Good morning, KS education fam! I'm watching the Kansas State Board of Education livestream, and you can, too! ksde.org/Board/Kansas-S…
Dr. Randy Watson tells the State Board he thinks that like COVID-19, feedback comes in wave. He says that the dialogue has shifted from "reopen the school buildings!" to more caution that it isn't safe right now. 2/
OK, we're into the Navigating Change 2020 portion of the meeting. (I don't have a good link to the draft, but I'm working on it.)
Attendance at home will be counted on remote learning logs collected daily or weekly. 3/
Attendance at home will be counted on remote learning logs collected daily or weekly. 3/
Board member Jim Porter immediately asks about my concern with this -- it's cumbersome. Parents/"responsible adults" aren't going to want to do this every day (or every week). 4/
FYI, Navigating Change 2020 won't be online until after the State Board acts on it tomorrow. You know I'll share it as soon as I have it. 5/
From the presentation: "Shop around and check online ordering. High demand has sanitizer at high cost ... Consider purchasing bulk product supplies and refilling bottles with pumps or other dispenser types." 6/
Big change: KS paid lunch students will need to pay for meals that districts provide if/when school buildings closed. Meals will only be reimbursed for free and reduced price lunch students. 7/
I find this somewhat concerning, given how low participation in Pandemic-EBT has been. There may be families experiencing job loss who might not know how to apply for free or reduced price lunch. Or embarrassed to need help who could benefit from meal distribution. 8/
Board member Jean Clifford is also worried about the learning log. She says she thinks more flexibility is going to be needed for districts that already are experiencing financial hardship because of #COVID19 and its challenges. 9/
WE HAVE A DRAFT, Y'ALL: ksde.org/Portals/0/Comm…
The legislature is the only one that can make changes to hours of learning for attendance purposes, Commissioner Watson says. That's why they settled on learning logs, however cumbersome. 11/
Jim McNiece wants to know about sick leave for teachers who are forced to quarantine. Watson replies that there's federal sick leave for 80 hours, which would cover the 10 business days (four weekend days) of a quarantine. 12/
Glad McNiece is asking the question. I know a lot of teachers are worried about what happens if they are forced to quarantine more than once during the 2020-21 school year, which I don't think is outside the realm of possibility at all. 13/
OK, that was it for Navigating Change 2020 for today (more at 9 a.m. tomorrow). I'll be writing as fast as I can for @kcur.
It's my fault my mentions are a mess right now, but once I've filed I WILL answer and reply. Stay safe, education fam. 15/15
It's my fault my mentions are a mess right now, but once I've filed I WILL answer and reply. Stay safe, education fam. 15/15
