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Originally delivered on 8/17/2020 12:16 pm

SUBJECT: Remote Learning Task Force Meeting - August 14, 2020 Meeting Summary

Heath PTO
Remote Learning Task Force
August 14, 2020 Meeting Summary

Hello Heath School Households,

Here is a summary of the latest meeting of the Brookline School Committee's Ad Hoc Remote Learning Task Force on August 14:

  1. School Committee Approves the RemotePlus Reopening Plan - At its August 12 meeting, the School Committee voted “Yes” unanimously on the PSB central administration’s RemotePlus Reopening Plan. A video of the meeting along with more information on the RemotePlus plan is available on the PSB’s reopening webpage (https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/reopen). In summary, the RemotePlus plan includes full in-person learning for the youngest learners and the most vulnerable, and a start of fully remote learning for all others as the district seeks to meet health and safety standards in the buildings. As building classrooms are improved, more grades will be phased into in-person learning. A Remote Learning Academy option will be available to any families and staff who cannot come back to in-person learning. In addition, schools will create scheduled outdoor meet-up opportunities wherever possible throughout the Fall. A full plan was to be submitted to the state and made publicly available by August 14, but to the best of my knowledge, the plan has not yet been made public.

  2. Expert Advisory Panel Updates - The expert advisory panels are continuing to make their work available by posting presentations, meeting recordings, and other materials on the School Committee’s Task Force website (https://www.brookline.k12.ma.us/Page/2621). As some highlights, Panel 1 has started discussions with Brookline Lens (https://brooklinelens.wixsite.com/brooklinelens), a student group at Brookline High School, to partner in producing videos for community engagement and awareness. And Panel 3 has put together a list of workshop opportunities to offer to educators around remote learning and teaching capacity building (
https://sites.google.com/view/professional-learning-opps/).

  3. Sharon Abramowitz Resigns as School Committee Member - During the meeting, Susan Wolf Ditkoff announced that Sharon Abramowitz has resigned from the SC for personal and family reasons. I have had the good fortune of interacting with Sharon on the Task Force since May and observing her in many SC meetings. In that time, she has been a determined advocate for the needs of the school and the community. She regularly asked tough questions and pushed for better answers, while actively seeking out the resources needed to solve problems and improve our schools. She inspired me to advocate for stronger School Site Councils. Her presence on the School Committee will be missed, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank her for her service and wish her well.

The next meeting of the Task Force is scheduled for August 21. See the Town calendar for upcoming School Committee meetings. You are encouraged to listen in and submit comments or questions.

As always, if you have a perspective that would be relevant to the Task Force, please do reach out to me by email (esilk@me.com) to share your thoughts.

Sincerely,

Eli Silk, Heath School Parent Representative

** Note **

Remote learning—and today’s home, school, and work environment more generally—presents a range of unexpected challenges that are unprecedented in our lifetimes. All stakeholders in our school district are working hard to serve our students as best they can, but the challenges are complex and the situation is continually evolving. The Remote Learning Task Force meetings are each 90 minutes and include substantive discussions on a range of topics, but because the Heath PTO wants to keep you informed while respecting that you have many important issues seeking your attention, this summary is necessarily brief and simplified. If you would like to learn more, additional links are provided below.

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