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PUSD

Distance Learning

Check-In

September 9, 2020

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Content Covering

Superintendent Intro

Part 1

Survey Results
Elementary
Middle School
High School
Board Questions

Part 2

Technology Update
Special Education Update
Budget
Board Questions

Part 3 - Public Comment

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3

Parents/Guardians

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Paraeducators, Teachers, Teacher Specialists

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Middle & High School Students

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6

My first 3 weeks of DL have been...

53%

28%

12%

2%

5%

36%

39%

17%

6%

2%

50%

8%

21%

16%

5%

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What

is

NOT

working

with Distance Learning?

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Elementary

Long stretches of time on a device
Hard to sustain focus
Lack of social engagement

Middle

Too much time learning on screens
Need more social interactions--peer-to-peer
Challenges related to tech--connectivity and Schoology

High

Amount of online class meeting time is exhausting
Too much homework/asynchronous assignments which adds up to more time on a screen
Lots of struggles with using the Chromebooks

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What

IS

working

with Distance Learning?

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Elementary

Positive attitudes from children who are happy to log on and see their teachers and classmates each day
Supportive and positive teachers

Middle

Teachers have been patient and flexible
Instruction has been very strong--well-planned and organized
Predictable schedule

High

Learning a lot more than last spring
Teachers are prepared and organized
Predictable schedule is good

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9

Failed to meet my expectations

Exceeded my expectations

<-------------------->

Parent Expectations for Distance Learning

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Parent/Guardian Survey Question

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Participation in SYNCHRONOUS learning

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Parents

Staff

Students

Most

Some

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Participation in ASYNCHRONOUS learning

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Parents

Staff

Students

Most

Some

Most

Some

I am able to complete the asynchronous assignments provided by my teachers.

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1.

Elementary

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Elementary Distance Learning

Anne Dolid
Carol Cramer
Michael Corritone
Heidi Sawicki
Lise Dahms
Lianne Morrison
Kelly Bunje
Janine Mortan

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My kids have been giving their experiences an 8 or 9 out of 10 each day (minus the technical glitches) and this feels like a totally different level of experience and learning for kids than the spring.

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“

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Successes

Resilient and enthusiastic students

Ability to connect with students and build learning communities digitally

Engaging and thoughtful learning experiences for students

Implementation of digital curricular tools and resources

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Successes

TK-1

Students

Happy and ready to learn
Can manage tech

Clear idea of what teaching (SEL/SJ, ELA, Math) and the skills to translate them to digital
System for material pick up

Grades 2-3

Students

Kids are able to do it!
Willingness to take risks to learn new things.
Engaged
Happy

Collaborative work of teacher teams

Grades 4-5

Ability to focus on learning because not worried about safety
Students

Resilience
Enthusiastic learners

Can do “hands on” integrated learning
Use of break-out rooms

Teacher Specialists

Students

Connection to learning and one another
Imagination and creativity
Kids are showing up to live classes

Adults are safe which allows them to be present for kids and learning

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Specific successes called out by teachers….

Anne will briefly review.

Order of speakers:

Heidi- locomotor skills through imaginative play- not engaging with screen, guided experience (arts and connection)

Lianne- resiliency of kinders (to our delight!) power outage….over 30 minutes, when back ⅔ of class waiting for her to come back. Kids want to be there! Kids are developing relationships, losing teeth getting to see them up close- lots of graphic exposure and enthusiasm

Kelly- Growth mindset. Kids want this to work! Theme of the week (Friday fun day)- engaging and enthusiasm and helps to get kids to know one another and engage with their creativity.

Lise- Break out math groups- 4 kids, already knew 3 from last year. Small group collaboration and problem solving. Kids shared with teacher how hard they worked and were appreciative.

Janine- Creative writing example

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I’m feeling challenged as my child’s TA. I don’t know what quality of work is good enough, and how long to have them spend on their assignments.

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Challenges

Technology

Sustainability/Time

Individual connections with students and families

Managing student engagement through the screen

Monitoring and intervening with student learning

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Anne to discuss.

Global challenges across grades, and communicated by families, teachers and observed by us ( Principals)

All of this is coming at cost to everyone. Teachers are working extremely long days, parents are having to make difficult choices between work and supporting learning, kids are isolated from peers, and aren’t developing the social skills they need. The reality is that we are in a pandemic and everyone is working to capacity.

Technology: Hardware breakdowns, connectivity, availability of necessary tech tools for teachers, Learning platforms

Sustainability/Time: Translating curriculum into digital learning, balancing planning/prep time for synch & async, providing feedback, etc.

Connections: Supporting individual student needs/collaborating with families

Managing student engagement through the screen- can’t control what’s going on in the classroom- needs significant coordination with families in some instances.

Monitoring student learning-We generally pride ourselves on this. New systems and translation into DL is a challenge.

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Challenges

TK-1

Screen time length
Technology breakdowns- device, connectivity, insufficient tools
Appropriate learning spaces
Ability to schedule 1:1/small group time
Sustainability

Grades 2-3

Technology breakdowns- device, connectivity, insufficient tools
Time- learning tech and translating to digital teaching
Balance of planning live and Independent work
Time to provide feedback on work
Learning platforms
Delay in materials

Grades 4-5

Technology breakdowns- device, connectivity, insufficient tools
Time- learning tech and translating to digital teaching
Scheduling aide time with multiple teachers
Break out rooms for small groups

Teacher Specialists

Technology breakdowns- device, connectivity, insufficient tools
50% turning in async on time
3/4 turn in assignments at all
Ability for students to be independent in async work
Inequity of space to do work during async time

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Areas to Grow

1:1 and Small Group Time

Student feedback

Managing flow of AM/PM & sync/async

Partnership with parents on learning

Parent education/support

Teacher professional development

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2.

Middle School

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Middle School

Distance Learning

Ryan Fletcher
Michelle Kerwin
Adam Saville

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While she's completely exhausted at the end of the day, she likes her classes and teachers and feels a little connected to the kids and seems to generally enjoy the work. I love that it's a clear consistent schedule and that it's all LIVE!

We really appreciate how teachers have all collectively posted their assignments / set up their "classrooms" in the same format on Schoology. That makes it much easier on the students and parents.

Positive: live, interactive teaching while online is such a huge positive for the start to this year. Thank you to the teachers! However, too many hours on the screen

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“

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Successes

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Scots Camp
Grade Level Parent Nights
Parent Education Night on Schoology
Student engagement
Building community
Support
Increased engagement & capacity with a variety of tech. tools
Consistency/Norms/Best Practices
We’re always getting better

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Challenges

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This is challenging!
Consistency/Norms/Best Practices
Technical issues
Distractions
Schedule
Isolation

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Areas to Grow

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Supporting the SEL for all Students
Supporting Teacher/Staff Wellbeing
Revisiting Essential Learning Outcomes & Addressing Learning Gaps
Managing Screen Time

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3.

High Schools

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High School Distance Learning

Adam Littlefield
Flint Christensen
Debbi Hill
Shannon Fierro
Ken Brown

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I like it. It’s nice that teachers have an organized system for Google Meets and somewhere to find assignments.

It’s pretty good, but sometimes when I have too many tabs open it’s laggy and slow.

I also don't like the process of breakout rooms right now, so I usually have to exit the main chat to access another breakout room. I know that they're adding something to make breakout rooms better.

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“

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Successes

Bell Schedule
Grades
Teachers implementing what they have learned through professional development
Overall student engagement
Instructional Technology Support
Developing student-adult relationships
Books and Materials Distribution
MHS - New Student Orientation & Bridge to MHS meetings
MHS - Family Orientation & Falcon Meeting

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Challenges

Family Internet Service
Slow responding Chromebooks
Malfunctioning Chromebooks i.e. cameras
Still have some disengaged students/ cameras off
The time it takes teachers to learn how to use the tools, plan lessons using the tools, and implementing the plan.
Outdated teacher devices
Secure assessments
Difficult to find teacher materials

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Areas to Grow

Additional teacher planning time needed
Differentiating learning
Identifying and meeting student mental health challenges
Supporting SEL

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Voices from the Classrooms

Debbi Hill - PHS

Ken Brown - MHS

Flint Christensen - PHS

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Technology Update

What we've done,

what we've learned,

and how we continue to adapt

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Not bury the lead...

In response to additional challenges inherent in DL and Hybrid situations

Additional personnel for Edtech and IT to support learning and hardware
New equipment to replace oldest devices
Additional hotspots coming
Phone number for real-time support coming

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Not to bury the lead... We have short-term and long-term plans in the works to address issues to further improve our Distance and eventually hybrid schedule learning environments.

One of the first things we've done is add

.6 FTE of certificated edtech support. Filled by Adam Saville and Debbi Hill this FTE supports TK-12 staff professional development and learning systems. This FTE was in the works when I presented to the school board last month our distance learning vision and professional development plans. At that point I it wasn't finalized, but I can share it is in place now. These two people have been incredible supporting teachers on a variety of tools to increase engagement and learning!

We have also recently posted a temporary classified position for tech support. This position will be so helpful with the increased importance and number of devices in the hands of students and staff.

We have also ordered Addl equipment that is expected to arrive in the next two weeks.

We are working on an outside phone line number for just-in-time tech support and will be sharing that out very soon!

Now, I'm going to go back and tell you some stories about what we've been able to accomplish, what we've learned in these unprecedented times, and why we are adapting in these ways.

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2755

Chromebooks in use

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4x

a "normal" beginning of year

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Touchless Pick-up

We have been able to safely distribute devices with Covid19 precautions in mind in an touchless pick-up model. Devices were pre-checked out to students, places in envelopes and arranged for pick-up alpha and by grade. This reduced face-to face contact and long lines.

The Photo here shows 2nd - 5th grade devices at Beady for pickup.

These devices were pulled from classrooms where they had functioned well for document creation and research. What we know now is that multiple hour video-conferencing with a class and multiple web applications might be more than some of the older and shared models can effectively handle. We are executing a plan to replace the oldest chromebooks, commonly found in the elementary schools, with newer devices this month.

When those are ready we will use a similar touchless system for distribution.

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Sourcing in a Pandemic

Pre-order in April for 6th/9th
Early July for TK, K and 1st grade

Arrived afternoon of 8/14 for next day "touchless" distribution

July order for staff devices and doc cameras arrived 8/28
"New Wave" chromebooks arrive 9/21

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Supply is down, and demand is way up. This applies to toilet paper, aluminum cans and technology!

Anticipating a run on chromebooks, we pre-ordered last April our regular chromebook refresh for 6th and 9th graders. These arrived in July as expected.

We ordered new touch-screen devices in early July for our TK, K and 1st graders

You may recall that Friday the 14th was the first of the heat-wave rolling power outages? We still had staff onsite in the hot, hot, and steamy PMS gym prepping the touchscreen chromebooks for distribution the next day when the power went out in Piedmont that evening. These heros tethered to their cell phones for wifi, and used their camera flashlights to finish getting these chromebooks checked out to kids and into bags for Saturday! I can't say enough about the hard work the three helpdesk employees Jason D, Jason C and Yao have done to try to support the 3000 students and staff members during this Pandemic. This has been a big lift for them, and the certificated staff of Sun, Louisa, Adam Saville, Debbi Hill and Jana Branisa. I will also say huge thanks also go to my assistant Nick who has worked diligently to source and track all of these orders, and also support me while we have two openings in the department. Last spring our long-time District Data Coordinator Maureen retired, and then our database specialist Michael retired also. These open positions are felt very keenly right now.

Big thanks to parents who helped earlier that afternoon and the next morning to take a half ton of touchscreen chromebooks to the three elementary schools.

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Support Requests

August = Busy!

setting up teacher rooms
new staff
data/system set-up for new year
annual registration
walk-through
New this year-

STEAM building,
New software/training for staff

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Support Requests

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August	2019	2020
Help/ICHelp	769	1257
Chromebook Help	30	354
Totals	799	1611

When we look at Support Requests this year they are double the number we had last year. We can definitely say "we are experiencing a high volume of calls"

But also know that your request is important to us. We truly believe this and are nearly out of the hole of the first two weeks of school!

Tech is foundational in Distance and Hybrid learning. Making sure students and staff can access learning is mission critical. Because of this we are adding some temporary IT support to help grind on repairs and timely communications for requests. We are also adding a call system so people can reach a live support person for just in time help. The helpdesk phone line can't get direct calls, we setup a temporary number last spring during shelter-in-place and are instituting a solution for this year that will be set-up in the next week.

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Supporting Chromebooks

Help-desk support now vs before
Chromebook exchange at PMS (camera monitored)
By end of month nearly 40% of all devices will be new

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In the past IT staffed a lunch-time helpdesk at PHS. Students could bring a device giving them trouble to have it looked it. If it couldn't be repaired within a few minutes, the student was issued a loaner device on the spot. PMS students could use a classroom chromebook in a pinch, or walk-down to the library and ring the tech doorbell for just in time support.

Supporting students, families, and staff remotely is harder. It is much more difficult to identify solutions to the problems students are having. Sometimes it is home wifi, or an out-dated device, a broken device or the high demands of our distance learning platforms! Or a combination of all of these things.

For the most part chromebook issues come in two flavors- my newer HP camera or mic aren't working, or I keep getting kicked out of Meets/things are slow.

What we are doing

- the HP camera/mic issue is usually hardware related. We are issuing a replacement chromebook and repairing the mic/camera from the turned in device. We finally received our replacement parts a week and a half ago. If your camera or mic isn't working, pls write chromebookhelp@piedmont.k12.ca.us and the team will prepare a replacement device for you.

Meet connection and performance issues are harder to resolve. I distributed some optimizing tips to staff last week and families on Tuesday to explore non-hardware related solutions. We are offering to exchange equipment and are nearly out of the hole on these requests now. And we have secured some new chromebooks to replace older equipment distributed from the elementary classrooms, or loaner equipment from before Shelter-in-place. This "new wave" of chromebooks will arrive this month along with some more cellular hotspots.

When we look at parent and student data on their tech experience, we find

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Parent/Guardian Reporting

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Student Reporting

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Staff Reporting

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School-issued vs personal

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School-issued chromebooks come with

Preinstalled bookmarks to common websites
Easy badge sign-in for TK-1st
Web-filtering and monitoring
Secure assessment browsers
Easy access to school purchased software

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Who are you gonna call?

chromebookhelp@piedmont.k12.ca.us

schoologyhelp@piedmont.k12.ca.us

seesawhelp@piedmont.k12.ca.us

Phone number coming soon!

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Special Ed

Preschool
Elementary
Middle School
High School
Assessment
Non-Public Schools
Non-Public Agencies

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Preschool/Early Intervention Program

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District Behavior Analyst offering home consultation to parents

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Elementary Virtual

“Coffee Hour”

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Elementary School Special Education Programs

Specialized Academic Instruction

Remote Learning with Seesaw

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Middle School Special Education Programs

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Bell Schedule
Office Hours
Self-Advocacy

Special Academic Instruction
Schoology & Google Classroom support
Literably to support reading skills
Paraeducators in virtual classes & working directly with students.
Occupational, Adaptive Physical Education, & Speech Therapy provided through teletherapy.
67 special education students served by PMS.
Wellness Counseling Services : solution focused therapy; IEP counseling
HB & SCLC

Middle School: The current bell schedule is working well for students. It provides consistency and predictability for students. Special ed teachers are better able to know where students are throughout the school day.

Office hours on Wednesday and Friday morning- extra opportunity to connect with students and para educators are able to work with small groups of students as well. Have seen increased self-advocacy skills in some 7th and 8th graders during office hours due to students also checking in with general education teachers.

Use of Schoology and teachers using consistent practices to create a more accessible experience for students, special ed teachers and para educators.

Using color coded visual schedules for our mod/severe students to help increase independence.

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High School Special Education Programs

Learning Center
Collaboration
Entrance/Exit letter
Paraeducator

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Special Education services at MHS & PHS
105 PHS Special Education Students
21 MHS Special Education Students
All receive Learning Center supports along with access to paraeducator support in classes or in virtual study groups.
Schoology & Google Classroom
Wellness: short term solution focused therapies or IEP based counseling
SCLC & CELC

An increased level of communication between General Education and special education on student progress, embedding accommodations and modifying assessment to better fit students' needs. This is a work in progress and helped create a positive bond between SPED and GE.

Increasing self-advocacy skills in our students. They need guidance and teaching, but many are stepping up and growing in this area.

para educators are working hard and reaching more students in more subjects.

The bell schedule is working really well. Two office hours, the later morning start and the teacher prep window before lunch allows for a ton of department collaboration and opportunities to better support our students.

Paras have opportunities to collaborate with each other as well which has really boosted the team approach.

Introduced the Entrance/Exit letter ( taking the place of the A day letter)

Every Monday students will “enter” the week by including various planning information in an email which is then sent to the student’s parents and LC teacher(s).

Every Friday students will amend this letter and “exit” the week with an email to their parents, LC teacher(s) and all general education teachers.

This email will be a plan for the coming week and will include:

Current Week’s Assignments
Outstanding / Missing Assignments + plan to complete and submit assignment(s)
Upcoming Projects, Tests, Quizzes
Office Hours (Tutorial) offered twice per week!
Grade Update (every other week)
Study plans as needed
Optional: What’s happening outside academics, sports, tutors, events etc...

More? Let me know. I just want you to reiterate to the board that our SPED teachers are working SO hard- not to say all teachers aren't.

For all secondary: DIS services have all started and during virtual sessions and matching IEP minutes.

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Assessment

Safe testing Room
Virtual Testing Platform
Presence Learning
Q-Global - Pearson

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Non-public Schools

Contracts with non-public schools have been maintained.
Currently all programs are distance learning
Non-public schools are responsible for providing contracted services.

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Non-Public Agencies

Provide human resources for specialized assignments such as a Registered Behavior Technicians (RBT).
Physical Therapy.
Provide services not available through District employees.

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Challenges

Serving high need SWD’s in a virtual environment.
Student engagement in the learning that is dependent on only two modalities.
Maintaining a continuity of services in a virtual environment.
Teachers & Service Providers miss their students.

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Growth Areas

Continue to deepen our skills in providing Specialized Academic Instruction, Teletherapy, & Related Services.
Build community during this time and effectively problem solve.

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$$$

What funds do we have and how are we spending the money?

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COVID-Related Funds

Federal & State

Federal and State funding specifically for COVID-related expenses:

$1,056,911

Local

Board-designated reserve for COVID-related expenses:

$700,000

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Needs have been and continue to be identified

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Tech Hardware

Add’l devices for students, teachers, and staff

Tech Software

Seesaw and other learning mgmt tools
Fillable forms online

Curriculum

Grade and subject specific curriculum to support asynchronous lessons.

Staffing

Tech support for teachers
Help desk staffing
Add’l paras for elem
Add’l staff may be needed when in hybrid eg, add’l custodian, nurse, etc.

Safety

PPE and cleaning supplies
MERV 13 filters
Electrostatic sprayers
Plexiglass dividers
COVID testing

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Many orders for technology and safety needs have been processed.

Certain staffing and other needs are based on a hybrid model and have not been implemented yet.

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All of State/Federal funds are expected to be spent, with half already spent.

Half of District reserve is anticipated to be spent so far.

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THANKS!

Any questions?

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