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Date: 10/27/2020
WEST SPRINGFIELD – The West Springfield School Committee met for a regularly scheduled meeting on the evening of Oct. 20 and discussed a number of items including plans for reopening schools within the district.
The meeting began with an update from Maintenance Director Scott Moore about the ventilation within schools across the district. Moore said testing for ventilation had been completed in six of the nine schools, prior to the return of some students that was scheduled for Oct. 26. The reason for not testing all nine schools, he explained, was due to nearly identical equipment and square footage in three schools which would have the same results as the schools that had already been tested.
Moore said he felt the results of the ventilation tests were “very positive,” and only had room for improvement. “We had very positive results ranging from an average of four [air exchanges per hour] at Cowing, to 5.9 at the high school. What we need to keep in mind on these tests is that it is air exchange per hour through filtration,” he said. “It does not include the introduction of outdoor air sources, nor exhaust, which we have the ability to do in all the schools, which is only going to increase the numbers.”
Moore said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website recommended four air exchanges an hour per classroom, meaning all their classrooms fell within the recommended guidelines. He added that the MERV-13 filters had been installed for a test at the Memorial school, which he said yielded “very positive” test results. “We have ordered MERV-13 filters for all the schools based on that test. As soon as they come in, all the air filters will be changed out to the MERV-13,” he said.
He said at the time of the meeting each school in the district had received new air filters and exhaust fans. Moore added that they had “the ability, in all the schools, to monitor the CO2 levels and increase the outdoor air introduction.” This, he explained, would only improve the air quality. Given the choice between filtered air and outdoor air, he said he would choose outdoor air every time.
The other significant topic of discussion during the meeting was the metrics the district was using to determine how the school would pivot forward or backward in their hybrid plan once students were brought back to in-person learning. West Springfield Superintendent Tim Connor said while he felt the current metrics were “really good,” after talking with other local superintendents he thought there should be more flexibility within the plan.
He said he also listened to community feedback and saw how some community members might “think we’re being over-conservative with opening or that we’d automatically have to close in certain circumstances.”
He said after such discussions he met with Dr. Vito Perrone who serves as the principal of the West Springfield High School, Director of Public Health Jeanne Galloway and Christine Beaumont who serves as the district’s director of health services. “We were talking about ways that may be better [to] add to this document that allows for more flexibility in our thinking around the decision making of either returning or needing to close,” Connor said.
He said one item he was requesting following the meeting was the ability to take the current plan and metrics that would decide how to pivot forward or backward to the district’s health and safety team. There, Connor said he would like to “just talk about some of those areas around adding some more language in there that allows the committee, and myself, to determine each and every situation on its own merits.”
“I think that’s where some of the concern is for a lot of the folks is that we all know how complex this is, right? We’ve been talking about this since March. With that also comes the need for flexibility and looking at each citation situation independently. So what I don’t want to do, is I don’t want to paint ourselves in a corner,” he said. “I don’t want to paint a school in a corner, I don’t want to paint a class. I want to have as many tools in the toolbox to make sure, whatever the decision being made, whether it’s myself or the school committee, that we’re using the most reasonable guidelines around this.”
Some of the changes to metrics Connor presented to the committee included changing some of the language in plan to allow for more flexibility. For example, instead of the language stating “If two ore more cases are confirmed in a school, the school closes for 14 days,” instead the language would read “If two or more cases are confirmed in a school, the school may close for 14 days.”
Mayor William Reichelt said he was in favor of making the metrics a little more flexible. This, he said, would “allow us more latitude in making decisions.”
“Let’s say we have two cases, and [that] automatically requires us to close. I think circumstances could change, or things could be just happening in the school. We should just look at it as what’s actually happening and make a decision based on that instead of just hitting a number or threshold,” Reichlet said. “Even talking to the governor’s office about, let’s say your community goes red, but it’s because of a spike in a senior housing facility or nursing home or something like that. Well that doesn’t mean there’s community spread, and we don’t need to close because of that.”
Committee member, William Garvey, said he was also in favor of the changes and revisions being taken back to the health and safety team. Garvey also referenced some discussion the committee had at an earlier date regarding decision making. “I think this kind of goes along to, similar to the aspect of I don’t know if it was two meetings ago, Tim, about you being able to make you know emergency decisions and things like that. I think this is in the same boat, you’re going to need to move quicker than we can meet sometimes, so I think that’s a great idea,” he said. “And I do like the idea of some flexibility because two cases in one school is not equal to two cases in another school depending on how the contact tracing goes and things like that.”
However, he expressed concerns about the language surrounding nursing staff within the schools. “My hesitation in the way it’s written is nursing staff in the isolation room. I know, I understand why we’re putting CNAs in there, but I just want to be crystal clear that there will not be a school open in West Springfield without a nurse in person, in that building and the same with an isolation room,” he said. “I’m not saying it needs to be in this document, but I just want to be clear on that, that doesn’t supersede that.”
However, Connor said while CNAs would be staffed in isolation rooms, not having a school nurse would be difficult even in a normal year. “Not having a nurse in a building is a- that’s a game stopper right there even on a good year, that’s very challenging.”
Committee Member Pat Garbacik also expressed she was in favor of the changes, and member Colleen Marcus made a motion to send the document back to the health and safety team where revisions would be made. The motion passed unanimously.
At the end of the meeting, Reichlet announced to the committee that the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) had approved their phased-in hybrid learning plan. Previously, West Springfield was one of a handful of towns that had received a letter from commissioner Jeff Riley questioning why children weren’t returning to school despite the low-levels of COVID-19 in town, according to the governor’s color-coded transmission map. Reichlet said the approval of the town’s hybrid plan meant that they would not be audited.
Additionally, later in the week on Oct. 22, Reichlet and district officials announced that the Fausey Elementary School would close for two weeks due to three confirmed cases of COVID-19. In a letter to the public posted on his Facebook page, Reichelt said “Fausey Elementary School has three school community members that have tested positive for COVID-19.”
Reichelt said, “Two of the contacts are faculty, staff and/or building administration who were working within the building or conducting remote instruction.” Due to this level of exposure, he said, there were a number of faculty that would be required to quarantine for 14 days. Reichelt said all DPH and DESE guidelines were being followed, “including collaborating with our local health department to complete contact tracing.”
However, due to the level of exposure and staff needing to self-isolate for two weeks, the school would be closed for in-person learning until Nov. 5. Prior to the announcement, students in the early childhood program to grade two were scheduled to begin in-person learning on Oct. 26. Reichelt explained that after the two-week isolation period was over, students in cohort B in grades one and two would begin in-person learning on Nov. 9. Also returning to in-person learning during the week of Nov. 9 are students in grades three through five.
He said that while the school undergoes cleaning and disinfecting each night, it was deep cleaned during Oct. 20. Additionally, district employees would continue implementing all recommended health and safety guidelines such as mask wearing, socially distancing, handwashing. Further individuals who may test positive are asked to report their results, along with a copy of test results, to the school nurse.