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Monday, August 10, 2020
Franklin Cultural District Newsletter - August 2020
The Atlantic: "How the Pandemic Defeated America"
This article from The Atlantic summarizes how this pandemic could be different
"How did it come to this? A virus a thousand times smaller than a dust mote has humbled and humiliated the planet’s most powerful nation. America has failed to protect its people, leaving them with illness and financial ruin. It has lost its status as a global leader. It has careened between inaction and ineptitude. The breadth and magnitude of its errors are difficult, in the moment, to truly fathom.
In the first half of 2020, SARS‑CoV‑2—the new coronavirus behind the disease COVID‑19—infected 10 million people around the world and killed about half a million. But few countries have been as severely hit as the United States, which has just 4 percent of the world’s population but a quarter of its confirmed COVID‑19 cases and deaths. These numbers are estimates. The actual toll, though undoubtedly higher, is unknown, because the richest country in the world still lacks sufficient testing to accurately count its sick citizens.
Despite ample warning, the U.S. squandered every possible opportunity to control the coronavirus. And despite its considerable advantages—immense resources, biomedical might, scientific expertise—it floundered. While countries as different as South Korea, Thailand, Iceland, Slovakia, and Australia acted decisively to bend the curve of infections downward, the U.S. achieved merely a plateau in the spring, which changed to an appalling upward slope in the summer. “The U.S. fundamentally failed in ways that were worse than I ever could have imagined,” Julia Marcus, an infectious-disease epidemiologist at Harvard Medical School, told me."
Continue reading the article online (subscription may be required) https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/09/coronavirus-american-failure/614191/
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| "How the Pandemic Defeated America" |
Sunday, August 9, 2020
Franklin, MA: Town Council Meeting - August 12, 2020
The Town Council agenda and set of documents released for the meeting on Aug 12, 2020:
The agenda can also be found in this PDF format
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| Franklin, MA: Town Council Meeting - August 12, 2020 |
Franklin, MA: School Committee - Meeting Agenda = Aug 11, 2020
I. Routine Business
A. Review of Agenda
B. Citizen’s Comments
In the spirit of open communication, “the Committee will hold a public participation segment (also called Citizen’s Comments) about matters not related to an agenda item at the beginning of each regular School Committee meeting. The Committee will listen to, but not respond to any comment made…. A Committee member may add an agenda item to a future meeting as a result of a citizen comment…. The Committee will hear public comments related to an agenda item when the Chair deems appropriate during the Committee meeting. Topics for discussion during the meeting must be limited to those items listed on the Committee meeting agenda for that evening…. ” - from Policy BEDH
C. FHS Student Representative Comments
D. Superintendent’s Report
II. Guests/Presentations
A. Franklin Public Schools Comprehensive Reopening Plan
III. Discussion/Action Items
A. Franklin Public Schools Comprehensive Reopening Plan
I recommend the adoption of the Franklin Public Schools Comprehensive Reopening Plan, which may be updated and amended in its implementation.
Presentation https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/files/reopening-presentation
Re-opening Plan https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/files/disc-action-reopening-plan
B. 2020-21 Revised School Calendar
I recommend the adoption of the revised 2020-2021 School Calendar as discussed.
https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/files/disc-action-b-revised-calendar
C. Policy 2nd Reading/Adoption
I recommend adoption of Policy FA – Facilities Development Goals as discussed.
IV. Discussion Only Items
A. None
V. Information Matters
A. School Committee Sub-Committee Reports (e.g. Ad Hoc Supt. Evaluation, Ad Hoc Facilities Analysis, Budget, Community Relations/Public Schools Advocacy, Policy, Transportation)
B. School Committee Liaison Reports (e.g. Joint PCC, Substance Abuse Task Force, School Wellness Advisory Council)
VI. New Business
A. To discuss any future agenda items
VII. Consent Agenda
A. Approval of Minutes
I recommend approval of the minutes from your July 28, 2020 School Committee meeting as detailed.
B. Transfers
I recommend approval of the budget transfers as detailed.
C. Jefferson Surplus Materials
I recommend declaring the attached list of Jefferson materials as surplus.
D. Executive Session Minutes
I recommend approval of the Executive Session Minutes from the following School Committee Meetings:
July 14, 2020 Executive Session Minutes to be released
July 28, 2020 Executive Session Minutes to be released
VIII. Payment of Bills Dr. Bergen
IX. Payroll Ms. D’Angelo
X. Executive Session
A. Pursuant to M.G.L. c. 30A, §21(a)(3) to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining with the FEA/Unit A, FEA/Cafeteria, FEA/ESP, FEA/Secretaries as an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the School Committee and the chair so declares.
Return to Open Session
XI. Adjournment
The agenda doc is found online
https://www.franklinps.net/district/meeting-packets/files/sc-agenda-81120
The meeting packet can be found
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| Franklin, MA: School Committee - Meeting Agenda = Aug 11, 2020 |
Franklin Public Schools: Superintendent's message on Re-opening Plan
August 3, 2020
Dear Franklin Community,
The overarching goal of the Franklin Public Schools at this time is to return as many students and staff as safely as possible to our school buildings. The health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic is our number one concern. With school closures come learning loss and negative impacts on social-emotional health and the Franklin Public Schools, in our quest to reopen schools, will prioritize both the quality of education and social-emotional growth and development. While we do not believe that remote learning will ever replace full in-person school, we plan to begin the year using a predominantly remote model. We believe both social-emotional and academic learning progress is independent of the way in which it is delivered and that in-person learning will be so dramatically different that it no longer serves as the same comparison it did prior to the pandemic. Within a predominantly remote start, High Needs Students will be prioritized for in-person instruction, in order to meet their learning needs, and as required by DESE. Additionally, we plan to open the district’s Early Childhood Center in an in-person model, recognizing that, as preschoolers, many with special needs, require in-person services.
A Reopening Taskforce has been meeting since June to contribute to the district’s Comprehensive Reopening Plan. This team of administrators, teachers, school nurse leader, counselors, parents/guardians, School Committee representatives, Facilities personnel, Health Agent, School Resource Officer, consulting school physician, and our Communications Coordinator met throughout the month of July and early August to interpret agency guidance and develop protocols, resources to support students’ and staff social-emotional learning (SEL) upon return to school, and a framework of three instructional models: full in-person instruction with health and safety practices in place; a hybrid model of both in-person and remote learning with smaller cohorts of students alternating between the two; and a plan for fully remote instruction.
Remote instruction for 2020-2021 will be considerably different and more “robust” than the emergency remote learning of the spring closure. FPS remote instruction will involve:
- a full day of instruction in order to meet the “structured learning time” requirements, sometimes referred to as the required number of days/hours of “time on learning” required by the state
- live instruction to students, while also building in screen breaks and low-tech learning experiences
- familiar instructional strategies as well as highly effective novel strategies leveraging technology
- curriculum that is aligned to the relevant standards, including the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks
- grading of student work
- attendance and accountability
The District has used CARES funding from the state to invest in additional Chromebooks in order to provide access to technology to all students.
By opening in a fully remote way, we will be able to spend the next several weeks building a strong virtual learning environment with an overall goal to have as many students and staff return safely to school. We will build towards a hybrid of in-person and remote instruction in a phased way. We will monitor the efficacy of remote learning, and we will examine readiness for students to be present in-person at benchmark dates.
Please note that the start date of the school year will be delayed. The Commissioner of Education has reduced the required number of school days from 180 to 170 in order to allow districts to use the first ten days in preparation with our faculty and staff. Staff will be preparing for remote instruction and receiving training on health and safety practices. The school year will begin on September 16, 2020.
We appreciate the difficulty of the situation we are all in. No one learning model is going to meet the needs of all Franklin families; each comes with its own challenges and concerns. Health and safety is our first priority and we are also viewing this approach as the most educationally sound way to attend to the health and safety requirements while prioritizing the quality of instruction and SEL connections we know our educators will be able to build remotely, at first, and then in-person later in the fall as we transition into a hybrid model.
Sincerely,
Sara E Ahern
Superintendent of Schools
- The message and the comprehensive plan can be found here https://www.franklinps.net/sites/g/files/vyhlif4431/f/uploads/discussion_action_a_-_reopening_plan.pdf
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| Franklin Public Schools: Superintendent's message on Re-opening Plan |
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