Thread by @WilliamsonStrg

We will be live-tweeting the #wcsb meeting right here starting at 6:00. Fingers crossed this one is peaceful and doesn't end up in the national news. 🤞

We are curious what the crowd looks like right now. If you have photos, please share.

In case there are issues with the @WCSedu broadcast like last time, @NC5 will also be streaming.

newschannel5.com/news/williamso…

https://twitter.com/NC5_AKoehn/status/1431024772473884672

I'm not getting a feed from @WCSedu but Channel 5 is live. facebook.com/newschannel5/l…

First Speaker: Kristen Benton. Moms For Liberty. Fast talker. Mad they didn't know the specifics of what is being discussed. Hard to understand her. Says everyone is going to unenroll.

Daniel Jordon: Has facts. Parents want to protect their kids but masks don't work. Refers to when Cracker Barrell had smoking & non smoking sections. @NancyGarrettD12 stops crowd from cheering. Claims that we can't tell the difference between flu & corona (this is not true.)

Steve Taylor(?): He's mumbling. I can't hear him. He's wearing a 2A hat. @NancyGarrettD12 is admonishing him about personal attacks on board member. Crowd boos. Says "We will not comply with your crap."

Trisha? : Says the board has abanonded their responsibility. Claims cases went up after board implemented the mask mandate.

@NancyGarrettD12 Erin Newman was next. Sorry my computer froze and I didn't catch all of hers. Masks are not effective.

@NancyGarrettD12 Natalie Showalter tries to give her spot to Robby Starbucks because she said he was skipped. Nancy Garrett explains he was put to the end of the line because preference is given to Williamson County residents and he gave a Nashville address.

Next woman is talkign about how requesting people not send peanut products to school is just a request, not a demand. Asks for masks to be just a request. (Side note: if you refuse to be peanut free for the safety of a child, what does that say about you?

Kelly Jackson: Respect the rights of parents to choose for their own children.

Janna from Madison Wisconsin: Says she's tired of covid tyranny and moved here to avoid it. Only to find another school board overreaching authority. YOU HAVE AWOKEN THE GIANT. (I think that's Jim Bicknell's line.)

Jenny Halterman wants to know why @bradfiscus is here because he's resigned. Says the school board is to manage education only (but not the curriculum apparently). Parents should manage health. Mandating masks takes away a safe place to learn.

Charles Chapman? Very sad about what's happening here. His kids made it through last year with no contact letter. This year already they've gotten 5. Last year masking and distancing works. This year is not working.

Tyson Zazinsky (man I am bad at these names): He's mumbling about freedom of choice.

Mary Smith? - Yall are leaders. Says we all need prayer desperately. Follow real science. Not government beaurocrats.

Mandy Buckholt: She's talking about the size of coronavirus. Another google scientist. She's saying a bunch of numbers.

@Kanew up next. He killed it last time. @GovBillLee said kids don't get sick. He was wrong. Pretending this is not happening is not leadership. Parents who don't want masks can go online. He says if we really want to take care of kids, get vaccinated. Crowd boos him.

Father of 3 WC children. Wife works at Vanderbilt. He's a firefighter and former military. We are in a worldwide pandemic. Masks work. It's proven. N95s do work better. Uses masks and they do work.

Jessica Bell: Transplant for CA. Recovered from autoimmune disorders. Something about healthy immune systems. Hard to hear.

Andrew Zim: Says masks do not stop spread of the virus.

Jason Roblio: says that elected officals they should go with the will of the people (against masks). Claims there has been more sucides and deaths of despair. If you want to wear a mask, wear a mask but says it should be optional.

Corey Martinez (like many others, a repeat face at public comment): From CA. Questions if you believe in the gospel if you are wearing a mask? Is that really what she said? Says spiritual warfare going on right now.

Robby Starbuck up now. Says he's a father of 3 WC kids. Gives CDC stats on the percentage of children who have died from Covid. Is comparing that to what NASA says is the chances of an asteroid killing all of us. Says kids are more likely to die from a lighting strike.

Liz Custar (another repeat commenter): Quotes 99.97% survival rate for COVID. Says washing hands is a mitigation strategy. Ivermectin (If that was on your bingo card, go ahead and play it.)

They called a name I missed. Robby Starbuck says they wouldn't let her back in? (Did she get kicked out) but he wants to read her comments. Nancy Garret says no.

Now apparently she's back. It's Jen Baker (another Moms For Liberty member): Reading some "study" about how mitigation methods don't work. Says outside of the US these findings are not controversial.

Lisa Vale?: Is wearing a mask. Doesn't know if it works or not. It was her choice to wear it. Sees no reason to mask her daughter because she's not at risk. "That should be my decision, not yours."

Denise Pfickny: I see your dead eyes. Says the board is not listening and has already made up their minds. Says children aren't reading at grade level because they have to worry about their masks. Says masks are disgusting at end of the day."You see children with staff, MRSA...

strep, herpes, in their brain. (No, you really don't.)

I skipped Jim Bicknell because i was trying to upload a video. I thought it would be worth a video, but it's really not his best work.

Currently on break. Shew this is hard. I can hardly hear them over my frantic typing. Here's a shot of the room from the @NC5 feed. Definitely not as crowded as the last one.

@NC5 @wcsGolden is talking about some changes since last time & the Governor's opt-out. He mentions new mitigations they've implemented since the last meeting.

Now he's working to get clarification on whether or not districts can go remote without using stockpiled dates. For example, Fairfiew middle couldn't be staffed and had to use a stockpile day which counted only against that school.

He says having students learning is better than taking an inclement weather day. They are asking @GovBillLee to make that tool available to us when necessary. Even with mitigation last year, we still had times where individual schools needed to go remote.

Asks for continued support from families to stay home when sick. Golden says we take care of students when they are home sick and now we have more tools for that, like Schoology. Students can complete their work online. We need parents help keeping students home when sick

@GovBillLee Asking board to vote for a proposed policy that allows for covid leave for staff. Last year the federal government had covid leave but it went away. We propose staff can get those covid days so their regular sick days are still available to them.

@jaygalbreath has questions about a resolution to send the request for remote to the state. Says traditionally they've only sent those resolutions when all the board is in favor. Ask if the proposal should be read into the record. Here it is.

@jaygalbreath is asking for clarification on when school would need to go remote. @wcsGolden confirms that primarily it is a staffing decision but a few times it was decided students absentee was so high they did go remote (the lowest attendance rate got to 66% at one school).

@jaygalbreath is asking about students on quarantine...are they able to get remote instruction? @wcsGolden says a quarantine student CAN participate remotely and be counted as present for that day.

@jaygalbreath wants to know if that's universally available. I feel like Golden isn't really answering this clearly. Now he says might not work for PE, etc. Dana Austabrooks says there are some limitations.

Dana Austabrooks says there will be a specific policy discussed at policy meeting regarding students in quarantine.

@RickWimberly clarifies that we are trying to get permission to shift a school or class or grade level to remote instruction. Currently, students out for COVID quarantine can currently learn remotely with their peers on campus.

Dan Cash: Are we going back to the Continuous Learning Plan from last year? @wcsGolden says we are asking permission to go remote. Dan says any child is able to go remote right now? He doesn't seem to understand there isn't enough staff to keep a school open in some cases.

There are two different issues here: #1: teaching children who are quarantined at home while school is open. #2 teaching entire grades or schools when we are not able to keep them open.

Dan Cash is concerned there are no guidelines to keep schools open. (Audience claps). He doesn't want it to be like last year when one child has covid and 40 kids are taken out with them. Claims quarantined kids didn't get virus.

Hey great news, Dan...the CDC says if all kids are masked then there will be less quarantines required.

Golden stresses we want kids in school. But we need options if we can't keep a school open. Says if the Governor gives them that authority, he is open to the board giving parameters.

Cash asks if we will go back to asynchronous days. Golden says we have no plans.

@jenniferaprea5 wants to know if special education students were allowed on campus when Fairview Middle closed. Golden says no because that was a closed day. But last year when we went remote, we did allow some students to get services in buildings based upon their IEPs.

@jenniferaprea5 points out that if all kids are masks, or if students are vaccinated, the CDC does not require quarantines. Asks if that might mean we would need to go remote less often. Golden says he's not sure, but this issue was staffing.

Golden says it appears quarantine is lower this year but we have lots of absensences and we don't always know why. We know the count of isolation (positive covid case) but don't have a good idea on numbers of quarantine or self-quarantine. Parents don't always report.

@AngelaDurham15 wants to clarify...thinks we can shut down schools on an individual basis based upon @SchwinnTeach's recent feedback. Golden says we have not seen anything in writing from @TNedu. We are looking for clarification in writing. tennessean.com/story/news/pol…

Dana Austabrooks: references the rules (link below) and says State of Emergency requirement is not currently met. publications.tnsosfiles.com/rules/0520/052…

@EricWelchWCS reviews timeline: Thursday about 30% of staff at Fairview middle was out sick. Then Tuesday, Golden and @fssdDirofSchool issued a joint letter asking @GovBillLee to give us an online learning tool.

Says @SenJohnson & Brandon Ogles supported this. Yesterday @GovBillLee & @SchwinnTeach said that wasn't an option. Later, there were quotes in media where @SchwinnTeach said we DO have the authority to send individual schools to remote. Now we are waiting on something in writing?

Golden confirms this is correct. Says traditionally we look at 10% absentee triggers us to look. Another school today was at about 18% absences.

@EricWelchWCS again clarifying we need a written confirmation from @SchwinnTeach and the @TNedu that we have that authority.

@EricWelchWCS clarifies resolution has no impact on the decision on whether or not we have to cancel schools. It just clarifies that if we are forced to cancel school, then we have the option to shift to remote and teach instead of taking snow days.

@EricWelchWCS also points out this resolution has no impact on quarantine policies. Asks about teacher pay. Teachers are still paid for the 10 built in days for inclement weather.

@EricWelchWCS points out potential downfalls of using up our snow days. Would have to pay staff for additional days which aren't in the budget. There is an outburst, but I can't hear what they said. Nancy Garret admonishes the crowd.

Eliot Mitchell wants to clarify: last year we went remote based upon absences in the school, whether that be student or staff. Golden says yes, but looking back, early on there was once or twice a recommendation from the health department.

Eliot Mitchell says a lot of absences last year was quarantines based upon contact tracing. But this year we've closed one school for illness and that was due to staff absences, but not sure if it was illness or self-qarantine. Are we trying to track that?

Golden says we do know how many staff were in isolation with positive cases. As of Aug 24, Fairview middle had 17 out for testing positive.

Eliot Mitchell wants to know if we would have had the staff to take Fairview Middle remote if we had that authority. Golden says yes because of the team approach.

Eliot Mitchell making the point that even if we don't have the authority to get students credit for being present, could we still run remote learning for kids who wanted to participate. What would be the cost?

@jaygalbreath mentions that last year there was a day of buffer to let everyone know if the entire district was going remote. Would that notice be given for individual schools? Golden says we got much better over last year at transitioning quickly.

@jaygalbreath says he'd rather wait and get more detail on this, to discuss the parameters we would put on this. (How many schools will reach this point while Jay is still waiting on @SchwinnTeach ?) Says he's a no.

@bradfiscus: asks about quarantine students having access to remote learning. How are they identifying to their teachers to access remote learning.

@wcsCOjlo says it looks different at the three grade levels. Teacher is aware student is absent. They can engage in zooming into the classroom, get a classic pack or other variety of ways to engage the student. Any of those things allow student to be counted present.

At secondary level, they utilize Schoology a lot. Engagement in Schoology can result in students marked present. If a student is engaged in instruction, their attendance will be changed to present at the end of quarantine.

Vote is 9 to 3 in approval of the resolution to give the district the option to use remote learning.

Cash, Angela Durahamand @jaygalbreath voted no on the resolution to ask the @GovBillLee to give WCS the authority to go remote when necessary.

Now they are voting on enacting the Covid Sick Leave policy. Clarifies this is for Covid sick leave, not quarantine. Dana Austabrooks said teachers who were exposed could wear a mask in lieu of quarantine.

I'm pretty sure the mask rule instead of quarantine only applies to vaccinated people?

@wcsGolden says this is for those who are sick to give them extra time. @jenniferaprea5 is afraid that will encourage teachers not to quarantine if they have to use their sick leave.

@jenniferaprea5 makes a motion that it be amended to include close contacts. Eliot Mitchell seconds.

Aprea is concernced. We need to use all of our tools, including contact tracing and quarantine. Jennifer Aprea asks if anyone has actually been qurantined by the health dept. (no)

Jennifer Aprea says if a teacher is close contact, they should have encouraged to be quarantined.

Last year we processed over 3500 Covid leave last year and a lot of that was quarantined. Guidelines say if you were masked, if you were vaccinated, you can come to work. That coupled with the fact we are struggling with staffing, that's going to make it worse.

Eliot Mitchell wants to clarify if you have close contact and you are vaccinated you don't have to quarantine, but just wear a mask. Are we are saying someone is NOT vaccinated and has a close contact, then they don't have to quarantine?

Mandy Thompson says the health dept quarantines are recommendations and guidance. Staff will need to decide if they should self-quarantine. Claims we can't ask a teacher their vaccination status. (I'm not sure that's true.)

Eliot Mitchell is also concerned like Jennifer Aprea. We should expect students and staff to quarantine if they are not vaccinated. He is supporting the amendment.

@jenniferaprea5 stresses that the @TNDeptofHealth is backlogged and not notifying close contacts in a timely manner. We need to allow flexibility to stay home when they need to stay home.

@jaygalbreath is afraid that will cause there to be fewer teachers in the classroom.

@jaygalbreath says his number one goal is to have teachers present. Would be more likely to support it if they have symptoms.

@EricWelchWCS thinks we are mixing two different topics. One is to provide additional sick days to teachers who have a confirmed positive. Now we are talking about expanding those additional days to close contact. The second issue is what is the quarantine process.

Eric Welch says we need to have that discussion but not on this item. Clarifies this amendment isn't changing how we apply quarantine.

Eric Welch says we offer vaccinations to all staff but has given them the choice. Doesn't want to reward someone who has chosen not to be vaccinated. If it was your choice not to get vaccinated, but he doesn't think we should reward that behavior with additional sick days.

Rick Wimberly wants to hold off on this until September and vote at the next meeting.

Rick Wimberly makes a motion to defer the amendment to the Sept meeting. Eric Welch seconds. Jennifer Aprea wants to know if we defer it and decide later, could it be retroactive. Answer: Yes that's an option.

Jay wants to know how a student reports a positive case. He seems to question self-reported cases?

Board votes to approve the Covid leave policy.

Jennifer Aprea moves to extend the mask requirement from two weeks ago to grades K-12, instead of just elementary.

Aprea notes that masking will cut down on quarantines based upon new guidelines. Also, she specifically wants to protect the 6th graders who do not have the ability to be vaccinated.

Sheila Cleveland wants to stick to elementary because she is not convinced we need to do universal masking. Says 23% of elementary students opted out. Says we can't mandate 100%. We can't mandate older students to get vaccinated. Believes in pushing remote learning.

Jay Galbreath wants to know staff recommendations. Golden says with the government order, that it's optional either way either with the opt-out form or just making it optional. Says high school is at about 10% masking. The recommendation did increase masking at elementary.

Gary Anderson says the team is struggling to identify who is wearing masks, who are vaccinated. When the opt-outs are allowed it takes out the mitigating impact.

Golden says his recommendation is to vote your conscious. From a parent choice perspective, the opt-outs allow that.

Jay Galbreath wants to know if teachers are able to know which kids have opt-outs? Are more people not wearing masks than have opt-outs? Does it vary by school?

@wcsCOjlo confirms enforcement does vary by school and teacher. Galbreath thinks mandating masks creates more hassle and confusion.

K.C. Haugh says we are talking about a mandate that's not really a mandate because the governor has an opt-out. Says there are a lot of people looking for leadership from us to model CDC guidance.

K.C. Haugh says we need to listen to experts but also masks are not the end all be all... they are one layer of mitigation. The state is not giving us guidance. "Maybe we should pass a resolution reminding them that school starts in the beginning of August."

"The guidance and metrics have been lacking. Do we want to listen to politicians or the medical professions?" - K.C. Haugh

Dan Cash said the governor says masks and vaccinations were optional and that is guidance. "How long are we going to beat this dead horse to death?"

"Who do we listen to? How about the parents?" - Dan Cash (Crowd claps)

Dan Cash says we should order everyone an N95. (We are ok with that.) Also, if "face rag" was on your bingo card, you can play it now.

Dan Cash says it's just like the common cold. (It is not.) fb.watch/7D-CDu6li6/

Dan Cash says we need to look at Online because we are never going to satisfy some of these people and give them an out to get their kids out of school.

Eric Welch says after the clown show last week that we could ratchet down the rhetoric. "It's not your turn to speak, Dan". Dan whines that he doesn't want to be blamed for that, but Austabrooks confirms it's not his turn to speak.

Eric Welch points out that parents and community are split. Refers to immunocompromised kids. To debase their arguments to say they are living in fear, or should go online, is disrespectful.

Eric Welch -says this is like running a marathon. When you hit the wall you have to change your strategy. It's the same here. We have to look at the current data. But our data needs to come from real experts.

Welch says it's stopped being about the kids in many cases. Refers to idiots in the parking lot last week who didn't even have kids in the system.

Welch talks about it's harder after the summer because we got a taste of freedom while numbers were down. Why isn't it over? Maybe there is something we need to learn from this first. Vote whatever you want but vote for the kids.

Welch asks everyone to consider this question: "What if I'm wrong?" Do the cost-benefit analysis.

Aprea mentions that a lot of high-risk students were OLP last year. But back in March, we said we'd follow CDC guidelines and those families trusted to do that.

Now voting on requiring masks for middle and high (with the Governor's opt-out) until Sept 21.

Meeting is ajourned while some beligernt woman yells about overdoses. Peace out.