Schools going back to all students in, every day?

[Betsy Voinovich]

Lakewood School Teachers Agree...

Lakewood High School teachers have been preparing their students for the District's new plan, that all students will be back in class, full time, every day, on March 15th.

Right now the students are divided into two groups and they alternate attendance every other day, in order to keep classrooms open enough that they can stay six feet away from one another. They will not be able to achieve this if all students are in every day.

Parents have not been consulted about this, they were told that while the county was in the Red zone, their children would be following the half time model. The latest Ranger Round-up, out today in parents' email boxes makes no mention of this plan. Parents who allowed their children to go back to school in the half time model may not be pleased with the idea that the District has decided this for them, now that their kids are back in the buildings.

Have to go now, more later when I hope to talk to the Board or Administration.

Betsy Voinovich

[Betsy Voinovich]

Update:

I just got home and found email from Superintendent Barnes sent at 11 this morning regarding the students going back in. Here's the paragraph:


March 15: Fourth-Quarter Learning Plan Begins
All in-person students will begin attending school everyday, Monday through Friday, following their regular school schedule.
Remote 2.0 students will continue to follow their regular schedules. eLearning students will continue as they have been.
A summary of our building safety protocols are below:

-The District has purchased plexiglass shields for both students and staff.
-Mask wearing remains mandatory.
-Varied classrooms sizes mean some will have 3 feet instead of 6 feet spacing.
-Adjustments have been made in cafeterias to maximize spacing during lunch.
-Buildings are equipped with hospital-grade air filters and are configured to pull in more outside air to reduce the amount of recirculated air.
For a complete list of protocols for our All In Model, click here.

It is not likely that 6 feet spacing will be available in most situations, classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, and the "3 foot distance" is not an official "safe
measurement" from anywhere I've ever seen. It doesn't come from the CDC. Three feet is not a safe distance.

In looking around at parent groups it's clear that one group of parents has been very vocal at Board meetings, insisting that their kids must be back
in the classroom every day full-time and claiming that "they speak for the parents," when in reality, they speak for some parents.

Like the last situation, the other group of parents, the ones who don't want their kids to go back in full time, is assuming the Board is sticking with
their last communication, this group of parents doesn't realize that they need to attend Board meetings to defend their position: in this case, that they agreed to send their kids
back in within a hybrid model, but they didn't agree to allow them to go back in full time when the county is still red and the percentage of Lakewoodites who have Covid19, as of yesterday, is 7.8%. with 3,990 cases. This group has the expectation that the Administration is transparent and will consult with them before they make major decisions that impact the health of their children and their families.

This is not the case.

There is a special Board meeting tomorrow night when the Board will announce a new MOU with the teachers union, in which it will spell out the details of
breaking their commitment to keep the kids in a hybrid model if the Cuyahoga County is in the red zone, which it still is.

I will attach the details of that meeting if you wish to attend, or send them email to be read at the meeting.

A Special Board of Education Meeting has been scheduled for Friday, March 5, 2021 at 7:30 a.m. at the Taft Center for Innovation, room 108, 13701 Lake Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio 44107.


Oh wow, it's at 7:30 AM tomorrow morning.

Here's what's on the agenda:

1. Second Amendment to the August 31, 2020 and October 12, 2020 Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) between the Lakewood City School District Board of Education (“Board”) and the Lakewood Teachers Association (“Association”) - Request Approval on One Reading (ROLL CALL VOTE)

Here are the email addresses of the Superintendent and the Board Members. You can have your comments read at the meeting if you're not able to attend the 7:30am meeting or you're
uncomfortable with attending indoor meetings right now.

linda.beebe@lakewoodcityschools.org
michael.callahan@lakewoodcityschools.org
emma.petriebarcelona@lakewoodcityschools.org
edward.favre@lakewoodcityschools.org
betsy.shaughnessy@lakewoodcityschools.org
michael.barnes@lakewoodcityschools.org
maggie.niedzwiecki@lakewoodcityschools.org

From what I've been seeing, parents who are concerned about this are planning to take their kids who were attending in person out and put them back into the remote model.


Betsy Voinovich

[Dan Alaimo]

Glad to see the attention to detail, including HVAC. I understand the need to get kids back in school. I also understand that we have a long way to go in controlling the virus, not to mention knowing the variants. I hope the right decisions are being made although I remain skeptical.

The same applies to decisions to loosen mask mandates and other limitations in society in geberal.