001i'd like to welcome everybody to our regularly scheduled board meeting today august 11th uh just a couple of announcements before we started another password [Music] passed away and jennifer grindenhall will be commuting with this communicating with us on her telephone so we'll start by a pledge of allegiance and i'll leave that can everybody please stand i pledge allegiance thank you um i think i'm going to take my mask off since we're socially distanced here so my glasses won't keep fogging up does anybody know a way we can wear a mask with glasses on without your glasses clogging up taking glasses off [Music] all right first item on the agenda is item number two recognition and acceptance of donations to the blue ridge school district dr wright would you like to go over those or would
002you like me just to read those [Music] we're happy to do it either want me to yeah we have already sent letters out for these and thanking those individuals yes sir let's just make mention of who they are when they donated yes to the high school choir program uh carly j great the law firm also donated 538 to the rover challenge program keith s west donated 200 to the fab lab for masses and supplies linda renfro donated a hundred dollars to assisted congratulations industry donated six hundred dollars to the rover challenge program and deb elbridge brand's manager of national bank compiled donated 200 supplies for our schools uh directed to the elementary for pencils notebooks trainings etc we have a motion to accept those items as a motion for checking out a second all right
003next item on the agenda is a consent agenda board in reviewing the consent agenda is there any item that you would like to take out of that and vote on individually if not we'll vote for items number 3.1 through item 3.5 nobody we have a motion then to accept the consent agenda three point one through three point five promotion from diane uh a second from chuck all in favor aye thank you jennifer hey item 4.1 recommendation to require waivers for all students dr wright fills in on that this is the area where i wanted to seek i wanted to know the board wanted to seek legal advice on this if so we need to go into executive sessions to do so i think that'd be great is that okay with the word if we go
004into executive session right now for this item we have a motion to go on an executive session the motion from chuck and a second from all right we'll we'll move into this room with the curtains drawn and discuss this with our attorney for a few minutes and then we'll come back in you so you so okay we're just returning from an executive session where we discuss this item with the attorney we need a motion now to to uh release ourselves from an executive session we have emotional dynamics second all in favor of to uh leave the executive session say aye aye [Music] jennifer okay next item on the agenda here is item 4.1 recommendation to require waivers for all students i have a uh i have a motion on that i have a motion from
005diana and second from chuck all in favor of uh item 4.1 [Music] i and 4.1 was passed next item on the agenda is item 4.2 review a distance learning plan and the structural supports offered on-site determining factors for outside instruction supports i'm sorry we're still on one because i was i'm asking the board to consider requiring the waivers for all students now that you've had legal guidance that's what we did you voted on yes we voted on that okay okay that i'm sorry and 4.2 dr wright you want to explain 4.2 to us yes with the review of distance learning plan there's an element where in order to be able to offer online education the district had to prepare a plan explaining the process we would use which is simply students that are receiving direct
006services in special education english language acquisition are elo and those residing in foster care settings are invited on campus to receive that support and all others would be based upon capacity so when we're looking at the instructional support offered on site and those that are going to be prepared off-site we're we are meeting the state and the ade requirements were meeting executive order 2020-51 that the governor issued and also the arizona department of education superintendent hoffman listed certain things that provided sense guidance to finding what it means by on-site what it means by instruction and so what we decided to do is work with local community leaders and just recently as this afternoon we put together probably the capacity to take care of 20 students or maybe 25 at the pine top head start in
007icon and then also at our either the facility from the church at blue ridge elementary will be able to provide care supervision not instruction but supervision for another 40 students at the high school in junior high we're going to create open learning labs that'll accommodate another 40 in each location maybe as much as 60 at the high school so we do think if there are parents that are in those categories we definitely are going to support them they have top priority if there's space available beyond that then we'll open it up to the public and we're going to put it in the category of healthcare workers and law enforcement officials and then single single parent families that need a place for their kids to go that's what the executive order means not every kid that
008wants to go can go and mom can't pull up and drop four kids off and say you and so we have that submitted with the state if we make any adjustments we must inform the state that was completed well in advance of starting on the 10th and so we are in compliance in all areas of these supports are there any questions from the board with regard to any of those categories or supports provided on-site just reiterate one comment you made if people have a special need they need to contact that principal of that school they could need to see directly or email you directly to see if that special need is taken care of over and above those three categories that we discussed right so if we had a single parent mom or dad and
009they're working day shift and they have a child or two and they're under the age where we know that they can supervise themselves we want to have power or we're not daycare can't make any guarantees but we are working to secure like i said probably 40 to 50 uh situations or environments uh three different locations but opportunities i should say for students exactly in that that situation we want to try our best but we're trying to emphasize we're not daycare and that's not what we're called to do the three vulnerable most vulnerable groups of students that need those direct services must be provided first once we reach that the additional capacity we'll open it up and get that word out so email me directly or the principal correctly help us understand your situation we'll do
010your best to help thank you dr wright this is an item i don't think we have to vote on so next item on the any questions or comments that you would like to make next item on the agenda would be 4.3 a discussion for the teacher and student online expectations doctor would you like to do that or absolutely they're uh we know that on this spring we've said this repeatedly but i think it appears this spring despite our best efforts did not represent online education representing a lot of people working really hard to try to do their best online education requires encryption which we have grades k through 12. it also which one requires training and a a modality ability to broadcast and to receive student feedback we have that in placement soon there are
011protections in place with that and their login is required we also preferably all students and the vast majority of them are rather all teachers and the vast majority of them are reporting to campuses monday through friday during normal business hours and they are working from their respective classroom or area there are a handful because of either having family members that are especially susceptible and they are working they're not leaving their house they're quarantined not because they're ill but because they're worried about others in their immediate family and their children that have makes them susceptible because they have an underlying medical condition or a loved one that lives with them we also have about a third of our staff district-wide are in a group that has one of those underlying conditions and so we're trying to
012be flexible while also support the operations our principals have worked very closely with our teachers and support staff through those categories and presently we're able to support both both areas vast majority of our teachers are able to do it and a majority are excited about coming back when it's safe to do so but about seven out of ten as i mentioned have are concerned or very concerned and so we share those concerns we're not going to rush back until we feel like it's safe to implement a phased approach where we look at a hybrid schedule teachers are required to behave and perform just like they are during class they're dressed professionally their spaces their zoom areas and conferences are appropriately arranged and they're in an area where there are no distractions whether they're having to
013do it from their home or from the classroom they also were required some bare minimums required in terms of returning phone calls within 24 hours of email list messages and also contacting students soon at least twice weekly most are doing more than that and so there are also expectations on the student side it's not a past fellow environment in fact in high school if you missed 10 days you're not logging in after you're not participating you'll be dropped if it is a junior high kid or an elementary student they may well have to repeat that grade if they fail to progress so far we're after a good start the first two days people are working hard this first week is being used to get everybody acquainted we're not rushing back into it of assignments and
014kids we're making sure our students and the teachers have the tools they need and are connected given we're sending virtually 2 000 people on time and 100 teachers i think it's gone very well and that's a testament to our principals that are here in the room spent director in the i.t department that have worked tirelessly and so when i say tirelessly last thursday they were there until 12 30 at night i know that because i was with them the night before they're there until two in the morning our administration teams were there on thursday until 10 30 11 at night and the next night late as well getting prepared so we put in the work we are prepared the expectations have been set for everyone i'll also add mr president that the students if they
015participate in inappropriate posting the material or if they're handing out information coming back to harm the district they'll be long-term suspended or expelled depending on the gravity of the situation but we're not going to tolerate that we've made it real clear the conduct that they're demonstrating while participating soon is the same that's required in the classroom are there any requirements or questions and requirements set forth for students for faculty members mr waldo yes i guess i know we have an asu curriculum and the lincoln about how it actually functions and how the kids actually access the curriculum i know they go online but are they meeting online and zoom each day at a certain time or are they just going on there and getting to work off the internet and working independently or is it
016some beach or could you walk us through like you know a typical elementary day for a child in junior high in high school let me do this as permissible mr president let me ask the respective principals to take us through it's a great question so the question i heard is take us through a day in life of the elementary junior high high school student virtual on a virtual basis but looking at and i'll have a mic out too we'll start with dr ironstone and take us through the day good evening nice to see all of you the last two days that our teachers have been working with our students they are all online students have teachers at 80 a.m every morning they do roughly 30 minutes of zoom time where the teachers are taking attendance
017to determine who is there they are talking to the students talking about what happened yesterday the day before which was their first day arguing where they are and then introducing a new curriculum that they're going to take the kids into just like we did when we were in regular classrooms then after the 30 minutes of zoom the asu and both the lincoln instructional programs have videotapes that are done could be kindergarten a person writing a story with the kids doing coral reading with the kids first grade generally they start with english language learning um first grade they can be talking about commonly used words which we call high frequency words and how to turn those into sentences so these are the same types of lessons that we as teachers 35 years ago drew up on
018a paper book and instructed to our students it's just gone into a different modality which is online my sixth grade teachers i was talking to them today and my fourth grade teachers ask the students to go up and converse with one another about three items that they want to talk about relative to being in home and not being able to be in school and they showed me some of the responses today fun questions the teachers said let it off indicating three things that they did while they were quarantined the kids are now tapping onto that saying oh and i did this and they're having conversations with each other very positive conversations so i'm excited the teachers are excited i hit all the classrooms today and the teachers are feeling good about things they're working their
019way through the challenges of technology and they're happy to see their kids their kids are thrilled to see them they're conducting teacher office hours every afternoon for an hour and a half and at that time they're on the zoo and they take pr phone calls and they tell me that their phones they're getting messages during the day and also phone calls from parents and parents were feeling very comfortable calling their teachers who they had called last week they contacted their parents last week we have a strong level of communication uh i guess i'm thinking about the nominal rigor in the curriculum i know last spring you know we did have things for them to do but um i understand it from most schools it was you know maybe an hour's work at best but is
020this gonna take anything close to what a normal day of school would be for them to consume in the assignments they're they're online four hours a day at my school from eight to noon and then their assignments that they're given that they have to complete in the afternoon work out to about an hour and a half kindergarten's on two hours a day because their attention level is pretty limited right now and they again my teen kindergarten teachers put together packets of work to complement the lincoln learning program and they had a had a personal handout to the parents much like her graduation so they greeted the parents had their masks and gloves on and talk to them and there was a nice touch of communication so those kids are working on their work in the
021asu curriculum as the students start next week progressing through their curriculum there are benchmark tests that will determine where each student sets reading math science and social studies so the teachers can look at the results of those benchmarks and determine where each student sits academically and if they have to they can work in those teacher work hours or office hours either help the students a little bit more talk to the parents or more challenges if they need them so they're [Music] busy doing school work roughly about the same amount of time that they would be if they were actually in class that is correct good that's excellent and i have a feeling it's a lot better than most most other stories if you ever have a chance come visit next week they'll start embarking on
022the academics so please come in we'd love to take you around and have you view what the teachers are doing thanks good evening our schedule is set up so that we have kids online starting at nine and they're receiving direct instruction from nine until one well we have 45 minute class periods so 99 45 is first down in a five minute transition between that the second period um we have first through fifth hour from nine to one so that we can get that enrichment piece at the end and right now we're just that's about a 40 minute piece uh 40 minute class that we have at the end and we just have that there so the kids can have something that's engaging and fun to do at the end of the day at a better
023instruction period and when they come back then they'll still have when we do go back to in-person instruction it will hopefully be a seamless transition back into the classroom at those same periods uh in the same schedule so they get on to zoom this week the teachers are um they are on zoom just about every day this week just getting the kids used to the lessons but once we come into so starting next week we have it staggered so there's a minimum of two zoom lessons per week for every teacher and there will be some staggered independent coursework that they can be working on but the teacher is still available during that block of time so that they can get active with the kids and help lead them through some of those independent pieces of
024it but math so there are a couple of uh areas where they said they're going to do a live stream lesson every day and just record what they so in case kids can't get to that lesson all the teachers are recording their videos and just leaving them in a recorded spot in canvas for the kids to access so all of our home pages have been set up so that they're they're all exactly the same and the kids go in they're gonna see the same ping pong pages they click the same zoom links and so it's really an easy transition from for them for from class to class and then from 1 to 3 30 our teachers have office hours tutorial so they can schedule they they've already started scheduling times for those kids that they
025can call in and get help um whatever technology or curriculum or anything else that they need and then our short day friday we do have it from only 9 to 11 so we can get our capstone class in with our kids and then allow for a check-in with each of those teachers on friday and then still have office hours from 11 to 1 30 with the teachers each one of these class lessons is recorded so the kids can go back and review that they do so how long is the recording character that's a good question we haven't determined a time period so i know you didn't have a limit on it so that's a great question i'm going to write that one down and we'll actually determine we don't have it if we actually didn't
026have a date set for how long so it's not going to be a short period of thinking as long as we need to keep them on there so that's a really good question i actually need to see how long we can keep them on there and then they would have them one-on-one with the teacher in the afternoon that they needed it correct right sounds like a good deal that's actually an advantage over a traditional classroom because in the classroom they miss something sick and can't attend right they can go back and bring up the lesson they missed it does allow for some flexibility for families give us a little bit of background so the high school schedule we the teachers have their office hours from eight until 11. and same thing with the other campuses
027teaching teachers are taking calls from parents students they'll have their a meeting room and so if the student needs to help on yesterday's assignment or anything in particular they can click the link and then i'll take them right in the teacher will let them in and then they can activate their whiteboard with zoom so they can actually work with the student they can work the problem themselves it's a math problem they can write it down the student will be able to use their annotation they can interact with the teacher so the teacher can see what the student's doing getting wrong getting caught up in a step so that's that's what we see in the office hours being used along those lines in any of the core subjects um with our aim we also are trying
028to limit the time that the kids are on screen time so they have four hours from 11 o'clock until three o'clock we break our day up if they normal day if we were here on campus if they have a morning class um block one or block two those will be they will have a live lesson on monday and wednesday if they're in an afternoon class after lunch normally in this online environment they're going to be having their live lesson on tuesday and thursday and so they'll have a nine-minute class with that teacher um it may not be a full 90 minute recording of the live session but they'll have the lesson and then there'll be time to work on just as if they were in the classroom that goes for any of the classes across
029the board they're following that format if they have a skinny they'll have that same opportunity to do a live lesson with their kids and it's broken down based on a morning class onto monday wednesday and an afternoon class on tuesday thursday and then they have the office hours at any time on friday and that's when we're trying to catch up one of the things that we're trying to attendance is hard because just what he was saying things come up down and have different things that are happening kid may be working we're taking attendance every day they may not be able to get to during their lifetime and if they're expecting on that lesson participating in some way then we're able to track that attendance to the campus analytics that are there to resume we're able
030to see the students participating we want to make sure that the students are participating to be able to generate and that's what dr wright was referring to earlier [Music] um how are we handling hands-on live classes like music and cte classes so music they are they're still connecting with their students daily they actually they were talking about being able to have within within zoom you can create a great gap run so the teacher will assign and break mistake physically in the building you can say okay go to the practice room you need to work on your part so they can set a while the teacher can drop in on that room and see how they're going with their practice or whatever the keys may be in any class the other hands-on classes the cte for
031example this first quarter our primary focus is getting the academic portion of that the book work for example with cabinetry they have to do their ocean 10 certification that's something that they hit part of this first quarter and get that done and depending on how things go or if we're back in session after first quarter then they're able to get into the hands-on party if we're not able to at that point then we just have to have that discussion okay how do we safely bring in kids to the lab to be able to do that some of the lab stuff can be done at home we demonstrated that during fourth quarter last year culinary was a great example kid every kid has some kind of kitchen in your home mrs shores was telling the students
032okay film yourself doing this lesson in the kitchen and that was a graded assignment so the teachers are really flexible in how they're getting the curriculum and getting that hands-on piece and with the technology we are able to put some of the programs that the students use on site we're able to get the adobe creative cloud creative cloud and students are able to access this from home so the digital photography the graphics communications classes they're able to do those projects from home on their laptops so it's really a pretty pretty good opportunity the opportunity to have those resources good this also is an item that we probably don't need to vote on so we'll just move to the next item on the next item on the agenda is item 4.4 it's a discussion on the
033gaps created by this i'm learning and i'm sure we've touched some of those already is there anything that you'd like to add to that dr wright about the gaps created there are a couple important supports that we haven't discussed before that is when we're servicing students on campus those either children or youth will receive meals breakfast and lunch depending how long they're there breakfast and take lunch home they're served the meals we also will continue to provide meals at 20 different stops community-wide and we're serving two meals at once in a bag and we're going to continue doing that as long as the feds continue to provide support for them we're anticipating that will be continued beyond september or august before we have the funding so far we're going to continue to do that as
034long as we can we are also in close touch at each campus especially 6th grade through 12th of those students that might need additional emotional support and so they're being invited in individually or in small groups various talking less than 10 to receive either group counseling or individual support as needed and so we recognize that our special ed director has done an outstanding job communicating with families to make sure those in need of direct supports we're prepared as of monday to receive those unless we're dictated differently and if the closure is extended but we're well positioned i think that is the other thing is that the school facilities continue to be closed until we're in phase two which would call for a hybrid learning twice weekly online in the opposite days um allowing some a
035lot more physical distance it cut your population behalf that's where we are and i think that's everything else we've covered pretty thoroughly and if they're i think mr baldwin might have a question yeah um thought this came to be about extracurricular activities sports in particular where are we with that are we going to have sportsness okay the question is too are we going to have sports right now i would say yes but the timing is in question we're in phase one of the arizona extracurricular activity uh association we're in phase one the aaa guidelines for practicing i think we have a blind date as soccer starts in a couple of weeks football doesn't start until the end of the this month first part of september games wouldn't be over until as late as october there's
036some motivation trying to see if we want to just push everything back and have fall sports play in the spring and have spring delay in the summer months all of that is yet up for discussion we'll have more within the next week to 10 days [Music] jennifer okay so that's alternative that the aea put out but then they're still making their final decision within the next week to ten days okay thanks thank you again we won't need to vote on that the next item on the agenda is a question and answer regarding the most frequently asked questions and i think we've added and if you've answered a lot of those is there anything that you might want to highlight in the most frequently answered question ask questions that you would like to share with or
037dr wright most of the questions we're getting now that we're in school on a virtual basis is how do i get help if i need it we've handed out information on hard copy it's on the website short version is there's a helpline to call and there's a technology help desk to email and the response is significant it's quick now yesterday of course that was the exception because we tried for 2 000 kids at once and so it was backlogged we're providing support through normal business hours and also well into the evening recognizing some parents many parents work are going to need i don't know what the current backlog is but i understand we were catching up on that the biggest question the biggest hurdle was getting people to log in getting to understand how to
038enter their information and to provide their password so every day after this we'll have fewer of those we had initially some questions to assume we had just an intersection that they had a technology and problem on their side we were able to get it resolved on our site as well and so all in all pretty smooth but we do have supports there the elementary school has a designated position and a teacher that's helping out provide that support for both teachers and students and the teachers individually i would like to say i have received i have encountered a lot of email with positive feedback on the responsiveness of our teachers and i've also received 100 messages of one positive on the communication principles i think they've all without exception done an outstanding job and so uh
039all of these women and this gentleman here are available if you call them they return your calls email they return your email jennifer you have a question all right well thank you uh the only item left on the agenda is the announcement of our next governing board meeting and that would be september 5th 5 o'clock at this location so we have a motion to adjourn have a motion to have a second from ben all in favor work adjournment say aye aye jennifer gave me all right thank you very much