April 28, 2020

Samantha Mango:
So, can you talk a little bit about how the daily operations of Sullivan BOCES and the Sullivan County schools, as a whole, have changed?

Dr. Bob Dufour:
It’s surreal. We’re trying to do something that schools were never intended to do in the first place. The whole purpose behind schools was to bring children together in a community atmosphere to educate them. And now we’re trying to turn that entire model, that has served us so well for over 120 years, on its ear and do something completely different. Many of our schools had incorporated technology into what they do, over the years, but none of our schools were equipped with going fully digital and trying to conduct school remotely. But the key things that we were charged, by the state to do, was to provide for child care for our essential workers, child nutrition. What we have to remember is many of the kids in the County, during the 10 months of the school year, these are the only reliable sources of food that they have. They get breakfast, they get lunch. And some of our larger districts, Liberty, Monticello provide food services throughout the summer as well because we understand how much those children depend on us. And now we’re not there. So I’m pleased to say that this was something the governor charged us with, and BOCES, our food service works with Tri-Valley, Liberty, and Monticello. And in conjunction with those three school districts, we’ve served over 93,000 meals in the past four and a half weeks. And that’s not the entire County. That’s just the portion of the County I have statistics for. So they’re really going that extra mile. RollingV is working with the school districts, providing transportation. Food is being taken out centralized locations. Some have a grab and go where you’re given a time slot and you come in and you pick up your food and you take it home. It’s being left at bus stops. It’s being left out in a parking lots. So the bus will pull up and people will come up to the bus one at a time and be given their box, the bag to take home with them. And usually what the food services are trying to do is give them several days worth of food. So we can cut down on the logistics and then finally, continuity of education. And as I touched on earlier, that looks very different. We’re using Google classroom, we’re using Google Meets. We’re using Zoom. We’re using products like Blackboard, and we’re using a host of online resources to provide as much daily instruction to our students as possible. Many of our school districts have now entered into a schedule phase where you’re given a specific time where the kids need to be online and that they need to be available and they need to tune in.

Dr. Bob Dufour:
But schools are also stepping up to the plate because you know, anywhere from 5% to 20% of our population in the County, doesn’t have access to broadband or access to affordable broadband. So our districts are putting together learning packets and getting them home. And they’re calling the kids. They’re tutoring the kids by phone, they’re walking the kids through the steps of their math problem by email. Our counselors are zooming in, they’re calling and having sessions on the phone. OTs and PTs are sending activity packs home so that families can do activities with their kids. So we don’t have the regression that we so much fear.

Samantha Mango:
So you’ve touched on a couple of the challenges that you faced. Is there anything that you’ve seen come out of this that has been a positive?

Dr. Bob Dufour:
What we’re seeing is… What we’re capable of doing is far beyond what we thought we could. Serving 93,000 meals out of four different kitchens in different corners of the County. I think that’s an unbelievable feat. I don’t think it was something anyone thought would be able to do. We’re learning that this can be done. This isn’t perfect. Google Meets isn’t perfect. Zoom isn’t perfect. But it gives us an option. They’re also very convenient because, as you are doing, you can record the session. You can put it on-line and somebody who was not able to attend can go back and do it on their own time. Right? So it’s flexible. So I think you’re going to see these remote learning platforms be incorporated into what we do on a day to day basis.

Samantha Mango:
So is there anything that community members can do if they want to help out Sullivan BOCES or any of the Sullivan County school districts?

Dr. Bob Dufour:
I would encourage our community members to support the local school districts. To understand they realize this isn’t normal, that they’re doing their best to make it as normal as possible. There is going to be some type of school budget vote coming up where we don’t know when… we know it’s not going to be May 17th, but every school district in this County is going to need the full support of every member of all of our communities to pass whatever budget is put up, knowing that next school year, the 2021 school year is going to look very different because we’re going to be getting a lot less state aid. And now is not the time to abandon our school districts. We need to stand unified behind them. We need to support them. We need to volunteer and we need to step up because these are our kids we’re talking about, and now is not a time for adults to bicker or fight. Now’s the time to remember: we need to take care of the kids. And if we remember that and we move forward with that, and our communities get behind those kids by getting behind their schools, I think we can make our future a little brighter.

Samantha Mango:
Is there anything else that you’d like to add?

Dr. Bob Dufour:
Yes, just generally, we’ve been working closely with Sullivan 180 on a number of projects. And my hope is we’re going to be able to get those projects up and running again. I know the governor says this is New York PAUSE, so everything we’ve been working on collectively, I think has been a PAUSE as well. And I think we will go forward and I think we will get these projects back on track. I think everyone will benefit from them.

Samantha Mango:
Yes, we definitely will. And they definitely will benefit from them. So we’re just ready and waiting.

Dr. Bob Dufour:
All right. So I thank you very much for the time.

Samantha Mango:
Thanks for being here. I appreciate it.

Dr. Bob Dufour:
Okay. Have a good day. Thanks, Samantha.