The Board of Education met 11/09/2020. They had a work session in which they went over the I-Ready testing data (which you can read about here and here.)
PUBLIC COMMENT
Kay Eggert summarized the communication the Board received that was intended to be public comment for the evening’s meeting.
(a) 4 individuals requested that the district resume some form of in-person education for students. (b) A couple individuals brought up concerns regarding the district losing students during the pandemic. One specifically wanted to know how many students left the district when it was announced they were going virtual, how many left by the 3rd Friday count, and then how many left after the third Friday count? Greg Hartjes answered those questions later in the meeting. (c) There was also a letter from the parent of an elementary student who was seeking specific answers regarding the child’s schedule and also the use of elementary school playground equipment. Nan Bunnow and the building principal were following up with that parent.
Kay assured the public that any correspondence they receive is shared with all the board members. She requested communication be submitted by 3pm the day of the Board meetings so that Board members have time to review them prior to the meeting.
SUPERINTENDENT REPORT
Judy gave her superintendent report which you can read here.
Essentially, cases are still really high in Wisconsin as a whole and we need to “guard against complacency and follow all safety recommendations that we know work to mitigate the spread of the virus”. The district continues to work on implementing their Virtual Plus model.
ENROLLMENT REPORT
Greg Hartjes then reviewed AASD enrollment numbers for the 2020-21 school year as compared to last year. As of 11/09/2020 enrollment is down about 5% as compared to last year. You can read the full writeup here.
In response to the enrollment numbers, Jim Bowman stated that Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years could be detrimental to getting kids back into class due to the virus spreading during family gatherings. He then explained that he would personally be seeking ways to celebrate that do not include having non-household members over to his house. He thinks the community could come together to limit how they celebrate those three holidays so that they can get their kids back into school sooner.
Leah thought the enrollment numbers were important to their decision making, and thought they suggested that virtual learning has been harder for some of their elementary families to manage than those with older students.
Deb Truyman was bothered that AASD had so many people saying “I’m sorry, I can’t do this anymore”. She wondered if they would come back or would they be looking to private schools next year? Would they be taking money from the general education fund for vouchers? At a minimum, she thought to decrease demonstrated that virtual school is not for everybody and the district needs to keep working to open up more.
SAFE AND RESILIENT RETURN REPORT
Nan Bunnow reported on their implementation of the Fully Virtual Plus model. They’ve developed 3 phases.
Phase 1 was implemented on October 26 with their English learner, Newcomer, and refugee students.
Phase 2 is focused on Level 1 and 2 English learners, Tier 3 literacy intervention, and student support groups. They are finding the need to develop building specific plans based on the types of programs that are in the buildings as well as the needs of the students in those buildings. They’ve been meeting with all principals building by building to develop plans. Some elementary buildings have already started to welcome back some literacy and English Learner students the week of November 9. The majority of them were slated to come back on the 16th. coming back on the 16th, with some to follow on the 23rd and the 30th. The start date depended on the building and the students’ transportation needs.
Phase 3 is focused on the youngest students. Nan has formed a workgroup that has been looking at different options for 4k – 6th grade. She will have a full report with recommendations at the 11/23/2020 Board meeting.
James Huggins the assistant superintendent for middle schools stated they are looking to bring students back in at the middle school level. They’re looking at their academic, social, emotional needs and looking to offer limited, targeted, optional in-person options for our most vulnerable population. The middle level in-person options will include At-Risk program support, and options for English Learner students particularly targeted at those in the Newcomer program. These options were planned to start the week of November 16.
[It was honestly pretty hard to tell what if anything is going on at the middle school level because James Huggins used so much corporate consultant speak in his language. For example, one choice phrase that came out of his mouth was, “They’re taking a look through quantitative/qualitative data review as they’re processing with our student services teams.” There are so many more clear, concise, and less confusing ways to phrase that statement. It would be great if everyone on the AASD admin team could just drop the corporate language and talk like regular people.]
Ben Vogel spoke about the options at the high school level. The week of November 2 they started phasing in opportunities for students in the areas of social and emotional learning, academics, clubs, and athletics. These are occuring in small groups, using safety protocols that include a check-in process, mask wearing, physical distancing, and cleaning protocols.
Their Virtual Plus *Academic* model has 3 phases. These opportunities will occur during the school day.
Phase 1, which they’re in right now, includes students who have an identified need in the area of executive functioning skills, social emotional support, english learner needs, and other academic needs. These students are identified by site student support teams using both qualitative and quantitative data.
Phase 2 will offer opportunities to students who need access to equipment and learning resources to help solidify their virtual learning. This will be based on data that indicated individual needs.
Phase 3 will build upon these opportunities until the district begins their hybrid model.
Meanwhile, their Virtual Plus *Co-curricular* options provide co-curricular opportunities outside of the school day to support the students’ social, emotional, and physical needs. These are occurring both virtually and face-to-face.
Per Ben, these plans can and will be altered at any time based on additional health information and/or health recommendations from the district’s health advisors including AASD nurses.
The meeting was then opened up for questions.
Leah asked James Huggins to define “at risk” for her? Do they have a larger pool at risk this year than they might have had last year? Have students who normally wouldn’t be at risk now fallen into that? She also seemed to recall that there had been a discussion about parents being able to identify if they felt their students were at risk.
Polly VandenBoogart answered her last question. The parent referral was for concerns around mental health in order to ask for assistance. That request for assistance could take the form of a follow-up phone call, or a virtual meeting, though it may result in an on-site meeting. It would not automatically result in a student being placed into a support group. And, follow up and support could potentially be done virtually depending on the individual situation.
Leah again wanted to know what the definition of “at-risk” was.
Per Judy Baseman, it’s typically thought of as “at-risk” for not graduating or making academic progress.
Ben said the state defines it as if a student is so far behind in credits that they would not be able to graduate on time. There are also other students that state statute would identify as at-risk based upon some other factors. He didn’t have those in front of him. For the most part, it’s specific to not being on track to graduate on time.
Leah wanted to know, since the at-risk programming was offered at the Middle school level, if an at-risk student could be identified at the Middle level.
Per James Huggins, at the middle school, it’s not linked to graduation credits but is associated with a lack of engagement or students who are struggling in multiple capacities.
[At this point the video cut out and they had to start a new livestream, so the meeting takes place over two different YouTube vidoes.]
Gary Jahnke wanted to know if they could give him a sense of how hard it has been to connect with the families who have been identified as needing/qualifying for in-person services. How many have been connected with and are on the road to getting in school services?
Per Nan, At this point they’re still very early in the identification process. The Newcomers program has been fully implemented and has 100% participation.
Polly stated that they’re working on logistics of who can come when and how often.
Ben Vogel said he could have specific numbers to share at the meeting on 11/23.
Barry O’Connell then gave a 7 minute long speech prosenting his views about the pandemic, AASD’s response to the pandemic, and parents’ response to AASD’s pandemic response. He and Deb Truyman got into things a little bit. You can read the whole thing here.
THE PERSONNEL SERVICES COMMITTEE REPORT
Deb Truymann gave the report. The Personnel Services Committee met on 11/05/2020. AASD is seeking a director of human resources position with the primary focus to manage daily HR operations and functions. Apparently, there’s been more work being put on fewer people so creating this position would positively affect the efficiency of daily human resources operations, implementation of processes to increase cohesiveness, and support positive employee relations, and provide support for more legal compliance. The HR department plans to not replace an administrative support position that was left open due to a retirement. As a result, this new position should only overall cost the district $45k.
The committee also reviewed the emergency paid sick leave policy. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act provides qualified employees with 2 weeks of emergency paid sick leave. Two changes were recommended: (1) removing the language that would result in an employee losing any remaining sick leave if they return prior to 2 weeks, so, for example, if they only use 3 days the remaining 11 days would not be lost, (2) employees have the option to supplement 1/3 of their emergency paid sick leave with their own sick leave. The change would make it so that the 1/3 that previously came from the employee would be covered by the district, so it would not affect the employee’s personal sick leave bank. This would provide equal access to the same amount of emergency paid sick leave to all staff members. [I haven’t had a chance to watch that Personal Services Committee meeting, but honestly, the way Deb described the policy changes they implemented makes it sound like AASD employees have incredibly generous sick leave options that they don’t need to pay for themselves.]
Deb also reported that at the committee meeting, Julie King went over the staff mental health resources. The district’s benefits include the employee assistance program, the mental health network, and an employee support services via Teladoc. Cindy Neimeyer from Catalpa Health was there and gave examples of support groups that she’s getting established for the health of the district employees. Julie also reviewed the addition of a mobile app for district employees so that there is a mental health radio button they can access for help. [To editorialize, the idea that AASD staff are so mentally fragile that they need a special button on their phones to ask for mental health assistance is both hilarious and sad to me.]
Gary wanted to know where the money to pay for the HR position would come from given that the budget had already been approved.
Per Greg Hartjes, they budget for 100% staffing knowing that’s not the reality. They currently have several unfilled positions, including 30 paraprofessional positions and several staff members positions. We currently have long-term subs in those positions, and they don’t pay benefits to long-term subs so the staffing costs are significantly lower. In a district AASD’s size with a $220million budget, they will always have some room to add staffing if needed during the year.
The Board then voted to accept three grants and voted on 6 personal issues: (1) 1 new educator hire, (2) 1 educator contract change, (3) approval of Master’s degree compensation for 50 individuals, (4) 1 professional educator retirement at semester, (5) 2 educator resignations, and (6) approval to the revisions to the emergency paid sick leave policy.
One of the board members wanted to know if 50 was a typical amount for the Master’s degree compensation program?
They honor the Master’s degree program twice a year–once in the fall and once in the spring. 50 is typical in the fall. The spring numbers are lower..
There’s an approval process prior to starting the program, and documentation is required by the district upon completion.
All Board members voted to approve.
Gary Jahnke then took a moment at the end of the meeting to publicly acknowledge Dr. John Mielke who passed away on 11/04/2020 (see obituary here: https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/2020/11/05/appleton-dr-john-mielke-champion-education-and-health-care-dies/6175245002/).
The meeting then adjourned.
You can view the entire meeting here:
Be the first to reply