July 23, 2020 - Chairperson Report to School Board

PTAC Meeting – Chairperson Report at July 23, 2020 Board Meeting

On Tuesday July 14 at 5:30 PM the Parent Teacher Advisory Committee met virtually to give feedback during the district’s ongoing pandemic return to school planning.

It is important to note that this meeting occurred both prior to the slate of closings, we’ve seen in Jackson County over the last week, and that this new feedback platform we have with our re-formed Parent Teacher Advisory Committee is novel, at least, within the recent history of CESD 95 in that families were given an opportunity to give feedback during the process and not after decisions were already made.

I want to thank John Major and Daniel Booth for championing my passion for bringing this committee back, the CEA for choosing two great teacher appointments in Sharonda Marshall and Colleen Springer-Lopez, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Janice Pavelonis, for her tireless work as our central office committee, board member Carlee Coplea, of course, and our parent members Tarnisha Green, Marianne Shields, Cory Newman and Lilia Angel-Post

Administrators on hand to answer questions were Ms. Pavelonis, Superintendent Booth, and the principal of Thomas school, Robby Clark-Stokes. AND my fellow board representative, Carlee Coplea, invited local SIUC assistant professor and epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Patrick, who was on hand to answer questions.

We had 31 people on the call that night, which was a record for us. Ms. Pavelonis recorded the meeting and Mr. Clark-Stokes made it public on the district’s website under the board committees option and I made it available to district families through Facebook.

As chair of the committee, I began with a brief speech giving informational details about the upcoming school board elections. I had some of the details incorrect, so I will briefly correct those.

EDIT (8/12/20): Those interested in running for school board should pick up their candidate packets from the Jackson County Courthouse beginning on 9/22. This is when you may begin circulating petitions. The window to file your documents begins on 12/14 and ends 12/21. The election is on 4/06/2021. Call Leanne at the County Clerk's office at 618-687-7360 for more information.

Ms. Pavelonis began our discussion by giving parents a glimpse into the district’s return to school planning and the thought process behind it. She expressed how in March when kids were on Spring Break, the district had a short time to put something together that would still support the children in our district. Now, the office and teams have had time to collaborate and build infrastructure for a successful Return to School plan.

Fall will look much differently than last spring due to the time and attention the district has spent towards this plan and the guidelines from the ISBE. The committee and community have given feedback as well, and due to that, there will be more rigorous instruction this fall rather than any packet system we had before. The administration has also put together 7 sub-committees (yes, seven) made up of community members, teachers and representatives from both unions.

Every student in grades K-5 will receive a Chromebook, no matter what option they choose, and whether we are fully remote, hybrid (with a remote option), or are there in person 5 days a week.

After Ms. Pavelonis spoke about the process, thinking behind and composition of the pandemic committee and its 7 subcommittees. She spoke about the plans.

Ms. Pavelonis explained that there will be an option to opt into a full-remote style of learning if a parent believes sending their children back is dangerous. The goal is to make sure nobody feels forced to send their child if they aren’t comfortable.

The committee’s spent time putting together plans that focused FIRST on safety of the children, and then what is best for their education. Janice presented the two main options that each group kept coming down to: A. fully remote (and B. a hybrid of remote and in-person.

Ms. Pavelonis explained that fully remote would mean the child is at home with specific instructions from their teacher on tasks and homework with scheduled times to meet with their teacher/class via zoom or google hangout. The hybrid or blended model would include all of the children who did not opt into fully remote and would send half of them on Monday & Thursday, and the other half on Tuesday and Friday with Wednesday being a fully remote day for each child as the buildings are cleaned. Janice then opened the floor for discussion.

I asked and the administrators answered questions that I received from district families through social media. Then our parent representatives gave feedback to the administrators and asked more questions. We also had several parents ask questions and give feedback in our public comments section at the end.

The feedback reflected diverse points of views regarding concerns about their children’s educational options amid a pandemic. Some planned to choose the remote learning option, other’s the proposed hybrid option and still other’s would rather have their children in school five days a week. The gist of the sentiment at that time was that parents were very concerned that they would be the ones teaching their children. The administration assured families that they would not. The other concern that kept coming up was how parents would manage childcare, if the hybrid or fully remote option happened. Mr. Booth mentioned that he was in talks with area childcare centers to provide a supervised learning environment for many of our children.

At the end of the meeting I asked epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Patrick if she had any concerns or advice in closing.

Her response was that she was very impressed with the districts planning and attention to detail. She thought everyone was asking the right questions and thought that questions were being answered well. She does encourage a social media campaign on mask wearing, as well as expanding upon sharing HOW we are going to clean our buildings. This might bring parents some ease. She also mentioned how poverty is expected to increase in many areas and suggested it would be wise to consider this ahead of time.

Our next meeting is scheduled for the 4th Tuesday in September (9/22 at 5:30). At that point the committee will give feedback to the administration about the implementation of the back to school plans. Please join us. At this point, it is unclear whether it will be another call-in meeting or whether we will be back at the Central Office.

Thank You very much.

Angela Watters

Board Member and PTAC Committee Chair