Parent's efforts to help MSAD 51 overcome in-person learning obstacles are rejected
On May 17, a North Yarmouth parent received nearly 7000 pages of MSAD 51 documents written from February to April 2021 related to the reopening of schools. The request was made through the state’s Freedom of Access Act and the parent had to sue the district to obtain the records in a timely manner in accordance with the state law. The documents included emails sent from parents to Superintendent Jeff Porter, members of the Board of Directors and communications among teachers and administrators.
These emails ranged from expressions of support for leadership during a pandemic to pleas for help for their struggling children. There were suggestions of how to increase space, contacts given for tent companies and storage lockers and offers of technical assistance.
Several wrote to say they were qualified to be substitute teachers but did not qualify with current staffing restrictions or that no one followed up on their inquiries. One parent even offered to measure every school room herself to better figure out space constraints.
Another reached out to the consultant that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts used to help their schools reopen and offered an email introduction to Superintendent Porter. Several emails were from parents who were also MSAD 51 employees.
Here are samples of those emails:
In early March, a mom receives a note from her child’s kindergarten teacher. The child is close to meeting some standards but needs extra work and seems to be checking out of the learning process.
The teacher asks the mom to commit to more computer-based lessons. The mom responds that she’s noticed that her child is becoming less and less engaged and she dreads having him sit for even more time before a screen.
“This is not the boy who was eager about school and thrived in the public pre-k program,” the mom writes. “This is not our boy. Our school system is failing him and as a parent I feel trapped.”
Despite reservations, the mom does agree to the computer program and says that as a certified teacher herself, she does know how to support her son’s learning. But she cannot give her son the social element he so needs. She thinks the lack of enthusiasm for learning comes from the hybrid learning model and provides several examples.
Then the mom emails Corey Munsey, assistant principal of Mable I Wilson School about her son’s struggles. The hybrid model is failing children and parents, she writes, and she encourages Munsey to find a way for more in-person learning.
The email reads in part: “We have always seen the amazing and positive impact you make each day...Your kindness and genuine enthusiasm for your students doesn’t go unnoticed...
She continues: “Other districts are thinking outside the box, finding ways to use space within their school buildings and communities, and partnering with parents and college students in order to help with staff shortages. We are here to help and will do whatever it takes to resume more in person learning for our children. As always, thank you for the work you do every day for our children.”
Munsey sends a quick acknowledgement and then follows up a few days later. “I apologize for the delay in responding. We continue to problem solve and work with Superintendent Porter and the health team on trying to find solutions to these difficult questions. I’ve forwarded your email to Superintendent Porter as well so he is aware.”
Munsey then offers a couple of more options for the parent including checking in with a social worker on remote days.
Then Munsey, on March 10, writes to Superintendent Porter: “I don’t think you need to do anything but I said I would forward this to you.”
Superintendent Porter responds to the pages of the email exchange: “Yes, they are on a warpath about hybrid.”
Dena McFarland a district parent and GMS 4-5 teacher writes to the board in April. She thanked the board for its endurance through the challenges of the past year. “My family and I are with you.”
McFarland highlights several points for the board to consider: “Please keep us in the hybrid model for the remainder of this school year. We have worked extremely hard to get where we are, and for so many students and families this is working (I know this because I am in touch with parents on a daily basis), and will continue to work for the short-term. April through the middle of June is short-term.
For those who are concerned that we need to "go green” now so we are able to go green in the fall: please listen to district leadership. Everyone is on board to make our entry into School Year 2021-22 in-person for all students, full- time. Going green this spring will not be a dry-run for opening in the fall.
The planning and preparation for going green this spring is different from the essential planning and preparation for going green in the fall; to make it happen this spring we would have to spend so much time and energy essentially undoing much of the current format, logistically and even academically. Please listen to what our building administrators are saying about what green would look like this spring. It is not going back to normal, not even close. The focus of our energy must go into thoughtful, deliberate preparation for a full opening in the fall. The past month-plus has already taken too much time and attention away from that.
We are making the hybrid model work for quality (yet not ideal) learning for as many students as possible in the safest way possible, while avoiding as many wide-spread quarantines and sudden ‘red zone’ days as possible. Let’s hold on for the remaining weeks.”
McFarland concludes with: “When it's time to make this difficult decision, please consider what you know to be true. Please consider the facts and recommendations shared by those who have made this district what it is. Please consider whom you trust. And then please, too, consider the tone, level of disrespect, and divisiveness generated by the backto5 group. Think about your legacy as a School Board Member.”
A family of three children moved to the district last year mostly because of the excellent schools. On March 24, the mother writes that the hybrid model is having a negative impact on the community and now personally on her children.
“(M)y son informed me that he hasn’t made any friends this year,” she writes. “Hybrid is so hard for kids to be kids and to make friends. Hybrid is lonely. Hybrid doesn’t give kids enough time at school to make connections. Hybrid is staring at an iPad or Chromebook while sitting alone in your room. Hybrid is my 6 year old crying because some of the previous days assignments were returned to be fixed...Hybrid is our kids tired of technology ...”
The mother pleads with board members: “Stop this insanity...Other schools are opening to more in-person learning. Our district should do the same.”
Tyler McGinley, chairman of the MSAD 51 Board of Directors, writes back and empathizes with the family’s situation. McGinley notes that her own children are struggling.
“I hear you,” McGinley writes.
She says that the board created the Getting to Green Committee to “find the best ways to get students in school as much as possible this year in a transparent and public way.”
McGinley asks the mom to trust the process and includes a link so the mom can watch the first Ad Hoc Committee Meeting.
Vivian Curren, a parent of a 5th and 7th grader, writes on March 16, to Superintendent Porter, saying that she wanted him to hear voices that weren’t for reopening.
“Simply put, I trust that you, our district staff, teachers, custodians, ed techs and bus drivers are doing their utmost to protect employees, students and by extension the families of those students. My children have struggled at times with hybrid learning but we all know this is what’s best, and this is what’s safest for all involved. “
Porter writes back saying her support is very much appreciated. “Thank you for sending along this message.”
On April 8, Chris Callan writes to Superintendent Porter. He opens by introducing himself as a concerned parent and a huge supporter of this town, the board and Porter.
“I recognize which ever direction you go, there will be a side that does not agree and there is no getting around that. As parents we need to be reasonable and understand that.”
Callan says that he did not speak at the board meetings or post on social media or attack people’s character. He says he is frustrated with the process that led to the board’s vote against GOING GREEN at the April 6 board meeting.
“I'd like to make you aware that the parents who are normally silently in your corner are upset and saddened with how this has been handled,” Callan says: “I am in favor of going back 4/5 days a week, but acknowledge there may be reasons this cannot happen. I would support that if I felt people were going into this process with open minds and the decisions weren't already made before the process started.”
After the board votes in early April to remain in hybrid for the rest of the year but to open the schools for a Cohort C Group – students who are especially struggling – the Cohort, administrators explain, are to receive extra in-person attention. (Though they will not be in-person instruction 4 days per week as the teachers will still be teaching the hybrid model. The in-person is more like attending study halls.)
A mother and small business owner in Cumberland writes to Board members begging to add all the younger grades to Cohort C. “At these young ages remote school does not work,” she writes: “They cannot read.”
She writes that because she has to supervise her children’s learning she cannot maintain her business and is considering closing it after 10 years of work.
Board member Kate Perrin, whose term finishes in June and is not running for reelection, writes back:
“I agree that the hybrid model has been a huge sacrifice for parents especially ones with younger children...I will be watching the numbers of students we bring back in under Cohort C and I, too, am hoping to see some larger numbers of these young learners.”
Perrin continues: “It is keeping me awake at night knowing that my decisions have resulted in hardships for families.”
District officials were given an opportunity to clarify and comment on this. They declined.
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