Regional School Unit 71 Superintendent Mary Alice McLean distributed the following weekly letter to the community Friday, Jan. 14. RSU 71 comprises public schools in Belfast, Belmont, Swanville, Searsmont and Morrill.

Dear RSU 71 Students, Families, Staff, School Board, and Community Partners, 

On Monday night, the RSU 71 School Board heard excellent feedback from 17 community stakeholders on both sides on the controversy over whether to require masks or not. After public participation, the board voted 7 to 1 in favor of CDC revisions as reflected in our RSU 71 Plan: RSU #71 Guidance for COVID-19 Prevention in our K-12 Schools Revised and Approved January 10, 2022 (Approved 8/23/2021)

We thank the 70 people who attended that meeting, 17 of whom spoke during the public participation segment, and many others who emailed the school board and me to share their views: WVS Article.  

Survey data from this fall shows strong support for universal masking, with 83% of the more than 1,000 parents responding that they will send their children to school if we require masks. 

However, 17% of parents said they would not send their children to school if masks are required (which may account for a drop in our enrollment, with more families choosing the homeschooling option). 32.5 % of parents think mask-wearing should be optional in a separate question. At the same time, the majority of parents (58%) believe that masking should be required at least to some extent, such as during periods of high and moderate community transmission.

Despite the steep rise in coronavirus transmission due to the highly contagious omicron variant, we continue to do everything we can to keep our fabulous students and families and RSU 71 staff and their families safe. We care about our students and their families, and we care about our staff and their families. 

The most helpful and significant change in the new CDC guidance is that we will  no longer have to quarantine students and staff who have been in close contact with an individual who tested positive for COVID-19. Many students and staff, too, have had to quarantine repeatedly, impacting academic achievement, social and emotional well-being and adversely impacting parents' work schedules. However, to stop quarantining, we need to require mask-wearing by everyone inside our schools throughout all days and evening activities. 

While we no longer have to conduct contract tracing, our school nurses and administrators are committed to continuing to do so, using our ROBO system to notify families about students who have had close contact with a positive case. Here is more information about notification practices in two templates used by our school nurses and their principals:  Family Robo Notification Letter  & Close contact notification letter.

Another helpful change is that we no longer need to quarantine students due to close contact between students outside at recess and on the school bus.

Pandemic Update:

Reminder about Pooled Testing- Monday, January 17  is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, so we will be testing all schools on Tuesday. However, if there is inclement weather on Tuesday, we will test on Wednesday.

Data from the Week - As you can see in the attached chart, despite the surge in new cases, the number of individuals needing to stay out of school has dropped dramatically because of changes in the SOP. As a result, only those who have tested positive or are symptomatic have needed to stay home from school and work. So far this week, we have tracked 54 positive cases in RSU 71, and as of last week, we had tracked 223 positive cases this school year. (That number will go up further today as we add this week's data along with test results of today's symptomatic individuals as their test results become known.)

 

Good News and Information:

 

It takes a caring community to make school a positive and rewarding place for our students! Anonymous community members give Colburn Shoe Store money for students who need footwear at East Belfast Elementary and Kermit Nickerson. This week, three students needed sneakers, and Colby Horne, the owner of Colburn Shoe Store, used funds from this account to supply them with new sneakers. Thank you to Colby Horn and generous donors!

 

Troy Howard Middle School: Teacher Sarah Wyman shares that 8th-grade students presented their finest literary cuisine (writing pieces coupled with creativity) to local food critics (school staff) in hopes of being named the "Top Chef" in their class. Students had a menu of various writing activities such as creating a magazine, designing their dream house or job, planning a dream vacation, or even writing a stand-up comedy act! Students, I mean chefs, selected menu items to showcase their unique abilities and interests to win the Top Chef competition. They were scored on visual appearance, creativity, originality, completeness, grammar, and writing content. It was very difficult for our judges to select just one winner with such great work! The top three Chefs in each class were awarded a trophy or medal! Congratulations to all of our phenomenal Chefs!

 

Teacher Samantha Maheu shares that 8th grade Art students have finished quarter 2 strong with plaster hand sculptures and winter watercolor painting.

 

Professional Development in Mathematics: Teachers in grades 4-8 meet with math facilitators from Maine Math and Science Alliance to develop a formative math interview tool to determine student fluency levels. We learn that fluency is not about speed or how fast they can solve a problem. Instead, it is about a student's ability to be flexible and accurate in finding a solution to problems. Teachers use the interview tool to meet with students individually to understand better what a student is thinking and doing as they solve problems. Teachers will use this information to inform their instruction and connect to their standards.

 

Social Workers: Social Workers are meeting today to discuss their work in schools supporting both students and staff. We are grateful that we now have social workers in each school working together with principals, school counselors, nurses, and teachers to provide support as needed. Please reach out to your students' principal if you have concerns or worries and feel they may benefit from this kind of support. 

 

School Counselors: K-12 School Counselors met last Friday and again on Thursday. They are eager to begin piloting a new career education program called Xello. This year they will be piloting it with a range of students, and the program will grow to other grade levels each year. Contact your school counselor for more information. They also create and organize resources for students and their families and staff in a crisis. Their efforts will support our goal of a safe and supportive district for all. 

 

That's it for this week. I'm sending this update with warm wishes for meaning and reflection this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend. (I have been hearing Reverend King's “I Have a Dream” speech in my head: ‘'Free at last …free at last … thank God Almighty, we're free at last.’' And I very much look forward to reciting it aloud once we are all free of this blasted pandemic!

Mary Alice McLean