REA SCHOOL DISTRICTADDITIONS, DELETIONS, OR MODIFICATIONS
None
PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEM (Comments on Agenda Items- Members of the public wishing to make a comment during a remote (virtual) Board meeting are asked to submit their comments in writing to this email address: vboardmeeting@casdschools.org.
Three main points were included in the 11 public comments:
- Groups meeting have high rate of Covid-19. Parents who can keep children home, should to reduce the number of students in the building.
- Enclosures not available for the community members to review documents to participate in the discussion before votes.
- Several community members and TTF members asked for the process of selecting Canvas. They wanted to know who was involved in the decision making process and what criteria was used to select Canvas.
SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT/ PRESENTATIONS
Coatesville Area School District Health and Safety Plan (Enclosure)—Tomás Hanna
What we know:
- Increase in Covid-19 in the area and increase in younger people.
- 65% increase - 300 cases compared to 182 the week before
Mr. Hanna presented the Health and Safety Plan - Within the explanation, he shared the parents' results of the June survey in comparison with July results. He also shared the results of the teacher survey. Both surveys revealed over half of parents and teachers surveyed felt a level of discomfort with returning to school buildings.
- First, students with the highest level of need. Special education students will be identified for most need, looking at multiple data points
- English Language Learners - looking at phasing in one day a week
1. Will students return the first day or wait until teachers are trained?Palaia: Students will return the day scheduled. Opportunities for teacher training will take place over the summer. Also, teacher in-service is built into the calendar before students return.2. What are we doing for students who are unable to access their education for marking period 1?
District has reached out to locations for childcare to support students during the school day.3. What about students who are unable to access those services?Mangan: “We are responsible for following through with everything that we would have to do to support our students and our families. If we were in a traditional face to face setting so that includes relying on our home and school visitors and other different support systems that may be in the community to try to work out creative solutions to that.”4. How will we do progress monitoring?Same methods as before but we also invested in online programs that do assessments and will use CCIU resources.
5. If teachers are with students all the time - how will they progress monitor?
Some will be able to meet with students during co-teaching time, and
6. Can we have educators go to homes to provide services?We will have to do that. We are responsible to meet all of our students' needs as if we are in a brick and mortar.
What if a child cannot adhere to social guidelines?We will have to use as a teaching tool -- Staff will need to be equipped with training.
Can teachers come into the building? Is there a way to have childcare for the teacher's whose children are at home?
We will be working on a plan for this. Some teachers have expressed desire to be in classrooms with their materials.
How will we be ensuring that students are engaged?
- We will be training and incorporating an LMS
- Consistent schedule
What is truancy going to look like?
- No leniency available from the state. We will follow the SAP process.
- Mr. Darian Smith joined meeting - will monitor attendance and notices will be sent
What about students who need more help? Can we set up a study hall?
- Interventions System using tools at disposal
- More opportunities will come up - live teaching for first 20 min and then teachers can support students or students can email teachers for support
B. CCRES –Agreement for Services
Comments/discussion:
D. : That the Board of School Directors approve the professional services of Provident Energy Consulting, LLC to develop and manage a comprehensive energy services project(s), inclusive of related capital improvements, under the framework of an energy Performance Contract, following the guidelines of the Pennsylvania ”Guaranteed Energy Savings Act” (GESA), as presented. (
Comments/discussion: Brandon Rhone wanted to clarify due to conversation at last meeting - are we still having conversations with Siemens?
Response from Hanna, Diefendorfer and Dunlap: It allows us to go broader and they will help us through the process - good companies, and Provident is the middle man to help us look at our specific needs.
E.: RECOMMENDED MOTION: That the Board of School Directors approve the
exoneration of uncollectable real estate property tax liens and authorize the
Chester County Tax Claim Bureau to remove the uncollectable tax liens for the
enclosed parcels, as presented. (Confidential Enclosure)
Sobczak stated CASD is looking to pull content from google classroom but noted that they are not doing away with or replacing google classroom.
When asked if BSD was a mistake, Sobczak stated BSD was the only option at the time and was a response to an emergency situation.
Becky Harlan: Who was involved in the decision making process and were teachers involved in the process?
Sobczak: “We did put out a survey and we did have CATA leadership invited to both the vendors that were in the running for selection process. And again the survey went out and we did take the feedback from the surveys.”
Hanna: As we engage in training, we want to be clear we are meeting the needs of teachers.
Andrew Finkbohner:
- Did we specifically put out a survey to teachers about an LMS?
- Canvas has a 6 week onboarding and we are 4 weeks out. What will onboarding look like and will there be training for families and students? In speaking with community members for other districts that use Canvas, it’s just as difficult for parents as teachers, there’s a big learning curve. What are we doing to educate our families and students on the use of Canvas?
Sobczak: There was not an independent isolated survey just for the LMS to families or staff.
The 6 weeks is inclusive of what Canvas has already done to prepare our system, as well as the technology team integrating learning tools. The enclosure provides a training schedule which includes training from August to December.
Mr. Sobczak stated that any system will have a learning curve. CASD has already been exposed to google classroom and BSD so the learning curve will not be as high. To engage students and families, we need to be available more than 9-5. We need to do a better job of that.
Finkbohner: Clarified that there was not a specific survey that went to teachers to get their feed back on what would be best fit for the district.
Asked for clarification on what we are doing to engage students and families to train them on Canvas.
Sobczak stated that Canvas already has their own material, but that his staff should be more available for training including printed sheets, short videos, office hours and targeting students that aren’t as successful for additional trainings and support.
Hanna replied that the survey was around the whole remote experience, not a specific LMS survey.
C. Coatesville Area School District Health and Safety Plan -RECOMMENDED MOTION: That the Board of School Directors approve the 2020—2021 Coatesville Area School District Health and Safety Plan, as presented. (Enclosure)
Comments/discussion:
Questions from the community: We are working on a document to share them.
Passed☒ Failed☐ Vote: 7 -0
D. Sonday System--Reading - RECOMMENDED MOTION: That the Board of School Directors approve proposal from Winsor Learning, Inc.to purchase Sonday System reading intervention materials and professional development at a cost of $36,113.28. (Enclosure)
Comments/discussion: None
Passed☒ Failed☐ Vote: 7 -0
E. ALEKS—Assessment and Learning System - RECOMMENDED MOTION: That the Board of School Directors approve the proposal from McGraw Hill to purchase a subscription to ALEKS assessment and learning system, as presented. (Enclosure)
Comments/discussion: None
Passed☒ Failed☐ Vote: 7 -0
F. 95 Percent Group—Reading Intervention Program - RECOMMENDED MOTION: That the Board of School Directors approve the proposal from 95 Percent Group Phonics Lesson Library reading intervention materials and professional development at a cost of $36,113.28, as presented. (Enclosure)
Comments/discussion: None
Passed☒ Failed☐ Vote: 7 -0
