The return to in-person plan was developed with the overarching goal of maximizing student growth and achievement for all M.S.A.D. No. 75 students:

• We have planned for all schools across grades PreK-12 to open with five days a week of instruction for PreK-12 grade enrolled students following our normal school hours per the approved calendar.

• M.S.A.D. No. 75 strives to offer continuity of learning for all students by prioritizing in-person instruction. 

• We will continue to follow all current and future Maine Department of Education and Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance by updating our Return to School plan.

• At the August 12, 2021, M.S.A.D. No. 75 Board of Directors meeting the School Board voted to participate in pooled testing in the fall for those parents who opt-in.  Pooled testing will require parental consent. With the intent to be able to pivot and be prepared to meet whatever changing conditions may occur until we are sure the Pandemic is finally over, M.S.A.D. No. 75 is hiring additional teaching staff to allow for increased physical distancing. 

• The State of Maine will follow the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S. CDC) updated face-covering guidance, which recommends that: all people, regardless of vaccination status, wear face coverings in indoor, public settings in areas with “substantial” or “high” levels of community transmission (map to show transmission); and all teachers, staff, and students in K-12 schools wear face coverings, regardless of vaccination status or community transmission level. At the August 16, 2021, Board of Directors meeting the School Board voted to mandate universal masking while indoors. Consequently, all staff and students will be required to wear a face-covering while inside M.S.A.D. No. 75 buildings.

• During FY 2024 Budget Planning meetings it was discussed that funds are now required to be expended until Sept. 2024. Some positions that were requested for the FY 2024 budget have now been moved to the ESSERF grant for funding.

• Per the U.S. CDC order related to transportation, all people on public or private school-provided transport, including buses and vans, are required to wear a mask regardless of vaccination status. 

• M.S.A.D. No. 75 will follow Maine DOE and Maine CDC standard operating procedures for quarantining. Knowing these may change at any time, M.S.A.D. No. 75 will follow the most recent guidance, and as updates are made documents will be available on the same website, found here.

• Under the Department of Health and Human Services Declaration of Public Health Emergency (July 28), M.S.A.D. No. 75 will comply with the requirement for school administrative units to report the rates of COVID-19 vaccination among school staff serving students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12 and make this information available to the public at this website.