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Date: 3/29/2021
SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley School Committee discussed updates on their plan to return to in-person learning at their March 17 meeting.
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) Commissioner Jeffrey Riley stated on March 9 that as of April 5, districts will no longer be able to use the hybrid and remote models toward the regulated amount of time on learning.
As a result, South Hadley Interim Superintendent Dr. Diana Bonneville said districts are required to shift their learning model for elementary schools to full-time in-person instruction five days per week effective April 5.
“What we’re proposing is for Pre-K, fifth grade and ninth grade students return to school April 5 and then grades sixth, seventh, eighth, 10th, 11th and 12th return April 26,” said Bonneville. “There’s nothing about high school written in the guidelines. The Commissioner said he was going to wait and see how this goes and then give districts two weeks’ notice for high schoolers, but we feel comfortable that we could bring in all of the high schoolers April 26. However, there are a couple of things we have to worry about if we go this route. If we vote to approve of these dates, we will also have to vote on the three-foot social distancing.”
Bonneville had the principals join the meeting to address some of the committee’s questions and talk about the progress that is going on in order to bring students back in person. Principal David Gallagher at Michael E. Smith Middle School said at the moment they have the desks six by six.
“If we put the desks at three-foot squares, you could get 42 desks in a room,” Gallagher replied. “If we go at four feet, we could do approximately six rows of five and if we go about five feet, we get about five by four, or five by five getting us up to 25 desks. We will attempt to determine the largest class size that a teacher will have during the day and set up their maximum room number accordingly.”
They have 77 desks in the cafe and 54 in the gym; their plan is to use every piece of furniture they have to keep the six feet distance. If the weather is nice, students may be able to go outside. Though the coverage is tight, Gallagher said administrators are doing this duty for two hours a day.
Interim Principal Elizabeth Wood at South Hadley High School informed the committee they have been welcoming back additional students as space permits and looked at grades across all classes. “With ninth grade students we are seeing the highest discrepancy with grading. Many students have Ds or Fs, which is why we would like to bring them back first,” Wood responded. “I also feel they need some time in the building just to get used to it. We are forgetful that they haven’t been in this school yet, so bringing the nine graders back first seems to make a lot of sense in the first in-person cohort for us.”
She mentioned lunch period is their biggest struggle of keeping people six feet apart and not having people to maintain watching those spaces. They don’t have enough school staff that can cover lunches. She said this poses a problem for eating lunch outside, because they only have two picnic tables. The school doesn’t have someone to monitor that space and ensure that students are six feet apart.
Acting Principal Gina Moulton at Plains Elementary School said their students are happy to see friends and teachers; to be back in the building and learn together in-person with their classroom community They’re happy to see their students remotely through Zoom with the teachers making sure they are engaged as well.
“We’re really in good shape at Plains,” Moulton said. “If our numbers stay where they’re at, we’re hoping that we can still get our students in-person and be at six feet in most classrooms. There might be one or two classrooms that are at five feet and if the numbers increase it’s going go to four feet, but at three feet we’ll still be able to have everybody in if they all decided.”
Moulton continued, “For the lunch room we are going to be able to make it work with the art room as our overflow, that’s our backup plan. I think if the numbers stay where they’re at, we can squeeze them in at six feet with tables, but just in case I want to have the art room ready.”
At the end of the meeting, the committee approved the reopening plan as presented. Pre–k through five and grade nine will return April 5; all other grades April 26 and due to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's mandate, the School Committee agreed to social distancing of less than 6 feet in classrooms.
They also approved the proposed South Hadley Public Schools 2021-2022 school calendar and approved the assistant superintendent job description as presented.