Charlie Shields Archives

Missouri reviews whether it can give teachers a bonus. There’s good news and bad news

March 10, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri K-12 Education Department has been reviewing whether the state can use federal coronavirus aid to give teachers a bonus next school year if they stay on the job. The idea was first brought up last October by state Board of Education President Charlie Shields as a way to keep teachers around.

The state already has a persistent shortage of teachers and COVID-19 has made the problem even worse. The pandemic has added a great deal of stress to the workload of Missouri’s roughly 70,000 pre-K-12 public school teachers.

During Tuesday’s board meeting, Deputy Commissioner of Finance, Kari Monsees, says there’s good news and bad news on the bonus front.

“The challenge for us in Missouri is we have case law in statutes that are fairly limiting us in terms of incentives or bonuses,” says Monsees. “But we do have a wide range of flexibility to try and support teachers for all the extra things that they are doing that are covid related.”

Dr. Monsees says the department is also discussing whether to use some of the federal relief to build a grant program for long-term teacher recruitment and retention efforts.

Shields, of northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph, suggests finding bills with momentum in the Legislature and adding language to include even greater flexibility. He is a former state Senate president.

“If there are barriers in statute, obviously we can’t fix the Constitution. We can’t undo case law,” says Shields. “But if there are barriers in statute, there are pieces moving. I would think there would be some receptivity to doing things around this area.”

Board member Peter Herschend, of southwest Missouri’s Branson, suggests asking for Gov. Mike Parson’s help.

“I remember very specifically the governor looking us in the eye and saying, ‘If you have something that needs to be changed that will make a difference for educators, let me know.’ I wouldn’t go after the whole loaf of bread but if we can get exactly what Charlie is saying. If we can define an area – let’s just say it’s an emergency change in statute just in the compensation area.”

Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven says the department continues to review its options.

“I agree and I’ve had every member of this board look me in the eye and say they are concerned about teacher salary and I’ve had the governor look me in the eye and say, ‘Figure out something with teacher salary.’ Now we are getting additional funds. We have to figure it out. We understand. We are just have to figure out the best way. We absolutely need to do it. But it’s going to take a bit of a creative solution but one that is manageable and also again continues to be something that is sustainable. That’s the hardest part as well. It’s a one-time shot. It’s not like we are going to get this funding and continue with it,” she says.

Dr. Vandeven says the funding can be used for additional services provided.

“I think there are ways we can do this. It’s not as simple as you get hazard pay. It has to be very specific. Some industries have been able to write people checks for hazard pay, for example. This funding expressly states that you cannot do that, but you can pay them for extended learning time, or for extra services, which they have done. Bringing them back as a sign on component, it would have to be eligible for everyone to do that. It can’t just be certain teachers. It has to be everybody,” says Vandeven.

In other board news, Missouri K-12 public schools will have a little more time to complete statewide MAP tests this year. Assistant Commissioner Blaine Henningsen says the spring testing period has been extended an extra two weeks – to June 15.

“We’ve shared with this board many times how critical we think it is for state assessments to take place this year because we need to know where kids are based upon the experiences that they’ve had with instruction this year,” says Dr. Henningsen. “We will use assessment data to identify learning gaps among students, to inform decisions on how to best serve those students, and to provide additional supports and resources. This will also help provide meaningful information for students, parents, educators, and policy makers.”

Missouri could offer a fall MAP testing period if districts cannot meet the state’s requirement of holding 85-percent of onsite testing this spring.

MAP test results for this year only will not count against districts for funding and accreditation purposes.

Missouri K-12 community waits its turn to get COVID-19 vaccination

January 15, 2021 By Alisa Nelson

The state is not quite there yet in offering the COVID-19 vaccination to Missouri’s K-12 school workers. It is working on a plan to get them vaccinated when it is their turn. During a state Board of Education meeting this week, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Spokeswoman Mallory McGowin said supply continues to be an obstacle.

“The number of vaccines we have gotten into the state has not been what we were hoping at this point,” she said. “And so, that is affecting the timeline obviously for our K-12 audience.”

Missouri K-12 community waits its turn to get COVID-19 vaccination

Member Mary Schrag of southern Missouri’s West Plains said the medical community in rural Missouri is also lacking vaccine.

So far, the immunizations have been offered to Missouri’s health care workers as well as long-term care staff and patients. On Thursday, the state began offering them to first responders and remaining health care workers. Beginning Monday, individuals 65 and older and those with an increased risk of severe illness can get vaccinated.

K-12 school employees are next in line. Some board members, including President Charlie Shields, said the education community should be higher on the priority list.

“The faster we get the education community immunized, the faster we get back to in-person learning, which we have said as a board is a huge priority,” said Shields. “The more kids we have in school, the more parents we have able to re-enter the workforce, the faster the economy recovers.”

School nurses could help to vaccinate fellow employees. Some workers might end up going to a nearby Walgreens or CVS Pharmacy. Shields said hospitals “stand ready to help.”

“What we would do is set up in a large space be it a gymnasium or a cafeteria, have several people doing the immunizations, doing the registration, things like that. Then we need to be able to watch people for 15 minutes to make sure they don’t have a reaction,” he said. “So, it takes a lot of manpower to do these. But when you set them up right, you can do hundreds if not thousands a day. So, you can imagine it wouldn’t take very long to do an entire school district.”

Shields, of northwest Missouri’s St. Joseph, is the CEO of Truman Medical Center in Kansas City and serves on the Missouri Hospital Association Board.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine tracker shows more than 528,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine had been delivered to Missouri’s hospitals, health care providers, local health departments, or pharmacies. Gov. Mike Parson says Missouri has administered at least 190,000 doses of the immunization.

Missouri K-12 statewide testing to move forward, but results won’t be used for accountability purposes

December 9, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri Board of Education voted Tuesday to avoid using 2021 standardized test results for state and federal accountability. Members still want the state’s K-12 public school students to take statewide tests next year, but they do not want the results to count against schools for funding and accreditation purposes.

Missouri Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven

The move might lower the blood pressure of some teachers and administrators who are overwhelmed enough as it is this school year from COVID-19’s wrath on education and life in general. During Tuesday’s board meeting, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said she wants teachers to be able to focus on the fundamentals.

“We want them to be educating our kids and we believe that if they continue to educate the kids to the best of their ability, the scores generally take care of themselves. But we expect to see some differentiation. Who wouldn’t expect to see that,” she asked.

Dr. Vandeven went on to say the state must still continue to maintain high expectations of learning during the pandemic.

“It’s also not very healthy for young adults to give them a diploma or a credential and then have them go into the next phase of life and not really be prepared,” she said. “We have to know that they have acquired certain skills.”

Assistant Commissioner Chris Neale said accountability systems are built around standard metrics and this academic year is anything but standard.

Victor Lenz

“At this point, we know quite a bit about how instruction is being provided but we do not yet have hard data on how students are doing. The anecdotal information that we hear ranges from students doing fairly well to students who are struggling terribly,” said Dr. Neale. “We believe all of this may be true and that student success is very dependent on both the students and local conditions. At this point though, we do not have consistent, comparable, objective, independent data that will provide an accurate picture. Once we do, both state and local leaders can consider how best to respond applying resources to address unfinished learning.”

Board Vice President Victor Lenz of St. Louis said statewide testing will help to take the temperature of academic performance in the midst of COVID-19. Board President Charlie Shields of St. Joseph agreed.

State Board of Education President Charlie Shields

“In my world of health care, if somebody came into our Emergency Department expressing all the symptoms of extreme hypertension and we didn’t put a blood pressure cuff on them, we’d be charged with malpractice. I think we have to understand what’s going on there,” he said. “To say that we’re not going to do assessments – I use that analogy in the medical world but I think this would be educational malpractice if we refused to do this.”

According to the Department, 10 Missouri school districts and 26 charter schools have not yet had students onsite this school year – totaling more than 82,000 kids. Those students are learning remotely.

The schooling method is not everyone’s cup of tea. Online learning can be difficult for some students to pay attention in class – sometimes leading to an increase in lower grades and a decline in attendance. Vandeven said students with special needs, English Language Learners and others are struggling to learn in a virtual environment.

Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge

Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge of Pasadena Hills questioned if the test results will be used against schools in a punitive manner.

“I think that’s especially concerning in cases where public school data is being used to make the case for different types of schools and alternative choices,” she said.

Dr. Tracy Hinds, deputy commissioner of the Division of Learning Services, said using the data as a punitive measure is not the direction the Department is going.

“We are really seeking information. We want to be informed. We need to know the next steps that we need to take,” she said.

Carol Hallquist of Kansas City questioned how the state can ensure accurate testing data is collected.

Carol Hallquist

“Data are only useful if they are accurate. Dr. Mark Bedell, superintendent of Kansas City, told me that the testing he’s done are showing positive results because they don’t have special needs and English Language Learners as part of his base. Going back to Charlie’s example, it seems like you would blood pressure machine on and it’s faulty and the reading would do you no good. So, help me understand how the data will be accurate and useful,” she asked.

Vandeven said it would be unfair to call the information inaccurate.

“I don’t know that the data are faulty. I think they’ll give you an accurate blood pressure reading,” said Vandeven. The thing is, they might be a little bit lower because his diet has been terrible.”

She said the key will be test participation among Missouri’s 900,000 K-12 public school students. If parents do not want their kids to take the test in person, then participation could suffer.

“Right now, the law is 95% participation rates and it’s for that very reason – so that you are comparing sort of apples to apples. If we get 70% in this district and 30% in another, that has to be part of the story and part of the data reporting and understanding what we are seeing,” says Dr. Vandeven.

Lisa Sireno, Standards and Assessment Administrator in the Department’s Office of College and Career Readiness, said the state is coming up with a game plan to test students next year, including possibly moving the test taking to later on in the spring.

“Without systemwide assessment, we cannot build a complete reflection of the impact of the pandemic on student learning. We know that the more students who participate in the assessment, the more useful the resulting data. We are encouraging assessment of as many students as possible and we will report assessment participation rates,” she said.

Another consideration is reducing the length of the test.

Missouri Board of Education talks about ongoing challenges schools face during pandemic

October 21, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri Board of Education discussed Tuesday the obstacles and additional workload that teachers and other school workers are dealing with this year. Member Don Claycomb said he expects a much greater number of teachers to leave the profession due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Missouri Board of Education talks about ongoing challenges schools are facing during pandemic

“Apparently some feel pushed to the wall,” he said.

Missouri already has a chronic shortage of teachers. Pay is a major reason for the state’s teacher workforce problems. Missouri’s average teacher salary is about $42,000 – ranking it about 42nd in the nation.

The state has about 70,000 pre-K through 12 teachers.

Board President Charlie Shields made a request.

“And I am serious about is there something that you can do for teachers that if you can make it through to the end, which is a challenge for some, that there would be some sort of retention bonus or something like that. I mean, if you would at least dig deeper to make sure I’m not off base on that,” said Shields.

Some states are using a guideline that allows school staff and students to avoid quarantining if masks are worn in school and they do not show symptoms or test positive for COVID-19. Doing so would prevent the back and forth shuffling of students and workers from in-person schooling to remote learning if someone considered a close contact comes down with COVID-19.

Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spokesperson Mallory McGowin said if schools require masks at the local level, such a mandate could be beneficial to them.

“Our school leaders just are having a hard time feeling like they are sustainable for the next seven months of the school year,” said McGowin. “And so, we have let our school leaders know we will continue to push for a closer look at some of these measures.”

McGowin said the state is not at a point yet to require a statewide mask order within schools. Missouri has prided itself on being a local control state.

Missouri Board of Education discusses attendance problems with students learning remotely

October 7, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Missouri Board of Education Member Carol Hallquist

Some Missouri school teachers are having trouble getting a hold of students learning online this school year. The topic came up at a state Board of Education meeting Tuesday before the panel approved a regular rule change about attendance hour reporting during the ongoing spread of COVID-19.

“Some of our Kansas City high schools are hovering around 50% attendance right now online,” said member Carol Hallquist.

“This issue you raised is a very concerning and legitimate issue that we are seeing out there,” said Board President Charlie Shields. “I know in one of the districts in northwest Missouri, there are just a lot of kids that have not been found.”

Missouri Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said some schools are taking additional steps.

State Board of Education President Charlie Shields

“They’re beginning to go door to door, knocking again, trying to locate these children,” said Dr. Vandeven. “The bigger question of the hour will be what do we do in making sure that those children don’t continue to fall behind in their learning and that’s something that we are working on at a national level, at a local level. I think this board will need to spend a lot of time talking about that as well.”

During a legislative committee hearing last week, state Representative Brenda Shields, R-St. Joseph, said a teacher in her district has not been able to reach about 30 of her students over the past five weeks of school. Shields, who is married to Missouri Board of Education President Charlie Shields, said the teacher has called and emailed the students and their parents.

Missouri has more than 900,000 K-12 public school students. Here is a map showing the way the state’s 518 school districts are delivering instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Missouri Education Board President pleased with school preparation

August 31, 2020 By Missourinet Contributor

Many Missouri schools have kicked off fall classes and others will soon start. Missouri Board of Education President Charlie Shields says board members have been impressed with the plans schools have made to reopen this fall amid a pandemic.

Missouri Education Board President pleased with school preparation

“The thing that we have been impressed with is the local schools, the school boards and the educators, have been very thoughtful in how they’re doing this and they’ve spent a lot of time over the summer trying to figure out how to do this and I think you’re going to see some of them, if not most of them, be very successful,” Shields tells KFEQ in St. Joseph.

Shields says the methods local school districts have adopted range widely with many rural districts simply going back to the classroom while a few urban districts open only online. Most Missouri districts are in between, blending both classroom instruction with virtual learning.

Missouri more than 500 public school districts.

Shields says with most districts are incorporating some online learning at home, he doesn’t see such so-called virtual learning going away.

“But I think you will not see the genie put back in the bottle when it comes to virtual learning. I think that’s the thing that’s going to be here to stay,” Shields says. “I think parents embrace it, I think students embrace it, and I think some educators embrace it as a great way to teach.”

Shields says school districts across Missouri have taken their responsibility during the coronavirus pandemic seriously.

“What I have seen from educators and school districts is a lot of creativity. I think they’ve spent a lot of time in the summer trying to get ready for this,” Shields says. “I think things obviously can change along the way, but I think they’ve done a great job. They’re ready. And we’re going to see it work and I think for the most part we’re going to see them be effective.”

Shields says the Missouri State Board of Education agrees with the American Academy of Pediatrics that it is very important school children return to school, not just to further their education, but for their overall well-being.

By Brent Martin of Missourinet affiliate KFEQ in St. Joseph

Missouri temporarily allows reduced training option to become substitute teacher

August 18, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

The Missouri Board of Education has voted 6-2 today in favor of temporarily giving substitute teacher candidates an alternative to get certified. The proposal was offered to help reduce an expected shortage of substitutes during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Missouri temporarily allows reduced training option to become substitute teacher

Under the plan, candidates can go through 20 hours of state-approved online training or complete the traditional 60 hours of college credit hours. The cost is expected to be about $100 to $200 per candidate, plus another $50 for certification.

During today’s board meeting, Paul Katnik, Assistant Commissioner for the Office of Educator Quality, said the training includes topics about:

1. Professionalism: Appropriate conduct, confidentiality, legal responsibilities
2. Honoring diversity: Basic terminology and appropriate actions
3. Student engagement: Basic definitions and appropriate strategies
4. Foundational classroom management techniques: Ways to control a classroom and diffusing conflict
5. Basic instructional strategies: Effective questioning, assessment methods, lesson plans
6. Supporting students with special needs: Basic terminology of disorders and characteristics and appropriate strategies
7. Working with at-risk youth: Learning traits, characteristics, and appropriate strategies

Katnik told the board the training must be aligned to Missouri teacher standards and include embedded assessments.

“So you can’t progress through the training unless you pass quizzes along the way that says ‘I learned what you just taught me,’” he said.

Katnik said data will also be produced about the effectiveness of each substitute’s training.

“Not only how did the individual do as they were trained and how well did they do when they started serving as a substitute teacher, but you have to offer up data that says school districts and teachers where this person worked can tell us how well they did at substitute teaching. I would just note, we don’t have that with 60 semester hours right now,” he said.

Member Mary Schrag of West Plains thanked Katnik for creating an accountability measure.

“I think for the rural areas in particular, it’s very helpful because finding subs is extremely difficult and even actually finding enough educators right now is a challenge,” she said.

Member Carol Hallquist of Kansas City, who backed the plan, said about 200,000 retired teachers or those who have left the profession could help. She questioned if the proposal is necessary.

“One of the substitute teacher providers checked in with their retired people and said ‘How willing are you to substitute teach?’ They said a great percentage of them said ‘not now.’ They’re going to be in a higher risk group. Those are going to be folks that are a little older and so the risks are going to be a little bit higher,” said Katnik.

Board President Charlie Shields of St. Joseph adamantly opposed the measure and said he is troubled by the message it sends.

“We have said as a board for as long as I’ve been on this board, that a post-secondary educational experience is important – that we believe nobody should stop at high school. So, I think this sends the message that it’s okay to stop at high school,” said Shields.

He also foresees the proposal becoming permanent.

“This idea that somehow we’ll go back after February, I’ve just watched it. There will be big time pressure put on us to continue to lower down the expectations of substitutes so we won’t go back,” he said. “So if you vote for this today, you’ll vote for something very similar for this in February. That’s just my experience of watching this on the board.”

Shields said the substitute shortage is about money.

“You have trouble getting substitutes for what you’re willing to pay substitutes,” he said. “They’re out there. You just have to find the right dollar amount to get them.”

Board Vice President Victor Lenz opposed the plan and shared a similar tone.

“How many people want to do it for what they’re getting for it? We need to elevate the teaching profession as is. Our teachers are not valued for what they are,” said Lenz. “A strong sub pool is deep with knowledge and ability and all that kind of stuff. What we’re talking about doing is making a big pool – a lot of people – but very shallow. I’m in a quandary with this whole thing because it is an emergency, but it’s not a total solution.”

Member Kim Bailey of Raymore said the proposal is probably economically-driven and fear-driven by the pandemic.

“I don’t know that we can fix either of those on an emergency basis,” she said. “I share your concern, Charlie, it’s a slippery slope and that we don’t want to slide down too quick and too fast on quality. And keeping in mind that we are in an emergency situation, I like the idea of cautiously moving forward and that there’s going to be measures on it.”

Member Don Claycomb of Linn supported the plan.

“The key word, I think, is emergency,” said Claycomb. “We’re in an emergency situation and when we’re in an emergency situation, I think we have to look at what is the lesser of the evils – granted that none of the options are perfect.”

Hallquist asked what would happen if a school runs short on subs and teachers. Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven said the school could move to online learning. Claycomb said additional kids could also be combined into other classrooms.

“What’s best for Missouri’s children,” asked Hallquist. “Is it to cram 45 into a class or is it to have someone who’s had some training handle that class?”

If the board is asked to make the alternative a permanent option like Shields predicts, member Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge of Pasadena Hills said members will need more information first.

“I don’t know about making this super permanent. I think this is something that could be perceived by some as watering down our quality pool,” she said. “So I would be happy with a balanced solution where we took this action but we monitored it very closely to make sure that we were getting the outcomes we wanted before we decided to make it more permanent. For me, it’s moving forward but moving forward cautiously to resolve the capacity constraints. If the data tells you this wasn’t a good move, we won’t over-commit and we can always correct.”

She said the longer-term measure would have to inject more quality in order for her to be comfortable with it.

“I think what we’re all struggling with right now is the short-term stopgap measure presented to us by Paul is meant to create a larger sub pool but we don’t feel good about the quality,” said Westbrooks-Hodge. “So, it’s quantitative and it’s not necessarily qualitative, which makes the monitoring and the short-term nature of this stopgap measure very real. For me, the monitoring of this short-term measure has to be there, but I don’t think long-term we can compromise the quality of the education that our students receive because we’re currently in crisis mode. I definitely understand the need to make an emergency short-term decision, but don’t think that we can compromise our children’s future long-term by making this permanent without a quality plan as well.”

The emergency rule is set to take effect on September 2 and expire at the end of February 2021.

Missouri has 555 public school districts and charter schools.

Earlier story:

Missouri Board of Education to consider proposal intended to boost substitute teacher population: https://wp.me/p16gMv-wQT

Missouri works to avoid K-12 funding decline from coronavirus inflicted attendance drop

June 10, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

Some health experts predict a spike in coronavirus cases this fall – putting Missouri K-12 public schools in a potential funding dilemma. Missouri’s foundation formula – the system used to determine how much state aid to give to schools – is based on a combination of components, including student attendance figures and academic achievement.

Missouri works to avoid K-12 funding decline from coronavirus inflicted attendance drop

During Tuesday’s Missouri Board of Education meeting, members discussed how to avoid a drop in school funding as a result of possible coronavirus related attendance problems. President Charlie Shields, a former Missouri Senate president, thinks the state Legislature could be called back in September for a special session.

“So, should we ask the governor to put a couple things in play? One would be to figure out the attendance piece. We’ve got different scenarios for snow days and all kinds of other things, but nobody had one for COVID-19,” he says. “It would give us the flexibility to do something on attendance in terms of the formula. The other would be this issue if you withhold across the board, including hold harmless, during the emergency, that you don’t have to make that up somewhere throughout the rest of the fiscal year. Do we ask the governor to put that in his call for a special session to clarify those issues for us?”

The General Assembly returns each September to weigh whether to attempt an override of any vetoes the governor makes to bills passed during the regular session. A special session directly before or after a veto session is an efficient way to handle issues that some elected officials and stakeholders feel are urgent.

Deputy Commissioner Roger Dorson says state funding is given to schools on an annual basis. He indicates if the economy rebounds in a few months, then a potential legislative fix should take that scenario into consideration.

Commissioner Margie Vandeven says the health of students comes first – not perfect attendance.

“We will be asking parents to keep their children home if they are ill,” says Vandeven. “And we will be asking parents to keep their children home for symptoms that they may not have ever kept them home for in the past. So we expect to see a significant decline in attendance data, at the request of health officials and of school officials to say ‘Keep your children home.’ That’s one thing. The other thing we have never encountered before is, let’s suspect you have to quarantine an entire class, or an entire bus – just be thinking in terms of this could be 14 days. So, the way we’re trying to think about how to get this attendance waiver or whatever we need is to say ‘Should children stay home if they’re ill – yes. Should we stop talking about perfect attendance as the banner award for this year – yes.’”

Vandeven says the state must also figure out how to ensure that students can continue learning from home if they are quarantined.

Meanwhile, a new state statute requires Missouri K-12 public school districts to start 14 days prior to Labor Day or later, unless the state Board of Education waives the regulation. Some school districts have expressed an interest in starting the school calendar year earlier in the fall to beat an anticipated climb in coronavirus cases.

The board has given the education commissioner temporary power to let districts start earlier in August if they make the request and meet certain requirements. Local school boards must first hold a public hearing and explain how an exemption would benefit the students and reduce the spread of the coronavirus.

The following districts have asked to start earlier in August:

• East Newton Co. R-VI
• Lutie R-VI
• Weaubleau R-III
• Community R-VI
• Joplin Schools
• Hickory Co. R-I
• Tri-County R-VII
• Carthage R-IX

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is reviewing the requests.

Missouri Board of Education discusses classes next fall, students dodging school work

April 28, 2020 By Alisa Nelson

A new state statute requires Missouri’s K-12 districts to start the school year no earlier than 14 calendar days prior to the first Monday in September, unless the State Board of Education waives the requirement. Board members are discussing whether to waive the requirement and give districts the option of starting the school earlier this fall.

Missouri Board of Education discusses classes next fall, students dodging school work

An uptick in coronavirus cases is projected in the fall – possibly affecting how much learning kids will have at school. During Monday’s board meeting, Education Commissioner Margie Vandeven says the coronavirus is an extenuating circumstance and the department is not trying to take advantage of the situation.

“It’s still very, very early on COVID loss, but summer loss is clear – that when many of our students, particularly our students who tend to struggle the most – when they are away from school for a period of time, significant learning loss can occur, and that is especially true in our youngest learners,” says Vandeven.

Board President Charlie Shields agrees with Vandeven.

“In the healthcare world, there’s widespread belief that you’ll see COVID-19 come back in the fall at some point. The challenge will be that it’ll be combined with flu and influenza at that time, which makes it even more challenging,” says Shields. “So, you could see additional disruption sometime this fall. So if we can get more days in by an earlier start date, seems to me that would be appropriate.”

Shields is the CEO of Truman Medical Center in Kansas City and a former Missouri Senate president.

The board plans to revisit the item during next month’s meeting.

Meanwhile, board member Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge of Pasadena Hill near St. Louis says she’s heard about some teachers reporting difficulties in getting students involved since the coronavirus threat closed schools statewide in mid-March.

“That’s a very real problem that’s been brought to my attention,” she says.

Vandeven says some teachers who had a hard time connecting with families before the coronavirus outbreak are having even more problems now with kids learning from home.

“People are saying ‘Well if you’re not requiring a grade, if you’re not requiring a test, if you’re not requiring this the kids are not participating.’ That’s a deeper question that I think we need to explore,” says Vandeven. “As we move forward, how do we communicate with families? That partnership has always been essential, but how do we effectively communicate with our families in typical times and then we would have a much greater possibility for that to carry over into a situation like this?”

Vandeven says districts must take the lead to keep kids engaged.

How much of a role lack of broadband internet and technology has to do with the students dodging their work is unknown, but the board did discuss a survey detailing the digital divide in Missouri.

The survey of about 450 of the state’s 555 school districts and charter schools shows about 21% of Missouri students – or 150,000 of them – do not have access to broadband internet and cannot afford the technology.

The latest Federal Communications Commission data shows nearly 600,000 rural Missourians lack access to broadband internet.