Dr. Fehrman's Friday Follow-Up
June 18, 2021
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Senator Ossoff's Superintendent Round Table
I had the honor of attending a Metro-area Superintendent Roundtable discussion hosted by Senator Jon Ossoff on Monday. It was a pleasure to meet Senator Ossoff and share the amazing work we are doing in CSD. The purpose of the meeting was to share directly with the senator how CSD will spend the funds distributed to our system by the Federal Government through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). We received confirmation in March that CSD would receive approximately $2.4 Million in CARES III funds through the ARP.
Our plans are in line with our neighboring districts. We have known these funds would be received since March and we have prepared our 2021-2022 school year to make full use of them. CSD will use our ARP-CARES III funds for continuity of existing instructional services and to enhance extended learning opportunities outside of the normal school day through summer programs, after-school programs, and additional learning opportunities during fall and winter breaks.
Our plan has been posted for several weeks for public input, and you can review it here. If you have not yet provided feedback and would like to, please click here. For additional information on all CARES funds, you can visit our CSD Federal and Title Programs website.
June 22 Board Work Session
Tuesday, June 22 at 6:30 p.m., the Board will hold a Work Session to discuss the following topics:
Tuition options for 2021-2022
2021-2022 school calendar
Class rank on high school transcripts
Residency policy for homeowners undergoing renovations
Protocol for returning to in-person Board meetings
As this is a work session, no official actions will be taken. Work Sessions are a time for the Board to discuss topics and ask questions of district and school leaders so they are ready to take action at the following regular Board meeting. We hope you can listen in to the Work Session. You can access information to join the meeting here.
School Start and End Times
I have received several emails from parents regarding school start and end times next year and realize now that we did not do a good job communicating this change last summer when the decision was made to change to start/end times. In January 2020, a focus group was formed to review teacher planning time across the district to determine if the time across schools was equitable. This team was composed of teachers, school leaders, and district leaders. The team reviewed school schedules, school start and end times, number of preps for teachers, and the number of students teachers taught. They compared these figures with other schools in the metro area.
The outcome of this focus group was a recommendation to the superintendent that was approved in March 2020, just prior to closing schools for COVID, to shorten the school day for upper elementary by 30 minutes from seven hours to six-and-a-half hours. This recommendation was based on several factors. The most significant was that teachers in our upper elementary schools had little to no time before students arrive as well as after students left to plan while our lower elementary school teachers get up to 30 minutes of planning time before students enter the building and after students are dismissed. Also, as the team compared our elementary school hours to other elementary schools in the metro area, each K-5 school they looked at operated on a six-and-a-half-hour school day.
Since we opened in a full virtual setting in August, this change was not communicated at that time. However, FAVE and Talley shared the updated start/end times with families when they opened for in-person learning.
I understand that this feels like new information for some of our families, and I apologize that the communication regarding this change was not as robust as it warranted. Regardless, the current published start/end times will remain in place for the 2021-2022 school year. Please know that even with the change, CSD still offers an instructional day for our upper elementary students that exceeds the minimum hours required by the state board policy.
Juneteenth
The nation will collectively observe the significance of the emancipation of enslaved Africans as Juneteenth is now an official federal holiday. The bill to make Juneteenth a federal paid holiday comes on the heels of protests against racial injustices experienced by people of color over the past year.
Juneteenth commemorates when the last enslaved African “Americans” learned they were free. Confederate soldiers surrendered in April 1865, but word didn’t reach the last enslaved Black people until June 19, when Union soldiers brought the news of freedom to Galveston, Texas. That was also about two years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
As a part of commemorating Juneteenth, we remember those who fought and died for freedom. While we celebrate this moment, we realize that more is needed to honor their sacrifices. We are dedicated to addressing structural racism and racial disparities and unpacking the complex history of our country.
CSD is allowing all employees working over the summer to take off a half-day for the observance of Juneteenth either today or Monday. The Board will also review our school calendar for 2021-2022 to discuss adding a full day of observance to our school calendar.
Celebrations Around Town:
June 19
Juneteenth Decatur: A Celebration of Liberated Spaces
Juneteenth Atlanta (June 18-20)
https://www.juneteenthatl.com/
Parent and Educator Resources:
https://www.nytimes.com/article/juneteenth-day-celebration.html
CSD Equity Site: https://equity.csdecatur.net/home
Westchester Principal Vacancy Update
As many of our Westchester community are aware, Dr. Kimberly Watson has returned to the Chicago area for personal reasons. We are grateful for Dr. Watson’s year of service to the Westchester community.
For several reasons, I decided that now is not the time to hire the permanent replacement for Dr. Watson. I have decided instead to ask two members of the Westchester Crew to lead as co-interim principals. I am thrilled to share that Latonya Henry and Christie Manasso, a teacher and the instructional coach, respectively, will take on this opportunity. Both Ms. Manasso and Ms. Henry have proven leadership skills with the Westchester community and will provide consistency for the students, staff, and families after a year of transitions. I have also identified a mentor for Ms. Manasso and Ms. Henry to help them navigate their new leadership roles. These two stellar colleagues will also have the full support of our teachers, our other principals, and the Wilson School Support Center staff.
This was not an easy decision, and as I reflected on what is best for the students at Westchester, I know that consistency in leadership with trusted and respected leaders is key in ensuring Westchester students start the school year successfully. Also informing my decision is lagging enrollment at our lower elementary schools: we are still about 240 students below projected enrollment in kindergarten through 2nd grade. I will continue to monitor enrollment over the summer and into the fall to make a decision on when to move forward with hiring the permanent principal for Westchester. Please know that this decision is more about timing and enrollment and there are no plans or even conversations about closing any of our lower elementary schools despite low enrollment numbers.
Thank you to Ms. Henry and Ms. Manasso for stepping up to ensure our students and staff at Westchester are well supported as we transition to a full return to in-person learning in the fall.
Job(s) Well Done
Decatur was voted DeKalb County Baseball Team of the Year for the second time in three years.
Player, Brady Jones was named DeKalb County Pitcher of the year, and Coach Gilbert was selected as DeKalb County Coach of the Year.
Congratulations to the DHS Baseball Team!