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Date: 3/15/2021
SOUTH HADLEY – Chair Kyle Belanger announced at South Hadley's March 1 virtual School Committee meeting that the district is back in the hybrid model for two of their school buildings with K-4 grade students, and two more grades to come in another two weeks.
“I’m so proud that we are back and that our hybrid model has started out. It sounds like it was just phenomenal,” replied Vice Chair Allison Schlachter. “I just wanted to give so much gratitude to everyone working so hard and all of the parents who have been so patient for this day and we're finally here.”
South Hadley Education Association (SHEA) Update
SHEA President Scott Beaulieu gave a personal shout out to South Hadley educators for the “amazing work” being done throughout their district. He stated, “South Hadley community as a whole are extremely fortunate to have the dedicated professionals and incredibly talented educators that we have in our system. It was great to see my students and have a little life back in the building.”
Beaulieu also voiced as a union they have some concerns. They haven’t received the ventilation report they asked for last July, as well as concerns about their Internet capabilities and security since teachers are expected to teach both in-person and online. He explained he hopes that the School Committee will look into this. Beaulieu informed the committee that SHEA is concerned about losing talented professionals because of the situation in town, and the inflexibility of the district in terms of trying to help people stay in district.
“We're losing quality teachers and professionals in positions because of that,” responded Beaulieu. “We are still very concerned about the cross-cohorting in all the buildings and concerned about the contact tracing in a couple of our buildings. Students are not being assigned seats in lunches, so now they’re moving around and we know they don't have masks on. We don’t have a complete system in our lunchrooms still and two other buildings where there's no assigned seats for lunches.”
Approval of policies
The committee made a motion to accept the School Choice slots as presented by Dr. Diana Bonneville and a motion to approve Policy JFABD-Homeless Students: Enrollment Rights and Services, Policy JFABE- Educational Opportunities for Military Children and Policy JFABF- Educational Opportunities for Children in Foster Care.
During the meeting, Belanger said after two years of being chair, he has opted to not run again for a spot on the School Committee. “It’s been really hard for me to come to terms with that, but I wanted to take this moment and just say that this committee has really done a remarkable job in supporting every single student, teacher and family in this town,” Belanger expressed. “When sometimes it feels like nothing we do is going to make everybody happy; for the four colleagues and Eric, I just want to thank you for making these three years the most meaningful three years of my life in service.”
At the end, Belanger congratulated all the teachers, students, families, staff and all members of their community for getting to March 1. He said that they have successfully marched through a challenging year, and is proud of the accomplishments they are showing across their town.
The next South Hadley?School Committee meeting is on March 15.