The Board of Education meeting opened with a moment of silence for Frank P. Long Intermediate and Verne W. Critz Elementary schools retired teacher Karen Ann Hughes who has passed away. The trustees asked that the community keeps the Hughes family in its thoughts during this difficult time.

During his report, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Joseph Giani announced that the USDA has extended the Free Meals program to include the entire 2020-2021 school year.

Dr. Giani reported that the District has received requests from parents to bring students back to school full time, five days per week. He noted that administration is carefully examining how the District can bring groups of students in more frequently for in-person instruction, now that staff and students are more comfortable with social-distancing. To assist with this review, a parent/teacher survey was sent out on October 16, 2020 about the District’s current Hybrid/Remote Teaching and Learning Model and to determine the level of comfort in bringing students back for more in-person instruction. Surveys are due by October 23, 2020. The issue of more in-person instruction was also broached during the public commentary, in which letters from the community were read by District Clerk Christine Flynn.

The trustees unanimously approved the Board’s Priorities for the 2020-2021 school year. Using the 2019-2020 Board Priorities as a starting point, two priorities were ultimately updated and a sixth priority was created. The added priority focuses on three items including equity in education, technology and remote learning and social-emotional support for students and staff.

There was further discussion about the District’s Reopening Plan, which was unanimously approved. Dr. Giani and the Board discussed providing additional in-person instruction, as requested by the community. The Board discussed with Dr. Giani the obstacles in bringing all students back with a 6 feet social-distancing guideline in place, saying that the guideline would have to be breached due to the lack of available space. Other obstacles included busing, the cost of barriers and the possibility of having to hire more teachers. Whether to provide a hybrid model would also have to be considered. Using the data from the previously mentioned survey, the administration will develop a plan to phase-in the return of all students to school for full-time instruction, five days a week.

The Board is considering participation in the Suffolk County School Bus Stop Arm Camera Program, a voluntary/no-cost program in which a camera device is placed on school bus stop arms. The cameras track vehicles who pass the bus when it is stopped to load or unload, ticketing violators. It is designed to improve the safety of students boarding and exiting school buses.

The Board also discussed and is reviewing a First Reading of Policy 3170: Correspondence to the School Board. The Strategic Planning Committee reviewed the policy and made minor revisions to include “email” in the policy.

The Board also thanked DonorsChoose.org for various donations to Frank P. Long Intermediate School classrooms, the Suffolk County Soil & Water Conservation District for an Agriculture in the Classroom grant, and Intralogic Solutions for the donation of three Tempe Devices.

The next meeting will be held on October 28, 2020 at 6:15 p.m.