Meeting called to order @ 6:00 pm, April 29
Housekeeping
▪ Meeting conducted via Google Meet due to COVID-19
Principal Update
• First we must acknowledge the losses in our community
o Ms. Vanessa passed away due to COVID-19
o A family lost their home due to fire
o We are trying to support both families
• Guidance counselor taskforce led by Rosa P. to support children as needed
• Attendance ~90% daily
o Watching attendance first and foremost through the lens of safety of students
o Working with students of first responder families to keep a schedule and receive any needed supports
o Check-in with parents re: related services
o Elevated task force to keep an eye on families where students have not been seen regularly on visual platforms
• Cluster Teachers – joining class morning meetings
o Carving out time on their own w/Google Classroom and other visual platforms
• New grading policy – Letter going out to families
o Flexible & patient
o Strongly consider rest of year prior to school closure
o Ensure academic & IEP goals being met
• Remote learning survey
o Inclusions updated with results, data, and resources
o Very little input that indicated “too little” being provided/assigned
• Mental health supports added to Inclusions
UFT Update
• Union has been very supportive of members
o Member Assistance Program (MAP) + 1 other service
New Business
• Questions about next year
o How do we give students closure for this year?
▪ Can classes stay together?
▪ Perhaps begin the year with classes/teachers intact to ease into new year
o Too soon for any decisions
▪ Many factors
▪ Requires a lot of input from paras and teachers
o 5th Graders
▪ Need to collect their belongings
▪ Miss out on graduations – maybe ask them back for a ceremony in the Fall
▪ Try to make up some trips/events
o Guidelines still being worked out for classroom logistics
▪ Very fluid at this point
Personal Experiences/Perspectives w/Remote Learning
• Sumeet – Everyone is doing the best they can; overall positive
• Matt – Same; days are up and down; difficult to keep kids engaged
• Debbie – trying to balance instruction and support
o Support different families/different needs
▪ Video check-ins
▪ Chat
o Make sure everyone is comfortable
• Frank – Honored to be part of a community banded together
o Teachers collaborating and creative
o Resilient
o Administration support
o Continue to make decisions best for the kids
• Yvette – Has heard from some parents
o Mostly sharing positive experiences about classroom teachers and cluster teachers
o Coffee/tea virtual chats have varying participation
▪ Changing up themes (i.e. scheduling help, screen time)
▪ Similar format for ASD (i.e. sensory diet)
• Marina – Received a lot of work from students
o Trying to pop in to a morning meeting each week for each of her classes
• Rosa P – Cluster teachers/ESL teachers working at capacity
o Additional resources available on Inclusions
o Commend teachers and parents for being flexible
• Laura – Really appreciates tech/support provided by Doug
• Megan – K-1 struggling to balance structure for families that need, but not too much to overwhelm kids and parents
o Planning a drive-by
o Kids are doing great
o Amazing parent communication
• Rosa A – schools created a project to go out to families – poster to put in windows
o Producing a video to go out to community
• Shari – Interesting ELL sessions because most of the families don’t speak English
o A lot of sessions include parents ➔ family literacy
• Bridget – Everyone (parents, teachers, kids) stepping up
o New/unique perspective for many parents of children with special needs to see them as learners
o The message is “Do what you can.” ➔ Entire city will return with a 6 month deficit; everyone will be OK
o Survive ➔ Do what is best for everyone
o Recommended time on Google Classroom/visual platforms is no more than 90 minutes
• David – Some 1-on-1 time with teachers would go a long way if it is possible
o Video meetings have been positive ➔ great to see teachers and classmates
• Cheri – Great experience
o Teachers have been awesome
o Impressed with the level of engagement of teachers
o Kids are very adaptable
o Thank you Doug for all the technology and support
• Desiree – It has been challenging with 2 kids with IEPs
o All teachers/specialists have been very supportive and accommodating
o Some students are collaborating
o Learning a lot about kids as learners
• Dustin – Class 4-3 is doing very well
o First couple of weeks was a lot of troubleshooting over logistics
o Learning a lot from other teachers
o Stressing for families ➔ Don’t do too much; don’t stress
o A lot of personalities are changing on screen
o Trying to keep it fresh and fun
• Francis – Remote learning looks a little different at ASD
o The bulk of the sessions are 1:1, which is difficult
o Support from providers, administration, and parents is overwhelming
o Make sure kids are happy
o Posting a lot of videos ➔ very useful for students as they can view them on their schedules
o Not ideal for students to sit at a screen and chat for very long
o More of a support for parents than kids often
• Liza – Fun to see Google Classroom and learn what works for students and teachers
o Try to stick to same schedule of days of the week for cluster classes ➔ adds structure and normalcy
o Interesting to see how kids learn ▪ They need to move around a lot