Gifford or this world I see miss Rory I think she wants to be looking at are on mute er yeah we we don't have the we don't have the full plan yet but I know they're considering making adjustments I know folks want to it to be waived but they haven't had a decision yet in a normal year you know there's always the requirement to take the 10th grade test but in a normal year there would be a November makeup as well so I don't know what will be there and whether they'll offer that so we'll keep you posted thank you Miss Roy all I have are do we have any public comments for the tonight's meeting we do we have an email from David Aaron's and you write I hear people discussing putting the decision of rebranding to a diversity committee instead of holding a public meeting virtual or otherwise can we hear can we have this answered clearly will there be public hearings on the mascot Thank You Kate is there any other public comment no okay so I will I will leave that as we are we have the item on our agenda next meeting of the creation of an equality committee and at this point in time we are there's no plan for a public a public meeting or any kind of public meeting that's not to say that may not happen but right now there is no plan on that until after we hear from our newly established hopefully the next couple of weeks our newly established committee that being said our next meeting date is August 3rd at 4 p.m.
wait on the motion any other discussion rojo it's Gunther your Salah bird yeah Shannon Jenkins yes Mary wait yes Kathleen Amaral yes John Nunes yes this meeting is adjourned thank you everyone for your time have a great night thank you [Music] everybody Jim you got any warrants so you're gonna be good right now one of the
and as we always do we stand and do the pledge to the flag those that can ledge allegiance to the flag indivisible thank you thank you uh before we all sit down and get too comfortable oh and if you do not want to participate in this it's up to you to me it's an honor and it's a sad occasion that I think that as this community grows and we see the diversity in our community and the sense this is a part of our history I think that we should take a moment and just have a moment of sorry for Congressman John Lewis and as we remember congressman Lewis and all that he stood for let's not forget Ct Vivian and his contributions so if you would like to I would appreciate it if we would just take a few moments of silence to remember these two warriors thank you all so very much Annette could you do roll call so I know who's here boy limits so we can have it on record okay I've got jokes of Britain please Rachel s key here key caneta present Gladys Cooper here Lauren Daly here Joe de Silva is absent the signals Catherine Ashton also absent this evening Richards Nellie Cathy Molinaro here al Russo Amos polina yeah so nine present two absent Thank You Kate just some housecleaning some of you that was on earlier if you have any questions you ask you to do your question through the chat box and as Carrie has stated early dr.
Let's stop and we're going to sing the US national anthem, " One Nation Under Each Level." Thank you. Before we begin, you can participate or not, it's up to you. It's my apology. It's an honor to participate in this community that is growing in diversity. We're going to take a moment of silence for Congressman John Lewis and his contributions. Let's also take a moment of silence for these two people who are warriors. Thank you very much for respecting the minute of silence. Gladys Cooper is going to call each member of the school. It's Katy with Edge. With her, also the names to see who is in the meetings. [Music] I'm calling all members of D. Belda Moore and Public School. All members. She's calling each member. Penalties of wandering, two faults. And we are there at the head of the education. If you have questions, you have to put them in the box where you can ask questions.
hey it's working okay okay all right fantastic we just miss Gabriella Hey I'm right here can you hear me yeah because you disabled my ability to share my screen so I could put the flies up reading anything could you disabled my abilities here it's my screen so I could put the flag up I didn't know the web was that big thank you okay I believe it is calling what he join us yes she she is I will text her okay and we'll just go ahead and start with the openings so it is now yes seven number two and I'm going to go ahead and call the regular open sessions this is the meeting to order item 4.0 we'll start with the flag salute I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all Hey next we're gonna move on to roll call and then Gary can we pause for just a second yeah the announcement for Spanish translation for those who need to click the button oh yes please why are you there she might already be in the translator class but those who need Spanish translation can click the interpretation button that's like on the bottom of the screen mr.
Meade will be checking in with a checkbox and to go over the questions or put them before the superintendent we ask you to have your phone and microphone muted only the Board of Ed lemons are to have your phone's your microphones unmuted so at this time we know we have superintendent here I'm going to turn this part of the workshop over to our super thank you guys very much for this night and to come together and have dialogue regarding the plan I have my team here two cabinets here I did mention that representing our county and Senate Kushner and Brennan I think will be joining us I don't know others I see city council members on I know the mayor is on as well so we have a few things I'd like to begin with so would you please bring up the presentation what I'm going to ask the board what we're trying to do is not read we've talked about the plan number of times than we've sent it out but there are some things the narrative around the plan that I think is relevant for you to know and be thinking about I'm going to ask you patience because this plan has changed even today we get information from the State Department we get best practices that are changed and we make adjustments so just that we will try to dispel rumors as they come through but there are things that may be said on Monday and Monday evening they've changed very true so two things I want to express to you that I've come around to understanding it next year the assurances I have that regarding teaching and learning is that we're going to we're going to have distance learning as a given whichever system that we're on and if we bring students and in my view that'll be a luxury given the uncertainty of everything that's happening I'm not a monologist I read what all of them are saying and while I'm coming down on the best practices and things that we were able to operationalize in our plan the the the recommendations from the state are put forward as guidelines and they have a qualified it says for example in the social distancing if you can achieve it well we're working on that but you will see tonight there are so many more things to to what we're doing then the this saying regarding safety and it's important for parents the board and the City you know with our due diligence is being done I said a month ago I'm gonna focus on safety and because of that I will go on right now telling you that I've I've ridden the state with support from the mayor and from this board and I thank you just twice actually most recently you want to bring up the second letter for me Kevin that my preference is that we start in the hybrid model I think the state has required us as a district has required you as a board to follow the code as you're sworn to do and I am sworn to do and we will do that we have three phases to our plan my preference I will make no bones about it is the hybrid model and I feel it's a model that would present itself in a way that I can create a better and safer atmosphere for all our students the the phase one as in my letter here to the governor is one that we put forward and it's going to require much adjustments that we will talk about this evening if you look at the my five points about safeguarding health and safety of students and staff allowing students opportunity return to school full-time starting in the fall that is what were asked to do and with that I I say to you we are returning in the fall it is the everyday thing that I'm having some real angst about so I want to put that as a backdrop and I do want you to know that I've been working diligent about the mayor he has been working with the city medical advisor I've been working with our medical advisor and we will update you with some information regarding that as we file as we send their plan to the state we are going to attach an addendum that I think would be helpful in supporting our case for starting in Phase two you want to roll that through a little bit for me the Bri entry plan is extremely expensive and Courtney's going to go through it you're going to see half as much of money that we could have spent we've had to prioritize focusing on the things that I've talked about in terms of distance learning safety cleanliness things that when we listen to the various groups Kevin's going to bring up as they gave us input they have a very high priorities for us we've attempted to achieve that in in a in a manner that was reasonable and a man that we could afford to do but in actuality the need and the ones that far exceed or we think we need to do totally if we would achieve everything that the guidelines request us to do we're fulfilling them but as best as possible with that standard so you want to move through the letter and go to the next phase may about and I'm going to I'm going to ask you at this point if you'd like to comment regarding set the stage a little bit about what we've been doing sure absolutely thank you dr.
You can put questions for the superintendent. For the other people who are participating, put your answers in Newton. Silently. At this moment we have the superintendent here. It's the superintendent. Let's talk, Dr. Sanz. We're going to start a dialogue together. You have a group where others are also participating, including Mayor Sanz, Senator Joe Jonas, and other members. Now they want to bring the presentation. They're going to talk about Plan D for the reopening of public schools. The only thing that's asked of that high science is because every day we get new information. [Music] Everyone is trying to receive the information little by little. Dr. Sanz, they're going to talk about the opening of schools and they're going to inform you about everything that's happening. They're the best practices that can be done for the opening of schools and the state's recommendations, the guidelines that we have to follow.
ticket can you translate that los que necesitan IE esta gente en espanol Abajo de su pantalla I own a selection and minook and he said interpretation II's selection is a vote on ba ba tener la vie on the desk Oh herro le heal Spanish selection area so if level I ought robot on dande by the seed mute original audio esas cosas selection selection on eva poder or year nuestra gente om vivo en espanol okay thank you mr.
Tsao so we really engaged our health department in our medical advisor and dr. Fong to be able to talk a little bit more about what is available under the governor's executive order and what steps that we can take to make sure that our children are safe and secure and particularly obviously and some of our buildings that are there are just a lot of kids there and so we've had several meetings about this today's meeting we sort of came up with a strategy that along with our reopening plan we would add in a letter from our doctors that are very direct saying look we don't you know I'm sorting it but basically says look we just don't think it's safe to send our kids back to school under a full opening you know plan that the hybrid plan would be the best approach I don't see a bureaucrat up there that's going to want to overrule a doctor a medical doctor for the simple fact that god forbid we have an outbreak or a community spread going on in one of the schools we're gonna hold people accountable I'm gonna hold people accountable people accountable that ignore our requests that's very rational reasonable and safe that's been put forward so we think that that is a very powerful message to be able to send to those individuals that are making this decision and we certainly understand and applaud their enthusiasm to get our kids back to school as fast as possible I think all of us agree that there's such incredible value and being in a classroom as a former teacher I can tell you that the classroom experience is really why we have schools but we also you know we have a responsibility to protect the health safety and welfare of our children and our residents and opening at a full opening plan will I believe jeopardize the health safety and welfare of our students and all of our residents not just the kids but also the parents the staff members everybody so we think that this will give us a significant amount of leverage and being able to convince the state that you know Danbury is unique in many ways not unique in other ways but unique and incidentally the amount of students we have and that we really need consideration of this approach there are certainly some schools out there you know I think of chibok high school that has it's about half full right it's built for 800 there's about 400 kids in there they can go to a full opening because they have enough space to offer 6 feet between every child we just don't have that at Danbury high school and we don't have that our middle schools don't have some adventures in our elementary schools so we believe that this would make the most sense for everybody it's a burden to some extent to parents we understand that we have a custodial care duty here as much as we have education but at the end of the day it's my responsibility I took an oath to protect the health safety and welfare for all people in the city you all did as well and I just am very passionate that this approach is the best way now January we can reevaluate it if it seems like you we've kept on this downward trajectory then that's what we'll do I will tell you that our numbers have been bumping along at about one or two new infections per day we get a death every three or four days tragically horribly so it's not completely wiped out it is out there and it's just a matter of putting people on the right proximity to other people to begin a new spread of infection so I think that dr.
As always, social distancing is being worked on, and there are many things that have to be worked on, especially with distancing and with the health and safety of all people. We need to focus on safety above all else, and we have the support of the mayor. Here are the rules that the state gives. They're going to have some preferences and they're going to go with the hybrid model, which means glass, and the hybrid model, which means the... That children can be present and also online, that is, on the computer. They are going to adjust many things throughout the school reopening for the safety of students and staff, the teachers. What needs to be done and what will be done for the fall. Dr. Salt has been working as the mayor of Danbury and with other councils and has a lot of information regarding how it will be done.
Ortega next we'll go to move on to roll call board member pinion present board member Gonzalez yeah Christmas all's here who's gonna go I'm sorry board member Ariana's present and board member Grier yeah here so there we are and now we will move on to approval of the agenda do I have a motion on the floor motion to approve agenda a motion by board member Ariana's ended by Gore board member career and any discussion no okay then we can go ahead and vote and why is this not let me have to yes at the wrong screen I apologized okay and passes 5-0 alrighty now we will move to item 5.0 and that's items from the floor public comment on the agenda or non agenda items by point this is an opportunity for the public to address the board on agenda or non agenda items no action can be taken on the non-agenda items individual speakers may be allowed up to three minutes to address the board on any agenda or non agenda item prior to addressing the dirt board please fill out the request to speak public comment blue card and submit it to the board secretary and with that do we have any hands raised if you want to make public comment if anybody is please raise your hand you give it just a second but I do not see any hands raised yet yeah I don't see any hands either we did have mr. William said he was gonna come back yes mr.
sail the board the medical team has done the right thing here we're doing everything we can to talk to everybody we can up there we encourage our legislators to to help us with that by reaching out to the commissioner and to the governor staff and saying that we think this is the right right approach but tough times but I think we'll get through it so phase one phase two my conversation with everyone that I'm speaking to and has to do with with our size and we have to make accommodations to make it work things that we have to create during a school day to allow the youngsters to attend if we are to start in in phase one but that be as it is I wanted Kevin to go through and let the community know and 163 participants and may have about another hundred and plus on the TV that what all went through here this doesn't mean that everybody agreed to all of this all this is his input that we've received so go ahead Kevin but I say the other letter no just go ahead and go to the first phase go to the participants the participants here yes do you want to talk about them so we can do that right well this is just a thinking thinking the committees at the top are the committee's many of them many of them officials of the city and then a lot of the folks are also district staff member so we just want to express our appreciation to this group and then the group down below or additional staff members and district staff members who we had X for additional help X for their expertise and feedback on and what we just want to take this opportunity to to express our appreciation for them as well you want to roll through it and start the presentation okay State cells so the state the state has the state has identified priorities for every district that is going to submit a plan I'm starting with every school district is required to have a hundred and eighty days and 900 hours of instruction in our case most recently as recent as is this week we got we got final final word that it has been approved at the state level that schools can also elect to have a hundred and seventy seven days and 888 hundred and eighty five days of instruction if I'm sorry if hours if the board decides to avail itself of the 180 day rule this this is also the state also requires is one of the three big priorities is that we have a plan in place for in school instruction for all students on a full-time basis a plan to provide both in-person or remote learning support options and this is what we're calling a hybrid model and then last but not least a plan for total distance learning in the event there's a significant resurgence of Kovach 19 in our community the state recently is this week submitted correspondence that stated that any plan that is submitted to the department this this week that does not include a floor we open an option as one of the three models will not be in compliance with the expectation and so as to help further inform and development of our plan a lot of folks on this call certainly aware that we have elicited feedback of our community Ferrothorn exchange which I'll talk about a little further our district surveys we sent out a first survey right after the state plan was released then we just released another survey yesterday in which we have almost eighteen hundred participants already we've also had several town hall meetings too with our administrators specifically to this issue reopening to with our teachers and staff one with students and then to town hall meetings also with our parents and community family and community and then of course we had a Board of Ed meeting specifically for reopening as well families most recently in the last two surveys were asked to select their child's program and choice which we will speak to throughout this presentation and families and staff in the thought exchange in in town hall meetings were asked their highest priority for reopening schools and so our initial survey in July and I'll give you some preliminary data for our survey that was just released yesterday and in that feedback from the survey we learned earlier in July that 73 percent of our respondents would plan and have their children returned to school if we would have to fool in person learning at the time again this is when the state's plan was first released 52 percent of our families responded that fit that their child would plan to ride the bus 64 percent when asked if he would choose a hybrid model that was offer 64 percent of our families said that they would select that model and last but not least if offered 51 percent of our family said that they would choose an exclusive distance learning to start the 21 2021 school year a town hall feedback as you might as you might imagine a lot of people again on this call who are watching that they part of the town hall feedback sessions just a summary we did have seven engagement sessions in total and needless to say health and safety was the primary focus of those meetings there were several questions about supplying staff and students with PPE you know there were also questions particularly as we got close and closer to our presentations what if in this hybrid ad model would there be opportunities for siblings to come to school together regardless of grade levels so we will have an opportunity to talk about that later on as well staff and families express concerns about our ventilation systems no fans in the classrooms etc and so Courtney's going to talk about that a little bit and how we're going to mitigate to help mitigate those issues there were a number of questions about the process for suspected cove 819 cases and and at the same time who is going to deep clean and/or disinfect our schools and so I think that community is going to be very happy to hear that we have plans for all of those areas playing for extracurricular activities in in one of our town hall sessions you know one of the several students in that in that breakout session talked about the importance of you know maintaining extracurricular activities and that it was important for them in a priority for them that we we ensured that they still had a high school experience in middle school and experience and so we will be talking about that throughout the presentation as well I'm implementing safety drills without congregating on it so that is still something we were exploring if we're going to make this happen a plan for higher staff and students and so you're gonna hear a plain about staff as we go through the presentation and then staff how to enforce the wearing of masks training of staff and that we'll be talking about when talking about our district calendar reliable internet access for families who will sanitize at rooms in between uses students sharing materials and health concerns for students right in the bus or all prominent issues that were raised in our meetings and for the most part in this presentation this evening you can get responses in how we how we how we plan to attack those the throne exchanged feedback was four hundred three hundred and ninety eight total participants but there were eight thousand and six hundred and fifty items rated and in what you see in this slide are the top rated thoughts that I was able to include anyway for this PowerPoint but again you not probably this group will not be surprised to hear that the health and the health of all students who staff was the most consideration teachers particularly were concerned about class sizes being too large to to be able to social distance and so Courtney is certainly going to talk about that and I'll work with a an architect to come up with a plan to make sure we have we can address the social distance guidelines you know specific questions about vulnerable staff and so we will be speaking to that later on in the slide with our HR department with Kim Thompson and we must have resources to protect staff and students otherwise we should not open for in-person learning and I think this evening you heard dr.
They will continue adding more documents or more information to the plan. There is a lot of money being spent on the things that have to be used for the reopening, and they are already trying to be sure of how to do things, the things that have to be accomplished, and even more so with the guidelines that have to be followed. They are going through the plans, and he is asking the mayor if he wants to talk about what is being done right now. The mayor wants to stay connected with the health department to talk about what the state recommends regarding returning to the building, how many children will be there, there are many strategies. They are going to add a letter to the doctor, the doctor who is direct, they are just going to work on it. Sending a letter like this means that children can participate in schools, or they may not be thinking about it, but it's still unknown if it will happen.
Umi Hey I really don't hmm if mr. rout okay we can give mr. Rooney about a minute and then perhaps if he does pop on in the next five minutes we can go ahead and open it up and let him speak and I believe it's pronounced Ryu Ryu thank you hmm if you would like to make a public comment please click the raise your hand button all right I have no raise hands okay then we shall move on and 6.0 comments and requests by the board so we will start with board member crews concise I cannot hear you yes okay okay yeah so just very quickly and as we saw with the governor coming out with clearer guidelines on Friday I think we made the right choice earlier in that week when their pseudo recommended that we stay in distance learning in the meanwhile um I do um you know I do look forward to the conversation today I'm moving forward around how we can ensure this strengthens our delivery of distance learning and how we can ensure that our families and our students are learning and learning you know a rich are rich and having a rich learning experience so I I do welcome those conversations and I just hope that we as a community can do everything that we need to do to control the coronavirus spread so that we were able to come back into schools because I know I'm eager to have my son be in a classroom and I know I mean I know educators all of our educators want to be able to go back because we all know that's the optimal way to teach so that's that's all I wanted to say thank you okay board member Ariana's can you guys hear me yes I wanted to first of all just say thank you again to our superintendent for working on our distance learning and being able to tackle all the questions and Dana actually all our cabinet all the questions and all the uncertainties that have you know that are coming and all the questions that teachers parents looking forward to the Town Hall this Thursday and and there's going to be one on Friday so looking forward to that I agree as well I think we made a right choice and being able to go and do distance learning the governor did come out on Friday and he kind of made a comment when he said you know most school districts around California have already done this but this is now official that I am recommending this and so I am excited to be able to have a different distance learning that we did when the crisis hit and there's going to be some bumps and roads but I do know and I I do know that we will try to be able to target and be able to resolve all the problems or issues that come along I did want to let you guys know that in legislation there is a bill going through for the is it the digital divide and which we were talking about last week about parents students having equitable access to to the Wi-Fi and for it to become a public utility for all for everyone to be able to access it so I hope to continue to follow this bill so we can go ahead and be but I have equitable access to Wi-Fi for our most needy families and I hope everyone everyone's having a great summer and I haven't gone anywhere so I can't share anything of where I've gone so board member Greer a good evening everyone first I you know kind of announced a few weeks back and months back and continue to plan on hosting zoom coffees once a month however this month I did have mine originally scheduled for this upcoming Thursday and I know that the district is holding an online conversation and so I'm going to strongly recommend that anybody who might have typically you know taking that space to to come and join in on that conversation I would encourage you to join in on the district conversation that's happening on this Thursday and and Friday only other thing I have is just a point of of clarification I know that we have a governance meeting that's coming up scheduled for next month my hope is during that conversation that we're able to finish up really finalize I think we finished some of the work from one of from a governance conversation last year around some protocol and whatnot but I don't know that we that we produced any document or protocol manual or whatnot so so I would like to see us you know have to have space and time to work through that and finalize those things my hope is that we're able to do that next month and that's all I have thank you board member drear board member Rodriguez Pena yes good evening everyone I just wanted to thank think together you know when I walk in the morning I went by Murray school and I seen the employees of think together helping hand out the food to to the what the grab-and-go lunches to the community and I want to thank think together I didn't honestly realize that they were also you know helping us helping our employees and I also want to thank again all the essential workers and everyone that was included on you know getting ready for this distant learning I'm very excited and I'm very proud that a USD has pretty much have a schedule or a program I just we want you to see it happen I do have friends and other districts that are also starting in August and they're like we have any week which we don't even have a plan yet you know I mean we don't even know what we're supposed to be doing you know what do you guys do it or not I'll let them know like wow you're you're ahead of us and I'm very proud to say that they USD we're we're ready to go and and we'll see what happens thank you okay thank you miss Rodriguez Pena and for me Adrian you and I must have been on the same wavelength because I was going to bring up I simply had the discussion on the rotating mayor last night I thought about it and I know he had had that discussion and I wanted to make sure that our board bylaws reflected what we had decided and I found its word bylaw 9100 organ is a and it's about the meeting where you elect and it says number one elect president vice president and clerk from its members but farther on it says board shall each year like one of its members to be clerk so we need to fix that and make it clerk I well I guess during that um we can discuss it during our governance workshop but I just wanted to point out that there's a conflict of comments in there and we need to clean that up a little and thank you everybody for what you're doing as far as getting things ready for school I actually shared that presentation and our schedule blocks to my school it's an Iowa as they are going back to regular learning they're going back to in school learning which is but in case they go back I sent that to him and he thought it was great he couldn't believe he was an I so thank you for every making us that good it's all of our employees that make a second so and that's about it so we'll go ahead and we'll move on to item [Music] 7.0 comments and reports by cabinet members and superintendent so I'll miss cardina thank you a couple of things on Monday the 13th I was able to attend my first Azusa leaders from hurting Education Foundation meeting I want to thank the foundation for all of the work time and dedication that they have dedicated for our students here in Azusa in the past and I look forward to what is to come in the future and partnering with them and being part of this organization I was very thankful and had a really good time at my first meeting tonight we're going to be diving deeper into a into our distance learning plan for the opening of school here in August in advance of that I do want to thank dr.
cell and I may or speak to this issue and I think we've heard the community loud and clear hence you know the two letters that have already been submitted to the state and another in another letter that's that's going to back to further support the idea of coming in in a hybrid model something that we're also preparing for and that is supporting our students and staff with social emotional support and again in the thought exchange this was one of our highest-rated items and last but not least additional staff for cleaning and disinfecting classrooms in other areas of the building and you're also going to hear later on in the presentation on how we plan to address those items in those concerns and so there are as part of the requirements from the state for planets to be submitted there were there are certain sections that that are required in every single plan and so we've tried to align our plan with the state's expectation and so the categories are as follows facilities and operations transportation and food services health and wellness academic experiences for students staff and Families training for staff to open up the year to help open up the year safely and provide social and training around social emotional support for staff and students tech technology so the ability and the assurance is that we can provide one-to-one devices for all of our children and and and help support families that need need support with connectivity specifically in social-emotional support before and after school care so dr.
They will have access to information about how to use the resources offered. It's a very important message, especially for those making decisions. Some are enthusiastic about sending children to school, and others aren't. As you know, children learn in schools, that's why there are public schools, so there's interaction. But with these circumstances, we also have to think about the other opportunities being given to parents. These opportunities are being offered, it's a unique kind of love, but we have to be mindful of how to proceed. Right now, for example, there are 400 children in one school, and there are others in other schools as well, but it's still unknown how it will be done in elementary or middle schools. It's a bit of a problem for all parents to make decisions, but at the end of the day, the responsibility also lies with the mayor and the representatives of the community.
Mitchell and the countless other staff members that have come together to imagine the best possible scenario audience inform families as was mentioned this is an evolving environment that we are in right now and I just want to plot everyone who has added value to this plan with that mindset of continuous improvement we look forward to this Thursday and Friday when we will have an opportunity to engage with our families in a live manner and discuss what the beginning of the school year would look like and the options that were going to be offering to our families lastly I would like to introduce everyone to Colleen Patterson who is serving as our interim assistant superintendent of business services while we are working on hiring a new assistant superintendent Colleen has been with the Sousa Unified School District in the past and in a similar role and so she already comes with a base knowledge of our district and already know some of our staff and so she's got an advantage and has hit the ground running although she's not working full-time she is definitely jumping in and assisting in the areas that we have need in her main role is to oversee the big the big items that are coming up assist with questions and clarifications add to team collaborations and decision-making and ensure that the department continues to function seamlessly we in these last couple of days that she has been here I have really enjoyed the added value that she brings it so welcome coding that is all for me president thank you and assistant superintendent for your own team for comment okay assistant superintendent Danny Mitchell dr.
Mead is gonna speak to those areas also as family-school partnerships and then we will close out the sections required in a plan with chips elvis trainee with extra critical activities there have been a flurry of questions on the clarifications needed and chip has been gracious enough to join us this evening to help to help present and so the first person to present this evening is Courtney from director of finance and operations and Courtney thanks Evan um at first I just wanted to say thank you a big thank you to the mayor the legislators the board the medical staff that we work with them with and all the administrators and teachers that got us to the place where we are in the plan and as you'll see you know we still have a ways to go and we have a lot in place that we're going to talk to you about tonight but I want to say first thank you so much to everybody that's contributed to what we have so far Kevin I don't know if I have the ability to advance okay thank you so the first thing we just want we wanted to talk to you about was the resources that we've dedicated as doc Patel said it's not enough but we've prioritized with the resources that we do have we've dedicated about 5.2 million dollars of which that's the federal cares that you can see the sources on the bottom we spoke to the board and to the public about a braided funding approach for this this fiscal year this is a subset of that braided funding that is allowing us to safely return students to school within the guidelines and what we've done is we so it's the cares forming before the federal ESS our money that we were tucked with the board about earlier there's a city fund so we've partnered with the city to utilize some of our reserve from some of the things that we needed to do and we're utilizing some grant carryover funds from this year from our state alliance and petal and grants so what what are we purchasing that's what this has been a work in progress with a lot of people involved including the director of curriculum the director of Technology director of safety before foot the city and with our nursing supervisor as well as our director especially HR so what we currently are dedicating in resource is about three million dollars to online instruction and distance learning included a big purchase of one to one for Chromebooks software that we need and needed to get in place last year to get students to be able to work remotely but to do their distance learning from home and additional investments that Kara dr.
So, it's starting to take shape, deciding what is best for everyone. Parents, for the children, there are many things, there are many who say two days a week, four days a week, they are seeing, they are seeing how it will be carried out, because doctor, the group of doctors and in which they are doing the best they can to see what can be done, including conversations with legislators and also with a state representative, but in the end I think we are all going to go through all this in the first phase, as the first phrase says, it has to be something that can be tested, if they are going to be attended to or not. Mr. Bing is going to continue with our conversation. Of course, not all of us agree with what is decided. Most of us are in favor of the changes. Luis is going to speak now, Kevin is going to continue with the committee, the reopening committee.