Reply to Takeaways from the Brabrand virtual town hall

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The first 30-45 minutes had mostly to do with the Covid response, then they started talking more about equity issues in the schools in general. I had to log off around 7, but I think they went about another hour judging by the length of the Facebook Live video. Not sure if more Covid info was discussed toward the end of the meeting. But here were my takeaways:

They want to make a final decision on next school year by July. They will have more information on the three options by June 15. It sounded like there is another town hall/virtual meeting scheduled for around June 15 where the options will be discussed in greater detail.

The three options are all distance learning; some kind of hybrid model where there are things like half-days, 3 days a week in school, some kids in school and some not, classes on Saturdays, etc. and the remainder will be distance learning some of the time; and all kids back in school with the option for any student to continue distance learning

Braband stated that August would be too late to make a final decision because they can’t turn things around within 2 weeks no matter what the decision is. So decision for 2020-2021 school year will likely come in July.

They need further guidance from the state and from the education/return to school committee formed by the Governor

I was struck by how many teachers in the comments on the FB live did not want to return to classroom teaching - lots of whining, lots of “our kids health is MORE important right now.” Many teachers did want to return but a larger (or more vocal?) amount absolutely did not. I was surprised about this because of how many teachers are also parents. Can't do your own classroom's distance learning and home tech troubleshooting at the same time you're trying to help your kids with distance learning, though perhaps they are all parents of older MS kids and up who can be more self-sufficient?

Preschool special ed classrooms weren't discussed, this was disappointing as this is a section of students who really can't distance learn

There was no real plan about, if there is distance learning, how to get ELL families more involved, “family training,” etc. A speaker brought up the fact that many parents have no idea how to help their students in distance learning. These students are falling very far behind compared to kids that have always been involved in things like Kumon, tutoring, Outschool etc.

They are distributing more devices to elementary and middle kids.

Equity issues are at play with Covid and in general, including not just race/ethnicity but also students with special needs, LGBT, and where you actually live in the county/what school you attend

Also I believe later in the meeting there was information discussed about AAP - did anyone catch that? It sounded like it was in the realm of expanding access to AAP for diverse students.[/quote]

Preschool special ed should be the last piece of the puzzle

In no way should preschool be a priority above high school, middle school, kindergartners and elementary kids.[/quote]

Wow, I guess we know where you stand.  Say that to a parent with a special needs child.   All the kids deserve an equal chance. [/quote]

There is a separate preschool forum for preschool discussions.

This forum is for Virginia public schools.

That means kindergarten through 12th grade public education.

Preschool is not a part of it.[/quote]

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