Area schools preparing to reopen safely

At its August 19 meeting, the Eastport School Committee approved a reopening plan for the schools, with students returning on Tuesday, September 8.
Principal Paul Theriault stated, "We want to be ready." While the schools will be open, remote learning is being offered for families that are not comfortable sending their child to school out of concerns over COVID-19. "We want to support kids," he said. The schools have received $70,000 in CARES Act funds and $230,000 in Coronavirus Relief Fund monies, which have helped with purchases of masks, hand-sanitizer, fogging machines, metered faucets, no-touch paper towels, desk shields, signage, laptops for remote learning and new software. The schools will be using Otus instead of Google Classroom, which Theriault said would be better for remote learning. Also an extra custodian has been hired to help with cleaning and a remote learning coordinator has been hired. No local funding has been required.
Theriault held a Zoom meeting for parents the previous week and said their response has been "fantastic." He added, "We all have to be in this together. We're all partners." The principal noted that he has received a number of calls about students who want to transfer to Shead from other local high schools. "I feel we're doing things the right way."
At the high school, there will be only four periods a day, with each student taking three 80-minute classes. At the elementary school, the school day will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., and at Shead it will be from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., with seniors and freshmen attending on Mondays and Thursdays and juniors and sophomores on Tuesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays will be used for distance learning. He noted that many schools in the state are taking this approach.
All elementary school classes, except K4 and K5, will be in separate rooms. At the high school, some classroom shifting will occur, with the larger library now being a classroom. Temperatures will be checked before students get on the bus or enter school, students will wear face masks on the bus and in the building, they will remain at least six feet apart and will sanitize their hands often. Meals will be served in the classrooms at the elementary school and in the lobby at the high school.
The schools are encouraging parents to bring their children to school, to reduce the number riding on the buses. All non-essential visits to the school will be discouraged.
Superintendent Ken Johnson noted that the schools in AOS 77 all have similar plans for reopening. Some schools have purchased large tents for outdoor classrooms. "As challenging as it's been, it's been a good process," he stated. In Eastport a COVID Response Team has been meeting twice a week, and Johnson said that the staff have all worked hard in getting prepared, with good coordination.
He stated that if a student is sick at school, they will be placed in an isolation room. Once they receive medical attention and a COVID-19 test, it will be determined if they need to be quarantined for 14 days. Concerning the COVID-19 testing, Johnson said the schools can't provide direct assistance to families for any costs but can provide information. "We have a high level of responsibility for all of the kids," he stated.
Contact tracing will be conducted if there are any students who test positive. "My nightmare scenario," he said, is if there is an outbreak, in which case the school board could decide to close the school and conduct all classes by remote learning. If a student does test positive, Theriault said he would suggest having a mandatory two-day shutdown, so the schools can evaluate how much of a risk there is to other students. "We are prepared to go to remote learning for everyone," he noted.
Concerning fall sports, Theriault, who is a member of the interscholastic management committee of the Maine Principals' Association, noted that the committee met on August 18. While state guidelines on COVID-19 currently would not allow for fall sports, he said that schools "want to have control over student athletes. We can monitor if we let our coaches run things." After final state guidelines are released, the committee's decision on what fall sports will be offered, if any, is expected to be made on August 27.
In other COVID-19 related news, Theriault noted that the SATs were to be given at Shead next week, as it is a testing site. However, the College Board wanted students from other states, including Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York, to take the test at Shead. Since Massachusetts students would need to quarantine for 14 days to come to Maine, he said he had to cancel the test. "We couldn't allow Massachusetts students here. I'm not pleased with the College Board. Maine students got hurt by their policy."

Critical infrastructure needs
During the meeting, Donald Bresnahan of Mechanical Services gave a presentation about the facility analysis conducted at both schools this summer. He said both campuses have extensive needs with their heating, ventilation, electrical power and lighting systems. The company could provide different options but wants to see a commitment from the community before proceeding. He suggested a three-phase approach, with the first being temperature controls and ventilation, the second being boilers and electrical and the third being lighting and variable frequency drives for devices like ventilator motors. "These infrastructure projects are critical," he said. If a contract was signed in February, work could be done next summer.
Johnson advised the committee to be proactive, since the facilities are of value to the community and would lose value if they deteriorate. A workshop could be held to look at costs, savings and educational impacts, and projects could then be prioritized. The board did decide to use Coronavirus Relief Fund monies to pay for air quality testing in the schools, which is estimated to cost $10,000 to $12,000.

Other action
Brittany Sutherland of Portland, who has taught at Gray-New Gloucester High School, was hired as a probationary English teacher for 2020-2021, and Kaloua Stanhope has been appointed the school nurse for this year. Erin Mahar, Ron Sullivan and Dana Bowen were appointed the athletic directors for the schools.
The board adopted several policies and revisions to policies and accepted the first reading of others. It tabled action on a policy regarding nepotism, since it would prohibit a school staff member from being an immediate family member of a school board member, and board members were concerned whether that would always be possible in a small community like Eastport. Changes to policies concerning immunization of students and communicable and infectious diseases would allow the superintendent to bar students from attending school if they have not been immunized or if they may be a public health threat for diseases like COVID-19. Johnson noted that if a student refuses to wear a mask, other classroom management strategies could be used, but the policy could be used in extreme cases to not allow a student to attend school.
The breakfast and lunch prices were accepted, and the board held an executive session concerning teacher negotiations.