Teachers Aides Get Pay Increase, COVID Testing in School and More from the Scarsdale School Board

COVID testing, a revision to the contract with the teachers’ aides, the creation of a medical advisory board and athletics were all discussed at a Board of Education meeting held via Zoom on December 7, 2020.

Pam Fuehrer, Board President reported that prior to the meeting, the Board of Ed met with a group of high school students who spoke about their relationships with their classmates and teachers, their tutorial time on Wednesdays and what they appreciate about the current learning model.

Board members Bob Klein and Amber Yusuf said that they toured the Quaker Ridge School with School Principal Dr. Gill. Klein reported, “the school looks great, the mood was upbeat and I left with an energized feeling.” He saw the hybrid model in action and the social distancing in place. He said, “The bottom line is it’s working great, learning is being done and the kids are engaged.”

Assistant Superintendent Edgar McIntosh spoke about the return of grades K-2 to school full time on November 30. He said, “Students in K-2 are happy and engaged.” He credited the teachers and aids for the arrangement of the new class spaces.

Memorandum of Understanding for Teachers’ Aides

In addition to crediting the teaching aides for their wonderful work engaging with students during this difficult school year, Assistant Superintendent Andrew Patrick reviewed the school’s plan to fairly compensate aides for their increased workload. There are around 250 teaching aides across the school district and 150 work at the elementary level. Typically, they provide individual assistance to students who require additional support during school and work as part-time employees.

To accommodate the district’s evolving school reopening plans, many teaching aides will be moving to full-time employment. For the first part of this school year, the elementary school was broken into a morning and an afternoon session and students did not have lunch or recess time at school. To accommodate the new K-2 expansion, aides are now needed to supervise lunch and recess hours, and many aides are shifting to a full-time work schedule. Aides who work 30+ hours per week will now qualify for health coverage.

Additionally, the district is asking 35 aides to step into a new role. These designated teaching aides will now be the sole adult responsible for a group of students when classes are split up. This role is akin to a substitute teaching position and the increased workload and level of responsibility will correspond with a pay increase. The Association of Scarsdale Teacher Aides and Assistants agreed to a rate of $240/day for aides working in the K-2 split classroom model and for $120/day for aides working half days.

Thus far, Assistant Superintendent Andrew Patrick reports that “the feedback so far in K-2 has been very positive” and they are looking forward to the expansion of school hours for this age group.

Update on School COVID Testing

Eric Rauschenbach reported that the positivity rate for the virus in Westchester County overall was at a seven day average of 6%. As of December 10, 138 students and 30 staff members are under quarantine. If the state mandates Scarsdale to be a yellow zone, the district could have to test 20% of the school population per month. To conduct the high level of testing needed to keep the schools open, the district partnered with Sovereign Labs, a company that will provide the testing and analysis for our students and staff.

Scarsdale has received the first shipment of test collection tubes from Sovereign Labs for saliva PCR testing. To take the test, students and staff will fill the tube with a certain amount of saliva. Once closed, an RNA preservation agent will be drained into the tube, and the tubes will be sent to Sovereign Labs for analysis. Rauschenbach had a test collection vial on the call and showed how the process would work.

Moving forward, the district has two options for how to proceed with testing. The In-School Model will require participants to provide the samples in school and the tubes will be shipped from school. The advantage of this option is that the school can closely monitor the test collection process, ensure the tests are being taken properly, and send the tubes to the labs at a faster rate. The disadvantage of this model is that additional staff are needed to monitor the process and students will be required to leave class for a period of time to complete the test.

The second option is the At-Home Model where testing is sent home with students to complete with parental supervision and return to school. An advantage of this model is that students do not miss any instructional time, but it is likely that some students will fail to bring the tests back to school and will not be sent to the lab. As a result, a higher percentage of students must be tested in order to meet the state-mandated number of completed tests. The board is expected to come to a decision about which testing model to use by the end of this week.

Under the district’s agreement with Sovereign Labs, the school will cover the cost of each COVID-19 test ($100/test) if students or staff do not have health insurance. With insurance, Sovereign Labs will provide no cost, no copay testing.

While the district is optimistic about this deal with Sovereign Labs, Scarsdale was approved by the State of New York as a limited-service laboratory. If Sovereign is unable to provide the necessary testing, the district is authorized to request antigen tests from the state and analyze the results within the school district.

In a discussion on testing, Pam Fuehrer asked, “Even if we are not in a zone, why not test anyway?” Rauschenbach replied that the district would be using NYS testing resources (unnecessarily) and it would be a burden on the insurance companies. She also pointed out that the testing might lead to staff shortages if teachers are found to be positive. Carl Finger said that the opposite might be true; that “testing might help the district avoid staffing issues if people are identified and prevented from the spreading the virus.”

Ron Schulhof said if parents are concerned about having the testing done in school, parents should be given a choice of whether or not they want their child tested in school or to go to their own doctor to get a test.

Tutoring for Homebound Students

Because so many students are at home due to quarantine, the board changed their policy for homebound instruction to increase it to two hours per day rather than one hour per day for those quarantined for more than 14 days. This only applies to students who are out of school due to illness or COVID exposure, not for those who opted to do elective travel.

Medical Advisory Board

Erci Rauschenbach provided a response to a petition for the formation of a medical advisory board composed of community physicians, He said, “The administration and the District Physician have discussed this. The district is working under NYS DOH and Governor’s orders for all policies. At this point we’re not sure a separate medical advisory board could give us additional information and it would take time away from our work. At this time we are not moving toward a medical advisory board – but as of now, we are reaching out to community physicians on an as needed basis. We are not recommending that a medical advisory board be created at this point.”

During the public comments portion of the meeting, the two physicians who had drafted the petition replied.

Dr. Richard Schutzer said he was speaking as a concerned father and physician who was in charge of a COVID ICU. He said, “The threats posed by the virus are real. But many fears are unjustified. I have tried to focus on science and board bylaws. I frequently received no response or a dismissive one to communications to the district. …. The PTA has complained of the board’s lack of transparency. The District physician retired 7 years ago because in his own words he couldn’t keep up with the medicine…. Where is there medical representation on the restart committee? Basic questions like how many are currently under quarantine have gone unanswered. I do not care if I am on a committee – but there should be one. Thanks to the one board member who was willing to speak to me.”

Dr. Kim Greene-Liebowitz also spoke. She said, “I am an advocate for the creation of a medical advisory committee….. Why would you refuse expert advice during this difficult period? …There is a delay between policy and implementation. I am concerned that you won’t be able to address the medical issues. The committee alerted you to the need for testing this summer. Are you worried about spitting? Have you thought about a tent and PPE? … We would not take up extra time – we would free you up to do what you do. We can’t distribute anything to the parents or the community – it’s better if we work with you… The use of trusted authorities in our local community will allow us to have base of common knowledge…. It is really disappointing to me that you are not willing to use our expertise. We want to work with you to have a unified front.”

In other public comments, Irin Israel discussed his model that allows all K-2 students to fit in to their classrooms. He said, “it is being flat out rejected though it would save money on aids as students would spend the whole day with their teachers.” He said, the “Full class K-2 model is beneficial. The District architect only used a cursory model for his decisions. We have plenty of room in our schools at 6 feet. I urge the administration to prove me wrong.”

About COVID testing, Claudine Gecel said, “Why not start testing 20% of the people that are in the building? We don’t have a datapoint. Some schools are testing the wastewater – that’s easier to do. I think we should give the testing a shot. We don’t know how the vaccine rollout will go – so this could go on for a long time. In a child’s life, this is a long time.”

Eileen Donovan asked why no one has asked St. Pius if the property is available and what the cost would be. There was talk that it was explored over the summer – but it was not done. She said, “Why were we looking into spending $7 million for space instead of knocking down built ins that are not in use?”

In response, Dr. Hagerman said that they did speak to a trustee at St. Pius and the District architect went there as well. They also inquired about using the former Lord and Taylor space. They had the costs for trailers during the Greenacres discussion.
Facilities Director Stuart Mattey said, “We will not rip out built-ins – as it involves floor tiles and windows – this would be a short-term solution.”

Jessie Timberger asked, “What are the plans for the high school? I was told that lunch time was the stumbling block. Can we use the empty spaces in the high school for lunch?

Sports Update

Ray Pappalardi, the Director of Physical Education, Health and Athletics provided an update regarding fall and winter sports. In the Fall 2020 season, 297 Scarsdale students participated on 14 teams. This is around 20% of the Scarsdale High School student body. While the pandemic certainly put a strain on the season, every fall team was able to complete for their regular season. Additionally, 80% of Varsity and Junior Varsity athletes qualified as scholar-athletes, and every Varsity and Junior Varsity team met the scholar-athlete team criteria.

For the winter sports season, the Gold Card Health History and Consent Form has been reopened for Bowling, Gymnastics, Skiing, Boy’s Swim & Dive, and Indoor Track and Field. With new revisions, it will now also include the higher-risk sports of Basketball, Cheerleading (winter), Ice Hockey, and Wrestling. So far, higher-risk sports have not been authorized for competition. The winter season will begin on January 1, 2021. The district hopes to begin the higher risk sports of cheerleading (fall), football, girl’s swimming and diving, and volleyball on March 1, 2021.

Advocacy

Ron Schulhof presented two potential advocacy issues from the Westchester Putnam School Boards Association. The first involved asking the state to offer aid for districts’ fulfilling mandatory COVID testing and the other was for the state to continue to reimburse districts for transportation expenses even when students may not be transported due to COVID. At times, buses can be used for other purposes such as transporting food or equipment.

The Board opted to advocate for both by passing a resolution from the Board and encouraging residents to send letters to legislators via the Voter Voice website. You can send your own letters here: 

Gift from the Scarsdale Schools Educational Foundation

The Board accepted a gift of $59,828 from the Scarsdale Education Foundation to cover the cost of technology to assist teachers with hybrid learning. This gift will fund headsets, speaker phones for audio amplification, and video conferencing equipment. On behalf of the district, Dr. Hagerman and Jerry Crisci expressed gratitude for the foundations support which will help to improve remote learning, especially the sound during transmission of remote classes.

Watch the meeting here: