Board talks center on return to classroom
Technology order, student schedules up for discussion
LANSDALE » A consensus is forming, but the North Penn School Board still has plenty to do before a possible return to school.
“I heard the board is very interested in a number of things. One is providing sufficient time for, first of all, for us to get the equipment in, get it set up and deployed, and for teachers to get comfortable with it,” said Superintendent Curt Dietrich.
“If we’re able to get some of the equipment in sooner, and get it set up, and have teachers try to use it, that would be wonderful: we would probably go grades K through one or two, depending on the amount that comes in,” he said.
In July the board approved a return to school online only for at least the first quarter of the school year, with a goal of revisiting a return to classrooms on or around the first week of November when the first marking period of the year ends. Last week, the board held lengthy talks on their to-do list before a return can happen, and authorized a $500,000 purchase of new equipment including 50-inch monitors and computer equipment meant to facilitate a hybrid model of teachers instructing half of a class in person while the other half streams from home.
On Tuesday night, the fourth board or committee meeting in six days, Dietrich asked for board consensus on whether to bring students back based on health metrics, when the technology arrives, at a target date, or some combination of each.
He and District Coordinator of Communications Media Bob Gillmer also gave an update on the technology order, and asked for clarity on how the board would like to proceed. Since the full board last met on Sept. 18, the technology order was finalized the next morning, and staff are awaiting a delivery date from the vendor.
“It’s one thing to place the order. It’s another to actually have it in your hands, and then once you have it in your hands, be able to have sufficient
time to install it,” he said.
An earlier order of 50 classroom sets should be delivered within the next two weeks, according to Dietrich and Gillmer, and Assistant Superintendent Todd Bauer said the district has a total of 45 kindergarten classrooms that would need the equipment, 45 for first grade and 43 for second grade. Installing that equipment would be necessary for a hybrid return, Dietrich said, since staff are currently using their Chromebook laptops to teach lessons fully remotely, and that equipment may not be ideal for classroom instruction.
“Instead of being 18 inches from the computer, the teacher would be perhaps eight to 10 feet from the computer,” Dietrich said.
“They would teach those that are in front of them, in person, and also watching what’s going on on their large-screen monitor, and those at home who would be tuning in,” he said.
Board member Christian Fusco said, as an educator teaching off of a laptop for another district, “it would be impossible to have half of your class in the room, and half online, and do this with a laptop in front of you,” and board member Elisha Gee concurred.
“Imagine 12 6-year-olds running around you, while you try to stream from the laptop and teach 12 more 6-year-olds. It’s just not possible,” she said.
Further updates will be given to the board as they learn more about the delivery timeline for that equipment, Dietrich and Gillmer said, and once that timeline is known, staff will develop estimates of how quickly it can be installed and teachers trained on how to use it.
Dietrich and Bauer also outlined another issue staff are working through: how to schedule a partial return to school, with students taking turns going to classrooms and staying at home, with the normal class cycles of four days at the elementary level and six at the secondary level.
“What we’re talking about is dividing the students into two groups: an A group and a B group,” Dietrich said, adding that he “wouldn’t rule out” alternatives, but those groups will most likely be divided alphabetically by last name.
“We need to pin down whether ‘ A-day’ is MondayTuesday, or whether ‘A-day’ is Monday and Wednesday, and ‘B-day’ is Tuesday and Friday, or what pattern,” he said.
Some districts have begun bringing back one group of students for back to back days, then having
the other group in for two back-to-back days, with a fully-remote Wednesday in between, while others have suggested Monday-Thursday and Tuesday-Friday inperson instruction means students have a shorter gap between time in the classroom, he said, and staff will ultimately make a recommendation on which they feel is best.
At the secondary level, the picture gets more complex: classes currently run on an A-B-C-D-E-F schedule, Dietrich and Bauer told the board, with some classes only meeting on two of those six days.
“Certain classes meet on A and D, some meet on B and E, and some on C and F. How do you marry the A-B schedule” of two groups of students with those schedules, Dietrich said.
Bauer said he’s begun talks with high school Principal Pete Nicholson on how to resolve those schedu lin g que s t ion s , and already have encountered other possible issues. Under the A-B-C-DE-F schedule, Bauer said, if students return to classrooms on Nov. 9, the subsequent holiday and inservice schedules could mean they go as late as January without having the A-day calendar.
“Could we consider letter days? Maybe just a threeday cycle, with small variations? It’s quite a puzzle, and pretty complex. I do think we will have a solution and recommendation pretty soon,” Bauer said.
Board members also reviewed the talks at committee meetings Monday night on the current stockpiles of PPE and sanitizing equipment, and on current testing data showing a relatively steady positive COVID case rate in the municipalities covered by the district. Board member Cathy Wesley asked that staff “pull out and dust off” their health and safety plan from earlier in the summer regarding how many cases could trigger a school closure, and Dietrich said that would be among the topics discussed at a future meeting.
The board also discussed whether certain students
with special education needs should be among the earliest groups that come back to classrooms, since they may need specialized instruction better done in person than virtually. Dietrich said about 20 percent of the total student body have IEP, or individualized education plans, that specify the need for specialized services, and Bauer added that about 15 students need education in self-contained classrooms due to their individual needs.
“We have really struggled to secure a provider that was willing to go into the home to provide those kinds of services, so it definitely would help us if we open up our buildings,” Dietrich said.
After a lengthy discussion on whether to add new board meetings or adhere to the current committee schedule, the board took no formal action on reopening but settled on adding a new board meeting at 6 p.m. on Oct. 1 to further discuss returning, in addition to subsequent meetings that were already scheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 6 and 15.
Several parents also sounded off during the public comment portion of the meeting about troubles their students have had learning online, and the discussions and decisions the board has made so far.
Pa rent Owen W i lson of Hatfield said he thought changes already made to the daily schedule for younger students to space out their screen time “might’ve been a knee-jerk decision” based on early feedback, while resident Bill Patchell said he thought the board should be ready for teachers to retire rather than return to classrooms.
Parent Maryanne Bayoume said she has a child who is missing part of his classes because of bus transit to and from school for special education support, and parent Andrew Pushart said he thought the health plan should also include preparations for flu season, including a possible requirement that those who return have a flu vaccine.
“If a kid comes to school with symptoms, are you going to treat it as COVID? And then potentially have a panic on your hands?” he said.
Parent Michael Lennon said his four children, particularly the younger, have had trouble navigating the various programs needed to learn online, and parent Melanie Catanese said she has invited board members to see firsthand what virtual special education looks like.
“Parents are so frustrated and so scared, and I hope as a board, and administration, you can appreciate where we’re coming from,” she said.
Parent Corey Luby said his concern was that kids out of school could get in trouble elsewhere, and parent Amy Maupay said she felt part of parents’ frustration was watching board meetings and “listening to you guys having first conversations about things.”
“I don’t think that these board meetings should be the first time you’re having these conversations. I think these public board meetings, where other people are involved, are where you guys should’ve spoken about things before, and had definitive plans in place,” she said.
District Solicitor Kyle Somers answered that individual board members are allowed to have conversations with each other, or with staff, about certain issues, but all group discussions must be done publicly.
“Certainly, the board has been in compliance with the Sunshine Act, which is the law that requires discussions take place in public. And we’ve seen compliance with that, and at the same time a desire to increase the amount of public transparency,” Somers said.
“It would be easier sometimes if we could meet, but we can’t. This is the way it has to be,” board president Tina Stoll added.
North Penn’s school board next meets at 6 p.m. on Oct. 1 and at 7 p.m. on Oct. 6 and 15; for more information visit www. NPenn.org.