OLMC School Board Meeting Minutes
August 18, 2020
Members Present: Jason Swann, Leigh Gusta, Tammy Pullum, Melissa Kramer, Marlyn Cairatti, Barry Vesciglio, Scott Stefan, Liz Issler, Angela Holmes, MaryEdna Russell, Mary Bondioli
1. Opening Prayer
Leigh called the meeting to order at 6:02, and Father Mark led the Board in prayer.
2. Approval of July minutes
Liz made a motion to approve the July minutes, and Tammy seconded.
3. Pastor’s Report: Welcome Father Mark Reyling!
The Board introduced themselves to Father Mark, and he told a little about his background. He reported that he was in the process of working with Mr. Swann to get the kids back in the church for Mass during the week. Ideas are to possibly stagger classes on different days, without including parents and other parishioners except on Wednesday evening and maybe Friday mornings. Fr. Mark also blessed two trees this week, one of which Fr. Ken had nurtured from its beginning, and the other a Red Oak. Fr. Mark also shared his new email address: frmark@olmc-herrin.net.
4. Principal’s Report
Update on first week of school
The first week back went very well; Mr. Swann was very impressed with the resilience and performance of both the staff and students. The kids are wearing their masks well, the pods in the school are working to contain different groups of students, and the teachers are working non-stop to ensure the safety of everyone. He stressed the great need for volunteers so that the teachers could have some breaks now and then. Volunteers have been helping with check-in in the mornings, and Mr. Swann is circulating around the school frequently during the day to make sure everyone is following protocols. We have had no positive COVID tests as of yet. Our enrollment is still strong at 245, 16 of whom are remote at this time.
Remote Learning discussion
As stated above, the parents of 16 students have chosen remote learning. This decision may be made by the parents quarter by quarter. Each teacher is responsible for their own remote learners, which is working well so far, since the remote students are fairly evenly scattered throughout the grades. PreK through 2nd grades are using the SeeSaw platform, and 3rd-8th grades are using mostly Google Classroom, and also some Zoom. The teachers are posting recorded instructional videos and posting/uploading assignments each day, as well as using some live chats at certain times. The remote students are responsible for turning in the same completed assignments as their in-class peers, and will be graded and held to the same standard as their peers, with a few allowances given due to the remote format (internet difficulties, communication issues, etc.). If a whole classroom (or the whole school) would need to be quarantined in the future, the students will be expected to log on around 8:00-8:15 and go “live” until midday.
Questions and discussion about Re-entry plan to date
Mr. Swann reported that the school continues to look at its Re-entry plan weekly, if not more often. Updated information from ISBE, IDPH, and CDC is always considered, as well as what other schools are doing, and what is and is not working.
Miine Health App
Parents should be downloading this app, and must be linked to Option C for it to work, as it is controlled by the Belleville Diocese. Once downloaded, it is fairly easy to use, although it just became live yesterday (August 17), and still has some glitches. It is somewhat problematic for parents with multiple children, since they then have multiple accounts. The app asks parents questions daily regarding possible COVID symptoms and exposure. If the parent answers “yes” to any of the questions, they are told to quarantine for 2 weeks, and to contact Mr. Swann. However, Mr. Swann pointed out that some of the questions need to be viewed with common sense, i.e. if a child typically has allergies or has had an ear infection, they might have one or more of the symptoms on the app, and may not need to quarantine. If parents have questions about their child’s symptoms or other issues, the Diocese has a medical team that is taking calls and can respond. The staff is doing manual checks of each student daily as well. Mr. Swann said that many families still have not downloaded this app, but that eventually they all need to join in order to track symptoms more efficiently.
Substitute Teacher report
We are very low on substitute teachers this year, as some we have used in the past have concerns about COVID issues. Mr. Swann said we do have a few new applications and he has talked to some subs we have used in the past, so hopefully we will be able to find more soon.
5. School Committee report
Kent Ingersoll reported that the committee met last night (August 17) and discussed how to continue some of their fundraisers virtually. The Auction is set for Saturday, May 1 at the Marion Pavilion. The 5K/Bocce Tournament is set for Saturday, October 10. They had wanted to have a big fall festival along with the 5K, but are now talking about replacing that with something smaller due to COVID. Mardi Gras will still take place, but we may not have the carnival, and have carry-out food instead of eat-in. Raffle tickets could also be done virtually, with winners announced live on Facebook or some other platform. The next School Committee meeting is set for September 21.
Tammy had a question about whether the school was offering any mental health services this year, especially considering the loss of Fr. Ken, and the COVID crisis/return to school issues. Mr. Swann reported that our social worker, Roger, must only do teletherapy due to personal health issues. The logistics of how this would work with privacy issues, technology limitations, etc., especially for our younger students, are still being considered.
The Board set the next few meetings for the third Tuesday of each month at 6:00 at the school: September 15, October 20, November 17, and December 15.
Barry motioned to end the meeting at 7:12 and Liz seconded.