Community Mahomet-Seymour re-opening questions answered
Mahomet-Seymour Superintendent Lindsey Hall, Director of Instruction Nicole Rummel and District Nurse Nita Bachman agreed to answer questions from the community on July 16. About 200 questions were asked, and condensed into categories. Because of the time limit, not every question was answered, but Dr. Hall has said that she would answer questions again after a final decision is made by the Mahomet-Seymour School Board. Due to time, all questions were not answered, but Dr. Hall said that we will talk again soon.
As parents (students) prepare to go back to school, whether it’s in person, hybrid or remote, what are some of the requirements to enroll. Do we still need to have vaccinations, dental and eye exams, physicals? At this point, should we be going to buy school supplies, should we register online, register for clubs or sports? I know it’s a lot of questions; I’m trying to group all of them together.
Nita Bachman: I can start with the first half of that question. All of the school requirements are still there, vaccinations, physicals, all of the things that they have to do registering online, all the normal school things are still in place. So we do still need them to have their physicals.
And just a reminder to parents that kindergarten, sixth and ninth grade require physicals, or if they’re new to the district. Full complete physicals will work for sports, but sports physicals do not count for the sixth and ninth grade physicals. So they need to have a complete physical by their physician. I know that the doctors were scheduling those because it is a state requirement; the state hasn’t backed off on any of those requirements. The dental (exams) for K, six and nine and vision for kindergarten; that has to be by an eye doctor, not just a public health vision screening.
Lindsey Hall: I will just add quickly: First of all, thank you for doing this, and we appreciate everyone’s understanding that, it’s awesome there’s 200 questions we will have time limits, addressing all of those, but also, there’ll be some that today we don’t know the answer to, but we’re just going to keep on this journey and be able to answer more and more questions as we get closer to the start a school. We did open up online registration in Skyward yesterday. And so regardless of what our reopening plan is we do need parents to still go ahead and participate in online registration and get their students registered for the 20-21 school year because we do need to know who’s coming back. If you’re not planning on returning to the Mahomet-Seymour Schools, please let the principal of the building know; that really helps us with planning as well. By all means, sign up for extracurriculars. We don’t have any information at this point that they would not be happening, as certainly we would convey that when we learn about that. But right now, I would encourage everybody to sign up for what you’re interested in, and get registered online.
This actually wasn’t a question that was asked this was my question. I thought it might help kind of set up things to begin with: a lot of people watched the board meeting last time, there was a survey that went out yesterday, the board packet shouldn’t be coming out today or tomorrow, could you guys kind of maybe just give us an update on where it is that we are. I know that’s kind of a really big question but could you update us on, from July 6 to now, where are we as far as these plans go.
Nicole Rummel: I would say, one of the biggest questions and I read it through that you had in there was an online option for families that are maybe not ready to send their kids back to school, and I don’t have the details for that. Right now we’re still looking at the number from the survey that went out, the number of families that are interested in an online only option. But hopefully that will be one of the options would be online. And then from there, early, early early in the summer started meeting with teachers and kind of talking about what a reopening plan might look like in terms of teaching and learning. And then, ISBE guidelines have come out, news from the governor has come out and so we have a lot of different options that are on the table right now, in addition to a remote option for families. And it’s kind of a continuum, you know, of looking at the number of students that would be in a classroom at a particular or at a given time looking at that till we get to everybody being back in school.
I don’t know where we’ll start within that continuum, but my guess is as information comes out we’ll just have to continue to be very flexible, and be prepared to go back and forth between different options as the school year kind of unfolds.
Lindsey Hall: Since last July 6, which was the last board meeting; at that board meeting, we presented recommendations from our instructional subcommittees, which Dr. Rummel has been leading and had a lot of great public input, had a great discussion with the board table, a lot of good questions answered and issues raised in the board did ask for us to come back with a plan that was focused on in person learning five days a week. So we’ve put together that plan; it’ll go out in the board packet. And that’s going to be one area of discussion Monday night, as well as just plans in general and what direction the board would like for the district to go.
We appreciate greatly, the input that people have provided: our staff, our community, parents, students, and it’s all been taken into consideration. It’s a really, really difficult decision for everybody involved and I hear that a lot from people and I think people really understand and appreciate that there’s a lot of moving parts, and there’s a lot of moving parts that we can’t control they’re outside the parameters of the decisions that get made in the district.
And that kind of leads me into my next question and this was my question to which I told you guys it was my question. So, at a press conference yesterday Governor Pritzker said “the Illinois State Board of Education recently released guidelines for how districts can return to in person learning. There’s room for adaptation to local circumstances in the guidance, but there are some requirements that must be adhered to: for example face coverage, distancing and classroom capacity requirements.” And then he goes on to say, “to be very clear here any district that intends to disregard this guidance is gambling with the lives of our children, teachers and families. Districts that don’t live up to public health guidelines and standards, and don’t make a genuine attempt to protect your communities from this virus could be held liable in courts by community members who are ill-affected. After the board meeting on July 6, there were some board members wanting to go all day and there were capacity conversations, there were actual face covering conversations has what the governor said yesterday, changed the approach to which the district might be able to continue to have some of those conversations or be more adherent to those guidelines.
Lindsey Hall: Well, so I’ll start and share my thoughts on that. So, from the time four months ago when the governor first announced that we would be to close our buildings and learning remotely, We’ve had three priorities, and they’ve mostly stayed the same they’ve evolved a little bit as we moved out of remote learning last spring; because one of our priorities in the spring was food distribution and, you know, we moved away from that in the summer. But the health and safety of our staff and students has been a top priority, as well as engaging our students, and focusing on instruction, as well as clear communication about all of this. And so those priorities haven’t changed. We did receive guidance from ISBE back on June 23, the Illinois State Board of Education. And I don’t think that that there are plans to depart from that, from that guidance.
The guidance provides for a lot of local decision making and autonomy, depending on so many different factors in your district. You have tiny districts in the state that might have one section of kindergarten with 11 kids in it. Obviously, that’s not us. And then you have massive districts with 10 and 20, 30,000 kids. And so that’s the reason why local decision making by boards is integrated into the plan.
I think the governor’s simply emphasizing that the health and safety of everyone should be a top priority importance for everybody and I’ve not felt that we’ve departed from that, or departed away from the guidance. Whatever the plan is we come away with from Monday night, then we need to look at how we can make the guidance happen as best we can. The guidance does say that social distancing should be practiced. And I don’t have the language in front of me, but wherever, whenever and wherever possible or to the greatest extent possible, regardless of the size of your school buildings, social distancing is going to be a challenge for everyone, everywhere. It’s just difficult with kids and the number of kids we have.
So I’ll defer to Dr. Rummel and Mrs. Bachman if they want to comment on that as well.
Nita Bachman: To kind of piggyback on what Dr. Hall said, I can just say that the health plan that was included in the board packet before, in looking through following the ISBE guidelines or the State Board of Education and the Illinois Department of Public Health guidelines, as far as face covering and districting and sanitizing those types of things: we’re working really hard to and continually to make sure that those things are in place. More and more data is showing that the face masks, protect not only the person that you’re talking to, but they protect the wearer, as well, to some degree, so it’s super important that parents understand that’s going to be a requirement. Face masks are going to be a requirement. We are looking at some other options for teachers who may be higher risk, for students who may be higher risk. So we’re looking at a variety of options to do the very best we can with the space we have, with the students we have, to make sure that that our students and staff are as safe as we can possibly make them within the guidelines that were given and maybe even a step beyond sometimes. People are concerned, and we want to address those concerns and consider them as we make our decisions.
One question that we got is some school districts are pushing back their start date to try to give them a little bit more time for plans. Has Mahomet-Seymour considered doing that at all:
Lindsey Hall: No, we haven’t. And, right today right now in answering that question, I don’t see a need to do it, but I’m going to reserve the right to change course. I don’t see a need for it, but I’ve also been very surprised by a lot of different things in the last couple of months, so that’s what I would I would say. We’re still expecting students back on August 19 and teachers on the 17th.
How will grading and attendance be handled this year?
Nicole Rummel: It’s a great question. This is going to be different, whether we’re in-person or off-campus learning, than the spring. So grades will go on as they did prior to the pandemic. You know, as always, we’re evaluating our grading practices and wanting to get better with our assessments, but grading will take place, as well daily attendance.
The daily attendance could look slightly different, let’s say there’s an asynchronous day of learning, it could be a Google check-in. But, it will be required that teachers and students, check in every day, whether whether they’re getting direct instruction, in-person, or whether it’s an off-campus learning day.
Lindsey Hall: It will be different than last spring. And I think just overall I, if I could just quickly address that, I think that we’ve tried to move away from the term remote learning because it’s associated with what we did in the spring of 2020, which was done on an emergency basis and which I think in our last board meeting referred to as damage control from the standpoint of we had to put something together very quickly, and we were trying to prevent the loss of learning. Our approach with whatever model we go with in the fall is that teaching and instruction, are a top priority of that model, engaging students, whether it’s off campus, or whether it’s in-person, learning, and it will be very, very different than what we did in the spring.
Nicole Rummel: And we will be moving instruction along. So one of the questions that has been asked is: if my kid is not in person learning, you know on those other days, is it just review work, and it could be a variety of different things, but the expectation is that that learning is moving forward every day. So that the teacher isn’t teaching the same thing on Monday to a group of students, Tuesday through a group of students, Wednesday; that every day instruction is progressing.
I’m sure this is one of the questions that maybe you can’t answer right now, but what time will students be in school? I’m sure that has a lot to do with whatever plan it is that you guys set up.
Nicole Rummel: Yes. We don’t have start times, we don’t have end times yet. We don’t have a length of a school day, we have some proposals and some guesses out there. But honestly, a lot of it depends on the plan that we select. And then we have to work backwards from bus routes. We have to try to avoid having students congregating in the foyer or in commons areas to try to maintain that social distancing. So trying to make sure that we can get buses at the school as close to the start time as possible staggered. And then the same thing at dismissal time.
What is the responsibility of the parent as they send their child to school: is the parent filling out a questionnaire to send with their child to school, are parents doing temperature checks, are you doing temperature checks, are you filling out forms, what does that look like?
Nita Bachman: Yes. So, one of the things that is in the guideline, it talks about self-certify or it’s required that we have symptom and temperature checks. One of the things that’s going to be absolutely critical for us is that parents do do some of that at home, and that they check their child for symptoms, that they make sure that they don’t have a fever before they send them to school. And we’re using 99.5 as a fever, because we have found over the years, that if a child comes to the office with a 99.5 temperature, we’re calling the parent, and typically the child has something, whether it’s an ear infection or whatever.
So by the time they get to 100.4 an hour later, then they can be pretty ill. So, we are absolutely asking that parents do that and keep their kids home. There is a flowchart that we’re providing, as well as a health document for parents for what the expectations are from what we’re checking, so that they can refer to that. And then we’re using that same document in house. And then, as kids come to school we are going to, we are going to symptom and temp. check.
Some parents do the very very best they can, but we’re just doing a double check so that we can try to mitigate that issue for parents and parents. If parents have to leave you know before their kid gets off the bus or whatever. You know, it’s gonna happen that you get up, you send your child to school and an hour later they spike a temp and come home. That’s the nature of children. And so, the answer to your question is yes to all of that.
As far as forms, we aren’t going to require parents to fill out a form every day to send with their child. What we are going to do, though, is if we send the child home, we’ve got a form that we’re going to send that form home with the child to say, this is why your child is coming home; they have this symptom, this symptom or this symptom. And part of the reason that we’re going to do some of that is because, not only do we have COVID that we’re dealing with, but it’s going to be strep season, kids have ear infections, all the other things that go along with that. So we will be doing the wide-variety of those types of checks in our offices and as kids come into buildings, and just really trying to do the best we can to keep all of the kids safe coming in, or staff because staff are going to have to do the same thing. So we don’t want staff coming to school sick, either.
Lindsey Hall: I just want to provide like a broader perspective, just say there’s going to be some areas where we really, really need to partner with parents and work together. And the screening in the morning the health screening every morning is going to be key at home. And I completely understand how busy mornings can be getting kiddos out the door and on the bus or or ready to go in whatever way it happens in people’s households but, frankly, screening your child for a fever was something that, that I know people were doing prior to the pandemic. You know, you get up your kids so they don’t feel well and you go through a bunch of steps and grill them and make sure right if they need to stay home. And we just are going to really need even more partnering with parents and in that way just to ensure that sick kids aren’t coming to school. We would say the same for our staff, too.
We started talking about this, the importance of staying home when you’re sick, way back in February, and that’s never not been true, but it’s even it’s even more so now. Even if it’s not COVID, that you’re sick with, as Mrs. Bachmann said, we still have every other common illness, that’s out there in schools: strep, flu, ear infections. And those are still going to hit us, as they always do. And I’m just going to put in a plug here for a flu vaccine for everybody: get a flu shot. When the time comes, that’s going to be ultra important. And so there’s my plug for that.
There’s been a lot of talk about Unit 4 plans. Has the district considered anything similar to the Unit 4 plan? And if I need to describe what that is, let me know, but I think we all know what it is. This is directly from the News-Gazette: restrict eligibility for in-person instruction to students with IEPs and 504 plans, English language learners and students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. So it sounds like those kids are gonna be the ones that go to school and everybody else might be virtual.
Lindsey Hall: We’ve not considered that.
How will science classes, shop classes or other hands-on classes in the district, how will you be able to provide those remotely?
Nicole Rummer: So, based off of the plan, the plans, I guess you could say that are out there, it’s only really phase three, that is completely remote.
The other phase four, has each of the options has some in-person time. There have been discussions that there are some classes like construction that are very unique, and we may have to take those particular classes on an individual basis.
But most of our classes with the science, we’ve talked to some science teachers, have the ability to adjust their labs, so maybe they do the labs on the day that they’re in person, and are able to make some adjustments that way. But there are definitely a couple of classes that are very, very unique that we’ll have to look at in isolation.
Can you talk a little bit more in-depth about the remote learning plan. I personally have read the document and written about it from what Nicole talked about at the last board meeting, but parents are wondering what that looks like at the elementary level. What will they be engaged with at home, and then at the junior high and high school level. What will at home instruction or learning look like?
So, let’s say we do a half day for K through five, and I think that’s probably what you’re referring to was kind of the half day plan: So when kids are at school, we know that it’s most important that they get their initial math, reading and writing instruction directly from the teacher in-person. So that’s what that half day would really be focused on, that time with the teacher looking at math, reading and writing.
Then their other half of the day when they’re off campus, learning, and participating that would be an opportunity where they would have a set time they would log on, their encore teacher would be there, they would lead them through their music activities or through their PE activities, and they would receive that instruction that way; maybe some RTI services could be offered through that time. And then we have a couple of online programs that we have been using for a couple of years, Dreambox one, which is a differentiated math program, and all the kids K-5 have a login for that. And so it’s a great way to provide enrichment for kids that might need enrichment. And it’s a great way also to provide some remediation or some reteaching services for students that might need that. And then for science, we use Mystery Science, which is a supplemental online program, and it has some great videos and some activities that kids could watch and participate with that help. So, we would be able to do a great blended type of approach that way.
I also feel like there’s some great opportunities when kids are interacting with their classroom teacher daily to be able to go home and practice some of those activities, then maybe with manipulatives or counters, or books to do those sorts of self-reading and self-engaging activities at home.
For 6-12. They would be on a rotation, they’ll follow their set school day. So, you know, first period, we’ll have: first, second, third, fourth period. And then, the kids would be expected, if they’re doing off-campus learning that day it’s not their day to be in-person, they would still log-in during that time, and follow the instruction, and submit assignments. Some of that could vary. Maybe the teacher gives, you know, a quick 10 minute lesson, and then kids are online in Google Classroom working in groups, or they could be doing some independent work.
We do have some time set aside for 6-12,for kids to be able to get help, if they need help during the school day. Kind of some office hour kind of time set in, and then some additional supports would be in place then on Mondays, more kids could get support.
We’ve also talked about if every kid is not in school all day, every day, being able to provide opportunities for kids to sign-up come on campus to access Internet, and maybe to even get some in-person support for kids that may be that additional help, but really are struggling, getting that help online and want that face-to-face help.
And then Jared also did talk about putting the Wi Fi in the parking lots, and you guys have talked about Wi Fi with buses, so I just want to make sure that everybody does know about those things, too.
Nicole Rummer: Yes, I would just say if they did not complete the survey because we are really targeting areas for families that completed the survey, please let us know if internet access is a problem or a struggle for your family. And we can work with you to ensure that your students are able to access their curriculum and materials and teachers during the year.
At the elementary level, if there is a half-day option, will parents be able to state their preference for morning or afternoon; at the upper grade levels, will parents be able to choose what day their child goes in; will you be able to accommodate the schedules of siblings?
Nicole Rummel: So we’ve talked a lot about accommodating schedules with families. So we know that there are families that don’t have the same last name. And so if we went strictly with a A through F type of, that we would separate families so every priority will be given to, to keep families on similar schedules. We understand that that’s important.
With regards to preference. I can just say that from Pre-K preferences, when those are asked, everybody wants morning. So, we’ve talked a lot about equity, over the past several years. And what we find, is that it’s not always equitable when we ask for preference, that there are definitely some voices that are louder than others, and it can create a situation of inequity. So, barring some extenuating circumstances, we’ll have a system in place to balance out classes and courses when we play students on their days of the week, and or morning and afternoon placements.
If at any time during the school year students are learning remotely, is there a way for parents to check what they have for that day, what Zoom meetings they need to be on, if the kids go back to a hybrid option or even 100% online learning will parents have access to Google Classroom? This was asked a bunch and I think people had problems with it in the spring so can you answer the question and then also, are there going to be any documents available for parents to like, or are there documents available for parents to say this is how I do this; I’m getting the sense that, maybe parents just don’t know.
Yeah. So I’m going to start with how we do this, so I know we’ve talked with the instructional coaches and with some teachers about doing some videos for parents online to show them how to access, and to use certain programs that their students might be using so that they can better support them. So the plan is definitely to create some of those videos, put those up for parents on the district website.
I just think that the sense that I’m getting is that parents are just worried about how they connect with their child’s day-to-day, when it’s on a virtual platform. I’ll admit I log into my kids personal account, and then I see what it is that they have going on for the day. I don’t know if there’s a way for me, as myself, to log into that to see? And I am kind of getting this sense that maybe that’s what’s going on for a lot of people. So, what advice can you give, or what have you provided to parents to understand what their kids are doing on a day-to-day basis in the virtual world?
I think that’s a great question and I will have to look into that more. I know that there are some limitations within Google Classroom in terms of parent view and like the reports that parents get. I don’t know that that’s what parents are asking for right now, they probably want a little bit more involvement, especially if it’s all virtual or more virtual than not. So, I’m gonna have to say I don’t really have a good answer for that right now, but it’s definitely something that we can explore and look into.
I think ISBE said that every district has to have an e-learning plan. Parents are kind of wondering when they might be able to see that document and what that looks like.
Nicole Rummel: I think it depends; we’ve had some discussion on exactly what the e-learning plan is that ISBE is requiring, and so the regional superintendent is looking into that for us right now, because when we say e-learning plan that has meant multiple things over the past six to seven months. So we need as a district clarification on exactly which of the elearning plans they’re referring to.
I have heard other districts talk about that, too, in other board meetings, that they’re just not sure what it is that you guys, apparently, haven’t got the guidance entities that you’re looking for on that yet.
Lindsey Hall: Well, we could do an e-learning plan. But an e-learning plan had a very specific meaning and place way prior to COVID-19. But then as we’ve evolved through the pandemic and off-campus learning has become much more relevant and then last spring, we had to put together a remote learning plan; a remote learning plan is not the same as an e-learning plan. So therein lies the need for clarification.
An e-learning plan has a higher level of approval and accountability and we’re not opposed to that we’re just trying to find the space we fit in and what it is we need to do. An e-learning plan also requires a public hearing with your board of education, approval by the board, and none of that is problematic. We’re just trying to figure out what it is that we need to do right now.
An e-learning plan can also allow us to provide e-learning days that will count on whether closure days. So then, therein lies the original intent of an e-learning plan. And we never did that for weather related or other closings in the past. So, that is probably more entangled answer than you wanted but nothing’s really too clear right now.
No, I understand what you’re talking about and I think it’s important that you did talk about what an e-learning plan was prior to this because there were a few districts who had e-learning plans for those weather days. I think the Chicago Tribune even wrote about those that had it in place and then the vast majority that did not have anything like that in place, and how that impacted remote learning and what that looks like, as we went through the last couple months of school. So I think it’s important that you did point that out.
I think you answered this, Nicole, but I’m just gonna ask it again because it was the question that was asked the most: will there were there will be a virtual option for people not comfortable with sending their kids to school?
Nicole Rummel: We’re working on that. So that would be the recommendation is that there is some sort of in-person, blended or full person, some sort of model and then there is also a second choice and that second choice would be a remote only choice. But with that, there comes some other pieces that I think we need to consider and talk about. So when a parent commits to off-campus or remote option or virtual option, how long are they committing to that for. So, you know, is it a semester? Is it the full year? And then, what are we going to use to deliver that instruction?
And so those are kind of some of the questions we’re trying to answer right now before we push that out fully to parents, but I would say that if you’re not comfortable with your student coming back on campus, at this time, there will be another option for you.
That question was asked a lot, how long are we locked into it? Are we locked into it a semester or a quarter? So the answer to that is, from what I just heard, you’re just not sure yet.
Nicole Rummel: Correct. We just need to look at what that model is going to look like. So that we can best support the kids in flowing between the two models. Okay.
If there is a limited number of kids in each classroom will masks still be required? Another parent asked, Will the school enforce the masks, per the state mandate, even if parents personally object to them? Will face shields be acceptable? And what are the consequences for students that refuse to wear a mask?
Nita Bachman: Masks are still required. In the data now that’s coming out nationally, even, is that anytime you’re inside with other people, you should be wearing a mask. Because that protects you and them, both. They have found that that mitigates, it really drastically reduces the spread if everybody’s wearing a mask. So, yes, masks are going to be required anytime someone’s in the building. And that’s part of our health plan. It says that in there, as well as the state board of education and public health.
Shields: Initially, the initial document, said shields, but then there was an addendum to that that said shields are not an acceptable instead of a mask. So, as far as are (face coverings) required, yes.
If parents just personally don’t like them, it’s going to be very much like some other things we have, if your child for whatever physical reason cannot wear a mask, then we need a doctor’s note to say that. In those cases, or for some children who are higher risk, or for teachers, there’s going to be the option of a shield and a mask. So if people want a little bit more protection.
Once in a while, We’re going to have to be flexible and play it by ear; we may have some situations for some higher needs children that there’s just no way they could wear a mask and, you know, in those cases, then we are going to require a shield. So there’s going to have to be some type of face covering, even for those students, and for the teachers.
So, staff, and students are all going to be required to have face coverings. As far as the implementation we haven’t really determined exactly what that’s gonna look like yet. Dr. Hall and Dr. Rummel we determine that. But right now it’s going to be to come into the building, you have to have a mask on, you have to have a mask on the bus, everybody on the bus has to have a mask, everybody coming into the building has to have a mask.
And again, that’s hard, because I know that there are families, it’s like, oh I don’t know I don’t want this. That’s just not an option anymore, because we’re in the middle of just a really horrible pandemic, and we have to follow the health guidelines to the best of our ability to keep all the children safe, and all the staff safe. So while there may be rare exceptions, those are going to be on a case-by-case basis, then we’ll have to talk with those parents and talk with those but as a general rule, we would have to have a doctor’s note.
This was asked a lot, about opportunities and what it looks like for students with IEPs, 504s and children who are in the ATLAS program. What is the district plan to meet those students needs? Parents were also interested in learning more about how an IEP or 504 plan is met with distance learning?
Lindsey Hall: So, we would always encourage families to communicate with (Christine Northrup) on an individual basis about their own child’s needs and an IEP or with Marissa Hill who is our coordinator of Student Services, who oversees COMPASS and ATLAS and Pre-K for specific answers. We are committed to providing the services that are mandated in the IEPs. It no secret, and it would be ridiculous to say that remote learning supports that. It’s very, very difficult when you are fully off campus. And so, I acknowledge that. And that’s true everywhere. We were not the only district that was challenged by that last spring, and we don’t want that to happen again.
And we feel like we’ve got plans in place for those students to attend in-person at a greater level than other students. So in that regard, I guess, you know, you asked earlier about have we considered anything like the Unit 4 plan, I guess, in that regard that might look somewhat similar in that some of our higher needs students and students with IEPs will be attending school in person, a greater number of hours. And that is because there are some supports and interventions and services that are mandated for those students, and we want to make sure that we’re meeting notes.
This next question is kind of along the same line. There are lots of students and teachers with underlying medical conditions. Asthma was brought up most, not just because COVID-19 could affect their respiratory system, but also because some of those students are unable to wear masks. I think you answered this maybe a little bit, but what do parents who have worked to protect their children over the last four months do as they approach this school year? And how is the district hoping to help them do that?
Nita Bachman: That’s a great question, one that’s been on my mind a lot.We have a good number of students with medical issues. I actually have created a list. We’ve got kids that we probably are going to talk to you personally and help them, not tell them what to do, but there are a lot of high risk factors, including asthma.
What some of the fear is is that people can’t breathe through the masks. And it’s been proven actually you can do a pulse ox and it’s actually you get plenty of oxygen through the mask. However, there are people who are claustrophobic or people who just aren’t used to that. We’ve had a couple of students, like in some of our Pre-K screenings that actually were asthmatic and wore a mask, the whole time. That’s another benefit, in my, just my opinion, with the smaller children with the half days, it gives us a little bit more ability, you know, to not have the full day,
If it’s truly a case where a student absolutely 100% can’t wear a mask and the doctor says they can’t wear a mask, then those are cases that we’re going to have to figure out what to do next. That may be where we have a shield in place for that kid on that rare occasion, you know. But, that’s a great question, and that’s something that we are looking at. on a daily basis to try to figure out what to do with those kids because there’s so many different scenarios that we have.
As far as an even with our children with special needs as far as distancing and extra cleaning, and the types of things we need to do to keep the children safe, but by the same token, keep all the other people around them safe, as well.
So, I wish I had a definitive better answer for you on that, but I can tell you that children with medical needs are being considered. I’m thinking about that on a daily basis
It has been shown that this virus isn’t just the respiratory virus; we found it now it’s attacking other parts of the body and other systems. So, it may be that different types of masks work better. I think that some people have found I know I have several different types of masks with flannel are a lot harder to breathe through. Masks with cotton seem to be a little better. So it may just be a simple matter of finding one that works better. So some of the ones with the moisture wicking fabric, I’ve had some people with asthma who can wear those because it’s cooler, and they can breathe through them a little better and the fabric is it doesn’t feel as restrictive. So those would be some options, too.
I’m not going to be particular about the type of mask, it’s more that you have that face covering that protects you and everybody else.
All right, let’s move on to specials. People want to know about PE, music, art, other specials; what might that look like in a school day or if you’re doing a remote learning? and there were a lot of questions about band and chorus, also.
Nicole Rummel: So I can say in terms of PE, the guidelines say that, you know, we can try to do PE outside as much as we can. Students will not be dressing out for PE. So I do think there have been discussions with the PE departments in terms of what kinds of activities, you know, we might be doing during the school day at the secondary level.
In terms of music and band, when we know what our plan will be, we’ll be able to better work with those. There are some guidelines from ISBE, and then there are some additional guidelines for me to their professional organizations that kind of provide some guidance to districts on what that might look like.
So, if we can get outside, obviously that is a lot better. There’s no sharing of instruments listed in the document. We have some classes in terms of bands that are bigger than 50. So we have to look at what that would look like if all students were back all day every day. We’d need to modify the schedule somewhat to reduce the sizes.
In chorus, there are some different guidelines from their professional organization than there is from ISBE, in terms of what’s safe. And so really be looking at, you know, are there things other than singing if we have to be inside that we can do to support kids to keep them safe, to keep our directors safe. And make sure that our teachers feel comfortable with the instruction that they’re given.
And so I think this is just an opportunity or a time for us just to be as flexible as we can so that the kids are, you know, feel like they’re getting instruction in the area that they signed up for. But also, in a way that keeps both the students and the staff safe in those areas.
Can you talk a little bit about recess or breaks K-5 students may or may not get? What does recess look? What would bathroom breaks or water breaks look like? Are those students going to be confined to their desk?
Nicole Rummel: So those are great questions, and I mean, some of it is outlined for us in the guidelines: students should have set space for them in the classroom to reduce, you know, to help maintain, I guess, the social distancing. So kids will have have an assigned space. We understand that is challenging, especially for, for anybody, but especially for younger kids. So we’ll always be looking for opportunities where we can take kids outside, and they can take their mask off within that, but also can move their bodies a little bit, and that will be very, very important.
I would recommend, if the parents have water bottles at home to send a water bottle with their students, so they can have that at their desk and can take water as needed. We are talking with the teachers, and it is something that we have to address, bathroom breaks and how to maintain social distancing as best we can during those times and rotating classes through that.
At the elementary level, we do have sinks in all the classrooms so that helps with hand washing in those areas. We will have to look at the junior high and high school, ways that we can increase handwashing because we only have sinks typically in the science classrooms in those buildings. So how do we get kids through to hand wash and have additional hand sanitizer available for students, for that.
But kids need to move; we were well aware of that. But we also have the issue of equipment and stuff. So it may be less equipment, because we’d have to clean it between students. But, definitely opportunities to be outside, and it’s a great way for kids to use their imagination and get back to some of those old school games that we used to play.
Do you guys have fountains that have the bottle filling stations instead of just like the, you know, old school where you push the button and the water kind of shoots up and you drink out of that’ Do all of them have the bottle filling station?
Nicole Rummel: Yes.
Nita Bachman: We also have hand sanitizer in the classrooms. So, as kids come in and out, that’s a thing that we’ve had for a long time, you know, back since back when pertussis and other flus hit us.
At the elementary level, particularly there are a lot of tables, instead of individual desks. How does the district deal with social distancing for those kids? I mean, I’m assuming you’re not gonna buy all individual desks at this point in time. So how does that work?
LIndsey Hall: We just furnished Middletown Prairie with furniture, which is modern and, you know, flexible seating and centers and stations, and so kids can can move. Who would have thought, you know, this should be what we’re talking about?
So no we’re not going to get desks. We’re going to find the best workarounds we can to keep kids separated. We’re looking into some different options for like plexiglass dividers, there’s no shortage of people who want to sell us stuff. There’s no shortage of people capitalizing on the opportunity here to make $1 or two, unfortunately. I think all of our inboxes are just completely overloaded with, with emails from vendors which I respect they have a job to do. And there is absolutely there’s a market for PPE and and other ways to provide separation. So we’re continuing to look into those. We just got plexiglass shields for our offices; those just came in, to provide a barrier for our office professionals from the public and visitors and others who might be in offices. So it’s no doubt a challenge. We might actually need to move out some furniture from classrooms in order to maximize space and socially distance and things like that.
Those are just ongoing, kind of, strategy sessions and conversations, and we also learn just more from conversations with other school districts and what they’re doing, as well. And there’s some really creative great ideas out there that sharing and talking is very helpful.
Lindsey Hall: One more thing I would want to say is just that, whatever plan we land on school is not going to look like it did in February. So, even if, even if the plan that the board wants us to move ahead with is in-person, five days a week, it’s not school from February 2020 and before. Routines, procedures, protocols, education, how we interact, it’s all going to be different. We all have a deep respect that it’s up there’s a learning curve involved and like habits are going to have to be changed and we are all also remembering and have at the forefront of our thoughts that kids have not been in school, by the time we start for five months. It’s the biggest break from school for any school age kid.
So, those are factors that we’re all considering and and thinking about and the conversation and the planning, it’s not going to stop, even after we start school. It’s just going to be constant problem solving, adjusting, being agile and flexible on what’s working, what’s not working, responding to different situations that come up. There’s a lot of unknown and uncertainty and that’s not a comfortable place for most human beings.
But I also think there’s a lot of things we can learn: the conversations that we’ve had with teachers and parents, and with each other, it’s been great. We’ve learned a lot. And I think there’s a lot of really good things we can take away from and then there’s things that went once. Whatever place we get to where COVID is like, either, I don’t know how to say it, like under control, where there’s a vaccine or whatever phase five looks like I guess is how we should; there’s going to be lots of things that we want to leave behind, but I think there’s also going to be a lot of things that we can take with us and make schools even better.
