Update from the Administration:
Staffing issues:

• The school has 180 staff in teaching and learning.
• Currently we have 12 teachers in self quarantine that are currently still able to teach from home. If we were to go to hybrid learning model, we do not have enough substitute teachers to support that many teachers unable to return to campus.
• Thirty-nine (39) of or teaching and learning staff live in the state of Rhode Island where schools are closing, and they will not be able to meet their childcare needs and come to work.

Technology Issues:

• We are not able to support hybrid learning without the installation of 10gb line.

Health Concerns

• FRCS is not able to support hybrid /Virtual learning without the installation of 10gb line.
• FRCS is an atypical district that adds complexity regarding the State guidance that is not fully defined for a school like us.
• This is a difficult decision as school does have a social obligation for students and staff.
• Our largest sending district of Brockton is currently virtual/remote until January.

Quality of Education:

• Going Hybrid without the 10gb circuit would be a step back in the quality of the education the students are receiving for both the students that will be coming on campus as well as those who choose to stay home.
• Without the 10gb line:
  • Fully remote students would only have one day a week (Wednesday) where they connected with their teachers during office hours. They would not have any video instruction or live classes with them.  They would only have the office hours on Wednesday to ask questions on the material. They would receive packets of work to complete on their own to fill the 5 days of learning.
  • Students coming on campus (Hybrid Learners) would have live instruction the 2 days they are on site.  The other 3 days they are off campus and working from home they share the experience of the virtual/ remote learners described above.
• We have ~200 students on IEP/504 plans. Approximately 40 students are in substantially separate classrooms and are currently on campus. The remaining ~160 students are schooling virtually with the rest of the student body. We are not able to support their IEP/504 plan without the technology (10gb line) to bring the resources to the students. This is true for students that would go to hybrid or remain virtual. IEP/504 plans are designed to level the playing field for students with learning & health concerns. The school is legally obligated to meet the IEP/504 plans by law.

The recommendation from the administration is to delay the transition to hybrid learning until at least 07DEC2020 when the 10gb line has a chance to be installed. If the work is not complete at that time the next date is recommended to be 17JAN2021 after the winter break and a few weeks to watch the health metrics has occurred.

The board discussed the 17JAN2021 date and several were not ready too accept that date as the next best date to plan for. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has removed the guidance to give dates in the near term and not ones to far into the future. Despite this change from the state the Trustees generally felt this date was still too far out too even discuss at this time.

The board asked to hear from Principals to hear their perspectives: Christiana Benson, Ben Dyer and Mike Cournoyer collectively have children in all three age groups although they do not attend FRCS. They shared both the professional opinions as well as their perspective of a parent watching their children go from virtual learning to hybrid and back again in some cases. This yoyo effect is difficult to manage socially, emotionally, and logistically across the stories shared.

The board thanked the administration for the deep discussion and recommendation. We all wanted to thank them and the entire FRCS staff for all they do for the school and students daily.

2020 Chrome book order update

• They have arrived at the vendor's office in Indiana and are being imaged for individual students’ use. It will take them a few weeks to image all the systems.
• The technology staff at FRCS are continuing to define a plan for distribution.

UV Light installation

• The air scrubbers ordered for the Nurse’s offices have a current delivery date of Jan 15th.
• There is no current delivery date for the UV light System. We are now at the 6 week wait time that was in the order.

Fiber Cable repair to Elementary School

• Should be completed by the end of the day tomorrow 19NOV2020.

10gb installation by Verizon

• The cost this year is covered by a COVID Grant. The cost next year will be in the E-Rate funding.
• Verizon arrived on site today 18NOV2020 and installed the hardware required. They need to do testing of the system on their end and then ours. They did not provide a current schedule, but our past experience tells us it will take several weeks to a month to finish from this point.
• Ed Lucy was thanked for all his hard work and coordination on this project. His technical experience is very much appreciated.

2021/2022 Technology Needs

• Ed Lucy, Josette Perkins and Matt Harrington are working on the needs and plan to give an update at the next meeting.

Request for Proposals (RFP)

• The Finance Committee received 3 responses of which 1 was not going to be considered because it was to confusing to follow.
• Two (2) firms will be interviewed at an upcoming Finance Committee meeting on Friday 20NOV2020.  The committee will make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees after the presentations.

Tabled

Tabled