By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — With the ever-changing landscape related to the reopening of schools statewide and the North Reading Public Schools less than one month away, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Daly is making sure the lines of communication remain open between the district and the parents, guardians and caregivers of the district’s students.
The district’s website (https://www.north-reading.k12.ma.us/), his Twitter account, NRPS Superintendent (@nrschools), and his blog (https://nrps-academicservices.blogspot.com/) are all sources of information presently available to them. Additionally, questions may be directed to him at any time via email (pdaly@nrpsk12.org).
“As we enter into August I am sure that there are many questions emerging about our plans for returning to school in the fall and so I wanted to briefly address this topic and share some information with you,” he wrote on his blog.
Daly is part of the town’s COVID-19 working group which has met regularly throughout the pandemic to coordinate the town’s response. Early last week Daly met with the other members of the working group: Director of Public Health Bob Bracey, Public Health Nurse Donna Hovey, Police Chief/Director of Public Safety Michael Murphy, Fire Chief Don Stats, and Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto “to review the local numbers as well as the latest recommendations from the Department of Public Health (DPH) and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). We have also had preliminary discussions with the School Committee prior to the release of the guidance and some initial conversations with our Teachers’ Association.”
Daly assured parents and guardians that at the present time during the emergence of the Delta variant, the North Reading Public Schools will follow guidance that has been “prepared jointly by Massachusetts DPH and DESE” and which is available online at (https://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/on-desktop/2021-0730fall-2021-covid19-guidance.pdf).
“I have also participated in conference calls with the Commissioner of Education who explained why Massachusetts, with its higher vaccination numbers and lower case counts, was able to arrive at this guidance as opposed to some of the more restrictive language coming from the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics, who must also address the needs of the entire country,” Daly stated. “We will continue to review the numbers both in Massachusetts and North Reading as we consider whether there is any need to make changes to our approach.”
The superintendent referenced the “recent uptick in cases,” with 19 new cases between July 1 and early August — 10 in vaccinated individuals, nine in unvaccinated individuals, with none at the town’s only nursing home, and none requiring hospitalization (https://www.northreadingma.gov/home/news/town-north-reading-coronavirus-covid-%E2%80%93-19-information).
Daly noted that he will be participating in tonight’s Board of Health meeting, August 12 at 7 p.m. This is a virtual meeting and the agenda is printed elsewhere in today’s Transcript. Those who wish to listen in or participate in the Board of Health meeting may do so via Zoom or dial in for audio-only. Both methods enable participants to address the board members. The link and phone number are both posted on the calendar page of the town website at northreadingma.gov.
Additionally, Daly and the School Committee will discuss the latest COVID details at their next public meeting on Monday, August 16 at 6:30 p.m. This is a hybrid meeting with the board members and administrators meeting in the Distance Learning Lab and the public joining in via the Googlemeet link.
“I have also continued to update our dashboard to share any recent cases of staff and students in the North Reading public schools,” he stated. The dashboard reveals just one case involving a student in July and one case involving a NRPS employee in August.
Student vaccine clinic Aug. 13
“In addition, we will continue to offer vaccination opportunities periodically for our eligible students who would like to receive the vaccine. Our next clinic is August 13, 2021 at the Batchelder School at 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. No appointment is necessary,” he stated. However, parents are asked to print out and bring with them the form that can be found on his blog.
“As the school year approaches you will be hearing from both me and the school principals on several topics and we will address additional questions that may arise. Our first day with students is September 8, 2021 and we are excited to prepare our schools to welcome our students and staff back soon. Enjoy the remaining weeks of summer and stay safe,” the superintendent stated.