january 7
happy new year!
The bOARDBuzz is put together following District 25 School Board Meetings and serves as a recap of what occurred. For the full agenda, please click here.
This meeting was recorded and that recording can be viewed here: www.sd25.org/0107FullMeeeting.
As always, the bOARDBuzz is archived at www.sd25.org/BoardBuzz.
RECOGNITIONS AND WELCOMES
This meeting was held virtually, via Zoom and all public comments were submitted via an online Google form prior to the meeting. All comments received prior to 12 pm (noon) on Thursday, January 7, 2021 were categorized, and read aloud at the meeting. The reading of those comments begin at the 0:55 mark of the meeting and can be viewed at this direct link: CLICK HERE.
Any public comments submitted prior to the start of the meeting at 7:30 pm on Thursday, January 7, 2021, are available in full and can be read by visiting www.sd25.org/0107Comments.
Categorized summary of public comments submitted via Email:
- The District should stay in hybrid until a vaccine is widely available. (3)
- The District should take an adaptive pause. (4)
- The District should not take an adaptive pause. (3)
- The science does not support wearing masks. Wearing masks is endangering the health of our kids. Also a suggestion to use UV light instead of school disinfectant. (1)
- Continue to allow students to go home for lunch if they choose. The process works well. (1)
- Please add more details (for example, when a person became contagious) on the COVID-19 positive notification letters. (1)
- Some people pressing for full in-person are also traveling and attending indoor gatherings. (1)
- Dr. Bein should not have the sole authority to move TMS to remote learning. (1)
- The metrics process has become confusing; I can’t believe we didn’t take an adaptive pause. (1)
- Consider separating remote learners from in-person learners. (1)
- Parents who support hybrid learning do not all support full in-person learning. (1)
- Do not separate remote learners from in-person learners by creating new classrooms. (1)
- Please provide information on availability of vaccines and if students will be required to receive the vaccine. (1)
- Move to five full days of in-person learning. (21)
- Keep students in school. (2)
- This person would like guidance on the Illinois State Board of Education guidelines for meeting the minimum public health guidance. ISBE says social distancing to the “greatest extent possible”, but a school message said “where feasible”. Which is it? (1)
- Why does Dr. Bein not want schools open? (1)
- Use current metrics, not the outdated metrics from August. (1)
- Move to Step 4. My school has 75% choosing in-person learning. (6)
Move to remote based on the health department's guidelines rather than the ones created by the Board. (1)
Notify parents when there is a positive COVID-19 case in their child’s classroom. (2)
Finalize your metrics tonight and return to following the best governance practices related to the Board's duties and the Superintendent's duties. (1)
I don’t agree that we should have to have 5 out of 6 metrics in the concerning area. Any one of them could cause a health concern. (1)
Our Board members are not protecting our schools. They must recuse themselves from decisions related to safety and leave the decisions to Dr. Bein who has proven to make safety decisions before. (1)
Stop surveying us and just return to school. Go four days [in-person] and use classroom-specific metrics. (1)
Allow the Superintendent to make safety decisions based on her knowledge just like she does for inclement weather. (1)
Students with special needs need to continue to be in school. (2)
Follow all public health guidance; don’t just selectively follow some of it. (1)
Eliminate metrics to start Step 4 and look only at classroom data. (1)
ACTION ITEMS
superintendent report
The potential motion listed below was dependent on Dr. Bein's presentation and any discussion the Board had after the presentation. A PDF of Dr. Bein's presentation can be seen by clicking here, and to watch Dr. Bein's presentation, click here.
- CRITERIA: entry into and exit from Step 4 metrics
Please note that the Board chose not to move on the motion on the agenda. The details of the decision can be found below:
POTENTIAL MOTION: NOT MOVED
That the Board of Education adopt and implement the related metrics scorecard as discussed including the following agreements:
- Adding MITIGATION STRATEGIES as an 8th critical area
- Using Region 10 (or Region 10 - North) as the area for positivity rate
- Changing (or keeping) the metrics for TOTAL STAFF ABSENCES
- [add any other change here]
These metrics will be utilized starting on January 19, 2021 to identify when the district/school(s) would need to return to a remote learning model. If [enter # here] of the critical guidelines are in the “Significant Concern” category the school/district will return to a full remote model.
The Board members discussed this item extensively, eventually deciding that they did not need to set specific metrics that would guide any future return to Remote Learning. Instead, the Board discussed having the Superintendent and her team continue to monitor the internal District 25 COVID-19 numbers (www.sd25.org/COVIDDashboard), and the mitigation strategies used to limit in-school transmission. If the Cook County Department of Public Health determines that a specific classroom or school should take an adaptive pause due to data related to that specific area of the school district, the Superintendent will work with the health department and the District 25 Board to implement their guidance.
The beginning of the discussion on this topic can be viewed by, clicking here.
UPCOMING BOARD MEETING
School Board Meeting
This meeting will be held at the Dunton Administration Building and will be livestreamed via YouTube. That link will be posted on the Board Agenda page (www.sd25.org/BoardAgenda) the week of the meeting.
This meeting will allow audience members with a maximum of 13 audience members in the room (25 total people in the room) in which the meeting is being held. We will have two overflow rooms available that can seat 14 people each where the meeting will be livestreamed.
Public Comments
Anyone who has a public comment and is not going to attend the meeting in-person is welcome to submit their comment using the following NEW process by filling out the public comments Google Form.
Meeting Recordings
A video of the meetings will be recorded and uploaded to our site the following day on the 'Board Agenda' page and on our 'Catch up on Meetings' page.
Thursday, Jan 21, 2021, 07:30 PM
1200 South Dunton Avenue, Arlington Heights, IL, USA
Arlington Heights School District 25
Email: aharris@sd25.org
Website: www.sd25.org
Location: 1200 South Dunton Avenue, Arlington Heights, IL, USA
Phone: 847.758.4900
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ahsd25
Twitter: @ahsd25
Please note that not every item at the meeting will be detailed on the Board Buzz. This is intended to hit the topics of high interest to the community. For the full agenda for each meeting, visit www.sd25.org/BoardAgenda.