In a brief update on the Mercer Island School District (MISD) website posted June 15, Superintendent Donna Colosky confirmed that using the state’s Office of Superintendent Public Instruction (OSPI) guidelines, the district “will be busy planning for fall 2020” with several workgroups comprising MISD personnel.

Earlier this month, Colosky had shared a letter outlining the district’s tentative plans for the upcoming school year, which went into detail about the workgroups and the objectives of each.

“Like you, I am hopeful for a return to open schools and social (in-person) interaction,” Colosky wrote in the June 5 letter. “Given the continuing pandemic, however, we must also plan for other scenarios in accordance with state-mandated protections. Please be assured that MISD remains committed to our students, staff and community to provide the best education and learning environment possible.”

In her letter, Colosky said that the workgroups would be looking at the numerous factors required to open schools safely in September.

“When forming these workgroups, we sought a diverse representation of perspectives through a range of participants among students, classroom teachers, instructional coaches, special education staff, classified staff (i.e., bus drivers, custodians, paraprofessionals, administrators), the Mercer Island Education Association and parents representing the different schools and levels,” Colosky wrote.

She added that later this month, and throughout the summer, the district will provide updates on future plans.

In her letter, Colosky expounded on two main workgroups — the Learning Forward Workgroups and Operations Workgroups — and the teams constituting them.

According to Colosky, the elementary, middle and high school learning forward workgroups are tasked with defining what learning will look like at each level. When planning, they are to first prioritize remote learning “2.0,” and then, depending on guidelines, a hybrid of remote and in-building instruction and then, finally, in-building learning.

The letter shared four teams classified under the Learning Forward workgroup umbrella and are described in the letter as follows:

• The Assessment Team will work with each level to support the research, implementation and analysis of student learning data to inform progress at the student, building, and district levels.
• Instructional Technology Team will support buildings and levels in the development and deployment of technological solutions to online, hybrid or in-building learning as schools prepare for 2020-2021.
• Special Services and Inclusive Education Team will assure that practices are inclusive for all students and provide capacity for Tier 2 and 3 interventions.
• Professional Learning Team will be responsible for collaborating with schools to develop ongoing professional learning to support online, hybrid and classroom instruction during the recovery process in 2020-2021.

Operations workgroups, as stated in the letter, “will support the learning workgroups, as well as coordinate regulations and guidance from other entities, such as OSPI, State Department of Health and King County Public — Health.” They are described in the letter as follows:

• The Finance Team will be responsible for supporting all teams through monitoring and estimating costs related to suggested implementation of strategies for reopening school buildings for 2020 2021.
• The Transportation Workgroup will work within the health and safety regulations of Public Health to create scenarios for transporting students to and from school within the current resources available (i.e., numbers of drivers and buses).
• The Facilities Workgroup will work closely with the Health and Safety Workgroup to determine how any regulations from public health (county and state levels) will impact use and capacity of each facility.
• The Health and Safety Workgroup will work to align with health regulations (county and state) to consider best practices for the health and safety of students and staff. Close collaboration with other teams will be critical as potential regulations are determined and the impact on other elements of each of the team’s work will be critical.

“We look forward to providing the best possible education and safe learning environment for our students and staff in 2020,” Colosky concluded in the letter.

To read the update in full, go to the MISD website.