Published August 5, 2020

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — The school system is looking to implement a hybrid plan for reopening schools this fall.

Superintendent Kristen Vogel gave an overview of the three preliminary reopening plans during the School Committee’s July 30 meeting, which was held in-person at central office as well as on Zoom teleconference. She recalled that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) required districts to submit in-person, hybrid and remote learning plans on July 31. She said the School Committee will approve the finalized plans on Friday, which then must be submitted to DESE on Monday, Aug. 10.

“We identified four tent poles to guide our work around a reentry plan for Lynnfield Public Schools,” said Vogel. “We want to ensure the safety and well-being of students and staff, relationships, equity and academic growth.”

Vogel recalled that Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley announced early last week that school districts would be allowed to provide 10 professional development days for teachers in order to help them prepare for reopening schools. She said the professional development days will take place from Sept. 1-15.

“A lot of training needs to be done, particularly around safety protocols,” said Vogel.

Vogel said a student orientation program will take place from Sept. 9-15. She said small groups of students will be able to meet their teacher outside and high school students will be allowed to pick up materials. She also said each student will be given a Chromebook during the orientation program.

The 2020-2021 school year will begin on Wednesday, Sept. 16.

Plan details

As part of the process for developing the in-person plan, Vogel said school officials conducted a feasibility study in order to determine whether 100 percent of students could be brought back at once. She said school officials moved around desks and other furniture to see if students could be spread apart by 3-feet, which is what DESE is currently recommending.

“We had to remove every piece of furniture from the classroom, including the teacher’s desk, to make that work,” said Vogel. “Children have to be assigned seats and have to be sitting in rows.”

Vogel said the feasibility study determined the district’s space limitations created safety concerns. As an example, she said a first grade teacher would be confined to a 6-foot space in front of a classroom and students would need to sit far away from the educator.

The in-person plan created other logistical issues, Vogel said. She said the district would need to “double the number of buses” in order to transport students to and from school.

“We would also have to hire additional staff in order to manage the overflow of students,” Vogel added. “Our recommendation is that we use 6-foot spacing in classrooms and in the buildings. As a result, we cannot bring 100 percent of our students back at once in a safe way or in a way that I think is best for children in terms of their learning.”

Vogel said the hybrid plan would allow students to be spaced 6-feet apart, which she said is “consistent with CDC guidelines.”

“Students in grades 2-12 will be required to wear masks,” said Vogel. “Students in kindergarten and first grade are strongly recommended to wear masks, but it’s not required. Mask breaks will be built into the day.”

As part of the hybrid plan, Vogel said students will attend school two full-days a week and remote learning will take place three days a week.

“Students will be assigned to a cohort by household,” said Vogel. “If you have a child at Huckleberry Hill and a child at the middle school, they will be on the same schedule. Cohort A will attend school on Monday and Tuesday, and Cohort B will attend school on Thursday and Friday. Wednesdays will be a full remote learning day and it will give teachers an opportunity to do remote learning planning. We will also do a deep cleaning of the schools on Wednesday.”

Vogel also said the hybrid plan will allow students to eat lunch in the cafeterias and pre-packaged lunches will be sold.

“We can fit students in the cafeteria with 6-feet of distance, so kids can take their masks off and eat,” said Vogel.

Vogel also said the hybrid plan will allow the district to follow DESE’s transportation guidelines without needing additional buses. She said the school system will still be able to offer specials to students in each grade as well as electives to high school students. She said the “most vulnerable students” will be in school four days a week.

“Students in specialized programs as well as English language learners will be the priority,” said Vogel. “There are other students we could identify through their IEP.”

Vogel acknowledged the hybrid plan is incredibly difficult for families and teachers.

“We know there are challenges with this model,” said Vogel. “We know this is a very difficult model for our families and our staff. We know there are a lot of hurdles to overcome in order to make this work, but we know we can do this. We are going to be constantly adjusting because we have never done this before.”

School Committee member Stacy Dahlstedt recalled that families and teachers stated on their respective back to school surveys that their preference for a hybrid plan would have students be in school for five half-days each week. She asked why school officials recommended the hybrid plan with two days in school and three remote learning days instead.

“That was our preference for a hybrid model,” said Vogel. “That is what we heard from teachers and families, and we really wanted to make that work. However, when we received the cleaning guidelines and the transportation guidelines, we realized that it was impossible to sufficiently clean an entire building in an hour as well transport kids home and bring them to school. We were sad we weren’t able to do that, but it just wasn’t feasible.”

Vogel said the full remote learning plan involves having teachers interact with students remotely.

“It would look very different than this past spring,” said Vogel. “What we are proposing would be very robust. Attendance will be taken daily and grades will be given that are consistent with grade-level performance criteria. Teachers will use Google Classroom, Seesaw and Smart Learning Suite as the learning management system for when students are engaged in remote learning.”

Vogel also said both the hybrid and remote learning plans will have teachers undertake more live teaching while students are home.

If a family decides not to send their children back to school under the hybrid plan, Vogel said those students will participate in remote learning.

In response to a question from School Committee Chairman Jamie Hayman, Vogel said families will be able to switch from the remote learning plan to the hybrid plan at the end of a term.

Vogel said it’s important for the school system to develop a strong remote learning plan in the event the COVID-19 virus pandemic forces school buildings to close again.

“We are basically developing two plans,” said Vogel. “We need to have a really robust hybrid plan and a really robust remote learning plan in place if we need to pivot. We need to purchase some additional devices because I believe every child needs to have their own device. They can’t be shared with their brother or sister or mom or dad. We are committed to doing that.”

Next steps

Hayman noted the Lynnfield Teachers Association needs to weigh in on the finalized plans.

“We still have to figure out what the teachers’ union is going to do,” said Hayman. “They have to lay out what their definition of what a safe school is. Our teachers is what makes Lynnfield Public Schools great. We want to make sure our teachers feel as safe as they can, understanding that 100 percent safety for anyone in this situation is unlikely. But we can get pretty close to that.”

The School Committee will be voting on the final plans on Friday, Aug. 7, beginning at 8 a.m.