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Date: 3/24/2021
SOUTHWICK – Superintendent Jennifer Willard presented the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District’s (STGRSD) plan to bring students back for in-person learning last week.
The plan will meet guidelines set by the state.
Willard said during the March 17 School Committee meeting that remote learning time in Massachusetts elementary schools would no longer count towards student learning time on April 5. The same will apply for middle and high schools on April 28. School districts have been encouraged to meet new guidelines ahead of the deadlines.
Willard said that all students in Pre-K through sixth grade would return for in-person learning five days a week on April 5.
On April 26, two days before the deadline set by the state, students in grades 7-12 will also return to in-person learning five days a week.
“This is what most people have been waiting for since we closed our school doors on March 13, 2020,” said Willard.
She said that students who opted to learn completely remotely for this year would be allowed to finish the year remotely, but they will be required to participate in in-person learning when school returns in the fall.
Willard addressed new transportation guidelines for school buses for the remainder of the year. For elementary schools, all capacity limitations and physical distancing requirements for students on buses are lifted. The same applies for middle and high schools, except for districts with a high community prevalence of COVID-19. In those cases, capacity limits and distance requirements are amended to allow two students per bus bench.
Willard was also able to share data on how many students would be returning to each school for in-person learning.
Nine students will be switching from remote learning to in-person learning at the Woodland School. Seventy-seven percent of all Woodland students will be learning in-person.
At Powder Mill, 24 students will return to in-person learning, while one student will be switching from in-person to remote due to a special circumstance. Seventy-five percent of Powder Mill students will participate in in-person learning.
Southwick Regional School will have the most returning students with 72 coming back for in-person learning. Two students will go from in-person learning to remote learning. Southwick Regional School will have 73 percent of its students learning in person.
A total of 105 students will return to STGRSD schools next month for in-person learning.