‘Backed Into A Corner’: Reluctant School Committee OKs High School Hybrid Plan

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Belmont High School

Saying they felt “backed into a corner,” the Belmont School Committee voted “reluctantly” for students at Belmont High School to enter into the approved hybrid learning phase.

The proposal which passed 5-1 with Evelyn Gomez voting no, will become operational on Thursday, Oct. 22.

“I just don’t think for high school that the hybrid model of this type is the way we should be going and I’m very, very reluctant to support it,” said Andrea Prestwich, school committee chair who led the effort to seek changes to the hybrid plan that would increase instructional time.

Under the current plan, teaching time for each student will decrease from 180 minutes in the current remote learning phase to 95 minutes in hybrid with 55 minutes in class, limiting educators to teaching the most significant areas of a subject – how to propose and defend an argument and not the proper usage of commas and articles – and leaving high schoolers in AP courses to seek classes outside the school to prepare for the important tests.

But Prestwich acknowledged while the proposed schedule created by High School Principal Isaac Taylor is “the wrong hybrid and the wrong time” and it may be advantageous to stay in the remote system, “we don’t have that choice, in fact.” In September, the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education singling out Belmont along with other districts that were considered “safe” to do so to place students in classrooms.

Several members also noted that Belmont is hampered in making quick changes to the model as it doesn’t have the resources in teaching personnel or staffing to set aside for such a project.

Saying she had received “many, many emails from people who have said, ‘How come Belmont can’t do it when Weston is doing this and Lexington is doing this,” Committee member Tara Donner commented that “I think its good to mention again that our amount of staffing compared to our student body” is far less than other communities. For example, Weston has a student/teacher ratio of 11.3 to 1, while Belmont stands at 16.5 to 1.

“I don’t think we have the staff capacity to start from scratch at this point,” said Donner. “I wish we did, I want to do it differently,” she said but the time for students to have “some kind of in person relationship established with teacher” for this school year is closing, so reiterating Prestwich’s statement, “I basically feel backed into a corner about it.”

While agreeing with the committee’s sentiment, School Superintendent John Phelan said it wasn’t feasible to attempt the changes suggested by the committee and many parents of high school students with the hybrid plan having just been implemented.

Phelan acknowledged that all districts statewide are “trying to maximize the instructional value” in their hybrid systems, he suggested the hybrid phase in Belmont continue as voted through the winter holiday break and into the New Year.

“The deserve to be implemented for a few weeks to a month to get a good handle on what’s work and what’s not … and really rehash where we are and make improvements where we can especially after the winter break and into terms three and four,” said Phelan.

“I honestly feel that when we give our educators a chance to be in a model for a period of time that the feed back we can recieve from family and students and from fellow educators, that creative idea will come from that,” said Phelan.

Student representative senior Alex Fick conducted a survey of the students and discovered that while 50 percent of his classmates would approve moving to a hybrid model in general, two-thirds would say “no” to the current hybrid system.

“They don’t think this hybrid model will suit our needs,” said Fick, who noted comments to the survey revealed that “remote is working well for students … and we should try to develop it more rather than ruining to a hybrid which seem to provide risk with no real benefit as we are losing instructional time.”

Committee member Kate Bowen felt that the approved hybrid system is “something to build on” as it’s like “any creative process and its difficult to go through it … “but I do think it’s important for student to meet their teachers in person to be in the building.”

As for those who worry on the reduction of teaching time, “take a little breather there and consider that those minutes may have a greater value than you can anticipate right now,” said Bowen, noting that a decade from now students will be surprised what they learned during this time and not “the precise minutes you spent in any one class.”

Gomez said if the committee is committed to building on something, it would make more sense to make those improvements while students remain in the remote phase “before we ask people to switch.”

And after hearing from Fick, Gomez believed the model was beyond repair “and I hate saying” that it made more sense to start over.

Member Amy Checkoway said she would also support making significant changes to the hybrid plan if it could be done within at most 10 days “but I don’t believe it’s possible.”

“I feel comfortable with moving forward because I think there’s some real mental health issues I know happening in some households with students that we haven’t probably talked about enough,” she said.

Yet in voting to support the move from remote to hybrid, Prestwich continued to advocate for major changes to the hybrid plan sayiing her vote was based on “an effort over the next couple of weeks to figure out how to increase the instructional time within the model.

“I don’t mean January, I don’t mean December. I mean the next couple of weeks. We need to look at every single way possible, to increase the instructional time within the context of that of the model,” she said, which could include streaming classes on line, hiring more teachers “so that we can move the curriculum along much more efficiently than in the current model.”

The final motion read “Moved, that the school committee approves the current plan to move the high school to hybrid by Oct. 22 provided that efforts are made to impove with a model, especially wih regard to instructional time, going forward.”

Letter To The Editor: School Re-Opening Less Than Ideal But Pandemic Limits What Can Be Done

By 5 Comments

Photo: Return to learning has been less than ideal

Dear Belmont Parents and Community:

As a member of the School Committee, I’m fully aware that many parents are deeply unhappy with the fall reopening plans for our schools. Based on the volume of emails and phone calls, it’s also clear that many people do not think the School Committee is listening. I can assure you that we are.

Many parents want a return to in-person learning as quickly as possible. Rightly, they point to good health metrics and the probability that we could begin using many classrooms in hybrid with safety. Yes, the metrics are good and we probably can begin using many classrooms but it will be a few more weeks before we do that.

I have been a proponent of a quicker move to hybrid reopening for Belmont’s schools. Not everyone agrees on the timetable, and I understand that. It’s not an easy thing to gamble with people’s health, but that’s essentially what we do when we proceed to reopen schools without due caution during a pandemic. Between myself, other members of the School Committee, the Superintendent, and our educators, there are some differences of opinion about what “due caution” means. In every negotiation, there are differences of opinion. When decision making depends on satisfying many different and very reasonable concerns about health and safety, some flexibility is needed. At the end of the day, no one wants to be responsible for opening in a way that leads to anyone getting sick, being hospitalized, or even dying.

We’ve just gotten summary feedback from our consulting engineers who have been evaluating our air handling systems in the school buildings. We’ll get the full reports in days. So far things look pretty good, as long as we plan to open windows in our classrooms or use air purification equipment that we’ve bought. But we’ll be proceeding to in-person learning in our school buildings in a deliberate and orderly manner only after the consultant reports have been received, fully digested, and responded to in a way that mitigates any problems with space that needs to be used. It would be unwise to do otherwise. Because the school buildings are not ready, there has been no other option – to be clear, absolutely no other way to proceed – but to begin the school year in remote mode. We’ll get the schools opened for in-person learning, but it just will take a little more time. 

Apart from getting back to in-person learning, we are getting lots of feedback about the remote school plan, which has been adopted by the School Committee, as well as the hybrid plan, which is still under discussion. Not everyone is happy with the remote schedules, including school start times, lunch breaks, and time between classes. It is a complicated negotiation to build out these schedules, and not all needs can be satisfied. Similarly, to try to undertake school in a hybrid fashion AND provide remote-only for those parents needing that option for their children necessarily means that there will be more asynchronous learning (e.g., taped lessons, students working on their own, etc.). The school district does not have enough resources to do much better than this. 

It is deeply unfortunate that our children will continue to experience school in a less than ideal way this school year. I know that our school administrators and educators – and every member of the School Committee – is deeply regretful for this. We all recognize that this isn’t the way school should be done. But we also know that there are limits to what can be done during a pandemic with the kinds of resources that we have. Everyone, too, is committed to making this the best experience possible for your children.

I know that parents will continue to be concerned about our schools and I hope that you’ll continue to share your concerns with me and other members of the School Committee. At the same time, I hope that we’ll have your patience as we work to change what we can AND your understanding in realizing that there will be limits to what can be done for your children with the resource constraints that our schools operate under.

Best,

Mike Crowley

Member, Belmont School Committee

Opinion: An Open Letter To School Committee On Delaying A Vote On Proposed Hybrid Learning Option

By 1 Comment

Photo: Wait on voting for a hybrid model

To Andrea Prestwich, Chair, Belmont School Committee

I understand the Belmont School Committee needs to ratify the Belmont Public School’s remote learning plan in some form or fashion before school starts. Prior to voting, I would urge you and the other members of the committee to address the following aspects of the proposed Remote Learning plan in a clear and concise manner:

1) There has been no clear and precise estimate given by the BPS for the amount and types of family support that will be required for students at different levels to be successful in remote learning, nor has there been any assessment that I am aware of that gauges the degree to which the required and expected levels of support are feasible for families at the outset of this Phase or sustainable for any duration of time.

2)  There has been no clear and compelling rationale that has been offered to explain why start times can’t be later in remote learning. Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan has spoken a few times to the complexities of transportation, but as far as I’m aware there are no transportation issues during Phase 1 and very few parents and caregivers representing less than 500 out of 4,000 students indicated an interest in or reliance on bus transportation when asked. One of your core campaign issues when you originally ran for BSC was for a later start time. If we are ever going to explore and experiment with later start times, which the vast majority of families and students support, this would appear to be the moment. If we are not going to start later, especially at Chenery Middle School, I would expect that the particulars of why we cannot do so would need to be presented to the committee and the public before a vote on the remote schedule.

3) There has been no clear and compelling reason for why lunch schedules can’t be adjusted to accommodate family lunch at the same time both within Chenery and across school levels. Doing so would be the most convenient thing for families and would be best for the social-emotional wellbeing of students and families during Phase 1.

All of these issues relate in some form or fashion to the degree of responsiveness of the BPS and BSC to core concerns of and feedback from Belmont families, especially given the shift in the degree of responsibility for students’ education that families will bear in Phase 1 and all of the proposed phases until full in-person learning resumes.

Regarding the proposed hybrid plan, I strongly oppose and do not understand the idea that we need to rush to a vote next week given that the proposed hybrid plan, which is radically different from all previous models of hybrid learning that have been presented to the BSC and the public, has not been properly vetted by the public nor the BSC and given that hybrid learning is not likely to start in whatever form it takes until October at the earliest. 

To understand this issue more deeply from the perspective of Belmont parents and caregivers, it is useful to review the timeline of the process of exploring hybrid models so far:

  • June 29: of the 900 survey respondents, only 42 percent of respondents indicated support for a hybrid when the idea of the hybrid model was fairly abstract and when families might have conceived of the question as being in distinction to the possibility of a full in-person return to school.
  • July 16: though the total number of survey respondents is not clear from the slide deck from the BSC meeting, only 9 percent of families preferred full remote learning; 91 percent of respondents preferred full in-person learning or hybrid.
  • Aug. 4:  Superintendent Phelan presented 7 hybrid models to the public, all of which have significantly more in-person learning opportunities for students than the current proposed hybrid plan, which offers far fewer in-person options for many fewer students.
  • Aug. 6: the current “Return to Learning” phased plan is reviewed for the first time, marking a sudden and significant reversal in the direction of the public discussion about options for returning to school without a very clear rationale for why we are moving in this direction.
  • Aug. 11: at a BSC presentation representing the perspectives of approximately 3,000 of the 4,000 Belmont Public School students and the last time families were invited to express a point of view about hybrid learning, there was overwhelming support (2,138 of 3,152) for more and more frequent in-person learning opportunities (hybrid + full in-person) than is currently proposed.
  • Sept. 2: the current proposed hybrid models are presented to the public for the first time along with information about the “remote-only” option; the proposed models for students allow for significantly less in-person learning (2-3 mornings a week for most students) than had been previously discussed, not in keeping with expectations of families. In addition, the concept of a “Bridge” phase (“Phase 1.5”) is introduced for the first time to BSC but not voted upon.
  • Sept. 3: a survey is distributed to BPS families to choose between the current proposed hybrid model and the proposed remote model with the expectation that families will choose by Sept. 17 between these two models, neither of which approximates families’ expectations or resembles previous hybrid models under consideration. The survey does not contain a “none of the above” option or an option to indicate support for a different hybrid model if one would be available.  In the meantime, families are asked to articulate questions they have about the proposed models vs. feedback and there is a precipitous drop in family engagement as represented by the steep decline in the number of families who respond to surveys.

I would submit to you and other members of the committee that neither you nor Belmont families have had the opportunity to vet properly the details of the proposed hybrid model such that families would have a basis for making a choice on the one hand and that you would be informed enough about the perspectives of families on the other to vote next week.  Indeed, I would go further and say that, notwithstanding the very real need that the BPS has to engage in staffing projections, families should not have been asked to indicate a “choice” between two models they mostly do not want without further examination by BSC and BPS of whether adjustments can be made to the proposed hybrid model that would be in keeping our recently agreed-upon metrics for each Phase and more aligned with what families want and expect for their children.

Under those circumstances, I urge you to delay a vote of the hybrid model, to encourage BPS leadership to add more in-person learning opportunities whenever we move to Phase 3 and to extend the deadline for families to submit their preference sheets until modifications to the hybrid model can be more fully explored and articulated.  

Jeff Liberty

Worcester Street

Schools Could Enter Hybrid A Month Earlier After District Hears From Parents

By Leave a Comment

Photo: An update for the hybrid phase.

Saying they heard the concerns of parents, the Belmont School District has moved up by nearly a month the earliest date district schools can begin the hybrid phase.

In an update to the district’s “Return-to-Learning Fall 2020” blueprint during the Belmont School Committee meeting on Sept. 3., the district has added an additional 5th phase – dubbed 1.5 – as “a bridge to hybid” to allow “our youngest learners to meet with the peer … and to get time with their teachers,” explained John Phelan, superintendent of Belmont schools.

Phelan told the committee the most asked questions from parents was “Can we get to the hybrid phase sooner?” The guardians of elementary students also spoke urgently on the need for younger pupils “to be with their teachers.” Phelan said that the inclusion of the new phase will accomplish both goals.

In the new phase (squeezed in-between remote phases 1 and 2), approximately 1,900 Kindergarten to fourth-grade students will be divided into two groups – or cohorts – and each will meet their teachers and fellow students for two hours on a Tuesday and Thursday.

With Phase 1.5, “we could get students in quicker” into the hybrid phase, said Phelan, as the K-4 students will have had modified in-person learning and will allow all students to move into Phase 3.

Under this new guideline, the transition time between the phases will be shortened from three weeks to two and cutting two weeks from the previous “earliest” hybrid starting date of Nov. 9 to now Oct. 26.

But as Phelan has stated previous, any change between phases will depend on a pair of metrics that the School Committee agreed to last week.

Phelan said of the pair of metrics the district will use to determine when to move between phases, “we can check off” the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s recorded two-week community infection rate that is currently registering below 1 percent in Belmont which places the community in the “green” zone which allows for a move between phases.

The second benchmark, the air exchange study, is currently underway and the results will be released at the end of the coming week on Sept. 11. and go before the school committee for review the next week.

Also during the meeting, the principals from the elementary, middle school and high schools introduced the hybrid learning plans for their schools.

District Reveals How StudentsWill Move Through The Four Learning Phases

By Leave a Comment

Photo: The title page of the Belmont School District’s presentation on the coming school year

After questions from parents and students on how and when Belmont schools would transition between the four learning phases established last week, the Belmont School District released a detailed blueprint on the health and safety criteria the community and each school building will need to meet to move from remote to hybrid and finally in-class learning.

In addition, the district produced the “earliest” date these changeovers can take place, which could occur as quickly as three weeks after entering each initial phase.

“The hope is that we have some clear understanding of what this presentation means for families and students so they can plan their lives and in their work as well,” said John Phelan, superintendent of Belmont schools last week before the School Committee. The district will start learning remotely on Sept. 16

The creation of the multi-stage approach was necessitated by the continued COVID-19 pandemic that is likely to stay active for the entire 2020-21 school year.

According to Phelan, the earliest possible dates that each transition could occur are:

  • Beginning of the school year in Phase 1: Sept. 16
  • The transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 (Remote 2): Oct. 19
  • The transition from Phase 2 to Phase 3 (Hybrid): Nov. 9
  • The transition from Phase 3 to Phase 4 (In-person): TBD by state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Phelan noted the dates provided are “best case” estimates involving a “three-week decision-making cycle.”

The district and the town’s Health Department will work closely in determining when the transitions can occur using a dual system of health measures, one issued by the state and the second a comprehensive test of air circulation in Belmont school buildings.

The first is one devised by DESE which uses a color-coded system – red, yellow, green and unshaded – that measures weekly the 14-day rolling average of daily cases of COVID-19 in each community.

If the average daily cases are less than eight or fewer (green and yellow), Belmont schools will be allowed to move to the next phase. Greater than eight will require the town to move to a remote system.

The latest data from the state puts Belmont in the green sector with 1.7 cases.

But before Belmont students prepare to move onward to “Remote 2” the town’s schools are undergoing a thorough examination of their facilities air exchange systems to determine if the machinery is working up to the manufactures standards and if they move the air at a sufficient rate to create a flow that will disrupt the concentration of coronavirus droplets in the air.

Phelan said that work, known as the Facilities Air Flow Assessment, will be completed around the time school begins and a report will be produced two weeks later in late September.

“That is why we will pause right now and not jump right into hybrid because we just don’t know that information yet and moving into a scenario without all the information,” said Phelan.

In anticipation that some areas and rooms will need to have an alternative , the district has purchased 100 filtration systems to add to the circulation of air in each room.

Only if the two safety measures are met will the district come before the school committee for discussion and a vote to move to the next phase.

The district has also committed to working towards the next phase as they prepare for the expected transition.

While the schools are in Phase 1, district officials will be reviewing data and decide on a timeline for entering Phase 2 and the air exchange assessment will be reviewed as well as the DESE metrics.

It will be during this time that parents and guardians will receive a notice of whether their children will wish to enter the hybrid phase and those who will stay in a remote-only cohort. Finally, schedules will be created for those kindergarteners and first graders which will enter the hybrid in-person learning under Phase 2.

For more information on the transition of phases and the work being that the district will conduct during each phase to prepare to move between stages, a link to the district’s charts can be found here.

Discussion among the School Committee members ranged from concerns on understanding on the extent of the interior assessments – some schools (the nearly decade-old Wellington) are in better shape than others. So far, the district has paid $25,000 in labor and parts to prepare the schools, $15,000 will go to repairing all screens and window repairs, $42,000 on HVAC updated and $100,000 to purchase 100 air purifying units.

The School Committee’s Tara Donner, who is also a teacher in Winchester, voice an issue with the focus on “plowing ahead as fast as possible” into the hybrid phase when there hasn’t been much discussion on effectively staffing that step. Speaking from her own experience, Donner said “these models are frankly fairly incompatible to good teaching” until the district has a quality educational model in mind.

“I want to make sure we’re not putting the cart before the horse,” he added.

Belmont School Committee OKs Remote Start But Questions Remain On Moving Forward, Testing

By Leave a Comment

Photo:

While many neighboring communities are diving into the 2020-21 school year with at least some in-class instruction, the Belmont School Committee approved unanimously on Tuesday, Aug. 11 one of the most conservative reopening programs proposed in the state, a four-part phased approach that requires Belmont’s 4,800 students to move through a pair of remote learning stages before reaching the hybrid stage.

While acknowledging the best learning is when students are taught in a classroom with a teacher, due to the lack of testing and contract tracing as well as a recent uptick in positive COVID-19 cases in the state, starting classes online for all grades was the safest option said Belmont Superintendent John Phelan to the committee at a community forum held on Thursday, Aug. 6.

“We have to prioritize and put in an order that matched up with the priorities that we set at the beginning [of this process] which are safety, social emotional well being of students and staff. So I feel like the conversation really needs to revolve around safety,” said Phelan.

But at least half of the committee voiced their hesitation making their decision, not so much against the plan but that several important aspects of the plan appeared to them lacking on a myriad of issues such as testing and how moving from one phase to the next will be determined.

“With reluctance because I think we have a lot of work left to do,” said Committee member Mike Crowley, who had suggested delaying a vote until many outstanding issues were answered.

The 170-day school year is scheduled to start on Wednesday, Sept. 16 with students K-12 being taught online with the exception of those with complex and special learning needs.

Belmont joins many of the largest school districts in the country and nearby communities – Somerville, Wayland and Swampscott – who will open via the internet. Other districts such as Arlington, Bedford, Danvers, Plymouth, Shrewsbury, Wellesley and Woburn will start in a hybrid mode.

Based on two recent parents survey results and emails to the media and school committee members, nearly two-thirds of parents prefer some form of hybrid start for school.

The reaction among those who attended the two meetings ranged from enthusiastic support to not being thrilled by the decision.

“Smart move, Belmont! It’s important to think about the health and safety of the students, teachers and community. Not only does this protect Belmont but also the commonwealth of Massachusetts,” said Dianne Cohen DeChellis in a Facebook comment. 

“Pure BS,” noted one father – who did not want to give his name as he will likely seek to volunteer for a proposed task force. “[Massachusetts Gov. Charlie] Baker released a map showing Belmont is one of the safest communities when it comes to COVID-19 exposure. It’s depressing.”

Baker stated at a Friday, Aug. 7 press conference the facts, data and science doesn’t support “everybody” reverting to a remote model in reopening schools.

The decision also prompted a petition on change.org calling for Belmont to start the year with the hybrid approach for all students. The petition authored by Christine McLaughlin garnered approximately 500 signatures.

The divergence between the district’s supporters and critics is shadowed by the wide variety of opinions promoting either caution or a green light approach to reopening schools. An interactive map from the New York Times dated Aug. 14 suggests Belmont – “where the rate of new coronavirus cases may be low enough, and testing rates in the state high enough” – can safely open its four elementary school and the Chenery Middle School and allow Belmont High to begin the year in a hybrid option. On the other side, a report by WGBH had a Harvard epidemiologist calling the hybrid model for reopening ‘is “Probably Among The Worst’ Options.”

Tuesday’s vote, which attracted 500 residents viewing the meeting on Zoom, came five days after the Belmont school superintendent surprised the community by recommending starting the new school year remotely, emphasizing the health and safety of pupils and staff.

“We can create a robust and remote environment that can continue learning and moving forward, engage students academically and we can connect with children as best we can,” said Phelan. “But we can’t do that in-person until we know it’s safe.”

The district’s decision – which was originally set to be presented to the school committee at the Aug. 11 meeting – was a jolt to those attending the forum.

“I have to say I’m suffering from whiplash just a little bit,” said a clearly surprised Andrea Prestwich, chair of the school committee, after the announcement. “Just a few weeks ago … we were absolutely certain that we were going to go back into hybrid mode. And now here we are going back from it.”

The district’s recommendation on using a remote plan comes just two days after at a school committee meeting in which it went into details of the hybrid and remote plans, spending a majority of the presentation emphasizing a hybrid option in which students would attend school in-person for two consecutive days and learning the remainder of the time via Google Classroom.

Thursday’s meeting was originally a Q&A with parents and students questioning school officials and committee members on the three education options – remote, hybrid and in person – required of each district by the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. But Phelan said he gave the recommendation early so parents would have the weekend to review the decision.

In the view of the district, the four part reopening plan creates “a pathway” so that all students “in a very methodical way” towards the “total goal … to have all student back in school. But that strategy can only move forward by securing the safety of the students and staff,” said Phelan.

The district’s recommendation for the school year consists of four phases; two remote, a hybrid and in-school options. [see table below]

Phelan said remote learning in 2020-21 will not resemble the haphazard approach in the final three months of last school year closed due the COVID-19 pandemic. The out-of-class learning in the fall will be a robust real-time “virtual school” with synchronous educator-led learning in which instructors will collect and assess assignments provide feedback and grade assignments including tests and quizzes.

Students will “attends” classes for the entire day based off a synchronized schedule. Assignments will be found on an academic hub with homework expected from each student.

“I believe parents want to know two things; … what’s going to happen in the fall so they can plan and they want to know what each phase will look like so they know what’s going to happen,” said Phelan.

Phelan said the district’s next step is to create detailed remote and hybrid schedules for the School Committee to vote in the next few weeks.

“We know our families want more detail on these models, and we have been planning our models with our educators,” said Phelan in a statement.

During the discussion between committee members at Tuesday’s meeting – public comment was reserved to Thursday’s forum – a major concern for several members would be the mechanism in which the district will move from one phase to the next.

“I know people want that information now and we have some of it, but we don’t have all of it, saying they will have that detail in the next week, maybe two weeks,” said

Phelan said the district will establish a Metric Task Force made up of residents, health experts and educators (see below).

The first issue facing the task force will be determining what data will be used in the rubric and the measurable level or condition that “opens the door” to allow the district to move to between phases.

While still in its genesis – no members have been named – it appears the task force will only have an advisory role to the school committee, making recommendations on which phase the district should be in to the committee which will likely have the final say. Another unknown is how long it will take from when a recommendation is accepted to when it’s implemented.

Another issue is surveillance testing students and staff for the virus which Prestwich has spearheaded. Through her research Prestwich has discovered many districts are looking at daily testing a one percent random sample of students – about 50 students in Belmont – to determine the absolute levels of infection. The cost for six months of testing is $250,000, a price tag Prestwich said “will be money well spent.” She also believed that less accurate but much faster daily tests – approximately 90 percent accurate at $1 per test – could be better for the district’s purposes of identifying and containing any outbreak.

But a source of funding remains a stumbling block as the district faces a $9 million deficit and it’s uncertain additional funds to cover COVID-19 costs from the federal government or the state will arrive.

A major priority for the district is the effectiveness of the movement of air in the ventilation system in each school. New research has found more evidence that COVID-19 can be spread through aerosol transmission rather than through contact with surfaces. Phelan said the district has yet to begin the process of assessing the air handling equipment in the district’s six school buildings which will likely take up to a month to conclude just as classes start.

Committee member Kate Bowen had hoped to review the eight hybrid options to reach a consensus on “what is the right hybrid situation” since having a preferred option would allow families to plan ahead their employment and child care issues.

But Phelan said the question on the community survey was not to select a preference on a specific hybrid plan but to register “how the impact of any hybrid model will have on your family.”

“I will take full criticism for not having full baked hybrid and full baked promote plans, even though we’ve been discussing this internally at great length,” he said. But absent testing and a complete air movement assessment, Phelan said the overriding question is “are we able to enter school to even entertain a hybrid model?”

School Committee member Tara Donner agreed with Phelan. “I think the benefit of moving forward with the face plan today is that we free up our administrators to focus 100 percent on developing these metrics … and I know that [Phelan and assistant superintendent Janice Darius] are committed to having these kinds of meetings, even if we start in a remote plan.”

But, she added, “We should move as fast as we can from phase 1 to phase 2 and I’m fully in support of robustly immediately devoting a lot of resources to developing the metrics that we can use to go forward.”

Belmont Likely To Start School Year With Hybrid Learning Option

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Burbank Elementary School

The doors will be opening at Belmont’s six public schools in approximately 45 days and according to the educators in charge, the hows and whys of beginning the new school year remain, in two words, quite fluid.

With the COVID-19 pandemic in the US continuing unabated, the idea that simply ringing the bell and teachers welcoming school children into the building is a faded memory.

“These are going to be late decisions. These are going to be hard decisions,” said School Superintendent John Phelan at last week’s Belmont School Committee meeting.

Interest on how learning will take place in Belmont is sky high. A parents survey sent out last month by the school district had 880 respondents with 2,100 comments. And more than 100 residents swore off a beautiful summer afternoon to attend the remote committee meeting on Wednesday, July 16.

Opening day planning by the Belmont School District is about a third of the way through a feasibility study that will be sent to the state by Aug. 10 that will determine which of three models – in person, hybrid and remote – will use when the student’s first day of the 2020-1 school terms begins on Wednesday, Sept. 3.

While many parents and students can’t wait to have all students go back to a “regular school year,” more recently say they are “very nervous” about returning, said Phelan.

But as of mid-July, Phelan said all three options remain in the running. And “it’s very clear to us … that the year that we face in ’20/21 could quite frankly involve all three models,” said Phelan.

A June parents survey found that 70 percent of residents would prefer the traditional in-person school opening, many of those same residents also acknowledge that a full-day education is not be in the cards come the fall.

Since receiving the state’s guidelines on reopening schools on June 25, each principal created a master schedule – class and teaching and student – for in-person schooling with all the state restrictions including three to six feet social distancing, moving furniture, providing space for teachers, and how to create lunchroom distancing.

While telling the school committee he has not discounted any of the three options, Phelan did say that due to the district’s over-enrollment – accepting between 700-800 students in the district over the past five years – and limited class space, attempting to fit all students into the building under the state’s social distancing limitations and other restrictions would be “very challenging.”

“The class sizes just don’t fit [an in-person opening],” said Phelan.

The space constraints of the in-person option is leading the district to focus its efforts on a hybrid plan in which half of the students will attend school while the other half are schooled remotely in a digital classroom setting.

In a hybrid option, it’s easier to achieve social distancing since only half the number of pupils are in the building, which allows for better circulation of students between classes and airflow. The district has also purchased $200,000 of personal protection equipment for teachers and staff when schools are opened.

Sometime in the week ahead, a decision on which hybrid schedule will be used; one which students alternate days in school versus a week in school and a week at home. In the parent’s survey, both schedules were equally supported by parents.

With the likelihood the remote option will be used, the district is distributing computers or tablets to all students to allow for true synchronous learning which will allow for students and teachers to collaborate and learn in real time in virtual classrooms. A major complaint from parents when the district shut down in mid-March during the initial wave of the coronavirus was that students were unable to interact with classmates and teachers, which Phelan attributed to a lack of computers to each pupil.

When the doors do open, the first few days could be for “teachers only” so they can prepare rooms for the new health protocols, accommodate social distancing requirements and to set up new technical equipment.

By Aug. 10, the district must pick one of the three options and get ready to move forward but there remains plenty of unknowns that haven’t been addressed by the state such as the use of buses, utilize outdoors and large indoor space such as cafeteria or gymnasium.

And the district will need the help from volunteers in Belmont such as the PTOs and PTAs, the Foundation for Belmont Education and the various Friends groups to assist in material and educational needs.

“As the Commissioner of Education Jeff Riley has said to all the superintendents … is we need to be flexible,” said Phelan.

“So we’re trying to plan flexibly in where we’re trying to communicate with our community as well as we can so when we get back to making decisions in August that people are up to date and feel like we’re making decisions … preparing for a safe entry to school.”

Evelyn Gomez Selected To Fill Vacant School Committee Seat

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Evelyn Gomez, newly-appointed member of the Belmont School Committee.

Evelyn Garcia Gomez, a relative newcomer to Belmont, was named to the School Committee Thursday, June 25, to fill the final nine months of the term of Susan Burgess-Cox who resigned in April.

An engineer and educator with degrees from MIT, Harvard and UCLA, Gomez – who arrived in Belmont in 2017 – is believed to be the first Person Of Color to serve on the Belmont School Committee.

“I think my being selected for the School Committee represents that Belmont is willing to put in the work to have a truly inclusive and equitable town,” said Gomez in an email to the Belmontonian after she was voted to the board on the third ballot by a joint meeting of the Select Board and School Committee. The other finalists included Meghan Moriarty, Jeffrey Liberty, Seeth Burtner, and Vicki Amalfitano.

Gomez’ background includes teaching math and physics for nearly two years in California and working as an adjunct associate professor at Pasadena City College. She also holds teaching credentials for high school math in California and Massachusetts.

“I want to use this time of COVID-19 to reimagine what education can be because, while this current system of AP classes and standardized testing worked for me, it certainly didn’t work for many of my classmates or my students,” said Gomez, who lives with her two young children who have yet to enter the school system.

(Editor’s note: The complete interview with Gomez is at the bottom of the article)

Gomez arrives as the school district and committee are juggling a pair of daunting issues: opening schools in September during a continued COVID-19 pandemic and a looming budgetary gap that could result in massive layoffs.

“This is like parachuting on the deck of a ship to steer it through a really big storm,” said the Select Board’s Adam Dash. In responding to a question from the joint committee, Gomez said after speaking to School Committee Chair Andrea Prestwich, she has an understanding “about the time commitment and how hard it is to do this job.” While acknowledging she has her hands full with two small children, her flexible schedule allows being on the committee “this would be one of my top priorities and I don’t do anything at 50 percent.”

Gomez spoke poignantly how her inclusion to the committee would bring diversity to the group and how that “would be a blessing, and it makes our town stronger.”

Gomez is currently part of the education staff of the Lemelson-MIT Program which recognizes emerging collegiate inventors whose inventions could impact important sectors of the global economy. Before coming to Boston, Gomez was executive director of LA-based DIY Girls whose mission is to increase women’s and girls’ interest in technology, engineering, and making through innovative educational experiences.

Born and raised in the northeast San Fernando Valley, a predominately Hispanic region of Los Angeles, Gomez was her class valedictorian at San Fernando High School in Los Angeles.

Gomez matriculated at MIT where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace, Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering. She received a Master of Science in the same degree from UCLA. Gomez also holds a Master of Education in secondary education from Harvard.

Interview with newly-appointed School Committee member Evelyn Gomez.

Belmontonian: You said just after being selected that you were not expecting to be named. Why do you think you were selected?

Gomez: Timing is everything. At this moment, in this country, and in this town, I think we are all realizing that there is a lot of work to do if we truly want to strive for “a more perfect union.” We are at the intersection of so many monumental events: Black Lives Matter, COVID-19, and lacking trust in our public entities. In this particular moment, many white people are starting to examine their privilege and implicit biases, understand what it really means to be a Person of Color in this country, and how our reality is vastly different than theirs. As I said during the meeting, I have a lot of internalized biases and anxieties about being a minority, but I am learning to overcome those anxieties thanks to anti-racist literature by Ibram X. Kendi, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and so many others. They are teaching me how to have the courage to speak openly about my identity and experiences as a woman of color, as a daughter of immigrants, as an English Language Learner, and how these experiences bring value to my community. 

Belmont has a lot of work to do, but I think my being selected for the School Committee represents that Belmont is willing to put in the work to have a truly inclusive and equitable town. 

Belmontonian: The Select Board’s Adam Dash said with all that is happening in education during the COVID-19 pandemic and the budget issues the town and schools are about to face coming onto the committee is like parachuting on the deck of a ship to steer it through a really big storm. What do you see your role in helping to steer this ship?

Gomez: It’s been said that we need to “scrap the blueprint and revolutionize this dangerously broken system.” As an educator, I think we need to use this forced disruption in the education system to stop and reflect on what we truly value in education and what students value. I want to use this time of COVID-19 to reimagine what education can be because, while this current system of AP classes and standardized testing worked for me, it certainly didn’t work for many of my classmates or my students. Belmont can lead to integrating novel and innovative approaches to schooling that work better for teachers, parents, and students than the old system. Let’s not waste this opportunity in the disruption of schooling, let’s use it as a time to strategically think about what we value in education and what we really want our kids to learn. 

Belmontonian: I believe – although I will have to ask the Town Clerk to confirm this – that you are the first Person of Color to be a member of the School Committee. What in your life’s experience and background will you bring to the committee that it may not have currently? 

Gomez: I have over a decade of experience working with students of color and can relate to their experiences and struggles because I once was one. More importantly, my experience as a Person of Color and a teacher to students of color has forced me to be creative in the ways that I reach my students. I have seen firsthand how empowering students to use their lived experiences to solve problems in their own community engages students in a meaningful and authentic way. While this is true for all students, I believe it is especially true for students of color and women. In 2017, Belmont Public Schools presented findings of the Achievement Gap. Back then, there were 205 students that self-identified as Black. Those students had 3-4 times as many Cs, Ds, or Fs as the total student body and were more likely to report negative social-emotional experiences in Belmont Public Schools. This tells me that something is not working in Belmont Public Schools and we need to work together to fix it. I continue to seek an understanding of how to support students of color and raising the next generation of White allies. I bring this lens to the School Committee and to the forefront during decision making.

District Redrafts High School Graduation Plans, But ‘Live’ Ceremony Not In The Cards

By Leave a Comment

Photo: Graduation from the past at Belmont High School

In a move to placate a “large, vocal group” of parents and Belmont High School students who expressed their disappointment at initial plans for virtual graduation, the leadership of the Belmont School District presented to the public on Tuesday, May 12, a redrafted plan to honor the class of 2020 with added opportunities to celebrate their achievement during a time of pandemic.

But missing from the new five-step proposal was the one event the group, known as the Parent Brigade had been agitating for the past fortnight: for the seniors to graduate en masse, together one last time.

While the district was willing to incorporate several of the Brigade’s suggestions into the graduation, the goal of a ceremony in which approximately 330 students would gather at Harris Field for the acceptance of degrees was a bridge too far for school leadership to accept.

“The one thing we can’t give you is a live graduation on Sunday, June 7,” Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan told more than 65 participants in a video conference before the School Committee. “We worry that might not be able to happen in a safe way.”

The effort to change the original graduation theme – which was based on a virtual/remote format – was spurred on by the online Parents Brigade made up of 80 families which quickly rallied only days after the virtual event was presented on May 7. Parents and students began flooding the school administration, school committee members and town officials with pleas of a more robust ceremony.

The pressure from the group reopened the discussion of what would constitute a safe but inclusive lasting moment for the town’s senior class.

Phelan acknowledged that anything less than a traditional graduation ceremony – with parents and friends in attendance inside Wenner Field House with the time-honored trappings of striding to Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance March No 1”, walking up to the dais to be handed diplomas and throwing their caps in the air – “is a disappointment to our seniors and difficult to their families.”

Revisiting the high school’s graduation plans

With that in mind and an overlaying factor of keeping the safety and health of the students in mind, the superintendent and his leadership task force – including police, fire, the Department of Public Works, facilities, the health department, members from the district’s Central Office, and the high school administration – revisited the first iteration of graduation over the weekend and finalized changes on Monday, May 11.

The five part high school graduation program include:

  • On Friday, May 22, on their last day of school, seniors will pick up caps, gowns, and diplomas at the Belmont High School parking lot.
  • In the week before graduation, students and parents will come to the Field House to have their graduation photo taken with Principal Isaac Taylor on the stage. A video will also be taken of the diploma exchange.
  • Also the week before graduation, students will be part of a “rolling rally” in which they will drive their vehicles along a specific route – most likely going passed the town’s elementary and middle schools – before finishing at a prescribed site.
  • On Sunday, June 7, graduation will be a combined live/virtual event with speeches by Class President Caroline Findlay and the two recipients of the School Committee Award for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarships given at the Field House. Then a video will show each senior receiving their diploma.
  • Finally, there will be a class get together just before they move on to post-high school ventures. The details are still being determined when and where it will take place. If for safety reasons the event can’t take place, it will likely be held in June 2021.

“We realize that, like other districts, it’s not ideal. And like in other districts we’re trying to find the best way to recognize our community, especially our seniors at this time,” said Phelan. “We hope this five-step process with elements included from our community that … is safe for every single student who would like to attend the graduation.”

While the school committee has no say in graduation planning and its execution, the five members were receptive to the effort in creating the new plan on such short notice and incorporating the parent’s suggestions.

“I know it’s really hard to make these decisions, but I also appreciate that [the district] is marking a moment in time when it normally happens and I do think it’s really important to commemorate these events when they occur,” said the School Committee’s Kate Bowen. “When it comes to these rites of passage, it’s important to mark a moment when it happens and not delay.”

Phelan concluded by saying while the district wanted to listen to the “substantial changes” the Brigade was seeking, “the proposal that we have in front of you is one that is half cooked and ready to be fully cooked.”

A show of gratitude

Speaking for the students, senior Anna Biondo said her classmates “is a group of of strong, resilient individuals … that accept each other’s differences and are eager to work towards compromise.”

“If the Belmont public school systems wish to teach us one last lesson … let it be not one of learning to cope with disappointment but rather how to take a difficult situation and build community through cooperation,” said Biondo, who said her fellow seniors would be only too eager to comply with strict guidelines on social distancing and safety protocols at a “live” graduation to “show gratitude for our teachers, administrators and parents who fought so hard to get us to this point.”

PJ Looney, a parent of a senior and a member of the Brigade, provided the nuts and bolts of the group’s proposal.

“This class has been through a lot,” said Looney including the death of a classmate in their junior year, the disruption caused by the construction of the new middle and high school, and “then the light switched [off],” Looney said referring to the novel coronavirus that closed the school in mid-March.

“No spring sports, no clubs, no coffeehouse, no senior week, no awards night, no prom and no all-night party. If anybody deserves a graduation in person to see their [friends] one last time, it’s this class and I think we can all agree to that,” said Looney.

Under the group’s plan, the graduation would come with some important stipulations; families would need to sign a waiver, wear masks and observe strict social distancing – sitting six feet apart and approach the stage one-at-a-time – to be allowed to attend the event at Harris Field. Parents would have to stay home with only selected teachers and administrators in the stands. And the group is willing to delay the date of the ceremony to late June to August to allow the state’s regulations to mitigate the effect of the virus’ spread to take hold.

After presenting slides that showed student preferences for graduation that included a ‘live’ ceremony, Looney said the group’s proposal “is a rational plan, we’re following the rules and we’re trying to get the kids what they want and show that we believe them.”

Phelan said he would be in contact with Looney and others to discuss the matter and would present to the school committee within the week with a final proposal in an effort to “move forward” on graduation in Belmont.

Wanted: A Resident To Join The School Committee

By Leave a Comment

Photo: The committee oversees the Belmont public schools

With the resignation of Susan Burgess-Cox in the past two weeks, the Belmont School Committee is seeking a resident to join the group during these ‘interesting’ times.

Under Belmont bylaws, the School Committee must give public notice of the vacancy followed by a joint meeting with the Select Board which will make the selection. The appointee must be a registered voter of Belmont, 18 years or older, according to Ellen Cushman, Belmont Town Clerk.

Those interested in the position can fill out a town’s volunteer opportunities form at this address:

https://www.mapsonline.net/belmontma/forms/insert.html.php?id=416487362

Other than that general requirement, Andrea Prestwich, the newly-appointed chair of the committee, said “these kind of boards often work best when you have a variety of backgrounds, so I wouldn’t exclude anybody.”

While there isn’t a specific timeline on when the board and committee will meet to make their joint selection, “I would say we would like to fill the position as soon as possible because the school committee has a lot of work to do in the next few weeks,” said Select Board Chair Roy Epstein at its “Zoom” meeting on Monday, April 27.

While time is of the essence, “I also want to make sure that we take the appropriate amount of time to let all the corners of the community hear about the vacancy … so we have a widest possible variety of applicants,” said the School Committee’s Tara Donner.

The newly appointed School Committee Member will serve until the annual Town Election in April 2021, at which the voters will elect the two members of the School Committee who will serve three-year terms, expiring April 2024. Burgess-Cox original term of office expired in 2021.