The good evening,
I like to call it the February 22nd, 2021
meeting of the Derry Township School District Board of Directors to order
and announce that this meeting is being livestreamed and audio recorded.
This meeting is being conducted both in-person and virtually limiting
our in-person attendance to ensure the ability
to self social distance during the COVID 19 pandemic.
I'd like to request the board member to please state your name when speaking.
Mrs.. E.g.
Would you please do the roll call?
Sure.
Mr. Able. Present.
Dr. Cronan Here.
Ms.. Drew Present.
Mrs. Hover here.
Mrs.. Many here, Dr. Shore.
Here. Mrs. Secker Here.
Mr. Singer. Here.
Mrs. Viner here.
Nine present. Zero Absent.
Thank you.
Would you please rise if you are able and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Of the United
States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.
One nation,
indivisible, with liberty and.
Justice for all.
Thank you.
Next item is approval of the Board of Directors agenda.
May I have a motion to approve the February
22nd, 2021 Board of Directors agenda.
So move. Lindsey drew second. Kathy.
Is there any discussion?
There's a state or voice vote all in favor.
Signify by saying I only opposed
Motion carries
students of the month recognition.
Mr. MCFARLAND.
Thank you, Mr. President.
As we have all year this year, we're going to be recognizing
our Students of the month via the computer screens and TV screens.
So let you watch their videos that they created.
Hello, I'm Jason McClean, a senior at Hershey
High School and one of the February students of the month.
Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude
to the Hershey Rotary Club for this recognition,
as well as to the teachers and faculty at Hershey High School.
It was largely thanks to the guidance of my teachers
that I've been able to reach the point I'm at now.
Additionally, I'd like to thank my parents and the rest of my family
for their continual support and encouragement through stressful times.
They have been a constant source of inspiration
and for that I'm eternally grateful.
Throughout my
time at Hershey, I have been involved in a range of activities.
Since eighth grade.
I have participated in the Youth in Government program, and this year
I've had the honor to serve as a Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.
In this position, I've worked with other presiding officers
and advisors from across the state in order to organize our conventions.
It has been a definite test and flexibility of planning
for an unprecedented virtual year.
However, I really appreciated the challenge.
I also participated in the cross-country team earning a varsity
letter this year, and I'm currently a part of the track and field team.
Additionally, I've been a member of the student council,
National Honor Society, MU Alpha Theta
and La Societa Aria Hispanico
from Formerly I served as a star mentor helping eighth grade girls
to enjoy their time in the middle school and their transition into the high school.
Academically, I'm very interested in biology and the sciences.
However, I also really enjoy writing and art.
I especially appreciated incorporating my love
for science, especially the subject of infectious diseases.
Enjoy more creative school projects.
I've been awarded 14 different school based underclassmen awards
and I'm currently a National Merit semifinalist and AP scholar with honors.
Outside of school, I pursue a range of hobbies.
In particular,
I love drawing and painting, which I adore as a means to express myself.
Recently, I've also been learning how to embroider,
which has been an interesting and equally rewarding way of creative expression.
I'm also an avid reader and one of my all time favorite books
being called World History. Mark Kurlansky.
I'm also employed at
Brown Skin Dermatology Associates in Hummelstown.
Currently, I've been tutoring fellow students in calculus
and helping to set paint for the Winter Musical of the service.
Activities I've had the pleasure of participating
in throughout my time in high school.
Volunteering at the International Fair has been by far one of my favorites.
I hope younger students with arts and craft activities and in the process
I was able to share my passion for creativity with them.
Last year it was one of the events I was most disappointed
to see canceled in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
I've also really appreciated my time as a tutor,
as someone who formerly struggled with math.
The subsequent effort to thoroughly grasp the subject.
I'm so glad to know that I have helped others with concepts that they have
difficulty with.
After graduating,
I intend to pursue an undergraduate degree in immunology and infectious diseases
and eventually attend graduate school to attain a degree in veterinary medicine.
Having been interested in the subject of zoonotic illnesses
since 2014, when the Ebola epidemic was constantly on the news,
I've only become more adamant about wanting to contribute to the field,
especially in light
of the impact of COVID 19, which has demonstrated how interconnected
human society is with the animals and environment around us.
Overall, I'm just incredibly honored to have been recognized as one
of the February students of the month.
I wouldn't be here without the support.
My family, friends, teachers and everyone else I have met at Hershey
High School.
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
So I.
Am linking.
Right.
And these are my parents, Dr.
Ryan and Dr. Ryder.
I would like to thank the Hershey very close for this honor,
as well as the Hershey High School Administration and teachers
at Hershey and the treasurer of the National Honor Society
and everyone on the cross country and track team.
I also enjoyed playing on trumpet such as and
when the symphony orchestra
and also member of the French National Honor.
Society and the Australian Musical Honor Society.
And this year I started giving lessons elementary school students
on the trumpet of the Musical Letters.
I was a part of the.
Summer program and astrophysics.
There was a song and that was also.
Part of the makers of Good Times Hershey Company.
I've also been named a nominee
for the United States Presidential Scholarship for the.
National Merit Seltzer by former service projects in high school.
As in the seizure of the cross country team.
All right.
Partnering with the organization Souls for Souls
over the disturbances that ended to people in need.
So many will talk us down over the past four years,
and they are hoping to do something.
Besides for tracks.
And pass on that as they cross.
So I'm
enjoying my physics engineering design calculus class,
and after graduation I'm hoping to study mechanical engineering in college.
I'm especially interested in the on the face.
Thank you.
And thank you.
Congratulations to all.
It's about students for those remarkable achievements.
I will be reading for the benefit of the audience
through the agenda, because otherwise we'll be live streaming that normal.
We have the agenda up there, but we'll be livestreaming the board meeting.
So I will make it a point as we move through the evening to identify what
the next item is that is on the agenda, which takes us down to our next item,
which is the presentation of the 2021 2022 calendar.
Mr. MACFARLANE.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Before you on the on the screens,
you have a copy of the Draft 2122 calendar.
And as I always say,
it takes a lot of work to put a count together,
but there's not a whole lot of moving parts
that are available to us with the required parameters
that we have to follow from state expectations to contract expectations.
So I will go through the highlights and then open it up to any questions
you may have and the talk about next steps.
So looking at the differences from this year.
So if you go to August,
we are looking to do
our new teacher orientation induction on a monday
through Wednesday this year instead of a Tuesday through Thursday.
The reason for that is so that we have an extra day or two in there
for additional in-service that may be needed, especially at the elementary level
teacher in-service, that
would be four days versus three Monday through Thursday.
And that's to frontload a lot of the work around equity that we need to do.
And and getting started,
unlike this year where we were originally planning
to start with students two weeks prior to Memorial Day,
we're back to starting just the week before.
So we'd start with a four day week, the week before
Labor Day excuse me, and then a four day week after Labor Day.
You will see in September there is a late start
and you will see more of those in this year's calendar.
And that's primarily because we need a time around
that the equity work that we're doing, we need as much time as possible.
Dr. Winslow can speak to that more at the end if needed.
So there's a late start there
after Labor Day in October, be a day off for students.
October 11th would be a staff in-service day.
That's our traditional conference day and then a late start
the day after the conference day
in November.
That is very similar to to this year.
You've got six grade conferences on the 19th and elementary conferences,
the 22nd and 23rd before the Thanksgiving recess.
And then the Monday coming back would be another two
hour late start in December for the winter recess.
It would officially start on the 24th.
There would be an early dismissal on the 23rd and then students would return
to school on Monday, January 3rd, January 17th, as Martin Luther King Day.
You'll see that that's a day off this year for students and staff.
There's been a growing interest in that's a day of service and providing
that day, that opportunity for for staff to go out and serve in the community.
So that would be a day off. And then by
the professional
staff agreement, there is to be a teacher work day between the semester.
So you'll see there that on the 24th would be the teacher work day.
So there'd be no student, no school for students on the 24th as well,
because the end of the semester ends on the 21st.
The 25th would be a two hour
late start as well
in February.
Not a whole lot of change.
Presidents Day is a day off
with no school for staff or students and a two hour late start
on the Tuesday following Presidents Day
in March.
Very similar to this year.
The second trimester conferences for elementary would be the 10th
and the 11th of March, and the 11th
would be a an in-service day for 612.
So elementary students would not have school on the 10th
and the 11th K-12 would not have school on the 11th.
The 14th would be a two hour
late start again for the equity work.
April would be the spring recess.
Currently, it would be scheduled for Monday
or Wednesday on the 13th through Monday, the 18th.
However, you will notice that there are two weather
make up days in there, April 13th and 14th.
So it guarantees a four day, possibly
a six day spring recess
with a two hour late start on the 19th.
May is no different.
June.
You'll see there that we have the preliminary dates
for the high school finals with early dismissals for high school.
Only the last day for students and commencement would be on Wednesday,
June 8th.
So I know I went through that fairly quickly.
But again, there's not a whole lot of variation to other years documents.
I don't know if there's anything
you want to add to the conversation or just take questions at this point.
Again.
Any questions from the board members?
Mr. MACFARLANE.
This has been. Teacher So just looking at the the snow make up
day is being built into there.
So you're anticipating that we would continue not having virtual learning days
on snow, inclement weather, days in the future.
Thank you for bringing that up.
The virtual learning days that we have this year.
The state has allowed those this year because of the pandemic.
What the state does have, the program they have is something called
flexible instructional days, fed days.
You may have heard those referred to, You must applied for those
we would have to apply for those by September.
And I believe that the administration is going to be applying
for those that if we get approved, that's for good.
For three years and up to five days in a calendar year,
but felt it was important
to also include some make up days that give some flexibility an option.
Thank you.
So if we were able to get sorry,
this is Donna Cronan, if we were able to get five, four days,
is there any way that we could remove the 13th and 14th?
I know it's been a long time where parents say, why give us that many days off?
We can't go anywhere.
Because if it gets if it gets rescinded, then the kids are missing school.
So it really messes with family plans.
I never
go on spring break, but I know people do and just want to bring that up.
It's kind of hard to have time off and then yank it.
It's a really good question.
It's definitely something that we would consider.
We did get a lot of feedback this year on our virtual learning days
that at least one of them folks would have really
liked to have had a snow day.
So that is something that we were considering when building the calendar.
If we get the Fed days and hopefully we will, that
perhaps we would have one snow day and then the remainder would be said,
okay, thank you.
And it is at the district discretion. Then
anything any other further questions on that?
I think this will be the agenda item for our next week.
It will be.
And by board policy, the calendar must be adopted by the board meeting in March.
Thank you. Good.
All right, moving on
then, if I may, President Communications.
I would like to announce that the board met in executive session
prior to this meeting to discuss matters of personnel and agency business
which have conducted in public would violate a lawful privilege
or alleged disclosure of confidential information,
and that the board will meet and post exactly this evening.
Moving on now to recognition of citizens.
This is an opportunity for residents and taxpayers
to address the board on matters related to the agenda.
Those who speak, if present,
are asked to come to the microphone and state your name and address.
For the record,
those who are attending virtually are asked to raise your virtual hand.
In order to be recognized, you must have your first
and last name typed into the five stream registration.
Once recognized and unmuted, Please state your name and address for the record
to provide other residents with an opportunity to speak.
Each speaker during the public comment portion is limited to 5 minutes
of speaking time once recognized and limited to one opportunity
to address the board during each of the public comment periods.
If necessary, the board may set a maximum time
for public comment Portions of any meeting.
This portion of the board meeting is for comments to the board
and is not a question and answer period.
Those who wish to present private concerns or questions needing follow up
outside the board meeting may go to the district website
and submit a community correspondence show for the evening.
We are going to ask that folks are contemplating to speak
if the substance of your comments had been covered
that you would consider using your time.
I know this is an important issue for a lot of folks that's on the agenda.
What we're going to do is we're going to have 60 Minutes
at this time dedicated to the public comment portion.
There is a second public comment portion at the end of the meeting,
and that will have a limit of 60 minutes
giving a total of 2 hours for the public comment for this evening.
So are there any residents or taxpayers who would like to comment at this time?
And I will start with the two folks that are here in the room.
So let me turn
to the public participants to see if anyone here would like to speak.
Yes. On any topic that we're covering.
It has to be on the agenda.
One of the agenda items this evening.
And I assume the number three unfinished business has to do with.
Our current school schedule.
Yes. Yes.
Can I speak to that?
You may stick to our current schedule.
Yes. Yes, please step up.
And should I give a 32nd warning?
32nd warning.
Okay. Good, good.
My name is Lara Gifford.
I am a parent in the Derry Township School District.
Do you need my address?
Yes. 960 Sandhill Road of Hershey.
I came tonight to address
the idea of the full time elementary school up offering.
Okay.
I know that it's been a difficult year.
I'd like to acknowledge that our
teachers have done their very best and it's been anything but easy.
With that said,
I don't feel that the reality is that we're serving these younger students.
The school is far more than a curriculum that is on paper.
It is not something they can squeeze into 2 hours a day
and be well served, especially for these younger children.
The engagement face to face.
These specials do not translate via video.
It's very, very difficult for these younger kids.
Recess in place such a vital piece of their day
nutrition for a lot of these kids is and the supervision that school provides.
Well I know it it's not child care the supervision it provides
is a necessity for parents.
Our neighboring districts have addressed that.
The benefits of full time school far outweigh the risks at this point,
the data shows that young children are very low risk.
The transmission in schools is low to none at the elementary level,
and the majority of cases are traced to social gatherings
outside of school for both teachers and students not in the schools.
It also shows that the precautions in these schools,
even when they cannot maintain that six feet, is working to prevent any spread.
Our same neighboring districts have used creative solutions
to offer this full time
offering to their students by using common spaces, auxiliary teachers
and many more opportunities that can spread students out.
But they also acknowledge
that six feet is not always possible, but it has worked for them.
Lower.
Dalton returned in November.
They've had about 2 to 3 closures since then and the students have thrived.
I will point out that we've had just as many closures despite being hybrid
Middletown and E Town have had full time offerings
the entire school year with very few closures.
Middletown has three elementary schools and have had ten school
closure ten days of school closure the entire year.
In addition, they also offer childcare opportunities
and credits for parents that cannot cover
the hours that the kids are not in school if they're a virtual or hybrid central.
Dalton returned in October
and they're middle school and high school have now returned four days a week.
They have 19 buildings and have had basically zero closures because of COVID cases.
Derry Township, to my knowledge, has not communicated
communicated an outlined plan for our youngest students to return
or what it would look like when this happens.
We have not created the possibility through alternative operations
while keeping virtual learning an option for those that need it.
I feel like we are failing these kids.
I feel like parents are speaking up and we are not being heard.
We feel like we're doing what looks best on paper and not truly
what is best for these children
and what they need and truly what these families need.
I don't want my children sitting in front of screens all day long.
I don't want them not having recess.
I don't want them to not be able to socialize with their children
just because they can't be fully six feet of distance.
They're happy to wear their masks.
They do not care about that.
They're happy to wash their hands.
They're happy to follow our protocols.
They just can't be six feet apart.
And we understand that as parents, that is a risk that we take.
If we choose that option, we need to create a way to serve these kids.
And we need to stop expecting that our old way and our existing
way of doing school works in a different time.
We need different options and we need to do better.
You need to do better for these children.
Thank you.
And we have another speaker here this evening
that would like to publicly address the board.
Oh, okay. Good. Right.
So Mr.
Swaggart, if you could
see if there's anyone virtually
who has raised their hand, I would like to speak.
Mr. President, at this time,
there are no virtual hands raised hand.
There is now.
Okay, Karen.
Your your mic is open at this point.
Thank you.
My name is Karen Thrasher.
I live at
25 Hawthorne Drive, and I equally feel that these kids need to be back in school.
I have two elementary school students as well, and I
addressed the board last time regarding some concerns.
I also think that we need to address
and do some forward thinking before this pandemic will be going.
Over the past three weeks, considering all the vaccinations that have happened.
Our trends have decreased rapidly,
and if they continue on this, we will be in the blue phase.
And the CDC recommends that all students in all ages back to school full time.
So we shouldn't wait and hesitate and not have a plan in place.
If that is the true recommendation that is given by the CDC,
because then we are following guidance anymore.
We have the chance to step up in this situation
and get these kids back to school for at least one full trimester.
And if we don't go back full time at this time
with these kids, will not be in school for roughly 18 months.
Since last March, when schools shut down
and then the dramatic effects that the kids
will have faced by not having a solid education,
the repercussions will be greatly next year visible.
These kids deserve better and they deserve the opportunity
to go back to school if they want.
We shouldn't have kids actually asking, such as my own to transfer
to a different school because our school is not offering them
offering the service to them.
I would like to thank you for
your time and also all the teachers and everything that they're doing.
I know a lot of the teachers would like to go back full time as well.
One other consideration I would like to say
is when you have these virtual days, if the school has to be shut down,
why can't you combine the sessions so that they can have the whole day
as learning instead of just an hour and a half of zoom total?
There is no reason that that cannot be an expectation.
So maybe these elementary school students can actually get some science
or social studies actually presented by their teacher
instead of just the poor reading and math situations.
And if it doesn't work and the numbers
go up and it increases, then you go back to square one.
But it's at least give these kids a chance to succeed.
They're dying to go back to school.
And it's the parents and the children want to given the option.
And if some students can't go because of situations,
then still give those children the opportunity to go complete virtual.
Thank you for your time. Thank you,
Mr. Swiger.
Next, we next, we have Jen Hines.
Thank
as Hines.
Hi. Good evening.
My name is Jen Hines.
I live at 232 Highland Road, Hershey.
I am alumni of Hershey High School.
I have a junior in the high school right now.
I did speak a few weeks ago.
I just wanted to go through some just.
I'm also CEO of Teen Care Behavioral Health.
I just would like to give some recent statistics for mental health
statistics from 2019.
So bear with me here.
According to the Pennsylvania Youth Survey, a survey of school students
across the state of Pennsylvania in grades six, eight, 10th and 12th grade
content conducted by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime
and Delinquency and in Partnership with the Department of Education.
Rates of mental health concerns and self-harm, including suicidal ideation
and attempted suicide, had an increase among youths in recent years.
When asked about mental health concerns, 30% of Pennsylvania students
report feeling sad or depressed most days,
up from 31.7% in 2013.
In 2019, 16.2% of surveyed youth reported seriously considering suicide.
Within the past 12 months, with 12.9 made a suicide plan
and 9.7 attempted suicide,
up from 7.6 in 2013.
On this 2019 survey, 2% of the students
reported needing medical treatment for a suicide attempt.
These trends were mirror mirrored
in data compiled by the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.
Safe to say, Safe to say
at at Something Anonymous program,
which showed a majority of tips for see through, safe to say, related to students
struggling with mental health issues, including cutting and self-harm, 11%
suicide and suicide ideation 9%
and depression anxiety 9%.
In a recent statewide survey of school districts published by the Pennsylvania
State Board Association, the PSB, a 78.9% of superintendents
reported their biggest safety and security challenges,
meeting the mental health needs of students.
All this data is from 2019 before the Cogan Penn COVID pandemic.
School staff should be risks
we should be considering as a district
what evidence based training we're going to be providing our teachers and staff,
including the
training and education, to help handle the issues following COVID.
Will the Derry Township School District be prepared for the aftermath
and the impact of COVID for our children?
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Next, we have Morgan King.
Hi. Morgan King.
My address is 83.
Cobblestone Court, Hershey.
I myself am a senior at Hershey High School,
so I would like to thank everybody for allowing me to speak at this.
It is a little nerve wracking, but I think it would be
good to get students opinions on this matter.
I saw a petition going around created by a few parents to reinstate
going back to school completely in person.
No suggestion on that.
And then that
we would be having Wednesdays instead of having our asynchronous work
day, that we would be going back in-person as well.
I would urge you all
to think about the amount of work that high schoolers are receiving
and that this asynchronous day is the only day that I really have
to do my work and meet with teachers on extra help.
I have multiple club meetings out the day I get about 15 plus hours of work a week
and for my mental health as the person before me stated,
it is seriously deteriorating.
When I think about the idea
of having to go back that day and not having those days to work.
I normally now would have been around 11, but I know if I don't have that day
to work, I will be going back to last year when I went to bed at 2 a.m.
and I'm waking up at 5 a.m..
So I would just urge everybody to think about the idea of our high school students
who do have this day to do work and how important it is to them to keep that.
Thank you. And I yield the rest of my time.
Thank you.
Next, we have Taylor Cota.
Hi. And
I live at 416 Chestnut Avenue in Hershey.
I'm also senior at Hershey High School.
And I just want to start by thanking you, the school board and administrators
and the teachers for your timeless efforts during this very unusual school year.
So I'm also going to be addressing the idea of removing
an asynchronous Wednesday because it's been brought up
by multiple people that it's definitely a possibility.
I'm here because I want because I
to find the voices of the student body who are concerned
about the possibility of the most recent result.
We are alarmed
is that the area is looking to stay is currently working as a to day for us,
just as you mentioned, found it to be the best interest
to allow them to work independently several days a week during normal school.
This year, once it works in the same way, most classes at the high school
level require some amount of independent learning to work through problems
that they think are projects and write papers.
And the current online environment is very difficult to
to work during class periods on these type of activities.
Eager teacher allows you time after the lecture, maybe at home
without the benefit of a bell to remind you that it's time to change classes.
Therefore, you cannot immerse yourself in a serious project or do any serious
thinking when you know you, you must be the one
to remind yourself that you have another zoom call in 15 minutes.
Instead, you are distracted by the clock
by taking with
this independent learning time on Wednesdays, we would be faced
with doing these projects and do immersive thinking at night.
I know you're thinking what you're thinking.
Isn't that what you do in a normal school year?
And yes, and we still do a lot of homework at night,
but online school is so much more training than regular school spirit for you guys.
It's tedious.
If you were working solely on an iPad to switch between assignments,
fractions is new document.
So trying to do deep work at night
after a long day of online school is less productive.
Also, the addition of another 7 hours of screen time is mentally draining.
Imagine for a moment if you were required to sit for 7 hours
a day, start a small iPad screen, learn, remember,
and then be tested on everything that is said.
You'd probably find it tiring. I know I do.
Additionally, other students who have stayed home due to health concerns
and their family have reached out.
And so that one thing is incredibly necessary
for fully virtual students to receive extra attention from teachers.
The reality is always students
get a fraction of the help and assistance that in-person students do.
Taking away Wednesday's would leave hundreds of students without a way
to get help from teachers, essentially leaving them stranded.
Many of the costs at the high school require practice on your own.
After all, math isn't a spectator sport.
You have to practice. You have to practice.
Do you see any of that?
Once is our time to struggle through problems that scrabble
Scrabble Shakespeare or balance chemical equations.
You won't grasp these things with more zoom time,
but rather with independent reflection and practice by taking this time to think.
It will actually be stressing us all even further.
I respectfully request that the school board consider the voices of 537
students who have signed the petition to keep asynchronous Wednesdays
for the hardworking students of this district.
And recognize
what you have already embraced with the blended learning model
of normal years since the independent Time to promise to learn.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you, Mr.
Swiger.
Next, we have Jenna Baker.
Hi. My name is Jenna Baker,
and I reside at 2235 Packard Circle in Hummelstown.
Thank you all for letting I share our opinions here at this meeting.
We appreciate it immensely.
I'm here alongside with a few of my peers in order to amplify the voices
of the student body.
In response to some rumors regarding rescinding our asynchronous Wednesdays,
I'd like to shed some light on how we as students use these free hours.
There's also a petition that was mentioned previously
that was made and posted on Change.org asking individuals to sign in favor
of keeping these asynchronous days,
and it received over 500 signatures within a span of two or three days.
As someone who finished off their junior year,
which is a year
filled with many AP classes online, and I'm continuing to take several APIs
my senior year as a virtual student, I can guarantee virtual learning
is not suitable for the rigorous course material given in these AP classes.
And with the hybrid schedule, it's nearly impossible for these teachers
to give equal attention to both their virtual
and in-person students, which is a no means their fault.
We're all still trying to figure out the best way to carry out the school year,
as we've seen from the several scheduled changes.
But with our asynchronous Wednesdays, we finally found some common ground
with this, and
our teachers have set aside time for us to ask questions,
get extra practice and extra help, which is extremely beneficial,
especially for anyone in these rigorous AP classes.
And alongside that, I recognize that not everyone
is taking AP classes in the Hershey High School,
especially freshmen, because they're not offered to them.
But I've talked to several freshmen, and with the workload
being immensely different from the eighth grade,
they're still adjusting and they also benefit from these
asynchronous Wednesdays, even if they're not taking these more rigorous classes.
And for the students not struggling with the course load
this year, asynchronous Wednesdays act as a mental health rest day.
As we've discussed previously, several other people,
our mental health has declined from this online school year.
While we realize
sitting at a computer for 7 hours a day seems extremely easy on the outside,
especially in comparison to a normal five day week in-person square,
it's extremely tiring and can negatively impact
the city's mental health,
especially with the lack of social interaction
in comparison to a normal school year.
So we urge you to learn
to listen to the student body and keep our asynchronous Wednesday
for students to receive extra help alongside
getting a break from the tiring environment.
Thank you and I yield the rest of my time.
Thank you.
Schreier.
Mr. President, I see no virtual hands at this time.
Okay.
All right.
That will move on then
to standing committee report.
Ms.. Drew, do you have a report?
Yes, Mr. President. Thank you.
The Finance Committee met this afternoon
for our monthly meeting and covered a couple of different items.
The first, we received a trust update from Fulton Financial.
Reviewed the financial position as of December 31st,
the account balance for the trust
and the year at approximately $50 million
and as of today was at 52 million,
which is a 14.75% growth.
The last time that we were updated in October, it was at 47 million
and they credited the increase in the last quarter to post-election
market performance.
We discussed the distribution
options and impact to the future of the trust.
As we have explored increasing
the distribution for the next year's budget to try and offset
some of the projected deficit from decline in tax revenues.
Pennsylvania law currently allows a 2 to 7% distribution
with a special temporary change that was passed in 2020,
which would allow for up to 10% for the year 2020 through 2022.
Currently, the district takes a 4% annual distribution
and we are seeking a 7% for next year.
They take the average of the March 31st balance
and look at the five year average in order to get that dollar amount.
The Finance Committee did vote to approve
the increase from the 4 to 7%.
That will be coming to the full board on the March
8th meeting to be voted on by the full board.
That would then go to the
the committee at Fulton Financial, their fiduciary committee, to approve.
At that one time, they believe that there would not be any
possible issues with getting an approved
because our budget deficit projections do support meeting the increase of funds.
And this would also allow us to not experience a tax increase.
We also discussed the position
and the current contract for the athletic trainer.
We currently engage in a are engaged in the contract with Ozuna's Health.
They have informed us that as of June 30th they're no longer able to continue
due to their own pandemic related operational issues.
And so we need to look at the opportunity to go
with another outside vendor versus hiring an athletic trainer on staff.
Mr. Govern was with us and reviewed pros and cons of both of those.
In the
interest of time where the committee did vote to move to an RFP
so that we can see what the landscape looks like for interested vendors.
But we're also going to move forward with looking at what the impact
would be financially to hire an athletic trainer
in-house on district
payroll.
So the first board meeting in April
is when we would look to make a decision on that.
We will be reviewing the employee option in the next Finance Committee meeting
so that we can make some preliminary recommendation.
Finally, we also looked at the expense that have been incurred
related to the pandemic and the change of instructional models
compared to the stimulus grant funding that has been received
to date.
The district has received grant funding of approximately $875,000,
of which we have received approximately 775,000.
We have contracted to expand or have already spent
$786,000 in expenses towards COVID related costs.
Those are things like masks,
the owl learning the cleaning products and whatnot.
There have also been daily costs being incurred
relative to different programs or a change of transportation model
and whatnot for the hybrid option, as well as an increase
in the estimated charter school expense.
At the last minute, I reported that we projected
it was going to be half a million dollars more than the 400,000
that had been budgeted.
We're now looking at approximately $1,000,000 more
that will be payable to cyber charter schools.
That was not budgeted.
At the next meeting, we will be reviewing
expenses and modeling revenue
connected to the recent we passed Stimulus Act
that would allow for 1.8 million in stimulus funding that would be used
for the next budget year, but that has not currently been received.
And I would encourage anyone to, if they want to know more
about that in detail, to listen to the finance Committee meeting minutes,
but we will be bringing forward
the recommendations and further updates at the next meeting.
That concludes my report. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Lew.
Moving on then, to the student representatives report.
Mr. or Mrs.
Lewis, do you have a report?
We do. Yes.
Thank you.
We'd like to preface by congratulating Mr.
Jackson Askari for scoring his 1,000th
high school career point
on February six versus
East Pennsboro his 29th point of the game.
We'd also like to make mention of the entire Ethan team
starting to study for their event on April 28th.
They are studying topics such as wildlife,
soils, forestry, aquatics and a current issue which this year is
Water Resource management, local control and solutions.
Study material includes bird calls, animal tracks, soil horizons
and management practices, and that event
will be held virtually.
Moving on.
The junior class is starting to prepare
dates and pairings for the two schools.
One program partnership with Milton Hershey.
They are trying to come up with a model
that is safe for the students and will act as a test
run for
the experience to be open to all grades.
We also wanted to mention the Walk
for Clean Water event, which is always highly anticipated.
It's coming up on April 11 and for the online fundraiser and access
to more information, you can visit w w start walk for the number for clean
water dot com slash Hershey.
And we also wanted to mention student council's Mental Health Week starting
today.
There are optional interactive activities for students through Friday.
Today was meditation Monday.
Tomorrow is into Tuesday, which is music themed
wisdom, Wednesday thankfulness, Thursday and fitness Friday.
So that's a really good opportunity
for students to unwind and relax as as we've
as we've gone over.
Mental health is definitely
an issue that we need to consider this year.
Yeah, that's all we have.
Okay.
Anything else?
Well, thank you.
Thank you both.
Thank you.
Have a good evening.
Next, as anticipate items for the next board of directors meeting,
the listed items
are on the anticipated March eight, 2021,
Board of Directors Meeting Agenda.
And that takes us up to unfinished business.
The district operating schedule during the pandemic.
Mr. McFarlane.
Thank you, Mr.
President, and thank you for the opportunity to discuss this tonight.
Dr. Winslow.
Dr. Snyder and I put together a brief presentation to to hopefully
sort of
give an overview of many of the things that we've talked about and work through
through the summer all year. It's been
in various forms of communication, but we felt it was important.
As we begin this discussion with the board tonight,
to have an overview and a review and also for for the public as well.
So you can see as far as what we want to cover tonight in the agenda.
Yes. Thank you. Mr.
Swiger is just going over some of the mitigation things
that we've done within the school mitigation strategies
and then moving into more of the mental health and wellbeing support
that we've had in place throughout this year.
Looking at building specific considerations, especially,
you know, we we have heard parents and we understand
we all desire that desire to get back to a normal.
And what would that look like if that was the direction that we took?
Looking at what impacts that would be for departments,
food service, transportation, building and grounds.
And then also looking at and refreshing on the CDC and Pennsylvania Department
of Health guidelines and then finally looking at our recommendations.
So just to give an overview, a brief overview,
you know, I think and I heard the parents and we've heard
from parents throughout this year as well as all of us,
this is not something that any of us like.
We know it's not ideal.
We know that the best place for our kids is back in school with their teacher.
And one thing that I will say is
I've really appreciated as our community that we are in this together.
And there's been a lot of of work and and sacrifice on everybody's
part, from parents to the students to our teachers, to our staff
in making this work. So I really appreciate that.
And I was listening to a
presentation last night and it was talking about grief.
And it really hit me as I was listening to because I thought that's exactly
what we're we're all dealing with, because grief is loss
and we're all in various forms, adults and kids alike
were struggling with that loss of normal and the emotional toll it's taking.
And the longer this goes on and we heard it tonight,
the toll it's taking on on all of us and has been taking
and it gives us that feeling of heaviness and and weight. And
but I really appreciated us working together
and hope and know that we will continue to do that as we move forward,
even when we don't always agree on where we're at.
So what we've tried
to do all year long balance, there's academic, social, emotional,
physical safety needs and well-being of our students
as much as we possibly can.
And the reality is oftentimes those things are in conflict with one another
at times.
We are committed to one another, and the sole benefit
truly is for our student body, all of our student body.
We know this isn't going to last forever, but quite honestly,
it feels like it sometimes.
And I, I mean, I think we're all feeling that, too.
We have begun planning for next year.
And, you know, at this time in planning, we are looking at a full return.
We know there might be still be some mitigation measures that are in place.
We don't know yet.
Obviously, with this pandemic, it's been a day by day and sometimes it switches.
But that's what we're planning for as we look back in the summer planning,
we got a lot of feedback from parents on the emergency distance,
virtual learning that we did.
We took that feedback to begin planning over the summer.
We were initially planning for a full return,
knowing that we needed an average of 30 to 35%
per grade level to choose the online option.
Then in July, we did a family survey and what we had at that point was anywhere
from a grade levels of low 20% to upper 20% choosing virtual.
At that time, we realized with our current our structures
and our class size, classroom, physical sizes and
the current guidance, we couldn't do it.
So we made that switch then to the hybrid model.
And I need to say there too, that in many cases,
especially in some of our buildings, we couldn't even guarantee three feet
with the percentages that wanted to come back.
We pivoted to the hybrid model and at the elementary level
and specific in particular,
our key focus was the importance of of all the students that wanted to be back
in the building, seeing their teachers face to face five days a week.
And that's why we chose the AMPM model of four for the hybrid learning.
And we also know that at the elementary levels, the reading and the math,
because you're learning how to do those foundational skills
they were critical to have in the face to face.
So that was the reason for the five day a week.
AMPM For elementary.
When we look at
the current zip code data and one of the parents
mentioned it tonight that the the,
the positivity rates and the cases per 1000 are dropping.
Currently today as of today and in our zip codes,
17033 and 1703 6% positivity was 15.09%
and the cases per 100,000 were 87.50.
In Dauphin County,
it was 8.2% and 131.9 cases per 100,000.
Just to give a little bit of comparison, because I think that's important too,
because the numbers,
you know,
we see that sounds great and it is great to see it going in that direction.
The last time that we were close to those percentage is the percent.
Positivity that we were close to was December 1st.
In the cases per 100,000, it was November 1st.
And when you go back to the beginning of the year,
looking at our zip code, the week of September 11th,
our percent positivity was 9.32%,
and cases 400,000 were 55,000.
A week later, on the 18th, it was 6.09% and 55 cases per 100,000.
So I'd give that only.
Just to give you a little perspective of even the beginning of the year,
we were well below what we are currently.
So what we wanted to do then
this evening is sort of go over
some of the key things related to some questions
that have come up, as well as some of the logistical pieces
as we move forward and know that we are committed to continuing to work together
and that's why as a board, we're looking forward to the discussion
as to how we proceed.
So I'll turn it over to Dr.
Snyder, who's going to talk a little bit more about the
some of the mitigation, screening and testing.
Sure. Thank you, Mr. Macfarlane.
So as Mr.
Macfarlane said, this is probably one of the most challenging.
If not, why?
I can definitely say
it's the most challenging year I've ever faced as an administrator
or someone who has been working in education for over 20 years.
This this summer was four choices after choices,
after choices after choices, and,
you know, recommendations and guidelines that were constantly being changed
and updated.
So the next couple of slides will walk you through that process
of what occurred this summer. What have we done?
What are we currently doing to keep our schools safe?
So one of the things that we we've
decided to do and was asked
at the beginning of the year, why are we testing everyone?
Why are we not, you know,
doing a temperature check on everyone that comes into the building?
One of the reasons is this is the CDC does not currently recommend it.
It would definitely slow up the time for students to arrive at school each day.
They do recommend
having everyone screen themselves at home before they come to school.
And believe it or not, I have to give kudos to our community.
They've done a nice job of alerting our school nurses and our office staff
when their son or daughter is feeling sick.
That provides our nurses an opportunity to check in with them
while they're still at home to to gain some more information on them.
So I think I want to thank our community for doing so.
The same with their staff.
The staff have done a nice job of
of contacting myself and Lisa miller and saying, hey, listen, I'm
not sure I think it's a sinus infection, but I had this with it.
And that has allowed us to to catch
some cases of positive COVID where otherwise we probably would never known.
So I'll just like I gave thanks to the community,
I also want to thank our staff for taking this seriously and providing us
with the information that we need to to keep our school safe.
Contact tracing and testing, like I just mentioned,
between nurses and our pandemic coordinator and myself,
we were able and currently able to contact Trace and each case
fairly quickly and most of the time it results in very few if any,
individuals that need to be quarantined because of a close contact
at an at school event.
Once again,
with testing, we've looked into testing a couple of times.
Most recently
we found a company that would be willing to provide us
with test kits that would provide results in 15 minutes.
Some drawbacks on that is you have to buy a minimum of 10,000 test kits,
which would be cost of $50,000 to the district.
But we also have to apply for a waiver
in order to administer those tests at school.
Likewise, parents would have to sign off on it.
They're not recommending it.
As you can see, the CDC is not currently recommending that.
But that's something that we could look into.
We also had to decide what we're doing with our volunteers and visitors.
And this has not changed throughout the school year,
and I don't anticipate it changing at this point in time.
So unless it's an essential visitor volunteer or an activity,
our youth sports and youth activities, we've really limited the amount of access
to to our buildings in order to keep our our buildings as safe as possible.
Leave policies.
One of the things that we've discussed at the very beginning of the year is
what are we going to do when we have teachers
who need to quarantine and but they're not sick.
They can continue to teach.
And we made a commitment as an administrative team
that we wanted our teachers teaching as long as they were healthy.
So we've built structures in place that teachers
can continue to teach at home, provided that they're not sick.
And during their quarantine period.
So the amount of leave that or the amount of times that teachers
aren't able to teach
has drastically been reduced
by the systems that we put in place for telework.
The other thing that we did was we increased the in the number
of building level substitutes to address the COVID related absences.
There's very few days where we have to tap into our own teaching staff
in order to cover classes.
I can say by meeting with people, service directors and human resources
directors at other schools, that's not the case
in our surrounding districts and our neighboring districts.
The amount of classes that are being covered by nonprofessional staff
is a lot higher than than ours.
I can actually only think of two cases where we had to cover a class
with a nonprofessional staff member this year.
So we've created this capacity to allow our teachers
to continue to teach and have a certified teacher in the classroom.
So what do we do
when a student or staff member becomes sick at school?
CDC recommended that we have a dedicated isolation room,
so we created a space in each building for students who are sick.
Or staff who are sick to go to so they can be.
Treated and we can conduct the contact tracing when necessary.
We also figure out what classrooms are green
so we can clean and disinfect those those areas.
What have we done for staff?
At the beginning summer, there were a lot of concerns about,
you know, COVID and how easily it spread.
So the district, you know, and thank you board members
for approving the fit testing that was done.
But we conducted K-9 and not K and 95 foot testing for our staff.
We had close to about 100 staff members that participated
in that testing, even though they didn't participate in the testing.
We did have a couple of employees reach out and say, I wasn't able to make it.
Can I still have a k95 mask?
The answer is always yes.
We just can't guarantee that it's a perfect fit.
So we've done that.
We've also conducted our flu shot clinic early in August.
And who would have known back in August that the flu just wasn't here this year?
So for the first time ever, I had my flu shot and I probably didn't need to,
but but it was one of those things that was unknown at the time.
And we took proactive steps in order to get where we're at.
We also have hand sanitizer and wipes provided to each teacher
in each classroom.
So these are two things that we've done in order to keep our classrooms safe.
Supplies over the summer. Mr.
Anderson, our Buildings and Grounds
director ordered additional so hand sanitizer, tissues, disinfecting wipes.
We are ordered, I think, roughly over 10,000 k95 respirator masks.
We've purchased, I think from Finance Committee,
about $30,000 worth of plexiglass.
And in order to, you know, keep our office spaces and teaching
classroom spaces safe as much as possible,
our heating and ventilation and air conditioning.
I know this topic gets brought up time and time and time again,
but we've worked with our manufacturer
and we've calibrated it for their manufacturer specifications.
There's a conversation about Merv 11 and Merv 13,
and I'm not going to
go into the science of this, but we're unable to use the Merv 13
because our system just wasn't designed for it.
But we are using the Merv 11 filters and we're we're
switching those and cleaning that we're actually swapping them out.
I believe it's every every three months, actually, maybe every other month.
But we're doing it as fast as we can and we're swapping those out on our on
a regular basis.
RH VAX adjustments have been made to allow from maximum amount of airflow.
If you ask our teaching staff at the beginning of the summer
when they first started back, they asked why the buildings were so cold.
Well, that's why, because we're circulating that air as much as possible
in order to to help.
We looked into the UV light in order to clean classrooms this past summer.
It just was not cost effective.
And the manufacturers and the folks we work with said
that's not your best bet.
So but we did order cleaning products that are janitors and our custodians
and maintenance folks can clean classrooms faster and bathrooms faster
than before.
They also, in the CDC regulations are guidance.
They open to as many windows as you can.
And unfortunately, many of the windows in our district can't be opened.
And also, in talking to Mr.
Anderson, that really impacts our heating and ventilation system.
So it's one of those you the windows you can't open
if you can kind of messes with the HVAC anyway.
So we've maximized what our system can can can hold elementary more
so than any any other building is is you know, it's an older building.
So it has limitations on what it can do.
So physical spaces we've once again thank you to the board.
We've we've purchased additional no touch water systems so students can go around
and fill their water bottles up without actually to touch the surface.
The water fountains were disabled.
We installed plexiglass barriers in offices, the cafeterias.
If you've been in our buildings, you'll see that the cafeterias have been
completely redesigned and and situated so that there's six feet of space.
The middle school doesn't even have cafeteria tables.
They have they have desks.
You know, it's it's it's an outer world, an experience.
If you go into that building around lunchtime and you're used to remembering
what lunch looks like
and now you see what lunch looks like, completely different experience.
Elementary, the you know, with the split schedule,
they don't currently have have lunch in the building
except for if you're PM coming in, then you would have lunch in the building.
And we have signage throughout the entire school and,
throughout the entire district that says Wash your hands.
Physical distance, six feet apart.
So once again,
it's just kind of going back and looking at what we've already put in place
and what we're going to continue
to have in place, regardless of what instructional model that we use,
the big mitigation strategies that have been with us
almost from from day one to universal masking, depending on the state.
You know, that's been changed from time to time.
As you know, our governor and Department of Health secretary issued a mask mandate.
So we had already decided as a district from day one,
we were going to have a mask mandate.
And we've been wearing our mask, cloth mask.
So students and staff are allowed to bring their own mask.
We did purchase plenty of extra mass.
So if a student one
throughout the day staff member loses liner for whatever reason,
they need another one.
We have plenty of of of disposable masks that students or staff can use
six feet of distance in the classroom.
Once again, this is this is where our biggest issue and concern is.
We've done that with few exceptions.
I mean, majority of the desks currently face the same direction.
We've been able, for the most part, to cohort students at the elementary,
which is one of the recommendations as well.
And of course, as I've said before, we have hand sanitizer in our facilities,
alternate options for those that are increased risk.
So one of the things the state decided or encouraged us to do
is offer virtual options for students and families that just were not ready
to send their son and daughter, son or daughter back to school.
So we've created a virtual online only option for students,
a telework option for staff who are in increased risk.
So we have staff members that are at an increased risk
if they, you know, for severe cold and complications if they come back.
So we worked with our solicitor and developed the forms and processes
for four staff members who need to telework
to have the ability to telework during the pandemic.
And that's worked out really well.
Our online telework. Options for positive.
Cases or close contacts have already kind of touched on this,
but there's very times where a teacher is not able to telework
unless the only actually the only time is if they're
sick in an unhealthy and not way we would tell them to stay home and get better.
But if they're quarantined because they're a close contact, they continue to teach.
And at this point, I'm going to hand it over to Dr.
Winslow. Thanks, Doctor.
So I'm just going to kind of pick up with
a little bit more about what's happening in the buildings
and what some of the considerations are that
that we're looking at moving forward.
As we do hear from parents and we've heard from some of the kids,
mental health and wellbeing is obviously a huge concern for us.
It was a concern coming into the year.
We're well aware that this is a very stressful time for all of us.
And you know, as we look at February and we're in the mid-winter
and there's been snow and it's been dreary, the exasperates
things a little bit and we're aware of how that works.
We did start the year with all students K-12
participating in either Bounceback or AZT,
which was to help them develop coping strategies that they could draw
on throughout the year.
Whenever they're in high stress emotion or high stress situations.
That was
a very successful rollout, and teachers continue to remind students
of the strategies that they were that they learned throughout that time.
For our staff.
We do remind folks and have shared on many occasions
the employee assistance program and encourage them to seek help.
We've also brought therapists in on several days
to be available to staff whenever we were having in-service time.
We do hold staff meetings and any kind of group meetings are held
virtually
so that staff do not have to worry about being in spaces with one another.
Those have actually been phenomenally successful
and we do have designated personnel, of course, for staff to share concerns with.
Lisa miller is our number one
contact person and I know people reach out to her very regularly.
Again, back to our students.
We do have
we're very fortunate as a district that we already had a lot of structures
in place coming into this year, both academically and for student well-being.
So we did add a few things, but we all already have have in place,
which are is our first intervention program.
And students can refer themselves.
Teachers can refer students to refer each other, and it helps to put
families in touch with community resources that they might need.
Whenever a student is struggling in a variety of different ways
and then also provides a faculty touchpoint for that student
to continue working with them while they are going through that program.
The Student Services Department so want our school counselors, our social worker.
They provide in-person and virtual counseling for students in need.
They have stepped up in just remarkable ways.
They are continually getting kudos from their peers,
from their administrators, because they are just working
around the clock to make contact with students and families
across the board.
One of our biggest concerns for for well-being is student attendance.
And we do have some students who are not attending very well
and since early December have really put into place strong
supports for families and put in meetings
so that everybody who is struggling with attendance is meeting with their
and with support folks here at school.
And just to highlight a couple of other pieces at the elementary
morning meetings have been instituted as a regular part of the day.
And our morning meetings are also after lunch time.
If you're in the PM
group and the counselors are putting out lessons on a monthly basis through CCL.
So there are a lot of different pieces that were already in place
and that have been enhanced throughout the year.
The next piece that we want
to look at our building considerations,
should we look at bringing more students back into the buildings?
And so we're just starting with the high school.
There are we we put a lot of furniture in storage
because clearing out spaces, making sure that students were eliminating
or that we were eliminating touch points for students, that
there are only so many places that kids could sit in.
Some classrooms had tables.
And those classrooms, the tables obviously were not to work
in this particular scenario.
So those tables were removed and then desks were taken from other
classrooms redistributed to the classrooms with tables.
But overall, on average, about ten deaths
per classroom at the high school were taken and put into storage.
We don't have the
storage space and facility available here to do that.
So that's storage offsite.
Looking at lunch right now,
we are able to have the students sitting six feet apart at lunch.
We purchased new lunch tables.
They all sit forward.
There are marks on the tables to keep students from sitting
where they're not supposed to sit, keeps them in their spaces.
So we also utilize the hallway for that purpose
in order to make sure there's enough room so tables in the hallway
face the wall so that nobody is inadvertently breathing on each other
while they have their masks off and they can eat safely.
If we would bring back more students right now,
we could take up to about 600 students and need to use half of the gym.
That is something that can definitely be done,
While just considerations that have to go along with that is if we're going to use
half of the gym in order to maintain that six foot of unmasked eating,
we need a few more staff in order to supervise that,
which would be rearranging schedules a little bit
for duty periods and so forth.
It would also mean for our buildings and grounds
folks, a morning set up and an afternoon take down
because sports are using
the gym facilities in the evenings.
It would also limit P.E.
capacity, right now,
the teachers are offering so that students are in the weight room,
they're in the cardio room, They have the gym divided in half.
And some students are choosing to walk.
So there are lots of different options for students to keep them spread out for
dessert periods.
If we're using either half or the whole gym, it would
it would take away some of
that opportunity for P.E.
If we going to maintain that six foot
distance unmasked eating
classroom capacity
right now, we can again get up to 600 students in the building and maintain
the physical distancing guidelines
three and six feet, anything more than 600
students in the building that starts to change and shift.
And right now we can fit 18 to 20 desks
that allow for three feet of social distancing in the classroom.
It would increase contact tracing.
So just pieces to consider right now, contact tracing is pretty easy.
There are not a lot of students that are affected.
If someone has covered in the classroom,
if we were going to put more students in the classroom, it just increases that.
And that's the case across the board for for any of the buildings
can move on to the middle school.
Again, about 120 desks from
the middle school were put into storage.
So some of those would need to come back.
The middle school does have fewer students in virtual right now.
So there are there are more students already in the building.
We can get up to 13, 12 to 13 students per
classroom and maintain the six feet of physical distancing.
We bring back more.
We would not be able to maintain that six feet
lunches.
Right now, desks are set up in
five six foot spaces
across and horizontally and vertically across the room.
We probably need to we'd have to bring their desks back from storage
for the classrooms, but also for additional lunch
and that becomes a real issue at the middle school for where
we would put those additional students because they're already in the
auditorium lobby. Also,
so far, the suggestions that we've come up with,
we are pretty sure are fire code hazards or violations.
So we would probably not be able to do those and we'd
have to look at some additional options there.
That's just a consideration that we would need
to work through
elementary school.
Again, desks that have been put into storage would need to come back.
Lunches are definite only a
a consideration that that our concern at the elementary school
students would
have to be in their classrooms and we did purchase desks shields for the students
so they would have less than three feet of physical distancing.
They would have their desks shields up and be able to unmask in order to eat.
And teachers would have to monitor them.
We do not currently have enough staff
in order for teachers to have the same lunch period as their students do.
So a 30 minute lunch period for teachers would have to be at a different time
than students.
We do have staff that, for various reasons,
have either been furloughed or have left and.
We haven't replaced them simply because we didn't need to replace them.
And then that's a savings for the district.
So we would have to be looking at bringing some of those staff back.
Also,
if we brought back the students full time, we would not be able to do
the cohorting of students the same way that we are now at the elementary
with music lessons, ensembles,
other for Z specials.
Those those spaces are spaces where students would be mixing a lot
more than what our health and safety plan currently says that we would be doing.
And there are not any classrooms with a full return
that we would be able to provide three feet of physical distancing
at the scene.
We can get 17 deaths per classroom
and have three feet of physical distancing.
In the elementary, it's 24 desks max,
and that's with no other furniture in the room.
So it's it's really important to
to think about what it would look like
because I think there is a little bit of a perception and we have it as well.
If we want to get back to normal, we want to have a floor return.
So we bring all of the students back for a full day.
They are sitting in their desks
with shields
not moving.
They're not they're acting with each other.
They're not playing with toys, they're not touching things because that stuff
has all been put away in order to provide for those safety mitigation measures.
So I just want to make sure that we're not picturing normal school.
I think it's just really important to
to keep that in mind.
Master
schedule at the elementary is another piece
that is just a complex piece.
It's not something that can't be done.
It's just something that as we were considering this
and having discussion, we need to consider
Classroom placements might change.
We this up so that students would be cohorted
we set it up so that students would have a virtual teacher.
If parents a virtual option.
If students we do a full return
and a lot of those virtual students would also decide to come back.
We're talking about rearranging classroom
in order to maintain a balance of who's teaching, which would mean
that you could have a student who for the last two months of schools.
So assuming we got it in place for that,
might have a
different homeroom teacher, might have a different set of
friends that they're that they're interacting with
music lessons, special education
and essential arts would also be areas where
we would really have to do a lot of
changing because right now that's being done virtual.
If it's being done in person,
it we have not scheduled for that in-person piece.
And so it would have to be changed in order to figure out how we were going
to offer virtual students.
Still those virtual pieces as as well
as the in-person students, the in-person pieces,
it's different at the elementary school, the way it's set up.
For example, if
right now, like, say, PE is well, it's not ideal by any means.
It's a it's a virtual class, it's asynchronous.
Students are given activities.
They're doing really great things.
And it's super cute.
That the activities that students are doing at home
and videotaping for their teachers and sending in,
if we bring all the students back,
then we're doing in-person and virtual students don't get busy
because the teachers can only be used in
so many spaces.
So just just things to consider with complexity,
but also things that we are working on figuring out.
Should that be the direction that we.
I think those are
the main pieces that I wanted to hit and want to make sure
that you had as information as you consider and discussion.
Doctor. Dr.
Snyder.
Thanks. Dr. Winslow.
So other considerations we have to consider is staffing.
So I look back on last year and nice summer and if you would've
told me two years ago, hey, did you know in 20, 20, 2021 that your teachers
will be teaching kids class, but then also teachers at home?
Oh, and by the way, at the same time, I would've been like, You're crazy.
It's never going to happen.
But what our staff have done it and they've done a great job doing it
now leads me to at Food Services.
So at the beginning of the year, our food service department,
one of the things we did was we surveyed
families and asked
how many would would be eating lunch at school
and how many would be providing their own lunch.
So we didn't anticipate as many people packing lunches for their children as did.
And as a result, the number of individuals buying
or purchasing lunch at school drastically was was reduced as a result.
In order to be good citizens with the taxpaying payers money,
we had to furlough a number of food service employees
in order to actually meet the demands of what was there.
So if the decision is made to bring back, we would have to hire additional
food service employees.
We'd have to recall
at least nine furloughed staff members and then hire additional 14 staff members
in order to fully staff our food service department.
When we're talking about staffing, it usually takes anywhere between
4 to 8 weeks to take on board an employee with all the requirements
certification requirements and clearance requirements.
The biggest thing is
the Act 168, which could take zero days if there is no previous employment
to up to 20 days for a previous employer to return an act 1684.
So right, there's four weeks that we might possibly
have to wait for some individuals to be hired.
Transportation at the current time would need no additional drivers,
but that's provided that nobody gets no one has a surgery, no one gets ill.
You know, we do
anticipate needing about 4 to 5 drivers in the spring
just to handle our spring sports and after school activities,
recess, cafeteria aides similar
to food service, we reduced that staff because we simply just didn't need them.
With the current model that we're in, we would have to hire an additional
five cafeteria recess aides, a special education.
If all the students came back, we would have to hire six
paraprofessional, three self-contained and then three regular paraprofessionals.
And likewise, current classroom assistants
that are helping out in our EOP program would need to go back into the classroom
as a as a paraprofessional to support reading, support
our students as well.
Department considerations, transportation, the decisions made.
We would need to go back to the full day, everybody.
We need about 3 to 5 days to adjust routes and notify parents.
And this hasn't really changed.
We've never been able to
ensure that 3 to 6 feet of physical distancing is would be happening
on the bus currently, there's very few students riding the bus,
so we're able to get separate students as much as possible.
The biggest concern is driver quarantine and health concerns.
Like I mentioned
on the previous slide, right now we're pretty much at max capacity.
If we were to have an outbreak in our transportation department,
that would greatly impact the service buildings and grounds.
We'd need about two weeks.
Once we would get word from the school board
to touch base with the principals.
And we already no one needs to come back.
It's just a matter of actually bringing that back
and getting it back in classrooms.
Food service, As I mentioned before, the biggest thing is
is staffing and then making sure we redesign the menu.
So we're looking anywhere between 4 to 6, realistically, more like 6 to 8 weeks
for for staffing.
Mr. McFarlane Thank you. Dr.
Snyder.
And just to sort of bring this back around to the mitigation
you see there, we've talked about the mitigation to reduce the transmission.
We're all very familiar with that
and the mitigation strategies to prioritize in-person learning.
That would be the universal masking.
And that was something, if you remember we signed that attestation
document back in late fall,
I believe it was when it was, and that was actually from the state.
And that attestation said that we would
absolutely adhere to the universal masking
and other health and safety protocols.
So that means whenever anybody is on campus, inside or outside,
they must have a appropriate face covering on.
And then the physical distancing, six feet of physical distancing feasible,
too, I guess.
It's two Fridays ago
now, the CDC had talked about coming out with updated guidance and guidelines.
And so the next I know it's hard to see, but you can take a look at it.
And I know board members, you got it in your your board brief.
This is the transmission levels.
And they have four
blue, yellow, orange and red.
And with each of those are recommendations
or requirements are regarding opening phases.
So you can see there we are currently whether you take our zip codes
or are Dauphin County, we would be in that red
that high transmission level.
The percentages are the breakdowns by the CDC.
And you must have you must meet both of these criteria.
It's not an all or it's an end.
So for it to be in high,
it's greater than 100 per 100,000.
Now, I told you today we're at like 85, so we're below that.
But less than or equal to 10% positivity were at 15 point something.
So we're still in that.
Red orange is 50 to 100 or 50 to 99
cases per hundred thousand and 8 to 9.9%.
Positivity Yellow.
And this is on the chart I gave you in your brief.
Yellow is moderate.
That's 10 to 49 cases per 100005
to 7.9% positivity and then low.
The blue is 0 to 9 cases per 100,000 and less than 5%.
Positivity.
So currently in the
we're in the red category,
we are actually following those.
Actually, we're a little more back, a little more in middle and high school
than than what they're recommending.
But they also have elementary school and hybrid mode,
which we are physical distancing of six feet or more required.
And that is a change. Everything we've been told
about recommendation, they have it the word required.
So I think that's an important we look at.
It's the most recent guidance from the CDC.
So what what are our recommendations?
And Why?
And again, as we talked about, we wanted to be able to just
bring everybody up to speed and give an overview.
Again, we've worked so well together and we will
we've we've pivoted and made things work.
We will do whatever we need to do,
but we want to make sure you have all the information as we're
having this discussion about.
Where do we go from here?
Looking at our recommendation, it is really to continue to follow the CDC
and the Department of Health guidelines with respect to the mitigation
and learning models by level of community transmission.
That's what we have followed since the beginning, since we started in this.
And so recommendation is to continue to follow that.
I know we all want to get the kids back and that's the desire of all of us.
But but our recommendations we've been following,
we should continue following that.
And then really that specifically that we continue to adhere
to the following guidelines, the recommendations of the universal masking,
the six feet of distancing when feasible, and the hybrid learning
while the community spread
is in a substantial or high level, which are those orange or red levels?
You know, one
thing it also it does note on the PPD website,
it says to ensure the most effective transition for students,
it may be appropriate for a school to wait even longer beyond the two
consecutive weeks in moderate or low, even up to a full marking period
to transition to an instructional model that increases in-person instruction.
And I think that's an important thing just to think about in consideration.
So at this point,
well, there was a lot of information,
but we'll open it up for questions and discussion from the board.
We'll try to answer any questions that you have.
But thank you for that presentation.
I will open it up to the board for questions at this point
to the administration,
any questions about what was covered?
Just a question and I'll probably comment later.
Yeah.
Is the administration recommending the suspension
of extracurricular activities and sports, since that would be in keeping with.
The guidelines that you're recommending?
So based on the state, the state guidance and the A,
No, we are not.
We're following the guidance that we've been given from the state on that.
But not the CDC.
According to the most recent. Correct. Okay.
And we're also ahead of them with middle and high school.
Thank you.
And other questions about the data or the information that was presented.
This is Cathy Sicker. I have a question.
Can you comment on vaccines and when teachers
will get them, when and possibly be fully vaccinated?
Charlotte. Dr.
Rice, Senator, speak to that since he's been leading that. Yeah. So
I so just
January 19th, the Department of Health made a decision to include any individuals
65 or over or with you know other health conditions to be included in phase one.
So that increased the population of phase one to just over 4 million people.
In Pennsylvania, we had about 13.2 million residents.
The Commonwealth, about 4 million qualify for four one day.
So we were about probably two weeks away from getting moving into phase one.
B, I don't that as a scientific proof,
but the way things were going, that decision was made.
So as of February 21st, just roughly under 2 million people,
2 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in Pennsylvania.
So we need about 8 million doses to fully vaccinate everyone
possible or eligible under phase one.
So, Kathy, my best guess is that we're looking unless the vaccination
and distribution picks up, we're probably looking the end of March
before we move into phase one V
Once again, that's just a guess,
you know, But if we're only getting 200
to 250000, you know, a week, it's going to take a while to to get there.
So hopefully those numbers pick up.
We did have a vaccination clinic
for phase one eligible employees that was held February the 12th.
So at that point we had roughly about 90 employees get vaccinated.
So their second doses coming up the middle of March and I'm hoping
we move to phase one B shortly after that.
So we've also had a couple other employees, our nurses and our licensed,
you know,
employees who are on the OT speech
therapy side, psychologists who also got vaccinated in their phase one.
But that's that's where we're at right right now.
Thank you.
This is Judy. Have a stick.
In listening to your presentation, I have some concerns of how you're even
being able to bring the students back in the fall
with what guidelines you have set here, because as you gave
with the statistical information, when the positivity rate was low
and, all that in low and moderate, it still says you're supposed
to maintain six feet when possible.
And hearing all the concessions,
I mean, to me, we have to start planning that now
because it's not going to be any different in the fall.
COVID is not going away.
You're always going to have some cases,
you're always going to have positivity rates.
If they continue to track that and present that information.
So I'm not really sure you know any different how fall
is going to look to you, that you feel you're going to be able to bring back.
I'm a little confused of why you're saying in fall you can bring them back
when you know, the guidelines aren't going to be any different.
And now we can't bring them back.
We're basing it on some assumptions, Judy, that the vaccine,
then the number of people vaccinated by fall will certainly be higher.
The mitigation efforts were
assuming we're planning that some of those are not going to be as stringent or
as in as much in place in the as they are now, especially the distancing.
But I don't think the numbers are going to change.
So it'll be interesting if those guidelines change then.
But they're not changing now.
It's just
and that's why at this time
we're not recommending any change.
Thank you.
Okay, Terry.
Terry Singer
I think we have about 500 staff, if I'm not mistaken, in the vicinity.
A little higher than that. Okay.
I'm just curious, how could you characterize
their reaction to all this
and the concerns they may have about health?
Just so I'm.
Sure I can I can speak a little bit to it. I know Dr.
Rice and Franken speak much better because he interacts more frequently.
I think in general, going to have
the gamut.
People who are on just like the general population,
who are very eager to get and that is concern.
And then the whole range over to people who are very, very concerned for for very
legitimate reasons of of coming back in more full
and the health risks. So,
yeah, it's it's all a record I don't know Dr.
Rice interview anything else to add to that?
Not really.
So I would say, you know, this summer people were very fearful,
very, very fearful and listening to their concerns,
you know, it was legitimate because we didn't
nearly as much as we do now.
However, you know, when I talk to individuals who do test
positive, we've had staff members who have been extremely,
you know, and, you know, when you touch out, reach out to them.
You know, they share with you their stories, but that's not uncommon. So
to Mr.
McFarland's point, it's all over.
You know, probably, you know, you have staff members who
from the very beginning would want everyone back every day
with without wearing a mask.
And you have staff members
who probably will want to wear a mask the rest of their teaching career.
I mean, it's just like any family, any community, any occupation.
Yet you have a wide,
you know, array of viewpoints.
But our staff, I can't stop repeating how wonderful
they've been, you know, every challenge we've given to them, they stepped up
and they've met that challenge from our bus drivers who are driving
more hours than they ever thought they would ever drive
to our teachers who are teaching and various forms.
So whatever you ask them to do, they're going to do it
and they're going to do it well, because that's what.
That's what our staff at Derry Township does. Yes.
You know, I was thinking
more of them as
members of families, members of communities,
concerns they might have about their own family, their own relatives and so forth.
But you've answered my question. Thank you.
Doctor. Yeah, yeah. This is Don Cronin.
Some of these questions, I don't need immediate answers.
Okay, you can get back to me on.
But specifically, you know, CC appreciate all the stuff
you presented on in terms of the emotional support we're providing.
What I'd like to know what the number of hip referrals have been
during COVID relative to, you know, last year, for example.
I do have that. I'll get that for not great.
And then secondly,
the in terms of counseling students in need, how how are we identifying students?
Because what you know,
it's great to have that ability but I'd like to know, you know,
how are they being identified and how many have been identified?
Is it truly, you know, reaching out?
Because I know some kids can be hurting in silence and may not be reaching.
They're not going to be they may not be reaching out.
I can speak to that.
Oh, good.
So obviously, some of it is self-identified who are comfortable reaching out do so.
The bigger concern
that we have is when a student is just not showing up
for a bit and our have been phenomenally village's vigilant
in contacting families, reaching out, and if they're not able to make contact,
then they make a referral to the counselors who then also reach out.
And if the counselors can't make contact, then it goes to the administration.
Administration tries to reach out and finally we send it
on the radar of our social school social worker
to make home visits to make sure that everybody's okay.
So we have a very detailed process that we put in place to make sure
that students that might, you know, that are clearly silent
because they're not showing that they're not engaging,
that we are reaching out to them and reaching out to their families
to see what kind of support we can provide.
So, I mean, if is possible, I'd love to have I love for the board
to have numbers of how many of how many students have been reached out to
that have not been showing up and even possibly even more importantly,
the ones that are
they are signing into Zoom, but they're silent on Zoom
and they're really they're just the bare minimum logging in
and not even sure what their what they're really doing.
And they're disengaged and they're the ones that I worry about
falling through the cracks.
I'd love to see them,
you know, number of those that obviously are not showing up to Zoom
and then how many been identified that are in Zoom
but are have falling off in terms of their level.
And Dr. Cronin, I do have the hip data for you.
Okay.
Now, so and comparing to last year to date.
Okay. So until two February
at the high
school, total referrals, this would have been as of February 8th.
So I don't have this last week or so our high school
17 referrals to date this year,
57 to date from last year.
Okay.
Middle school, ten referrals this year,
39 last year.
Elementary school
16 this year, 17 last year.
And I can give you that out of those numbers,
those that were mental health referrals.
If that would help, would you want that to know.
I know that's that's helpful.
I guess my my question is, you know, those numbers seem really small for this year.
17 high school, ten middle school, 16 elementary
doesn't seem to represent what we think or have thought.
The mental stress has been. So I,
I want to
make sure that the outreach that's why I want the numbers from you.
Stacy, this doesn't seem like that's sufficient
in terms of what the real need probably is.
But we know that unless we can, you know, get the data from you.
So thank you for that numbers.
But Mr.
Valentine did just text and said,
we have reached out to every student that has disengaged.
So I don't know what the number is, but.
Right.
Yeah, I'd love to get the number
to find out how many kids are being disengaged.
Is it ten or is it 300 in the middle school?
You know, just because, you know, we don't have a sense of what
the true effect of this type of learning is on students when as we can see
number of middle school teen last week we were talking about this specifically
and we were talking about right now four, five students and each grade level
that we are just not having any luck with getting in touch with
looking at about
ten students for grade level that are very concerning,
that have been looking at attendance plans and different pieces like that.
So we did we we've been having those conversations
about that just this past week in that particular building.
Right.
You know I have no doubt but I but I do worry about I think the
the less obvious kids.
I think there's probably a greater number that need more assistance.
But actually, I don't mean
I just want to make sure that it's known that there are actually
a large number of kids are actually thriving in this environment.
And that's part of why at the middle school, for example, they want to explain,
expand the blended learning opportunities and do that pilot next year
because there are kids who are very, very successful right now.
And I think it's really important to to keep that in mind.
Also, while there are always a group of students that are
and there are a few extra students added to that
this year with these circumstances,
the great majority of our students are doing actually very, very well.
And when our coaches come and do our presentation march,
they'll be able to show you a lot of that data and explain why
and how with the structures that we have in place.
Okay.
Thank you.
And my first question is, at the capacity in the high school 600,
I know you had said this to us two weeks ago, but how many
how many high school students are currently virtual?
Is the capacity 600.
You know, that would enable to possibly go.
So right now we have about
about 50% of the high school students are virtual at the moment.
There are several students who their families decided to do that
for a third marking period,
typically with athletics, to make sure that they were not having,
you know, extra close contact
opportunities.
So we could right now invite everybody back into the high school
and be at around that 600 number is about 1200 students.
But Then we would have to make the decision to say that
if you are virtual, you must stay virtual in order to maintain that.
And I know through talking with Dr.
Smith that a lot of the families are virtual for third marking very,
really did not intend to stay virtual throughout the rest of the year.
So that's a decision that we would really have to look at.
And while there are many families who are not thrilled right at the moment,
that would be a whole
nother segment of our population that would not be happy with that decision
because.
We've been very flexible with the opportunity to move back
and forth between hybrid and virtual environments.
And if I could add to that, Dr.
Winter, they're also looking at targeting students
who are struggling academically and inviting them back.
That would take away that opportunity because
we'd bring back all the kids who are currently hybrid.
It wouldn't allow any flexibility to bring additional kids back.
Well, these.
Would be virtual kids, too, that they're targeting
Rahm Emanuel and students that are hybrid who are failing
more than one or I'm sorry, more than two courses.
And we're looking at about trying to get back
about 200 kids by March 8th into the high school.
Okay.
And then my final question is,
are there any other schools in the area that are in orange, red,
orange and red like us, or is it just us.
You're saying the CDC?
Yeah, the whole county.
I mean, much of south central southeastern PA is still in play.
We call it substantial.
CDC calls it substantial and high. Right. Okay.
So I just want to make sure.
Okay. Thank you.
And any other questions.
So stay with the questions and more segway to comments.
Yes, that is true. Thank you.
First of all, thank you for all of this information.
And, you know, providing this,
it was helpful to hear in this presentation
and also everything that was provided to the board
previous to tonight so that we could prepare for it.
As you know,
I had asked a series of questions, you know, previously,
because I was looking at all of the different information
and I was encouraged when the CDC guidelines came out,
especially in the
elementary school, and the focus on trying to get younger learners back
and understanding that in the orange or the red transmission,
that elementary schools are recommended to be in hybrid mode at this point.
And so we achieved that.
So we've been operating,
you know, at those guidelines or even breaking beyond them in some regards
by having our secondary students in some form of hybrid education
looking at the thresholds for the CDC.
It appears as though moderate is considered
a 5 to 7.9% positivity rate in 10 to 49
in the per 100,000,
substantial is 8 to 9.9 and 50 to 99 students.
So when I was looking at this, it seemed as though
perhaps we could try to get elementary
back to more in-person learning
because it's been identified, you know, of the the benefits for them.
And the CDC guidelines in low and moderate
transmission recommend, you know, that
full in-person instruction resume.
And we're teetering towards that.
But I want to clarify a few things, because
you're stating that in the elementary school,
one single classroom currently based on hybrid students
meet even three feet of distancing
if 100% of the hybrid students are in class.
Currently the model they do. Right.
But if hybrid if hybrid were to if AMPM were to be combined
and students were in elementary students were in school full time
at the percentage of students that are not virtual.
So the 70% of elementary students came back,
not one classroom would be able to meet the distancing.
So right now the elementary is is less 30%.
And that was that's been the problem all along, is that people want their kids
to come to school. Which is not a problem.
Obviously, a lot of people don't have kids to come to school,
but like, say, the SCC,
for example, I think we have about 24% of the students are in virtual right now
and we would need 30 to 35% of them to be in virtual
in order to get all of the kids
back in the classroom and maintain at least three feet of distancing.
So and I could get to that first grade
and third grade would be over those limits.
Wall to wall are you know, wall to wall desks only
the other grade levels would be within
a couple of students in the hybrid model
to going over that threshold of 17 and 24.
Does that answer your question? That's true. Yeah.
So I guess what I'm going with this is that I saw the guidelines
and I was encouraged by it because if the transmission rates are,
you know, lowering and the guidelines encourage bringing them back,
then that seems like a path we should go down.
However, the
then I look at the flip side of it, what's the consequences?
Not meeting the distancing in any of the classrooms.
I was assuming it would maybe be a couple.
So one of the questions had been or have we looked at using
other space in the buildings hold classrooms in order
to allow distancing in our largest classrooms.
So if there is a classroom that has you teacher, could there be
could we utilize another to be able to achieve that,
especially in the older elementary, you know, as edges increase?
It's a good question.
We don't we just don't have those kinds of
unless we were going to use the cafeteria,
we just don't have those kinds of spaces available to building school.
And then staffing would become an issue as well.
And that's the other part of it,
because the other part that was in your notes that concerns me
is if we were to return students in elementary school full time,
what the likelihood of teacher changes would be
and how many students could possibly be affected that in four
to 6 to 8 weeks from now, we return them full time.
Their teachers would change for the last two months of school and what would be
which is more detrimental.
So do you know
what percentage would switch if how many, you know,
virtual would have to come back?
That that is a real possibility that teachers assignments
would change on students that far into the school year.
I'm not I'm not entirely sure what the actual percentages.
Jason Yeah.
So a lot of that would be depend on how are we returning students?
Are we sending a survey out to parents asking
who wants to come back and anyone who wants to come back and come back.
So until we know what we want to do,
it's tough for us to give you a percentage because we just don't know yet.
At the beginning of the year, we thought we once again
we thought we could bring everyone back.
But a lot more
parents wanted to send their students back to school than than we had room for.
I don't anticipate that that really changing.
So, you know, the amount of students that are currently
fully virtual, a percentage of them could want to come back to full day.
And a percent of students that are currently hybrid
based on the numbers could decide, hey, I don't think it's safe yet.
I want to be virtual, so I can't predict what those changes
would look like in the percentage. It was look like.
What it can say is that some changes, at least
minor changes, probably moderate changes would have to occur.
So your
your recommendation, regardless of the change of transmission
mode, is to remain as is through this school year for providing
continuity planning towards that and understanding, as Ms.
has obviously made a good point, that the data we could be
in the same place guideline wise and all of that can fall.
But for now
you want to stay in this position and we through the end of the year we.
Could be any quite honestly, we have that model figure it out.
We, we to be working toward what a full return looks like.
And to your question, Ms.. Drew.
Yes. Given where we are in the year,
the amount of time it would take to ramp up with staffing,
get furniture and everything back, that puts us at least into April,
given the uncertainties, especially at the elementary level
of possible classroom transitions, teacher transitions and all of that.
It would be that's why our recommendation is to
to finish out this year and and plan for a full return next year.
Thank you.
The other piece, if I can just say to one of the questions you brought up was
there are some schools that have utilized
other professional staff to reduce the numbers in classrooms.
They've they've utilized their intervention, math,
reading interventionists as classroom teachers.
And that's an individual building school decision we did
we chose not to do that for the primary reason that
our kids that need that
need that support, regardless of
whether they're in-person or virtual, and to take that away from them
to reduce class size, we felt created a hole for them
that we were going to have to fill more of of skill deficits when we returned.
Okay. Thank.
And just my final question is,
you had provided information about talking with other school districts
because they know that's one of the hardest parts.
I think the comparison and trying to figure out
how are these things being accomplished
and, you know,
looking at the comparisons, what's the same, what's not,
I tried to look at, you know, what are the different building
and how does that compare?
And it's really hard to get a sense.
But I know that you spoke with superintendents and other area districts
and they expressed, for the most part,
with the exception of central Dauphin, doing four days in-person for secondary
and Middletown, having the option, about 30% of
their students are still virtual or still hybrid or virtual.
Can you just touch upon that?
Because I think that there can be somewhat of a misunderstanding
just when conversation gets confusing
that we're really only differing based on elementary at this time?
We are, yes. Except for Central is often who
chose to go back four
days a week for for those that wanted it
are other areas are all in hybrid for secondary at this time.
And they and the superintendent you spoke with expressed that they do not
anticipate making any additional changes to return secondary to full time.
Unless we would get back to
moderate or low and then they would consider it.
They did not.
But they also commented that they would consider it
if the staff and teachers were vaccinated.
Correct. Vaccination was the key.
Factor there because I read the whole thing was it was vaccines
for staff and teachers and they were in low or moderate.
Right. Right.
This is Judy Haverstock.
I just have another question.
In your planning, is it possible to look at what it would look like
for whenever you decide to return to full for in-person?
I know we're always going to keep that online
component with virtual, and I think that's something that we should do.
And whether there is still would be the option
of hybrid, like having all three as a choice.
I know you probably can't answer that right now.
I don't even know logistically how that would be. I can answer that.
But whether that occurs to me,
that would meet the needs of all, you know, of every student that I'm hearing.
Well, while in an ideal utopian world that would be awesome,
That is just way more than anybody can handle.
And and you're talking about different staffing.
You're talking about
like one of the biggest complications this year that's very difficult
is for teachers to be teaching students in front of them and teachers and students
that are online at the same time,
which is also why we did our elementary model the way that we did,
because it that is extremely difficult
with elementary students, too, to keep them focused that way.
If they're not all in the same, you know, venue.
But looking at next year, we would continue to have our
blended model at the high school as we have had for many.
Now we would be doing a blended pilot at the middle school,
which is sort of a hybrid option.
So we re looking at that as a pilot, but
it be very specific to a certain team of teachers.
It's very targeted.
It's not something that we would be doing large scale
and at the elementary level, I certainly would not want
to keep doing any kind of APM If we're having a full return.
While we would have we would continue to have some emergency remote learning,
it would probably just look a little bit different than what it does
this year, especially the elementary level. Right?
And that makes sense, I mean, especially for elementary.
But it does sound like there could be some possibilities.
Middle school and high school.
Absolutely. And that's what I was, right? Yep.
I have one more question, Don, to start.
So what would be the feasibility and timing if we were to have a
not just a survey but a, you know, parent registration selection, Like I know
the end of the year,
it was a survey, so it wasn't really hard and fast
because people were, you know, talking about I'm just going to say
I want to be live just in case.
But I'm really not. I'm still worried.
So my plan probably will be hybrid.
So we didn't really have a good that was a survey.
It wasn't a registration.
Could we find out now for middle school and high school
how many parents would want to go back
full time live versus how many would stay?
Because if we enough that wanted to stay virtual to allow those
that want to go live, that would be ideal, but we don't really know that.
Can we get that and find out and say, this is your registration,
this is what we want to know?
Because I've been hearing a lot of
students at least that are like playing spring sports,
that are already talking, hey, if we're enjoying the sport, we want to
we want to be virtual so that we don't risk missing out
if there's enough kids who want to stay virtual.
I would love to see the ones who want to go live, get to go live.
So as we said all along, we can do anything.
The board asks us to do.
It takes a little bit of time.
I guess one of the questions I have is if we do a registration
and let's just say that 60, 70 say they want to come,
they want to register to come back, then what do we do
then we're back in the same potentially back in the same boat.
No harm, no foul.
If there's an opportunity to get more kids back live, to me, that would be
that would be worth it because, I mean, register we all had to register.
Like right now we're all registered.
My kids right now registered virtual.
The that are hybrid are registered you know hybrid.
So if we have to make a make a call, you know next Monday
what what do you want to do for the last market year?
What do you want to do starting this
and make it because I know what my kids want to do.
And if everyone knows,
then maybe that would allow more people to come back virtual.
I mean, come back life.
That's all I'm saying. That's what I would like to know.
Ken, At least in the middle
middle school and high school, because that's more of a choice.
Elementary.
I don't know how to work that, but I want them to more able to go
four days also.
So understanding it wouldn't really be a registration
because it could be that you register but but we can't do it because.
Right, right, exactly.
Obviously if we can't do it, but if we can, that would be
that would be great for for, for for the model for middle school and high school.
I don't know how to work that with an elementary,
but obviously I want the elementary kids who want to go full time to be able to.
I just don't know how what that would look like.
And I'd like to keep that hybrid option in there
just to see the breakdown of what the interest is with hybrid full time.
For this. Year.
Just the interest.
I'm not saying you can make it happen, just kind of pooling
because it's really hard to understand for middle and high school
how many kids really want to come back in person versus the hybrid for me,
you know, I'm hearing next with some of the students that
so I'm not really even sure how much interest there is in the high school,
middle school to be fully every day in-person versus their hybrid model.
Well, I. Think that Dr.
Krantz, we're trying this year, I think to Dr.
Brennan's question, it would be come back in-person or virtual.
Right.
But I'm asking about the hybrid, like all three just what the interest is.
Mr. President, Kathy said just a point, a procedure.
No individual board member directs the administration to do something.
The administration only does something.
There's board action.
So while we all can make ask questions and make comments, you have to get
a five majority vote to have the administration act on something.
So I think it's a suggestion, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen.
Just to clarify to the public, right.
Yeah.
Just because I think that sometimes when one person says something,
we often will get a petition that as if it's going to happen.
And so I just want to clarify that, that this is just a discussion
and there's no board action because a majority vote for it.
All right. I think. Dana, thank you. Ms..
I mean, I think what I'm hearing is suggestions from.
Individual.
Members to the administration that, you know,
perhaps a data survey would help in a Florida forum for.
But I agree this is not this is really each individual board
member having making suggestions and offering comment and offering comment.
Ms.. Nancy.
I have a question and it's more really for the parents
and I know this is an exchange between us and the audience, but maybe
I don't know if if Mrs.
Gifford can get up at the end.
But my question really is for the parents who are are
advocating for us to open the school back up, does it mean that
you're kind of
saying to us, would you open the school back up?
And we really it whether the kids are a foot apart
or six feet apart like that doesn't really matter.
We just want the doors open.
I'm trying to get a handle on
because all the conversation seems to be around.
How can we safely distance them, which I can respect
and appreciate, but that's what we're doing now.
So I just maybe again, at the end, if you come back up, like,
are you just saying we want the kids back no matter what,
what that means in terms of being able to keep them apart?
Okay, I don't want to speak for her, but she did reference that in,
you know, in her comments that I think that there could be an understanding
that parents were saying we're taking the risk
of not having the, you know,
three feet of distance.
So if we would survey people, let's just say hypothetically
and we would say, do you want your child to come back, then
knowing that we probably won't be able to maintain
the recommended, Just to be clear as to what we're actually presenting
to people as an option
can send your child back,
but they're literally going to be two inches from the person next to them.
I'm just saying as a point of clarification for myself
to try to understand what
is really being asked, because there could be a
someone going to have their child in hybrid, in-person learning right now.
And they're comfortable
because distancing being accomplished and they're still getting that mix.
But if you were to move to full virtual or full in-person
and there was less than three feet, that could very much switch
someone into wanting a full virtual mode because they may not be comfortable
with not achieving that, you know, all day.
Because I kind of I'm thinking if you put the option out there,
it doesn't really matter what the response is.
If if 70% of people want their children in school,
I don't know, we'd have to see what the numbers look like. But
you can't say, well, okay, we're only going to pick a portion of you.
But like, this just gets to be very tedious
and then some people are going to be excluded from it.
So and I now we're just trying to talk this through.
So think of as many anymore questions
before we segway into what I'm going to call the comment portion
of the unfinished business.
So that I'm certainly happy to hear from individual board members
substantive comment as to where they are on this question
of, you know,
is there should there be a decision to have us move to another model?
The floor is open.
This is Donna Karan.
Is it possible that we could make a motion that would asked for the district
to put together a survey based on.
But we don't know what that survey's going to look like yet.
But to try to elucidate more information, like I can't tell you what I want
that survey look like, but I'd like to get more information
from the community on definitive like, Marie said.
I will go back to school full day if I can be within 3 to 6 feet
or regardless of the distance.
And unless we have those numbers, we are stuck with the model that we have now.
And my sense is that parents want their kids in school more.
We may or may not be to do that, but we don't.
We won't be able to even assess that until we get more definitive information.
I would like to get a motion on the table to have a survey,
but I don't have any specifics.
It would have to be something that would either Joe would come up with or
a subcommittee to ask the right questions, because I don't know those questions.
But what you can do is go to agenda
planning and propose that it go on the agenda to to work it out
through with the board present superintend but to put a motion on the floor
when we've already approved the agenda never really works very well. So
well I understand that.
But I guess because we're in a timely situation,
I'm just I'm just throwing it out there.
I mean, I think I think what I hear, Dr.
Cronan, is, again, as I said, board members
can offer to the administration
the strong suggestion that they do a data survey.
And so I've heard from you, I've heard from Ms..
However, I think as well.
Without having to have a vote and have said yes.
But I don't mean that the administration is going to listen to board members.
So I would think that that would mean that the administration
would take that back and think about, you know, couching a data survey
that would you know, it's not a commitment from the school district
that, you know, X number of people say this, we're going to do that.
But I think that that,
you know, the data point of how many folks would want to go to virtual
or how many folks would want to go to full time face to face, it seems to me
that that would be a helpful data point that we can get, you know, Sure.
Sooner rather than later. Right.
So that would help to enlighten the board discussion on a going forward
basis on this, I, I want.
So that's sort of what I'm thinking about that.
So other other subset of
comments from individual board members.
And this is Judy.
However, I agree with each young president because I think these are questions
we're going to have come the fall
for planning, because I don't think this is going to change much.
And so to know whether they're going to be comfortable coming, regardless
if it's three feet, six feet, I think at some point that would be a good idea
to find out what the public is feeling if things aren't much different
and we have to follow these three feet strict guidelines even for the fall,
what they're feeling.
So if it's not done now, at some point in the future,
just something to think of out of some kind of survey, because I
don't think magically in the fall all this is going to go away and.
We're going to not have any of these questions.
I think it would.
I do want to see a survey and I think to try to to come up with a motion
right now would be incredibly cumbersome and very wordy.
But I also don't think that waiting for two weeks,
given the current climate in the situation that we're in, is I like
I feel like a little more anxious about it to get something together.
But but how are we going to work that
that through without taking up 45 minutes right now to talk about it.
Is that
does anybody else want to weigh in on the survey?
You, Mr.
President?
Kip Shore Yeah, I think I think that since we've heard from.
Jason that they.
Really can't predict, I think it would be
very important to make use of the next two weeks and conduct
a survey in which got commitments from folks to
are you going to be fully virtual for the fourth marking period.
Those are the that's one of the questions you would want to know.
You know,
how strongly are you in favor of bringing your kid back
if the six foot distance can't be maintained 100% of the time,
which, by the way, that's the CDC has
been going through the entire document,
there are provisions for when that can't be maintained
100% of the time.
And regarding bussing,
the latest from the CDC
is try to skip a row if possible.
The mask mandate, of course, being the big thing.
So so I'm strongly in favor of a survey being conducted expeditiously.
Thank you.
Mr. President.
I, I think a survey would be completely appropriate.
I think it's a good way to be able to collect the
those numbers.
It's a starting point because everything we're talking about is hypothetical.
And we know that we're already
at the capacity for what we can accomplish from a distancing perspective.
So if it were to have a large swing in one way or the other,
then I think that it could make things a bit clearer.
But I would also request if we were going to do that,
that we work with the associations
and talk to the teachers because we worked very hard as
a district to accommodate teachers who were not comfortable being in-person,
especially with those minimal distancing efforts and.
I think that we need to understand what the
you know, how many of our educators are comfortable with having to do that,
because if there was a large swing back to in-person, that could mean
a number of currently total
virtual teachers coming back in-person.
And I don't think that we can discount their voice as well.
And I think that Mr..
And I would just say I would also
want to know the staff as well, our bus drivers.
And because you know, they're going to be accommodating more students.
So I don't know.
I think the survey is an interesting idea, but at the end of the day,
the board would have to decide to go against the Department of Health
and CDC guidelines knowing that you got a percentage
of people to say and that
so it would be data for the board members, I guess, to know, but
you would still have to make a decision to go against the guidelines.
So there's and I wouldn't want the community to think that
because we're doing the survey that it's going to happen
because that has happened in the past confused people because it's like what?
I signed up for this for the fourth marking period and then it doesn't happen.
And I don't.
And I think, you know, how are you going to present the survey properly
without explaining that?
Okay, well, if your kid comes back to elementary school five days a week,
then they might have a different teacher for two months, like, how are you going
to add in all these layers of if this then that if this then that like
it's going to be so complicated.
I don't get it.
Like how you make it seem simple.
Just go ask them what they're going to do.
But then they could still change their mind too.
You're just it's not a commitment.
It's not a registration.
It's like, Well, what are you planning to do?
I think I'm going to have my kid go virtual because she plays lacrosse.
But then the kids, it's just we know the barriers.
So then we still have to make a decision knowing the barriers. So
I just think it's perhaps oversimplified and I don't really understand.
But you do need to explain all these different levels.
And there are a lot of people who are going to get this survey
who are not listening to this board meeting.
Communication. No, that still remains key.
But I think we had to claim by second marking period
like my kids are locked into virtual right now
because that's what they claimed
and that's the way it is, unless there's extenuating circumstances.
That's my understanding that the way is.
So if I need to kind of claim for the fourth market period,
whatever I claim,
unless there's extenuating circumstances, that's what we're locked in.
When does the fourth marking period start?
March 26th is the end of the third, I believe.
But I think it's also elementary versus elementary.
First trimester ends the second week of March.
But what I'm saying is the questions
change based on elementary versus secondary, right?
Because we're saying elementary, your teacher, your kid's teacher could change.
And so all these people can say, yes, I want to come back.
And I'm like, okay, come back.
Here's your new teacher.
And like, well, wait, that's not what I agreed to.
But you're saying elementary.
mid-March is the third. Conference is.
Trimester and then marking period.
So with these decisions on what you're going to be doing
has to be made in the next three weeks, four weeks,
and we already know it takes six weeks to hire back food service.
Like, I don't get it.
I don't get it.
Well, to your point, good.
That that's been we've
we've tossed around the idea of a survey and what that would look like
and the fans and the all the little nuances are what have really
held us up with with the forward.
Third trimester starts March 1st.
Thank you. Yes. Conferences are the second week in March.
You did your microphone, so I just turned it on.
Third trimester starts March 1st.
It starts next week.
Conferences are second week element. Okay.
So I just think logistically I understand that.
I don't think it's as simple as you're making it out to be.
And other other folks wanting to comment.
This is Tricia Steiner.
I just wanted to echo Mrs. Seger's comments.
I feel like at the end of the day, we still need to protect our educators,
our teachers and staff, and
I can't see us going against CDC guidelines
even if we have an overwhelming amount of parents
that want to bring their kids back to school.
Of course, we all want to bring our kids back to school, but
we have to maintain the safety of our teachers
so that we can have school in the first place and our educators.
And so I, I really want to just caution about
putting something out.
And, yes, you know, the more information we have from our
from our parents, you know, that's that's not
that's that's not a bad thing.
But it's it's not without layers
of understanding and communication that I'm not sure if we can,
you know, transfer that adequately to get people's hopes up
that something might happen by the end of the year. So,
yeah, and that's
so I'm just not I'm not sure I'm confused about the survey
and how that would be implemented in an effective way.
This is Donna Karan.
I don't want to belabor this, but maybe surveys are not the right the wrong term
because we had, like I said, I had to register second marking period.
What my decision was.
I don't care what the date is.
Third,
maybe we need to have a you know what what would your registration choice be?
We may not be accommodated, but right now we're stuck doing nothing different
unless we have some data that can see that maybe we can do something different
and it may not happen. Dr.. And I don't think that's accurate.
Oh, I'm sorry.
You mean what they have asked for third marking period in particular?
Because we're in third marking period now.
I'm sorry.
Yeah. Areas where we changed.
I'm sorry Mark you period of if people chose to go virtual
they ask that you please stay in virtual through the third period.
Yeah, but it is not a sentence through the end of the year
and you don't have to provide evidence.
You can just say no we're ready to come back. Right?
And that's what I meant.
I meant to say third Mark very. We chose third marking very virtual.
And so I just want to be I just want to make sure that what the public is hearing
is is accurate for what they can do the way that it's working.
And I also would just hesitate using the term registration.
It's not it's not whatever the term should be.
We picked virtual for this marking period, whatever the term was that you asked
us to claim.
That's all.
I just it'd be nice to have some data to know what we can do forward.
Otherwise it looks like we won't have a chance to adjust what we're doing.
We just need more information.
All right, Dr.
Scholl.
Mr. President, are you are you going to take general comments now?
I think we are.
Okay.
Let's go back to Mr. Singer.
Yeah, just very quickly.
This is not an instructional model question,
but it does have to do with COVID 19.
So if it's if this question is inappropriate, you could just tell me.
But there have been some inquiries from
outside of recreational sports organizations
regarding the possible utilization of
facilities for our facilities.
And I understand of right now,
neither inside or outside facilities
can can be utilized.
So I didn't know whether this could
an opportunity to address that or if it has to be addressed
at another time, whatever.
It's off point, obviously
to the instructional model.
Yes. But but to to date we have because of the mitigation
and everything, we have not allowed indoor or outdoor
use of facilities.
We would not be recommending
indoor facilities usage at this point.
Outdoor facilities.
As I said, we signed the attestation.
So anybody on campus utilizing our facilities has to follow
those mitigation masking at all times
as well as the other health and safety measures.
I think for the we need some direction from the board
on that as far as outdoor facilities, I know we're coming into spring sports and
Little League and different things like that
be open to considering that.
But I think we'd also need some direction on is that just Hershey
students?
Is that any outside group.
I would not recommend any outside group
because that brings in people from outside our community.
But those are nuances that even with outdoor facilities
would need to be fleshed out so that staff knows what they can bring forth.
Obviously, we can bring those recommendations
to the board and Ford has to ultimately approve facility use,
but I'd want to be clear for the general public
who could even entertain.
Mr. Microphone, just to clarify a point
in the fall, we did allow outside facility use by local organizations and
and fall sports at our various district facilities.
What you're talking is since the closure and the signing of the attestation form,
when we were completely virtual on the campuses first since January 11th,
no facility use has been
permitted to be requested in any form.
Correct? Well, thank you, Mr.
Singer, for raising that,
because I, I do think and probably another potential agenda item in the future.
Okay.
But tonight we put under unfinished business for the instructional model.
Okay.
But just to kind of let the public know that this would be an item for a future
agenda item. But I'm I'm glad you raised that. Yeah.
And I did have one question
as well.
And I just want to make sure
I understand this.
The idea of trying to find out
what people may or may not want to do.
You know, it's already been noted that
if that involves contravening
health or see the EPA, Department of Health
or CDC guidelines or whatever, I'm not sure how the helps
if that's the precipice that it would take us to that.
Okay.
We have to abandon our commitment to the mitigation
efforts.
But if
if the gathering of the information has something to do with
space,
I guess
space for students that could be accommodated,
that aren't being accommodated because we
people don't know where,
you know, is there extra space
where students could actually be in person
who aren't currently in-person?
I don't know if that
is a confusing question or is that what you're getting at?
I'm not sure.
Like like right now, if there if all the people that virtual
right now in the high school I'm sorry
that were hybrid in the high school right now
if that if the rooms could accommodate them to go for days
because there's enough virtual
I'd love them to have to go to be able to go for days.
I don't know if that's the case, but
you know yeah that's that's what I would love to see.
Is that applies I guess that's the question I'm asking.
And I think
Mrs. Mamie was was kind of
getting into that as well.
It would become a very
challenging situation to decide, oh, if there was a space, who gets it?
But and that is what we have
been doing all of our special needs students who
parents have wanted them to be back are back
are English language learners who have wanted to be
back, are back at the middle and high school where they have space.
They're they're looking at
targeting students who are struggling academically and inviting them back.
So, yes, right now we do have space for that. As
we said earlier, like at the high school currently because of those, like Dr.
Cronan said, that have opted for the third marking period
to be virtual currently
we would have enough space to
bring those kids back in hybrid full that are currently in hybrid.
But that would that would then negate anybody
who's currently virtual for third marking period
thinking they're coming back from fourth to come back.
And it would limit us from inviting kids back who are maybe virtual right now,
who are struggling.
And so it's not an easy yes no right answer to your question.
Okay. Thank you.
I think one of the things just a side note that's frustrating as a board member,
because we've been doing for many, many years
and it just it just seems to be the dynamic at
the microphone is we kind of just tend it tends to lean one sided.
And we do hear from we have heard from other people,
you know, that have sent in messages privately that have said we think you're
doing a great job the way that it is, we love it, blah, blah, blah.
So, you know, and maybe the survey is just for my own personal peace of mind.
I'm not sure I'm still trying to work that out in my head.
But we do have it like whatever is said out
loud again, we usually hear one
very, very side of that during our board meetings.
And then that's really what what the public hears.
And that kind of creates an energy.
And I'm just trying to look at the whole picture,
whether it's feasible or not or whether we do it or not.
That's really what I'm getting at.
I'd like to hear collectively from everybody, you know,
But I understand what Cathy's saying and I understand what Lindsey saying,
and so I'm just trying to process through all of it.
Any more questions or comments about the
about the the survey
before?
I do want to sort of subset a comment.
I love my own my own my own personal voice.
As one board member not speaking for the board,
I, I do, you know, see
what what the CDC has said and the word read,
I hear the concerns of the other on the other side of the parents
that wish to have us go to full time face to face.
I, i my view is that the data survey
would be a helpful would be helpful.
It's not going to sort of be the tipping point,
but I think it is one more bit of data that would help to guide the board
to the extent it would make a decision to go up and go in a different direction.
So I think I think the points are
well made that nonetheless, that's not going to change with the CDC or so.
But in terms of hearing from the community, I think, you know, a
sort of a a focused survey like that can can only help the more.
So that's my thought on the survey as a as a board member.
So let us now
to the subset of comment portion
of under unfinished business.
Dr.. Sure.
Are Yes.
Careful, Mr. President.
No one has suggested that we violate CDC guidelines
any more than we're already doing with the extracurriculars
on each one of us who was elected
was elected to represent the parents, the taxpayers
with regard to taxpayer public education.
And the overwhelming majority of them
want their children safely in-person,
full time instruction.
And we don't we're not privy to
any secret or proprietary data,
which the public doesn't see or doesn't already know.
And what they see is they see a dramatic decrease
in the case counts week over week,
down 23% in our county.
And the experts are forecasting that decrease to continue
because of increasing natural immunity in the population
from infection and because of increasing in vaccination.
Okay, so this is a hockey analogy
and it's about where the puck is going on the.
Puck is going to be there.
We're going to be down.
In that yellow and blue area.
Maybe not blue by the end of the school year,
but we're going to be we're going to be in the yellow
and we
each one of us needs to view this as though we had a struggling
seventh grader or we have a first grader.
You know I mean, they're not seen quite as good as they did a year ago.
And so I think
that we're kind of missing the point by seeing where we've been
in terms of the numbers and and not looking at where we're to be.
So without going into
too much other detail other than, you know, some of the
the obvious ones, you know, if you're if you're
singling out
students who are struggling and bringing them back to be four days
a week and hears or knows that that person is now
a four day week student or they know that's that's grade shaming.
They know they're struggling.
And so I don't I don't think that that's necessarily a good thing to do.
We're certainly
putting ourselves at risk of being considered,
you know, hypocritical by permitting the extracurricular activities
and not seriously looking at where we're going to be in terms of case counts.
So provided provided the case counts continue to decrease.
And by the way, it's also it's a seven day period now.
It's not a 14 day period.
So provided the case counts, continue
with the understanding that a fully virtual will remain,
they'll be I'll be making a motion at the March eight meeting
that we return to for in-person instruction
with with the standard mitigation, layered mitigation strategies.
And I mean, depending on the rapidity that'll either be with the beginning
of the fourth marking period, the 29th or the next week.
So that gives the administration 5 to 6 weeks to to begin to prepare for this.
It's not going to be a surprise.
And absent that, writing off the rest of the school year
means our most vulnerable students, the youngest, the most vulnerable, will be
out of school for a year and a half a year and a half out of school.
I mean, hybrid online.
You know, that was the argument about all day kindergarten
that half a day or two and a half hours. It doesn't.
It really doesn't do much.
And so I really think that
it's an injustice to the most vulnerable students, the youngest
students, to keep them out of school for a year and a half.
So, you know, that's all.
Dr. Short, could I just ask a question?
Have you conducted a survey of all of the parents, 3400 parent
or parents of 3400 students? No.
Then how can you make the statement
in your comments with all these other facts
that the overwhelming majority of parents want kids to return to full time?
And I guess that's true.
As biased as based on what I hear and based on the circulating petition.
So thank you.
I don't make that point to criticize.
But just because
people pick up on tidbits of things and I don't want that to be the message
when we haven't conducted a survey to allow everyone to have a voice.
Are there other subset of comments?
Anything for a member?
This is Cathy Seger.
I'm I'm not in favor of going
against the guidelines that are set forth after I've listened to everything
presented here and knowing what we face,
I mean, certainly if we get to the lowest one,
but we also need time to transition.
It's, you know, 35, 3600 kids, 500 staff members.
And I'm not in favor of just discarding the teachers and the staff.
I mean,
they have to have gotten
their vaccines if they wanted and they don't have them yet.
So, you know, nothing has changed as far as the percentages.
They went back to where we were in September, October, November,
I think they're going to go down.
I agree with you.
But I don't see an easy way out at this point
because of the layoffs
we've done, because of this, the structures of the buildings,
because of the vaccines haven't gotten
into the arms of our teachers and our bus drivers.
So I'm not in favor of just throwing everything
we just heard out the door and voting March 8th to go against
the administration's recommendation putting that out there.
I would also like to clarify to the public that
there was no board action on
taking the Wednesday day away from the high school.
That was one board members comment at a meeting.
That's not on our agenda.
And as far as I know, the administration is not bringing that forth.
So I would like to ease the high school students anxiety
that that's not that that's not changing right now.
You Have two days in-person, two days
remote and Wednesdays are asynchronous to the best of my knowledge.
And I read everything that comes through that's not changing,
nor is there a plan change for that.
I saw a petition, I saw the student comments on it
and it upsets me that a board members can just throw things out there
and then they're taken as if we're changing something.
So I just wanted to clear the air is the public understands
that the reference to sports and extracurriculars
we had every right to cancel
winter sports as a school district. The
and the governor
came out in November and said it's a local decision.
We had a discussion at the November board meeting.
Should we cancel winter sports?
They're different than Father Indoor.
They're this and that.
We made a decision as a board not to cancel sports
because they were following our health and safety plan, they were wearing masks
and we knew that when there were cases on a team,
the team would be shut down individually, which did happen.
Some of our teams, when they contact Trace.
So to throw out the fact that, yes, we're letting wrestler wrestlers wrestle,
yes, we're letting swimmers swim and we're still hybrid
while we're not supposed to be in either of those when we're in the red,
we've always this entire year balanced our decisions,
academics, the social emotional well-being of students
and the physical safety of students and staff.
So I, you know, to throw that out I mean, I know people have said that to me.
Well, you're letting the wrestlers wrestle.
Yes, we are.
We could have canceled that in November.
And we had a board discussion about it.
We decided not to.
We allowed it because we're trying to balance here.
We're also trying to balance what the administration is telling us
about our building, our buildings, our staffing,
Eating Lunch is six feet away without a mask, teachers,
certified teachers in classroom, not just pulling specialized teachers out
and then taking that away from reading and math support from students.
So that's that's where I am on this issue right now.
Thank you, Mr.
Any other.
Yeah. John and Donna Cronin, I just want to make a comment.
I think our discussion is very fruitful and I think it's a disservice,
Kathy, to say that if we bring something up, that it makes
everyone else think that that's happening.
Last meeting I did mention, you know, I'd like to get kids back in school.
Maybe that means Wednesday's
that was an emotion that was just our free commenting.
And if you want to silence us,
I don't think that's a good idea because I respect all of the ideas
and hopefully we'll come up with something that will help us move forward.
So, you know, I respect that two students got on and said,
no, don't take our we are Wednesday's that was just an option.
Just like keep saying get us all back school.
These are ideas
and I want us to work together to figure out what the best way to do it.
And if we don't have ideas thrown out, we're not going to change anything.
So like I said, with all due respect, I think it's important
for us to bring up ideas and that just discussion, that's what
we're we're having discussion here and that's critical.
Thank you, Dr. Bryant.
And other substantive comments
on the unfinished business item
anyone else wish to speak of at this time.
STEINER Thank you, John.
Tricia Steiner I just wanted to thank the administration
for preparing all this information for us
and that I fully support
staying with the CDC guidelines
and Pennsylvania Department of Health I think that, like Mrs.
Sekera said, we've done a really good job
trying to balance all those things that nothing has.
No decision has been made without a of thought and consideration
and planning and sleepless nights on behalf of the staff and administrators.
And so
I'm really
wary of doing anything
that just puts our staff in danger.
And I and our excuse me and our kids too.
And so I think that it's really
I think that we should just continue to follow the CDC recommendation
guidelines, at the very least until our teachers get vaccinated.
Thank you.
Mr. Abel, I'd like to just comment.
This is Lindsey Drew.
I know a lot of what Mrs.
Sager said, and I thank you for organizing and articulating that so well
for. Me What it comes down to the most is we need to be better communicators.
As I've reflected over the last couple of weeks of
so many things that have created,
you know, hot topics within the community.
It all boils down to me is a lack of effective communication.
And I in any circumstance, not even pandemic
related in the last 12 months, we always walk a very thin line
between too much versus not enough information.
But I do believe at the end of the day,
we all have the same goals in mind of what we want to achieve.
But lack of communication has created a very divided voice
and, you know, very hard positions on either side.
And I can see the the arguments that are made in many cases for why.
And I want to thank all of the parents who did reach out to us
following the last meeting.
I mean, we received a lot of contact
and I've had a lot of one on one conversation with parents.
And it's a very hard thing that we're going through now.
And while I believe that the central focus and priority for all of us
is the students and the well-being and what can we do to take care of them,
I think we can't minimize the impact that this has had on parents
and the community and the way that we live our lives.
And one of the things that stood out
the most in the conversations that I had with people is
there is the concern for their students.
But in many of the instances, the students,
the parents I was talking to were doing okay.
They were in communication with the teacher or the teacher,
you know, had not expressed that there was any concern
the parents are at their limits.
And I get that because I've had those days as a parent,
You know, there's a lot of comments we receive about working.
I get that, too. I'm a single working mom.
It is hard.
There are some teachers that you just think like I,
I, we cannot exist much longer
in this way of living because we're shifting.
There's a snow day that's a virtual day, or we're starting with a hour delay,
you know, is it am is it PPM?
What's the case count this week? Did you remember your mask?
And like we have to be in line to drop off by eight,
not 817, Because if it's 817, I'm going to be late for a meeting.
This type of life is hard and I think that we need
to extend grace through that.
But we can't let go of the guiding principles and that is the things that
that we are proud of as a district and it's our teachers
and the asset that they are to us and their health and safety.
It is our commitment to education and recognizing
the privilege, the extraordinary privilege we have in Derry Township.
So many other districts are not 1 to 1 technology.
We are we have everything, but one of our students
has access to a device, a technology device in our district.
Very few districts can say that we have spent
a ton of time and effort
and invested in making sure that our students
have the best opportunity virtually that we can in this moment.
And have to keep that in mind when the conversation is so loud
everywhere else.
So while I want to be on the side of saying,
yes, let's get the kids back because we want to return to that,
and we know that at the end of the day, that is the best thing for them.
For the students that learn the best in,
I struggle with being able to say,
let's go against all of these guidelines or let's uproot this for a short
amount of time because there are so many other consequences behind it.
And so for me as a board member, I don't see how
I can change my position on this for this school year.
But I'm asking the administration to
to be proactive and incorporate us in the conversation
and make sure that we're communicating to the community
of how we're going to plan forward
so that come August, whatever the first day of school
is on this calendar that have that plan
and that parents can feel informed
and empowered to make decisions for their students.
Thank you. Thank you.
Mr. President. Just one more comment.
I guess the piece that I'm struggling with is,
you know, these districts that have gone back in-person full time,
their case counts are not any higher as far as,
you know, having to close and all that.
There is no difference.
And I understand the safety and we keep bringing that up.
But I struggle with really, is it a risk to go back to the teachers
and students when we're already seeing in our communities that it is not?
So I guess that's where I struggle with that decision
as far as we're not seeing that the cases have increased in those districts
where the kids have gone back full, You know, it's not there.
So is it really,
you know, is school really the environment where the virus is spreading?
And I you know, I have really personally do not believe that's
how the virus is spread in school when we are masked regardless, you know,
and in maintaining I think the virus has spread outside of school
and in some ways a hybrid model could spread it
just as fast because you are not masked 8 hours a day every day of the week.
You know, you have your off days
and I don't think kids are masked getting together on the off days.
So to say that in-person five days
a week is more of a risk than what we're doing.
I'm not seeing the data that's showing that.
I understand the guidelines and all that.
But in this community, with what's happening with in-person
five days a week versus hybrid,
there is I'm not seeing that it changes and maybe I'm missing it.
Maybe there are schools that have increased cases.
I have not heard of that.
So that's where my struggle comes
saying that school, a place where it's going to be a spreader.
I don't agree with that.
On whether to change now or not.
You know, I don't know.
Like there's so many logistics involved,
but if it's brought up, that was something I definitely would train,
entertain, going back full time because of these reasons
to comment with what Mrs.
Drew is saying, we do have to start planning for fall
because I do not think the guidelines are going to change that much.
And I don't see how we would even be able to bring them back with everything
that was discussed and all the logistics that would have to work out.
And that concerns me because I think cancel they have to be back
five days a week.
It is just too much detriment done to them
and I would love to have them back sooner than that.
But that's just, you know, I keep hearing how much of it is at risk or risk
if we bring them back.
But I think we have to also look at the statistics of what
our community showing that that hasn't done.
And I haven't seen the numbers indicating that with the schools
that have gone back.
Thank you, Ms.
from anyone else.
I want to I want to
thank everyone for for that productive conversation and discussion.
It was not anything else under unfinished business.
We will move now on to present agenda items.
The consent agenda contains routinely adopted items and items
that normally do not require public deliberations on the part of the board.
A board member may pool items which will then be discussed and voted on separately.
The I have a motion to approve the consent agenda items as listed.
So move Lindsey drew second.
Cathy Secker Is there any discussion?
If not, this is a standard voice vote
all in favor signify by saying I. I.
Anyone opposed to
the motion carries
no business
approval of affiliation Agreement.
Westchester, University of Pennsylvania.
Mr. McFarland.
Thank you.
The administration recommends the board approve the affiliation agreement
with Township School District and Westchester University
of Pennsylvania, effective February 22nd, 2021.
May I have a motion to approve the affiliation agreement with?
West Chester, University of Pennsylvania.
So move. Donna Cronin. Is there a second?
Second, Nancy Drew.
Is there any discussion
that sustained or voiced are all in favor signify by saying I
so anyone opposed the motion carries approval or affiliation agreement.
Mr. McFarlane, thank you.
The administration recommends the board approve the affiliation agreement
with Derry Township School District
in Lebanon Valley College, effective February 22nd, 2021.
Thank you.
May I have a motion to approve
the affiliation agreement with Lebanon Valley College?
So moved Kathy Seger.
Is there a second?
Second. Donna Cronan, thank you.
Is there any discussion I'd just like to ask our solicitor.
I'm involved with an organization
that has a few
intern from Lebanon Valley College benefiting the organization
I'm associating with whether I should abstain or not.
Any other discussion.
I don't believe it's necessary. Okay.
This is a standard voice vote.
All in favor signify by saying I my only one oppose
motion carries
may have a motion to it actually next is
yes may have a motion to approve the resolution to support
prioritization of vaccine available only to education professionals.
So move Lindsay drew second Kathy Seger.
Is there any discussion on the resolution?
Yes, Mr. President,
while CDC has stated that vaccination does not need
to be considered as a primary condition for reopening schools in person,
it has been recommended that if returning to in-person instruction
prior to vaccines being widely available to education workers,
that all mitigation guidelines should be strictly adhered to,
which includes meeting distancing guidelines.
Here in Derry Township,
we have been offering a hybrid form of in-person learning while adhering
to some of the mitigation guidelines to the greatest extent possible.
I wrote this resolution because despite vaccinations
not being a requirement for in-person learning,
I believe it is important for us as school board directors
to use our voices and join in the advocacy of statewide
for educators, school boards, superintendents, etc.
in supporting the prioritization of vaccines to our teachers and school staff
so that they may have the opportunity receive a vaccine if they so choose.
Over the past few decades, the responsibilities and expectations
for public educators have increased exponentially.
Our Teachers and school employees have been frontline workers long
before a pandemic created such an interruption in our lives
from being the first line of defense and helping to identify
students mental health concerns while in school to safety.
During a time in our country
where things like gun violence in schools are a legitimate concern.
Day schoolwork ears are in the trenches and they are
our greatest asset as a school district and worthy of our appreciation.
While I genuinely believe that one thing the majority of all of us can agree on
is how our teachers
have risen to the unprecedented challenges before them this past year.
By not being prioritized for vaccinations, it has placed them unfairly
the middle of a national reopening conversation as a barrier to such return.
It's my personal opinion that we must balance the well-being of students
as much as we do our teachers and school workers.
By prioritizing them for the vaccine, we reinforce the priority placed on
returning our children to the most optimal learning environment for them.
It is my hope that other school boards raising their collective voices
in support of this, as well as well as us, along with parents
and community members, that we can all be effective in achieving this.
Thank you. Thank you.
Any discussion on the resolution?
This is a standard voice
vote in favor signify by saying I opposed.
Opposed motion carries at least approval.
Mr. Macfarlane.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The administration recommends the board approve the lease of the Grenada
Avenue gym to Penn State Milton Hershey Medical Center
for the purpose of operating a COVID 19 vaccination clinic.
So moved Capshaw.
Second, Lyndsey Drew.
Is there any discussion?
There's a senior voice vote
all in favor signify by saying I anyone opposed
Motion carries elementary school children installation better Ward Mr.
Macfarlane, Thank you.
The administration recommends the board award the elementary school children's
installation to Legoland Mechanical Inc.
it in the amount of $284,900.
May have a motion to approve the elementary school chiller installation.
Better word.
So move Donna Cronan second Kathy, thank you.
Is there any discussion?
There's a standard voice vote all in favor.
Signify by saying I. I.
Anyone opposed.
The motion carries new course proposals. Mr.
McFarlane. Thank you.
The administration recommends
the approval of the listed Hershey High School course offering.
May have a motion to approve the new course proposal.
So move Donna Cronan, Second Cathy Segar.
Mr. Discussion.
This is a standard voice vote all in favor signify
by saying I i everyone
motion carries
course revision.
Mr. Macfarlane.
Thank you.
The administration recommends
the approval of the listed Hershey High School course revision.
We have a motion to approve the course revision.
So moved Maria Mimi second, Lyndsey Drew.
Is there any discussion?
There's a senior voice vote all in favor, signify
by saying I only oppose motion carries
the elimination of the kindergarten waiver.
Mr. Macfarlane.
The administration recommends the elimination
of the kindergarten waiver for half day enrollment beginning in the 2021.
2022 school year.
May have a motion to approve the elimination of the kindergarten waiver.
So moves Kathy Secor Second. Maria Mimi.
Is there any discussion?
The center voiced vote all in favor signify
by saying I do want oppose motion carries
the I have a motion to approve the personnel resignations.
So moved Maria Mimi, Lindsey.
Drew, thank you. Is there any discussion?
If not, there's a stair voice vote all in favor.
Signify by saying I ask anyone opposed
Motion carries personnel.
General. Mr. McFarland.
The administration recommends the approval of the listed personnel and recognition.
Any listed transfers.
May have a motion
to approve the list of personnel and recognition of any list of transfers.
So moved Maria Mimi Second, Lindsey drew.
Is there any discussion?
If not, this is standard voice vote all in favor signify
by saying I anyone opposed
motion carries delegate reports.
The SBA report has been attached.
Arthur Cronan Do you have anything you would like to add? Nope.
Just as attached. Thank you.
Are there any board members who would like to give a report?
This is Terri Singer.
Just very quickly, I'm a member of a team from the Hershey Rotary Club
that is helping administer an essay contest
for 2021 for ninth graders
and for Milton Hershey School, Middletown
High School and Hershey High School.
And I just wanted to
thank the administration for its support of encouraging
Hershey High School ninth graders to submit essays.
A total of 33 were submitted through
Sherry Taylor studies
English honors class, and just wanted to
thank everyone from from the administration
that supported encouraging the kids to submit the essays.
Thank you. Thank you.
Superintendent's Report.
Mr. Macfarlane, do you have a superintendents report?
I do not.
Thank you. Thank you for board President's report.
I have no report on behalf of the Board.
President
Now we're down to number eight recognition of citizens.
This is an opportunity for Roseanne taxpayers to address the board on matters
related to the agenda or matters of district governance, not on the agenda.
Those who speak are asked to follow the same guidelines outlined
at the initial public comment portion of our MI.
Are there any resident and or taxpayers of I'd like to comment at this time?
Mr. SLAUGHTER.
Do we have anyone with a raised hand?
Mr. President. We have three.
We have three and we have one here in person.
So I want to ask our in person
to please approach the podium.
This is Laura again.
I'd like to address a couple of questions that came up
that may want some parent input as well as some comments.
I apologize.
They're just bullet points
based on your conversation over the last couple of hours.
Ms.. Naomi Yes, I think part of the discussion of full
time school is parents would acknowledge that spacing is not possible
and that would have to be something that would a parent has to be comfortable
with to a public survey is always a good idea to say it is not a good idea
for any reason, shape or form is disrespectful to the community.
Do there have to be some caveats on it?
Absolutely.
Can you put statements on it?
Absolutely But a survey is always a good idea to get the input
and the opinions from the entire community that these decisions affect
is always a good idea. At a period.
I feel like a lot of the discussion about reopening schools
has only focused on the challenges and only focus on the negative
and how we cannot do it versus talking about how can we do this?
How can we make this possible for students?
The CDC guidelines are just that.
They are recommendations.
They are not requirements.
Other schools are not following them to the tee.
There are a moving target.
They could completely change them tomorrow and this discussion is null and void
with the idea that CDC has also released
data that says schools are not where it is being transmitted.
Schools are not high risk elementary, students are very low risk.
So to look at these
the guidelines and say we can't do it because of these guidelines today
and not plan for when we can do it is very irresponsible for the district.
We need to come up with a plan.
Now, whether it is implemented March 1st, whether it is implement on March 29th,
whether it is implemented 24th, that plan needs to be put into place
and start being talked about now rather than talking about why we can't do it.
We can't do it because we can't move this.
We can't do it
because we furloughed employees and that takes six weeks to bring them on.
So to Lindsey's comment that we know that this is the best thing for them
and we are not planning for it because this document says that
we can't do it, it is really, really difficult for parents to hear.
We have got to come up with a way to do it.
I don't know when that is, but we have to come up with a way to do it.
We have to stop making excuses for why we can't do it.
I don't want to hear
we need more hand weights.
And the CDC has shown that is not where it's being transmitted.
The transmission is face to face contact
without masks in close distance,
which are social settings at home gatherings.
It is not in school, it is not where it's being transmitted.
We are low risk in these schools
like that cannot be the only factor that we consider.
And to look at those guidelines and say we're allowing these school
sports, despite the not saying it, but then on the other side
say we can't do it because of these guidelines.
You can't have it both ways.
Like we have got to be subjective about this.
We need to do what is best for these kids and act on it
and not just talk about why we can't do it.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
Mr. Swiger.
If you want to go to the folks in the virtual.
Sure, Mr. President.
We have eight hands.
Raised right now, so I'm just going to start from the top and work my way down.
We Already heard from Taylor Cota, but we will hear from her again.
Sure.
I tell you.
Thank you again.
I just had a few more
conversation.
I just want to give a perspective from a student.
I think a survey would absolutely amazing because it's really hard
to make an informed decision about community opinions
when you don't know the community's opinions.
So I think that would just be a great thing.
And second of all, I'm a student who my entire life
I've had a learning disability, I've had dyslexia onset ADHD,
and I was diagnosed with that
when I was in third grade because teachers brought it up.
So I'm sitting here and I can't help but to think about the kids
with learning disabilities who are younger,
who are really just not learning.
I just can't help to think about those lifelong consequences
that they're going to have to live with because they just a year of education,
which means they missed a year of treatment,
they slipped under the rug and weren't diagnosed.
Like if that were to happen to me, I don't think I would be where I am today.
I was extremely fortunate to live in school where I was diagnosed
and I received excellent treatment.
But if I assume if I went if this happened to me when I was younger,
that wouldn't have happened in my life would have probably been ruined.
So I think we need to get kids back in school.
Like no matter what it takes, we just we really do need to work out
because I know this had happened to me, I would not be where I am today.
I would not have been done these two months.
I would not be who I am today.
I just need to keep that in mind. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr.
Swiger. Next, we have John Miller.
Okay, Mr.
Miller. Hi.
John Miller from 329 Cocoa Avenue.
With all due respect, that is sitting there at 10:00 at night,
and it took an hour to discuss whether or not
we want to do some market research and get some some data.
It's unbelievable to me.
I can't help but to be honest here and just say
you're rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
That's what you're doing.
This is a situation where we're looking at,
if I heard the financial numbers correctly.
60% budget increase in the line item for charter school funding.
I mean, you should really see where that trend.
Is going to be heading, looking at the next school year
or else you're going to have to consider not at least for.
Anonymous, some other facilities, too.
This is ridiculous. Parents are fed up.
Students need to get back in.
And the brave voice of the.
Student that just spoke, I will say.
Also I have learning. Disabilities.
I still do. I had an IEP at Derry Township.
I had to
brain surgeries and without the teachers in the administration
when I was there, I wouldn't be where I'm at today.
I have the utmost respect for educators.
I come from. A family of educators.
And. To to see everybody shackled and to see this.
Body of individuals, not leading is very frustrating.
And I'm afraid that the school I'm telling you to that charter school funds,
because that's you're going to have once that comes around.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Miller.
Mr.. Just next next we have an Hartsfield.
Okay.
And there's also.
Yes, thank you.
And Hartsfield 2195 South Point Drive.
I'm a grandparent, actually, of two children in the district, but
I'm also a teacher in an area high school where we are full time, five days a week
with some disruption throughout the year. But
we've been able to maintain that
beginning of the year. I was nervous.
All the teachers were nervous, but when we jumped in and started out, it,
it was the teaching that keeps us going because that's what we want to be doing.
I don't have as many comments
to say as I was initially worried
because the people that preceded me
did such an excellent job,
especially the student who
acknowledged the importance of having a teacher
face to face to recognize difficulties.
I work with students with difficulties.
The ones that are virtual are struggling because they cannot
receive the help that they need virtually.
I'd also like to point out that based on the
that you gave about amounts of furniture in storage units
and the amount number of people who have been furloughed indicates to me
and I think everybody else listening that there never was an intention
to return to full time face to face school this school year.
That's all I have to say. Thank you.
Thank you, ma'am.
Next, we have Jamie Smith.
Okay.
Jamie Smith's 404 seater Avenue.
I'm currently a stay at home mom of three.
I have a third grader, a second grader and a preschooler.
In my past life, I was a second grade teacher for 11 years.
I'm fortunate enough to have the ability and time to teach my children
the resources to provide a safe and stimulating environment
and a pretty decent amount of patience.
I know my children are not where they should be academically,
socially, we've all become feral and emotionally.
I'm constantly second guessing myself, but I've rolled with it because this is
this whole year has been insanity all around.
When I get frustrated,
I think about all the other parents that are in different scenarios.
The working parents that wish they could but simply don't have the time
to help their early learners. Asynchronous work.
The parents that want to but don't have the ability or patience.
Then there's the parents that aren't proficient in English but
challenged to help their children in academic English.
But let's not forget to speak for the kids whose parents aren't providing a safe
environment, let alone investing time in their education.
These are the children that I hurt the most.
They're also the victims of this pandemic.
For many children, schools are safe place.
It has been removed. I've seen it firsthand.
We need to allow them to return to it as soon as possible.
We read the studies about the increase
in mental health concerns, anxiety, depression and suicide.
Again, I think about the children that haven't had those concerns addressed,
treated or even identified their silence because no one speaks for them
and many don't know how to speak for themselves.
The major push for all day kindergarten was to close the skills gap.
That very same skills gap is widening every single day that we are home.
The longer we wait, the harder it will be to return
academically, socially and emotionally.
I hear people saying that by wanting our kids to return means
I'm not thinking about teachers that couldn't be more incorrect.
It is ingrained in me to think from a teacher's perspective.
The longer we are out, the tougher their job actually becomes.
The more our students suffer,
the more challenging it will be for teachers to provide the differentiation
that will be necessary.
Well, trust me, their jobs hard enough.
The more students that will be referred to counselors,
those very same counselors that are already stretched thin.
Hybrid schooling was not ideal, but I was happy
we were able to have in-person instruction of any form.
Again, as a former teacher, I have the utmost respect to the job.
I see all of the challenges and how teachers are trying their best
to manage them.
I'm incredibly appreciative and thankful for the school, the support staff
and all the things they've done to make our fall and winter schooling
way more productive than last spring was.
I think we're all trying to deal with
the fact that it's been almost a year of this.
We have all struggled yet made the best of our situation
in order to do our part to keep our community and loved ones safe.
However, we're at a point now in this pandemic that we need to pivot
and get creative order to make returning to a full time
model possible as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Next, we have Steven Hartsfield.
Okay.
Once again,
he's still herself in 37 Roitfeld Drive.
I'm a Hershey alumni at School Lake Boys, and some for her humility.
And now first foremost, thank you to the administrators
and the board members for their time and for voting on your children's education.
I want to talk very briefly about about risk mitigation, common sense.
And the board mentioned that you're trying
to balance all the different risk factors in both directions.
And while I don't agree with the balance that we've chosen, strike
up to this point, it goes without saying it's striking that balance
is of the utmost importance to our children in our community.
And a big part of achieving that balance is the execution of.
However, I
question the application of our protocol and contract and common sense measures.
Recently, on a Friday, my Friday evening, my eldest son was exposed
to a person who tested positive for COVID the following day.
Everyone was masked, but there were instances of close proximity indoors.
My Wife notified the school immediately.
We were, of course, instructed to keep them all the school for the week
while we monitor for symptoms and got results of a COVID test.
However,
we were instructed that our youngest son was to return to school immediately.
My youngest is a very physical plaything with his older brother, arm
wrestling and course playing all the time.
So suffice to say, if one of my boys had been exposed and contracted
COVID, the other was going to end up with it.
It is a common situation in most households with young boys.
So we raised this risk school and were informed that our youngest
did not fall under the protocol and that if we intended to keep them out of school,
not only will he be on unexcused absence, but he will also not
be eligible for joining his class via Zoom like an older brother was allowed.
So it's all reiterate.
My son was denied a lot of instruction because we as a family decided
to take a common sense approach to risk mitigation for the safety of the
student body, the faculty,
the you know, the old sequences are another issue.
But quite frankly
I couldn't hear anything less about those absences
compared to getting my child's life instruction.
It's absurd to be denied that opportunity for an entire week.
We're supposed to be doing everything we can to get them more instruction,
not less.
It certainly seems to fly in the face of what appears to be
a very low tolerance for risk in the district.
Our children need to be back in school as soon as possible,
full time, I firmly believe.
But we're going to shoot ourselves in the foot
and undermine efforts to get the kids back in school for them.
If we aren't using common.
We need to reexamine our risk tolerance
and make sure that we use common sense in our application of the protocols
in order to get the kids back in school full this year.
Keep the masks in place.
They were the dividers in place for possible get them back.
But, you know, my fellow stakeholders in the school district have done a more
than effective job presenting all the statistics tonight and previously.
And they showed beyond a shadow of a doubt,
in spite of all the best intentions, that we're doing more harm than good.
I'm watching the
presentation earlier this evening and seeing some of the staffing decisions
that were made going into the school year.
And it does seem clear that the discipline, no plan to go back
full time this year and there appears to be no intention to reverse that course.
I hope I'm wrong.
And, you know, it might be somewhat less egregious if we were enforcing
rigid adherence to a framework, but based on what we saw
and the decisions, sports and extracurriculars were cherry
picking from different frameworks to suit our practices, which is great.
That means our athletic programs continue and continue.
But that inconsistency damages district's credibility
in your decision to keep the kids out of school.
You're talking about an unwillingness to go against CDC guidelines,
but we're doing that because of different organizations that we've had.
It makes no sense.
It is a failure.
And quite frankly, the shame
and I know I'm probably almost out of time, but
but I would also urge the board to consider
allowing the use of appropriate by youth sports organizations.
And that's like the board.
Hershey, Lilly, Hershey, Lilly held a season summer 2020 successfully
and safely on school field and have a model that works.
Let the kids play.
We can make all these decisions locally, so let's do it.
Thank you. Thank you, sir.
Mr. Swiger, Next.
Next, we have Angela Wieder. Okay.
Hi, everyone.
Angela Reader 1778, everybody.
I had some prepared comments that I wanted to say,
but in the spirit of not being redundant,
I just want to underscore a few things and add to it, if I may.
I'd like to thank Laura,
her comments earlier today and the ones that she just made.
You know, it seems like there's a lot of
here's all the reasons why we can't do this.
Here's all the reasons why this won't work.
And that's unacceptable at this point.
We've had nearly a year to get creative and think out of the box.
It's to start to show some action.
You know, for all of us here in Derry Township with students,
we've had to do this in our very own homes.
We've had to move around desks.
I had to travel 2 hours to go buy
additional desks for each one of my kids here at my house.
Okay.
We've had to move around our budgets to accommodate
situations that might have come up with our jobs,
our careers, accommodating to get childcare and things like that.
We've had to do our own rearranging and think
well outside of the box to make this work in our own homes.
So thank you, Lord, for a lot of your comments.
Taylor I'd like to thank you for speaking up earlier and again
for your most recent comments.
It's been cited far too often about how we're reaching out to kids that
are falling behind.
I'm not a professional teacher
like the stay at home mom that commented earlier,
but in my opinion, I think once kids fall, isn't it a little bit too late?
Haven't we already failed them?
Aren't the warning signs there?
So again, I think too many kids are getting left behind.
And we know that in-person instruction is the best option for not only rescuing
these kids who have fallen behind, keeping them from getting there.
And I know that because the answer is
for those kids that are falling behind or with special needs,
we make sure we get them back in for more in life training.
Dr. Winslow, earlier of this meeting during the discussion,
you said that you felt many kids were doing well and I'm curious
to how you came to that opinion, because just as Dr.
Capshaw didn't take a survey of all 3500 families
in the district to cite opinion, I don't know what survey.
Dr. Winslow, you took to cite that opinion,
because I would tell you, based upon the unofficial petitions
that have been going around,
most students aren't doing very well, although there may be some,
the majority of students are not doing well.
That's evidenced by, I'm sure, the Derry Township
survey that was brought to your attention that was sent to the board.
But additionally, the student petition that was cited earlier in the meeting
more than 500 members of the student body decided that they need
a full day of school in order to recover and catch up
for the four days they have to struggle through online.
Online isn't working.
We're ill preparing these kids to go
off into the future, into the community.
Ms.. Sickler, you spoke about there needs to be a balance
with allowing sports and such.
I almost find it offensive that the board thinks parents
are being so dramatic that we're asking you to violate
health codes and laws in order to get our kids back.
What we're asking for is a reasonable solution and timely action.
The time is up.
Let's come up with some solutions.
And we are asking for a balance between those who want online learning
and those of us that want more options for in-person learning.
Finally, I would
say that this isn't just about frankly, and I hope everybody's
listening to this because I think it's an important component.
We've heard all the logistic.
It's about getting kids back in the buildings and such
and the students mental health, protecting the teachers.
That's all been addressed. I don't want to go down that line.
But one final that has yet to be mentioned and John touched on it
a little bit here when we last spoke.
You know, people live in Derry Township.
This is my opinion for two reasons.
To say they live in Derry Township and because of the schools
and when these standardized student testings
and our grades start hitting books 30 seconds remaining
well below our surrounding communities
and private schools, people aren't going to want to live here.
It's not going to be worth the money to live in Derry Township
when you can live somewhere else and get a better education for your family.
We heard the last school meeting, the comments, and that's why people move
here.
Finally, what about the resources that these teachers are going to need
when they get these kids back?
These teachers are already stressed
and taxed to the to the fullest degree.
And I feel like there needs to be a discussion and planning now
to figure out how we're going to
the additional assistance and the additional support
that every single teacher is going to need to help every single one of these kids.
Because these kids, when they come back, are not the same ones that left
nearly a year ago.
I think thank you. I appreciate the time. Yes.
Thank you, Mr.
Swiger. Next, we have three more attendees.
With their hands up.
The next one will be Eric Nielsen.
Okay. Yes.
My name is Eric Nielsen.
I live at 1255 Stone Creek Drive.
Couple of points just to make up.
You know, I'm the father of five children. In.
Derry Township, probably more than anybody, So I've got a lot.
A lots of.
Writing this.
My child in the elementary school,
middle school, and I have three children in the high school and I
also have
have to work very closely with many patients
that have had COVID early on in this pandemic and.
Probably. Intubated more people.
Than anybody in central.
Pennsylvania with this.
So I saw the effects of what was going on and I saw
which people were getting sick and how they were getting sick.
But I've also seen a big change in the big shift
in how this has come about.
I'm seeing things work very well with with masks.
I seen how.
Not gathering in exceptionally large groups has actually made a big difference.
However, what's.
Happening with our schools and.
With our children is something that is quite very honestly devastating.
You know, my boys are on a roll students, and I can tell you
that they are struggling mightily with their education.
The higher that we go with these physics, with all these other calculus and other
classic
classes that are higher levels, it becomes much more difficult
as a parent to help them out when they need it.
And when I have my nine year old.
Absolutely laying on the ground
throwing a fit because she does not want to go to school.
For just two.
Hours with a learning when she sits on a bus for 45 minutes
there and then 45 minutes on the way back.
This this is unacceptable.
So there's been a lot of points that have been brought up
throughout this that quite honestly, are
just not quite accurate
and are somewhat out of date.
One of the things that has been brought up are the CDC guidelines.
Let me read you the CDC guidelines.
This is straight from the CDC.
Our guidance is K-12.
Schools should be the last settings to close.
After all, mitigation measures.
In the community have been employed in the first to reopen when they can do safely.
This implies that schools should.
Be prioritized for reopening and remaining open for in-person
instruction over non-essential businesses and activities.
Well, driving down
Chocolate Avenue on Saturday night, everything else is open.
Maybe they're not. Open to the same extent.
But there is no the schools cannot be open
full time with full in-person
learning.
I know that you can say, well, you know, we can only have.
70. Percent of the people live.
It doesn't really matter if you get 70.
Four, 70.
Five.
Those extra few inches, they will be missing.
To not meet the three feet required will not make a big difference.
Why is. That?
Well, let's look at the statistics in preparation for this,
an opportunity to go through and look at the numbers.
That we are seeing in the.
Community, specifically with injury township
and 17033170.
Three six.
Right now we are looking at an 8.1% rate.
That's for the last seven days.
Now that the CDC has changed from 14 days to seven days.
We're at 8.1%.
We're just barely over from being in the yellow.
And if the trend continues. If you're just.
To take the last four days, we would be.
At 7.8%.
So the trend is going to get us down to yellow.
And the number of cases with.
Just a seven day period has dropped to 48.
Per 100,000.
And we are that or we will be there.
Within the next couple of days.
Which means what is the school
district going to do and how are they going to prepare?
Well, one of the things that was brought up and I appreciate.
Dr. Crowley pushing. Hard for this survey.
I'll make sure that your gets out early.
Tomorrow from work.
30 seconds remaining.
You need to send us your reading.
I have noticed that.
In my profession, I do not. Set a deadline.
It doesn't get done.
So I do not see a survey.
By March.
First, a survey will be sent out informally.
And this will let you know. And it will.
Be passed on. This medium.
And something students need to come from the parents for.
You know. You'll know what you need to do.
It is safe for these kids to go back.
Thank you.
Next to Mr.
Schweiger. Next, we have Robert Smith.
Mr. Smith,
can you hear me?
Yes, sir.
Yes. Hi.
Is Robert Smith one on one on the Hershey, Pennsylvania.
I also have five grandchildren
in the Derry Township School District and two in Richmond.
I agree with the general comments just made
on getting our grandchildren and children back to school.
This is paramount to myself.
On a second note, I've been active in the Hershey Baseball
Associa ation from 1986 to 2009
and coach baseball for 29 years
with the Hershey Baseball Association
having a great working relationship with the Derry Township schools.
As I've worked with Bob Schaefer, Ken
Campbell, John Scola, Rick McCulloch and Ed Chancellor
and always had a positive working relationship with the school district.
I would respectfully ask that that working relationship continue
with the youth baseball fields, realizing that the Youth
Baseball Association is anticipating starting up the 8th of March.
Thank you very much for your prompt consideration.
Thank you, sir.
And last, we have Nicole Malkovich.
Thank.
Hello.
I'm sorry. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can.
Okay. Thank you very much.
First of all, I wanted to thank all the school board members for your hard work
and the administration's hard work and dedication to keeping our schools
running as smoothly as humanly possible during this unprecedented time.
I cannot imagine the challenges you guys have faced
while trying to plan for this school year during the COVID 19 pandemic.
I know you are all working diligently to make some very tough decisions
regarding our children's education and safety.
You have had many challenges and I am sure you are exhausted, as many of us are.
No one would have guessed we would be dealing with a global pandemic
at this point in our lives.
Nevertheless, you were all elected to your positions
to ensure our children have the best opportunity
at a quality education that will set them up for future success.
The school board has many responsibilities,
but the one area of responsibility that really struck me was,
and I quote this from the website representing the public
and community in their views concerning educational matters.
Right now, our community has many differing views
and concerns about the current state of our children's education.
So it is your responsibility to address those views
as difficult as they may be to deal with.
As parents, I believe we all have one thing in common.
We all want our children to receive the best education.
We want our children to receive their education in a safe setting.
And we want our children to have the same, if not better opportunities than we did.
Even though we all have different views on
how to handle school operations during this unprecedented time.
We all need to remember those common goals we have as parents.
I also want to point out my views and opinions are not a personal attack
on all the efforts made by all of you.
As I know, you have worked tirelessly to come up with the best possible
plan of action this school year.
With all that said, I would like to voice
my concerns with our kids not being in school full time.
I think everyone who is ahead of me has done an excellent job at, you know,
basically saying what I have to say tonight.
But I have a five year old son
who is in kindergarten at the SCC.
This is our first, you know, year of experiences at school.
So this sets the tone for what my five year old
as well as other kindergartners expect school to be.
Unfortunately, with the constant changing of schedules
and having to do the majority of his learning at home,
this is what he will expect school to be like.
We face many battles
throughout the day trying to get him to sit down
when he has his virtual learning in the morning for his interventions.
And I fear that in the future we will even have
greater battles with the schoolwork,
The skills and routines he is developing
this year will set the foundation for his coming years of schooling.
He loves being able to ride the bus.
That is the highlight of his day.
He loves being on the bus with his friends and going to school to see his teacher
and other classmates.
I do not want that to change due to the frustration he experiences
while trying to complete his assignments at home.
I was inspired to reach out to you because I had the opportunity
to listen to the most recent school board meeting on February eight.
I to find out I'm not the only parent concerned about this matter.
I was happy to hear from medical professionals
and their opinions on the matter,
and I want to thank them for voicing their professional assessments
that gave me the courage to speak up for my child.
I believe at the last meeting, Dr.
Sharp pointed out that there is clear, convincing evidence
that schools are not playing major role in the spread of COVID 19.
I have also read research that our children are not
are becoming infected with COVID 19 from community exposure,
not being infected peers at school.
Is this information being considered?
I was also very moved by parents
courage to speak at the last board meeting.
Some of their names included Erica, Angela, Karen, Jan, Edward and Dr.
Carolyn. And I apologize, Carolyn.
I did not catch your last name, but you all did a wonderful job
of expressing your concerns regarding the current learning model.
Jen and Dr.
Carolyn both brought up
some very concerning issues regarding the mental health of our children.
It was even discussed this evening in the meeting, and lately mental health
has been a much more popular topic of conversation throughout our society.
We have come so far in addressing
mental health issues, but we have a long way to go.
Now that we have an entire generation dealing with trauma, loss
and grief, isolation and loss education, we have a lot of ground to make up.
In the
last meeting, Jen pointed out that ERs have seen a 24% increase
in mental health related visits in children ages 5 to 11 and a 31%
increase in mental health related visits in children 11 years or older.
Doesn't this make anybody mad?
I mean, I am absolutely infuriated by these numbers.
Not to mention that the rates of suicide are increasing.
How does that not make anyone
nat enough to find a solution to this current situation?
Those numbers
certainly gave you the courage tonight to stand up for my child.
He is five.
He should never, ever have to experience any of these feelings of depression
or anxiety.
Isolation or, God forbid, the thought of suicide.
I just can't even imagine.
The fact is that in-person learning at school
is a major impact on a child's development.
Is disheartening that the leaders are not weighing out the risks
of keeping the learning model the way it is as it currently stands.
I'm sorry you have exceeded.
I apologize. The timer didn't go off.
Oh, that's totally fine.
Sorry. I don't mean to cut you off.
No, it's totally fine. I completely understand.
Thank you all so much for listening.
I know it was kind of an extended,
extended letter, so I thank you all so much.
Well, thank you, man.
One more.
We have another one. We have one more. Okay.
Sarah Ryan.
I think.
Hello?
Yes, we can hear you.
Hi, I'm Sarah Ryan.
I live at 50 Cedar Avenue here in Hershey.
I have an eighth grader.
My daughter has remained all virtual this year.
And it's been you know, it's been a challenge.
Like It is for it has been for everyone.
And I just want to say thank you for all your hard work
to everyone from the parents
to the staff to the teachers and the students.
So I am really nervous.
And I just want to just say remind people, you know, now
more than ever, we need to have grace and have patience.
There are some great points brought up tonight.
Communication is key.
And I think
we need to follow guidelines
and look at planning for options
to reopen if certain hard fact criteria are met.
We know that the earlier we start planning,
the more prepared will be when those numbers move.
You know, vaccine production.
Is going to be.
You know, get increased.
We're going to see more and more administration
of it to our communities and
we need to, you know, plan
for that now, even though we don't know what date
that will be, looking at these objective criteria.
And we need to discuss the challenges of changing the routine
as long as that routine has been.
If we do go to a more in.
Person.
Learning because everybody wants to do this,
it is another transition in their year and we need to address that
and we do need to plan to return
for when we return to address
the real challenges that will face,
you know, getting angry about what's happening now doesn't change that.
You know, our kids look to us for that leadership
and they look to how we react to the cues.
And so we need to address that.
Yes, these are hard times and
we need to look at how
we're going to address that when we can come back.
And once we're through this challenging time.
Thank you. Thank you.
Just the next speaker. Yes.
Melinda Curran.
Okay.
Yeah.
Good evening.
I apologize.
I wasn't planning on speaking this evening, but I did want to reiterate
a lot of what Sara said.
I know it's been a challenging year.
I know the Union Station, the teachers, my staff
have worked really hard to give our students what they need.
But I was honestly surprised this evening to see that it seems
that we aren't really making plans to sort of pivot yet again.
We know that this has been a year of many pivots, but
I think it's really important to be prepared
for what's what's coming down the pipe.
And if we look at the latest trends, it does seem that
the cases are decreasing.
I think that it's important that if we say we're going to follow
CDC guidelines, that we are prepared to follow them.
So I really just want to reiterate that I think it's important
to prepare for what's coming.
I understand that it takes time to get
the staff and everyone ready and hire
the people that are necessary to facilitate this changes.
But, you know, if we start that now, we could be ready by the end of March.
And we don't know what the case counts are going to look like by then.
So it may be to return.
So I don't I think it would be prudent and
a smart idea to to look at
those things and be prepared for for what's coming in the future
instead of just sitting back and riding out the decision that we
sort of made.
So thank you.
I don't want to get too much more of your time.
Thank you.
Next, next, we have Jamie Stephens.
Hi. Good evening.
I just want to thank you all very much for your time and efforts and dedication.
And I just briefly, I when I is Jamie Stephens, I'm
living here in the Derry Township, 27 West Bernard Avenue here in Hershey.
I have two children in the elementary and one in the high school.
We have been virtual all year.
I really appreciate the program.
It's been very consistent all year through my children are thriving.
My high schooler is taking many AP courses.
Unfortunately, I pushed to take all these AP courses this year,
not knowing what we are going to endure.
And there is a lot of work
on these students, especially the ones who take the AP courses.
And I feel that the Wednesday asynchronous date does help them.
And even if they were in school, these are challenging courses
and they would have a lot of additional work that they need to perform.
I think to make things easier on these children, if the communication
at the high school level level, we could condense that.
It would be easier.
A lot of teachers use several different methods
to speak and communicate with the students.
Sometimes we'll get an email, sometimes it's through the hack
and it is difficult for them to jumble through all those.
So if we could work on streamlining that for them,
I think that would make communication a lot easier.
At the high school level.
But the model for us has worked.
It's been consistent.
I appreciate the consistency when it comes to COVID numbers.
We are still up there.
I went to follow the science and
I understand people are talking about how it doesn't seem like
kids are spreading it through the school, picking up through the community.
However, I feel that it's really important where you're picking up
the virus, you're picking it up, and then you are then transmitting it.
So children are picking it up in the community.
They're bringing into the school and they are bringing it to possibly
to their teachers and administration support staff.
So those are just my concerns.
I feel like virtually I appreciate everything that's that we've gone through.
The consistency has been great.
My kids are all thriving,
albeit we're all, you know, a little crazy, a little stressed.
But I know this is not going be forever.
And if we maintain the course, I think we are going to have a successful year
and we will be able to move on as a society from this.
If we all just follow the guidelines proposed by the CDC.
So thank you all very much again, and I wish you all and everyone
listening and all of our students all the best.
Thank you.
Next I see no more virtual hands at this time.
All hands.
Good.
Well, thank you all for your comments.
I know which people may have the more we appreciate
the we're up to adjournment.
The next public board of directors meeting will be held March eight, 2021,
starting at 7 p.m..
Are we going to post exactly?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Think refer to district website for the location of the meeting draws closer.
We will be draws closer.
We will be meeting and post. Exactly.
So now I have a motion to adjourn this meeting.
So move. Lindsey drew second.
Murray. I'm Amy.
All in favor signify by saying I want to post
thank you and have a good evening. So.