Reopening Schools: A Scheduling Map for Educators

Presented by Eric Tucker, Executive Director, Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools, NY; Bennison (Bb) Ntsakey, Director of Academics, Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools, NY; Serena Losonczy, AIA, Associate Partner, PBDW Architects; and Chandler Rowland, Consultant, Public Impact
Hosted by Barbara Pape, Policy and Communications Director, Learner Variability Project, Digital Promise

Hosted by Digital Promise
Sponsored by Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools

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In this edWebinar, learn about the Back to School Instructional Program Scheduling Map. The map includes multiple ideas for addressing special education compliance, staffing teams, and student schedules given health, safety, and social distancing requirements while prioritizing equity.

Given social distancing and limited in-person class time, it emphasizes practical questions and approaches, including:

• How can we ensure decisions regarding how to educate them while abiding by health and safety guidelines are focused on meeting the needs of each student, particularly students with disabilities?
• How might we ensure that students with disabilities are provided with high-quality supports and services?
• How can we put students’ needs at the forefront to ensure we have the right staff specializations, spaces, and modes of learning available to educate students with disabilities?
• When schools reopen, how might we staff classrooms and organize schedules to provide excellent teaching for all students—including students with disabilities—and great support for teachers?
• What are the optimal staffing levels given a school’s student population? How can schools make time for collaboration, planning, and leadership?
• Which types of learning are best suited for which delivery format?

The goal is to make the return to school better for all students. The Instructional Program Scheduling Map provides a framework to support clear communication between administrators, educators, families, and scholars so that school communities can work collaboratively and inclusively to promote safety, health, well-being, and learning when school reopens this fall.

The Scheduling Map, which reflects insights and addresses early concerns from public health experts, students, teachers, parents, guardians, and schools, was developed through a collaboration with InnovateEDU and several partners: Dezudio, PBDW/EdTogether, the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools (NCSECS), Public Impact, TNTP, and Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at ASU.

This recorded edWebinar will be of interest to preK through high school teachers and school and district leaders.

About the Presenters

Eric Tucker is Co-founder and Executive Director at Brooklyn Laboratory Charter School (LAB). He was the director at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As Managing Director of Catalyst Strategy, Eric led school design and implementation work for clients including Ascend, Excel, and Building Excellent Schools. As CAO and Executive Director of the National Association for Urban Debate Leagues, he grew a national network serving 450 urban schools. Eric taught argumentation and debate in Providence and Chicago. He has a doctorate from Oxford University.

Bb Ntsakey is the director of academics at Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools. He previously served as School Director at Brooklyn LAB, and Principal of Community Charter School of Paterson. He served as a leader at Uncommon Schools for several years and was the school director and manager of Teacher Leadership for Teach for America in Miami and Chicago. He began his career in education as a teacher, and then lead teacher, for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. He holds a master’s degree in education (Public School Building Leadership and Organization) from Columbia University Teachers College; a master’s degree in education (Education and Social Change) from the University of Miami Graduate School of Education; and a BA in English, Philosophy, and African American Studies from Syracuse University.

Serena Losonczy, AIA is an associate partner at PBDW Architects in New York City. She has focused her career on designing innovative educational environments, often in historic contexts. Her people-centered approach to design consistently delivers evocative learning spaces with an identifiable and welcoming sense of place. Having served as the architect for numerous independent schools and higher education institutions, her expertise spans from master planning and architectural design to intricate adaptive reuse projects. Her commitment to sustainability is evident in her work which includes a net-zero energy building and the first K-12 school to be LEED certified in New York State. Serena received her Master’s of Architecture from MIT. She enjoys working with children and actively volunteers for the AIA Learning by Design program, which introduces K-12 students to architectural design.

Chandler Rowland is a consultant with Public Impact, focused primarily on assisting districts and schools in implementing Opportunity Culture models, which extend the reach of excellent teachers and their teams. She also conducts research and creates tools and other materials to support turnaround work in both traditional and charter schools. Before joining Public Impact, she worked as a graduate policy fellow for the SECU Foundation, where she analyzed longitudinal program data, assisted in revising the foundation’s scholarship programs and conducted various program evaluations. Chandler also served as a Teach for America corps member, teaching secondary science in Rocky Mount, NC. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from the Sanford School of Policy at Duke University and a B.A. in public policy and global studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

About the Host

Barbara Pape is the policy and communications director for the Learner Variability Project at Digital Promise. She has 20 years’ experience in strategic communications, writing, and policy analysis, primarily in education. Previously, she served as the executive producer of the award-winning Teaching & Learning conference, sponsored by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, where she developed content and oversaw outreach and communications. As a writer, she has written for numerous publications, including Harvard University, the National Education Goals Panel (U.S. Department of Education) and Parents magazine. Barbara also served as editor and publisher of the first electronically delivered education newsletter, the Daily Report Card. She served on the Advisory Board of the Kennedy Center’s Intersection of Arts Education and Special Education Committee, serves as a judge for the Miliken-Penn Graduate School of Education Business Plan competition, and is on the Boards at the Education Writers Association and Potentia. She earned an Ed.M. at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and launched her career as a middle school language arts teacher.

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Digital Promise was created with the mission to accelerate innovation in education to improve opportunities to learn.

The mission of Brooklyn Laboratory Charter Schools (LAB) is to prepare scholars with the academic foundation, digital literacy, and leadership skills necessary to succeed in college and professional life as they grow as ethical leaders.