Nome School Board looks at fall reopening of schools
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to threaten the populace, Nome’s Board of Education is tasked with developing a plan for the reopening of schools this fall. It’s tough to make plans when so much is unknown about the conditions that will prevail two months from now. With input from public health and hospital sources, school administrators have put together a complex framework for the re-start based on three levels of risk.
Low risk is termed “green.” That condition exists when there has been 14 days without community spread of the virus. Medium risk, “yellow,” is when there are some active cases and there is a medium risk of community spread. And a red condition is in effect when there are many active cases and a high risk of community spread or if there is an active case in one of the schools.
“I would like to emphasize this is a work in progress,” said Superintendent Jamie Burgess to the board, which met via Zoom. “I want to start with the three different risk scenarios that the state has asked us to consider,” she said. “There is no zero risk scenario.” She pointed out that the pandemic will likely be with us until a vaccine or treatment is found. At the time of the meeting there was one active case in Nome. The risk categories will be determined by public health and Norton Sound Regional Hospital physicians. The school board will look at the conditions for learning during the pandemic, how to ensure continuity in the learning process, and how to cope with the changes. Burgess supplied the board with a PDF spread sheet detailing the issues. The amount of work and thought which went into the planning of the reopening is staggering. There are many details to be worked out.
When the status is green there will be students in the schools with heightened safety precautions in place. This means masks or face shields required for all students and staff with frequent sanitizing of hands. Students will be screened for temperature on arrival at school. A high temperature is one of the first indications of infection with COVID-19. The district will need to order masks and face coverings to ensure that there are enough to go around. There will an isolation room for sick students to wait until they can be picked up.
Medium risk, condition yellow, calls for a hybrid learning model. Students will be in class for two days a week and learning at home when not in school. In the school there will be more social distancing by school staff. They will stay six feet apart for small group meetings and large meetings will be held on Zoom.
In the high risk red state learning will be by distance only. There will be minimal staff in the building, there will be staggered schedules. Gloves will be worn while handing paper packets for delivery to students and while grading papers. The custodial staff of the schools will use deep sanitizing measures if a case is reported in one of the buildings. The prospect of having to switch from one state to another on short notice means the staff, the students, and the parents are going to be well-informed on what the procedures will be.
“We need to make sure we train the parents for instructional support,” said Burgess. “We have reports that some of the parents are struggling a little trying to help the kids to utilize some of the online platforms. Especially for younger children. We’ll have to offer some opportunities for parents to be sure and know how to help their kids at home.”
School administrators will have regular meetings with Public Health Nursing and NSHC physicians to get the latest information on the pandemic. There will be parent and community volunteers to assist with lunch coverage and funding requests to tribal organizations and other community partners to assist in meeting costs. “We want to eliminate large groups of students interacting with each other,” said Burgess. “The cafeteria is the biggest challenge there. Students will have lunch in the classroom with teacher or an adult supervising.”
The transport of students to and from school requires that they wear masks on the bus. Members of the same household will share the same bench and there will be increased space between riders. The buses will be cleaned and sanitized daily. In the yellow state there will be more space on the buses as only half the students will be going to school on a given day. Some students will have a fourday attendance plan and they will have priority in transport. When the condition is red the buses will deliver meals.
Attending to the social and emotional needs of the students is still being discussed. The kids will be dealing with big changes in their schools. It’s possible that those in grades 9 through 12 will have designated home rooms.
At this point in the meeting Superintendent Burgess invited board members to ask questions or make comments about what had been presented so far. “It seems like we may be going back and forth between the risk situations,” said Board Member Dr. Barb Amarok. “It doesn’t seem like we might be ever consistently in a low risk situation.” She asked if all districts in the state are being guided by the same criteria. She observed that it would be difficult for big districts, such as Anchorage, to ever be in a low-risk state. “Do we have COVID-19 funds so we can hire additional teachers to lower studentteacher ratio?”
All districts in the state of Alaska are working with the same framework. “It will be difficult for Anchorage to open,” said Burgess. The Nome School district has about $165,000 in CARES Act funding and is talking to community partners. Nome Eskimo Community has already said they’re ready to pass on some of their CARES money to the district. “Hiring additional teachers might very well be challenging right now,” said Burgess. “Hiring teachers has always been a challenging situation and this year it is doubly so.” Teachers from the Lower 48 are reluctant to travel under the current pandemic conditions. Board Member Nancy Mendenhall observed that parents experienced with home schooling are a potential resource. “We have families in this region that have done a lot of home schooling,” she said. “If they’re interested they could probably give a lot of advice about what works with kids who are at home or partly at home. They would be good advisors.”
“Do we have a strategy to provide masks?” asked Sandy Martinson. “Not every family will have those available.” Superintendent Burgess replied they should be ready
for 30 to 40 percent of the students showing up without masks on a regular basis. She named the Lost and Found as an example. “They have difficulty hanging on to their boots and jackets, let alone something new like a mask,” she said. The cloth masks can be laundered. “We don’t want to be disciplining or punishing kids for not wearing masks,” said Burgess. “We’re going to have a positive message.”
A big problem will be determining where the kids are learning-wise when they return to school. How much have they retained over the long break? More after school tutoring may be necessary. There will be interventions for some students.
A major issue which is still being worked out is connectivity. Hot spots, Internet routers, will be installed around town. So far it is not known to what areas they will give coverage. With the hot spots, the district has total control over content, which is not the case when students access course materials through the regular Internet service providers. “Parents don’t have to worry about students getting on these devices and playing Minecraft all night,” said Burgess. Hot spots can be turned on and off. They also allow staff to access the network without incurring increased costs.
Food service will deliver meals to the classrooms in green and in yellow conditions. When a red condition is happening the school buses will deliver meals.
Nancy Mendenhall expressed concerns for the juniors and seniors and whether they’d be able to complete the courses they need to graduate. Barb Amarok brought up standardized testing and what the State of Alaska’s plan would be. “Maybe we could have it go away for a while,” said Dr. Amarok. “I don’t think it would completely break my heart if we have a reduced focus on testing,” said Burgess. But that’s still an unknown.
Student activities and travel will be affected by the pandemic. The Alaska State Athletic Association will be publishing guidelines but so far they aren’t out. Travel to areas where there’s lots of COVID-19 cases would be problematic. The number of spectators may have to be limited at sporting events, which will have an effect on fundraising. Fewer fans eat less popcorn. It’s possible there will be intramural sports only. If the condition turns to red everything will be cancelled.
During public comments, NomeBeltz teacher Aaron Blankenship voiced his opinion that there should be no Nome Police Department officers in the schools. “In light of the murder of George Floyd and countless other black and indigenous and people of color in our country who have been murdered we are called on to reflect on how all of our practices support white supremacy and racism,” said Blankenship. He told how at the previous night’s Nome City Council meeting $125,000 was appropriated through a federal grant to create a new community policing position to deal with sexual assault. The grant funds those who chose to use the funding for school policing. “I ask what are our students being protected from? Is there a danger present in our schools? Do we need armed law enforcement officers to break up student fights and hand out assault charges? This feeds the school to prison pipeline that actively plagues people of color,” said Blankenship. “This early induction into the juvenile justice system leads to a pipeline to prepare students for a life of interacting with our criminal justice system.” Blankenship suggested the city and the NPD to reconsider ways they can use the grant to provide community policing without bringing officers into the schools.
The next school board meeting will be Aug. 11. It will be determined later whether the board will meet in person or via Zoom.