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Our Club Member, Superintendent Mike Lubelfeld brought us update on opening the 10 schools of District 112 during this pandemic. Mike explained that his first priority is to keep all 4000 students, 400 teachers, 100 support staff and 30 administrators safe from the virus. Knowing how important it is for children to be back in school, the District must confront the emotional, social and learning loss the students have faced since March and still could face if they do not have some type of in person learning in the fall. Since schools closed March 12th, the District worked to get iPads and Chromebooks in the hands of students who needed a way of attending virtual classes. With the help of the HP Community Foundation they were able to upgrade some devices to include wifi for those students who do not have it in their homes. In June, they engaged with DMGroup (District Management Group) from Harvard to plan the restart of school. This month, they have been ironing out their plans for submission to the Board. They plan to start school September 3rd. Mike presented the five key challenges to opening the schools at this time. - Public health challenge - there is still so much we need to learn about the virus and its transmission, manifestations, treatment and cure. School districts need to be ready to respond to a variety of scenarios ranging from full closure/remote learning to a modified full opening
- Lack of agreement - There is a lack of precedent and lack of agreement as to the appropriate response. Medical and scientific data is limited and constantly changing.
- Lack of time - school districts will need to develop rigorous, well-considered plans for reopening. School districts are still finishing a tumultuous spring term and now need to pivot their attention to crafting a plan for fall.
- Decisions to be scrutinized - Plans for the fall will need to validated. The plans need to withstand the scrutiny of experts, community members and the court of public opinion.
- Shifting circumstances - school districts will need to remain agile due to any resurgence of cases or waves of resurgence. Full or spot closures may be necessary.
Possibilities of educating students are: modified on-campus learning (social distancing, alternate schedules), hybrid learning, and remote learning. With remote learning, new guidance for attendance, grading and accountability will need to be implemented. For both the modified and hybrid learning, the state must be in Phase IV. DMGroup has worked with the district to develop a framework for re-opening.With public health at the center of all that needs to be done, there are four areas to concentrate on; - Instructional Core/SEL(Social Emotional Learning) which encompasses curriculum, students, teachers, school schedule and staff schedule
- Operations which covers technology, facilities, maintenance, transportation and food service
- Stakeholders/Communications is students, teachers, parents, board, labor and community
- Resources like time, budget, people and facilities.
All of these need to work coherently. So the district is purposing half of the students (about 13-15 students in class) will have 2.5 hours of in person learning either in the morning or afternoon, then about 2.5 hours of remote learning and work packets. The schools will close for 2 hours for deep cleaning between sessions. The District also faces new expenses that will be eating into their emergency funds as they need to hire more hospital trained janitors/cleaners and equipment, and more busing to accommodate the new schedule. Some things that will change are: students with special needs will most likely have one-on-one instruction. That plan is still being worked on. The free meal program will also look different with the student provided with a lunch for that day and breakfast for the following day. The other service the district will be unable to provide is all day day care; 4-6 hours of care may be possible, but not full day. Mike said he is looking for more defined guidelines from the local, state and national public health entities, more data and better metrics to make more informed decisions. That doesn't seem to be coming anytime soon. He presented so much of what it takes to get a school year going under these circumstances. |
