August 6, 2020

Academic /Instructional Team Meeting

1. Introductions of Karen Swain and Kenn Handin

2. The Plan as shared at the Town Hall (Review slide)
a.

3. Our Charges
a. Social Emotional Learning
b. Student Engagement
c. Instructional Delivery System
d. Communication between parent/teacher and student/student

4. The Work
a. Collect recommendations via a google doc
b. Meet in subgroups
c. Subgroups report out on work product on Thursday night
d. Take answers and further recommendations
● Not all recommendations will use into practice in September

5. Collecting Recommendations by Topics
a. We are relying on your experience, expertise, and knowledge to develop
procedures
i. Topic 1: Social Emotional Learning (How will we intentionally build
connections with students at school and with students at home learning
ii. Topic 2: How do we promote active engagement during lessons~ on-line
or in school. (How to promote consistent student attendance and
participation, how do we eliminate student frustration, for example: when
the student is not called upon to give a response to a question
iii. Delivery of Instruction: methods and response (How do we achieve high
levels of engagement, what are learning experiences we need to provide
for staff, what types of communication due we need in place that would be
beneficial?)

6. More information about Collecting Recommendations
a. Discussion of Responsive Classroom (Elementary Students)
i. A committee has been meeting and they are creating lessons to support the
following topics. These lessons would be sounding boards for morning
meeting discussions: wearing masks, hand washing, and other information
relating to safety~ these are a few topics.
b. Social/Emotional engagement for 6-12 Students
i. One suggestion was to bring students together to create a safe learning
environment that would take 3 minutes: “Sharing good news”. More
suggestions are welcomed to ensure 6-12 students feel comfortable
sharing their ideas and feelings where on-line or in school.
c. Parking Lot Link:
i. A link will be available for parents and teachers to add additional
questions that might not fit nicely into our work.

7. How to sign up for a Sub-group
a. Kenn Handin will send a link out to all emails within the next few days. Please
sign up for a group that is of interest.

8. Subgroups:
a. Social and Emotional Sub~Group: Kenn Handin is chair: His meeting is every
Wednesday from 1-2.
b. Student Engagement and Instructional Delivery~Karen Swain and Sue Vachris
are the chairs. Their meeting is every Monday from 1-3.
c. Communications~ TBA

9. Questions from the chat that are for the parking lot:
a. I know much of this planning is about the immediate needs, but one concern I
think may need to be addressed is what is our plan surrounding grief counseling,
for example if we do have students, teachers, staff who become sick or worse.
b. Will students/ parents have the ability to access a class in the evening or another
time other than a live time of the lecture? Parents’ work and schedule was a huge
challenge in the spring.
c. Will students going virtual be at any sort of disadvantage compared to students
who have the opportunity to go to school?
d. How are you handling students who do not have access to the internet?
e. Is the district going to try to get all students online? If they do not have internet
access will they be prioritized to be in person if possible or will they have internet
access.
f. Please explain two days on and four days on line periods and A/B days. Will the
students working at home have a video into the classroom or something else?
g. If an elementary student is learning in school but becomes ill, will they be able to
access online materials to keep up.

10. Questions from the chat: (I might have gotten the answers 🙂
a. Questions related to Special Education:
i. Will students who have an IEP receive services and will these services be
consistent? YES! The IEP is a legal document. There might be
slight differences due to social distancing. Also on-line might
look different. We will make every effort to implement the
student’s IEP. There might be technology challenges.
ii. Will students without an IEP receive services? YES! Speech
improvement will be provided as well as OT/PT. OT/PT looks
different virtually.
iii. What about students in Wilson since it is not on the IEP will this be
offered with fidelity? Yes. (Missed the answer, just heard
Maureen’s name and yes.)
iv. Will there be BOCES? Yes,they will have full programs and also
virtual learning k-12.
v. CTE program: Yes, they will run a program. The letter will come
out next week.
b. Questions related to Honors and National Honors Society (There were at least 7
questions relating to that topic.)
i. Will we still have honors? Yes, honors is continuing
ii. Will students still be able to participate in honors or accelerated programs.
Yes.
c. Questions related hybrid learning, on-line learning
i. What does hybrid learning look like? This is a work in progress. We
are having ongoing conversations. We need feedback regarding
who is coming back in the fall. This survey is coming out very
quickly.
ii. How are students being grouped? We are looking at family structure
first. Unfortunately we can not accommodate friend groups.
iii. Will the district purchase a large monitor for teachers? Large monitors
are very expensive. WE are on a strict budget and we are unable
to purchase this equipment. Susan believes in people first.