MONTAGUE — In-person classes will be available for the full student population by Feb. 4, as the Gill-Montague Regional School District transitions over the next two weeks from a fully remote model to a new hybrid system.
This will be the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, 10 months ago, that in-person classes will be available for all students. Some in-person learning has been offered for students with special educational needs.
Gill-Montague Superintendent Brian Beck said the transition has only recently become possible, as public health data is indicating that local rates of COVID-19 are gradually decreasing, and ventilation issues in the schools that would have made in-person instruction potentially unsafe have been resolved.
“Teachers and parents are working harder than they ever have to make sure kids will have access to education,” Beck said. “We are trying to live with this virus.”
The schools will use a cohort model, in which two different groups of students are each in the school building for two days at a time, and at home for three days. Wednesdays, when all students are learning remotely, will be reserved for cleaning the buildings.
While new rules regarding social distancing in the schools will be in place, Beck added that cooperation from families will also be important in maintaining the safety of the school community.
Even in the past few months, while the schools have been fully remote, families have contacted the school nurses in cases where someone in their home has contracted COVID-19, Beck said.
The most important thing families can do, he said, is to keep students home from school if they seem to show any symptoms of COVID-19.
Since the pandemic began in March 2020, the Gill-Montague district has been almost completely remote.
Even when local rates of COVID-19 were relatively low this fall, the schools were hesitant to open for in-person classes, due to a lack of sufficient staffing for operating under new public health guidelines, and uncertainty regarding the state of the school buildings’ ventilation systems.
Both those issues have been resolved, Beck said. One maintenance report on Turners Falls High School is still pending, but is expected to be finished this week, he said. Montague, Gill and Erving have contributed Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding they received to help cover the school district’s pandemic-related costs, including maintenance, staff hiring and training.
In October, the district began offering in-person classes for small groups of students with special educational needs or other qualifications that might make in-person instruction more urgent. However, that was canceled in November, when someone in the school community was diagnosed with COVID-19.
After that, local rates of COVID-19 spiked following Thanksgiving, and stayed relatively high through December. The school district said it would hold off on considering in-person classes until January at the soonest.
Beck said the schools’ ability to maintain in-person classes will continue to be influenced by the public health situation locally, and will depend on COVID-19 case numbers staying low.
“We can’t make those decisions in a vacuum,” Beck said.
As for the future outlook, he said, there is no clear expectation on how available vaccines will be. K-12 teachers had been identified as a high-priority group for early vaccinations, he said, but now there are concerns that the supply of vaccines will not be sufficient.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.