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Date: 10/20/2021
LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow School Committee met on Oct. 12 to give an update on COVID-19 diagnostic testing in schools and to stress the importance of vaccination.
According to Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea, there were 11 active COVID-19 cases in Longmeadow at the time of the meeting.
“That’s as low as I’ve seen in some time. It’s a very encouraging number,” he said.
O’Shea also gave an update on teachers in schools and spoke on the recent Mental Health Awareness Week.
“Just as we are attentive to the social-emotional needs of students, we also want to be sure that we are attentive to the social-emotional needs of staff,” he said.
According to O’Shea, many workers are facing challenges as they return to some level of normalcy while still dealing with the aftereffects of the pandemic. Right now teachers are working hard to re-acclimate students to learning patterns while catching them up academically, which he said can be a challenge.
“It’s been a challenging year in that sense, so we have an upcoming Professional Development Day on November 12 and we think that that will provide us with some really valuable collaborative time and opportunity for teachers to get together and talk about the challenges that they’re facing and the strategies they’re using to face those challenges,” he said.
The meeting also gave an update on the Longmeadow High School Career Education Program. O’Shea said that there are currently over a dozen students experiencing internships within the community.
He said that any interested business who would like to host a Longmeadow High School intern can reach out to him directly or contact the Career Education Coordinator Erin Corbett.
The committee then focused on diagnostic testing which, according to O’Shea, is successfully up and running in all six schools. He said that they have all testing materials in, participants have logging credentials and the database can be accessed. So far, 1,800 individuals have consented to the testing.
“I suspect that number is much higher at this point, but we’re excited to have that diagnostic testing program up and running. Right now it’s quiet. We’ll look at ways that we can leverage that resource to provide further safety for our students and our staff and our families,” he said.
Currently, both students and staff are required to wear masks in schools. O’Shea stressed the importance of getting vaccinated against COVID-19 if they want the mask mandate to end. Right now, a school can be eligible to go maskless if they have a vaccination rate of 80 percent.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health report said Longmeadow residents ages 12 through 15 are at 80 percent vaccinated. For ages 16 to 19, the report said that 82 percent are currently vaccinated.
O’Shea noted however that these numbers might not all be Longmeadow Public School students and could be graduates or students who attend private schools.
“The state has given us a few different pathways to determine how to potentially reach that 80 percent threshold which would potentially allow a community to allow a school building that’s at that level make masking optional,” he said.
Longmeadow has a town-wide mask mandate, which O’Shea said means masks are required in schools despite vaccination rates. He said that they would only be able to look into going maskless if the Board of Health rescinds this.
“Right now that supersedes the pathway that DESE has created to allow for a mask-optional approach,” he said.
Those interested in viewing the School Committee meeting in its entirety are encouraged to visit the LongmeadowTV YouTube page.