MONTAGUE — While still ironing out problems with a new hybrid education model, the Gill-Montague Regional School District is aiming to expand its in-person classes from a group of 16 high-priority students to about 20 more by the end of next week.
“I’m pleased that we are doing an incremental phasing of students into campus, instead of taking an entire population and going hybrid,” said Gill-Montague Superintendent Brian Beck.
Gill-Montague started the school year in a fully remote model, with plans to continually re-evaluate, and to potentially transition to a hybrid model at some point in the fall, if conditions permitted.
But concerns regarding the schools’ safety protocols and local trends in the pandemic have made Beck and the School Committee cautious on moving too quickly to in-person classes.
Starting Oct. 22, 16 students transitioned to a hybrid model, in which smaller groups of three to five students alternate being in school for two days a week, and learn remotely on the other days.
The students who were allowed to try in-person classes were selected according to individualized criteria that may make in-person instruction especially urgent, like special education requirements. Beck said not all students who were offered the hybrid option took it, however.
Only Turners Falls High School and Sheffield Elementary School have in-person classes for now, and classes are taught indoors, rather than under a tent outside, as has been the case for some other local schools. At Hillcrest Elementary School and Gill Elementary School, ongoing evaluations of the buildings’ ventilation systems have made it impossible to be sure that the buildings would meet safety requirements, as Beck discussed with the School Committee on Tuesday.
At the soonest, the next group of priority students could switch to the hybrid model by Nov. 5, though Beck said this is an “ambitious” goal, and will be determined by the ongoing evaluations of the ventilation systems and ability to staff the schools appropriately. School administration is mindful of limiting teachers’ social contact with students, Beck noted.
Local trends in the pandemic will also determine the schools’ ability to hold in-person classes. If the pandemic worsens, Beck said, the schools still may revert to fully remote classes.
The next group of about 20 students has not been fully identified, but will include both elementary and high school students, according to Pupil Services Director Diane Ellis.
The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) contacted Gill-Montague in September, in a letter from Commissioner Jeffrey Riley, suggesting that the fully remote instruction the schools were using at the time might be inconsistent with the relatively low rates of COVID-19 in the Franklin County area. Fifteen other school systems in Massachusetts received similar letters, including Mohawk Trail Regional School District and Hawlemont Regional School District.
Beck said the issues with DESE have been resolved, since the district provided more information on its developing plans. But, he added, “I can’t guarantee that’s not going to result in future intervention. Everything is going to be fluid over the course of the year.”
“The commissioner wants to have kids in school,” he said. “We want to have kids in school, but we want to do it safely. It’s a local decision.”
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.