It is, 7:02, and I'm calling to order the emergency meeting of the Board of Education, Stamford.

We have just one item on the agenda: it's the reopening of the schools.

Hi, can I help you?

Hi, it's Dr.

Lucero.

Just so we know where we're at right now.

I'm very concerned about a lot of things.

So, you have two gyms, the two arts and a music?

Two gyms, two arts and a music.

I think that's what I have too: two gyms, two arts and ... And their gym, I mean their art... We were led to believe that everything was ready.

We got a desk outside the music room by ah Tracy Stewart's... First of all, I appreciate all the hard work from everybody that's doing the hard work, but I just want to make sure that our staff, our children, our schools are safe.

This is a complicated year.

It is a lot of different things to, to reenter over 17,000 students back into our school district.

Like, if we got everything out of here, Um hm.

I think you might be okay.

Because, honestly We might be able to get three.

You might be able to.

If people are over here and she's in there and she has to deal with someone, then you've got to decide who's going to come over here and kind of be out there watching it.

Are they going to be expected...?

So they're in school on Monday and we're doing 1.1 on Monday.

Are they going to be expected on Tuesday, when they're home, to go online and look at 1.2 and do the lesson?

That's something that we have to decide though.

And then when they come back in Wednesday, we can kind of review 1.2 with them.

I think right now it's like we're just doing the best we can.

And if we have to double up, triple up later on, like we have to get them used to like building their stamina back up to like sitting at a chair, like not being able to leave the classroom.

Like our our curriculum now has changed to now be like, wear a mask, wash your hands.

Okay, I guess my next question is, do you and Mayor Martin walk the buildings?

You're ultimately the person in charge.

Why are you not walking the buildings to say, why is this not happening at this time?

Because... Dr.

Hammond, Dr.

Hammond, Dr.

Hammond... Becky, Becky, Becky, it's one thing to ask questions, but it's another thing to come on the attack.

Yeah.

You have questions... I'm getting lots of calls now and parents are concerned about you know, that two days isn't enough, three days isn't enough.

Or, their work schedule and it's challenging for working families.

And I just keep reassuring them that; I said, you're going to be so thrilled, and your kids are going to be so happy, once they just get back to school.

So, we'll see.

Doctor Hammond questioned what we've been doing for the last six weeks.

We have been working seven days a week and we have 22 buildings and 3,000,000 square feet.

Oh, sorry guys... ...And it is extremely complicated to measure, to come up with layouts, and every school right now has all of the PPE that they're supposed to have.

And kids will be in those classrooms on Tuesday.

Even if we did go full open it would have to be six feet, right?

Correct.

Even if we did go full open.

American Association of Pediatrics say 3 to 6ft with mitigation factors, masks, barriers... Right.

Local health departments says we're shooting for everybody at six feet.

Okay.

And that's the driving factor of why we're going hybrid because we just can't fit people in the building.

Okay.

And they... there's...that's all chairs.

I think the most important thing is that on Tuesday our buildings are safe and occupiable.

That's always been the standard that we have striven for when we reopen school after the summer.

So I think we need to, I don't want to say relax because we have to stay vigilant.

But I think we need to let the superintendent, her staff, everybody who works for the Stamford Public Schools, an opportunity to do what they do best and that's educate children.

We are sanitizing.

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome back.

You know where you're going?

Everybody know where they're going?

When you get up there, ask.

Period three.

Okay?

222.

So if you go up the stairs, it'---s on your left... How was summer, good?

Yeah.

Alright so you know where you're going?

Good morning everyone.

Just a reminder if you have blue students who are not supposed to be here today, they are green day.

Please send them to the gym.

Randy Polonia's cousin.

Can you come with me Dominic?

You daddy was a good hitter.

You know where you're going?

Can anybody help me out?

I have a student in the main office that is on the blue team.

Carla, just hold them for a minute and then we'll take them down to cyber after passing.

Okay, copy.

You know where you're going?

You good?

You guys know where you're going?

You're good?

Alright, Ms.

Zezima It's good to see you.

You too.

I like the long hair.

Keep your book bag at your desk.

And some people have a notebook today.

That's great.

If you have your pencil box and your water bottle, all your materials stay on your desk, okay?

And we're not going to share.

I know we talk about how important it is to share, but we're going to just shar our thoughts this year, right?

And that's a good thing to do.

So we just can't share our actual things, but we can share... If during the day, you feel that you need to hydrate, you're feeling thirsty.

Number one, you have to have your own personal water bottle with you.

If you're going to drink from that bottle, it's very important that you make it quick.

All right?

We're still trying to cove as much of our face as possible while we are having that water.

So I'll show you one more time.

Quick, I'm not talking while this is happening.

I'm not exhaling.

It's just... And right back down.

Okay?

So are there any questions about that?

I think it' a relatively simple procedure.

Can we have a mask brea cause I have an itch on my nose?

So here's...great question.

I'm not going to give the whole class a mask break, but, just like you would any other time like if you're at the grocery store with mom or dad or if you were at, a softball game or something with mom or dad.

If you need to, sweetheart, you could just go ahead, do what you have to do.

Right?

And then the only thing I would ask is that you go into th bathroom, maybe wash your hands for those 20 seconds, sing Happy Birthday two times, right?

And then if you do have hand sanitizer you can go ahead and use that.

I have some.

Awesome.

Alright, blue day?

Um hm, yeah.

Alright, come on in with me.

Alright, so you're you're grouped with the blue group, which means, tomorrow is actually an in-person day for you.

Okay?

So you will be in tomorrow.

Distance learning on Friday.

Have the weekend off, and then Monday would become blue again.

Okay?

Okay.

I thought, like, I didn't know, like, I was blue.

It's okay.

Listen, we've never offered school in a hybrid model before; so, you're not the only one who came on the wrong day.

Alright, is distance learning going to be live or is it going to be how it was in March going forward?

It's every other day.

So, for example, if a teacher wants to go live on blue days, blue would be the live session and then green would be asynchronous.

So it's about a 50/50 split.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

Let me, let me mark Sarah off since she just popped in.

Hi, Sarah.

Hi.

Thanks for joining.

Are you going to be able, you think you'll be able to get here on time?

Like, starting tomorrow?

Or do you, do you have a conflict with something else going on?

No, I'll be on time.

You think you think you might be able to?

Okay, that's great.

Fantastic.

So, I'm just looking for your name.

Go ahead, Amelia.

Mrs.

Leale didn't give didn't invite me into her math class?

Oh, she didn't invite you into?

Wait.

No, that's strange.

Okay, so let me make a note of that.

So I will let her know, that actually, I accidentally did the same thing.

I I, um, I was adding all, like, 80 something sixth graders this year, and I accidentally left one student off when I sent all my invites out last Thursday or Friday.

And, so that's probably what happened.

So cool.

Yeah, we'll take care of that.

So, don't worry, I'll talk to her and I'll make sure she sends you an invite.

Okay?

Anybody else have any questions about, the Google Classroom and the basics about how to use it?

Okay, we're going to move on now to the syllabus.

Anybody know the status on what Amy texted me before about a, a teacher?

At Stamford High?

Yeah.

I do have a positive test result.

And there is no one who is considered a close contact.

And so it has nothing to do with the other case at Stamford High.

No, we already checked the schedules.

That's what I just, it was the first thing I asked them to... Those were two separate cases.

Yeah, it's a totally different situation.

What does it talk about?

Well, they're something that just came down.

Yeah, last night or today about an outbreak in the school.

Okay.

What's considered an outbreak...But see, but this one is saying that the scenario two, which is what I would put this under, two or more cases in 14 days, but are linked to an exposure outside of the school setting.

The one student, it was their uncle that they knew tested positive.

Right?

So you've linked it.

Yeah.

To an outside, right?

Right, right.

I'm not a doctor.

I just play one on television but... What's up guys?

There's no space for... They said my name... Mr.

Roberto.

It says 121 but... You guys are all in the same classroom?

Yeah, but there's no space.

There's no more space.

What, what, what grade are you in?

Eighth.

Alright, hold on.

Mr.

Roberto, come in.

Was there... Mr.

Roberto?

Are you in that class too?

No.

Alright, what do you need?

I went to music, and she said I was taken out of her class.

Umm... hold on.

Guys do me a favor, give me six feet, please.

Carla, can you pull up, what's you're last name?

Almanzar.

Can you pull up her schedule right now and see what's on it?

Almanzar.

120, Zezima.

120.

120, Zezima.

Okay, thanks.

Alright?

Alright, c'mon, we'll go up to Guidance and we'll see what we can do.

Anybody have eyes on Matt Roberto?

No, he was just down here.

Look in Mase's office.

Mase's office?

He told me he was going to the nurse.

Guys we're going to, we're going to get you squared away.

Roberto didn't pop in here did he?

Matt Roberto.

No, no, no.

Alright, good job with your distance.

Hold on.

Thanks for your patience.

Mr.

L. Yeah.

I got four kids I gotta take up.

Are you good?

I'm not, I don't... Are there more kids?

Okay.

What?

Anybody else?

There's four kids who, uh, I need to, schedule issue.

It's not a blue/green.

Okay.

Can you page Matt and just tell him to go to his office, in Guidance?

Matt Roberto?

Yeah, please.

Matt Roberto?

No, do it on All-Call.

His radio's off.

Alright, c'mon.

You guys are all in seventh, right?

No eighth.

Pardon the interruption.

Oh, eighth I mean.

Matt Roberto, please report to Guidance, please.

Matt Roberto, please report to Guidance, please.

Second floor.

Oh, I'm sorry Matt Roberto's in synergy time.

Uh, hold on, let me uh, I'll be there in a second.

Matt, I was trying to get you on the walkie.

We've got four students who, um, are supposed to be in Spanish.

Um, seems like they were all... So I am really worried with Cindy stepping back.

I am.

Right, but we know Cindy.

Cindy's all Stamford, so she's not ... I'm only Yeah.

And I'm only stepping back from the minutiae of the Right.

the custodial stuff.

Yeah.

I'm worried day to day stuff like, you know, take out the Covid stuff.

Even before Covid came around, she was still doing 50 hours of work a week.

Right.

I know that, right.

And if you step back.

But, I'm not stepping back.

But, we're hiring two people to replace her.

Oh God, I hope so.

If we hire two people it will put me more at a comfort factor.

Until those two people are really in play, she's not going to go anywhere.

And if she does, we just call her anyway.

And I'm not, really, honestly, I'm not, I'm just, I just, I can't do the custodial stuff.

No, I don't blame you.

That's it, that's it.

Other than that... Especially after Tues, Tuesday night was so discouraging to me.

I get it but we can't, we can't let that noise bother u or we all pack up and go home.

It's not the noise that bothered me, it's the silence.

To sit, That's true.

To sit there and not hear some people who you just spent two hours with walking the building, explaining to them very in-depth how hard you're working at the building.

Right.

To sit there and not say something.

Right.

I get it, I got it, yeah, Is... but this is... If there's no other side to that noise.

If that other if the other side of the noise is silence, we're never going to succeed here.

Ahh, you let me worry.

I know, You just do the work I trust you.

and let me worry.

I just want to do the work.

I know you do.

Just, yeah, focus on that, fix that for me so that I will.

cause I want this in the board packet tomorrow.

I want to hire.

There's a beginning, there's a middle, there's an end, and there's somebody there telling the story.

Either there's a narrator, somebody saying, you know, she lived here or he lived there, or one of the characters from the story is telling the story and saying I live there with my father.

And while you're reading your books, try to see if the characters are different by the end of the story.

How did they grow and change?

All right, Trevin, can you read the next page?

Characters have realistic traits.

So, how would you describe your main character?

How would you describe the other characters?

And also when you're beginning to write your own story, giving your characters realistic traits, not superhero traits, right?

Just realistic traits.

What would a boy or a girl in fifth grade look like?

What, how would you describe a boy or a girl in fifth grade in a realistic way?

I'm going to actually turn the light out friends.

Simon says touch your head.

Simon says touch your feet.

Simon says touch your knees.

Simon says touch your toes.

Simon says touch your knees.

Touch your waist.

Ooohhh!

Joshua bud.

Joshua, you have to sit up bud, okay?

Sit up with your feet down so you can hear.

Alright, what's this big city up here?

It's our capital.

Who remembers?

Who remembers our capital?

Tawsif, do you remember our capital?

No, starts with an H. What's our capital?

Chelsea's got her hands up.

I know Chelsea's just cookin with answers.

What's our capital, sweetie?

Hartford.

Oh, Chelsea, I gotta take you on my tour bus cause, you know'em all.

Alright?

Okay, you've got to remember, Grayson.

Grayson.

You've got to remember my Candlewood Lake.

Don't forget my Candlewood Lake.

I live there.

Okay?

Alright, well, we talked a little bit, Jenni, Jennifer, sweetie.

Jennifer, put the soda down so we can pay attention.

Listen Barnaby.

Put on your Sunday clothe there's lots of world out there.

Get out the brilliantine and dime cigars.

Oh my gosh!

So.

Well.

Wow.

Anybody want to go home and watch the rest of the WALL-E today?

Yeah, I've seen it.

It's so good.

Okay, what questions or inferences are going through your head?

Share some thoughts.

Let's add to this list.

He's probably so lonely.

What makes you say WALL-E looks lonely?

It just looks lonely because there's, like, nothing there.

So what can we infer from that?

It's, wait what?

Samir, what were you going to say?

I was going to say it's like sad, it's like barren, kind of.

Barren.

What do you mean by barren?

That's a good word.

Like there's nothing there.

Like it's kind of just like lifeless.

Nothing there.

It's kind of empty or barren.

Very good.

Back to Tina.

It looks like a city that's like a dump now.

Is that true?

It does look like that.

It looks like buildings covered in trash.

What does WALL-E's, what is WALL-E's, like, function or job?

What does he do?

Who can make that inference?

He's a cleaning robot.

She said it.

Say it again Tina.

Garbage compactor?

Yeah, he's a trash compactor.

WALL-E is a trash compactor.

Mr.

Roberto.

What's going on?

Welcome.

How are you?

Good, good.

Are you watching WALL-E or discussing WALL-E?

We're making inferences and asking questions.

Like, what is inferring and why does it matter to us?

Because, I'm always like, who cares if you, who cares?

Thank you!

I'm just gonna read a book and then I'm gonna throw it in the trash.

We're constructing meaning.

You gotta engage with a new text.

Do you guys agree the hardes part of a book is the beginning, because you got to figure out what's going on.

Yeah.

No.

And then once you kno what's going on, you're in it.

The hardest part of the book... I don't read a lot of books.

When I ask Mr.

DeSimone that question, I ask it, actually ask it to learn.

I don't even ask it to like, like tease him because like I have such like, it's so hard for me to process a book like I'm working so hard to read, like I'm barely inferring anything, I'm just trying to figure out what has actually happened as opposed to like, figuring out what's going to happen next.

You know what I'm saying?

But inferring and predicting are two different things.

Is that, see I... They're cousins.

I could read a whole book and not know what I read.

Yeah.

My stress is a 20.

I got to tell you, my stress level is like 20 outta what?

cooking.

Oh yeah, good I need a scale.

Like ten.

Like ten's like the top of the scale.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm ... Could be worse.

Could be worse.

No, no, what, 30 out of ten?

No, no, I'll get out your way.

Mr.

Roberto, you have to make him let us watch WALL-E.

Mr.

L. Mr Roberto, you have to make him take his hood off in class.

Oh, I can't, Samir's my boy.

It is the way, right Samir?

It is the way.

It IS the way.

And if you watch Mandalorian, you're all good by me.

So before we get into content, there's something I want to unpack.

You might be able to guess what it is regarding events that occurred yesterday?

What am I talking about?

Breonna Taylor.

Breonna Taylor case.

So, ah, could you guys, or one of you, ah, just give me an idea of the background of the situation?

She was shot in her home by, I don't remember how many officers that broke into her house without a warrant.

Or it wasn't the right, they had the warrant, but they went t the wrong house, they broke in, they shot because it was, they suspected the wrong person as what they assumed was her boyfriend.

Yeah, and the boyfriend pulled out a gun, I think.

The boyfrien pulled out a gun at some point.

So there was a lot of disagreement of like he said, they didn't, like, give warning before they broke in.

They said they did.

So no one knows like, what's th real story of who fired first.

Who said what.

Cool beans.

Good little background there.

Okay, so yesterday the announcement of the grand jury was presented by the attorney general.

In this case, they told, chose not to charge the two officers who have been, evidence has shown shot Breonna Taylor.

Okay.

A third officer was charged and I'll, with something else, and I'll get to that in a second.

So according to the prosecutor, Cameron, there was a warrant issued.

It's called a no knock warrant, okay?

And it's just as it seems.

What does a no knock warrant mean?

Yeah, not, it's like, They can bust right through the front door.

They are very, very controversial.

Because if you do not hear the police come barging in, it is not out of the realm of possibility for the resident of the house to not realize it's police and then do something like?

Pull out a gun.

Pull out a gun like Kenneth Walker did.

Kenneth Walker claims that he did not hear them.

Okay?

So when the door gets busted in what does he do?

Pulls out a gun.

He discharged his firearm.

Okay.

And he struck one of th officers in the femoral artery.

Okay?

The other officers did what?

Shot back.

Responded.

And unfortunately, Breonna Taylor was the one that was struck.

Unfortunately anyone was struck.

But in this case, it was Breonna Taylor.

Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, was not hit by a bullet.

Okay?

Um, he was then, um, they were investigating whether or not to bring charges against Kenneth Walker, but he was not a drug dealer, as far as what I've read.

He had a legal firearm, and the prosecutor believed his argument that “I did not”?

Hear.

Hear.

So he was operating under the self-defens laws of the state of Kentucky.

Cool?

But conversely with that, if Kenneth Walker has the right to defend himself, the logic is that the?

Police.

Police have the right to defend themselves.

Cool on the background?

What do you think?

I think the first issue would be to talk to the people who who signed off on this warrant.

Like, what was that, like how did they get the wrong person?

Yeah, I think that's where the first issue lies.

Okay.

Sometimes police execute warrants on the wrong place.

They get wrong information.

They identify the wrong Kenneth Walker.

Somebody says Kenneth Walker is a drug dealer, but he's actually not.

Not.

So, to my knowledg and what I've read of the case, there hasn't been any evidence to suggest that there was a manipulation of evidence to get the no knock warrant.

Okay.

Um hm.

It simply could have been a tragic... Misunderstanding.

...misunderstanding or misinterpretation of information.

Other thoughts?

I understand like, why it was, they were not charged but like with everything that's going on in the world right now and like how Black people are being like, police brutality and all that stuff, and they feel like they don't have equal rights.

I feel like it just looks wrong to the Black community.

Yeah.

When you take, so you basically like, when you take if it was an isolated incident, it would be much easier to... you're saying to... understand what, what happened, Yeah.

regardless of how tragic it was.

Yeah.

But when you take it in the total, the totality of all the things that have gone on recently and over the years, you're saying it just adds more fuel to the fire?

And that's why like, I feel like a lot of people are like, so angry and so frustrated because... well, a lot of Black people are dying.

And then like, they feel like the cops are getting away with it, in their opinion.

Okay.

So, I understand.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, um.

Didn't both the cops shoot like eight times or something?

Like, there was count of how the bullets went.

From what I've read, they discharged, between the two guys that shot her, they discharged ten rounds in total, and she was struck six times.

Um, so you say, and it's like, and I'm not saying here, I'm not a cop.

I don't have any cops in my family.

But I think a lot of people' impressions of what cops can do, in their abilities of what they can do with their firearms is framed by popular culture.

Okay, You're watching the TV shows and it's bang, bang, and they, they drop the guy and they hit him in the knee and he goes down and everything's okay.

You know what I mean?

It's, it's, in many cases, those stressful situations, your natural impulse is to do what?

Keep doing what?

Shooting.

Keep pulling the trigger.

And it is very, very easy to discharge several rounds in a short span of time.

Yeah, but at the same time, who was the guy that got shot in the back like seven times, and he lived?

Jacob Blake?

Jacob Blake.

Yeah, it's like those situations, you're a police officer.

These are like situations that you're supposed to be Trained for.

trained for.

This is your job.

Like, my uncle was over in Iraq.

And, like, things get escalated quickly and if stuff is misconstrued, like it's not good.

It can go bad real quick.

Yeah.

And like, in this case, like, if people aren't trained properly, more people are dying and like, I don't think there's enoug being done about it, honestly.

They always blame it on, oh, ah, we acted in a stressful situation, we acted in a this situation.

But it's your job.

You have to act accordingly.

Yeah.

So, They, they do, but... We should be putting more money into police training.

Okay How many shots should they fire?

I don't feel like they needed to shoot at all, in that situation with Jacob Blake.

I didn't feel like they needed to shoot.

He was going in his car.

Okay, okay.

So, is that action by a police officer defensible?

Do we have a plan of action for making sure we're reaching out to minority teachers?

Is that in place, or is that being developed at this point or being revised?

You know, I think one of our greatest resources are our students.

And to the extent that we could increase their interest in education as, as a career field, I think that's probably our strongest path to, to, um, ensuring that the makeup of our staff reflects the diversity of the students that we're currently serving.

That's about four years out, though, so... or, you know.

I agree, I agree.

So... We also have to you know, I think we've talked about this before, but we, if we do a great job in increasing our, um, minority hiring and then there's budget cuts and we have to let these people go.

We're just constantly backpedaling to uh, to accomplish a goal that is not all in our hands.

All right guys, get dancing.

I stay out too late.

Got nothing in my brain.

That's what people say, mm-mm.

That's what people say, mm-mm.

I go on too many dates.

Huh, Stephanie, you definitely moved.

Come on over.

Ah, Maximiliano and Samuel, you just moved!

Come on over.

Ten jumping jacks.

Yeah, well, you were moving.

Come on over.

And that's what they don't see, mm-mm.

That's what they don't see, mm-mm.

I'm dancin' on my own (dancin' on my own).

Samuel, jumping jacks.

I make the moves up as I go (moves up as I go) And that's what they don't know, Let's go.

mm-mm That's what they don't know, Once you do ten, mm-mm.

you can get back in.

But I keep cruisin'.

Get back in.

Can't stop, won't stop groovin'.

Mr.

Watson, come in.

Yes, go ahead.

Are you in your office?

Yes.

Hey, Syd.

Hey, I just wanted to touch base with you about the PPT, um, that, um,... yes.

So, I, one of the questions that I just want, not question, I want to make sure.

So, obviously, she was here and is now in a smaller program that's therapeutic.

And so as we're reviewing, um, her present levels of performance, really try to, to figure out her, her progress and success in the, in the special program that she was in.

The concern I have is if, um, a smaller program that was targeting her needs was not able, um to yield successful or positive results, coming back to a larger comprehensive environment, I don't necessaril know is the best recommendation.

So I just want to make sure that that conversation is, is had.

And, and whatever the recommendation ends up being by the team, um, we're really thinking about her best interests.

Um, and, you know, not just the physical place, but what what does she need most.

I'm having some struggle.

I may have to give guidance at the elementary, middle and high school level separately.

Yeah.

Like, because I think teachers want a checklist of if a kid is here or not on the at home day.

Uh huh.

And, I don't see that I can do that.

They want criteria to determine whether or not they would be eligible for attendance Right.

on that day.

And the state only gives four, the state gives a combination of four.

Right.

They attend live meetings, Right.

they attend live lessons, they turn in work or they log into a system.

Right.

But I think- The teachers want more specific than that.

Right.

And it really is up to the teacher, but it's subjective.

I think it might be easier for elementary kids because they're with the teacher for the whole day, so the teacher can look at it as a block of the day.

Yeah.

But then when you get into middle and high school, a teacher may only have them for a period.

Yeah.

So for the live lesson, Um hm.

they want to mark a remote absent, which they technically could, but what if a kid does work later?

Right.

Kids may not be able to do anything until 8:00 at night and I don't think they should be penalized for, for, for that because they didn't log in at 8:00, but they logged in at, and you know, 8 a.m., but they log in at 8 p.m.

Like, That, that expectation is not clear.

And I think that we have to like, there has to be some flexibility, which is where I think those four, like I think the state is kind of seeing like, as long as they're doing these four things then they should be marked, but what does that look like and how do we accommodate like, turning in homework like a day later?

Like, is it that, is it that they didn't do the work?

Like, you know, like, is it that they weren't present?

Yeah, I think the teachers want from me or from our central office team Uh huh.

to say a kid is here if they do A, B and C, a kid is absent if they do A, B and C. And honestly, I still thin it should be up to the teacher to say if they're present or not.

Manny, you want breakfast and lunch?

Do you want a bagel or you want a chicken wrap?

Jaquolin, breakfast and lunch?

Breakfast and lunch.

Breakfast and lunch.

What about you, sweetie?

Este es un wrap de pollo.

Se llama, chicken wrap.

Okay.

Chicken wrap and a, and a breakfast for you.

Here.

Go put it in your backpack.

What about you, Makai?

Um, bagel.

A bagel and a breakfast?

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

You're so welcome The only thank you I got.

One.

I'll take it.

Listen, What would you like?

You want a chicken wrap...?

repeat, spell.

Listen, repeat, spell.

Good job.

Okay.

Be, be.

I will be a teacher when I grow up.

So when we started to look at our most needy kids that are two grade levels behind in their reading proficiency, do you have an idea in your mind, of about how many students that is?

We have quite a few students especially first grade students that we knew from last year that are going to be needing intervention.

First grade's, completely done testing.

There's 119 students.

44 students are well below benchmark.

Composites in first grade, first grade, 37% a lot.

So realistically, their intervention is probably going to be two days at home one week, three days at home next week because of the every other day model.

And you're thinking of doing the intervention on there at home days or in school days?

So, that's where we, I mean, for, for some of the most struggling kids, I think you feel they kind of need to be in front of you.

Yeah, I've done it with kids when they're in school, but I've also done the distance learners through, you know, through Google Meet.

And even just having thei attention, the kindergartners, for the one minute assessments.

It's very har because they're looking around.

They're, you know, they're, they're, you have background nois with the brothers and sisters.

You have siblings that are saying: “pay attention to the teacher!”.

You know.

Yes.

It's like, it's very, especially 4 or 5 year olds to pay attention on a screen, even for just for a one minute assessment.

So I think, for the hybrid students on their in-school day would probably make the most sense.

Okay, I think maybe we focus on K-2 Um hm.

to, to just get started.

Um hm.

And, and see you know, really, really targeted instruction.

Come back, take a look at those students after four weeks and then see where we are.

Yup.

So at this point in time, we're waiting for the devices from the state to fill out everything.

So once they come, we will be 1 to 1 with everybody.

Is that correct?

That's right.

We're about, we're about 1,700 or so short.

And, again, I mentioned, that's Chromebooks.

We're expected to get almost 3,000 laptops from the state.

Okay.

So you're saying that by the end of next week, the problem will be solved.

We'll get them and then we gotta distribute them, which takes a little bit of time.

So, I'd say by the end of the following week, the problem will be solved.

Mmmm.

Oh, so, yeah, I don't know why it would take that long to distribute them.

I'm, yeah, I'm really concerned about those kids that, that we would be almost two months into the school year before they have a device.

Mr.

Laskowski?

Go.

Hey, I think I need to stop distributing these Chromebooks for a minute.

Okay, everything okay?

It's the charging situation.

Copy that.

Are you finding it in almost all the devices at this point?

It's a good number of them, but I'm not sure.

I don't even know if it's a possibility, but I'm assuming that there are some classrooms that are not full.

Or are they all full?

Because I'm thinking that maybe somebody who doesn't have a device can come to school every day.

We have been offering more seats to to our special education students to come five days.

So, we've been offering more seats to those students as well as our EL students.

We have many of our new arrivals and bilingual students coming in every day as well.

So I'm sure those seats are filling up.

But I would say there must be some that are that are open, and that's certainly a good idea.

Ms Heftman.

Okay, so when you're home, you got to at least try the assignment.

Even if you have to skip a few of the questions, you got to do what you can on those, because when you don't put in the work at home and I know it's tough sometimes, ah, then you sometimes get left behind.

Hi.

You have a Laura Escobar?

Yes.

So, I know you don't have access to me 24/7 because a lot of times, like if you're at home and you mail me like right now.

Like, my first priority is you guys because you're in front of me.

So if somebody is at home doing a lesson and they, like, mail me, I know I may not get back to them for another hour or two hours, right?

So we're doing our best to keep up.

That's why I'm not counting any work as late.

Alright, does that make sense?

If you're feeling like you're, this is overwhelming or something, talk to me.

You don't have to do it in front of the class, talk to me personally.

Because I don't want you to be overwhelmed, I just want you to, to be able to have a positive experienc with this and learn the skills that we're going over in the class.

Okay.

So, this is what the report card looks like right now.

So obviously this is not final.

But this is you know, here's my class, science, ah, these are all your classes listed.

Now when you click on the actual grades, so if you look at this class, it tells you so like right here.

See this activity?

See that?

Yeah.

Did you turn that in?

No.

So that's something, you, that's for you to look at and I know Mrs.

Bivona's accepting that work, so what I would do is when I talk to her, “hey, can I get this activity again?

I want to turn it in.” You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

And trust me guys, all, all of your teachers are accepting all of this work because we're still getting used to everything.

Okay.

That makes sense?

Yeah.

Okay, good good, good.

Okay.

I got a 45.

I got a 31.

Or a 72.

It's okay.

When I walk into the classroom, like, imagine it's the first day school, right?

So I walk into the classroom, and normally, because I'm in honors class, I only take honors.

Normally, you see, you know, White people, right?

So it's like, that first time that you see a Black person come inside the like, you know, the classroom, you feel like, you know, at ease because you can probably converse with them.

Because it might not feel the same as, you know, talking to them.

But, I don't know, I feel like some of them can be welcoming.

But others, I've heard people have bad experiences.

But like, I don't know, I just feel like when I see a Black person come inside the classroom, I feel at ease.

When you think about honors class, do you think it's for White people only?

No.

Well, I mean, cause, cause I know a lot of people think, honors, those are all the smart White kids.

And, you know, and you feel like, like Like you said, when you step in, you're like, wow, am I the only one in, Yeah.

of my people or my culture in there?

There were instanc-, there were like... times where, like in my English class sophomore year, where like they were nice to me.

And like I felt, you know, I didn't feel, I didn't feel anxious.

I didn't feel, I didn't feel anxious.

So like, yeah.

Do you guys feel as though you have to prove yourself so you work harder?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I feel like sometimes people put the standards really, really low for Black people, and minority people.

And obviously everybody wants to do good.

But I feel like I need to do good to make sure that one, I'm doing this, like, not only just for me, but my family, I'm doing it for my sisters, I'm doing it for my cousins who look up to me.

Different people like that.

So, when I do it, it's not like I'm doing it for me.

And sometimes that, like, makes me like, not do as well cause I, I have so much pressure to do good and do different things like that because, yeah, I'm first generation, my family, like, they didn't go to college, they didn't do things like that.

They have, like, low income jobs and stuff like that.

So, I actually want to do good to make something of myself.

And, I feel like sometimes when you go into the classes like that, people don't really get that.

So they'll be like, oh, she's a try hard or de, de, de, da or she's whitewash.

They think things like that when it's like, no, I'm just trying to succeed.

That's really it.

Who do you feel you let down when you don't succeed?

My mom.

Yeah, caus she works at Stamford Hospital.

And my dad, he's a car driver.

So they both didn't go to college.

And during quarantine, it was really hard cause my dad lost his job.

So, yeah, I just really want to succeed, go to a good school, get a good job, make money to eventually, like pay back for all the things that they did for me.

Basically.

Yeah, I I felt that.

Yeah.

You felt that?

Yeah, me too.

That was deep.

Gonna make me cry.

No!

No, don't cry.

Ya'll make me feel like I, you know, like I want to go back to school just to go to college.

I did go to college, but I dropped out real quick.

I said it wasn't for me.

I said it wasn't for me.

Yeah, it's not for everybody.

Too many books.

Sometimes when I'm in class, like, first of all, I'm excluded in most of the conversation.

And second, I just feel like if I do speak, I'm going to say something dumb and they're going to be like: “oh, she's dumb.

I don't know why she's in this class.” So when I leave, I'm like, okay, I can finally be like myself and like, go and talk to my friends in my next class, or I can finally go home and just relax.

It's just the connection issue.

Like all the students don't really connect.

We all have different backgrounds.

People get scared to talk to peopl who don't really look like them.

They get scared of things that are uncomfortable.

So, yeah, it's just we have a lack of connection.

That's really it.

When I joined the Marine Corps, I was nervous.

You know cause, you know I went down in South Carolina.

And down there was a lot of racism going on.

And I was like, “What the hell am I doing here?” You know, but I learned that, you know, you got to speak to people for them to get to know you.

I mean, you have to.

You have to speak.

If you don't speak to anybody, they're going to think you're, you're stuck up.

They, wish they don't know nothing about you.

They think you don't like them.

Like I said, people judge you by who you, by the way you act sometimes.

Cause they don't know anything about you.

They're scared to talk to you.

You're scared to talk to them.

You know?

So they, they already got their mind made up who you are and what kind of person you are.

Until they get to know you.

I try to always act like myself, but there's situations where I have to almost, like, disguise who I actually am in order to not seem dumb or like not, you know, act a certain way, yeah.

So you got to pretend to b somebody else so you can fit in.

Um hmm.

That's not good.

That's not good at all.

So what can you do to change that?

Um, I just, I feel like in my personal life, like my, my own journey, I have to kind of, um, I'm coming to terms with who I am.

And I, you know, little by little, I'm, I'm getting to the point where I don't care about what anyone has to say.

Because I am enough.

And me being who I am doesn't take away from my level of intelligence or my experience.

So, yeah, it's a personal thing, for me.

I like that.

Because you always smiling when anyone sees you anyway.

One thing that you guys will realize as you guys get older, is you do start caring less.

Alright?

Some people start caring less when their 18.

If you start caring less now, that's great, what other people think about you.

But it took me until I was 30 when I started to care less.

So I was like, this is what it is.

You know, you take me the way I am or not.

Alright?

And so I think that's a, a very powerful thing that you just said.

Um, when you just stop caring and you just say, hey, this is me.

You know, you take the good with the bad, but this is me.

And when you're genuine to yourself.

And so thank you for sharing that.

I appreciate it.

the reentry plan to full scale school.

I understand because of bussing, and, you know, it's just, it's, can't happen probably in Stamford at this point, but, or can it?

Is there some creative reentry plan so that you can have a full grade level across the district or, you know, across the dis, you know, is there been some plans out there how to bring kids back.

I actually just got an email about that from a parent, why aren't we considering this?

And we can have a discussion about it, but health and safety we've always said, is going to come first.

And we've done a really good job in being able to contact trace, stay in school and six feet apart with the mask on and good hand hygiene.

We've said it from the beginning that that's what we're going to focus on, and that's what we've committed to.

Yeah.

And I would just like to jump in on that because I spoke to the chair of Greenwich Board of Ed, and that's exactly it.

They were able to go back to in person in their elementary schools because their health department says 3 to 6ft is acceptable.

That's not what our health department is saying.

So it depends on how, you know, this is where we're going to run into problems and, comparing district to district.

Hey, how are you?

Good, how are you?

Good!

Good morning.

Hi.

We're going in here?

Yes.

Alright.

Hi Amy.

Hi!

I'm downloading all of the raw data, K to 2.

If a student got 4 or 5 out of five, it was coded green.

If it was three or below it was coded red.

So 4 or 5 is mastery.

Three or below is, that, that student needs more work in that.

So, I'm looking at number 12.

This student is able to recognize rhyme but not produce rhyme.

So to me, I would, I would have a small group with this, obviously they don't need to, to recognize rhyme, but there still needs to be some instruction around rhyme so that they have a better understanding to be able to produce it.

While I'm working on producing rhyme and I'm seeing that they're able to produce rhym and they're starting to master that skill, I'm ready to move on.

I might do a little activity that says, can they blend syllables?

Okay.

Yep.

Can they, and again, it' just a quick formative check-in just to verify this as you're progressing along.

So all of these skills kind of go together.

So you want to kinda, a little bit mix them up too, right?

I mean you can.

So it doesn't get too boring for kids.

Right, right.

You're not like, we're only producing rhyme for this whole week.

No, you can also be working on segmenting and you can, a lot of these things go Hand in hand.

like hand in hand.

And would you do as phonological awareness and a phonics lesson in one small group?

Yeah.

Yes.

Yes.

We were talking about an instructional routine.

I think teachers are really going to welcome this because I think this year there's all this worry about, like, what they missed and where the holes are.

And especially when you have kids just starting a school or looking at this large group of struggling learners, sometimes it's just overwhelming.

Right.

They need everything.

Right, they need everything And it's like where do I start?

And this is like we're saying, that roadmap of exactly where I start.

And then, you know, teachers we're planners, like, we like to know what I'm going to be doing.

And sometimes it's, oh, I need all these curriculums.

No!

We're drilling down to the specific skill and specific targeted things that you can do with the kids.

It's, it's, a student that's reading below grade level is like a, someone coming into a doctor with a fever.

Exactly.

What are the symptoms It could be a thousand causes.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

So each assessment gives us more of a laser focus to triangulate what they specifically need to Right.

to go forward.

Right.

You've got to know diagnostics.

Yes.

Yup.

You have got to know reading.

You have got to be able to di in and look at the data and know where kids ar and where they need to go next.

A rainbow.

A rainbow?

I'm making a genie and these and a rainbow.

There's a dragon there.

It can't, it battled that robot.

I'm so big!

You okay over there?

Andrew, come here.

Let me tie your shoes.

Yeah, I know, I know Marabella.

Why?

Come here, let me, I don't want you to trip.

Come here.

One more minute buddies.

One more minute.

Oh no.

No.

Go start gathering your chalk.

That would be a good idea.

We still, don't have enough teachers.

Um hm.

I personally have a child who does not have a world language teacher.

Consistently has subs that do not speak Spanish.

Has not started any, not one day of a curriculum, and now is two months behind.

No plan was going to be perfect.

Totally get it.

But I do know that we're not teaching the kids on the secondary day when they're at home.

And I do know these kids are far behind.

They are far behind.

And I'm telling you, it is incredibly difficult to put it on the teachers and the kids Both my kids are in AP Calculus and they're teaching themselves and they're intelligent kids, Um hm.

but no kid can teach themselves calculus.

They don't have access to a teacher on, on the green days, they're on blue, in the classroom.

Um hm.

And, it's just incredibly frustrating.

And they're really panicking because they're going to have AP tests Right.

and, and they're having a hard time mastering the, the curriculum.

We are spending all of our resources right now to figure out how do we get teachers up to where they are able to teach, not only just on the blue day, but also on the green day with the students at home.

Because, we do agree that that is the area that we struggle with the most.

Is there a reason that the kids who are at home that day can't go in by video?

Yeah.

So that's what we're working on right now.

We're hoping that everyone at the beginning of November gets started with implementing this.

Some teachers are going to nee more help than other teachers.

Some will be able to jump right on.

Understand how to use the technology.

Now are the teachers going to be mandated to go to, keeping the kids in the, you know, whether in the classroom or home, but teaching them five days a week?

So we don't think it works for every grade level.

We don't think it works for every content area.

So we have a committee of teachers, both at the building leve and at the central office level, who are trying to figure out what works best.

I guess my understanding had been your home or your in the classroom.

When you're home you're getting the same lesson.

So we're not dealing with our children getting 50% of the curriculum taught to them this year.

Like we're thinking the teacher's teaching to both Um hm.

and the and the curriculum is moving along.

It's just a matter o if you're physically in the room or home on that particular day.

And that, that is how some people may decide to do it with their content.

But it's not mandated.

It will not be mandated in that way because it's not appropriate across the board in that way.

At high school?

At high school, it may not in each content area.

So, they're looking at each content area and each grade level to see what's appropriate and what's not appropriate.

You know, I think our challenge is that, you know, they're, they are so far behind in the curriculum.

You know, I'm paying for outside tutoring, which quite honestly, I probably shouldn't have to.

Sure.

But I'm fortunate enough that, you know, and this is what I'm willing to put my money to instead of something else.

Sure.

But, you know, we're really worried about how they're going to actually complete the required curriculum.

And it is not inexpensive.

Um hm.

And it is not something that I believe is affordable to all of the members of our community.

And that's not fair.

I mean, I'm working harder than I've ever worked.

Right.

to make ends meet.

And, what about the people that can't Yeah.

So one of the things that we've always had in place is afterschool AP tutoring for our students who can't afford to go out and get the private tutoring.

So, that will be... Is that still happening?

That will be in place starting in January like it is every year.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you Thank you so much for your time, I appreciate it.

I know it's not perfect, but we are really working hard to try to get this done.

And I think if we continue to have these conversations, I can use that in my thinking as I'm working on next steps.

You know what I mean by before and after?

Before and after?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Tell me.

It's like, they started like this, Yeah.

then blah, blah, blah, blah.

And then... Yeah, very good.

So, then... Then after, they turned out blah, blah, blah.

Yeah.

So to show change, you want to make sure you talk about both.

How Jonas was earlier in the text and then how he changes.

What do you think about this?

What do you think about for the first body paragraph, we focus on how Jonas feels different, differently and thinks differently?

And then that second body paragraph we shift to, he behaves differently.

He acts differently.

So we have a paragraph that focuses on like kind of what's inside and then a paragraph focusing on his actions.

Does that work for you?

Yeah.

When you wrote that's extra, are you planning on only having one paragraph in your essay?

No.

So how is it extra?

Just being salty like usual?

Yup.

And then she says, Jonas, you of all people, precision of language.

Jonas is like, what do you mean?

What does she mean by precis, precision of language?

To be more clear.

Yeah, like you choose the right word.

And then Jonas is like, what do you mean?

And then your father means you used a very generalized word.

So meaningless it's become almost, like old school, obsolete.

Like, we don't use that word.

Jonas stared at them.

And of course, our community can't function smoothly if people don't use precise language.

So do they know the word love?

No.

They, they know it.

They just don't use it.

She's like, you're choosing the wrong word.

That's an inappropriate word.

She says, you could ask, do you enjoy me?

The answer is yes.

Or do you take pride?

And then she says, do you understand why it's an inappropriate word to use, the word love?

So it's not that they don't know it or they don't understand it.

They just don't want to use it.

It's, yeah.

It's like that's not, that's an inappropriate word.

It would be like if somebody used a curse word in class.

I would focus on rather tha like the language in the words.

These ideas.

He believes something that's very different from what his parents believe, which is a big change.

Can you look at my second body paragraph.

Can I look at?

My second body paragraph.

I'm, Yes, ma'am.

Like I'm just like... When you say his sight changes, what do you mean by that?

Like when he sees color.

I don't really, like, I was having a hard time trying to word things.

Are you're saying like, um, like, in every moment, the way he see or like his general worldview?

Like when he sees color instead of black and white.

Like it changed his emotions.

Gotcha.

So you're talking about how he see's color.

Yeah.

So let me ask you this.

What is more important The fact that he can see color or the fact that this changes the way he thinks and feels?

Like from my opinion or from like...?

In your opinion.

I think that the color changes because that changes his emotions, I think.

That changes his emotions.

And that's really what you're trying to prove, right?

Yeah.

So then like the because the concluding sentence, I think I wrote, I don't know.

It's like more surface level that he can see color.

I want to know like on the deeper level how is it really changing him as a character?

When I look at the third grade cohort data.

Um hm.

So I'm looking at 38% of the children are below benchmark.

Is that right?

So if 62 are at or above then the rest of them are below or well below.

That's correct.

We have some real serious issues here with our reading.

And I don't know how you guys are going to address it, but it needs, I mean, I know you're trying to address it, Um hm.

but we don't seem, I mean in the 12 years that I've been on the board, we don't seem to be able to make headway.

It takes time to, to shift, you know, teacher practice.

It takes time to see that, you know, impacting, um, scores.

And if you remember, this is part of a focused pla that we went into four years ago and we had a group come in and do some assessments.

And one thing they said is you really need to focus on your early grade reading.

That's the only way tha you are going to make progress.

So we're in our third year of coaching related to helping our teachers understand the strategies that they need to use when a student does not get it the first time.

Where do we go find more information?

I'd like to see the track record of this and has this been implemented nationally and are there, success records with it?

Because it's kind of scary because we're not seeing success right away with it.

You know, I just, are we getting our bang for our buck through this?

Well, Ms Hammond I think you probably know this better than anyone else on the board, is that the training that people leave college with in terms of early grade reading is poor at best.

Unless you attend a university you get a reading certification, which is what we're encouraging our teachers to get, and we are actually paying half their tuition to be able to get it.

They are not trained in how to teach reading.

So, instead of saying, oh well, good luck with teaching reading, what we do is say that we decided four years ago we are going to teach our teachers how to teach reading so that they feel confident in it.

Because what they were feeling is I'm not sure what to do when a kid struggles.

Knock, knock.

Hi.

Who's there?

Okay.

Um hm.

This one?

Yup.

We just gonna have a quick chat out here, that's all.

No problem.

You can leave your bag right there.

You're coming right back.

You give (unclear) a hard time?

He was bothering me.

I was minding my business Uh huh.

and he came up talking about, oh you're bothering me.

I'm like what?

You're bothering me.

I was literally minding my business.

Oh, okay, alright, don't, you're good now, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Alright, just say that.

Ladies, what are you doing?

I got study hall right now.

Ah, c'mon, both of- I swear!

Let me see, let me see.

Let me see yours too, I know one of you don't have a study hall.

This is taking too long, let me do my classes.

Boom!

Study hall 6.

Right there, study hall No, that did not say study hall.

Don't even try to play me ya'll.

She, It do!

No, you tried to push that real quick on me ya'll.

This doesn't say study hall JJ?

Hold on let me ... What's the, code to the phone so I can get it later?

Jeremy White, study hall.

So why you not in Mr.

White's room?

Cause I'm doing a Tik-Tok.

What kind of Tik-Tok ya'll doing?

Alright, ready?

Yup.

I think we got a winner People want to dap it up but they can't get none from me I went to jail and snap it up at least I had bum money People wanna walk around me tryna steal my lingo Just make sure when you talk about me you say he's doing his thing... Oh my goodness.

Ey, I did a good job, right?

Good job?

You killed it?

Yeah.

Fellas, fellas.

Come on, come on fellas, it's too early for this.

Come on, let's go.

So where were you last year?

Um, Parker.

Parker, tell me more about that.

Wha, Wha, what's, New York?

Yeah,.

Yeah, okay.

So did you ever have any drama in Parker?

A lot.

So you, so we, oh good, we have that in common.

We have a lot of drama too.

So this is the place we come to deal with our, our drama.

Um, Enos, from your point of view, what happened?

So I was sitting there like usual, every single, every single time I come to school.

Then he came, started screaming at me that I should move from, from the seat.

And I'm saying, why, why do I have to move?

And he cussed and keep on yelling and screaming, I'm like, okay, I'm not moving.

And then when I was about to move, he walked down then, yeah, that was it.

Okay.

Um, okay, William, according to your point of view, what do you think happened?

Same thing like when he said I just did not scream.

I did not scream.

I asked him, the first ever time, I said something, something came out of my mouth, I asked nicely.

I was like, yo, move out the seat because you know I be sitting there.

And I see he didn't move, so.

Okay.

So, you said you didn't want to move.

Um hmm.

Right.

What were you feeling at the time?

Like angry a little.

Tell me more.

Well, because I- Either way, if he was angry I would've beat that ass anyway.

But that's okay.

Keep going.

No, but see, that's what you're saying.

So right now he, it was his chance to talk, and you're kind of int, interjecting in the middle of that.

Nah, nah, nah keep going, keep going, keep going.

Go ahead.

Okay, so I need you to let him finish.

Alright?

Okay.

Keep going.

So I was pretty angry because h told me to get out of my seat.

And I'm like, no, I'm sitting over here.

You can just go sit over there instead.

Right.

And then he got mad and all this.

Alright.

When he wouldn't move, how did that make you feel?

When I first asked him, I told him, please move out the seat.

please move out the seat.

I don't ask nobody, I'm not a nice person at all.

And when I tell you the first time to move and you don't want to move an you want to sit there and laugh right in front of my face, bro I'm gonna get tight and leave.

When I, when I walked out, it was because I was already mad and I knew myself and I knew I was going to push him out the way.

I'm capable of it, but I just didn't do it because that's just, you know my, So you felt mad?

Yeah.

Okay.

You felt mad.

How do you feel knowing that you made him feel mad?

That's feeling good because I know I can trigger people now.

Mmm.

So now, are you happy with the outcome of this situation?

No.

Why?

This is like my first year, like, first year of school.

Um hmm.

And I don't want to fight or anything.

And, I thought it was going to be a good year, but... Right, right.

Does this incident necessarily mean it's not going to be a good year?

Yes.

Why is that?

Well... I don't got a beef with you.

I don't know who you, I don't know if you're trying to be like- That's important.

And that's the-.

I didn't even come off weird.

I did not come off, oh yeah we got beef, oh yeah.

But you just, oh want to laugh and stuff like that.

Just even made me ten times even more mad.

So.

Tell me about the laugh.

Oh, so when he told me to get out of the seat, I'm like, Yeah.

why do I have to get outta the seat.

But you making it seem like I said it in a weird way.

I do not say it in a weird way.

I know, nor did I say- I know you didn't say that because when, the first time when you were sitting over there, I came to the class late.

So that's why I didn't sit over there.

So she told me to sit at the back over there.

And I said, okay it's fine, he can sit over there.

So then, so then next tim I can sit over there and then... yeah.

Okay, William, are there situations where you feel like it's appropriate, where you can just sort of walk on it.

This, this, this is, this is childish, I'm good.

I'm done with this.

Is there anything you can identify I don't have to really get into this.

I could just walk.

That's exactly what I did.

Just walk away.

Okay, so you- What else am supposed to do, just sit there?

But, by the time that already happened, I already made a big scene, I had to walk out.

Cap, I felt bad because I was like damn, like, I really tried to force him to get outta the seat, but, after a while, I was just like... How do you feel hearing that?

do you feel hearing that?

Well, I feel like, okay, so I don't want to get in a fight, so I just leave him and I get out the seat and- Well, he very quickly and quietly acknowledged he felt bad about forcing you out of the seat.

How do you feel by hearing that?

I feel kinda good that he said that.

So, you know, the next time maybe I can just let him sit over there instead.

Woah, woah, hold on.

You don't have to change your process.

We're going to get to that in a second.

But I just, I want you to pause and say that's an acknowledgment.

That's the first, in this meeting that's the first acknowledgment of he felt bad about it.

Nice work, William.

Well, let's talk about my main reason for doing this Enos is your personal feelings about this school year.

That was actuall the biggest thing I'm concern, I'm most concerned about your management of conflict and Enos your sense of safety, security and how you feel about, um, being here at Rippowam.

So do you feel as though this is squashed enough where you can walk through the halls, feel good?

Yeah.

Okay.

Alright.

Um... You leave him alone?

Yes.

Um...you leave him alone?

Yes.

What am I going to do to him?

Nothing.

You're gonna, you're gonna, you, well, you could actually be nice.

You just said it yourself, nothing.

I can't do nothing.

What am I gonna do?

You could be kind.

Um, hold on.

Last thing, I'll get you out of here.

Anything, you gentlemen want to say anything before we leave?

want to say anything before we leave?

I mean, if you got to say anything, you can.

Sorry for, ah, you know, laughing at you.

Yeah, it's good, we're good.

William, anything?

No.

Okay.

Alright, thank you for the time you've taken.

I'll get you the class.

We put our shoes back on and we leave.

No, write me a pass.

Write me a pass.

No, I'm walking you.

Pass.

Nope.

Have a good afternoon.

Thank you.

Make sure your mask is above your nose for me bud.

Thank you.

Have a good afternoon.

Thank you.

Phone away.

Phone away guys.

Phone away.

So I hate the hoods on.

I'll just say that for the record, I could barely see the eyes.

I want to throw that out there for a later date.

I'll, I'll share with you my thinking.

Yeah.

So, for me, if, if there's no disruption, there's there's no issue.

Why create a confrontation about a hood?

What's the problem with the hood?

And, and, and so for some people, a, a hood provides a layer of feeling valued, feeling welcomed and just comfort.

And, in a time where everybody is anxious and stressed, if putting the hood on is going to give them a little bit of comfort.

I don't tell the kids to take the hoods off when they're in my class, simply out of respect for what we've talked about.

You know?

If that's the only reason that creates a confrontation in the hallway.

Or in a class, like here's, here's a better example: in a classroom, if that creates a confrontation that results in the student being removed.

And, and that's the only reason.

And we don't want that.

Right.

But I do think like always, and we've had this conversation for many years in the building, as long as we're on the same page, right?

So and when I came back after the surgery and you said I'm letting them wear hoods.

Yeah.

And I respect that.

And I'm not questioning a kid anymore.

Because I do think we have to have the same message.

My, my, my dilemma is right now, so there's a very specific board policy, and so I, I, I can't come out right now with an official statement to the school that would be in direct- Listen.

Because it's still- My two kids are home.

My daughter Katie has a hood on her head every single day.

My son wears a hood, but he doesn't.

So I walk into her room and she's in the middle of, of a meet and I said, what are you do, quietly, I said, what are you doing with your hood on?

Yeah, dad, I'm allowed.

I said, but how does that present?

She's like my teachers are okay with it.

So I was like, alright, then, you know, I got you.

If you came to my house Saturday at 10 a.m.

You've got your hood on?

I'd have a hood on.

Tardies, right now, are listed as an unappealable absence.

And tardies we think are very subjective, especially with distance teaching and learning.

If a kid has connectivity issues the way our policy is written, if they're 15 minutes late, that counts as a full absence.

And teachers have already started to use that against kids.

Um, so we would like to move tardies to an ap, an appealable absence.

And we want to remove that totally, that if they're 15 minutes late, it counts as an absence.

We also added that, ah, students with excessive tardies should be referred to the school attendance team to determine root causes and develop a documented plan for intervention and student support.

It currently reads: students with excessive tardies are subject to disciplinary action, which doesn't really make sense.

To students- It's so punitive.

It's very punitive.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If they know that kids have tardies and absences, I wrote that one.

they should, they should inform students.

It was progress for the time.

It was more punitive before, right?

Well, yeah, I'm sure it was more punitive before, right.

It was probably a big step forward.

The progress that was made was that was that they would automatically fail.

Right.

So I think the next step is good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But that was the thinking at the time.

This was, it was pretty progressive to move Yes, I remember.

in that direction where you would lose credit but not have to retake the course.

Right, now we've got to take another big step forward.

So right now, the guidance from the state was that you should suspend any policy that incentivizes kids coming to schoo when they're not feeling well.

And I, we feel like this is a, an opportunity for kids to say, oh, I'm scared I'm not going to get credit.

I'm going to go to school, even though I think I have a fever today, or I have a really bad cough.

And so, this is an opportunity to not tie, ah, credit to absences.

And we already have kids right now that are not participating in all of their live opportunities, but they have A's and B's in the courses because they're doing all the work.

And so, you know, they're, to me you should still pass the class if you can get an A or a- Why go to class if I know I'm not getting credit for it?

Well, that's the thing is that I would just flunk it.

if February comes and you've hit the threshold for absences, you know you're not going to get credit.

Why would you keep going?

1,2,3,4.

Yeah, very nice.

Okay, look at line number two.

And, one, two, a 1, 2, 3.

Good.

And a 1, 2, 3.

And, like number one.

A 1, 2, 3.

Eh, good.

Eh, good.

So Vlad, watch the ending's a little different.

Da, da, da, daa.

Yeah.

That was cool.

That was a cool one, right?

Yeah.

Don't put it there or you don't ... You take it home.

Guys, your Chromebooks don't go inside your desk.

You have to take them home.

You may want to bring a jacket outside.

It might be a little chilly.

Like the first section he did poorly on, or just?

Because he didn't do well on medial Okay.

Oh wow.

or blending.

And then you went you went back, right?

Oh, let's go, Yup so we went back to level three.

Level three, perfect.

So.

Oh, and he did pretty well.

He.

Yeah.

He init, the initial sounds- So, the initial sound he got four out of five.

Okay.

Right.

And then, this was- Oh, okay.

Oh the n sound.

4 out of 5.

Any sound.

Right.

So, so you're right.

So if his goal is identifying medial sounds, student will improve identification of medial phonemes from CVC words presented orally from baseline.

So his baseline was 1, 1 out of five.

Right?

Two, we want him to get to four out of 5 or 5 out of five, to mastery.

Right.

So like those vowel sticks I gave you.

Yes.

So you're doing those orally.

“Hey, I'm going to say a word to you I want you to repeat the word.

So if I say the word is pet, pet, I want you to listen for that middle sound and have him have a, e, i, o, u. And he has to say: ”hmm, pet, et, e”.

pet, et, e”.

He has to hold up the e. Oh, okay.

He said that- So just give him those And I would give him- medial sounds.

and just have him identify that middle sound.

And I would do not only real words, but do nonsense words.

Because a lot, if you say cat.

He's probably like, oh, Cat has an A in it, and he's just going to hold it up.

But I would do and I can give you a list of nonsense words like, if you say the word lig.

Lig is not a word.

Right.

But if he has to hear the i, the i sound in that.

Right.

So hopefully, in a couple weeks with, you know, one on one or, or if there's other children in your class that have that same focus, you could take a few at- Yeah.

And for a small group time pull from the table.

Or even in the hallway, like if you're walking to recess and you just want to say like- Yeah, super informal.

That's the- You know, super informal.

Yeah, that's good.

So, two weeks.

Yeah.

And then, okay.

And then, so let's say, so for example, after two weeks he's still making no progress.

He's still one out of five.

Um hmm.

Then, now we're gonna say, okay, your tier one, your a classroom teacher, you need extra support.

Whether, maybe I push into your class, maybe I pull him out, another reading teacher and we're going to have to say, okay, what can we do in addition to what you're doing, to help him?

And if he still doesn't make progress after, and we're not going to just say two weeks, let's say we would say 6 to 8 weeks.

Right.

And there's still no progress after 6 to 8 weeks.

We have to take, now, then we might do more intensive like tier three is smaller group sizes.

So instead of a group of like five kids, maybe, you know, two times a week, maybe it's one-on-one, three times a week.

Right.

Like it's more intense and smaller groups.

Okay.

You haven't slept all night.

Why?

Election?

But we still don't know anything.

So yeah, who's been following it and who hasn't?

Who's, who kind of knows where things stand right now?

Connor, you've been following the, the voting tallies or trying to steer clear of it?

Sort of, half and half.

I like, Sort of, sometimes I'm just like, I can' even watch this.

I just need to- I know it's stressful.

just turn- Yeah, yeah.

All right, let's see what we got here.

Here's Fox.

Ringle, also, I see that like Trump is talking about how they should stop taking in new votes Ah, yes, yes.

Thank you Samara.

because they might be corrupted.

Who know's what she's talking about?

Trump said he's gonna go to the Supreme Court and try to stop counting mail-in ballots Oh, yeah, I heard that this morning.

because he claims they're fraudulent.

But there's no evidence of mass election fraud off the mail-in ballots, so he's just speaking out of his you know what.

I do know what.

His mouth.

His angry old mouth.

Yeah, yeah.

Let me look and see what NPR has to say about it.

Ahhh.

Wow, for a supposedly, ah, you know, center leaning thing, that's a pretty loaded headline that NPR is leaning with right there on their site.

But when I listen, see I listen to NPR on the way in.

Right?

Like I didn't hear it claiming victory.

I heard him being like: Oh the stupid Democrats da, da, da, they're trying their best to scam the whole nation with votes.

But I didn't hear and be like, we won this thing.

I almost feel like those words- He said it before though.

Maybe not specifically.

It might have been on Twitter.

Let's just, let's just click on it and see if they've got a direct quote in there.

Oh, oh, oh, okay.

So they're probably taking this: “We will win this and as far as I'm concerned, we already have won it.” Let's think about that.

Is that, is that claiming victory?

There's a very important qualifier on there isn't there Gaby?

“As far as I'm concerned.” Yeah.

So we all know that in his own head he already won.

Like that's not even news.

I don't know, I think saying that that's claiming victory is a little bit biased.

Anybody agree?

He knows it's not up to him.

To be completely honest, I think if he wins the election there will be more violent protests than if he loses.

Yeah, that's, that's possibly true.

But I'd say, what if he loses, after all the unrest, not what will we do, what will he do Like long term.

Long term, over the next few years, what might be Trump's Plan B?

I don't even want to... I feel like he could start like, you know like a whole like race war kind of.

Because all his supporters, he could tell them, oh well I lost so let' like go against the capital ... Through, through, I'm saying through like, through like, through like what like just by being a Twitter guy?

Like, I mean like he goes, he can still continuously go to rallies like how Obama does.

He goes around and talks to people all over the world.

So he might convert int just like a super high profile, conservative like entertainment Because before Trump became president, he was like this media brand.

He was the Apprentice guy, you know what I mean?

He was kind of like a, like a reality show, kind of like celebrity.

There's nothing like saying that like, the Republicans, say they lose, like there's really no evidenc that they're going to go around, like burning things to the ground and going crazy.

Oh, no, no, no, I' not I'm not even talking about, I'm not even talking about immediate aftermath.

I'm just saying though, like what- He just thinks he's going to win.

He thinks that there's no reason why he wouldn't.

Because he thinks everything he's doing has been great.

You're saying that based on like quotes you've seen from him and stuff?

Yeah.

And like, see like he's like as far as I'm concerned, we've already won.

Like... Oh and let's look at the next paragraph.

Trump called the electio a fraud on the American public.

Oh, and said: “frankly, we did win this election.” He also said he planned to take the battle to the Supreme Court, but did not explain what he meant.

Imagine Trump wins by mail?

How like- Wins by mail?

How funny that would be.

Because he's the one that doesn't want to count those mail ballots.

But imagine he's the one that wins with them.

Ah hah, I told you!

Are you ready?

Minnows, minnows, cross it over.

C'mon Bella!

Alright, they called us, they called us, Allen, did you get a haircut?

I like it, very nice.

We all got haircuts in the blue group.

Hi, Onnie.

Okay, good.

And then Jose, when, perfect, you're all here.

So I'm going to present my screen guys.

We're doing 5.3 today, alright?

So everybody take out your math journal, it's page 160.

And if you have a question, right, put your hand icon up.

You always do a great job.

Alright, here we go.

And we've done so much review on common denominators anyways.

So, you guys will do great with this.

But I did hear a click.

Anton, do you have another question?

No, okay, I see your hand's up.

You good?

Okay, but, can, can I use like a piece of paper to answer the problems?

Yeah.

If you, the math journal's, if, you said it's in your- The e-journal is taking like forever to load.

Yeah.

You could get a notebook- But there's what, ten people on the call?

You could- That's not a lot and Google Meet gets laggy.

It's okay.

There's just ten people on the call.

Don't worry about it It happens.

So you'll be okay.

All right guys, so, we did a little review about this yesterday.

But the main thing I want to focus on, well not the main thing, but the estimation.

But, raise your hand.

Don't you guys sometimes get nervous with estimation?

I did.

I was like, I don't really know how to do this.

This is a little, I don't know, like it's weird.

I know, Grady, do you have, like it's, I don't know, I kind of like it, don't really like it.

It is what it is.

Right?

But estimation is just a, it's a close guess.

You know, it's, you're not going to get the right answer.

It's not going to be the exact answer.

It usually ends in what kind of number?

What would you, Amaya?

Um, with a number that ends with a 5 or 0?

A number that ends in a five or a zero.

That's what we like to aim for, right?

Those are like the friendly numbers.

So, 2/5 plus 1/4.

Again a little review.

Is 2/5 closer to zero, a half or a whole?

Who knows?

Jonathan?

A half.

Good.

It's close to a half, right?

2/5 is very close to a half.

So go grab food if you need some.

And then pack up please.

Ms.

Dolby?

I also have some stickers to hand out.

They put it in one bag.

Breakfast and lunch.

I got a two, two, yeah you... You got a what?

Your stickers, -your zippers stuck?

Do you want to put it in your homework folder?

So your homework folder is in your book bin.

Ms.

Dolby?

Yup, it's on the end.

So, do I bring it home?

Yup, you bring your homework folder home.

You see, it's the white one right there.

Ms.

Dolby?

It's still cold out.

Yes, you need your coats.

But it's sunny.

It's sunny but it's still cold.

There we go.

Please check your floors, if there's any garbage.

Luke can you throw away the papers?

Thank you.

In that one?

In that garbage, yep.

And put your coat on.

219 and 186.

219 and 186.

Get on guys.

165 is right there.

Come on.

Gabby, 110.

Wait a minute!

I am probably the most cautious Director of Health in the entire state of Connecticut.

I get everybody mad with me because I won't, because I won't, um, allow a lot of things.

For me, the most important thing everyday is that we all go home healthily.

If, if that isn't happening, then we're failing as public health.

So I will always make a decision that's going to protect my staff, protect teachers, protect the public, protect everyone.

If you have any students who have travelled, ah, please send them to the nurse at this time.

If you have any students who are returning from being absent, please send them to the nurse at this time.

What's the story with you?

Were you out sick?

No.

Did you go to Vermont?

Yes.

Okay.

Alright, so we need to stay here.

Um, I think your sister's already down here.

They were in school yesterday you said.

Yes.

So, great.

So they, Yes.

their last day was Friday, I guess?

Dr.

Lucero, the number of students that have started with us in hybrid that are going into the building, uh, can you say that the number of students has decreased, ah, we'll say in the last month?

Yeah, we have, we have students who are moving both ways.

Kids parents are coming down with Covid.

It's not in our school, but their parents have, you know, come down with the virus.

So how does that affect our schools?

Ah, my question is going to be ah, for you Dr.

Lucero.

As you understand, the staff is really the, the, my concern.

The staff feels like they're not being notified when there's cases.

We're getting a lot of emails from concerned teachers.

And, I just want to make the point that while, while we as a Board are very concerned about the health and safety of our students, we as a Board can't ensure their health and safety.

The questions that people have are not ones that we have the expertise to answer.

So instead of emailing the Board, they need to call the Health Department.

Okay.

What's up?

Umm.

Okay, everybody stop.

That's good.

Okay, just Milford?

Yeah.

Okay I went there for, like, a hotel.

Okay.

Like, yeah.

Okay.

Alright.

Let's go down and we'll talk to the nurse.

So go down there and you stand on a green arrow.

Okay?

He has a sibling.

Alright.

Dominic has a sibling, a little sister.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Yup.

Would you know what grade she's in?

Yeah, um, Kindergarten.

Uh... Yah.

Okay.

She has Ms.

Armstrong.

Okay, thank you.

Um, I went over Thanksgiving.

Where did you go?

First I went to Maryland, then Pennsylvania, then new Jersey.

Okay.

Okay, wow, that was a big trip!

Come on.

Okay, you're going to go into the auditorium and we're going to sit far away from the people who are in here.

Okay?

Did anybody else go with you on your trip?

Yes, two of my siblings.

Two of your siblings.

Okay.

Did they come to school with you?

Yes.

Okay.

It's not going away.

Covid is exponential.

So, you know, we talk about droplets.

Who knows how it's being spread, but it is exponential.

This is a changing thing every day.

That's why I have experts helping me with this.

I have a doctor in front of my name.

But Doctor Calder is a real doctor.

Right.

And I just, to clarify, Doctor Calder is a veterinarian by background, not a medical doctor.

So that, let's just clarify that up front.

But my next thing that I need to let you know- I, I, Doctor Calder Please don't, would you like to speak to, to, um, your, anything that, against that?

So, um, just to clarify, uh, not to offend Doctor Yoon, but it's harder to get into vet school than medical school.

We studied the same things and I have my master's of publi health from Columbia University.

I have a master's in surgery.

I'm a trained surgeon.

I have a PhD in infectious disease epidemiology and molecular diagnostics.

I have been an assistant state epidemiologist.

I've been a state public health veterinarian, and I've been the assistant director of parasitic diseases for the city of New York, the largest public health department in the world.

This is not something that I am new at.

Do you want to call The Geremek's and tell them they have to pick them up?

Because they have to be quarantined for 14 days.

Sure.

Um, you're on the, you're on the, ah, elementary Google Meet now.

Where do we want them to wait while she talks to them?

WIth me?

No, he should go to the auditorium too.

But far away from the other kids.

Okay?

Hi, it's Virginia.

How are you?

Umm, can you please send Teachers once again, Inish to the main office?

please send anyone to... No, you, you can't send them before 14 days.

They have to stay quarantined 14 days.

So, I have about And you have to bring, And you have to bring, seven people who went to Vermont um, the test results that say that they are negative.

they go every weekend.

In order to come back to school because they have a house there.

They need to fill out a form.

They need to quarantine for 14 days.

And they're at risk of being fined a thousands of dollars per person.

So we're in the middle of a pandemic.

We have all decided that we are going back to school.

We chose a hybrid model and have remained in a hybrid model.

The minute that I feel like we are not safe, we will be out of school.

And I will say that over and over again.

Health and safety will come first, period.

I mean, our numbers are getting to a point that who knows?

Like, I was on with Davenport today and he has 20 something teachers out.

Because he had to quarantine a certain amount of people, and then his just regular absences.

I mean, uh, uh, to me, the decision making has always been if we have to close schools, we will.

Right.

You know, that's always been the thinking, I think, in all of our minds.

That- Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

You know?

The other thing is, if there is any sense that there has been any transmission in the school.

That there are two people together or three people who test positive, and he can't separate them from one another then, yes, we need to close.

I guess the question I have is, you know when Moir, Moir, I don't know when the health department, is Moira going on checking, is, does she have like a a buzzer that goes off for a new case?

Like how, and like at what point does she- Oh, so- They do, they do a check.

So they check- Yeah but, okay, so then, so then when do they stop checking?

Moira goes to bed at 10:00 at night?

or is she checking at two in the morning?

No, she, let me tell you what happens is that she's checking but at the same time I'm getting phone calls from the hospital.

So I'm out contac in the evening on the weekend.

And so I get a call that says: this, um, is Darien Pediatrics.

You, we have a positive case.

And obviously that case is not going to come because Darien Pediatrics or the ER is going to tell them Told them.

not to.

Right?

So it's not that the case is going to accidentally show up at school.

Right.

Right.

Now, if there's a positive case Correct.

Correct.

that you can't reach, right.

You can't say hey don't come to which normally is not going to happen.

Then I think that would be like a no brainer, right?

Absolutely!

Absolutely.

But- No one's going to send a positive case to school.

Well?

Right.

Yeah.

We've already had one of those this year.

But who, the parents did you mean?

Sent the kid to school.

Yeah.

Nah, I'm saying we wouldn't.

Right, no.

No, no.

No, I know we had parents send a positive.

Well, they didn't do it intentionally, they misunderstood that- Right.

Right.

They misunderstood.

Yeah.

No, I know that.

It was a communication breakdown.

But no, we wouldn't, without, if we couldn't get a hold of a positive case, Yeah, but thats- we wouldn't.

We'd probably close school.

Right, we would have to until we made sure that that parent knew.

Part, part, part of the problem So.

has been, I think, the inflexibility of the health department with letters.

And maybe it's not the letter or with just communication.

And we've talked about this.

The principals sometimes, you know, they, they, they're feeling the brunt of this.

They're dealing with stressed staff.

So we send a letter, someone in the community got a positive test.

But we can't even say we typically haven't even said, but they haven't been in school for two weeks.

Two weeks.

I mean, it's ridiculous that we can't, I know we can't modify the health department letter- But why can't we-?

Because we've sort of been told not to.

Like, don't do that.

I think, I think what's come, what, where some of the angst is coming is because we don't, we're not allowed to share that type of information.

Right?

People are like, well, I got this letter, but no one asked me any questions.

Well, no one needed to ask you any questions because we know this child hasn't been in school for seven days.

Right.

And so, I think the perception is we're not doing contact tracing because I was an interviewed.

Right.

And that's not true.

There is no reason to, to, to go and ask seven teachers because we know the student hasn't been in school in the window where they would have, Right.

would have spread it.

So in the movie, he wears a collarless shirt.

Because I watched it last weekend just to get an idea.

Um hm, yeah.

However, what I'm doing also is giving the men this round collar shirt that kind of predates the pointy ones.

Um hm.

That's how I'm separating the generations.

I told Scott, I'll buy you a suit.

You'll wear it for all your interviews, and you can wear it to prom.

Nice.

That looks pretty Harryish.

Yeah.

We'll clean it up a little bit.

Yeah.

I like the jacket though A little rough around the edges.

Yeah, the jacket's nice.

This is what I'm used to doing for people backstage.

But I'm not going to be able to do it for you, so, whatever happens.

I have to remember when I'm at church not to fix people.

I'm kind of used to fixing people.

Isn't that cute?

Yeah, I really like it.

Your mother said that you would like it.

Alright.

Now, I think if you wanted to, nah, I think that's, I was going to say you could probably cuff that up.

I think it's probably better down.

Yeah.

I just wanted to explore my options.

Oh, what Mrs.

Martini ever saw in you, I don't know.

I just don't know.

It was, I was more on it in my youth.

Oh, there you go That's a, that's a good story.

That was quick.

Clap.

Jump.

Dap.

Sit.

Clap.

Jump.

Dap.

Clap.

Twist.

Jump.

Jump.

Jump.

Ready?

Ready?

Ready?

C'mon.

Ready?

Ready?

Ready?

Peek-a-boo.

Oh, he likes that one.

Um hmm.

Peek-a-boo.

Put it in.

Yay!

Mario, Mario, it's your favorite color too.

Good job.

Put it in.

Yay!

More?

Look at you.

Yay!

You're such a good boy.

You're such a good boy.

Look at what you're doing.

You're such a good boy.

All done?

Are you ready for some Jell-O?

Are you ready to get messy?

Oooowwww.

You've got one?

What's this?

Look, look, look.

For you.

You don't want it?

For you.

Can you say no?

No?

More.

Okay.

He does not.

But would you like it?

It's very cold.

Look.

Look.

Catch.

Um, a lot of bilingual kids aren't choosing the bilingual program at T.O.R.

They're staying in their home schools.

So I'm wondering if, similarly to what we did at Northeast last year, where we really enhanced the native language support in the home schools, whether we should have native language support available in Cloonan, Rippowam, and Dolan?

Because it's really hard when these kids come, they don't speak any English, and they're sitting in a seventh grade classroom and they have chosen not to go to T.O.R.

But they're still goin to have to go to those classes.

So this would just be a- Correct.

So it would be push-in support, It would be a period of support.

Right.

It would be, it would be support as much for the teachers as it would be for the students This is push in, you're saying?

It would be push-in.

So I guess my argument to that is I'm finding it hard to justify that just because our, the EL staffing is, our EL student population is down.

Right?

I mean, what we expected this year and what we got is much lower.

Right.

So this is, you know, this is a challenge because we're sort of, the budget window for positions is closing.

And, I'd be hard pressed to be asking for them now.

But we might be able to find creative solutions.

So, So, when do we get a really good sense of numbers at schools?

Is it September?

Sometimes October.

Sometimes October, right?

Um, but no, like when's I guess a- I mean, I think we'll, before start of school time when we have a a much better sense, because, you know, they can go up, they can go down too.

Right?

Absolutely.

I think that if we see the numbers of new kids enrolling start to creep up in January as perhaps, you know, the pandemic seems a little bit calmer.

There's a new legis, a new administration.

Trump's gone.

Right.

I think that will help us predict whether our numbers are going to go back up.

They're not going to go u to last year's levels like that.

Yeah.

You have any idea on EL engagement or attendance?

I mean, it's- Terrible.

It's dropped off?

It's, it's, it's really bad.

So I've been looking at the amount of kids that have two or more failing grades on the monitoring report and are also chronically absent is, and by chronically absent I mean 40%, 60%, 70% of the time.

For the hybrid, it's, it does seem that it is the at home days that are the problem, right?

The kids are coming to school, but on the at home days, they're not participating.

At the high school level, there's a lot of kids who have decided that this is a great opportunity to work.

Um, and they're working.

But their attendance is poor.

I don't think they understood at the beginning exactly what DTLA or hybrid meant.

So they took jobs, and now it's kind of hard to unravel that.

Hello.

When you are ready to begin recording the mes- This is Stamford Public Schools calling.

Due to the weather, all schools will transition to a distance learning day today.

Grab and go meals will be distributed at Cloonan Middle School.

Ignore the yellow.

I always introduce say this is Stamford Public Schools calling.

Yeah.

So if you want to do that that's fine.

For these really short ones, Um hm.

I said it twice.

Because I feel like sometimes the message is over before people even comprehend that they're getting a phone call.

That makes sense.

Mike Meyer speaking.

No.

Alright, thanks.

This is Stamford Public Schools calling.

Due to the weather, all schools will transition to a distance learning day today.

Okay.

You're not, you're no reading the dates in, correct?

No.

Okay, alright, just wanted to make sure, um, alright.

Distance learning day tomorrow, grab and go is next up.

So quick question.

How are the dates going to be inserted?

They're not going to be inserted in the vocal cause that always is wonky.

Oh okay.

Right, right.

I'm just going to insert it in the email.

So there's an email associated with each one.

Okay.

And then because of the, of, yeah okay.

We're getting down to it, Sharon Alrighty.

Two more to go.

So before we go any further, what is this particular situation?

So it was an EL classroom.

So very small amount of kids in the classroom.

We're talking about five kids in a classroom.

It seems like they brought their desks together for a reason, which we know is not appropriate.

If we are going to do six feet apart, we're going to do six feet apart.

And so, if that didn't happen in this case, the school has to help us understand if they believe that the teacher was six feet apart, then it's a transmission and we would transition to distance learning until Doctor Calder told us it was comfortable for us to come back.

But, but, now that, it's such a, they're missing one thing.

Why weren't they six feet apart?

That's the question.

That's the question that needs to be asked.

But the point is they weren't.

So our protocols didn't work at Westhill.

That's not, I, I- Because they were supposed to be six feet, but they weren't.

But guess what?

There are always failures in systems.

But.

This system failed.

Whose fault is it?

It, ultimately, is it that we've been saying they're six feet apart, but they weren't?

Is that an easily remedied thing?

Or is it really we need to recognize that some kids are going to walk down the halls without a mask when nobody's looking.

And some people are going to scooch their desks together or do whatever it is.

And those failures So, in our systems have to be part of our consideration.

And in this case, to tell Westhill it's your fault that you had a case.

Is, cause that's what we're saying.

No.

I don't think that that's what we're saying, Mayor Martin.

I think we have to look at eac of these situations individually and make a determination of what happened in this case, talk it over with the school.

This is the same thing we did with the first transmission.

We talked it over with the school.

We had a clear understanding of what happened.

And we help, we allowed them to help us make the decision on what the next step is going to be.

Okay.

Okay?

Please understand that every case will be a special case.

And if we start, and basically we've now had three cases of transmission that has happened in the schools, we think.

And, and the point is that failures will happen.

And, and when we have as many cases as we've got, the chances of a failure intersecting with a positive is getting higher and higher and- I don't yeah, I don't disagree with you.

All I'm saying is let's do what we did with every other case.

We took it by that case.

We looked at the information.

We had Doctor Calder weigh in on it.

We worked with the school to determine what their opinion of it is.

And then we made a decision on how we're going to move forward.

Let's not just- Yeah?

And how do ya- and how do you think that will work with Westhill?

I don't know.

Listen, listen, um, Mayor Martin, the way I work with people is that I start new the next day.

And we did a lot of training this week, we'll try to see what's going on.

Okay.

See you Sunday.

Ummmm, 4:00, right?

4:00.

Okay.

Hey, Tamu and Mayor, do you want to do that earlier in case we do have to close down the schools.

Would that give you some extra time Tamu?

No, 4:00 is fine.

4:00 is fine?

Okay.

Yeah.

Alright, thanks.

All fine as far as I'm concerned but if you want to do it a little earlier that's fine, but okay.

Okay.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Bye.

Good morning.

Hi, honey.

What's the matter?

There you go.

Okay, there you go.

Have a good day, guys.

Honey, you dropped that.

Honey.

Have a good day.

Alright.

Now.

here is where I want to have another little bit of an honest conversation with you.

We're about to go to three weeks of distance.

Um hm.

Do you know where I'm going with this maybe?

Where am I going?

If I'm gonna log on.

What did you say?

If I'm going to log on.

Yeah.

Are you going to log on?

Okay.

Probably not.

So- Okay.

Thank you.

Okay, so now we can put some steps in place to deal with this.

So what's the problem with logging on?

It's just that some, some weeks I don't be having Wi-Fi.

Some weeks, so you think, you have it as a Wi-Fi issue?

Yeah.

Okay so can I, Okay so can I, we have Wi-Fi.

We have hotspots.

Like are you willing to, like, not willing, but like if I get you the hotspot, will you use it, use it appropriately and log on?

Yeah.

Okay.

Now, hold on.

Now, just because we know each other, doesn't have to be too aggressive or accusatory.

You can't use it for anything else but schoolwork.

It only has a little bit on it.

So you can't do- one movie will kill it.

One, a little bit of gaming will kill it.

It could just be for school.

Are you with me on that?

Yeah.

Okay, cool.

Alright, so I will get you a, a hotspot.

Does that make sense?

Yeah.

Alright so I want you to, hold on.

Thompson?

Hey.

What's up, wait, you got kids in the room.

Do you need me or do you need me to call you back?

No, no, I stepped out of the room.

It's all good, I'm fine.

Okay, cool.

How bout I, No, I got kids.

You want me to call you back?

Yeah, call me back.

Alright, cool.

Alright, later, bye.

See, Juan we are in constant communication.

It is always happening for teachers.

Um, okay, so I'm going to get you a hotspot That's no problem.

So I want you, are you coming on?

No, you're not coming on Thursday, it might snow.

You need to see me before the end of today and pick this up.

Does that make sense?

Um hm.

Cause I'm not going to remember.

I'm totally not going to remember.

So you're going to have from remem, you're going to have to be the strong one for us.

Okay.

So what about,you now have internet.

Will you log in, now on blue day you're going to have live instruction.

So all your, so Miss Herman is going to be live for you at 7:30 in the morning on blue days.

Will you log on?

I don't, not that early.

Okay, so, alright, so now we're really up to it.

So who is home with you?

My dad.

Okay, if your dad is literally trying to wake you up, will you wake up and go start working?

Yeah.

I know what I'm saying is like a huge step up from last year, but it's totally legit.

Like, you have to, reality, wake up and like, be on at 7:30 in the morning.

Like that's the credit.

That's, that's the, that's the whole credit for you is literally getting up and turning on the camera.

Getting up and turning on the computer.

So, alright, so will it bother you if I call dad and just say, Mr.

Aponte, you're going to have to just literally wake Juan up in the morning.

Um hm, I guess.

That's legit what it's going to have to be.

I'm writing that I have to remember to call Dad and tell him he's gonna have to wake you up.

When he wakes you up, is that going to create a problem?

No.

No?

Okay, cool.

I don't like to introduce more friction to the house, but I also feel like you've come so far.

And if you like, lose these three weeks, it's going to be a problem.

You're going to lose the whole quarter.

Um, got another quick question.

I wrote, I wrote em all down for me.

Have you heard anything from the governor on our school closings and up until after MLK week or day or up into the spring?

I know that some corporations are closing down til spring and summer, and they're working from home.

Has the governor mentioned any kind of new, um, plan?

So this- Since we reopened in the fall, it's been a local decision.

And so we have been, um, hey, how are you I haven't seen you in forever.

How are you, Reverend Bush?

It's good to see you.

Um, it's always been a local decision worked out by your local health professionals.

So, Doctor Calder, um, is our, um, person that gives us that guidance from, um, she's our health director.

This Monday, we are switching to remote learning from, um, the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.

Then we go on holiday break and our first ten days back are distance learning days.

We will all return back to school on the 19th, in the hybrid model, which is a day after Martin Luther King Day.

I know that, you know, there's the balance of the, um, you know, of the statistics and the data, which is really important because we want to actually make the best decisions Um hm.

and not just the the decisions that are most expedient and at the time.

Um, there's a political aspect to this too because we're dealing with people's emotions.

And, and it feels like there's some kind of gap around the voice of teachers in this particular moment.

So wanted to see what your plans were to address that?

And, yeah.

So, what I know for certain is that, um, we communicate a lot, but, you know this, is when you're in a particular place and you're fearful and you are, believe that it should be done a different way than what is being communicated with you.

I can say it 19 different ways, and they're not going to agree with me.

And so, and what comes from that?

Frustration, anger, sadness, anxiety.

And so I understand that everyone's not going to hear me or agree with what I'm saying.

And that's why I don't make these decisions in isolation.

I'm working with very well educated, um, health professionals.

I have to use facts to make my decision.

I have to use data to make my decision.

I can't, I really can't go off of emotion.

Because if we did, we would all pack up everything, we would all go to our homes like we did last spring and remain there until this is over.

We have to pay attention to what our health professionals are telling us.

And what they're saying to us right now is that there is little to no transmission that they're finding in schools.

Not just in Stamford, but across the country.

I get that people are fearful.

I get that people are concerned.

But we also know that our children deserve an education during this period in time.

Bye.

Hey.

We have two new cases, I'm just giving you the information.

Okay, I'm sorry.

What um, do they have to be...?

One is a distance learner.

Okay.

Okay?

And the other one is, the last day of school was on 4th of December.

I left a message for mom, she didn't call me back.

December 4th?

This Friday will be two weeks.

So if we quarantine anybody, it would be for one day, because there's not going to be school tomorrow.

Yeah.

So, Um, just letting you know.

are they a bus rider, do you know?

Yes.

Carla told me yes.

Hi, good afternoon, this is, uh, Principal Matthew Laskowski.

Uh, Principal over at Rippowam Middle School.

I am just calling because, um, I spoke to my school nurse and we received the report, um, regarding ah, An, Anderson's positive Covid test.

What's up?

Nothing.

I have a feeling we're not out, we're out to the new year.

So I want to wish you happy holidays.

Bid you good job and farewell.

Anyways.

Um, We've done well.

We've done all we can do, I think.

Yeah, I think, I do, I think we're ready.

Okay, alright.

Well, so, I'll see, I'll talk to you definitely.

Did everything go well with Bianca today?

Sorry, I wasn't able to make it.

Oh, yeah.

It was fine.

Yeah, I gave her a fe new names, and we're in process.

Okay.

I mean, I think everybody has a home.

It's just a matter, if we could just... Yeah, and we'll, no matter what the day brings on Friday, we'll get on to our support team meeting and go through that stuff remote Right.

Right.

I got to change my thinking.

So, I know got to get back into that I know, I know.

mode.

I, I find myself wanting to go to my office, but we'll see.

Alright, Either way, I'll be ready.

Yeah.

10:00.

Alright, sounds good Matt.

Alighty, sounds good.

Oh.

Hello, this is Matt Laskowski, principal at Rippowam Middle School.

Hi.

i, is thi- uh, I'm calling regarding Anderson, Um, so how is he doing?

Yeah, I, we heard, we heard.

Is he doing okay, though?

Is he, is he ill?

He's okay.

I gotcha.

Is there, so I need to just d a little bit of contact tracing.

Can I speak with him?

Is, Is he available by any chance?

Ye, Yeah.

Call me back at this number whenever you're with him.

That would be great.

Thank you so much.

Yep.

Okay, bye.

Alright, so I'm looking at the bus, and it appears that you get on the bus and sit about five seats behind the driver.

Um, does that sound like that, about right?

Like a little, almost halfway down, maybe a little less than halfway down, but on this side of the driver?

Okay, do you recall anybody sitting near you on the bus?

Alright.

How about in the mor, this is the afternoon, any in the morning?

Do, do you recall anybody sitting near you in that morning?

And you had your mask on the entire time you were on the bus?

And you keep it on the entire time at school?

Obviously, other than when you're eating lunch and on mask breaks.

Okay, um, okay.

That sounds good.

Um, so, listen, stay well, my friend, and we look forward to seeing you back at school after the holidays.

Um, next week, I'm not sure if you're aware because you've been out, we're going to start distance learning for everybody.

So you can go on to your Google classrooms and get all your information, regardless of the fact that you have to quarantine.

Alright bud?

All right, man.

I will talk to you later.

Tell your mom thank you, and she can call me if she has any questions.

Alright bud, bye.