Superintendent's Weekly Update 10-1-21

 



“The Douglas Public Schools offer diverse learning experiences that meet the academic, social, physical, and emotional needs of all students. We provide a safe, supportive, and challenging learning environment in which students may achieve academic success and personal growth. Decisions are made in the best interest of students.” 



Literacy:

Earlier this week we held a professional development opportunity for K-5 teachers around literacy. The focus of the professional development was how to use read aloud inside our classrooms. Read aloud helps students develop a love of reading, builds upon their comprehension skills, promotes meaningful discussion around the text, and helps build a sense of community with students. I am excited to see how we build upon this in the upcoming school year as this will most certainly help our students.


BVEXCEL

Last year our consortium received a grant “to develop a collaborative model for the Blackstone Valley School Districts to provide non-traditional course offerings that will expose students to career options, building industry skills, and provide workforce opportunities that would be difficult to offer in isolation. BVExcel works to combine resources in order to offer students unique courses which would be impossible for each district to offer individually. Each of these courses is credit bearing towards high school graduation, will be reflected on each students’ transcript, and each student will receive a grade.” This program is up and running for our students and we hope to build upon it in future years. Here is a link to the website for more information. https://www.bvexcel.org/ 


Family School Partnership Initiative:

I am very pleased to announce that we have been awarded a grant to participate in the Family School Partnership Initiative. As we all know, and it was highlighted during the pandemic, the partnerships established between families and the schools are vital to the success of students. As part of the initiative we will:

  • Take stock of our current family partnership efforts through a reflection process aligned to the updated Massachusetts Family, School, and Fundamentals - Version 2.0.

  • Identify strengths, gaps, and areas for opportunity, including at least one immediate action area we want to begin working on.

  • Learn about successful strategies and approaches used in other districts.

  • Build broader awareness and capacity to support deeper family partnership work.

  • Participate in several cross-district sessions and a series of district/school team reflection activity meetings, held virtually and facilitated by SMI coaches.

Our kick off meeting is at the end of October 7. In the upcoming weeks there will be information about running focus groups with families to gather information from you.


Extension of Mask Mandate and Details on Vaccine Threshold:

On Monday, September 27, DESE announced that the mask requirement in schools will be extended until at least November 1 but that as of October 15, if a school demonstrates a vaccination rate of 80 percent or more of all students and staff, then vaccinated individuals in that school would no longer be subject to the state mask requirement. Whether or not a school or district avails themselves of the 80 percent vaccination off ramp is a local decision to be made by school and district leaders in consultation with local health officials. 


Identifying Close Contacts:

On Friday, September 24, DESE released reminders about identifying close contacts in school settings and also released a decision tree to help simplify the process. Of note:

  • Interactions that occur outdoors do not count toward the definition of a close contact.

  • There are individuals who may be exempt from any quarantine or testing protocols in school and who should not be asked to take a test, to quarantine, or to participate in Test and Stay:

    • Asymptomatic, fully vaccinated close contacts

    • An individual who is exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual in the classroom while both individuals were masked, so long as the individuals were spaced at least 3 feet apart

    • Individuals who are masked on buses when windows are open

    • Close contacts who have had COVID-19 within the past 90 days

  • If a student tests positive, it is rare that the entire classroom will be identified as a close contact, as most students will not have been within 3 feet of the individual for more than 15 minutes, while masked, or within 6 feet of the individual for more than 15 minutes, while unmasked. In practice, it is likely only the individuals sitting immediately next to the student who will be identified as close contacts.

Testing Program

We are pleased to offer, as one of our 3 CIC testing options, the Test and Stay Program. Please be aware that in order to be accepted into this portion of the testing program, your child must have been identified as a close contact of a positive case while in school. Individuals participating in Test and Stay should stay home and Quarantine whenever they are not in school settings, for the duration of the Test and Stay program. The Test and Stay program allows your child to attend school and school sponsored activities only, providing the testing remains negative. If you have any questions, please contact your child's school nurse.

Calling Students Sick to School:

We respectfully request that when you call your student sick to school you try to let us know if the reason they are out is COVID or Non Covid related. Simply letting us know that your child is experiencing COVID symptoms will allow for our nurses to better track information and will minimize the additional phone calls home to obtain this necessary information.


COVID Dashboard:

Attached is a link to our COVID Dashboard that will be updated weekly. Unlike last year where I sent our letters every time we had a COVID positive case, I will not do that this year. This Dashboard will provide you with weekly numbers by building. We will continue to reach out to close contacts and also to families if they have been exposed to a presumptive positive student.


As a reminder we will not have school on Friday October 8. Enjoy the weekend and I hope to see many of you as we celebrate Oktoberfest tomorrow in town.


Respectfully,


Paul Vieira, Ed.D

Superintendent


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