In addition to Board President Kay Eggert making a statement at the beginning of the 10/26/2020 AASD Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Judy Baseman also made a statement.
“We work closely with our local health officers and rely on their health expertise to help guide us in making the best decisions for the safety of our students, staff, and community. We all agree that schools are absolutely essential–vital to our students wellbeing. We agree that in-person learning is best. Even so, we must recognize that the pandemic conditions in our community are a factor that must be considered in our decisions regarding in-person learning scenarios. There have been several documents released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Association of School Nurses, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Academy of Science Engineering and Medicine relating to the topic of reopening schools. All of these documents are consistent regarding the importance of opening schools. All of these documents are also consistent regarding the importance of considering the degree to which Covid-19 is circulating in the community. And all agree that opening schools to fully in-person learning for all students is likely not feasible in many areas right now because of widespread community transmission and high levels of positivity in testing. That is our current scenario.”
[I feel it important to point out two things at this point.
- She mentions “high positivity in testing” as a reason that schools can’t open up at this point; however, per the meeting on 9/28/2020, the rate of positive tests is supposedly specifically excluded from their decision-making process because of how skewed it is due to the limited number of tests available. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=128112929035140&id=100336338479466
2. She’s implying that the parents asking for the schools to be reopened only want a full reopening, but that’s false. Many of them would be happy with a hybrid model. AASD’s original plan was only to have young students attend fully in-person while the older students followed a hybrid model.]
“We are not looking for a zero risk scenario, however. We know that it is not a reality with this novel virus. We are looking for manageable risk–risk that allows us to bring some students in for in-person opportunities while managing mitigation strategies in a way that provides the best possible protection for them, their families, and our staff.”
[Again, I feel the need for another interjection here. Multiple other districts and schools in the area have managed to maintain in-person or hybrid models of education. It is not clear to me why the risk is so unmanageable for AASD specifically. I do wonder if the problem is less with the issue being managed than with the people who are supposed to be doing the managing. AASD seems to rely heavily on consulting firms to tell them what to do. Perhaps when faced with an actual crisis, the administration simply lacks the skills to problem solve on their own.]
“To that end, tonight, you will hear more later in the presentation about the fully Virtual Plus model. To support the essential academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of our students we are in the process of rolling out our Fully Virtual Plus model of our phases in collaboration with our city health department. We are attempting to balance the essential academic, social, emotional, and physical needs of our students during this time of pandemic by offering limited, targeted, optional opportunities for our most vulnerable populations while we operate within our fully virtual learning model. The Fully Virtual Plus model offers opportunities for small groups of students to be on-site at their school for approved curricular and co-curricular activities. These activities will take place while following appropriate safety protocols, including wearing masks, physically distancing, and limiting groups of students to small cohorts, while also limiting overall building usage. The Fully Virtual Plus model will allow opportunities for students to come to school for optional targeted academic support during the school day. These opportunities are meant to address the specific academic, social, and emotional needs of our students that are difficult to meet in a virtual environment and can best be accomplished in an in-person setting. The Fully Virtual Plus model will also include opportunities for students to engage in optional co-curricular opportunities to support their essential social, emotional, and physical needs. These opportunities will include activities and related to co-curricular clubs and activities. These activities will be provided in small controlled groups–sorry the lights went out”
[The lights in the room she was streaming from go out and has to get up and turn them back on.]
“I apologize for that…Small controlled groups while following required safety protocols. Co-curricular activities will take place outside of the scheduled school day. School administrators will coordinate with staff to determine which targeted academic curricular supports can be offered to students on site during the school day. Once determined, these optional academic curricular supports will be communicated to students and families. School administrators will also coordinate with co-curricular advisors to determine the supports that are needed to be offered to students outside of the school day. The optional co-curricular supports will also be communicated to students and families and you’ll receive more information later in the meeting this evening. Thank you.”
My impression of that speech is that, at a time when other schools and districts in the area are offering in-person and hybrid options AASD still seems to have no intention of opening up any time soon but are trying to throw angry parents a bone in the hopes that they’ll stop advocating for change. I don’t, however, think that parents will be appeased by this.
Watch the speech and the entire meeting here: https://youtu.be/ti5oQf2Twr0
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