Tonight's @MetroSchools Board of Education meeting is underway. Follow along with me for updates (but be easy on me, it's only my second day at the @Tennessean).

Background: MNPS Director Adrienne Battle is expected to give an update on the district's planning process for reopening schools this fall.

(You can also follow along with the meeting in the video embedded in this story ) https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/education/2020/06/23/metro-nashville-schools-director-update-school-reopening-plans-coronavirus/3235619001/

Board chair Amy Frogge is addressing concerns she has and has heard from the community regarding the 2020 Magnet Schools Assistance Program.

Apparently some have criticized the board for "ceding" some of its authority to the director of schools.

CLARIFICATION: Frogge is referring to a resolution to approve the Nashville Plan for the 2020-21 School Year NOT the 2020 Magnet Schools Assistance Program resolution.

(A board member also needed clarification)

A sentence references that any board policy that conflicts with the Nashville Plan would be temporarily suspended, according to Jill Speering of District 3. She is concerned by that and asks for Battle to inform the board of specific policies prior to suspending them.

Battle tells Speering that that should not be an issue.

"Any plans that we would bring forth should come before the board," she says.

Battle says the only scenario that might come up would be an emergency need such as an urgent response to a COVID-19 situation - she compares it to the need for an inclement weather day for a day or two.

Otherwise any plan that would affect policy should come before the board.

Next up is an HR update from Christopher Barnes, chief of human resources. Barnes said it will focus on staffing trends and patterns.

Tonight's report focuses specifically on obtaining and retaining teachers.

Currently, 39 @MetroSchools have no vacancies for the 2020-21 school year.

Staffing schools and filling vacancies is one of the biggest challenges for preparing for a new school year, especially for Tennessee's larger school districts.

Another 63 schools have 3 or less vacancies. Currently there are 439 total staff vacancies in @MetroSchools — currently 241 are support staff and 195 are certificated.

Barnes said that at this time last year, there were 275 certified vacancies.

Barnes' focus tonight is on 183 teachers/staff who were displaced due to either budget issues or enrollment capacity.

The district has been helping those folks find vacancies and has placed 126.

Thanks to the school consolidations announced last month, 142 certified teachers were displaced but only about 15 are still awaiting placement.

Like other large districts some of the highest numbers of vacancies are in math and exceptional education (including certified ex. ed teachers and paraprofessionals).

The district also needs to hire more than 40 cafeteria/school nutrition workers.

Every time the district gets a resignation notice now, an email is sent to the employee with a link to an exit survey, as well an invitation to reach out to Barnes' office if they'd like to schedule a more comprehensive exit interview.

(The exit survey is also now posted online)

Board member Gini Pupo-Walker thanks Barnes for his office's work.

She mentions that one of the possible upsides of the current recession could be that the district might be able to easily fill some support staff and bus driver positions.

Speering is also concerned about the impact reopening schools physically could have on teacher retention.

She says that she has heard from principals who have said that some teachers might 'quit last minute' because they don't feel comfortable returning to school.

Board member Fran Bush, of District 6, says she was hard on Barnes at first but she is very appreciative of the direction that the district's HR work is going.

"You're moving the needle," Bush said.

District 1 board member Sharon Gentry asks for more information regarding the vacancies though. With 102 schools with 3 or less vacancies, that leaves a "good chunk" (bout 80) schools with 4 or more vacancies.

Gentry wants to see the number of vacancies in priority schools specifically as well as my subject area.

Teacher turnover is highest in the lowest-performing schools in most districts national. This isn't a new trend.

New teachers, especially new teachers in low-performing schools, and teachers in turnaround schools in general are much more likely to burn out and leave.

Barnes notes that even more specifically than priority schools, but middle school is also particularly difficult to staff.

In May and June, the district has had 104 resignations and retirements, but Barnes doesn't have how many are retirements versus resignations.

Board member Rachael Anne Elrod of District 2 is curious about the district's plans for filling exceptional education teachers and paraprofessionals positions specifically.

She asks if this is an increase in the number of vacancies the district currently has.

Elrod also asks Barnes what the plan is for finding folks for those roles.

Barnes notes that the district often pulls ex. education teachers from their own paraprofessionals.

The district might help train a paraprofessional and as they become specially certified they fill a certified role, but that also becomes self-defeating as it leaves a paraprofessional hole.

Barnes also notes that exceptional education is a nationwide issue — which it is.

Now, @MetroSchools Director Adrienne Battle is updating the board on the district's current work towards developing a framework for reopening schools.

"The biggest challenge we face is how to provide a consistent, high quality education in variety of environments and to do some equitably," Battle said.

As mentioned in my advance story, the district's task force is split into three working groups: operations, academic planning and staff, family and student support.

@MetroSchools has also recently surveyed staff and families. As far as staff, the district surveyed support employees and certified staff separately.

Battle says that unsurprising that among teachers, those who wanted to return to the classroom correlated with how comfortable (or uncomfortable) they were with technology and remote learning.

60% of respondents to @MetroSchools' family survey were comfortable or mostly comfortable with a hybrid approach to returning to schools this fall, according to Battle.

"The older a student gets, the support for remote learning grows," Battle points out.

She notices that there is a strong appetite for remote learning among at least 1/4 of parents and teachers.

Battle concludes that she believes the district should offer as many remote learning opportunities to students as possible across subjects and grade levels so that parents can determine what they are most comfortable with.

She notes that this would affect staffing, technology availability and the district's budget.

Battle also notes what the @Tennessean and the @TNLookout reported today — which is that all 90K netbooks ordered for Metro students will not be here in time for the first day of school.

In addition to her update on the reopening plan, Battle is presenting an update on the Metro government budget.

District 5's Christiane Buggs asked about the plan for students who have one of the 10,000 devices that @MetroSchools handed out this spring (apparently there was a 2 laptop-per-household limit).

Battle said that students will be able to hold on to those until they are replaced by the new devices.

Buggs is also curious about 1:1 support staff, such as paraprofessionals who are assigned to one student — will they have laptops, she asked?

All teachers should have laptops, according to what an MNPS spokesman told me earlier.

But paraprofessionals might not and they might also be facing both in-person and virtual support for different students this fall depending on the scenarios the district adopts.

Buggs asked Battle if supporting paraprofessionals and adding devices will have a large budgetary impact.

Battle: "That will continue to be a space where we'll need to fill some gaps."

Battle notes that as the school year gets closer and closer, different plans have evolved. A few weeks ago, she was considering 4 different scenarios — as of today, Battle thinks there are two main scenarios the district is considering.

"This is an opportunity, given the feedback that we have received, to be as responsive as we can," Battle says, responding to Speering's compliments about the survey results.

Personal note: I'm pleased to hear board members asking for this survey data disaggregated by specific communities, schools, areas, etc.

(I asked for the raw data too!)

District 8's Pupo-Walker requested this type of data in order to evaluate if parents in certain areas are more concerned (and how) than others.

Pupo-Walker also asked if the district has put together plans for what happens if a COVID-19 case or outbreak is reported in a school.

District officials note that this is a "what if" question but they are already expecting that this will happen.