Superintendent's Weekly Update---November 8, 2020
Hello,
On Friday, the Governor, along with the Board of Health and DESE released new guidance on how they will report out and interpret the data for each community. We have a meeting this week with DESE to learn more about the new metric and I will share it with you once I know more. Here is a link to the DESE website where they give a brief overview of the changes.
This week's data show:
Douglas's Average Daily Case Rate: 12 per 100,000
Douglas's 14 Day Percent Positivity Rate: 3.5%
MA Positivity Rate - 2.3%
Last week's data show:
Douglas's Average Daily Case Rate: 6.84 per 100,000
Douglas's 14 Day Percent Positivity Rate: 1.97%
MA Positivity Rate - 1.8%
Over the last few weeks I have referenced that principals have taken feedback from you and staff and will implement some small changes to the current model. They have also finalized what their plans will be should we have to go fully remote at any point this year. The plans are listed below and they will also be highlighted in their weekly newsletters to you.
Primary School
Current Hybrid Model:
There are not any significant changes to the current model. The teachers will continue to adjust based on the daily needs of the students and lesson.
Fully Remote:
Responsibilities
Kindergarten and Grade 1 teachers will teach their homeroom class in a fully remote model with Cohorts A and B combined.
The K and 1 remote teachers will teach the DLA students only (K-10 students, Gr. 1-11 students).
Schedule
The schedule would follow the same schedule that students experience on their remote days of the hybrid model.
Students would be live synchronous for 3 times per day- morning meeting, ELA Block, and Math Block.
Each day will end with a 20 minute Q & A, teachers will be available on zoom for assistance.
Synchronous zoom time would be 20-30 minutes each time, with asynchronous activities planned in between zoom times.
Wednesdays will eventually change to the same schedule depending on the length we are in the remote model.
Attendance
Per DESE, attendance will be taken daily based on participation on zoom meetings as well as work submitted.
Grading
Grades will be based on synchronous and asynchronous work completed.
Grades will also be determined by assessments administered by the teacher.
Elementary School
Current Hybrid Model:
We appreciate all of the feedback we have received from staff and parents on how the hybrid learning model is going at the elementary school. Based on the feedback, we are not making any huge changes but will continue to tweak the format of our lessons and the organization of Google Classroom to make the learning experience as effective as possible. This will include an effort to give the DLA students more dedicated time with the teachers and more opportunities for students to receive extra help through small groups.
Fully Remote:
All students will continue having a morning meeting each day with their homeroom teacher.
In grade 2, cohort A and B students will be combined and will follow their remote schedule taught by their homeroom teacher.
In grades 3-5, cohort A and B students will be combined and will follow their homeroom teacher’s schedule, rotating between the four teachers for each subject.
Related arts will follow the same schedule with Cohort A and DLA students having live lessons on Monday and Tuesday and Cohort B on Thursday and Friday with asynchronous work on the other days.
Attendance will continue to be taken based on participation in Zoom meetings and work completion.
Teachers will provide students and parents with feedback and assign grades on work that is submitted.
Middle School
Current Hybrid Model:
Based on the feedback and suggestions provided by teachers on the October 23rd district-wide professional development day, the following changes were determined to be the best course of action to meet the educational needs of DMS students as improvements to the current hybrid model.
The teachers of DMS have done an outstanding job (in addition to their daily in-person and remote synchronous lessons) of posting daily content online for students that opt to engage their remote learning asynchronously. Unfortunately, the majority of teachers are finding that a large number of students are not utilizing the content provided. This is also creating a significant backlog of assignments that are not being completed when students are remote. Ultimately, teachers have to re-teach much of the content during the two days that students are in school. This is impeding academic progress in an era that is already in “catch up mode”.
It has been determined that the best course of action is to mandate all remote students attend the current scheduled remote block for the designated content area on a daily basis. This improvement would allow for the following:
More accurate attendance collection for remote students.
Better continuity of content/standard pacing between in-person and remote learners.
Greater connection between students and teachers when remote.
Increased opportunity for formative assessment on a daily basis.
Assist students with daily remote routine and organizational skills.
Implemented November 30, 2020.
Over the next two weeks, the administration will work closely with teachers and families to specify the exact number of students who are not able to access their scheduled remote classes synchronously. We do not anticipate that there are too many students where this circumstance would apply. Once this small number of students are identified, grade level teams will make sure those students will have continued availability to access the content in a sufficient manner.
Fully Remote:
In the unfortunate event that we are forced to go full remote again, DMS will initiate a simple plan for educational continuity. Students will attend mandatory synchronous classes following their daily in-person schedule. Cohort A and B students will attend the same class (avg 17 students) and DLA students will attend the normally scheduled remote block, which will be dedicated to them specifically (avg 16 students).
High School
Current Hybrid Model:
Some of the issues we have seen include students not being able to navigate google classroom to find their assignments, not being able or not choosing to complete remote work, and not being able to access teachers for assistance. To resolve these issues, we are considering some changes such as moving the deadline for school work back to 3:00; having students live zoom with the classes that are in session; and adding more focus during intervention and advisory on skills with organization and study skills.
Remote Model:
If the high school has to close for a short-term period (two weeks, for example), we will continue to use the current schedule with both cohorts meeting together in synchronous classes. In a short-term closure we want to keep the transitions as easy as possible.
If we close for a longer period we have an alternative model we may use that would have classes meet more often per week. In either model we will continue to have Advisory and Intervention blocks to help students with social-emotional and academic needs, as well as virtual club meetings.
I would also like to provide everyone with some clarity on Wednesdays and make sure that everyone is clear on expectations on these half days. Every year, schools need to meet a minimum amount of content hours, this is referred to as time on learning. In order for us to be able to meet the minimum time on learning requirements students need to be in school for 180 (170 this year) days for a full day (6 ½ hours) of school. With this schedule, we do go over the minimum hours each day, however once you take into consideration lunch, passing times, assemblies, and scheduled half days we have very little wiggle room left to meet the minimum amount of hours. Therefore while on Wednesdays students follow a traditional half day schedule, they still need access to a full day's worth of content to meet time on learning requirements. During the morning portion of the day the following are the options that are expected of all teachers in the Douglas Public Schools. Based on the needs of the lesson and students, teachers may provide synchronous instruction to students and/or asynchronous instruction to students.
This will vary from teacher to teacher, grade to grade, lesson to lesson, and week to week. However regardless of which option that is presented each week, every teacher for every period and class must make themselves available to students in some "live" format. This can include but is not limited to office hours to students via zoom, office hours via email, small group check ins, extra help sessions, or messaging through Google Classroom. For the second half of the day, in order to meet time on learning, students will engage in pre planned activities by teachers. I hope this clears up any questions people may have on what Wednesdays look like.
Important Documents
Here are links to 3 documents. The first document provides information to families on what to do if your student is sick. The second is a link to our mask protocol along our guidelines for when we will change models.
Mask and Change in model guidance
Enjoy the rest of the evening,
Paul
