School administrators all over the state have been faced with countless questions over the summer in regards to the best, and safest, ways to operate when the 2020-21 academic year kicks off.
No answers have been easy to come by, and it almost seems as though an answer can bring up more questions.
Essex Westford School District (EWSD) Superintendent Beth Cobb lives in a world changing by the second. It was practically just minutes before she spoke with the Reporter last week that she was thrown another change as she received notice that Governor Phil Scott was mandating that schools not start until Sept. 8 -- pushing back the district’s original start date of Aug. 27.
A few times throughout the conversation, Cobb had to specify that her answer was “as of” that day and time -- knowing that the same question might not result in the same answer if asked just hours later. With that in mind, and the fact that answers may have varied from school-to-school within the district based on resources, class sizes, and other factors, it didn’t seem prudent to ask anything too particular.
“I’m still building the plane as I’m flying it,” said Cobb. She did note that families have been getting weekly updates, along with the school board, and that she’ll try to share those updates with the rest of the community more often.
Instead, the conversation turned to the bigger picture: blanket answers that have been made across the district and more general questions that are still lingering.
On July 25, Harwood Unified Union School District Superintendent Brigid Nease posted a letter to her district’s community partly titled “It’s Time to Speak Out.” In it, she was open about her thoughts, feelings, and concerns regarding reopening school buildings and how she, her staff, and the Harwood Unified school board would tackle the same issues facing Cobb and other administrators throughout the state.
Nease’s letter seemed to express a frustration with the Vermont Agency of Education (AOE), or other state officials, in not providing much help or direction in how to best start the school year.
“Under the guise of local control and the need to respond flexibly to the differences in each district, leaders were told by state officials to basically go figure it out,” it read. “This one superintendent respectfully recommends that the only way out is through, by having the Scott administration, the AOE, and the [Vermont-National Education Association] take this bull by the horns and lean into it.”
Asked if she thought Nease’s opinions were representative of those from other superintendents she’s talked to, or even just herself, Cobb said, “I think that all superintendents have been going through moments as she described, and I do think it's been difficult. I also understand that the AOE is put into a place, as well, in getting guidance from people that may be above them, or even from federal guidance. So I understand there's a process for everything.”
Cobb noted, however, that her nearby colleagues have helped make the lack of guidance easier.
“Yes, it makes it very challenging for us,” she said, “but I’m beyond grateful for the superintendents in the Champlain Valley. We just have to take it upon ourselves to continue to move forward together, and work together, and support each other. I just think that's been our sanity for several of us in the Champlain Valley. I'm not saying others aren't doing that; I don’t know. But I feel like that's been my saving grace -- and also just constant contact with our own leadership team.”
Cobb’s days are consumed by meetings and conversations. When she’s not communicating with fellow administrators, staff, or state officials, she’s trying to catch up and respond to the staggering amount of emails and phone calls she’s persistently receiving. Cobb said she tries to respond to every message she gets -- whether it’s with an answer or directing the inquiry to someone more appropriate for that specific information.
“I have spent numerous hours trying to give that personal connection to families through email,” said Cobb. “I would rather do that than something be posted on social media.”
Many replies are acknowledging that she’s heard a concern directed to her office, and Cobb knows that the district could not have made a decision that would have prevented her from getting upset emails. She reiterated what she had said at a July 24 Champlain Valley Superintendents Association press conference she was on -- expressing that the hybrid model EWSD announced it’s going to utilize at the start of the school year was not exactly what she would have preferred.
“I've had people very upset and share that in email,” said Cobb. “I knew that, no matter what model we went with, there were going to be people that were unhappy. Ultimately, I would have wanted pre-K to [sixth grade] in person every day, and then for 7-12 be remote or hybrid, similar to what we're doing, because I do think it's important that kids see us in person.”
However, she added that she recognizes the value in a completely-remote learning option and said there were some students in the spring who did really well with it; she thinks they could continue to do so this year if they have the proper support at home. Cobb said providing the option for fully-remote learning to families was one of the “easier” decisions the district has been forced to make.
“I was ready to really go to bat for that,” she said.
At night, Cobb said there’s not always much sleep being had.
“There are sleepless nights,” she said. “I think we all have that, and whenever you go through something, you're dealing with sleepless nights. It's constantly on my mind. I am grateful, again, for the EWSD leadership team and the systems that we've put into place. So it's not all on my shoulders, but we share our responsibilities and it's more of a distributed leadership approach. I feel like I can rely on all those people that we have in place, and especially the principals; I know they've had sleepless nights, and they're working just as hard.”
Cobb said she made a comment to someone in the spring that she had missed the Pandemic 101 superintendent’s course. But she added that she does think her education, received through Lyndon State College and then Southern New Hampshire University, combined with steps administration has taken since EWSD was formed in the summer of 2017, have given her and the district a decent understanding of how to navigate the uncharted waters.
“I think what we do get prepared to do is to handle crisis and emergencies,” said Cobb, “and if the system is set up and prepared to deal with those, then they can deal with any kind of emergency or crisis. I do feel like we've worked hard as a new district to put into place some systems that help us be prepared for things.
“I don't think anybody's prepared for a pandemic, but being able to work together and figure it out, the decision making, and all of that -- I think that’s what a superintendent can bring to a district level. I do feel like I have training on transformational change, and also systems thinking, and I think both of those have helped me in figuring out how to lead the district through this.”
There are a multitude of options, scenarios, and facets of reopening the buildings and moving forward with the start of the academic calendar that EWSD is considering and weighing on a daily basis; so many that it wasn’t feasible for the Reporter to ask Cobb about each one without taking up too much of her time. She was, however, able to provide some insight on a handful of topics.
Hybrid Vs. Remote Options
Essex Reporter: “How often or easily will families be able to have students switch between using the hybrid model or going fully remote if issues of daycare of health concerns come and go?”
Beth Cobb: “We've been having this discussion with a lot of principals -- just recently, in fact… just hours ago. We haven’t made any final decisions, but I would like to see: if families choose remote, that the student stays in that for at least eight weeks. I'll give you my reasons why: if people choose hybrid, we're really using those numbers of students that we'll have in person, so we're creating those cohorts on numbers and what a classroom can fit with numbers. So if we have people in the first couple of weeks that say, ‘Oh, in person looks pretty good; I'm going to jump from remote to hybrid, that could throw our numbers off.
“It would be easier for families to go from hybrid to remote, because it's not fluctuating those numbers right now. That being said, there isn't a principal in this district that would not work with a family; if some incident came along and they are no longer able to have their student at home or something else happened, we would definitely work with families individually and then find the best placement for that student back into hybrid.
“We also may have some students that have chosen remote, but they're not engaging in the learning remotely as well as they could be if you were checking in with them in person. So we'll find a place in our hybrid model, and say, ‘These are the two days that you’ll come in.’ We also know the students who struggled with remote learning in the spring; some of those students might be asked to come four days-a-week and get in-person. We’re really looking at student needs as we design the hybrid and figuring out what's best for that student -- looking at remotely and who can do remote and be successful. We don't want students not to be successful.”
ER: “What if you ran into a situation where a family was adamant against that decision, they're concerned about their kid’s safety, and they don't want them to be in the building at all?”
BC: “I guess we're going to have to have a commitment from them, as well, that their students will be learning and they’ll be helping them to be remote and engaged in learning. As always, we try to be partners with parents, and that's pretty important for the success of a student: that community and schools partner. That's important to us.”
ER: “Do you know how many parents have said that they want their students to be completely remote?”
BC: “In our first go-around, in a more informal survey, we asked how many would be interested in remote if we did hybrid, and how many would be interested in remote if we were able to go 100 percent in-person? 20 percent said they’d want to be remote if it were all in-person, and about 18 percent said they would with a hybrid model. So I'm guessing that it will still be around 20 percent that will want to be remote, and that's kind of what we're going on right now.”
ER: “Have you heard, maybe even before you announced the hybrid model, of any families that have decided to homeschool their kids this year?”
BC: “I think I was talking to two families that were thinking about choosing homeschooling -- not a lot. I was trying to help them decide and working with them to help make sure that they chose the best scenario.”
Staffing
ER: “How comfortable or concerned are you with staffing and being able to take care of everything going on -- and if someone were to come down with the virus?”
BC: “I'm very concerned. Our staff I hold dearly. I don't want anything to happen to them, of course, nor to families. We were directed to do the in-person, and that's what we're trying to figure out -- and the safest possible way to do it. Part of that is doing hybrid, so teachers and staff are in contact with less people during the day than they would be if we were doing all in-person.
“I do have concerns if we have an outbreak in Essex or Westford. I will be working closely with the Department of Health and our COVID coordinator -- we just hired one of our school nurses to take on that role -- and the three of us will be determining whether it's a case that we need to fully go remote for the whole district or just a specific school building; I have to take guidance from the health department. It does worry me, absolutely, and it worries me for families as well.”
ER: “Have you implemented any plans to build up your list of substitutes to lean on additional personnel if you need it?”
BC: “We have put out some information for recruiting more substitutes. Substitutes are always an issue, so we're anticipating more of an issue. In an ideal situation, I would love substitutes to be designated to buildings so that we're even keeping that cohort of staff together; I know our HR director has thought about that as well and is working on that, but I don't know how much that will be possible. It's a concern for sure. And then I’ve wondered how many college students we have out there that are either taking classes remotely or are home taking a gap year, and would they be willing to come be substitutes and become part of us.”
ER: “Have you or principles thought about doing something such as: having a same-grade teacher record their lessons, or have them being shown teaching on a live broadcast in the nextdoor classroom, if the original teacher needs to be out for an extended period of time, so the substitute takes more of a supervisory role instead of actually teaching a subject or topic they’re not well versed in?”
BC: “Absolutely. We talk about teachers who have to self quarantine, but they’re feeling okay, to provide remote lessons, or even synchronous where you're [teleconferencing] into the classroom, so the substitute could be in the room as supervision for the students while the teacher is up on the screen. That is definitely something that we have discussed and will probably have to do.
“We also know we’ll have teachers that can't be in the building for health reasons, and they may have chosen a year leave of absence or something; we would like to work with those people and ask them if they could teach remotely, maybe even to all the same-grade students -- depending on how many they are. We’re using Wednesdays as a time for grade-level teams and content areas to work together and plan and design some lessons together. It would be awesome if we had some levels that would want to do that or that needs to; I think that will be really helpful.
“I'm almost looking at it as if we have a hybrid model that has both in-person and remote, and then there's this other piece that we're offering, which is fully remote to that 20 percent. That's what I'm trying to figure out as well: how does that 20 percent get instruction? I have answered to some people that: it may not be the teacher they were assigned to at the end of last year; that remote person might be somebody different.
“I just think we're asking teachers to do a lot in the hybrid model. We're asking them to teach in person and remote -- and to add the fully remote on top of it; it's a lot. They're trying to figure out even what a hybrid looks like. So we're trying to support them in that, and that's, I think, what the governor's delay to the start of school will help with -- to support teachers in that area.”
ER: “Have you had any teachers saying that they are concerned about being in the building and asking if they can solely do remote teaching?”
BC: “Principals might have gotten that information. They don't go through me; it would be through human resources for health reasons. I don't have access to that. I do know that we have had people express concerns -- such as if they have an elderly person at home. So that'll be that next layer that we look at, and is it feasible and doable for them to work remotely because of the situation.
“But when the governor declared schools close [in the spring], we were paying all staff right through to the end of the year. As of July 1, you need a medical release to be released from your job or to take a leave, and it needs to be the Family Act; we need to follow those laws and regulations now. It's not like it was in the spring where people could just say, ‘No, I can't do it. I can't commit.’ Now it's a little different.”
Meals
ER: “Do you know what meals are going to look like, especially for the free or reduced options?”
BC: “I can tell you what I know, right now, as of 12:33, July 28: our intent with meals in a hybrid model is to have meals for all students, in person and remote. So we’re not asking in a classroom, ‘Who's on free and reduced?’ We want to universally serve them. We're not sure what that looks like, financially. If we go total remote, I’ll hope that the state extends the summer program like they like they did in March. And then if we're all in person, then we'll go back to our regular way that we had meals paid for.”
Cobb provided a few more details to the school board in a July 28 presentation which can be found at docs.google.com/presentation/d/1OF3Rb9IfJu6GAr9yw7IDl7s96s84GCVHy7RT8laTH14/edit.
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Superintendent Cobb on schools restarting: No easy answers - St. Albans Messenger
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