Published in the June 11, 2020 edition.
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — Local schools expect to receive guidance from the state by the end of next week that will help in formulating local plans for reopening schools in the fall.
At this week’s School Committee meeting, School Superintendent Douglas Lyons cautioned that the reopening information that has been reported by some news outlets relates mostly to summer services for specific populations of students, not the reopening of entire districts in the fall.
That guidance for summer reopening for special education extended-year services includes general advice on class sizes, distancing requirements, hand-washing and staying home when sick.
Lyons said that the local plan is to have summer school begin remotely and then transition in August to face to face instruction. Lyons said that more information will be forthcoming on the summer school plan.
When the guidance for fall reopening of schools is released by the end of next week, Lyons said, it will include options to allow districts to make it their own. Lyons anticipated that much of the guidance for the fall will be similar to what has been released for summer sessions, such as distancing and hygiene requirements. As soon as local school leaders get that guidance, they will begin working on a fall reopening plan for the district.
Lyons said that some guidance has already been received from the state regarding the purchase of personal protective equipment for the fall.
Assistant Superintendent Kara Mauro said that the administration has also been focusing on closing out the current school year successfully. She said that due to the classroom time missed, it was not believed that there was enough information to assess elementary students in an accurate enough way to issue standards-based report cards. She said that a memo to that effect was sent out to elementary parents this week.
In planning for the fall, she said, a survey has been put out to school staff on remote learning to determine what worked and what didn’t. She said that a hybrid of remote and classroom learning was anticipated as a possibility for the fall.
Mauro said that there has been consideration given to the fact that, due to the 61 days of missed classroom instruction, students ended the year in a different place and will need to begin the fall in a different place. She said that the social-emotional wellness of the students will also need to be taken into account before getting too far into academic content in the fall.
Lyons said that once concrete guidance is received from the state, teachers, administrators union leaders and parents will be brought into the loop as the local guidelines are developed for the fall reopening of schools