Medina City School Board discusses hybrid plan for MHS - cleveland.com

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MEDINA – Superintendent Aaron Sable took time on Monday at the regular school board meeting to give updates on the district in light of covid.

“First, I want to acknowledge some of our parents' frustration with the situation we’re under right now with covid,” said Sable. “I know communication can be a challenge, especially during a time when you’re dealing with a moving target and I think we all really want some stability in our lives and to know what’s happening in regards to the decisions that are being made, especially when they impact our children, or they even impact our work because parents have to be home to be with a student.”

Sable shared that one of the challenges that the district has been dealing with is the amount of changes that has been happening in recent months as well as the fact that changes happens on a near weekly basis.

He explained that the board has been lucky to have communications with health department and with other districts to help them make decisions and move through this pandemic.

“What I have decided to do moving forward as we make these decisions is to work more on a short-term basis and I know that is the piece that can be frustrating,” said Sable. “The reason why is our goal, as I’ve stated in the past, is to have our students in school … so to make too quick of a decision in terms of changing the direction that we’re going to go not only creates instability for our students and staff, but it can also get us into a position where we’re not providing the best academics for our students under the given circumstances.”

Sable said that the district has leaned on experts such as the health department to help make decisions into running the district and keeping students in school safely.

Dr. Kris Quallich, Assistant Superintendent and interim Medina High School Principal, discussed the hybrid model for the high school to update the board on the progress.

“We know the hybrid model is not perfect. I think what we are going to look at … is sending out a survey to our parents and our staff and also our students and just ask for some feedback on this model,” said Quallich.

She shared that they are only in the fourth week of this model and that the district will soon be sending out a survey to get feedback and find out where improvements are needed.

Quallich also discussed the possibility of a five-day return for High School students.

“I think there’s three areas at the high school that we need to look at if we are going to bring students back for five days and that’s study hall, lunch and then the actual class room that students are in,” said Quallich.

At the High School, study halls a really large, Quallich explained. They can have up to 300 or 400 students.

Additionally, while some of the study halls are going on, so are lunches which also contain hundreds of students.

-"We do have a plan to make lunch work and study halls work but we need about 17 additional people to help us with that from about 10 o’clock to about 1 o’clock," said Quallich.

She explained that other districts with similar sized student bodies have brought their students back in five days a week but they are only keeping their students three feet apart during lunch and study halls.

Per Medina’s health department, our students have to be spaced six feet apart during these times.

“The other question we’ve gotten a lot of is about video in the classroom,” said Quallich. “I know we’ve talked a lot about this. I’ve had some really good conversations with parents. I think, when it comes down to it, what parents want is for students to be engaged five days a week but, when you really speak with teachers and with the students, if your student is at home logged in with a device, the teacher can’t really ensure they’re engaged. They can ensure they’re hearing something but they’re not in front of them engaged.”

She shared that, instructionally, the worry is that it won’t provide the desired experience for students. The district is working on balancing safety with instruction.

In other news, the board discussed a pay raise for teachers and administrators throughout the district. Several board members were in favor.

“Just a quick comment that any time we look at increases, it’s always something that we look at very carefully. I know this year with covid we’ve been concerned and there’s been delay in this increase because of just the amount of suffering, I guess, that’s going on in the community. I think the board was sensitive to that,” said Rob Skidmore, Board of Education Vice President. “That’s not to say it’s gone away. It’s still there but I think there’s a recognition of how critical the administrators are to the operations of the district and how important their work is and how much additional work has gone on as a result of covid.”

Other board members felt as though now isn’t the best time to pass something like this.

“I’m really torn on this and, the reason is because I understand that we have a responsibility to our students and our staff and our district to make the right decisions to give our kids a great public education experience,” said Ron Ross, board member. “But, you know, when I look out the door, I don’t see a healthy economy … I see a lot of people struggling.”

He shared that administrators are absolutely deserving of a raise but, especially in light of the work they’ve put in to get programs together so that students could continue to learn safely but that he also wants the community to know the board and administrators are with them.

“Do I think that the administrators are deserving of a pay raise? I’ll say it again, absolutely, but just not now. I just don’t think now is the right time. I think it sends the wrong message to the struggling people in our community,” said Ross.

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Medina City School Board discusses hybrid plan for MHS - cleveland.com
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