001It's now 5.06 on April 27th and I'm calling to order the Joint School Board City Council Subcommittee meeting for April. And I don't know if we have, if we want to just, the only thing on our agenda is the COVID-19 update. So Mr. Jinks, would you like to give us an update? Sure. Unfortunately, the caseloads in Alexandria continue to grow as they continue to grow in the Washington area. We're up to 627 cases. That's out of 20,000 in the D.C. area. The number of deaths in the D.C. area is almost 800, and we have, unfortunately, 18 of those. The numbers are still rising, so we are nowhere near 14 days of declining new cases, which is big. measure whether or not a phase one kind of startup or reopening can occur. It's been a lot
002of work. done in this area. We've thanked the schools for providing. I think we have eight school health nurses who've been helping for the last couple of weeks with contact tracing. We are going to expand that with other city employees. Given the volume of work that needs to be done, the determination has been made that non-health professionals helping are better than it not getting done. So that will be expanded. One of the only probably upside is police calls are down 42%. And so as a result, we've had far less crime. We also have switched to electronic reporting for more cases. And so we have officers actually responding, sitting at home and being kind of out of harm's way and conducting their shift that way by doing the electronic calls. On the other hand, DCHS, as
003Kate can attest, has been absolutely swamped. with applications for service and people's needs. We can hardly imagine what they've had to be dealing with. Dealing with health in their group homes, dealing with expanding. We've now got homeless families in hotels. The winter shelter, which was supposed to close, has now moved to George Houston. Carpenters is still running it, but in our facility. So we've had to really shift city resources where we've needed to. Parks and Rec staff, although most of their programs are closed down, they've been helping with food distribution in a number of areas. And the city council provided more money for Alive, $270,000. 200,000 to the Act Now fund matched and got matched with almost $600,000 in private fundraising. And those dollars will be used to provide grants to nonprofits to meet their
004clients' needs. So we've got a lot going on. One thing we do not know at this stage is how much of the federal CARES money, which was approved several weeks ago, the state is going to allocate to us. The state secretary of finance indicated today they... are maybe a couple weeks out from making that decision. And they were exhorted by the local government officials on today's phone call, by the Northern Virginia officials, not to use the school aid formula to distribute those monies. If they come to the city, we're proposing those dollars be used primarily for... dealing with feeding. We're going to have a hunger issue probably all through a good portion of the spring and some of the summer to be used for helping people with their housing. They've been, I'm not sure what
005this month's delinquency will be with rents, but I've imagined it's going to be much higher than it has been, as well as small business grants. The ADP is working on a proposal on that front. So we're working on proposals, not knowing how much the federal dollars are going to come to us, but we want to be ready when they get to us. Probably we'll know the dollar amounts and the specific programs by the middle of May in order to be able to take action. So every day brings something new that we had not planned on or not thought about or never had to do before. But the city staff and the schools help and has been extraordinarily resourceful and figuring stuff out. We thank ACPS, but we're in this probably for a while longer. Well,
006we thank you for partnering with us. So it's been great to have the relationship. Dr. Hutchings, do you want to give us an update on your? From your side? Yes. Well, first of all, I do want to thank Mr. Jenks and all of our city leads who are on this call, as well as people who are not on the call right now, because you all are doing a tremendous job with keeping our city intact during this pandemic. And I just wanted to publicly state that we so appreciate the hard work and dedication that everybody. on our city employees are doing to make this happen. And then also ACPS, I want to just thank our staff because, you know, I think we're all taken out of our comfort zones at this point. And now we're all
007adjusting to what we're calling our new normal here. Like having my son walk past me to go upstairs. He's like, you're talking too much. I need my own space. You know, but this is our new normal. for everybody. We're all making this adjustment and I think we're so much better doing this together than apart. So this has been, you know, a huge endeavor for us all, but... there will be light at some point at the end of the tunnel. We just don't know, you know, because this is an ever-changing topic and subject and situation. It's just hard for us to definitively say when we're going to have the next level or what the next thing is because everything, you know, is unpredictable just right now. So as I tell our staff all the time, I'm
008going to remind our community at this, for this particular pandemic, we just have to have some grace, empathy. and just be patient, you know, because this is trying for all of us, not just the people who, you know, are being impacted in regards to like jobs and things of that nature, or also COVID-19. So just to give you a quick update about ACPS, I hope that you all are keeping in contact with what we're doing through our communications that are going out. We now are no longer doing the daily videos. We do videos on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And then on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, we are issuing ACPS Insider and ACPS Express, which is our publication that goes out to provide information. consistently updating our ACPS at home website. It is being used frequently by
009our staff, as well as our families, and also with the community and people I'm hearing from all over the world now is looking at our website to get some information and some different ideas. So that's also being used there as well. But some points that I do want to share is that tomorrow, our fourth quarter is going to begin. And we had continuity 1.0, and now we're in continuity. 2.0 so continuity i'm sorry continuity of the learning plan 1.0 and now we're in continuity of learning plan 2.0 and 1.0 was the learning activities that we had for our students issuing the technology devices for our students making sure that learning packets were sent home to all of our students that was a part of continuity of learning plan 1.0 in 2.0 now we have been
010able with the assistance of you know, Comcast and our IT team and Kajeets that we have now sent out to so many families. We are now in a situation where all of our families that we are aware of who need internet access, we have internet access or the internet access is on its way to them. And that is a huge plus for us because that is our lifeline here in ACPS, just like any other school division. But we have been able to kind of get over that hurdle. tremendous. Another part of our continuity of learning plan 2.0 is we will be introducing new material and content to our students and our teachers and our staff members, that's including all of our staff, are doing some tremendous work around that from recording WeVideos, which is WeVideo
011is a system that we're using to record lessons, to having Zoom sessions with our students or recording different sessions and sending them to our students, as well as providing information through Canvas, which is the platform that we use to post learning activities and educational resources for our students in grades 3 through 12. We just also, in a part of continuity of learning plan 2.0, we sent home learning kits. to and these are supplemental to the learning packets that our students in pre-k through two have but these learning kits we're getting so many emails from families and pictures on twitter um i'm sure they're probably on facebook too i just don't have a facebook account But there are pictures of families who are receiving their kids and they have scissors and crayons and different manipulatives that
012kids can use at home because we can't assume every family has those types of resources for their children. So we're sending them each week in these packets and it is so awesome to see, you know, our students light up from having something that reminds them of school. Like, I love the fact that kids, they're loving school. Now you're missing it. You hate it coming to school with some of them. like I wish I could be in school today, right? So I'm glad that we are getting them re-energized about the importance of schooling and being in our buildings. Another thing that I wanted to give an update about deals with our temperature screenings that started yesterday in all of, not in all of our buildings, but for all of our essential. personnel, as well as our
013volunteers who are helping and assisting with us with our meal distribution and other things and contractors as well. We have a temperature screening that occurs at all of our meal distribution sites. And these happen in different shifts throughout the day. for our different personnel because they all have different schedules that they're working through. But this requires all of our essential personnel, all of our volunteers, all of our contractors to have a temperature check prior to reporting to their destination or to the job assignment that they are currently working on. We're doing this screening as a additional precaution. It is not being mandated for us to do this, but we did work with the Alexandria Health Department. Thank you, Dr. Herring. I see he's on this call. He's been tremendous, which we love you, Dr. Herring.
014You got to know that. We love you to death. You've been doing some amazing work, so thank you and your team for that. But this hasn't been required for us to do, but we wanted to take an additional precaution, safety precaution, just to ensure that we're providing the most safe. environment for our essential staff. The temperature check is to make sure that our staff do not have temperatures over 100.4. You know, a part of the guidelines is that having a temperature higher than 100.4, it just could mean that that is a symptom of COVID-19. It doesn't necessarily mean you have COVID-19, but we want to make sure. that you know if someone is experiencing a temperature that is higher than 100.4 that they are staying home and monitoring just any symptoms and their temperature before
015they return back to work. So that's just an additional precaution to all the other things that we're doing like our personal protective equipment that our staff have. We're now adding some additional equipment for our staff members. We're going to have those shields you know face shields. We have some of the actual clothing PPE as well for our staff, but we still have gloves and the mask. Those are still in place. The social distancing is a practice that we've always had in place and we're continuing, as well as meeting those social gathering guidelines of having no more than 10 people. We have also adjusted our schedules from the beginning to ensure that we're adhering to those guidelines. The only other thing I'm going to say, and then I'll take any questions that you all have, is
016because fourth quarter is starting tomorrow, we're reiterating with our families this week some of the educational resources that we offer and that we provide our families. And two are very important. One is tutor.com. And tutor.com is an online tutoring system that all of our students in grades 6 through 12 that they have in order to to get supports for any learning activities or new material that's being taught to them. This was something that we had in place prior to our COVID-19 pandemic, but this is something that can really be beneficial to our parents who feel like, I don't know this subject matter and I can't help my child, right? So we don't want you to try to help them if you can't, parents. So we want you to know we have a resource for you.
017These are qualified. teachers from all over the world because this is offered 24-7. So whatever time is best for your child to get their support, it could be two in the morning. They can get supported two in the morning. I hope they're not up at two in the morning doing that. But hey, with these weird hours, some people are, including Dr. Hutchings sometimes. I can't even sleep. I'm like, what time of the day is it? I don't know, right? I'm trying to figure out my own schedule. But it's 24-7 and it's offered for all students in grades six through 12. That is a huge gift. and resource for all of our students. The other is a partnership with Northern Virginia Community College that we're really excited about because this is for our juniors and seniors.
018They will be able to take two college level courses this summer free of charge. F-R-E-E, free, right? That is no cost. to the school division and no cost to the parents to take two college level courses. That is amazing because it is not a class that's at a certain time. These are classes that are recorded. So this is a term that everybody's using now, synchronous and asynchronous learning. And it's something we're going to start educating our community on as well as our staff about synchronous learning. That happens at the same time. That means we're going to all log in at 8 a.m. and you're going to learn work from 8 to 9. That's synchronous learning, right? This is online learning jargon. Asynchronous learning is something that may be prerecorded, something that you can do on
019your own period of time. People are looking at it at different times and learning at different times throughout the day. So the learning that NOVA is going to be offering us is asynchronous, meaning Students do not have to be at the same bat channel at the same bat time. They get to do it on their own terms and when they are available throughout the summer. And that is huge because it is preparation for them to go off into this college world and to be prepared once they graduate from T.C. Williams. So those are the updates that I have. I know it was long-winded for you all today, but I am open to any questions that you may have. And I do want to make one correction because Mignon text messaged me that it was changed
020to 100 degrees per the Alexandria Health Department, not 100.4. So any temperature at 100, this is in regards to the temperature screenings, any temperature that is more than 100 degrees. those individuals will not be permitted to attend work or to attend our spaces or buildings and have to report back home to monitor their temperatures and situations. So thank you, Ms. Anthony, for correcting me on that. All right, any questions? Do we have any questions? I have some general questions. First of all, let me just echo some of what Dr. Hutchins said and thank all of our ACPS partners. I mean, you guys have been amazing. And I've heard a ton of good feedback from parents and community members throughout this time. And I think, like you said at the beginning, the partnership between city and
021schools. You know, I have been very impressed that in this crisis that we are in, the barriers have gone completely away and folks are working shoulder to shoulder, albeit spaced shoulder to shoulder, six feet apart, shoulder to shoulder, in serving our residents, regardless of kind of where they are in our community and which services they traditionally access. I see Kate's in the middle of my screen here and I know that the partnership between DCHS and the schools and the work that you guys have done together is just absolutely incredible. So thank you all so much for all of. of your work and the work that will continue. Let me ask a couple of questions around what's next. I think everyone's starting to turn their attention to the future whenever the future is. We don't know,
022but I think we have to start some of that planning. I know the governor put out his Fort Virginia plan last week, which laid out kind of the criteria and what... what at least at the statewide level we'll be looking at. What kind of thinking are we doing within the schools and then in partnership with the city regarding what the fall looks like? And I'm particularly... thinking about what are the types of things we need to budget for now to prepare for that? What are the types of policy changes, particularly on the city side, that we need to prepare for to accommodate? I'm thinking about transportation and all kinds of things that very much will be different in the fall in a new world. What do we need to do now to be ready for
023that? So one thing I can tell you definitively is that in the fall and moving forward will never be how it has been. Right. So everything that we know of in regards to how things operated, we probably won't get back to that place again. So let's just that's something we know definitively. What the guidance we have received from the Virginia Department of Education is for us, we're still working through what the fall may look like because the information changes so frequently that we haven't established guidelines for the fall yet. What we're now working through is the summer because the summer is going to be different. than it has been in the past. So we are going to be now, which we are now working on, is continuity of learning plan 3.0, which deals with our
024summer learning because all of our students will need some type of access. to summer engagement and summer learning because every student is being impacted due to our COVID-19 shutdown. So we're going to have to now be able to accommodate and provide the necessary supports so that we are alleviating, not necessarily eliminating, but alleviating the academic loss that is going to be occurring between March 13th and when we start school and however we start school. So we're planning to have our continuity of learning plans done mid-May for 3.0, which is the summer, so that we can share with our community around what the summer learning is going to look like. Right now, we are preparing to do that online just because we don't believe, miraculously, our buildings are going to just open up and we're able
025to put everybody back in school. One, we don't believe that. that's going to be the guidelines. But two, we also have our capital improvement program projects that are occurring. So all of our buildings, even if we could, are not going to be available because those projects have already started and they're going to be working through August. Many of those projects are going to be going through August. So we're not going to have. every portion of the building available. And these are things such as HVAC units and water intrusion and all the things to eliminate those mold issues that will happen if we don't do some of these projects this summer will contribute and that'll be a problem for us in the future. We still got to work through all those projects. We're planning to begin
026our continuity of learning plan 4.0, which is for the fall. And that's for how we're going to open schools. That work is going to start in May through June with the hopes of us presenting something out to the community in July. This is a time frame that the VDOE is really working with on us because they want all school divisions kind of working together and us talking through some of the implications on decisions that each division makes and how they impact our schools and our communities. But also we have to wait to see. what the impact in regards to state and federal funding is going to be, because that's going to drive some of the things that we can and cannot do in the future as well. So those things are still not definitive and
027they're still out, kind of like out there. We're going to have some more information over the next several weeks, but we just aren't ready to, you know, have all of the data to make really sound decisions today. Sorry, I was talking to me. Yeah, no, I appreciate that. I think that's really, that's really helpful. I just want to make sure that because I imagine that given, you know, and it was a post article today, and there's been New York Times articles and others that kind of talked through some of the different scenarios for what K through 12 looks like in a post COVID world. And I just, it strikes me as many of those things are things that are necessarily going to have to involve some partnership, considerable partnership with the city. And so I
028just want to make sure. that were engaged very early on and helping you in any way we can make some of those things reality. Where you closed with in your comments is another area and I know the city manager and I have talked a great deal about this and I just want to make sure we're capturing all this. You know, we, whatever that number is that we do get from the state, there's going to be a number and I think The federal restrictions came out last week regarding what we can and cannot use that money for. And there are a number of expenses that show up on that list of permissible expenses that are expenses that are within ACPS. And I just want to make sure that we are capturing those expenses and you guys
029are documenting it so that when we go and seek funding for this stuff that we're... capturing all the stuff that you guys have. Because I think one of my biggest concerns as a manager, the last thing I want to do is leave a single penny on the table, on any table. Any table, there is a table with money on it. We got to make sure we take that money off there. Because I think there's a lot of money available through a lot of different funding streams, a lot of different rules that are out there. And I just want to make sure we are taking maximum advantage of those funds. whatever documentation we need to do, whatever types of things that you guys are doing, I want to be as broad as we can so that
030we're getting it all. Yes, so fortunately, the city manager and I, we are still meeting. And also, we still have our capital council meetings as well, so that we are continuously remaining in sync, as well as in communication and collaboration during this time, so that we are not missing any opportunities. That is our goal, especially as things become available. So we are still having those meetings consistently. And fortunately, I do still get to talk to Mark, I think more now than even, I thought we talked a lot before, honestly, but we talked more now than we did even prior to the frequent communication and collaboration that we had. So yes, we will continue working collaboratively so that we don't put ourselves in a predicament where we're missing dollars or we hadn't planned appropriately. and then
031things are left on the table. We're not going to let a dime out of our reach. That's for sure. We've made it clear to city departments that anything looks, smells, and walks like it was caused by the COVID situation that we want them to document it. We're putting it all in a single fund, so we have them ready when some of the monies will get reimbursed from FEMA, but most of it we won't. And we'll be looking to the federal CARES money to cover a lot of those expenses. We want to make sure we can draw down. everything that we've spent since March 1st and it has a December 30th end date on it. We want to make sure that nothing gets left that we can't take advantage of, including scrubbing for various federal grants
032opportunities that have come here and there, whether it's criminal justice or whether it's in the arts. We're making sure that we can get everything that we can that is possible. In regards to planning, I would agree with Dr. Hutchings. This is a tough one. We barely know what's three weeks out, let alone what's the summer, what's the fall. But we've started looking at and talking about what does recovery look like. And in some cases, making decisions that we were talking today and made decision. We're going to go ahead and, for example, purchase. We've got the trend the last few years has been low cubicle, open space offices. Well, we've now got some experience, particularly with our IT folks, working in that kind of environment and working pretty much around the clock, supporting the rest of
033the government during this situation and saying, we're just ordering the glass inserts to go on top of the cubicles. Just get in line now, because a lot of what people are going to do, everybody's going to want to do. And so we've got to jump the gun sometimes. And sometimes we have to wait a little bit and see how everything plays out. Yeah, no, and I appreciate that. I think that's a great example. I think the things that I'm kind of thinking about in my head are the things that have a longer runway. You know, so if there are investments that we need to make in advance of the fall that take a while to come to fruition, particularly if there are investments that are eligible for... for federal dollars, you know, like you said,
034let's get in line as soon as we can and probably be really aggressive about some of those things and getting those in the pipeline now. Because I think we can already imagine some of the things that are going to be out there. Anyone else have anything that they want to share or a question? No? That's it? Okay. But we have time left in our hour. John, do you have something? Nope. No, he has nothing. But look, he has something. All right. Oh, yes, I see. We would hear something if you unmuted, but it wouldn't be you. That's great, though. Hi, this is Dr. Herring at the health department. Yes. And I just have a couple things. First, as Mr. Jink said, thanks a lot for the school nurses that are coming over to help. It's
035very, very much appreciated. And I just also want to toss out that the team wellness center remains open. It's not as busy as it normally is, but it's an essential service. We're seeing anywhere from two to six clients, patients a day. And as everybody knows, it's for all youth age 12 to 19 who are City of Alexandria residents. And the services provided there are really important to youth at this time. Some of them are just coming in to be talked to, but others are coming in either with STIs or family planning concerns. So we are open for business there Monday to Friday, 10 to 5. Okay. Ms. Nolan. Thank you so much. Dr. Herring, that is such an invaluable reminder. Thank you so much for that. Greg, I'm sure I can say this offline, but
036I'm guessing that's something we can communicate out in our ACPS Express or in our TC Williams, because that sounds like important information to remind kids. And we were planning on sending some information over to ACPS about that. Yes. And just to let them know that it's still open, but we have been informing them along the way about, because we've already gotten calls about the health center. But we can, yes, share that through Insider and Express. Great. Thank you. Great. Anyone else have anything else? Okay. Justin? Oh, okay. You just made a noise that made your box light up. Oh, sorry. That's okay. It's all right. So I guess if nothing else, I guess someone can make a motion to adjourn and we can be adjourning. I move we adjourn. Second. Okay. I have a second
037from Ms. Nolan of Mr. Wilson's motion. And so all those in favor. say aye aye any opposed no i didn't i think we heard john maybe i don't know anyway all right everybody thanks again for it's it's great to live in a city that that works this well um under pressure so uh everybody have a good nice evening