1 James Corey What Is the Plan to Bring Students Back This Fall? We Have a Kid That Is Struggling

1 James Corey What is the plan to bring students back this Fall? We have a kid that is struggling. We are blessed to be home, to be able to help but he loved school, now it is a burden. What about the kids in abusive homes? What about the children whose parents have to work all day and now tv is their daycare? The gap is going to get worse. So what is the plan for the fall? For the special needs students. As we sit in Ann Arbor with ZERO children in Michigan Medicine with covid. What is the plan? Is one case of Covid in our schools worth the gap that is being created? Ten cases worth it? Worth the abuse that isn't being reported by our wonderful teachers. As I watch Youtube for my son's PE class, I wonder when are you ending this exercise of virtual school. You have made multiple attempts at virtual school and it did not work. It failed in the spring. You invested in new technology, you gave it your best effort sadly it failed again. Failure happens, it was no one's intention, no one meant for this to be a poor experience. But it is. Not admitting it isn't working is the challenge...please spend this meeting ONLY on this issue...WHAT IS THE PLAN? 2 Jessica Cooper Successful virtual learning experiences are happening! My son is a first grader at Lakewood Elementary. Once the routines of the day started to set in and I adjusted my expectations of what it should ‚Äúlook like,‚Äù learning happened! This was only possible because of the massive organization, patience, and structure that Mrs. Terry put into each day. Parents adjusted, teachers made countless adjustments, it‚Äôs time for the district to adjust as well. Please consider using Seesaw for the lower elementary learning platform. The program has been upgraded and includes a wide database of lessons and ideas within existing networks. We teach our children to reflect on their choices, consider how they affect others, and decide if their process was the most effective and efficient. Seesaw is the most effective and efficient platform for lower elementary student virtual learning. Let‚Äôs show our children that we reflect and adjust, just as we teach! 3 Laura Schram I am a UM employee and parent of two upper elementary-aged children in Ann Arbor. I have been tracking the AAPS school board updates as well as the UM weekly COVID-19 updates. From this past Friday's UM update, Dr. Robert Ernst mentioned a contract tracing study that the UM team conducted. He stated that the study showed there "hasn't been evidence of spread from the campus community or surrounding community into the non-student population." I do sincerely hope that the board is coordinating closely with the UM COVID-19 team. This kind of research can inform the board's decision about return to hybrid, reduced density, public-health informed in-person learning, particularly for vulnerable students, students with disabilities, and lower elementary students 4 Julia Madison- I am a pediatrician with two children in AAPS. Williams Virtual learning is not an effective method for children in K-8 to learn. We have been attempting this now for 4 weeks and children and parents are frustrated and upset. The education students are receiving online is well below expected for AAPS. In addition, my children are not engaged in meaningful personal interactions with their teachers or classmates. Data from several studies show very limited if any transmission of the virus that causes COVID among students in school, especially in grades K through 8. AAPS continuing to withhold in person education for our students despite this data while children and parents are suffering is disappointing and unconscionable. Please consider transitioning to in person school immediately. 5 Jason Allgood Based on the statement made by the AAEA it is clear that their position is that the teachers will not be returning to in person classes this year. I would hazard a guess that this position had a lot do with the boards decision to go 100% Virtual and established metrics that you had to realize were not realistically achievable without a vaccine. And I will say in advance that we appreciate the teachers concerns and have no interest in forcing any teacher to go back involuntarily. However, it‚Äôs difficult to believe that none of the teachers are willing to return. Based on the survey done earlier this year 50% of the teachers were willing to return and another 40% would consider it. That was early so opinions might have changed but again its hard to believe that no teachers are willing to return. This seems to be some misguided goal of solidarity. However we need to think of the kids. It seems clear that what we need is an honest answer about how many teacher are willing to return to in person classes. And how many kids are interested in attending in person. Then we will understand if there is a shortage of teachers. That is when we as a community need to work together to be creative and find a way to support the kids. Something like the teacher on a video screen and volunteer parents in the classroom seem like a relatively easy solution. What we cannot do is abandon our elementary age kids to virtual learning which is not effective and has many negative impacts that greatly outweigh the risk to the children. 6 Courtney Snyder- My name is Courtney Snyder-Ng. I am Associate Director of Bands and Ng Associate Professor of Conducting at the University of Michigan. I have been working in person on a daily basis with woodwind, brass, and percussion students since August 31st. We have applied strict safety and social-distancing measures. There has been no community spread of COVID among our students. Though I was very nervous at first, I feel safe and have remained healthy throughout this term. Additionally, based on the meeting last Friday with Pres. Schlissel and Mayor Taylor, there is NO evidence of community spread from students to townies. This being the case, it is time to prioritize our youngest students and get them safely back in the schools. We can do this safely if we follow the science. I implore you, let our youngest students back in the schools. 7 Joanna Spencer- I was disappointed to see the questions on the recent parent and student Segal survey, which seemed designed to pick out schools and teachers that are not doing a good job with online learning. What about a survey designed to understand the impact of virtual schooling on our community? For example: How many days of lost work did your family have due to virtual school? Has a parent had to exit or delay reentry to the workforce due to virtual schooling? Has your child been in group childcare outside of their home to complete their virtual school activities? What is your emotional state like? And your child‚Äôs? This would help the District and Board understand the full impact of their decisions. While it is important to follow the local and regional COVID-19 case numbers, at this point cases are not likely to drop drastically. If we are serious about getting children back into classrooms, we need to make a plan to get back to school assuming rates of transmission as they currently are. Otherwise, please come clean to parents that this is unlikely. Tonight, I hope to hear how the Board‚Äôs impression of local cases has been influenced by U-M‚Äôs assertion that the student cases are not likely to cross over into the community, as well as the accumulating national and international data on in-person K-12 schooling. 8 Avram Derrow I am a board-certified pediatrician and father of two children. We have enrolled our kids in real school this year, which AAPS was not offering. The well-being of my children is the most important thing in the world to me, and the well-being of all children is literally my life's work. Open the schools. The public health costs of school closure are so astronomical that, to be justified, they would need to play a major role in stopping viral transmission. In other words, if the claim is that school closures are saving lives, then there needs to be clear and ample evidence that this intervention has saved more lives than the status quo. That evidence has not been presented because it does not exist. Schools have opened around the world, around the country, and even around this county, with zero evidence that they are a significant contributor to local epidemics. Instead of clear justification for this immensely harmful intervention, we are given platitudes about safety, and nonsensical metrics that will be impossible to meet and sustain, the better to justify prolonged closure. Children are suffering. They regress and become isolated. Disadvantaged children become yet more disadvantaged. School is not risk free and has never been risk free, and yet we have collectively made education a priority from the earliest days of this republic until this year, when we are given the message from the board and the AAEA that school is now non-essential. This parent disagrees: School is essential! We have always learned in our daily lives to mitigate risk and put it in perspective, but this level of critical thinking is apparently no longer accessible to the people who are supposedly in charge of teaching our children to think critically.

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