GREENFIELD — The Greenfield School Committee is looking at options for reopening and hopes to have firm plans by sometime in August.
School Committee member Katie Caron, who is also a member of the Greenfield Reopening Education Advisory Team, a group of more than 20 educators, parents, school staff and community members, said the state is asking for every district to come up with three plans: returning fully to classrooms, continuing fully online, and a hybrid plan that would include both in-person and online learning.
“There are many questions still being considered,” Caron said. “Everyone is desperate to know the plans, but we can’t make those decisions yet, because things are still constantly changing.”
Developing reopening plans for the schools was a topic of discussion at Monday’s School Committee and Wednesday’s City Council meetings.
A survey sent to parents and guardians revealed that some families expect to home-school no matter what the decision ends up being.
The advisory team has created subcommittees that are looking at different aspects of reopening, including facilities, equity and technology. What is known is that students, teachers and staff members will need to remain 6 feet apart and all students in second grade and higher will have to wear a mask.
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner, also a School Committee member, said the city might be able to provide masks to children who don’t have them. She said schools should also put out a request to community members who might be willing to make some.
What is known, based on early requirements set forth by the state, is that parents or guardians will be required to check children’s temperatures each morning before they head to school, if reopening in person is an option by fall.
After the committee voted to join districts across the state in asking that Massachusetts fund mandates for reopening during the pandemic, School Committee member Glenn Johnson said he’s angry at the state’s guidance or lack thereof, asking all school districts to come up with three reopening plans.
Other members agreed they feel like school districts are on their own, as they were in March when schools had to close.
“There’s no way all students will be back in the fall,” Johnson said. “This is causing work to make a plan that won’t happen. I would direct the advisory team to focus on a partial return with a backup to virtual learning.”
Wedegartner agreed, saying many parents are frustrated and concerned about sending their children back full time in the fall.
School Committee member Susan Hollins, former superintendent of Greenfield schools, said that when making plans, the Greenfield Reopening Education Advisory Team should consider that there are students, teachers and others who are immunocompromised and will need special accommodations. She said Green River School should be reopened for those who are compromised but want to return, but there should also be a virtual option for those who do not want to go back to in-person learning.
“Some schools, like the high school, are more prepared for in-person return, because there can be one-way hallways and there’s just more space,” she said. “Other schools have so many students that they are going to have to figure out what to do.”
All School Committee members agreed not to make any decisions, except to say they “support” a plan for parents and guardians who don’t want to send their children back into classrooms. But, they added, everything should first be discussed with Superintendent Jordana Harper, who was not at the School Committee or City Council meetings.
Harper could not be reached by press time for comment about reopening.
Caron said the likelihood of every child returning at the same time in every building is not good, no matter the choices eventually presented.
“Many parents say they want to home-school their children,” she said.
Hollins said she doesn’t want the district to be inflexible because she fears there would eventually be an exodus to other districts.
School Committee Vice Chair Susan Eckstrom reminded the committee the district needs to think not only of students, teachers, administrators and staff members, but the people they all go home to at the end of the day and what they might bring to them: COVID-19.
“They could take it home to others who might be immunocompromised,” she said. “That’s a terrifying reality.”
School Committee Chair Amy Proietti said the Greenfield Reopening Education Advisory Team and School Committee are at a good starting point and are moving forward with good intentions. She said people can expect plans over the next several weeks, though she understands many, especially parents and guardians, are anxious to know what’s going to happen.
“When we’ve got those plans, everyone will know what classrooms will look like for their children, if they return in person,” Caron said. “I know it’s frustrating to not have answers right now, but that has been our reality through the pandemic.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.