08/14/2020
ICYMI SLT 08/13
By Spec X SU
Read the full update here: https://www.stuyspec.com/news/icymi-quarantine-meeting-updates
TL;DR
● Principal Yu presented Stuyvesant’s Exception Model, which proposed dividing the 36 percent of students who did not opt into full remote learning on the DOE survey into four blended learning cohorts with approximately 300 to 400 students in each cohort. The school would follow an eight-day rotating schedule, in which each of the blended cohorts would come to the building for two consecutive school days. All students will attend five periods each day.
● Students in blended learning will learn in one of five designated locations: the third or sixth-floor gymnasiums, the library, the cafeteria, or the auditorium. Students are expected to wear a mask, bring a device and headphones for class, and maintain six feet distance with others at all times.
Key concerns highlighted were the ventilation system and the bandwidth capacity, as well as access to personal protective equipment and adequate staffing.
● The SLT reached consensus to support Principal Yu’s Exception Model with an added request for the DOE to resolve and provide clarity on several issues, including providing a ventilation report on the building, doubling bandwidth capacity, implementing random testing, and providing an adequate supply of PPE.
In today’s School Leadership Team (SLT) meeting, Principal Seung Yu presented the Stuyvesant Exception Model that will be submitted to the NYC Department of Education (DOE) for approval tomorrow, Friday, August 14.
The exception model will divide the 36 percent of students who did not opt into full remote learning on the DOE survey into four blended learning cohorts—A, B, C, and D—with 300 to 400 students in each cohort. Students who opted for full remote learning (64 percent) will not be placed in a blended learning cohort and will be designated as cohort E unless they opt into blended learning at one of the four designated times throughout the year, the first of which will be in November. There will be an eight-day rotating schedule, in which each of the blended cohorts will come into school for two consecutive school days. All students will attend five periods each day (i.e. periods 1-5 on Monday, periods 6-10 on Tuesday). The school day will start at 9:10 a.m. and end at 2:00 p.m, and periods will be 50 minutes long with 10 minute passing times. There will be no designated lunch periods, and meals will be grab-and-go and distributed for students to eat during an instructional or free period.
Students in blended learning will be assigned to one of five designated locations: the third or sixth-floor gymnasiums, the library, the cafeteria, or the auditorium. Students are expected to wear a mask, bring a device and headphones for class, and maintain a six feet distance with others at all times. Each period is expected to be a mix of live virtual instruction and independent work, though details have yet to be worked out.
The majority of teachers will teach their lessons virtually from designated classrooms throughout the building. As of now, 25 percent of teachers have submitted medical accommodation requests to the DOE; if the accommodations are approved, these teachers will instruct from home.
For those seeking emotional support, guidance counselors will be stationed at various locations throughout the school. Because 13 percent of non-academic staff have applied for medical accommodation, some counseling meetings may take place virtually rather than in person.
Yu also acknowledges the imperfections of the exception model. Among the issues highlighted by Yu and the SLT were bandwidth, ventilation, and testing. As of now, the school has a bandwidth of 200 megabits per second (Mbps), which will need to be upgraded to sustain more than 400 simultaneous users. The school was already in the process of installing fiber-optic cables and will continue with that project while seeking to extend the bandwidth to 400 Mbps. The school’s ventilation system currently uses filters with MERV-8 ratings, 25 of which were labeled defective in the city’s 2019 inspection. Filters with ratings of MERV-13 and above are recommended to protect against COVID-19. While the custodial staff will conduct deep cleanings of the building each night, there are concerns about safety as it relates to testing, with many SLT members calling for random COVID-19 testing with a 24 hour turn-around time for results.
The model allows for students to easily opt in or out of blended learning, and will continue to function even in the case of a school-wide closure. It also provides programming flexibility that will allow the majority of the course catalog and electives to be kept. The exception model also allows for students to have a degree of socialization and engagement with peers, teachers, and staff around the school building, something especially for the 54 percent of incoming freshmen who chose blended learning and will be entering the school building for the first time.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the SLT engaged in consensus-building on whether or not to endorse the reopening plan as a committee. The initial vote did not show a full consensus, with more than four members voting against the measure. It was suggested that a caveat be added to the proposal to request that Stuyvesant engage in fully remote learning unless the DOE resolved issues of ventilation, testing, personal protective equipment, bandwidth, staffing, and more. A consensus was reached for a section to be added to the proposal calling for the DOE to resolve these outstanding issues, which Yu agreed to advocate for.
LOOKING AHEAD:
● Stuyvesant’s Exception Model will be submitted to the DOE tomorrow, August 14, to be reviewed. The final reopening plan is due to be cemented by the week of August 31.
● The anticipated start date for the 2020-21 school year is September 10.
Access the full meeting recording here: https://youtu.be/-qQwRS57ys0
Access the agenda and the exception model proposal here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1e9-Id5TN5he_w_o-oZRgMBi5SSujVwxe
Find more information on the DOE’s website: schools.nyc.gov/returntoschool2020