School board holds special meeting tonight to discuss fall opening, now Sept. 8

July 29, 2020  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Harwood Union School Board has a special meeting tonight online 6-8 p.m. to discuss reopening schools in September. 

On Tuesday, Gov. Phil Scott announced an executive order whereby Vermont public schools would wait until Sept. 8 -- the day after Labor Day -- to open for the 2020-21 academic year. That’s a week later than most school districts were planning to open.

Scott urged districts to open with as much in-person instruction time for students, particularly for children under age 10, as possible but he acknowledged that schools are working on plans for in-person, remote, and hybrid models to implement. 

Scott made that announcement at one of his twice-weekly news conferences centered on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was joined by state Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine and University of Vermont pediatrician Dr. Rebecca Bell who also is the president of the Vermont chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. 

“In Vermont this is the right time to open schools,” Levine said, comparing Vermont’s current suppression of the virus to European countries rather than other U.S. states where cases continue to mount daily. 

Tuesday’s data for Vermont added three new COVID-19 cases for a total of 1,405 since the outbreak began in March; one person is hospitalized presently with a confirmed case and 17 others are in hospital with suspected cases. 

While the national death toll recently exceeded 152,000, Vermont has recorded just 56 deaths, the most recent more than a month ago on June 18, according to state public health statistics. 

“Now is the right time to restart in-person learning,” Lavine said, noting that additional cases, clusters or outbreaks are still possible but that the state’s public health system is prepared to respond to test and limit the spread if necessary. 

Bell spoke about COVID-19 as it relates to children, particularly young children as school districts grapple with reopening.  

“An enduring motto in my profession is that children are not just little adults,” she said noting that children’s bodies and minds have vastly different needs than older adolescents and adults. Acknowledging those differences should factor significantly into plans to reopen schools, she said.  

Research so far has shown that children under age 10 are not as likely as adults to contract the virus, get very sick when they do or spread it, Bell explained. “That combined with the fact that this is the sme population that struggles the most with remote learning makes prioritizing in-person education for our youngest students a sensible goal here in Vermont,” she said. 

The plan put forth by Harwood Union Superintendent Brigid Nease for the district’s schools calls for one day of in-person instruction for students throughout the district and four days per week at home to start off the school year. Nease has said the goal would be to add more in-school time as the year progresses. The district is also offering a fully remote learning option as well. Families received an email today with a survey for their choice that’s due back Monday, Aug. 3.

A variety of other districts have announced plans with more in-school time per week such as 16 districts in Chittenden and surrounding counties planning to begin with two days per week in school. 

On Monday, Nease and school board leaders did an online Q&A session with community members to address questions and concerns about opening schools given the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools closed in mid-March and did not reopen for the rest of the 2019-20 school year because of the public health crisis. 

The Monday session was recorded and a video of that wide-ranging two-hour discussion is online on YouTube to view. The session covered a wide range of topics from staffing and busing to in-school logistics and details on how to design remote learning to work better than it did in the spring. Many questions still need more work to deliver answers that Nease said would be forthcoming in August as teams of staff work on details for specific areas. 

Overall school this fall will look vastly different than when students left their classrooms for the last time in March. All students and teachers will be required to wear face masks; there will be daily temperature and health checks; distancing will prevail in classroom settings; students will learn in small set groups and not gather in large spaces like cafeterias and gymnasiums. 

State officials said they expected word this week from the Vermont Principals’ Association regarding fall high school sports. The only guidance so far has been that teams were not to begin trainings until school is back in session. The later start date in September now further shortens the potential playing season. 

Nease and School Board Chair Caitlin Hollister and Vice Chair Torrey Smith plan three more question-and-answer sessions on upcoming Monday nights using the same links for Zoom and YouTube viewing. 

Tonight’s board meeting is a special meeting because the board had planned to take July and much of August off. Returning to school is the main topic. It begins at 6 p.m. The agenda with details on how to call in to attend and watch is online here. 

The proposed plan for opening schools as well as an additional memo that Nease released last weekend outlining many concerns around reopening schools are on the district’s homepage at HUUSD.org to view.