Full-time student return to Andover High unlikely this spring

Apr. 18—ANDOVER — Because of space issues at Andover High, it's unlikely students will return to classrooms full time this spring, school officials said.

They said the pandemic's social-distancing rules prevent the school's classrooms from providing the space needed for all students to return full time. Groups of students now attend the school on alternate days under the hybrid learning method. They learn remotely online from home on days they don't go to school.

Janet Nicosia, director of facilities for the school district, said officials are hoping social-distancing rules are relaxed by the start of the next school year. That would allow students' desks to be placed closer together and classrooms to hold more children.

"We're all really praying for September to not have the same issues we have now," Nicosia said.

Space is biggest concern

With social distancing limiting most Andover High classrooms to 15 student desks — fewer than the normal 20 to 24 — it's impossible to get all students back into classrooms at the same time, said Principal Caitlin Brown.

Brown and other district officials are considering a range of options, including transforming spaces like the school's field house and Collins Center into large learning areas. There, students would sit at desks and remotely join their classrooms, which are elsewhere in the school.

School Committee members are asking district officials to plan for students to return to classrooms full time in the fall. The committee is also looking into a vaccine requirement for students, hoping that would change safety guidelines — allowing desks to be closer together and getting more students into each room.

"To me it's not acceptable to not have our kids back (in classrooms full time) in the fall," said Susan McCready, vice chair of the School Committee.

McCready asked if the current 3-foot distance between students' desks is a mandate, or if the desks can be put closer together.

Interim Superintendent Claudia Bach said the 3-foot distance is a safety guideline and not a mandate. She said she will check with state education officials on how strict that guideline has to be followed.

School Committee member Tracey Spruce asked if the state is going to require vaccines for students, or if the district could set such a requirement. Both the state and individual districts have the ability to require vaccines, school officials said.

The Pfizer vaccine is approved for anyone 16 years and older, and the company is in the process of seeking emergency approval for the vaccine to be used for children ages 12 to 15.

Last week, Andover brought in a group of state education officials to help the district find ways to get students back to school full time. The district is awaiting a report from those officials.

There is no mandated timeline for high school students to return to classrooms full time, but there are such requirements for younger students. Andover has complied with the return dates set for elementary and middle school students.

School has history of overcrowding

Andover High School has been overcrowded for years. Built in the 1960s, the school can fit about 1,400 students according to state standards, but about 1,700 students are currently enrolled.

Before the pandemic, the school ran four lunch periods per day, each serving about 450 students, Brown said. The cafeteria can hold only 104 students with 6 feet between them for COVID-19 protection, she said. The school has converted the Dunn Gym into a cafeteria with 150 seats, she said. At lunch, students must be 6 feet apart because they are not wearing masks.

Despite housing more students in recent years than it was designed for, the school managed to provide enough learning space for all students before the pandemic by converting about 25 non-classroom spaces into classrooms, Brown said. The COVID-19 guideline that desks be farther apart than before the pandemic makes it impossible to provide enough classroom space, she said.

Since last summer, Brown and other school staff have been analyzing spaces in the building to find a way for all students to be in classrooms full time, instead of using the current hybrid approach.

With classroom space available before the pandemic no longer providing enough space for the total student population, administrators have identified other options. They said the school's field house could hold 570 student desks spaced 6 feet apart and the Collins Center could hold 400 desks spaced 3 feet apart.

If these areas were used to house students, the children would need to remotely participate electronically in their classes, which meet in other parts of the school, officials said. There could be wifi problems, however, and the converted areas would need a safety review by the fire marshal, Brown said.

Converting those areas would also mean taking away spaces now used for gym and theater classes, Brown said.

"If we cheated on PE (physical education) and if we cheated on preforming arts and we took those away, yes maybe we could bring more students back," she said. "So it's a loss, and is that loss worth the gain of bringing students back?"

When state officials visited the school recently, one of them said converting spaces such as the field house and Collins Center into areas for student desks would fail to accomplish the goal of getting all students back into a classroom setting, according to Bach. That's because the children would be connected to their classrooms electronically only, just as when they were learning remotely from home, she said.

Wednesday a wildcard solution?

School officials said one potential way to add more classroom time is for students to attend school Wednesdays. Under the current hybrid program, students are in classrooms two days per week and all students learn remotely from home on Wednesdays.

In recent months, parents have asked the School Committee if the high school could add Wednesday classroom time into the mix.

At last week's School Committee meeting however, Jeffrey Conners, the committee's student representative and a student council member, said most students don't want to go to school on Wednesdays because they've become accustomed to Wednesdays being remote learning days.

"We at student government ... discussed the plan to alter the Wednesday schedule, and we came to a consensus as students," he said. "And although we believe the idea (of classroom learning on Wednesdays) is good, we'd like to see it put in place next year.

"This year a lot of extracurricular activities happen after school Wednesday, and we believe (there's) not enough time for students to adapt to the new schedule change this late in the year," he said.

Brown said it is possible to bring students into classrooms on Wednesdays, but there would likely be a mixed reaction from them. She also said she has been using some Wednesdays at school to work with members of the senior class on traditions related to graduation.

"This is the situation we are in," Brown said. "None of these are great options."