Thread by @HISDParents

The @HumbleISD School Board meeting starts at 7PM. You can watch online here: humbleisd.net/boardmeetingli….

I’ll do my best to keep up as well. :)

To find out more about Humble ISD’s #GoldFightWin focus on pediatric cancer awareness, visit humbleisd.net/goldfightwin.

Public comment time… it’s everybody’s favorite time!

(1) Member of “Humble Parents Care” group. “It is time. It is time to do what is inconvenient.” Calling for more action around COVID-19 protocols.

[Sorry I had to step away]

(2, to me) Another member of “Humble Parents Care” calling for more action around COVID-19 protocols, specifically masks and social distancing.

(3) Younger student speaking: Talking about students that have gotten COVID and how they took it to their parents. Said she does not feel safe at school because nobody is wearing masks.

(4) Another student speaking. Love the students’ engagement.

[Stepping away again. I’m sorry, y’all.]

(5) Concerned about COVID-19 protocols as well.

(6) Recommending increasing social distancing, fresh air, and not sharing supplies among students.

(7) Wants ISD to change verbiage from “warmly welcome” masks to “highly recommend.” Says words matter.

[Had to step away again.]

Now hearing from board members.

Twomey: This Thursday or next Monday at Lakeland Elem, they are looking for citizens to serve on the Bond Advisory Committee. More info available at humbleisd.net/cbac.

Thanks public commenters that were respectful.

Parker brought up the Miracle League, which I have a personal soft spot for.

Sitton: Congratulates AHS football team. Have never lost in their new stadium.

Scarfo: Thankful that we were mostly spared by Nicholas. Thanks all community members who spoke or emailed (not just the respectful ones).

Fagen: Her and her team met with “Humble Parents Care.” Says both sides walked away with greater mutual understanding.

Also does a plug for the Citizens Bond Advisory Committee.

Scarfo’s going on for a bit here about taxes (which is important, don’t get me wrong…), so let me use this commercial break to say that if I missed your public comment, send it to me and I’ll add it to the thread.

5U consent: $40/day pay increases for subs and $200/per paycheck increases for designated aux employees (incl. Child Nutrition and Custodians) passes as part of consent.

In talking about the retention pond, there’ll be a dragonfly garden and now we’re talking about allowing fishing in it.

Seems excessive, but I’ll definitely fish there. Wait… what kind of fish are we talking about?

Scarfo isn’t convinced that we need a dragonfly garden and fishing in our retention pond due to the cost.

Lemond Dixon says that it needs to look appealing. Says the dragonfly garden and fish hatchery are educational.

COVID-19 discussion now… I’m sure everybody is going to agree with this stuff.

Fagen: This continues to be an evolving situation as we learn more and COVID variants, like Delta, emerge. Says she appreciated meeting with “Humble Parents Care.”

Says vast majority of the world will never be vaccinated, so more variants will pop up around the globe…

(Cont’d) How do we balance the mental health of students and decision-making around what is best for children, which only parents and their medical providers can decide.

ISD’s role is to offer options to allow parents to make those decisions. i.e. Virtual education…

(Cont’d)… was not funded, but we wanted to offer that for parents that needed that in order to feel comfortable with the safety of their children. And wanted virtual education to be better, and allow electives for students that desired them.

Wanted to make sure ISD…

(Cont’d) …compensated teachers well and add virtual-only teachers (with professional development) in order to increase the effectiveness of HISD’s virtual learning.

Why? Because coronavirus is never going away, and we want to make sure we are providing the right virtual ed…

(Cont’d) …Some school districts are being sued for not following Abbott’s executive order, and we are going to do what we believe is the legally correct thing to do.

We provide free COVID testing for teachers. We make sure that students/staff that test positive are not…

(Fagen cont’d) …on campus. Parents have historically sent their kids to school sick, so we have to ask how do we make it so parents keep sick kids home and staff that’s sick stay home.

We are paying for COVID leave for staff. The reality is we need teachers for teaching…

(Fagen cont’d) …and attempting to work through the wait list. We make exceptions of special circumstances.

Speaker: If a parent fills out the form, they are put on the wait list. All schools have been working through those wait lists. Elem we have hired 6 virtual teachers. 60 kids on elem virtual wait list, because we are still looking for teachers (posting is online).

(Speaker, cont’d): MS virtual wait list is at 13. We have taken a momentary pause in HS and MS in moving to virtual due to the grading period timing. As soon as that ends we’ll start back up.

For HS, wait list is mid-to-low 70’s. Also paused due to increased face-to-face attend.

Sitton: How many students are virtual?

Fagen: 1800.

Fagen: There’s a lot of misinformation about air quality in portables.

Nolan: We made sure that the ionization upgrades also included the portable buildings, including the temp portable at HHS.

Fagen: Reminder that the Board improved the $40/day increase for substitute teachers. Also increase for custodians and food service workers.

Fagen: We asked for 75 volunteers for food service and we got 200, and the volunteers loved doing it.

Now moving to the COVID dashboard…

Fagen (cont’d): We track the cumulative cases starting from the first day, Aug 10. We were one of the first to come back so our numbers start higher. We also report the active cases. “Active cases” stay on the graph for 10 days and then they drop off, which can cause…

(Fagen, cont’d) …fluctuation in numbers.

Fagen (cont’d): We’ve added this graph to give clarity around percentage rather than total numbers. This allows the district to see trends.

Fagen (cont’d): When we see an issue, we react to it, rather than doing a one-size-fits-all approach. For example, if we saw a pep rally followed by a COVID surge, we’d react to it, but we haven’t seen that yet.

Fagen (cont’d): We also want to emphasize that these things are a choice. If students don’t want to attend a pep rally, they do not have to.

Could not be prouder of the staff, doing a phenomenal job.

Sitton: We hear a lot about data, total case counts, etc. Asks about virtual/in-person ratio from last year (65/35 vs. 97/3 this year).

Parker: Today I pulled the COVID dashboard of all neighboring ISDs. Student positivity rate (0.04%) and staff (0.6%).

Comparing to Aldine, Conroe, Crosby, Houston, Huffman, New Caney, and Sheldon ISDs. “We’re pretty much less or in alignment” with neighboring districts.

Parker: If you are sick, please stay home. If your child is symptomatic, please keep them home. Overall, there might be 1-2 cases at a school. They don’t need the same protocols as a school with many cases.

Parker: I personally read every email I received. Reminder that if you send the email to the whole Board, only the President responds. If you send her an individual email, she is responding.

We all deeply, deeply care.

Lemond Dixon: One thing I would like to point out is that some of the districts Parker pointed out have mask mandates. Finds that interesting. She will definitely finish responding to all emails, has a lot of them.

Sitton: I don’t believe anybody expected us to be COVID-free. Asks if the difference between active case # and total case # reflects recovery.

Fagen: It could be. The care is between their family and their doctor. Many have, yes.

Scarfo: We don’t want to do a one-size-fits-all plan. “We have dogs in the hunt.” His grandchild tested positive a week ago, has done well and is out of the woods. It’s scary and we share mutual anxiety, but we can’t be paralyzed by that.

Scarfo, cont’d: Says people say that mask mandates will take care of everything, but it will not. Says some say masks must remain optional.

Says people can criticize policy, but the personal attacks are “beyond the pale.” “Folks, you really need to stop that.”

Scarfo, cont’d: I don’t believe we have the authority to quarantine a whole family if one of the family members tests positive. Hopes they would do that. Hopes people would self-report and quarantine to protect each other in real, meaningful ways.

Scarfo, cont’d: Doesn’t believe in a vaccine mandate, but would recommend that everybody get vaccinated. There’s risks, “but it’s a good bet.” Thinks the vaccine are a good thing, but again, you have the right not to get it, but it helps the community.

Scarfo, cont’d: Keep communication open. Please understand we care deeply. Because you disagree doesn’t mean that we don’t care.

Twomey: Appreciates Scarfo’s comments about the tone of the conversation. We can have healthy disagreement, but when the tone creates animosity it doesn’t foster collaboration.

Says she has a very thick skin and you can call her names.

Twomey, cont’d: The tone that we take impacts the mental health of students, which we are seeing displayed in stress and bad behavior because of the tone of the community.

Challenges us to adopt a respectful tone toward each other even in disagreement.

Twomey, cont’d: I read every email. Don’t respond to ones that call her names. Says they don’t do this job for pay ($0) or “for the glory.” They don’t care about recognition. They do this role because they care.

Morrison: Doesn’t want to take anybody’s rights away. Kids need to be in school (except for ones that don’t). Says they do the best with what they have, and we are fortunate to have Fagen. Says that all she asks is that they are there for the kids to have a safe…

Morrison, cont’d: …place to get their education, and that the Board are all imperfect humans. COVID isn’t going away, but she wants the best possible situation.

Lemond Dixon: Recaps some of the COVID mitigation measures that Fagen mentioned earlier (also tweeted earlier in this thread). Thanks Fagen and her team. Says they see the work she’s doing. Keep in mind that all info on COVID dashboard is self-reported.

Lemond Dixon, cont’d: We have all been affected by COVID. Safety of students and staff is number one priority.

Says the thing she hates is when people email her that this is a political issues. Says it is not, and repeats that safety is the number one priority.

Lemond Dixon, cont’d: Kind of wants to say, “How dare you.” Kind of.

References the comment that asked to change the narrative from “warmly welcome to highly recommend” by saying “we welcome masks.”

Lemond Dixon, cont’d: Says they are following the law. Reminds that some districts are being sued. Says they took an oath to follow the law, and that’s what they are doing. Says she takes seriously that she had her hand on the Bible when taking that oath.

New business requests...

Sitton: We brought in virtual comments due to COVID for safety. Believes that if somebody wants to talk to the Board, they need to be in the Board Room. Wants to consider removing the virtual comment option. Adding as discussion item for October mtg.

That’s a wrap. #SendTacos 🌮

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