School Committee Meeting - 1/25/21

Emily Grant · 2021-01-26T01:56:27.929Z

Summary The update on Pool Testing is that NPS is eligible for 6 weeks of testing funded by the state through DESE. NPS is waiting to "match" with a vendor and needs 80-90% involvement to be effective. After six weeks Natick would need to fund this program. The technology and transportation budgets were presented, details below. Health Updates Boys Basketball is on a pause while they evaluate exposure. Dr. Nolin cautioned families that they need to continue to “stay in your pod” and cautions that they are “seeing a lot of cases where families are involved in lots of different pods, activities and sports teams” Pool Testing Free 6 week pool testing offered by DESE Educators expected to get vaccine in late March/April (voluntary) General population vaccination will come in waves with hope of herd immunity by fall Pool testing may help in the meantime... DESE Information Site Takes samples from a group of students and they are grouped together into a pool. That pool is then tested with PCR test and if it is positive then all individuals tested with rapid (antigen) test to see who needs PCR test Swabs done by school nurses or if old enough students can do to themselves In case of a pool tests positive but all students test negative with antigen test then all in the pool would need PCR test Working to get matched with a vendor Once NPS is matched with a vendor, they will decide what subgroup gets tested and permission slips get sent out Dr. Nolin doesn't feel nurses have capacity todo attestation forms, contact tracing and this testing Will need to contract with DESE for 6 weeks of help School Committee will need to decide what to do after that Need manager, on site test administrators, transportation of tests to lab Free for 6 weeks, will have to pay after that State is predicting start of 2/8 but Dr. Nolin doesn’t think that seems reasonable Dr. Nolin will come back to SC to ask about what they want to do moving forward after the 6 weeks Approximate costs after 6 weeks: Test cost $5/child each week, and the plan would be to test 50% of school population each week (either Cohort A or Cohort B), plus $850 per week in administration costs, plus additional support to administer tests, etc) (PNF estimates this is $15-$18K a week) What % by in will make this a worthwhile program? Dr. Mangan said 80-90% of students would need to participate. Budget - Technology (Mr Roche) Devices Currently have 10,049 devices 904 devices currently loaned out to homes (most of them chromebooks) Goals: Provide incoming freshmen with new chromebooks Expand 1 to 1 program to 5th and 6th grade Able to do #1 ad #2 without needing funds from FY22 3. Replace obsolete teacher devices 4. Replace and refresh devices at Elementary Schools Staff Two additional technicians requested for Kennedy and Wilson, taking technicians from 1 to 2887 to 1 to 1924 (by comparison it was 1 to 1824 in FY19) and from 1 to 800 students to 1 to 533 students (by comparison it was 1 to 460 in FY18). Overall budget request $1.69 million, which is $95K less than FY21 request. Budget - Transportation (Dr. Gray) Transportation includes regular ed and special ed busing Both contracts expire this fiscal year FY22 request $1.4 million, up $604K from FY21 Main drivers of increase in budget request is: Additional costs for regular ed transportation due to less riders allowed on bus and a new contract with bus company (currently under negotiation) Less bus fees due to less riders Savings from FY20 from reg ed transportation was returned to the town town, money saved from special ed transportation went toward prepayment of out of district tuition Kennedy Building Update All asbestos abatement is complete, there is none in the basement Demolition underway (20% demolished) Fire Department on site to help with dust and fire management

Get Answers

Digital Prints

VIEW ALL

MODERATOR DISCLAIMER

We're volunteers. There will be mistakes. Please keep us honest and help us create a valuable forum for timely exchange of public information.

Digital Prints

VIEW ALL

POSTING POLICY

Page reserved for questions, facts and information. Comments should clarify, correct or follow-up. Please use Facebook for opinions, debates and discussions.