MONTAGUE — The Gill-Montague Regional School District will start its school year with fully remote classes, and plans to continually reassess when the schools may switch to a hybrid model.
The School Committee approved the plan on Tuesday, at the recommendation of Superintendent Brian Beck. Committee members noted that at least some amount of in-person instruction would be better, but they ultimately agreed with Beck’s point that the schools are not yet prepared for in-person classes.
As rates of COVID-19 in Franklin County are relatively low, there was some disagreement over whether it might already be safe enough for in-person classes. However, Beck emphasized that the schools are still awaiting a shipment of personal protective equipment and an assessment of their ventilation systems, and administrators also expect extensive training to be necessary before staff members are fully prepared for in-person classes.
“I’m not making this recommendation exclusively on numbers,” Beck said. “I’m making this recommendation based on our preparedness.”
Karl Dziura, a high school English teacher and president of the Gill-Montague teachers’ union, made similar points, and said that 70 percent of teachers surveyed favor starting the school year with fully remote classes.
Still, there was some discomfort with the lack of a clear indicator for when the schools will be ready for in-person classes.
Most notably, School Committee member Heather Katsoulis pointed out that, considering the rates of COVID-19 locally, Gill-Montague would qualify for in-person classes under guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and Harvard University.
“If we go off the data, we don’t have the cases here,” she said. “What gets us back to school? Even partially?”
Among parents, teachers and other stakeholders, opinions have been mixed. In a survey that about two-thirds of district families responded to, 54 percent said they prefer to start remotely, Beck said.
The same mixed opinions have been exhibited in private emails to the School Committee, according to committee member Jennifer Lively.
To the point that it may be too soon for in-person classes, many expressed concerns over mask requirements, cleaning procedures and capacity for testing for the virus. On the other hand, many said that their children should be in school, not at home, either because the parents’ work schedule couldn’t accommodate it, or because they felt that teachers should be teaching in person and not relying on parents.
“It’s a lot of both sides,” Lively said. “There’s no good answer. Everybody has different needs.”
The entire fall semester will not necessarily be remote. The committee plans to continually monitor the situation, with an eye toward moving to a hybrid model at some point in the fall.
At the earliest, classes could switch to a hybrid model by early October.
Fully in-person classes are not seen as a serious possibility yet. Beck said he has not filed a plan for in-person instruction with the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, arguing that time would be better spent perfecting the remote and hybrid models. He said a plan for in-person instruction will be filed well in advance of the district’s need.
Reach Max Marcus at
mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.