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Decatur School Board to discuss COVID-19 mitigation strategies, updated board norms

Decatur

Decatur School Board to discuss COVID-19 mitigation strategies, updated board norms

FILE PHOTO USED FOR ILLUSTRATION PURPOSES: Maria Bachman, an 8th grade science teacher for City Schools of Decatur performs a hands-on experiment using a candle to show the difference in airflow through several types of cloth used in masks. Photo by Dean Hesse.
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Decatur, GA — The City Schools of Decatur Board of Education meets tonight at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. On the agenda for the meeting, Superintendent Maggie Fehrman will give an overview of the COVID-19 mitigation strategies for the upcoming school year.

To access the meeting, follow these instructions: 

The meeting will be held via Zoom. To access the meeting, click here. Or to join the meeting by phone dial:+1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592. Webinar ID: 956 1415 9391

The agenda for the meeting can be found here.

Fehrman outlined the COVID-19 mitigation strategies at the May 11 School Board meeting and previously said the district strives to follow suit with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CSD plans to continue monitoring CDC guidance over the summer.

The mitigation strategies that were previously discussed include all individuals wearing masks while indoors and outdoors when closer than six feet apart; regular hand washing and social distancing; eating lunch outside when possible; and cohorting students.

The School Board will vote on the updated board norms, which are the standards set for working together positively and productively as a group. The Board of Education Governance Handbook includes the board’s vision, mission, priorities and norms.

The three priorities listed in the handbook are advancing racial equity, accelerating student learning and building a positive culture and climate.

One change to the handbook relates to public comment. The updated section states the public comments are expected and that it is not meant to be a question and answer period. The total amount of time allotted for public comment is one hour or 20 speakers. The time limit for speakers is three minutes.

Comments made during public comments should be addressed to the board as a whole and not to individual members. The board chair has the discretion to ask someone to step down or be muted if they violate the public comment policy.

Another update states that the school board will not use board committees and acknowledges that the superintendent regularly forms committees, that are not comprised of board members, to gather input and solve problems. The superintendent will then present summary findings and recommendations from the committee to the School Board for their information.

Other agenda items for discussion will be a state of facilities report and a Cognia accreditation report.

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