Virtual Town Hall Meeting

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[2] SPEAKER_11: There we go. All right. Good evening, everyone.

[6] SPEAKER_28: Welcome.

[8] SPEAKER_11: Oh, it sounds like it sounds like you're still on on our channel.

[15] SPEAKER_29: OK, I'll wait until they send me to the Mr. Rose, if you can just put Hilma in the translation, please.

[36] SPEAKER_11: Are we all set? Gilmo, you want to say something? Let's see if we can still hear you.

[43] SPEAKER_28: Hola, buenas noches. Can you hear me?

[46] SPEAKER_11: Yes, we can still hear you.

[48] SPEAKER_28: OK, yes, usually I will receive a notification and I accept the notification to be moved to the Spanish room or channel.

[57] Maria Huffer: OK.

[60] SPEAKER_29: And sorry about that on the back end, if you just apologize for the delay one second and we'll We'll get the translation going.

[67] SPEAKER_28: Buenas noches a todos. Estamos esperando habilitar la traducción al español. Y vamos a empezar en un segundo. Un minuto. Can you still hear me? [Translated] Good night, everyone. We are waiting to enable the translation into Spanish. And let's start in a second. Just a minute. Can you still hear me? [End] [Translated] Good night, everyone. We are waiting to enable the translation into Spanish. And let's start in a second. Just a minute. Can you still hear me? [Translated] Good night, everyone. We are waiting to enable the translation into Spanish. And let's start in a second. Just a minute. Can you still hear me? [End] [End]

[82] Penny DeLeon: Yep.

[83] SPEAKER_28: OK. Do you have a ranchera to put in the background or something?

[96] SPEAKER_11: Thanks, everybody, for your patience.

[112] SPEAKER_28: Gracias por su paciencia. Todavía estamos trabajando los detalles técnicos para empezar. [Translated] Thank you for your patience. We're still working on the technical details to start. [End] [Translated] Thank you for your patience. We're still working on the technical details to start. [Translated] Thank you for your patience. We're still working on the technical details to start. [End] [End]

[124] SPEAKER_11: The folks who are just coming on, we're just getting our technology up and the translation room all set. So thank you for your patience.

[135] SPEAKER_28: Para los que acaban de llegar, estamos todavía trabajando en el área técnica de la presentación y para así poder traducir la presentación. Tan pronto como estemos listos, vamos a empezar la reunión. Gracias por su paciencia. [Translated] For those who have just arrived, we are still working in the technical area of the presentation and so we can translate the presentation. As soon as we're ready, we'll start the meeting. Thank you for your patience. [End] [Translated] For those who have just arrived, we are still working in the technical area of the presentation and so we can translate the presentation. As soon as we're ready, we'll start the meeting. Thank you for your patience. [Translated] For those who have just arrived, we are still working in the technical area of the presentation and so we can translate the presentation. As soon as we're ready, we'll start the meeting. Thank you for your patience. [End] [End]

[184] SPEAKER_11: Ariel, do you want to go ahead and put up the first slide while we wait?

[189] SPEAKER_28: El señor Ariel va a poner la primera planilla de la presentación. [Translated] Mr. Ariel is going to put the first table on the presentation. [End] [Translated] Mr. Ariel is going to put the first table on the presentation. [Translated] Mr. Ariel is going to put the first table on the presentation. [End] [End]

[340] SPEAKER_11: Mr. Rose and Ms. Gutierrez, I wonder if we need to go ahead and start and then as the as the translation room comes online, you can go ahead and activate that.

[352] SPEAKER_28: Creo que vamos a empezar la reunión porque ya estamos un poco tarde y mientras trabajamos para poder All right, thanks. Does that sound good, Ms. Gutierrez? Yeah, we'll try and work on this issue on the back end. And I think at this point,

[394] SPEAKER_29: Unfortunately, Hilma, if you can just hold off on translation. Sure. Okay, thank you.

[400] SPEAKER_11: Thanks, Hilma. Disculpe para todos los que están hablando español, pero vamos a empezar y cuando la traducción, el salón de traducción está listo, podemos notificarles. All right, thank you all. So good evening. My name is Dr. Triplett, superintendent. It's wonderful to have you here tonight. We really appreciate you taking time to join us. Apologies for a bit of a late start. Tonight we are going to be talking about the reopening of schools and sharing out information about our, and updating you on the plans to date. And then also we're very eager to get your feedback. So, Mr. Dulwich, if you can move to the next slide. So, the essential question that is really all of the nation and all school districts across the country are really wrestling with is well-capsulated in a quote by Dr. Sharfenstein from John Hopkins. The question is, how do we create an environment which is a safe, as reasonably possible for kids and staff while respecting the fact that there may be some people that view that amount of risk as too much. And so we want to just recognize that, and you'll see tonight in some of our presentation, that we have community members who are very eager to have children return to school. And we have some community members and families who are not yet comfortable. And so we really want to talk to you tonight about the plans to try to meet everybody's needs. And of course, it's a challenging, difficult situation that we are all facing. But we really want to um, we want to really want to engage you because we're really all in this together So this evening's agenda where we have our welcome Um, and then i'm going to talk briefly about some of the health and safety measures and share those with you About that we have put in place for an eventual reopening. Um, well, I want to present some data to you regarding um, what community what you have indicated, um, in terms of survey results that we put out to the community. And then we have an opportunity to ask you some questions in real time here and get your real-time input. So we're going to have a polling system. After that, Mr. Dolowich, Director of Teaching and Learning, is going to speak to you about some of the different scheduling options that we have developed in partnership with and collaboration with our labor partners. Then we'll ask you some more questions through polling. And then we'll have time for some general questions and answers, which we'll do through the chat. Because this meeting is so large, we're not going to be able to do back and forth live questions, but what we'll do is we will have you put questions in the chat and then Ms. Gutierrez will be looking for patterns in the questions that we can answer here. And of course, if there's some questions that come up that we can't answer, then we'll want to make sure that we go back and find the answers for you so that we can share them at a later date. So that's our agenda for today. Wanted to get a couple big questions out of the way, because these are the questions that all of us have been asking. One is, when are we going to return? Two is, why aren't we at Newark Unified back in school? Because everybody else seems to be back in school. And three is, will there be some sort of option if I'm not comfortable sending my child back? So I just want to get these three big ones out of the way. Number one, tonight we're not announcing a date for when we're reopening. So we do not yet have that date. We will be sure to communicate that to you as soon as we do, but that's not something that we have to share tonight. Number two, despite what you may have heard from your neighbors in another town or your uncle or your aunt or whatever, no district in Alameda County is currently reopened. There's no district in Alameda County, I'll just say it again, that has reopened. So I know that there's a lot of rumors flying around, but it's just simply not true. And then lastly, no matter what, we will have an option for families who are not comfortable returning to in-person learning once we do reopen. So I just want to reassure everybody of that fact. If you're not comfortable for whatever reason, we will have an option for you. Go ahead, Mr. Alaric. So I wanted to talk really quickly about what we're prioritizing. So in terms of in-person return, we're prioritizing staff and student safety first and foremost. We're really thinking about it from a student-centered approach with appropriate safety protocols, of course. And then we're trying to consider different potential schedules, and we're doing so in partnership with our labor partners to really think through what is the best structure for reopening and being in a hybrid model. So I'm going to share some slides just about our safety and health protocols that we've developed the things we put in place already. So in terms of health screening. One of the things that we already have planned is that before school students will do a home and health screening and a survey online. And we wanna be sure that families are reporting any absences that are gonna occur with their child so we can be really clear and stay on track in terms of that. And then lastly, we will have no touch thermometers on site. So we'll be able to do any sort of health screening in that manner on site for students when they're coming in for the day. There's been a lot of questions around our HVAC system, that's our heating and air system, air conditioning, heating, etc. And I know that there's been concerns around, do we have the right filters in place to address and mitigate the COVID virus. So just wanted to put everybody's mind at ease. We have replaced the filters on all our HVAC systems with MERV 9 filters. So that does address the bacterial spores that could be in the air. So that's one thing. And then secondly, we're wrapping up through some contractors, a comprehensive assessment of all our HVAC systems to make sure that everything is operating as it should. In terms of cleaning protocols, so there will be, I think there was a little bit of a misunderstanding at an earlier presentation. And so I just wanted to clarify that we will, and we fully plan to have a daily disinfecting of all spaces in our schools. So it's not going to be like once a week or anything like that. It's a daily full disinfecting of all spaces. And you can see here, this is just one example of some of the equipment that we have procured. This is a fogger. And what that does is that allows entire spaces to be disinfected at a relatively rapid rate. And it's also non-toxic. So we have already equipment to do that kind of cleaning on a daily basis. And then this is a new news. Part of the reopening plan is that the county and the state require that there is regular testing. By that I mean testing for COVID. And so the county has just announced, I believe yesterday, that they are supporting all districts by procuring a testing company, it's called Curative, that will support us with a regular testing of all staff. It's a self-administered test. They use an oral fluid swab. The person gets the results in 48 hours, as do we. And there'll be much more information coming out about that, but just wanted to be clear that that has been something that we have been working hard to get, and we currently have that in place. I know I've mentioned it in prior meetings, but just wanted to reiterate that our MOT team, custodial staff, and facilities folks have put up plexiglass barriers in all offices and other areas of the school. So you might not be able to even see these on the slides because they're so well positioned, but this is two examples from the high school where plexiglass barriers are put up all throughout the office. so that there is limiting of air movement between people coming into the office and our staff. In addition, we do have the daily health and safety steps. We're gonna be requiring face coverings for all, both students and adults, frequent hand sanitation processes. We have all PPE for both adults and students. We're going to be expecting and really demanding physical distancing. I have gotten some questions around adequate distance in the classrooms. So I just wanted to highlight that this was true all the way back in August. that our staff had already moved classroom equipment around so that classes have a six foot distance between desks. It does mean that the classrooms will only fit, I believe it's 12 to 16 students right now. So that's one of the reasons why we will have a hybrid model when we return is because there will be limited space, much less space than normal in the classroom, so less students. And then we have school day structures that we've already set up for when students arrive to school in the morning, drop off procedures, entrance and exit pathways. So people won't be exiting and entering in the same doors or areas. And then we're gonna have a really strict visitor policy. We already have that in place. And I will say, I have gotten notice from many families of offering to help. with the reopening, which is deeply, deeply appreciated. And at the same time, we do have to be really careful because we want to make sure that we are ensuring the health and safety of everyone. So we most likely will be starting pretty strict and not allowing for a lot of family volunteers, even though we would love to have the support. So in a minute, I'm going to share some of the data from the results of the survey. I did have a chance to share out this at a board meeting, much bigger picture. And tonight, we've had a chance to analyze and crunch the numbers more, and so I can share it out in more detail. But I did just want to lift up some of the challenges that we're facing. What I mentioned earlier is that we have a significant population that is dying to return to in-person learning. And then we have a significant population that is absolutely uncomfortable with that. So here's some quotes from some of the surveys. One parent saying, I feel that it would be in everyone's best interest to wait until after flu season before considering reopening schools. I believe this would be the safest option and the one with the least amount of possible interruptions. Then, on the other side of the spectrum, hybrid would be great to start children back in classrooms and to see their teachers in person. Kids lack the proper education that they deserve with distant classrooms. Another parent saying, I think it's best to not reopen schools and to put our kids' health at risk. Another family saying the children need to be socialized safely. Distance learning is not really working for them. They do need that in person feeling safely for both teachers and students. So this is just a just a couple of the comments that we've received, which we really appreciate. Just wanted to highlight how we need to be able to figure it out for all families. And so that's the challenge that we face. So I'm going to share some data with you. First, I wanted to share it by grade level. And I'm not going to share every single grade level, but I wanted to share, it's interesting that the sentiment from families changes based on grade level. And so here you see, these are from the survey responses. We got about 1,500, a little bit less than 1,500 responses on our survey we sent out in both English and Spanish. And so the question was, are you comfortable having your child attend in-person learning currently at this point? Or do you want to continue in distance learning for your child? And so you can see in NUSD preschools, significant population, 64%, really said they would like their children to return to in-person. And about 35% said they want to continue in distance learning. That number changes dramatically just one grade up. So in transitional kindergarten, the numbers flip. And you can see that about 63%, 64% say they do want to continue in distance learning, and the remainder want to return to in-person learning. And then if you go back one, Mr. Delaware, for a minute. And so what's interesting is from, oh, sorry, go to the, there you go, that one. What's interesting is from TK to fifth grade, we generally see this pattern. And I'm happy to share out all the data, but I also didn't want to overwhelm everyone with too many slides. But generally it's this same pattern the majority a little bit more than the majority around 60 to 65 percent wanting to stay in distance learning Then mr. Dollar which if you can go to sixth grade is where we saw a change and so literally 5050 half families wanting to remain in distance learning half the families wanting to go to in-person learning And then we go from seventh grade, and I believe it's to, could you go forward one, Mr. Dulowich, to 11th grade. So it's seven through 10, and sorry, Mr. Dulowich, could you go back to that last one? Seventh through 10, this is generally the sentiment again. So roughly 65% of families wanting to remain in distance learning, and around 35% wanting to attend in person. And then once again, in 11th grade, we saw a change where it's about 50-50. And then, Mr. Alvich, if you can go to the next one. And then in 12th grade, we see that actually more people, more families want to do in-person learning than in-distance learning. So just to just give you a sense of the sentiment of the community and the families that did respond to the survey. And then, Mr. Delaware, should we go here is the full full spread of all of the different schools and what different schools set of families at different schools said they wanted. So the red is continuing distance learning and the blue. is attending in-person learning. And you can see in almost every single school, the majority of families, or a little more than the majority, sorry, of the families said they wanna continue in-distance learning. However, a significant population also felt equally strongly about attending in-person. And then the last slide is this is by grade level. So it's what I was sharing earlier, but this is every single grade level, and you can see the spread there. So I know I went pretty quick, but I want to make sure that we get to the rest of the meeting. And so this is the point where we wanted to do a little Zoom polling, just the first time we're trying this. So let's see how it works with a big virtual town hall. But the question that you're going to see in a moment on your screen, and you're going to have a chance to actually indicate which of the three options you prefer, is question one is going to be, given recent developments and our current circumstances, Because granted this survey went out a couple weeks ago and things are changing very fast. Would you prefer to return before or after the winter break? Or would you rather stay in distance learning for the entire 2021 school year? So Ms. Gutierrez, can you put up the poll?

[1432] SPEAKER_29: Yes, that'll be going up now.

[1434] SPEAKER_11: All right, so you can see the options there. If you can go ahead and choose your option, and we'll give it one minute, and then we'll see the results from the group. And Ms. Gutierrez, are you able to see them coming in? Do we have folks?

[1463] SPEAKER_29: Mr. Rose on the back end is actually able to see the numbers coming in.

[1466] Maria Huffer: Great.

[1467] SPEAKER_29: So when you're ready, or I'll ask, when you're ready, you tell me to post.

[1475] SPEAKER_11: Okay. Why don't we give it another 15 seconds, and then we'll, Mr. Rose, if you could go ahead and show us.

[1486] Mark Triplett: All right, let's see what we have.

[1493] SPEAKER_11: All right, so it looks like we have returned before winter break around 14%, 11 people. Return after winter break around 38% and stay in distance learning for the remainder of the school year around 48%. All right, thank you. The next question, and Mr. Dulwich, if you can go ahead and move forward. There we go. is a little bit of an added layer to this. And I will preface this by saying the county has really, and the state actually, are really recommending that elementary schools return first and that there's a staged approach to reopening. So wanted to get your sense or your opinion, what is your preferred approach for reopening? Do we start with TK2, Do we start TK-6, so all of elementary, or do we start all TK-12 all at the same time? So Mr. Rose, if you could go ahead and activate that poll. All right, and we'll give it a minute.

[1573] Guadalupe Lopez: That's the, there you go.

[1579] SPEAKER_11: Oh. Oh, there we go. Great. Thank you. Got about 40 more seconds. Why don't we give it five more? All right, Mr. Rose, what do we have? All right, so preferred approach for reopening, about 45% say start just with TK2 and stage it from there. 26% start with TK6, so all of elementary, and then about 29% saying start all TK12 all at the same time. Great. Thank you very much. So this is the type of information that is really helpful to us. And of course, this is one example. And so we want to continue to get input from you, because really, your opinion and what you feel most comfortable with for your children is really critical. And so we appreciate the ongoing feedback. And now I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Dalowich, who's going to talk in more detail about the different scheduling options that we are currently considering.

[1674] SPEAKER_05: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Good evening, parents, guardians, community members, and staff. Tonight, I'll be presenting the academic rationale and considerations for reopening. This also includes design challenges that we're currently grappling with, as well as our thought process based on survey data that Dr. Triplett just detailed. It should be noted, as mentioned previously, that we are actively engaged in negotiations with our labor partners and we very much want to respect that process. So therefore, tonight's presentation is based on research that we've done with thought partners from surrounding districts. Some have have reached MOUs and have approved schedules. It should be noted, as Dr. Triplett mentioned, that the county, as well as the state, place an emphasis on a staggered return, starting at the elementary level. On this slide, we currently find ourselves in phase one. Therefore, all instruction is either taking place via Zoom or Google Meet. Phase two places the emphasis on a staggered return based on the county guidelines, specifically targeted student groups, which we'll speak to momentarily, along with possible return of specific grade levels, for instance, preschool, TK, K, or one. And then phase three, which was a new development for us in our thinking based on the data in which we saw approximately 50% of our community wish to remain distance learning, depending on the grade level, of course. Phase three incorporates a cohort A in person. Cohort B remains with their teacher on their roster, maintaining those important relationships, but it does allow for distance learning to continue. based on the fact that we're still in our pandemic. And then again, these guidelines emphasize that from the county that we start at the lower grades in the elementary level. So I'm gonna share with you three variations of elementary to start with and place an emphasis this evening. You can see a few things to note. This is aligned with our current schedule. In other words, Monday is a protected day. There is professional development. There is synchronous learning for students. There is cleaning every day of the week. Each day of the week, our custodial and fantastic classified staff will be cleaning each and every day. In this model, you see that the students are in a group A and a group B cohort. And you can see that they are on campus group A back-to-back, prioritizes back-to-back days of instruction. And group A leaves prior to lunch. Teachers have a protected lunch period. And then group B is synchronous live instruction in the afternoon, while group A is asynchronous, doing assigned activities provided to them. And then it alternates Thursday and Friday. Group B comes on campus, and group A is conducting synchronous lessons in the afternoon. Group B on Thursday and Friday do leave prior to a lunch schedule. It should be noted that one drawback as we elicited input from our administrative staff in this model is that students do go five consecutive days without seeing their teacher in person. So once they're done, for instance, in group A on a Wednesday, they don't see their teacher again until Tuesday of the following week. That is one drawback as we consider this model. And then there's obviously the pros of having students on back-to-back days. Elementary schedule B, one variation here is that the professional development day and synchronous learning for all students occurs on Wednesday. And another variation is that group A and group B on campus alternate Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and Friday. Again, in the a.m. lunch period protected for teachers and then the alternate group has in-person, not in-person, live instruction in the afternoon in that PM model. So this is another consideration for us. And again, I don't want to go too fast, but there will be polling questions at the end as we elicit input and feedback from the community. Elementary schedule C, Monday is protected here. And this is the variation I was referring to earlier. This divides students on a teacher's roster into two groups, a cohort A, a cohort B. The difference here is that group A, based on family preference for in-person, attends four consecutive days of in-person. And group B, based on family, parent and guardian preference, do not attend in-person at all. They have live synchronous lessons in the afternoon. This is the group that has chosen and self-selected not to return in-person in the afternoon. Just like you saw in an earlier schedule option, we could easily move Monday to Wednesday, break up the week in between. That's one option. And this schedule is approved in a sister district. This is one option I'll present here tonight. And I think it is worth noting two things with the secondary schedules. One, this is not the entirety of the schedules we're considering. In this model, the Monday is protected. And you can see, similar to the AM in-person instruction in the elementary models, for secondary students, there are three In person classes before lunch. So Tuesday and Wednesday periods one, two, and three on Tuesday, four, five, and six on Wednesday, and then cohort B goes on campus. in-person Thursday and Friday. This minimizes cross-cohort contamination and again we can easily move Monday to Wednesday in this model. Another consideration would be to extend the class times so that we maximize instructional class periods for students because a drawback of this model is that students are only interacting with their class period one time a week in this model. It also deserves to note that, again, we're looking at a secondary schedule, but the county and state guidelines place an emphasis on the staggered phase of return starting with elementary first. And we want to make sure that we are following the recommendations of data, science, as well as medical professionals when we consider our model as a district. This is similar to the secondary schedule. I moved Monday to Wednesdays in this model. And you can see here, cohort A, Mondays and Tuesdays. Again, in-person occurs prior to lunch, three class periods. After lunch, the teachers are teaching live synchronous lessons, not in-person. So that is something to note for this secondary model that we're considering. And if you can see, Thursday and Friday includes a separate cohort. Again, classified and custodial staff clean each and every day with the safety protocols that Dr. Triplett outlined earlier. So we feel very confident in the daily steps that we are taking to implement and ensure a safe environment for our students as well as our staff. It should be noted. So at this point, based on those schedules, I'm gonna pause and I'm gonna ask Ms. Gutierrez to poll question four for our community.

[2161] SPEAKER_29: Mr. Rose, if you could please display question four, please. Thank you.

[2177] SPEAKER_11: Q&A to ask questions! Q&A to ask questions! Q&A to ask questions! Q&A to ask questions!

[2203] SPEAKER_05: They alternate on those days with the other cohort for live instruction in the afternoon, not in person. Schedule B provides a professional development and synchronous day on Wednesday, not Monday. And you can see cohorts A and B alternate Monday and Tuesday and Thursday and Friday, again, with in-person instruction in the AM. A protected lunch for our teachers and synchronous live instruction in the PM again alternating with that other group schedule be And schedule C is the only schedule at the elementary model which takes into account cohort a and cohort be only one receives in person instruction. based on the data and the survey results, that would be cohort A. Cohort B is selecting with parents and guardians recommendation to remain distance learning even when the other cohort returns in person. So it's a quick recap for schedule A, B, and C. Thank you, Mr. Delawich.

[2270] SPEAKER_11: Let's give it another 15 to 20 seconds and then we can have Mr. Rose show us the results.

[2291] SPEAKER_05: All right, that is aligned with our data. And it is wonderful to see data in real time from this polling. So I think that's a great new system for us. So clearly, the community that is voting and weighing in this evening prefers Schedule C. Our next question based on the schedules based on the secondary schedules. Would you prefer a modified block instead of three in person. three in-person classes occurring before lunch and then students going home. This takes into account class periods being extended for longer periods of time and the secondary students remaining on campus after lunch. And so that is a yes or no, and I'll ask for the polling to be placed. And then I will also show you here from either secondary schedule, this is a protected Monday, And you can see cohort A and cohort B. What we're asking is, would you prefer the students to have an extended class period for periods one, two, and three on Tuesday? And then again, an extended class period on periods four, five, and six on Wednesday and so forth. And therefore, the students would remain on campus for the entirety of the instructional day instead of returning home midday. Are we able to present that polling question?

[2391] Diego Torres: Great.

[2396] SPEAKER_11: And I understand YouTube is experiencing about a 10 second delay from the Zoom recording. So we'll give it about 20 seconds so that we can make sure that YouTube viewers also have a chance. All right, that's 20 seconds.

[2452] SPEAKER_05: Interesting, so very close data. Again, very helpful to be able to discuss and partner with our labor partners and also take into account the community's consideration. Obviously here, very split sentiment. And so we'll continue and you'll see in the next steps, additional surveys forthcoming. Question six. When NUSD eventually returns to in-person learning and you have a student in an NUSD secondary school, specifically Newark Junior High School, Newark Memorial High School, or on the McGregor campus, would you prefer the student to remain in a distance learning option, yes or no? All right. I think a new feature for us will be a drum roll as we unveil the results.

[2569] SPEAKER_11: And Mr. Dulwich, I understand that YouTube can't necessarily see the poll results. So could you read them for the group?

[2576] SPEAKER_05: Absolutely. So for this question, if NUSD eventually returns to in-person learning and you have a student in NUSD secondary schools, would you prefer a distance learning option? 44 respondents said yes, they would prefer a distance learning option comprising 72% of the answers. 17 respondents said no. That is 28% of the respondents said no to preferring a distance learning option. Thank you. So at this point, two things we would like to be very transparent around the obstacles that many districts are are faced with, including our own and the obstacles that are very specific to Newark that we need to tackle collaboratively. And two, we wanna open it up for a Q and A. And so a few of the obstacles to overcome as well as next steps include how do we transition before lunch in a manner that minimizes cross cohort contact? And you can see with our elementary models at this point, we're looking at that half day model for students to be safe and return home prior to lunch. And so that second bullet asks, For elementary, does one group remain on campus for a half day? And when does synchronous learning for the other cohort occur? For secondary, as we asked in the polling question this evening, for secondary, do we consider a block schedule? In other words, for example, three longer periods so that secondary students do not need to return prior to lunch. Some of our current thinking, we are currently preparing training and onboarding along with a timeline for a return, which includes conversations with our labor partners. And as we consider additional obstacles, we are also ensuring the implementation of safety protocols for student and staff. Dr. Triplett outlined requisite PPE, plexiglass, foggers, and more. this evening. And so as parents ourselves, as leaders in the community, we know that safety is first and foremost on the minds of our staff and our students. And so that is something that we are taking and tackling every single day as we prepare to return. We are actively including our labor partner and input from our labor partners to reach the best plan that matches the need for NUSD, again, taking into consideration the data and the survey results. We are considering alternatives for families who do not wish to return in hybrid, and as Dr. Triplett mentioned at the onset of this town hall meeting, that there will be a distance learning option for our students. And we are committed based on survey results, our website, social media, as well as town hall meetings to communicate clearly and consistently with community and all of our stakeholders in good faith agreements. And so our next steps, and we're going to open it up momentarily for questions and answers, is to build and determine the phased approach in alignment with recommendations from medical professionals and from the state and county guidelines to continue to elicit input and feedback from our labor partners, explore all feasible options for our Newark community. We do want to say very unequivocally that we are willing not only to work collaboratively, but creatively for what's best for students and take a student-centered approach. We will continue to engage our parents and guardians with an additional survey. So please look for that. And we will align preparation practices with county and state guidelines for hybrid plans. Again, this takes into account safety protocols, as well as safety considerations in terms of the requisite PPE and face masks, as well as considerations for outdoor instructional space. Our next town hall meeting is scheduled for November 10th at 6 p.m. We promised to problem solve the Spanish-speaking translation component. for November 10th. And we're very interested in your input and knowing that we all want what is best for our students and staff. So we welcome the ongoing feedback and we appreciate the responsiveness from our community. And so at this point, I believe I'm gonna stop sharing my screen and then we will turn it over for questions and answers.

[2860] SPEAKER_11: Thank you, Mr. Delawitch. I thought you were ready to close out and I was going to be like, no, no, we still have the question and answer party. so, um, we uh, we want to now give time to uh field any questions from From the audience and I believe miss gutierrez is going to be monitoring the chat for questions um, and like I said earlier if um, if there are questions that we um, we can answer now we'd be happy to if there's some questions that we actually can't answer then, um, Then we'll be sure to um, get back to the community with the answers as soon as we can Ms. Gutierrez, were you going to share something?

[2908] SPEAKER_29: Do you want me to start with the questions?

[2910] Mark Triplett: Yes, please.

[2912] SPEAKER_29: There was a question from a parent asking if we're going to start with elementary school students first, if it's possible to start with the upper grades of the elementary school. And before you answer, if I may just tell all the community members, please type your questions in the Q&A section, preferably not the chat.

[2933] SPEAKER_11: Oh, thank you. Great. So Q&A questions into the Q&A section. And the first question being, would it be possible to start with the upper grades of elementary versus the lower grades? That's definitely something that we can consider. I think what we most likely are going to want to do is think about how we actually start a return with very small groups. of students that are for whatever reason really struggling with distance learning. And so probably starting off with groups like that. And if some of those groups are in the upper elementary grades, then that would definitely be something that we would consider.

[2981] SPEAKER_29: There were a few questions regarding families with multiple children. and whether they would be in the same cohort, as well as families who do not live in the same household, if they would also be able to be in the same cohort.

[2997] SPEAKER_11: Great. Did you want to jump in there, Mr. Delawitch?

[3000] SPEAKER_05: You look like- Sure. We've been planning for that in ed services. So we are able in our IT system synergy to run a query where we identify siblings and place them in the same cohort. And so the answer is yes. And that will obviously be an option for our families in Newark. Thank you.

[3023] SPEAKER_29: There is a question around childcare. whether that would be available when returning back to school?

[3032] SPEAKER_11: Great, thank you. Yes, we are, we're currently working with our labor partners to solidify the child care option but absolutely our hope is that we have child care up and running for the reopening.

[3051] SPEAKER_29: There was a question around Plexiglas and whether Plexiglas will be used around the desks of the students.

[3060] SPEAKER_11: Thank you. So feel free to chime in, Mr. Delawitch, but we currently have Plexiglas in office spaces and in other, what's the word, general spaces, cafeteria type spaces or anything like that. But we don't currently have Plexiglas set up for each individual desk.

[3081] SPEAKER_05: Yeah, that is correct. I would also add in the students sake in terms of configuration in the classroom, there will not be plexiglass. However, there are different ways in terms of positioning the students so that they remain with the same cohort of students in that classroom and also wear masks at the same time to keep those on within the confines of a classroom, but there will not be plexiglass per se on the student's desk.

[3121] SPEAKER_29: There's a question regarding the possibility of aligning the class schedules to the parents work schedules.

[3134] SPEAKER_11: I think just because of the need of creating cohesive schedules for everyone, we wouldn't be able to create a situation where the schedule would fit one particular family's work schedule. But what we want to do and we plan on doing is just getting out schedules well in advance so that families are aware and can plan accordingly.

[3158] SPEAKER_05: We are aware as we continue to engage with our labor partners that the pickup around lunchtime has posed a challenge for our families. And so that's absolutely being taken into account with our conversations.

[3176] SPEAKER_11: And then I will add in the schools where we do have after school programs, we definitely are partnering with the after school provider to think through what options there are for the after school to support student cohorts who need to remain in person or on campus during the asynchronous time.

[3203] SPEAKER_29: There was a question regarding having outside classrooms as an option?

[3210] SPEAKER_11: Yeah, so that's something that I know has been explored in other parts of the country. And that is something that we're looking into. We've been looking at outdoor large canvas tents. And it's definitely a possibility, although I would say with the weather changing quickly, that that would pose an added challenge but the more that we can have students outdoors in safe in a safe setting but outdoors I think the better so we definitely want to include that in the plans.

[3248] SPEAKER_29: There was a question regarding clubs such as band or the school clubs and whether they would be able to meet and if so outdoors.

[3259] SPEAKER_11: Great, so we have already begun to bring back some athletics, particularly the high school athletics and that's that's been really fantastic. done in a very structured safe methodical way, and so the students are not in. engaging in any sort of workouts indoors currently, but they are outdoors. And so we definitely want to think about that same thing for other activities such as band or or cheerleading or and things like that.

[3296] SPEAKER_29: There's another question regarding students with special education. What schedule would they follow? Would they be returning first or what cohort would they be following?

[3309] SPEAKER_11: Mr. Delawich, do you want to address that?

[3311] SPEAKER_05: Sure, absolutely. As a part of the county and state guidelines, there is very clear emphasis on targeted student groups, special education being one of those groups. That's absolutely a consideration. And we've heard from a number of our families with students with disabilities that that's a priority for them. So that would be something that we would consider prioritizing. If, of course, that we reach agreement with our labor partners, that could occur prior to grade levels returning, as one example. And to the question, they would follow a schedule that would be updated and modified from what you would expect in a typical instructional day.

[3366] SPEAKER_29: There's a question around when will parents receive more information on the remote option or the virtual option?

[3376] SPEAKER_11: So right now what we're thinking through is you could see in Mr. Delawitch's, I believe it was Schedule C. Is that right, Mr. Delawitch? Correct. Schedule C. Schedule C is that really we would have, while some students are live in person, that the other students who are going to remain in a virtual option throughout, they would be doing asynchronous work at home, meaning they would be doing like independent work. And then when the students who had engaged in the in-person learning would go home for the day, then it would be an opportunity for their teacher to then log on and engage with the students who had been doing asynchronous work in the morning to then do the live distance learning instruction in the afternoon, or vice versa. It could be afternoon, morning, morning, afternoon. So that's our current thinking about that plan. Because we know, what we've heard is that many families really anxious about if they're gonna remain in distance learning and not return to in-person when the reopening occurs, they're very worried about not having to change teachers. Because as we all know, students really get to know their teachers, love their teachers, and would really prefer to stay with them. And so that's one of the things that we're trying to work through is how to make that possible. And there's obvious challenge logistical challenges to that but that's our current plan. Mr. Delaware, did you want to add anything to that.

[3475] SPEAKER_05: No, I mean, I think you, you really described it well, we know that. Providing a distance learning option is a necessity for our families, especially based on the results. I think we hear the community and parents and guardians loud and clear, and how that unfolds may look differently at the elementary versus secondary models, but we are looking actively to, to the best degree possible, maintain those student-teacher relationships, as you mentioned.

[3512] SPEAKER_29: There are some questions around the day-to-day life of the student. Will they be playing in the playground? How do bathroom breaks? So a little bit of the day-to-day of the student.

[3524] SPEAKER_11: Great. Okay, I can start and then Mr. Del which if you want to add to that. So in terms of, for example, bathroom breaks we're definitely want to be very careful and and thoughtful about how those occur so that'd be an individual individual bathroom breaks and, and we would want to make sure that there is. There's appropriate cleaning from adults in between any bathroom visits, but of different kids. So there wouldn't be sort of like what sometimes occurs in regular times where there's bathroom breaks and a number of students use the restrooms at the same time. That would be an individual basis. In terms of playground area or play structure areas, that is another thing that we want to be very careful about. So we just want to make sure that the procedures are such that we're limiting any sort of transmission across cohorts. So if the cohort of students is together, then that's one thing, but we want to make sure that we're cleaning and and such in between the different cohorts using any sort of outdoor facility. Mr Delaware so did you have, do you want to add anything to that.

[3609] SPEAKER_05: Sure, three points to place emphasis on. We want to maintain cohorts together and not cross cohort contaminate, taking that into account, as well as maximize the outdoor opportunities. One series of research articles we looked at were European schools that successfully engaged with in-person learning during the pandemic. and outdoor spaces look different at the elementary level. For instance, students could bring towels and there can be marked off areas for various cohorts that would also go hand in hand with with the equivalent of recess, if you will, they would stay in those various places, again, weather permitting, and this would most likely be post winter. And then in Southern California, as well in a preschool in terms of the outdoor space, looking at articles that just validate how to maintain safety for the students and the staff with environmental conditions allowing. So those are absolutely considerations for us as we look to maximize safety.

[3688] SPEAKER_29: There's also questions around testing for either students, athletes and teachers.

[3695] SPEAKER_11: Great, and I assume you're talking about COVID testing. Okay. Yeah, we, we don't have. There's, there's no current plans for for testing of students. That's something that would need to be done through. through the family and the family's healthcare provider. The county and districts just don't have the capacity to do that level of testing. However, I will say that we have been partnering with BACH, the health organization, who are partnering with us to organize some free testing in Newark, the city of Newark, for any Newark resident. And so that would definitely be something that both young people and adults could take advantage of. I think there's going to be certain days where there is free testing from BACH, both on some of our facilities, but then also on Ohlone College's facilities. So we're happy to send out more information about that as those plans develop. I think there was a question about protocols that staff and students that we would use for if staff or students test positive. So I didn't include it in this deck, but I'm happy to share it on a different time. We are following all of the county guidelines are very clear about any certain incident. What, what we do in terms of addressing exposure potential exposure or actually a positive test. We follow all of those guidelines. And something else that we did not have in this deck is every district now has a COVID liaison. So we have one as well. And she's been trained by the county, by the County Department of Health. And then she is coordinating all situations in terms of when someone is reported to to have tests positive or has been exposed. So even though we are not currently in in-person learning, we have had situations where there have been potential exposure or even positive tests. And so we've been following all of those protocols and appropriate communication. And those, I will say those protocols are all available on the County Department of Health website as well as I believe we either have them or we can certainly if we don't, we can certainly post them on our website.

[3869] SPEAKER_29: I'm actually going to take some questions from YouTube.

[3872] SPEAKER_11: Okay.

[3880] SPEAKER_29: They're asking about class sizes. What are the class sizes look for high school, junior high and elementary?

[3885] SPEAKER_11: Great, so the guidelines are currently that the cohort groups can be 16 or less, and that includes the adults. So if there's one adult teaching in the cohort, then that 15 kids or less. In many of our classrooms, while we could be following the guidelines at 16, some of our classrooms are not large enough to have 16 desks with appropriate social distance or appropriate distance between desks. And so we will only have classes outfitted in accordance to the size of the room and making sure that there's appropriate distance between desks. But it's 16 or less. I also see a question in here about reopening of secondaries or consideration for teachers moving from classroom to classroom instead of the students, which is definitely something we're considering in secondary just really want to think through how we minimize contact. And in the case, the challenges of secondary that Mr. Dulowicz lifted up in his schedules is that since students have different teachers and are typically with different students in each class, that's posed additional challenges for us. And honestly, it's one of the reasons I believe that the county guidelines are such that we would we first start with elementary school because it's much easier to maintain a cohort of young people without cross cross pollinating, so to speak, in the younger grades where the. there's one teacher for a smaller group. So that is an issue and that is something that we definitely are considering is would it be safer for the teacher to move in the secondary versus the students from classroom to classroom. Any of those kind of decisions of course we're going to be doing with our labor partners.

[4015] SPEAKER_29: There's a question regarding the mask requirements for students.

[4019] SPEAKER_11: So all students will be required to wear a mask while in school, as well as adults. So that's standard practice across the county. And we will definitely be very strictly adhering to that.

[4034] SPEAKER_29: And there was a question regarding getting more clarification on the three options of the schedules provided by Mr. Dulowich.

[4043] SPEAKER_11: Getting more clarity on the schedules?

[4045] SPEAKER_29: Correct.

[4046] SPEAKER_11: Anything specific?

[4049] SPEAKER_29: No, I think they just wanted to go over it again. Maybe if we can just share them on the screen.

[4054] SPEAKER_05: Sure. We can absolutely also post those on our website. I'll share my screen now, although I closed that window. So if you want to ask the next question, I will pull it up first.

[4070] SPEAKER_29: There's a question regarding ELD students or students with a second language, if they will receive any additional help while on distance or hybrid model?

[4083] SPEAKER_11: So currently in the distance learning setting, the schedule is set up so that there are whole class times in elementary, and then there's times actually in all grades, and then there's times where teachers work with smaller groups. So that has been the time where teachers have been the small group time in distance learning is when the teachers have been utilizing that to support English language learners or other students in particular that need additional support. In the options for in-person, just to be totally honest, that will be more challenging because you see that with that schedule, particularly with the schedule where About half of the students are remaining in distance learning and half are in person, it is going to mean that the teacher. is going to have to divide their time apart with the students who are in person and then part of the day with the students who are remaining in distance learning. However, I think within that, it's definitely possible for teachers and schools to think about how they create small groups to support students who are English language learners or other students who need additional support. Mr. Dolowitz, it looks like you have the slides back up. Ms. Gutierrez, was it particularly elementary or was it secondary?

[4175] SPEAKER_29: I believe it was elementary.

[4177] SPEAKER_11: Okay. Mr. Dolowitz, you want to go maybe give us the elevator version of the three different options?

[4185] SPEAKER_05: Sure. And again, this doesn't limit us to further options to consider as we actively collaborate with our partners and also hear discussions from neighboring districts. Elementary Schedule C, going in reverse, has students in two cohorts. They remain with their teacher, which is a point of emphasis for us. Group A is the only group in this schedule that sees their teacher in person. And the benefit is having to see their teacher in person four consecutive days, Tuesday through Friday. During the morning, group B is engaged in asynchronous activities, not live that has been assigned on Monday mornings. Again, Tuesday through Friday, group B receives live synchronous instruction. That instruction occurs in the afternoon after teachers have had lunch. Group A then conducts asynchronous activities in the afternoon. In this model, group B is never on campus. Group A is the only model on campus. We could, again, alternatively, relocate Monday with synchronous instruction for all students to Wednesday. And Group A could go Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. Still, Group B would be the students whose parents and guardians wish them to not attend in person. And we very much want to respect that. Another point to reiterate loud and clear is that we have a fantastic custodial staff and they will be conducting cleaning each and every day. And so we feel very confident and comfortable with our partners in CSCA, knowing that cleaning is taking place on a daily basis, both daytime and evening. A benefit of this model is that it minimizes cross cohort contact. Again, there's no interaction between a Group A and a Group B. That is different than Schedule B. If you look at Schedule B before you, both Group A and Group B go in person. Group A in this model goes Monday and Thursday. They go in person on campus. Group B is engaged in asynchronous activities Monday and Thursday in the a.m. In the afternoon, you can see that group A is engaged in live synchronous activities, Tuesday and Friday. Group B is on campus in person, Tuesday and Friday, again in the AM, and then In all days in this model, students leave directly prior to lunch. Students are at home during lunch. And again, that was a question that came up from one of our community members around the length of the day and taking into account child care, which we absolutely understand that question. So it's an ongoing consideration. And then again, the separate instruction happens in the afternoon here. This is different than Schedule A. Schedule A has Group A and Group B going on campus. on separate days, group A in this model, Tuesday, Wednesday, and group B, Thursday, Friday. And so students do not overlap. And again, the alternate group has synchronous instruction with their teacher in the afternoon. So no students are on campus in the afternoon. And I hope that helps provide some context and clarity around the elementary schedules. Absolutely can take into account feedback and input as we continue to collaborate to reach the safest model first and foremost, but also prioritize our students and staff.

[4430] SPEAKER_29: And Mr. Dolowich, while you're on schedules, there was one specific to secondary schedules and whether there was any reduction in the instruction of one-on-one live or FaceTime instruction.

[4445] SPEAKER_05: So in this model, when students are on campus before lunch and then they go home, the class periods are shorter, similar to what we experience in a traditional secondary model, approximately 55 minutes, 55 to 60 minutes pre-pandemic. One question which we asked and polled about was a modified instructional day. Currently, the secondary instructors teach up to 75 minutes, and so we could prioritize up to 75 minutes of instruction, but in that case, students would not go home prior to lunch. They would be on campus, and we would have to logistically address students on campus during lunch, for example, remaining In the same class with the same cohort as again we mentioned rotating personnel that would be one offset. To extending the day to a full instructional day and to the Community members question. This does reduce the number of instructional minutes compared to a modified instructional day. But the safety feature is that students are excused, they're getting lunch, and then they're leaving campus, and there's synchronous instruction in the afternoon. What this does is minimizes the hallway-to-hallway interaction. the cross cohort contamination and it improves the safety factor for students and staff. So those are points of consideration.

[4546] SPEAKER_29: And I believe the last question here would be regarding a partnership with AC Transit and whether they would be able to work with our schedules.

[4558] SPEAKER_05: Yeah, we have a positive relationship with public transportation agencies. And so we do think it's it's we're very optimistic that we can coordinate in terms of AC transit.

[4578] SPEAKER_29: I think you've answered most of them, Dr. Triplett and Mr. Dolowich.

[4586] SPEAKER_11: All right, wonderful. Well, that's perfect. We're just about at time. I've also been trying to answer some of the questions in the chat. So as Mr. Dolowich said earlier in some of the final slides, we, number one, want to deeply appreciate you for participating in this and for asking the good questions that we've been really wrestling with and also for your suggestions and your input. We will have our next town hall. Um, november 10th We're not doing one next week because of the elections and we think people are going to be preoccupied with other things Um, but we'll we'll we'll be back. Um, november 10th And um for another town hall session, um six o'clock Um, you can you can um expect to um, see more information and links on social media and on the website um And I know there's also some questions about like so okay well when when will we know the date. And that's a really good question. Here's what I can. I can personally guarantee you is number one we will, we can guarantee that we will give two weeks, at least. notice before any reopening so you can expect to have plenty of time to be making plans thinking through your decision. We are going to continue our ongoing conversations with with you engaging with you as well as with the school board and as well as our labor partners and honestly we really hope to be able to announce a date even if it's not extremely soon, but we hope to be able to announce a date with our partners in the near future. Hopefully in the next couple weeks we could announce a projected date of when we are planning to reopen. I can tell you that in many districts in Alameda County, right now they are projecting to open in January. And so again, we don't have we don't have a firm date yet but I know that that is the plan for many, if not almost all the districts in Alameda County. And the other thing I did want to leave us with is in advance of a reopening. We definitely want to continue to think about how how do we meet the needs of the students and families that are really, really struggling with distance learning, who are, for whatever reason, unable to get onto distance learning and have different situations that just make it extremely hard. This is what keeps me up at night, is the students and families that are losing out on distance learning. And we know that distance learning is not not as good as when we all get back to normal, but even worse is when we're unable to support students at all during this time. And so that's really keeping me up at night. And we really want to think through, is there ways where we can meet those students' needs in person in very small groups and in very particular situations? So that's also something that you can expect more information about in the future. Mr. Dulwich, do you have anything else that you wanted to share before we sign off?

[4793] SPEAKER_05: No, I just want to thank everyone for their time. We know the concern in the community, not only whether it's with staff, but also in terms of being parents and guardians ourselves. We want to prioritize in-person instruction as much as anyone else, but we want to do so in the safest manner possible. And so I would just leave it at that and thank everyone for joining us here tonight.

[4819] SPEAKER_11: Great, thanks, Mr. Dulowicz. I also wanna thank Ms. Gutierrez, Mr. Rose behind the scenes, you can't see him, but he's helping us. And also, Yilma, thank you so much for always being here for translating. And again, my deepest apologies that we weren't able to translate tonight, but we will definitely think through how we can maybe create a transcript of this session that we could get out in Spanish. I think that would be really nice. So stay tuned to that. So, gracias a todos. Disculpe que no había la oportunidad de ofrecer una traducción, pero ojalá podemos hacer una traducción que podemos presentar en el website en el futuro y por la próxima vez seguramente vamos a tener traducción en vivo. So, thank you all. I appreciate you and have a wonderful night and don't forget to vote. Take care, everybody.

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