Planning for the upcoming school year was major topic
Tue, 07/28/2020 - 10:04am
admin
By:
Bonnie Kirchman
The July meeting of the Clearbrook-Gonvick School Board took place on Monday, July 20th. The Zoom platform was used to enable social distancing. Planning for the upcoming school year was a major topic of discussion at the meeting.
Superintendent Jeff Burgess described the planning process the school staff is engaged in while they wait for a decision on how schools will be teaching in Minnesota this fall. Burgess is expecting a decision from the state to be shared during the week of July 27th. At that point, schools will know if they are teaching through regular classroom learning, distance learning, or a hybrid of the two. Until then, the school district has been focusing on creating general plans for each of the possible scenarios. Mr. Burgess is meeting with the school’s safety committee, looking at cleaning issues as well as ways to socially distance students during the school day. Meanwhile, Principal Carl Dugstad is focusing on instructional issues that will face teachers and students. Parents have also been surveyed on issues including transportation and scheduling.
Burgess explained to the board that if the students return to classrooms full-time, the school will be required to follow cleaning and safety guidelines. Bus transportation and school meal programs will not need to be changed significantly. If distance learning is required, the school will follow the basic system set up this spring.
Burgess described the hybrid situation, with some in-class learning and some distance learning, as having the most concerns for planning. A critical piece in planning for this situation is determining the capacity of the building and school buses. Six-foot spacing between students would be required on the buses, meaning every other seat would be empty. The district is looking at how many parents could transport their own children to school. Another possible solution for reducing bus passenger numbers would be running each route twice.
Under the guidelines for the hybrid teaching system, the school’s capacity would be 50%, so only half of the students could be in school on a particular day. With input from the parents’ survey, the administration is looking at a Monday, Tuesday/Wednesday, Thursday schedule. Half of the students would come in on Mondays and Tuesdays and then be home for distance learning on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The other half of the students would start their week at home and come in to school on Wednesday and Thursday. The administration is developing a schedule for Fridays.
Burgess added that the hybrid learning model will be the most demanding for teachers. They will be required to plan and present in-class learning activities. At the same time, the teachers will need to prepare on-line lessons for their students.
The district administrators will continue to keep parents informed of any changes in plans for the school year. In addition, the school board will meet on Monday, August 3rd to allow for more detailed planning once the state’s decision has been received.
Administrators presented a technology purchase plan to the board members. The goal is to have a device like a Chromebook for each student. This additional technology will be necessary if the school utilizes distance learning. But even if students return to regular classrooms this fall, shared technology equipment would need to be cleaned between each use. If students had their own Chromebook, additional cleaning would not be necessary. Mr. Burgess pointed out that the school situation could change at any point during the school year, requiring students to transition from classroom to distance learning without any preparation time for staff. If students already have the technology equipment they need, these transitions would be much smoother.
A technology purchase plan was approved. This plan includes the purchase of 100 Chromebooks for students in the 4th-12th grades. The plan also provides for seven iPad in each classroom from kindergarten through 3rd grade. These purchases are above the $20,000 budgeted for the school year. The budgeted amount will purchase 30 Chromebooks, ten teacher laptops, and five classroom projectors.
Superintendent Burgess also informed the board that the school district is in the process of applying for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER) and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER). These sources of funding were provided through the CARES Act and can be used to fund extra costs related to the school’s coronavirus response, such as additional technology.
In other business, the negotiations committee met with the uncertified staff and came to a tentative agreement. This staff group will vote on the contracts before the next board meeting. One of the goals of negotiation has been to increase the entry-level pay in these jobs to be more competitive with other districts.
Board members approved the Long-Term Facilities Maintenance plan. This plan covers anticipated major projects in the building, such as flooring and roofing. This district puts money away each year for these larger projects.
The board approved the new lunch fees for 2020-2021. Each breakfast and lunch will increase in cost by five cents. The board also accepted the milk bid for the 2020-2021 school year.
School administrators received the go-ahead for the hiring of an additional paraprofessional. This position is needed for the early childhood structured day program.
The board accepted Lowell Bjerke’s request to retire. Bjerke, head custodian for the district, plans to retire in October. Members of the board expressed their thanks to Lowell for his many years of service to the school district.
The board approved the consent calendar. Payments approved include the following: $134,088.73 to Haataja Contracting, $91,589.45 to Custom Aire Incorporated, $20,998.71 to Hill River Electric, $7,072.95 to Clearwater-Polk Electric, $4,399.71 and $2,244.05 to Marco, and $1,929.75 to Garden Valley Telephone.