AUBURN — With the School Department prepping for a two-day hybrid schedule, city officials attempted to hammer out details of how they can support students on the days they’re not in school.

During a wide-ranging and lengthy discussion Tuesday, city and school officials attempted to coordinate Auburn’s response to the updated reopening plans, which last week removed the option for four-day in-person instruction.

Shorty after the decision, Mayor Jason Levesque called the special meeting to allow the City Council to question school officials on the plan, and coordinate how to realign city services to support the hybrid plan.

While Levesque’s initial call for the meeting prompted some to question his intentions, school officials expressed gratitude for the dialogue Tuesday.

“We really want what’s in the best interest for students in Auburn,” said Superintendent Connie Brown, who met several elected officials for the first time Tuesday. “This dialogue is about how we can contain and mitigate an outbreak here, and the opportunity to collaborate is more present now than it has been.”

Levesque’s initial call for the meeting sought clarification from school officials on why the decision was made to cut the four-day option, and what the School Department would need to be able to offer it again.

The School Committee voted 5-2 to remove the four-day option due to updated procedures on contact tracing issued by the state. That means students can attend classes two days a week and learn at home the other three days or get fully remote instruction.

Brown said the School Department has been scrambling to keep up with fluctuating safety guidelines from the state, as well as facing staffing shortages.

She said the decision to remove the four-day option was based on updated guidance from the Maine Department of Education to establish student cohorts, or groups, that are as small as possible, so that in the event that students need to be isolated or quarantined the district is able to do it without closing a school completely.

Asked by Levesque what the department would need to be able to begin offering the four-day option, Brown said it still has a long list of staffing needs to conduct the two-day plan. That includes at least four teachers, long-term substitute teachers, some educational technicians, bus drivers and a nurse.

Brown estimated that in order to attempt a full-time school schedule under the current guidelines, the district would need some 300 additional staff, on top of the physical space required.

She said the contradicting information from the state has been “frustrating,” and that as a parent, she knows the impact it has on working families.

“It’s at the point now where it’s almost ludicrous,” she said.

Some officials shared concerns over students learning under a two-day hybrid model, keeping them engaged during remote-learning days and for more chances for “co-mingling” outside of school.

School Committee Chairwoman Karen Mathieu said that while “students belong in school five days a week,” the smaller cohorts allow teachers more interaction with every student on the two classroom days.

Levesque and others questioned why the two-day hybrid model is beneficial, if the cohort described “then doesn’t exist for three days.” One example given was the amount of students routinely using the gully basketball courts.

“There’s no continuity at all between these items,” Councilor Brian Carrier said. “They don’t look at the fact that we’re going to be sending kids everywhere.”

Asked about those concerns, school officials said they are mandated to open schools within the guidelines, and that “at some point, there has to be a line of what we can control.”

“Are we creating cohorts based on the kids hanging out at the gully? No,” Mathieu said.

With two weeks until the school year begins, city staff said they are working to identify as many options as possible for child care or school-day care when students are learning remotely.

So far, they have identified roughly 400 slots for students between the Recreation Department, Auburn-Lewiston YMCA and Boys and Girls Club.

But officials said they need some sense of the demand from parents as the school year approaches in order to put together more options, if needed. Recreation Director Sabrina Best said they’ve received 38 registrations as of Tuesday.

It was clear Tuesday that several councilors were frustrated with the state guidelines on schools, including Stephen Milks, who argued that the Legislature needs to “get back to work.”

School officials were also asked how the pandemic and reopening plans are impacting enrollment.

According to Brown’s numbers, there is a slight uptick in parents choosing to home-school students, but so far official numbers don’t show a large increase in parents opting for charter or private schools. Levesque said he believes the numbers will reflect that, however.

In total, Auburn school enrollment is higher than the past two years.

Following the meeting, Levesque said the “School Department still has a lot of work ahead, but now we’re all up to speed and we are poised to help them be successful.”

The first day of school is Monday, Sept. 14.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Police log

Next »

Petition asks Lewiston School Committee member to step down