Information from the School Committee’s summer meetings

Through these meetings, we have engaged with scholars, families, educators, as well as curriculum and medical experts to help inform CPSD in their planning. My colleagues and I approved the Superintendent’s proposed reopening model with seven additional requirements attached. We want to make sure that we represent the diversity of perspectives in our community, with safety, equity, and high-quality learning as our guiding lights.

The Plan, as adopted, is not a final decision to return in-person as we must meet the requirements. Once we are able to safely reopen our buildings, families of our JK-3 learners, who appear to be at a lower risk of infection, as well as families of our students with specialized needs, will be the first to have an in-person option available to them.

On August 18th, our timeline was revised to delay the start of in-person learning (for our opted-in scholars) until October 13th in order to provide more time for addressing the complex staffing and scheduling decisions, necessary professional development, and ensuring that the School Committee’s contingencies are met. We are prepared to continue adapting as necessary, as we follow the emerging public health data.

In our August 20th Special Meeting, Superintendent Salim shared with us the FY21 budget implications of our COVID-19 response. CPSD estimates that the additional health and safety measures (facilities, transportation, testing and health assistance), technology, project planning, staff, summer work, and materials will cost between $13.5 million to $17.3 million (when taking into account the $6.8 million we have from state and federal grants, FY21 reallocations/savings, and additional City funding).

In my last communication, I mentioned that I had been in many conversations with the City Manager, Superintendent, Broad Institute, and Cambridge Public Health Department to advocate for the implementation of frequent COVID-19 surveillance testing in our school community. I am proud to share that CPSD will be the first school district in Massachusetts providing all school staff working in-person with free COVID-19 testing twice per week, through a partnership with the Broad Institute. We will also be implementing testing for students with the help of the Cambridge Public Health Department and I will share those details with you as soon as they are available.

I also want to provide some information about the Family Resource Fairs that my Office has been working to host with CPSD and the School Committee. We began these Fairs on Saturday, August 22nd at the Pisani Center and 808 Memorial Drive to assist families with their back-to-school enrollment forms. We will be continuing these safe and socially-distanced in-person events every Saturday from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM through September. Each event will have interpreters, a specific focus, and targeted outreach.

Our next Fair will be for families of scholars in grades JK-1 held outside the King Open School on Saturday, September 12th. On Saturday, September 19th, we will have a Fair outside the Peabody School and our final one will be on Saturday, September 19th outside the Haggerty School. More details to come.

Our upcoming School Committee meetings are as follows:

September 10th, 2020

School Climate Subcommittee Meeting | 6:00 PM

Discussing social emotional and mental health supports for CPSD scholars

September 15th, 2020

Regular Meeting | 6:00 PM

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions, suggestions, or concerns. Respectfully,

Sumbul Siddiqui