The Wrangell School Board held a special meeting Monday evening, Aug. 31, to review updated SMART Start plans for the upcoming school year. With the first day of school scheduled for Sept. 8, and the district planning for in-person classes, the SMART start plans are meant to act as a guide for how schools will respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the "medium risk" level the schools will open with, staff and students will be required to wear face masks, non-instructional gathering of more than 20 people are discouraged, and social distancing will be in place, among numerous other guidelines. A copy of the SMART Start plans can be found on the school's website, http://www.wpsd.us.
The meeting opened with a motion by Board Member Patty Gilbert, to suspend the board's normal guidelines on public comments. The board decided to be more lenient on time limits for public comments during this special meeting, and to give board members the opportunity to ask and respond to questions.
Several community members spoke up during the meeting. Bob Davis, lead teacher and assistant principal for the secondary schools, voiced support for the SMART Start plan. A lot of work has been done to put it together, he said, and getting kids back into in-person classes was very important for their social and emotional wellbeing.
Penny Allen voiced concerns, during the meeting, that parents have not had enough input on the plan. One of her main concerns was over the requirement for students to wear face masks. In a personal survey she organized, she said, the majority of 120 responses wanted masks to only be optional, or only required when social distancing was not possible. Later in the meeting, Wrangell resident Brooke Leslie said she felt making masks optional would be a bad idea, but had questions about the feasibility of only requiring them when social distancing was not possible.
Sarah Scambler asked if it would be possible for students to attend school full time, at the elementary level, if enrollment was low enough. Superintendent Debbe Lancaster said it could be a possibility. However, the district was going to try and stick with the plan in place for the first semester, with half of the students receiving in-class instruction and the other half online. It was something they were going to be continuously looking at and updating, though, she said.
Lancaster also provided current enrollment numbers in the district, as of Aug. 31. There are 63 enrolled or nearly-enrolled students at Evergreen Elementary School for next semester. At Stikine Middle School, enrollment is at 41. Wrangell High School has 37 completed enrollment applications as of the meeting.
Laura Ballou also had questions for the board. In particular, she wanted to know what the district's plans were for notifying parents if a student is found with a positive case of COVID-19 and their response to an outbreak. Lancaster responded that these particular parts of the plan are still in the works. Notification forms are being distributed, she said, and they are practicing with administrators on how to handle such a potential situation. She added that the district is still trying to hire sanitation aides to assist in keeping the schools clean, but so far they have not been successful.
Much of the discussion amongst the school board revolved around their involvement in updates to the SMART Start plan. Several board members questioned the feasibility of organizing a meeting to approve of every change to the SMART Start plan. It is a living document, they said, and will likely be changed regularly as new information comes in. Even if the board does not meet to approve every change, the general consensus was they wanted to be informed of all changes, and to make sure the public was aware, too.
Another point made in the meeting was that there was still uncertainty about whether or not in-person classes will happen at all. Lancaster said, in the meeting, that there is a soft deadline for Thursday, Sept. 3, to finally determine if in-person education is feasible at this time. This is due to staffing needs across the district, she said, and whether or not enrollment numbers will mean there are enough teachers and aides. Furthermore, she added, an appropriate level of training for the challenges of the new school year must be in place. Making sure the schools were a safe environment for everybody was a common theme brought up by Lancaster, the school board, and other community members.
After further discussion, the school board approved of the SMART Start plan.
Following the review of the SMART Start plan, the board held an executive session to discuss the superintendent's contract and their relations with the school board. In a press release from the district the following morning, it was announced that the board decided to issue a formal reprimand to Lancaster. This is in response to misconduct involving a staff trip to Juneau, according to the press release, as well as for communications with the borough and the media concerning borough travel policies.. The board president will work with the district's attorney to put together the reprimand and an improvement plan.
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