Weekly Briefing 10.2.20

 

Current Lewis County COVID-19 Statistics

You'll note that while case rates are down for this two-week rolling average, the case rate is expected to increase in the next weeks based on current cases that will contribute to future averages. Again, the rate continues to climb. LC PHSS reported this week that many of the cases are coming from congregate living and treatment facilities in the county. This is troubling for us as schools are a "congregate facility". Remember too, that as Fall deepens into Winter, we'll all be spending more time indoors. Cold and flu season is upon us and a third wave of COVID is predicted worldwide. Can't stress it often enough that we need everyone's help in reducing the rate of infection in our county so that we don't have to retreat from on-campus instruction.

Kindergarten

Our thanks to the volunteer "students" who came to help us test our system. We received many compliments on our preparedness and also some great ideas on how we can improve. We'll be bringing our Kinders to school on Monday as planned and we're looking forward to getting back to regular order soon.

Lewis County Public Health Recommendations

Just after I posted last week's update, LC PHSS issued a new recommendation. Dr. Wood advises we should consider bringing the rest of elementary students back to the building no earlier than October 19. She goes on to recommend a return of grades 6-8 no earlier than November 16 and grades 9-12 after Dec. 14. I'll be requesting authority to follow those recommendations at our Oct. 15 board meeting. 

Even though we can bring students back quickly, it is our plan to continue to "dial up" our return. What this means is that we would bring a couple of grades back to TES after Oct. 19 and then wait a week or so before bringing the rest back. This gives everyone time to settle in to new procedures and allows us to make sure that we can maintain distance, masks and hand washing with an increased number of people in the building.

For TMS, November 16 is just 8 instructional days before the end of the trimester. We think it may be best if students finish the trimester and start the new one in the building with a new schedule. 

One of the reasons we needed a new high school was that the ventilation in the building and the fresh air exchange was not good. This becomes even more important now with the virus. While we still think it is wisest to wait to return THS students to the building after the new classroom areas are finished, we're becoming worried about our seniors and their grades and engagement. We're thinking about bringing those students back to the building at the beginning of the new trimester.

You'll no doubt notice that other districts are returning to their buildings more rapidly than I recommend. Given our current case rates and in comparison to other districts in the state with similar case rates, I think that our return to the buildings is quite aggressive. While we're prepared to switch quickly from on-campus to remote learning, we don't think that is good for students or families to have such schedule changes. That's why we want to "dial up" our return.

Athletics and Facilities

Athletic practices have begun again in modified form and with screening, temperature checks and sanitation between cohort workouts. All of these are necessary for us to provide athletic programming for our athletes. All sports are able to do these workouts. In a week or two, we'll begin allowing extracurricular clubs to meet in similar groupings with the same precautions.

This means that our facilities are again available to public groups who have completed facility use forms and provided required insurance documentation. We will give priority to our school programs of course, but youth athletics, community and religious organizations are invited to submit their requests. All groups, including our athletes, are responsible for cleaning and disinfecting the space following their use. With the exception of religious organizations, groups are limited to 10 at a time with distance, masks and hand washing. We require groups to observe these restrictions and may revoke permissions if it is determined that they are not being observed. Our first responsibility is to the children and staff of our schools who will be working in the environment. It is critical that we maintain the health of our interior spaces.

What's Next?

No one can predict where this will go from day to day, but our team is following the metrics in our county and the ever-changing recommendations from our public health, regulatory and scientific leadership as well as listening to our parents, students and community when it comes to making decisions. We  are continuing to work to accommodate the specific needs of children and families and are having quite a bit of success in doing so.

We're still attempting to contact some families who either can't or won't respond to our calls, letters, emails and visits. If you know someone who is struggling, please help us contact them so we can help their situation.

Don't forget that I do "Tuesday Talk" on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. on zoom Click here I don't do any presenting. Typically, I just ask what is on people's minds. Sometimes, they want to know about school reopening. Sometimes we talk about construction at THS and I've even done some tech support about Google Classroom. In addition, if you'd like to see what Google Classroom is all about, email me and I'll get you signed up for my "Parent Partners" class online. 

As you navigate the upcoming week, I hope you'll look for the things that we can all be thankful for in Toledo: a supportive community, a scenic place to call home, a place with resourceful and caring neighbors and a "can do" spirit. Remember to support our local businesses and as always, spread kindness like butter.

Weekly Briefing 9.25.20

 Current Lewis County COVID conditions

Cases in Lewis County increased during this two-week rolling average to the highest since the onset of this record. For comparison, Cowlitz County is 33, Pierce County is 56.1, Thurston County is 22.7, Pacific County is 78.6, Gray's Harbor is 169.9 and Yakima County is 87.5. Only six counties have higher case rates than Lewis. 

As I mentioned in last week's blog, Lewis County Public Health is recommending that schools in the county consider allowing Kindergarteners to attend school on campus. This recommendation is intended to balance the risk of infection with the impact of not being in school for our youngest students.

Kindergarten

On Monday, Sept. 28, we will use volunteer adults as "Kindergarten students" to test our school opening protocols. Their "parents" will complete a morning attestation that the kids have no COVID symptoms and are clear to come to school. They'll be greeted at the bus or parent drop zone by staff who will take their temps and make sure they've completed the attestation. Those whose parents didn't attest by phone will be screened by staff. Students will go to breakfast to test our distancing in the cafeteria and then travel to classrooms by cohort. We'll do recess, hand washing, and briefly do everything including dismissal in a two-hour period. Our goal is to surface things that we didn't consider so that we can address those during the next week. 

On Monday, October 5, we'll welcome our Kindergarten students to school. We'll be teaching each cohort on campus for half-day. This will keep cohorts to 10 or less students. The a.m. group will learn on campus and the p.m. group will learn at home in the morning. In the afternoon, the p.m. group will learn on campus and the a.m. group will learn at home. On Fridays, all cohorts will learn at home all day. Friday is the day that teachers will use to prepare the at-home lessons.

We are watching to see how this configuration works and using lessons we learn from this to guide our return to school planning for the remaining TES grades. When it is safe to do so, we want to be able to move quickly to return students to on-campus instruction.

Athletics

We will end WIAA's mandated no-coach period on Monday and be able to host modified practices for all athletics in the ramp up to Winter season. We plan to begin athletic practices in keeping with all of the Dept. of Health and WIAA guidelines on Tuesday Sept. 29. Athletes will work in cohorts of 10 or less. We weighed the value to students of being able to have some physical outlet with the risk of infection and determined that if we hold to the guidelines, the physical activity will boost the morale of our students and community. 

Extracurricular activities such as clubs and groups will begin meeting outside of the school day in groups of 10 or less as soon as we're confident that we're doing a good job with our athletic teams. 

Your Role

Lewis County has one of the most aggressive return-to-school recommendations of any county in Washington. As you can see from the current data, we're also one of the most active counties in the state for cases. In order to continue on this aggressive return-to-school plan, we all need to work together to reduce cases. The only weapons we have to fight the virus are masks, hand washing and social distancing. We all need to use all of these weapons in the fight against this virus.

Large indoor gatherings without masks and close proximity to others repeatedly end up increasing cases. In our county, we see this in congregate living (convalescent centers, correctional facilities). Schools are congregate settings. In order to reduce the likelihood of a spread of the disease in school, we need to reduce the spread of the disease in our community at large so that it doesn't come to school.

This virus has created the fourth largest mass casualty event in U.S. history. Only the Civil War, WWII and the 1918 Pandemic have killed more Americans. This virus has done it's damage in less than a quarter of the time that we experienced in the two wars mentioned.

The Path Forward

It is our desire to safely return to campus as soon as possible. Research on the effectiveness of distance education demonstrates that it is less effective than in-person instruction. While our teachers are using techniques to increase the effectiveness, the research is clear (Hattie, 2009)* 

In WWII, families did without things like butter, gasoline, and coffee in order to support the troops fighting overseas. There were blackout curtains and towns would turn off all lights at night in order to protect against enemy bombers. Americans endured years of self-deprivation in order to prevail against a common enemy. We are currently in a similar fight and what we're being asked to do is minimal in comparison to our ancestors. I have been encouraged this week to see people who I know hate wearing masks, question whether they are necessary and feel uncomfortable wearing their mask in spite of the discomfort. I interpret this as good citizenship and care for their neighbors. On behalf of all of us at TSD who are working hard to serve children remotely and also bring them back to school, we thank you for your efforts.

*An effect size of .4 means that for one year's effort, a student will make one year's growth. We look for strategies that have greater than .4. Distance Education has a .14 effect size based on an analysis of 1,143 studies.

Weekly Briefing 9.18.20

 In the interest of keeping our community informed, I plan to provide a weekly briefing on developments related to our COVID response and a return to school. In addition, I'm converting my Tuesday night Parent Partners Office Hours to a general Q&A related to our school district. Patrons are invited to log on to that meeting on Tuesday evenings at 6 p.m. for a time to chat about issues related to the school district and our work to bring students back to the classroom.

Tuesday Office Hours 6-7 p.m. (click here to access the meeting)

Lewis County COVID metrics today

Following a recommendation from Lewis County Public Health and Social Services, TSD has begun considering bringing Kindergarteners to school in-person. We currently have 57 students enrolled in this grade and anticipate 54 will attend. The Response Team comprised of principals, transportation, maintenance and operations, School Nurse, counselor, Athletic Director, District Office secretary and me will meet with the Kindergarten faculty on Monday to review our plans and make adjustments to meet current conditions. These plans begin with the student and family prior to the bus or parent transporting and end with the child's return to their home at the end of the day. These plans include health screening, temperature checks, confirmation of all parent contact information, masking, social distancing, cleaning and disinfection, hand washing, recess protocols, food service and toileting. We're working to "pressure test" our plans to see where the weaknesses are prior to students being on campus. 

This work now is crucial to the return of other students. By preparing with a smaller group of students, we learn how to best prepare for a larger group. In addition, we become confident and practiced in our protocols at school and will be in a better position to keep our kids and families safe.

Regardless of our best efforts, you need to know that there will be cases of COVID. Part of our planning includes being able to respond to those cases in a way that is appropriate and respects the individual's privacy. We have letters prepared to inform those who need to know when there is a positive case. We also will be cooperating with contact tracing efforts by Lewis County Public Health. It is important to note that a single case does not mean that we're closing school or even the classroom. We will follow public health directives in all cases.

Athletics

Yesterday, Public Health rescinded their order regarding professional and youth athletics and deferred to the directions of the Washington State Dept. of Health and the Governor's Safe Start initiative. This has nothing to do with interscholastic athletics programs in schools. This only relates to youth sports (like Little League and Youth Soccer) and pro athletics (like the Seahawks and the Mariners). 

TSD's connection to youth sports is through our venues. TSD venues will remain closed to public use until students are able to return to school and our students can use the venues.

Board Meetings

The board is currently conducting their meetings via videoconferencing. The Dept. of Health limits gatherings to 10 people. The Governor confirmed this in his proclamation that reduced Phase 3 gatherings to 10 (from 50). By the time we collect 5 board members, the superintendent, secretary and the people who are reporting to the board, we have 10 in the room. Any public members interested in the meeting would need to be in a room down the hall watching on a video feed. We felt that since we'd be doing video for the public, it was safer to do video for all. 

I've had questions about public comments and why  we only accept written comments at video meetings. Connections on the internet are troublesome. There is often delays and sometimes, connections fail in the middle of a presentation. The meeting either has to wait for the person to return (not always possible) or go ahead and circle back later. It was felt last spring that taking written public comment only allowed for more and better input to the board than was possible with video. Since this has been our practice in the past, it would be unfair to those who wanted to speak but were denied in past months to allow people to present verbally now. Public comment and a more conversational interaction is expected when we're able to return to regular order.

Talk to Us

Every time a parent or student has had a problem this year and has asked for an accommodation for that problem (short of returning to the building), our team has been able to find a way to resolve the issue. However, we have had no luck solving problems that we don't know about or that are shared on social media. If your child is struggling, contact their teacher and their principal. Think about what you'd like to see done differently and what's causing the problem and ask for help. You'll be glad you did.

I haven't heard a single person say, "I'm sure glad we're doing school this way now. It's so much better. We should have been doing it like this all along." If you don't like what's happening right now, you're in good company and you need to know that we're all working for the day that we can stop doing school this way. In the meantime, we're all committed to serving you and supporting you to the best of our ability. And that is considerable.

Best for good health,

Chris Rust

Superintendent

Distance Learning and Reopening Schools update

 I'm not going to sugarcoat it. We are in some of the most difficult times that any of us have experienced. We are all working harder and with less certainty that our work will do any good. We are all trying to make the best of a difficult situation and the best isn't nearly good enough for any of us. While we all want our children to be in school in regular order, we also want all of our friends, neighbors, colleagues and family members to come through this pandemic alive and without lasting physical, neurological, emotional or mental injuries. We are, all of us, fearful of our capacity to meet this challenge. On top of all of that, we're existing in an environment filled with smoke that causes us to feel more anxious.

As of September 16, 2020 at 1:30 p.m. here is the case data for Washington State:

The state is at 80.5 cases per 100,000. This is a two week rolling average that takes into account new cases only and does not consider recoveries, hospitalizations or deaths. I think about this like the RPMs on a tachometer in my car. 25 per 100,000 would be idling. When people say, "COVID will always be with us." this is what they're talking about. Not 0 cases, 25/100,000 or less.

Here is Lewis County alone:

Lewis County is currently at 75.5 cases per 100,000. This is great news because earlier this month, we were at 120. When cases began to decline, Lewis County Public Health, in collaboration with educators and pediatricians, determined that it was safe to begin looking at bringing Kindergarteners back to the schools. Toledo is currently working to do just that as are all other districts in the county. The problem is the projected cases for the future.

When we look at where we are (the blue line) it appears that we're making progress at reducing our cases. But when you look at what is projected for the rolling average taking into account the number of new cases that don't show up in the 14 day data point, we are predicted to be 125.8 for the period of Aug 27-Sep 10 (gray dotted line). State COVID data Lewis County currently has the 10th highest rate of the 39 counties in the state.

Other data looks promising: the infection rate (R Naught value) is currently less than 1 (this means that every person who is positive for COVID is infecting only one or fewer people before they find out they are infected. Measles is 14), hospital beds remain available and the number of COVID patients in hospital is below the "idle speed" of our "engine". 

Our efforts in the county have been about "dialing up" reentry to schools so that we're sure of our new practices of distancing, cohorting, transporting, cleaning, disinfecting and teaching about masks and hand washing. Our concern is that if we reenter too quickly, we'll be forced to close again. Our other concern is that if staff become infected, we aren't sure we'll have substitutes to take their place and that those substitutes will have the new skills needed to teach both on campus and remotely.

Right now, we're taking the recommendation of LC Public Health and planning to return Kindergarten to TES full time Monday through Friday. All but three of our families have indicated they'll send their children. We don't have a date certain right now, but it will be after Sept. 28. 

We're watching Mossyrock and Boistfort to see what their outcomes are in the next three weeks. We're hopeful that they will not have any negative outcomes and that this will be an indication to the rest of us on how we might reenter the buildings. We're also gearing ourselves for cases in our district. We expect that there will be infections, quarantines and sickness. We're praying that there are no lasting outcomes or deaths. Remember that viruses can live in our bodies for our whole lives. The Chicken Pox we had as children is the same virus that attacks us in old age as shingles. The cold sores we got as kids stay with us for our whole lives and create cold sores later under stress. We still don't know what this virus is capable of. 

In the meantime, the staff, teachers, administrators and all of us at Toledo School District have never worked harder on behalf of children than we are this year. We are grateful to all those parents and community members who have sent us words of encouragement and support. Here's what we know:

We are putting out schedules and assignments each Monday by 9 a.m. for the week so that families can plan when they'll do their school work. We're engaging students via videoconferencing software (zoom) more than ever. 69% of our students have perfect attendance so far this year. I hear often from families that while this isn't ideal, it is becoming manageable. I hear from teachers that they are beginning to get the hang of this. The happiest families are those who stay in close touch with their teachers and principals. When there is a problem, they surface that problem along with solutions that might work better and work together with our staff to make it better. 

I have a Parent Partner class online where I do lessons on how our learning management system works as well as information about how to support your child in an online environment. On Tuesdays at 6 p.m. I host an online "office hours" where parents can ask questions and get instruction on  specific concerns. We've had three such sessions. Tuesday Office Hours Click on this link to join up next Tuesday at 6.

Finally, we hear parents who think we should return to the buildings immediately. We also hear parents who are concerned about that. We hear staff who think we should return to the buildings immediately and we hear staff who are concerned about that. All of us want to return to regular order. All of us. We can always commit to you is that we will make decisions based on what is best for kids. We may differing views on what is best for kids, but that will always be our focus. Our mission remains the same- provide opportunities and meaningful experiences to empower students to achieve their goals. Each child, each day, each classroom. We are committed to fulfilling this mission. We are committed to your children's success.

If you have questions or want your voice included in the conversation, I invite you to call or email me. You may also email a public comment for inclusion on the board agenda. Until we meet again, I wish you and your family good health and safety.

May 29, 2020 1 p.m.

Each week, we take more steps toward creating a better version of the Continuous Learning model that we've been using. During the Community Forum on Wednesday this week, I heard that parents would prefer a weekly summary of what students can expect to see for the week (we'll call this a "weekly drop") and that having a single online platform (rather than several separate programs) would be helpful. Our team has settled on the use of Class Dojo as the central "home base" for instruction for K-3 and Google Classroom for 4-12. We'll be using Zoom as our platform for group meetings and also be providing video lessons that students can view. Everything will be accessed through the "Home base" (Dojo or Google Classroom).

Our goal is to create a system that is easily managed by students and places less and less reliance on parents for support as we move along. We're also planning to provide support for parent learning with these platforms so that parents can more easily interact.

Many of us are planning to engage in professional development through the summer in order to be ready to support children and families in the Fall in whatever way is necessary. We're imagining that we'll be in a system that includes some face-to-face with protocols for safety and some online interaction. Depending upon circumstances, we may be prevented from having face-to-face interaction, so we want to be able to provide high-quality instruction at a distance. Our motto is "prepared, not scared", so whatever circumstances come our way, we want to be prepared.

Lewis County is in phase 2 of the Governor's reopening plan, however that plan does not address school operations. We are still precluded from using our facilities to provide any recreational, social or educational services under the Governor's proclamation 20-08. I've asked for clarification from the State that that is their intent and I'm hoping to hear back next week or during the Governor's next briefing. In the meantime, TSD may not use our gyms, fields and other venues for any activities.

We've heard that most parents are looking forward to their children coming back into the school building and picking up their studies. We've also heard concern about disinfecting and protocols for safety. Our team is working right now on establishing our protocols guided by the experts at the CDC and the Department of Health. We're preparing our order for PPE and sanitizing supplies as well as creating our plans for adapting our buildings to our new circumstances. As these are created, we'll keep you informed.

Friday 7:30 a.m.Grades, Wellness

Grades

One of the most difficult decisions we've faced both in Toledo and the State is how to assign grades for this trimester. There were so many issues related to this that OSPI stepped into territory that is usually left to local decisions, to provide guidance and direction. In a communication earlier this month, Chris Reykdal stated that our primary directive is to "do no harm". Toward that end, he directed that no student would receive an "F" or "No Credit" for work they've done during this term. In addition, no student could have a grade reduced. OSPI gave us options of offering "Incompletes" or A-D grades and any combination of those.

Prior to the direction from OSPI, Seattle made the decision to record an A or incomplete for all students in their system. Incompletes would carry no credit and would need to have a plan attached that would allow the student to remove the incomplete and replace it with a passing grade at a later time. Other districts have chosen every option allowed by OSPI. The most common system is A-D+ Incomplete.

In Toledo, our team talked about equity for our students. Some students are in circumstances where parents are available to help and they have reliable internet access and devices. Their family may not have had anyone become affected by the virus or by disruption to income or business. Those students will not have the same experience as students who need to help in the family business, don't have reliable internet access or are home alone during the day.

In addition, our team felt that while we got off to a strong start and our families report that they are pleased with the service they're receiving, this is new work for all of us and we're not providing everything we could if students were with us for 6 hours daily. Our team felt that it would be wrong to judge students based on our current ability to deliver instruction and assess learning.

Because of this and many other issues, the decision was made that we would track progress as we ordinarily would, but at the end of the term, we would change all grades for students K-5 to a "3" and all grades for students grades 6-12 to an "A".

We are not going to use the "Incomplete" grade. Our team felt that this was just delaying a burden until a future date uncertain and that it wouldn't be helpful to our students or families.

No one is going to give any meaning to these grades. Colleges, military, NCAA and scholarship committees have all stated that these grades are not going to be factored into any decisions that will affect admission or acceptance. We are required to record some mark on the transcript that will also  have a designation indicating it was recorded during this time.

I've spoken to parents who are concerned that their child will disengage because they're "getting an A anyway." Students don't work for grades. Students work for approval of their family. Parents use grades as a way to determine their satisfaction with their child's effort. There are other ways to measure your satisfaction: by completed assignments, connections to teachers, time spent learning and any number of other ways connected to school. By staying up-to-date on your child's performance through contact with your child's teacher and through Family Access online, you can still motivate your child to continue to engage in learning just as you have in the past. I'm imagining a dialogue that would go something like this,

Child: "Why should I do anything? I'm getting straight A's anyway."
Parent: "I'm really not interested in your final grade right now. I expect you to work on your assignments just like I always have. Missing assignments aren't acceptable in our family. You can do better. 
Child: "Okay, I'll do it this afternoon."
Parent: "I'll check on your progress with your teacher tomorrow by email. If you haven't completed at least one Math assignment by then, there will be no video games until your teacher lets me know that you've completed one assignment."

Another scenario involves asking questions, listening to the answers and then asking more probing questions. Questions such as:

"What is the most surprising thing you learned today?"
"What is one thing you did today that was fun?"
"What is one problem that you solved today?"
"What is a problem that you'd like to see solved in the future?"

Wellness
Loss is difficult. Whether its a family member, a job, a prized possession or a way of life, loss brings feelings of grief. There are some predictable stages of grief. According to Kubler Ross and Kessler, there are five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. We are all experiencing loss right now and can predict that we will all experience all of these stages. They won't all come at once and they won't come in order, but they will work through. Like the weather in Toledo, if you don't like it now, wait five minutes and it will change.

It is important that we're sensitive to these emotions in ourselves and also that we watch for them in our kids. Like the weather, it will pass. Also like the weather, it can do damage if we don't prepare for it. The State has put together a list of resources that can help with grief and the losses that have caused it. I encourage you and your family to reach out to these people sooner rather than later. These are the resources that our staff are drawing on for referrals. Resources

There is nothing more important right now than your mental, emotional and physical health. Please be well.

Changes to the District Calendar- Video

Click Here.