Year’s first Coffee and Conversation focuses on community, safety

Partnership was the overarching theme of the 2020-2021 academic year’s first Coffee and Conversation event, which was hosted by Superintendent Marc Baiocco on Oct. 7.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you for the partnership,” Dr. Baiocco said to those who had logged in to the virtual event. “It has gotten us through the impact of COVID-19 together.”

He shared a presentation outlining how the first few weeks of school have gone. Schools opened for remote learning for all students on Sept. 10 and the district’s hybrid model began on Sept. 21 for the Monday/Tuesday cohort and on Sept. 24 for students in the Thursday/Friday cohort.

Much of the meeting reviewed the necessary precautions that families must take, as well as those that district maintenance staff are taking to ensure the safety of students and staff members.

Dr. Baiocco reviewed the protocols that must be followed if someone in the school falls ill. Steps include placing the person in a dedicated isolation room until a parent or guardian can get them or asking a staff member to go home. He reminded families that they are required to fill out an attestation form or log in to the district’s health app, found on the website or at https://entry.neric.org/eufsd. The app confirms that their child does not have COVID-19 symptoms. No one will be allowed into the school buildings until the form or app is complete.

“It gives us a good report,” Dr. Baiocco said of knowing health the status of students. “It will give you a clearance ticket that is color coded and gives you admittance that day.”

Attendance is taken each day. For students at Carl L. Dixson Primary School and Alice E. Grady Elementary School, it is taken during homeroom. At Alexander Hamilton High School, attendance is taken during their in-person classes or when students virtually log in to their Google Classroom online.

Throughout the day, students are reminded to wash their hands. They also practice social distancing and engage in safe mask breaks during the day. Desks are spread out in classrooms, so that students sit farther apart from each other, and they are seated behind see-through barriers. On the buses, students sit every other seat.

During the summer, the buildings’ air filter systems were upgraded to a MERV-13 filter, a type that is highly recommended by the American Society of Health, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning.

“I just really want to stress the point: 90% of our day in our schools, we require masks, except during mask breaks and when eating,” said Dr. Baiocco.

There has been a slight increase in COVID-19 cases in Westchester County recently. Dr. Baiocco noted that this news makes the “Wednesday schedule” – when all students are engaged in remote learning from home – even more important. That is the day when all school buildings receive a thorough cleaning.

The superintendent admitted that some of the terminology used by administrators and staff members can sometimes be confusing. He sought to clarify some terms. He reviewed that “synchronous learning” is what takes place during a cohort’s in-person session with their teacher. “Asynchronous learning” is the learning that students engage in on their own, often while at home and using materials provided by their teacher through such software programs as Seesaw and Google Classroom.

Dr. Baiocco, along with superintendents throughout the region, is actively advocating for additional federal funding.

“We need to make sure that funding comes into our schools,” he said. “This is COVID relief funding. Funding that is essential to us.”

Dr. Baiocco said that the district will reevaluate all of its procedures during the first week of November to determine if any changes need to be made.

The virtual Coffee and Conversation event was recorded and can be viewed through a link on the district website.