Connetquot Teachers Association, Inc.
1650 Sycamore Avenue, Suite 8
Bohemia, New York 11716
Tony Felicio, Jr. OFFICE: (631) 676-3061
President FAX: (631) 676-5364
July 31,2020
Dear Community Member,
In an attempt to communicate to the public the myriad of issues facing the district pertaining to returning to school for in person learning or continuing with a virtual plan, the Association decided to put this together, not to change your mind or to debate, but to make sure you are aware of the issues involved in making that crucial decision. The district will not provide you with that information. Anyone who thinks we just use masks, socially distance and all will be well is sorely misinformed.
The Association’s primary goal is to ensure that not only that its staff is safe, but also that your children are safe. We have teachers who have children in this district. The Association recognizes that nothing beats having our kids back in school for a well-rounded educational experience. Our teachers want to be back in their classrooms, doing what they love to do, teaching kids. However, one must analyze the risk/reward of doing so. From an educational standpoint, the Association’s position is that in-person learning and what it is going to look like will not be educationally effective for our kids compared to a virtual learning plan. The Association can say confidently, that if they are being honest, neither can the district’s representatives who sit on the educational committee. You can decide for yourself as the Association will share many of our concerns and issues with you. If you are of the opinion that the virus is a hoax or that the risks are so low, just send the kids back, do not waste your time reading the rest of this letter because it will not matter to you. If you want to know what the issues and concerns are that makes a return to schoolhouses difficult, read on.
On Sunday, the former director of the CDC said this, “Putting a plan together to reopen our schoolhouses is the easy part. Making them safe and keeping them open is the hard part." Plans on paper look great. The question becomes are those well-intentioned plans sustainable? Are they realistic? Are they practicable? We all keep hearing about the minimal guidelines from the CDC. From a medical standpoint, their guidelines are sound medical advice. They make a lot of sense. They can be made practicable and realistic in many workplaces and areas of society. The problem is a schoolhouse is not like“other” workplaces. Those guidelines do not translate to our schools and what schools do daily. Keeping adults socially distant at a workplace is one thing.Keeping high school students and younger children socially distant is quite another. Keeping an office, store or large corporation disinfected and clean is one thing. Keeping a school with all its moving parts cleaned and disinfected is quite another.
The Association has met with the district several times. The committee’s first goal was to address a remote learning plan district wide. After two meetings we have what we all believe to be a formidable virtual plan. There are a few issues outstanding, but once resolved, the plan will be even better. It incorporates many concerns of parents, such as synchronous learning, student/teacher contact time, consistency of platform, etc. Support services and specials can all be administered, and all children will have face time with their teachers. Large group and small group instruction can take place where needed. New material can be taught and assessed in real time. It also addresses teacher concerns, such as privacy issues, social media issues, flexibility, structure, student accountability, grading, etc.
Last week, we began discussing in person learning. A genuine concern for putting together the best possible plan for all concerned was discussed. After hours of discussion, we came up with a framework to work from for the high school. All district representatives liked it, as did we. We did have some discussion regarding elementary. We were told about the K – 3 and 4 – 5 return “plans.” We also briefly talked about middle school following the same plan as the high school, but with a cohort of students that was not possible at the high school.
Up until then, although we raised them, we were unable to get responses to our specific health and safety questions. It was difficult to move forward on educational issues when health and safety issues were interrelated. The Association strongly urged that we meet this past Monday morning with health and safety representatives from the district to discuss, which we did. At this meeting, although some questions were answered, many still could not be addressed.
On Tuesday morning, we met again. More discussion ensued regarding health and safety. More questions were answered, but again, many still were not. When we completed that discussion, we were ready to tie loose ends together regarding the in-person plan at the high school and begin working on the elementary and middle school plans in more detail. Unfortunately, Mr. Mittleman opened with, and I am paraphrasing, that “the superintendent did not approve what we submitted to her.” When we asked why, we were told they did not discuss details. When we asked if she could come in and explain why she did not approve, it went unanswered. Mr. Mittleman took his team out for about ten minutes while we waited, and upon his return by himself, he informed us that they needed to get on the same page. He apologized and asked if we would we be OK rescheduling. So, we did for August 3rd. We also questioned how the district could present to the public two plans on Tuesday night, one incomplete and the other not even discussed. The response was it was not really a plan, but a framework. The superintendent’s message to the community later that day was that they were presenting a plan.
The Association watched Tuesday night’s meeting. The fact of the matter is there was information presented that a. the Association did not discuss at all; b. that the Association were discussing but did not agree to; and c. that were going to be researched and discussed further. You were presented with a very Pollyanna version of reality.
Below are many concerns regarding in-person schooling. It is not an inclusive list, as new concerns cross my desk daily.
Elementary:
1. Staggered bus schedule for arrival and dismissal. Are parents going to make two trips, 20 minutes apart if they have two children scheduled at different times? Or will parents drop off both children on the first run? Where do those children go? Who supervises them? How do the areas where these children go get cleaned and disinfected before other children need to go to that area? Or will parents just bring their kids in at the later time? Why make two trips? No teaching is going to start until all kids are in school anyway. They do not miss anything. Same applies to busing. The district says 20 minutes apart. Is that an underestimate or is that the time on a perfect day? What about inclement weather, snow? What about lines of cars for drop off and pick up? When will the day start? The committee estimates approximately 9:45 on a good day. Dr. Adams’ comment about a good time for washing hands, or mindfulness, etc., is not going to be happening. Arrival on a good day at school is hectic. At minimum, students are losing approximately 40 minutes, 20 minutes at the beginning of the day waiting for the next bus load and 20 minutes at the end of the day for when the first bus load leaves.
2. Masks being worn by everyone. In concept, for health and safety reasons, that is a prudent thing to do. Asking adults or students to wear a mask for long periods of time is just not realistic. Under the district’s elementary plan, children will be in their classrooms for hours straight. There will be no going to music, art, and in many cases, not to gym. How long can young children be expected to remain in one place with a mask on? Ms. Santo stated there would be mask breaks. What is a mask break? When that question was raised, neither she, nor anyone else could answer what that looks like. How does everyone taking off their mask at the same time protect anyone from spreading the virus? The virus does not take a break from spreading during a “mask break.”
3. What will the buildings look like? Like institutions. Very sterile. Unless decorations are laminated, to keep buildings easier to disinfect and clean, there will be no wall art, bulletin boards, classroom decorations, etc. You will never know you are in a school. Also, reading libraries will not be in the classrooms, no board games, no seating circles, no partnerships, no sharing, and little to no “normal” socialization. Teachers will be in the position to have to tell students to get away from another child often.
4. Reduction of services. Are you aware that because teachers from specialty areas will be used to teach in the classrooms to lower class size, if your child or a friend’s child was receiving non-mandated services, even though the district sees the need for those services, they will not get them? Math and reading specialists will be taking on different roles.
5. How is the district ensuring that your child will be socially distanced when using a hallway toilet? Teacher X sends two children, teacher Y sends a child, and teacher Z sends a child. They do not know who else sent kids to use the bathroom. What stops the kids from being kids when no one is watching? Who is cleaning those bathrooms before and after your children used them? Do all kids wash their hands? This applies as well to in class bathrooms. Who cleans them after each use? Who watches to make sure kids are washing their hands with soap and water? As it pertains to washing hands, kids will be washing hands a lot during the day. Following CDC recommendations and doing it right takes time. Having 15 kids, six feet apart washing hands every time they go to or come back from the bathroom, before and after snack and lunch, before and after art, music, gym, recess, and pull-outs, is extremely time consuming.
6. Who is cleaning up the expected mess in the classrooms during and after the kids eat lunch?
7. The Association asked about the reading and writing programs through Teachers College that the district poured thousands and thousands of dollars into over the past few years. To date, to our knowledge, it cannot be run due to the necessity to follow CDC guidelines and rules which require collaborative and partner type working relationships. What are we going to use for teaching reading and writing?
8. Let us look at attendance issues. The district and the Association both agree that if you feel ill or have any of the symptoms listed by the CDC, please stay home. Under those guidelines, both teachers and students will be out at a much higher rate than ever before. For students, this will lead to them falling behind in their studies. There will be no recorded lesson to refer to. The more one is absent, the level of success decreases. For teachers, we already have a substitute problem. The Association is not sure how many people are going to risk their lives for $130 per day to sub. Many of our districtwide subs are retired teachers, older and in the at-risk group. And, because the district will no longer have the specialty teachers to use to cover classes, getting substitutes is going to be a major challenge and will without doubt affect the quality of education. Keep in mind that if one student tests positive in a classroom, all children from that classroom must quarantine, as well as the teacher. If the teacher gets infected, the children in that class will be quarantined also. In a virtual platform, if a child or teacher is under the weather, teaching and learning can continue.
9. Department of Health requires that temperature checks be done before children enter the building. The district’s plan to have parents perform these temperature checks at home as the only assurance a child is temperature free, is strongly opposed to by both the Connetquot Teachers Association and some Board of Education members. This too will decrease the time our students will be learning but must be done to ensure everyone’s health and safety.
10. There will be no hugs from teachers, no playing with friends on the playground.
11. No co-teaching models of stations, rotations, parallel teaching, or small groups.
12. Science labs that require partnerships will not be able to be done. Science labs require partnerships.
13. How are shared art supplies going to be disinfected between uses?
14. How are we protecting students and teachers with autoimmune issues?
15. How are we meeting RTI guidelines if students are not receiving reading or math services that the district have identified as children in need? Who will be providing level 2 and level 3 support and providing the necessary services before children are referred to CSE? Only tier1 is provided by the classroom teacher under what was “planned.” Is the district not going to follow their own devised plan?
It is fair to say, school as we all knew it will be very different for our teachers and students. The look and feel, everyone wearing masks, little to no movement about the building, little ability to socialize with friends and peers, and a sterilized look will make it feel more in line like an institutional setting. It is our opinion that neither students nor teachers will be happy. Working in such a sterile environment such as this, with all the additional responsibilities and anxiety does not lend itself to sustainability or a quality education. It will be an impossible undertaking to maintain the week-to-week cleaning and disinfecting that is required to keep everyone safe.
Secondary:
The district plan decreases the number of students in the building by approximately one-half (high school); however, there remains approximately 275 to 300 staff. There will continue to be approximately 1,200 to 1,300 people that need to be socially distanced safely.
1. At high school, busses begin dropping off kids at 6:50am. Teachers do not arrive until 7:06 am. Who is supervising the students at that time? Who keeps them socially distant from each other? Where do they go during that time? How will those areas be cleaned and sanitized prior to other kids being in those areas?
2. We were advised that at the high school and the middle schools, the line of cars and busses will extend for long distances. This will influence when the educational process starts. The end of the school day will be affected as well, as busses and cars line up to pick up kids.
3. Middle school children will be required to stay in one room for up to four and five periods straight.
4. The district has not discussed how specials, art, music, and physical education will operate. Will they be following a push-in model or will kids be going to the respective special area for instruction? How will those areas then be cleaned and disinfected?
5. Are music rooms at the middle schools carpeted and out of service like the high school?
6. At the high school, how are 1000 kids going to move from class to class and maintain social distancing? Who is going to police the hallways and monitor kids being kids? How will keeping masks on be enforced in the hallways? Who will be cleaning the rooms in between classes when one group of students moves out and another group moves in? Kids by law are not allowed to disinfect on their own.
7. Who will clean rooms after lunch if they decide to do grab and go off a cart?
8. When a teacher at the high school contracts the virus, every student who they have had contact with must quarantine and/or get tested for the virus. Tests can take up to two weeks to come back. During that time, the student cannot return to school. One teacher with five classes at an average of 15 kids per class means 75 kids will have to stay out of school. Who is teaching them? If a student contracts the virus, all other kids that they have had contact with, possibly up to seven or eight classes, approximately 105 students, plus all teachers (seven or eight) must do the same.
9. Ms. Santo spoke about contact tracing the other night at the board meeting. She said, in the event of a confirmed case of the virus, the responsibility for tracing would be left up to the administrator. Tracing is investigative in nature and not something that administrators, nor any of our staff members are trained to do. Building level administrators have their hands full under normal circumstances, in this environment their jobs will be much more difficult.
Quick story about contact tracing. Last week a high school in Westchester, Reach Academy had a teacher diagnosed with Covid-19. The local department of health did their contact tracing. Unfortunately, in their investigation, they did not contact all those who might have been infected. The superintendent shut schools down for two days, they contacted the other people and they were tested. Four teachers and five students all had the Covid-19 virus. Contact tracing is only as good as the people doing the tracing and the information they can gather.
10. There has been no discussion about the A/B model since the superintendent flatly rejected the committee’s proposal without any participation in any discussion with the Association. Students will be in-school every other day. What will they be doing on their “off” day? The proposal put forth by the committee provided for online instruction by giving teachers the time needed to prepare such materials. Under the current “district plan,” students will not receive instruction on the days they are not in the building. There is not enough time in the day to expect teachers to accomplish both in-person and virtual instruction.
11. Teachers want to provide your children with the absolute best education under the safest conditions. With Regents exams and AP exams in the future, it will be impossible to cover all the curricula with students in classes every other day and with all the interruptions of absences, expected closures, etc. The online model will provide a consistent schedule and allow teachers to cover more material.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. The Association believes in total transparency, whether you agree with our position or not. Ultimately, it may not matter what the parents think, the Association thinks, or the district thinks. If the Governor directs school districts to have in-person learning, in-person learning it will be. If the Governor leaves it up to each local district to decide, that will be a Board of Education decision. The Connetquot Teachers Association will not be bashful in letting our position known, but the ultimate decision is not ours. That is why we continue to work towards ensuring that any in-person plan, if we are to have one, is comprehensive in its ability to ensure safety for all stakeholders. We must advocate that no stone be left unturned. We must advocate that our students are receiving the best possible education. We must advocate and make sure that we are all safe.
Have no doubt that our teachers are excited to get back into the schools to the jobs they love, teaching your children. But also keep in mind that they have families too, loved ones who need them to remain healthy and safe.
Sincerely,
Tony Felicio, Jr.
President
Connetquot Teachers Association