Update: 6:40 p.m.
Batavia Superintendent Anibal Soler Jr., at tonight's Board of Education meeting, has reported that school will start for students on Sept. 14, following four days of teacher training days -- Sept. 8-11.
He also said that some days scheduled as off days will now be school days, ensuring that there will be 180 days of learning for students.
Soler said that virtual public meetings are being planned for each of the district's schools prior to Aug. 21, as required by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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Reading, writing, arithmetic, respiratory hygiene.
Teachers will need to be versed in much more than academics during the 2020-21 school year, which gets underway in less than a month.
“We have days at the beginning of the school year that are teacher-only when we’re going to receive some training on COVID procedures along with some professional development on teaching the hybrid model and the virtual model,” said Mark Warren, president of the Batavia Teachers’ Association.
He said the exact training days prior to the date when students return are expected to be determined at the Batavia City School District’s Board of Education meeting at 6:30 tonight. It can be viewed on the district’s YouTube page.
Warren said teachers and other staff will be trained how “to instruct students in proper hand washing, how to cough and sneeze appropriately, and recognizing the symptoms of COVID.”
“I’m not sure if it will be district-led or coordinated by the health department or by another outside person coming in to the school,” he said.
According to the Batavia City School District’s 97-page reopening plan, the district “will ensure all students are taught or trained how to follow new COVID-19 protocols safely and correctly, including but not limited to hand hygiene, proper face covering wearing, social distancing, and respiratory hygiene.”
The plan was developed by the Reopen Batavia Strong Task Force, which included input from the teachers’ union, Warren said.
It spells out that additional training will be provided in:
- Prevention of disease spreads by staying home when they are sick.
- Proper respiratory etiquette, including covering coughs and sneezes.
- Avoiding the use of communal objects. If communal objects must be used, provide information on proper disinfection procedures between use. Examples of communal objects include, but are not limited to, other workers’ phones, desks, offices, computers or other devices, other work tools and equipment.
- Providing employees and students with up-to-date education and training on COVID-19.
- Risk factors and protective behaviors (i.e., cough etiquette and care of Personal Protective Equipment).
The plan also advises that the district will designate those familiar with the Center for Disease Control and Occupational Safety and Health Administration protocols, and Department of Health guidelines in each building as trained screeners. Screeners will be required to wear Personal Protective Equipment provided by the district.
Warren said students have to wear masks on the bus and when they’re transitioning, but said he believes they are allowed to take them off when they are seated and are six feet apart.
He acknowledged that it could be difficult for the younger children.
“I have a second- and fourth-grader and we’ve been working on it at home,” he said.
On the scholastic side, Warren said some teachers will preside over exclusively online courses and others will have a mix of in-school and virtual.
“My preliminary schedule, for example, has one of the courses as an online-only course, and the rest of the courses are hybrid courses where I’ll see the kids some days and they’ll be remote some days,” he advised.
Warren teaches 11th- and 12th-grade math – calculus and a third-year elective called Math for Trades.
