Midnight Board of Education Meeting: Outrage Over Vaccines; Reopening Info; Letters Oppose Opening; Budget Increase

Last night’s Board of Education meeting was heavily lead by the first agenda item, which included the health and school reopening update. The reports were provided by Superintendent Thomas Scarice, Supervisor of Health Services Suzanne Levasseur, and principals from the town’s elementary and middle schools. Although the update was relatively short, the topic garnered over 60 public comments to be read by Director of Human Resources and General Administration John Bayers, which helped push the meeting until 12:30 Wednesday morning.

Lavasseur began the meeting by presenting a similar number of COVID-19 cases in the district since last week’s meeting, and described a similar school environment that’s aided in keeping in-school transmission rates low, but made it clear that “a zero transmission rate isn’t possible” despite low numbers overall.

After a recent letter to the Board of Education cited frustration over a delay in vaccination registration, Lavasseur explained that other school district staff members received COVID-19 vaccine registration [prior to Westport] as “a mistake” with “unfortunate timing” as the Governor announced this week that educators will be bumped to a later phase of the vaccine roll-out, now saying school staff members should be receiving their vaccine in late February or early March. The new timeline is several weeks after the assumed date of vaccination. Lavasseur explained that any school staff member who registered for the vaccine prematurely was “strongly encouraged” to cancel the appointment to allow those 75 years old or older to maintain their appointments first.

Board of Education Chair Candice Savin empathized with the staff members and shared her frustration with the new delayed date. “It’s outrageous” she added, and stated that the Board of Education members have been working with State representatives to push for earlier vaccination dates for school employees.

Elementary and middle school principals shared further information about the return to full-in learning by the end of this month, and included a new website section and schedule to assist in the transition (below). They described that 6 foot social distancing would not be possible at all times, but that masks, physical dividers, and flexible spaces would mitigate risk inherited by the closer spacing. Lunch and Snack periods for elementary learners were a main area of concern for Board members and public commenters. Administrators described plexiglass dividers between students and dividing children between larger rooms to aid in creating a safe lunch environment. Extra PPE was mentioned for staff working in the higher-risk environments, such as K95 masks.

Updated Elementary School Transition Schedule:

• Wednesday, January 27:

  • All Students: At home learning day. Teachers will prepare their classrooms and instruction to accommodate their full class.

• Thursday, January 28th & Friday, January 29th:

  • K-2nd: Full day, in-person school days.

  • 3rd-5th: Remote instruction via Live Zoom on half-day, hybrid schedule. Virtual specials will not run.

• Monday, February 1st:

  • All Students: Full in-person school day.

63 public comments slowed the meeting’s pace to a crawl as each comment received was read aloud by John Bayers. After 1.5 hours of reading the comments, Bayers still had nearly 40 comments to read as the clock struck 10:30 PM. Board Member Karen Kleine brought up the idea that due to the the Board’s previously receiving many of the letters, specifically those from Westport school teachers, any remaining comments not yet read could be sent to Board members emails to avoid continuing the read aloud session - an idea opposed by Board members Lee Goldstein and Youn Su Chao. With several agenda items still needing to be discussed, the Board decided to delay the reading until after the remaining agenda items, at which point they would decide how to handle the dozens of comments still to be read.

The majority of the comments read in the preliminary reading were all in opposition to Scarice’s decision to transition to full-in learning on February 1st, with many coming from Westport Public Schools staff members - one calling on Board of Education members to wonder “would you feel safe having your 63 year old [family member] go into a room with dozens of unmasked children multiple times per day?” The staff members’ overwhelming topic of feeling underappreciated, stressed out, and scared for the change was echoed by Board members, who took the feelings into account when deciding to continue reading the letters during the meeting, or to post the letter publicly online.

The meeting continued towards Wednesday morning with the nearly 4% budget increase discussions, including Technology, Staffing, Special Education, and Teaching and Learning items all needing to be presented. The Board of Education told Superintendent Scarice and CFO Elio Longo to look into options for a 3% increase, with all members interested in keeping the increase closer to 3% instead of the current 3.98%.

A Discussion of Capital Projects Plan with the Finance and Facilities committee was also on the agenda, as well as April 1st being a school day for staff and students

At 12:30 AM, Chair Savin proposed emailing all remaining public commentary from Agenda Item 1 regarding the School Reopening to Board members, and publicly posting them. One Board member added that they felt the Board could approach the teacher’s unions to find a way that allows teachers’ voices to be heard and to assure that they are included. The meeting ended at 12:33 AM.