MONTAGUE — The draft plan for the Gill-Montague Regional School District’s fall semester has been announced and is open to public comment until Monday. The School Committee expects to finalize a plan on Tuesday.
Superintendent Brian Beck recommends a fully remote model when school starts Sept. 14, with options for returning to in-person classes at points in October and early November. He acknowledged that fully remote instruction is likely the most burdensome on families, but cited community survey data and internal policy planning to support his recommendation.
“We need time to plan, we need time to communicate, and we need time to hire additional staff before we can get students on campus,” Beck said. “There is extensive training required for everybody. … It includes extensive training around safety, sanitation and health protocols.”
The final decision on the policy lies with the School Committee, which will vote in its online meeting on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The agenda and access link for the meeting will be on the school district’s website, gmrsd.org.
Parents and other stakeholders may submit comments in advance, either confidentially or to be spoken publicly in Tuesday’s meeting.
The full 40-page document is available at gmrsd.org. The policies cover questions on social distancing, masks, school cleaning plans, class schedules, remote and in-person classroom options, hybrids thereof, bussing and more.
To comment, email School Committee Secretary Jennifer Lively at jennifer.lively@gmrsd.org. Note whether you want to speak briefly in Tuesday’s meeting, or are submitting your comments confidentially to the School Committee members and not for public discussion. The deadline for emails is Monday at 8 p.m.
On his recommendation, Beck said that a fully remote model would give the schools extra time to coordinate internally for the eventual switch to hybrid or fully in-person classes. Also, the schools are still awaiting a shipment of personal protective equipment and a full evaluation of their ventilation systems.
Community sentiment is similar. In a survey of parents and guardians conducted in July, about half indicated that they were at least unsure of an in-person school model, and about a quarter indicated that their families have special health concerns related to the coronavirus, Beck said.
Implementing a fully remote model, the district would provide computers to all students, and would coordinate internet access for families if necessary, Beck said.
The class schedule would be more structured than it was this spring, when the schools switched to remote learning unplanned, Beck added. Students would conference with teachers at scheduled points in the day, and attendance would be taken.
“What’s different about the remote learning model that’s being proposed for the fall … is that there are going to be expectations for content, expectations for attendance, courses are going to be graded, and the schedule is, relatively speaking, going to follow a normal school day schedule,” Beck said.
Plans for hybrid classes have been filed with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), so that the district may transition when possible.
The School Committee will re-evaluate its schedule for transitioning throughout September and early October. At checkpoints in the fall, the committee will determine if the schools are ready to transition to a hybrid model, and may vote to set a date for transitioning.
In the hybrid model now being discussed, each grade level would be broken into two groups, each of which would be in school for two days at a time, while the other group works remotely. Certain special needs groups would be in school four days a week.
Each two-day section would be separated by a day when all students would be working remotely, during which time the school buildings would be cleaned.
A fully in-person model has not been determined yet. Although DESE had requested that the district file a plan for an in-person option, Beck said that, considering the state of the pandemic and Massachusetts’ current re-opening rules, an in-person model was not a realistic possibility.
“I wrote to the commissioner (of DESE) to let him know I was not going to waste the time and effort of all of us, including families, to try to put together something that we saw as impossible now,” Beck explained.
Beck said an in-person model will be cleared with DESE well in advance of the district’s need.
Reach Max Marcus at
mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.