Concord School District is seeking to make improvements to learning during COVID-19 this month, through a new hybrid learning model that combines Zoom video sessions and in-person learning, and a proposed parent advisory council for special education.
At a meeting of the Concord School Board’s Instructional Committee Wednesday night, Rundlett Middle School Principal Paulette Fitzgerald and CHS Principal Mike Reardon updated members on changes to hybrid learning that will increase face-to-face instruction time. Under the new changes, students who are at home on remote days will participate through video to the class that is being conducted in the school building and teachers will teach the in-person students and remote students simultaneously.
This will give students four days of live instruction every week (alternating in-person and remote) instead of two days of live instruction and two independent work days, which was the old model. Wednesdays will remain remote “flex” days.
“We are pretty confident, even though I think everybody is a little nervous about this kind of instruction,” Fitzgerald told the school board Wednesday. “But when we think about it, we were already having to do that because we had a number of students who were quarantining before and they would have to Zoom in as well.”
In addition to increasing instruction time, administrators think the extra social interaction will be good for student mental health.
“Another reason we wanted the four days of instruction is that we really want eyes on our kids,” Fitzgerald said. “We wanted more ways to keep those kids who are at home engaged and honestly to track them and check in with them and make sure they are okay.”
For teachers, having some students online and some in the room will be an exercise in multitasking. Rundlett Middle School does not have enough assistant staff available to help teachers monitor the groups, according to Fitzgerald. The school’s classroom monitor staff is busy working in classrooms where the teacher is remote.
Board member Brenda Hastings expressed concern about the additional pressure on teachers to supervise and troubleshoot technology issues for students at home at the same time as conducting an in-person lesson.
“I’m wondering if any thought has been put toward the quality of the actual teaching,” Hastings said. “Yes, it’s great that they are getting four days a week, but have you discussed with staff whether they feel the quality of the lessons would be as high as they had been either remote or hybrid?”
Fitzgerald said the district has purchased some new technology equipment, like sound pucks and document cameras, to make the technology part of teaching easier, and digital learning specialists will be on call during the day to deal with tech issues. Interim superintendent Kathleen Murphy said that teachers themselves are the ones behind the idea to combine remote and in-person students.
“This wasn’t a top-down initiative,” Murphy said. “Our teachers wanted to do this. They felt this was a better delivery of instruction, four days a week, even though they had two different components that they were dealing with.”
Another change beginning soon is that Concord staff will no longer be conducting student temperature checks at the doors of school buildings. After using that method for the fall semester and detecting zero fevers among the student body, school administrators decided the practice was not an effective use of school resources. Instead, students will continue to be screened by their families every morning, and anyone displaying symptoms of COVID-19 during the day will be screened separately by a school nurse.
At the next school board meeting in February, members will consider a proposal to create a parent advisory council for the special education department. Bob Belmont, director of student services, suggested the idea to create “Concord Special Education Parent Advisory Council” (SEPAC), which would be open to all district parents, but especially parents of students with disabilities.
“It is to give a voice, it’s to stimulate parent involvement and establish effective communication between our district and parents,” Belmont told school board members Wednesday. “And most importantly, with the ultimate goal to enhance our special education services within our district.”
According to Belmont’s proposal, the council would have a leadership team of parents (and perhaps school board members) representing different grade levels and focus areas. The leadership team would meet with Belmont monthly and there would be programming, workshops and training sessions available to members.
The parent council would have a website linked to the school district website with information on different disabilities and parent resources like how to access legal services.
The proposal comes in the middle of a difficult time for special educators across the state, as schools scramble to deliver necessary services while maintaining COVID safety protocols.
“There are fears – we have fears,” Belmont said. “But never before have we needed to pull together and grow parent advisement, parent involvement and I think this is the time.”
The proposal also includes an idea for establishing an annual “Community Inclusion Award” for educators, employers, coaches or parents who exemplify inclusion of people with disabilities. Community members would be nominated through an application, and award recipients chosen by the leadership team of the parent advisory council.
Belmont also outlined a proposal for the creation of “Super Saturdays,” a weekend recreation program for students with disabilities that will get them out into the community for field trips and activities to help with social-emotional learning.
The proposal for Concord Special Education Parent Advisory Council will be on the agenda for members to discuss at the February school board meeting.