SOUTH DEERFIELD — Although the Frontier Regional School District School Committee approved pursuing a hybrid model for fall education in a vote earlier this month, it will now likely follow an initial two weeks of fully remote instruction.
Superintendent Darius Modestow said the idea to have two weeks of remote learning considers issues raised by faculty and staff, as well as concerns from local boards of health for the potential fallout with respect to COVID-19 cases following Labor Day weekend.
“I wanted to roll it out slower, and now I’m rolling it out even slower,” Modestow said of the hybrid model at a special Frontier School Committee meeting on Tuesday.
Sarah Mitchell, director of secondary education, explained that under the proposed plan, the first day of remote learning for all students would be Sept. 10. Remote learning would continue for the general population through the second week of school, but beginning Sept. 14, high priority students would begin to enter the building.
The rest of the students would then return to the building under the hybrid model on Sept 21.
“We’ve slowed it down again,” Mitchell said. “We’re back to the conversation about bringing students in one day a week.”
The initial hybrid model, which the Frontier School Committee voted in support of on Aug. 6, called for an A/B cohort system, with Wednesdays being remote for all students. However, the district is now looking at four cohorts of students — ABCD — broken up alphabetically, Mitchell said.
Additionally, Mitchell said that the plan to create a separate remote-only cohort, which would be for students who opted out of the hybrid model, is being revisited.
She said technology, including webcams and speakers, has been purchased to help staff teach their whole class as one class, whether they are at home or in the classroom.
“The bottom line for families is students will be enrolled in classes,” Mitchell said. “Whether they are at home doing remote-only or whether they’re hybrid, they’ll be in the same classes; they’ll have the same schedule they were originally intending to have.”
Mitchell also said a number of teachers have requested tents for outdoor learning, and those teachers will be accommodated.
School Committee Chair Bob Halla and Band and Choir Director Max Sherrill asked if developing a pod system had been considered as a means to reduce the number of students in contact with one another. Mitchell said the possibility had been considered, but that it was ultimately not viewed as the best model for the district.
“We started to look at that … and we found that it would really sacrifice the educational program that we offer at Frontier,” she said, noting it would be especially challenging to organize a pod system at the high school level compared to the middle school level.
She added that with the newer ABCD cohort model being considered, there would be between 75 and 80 students in the high school each day.
Modestow told the committee his next steps are to confer further with teachers before finalizing any plans, followed by getting the information out to parents and potentially setting up a town hall for parents to ask questions.
Mary Byrne can be reached at mbyrne@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 263. Twitter: @MaryEByrne