AGAWAM – Agawam Public Schools are preparing for a vital 2021 while in the midst of a turbulent school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Superintendent Sheila Hoffman, who officially became the district’s long-term superintendent late last fall, said that she has learned a lot over the course of her pandemic response, particularly when it comes to health and safety.

“We’ve learned that we spent a lot of time with health and safety protocols going into schools, and we’ve learned that they’re working” said Hoffman. “As new information comes, we’re able to adjust how we’re delivering our instruction.”

Much of Agawam’s response involves absorbing the COVID-19 data day-by-day. There have been times, like a few days after New Year’s day for example, where the district had to quickly pivot back to remote learning because cases would double within a day.

“Our goal is get kids back into schools,” said Hoffman. “So, instead of doing all of this predetermined time, we would rather make decisions based on the most current data.”

Since the onset of the pandemic, mental health issues have become a major problem, not only in Agawam, but all across the country. To alleviate some of these problems, Hoffman has been working with Marlene DeJesus, the district’s social and emotional director, as well as other adjustment counselors, to create a virtual Family Resource Center.

The center features a bevy of resources for family and students pertaining to mental well-being, and offers one-on-one consultation with two coordinators. It also provides vital information about food, housing, and other school needs.

The virtual resource center can be found at https://sites.google.com/view/agawamfamilyresourcecenter/welcome.

“It’s important to reiterate that whole wellbeing aspect,” said Hoffman. “Really, we need to make sure that we’re meeting all of the needs of our students. Health and safety is absolutely a priority.”

Hoffman continued by saying that it is also crucial to realize that in-person learning in general is very important for the wellbeing of the students. “Some students are very successful with remote learning, and others are very unengaged, so we need to make sure we’re meeting our students wherever they are,” said Hoffman.

The existence of COVID-19 has also continuously delayed the district’s plan to move pre-K students into Agawam’s four elementary schools, according to Hoffman. The project, which has been in the works for the past few years, will only be successful if there is ample amount of space for higher enrollment.

“Because of COVID, we needed the extra space to keep our six feet distancing,” said Hoffman, with regard to their ongoing redistricting plan, and why they needed to delay it.

During a Jan. 26 school committee meeting, Hoffman said that the original plan many years ago was to look into a new Early Childhood Center (ECC) for pre-K students. Costs for that building began to escalate however, so the school system instead devised a three-part plan for redistricting back in the spring of 2019.

The first part of this plan is to incorporate ECC students into the four elementary classrooms, while the second part involves redesigning the special education supports at the elementary level. The final section of this plan is to shift boundary lines of the elementary schools so the enrollment at each school is about the same.

Two of these schools, Benjamin Phelps and Robinson Park, have seen increased enrollment however. Robinson in particular has enrolled 400 students, while James Clark only enrolls 250 students. In order to redistrict, Hoffman hopes to redraw map lines, and balance out enrollment across all elementary schools.

“We do have the building at Perry Lane Park that can serve our Early Childhood students,” said Hoffman, during the meeting. “There’s still some uncertainty about what’s coming next.”

While the timeline for this redistricting plan could stay the same, Hoffman ultimately decided that it was best to postpone the first two parts of the plan since the district is still has to focus on pandemic response.

“The timeline was for 2021 fall, and that way it’ll give Robinson Park a little more space, Phelps a little more space,” said Hoffman, with regard to redrawing boundary lines and finding space for pre-K students. “If anything, this year we realized how important space was in schools.”

The district is also searching for better ways to enhance student learning within the classrooms themselves.

Back in 2019, former superintendent Steven Lemanski established a comprehensive strategic plan for the future of Agawam Public Schools. The developments at the time however were tentative, and with COVID-19 being a top priority, much of the plan that involved “cognitive engagement” were laid to rest for 2020.

Hoffman plans on revisiting Lemanski’s strategic plan for the 2021 school year. The district will focus on three priorities this year with regard to the plan. One priority is enforcing and integrating technology in learning, which has already started happening due to the pandemic.

“My goal with that is to really be grateful for the fact that we got the funding to get the technology, and now really use that to personalize learning for students,” said Hoffman. “We know that not everybody learns the same, so how do we use that to our advantage to move kids forward?”

Engagement will be another huge priority this year, especially since many students have had trouble with staying focused during remote parts of learning. Hoffman wants to develop ways in which students can have higher-ordered thinking skills, and expand their writing abilities under these unprecedented circumstances.

“We want to focus on skills that we really want all of our graduates to be able to have when they leave us,” said Hoffman.