Administrators and staff at Three Rivers Community Schools (TRCS) continue to adjust pandemic response plans and the operation of virtual learning platforms as the fall semester begins to wrap up its second month. At a regular meeting of the TRCS Board of Education (BOE) Monday, Superintendent Ron Moag and Curriculum Director Nikki Nash provided updates on the status of each, and BOE members approved a reconfirmation of the district’s state-mandated COVID-19 Extended Learning Plan (ELP).

Staff and administrators met last week to discuss the ELP to identify and address any possible issues with it so far, Nash said. Discussed were Chromebooks, which have been distributed to all students attending school on the virtual and hybrid options, but which face-to-face students do not all have yet. Supply issues due to demand have slowed deliveries, but Nash said devices are coming in now, so “that’s starting to be corrected.”

Nash said administrators are also working to determine how to best provide internet options to all students in the event that any schools have to go to all-remote instruction.

Minor adjustments to the ELP will be made based on a recent two-week closure at Park Elementary after three positive COVID-19 cases among faculty and students. The school transitioned quickly to 100-percent remote instruction following the exposure. Nash said she spoke to staff at Park to get feedback on how the process went, and to be able to update the ELP accordingly.

A major topic of discussion regarding the ELP has been around updating plans for providing to students who are using the all-virtual Lincoln Learning platform, as well as the hybrid instruction option. Having ways for parents to accurately monitor grades and ensure students are turning in assignments has been a prevailing concern, as has been ensuring students are receiving sufficient, two-way communication and support from mentors and other instructional personnel.

Moag said out of more than 700 students who were initially interested in the Lincoln Learning platform in the late summer, 381 are currently enrolled. 61 have left the district entirely. The remaining 266 have returned to face-to-face or hybrid instruction as of last week. In order to ensure students chose and were participating in one of the options, TRCS employees reached out to each family to establish contact with those families that had not yet checked in.

Periodic, two-way contact between mentors and students is ongoing, with the intent of maintaining student engagement and ensuring the students are attending virtual instruction. Currently, response rates vary from school to school, but Moag said the district-wide average rate stands at 81 percent. According to state standards, an attendance rate of 75 percent or better is considered satisfactory, but “we want to get closer to 90 or 92,” Moag said. Three Rivers High School makes calls to students every Wednesday, but administrators and staff are “discussing other ways to maximize participation in two-way” communication, Moag said.

Having the two-way communication helps not only with attendance, Nash said, but also with other forms of accountability. Once TRCS finally reached some students, Nash said “we had huge turnaround” with students returning to face-to-face and hybrid instruction options “once they realized they had accountability.”

For hybrid students, Moag said some students discovered they can appear to parents to have submitted work in the Google Classroom instructional platform without actually having done the work. He said it is important that parents check the Powerschool grade and attendance tracking platform as well to be certain their students’ work has been received and graded.

BOE member Kevin Hamilton asked Nash about student grades under the system. Hamilton said he knew TRCS “estimated a high rate of failures” but he “didn’t think 90 percent of middle school and high school students would have at least one ‘E.’ By the number of compaints I heard and saw, I knew something was wrong.” Hamilton said he was not sure where the problem was coming from, but Nash said administrators and faculty are monitoring for probable problem sources, evaluating and discussing them, and will be able to implement a plan of action in the next 30 days.

Updated TRCS Policies Adopted

On a routine basis, school systems around the country work with a private company called Neola to ensure their district policies are consistent, compatible, and compliant with state and federal laws. Twice a year, Neola’s attorneys release recommended policy changes and updates. In follow-up comments to Watershed Voice, Moag said it is important for policies to remain current.

At Monday’s meeting, BOE members approved four updates to the district’s policies. They include updates regarding facility security, due process rights, threatening behavior toward staff members, and emergency removal, suspension, and expulsion of students.

Several Items Moved from COVID to Bond Funding Sources

Four items were either appropriated or reappropriated under an active TRCS bond measure on Monday. The items total $228,510 worth of authorized expenditures. Three of the four items pertain to Chromebooks and virtual instruction technology, including training for faculty in using digital instruction platforms. Those measures were previously approved for expenditure under Federal Coronavirus relief funds, but Monday’s approval vote places them under bond measure funding instead.

The primary purpose of the bond measure is to fund improvements to several TRCS facilities and buildings. Schools are receiving improvements meant to address entrance security, outside vehicular traffic flow, and other measures, and which also includes a new weight room and other athletic facilities at the High School. The fourth expenditure approved under the measure on Monday was a construction-related expense involving a $10,600 invoice for bore drilling and soil testing for construction site evaluation at several buildings.

In other TRCS business:

• Some TRCS faculty and staff who do not already have bachelor’s degrees are eligible for free tuition at Glen Oaks Community College and some other institutions under an Essential Workers program initiated by the Governor’s Office. Nash said four staff members are considering the program so far. Word of the program has spread piecemeal so far among TRCS employees. At the request of board member Ann Riopel, Moag said administrators can distribute information about the program more formally and widely.
• Mary Wilkinson, Partnership Coordinator with the Three Rivers Homeschool Partnership, said participation in her organization’s programs has been down during the pandemic. The partnership makes some of its specialized courses and extracurricular activities available to TRCS students. The partnership’s course catalig is available on the websites of the school districts with which it partners.
• Monday’s meeting was held face-to-face with an internet streaming option, but for the time being, the BOE will resume meeting virtually as it has been doing for the past several months. The previous two meetings and work sessions were streamed to the public on YouTube, and BOE President Erin Nowak said the meetings would continue using that format. Public comments will be taken in advance, and Nowak will read them aloud during each meeting.

Dave Vago is a writer and columnist for Watershed Voice. A Philadelphia native with roots in Three Rivers, Vago is a planning consultant to history and community development organizations and is the former Executive Director of the Three Rivers DDA/Main Street program.