When Will Hybrid Pe Open Again

The Portland Board of Public Education voted unanimously on Wednesday, Aug. 19, to approve Superintendent Xavier Botana's recommendation to resume learning this fall under a hybrid model that is a mix of in-person and remote learning. Students will begin the school year on Sept. 14.

In response to feedback from families and Board members, some enhancements were made to the original recommended proposal. Those include considering an increase of in-person learning experiences for grade 10-12 students in October instead of at the end of the first semester, if all goes as planned, and making the district's plan for outdoor learning more robust.

After the Board's vote, Botana pledged that the district would do everything possible to work with staff to keep them safe and "keep our kids safe and learning."

Under its recent color-coded county advisory system, the Maine Department of Education has issued a green designation to all counties statewide, deeming it safe during the COVID-19 pandemic for school districts to hold in-person classes if they follow state health and safety protocols. The Portland Public Schools has chosen to adopt a hybrid (yellow) learning model to be more conservative about student and staff health and safety. A hybrid model limits the time and number of students in person at school depending on grade level, with students and staff following the required state protocols, which include mask wearing, physical distancing, and daily symptom checks.

If elementary school students and staff successfully adjust in the first month of school, pre-K through 5 will return full time on October 13th.  After the first trimester,  the possibility of more in-person learning at the middle school would be reassessed.

"We believe in-person instruction is superior to remote instruction for most students," Botana said. In a family survey the district conducted this month, 79 percent of those responding said their choice is to return to school. In a recent statewide staff survey, 80 percent of teachers responding said they would be willing to return to work on site this fall.

"We believe that science supports that this is the time you can actually open schools in person," Botana said. "This is a conservative move according to the data.  Even though it is green, we are opening in yellow because we want to be cautious."

Botana said that with the hybrid scenario, the district is "trying to thread the needle" between full remote learning, with its learning drawbacks for some students and challenges for working families, and full in-person learning, which poses a greater risk for COVID exposure.

A Remote Learning Academy with consistent schedules and learning experiences also will be available for families who opt not to attend in-person school. Families will have one more opportunity to sign up for the Remote Academy. A sign-up form will go out on Thursday, Aug. 20, and families can access this sign-up on the district website, portlandschools.org. The deadline is Monday, Aug. 24. (*Links to the sign-up form in languages other than English can be found below.)

Families who have already indicated interest in the Remote Academy via a previous survey will be contacted to confirm their intent to enroll. Once students are registered in the Remote Academy, they will stay there for the trimester.

After the hybrid learning recommendation was formally presented to the Board on Aug. 4, feedback from parents and Board members included concerns about the plan for older high school students. Ninth-graders will attend school in A and B groups two days per week, based on their high school teams, with the A groups attending Monday and Thursday and the B group attending on Tuesday and Friday. Wednesdays will be remote learning days for all students district-wide.

Grades 10-12 will be taught their courses remotely from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. four days per week. In the afternoon, from 1:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., they will receive in-person academic small group and one-on-one support in a Learning Center at each school at least once per week. All the students will participate in advisory meetings either in person and virtually each week.

A Board amendment to require that students in grades 10-12 have in-person learning two days per week failed after Portland High School staff said that limited space and the way high school classes are structured would make it impossible for the students to remain in small cohorts that reduce COVID risk.

However, if the high school plan is going well, with protocols being followed and Cumberland County still in the state's green category, the district hopes to try to maximize in-person learning time for students in grades 10-12 starting in October.

In the approved plan, the Board also voted to strengthen the district's plan for outdoor learning. The original target of two outdoor classrooms per building has been expanded to have as many as possible for each building, based on pending plans from architects. There also will be required district-wide professional development on how to teach outdoors and each building will have a designated Outdoor Learning Building Liaison. The district's interim Outdoor Learning Coordinator, Brooke Teller, is collaborating with parents and community partners to activate parent volunteers to support the launch through such means as donations and gathering materials.

Melea Nalli, Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning, said that students could potentially spend as much as a half a day learning outside, depending on weather and other factors. "We are highly committed to making it a priority to being outside, given the health and safety benefits and the desire from the community."

Teachers will begin the school year on Aug. 24 and use that time for professional development and planning before students start school. The week of Sept. 7 will be used for student "sample" days, when students and staff will get a chance to experience what in-person school will be like. Student attendance won't be required but strongly encouraged.

In response to family requests for before- and after-care and also childcare for days when students are learning remotely so that parents can work, the district is continuing to work with community partners to provide that care.

 Currently, working with Portland Parks and Recreation and the Boys and Girls Clubs, the district has secured 500 slots prioritizing elementary school students in a pilot program that will run from Sept. 14-Oct. 14. It will provide programming before- and after-school and on Wednesdays.

 There also will be a Sept 14-October 14 all-day programming pilot program for days when students are learning remotely with 62 slots. That program will prioritize children of PPS staff members. The district's current community partners for this pilot program are the Breakwater Enrichment Program, Jewish Community Alliance and Portland Community Squash. The district is continuing to seek other community partners to expand the number of slots in this program.

 To help families understand and ask questions about the reopening plan, health and safety protocols and use of technology, virtual family orientation sessions are planned district-wide and at individual schools. Interpretation will be available at all sessions.

 Two sessions specifically for multilingual families and focusing on health and safety protocols and the reopening plan will be held next week, on Aug. 26 at 9 a.m., and on Aug. 28 at 6 p.m. Parent University sessions for parents focusing on technology use – specifically the use of Google Classroom and SeeSaw – will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 and Sept. 2.

 Each school will also schedule orientation sessions for parents before school opens.

The Portland Public Schools is Maine's largest school district, with approximately 6,750 students, and is also the most diverse. About one-third of the district's students – 35 percent – come from homes where languages other than English are spoken—a total of more than 60 languages. About 53 percent of the district's students are white and 47 percent are students of color. Approximately half of PPS students qualify for free or reduced school lunch.

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Source: https://www.portlandschools.org/news___calendars/spotlight_news/school_board_approves_hybrid_reopening

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