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Date: 5/7/2020
HAMPDEN/WILBRAHAM – The Hampden-Wilbraham Regional School District met on April 30 to discuss moving forward with new academic material in the age of distance learning.
Superintendent Albert Ganem told the school committee that the district had been prepared for Gov. Charlie Baker’s April 21 announcement that schools would remain closed through June and were moving forward on new learning.
Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Learning, Elementary Julie Keefe said the district had conducted professional learning sessions on the use of Zoom, Google Slide and audio and video media in teaching.
She also said that the state had issued revisions to the guidelines and set standards that students in each grade need to reach in order to move to the next. She said the templates that the district has been releasing on the website have been a good overall picture of the learning, but moving forward it would be more structured with Google slides for each day of learning.
The slides will contain information and video that will sometimes feature teachers giving instruction. Packets are being sent out to those who need the information in a hard copy form. Keefe said Google Slides will help keep track of what work is being done. The lessons will also encourage elementary students to take “mindfulness moments” to “get out and play.”
Committee Member Sean Kennedy said that he had met with a couple of families in the district who are unaware that homework was being assigned.
“How many people are slipping through the cracks right now?” Kennedy asked.
Ganem replied that students that are not engaging with the learning are “sent up the chain” to their school’s principal. From there, Director of Student Services Gina Roy said, adjustment counselors are notified and reach out to connect with the family.
Keefe said faculty were also connecting with students on a social-emotional level to make sure they are “doing well” in the health crisis.
John Derosia, the director of Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Learning, Secondary, has been heading up the distribution of devices to families that need them. He said that an additional 85 Chromebooks were loaned out on April 29, bringing the total to 320.
The distribution of computers allows educational access to be “one more thing [families] don’t need to worry about,” Derosia said.
He noted there is “definitely a correlation” between students who need devices and those who are not engaged.
Derosia said the high school is moving forward with new content and had a grading system in place. When asked by committee member Maura Ryan, Derosia explained that the grades for high school students were equivalent to a numerical scale, but at the middle school level, grading will be done with the categories of “proficient,” “emerging” and “not received.” This grading is designed to allow parents to see how their children did on an assignment while adhering to the pass/fail system promoted by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).
The learning structure for the middle schools is being adapted from the high school level while incorporating guidance from DESE.
Roy said the special education teachers are collaborating with standard education teachers on remote learning plans, while paras are providing additional support to high-needs students. Service providers, such as occupational and physical therapists and speech therapists, have also reached out to see what method of instruction families prefer.
Committee member Sherril Caruana asked about the option of a special education summer school. Keefe said plans are being developed at the state level for summer school for both standard education and special education.
“Kids are going to be all over the place,” in terms of readiness when school begins in the fall, Committee Member Heather Zanetti said. “How are you going to figure out where they are in their learning?”
Ganem responded that students are always at different levels and they will be evaluated when they go back to school.
Kennedy spoke up, calling distance learning “a bandaid on a gashing wound” and said it was “foolish” to delay student evaluation until the fall. Ganem assured Kennedy that the district wasn’t “sitting back” and was addressing student proficiency “every day.”
Derosia interjected, saying, “It’s up to the teachers to say here’s where you’re at, here’s where you need to be,” to students. He said they can identify where the lessons stopped in March and fill in the gaps from there.
“We’re not going to know what those gaps are until [students are] in front of us again,” Ganem reiterated.
Zanetti expressed her fear that students will be continuously behind year after year due to the closure.
Derosia acknowledged that “the ramifications of this will be felt for years.” Ganem added, “some kids are going to need extra support.”
With the yearly struggle over budget cuts to interventionist positions, Committee Chair Patrick Kiernan asked who will administer the extra support. Ganem said it would fall to adjustment counselors.
Keefe suggested possible before- of after-school sessions to catch up on the material, but emphasized that the district needs help from the state.
Caruana asked what safety protocols are being put in place for the fall. Ganem told her they will be putting those plans together but do not yet have them.