Plan for full return to classrooms faces challenges

Mar. 4—As the school district continues making plans for students to return to classrooms full time, officials say they may run into problems finding space to maintain social distancing.

The School Committee voted Feb. 11 to have Superintendent Margaret Marotta come up with a plan to meet Mayor James Fiorentini's goal of having students return to classrooms full time by April 1. But for those who are expected to make a full return, some students may need to move to different classrooms, possibly different buildings and maybe have different teachers in order to maintain social distance.

In response to a survey question put to families asking if they would be willing to change their children's classroom peers, teachers or schools if needed to allow for social distancing, Marotta said 65% indicated they would not, 21% said maybe and just 14% said they would.

"I don't believe we have the physical space to have 100% of our students back at 3 feet (distancing)," Marotta told the School Committee recently. "At that point, we may be eligible for some sort of a waiver from DESE (state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education) to continue with the Remote Learning Academy."

The city's Remote Learning Academy allows students to do all learning remotely online from home, if parents choose that option. Most Haverhill students participate in hybrid learning — two days per week in classrooms and the other three days learning remotely.

Marotta said state education officials and the Centers for Disease Control agree on the use of masks and physical distancing in the classroom, and although the two agencies say vaccinations are a priority, they agree a lack of vaccinations should not stop schools from opening.

"They want us to get our staff vaccinated as soon as supply allows and we are doing everything within our power to make that happen, but we are not being encouraged to hold off on bringing back students to school before that occurs," she said.

Marotta said state Education Commissioner Jeff Riley's goal is to bring back all elementary school students to classroom learning five days per week in April, and that he will bring his plan to the Board of Education in the coming weeks for a vote. If his plan is approved, guidance will be released in mid-March for an early April phased-in approached for return to classrooms.

In the recent survey given to parents, students and staff Marotta said the district received 3,575 responses to this question: "What is the least amount of social distancing are you comfortable with?"

Marotta said 43% supported no less than 6 feet social distancing, 34% were comfortable with whatever distancing is possible, 11% supported not less than 3 feet, 7% said not less than 4 feet, 3% said not less than 5 feet, and 2% said not less than 2 feet.

A total of 2,417 students and parents responded to this question: "If schools return to a full in-person, five day a week model, and no hybrid option, how would this impact your choice of learning models?"

Marotta said 67% of respondents said they would move from hybrid to full in-person and 33% said they would move to or remain in fully remote, resulting in a doubling of the size of the district's Remote Learning Academy.

"With two thirds of students in buildings, we could possibly have 3 feet social distance, but with 100 percent, we could not have 3 feet," Marotta said.

Fiorentini said that if 6 feet of distancing is required, the district could hold double sessions, meaning some groups of students would attend class from the morning to early afternoon, then other groups would attend from early afternoon to evening.

Marotta said to put together a thoughtful plan for a full return to classrooms, she needs more information, including what the Board of Education will vote for and what guidance comes from the state.

She said decisions will have to be made within the district with input from workers unions, staff and families.

School Committee member Paul Magliocchetti said it would also take time to determine which students will be in particular buildings if rearranging is necessary.

"It's more complicated than it looks on its face," he said, "I want to move forward with a plan, but to put it into action will take time."

School Committee member Toni Sapienza-Donais said students have gone through a lot this year and to separate them from their classmates, their teachers and even their school building would be a lot to ask, considering a full return to classrooms is unlikely to happen until sometime in April near the end of the school year.

"To separate them with just 10 weeks of school left is really gut wrenching," she said. "It's a move I'm very hesitant of making. Just because they are back in the building (vs. learning remotely) doesn't mean the trauma has gone away."

Fiorentini continued to push for a full return to classrooms.

"It's nice to have 6 feet, but you don't have to," he said. "We want to have our teachers vaccinated, but (vaccination) is not critical to have kids back in school."