Virtual Town Hall with Dr. Santelises CEO
We had a spirited discussion with Dr. Sonja Santelises - CEO of Baltimore City Public Schools about the opening of school. We are so excited to have students back in school (me included!). There were a few hiccups - like the lack of bus drivers for Yellow bus - affecting mostly students with IEPs. We talked about that, and COVID safety for students - including testing, lunch hour, and more. We talked about vaccines and uptick in violence as well. You can see the Facebook Live video and comments from parents, teachers and students here. You can see the You Tube upload here. (please excuse the beginning, I was working on the technical issues.) Here are some notes:
Yellow Bus - parents have complained that their children with disabilities were promised yellow bus service. Dr. Santelises explained there is a national bus driver shortage and they are trying to figure out alternatives. Parents will be reimbursed transportation costs up to $250. This does not sound like a viable solution to me, and a major violation of the ADA.
COVID Testing and safety - Dr. Santelises explained that asymptomatic testing will begin this week, and this is important to ensure that students are taken away from the area if positive. The policy is that the student will be removed and have to stay home for 14 days, while those who were in close proximity will be removed for 10 days. All notifications will come from the central office or school. If there are 10 students in a classroom that test positive the entire class will quarantine. There is not a metric for an entire school or the entire system. We hope it does not get to that. Parents are extremely concerned about lunchtime because the students are not masked during this time.
Vaccines - the school system is mandating vaccine for teachers/staff/principals, and athletes who are eligible for the vaccine. There is conversation about whether the vaccine will be mandated beyond that. I explained I am in favor of vaccine mandates and hope they go in this direction.
Violence in the schools - there is an uptick in violence in the schools. Dr. S explained that they anticipated this, as the mental health/social-emotional needs of the students is a high priority. Being at home for so long has affected our young people. I asked Dr. S to please make sure that principals are transparent with what’s going on so parents understand and know what to expect.
Augusta Fell school - Dr. S explained that it was their internal investigations that found a criminal ring related to grade changing. Those who did this are no longer with the system, and a new principal is there and transforming the school.
This was a very rich conversation, and the notes don’t capture it all. Dr. S agreed to have another town hall in a few months to check in. It was difficult to keep up with all the questions, I am sorry that some were not asked but we got to most of them. Keep them coming!