The Debrief Podcast

There are a lot of ways to reopen schools in the middle of a pandemic. You can go fully-remote, like Auburn, institute hybrid models like Marcus Whitman or Seneca Falls, and plan for almost everything.  However, we're learning that the size of a district plays a large role in its ability to bring students back. Even as calls for all schools to resume quote-unquote normal education -- leaders are left dealing with state mandates that make it difficult. A conversation with Dr. Christopher Brown, the superintendent at the Marcus Whitman Central School District showcased how size plays into a reopening plan. 

Auburn Enlarged City School District Superintendent Jeff Pirozzolo says the last several weeks have been tough. In late-August the district had to make the difficult decision to take learning fully-remote this fall.

Pirozzolo says a phased-in approach to resuming in-person learning via a hybrid model will allow the district to learn what it needs to as students return to class for the first time since shutdown in mid-March. He says funding issues, as well as evolving guidance from Governor Andrew Cuomo has made every moment of planning for a district of 4,000+ students difficult.

Today he joins us to discuss reopening in Auburn, the kind of experience students and faculty will have, as well as the financial challenges his district faces.

While there have been a lot of concerns raised about the prospect of students and faculty going back to school this fall -- we are just a couple weeks away from a return to learning. Students around the region will learn in a variety of ways this fall -- and we're catching up with leaders from around the region -- discussing those plans. 

Today, a conversation with Karen Hall, who is a principal in the Manchester Shortsville Central School District, or Red Jacket. They will be taking a hybrid approach to reopening, bringing students back on opposing days, twice a week. She says there was anxiety and concern, but even when faculty arrived for the first day -- a sense of normalcy could be felt. 

Now, the next major checkpoint will be welcoming students back later this month.

Days from now students, faculty, and support staff head back to school for the first time since mid-March, when the Coronavirus Pandemic forced shut down of all facilities. Throughout the summer districts have been working on plans to make educating students effective, while simultaneously dealing with the health and safety implications of the Novel Coronavirus.

Doug Jones is a teacher in the Seneca Falls Central School District and leads the teacher association there. Faculty have a number of concerns and a range of views on reopening, but Superintendent Jeramy Clingerman has taken an active approach in hearing them.

But there is uncertainty. Will back to school go off without a hitch? In Seneca Falls approximately 70% of students will return to in-person learning, and both Jones and Clingerman agreed that faculty and staff are anxious about the new year.

Today on The Debrief, a conversation with Clingerman and Jones about the process Seneca Falls went through to plan reopening.

What happens over the next several weeks will likely play a big role in what the extended fall- and winter- months will look like in the Finger Lakes. Schools are back in session, college campuses are welcoming back students, and businesses are trying more than ever to make a go of things. This week on The Weekend Debrief, Ted Baker and Josh Durso break down the biggest headlines from the last two weeks, look ahead to the fall, and discuss the policies that have moved New York forward during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Ute Ritz-Deutch, the area coordinator for Amnesty International USA for New York state also sits on the steering committee for the Tompkins County Immigration Rights Coalition. 

Deutch, who hosts the Human Rights and Social Justice Program on WRFI Community Radio speaks about the current situation that immigrants face at the federal level and how the TCIRC seeks to correct issues of mistreatment in their own county, now more than ever amid the prominence of COVID-19 spreading inside detention centers.

Summer is quickly drawing to a close, and as people in the Greater Rochester and Finger Lakes region look forward to the fall - one of the biggest questions - if not about a potential second wave - has to do with the amount of economic recovery that's taken place so far. Last week The Rochester Beacon published an in-depth look at the state of the regional economy. In just a couple weeks K-12 students will return to the classroom, at least on a part-time basis, and at colleges around the region - in-person instruction will resume. In many cases students have already started moving back on-campus.

Today on the show, a conversation with Paul Ericson, executive editor of The Rochester Beacon, to talk about his piece titled "Why Rochester's economy remains at risk."

Ken Wolkin, a master’s student at the University of Washington’s Department of Geography has been following FingerLakes1.com’s extensive coverage ever since the start of the rekindling Cayuga Nation land dispute.

This summer, Wolkin drove cross-country from Seattle to Seneca Falls just to see the infamous site along State Route 89 where ten properties stood on Cayuga Nation territory.

Upon the ruins and remains of an entire community, a brawl ensued between Haudenosaunee protesters and the Cayuga Nation police force following a press conference back in late February.

Economic development in New York State is complicated. There are things called Industrial Development Agencies involved who work to entice prospective and existing businesses to build or expand. There are usually tax incentives, which are complicated and receive a lot of public scrutiny. But the most fundamental responsibility of an IDA is to sell the community they represent. Effectively saying, “Our community is a good place for YOU to do business.” But years of economic development initiatives across different counties, and parts of the Finger Lakes region have created a disjointed approach. While New York State has its definitions of what the Finger Lakes is, a new initiative is leaning in-to the Greater Rochester namesake that existed before the Finger Lakes region included the Rochester-metro. Today on the show, Joe Stefko, who leads the Greater ROC and ROC2025 initiatives.

Earlier this summer the Seneca Falls Police Department rolled out a new program in collaboration with Seneca County Mental Health and Finger Lakes C-PEP. It put tablets in the hands of law enforcement for the purpose of connecting the community with mental health services. Specifically, when officers are dispatched to scenes where mental health comes into play. 

Mental health advocates have been calling for alternatives to dialing 9-1-1 for some time; and those calls have grown louder this summer. While this program won't create an alternative, it's an aggressive move to get mental health professionals involved in incidents that law enforcement would otherwise have to navigate alone.