Virtual Town Hall Meeting

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[18] Mark Triplett: All right, good evening, good evening everyone. Welcome. Give about one more minute or maybe two for people to come in and then we'll get started. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Good evening. It looks like we're at over 150 attendees. So I think it's safe for us to start. I'm sure that more people will come in as we go through the presentation. So again, good evening, everybody. My name is Mark Triplett. I'm the superintendent. Thank you very much for joining us this evening for this NUSD virtual town hall meeting. We really appreciate you tuning in, and we're going to really appreciate your input this evening. Mr. Dulowich, could you go to the next slide? Thank you. Um, so, uh, tonight we are going to be talking about, um, the reopening of schools. And so that is the, um, that is the purpose of tonight's town hall. This is the, uh, we had a town hall a couple of weeks ago, about maybe about three weeks ago regarding the reopening of schools. And so, um, this was a follow-up town hall because we wanted to make sure that we were, um, continuing to communicate with you. update you and give you an opportunity to give us input as to how we structure the reopening of schools and how we go about trying to meet the needs of all of our families and students. So tonight, oh, sorry, Mr. Dolowich, could you go back one? Here we go, thanks. So tonight's outcomes are, number one, to provide an update regarding revised schedule iterations for a phased in-person return to in-person learning based on survey and polling results from families and students. And then number two, to really elicit your input, your suggestions, your ideas, in order to improve the schedule iterations for both elementary and secondary that we are currently working on. And so the agenda tonight, similar to last time, want to talk a little bit about the challenges that we have identified in developing a reopening plan. We want to give you another look at some of the data that we've collected from you, stakeholders. And then we're going to share two new iterations of both the elementary schedule for hybrid learning and the secondary schedule for hybrid learning. And we have developed two phases for both of those schedules. And we want to share them with you this evening and get your input. Then we will talk a little bit about what we anticipate a day in the life of a student returning to in-person learning will look like. And then lastly, we will take questions and answers. And whatever we can answer here in the session, or the town hall session, we certainly will. Other questions, if we're unable to answer them, we will, of course, get back to you with answers in the future. And then we'll close for the evening. So I'm sure you have heard by now, but just to reiterate, Yesterday, there was an announcement from both the state and the county that Alameda County is moving back into the purple tier. That's the purple tier of the state monitoring program. And you can see on here, this is a map of California. And you can see this is an illustration we have from the state of how things have changed since November 4th. And the purple color is the highest tier, so that's the highest degree of alert. The red being the second tier, that's when schools are able to reopen, provided that they fulfill all the requirements. And then the orange tier is the next tier, which we were in until yesterday. And then there's the yellow tier, of course, which is uh signal that um, the Situation with covid is in much better situation. So as you can see on this map from november 4th There were a significant number of yellow red and orange tier counties then on november 10th It was already starting to change and there was an increase in the escalation of the colors Some of the ones that were yellow, um had to go back into the orange And likewise, some that were orange had to go back into the red. And then you see where we are as of yesterday, where 41 counties in California have gone back to the purple. And Alameda County in particular jumped from the orange over the red into the purple, meaning that actually as of right now, we cannot reopen for in-person learning until we are able to go back down into the red tier. So based on that information, this evening we're going to do a number of times where we do a little spot check, a little polling of you. We did that last time, and it was really helpful and insightful to hear where you are with your comfort level around returning to in-person learning. So based on the information that we received yesterday, that we are in the purple, I wanted to ask you to start off a question that is based on the recent updates, which option Which option are you inclined to do in January for your child or children? The first option is still anticipate being comfortable returning to in-person hybrid learning, or two, if you at this point are more comfortable remaining in distance learning in January. So this is for January, not for right this moment, nor in December, but for January. So if we can go ahead and start the polling, you can mark which of those two options you feel right now. And don't worry, we're going to have more questions as we move through this presentation, but we wanted to get a preliminary sense of where you are. And Ms. Gutierrez, are we, should we give it one, 30 more seconds for folks to fill it out or should we go ahead and now show the results?

[465] SPEAKER_26: We can start showing the results.

[467] Mark Triplett: Okay, why don't we go ahead and take a look at what people have said in terms of where they are at this point. All right, so of the looks like a little over 200 people that are in the town hall currently, 59 people, 28% of the whole group said they would be ready at this point to return to in-person hybrid learning in January. And 152, that's 72%, are now saying, hmm, not comfortable and would really feel better remaining in distance learning in January. So that's super helpful. Thank you for that. Let's move on. We are going to show you some of our plans and also our challenges. and then talk a little bit about the schedules. And then we're going to ask you some more polling questions based on the information that we share in our schedules. So the challenge we have is that based on the data, based on what families have been telling us, that we need to create three different options. There are three different scenarios that we realize are in play here. One, there are some families that are ready for in-person learning as soon as possible. Two, there are some families that are not ready for in-person learning yet, meaning they could be a little bit farther down the road. And then three, there are some families who know that they just cannot return their child to in-person learning probably for the remainder of the year due to health conditions at home, people that they're living with, maybe it's living with grandma or grandpa, or feeling like there's whatever conditions that would not allow for their child to return to in-person learning for the remainder of the year. So that's our challenge. And we want to talk to you tonight about what we're doing to try to address that challenge and to try to really make sure we're meeting the needs of all three of those groups. So at this point, I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Dalowicz, the Director of Teaching and Learning, and he's going to talk a little bit about the data that we have seen and that we did share with you last time, and then also go into, in more depth, the new iterations of schedules that we have been developing.

[620] SPEAKER_36: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. So as Dr. Triplett mentioned, this is really where we left off our conversation last time with the town hall meeting. We think it's important, obviously, to explain our thought process and rationale vis-a-vis the data, specifically rooted in the science and the data. So we'd like to just lift off from that conversation. It looks very differently with our young ones and families, both preschool, TK and K, and also at the end of the continuum in 11th grade and 12th grade in terms of interest to go back now for in-person learning. As you can see here, NUSD preschool families overwhelmingly wish to return to in-person, a minority want to remain in distance learning. And as you move through, the data ebbs and flows based on the grade level. For TK, the majority wish to continue in distance learning, approximately 64% for TK. So we continue on in sixth grade. It's really a fair even split, approximately 50% each in terms of interest to return to in-person hybrid learning now or remain distance learning. In ninth grade, as we enter the high school years, you can see here that 57% approximately wish to continue in distance learning. And then as we continue, our 12th graders and seniors, the majority wish to return to in-person learning. It should be noted that we've accumulated in both English and Spanish over 1,700 responses from our families. And coupled with the fact that many of our families have more than one child in our school, this does comprise a significant percentage of input from our community, parents and guardians. When you break it down and disaggregate the data by schools, you can see here that some feel more strongly around continuing and distance learning. Others wish to return to in-person in the hybrid model. And as Dr. Triplett mentioned, I'll review different iterations for a phased approach to returning in 2021. Some examples of schools, for instance, Newark Memorial High School, and Snow Elementary are a little bit more interested in returning in person than, for example, Graham or BGP based on this data. As we continue on the final data slide is disaggregated by grade level. And you can see also this does give a little bit of a lens in terms of Who wishes to remain distance learning and who wishes to return as soon as possible. Obviously, all these decisions need to be aligned with the county in the state. And so I'll speak to that momentarily. In regards to in-person considerations, I will be presenting two phases. And the county and the state both emphasize a staggered approach, specifically beginning with the lower grades at the elementary levels, TK through grades two as a primary example. Phase one, it deserves to place emphasis on, allows for two groups of students, a cohort A and a cohort B. Cohort A is the only group that would opt with their families to have the student return in person in January, if conditions allow, and if we reach agreement with our labor partners. Cohort B remains with their current teacher or teachers at the secondary level. However, they do not step foot on campus. Based on the data, based on the survey results, and clearly based on the result from the first polling question here tonight, we know that a significant percentage of our families simply do not feel comfortable, and we are committed to providing an option for them to remain with our district, and to the degree possible, remain with their assigned teacher. Phase two is predicated on conditions improving. And obviously with yesterday's news, phase two seems a little bit more far reaching at the moment, but we still want to plan accordingly. And this takes into account, again, as Dr. Triplett outlined, tiers moving from purple to red to orange and so forth. And as this occurs in 2021, we want to be able to be prepared for a phase two where more students return. And that's the premise for the schedule that I'll present here tonight. So without further ado, a phase one for elementary first emphasizes, as mentioned, two cohorts. Cohort A is the only cohort that receives in-person instruction on campus. Essentially, through the morning, up until it's time for lunch. Cohort B receives live synchronous instruction. Distance learning continues for them just as it currently is. They never have to step foot on campus and be in person with a cohort or with their classroom teacher. They continue in distance learning. In this schedule, we currently have Monday aligned as it currently is. with families and students receiving a weekly template with expectations, as well as with asynchronous activities that students can do and are expected to submit each and every day. This is what cohort B starts the day with and cohort A receives in-person instruction. Teachers receive a protected lunch. And then, as mentioned previously, with Cohort B, Cohort B receives synchronous instruction in the afternoon. One clear benefit for the students that are interested in returning in person, if this comes to fruition in January or afterwards, is that Cohort A receives four consecutive days of instruction. If you move on to phase two, and I'll be happy to answer any questions regarding these two models, phase two takes into account, again, as mentioned, that more students, when conditions improve, and hopefully, knock on wood, that there's an effective vaccine in 2021, that more students wish to return to in-person learning in the classroom. And therefore, cohort A and cohort B alternate days, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and so forth, The alternate group, in other words, when cohort A is receiving in-person instruction in the morning, cohort B will receive live synchronous instruction in the afternoon. And that alternates as the week progresses. Again, a protected teacher lunch, and only in the morning is there in-person instruction on campus. for designated student cohorts. This also minimizes cross-cohort interaction as they arrive on separate days, and this explains a little bit as more students are interested in returning how Newark Unified will maintain teacher relationships to the best degree possible and also allow for students to receive in-person instruction specifically in the morning sections. The secondary sites are aligned with the elementary and we know there are siblings throughout our district and we wanna prioritize those siblings and make sure that they are in the same cohort as has been requested. That is something that we are committed to doing also. For secondary with phase one. Again, there are two separate cohorts cohort a is the only cohort interested and comfortable returning in person. Currently this models our high school, our high school cohorts are broken up, and the days are periods one, three and five. And then the other days are periods two, four, and six. In this model, similar to the elementary, cohort B is not comfortable returning in person. And so for cohort B, they receive live synchronous instruction in the afternoon. It also allows our teachers to be able to teach their lesson in the morning for cohort A and be able to repeat that lesson for cohort B in the afternoon. Again, live, synchronously from their classroom. And again, this is a model that other districts have looked at, but it's also a phase two. So we want to place an emphasis, again, based on the the latest developments from the state and the county, that we understand that this is not a model that we would begin with. Each and every day in all the models, cleaning occurs with our classified staff. And then, of course, staff meetings are prioritized along with professional development for our staff. Students do receive synchronous instruction on Mondays, and then the remainder of the day is dedicated for asynchronous instruction. So I can return to any one of these models. A phase two at the secondary takes into account, again, as conditions improve, that more and more students wish to return. Therefore, cohort A and B alternate Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and Friday. And if we juxtapose that from phase one and look right here, you'll see that cohort A goes to school for consecutive days in person in the am cohort be never steps foot difference with the phase two model is that both cohort a and cohort be eventually return to in person learning in the morning. And then we would offer as a district a distance learning option for any students and families that simply do not feel comfortable returning for the remainder of the year as Dr. Triplett alluded to. So based on that data, our second spot check polling question, as we'd like to get a temperature gauge from the community, parents and guardians, as well as staff, based on the schedules, in which phase would you most likely return to in-person learning? Three options for this polling question. Phase one would be January. Again, contingent on an agreement with labor partners. We're actively in negotiations and we wish to respect the process. We have not yet reached an agreement. Phase two would be beginning based on the end of the trimester for elementary, specifically February 26th. Or the end of the third quarter for secondary schools, and that third quarter ends in March, or is it option C remain in distance learning for the entirety of the school year. So, that is going.

[1286] Mark Triplett: Sorry, Mr. Delaware, if I could just interrupt as folks begin to take the poll. I know there's been some frustrations around people on YouTube being unable to take the poll. We apologize for that. That's a technology thing with YouTube and Zoom. But there is plenty of space in the Zoom call. So anyone who is on the YouTube call but wants to engage in the poll, please come come over to the Zoom call. There's plenty of space and then you will be able to take the polls just like everyone else. Thank you.

[1329] SPEAKER_26: We can probably wait 10 more seconds and we can show the results.

[1332] SPEAKER_36: That sounds good. So again, based on the phased approach, which phase would you most likely return to in person learning, would you prefer January, as soon as possible predicated on agreement phase two, based on the end of the trimester or the quarter. Or if you're a family and student, as Dr. Triplett mentioned, that has reasons for remaining in distance learning for the rest of the year, we want to support that option as well. And you would select remain in distance learning for the rest of the school year. So based on the results we were able to receive, phase one, 57 respondents or 22% of participants here tonight selected phase one beginning in January. Phase two, starting in February, March, waiting really for the strong winter months and flu season to pass and to begin at a clean break in the trimester quarter, 66 respondents or 25%. selected phase two and currently 141 respondents identified remaining in distance learning for the rest of the year. 53% of the current participants that were able to complete this polling question. So that's very telling and it's very helpful for us as we continue to work with our labor partners to support our teachers and to plan effectively for 2021. This next section is a new section that we're continuing to work on and implement on a daily basis. And this section is titled a day in the life. So for those that were interested in returning in January, or even in February or March. What would that mean for a cohort A that is physically attending in-person and receiving instruction from their teacher? Well, the day begins at home. And as many may be doing for work or for other reasons, there's online screening, which means that the parents would receive and they would take an online form and complete it based on COVID questions, straightforward COVID questions, whether a child's not feeling well, has a fever, or any related symptoms. They would complete and submit that each and every day. We want to identify and make sure that all students who are coming to campus to receive in-person instruction, remember to bring a mask. NUSD is committed to providing the requisite sanitizer for all students and for all staff. But students are welcome to bring their own personal sanitizer, and of course, to make sure that they're bringing school materials. When that day arrives, when we're allowed to provide in person instruction for cohort a. Again, per state and county guidelines, there's an emphasis on staggered arrival, and we would begin the first week with grades TK through two. One example of staggered arrival is in front of you, TK would arrive at 8am and classes could have different arrival points. Kindergarten at 8.15am, first grade 8.30am and second grade at 8.45am. And so that way we're minimizing students in different grade levels and cross cohort contact. For class time, there's an emphasis specifically on safety procedures from the county with respect to bathroom procedures, as well as break time. Bathroom procedures would be practiced, modeled, very clear, and they would be comprehensively distributed throughout the district. That would include procedures also for entering the bathroom, as well as exiting and returning back to class with support from staff. in appropriate social distancing measures. Break time. Break time may include outside areas. However, no cross-cohort contact will occur. Students in different cohorts will have designated areas that will remain the same consistently for their cohort. And again, recess would be staggered as well. And then, as mentioned, both CDE, county, and public health guidelines would be adhered to, and those would also be posted on our website when we are able to return with the agreement from our labor partners specific for Newark Unified. The day in the life includes a grab and go and a staggered dismissal. The staggered dismissal, you can see, correlates with the arrival time and provides three hours on campus, TK dismissing at 11, kindergarten 11, 15 a.m., First grade 1130 AM and second grade 1145 AM. Again, this is one example of a staggered arrival and dismissal. The grab and go style lunch places an emphasis on getting lunch into the hands of our students, but not having them eat it on campus. Again, teachers would have a protected lunch and then teaching synchronous instruction to cohort B from phase one model previously reviewed. So this time our third and I believe final spot check polling question states based on this category, a day in the life presentation, which of these areas do you still have the most questions about? Staggered arrival, safety procedures on campus, for instance, bathroom breaks and recess, or the grab and go lunch. So questions or concerns, which jumps out at you the most as a parent, guardian, staff member, or community member from hearing this presentation. We are interested to know if we could throw that question up. All right, I think we can give them about 10 more seconds and we can move forward. And the results, not surprisingly, overwhelmingly 207 or 85% have the most questions or concerns around safety procedures on campus, including the bathroom breaks and recess staggered rival and then also dismissal. were very close, approximately 8% or 7% respectively. So those are one of those results where it's very clear cut and conclusive as to how the parents, guardians, and community feels. So just to reiterate some of the obstacles as we continue to work with our county partners and prioritize in-person learning when conditions allow and our labor partners feel comfortable. For elementary, includes the most effective way to stagger arrival as well as transitions. And then most importantly, as mentioned and reiterated with the polling question, what are the safest way to approach breaks, recess and bathrooms? So we take into account public health recommendations, county guidelines, but then it has to be specific for the campus and make sure that it's really the safest for our students and staff. For secondary, what improvements can we make to Monday's schedule as we continue to prepare our students? Really, one of our district instructional goals includes prioritizing the social emotional learning. As we continue through this, just know that, you know, we are all going through this together and when we, when we, when we know that that students and staff, students and adults alike are both suffering in various ways from the mental health standpoint. that we continue to prioritize social emotional learning curriculum. And that is something that the district is focused on supporting as we move forward. And then eventually, when it's safe to do so, how and in what way do we transition to longer periods of instruction for our students. So those are some of the obstacles that we continue to grapple with. We want to be transparent throughout the process, explain our rationale and decision-making, and that's one of the reasons that we hold regular town hall meetings. Our next steps, we are committed to adjusting the phased approach based on science, based on Newark input, and based on our labor partners. We want to reach agreement with our labor partners And so there's clarity even in the future in 2021 with respect to clarity for a return or possible return in cohorts. We wanna continue to engage with our parent and guardians. And we are looking as Dr. Tripla outlined three possible options at the start of this, specifically students that wanna return as soon as possible. One, students that are not comfortable yet being number two and group three students and families that simply do not feel comfortable returning in any form or fashion for the remainder of the year. We want to provide that survey by December 4th and have it and have it completed so that we have hard data to continue to plan with. We continue to meet on a weekly basis with our county partners And we are preparing trainings and onboarding at the site and district level on a daily and weekly basis with respect to safety protocols that's front and center. So thank you for the opportunity to present here tonight. And I think we are going to move forward with our questions and answers.

[1979] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Mr. Dulowicz. So Ms. Gutierrez is going to be reviewing the questions and then looking for patterns and then she can raise them up to myself and Mr. Dulowicz and then we'll do our best to answer as many questions as possible. One thing that I noticed is coming up is questions around the ability to, will there be further surveys? And the answer is yes. So the polling tonight is really a temperature check, but what we really wanna do is at the beginning of December, we plan on releasing another survey with much more specific and detailed information that will really help to us to guide the way we continue to plan out the scheduling and how we make sure that we're serving all the different families. So please expect that Google survey in the beginning of December. Likewise, we're working with our labor partners so that we can get out a survey to staff as well, so that we'll have more clarity around if there's any staff that are unable to return to in-person learning for whatever reason, then that will really help us to plan as well. Because what we will need to do is for those families that know that they are unable to return to in-person learning for the remainder of the school year, we will need to eventually figure out, once we get back to in-person learning, how we realign the classes to make sure that families that are in that situation have an option with a teacher in distance learning. So why don't we go ahead and open up the questions, Ms. Gutierrez, and if you can read off questions and we'll do our best to answer.

[2097] SPEAKER_26: All right, thank you. The first one is asking related to ROP classes and how will we handle classes that are off campus and either afternoon or morning time.

[2113] Mark Triplett: I can start, and then Mr. Delawitch, if you want to chime in. So this is a challenge, thinking about who are our partners, such as the ROP classes in high school, and also the Loney College dual enrollment classes. So we are in coordination with those partners to try to figure out those schedules, but that is something that is definitely an added challenge. And Mr. Delawitch, if you want to add anything, please. Sure.

[2142] SPEAKER_36: Mr. Angel, the principal of Newark Memorial High School, the reason the periods are 1, 3, 5, and 2, 4, 6 is to take into account ROP. So that's absolutely a priority to make sure that those students, with respect to in-person learning, have the opportunity for both.

[2165] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Ms. Gutierrez?

[2172] SPEAKER_26: There is a question regarding, there are a few questions actually regarding each model, whether it be hybrid or distance learning, and whether the students would keep the teacher that they currently have. So there are a couple questions and some are very specific to if they stay with the hybrid model, will they keep the same teacher? If they stay in distance learning, will they also have the same teacher?

[2195] Mark Triplett: Thank you. I think it might be good, Mr. Dolowich, if we could go back to one of the slides with the schedule for this. It might help a little bit as we try to explain this one. So this is a really good question, and I also know it's a really big concern for families because families really want to stay with the teacher or teachers that they currently have. That is our goal as well. And at the same time, we know just mathematically that if we have one group that is returning to in-person learning, one group that is not in in-person learning yet, but is planning on returning to in-person learning at some time during the year, And then a third group that knows that they, for whatever reason, cannot return to in-person learning at all this year until there's a vaccine or whatever. It creates a mathematical problem because inevitably we won't be able to have every student in all three of those situations all at the same time be able to have their same teacher that they currently have. And so what most likely will happen in that situation is students who are in cohort A or students that are in cohort B will continue to have their teacher. The students who are in the group that knows that they will not be able to return for the remainder of the year, we cannot unfortunately guarantee that those students will still have their same teacher. And I know that's really, really challenging and difficult, but just in terms of just the numbers, it would not, most likely would not be possible. It is a reason why we want to collect up as much information as we can on the survey in early December, because that will really help us to then guide us to say, OK, this amount of students are going to remain for the remainder of the year in distance learning. And so we need to make sure that we have a teacher. And let's see, which teacher do most of those students currently have? And is that teacher someone who also needs to remain in distance learning? So those are the kind of challenges and puzzle pieces really that we're going to be working to figure out and responses on the survey in December will really help with that. Mr. Delaware, did you want to add anything there?

[2337] SPEAKER_36: I thought that was fantastic. To provide context to that response, I would just say that the good news is that you look both for elementary and secondary phase one before you, we really have a chance to minimize any shuffling and students can remain with teachers. Again, even remaining in cohort A and cohort B. And this is the first phase we would start with. I think to your point, when we're looking at maintaining distance learning in that phase two, then logistically, we are posed with more challenges. The good news, again, is that this is not the first phase, and so we wouldn't be starting with it. It would be an eventual challenge, again, based on the end of the trimester, February 26th, or the end of the third quarter, when conditions allow. So that's when it would get a little bit more complicated.

[2396] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Mr. Dulwich. Ms. Gutierrez, do we have another question?

[2400] SPEAKER_26: Yes, there's a concern from a parent that says cases are rising. Why are we considering returning to school?

[2408] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you. So just to be clear, we are not talking about returning right now to in-person learning. So part of the beginning of the presentation was acknowledging and really being aware that we have just entered the purple tier. Cases are on the rise, both in Alameda County and across California, and obviously across the country. So we're not, we have no intention of returning to in-person learning in the very near future. We will be waiting until cases start to decline again, and the county and the state tell us that we can again be considering reopening for in-person learning. However, better to prepare now than wait until that happens and then be scrambling. So that's why we're holding this, continue to hold these town hall meetings and continue to want to engage with you because this is complicated. And we want to make sure that we're as prepared and ready and have given you as much advance notice as very possible in the event that we are able to return to in-person learning at some time in the future.

[2484] SPEAKER_36: That's great. Just to add to that, we are also prohibited from reopening as a county in the purple tier unless a school, a specific school had already reopened. Being that districts have not yet reopened and we find ourselves in the purple tier, we simply cannot. So really, this is, again, planning phase and trying to take into account the community's input and feedback.

[2520] SPEAKER_26: Okay, there are some questions regarding the mental health of the students and what we are currently doing to assist with that.

[2529] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. Yeah, that's a one that really keeps me up at night. We know that there are students and staff and families who are really suffering, not just financially, but really emotionally and with mental health. And so that's something that we are really trying to address in a number of different ways. We do have a social emotional learning and wellness committee made up of a number of different stakeholders principle. teachers and mental health clinicians and many others that are really thinking through what are the best ways to to support students and families. We also have our parent partners. And our family liaison coordinator, who are working every day in contact with families who are struggling and really trying to work with them to get them the, the services and the support that they need. And we're also really trying to work with our teachers to give them professional development around how they can support students in classrooms. And I will say our teachers are doing amazing, amazing jobs in supporting their students. And we also have what we call the cost teams. That's coordination of services teams that every school has. And that's made up of different staff who come together to really try to strategize on how to support students that are struggling, whether it be academically or social emotionally with mental health issues. And so that's something that those teams meet every week and are really working to support families. But we definitely don't have all the answers. And so we are continuing to try to strategize on what are the different ways that we can support students and families. There is additional grant dollars that we are applying for from the state that we hope to be able to access that will then also help us to provide more resources to students and families regarding mental health. Mr. Delowich, did you want to add anything there?

[2680] SPEAKER_36: Yeah, with respect to how we're continuing to strategize, the Newark Junior High School formed a SEL task force and they reviewed three separate organizations and vetted them with the task force made up of department chairs and leaders, teacher leaders from that school. They selected one that some of our athletic department at Newark Memorial High School also uses, Character Strong. It's very cutting edge 21st century and it even takes into account some of the social emotional learning challenges that students are experiencing from the pandemic. So we are very excited to move forward with that district wide to support our teachers and also support them in the planning, the professional development and the implementation of Character Strong. That would be for all of our secondary schools. And then the wellness committee and also at our elementary curriculum council, we had a presentation from Second Step. Second Step is the social emotional learning curriculum that Graham and Schilling Elementary currently use. And it's been recommended to pursue that district wide in support of our elementary students. That would be TK through five specifically and then character strong we would look at implementing grade six through 12. So, again, to your point with with funds that are available. and also the task force and the committees that we formed, we feel that we're making significant progress towards social emotional learning curriculum district-wide.

[2782] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Mr. Delawich. And if I could just say one last thing, parents, if you or your child is struggling with these things, which I think many, many are, please reach out to your teacher first, and then also reach out to your principal. through both the teacher and the principal, we'll be able to coordinate services and try to support in any way we can. So absolutely, please don't feel like you need to be silent. Please reach out and we'll do whatever we can to try to help with these kind of challenges.

[2824] SPEAKER_26: Dr. Triplett, there are some questions regarding families who have multiple children in primary and secondary, and how would that work with the staggered schedules?

[2834] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. Yeah, this is an added challenge for sure. And Mr. Dulwich, I know you've been giving this a lot of thought. I will say that what we're gonna need to do, and this hopefully will come out in the December survey as well, and we should really make sure that we have a question in there that illuminates that so that then we can act on it. But what we'd wanna do is when and if we are prepared to go back to in person learning, we would want to know those individual situations, and then work with the families to make sure that we're coordinated so for example, if it makes sense for the family that that they have a child in elementary and in secondary. and it would be most beneficial if both children can be, for example, in a cohort that goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays or whatever, then we would for sure want to try to help support that and to coordinate that effort. But I think it will have to come down to individual one-to-one support there. Mr. Dulwich?

[2900] SPEAKER_36: I would echo that. Ultimately, it's going to be a personalized coordination between the sites and the families and the district will absolutely throw our full support to to do our best to make it work for both the elementary sibling and the secondary sibling, taking that into account again, both the cohort location and then instructional staggered arrival times. But that would that would need to be coordinated individualized on a case-by-case basis from family need.

[2937] SPEAKER_26: There are some questions from parents regarding sports, specifically to whether tryouts are being held and if we were to remain in distance learning, if the sports would get canceled or if sports will continue.

[2952] Mark Triplett: Thanks, Ms. Gutierrez. So we have had sports that we have reopened to dry land training for sports. We started with, I believe, the fall sports, and then we actually also increased to the winter sports. I'm chuckling because I want to make sure I get that right, the fall and the winter. All outside and all social distanced and wearing masks and in small cohorts. There was a plan for that to now open up to indoor activities as well, but that has been halted. because of the change into the purple tier. So we will continue, and the county has given all schools the authority to continue with the sports activities that are happening outdoors that we already had in place. They're contactless, so there's no contact between people. There's social distancing, like I said. But those have been happening during the fall, and those will continue. The program at Memorial has been excellent. The staff there is just doing incredible work to make sure that students are maintaining social distance and practicing all of the necessary safety requirements. And I've had the privilege of going over there and observing a little bit, and the students are fantastic. They are following the guidelines, they're doing what they're supposed to do, and they're getting out there and they're getting activity and exercise, which I know is really important for mental health and physical health during this time. So that will continue, but we will not go into the stage of any indoor activities at this point.

[3063] SPEAKER_26: There are some questions around channel care and whether we will provide it.

[3068] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Yeah, we have every intention to open back up the childcare when it is appropriate to do so. And so our goal is that we'll actually be able to provide childcare, not just to families that need it, but our hope is that we can also provide it to some of the staff who have children that are going to require childcare so that staff can actually be working and serving other students and families. So we hope to have more information about that in the next week or two. But that is our intention is to provide child care throughout the day. So what that will mean is if a student is in cohort A, for example, and is on campus in the morning, but then would go home and normally in the afternoon, we would have the option, that family would have the option of having childcare in the afternoon, in which case they would remain on campus but no longer be in the regular class.

[3138] SPEAKER_26: There's some concern or some clarification needed as to whether when the county allows in-person learning if they are required to send their child. So I think asking about the distance learning option.

[3153] Mark Triplett: Thank you, yeah, so just to be very clear, when and if we return to in-person learning, we wanna make sure that no family feels that they're required to return to in-person learning if they do not feel safe to do so. So that's why we wanna make sure we're offering the three different options. One, an option for families who are already to return to in-person learning. Two, an option for families who are not ready yet meaning they anticipate being ready in the future, but not yet. And then three, for families who feel like they already know that they're not gonna be ready to return to in-person learning this school year, just based on health situations at home with family.

[3199] SPEAKER_26: There are some questions regarding students with special needs or IEPs and whether they apply to the schedules we are providing or if they have a different model that they would be following.

[3212] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. Mr. Dulwich, I'll let you chime in in a minute, but I would say, yeah, our intention is really to provide this schedule for all of our students. And there may be special situations, but that's the goal. Mr. Dulwich, did you want to add anything to that?

[3229] SPEAKER_36: I would echo that the students with disabilities would also follow the district provided schedule. As the state has recommended that there are certain vulnerable groups, students with disabilities being one of them, that can be prioritized when conditions are safe and allow. for in-person learning sooner before the grade levels. And so that is something that we actively continue to explore from the district level with respect to how do we best support students with disabilities and families that are attending IEPs. And so again, hopefully we'll move from the purple back to the red. And that's something that we can consider and put back on the table in terms of how do we best support our most vulnerable targeted groups.

[3286] Mark Triplett: Thanks, Mr. Delawage.

[3289] SPEAKER_26: Some parents are asking for clarity regarding secondary or high school students or even junior high since they have to change from one class to the other. and what does a day in the life of a secondary student look like?

[3302] Mark Triplett: Thank you. So I think we probably won't be able to, in the last five minutes, provide the full day in the life. But I will say that secondary is an added challenge, as this family is clearly noting. Because students in secondary schools move from class to class and move across cohorts, that does add an added level of concern around health safety. It is something that the county and the state public health have have been discussing. The guidelines that we have received is that in secondary it's all the more reason and all the more important that that our students and staff are all following all of the health guidelines around masks, around social distancing, around around hand sanitization. But the county has indicated that it is possible for students to travel from one class to another, provided that these classes are remaining in small cohorts. So that's cohorts of 16 people or less, including the teacher. So the county has indicated that, provided that all those guidelines are followed, that is considered appropriate to have students attending different classes. But I think Mr. Dulwich has been really working on this in partnership with our labor partners and continuing to think through some of the different ways to address this sort of added level of safety concern. Mr. Dulwich, do you want to chime in?

[3405] SPEAKER_36: Sure. One example is to make those transitions specific to the junior high and the high school campus. So in the junior high with our hallways, and then at the high school with our lettered buildings or numbered buildings, for instance, the 400 building or the 700 building to stagger transition times. Obviously a conversation as we continue to look at all possibilities would be to maintain students in a classroom and transition various teachers that adds a logistical component but we would try to minimize all students transitioning at the junior high and high schools at once for obvious reasons.

[3446] Mark Triplett: And we hope to have more information about the details of that in our next town hall. So that's something I think we can commit to and including a day in the life of a secondary student. Ms. Gutierrez, I know we are almost out of time. Do we have time for one more question?

[3468] SPEAKER_26: I think just like last year's seniors, they had a lot of concerns. It seems like this year's seniors are also concerned about graduation and a lot of the senior social events.

[3479] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Yes, I've had the opportunity to speak to some of our juniors and seniors at the high school about this very issue and and I've heard from them how concerned they are, particularly since since many students did not have the older students did not have the opportunity to do some of those events last year. We are totally open to continuing to think through creative ways to make sure that we are celebrating the end of the year and the rituals and all of the important things that happen for our students and particularly our graduating students. But we're going to have to get creative. And first and foremost, we're just going to have to make sure that we're following all safety and health guidelines. So we can't do anything that's going to put students in jeopardy. But I hope with the help of some of our students that we can come up with some really good creative solutions that it won't be the same as normal, but hopefully it'll allow for us to create situations where students can really be celebrating those kind of rituals nonetheless.

[3557] SPEAKER_36: I know Dr. Triplett and I have talked about as we transition into 2021 to differentiate this town hall approach and we can have conversations directly with Newark Memorial High School or Newark Memorial High School and Newark Junior High School together to place a focus and an emphasis on secondary concerns.

[3577] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you, Mr. Dulwich. So that I think that wraps up our evening. So just to close up a couple things reminders. Number one, please expect a Google survey in the beginning of December. And that, of course, will be provided in both Spanish and English. We really appreciate you responding. Our first survey, we got back over 1,700 responses, which when you consider that we have families with more than one child is quite a remarkable response rate. And so please do respond when you get the survey. That'll really help us. And we will be having additional town halls in December, where we'll continue to give you updates. And then lastly, I'll just say a huge appreciation to you for all of your input in your ideas that you're providing the questions are raising up are really important because they help us to think through and strategize. We've had the privilege of engaging with students. around these schedules, with principals, other staff, and we'll continue to do so because your input really, really is important. And we can't figure this out alone. We're going to figure it out together. So again, thank you. And Mr. Dolowich, you want to close us up?

[3656] SPEAKER_36: I just want to send really just a shout out and a heartfelt appreciation to our parents to our community members and especially our staff. We know this is not easy work, and the teachers especially are doing an absolutely amazing job. We know, though, for our students and families, many of us are going through the same things with you together. And so just know that we are open to the feedback and committed to ensuring the safest possible reopening when conditions allow.

[3690] Mark Triplett: Terrific. Thanks, Mr. Dulowicz. I also want to just give a shout out to Ms. Guevara, who's helping with translation tonight. She's an amazing superstar. Muchísimas gracias, señora. Thank you to Ms. Gutierrez, who is always helping with all of the logistics and behind the scenes things. Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. And then you can't see him, but Mr. Rose is the IT expert that is making the engines run. Thank you so much, Mr. Rose, and to your team. And with that, I'll say good night and do take care, be safe, wear the mask, and we'll see you next time.

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