On this episode we want to address some of the most frequently asked questions we’re getting here at the district and provide some insight that will help us all be able to answer them.
0:07 Welcome and Overview
1:40 - Chris Tatum on COVID testing at the District
6:37 - Personnel and substitutes in our Schools
15:50 - The most frequently asked questions with Doug Loomis
Speaker 1 (00:06):
All right.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Okay. Hello and welcome to another episode of Schoolwork. We're your hosts Susan Hoyle and Kevin Phillips.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Alright. Hey, Kevin, episode number four. Here we go, Susan. That's
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Right. Okay, well, we wanna get into this episode and address, um, just some speculation and questions and maybe a couple of rumors that we've heard going out, going around out there. Um, and we also wanna tell you about a couple of new developments related to C O V I D in the district.
Speaker 1 (00:38):
We've got some new info, Susan. And, um, thankfully we have the executive director of Human resources. Chris Tatum's gonna be with us here for just a, a little bit to talk about a couple of new developments. And then we, we swore last time, I think, Susan, that Mr. Loomis was kicked off the island, right?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
You bet. Um, you know, I guess, uh, early last week we got some information from t e A in the, uh, T D E M, uh, just about, um, the possibility of having students and staff being tested at the district. Uh, you know, through a little more research, we, we kind of figured out that that would be a good thing for us to do. Um, there were several pilot districts across the state of Texas that did that, and they had some really good results. Um, they, they got to, got to find their, their hotspots and, you know, their mitigation efforts were, were increased, but by having these tests available. So, um, after some research we, we opted in, uh, we applied for, for the, for, you know, for the, the testing to come to Amil, I s d. And, um, really within about five days, we had several thousand tests, um, over, you know, available to us to use and to utilize. So what we did is we, uh, we really developed a, a, a real, really quickly developed a system, a protocol that in place that we can test all A I S D staff.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
So tell me, Chris, how does that, how does that work? So if, if I wake up tomorrow and I'm not feeling well, or I go home tonight and during the night, I start feeling badly, tell me what do I do?
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Yep. So really, and it is for symptomatic individuals. So it, it's not for exposures or previous positives. It is really if you, you just feel bad if you have a symptom of covid. Um, if you wake up, you know, we're open from nine 30 to 2:00 PM 9:30 AM to 2:00 PM every single day, Monday through Friday here at the Rod Schroer E S C building. And that's here on at, uh, 7,200 I 40 West. Okay. That's just our, our downtown building here. Um, you know, right off I 40 next to Golden Corral. So if you feel bad, you get up, um, you get in the car, uh, make sure you have your your school ID badge. That's a very, very important thing. You have to be an employee and to show us that you're an employee, you have to have your ID badge with you. Um, and then also you, you would need to print out a, um, a consent form.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Um, and we, we have some of those available, but, but it takes a lot longer than it holds up the line if you don't have the, the filled out before you get here. So you come, you get, you stay in your car. It's a drive-through testing site, it's outdoors. Um, so we don't want anybody getting outta their car, outta their vehicles. But we have a great staff of some LVNs and some nurses and, and our student health services director, they, they are manning that they're doing a great job. You may have to wait a little bit, but it's not gonna be a four or five hour wait like it is at some other places. Um, you go through, um, you really, you administer the test yourself. Um, you, you're kind of coached how to do it. You take that swab and it's very minimally invasive.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Um, it's not that, not that one that tickles your brain, you know, like, like a lot of people have talked about and that very uncomfortable. Um, but it's a very, very, very tip of the nose. Uh, you do that and really within about, I mean, we're seeing some results as soon as like 3, 4, 5 minutes all the way. But the results are read at 15 minutes. Um, and the information that, that the staff takes from you, um, as you're doing that test, uh, is your, your email, your, your, um, your phone number. And then within about an hour, you're gonna get a text or an email that says you're either positive or negative. And along with that comes some education as well from the ladies down there. And they give you what to do if you're positive and they give you an information sheet. So,
Speaker 2 (04:46):
And does it cost anything from employees?
Speaker 3 (04:47):
It's free. The, um, the federal government, T D e m and t e a has, has allowed this for free. It costs, it costs the district nothing and it costs staff nothing at this time, so.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Awesome. And so anybody out there that's a staff member, um, I, if for some reason you start feeling badly and think you wanna take advantage of this, get in touch with your principal if you, um, forget this information or pull this podcast back up because Chris has given you basically the down and dirty of, of what to do if you feel like you need to be tested or contact, um, anybody in his office. And, and we'll get you the information. Main thing is nine 30
Speaker 3 (05:27):
To nine
Speaker 1 (05:27):
30 to 2, 9 30 to two each day, um, over on the east side side of, of the E S C here, uh, off of I
Speaker 2 (05:36):
40. And then also I've heard that, uh, we're gonna be doing student testing through this drive-through method. Um, do we know when that's gonna
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Start? You know, we're, we're hoping, um, in about 10 days. So we're, we're really wanting to make sure that our processes and systems are in place. Um, and we, we wanna make sure that, that people don't wait for five or six hours, um, to get a student tested. We wanna be very, very efficient, but we also, with covid testing, we need to be very, very effective. So, um, here really, um, there's gonna be some media push. There's gonna be some information from campuses, um, and that information isn't gonna come soon. We're hoping about 10 days. Um, but we're not quite sure
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And how old students get here for the testing,
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Um, they'll have to be in a vehicle, so their parent and they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Um, that's one thing that that, um, t e a is very clear on. Uh, and a parent or guardian, even if you're over 18, a parent or guardian must come with the student and they must be in a vehicle. There's no walkup testing that that can happen. Okay.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Um, Susan, the other thing, um, substitutes, those are kinda hard people to get right. Um, any normal year. Um, Susan, have you had to sub yet?
Speaker 2 (06:48):
No, I haven't, Kevin, but I, I plan to go out and help if I can. I, I
Speaker 3 (06:52):
Think I've got a schedule next week. Is that right? On Monday. All right.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Well, Chris, talk to us. Um, we really, as I, I'll just kind of get us started with it. You know, we, we continue to hear, and, and actually one Monday we're having a number of meetings with a, a kind of a, a subset of principles. And one of the common things continued to be substitutes. And so as we have staff members who are ill and being quarantined as we have staff members that just, um, are, are trying to carry on the normal parts of their life and may need to take a day off to help a family member or support a child, or, you know, go, go visit a child at college or whatever the case may be. And then obviously the impacts of our, of our rising numbers, um, we, we realized that we had a lot of principals who were struggling day-to-day to fill the holes created by those absences.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Um, not really because we have less subs, but we have, because we have less subs working. And I'll let Chris talk to us a little bit more about that. But, um, really we just, we, after we heard that message, uh, pretty consistently, we just started putting our head together about how can we help? And so really what we did was we, uh, and I say we, Chris really and his group have created a process to pool our internal resources here at the E S C. And really it's, it's, it's been all, all hands on deck. So we have asked, um, a, a pretty good number of people here at the E S C and at Park West and other support areas that aren't directly in a classroom every day to just let us know when they're available so they can go out and become a sub for the day. And so, Chris, what have I forgotten about that, uh, process or how we're doing on that, or what we're trying to solve? Yeah,
Speaker 3 (08:37):
You really just hit it on the head. So as, as we really look, um, you know, our, our teachers are, are working tirelessly. Um, they're, they're working every single day hard, every day in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. Um, and one thing that we see that, that we've really, uh, noticed in about the last two or three weeks is, is our need for subs has, um, with, with the increase in, in cases around our district, you know, whether it's, um, positive cases or exposure symptomatic cases, um, we see that, that, um, we need more subs and we have a lot of subs in our district. Um, but you know, some of 'em don't wanna work right now. Um, and, and that's totally understandable and we understand that. So, um, and they're only working a few days a week, but as really, so as we thought about this, we really thought, how, how do we better support our teachers?
Speaker 3 (09:22):
How do we better have a chance for our kids to have someone in someone of quality in front of 'em, um, you know, in, in the classroom? Um, so really what what we've done is we've, we've reached out and we've developed a protocol that, uh, um, there's about 99, about actually 99 exactly. Um, staff members here at the E S C and across the district, um, that have agreed to, to jump out and to sub and to volunteer. And instead of, instead of taking, you know, doing their job here at the E S C, which are, which are, is important as well, going out there and really backing our teachers and really stepping up for those guys and giving our teachers the ability to, to be off if they have to be off or be in a training, if they have to be in a training or, or if, if they're sick, to be sick at home without worrying about what, what's going on with their kids. Mm-hmm. And we feel, we feel typically between 15 and 20 jobs every single day, um, that doesn't get us to a hundred percent feel rate, but it, it sure does help. And just the, the goodwill from the campuses and, and the teachers being able to think, oh my gosh, I have a sub in my classroom today. Instead of knowing that it's an unfilled job, it, it really does help.
Speaker 1 (10:27):
I, I'll be honest, uh, there's, there was a little reluctance on my part knowing how our group at the E S C was gonna react to this. I will tell you, our folks here at the E S C have stepped up, embraced, uh, they've been excited about it. You know, almost immediately when we did the Google meet, there were comments that started coming in on the Google meet. I'm excited, let's do this. How can we help? Tell me when to go. Um, and we actually had a group of people, a small group, but you know, within 24 hours, within 12 hours, 15 hours of this conversation, we had people that went the next morning that's right, in kind of a less formalized process. And they were in schools the next day. And so I, I'll just, you know, um, I, I can't let go of the fact that this takes a team and, um, we're all having to do things that are way different and, um, are not what we normally do.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
And, um, this, this little effort is, is actually both of these, you know, I mean, we have a director of nurses that Patricia's been with us for a while now, and we have a group of nurses who serve kids and, and teachers at out on schools. Whoever would've dreamt that, we would ask them to, you know, work out of an executive dining room here at the E S C and test folks for Covid. That's right. Who would ever dream that? You know, um, someone would go be a sub in an art class, you know, and that's, but, but the fact is that's what people are doing. And so whatever it takes, that's, um, that's what people are doing. So anyways, um, anything else on the whole subbing idea and using E Ss c folks to help?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
No, I just, I, I appreciate, appreciate the ability to do that and our staff, and, you know, really it always comes down to who we put in front of our kids, and we gotta make sure our kids have people in front of 'em. So,
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And I would just, last thing I would ask, uh, or add to it, is that if for some reason Chris and, um, and myself have missed anybody that might be available to go and plug a hole at a school, reach out to one of the two of us, we, we've kind of been taking in the names, and then Chris takes 'em and, and plugs them in. But I, I think we have a pretty good list and a pretty good distribution list of, and pool of people, you know, knowing who has the ability to stop what they're doing for a day or two here and there every week, or, you know, even if it's just one day a week, even if it's a half day next week, it, it will help in some way. And so, you know, some people were a little bit nervous and reluctant that they couldn't, they couldn't, you know, commit to every day of every week. And hey, I mean, if you can do it one day, a half day on an afternoon every Monday, that's awesome. It, I promise it will help us and, um, and it will, will do us good. So if we've missed somebody and you're able to do that, that's something that you think maybe you could pull off visit with your, your, uh, direct supervisor and then shoot myself or Chris an email.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Okay. Well, Chris, thanks for being here with us on short notice and good luck with everything. All
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Right. Well, thanks for
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Having me. See you soon.
Speaker 1 (13:24):
Thank you, Mr. Tatum. Thank you. So we appreciate Mr. Tatum dropping by talking to us a little bit about the drive-through testing and, and substitutes in the district, um, and how we're using some E s C folks to help support our campuses and our teachers that are working so hard. Um, and we really did, we swore off of Mr. Loomis last time, and, and here he is back again with us. And so, Mr. Loomis, it was good
Speaker 4 (13:50):
To see you. Just like, just like one of those bad pennies. I just keep showing up. That's right. No matter where you are, Mr. Phillips.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
And hey, before we kind of bombard Doug with some questions, I, I just, you know, I, I really want to challenge everybody out there in our, in our ranks, our staff. Um, we're, we're gonna work really hard in the next 15 to 20 minutes, we're gonna get Mr. Loomis to share, um, kind of the facts as we know 'em, the, the real truth about and towards some things that are, that are being shared out there, that are being talked about, um, really I think, you know, uh, legitimately with, with students and, and parents. But I also think legitimately with staff and some of those things are, are, um, right on target. Very true. Some of them are quite honestly o off base. And so we're gonna try really in the next little bit, Susan and I are gonna try to pull out from Mr. Loomis the details and the information that's, that's factual and real as of right now, that we want all of you as staff members to know.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
And my challenge to each of you is, um, we, we need you to step up e every single one of you, regardless of what you do for us in a classroom as a custodian, as a counselor, um, and, and I, I'm forgetting a lot of, IM very, very important roles. But my point is, no matter what your role, every one of you is a leader in your own way. You're a leader for your kids in your classroom. You're a leader as a school district employee in your church group. You're a leader, um, as a school district employee in, um, some kind of other social group that you have or on your, as a parent for your, for your kiddos, uh, soccer team or what, whatever the case may be. And we're really gonna challenge all of you to take this information as we know it now and share it. And when you hear people in the grocery store talking about things that aren't exactly, exactly accurate, then we ask you to step up and share with them what we're about to tell you concerning some really important things and things that are kind of burning questions that are on a lot of people's hearts. So,
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Okay. So yeah, we're hearing a lot of rumors. Um, I think I heard it twice yesterday that schools are gonna close after Thanksgiving, or we're going to go on holiday break and not come back. Yeah. Doug, is that true or false?
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Speaker 4 (16:59):
And the answer from them is just no, they cannot. Um, the, the next question can, can they cancel school because of covid? And, and the answer is no. Um, they do give us a little bit of flexibility if there's a need for a short closure for, for disinfecting and cleaning, um, you could close up to about five days. Uh, but, but even then, those days all have to be made up. And, and you have to look at where are those days gonna fit in your calendar as you make those up. And so we don't really have the ability to close schools. Uh, that really lies, you know, either in the state officials, you know, the governor's office, uh, coming from the commissioner of Ed or, or other public health officials who have that authority. Uh, and I think part of what fields has fielded that, that rumor mill out there is we have been working diligently to be prepared at a time, if, if someone were to say, we're gonna close the doors, that we could very quickly shift to a virtual environment. And as over the last couple of weeks we've passed out Chromebooks, um, as we've once again surveyed families about who has broadband and who doesn't, I think that's just fueled the, these fires. Uh, but, but at the moment, we don't have any plans. Are we planning? Absolutely. We're planning, because we don't wanna be caught behind the eight ball. But are we going to close schools anytime soon? No, there are no plans to do that. Okay. So
Speaker 2 (18:22):
We're not gonna close schools, but are schools safe? Are schools in A I S D? Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
Well, I
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Still safe. I,
Speaker 4 (18:29):
You know, you as, as, as Covid continues to rise in our community and across the state and the nation, i, I, I think you, ans you ask that, you ask yourself that question whether you're at home, whether you're out in business or, or whether you're in schools. And, and what I can tell you, Susan, is that, uh, I'm really proud of, of our maintenance and our custodial teams, uh, and their efforts to sanitize anytime somebody tests positive, uh, we've bought hydrostatic sprayers that are, uh, on all facilities. And, and so when somebody tests positive, we very quickly, uh, uh, you many times within just minutes or an hour or two are able to get in and disinfect those, those areas. Then of an evening, we're able to come back and do a more thorough cleaning. Uh, what, um, what I would say is that I, I think it's incumbent on all of us to make sure that we're following through, uh, with those p p e um, guidelines and standards.
Speaker 4 (19:27):
You know, when, when kids leave your classroom and they're gonna be gone for 30 minutes or so, you know, staff, you use that disinfectant, spray it around the room, spray it on those high touch areas, and then don't be afraid to use the, the, the soap and the water, uh, mixtures that we have that you can use when you're not going to have, uh, time away, uh, from your classroom more than a few minutes. What I, I I, I think ultimately, you know, the question I ask myself every day with 32,000 kids, are they safer in school or out on the streets? And, and one of the things that, that is very recognizable in our students, they're very compliant and they really have done a good job of wearing masks. Do they always have their mask up where it needs to be? Absolutely not. But just with a little bit of reminder, they put 'em up and they wear their mask and they're, they're constantly using disinfectant.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
Teachers are helping them get their hands washed and practice those good hygienes and, and what we see when they're out in public, they don't always wear their mask. The, the, and, and so I think one of the questions that we have to be, be able to ask ourselves are, are, are kids safer in schools wearing masks and, and all of us wearing masks and, and practicing those goods, those, those good safety protocols than we are, than when we're just out in general on our own. And, and I think the question or the answer is they really are. So,
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So you would say in general, we're not seeing transmission of covid in schools?
Speaker 4 (20:57):
No. We, we have not, we have not seen any reliable data as, as we look at data, as data comes from the health department, where, where we're transmitting this, I, I'm not about to say that we're not at any level, but we're not seeing this, uh, for example, in a classroom of a student that that tests positive today. And then over the next 48 hours or so, we're, we're not seeing multiples of his classmates testing positive on the rare occasion that we've seen some of that happen either in classrooms or, or in other venues as the health department investigates that just all, almost every time, maybe every time. But, but generally, um, they're able to trace this right back to a social event that happened outside the school day or outside the bounds of when teachers are reminding kids and to wear a mask where they were wearing mask and that social, and then they brought it back into school. And so really when we, when we see everyone wearing their mask, everyone wearing their shields, everyone practicing those, we're just not seeing that social spread. And we keep a very close eye on that.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Doug, talk to us about, I'm sure everybody either in the newspaper on, uh, a TV station, on social media, have seen the reports where it says that A I S D has more covid cases than any other school district in Texas, Texas. So give us a little bit of background and a frame of reference for that claim. Yeah,
Speaker 4 (22:24):
Well, you know, I'm, I'm always disappointed, you know, in myself or in others, when you take data and you make it say what you want it to say. So I'm gonna work really hard at not trying to spin this data, uh, because I think it's important data. Uh, and I have not looked at the d h s website in since they updated it last, but, but that is correct, Kevin, for, for several weeks, Amarillo led the state in the number of positive tests, and it's really easy to, to jump to the conclusion, oh my goodness, it's out of control in Amarillo. But, but when you get a little deeper into the data and you start to look, we were one of the very first school districts to bring mass numbers of kids back into our school buildings. Remember we gave parents a choice because we understand the importance of, of trying to keep our numbers down.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
But t e a has said from the beginning, if parents want their kids in school, you have no choice but to put them in school other than a short transition period at the beginning of the school year that we partially took advantage of. Uh, and, and so really from the beginning, over 80% of our parents, and I think it's still around 85% of our parents today are, are saying, we want our kids in school. And, and so we had more kids in school than, than the largest school districts in the state for six to eight weeks. Uh, I really, you know, you, you can go back and look deep into the data, uh, but it, it, it didn't take you long to figure out, you know, Amarillo has 25,000 kids back in person, and San Antonio has 10,000, or Austin has 300, or Houston has 51.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
And so that, that raw number is, is being generated just because you only report kids who are positive in schools. You don't report kids who are positive in a virtual world or outside of school. It's only those kids that end up being positive when, when they're in school. And, and so, because just by the fact that we started back to school quicker, more of our parents wanted their kids back in person, um, it has caused us to, to lead that number. But when you do it on a percentage basis, uh, really we're, we're, we're right in line with all of our sister school districts in the area at about 2%, one to 2%. And and when you look at overall in the state, um, we were still well down the list instead of being number one, we were a hundred, 150 below that from, from leading the state.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
And so are those numbers concerning? Absolutely. Anytime you get one, I mean, we've learned over the last few weeks that, that this really is a, this really is a deadly disease that is something every one of us need to take serious. As I look around in, in this room, as we take this podcast, every one of us have a mask on today, and we're, and we're doing our very best to, to model and practice those behaviors. And so I, I'm not making light that, that we're at the top of that. I'm not denying that we're at the top of that, but there are a lot of mitigating, mitigating factors that surround that. And, and over the coming weeks, um, I I, as Dallas and Houston, as they start to report those numbers, um, and there, there's no doubt that they will, they will surpass us on that list. Yeah, the
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Picture's gonna change. Yeah,
Speaker 4 (25:38):
The picture definitely won't change Susan,
Speaker 2 (25:39):
But so if we're doing, uh, more testing and doing our own testing here at the, um, in A I S D at the support center, our, our numbers going to go up,
Speaker 4 (25:49):
Uh, likely. I mean, we've seen time and time again as, as testing becomes available, numbers in the communities go up and, and, and, and, you know, there was a brief moment you ask yourself, do you really want to, to increase your, your positive cases? And, and my answer to that, to myself was absolutely, uh, if we've got people who are asymptomatic and that are positive and we can get them tested and we can get them in a quarantine, in an isolation setting, we're in such a better position of not creating community spread and, and keeping kids safe, keeping our staff staff safe. Um, those are the things that keep me up at night. Uh, I don't, you know, somebody will look at me and say, did you get any sleep last night? And I don't remember what sleep is. Uh, uh, because what, what you worry about in this is what do you do to make sure everybody's, when, when you have no choice but to have school doors open and kids back in school? And, and the truth of it is, even if we co close school mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
So Doug, let's talk about another, another issue that I think, um, is, well, I know is a struggle for our teachers mainly. And I, I mean, I'm trying to be careful that I don't express things that are a struggle for you and I, because there are things that are a struggle for us, but I, I'm, this is a struggle for our teachers. This is frustrating. Um, it's, it's, um, it it's worrisome for our teachers. What are, what are we needing to be doing about the virtual kids who are not engaged in school, who are falling further behind and in many cases are failing their classes?
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Yeah. We've now been in school for six weeks and, and it's really clear that we've got about, uh, 15 or 20% of our virtual kids who just still, after all the heroic efforts of, of classroom teachers, of, of, of campus administrators, of trying to get them engaged, they're just not engaging. Uh, and, and, and quite frankly, I, I think we've come to a point that, that with the amount of energy that, that teachers are having to expend just trying to get kids engaged, not not even to the level of trying to get kids to learn, but just to get them engaged, it's taking away their ability to, to teach the kids who are on site. And, and so what you have to look at is that has to be hurting the entire system and keeping us from making progress. And so, um, we, we have, we have come, we have finally have a tool in our tool belt that we're able to, to use and able to bring those kids who are unengaged back to campus.
Speaker 4 (28:50):
Um, there's, there's some caveats to that. If, if they have a me medical certification, um, you can't, obviously, we don't wanna make those kids, uh, come back to school, whether it's themselves or somebody in the family. Um, and there may be other mitigating factors that a, that a parent may need to, to talk about, about bringing their kids back into school that we need to consider. But really for those kids who, who aren't being successful and not being successful, in my mind, are those kids who have multiple unexcused absences, and those kids who have a 69 or below in classes, um, if, if they're not hitting that mark if's time to tell those kids that they have to come back to school. And so, over the coming days and the coming weeks, uh, principals have, have been given the tool to be able to set up conferences with parents and have conversations with parents.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
Um, part of the rules around this is you have to give kids a a 10 day grace period around this. And so, so if, if we're having that conversation right now, uh, we're really looking at that parent. And more importantly, we're looking at that student saying, you know, you, you gotta get your grades up to passing. You can't have any more unexcused absences. And at the end of this 10 day grace period, which is about the Tuesday or Wednesday, right after spring or after spring break, dang, I've jumped out and I, uh, Thanksgiving, um, you'll be back in school and, and you don't have a choice but to be back in school and we'll cut off that virtual, uh, and, and put them in on onsite learning. And, and really what that does is it allows, you know, teachers to really be able to take a breath because there, there's a segment about two thirds of our virtual kids who are being successful, right?
Speaker 4 (30:30):
And, and as you talk to teachers and you're out in the trenches listening to them, those are the kids that it's not more, it's, it's not that it's not difficult to do both to, to do it virtual or to do on site, but really what's what's struggling is trying to get those kids engaged, uh, that won't engage. And so when you, by removing those, it, it ought to free up the virtual learning, um, to, to move and, and define more successes, and at the same time not expending all that energy so you can focus on your kids that are, that are in school also.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
So, so really we are continuing to give parents and students choice, but we are, we're really gonna up the ante, um, moving forward on students being engaged and putting in the appropriate amount of effort and having that support from that learning coach at home so that they can be successful. So Doug, uh, I'm just gonna ask, and we'll just throw the question out a different way just so people have, um, so we're clear, you know, somebody might listen to this and listen to the things we've talked about in terms of challenges in the last 10 minutes. And so then their question might be, um, why don't we just go fully virtual? Yeah. What's the answer to that question? Well,
Speaker 4 (31:43):
I, I think it's obvious. Uh, I think our, our parents, our kids, uh, but we're in the middle of a pandemic. And, and for our parents and kids who have compromised sys systems, immune systems, or somebody in the family has those, or they just have the ability to be virtual, uh, we ought to give them that, that that opportunity, because one, it protects those kids, it protects that family, but it also protects all of us because that's fewer kids that we have to put under the roof because parents are making that decision. And I, I just think that it's, it, it, it, it, we would be shirking our responsibilities as leaders in this community if we said, we're not gonna offer virtual any longer in the middle of this pandemic. Now, as, as a vaccine becomes available and things change in, in the community, maybe that decision's different.
Speaker 4 (32:32):
But when we're spiking and we have over 400 cases a day coming in and out of the community, and hospitals are capacity and ambulances are sitting at code zero, um, I, I think we, we have a responsibility in the community to play, even though we are being told, we've been told by t e a and the governor, you have to offer onsite learning. What are the things that we can do to help reduce that? And, and so one of those is by offering virtual learning. Um, the other thing that you'll see coming in, you know, as, as, as you've seen the city tighten up over the last few days and you saw Potter County tighten, uh, we'll start to tighten and, and we'll start to, uh, to discourage or stop, uh, group gatherings or meetings at our schools that are outside of the normal instructional day.
Speaker 4 (33:24):
We're gonna limit the, the event capacity at, at our, at Dick Bivins. We're going to, to continue to limit, we're already at about 25%, and we're gonna, we're gonna limit it even further. Uh, we're gonna limit that at our activity centers. And, and you're going to see a mandate that you have to wear the mask or you're going to be asked to leave. You know, we, for, since the beginning of this, with our kids, we've not given them an option, but adults that come into our facilities indoors, we've, you have to have a mask to get in, and we highly recommend you to wear that mask. But in response to provide some providing leadership to this community, we're gonna say, if you choose to come to one of our events that are open to the public, you have to wear a mask. Uh, I just think that's where we are. And, and, and whether, whether you believe in it or not, I, I think, I think that's where we are. And, and that's the ability for us to con, continue to keep schools open and offer, offer activities for our kids at, at some level that, that we deem can, can be safe. Okay.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
But, but, um, we're talking about keeping schools open, but, you know, given, given what's going on in Amarillo in our own city and also in the state now, I mean, I think it's not unreasonable to think that at some point we might be told we have to shut down. Oh, we have to go completely virtual. Yeah. So, and I know you talked a little bit about what we're doing to prepare for that, but could you talk a little bit more about, um, where are we with Chromebooks and are, are we able to, are all of our students able to go virtual?
Speaker 4 (34:58):
Uh, we, we are getting closer. Uh, if, if for some reason a governor or a health official dean that we had to go virtual, uh, today, uh, first through 12th grade, have Chromebooks available, and, and those are, are starting to be utilized in classrooms, uh, we continue to monitor who in our, who in our district doesn't have broadband, uh, at home. We've got about 17,000 families in the district. And so we're, we're trying to figure out which families don't have broadband, truly don't have any kind of broadband, and we're able to, to supplement that. It's, it's not like a broadband that you can go out and start watching Netflix on, but it is a broadband that has enough speed on it that enables you to do your schoolwork from home. And, and so we continue to do that. And, and so, and by December 1st, uh, our, our pre-K and K will have devices available. And so we, we really anticipate as we start to close out the final days of the semester, we really would be in a position if somebody deemed it necessary, we, we could get there.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
All right, so we're gonna wrap up with our can't let go of the week or month or however often we do these. Blake, I, I don't, I can't remember, um, I kind of alluded to one earlier about everybody just pitching in wherever he asks to, to help. And I really think my other one is, is kind of what I started before we, we began visiting with Mr. Loomis. And that is, everybody is a leader in your own way. You're an influencer with someone out there. Uh, again, whether it's the 20 kids that are in your class, whether it's your Sunday school group, whether it's, um, you know, all the families that you hang out with every night on Friday nights, um, to watch movies or, or, or be with your kids, um, you're, you're an influencer with a group of people, and hopefully we've given you some good information. So my can't let go, or my second can't lo go, I guess of, of this episode is step out there. You're probably not gonna quote and remember everything from this podcast as far as factual information. Exactly. 100% correct. But it's better than you leaving people out there with false and impressions and misconceptions, um, and rumors swirling in their head. And so we need all of you who work for us to step out there and help us communicate this message. So yeah, and
Speaker 2 (37:17):
You can always go back and listen again.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Go. Okay. I have something really profound. Awesome. But I wanna share with you
Speaker 1 (37:27):
All. Cool.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Did anyone ask cauliflower if it wanted to be all these things?
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Ah,
Speaker 2 (37:36):
Speaker 4 (37:37):
Was that a joke, Mr. Phillips? Or we just
Speaker 1 (37:40):
It a minute just
Speaker 4 (37:40):
Too, to catch that
Speaker 2 (37:42):
Speaker 1 (37:44):
It took, it took me a minute,
Speaker 4 (37:49):
You know, uh, what I can't let go is we, we just seem to be angry all the time anymore. And, and I would just encourage everybody to go back and, and look at the things that we have to be blessed and, and focus on those things that, that we have control over and, and, and work each day to get a little bit better in those things that we have that control over. Um, I, I don't think the, the, the polarization, the anger, uh, the just out and out defiance and disagreement with one another is ever gonna get us to where we need to be. And I think if we can all just put a smile on our face, uh, laugh at Susan's jokes, a little more
Speaker 2 (38:39):
You know, these podcasts are really meant for staff and kind of an internal communication tool. But, but if you know, um, someone out there who could benefit from this information, you know, these, these are on a public platform. So share it. Share it. Feel free to share it. Share the, the info.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Absolutely. You know, whether you, whether you do, you know, my challenge to you, whether you do that by, um, speaking up when you're in, uh, in a position of influence or maybe you just wanna direct people to the podcast, um, share it with them, or better yet, ask them, and even you, yourself, um, go on, you know, Spotify or Apple or whatever those platforms are that I don't know a whole lot about, and subscribe to those. So that way you get that notification every time we post one of these. And, um, and you can kind of be right there with us every time we, we sit down and, and create one of these, what are, what are, what are hoping to be, you know, better internal communication tools for our staff here in A I S D. So again, thanks for tuning in. Thanks for subscribing. Um, we're not gonna ask you to rate yet, because quite honestly, I'm not sure there are any good yet. But, um, we'll let you be the judge of that somewhere down the road. And, uh, I wish everybody, uh, a good rest of the week and a, and a great thanks.