District Primary Schools Host Virtual ‘Brainstorming’ Session About 2020-2021 School Year With Stakeholders

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The coronavirus virus may force schools to get creative to serve students in a safe environment.

Campus leaders, staff, and families visit the Keeble Primary School Facebook page to take part in the “Thought Exchange” session on May 12.

The world continues to evolve amid COVID-19. With that in mind, district and campus leaders are assessing the period when learning was not campus-based. They are also looking to make meaningful changes to be able to quickly respond to the education needs of the Aldine Independent School District community.

Aldine ISD remains open safely through paper-based and online learning. Educators have had to creatively use digital spaces to reach families and students to ensure engagement, that students have the tools and resources and that their parents know how to navigate these and that other needs such as food scarcity are addressed.

“No one was prepared for something like COVID-19 to change our lives as it has,” said Chief of Schools Katy Roede. “Our educators quickly found themselves immersed in using technology that had been used as an additional tool to engage and reach students to suddenly being a key tool to educate them. For our families with limited internet access, learning packets were developed. Educators have done a phenomenal job. We also recognize that distance learning is not the ideal way we want to teach our students. With an uncertain future about schools reopening next school year, we have to look at what worked and didn’t. And how do we move forward, especially with our youngest learners, to ensure we reach all students.”

When schools reopen, the school district will follow all state and local guidelines. 

Principal Dr. Andrenetta Marshall at Keeble Primary School began looking to neighboring school districts to see what they were considering in their plans. She quickly discovered that Aldine was in a unique position. Whereas other districts have one or two classrooms in an elementary school designated for early childhood learning and prekindergarten, AISD has 12 campuses filled with students in early childhood, PreK, and kindergarten. One of the schools has as many as 900 young learners.

On May 12, Marshall hosted a “Thought Exchange” session on Keeble’s Facebook to hear concerns, brainstorm ideas, and issues to consider. Panelists included Sara Pérez, a teacher and parent; Principal Linda Reed from Vines Primary School; Assistant Principal Ricardo Pequeño from Vardeman Primary School; Stephanie Vann, a math skills specialist at Jones Primary; Marian Redsun, a social worker at Keeble Primary, and Marshall.

More than 100 participants — parents, grandparents, legal guardians, teachers, principals, and business partners — joined the conversation. The recorded session has received nearly 1,000 views on Facebook.

Recurring questions and concerns included the following:

• Concerns from families and staff about COVID-19 if there is a decision to return to schools without a vaccine; the risk of infecting staff, students, and others
• Fear of masks by youngest learners
• The capacity and practicality behind the parent/legal custodian supporting a child’s education at home if they resume to a regular work schedule
• Logistics in ensuring social distancing between staff and students as well as students with other students if there is a return to classrooms; logistics of regularly disinfecting classrooms, cafeterias, and hands-on manipulatives which are a big part of the work done in primary school
• Logistical concerns about transportation, cafeteria/school meals, and special needs accommodations
• Manipulatives for students at home if learning from home continues
• Social and emotional long-term effects if children are impacted by stress at home during the coronavirus pandemic (e.g., job loss, food scarcity)
• Digital equity/equitable access to educational technology, digital content and learning opportunities
• Increasing student responsibility for learning online and completing assignments online
• Increase or provide WiFi/internet access
• Mindfulness in assignments considering many families have more than one child in school; they may have only one digital device.
• Quality of distance learning/learning packets
• Increasing parent engagement to assist with learning from home; supporting families on how to work with their children
• Train families how to navigate online resources as well as how to use online tools (e.g., Schoology, Clever); regular training opportunities to refresh skills and for new families to the district

Ideas to resolve or address issues and concerns included:

• Provide the technology needed if learning from home continues
• Train parents/legal guardians to use online resources and tools
• If learning from home continues, educators will need to be flexible; this could mean instructional changes; more support for parents/legal guardians
• Use video conferencing to help students and parents/legal guardians; increase parent-student and parent-family relationships
• Create teacher-centered videos, which have the most impact on engagement
• A blended learning model, however, there is concern that it is still too risky in addition to issues with transportation logistics
• A and B days to split up student attendance or have a morning and afternoon/evening schedule if there is a return to classrooms; however, there is a concern that this is risky
• Integrate areas of study or subjects
• Concentrate on vital foundational skills that students in each grade level need to know
• Focus on literacy and numeracy; integrate everything else
• Provide each student with his or her set of manipulatives (personal use only)

“We need to consider many issues and concerns in thinking about where we are headed,” said Marshall. “While there are many ideas, coming to a solution that accommodates everyone is proving to be tricky. What may work for one family will not work for another. What is certain is that education as we know it will never proceed as normal, and we have to accept that before we can move forward.”

Marshall stated that campus and district leaders will use the feedback from the community to guide decisions and address concerns. One concern that is being addressed is training parents and legal guardians on how to use online resources and tools the district provides. The Family and Community Engagement Office is already offering the training. The office is scheduling more training sessions, which the district will share once dates and times are established.

The “Thought Exchange” session received an overwhelming number of positive reviews and comments. Participants were able to chat and submit their questions or share ideas. Everyone was able to relate since the focus centered on primary schools.

Due to popular demand, a “Thought Exchange Part 2” will take place on May 26 at 11:30 a.m. on the Keeble Primary School Facebook page. The recorded May 12 session can also be viewed on the page.