Governance

Essential actions that will foster a shared understanding of goals, responsibilities, and accountability.

District LeadersSchool Leaders
Large brick High School Building
Photo by Gautam Krishnan on Unsplash

Do First

  • Launch a school-level Return to School Committee and name a leader with single-point accountability, meaning there is one person who is ultimately responsible. 
    • The Return to School Committee should be composed of leaders with oversight of the essential workflows in the roadmap. This may include deans, department heads, school counselors and social workers, as well as janitorial and maintenance staff.
  • Assert a vision for the Return to School Committee’s work.
  • Assign a series of subcommittees within the Return to School organization that define critical operational roles and responsibilities for getting essential functions reconstituted at the school level.
  • Institute a regular virtual meeting schedule.
  • Assess where additional capacity and support may be needed from external partners and develop strategies for securing assistance.
  • Meet with key stakeholders to understand their expectations for return to school across issue areas  (e.g., parent-teacher association).
  • Establish a consistent check-in schedule between school and district-level Pandemic Response Committees.

Do Before School Opens

  • Establish/Reestablish a school-level Pandemic Response Committee to help operationalize district level instructions.
  • Amend any existing District Pandemic and Emergency Recovery Plans based on lessons learned from the outbreak to date that will help shape responses to a second wave of SARS-CoV-2 in school year 2020-2021, should it materialize.
  • Understand updated communication protocols with district leadership and both state and local public health system leaders.
  • Socialize the work of both the School Return to School Committee and School Pandemic Response Committees broadly, to facilitate communication and shared understanding.

Do When Schools are Open and Operating

  • Continue School Pandemic Response Committee workflows based on pandemic response level and district instructions.
  • Provide consistent updates on return to school work and pandemic response planning with district stakeholders.
  • Conduct a post-mortem of the Return to School Committee’s work and codify recommendations for future improvement.
  • Update the Return to School Committee’s procedures and processes based on recommendations.