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Date: 1/12/2021
HUNTINGTON – Gateway Superintendent David B. Hopson said on Jan. 8 that the decision to go to strictly remote learning Jan 8 to Jan. 14 was based on an increase to over 5 percent in COVID cases.
“That’s our agreement with the teachers unions, if the majority of towns are in the red, or if the spread goes above 5 percent,” Hopson said.
He said on Jan. 14, the decision will be made for the following week based on the numbers released that day by the state. He said hopefully, the positivity rate will drop below 5 percent. “We can hope for the best,” he said.
Hopson said the numbers went up above 5 percent at Christmas, when the schools were on break, and the following week it dropped below, after which they returned to school for in-person hybrid learning.
The percentage of positive tests by city and town is released every Thursday for the previous week, and may be viewed at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/covid-19-response-reporting,
Hopson said they are not going to make any decisions to stay out for a month, but will do it on a week by week basis, to keep students in school as much as possible on the in-person hybrid model, which he said is the goal of the administration and the unions.
“In general, the students who are hybrid for two or four days are doing better than the students who are opting to be totally remote,” Hopson said, adding, “There are exceptions to every rule. I don’t think there’s anything that really replaces students in the classroom.”
The superintendent said Gateway has been fairly fortunate. He said they have had a couple of staff members who have tested positive, but not a lot, and it has always been when they haven’t been in school.
“There has been no spread in school by either staff or students, and we’ve been fortunate to have enough staff to cover our needs. Most couldn’t come in because of the 14 day quarantine, or they were exposed to someone, or had been travelling. Not that many were actually exposed,” Hopson said.
He said he also feels fortunate that they can teach students whether in person or on hybrid days, because the transition to full remote isn’t that much of a change for teachers and students.
“I said the other day this is like deciding whether or not to have a snow day looking at the weather, except now it’s COVID,” Hopson said.
The decision on Jan. 8 to go fully remote for the week also meant postponing the start of winter varsity basketball, approval of which had been made at the Dec. 9 School Committee meeting, with practice scheduled to begin Jan. 4 and the first game Jan. 18. The Pioneer Valley Interscholastic Athletic Conference, however, had already postponed practices to Jan. 11 with first games scheduled to take place Jan. 21.
Looking ahead to vaccinations, Hopson said teachers are on the second go-round for Massachusetts for vaccines, and are expected to receive theirs in February and March. He said Gateway school nurses had just received their vaccines on Jan. 8.