AOS 91 School Board Meeting July 13 [VIDEO]

The AOS 91 School Board held a nearly 4 hour meeting on Monday, July 13th. 2 issues dominated the  most of the board's attention. The 1st the ongoing discussion about racism in the schools and 2nd back to school plans. You can watch the meeting below

In terms of back to school, Dr. Gousse discussed the following, beginning at the 2 hour and 38 minute mark. The Back to School Task Force has met as a full committee twice, with the next full meeting on July 30th. There are 5 subcommittees that are meeting :

• Extra and Co-Curricular
• Physical Health and Safety
• Academic Programs and Student Learning
• Social and Emotional Support
• Operational Concerns

The responsibility to open and close schools remains with the Superintendent of Schools by statue.

The schools have been successful in acquiring personal protective equipment. The State of Maine has placed an order and it has been filled to acquire personal protective equipment for every student and staff. The AOS is waiting for distribution.

Whatever is done at the High School in terms of athletics and co-curricular activities will be done at the elementary and middle schools. The primary focus right now is on the academic return, but Dr. Gousse and the team recognizes the roles of athletics and co-curricular in the emotional well being of students.

They are looking at out of the box options to allow return to school from tents and outside classes to reduce density and increase ventilation. There may be in-person, a hybrid model of in-person and also remote learning. The number 1 priority is to have students and staff to return to in-person learning. The schools may look different, as rugs, bean bags etc may need to be removed because they can't be sanitized.

Testing of staff and students is being discussed, but has not been budgeted

In terms of the ongoing racism discussion, the meeting began with the reading of correspondence, with nearly 2.5 hours devoted to reading onto the record of letters received regarding this subject. At the 3 hour and 25 minute mark, the discussion again returned to racism and the Anti Racism Taskforce. 4 students were particularly recognized, Sarah Hernandez, Sirohi Kumar, Charlie Parker and Alex Burnett. They (Hernandez, Kumar and Parker) joined the meeting at 3 hour and 30 minute mark