depends on the person in terms of what they want to do it i think also wednesday market a lot of people that were more apprehensive to come back to the saturday market i've been hearing feedback from them that they feel more comfortable on wednesday so because there are less vendors there are less people at you know through the market um so that's the feedback i've received from some people yeah i've noticed that too just it's there's surprisingly busy on wednesdays when i've been there on wednesdays but it's it's good to see i might fall asleep all right we'll just yell loudly into the screen that's right so 2c mask requirements and recourse for non-compliance oh actually can i ask one more question sorry i know uh some of the farms have been working together like i'm thinking of the washington organic collective with brines and rain dance and slow food and have there been any questions about um if one of them comes back to the market if they can um use their have their online orders and have the them uh people pick them up at the market instead of driving out to like slow farm or brian's farm to to pick up i didn't know if that had come up as a question um no nothing that i have heard no one has approached me or asked about that but yet they haven't come back either so um it's my impression that people that have gone to the lengths of setting up a separate online ordering are either you know just doing that in lieu of their other market stuff um but again that might change i know white lotus has not been back but they will be back for the first time this saturday and they have been doing their own market on their own site and inviting some other vendors there um but no i have not been approached with that question okay it'd be nice from a customer perspective to be able to pick up at the the market but i know it can get complicated sure and i would assume if it's similar to a regular csa that would be possible um but if they're not you know if they're just sending the box and they aren't there themselves that might be slightly different but yeah i'm completely open to discussing with any farmer that wants to do that okay it was more that they're a collective and um i think shannon brines told me that like half of the people that are part of you know who you can order from are vendors but there are some uh people that are participating that aren't vendors at the the market so i just wanted to raise that as a as a uh issue like i said i would love to do an online order and and instead of driving out to be able to pick it up at the market if they come if one of them comes back to the market sure got it all right any other comments about that before we move on all right so 2c match requirements yeah so um since the executive order has been updated um last week there is the need now for everyone to be wearing masks and i just wanted to get a pulse check and some feedback from you all in terms of you know what we could do to ensure compliance of both vendors and then encourage customers i know we're also talking with legal in the city to see you know what our legal parameters are as well but i just wanted to see you know you're all thoughts about that specific issue i was at the market a saturday it's probably been a couple weeks ago and i was actually surprised to see some customers without masks on um i had understand it you know some of the elderly people i know it's it's more difficult but these were younger people and i was actually kind of surprised because the market was really busy and it was not possible to social distance so um i'm glad you brought this up and i'm glad the governors uh changed things uh to to be uh clear about the the um when people should be wearing masks um i don't know if anybody else has anything they want to add there jeff how have you felt as a vendor in terms of mass compliance um well you mean as far as how do i think people are um following the directions is that what you're asking uh i think you could really tell that people stepped it up last this last wednesday was the first day since the new order or whatever um and i feel like i feel like more people took it more seriously i wasn't there all day on wednesday but when i was there i didn't see anybody without a mask um when we get there in the morning and we're setting unloading trucks and stuff um that's the only time really and nobody's around each other anytime people you know once a market starts and customers are there uh i saw pretty much everyone wearing a mask i don't remember what the status is on signage is there are there signs throughout the market now showing saying that's required uh they are there's some small ones and then we just had new ones delivered today that will be up for saturday market yep and we've been you know telling people and it has been a vendor requirement of course uh since we've been reopened so that's not something that's different it's just and you know most customers that i've heard from are actually excited that there is the order now because they've been concerned same thing you had said lisa where they had seen maybe some customers that hadn't been wearing masks so i'm hoping that that's a positive uh moving forward and as you know it's important for everyone's safety of course so d have you or has any like sort of staff person vendor or whatever said anything to any folks who don't have masks has there been any engagement yet to say hey it's actually a requirement to wear a mask and what what how does that play out is it problematic or is it fine yeah there were a few people on wednesday um one claimed a medical exemption and then the rest once we told them that mass were acquired they sort of just left themselves so luckily that they didn't push the issue um i should also mention that we do have surgical masks available in the office for people that forgot theirs at home really or need it although we are encouraging them first and foremost to go buy from the artisans that are making math and selling them at market right now um but that's sort of how we approach it is like oh hey do you need a mask here have one and then if it goes beyond that um that's when the conversation really gets started but i think saturday is going to be our big test given that we are you know much more populated on saturdays with both vendors and customers but i'm cautiously optimistic stephanie is that something that the city parks uh staff that's there can help you with yeah yep and they've been really great about helping um with that as is it's just sort of like making sure that we're all on the same page that we're having the same messaging um is what we're working on right now great i know for some organizations too there's with the mask order the governor's mass order now it becomes a liability for the organization if there are people in there so that becomes another incentive to enforce compliance or at least to make the request and also does make a more strong ask of the customers to actually wear a mask yeah definitely it's the onus is now on us and i mean we've been taking it seriously and previous to this point you know we just actually couldn't require it because we are a public park um so in essence the executive order does help us in that regard um and as i said the only feedback i've received from people so far has been in the positive you know we were waiting for you to do this thank you um but then again you know we'll see jeff have you had any feedback from customers no i you know on saturday for instance you could sit there and everybody who came through would have a mask on and then you might see a family every now and then without a mask uh i haven't had any customers complain or anything uh you know and say oh you know i'm sure they go to office and do that they probably complain to you but uh i haven't had any no one's really said anything about it they just you know put you know kind of go with it and i think it's going pretty well considering you know the problems we could be having right now sure yeah i mean that's what i've been saying if the mask issue is our only problem right now i think we're doing pretty well um and you know we're just every day we're working on more solutions to present that to people in a gentle way um that encourages them to be compliant and i just didn't know you know in the event that there was a situation that happened i didn't know what your thoughts were about i mean in a hypothetical i'm not really talking about anything we've experienced i just want us to be ready um for the eventuality of you know maybe we do get somebody who is a little bit more volatile um and i just wanted to i mean you might not have any feedback other than what you've already said um but i just wanted you to be aware of that conversation we've been having yeah i don't think uh like i said we haven't had i haven't had anyone have even mention it really all right um you know so far so good um hopefully we don't have any problems like that down there i think it's a pretty good crowd i don't think we really will but it's good to be aware that and ready for a problem like that though yeah okay yeah again and the city has been really supportive in this and i know there was a meeting with legal just this morning uh talking about you know medical exemption what does that mean um and they did clarify just this morning that we can ask for a doctor's note because i was unaware um what the status was i've been actually wondering about that for the last few weeks so i think that will also help us as well people can't just say medical exemption and then do whatever they want they actually do have to document that is there a way to have more posted signage too so that maybe it's at you know if not on the tables and in in between the stalls or something so frequently says masks required um just so that onus isn't or is less on the vendors and less on the staff but that awareness is just really front and center sure yeah and we already have it posted at every entrance and we do have stanchions all throughout the market i don't know if you've been down recently but we definitely have had way more sandwich boards than we usually have with all of the information about hand washing and mask wearing and all that good stuff um but they're just gonna be a little more colorful and plentiful um starting saturday yeah i definitely noticed them at the entrance at the entrances but i didn't i i you know wear a mask so it doesn't it's just not you'll notice them but i was wondering if they're frequently throughout the market as well like in between the stalls so it sounds like yeah they will be when they yeah they arrived just today so we will be putting them throughout um and then printing out small ones too we could actually give a vendor we could give each vendor one if we had to also that they could maybe even just like stick to their tablecloth or something but i can uh we could talk about that i think that would be a good idea it does seem like being able to just be able to point to something that no matter where you are you can always say no mask is required you know it's not just me saying this it's it's the yeah that's that's what i was thinking and so it doesn't seem like it's one individual vendor but it's the market policy you know it's actually city and in fact the state policy exactly um i think that's important for for customers to be really clear on exactly and we're actually going to have a couple extra copies of our flyer at the market office window as well to hand out to people that want more information so good well thank you what's your thought on it stephanie how do you think it's going as far as people wearing masks down there um we've definitely been getting a lot a lot a lot of complaints um mostly by social media so i don't know i don't know how many people are actually commenting that or aren't commenting that would want to say something um but we have been talking to them and as i said most of it was people complaining about customers not wearing masks but there have been a few worried that you know vendors aren't wearing their masks properly whether that means like their nose is hanging out or when the customer walks down the aisle someone takes it off that happens to be when someone saw them even though they were not close to anyone you know these are questions um i know there had been uh a few folks in the beginning that had a mesh medical issue so that they weren't wearing a mask and they had been instructed of course to stay a minimum of six feet six feet away from people um but of course if you're just a market customer passing through you don't know you know those details so if you just see somebody maskless or with their nose out um they assume that no one's actually trying to to help uh enforce these but yeah we've definitely been circulating throughout the market reminding people handing out masks um because for us it has been a constant issue in terms of people giving feedback i mean i guess i don't even know is it a problem if like i said when we're on we unload obviously and then when the market opens up when the first customers start coming through we all put our masks on is it a problem if i step to the back of my stall away from people and i pull it down and i take a sip of water is that you know i guess i don't even know where the where all that lies yeah no that's a great question and you're right like you're doing the right thing stepping away from people taking a sip because of course you know you need to hydrate people need to eat and this or maybe maybe talk on the phone without a mask makes it hard to understand so yeah as long as you're stepping back you're not near someone yeah that's completely within the parameters of what you're allowed it's just when you're interacting with the customer and i should also say too that it's been unseasonably warm since the market has reopened so with high levels of humidity and i know for you know 10 11 hours that's really hard to keep your mask on in the high humidity and you know some of our vendors are more elevated ages so that is difficult and i understand that so that's what i'm thinking if except maybe somebody saw you taking a break even though you were not near anyone and they thought that is like oh people aren't complying um i'm not sure but we have been getting um a lot of feedback about the masks whether it's customers it's mostly on the customer end but people have mentioned it a little bit about vendors that you know might have a droopy mask or might be one of the medical exemptions that are standing away from people but but we have been hearing it enough for me to put it on the agenda so um but again if this is our only issue that we're hearing about a lot then that's that's a positive because it is something that we're getting a lot of support um from the city and now luckily uh the state has stepped in to support us too okay um i'm wondering if we could circle actually back to the sign-in process with jeff just to get his feedback on that are you okay jeff do you have thoughts on the new sign-in process i mean it doesn't really affect me so in that aspect so i guess i really haven't given it much thought um have you heard anything from others that about how it's pros and cons no not really i honestly i haven't no um i don't think there's any issues with it good that's good okay okay so we'll move on then to 2d new vendors all right um so this is sort of an add-on to the stall reduction conversation um because stalls are having to be reduced for the larger farms we have somewhat been very choosy in terms of allowing new vendors to enter um and the only time we've been bringing new people on really are if there is a need for example we have a new bread vendor that just started last week and that's because one of our main bakers uh just went on paternity leave and white lotus hadn't come back yet at the time so you know we really needed a fresh bread uh vendor that wasn't you know a baked good type vendor so we have brought them on and then also stephanie the outgoing uh market manager previous to me stephanie ouellette is now there for two tracks another reason we brought her on is that she did have pork as part or does have pork rather as part of her lineup um because currently the only meat vendor that's beyond poultry is ernst farm so but other than that i just didn't know if you had had a conversation previously or i guess not because you haven't met since february um but if you all had feedback on whether we should have a full moratorium on new vendors if we should just be really cautious like what we have been with you know need based letting people and where there is a need um or i just was wondering what your thoughts were on that i think that personally i think there should be a hold on it till we go back to normal that's my opinion and i guess it also depends too as to how many people how many vendors are just not showing up to so if there is a lot of extra capacity then i you know i don't want the market to diminish just because we have a lack of offering um and i think that would be an unfortunate thing but again it's the balance as to who's actually coming and if there's space or if we're having tons of extra space yeah so in terms of just numbers we've been having an average of like 23 24 on a wednesday market and we've been at about like 56 for saturday so we're pretty much i would say like at half capacity and there have been some folks that are either you know retired or haven't come back and don't plan on coming back um there was a vendor who actually unfortunately passed away um over the winter um so there are there still are some you know openings but i understand what jeff's saying in terms of um if the annuals and people in high seniority have to be limited i can see from their perspective that it might not seem fair um to bring new people on so i can see from both sides yeah if there's that many spots i think the third way to do this space and give us our full capacity before letting letting new people down i mean once this is all over with and everything goes back to normal singles to rolling like they normally do there's uh you know there's a lot of people i talked to that didn't even i don't think there's any shortage right now of places to go and sell stuff um i talked to a couple people today at uh at the zingerman's market and they were talking about that the chelsea market wasn't full you know and it's just i think there's a lot of markets that aren't full stephanie serious oh go ahead lisa uh sorry holly uh stephanie i do uh think that the being selective and thinking about the need is is important i didn't know if there's you know since wednesday is not full um if there's a new vendor who would be interested in starting but you know saturday's clearly quite full right now especially with the spacing um is there if this looks like somebody that's a really good fit i know there was an identification of um people being interested in uh more prepared food as as one of the needs would there be an option to talk about them and say well we only have space on wednesdays now but if you want to start coming um and get your feet wet at the ann arbor farmers market then then there's the potential of a comedy eating you on wednesday and then uh saturdays when the number of vendors goes down because i also don't want um you know after january when the number of vendors goes down it's it's nice to have um some some people that it it's nice to have the market a little bit fuller at that time and i don't know if new vendors might help fill some of those spaces uh in the winter market just an idea sure um i think the only thing that's difficult is once someone is in we don't necessarily specify which market they have the opportunity to do both um but otherwise i mean i do do think that that's important to give people maybe a chance to start out and when we have more space but um you know we have to be really selective in terms of who that is and i should also mention that right now prepared foods based on the washington county health recommendation people can only be prepared food vendors right now if everything is pre-packaged pre-made for consumption off-site so that is partly another reason that we are having a lot of openings right now is that most of our prepared food people can't come back even if they wanted to or they would have to you know change their entire process um so it's for example like rose rose can't even serve coffee so that's something just to keep in mind but i know we all want the prepared food back believe me everyone wants their lunch back i have a question i think it might have been answered but um jeff you mentioned you thought there should be a moratorium on adding new vendors at least for saturday and i guess i'm wondering i'm sorry if this is a silly question but i'm just wondering why and um it sounds like maybe it's because of space and crowding is that your main concern you're talking about adding new ven why i said they should put a hold on new vendors is that what you're asking yeah well because we had we we owned three spots that we rent at the at the market and they're asking us to move down to two spots which takes away approximately eight feet of our display and the reason for that is for social distancing so what i'm saying is if there's room down there we should get our three spots that we normally have and then just space everyone out put the six feet between everybody as opposed to scrunching us down to 16 feet and then bringing new people in to fill in the extra room if there's that much extra room then there's room for us to have our three stalls that's that's all i'm saying yep nope that makes sense thank you yep i should also point out the thing that makes it difficult is that annual vendors have their assigned stalls um so based on the spacing that would mean certain annuals would be bumped from their spot so that's like another part of why this is a difficult thing to sort of pull off but i know jeff is not alone in those those thoughts as annual larger farms specifically now i'm not trying to figure all this out trying to educate myself here on how to use this thing um everyone's asking me when when we're going back to three stalls did i miss a part of that conversation do we still not know yet well yeah i think you might have missed the very beginning where we were saying we're going back to three stalls for wednesday we have already started going back to that uh but saturday as more people come back um it's not likely that we're doing that anytime soon okay because we were already in the sand lot last week even with regular folks with not even you know with only 55 people right out of you know how many are on our roster like 100 plus 120 something like that so because that's our goal right we don't want to turn anyone away that is a vendor at market that's our primary um but with that said right now everyone that wants to come back is back so we're really just trying to balance those two things apparently but wednesday you can have your third stall back i even updated the map um for yesterday's market i saw that yep yep stephanie do you think this might get to be an issue in the fall if there's people who haven't made their 15 times at the market or is this going to be a year where that sort of requirement is decreased some or has there been any conversation about that that 15 times yeah great question um yeah farmers and vendors can get a waiver if they don't think that they're going to be able to do it because of covid um so yeah we're definitely giving people um the opportunity to keep their seniority because yeah they shouldn't be missing their seniority if they just don't feel safe or if you know they don't have a capacity to be there if with staffing or whatever it is we're being real flexible with people on that that's great okay um then there any other comments on that we'll move on so uh 2e event schedule all right this is probably a pretty short one all events are cancelled um for the foreseeable future um it has been a sticking point i know the food trucks are somewhat disappointed in this um they really want the food truck rally to be reopened but i don't think that that is a good idea given how many people usually attend it but that event is usually with between 800 and 1000 people attending um and obviously we're not even wanting to go above 150 at the market at any given time um so unless there's something miraculous and covid goes away in the middle of august for fall um at the current moment all of our events uh are canceled so how was that good hi there so um moving on then um item h new business non-agenda items or is there any new business anyone have seeing none we'll move on to reports a market manager report all right i don't have anything formal um but i just wanted to say hello good to meet you all albeit virtually uh it's been a very strange time to start of course um but the most positive feedback i've been getting is stuff that you know carlene as well as jeff have has said in their comments is that we're just really excited to be back open um i think that's our number one important thing both for customers as well as vendors um i know it was a hard thing it's sort of unprecedented in the history of the entire market to be closed ever for that long um so i know it was a really shocking thing and i'm just really happy that people have been very patient with us and with me being new on top of everything um with being able to navigate this and yeah we're hoping that everything's going to continue smoothly um everything else seems to be great you know like our double up food bucks program i don't know if you've been aware of this um but they have suspended the daily spending limit on that because of covid so that's been something that's really exciting so people on food stamps and ebt can come and snap can come and get as sort of as much as they want to spend and that's obviously really great for them and also great for uh farmers because people can try things they never have had before um or that might not have been in the budget previously so that's one exciting update um another exciting update is we are starting both the wic program and the senior project fresh um this weekend so that's another way that people can expand their access to healthy fruits and vegetables um using their benefits so those are some exciting things that are happening just right now um i don't know i'm indebted to becky as well for um helping me and being awesome and she's a huge reason why the market is reopened and running smoothly probably i just had a question with the incentive programs this senior market fresh program and the double up and the wic program are you seeing it sounds like you're definitely seeing at least with the double up that the earning is increasing because of the lift of the earning limit are you seeing spending also i mean are the farmers actually or do you think that they're earning more from these incentive programs because because of the increase in participation in snap and more people having more to spend yeah i think so and also i forgot to mention that because of the pandemic ebt card which is specific to people with school-aged children right now in the state of michigan there are also people that have never had those benefits before that are tapping into them so yeah i would definitely say that it is up the only caveat there is it's really only for our fruit and vegetable vendors so it is hard a little bit hard to gauge overall in terms of spending but people i've seen are just really excited that it's happening really excited they can get as much fruit as they want um this time around and not have that limit but that's something that i've been really happy to see people are definitely taking advantage of it that's great thank you and just trying to think if there's anything else peter um yeah no i it's great i'm also glad too that we're i have you aboard that's it's great to have have some leadership back in position too so i i've heard good things about you too so that's been good too thank you my ear to the ground so that's good and i'm also happy that to see everyone here too for resuming these meetings i think that's important too to there was a little hiatus there and that was kind of unnerving in terms of it was unsure what was going on and there was a lot of concerns so i'm glad we've got some infrastructure for moving forward too so it puts my heart at ease so thank you good um yeah i know that we were sort of waiting on the governor to put an executive order through so that we could have these public meetings online and then still have them accessible to people so that was part of the delay and also me being new was the other part of the delay so thank you for your patience and flexibility i really appreciate it thank you all right so then moving on to committee reports are there committee reports i didn't know if you even had committees i just i just put it on the agenda just again oh okay there good are no committee reports that i'm aware of there's anyone i figure and you probably didn't have subcommittees but just in case not not yet not yet but okay yeah if we have any committees that alone merits a report so that does yeah we are a committee okay cool all right all right so the hearing no committee reports um we'll move on to section j second public comment this is not limited to agenda items could be anything all right let's check in with our phone participant carlene do you have any more feedback for us um just be extremely cautious about adding new vendors until you give the um the annual vendors their three stalls back and i know that you're wanting to not put a post in anybody's stall but if you'll think about it for everybody who has three stalls you always have a post in your stall so that might help you with assigning and using the all the stalls that are available and the other thing to think about is wednesday only returning to two-way traffic on the in the uh for the for the customers got it thank you all right and that is our only public commentary capability so that will be it um i would like to then adjourn sorry i just want to ask i i know we're still in covid but one of the main things that we had been talking about much of last year was the winterizing the market and at the last meeting stephanie willett had had um the the i think they were from the city the architects put together a proposal and it's not to talk about tonight but could we revisit that um in the near future great and actually that's a really interesting question too in the context of covid because in closing the market is like the last thing we want to do in some ways this year yeah i mean i do think that's a good point and but it's taken us so long to even get to the point where we can think about it and and with those individual vinyl pieces there could be ways to think about air flow in the market so this might actually be a good time to make sure we pursue this and it might actually be cheaper to get done now with building and everything else being slowed down we could leave the doors open and then it would still be open air um but i think that we're the closest we've ever been i've always heard my my grandpa always talked about you know uh back in the 60s when he was on the commission they talked about closing in the market like that and it never happened and then my dad in the 80s and it never happened and maybe we didn't get any closer than they did back then but i feel like we were we were closer so i think it's important to keep on it i agree and also if the number of vendors is down then the installation will have less effect on the vendors if the install is being done you know sometime when there there aren't so many people there because i know that was a concern if it was going to disrupt um the ability to to have vendors in enough spaces at the markets so that'd be great if we can revisit it might be a stupid question but is there any kind of additional grant you can get being an open air market because all the covered stuff i'm not sure i will i'll ask around to find out for you you know i mean there's a lot of stuff out there sure i'll ask josh i'll write it down okay with the ann arbor carbon neutral movement to that might be an opportunity to explore additional solar because we talked about that as a way to power the the heat that might go in at the market too thanks for bringing that up lisa not just the solar but the winterization project in general i think you're right i i didn't realize how long jeff this conversation has been going on but um if we do have the opportunity to make this happen we really it's incumbent on us to keep pushing on it so let's not let that slip um in light of of cobin i agree sounds good all right um so any other comments before we adjourn all right well it's uh 6 29 and i hereby adjourn the meeting thank you thanks everyone
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Lu Oh LuAnn Nazca yeah with this background e-learning hey Susanna hey Todd hey Matt Carrie oh hey Matt okay I got 628 guys how there's the only one I don't see correct Barney yep all right I just pinged her last meeting we have we really should sing the Brady Bunch theme song it just belongs I think I think to this old house for that they did several months ago I think it was was it yeah yeah I bought it I'm moving there I'm moving there next week no I used when I'm in LA I often drive by there it's in Studio City and it is pretty cool what they did cuz beforehand it looked old but what they did to it they really made to have to look like the house we're going and the inside it's just bizarre but now I don't know who's he's gonna buy it I mean that'd be cool to live near that comes complete with Alice yeah I don't think you want that but I don't think they would appreciate these rooms they don't care about the Brady Bunch I um Heather said she's getting on I'll get here another minute and then we'll start there she comes never the sound was made when he had a o L or he had that modem and X and I think I hear that in the background somewhere okay I see Heather so if everybody is ready we're going to start I call this meeting to order due to the combination and health emergency and in order for the Board of Education to conduct its business this board meeting is being held did something happen to my screen meeting information okay sorry this meeting is being held by a video conference and streamed on YouTube on the district website at www.uvu.edu/library please call the roll mrs.
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well good evening I'd like to call this meeting to order Dr Thomasson roll call please president Kaylor please let the record show that we have all five board members in attendance in this very warm Arizona night can say that again we're going to pause for a moment of silence followed by the Pledge of Allegiance okay I move that we approve the agenda second any questions or concerns about the agenda all those in favor I I I motion carries 5 Z at this time the meeting will recess for the purpose of holding a public hearing on the proposed expenditure budget for the 2020 2021 school year in accordance with ar 15- 95-01 which means Gary Holland you are up good evening president Kaylor members of the board Dr Thomson cabinet tonight I have a short presentation for you to um bring back in the proposed budget that I for the 2021 school year and ask you to adopt it for this evening so there are many factors that must be taken into consideration when you're doing a budget development you first you look at your projected as student enrollment for the next year you look at your account balances and any carry forward monies that you estimate plus we we also have some state federal and local funds and we also have some tax levied monies that are built into our budget each year when we first started planning the budget for this next school year we had originally been projecting a 1% enrollment increase however due to covid we decided we needed to modify that budget and take a much more conservative approach because things continue to change frequently and it's much easier to add money to your budget than it is to subtract it also please know that we continue to search for any additional funding opportunities that may become available to help offset some of these additional expenses due to covid now as I mentioned a portion of our money comes from tax levied monies so there's always a question from our community as to what exactly is the tax rate going to look like for next year next slide please so for fy20 our primary tax rate was 3.8 86 our secondary tax rate was 3.19 for a total of 7.05 for fy21 are estimated it's just estimated at the moment because the county will set that tax rate in August so right now our primary tax rate is 3.72 and our secondary tax rate is 3.30 which is made up of two separate tax rates first we have our M override that um percentage is f 1.5 59 and when then we have our bonds at 1.71 for total estimated tax rate for fy21 to be 7.03 which you'll notice is a decrease of 0182 now um in 2017 the legislature had changed the process for calculating tax rates so now you must factor in the qualifying tax rate or the qtr as well as assessed evaluation so the qtr is a tax tax rate that is set by the jlbc to determine the local tax levy required before a district is eligible or Equalization assistance the qtr is adjusted annually based on an inverse relationship to the assessed evaluation for the entire State I.E if the Statewide um assess valuation goes down then the qtr will go up and vice versa so what has happened this year so the qtr went down because the Statewide valuation went up so there's more property to spread that value of the tax um cross uh the qtr went from 3.79 down to 3.67 the assessed valuation for Higley Community went up from 684 million to 743 million so there you have more value to again to spread that tax across our override was recently renewed so for another seven years starting July 1st and then the Bond as I mentioned that tax rate that rate is used to help cover The Debt Service payments schedules for our bonds next slide please next we have our calculation for our maintenance and operation or M budget so our Revenue control limit based off of our projected enrollment calculated out to be a little over 74 million our m&o override calculated out to be a little over 12 million we have a budget balance estimated carry forward of 3.5 and then higley's portion of the 75 million state land trust sale is estimated to be $812,500 million what you'll notice is an increase a little over $4.8 million from our fy20 revised budget also please keep in mind that our carryover amount may be larger um than the 3.5 however any um additional funding would be reflected of course in a budget revision sometime next year the additional 4.8 money excuse me $4.8 million would be used to help offset to cover some of the salary increases for staff for the next year as well as the additional positions that are needed we also are planning for and as I mentioned if we have a possible reduction in our ADM or student enrollment due to covid um and loss of Revenue that 4.8 would help cover some of that loss also I just want to keep in uh remind the governing board and the community that our override um is calculated based on using prior year ADM so when I talk about a 15% you you cannot take 15% of that RCL to come up with the 12 million so it's based on prior year next slide please so what's changed with base support which is the funding that the state um gives for school districts for students the base support level for fy20 was $422 31 for next year we had an inflation increase of 1.74% which calculated out to be $732 next you have the governor's 20 by2 which calculated out to be $842 for a total increase of $157 24 bringing the new base support level to $4 4,359 55 which is is an approximate 3.74 per pupil increase for fy21 next we have our average teacher salary information so our average teacher salar um for fy21 are estimated to be $ 59,2 the average teacher salary for FY y20 was $ 56,58 which is a $2,644 increase or 5% now if you'll notice in number five it talks about the average teacher salary for FY 2018 so Higley salaries at that time for teachers was estim average was 47,9 72 so compared from where we started to where we are now that is a 23% increase for our teacher salaries which which please note that is a 3% 3% higher than the governor's original 20 X20 plan next we have our unrestricted capital budget so our fy20 budget was a little over 24 million so far we've spent a little over 10.4 so we have an estimated carryover about 13.8 um every year because of the growing need for um Capital items here in the district and the lack of funding that we get from the state we move a portion of our um M budget over to meet that Capital need so this year unfortunately we're only able to move six million where in previous years we have were able to move seven and 10 respectively based off of our enrollment um excuse me the state has begun the process to restore the district additional Assistance or the daa uh over the next fiveyear period the anticipated daa formula um is to be fully restored by 2023 however so until then um our daa Cal for this year calculated out to be a little over $6 million the state will keep 15% of that so that's 93 93,500 and the district will receive the remaining 85% which is the little over $5.1 million you see on the screen bringing our capital budget it's a little over $24.9 million so again question well how are we going to utilize those funds well please keep in mind we do still have our Middle School lease payment which did increase again this next year uh we do have a plan for a curriculum adoption for science I believe we also have our it refresh and then of course standard Capital Improvements um or Transportation Replacements depending on on what comes up through the year and lastly please keep in mind we do still have our potential um adjacent ways audit finding next we have special education so the classification for all excuse me the total for all disability classifications is going to be little over 13.3 million gifted education would be 728 th000 you see elll incremental for 100,000 and elll compensatory for 72,000 and of course CTE for 210 bringing the that special category area for a total of $14.4 million for next year one thing I just want to remind the governing board and the the community that the state does not provide funding for gifted education so the district sets money aside every year for that particular program and those funds um come from our override so we thank our community again for giving us those additional funds to operate next we have our classroom site fund or our prop 301 we have an estimated carryover a little over 3.2 million we have $59,000 worth of interest that we've collected and we estimate our allocation to be a little over 6.3 million for next year bringing that total budget to be a little over 9.6 million I do get questions many times wondering why is that carry forward balance always so large well well in an effort to be fiscally um responsible and conservative the district tries to provide a small increase each year so being conservative helps us to be able to continue that on an annual basis the carry forward um has also helped us cover the additional cost for teachers and expenses which tend to increase each year also as you may recall in the previous legislative session Senate Bill 1390 was approved which will go into effect when the existing prop 31.6 sales tax expires on June 30th of 21 this Senate bill will continue to allow the Arizona districts the funding to continue providing additional Monies to our teachers until this bill was passed uh the future of prop 301 was uncertain so our classroom site funds are broken down or allocated into three different funds funds first you have fund 11 which is used for base salaries So 20% of that allocation goes into 11 each year as I mentioned we Tred to provide a small increase for our teachers so in fy20 that amount was ,550 and it is estimated to go to 1,600 for next year fund 12 is used for performance pay which is 40% of that allocation and that um performance PID will go from 3,400 last year to 3500 for next year and last we have fund 13 which is used for other and so that remaining 40% allocation does go to that particular fund that fund is used to help cover the cost for additional teachers um that which again as I mentioned do come up each year and um the remaining $1,600 will come out of that fund for our teachers for next year next we have some additional funds that we um always have to factor in for our budget and we're we appreciate right so our federal projects of course are determined by the federal program in Washington those funds of course are pro passed through the department of Ed and then out to the school districts um we have some new money this year which is the money from the cares act so our allocation for next year is a little over $657,000 next we have our instructional Improvement programs also known as Indian gaming so that budget is estimated to be $624,000 um and those funds are used for class size reduction also just wanted to remind the board that this is a cash controlled fund of course and so the second payment for 20 has not yet been received so when we do receive that additional um that final payment excuse me that too would be reflected in a future budget revision however please keep in mind that the inding gaming budget of course could change if the allocation goes down due to the loss of Revenue because of covid so what happens now tonight I ask you to accept the 2021 budget as I presented here this evening tomorrow our finance department will upload our budget information to the Arizone Department of Education and to the May Copa County School superintendent's office we will also take the um adopted budget and will post it on ad's website as well as the district's website as required by Statute any questions and Dr Thomasson you did not receive any um comments correct from the public on this President caylor members of the board we did open it up to public comment that individuals could put in through the website if they had looked on um for our board agenda or our board meetings are on District website and we did have no calls for public comment at this time thank you any questions or concerns for Mr Holland tried to make it short and sweet thank you so much for that we appreciate your time all right now I move that the governing board reconvene an open session second all those in favor I I motion carries 5 Z all right we are moving on to 4.1 upcoming events Dr Thomasson president klor members of the board uh starting on Monday July 27th we will start remote learning for our community so we'll have all students have an opportunity to start their educational experience uh online this year we know that's not the best thing but it's what we have available to us at this time due to Governor duy's educational orders so um on the 27th we start school on the 29th we have a governing board meeting for an update on how things are going so that governing board meeting will be right here at 5:00 p.m.
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you yeah so based on our conversations I think the recommendation is that we move comments from the audience since we do have patrons to wish to share their comments let's go ahead and move that for any any action items and just if I could one housekeeping item with that we are recorded or we will be writing down a list of questions that are there opposed tonight and we will be answering those questions and posting those in an FAQ style formatted document on the Greencastle corporation website good evening and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight as many of you know my name is Kristen Hamilton and I am the seventh grade math teacher parent of two high school students and president of the green castle classroom Teachers Association I would like to begin by thanking mr. Gibbon II for ensuring the voice of teachers was included in the re-entry committee we had great conversations about how the proposed plan would look at each building I know that we all still have questions and are unsure about the unknown with this virus I would like everyone to know that mr.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
okay we're good all right good morning seeing the presence of a quorum i'll call the meeting of the pelham school committee to order at nine o'clock and we'll start with a roll call attendance so hall present uh ron menino present sarah best kenny present okay great um we do have on the agenda to approve the minutes um but i only realized just this morning that they weren't actually in the package so we can just approve those at the next meeting that was that really short meeting so that would be quick um so next item on the agenda is public comment and we got a number of comments so dr morris do you want to bring those up and scroll through them so we can read along yep and uh as always if i'm going too fast or too slow please just let me know um eventually i'm going to try to find some program that auto scrolls um because i don't like the pressure but i'll uh please just let me know i have every confidence in you thank you it's very straight it actually it's really hard to to do that because i've read these before all right so i'm just going to change the screen so it's more clear for viewers and okay and i'll just describe the blinds but it's too small for me to read thank you yeah it comes up bigger on the youtube than it does on your screen ron but i will i think your points will take in regardless does that look better yeah that's better yeah that's about as big as as i think i can reasonably make it and i'm looking at the youtube version and it's uh very clear on my computer like off the one that we're all looking at but the actual youtube uh it looks very clear so i will scroll okay uh ugh wow um uh you so wow uh um uh okay okay thank you um all right next up new and continuing business so connected to all of those comments um the fall preschool discussion so dr morris would you take it away yeah i've got four or five brief things to say to frame the conversation for the committee so the first thing is that um whatever decision you all make my commitment to you all is that all the current preschool staff would be employed in one of the districts that i currently work for so in other words if there's a perception that the decision you're making would be that people would be unemployed one way or the other at the end of it it's that's inaccurate um i think there's a number of ways we could think about vacancies current existing in one of my districts that people qualified for we're also looking perhaps at offering daycare or child care for staff members who return to work next year who don't have child care because they don't have that option based on the age of the kids and based on our survey we do have a need for staff members who return for early childhood care so i think there's a variety of scenarios where the benefits of working being a small district that is also connected to some larger districts is that so i want to be really clear no one is losing their job or losing their employment because of this it is possible to be either between districts or in a different district but that'd be my commitment to you because we would want to make that work for our employees no matter what the school company decides that that's not exactly the only thing i want to say but i want to start from that frame because i know it was looming large for lots of people in the community and i am committed to resolving that so that's that doesn't need to be a part of the calculus that you all have i think the second thing is you know it's an interesting discussion because this particular preschool fits somewhere in the middle of private preschools and integrated by integrated i'm talking about the crocker farm program where seven slots are reserved for students with uh special needs and there's a calculated calculator uh about what percentage have to have special needs and service delivery and there's speech language pathologists all those folks attached to the program you know this program does need to be approved right preschools and early childhood centers can't be can exist in an unapproved space but it's a completely fee-based program you know for instance at crocker farm we're obligated to provide services at least for the special ed students who are there because of a child find peace in pelham if there's a child find peace and a student has identified need that qualifies them for preschool you know we have a relationship with that preschool and that's where they would receive their special education support this is not one versus the other it's just different and there's funding that comes along with that from the state where for instance we're not allowed to charge students who qualify for crocker farm their special education programming that has to be covered by the member town and that's not true in this model this model is a fee based program and so i think for me i agree with a lot of the public comments about the value of the program i'm with them you know it's in another district i work for i spent a couple years talking about the value of early childhood education and we're doing preschool studies how do i expand access in the town of amherst so i'm in on preschool as a concept there's there's the research that was cited is very clear i think the challenge for you all is we're not in a typical climate and so as i look at eec guidance and deci guidance you know i certainly could imagine a scenario where there's 10 students 10 preschool students and 2 staff members who are attached to the program i think that's financially viable for the for pelham and i think it'd be great for students but i want to be really clear about one of the caveats is that assumes that we're able to be in person all year long last spring we allowed as many preschools did when they went to virtual that families could get refunded i understand some of that process is still playing out and we're gonna have to pull from appropriations probably to to finish off those payments and so you know for me as i see it you know the sort of two at least core options that you have one is to see if we can find 10 families or fam 10 students families because they might be siblings who are willing to commit by a contract to pay for their children to be in the preschool whether it's live or virtual for the whole year if we can find those i think that'd be you know great for students it would give the assurance you all need financially uh to be able to feel comfortable and confident and i don't know if those 10 families are out there that would make that commitment but you know i think there may be um i think there's a lot of value on the pelham preschool i think the staff do a fabulous job and i think there certainly could be those families and as long as there was the financial commitment in place i think that makes sense um i think once you go ahead above 10 kids who are preschoolers who aren't going to sit at desks right we wouldn't want them to sit at desks all day i think that's where it gets perhaps a little bit i get a little concerned from a health and safety perspective because we typically have had more than 10 students to be really clear on their program but um i think we want them to be preschoolers we want them to be three and four and five and that means they're not sitting in the same place and given you know uh lee and i looked at square footage of all the rooms in pelham and luckily that room's a little bigger than some of the you know especially the second grade room that's really small but we want to give there a full amount of space for students to be kids especially at that age level so i think the second option is to take a hiatus from the preschool for a year again i would commit that the staff who are part of the program continue to be employed and whether that ends up being that employed in different roles in another district that they're qualified for or whether that ends up again you know providing some service across the three districts um with a shared cost model uh across three districts i think you know those are both viable for pelham uh what i don't think is viable for pelham is the program costs over a hundred thousand dollars um if we froze the budget now completely froze it i don't think we could get a hundred thousand dollars i don't think we could save a hundred thousand dollars from the school uh because we don't have that level of discretionary spending in the pelham school budget so you know i guess if you're asking my opinion which i think you are at least in terms of options uh i think rolling the dice uh with that that size that cost uh would be a real challenge uh and a financial liability that i'd i think when you look at the pelham school budget the uncertainty in the state budget the uncertainty our local you know situation in terms of covet you know i think you've heard me say before our numbers continue to be really strong in the local area and pelham specifically but in massachusetts and western massachusetts i can't predict that won't change i can't predict that we won't be in november and our numbers grow to the point where we need to say we need to have a different solution for students that way so you know really the way i think about it is a just to summarize staff will be employed may or may not be in pelham but if this doesn't move forward no one won't be employed as a result of your decision uh for the next school year the second is you know i think roughly students two staff members we can work in the finances from a health and safety perspective that feels about right if the students were older i think we could get up to 13 14 in that space you know i would worry with preschool age students uh that that would really be pushing the envelope on health and safety and i'm not i don't that's not advisable from my perspective if you look at the the eec guidance for instance it's really capping at 10 10 students and two families and i think is consistent in all the districts i tend to go to the most conservative guidance that we receive and stick with that even if other guidance will allow for more and you know between the two guidance right now desi and ec ec is a little more restrictive on that um again we could see if there's families willing to fund the program and pay for slots whether they're in person or virtual um and that's something that certainly we could you know you know both lee and then you know working with the preschool staff we can reach out to families who are registered and see the response to that um and if we can't get those commitments try to think of other options certainly they're valuable staff members and again we we'd commit that i keep saying it but i think i wanted to be really clear to everyone that that no one is going to lose their job this for the next school year based on whatever decision this committee makes because we committed to them and their salary notices and things have changed since then since we were issuing those a bit and you know we will we will do our best to make that work um and so really that's what i wanted to say i know i said it a couple times but i want to make sure you know i'm being clear with with you all and the public about that so that you can deliberate and certainly i'm happy to answer any other questions and as is legally and i've talked about this a bunch this week and last week as well so she's uh quickly catching up to speed and her uh it's the beginning of her third week in the job or two and a half weeks in the job so all right thanks dr morris um so i mean i i do have some questions and i want obviously committee members to have a chance to ask um and i think i just also want to recognize because talking about the preschool and whether or not to keep it open has come up previously during my tenure and i just want to recognize that it is a really important resource and it's something that people whether it's the families who enroll in it or other teachers in the school people in the community really value and just want to put that out there that this this classroom in particular seems to really spark a lot of like loyalty and passionate feelings in a great great way so i just want to throw that out there because i think it's important to recognize that our job is to sort of talk in an almost cold way about the facts on the ground especially now that we have this public health emergency but i do want to recognize that this has a really real and immediate this conversation has a real and immediate impact on families and on the school um so i i have some questions but ron and sarah bess i'm happy to let you go first with you like to ask questions of either lee or mike sarah um i guess i have a couple of questions right so i and i i don't know how the preschools fall into this category i mean since the beginning of all this there have been some um like early childhood centers that have stayed open as emergency workers or whatever how does the pelham preschool fall into that category or not fall into that category and i guess i was thinking about this morning that if it is something that were i mean i guess you know i feel like i also like my kids went to the pelham preschool last year i had a fourth grader who was part of the reading buddies program who absolutely loved it like i also have feelings about the preschool on like a personal mom side of things um and i think it's fantastic and i think it would be really sad um if we were to lose that but so is there so i mean where the preschool is in the school can fairly be quarantined off pretty good right um so yeah i guess that's my question how does the preschool work into that like essential worker daycare center part of all of it do we know sorry a very long question no my sense and i'm not an expert in this is that preschools were able to apply and stay open if they were accepting families who were as you said emergency workers and so that's a different model i don't know what the pay structure is i don't know if families you know the state covered the cost of that my understanding is i think the state was a part of that it wouldn't be opening it for current families um that would be um marcus joining so i'm just gonna add her in um um so that that's my understanding so that would be a really different model we could see what's viable about that i think as at the current time my understanding is as preschools have been allowed to opens for the last three weeks um the emergency piece has died kind of slowed down because there are preschools that have opened up both locally and across the state um so you know i think that'd be a different conversation uh and not that one that i'm not worth having about you know could it be declared an emergency um site but i think as that's not at the current time um that's not how preschools are operating because other preschools are open it would be more preparing for if places had to close um it would also be uh something that we would need to bring up with the association that um that you know for it to become an emergency site involves a different level of dialogue with the teachers association that we would want to have so certainly i'm just had something i hadn't thought of uh explicitly so i i know i'm sort of just sort of putting a laundry list of items of how we could think about that but we'd have to explore that as a really different model um than what the current model is which is paying members of of the public who choose to send their children right i guess i have four issues one of the shape of the program the virtual aspect if it comes to that uh served parents then finally a financial issue um what if the shape of the program well there will there be reading bodies in the future can fourth graders uh enter the uh preschool room oh that kind of thing uh all the things we love about the program to what extent will they continue in the future sure so i think to answer your fourth grade question the answer that one's really uh a no uh at the current time i but i also to be fair uh many many of the wonderful things about the program happened in the room when there weren't fourth graders there i mean i want to acknowledge that the inner grade relationships are huge but i would not suggest that having the program in place means that it wouldn't still be magical and still be wonderful it would have to be different you know and it would have to be different in terms of other people coming in the room preschool is such a place and i think the staff have doing a fabulous job there of integrating parents into the space that would have to look very very different than it currently does but um you know some of the health and safety pieces right so preschoolers aren't you know we haven't had masks and things like that on adults when they're working in ppe working in preschool so that'll look different but uh what we did hear from there was a good newspaper reporting of this uh about it um you know that the early the emergency shake uh child care centers like sarah best talked about students acclimated pretty well to some of those changes and they were successful at both not having disease spread but also in terms of students having you know pretty good experiences to your point they're definitely different mr menino but um i would suggest in my personal opinion that the staff could figure out creative ways to to continue to be successful with students even in a different environment and then secondly um the willingness of parents to support a virtual program i happen to have my daughter living with me now from dc to escape all the riots and the disease down there and she's uh trying to debate whether to send her three-year-old back to the jewish community center uh and she is reluctant to send her back for an in-day program the program changing to a virtual program because in her opinion she can do what a three-year-old will get from a tv monitor uh so i don't know whether that's just one example uh that somebody a 35 year old woman is unwilling to put us a three-year-old in a program that may turn virtual she's reluctant and i think our staff from what i understand what was reported to me did a great job last spring trying to make that the best it can be um i think the one thing that you could say is we could give the staff an opportunity to ask that question and then come back to you with what they said i make no assumptions on what the responses will be i think that's why we would ask you know a question but since preschool isn't required in the same way that grades particularly one through six are in massachusetts um and these this isn't a integrated program where the special needs rise to the surface of needing an end in day special education program like at crocker farm we won't know until we'll ask till we ask um and you know i think we would we would need is a firm commitment um not uh i think so um we would you know financially i think you know and i agree with the chairs comments is an awkward conversation to have um but that's what we do you know i'm i'm right what i'm supposed to do is give you uh feedback so you can make the best decision i'm pretty clear that a hundred thousand dollars or 115 is is not something that i see in the pelham budget uh if there were no funding coming in at the same time i you know we don't know what families would commit to um if they knew that this was sort of needed for the preschool to stay open um and you know that's one option we could explore in in short order is uh having a meeting like this except not necessarily uh open meeting law right just have a meeting where um the staff could share here's their you know um here's a scenario um and if we want the program to be viable that's the commitment we'd be looking for we understand if that's not a commitment people are willing to make and seeing what the yield is again i don't want to predict the outcome because i don't i don't feel like i am in a place to to do that um and it's just one option i mean we could think of some of the others again i want to give all the i think viable options to you all to make whatever decision you think is the best one thirdly a question of unmet need this committee has considered closing the program down in previous years in previous years i was looking at the financials and said well close it down but then it came to my attention there are parents who count on this program without this program their life is upended [Music] how do we assess whether we're creating an unmet need that'll be disastrous for some families i mean well basically uh how do we prevent uh destroying some families or a copy down their kid attending the pelham preschool program next year yeah so i think that's a question pre-k to 12 to be honest with you right now um and the thing i'm i know is that we can't control the virus we locally can do our best to do things safely but whether the virus spikes or doesn't spike is relying on factors that are outside pelham outside amherst outside shoots very and outside leverage and so i feel confident or i feel strongly we can't make a commitment to any family right now that conditions might not change and it might have not have to go virtual at some point i think you've heard me at enough meetings mr meno and everybody else talk about the safety measures we're putting in place which i think are exceeding frankly any other district in massachusetts that i know of in terms of distance spacing all of those pieces not having students you know i know number of districts are having different students in the same seats in the same day or the day after we've said no to that you know pre-k to 12.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above