[6:46] good evening and welcome to the 2021 virtual question and answer [6:52] forum tonight um in a normal school year we don't usually have [6:57] evenings where we uh answer questions but because of what uh the covet virus [7:04] has done to our community and to our education and and having us ensure that we have [7:11] safe schools um we've had to change um how we do schooling with the covet virus in our community so [7:19] uh we um asked for uh for questions from our parents and our community and [7:26] we have collected all those and we're gonna go through those questions tonight i want to introduce the personnel that [7:34] are here tonight the individuals that are in front of you have spent a lot of time [7:41] face to face as well as on virtual meetings doing planning with technology with [7:47] facilities teaching and learning movement in the building plexiglas man distancing all those [7:56] things that go along with schooling during this pandemic so i want to introduce [8:02] jeff jergensen um from special services uh he's got the nice kind of uh [8:09] picture with a nice smile oh there he is uh jody d st hubert our director of [8:15] teaching and learning mary hyman our health coordinator who has just been invaluable [8:20] um thinking about how we uh manage the health of our students and how we manage the co the virus [8:27] within our within our schools uh mary whitey is our director of communications nathaniel [8:33] lindley is here uh court technology coordinator randy smazel uh assistant superintendent [8:41] we have sean dudley from valley view middle school principal uh we have uh steve buettner director of [8:48] technology and zack horn is our tech uh our tech professional tonight so [8:54] thank you all for being here um we i i'll be asking um [9:00] asking the questions that came in that came in over the weekend or last [9:06] week in preparation for this and i'm going to start off first by [9:11] talking about what brought what brought us in in march as all of us know we needed to [9:20] change how we deliver education to keep our communities and our kids our staff and everybody in [9:26] a safe environment and we did [9:31] distance learning through june over the summer uh we began uh getting direction from [9:38] the minnesota department of education as well as from the minnesota department of health and um at uh um towards the end of july [9:46] uh we were given the um the kind of how we were going to [9:51] organize school this year and how we would be delivering our instruction [9:56] and the what what what the minnesota department of [10:02] health provides is a number so we are all uh we are gearing [10:08] our education or determining how we deliver education based on what would be the infection [10:14] rate within hennepin county so uh in fact today um we got our uh [10:22] first uh two week average so the info the the number that we use is a two week [10:28] average a fourteen day average of cases per ten thousand so today [10:34] uh it the average is nineteen point two one cases per ten thousand in the population [10:42] uh week average last week it was 19.49 so it did go down [10:48] um modestly to about 0.28 uh cases per 10 000. what that does is [10:55] it that number uh recommends um what our option is what our um [11:03] what our learning scenario will look like so um in this case when we started this [11:10] back in july our case our case per 10 000 was around 21 which puts both [11:18] uh the recommendation for that number would be both hybrid both the elementary be [11:23] hybrid and middle school and high school would be hybrid so when that number is between 20 to [11:29] less than 30 it's both hybrid now we are barely below 20 um and if it's 10 to less than [11:37] 20 then elementary can be in person middle and high school be hybrid but [11:44] in talking to the department of health and talking to our other partner closer to edina the bloomington public [11:50] health we are maintaining both our [11:55] elementary middle school and high school in hybrid and we will be monitoring these uh [12:03] this number throughout the year but at the same time we'll also be [12:09] working with the department of health as bloomington public health [12:14] to help us guide us through how we can work within the three models [12:21] of in-person learning hybrid and distance if the numbers go above 30 [12:28] then we begin to shift back into distance and if if for example the cases are 50 [12:35] or more both elementary and high school would then return to distance so we look we we watch this number closely [12:44] to determine how we're going to deliver our instruction the second part of of our work is to make sure that we have [12:49] protocols in place and the most important protocol is the social distancing the six feet [12:56] from one another that we hear about that of course in the media and we are implementing that protocol [13:04] at all in all of our sites and all of our buildings and all of our programs uh we also require masks and we are also [13:11] encouraging hand washing and uh we'll get into more of those that detail a little later on [13:16] so so we are currently implementing a hybrid system at the elementary [13:25] middle school and high school as well as a virtual system so the executive order the governor put out [13:31] is that parents to have the choice between the hybrid and a virtual [13:36] uh option so uh that's where we started continue to monitor that as we go [13:43] through so our through the through the year so our our goal is to uh monitor kovid [13:49] keep students and staff and our community safe um and then also deliver our [13:55] our mission which is the um the teaching and learning of edina [14:02] students so um i'm going to start we're going to talk a little bit about um what about these models and how we [14:09] shift between the models i've talked a little bit about that we're going to talk a little bit about the covet outbreak what happens if the [14:16] virus appears in our school we know the virus is here in our schools and how do we mitigate that and manage our activity [14:23] around that we'll talk about the safety the facilities and protocols that we have we'll also talk about how [14:31] we are managing our special education students how some questions related to technology [14:41] we'll talk about the instructional models we will also talk about the united virtual academy [14:47] and then some general questions about secondary um from secondary students so [14:53] all of our all these topics will be guided by the questions that all of you [15:00] provided virtual q a so uh to start off i'm going to talk [15:06] ask randy our assistant superintendent um um how come how [15:14] can students or can students shift between the learning models um between the hybrid and the virtual [15:22] thank you john uh good evening edina families thank you for submitting your questions [15:27] it provides a great platform and opportunity for us to clarify some things and to understand [15:33] what you know what are some of the needs that are still out there in terms of communication [15:39] so uh we sent the survey out to families in early august asking families to [15:45] select a a platform or a model or a pathway i should say [15:50] either virtual remote learning at home or coming to school [15:55] two days a week as part of the hybrid and we've collected all that information we've [16:00] organized and adjusted our staffing and we've completed that now and now [16:06] that school has begun we have solidified those requests so we are we've asked families [16:14] to commit to a semester so we're no longer accommodating requests around movement [16:21] around those models it certainly is easier at the secondary level if we need to to move a student from [16:28] hybrid to eva but we are not able to move a student back from eva to hybrid but we will be revisiting [16:35] that at the semester time uh currently we have about 23 of our [16:40] elementary students signed up for eva or the virtual learning pathway at the middle school level it's about [16:46] 26.5 and at the high school about 25 percent we have about 2050 students [16:52] across the district whose families have elected for a remote learning pathway and about 6300 who have selected [17:01] the hybrid learning pathway as many of you know the hybrid [17:06] the virtual pathway looks different at the secondary level than at the [17:11] elementary level and after seeing the registrations and seeing where the kids [17:17] fell out in their classes and in the numbers what became really important was to be [17:22] able to honor the course requests and the [17:27] experiences that students and families desired and so we had to make the shift to make the [17:34] virtual pathway align to the hybrid model so students are still in their classes [17:39] as you know but they're learning from home having opportunities for some live interaction during the week [17:44] with their hybrid peers [17:50] thank you randy the next question that came up is are there any plans returned to school more than two days per week [17:56] are we making plans for four day week return assuming milestones are met what are those milestones so [18:03] again we will be working with the minnesota department of health the minnesota department of education [18:08] um in monitoring uh the covet infection rate um [18:14] in hennepin county and we will be we will make decisions based on that [18:19] number and um so that we can keep kids staff and the community safe [18:26] we will um we will continue to uh make sure that we can implement our [18:31] protocols and uh continue to monitor i don't see that i don't see any plans for uh four day [18:40] per week in the very near future but we will begin to think about that and what that [18:46] means if the virus becomes [18:52] less active that would allow us to bring in more in-person learning we will definitely [18:57] beginning to we'll begin to look at planning for that and even if it goes the other way if the [19:03] virus becomes more active then we would be moved towards a more [19:09] distance learning so um we we work with our partners in our departments of health as well as [19:16] um our own work around our protocols and uh the milestones will be based on [19:24] those milestones related to safety so we will continue to be in a [19:31] decision-making mode as we watch these numbers we're going to shift [19:36] to somewhat related to the covet outbreaks and i'm gonna ask mary hyman our health [19:43] coordinator to talk talk about this and i'm gonna ask this question that came in uh from a parent if my kids are in [19:50] hybrid and expected to be in the classroom at edina high school but need to stay home due to a positive [19:57] virus test do they need to notify someone of the temporary change in plans [20:02] they will not be absent but rather will do eva until they are cleared to return to [20:08] school in person thank you um yes um who you would notify [20:14] would be um the attendance clerk at the at your middle school or at the [20:20] high school um we're working pretty closely with the attendance clerks and the administrative [20:25] staff and the health services staff to um come up with the communication plan and it kind of goes two different ways so if [20:32] the student is positive for covet or needs to be out for covid [20:38] they can stay at home the attendance clerk kind of just gets it [20:43] marked and then then there's a reach out to it would be the administrative staff [20:49] or the administrative staff and then you know the classroom teacher or the home room teacher whoever that [20:55] might be the the head of the students co-work team for the hybrid model [21:01] and they would get reached out so one of the things we need to know you'll be getting a phone call is [21:08] if they're home and positive are they are they are they well enough to do homework and [21:13] work or are they are they um you know have enough symptoms where they're not able to do work and so that's an important thing um [21:21] when the when the message does come in and we um get a call back from you if we we call [21:28] you back one of the things we're going to be asking is um or i should just let you [21:33] know the your students name will be considered confidential except for need to know [21:39] staff and and then depending on how it gets notified if it's a positive case we do [21:46] need to move forward with the minnesota department of health and go for our public health connections just to make [21:51] sure we're going down the right avenues um and i'll leave it at that because i [21:57] think there's more questions about actual uh what's the communication plan but [22:03] the answer is yes um they can go and work from home thank you mary [22:09] um if if a coveted exposure is determined what is the communication plan what will that [22:15] communication plan look like um that is something we are we're [22:20] actually continuing to work on today um we worked on that a little bit at the high school as there was a positive case [22:27] at the high school so this staff came into the attendance line from the family and the family was [22:35] connected with the um the licensed school nurse and then um she met with the the [22:41] administrative team and so they um i know that they were working with the family [22:47] on um closed contacts for the students and they were they were working on you know um carpool [22:55] and um this is a good reason why we're working so strongly on maintaining a cohort [23:00] because we worked on the cohort and they were not determined close contacts but from there then what happened we worked [23:08] with the department of health and then um andy beaten i think by 3 15 [23:13] this afternoon after speaking with individual contacts of teachers for example at the high school the [23:19] the message was sent out to the edina high school community to let them know that that there was a [23:26] positive case at the high school [23:31] we've heard a lot about masking mary and um question that was asked is why are [23:38] some students exempt from wearing face coverings the um i just have to comment that so [23:45] far when i've asked the school staff about masking so far [23:51] between the elementary and the secondary um it's really just really really positive comments there [23:57] hasn't been any issues with students not masking but for students that can't mask there are a few [24:04] exemptions in particular if a student has an iep or a 504 plan there might be [24:11] a developmental behavioral or medical condition that's that the student might have some [24:18] issues with um you know their breathing status or their or developmentally they can't take their [24:24] mask off by themselves and so these are all the parameters that are in this policy 308 which is our [24:32] masking policy for edina public schools and it follows all the recommendations [24:37] that are set by the minnesota department of health um and so you know there are there are [24:43] other sorts of things like also younger students but [24:48] for for students without you know a developmental behavioral or medical [24:54] condition teachers are really working to build mass tolerance and that would also be at [25:00] the secondary level it's just a it's just a difficult routine um and those students um i really can't [25:08] speak to that right now but those those are the goals because as far as i know the students are doing really really well with the [25:15] masking policy so far um i think um [Music] [25:21] i think that might be good for now good um another question that came in is what [25:26] will be the protocol if there's a covert covert exposure in at any school in the [25:32] diana school district entire school shutdown partial school shutdown that's a question that can [25:37] probably depends um it depends on on the level transmission [25:44] from uh in exposure how many students it impacts um we will work closely with the [25:52] minnesota department of health if it's a large number or [25:59] we would also make a decision whether it that a group of students and the teacher [26:05] or a couple groups of students and teachers need to be quarantined um it could be [26:11] that we would shut down maybe one athletic one athletic team where there could be um exposure so it really depends [26:20] um shutting down the whole district would be something i think the minnesota department of health and [26:25] and our partner the bloomington public health department would be involved in so um [26:31] as mary indicated we monitor each of these exposures and take them seriously and through the contact sourcing [26:39] we figure out how we need to respond to keep our kids safe keep our staff [26:45] safe and keep the community safe i don't know if mary you want to add anything more to that yes i think one more thing so um john [26:51] one of the things we're um we're we're putting on the website under the um uh the safe learning spaces is um [26:59] anytime the minnesota department of health really comes out with some significant guidance for the [27:05] schools like this last week they have a brand new covet 19 decision [27:10] tree for people in schools and child care programs and so um [27:16] quite a number of the edina um school staff went through a two-hour training [27:23] with mdh learning how to use the decision tree and so this is a just a key document as far as when a [27:31] family if you call your student in sick what sort of symptoms do they have [27:36] you know that's really important and those are the the questions we'll be asking you um and also if if there's a student or a [27:44] staff member that has these symptoms they should not be coming into school because this is a it's a very contagious [27:51] um virus and that's um you know that's one of the considerations for why we're asking all these questions [27:59] not only on the attendance calls but why we're really just stressing all the um covet screening and [28:05] the social distancing hand washing and masking procedures that's just um [28:11] really critical to keeping our buildings open and students safe thanks mary i'm going to [28:18] turn some of these questions over to a couple of these questions over to sean dudley our principal valley view [28:24] because i think some of these uh she's been managing uh some of some of what's behind these [28:30] questions um so the first question sean is will teachers have plexiglass or a barrier between them and the students [28:38] so we um have plexiglas on the way for just that um some of the most um the most concerns [28:46] that we have would be so speech and language teachers have to wear a face shield [28:51] and so they will also have plexiglas um but that is a requirement [28:56] and students are teachers who are working with a student who is a deaf [29:02] hard of hearing student who cannot mask but can face shield teachers who work directly with that [29:08] student within six feet of that student we'll also have a face shield but we're also thinking about [29:14] recommending the plexiglas our special education teachers will have plexiglas our [29:20] multi-language learner teachers as well as some teachers who will work more closely with students will have [29:27] plexiglas but we are recommending that all teachers wear the face shields that we [29:32] um have for them as well as the mask which provides the best protection for them [29:38] great um next uh question sean is um and actually [29:45] there's two questions kind of related how will staggered opening and closings [29:50] work for hybrid so we have seen a really uh nice [29:57] opening uh we have had students come and by virtue of the fact that some students are coming on the bus and some students [30:04] are dropped off and some students walk there is a a a period of time between 9 [30:10] a.m and 9 15 a.m at the middle schools where students naturally stagger their [30:18] arrival and so it has been um quite positive and we've seen really a nice [30:24] flow of students in what we do at the end of the day is we stagger a dismissal [30:30] again for students in 6th grade we've had 16 8th graders there today so sixth graders [30:35] were released at one time eighth graders released in another and again by virtue of the fact that some students go outdoor 25 for walking [30:43] they go outdoor 23 for buses and 24 for buses and they go outdoor one for getting [30:50] picked up door one or door 26 so with a number of doors that they're exiting and the number of traffic patterns [30:57] they're doing and with the dismissal at different times we feel really positively about [31:03] how students are exiting um the building and i have been an atrium and seen a [31:08] nice steady flow and kids are really good when they go outside as well to look for their parents they stand six to eight feet apart [31:16] um hey sean can you just comment a little bit about your observations on how kids did this week with masking and [31:23] social distancing great so the masking has been great uh the kids have done just an extraordinary [31:29] job i haven't had to have a conversation with any student about a mask [31:34] it's been remarkable um it's been fun to see the different um personalities come out of students of [31:41] the thai mass or the packer maths unfortunately um [31:46] i've been seeing a lot of viking math so maybe we're going to see those twins math so it's been kind of fun to see that and [31:52] kids have sort of made it their own in middle school um they have worn them correctly we've [31:58] stressed that as well and as far as the social distancing and physical distancing in the hallway [32:03] um i've seen really great examples of it and i try to do the positive where it's like wow [32:09] like i clap in the hall and say look at how well you're doing look at you um and staying to the right but i think [32:15] it's harder for kids i mean this is not a natural thing for kids we are relearning school [32:21] and having students uh stay six feet apart walk single file save the right we're [32:28] using car analogies with them but it is not natural and they're learning to do it [32:33] they're better today than they were on tuesday it's the first day 8th graders have been [32:38] in so i look forward to seeing what 8th graders can do next week great uh you kind of [32:46] again how long are you expecting pick up and drop off to take or i should say how hall did pick up and drop off uh [32:54] how did that go today and then do you see a difference with uh this year as opposed to last year pre [33:00] covid oh it's much quicker it's much quicker this year there's um we have we i think we have [33:09] about maybe close to 30 of our students um at valley view um in eva and so i'm sort of thinking [33:16] about like when you divide all that out about a little over a third of our students um are in school and this week probably [33:24] about 25 percent of our students so the the pickup has been about um a 10 [33:29] minute to 15 minute pickup and last year it was certainly at least probably 25 to 30 minutes and getting [33:35] cars out of the parking lot and the same with the drop off so it's gone much more quickly [33:40] good um we had a question uh about schools or their own building you know like valley view and [33:47] um the high school kind of share buildings are connected normandale elementary is a shared building with wealth early learning and [33:53] edina community center so the question is do these buildings like valley view and high school have its own [34:00] air ventilation system that is separate from other program areas so all of the buildings are divided in all [34:07] ventilation zones so valley view has ventilation zones separate from the high school [34:13] normandale actually normandale elementary which is on the second floor has its own [34:20] multiple zones on second floor so the ventilation system isn't shared between buildings [34:26] um the ventilation system uh is set to exhaust the air at a maximum [34:33] rate and that's very different than what we've done in the past because in the past [34:38] we have managed our intake as well as our exhaust of air [34:45] out of a building um that was all dependent upon energy and [34:51] temperature this year they're wide open so that we have that air moving out of the building [34:58] out of classrooms so and we're responding to what the minnesota department of health has [35:04] have has asked us to do related to ventilation uh another question came in about bus [35:09] transportation and how are we keeping kids safe um from uh [35:16] from infection from kovid we are running we run all of our buses [35:22] at 50 capacity so we have no more than 35 students on a bus [35:27] um the students load from the back first to minimize passing by other [35:33] siblings will sit together uh no one sits behind the driver windows and roof vents are opened and [35:40] everyone mirrors a mask and we also have only one student per seat [35:46] so and then we stagger those students so they we have maximum distance with on the bus [35:55] the drivers disinfect high-touch areas between their runs handrails bars on the [36:01] back of seats and then twice a day after the morning routes and after the afternoon routes the buses are sanitized [36:08] using electrostatic foggers um as as the weeks go on um we've had [36:16] this week we've had some questions about what we'd be running some additional routes um after the 21st of september or so [36:23] we're we will determine if we were going to run more routes just to make sure we understand the experience [36:29] we're having with our transportation so we are transporting [36:35] about 50 of all students in the district this year so um so transportation [36:43] is keeping our our kids safe with their practices as well as with how they social distance and ensure kids are masking so uh [36:52] we're gonna get into a specific programming now and i'm going to turn it over to um [36:57] ask jeff jergensen our director of special services a question and um questions with 504 plans or ieps [37:05] or even those waiting for evaluations how will children with disabilities receive the supports and services they [37:11] so need chat yes thank you john for that uh [37:16] intro and that and for the question this has been a an ongoing question ever since distance learning began last [37:22] spring and we've been working to refine our services both in special education and for students that need accommodation or [37:28] those that need intervention so there's a lot of different levels within our intervention [37:34] programming and also within our disability service model and so as far as the evaluations [37:39] that people are asking about those evaluations are now being conducted on site or by appointment uh so for [37:45] students that are attending in hybrid those students will be evaluated in person [37:50] and for students that are on the evaluation list that are currently attending the virtual academy those students too [37:57] if necessary can be brought on site or be provided or secure an appointment to [38:03] be evaluated so that there's not a delay in the evaluation process either for new evals [38:08] or for the re-evaluations that we typically do for our students with 504s or those with ieps as far as the service [38:16] delivery model goes uh you know we've got we've got our special education teachers that are on site providing that face-to-face service [38:23] to our students uh so that the services look a lot like they did pre-covered with the exception of just being on site [38:29] two days a week right now we have all of our students in attendance uh two days a week in special education [38:35] and for 504 there will be considerations for increasing the number of days after we approach [38:40] as we approach that october first date as we've explained in our previous communications coming out of the student [38:46] support services department and teams are evaluating which students need that most but we're also working [38:52] through the protocols in order to determine how we can best serve students that's that may be in a little bit [38:58] smaller spaces and accessing those spaces during the course of the day so working through those protocols and in [39:04] giving this this week or these next two weeks as an opportunity for us to evaluate our [39:09] health protocols and making sure that we're able to safely bring students in four days a week is definitely our plan [39:15] uh for some of those students that require more service or more direct service face-to-face [39:21] as for the eda students those students that are receiving services directly online we have dedicated uh [39:28] some special education teachers to providing service um but all case managers will be maintaining their caseloads so it's that [39:35] so the if your child had a case manager say at valley view or south view or at the high school they [39:41] will have that same case manager uh servicing them there might be a different service provider at times [39:47] but we're trying to maintain case management the greatest extent possible uh because we see that relationship is [39:52] key and we want to pair up our teachers that know students with those that are certain that are that are being serviced or need [39:59] a service we've also increased our the amount of paraprofessional time that will be available both in an online [40:05] format and as students are coming in to us to receive direct services it's a little bit tricky but we've been able to [40:12] work with our paraprofessionals to provide more uh work completion assistance and also [40:17] some organizational skills assistance after students have attended either direct service in the classroom or after [40:24] receiving some special education direct services and supports [40:29] uh jeff a question came in about uh children who need one-to-one support so what [40:34] about children who one-to-one support or qualify for pca which i think is personal care attendance services in [40:40] their own homes will edna cover this cost or will mde missile department of education cover [40:46] this currently dhs won't let families use pcas or parent pay for distance learning but the [40:52] child qualifies and parents desperately need this to help their child through the day at home [40:58] this is a tremendously difficult question for parents is there caught between systems in this transition [41:04] from uh summer programming for students and summer programming in terms of pca [41:10] services provided by the department of human services where pcas will oftentimes be utilized [41:15] throughout the day and are fully reimbursed or partially reimbursed by department of human services uh now with [41:22] schools starting online again the dhs is is giving some parents guidance that those pca services [41:29] may be reduced or eliminated during the during this time period and as a result we've [41:34] we've been working uh very closely with both mde and the department of human services the minnesota department of education [41:40] uh department of human services uh and and as many many families from the edina [41:47] community who do receive pca services we just met actually this morning with representative edelson and uh and [41:54] again mde and dhs and our families uh to try to start brainstorming in ways that we can [41:59] effectively figure out how to cover this gap and uh to to to get over some of these issues that [42:06] i know many of our parents are struggling with pca services um so we're working on that both [42:12] legislatively and with the with the organizations that uh that administer those rules to try to [42:17] make sure that our families do not lose coverage during the time if their students cannot be in attendance at school [42:23] as for students that are receiving one-to-one support uh within within the school day or would [42:29] have traditionally received one-to-one support during the school day and those students when they come into school if they're in the hybrid model [42:36] still continue to receive the level of support that is identified on their individual education plan for students [42:42] that are attending virtually we've increased the amount of support that students would receive virtually and again by increasing the [42:49] amount of paradigm that they're able to support students in work completion activities organizational activities and even some [42:56] tutor for students so that they can continue to make progress on their educational goals and also within the mainstream [43:02] curriculum to the greatest extent possible we're still refining that process it's about relationship [43:08] and it's about patterns and about being able to get those staffing patterns down effectively so that we're able to meet [43:13] the needs of all of our students it is it is difficult there's a lot of logistics involved but we will improve [43:19] as as the as the weeks go on great thanks jeff so we're going to [43:26] shift to technology which makes all of these systems work [43:33] and keeps kids connected when they're not in school when they're being safe at home first [43:39] question is will edina high school students be able to access outlets to plug in their laptops when they are at school i know we have [43:45] nathaniel lindley and steve buettner steve button our director of technology and media services and nathaniel i'll [43:52] just let the two of you um share this these responses [43:57] great i'll take this first one and then let nathaniel have all the other ones okay oh uh good evening uh edina [44:03] community and uh it's a pleasure to be here to answer some of these questions this is truly a continuation of unprecedented [44:12] dmts which is the department of media and technology stand shoulder to shoulder with you as we work through this and make sure [44:18] we're successful our teachers our professionals and our students and [44:23] our parents as for outlets uh what we've always encouraged is your child brings a device fully charged every day [44:30] and so each child is to provide a device with a charger and we ask that you charge [44:35] that device up at night because those devices may be used um throughout the day [44:40] if that happens though that maybe we forgot to do that which it happens to everyone when there is outlets around the [44:47] buildings and there are some spare chargers what we do is we pull those spare chargers out of inventory [44:53] to disinfect them and put different ones in place and so if your child needs a charger [44:58] they can always go to the media center or if they have their own charger find an outlet in the building [45:04] good um let's see with parents working from home [45:13] and students learning from home bandwidth will inevitably be stressed at times how will teachers [45:19] handle these bandwidth issues for example if a student is in a google meet but suddenly [45:24] drops out due to bandwidth issues will they be able to make up the work [45:29] will they be able to access the will they be penalized nathan you do want to take that one uh [45:36] yeah jody helped with this one earlier and i think unexpected technical [45:42] glitches are part of the expectation now whether it's bandwidth or batteries or things like that and i [45:48] think the teachers are sensitive to those challenges both with the students at school the teachers in school and the [45:54] students at home jody yes i'd say absolutely that our teachers will be flexible and supportive [46:01] and work with uh students and families in these situations and um we're also working to record a lot of [46:09] the lessons so that they can be accessed through the platforms at a later time if needed [46:15] thanks joining nathaniel next question would there be an upper limit on how long a student [46:21] must be at his or her monitor by by grade as we don't want kids to sit on [46:28] laptops for long durations i know steve do you want to take that or certainly thank you [46:34] so we we understand that technology is used quite a bit but we also are very intentional about [46:39] our use of technology we do it here to the american academy of pediatrics recommendation around screen time and so [46:47] that is under five years old under an hour and then middle school [46:52] or we keep that under two hours a day and then at the high school there [46:58] may be a little bit more what i'd like to point out is that the american academy of pediatrics differentiates between [47:04] positive use of technology and negative use of screen time matter of fact in their own literature [47:10] they talk about uh video conferencing or video chatting is a one that they don't uh actually put [47:16] a limit on and we'll be using that quite a bit we call that our healthy vegetables or a healthy technology [47:21] and what we want your child to do is is stay away from that negative aspect of technology and so [47:27] we encourage families to put together a family media plan which helps uh start introducing and [47:33] practicing healthy use of technology and our media specialists and our teachers also [47:41] practice that as well all of our media specialists in the district are common sense certified as well as the buildings in [47:46] the districts and so that's idea of good technology or healthy use of technology when appropriate [47:52] and limiting that okay why must kids use district chromebooks [47:57] we invested in a new hardware this spring and have gotten comfortable using and navigating it go ahead [48:04] nathaniel yeah i can take that um in grades three through 12 um the chromebook is a preferred [48:11] device because of its battery uh lasting a long time its simplicity and the ability to [48:17] help troubleshoot it with the students that being said that our 8th through 12th graders do have the [48:23] hybrid device choice and that if a different device works for them a windows laptop or a macbook that's [48:30] acceptable too what we do ask is that it runs the chrome browser so that our [48:35] google apps and schoology and those apps will work through the chrome browser for [48:41] students but there is some flexibility on device choice for students [48:46] we have that outlined on our e-learning squared website on the school district website [48:54] um will some of the applications like ixl con i think it's khan academy read works [49:02] be placed on student portals or be made available again i'll take that one so we have a [49:09] ecosystem called the dyna apps which is a our single sign-on portal that's used by our staff our students and our parents [49:16] and that's where we put all the district approved apps so we want to make sure that the apps are adhering to data privacy and making [49:23] sure that they're secure last spring we were provided a number of applications to deal with [49:28] our state home order in covid now some of those have expired and there's a fee for those [49:34] we are bringing back a number of programs that we've used in the past i excel will be one of them at certain [49:39] grade levels re gold is another one no red ink [49:44] and so those will show up on the portal for our students and then we're always working with our teaching and learning peers and jeff [49:51] jorgensen's folks in the student support services to identify additional apps and we bring those on and put those in the portal [49:59] thanks steve next question is how do i view my three kids schoology accounts is there a way [50:06] to see their assignments and other information without having to log in separately as each student [50:14] nathaniel do you want to take that yeah sure the nice thing about our edina portal [50:20] for the edina apps ecosystem is that not only students and staff have accounts but parents have accounts too [50:25] and through that parent portal they can link to schoology and be entered into a view that's designed for [50:32] the parent where they can see their children their students progress in different courses and [50:37] see some of the information there they'll look a little different from the student view but there's information [50:43] in that schoology portal for families to find there's tutorials and helpful articles [50:48] on the family dashboard on the edina website under the technology heading good [50:55] thanks nathaniel um uh can you give a general overview of schoology [51:00] um and uh this paranoia my kids are grades nine and seven i am still [51:06] often frustrated trying to navigate schoology and don't know how to receive alerts or specific classroom information [51:14] i can i can take that one john uh so as a parent that is also a consumer of schoology i i [51:20] understand what you're saying and it takes a while to get used to it but once you do get used to the program [51:25] it's it's easy to navigate and as nathaniel mentioned it does it is a window into your child's [51:31] classroom and it allows you to be able to follow your child and support their child and learning [51:38] what we've done is we've offered a number of courses as a matter of fact i just completed a couple of zoom video courses [51:44] on helping our parents in the hybrid and eva model and those are posted on our youtube [51:49] website as well as there's a number of tutorials and videos on the edina dashboard as well but just quickly [51:56] a couple of things that i'd recommend for the parents is when they log on to schoology through the portal in [52:02] the upper right hand corner they can click and see their students when they select their students they see [52:08] each of their students there they can see a calendar of upcoming activities they can see grades and the activities [52:14] that the child as assignments that have coming due then also under the settings they can sign up [52:19] for notifications again there's a video to show families how to do that when they sign up for notifications they also get an email [52:26] or a text message if they sign up of that information also pushed to a smartphone or their email box [52:34] good and steve there's those tutorials are there also classes are you running those this week [52:41] or yes we we had a number of classes yesterday and today and we'll offer those again next week as well i think [52:47] they were pretty uh popular and we do that every year and so in this year it's been it's been fun because we've had even [52:54] bigger crowds take us up on it so it's great talking to parents and helping our parents understand the technology [53:00] because sometimes we are the digital immigrants and not the digital natives i think nathaniel also mentioned a great [53:07] strategy which is ask your child uh your child uses these programs every day [53:12] and maybe that is an opportunity to have your child uh teach you some tips uh tips and tricks around technology as [53:18] well thanks steve we're gonna shift up to uh answering [53:23] some questions related to the hybrid and the virtual model [53:28] and so the first question give this one to randy is why does my hybrid student have a [53:33] virtual teacher when they are in person in the classroom [53:39] thank you john um i think there are a lot of factors that go into staffing [53:44] our teachers across the district and in some cases it's in the best interest of the district to have [53:51] some of our teachers teach remotely that may um be for a longer period of time like the [53:58] year or just the semester it might be for a month a few weeks or [54:03] might be just for a day or a few days uh when we do have those situations we [54:08] have additional staff that work with that teacher in the classroom so we have a [54:14] paraprofessional that is trained to support that classroom and support that teacher so [54:20] in essence those students will get two adults working together as a team to help guide [54:26] their education experience good i'm gonna [54:32] give this one to sean um well we now have more regular [54:37] parent-teacher conferences as parents now have to play a bigger part in a child's education [54:44] so can you talk about what conferences are scheduled sure all three um all three secondary [54:50] buildings will have conferences and they will be virtual conferences at least this fall [54:56] uh salty and valley view have virtually the same conference dates and the high school has [55:01] a little bit of updates but we all but we do know that they are virtual conferencing dates and we have 16 hours [55:08] of conferencing formally for the secondary and for the elementary schools [55:15] what i also know though is that at the middle school level there is a fair amount of team planning [55:21] and conferencing that the team might do and we might do it through tick tock and [55:26] the high school might do the same thing with those individual parent connections that we have [55:33] thanks sean um and jody i think i'll ask have you responded this one it was [55:39] always a difficult task to assess how well students are doing in class and this problem is further exacerbated by [55:46] our online or prone should we expect more tests at regular intervals to ensure the standard and our learning [55:52] doesn't drop yes uh thank you we will be working with [55:58] staff and supporting them and finding ways to to implement formative assessments um on a regular [56:05] basis this is something that all of our teachers do naturally they're always checking on what students know [56:10] and what students are understanding so we want to make sure that we're supporting doing this in a little bit of a different way [56:16] this year in addition to these formative assessments that are more day-to-day assessments [56:21] we do have an assessment committee working on looking at what is going to be the best [56:28] plan for more formal assessments this year i'm working with mde as well as other [56:33] area in order to determine what will be reliable and valid and make sure that any [56:40] assessments that we are using with our students are informing our instruction so that we can best meet the [56:46] individual needs and help all of our students grow thanks johnny uh this is for randy randy [56:52] can we expect the district to begin to tailor the in-school virtual plan to meet the needs [56:59] of the various ages of students and this is really pertaining to self-directed study [57:05] so i'll try to answer what i think this question is asking and if others want to jump in feel free [57:14] first of all we are just starting school so we have a great [57:21] learning opportunity for both the students and the staff about how these two pathways [57:27] complete remote learning or hybrid learning are going to work and how they're going [57:32] to work and interact with each other we do know that a part of this process [57:38] is that students their own agency will be grown [57:43] and stretched like never before i mean i think that's just part of the experience where students [57:48] are really going to have to be agents of their own learning they certainly will be supported by our [57:54] teachers and taught by our teachers but um it will be healthy for them to continue to grow in that respect [58:01] i think it's really important that we recognize that our teachers have never been in [58:07] this place before our principals have never been in this place we as a district and u.s families [58:12] have never been in this place before and so we just we need to continue to [58:17] reiterate the patience and the grace as our teachers try different things as [58:23] our teachers explore what works and what doesn't as we reflect on data based on feedback from [58:30] kids from principals from staff from families about what's working and what isn't so [58:36] that we can continue to grow and adapt to best meet the needs of our learners [58:42] to the degree set forth in our vision in edina public schools [58:48] thanks randy um i get there's two questions here that are similar and i and um mary hyman touched upon this a [58:56] bit um uh when when we talked about a student who may have a positive cova test but the question is [59:03] will hybrid students be allowed to connect virtually instead of hybrid for a day [59:09] if they aren't feeling well enough to attend if so how will they check in with [59:15] teachers will teachers be looking for students in both places online if not in class [59:21] and a related question if my kids are in hybrid and expected to be in the [59:26] classroom at ehs but need to stay home due to a positive virus test do they [59:32] need to notify someone of their temporary change in plans they will not be absent but rather will [59:38] do eva until they are cleared to return to school in person that's they're they're making that assumption so i [59:44] don't know if randy and sean want to talk about that [59:50] sure i can talk about it okay so if a student is ill for a day or they have a longer [59:55] term illness maybe with covid they and their hybrid student they would just simply stay home [1:00:02] every day as a hybrid student and work on activities um from schoology [1:00:08] and for their learning and if possible if they can have that synchronous experience at any [1:00:15] point as a hybrid student at home that would be a bonus so they would not [1:00:20] become part of the eva program um they would simply be the part of the program that they're in and just stay [1:00:26] home and be supported with the learning that they would normally do but instead of doing [1:00:32] that two days a week they would do it four days a week as well as the distance learning day and wednesday [1:00:38] thanks sean okay i'm going to talk a little bit [1:00:44] about the identity virtual academy how will teachers make sure eva students [1:00:50] are fully engaged in the learning when not presenting in the classroom [1:01:00] uh so um at the secondary schools uh we have our aided students will have [1:01:06] a similar experience to our hybrid students so our hybrid students are coming in to [1:01:12] see us face to face two days a week and that's forty percent of the week um two out of five days [1:01:20] and our eva students will be connecting or sinking in virtually two days a week and again that [1:01:27] is 40 of their days and so um how do we make sure that [1:01:32] our eva students are engaged um when we they are connecting with us well we look [1:01:38] for cues just the same as we would as teachers um with students who are face to face um [1:01:44] we will try to do engaging pieces with the students we feel that it is really uh [1:01:50] just remarkable to have students face to face or have students connected with us virtually so we want to use that [1:01:57] time in a way that is supportive of the connection that we can get with students [1:02:03] and the relationship building that we have have with students and with the activity that we could do [1:02:08] with them we are not going to use that time as a lecture time or doing something [1:02:13] that is really more teacher directed it will be the communication will be from student [1:02:20] to teacher from students to students and that's the stuff that kinds of activities [1:02:26] and communication and work that we will have students do so we do know that that is more engaging [1:02:31] because it is it promotes student choice and it actually has student agency built in [1:02:38] thanks sean um randy i'm going to direct this one at you will will eva work exactly like in the [1:02:44] spring or is it going to be synchronous remote classes for each subject or teacher with several touch [1:02:50] points throughout the day between the teacher and virtual students are these video classes or just audio or [1:02:56] recorded video so a lot of combinations have been [1:03:02] discussed about what the students can experience when they're in the eva pathway [1:03:09] i think the eva academy was an early name to describe what we thought we were going to have but maybe [1:03:15] the the idea of a remote learning pathway better describes the experience that students will have so in some cases as [1:03:22] sean mentioned they'll have a live connection with their teacher that live connection might be direct instruction [1:03:29] the live connection might be a check-in meeting with the teacher it might be getting [1:03:34] some instructions or directions about what to do during that class period it might be an introduction to a lesson [1:03:42] or a hook or a an activity with them returning later on in the in the class period students will have [1:03:50] an opportunity to do both the live interactions or synchronous lessons [1:03:55] and activities or the online remote independent lessons or asynchronous [1:04:02] activities and it will be a combination of those different things that they'll be participating in in some cases they'll [1:04:07] be whole group in some cases they'll be small group or individual in some cases teachers may be connecting [1:04:14] with an individual student although that would probably be a little bit more rare [1:04:19] as part of the normal day it would most likely be a whole group or or small group participation so really [1:04:27] it's a combination of a variety of activities we haven't dictated exactly what that [1:04:33] will look like because we understand that the the formula is going to look a [1:04:39] little different in terms of the combination of those activities in different content areas so might look a little bit different in [1:04:45] science than it does in band and in project lead the way than it does in language arts and we want to respect [1:04:52] what teachers bring to the table and how they need to teach their content to have the best [1:04:58] approach of combination of small and large group activities for that [1:05:04] thanks randy eva parents or caregivers will essentially be the teacher's [1:05:10] assistant it's a team effort will teachers proactively reach out to communicate with families [1:05:15] caregivers at the beginning of each week to provide the lesson plans for the week in advance [1:05:23] i can take that okay so as part of our schoology heights and secondary school there will [1:05:29] be a video overview given for each subject area and then daily there will [1:05:35] be a quick snapshot video given for students on the work that they'll be doing [1:05:40] so um so that is one piece there'll be always an overview for that as part of our schoology heights [1:05:47] we also know that we have a fair amount of staff who are paraprofessionals [1:05:55] and other support staff who on wednesdays will be helping us reach out to students who may [1:06:01] have be struggling with things maybe some homework help um as well as teachers being able to do [1:06:06] some of that as well so we have we're building in systems and um fail-safes for students to make sure [1:06:15] that we can stay connected with them and they can stay up to date and and progress well well [1:06:21] with their work that's good um [1:06:27] how will how frequently will edina virtual academy students participate in live classes with the hybrid students [1:06:34] at the middle and high school randy do you want to take that one yeah i out [1:06:43] i will try to elaborate on what sean had mentioned previously the goal is uh that there are [1:06:50] at least a couple of um live connections with their teachers [1:06:56] during the week and the formula that we're using is simply mirroring that of the hybrid so when [1:07:03] students are in the hybrid they'll see a subject teacher twice a week [1:07:09] they'll have a live connection with that subject teacher twice a week the teacher might have a small amount of [1:07:15] time to interact with each student in a regular class a [1:07:21] a large amount of their time is spent instructing either in whole group or in small groups and checking in with groups [1:07:27] etc so when we look at students who are in the remote pathway [1:07:32] and them connecting into and following along with the hybrid class what that really means is that the [1:07:38] entire class is using a is using uh online based curriculum [1:07:43] and then the teacher is facilitating students as they're learning that curriculum and moving through that curriculum in [1:07:49] some cases they're live teaching it in some cases they may have pre-recorded a video [1:07:54] again in some cases that live connection might be an introduction to a topic or an introduction to [1:08:00] a challenge or an activity or an event etc but our plan our framework is to have [1:08:07] several of those live connections per week and as sean mentioned if you think of [1:08:15] the hybrid students as getting two days out of five trying to create a model where the edina [1:08:20] virtual pathway kids get two days out of five and that's how we arrived at 40 percent [1:08:26] now that doesn't mean that they'll be sitting in front of a computer getting [1:08:31] live all day long but what that means is that we're asking [1:08:37] their subject area teachers to have that live connection with students [1:08:43] twice a week thanks randy i'm going to shift to what [1:08:50] we've we've heard and maybe seen a lot in the media related to the social interaction um [1:08:56] in schooling during covet with students being isolated from one another and being [1:09:03] online at home one of our parents asked one of the main benefits of schooling is getting kids to [1:09:09] work in groups and social interactions are we planning to have more presentations more group activities to [1:09:15] ensure that the that there's a as we move to online doesn't hamper the development of their [1:09:20] socializing skills there's also another question that came in about what social opportunities will [1:09:26] eva elementary students have isolation lack of play [1:09:31] no socialization has been extremely hard for families will students attending eva have an [1:09:37] opportunity to participate in a school organized safe in person socialization pod event [1:09:45] and uh so i'm um address these two questions uh two ways [1:09:50] first i want to share what our community education department is putting forward in youth enrichment the registration for [1:09:58] youth enrichment begins on monday they are offering a variety of sessions with [1:10:04] different times on different days with different activities both virtual and in-person and the programs are designed [1:10:11] to provide connection and social interaction that's so important for kids [1:10:17] also services is collaborating with edina give and go [1:10:22] to look at ways to involve high school students as mentors and leaders for younger students they are exploring different ideas and [1:10:29] looking for any ideas that families may have i would direct parents to contact cheryl gunnis [1:10:36] in community education she welcomes emails from anyone with ideas to share [1:10:41] about how to help kids connect and how to support families so cheryl gunnison community education [1:10:47] can um can help respond to needs for his kids to [1:10:53] socialize and to get some interaction with their friends and peers also the second [1:11:00] part to redress this i want to turn it over to jeff jorgensen who's provided some leadership in social and [1:11:05] emotional learning and how we're working with teachers in responding to this question so [1:11:12] jeff can i try to give it to you absolutely so uh first of all i just want to say you know [1:11:17] that sel social emotional learning has been a heavy in the minds of everyone especially in this time of kogit with [1:11:22] the isolation and everything that is that everyone is dealing with including adults uh we've all struggled with this level [1:11:28] of social isolation and that has overall cumulative impact on our overall mental health and our wellness and our [1:11:35] ability to function within now social environments coming back but i also want to give a very [1:11:40] optimistic spin on this is that our students and our staff are tremendously resilient and we're already seeing that level of [1:11:46] resiliency starting to come back as students are in attendance at school and as they're seeing each other and [1:11:52] that energy level is starting to rise it's amazing how quickly students can move from [1:11:57] an impaired state to a state where it's just like recovery has taken place and right now i would say that a lot of our [1:12:04] students especially those that are coming back in the hybrid model even those that are connecting in the eva model [1:12:09] are starting to starting that healing process all right right away right from the very [1:12:14] beginning because they're connect they're they're connecting they have some optimism that is helping even the adults in the system feel [1:12:22] better about the services we're providing to prepare our teachers this year we did provide some training up front to them [1:12:28] and we focused in on three primary areas as we as we worked in developing their skills because we recognize the teachers [1:12:35] as the primary facilitators of that relationship development so at the secondary level it's a little [1:12:40] bit different because peer-to-peer relationships are probably the greatest uh greatest area where we want to focus [1:12:47] you know getting students connected but we also want to make sure that they're connecting with the adults in their environment and so [1:12:53] we worked with our teachers and have provided some training to them to help us and assist them with learning some of [1:12:59] the skills necessary to cultivate and deepen relationships with our students with one another and and to really work [1:13:06] hard with creating those relationships with our families as well because we're all in this together and we want to make sure [1:13:12] that we're meeting the needs of our students sometimes our students are forthright in asking for assistance [1:13:17] when they need it but other times it's our families or their peers that are bringing those concerns to us and so having great relationships [1:13:24] peer-to-peer peer to adults and between adults in terms of the families and and our [1:13:31] teachers reaching out to them is is exceedingly important the second thing that we were working on with our [1:13:36] teachers to help prepare them is that we recognize the need for our teachers to [1:13:42] have a sense of wellness themselves and so we did spend some fresh professional development time on [1:13:47] self-care strategies especially during this period of time this is a high stress time for all [1:13:52] adults as you as parents absolutely know as our teachers are returning we know the stress level is high as we're trying [1:13:58] to navigate this environment of the virtual world the hybrid service learning and these restrictions that we're all [1:14:04] under in terms of the in terms of the health protocols that we're all working on and so it's very important that we're working on [1:14:10] self-care plans for ourselves and so we we did do some training with staff on self-care [1:14:16] and uh and and with that they're filling their bank up so that they have something more to share with the students that they're serving on a daily [1:14:22] basis uh so just like stress can be very contagious that optimism that comes with a personal wellness [1:14:28] is also very contagious and so if the teacher is is presenting in an optimistic and [1:14:34] positive way even though they're needing to to wear a mask or they're limited to virtual instruction [1:14:40] those teachers are spreading optimism in their students and as optimism goes up so [1:14:45] too does performance and engagement within the classroom the third area is just really again [1:14:50] focusing in on the development of a development of deepened [1:14:55] relationships peer-to-peer and and staff to students and staff to family [1:15:00] so we really want to elevate that student voice we want to ask them those questions that that really help us [1:15:06] in in meeting their needs within the classroom and so we've given some guidance on what [1:15:13] we call castle's three essentials or signature practices and so that is helping teachers to [1:15:19] understand the importance of welcoming and inclusive activities within the classroom things that we've been working [1:15:24] on in edina for a very long time but we're just drawing people back to those same practices that we've [1:15:30] been established with but really emphasizing the need to really focus on those before we jump into the academics [1:15:36] because students need to feel connected they need they need to they need to feel connected [1:15:42] they need to feel engaged they need to feel welcomed within the environment before they're going to actually engage [1:15:47] in those those educational activities we also obviously want to work continue to work on engaging our [1:15:54] engaging strategies within the classroom to excite them about learning but also learning how to take those [1:15:59] breaks as many of you have sat before a computer screen and and really found that you you're very [1:16:05] efficient in terms of your time management and you can fill up every moment of your day [1:16:10] with working online but without without those breaks you really will will run yourself very [1:16:16] thin and so we want to be able to share we want to make sure that we're scheduling those breaks and we're working on transitions that [1:16:22] allow students to rest to recoup to rejuvenate and then return [1:16:27] to the classroom and then finally we talk about just optimistic closures you know after every [1:16:33] after every time that we're interacting with students it's very important for us uh to to leave students feeling [1:16:40] optimistic about what's happening next and that level of optimism once again carries us through to the next [1:16:46] course or to the next day or to the next week or to the next semester again our students are tremendously [1:16:52] resilient resiliency is that ability to bounce back and we're already seeing that i'm sure [1:16:57] sean or any of the secondary principals that are seeing students in service right now whether it's virtual or whether it's [1:17:03] in the hybrid face-to-face model can attest to the excitement that they're seeing in students today [1:17:11] okay i don't know if any staff members have anything else to add we are done with our questions thank you [1:17:17] jeff for um doesn't that important direction here um [1:17:23] i want to uh first of all thank uh all of the parents that brought us questions uh the questions really represent the [1:17:31] the partnership that we have with with all of you in giving your student an engaging and um [1:17:40] rigorous uh academic experience and ensuring that they are uh welcome into [1:17:47] the into the classroom or into the space whether that's technology or whether that's in the classroom [1:17:53] we take that part we take that partnership seriously and um we feel that partnership and thank you for that [1:18:00] uh partnership as parents in in teaching your children um [1:18:06] i want to also thank the amazing staff i i have never seen a group of people turn [1:18:12] over so many rocks ask so many questions try so many different scenarios [1:18:17] um and because of that i'm very confident that uh we will and are delivering [1:18:26] the edina education to udynas students with a very talented flexible [1:18:33] resilient and talented group of teachers and leaders within the school system so [1:18:40] it still remains it's an honor to uh to be able to action even during these [1:18:47] unprecedented times so thank you i wish you all a wonderful evening and uh please stay in touch if [1:18:53] there are questions about the program please contact your child's principal [1:18:58] and we can be sure to answer your questions so thank you for a wonderful [1:19:03] evening