Attendance was confirmed with a roll call of the Trustees.

The school will be celebrating the years service of Mark Logan on 01DEC2020.

Annie Azarloza and Heidi Berkowitz are in week 2 of their interim roles.

Most (90-95%) staff are ready to return to school for hybrid learning which is manageable.

• Training of staff continues.
• Susanna Girard requested the school extend an invitations to staff training to the board members as well.
• We have 2 students that will be joining the sub committees to share the student perspective.

• The state has changed the definition of how towns are assigned the color code.  It has been adjusted based on population.
• The state has also dropped the 3 week waiting period for changing learning models.

Unchanged Guidance from the Department of Early and Secondary Education (DESE):

• Districts are expected to continue to adhere to the guidance on social distancing, mask wearing and hand washing.

Changed Guidance from DESE:

• "Districts are expected to prioritize in-person learning across the color coding categories unless there is a suspected in-school transmission, in accordance  with DESE’s Guidance on Responding to COVID-19 Scenarios. "
• "Districts and schools in communities designated in gray, green, or yellow are expected to have students fully learning in person, if feasible.  A hybrid model should be used only if there is no other way to meet health and safety requirements. Parents & caregivers will continue to have the option to choose a districts remote learning program for their children."
• "Schools in red communities should implement hybrid models, while maximizing in-person learning time for high needs students."
• "In those communities with the highest COVID-19 caseloads and test positivity rates (eg currently Chelsea, Lawrence, & Revere) DESE and Department of Public Health (DPH) will work with local school officials to develop and implement customized strategies to reduce in-school health risks, to enable as many children as possible to attend school in person and/or make a determination on the need for fully remote learning."
• "Fully remote instructional models should be implemented only as a a last resort in classrooms, schools, or districts when there is suspected in-school transmission or a significant municipal outbreak, in accordance with DESEs Guidance on Responding to COVID-19 Scenarios.  Classrooms and school should reopen after appropriate mitigations strategies have been implemented as determined in consultation with the local board of health, DPH, DESE"
• Based on the new system Brockton in the red (Norfolk in red, but due to various retirement and health center facilities).

Update from Cathy Alix:

• Attended several Massachusetts Board of Health conferences
• Discussed the rationale for changing the color codes
• Goal is to get the students physically back into schools
• Evidence shows although some students have contracted COVID the contract tracing has shown that it rare for it to be transmitted in the school.
• We have seen increasing infection rate in the age brackets of 0-18 year old’s recently
• Contract tracing will need to be completed by the school staff
• It is likely based on statistics that there will be people in any school that will contract COVID but we will reduce those risks by the mitigations we have in place including infrastructure improvements, masks, hand washing and social distancing.
• Foxborough Public Schools is unable to support full in person learning.  

Details on the schools HVAC Systems & 10gb circuit is in the section on facilities.

A communication will go to families this week with an update to them on the changes from the state.

The trustees will meet again on 18NOV2020 to hear updates on the 10gb circuit and the administrations recommendation to switch learning models.  It should be noted the school only received this change in guidance a few hours prior to this evenings Board of Trustees meeting.

Currently we have 1700 students enrolled

Updated Guidance from DESE on HVAC Systems in cold weather:
“The Centers of Disease Control (CDC) recommends that schools and districts adopt a secondary mitigation strategy such as maintaining building ventilation systems to the extent is it possible.”

• The school has installed merv 13 filters
• The school has ordered the Fresh-Aire UV® Commercial Series Airborne Duct System (ADS) which is still pending installation.  The installation is expected in late November 2020.
• There is guidance to open windows when possible however there are areas of the school where the windows do not open, and this is mitigated with the merv 13 filters.

10gb circuit update:
The school ordered a 10gb circuit from Verizon months ago and was put on a COVID-19 waiting list to be installed which impacted the priority.  We further paid an additional fee to be raised up in the waiting list line.  However, we have not had it installed to date.

The 10gb circuit is needed to support hybrid learning allowing teachers to either record videos for the students at home or live stream them into the classroom.  To be clear without this circuit the school would not be able to teach the students on campus at the same time as the students off campus.  The off-campus students would have to revert to asynchronous learning with packets of materials (without video explanations) equal to a day’s work to be completed 5 days a week until the 10gb circuit is installed.  This was not an acceptable learning plan for these students as determined by the administration and board.

The board requested we escalate the issue to agencies within state government to expedite the installation of the 10gb circuit.

Chrome Books
They are expected to arrive at the end of November.  The technology team is meeting this week to discuss a plan for deploying them when they arrive.

Transportation Contract
With the changing requirements from DESE for in-person learning there may not be a need for a re-negotiation of the contract.

It should be noted should the school want to return to 100% in person learning and be required to meet the social distancing guidelines we would not be able to support transportation to the school.  Foxborough town buses would also not be able to support transportation while following social distancing guidelines.

Current Budget year
Trending as expected

Request For Proposal (RFP)
Several RFPs have been received and will be reviewed by the Finance Committee to present a recommendation to the Board of Trustees.

VENMO
The foundation has created a VENMO account and they are in the process of testing it and discussing the opportunities to use it.

The Board reviewed the positions & committees of all of the members.  All trustees are currently in the middle of a term so there was no need to confirm their membership for additional years at this time.

• Kathleen Crawford is the Chair of the Board and sits on the following committees: Governance, Equity & Inclusion & FRCS Foundation Inc.
• Reem Ozone is the Vice-Chair of the Board and sits on the following committees: Governance, Student Enrollment.
• Matthew Yezukevich is the Treasurer of the Board and sits on the following committee: Finance
• Susanna Girard is the Secretary of the Board and sits on the following committees: Student Enrollment & FRCS Foundation Inc.
• Badawi Dweik, Ph.D. is a member of the Board and sits on the following committee: Facilities
• Sergio Martin is a member of the Board and sits on the following committee: Finance

By-Laws
The board discussed possible changes to the wording in the by-laws and want additional time to review them.  

Nothing at this time

Attendance is up now that meetings are being held via Zoom. 

Nothing at this time

Attendance is up now that meetings are being held via Zoom. 

Nothing at this time

Nothing at this time

Tabled 

Tabled