Fall Reopening Plan

The planning for our reopening has been a collaborative effort, informed in large part by the Reopening Working Group comprised of educators, staff, parents, students, administrators, and other community partners. This group of over 60 individuals has been meeting both in the full district wide group, as well as school-based teams on a weekly and sometimes daily basis to grapple with the details of a successful reopening. Thank you to all those who served on the working group for your hours of thoughtful debate and discussion. While the ultimate decision on the reopening was made at the School Committee and Administration level, the insight and work contributed by this large group of individuals helped ensure an informed approach. The end result is a plan that is informed by the many perspectives of those involved, measured against the varying advice from medical experts, accounting for feedback that has been gathered and analyzed, and responsive to our local capacities to ensure we can keep all students and staff safe.

This plan, approved on Wednesday, August 12th, lays out three (3) possible models for the reopening of our schools, including a full in person return, a full remote learning model, and a hybrid of both in person and remote learning. These three options were developed with the anticipation that we will find ourselves transitioning between models as the specifics of COVID-19 cases and that our ability to respond safely as a community will continue to change over the coming months. However it was confirmed by this vote that the school year will begin on Wednesday, September 16th in a fully remote model, but with a clear intention to move towards a Hybrid return as soon as feasible, with a timeline for decisions and transitions clearly laid out.