FARMINGTON – Members of the Regional School Unit 9 Board of Directors met Tuesday evening to consider a revised proposal for heading back to school next month. The latest recommendation from RSU9 Administration is for all grades to return using a hybrid model- a mixture of virtual and in-class learning, with strict health safety regulations in place. Administrators also proposed a late start date of Sept. 8 to accommodate for the intensive amount of additional training that virtual teaching will entail. The recommendations were approved 13-2, with one board member absent.
Superintendent Tina Meserve said the changes in proposal were primarily prompted by results from the 1,700 parent surveys the district sent out earlier this month, as well as 392 staff surveys, and a virtual community forum held last week. Results from the parent surveys covered both ends of the spectrum as far as whether or not students should have to wear masks and remain socially distant. Those two aspects of health safety are non-negotiable however, for any style of in-person learning, Meserve said.
“It’s uncomfortable, but if it gets us back to school it’s worth doing,” Meserve said.
Parents also showed concern about a lack of internet or technological access, as well as what remote learning will actually look like for their child in terms of support from the school. Many of the issues with internet access or at home technology will be addressed utilizing a $2.8 million federal grant. Wifi boosters, iPads and other equipment will be made available to those that need it, Meserve said.
A specific result of the parent survey weighed heavily in the recommendation for a district-wide hybrid model- only 46 percent of parents said they could reliably transport their child to or from school. The number of students needing to use the bus system would not allow for the 3-foot buffer that social distancing requires.
“It was a very difficult decision,” Meserve told board members. “But we don’t have another option that keeps kids safe.”
The updated hybrid model will divide students into two cohorts based on last name, roughly. Meserve said they will adjust to keep the number of students even, and they will adjust for children from one family who have different last names. Kindergarten through eighth grade will alternate between in-school learning and using a virtual platform such as Seesaw and Google Classroom, while grades 9 through 12 will be organized into “blue” and “gold” groups which are then divided by last name. Groups will alternate days of remote learning and in-person learning, with all high school students learning remotely on Fridays.
Board member Scott Erb raised the question of families with children in various grade levels. Director of Curriculum Laura Columbia said the team spent hours trying to find a way to make this easier for parents, but with four different cohorts at the high school level, in addition to Foster Tech Center programming and students from sending schools, it was impossible to achieve this.
“This was the hybrid design that was most beneficial for all,” Columbia said.
Students in programs that require significant support, such as some Special Education students, will be fully returning. Foster Tech will be working to provide students with enough in person hours to qualify for whatever credentials the student may be working toward, but the program may look different.
All families will have the option of being fully remote, and Columbia said extra attention will be given to those who are not coming into the school. Late Arrival Wednesdays will be put on hold for the year, with all school days running typical hours. There will be no after school activities or late bus for now, Meserve said, and all programming and procedures will be evaluated on a quarterly basis.
Due to the approved late start date of Sept. 8, some contractual language will need to be worked on, Meserve noted. Currently students are required to get 175 days of instruction, and staff members are required to have five days of professional development. Starting school one week later will adjust those numbers, but Meserve said that many schools across the state are facing this same issue and the Department of Education will potentially adjust the number.
As prompted by a board member, Meserve reported that all teachers as of last month had signed their reasonable insurance for returning. She is due to meet with 19 teachers about specific requirements for teaching in person- such as requesting to not cover lunch duty, or requesting certain personal protection equipment. The hybrid model will require teachers to be in school for their regular schedule. If an individual finds that not possible, Meserve said taking a leave of absence for the year is an option.
Details are still being addressed about what would happen if a positive case of COVID-19 is reported in the district, or if a student comes into contact with a positive case. More details will be released soon, Columbia said.
To those who think that we should be reimbursing people to send their kids to charter schools or home school or who drive their kids to school….don’t complain, then, when local taxes go up. Where is the money going to come from for all of that? It is unreasonable to expect taxpayers to start reimbursing all this..especially when it will mean that the rich and famous would get reimbursed for sending their kids to elite private schools.. you know type…billionaire Betsy Devos for example. Also, in regards to the virus…this is all temporary. Can’t people just do stuff to help out (drive their own kids to school when needed) without expecting to get paid for it during these exceptional times? Good grief.
According to the CDC as of August 15, 2020 170,000 deaths from covid. Mortality rate is 0.04% Like it or not this virus has been heavily politicized and that is why we are at this point. Had it not been an election year like H1N1 we wouldn’t be having these discussions but after all we have been listening to people freak out for nearly 4 yrs now and I personally can’t wait to listen to them for another 4 yrs !!! H1N1 was not as deadly as crona according to CDC statistics yet people would have had it been politicized such as crona has been.
Lindy where did you find your proof of this being temporary? No one from CDC ie Fauci, Birx have said any such thing. Not even the non medically trained Bill Gates. As for your question the money would come from the same people footing the bill to the current school system. Although the current system would end up defunded as some others have mentioned it would get kids the proper interaction and non political education they deserve.
What if by some miracle legislation allowed the taxpayer to have the amount of money as stated on his property tax bill for school sent to the school of his /her choice? Such as the one in Fairbanks that so many favor and seems to be a good alternative to the one we have? Parents should not have to pay twice for their child’s education..
Scott Erb why are discriminating against my daughter? You a re breaking the 2002 No Child Left Behind law and the 1964 Civil Rights act because she doesn’t have a 504 or IEP. You are willing for these children to go back to school for 5 days in house instruction but not mine. Scott you are better than that. I am willing to bring a civil rights suit against each school board member and Tina.
And do not forget my fancy rhetoric!
I apologize for having arguments and facts that your media has not given you talking points for.
Your running with a panic mongering fear campaign, That angle will cause people to have to fight for their freedom and their IS real danger in pushing people into a corner without hard facts as to why people should lose freedoms.
You already see small snippets of it happening with people freaking out about being forced or shamed into wearing a mask in a store (Not saying I agree with that) Just reiterating that there is another true danger in doing this.
I realize that the talking point you have been given is that forcing people to wear a napkin on their face, limiting who they can and cant visit, where you can and cannot shop, who may reopen and who may not, whether we may worship together or not….etc.- is not a loss of freedom.
If it is not…I dunno what is.
Did I bring up Janet Mills or are you projecting something?
You keep repeating this “war time” stat…I think we all heard it the first time and see it on media daily.
in the next 100 days around 700,000 Americans will die of various things, more than any war we ever fought.
.
Scott, no one is scouring anything Unlike yourself some of us do not just believe things that align with our own preconceived notions. I am not asking you to believe me or actual real world stats over “experts” using words such as “Could, Might, May, Good chance” and models over real world data.
I believe yourself and many others are capable of putting the partisan thing aside look at facts and realize something smells funny and its not the rotting discarded masks making this smell.
aww…Of course this is temporary. Once there is a reliable vaccine and enough people are vaccinated, the number of cases will decrease to a point where we can go back to normal activities.
Lindy I don’t think a “reliable” vaccine is in our near future. It takes 3-4 yrs for a properly vetted vaccine to be found. Fauci has already come out to say the one they are claiming to be ready this year may only have a 50-60% efficacy rate. That is no better than the common flu shot. They haven’t found a “vaccine” for any other coronavirus yet, I don’t see one for this either but I’m glad you’re optimistic about it. What I see is the people that have come up with the “new normal” have seen what they need to know to keep this going a long time.
Pure, no fearmongering – just reality.
170,000 dead. Positivity rates high. Travel taking place. Scientists all over the world say if we mask and practice social distancing, we can save at least 40,000 lives in the US. Moreover, compared to the rest of the world, which has taken science seriously, the US is doing horrible – that’s why we’re not welcomed in but three countries – Brazil and the US have done the worst job controlling this. REALITY. SCIENCE. You have closed your eyes, you think you’re right and you’re so stubborn that you’ll ignore reality in order to hold on to that delusion. That’s fine – a lot of people have a need to be right, and won’t admit when they’re wrong. But wearing a mask does no harm – and it could save lives.
Ryan, there is no discrimination, at least according to any legal definition. If you talk to a lawyer, they’ll tell you that. I think rather than complain people should realize we’re in tough times and things will be a bit difficult but working together we can get through this. We have to avoid the victim-mentality.
Ryan do you think your kid is the only one being taught this way ? Why don’t you pay attention to how the school administrators and the board came to the decision they did. The DOE and CDC set guidelines for kids safety and that is what is happening. You want to sue people open your wallet up as wide as your mouth and start in Augusta !! I would suggest you stop making threats against people because not everyone their is going to take it.
I have read several school’s hybrid plans for the upcoming school year. RSU9 is the most confusing of all.
(Speaking for myself and my opinion, not representing the opinion ot the school board):
There are many special needs children who receive one on one treatment during the school day.
I cannot claim discrimination against my child because he doesn’t get one on one treatment and has to be in a large class. He doesn’t need one on one treatment.
I think the key is opportunity to get an equal education. Some students need one on one treatment, or need now to be in school five days, in order to get what most students can get via the hybrid or remote model. Such needs have to be documented. I think discrimination would only exist is if a child has these special needs, and the school fails to accept or recognize them. Again, my own opinion, not representing the school board!
awww….The amount of effort going into creating a vaccine by dozens of pharmaceutical companies, research labs and universities worldwide is phenomenal. Look at the amount of money this country, along with several others, have put towards that research and purchasing vaccine doses. There are a couple that are showing good promise. Faucci stated at one point, that on our present course, vaccinations will likely start early in 2021. I think the FDA efficacy requirement for vaccine is 50%. The higher the better of course, but even at that rate, it will have an impact on the disease. Perhaps more of a concern is getting people to participate. It is anticipated 1/3 will refuse the vaccination in this country. That will drag things out longer…just like those people now who refuse to wear masks and insist on going out partying. Where would we be with this virus now, if everyone had complied at the get go?
It would be great if the labs all over the US would report the negative test results as well as the positive, not doing so skews the positivity rates. Florida alone has #s much better than being reported.
Lindy I agree the amount of people trying to find a vaccine is phenomenal, but that doesn’t mean they will be safe after only several months of research. We are still getting new information about the virus daily the vaccine will be developed before we learn all of the lasting affects of the virus itself which makes a difference too. I hope you’re right and this is only a short term problem. This is difficult not only on schools right now it is difficult for everyone. Suicides are on the rise and it seems our community has lost another soul today not far from where I live. I know a few people that have lost faith since this started and it is truly depressing!!!
Ryan I would suggest you not threaten me on a public forum. If you have issues with what is happening you need to bring it to the board. My kids are in the same spot as every other kid that doesn’t have a 504 or IEP. Your daughter isn’t being discriminated against any more than the majority of students in the district except the ones that actually need the one on one learning environment. So she has the same education available to her as any other kid not in special ed services.
I challenge you to produce any hard experimental science which justifies your belief that your loose bit of cloth makes them safer. Stop making excuses. What you’re doing is conforming to unchecked conventional wisdom which to me is extremely reckless.
“In pooled analysis, we found no significant reduction in influenza transmission with the use of face masks.”
This is from the CDC, They know masks don’t work. It’s not about your health. It’s about control.
Time to face the science: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
if you’re going to argue that you cover your face ‘out of respect for the fears of others’ aren’t you obliged to research the justification for those fears? People have all kinds of irrational fears, some of them quite ugly. Do you change your life to suit them as well?
You are excusing your submissive conformism by characterizing it (without evidence) as an act of unselfishness.
Re the article you posted about masks: 1) this is not from the CDC, but an article in a medical journal called “Emerging Infectuous Diseases.” 2) the article does not present any new research but summarizes previous research. Consequently, it does not include “hard evidence”, which is why it references frequently that the studies they are looking at are not entirely comparable. 3) the article is about the transmission of the flu. The authors emphasize that even in the worst circumstances, the transmission rate (R) was smaller than one. For Covid-19, it is much higher. 5) the studies summarized look at the transmission among people who live together, which means that they also share multiple other opportunities to spread the flu, such as shared dinners, hugs, bathrooms, bedrooms etc. So what they are saying is not that masks don’t work, but that they are not effective in protecting members of a household.
Stop pretending any of you anti-maskers have any support in the world of public health. Stop putting others at risk. And stop disseminating your lies and half-truths.
P.S.: I encourage every reader of the Daily Bulldog comment section who is appalled by the anti-community attitudes of the frequent commenters to start posting. We in Franklin County, Maine, are so much better than this, and we are in the majority. We’re in this together. Let’s make sure we are heard.
Which I believe is posted to CDC.GOV Page….which is where you went when you clicked link before coming back to say it wasn’t CDC.GOV website.
There is no NEW Research, nearly a hundred years of mask studies says they dont work for this purpose.
And this would mean what exactly about the transmission of a virus with and without masks? Yes, it means nothing.
One small part did, Again a hundred years of mask research says they do not work for this purpose, no new study has been done yet suddenly under political pressure they say “Could, Might, May and Stands to Reason” that masks kinda maybe could possibly help.
Now, now…who is pretending, spreading lies and presenting half truths?
https://www.fhi.no/en/op/novel-coronavirus-facts-advice/facts-and-general-advice/hand-hygiene-cough-etiquette-face-masks-cleaning-and-laundry/
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/5/19-0994_article
https://nypost.com/2020/08/19/swedens-tegnell-wearing-face-masks-may-be-very-dangerous/
https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/masking-lack-of-evidence-with-politics/
https://www.rcreader.com/commentary/still-no-conclusive-evidence-justifying-mandatory-masks
Again….
“I challenge you to produce any hard experimental science which justifies your belief that your loose bit of cloth makes them or you safer. Stop making excuses. What you’re doing is conforming to unchecked conventional wisdom which to me is extremely reckless”
I urge everyone to actually take time to look into this for yourself, no one is trying to force people to not wear masks…IF you want to force people to wear them, Some evidence that is not contrary to years and years of research would be a good starting point.
@pure there is actually health professionals out there that support not using masks but when they speak out the anti truth media censors them ie. Dr. Buttar for one then you have the Dr.s that spoke out recently and the African woman was completely discarded because of her religious beliefs.
How is it that Bill Gates can have unquestionable support by people about his position on this when he has ZERO medical training and is an anti vaxxer himself ? Google if he had his kids vaccinated and then look into his work with Epstein and the kids in Africa. He is a computer designer not a Dr. The only thing he will do with all this game s make money on the vaccines that will not be properly vetted along with Fauci who also has his fingers in the profit made from all of this.