T-burg school district holds forum for new COVID-19 policies

At 5 p.m. Feb. 8, Trumansburg Central School District held a 45-minute online forum to address concerns and possible opportunities surrounding education during the pandemic. The discussion focused on questions sent in by community members ahead of time and allowed for feedback from seven district employees plus Tompkins County Public Health Director Frank Kruppa.

Superintendent Kimberly Bell opened the meeting and highlighted the importance of taking time to talk about current protocols and things that may change in the second half of the year.

“If there’s one thing that we’ve learned this past fall about teaching and learning during a pandemic, it’s that our student performance and social-emotional well-being improves significantly when we can have our students on campus and in front of our teachers,” Bell said.

According to Bell, a main objective of the forum was to provide more transparency in decision-making processes. The first few questions centered on an overall concern: Why are the buildings often closing (with students forced to go remote) when there seems to be very few positive cases — and what can we do about it?

Bell explained that this happens because so many staff members have to quarantine when a student tests positive. Building closures have mostly been due to a shortage in coverage; basically, there are not enough adults to supervise the students. She noted that of the 45 staff members at the high school, 13 have had to quarantine once, 11 have had to quarantine twice and seven have had to quarantine three or more times.

Kruppa said that Tompkins County has taken a conservative approach so far and often quarantined whole classrooms when there’s a positive case, plus any adults who interacted with the student. He said they are looking into changing this process because they have seen minimal classroom transmission locally or nationwide.

“That’s part of what we’re going to be adjusting — trying to look at the length of time it takes being around a positive case before we quarantine someone,” Kruppa said. “In the next few days, hopefully, we’ll be working under some new guidance and we won’t see as many adults being caught up in the contact investigations.”

Kruppa also noted that as of now, New York state still requires fully vaccinated people to quarantine due to close contact. He is hopeful that this will change soon as well and said that the Tompkins County Health Department is advocating with the state to reconsider its position. Both he and Bell said that there are no plans for a mandated vaccine at this time, but both the department and district strongly encourage it.

“Our message locally at the Health Department is we want everyone to be vaccinated,” Kruppa said. “It’s really the only way for us to get this completely under control, to reach that herd immunity, so we can protect those individuals that can’t get the vaccine because of underlying health conditions or, right now, being under the age of 16.”

The next agenda item was “the anatomy of a COVID-19 case” in each building. All three principles detailed how many students and staff can be affected when a positive case is confirmed on campus and why each building responds a bit differently.

The middle school is in a unique position because the fifth- and sixth-graders are in pods — mostly together in school all day long — while the seventh- and eighth-graders are only in school some days and rotate classes. Principal Megan Conaway described how they would respond when a student in fifth grade tests positive.

“The good news, and we have seen this, [is] the system works,” Conaway said of the pod system. “Though that group that I mentioned would be in quarantine, it’s a very isolated group. That would allow for the rest of the fifth-grade pods to still be in person as well as our other grade levels.”

Principal Jeanie Wiggins said that at the elementary school, one positive case can often impact 11 adults, and Principal Jon Koeng said that at the high school, one student comes into contact with four different classes as well as six adults each day. Bell noted that some students in the high school also go to career and tech programs, BOCES and New Visions, which adds to the levels of possible exposure.

When Bell moved on to more questions from the community, one comment centered around concern for the social and emotional health of students and staff during extended periods of virtual learning.

Director of Special Education Angie Gemignani explained that the district is in the process of screening kids for social-emotional and behavioral health issues, and they expect the data to aid in possible interventions.

She also noted that the counseling teams are being trained in a Yale program called the “RULER curriculum,” a social-emotional program for the classroom. RULER is an acronym for the five skills of emotional intelligence: recognizing, understanding, labeling, expressing and regulating.

“It’s a topic of conversation we have on a regular basis,” Gemignani said. “It’s on everybody’s mind — the social-emotional health of our students and staff during the pandemic.”

Another concerned parent wrote in to ask how grading processes would work this year. Director of Curriculum Pam Rapoza said it is a particularly tricky task to balance accountability with equity during such unprecedented times. She said that there’s national conversation around the question and the district will continue to make adjustments as it goes.

“We recognize that our grading and assessment practices are really challenged in this situation, so we’re looking at ways we can assess for learning and not work completion,” Rapoza said. “We’re building an assessment team at the middle school. We’re just starting to really evaluate and make some changes, and many of our high school teachers are moving to a portfolio-based assessment that relies on feedback.”

Rapoza noted that the third- through eighth-grade assessments and the June Regents Exams are still scheduled as usual right now, but the New York State Department of Education has requested a waiver from the federal government to cancel them.

Each principal commented on ideas they have for moving forward into the second half of the year.

Wiggins noted that with some freshly completed construction at the elementary school, there are now spaces large enough to safely accommodate three classrooms at once, which will be helpful on days when staff numbers are low. Koeng said the same was true at the high school after the recent reopening of the library.

Koeng also told viewers that because so many high schoolers have chosen to go totally remote this year, there is more room for those who want to be in person. They plan to allow some kids to attend in-person classes four days a week and have already begun reaching out to families.

Conaway said that at the middle school, staff members are looking to invite seventh- and eighth-graders who need extra support to come in on Fridays and possibly move to three days a week of in-person learning for those grade levels. She noted that safety is their top priority, but she knows many want to be back in the building.

“We recognize the best opportunity for our students is when we’re in person,” Conaway said.

Bell wrapped up the whirlwind meeting with a thank-you to the public for joining in on the conversation and said she is looking forward to the rest of the school year.

If you wish to watch the recording of the meeting, you can find it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUC2se8_6L4.