PUSD Virtual Parent Forum (Photo – screengrab)
Tonight, June 23, 2020, Collaborate PASadena held a forum on re-opening schools. The forum was held on Zoom and the first 300 parents were admitted.
By Albert Martin
If you were not able to get into the Zoom meeting, Pasadena Educational Network (PEN) broadcast the forum via Facebook live. A Google form was provided for parents to ask questions. In the live stream on PEN’s Facebook page, many parents asked questions and left comments. It was unclear if PEN will be answering all of the questions on the Facebook page. The forum was filled with color coded charts and visuals to what school will look like for each child.
Two day a week schedule with two cohorts
PUSD is leaning towards a two day a week schedule with two cohorts. There will be a cohort A and a cohort B. If your child is in cohort A your child will attend Tuesdays and Thursdays with two half days until noon. If your child is in cohort B your child will attend Thursdays and Fridays two half days until noon. Efforts will be made to keep siblings in the same cohorts.
All students will participate in online learning on Mondays. Middle School and High School students will change classes for subjects but will stay with their cohort of students. In addition, teachers will also have professional development on Mondays which will include professional development for best practices and techniques for delivering distance and hybrid instruction to students.
Unclear if masks will be mandatory for students
Cleaning and sanitizing will take place in the schools from 3:00 pm – 10:30 pm every day. It is unclear if masks will be mandatory for students. There will also be an online distance learning option for immunocompromised students. It is possible that an online only distance learning option will be available to parents who request it for their children.
Child-care
Working parents expressed concerns over child-care. LEARNS will be available to students on the two days a child attends school for a fee. Many parents expressed concerns over finding childcare for the three days that their child will not be attending school.
Dr. Julianne Reynoso, Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services, stated that PUSD is looking into grants and collaborations with Pasadena Educational Network and Collaborate PASadena to bring more childcare options and programs to students. Everything is still a work in progress and subject to change with the fluid situation of Covid-19.
Statement
After the meeting the following message was sent out to parents:
We profoundly apologize for the technical issues regarding the live streaming of the PUSD parent forum covering the opening of the 2020-2021 school year. We partnered with PUSD in an effort to equitably include as many parents and community members as possible in the discussion, taking into consideration the viewer’s native language and device used to access the internet.
We opted for Zoom because of its ability to have an easily accessed live interpretation channel. Knowing that the 300 person limit might be reached and that PUSD issued Chromebooks couldn’t access a Zoom meeting, we tested and planned for the video to be live-streamed directly from the Zoom app to our YouTube and Facebook pages. Because the Zoom app would only live-stream the English audio channel, we enlisted KLRN to stream the meeting with Spanish audio out of the computer in their studio directly to the KLRN YouTube and PUSD Facebook pages.
We do not know the cause of the problem, but starting at 4:30 pm, when we went to start up the live streaming, we were unable to do so. The Zoom app continuously timed out and would not allow us to stream to either YouTube or Facebook. We made repeated attempts to fix the problem up to, and during the meeting. Our 300-person limit was quickly reached within minutes of the meeting start time and those who could not get in, instead of automatically being routed to the YouTube stream, were left to wait. For this, we are deeply sorry.
We have now posted the recording of the meeting, in English, as well as a PDF of the slide deck used during the presentation.
PUSD will present the plan to the Board of Education on June 25, 2020. PUSD is compiling more than 450 comments and questions and “are excited to refine our proposed plan with your feedback.”
Parents are encouraged to continue to submit questions/comments to: - Google form. - Email: communications@pusd.us - PUSD Family Hotline: 626-396-3680.
> Video of the forum can be found here. PDF of the slide deck here.
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