Notes from 10 July 2020 Meeting

Council Rock School District, north of Philly. Largely white, suburban, upscale. Board was on the call, each of the management team, 2000 attendees. Head of public health for the county. Surveyed parents once a week, overwhelmingly the parents want to send their kids to school, 85%. Not a lot of doubt about that. Board member, we've tried to explore three paths: close up for a year, only distance for a year, we open. First two, state of PA is not permitting. Legal? State level, enforcing across the state. Disinfectants being discussed in tremendous detail, cleaning company, surfaces. Wipedown frequencies. One-way hallways, 25 - 30 kids per normal size classrooms, 3' distancing. Health commissioner. Everyone has to wear a mask. Hearing? Special needs, no idea at all what they are going to do. Buses at 2/3 capacity. All strongly blessed by board of health. 90% of deaths in nursing homes. This is really not a problem here. He has tracked every case, he is saying this is far less severe than flu, please don't insist on shutting down schools for every kids who's infected. New normal, just deal with it. Everything is about let's continue, it's basically fine, let's not over-react. Teachers--saying, no, we're not going back. Youngest kids are going to believe when they cough, they will kill grandmother. Security came up, alice? The changes to flow will make schools enormously insecure. School shootings.

Howard: you're nuts.

Angela: parents not sure sending kids back, not because of health, but because of the learning not being normal.

Rusty: what about low-income schools? LA and NY not the same? Devastating to people of color.

Events?
• Rebecca - the need to talk together / support groups. Live discussions of like-minded individuals is probably helpful. I wanted to talk more.
• Hosted chats?
• Rachelle: there is a lot going on. Unlike any other summer. ISTE, a lot more focus on parent engagement, social emotional, distance learning... Teachers are scared. Kids afraid to interact with grandparents. Podcasts increasing, sharing experiences. FB so many communities, hybrid learning, distance learning, etc.
• Rusty: bright young teachers are looking for other jobs. Strikes and layoffs will not be this year but in the future.
• Angela: tracking 1,000 hours of online events. The response of those who were in it, all active and heard personally from people, 12 have reached out, this is exactly what I needed. Bubble of confusion and uncertainty, get back to our hearts. Principal that took one little action, how we are greeting people. They are ready to act on something. Security comes from knowing we are indispensable.
• Rebecca: mental health happy hour. Panel.
• Angela: unconference. Teaching by heart? Why teaching?
• Howard: we are indispensable. Relationship of kids and teachers, sacred trust, high-functioning. Teachers have always overcome ridiculous obstacles... Focus on this idea, empowering teachers. "Don't go to the classroom." Empower them to understand how much of this game they control. Teacher as the center of the story.
• Angela: indispensable ? architecting. We are in control.
• Howard: help teachers to understand that "I matter."

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