July 13, 2020 at 6:00 PM - Special Meeting

Description:  This will be information regarding the ESSER grant offered under the CARES Act and the District’s intention to apply.  Information will be provided regarding the entitlement,  how the funds will be used, and general compliance requirements.  This is information only and no action item is needed. Mrs. Henderson and Mrs. Hawkins will be available to answer any questions regarding the grant and its impact on funding.

Description:   TEA has now released a few recommendations for schools to be able to hold in person school as well offer students and parents some flexibility with alternative scheduling plans and instructional delivery methods.

Items that will be included in this report are:  1.  Traditional schooling with additional social distancing and health and safety measures.  2.  Synchronous Instruction:  the instructor records and live streams the lesson while teaching.  Some students are in the classroom receiving instruction, others are in remote locations joining by Google Meets or Classroom, or ZOOM, etc.   3. Asynchronous Instruction: does not require participants to be virtually present but must have components of daily progress measures, daily completion and turn-in of assignments, daily progress defined by an approved learning plan/pacing guide. This form must be approved by TEA.  4.  Some combination of these methods may be utilized.

The ADA accounting will be altered to give schools "grace" during the first 12 weeks of school until the bugs are worked out.  Some clarification is coming through PEIMS/TSDS on coding each type of instruction.  Audits will occur, documentation will be required, progress must be monitored.  Schools still to be held accountable for state assessment.

The tracking of which students are participating in which scenario, making sure truancy is dealt with, monitoring students progress toward mastery and credit for the grade level or course will be a full time job.  Some Cass County Superintendents want to form a coop and hire one person to run this for all seven districts in the county.   We should formulate an opinion.