School Committee discusses MCAS, return to classroom

Feb. 15, 2021 | Danielle Eaton
deaton@thereminder.com

HOLYOKE –  The Holyoke School Committee met for their regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 8, where they discussed a variety of topics including students’ return to in-person learning, food access for the community and MCAS testing.

Holyoke Public Schools Superintendent and State Receiver Dr. Alberto Vázquez Matos began the meeting with an update regarding the return of students to in-person learning. He said students in grades pre-K through grade eight are being prioritized in the staggered reentry to the classrooms.

At the time of the meeting, staff members for pre-K and kindergarteners had returned to schools on Feb. 8 with students scheduled to return the week of Feb. 22. Staff for grades 1 and 2, as well as for Campus Learning Centers (CLCs) at the North Campus were expected to return on March 1, with students returning the week of  March 8. Staff for students in grades 3-5 were expected to return on March 15 with students in those grades targeted to return the week of March 22. While a return date for staff for district-wide CLCs for students in grades 6-8 hadn’t yet been set, students were scheduled to return the week of March 29.

He also addressed the changes to the school day schedule that had been implemented starting Jan. 19.     “The schedule change we submitted to the state and was approved, offers students a six-hour school day with 4.5 hours of synchronous learning scheduled throughout the day and includes moving breaks, lunch breaks, recess for younger grades, hand washing breaks, transition time,” he said. Vázquez Matos added that on Wednesdays when no students were in the buildings, faculty and staff in district offices will be required to work remotely in order for deep cleaning to take place.

He then touched on MCAS testing for students in grades 3-8, and said students would only be required to complete one test session per subject during the spring rather than the usual two, and test results would only be used as “diagnostic information to support instructional planning to address any academic losses.”

The testing, he explained, must be done in person and would take place after students were scheduled to return to in person learning. English language arts tests needed to be conducted between April 5 and May 7, mathematics testing needed to be conducted between April 26 and May 28 while science and technology education testing would need to be conducted between April 27 and May 28. Students who are participating in remote learning, Vázquez Matos said, would be required to “come to school for MCAS testing.”

He said that families would have the option to opt out of testing, but encouraged them to participate. “Families will have the option to opt out of testing and we have contacted DESE for clarification on the process for opt out. However, we are encouraging families to participate in the assessment administration so we can use this as an additional data point to plan for instructional support for students,” he said. Vázquez Matos said over the weekend he’d had the opportunity to meet with the new U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona.

Vázquez Matos said there “is conversation around the validity of the assessments due to the pandemic. He said, “He is inclined to start a conversation around whether we need to do this or not. If we do this, it will probably be for the purposes of diagnostic testing just to learn where students are at, but not for grade promotion or graduation.” He emphasized, however, this was not official.

During his update regarding COVID-19 numbers, Vázquez Matos announced that the school department and the city would be partnering to offer free boxes of food for families that are food insecure through the Emergency Food Management Program. “Holyoke has been approved to place monthly orders of 400 boxes,” he said. The first shipment of boxes arrived on Feb. 8 where Vázquez Matos said “at least a minimum of 40 family boxes in less than 20 minutes for families in need” were distributed.
Since the beginning of the school year, Vázquez Matos said the district had 360 positive cases through Jan. 31. “This includes 11 remote staff, 49 in-person staff, 280 remote students and 20 in-person students,” he said. The highest number of cases came during the month of January where the district saw 136 cases within the district.

When asked about COVID-19 testing, he said the district was working closely with Holyoke Medical Center to ensure that when allowed by the state, Holyoke Public Schools staff and faculty would be given priority access to receiving the COVID-19 vaccine. Marianne Currier, who serves as the district’s chief of pupil services, said that school nurses had been trained in the BinaxNOW COVID-19 rapid tests and consent forms would be distributed soon. These tests, she said, would be used to any symptomatic individual. “Students or staff. It’s a rapid test, results are back in 15 minutes for anyone that is symptomatic,” she said.

Later in a conversation surrounding the distribution of the free food boxes Vázquez Matos apologized for not having been part of the effort and revealed that he had contracted COVID-19. “I want to be transparent, I contracted COVID,” he said. This, he explained, had led to him not being a part of the food distribution that took place earlier in the week which had been largely organized by chief finance and operations officers Anthony Soto.

However, he emphasized the distribution of the food just demonstrated a need in the community. He said that Soto had shared he gave staff distributing food boxes until 4 p.m. to distribute the boxes, however, by 1:30 p.m. “it was gone.” He said, “That to me just echoed a need of urgency for our community in need because of what we’re living in.”

Regarding a question of high school seniors and graduation, Vázquez Matos said they would be meeting sometime during the week of Feb. 8 with campus principals to discuss graduation.

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