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[Galusi]: I'll send it to her. All right.
[Cushing]: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As we did last night, we're going to wait a minute as we just went live for us to for us to get our viewership up. Last night, we had went from zero viewers to about 200 in the span of about a minute. So I just want to give everybody that opportunity.
[Unidentified]: Is Tom on or not?
[Cushing]: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Peter Cushing. I'm the assistant superintendent of schools for Medford Public Schools. And so we are, we're happy to have you here again for another StreamYard. Once again, just want to remind people, StreamYard is not like Zoom. This is kind of like a television broadcast studio where we have several people who come in and out during the course of the meeting. And then we are also able to take questions when you submit them in the comment box to Facebook or YouTube. These videos are saved and logged there for in perpetuity. So we will be able to refer back to them as necessary or if other parents aren't able to join us there will be a There will be a thing there will be issues there. So what I wanted to jump into right away was yesterday last night We shared some information that was put out by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education as well as the governor's office and so we are I'm gonna share my screen here real quick and hold on one second, I apologize. I just gotta deal with a technical issue here. And before I get into that, I also just wanna introduce other people in the room with me right now.
[Galusi]: Good morning, Suzanne Galusi, assistant superintendent of schools for the elementary level.
[Edouard-Vincent]: Good morning, everyone. This is Dr. Marice Edouard-Vincent, superintendent of schools. And I look forward to continuing to get feedback from all stakeholders, parents, community staff who are participating during this Green Yard session. And we have a lot of updates for you and we'll give you some similar information that was presented last night for those of you that weren't able to join us. just so that everyone has the same baseline information. And we will look forward to answering your questions as they come in. Thank you.
[Cushing]: So, and then we'll also be having our superintendent resident Tom Malachewski joining us soon. But we want to get started and not delay any further. So we've got our, we've got our, and here's Tom right now. Tom, you want to introduce yourself to the community.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the time to join us today.
[Cushing]: Oh no, you're good. All right, good to go.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: Well, good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the time to join us today to share your questions, your thoughts, your comments, and your feedback. I will be moderating the chat, so I'll be doing my best to pull off some of the comments that are coming from Facebook and coming from YouTube, and to get as many as I can out to our team. So I apologize if I don't get to your question. Again, they've been coming in over the past few times. We've done this very quickly. We've had a lot of participation. Again, I'll do my best to get to as many questions as we can. and we're gonna take about an hour here. So just you can kind of, we'll be here till about 11 and just diving into some of the things that you throw our way.
[Cushing]: All right, so I wanna share my screen with you real quick and get you to this information. So this graph was first presented last week by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. It's put out by Johns Hopkins University. Um, and, uh, you can see here, uh, the 50 States and Puerto Rico, uh, one of the American territories. Uh, so you have our, um, positivity levels. And if you go down the line, you see right where Massachusetts is here. Um, also one of them moved to the map that the governor's office released yesterday for the 14 days between seven 22. and August 5th. And you'll see the various color codings. Red is greater than eight cases per 100,000. So you can see where those communities are. Yellow, four to eight cases per 100,000. Green is fewer than four cases per 100,000. And then the white communities are fewer than five cases reported in total, not per 100,000, fewer than five cases reported in total. So that was provided by the governor's office yesterday. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released this color coded metric with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education expectation for learning model. Uh, so right there, you can have, uh, that for reference that was put out by the commissioner last night and is on the Desi website. Um, so red is expected, uh, remote. Yellow is expected hybrid or remote, um, if extenuating circumstances, uh, and then green, which is where Medford is green and white unshaded, uh, is considered full-time in-person or hybrid. And then here are the specific numbers for Medford, 722 through 85 that are published on the state website. And you just go to mass.gov. And then there's a tab for COVID. And I will link that to our Facebook page at the end of today's session. So I'm going to stop sharing right now and head back into the stream yard. I know that we will be taking questions now. I also wanted to address our frequently asked questions. We will be producing those answers in an executive summary format by tomorrow night at 5 o'clock. We have teams of people working on them. We received almost 100 pages of questions. And so to sort through all of that, there are many similar questions. sorting through them to provide executive summary answers to best address everybody's questions. So we're ready to take your questions at this time. All right, so I understand the survey is not binding. When will we have to officially select hybrid or remote for our children? I also believe we have to put in a formal request in during the first semester if we want to make a change. How likely do you think that is possible?
[Galusi]: All right. That's a great question, Bill. So I want to start by saying that The draft dynamic plan is being updated based on community input, educator and administrative input, as well as DESE input. So they've reached out to communities and districts to give us feedback on our plan as well. So we're in the middle of finalizing all of that so that we can submit it by the end of the week. The new deadline for DESE for finalization is this Friday. In that updated plan, which the community will see probably Friday, we have put in for some movement within plans. So, or excuse me, learning models. So we understand that it may not be a fit. for students if they started in hybrid or if they started in remote and wanted to move to a different learning model. We also know that situations may arise in families where you need to switch models. So we have put some language in the updated dynamic plan to reflect that. So basically, a family would put a request in. and we will look at the logistics of it. And the request needs to come in about, we're going to go by the semesters, the marking periods. So another piece is that DESE is requiring that all grading is in place and continues. So the typical grading systems and report cards will start day one. So that kind of lends itself to natural semesters. So that's how we're going to be switching and taking parent requests at that time. So about two weeks before the close of a semester, parents can formally request if they would like their child to have a learning model switch. So at the elementary level where there are three report cards and a winter break, their date for that first semester is Friday, December 11th, that they would have to put the request in. That gives administration and school buildings the time to work on the logistics so that it could go into effect coming back in January. At the secondary level, two weeks prior to the first semester close is Monday, November 2nd. And then that would go into effect when the new semester starts, which would begin Monday, November 16th. All of this is contingent upon capacity. So we have to look at numbers and we have to look at balance. We also want it to be noted that if a parent is putting in a request for a learning model change, that it may include a change in teacher as well as classmates, because those models are not set up to share classmates or educators.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: So we are currently still in the process of impact bargaining. So we have proposed some dates. We're waiting for confirmation.
[Edouard-Vincent]: So the district lawyer and the MTA union representative, they are coordinating schedules to get those dates down. But we did propose three dates, there were some conflicts. So we are working, waiting to get what the new proposed dates are going to be. But ongoing negotiations will continue to take place between now and the start of school.
[Cushing]: Just stay muted, because you can use this.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: Our next one from Patricia. I understand that the hybrid plan allows for stage reopening slash return. What specific metrics are being used to determine that the next stage group can return to in-person instruction? I know in the graphic that we shared with the school committee on Monday night, It outlined some of the specific dates, potential dates of the phases, and also had a box on the side that said that that was contingent upon certain metrics being used. So I don't know if someone on the team can just maybe speak about some of those metrics that are going to be used as we try to determine whether or not we can move in between two phases.
[Galusi]: So that's exactly right. The phases right now go for every two weeks to bring in a new group. So using the metrics that were supplied to us yesterday by the governor and Commissioner Riley from the Department of Education, in collaboration with Medford's Board of Health, will help keep us aligned with our staggered approach. So if the metrics are, if the Medford community is still in the unshaded or green color code, then we are able to keep proceeding with our staggered approach.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: Our next question, how many close contacts do you expect students and teachers to have at each grade level? So maybe this is a chance for us also to talk about some of the ways that we're trying to maintain social distancing throughout our buildings when our students come back in. And also a chance for us to talk about school-based teams and some of the work that they'll be doing to map some of these logistics.
[Cushing]: So the school-based teams are going to be working to put up signage, to have signage on the floors, spray painting markers at the exterior of the building at six feet, and all those types of things. And so we are really committed to limiting the number of students in the buildings to maximize actually to minimize the close contacts. So close contact is very specifically defined by within six feet without a mask for X period of time. And so that's all detailed in the dynamic reopening plan starting on pages 41 with general health guidelines 41. I also noticed people talking about, you know, if a student gets sent home, does the whole class get sent home? And that is not the case. So just please be sure to read through starting on page 41. Unfortunately, Toni Wray, our nurse director wasn't able to be here today because of other meetings and commitments, but we will have her on again. in the near future for another event so that she can help answer all those questions specifically. But we have a very, very detailed plan that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education actually praised in a phone call the other day because of its level of detail around these informations. So that, you know, we will be doing that. I also noticed another question. I know Tom didn't put it up. People are asking about a student who might have a legitimate medical reason why they can't wear a mask. Now, we have purchased about 1,000 desktop screens. This is not one of the ones we purchased. This is a free sample that someone sent. But it'll give you a sense of, hours are 100% clear all around, right? And they'll go on top of the desktops. And so they're made up of a stronger or firm material. So for students who aren't able to wear a mask for legitimate IEP or medically documented issues, that is definitely something that we will be working with.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: So our next question comes from Muzzy Lim. If we choose hybrid and part way through the semester, the schools are forced to go all remote. Will class continue to be taught using the hybrid schedule or just a remote schedule? So obviously a circumstance we don't want to happen, but we're certainly planning for the possibility of that happening. So I know someone on the team can speak about what does that transition look like in the case that we do have to go all remote for everyone.
[Galusi]: Sure, because the schedules will be created for students based on the learning model that they choose. So students that are in the hybrid model, whether you're in elementary or secondary level, a schedule is created for you. If we are forced to close partway through at any time, we will stay in the hybrid model. so that the teachers are the same because the students have already started working with them and a rapport has been set. Depending on the length of the closure, the hybrid teachers will remain the same, but the schedule may shift so that It's not going to be that your students are receiving two and a half days of virtual instruction and two full days of asynchronous. It would mirror a little bit the remote overall schedule. Those details are being worked out with the school-based teams right now.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: So our next question from Jessica, are all children with an IEP considered high needs? When will a parent be notified if their child has been identified as a high needs? And does that mean they will return to a hybrid platform on day one of school? So I think we use the term high needs a lot in some of these presentations. So I think it's important for us to maybe clarify what exactly may be categorized as high needs in this circumstance, and particularly address whether or not all students on IEPs are considered high needs. So I'll turn it over to Ms. Pelosi, who can address that.
[Galusi]: So Joan Bowen, the Director of Pupil Services, has been working around the clock all summer with many of us to ensure that student needs are taken care of and well thought in terms of scheduling and their IEP needs. So IEP needs in a remote situation remote learning plans are created in that case so that student needs are taken into account both in person and virtually, depending on what learning model families choose. High needs, as Dr. Edouard-Vincent has said many times, includes five protected classes of students. If we're specifically talking about students on an IEP, the high needs are for students where about 75% of their IEP academic needs encompass the school day. So in other words, if during a typical school day, your child has IEP services that equal about 75% of their day, then they are qualified as high needs. So what Joan Bowen is working on with her staff diligently is is coming up with groupings for students. And I would anticipate that you would be hearing something probably in September at some point. Right now, our official first day of school is Wednesday, September 16th. And so what the school-based teams are working on right now are the schedules and the cohorts and all the fine details that we will be able to share with families in September.
[Edouard-Vincent]: And so I just want to piggyback and say that your first question explicitly, are all children with an IEP considered high needs? The answer to that question is no. That all children are an IEP, yes, they are receiving additional services, but do they qualify for receiving that 70 to 75% of the day where they have targeted physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapies? other related service providers that are working with their students, those would be the students that are specifically classified. And Ms. Joan Bowen and her team, they are reaching out to families, but that's still in the works right now. But every single student on an IEP would not be classified in that grouping, just to provide clarification. So you'll hear directly from Ms. Bowen.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: So our next question relates to masks. This comes from Dana. What is the recommended protocol that ensures safety and health for all students and staff if a student is prompted to put on a mask and they refuse? What if a student can't use a mask due to medical needs? Will there be individual plans for each student who falls into this category? I'm going to turn it over. I just want to share one thing. There was a lot of questions last night about whether or not masks are mandatory. I just want to emphasize that masks are mandatory for all grade levels. So that's that's the given here. I think your question gets at sort of how do we enforce that? And then also how do we accommodate for students who can't use a mask due to medical needs? So I'll turn it over to Dr. Cushing to give that level of detail.
[Cushing]: So we've detailed in our plan the specifics on masks quite extensively. We've added graphics on how students should be wearing them and all those types of things. And so quite simply, if a student does not put on a mask and refuses, the student will be transferred to the remote learning plan. We're in the middle of a public health crisis and we need to do everything possible to keep as many students and as many teachers as safe as possible. And we want to make sure that parents understand that you have the option for the remote learning. If you have a personal belief or bias against mask wearing, despite it being proven to have really helped to get Massachusetts where it is, the three big things are wearing a mask, which you can buy at bcmask.com for your Medford branding. Number two, all right, physical distancing. And number three, frequent hand washing slash hand sanitization. Um, so, you know, if a student refuses, then unfortunately they will be, um, they will be part of the remote learning plan. Uh, we need our staff and students to be safe. Um, so, and those students with medical needs, uh, I addressed this a little bit ago, Dana, but just in case you didn't see it, your question may have been, um, we will be providing these desk shields for students as well as having them maintain that six feet of distance. Uh, so, you know, that is, that is where we are with that. And so on page 13, yep, page 13. Uh, we have the, uh, we have the masks, uh, quite here you go. Uh, sorry, page 14. We have our masks right there. And then, uh, the full color, the full color does it more justice. And then, uh, we've got a student mask right there. We tried to go really heavy on the graphics. Um, so boom.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: All right, so our next question relates to computer usage. Will the district issue Chromebooks formatted in a way to personalize the user? The school Chromebook that we borrowed in the spring consistently logged off the internet, would not allow password slash websites to be saved, and would not allow Zoom to be downloaded. I have had to set up, log in my first grader multiple times a day so she gets the content she needed. I'd also like our team and Guus to address just some of the consistency that we're striving for and maybe some of the lessons that we've learned from, you know, our taking on remote in the spring and now how that may look different here in the fall.
[Galusi]: Exactly right, Tom. So we heard this concern a lot when we asked for feedback from families in the community based on how last year's remote experience was. And so that consistency piece and also having students create a little bit more ease for access on a lot of the educational platforms and websites that they need to go on The district is now going to utilize a system called Clever. It is detailed in our dynamic plan and we've even included a link. so that if you would like to find out a little bit more about the Clever platform, you can just click that link. It'll bring you. But what Clever is, is a single stream platform. So using this, every student is issued an email address. And when the students use their Metro Public Schools email address, they just log on to Clever once. And then all of the educational platforms that Metro Public Schools will be using at every level will be housed in Clever. And so all students will need to do is click on the icon that they need. And so it takes away having to keep and manage all of the individual logons and passwords.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: So our next question from Allison, have you considered creating a brief questionnaire a smartphone, web-based, or a daily health check in upon arrival for each student slash staff. Many workplaces have implemented this already and it discourages people from having symptoms. I'll turn over to some of the team to chat through this. I also want to share, this is something that our ESY team did and asked families to complete just a quick questionnaire before they sent their students to ESY for a way for them just to monitor their students and make sure they were coming in healthy. So that's certainly something that has been tried here in the district throughout the summer. I'll turn over someone from the team who can share maybe what that might look like possibly in the fall and if we don't have the answer maybe just a good idea for us to consider as well.
[Cushing]: So we actually have a really good answer on that. So we are going to be working with a company called AlphaMed. And what's really awesome is that these types of services is driving some profitability for some companies during this COVID crisis. And so these apps usually have a per user fee that Medford would be paying around $30,000 to use this app for the school year. Now, because we have a connection, we have an app. It's called AlphaMed. And because of a Medford connection, we are able to do this for free, which is really awesome. So we'll be pushing that out. It's really phenomenal that we're going to have this app. So visitors to the building will be expected to use it. All of these types of things are really, really important. that we are going to have this so that people can do it. Now, we need people to be honest. Like, let's be honest here. We are a community now more than ever. All right. And we cannot be selfish and put others in jeopardy. And, you know, we have to be very careful with how we travel. We have to be very careful with how we do things for the greater good. uh and so that's so critically important look wearing a mask isn't comfortable all right but we need to do it and we need to be very careful with who we associate with in our circle of friends right now And I hate the, uh, I hate the concept of this new normal. I hope it's the temporary normal. All right. I really do. I hope it's not the new normal. I hope it's the temporary normal so that we can get back to, uh, the society that we want to be. Um, so just want to say that we have that and we need people to be honest upfront and working with us.
[Galusi]: I think we should just know that we are working on, um, language to inform parents. regarding the alphabet and how it will be utilized as part of the daily correspondence with schools.
[Unidentified]: All right.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: great. So I'm not able to pull, I can't find the question on here. It looks like it disappeared with a great question. So I'm going to, I'm going to raise a comment that was related. It was from Jamie Lee who actually helped answer a question for us about sibling preferences. The other, the other question I'm asking, how will the cohort be developed from a single parent to a child with multiple grades of two to six? And I believe it will still be taking into account I also think that this is a huge topic of questions related to learning pods and families will ask, can they possibly make their own pods? So just want to maybe we can talk through the process of how are we going to develop our cohorts and especially, you know, taking sibling preference.
[Hurtubise]: So I want to start by just saying that sibling preference and working with families is critically important.
[Edouard-Vincent]: So once we get the surveys in and we were just this morning, we were almost at 2000 surveys within two days. So parent response has been phenomenal. We're going to continue to send reminders out, but we need parents to fill out that survey. in order for us to have an idea of what the numbers are. The one constraint is where cohorts are concerned, where families have children in more than one building. We want to be able to have families have their children participating in the hybrid model on the same day, so that as a family unit, to the extent possible, you're having all of your children, whether you have one at the elementary, one at the middle, and one at the high, if hybrid is your selected model, they would be participating in the same cohort grouping. The cohorts, to the extent possible, once we have the final data from the survey, we will start looking at the cohorts. There have been a lot of questions. As we set up the cohorts, for the hybrid instruction, we need to try to balance the classrooms. So, for example, if there are 22 students in a classroom, we wouldn't be able to have a cohort, Monday, Tuesday cohort, cohort B, have 19 students and only end up with two students and cohort C on the Thursday, Friday cohort. So that is something that we have to try to take into consideration. So I know that there have been a lot of questions and asks as community and family are trying to figure out how to manage groupings. So we are definitely gonna, once all the data is in and it goes to the school-based teams, they're gonna look at the cohorts, they're gonna look at families, trying to ensure that children are able, siblings are able to go to school on the same days. And then once we have that information, trying to balance the cohorts as much as possible. It might not be exactly 50-50, it might be 45-55 or 40-60, but we really need to keep the groups balanced to the extent possible so that the teachers have balanced groups of students and we're limiting the amount of students that are in a classroom honoring the six feet of space. So I do wanna say that because it's possible once all the data comes in, that we could end up again with 19 or 20 students families selecting the same exact cohort and two on the other day. So, again, we won't have that final information until the surveys are completed and it goes to the school-based teams and we look at balancing the numbers. So, I do ask for a little patience, but completing that survey for us will really help us to start moving forward with the next phase. Thank you.
[Cushing]: All right, Ms. Brando, so right, so Ms. Brando, one of our great science teachers. So the HVAC system will be evaluated next week. So as soon as we get the report, we'll be sharing that out. you know, the issues need to be addressed. And we've actually added later in the document, you'll see coming out from a Harvard University publication, Dr. Joseph Allen does a lot of work on this. So we've added a graphic. It's a triangular shaped graphic that has been added to the dynamic planning framework. uh, it's in the draft right now that is not published, uh, for our second run. Uh, Patty, I have no problem, uh, emailing that to you, uh, later today, that graphic, so that you can see it, but we will be sharing out the... hold on one second, I think we might be getting back feed again. Mr. Mielczewski, can you mute your mic? Does that work? All right, perfect. So we really want to make sure that that HVAC information is clearly published to the community. We'll have three engineers at the high school next week. I also saw Andrea mentioning, I think Andrea also mentioned related to this, I am curious to hear about individual classrooms being evaluated. So we do have crews working on that. Even in the new buildings, there are individual classrooms where the ventilation isn't reliable. Arctic Engineering and our own team of maintenance crew have been there working on the outside buildings, replacing the belts, pulleys, driveshafts, motors as needed. to make sure that those buildings are fully up and running. Last year, several of the buildings, I'm just, last summer was my first summer here. There was substantial work done on the HVAC systems last summer for various issues. So, you know, those buildings have been really focused on and well-maintained. We do have work to do with the high school and the report from WB Engineering, that's the company that we are working with, Uh, that report, um, is going to be part of a comprehensive plan to make sure that we're providing a safe space. And miss Brando, just real quick, you know, I mean, your science labs are where we want the rest of the facility to be for sure. Um, so. All right.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: So next question from Jennifer. Logistical question around remote and hybrid and just how we're going to be able to pull that off. You've said that all levels of classes will be offered remote and hybrid. How is that possible? There are classes that usually only run as one section. Are those classes getting split up or are teachers going to be teaching remote and hybrid? So I didn't know if someone from our team can talk just a little bit about how we are planning, especially, last, there was a question about AP and honors classes. Will those both be offered, you know, remote and hybrid, or do families have to select one particular track to access those classes? So I don't know if someone on our team can talk about just how, what types of classes we're planning on offering, and do families have to select a certain track to be able to access those particular classes?
[Galusi]: That's a great question, but what our intention right now
[Unidentified]: Hold on, you're gonna have to start over.
[Cushing]: Oh, sorry. Sorry guys, we're trying to manage the feedback. So we apologize. We don't want the feedback to really be causing an issue. So we apologize. We're trying to manage our microphones here. So thank you for the audio comments because that triggered us to not to... Unfortunately, Ms. Galussi needs to start over.
[Galusi]: I was rolling. So we want parents to select the learning plan that works for their family and for their children. So it is the intent that Medford public educators will teach either the hybrid learning model or the remote learning model. How those teachers will be selected is a decision that needs to be made in collaboration with the teachers association. And so we don't have those answers yet. in terms of high school level courses, the specifics of the scheduling, I'm sorry, we don't have more detail just yet, but the details of the scheduling is what the school-based teams are working on right now. And those school-based teams were the second part of this planning phase. And so we had to wait until the school committee decision, which was just last Thursday. So this is the first week. that the school based teams are getting up and running. So once we have the specifics on scheduling, we will let the community know.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: So our next question, while we try to get up on the screen here, is about just transitions. So I'm trying to find the question here from Erica. It says, there is a transitional year for freshmen. Will there be orientation for ninth graders who will be remote until October 26? And also, maybe this is an opportunity for some of our team to chime in on just what are we looking at during those initial orientations for students, particularly thinking about those students who may be going into remote model, to give them the chance to meet their teacher and to meet their peers.
[Cushing]: So we're not only going to be looking at orientations for our ninth graders, we're going to be orientations for our We're going to be looking at orientations and trainings for our parents as well. So setting up sessions for parents to be able to watch, learn, to do it both live and on video at their own leisure. So we'll be working on putting together a slate of classes for them, but we will definitely be having an orientation for not only our rising ninth graders, but our rising sixth graders and others as we need and see fit. Also last night, we had a great suggestion to have StreamYards, this app to be used with our elementary, middle and high school leadership. So I said last night that we would probably set that up for next week. In all honesty, just given we have a tremendous amount of professional development going on next week. You will more than likely have to do that the following week, Monday or Tuesday. We don't want to put it off. It's just when we actually sat down and looked at the calendar. But we do want to make sure that we are providing you guys as much information as possible, as quickly as possible. And, you know, just being part of this process that, as I said last night, it feels like, you know, Medford used to build clipper ships in the Mystic River. It feels like we're sailing a ship without a star or a map sometimes, and we're really trying to figure it out as we go. And I know there was a question that was about kindergarten orientation, so maybe.
[Galusi]: Yeah, I think just overall in our timeline, which is reflected in the dynamic plan, the commissioner gave every district in the Commonwealth 10 days so that staff have time to plan, work, collaborate, be professionally developed, as well as families that Dr. Cushing mentioned. But within those 10 days, we have earmarked three of them for orientation purposes at every level. So regardless if your family has chosen the hybrid learning model, or the remote learning model, we are going to use those three days to create safe socially distant opportunities, possibly outdoors, for families, so parents and caregivers, as well as children to meet their educators. even if you're going remote, we feel that it's extremely important for you to be able to meet in person and start to build that rapport so that you can know someone more than just the pixelated boxes on the computer screen. So we will send out, you will probably be hearing from the building-based teams on your schedule for the orientation days.
[nnsRDJfWfaQ_SPEAKER_08]: So the next question that we're going to post from Mitch from Mom says, is there any update on the bus service for kids staying two miles and beyond? So I also know that that was a question that was asked on the survey, which was just asking how transportation preferences are for families, but also didn't know what are the boundaries that we're setting on who can access the transportation and what that looks like. That comment was at 1041.
[Cushing]: Can you mute your mic? All right, so until we have a comprehensive understanding of the number of families looking to come into the buildings by a hybrid, what we need to do is we need to really stick with the two miles. The two miles is a really, so our bus capacity has been reduced by 68%. We can increase that a little bit by having students who have brothers and sisters sit in the same seat together. But unfortunately, We just don't have the buses nor the bus drivers. So for those of you who don't know, there's a bus and van driver shortage in the state. So it is extraordinarily difficult for us to get drivers in a normal situation. Um, and so there was, there was that issue as well. Um, so, um, the buses, let me just give you a quick hit on bus cleaning. The buses will be sanitized in between runs MBTA buses. I spent about a half an hour speaking to a supervisor at the MBTA. They have no equipment to add for additional. Um, they have no extra equipment to add additional runs. So the runs that we have will be the runs that we have on the MBTA. Those buses will be sanitized and cleaned before the runs and they will be sanitized midday as well. So by having a hybrid model, we will naturally cut down the number of students riding those buses, but the MBTA is not adding any extra equipment for any public schools from what I was told. The other thing too, I know we're going to move on to the next question here, but we are going to be We're going to be working with Walk Medford and our principals are setting up meetings with a state representative who can help us organize walking school buses, who can help us organize students walking to school with parent volunteers and safely entering students to building and then walking them home. Um, so, um, that's what we're trying to do. Uh, we know it's a challenge that really has no good answer.
[Galusi]: Okay. Do you want me to go back?
[Cushing]: We can go to Megan's question.
[Galusi]: Okay. So just to briefly answer Megan's question, some of those decisions have somewhat been made for us through the Department of Education. So they released some standards regarding specialists or fine arts classes. So in particular, as of right now, music classes cannot occur indoors. So that means either we need to look at having those classes outdoors during in-person hybrid days, or most likely a lot of music education will take place virtually for students. The physical education requirements. They have given a different set of requirements when you're outdoors. So for example, if you have your students engage in a physical education class and you can keep the students six feet or more, if you can keep the students at 10 feet, masks do not need to be worn. And those could be opportunities for mask breaks for students. But if students are six feet or closer, of course, masks have to be worn even during a physical education class. In terms of the other guidance from the Department of Education, it says to try and keep the cohorts with as less movement as possible. So what that might mean at the elementary level is that the students remain in the classroom and those specialist teachers rotate into the classrooms. And at the secondary level, it just means that they're trying to cluster them so that there's not too much movement. but we're also looking at having some of those classes be done virtually.
[Edouard-Vincent]: I also wanted to jump in to say where specials are concerned. One of the things that we're thinking about with the mixing of cohorts, if I were to use elementary schools as an example, where students may have art and they have phys ed and where the elementary school calendar, they have three terms, trimesters, that it may be possible to reduce the amount of interaction with different cohorts. One thing we're looking at, again, this is gonna be determined on the school-based teams level, is that it may be for a trimester, instead of going to five different specials, a student may have two specials. or three specials that repeat during that trimester. And then that reduces the mixing of cohorts. And so, you know, from September to, you know, early December, it could be, you know, phys ed and art, but these particular grades have phys ed and art. And then when the next term starts, it could be different specials so that, again, we limit the amount of mixing of cohorts if in fact that is possible. So a lot of this information, we're kind of on standby as the data is coming in from the parent surveys and we end up having hard numbers of what the interest is and what scheduling and planning we need to provide for our students. So I do wanna say that we have thought about that and at the school-based teams levels, depending on the setup of the school, and what could be available that that is something that would reduce mixing of cohorts and keep groups of students together for a longer period of time.
[Cushing]: Okay. All right. So we want to add to the stream, Ms. Shulman, who's our director of... Oh, we lost Ms. Shulman.
[Edouard-Vincent]: I actually wanted to show you... This question came up earlier about our students with disabilities or students who are unable to stay with a mask. It's clear all the way through, but if you can see, I'm putting it on the table. And for some of you, it might not even look like I'm behind something, but this is what we have purchased for our students. that have the need to be behind a protective shield, but they can see. And so it has four sides, one, two, three, and four. And so again, it's, we'll sit on their desk or on their table, and they'll be able to be behind the shield. So if they're talking for students who may have a particular need, we have purchased these for students that have a specific need to use this in the classroom environment. So we are really trying to be proactive and we are really trying to think about all of the challenges that some of our students may have, whether it's a medical requirement to keep not only the students safe, but the staff safe as well. So I just wanted to show you that other artifact as an example for you to know that we are trying will those desk shields be able to fit on the smaller high school desk? So this size desk shield, I would say if this particular one does not fit on the desk, then for that student or the students that would need, we would be able to, because we're only gonna have 50% capacity in a classroom that if we needed to move desks around, if we needed to move them around, then we could do that.
[Cushing]: The other thing too, Dana, I don't know how well you can see it, but this model flexes at four points. So you can actually put it on a desk and it's locked in at the bottom right now, but Sorry, we would be able to actually wrap this around the desk and cut it as necessary. So this model allows us a tremendous, as it attacks me, this model allows us a tremendous amount of flexibility for us to be able to modify to some of those smaller desks. The other option that we have is by pulling desks out of some of our middle and elementary schools, we can bring those up to the high school as necessary. So, great question. You all have those options. So, let's try to get Ms. Schulman in. All right. Ms. Schulman, thanks so much for joining us. I know that you were just working on our racial equity task force, but wanted to see if you had anything to add from your perspective.
[Schulman]: I'm here just to answer questions that parents, students, or the community have, if I can be helpful related to counseling services. We can't hear you. Can't hear me. Oh no, we're good. Now we can hear you. Okay, great. I said I'm happy to answer any questions parents, students, teachers have, caregivers related to counseling services or behavioral health of students as we're gearing up for the new school year.
[Cushing]: Yep, so thank you very much. Vicki, I see a question about the N95 masks. It's possible that students who won't wear a mask have behavioral challenges and they won't like remain seated. Will teachers working with those special populations receive N95 masks? We can definitely work for that. We have a lot of N95, we have KN95 masks really available to us and And we also have ordered for all teachers face shields. I'm gonna try to bring up a picture here of one of our teachers. So if you'll just give me a second to find it and share my screen. We'll have another question pulled up while I try to find it. Let me just find a question here so that someone else can answer. Oh, is there a plan in place for COVID testing?
[Edouard-Vincent]: So- Yeah, I can speak to COVID testing. So COVID testing, we're working closely with the Medford Department Board of Health. For Medford public schools, for Medford public school staff, COVID testing will be available every two weeks. So Mayor Lungo-Koehn, the Board of Health, in collaboration with Tufts University, will be conducting COVID testing for Medford staff on a biweekly basis. For staff that have already reported to work, we will be able to start beginning testing the week of August 24th. We are working We are working on getting information back, specifying that. But once the school year is in session, all staff in Medford Public Schools, teachers, parents, everyone who works for Medford Public Schools, COVID testing will be available on a biweekly basis. So people can continue to get tested free of charge to them. they will be able to continue to get tested throughout the year to ensure their safety. Medford will also be having additional sites that is continued to be, we're working in collaboration with the board of health to figure out where the testing sites for the community and students will be during the school year. So that is something that will be a separate ask, but it's part of the plan. We're working collaboratively, but for Medford Public Schools staff testing, COVID testing will be available for all staff on a biweekly basis.
[Cushing]: All right. Awesome. So I want to get back to that question about the, about students and then Sarah Hyman Witherill, you know, you've got a question as well. So what I'm going to do is just quickly share my screen. Give me a second here while I... move. So here's a high school teacher by the name of Carla Andre Miss Andre. So she worked with us this summer. Thank you to Tanya Sullivan for sending in this picture. So we've got the signage up on the doors. This is on page 44. This is not just you know, this is in the draft plan that is being worked on. So this is not published yet. The original draft is still published. But we've added the picture here. And we are, you know, this this face shield that you see here will be issued to all staff. Now, additional PPE, right here you can see, additional PPE will be provided to direct service providers in accordance with their role and job responsibilities as modeled by Ms. Andre. So, I don't know if you're on the call, Ms. Andre, but thanks for being in our modeling session and really appreciate that help. I do want to scroll down here just so that if I can find it quickly, Um, what I said to miss Brando. Um, so that's the graphic that I was mentioning patty brandel if you uh, I will send you that later on today All right. So but you see ventilate without door air increase filter efficiency and there's a flow chart, uh effect to this And supplement with portable air cleaners. So that's all stuff that our engineering firm wb engineering Uh is going to be able to help us make those determinations on so i'm going to stop sharing right now and go back to the stream yard. So I want to take one more question if we can. And so what about kindergarten screening?
[Edouard-Vincent]: There was something about kindergarten screening for EL students. I was not able to get Paul Textera on the call today, this morning. However, for our EL students. Our newcomers and our ELs are part of the five groups of students that are required to be receiving instruction. Our students with high needs, our EL students, newcomers, Desi is going to be sending out that official guidance, so a group of our ELs specific. Our homeless students, our students that are in foster care, and early childhood students were the five groups that Desi asked to be considered as part of the high needs group that schools will work at educating those students in a full-time capacity. So I just want to address that. Again, I wasn't able to have Mr. Textera on live with us today, but there will be additional guidance coming forward. And as we get that guidance, we will definitely pass that on to all teachers and families so everyone knows who's impacted by those groups. But I can't stress it enough. For those of you who are online today, if you haven't done the survey yet, please do the survey so that it can help us better prepare because the school-based teams have just kicked off and we need that data to be able to answer some of these questions. So ladies and gentlemen, I really want to say thank you very much.
[Cushing]: You know, this is, like I said earlier, you know, sailing a ship without a star or a map. So thank you for your patience, your understanding. You know, I'm sorry that we don't get to every single question. But, you know, even if this were a Zoom, we wouldn't get to every single question. And we're hoping that our frequently asked frequently asked questions document. Tomorrow we'll provide some help. It's 100 pages of questions. So we have to try to answer them in an executive summary answer as best as possible. And so I have two people to call today based on the conversations today. So Ms. Anderson and Ms. Zotter, I'll be giving you a call. I really appreciate the support of Medford. As I said earlier, we need our community to come together. We need to put any selfish interests of, you know, traveling as we're approaching school. We really need to put travel plans on hold. And if you do, then you need to hold out for the 14 days. Our staff, our teachers, there's a moral imperative to the work that they're doing to support our students and to help them for their future. You know, and. their lives, we need you to be strong and enforce the mask wearing, enforce the physical distancing and enforce good hand washing frequently to keep everyone as safe as possible. So thank you very much everybody for your time. I'm gonna give it to our superintendent for final words and then Ms. Galussi as well.
[Edouard-Vincent]: I want to say thank you to everyone who jumped on the call. Thank you for the comments. We're going to continue to go through those comments. Thank you for the feedback. I feel the outpouring of support from Medford has been phenomenal. It was noted even by Jesse the amount of community involvement community stakeholder, community feedback. Your feedback's important to us. And again, even though the proposed plan that we put forward, the staggered hybrid, the hybrid schedule was developed by the hybrid team. The remote schedule was developed by the collaborative remote team. And the communications work group, the steering work group, all of the feedback that was given, everything was taken into consideration and we are now finalizing our document where Dr. Cushing just showed you the screenshot of what some teachers will wear. I was able to show you a sample of what the actual screens look like to protect our students. We have sanitizer. We have electrostatic sprayers. You name it, we have it. If someone tells us about it and it's a great idea, we want to take the good advice, throw out the bad advice. We want to keep our schools open, safe for both students and families. We want to help all those families out there that are saying they need help, they need coverage. The majority of people thus far are saying they want the hybrid, but we're almost at the 50% cutoff. So encourage your neighbors, encourage your friends to turn that survey in. And once we get that information, that information will be made public. So you can also see what you know, the pieces of it that say what our community is saying they actually need. So your safety, your health, your health and safety, providing a consistent educational experience for our students, whether it's remote learning or whether it's hybrid learning. We want to provide a consistent experience because the feedback you gave us from the spring, we knew there was room for improvement. And I feel that what we're offering is significantly improved. So Dr. Cushing just ran and got the electrostatic sprayers. And again, safety, masks, sanitizing, cleaning, social distancing, signs, stickers, and tape is going to be on the floor, arrows. The school-based teams will be determining, use this stairwell to go up, that stairwell to go down. There will be bathroom schedules set up. We're going to try to do everything in our power possible to get schools up and running so that everyone is safe. COVID testing for staff, that was like the icing on the cake. We were so excited to get that news yesterday, caught off the press. And so we're going to continue. As soon as we get the information, we're going to pump that information out to you. So again, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for the feedback. It's truly appreciated. And we look forward to continuing these conversations and hearing your feedback so that Medford Public Schools can be even greater. Ms.
[Galusi]: Galusi. Yes, thank you. In closing, I just want to echo what Dr. Edouard Vincent said that, you know, the continued partnership with you is essential moving forward. And so everyone on this call here today, Tom, Peter, Maurice, myself, we're all parents as well. So we feel, you know, the same things that you're feeling right now and having to make decisions for our own children about next year too. And I think it's just important for everyone to know that because we're with you. And so moving forward to continue that partnership, I think it's very important that you continue to reach out. So if there's anything that we can do to help your family with the reopening of schools, please, I urge you to reach out to your school-based principal and you can always reach out to one of us. We're here to partner with you and to help you in any way we can. so thank you so much we're glad you were able to join us today and we will inform the community in the next week or two about the leveled stream yards that we'll have to answer specific questions about pre-k through elementary and then middle school and high school thank you thank you everybody have a great rest of the day all right and mustangs out
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