This evening Newton parents of school children received an email from NPS detailing the current status of getting kids back in to the schools.
Elementary – Moves to full in-person the week of March 29 or April 5th
Middle School – “looking forward to expanding in-person learning at our middle schools this spring“
High Schools – No decision yet. “Hope that more students will be able to attend classes in the building.’
This is good news and appears to be consistent with the likely direction from the state DESE. But there were two items of concern raised and left unanswered during the School Committee meeting.
In one part of the meeting, it was suggested that parents of DLA students who wanted their children to join their peers back in the classroom might not always be able to do so. Based on Commissioner Riley’s comments, that approach would seem to be at variance with the likely state rules which would say that every student who wants to go back to the classroom must be accommodated.
(Further, the administrators also were vague as to how the decision would be made as to which DLA students would be able to go back to the classrooms, raising important questions of fairness.)
The second issue relates to the daily calendar for the elementary classes. It was suggested that the mornings would be back to normal, but that the afternoons would somehow be different. There is a potential danger in that view if the design of the afternoon time is not consistent with the instructional rules set forth by DESE. If it turns out there is a shortfall in teaching hours, we could find ourselves in a situation of needing summer school or some other remediation to meet the hours requirement of the state.
The key thing to remember here is that the DESE actions will be rules, not guidance. In essence, they will be revoking the emergency regulations that were put in place last summer (i.e., those allowing distance learning and hybrid models) and mandating that school districts return to complying with the long-standing state rules about instructional time.
I hear Juneteeth is now a NPS holiday extending school year by one day. I applaud NPS for taking this brave stance, Now we need a 9/11 holiday.
Ken – Juneteenth is an official MA State holiday, signed into law by our Governor in July. Do you get your news by Pony Express? NPS was not involved. ( Although, I heard they were spotted on the grassy knoll ) Not sure what your 9/11 comment is trying to communicate.
I think I see where Ken is going…
How about a school or state holiday for Lunar New Year? Or a holiday to recognize the atrocities of the Chinese Exclusion Act or in internment of Japanese-American Citizens during WW2? Better yet, how about we replace President’s day with either of latter as a President ultimately signed off on both?
When the strive for Equality ends up excluding, isolating and turning away others in the process… can it truly be called equal?
That’s rhetorical BS. If you take your argument to its conclusion we should have no official remembrances at all to avoid “excluding” anyone. Everything is not relative. We as a community, as electors, as citizens , inform those who can make law what it is we want to elevate and honor and they – if they are doing their job – comply. If Ken wants a 9/11 holiday let him advocate for one.
Getting back to the topic of the thread…It is nice to see some progress being made. It’s only taken a year for elementary school kids to get back full time, lol.
As the parent of a high school student, however, I am VERY concerned about the lack of planning for this group. The ventilation issue in the schools has been resolved. We are coming upon warmer weather where more interactions could take place outside. DESE still recommends 3ft. I know the CDC says 6 ft. I imagine there is a middle ground, especially with keeping windows open. The NY Times recently had an article how opening the windows dramatically reduces the chances for transmission.
NPS has had this whole school year to inventory classes and consider how to configure them for full time in-person learning. They say that classrooms would not be able to fit all students under current guidelines. However, I have yet to hear from them what that actually means. Could they accommodate all students at 5.5 ft, 4ft, 3ft? They have been very vague about their space issues other than to say they don’t have enough.
When the issue of ventilation came up, NPS inventoried every classroom to see what needed to be done. They need to do something similar with classroom spacing and hire a space consultant to figure it out. It is doubtful a majority of high school kids will be vaccinated by September. Maybe some 17 or 18 yr. olds. Freshmen and Sophomores will not. I would consider moving my child to a private school, but she will be a senior and it would not make sense. We can’t allow NPS and the mayor to keep dragging their feet toward a full-tome opening. At this point, it is not rocket science.
I’m happy that Juneteenth is now an observed holiday. I’d also like to see Lunar New Year as a day off next year.
@Bruce C – In the email (linked above) NPS says that their plan to get the elementary school kids all back in the building relies on dropping the minimum required student spacing to 3′
@Jerry- It is true that they say 3′ for elementary aged kids. They haven’t said whether they would do for High Schoolers.
The NPS schools just made official what I raised above as a problem, in a letter sent to elementary school parents this afternoon. The Office of Elementary Education said: “It is also very important for families to know that moving from DLA to hybrid (which will soon be full in-person), can only be accommodated if there is space available. At this point, it is not likely that all requests to move from DLA to hybrid (full in-person) can be accommodated due to the limited space available in classrooms.”
That this is likely to conflict with the DESE regulations is going to lead to a problematic situation.
Further, to the extent that the NPS policy on this matter holds, what will be the process for choosing which children will be allowed to move to in-class and which children will not? The letter does not address that point, which was also raised during the School Committee meeting.
Here is the missing backstory.
NPS is not voluntarily bringing kids back to school. The NPS text that Jerry links to leaves this out, but the move is being driven by the state education agency (DESE) changing the rules about what counts towards education requirements. DESE deserves a big round of applause. In the TAB, a school committee member says (complains?),“this is enormously fast moving.”
What is missing in the NPS text and the Tab article is that in the late spring DESE told all districts to submit three education plans. One for in-person education, one of hybrid, and one for remote. Despite the requirement, NPS only provided a plan for hybrid and remote. This frustrated me since I did not think in-person would ever occur without a plan. I was told by the school committee that an in-person plan was on the way, “soon.” During summer meetings with parents, I repeatedly asked when we could expect the in-person plan, but my questions were never answered (I had to submit via chat or email).
NPS never submitted an in-person plan. The mayor and the SC knew that DESE required it, but, as they often do, they let the administration off the hook. Other districts submitted all three plans. If it seems like the transition is “enormously fast moving,” it is NPS’ fault for not planning during the late spring. If our implementation pales in comparison to our peer districts, it is NPS’ fault.
Why would we not just rent or buy more space such as trailers or office space.
@Paul
Please consider running for Mayor. The continued lack of leadership is brutal, and our kids are suffering. Fuller is failing, you can win.
@Emily
Great thought.
Emily, I emailed the school committee in July, and told them that use whatever vacant space they could get. Use the library, use the senior center, the temple on Webster Woods. The Four Points by Sheraton and Newton Marriot have space that is not being used. No one responded. There is no evidence that they tried. Our kids are not in school full time for a lack of effort, not a lack of space.
@Jeffrey Pontiff you can’t even reality say that the NPS submitted a valid hybrid plan since their hybrid plan was not implementable.
@Jeffrey Pontiff – Hotel indigo at Riverside sits vacant – maybe we can strike a deal with Mark Development – lots of rooms and space, I think someone in the City must know how to contact him.
Just a note – adding more space would also require adding more staff, and presumably people would want a teacher teaching the class in person, not an aide supervising kids zooming into a class being held by a teacher in another room.
But even if they went with aides supervising, I don’t know that the district has the funds to hire more staff, or that there are people out there looking for jobs. (I just checked on School Spring – job board for teachers – and there are currently more than 3000 listings for open teacher and support staff jobs in MA.)
Perhaps I am missing something here.
Teachers are eligible for vaccines right now at CVS (through federal vaccine allocations), and as of 3/11 at the state mass vaccination sites. At the rate of ~60K shots per day, it is very reasonable to assume that any teacher or school staff member who wants the vaccine can have their first shot by the end of the month, and 2nd shot certainly by the end of April vacation week. Also, anybody 65+ or with 2 comorbidities has been eligible for a week or two.
The two justifications for spacing, keeping schools closed/hybrid, etc. have been (1) the risk of infecting teachers/staff, or (2) the risk of students bringing covid home to vulnerable people. With the vaccines, both these risks are off the table by mid to end of April.
So remind me again what the hold up is to opening schools at all levels to full-time, in-person instruction. Students can continue to wear masks, no one is suggesting they stop doing so.
This is contingency planning 101. We knew last summer that space, ventilation, and staffing were issues. The implementation of a vaccine was touted as the key to opening up schools. I thought the issue of ventilation had been resolved.
Vaccines mean that teachers should be able to return to school. Research has shown that in school transmission is low. While students may not receive the vaccine, vulnerable adults should receive it further reducing the likelihood of a student passing it to people at home (and I would argue that keeping students at home ts perhaps more likely to increase possible transmission since they will find a way to socialize with their friends.). The risk of transmission, no matter how strong the mitigation efforts, will never be zero.
As stated in earlier posts, schools were asked to submit three plans last summer, one of which was a return to full time learning. Newton only submitted a DL plan and hybrid plan which was later rejected by the very people that proposed it. They did not offer a full-in person proposal. At this point, given what we know and what are some scenarios that could happen over the next few months, likely or unlikely, there should be a system to have several plans in place. If a natural disaster such as a hurricane hits a community, the government doesn’t wait until after it occurs to decide what to do. They have contingency plans to address what needs to be done before the disaster hits. At this point, there is no excuse for NPS not to have plans for full re-opening for all grades by later this spring and certainly for next fall.
Just to be clear about the science, the letter to DESE (now signed by over 300 doctors from around the state!) makes clear that vaccination is not a precondition to full classroom learning. What they say is that the range of mitigation measures now in place–and further research that has been done on the distancing issue–suggest that distances between students of 3 feet are safe. This last factor is what makes it possible to now increase the number of students in classes, obviating the need for two cohorts of hybrid learning.
(Brookline already decided to move in this direction for elementary schools, advised by their medical advisory body, even before a change in DESE regulations.)
For those interested, take a look at the materials for today’s DESE meeting, which includes the doctors’ letter and the Commissioner’s memo to the board: https://www.doe.mass.edu/bese/docs/fy2021/2021-03/
What vaccination does offer is the possibility that teachers who have been working from home because of family risk factors will be more available to work at school, increasing the number of teachers available in all the districts. But if we have to wait until all teachers are vaccinated to proceed with full in-class learning, we will continue to experience the OTHER avoidable health effects of this pandemic, an increase in physical and mental health issues for our children. Those have been documented and are real and are serious.
The DESE just voted to adopt the Commissioner’s recommendation. This is good news for elementary school parents who want their children to go back to school for full days. (Those who want to remain in the remote mode will be allowed to.)
Notably, there was discussion suggesting that the NPS Office of Elementary Education statement–“It is not likely that all requests to move from DLA to hybrid (full in-person) can be accommodated due to the limited space available in classrooms.”–is contrary to the intent of the new regulations and is likely to leave Newton is an awkward position over the coming weeks.
The news that Paul mentions above may slip under the radar on a Friday night, but the state educational board displayed leadership and resolve today in taking firm action to return our students to the classroom. Several Newton residents played a key role in this action, including many physicians who have communicated the science in regards to safe, in-person education. Although NPS had already announced a return to in-person learning for elementary students prior to the DESE vote today, hopefully the Commissioner’s new authority will help middle school and high school students.
https://www.doe.mass.edu/bese/docs/fy2021/2021-03/ (see physician’s letter .pdf)