Area schools are taking precautions — including closures — as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Greenfield Community College (GCC) has extended spring break, concluding March 27, according to a press release from the college.
Effective Monday, March 16, the GCC campus will be open on a limited basis allowing access only to faculty, staff and students to provide resources necessary to ensure program requirements will be met for program completion, according to the release.
Students enrolled in face-to-face classes will be contacted by their faculty or department chair no later than March 30. Students currently enrolled in online courses or courses scheduled to start March 23 will hear sooner from their faculty.
Faculty members are being supplied with the tools and support to provide remote instruction and will accommodate students with technology needs. On-campus staff will be provided with the tools to work remotely, as appropriate. Students should check their student email, MyGCC or Moodle for instructions on how to proceed from faculty.
Additional accommodations will be made for classes that require labs, clinicals, teaching practica and internships with social distancing in mind. Information regarding such meetings will be provided to students from their faculty. Faculty, staff and work-study students should communicate with their supervisors for details regarding their work on campus.
According to the release, all measures are evaluated and updated daily and will be adjusted as circumstances dictate. Visit gcc.mass.edu for the latest updates and to review information from the state Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The SATs scheduled for Saturday at Greenfield High School have been canceled, according to the Greenfield School Department. Students with questions can visit collegeboard.org for more information.
Additionally, the Greenfield School Department announced that for the next week — March 16 through 20 — schools will be closed. Students are expected to return to school on Monday, March 23, according to a press release by Superintendent Jordana Harper.
“At this time, we do not have any confirmed or presumptive cases of COVID-19 in our schools or in Greenfield,” Harper wrote. “We will complete a deep cleaning of our schools and further coordinate with public health officials. We will further assess our readiness to reopen within that period of time, and will plan to update families as soon as possible based on available information and in continuing guidance with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, School Committee, and city and state officials.”
Gill-Montague Superintendent Michael Sullivan decided to close its schools for one week, from March 16 to 20.
“We will reassess the situation next week to consider what to do beyond March 20,” Sullivan wrote. “While there are no identified cases of the COVID-19 virus in our schools or towns, the lack of testing capacity for the virus creates a situation of a very large unknown.”
Sullivan said is possible additional closures could occur. Regardless of how many closure days there are, the last day of school will be Thursday, June 18.
The district is working to set up a meals program for qualifying students during this period, information on which will be available at gmrsd.org and via email to families.
According to Sullivan, the district’s intention is to staff the district central office but not school offices. The superintendent search process is also temporarily suspended.
All athletic and extracurricular activities, meetings and school social events will be canceled during this closure, and the district is crafting alternate plans for next week’s parent-teacher conferences, Sullivan stated.
Community members from the Community School Partnership are working on establishing a website where residents can communicate with each other to offer mutual support with resources like child care. Once this is established, Sullivan said the district will relay information about it.
The vocational school will be closed from Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20.
“This closure will provide Franklin County Technical School additional time to disinfect not only classrooms and shops but equipment within all instructional areas,” according to a Facebook post by Franklin County Technical School Superintendent Rick Martin. “Next week, Franklin County Technical School administration will be consulting within health officials to assess the current situation and make a determination if additional closure is required.”
The Pioneer Valley Regional School District announced Friday it will be closed for two weeks, starting Monday, March 16, with a tentative return date to school Monday, March 30. In a notice about the closure, Superintendent Jonathan Scagel said the situation is “constantly evolving” and the district will send out more information as it becomes available.
“The goal of taking this progressive and precautionary step is to increase public distancing for both students and staff,” Scagel said.
The district encourages families to contact the nurse of their school building via email for questions or guidance on COVID-19. In addition to already enhanced sanitizing procedures, the district will implement and expand ongoing cleaning protocol.
“This closure will not extend our school year,” Scagel noted. The school year is currently scheduled to end Thursday, June 18.
According to the notice, individual building principals will work with their faculty to create opportunities for continued learning. Families will receive communication about educational learning opportunities early next week. School-related questions can be directed to building principals or the superintendent’s office.
Following the town of Orange declaring a state of emergency, in partnership with the Orange Board of Health and emergency personnel, all schools are closing, according to a press release from Superintendent Tari Thomas.
Dexter Park, Fisher Hill, Petersham Center and Ralph C. Mahar Regional schools will be closed for at least one week — starting Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20 — with the possibility to extend to two weeks through Friday, March 27.
This closure includes all sports practices and tryouts and other previously scheduled school activities.
A status update will be distributed to families on or before Friday, March 20.