by Phil Blackwell
Hours after the New York State Department of Education released its 23-page set of guidelines for the opening of schools in the fall, the Jamesville-DeWitt School District began to outline its own plans.
In a presentation to the J-D Board of Education at its July 13 meeting, superintendent Dr. Peter Smith outlined what a committee of school officials had worked on since schools closed in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Smith said that five principles – health and safety, equity, continuity, communication with stakeholders and flexibility – guided the committee’s work, with a knowledge that none of it would be easy.
“We have to think about all aspects of our operations,” said Smith.
Three areas of focus – the well-being of students and faculty, educational content, and facilities – will get emphasized, with special attention given to making sure teachers are up to speed on remote learning if classrooms remain closed, along with sanitizing buildings, addressing social distancing and transportation.
Whether the district opens its schools, continues remote instruction or does a hybrid of the two plans, said Smith, “training for our teachers is critical and very challenging.”
When pressed by board members on specific aspects of the plan, Smith said that it’s likely surveys will go out to parents to see their level of comfort in sending their children to school.
All of this will lead to the district announcing its reopening plans at the July 27 board meeting, right before the state’s deadline for submitting those plans and a week before Governor Andrew Cuomo is slated to make his decision on whether the schools open at all.
To a large degree, the wait to see what school will look like in September informed another key issue addressed by the board – whether it will retain its school resource officer.
Since 2018, J-D has employed an SRO supplied by the town of DeWitt’s police department.
Now, in the wake of national protests against police brutality, it’s a subject of debate within the district.
Letters and emails sent to the school board on both sides of the issue were addressed by most of the board members. This included a letter sent by the DeWitt Police Benevolent Association supporting the position.
“In a time when the public is seeking more accountability and understanding of law enforcement nationwide, this position is critical to facilitating those goals,” the letter said.
During the 2019-20 school year, the letter said, the SRO was called to 20 different incidents at the various school buildings without an arrest of any student.
Board members acknowledged the delicacy of this issue. “This is a very big challenge,” said board president Wendy Rhodes. “We are united in our desire to make (our schools) a safe and equitable culture.”
For their part, board members Christine Woodcock Dettor and Lori DeForest both said that it was important to review all the issues with the SRO, especially for the benefit of new members Joe Gross and David Leach, who were sworn in during the board’s reorganization meeting earlier in the night.
Also addressing this topic, Smith said that the question of whether an SRO would be maintained was part of the district’s overall safety plan that, once made public, must undergo a 30-day review before getting board approval, likely at the end of August.
