Teachers need more time, union head says
In a 5-2 vote, the School Committee decided Monday, Aug. 31, to stay the course set earlier and forge ahead with the “hybrid” part-time, on-campus learning plan starting Sept. 21.
Members Bill Hayner and Paul Schlichtman had argued for beginning classes with all-remote learning, eventually phasing into hybrid. This was also forcefully advocated before the vote by teacher-union-head Julianna Keyes, citing the latest survey of her constituency showing them very strongly supporting her stance.
“Our teachers want to be back in the buildings, but not like this. We need more time,” said Keyes, of the Arlington Education Association. “We have teachers starting the school year [this Wednesday, when staffers return for organization, planning and preparation] not knowing what they’re teaching!” Read the full statement here >>
Five do not want all-remote
Schlichtman was in apparent agreement with Keyes about the enormity of the task and also seemingly hearkening back to his health-and-safety concerns expressed at the last meeting, Aug. 10, when he was the lone opponent to the hybrid plan.
“We’re trying to pull off the impossible,” Schlichtman said before the vote. “In an emergency, it would be easier to revert to all-remote if you started that way.”
However, the five other committee members – Kirsi Allison-Ampe, Liz Exton, Len Kardon, Jane Morgan and Jeff Thielman – voted against this, in essence affirming the 6-1 vote of the previous meeting and agreeing with the concept recommended several weeks ago by Superintendent Kathleen Bodie.
Kardon said before the vote that figuring out details of how to implement high-quality education in a time of worldwide pandemic is going to be “messy” no matter what. He urged his colleagues to “not put [part-time in-person instruction] off to some date in the future when everything is perfect.”
Few virus cases cited
“We’re in about as good a place as we could possibly be in terms of Covid,” said Allison-Ampe before the vote, saying the incidence of coronavirus in the town, surrounding municipalities and the county is relatively low. Bodie before the vote said that the rate is “less than .5 [percent] on a seven-day average” and has been “very stable over the last couple of months.” (For comparison’s sake, in Southern California, where this correspondent grew up, the rate of positive virus tests as reported weekly has been as high as 8 percent over the summer.)
Under hybrid, students are to be on campus two days a week with numerous precautions, including desks spaced six feet apart, universal masking even for preschoolers, except during short scheduled breaks and three hand-washing sessions per school day.
The three other school days would be remote, with Wednesdays always remote and with a short day generally focusing on physical education, advising and counseling. Students are to be divided into two halves: half on campus Monday-Tuesday and the other half on campus Thursday-Friday.
Some seek home-schooling
This will reduce class sizes to less than half of what they otherwise likely would be, as many families have already chosen the long-offered all-remote option, and a few others are expected to withdraw from the Arlington Public Schools altogether in favor of home-schooling.
Special-needs students, especially those identified as high-needs and therefore unlikely to be able to benefit from distance learning, will be invited onto campus up to four days per week (with Wednesday excluded) for instruction tailored to their individual needs.
Arlington High School students will all begin all-remotely because of ongoing ventilation issues at that aging structure – currently being rebuilt — which administrators hope to resolve within a few weeks.
Moreover, any family may opt for permanent all-remote instruction in what administrators are now calling Remote Academy. According to Bodie, based on parental surveys earlier in the summer, Remote Academy is the choice of approximately 13 percent of AHS students, 30 percent of Ottoson Middle School students and 25 percent of elementary students.
Read a variety of related memos >>
See a listing of correspondence, including an enrollment report >>
Limited sports
In other school matters:
- AHS Principal Matthew Janger said that fall sports would be allowed on a limited basis, with soccer, field hockey, cross-country and golf to take place completely outdoors, with no interpersonal contact and possibly without inter-campus competition. Even so, “We’re pretty excited about that,” he said.
- Bodie said that parents now will be given a 60-day grace period to get their children current on required vaccinations. She also noted that “in Arlington, we have very high compliance,” possibly up to 98 percent, with vaccine protocols.
- Bodie also said that administrators would try to implement some kind of baby-sitting service to help working parents and said she expected to have details for the next meeting, currently set for Sept. 10.
- She also said that the timetable to bring AHS students into the hybrid system would be addressed by the end of October.
Bodie is to retire at the end of the 2020-2021 school year; the committee is working with a consultant to choose her successor. Candidates have until Oct. 9 to apply; the committee hopes to have made a choice by mid-December.
As part of that process, an ad hoc screening committee is soon to be convened; Schlichtman emphasized that there is “a large time commitment” associated with this volunteer service.
After a meeting that lasted just under three hours, the committee went into executive session at 9:25 p.m. to discuss contract negotiations, collective bargaining and related personnel issues.
Menotomy Matters: What neighboring districts are doing; Globe, Aug. 7: Cambridge, Malden, Medford each approve remote-only start for most
Aug. 11, 2020: Public schools to reopen this fall under hybrid model
This news summary by YourArlington freelancer Judith Pfeffer was published Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020.
