Virtual Town Hall Meeting

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[11] Mark Triplett: All right, we are live on YouTube. Good evening, everyone. Welcome. Good evening. Good to see everyone. Good evening, everyone. We will wait until we're going to wait about another minute. So we have everyone come on in and then we will get started.

[79] SPEAKER_22: There's no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard. No song that I could sing, but I can try for your heart. Our dreams, and they are made out of real things, like a shoebox of photographs. We'll see if it's all loving. Love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart. Why are we here and where do we go? And how come we're so hard? Good evening, everyone. I'll tell you one thing. It's always better when we're together. It's always better when we're together. Good evening.

[120] Mark Triplett: We'll wait about another 30 seconds, and then we'll get started.

[124] SPEAKER_22: It's always better when we're together. Good evening. We're going to get started momentarily.

[162] Mark Triplett: All right, why don't we jump in. So thank you all for being here. Good evening. My name is Mark Triplett. I'm the superintendent for Newark. And we're really glad you're with us tonight. This is our NUSD virtual town hall meeting to discuss reopening. And I have with me tonight, we have translation in Spanish, as well as ASL translation. And I also have our team with us, Ms. Castillon, Mr. Dolowich, Ms. Pierce, Ms. Ingham-Watters, and Ms. Dela Cruz. So we are going to jump in. Tonight, we're going to be talking, as I said, about reopening for in-person learning, which is going to start on Thursday. So we're going to discuss a little bit about new developments as we've been planning for this reopening. We'll share a little bit about the dry run that happened today and all of the information about that. We will talk about specifically about Thursday and the reopening and then dive into the calendar for the next couple weeks, as well as the schedules for all the different grade levels. And then we will talk a little bit about the safety protocols and updates there. And then lastly, we'll have a chance for questions and answers at the end. So we're going to start last time we at the last town hall meeting on the 20th when we were discussing reopening there was many questions unfortunately we couldn't get to them all we tried our best but did want to just start off with answering a few of the questions that did come up repeatedly in the Q&A that we captured And so I wanted to just address those now and then of course, like I said, we'll have time for more questions at the end. So some of these questions and I might ask some of my team to support with some of these, but we'll just jump right in. So the first question that was raised last time was, how will 11-15 dismissal work if people are picking up lunches? So great question. We will continue to offer curbside lunch for both students who are in person in the school as well as students who are in distance learning and come by to pick up a lunch during lunchtime. So the way it'll work is when students are dismissed from class in person, they will be able to, if they're walking home, they will be able to get in a line with social distance and then pick up the lunch at the curbside before going back to their house. Families who are driving and picking up their child, they will have an opportunity to pick up the lunch from their car as well as picking up their students. So lunch still available for both those who are in person as well as distance learning. Q&A to ask questions a snack and a drink during break time on campus. So that that is permitted. Of course we'll have we have protocols around safely students being a safe distance and being able to to eat the snack. So all of that is being practiced and will be part of the process. Question number three, can parents be there initially to drop off and pick up kindergartners? So the answer is yes. We saw it was wonderful to see parents today dropping off and then picking up their children, including our wonderful kindergartners. Unfortunately, families cannot take their child all the way to the classroom. Because of the safety protocols, families will take the child to the gate, and they'll get checked in by staff, and then staff will make sure to walk the child to the classroom. But unfortunately, families cannot enter the campus just based on the safety protocols for COVID. Number four, what happens with families who have students at elementary junior high and high school at arrival and dismissal. So we know this has been a concern, given the the arrival and dismissal times. What if you have a child at multiple schools. And so we have staggered the arrival and departure times. However, if it still poses a challenge based on a family having multiple children at many different schools, then please parents do talk to the principal to try to see if you can arrange for specific staggered times to pick up your child so that you are able to get to the next school in time. And then lastly, when will schools receive Chromebooks for in-person learning students? So those have been distributed. I believe they'll continue to be distributed tomorrow so that students will have access to Chromebooks for in-person learning. If a student has already received a Chromebook during this year, then they should bring that Chromebook because although we are a one-to-one district, we are not a two-to-one district. So we don't have two Chromebooks. for every student. And so we wouldn't be able to provide a Chromebook at school and at home. However, we do have enough for every student to have a Chromebook. So students who use a different computer at home that's not a district distributed computer, they can leave that computer at home and come to school and utilize a district Chromebook at school. So those are just a few answers to some of the questions that were coming up frequently last time. And again, we'll have more time for questions and answers at the end of this session. So I wanted to jump into some reopening developments. As most of you know, April 15, the board voted to reopen schools to in-person learning. Since we last had a town hall, April 23, The Newark Teachers Association, NTA, voted to ratify an agreement with the district for reopening. So we're really grateful to our partners, both NTA and CSCA, that we've been able to work through any different arrangements and land on an agreement with both labor partners. Today, April 27th, we had our dry run. I practice for how we will be rolling out the reopening on Thursday, and we'll talk more about how that dry run went a little bit later on in this town hall. And then, of course, April 29th, we will reopen in person for grades TK7, 9th grade, and all priority groups at all grade levels. And then May 4th, we will reopen for preschool and for 12th grade. Just wanted to highlight that of all the districts in Alameda County, 14 districts have either reopened or are scheduled to reopen. We are one of them. So we're really excited to be a part of this because we know how important it is for our students, our children, to be able to get back to in-person learning as quickly as possible if they are ready. And so we're delighted that Newark you see down there is on the list to be reopening both in elementary and in secondary. And I believe this part is Miss Pierce is going to talk a little bit more about the dry run today and how it went.

[653] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Actually, I think we're going to queue up some photos so people can see for themselves.

[659] SPEAKER_07: Sounds good.

[660] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Let's get it started.

[675] SPEAKER_24: You can never know what it's like Your blood like winter freezes just like ice And there's a cold lonely light that shines from you You'll wind up like the wreck you hide behind that mask you use Did you think this war could never win? Well look at me, I'm coming back again I've got a taste of love and a simple wish And if you need to know why I'm still standing, you just say What I never could have hoped to win You're starting down the road and leaving me again The threats you've made were meant to cut me down And if my love was just a circus You'd be a clown by now

[748] Nicole Pierce-Davis: So we hope, we hope, we hope that brought to you some of the joy that we felt today welcoming students back, even if only for a dry run. But the excitement, the love, the compassion, the care was all present. And we also realized, you know, we had some things to improve. And that was the point of today. And so some of the things that we spent this afternoon doing, is working on some improvements around the Qualtrics email and making sure we communicate out that it is an email that parents and guardians will receive. We're gonna talk a little bit about more in a second. We also talked about some, how we can improve the arrival and dismissal protocols. And then we also had a lot of our district personnel at site just as additional support, and we'll continue to be there supporting for this first week and even into the second week as well. With that, we wanna talk about the daily symptom check. Ms.dela Cruz.

[806] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Ms. Pierce. So first of all, I wanna thank all of the families and the students who participated in our pilot test for the online daily health screening check. We started the test pilot yesterday and we will continue the test tomorrow. The daily screening is sent via email And then you can opt in to receive these alerts by text. The email that you will receive comes from Newark Unified School District action required. I'm sorry, it's action required Newark Unified School District daily symptom check to be exact. And you can also choose your preferred language. So once you choose your preferred language, then moving forward, your email alerts and your texts will also come in that preferred language. The pilot test does help us improve our system and work out the bugs. So the feedback we receive from you is really helpful. For example, we changed the time requirement from completing the survey by 7.30 a.m., which is what it probably said yesterday and today, to saying we would like for you to complete it before you arrive or enter the school site. There's also the QR code and the paper form that will be available at school sites for those families who either did not receive the email alert or we're not able to complete the survey before arriving at the school site. So again, the pilot will continue tomorrow. And then starting Thursday, we will no longer be in test mode.

[935] Nicole Pierce-Davis: And before we are gonna go into the schedule, this week's schedule and next week's schedule in a little bit more detail. But before we do that, we just really wanted to take a moment and thank all of the staff for their hard work. This really would not be possible. It was a complete team effort. And there were so many members involved in this. And again, the joy that it brought our hearts today, we can't speak about it enough. So we wanted to take a moment to say thank you. And if you happen to see, teachers, principals, all support staff, whoever you see out there, take a moment and thank them because there's been a lot of work that went into this. So onto the schedule, onward, we're excited. So today we had our dry run, that's Tuesday, April 27th. Tomorrow it will be back into a sort of one of those modified days. And so students will receive synchronous instruction from around 8.30 to 11.15. And then in the afternoon, they'll have asynchronous learning to complete. And then officially on Thursday that gives us a day to really debrief everything that happened today, put in those systems in place so that we are ready to go for Thursday when our hybrid schedule begins. Mr. Dollowich is going to talk a little bit about that in a second. But then on Friday we'll continue with our hybrid schedule. The following week, Monday, will be a regular hybrid Monday schedule, which is essentially what they are doing now, right? That Monday schedule does not change. So it's still mostly an asynchronous day with some engagements with classes as well. And again, Mr. Dalla, which is going to go into that schedule a little bit more in detail. And then on Tuesday, May 4th, we will add preschool and grades 12 for in-person. And from then on, the regular hybrid schedule will be in effect.

[1042] Mark Triplett: And before we go on, Ms. Pierce, could we go back there, Mr. Dolowich, to that slide? I know there was a question about tomorrow's schedule, which I know you touched upon, Ms. Pierce, but just to be clear, so the morning time students, regardless of grade level, are with their teacher in distance learning, is that correct?

[1064] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Yes, so it's synchronous, so it's live, but it is distance learning, so it will be over the computer. So that gives us that day to do that. Thank you for clarifying.

[1073] Mark Triplett: Great. And then in the afternoon, students will have asynchronous learning and distance learning. So they'll be doing work while teachers are preparing, continuing to prepare, do the final preparation for the following day.

[1088] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Absolutely.

[1089] Mark Triplett: All right. Thank you.

[1093] SPEAKER_07: All right, thank you, Ms. Pierce and Dr. Triplett. So I'll delve a little bit deeper into the instructional schedules and hopefully answer any clarifying questions that still remain. So just as an overview and to root ourselves, we are aligned with the schedule that was in place in terms of Mondays. Mondays remain synchronous. And again, effective next Monday, all students will be synchronous distance learning and they will follow the same schedule. And so I'll go into that more specifically, both for the elementary and secondary levels. I'm then very excited that for our in-person students, cohort A, they have four consecutive days of instruction. We will detail the arrival and dismissal times that were touched upon. We'll also talk a little bit more later on in this presentation around protocols. Cohort A is our designated in-person group. We are offering both in-person and live synchronous instruction for all of our students. Cohort B is detailed as our distance learning group, they will receive synchronous instruction in the afternoon from their same teacher after lunch. I will say it again, but I'll say it now. Both Cohort A and Cohort B for both the elementary and secondary levels receive the same number of instructional minutes. So that's very important to note. If you opted as a parent or guardian to have your student remain in distance learning, they are absolutely receiving the same content, the same standards, and the same number of instructional minutes. So let's dive right into it. For elementary schedule highlights, as mentioned, Mondays remain the same. So for elementary, they can follow the same exact synchronous whole group meeting in the morning. Tuesdays through Fridays for Cohort A, and that is our in-person designated students, same students who engaged in our dry run-through today. Last name A through L arrive at 8 a.m., and last name M through Z arrive at 8.15 a.m., as mentioned in previous town halls, in a staggered fashion. Staggered dismissal begins to occur at the elementary level as early as 11 a.m., giving our students' last names A through L a full three hours on campus. And then it goes through 11.15. Exact times are contextualized and adjusted at the site level. So please reach out to your site's principal if you have any questions regarding exact times. Science resource and PE teachers. These teachers continue to teach remotely. So what does that mean? It means that if your student is going in person and they are cohort A, in the afternoon, there will be coordinated schedules that the science and PE teachers will teach cohort A in the afternoon. Alternatively, cohort B. Cohort B students remain distance learning. They receive their science and PE teaching in the AM. And so again, back to equal number of minutes, both cohort A and cohort B receive the same number of minutes and the number of times they're receiving both science and PE instruction. it happens alternatively from their gen ed instruction. Schedules are coordinated at the site level. So again, science and PE, they'll be teaching in the afternoon for our cohort A students who are in person in the morning. And then alternatively, they will be teaching science and PE will be teaching in the a.m. to our cohort B who are in distance learning. The elementary schedule, one way to view it as a parent or guardian. And again, that Monday remains the same. A weekly schedule is distributed with both expectations as well as asynchronous activities for the week, as it has always been throughout the year. So we want to be consistent and aligned for our families. There is synchronous whole class instruction happening in the morning. And then Mondays are dedicated for professional development, staff meetings, grading, et cetera. Tuesday through Fridays, again, we have cohort A in-person and cohort B receiving live synchronous in the afternoon. And you can see right there, as mentioned before, in-person in the morning, and then cohort B receives their science and PE in the afternoon and vice versa. Student schedule highlights from elementary. Supervision in the morning, mentioned earlier that the district personnel is assisting throughout the district, as well as our classified staff and administrators in terms of arrival and dismissal. Teachers have the flexibility to supervise in class during arrival, and that's also being coordinated at the site level with principals. Recess supervision, recess is taking place. And there is an opportunity for a break and a snack during this time. It's coordinated at the site level as it has always been. And then I mentioned previously, but it is important to lift up that our cohort B students, families and students that opted to remain in distance learning, they are still receiving the same number of instructional minutes. They're still receiving the same content the same assignments, and so nothing is changing in terms of the number of minutes that the various cohorts are receiving. When we turn our attention to the junior high and the secondary levels, it should be noted again for an overview that the Monday SEL schedule for the junior high specifically, that was updated earlier this year in 2021, that remains the same. So students at the junior high stay in the exact same Monday schedule and aligned with our elementary schools, there's a cohort A and a cohort B, For our junior high, the class periods are consecutive. So Tuesday and Thursday, cohort A and cohort B engage in periods one, two, and three. Alternatively, Wednesday and Friday, cohort A and cohort B engage in periods four, five, and six. So that is consecutive in how they go through the schedule. That remains the same. That does differ from our high schools. And I'll speak to that momentarily. But you can see here, again, cohort A in person, they are dismissed in a staggered fashion prior to lunch. And then teachers engage in the same lessons in the afternoon with cohort B, of course, synchronously. The high school, as mentioned, they have a slight variation with the class periods that they follow specifically Tuesday and Thursday high school students follow 135 on Tuesday and Thursday. And then on Wednesday and Friday, they follow 246. And so that's known as the block schedule. If you have a child at both the junior high and the high school, it's important to know that difference. Otherwise, the schedules remain the same. So specifically, the high schools will be following their same Monday schedule. Cohort A comes on campus consecutively Tuesday through Friday and cohort B receives their live synchronous instruction in the afternoon. If we look a little bit closer at that schedule, you can see here from a parent guardian lens that we have the the Monday schedule on your left. And it goes consecutive fashion that is right there before you. And then we have the staggered arrival. in-person Tuesday and Thursday, 1, 2, 3. And again, in-person cohort A, Wednesday and Friday periods 4, 5, and 6 for the junior high. There is that SEL period that lifts up for that double period 1. So the high school, you can see it here before you. And you can note that it's block schedule. So again, 1, 3, 5. on Tuesday and Thursdays, and then periods 2, 4, 6, Wednesday and Friday. So just important to note, again, that Mondays remain the same at each respective campus and that the junior high schedule is a little bit different in that it has that built in SEL schedule that was developed halfway through the year. So if you're a junior high parent, that does remain the same. Likewise for the high school, the same Monday schedule that they started with from the start of the year. Secondary schedule highlights I mentioned there really that difference between the junior high consecutively 123 Tuesdays and Thursdays. And then the high school following the block 135246 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and then that differs obviously Wednesday and Friday Monday schedules remain the same. And so we are happy to answer any schedule questions, but the emphasis is on safety protocol so we we do want to reinforce the comprehensive districts safety protocols at each and every site. Again, happy to respond to any instructional schedules, there will be staggered arrival. We do recommend obviously all students coming with the appropriate face masks and hand sanitizing if they so choose. And then they'll be following the Tuesday through Friday in-person schedule if they're cohort A. Good evening, everybody.

[1734] SPEAKER_21: We'll be highlighting some of the safety protocols and updates. So every Site has shared and developed safety protocols, which include the following five areas arrival and departure cohort recess or mid morning breaks. What to do if a student needs to visit the office for an illness or an injury or other emergencies. Expectations around use of the restroom and then the daily health screening protocol, the online and the paper and the importance for parents to do that before arriving on campus. Okay, so the daily health and screening protocol. Of course, we've highlighted already the online screening form, ensuring that students are wearing their mask from the moment they are on campus. Temperature is checked upon arrival. We have hand sanitation stations at the entering gate or station and throughout the campus and social distancing markers. If your child is absent, please make sure to notify the school as reported to the attendance clerk. All of the sites shared videos as of Friday of last week, and those were shared both with staff and families. And we ask that you take time to view the site orientation video and of course discuss the expectations around safety with your child. Now that being said, since we've had the dry run today and we will continue tweaking things throughout this next week, We will, through the site leadership and through teachers, be sharing any tweaks from the original orientation video. So just be looking for any social media updates or school messenger updates with any of the adjustments that we've needed to make over these last few days. And then once again, just to go over the protocol, what to expect if your child is exposed to COVID-19 at school. So we do have a COVID-19 liaison who would contact you by phone or email, and you would also receive an exposure letter. There would be an investigation where the district will determine which students had close contact with the infectious person at school and students who did have close contact may be advised to quarantine or get tested for COVID-19. Children or staff who are under quarantine will be asked to stay home for 14 days after their last exposure while the case was infectious. And then isolation, if there is a COVID-19 diagnosis, we have guidelines for criteria. So children or staff who must isolate will do so for at least 10 days and meet the following criteria. So you can see for symptomatic individuals, no fever for 24 hours, Symptoms are improving for at least the past 24 hours and at least 10 days have passed since the first symptom. And then if this person is asymptomatic, at least 10 days have passed. So you don't have to remember all of this. If this does come up at any of the school sites, you will be guided every step of the way. And then finally, determining when it is safe for children or staff to return to school.

[2000] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you very much. So we've just given a lot of information and of course we're happy to answer questions as they come up. We wanted to take a moment to do a quick poll to get a sense of what questions you may still have. So in a moment, Ms. Castellon is going to put up the poll. Oh, there she goes. She's put it up. The question is, with Newark Unified returning April 29th, the topic I still have the most questions about is... So do you have most questions about procedures for April 29th? Do you have questions about students who remain in distance learning, in other words, the cohort B students? Do you have more questions about the instructional schedules? Or do you have more questions about safety protocols? So we'll take about 30 seconds for folks to complete the poll, and then we'll go from there in terms of answering questions. I apologize if you're watching on YouTube. Unfortunately, YouTube does not allow the poll to be responded to, so it's only the people who are currently on the Zoom. So Ms. Castillo, why don't we give another 20 seconds and then we'll look at the results. All right, let's see what we have. So we have a few questions about the 29th, but not very many. So that's good that we've been able to respond to most of those. We have a significant amount of questions for regarding cohort B, the students who remain in distance learning. So we'll go back to that in a minute and Mr. Dulowich and Ms. Pierce can review some of that. We do have some questions about instructional schedules and then less about the safety protocols. So thank you. Why don't we go to, why don't we, before we go to all the questions in the Q&A, let's go back to those two items that were the most questions about, and that is explaining for Cohort B students, what does that look like moving forward? And then also maybe we can just talk a little bit more about the instructional schedules. Mr. Dulwich, would you mind telling us more about Cohort B and how that looks for students?

[2157] SPEAKER_07: Absolutely. So cohort B, I want to be very clear, all students receive weekly expectations at the start of the week. That occurs between 8 and 8.30 on Monday morning. At the elementary level, there's a whole class instruction happening on Mondays. And after the whole class instruction, the rest of that day, are asynchronous activities for all students. At the secondary level, both the junior high and the high schools, students follow the same SEL schedule, specifically going consecutively through their class periods one through six. Where it deviates is Tuesday through Friday. So specifically cohort B, in the morning for elementary, they will receive science and PE instruction virtually. So they will have live instruction on specific days at specific times in the morning if they are cohort B, and they will do so in the morning. There are also assignments, projects, and those are what's known as asynchronous activities. They are not live with an instructor. The instruction with science and PE is live for cohort B. After the designated lunchtime, cohort B engages in their class with their teacher synchronously, which means live. And so the change of schedule for cohort B is specific for their grade level teacher. For elementary, they have it after lunch in the afternoon. Likewise, for secondary, and you can see it here, this is the high school schedule, that the cohort B students will receive designated class periods of instruction in the afternoon. And so for cohort B students at the secondary level, they are engaging in the asynchronous activities in the morning that were assigned. Specific to those class periods on designated days. They are not live in the morning with an instructor, but they are live in cohort be after lunch. And so that is fundamental for our secondary students. And if you look at our elementary students right here, you can see what I was referring to, that the cohort B students are with their grade level teacher in the afternoon after lunch. What does that mean for cohort B students in the elementary model? It means that they have science and PE live on designated days at designated times. Those are site determined. So those schedules will be distributed from teachers to class rosters. And then they have, again, their live synchronous instruction with their grade level teacher at the elementary level in the afternoon. So I hope that sheds a little bit of light on cohort B. I do know that it's a change of schedule. So it's absolutely important to surface those questions. But at the elementary level, they will be getting live instruction. It will be simply science and PE and that their grade level instruction shifts to the afternoon. And those occur Tuesday through Friday.

[2376] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Mr. Delawitch. And I do know there was a question, a particular question around the 12th grade high schoolers that are going to be having the option of in-person starting on the 4th. And so one question I saw was, until the 4th, in other words, Thursday and Friday, what should 12th graders expect their schedule to be like? and the answer is that the 12th graders also will be going to this new schedule. If we can put it, if we can put that up on the screen, Mr. Dollage. Yeah, could you put the high school schedule onto the screen? Great, and we have the There we go. So starting tomorrow, the 12th graders as well will be doing following this same schedule. However, if you are in 12th grade and you are going to be back in person on May 4th, then you should be planning on being in the distance learning cohort until May 4th. So in other words, if it is Thursday, you should plan on being in periods 1, 3, and 5 in the afternoon on Thursday and Friday, with the idea that then on the 4th of May, you will start the in-person in-person time going to periods one, three, and five on Tuesday and Thursday in the morning time. If that's confusing, because I know it is complicated, please do reach out to the high school and get some more clarification, but hopefully that clarifies a little bit. All right, so we are going to now jump to the questions in the Q&A, but I think first Miss Pierce was going to briefly mention about summer school. Is that right, Miss Pierce?

[2507] Nicole Pierce-Davis: Yes, I just want to let families know we will be having summer school. It will be in-person summer school with some limited options for distance if it comes to that. And it will be for elementary grades, secondary grades. We'll be sending out a survey to families soon. It is open to everyone. So it's both intervention and enrichment. So it's not for one group or the other. And it will be June 14 through July 9 with the day off, following the fourth so I believe that's July 5 this year. And so I just wanted to make sure put a put a plug out please look out for that email, we'd love to offer for as many as possible.

[2551] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you, Miss Pierce. And so now we're going to jump to our question and answer section. And I think, Mr. Delawitch, we can probably take down the deck so that we're all visible here. And we're going to jump into some questions. So I will kick it off and then ask some of my teammates to answer some of these questions as we go through. There is a question about in elementary school, how does distance learning PE and science look? I know Mr. Delowich, you talked a little bit about how the PE and science will look for those students in person. And so if you could just clarify how that will look for those who are still in distance learning.

[2602] SPEAKER_07: Absolutely. Absolutely. So first it deserves mentioned cohort a and cohort be receiving the same number of instructional minutes, as mentioned, for cohort. They are live with their grade level teacher in the afternoon. And so what that means is they are receiving science and PE instruction virtually in the morning. That is a site determined schedule. It's the same number of instructional minutes that they have been receiving. And I should say, according to the state, that we are exceeding the minimum number of instructional minutes that need to be offered. We're vastly exceeding that. So we'll continue to do so. But what I would say for science and PE, specifically for elementary, is that the cohort B students are receiving it in the morning.

[2656] Mark Triplett: All right. Thank you, Mr. Delawitch. I see a number of questions in the chat about playgrounds. So I think we've discussed this before, but I just want to reiterate that per guidelines by the state, the playgrounds will be open at our schools. So playgrounds will be open. There's guidelines around proper hand sanitization, mask wearing, and distancing, but the playgrounds will be available at the school for students to play. Of course, that will be supervised by the teachers and staff, and there's, like I said, strict guidelines around cohorts not mixing and things like that, but playgrounds are available at the schools. Number of questions around allergies and I know that this is something that we have discussed and also we have revised the daily health check according to state and county guidelines to address this because many parents Some parents have been concerned with if a student has allergies, when they fill out the form, does it make it so that the student can't come to school because of their symptoms? So the survey has been changed accordingly. So allergy symptoms in particular are no longer reflected on the form. And Ms. Delacruz, did you want to speak any more about that?

[2747] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, so the symptom of runny nose and sneezing is no longer a requirement. So we've modified our survey to not include that as a symptom.

[2761] Mark Triplett: Excellent. Okay. Thank you. Question in the chat around how snack will be provided by the school, how it will be passed out to the children. And I wonder if Ms. Ingham-Watters, you can, you can talk a little bit about this. So question, how will snack provided by the school will be passed out to the children?

[2779] SPEAKER_21: Sure. At the elementary sites, our child nutrition has prepared a cooler bag for as many students that are attending in person. And so that will be delivered right outside their classroom by their mid morning break time. And so if they wish, they may grab an individual bag out of the cooler bag and weather permitting eat outside. If a child brings a snack from home, they will of course take that out as well. But snack will be provided for all students attending hybrid schedule. regardless if they bring their own snack or not, one will be provided for them right outside the classroom door by their mid-morning break time.

[2824] Mark Triplett: All right. Thanks, Ms. Ingham-Watters. I see a number of questions in the chat around concurrent instruction. And just for folks who maybe not are familiar with that term, that refers to teaching in person, in the classroom, but also having the computer on and zooming to students who are in distance learning. So a number of questions around how that is working or if that's something that's being done. So perhaps Miss Pierce, you can chime in, but I'll start in trying to address some of these questions. So teachers are not required in our district to teach concurrently. And the reason that we have established that is because there are many districts that have tried concurrent instruction and it has been really challenging. It places a real burden on the teacher to try to be managing the classroom at the same time as managing everything that's going on in Zoom. And honestly, I think teachers have been frustrated and felt like it wasn't effective in other districts. Having said that, we also don't want to prohibit that from happening. And so teachers who want to try concurrent instruction do have the option to do so. However, if there is a, when there is a cohort A in the morning, and a cohort be distance learning in the afternoon, there still needs to be the option for the distance learning cohort in the afternoon to have instruction in the afternoon. So just because a teacher is providing concurrent instruction does not mean the classes will not happen in the afternoon. Those will still occur. Ms. Pierce, did you want to add anything to that?

[2933] Nicole Pierce-Davis: The only other thing I can say is there's been some questions about attendance. And so I would, I would actually ask those questions to your teacher directly. Because again, if you show up for concurrent, I would just be really clear with the teacher, does that mean I need to show up to the afternoon class, you know, I would just double check with the teacher around attendance, if that is a concern. But other than that, the answer was spot on. Thank you.

[2956] Mark Triplett: Thank you. One thing we did want to bring up that was a question and teachers asked us to highlight around the preschool. So, preschool want to emphasize that, like the other grade levels and classes, the preschool students are required to wear masks. Now, in some situations in preschool, it may be that for a medical reason, doctor or some special circumstance, that a mask is not possible. In those cases, families do need to bring some sort of verification from a doctor or a specialist indicating that it's not possible in their particular situation. But for the vast majority, masks in preschool is a requirement. Let's see, so we have some other questions. Let's see, where can we, Ms. Delacruz, I'm not sure if you know the answer to this, but I think you're the person that, if anybody does, I think it's you. Where can we find out what the snack is so that we can decide to send one or not? I believe we do have information on the website, is that right, under child nutrition that discusses the different snacks that are provided?

[3040] Marie dela Cruz: It would come from Child Nutrition Services, but I can't say for certain at this moment whether it's on our website or not, but normally the menus and the offerings are available on the Child Nutrition webpage.

[3056] Mark Triplett: Great, thank you. And we'll be sure to loop back to Child Nutrition. I know that they do a really good job of posting the meals and such. So we'll go back and just confirm with them. Thank you, Ms.dela Cruz. There is a number of questions about air purifiers. So questions around if there will be air purifiers for the start of school on the 29th in every room. The answer is yes. So we have air purifiers for every room and they will be in the rooms for the start of school on Thursday. We also have air purifiers for other rooms such as offices and things like that. And I know there have been questions around if it's a, what is the capacity of the air purifier and is it able to to do the proper thing for rooms regardless of size. So I wonder if Ms.dela Cruz, could you speak a little bit about the air purifiers and what they're capable of?

[3122] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, sure. So the air purifiers will service a maximum of 1,500 square feet. But in order to provide the two air changes per hour, it will cover 900 square feet.

[3142] Mark Triplett: Okay, terrific. And so if we do have spaces that are larger than 900 square feet, we will be providing more than one air filter, or air purifier, excuse me. Is that correct, Ms. Delacruz?

[3154] Marie dela Cruz: Yes, that is correct. And the standard classroom is about 900 square feet.

[3160] Mark Triplett: Great. And all those air purifiers are outfitted with HEPA filters. Correct. All right. Let's see. Some more questions. Oh, let's see. Okay, just a clarification around the cohort B for high school. And Mr. Delawitch, maybe you can answer this. So Thursday the 28th and Friday the 29th, actually Thursday is the 29th, Friday the 30th, 8.30 to 12, 8.30 or 12.15, what is the schedule for cohort B students in high school?

[3205] SPEAKER_07: Specific to those morning times?

[3209] Mark Triplett: I think it's a question around, in general, for Cohort B students in high school, what is the schedule on Thursday and Friday?

[3218] SPEAKER_07: Perfect. So on Thursday, in the morning, they're engaged in asynchronous activities for Cohort B. After lunch on Thursday, they follow the block schedule 1, 3, and 5. And then on Friday after lunch, they follow the block schedule two, four, six. Those are live with the teachers of those classes. And so they follow that Thursday and Friday, and then obviously that continues the following Tuesday.

[3253] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you. A question, Ms. Pierce, if you can answer. This is regarding special day classrooms. So despite the shortened day, will special day classrooms be able to have small group instruction based on students needs?

[3269] Nicole Pierce-Davis: So yes, and we anticipate this will be done in a variety of ways, depending on whether or not the student is choosing in-person or remote learning, distance learning. But yes, there will still be small group work done with all of our students with IEPs as delineated out in their IEP. So the short answer is yes.

[3292] Mark Triplett: Okay, thank you. Some additional questions about the HVAC filters. So questions around the HVAC filters, have they been changed and what's the status update there? Ms. Delacruz, can you respond to that?

[3313] Marie dela Cruz: The filters in our HVAC units have been changed three times this year. So once in August, another time in December, and then just recently, this March, April.

[3328] Mark Triplett: All right, wonderful. And it's also questions, a little bit other questions around HVAC. Questions about if an HVAC is not working in a classroom, will the class continue? The answer is that we have monitored and assessed the ventilation and airflow of all of the HVAC units. Any HVAC unit where there is not airflow and ventilation, the fan is not working, we won't have students in that classroom. So if there is a situation where a fan is not working and there is not proper airflow in the classroom, then we will relocate that class to another space where there is proper ventilation. All right, we're winding down here, but want to make sure we can get as many questions as we can. Let's see. Question around sixth grade promotion ceremonies, and maybe Ms. Ingham-Watters, you could answer this question. Will there be sixth grade promotion ceremonies this year?

[3406] SPEAKER_21: Likely, similar to what sites did last year. I'm, I'm unsure. Yeah, so I can speak because I'm closely tied to the site that I was just the principal at, but we're thinking of doing something similar to what we did last year, which included a drive through celebration for all of the students where they would get their certificate and a goodie bag, things like that. likely not, of course, the big traditional everyone's getting together in person, but it may look close to what the sites did last year. So I would check in with the site principal or any of the sixth grade teachers at your site as this is the time when all of the logistics are getting worked out. I can certainly say that that's happening now.

[3461] Mark Triplett: All right, terrific. Thank you. And I believe we will have more information from the schools, high school and junior high, high schools and junior high as well, about graduations and promotions coming out shortly. So I know that those schools have also been working really hard to develop really wonderful plans for promotion and graduation that do maintain safety while having the opportunity to celebrate our youngsters as they move on transition to the next level. So that concludes our town hall tonight. We are at 7.59. Wanted to thank all of you for tuning in tonight and for asking all of the questions that you have. We really appreciate it. And I do want to take a moment to reiterate what you heard earlier, a deep appreciation for all of the staff that have done so much work to prepare for this reopening. This is a Herculean effort and it cannot be done by one person, cannot be done by a handful of people. It really takes an entire community and that's what we've seen. It was really wonderful today to see the young people back, to see families happy and excited, and to see staff so delighted to have students back on campus. So we look forward to that continuing in the upcoming days and weeks. We want to thank you all for being here with us and please keep those questions coming and we will continue to do everything we can to make sure our students and staff are safe and that we create the space for in-person learning to begin again. So with that, thank you all. Have a wonderful night and we'll see you on the 29th.

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