GREENFIELD — The city’s public schools welcomed back 41 high-risk learners on Thursday, again.
Late last year, schools reopened to the same group of students, but had to close just a few weeks later because COVID-19 began to surge throughout the city. The schools had previously been closed since March 2020, when the pandemic hit the area.
School Committee Chair Amy Proietti told City Council this week that the return to Phase 2 of schools’ reopening plan was decided recently as the city started to see COVID-19 case numbers go down again. She said 41 of the Greenfield School Department’s 1,200 students need to be back to in-person learning.
“These are students with several learning disabilities, students who are English language learners or have other impediments,” she said. “They just can’t learn remotely. Their needs are too high.”
Proietti said all schools will be open to the students so that they can be safely separated, allowing for social distancing.
“We haven’t even talked about bringing everyone back yet,” Proietti reported. “We’ll have many hurdles to clear before that happens.”
One of those hurdles is transportation.
“A large bus typically transports 75 students,” she said. “With the pandemic, we can only transport 22 safely, which means even if we could all come back, it would cost $1 million more than we budgeted just to transport them.”
She said building capacities will be another hurdle.
“No school district in the area can accommodate the 6-foot distancing,” she said. “They can’t accommodate 3 feet and have enough room.”
Greenfield’s public schools began working on their air-quality issues last year, and Proietti said the School Committee will be looking at all factors, including COVID-19 numbers and safety protocols, as it determines when to allow all students back for in-person learning.
Central Maintenance worked with the city’s engineering contractors on the ventilation systems in each school building, but capacity is still an issue. Proietti said it would be “nearly impossible” to bring all students back anytime soon, and probably not until the pandemic is over.
“The good news is our educators are providing live remote learning,” Proietti said. “We are one of the few school districts doing so. We’re providing more live hours than most.
“No one wants to be remote, but we’re doing the best we can,” she continued. “The School Committee has been meeting several times a month to discuss these matters and more. Remote learning is the only affordable option right now.”
Reach Anita Fritz at 413-772-9591 or afritz@recorder.com.